Sample records for macadam

  1. Preliminary In-Situ Evaluation of an Innovative, Semi-Flexible Pavement Wearing Course Mixture Using Fast Falling Weight Deflectometer

    PubMed Central

    Pratelli, Chiara; Betti, Giacomo; Marradi, Alessandro

    2018-01-01

    In the last forty, years semi-flexible pavements have been successfully employed, especially in those areas subjected to heavy and slow-moving loads. They usually comprise a wearing course of Grouted Macadam, a composite pavement material that provides significant advantages in comparison to both concrete and asphalt pavements. On the other hand, the laying process of this material is a two-stage operation, and the realization complexity leads to long realization times and high initial costs. Therefore, the use of semi-flexible pavements has been limited to some fields of application and areas. Recently, an innovative material has been developed to be used as an alternative to Grouted Macadam for semi-flexible pavement wearing course realization. This material should provide similar or even superior characteristics compared to traditional Grouted Macadam. This will reduce semi-flexible pavement construction time and avoid the need for dividing the laying process. This paper presents an experimental program involving the use of FastFWD, as an APT device, to evaluate in-situ properties and performance of this material. The achieved results regarding the validation of this new material by means of FastFWD appear promising both in terms of the material’s properties and resistance to dynamic load repetitions. PMID:29659543

  2. Preliminary In-Situ Evaluation of an Innovative, Semi-Flexible Pavement Wearing Course Mixture Using Fast Falling Weight Deflectometer.

    PubMed

    Pratelli, Chiara; Betti, Giacomo; Giuffrè, Tullio; Marradi, Alessandro

    2018-04-16

    In the last forty, years semi-flexible pavements have been successfully employed, especially in those areas subjected to heavy and slow-moving loads. They usually comprise a wearing course of Grouted Macadam, a composite pavement material that provides significant advantages in comparison to both concrete and asphalt pavements. On the other hand, the laying process of this material is a two-stage operation, and the realization complexity leads to long realization times and high initial costs. Therefore, the use of semi-flexible pavements has been limited to some fields of application and areas. Recently, an innovative material has been developed to be used as an alternative to Grouted Macadam for semi-flexible pavement wearing course realization. This material should provide similar or even superior characteristics compared to traditional Grouted Macadam. This will reduce semi-flexible pavement construction time and avoid the need for dividing the laying process. This paper presents an experimental program involving the use of FastFWD, as an APT device, to evaluate in-situ properties and performance of this material. The achieved results regarding the validation of this new material by means of FastFWD appear promising both in terms of the material's properties and resistance to dynamic load repetitions.

  3. 71. September 1913 "No. 113. Some of the finished bitulithic ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    71. September 1913 "No. 113. Some of the finished bitulithic or bituminous macadam road after being sanded and rolled, in the foreground. In the middle distance men are applying oil to incomplete section. In the far distance, roller is working on foundation course." - Crater Lake National Park Roads, Klamath Falls, Klamath County, OR

  4. Number of discernible colors for color-deficient observers estimated from the MacAdam limits.

    PubMed

    Perales, Esther; Martínez-Verdú, Francisco Miguel; Linhares, João Manuel Maciel; Nascimento, Sérgio Miguel Cardoso

    2010-10-01

    We estimated the number of colors perceived by color normal and color-deficient observers when looking at the theoretic limits of object-color stimuli. These limits, the optimal color stimuli, were computed for a color normal observer and CIE standard illuminant D65, and the resultant colors were expressed in the CIELAB and DIN99d color spaces. The corresponding color volumes for abnormal color vision were computed using models simulating for normal trichromatic observers the appearance for dichromats and anomalous trichomats. The number of colors perceived in each case was then computed from the color volumes enclosed by the optimal colors also known as MacAdam limits. It was estimated that dichromats perceive less than 1% of the colors perceived by normal trichromats and that anomalous trichromats perceive 50%-60% for anomalies in the medium-wavelength-sensitive and 60%-70% for anomalies in the long-wavelength-sensitive cones. Complementary estimates obtained similarly for the spectral locus of monochromatic stimuli suggest less impairment for color-deficient observers, a fact that is explained by the two-dimensional nature of the locus.

