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.

Transient air flow and heat transfer in a triangular enclosure with a conducting partition

Numerical investigation is carried out for natural convection heat transfer in an isosceles triangular enclosure partitioned in the centre by a vertical wall with infinite conductivity. A sudden temperature difference between two zones of the enclosure has been imposed to trigger the natural convection. As a result, heat is transferred between both sides of the enclosure through the conducting vertical wall with natural convection boundary layers forming adjacent to the middle partition and two inclined surfaces. The Finite Volume based software, Ansys 14.5 (Fluent) is used for the numerical simulations. The numerical results are obtained for different values of aspect ratio, A (0.2, 0.5 and 1.0) and Rayleigh number, Ra (10^5 <= Ra <= 10^8) for a fixed Prandtl number, Pr = 0.72 of air. It is anticipated from the numerical simulations that the coupled thermal boundary layers development adjacent to the partition undergoes several distinct stages including an initial stage, a transitional stage and a steady stage. Time dependent features of the coupled thermal boundary layers as well as the overall natural convection flow in the partitioned enclosure have been discussed in this study.

Visualising experimental flow fields through a stormwater gross pollutant trap

Abstract An experimental dataset representing a typical flow field in a stormwater gross pollutant trap (GPT) was visualised. A technique was developed to apply the image-based flow visualisation (IBFV) algorithm to the raw dataset. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) software was previously used to capture the flow field data by tracking neutrally buoyant particles with a high speed camera. The dataset consisted of scattered 2D point velocity vectors and the IBFV visualisation facilitates flow feature characterisation within the GPT. The flow features played a pivotal role in understanding stormwater pollutant capture and retention behaviour within the GPT. It was found that the IBFV animations revealed otherwise unnoticed flow features and experimental artefacts. For example, a circular tracer marker in the IBFV program visually highlighted streamlines to investigate the possible flow paths of pollutants entering the GPT. The investigated flow paths were compared with the behaviour of pollutants monitored during experiments.

Policing Transnational Organized Crime and Corruption : Exploring the Role of Communication Interception Technology

Technology has advanced in such a manner that the world can now communicate in means previously never thought possible. These new technologies have not been overlooked by transnational organized crime groups and networks of corruption, and have been exploited for criminal success. This text explores the use of communication interception technology (CIT), such as phone taps or email interception, and its potential to cause serious disruption to these criminal enterprises. Exploring the placement of communication interception technology within differing policing frameworks, and how they integrate in a practical manner, the authors demonstrate that CIT is best placed within a proactive, intelligence-led policing framework. They also indicate that if law enforcement agencies in Western countries are serious about fighting transnational organized crime and combating corruption, there is a need to re-evaluate the constraints of interception technology, and the sceptical culture that surrounds intelligence in policing. Policing Transnational Organized Crime and Corruption will appeal to scholars of Law, Criminal Justice and Police Science as well as intelligence analysts and police and security intelligence professionals.

Integrated Lean Six Sigma approach for patient flow improvement in hospital emergency department

Because of increased competition between healthcare providers, higher customer expectations, stringent checks on insurance payments and new government regulations, it has become vital for healthcare organisations to enhance the quality of the care they provide, to increase efficiency, and to improve the cost effectiveness of their services. Consequently, a number of quality management concepts and tools are employed in the healthcare domain to achieve the most efficient ways of using time, manpower, space and other resources. Emergency departments are designed to provide a high-quality medical service with immediate availability of resources to those in need of emergency care. The challenge of maintaining a smooth flow of patients in emergency departments is a global problem. This study attempts to improve the patient flow in emergency departments by considering Lean techniques and Six Sigma methodology in a comprehensive conceptual framework. The proposed research will develop a systematic approach through integration of Lean techniques with Six Sigma methodology to improve patient flow in emergency departments. The results reported in this paper are based on a standard questionnaire survey of 350 patients in the Emergency Department of Aseer Central Hospital in Saudi Arabia. The results of the study led us to determine the most significant variables affecting patient satisfaction with patient flow, including waiting time during patient treatment in the emergency department; effectiveness of the system when dealing with the patient’s complaints; and the layout of the emergency department. The proposed model will be developed within a performance evaluation metric based on these critical variables, to be evaluated in future work within fuzzy logic for continuous quality improvement.

