113Gb/s (10 x 11.3Gb/s) ultra-low power EAM driver array.

PubMed

Vaernewyck, Renato; Bauwelinck, Johan; Yin, Xin; Pierco, Ramses; Verbrugghe, Jochen; Torfs, Guy; Li, Zhisheng; Qiu, Xing-Zhi; Vandewege, Jan; Cronin, Richard; Borghesani, Anna; Moodie, David

2013-01-14

This paper presents an ultra-low power SiGe BiCMOS IC for driving a 10 channel electro-absorption modulator (EAM) array at 113Gb/s for wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON) applications. With an output swing of 2.5V(pp), the EAM driver array consumes only 2.2W or 220mW per channel, 50% below the state of the art. Both the output swing and bias are configurable between 1.5 and 3.0V(pp) and 0.75-2.15V respectively.

Initial Breakdown Pulse Parameters in Intracloud and Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Flashes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, E. M.; Marshall, T. C.; Karunarathne, S.; Siedlecki, R.; Stolzenburg, M.

2018-02-01

This study analyzes the largest initial breakdown (IB) pulse in flashes from four storms in Florida; data from three sensor arrays are used. The range-normalized, zero-to-peak amplitude of the largest IB pulse was determined along with its altitude, duration, and timing within each flash. Appropriate data were available for 40 intracloud (IC) and 32 cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes. Histograms of amplitude of the largest IB pulse by flash type were similar, with mean (median) values of 1.49 (1.05) V/m for IC flashes and -1.35 (-0.87) V/m for CG flashes. The largest IB pulse in 30 IC flashes showed a weak inverse relation between pulse amplitude and altitude. Amplitude of the largest IB pulse for 25 CG flashes showed no altitude correlation. Duration of the largest IB pulse in ICs averaged twice as long as in CGs (96 μs versus 46 μs), and all of the CG durations were <100 μs. Among the ICs, there is a positive relation between largest IB pulse duration and amplitude; the linear correlation coefficient is 0.385 with outliers excluded. The largest IB pulse in IC flashes typically occurred at a longer time after the first IB pulse (average 4.1 ms) than was the case in CG flashes (average 0.6 ms). In both flash types, the largest IB pulse was the first IB pulse in about 30% of the cases. In one storm all 42 IC flashes with triggered data had IB pulses.

Cost Analysis of Fluconazole Prophylaxis for Prevention of Neonatal Invasive Candidiasis.

PubMed

Swanson, Jonathan R; Vergales, Jeff; Kaufman, David A; Sinkin, Robert A

2016-05-01

Fluconazole prophylaxis (FP) in premature infants is well studied and has been shown to decrease invasive candidiasis (ICs). IC in neonates has significant financial costs; determining the cost-benefit of FP may provide additional justification for targeting high-risk neonates. We aimed to determine the IC rate in premature infants at which FP is cost-beneficial. A decision tree cost-analysis model using cost of FP related to costs associated with IC was used. We searched PubMed for all papers that used intravenous FP and reported rates of IC in very low birth weight neonates. Average IC rates in those who received FP (2.0%; range, 0-6.1%) and in those who did not receive FP (9.2%; range, 0-20.5%) were used. Incremental hospital costs because of IC and for FP were retrieved from the literature. Sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the incremental cost of FP across the range of published IC rates. The average cost per patient attributed to IC in patients receiving FP was $785 versus $2617 in those not receiving FP. Sensitivity analysis demonstrates the rate of IC would need to be <2.8% for FP to lose its cost-benefit. In Monte Carlo simulation, targeting infants <1000 g would lead to $50,304,333 in cost savings per year in the United States. FP provides a cost-advantage across most IC rates seen in the youngest premature infants. Using a rate of 2.8% for their individual high-risk neonatal intensive care unit patients, providers can determine if FP is cost-beneficial in determining for whom to provide IC prophylaxis.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Modjaz, Maryam; Liu, Yuqian Q.; Bianco, Federica B.

We present the first systematic investigation of spectral properties of 17 Type Ic Supernovae (SNe Ic), 10 broad-lined SNe Ic (SNe Ic-bl) without observed gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and 11 SNe Ic-bl with GRBs (SN-GRBs) as a function of time in order to probe their explosion conditions and progenitors. Using a number of novel methods, we analyze a total of 407 spectra, which were drawn from published spectra of individual SNe as well as from the densely time-sampled spectra of Modjaz et al (2014). In order to quantify the diversity of the SN spectra as a function of SN subtype, wemore » construct average spectra of SNe Ic, SNe Ic-bl without GRBs, and SNe Ic-bl with GRBs. We find that SN 1994I is not a typical SN Ic, contrasting the general view, while the spectra of SN 1998bw/GRB 980425 are representative of mean spectra of SNe Ic-bl. We measure the ejecta absorption and width velocities using a new method described here and find that SNe Ic-bl with GRBs, on average, have quantifiably higher absorption velocities, as well as broader line widths than SNe without observed GRBs. In addition, we search for correlations between SN-GRB spectral properties and the energies of their accompanying GRBs. Finally, we show that the absence of clear He lines in optical spectra of SNe Ic-bl, and in particular of SN-GRBs, is not due to them being too smeared-out due to the high velocities present in the ejecta. This implies that the progenitor stars of SN-GRBs are probably free of the He-layer, in addition to being H-free, which puts strong constraints on the stellar evolutionary paths needed to produce such SN-GRB progenitors at the observed low metallicities.« less

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): DR2 (Liske+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liske, J.; Baldry, I. K.; Driver, S. P.; Tuffs, R. J.; Alpaslan, M.; Andrae, E.; Brough, S.; Cluver, M. E.; Grootes, M. W.; Gunawardhana, M. L. P.; Kelvin, L. S.; Loveday, J.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Taylor, E. N.; Bamford, S. P.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brown, M. J. I.; Drinkwater, M.; Hopkins, A. M.; Meyer, M. J.; Norberg, P.; Peacock, J. A.; Agius, N. K.; Andrews, S. K.; Bauer, A. E.; Ching, J. H. Y.; Colless, M.; Conselice, C. J.; Croom, S. M.; Davies, L. J. M.; de Propris, R.; Dunne, L.; Eardley, E. M.; Ellis, S.; Foster, C.; Frenk, C. S.; Haussler, B.; Holwerda, B. W.; Howlett, C.; Ibarra, H.; Jarvis, M. J.; Jones, D. H.; Kafle, P. R.; Lacey, C. G.; Lange, R.; Lara-Lopez, M. A.; Lopez-Sanchez, A. R.; Maddox, S.; Madore, B. F.; McNaught-Roberts, T.; Moffett, A. J.; Nichol, R. C.; Owers, M. S.; Palamara, D.; Penny, S. J.; Phillipps, S.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Popescu, C. C.; Prescott, M.; Proctor, R.; Sadler, E. M.; Sansom, A. E.; Seibert, M.; Sharp, R.; Sutherland, W.; Vazquez-Mata, J. A.; van Kampen, E.; Wilkins, S. M.; Williams, R.; Wright, A. H.

2016-02-01

Following the first three years of survey operations (2008 February-2010 May; see Driver et al. 2011MNRAS.413..971D, Cat. J/MNRAS/413/971) the GAMA spectroscopic survey on the AAT was substantially expanded, resulting in a number of significant changes to the GAMA IC and target selection. Here (and in other GAMA publications), the term 'GAMA I' refers to the data collected during these first three years, and to all data products that can be traced back to the original version of the IC (called InputCatAv05). In contrast, the term 'GAMA II' refers to the entire GAMA data set, including all GAMA I and all subsequently collected data, and all data products that can be traced back to the revised version of the IC (InputCatAv06 for the equatorial survey regions). (2 data files).

Effects of Initial Conditions on Shock Driven Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinez, Adam A.; Mula, Swathi M.; Charonko, John; Prestridge, Kathy

2017-11-01

The spatial and temporal evolution of shock-driven, variable density flows, such as the Richtmyer Meshkov (RM) instability, are strongly influenced by the initial conditions (IC's) of the flow at the time of interaction with shockwave. We study the effects of the IC's on the Vertical Shock Tube (VST) and on flows from Mach =1.2 to Mach =9. Experiments at the VST are of an Air-SF6 (At =0.6) multimode interface. Perturbations are generated using a shear layer with a flapper plate. Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) is used to characterize the IC's. New experiments are occurring using the Powder Gun driver at LANL Proton Radiography (pRad) facility. Mach number up to M =9 accelerate a Xenon-Helium (At =0.94) interface that is perturbed using a membrane supported by different sized grids. This presentation focuses on how to design and characterize different types of initial conditions for experiments.

Free-piston driver performance characterisation using experimental shock speeds through helium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gildfind, D. E.; James, C. M.; Morgan, R. G.

2015-03-01

Tuned free-piston driver operation involves configuring the driver to produce a relatively steady blast of driver gas over the critical time scales of the experiment. For the purposes of flow condition development and parametric studies, it is useful to establish some average working values of the driver pressure and temperature for a given driver operating condition. However, in practise, these averaged values need to produce sufficiently accurate estimates of performance. In this study, two tuned driver conditions in the X2 expansion tube have been used to generate shock waves through a helium test gas. The measured shock speeds have then been used to calculate the effective driver gas pressure and temperature after diaphragm rupture. Since the driver gas is typically helium, or a mixture of helium and argon, and the test gas is also helium, ideal gas assumptions can be made without significant loss of accuracy. The technique is applicable to tuned free-piston drivers with a simple area change, as well as those using orifice plates. It is shown that this technique can be quickly used to establish average working driver gas properties which produce very good estimates of actual driven shock speed, across a wide range of operating conditions. The use of orifice plates to control piston dynamics at high driver gas sound speeds is also discussed in the paper, and a simple technique for calculating the restriction required to modify an established safe condition for use with lighter gases, such as pure helium, is presented.

A three-channel LED driver with single line transportation technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Caideng; Du, Yiying; Jiang, Qiao; Zhou, Yun; Lv, Jian

2012-10-01

Designed a three-channel LED driver, realized the single-wire transmission of cascade signal between the drive IC of LED. Including the MCU digital interface, date register, clock synchronization, PWM grayscale adjustment circuit, as well as high voltage driver circuit for LED, etc… The driver control LED displaying 256 gray. Chip will generate synchronous sampling clock signals according to the received serial signals, when 24 bits dates have been received, the output pin begins to transport the dates followed-up which are automotive shaped to the input of the next chip. When the date receiving becomes low level that represent RESET, the red, green and blue channels will export different signals based on different input dates. Through the external MCU, it is realized the Separate luminance, and by connecting chips in series it achieved the control of outdoor big screen' colorful display. The automatic shaping forward technique makes the number of chips cascading immune to the limitations of signal transmission, but only limited by the refresh speed.

Average chest wall thickness at two anatomic locations in trauma patients.

PubMed

Schroeder, Elizabeth; Valdez, Carrie; Krauthamer, Andres; Khati, Nadia; Rasmus, Jessica; Amdur, Richard; Brindle, Kathleen; Sarani, Babak

2013-09-01

Needle thoracostomy is the emergent treatment for tension pneumothorax. This procedure is commonly done using a 4.5cm catheter, and the optimal site for chest wall puncture is controversial. We hypothesize that needle thoracostomy cannot be performed using this catheter length irrespective of the site chosen in either gender. A retrospective review of all chest computed tomography (CT) scans obtained on trauma patients from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011 was performed. Patients aged 18 and 80 years were included and patients whose chest wall thickness exceeded the boundary of the images acquired were excluded. Chest wall thickness was measured at the 2nd intercostal (ICS), midclavicular line (MCL) and the 5th ICS, anterior axillary line (AAL). Injury severity score (ISS), chest wall thickness, and body mass index (BMI) were analyzed. 201 patients were included, 54% male. Average (SD) BMI was 26 (7)kg/m(2). The average chest wall thickness in the overall cohort was 4.08 (1.4)cm at the 2nd ICS/MCL and 4.55 (1.7)cm at the 5th ICS/AAL. 29% of the overall cohort (27 male and 32 female) had a chest wall thickness greater than 4.5cm at the 2nd ICS/MCL and 45% (54 male and 36 female) had a chest wall thickness greater than 4.5cm at the 5th ICS/AAL. There was no significant interaction between gender and chest wall thickness at either site. BMI was positively associated with chest wall thickness at both the 2nd and 5th ICS/AAL. A 4.5cm catheter is inadequate for needle thoracostomy in most patients regardless of puncture site or gender. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Integrated Circuit for Simultaneous Extracellular Electrophysiology Recording and Optogenetic Neural Manipulation

PubMed Central

Chen, Chang Hao; McCullagh, Elizabeth A.; Pun, Sio Hang; Mak, Peng Un; Vai, Mang I; Mak, Pui In; Klug, Achim; Lei, Tim C.

2017-01-01

The ability to record and to control action potential firing in neuronal circuits of the brain is critical to understand how the brain functions on the cellular and network levels. Recent development of optogenetic proteins allows direct stimulation or inhibition of action potential firing of neurons upon optical illumination. In this paper, we combined a low-noise and high input impedance (or low input capacitance) neural recording amplifier, and a high current laser/LED driver in a monolithic integrated circuit (IC) for simultaneous neural recording and optogenetic neural control. The low input capacitance of the amplifier (9.7 pF) was achieved through adding a dedicated unity gain input stage optimized for high impedance metal electrodes. The input referred noise of the amplifier was measured to be 4.57 µVrms, which is lower than the estimated thermal noise of the metal electrode. Thus, action potentials originating from a single neuron can be recorded with a signal-to-noise ratio of ~6.6. The LED/laser current driver delivers a maximum current of 330 mA to generate adequate light for optogenetic control. We experimentally tested the functionality of the IC with an anesthetized Mongolian gerbil and recorded auditory stimulated action potentials from the inferior colliculus. Furthermore, we showed that spontaneous firing of 5th (trigeminal) nerve fibers was inhibited using the optogenetic protein Halorhodopsin. A noise model was also derived including the equivalent electronic components of the metal electrode and the high current driver to guide the design. PMID:28221990

Global structure of mantle isotopic heterogeneity and its implications for mantle differentiation and convection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iwamori, Hikaru; Albaréde, Francis; Nakamura, Hitomi

2010-11-01

In order to further our understanding of the global geochemical structure and mantle dynamics, a global isotopic data set of oceanic basalts was analyzed by Independent Component Analysis (ICA), a relatively new method of multivariate analysis. The data set consists of 2773 mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) and 1515 ocean island basalts (OIB) with five isotopic ratios of Pb, Nd and Sr. The data set spatially covers the major oceans and enables us to compare the results with global geophysical observations. Three independent components (ICs) have been found, two of which are essentially identical to those previously found for basalts from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The two ICs (IC1 and IC2) span a compositional plane that accounts for 95.7% of the sample variance, while the third IC (IC3) accounts for 3.7%. Based on the geochemical nature of ICs and a forward model concerning trace elemental and isotopic compositions, the origin of the ICs is discussed. IC1 discriminates OIB from MORB, and may be related to elemental fractionation associated with melting and the subsequent radiogenic in growth with an average recycling time of 0.8 to 2.4 Ga. IC2 tracks the regional provenance of both MORB and OIB and may be related to aqueous fluid-rock interaction and the subsequent radiogenic ingrowth with an average recycling time of 0.3 to 0.9 Ga. IC3 fingerprints upper continental crustal material and its high value appears in limited geographical and tectonic settings. Variations in the melt component (IC1) and in the aqueous fluid component (IC2) inherited in the mantle most likely reflect mid-ocean ridge and subduction zone processes, respectively. Long-term accumulation of dense materials rich in the IC1 melt component at the base of the convective mantle accounts for its longer recycling time with respect to that for less dense materials rich in the aqueous fluid component (IC2). IC2 broadly correlates with the seismic velocity structures of the lowermost mantle and electric conductivity around the mantle transition zones. We propose that IC2 reflects hydrogen distribution within the mantle and that several global domains enriched in hydrogen could exist as vertical sectors extending all the way down to the core-mantle boundary.

VCSEL-based optical transceiver module operating at 25 Gb/s and using a single CMOS IC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Afriat, Gil; Horwitz, Lior; Lazar, Dror; Issachar, Assaf; Pogrebinsky, Alexander; Ran, Adee; Shoor, Ehud; Bar, Roi; Saba, Rushdy

2012-01-01

We present here a low cost, small form factor, optical transceiver module composed of a CMOS IC transceiver, 850 nm emission wavelength VCSEL modulated at 25 Gb/s, and an InGaAs/InP PIN Photo Diode (PD). The transceiver IC is fabricated in a standard 28 nm CMOS process and integrates the analog circuits interfacing the VCSEL and PD, namely the VCSEL driver and Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA), as well as all other required transmitter and receiver circuits like Phase Locked Loop (PLL), Post Amplifier and Clock & Data Recovery (CDR). The transceiver module couples into a 62.5/125 um multi-mode (OM1) TX/RX fiber pair via a low cost plastic cover realizing the transmitter and receiver lens systems and demonstrates BER < 10-12 at the 25 Gb/s data rate over a distance of 3 meters. Using a 50/125 um laser optimized multi-mode fiber (OM3), the same performance was achieved over a distance of 30 meters.

The Effects of Prompting and Feedback on Drivers' Stopping at Stop Signs

PubMed Central

Austin, John; Hackett, Stacey; Gravina, Nicole; Lebbon, Angela

2006-01-01

Complete stops at a high-traffic intersection on the campus of a public university were increased with a prompting and consequence intervention. Data were collected at two opposing stop signs (Stop A and Stop B); however, the intervention was implemented only at Stop A. During the intervention, a volunteer stood next to Stop A holding a poster that read, “Please Stop—I Care,” with “Thank You For Stopping” on the reverse side. The poster was held by the volunteer so that drivers approaching Stop A could read the sign. Drivers approaching Stop B could see the volunteer but could not read the sign. When vehicles approaching Stop A made a complete stop, the volunteer flashed the “thank you” side of the poster to the driver. The strategy was evaluated using a multielement design. The intervention increased stops completed at Stop A from a baseline average of 13% to an intervention average of 52%. Stop B also showed improved stopping, from a baseline average of 6% to an intervention average of 28%. Data showed no relation between complete stops made and the drivers' use of turn signals and safety belts. PMID:16602391

Eye lens radiation exposure to interventional cardiologists: a retrospective assessment of cumulative doses.

PubMed

Jacob, Sophie; Donadille, Laurent; Maccia, Carlo; Bar, Olivier; Boveda, Serge; Laurier, Dominique; Bernier, Marie-Odile

2013-03-01

Radiation dose to the eye lens is a crucial issue for interventional cardiologists (ICs) who are exposed during the procedures they perform. This paper presents a retrospective assessment of the cumulative eye lens doses of ICs enrolled in the O'CLOC study for Occupational Cataracts and Lens Opacities in interventional Cardiology. Information on the workload in the catheterisation laboratory, radiation protection equipment, eye lens dose per procedure and dose reduction factors associated with eye-protective equipment were considered. For the 129 ICs at an average age of 51 who had worked for an average period of 22 years, the estimated cumulative eye lens dose ranged from 25 mSv to more than 1600 mSv; the mean ± SD was 423 ± 359 mSv. After several years of practice, without eye protection, ICs may exceed the new ICRP lifetime eye dose threshold of 500 mSv and be at high risk of developing early radiation-induced cataracts. Radiation protection equipment can reduce these doses and should be used routinely.

Assessing the healthcare resource use associated with inappropriate prescribing of inhaled corticosteroids for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in GOLD groups A or B: an observational study using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD).

PubMed

Chalmers, James D; Poole, Chris; Webster, Samantha; Tebboth, Abigail; Dickinson, Scott; Gayle, Alicia

2018-04-11

Recent recommendations from the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) position inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) for use in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients experiencing exacerbations (≥ 2 or ≥ 1 requiring hospitalisation); i.e. GOLD groups C and D. However, it is known that ICS is frequently prescribed for patients with less severe COPD. Potential drivers of inappropriate ICS use may be historical clinical guidance or a belief among physicians that intervening early with ICS would improve outcomes and reduce resource use. The objective of this study was to compare healthcare resource use in the UK for COPD patients in GOLD groups A and B (0 or 1 exacerbation not resulting in hospitalisation) who have either been prescribed an ICS-containing regimen or a non-ICS-containing regimen. Linked data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database were used. For the study period (1 July 2005 to 30 June 2015) a total 4009 patients met the inclusion criteria; 1745 receiving ICS-containing therapy and 2264 receiving non-ICS therapy. Treatment groups were propensity score-matched to account for potential confounders in the decision to prescribe ICS, leaving 1739 patients in both treatment arms. Resource use was assessed in terms of frequency of healthcare practitioner (HCP) interactions and rescue therapy prescribing. Treatment acquisition costs were not assessed. Results showed no benefit associated with the addition of ICS, with numerically higher all-cause HCP interactions (72,802 versus 69,136; adjusted relative rate: 1.07 [p = 0.061]) and rescue therapy prescriptions (24,063 versus 21,163; adjusted relative rate: 1.05 [p = 0.212]) for the ICS-containing group compared to the non-ICS group. Rate ratios favoured the non-ICS group for eight of nine outcomes assessed. Outcomes were similar for subgroup analyses surrounding potential influential parameters, including patients with poorer lung function (FEV 1  <  50% predicted), one prior exacerbation or elevated blood eosinophils. These data suggest that ICS use in GOLD A and B COPD patients is not associated with a benefit in terms of healthcare resource use compared to non-ICS bronchodilator-based therapy; using ICS according to GOLD recommendations may offer an opportunity for improving patient care and reducing resource use.

Field evaluation of unlighted overhead guide signs using older drivers : final report, August 2003.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-08-01

Twenty older drivers, aged 63 to 81 (average 72.1), with corrected visual acuity ranging from 20/20 to 20/29 (average : 20/25), evaluated six sign material and lighting combinations under nighttime conditions on US Route 30 near Mansfield, : Ohio. Th...

In the line of duty: a study of ambulance drivers during the 2010 conflict in Kashmir.

PubMed

Dhar, Shabir Ahmed; Dar, Tahir Ahmed; Wani, Sharief Ahmed; Hussain, Shahid; Dar, Reyaz Ahmed; Wani, Zaid Ahmed; Aazad, Shah; Yaqoob, Suhail; Mansoor, Imtiyaz; Ali, Murtaza Fazal; Ahmed, Muzaffar; Mumtaz, Imran; Azhar, Idrees

2012-08-01

The purpose of this study was to identify the problems faced by ambulance drivers working in a conflict zone. This study was conducted on ambulance drivers working for the four major hospitals in Kashmir, India. The drivers were interviewed and asked a series of 30 work-related questions. The individual interviews were conducted over a three-month period in the valley of Kashmir that was affected by continuous violence, strict curfew, and strikes. A total of 35 ambulance drivers were interviewed. Drivers worked an average of 60 h/wk, and they drove an average of 160 km/d. Twenty-nine (83%) of the drivers experienced >1 threat of physical harm; 18 (54%) experienced physical assaults; and 31 (89%) reported evidence of psychological morbidity associated with their jobs. The atmosphere of conflict on the streets of Kashmir impacted the ambulance drivers adversely, both physically as well as mentally. The stress faced by these professionals in conflict zones during their duty hours should be recognized, and corrective measures must be put in place.

Are There Paleomagnetic Signals That Herald the Inner Core?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coe, R. S.

2016-12-01

Calculated estimates for the age of the inner core (IC) have ranged from 3.5 Ga to as little as 0.5 Ga over the past five decades. A few years ago opinion swung sharply toward the younger end of the range based on a much increased estimate for the thermal conductivity of the core. But more recently these values are contested by other studies, and support for an additional energy source for the geodynamo involving exsolution of MgO has also been proposed, rendering the age of IC initiation wide open again. Thus there is strong motivation to examine the paleomagnetic record for any signal that may constrain when the IC formed. Presence of a solid IC changes the topology of the fluid core, and its growth releases buoyant material that helps power the dynamo, so there is reason to hope that detectable changes in the paleomagnetic record might indeed mark its existence. Such changes, however, must be discerned against the backdrop of ordinary geomagnetic secular variation, which is substantial, so that time averages must be established before looking for telltale signals in the paleomagnetic field. Intuitively, the most likely signal to look for is an increase in the average strength of the field. Paleointensity, though, is the most difficult part of the ancient field vector to determine experimentally, and it can only be obtained from igneous rocks with unaltered magnetic mineralogy. Another potential signal for development of the IC is difference in morphology of the paleomagnetic field, namely a change in the latitudinal pattern of time-averaged secular variation. Again, rapidly cooled igneous rocks are required because only they can provide a reliable snapshot of the field direction, even after substantial overprinting by later geologic events. A third potential marker is a change in average reversal frequency. An advantage over the other two is that polarity is the most robust of paleomagnetic signals, and it can be well recorded by both sedimentary and igneous rocks. However, it may well have the least resolving power of the three. I will discuss some of the candidate changes in long-term paleomagnetic field strength, morphology and reversal frequency that have been proposed as markers of IC nucleation. While some appear to hold promise, none are definitive and all require more data to establish meaningful background averages.

Psychosocial co-morbidities in Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain syndrome (IC/BPS): A systematic review.

PubMed

McKernan, Lindsey C; Walsh, Colin G; Reynolds, William S; Crofford, Leslie J; Dmochowski, Roger R; Williams, David A

2018-03-01

Psychosocial factors amplify symptoms of Interstitial Cystitis (IC/BPS). While psychosocial self-management is efficacious in other pain conditions, its impact on an IC/BPS population has rarely been studied. The objective of this review is to learn the prevalence and impact of psychosocial factors on IC/BPS, assess baseline psychosocial characteristics, and offer recommendations for assessment and treatment. Following PRISMA guidelines, primary information sources were PubMed including MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and GoogleScholar. Inclusion criteria included: (i) a clearly defined cohort with IC/BPS or with Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome provided the IC/BPS cohort was delineated with quantitative results from the main cohort; (ii) all genders and regions; (iii) studies written in English from 1995 to April 14, 2017; (iv) quantitative report of psychosocial factors as outcome measures or at minimum as baseline characteristics. Thirty-four of an initial 642 articles were reviewed. Quantitative analyses demonstrate the magnitude of psychosocial difficulties in IC/BPS, which are worse than average on all measures, and fall into areas of clinical concern for 7 out of 10 measures. Meta-analyses shows mean Mental Component Score of the Short-Form 12 Health Survey (MCS) of 40.80 (SD 6.25, N = 2912), where <36 is consistent with severe psychological impairment. Averaged across studies, the population scored in the range seen in clinical depression (CES-D 19.89, SD 13.12, N = 564) and generalized anxiety disorder (HADS-A 8.15, SD 4.85, N = 465). The psychological impact of IC/BPS is pervasive and severe. Existing evidence of treatment is lacking and suggests self-management intervention may be helpful. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Drivers' biased perceptions of speed and safety campaign messages.

PubMed

Walton, D; McKeown, P C

2001-09-01

One hundred and thirteen drivers were surveyed for their perceptions of driving speed to compare self-reported average speed, perceived average-other speed and the actual average speed, in two conditions (50 and 100 kph zones). These contrasts were used to evaluate whether public safety messages concerning speeding effectively reach their target audience. Evidence is presented supporting the hypothesis that drivers who have a biased perception of their own speed relative to others are more likely to ignore advertising campaigns encouraging people not to speed. A method of self-other-actual comparisons detects biased perceptions when the standard method of self-other comparison does not. In particular, drivers exaggerate the perceived speed of others and this fact is masked using traditional methods. The method of manipulation is proposed as a way to evaluate the effect of future advertising campaigns, and a strategy for such campaigns is proposed based on the results of the self-other comparisons.

Alkalinized lidocaine and heparin provide immediate relief of pain and urgency in patients with interstitial cystitis.

PubMed

Parsons, C Lowell; Zupkas, Paul; Proctor, Jeffrey; Koziol, James; Franklin, Amie; Giesing, Dennis; Davis, Edward; Lakin, Charles M; Kahn, Bruce S; Garner, William J

2012-01-01

It has been reported in an open-label study that the combination of alkalinized lidocaine and heparin can immediately relieve the symptoms of urinary urgency, frequency, and pain associated with interstitial cystitis (IC). This combination has also been reported to relieve pain associated with sex in patients with IC. The aim of this study was to corroborate these findings in a multicenter setting. The study design was a multicenter prospective, double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled trial. Each participant met all of the clinical National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases criteria (excluding cystoscopy) for IC. Each patient received drug and control, in random order, within 48 hours of enrolling in the study. The primary outcome measure was percent change in pain score (11-point analog pain scale) 12 hours after receiving the drug or control. Secondary measures were the global assessment response (GAR) of symptoms and 12-hour average urgency reduction determined from 11-point urgency scales. Eighteen (18) patients completed the trial. The average reduction of pain over 12 hours was 21% for control and 42% for active drug (P = 0.0363). GAR was 13% for control and 50% for drug (P = 0.0137). Average urgency reduction was 13% for control and 35% for drug (P = 0.0328). The combination of alkalinized lidocaine and heparin provides up to 12 hours of relief from urgency and pain associated with IC. This combination provides significant immediate relief of symptoms for patients with IC. © 2011 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

Cost-effectiveness of available treatment options for patients suffering from severe COPD in the UK: a fully incremental analysis.

