The boundaries of the cities are not immutable, they can be changed. With the development of the economies and societies, the population and pollution of cities are increasing. Some urban areas are expanding with more population or other dynamics of urbanization, while other urban areas are reducing with the changing of the dynamics. Therefore, detecting urban areas or delineating the boundaries of the cities is one of the most important steps for urban studies, which is closely related to human settlements and human activities. Remote sensing data (RS) is widely used to monitor and detect land use and land cover on the surface of the earth. But the extraction of urban areas from the ordinary RS data is not easy work. The Operational Linescan System (OLS) is the sensors of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). The nighttime lights from the DMSP/OLS provide worldwide remotely sensed data to analyze long-term light emissions which are closely related to human activities. But the nighttime lights imagery data contains inherent errors. Therefore, the approaches to calibrate the data and extract the urban areas from the data are complicated. The long-term objective of this thesis is to delineate the boundaries of the natural cities of the continental United States of America (USA) from 1992 to 2010 of nightlight imagery data with all the different satellites. In this thesis, the coefficients for the intercalibration of the nightlight imagery data have been calculated based on the method developed by Elvidge, et al. (2009), but the coefficients are new and available. The approach used to determine the most appropriate threshold value is very important to eliminate the possible data error. The method to offset this possible error and delineate the boundaries of the cities from nightlight imagery data is the head/tail breaks classification, which is proposed by Jiang (2012b). The head/tail breaks classification is also useful for finding the ht-index of the extracted natural cities which is developed by Jiang and Yin (2013). The ht-index is an indicator of the underlying hierarchy of the data. The results of this study can be divided into two categories. In the first, the achieved coefficients for the intercalibration of nightlight images of the continental USA are shown in a table, and the achieved data of the urban areas are stored in a data archive. In the second, the different threshold values of the uncalibrated images and the individual threshold value of the calibrated images are shown in tables, and the results of the head/tail breaks classification and power law test are also drawn. The results show that the acquired natural cities obey the power law distribution. And the results also confirm that the head/tail breaks classification is available for finding a suitable threshold value for the nightlight imagery data. Key words: cities’ boundaries; DMSP/OLS; head/tail breaks classification; nighttime lights; power law; urban areas

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / Many cities are beginning to embrace the 24-hour city concept, where people stay up later, businesses are open 24 hours a day, and nighttime economies are expanding (Bianchini, 1995). Cities can reap social, economic, and cultural benefits by extending business hours into the night, creating safe and attractive reasons for people to utilize urban public spaces during these times, and connecting these spaces both physically and culturally to surrounding districts (Roberts, 2009). Washington Square Park in Kansas City, Missouri is an underused civic space identified as a potential anchor park for the city that could become a downtown destination, both day and night (KCDC, 2012). This report focuses on the nighttime aspects of the park, making it a vibrant evening destination for downtown Kansas City that could help boost economic activity, create new social opportunities and strengthen physical, and cultural connections to surrounding districts. Through a process of project goal finding, questioning and analysis, a set of programming strategies was developed and applied to a design for Washington Square Park that reflects the needs of stakeholders, relevant theory, and lessons learned from built precedents. Key components of a successful nighttime programming strategy for Washington Square Park include: extending business hours into the night; increasing the amount of retail, restaurant and building uses; establishing a sense of place with lighting; enhancing views; creating strong connections to surrounding areas; creating attractive amenities that extend into the night; and creating a space that is welcoming and safe with appropriate levels of lighting, activity and security. Through this research I have found that nighttime programming for an urban civic park can be an effective way of helping to create an active downtown destination for cities, benefiting the area socially, economically and culturally. Utilizing evening programming strategies in Washington Square Park can, not only help to activate the space during more hours of the day, but also create a unique sense of place that defines the park as an urban destination both day and night. By including nighttime programming strategies into design considerations, new opportunities for economic growth and social interaction can be revealed.