Purposes of transnational higher education programs : lessons from two Indonesian universities

While intended to facilitate knowledge transfer from international universities and develop Indonesian universities’ capacity, transnational higher education programs (TEPs) in Indonesia have been criticised for operating merely as an international trade in education – implying discrepancy between the rhetoric and reality surrounding the key purposes for establishing TEPs among Indonesian universities. This case study seeks to ascertain what actually drives Indonesian universities to operate the TEPs. Interview and document data from two private Indonesian universities were thematically analysed to identify the key purposes for establishing TEPs in light of the conflicting global–national–local agendas and unequal power relations between TEP partners. The findings suggest the Indonesian universities actively advanced their particular institutional purposes within the Indonesian national agenda and negotiate mutually beneficial outcomes with their global partners. This study informs other universities to devise clear purposes and expectations in managing TEPs to avoid functioning merely as student recruitment pathways for international partners.

Communication Interception Technology (CIT) and its use in the fight against Transnational Organised Crime (TOC) in Australia : a review of the literature

In recent times, technology has advanced in such a manner that the world can now communicate in means previously never thought possible. Transnational organised crime groups, who have exploited these new technologies as basis for their criminal success, however, have not overlooked this development, growth and globalisation. Law enforcement agencies have been confronted with an unremitting challenge as they endeavour to intercept, monitor and analyse these communications as a means of disrupting the activities of criminal enterprises. The challenge lies in the ability to recognise and change tactics to match an increasingly sophisticated adversary. The use of communication interception technology, such as phone taps or email interception, is a tactic that when used appropriately has the potential to cause serious disruption to criminal enterprises. Despite the research that exists on CIT and TOC, these two bodies of knowledge rarely intersect. This paper builds on current literature, drawing them together to provide a clearer picture of the use of CIT in an enforcement and intelligence capacity. It provides a review of the literature pertaining to TOC, the structure of criminal enterprises and the vulnerability of communication used by these crime groups. Identifying the current contemporary models of policing it reviews intelligence-led policing as the emerging framework for modern policing. Finally, it assesses the literature concerning CIT, its uses within Australia and the limitations and arguments that exist. In doing so, this paper provides practitioners with a clearer picture of the use, barriers and benefits of using CIT in the fight against TOC. It helps to bridge the current gaps in modern policing theory and offers a perspective that can help drive future research.

Correlating flow induced shear stress and chondrocytes activity in micro-porous scaffold using computational fluid dynamics and rapid prototyping

Flow induced shear stress plays an important role in regulating cell growth and distribution in scaffolds. This study sought to correlate wall shear stress and chondrocytes activity for engineering design of micro-porous osteochondral grafts based on the hypothesis that it is possible to capture and discriminate between the transmitted force and cell response at the inner irregularities. Unlike common tissue engineering therapies with perfusion bioreactors in which flow-mediated stress is the controlling parameter, this work assigned the associated stress as a function of porosity to influence in vitro proliferation of chondrocytes. D-optimality criterion was used to accommodate three pore characteristics for appraisal in a mixed level fractional design of experiment (DOE); namely, pore size (4 levels), distribution pattern (2 levels) and density (3 levels). Micro-porous scaffolds (n=12) were fabricated according to the DOE using rapid prototyping of an acrylic-based bio-photopolymer. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models were created correspondingly and used on an idealized boundary condition with a Newtonian fluid domain to simulate the dynamic microenvironment inside the pores. In vitro condition was reproduced for the 3D printed constructs seeded by high pellet densities of human chondrocytes and cultured for 72 hours. The results showed that cell proliferation was significantly different in the constructs (p<0.05). Inlet fluid velocity of 3×10-2mms-1 and average shear stress of 5.65×10-2 Pa corresponded with increased cell proliferation for scaffolds with smaller pores in hexagonal pattern and lower densities. Although the analytical solution of a Poiseuille flow inside the pores was found insufficient for the description of the flow profile probably due to the outside flow induced turbulence, it showed that the shear stress would increase with cell growth and decrease with pore size. This correlation demonstrated the basis for determining the relation between the induced stress and chondrocyte activity to optimize microfabrication of engineered cartilaginous constructs.

