Right-turn lane (RTL) crashes are among the key contributors to intersection crashes in the US. Unfortunately, the lack of deep insights into understanding the effects of RTL geometric design factors on crash frequency impedes improving RTL safety performance.
Taking the crash data in ten counties in Indiana state from 2013 to 2016 as a case study, this study investigates the safety performance of RTL geometric configuration based on multi-sources. We introduce the geographically and temporally weighted negative binomial model (GTWNBR) to capture the space and time instability in crashes.
The results show that the impacts of RTL geometric design factors on crash frequency vary significantly among space and time. Several key insights can be obtained from the state-wide and multi-years crash analysis by associating the estimated parameters with road classes, localities, and counties.
First, the RTL\'s length, width, turning radius, and the installments of traffic roundabouts present higher spatiotemporal heterogeneity than other factors in modeling the crash frequency. Second, the effects of RTL\'s geometric factors vary significantly across space and time. The presence of bicycle and pedestrian lanes is more likely to increase crashes in urban areas than in rural ones, especially at nighttime. Third, while exclusive RTLs decrease the crash frequency compared to the shared RTLs, the exclusive RTLs are more likely to increase the crashes for RTLs on the county road than on other road classes. Increasing RTL\'s turning radius and decreasing RTL\'s length is more likely to promote crashes for RTLs on county roads than on other road classes.
The insights provide vital guidance to improve the safety performance of geometric configuration for RTLs and intersections.

The habitats of wild primates are increasingly threatened by surrounding anthropogenic pressures, but little is known about primate exposure to frequently used chemicals. We applied a novel method to simultaneously measure 21 legacy pesticides (OCPs), 29 current use pesticides (CUPs), 47 halogenated flame retardants (HFRs), and 19 organophosphate flame retardants in feces from baboons in the U.S.A., howler monkeys in Costa Rica, and baboons, chimpanzees, red-tailed monkeys, and red colobus in Uganda. The most abundant chemicals were α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH), β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), and hexachlorobenzene among OCPs across all sites, chlorpyrifos among CUPs in Costa Rica and Indiana, decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE) in Costa Rica and Indiana and 2, 2\', 4, 4\'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47) in Uganda as HFRs, and tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP) as OPFRs across all sites. The detected chemical concentrations were generally higher in red-tailed monkeys and red colobus than in chimpanzees and baboons. Our methods can be used to examine the threat of chemical pollutants to wildlife, which is critical for endangered species where only noninvasive methods can be used.

The emergence and increase in prevalence of resistance to cephalosporins amongst isolates of Salmonella from food animals imposes a public health threat. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of CTX-M-producing Salmonella isolates from raw meat and food animals. 27 of 152 (17.76%) Salmonella isolates were ESBL-positive including 21/70 (30%) from food animals and 6/82 (7.32%) from raw meat. CTX-M-55 was the most prevalent ESBL type observed (12/27, 44.44%). 7 of 12 CTX-M-55-positive Salmonella isolates were Salmonella Indiana, 2 were Salmonella Typhimurium, 2 were Salmonella Chester, and the remaining isolate was not typeable. Eight CTX-M-55-positive Salmonella isolates were highly resistant to fluoroquinolones (MICCIP = 64 ug/mL) and co-harbored aac(6\')-Ib-cr and oqxAB. Most of the CTX-M-55 positive isolates (11/12) carried bla CTX-M-55 genes on the chromosome, with the remaining isolate carrying this gene on a transferable 280 kb IncHI2 plasmid. A chromosomal bla CTX-M-55 gene from one isolate transferred onto a 250 kb IncHI2 plasmid which was subsequently conjugated into recipient strain J53. PFGE and MLST profiles showed a wide range of strain types were carrying bla CTX-M-55. Our study demonstrates the emergence and prevalence of foodborne Salmonella harboring a chromosomally located bla CTX-M-55 in China. The co-existence of PMQR genes with bla CTX-M-55 in Salmonella isolates suggests co-selection and dissemination of resistance to both fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins in Salmonella via the food chain in China represents a public health concern.

