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January 8-21, 2001 |
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If you choose to follow any links to the abstracts and/or complete text of articles, books, and documents listed below, you will be leaving the Strategian Web site. If you wish to return to this page from the Web page you are sent to, please use the Back option of your browser. Feature Items: Robert B. Noland Relationships between Highway Capacity and Induced Vehicle Travel. (... the author states that the theory of induced travel demand asserts that increases in highway capacity will induce additional growth in traffic. In other words, if a highway is expanded, more lanes are added, a road is widened, etc. in order to deal with increased traffic congestion, those very road "improvements" may lead to greater traffic thereby not solving--either partially or wholly--the problem which led to the road construction in the first place. Using data from the United States on lane mileage [lane miles of road capacity] and VMT [vehicle miles of travel], the author concludes that about 25% of VMT growth is estimated to be due to lane mile additions assuming historical rates of growth in road capacity. The results strongly support the hypothesis that added lane mileage can induce significant additional travel. The additional travel is generated through a variety of behavioral mechanisms including mode shifts, route shifts, redistribution of trips, generation of new trips, and long run land use changes that create new trips and longer trips. Other keywords and phrases -- arterials, collectors, interstates, road type, rural, urban -- from the text of the abstract) Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice Volume 35, Number 1 (January 2001): 47-72. Heike Langenberg and Peter Aldhous Global Warming: A Climate of Uncertainty. (... a short pithy review of the politics, negotiations, and research that took place in 2000 about global warming and climate change. A quick overview is provided of research dealing with discrepancies between temperature measurements made at the surface [of the earth] and from satellites, the cooling or warming effect of aerosols of dust, soot, and other particles in the atmosphere, the behavior of carbon sinks, the impacts of forests on global warming, and palaeoclimatology. Other keywords and phrases -- carbon credits, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, CO2, emissions, gases, greenhouse gas, Kyoto Protocol -- from the text of the article; please see the bibliography) Nature Volume 408, Number 6815 (December 21-28, 2000): 896-897. J. Mark Elwood A Critical Review of Epidemiologic Studies of Radiofrequency Exposure and Human Cancers. (... a review of studies that have assessed associations between likely exposure to radiofrequency [RF] transmissions and various types of human cancer. Devices that use the part of the electromagnetic spectrum occupied by RF and thus devices that may emit radiofrequency radiation [RFR] include AM and FM radio, VHF radio and television, UHF television, cellular telephones, microwave ovens, radar, and satellite communications. RFR is a higher frequency [shorter wavelength] than the extremely low frequency [ELF] radiation used in electric power sources, and a lower frequency than infrared radiation. Natural sources of RF transmissions are negligible, so human exposure to them comes almost entirely from human-produced sources. The concern over possible human health effects from exposure to RF emissions [radiation] has been a somewhat contentious issue for many years now. The public generally has been more concerned about RFR coming from large television, radio, cellular telephone, and other transmitters [sometimes called "communication towers"] rather than the individual cell phones, etc. themselves. This despite the fact that cell phone users [for instance] have a much higher potential [RFR] dose exposure because the device is held close to the head. The potential RFR dose exposure from transmitters or towers is much less [though, in this case, the exposure is [often] seen as involuntary]. The author summarizes the results of the various studies by saying that there is no type of cancer that has been consistently associated with RF exposures. The epidemiologic evidence falls short of the strength and consistency of evidence that is required to come to a reasonable conclusion that RF emissions are a likely cause of one or more types of human cancer. Other keywords and phrases -- brain cancer, breast cancer, epidemiology, leukemia, testicular cancer, TV -- from the text of the abstract and the article; please see the bibliography) Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 107, Supplement 1 (February 1999): 155-168. **An abstract of the article is currently available through the Web site of Environmental Health Perspectives** Those interested in the debate over the possible human health effects of exposure to RF emissions may be interested in a letter from a critic of Elwood's review: Bruce Hocking Comments on "A Critical Review of Epidemiologic Studies of Radiofrequency Exposure and Human Cancers". Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 107, Number 12 (December 1999): A596-A597. ... and Elwood's response to that letter: J. Mark Elwood Radiofrequency Exposure and Human Cancers: Elwood's Response. Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 107, Number 12 (December 1999): A597. **The complete text of both Hocking's letter and Elwood's response are currently available through the Web site of Environmental Health Perspectives** How to find the above journals, magazines, and other publications? See Step 3: Locate of the Information Strategy for details. Questions about any or all of the above? Please let me know. |
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