  5. Development of Driver/Vehicle Steering Interaction Models for Dynamic Analysis

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-12-01

    Figure 5-10. The Linearized Single-Unit Vehicle Model ............................... 41 Figure 5-11. Interpretation of the Single-Unit Model...The starting point for the driver modelling research conducted under this project was a linear preview control model originally proposed by MacAdam 1...regardless of its origin, can pass at least the elementary validation test of exhibiting "cross-over model"-like- behavior in the vicinity of its

  6. Implementing home care in Canada: four critical elements.

    PubMed

    Richardson, B

    2000-01-01

    While MacAdam proposes a "national approach to home care#8221; the obstacles to this are well known and substantial. They are the likely cost and the limitations of the federal government s role in healthcare. Building on MacAdam's assessment, this paper outlines four problems embedded in the various home-care service delivery models in Canada: the lack of factual client outcome information to support decision-making, the limited client choice of provider, the perverse incentive of fee for service and the bias against the for-profit provider. The paper proposes that the assessment, classification and measurement of outcomes for every recipient of home-care services be standardized using a proven assessment instrument, such as OASIS-B or MDS-HC, by healthcare professionals certified in its use. The resulting information would be captured in a regional database and available for analysis and research. CIHI would be contracted to manage a national database and to fund the training and certification of assessors. The paper proposes a new service delivery and funding model, utilizing standard client outcome information, different roles for regional health authorities and service providers, and a prospective payment mechanism replacing fee for service. A national home care program may be an elusive dream, but that shouldn't stop experimentation, evaluation and improvement.

  7. Earth observations taken during STS-41D mission.

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-25

    41D-42-023 (30 Aug-5 Sept 1984) --- The Gascoyne River, an intermittent large wash 500 miles north of Perth, Australia, which flows for nearly a thousand miles across the Macadam Plains. The scant water available in this area either is absorbed in the sands and gravel of the watercourse or quickly evaporates. Most water flows beneath the surface, then, giving support to plant root systems and sustaining green vegetation along the watercourses.

  8. The Development and Evaluation of Color Systems for Airborne Applications: Fundamental Visual, Perceptual, and Display Systems Considerations.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-02-01

    Ellipses Derived from Both MacAdam’s Empirically Derived Color Matching Standard Deviation and Stiles’ Line Element Predictions 28 2.1.1.2-9 CIELUV Color...Coordinates 141 2.2.2-3 Derivation of CIE (L*, U*, V*) Coordinates 145 2.2.2-4 Three-Dimensional Representation of CIELUV Colcr Difference Estimates...145 2.2.2-5 Application of CIELUV for Estimating Color Difference on an Electronic Color Display 146 2.2.2-6 Color Performance Envelopes and Optimized

  9. Design of SMA - 13 asphalt mixture ratio on Z3and Z18 of the capital airport

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tian, Shuaituan; Ye, Song; Kong, Fandong

    2017-12-01

    According to the demand of T2 terminal airlines to operate A380 models, to meet the smooth running of the A380 airliner at the west end of the Capital Airport, So Z3 and Z18 taxiway area of the transformation is imperative. According to the design, the upper layer of this project adopts SMA - 13 modified asphalt mastic macadam mixture. We design the SMA-13 modified asphalt mixture on Z3 and Z18 of the capital airport from any respects, including coarse and fine aggregate, filler, asphalt, fiber and anti-rutting agent, and we hope we can find the best SMA-13 modified asphalt mixture.

  10. Liquid filtration properties in gravel foundation of railroad tracks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Strelkov, A.; Teplykh, S.; Bukhman, N.