Forest soils store large amounts of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), yet how predicted shifts in forest composition will impact long-term C and N persistence remains poorly understood. A recent hypothesis predicts that soils under trees associated with arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM) store less C than soils dominated by trees associated with ectomycorrhizas (ECM), due to slower decomposition in ECM-dominated forests. However, an incipient hypothesis predicts that systems with rapid decomposition-e.g. most AM-dominated forests-enhance soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization by accelerating the production of microbial residues. To address these contrasting predictions, we quantified soil C and N to 1 m depth across gradients of ECM-dominance in three temperate forests. By focusing on sites where AM- and ECM-plants co-occur, our analysis controls for climatic factors that covary with mycorrhizal dominance across broad scales. We found that while ECM stands contain more SOM in topsoil, AM stands contain more SOM when subsoil to 1 m depth is included. Biomarkers and soil fractionations reveal that these patterns are driven by an accumulation of microbial residues in AM-dominated soils. Collectively, our results support emerging theory on SOM formation, demonstrate the importance of subsurface soils in mediating plant effects on soil C and N, and indicate that shifts in the mycorrhizal composition of temperate forests may alter the stabilization of SOM.

With the phaseout of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) production in most countries and its well known recalcitrance, there is a need to quantify the potential release of PFOS from precursors previously or currently being emitted into the environment. Aerobic biodegradation of N-ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamidoethanol (EtFOSE) was monitored in two soils from Indiana, USA: an acidic forest silt loam (FRST-48, pH = 5.5) and a high pH agricultural loam (PSF-49, pH = 7.8) with similar organic carbon contents (2.4 and 2.6%) for 210 d and 180 d, respectively. At designated times, triplicate samples were sacrificed for which headspace samples were taken followed by three sequential extractions. Extracts were analyzed using HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry. Measured profiles of EtFOSE degradation and generation/degradation of subsequent metabolites were fitted to the Indiana soils data as well as to a previously published data set for a Canadian soil using an R-based model (KinGUII) to explore pathways and estimate half-lives (t1/2) for EtFOSE and metabolites. EtFOSE degradation ranged from a few days to up to a month. PFOS yields ranged form 1.06-5.49 mol% with the alkaline soils being four to five times higher than the acidic soil. In addition, a direct pathway to PFOS had to be invoked to describe the early generation of PFOS in the Canadian soil. Of all metabolites, the sulfonamidoacetic acids were the most persistent (t1/2 ≥ 3 months) in all soils. We hypothesized that while pH-pKa dependent speciation may have impacted rates, differences in microbial communities between the 3 soils arising from varied soil properties including pH, nutrient levels, soil management, and climatic regions are likely the major factors affecting pathways, rates, and PFOS yields.

Remote sensing of the concentration ratio of phycocyanin (PC) to chlorophyll a (Chl-a) is important for water management, as it provides critical knowledge regarding the phytoplankton community. Using the observed in situ datasets, a simple empirical model was developed to estimate PC:Chl-a based on the band ratio index of R(rs)(550R(rs(620) (R(rs-): remote sensing reflectance) (R(2) = 0.84; RMSE = 1.01). This simple model exhibited relatively high validation accuracy using the independent validation dataset. In addition, the model can be successfully applied to AISA (Airborne Imaging Spectrometer for Application) image data, indicating the practicality of the developed model for determining the dominance of cyanobacteria among the total phytoplankton from airborne image data in inland waters. However, the present model cannot be used directly to estimate PC:Chl-a in extremely turbid waters with total suspended matter (TSM) concentrations higher than 25 mg/l. For these waters, the model parameters may require local optimization according to the conditions of the water under analysis. The findings of this study indicate that our proposed model is able to detect the dominance of cyanobacteria among the phytoplankton in inland waters, where the turbidity is not too much high. This study improves our understanding of the species composition of phytoplankton biomass in optically complex inland bodies of water.

Geographic variation in life-history traits among populations of wide-ranging species is influenced by both spatial and temporal aspects of the environment. Rarely, however, are the effects of both aspects examined concurrently. We collected gravid female lizards (Sceloporus undulatus) from northern (Indiana), central (Mississippi) and southern (Florida) populations, spanning nearly the full latitudinal range of the species, to examine among population differences in strategies of reproductive energy allocation. Adult females from the southern population were smaller, and produced fewer and smaller eggs in their first clutches than did females from the more northern populations. Southern females were more likely to produce a second clutch, and second clutches were smaller than first clutches for females from the 2 northern populations. Together these trends eliminated population differences in overall reproductive output after accounting for body size. The trend for greater reproductive energy to be allocated to first clutches at higher latitudes, and to later clutches at lower latitudes is corroborated by published data from field studies on multiple populations. Distributing reproductive effort by producing more clutches of smaller eggs may be an adaptive response to the long season available for egg incubation and lizard activity in sub-tropical southern environments. In contrast, allocating greater resources to early reproduction may enhance maternal fitness in the relatively short activity seasons that characterize more northern sites.