Estimating health related costs and savings from balcony acoustic design for road traffic noise

A multi-faceted study is conducted with the objective of estimating the potential fiscal savings in annoyance and sleep disturbance related health costs due to providing improved building acoustic design standards. This study uses balcony acoustic treatments in response to road traffic noise as an example. The study area is the State of Queensland in Australia, where regional road traffic noise mapping data is used in conjunction with standard dose–response curves to estimate the population exposure levels. The background and the importance of using the selected road traffic noise indicators are discussed. In order to achieve the objective, correlations between the mapping indicator (LA10 (18 hour)) and the dose response curve indicators (Lden and Lnight) are established via analysis on a large database of road traffic noise measurement data. The existing noise exposure of the study area is used to estimate the fiscal reductions in health related costs through the application of simple estimations of costs per person per year per degree of annoyance or sleep disturbance. The results demonstrate that balcony acoustic treatments may provide a significant benefit towards reducing the health related costs of road traffic noise in a community.

The significance of balcony acoustic treatments in mitigating urban road traffic noise

Urban road traffic noise in cities is an ongoing and increasing problem across much of the world. Consequently a large amount of effort is expended in attempts to address this problem, especially in the area of acoustic design of buildings. Acoustic design policies developed by government authorities will typically focus on required transport noise reductions through a building façade to meet a specified internal noise levels. The significance of balcony acoustic treatments has been highlighted in recent decades yet this area has potentially been considered less important than the need for acoustic isolation of building facades. This paper outlines recent research that has been conducted in determining the significance of balcony acoustic treatments in mitigating urban road traffic noise. It summarizes recent literature, some of which focuses on technological advances in the knowledge of balcony acoustic design and some literature discusses the overall aims and benefits of balcony acoustic design. The aim of this paper is to promote the use of balcony acoustic design as a significant element in the overall solution towards mitigating road traffic noise in modern cities.

Speech interference and transmission on residential balconies with road traffic noise

Balcony acoustic treatments can mitigate the effects of community road traffic noise. To further investigate, a theoretical study into the effects of balcony acoustic treatment combinations on speech interference and transmission is conducted for various street geometries. Nine different balcony types are investigated using a combined specular and diffuse reflection computer model. Diffusion in the model is calculated using the radiosity technique. The balcony types include a standard balcony with or without a ceiling and with various combinations of parapet, ceiling absorption and ceiling shield. A total of 70 balcony and street geometrical configurations are analyzed with each balcony type, resulting in 630 scenarios. In each scenario the reverberation time, speech interference level (SIL) and speech transmission index (STI) are calculated. These indicators are compared to determine trends based on the effects of propagation path, inclusion of opposite buildings and difference with a reference position outside the balcony. The results demonstrate trends in SIL and STI with different balcony types. It is found that an acoustically treated balcony reduces speech interference. A parapet provides the largest improvement, followed by absorption on the ceiling. The largest reductions in speech interference arise when a combination of balcony acoustic treatments are applied.

School-based first aid training and the implications for traffic injury prevention : a randomised controlled trial

Adolescent injury remains a significant public health concern and is often the result of at-risk transport related behaviours. When a person is injured actions taken by bystanders are of crucial importance and timely first aid appears to reduce the severity of some injuries (Hussain & Redmond, 1994). Accordingly, researchers have suggested that first aid training should be more widely available as a potential strategy to reduce injury (Lynch et al., 2006). Further research has identified schools as an ideal setting for learning first aid skills as a means of injury prevention (Maitra, 1997). The current research examines the implications of school based first aid training for young adolescents on injury prevention, particularly relating to transport injuries. First aid training was integrated with peer protection and school connectedness within the Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth (SPIY) program (Buckley & Sheehan, 2009) and evaluated to determine if there was a reduction in the likelihood of transport related injuries at six months post-intervention. In Queensland, Australia, 35 high schools were recruited and randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions in early April 2012. A total of 2,000 Year nine students (mean age 13.5 years, 39% male) completed surveys six months post-intervention in November 2012. Analyses will compare the intervention students with control group students who self-reported i) first aid training with a teacher, professional or other adult and ii) no first aid in the preceding six months. Using the Extended Adolescent Injury Checklist (E-AIC) (Chapman, Buckley & Sheehan, 2011) the transport related injury experiences included being injured while “riding as a passenger in a car”, “driving a car off road” and “riding a bicycle”. It is expected that students taught first aid within SPIY will report significantly fewer transport related injuries in the previous three months, compared to the control groups described above. Analyses will be conducted separately for sex and socio-economic class of schools. Findings from this study will provide insight into the value of first aid in adolescent injury prevention and provide evidence as to whether teaching first aid skills within a school based health education curriculum has traffic safety implications.

