The aim of the present study was to analyse the physicochemical properties and chemical composition of soil after years of applying varied tillage systems and pre-crops. The field experiments were carried out in Lipnik in Poland. The experiment was conducted over 25 years, with factor I–3 tillage systems: ploughing (A), ploughless (B) and direct sowing (C), factor II-pre-crop–1–faba bean, 2–sugar beet. Simplified tillage systems were used, and increased acidity was found in both layers due to lower pH, as well as an increase in exchangeable aluminum, hydrolytic acidity and exchangeable acidity of soil. The simplification of tillage system resulted in no significant effect on the following soil parameters: sum of base cations (TEB), cation exchange capacity (CEC) and electrical conductivity (EC). In both layers, there was a marked increase in the content of total nitrogen, carbon and available magnesium in soil with ploughless (B) and direct sowing (C) tillage systems. The change of the tillage system, which implied tillage reduction, was found to be the factor which has a significant effect on the physicochemical properties and chemical composition of soil. Tillage resulted a greater effect on the physicochemical properties, whereas pre-crop was found to affect the changes in chemical composition of soil to a greater extent. The results obtained in the research indicate that the tillage systems ploughless (B) and direct sowing (C) can be applied in practice.
This paper attempts to examine and analyse accident causation and risk factors for pedestrian injuries at signalized locations in Warsaw. In large Polish cities like Warsaw, pedestrians constitute almost 60% of road fatalities. Although traffic safety situation in general is improving, the numbers of pedestrians hit when crossing a road have not significantly decreased in the last five years. Accidents at signalized intersections and crossings in Warsaw constitute around 33% of all crashes involving pedestrians. During the last five years the number of accidents occurring at signalized pedestrian crossings has not been decreasing. Based on analysis of 735 police records of pedestrian accidents in Warsaw for years 2010-2014, it can be concluded that in terms of numbers the biggest problem occurs on dual carriageway roads and at zebra crossings on intersection exit roadways. The highest risk of a fatal accident outcome occurs at midblock signalized crossings and when pedestrians cross tram tracks. Pedestrians over 65 years of age have the highest risk of being killed. Disobeying the red signal is a serious problem -many accidents were caused by either a pedestrian (25%) or driver (8%) ignoring the red light. The findings suggest that accident rates could be minimized by appropriate road and traffic signal design: speed reduction measures and enforcement as well as making traffic signals more pedestrian-friendly, especially for elderly pedestrians.
The main objectives of this study were to isolate bacteria from soil chronically contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), develop an autochthonous microbial consortium, and evaluate its ability to degrade PAHs in their native contaminated soil. Strains with the best bioremediation potential were selected during the multi-stage isolation process. Moreover, to choose bacteria with the highest bioremediation potential, the presence of PAH-degrading genes (pahE) was confirmed and the following tests were performed: tolerance to heavy metals, antagonistic behavior, phytotoxicity, and antimicrobial susceptibility. In vitro degradation of hydrocarbons led to the reduction of the total PAH content by 93.5% after the first day of incubation and by 99.22% after the eighth day. Bioremediation experiment conducted in situ in the contaminated area resulted in the average reduction of the total PAH concentration by 33.3% after 5 months and by over 72% after 13 months, compared to the concentration recorded before the intervention. Therefore, this study implicates that the development of an autochthonous microbial consortium isolated from long-term PAH-contaminated soil has the potential to enhance the bioremediation process.
The problem of poor quality of traffic accident data assembled in national databases has been addressed in European project InDeV. Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and moped riders) are especially affected by underreporting of accidents and misreporting of injury severity. Analyses of data from the European CARE database shows differences between countries in accident number trends as well as in fatality and injury rates which are difficult to explain. A survey of InDeV project partners from 7 EU countries helped to identify differences in their countries in accident and injury definitions as well as in reporting and data checking procedures. Measures to improve the quality of accident data are proposed such as including pedestrian falls in accident statistics, precisely defining minimum injury and combining police accident records with hospital data.
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