To Petra via Jabal Haroun : Nabataean-Roman road remains in the Finnish Jabal Haroun Project survey area

Työ käsittelee Finnish Jabal Haroun Project -tutkimusryhmän Etelä-Jordaniasta inventoimalla keräämää arkeologista aineistoa (vuosilta 1999-2005) tietutkimuksen kannalta. Työn tarkoituksena on selvittää, miksi tutkimusalueella, Aaronin vuoren ympäristössä, sijaitsee tien jäänteitä ja miten tie on maastossa muinoin kulkenut. Lisäksi työ analysoi tien varsilla havaittujen rakennusten jäännösten suhdetta tiehen ja pyrkii ajoittamaan tien käyttöajankohdan (ajankohdat). Työn alkuoletuksena on, että pääosa tienvarsirakennuksista on liitettävissä tiehen ja tien sijoittuminen tutkimusalueelle johtuu pitkälti lähistöllä sijaitsevan Petran noususta merkittäväksi, Nabatealaisten harjoittaman kaupan keskukseksi, Lähi-idässä ajanlaskun alkuun mennessä. Tien jäänteitä tarkastellaan maisema-arkeologisin perustein. Tämä tarkoittaa sitä, että analyysissä korostuvat sekä kulttuuriset että ympäristölliset vaikuttimet. Niiden välistä, aikaan sidottua, suhdetta arvioidaan menneen ihmistoiminnan selittämiseksi. Tutkimusmenetelmät ovat paikkatietojärjestelmien soveltaminen, kohdekohtainen arkeologisen aineiston ja sijainnin tutkiminen, vertailevan aineiston käyttö sekä kolmiulotteinen tarkastelu. Tie ajoitetaan tienvarsikohteiden keramiikkalöytöjen avulla sekä rakenneanalyysin perusteella. Tutkimus osoittaa tien syntyneen alueen sijainnin takia. Sijainti oli edullinen suhteessa luonnonvaroihin, asutuskeskuksiin ja luontaisiin kulkuväyliin. Tien rakentajat osasivat taidokkaasti hyödyntää alueen luonnonpiirteitä ja käyttivät erityisiä menetelmiä vaikeiden tieosuuksien turvaamiseksi luonnonvoimien tuhoilta. Suurin osa tienvarsirakenteista voidaan katsoa johtuvan suoraan tien olemassaolosta, pieni osa rakenteista palveli pääsääntöisesti muita maankäytön muotoja. Petran vaikutus tien olemassaoloon ja muotoon oli suuri, kaupungin kehitys ja kukoistus näkyvät tiehen liitettävässä arkeologisessa aineistossa. Tien aktiivinen käyttö näyttää jatkuneen myös Roomalaisaikaan ensimmäisille vuosisadoille jKr., jonka jälkeen se hitaasti hiipui.

Factors related to seat belt use : A Turkish case

Seat belts are effective safety devices used to protect car occupants from severe injuries and fatalities during road vehicle accidents. Despite the proven effectiveness of seat belts, seat belt use rates are quite low, especially in developing countries, such as Turkey. The general aim of the present study was to investigate a large variety of factors related to seat belt use among Turkish car occupants using different perspectives and methods and therefore, to contribute to the design of effective seat belt use interventions for increasing seat belt use rates in Turkey. Five sub-studies were conducted within the present study. In the first sub-study, environmental (e.g., road type) and psycho-social factors (e.g., belt use by other car occupants) related to the seat belt use of front-seat occupants were investigated using observation techniques. Being male, of a young age, and traveling on city roads were the main factors negatively related to seat belt use. Furthermore, seat belt use by the drivers and front-seat passengers was highly correlated and a significant predictors of each other. In the second sub-study, the motivations of the car occupants for seat belt use and non-use were investigated using interview techniques. Situational conditions, such as traveling on city roads and for short distances, and not believing in the effectiveness and relevance of seat belt use for safety, were the most frequently reported reasons for not using a seat belt. Safety, habit and avoiding punishment were among the most frequently reported reasons for using a seat belt. In the third sub-study, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Health Belief Model (HBM) were applied to seat belt use using Structural Equation Modeling techniques. The TPB model showed a good fit to the data, whereas the HBM showed a poor fit to the data. Within the TPB model, attitude and subjective norm were significant predictors of intentions to use a seat belt on both urban and rural roads. In the fourth sub-study, seat belt use frequency and motivations for seat belt use among taxi drivers were investigated and compared between free-time and work-time driving using a survey. The results showed that taxi drivers used seat belts more when driving a private car in their free-times compared to when driving a taxi during their work-times. The lack of a legal obligation to use a seat belt in city traffic and fear of being attacked or robbed by the passengers were found as two specific reasons for not using a seat belt when driving a taxi. Lastly, in the fifth sub-study, the relationship of seat belt use to driver and health behaviors was investigated using a survey. Although seat belt use was related both to health and driver behaviors, factor analysis results showed that it grouped with driver behaviors. Based on the results of the sub-studies, a tentative empirical model showing different predictors of seat belt use was proposed. According to the model, safety and normative motivations and perceived physical barriers related to seat belt use are the three important predictors of seat belt use. Keywords: Seat belt use; environmental factors; psycho-social factors; safety and normative motivations; the Theory of Planned Behavior; the Health Belief Model; health behaviors; driver behaviors; front-seat occupants; taxi drivers; Turkey.