A hybrid association rule mining approach for characterizing network traffic behaviour

Understanding network traffic behaviour is crucial for managing and securing computer networks. One important technique is to mine frequent patterns or association rules from analysed traffic data. On the one hand, association rule mining usually generates a huge number of patterns and rules, many of them meaningless or user-unwanted; on the other hand, association rule mining can miss some necessary knowledge if it does not consider the hierarchy relationships in the network traffic data. Aiming to address such issues, this paper proposes a hybrid association rule mining method for characterizing network traffic behaviour. Rather than frequent patterns, the proposed method generates non-similar closed frequent patterns from network traffic data, which can significantly reduce the number of patterns. This method also proposes to derive new attributes from the original data to discover novel knowledge according to hierarchy relationships in network traffic data and user interests. Experiments performed on real network traffic data show that the proposed method is promising and can be used in real applications. Copyright2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Alternative structural design strategies for bridge decks in low traffic volume roads

This research is part of a major project with a stimulus that rose from the need to manage a large number of ageing bridges in low traffic volume roads (LTVR) in Australia. The project investigated, designed and consequently constructed, involved replacing an ageing super-structure of a 10m span bridge with a disused Flat-bed Rail Wagon (FRW). This research, therefore, is developed on the premises that the FRW can be adopted as the main structural system for the bridges in LTVR network. The main focus of this research is to present two alternate deck wearing systems (DWS) as part of the design of the FRW as road bridge deck conforming to AS5100 (2004). The bare FRW structural components were first examined for their adequacy (ultimate and serviceability) in resisting the critical loads specified in AS5100(2004). Two options of DWSs were evaluated and their effects on the FRW examined. The first option involved usage of timber DWS; the idea of this option was to use all the primary and secondary members of the FRW in load sharing and to provide additional members where weaknesses in the original members arose. The second option involved usage of reinforced concrete DWS with only the primary members of the FRW sharing the AS5100 (2004) loading. This option inherently minimised the risk associated with any uncertainty of the secondary members to their structural adequacy. This thesis reports the design phases of both options with conclusions of the selection of the ideal option for better structural performance, ease of construction and cost. The comparison carried out here focuses on the distribution of the traffic load by the FRW as a superstructure. Advantages and disadvantages highlighting cost comparisons and ease of constructability of the two systems are also included.

Effects of air pollution exposure on adult bicycle commuters : an investigation of respiratory health, motorised traffic proximity and the utility of commute re-routing

