Systematic review, evaluation and comparison of different approaches for the implementation of road network safety analysis.

Introduction: Road safety is still a major issue all around the world. The capability to analyze the road network and identify high risk sections is crucial in road safety management. Therefore, it is essential for road administrations, practitioners, and researcher to have a clear and practical framework of the available road network safety analysis procedures. The aim of this study is to provide such a framework by carrying out an exhaustive analysis of the main procedures available all around the world. Method: The proposed literature review has started considering a web search on Web of Science (WoS). Then, a systematic review of each publication has been carried out using the Bibliometrix software, to identify the main characteristics of the publications within the specific topic. Then, the most relevant and widespread safety analysis procedures have been considered and the following aspects have been analyzed: the type of approach (crash analysis, crash prediction models procedures, based on road safety inspections, etc.), which and how many data are required (crashes, traffic, visual inspections, geometrical data, etc.), which is the effectiveness of the procedure, and which are the segmentation criteria used (fixed length, variable length based on geometry, traffic, etc.). Results: Ten different procedures for road network safety analysis have been considered for detailed analysis. The research findings highlight that each procedure has its own pros and cons. Conclusions: The choice of the best procedure to use is highly related to the characteristics of the road network that need to be analyzed, to the availability of data, and to the main elements the Road Authorities (RA) wants to give priority to. Practical applications: This collection and review of different procedures will be of great interest for RAs, practitioners, and researchers in the process of selecting the most useful procedure to use to carry out a road network safety analysis.

Training in Vascular Microsurgery: The Ex Vivo Biological Model on Domestic Turkey Leg (Meleagris gallopavo).

There are various models for practicing microsurgical anastomoses, from synthetic to ex vivo and in vivo biological ones. In this study, we present the domestic turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) as an ex vivo biological model in the practice of surgical anastomoses. In our opinion, it represents a model that is very similar to a human one, low cost, and easy to find. In fact, our study shows that the diameters of the arteries and veins used for anastomoses (tibial artery diameter: 2.5 ±â€…0.6 mm; tibial vein diameter: 3.5 ±â€…1.2 mm) are similar to those of human arteries and veins most frequently used in microsurgical free flaps. So, we believe that this animal model is a great model for microsurgical training for doctors who approach this difficult and long to learn discipline.

Squamous Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity in Patient with Fanconi Anemia: A Challenging Reconstruction with Double-barrel Free Fibula Flap Case Report.

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a very rare form of aplastic anemia. Patients with FA have a higher risk of developing solid tumors such as head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, higher risk of local recurrence, and impaired resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments than the normal population. In this article, we describe the challenging clinical case of a patient with FA who underwent surgery for the removal of a large squamous cell carcinoma in the oral cavity. Mandibular reconstruction was performed using a biaxial double-barrel fibular flap, with excellent functional aesthetic outcomes.

Transferability of the highway safety manual freeway model to EU countries.

INTRODUCTION: In roadway safety management processes, Accident Prediction Models (APMs) represent the best available tools to analyse potential safety issues, to identify safety improvements and to estimate the potential effect of these improvements in terms of crash reduction. The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) provides consistent predictive methods for estimating the predicted average crash frequency, but an appropriate calibration is necessary to use them in contexts different from the ones where they were developed. METHOD: The present study provides a contribution in this field of research providing a European APM based on the one proposed by HSM and introducing a new methodology to transfer the HSM to different European rural freeways. Specifically, a new set of jurisdiction-specific (JS) base safety performance functions (SPFs) have been developed as a function of annual average daily traffic volume and roadway segment length, considering JS base conditions specific for each different national network, different from the HSM base conditions. These new SPFs were then used for the calibration of the full models, and the results compared with those obtained applying the HSM predictive model. This allows to evaluate the potential benefits of calibrating jurisdiction-specific base SPFs, with different base conditions. RESULTS: The results showed that the local SPFs development approach allowed to obtain a better fit than the HSM predictive model for the analysed European countries. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the development of jurisdiction-specific base SPFs will offer more suitable APMs for countries that differ from the USA, thus a more reliable prediction could be obtained by applying this procedure. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The use of JS SPFs allowed developing European APMs based on those proposed by HSM but applicable to different conditions. This represents a useful starting point for further analysis and improvements in accident prediction modelling.

