A complete prototype system for measuring vehicle lateral position has been set up during the course of this master’s thesis project. In the development of the software, images acquired from a back-ward looking video camera mounted on the roof of the vehicle were used. The problem of using computer vision to measure lateral position can be divided into road marking detection and lateral position extraction. Since the strongest characteristic of a road marking image are the edges of the road markings, the road marking detection step is based on edge detection. For the detection of the straight edge lines a Hough based method was chosen. Due to peak spreading in Hough space, the difficulty of detecting the correct peak in Hough space was encountered. A flexible Hough peak detection algorithm was developed based on an adaptive window that takes peak spreading into account. The road marking candidate found by the system is verified before the lateral position data is generated. A good performance of the road marking tracking algorithm was obtained by exploiting temporal correlation to update a search region within the image. A camera calibration made the extraction of real-world lateral position information and yaw angle data possible. This vision-based method proved to be very accurate. The standard deviation of the error in the position detection is 0.012 m within an operating range of ±2 m from the image centre. During continuous road markings the rate of valid data is on average 96 %, whereas it drops to around 56 % for sections with intermittent road markings. The system performs well during lane change manoeuvres, which is an indication that the system tracks the correct road marking. This prototype system is a robust and automatic measurement system, which will benefit VTI in its many driving behaviour research programs.

The objective of this dissertation is to develop a Multi-Camera Lane Departure Warning (MCLDW) system and a framework to evaluate it. A Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system is a safety feature that is included in a few luxury automobiles. Using a single camera, it performs the task of informing the driver if a lane change is imminent. The core component of an LDW system is a lane detector, whose objective is to find lane markers on the road. Therefore, we start this dissertation by explaining the requirements of an ideal lane detector, and then present several algorithmic implementations that meet these requirements. After selecting the best implementation, we present the MCLDW methodology. Using a multi-camera setup, MCLDW system combines the detected lane marker information from each camera's view to estimate the immediate distance between the vehicle and the lane marker, and signals a warning if this distance is under a certain threshold. Next, we introduce a procedure to create ground truth and a database of videos which serve as the framework for evaluation. Ground truth is created using an efficient procedure called Time-Slicing that allows the user to quickly annotate the true locations of the lane markers in each frame of the videos. Subsequently, we describe the details of a database of driving videos that has been put together to help establish a benchmark for evaluating existing lane detectors and LDW systems. Finally, we conclude the dissertation by citing the contributions of the research and discussing the avenues for future work.

Within the last decade, centerline rumble strips have become increasingly prevalent as a safety countermeasure on undivided roadways throughout the United States. Within the state of Georgia, nearly 200 miles of centerline rumble strips have been installed in an effort to address the severity and frequency of crashes involving the centerline. With several thousands of miles of new installations throughout the nation in the last decade, much literature on this subject is still being amassed. This paper will compile and summarize existing literature in order to provide a thorough overview of the latest information from around the United States regarding the safety, usage, and impacts of centerline rumble strips. Furthermore, this paper seeks to comprehensively determine the safety impacts of centerline rumble strips on undivided, rural highway facilities in the state of Georgia. This portion of the study will prepare an updated inventory of centerline rumble strip installations in Georgia and perform a before-after study using three methods: a direct before-after analysis, a comparison before-after analysis, and a comparative analysis. These analyses will incorporate data from crash databases, police records, and traffic records to produce results unique to Georgia. Lastly, this paper will determine the current status of centerline rumble strips and the potential short- and long-term safety, physical, and unintended effects of centerline rumble strips both in the state of Georgia and throughout the United States through a survey sent to all fifty state transportation agencies. Through literature compilation, safety analyses, and findings on the effects of centerline rumble strips, this paper will aid in the future of centerline rumble strips within Georgia and the United States.