    2016-08-01

    Railway bed gravel foundation has a constant permanent impact on urban ecology and ground surface. It is only natural that larger objects, such as railway stations, make broader impact. Surface run-off waters polluted by harmful substances existing in railroad track body (ballast section) flow along railroad tracks and within macadam, go down into subterranean ground flow and then enter neighbouring rivers and water basins. This paper presents analytic calculations and characteristics of surface run-off liquid filtration which flows through gravel multiple layers (railroad track ballast section). The authors analyse liquids with various density and viscosity flowing in multi-layer porous medium. The paper also describes liquid stationary and non-stationary weepage into gravel foundation of railroad tracks.

  11. Eigenvectors of optimal color spectra.

    PubMed

    Flinkman, Mika; Laamanen, Hannu; Tuomela, Jukka; Vahimaa, Pasi; Hauta-Kasari, Markku

    2013-09-01

    Principal component analysis (PCA) and weighted PCA were applied to spectra of optimal colors belonging to the outer surface of the object-color solid or to so-called MacAdam limits. The correlation matrix formed from this data is a circulant matrix whose biggest eigenvalue is simple and the corresponding eigenvector is constant. All other eigenvalues are double, and the eigenvectors can be expressed with trigonometric functions. Found trigonometric functions can be used as a general basis to reconstruct all possible smooth reflectance spectra. When the spectral data are weighted with an appropriate weight function, the essential part of the color information is compressed to the first three components and the shapes of the first three eigenvectors correspond to one achromatic response function and to two chromatic response functions, the latter corresponding approximately to Munsell opponent-hue directions 9YR-9B and 2BG-2R.

  12. Computation and visualization of the MacAdam limits for any lightness, hue angle, and light source

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martínez-Verdú, Francisco; Perales, Esther; Chorro, Elisabet; de Fez, Dolores; Viqueira, Valentín; Gilabert, Eduardo

    2007-06-01

    We present a systematic algorithm capable of searching for optimal colors for any lightness L* (between 0 and 100), any illuminant (D65, F2, F7, F11, etc.), and any light source reported by CIE. Color solids are graphed in some color spaces (CIELAB, SVF, DIN99d, and CIECAM02) by horizontal (constant lightness) and transversal (constant hue angle) sections. Color solids plotted in DIN99d and CIECAM02 color spaces look more spherical or homogeneous than the ones plotted in CIELAB and SVF color spaces. Depending on the spectrum of the light source or illuminant, the shape of its color solid and its content (variety of distinguishable colors, with or without color correspondence) change drastically, particularly with sources whose spectrum is discontinuous and/or very peaked, with correlated color temperature lower than 5500 K. This could be used to propose an absolute colorimetric quality index for light sources comparing the volumes of their gamuts, in a uniform color space.

  13. Design of a bituminous mixture for perpetual pavement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gireesh Kumar, S.; Satya, J.; Mittal, Kratagya; Raju, Sridhar

    2018-03-01

    The flexible pavements with a design period of 50 years without requiring major structural rehabilitation and reconstructions are called as perpetual pavements. The present study aims at designing a high modulus Dense Bituminous Macadam (DBM) mixture for perpetual pavements using Industrial Grade (IG) bitumen in combination with Viscosity Grade (VG30) bitumen. Various blending combinations were tried and the ratio of 70:30 for IG: VG30 was found to fulfill the requirements. The modified Marshall hammer was used for the preparation of specimens, as the nominal size of aggregate was 25 mm. A comparative study on DBM mixture with VG30 alone and with IG: VG30 (70:30) was done and the Optimum Binder Contents obtained were 5.0 % and 5.3 % respectively at 4 % air voids. The water sensitivity tests were carried out on the bituminous specimens in accordance with AASHTO T 283 and the Indirect Tensile Strength (ITS) ratio obtained were 80.0 % and 98.3 % respectively for specimens with VG30 and IG: VG30. The stiffness modulus of DBM specimens with IG: VG30 bitumen was 3 times higher than DBM with VG30 bitumen.