Fatigued driving : prevalence, risk factors and groups, and the law

Fatigue and sleepiness are major causes of road traffic accidents. However, precise data is often lacking because a validated and reliable device for detecting the level of sleepiness (cf. the breathalyzer for alcohol levels) does not exist, nor does criteria for the unambiguous detection of fatigue/sleepiness as a contributing factor in accident causation. Therefore, identification of risk factors and groups might not always be easy. Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to incorporate fatigue in operationalized terms into either traffic or criminal law. The main aims of this thesis were to estimate the prevalence of fatigue problems while driving among the Finnish driving population, to explore how VALT multidisciplinary investigation teams, Finnish police, and courts recognize (and prosecute) fatigue in traffic, to identify risk factors and groups, and finally to explore the application of the Finnish Road Traffic Act (RTA), which explicitly forbids driving while tired in Article 63. Several different sources of data were used: a computerized database and the original folders of multidisciplinary teams investigating fatal accidents (VALT), the driver records database (AKE), prosecutor and court decisions, a survey of young male military conscripts, and a survey of a representative sample of the Finnish active driving population. The results show that 8-15% of fatal accidents during 1991-2001 were fatigue related, that every fifth Finnish driver has fallen asleep while driving at some point during his/her driving career, and that the Finnish police and courts punish on average one driver per day on the basis of fatigued driving (based on the data from the years 2004-2005). The main finding regarding risk factors and risk groups is that during the summer months, especially in the afternoon, the risk of falling asleep while driving is increased. Furthermore, the results indicate that those with a higher risk of falling asleep while driving are men in general, but especially young male drivers including military conscripts and the elderly during the afternoon hours and the summer in particular; professional drivers breaking the rules about duty and rest hours; and drivers with a tendency to fall asleep easily. A time-of-day pattern of sleep-related incidents was repeatedly found. It was found that VALT teams can be considered relatively reliable when assessing the role of fatigue and sleepiness in accident causation; thus, similar experts might be valuable in the court process as expert witnesses when fatigue or sleepiness are suspected to have a role in an accident’s origins. However, the application of Article 63 of the RTA that forbids, among other things, fatigued driving will continue to be an issue that deserves further attention. This should be done in the context of a needed attitude change towards driving while in a state of extreme tiredness (e.g., after being awake for more than 24 hours), which produces performance deterioration comparable to illegal intoxication (BAC around 0.1%). Regarding the well-known interactive effect of increased sleepiness and even small alcohol levels, the relatively high proportion (up to 14.5%) of Finnish drivers owning and using a breathalyzer raises some concern. This concern exists because these drivers are obviously more focused on not breaking the “magic” line of 0.05% BAC than being concerned about driving impairment, which might be much worse than they realize because of the interactive effects of increased sleepiness and even low alcohol consumption. In conclusion, there is no doubt that fatigue and sleepiness problems while driving are common among the Finnish driving population. While we wait for the invention of reliable devices for fatigue/sleepiness detection, we should invest more effort in raising public awareness about the dangerousness of fatigued driving and educate drivers about how to recognize and deal with fatigue and sleepiness when they ultimately occur.

