The Alcohol and Other Drugs Committee's Centennial Paper to review what it has accomplished since its inception in the early 1970s, how it has evolved along with the field, and what challenges and opportunities it confronts going forward. To learn more about the history of impaired driving and the Standing Technical Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Transportation (ANB50), check out the Committee's Centennial Paper. As part of TRB's Centennial Celebration, the Technical Activities Council invited al...

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS): Waiver Authority and Modification of Volumes , released by the U.S. Congressional Research Service

Deborah Flint, the current President and CEO of Greater Toronto Airports Authority, is a featured volunteer in Issue 324 (November-December 2019) of TRB's magazine TR News . "Be flexible... Be a sponge, open to everything," she says. At TRB, Ms. Flint served on an Airport Cooperative Research Program panel and was previously a member of the ACRP Oversight Committee. In her role in Toronto, she oversees all airport operations, including the security and safety of employees and travelers. Previously, she s...

The charismatic and familiar monarch butterfly serves as a flagship species for pollinator conservation, and gives rights-of-way entities opportunities to engage a diverse array of stakeholders who are invested in not only restoring monarch numbers to sustainable levels, but also mitigating many other environmental and economic issues. This pre-publication draft of the TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 942 Pre-Pub: Evaluating the Suitability of Roadway Corridors fo...

TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Legal Research Digest 16: Procurement of Airport Development and Planning Contracts provides guidance on how to determine which requirements apply to any given procurement process. The report also includes an overview of the consequences for noncompliance with procurement laws or regulations in order to help airports better understand the inherent risks associated with various funding sources.

Hello Internet! In This Episode: Erin and Weer’d talk (briefly!) about the COVID-19 cancellations, but more extensively about Florida Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and his, shall we say, interesting night in a South Beach Hotel; the Other Staffers are dealing … Continue reading →

This comment thread really encapsulated the mentality of the “I’m a gun owner but…” Anti-Gunners.     You can find some info on Mike “The Guy Guy” here and here. But the dialoge between Mike and a Second Amendment Supporter is here: … Continue reading →

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on May 6, 2020.

The Effects of Left-Turn Traffic-Calming Treatments on Conflicts and Speeds in Washington, D.C. , released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Coincidental to TRB's 1982 promotion to a stand-alone unit within the NRC and its acceptance of the responsibility to oversee consensus studies, Congress was working on an update to surface transportation legislation. The timing meant that TRB was not going to be able to ease into its new responsibilities. To learn the whole story, check out the latest release in the TRB History Highlights series. As part of the Centennial Celebration, TRB has initiated the History Highlights series that will regularly r...

This episode originally aired on April 24, 2020. Ohio’s unemployment rate has reached 11.6% due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 10th worst in the nation. Laid-off workers should be on the lookout for scams and schemes trying to swindle away unemployment benefits and federal stimulus checks.

This episode originally aired on April 24, 2020. Ohio’s unemployment rate has reached 11.6% due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 10th worst in the nation. Laid-off workers should be on the lookout for scams and schemes trying to swindle away unemployment benefits and federal stimulus checks.

Just as the Columbus real estate market entered its busiest months, COVID-19 struck. The National Association of Realtors reported that pending home sales dropped 20 percent in March. Nationwide, nearly 4 million homeowners have sought mortgage relief and were not paying their mortgage in April.

The March-April 2020 issue of TR News (#326) - including a cover feature on TRB's "century of progress and foundation for the future" of transportation research - is available in hard copy and digital copy for subscribers. For those who are not subscribers, the table of contents is available. Other feature articles in the issue include ones on whether research processes can keep up, accessible rail sleeper compartments, drones and lasers for railroad bridges, implications of California wildfires, and muc...

Within the academic aviation world, good textbooks can be hard to come by. Not only do few aviation textbook publishers exist, but the aviation industry is constantly changing. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's latest Impacts on Practice brief, ACRP in the Classroom: Reimagining the Textbook at the University of North Dakota Department of Aviation , details how Dr. Kim Kenville uses ACRP Research Report 16, Second Edition: Guidebook for Managing Small Airports , in her classes. “This publica...

International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastracture will host Tenth International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure on June 30 - July 2, 2021 in Porto, Portugal. TRB is pleased to cosponsor this event. The conference provides a forum for idea exchanges, knowledge sharing, and technology-need matchmaking in the global Structural Health Monitoring and Nondestructive Testing community. It serves as a unique venue to showcase U.S. and gl...

Demand-responsive transportation (DRT) can produce benefits — fewer empty seats, lower cost per passenger, less delay for customers — to both passengers and transportation service providers, particularly the public and private nonprofit agencies that finance DRT services with public funds. The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Research Report 210: Development of Transactional Data Specifications for Demand-Responsive Transportation presents a transactional data specification for DRT to faci...

Sixty-eight percent of the states who responded to a survey indicated their agency has a documented process for as-built development. They said handwritten notes were the most commonly used method to capture as-built data (86%), followed by electronic notes (76%), and then photographs (33%). Some states use more than one option to capture as-built data. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Synthesis 548: Development and Use of As-Built Plans by State Departments of Transportation...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Research Report 191: A Primer to Prepare for the Connected Airport and the Internet of Things introduces the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) within the airport environment to leverage current and emerging technologies. IoT can be used to provide information and services to airport passengers with current and evolving technologies. Airports, airlines, and other stakeholders can use these innovative technologies and data to enhance the user exp...

The unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry is on the cutting edge of aviation innovation. Airports, including tenants and contractors, are discovering the benefits of UAS to their operations and bottom line. Yet, with the diversity of UAS applications at airports, there has been a lack of relevant industry data on this topic to inform the airport industry on current practices. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Synthesis 104: Current Landscape of Unmanned Aircraft Systems at Airports s...

As demand for air travel grows, airport-related emissions are increasing and airports are challenged to reduce associated environmental impacts. In response, expanded regulatory programs and global climate protection initiatives are being developed that require the aviation industry—including U.S. airports—to implement new, clean technologies and to modify operational practices to reduce emissions. One effective option for reducing the emissions associated with aircraft auxiliary power units (APUs) and d...

The introduction of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) has presented a wide range of new safety, economic, operational, regulatory, community, environmental, and infrastructure challenges to airports and the National Airspace System. These risks are further complicated by the dynamic and shifting nature of UAS technologies. The pre-publication draft of ACRP Research Report 212: Airports and Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Volume 1: Managing and Engaging Stakeholders on UAS in the Vicinity of Airports provides gu...

Most U.S. state departments of transportation (DOTs) are collecting weigh-in-motion data with a wide variety of sensor types and using them in a variety of applications. Many agencies use WIM data to aid in pavement design, although most are not currently using a Pavement ME (mechanistic-empirical) Design application. WIM for bridge and asset management purposes is used much less often. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Synthesis 546: Use of Weigh-in-Motion Data for Pavement, ...

Star Trek Online‘s limited-event, Defense of Pahvo, will take place May 7-28 and will be available for captains playing on PC, Xbox...

Doug Jones will be participating in the InHouse-Con this weekend, and while doing promotion for that, he answered questions in an interview...

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has an opening for a position that closes June 1, 2020.

A report from the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Transportation

TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Report 39: Recommended Guidelines for the Collection and Use of Geospatially Referenced Data for Airfield Pavement Management offers recommended guidelines for the collection and use of geospatially referenced data for airfield pavement management. The guidelines provide a data schema, data collection methods, data quality requirements, and other relevant information required for developing specifications and standards for integrating geospatial data into...

If you’re fortunate enough to still be working during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, you are likely to be doing so from home. Teleworking (or telecommuting) has been suddenly and widely adopted. For example, Arizona DOT reports doubling the number of employees who telework in multiple departments in just two weeks. In conjunction with Texas' disaster declaration related to COVID-19, TxDOT is also requiring its office-based employees to telework beginning March 16. Your workplace is likely making si...

In March 2020, EPA announced a new website for finding key EPA resources about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) virus. Additional information can be found on CDC's Coronavirus (COVID-19) website, a list of Disinfectants EPA's Pesticide Program recommend (today) to ward off spreading the virus, and CDC's list of symptoms to watch for.

A new breed of smart telescopes is set to take users past these hurdles, and get them out under the night sky. We recently had a chance to put Vaonis’ Stellina ‘smart telescope’ through its paces, and we’re intrigued at the glimpse it provides at the future of observational astronomy.

The post Our Review of Stellina: a ‘Smart Telescope’ for 21st Century Astronomy appeared first on Universe Today.

Astronomy is advancing to the point where we can see planets forming around young stars. This was an unthinkable development only a few years ago. In fact, it was only two years ago that astronomers captured the first image of a newly-forming planet. Now there are more and more studies into how planets form, including …

Continue reading "More Pictures of Planet-Forming Disks Around Young Stars"

The post More Pictures of Planet-Forming Disks Around Young Stars appeared first on Universe Today.

One of the most fascinating things about planet Earth is the way that life shapes the Earth and the Earth shapes life. We only have to look back to the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) of 2.4 billion years ago to see how lifeforms have shaped the Earth. In that event, phytoplanktons called cyanobacteria pumped the …

Continue reading "New Data Show How Phytoplankton Pumps Carbon Out of the Atmosphere at an Enormous Scale"

The post New Data Show How Phytoplankton Pumps Carbon Out of the Atmosphere at an Enormous Scale appeared first on Universe Today.

Introduction of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will pose safety, economic, operational, regulatory, community, environmental, and infrastructure challenges to airports. These risks are further complicated by the dynamic nature of UAS technological development. Experiences and lessons learned from recent major aviation system changes demonstrate the critical importance of ensuring that airports have the resources needed to avoid adverse impacts and maximize benefits as early as possible. This pre-publica...

The March-April 2020 issue of TR News (#326) - including a cover feature on TRB's "century of progress and foundation for the future" of transportation research - is available in hard copy and digital copy for subscribers. For those who are not subscribers, the table of contents is available. Other feature articles in the issue include ones on whether research processes can keep up, accessible rail sleeper compartments, drones and lasers for railroad bridges, implications of California wildfires, and muc...

Season two will exclusively stream on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

The top real estate brokers at The Oppenheim Group are back and this season, the ladies deal with even more mind-blowing mansions, shocking new romances, and explosive truths that will change their lives, relationships and careers forever.

The series was previously scheduled to roll out Thursday, April 2 on sibling Science Channel.

Initially, the new season was slated to premiere Wednesday, June 17.

"Compliments of the day" email scam removal guide

What is "Compliments of the day" email scam?

In most cases scams that are sent via email are used to trick recipients into providing some sensitive information, transferring money or even opening files designed to install some malware. In this case scammer seeks to trick recipients into believing that he can get a huge sum of money out of his country but he cannot do that on his own and requests for assistance, in return for an investment opportunity. Typically, scams of this type are used to extract money from unsuspecting people. This or any other similar scam should be ignored.