  14. Health and safety plan for the removal action at the former YS-860 Firing Ranges, Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    NONE

    1998-04-28

    This health and safety plan sets forth the requirements and procedures to protect the personnel involved in the Lead Source Removal Project at the Former YS-86O Firing Ranges. This project will be conducted in a manner that ensures the protection of the safety and health of workers, the public, and the environment. The purpose of this removal action is to address lead contaminated soil and reduce a potential risk to human health and the environment. This site is an operable unit within the Upper East Fork Poplar Creek watershed. The removal action will contribute to early source actions within themore » watershed. The project will accomplish this through the removal of lead-contaminated soil in the target areas of the two small arms firing ranges. This plan covers the removal actions at the Former YS-86O Firing Ranges. These actions involve the excavation of lead-contaminated soils, the removal of the concrete trench and macadam (asphalt) paths, verification/confirmation sampling, grading and revegetation. The primary hazards include temperature extremes, equipment operation, noise, potential lead exposure, uneven and slippery working surfaces, and insects.« less

  15. Evaluating the uniformity of color spaces and performance of color difference formulae

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lian, Yusheng; Liao, Ningfang; Wang, Jiajia; Tan, Boneng; Liu, Zilong

    2010-11-01

    Using small color difference data sets (Macadam ellipses dataset and RIT-DuPont suprathreshold color difference ellipses dataset), and large color difference data sets (Munsell Renovation Data and OSA Uniform Color Scales dataset), the uniformity of several color spaces and performance of color difference formulae based on these color spaces are evaluated. The color spaces used are CIELAB, DIN99d, IPT, and CIECAM02-UCS. It is found that the uniformity of lightness is better than saturation and hue. Overall, for all these color spaces, the uniformity in the blue area is inferior to the other area. The uniformity of CIECAM02-UCS is superior to the other color spaces for the whole color-difference range from small to large. The uniformity of CIELAB and IPT for the large color difference data sets is better than it for the small color difference data sets, but the DIN99d is opposite. Two common performance factors (PF/3 and STRESS) and the statistical F-test are calculated to test the performance of color difference formula. The results show that the performance of color difference formulae based on these four color spaces is consistent with the uniformity of these color spaces.

  16. Does social support from family and friends work as a buffer against reactions to stressful life events such as terminal cancer?

    PubMed

    Ringdal, Gerd Inger; Ringdal, Kristen; Jordhøy, Marit S; Kaasa, Stein

    2007-03-01

    To examine the relationship between social support and emotional functioning and stress reactions. Our hypothesis is that patients who reported a high degree of social support will experience better emotional functioning and less serious stress reactions than patients with a low degree of social support. The sample was comprised of 434 patients at the Palliative Medicine Unit (PMU), University Hospital of Trondheim in Norway. The patients completed a questionnaire monthly including questions about social support from the MacAdam's Scale, subjective stress measured by the Impact of Event Scale (IES), and emotional functioning measured by the subscale in the EORTC QLQ-30. Although our hypothesis was not supported at the baseline assessment, it was supported at the second assessment, 2 months later. Patients with high social support reported better emotional functioning and less serious stress reactions, in terms of lower scores on the IES avoidance subscale, than patients with a low degree of social support. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESULTS: The mixed findings may indicate that social support has only small effects on emotional functioning and stress reactions. Our results on the second assessment indicate, however, that social support might work as a buffer against reactions toward external stressful events such as terminal cancer.

  17. Autonomous physics-based color learning under daylight

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berube Lauziere, Yves; Gingras, Denis J.; Ferrie, Frank P.