PubMed

Hertel, Nadine; Kotchie, Robert W; Samyshkin, Yevgeniy; Radford, Matthew; Humphreys, Samantha; Jameson, Kevin

2012-01-01

Frequent exacerbations which are both costly and potentially life-threatening are a major concern to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), despite the availability of several treatment options. This study aimed to assess the lifetime costs and outcomes associated with alternative treatment regimens for patients with severe COPD in the UK setting. A Markov cohort model was developed to predict lifetime costs, outcomes, and cost-effectiveness of various combinations of a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA), a long-acting beta agonist (LABA), an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), and roflumilast in a fully incremental analysis. Patients willing and able to take ICS, and those refusing or intolerant to ICS were analyzed separately. Efficacy was expressed as relative rate ratios of COPD exacerbation associated with alternative treatment regimens, taken from a mixed treatment comparison. The analysis was conducted from the UK National Health Service (NHS) perspective. Parameter uncertainty was explored using one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Based on the results of the fully incremental analysis a cost-effectiveness frontier was determined, indicating those treatment regimens which represent the most cost-effective use of NHS resources. For ICS-tolerant patients the cost-effectiveness frontier suggested LAMA as initial treatment. Where patients continue to exacerbate and additional therapy is required, LAMA + LABA/ICS can be a cost-effective option, followed by LAMA + LABA/ICS + roflumilast (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio [ICER] versus LAMA + LABA/ICS: £16,566 per quality-adjusted life-year [QALY] gained). The ICER in ICS-intolerant patients, comparing LAMA + LABA + roflumilast versus LAMA + LABA, was £13,764/QALY gained. The relative rate ratio of exacerbations was identified as the primary driver of cost-effectiveness. The treatment algorithm recommended in UK clinical practice represents a cost-effective approach for the management of COPD. The addition of roflumilast to the standard of care regimens is a clinical and cost-effective treatment option for patients with severe COPD, who continue to exacerbate despite existing bronchodilator therapy.

Single maintenance and reliever therapy (SMART) of asthma: a critical appraisal.

PubMed

Chapman, Kenneth R; Barnes, Neil C; Greening, Andrew P; Jones, Paul W; Pedersen, S

2010-08-01

The use of a combination inhaler containing budesonide and formoterol as both maintenance and quick relief therapy (SMART) has been recommended as an improved method of using inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting beta agonist (ICS/LABA) therapy. Published double-blind trials show that budesonide/formoterol therapy delivered in SMART fashion achieves better asthma outcomes than budesonide monotherapy or lower doses of budesonide/formoterol therapy delivered in constant dosage. Attempts to compare budesonide/formoterol SMART therapy with regular combination ICS/LABA dosing using other compounds have been confounded by a lack of blinding and unspecified dose adjustment strategies. The asthma control outcomes in SMART-treated patients are poor; it has been reported that only 17.1% of SMART-treated patients are controlled. In seven trials of 6-12 months duration, patients using SMART have used quick reliever daily (weighted average 0.92 inhalations/day), have awakened with asthma symptoms once every 7-10 days (weighted average 11.5% of nights), have suffered asthma symptoms more than half of days (weighted average 54.0% of days) and have had a severe exacerbation rate of one in five patients per year (weighted average 0.22 severe exacerbations/patient/year). These poor outcomes may reflect the recruitment of a skewed patient population. Although improvement from baseline has been attributed to these patients receiving additional ICS therapy at pivotal times, electronic monitoring has not been used to test this hypothesis nor the equally plausible hypothesis that patients who are non-compliant with maintenance medication have used budesonide/formoterol as needed for self-treatment of exacerbations. Although the long-term consequences of SMART therapy have not been studied, its use over 1 year has been associated with significant increases in sputum and biopsy eosinophilia. At present, there is no evidence that better asthma treatment outcomes can be obtained by moment-to-moment symptom-driven use of ICS/LABA therapy than conventional physician-monitored and adjusted ICS/LABA therapy.

The indirect costs of psoriatic arthritis: systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Kawalec, Paweł; Malinowski, Krzysztof Piotr

2015-02-01

The aim of this systematic review is to collect all current data on the indirect costs (IC) related to psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The search was conducted using MEDLINE (via PubMed), Embase and Centre for Reviews and Dissemination databases. We considered original studies, systematic reviews, economic evaluations, conference abstracts and posters. All collected data were recalculated to average annual cost per patient, expressed using the consumer price index for 2013 and converted to US dollars using purchasing power parity. Eight of the identified publications presented IC of PsA. Average annual IC per patient calculated using the friction cost approach range from US$1693.83 to $12,318.45, while using the human capital approach they range from US$1750.68 to $50,270.52. Result of the meta-analysis was a basis for calculating cost of work disability equaled US$10,754.04 per patient per year in 2013 prices. This systematic review revealed a great economic burden of the disease to the society. A small number of studies on IC in PsA justify further investigations.

Gigascale Silicon Photonic Transmitters Integrating HBT-based Carrier-injection Electroabsorption Modulator Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Enjin

Demand for more bandwidth is rapidly increasing, which is driven by data intensive applications such as high-definition (HD) video streaming, cloud storage, and terascale computing applications. Next-generation high-performance computing systems require power efficient chip-to-chip and intra-chip interconnect yielding densities on the order of 1Tbps/cm2. The performance requirements of such system are the driving force behind the development of silicon integrated optical interconnect, providing a cost-effective solution for fully integrated optical interconnect systems on a single substrate. Compared to conventional electrical interconnect, optical interconnects have several advantages, including frequency independent insertion loss resulting in ultra wide bandwidth and link latency reduction. For high-speed optical transmitter modules, the optical modulator is a key component of the optical I/O channel. This thesis presents a silicon integrated optical transmitter module design based on a novel silicon HBT-based carrier injection electroabsorption modulator (EAM), which has the merits of wide optical bandwidth, high speed, low power, low drive voltage, small footprint, and high modulation efficiency. The structure, mechanism, and fabrication of the modulator structure will be discussed which is followed by the electrical modeling of the post-processed modulator device. The design and realization of a 10Gbps monolithic optical transmitter module integrating the driver circuit architecture and the HBT-based EAM device in a 130nm BiCMOS process is discussed. For high power efficiency, a 6Gbps ultra-low power driver IC implemented in a 130nm BiCMOS process is presented. The driver IC incorporates an integrated 27-1 pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS) generator for reliable high-speed testing, and a driver circuit featuring digitally-tuned pre-emphasis signal strength. With outstanding drive capability, the driver module can be applied to a wide range of carrier injection modulators and light-emitting diodes (LED) with drive voltage requirements below 1.5V. Measurement results show an optical link based on a 70MHz red LED work well at 300Mbps by using the pre-emphasis driver module. A traveling wave electrode (TWE) modulator structure is presented, including a novel design methodology to address process limitations imposed by a commercial silicon fabrication technology. Results from 3D full wave EM simulation demonstrate the application of the design methodology to achieve specifications, including phase velocity matching, insertion loss, and impedance matching. Results show the HBT-based TWE-EAM system has the bandwidth higher than 60GHz.

Infectious complications after vehicular trauma in the United States.

PubMed

Fraser, Douglas R; Dombrovskiy, Viktor Y; Vogel, Todd R

2011-08-01

The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate and define the rates of infectious complications (IC) after vehicular trauma. Secondary goals were to identify the injuries associated with the greatest risk of nosocomial infection and to measure the utilization of hospital resources associated with IC and vehicular trauma. A secondary analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2003-2007) was performed to classify major vehicular trauma injuries utilizing International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) Emergency (E) codes. The post-traumatic IC evaluated were pneumonia, urinary tract infection (UTI), sepsis, and surgical site infection (SSI). All data were analyzed by χ(2) analysis, multivariable logistic regression, and the Cochran-Armitage test for trends. A total of 784,037 vehicular trauma patients were identified (462,543 [59.0%] motor vehicle drivers, 142,283 [18.2%] motor vehicle passengers, 98,767 [12.6%] motorcyclists; 6,568 [<1%] motorcycle passengers, and 73,876 [9.4%] pedestrians). Of those sustaining injuries, 44,331 [5.7%] had post-traumatic IC. Pneumonia and UTI were most common after spinal cord injury (SCI), whereas sepsis and SSI were most common after colon injuries. After adjustment by age, sex, and co-morbidities, patients with SCI were 4.4 times as likely (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.20-4.63) and those with cranial injuries were 2.1 times as likely (95% CI 2.06-2.19) to develop IC as patients without these injuries. Secondary infection increased significantly the length of stay and hospital charges in all groups. Patients sustaining vehicular trauma in combination with SCI had the highest rate of IC. Infectious complications increased hospital resource utilization significantly after vehicular trauma. Future root-cause analysis of high-risk groups may decrease complications and hospital utilization.

[Occupational risk factors and perceptions of air pollution by motorcycle taxi drivers in Cotonou, Benin].

PubMed

Lawin, Hervé; Ayi Fanou, Lucie; Hinson, Vikkey; Tollo, Brice; Fayomi, Benjamin; Ouendo, Edgard-Marius

Motorcycle taxis occupy a major place in urban transport. Motorcycle taxi drivers are exposed to occupational risk factors (ORF) including air pollution. The objective of this study was to evaluate these ORF among motorcycle taxi drivers and their perceptions of air pollution. This mixed study was conducted on motorcycle taxi drivers in Cotonou. The qualitative study was based on focus groups concerning 16 items from the Participatory Occupational Risk Screening Guide (DEPARIS) until saturation and after triangulation of data. The quantitative study consisted of administering a questionnaire addressing socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, cardiopulmonary diseases, and perception of air -pollution risk factors among 397 Cotonou motorcycle taxi drivers. Drivers perceived poor road conditions, effort and handling, and lack of social security as unsatisfactory ORF. Their mean age was 40.95 ± 8.75 years and 45.84% had primary -education. They had been working as motorcycle taxi drivers for an average of 134.95 ± 101.53 months with an average income of FCFA 3138 ± 1238. These occupational factors were significantly associated with cardiopulmonary disorders, observed in 63.2% of drivers. Less than 1/3 of drivers felt that air pollution affected their personal health. Motorcycle taxi drivers have a poor perception of ORF and the severity of exposure to air pollution in this occupation. There is a need to take action to promote the health of this population.

Energy Expenditure in Critically Ill Elderly Patients: Indirect Calorimetry vs Predictive Equations.

PubMed

Segadilha, Nara L A L; Rocha, Eduardo E M; Tanaka, Lilian M S; Gomes, Karla L P; Espinoza, Rodolfo E A; Peres, Wilza A F

2017-07-01

Predictive equations (PEs) are used for estimating resting energy expenditure (REE) when the measurements obtained from indirect calorimetry (IC) are not available. This study evaluated the degree of agreement and the accuracy between the REE measured by IC (REE-IC) and REE estimated by PE (REE-PE) in mechanically ventilated elderly patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). REE-IC of 97 critically ill elderly patients was compared with REE-PE by 6 PEs: Harris and Benedict (HB) multiplied by the correction factor of 1.2; European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) using the minimum (ESPENmi), average (ESPENme), and maximum (ESPENma) values; Mifflin-St Jeor; Ireton-Jones (IJ); Fredrix; and Lührmann. Degree of agreement between REE-PE and REE-IC was analyzed by the interclass correlation coefficient and the Bland-Altman test. The accuracy was calculated by the percentage of male and/or female patients whose REE-PE values differ by up to ±10% in relation to REE-IC. For both sexes, there was no difference for average REE-IC in kcal/kg when the values obtained with REE-PE by corrected HB and ESPENme were compared. A high level of agreement was demonstrated by corrected HB for both sexes, with greater accuracy for women. The best accuracy in the male group was obtained with the IJ equation but with a low level of agreement. The effectiveness of PEs is limited for estimating REE of critically ill elderly patients. Nonetheless, HB multiplied by a correction factor of 1.2 can be used until a specific PE for this group of patients is developed.

Time Resolved Digital PIV Measurements of Flow Field Cyclic Variation in an Optical IC Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jarvis, S.; Justham, T.; Clarke, A.; Garner, C. P.; Hargrave, G. K.; Halliwell, N. A.

2006-07-01

Time resolved digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) experimental data is presented for the in-cylinder flow field development of a motored four stroke spark ignition (SI) optical internal combustion (IC) engine. A high speed DPIV system was employed to quantify the velocity field development during the intake and compression stroke at an engine speed of 1500 rpm. The results map the spatial and temporal development of the in-cylinder flow field structure allowing comparison between traditional ensemble average and cycle average flow field structures. Conclusions are drawn with respect to engine flow field cyclic variations.

Application of 265-nm UVC LED Lighting to Sterilization of Typical Gram Negative and Positive Bacteria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Yong Wook; Yoon, Hyung Do; Park, Jae-Hyoun; Ryu, Uh-Chan

2018-05-01

UV LED lightings have been displacing conventional UV lamps due to their high efficiency, long lifetime, etc. A sterilizing lighting was prepared by assembling a UV LED module composed of 265-nm UVC LEDs and a silica lens array with a driver module comprised of a driver IC controlling pulse width modulation and constant current. The silica lens array was designed and fabricated to focus UV beam and simultaneously to give a uniform light distribution over specimens. Then pasteurizing effect of the lighting was analyzed for four kinds of bacteria and one yeast which are dangerous to people with low immunity. Sterilizing tests on these germs were carried out at the both exposure distances of 10 and 100 mm for various exposure durations up to 600 s.

A sensitive monoclonal antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for chlorpyrifos residue determination in Chinese agricultural smaples

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A monoclonal antibody-based competitive antibody-coated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed and optimized for determining chlorpyrifos residue in agricultural products. The IC50 and IC10 of this ELISA were 3.3 ng/mL and 0.1 ng/mL respectively. The average recoveries recovery rate...

Countermeasures to Improve the Driving Performance of Older Drivers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashman, Richard D.; And Others

1994-01-01

In a 2-year project, 105 older drivers were given physical therapy (flexibility exercises), perceptual therapy (to improve visual discrimination), and driver education; traffic engineering modifications were also made. All four interventions improved performance an average of 7.9%. Engineering was most cost effective on high-volume roads, the…

Determining the Relationship between Drivers' Level of Education, Training, Working Conditions, and Job Performance in Kenya.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nafukho, Fredrick Muyia; Hinton, Barbara E.

2003-01-01

Multiple regression analyses of data from 143 public transportation drivers in Kenya indicated that driver experience and hours worked were significantly related to rates of traffic accidents. Educational level, training, salary, and average speed were not related. (Contains 45 references.) (SK)

The Search for Wolf-Rayet Stars in IC10

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tehrani, Katie; Crowther, Paul; Archer, Isabelle

2017-11-01

We present a deep imaging and spectroscopic survey of the Local Group starburst galaxy IC10 using Gemini North/GMOS to unveil the global Wolf-Rayet population. It has previously been suggested that for IC10 to follow the WC/WN versus metallicity dependence seen in other Local Group galaxies, a large WN population must remain undiscovered. Our search revealed 3 new WN stars, and 5 candidates awaiting confirmation, providing little evidence to support this claim. We also compute an updated nebular derived metallicity of log(O/H)+12=8.40 +/- 0.04 for the galaxy using the direct method. Inspection of IC10 WR average line luminosities show these stars are more similar to their LMC, rather than SMC counterparts.

Driver development of IFE power plant in Japan Collaborative process with industry and industrial applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakai, S.; Yamanaka, M.; Kitagawa, Y.; Fujita, K.; Heya, M.; Mima, K.; Izawa, Y.; Nakatsuka, M.; Murakami, M.; Ueda, K.; Sasaki, T.; Mori, Y.; Kanabe, T.; Hiruma, T.; Kan, H.; Kawashima, T.

2006-06-01

The typical specifications of the laser driver for a commercial IFE power plant are (1) total energy (MJ/pulse) with a tailored 20-40 ns pulse, (2) repetition operation (˜ 10 Hz), (3) efficiency (˜ 10%) with enough robustness and low cost. The key elements of the DPSSL driver technology are under development with HALNA. The HALNA 10 (High Average-power Laser for Nuclear-fusion Application) demonstrated 10 J × 10 Hz operation and the HALNA 100 (100 J × 10 Hz) is now under construction. By using the high average power and high intensity lasers, new industrial applications are being proceeded. The collaborative process for the development of high power laser with industry and for the industrial applications is effective and essential in the development of the laser driver for IFE power plant.

Individual differences in cognitive functioning predict effectiveness of a heads-up Lane Departure Warning for younger and older drivers

PubMed Central

Aksan, Nazan; Sager, Lauren; Hacker, Sarah; Lester, Benjamin; Dawson, Jeffrey; Rizzo, Matthew; Ebe, Kazutoshi; Foley, James

2016-01-01

The effectiveness of an idealized lane departure warning (LDW) was evaluated in an interactive fixed base driving simulator. Thirty-eight older (mean age = 77 years) and 40 younger drivers (mean age = 35 years) took four different drives/routes similar in road culture composition and hazards encountered with and without LDW. The four drives were administered over visits separated approximately by two weeks to examine changes in long-term effectiveness of LDW. Performance metrics were number of LDW activations and average correction time to each LDW. LDW reduced correction time to re-center the vehicle by 1.34 seconds on average (95% CI = 1.12–1.57 seconds) but did not reduce the number of times the drivers drifted enough in their lanes to activate the system (LDW activations). The magnitude of reductions in average correction RT was similar for older and younger drivers and did not change with repeated exposures across visits. The contribution of individual differences in basic visual and motor function, as well as cognitive function to safety gains from LDW was also examined. Cognitive speed of processing predicted lane keeping performance for older and younger drivers. Differences in memory, visuospatial construction, and executive function tended to predict performance differences among older but not younger drivers. Cognitive functioning did not predict changes in the magnitude of safety benefits from LDW over time. Implications are discussed with respect to real-world safety systems. PMID:27898370

Individual differences in cognitive functioning predict effectiveness of a heads-up lane departure warning for younger and older drivers.

PubMed

Aksan, Nazan; Sager, Lauren; Hacker, Sarah; Lester, Benjamin; Dawson, Jeffrey; Rizzo, Matthew; Ebe, Kazutoshi; Foley, James

2017-02-01

The effectiveness of an idealized lane departure warning (LDW) was evaluated in an interactive fixed base driving simulator. Thirty-eight older (mean age=77years) and 40 younger drivers (mean age=35years) took four different drives/routes similar in road culture composition and hazards encountered with and without LDW. The four drives were administered over visits separated approximately by two weeks to examine changes in long-term effectiveness of LDW. Performance metrics were number of LDW activations and average correction time to each LDW. LDW reduced correction time to re-center the vehicle by 1.34s on average (95% CI=1.12-1.57s) but did not reduce the number of times the drivers drifted enough in their lanes to activate the system (LDW activations). The magnitude of reductions in average correction RT was similar for older and younger drivers and did not change with repeated exposures across visits. The contribution of individual differences in basic visual and motor function, as well as cognitive function to safety gains from LDW was also examined. Cognitive speed of processing predicted lane keeping performance for older and younger drivers. Differences in memory, visuospatial construction, and executive function tended to predict performance differences among older but not younger drivers. Cognitive functioning did not predict changes in the magnitude of safety benefits from LDW over time. Implications are discussed with respect to real-world safety systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigation of Surface Phenomena in Shocked Tin in Converging Geometry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rousculp, Christopher L.; Oro, David Michael; Griego, Jeffrey Randall

2016-04-14

There is a great interest in RMI as source of ejecta from metal shells. Previous experiments have explored wavelength amplitude (kA) variation but they have a small range of drive pressures and are in planer geometry. Simulations, both MD and hydro, have explored RMI in planer geometry. The ejecta source model from RMI is an area of active algorithm and code development in ASCI-IC Lagrangian Applications Project. PHELIX offers precise, reproducible variable driver for Hydro and material physics diagnoses with proton radiography.

A Near-Surface Burst EMP Driver Package for Neutron-Induced Sources.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-09-01

FAa’S FD-F C SAwSB s3.sc 6O TO 10 C BEGIN NODIFIED QUADRATIC INTERPOLATION FOR NINlINUff 100 CONT INUE ICBIC.1 IFlIC.GTeICOUNT) 10 TO 110 YENP aISC-Sl) lSD ...M.I.T. LINCOLN LABORATORY Ro&.D ASSOCIATED P.O. DOE 369 P.O. BOX 73 P.O. 101x 9695 KttN F. A. SHAW AM LEONA WUoNLIN ATMN S- CLAY ROGERS CLEAIEILD. Ur

A new ICA-based fingerprint method for the automatic removal of physiological artifacts from EEG recordings.

PubMed

Tamburro, Gabriella; Fiedler, Patrique; Stone, David; Haueisen, Jens; Comani, Silvia

2018-01-01

EEG may be affected by artefacts hindering the analysis of brain signals. Data-driven methods like independent component analysis (ICA) are successful approaches to remove artefacts from the EEG. However, the ICA-based methods developed so far are often affected by limitations, such as: the need for visual inspection of the separated independent components (subjectivity problem) and, in some cases, for the independent and simultaneous recording of the inspected artefacts to identify the artefactual independent components; a potentially heavy manipulation of the EEG signals; the use of linear classification methods; the use of simulated artefacts to validate the methods; no testing in dry electrode or high-density EEG datasets; applications limited to specific conditions and electrode layouts. Our fingerprint method automatically identifies EEG ICs containing eyeblinks, eye movements, myogenic artefacts and cardiac interference by evaluating 14 temporal, spatial, spectral, and statistical features composing the IC fingerprint. Sixty-two real EEG datasets containing cued artefacts are recorded with wet and dry electrodes (128 wet and 97 dry channels). For each artefact, 10 nonlinear SVM classifiers are trained on fingerprints of expert-classified ICs. Training groups include randomly chosen wet and dry datasets decomposed in 80 ICs. The classifiers are tested on the IC-fingerprints of different datasets decomposed into 20, 50, or 80 ICs. The SVM performance is assessed in terms of accuracy, False Omission Rate (FOR), Hit Rate (HR), False Alarm Rate (FAR), and sensitivity ( p ). For each artefact, the quality of the artefact-free EEG reconstructed using the classification of the best SVM is assessed by visual inspection and SNR. The best SVM classifier for each artefact type achieved average accuracy of 1 (eyeblink), 0.98 (cardiac interference), and 0.97 (eye movement and myogenic artefact). Average classification sensitivity (p) was 1 (eyeblink), 0.997 (myogenic artefact), 0.98 (eye movement), and 0.48 (cardiac interference). Average artefact reduction ranged from a maximum of 82% for eyeblinks to a minimum of 33% for cardiac interference, depending on the effectiveness of the proposed method and the amplitude of the removed artefact. The performance of the SVM classifiers did not depend on the electrode type, whereas it was better for lower decomposition levels (50 and 20 ICs). Apart from cardiac interference, SVM performance and average artefact reduction indicate that the fingerprint method has an excellent overall performance in the automatic detection of eyeblinks, eye movements and myogenic artefacts, which is comparable to that of existing methods. Being also independent from simultaneous artefact recording, electrode number, type and layout, and decomposition level, the proposed fingerprint method can have useful applications in clinical and experimental EEG settings.

A new ICA-based fingerprint method for the automatic removal of physiological artifacts from EEG recordings

PubMed Central

Tamburro, Gabriella; Fiedler, Patrique; Stone, David; Haueisen, Jens

2018-01-01

Background EEG may be affected by artefacts hindering the analysis of brain signals. Data-driven methods like independent component analysis (ICA) are successful approaches to remove artefacts from the EEG. However, the ICA-based methods developed so far are often affected by limitations, such as: the need for visual inspection of the separated independent components (subjectivity problem) and, in some cases, for the independent and simultaneous recording of the inspected artefacts to identify the artefactual independent components; a potentially heavy manipulation of the EEG signals; the use of linear classification methods; the use of simulated artefacts to validate the methods; no testing in dry electrode or high-density EEG datasets; applications limited to specific conditions and electrode layouts. Methods Our fingerprint method automatically identifies EEG ICs containing eyeblinks, eye movements, myogenic artefacts and cardiac interference by evaluating 14 temporal, spatial, spectral, and statistical features composing the IC fingerprint. Sixty-two real EEG datasets containing cued artefacts are recorded with wet and dry electrodes (128 wet and 97 dry channels). For each artefact, 10 nonlinear SVM classifiers are trained on fingerprints of expert-classified ICs. Training groups include randomly chosen wet and dry datasets decomposed in 80 ICs. The classifiers are tested on the IC-fingerprints of different datasets decomposed into 20, 50, or 80 ICs. The SVM performance is assessed in terms of accuracy, False Omission Rate (FOR), Hit Rate (HR), False Alarm Rate (FAR), and sensitivity (p). For each artefact, the quality of the artefact-free EEG reconstructed using the classification of the best SVM is assessed by visual inspection and SNR. Results The best SVM classifier for each artefact type achieved average accuracy of 1 (eyeblink), 0.98 (cardiac interference), and 0.97 (eye movement and myogenic artefact). Average classification sensitivity (p) was 1 (eyeblink), 0.997 (myogenic artefact), 0.98 (eye movement), and 0.48 (cardiac interference). Average artefact reduction ranged from a maximum of 82% for eyeblinks to a minimum of 33% for cardiac interference, depending on the effectiveness of the proposed method and the amplitude of the removed artefact. The performance of the SVM classifiers did not depend on the electrode type, whereas it was better for lower decomposition levels (50 and 20 ICs). Discussion Apart from cardiac interference, SVM performance and average artefact reduction indicate that the fingerprint method has an excellent overall performance in the automatic detection of eyeblinks, eye movements and myogenic artefacts, which is comparable to that of existing methods. Being also independent from simultaneous artefact recording, electrode number, type and layout, and decomposition level, the proposed fingerprint method can have useful applications in clinical and experimental EEG settings. PMID:29492336

Multilevel analysis of the role of human factors in regional disparities in crash outcomes.

PubMed

Adanu, Emmanuel Kofi; Smith, Randy; Powell, Lars; Jones, Steven

2017-12-01

A growing body of research has examined the disparities in road traffic safety among population groups and geographic regions. These studies reveal disparities in crash outcomes between people and regions with different socioeconomic characteristics. A critical aspect of the road traffic crash epidemic that has received limited attention is the influence of local characteristics on human elements that increase the risk of getting into a crash. This paper applies multilevel logistic regression modeling techniques to investigate the influence of driver residential factors on driver behaviors in an attempt to explain the area-based differences in the severity of road crashes across the State of Alabama. Specifically, the paper reports the effects of characteristics attributable to drivers and the geographic regions they reside on the likelihood of a crash resulting in serious injuries. Model estimation revealed that driver residence (postal code or region) accounted for about 7.3% of the variability in the probability of a driver getting into a serious injury crash, regardless of driver characteristics. The results also reveal disparities in serious injury crash rate as well as significant proportions of serious injury crashes involving no seatbelt usage, driving under influence (DUI), unemployed drivers, young drivers, distracted driving, and African American drivers among some regions. The average credit scores, average commute times, and populations of driver postal codes are shown to be significant predictors for risk of severe injury crashes. This approach to traffic crash analysis presented can serve as the foundation for evidence-based policies and also guide the implementation of targeted countermeasures. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of external non-driving factors, payment type and waiting and queuing on fatigue in long distance trucking.

PubMed

Williamson, Ann; Friswell, Rena

2013-09-01

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of external influences on long distance trucking, in particular, incentive-based remuneration systems and the need to wait or queue to load or unload on driver experiences of fatigue. Long distance truck drivers (n=475) were recruited at truck rest stops on the major transport corridors within New South Wales, Australia and asked to complete a survey by self-administration or interview. The survey covered demographics, usual working arrangements, details of the last trip and safety outcomes including fatigue experiences. On average drivers' last trip was over 2000 km and took 21.5 h to complete with an additional 6h of non-driving work. Incentive payments were associated with longer working hours, greater distances driven and higher fatigue for more drivers. Drivers required to wait in queues did significantly more non-driving work and experienced fatigue more often than those who did not. Drivers who were not paid to wait did the longest trips with average weekly hours above the legal working hours limits, had the highest levels of fatigue and the highest levels of interference by work with family life. In contrast, drivers who were paid to wait did significantly less work with shorter usual hours and shorter last trips. Multivariate analysis showed that incentive-based payment and unpaid waiting in queues were significant predictors of driver fatigue. The findings suggest that mandating payment of drivers for non-driving work including waiting would reduce the amount of non-driving work required for drivers and reduce weekly hours of work. In turn this would reduce driver fatigue and safety risk as well as enhancing the efficiency of the long distance road transport industry. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamics of Inorganic Nutrients in Intertidal Sediments: Porewater, Exchangeable, and Intracellular Pools

PubMed Central

Garcia-Robledo, Emilio; Bohorquez, Julio; Corzo, Alfonso; Jimenez-Arias, Juan L.; Papaspyrou, Sokratis

2016-01-01

The study of inorganic nutrients dynamics in shallow sediments usually focuses on two main pools: porewater (PW) nutrients and exchangeable (EX) ammonium and phosphate. Recently, it has been found that microphytobenthos (MPB) and other microorganisms can accumulate large amounts of nutrients intracellularly (IC), highlighting the biogeochemical importance of this nutrient pool. Storing nutrients could support the growth of autotrophs when nutrients are not available, and could also provide alternative electron acceptors for dissimilatory processes such as nitrate reduction. Here, we studied the magnitude and relative importance of these three nutrient pools (PW, IC, and EX) and their relation to chlorophylls (used as a proxy for MPB abundance) and organic matter (OM) contents in an intertidal mudflat of Cadiz Bay (Spain). MPB was localized in the first 4 mm of the sediment and showed a clear seasonal pattern; highest chlorophylls content was found during autumn and lowest during spring-summer. The temporal and spatial distribution of nutrients pools and MPB were largely correlated. Ammonium was higher in the IC and EX fractions, representing on average 59 and 37% of the total ammonium pool, respectively. Similarly, phosphate in the IC and EX fractions accounted on average for 40 and 31% of the total phosphate pool, respectively. Nitrate in the PW was low, suggesting low nitrification activity and rapid consumption. Nitrate accumulated in the IC pool during periods of moderate MPB abundance, being up to 66% of the total nitrate pool, whereas it decreased when chlorophyll concentration peaked likely due to a high nitrogen demand. EX-Nitrate accounted for the largest fraction of total sediment nitrate, 66% on average. The distribution of EX-Nitrate was significantly correlated with chlorophyll and OM, which probably indicates a relation of this pool to an increased availability of sites for ionic adsorption. This EX-Nitrate pool could represent an alternative nitrate source with significant concentrations available to the microbial community, deeper in the sediment below the oxic layer. PMID:27303370

Laboratory demonstration and field verification of a Wireless Cookstove Sensing System (WiCS) for determining cooking duration and fuel consumption

DOE PAGES

Graham, Eric A.; Patange, Omkar; Lukac, Martin; ...

