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Lack of visibility is one of the challenges that impact drivers' ability to perform driving tasks at night. Although prior studies indicated that lighting increases nighttime safety, lighting at stop-controlled intersections is not mandatory according to many U.S. states' guidelines. This paper aims to investigate the impact of different lighting conditions on safety-related driving behavior during nighttime at stop-controlled intersections. The data were collected using a driving simulator experiment where participants drove through several intersections during daytime, nighttime without lighting, nighttime with partial lighting, and nighttime with full lighting. Collected measures included speed, time-to-collision (TTC), and post-encroachment time (PET). TTC/PET were used as safety surrogate measures to evaluate the impact of lighting on drivers' safety. The results indicated that TTC/PET were higher during daytime and nighttime with partial/full lighting. Furthermore, the findings revealed that lower speeds were recorded at nighttime with partial/full lighting. Kruskal–Wallis test revealed that TTC/PET medians for nighttime without lighting were statistically significantly different from TTC/PET medians of the remaining lighting conditions. Moreover, negative binomial modeling indicated that lack of lighting and speed had inverse correlation with TTC. In summary, the results revealed that street lighting at stop-controlled intersections provided 37% increase in TTC, 15% increase in PET, and 15% reduction in speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A survey was carried out in Rome to investigate whether street luminance affects pedestrians’ comfort, visibility and perception. Forty people walked five roads and assessed on a questionnaire their walking comfort, visibility of people and background, perception of lighting intensity and uniformity. Results indicated that walking comfort was affected by mean luminance of whole scene, of sidewalk, of lateral wall and of human body; luminance also influenced the perception of street lighting intensity and uniformity and, to a lesser extent, the visibility of other people and of background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'compact city' implies a return to the urban morphology of the nineteenth-century city, one in which most people walked, predominantly for utilitarian purposes. This article, however, details a leisure practice—the bourgeois promenade—as it unfolded in Stockholm. Employing a diverse set of texts and visual sources the article seeks to understand how this genteel urban practice was enabled and performed in the midst of a growing working-class population with which they shared the streets. It suggests that new street lighting and smoother pavements redirected vision from the ground to the people around, opening up for walking practices that foregrounded the visual over other senses—one being the bourgeois promenade. It further highlights the multiple rhythms of the promenade and the upper middle class' efforts to create hierarchies of walking on city pavements and in urban parks. In sum, the article shows that leisure mobility was central to the very idea of nineteenth century urban life. Meanwhile, its exclusive character cautions against the one-sided imaginaries of strolling and consumption in today's endeavours to recreate the compact city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anarchists vs. the State: As Latin America swings left, activists keep alive a long anarchist tradition of critiquing the limits of state power. While anarchists remain skeptical of efforts initiated from the top of the political-economic -social hierarchy-national governments-there is often a note of cautious optimism with the election ofleftist governments. Yet many Brazilian anarchists cautioned that even with a Lula victory, centralized state authority would not solve Brazil's structural problems, such as rampant sexual harassment, poverty, and environmental destruction. Anarchists challenged state-centered agrarian and education reforms, but the Communist state viewed anarchists' pro-freedom, pro-municipal organizing as counterrevolutionary. [Extracted from the article]

When it comes to smart cities, one of the biggest issues is energy optimization. This is because these cities employ a large number of interconnected devices to autonomously manage city operations, which consumes a lot of energy. This difficulty has been addressed in this paper by using the advantages of contemporary cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), 5 G, and cloud computing for energy efficiency in smart cities. With the use of these cutting-edge technologies, we have proposed a model that can be used to optimize energy consumption in smart homes and smart cities alike. Street lighting, building and street billboards, smart homes, and smart parking are among the four essential features of smart cities that would benefit from the proposed model's energy savings. All smart city electric appliances will be equipped with IoT sensors that will detect movements and react to commands. In order to transport data swiftly between communication channels and the cloud, 5 G technology will be deployed, and the cloud technology will be used to store and retrieve data effectively. The suggested model was evaluated using mathematical modeling, and the findings indicate that the proposed model may assist in improving energy usage in smart cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illumination is an environmental factor affecting lane-change behavior. To identify the factors associated with lane-change behaviors in low illumination, the Lane-change Behavior Questionnaire in Low Illumination was developed based on the Chinese traffic environment and low-illumination environmental conditions. The appropriate dimensional structure of the questionnaire was identified. In a sample of 214 drivers in Hefei, China, the study found that male and younger drivers were more likely to change lanes while driving in a low-illumination environment. Drivers with more experience driving in low illumination were more likely to change lanes. Risky driving behaviors and lane-change frequency were significantly positively correlated. Lane-change intention was significantly higher when respondents drove on roads with street lighting than on roads without street lighting. The regression model predicted the frequency of lane-change behavior well based on gender, weekly driving time, and lane-change and risky driving behavior factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the use of the street lamp technology and its contribution to forms of racial visibility in the U.S. Topics discussed include a shooting incident at the town of Brownsville, Texas on August 13, 1906, the link between gas light, criminality and policing, lynching of African American citizens to electric light poles, and street lamp destruction by African American people as resistance to violence brought by the street lamp technology.