    1999-09-01

    An autonomous approach for learning the colors of specific objects assumed to have known body spectral reflectances is developed for daylight illumination conditions. The main issue is to be able to find these objects autonomously in a set of training images captured under a wide variety of daylight illumination conditions, and to extract their colors to determine color space regions that are representative of the objects' colors and their variations. The work begins by modeling color formation under daylight using the color formation equations and the semi-empirical model of Judd, MacAdam and Wyszecki (CIE daylight model) for representing the typical spectral distributions of daylight. This results in color space regions that serve as prior information in the initial phase of learning which consists in detecting small reliable clusters of pixels having the appropriate colors. These clusters are then expanded by a region growing technique using broader color space regions than those predicted by the model. This is to detect objects in a way that is able to account for color variations which the model cannot due to its limitations. Validation on the detected objects is performed to filter out those that are not of interest and to eliminate unreliable pixel color values extracted from the remaining ones. Detection results using the color space regions determined from color values obtained by this procedure are discussed.

  18. Color Maintenance of LEDs in Laboratory and Field Applications

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Royer, Michael P.; Tuttle, Ralph; Rosenfeld, Scott M.

    Synopsis: To date, consideration for parametric failure of LED products has largely been focused on lumen maintenance. However, color shift is a cause of early failure for some products, and is especially important to consider in certain applications, like museums, where visual appearance is critical. Example data collected by the GATEWAY program for LED lamps installed in museums shows that many have changed color beyond a reasonable tolerance well before their rated lifetime was reached, necessitating replacement. Similar data collected by the CALiPER program between 2008 and 2010 reveals that many early products shifted beyond acceptable tolerances in as littlemore » as a few thousand hours. In contrast, data from the L Prize program illustrates that commercially available LED products can have exemplary color stability that is unmatched by traditional light sources. Beyond presenting data from the aforementioned DOE programs, this report discusses the metrics used for communicating color shift—namely MacAdam ellipses and Δu'v'—as well as providing guidance for end users on how to monitor color shift and what to look for in manufacturer warranties. Also included are descriptions of the physical changes that have been documented as leading to color shift in some example types of LED packages. As with complete products, the data presented herein for LED packages shows that a wide variety of products are available; in order for specifiers and consumers to make educated choices, more detailed and standardized information should be made available.« less

  19. Development and evaluation of a critical care e-learning scenario.

    PubMed

    Tait, Michael; Tait, Desiree; Thornton, Frances; Edwards, Mark

    2008-11-01

    This paper describes the development and evaluation of a critical care e-learning scenario for student nurses. At present, there are insufficient opportunities in the United Kingdom (UK) for student nurses to experience clinical placements where their skills in care of the critically-ill can be developed. There is therefore a need for new learning materials that help learners recognise the signs of clinical deterioration and rehearse the management of critically-ill patients. One way of meeting this need is by using electronic care scenarios. Several electronic care scenarios have been developed at Swansea University as part of the eWARD project. This article describes the design and evaluation of a critical care scenario that follows the care of a road casualty (John Macadam) after admission to an intensive care unit. The scenario was designed by an advisory team comprising a clinical lecturer and e-learning specialists. After using the scenario, 144 nursing students completed a Web-based questionnaire that collected demographic and attitudinal data for analysis using SPSS. Nursing students had a strongly positive attitude to the scenario with median scores in excess of 20 compared to maxima of 25 for scales measuring ease-of-use, interactivity, realism and confidence. None of the demographic data collected had a significant effect on these attitudes. The positive attitude of student nurses to this scenario strongly supports its use to help learners to (1) acquire knowledge and awareness when real life placements in these settings are not available and (2) extend their knowledge after coming across similar situations in practice.