Bicycle commuting has the potential to be an effective contributing solution to address some of modern society’s biggest issues, including cardiovascular disease, anthropogenic climate change and urban traffic congestion. However, individuals shifting from a passive to an active commute mode may be increasing their potential for air pollution exposure and the associated health risk. This project, consisting of three studies, was designed to investigate the health effects of bicycle commuters in relation to air pollution exposure, in a major city in Australia (Brisbane). The aims of the three studies were to: 1) examine the relationship of in-commute air pollution exposure perception, symptoms and risk management; 2) assess the efficacy of commute re-routing as a risk management strategy by determining the exposure potential profile of ultrafine particles along commute route alternatives of low and high proximity to motorised traffic; and, 3) evaluate the feasibility of implementing commute re-routing as a risk management strategy by monitoring ultrafine particle exposure and consequential physiological response from using commute route alternatives based on real-world circumstances; 3) investigate the potential of reducing exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP; < 0.1 µm) during bicycle commuting by lowering proximity to motorised traffic with real-time air pollution and acute inflammatory measurements in healthy individuals using their typical, and an alternative to their typical, bicycle commute route. The methods of the three studies included: 1) a questionnaire-based investigation with regular bicycle commuters in Brisbane, Australia. Participants (n = 153; age = 41 ± 11 yr; 28% female) reported the characteristics of their typical bicycle commute, along with exposure perception and acute respiratory symptoms, and amenability for using a respirator or re-routing their commute as risk management strategies; 2) inhaled particle counts measured along popular pre-identified bicycle commute route alterations of low (LOW) and high (HIGH) motorised traffic to the same inner-city destination at peak commute traffic times. During commute, real-time particle number concentration (PNC; mostly in the UFP range) and particle diameter (PD), heart and respiratory rate, geographical location, and meteorological variables were measured. To determine inhaled particle counts, ventilation rate was calculated from heart-rate-ventilation associations, produced from periodic exercise testing; 3) thirty-five healthy adults (mean ± SD: age = 39 ± 11 yr; 29% female) completed two return trips of their typical route (HIGH) and a pre-determined altered route of lower proximity to motorised traffic (LOW; determined by the proportion of on-road cycle paths). Particle number concentration (PNC) and diameter (PD) were monitored in real-time in-commute. Acute inflammatory indices of respiratory symptom incidence, lung function and spontaneous sputum (for inflammatory cell analyses) were collected immediately pre-commute, and one and three hours post-commute. The main results of the three studies are that: 1) healthy individuals reported a higher incidence of specific acute respiratory symptoms in- and post- (compared to pre-) commute (p < 0.05). The incidence of specific acute respiratory symptoms was significantly higher for participants with respiratory disorder history compared to healthy participants (p < 0.05). The incidence of in-commute offensive odour detection, and the perception of in-commute air pollution exposure, was significantly lower for participants with smoking history compared to healthy participants (p < 0.05). Females reported significantly higher incidence of in-commute air pollution exposure perception and other specific acute respiratory symptoms, and were more amenable to commute re-routing, compared to males (p < 0.05). Healthy individuals have indicated a higher incidence of acute respiratory symptoms in- and post- (compared to pre-) bicycle commuting, with female gender and respiratory disorder history indicating a comparably-higher susceptibility; 2) total mean PNC of LOW (compared to HIGH) was reduced (1.56 x e4 ± 0.38 x e4 versus 3.06 x e4 ± 0.53 x e4 ppcc; p = 0.012). Total estimated ventilation rate did not vary significantly between LOW and HIGH (43 ± 5 versus 46 ± 9 L•min; p = 0.136); however, due to total mean PNC, accumulated inhaled particle counts were 48% lower in LOW, compared to HIGH (7.6 x e8 ± 1.5 x e8 versus 14.6 x e8 ± 1.8 x e8; p = 0.003); 3) LOW resulted in a significant reduction in mean PNC (1.91 x e4 ± 0.93 x e4 ppcc vs. 2.95 x e4 ± 1.50 x e4 ppcc; p ≤ 0.001). Commute distance and duration were not significantly different between LOW and HIGH (12.8 ± 7.1 vs. 12.0 ± 6.9 km and 44 ± 17 vs. 42 ± 17 mins, respectively). Besides incidence of in-commute offensive odour detection (42 vs. 56 %; p = 0.019), incidence of dust and soot observation (33 vs. 47 %; p = 0.038) and nasopharyngeal irritation (31 vs. 41 %; p = 0.007), acute inflammatory indices were not significantly associated to in-commute PNC, nor were these indices reduced with LOW compared to HIGH. The main conclusions of the three studies are that: 1) the perception of air pollution exposure levels and the amenability to adopt exposure risk management strategies where applicable will aid the general population in shifting from passive, motorised transport modes to bicycle commuting; 2) for bicycle commuting at peak morning commute times, inhaled particle counts and therefore cardiopulmonary health risk may be substantially reduced by decreasing exposure to motorised traffic, which should be considered by both bicycle commuters and urban planners; 3) exposure to PNC, and the incidence of offensive odour and nasopharyngeal irritation, can be significantly reduced when utilising a strategy of lowering proximity to motorised traffic whilst bicycle commuting, without significantly increasing commute distance or duration, which may bring important benefits for both healthy and susceptible individuals. In summary, the findings from this project suggests that bicycle commuters can significantly lower their exposure to ultrafine particle emissions by varying their commute route to reduce proximity to motorised traffic and associated combustion emissions without necessarily affecting their time of commute. While the health endpoints assessed with healthy individuals were not indicative of acute health detriment, individuals with pre-disposing physiological-susceptibility may benefit considerably from this risk management strategy – a necessary research focus with the contemporary increased popularity of both promotion and participation in bicycle commuting.