Design and construction professionals are entrusted to design built environments that can assure public safety. Crime statistics is one indicator that reflects the correlation between built environments and public safety. Acknowledging the perception of pedestrians, specifically their psychological and emotional reactions toward certain public space settings would be another effective parameter to develop a good foundation to create more livable and safer neighborhoods. With these in mind, the analyses in this study have attempted to explore the relationship between street conditions and the perception of pedestrian safety in Auburn Alabama, USA. The research design primarily consists of an online survey that obtained information about (1) respondents' brief personal characteristics, (2) their walking times, (3) their levels of anxiety regarding certain street settings based on daytime and nighttime photographs (closed-ended questions on a Likert scale from 1 to 5), and (4) their reasoning behind these ratings (open-ended). The results show that proper street lighting is the main contributor to enhancing the feeling of safety on streets followed by the morphologic complexity of streets formed by various business types, outdoor dining, street performers, and other pedestrian activities. Other than physical settings, the study also found that age and gender influenced the level of anxiety among pedestrians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the stationary properties of the electricity consumption of five main sectors (residential, public services, industrial, agricultural, and street lighting) in Iran over the period 1967–2017. To analyze the data, we apply the Lagrange Multiplier (LM) and GARCH-based unit root tests with structural breaks. The results of our study provide strong evidence that electricity consumption is stationary in the industrial, residential and street lighting sectors; thus, sharp shocks have transitory effects on electricity consumption, implying that consumption trends in these sectors will ultimately return to their long-run equilibrium. However, the time series of electricity consumption for the agricultural and public services sectors contain a unit root, and thus shocks to their electricity consumption are permanent. The foregoing findings can help policymakers in each sector to design efficient electricity management policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was to examine the nature and risk factors associated with road traffic crashes at night in Ghana and identify potential measures to control them. Crash and injury data for the period 2013-2017 were analyzed. The fatality index and fatal crash ratio measures were employed to assess the severity of injuries among traffic participants. Statistical analysis was carried out for the variables using contingency tables and the chi-square (χ2) tests to assess statistical significance. Generally, night-time traffic crashes resulted in severer injury outcomes than crashes in the hours of daylight (χ2(2)=292.7, p < 0.001). The relative risk of death in a night traffic crash was 1.3 times that during the daytime. The risk of death was highest among pedestrians (44%) and motorcyclist (18%) compared to bus/mini-bus occupants (16%) and car occupants (11%) and the observed percentage differences were significant (χ2(14)=2303.2, p < 0.001). Most of the collisions (67%) occurred at the early hours of the night, between 18:00 and 22:00 hours. Poor night visibility coupled with poor visual guidance on roads are the key contributory risk factors associated with night travels. Policies must be geared towards provision of functioning street lights in built-up areas, road line markings, delineators and signage for the highways and arterial roads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article owes its inspiration to a series of photos that poetically documents the street lighting conditions in Brazzaville and which was taken by the Congolese photographer Baudouin Mouanda (born 1981). The first section reviews the provision of electricity and street lighting systems in sub-Saharan Africa as an expression of state power and weakness through infrastructural visibility and invisibility. Its aim is to provide a qualitative background and to enhance the situational understanding of the second, site-related section of the article which focuses on Brazzaville, the capital city of the Republic of Congo. Here Mouanda's visual series is interpreted in light of conceptions of the 'shadow' and the 'non-complete', usable in trying to grasp the urban formations and lived realities in the global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the nineteenth century American cities transitioned from offering minimal services to providing services through networked infrastructures. Among these were street lights fueled largely by coal gas produced by manufactured gas plants and distributed by pipe line and later by electricity, both arc and incandescent. Because of fuel and construction costs, manufactured gas was expensive and uneven, and gas networks were confined to business sectors and affluent neighborhoods. To provide light to dark neighborhoods and suburbs, off-grid stand-alone technologies unconnected to a piped or wired network often supplied illumination. The most common of these were fueled by gasoline and naphtha, byproducts of petroleum distillation aiming primarily to produce kerosene. This pattern was present in many American cities and towns in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Thus, the case of stand-alone gasoline and naphtha street lights presents an important variation to the advance of the networked city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of the street lighting systems in Nigeria are predominantly composed of inefficient lighting fixtures powered either by the grid or diesel generators. Due to the epileptic nature of the grid and the fluctuations in diesel fuel pump prices, these methods for powering street lights are neither reliable nor sustainable. Use of energy-efficient lamps and photovoltaic (PV) panels has the tendency to reduce energy consumption and emissions. This study therefore presents a techno-economic analysis of deploying energy-efficient PV-powered street lighting systems using simple economic metrics. Environmental benefits of the proposed systems were also assessed by analyzing the reduction in CO2 emission