  20. Psychophysical Evaluation of Congenital Colour Vision Deficiency: Discrimination between Protans and Deutans Using Mollon-Reffin’s Ellipses and the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue Test

    PubMed Central

    Bento-Torres, Natáli Valim Oliver; Rodrigues, Anderson Raiol; Côrtes, Maria Izabel Tentes; Bonci, Daniela Maria de Oliveira; Ventura, Dora Fix

    2016-01-01

    We have used the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue (FM 100) test and Mollon-Reffin (MR) test to evaluate the colour vision of 93 subjects, 30.4 ± 9.7 years old, who had red-green congenital colour vision deficiencies. All subjects lived in Belém (State of Pará, Brazil) and were selected by the State of Pará Traffic Department. Selection criteria comprised the absence of visual dysfunctions other than Daltonism and no history of systemic diseases that could impair the visual system performance. Results from colour vision deficient were compared with those from 127 normal trichromats, 29.3 ± 10.3 years old. For the MR test, measurements were taken around five points of the CIE 1976 colour space, along 20 directions irradiating from each point, in order to determine with high-resolution the corresponding colour discrimination ellipses (MacAdam ellipses). Three parameters were used to compare results obtained from different subjects: diameter of circle with same ellipse area, ratio between ellipse’s long and short axes, and ellipse long axis angle. For the FM 100 test, the parameters were: logarithm of the total number of mistakes and positions of mistakes in the FM diagram. Data were also simultaneously analysed in two or three dimensions as well as by using multidimensional cluster analysis. For the MR test, Mollon-Reffin Ellipse #3 (u’ = 0.225, v’ = 0.415) discriminated more efficiently than the other four ellipses between protans and deutans once it provided larger angular difference in the colour space between protan and deutan confusion lines. The MR test was more sensitive than the FM 100 test. It separated individuals by dysfunctional groups with greater precision, provided a more sophisticated quantitative analysis, and its use is appropriate for a more refined evaluation of different phenotypes of red-green colour vision deficiencies. PMID:27101124

  1. An integrated material metabolism model for stocks of urban road system in Beijing, China.

    PubMed

    Guo, Zhen; Hu, Dan; Zhang, Fuhua; Huang, Guolong; Xiao, Qiang

    2014-02-01

    Rapid urbanization has greatly altered the urban metabolism of material and energy. As a significant part of the infrastructure, urban roads are being rapidly developed worldwide. Quantitative analysis of metabolic processes on urban road systems, especially the scale, composition and spatial distribution of their stocks, could help to assess the resource appropriation and potential environmental impacts, as well as improve urban metabolism models. In this paper, an integrated model, which covered all types of roads, intersection structures and ancillary facilities, was built for calculating the material stocks of urban road systems. Based on a bottom-up method, the total stocks were disassembled into a number of stock parts rather than obtained by input-output data, which provided an approach promoting data availability and inner structure understanding. The combination with GIS enabled the model to tackle the complex structures of road networks and avoid double counting. In the case study of Beijing, the following results are shown: 1) The total stocks for the entire road system reached 159 million tons, of which nearly 80% was stored in roads, and 20% in ancillary facilities. 2) Macadam was the largest stock (111 million tons), while stone mastic asphalt, polyurethane plastics, and atactic polypropylene accounted for smaller components of the overall system. 3) The stock per unit area of pedestrian overcrossing was higher than that of the other stock units in the entire system, and its steel stocks reached 0.49 t/m(2), which was 10 times as high as that in interchanges. 4) The high stock areas were mainly distributed in ring-shaped and radial expressways, as well as in major interchanges. 5) Expressways and arterials were excessively emphasized, while minor roads were relatively ignored. However, the variation of cross-sectional thickness in branches and neighborhood roads will have a significant impact on the scale of material stocks in the entire road system. © 2013.

  2. Psychophysical Evaluation of Congenital Colour Vision Deficiency: Discrimination between Protans and Deutans Using Mollon-Reffin's Ellipses and the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue Test.