2014-08-27

With improved cookstoves (ICs) increasingly distributed to households for a range of air pollution interventions and carbon-credit programs, it has become necessary to accurately monitor the duration of cooking and the amount of fuel consumed. In this study, laboratory trials were used to create temperature-based algorithms for quantifying cooking duration and estimating fuel consumption from stove temperatures. Field validation of the algorithms employed a Wireless Cookstove Sensing System (WiCS) that offers remote, low-cost temperature sensing and the wireless transmission of temperature data to a centralized database using local cellular networks. Field trials included 68 unscripted household cooking events. In themore » laboratory, temperature responses of the IC body and that of a removable temperature probe (J-bar) followed well-known physical models during cooking, indicating that location of the temperature sensor is not critical. In the laboratory, the classification correctly identified active cooking 97.2% of the time. In the field, the cooking duration was not statistically different from that recorded by trained volunteers; the average difference between calculated and observed cooking times was 0.03 ± 0.31 h (mean ± SD). In the laboratory, energy flux from the IC was calculated using temperatures measured by the J-bar and on the IC body and found to be proportional to the total energy in the consumed fuel, with an r 2 correlation value of 0.95. Here in the field, the average fuel consumption was calculated to be 0.97 ± 0.32 kg compared to that recorded by volunteers of 1.19 ± 0.37 kg with an average difference between calculated and observed fuel mass of 0.21 ± 0.37 kg per event. Finally, despite wide variation in observed cooking duration and fuel consumption per event, a relatively constant rate of fuel consumption of 0.48 kg h -1 was calculated for users of the same type of IC.« less

Dynamics of Inorganic Nutrients in Intertidal Sediments: Porewater, Exchangeable, and Intracellular Pools.

PubMed

Garcia-Robledo, Emilio; Bohorquez, Julio; Corzo, Alfonso; Jimenez-Arias, Juan L; Papaspyrou, Sokratis

2016-01-01

The study of inorganic nutrients dynamics in shallow sediments usually focuses on two main pools: porewater (PW) nutrients and exchangeable (EX) ammonium and phosphate. Recently, it has been found that microphytobenthos (MPB) and other microorganisms can accumulate large amounts of nutrients intracellularly (IC), highlighting the biogeochemical importance of this nutrient pool. Storing nutrients could support the growth of autotrophs when nutrients are not available, and could also provide alternative electron acceptors for dissimilatory processes such as nitrate reduction. Here, we studied the magnitude and relative importance of these three nutrient pools (PW, IC, and EX) and their relation to chlorophylls (used as a proxy for MPB abundance) and organic matter (OM) contents in an intertidal mudflat of Cadiz Bay (Spain). MPB was localized in the first 4 mm of the sediment and showed a clear seasonal pattern; highest chlorophylls content was found during autumn and lowest during spring-summer. The temporal and spatial distribution of nutrients pools and MPB were largely correlated. Ammonium was higher in the IC and EX fractions, representing on average 59 and 37% of the total ammonium pool, respectively. Similarly, phosphate in the IC and EX fractions accounted on average for 40 and 31% of the total phosphate pool, respectively. Nitrate in the PW was low, suggesting low nitrification activity and rapid consumption. Nitrate accumulated in the IC pool during periods of moderate MPB abundance, being up to 66% of the total nitrate pool, whereas it decreased when chlorophyll concentration peaked likely due to a high nitrogen demand. EX-Nitrate accounted for the largest fraction of total sediment nitrate, 66% on average. The distribution of EX-Nitrate was significantly correlated with chlorophyll and OM, which probably indicates a relation of this pool to an increased availability of sites for ionic adsorption. This EX-Nitrate pool could represent an alternative nitrate source with significant concentrations available to the microbial community, deeper in the sediment below the oxic layer.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Graham, Eric A.; Patange, Omkar; Lukac, Martin

With improved cookstoves (ICs) increasingly distributed to households for a range of air pollution interventions and carbon-credit programs, it has become necessary to accurately monitor the duration of cooking and the amount of fuel consumed. In this study, laboratory trials were used to create temperature-based algorithms for quantifying cooking duration and estimating fuel consumption from stove temperatures. Field validation of the algorithms employed a Wireless Cookstove Sensing System (WiCS) that offers remote, low-cost temperature sensing and the wireless transmission of temperature data to a centralized database using local cellular networks. Field trials included 68 unscripted household cooking events. In themore » laboratory, temperature responses of the IC body and that of a removable temperature probe (J-bar) followed well-known physical models during cooking, indicating that location of the temperature sensor is not critical. In the laboratory, the classification correctly identified active cooking 97.2% of the time. In the field, the cooking duration was not statistically different from that recorded by trained volunteers; the average difference between calculated and observed cooking times was 0.03 ± 0.31 h (mean ± SD). In the laboratory, energy flux from the IC was calculated using temperatures measured by the J-bar and on the IC body and found to be proportional to the total energy in the consumed fuel, with an r 2 correlation value of 0.95. Here in the field, the average fuel consumption was calculated to be 0.97 ± 0.32 kg compared to that recorded by volunteers of 1.19 ± 0.37 kg with an average difference between calculated and observed fuel mass of 0.21 ± 0.37 kg per event. Finally, despite wide variation in observed cooking duration and fuel consumption per event, a relatively constant rate of fuel consumption of 0.48 kg h -1 was calculated for users of the same type of IC.« less

Trends in health care resource utilization and pharmacological management of COPD in Taiwan from 2004 to 2010.

PubMed

Tsai, Ying-Huang; Yang, Tsung-Ming; Lin, Chieh-Mo; Huang, Shu-Yi; Wen, Yu-Wen

2017-01-01

COPD has attracted widespread attention worldwide. The prevalence of COPD in Taiwan has been reported, but little is known about trends in health care resource utilization and pharmacologic management in COPD treatment. The objective of this article was to study trends in health care resource utilization, pharmacologic management, and medical costs of COPD treatment in Taiwan. Reimbursement claims in the Taiwan National Health Insurance System from 2004 to 2010 were collected. The disease burden of COPD, including health care resource utilization and medical costs, was evaluated. The pharmacy cost of COPD increased from 2004 to 2010 due to the increased utilization of long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) and fixed-dose combination of long-acting β2-agonist and inhaled corticosteroid (LABA/ICS), whereas the cost of all other COPD-related medications decreased. The average outpatient department (OPD) cost per patient increased 29.3% from 1,070 USD in 2004 to 1,383 USD in 2010. The highest average total medical cost per patient was 3,434 USD in 2005, and it decreased 12.4% to 3,008 USD in 2010. There was no significant difference in the average number of OPD visits and emergency department visits per patient. The highest average number of hospital admissions was 0.81 in 2005, and it decreased to 0.65 in 2010. The average number of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions decreased from 0.52 in 2005 to 0.31 in 2010. From 2004 to 2010, the average total medical cost per patient of COPD was slightly decreased because of the decreased average number of hospital admissions and ICU admissions. The costs of both LAMA and LABA/ICS increased, while the cost for all other COPD-related medications decreased. These findings suggest that the increased utilization of LAMA and LABA/ICS may have contributed to the decreased average number of hospital admissions and ICU admissions in COPD patients from 2004 to 2010.

Optical Spectrum of the Compact Planetary Nebula IC 5117

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hyung, Siek; Aller, Lawrence H.; Feibelman, Walter A.; Lee, Seong-Jae; Fisher, Richard R. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

High resolution spectroscopic data of the very compact planetary nebula IC 5117 are obtained in the optical wavelengths, 3700A - 10050A, with the Hamilton Echelle Spectrograph at Lick Observatory, and which have been analyzed along with the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) UV archive data. Although a diagnostic diagram shows significant density and temperature fluctuations, our analysis indicates that the nebular gas may be represented by a homogeneous shell of extremely high density gas, N(sub epsilon) approx. 90 000 /cu cm. The average electron temperatures, e.g. indicated by the [OIII] diagnostics, are around 12 000 K. We construct a photoionization model to represent most of the observed line intensities, and the physical condition of this compact nebulosity. Based on the semi-empirical ionization correction approach, and model indications, we derived the elemental abundances: He, C, N, O, Ne, and Ar appear to be normal or marginally depleted compared to the average planetary nebula, while the remaining elements, S, Cl, and K appear to be enhanced. IC 5117 is perhaps a very young compact planetary nebula, slightly more evolved than the other well-known compact planetary nebula IC 4997. The central stellar temperature is likely to be around 120 000 K, evolved from a C-rich AGB progenitor.

Comparing gravimetric and real-time sampling of PM(2.5) concentrations inside truck cabins.

PubMed

Zhu, Ying; Smith, Thomas J; Davis, Mary E; Levy, Jonathan I; Herrick, Robert; Jiang, Hongyu

2011-11-01

As part of a study on truck drivers' exposure and health risk, pickup and delivery (P&D) truck drivers' on-road exposure patterns to PM(2.5) were assessed in five, weeklong sampling trips in metropolitan areas of five U.S. cities from April to August of 2006. Drivers were sampled with real-time (DustTrak) and gravimetric samplers to measure average in-cabin PM(2.5) concentrations and to compare their correspondence in moving trucks. In addition, GPS measurements of truck locations, meteorological data, and driver behavioral data were collected throughout the day to determine which factors influence the relationship between real-time and gravimetric samplers. Results indicate that the association between average real-time and gravimetric PM(2.5) measurements on moving trucks was fairly consistent (Spearman rank correlation of 0.63), with DustTrak measurements exceeding gravimetric measurements by approximately a factor of 2. This ratio differed significantly only between the industrial Midwest cities and the other three sampled cities scattered in the South and West. There was also limited evidence of an effect of truck age. Filter samples collected concurrently with DustTrak measurements can be used to calibrate average mass concentration responses for the DustTrak, allowing for real-time measurements to be integrated into longer-term studies of inter-city and intra-urban exposure patterns for truck drivers.

Overrepresentation of seat belt non-users in traffic crashes

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1988-04-01

This study used observations of driver belt use linked with driver history information to conclude that non-users of belts are overrepresented in traffic crashes. Examining average numbers of accidents and violations per observed belted and unbelted ...

Survival pattern of first accident among commercial drivers in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

PubMed

Nanga, Salifu; Odai, Nii Afotey; Lotsi, Anani

2017-06-01

In this study, the average accident risk of commercial drivers in the Greater Accra region of Ghana and its associated risks were examined based on a survey data collected using paper-based questionnaires from 204 commercial drivers from the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The Cox Proportional Hazards Model was used for multivariate analysis while the Kaplan-Meier (KM) Model was used to study the survival patterns of the commercial drivers. The study revealed that the median survival time for an accident to happen is 2.50 years. Good roads provided a better chance of survival than bad roads and experienced drivers have a better chance of survival than the inexperienced drivers. Age of driver, alcohol usage of driver, marital status, condition of road and duration of driver's license were found to be related to the risk of accident. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lithium Abundances in the Young Open Cluster IC 2602

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Randich, S.; Aharpour, N.; Pallavicini, R.; Prosser, C. F.; Stauffer, J. R.

1997-01-01

We have obtained high-resolution spectra for 28 candidate late-type stars in the 30 Myr old cluster IC 2602. NLTE Li abundances have been derived from measured equivalent widths. The log n(Li) - T(sub eff) and log n(Li) - mass distributions for our sample stars have been compared with those of the Pleiades and alpha Persei. Our data show that F stars in the three clusters have the same lithium content, which corresponds to the initial content for Pop. I stars. G and early-K IC 2602 stars are, on average, somewhat more Li-rich than their counterparts in the two slightly older clusters. Finally, the latest-type IC 2602 stars are heavily Li depleted, with their Li content being as low as the lowest measured among the Pleiades. As in the Pleiades and alpha Per, a star-to-star scatter in lithium is observed among 30 Myr old late-K/early-K dwarfs in IC 2602, indicating that this spread develops in the pre-main sequence phases.

Review of methods for handling confounding by cluster and informative cluster size in clustered data

PubMed Central

Seaman, Shaun; Pavlou, Menelaos; Copas, Andrew

2014-01-01

Clustered data are common in medical research. Typically, one is interested in a regression model for the association between an outcome and covariates. Two complications that can arise when analysing clustered data are informative cluster size (ICS) and confounding by cluster (CBC). ICS and CBC mean that the outcome of a member given its covariates is associated with, respectively, the number of members in the cluster and the covariate values of other members in the cluster. Standard generalised linear mixed models for cluster-specific inference and standard generalised estimating equations for population-average inference assume, in general, the absence of ICS and CBC. Modifications of these approaches have been proposed to account for CBC or ICS. This article is a review of these methods. We express their assumptions in a common format, thus providing greater clarity about the assumptions that methods proposed for handling CBC make about ICS and vice versa, and about when different methods can be used in practice. We report relative efficiencies of methods where available, describe how methods are related, identify a previously unreported equivalence between two key methods, and propose some simple additional methods. Unnecessarily using a method that allows for ICS/CBC has an efficiency cost when ICS and CBC are absent. We review tools for identifying ICS/CBC. A strategy for analysis when CBC and ICS are suspected is demonstrated by examining the association between socio-economic deprivation and preterm neonatal death in Scotland. PMID:25087978

Contributions of Lower Atmospheric Drivers to the Semiannual Oscillation in Thermospheric Global Mass Density

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, M., Jr.; Emmert, J. T.; Drob, D. P.; Siskind, D. E.

2016-12-01

The thermosphere exhibits intra-annual variations (IAV) in globally averaged mass density that noticeably impact the drag environment of satellites in low Earth orbit. Particularly, the annual and semiannual oscillations (AO and SAO) are collectively the second largest component, after solar variability, of thermospheric global mass density variations. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the oscillations, but they have yet to be reproduced by first-principles modeling simulations. Recent studies have focused on estimating the SAO in eddy diffusion required to explain the thermospheric SAO in mass density. Less attention has been paid to the effect of lower and middle atmospheric drivers on the lower boundary of the thermosphere. In this study, we utilize the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIME-GCM), to elucidate how the different lower atmospheric drivers influence IAV, and in particular the SAO of globally-averaged thermospheric mass density. We performed numerical simulations of a continuous calendar year assuming constant solar forcing, manipulating the lower atmospheric tidal forcing and gravity wave parameterization in order to quantify the SAO in thermospheric mass density attributable to different lower atmospheric drivers. The prominent initial results are as follows: (1) The "standard" TIME-GCM is capable of simulating the SAO in globally-averaged mass density at 400 km from first-principles, and its amplitude and phase compare well with empirical models; (2) The simulations suggest that seasonally varying Kzz driven by breaking GWs is not the primary driver of the SAO in upper thermospheric globally averaged mass density; (3) Preliminary analysis suggests that the SAO in the upper thermospheric mass density could be a by-product of dynamical wave transport in the mesopause region.

Ameliorating effect of an interferon inducer polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid on bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis in hamsters. Morphologic and biochemical evidence.

PubMed Central

Giri, S. N.; Hyde, D. M.

1988-01-01

The effects of polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (Poly I:C), an inducer of interferons, on bleomycin (Bleo)-induced lung fibrosis was studied in hamsters. Poly I:C (10 mg/kg intraperitoneally) was administered for two days and immediately before intratracheal instillation of bleomycin (7.5 U/kg) or an equivalent volume of saline and thereafter daily for 13 days. The lung hydroxyproline in control, Poly I:C, Bleo, and Bleo + Poly I:C groups averaged 791, 752, 1177, and 766 micrograms/lung. As compared to control, the prolyl hydroxylase activity in the Bleo group was increased by 83% whereas in Bleo + Poly I:C group, the activity was increased by 42%. Protein in the bronchoalveolar lavage supernatant in Poly I:C, Bleo and Bleo + Poly I:C groups were 72, 286, and 206% of the control, respectively. There was no difference in total leukocyte counts between Bleo + Poly I:C and Bleo groups, but the differential cell counts were changed. The numbers of neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, and eosinophils were 50, 84, 91, and 10% of Bleo group, respectively. Morphometric estimates of the volume of parenchymal lesion within the lung showed that hamsters in Bleo + Poly I:C group had significantly less volume of lesion (1.0 cucm) than the Bleo group (1.6 cucm). In addition, the fibrotic lesions in Bleo + Poly I:C group were multifocal and primarily proximal acinar in location, had fewer extracellular fibers, neutrophils and monocytes. Poly I:C treatment ameliorated bleomycin-induced lung collagen accumulation. Images Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 PMID:2462354

Environmental impact evaluation of feeds prepared from food residues using life cycle assessment.

PubMed

Ogino, Akifumi; Hirooka, Hiroyuki; Ikeguchi, Atsuo; Tanaka, Yasuo; Waki, Miyoko; Yokoyama, Hiroshi; Kawashima, Tomoyuki

2007-01-01

There is increasing concern about feeds prepared from food residues (FFR) from an environmental viewpoint; however, various forms of energy are consumed in the production of FFR. Environmental impacts of three scenarios were therefore investigated and compared using life cycle assessment (LCA): production of liquid FFR by sterilization with heat (LQ), production of dehydrated FFR by dehydration (DH), and disposal of food residues by incineration (IC). The functional unit was defined as 1 kg dry matter of produced feed standardized to a fixed energy content. The system boundaries included collection of food residues and production of feed from food residues. In IC, food residues are incinerated as waste, and thus the impacts of production and transportation of commercial concentrate feeds equivalent to the FFR in the other scenarios are included in the analysis. Our results suggested that the average amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from LQ, DH, and IC were 268, 1073, and 1066 g of CO(2) equivalent, respectively. The amount of GHG emissions from LQ was remarkably small, indicating that LQ was effective for reducing the environmental impact of animal production. Although the average amount of GHG emissions from DH was nearly equal to that from IC, a large variation of GHG emissions was observed among the DH units. The energy consumption of the three scenarios followed a pattern similar to that of GHG emissions. The water consumption of the FFR-producing units was remarkably smaller than that of IC due to the large volumes of water consumed in forage crop production.

A driver-adaptive stability control strategy for sport utility vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Shenjin; He, Yuping

2017-08-01

Conventional vehicle stability control (VSC) systems are designed for average drivers. For a driver with a good driving skill, the VSC systems may be redundant; for a driver with a poor driving skill, the VSC intervention may be inadequate. To increase safety of sport utility vehicles (SUVs), this paper proposes a novel driver-adaptive VSC (DAVSC) strategy based on scaling the target yaw rate commanded by the driver. The DAVSC system is adaptive to drivers' driving skills. More control effort would be exerted for drivers with poor driving skills, and vice versa. A sliding mode control (SMC)-based differential braking (DB) controller is designed using a three degrees of freedom (DOF) yaw-plane model. An eight DOF nonlinear yaw-roll model is used to simulate the SUV dynamics. Two driver models, namely longitudinal and lateral, are used to 'drive' the virtual SUV. By integrating the virtual SUV, the DB controller, and the driver models, the performance of the DAVSC system is investigated. The simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the DAVSC strategy.

High ESD Breakdown-Voltage InP HBT Transimpedance Amplifier IC for Optical Video Distribution Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sano, Kimikazu; Nagatani, Munehiko; Mutoh, Miwa; Murata, Koichi

This paper is a report on a high ESD breakdown-voltage InP HBT transimpedance amplifier IC for optical video distribution systems. To make ESD breakdown-voltage higher, we designed ESD protection circuits integrated in the TIA IC using base-collector/base-emitter diodes of InP HBTs and resistors. These components for ESD protection circuits have already existed in the employed InP HBT IC process, so no process modifications were needed. Furthermore, to meet requirements for use in optical video distribution systems, we studied circuit design techniques to obtain a good input-output linearity and a low-noise characteristic. Fabricated InP HBT TIA IC exhibited high human-body-model ESD breakdown voltages (±1000V for power supply terminals, ±200V for high-speed input/output terminals), good input-output linearity (less than 2.9-% duty-cycle-distortion), and low noise characteristic (10.7pA/√Hz averaged input-referred noise current density) with a -3-dB-down higher frequency of 6.9GHz. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first literature describing InP ICs with high ESD-breakdown voltages.

Translation to Primary Care of an Effective Teen Safe Driving Program for Parents.

PubMed

Shope, Jean T; Zakrajsek, Jennifer S; Finch, Stacia; Bingham, C Raymond; O'Neil, Joseph; Yano, Stephen; Wasserman, Richard; Simons-Morton, Bruce

2016-10-01

Addressing teen driver crashes, this study adapted an effective Checkpoints(TM) program for parents of teen drivers for dissemination by primary care practitioners (PCPs) and the web; distributed the PCP/web program through pediatric practices; and examined dissemination to/implementation by parents. The website, youngDRIVERparenting.org, and brief intervention protocol were developed. PCPs delivered interventions and materials to parents, referred them to the website, and completed follow-up surveys. Google Analytics assessed parents' website use. Most PCPs reported delivering interventions with fidelity, and thought the program important and feasible. Brief interventions/website referrals, averaging 4.4 minutes, were delivered to 3465 (87%) of 3990 eligible parents by 133 PCPs over an 18-week average. Website visits (1453) were made by 42% of parents, who spent on average 3:53 minutes viewing 4.2 topics. This program costs little (its website, training and promotional materials are available) and could be one component of a comprehensive approach to reducing teen driver crashes. © The Author(s) 2016.

Net photosynthesis and respiration of sago pondweed (Potamogeton pectinatus) exposed to herbicides

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fleming, W.J.; Ailstock, M.S.; Momot, J.J.; Hughes, Jane S.; Biddinger, Gregory R.; Mones, Eugene

1995-01-01

We determined net photosynthesis and respiration rates for sago pondweed (potamogeton pectinatus) exposed to various concentrations of 11 herbicides widely used in Maryland during the past decade. Net photosynthesis and respiration were determined by measuring changes in the. oxygen content of solutions containing dilutions of technical grade herbicides. At 20-22? C and 58 umol/m2/sec of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), oxygen production of undosed plants averaged 0.72-2.03 mg/g fresh wt/h. Respiration rates of undosed plants averaged 0.46-0.60 mg O2/g fresh wt/h. Nominal herbicide concentrations (ng/L) that reduced net photosynthesis by 5O percent (IC5O) were: metribuzin, 8; atrazine, 29; cyanazine, 32; linuron, 70; simazine, 164; and paraquat, 240. IC5O values for 2,4-D, acifluorfen, glyphosate and metolachlor exceeded the maximum test concentration of 10,000 ng/L. The IC5O value for alachlor was estimated to be between 1,000 and 10,000 ng/L. None of the herbicides tested had a significant effect on dark respiration.

[Extraction of evoked related potentials by using the combination of independent component analysis and wavelet analysis].

PubMed

Zou, Ling; Chen, Shuyue; Sun, Yuqiang; Ma, Zhenghua

2010-08-01

In this paper we present a new method of combining Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Wavelet de-noising algorithm to extract Evoked Related Potentials (ERPs). First, the extended Infomax-ICA algorithm is used to analyze EEG signals and obtain the independent components (Ics); Then, the Wave Shrink (WS) method is applied to the demixed Ics as an intermediate step; the EEG data were rebuilt by using the inverse ICA based on the new Ics; the ERPs were extracted by using de-noised EEG data after being averaged several trials. The experimental results showed that the combined method and ICA method could remove eye artifacts and muscle artifacts mixed in the ERPs, while the combined method could retain the brain neural activity mixed in the noise Ics and could extract the weak ERPs efficiently from strong background artifacts.

THE SLEEP OF LONG-HAUL TRUCK DRIVERS

PubMed Central

Mitler, Merrill M.; Miller, James C.; Lipsitz, Jeffrey J.; Walsh, James K.; Wylie, C. Dennis

2008-01-01

Background Fatigue and sleep deprivation are important safety issues for long-haul truck drivers. Methods We conducted round-the-clock electrophysiologic and performance monitoring of four groups of 20 male truck drivers who were carrying revenue-producing loads. We compared four driving schedules, two in the United States (five 10-hour trips of day driving beginning about the same time each day or of night driving beginning about 2 hours earlier each day) and two in Canada (four 13-hour trips of late-night-to-morning driving beginning at about the same time each evening or of afternoon-to-night driving beginning 1 hour later each day). Results Drivers averaged 5.18 hours in bed per day and 4.78 hours of electrophysiologically verified sleep per day over the five-day study (range, 3.83 hours of sleep for those on the steady 13-hour night schedule to 5.38 hours of sleep for those on the steady 10-hour day schedule). These values compared with a mean (±SD) self-reported ideal amount of sleep of 7.1±1 hours a day. For 35 drivers (44 percent), naps augmented the sleep obtained by an average of 0.45±0.31 hour. No crashes or other vehicle mishaps occurred. Two drivers had undiagnosed sleep apnea, as detected by polysomnography. Two other drivers had one episode each of stage 1 sleep while driving, as detected by electroencephalography. Forty-five drivers (56 percent) had at least 1 six-minute interval of drowsiness while driving, as judged by analysis of video recordings of their faces; 1067 of the 1989 six-minute segments (54 percent) showing drowsy drivers involved just eight drivers. Conclusions Long-haul truck drivers in this study obtained less sleep than is required for alertness on the job. The greatest vulnerability to sleep or sleep-like states is in the late night and early morning. PMID:9287232

Consideration of driver home county prohibition and alcohol-related vehicle crashes.

PubMed

Schulte Gary, Sarah Lynn; Aultman-Hall, Lisa; McCourt, Matt; Stamatiadis, Nick

2003-09-01

This study examines the characteristics of alcohol-related crashes in wet versus dry counties in the state of Kentucky, USA and incorporates the location of driver residences through use of geographic information system (GIS) analysis. Between 1991 and 1997, 39344 alcohol-related crashes by Kentucky residents on Kentucky State roads were reported. The location of the crash and the home ZIP code from the driver's address were used to consider distance from home in the GIS. Analysis of the crash data revealed that a similar proportion of crashes in wet and dry counties are alcohol-related but that a higher proportion of dry counties residents are involved in an alcohol-related crash. However, when the distance from home variable is considered, several results suggest that dry county residents may be driving further when consuming alcohol. In part due to the rural nature of dry counties, drivers from dry counties have both alcohol-related and non-alcohol related crashes farther from their homes than residents from wet counties. Alcohol-related crashes by dry county residents in wet counties are the greatest average distance from home while crashes by wet county residents in wet counties are the smallest average distance. Drivers from dry counties over 21 years of age have alcohol-related crashes significantly farther from home than those under 21 who would not legally be admitted to drinking establishments in the wet counties. Furthermore, residents from dry counties that do not border wet counties have alcohol-related crashes on average farther from home than the border county residents. These last three results provide circumstantial evidence that some dry county drivers may be driving to wet counties to consume alcohol thus increasing impaired driving exposure. In conclusion, by considering crash location and driver residence, these findings indicate that county-level prohibition is not necessarily effective in improving highway safety.

Infection control and prevention practices implemented to reduce transmission risk of Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus in a tertiary care institution in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Butt, Taimur S; Koutlakis-Barron, Irene; AlJumaah, Suliman; AlThawadi, Sahar; AlMofada, Saleh

2016-05-01

Transmission of Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV) among health care workers (HCWs) and patients has been documented with mortality rate approximating 36%. We propose advanced infection control measures (A-IC) used in conjunction with basic infection control measures (B-IC) help reduce pathogen transmission. B-IC include standard and transmission-based precautions. A-IC are initiatives implemented within our center to enhance effectiveness of B-IC. Study effectiveness of combining B-IC and A-IC to prevent transmission of MERS-CoV to HCWs. A retrospective observational study was undertaken. A-IC measures include administrative support with daily rounds; infection control risk assessment; timely screening, isolation, and specimen analysis; collaboration; epidemic planning; stockpiling; implementation of contingency plans; full personal protective equipment use for advanced airway management; use of a real-time electronic isolation flagging system; infection prevention and control team on-call protocols; pretransfer MERS-CoV testing; and education. A total of 874 real-time polymerase chain reaction MERS-CoV tests were performed during the period beginning July 1, 2013, and ending January 31, 2015. Six hundred ninety-four non-HCWs were tested, of these 16 tested positive for MERS-CoV and their infection was community acquired. Sixty-nine percent of the confirmed MERS-CoV-positive cases were men, with an average age of 56 years (range, 19-84 years). Of the total tested for MERS-CoV, 180 individuals were HCWs with zero positivity. Adhering to a combination of B-IC and A-IC reduces the risk of MERS-CoV transmission to HCWs. Copyright © 2016 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Accounting for the Variation of Driver Aggression in the Simulation of Conventional and Advanced Vehicles (Presentation)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Neubauer, J.; Wood, E.

2013-05-01

This presentation discusses a method of accounting for realistic levels of driver aggression to higher-level vehicle studies, including the impact of variation in real-world driving characteristics (acceleration and speed) on vehicle energy consumption and different powertrains (e.g., conventionally powered vehicles versus electrified drive vehicles [xEVs]). Aggression variation between drivers can increase fuel consumption by more than 50% or decrease it by more than 20% from average. The normalized fuel consumption deviation from average as a function of population percentile was found to be largely insensitive to powertrain. However, the traits of ideal driving behavior are a function of powertrain. Inmore » conventional vehicles, kinetic losses dominate rolling resistance and aerodynamic losses. In xEVs with regenerative braking, rolling resistance and aerodynamic losses dominate. The relation of fuel consumption predicted from real-world drive data to that predicted by the industry-standard HWFET, UDDS, LA92, and US06 drive cycles was not consistent across powertrains, and varied broadly from the mean, median, and mode of real-world driving. A drive cycle synthesized by NREL's DRIVE tool accurately and consistently reproduces average real-world for multiple powertrains within 1%, and can be used to calculate the fuel consumption effects of varying levels of driver aggression.« less

Natural gas applications for hybrid vehicles. Final report, October 1992-July 1993

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bentley, J.M.