[pt] O presente trabalho procurou investigar, à luz da teoria psicanalítica, algumas práticas consideradas radicais de marcação do corpo, tais como tatuagens, piercings, implantes subcutâneos, escarificações, pocketing, pulling e suspensão. Para tanto, procedeu-se inicialmente a uma exposição do contexto em que tais práticas são abordadas, a cultura de consumo contemporânea, na qual o corpo assume lugar de destaque. Além disto, realizou-se um roteiro histórico das práticas de marcação do corpo e seus usos. Incidindo na superfície do corpo, tais práticas fornecem a este um novo contorno. A delimitação das bordas corporais nos remete à temática da constituição subjetiva, na qual as experiências pele-à-pele delineiam a fronteira entre interno e externo, eu e outro. Na relação com um outro, o corpo é ainda inserido no registro pulsional, configurando-se como um corpo erógeno, marcado por experiências de prazer e desprazer. Se o prazer pode ser encontrado no desprazer e na dor, estabelece-se, então, o masoquismo erógeno, base de todo tipo de masoquismo. Por fim, utilizando-se o masoquismo como instrumento para pensar as marcações do corpo que têm na dor a condição indispensável para sua realização, efetuou-se uma apresentação a seu respeito. A dor, além de ser, no masoquismo, o meio de obter prazer, fornece ao sujeito a percepção dos contornos de seu corpo. Assim, através de práticas dolorosas, o sujeito se encontra em um esforço por delimitar e manter coesas suas fronteiras corporais. / [en] The present study sought to investigate, trough a psychoanalytical perspective, some radical practices of body marking, such as tattoos, piercings, subcutaneous implants, pocketing, pulling and suspension. To do so, it begins by presenting the context in which such practices are approached, the contemporary consuming culture, in which the body occupies a place of prominence. Further on, is presented a historical background of practices of body markings and its uses. Falling upon the surface of the body, these practices provide it a new outline. The delimitation of corporal borders sends us to the subjective constitution theme, in which skin-to-skin experiences delineate the frontier between internal and external, the ego and the other. When relating with another, the body is still inserted in a pulsional register, becoming hence an erogenous body, marked by experiences of pleasure and displeasure. If pleasure can be found in displeasure and pain, the erogenous masochism, originally present in all forms of masochism, is then established. Finally, using the masochism as an instrument to deal with body markings that find in pain the indispensable condition to its realization, a presentation of the theme was made. Pain, besides being, in masochism, a way of obtaining pleasure, supplies the subject the perception of the outline of his body. That way, trough painful practices the subject finds himself in an effort to delimitate and keep tied his bodily borders.

The present study is linked to the Research Line: Formation, Knowledges and Professional Development. Its objective is to access the perceptions of a group of medical professors in the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) in the search of markings for his empathy in his formative process. As is it is known form literature, it´s in the school and in the family that the mental structures are built, being these the main environments that influence the formas of thinking and feeling of the individual. As though, the medical school should be a privileged space in which attitudes and behaviors learned in the family medium are consolidated, but also where new behaviors can be absorbed and the ability to feel and think can be enlarged. Therefore, the role of the medical professor gets higher importance in the formation of attitudes and influence of the behavior in the future professional. The high level of qualification demanded from professors and the multiple roles they should play implicate in the recognition that it´s not enough having the specific knowledges and experiences from one subject, but also it´s demanded to be a role model in medicalpatient relationship and ethic acting. Reflect about these subjective aspects maybe silenced in the formative process of these professors could be a way to put in evidence the indissociable link between the inner world and the way to perform teaching and/or medicine. With the objective of which are the pertainning marks of this process, the study pursues a quantitative-qualitative type. In the first phase, it was used a empathic tendency scale to identify the group of five most empathic professors in UFSM´s medical course so that they would answer the narrative interview in the second phase. From the analysis of such findings five categories emerged: 1) People that really mattered in the formative process; 2) teacher´s perceptions, 3) teacher´s conceptions, 4) experiences that marked the formative process, 5) evidences of the ethic attitude of professors during the formative process. The conclusions of the study show that the most empathic markings of the formative process come from the most initial phases of their lives. Also, the affective experiences with old teachers, doctors and supervisors mattered in such a way that a complex connection between rememoirs, sufferings, actings and repetitions be established. In the end, it is evident that some deep markings in the formative process of the interviewed subjects make them more empathic in their relations, influencing the way they conceive the formation of their students and the way they conduct their relations with patients. / O presente estudo está ligado à Linha de Pesquisa: Formação, Saberes e Desenvolvimento Profissional. O objetivo foi acessar as percepções de um grupo de professores médicos, da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, na busca de marcas da sua empatia no seu processo formativo. Como já é sabido da literatura, é na escola e na família que são moldadas as estruturas mentais, sendo estes os principais ambientes que influenciam as formas de pensar e sentir do indivíduo. Assim, a escola médica precisa ser um espaço privilegiado, no qual se consolidam atitudes e comportamentos aprendidos no ambiente familiar, mas também onde podem ser absorvidos novos comportamentos e ampliada a capacidade de pensar e sentir. Portanto, reveste-se de grande importância o papel do professor médico na formação de atitudes e na influência no comportamento do futuro profissional. O alto nível de qualificação que se espera dos docentes e os múltiplos papéis que precisam desempenhar implicam no reconhecimento que já não basta ter experiências e saberes técnicos específicos de uma área, mas é preciso também ser um modelo de excelência na relação médico-paciente e de conduta ética. Refletir sobre aspectos subjetivos, talvez silenciados ao longo do processo formativo desses docentes, pode ser um caminho para explicitar a indissociabilidade do mundo interno com a forma como se exerce a docência e/ou a medicina. Com a intenção de perceber quais são as marcas constituintes deste processo, este estudo de cunho quantitativo-qualitativo foi desenvolvido em etapas. Na primeira fase, usou-se uma escala de tendência empática para identificar o grupo de professores mais empáticos. Selecionou-se cinco deles que participaram da segunda fase, através de entrevistas narrativas. Da análise de conteúdo deste material emergiram cinco categorias: (1) Pessoas que marcaram o processo formativo; (2) percepções docentes; (3) concepções docentes (4) vivências que marcaram o processo formativo; (5) evidências da conduta empática docente ao longo do processo formativo. As conclusões do estudo mostram que as marcas do processo formativo mais empático são consideradas por eles como vindo desde as fases mais inicias de suas vida. Assim como, as vivências afetivas com antigos professores, médicos e preceptores, marcaram de forma que uma complexa conexão entre lembranças, sofrimentos, ações e repetições se estabelecem. Por fim, ficou evidente que existem marcas, algumas profundas, no processo formativo dos sujeitos entrevistados que os tornou mais empático nas suas relações, refletindo no modo como concebem a formação dos seus alunos, bem como conduzem as suas relações com os seus pacientes.