The regional differences between countries in traffic safety: A cross-cultural study and Turkish Case

Road traffic accidents are a large problem everywhere in the world. However, regional differences in traffic safety between countries are considerable. For example, traffic safety records are much worse in Southern Europe and the Middle East than in Northern and Western Europe. Despite the large regional differences in traffic safety, factors contributing to different accident risk figures in different countries and regions have remained largely unstudied. The general aim of this study was to investigate regional differences in traffic safety between Southern European/Middle Eastern (i.e., Greece, Iran, Turkey) and Northern/Western European (i.e., Finland, Great Britain, The Netherlands) countries and to identify factors related to these differences. We conducted seven sub-studies in which I applied a traffic culture framework, including a multi-level approach, to traffic safety. We used aggregated level data (national statistics), surveys among drivers, and data on traffic accidents and fatalities in the analyses. In the first study, we investigated the influence of macro level factors (i.e., economic, societal, and cultural) on traffic safety across countries. The results showed that a high GNP per capita and conservatism correlated with a low number of traffic fatalities, whereas a high degree of uncertainty avoidance, neuroticism, and egalitarianism correlated with a high number of traffic fatalities. In the second, third, and fourth studies, we examined whether the conceptualisation of road user characteristics (i.e., driver behaviour and performance) varied across traffic cultures and how these factors determined overall safety, and the differences between countries in traffic safety. The results showed that the factorial agreement for driver behaviour (i.e., aggressive driving) and performance (i.e., safety skills) was unsatisfactory in Greece, Iran, and Turkey, where the lack of social tolerance and interpersonal aggressive violations seem to be important characteristics of driving. In addition, we found that driver behaviour (i.e., aggressive violations and errors) mediated the relationship between culture/country and accidents. Besides, drivers from "dangerous" Southern European countries and Iran scored higher on aggressive violations and errors than did drivers from "safe" Northern European countries. However, "speeding" appeared to be a "pan-cultural" problem in traffic. Similarly, aggressive driving seems largely depend on road users' interactions and drivers' interpretation (i.e., cognitive biases) of the behaviour of others in every country involved in the study. Moreover, in all countries, a risky general driving style was mostly related to being young and male. The results of the fifth and sixth studies showed that among young Turkish drivers, gender stereotypes (i.e., masculinity and femininity) greatly influence driver behaviour and performance. Feminine drivers were safety-oriented whereas masculine drivers were skill-oriented and risky drivers. Since everyday driving tasks involve not only erroneous (i.e., risky or dangerous driving) or correct performance (i.e., normal habitual driving), but also "positive" driver behaviours, we developed a reliable scale for measuring "positive" driver behaviours among Turkish drivers in the seventh study. Consequently, I revised Reason's model [Reason, J. T., 1990. Human error. Cambridge University Press: New York] of aberrant driver behaviour to represent a general driving style, including all possible intentional behaviours in traffic while evaluating the differences between countries in traffic safety. The results emphasise the importance of economic, societal and cultural factors, general driving style and skills, which are related to exposure, cognitive biases as well as age, sex, and gender, in differences between countries in traffic safety.

The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Interventions : A Pragmatic Examination of Humanitarian Intervention with Special Reference to Kosovo