1993-08-01

Hybrid vehicle technology holds the potential for improved efficiency and emissions compared with internal combustion (IC) engines and improved range and refueling convenience over electric vehicles. This study evaluated the potential for using natural gas as a hybrid vehicle fuel. Potential regulatory and market drivers were evaluated for hybrids generally and natural gas hybrids in specific. Heat engine options and other configuration issues were investigated to determine efficiency, emissions or other benefits of light- and heavy-duty hybrids. Several hybrid vehicle configurations were evaluated to determine the specific packaging attributes of natural gas in a hybrid configuration. Generally, conventional IC enginesmore » appear adequate for most emissions-sensitive hybrid applications with no great advantage being gained from using turbines or other more advanced heat engines. The largest technology barrier to a near-term hybrid is the weight of available or near-term batteries. Smaller, light-duty hybrid vehicles will be more sensitive to this weight handicap than larger vehicles such as the urban transit bus.« less

[Determinant factors and conduct in post-accident with biological material among pre-hospital professionals].

PubMed

Paiva, Maria Henriqueta Rocha Siqueira; Oliveira, Adriana Cristina

2011-01-01

This transversal study was carried out with a multiprofessional team in the pre-hospital care in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It aimed to estimate the incidence of occupational accidents by exposure to biological material and post-accidents conductsta. Descriptive analysis and logistic regression were used. Incidence of accidents was 19.8%: 39,1% perforating-cutting materials and 56.5% body fluids. Doctors (33.3%) and drivers (24.0%) were most involved. Inadequate subsequent measures were highly prevalent: no medical assessment (69.6%), no work accident communication issued (91.3%), no measures (52.2%) and no serological follow-up (52.2%). Variables associated with accidents were: age >31 years old (OR = 3,02; IC95%: 1,25 - 7,33; p = 0,014) and working in basic support units (OR = 5,36; IC95%: 1,51 19,08; p = 0,010). The implementation of post-accidents protocols is suggested in order to reduce accidents and under-notification, and increase post-accident follow-up.

An immunoassay for dibutyl phthalate based on direct hapten linkage to the polystyrene surface of microtiter plates.

PubMed

Wei, Chenxi; Ding, Shumao; You, Huihui; Zhang, Yaran; Wang, Yao; Yang, Xu; Yuan, Junlin

2011-01-01

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) is predominantly used as a plasticizer inplastics to make them flexible. Extensive use of phthalates in both industrial processes and other consumer products has resulted in the ubiquitous presence of phthalates in the environment. In order to better determine the level of pollution in the environment and evaluate the potential adverse effects of exposure to DBP, immunoassay for DBP was developed. A monoclonal antibody specific to DBP was produced from a stable hybridoma cell line generated by lymphocyte hybridoma technique. An indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA) employing direct coating of hapten on polystyrene microtiter plates was established for the detection of DBP. Polystyrene surface was first oxidized by permanganate in dilute sulfuric acid to generate carboxyl groups. Then dibutyl 4-aminophthalate, which is an analogue of DBP, was covalently linked to the carboxyl groups of polystyrene surface with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC). Compared with conjugate coated format (IC(50)=106 ng/mL), the direct hapten coated format (IC(50)=14.6 ng/mL) improved assay sensitivity after careful optimization of assay conditions. The average recovery of DBP from spiked water sample was 104.4% and the average coefficient of variation was 9.95%. Good agreement of the results obtained by the hapten coated icELISA and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry further confirmed the reliability and accuracy of the icELISA for the detection of DBP in certain plastic and cosmetic samples. The stable and efficient hybridoma cell line obtained is an unlimited source of sensitive and specific antibody to DBP. The hapten coated format is proposed as generally applicable because the carboxyl groups on modified microtiter plate surface enables stable immobilization of aminated or hydroxylated hapten with EDC. The developed hapten coated icELISA can be used as a convenient quantitative tool for the sensitive and accurate monitoring DBP in water, plastic and cosmetic samples. © 2011 Wei et al.

Truck drivers' opinion on road safety in Tanzania--a questionnaire study.

PubMed

Kircher, Katja; Andersson, Jan

2013-01-01

Even though the traffic fatality risk (fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants) in Tanzania is quite low, the fatality rate (fatalities per 10,000 vehicles) is one of the highest in the world. With increasing vehicle density this means that the number of people dying in traffic will increase dramatically in the near future. Therefore, it is important to implement measures to increase traffic safety as soon as possible, and in order to be able to do this in an efficient way, it is important to investigate where the main problems lie. Within the European Union (EU) project ASSET-Road a questionnaire study on road safety was conducted with 250 truck drivers in Tanzania. The study was done to increase the knowledge about the situation of the Tanzanian truckers, who are the most frequent road users in the country. The drivers were interviewed in 3 different towns in southern Tanzania, and participation was voluntary. The questionnaire treated demographics, the state of the drivers' vehicles, the frequency of breakdowns, and the maintenance of the vehicles. Further questions concerned driver behavior, crash involvement, crash risk, and crash mitigation. The drivers who participated in the study were predominantly male and their average age was 36 years. Truck drivers reported driving 10.6 h without a break on average, with several drivers reporting that they had to drive 24 h without rest. Around 40 percent of the trucks did not have any seat belts installed, with a larger share of older trucks lacking belts. Most of the drivers who had seat belts reported using them, however. Almost 40 percent of the drivers reported being involved in at least one crash, and 45 percent of those drivers had experienced fatal crashes. This underlines that the crash frequency per vehicle is very high, and the results are often severe, especially when heavy vehicles are involved. When asked what the 3 most common crash causations were, driver-related causes were named frequently. Drivers were said to be reckless, and further crash causations named were drunkenness, inattention, and sleepiness. One of the most frequently mentioned crash mitigation strategies was driver education, followed by improvement of the roads and the vehicles. The results indicate that countermeasures should be implemented in an integrated fashion, taking into account aspects such as driver, vehicle, infrastructure, legislature, and other road users.

HEMATOPOIETIC PROGENITOR CELL CONTENT OF VERTEBRAL BODY MARROW USED FOR COMBINED SOLID ORGAN AND BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION

PubMed Central

Rybka, Witold B.; Fontes, Paulo A.; Rao, Abdul S.; Winkelstein, Alan; Ricordi, Camillo; Ball, Edward D.; Starzl, Thomas E.

2010-01-01

While cadaveric vertebral bodies (VB) have long been proposed as a suitable source of bone marrow (BM) for transplantation (BMT), they have rarely been used for this purpose. We have infused VB BM immediately following whole organ (WO) transplantation to augment donor cell chimerism. We quantified the hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) content of VB BM as well as BM obtained from the iliac crests (IC) of normal allogeneic donors (ALLO) and from patients with malignancy undergoing autologous marrow harvest (AUTO). Patients undergoing WOIBM transplantation also had AUTO BM harvested in the event that subsequent lymphohematopoietic reconstitution was required. Twenty-four VB BM, 24 IC BM-ALLO, 31 IC AUTO, and 24 IC WO-AUTO were harvested. VB BM was tested 12 to 72 hr after procurement and infused after completion ofWO grafting. IC BM was tested and then used or cryopreserved immediately. HPC were quantified by clonal assay measuring CFU-GM, BFU-E, and CFU-GEMM, and by flow cytometry for CD34+ progenitor cells. On an average, 9 VB were processed during each harvest, and despite an extended processing time the number of viable nucleated cells obtained was significantly higher than that from IC. Furthermore, by HPC content, VB BM was equivalent to IC BM, which is routinely used for BMT. We conclude that VB BM is a clinically valuable source of BM for allogeneic transplantation. PMID:7701582

Targeting SRC Family Kinases in HSP90 in Lung Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

shock protein ( HSP ) 90 are both associated with cancer progression, invasion, tumor angiogenesis and drug-resistance, and both are targets of...vitro, with an IC50 of 10 nM, and reducing the viability by 70 % at 30-50 nM. 2) Dasatinib was less effective in these cells, with an IC50 of 100 nM...3) Ganetespib treatment reduced the rate of growth of tumors in this model. Although the average degree of reduction was marked ( 70 -80% less in

Traveler oriented traffic performance metrics using real time traffic data from the Midtown-in-Motion (MIM) project in Manhattan, NY.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-10-01

In a congested urban street network the average traffic speed is an inadequate metric for measuring : speed changes that drivers can perceive from changes in traffic control strategies. : A driver oriented metric is needed. Stop frequency distrib...

Visible, Durable, Enforceable Institutional Controls: Weldon Spring Site - A 10-Year Journey - 13190

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Uhlmeyer, Terri; Thompson, Randy; Starr, Ken

2013-07-01

The DOE Office of Legacy Management's (LM's) mission is to manage the DOE's post-closure responsibilities and ensure the future protection of human health and the environment. LM has control and custody of legacy land, structures, and facilities and is responsible for maintaining them at levels suitable for their long-term use. This includes all engineered and institutional controls (ICs) designed as another level of assurance to prevent exposure to residual contamination and waste. The development and management of ICs has been, and continues to be, a critical component to the success of LM surveillance and maintenance activities. Many major federal laws,more » Executive Orders, regulations, and various other drivers influence the establishment and use of ICs at LM sites. LM uses a wide range of ICs to appropriately limit access to, or uses of, land, facilities, and other real and personal properties; protect the environment; maintain the physical safety and security of DOE facilities; and prevent or limit inadvertent human and environmental exposure to residual contaminants and other hazards. The ICs at the Weldon Spring, Missouri, Site were developed in close coordination with federal and state regulators. An Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) was issued in February 2005, which clarified the use restrictions necessary for the remedial actions specified in the Records of Decision for the separate operable units to remain protective over the long-term. The operable units included the Chemical Plant Operable Unit, the Chemical Plant Groundwater Operable Unit, and the Quarry Residuals Operable Unit. The ESD clarified specific requirements for each site area that needed use restrictions and established how DOE would implement, maintain, and monitor the specific requirements. DOE developed the Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance Plan for the U.S. Department of Energy Weldon Spring, Missouri, Site (LTS and M Plan) that addressed the full scope of the site management activities necessary to ensure that the Weldon Spring Site remains protective over the long-term. The LTS and M Plan is revised periodically to ensure its applicability to changing site, regulatory, or procedural conditions. In addition to addressing such activities as long-term groundwater monitoring and disposal cell maintenance, the LTS and M Plan was developed and issued to ensure that the use restrictions identified in the ESD were properly imposed and maintained. The LTS and M Plan included a detailed IC Implementation Plan, which includes a process for evaluating and identifying specific IC mechanisms that best accomplish the objectives set out in the ESD. Consistent with EPA guidance on selecting ICs, various IC mechanisms were evaluated, including government controls, proprietary controls, enforcement tools, and informational devices. Where appropriate, redundant mechanisms were employed to increase the effectiveness of the ICs. Information in the IC Implementation Plan includes: (1) a discussion of current site conditions (reflecting post-remedial action conditions for the Chemical Plant and Quarry Areas and the risk-basis for why use restrictions are needed); (2) the objectives of, or performance expectations for, the use restrictions; (3) specific ICs already in place and additional mechanisms identified for implementation; (4) a schedule for implementing additional ICs; (5) procedures for maintaining the ICs and for conducting periodic inspections; and (6) general provisions for the implementing ICs for the site. The actual agreements and documentation of the various ICs are included in an appendix of the LTS and M Plan. These documents are also available via the internet from the authorizing agencies (County, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, EPA, etc.) The Weldon Spring Site personnel have been successful in finalizing each of the ICs that were established for the site. The planning, establishment, and implementation of the ICs was a long and detailed process with several lessons-learned that were identified along the way. (authors)« less

Whole-body kinematic and dynamic response of restrained PMHS in frontal sled tests.

PubMed

Forman, Jason; Lessley, David; Kent, Richard; Bostrom, Ola; Pipkorn, Bengt

2006-11-01

The literature contains a wide range of response data describing the biomechanics of isolated body regions. Current data for the validation of frontal anthropomorphic test devices and human body computational models lack, however, a detailed description of the whole-body response to loading with contemporary restraints in automobile crashes. This study presents data from 14 frontal sled tests describing the physical response of postmortem human surrogates (PMHS) in the following frontal crash environments: A) (5 tests) driver position, force-limited 3-point belt plus airbag restraint (FLB+AB), 48 km/h deltaV. B) (3 tests) passenger position, FLB+AB restraint, 48 km/h deltaV. C) (3 tests) passenger position, standard (not force-limited) 3-point belt plus air bag restraint (SB+AB), 48 km/h deltaV. D) (3 tests) passenger position, standard 3-point belt restraint (SB), 29 km/h deltaV. Reported data include x-axis and z-axis (SAE occupant reference frame) accelerations of the head, spine (upper, middle, and lower), and pelvis; rate of angular rotation of the head about y-axis; displacements of the head, upper spine, pelvis and knee relative to the vehicle buck; and deformation contours of the upper and lower chest. A variety of kinematic trends are identified across the different test conditions, including a decrease in head and thorax excursion and a change in the nature of the excursion in the driver position compared to the passenger position. Despite this increase in forward excursion when compared to the driver's side FLB+AB tests, the passenger's side FLB+AB tests resulted in greater peak thoracic (T8) x-axis accelerations (passenger's side -29 g; driver's side -22 g;) and comparable maximum chest deflection (passenger's side - 23+/-3.1% of the undeformed chest depth; driver's side - 23+/-5.6%; ). In the 48 km/h passenger's side tests, the head excursion associated with the force-limiting belt system was approximately 15% greater than that for a standard belt system in tests that were otherwise identical. This was accompanied by a decrease in chest deflection of approximately 20% with the force-limiting system. Despite the decrease in test speed, the 29 km/h passenger's side tests with standard (not force-limiting) 3-point belt restraints resulted in maximum chest deflection (16+/-5.6% average) comparable to that observed in the 48 km/h, FLB+AB, driver's side tests (21+/-3.1% average). Finally, forward head excursion was slightly higher in the 29 km/h passenger's side tests (33+/-1.1 cm average) than in the 48 km/h driver's side tests (27+/-3.7 cm average), and was lower than that in the 48 km/h FLB+AB (58+/-4.4 cm average) and SB+AB (46+/-2.1 cm average) passenger's side tests.

Analysis of impact noise induced by hitting of titanium head golf driver.

PubMed

Kim, Young Ho; Kim, Young Chul; Lee, Jun Hee; An, Yong-Hwi; Park, Kyung Tae; Kang, Kyung Min; Kang, Yeon June

2014-11-01

The hitting of titanium head golf driver against golf ball creates a short duration, high frequency impact noise. We analyzed the spectra of these impact noises and evaluated the auditory hazards from exposure to the noises. Noises made by 10 titanium head golf drivers with five maximum hits were collected, and the spectra of the pure impact sounds were studied using a noise analysis program. The noise was measured at 1.7 m (position A) and 3.4 m (position B) from the hitting point in front of the hitter and at 3.4 m (position C) behind the hitting point. Average time duration was measured and auditory risk units (ARUs) at position A were calculated using the Auditory Hazard Assessment Algorithm for Humans. The average peak levels at position A were 119.9 dBA at the sound pressure level (SPL) peak and 100.0 dBA at the overall octave level. The average peak levels (SPL and overall octave level) at position B were 111.6 and 96.5 dBA, respectively, and at position C were 111.5 and 96.7 dBA, respectively. The average time duration and ARUs measured at position A were 120.6 ms and 194.9 units, respectively. Although impact noises made by titanium head golf drivers showed relatively low ARUs, individuals enjoying golf frequently may be susceptible to hearing loss due to the repeated exposure of this intense impact noise with short duration and high frequency. Unprotected exposure to impact noises should be limited to prevent cochleovestibular disorders.

Constrained target controllability of complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Wei-Feng; Zhang, Shao-Wu; Wei, Ze-Gang; Zeng, Tao; Liu, Fei; Zhang, Jingsong; Wu, Fang-Xiang; Chen, Luonan

2017-06-01

It is of great theoretical interest and practical significance to study how to control a system by applying perturbations to only a few driver nodes. Recently, a hot topic of modern network researches is how to determine driver nodes that allow the control of an entire network. However, in practice, to control a complex network, especially a biological network, one may know not only the set of nodes which need to be controlled (i.e. target nodes), but also the set of nodes to which only control signals can be applied (i.e. constrained control nodes). Compared to the general concept of controllability, we introduce the concept of constrained target controllability (CTC) of complex networks, which concerns the ability to drive any state of target nodes to their desirable state by applying control signals to the driver nodes from the set of constrained control nodes. To efficiently investigate the CTC of complex networks, we further design a novel graph-theoretic algorithm called CTCA to estimate the ability of a given network to control targets by choosing driver nodes from the set of constrained control nodes. We extensively evaluate the CTC of numerous real complex networks. The results indicate that biological networks with a higher average degree are easier to control than biological networks with a lower average degree, while electronic networks with a lower average degree are easier to control than web networks with a higher average degree. We also show that our CTCA can more efficiently produce driver nodes for target-controlling the networks than existing state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, we use our CTCA to analyze two expert-curated bio-molecular networks and compare to other state-of-the-art methods. The results illustrate that our CTCA can efficiently identify proven drug targets and new potentials, according to the constrained controllability of those biological networks.

Effective cues for accelerating young drivers' time to transfer control following a period of conditional automation.

PubMed

Wright, Timothy J; Agrawal, Ravi; Samuel, Siby; Wang, Yuhua; Zilberstein, Shlomo; Fisher, Donald L

2018-07-01

During conditional automated driving, a transition from the automated driving suite to manual control requires the driver to take over control at a moment's notice. Thus, it is critical that a driver be made situationally aware as quickly as possible in those conditions where he or she may not be paying full attention. Recent research suggests that specific cues about upcoming hazards (e.g., "crosswalk ahead") can increase the drivers' situation awareness during these safety-critical take-over situations when compared with a general cue ("take over control"). The current study examines whether this increased situation awareness which occurs as a result of more specific cues translates into improved hazard mitigation performance within the same limited time window. Fifty-seven drivers were randomly assigned to one of five between-subjects conditions (one control condition and four experimental auditory cue conditions) that varied in the specificity of information provided about an upcoming hazard. The four experimental conditions included a period of conditional automated driving where the driver was engaged in a driving-irrelevant task and looked away from the forward roadway prior to a take-over request. Drivers in the fifth condition had no cue and drove manually throughout. The same six simulator scenarios were used in all five conditions to evaluate how well the driver mitigated a hazard. The average velocity, standard deviation of velocity, and average absolute acceleration were recorded along with the glance behaviors of drivers. In general, during the 4s prior to a latent hazard (following the alerting cues in the automated driving conditions), the more likely a driver was to glance towards a latent hazard, the more likely the driver was to reduce his or her speed. Moreover, analyses focusing solely on hazard mitigation behavior revealed patterns that mirrored the glance behavior results. Specifically, drivers that were presented with cues that described the environments in which hazards were likely to occur were more likely to demonstrate vehicle behaviors that were consistent with speed reductions (lower velocity, higher speed variability, and higher absolute acceleration) than were drivers who were presented general cues or cues about the identity of the upcoming hazards. Even in as little as 4s prior to a potential hazard, cues that inform the driver of the environment in which the hazard is likely to occur increase the likelihood that the driver mitigates the crash compared with drivers who are provided general information or threat identity information. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Who cares for involuntary clients?

PubMed

Soliman, Soheil; Pollack, Harold A; Alexander, Jeffrey A

2009-01-01

The objectives of this study were to compare characteristics of outpatient substance abuse treatment (OSAT) units that serve high proportions of involuntary clients (ICs) with those that serve a low percentage of such clients. The authors analyze unit-level 1995-2005 data from the National Drug Abuse Treatment System Survey (NDATSS). Approximately 1/6 of OSAT units draw the dominant majority of their clients from involuntary referrals. OSAT units that treat a high proportion of ICs are less likely to be accredited by professional organizations, have fewer treatment staff with advanced degrees, and have shorter average treatment duration than do OSAT units that serve few ICs. OSAT units that serve ICs are more likely to offer legal and domestic violence services but are less likely to offer mental health services or aftercare. OSAT units that serve ICs are less likely to be hospital-affiliated than are other units. Clients at such facilities are more likely to be convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI), are younger, are less likely to have received prior treatment, are more likely to remain abstinent after treatment, but are more likely to be remanded back to courts. The authors conclude that ICs are an important market niche in OSAT care. DWI is by far the most common offense reported in units that specialize in ICs. Aside from legal and domestic violence services, units with a high proportion of ICs appear to offer somewhat less intensive and professionalized services than do other facilities; however, clients at these units are more likely to be abstinent at the end of treatment and but more likely to be remanded back to the courts.

Association of climate drivers with rainfall in New South Wales, Australia, using Bayesian Model Averaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duc, Hiep Nguyen; Rivett, Kelly; MacSween, Katrina; Le-Anh, Linh

2017-01-01

Rainfall in New South Wales (NSW), located in the southeast of the Australian continent, is known to be influenced by four major climate drivers: the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). Many studies have shown the influences of ENSO, IPO modulation, SAM and IOD on rainfall in Australia and on southeast Australia in particular. However, only limited work has been undertaken using a multiple regression framework to examine the extent of the combined effect of these climate drivers on rainfall. This paper analysed the role of these combined climate drivers and their interaction on the rainfall in NSW using Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) to account for model uncertainty by considering each of the linear models across the whole model space which is equal to the set of all possible combinations of predictors to find the model posterior probabilities and their expected predictor coefficients. Using BMA for linear regression models, we are able to corroborate and confirm the results from many previous studies. In addition, the method gives the ranking order of importance and the probability of the association of each of the climate drivers and their interaction on the rainfall at a site. The ability to quantify the relative contribution of the climate drivers offers the key to understand the complex interaction of drivers on rainfall, or lack of rainfall in a region, such as the three big droughts in southeastern Australia which have been the subject of discussion and debate recently on their causes.

Backing collisions: a study of drivers' eye and backing behaviour using combined rear-view camera and sensor systems.

PubMed

Hurwitz, David S; Pradhan, Anuj; Fisher, Donald L; Knodler, Michael A; Muttart, Jeffrey W; Menon, Rajiv; Meissner, Uwe

2010-04-01

Backing crash injures can be severe; approximately 200 of the 2,500 reported injuries of this type per year to children under the age of 15 years result in death. Technology for assisting drivers when backing has limited success in preventing backing crashes. Two questions are addressed: Why is the reduction in backing crashes moderate when rear-view cameras are deployed? Could rear-view cameras augment sensor systems? 46 drivers (36 experimental, 10 control) completed 16 parking trials over 2 days (eight trials per day). Experimental participants were provided with a sensor camera system, controls were not. Three crash scenarios were introduced. Parking facility at UMass Amherst, USA. 46 drivers (33 men, 13 women) average age 29 years, who were Massachusetts residents licensed within the USA for an average of 9.3 years. Interventions Vehicles equipped with a rear-view camera and sensor system-based parking aid. Subject's eye fixations while driving and researcher's observation of collision with objects during backing. Only 20% of drivers looked at the rear-view camera before backing, and 88% of those did not crash. Of those who did not look at the rear-view camera before backing, 46% looked after the sensor warned the driver. This study indicates that drivers not only attend to an audible warning, but will look at a rear-view camera if available. Evidence suggests that when used appropriately, rear-view cameras can mitigate the occurrence of backing crashes, particularly when paired with an appropriate sensor system.

Novice Drivers' Exposure to Known Risk Factors During the First 18 Months of Licensure: The Effect of Vehicle Ownership

PubMed Central

Klauer, Sheila G.; Simons-Morton, Bruce; Lee, Suzanne E.; Ouimet, Marie Claude; Howard, E. Henry; Dingus, Thomas A.

2014-01-01

Objective Though there is ample research indicating that nighttime, teen passengers, and speeding increase the risk of crash involvement, there is little research about teen drivers' exposure to these known risk factors. Three research questions were assessed in this article: (1) Does exposure to known risk factors change over time? (2) Do teenage drivers experience higher rates of exposure to known risk factors than adult drivers? (3) Do teenage drivers who own a vehicle experience higher rates of exposure to risk factors than those who share a family vehicle? Methods Forty-one newly licensed teenage drivers and at least one parent (adult) were recruited at licensure. Driving data were recorded for 18 months. Results Average vehicle miles traveled (VMT) or average nighttime VMT for teens did not increase over time. Teenagers consistently drove 24 percent of VMT at night, compared with 18 percent for adults. Teenagers drove 62 percent of VMT with no passengers, 29 percent of VMT with one passenger, and less than 10 percent of VMT with multiple passengers. Driving with no passengers increased with driving experience for these teens. Teenage drivers who owned their vehicles, relative to those who shared a vehicle, sped 4 times more frequently overall and more frequently at night and with multiple teen passengers. Conclusion These findings are among the first objective data documenting the nature of teenage driving exposure to known risk factors. The findings provide evidence that vehicle access is related to risk and suggest the potential safety benefit of parental management of novice teenage driving exposure. PMID:21469023

Novice drivers' exposure to known risk factors during the first 18 months of licensure: the effect of vehicle ownership.

PubMed

Klauer, Sheila G; Simons-Morton, Bruce; Lee, Suzanne E; Ouimet, Marie Claude; Howard, E Henry; Dingus, Thomas A

2011-04-01

Though there is ample research indicating that nighttime, teen passengers, and speeding increase the risk of crash involvement, there is little research about teen drivers' exposure to these known risk factors. Three research questions were assessed in this article: (1) Does exposure to known risk factors change over time? (2) Do teenage drivers experience higher rates of exposure to known risk factors than adult drivers? (3) Do teenage drivers who own a vehicle experience higher rates of exposure to risk factors than those who share a family vehicle? Forty-one newly licensed teenage drivers and at least one parent (adult) were recruited at licensure. Driving data were recorded for 18 months. Average vehicle miles traveled (VMT) or average nighttime VMT for teens did not increase over time. Teenagers consistently drove 24 percent of VMT at night, compared with 18 percent for adults. Teenagers drove 62 percent of VMT with no passengers, 29 percent of VMT with one passenger, and less than 10 percent of VMT with multiple passengers. Driving with no passengers increased with driving experience for these teens. Teenage drivers who owned their vehicles, relative to those who shared a vehicle, sped 4 times more frequently overall and more frequently at night and with multiple teen passengers. These findings are among the first objective data documenting the nature of teenage driving exposure to known risk factors. The findings provide evidence that vehicle access is related to risk and suggest the potential safety benefit of parental management of novice teenage driving exposure.

Bioactivity of Turmeric-Derived Curcuminoids and Related Metabolites in Breast Cancer

PubMed Central

Wright, Laura E.; Frye, Jen B.; Gorti, Bhavana; Timmermann, Barbara N.; Funk, Janet L.

2013-01-01

While the chemotherapeutic effect of curcumin, one of three major curcuminoids derived from turmeric, has been reported, largely unexplored are the effects of complex turmeric extracts more analogous to traditional medicinal preparations, as well as the relative importance of the three curcuminoids and their metabolites as anti-cancer agents. These studies document the pharmacodynamic effects of chemically-complex turmeric extracts relative to curcuminoids on human breast cancer cell growth and tumor cell secretion of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP), an important driver of cancer bone metastasis. Finally, relative effects of structurally-related metabolites of curcuminoids were assessed on the same endpoints. We report that 3 curcuminoid-containing turmeric extracts differing with respect to the inclusion of additional naturally occurring chemicals (essential oils and/or polar compounds) were equipotent in inhibiting human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell growth (IC50=10–16μg/mL) and secretion of osteolytic PTHrP (IC50=2–3μg/mL) when concentrations were normalized to curcuminoid content. Moreover, these effects were curcuminoid-specific, as botanically-related gingerol containing extracts had no effect. While curcumin and bis-demethoxycurcumin were equipotent to each other and to the naturally occurring curcuminoid mixture (IC50=58 μM), demethoxycurcumin was without effect on cell growth. However, each of the individual curcuminoids inhibited PTHrP secretion (IC50=22–31μM) to the same degree as the curcuminoid mixture (IC50=16 μM). Degradative curcuminoid metabolites (vanillin and ferulic acid) did not inhibit cell growth or PTHrP, while reduced metabolites (tetrahydrocurcuminoids) had inhibitory effects on cell growth and PTHrP secretion but only at concentrations ≥10-fold higher than the curcuminoids. These studies emphasize the structural and biological importance of curcuminoids in the anti-breast cancer effects of turmeric and contradict recent assertions that certain of the curcuminoid metabolites studied here mediate these anti-cancer effects. PMID:23448448

Implementation of the VGM Graphics System on the PDP-11/50 under the RSX-11M Operating System and Construction of a Compatible Software Driver for the Ramtek RM-9400.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-06-01

no other. is the field of computer grapnIcs expanded, such limitations became a real liability. The inability to use one program at more tnan one...terms of these environmental factors. For example, some programs may be portable from one device to another as long as the computing environment is not...PemPOMMIN OROANI&ATIO NAMI AND A00RESS IQ. PROGRAM CLEMENT. PROJECT. TASK AREA a WORK UNiT muN9ERS Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, California 93940

42 CFR 100.2 - Average cost of a health insurance policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Research and Educational Trust (KFF/HRET) Employer Health Benefits survey or other authoritative source... most recent Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) data available as the...

42 CFR 100.2 - Average cost of a health insurance policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Research and Educational Trust (KFF/HRET) Employer Health Benefits survey or other authoritative source... most recent Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) data available as the...

42 CFR 100.2 - Average cost of a health insurance policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Research and Educational Trust (KFF/HRET) Employer Health Benefits survey or other authoritative source... most recent Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) data available as the...

42 CFR 100.2 - Average cost of a health insurance policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Research and Educational Trust (KFF/HRET) Employer Health Benefits survey or other authoritative source... most recent Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) data available as the...

Boosting specificity of MEG artifact removal by weighted support vector machine.