    PubMed

    Bento-Torres, Natáli Valim Oliver; Rodrigues, Anderson Raiol; Côrtes, Maria Izabel Tentes; Bonci, Daniela Maria de Oliveira; Ventura, Dora Fix; Silveira, Luiz Carlos de Lima

    2016-01-01

    We have used the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue (FM 100) test and Mollon-Reffin (MR) test to evaluate the colour vision of 93 subjects, 30.4 ± 9.7 years old, who had red-green congenital colour vision deficiencies. All subjects lived in Belém (State of Pará, Brazil) and were selected by the State of Pará Traffic Department. Selection criteria comprised the absence of visual dysfunctions other than Daltonism and no history of systemic diseases that could impair the visual system performance. Results from colour vision deficient were compared with those from 127 normal trichromats, 29.3 ± 10.3 years old. For the MR test, measurements were taken around five points of the CIE 1976 colour space, along 20 directions irradiating from each point, in order to determine with high-resolution the corresponding colour discrimination ellipses (MacAdam ellipses). Three parameters were used to compare results obtained from different subjects: diameter of circle with same ellipse area, ratio between ellipse's long and short axes, and ellipse long axis angle. For the FM 100 test, the parameters were: logarithm of the total number of mistakes and positions of mistakes in the FM diagram. Data were also simultaneously analysed in two or three dimensions as well as by using multidimensional cluster analysis. For the MR test, Mollon-Reffin Ellipse #3 (u' = 0.225, v' = 0.415) discriminated more efficiently than the other four ellipses between protans and deutans once it provided larger angular difference in the colour space between protan and deutan confusion lines. The MR test was more sensitive than the FM 100 test. It separated individuals by dysfunctional groups with greater precision, provided a more sophisticated quantitative analysis, and its use is appropriate for a more refined evaluation of different phenotypes of red-green colour vision deficiencies.

  3. High-Functioning Wetland Formed Atop Abandoned Pavement in Eutrophic Reservoir Watershed

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Clifford, C.; Heffernan, J. B.

    2017-12-01

    Water scientists and managers regularly observe how wetlands, whether natural or created, can mitigate the influence of artificial impervious surfaces on water quality. However, we rarely study or mention wetlands accidentally (sensu Palta et al. 2017) formed atop impervious surfaces. This silence occurs even though many urbanites have likely noticed sedges rimming a clogged drainage grate or in the low bits of a poorly graded or aging parking lot, or similar. A more extreme example occurs in the Little River Waterfowl Impoundment vicinity of the Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Land in Durham, North Carolina. There, a macadam road that connected local residents and a store, and served as the primary route through the area, by 1910-1920, was apparently abandoned by 1951. Later, damming nearby downstream Falls Lake Reservoir in 1981, and smaller-scale construction locally, apparently increased water table depth and flow exposure. Yet, the road remains largely intact structurally, though mostly buried and sometimes underwater. In a particularly wet segment of the road, surrounded by and partially holding back standing water even in drought, a substantial, mostly native wetland plant community has formed. This community includes trees such as overcup oak (Quercus lyrata) as large as 15 cm in diameter, shrubs such as (Cephalanthus occidentalus), sedges such as woolgrass (Scirpus cyperinus), rushes (multiple Juncus species), grasses such as wood oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), crayfish and fish, and multiple orders of herptiles. The plants grow rooted in fluffy sediment three to rarely more than 20cm deep, over solid pavement. Alongside the old road, the ditches have widened and become shallower and less surficially connected through tree roots and debris dams; they resemble pools. Sediment in these abandoned ditches has accumulated to depths of tens of centimeters, generally reforming a clay-dominated, gleyed soil, in some places buried under more tens of centimeters of very low-density particulate organic matter. How this old road and its ditches has apparently "naturalized," in spite of the pavement's continued existence, suggests that even abandoned pavement within urban matrices could grow to improve water quality. This possibility raises many new questions, and maybe later new options.

  4. Color Discrimination Is Affected by Modulation of Luminance Noise in Pseudoisochromatic Stimuli

    PubMed Central

    Cormenzana Méndez, Iñaki; Martín, Andrés; Charmichael, Teaire L.; Jacob, Mellina M.; Lacerda, Eliza M. C. B.; Gomes, Bruno D.; Fitzgerald, Malinda E. C.; Ventura, Dora F.; Silveira, Luiz C. L.; O'Donell, Beatriz M.; Souza, Givago S.