Safety effects of automated section speed control on the Italian motorway network.

INTRODUCTION: Automated Section Speed Control (ASSC) has been identified as an effective countermeasure to reduce speeds and improve speed limit compliance. METHOD: An Empirical Bayes (EB) before-and-after study was performed in this research in order to evaluate the impact of the ASSC system on the expected crash frequency. The study was carried out on a sample of 125 ASSC sites of the Italian motorway network covering 1252 km, where a total of 21,721 crashes were recorded during a 10-year analysis period from 2004 to 2013. RESULTS: Overall, the EB analysis estimated a significant 22% reduction in the expected crash frequency due to the implementation of the ASSC system. The analysis indicated that the effect is slightly larger on property damage only (PDO) crashes (-23%) than on fatal injury (FI) crashes (-18%) and that the highest reductions in crash frequency are expected for multi-vehicle FI crashes (-25%) and multi-vehicle PDO crashes (-31%). Furthermore, the results indicated that the ASSC system is more effective in reducing crash rates when traffic volume increases and it is therefore strongly recommended as a countermeasure to improve safety on high-traffic-volume motorway sections.

Development of an accident prediction model for Italian freeways.

The roadway safety management process plays an important role in the national efforts for improving road safety along the Italian freeway network. In 2016, 8.3% of the overall Italian road deaths and 6.3% of the overall road injuries occurred along the 6700 km-long freeway network. Accident Prediction Models (APMs) represent one of the best tools to perform a road safety quantitative assessment. With the aim of providing the Italian freeway agencies with a tool that allows to deal with potential safety issues, this paper defines two APMs for single- and multiple-vehicle fatal-and-injury crashes to be applied on Italian rural freeway segments, based on jurisdictional specific Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) developed in the PRACT project. The proposed procedure is based on the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) approach, and it introduces a new methodology to transfer the HSM to European motorways. In order to improve the prediction accuracy, the proposed APMs consist in a jurisdictional specific base SPF, developed for the base data set as a function of Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) and segment length, combined with Crash Modification Factors (CMFs), in order to account for differences between each site and the base conditions. The full models are then calibrated based on the total number of accidents observed in the wide data set. For both full models (one for single-vehicle and one for multiple-vehicle crashes), the goodness of fit is evaluated in terms of chi square test, root mean square error, observed Vs predicted diagram and predicted Vs residual diagram. The results show a good aptitude of both models to describe the analysis data set. The proposed models represent a solid and reliable tool for practitioners to perform accident predictions along the Italian freeway network.

Role of working memory, inhibition, and fluid intelligence in the performance of the Tower of London task.

We investigated the relationship between verbal and visuo-spatial measures of working memory, inhibition, fluid intelligence and the performance on the Tower of London (ToL) task in a large sample of 830 healthy participants aged between 18 and 71 years. We found that fluid intelligence and visuo-spatial working memory accounted for a significant variance in the ToL task, while performances on verbal working memory and on the Stroop Test were not predictive for performance on the ToL. The present results confirm that fluid intelligence has a fundamental role on planning tests, but also show that visuo-spatial working memory plays a crucial role in ToL performance.

Speed behaviour in work zone crossovers. A driving simulator study.

Reductions in speed and, more critically, in speed variability between vehicles are considered an important factor to reduce crash risk in work zones. This study was designed to evaluate in a virtual environment the drivers' behaviour in response to nine different configurations of a motorway crossover work zone. Specifically, the speed behaviour through a typical crossover layout, designed in accordance with the Italian Ministerial Decree 10 July 2002, was compared with that of eight alternative configurations which differ in some characteristics such as the sequence of speed limits, the median opening width and the lane width. The influence of variable message signs, of channelizing devices and of perceptual treatments based on Human Factor principles were also tested. Forty-two participants drove in driving simulator scenarios while data on their speeds and decelerations were collected. The results indicated that drivers' speeds are always higher than the temporary posted speed limits for all configurations and that speeds decreases significantly only within the by-passes. However the implementation of higher speed limits, together with a wider median opening and taller channelization devices led to a greater homogeneity of the speeds adopted by the drivers. The presence of perceptual measures generally induced both the greatest homogenization of speeds and the largest reductions in mean speed values.