Seasonally high nighttime temperatures (HNT) along the United States Gulf Coast and in regions of similar climate, during the critical stages of development, could reduce rice yield and quality. To study the effects of HNT on plant physiology, a method for applying a controlled heating treatment to plant canopies was developed using overhead infrared heaters, which are relatively inexpensive and are accurate, precise and reliable in rapidly controlling the temperature. The apparatus successfully maintained air temperatures within the set points plus/minus 0.5 degrees C, and was used for all the experiments. Several experiments were conducted to determine the response of various physiological parameters during and following exposure of rice plants to HNT (32 degrees C) or ambient nighttime temperature (ANT) (27 degrees C) starting from 2000 h until 0600 h, and with or without plant growth regulator treatments. The plant growth regulator treatments included alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), glycine betaine (GB), and salicylic acid (SA), which play different roles in inducing thermo-tolerance in plants. High nighttime temperature had no effect on plant height, number of tillers and panicles, or rice net leaf photosynthetic rates. However, HNT increased leaf respiration (dark respiration in the night) (21%) and decreased membrane thermo-stability (60%), pollen germination (20%), spikelet fertility (18% as a % of total spikelets), grain length (2%), and grain width (2%). The HNT also hastened plant development. The combinations of these effects decreased rice yield by 90%. Moreover, under HNT, there were decreases in leaf chlorophyll concentration (7%) and nitrogen concentration (18%). Application of GB and SA increased total antioxidant capacity of the rice plants by 17%, thereby decreasing the leaf respiration rates, increasing membrane thermo-stability, pollen germination, and spikelet fertility, thus increasing the yield. High nighttime temperature decreased leaf starch concentration (14%), grain total nonstructural carbohydrate (TNC) concentration (9%), and grain extractable invertase activity (20%). Vitamin E- or GB-treated plants had greater grain soluble-sugar concentrations, whereas SA-treated plants had greater leaf soluble-sugar concentrations and lower grain TNC concentrations. Invertase activity was shown to be not rate limiting or required for sucrose degradation for starch synthesis in grain of 'Cocodrie' rice under short-term high nighttime temperatures exposures during grain filling. In conclusion, HNT decreased rice yield by increasing plant respiration, rate of crop development, and decreasing membrane thermo-stability, pollen germination, spikelet fertility and grain dimensions. Exogenous application of GB and SA increased yields under HNT, possibly acting through increased antioxidant levels, which might have protected the membranes and enzymes against heat-induced ROS-mediated degradation.

No description available.

This thesis explores the intersection of shared micro-mobility services and genderwith a focus on the nighttime in Stockholm, Sweden. Research has found agender gap in user characteristics, with safety, affordability, and vehicle qualityaffection adoption. This study explores the differences in motivations and barriersto usage, contributing to sustainable and inclusive transportation. This wasachieved through a quantitative-qualitative approach that combined responsesfrom 164 people, 60 open comments, and 15 interviews. The research found PublicTransport and socializing as the primary mode and purpose of night trips amongmen and women, with women having a slightly higher preference. Time-saving,convenience and reliability, ease of access and use, and the complementarity ofother modes of transport are relevant for users regardless of gender. Womenseem to be more regular users than men. Women also seem to be more sensitiveto pricing and safety issues, both positive and negative aspects of the services.Among users who avoid the service at night, parking restrictions, unusefulnessand impracticality, expensiveness, owning a bike, consuming alcohol, andsocio-political aspects are the main motivations for doing so. The last three alsoapply to non-users. Men seem to be more sensitive to parking restrictions andwomen to unusefulness and impracticality and carrying bags and travelling withchildren. Finally, this document suggests strategies to increase overall, nighttime,and female usage of this service, focused on the shared micro-mobility operatorsand municipalities.

No description available.

Self-injurious behavior (SIB) is a behavioral pathology seen in a small percentage of humans and non-human primates. In one previous study, macaques with SIB had more sleep disruption than controls, but observations were limited. Two studies were conducted: a baseline study to investigate nighttime activity in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) displaying SIB and controls, and a probiotic study to assess probiotic Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 for high nighttime activity. Subjects were 13 rhesus macaques, 5 with SIB (3 females; 1 SIB). Videocapture of Nighttime Activity (VNRA) was developed to record in complete darkness. IR-receptive webcams were connected to a laptop running ISPYCONNECT, software which recorded movement. Subjects were observed during the entire lights-off period (8pm-7am). Measures included total movement time (TMT), movement in hour 1 (HR1) and hour 11 (HR11), and number of videos. In the baseline, SIB subjects had higher TMT (pBifidobacterium infantis 35624 had no effect on sleep disruption, and also that increased nighttime activity seems to be a persistent characteristic of SIB subjects. It is unknown if increased nighttime activity affects SIB subjects; it may result in elevated SIB, or the SIB pathology could result in sleep disruption.

Vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of accidental death and injuries in the United States, claiming tens of thousands of lives and injuring millions of people each year. Many of these crashes occur during nighttime, where a variety of modifiers affect the risk of a crash, primarily through the reduction of object visibility. Furthermore, many of these modifiers also affect the nighttime mobility of older drivers, who avoid driving during the nighttime. Thus, a two-fold need exists for new technologies that enhance night visibility. Two separate studies were completed as part of this research. Study 1 served as a baseline by evaluating visual performance during nighttime driving under clear weather conditions. Visual performance was evaluated in terms of the detection and recognition distances obtained when different vision enhancement systems were used at the Smart Road testing facility. Study 2, also using detection and recognition distances, compared the visual performance of drivers during low visibility conditions (i.e., due to rain) to the risk perception of driving during nighttime under low visibility conditions. These comparisons were made as a function of various vision enhancement systems. The age of the driver and the characteristics of the object presented (e.g., contrast, motion) were variables of interest in both studies. The pivotal contribution of this investigation is the generation of a model describing the relationships between driver characteristics, risk perception, and visual performance in nighttime driving in the context of a variety of standard and prototype vision enhancement systems. Improvement of mobility, especially for older individuals, can be achieved through better understanding of the factors that increase risk perception, identification of systems that improve detection and recognition distances, and consideration of drivers' opinions on possible solutions that improve nighttime driving safety. In addition, this research effort empirically described the night vision enhancement capabilities of 12 different vision enhancement systems during clear and adverse weather environments. / Ph. D.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Malgorzata J. Rys / This dissertation is the result of studying different methods of increasing guide sign visibility and legibility to drivers during nighttime, to increase safety on roadways. It also studies intersection lighting to indicate the lighting benefits on nighttime crash frequency reduction. From a survey conducted, practices related to overhead guide sign illumination and retroreflectivity in United States were summarized. A laboratory experiment was conducted to compare light distribution of five light sources: Metal Halide, Mercury Vapor, High Pressure Sodium, induction lighting, and Light Emitting Diode (LED). Cost analysis of the five light sources was performed. Combining results of the laboratory experiment and the cost analysis, induction lighting was recommended for states that want to continue external sign illumination. A retroreflectivity experiment was conducted to compare three types of retroreflective sheeting: Engineering Grade (type I), Diamond Grade (type XI), and High Intensity (type IV), to determine the sheeting that best increases visibility and legibility. Diamond Grade (type XI) was found to be the optimal sheeting that increases visibility and legibility to drivers during nighttime. A glare experiment was conducted to expand the retroreflectivity experiment results. Four sheeting-font combinations of High Intensity (type IV) and Diamond Grade (type XI) materials and Series E (Modified) and Clearview fonts were compared. Results revealed an optimal sheeting-font combination of Diamond Grade (type XI) sheeting and Clearview font which increases the visibility and legibility of guide signs to drivers under presence of oncoming glare source. The Highway Safety Information System (HSIS) database was used to study the effect of intersection lighting on the expected crash frequency. Illuminated intersections showed 3.61% and 6.54% decrease in the expected nighttime crash frequency as compared to dark intersections in Minnesota and California, respectively. In addition, partial lighting at intersections decreases the expected nighttime crash frequency by 4.72% compared to continuous lighting in Minnesota. The recommended sheeting-font combination for Departments of Transportation was Diamond Grade (type XI) and Clearview. This combination will increase signs’ visibility and legibility to drivers, and consequently increase safety on roadways. Adding partial lighting at intersections will reduce the expected nighttime crash frequency, and increase safety on roadways.