    2016-01-01

    Pseudoisochromatic stimuli have been widely used to evaluate color discrimination and to identify color vision deficits. Luminance noise is one of the stimulus parameters used to ensure that subject's response is due to their ability to discriminate target stimulus from the background based solely on the hue between the colors that compose such stimuli. We studied the influence of contrast modulation of the stimulus luminance noise on threshold and reaction time color discrimination. We evaluated color discrimination thresholds using the Cambridge Color Test (CCT) at six different stimulus mean luminances. Each mean luminance condition was tested using two protocols: constant absolute difference between maximum and minimum luminance of the luminance noise (constant delta protocol, CDP), and constant contrast modulation of the luminance noise (constant contrast protocol, CCP). MacAdam ellipses were fitted to the color discrimination thresholds in the CIE 1976 color space to quantify the color discrimination ellipses at threshold level. The same CDP and CCP protocols were applied in the experiment measuring RTs at three levels of stimulus mean luminance. The color threshold measurements show that for the CDP, ellipse areas decreased as a function of the mean luminance and they were significantly larger at the two lowest mean luminances, 10 cd/m2 and 13 cd/m2, compared to the highest one, 25 cd/m2. For the CCP, the ellipses areas also decreased as a function of the mean luminance, but there was no significant difference between ellipses areas estimated at six stimulus mean luminances. The exponent of the decrease of ellipse areas as a function of stimulus mean luminance was steeper in the CDP than CCP. Further, reaction time increased linearly with the reciprocal of the length of the chromatic vectors varying along the four chromatic half-axes. It decreased as a function of stimulus mean luminance in the CDP but not in the CCP. The findings indicated that visual performance using pseudoisochromatic stimuli was dependent on the Weber's contrast of the luminance noise. Low Weber's contrast in the luminance noise is suggested to have a reduced effect on chromatic information and, hence, facilitate desegregation of the hue-defined target from the background. PMID:27458404

  5. Design approaches in quarrying and pit-mining reclamation

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Arbogast, Belinda F.

    1999-01-01

    Reclaimed mine sites have been evaluated so that the public, industry, and land planners may recognize there are innovative designs available for consideration and use. People tend to see cropland, range, and road cuts as a necessary part of their everyday life, not as disturbed areas despite their high visibility. Mining also generates a disturbed landscape, unfortunately one that many consider waste until reclaimed by human beings. The development of mining provides an economic base and use of a natural resource to improve the quality of human life. Equally important is a sensitivity to the geologic origin and natural pattern of the land. Wisely shaping out environment requires a design plan and product that responds to a site's physiography, ecology, function, artistic form, and publication perception. An examination of selected sites for their landscape design suggested nine approaches for mining reclamation. The oldest design approach around is nature itself. Humans may sometimes do more damage going to an area in the attempt to repair it. Given enough geologic time, a small-site area, and stable adjacent ecosystems, disturbed areas recover without mankind's input. Visual screens and buffer zones conceal the facility in a camouflage approach. Typically, earth berms, fences, and plantings are used to disguise the mining facility. Restoration targets social or economic benefits by reusing the site for public amenities, most often in urban centers with large populations. A mitigation approach attempts to protect the environment and return mined areas to use with scientific input. The reuse of cement, building rubble, macadam meets only about 10% of the demand from aggregate. Recognizing the limited supply of mineral resources and encouraging recycling efforts are steps are steps in a renewable resource approach. An educative design approach effectively communicates mining information through outreach, land stewardship, and community service. Mine sites used for art show a celebration of beauty and experience -- abstract geology. The last design approach combines art and science in a human-nature ecosystem termed integration. With environmental concerns, an operating or reclaimed mine site can no longer be considered isolated from its surroundings. Site analysis of mine works needs to go beyond site-specific information and relate to the regional context of the greater landscape. Understanding design approach can turn undesirable features (mines and pits) into something perceived as desirable by the public.

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