Effects of free flow state highway traffic parameters on the performance of amplify and forward cooperative multi-hop vehicular networks

In this paper we analyse the effects of highway traffic flow parameters like vehicle arrival rate and density on the performance of Amplify and Forward (AF) cooperative vehicular networks along a multi-lane highway under free flow state. We derive analytical expressions for connectivity performance and verify them with Monte-Carlo simulations. When AF cooperative relaying is employed together with Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) at the receivers the average route error rate shows 10-20 fold improvement compared to direct communication. A 4-8 fold increase in maximum number of traversable hops can also be observed at different vehicle densities when AF cooperative communication is used to strengthen communication routes. However the theorical upper bound of maximum number of hops promises higher performance gains.

Determination of vertical hydraulic conductivity of aquitards in a multilayered leaky system using water-level signals in adjacent aquifers

This paper presents a methodology for determining the vertical hydraulic conductivity (Kv) of an aquitard, in a multilayered leaky system, based on the harmonic analysis of arbitrary water-level fluctuations in aquifers. As a result, Kv of the aquitard is expressed as a function of the phase-shift of water-level signals measured in the two adjacent aquifers. Based on this expression, we propose a robust method to calculate Kv by employing linear regression analysis of logarithm transformed frequencies and phases. The frequencies, where the Kv are calculated, are identified by coherence analysis. The proposed methods are validated by a synthetic case study and are then applied to the Westbourne and Birkhead aquitards, which form part of a five-layered leaky system in the Eromanga Basin, Australia.

Determinants of drink-driving and association between drink-driving and road traffic fatalities in Ghana

Aim The objective is to establish determinants of drink-driving and its association with traffic crashes in Ghana. Methods A multivariable logistic regression was used to establish significant determinants of drink-driving and a bivariate logistic regression to establish the association between drink–driving and road traffic crashes in Ghana. Results In total, 2,736 motorists were randomly stopped for breath testing of whom 8.7% tested positive for alcohol. Among the total participants, 5.5% exceeded the legal BAC limit of 0.08%. Formal education is associated with a reduced likelihood of drink-driving compared with drivers without formal education. The propensity to drink-drive is 1.8 times higher among illiterate drivers compared with drivers with basic education. Young adult drivers also recorded elevated likelihoods for driving under alcohol impairment compared with adult drivers. The odds of drink-driving among truck drivers is OR=1.81, (95% CI=1.16 to 2.82) and two wheeler riders is OR=1.41, (95% CI=0.47 to 4.28) compared with car drivers. Contrary to general perception, commercial car drivers have a significant reduced likelihood of 41%, OR=0.59, (95% CI=0.38 to 0.92) compared with the private car driver. Bivariate analysis conducted showed a significant association between the proportion of drivers exceeding the legal BAC limit and road traffic fatalities, p<0.001. The model predicts a 1% increase in the proportion of drivers exceeding the legal BAC to be associated with a 4% increase in road traffic fatalities, 95% CI= 3% to 5% and vice versa. Conclusion A positive and significant association between roadside alcohol prevalence and road traffic fatality has been established. Scaling up roadside breath test, determining standard drink and disseminating to the populace and formulating policies targeting the youth such as increasing minimum legal drinking age and reduced legal BAC limit for the youth and novice drivers might improve drink-driving related crashes in Ghana.