Da die menschliche Sehleistung bei geringer Beleuchtung stark vermindert ist, birgt die Teilnahme am nächtlichen Straßenverkehr besondere Gefahren. Sowohl Kraftfahrzeugführer als auch schwächere Verkehrsteilnehmer sind sich dieser Problematik offenbar nicht hinlänglich bewusst und verhalten sich häufig hochriskant. Dies hat, gemessen an der Exposition, eine überproportionale Häufigkeit und Schwere von Nachtunfällen zur Folge. Um dieser Situation zu begegnen, erscheinen neben konventionellen Präventionsmaßnahmen der Verkehrsüberwachung und -erziehung oder Eingriffen in die Verkehrsinfrastruktur auch neuartige fahrzeugtechnische Systeme geeignet. So wurden in den letzten Jahren Fahrerassistenzfunktionen entwickelt, welche mittels adaptiver Lichtsteuerung die Ausleuchtung des Verkehrsraumes verbessern sollen. Hierfür wird das lichttechnische Signalbild anderer Fahrzeuge mittels einer Kamera erfasst und die eigene Scheinwerferlichtverteilung so angepasst, dass die Straße maximal ausgeleuchtet wird, um die Hinderniserkennung zu verbessern und trotzdem gleichzeitig eine Blendung anderer Kraftfahrer zu vermeiden. Als zusätzlich integrierte Funktion kommt auch eine automatisierte Fernlichtschaltung zum Einsatz. Bislang war nicht belegt, ob diese sogenannten Adaptiven Frontbeleuchtungssysteme (AFS) in der Lage sind, tatsächlich zu einer Erhöhung der nächtlichen Verkehrssicherheit beizutragen. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, Anforderungen zur Blendungsvermeidung beim Einsatz derartiger Assistenzfunktionen aufzustellen und die Wirksamkeit adaptierter Scheinwerferlichtverteilungen zu bewerten. Hierfür wurden entsprechende empirische Untersuchungen durchgeführt. So konnten in der ersten Studie Blendungsgrenzwerte ermittelt werden, welche sicherstellen sollen, dass andere Verkehrsteilnehmer nicht über das bislang übliche Maß hinaus durch die Scheinwerfer geblendet werden, wenn neuartige AFS zum Einsatz kommen. In einem weiteren Experiment wurde geprüft, ob unter Einhaltung dieser Grenzwerte eine nennenswerte Erhöhung der Erkennbarkeitsentfernungen für schlecht sichtbare Hindernisse auf der Straße erreichbar ist. Die letzte Studie beschäftigte sich mit der Frage, in welchem Umfang adaptierte Lichtverteilungen im realen Straßenverkehr zum Einsatz kämen, um deren mögliche Wirksamkeit besser beurteilen zu können. Parallel hierzu wurde auch das Fernlichtnutzungsverhalten der Probanden untersucht. Wie die durchgeführten Untersuchungen zeigen konnten, ergeben sich durch den Einsatz adaptierter Lichtverteilungen signifikante Verbesserungen bezüglich der Erkennbarkeit von Hindernissen gegenüber konventioneller Kraftfahrzeugbeleuchtung in teils beträchtlichem Ausmaß. Außerdem konnte ermittelt werden, dass adaptierte Scheinwerferlichtverteilungen im realen Straßenverkehr in erheblichem Umfang zum Tragen kämen. Aufgrund der viel zu geringen Fernlichtnutzung könnten Kraftfahrer auch besonders stark von der automatisierten Fernlichtschaltung profitieren. Damit kann davon ausgegangen werden, dass neuartige AFS tatsächlich überaus geeignet sind, nächtliche Kollisionen von Kraftfahrzeugen mit unbeleuchteten schwächeren Verkehrsteilnehmern oder Wild zu vermeiden. Trotz dieser Einschätzung sind die letztlich zu erwartenden positiven Auswirkungen auf die Verkehrssicherheit womöglich eher gering, wenn es nicht gelingt, alle Verkehrsteilnehmer für die Gefahren des nächtlichen Straßenverkehrs zu sensibilisieren. Zudem können Adaptive Frontbeleuchtungssysteme selbstverständlich nicht allen Ursachen nächtlicher Kollisionen mit Hindernissen auf der Straße wirkungsvoll begegnen. / Since the human visual performance is substantially degraded under low illumination levels participating in nighttime traffic is particularly dangerous. Drivers as well as vulnerable road users are not sufficiently aware of this and therefore expose themselves to severe risks. Compared to overall exposure, a disproportionately high number of severe injuries and fatalities occur in nighttime traffic. Besides conventional approaches such as enforcement, education, and infrastructural measures, new automotive systems promise additional gains in road safety. Recently, Adaptive Frontlighting Systems (AFS) have been developed that are meant to improve road illumination in front of the car. Therefore, other lit vehicles are detected by a camera, which allows adapting the beam pattern according to the traffi c situation. The maximum of illumination is directed at the road to enhance object detection while omitting oncoming traffic to prevent glare to other drivers. This functionality also includes high beam automation. Up to now it has not been convincingly substantiated if so-called AFS are actually capable of increasing road safety. Thus, the aim of this thesis was to set up system specifications for the prevention of glare and to assess the impact of adapted light distributions by conducting adequate empirical studies. The first study identified illuminance thresholds in order to assure that other drivers will not suffer from glare when AFS are applied that are beyond present levels caused by regular low beams. The second experiment examined if the adaptation of beam patters within these identified limits improves detection distances for unlit obstacles on the road. The last study examined the extent of AFS’ applicability in real nighttime traffic, to better estimate the possible efficacy of such systems. The high beam usage behavior of the test subjects was also analyzed within this driving study. Adapted beam patterns turned out to significantly improve obstacle detection in comparison to conventional low beams. It was found that adaptive lighting functions could cover a substantial part of time driven in rural areas. Besides, high beam automation could dramatically increase high beam usage since drivers mostly fail to maintain manual switching. Taking these findings into consideration AFS seem to be suited to prevent collisions with unlit obstacles during nighttime driving. However, their impact on road safety could remain marginal unless road users are sensitized for the dangers of participating in traffic during darkness. Moreover, AFS cannot counteract all causes of nighttime collisions.