PubMed

Duan, Fang; Phothisonothai, Montri; Kikuchi, Mitsuru; Yoshimura, Yuko; Minabe, Yoshio; Watanabe, Kastumi; Aihara, Kazuyuki

2013-01-01

An automatic artifact removal method of magnetoencephalogram (MEG) was presented in this paper. The method proposed is based on independent components analysis (ICA) and support vector machine (SVM). However, different from the previous studies, in this paper we consider two factors which would influence the performance. First, the imbalance factor of independent components (ICs) of MEG is handled by weighted SVM. Second, instead of simply setting a fixed weight to each class, a re-weighting scheme is used for the preservation of useful MEG ICs. Experimental results on manually marked MEG dataset showed that the method proposed could correctly distinguish the artifacts from the MEG ICs. Meanwhile, 99.72% ± 0.67 of MEG ICs were preserved. The classification accuracy was 97.91% ± 1.39. In addition, it was found that this method was not sensitive to individual differences. The cross validation (leave-one-subject-out) results showed an averaged accuracy of 97.41% ± 2.14.

Association of driver air bags with driver fatality: a matched cohort study.

PubMed

Cummings, Peter; McKnight, Barbara; Rivara, Frederick P; Grossman, David C

2002-05-11

To estimate the association of driver air bag presence with driver fatality in road traffic crashes. Matched pair cohort study. All passenger vehicle crashes in the United States during 1990-2000 inclusive. 51 031 driver-passenger pairs in the same vehicle. Relative risk of death within 30 days of a crash. Drivers with an air bag were less likely to die than drivers without an air bag (adjusted relative risk 0.92 (95% confidence interval 0.88 to 0.96)). This estimate was nearly the same whether drivers wore a seat belt (adjusted relative risk 0.93) or not (0.91). Air bags were associated with more protection for women (0.88 (0.82 to 0.93)), than for men (0.94 (0.90 to 0.99)). Drivers wearing a seat belt were less likely to die than unbelted drivers (0.35 (0.33 to 0.36)). Belted drivers with an air bag were less likely to die than unbelted drivers without an air bag (0.32 (0.30 to 0.34)). If the associations are causal the average risk of driver death was reduced 8% (95% confidence interval 4% to 12%) by an air bag. Benefit was similar for belted and unbelted drivers and was slightly greater for women. However, seat belts offered much more protection than air bags.

The intelligibility in Context Scale: validity and reliability of a subjective rating measure.

PubMed

McLeod, Sharynne; Harrison, Linda J; McCormack, Jane

2012-04-01

To describe a new measure of functional intelligibility, the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS), and evaluate its validity, reliability, and sensitivity using 3 clinical measures of severity of speech sound disorder: (a) percentage of phonemes correct (PPC), (b) percentage of consonants correct (PCC), and (c) percentage of vowels correct (PVC). Speech skills of 120 preschool children (109 with parent-/teacher-identified concern about how they talked and made speech sounds and 11 with no identified concern) were assessed with the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (Dodd, Hua, Crosbie, Holm, & Ozanne, 2002). Parents completed the 7-item ICS, which rates the degree to which children's speech is understood by different communication partners (parents, immediate family, extended family, friends, acquaintances, teachers, and strangers) on a 5-point scale. Parents' ratings showed that most children were always (5) or usually (4) understood by parents, immediate family, and teachers, but only sometimes (3) by strangers. Factor analysis confirmed the internal consistency of the ICS items; therefore, ratings were averaged to form an overall intelligibility score. The ICS had high internal reliability (α = .93), sensitivity, and construct validity. Criterion validity was established through significant correlations between the ICS and PPC (r = .54), PCC (r = .54), and PVC (r = .36). The ICS is a promising new measure of functional intelligibility. These data provide initial support for the ICS as an easily administered, valid, and reliable estimate of preschool children's intelligibility when speaking with people of varying levels of familiarity and authority.

Effect of electronic cigarettes on human middle ear.

PubMed

Song, Jae-Jun; Go, Yoon Young; Mun, Ji Yoen; Lee, Sehee; Im, Gi Jung; Kim, Yoo Yon; Lee, Jun Ho; Chang, Jiwon

2018-06-01

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are the most commonly used electronic nicotine delivery systems and are a relatively new product designed for smoking cessation. The market scale of electronic cigarettes is growing rapidly, but the potential impact of e-cigarettes on public health has not yet been verified. In this study, we examined the effect of e-liquids on a human middle ear epithelial cell (HMEEC) line. The main components of e-liquids are propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin and flavoring agents with or without nicotine. We analyzed 73 bottles of e-liquids from 12 different manufacturers, evaluated the trace elements in e-liquids, and identified the cytotoxicity of e-liquids on HMEECs in the presence or absence of nicotine. In the trace elements analysis, nickel, arsenic, cadmium, and lead were detected in the e-liquids. E-liquids without nicotine decreased cell viability, and the average IC 50 value of total e-liquids (n = 73) was 2.48 ± 0.93%. Among the different flavors, menthol-flavored e-liquids significantly reduced cell viability, and their average IC 50 value (n = 28) was 1.85 ± 0.80%. The average IC 50 values were distinct among manufacturers and the proportion of the solvents. The present study provides evidence that e-cigarettes influence and reduce human middle ear cell viability even without the application of nicotine. Additionally, the cytotoxicity of e-liquids was affected by the flavoring agents. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

NASA Team 2 Sea Ice Concentration Algorithm Retrieval Uncertainty

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brucker, Ludovic; Cavalieri, Donald J.; Markus, Thorsten; Ivanoff, Alvaro

2014-01-01

Satellite microwave radiometers are widely used to estimate sea ice cover properties (concentration, extent, and area) through the use of sea ice concentration (IC) algorithms. Rare are the algorithms providing associated IC uncertainty estimates. Algorithm uncertainty estimates are needed to assess accurately global and regional trends in IC (and thus extent and area), and to improve sea ice predictions on seasonal to interannual timescales using data assimilation approaches. This paper presents a method to provide relative IC uncertainty estimates using the enhanced NASA Team (NT2) IC algorithm. The proposed approach takes advantage of the NT2 calculations and solely relies on the brightness temperatures (TBs) used as input. NT2 IC and its associated relative uncertainty are obtained for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres using the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) TB. NT2 IC relative uncertainties estimated on a footprint-by-footprint swath-by-swath basis were averaged daily over each 12.5-km grid cell of the polar stereographic grid. For both hemispheres and throughout the year, the NT2 relative uncertainty is less than 5%. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is low in the interior ice pack, and it increases in the marginal ice zone up to 5%. In the Northern Hemisphere, areas with high uncertainties are also found in the high IC area of the Central Arctic. Retrieval uncertainties are greater in areas corresponding to NT2 ice types associated with deep snow and new ice. Seasonal variations in uncertainty show larger values in summer as a result of melt conditions and greater atmospheric contributions. Our analysis also includes an evaluation of the NT2 algorithm sensitivity to AMSR-E sensor noise. There is a 60% probability that the IC does not change (to within the computed retrieval precision of 1%) due to sensor noise, and the cumulated probability shows that there is a 90% chance that the IC varies by less than +/-3%. We also examined the daily IC variability, which is dominated by sea ice drift and ice formation/melt. Daily IC variability is the highest, year round, in the MIZ (often up to 20%, locally 30%). The temporal and spatial distributions of the retrieval uncertainties and the daily IC variability is expected to be useful for algorithm intercomparisons, climate trend assessments, and possibly IC assimilation in models.

Encapsulate-and-peel: fabricating carbon nanotube CMOS integrated circuits in a flexible ultra-thin plastic film.

PubMed

Gao, Pingqi; Zhang, Qing

2014-02-14

Fabrication of single-walled carbon nanotube thin film (SWNT-TF) based integrated circuits (ICs) on soft substrates has been challenging due to several processing-related obstacles, such as printed/transferred SWNT-TF pattern and electrode alignment, electrical pad/channel material/dielectric layer flatness, adherence of the circuits onto the soft substrates etc. Here, we report a new approach that circumvents these challenges by encapsulating pre-formed SWNT-TF-ICs on hard substrates into polyimide (PI) and peeling them off to form flexible ICs on a large scale. The flexible SWNT-TF-ICs show promising performance comparable to those circuits formed on hard substrates. The flexible p- and n-type SWNT-TF transistors have an average mobility of around 60 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), a subthreshold slope as low as 150 mV dec(-1), operating gate voltages less than 2 V, on/off ratios larger than 10(4) and a switching speed of several kilohertz. The post-transfer technique described here is not only a simple and cost-effective pathway to realize scalable flexible ICs, but also a feasible method to fabricate flexible displays, sensors and solar cells etc.

Toward development of a comprehensive external quality assurance program for polyfunctional intracellular cytokine staining assays

PubMed Central

Staats, Janet S.; Enzor, Jennifer H.; Sanchez, Ana M.; Rountree, Wes; Chan, Cliburn; Jaimes, Maria; Chan, Ray Chun-Fai; Gaur, Amitabh; Denny, Thomas N.; Weinhold, Kent J.

2014-01-01

The External Quality Assurance Program Oversight Laboratory (EQAPOL) Flow Cytometry Program assesses the proficiency of NIH/NIAID/DAIDS-supported and potentially other interested research laboratories in performing Intracellular Cytokine Staining (ICS) assays. The goal of the EQAPOL Flow Cytometry External Quality Assurance Program (EQAP) is to provide proficiency testing and remediation for participating sites. The program is not punitive; rather, EQAPOL aims to help sites identify areas for improvement. EQAPOL utilizes a highly standardized ICS assay to minimize variability and readily identify those sites experiencing technical difficulties with their assays. Here, we report the results of External Proficiency 3 (EP3) where participating sites performed a 7-color ICS assay. On average, sites perform well in the Flow Cytometry EQAP (median score is “Good”). The most common technical issues identified by the program involve protocol adherence and data analysis; these areas have been the focus of site remediation. The EQAPOL Flow Cytometry team is now in the process of expanding the program to 8-color ICS assays. Evaluating polyfunctional ICS responses would align the program with assays currently being performed in support of HIV immune monitoring assays. PMID:24968072

Characterization of indigenous chicken production systems in Rwanda.

PubMed

Mahoro, J; Muasya, T K; Mbuza, F; Habimana, R; Kahi, A K

2017-12-01

Characterization of indigenous chicken (IC) production systems in Rwanda was conducted from November 2015 to January 2016 with the aim of understanding socio-economic characteristics, management of IC, production parameters, feed resources, and constraints faced by farmers rearing IC. A survey involving 206 households was carried out in 5 districts with the highest populations of IC using structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SAS software. The results showed that the majority of respondents (62.4%) were males and 37.6% were females. The majority of respondents (83.6%) had formal education. All family members were involved in the chicken husbandry practices. However, women (78%) were highly responsible for IC management activities. The family size averaged 5 persons (ranging 2 to 13) per household. Land was privately owned by farmers (84%) with a mean holding of 0.87 ha per household. The production system was mainly extensive with minimum provision of supplementary feeds. Chickens were being housed in separate houses at night and mating was uncontrolled. Breeding and replacement stocks were mainly sourced from the hatching of eggs using broody hens (60.68% of respondents). There were no vaccination programs, and ecto- and endo-parasites control was done when need arose. Egg production, income generation, meat production, and production of breeding stock were the main reasons of keeping IC. The first 3 main challenges facing IC production were diseases outbreaks, lack of investment capital, and predators. Others challenges, such as feed shortage, thieves, fluctuation of market price, lack of information on poultry rearing, and lack of chicken houses, also were mentioned. The IC production constraints mentioned need urgent mitigation measures to sustain utilization of IC against the changing climatic and economic conditions. Therefore, individual, public institution, and non-governmental organization efforts are required to develop sustainable breeding objectives directed to functions of IC and production challenges faced in the systems. © 2017 Poultry Science Association Inc.

GPS Usage in a Population of Low-Vision Drivers.

PubMed

Cucuras, Maria; Chun, Robert; Lee, Patrick; Jay, Walter M; Pusateri, Gregg

2017-01-01

We surveyed bioptic and non-bioptic low-vision drivers in Illinois, USA, to determine their usage of global positioning system (GPS) devices. Low-vision patients completed an IRB-approved phone survey regarding driving demographics and usage of GPS while driving. Participants were required to be active drivers with an Illinois driver's license, and met one of the following criteria: best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) less than or equal to 20/40, central or significant peripheral visual field defects, or a combination of both. Of 27 low-vision drivers, 10 (37%) used GPS while driving. The average age for GPS users was 54.3 and for non-users was 77.6. All 10 drivers who used GPS while driving reported increased comfort or safety level. Since non-GPS users were significantly older than GPS users, it is likely that older participants would benefit from GPS technology training from their low-vision eye care professionals.

The impact of generic-only drug benefits on patients' use of inhaled corticosteroids in a Medicare population with asthma

PubMed Central

Fung, Vicki; Tager, Ira B; Brand, Richard; Newhouse, Joseph P; Hsu, John

2008-01-01

Background Patients face increasing insurance restrictions on prescription drugs, including generic-only coverage. There are no generic inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), which are a mainstay of asthma therapy, and patients pay the full price for these drugs under generic-only policies. We examined changes in ICS use following the introduction of generic-only coverage in a Medicare Advantage population from 2003–2004. Methods Subjects were age 65+, with asthma, prior ICS use, and no chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (n = 1,802). In 2004, 74.0% switched from having a $30 brand-copayment plan to a generic-only coverage plan (restricted coverage); 26% had $15–25 brand copayments in 2003–2004 (unrestricted coverage). Using linear difference-in-difference models, we examined annual changes in ICS use (measured by days-of-supply dispensed). There was a lower-cost ICS available within the study setting and we also examined changes in drug choice (higher- vs. lower-cost ICS). In multivariable models we adjusted for socio-demographic, clinical, and asthma characteristics. Results In 2003 subjects had an average of 188 days of ICS supply. Restricted compared with unrestricted coverage was associated with reductions in ICS use from 2003–2004 (-15.5 days-of-supply, 95% confidence interval (CI): -25.0 to -6.0). Among patients using higher-cost ICS drugs in 2003 (n = 662), more restricted versus unrestricted coverage subjects switched to the lower-cost ICS in 2004 (39.8% vs. 10.3%). Restricted coverage was not associated with decreased ICS use (2003–2004) among patients who switched to the lower-cost ICS (18.7 days-of-supply, CI: -27.5 to 65.0), but was among patients who did not switch (-38.6 days-of-supply, CI: -57.0 to -20.3). In addition, restricted coverage was associated with decreases in ICS use among patients with both higher- and lower-risk asthma (-15.0 days-of-supply, CI: -41.4 to 11.44; and -15.6 days-of-supply, CI: -25.8 to -5.3, respectively). Conclusion In this elderly population, patients reduced their already low ICS use in response to losing drug coverage. Switching to the lower-cost ICS mitigated reductions in use among patients who previously used higher-cost drugs. Additional work is needed to assess barriers to switching ICS drugs and the clinical effects of these drug use changes. PMID:18638405

Recent developments in high average power driver technology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Prestwich, K.R.; Buttram, M.T.; Rohwein, G.J>

1979-01-01

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) reactors will require driver systems operating with tens to hundreds of megawatts of average power. The pulse power technology that will be required to build such drivers is in a primitive state of development. Recent developments in repetitive pulse power are discussed. A high-voltage transformer has been developed and operated at 3 MV in a single pulse experiment and is being tested at 1.5 MV, 5 kj and 10 pps. A low-loss, 1 MV, 10 kj, 10 pps Marx generator is being tested. Test results from gas-dynamic spark gaps that operate both in the 100 kVmore » and 700 kV range are reported. A 250 kV, 1.5 kA/cm/sup 2/, 30 ns electron beam diode has operated stably for 1.6 x 10/sup 5/ pulses.« less

Stimulus driver for epilepsy seizure suppression with adaptive loading impedance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ker, Ming-Dou; Lin, Chun-Yu; Chen, Wei-Ling

2011-10-01

A stimulus driver circuit for a micro-stimulator used in an implantable device is presented in this paper. For epileptic seizure control, the target of the driver was to output 30 µA stimulus currents when the electrode impedance varied between 20 and 200 kΩ. The driver, which consisted of the output stage, control block and adaptor, was integrated in a single chip. The averaged power consumption of the stimulus driver was 0.24-0.56 mW at 800 Hz stimulation rate. Fabricated in a 0.35 µm 3.3 V/24 V CMOS process and applied to a closed-loop epileptic seizure monitoring and controlling system, the proposed design has been successfully verified in the experimental results of Long-Evans rats with epileptic seizures.

The economics of robotic cystectomy: cost comparison of open versus robotic cystectomy.

PubMed

Lee, Richard; Ng, Casey K; Shariat, Shahrokh F; Borkina, Anna; Guimento, Robert; Brumit, Kevin F; Scherr, Douglas S

2011-12-01

• To assess and compare the economic burden of open radical cystectomy (OC) vs robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (RC) with pelvic lymph node dissection and urinary diversion. • A series of 103 and 83 consecutive patients undergoing OC and RC, respectively, were prospectively studied at a tertiary care institution from April 2002 to February 2009. • Data were collected on patient demographics, perioperative parameters and length of stay (LOS) in hospital. Cohorts were subdivided into ileal conduit (IC), continent cutaneous diversion (CCD) and orthotopic neobladder (ON) subgroups. • A linear cost model was created to simulate treatment with OC vs RC. Procedural costs were derived from the Medicare Resource Based Relative Value Scale. Materials costs were obtained from the respective suppliers. The indirect costs of complications were considered. • Sensitivity analyses were performed. • Despite a higher cost of materials, RC was less expensive than OC for IC and CCD, although the cost advantage deteriorated for ON. • The per-case costs of RC with IC, CCD and ON were $20,659, $22,102 and $22,685, respectively, compared to $25,505, $22,697 and $20,719 for their OC counterparts. • The largest cost driver in the study was LOS in hospital. • RC showed a shorter LOS compared to OC, although this effect was insufficient to offset the higher cost of robotic surgery. • Complications materially affected cost performance. • Despite a higher cost of materials, RC can be more cost efficient than OC as a treatment for bladder cancer at a high-volume, tertiary care referral centre, particularly with IC. • Complications significantly impact cost performance. © 2011 THE AUTHORS. BJU INTERNATIONAL © 2011 BJU INTERNATIONAL.

New hydrazonoindolin-2-ones: Synthesis, exploration of the possible anti-proliferative mechanism of action and encapsulation into PLGA microspheres.

PubMed

Attia, Mohamed I; Eldehna, Wagdy M; Afifi, Samar A; Keeton, Adam B; Piazza, Gary A; Abdel-Aziz, Hatem A

2017-01-01

The synthesis and molecular characterization of new isatin-based hydrazonoindolin-2-ones 4a-o and 7a-e are reported. The in vitro anti-proliferative potential of the synthesized compounds 4a-o and 7a-e was examined against HT-29 (colon), ZR-75 (breast) and A549 (lung) human cancer cell lines. Compounds 7b, 7d and 7e were the most active congeners against the tested human cancer cell lines with average IC50 values of 4.77, 3.39 and 2.37 μM, respectively, as compared with the reference isatin-based drug, sunitinib, which exhibited an average IC50 value of 8.11 μM. Compound 7e was selected for further pharmacological evaluation in order to gain insight into its possible mechanism of action. It increased caspase 3/7 activity by 2.4- and 1.85-fold between 4 and 8 h of treatment, respectively, at 10 μM and it caused a decrease in the percentage of cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle with a corresponding increase in the S-phase. In addition, compound 7e increased phosphorylated tyrosine (p-Tyr) levels nearly two-fold with an apparent IC50 value of 3.8 μM. The 7e-loaded PLGA microspheres were prepared using a modified emulsion-solvent diffusion method. The average encapsulation efficiency of the 7e-loaded PLGA microspheres was 85% ± 1.3. While, the in vitro release profile of the 7e-loaded microspheres was characterized by slow and continuous release of compound 7e during 21 days and the release curve was fitted to zero order kinetics. Incorporation of 7e into PLGA microspheres improved its in vitro anti-proliferative activity toward the human cancer cell line A549 after 120 h incubation period with an IC50 value less than 0.8 μM.

Statistical Attribution of Changes in Streamflow in the U.S. Midwest over the 20th and 21st Centuries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, L. J.; Villarini, G.

2016-12-01

Streamflows have increased notably across the Midwest over the past century. These changes have largely been attributed to the influence of upward trends in heavy precipitation and agricultural increases in row crop production. However, attempts to understand the specific causes of the changes in streamflow timing, magnitude, frequency, and seasonality have led to much debate in recent years, particularly regarding the influence of changing agricultural practices. Separating the different - climatic or land use/land cover - drivers of changing streamflow from a statistical perspective is not straightforward, and different methods have been implemented in the literature. Here, we develop statistical models in 476 U.S. Midwest river basins with long-term USGS discharge records to investigate the influence of the main drivers of changing streamflows: urbanization (using basin-averaged population per square kilometer), agricultural land cover (total corn and soybean harvested acreage), basin-averaged temperature, basin-averaged precipitation, and antecedent soil moisture (using precipitation from the month preceding each season as a proxy). We model the changes in the seasonal discharge quantiles from low to high flows as a function of these drivers (separately and combined), to evaluate which set of predictors is the best in each river basin. Results indicate that precipitation is indeed the most widespread driver in regions that are neither predominantly agricultural nor heavily urbanized. Elsewhere, we find strong regional patterns in terms of the best-fitting drivers, depending on climate, agricultural land cover and urbanization. Using these models, we then examine the sensitivity of discharge to different scenarios based on potential changes in each of the predictors. The projected changes have profound implications for water resources management across the Midwest.

Developing and evaluating a mobile driver fatigue detection network based on electroencephalograph signals

PubMed Central

Yin, Jinghai; Mu, Zhendong

2016-01-01

The rapid development of driver fatigue detection technology indicates important significance of traffic safety. The authors’ main goals of this Letter are principally three: (i) A middleware architecture, defined as process unit (PU), which can communicate with personal electroencephalography (EEG) node (PEN) and cloud server (CS). The PU receives EEG signals from PEN, recognises the fatigue state of the driver, and transfer this information to CS. The CS sends notification messages to the surrounding vehicles. (ii) An android application for fatigue detection is built. The application can be used for the driver to detect the state of his/her fatigue based on EEG signals, and warn neighbourhood vehicles. (iii) The detection algorithm for driver fatigue is applied based on fuzzy entropy. The idea of 10-fold cross-validation and support vector machine are used for classified calculation. Experimental results show that the average accurate rate of detecting driver fatigue is about 95%, which implying that the algorithm is validity in detecting state of driver fatigue. PMID:28529761

Developing and evaluating a mobile driver fatigue detection network based on electroencephalograph signals.

PubMed

Yin, Jinghai; Hu, Jianfeng; Mu, Zhendong

2017-02-01

The rapid development of driver fatigue detection technology indicates important significance of traffic safety. The authors' main goals of this Letter are principally three: (i) A middleware architecture, defined as process unit (PU), which can communicate with personal electroencephalography (EEG) node (PEN) and cloud server (CS). The PU receives EEG signals from PEN, recognises the fatigue state of the driver, and transfer this information to CS. The CS sends notification messages to the surrounding vehicles. (ii) An android application for fatigue detection is built. The application can be used for the driver to detect the state of his/her fatigue based on EEG signals, and warn neighbourhood vehicles. (iii) The detection algorithm for driver fatigue is applied based on fuzzy entropy. The idea of 10-fold cross-validation and support vector machine are used for classified calculation. Experimental results show that the average accurate rate of detecting driver fatigue is about 95%, which implying that the algorithm is validity in detecting state of driver fatigue.

Lower back pain and absenteeism among professional public transport drivers.

PubMed

Kresal, Friderika; Roblek, Vasja; Jerman, Andrej; Meško, Maja

2015-01-01

Drivers in public transport are subjected to lower back pain. The reason for the pain is associated with the characteristics of the physical position imposed on the worker while performing the job. Lower back pain is the main cause of absenteeism among drivers. The present study includes 145 public transport drivers employed as professional drivers for an average of 14.14 years. Analysis of the data obtained in the study includes the basic descriptive statistics, χ(2) test and multiple regression analysis. Analysis of the incidence of lower back pain showed that the majority of our sample population suffered from pain in the lower back. We found that there are no statistically significant differences between the groups formed by the length of service as a professional driver and incidence of lower back pain; we were also interested in whether or not the risk factors of lower back pain affects the absenteeism of city bus drivers. Analysis of the data has shown that the risk factors of pain in the lower part of the spine do affect the absenteeism of city bus drivers.

Young Low-Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in IC 348

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luhman, K. L.

1999-11-01

I present new results from a continuing program to identify and characterize the low-mass stellar and substellar populations in the young cluster IC 348 (0.5-10 Myr). Optical spectroscopy has revealed young objects with spectral types as late as M8.25. The intrinsic J-H and H-K colors of these sources are dwarflike, whereas the R-I and I-J colors appear intermediate between the colors of dwarfs and giants. Furthermore, the spectra from 6500 to 9500 Å are reproduced well with averages of standard dwarf and giant spectra, suggesting that such averages should be used in the classification of young late-type sources. An H-R diagram is constructed for the low-mass population in IC 348 (K6-M8). The presumably coeval components of the young quadruple system GG Tau (White et al.) and the locus of stars in IC 348 are used as empirical isochrones to test the theoretical evolutionary models. The calculations of Burrows et al. do not appear to be consistent with the data at these earliest stages of stellar evolution. There is fair agreement between the data and the model isochrones of D'Antona & Mazzitelli, except near the hydrogen-burning limit. The agreement cannot be improved by changing the conversion between spectral types and effective temperatures. On the other hand, for the models of Baraffe et al., an adjustment of the temperature scale to progressively warmer temperatures at later M types, intermediate between dwarfs and giants, brings all components of GG Tau onto the same model isochrone and gives the population of IC 348 a constant age and age spread as a function of mass. When other observational constraints are considered, such as the dynamical masses of GM Aur, DM Tau, and GG Tau A, the models of Baraffe et al. are the most consistent with observations of young systems. With compatible temperature scales, the models of both D'Antona & Mazzitelli and Baraffe et al. suggest that the hydrogen-burning mass limit occurs near M6 at ages of <~10 Myr. Thus, several likely brown dwarfs are discovered in this study of IC 348, with masses down to ~20-30 MJ.

Novel inter-crystal scattering event identification method for PET detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Min Sun; Kang, Seung Kwan; Lee, Jae Sung

2018-06-01

Here, we propose a novel method to identify inter-crystal scattering (ICS) events from a PET detector that is even applicable to light-sharing designs. In the proposed method, the detector observation was considered as a linear problem and ICS events were identified by solving this problem. Two ICS identification methods were suggested for solving the linear problem, pseudoinverse matrix calculation and convex constrained optimization. The proposed method was evaluated based on simulation and experimental studies. For the simulation study, an 8  ×  8 photo sensor was coupled to 8  ×  8, 10  ×  10 and 12  ×  12 crystal arrays to simulate a one-to-one coupling and two light-sharing detectors, respectively. The identification rate, the rate that the identified ICS events correctly include the true first interaction position and the energy linearity were evaluated for the proposed ICS identification methods. For the experimental study, a digital silicon photomultiplier was coupled with 8  ×  8 and 10  ×  10 arrays of 3  ×  3  ×  20 mm3 LGSO crystals to construct the one-to-one coupling and light-sharing detectors, respectively. Intrinsic spatial resolutions were measured for two detector types. The proposed ICS identification methods were implemented, and intrinsic resolutions were compared with and without ICS recovery. As a result, the simulation study showed that the proposed convex optimization method yielded robust energy estimation and high ICS identification rates of 0.93 and 0.87 for the one-to-one and light-sharing detectors, respectively. The experimental study showed a resolution improvement after recovering the identified ICS events into the first interaction position. The average intrinsic spatial resolutions for the one-to-one and light-sharing detector were 1.95 and 2.25 mm in the FWHM without ICS recovery, respectively. These values improved to 1.72 and 1.83 mm after ICS recovery, respectively. In conclusion, our proposed method showed good ICS identification in both one-to-one coupling and light-sharing detectors. We experimentally validated that the ICS recovery based on the proposed identification method led to an improved resolution.

Somatoform disorder as a predictor of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome: Evidence from a nested case-control study and a retrospective cohort study.

PubMed

Chen, I-Chun; Lee, Ming-Huei; Lin, Hsuan-Hung; Wu, Shang-Liang; Chang, Kun-Min; Lin, Hsiu-Ying

2017-05-01

Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) has several well-known comorbid psychiatric manifestations, including insomnia, anxiety, and depression. We hypothesized that somatoform disorder, which is a psychosomatic disease, can be used as a sensitive psychiatric phenotype of IC/BPS. We investigated whether somatoform disorder increases the risk of IC/BPS.A nested case-control study and a retrospective cohort study were followed up over a 12-year period (2002-2013) in the Taiwan Health Insurance Reimbursement Database. In the nested case-control study, 1612 patients with IC/BPS were matched in a 1:2 ratio to 3224 controls based on propensity scores. The odds ratio for somatoform disorder was calculated using conditional logistic regression analysis. In the retrospective cohort study, 1436 patients with somatoform disorder were matched in a 1:2 ratio to 2872 patients with nonsomatoform disorder based on propensity scores. Cox regression analysis was used to estimate the hazard ratio associated with the development of IC/BPS in patients with somatoform disorder, and the cumulative survival probability was tested using the Kaplan-Meier analysis.We found that the odds ratio for somatoform disorder was 2.46 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-5.76). Although the average time until IC/BPS development in the control subjects was 11.5 ± 1.3 years, this interval was shorter in patients with somatoform disorder (6.3 ± 3.6 years). The hazard ratio for developing IC/BPS was 2.50 (95% CI 1.23-5.58); the adjusted hazard ratio was 2.26 (95% CI 1.002-5.007). The patients and controls also differed significantly in their cumulative survival probability for IC/BPS (log rank P < .05).Evidence from the nested case-control study and retrospective cohort study consistently indicated that somatoform disorder increases the risk for IC/BPS. Our study suggests that somatoform disorder can be used as a sensitive psychiatric phenotype to predict IC/BPS. Any past history of somatoform disorder should be documented while examining patients with IC/BPS.