Kansainvälisen oikeuden alaan kuuluvassa tutkielmassa käsitellään humanitaarisen intervention oikeutusta ja laillisuutta. Tutkimuskysymyksenä on, missä määrin humanitaarisilla näkökohdilla perusteltuja sotilaallisia toimia tai niillä uhkaamista voi pitää kansainvälisoikeudellisesti hyväksyttävänä ja millainen painoarvo ennakkotapauksena olisi annettava NATO-maiden Kosovossa toteuttamalle väliintulolle. Tutkielmassa perehdytään ihmisoikeusajattelun tiettyjen taustaoletusten kritiikkiin. Tarkastelun kohteena ovat erityisesti kannanotot, joiden mukaan ihmisoikeuksia ei voi pitää luonteeltaan universaaleina, sekä kyseiseen kritiikkiin liittyvät väitteet siitä, että ns. hegemonisessa asemassa olevat valtiot hyödyntävät ihmisoikeusargumentteja oikeuttaakseen voimankäyttönsä. Universaalisuuskritiikkiä voidaan pitää pitkälti perusteltuna, mutta nykyinen kansainvälinen yhteisö tarvitsee kuitenkin tietynlaisia yleismaailmallisia normeja voidakseen toimia tehokkaasti. Kritiikin ei voikaan katsoa pätevän humanitaarisen intervention kannalta keskeisiin ihmisoikeusnormeihin kuten kansanmurhan kieltoon, sillä kyseiset velvoitteet suojaavat kansainvälisen yhteisön toimivuutta ja uskottavuutta. Humanitaarisiin argumentteihin liittyy kuitenkin muita ongelmia: niillä on esimerkiksi aika ajoin pyritty oikeuttamaan sotilaallisia toimia, joissa ihmisoikeusnäkökohdat eivät välttämättä ole olleet etusijalla. Ihmisoikeuksille ei ole syytä antaa kansainvälisessä oikeudessa asemaa universaaleina "superargumentteina", jotka eivät olisi kyseenalaistettavissa. YK:n peruskirjan ja kansainvälisen tapaoikeuden näkökulmasta humanitaarisen intervention kaltaiseen voimankäyttöön vaaditaan turvallisuusneuvoston hyväksyntä, jota ei Kosovo-operaatioon saatu. Interventiota voi tässä suhteessa pitää yksiselitteisesti laittomana, sillä sen tueksi esitetyt oikeudelliset argumentit eivät ole vakuuttavia. Tapaukseen liittyvät ihmisoikeusnäkökohdat ovat kuitenkin siinä määrin merkittäviä, että ongelmaan ei ole perusteltua suhtautua tiukan legalistisesti. Operaation hyväksyminen moraaliargumenttien nojalla voisi kuitenkin johtaa nykyisten voimankäyttörajoitusten marginalisoitumiseen, mikä olisi yllä käsitellyn kritiikin valossa ongelmallista. Tutkielmassa nostetaan suositeltavaksi ratkaisuksi lähestymistapa, jossa Kosovon tapaus ymmärretään yksittäisenä oikeudenvastaisena mutta samalla oikeudenulkoisena poikkeustapauksena. Tällöin peruskirjan mukainen voimankäytön sääntely säilyy entisellään ilman että humanitaariset näkökohdat jäisivät tyystin huomiotta. Ratkaisu ei sulje pois mahdollisuutta suhtautua positiivisesti Kosovo-operaation mahdollisesti luomaan "poliittiseen normiin": suuren mittakaavan ihmisoikeusloukkaukset eivät jää Euroopassa seurauksitta. Ilman turvallisuusneuvoston suostumusta toteutettaviin humanitaarisiin interventioihin liittyvien käytännöllisten ja kansainvälisoikeudellisten riskien vuoksi niihin on kuitenkin aihetta suhtautua suurella varauksella.

