Handbook of Simplified Practice for Traffic Studies, November 2002

The Iowa Highway Research Board has identified the development of a simplified handbook of transportation studies as a high priority for the state of Iowa. The Center for Transportation Research and Education (CTRE) at Iowa State University was chosen to develop such a handbook. A well-executed, well-documented study is critical in the decision-making process for many transportation-related projects and in reporting to elected officials and members of the community. As more research is conducted in the area of transportation, study procedures in many cases have become more complex. It is often difficult for local jurisdictions with limited staff, training, experience, and time availability to perform these studies. The most commonly used publication for traffic studies is geared toward transportation professionals and professional engineers. That defining document, Manual of Transportation Studies (Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2000), is over 500 pages and includes several dozen types of transportation studies. Many of the transportation studies described in the manual are rarely (if ever) used by local jurisdictions. Further, those studies that are frequently used are at times very complex and possibly very costly to perform exactly as described. Local jurisdictions without the staff expertise to understand and apply the manual’s various studies have a need for a simplified handbook of procedures to perform common traffic studies themselves or properly define a scope of work to hire a consultant to perform the studies. This handbook describes simplified procedures that are easy to apply and are written for all potential users (civil engineers and traffic engineers, public works mangers, city managers and attorneys, and the general public).

Vehicle Traffic Map, 2010

Vehicle Traffic Map produced by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Truck Traffic Map, 2010

Vehicle Traffic Map produced by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Annual Average Daily Traffic on the Interstate System, 2010

Vehicle Traffic Map produced by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Anthropogenic radionuclides in atmospheric air over Switzerland during the last few decades.

The atmospheric nuclear testing in the 1950s and early 1960s and the burn-up of the SNAP-9A satellite led to large injections of radionuclides into the stratosphere. It is generally accepted that current levels of plutonium and caesium radionuclides in the stratosphere are negligible. Here we show that those radionuclides are present in the stratosphere at higher levels than in the troposphere. The lower content in the troposphere reveals that dry and wet deposition efficiently removes radionuclides within a period of a few weeks to months. Since the stratosphere is thermally stratified and separated from the troposphere by the tropopause, radioactive aerosols remain longer. We estimate a mean residence time for plutonium and caesium radionuclides in the stratosphere of 2.5-5 years. Our results also reveal that strong volcanic eruptions like Eyjafjallajökull in 2010 have an important role in redistributing anthropogenic radionuclides from the stratosphere to the troposphere.

Effect of soil wetness on air composition and nitrous oxide emission in a loam soil

Selostus: Maan märkyyden vaikutus ilman koostumukseen ja dityppioksidiemissioon hiuemaassa

Endocytic and secretory traffic in Arabidopsis merge in the trans-Golgi network/early endosome, an independent and highly dynamic organelle.

Plants constantly adjust their repertoire of plasma membrane proteins that mediates transduction of environmental and developmental signals as well as transport of ions, nutrients, and hormones. The importance of regulated secretory and endocytic trafficking is becoming increasingly clear; however, our knowledge of the compartments and molecular machinery involved is still fragmentary. We used immunogold electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy to trace the route of cargo molecules, including the BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 receptor and the REQUIRES HIGH BORON1 boron exporter, throughout the plant endomembrane system. Our results provide evidence that both endocytic and secretory cargo pass through the trans-Golgi network/early endosome (TGN/EE) and demonstrate that cargo in late endosomes/multivesicular bodies is destined for vacuolar degradation. Moreover, using spinning disc microscopy, we show that TGN/EEs move independently and are only transiently associated with an individual Golgi stack.

Effects of traffic control on the soil physical quality and the cultivation of sugarcane

The cultivation of sugarcane with intensive use of machinery, especially for harvest, induces soil compaction, affecting the crop development. The control of agricultural traffic is an alternative of management in the sector, with a view to preserve the soil physical quality, resulting in increased sugarcane root growth, productivity and technological quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the physical quality of an Oxisol with and without control traffic and the resulting effects on sugarcane root development, productivity and technological quality. The following managements were tested: no traffic control (NTC), traffic control consisting of an adjustment of the track width of the tractor and sugarcane trailer (TC1) and traffic control consisting of an adjustment of the track width of the tractor and trailer and use of an autopilot (TC2). Soil samples were collected (layers 0.00-0.10; 0.10-0.20 and 0.20-0.30 m) in the plant rows, inter-row center and seedbed region, 0.30 m away from the plant row. The productivity was measured with a specific weighing scale. The technological variables of sugarcane were measured in each plot. Soil cores were collected to analyze the root system. In TC2, the soil bulk density and compaction degree were lowest and total porosity and macroporosity highest in the plant row. Soil penetration resistance in the plant row, was less than 2 MPa in TC1 and TC2. Soil aggregation and total organic carbon did not differ between the management systems. The root surface and volume were increased in TC1 and TC2, with higher productivity and sugar yield than under NTC. The sugarcane variables did not differ between the managements. The soil physical quality in the plant row was preserved under management TC1 and TC2, with an improved root development and increases of 18.72 and 20.29 % in productivity and sugar yield, respectively.

Vehicular Traffic Flow Map, 1988

Traffic volumes represented on this map are annual average daily traffic volumes between major traffic generators: highway junctions and cities.

Vehicular Traffic Flow Map, 1990

Traffic volumes represented on this map are annual average daily traffic volumes between major traffic generators: highway junctions and cities.

Vehicular Traffic Flow Map, 1992

Traffic volumes represented on this map are annual average daily traffic volumes between major traffic generators: highway junctions and cities.

Vehicular Traffic Flow Map, 1994

Traffic volumes represented on this map are annual average daily traffic volumes between major traffic generators: highway junctions and cities.

Vehicular Traffic Flow Map, 1996

Traffic volumes represented on this map are annual average daily traffic volumes between major traffic generators: highway junctions and cities.