Exposure to particles and nitrogen dioxide among taxi, bus and lorry drivers.

PubMed

Lewné, Marie; Nise, Gun; Lind, Marie-Louise; Gustavsson, Per

2006-03-01

The aims of this study have been to investigate the occurrence of systematic differences in the personal exposure to motor exhaust between different groups of taxi, bus and lorry drivers, and to study if these are influenced by the choice of exposure indicator. We used one indicator of the gaseous phase, nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)), and one of the particle phase (measured by DataRAM), of the exhausts. A total of 121 drivers were included in the study: 39 taxi drivers, 42 bus drivers and 40 lorry drivers. Personal measurements were performed during one working day. Nitrogen dioxide was measured with passive diffusive samplers and particles with Data-RAM, a logging instrument using nephelometric monitoring. The instrument measures particles between 0.1 and 10 microm in size. The average exposure to NO(2) for lorry drivers was 68 microg/m(3); for bus drivers 60 microg/m(3) and for taxi drivers 48 microg/m(3). For particles the exposure was 57 microg/m(3) for lorry drivers, 44 microg/m(3) for bus drivers and 26 microg/m(3) for taxi drivers. The result remained unchanged when exposures were adjusted for variation in urban background levels of NO(2) and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <10 microm (PM(10)). Lorry drivers experienced the highest exposure and taxi drivers the lowest with bus drivers in an intermediate position, regardless of whether NO(2) or particles were used as exposure indicator. The levels of both NO(2) and particles were higher for bus drivers in the city than for them driving in the suburbs. Using diesel or petrol as a fuel for taxis had no influence on the exposure for the drivers, indicating that the taxi drivers' exposure mainly depends on exhaust from surrounding traffic.

Lumen degradation analysis of LED lamps based on the subsystem isolation method.

PubMed

Ke, Hong-Liang; Hao, Jian; Tu, Jian-Hui; Miao, Pei-Xian; Wang, Chao-Quan; Cui, Jing-Zhong; Sun, Qiang; Sun, Ren-Tao

2018-02-01

The lumen degradation of LED lamps undergoing an accelerated aging test is investigated. The entire LED lamp is divided into three subsystems, namely, driver, lampshade, and LED light source. The parameters of output power [Watts (W)], transmittance (%), and lumen flux (lm) are adopted in the analysis of the degradation of the driver, lampshade, and LED light source, respectively. Two groups of LED lamps are aged under the ambient temperatures of 25°C and 85°C, respectively, with the aging time of 2000 h. The lumen degradation of the lamps is from 3.8% to 4.9% for the group under a temperature of 25°C and from 10.6% to 12.7% for the group under a temperature of 85°C. The LED light source is the most aggressive part of the three subsystems, which accounts for 70.5% of the lumen degradation of the LED lamp on average. The lampshade is the second degradation source, which causes 21.5% of the total amount on average. The driver is the third degradation source, which causes 6.5% under 25°C and 2.8% under 85°C of the total amount on average.

Comparison of prokaryotic community structure from Mediterranean and Atlantic saltern concentrator ponds by a metagenomic approach

PubMed Central

Fernández, Ana B.; Vera-Gargallo, Blanca; Sánchez-Porro, Cristina; Ghai, Rohit; Papke, R. Thane; Rodriguez-Valera, Francisco; Ventosa, Antonio

2014-01-01

We analyzed the prokaryotic community structure of a saltern pond with 21% total salts located in Isla Cristina, Huelva, Southwest Spain, close to the Atlantic ocean coast. For this purpose, we constructed a metagenome (designated as IC21) obtained by pyrosequencing consisting of 486 Mb with an average read length of 397 bp and compared it with other metagenomic datasets obtained from ponds with 19, 33, and 37% total salts acquired from Santa Pola marine saltern, located in Alicante, East Spain, on the Mediterranean coast. Although the salinity in IC21 is closer to the pond with 19% total salts from Santa Pola saltern (designated as SS19), IC21 is more similar at higher taxonomic levels to the pond with 33% total salts from Santa Pola saltern (designated as SS33), since both are predominated by the phylum Euryarchaeota. However, there are significant differences at lower taxonomic levels where most sequences were related to the genus Halorubrum in IC21 and to Haloquadratum in SS33. Within the Bacteroidetes, the genus Psychroflexus is the most abundant in IC21 while Salinibacter dominates in SS33. Sequences related to bacteriorhodopsins and halorhodopsins correlate with the abundance of Haloquadratum in Santa Pola SS19 to SS33 and of Halorubrum in Isla Cristina IC21 dataset, respectively. Differences in composition might be attributed to local ecological conditions since IC21 showed a decrease in the number of sequences related to the synthesis of compatible solutes and in the utilization of phosphonate. PMID:24847316

Driver-centred vehicle automation: using network analysis for agent-based modelling of the driver in highly automated driving systems.

PubMed

Banks, Victoria A; Stanton, Neville A

2016-11-01

To the average driver, the concept of automation in driving infers that they can become completely 'hands and feet free'. This is a common misconception, however, one that has been shown through the application of Network Analysis to new Cruise Assist technologies that may feature on our roads by 2020. Through the adoption of a Systems Theoretic approach, this paper introduces the concept of driver-initiated automation which reflects the role of the driver in highly automated driving systems. Using a combination of traditional task analysis and the application of quantitative network metrics, this agent-based modelling paper shows how the role of the driver remains an integral part of the driving system implicating the need for designers to ensure they are provided with the tools necessary to remain actively in-the-loop despite giving increasing opportunities to delegate their control to the automated subsystems. Practitioner Summary: This paper describes and analyses a driver-initiated command and control system of automation using representations afforded by task and social networks to understand how drivers remain actively involved in the task. A network analysis of different driver commands suggests that such a strategy does maintain the driver in the control loop.

Understanding the health of lorry drivers in context: A critical discourse analysis.

PubMed

Caddick, Nick; Varela-Mato, Veronica; Nimmo, Myra A; Clemes, Stacey; Yates, Tom; King, James A

2017-01-01

This article moves beyond previous attempts to understand health problems in the lives of professional lorry drivers by placing the study of drivers' health in a wider social and cultural context. A combination of methods including focus groups, interviews and observations were used to collect data from a group of 24 lorry drivers working at a large transport company in the United Kingdom. Employing a critical discourse analysis, we identified the dominant discourses and subject positions shaping the formation of drivers' health and lifestyle choices. This analysis was systematically combined with an exploration of the gendered ways in which an almost exclusively male workforce talked about health. Findings revealed that drivers were constituted within a neoliberal economic discourse, which is reflective of the broader social structure, and which partly restricted drivers' opportunities for healthy living. Concurrently, drivers adopted the subject position of 'average man' as a way of defending their personal and masculine status in regards to health and to justify jettisoning approaches to healthy living that were deemed too extreme or irrational in the face of the constraints of their working lives. Suggestions for driver health promotion include refocusing on the social and cultural - rather than individual - underpinnings of driver health issues and a move away from moralistic approaches to health promotion.

Prevalence of drugs in oral fluid from truck drivers in Brazilian highways.

PubMed

Bombana, Henrique Silva; Gjerde, Hallvard; Dos Santos, Marcelo Filonzi; Jamt, Ragnhild Elén Gjulem; Yonamine, Mauricio; Rohlfs, Waldo José Caram; Muñoz, Daniel Romero; Leyton, Vilma

2017-04-01

Traffic accidents are responsible for 1.25 million deaths worldwide and are the most common cause of death among those aged 15-29 years. In Brazil, traffic accidents caused more than 44,000 deaths in 2014. The use of psychoactive drugs is an important risk factor for being involved in traffic accidents. Previous studies have found that psychoactive substances are commonly used by truck drivers in Brazil to maintain their extensive work schedule and stay awake while driving during nighttime hours. The state of Sao Paulo is one of the most important states regarding goods transportation. Important highways cross through Sao Paulo to other regions from Brazil and to other countries in Latin America. This study aims to determine the prevalence of illicit drug use by truck drivers in the state of Sao Paulo through toxicological analyses of oral fluid. Truck drivers were randomly stopped by police officers on federal roads during morning hours. Oral fluid samples were collected using the Quantisal™ device. In addition, a questionnaire concerning sociodemographic characteristics and health information was administered. Oral fluid samples were screened for amphetamine, cocaine, and tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) by ELISA and the confirmation was performed using ultra performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection (UPLC-MS/MS). Of the 764 drivers stopped, 762 agreed to participate. The participants were driving an average of 614km and 9.4h a day. Of the total samples, 5.2% (n=40) tested positive for drugs. Cocaine was the most frequently found drug (n=21), followed by amphetamine (n=16) and Δ9-THC (n=8). All drivers were men with an average age of 42.5 years. With these results we were able to verify that many truck drivers were still consuming psychoactive drugs while driving, and cocaine was the most prevalent one. This reinforces the need for preventive measures aimed at controlling the use of illicit drugs by truck drivers in Brazil. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An X-Ray Imaging Survey of Quasar Jets: The Complete Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, H. L.; Gelbord, J. M.; Worrall, D. M.; Birkinshaw, M.; Schwartz, D. A.; Jauncey, D. L.; Griffiths, G.; Murphy, D. W.; Lovell, J. E. J.; Perlman, E. S.; Godfrey, L.

2018-03-01

We present Chandra X-ray imaging of a flux-limited sample of flat spectrum radio-emitting quasars with jet-like structure. X-rays are detected from 59% of 56 jets. No counter-jets were detected. The core spectra are fitted by power-law spectra with a photon index Γ x , whose distribution is consistent with a normal distribution, with a mean of 1.61+0.04 ‑0.05 and dispersion of 0.15+0.04 ‑0.03. We show that the distribution of α rx , the spectral index between the X-ray and radio band jet fluxes, fits a Gaussian with a mean of 0.974 ± 0.012 and dispersion of 0.077 ± 0.008. We test the model in which kiloparsec-scale X-rays result from inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons off the jet’s relativistic electrons (the IC-CMB model). In the IC-CMB model, a quantity Q computed from observed fluxes and the apparent size of the emission region depends on redshift as (1 + z)3+α . We fit Q ∝ (1 + z) a , finding a = 0.88 ± 0.90, and reject at 99.5% confidence the hypothesis that the average α rx depends on redshift in the manner expected in the IC-CMB model. This conclusion is mitigated by a lack of detailed knowledge of the emission region geometry, which requires deeper or higher resolution X-ray observations. Furthermore, if the IC-CMB model is valid for X-ray emission from kiloparsec-scale jets, then the jets must decelerate on average: bulk Lorentz factors should drop from about 15 to 2–3 between parsec and kiloparsec scales. Our results compound the problems that the IC-CMB model has in explaining the X-ray emission of kiloparsec-scale jets.

Eye lens dosimetry and the study on radiation cataract in interventional cardiologists.

PubMed

Matsubara, Kosuke; Lertsuwunseri, Vorarit; Srimahachota, Suphot; Krisanachinda, Anchali; Tulvatana, Wasee; Khambhiphant, Bharkbhum; Sudchai, Waraporn; Rehani, Madan

2017-12-01

To determine the eye lens dose of the Interventional Cardiology (IC) personnel using optically stimulated luminescent dosimeter (OSLD) and the prevalence and risk of radiation - associated lens opacities in Thailand. 48 IC staff, with age- and sex- matches 37 unexposed controls obtained eye examines. Posterior lens change was graded using a modified Merriam-Focht technique by two independent ophthalmologists. Occupational exposure (mSv) was measured in 42 IC staff, using 2 OSLD badges place at inside lead apron and at collar. Annual eye lens doses (mSv) were also measured using 4 nanoDots OSL placed outside and inside lead glass eyewear. The prevalence of radiation-associated posterior lens opacities was 28.6% (2/7) for IC, 19.5% (8/41) for nurses, and 2.7% (1/37) for controls. The average and range of annual whole body effective dose, Hp(10), equivalent dose at skin of the neck, Hp(0.07) and equivalent dose at eye lens, Hp(3) were 0.80 (0.05-6.79), 5.88 (0.14-35.28), and 5.73 (0.14-33.20) mSv respectively. The annual average and range of eye lens dose using nano Dots OSL showed the outside lead glass eyewear on left and right sides as 8.06 (0.17-32.45), 3.55(0.06-8.04) mSv and inside left and right sides as 3.91(0.05-14.26) and 2.44(0.06-6.24) mSv respectively. Eye lens doses measured by OSLD badges and nano Dot dosimeter as Hp(10), Hp(0.07) and Hp(3). The eyes of the IC personnel were examined annually by two ophthalmologists for the prevalence of cataract induced by radiation. Copyright © 2017 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A novel onset detection technique for brain-computer interfaces using sound-production related cognitive tasks in simulated-online system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, YoungJae; Sepulveda, Francisco

2017-02-01

Objective. Self-paced EEG-based BCIs (SP-BCIs) have traditionally been avoided due to two sources of uncertainty: (1) precisely when an intentional command is sent by the brain, i.e., the command onset detection problem, and (2) how different the intentional command is when compared to non-specific (or idle) states. Performance evaluation is also a problem and there are no suitable standard metrics available. In this paper we attempted to tackle these issues. Approach. Self-paced covert sound-production cognitive tasks (i.e., high pitch and siren-like sounds) were used to distinguish between intentional commands (IC) and idle states. The IC states were chosen for their ease of execution and negligible overlap with common cognitive states. Band power and a digital wavelet transform were used for feature extraction, and the Davies-Bouldin index was used for feature selection. Classification was performed using linear discriminant analysis. Main results. Performance was evaluated under offline and simulated-online conditions. For the latter, a performance score called true-false-positive (TFP) rate, ranging from 0 (poor) to 100 (perfect), was created to take into account both classification performance and onset timing errors. Averaging the results from the best performing IC task for all seven participants, an 77.7% true-positive (TP) rate was achieved in offline testing. For simulated-online analysis the best IC average TFP score was 76.67% (87.61% TP rate, 4.05% false-positive rate). Significance. Results were promising when compared to previous IC onset detection studies using motor imagery, in which best TP rates were reported as 72.0% and 79.7%, and which, crucially, did not take timing errors into account. Moreover, based on our literature review, there is no previous covert sound-production onset detection system for spBCIs. Results showed that the proposed onset detection technique and TFP performance metric have good potential for use in SP-BCIs.

Self-assessed driver competence among novice drivers--a comparison of driving test candidate assessments and examiner assessments in a Dutch and Finnish sample.

PubMed

Mynttinen, Sami; Sundström, Anna; Vissers, Jan; Koivukoski, Marita; Hakuli, Kari; Keskinen, Esko

2009-01-01

This study examined novice drivers' overconfidence by comparing their self-assessed driver competence with the assessments made by driving examiners. A Finnish (n=2,739) and a Dutch sample (n=239) of drivers license candidates assessed their driver competence in six areas and took the driving test. In contrast to previous studies where drivers have assessed their skill in comparison to the average driver, a smaller proportion overestimated and a larger proportion made realistic self-assessments of their driver competence in the present study, where self-assessments were compared with examiner assessments. Between 40% and 50% of the candidates in both samples made realistic assessments and 30% to 40% overestimated their competence. The proportion of overestimation was greater in the Dutch than in the Finnish sample, which might be explained by greater possibilities for practicing self-assessment in the Finnish driver education system. Similar to other self-assessment studies that indicate that incompetence is related to overestimation, a larger proportion of candidates that failed the test overestimated their skill compared to those who passed. In contrast to other studies, males did not overestimate their skills more than females, and younger driver candidates were not more overconfident than older drivers. Although a great proportion of the candidates made a realistic assessment of their own driver competence, overestimation is still a problem that needs to be dealt with. To improve the accuracy of novice drivers' self-assessment, methods for self-assessment training should be developed and implemented in the driver licensing process.

Bus drivers' mental conditions and their relation to bus passengers' accidents with a focus on the psychological stress concept.

PubMed

Yamada, Yasuyuki; Mizuno, Motoki; Sugiura, Miyuki; Tanaka, Sumio; Mizuno, Yuki; Yanagiya, Toshio; Hirosawa, Masataka

2008-06-01

The purpose of this study was to clarify the psychological factors of bus drivers' instability that were related to bus passengers' accidents according to the hypothesis model based on the stress concept of Lazarus and Folkman (1984). This research was carried out in 2006. Participants of the study were 39 Japanese male bus drivers. Their average age was 40.2 (SD: 11.1). The average duration of employment was 4.5 (SD:6.1) years. A questionnaire was used that was composed of items concerning the frequency of bus passengers' accidents, performance of safe driving, job stressors, stress reaction and recognition from others. Based on the results, a model assuming that stress reaction caused by job stressors disturbed the bus driver's safe driving and was associated with passengers' accidents in the bus was verified to some degree. Especially, melancholy and tired feeling toward passengers showed a strong relation to the passengers' accidents in the bus. This suggested much room for intervention. Moreover, the recognition from others of their job was confirmed to act as a control factor of the stress reaction.

Risks older drivers face themselves and threats they pose to other road users.

PubMed

Evans, L

2000-04-01

Although there is an ever increasing literature on older drivers, there is no comprehensive up-to-date presentation of how older drivers are impacted by traffic safety, and how they impact the road safety of others. This paper uses 1994-1996 US data to determine how many rates related to traffic safety depend on the age and sex of road users (fatalities, fatalities per licensed driver, etc.) Threats drivers pose to other road users are estimated by driver involvement in pedestrian fatality crashes. It is found that renewing the licence of a 70-year-old male driver for another year poses, on average, 40% less threat to other road users than renewing the license of a 40-year-old male driver. The fatality risks drivers themselves face generally increase as they age, with the increased risk of death in the same severity crash being a major contributor. If this factor is removed, crash risks for 70-year-old male drivers are not materially higher than for 40-year-old male drivers; for female drivers they are. Most driver rates increase substantially by age 80, in many cases to values higher than those for 20-year-olds. Given that a death occurs, the probability that it is a traffic fatality declines steeply with age, from well over 20% for late teens through mid twenties, to under one per cent at age 65, and under half a per cent at age 80.

Determination of the appropriate catheter length and place for needle thoracostomy by using computed tomography scans of pneumothorax patients.

PubMed

Akoglu, Haldun; Akoglu, Ebru Unal; Evman, Serdar; Akoglu, Tayfun; Altinok, Arzu Denizbasi; Guneysel, Ozlem; Onur, Ozge Ecmel; Eroglu, Serkan Emre

2013-09-01

The primary goal of this study was to compare the chest wall thicknesses (CWT) at the 2nd intercostal space (ICS) at the mid-clavicular line (MCL) and 5th ICS at the mid-axillary line (MAL) in a population of patients with a CT confirmed pneumothorax (PTX). This result will help physicians to determine the optimum needle thoracostomy (NT) puncture site in patients with a PTX. All trauma patients who presented consecutively to A&E over a 12-month period were included. Among all the trauma patients with a chest CT (4204 patients), 160 were included in the final analysis. CWTs were measured at both sides and were compared in all subgroup of patients. The average CWT for men on the 2nd ICS-MCL was 38mm and for women was 52mm; on the other hand, on the 5th ICS-MAL was 33mm for men and 38mm for women. On the 2nd ICS-MCL 17% of men and 48% of women; on the 5th ICS-MAL 13% of men and 33% of women would be inaccessible with a routine 5-cm catheter. Patients with trauma, subcutaneous emphysema and multiple rib fractures would have thicker CWT on the 2nd ICS-MCL. Patients with trauma, lung contusion, sternum fracture, subcutaneous emphysema and multiple rib fractures would have thicker CWT on the 5th ICS-MAL. This study confirms that a 5.0-cm catheter would be unlikely to access the pleural space in at least 1/3 of female and 1/10 of male Turkish trauma patients, regardless of the puncture site. If NT is needed, the 5th ICS-MAL is a better option for a puncture site with thinner CWT. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Backing collisions: a study of drivers’ eye and backing behaviour using combined rear-view camera and sensor systems

PubMed Central

Hurwitz, David S; Pradhan, Anuj; Fisher, Donald L; Knodler, Michael A; Muttart, Jeffrey W; Menon, Rajiv; Meissner, Uwe

2012-01-01

Context Backing crash injures can be severe; approximately 200 of the 2,500 reported injuries of this type per year to children under the age of 15 years result in death. Technology for assisting drivers when backing has limited success in preventing backing crashes. Objectives Two questions are addressed: Why is the reduction in backing crashes moderate when rear-view cameras are deployed? Could rear-view cameras augment sensor systems? Design 46 drivers (36 experimental, 10 control) completed 16 parking trials over 2 days (eight trials per day). Experimental participants were provided with a sensor camera system, controls were not. Three crash scenarios were introduced. Setting Parking facility at UMass Amherst, USA. Subjects 46 drivers (33 men, 13 women) average age 29 years, who were Massachusetts residents licensed within the USA for an average of 9.3 years. Interventions Vehicles equipped with a rear-view camera and sensor system-based parking aid. Main Outcome Measures Subject’s eye fixations while driving and researcher’s observation of collision with objects during backing. Results Only 20% of drivers looked at the rear-view camera before backing, and 88% of those did not crash. Of those who did not look at the rear-view camera before backing, 46% looked after the sensor warned the driver. Conclusions This study indicates that drivers not only attend to an audible warning, but will look at a rear-view camera if available. Evidence suggests that when used appropriately, rear-view cameras can mitigate the occurrence of backing crashes, particularly when paired with an appropriate sensor system. PMID:20363812

Ambulatory heart rate of professional taxi drivers while driving without their typical psychosocial work stressors: a pilot study.

PubMed

Choi, BongKyoo; Choi, SangJun; Jeong, JeeYeon; Lee, JiWon; Shu, Shi; Yu, Nu; Ko, SangBaek; Zhu, Yifang

2016-01-01

Few studies have examined ambulatory cardiovascular physiological parameters of taxi drivers while driving in relation to their occupational hazards. This study aims to investigate and quantify the impact of worksite physical hazards as a whole on ambulatory heart rate of professional taxi drivers while driving without their typical worksite psychosocial stressors. Ambulatory heart rate (HR driving ) of 13 non-smoking male taxi drivers (24 to 67 years old) while driving was continuously assessed on their 6-hour experimental on-road driving in Los Angeles. Percent maximum HR range (PMHR driving ) of the drivers while driving was estimated based on the individual HR driving values and US adult population resting HR (HR rest ) reference data. For analyses, the HR driving and PMHR driving data were split and averaged into 5-min segments. Five physical hazards inside taxi cabs were also monitored while driving. Work stress and work hours on typical work days were self-reported. The means of the ambulatory 5-min HR driving and PMHR driving values of the 13 drivers were 80.5 bpm (11.2 bpm higher than their mean HR rest ) and 10.7 % (range, 5.7 to 19.9 %), respectively. The means were lower than the upper limits of ambulatory HR and PMHR for a sustainable 8-hour work (35 bpm above HR rest and 30 % PMHR), although 15-27 % of the 5-min HR driving and PMHR driving values of one driver were higher than the limits. The levels of the five physical hazards among the drivers were modest: temperature (26.4 ± 3.0 °C), relative humidity (40.7 ± 10.4 %), PM 2.5 (21.5 ± 7.9  μg /m 3 ), CO 2 (1,267.1 ± 580.0 ppm) and noise (69.7 ± 3.0 dBA). The drivers worked, on average, 72 h per week and more than half of them reported that their job were often stressful. The impact of physical worksite hazards alone on ambulatory HR of professional taxi drivers in Los Angeles generally appeared to be minor. Future ambulatory heart rate studies including both physical and psychosocial hazards of professional taxi drivers are warranted.

Pulsed power systems for environmental and industrial applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neau, E. L.

1994-10-01

The development of high peak power simulators, laser drivers, free electron lasers, and Inertial Confinement Fusion drivers is being extended to high average power short-pulse machines with the capabilities of performing new roles in environmental cleanup and industrial manufacturing processes. We discuss a new class of short-pulse, high average power accelerator that achieves megavolt electron and ion beams with 10's of kiloamperes of current and average power levels in excess of 100 kW. Large treatment areas are possible with these systems because kilojoules of energy are available in each output pulse. These systems can use large area x-ray converters for applications requiring grater depth of penetration such as food pasteurization and waste treatment. The combined development of this class of accelerators and applications, and Sandia National Laboratories, is called Quantum Manufacturing.

Influence of Vehicle Speed on the Characteristics of Driver's Eye Movement at a Highway Tunnel Entrance during Day and Night Conditions: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Qin, Li; Dong, Li-Li; Xu, Wen-Hai; Zhang, Li-Dong; Leon, Arturo S

2018-04-02

The aim of this study was to investigate how vehicle speed influences the characteristics of driver's eye movement at highway tunnel entrances during day and night. In this study, six drivers' eye movement data (from 200 m before tunnel entrance to 200 m inside tunnel entrance) under five predetermined vehicle speeds (40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 km/h) in the daytime and three predetermined vehicle speeds (40, 60 and 80 km/h) in the nighttime were recorded using the non-intrusive Dikablis Professional eye-tracking system. Pupil size, the average fixation duration time and the average number of fixation were analyzed and then the influence of the vehicle speed on these parameters was evaluated by means of IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0. The results for pupil size in daytime increased when approaching the tunnel entrance, while as for nighttime, pupil size decreased when approaching the tunnel entrance and then increased after entering the tunnel. The pupil size in daytime has a significant negative correlation with vehicle speed, while the pupil size in nighttime did not show a significant association with vehicle speed. Furthermore, the average fixation duration in daytime increased when entering the tunnel, and had a significant negative correlation with vehicle speed. Also, the average number of fixations in daytime decreased when entering the tunnel and has a significant negative correlation with vehicle speed. However, the average fixation duration and the average number of fixations in nighttime did not show any significant association with vehicle speed. Moreover, limitations and future directions of the study are discussed for the further investigation.

Validation of the Intelligibility in Context Scale for school students in Fiji.

PubMed

Hopf, Suzanne C; McLeod, Sharynne; McDonagh, Sarah H

2017-01-01

Fiji is a multilingual nation with few assessment tools addressing children's communication. This article describes the validation of the Intelligibility in Context Scale for Fiji English, Standard Fijian, and Fiji Hindi. Informants were caregivers of 65 typically developing multilingual children (aged 5;3-10;5) attending a Fiji primary school. The students spoke an average of 2.9 languages (range = 1-5). Their main language was Standard Fijian (41.5%), Fiji Hindi (23.1%), Fiji English (20.0%), or Fijian dialect (15.4%). An ICS mean score of 4.6 was obtained for main language (ICS-ML) and 4.4 for Fiji English (ICS-FE) indicating that students were usually to always intelligible. There were no significant differences between main language, number of languages spoken, gender, age, or socio-economic status. Both scales had good internal consistency, but were not correlated with speech accuracy measures possibly due to ceiling effects. Further validation with younger children is recommended. The ICS may be a useful tool for Fiji with comparative results to other international studies.

Ultra-High Performance, High-Temperature Superconducting Wires via Cost-effective, Scalable, Co-evaporation Process

PubMed Central

Kim, Ho-Sup; Oh, Sang-Soo; Ha, Hong-Soo; Youm, Dojun; Moon, Seung-Hyun; Kim, Jung Ho; Dou, Shi Xue; Heo, Yoon-Uk; Wee, Sung-Hun; Goyal, Amit

2014-01-01

Long-length, high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires capable of carrying high critical current, Ic, are required for a wide range of applications. Here, we report extremely high performance HTS wires based on 5 μm thick SmBa2Cu3O7 − δ (SmBCO) single layer films on textured metallic templates. SmBCO layer wires over 20 meters long were deposited by a cost-effective, scalable co-evaporation process using a batch-type drum in a dual chamber. All deposition parameters influencing the composition, phase, and texture of the films were optimized via a unique combinatorial method that is broadly applicable for co-evaporation of other promising complex materials containing several cations. Thick SmBCO layers deposited under optimized conditions exhibit excellent cube-on-cube epitaxy. Such excellent structural epitaxy over the entire thickness results in exceptionally high Ic performance, with average Ic over 1,000 A/cm-width for the entire 22 meter long wire and maximum Ic over 1,500 A/cm-width for a short 12 cm long tape. The Ic values reported in this work are the highest values ever reported from any lengths of cuprate-based HTS wire or conductor. PMID:24752189

Perception and reality of particulate matter exposure in New York City taxi drivers

PubMed Central

Gany, Francesca; Bari, Sehrish; Prasad, Lakshmi; Leng, Jennifer; Lee, Trevor; Thurston, George D; Gordon, Terry; Acharya, Sudha; Zelikoff, Judith T

2017-01-01

Background Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and black carbon (BC) have been linked to negative health risks, but exposure among professional taxi drivers is unknown. This study measured drivers' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs (KAB) about air pollution compared to direct measures of exposures. Methods Roadside and in-vehicle levels of PM2.5 and BC were continuously measured over a single shift and compared to central site monitoring. Participants completed an air pollution KAB questionnaire. Results Taxicab PM2.5 and BC concentrations were elevated compared to central monitoring. Average PM2.5 concentrations per 15-minute interval were 4 - 49 μg/m3; 1-minute peaks measured up to 452 μg/m3. BC levels were also elevated; reaching > 10 μg/m3. 56 of 100 drivers surveyed believed they were more exposed than non-drivers; 81 believed air pollution causes health problems. Conclusions Air pollution exposure among drivers likely exceeds EPA recommendations. Future studies should focus on reducing exposures and increasing awareness among taxi drivers. PMID:27168392

Sudden illness while driving a vehicle--a retrospective analysis of commercial drivers in Japan.