The thesis deals with verifying the acoustic properties of road markings in real conditions the vehicle travels. It contains basic information about the acoustics of the sources of traffic noise and methods of measuring noise. Below are the main information about the horizontal signposts and its impact on safety. The practical part contains descriptions of results, estimation of measurement and subsequently implemented economic assessment.

Las marcas viales constituyen la única guía óptica que en muchas ocasiones tienen los usuarios de la vía, su correcta aplicación y conservación nos puede llegar a determinar la gravedad de un accidente hasta el punto de poder llegar a evitarlo. Por tanto, el correcto mantenimiento y repintado de la señalización vial horizontal en las carreteras convencionales a nivel mundial y de la red viaria española en particular, la investigación en nuevas combinaciones de materiales y el estudio de su durabilidad dependiendo del posicionamiento que ocupa la marca vial en carretera, nos aportan, sin duda, un apoyo útil para progresar en la lucha contra la accidentalidad vial. Por ese motivo, se ha investigado, no sólo la evolución temporal de las características fundamentales de la señalización vial horizontal como son: la visibilidad diurna, la visibilidad nocturna y la resistencia al deslizamiento de nuevas combinaciones de materiales de post-mezclado y materiales base, como es la pintura fosforescente; sino que, al mismo tiempo, se ha elaborado una relación y un estudio de la vida útil de la marca vial atendiendo a sus características fundamentales según la zona de la calzada que ocupa esa marca vial, estableciendo las pautas de comportamiento de las mismas y cuándo reemplazarlas por no cumplir con los criterios mínimos de aceptación, relacionando la sección de desgaste a cada una de las marcas viales que podemos encontrar en las carreteras convencionales de la red viaria española. Para ello, hemos elaborado un testing ground (TG1), en la carretera CV-904, con un total de 36 samples, teniendo para cada sentido de circulación 18 combinaciones de materiales atendiendo a material base y material de post-mezclado (microesferas de vidrio, cargas antideslizantes no transparentes y grano de vidrio transparente), y a su sistema de aplicación (monolayer o bilayer). Además, hemos ejecutado un segundo testing ground (TG2), en la ronda interna de la propia Universidad de Alicante, donde, partiendo de los conocimientos obtenidos en el primer estudio, se han fabricado nuevas combinaciones de materiales incluyendo el material base, diferentes tipos de microesferas de vidrio y cargas antideslizantes como parte del material de post-mezclado, se ha añadido pintura con pigmentos fosforescentes para mejorar la visibilidad nocturna y barniz de recubrimiento premezclado con agregados antideslizantes para prolongar la vida útil de la marca vial, fabricando un total de 40 samples analizadas en laboratorio. No sólo se han estudiado los resultados de los parámetros fundamentales de cada sample, sino que nos hemos apoyado en la toma de fotografías in situ analizándolas cualitativamente, lo que nos ha ayudado a comprender su evolución y los resultados. Al mismo tiempo hemos tomado muestras de todas ellas para su observación en laboratorio. Tras la comparativa entre la evolución de cada característica principal de las probetas y su análisis, hemos establecido los períodos de la vida útil de cada una de ellas según la zona de afección en la que están ubicadas atendiendo a la Norma 8.2-IC. Cabe destacar que se ha dejado la línea de investigación relacionada con la interconexión entre el vehículo autónomo, la infraestructura viaria y la señalización vial horizontal abierta como principal futura línea de investigación.