as well as the equivalent of oil saved. Relative to the existing grid-powered metal halide system, installation of LED PV-powered street light reduced energy consumption by at least 80%, while the grid-powered LED configuration reduced energy consumption by 80%. Economic analysis shows that the simple payback period (SPP) for the LED PV-powered technology was less than three years, while that of the grid-powered LED system was less than two years. The LED PV-powered technology had the highest CO2 emission reduction of approximately 225 tonnes annually. Overall, street lighting using PV-powered and grid-powered LED is economically viable considering the payback time, net present value (NPV) and lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palestine has a large number of rural areas which have no electricity services and cannot be connected to local grid in the near future for political and financial obstacles. This paper present the techno-economic impact of electrification of small communities by using micro-grid photovoltaic (PV) systems, and also reduction in CO2 emission in comparison to using diesel generator which causes high rates of environmental pollution will be analyzed. The implemented two micro-grid PV systems for electrification two communities in Palestine will cover the electricity needs of households and street lighting and can replace traditional unsustainable energy sources. Also, micro-grid PV systems have positive impacts on people's health and on the environment besides economic and social benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore the combination of factors and circumstances that could increase the likelihood of a pedestrian crash to be fatal. Six pedestrian crash clusters identified in our previous study on 34,178 crashes occurred in Iran, were employed in the current work and the association rules technique was used as the analysis tool. Based on the results, jaywalking or waiting beside the road on poorly illuminated locations of those segments of rural roads that pass through residential/agricultural districts substantially increased the fatality risk of pedestrian (Lift = 3.4). Therefore, appropriately illuminated locations need to be designed on these segments of rural roads for pedestrians to wait beside or cross the road safely. In case of motorcycle-pedestrian crashes, inattention to yield sign, especially in residential areas, might significantly increase the fatality risk of pedestrian (by a factor of 8.1). Also, in those crashes where the motorcyclist is under 19 years old (i.e. unlicensed) and the pedestrian is over 60, the crash could be 5.3 times more likely to be fatal. More strict law enforcement over unlicensed motorcyclists is required as they were found to involve in more severe pedestrian crashes. The combined use of clustering analysis and association rules discovery should not be considered as an alternative to other modelling techniques, but as a complementary descriptive method to be used in road safety research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the performance of local streetlamp maintenance and management under the effects of the regional economic recession following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the Luodong (Yilan County, Taiwan) Township Office implemented a streetlamp sponsorship project in 2010 which combining streetlamp sponsorship and the installation of worship lamps at local religious organizations. With successful promotion and marketing strategies, many local residents and merchandisers participated in the project. This study analysed the project to investigate how a Taiwanese local government office employs innovative public policies to strengthen its governance. In-depth interviews with critical policy stakeholders and geographic information system-based spatial analysis was employed as the main methods. Several suggestions are offered in the conclusion of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We briefly review the ideas that have shaped modern optics and have led to various applications of light ranging from spectroscopy to astrophysics, and street lights to quantum communication. The review is primarily focused on the modern applications of classical light and nonclassical light. Specific attention has been given to the applications of squeezed, antibunched, and entangled states of radiation field. Applications of Fock states (especially single photon states) in the field of quantum communication are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Practices of outdoor illumination have dramatically changed in the last decades as functional lighting has progressively given way to a more qualitative vision of light. Its traditional role for security purposes has been progressively matched by the use of illumination for city beautification. This is now a major consideration for new lighting strategies. As a result, a growing number of European cities explicitly include the development of nocturnal tourism among the objectives of their lighting policies. However, little attention has been paid by academic research to this growing trend. Focusing on the internationally renowned lighting project ‘Ruta de los Rios de Luz’, this research paper explores the use of lighting design for tourism purposes. Through interviews with individuals who played an important role in the project, the discussion below scrutinizes the lighting design decisions and the economic, environmental and political objectives that inspire the growing utilization of spectacular forms of illumination for tourism purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Taiwan, even though the highway agencies have been making effort to improve the overall serviceability of the road system, more often than not, road users were not satisfied with the performance of the maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) activities. This paper focuses on the performance of M&R activities in Taiwan from the road users’ perspective. Surveys were conducted to collect the users’ perception (serving as the performance) of the M&R activities. The Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) are jointly used to quantify the performance of M&R activities. DEMATEL is employed to understand the influence among the criteria/elements, and ANP is used to determine the relative weights of the elements. It is found that the respondents were most concerned about unsafe