PubMed

Hitosugi, Masahito; Gomei, Sayaka; Okubo, Takao; Tokudome, Shogo

2012-01-01

We performed a retrospective analysis of commercial drivers to clarify the background of incidents of sudden illness while driving. The analysis used reports submitted by employers to the Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism regarding commercial drivers who had been ordered to stop driving owing to health problems. Of 211 cases with an average work history of 15.2 years, there were 88 bus drivers, 70 taxi drivers, and 53 truck drivers, 36.0% of who had died as a result of their disease. Among taxi and truck drivers, more than 70% of incidents were due to cardiac, aortic, and cerebrovascular disease. More than 80% of these were unable to avoid traffic accidents caused by sudden illness. However, among bus drivers, cardiac, aortic, and cerebrovascular disease accounted for only 23.5% of incidents, and accidents were avoided in more than half of the cases. The duration between starting work and the incident time was significantly shorter among bus drivers [mean 3.3 hours, standard deviation (SD) 3.1] than taxi (7.7 hours, SD 5.8) and truck (7.2 hours, SD 6.3) drivers (P<0.01). The difference between the sudden illness rates of taxi and truck drivers and those of bus drivers is due to both reporting bias and differences in the awareness needed to prevent disabling events while driving. As a precaution, physicians should advise commercial drivers to stop driving as soon as they detect slight discomfort. To prevent accidents, more assertive health promotion aimed at professional drivers is needed.

Views of US drivers about driving safety.

PubMed

Williams, Allan F

2003-01-01

To assess how drivers view dangers on the highway, what motivates them to drive safely, how they say they reduce their crash and injury risk, and how they rate their own driving skills. Most drivers rated their skills as better than average. The biggest motivating factor for safe driving was concern for safety of others in their vehicle, followed by negative outcomes such as being in a crash, increased insurance costs, and fines. The greatest threats to their safety were thought to be other drivers' actions that increase crash risk such as alcohol impairment or running red lights. In terms of reducing crashes and injuries, drivers tended to focus on actions they could take such as driving defensively or using seat belts. There was less recognition of the role of vehicles and vehicle features in crash or injury prevention. Knowing how drivers view themselves and others, their concerns, and their motivations and techniques for staying out of trouble on the roads provides insight into the difficulty of changing driving practices.

Characterization of advanced electric propulsion systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ray, P. K.

1982-01-01

Characteristics of several advanced electric propulsion systems are evaluated and compared. The propulsion systems studied are mass driver, rail gun, MPD thruster, hydrogen free radical thruster and mercury electron bombardment ion engine. These are characterized by specific impulse, overall efficiency, input power, average thrust, power to average thrust ratio and average thrust to dry weight ratio. Several important physical characteristics such as dry system mass, accelerator length, bore size and current pulse requirement are also evaluated in appropriate cases. Only the ion engine can operate at a specific impulse beyond 2000 sec. Rail gun, MPD thruster and free radical thruster are currently characterized by low efficiencies. Mass drivers have the best performance characteristics in terms of overall efficiency, power to average thrust ratio and average thrust to dry weight ratio. But, they can only operate at low specific impulses due to large power requirements and are extremely long due to limitations of driving current. Mercury ion engines have the next best performance characteristics while operating at higher specific impulses. It is concluded that, overall, ion engines have somewhat better characteristics as compared to the other electric propulsion systems.

Crystal structure of Earth's inner core: A first-principles study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moustafa, S. G.; Schultz, A. J.; Zurek, E.; Kofke, D. A.

2017-12-01

Since the detection of the Earth's solid inner core (IC) by Lehmann in 1936, its composition and crystal structure (which are essential to understand Earth's evolution) have been controversial. While seismological measurements (e.g. PREM) can give a robust estimation of the density, pressure, and elasticity of the IC, they cannot be directly used to determine its composition and/or crystal structure. Experimentally, reaching the extreme IC conditions ( 330 GPa and 6000 K) and getting reliable measurements is very challenging. First-principles calculations provide a viable alternative that can work as a powerful investigative tool. Although several attempts have been made to assess phase stability at IC conditions computationally, they often use a low level of theory for electronic structure (e.g., classical force-field), adopt approximate methods (e.g., quasiharmonic approximation, fixed hcp-c/a), or do not consider finite-size effects. The study of phase stability using accurate first-principles methods is hampered in part by the difficulty of computing the free energy (FE), the central thermodynamic quantity that determines stability, while including anharmonic and finite-size effects. Additional difficulty related to the IC in particular is introduced by the dynamical instability of one of the IC candidate structures (bcc) at low temperature. Recently [1-3], we introduced a novel method (denoted as "harmonically mapped averaging", or HMA) to efficiently measure anharmonic properties (e.g. FE, pressure, elastic modulus) by molecular simulation, yielding orders of magnitude CPU speedup compared to conventional methods. We have applied this method to the hcp candidate phase of iron at the IC conditions, obtaining first-principles anharmonic FE values with unprecedented accuracy and precision [4]. We have now completed and report HMA calculations to assess the phase stability of all IC candidate phases (fcc/hcp/bcc). This knowledge is the prerequisite for interpreting the geophysical and geochemical constraints of the IC (e.g. anisotropy and low rigidity); which should be a key ingredient in the longstanding debate about the nature of the Earth's IC. References[1] 10.1103/PhysRevE.92.043303[2] 10.1021/acs.jctc.6b00018[3] 10.1021/acs.jctc.6b01082[4] 10.1103/PhysRevB.96.014117

Visually Impaired Drivers Who Use Bioptic Telescopes: Self-Assessed Driving Skills and Agreement With On-Road Driving Evaluation

PubMed Central

Owsley, Cynthia; McGwin, Gerald; Elgin, Jennifer; Wood, Joanne M.

2014-01-01

Purpose. To compare self-assessed driving habits and skills of licensed drivers with central visual loss who use bioptic telescopes to those of age-matched normally sighted drivers, and to examine the association between bioptic drivers' impressions of the quality of their driving and ratings by a “backseat” evaluator. Methods. Participants were licensed bioptic drivers (n = 23) and age-matched normally sighted drivers (n = 23). A questionnaire was administered addressing driving difficulty, space, quality, exposure, and, for bioptic drivers, whether the telescope was helpful in on-road situations. Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were assessed. Information on ocular diagnosis, telescope characteristics, and bioptic driving experience was collected from the medical record or in interview. On-road driving performance in regular traffic conditions was rated independently by two evaluators. Results. Like normally sighted drivers, bioptic drivers reported no or little difficulty in many driving situations (e.g., left turns, rush hour), but reported more difficulty under poor visibility conditions and in unfamiliar areas (P < 0.05). Driving exposure was reduced in bioptic drivers (driving 250 miles per week on average vs. 410 miles per week for normally sighted drivers, P = 0.02), but driving space was similar to that of normally sighted drivers (P = 0.29). All but one bioptic driver used the telescope in at least one driving task, and 56% used the telescope in three or more tasks. Bioptic drivers' judgments about the quality of their driving were very similar to backseat evaluators' ratings. Conclusions. Bioptic drivers show insight into the overall quality of their driving and areas in which they experience driving difficulty. They report using the bioptic telescope while driving, contrary to previous claims that it is primarily used to pass the vision screening test at licensure. PMID:24370830

Visually impaired drivers who use bioptic telescopes: self-assessed driving skills and agreement with on-road driving evaluation.

PubMed

Owsley, Cynthia; McGwin, Gerald; Elgin, Jennifer; Wood, Joanne M

2014-01-15

To compare self-assessed driving habits and skills of licensed drivers with central visual loss who use bioptic telescopes to those of age-matched normally sighted drivers, and to examine the association between bioptic drivers' impressions of the quality of their driving and ratings by a "backseat" evaluator. Participants were licensed bioptic drivers (n = 23) and age-matched normally sighted drivers (n = 23). A questionnaire was administered addressing driving difficulty, space, quality, exposure, and, for bioptic drivers, whether the telescope was helpful in on-road situations. Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were assessed. Information on ocular diagnosis, telescope characteristics, and bioptic driving experience was collected from the medical record or in interview. On-road driving performance in regular traffic conditions was rated independently by two evaluators. Like normally sighted drivers, bioptic drivers reported no or little difficulty in many driving situations (e.g., left turns, rush hour), but reported more difficulty under poor visibility conditions and in unfamiliar areas (P < 0.05). Driving exposure was reduced in bioptic drivers (driving 250 miles per week on average vs. 410 miles per week for normally sighted drivers, P = 0.02), but driving space was similar to that of normally sighted drivers (P = 0.29). All but one bioptic driver used the telescope in at least one driving task, and 56% used the telescope in three or more tasks. Bioptic drivers' judgments about the quality of their driving were very similar to backseat evaluators' ratings. Bioptic drivers show insight into the overall quality of their driving and areas in which they experience driving difficulty. They report using the bioptic telescope while driving, contrary to previous claims that it is primarily used to pass the vision screening test at licensure.

Making the CMS payment policy for healthcare-associated infections work: organizational factors that matter.

PubMed

Hoff, Timothy; Hartmann, Christine W; Soerensen, Christina; Wroe, Peter; Dutta-Linn, Maya; Lee, Grace

2011-01-01

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are among the most common adverse events in hospitals, and the morbidity and mortality associated with them are significant. In 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented a new financial policy that no longer provides payment to hospitals for services related to certain infections not present on admission and deemed preventable. At present, little is known about how this policy is being implemented in hospital settings. One key goal of the policy is for it to serve as a quality improvement driver within hospitals, providing the rationale and motivation for hospitals to engage in greater infection-related surveillance and prevention activities. This article examines the role organizational factors, such as leadership and culture, play in the effectiveness of the CMS policy as a quality improvement (QI) driver within hospital settings. Between late 2009 and early 2010, interviews were conducted with 36 infection preventionists working at a national sample of 36 hospitals. We found preliminary evidence that hospital executive behavior, a proactive infection control (IC) culture, and clinical staff engagement played a favorable role in enhancing the recognition, acceptance, and significance of the CMS policy as a QI driver within hospitals. We also found several other contextual factors that may impede the degree to which the above factors facilitate links between the CMS policy and hospital QI activities.

A rugged 650 V SOI-based high-voltage half-bridge IGBT gate driver IC for motor drive applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hua, Qing; Li, Zehong; Zhang, Bo; Chen, Weizhong; Huang, Xiangjun; Feng, Yuxiang

2015-05-01

This paper proposes a rugged high-voltage N-channel insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) gate driver integrated circuit. The device integrates a high-side and a low-side output stages on a single chip, which is designed specifically for motor drive applications. High-voltage level shift technology enables the high-side stage of this device to operate up to 650 V. The logic inputs are complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)/transistor transistor logic compatible down to 3.3 V. Undervoltage protection functionality with hysteresis characteristic has also been integrated to enhance the device reliability. The device is fabricated in a 1.0 μm, 650 V high-voltage bipolar CMOS double-diffused metal oxide semiconductor (BCD) on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process. Deep trench dielectric isolation technology is employed to provide complete electrical isolation with advantages such as reduced parasitic effects, excellent noise immunity and low leakage current. Experimental results show that the isolation voltage of this device can be up to approximately 779 V at 25°C, and the leakage current is only 5 nA at 650 V, which is 15% higher and 67% lower than the conventional ones. In addition, it delivers an excellent thermal stability and needs very low quiescent current and offers a high gate driver capability which is needed to adequately drive IGBTs that have large input capacitances.

[Readability of surgical informed consent in Spain].

PubMed

San Norberto, Enrique María; Gómez-Alonso, Daniel; Trigueros, José M; Quiroga, Jorge; Gualis, Javier; Vaquero, Carlos

2014-03-01

To assess the readability of informed consent documents (IC) of the different national surgical societies. During January 2012 we collected 504 IC protocols of different specialties. To calculate readability parameters the following criteria were assessed: number of words, syllables and phrases, syllables/word and word/phrase averages, Word correlation index, Flesch-Szigriszt index, Huerta Fernández index, Inflesz scale degree and the Gunning-Fog index. The mean Flesch-Szigriszt index was 50.65 ± 6,72, so readability is considered normal. There are significant differences between specialties such as Urology (43.00 ± 4.17) and Angiology and Vascular Surgery (63.00 ± 3.26, P<.001). No IC would be appropriate for adult readability according to the Fernández-Huerta index (total mean 55.77 ± 6.57); the IC of Angiology and Vascular Surgery were the closest ones (67.85 ± 3.20). Considering the Inflesz scale degree (total mean of 2.84 ± 3,23), IC can be described as «somewhat difficult». There are significant differences between the IC of Angiology and Vascular Surgery (3.23 ± 0.47) that could be qualified as normal, or Cardiovascular Surgery (2.79 ± 0.43) as «nearly normal readability»; and others such as Urology (1, 70 ± 0.46, P<.001) and Thoracic Surgery (1.90 ± 0.30, P<.001), with a readability between «very» and «somewhat» difficult. The Gunning-Fog indexes are far from the readability for a general audience (total mean of 26.29 ± 10,89). IC developed by scientific societies of different surgical specialties do not have an adequate readability for patients. We recommend the use of readability indexes during the writing of these consent forms. Copyright © 2012 AEC. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Costs of interstitial cystitis in a managed care population.

PubMed

Clemens, J Quentin; Meenan, Richard T; Rosetti, Maureen C O'Keeffe; Kimes, Terry; Calhoun, Elizabeth A

2008-05-01

To assess the direct medical costs, medication, and procedure use associated with interstitial cystitis (IC) in women in the Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KPNW) managed care population. The KPNW electronic medical record was used to identify women diagnosed with IC (n = 239). Each of these patients was matched with three controls according to age and duration in the health plan. Health plan cost accounting data were used to determine the inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy costs for 1998 to 2003. An analysis of the prescription medication use and cystoscopic and urodynamic procedures commonly associated with IC was also performed. To evaluate for co-morbidities, an automated risk-adjustment model linked to 28 chronic medical conditions was applied to the administrative data sets from both groups. The mean duration from the date of IC diagnosis to the end of the study period was 36.6 months (range 1.4 to 60). The mean yearly costs were 2.4-fold greater for the patients than for the controls ($7100 versus $2994), and the median yearly costs were 3.8-fold greater ($5000 versus $1304). These cost differences were predominantly due to outpatient and pharmacy expenses. Medication and procedure use were significantly greater for the patients than for the controls. These findings were consistent across risk-adjustment model categories, which suggest that the observed cost differences are IC specific. The direct per-person costs of IC are high, with average yearly costs approximately $4000 greater than for the age-matched controls. This cost differential is an underestimate, because the costs preceding the diagnosis, the use of alternative therapies, indirect costs, and the costs of those with IC that is not diagnosed were not included.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kuncarayakti, Hanindyo; Maeda, Keiichi; Doi, Mamoru

Integral field spectroscopy of 11 Type Ib/Ic supernova (SN Ib/Ic) explosion sites in nearby galaxies has been obtained using UH88/SNIFS and Gemini-N/GMOS. The use of integral field spectroscopy enables us to obtain both spatial and spectral information about the explosion site, enabling the identification of the parent stellar population of the SN progenitor star. The spectrum of the parent population provides metallicity determination via strong-line method and age estimation obtained via comparison with simple stellar population models. We adopt this information as the metallicity and age of the SN progenitor, under the assumption that it was coeval with the parentmore » stellar population. The age of the star corresponds to its lifetime, which in turn gives the estimate of its initial mass. With this method we were able to determine both the metallicity and initial (zero-age main sequence) mass of the progenitor stars of SNe Ib and Ic. We found that on average SN Ic explosion sites are more metal-rich and younger than SN Ib sites. The initial mass of the progenitors derived from parent stellar population age suggests that SN Ic has more massive progenitors than SN Ib. In addition, we also found indication that some of our SN progenitors are less massive than {approx}25 M{sub Sun }, indicating that they may have been stars in a close binary system that have lost their outer envelope via binary interactions to produce SNe Ib/Ic, instead of single Wolf-Rayet stars. These findings support the current suggestions that both binary and single progenitor channels are in effect in producing SNe Ib/Ic. This work also demonstrates the power of integral field spectroscopy in investigating SN environments and active star-forming regions.« less

Complication incidence of two implant systems up to six years: a comparison between internal and external connection implants.

PubMed

Chae, Sung-Wook; Kim, Young-Sung; Lee, Yong-Moo; Kim, Won-Kyung; Lee, Young-Kyoo; Kim, Su-Hwan

2015-02-01

This study was conducted to compare the cumulative survival rates (CSRs) and the incidence of postloading complications (PLCs) between a bone-level internal connection system (ICS-BL) and an external connection system (ECS). The medical records of patients treated with either a ICS-BL or ECS between 2007 and 2010 at Asan Medical Center were reviewed. PLCs were divided into two categories: biological and technical. Biological complications included >4 mm of probing pocket depth, thread exposure in radiographs, and soft tissue complications, whereas technical complications included chipping of the veneering material, fracture of the implant, fracture of the crown, loosening or fracture of the abutment or screw, loss of retention, and loss of access hole filling material. CSRs were determined by a life-table analysis and compared using the log-rank chi-square test. The incidence of PLC was compared with the Pearson chi-squared test. A total of 2,651 implants in 1,074 patients (1,167 ICS-BLs in 551 patients and 1,484 ECSs in 523 patients) were analyzed. The average observation periods were 3.4 years for the ICS-BLs and 3.1 years for the ECSs. The six-year CSR of all implants was 96.1% (94.9% for the ICS-BLs and 97.1% for the ECSs, P=0.619). Soft tissue complications were more frequent with the ECSs (P=0.005) and loosening or fracture of the abutment or screw occurred more frequently with the ICS-BLs (P<0.001). Within the limitations of this study, the ICS-BL was more prone to technical complications while the ECS was more vulnerable to biological complications.

Evaluation of patient compliance, quality of life impact and cost-effectiveness of a "test in-train out" exercise-based rehabilitation program for patients with intermittent claudication.

PubMed

Malagoni, Anna Maria; Vagnoni, Emidia; Felisatti, Michele; Mandini, Simona; Heidari, Mahdi; Mascoli, Francesco; Basaglia, Nino; Manfredini, Roberto; Zamboni, Paolo; Manfredini, Fabio

2011-01-01

Patients with intermittent claudication (IC) could benefit from low-cost, effective rehabilitative programs. This retrospective study evaluates compliance, impact on Quality of Life (QoL) and cost-effectiveness of a hospital prescribed, at-home performed (Test-in/Train-out) rehabilitative program for patients with IC. Two-hundred and eighty-nine patients with IC (71 ± 10.1 years, M = 210) were enrolled for a 2-year period. Two daily 10-min home walking sessions at maximal asymptomatic speed were prescribed, with serial check-ups at the hospital. Compliance with the program was assessed by assigning a score of 1 (lowest compliance) to 4 (highest compliance). The SF-36 questionnaire and a constant-load treadmill test were used to evaluate QoL and Initial/Absolute Claudication Distance, respectively. Both direct and indirect costs of the program were considered for cost-effectiveness analysis. Two-hundred and fifty patients (70.5 ± 9.2 years, M = 191), at Fontaine's II-B stage (86%), were included in the study. No adverse events were reported. The average compliance score was 3.1. At discharge, both SF-36 domains and walking performance significantly increased (P < 0.0001). A total of 1,839 in-hospital check-ups (7.36 /patient) were performed. Direct and indirect costs represented 93% and 7% of the total costs, respectively. The average costs of a visit and of a therapy cycle were C68.93 and C507.20, respectively. The cost to walk an additional meter before stopping was C9.22. A Test-in/Train-out program provided favourable patient compliance, QoL impact and cost-effectiveness in patients with IC.

[Definition and validation of a comfort index calculation method for office seats].

PubMed

Taboga, P; Marcolin, F; Bordignon, M; Antonutto, G

2012-01-01

Among its other required features, a highly comfortable chair should adapt its contact surfaces, namely the seat and the back rest, to the shape of the body of the person sitting on it. However, "comfort" is not usually perceived as an absolute value, but is derived from a subjective comparison between two or more chairs. The purpose of this research was the definition of an objective comfort index (IC), i.e., derived from instrumental measurements, and which would also represent an absolute comfort value. Analytical evaluation of the distribution of body weight, by means of a barometric matrix, shows that a comfortable chair tends to minimize peak and average values of pressure at the level of the contact areas located between the body and the seat and the back of the chair. To define a comparison parameter for determining an absolute comfort value, a reference chair (SDR) was developed. The seat and the back of this chair are rigid, with poor compliance. A comfort value of zero was, by definition, assigned to this chair. Therefore, the Comfort index (IC) was obtained by the mathematical calculation of the ratios of averages, peaks and gradients of pressure, appropriately weighted, and the corresponding values measured on the tested chair and on the SDR. It is shown that the anthropometric characteristics of each subject are irrelevant to the assessment of the IC, which depends only on the compliance characteristics of the seat and back surfaces of the tested chair IC can be improved through analysis of a larger number of seats, which would thus constitute the basis for the use of an objective evaluation of seating comfort.

Measurement of clinicians' ability to hand torque dental implant components.

PubMed

Kanawati, Ali; Richards, Mark W; Becker, Jeffery J; Monaco, Natalie E

2009-01-01

There is a varying degree of hand torque abilities using finger drivers among clinicians. Calibrating one's own abilities requires complicated instruments not readily available. This study evaluated a simple-to-use method that allows dental practitioners to have a quantifiable clinical assessment of relative torque ability using finger drivers to torque down dental implant components. A typodont that includes dental implants was mounted in a mannequin placed in a patient-reclined position. The subjects were asked to torque as tightly as they could a new healing abutment to an implant secured firmly in resin within the typodont. All participants wore moistened gloves when using a finger driver. The healing abutment was countertorqued using a certified precalibrated precision torque measurement device. The reading on the torque driver was recorded when the healing abutment disengaged. An average of torque values of dentists and dental students was calculated. Fifty subjects had an average maximum torque ability of 24 Ncm (male dentists: 28 Ncm; students: 22 Ncm; male students: 24 Ncm; female students: 19 Ncm). Maximum torque values for all participants ranged from 11 Ncm to 38 Ncm. There was no significant difference between groups. This study showed a varying degree of hand torquing abilities using a finger driver. Clinicians should regularly calibrate their ability to torque implant components to more predictably perform implant dentistry. Dental implant manufacturers should more precisely instruct clinicians as to maximum torque, as opposed to "finger tighten only".

Time-to-contact estimation errors among older drivers with useful field of view impairments.

PubMed

Rusch, Michelle L; Schall, Mark C; Lee, John D; Dawson, Jeffrey D; Edwards, Samantha V; Rizzo, Matthew

2016-10-01

Previous research indicates that useful field of view (UFOV) decline affects older driver performance. In particular, elderly drivers have difficulty estimating oncoming vehicle time-to-contact (TTC). The objective of this study was to evaluate how UFOV impairments affect TTC estimates in elderly drivers deciding when to make a left turn across oncoming traffic. TTC estimates were obtained from 64 middle-aged (n=17, age=46±6years) and older (n=37, age=75±6years) licensed drivers with a range of UFOV abilities using interactive scenarios in a fixed-base driving simulator. Each driver was situated in an intersection to turn left across oncoming traffic approaching and disappearing at differing distances (1.5, 3, or 5s) and speeds (45, 55, or 65mph). Drivers judged when each oncoming vehicle would collide with them if they were to turn left. Findings showed that TTC estimates across all drivers, on average, were most accurate for oncoming vehicles travelling at the highest velocities and least accurate for those travelling at the slowest velocities. Drivers with the worst UFOV scores had the least accurate TTC estimates, especially for slower oncoming vehicles. Results suggest age-related UFOV decline impairs older driver judgment of TTC with oncoming vehicles in safety-critical left-turn situations. Our results are compatible with national statistics on older driver crash proclivity at intersections. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The relation between working conditions, aberrant driving behaviour and crash propensity among taxi drivers in China.

PubMed

Wang, Yonggang; Li, Linchao; Prato, Carlo G

2018-04-03

Although the taxi industry is playing an important role in Chinese everyday life, little attention has been posed towards occupational health issues concerning the taxi drivers' working conditions, driving behaviour and road safety. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 1021 taxi drivers from 21 companies in four Chinese cities and collected information about (i) sociodemographic characteristics, (ii) working conditions, (iii) frequency of daily aberrant driving behaviour, and (iv) involvement in property-damage-only (PDO) and personal injury (PI) crashes over the past two years. A hybrid bivariate model of crash involvement was specified: (i) the hybrid part concerned a latent variable model capturing unobserved traits of the taxi drivers; (ii) the bivariate part modelled jointly both types of crashes while capturing unobserved correlation between error terms. The survey answers paint a gloomy picture in terms of workload, as taxi drivers reported averages of 9.4 working hours per day and 6.7 working days per week that amount on average to about 63.0 working hours per week. Moreover, the estimates of the hybrid bivariate model reveal that increasing levels of fatigue, reckless behaviour and aggressive behaviour are positively related to a higher propensity of crash involvement. Lastly, the heavy workload is also positively correlated with the higher propensity of crashing, not only directly as a predictor of crash involvement, but also indirectly as a covariate of fatigue and aberrant driving behaviour. The findings from this study provide insights into potential strategies for preventive education and taxi industry management to improve the working conditions and hence reduce fatigue and road risk for the taxi drivers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of glaucoma on eye movement patterns and laboratory-based hazard detection ability

PubMed Central

Black, Alex A.; Wood, Joanne M.

2017-01-01

Purpose The mechanisms underlying the elevated crash rates of older drivers with glaucoma are poorly understood. A key driving skill is timely detection of hazards; however, the hazard detection ability of drivers with glaucoma has been largely unexplored. This study assessed the eye movement patterns and visual predictors of performance on a laboratory-based hazard detection task in older drivers with glaucoma. Methods Participants included 30 older drivers with glaucoma (71±7 years; average better-eye mean deviation (MD) = −3.1±3.2 dB; average worse-eye MD = −11.9±6.2 dB) and 25 age-matched controls (72±7 years). Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual fields, useful field of view (UFoV; processing speeds), and motion sensitivity were assessed. Participants completed a computerised Hazard Perception Test (HPT) while their eye movements were recorded using a desk-mounted Tobii TX300 eye-tracking system. The HPT comprises a series of real-world traffic videos recorded from the driver’s perspective; participants responded to road hazards appearing in the videos, and hazard response times were determined. Results Participants with glaucoma exhibited an average of 0.42 seconds delay in hazard response time (p = 0.001), smaller saccades (p = 0.010), and delayed first fixation on hazards (p<0.001) compared to controls. Importantly, larger saccades were associated with faster hazard responses in the glaucoma group (p = 0.004), but not in the control group (p = 0.19). Across both groups, significant visual predictors of hazard response times included motion sensitivity, UFoV, and worse-eye MD (p<0.05). Conclusions Older drivers with glaucoma had delayed hazard response times compared to controls, with associated changes in eye movement patterns. The association between larger saccades and faster hazard response time in the glaucoma group may represent a compensatory behaviour to facilitate improved performance. PMID:28570621

Managing Rock and Paleomagnetic Data Flow with the MagIC Database: from Measurement and Analysis to Comprehensive Archive and Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koppers, A. A.; Minnett, R. C.; Tauxe, L.; Constable, C.; Donadini, F.

2008-12-01

The Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC) is commissioned to implement and maintain an online portal to a relational database populated by rock and paleomagnetic data. The goal of MagIC is to archive all measurements and derived properties for studies of paleomagnetic directions (inclination, declination) and intensities, and for rock magnetic experiments (hysteresis, remanence, susceptibility, anisotropy). Organizing data for presentation in peer-reviewed publications or for ingestion into databases is a time-consuming task, and to facilitate these activities, three tightly integrated tools have been developed: MagIC-PY, the MagIC Console Software, and the MagIC Online Database. A suite of Python scripts is available to help users port their data into the MagIC data format. They allow the user to add important metadata, perform basic interpretations, and average results at the specimen, sample and site levels. These scripts have been validated for use as Open Source software under the UNIX, Linux, PC and Macintosh© operating systems. We have also developed the MagIC Console Software program to assist in collating rock and paleomagnetic data for upload to the MagIC database. The program runs in Microsoft Excel© on both Macintosh© computers and PCs. It performs routine consistency checks on data entries, and assists users in preparing data for uploading into the online MagIC database. The MagIC website is hosted under EarthRef.org at http://earthref.org/MAGIC/ and has two search nodes, one for paleomagnetism and one for rock magnetism. Both nodes provide query building based on location, reference, methods applied, material type and geological age, as well as a visual FlashMap interface to browse and select locations. Users can also browse the database by data type (inclination, intensity, VGP, hysteresis, susceptibility) or by data compilation to view all contributions associated with previous databases, such as PINT, GMPDB or TAFI or other user-defined compilations. Query results are displayed in a digestible tabular format allowing the user to descend from locations to sites, samples, specimens and measurements. At each stage, the result set can be saved and, when supported by the data, can be visualized by plotting global location maps, equal area, XY, age, and depth plots, or typical Zijderveld, hysteresis, magnetization and remanence diagrams.

On the road again after traumatic brain injury: driver safety and behaviour following on-road assessment and rehabilitation.

PubMed

Ross, Pamela; Ponsford, Jennie L; Di Stefano, Marilyn; Charlton, Judith; Spitz, Gershon

2016-01-01

To examine pre- and post-injury self-reported driver behaviour and safety in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) who returned to driving after occupational therapy driver assessment and on-road rehabilitation. A self-report questionnaire, administered at an average of 4.5 years after completing an on-road driver assessment, documenting pre- and post-injury crash rates, near-crashes, frequency of driving, distances driven, driving conditions avoided and navigation skills, was completed by 106 participants, who had either passed the initial driver assessment (pass group n = 74), or required driver rehabilitation, prior to subsequent assessments (rehabilitation group n = 32). No significant difference was found between pre- and post-injury crash rates. Compared to pre-injury, 36.8% of drivers reported limiting driving time, 40.6% drove more slowly, 41.5% reported greater difficulty with navigating and 20.0% reported more near-crashes. The rehabilitation group (with greater injury severity) was significantly more likely to drive less frequently, shorter distances, avoid: driving with passengers, busy traffic, night and freeway driving than the pass group. Many drivers with moderate/severe TBI who completed a driver assessment and rehabilitation program at least 3 months post-injury, reported modifying their driving behaviour, and did not report more crashes compared to pre-injury. On-road driver training and training in navigation may be important interventions in driver rehabilitation programs. Driver assessment and on-road retraining are important aspects of rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury. Many drivers with moderate/severe TBI, reported modifying their driving behaviour to compensate for ongoing impairment and continued to drive safely in the longer term. Navigational difficulties were commonly experienced following TBI, suggesting that training in navigation may be an important aspect of driver rehabilitation.