Road Dust from Pavement Wear and Traction Sanding

Vehicles affect the concentrations of ambient airborne particles through exhaust emissions, but particles are also formed in the mechanical processes in the tire-road interface, brakes, and engine. Particles deposited on or in the vicinity of the road may be re-entrained, or resuspended, into air through vehicle-induced turbulence and shearing stress of the tires. A commonly used term for these particles is road dust . The processes affecting road dust emissions are complex and currently not well known. Road dust has been acknowledged as a dominant source of PM10 especially during spring in the sub-arctic urban areas, e.g. in Scandinavia, Finland, North America and Japan. The high proportion of road dust in sub-arctic regions of the world has been linked to the snowy winter conditions that make it necessary to use traction control methods. Traction control methods include dispersion of traction sand, melting of ice with brine solutions, and equipping the tires with either metal studs (studded winter tires), snow chains, or special tire design (friction tires). Several of these methods enhance the formation of mineral particles from pavement wear and/or from traction sand that accumulate in the road environment during winter. When snow and ice melt and surfaces dry out, traffic-induced turbulence makes some of the particles airborne. A general aim of this study was to study processes and factors underlying and affecting the formation and emissions of road dust from paved road surfaces. Special emphasis was placed on studying particle formation and sources during tire road interaction, especially when different applications of traction control, namely traction sanding and/or winter tires were in use. Respirable particles with aerodynamic diameter below 10 micrometers (PM10) have been the main concern, but other size ranges and particle size distributions were also studied. The following specific research questions were addressed: i) How do traction sanding and physical properties of the traction sand aggregate affect formation of road dust? ii) How do studded tires affect the formation of road dust when compared with friction tires? iii) What are the composition and sources of airborne road dust in a road simulator and during a springtime road dust episode in Finland? iv) What is the size distribution of abrasion particles from tire-road interaction? The studies were conducted both in a road simulator and in field conditions. The test results from the road simulator showed that traction sanding increased road dust emissions, and that the effect became more dominant with increasing sand load. A high percentage of fine-grained anti-skid aggregate of overall grading increased the PM10 concentrations. Anti-skid aggregate with poor resistance to fragmentation resulted in higher PM levels compared with the other aggregates, and the effect became more significant with higher aggregate loads. Glaciofluvial aggregates tended to cause higher particle concentrations than crushed rocks with good fragmentation resistance. Comparison of tire types showed that studded tires result in higher formation of PM emissions compared with friction tires. The same trend between the tires was present in the tests with and without anti-skid aggregate. This finding applies to test conditions of the road simulator with negligible resuspension. Source and composition analysis showed that the particles in the road simulator were mainly minerals and originated from both traction sand and pavement aggregates. A clear contribution of particles from anti-skid aggregate to ambient PM and dust deposition was also observed in urban conditions. The road simulator results showed that the interaction between tires, anti-skid aggregate and road surface is important in dust production and the relative contributions of these sources depend on their properties. Traction sand grains are fragmented into smaller particles under the tires, but they also wear the pavement aggregate. Therefore particles from both aggregates are observed. The mass size distribution of traction sand and pavement wear particles was mainly coarse, but fine and submicron particles were also present.

The Rocky Road of Social Sustainability : The Impact of Integrated Biodiversity Conservation and Development on the Local Realities in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar

The objective of this study is to examine the social impacts of the integrated conservation and development project (ICDP) aimed at biodiversity conservation and local socio-economic development in the Ranomafana National Park (RNP), Madagascar. Furthermore, the study explores social sustainability and justice of the ICDP in Ranomafana. This ethnographically informed impact study uses of various field methods. The research material used consists of observation, interviews (key-person and focus group), school children's writings, official statistics and project documents. Fieldwork was conducted in three phases in 2001, 2002 and 2004 in twelve villages around the park, as well as in neighbouring areas of Ranomafana. However, four of those twelve villages were chosen for closer study. This study consists of five independent articles and a concluding chapter. Social impacts were studied through reproductive health indicators as well as a life security approach. Equity and distribution of benefits and drawbacks of ICDP were analysed and the actors related to the conservation in Ranomafana were identified. The children and adolescents' environmental views were also examined. The reproductive health indicators studied showed a poor state of reproductive health in the park area. Moreover, the existing social capital in the villages seemed to be fragmented due to economic difficulties that were partly caused by the conservation regulations. The ICDP in Ranomafana did not pay attention to the heterogeneity of the affected communities even though the local beneficiaries of the ICDP varied according to their ethnicity, living place, wealth, social position and gender. In addition, various conservation actors (local people in various groups, local authorities, tourist business owners, conservation NGOs and scientists) contest their interests over the forest, conservation and its related activities. This study corroborates the same type of evidence and conclusions discussed in other similar cases elsewhere: so called social conservation programmes still cannot meet the needs of the people living near the protected areas; on the contrary, they even have a reverse impact on the people's lives. A fundamental misunderstood assumption in the conservation process in Ranomafana was to consider the local people as a problem for biodiversity conservation. Major reasons for the failure of the ICDP in Ranomafana include a lack of local institutions that would have been able to communicate as equals with the conservation NGOs as well as to transfer the tradition of the authoritarian governance in conservation management together with the over-appreciation of scientific biodiversity, and lack of will to understand the local people's rights to use the forest for their livelihoods.