Traffic density estimation of signalised arterials with stop line detector and probe data

This research aims to develop a reliable density estimation method for signalised arterials based on cumulative counts from upstream and downstream detectors. In order to overcome counting errors associated with urban arterials with mid-link sinks and sources, CUmulative plots and Probe Integration for Travel timE estimation (CUPRITE) is employed for density estimation. The method, by utilizing probe vehicles’ samples, reduces or cancels the counting inconsistencies when vehicles’ conservation is not satisfied within a section. The method is tested in a controlled environment, and the authors demonstrate the effectiveness of CUPRITE for density estimation in a signalised section, and discuss issues associated with the method.

Traffic safety culture : what can we learn from Australia?

-- The role of traffic safety culture in Australia -- A comparison of drink driving (a success story) and speeding (a work in progress) ―Countermeasure approaches ―Community attitudes, perceptions and behaviors -- Lessons from Australia for the further development of the traffic safety culture concept

Empirical evaluation of brisbane macroscopic fundamental diagram

The Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) relates space-mean density and flow, and the existence with dynamic features was confirmed in congested urban network with real data set from loop detectors and taxi probes. Since the MFD represents the area-wide network traffic performances, it gives foundations for perimeter control strategies and an area traffic state estimation enabling area-based network control. However, limited works have been reported on real world example from signalised arterial network. This paper fuses data from multiple sources (Bluetooth, Loops and Signals) and develops a framework for the development of the MFD for Brisbane. Existence of the MFD in Brisbane network is confirmed. Different MFDs (from whole network and several sub regions) are evaluated to discover the spatial partitioning in network performance representation.

Pre-crash traffic flow trend analysis on motorways

Crashes on motorway contribute to a significant proportion (40-50%) of non-recurrent motorway congestions. Hence reduce crashes will help address congestion issues (Meyer, 2008). Crash likelihood estimation studies commonly focus on traffic conditions in a Short time window around the time of crash while longer-term pre-crash traffic flow trends are neglected. In this paper we will show, through data mining techniques, that a relationship between pre-crash traffic flow patterns and crash occurrence on motorways exists, and that this knowledge has the potential to improve the accuracy of existing models and opens the path for new development approaches. The data for the analysis was extracted from records collected between 2007 and 2009 on the Shibuya and Shinjuku lines of the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway in Japan. The dataset includes a total of 824 rear-end and sideswipe crashes that have been matched with traffic flow data of one hour prior to the crash using an incident detection algorithm. Traffic flow trends (traffic speed/occupancy time series) revealed that crashes could be clustered with regards of the dominant traffic flow pattern prior to the crash. Using the k-means clustering method allowed the crashes to be clustered based on their flow trends rather than their distance. Four major trends have been found in the clustering results. Based on these findings, crash likelihood estimation algorithms can be fine-tuned based on the monitored traffic flow conditions with a sliding window of 60 minutes to increase accuracy of the results and minimize false alarms.

Pre-crash and non-crash traffic flow trends analysis on motorways

Crashes that occur on motorways contribute to a significant proportion (40-50%) of non-recurrent motorway congestions. Hence, reducing the frequency of crashes assists in addressing congestion issues (Meyer, 2008). Crash likelihood estimation studies commonly focus on traffic conditions in a short time window around the time of a crash while longer-term pre-crash traffic flow trends are neglected. In this paper we will show, through data mining techniques that a relationship between pre-crash traffic flow patterns and crash occurrence on motorways exists. We will compare them with normal traffic trends and show this knowledge has the potential to improve the accuracy of existing models and opens the path for new development approaches. The data for the analysis was extracted from records collected between 2007 and 2009 on the Shibuya and Shinjuku lines of the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway in Japan. The dataset includes a total of 824 rear-end and sideswipe crashes that have been matched with crashes corresponding to traffic flow data using an incident detection algorithm. Traffic trends (traffic speed time series) revealed that crashes can be clustered with regards to the dominant traffic patterns prior to the crash. Using the K-Means clustering method with Euclidean distance function allowed the crashes to be clustered. Then, normal situation data was extracted based on the time distribution of crashes and were clustered to compare with the “high risk” clusters. Five major trends have been found in the clustering results for both high risk and normal conditions. The study discovered traffic regimes had differences in the speed trends. Based on these findings, crash likelihood estimation models can be fine-tuned based on the monitored traffic conditions with a sliding window of 30 minutes to increase accuracy of the results and minimize false alarms.