conditions due to manhole covers, damaged manhole covers, insufficient street lighting, potholes and bumps on pavements, and uneven pavements. Furthermore, the performance of M&R activities implemented on six major road types in Taiwan is analysed using the Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) method. Based on the concept lattice and association rules derived from FCA, directions for the improvement of M&R activities are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a single-stage, single-switch, non-isolated step-up converter with resonant inverter for a standalone photovoltaic battery-powered light-emitting diode (LED) street light. The LED driver presented in this paper integrates a high step-up DC–DC converter with coupled inductors and LCC resonant converter into a single-stage conversion circuit topology. The proposed converter is a compact cost-effective driver for powering a 60 W LED Street light with a battery backup charged from PV array of 12 V. The modes of operation and analysis of the proposed converter are explained. The design of the circuit elements is done based on the theoretical analysis. The proposed circuit has been simulated, and prototype has been developed to demonstrate its feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Urban infrastructures have traditionally been mono-functional: water, sewage, and electricity are notable examples. Embedded with digital technologies, urban infrastructures have the potential to communicate with one another and become multi-functional platforms that integrate data gathering and actuation cycles. In this paper, we focus on public lighting infrastructures. Despite the technological development of lights, including LED technology, streetlights have been primarily treated as a mono-functional infrastructure. Based on case studies, we discuss the potential of reimagining streetlight infrastructure, and advance some initial proposals that focus on sensing and actuation cycles, which could transform this pervasive infrastructure into a digital urban platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New relationships between energy efficiency, illuminance uniformity, spacing and mounting height in public lighting installations were derived from the analysis of a large sample of outputs generated with a widely used software application for lighting design. These new relationships greatly facilitate the calculation of basic lighting installation parameters. The results obtained are also based on maximal energy efficiency and illuminance uniformity as a premise, which are not included in more conventional methods. However, these factors are crucial since they ensure the sustainability of the installations. This research formulated, applied and analysed these new equations. The results of this study highlight their usefulness in rapid planning and urban planning in developing countries or areas affected by natural disasters where engineering facilities and computer applications for this purpose are often unavailable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While the illumination of streets by electric streetlights in Western cities is a given today, in the early part of the twentieth century it was a technology whose conspicuous consumption was a status symbol for both individuals and towns. Not long after its introduction, however, electric lighting in cities also became noticeable in its absence. This paper draws on municipal records to consider how ideologies of white supremacy and progress came together to produce the uneven deployment of streetlighting in the small town of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, thus contributing to the city's segregation in the early part of the twentieth century. By tracing the development of hierarchical streetlighting systems, such as General Electric's White Way, I also show how the racialized deployment of streetlighting was aided by large electrical equipment manufacturers. In conclusion, I argue that these insights are crucial to understanding how technologies racialize space, but also how technologies such as streetlighting are central to the production of the spaces in which race is produced and racism takes place. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The changes in technology that have affected mail delivery are a dynamic way to encourage students to think critically and make meaningful connections across historical eras. In the classroom, personal communication through the mail can become the “thematic glue” used across historical units to highlight the changes in everyday life caused by technological innovation. The post office initiated changes in streetlighting and crosswalks, stimulated the development of rural roads and highways, and provided passenger services on railways. Classroom teachers can use the activities and discussion questions to introduce students to this entity and its influence on our history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the benefits of improved street lights to households, associated with the replacement of low-pressure sodium orange/yellow street lights with high-pressure sodium white street lights. Improved street lighting provides higher luminosity, improved colour rendition and less light pollution into the night sky. Benefits include reductions in crime and road accidents, streetscape enhancements and increased amenity attributable to less light pollution. The benefit estimation uses a double-bounded discrete choice contingent valuation approach, incorporating a factor analytical procedure. Results reveal safety concerns as the main factor influencing willingness-to-pay and that considerable differences exist in willingness-to-pay between households in urban and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on a systematic review, incorporating meta-analytic techniques, of the effects of improved street lighting on crime. Ways by which street lighting improvements could prevent crime; Criteria for inclusion of evaluation studies; Explanation on the varied effects of improved lighting.

The article offers information on a novel "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte. Topics discussed include views on the character of Jane Eyre; information on the gas street lighting in Paris before 1808; and information on the interpersonal relation between Adele Varens and Jane Eyre. An overview of another novel "Villette" is also presented.