Mathematical modelling of counter flow v-grove solar air collector

Double-pass counter flow v-grove collector is considered one of the most efficient solar air-collectors. In this design of the collector, the inlet air initially flows at the top part of the collector and changes direction once it reaches the end of the collector and flows below the collector to the outlet. A mathematical model is developed for this type of collector and simulation is carried out using MATLAB programme. The simulation results were verified with three distinguished research results and it was found that the simulation has the ability to predict the performance of the air collector accurately as proven by the comparison of experimental data with simulation. The difference between the predicted and experimental results is, at maximum, approximately 7% which is within the acceptable limit considering some uncertainties in the input parameter values to allow comparison. A parametric study was performed and it was found that solar radiation, inlet air temperature, flow rate and length have a significant effect on the efficiency of the air collector. Additionally, the results are compared with single flow V-groove collector.

Transnational Whiteness Matters

"The collection contributes to transnational whiteness debates through theoretically informed readings of historical and contemporary texts by established and emerging scholars in the field of critical whiteness studies. From a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, the book traces continuity and change in the cultural production of white virtue within texts, from the proud colonial moment through to neoliberalism and the global war on terror in the twenty-first century. Read together, these chapters convey a complex understanding of how transnational whiteness travels and manifests itself within different political and cultural contexts. Some chapters address political, legal and constitutional aspects of whiteness while others explore media representations and popular cultural texts and practices. The book also contains valuable historical studies documenting how whiteness is insinuated within the texts produced, circulated and reproduced in specific cultural and national locations."--Google eBook

Joseph Maiden and the national and transnational circulation of Wattle Acacia spp

During the nineteenth century and in the early years of the twentieth century wattle was circulated by botanists, botanical institutions, interested individuals, commercial seedsmen and government authorities. Wattle bark was used in the production of leather and was the subject of debate regarding its commercial development and conservation in Australia. It was also trialled in many other locations including America, New Zealand, Hawaii and Russia. In the process, South Africa became a major producer of wattle bark for a global market. At the same time wattle was also promoted as a symbol of Australian nationalism. This paper considers this movement of wattles, wattle material and wattle information by examining the career of one active agent in these botanical transfers: Joseph Maiden. In doing so it demonstrates that these seemingly different uses of the wattle overlap transnational and national spheres.

Prickly pear land : transnational networks in settler Australia

The story of prickly pear in Australia is usually told as a tale of triumphant scientific intervention into an environmental disaster. Instead, this unarticle considers it as a transnational network in order to better understand the myriad of elements that made this event so important. Through this methodology emerges the complex nature of prickly pear land that included people, places, ideas, rhetoric and objects that traveled from all over the world into settler Australia.

The geography of travel journalism : mapping the flow of travel stories about foreign countries

While the study of foreign news flows has received considerable attention from communication scholars for quite some time, it has typically focused on political or ‘hard’ news, at the expense of other types of journalistic content. This article argues that, as the foreign news hole is shrinking, travel journalism is becoming an increasingly important source of information about foreign countries in the news media. It reports the results of a comparative study of newspaper travel sections in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK, and argues that travel journalism often replicates the imbalances found in foreign news flows. Well-known factors – such as regionalism, powerful nations, cultural proximity, the role played by big neighbours and the diversity of coverage – are also powerful determinants in travel journalism. At the same time, a country’s tourist behaviour also plays a role but is often overshadowed by other factors.

Go with the flow : optimal AUV path planning in coastal environments

This paper describes a novel optimum path planning strategy for long duration AUV operations in environments with time-varying ocean currents. These currents can exceed the maximum achievable speed of the AUV, as well as temporally expose obstacles. In contrast to most other path planning strategies, paths have to be defined in time as well as space. The solution described here exploits ocean currents to achieve mission goals with minimal energy expenditure, or a tradeoff between mission time and required energy. The proposed algorithm uses a parallel swarm search as a means to reduce the susceptibility to large local minima on the complex cost surface. The performance of the optimisation algorithms is evaluated in simulation and experimentally with the Starbug AUV using a validated ocean model of Brisbane’s Moreton Bay.