Professional Driving : An Emphasis on Organizational Safety Climate

According to the literature and statistical figures, professional drivers constitute a high-risk group in traffic and should be investigated in connection with the factors related to safe driving. However, safety-related behaviours and outcomes among professional drivers have attracted very little attention from safety researchers. In addition, comparing different professional and non-professional driver groups in terms of critical on-the-road characteristics and outcomes has been indicated in the literature as being necessary for a more comprehensive understanding of driver groups and the nature of driving itself. The aim of the present study was to investigate professional driving from a safety climate stand point in relation to predominant driving-related factors and by considering the differences between driver groups. Hence, four Sub-studies were conducted according to a framework emphasizing the relationships between safety climate, driver groups, driver stress, human factors (i.e., driver behaviour and performance) and accidents. Demographic information, as well as data for driver behaviour, performance, and driver stress was collected by questionnaire. The data was analysed using factor analysis, analysis of covariance as well as hierarchical and logistic regression analysis. The results revealed multi-dimensional factor structures for the safety climate measures. Considering the relationships between variables, differences were evidenced regarding on-the-road stress reactions, risky driver behaviours and penalties, between the various professional and non-professional driver groups. Driver stress was found to be related to accidents. The results also indicated that the safety climate has positive relationships with both driver behaviour and performance, and as well as involvement in accidents. The present study has a number of critical implications resulting from the fact that the way in which the effects of safety climate on professional driving were investigated, as well as the differences between professional and non-professional driver groups, was unique. Additionally, for the first time, a safety climate scale was developed specifically for professional drivers. According to the results of the study and to previous literature, a tentative model was proposed representing a possible route for the relationships between safety climate, human factors, driver stress, driver groups and accidents, by emphasizing the effects of safety climate.

Mapping Road Infrastructure in Developing Countries Applying Remote Sensing and GIS - The Case of the Taita Hills, Kenya

Road transport and infrastructure has a fundamental meaning for the developing world. Poor quality and inadequate coverage of roads, lack of maintenance operations and outdated road maps continue to hinder economic and social development in the developing countries. This thesis focuses on studying the present state of road infrastructure and its mapping in the Taita Hills, south-east Kenya. The study is included as a part of the TAITA-project by the Department of Geography, University of Helsinki. The road infrastructure of the study area is studied by remote sensing and GIS based methodology. As the principal dataset, true colour airborne digital camera data from 2004, was used to generate an aerial image mosaic of the study area. Auxiliary data includes SPOT satellite imagery from 2003, field spectrometry data of road surfaces and relevant literature. Road infrastructure characteristics are interpreted from three test sites using pixel-based supervised classification, object-oriented supervised classifications and visual interpretation. Road infrastructure of the test sites is interpreted visually from a SPOT image. Road centrelines are then extracted from the object-oriented classification results with an automatic vectorisation process. The road infrastructure of the entire image mosaic is mapped by applying the most appropriate assessed data and techniques. The spectral characteristics and reflectance of various road surfaces are considered with the acquired field spectra and relevant literature. The results are compared with the experimented road mapping methods. This study concludes that classification and extraction of roads remains a difficult task, and that the accuracy of the results is inadequate regardless of the high spatial resolution of the image mosaic used in this thesis. Visual interpretation, out of all the experimented methods in this thesis is the most straightforward, accurate and valid technique for road mapping. Certain road surfaces have similar spectral characteristics and reflectance values with other land cover and land use. This has a great influence for digital analysis techniques in particular. Road mapping is made even more complicated by rich vegetation and tree canopy, clouds, shadows, low contrast between roads and surroundings and the width of narrow roads in relation to the spatial resolution of the imagery used. The results of this thesis may be applied to road infrastructure mapping in developing countries on a more general context, although with certain limits. In particular, unclassified rural roads require updated road mapping schemas to intensify road transport possibilities and to assist in the development of the developing world.