74 pages

Avec l'évolution de la technologie, l'homme a procédé à la conception de systèmes de plus en plus complexes mais aussi de plus en plus sensibles aux défauts qui peuvent les affecter. Une procédure de diagnostic contribuant au bon déroulement du processus est ainsi nécessaire. Dans ce contexte, le but de cette thèse est le diagnostic des systèmes à événements discrets modélisés par des Réseaux de Petri Étiquetés (RdPE) partiellement observables. Sous l'hypothèse que chaque défaut est modélisé par le tir d'une transition non observable, deux approches de diagnostic à base d'estimation d'état sont développées. Une première approche composée de deux étapes consiste à estimer l'ensemble des marquages de base sur un horizon élémentaire glissant. La première étape consiste à déterminer un ensemble de vecteurs candidats à partir d'une approche algébrique. La deuxième étape consiste à éliminer les solutions candidates calculées qui ne sont pas associées à une trajectoire possible du RdPE. Comme l'ensemble des marquages de base pourra aussi être important, une deuxième approche de diagnostic évitera cet écueil en n'estimant pas les marquages. Une technique de relaxation des problèmes de Programmation Linéaire en Nombres Entiers (PLNE) sur un horizon fuyant est utilisée afin d'avoir un diagnostic en temps polynomial. / With the evolution of technology, humans have made available systems increasingly complex but also increasingly sensitive to faults that may affect it. A diagnostic procedure which contributes to the smooth running of the process is thus necessary. In this context, the aim of this thesis is the diagnosis of discrete event systems modeled by partially observed Labeled Petri Nets (LPNs). Under the assumption that each defect is modeled by the firing of an unobservable transition, two diagnostic approaches based on state estimation are developed. A first approach is to estimate the set of basis markings on a sliding elementary horizon. This approach is carried out in two steps. The first step is to determine a set of candidate vectors from an algebraic approach. The second step is to eliminate the calculated candidate solutions that are not associated with a possible trajectory of the LPN. As the set of basis markings can also be huge, a second diagnostic approach will avoid this pitfall by not estimating the markings. A relaxation technique of Integer Linear Programming (ILP) problems on a receding horizon is used to have a diagnosis in polynomial time.

Pavement markings are vital for safely navigating roadways. The nighttime visibility of pavement markings is enhanced by addition of retroreflective glass beads, most of which are made from recycled glass. Concern has been raised over the presence of heavy metals in glass beads used in pavement markings and their effect on human and environmental health. Based upon the potential risk associated with the presence of arsenic and lead in the glass beads, two Bills are currently being considered before the 112th Congress of the United States of America seeking to set a maximum permissible limit for the amount of arsenic and lead in glass beads used within pavement marking systems on domestic roadways. This study was designed to support legislative decision making by providing data necessary for risk assessment. The experiments carried out provide: an analysis of glass bead metal content and extractability; an evaluation of the relationship between arsenic content of the glass beads and their retroreflective performance; an evaluation of analytical methods used to measure the total bead metal content; and an analysis of samples of glass bead and soil mixture from a glass bead storage site used to determine site-specific metal concentrations in the soil media. Mean arsenic content, measured using the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's KOH fusion digestion, in all the glass beads examined ranged from 11 ppm to 82 ppm, while mean lead content, measured using KOH fusion digestion, ranged from below quantification limit to 199 ppm. Total metal content measurements indicated a high amount of variability in the glass bead samples; most likely associated with the use of recycled glass feed during manufacturing. The relationship between the retroreflective performance and the arsenic content of the glass beads was analyzed and a weak but positive correlation was observed between the two factors. However, a more detailed study is required to evaluate the relationship between arsenic content and retroreflectivity. Different methods to evaluate the total metal content in glass beads were compared; it is recommended that any analytical method may be used, as long as the standard reference material is reproduced within the range of concentration expected in the glass beads. In the analysis of the field site samples of soil containing glass beads obtained from a glass bead storage and transfer facility, the mass content of beads in the soil varied from a mean of 19% to 78% depending on the location within the facility. However, a detailed analysis with larger number of samples must be performed to evaluate the effect of glass beads on the total arsenic content of the soil.