[Cost analysis of home care with activity-based costing (ABC)].

PubMed

Lee, Su-Jeong

2004-10-01

This study was carried out to substantiate the application process of activity-based costing on the current cost of hospital home care (HHC) service. The study materials were documents, 120 client charts, health insurance demand bills, salary of 215 HHC nurses, operating expense, 6 HHC agencies, and 31 HHC nurses. The research was carried out by analyzing the HHC activities and then collecting labor and operating expenses. For resource drivers, HHC activity performance time and workload were studied. For activity drivers, the number of HHC activity performances and the activity number of visits were studied. The HHC activities were classified into 70 activities. In resource, the labor cost was 245 won per minute, operating cost was 9,570 won per visit and traffic expense was an average of 12,750 won. In resource drivers, education and training had the longest time of 67 minutes. Average length of performance for activities was 13.7 minutes. The workload was applied as a relative value. The average cost of HHC was 62,741 won and the cost ranged from 55,560 won to 74,016 won. The fixed base rate for a visit in the current HHC medical fee should be increased. Exclusion from the current fee structure or flexible operation of traveling expenses should be reviewed.

Motivating signage prompts safety belt use among drivers exiting senior communities.

PubMed

Cox, B S; Cox, A B; Cox, D J

2000-01-01

Senior drivers are vulnerable to automobile crashes and subsequent injury and death. Safety belts reduce health risks associated with auto crashes. Therefore, it is important to encourage senior drivers to wear safety belts while driving. Using an AB design, replicated five times, we evaluated the short- and long-term effects of a sign with the message "BUCKLE UP, STAY SAFE" attached to a stop sign at the exits of five different senior communities. Safety belt use was stable during two pretreatment assessments averaged across the five sites and 250 drivers (72% and 68% usage), but significantly increased following installation of these signs (94% usage). Six months after installation of the signs, the effect persisted (88% usage). Use of such signs may be a cost-effective way of promoting safety belt use.

A decision model applied to alcohol effects on driver signal light behavior

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwartz, S. H.; Allen, R. W.

1978-01-01

A decision model including perceptual noise or inconsistency is developed from expected value theory to explain driver stop and go decisions at signaled intersections. The model is applied to behavior in a car simulation and instrumented vehicle. Objective and subjective changes in driver decision making were measured with changes in blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Treatment levels averaged 0.00, 0.10 and 0.14 BAC for a total of 26 male subjects. Data were taken for drivers approaching signal lights at three timing configurations. The correlation between model predictions and behavior was highly significant. In contrast to previous research, analysis indicates that increased BAC results in increased perceptual inconsistency, which is the primary cause of increased risk taking at low probability of success signal lights.

[Social support and occupational stress relationship analysis of 1 413 train drivers in a railway bureau].

PubMed

Gu, G Z; Yu, S F; Zhou, W H; Wu, H; Kang, L; Chen, R

2017-02-06

Objective: To investigate the social support status of train drivers. Methods: Using cluster sampling, a cross-sectional study was conducted in 1 413 male train drivers (including 301 passenger train drivers, 683 freight train drivers, 85 guest scheduling train drivers, 265 cargo adjustable drivers, and 79 high-speed train drivers) from a railway bureau depot. The survey included individual factors, social support, occupational stressors, strains, personalities, and coping strategy using occupational stress instruments and effort-reward imbalance questionnaire. We compared the difference in social support scores between different drivers, who were divided according to job type and age. Additionally, the correlation between social support score and job strain-related factors was analyzed. The influence of depressive symptoms and job satisfaction were analyzed using a non-conditional logistic multivariate model. Results: The overall average age P (50) ( P (25), P (75)) of 1 413 train drivers was 33.92 (27.83,43.58) years. The overall average length of service 12.25 (5.25,22.75) years. A significant difference in social support scores was observed according to job type ( H =23.23, P< 0.001). The specific scores were passenger driver(27 (23,32)), freight train driver (26 (22,30)), guest scheduling driver (27 (24,30)), cargo adjustable driver (26 (22,31)), and high-speed train driver (30 (26,36)) ( P (50)( P (25), P (75))). Additionally, social support scores among different age groups were significantly different ( H =6.64, P= 0.036). The specific scores were ≤30 years (26 (22,31)), 30-40 years (27 (23,33)), and >40 years (27 (22,31)). Correlation analysis revealed that the social support score was negatively associated with job satisfaction ( r=- 0.43), reward ( r=- 0.22), working stability ( r=- 0.23), promotion opportunities ( r=- 0.12), positive affectivity ( r=- 0.31), esteem ( r=- 0.21), and self-esteem ( r=- 0.20) scores ( P< 0.001). The social support score was positively associated with sleep disorders ( r= 0.33), external effort ( r= 0.21), pay within ( r= 0.12), role conflict ( r= 0.20), conflict between groups ( r= 0.17), conflict in groups ( r= 0.06), responsibility for the others ( r= 0.06), responsibility for things ( r= 0.08), physiological needs ( r= 0.39), psychological needs ( r= 0.19), daily stress ( r= 0.29), negative affectivity ( r= 0.23), and depressive symptoms ( r= 0.44) scores ( P< 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed social support had a great influence on depressive symptoms and low job satisfaction. Compared with high social support, low social support resulted in depressive symptoms ( OR= 4.12, 95% CI: 3.19 - 5.33) and low job satisfaction ( OR= 2.18, 95% CI: 1.65-2.88). Conclusion: Train drivers obtained various levels of social support. Social support greatly affected occupational stress. High social support was related to reduction in the occurrence of occupational stress, depressive symptoms, and low job satisfaction. Social support is related to mental health of train drivers.

Essential Power Systems Workshop - OEM Perspective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bill Gouse

2001-12-12

In California, idling is largely done for climate control. This suggests that climate control devices alone could be used to reduce idling. Line-haul truck drivers surveyed require an average of 4-6 kW of power for a stereo, CB radio, light, refrigerator, and climate control found in the average truck. More power may likely be necessary for peak power demands. The amount of time line-haul trucks reported to have stopped is between 25 and 30 hours per week. It was not possible to accurately determine from the pilot survey the location, purpose, and duration of idling. Consulting driver logs or electronicallymore » monitoring trucks could yield more accurate data, including seasonal and geographic differences. Truck drivers were receptive to idling alternatives. Two-thirds of truck drivers surveyed support a program to reduce idling. Two-thirds of drivers reported they would purchase idling reduction technologies if the technology yielded a payback period of two years or less. Willingness to purchase auxiliary power units appears to be higher for owner-operators than for company drivers. With a 2-year payback period, 82% of owner- operators would be willing to buy an idle- reducing device, while 63% of company drivers thought their company would do the same. Contact with companies is necessary to discern whether this difference between owner- operators and companies is true or simply due to the perception of the company drivers. Truck stops appear to be a much more attractive option for electrification than rest areas by a 48% to 21% margin. Much of this discrepancy may be due to perceived safety problems with rest areas. This survey did not properly differentiate between using these areas for breaks or overnight. The next, full survey will quantify where the truck drivers are staying overnight, where they go for breaks, and the duration of time they spend at each place. The nationwide survey, which is in progress, will indicate how applicable the results are to the US in general. In addition to the survey, we believe data loggers and focus groups will be necessary to collect the idling duration and location data necessary to compare auxiliary power units to truck stop electrification. Focus groups are recommended to better understand the driver response to APUs and electrification. The appearance and perception of the new systems will need further clarification, which could be accomplished with a demonstration for truck drivers.« less

A two-lane cellular automaton traffic flow model with the influence of driver, vehicle and road

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Han-Tao; Nie, Cen; Li, Jing-Ru; Wei, Yu-Ao

2016-07-01

On the basis of one-lane comfortable driving model, this paper established a two-lane traffic cellular automata model, which improves the slow randomization effected by brake light. Considering the driver psychological characteristics and mixed traffic, we studied the lateral influence between vehicles on adjacent lanes. Through computer simulation, the space-time diagram and the fundamental figure under different conditions are obtained. The study found that aggressive driver makes a slight congestion in low-density traffic and improves the capacity of high-density traffic, when the density exceeds 20pcu/km the more aggressive drivers the greater the flow, when the density below 40pcu/km driver character makes an effect, the more cautious driver, the lower the flow. The ratio of big cars has the same effect as the ratio of aggressive drivers. Brake lights have the greatest impact on traffic flow and when the density exceeds 10pcu/km the traffic flow fluctuates. Under periodic boundary conditions, the disturbance of road length on traffic is minimal. The lateral influence only play a limited role in the medium-density conditions, and only affect the average speed of traffic at low density.

Dynamical histories of the IC 348 and NGC 1333 star-forming regions in Perseus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parker, Richard J.; Alves de Oliveira, Catarina

2017-07-01

We present analyses of the spatial distributions of stars in the young (1-3 Myr) star-forming regions IC 348 and NGC 1333 in the Perseus giant molecular cloud. We quantify the spatial structure using the Q-parameter and find that both IC 348 and NGC 1333 are smooth and centrally concentrated with Q-parameters of 0.98 and 0.89, respectively. Neither region exhibits mass segregation (Λ _MSR = 1.1^{+0.2}_{-0.3} for IC 348 and Λ _MSR = 1.2^{+0.4}_{-0.3} for NGC 1333, where ΛMSR ˜ 1 corresponds to no mass segregation) nor do the most massive stars reside in areas of enhanced stellar surface density compared to the average surface density, according to the ΣLDR method. We then constrain the dynamical histories and hence initial conditions of both regions by comparing the observed values to N-body simulations at appropriate ages. Stars in both regions likely formed with subvirial velocities that contributed to merging of substructure and the formation of smooth clusters. The initial stellar densities were no higher than ρ ˜ 100-500 M⊙ pc-3 for IC 348 and ρ ˜ 500-2000 M⊙ pc-3 for NGC 1333. These initial densities, in particular that of NGC 1333, are high enough to facilitate dynamical interactions that would likely affect ˜10 per cent of protoplanetary discs and binary stars.

The association of ethnicity with electronically measured adherence to inhaled corticosteroids in children.

PubMed

Vasbinder, Erwin; Dahhan, Nordin; Wolf, Bart; Zoer, Jan; Blankman, Ellen; Bosman, Diederik; van Dijk, Liset; van den Bemt, Patricia

2013-03-01

To investigate the association of ethnicity with objectively, electronically measured adherence to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in a multicultural population of children with asthma in the city of Amsterdam. The study was designed as a prospective, observational multicenter study in which adherence to ICS and potential risk factors for adherence to ICS were measured in a cohort of Moroccan and native Dutch children with asthma. Electronic adherence measurements were performed for 3 months per patient using a Real Time Medication Monitoring (RTMM) system. Ethnicity and other potential risk factors, such as socio-economic status, asthma control and parental medication beliefs, were extracted from medical records or parent interviews. The association between adherence and ethnicity was analysed using multivariate linear regression analysis. A total of 90 children (aged 1-11 years) were included in the study and data of 87 children were used for analysis. Average adherence to ICS was 49.3 %. Native Dutch children showed higher adherence to ICS than Moroccan children (55.9 vs. 42.5 %, respectively; p = 0.044, univariate analysis). After correction for confounders (>3 annual visits to the paediatric outpatient clinic, regular use of a spacer during inhalation), the final regression model showed that ethnicity was independently associated with adherence (p = 0.028). In our Western European population of inner city children with asthma, poor adherence to ICS was a serious problem, and even somewhat more so in ethnic minorities. Paediatricians involved in asthma treatment should be aware of these cultural differences in medication-taking behaviour, but further studies are needed to elucidate the causal mechanism.

COSTS OF INTERSTITAL CYSTITIS IN A MANAGED CARE POPULATION

PubMed Central

Clemens, J. Quentin; Meenan, Richard T.; O’Keeffe Rosetti, Maureen C.; Kimes, Terry; Calhoun, Elizabeth A.

2008-01-01

Objective This study assessed the direct medical costs, medication and procedure use associated with interstitial cystitis (IC) in women in the Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KPNW) managed care population. Methods The KPNW electronic medical record was utilized to identify women diagnosed with interstitial cystitis (n=239). Each of these cases was matched with three controls based on age and duration in the health plan. Health plan cost accounting data were used to determine inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy costs for 1998-2003. An analysis of prescription medication use, cystoscopic and urodynamic procedures commonly associated with IC was also performed. To evaluate for comorbidities, an automated risk-adjustment model (RxRisk) linked to 28 chronic medical conditions was applied to the administrative datasets from both groups. Results The mean duration from the date of IC diagnosis to the end of the study period was 36.6 months (range 1.4-60). Mean yearly costs were 2.4-fold greater in cases than controls ($7100 vs. $2994), and median yearly costs were 3.8-fold greater ($5000 vs. $1304). These cost differences were predominantly due to outpatient and pharmacy expenses. Medication and procedure use were significantly greater in cases than controls. These findings were consistent across RxRisk categories, which suggest that the observed cost differences are IC-specific. Conclusions The direct per-person costs of IC are high, with average yearly costs approximately $4000 greater than age-matched controls. This cost differential is an underestimate, as costs preceding the diagnosis, use of alternative therapies, indirect costs and costs of those with IC that is not diagnosed are not included. PMID:18329077

Multiple logistic regression model of signalling practices of drivers on urban highways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puan, Othman Che; Ibrahim, Muttaka Na'iya; Zakaria, Rozana

2015-05-01

Giving signal is a way of informing other road users, especially to the conflicting drivers, the intention of a driver to change his/her movement course. Other users are exposed to hazard situation and risks of accident if the driver who changes his/her course failed to give signal as required. This paper describes the application of logistic regression model for the analysis of driver's signalling practices on multilane highways based on possible factors affecting driver's decision such as driver's gender, vehicle's type, vehicle's speed and traffic flow intensity. Data pertaining to the analysis of such factors were collected manually. More than 2000 drivers who have performed a lane changing manoeuvre while driving on two sections of multilane highways were observed. Finding from the study shows that relatively a large proportion of drivers failed to give any signals when changing lane. The result of the analysis indicates that although the proportion of the drivers who failed to provide signal prior to lane changing manoeuvre is high, the degree of compliances of the female drivers is better than the male drivers. A binary logistic model was developed to represent the probability of a driver to provide signal indication prior to lane changing manoeuvre. The model indicates that driver's gender, type of vehicle's driven, speed of vehicle and traffic volume influence the driver's decision to provide a signal indication prior to a lane changing manoeuvre on a multilane urban highway. In terms of types of vehicles driven, about 97% of motorcyclists failed to comply with the signal indication requirement. The proportion of non-compliance drivers under stable traffic flow conditions is much higher than when the flow is relatively heavy. This is consistent with the data which indicates a high degree of non-compliances when the average speed of the traffic stream is relatively high.

Evaluation of power transfer efficiency for a high power inductively coupled radio-frequency hydrogen ion source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, P.; Recchia, M.; Cavenago, M.; Fantz, U.; Gaio, E.; Kraus, W.; Maistrello, A.; Veltri, P.

2018-04-01

Neutral beam injection (NBI) for plasma heating and current drive is necessary for International Thermonuclear Experimental reactor (ITER) tokamak. Due to its various advantages, a radio frequency (RF) driven plasma source type was selected as a reference ion source for the ITER heating NBI. The ITER relevant RF negative ion sources are inductively coupled (IC) devices whose operational working frequency has been chosen to be 1 MHz and are characterized by high RF power density (˜9.4 W cm-3) and low operational pressure (around 0.3 Pa). The RF field is produced by a coil in a cylindrical chamber leading to a plasma generation followed by its expansion inside the chamber. This paper recalls different concepts based on which a methodology is developed to evaluate the efficiency of the RF power transfer to hydrogen plasma. This efficiency is then analyzed as a function of the working frequency and in dependence of other operating source and plasma parameters. The study is applied to a high power IC RF hydrogen ion source which is similar to one simplified driver of the ELISE source (half the size of the ITER NBI source).

Available sight distance on existing highways: Meeting stopping sight distance requirements of an aging population.

PubMed

Gargoum, Suliman A; Tawfeek, Mostafa H; El-Basyouny, Karim; Koch, James C

2018-03-01

An important element of highway design is ensuring that the available sight distance (ASD) on a highway meets driver needs. For instance, if the ASD at any point on a highway is less than the distance required to come to a complete stop after seeing a hazard (i.e. Stopping Sight Distance (SSD)), the driver will not be able to stop in time to avoid a collision. SSD is function of a number of variables which vary depending on the driver, the vehicle driven and surface conditions; examples of such variables include a driver's perception reaction time or PRT (i.e. the time required by the driver to perceive and react to a hazard) and the deceleration rate of the vehicle. Most design guides recommend deterministic values for PRT and deceleration rates. Although these values may serve the needs of the average driver, they may not satisfy the needs of drivers with limited abilities. In other words, even if the ASD exceeds required SSD defined in the design guide, it might not always satisfy the needs of all drivers. While it is impossible to design roads that satisfy the needs of all drivers, the fact that most developed countries suffer from an aging population, means that the number of old drivers on our roads is expected to increase. Since a large proportion of old drivers often have limited abilities, it is expected that the general population of drivers with limited abilities on our roads will increase with time. Accordingly, more efforts are required to ensure that existing road infrastructure is prepared to handle such a change. This paper aims to explore the extent to which ASD on highways satisfies the needs of drivers with limited abilities. The paper first develops MATLAB and Python codes to automatically estimate the ASD on highway point cloud data collected using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing technology. The developed algorithms are then used to estimate ASD on seven different crash prone segments in the Province of Alberta, Canada and the ASD is compared to the required SSD on each highway. Three different levels of SSD are defined (SSD for drivers with limited ability, AASHTOs SSD requirements and SSD for drivers with high skill). The results show that, when compared to SSD requirements which integrate limitations in cognitive abilities, a substantial portion of the analyzed segments do not meet the requirements (up to 20%). Similarly, when compared to AASHTO's SSD requirements, up to 6% of the analyzed segments do not meet the requirements. In an attempt to explore the effects of such design limitations on safety, the paper also explores crash rates in noncompliant regions (i.e. regions that do not provide sufficient SSD) and compares them to crash rates in compliant regions. On average, it was found that noncompliant regions experience crash rates that are 2.15 and 1.25 times higher than compliant regions for AASHTO's SSD requirements and those integrating driver limitations, respectively. Furthermore, the study found that a significantly higher proportion of drivers involved in collisions in the noncompliant regions were old drivers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Axial-spin technique of endoscopic intracorporeal knot tying: comparison with the conventional technique and objective assessment of knot security, learning curves, and performance efficiency across training levels.

PubMed

Gopaldas, Raja R; Rohatgi, Chand

2009-04-01

A major limitation of conventional laparoscopic surgery is the placement of an intracorporeal (IC) knot, which requires a significant amount of training and practice. An easier technique of IC knot tying using 90-degree grasper is compared with the conventional technique (CLT). The new axial-spin technique (AST) uses the spin of the instrument shaft to tie IC knots. Fourteen participants stratified into 3 training levels were instructed to tie 50 reef IC knots using each technique on trainers in 3 sessions. The final 5 knots tied using each technique were deemed to be representative of maximal performance efficiency (PE) and randomly subject to tensile strength measurements using a tensiometer at 50 mm/s distraction. Mean knot execution time (mKET) measured in seconds (s), normalized KE time (nET=group mean/mKET), knot holding capacity, relative knot security (RKS), and PE (PE=RKS/nET) of the knots tied were computed and analyzed using paired t and analysis of variance. Variables included knot-tying session, technique and the training level. On completion of the study, junior residents (JR) averaged 51.72 seconds more, senior residents (SR) averaged 26.22 seconds more and attendings (ATT) averaged 19.17 seconds less to tie using CLT compared with the AST (F=40.52, P=0.0001). Across all levels, the CLT technique was taking 83.26 seconds on average to execute an IC knot compared with 59.08 seconds with AST method (t=2.784, P=0.015). Learning curves revealed that JR significantly improved mean KE times with the AST technique (first session vs. final session: 473.8 s vs. 55.9 s) compared with CLT (672.5 s vs. 107.6 s) across the sessions as compared with those in advanced levels of training. The RKS of knots executed by AST was significantly stronger (AST: 13.1 vs. 5.44 N, t=4.9, P=0.0001). The PE of knots executed using the CLT increased geometrically across training levels (JR: 1.35% SR: 5.58% ATT: 11.22%) whereas those of AST showed a linear trend (17.09%; 17.11%, and 13.95%). The AST follows a linear pattern of learning across training levels compared with the steep exponential learning of the CLT. Inexperienced JRs were surprisingly 1.5 times more efficient with AST and 8 times less efficient with CLT compared with ATT using the CLT to execute the same knot. The AST is significantly easier to learn for JRs and could serve as a platform before acquiring more advanced knot-tying skills. Overall, with the AST, execution times are significantly shorter whereas the RKS and PE are significantly higher. JRs achieve a level of proficiency comparable with the senior level residents and ATT after participating in a reasonable training session consisting of at least 25 knots.

Analysis of Driver Evasive Maneuvering Prior to Intersection Crashes Using Event Data Recorders.

PubMed

Scanlon, John M; Kusano, Kristofer D; Gabler, Hampton C

2015-01-01

Intersection crashes account for over 4,500 fatalities in the United States each year. Intersection Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (I-ADAS) are emerging vehicle-based active safety systems that have the potential to help drivers safely navigate across intersections and prevent intersection crashes and injuries. The performance of an I-ADAS is expected to be highly dependent upon driver evasive maneuvering prior to an intersection crash. Little has been published, however, on the detailed evasive kinematics followed by drivers prior to real-world intersection crashes. The objective of this study was to characterize the frequency, timing, and kinematics of driver evasive maneuvers prior to intersection crashes. Event data recorders (EDRs) downloaded from vehicles involved in intersection crashes were investigated as part of NASS-CDS years 2001 to 2013. A total of 135 EDRs with precrash vehicle speed and braking application were downloaded to investigate evasive braking. A smaller subset of 59 EDRs that collected vehicle yaw rate was additionally analyzed to investigate evasive steering. Each vehicle was assigned to one of 3 precrash movement classifiers (traveling through the intersection, completely stopped, or rolling stop) based on the vehicle's calculated acceleration and observed velocity profile. To ensure that any significant steering input observed was an attempted evasive maneuver, the analysis excluded vehicles at intersections that were turning, driving on a curved road, or performing a lane change. Braking application at the last EDR-recorded time point was assumed to indicate evasive braking. A vehicle yaw rate greater than 4° per second was assumed to indicate an evasive steering maneuver. Drivers executed crash avoidance maneuvers in four-fifths of intersection crashes. A more detailed analysis of evasive braking frequency by precrash maneuver revealed that drivers performing complete or rolling stops (61.3%) braked less often than drivers traveling through the intersection without yielding (79.0%). After accounting for uncertainty in the timing of braking and steering data, the median evasive braking time was found to be between 0.5 to 1.5 s prior to impact, and the median initial evasive steering time was found to occur between 0.5 and 0.9 s prior to impact. The median average evasive braking deceleration for all cases was found to be 0.58 g. The median of the maximum evasive vehicle yaw rates was found to be 8.2° per second. Evasive steering direction was found to be most frequently in the direction of travel of the approaching vehicle. The majority of drivers involved in intersection crashes were alert enough to perform an evasive action. Most drivers used a combination of steering and braking to avoid a crash. The average driver attempted to steer and brake at approximately the same time prior to the crash.

On the road again: concurrency and condom use among Uganda truck drivers.

PubMed

Costenbader, Elizabeth C; Lancaster, Kathryn; Bufumbo, Leonard; Akol, Angela; Guest, Greg

2015-01-01

Long-distance truck drivers have been shown to be a critical population in the spread of HIV in Africa. In 2009, surveys with 385 Ugandan long-distance truck drivers measured concurrency point prevalence with two methods; it ranged from 37.4% (calendar-method) to 50.1% (direct question). The majority (84%) of relationships reported were long-term resulting in a long duration of overlap (average of 58 months) across concurrent partnerships. Only 7% of these men reported using any condoms with their spouses during the past month. Among all non-spousal relationships, duration of relationship was the factor most strongly associated with engaging in unprotected sex in the past month in a multivariable analyses controlling for partner and relationship characteristics. Innovative intervention programs for these men and their partners are needed that address the realities of truck drivers' lifestyles.

Test analysis and research on static choice reaction ability of commercial vehicle drivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lingchao; Wei, Lang; Qiao, Jie; Tian, Shun; Wang, Shengchang

2017-03-01

Drivers' choice reaction ability has a certain relation with safe driving. It has important significance to research its influence on traffic safety. Firstly, the paper uses a choice reaction detector developed by research group to detect drivers' choice reaction ability of commercial vehicles, and gets 2641 effective samples. Then by using mathematical statistics method, the paper founds that average reaction time from accident group has no difference with non-accident group, and then introduces a variance rate of reaction time as a new index to replace it. The result shows that the test index choice reaction errors and variance rate of reaction time have positive correlations with accidents. Finally, according to testing results of the detector, the paper formulates a detection threshold with four levels for helping transportation companies to assess commercial vehicles drivers.

An adaptive case management system to support integrated care services: Lessons learned from the NEXES project.

PubMed

Cano, Isaac; Alonso, Albert; Hernandez, Carme; Burgos, Felip; Barberan-Garcia, Anael; Roldan, Jim; Roca, Josep

2015-06-01

Extensive deployment and sustainability of integrated care services (ICS) constitute an unmet need to reduce the burden of chronic conditions. The European Union project NEXES (2008-2013) assessed the deployment of four ICS encompassing the spectrum of severity of chronic patients. The current study aims to (i) describe the open source Adaptive Case Management (ACM) system (Linkcare®) developed to support the deployment of ICS at the level of healthcare district; (ii) to evaluate its performance; and, (iii) to identify key challenges for regional deployment of ICS. We first defined a conceptual model for ICS management and execution composed of five main stages. We then specified an associated logical model considering the dynamic runtime of ACM. Finally, we implemented the four ICS as a physical model with an ICS editor to allow professionals (case managers) to play active roles in adapting the system to their needs. Instances of ICS were then run in Linkcare®. Four ICS provided a framework for evaluating the system: Wellness and Rehabilitation (W&R) (number of patients enrolled in the study (n)=173); Enhanced Care (EC) in frail chronic patients to prevent hospital admissions, (n=848); Home Hospitalization and Early Discharge (HH/ED) (n=2314); and, Support to remote diagnosis (Support) (n=7793). The method for assessment of telemedicine applications (MAST) was used for iterative evaluation. Linkcare® supports ACM with shared-care plans across healthcare tiers and offers integration with provider-specific electronic health records. Linkcare® successfully contributed to the deployment of the four ICS: W&R facilitated long-term sustainability of training effects (p<0.01) and active life style (p<0.03); EC showed significant positive outcomes (p<0.05); HH/ED reduced on average 5 in-hospital days per patient with a 30-d re-admission rate of 10%; and, Support, enhanced community-based quality forced spirometry testing (p<0.01). Key challenges for regional deployment of personalized care were identified. Linkcare® provided the required functionalities to support integrated care adopting an ACM model, and it showed adaptive potential for its implementation in different health scenarios. The research generated strategies that contributed to face the challenges of the transition toward personalized medicine for chronic patients. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cost-analysis comparison of robot-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (RC) vs open RC.

PubMed

Lee, Richard; Chughtai, Bilal; Herman, Michael; Shariat, Shahrokh F; Scherr, Douglas S

2011-09-01

• To systematically review and compare the economic burden of open radical cystectomy (ORC) vs robot-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (RALRC) with pelvic lymph node dissection and urinary diversion. • A Medline search was conducted to identify English language articles regarding RC with urinary diversion. The resulting articles were then further restricted by the terms 'laparoscopic', 'robotic', or 'robotic-assisted'.In all, three articles were identified. • Data from each of these articles were then collected on cost performance in addition to relevant clinical variables, such as length of stay (LOS), operative duration, and complication rates. • When possible, data were subdivided by ileal conduit (IC), continent cutaneous diversion (CCD), and orthotopic neobladder (ON) subgroups. • Direct costs resulting from ORC or RALRC with accompanying hospitalization were identified. The indirect costs of complications were considered. • Despite an increased materials cost, RALRC was less expensive than ORC when the cost of complications was considered. • RALRC was less expensive than ORC for IC and CCD, but the cost advantage deteriorated for ON. • The largest cost drivers cited in the published data were LOS, operative durations, and daily hospitalizations costs. • RALRC demonstrated shorter LOS compared with ORC, although this effect was insufficient to offset the increased cost of robotic surgery. • Complications materially affected cost performance. • Despite an increased materials cost, RALRC can be more cost efficient than ORC as a treatment for bladder cancer when the impact of complications are considered. • This effect is most pronounced for patients undergoing IC. © 2011 THE AUTHORS. BJU INTERNATIONAL © 2011 BJU INTERNATIONAL.

Predicting drowsy driving in real-time situations: Using an advanced driving simulator, accelerated failure time model, and virtual location-based services.

PubMed

Wang, Junhua; Sun, Shuaiyi; Fang, Shouen; Fu, Ting; Stipancic, Joshua

2017-02-01

This paper aims to both identify the factors affecting driver drowsiness and to develop a real-time drowsy driving probability model based on virtual Location-Based Services (LBS) data obtained using a driving simulator. A driving simulation experiment was designed and conducted using 32 participant drivers. Collected data included the continuous driving time before detection of drowsiness and virtual LBS data related to temperature, time of day, lane width, average travel speed, driving time in heavy traffic, and driving time on different roadway types. Demographic information, such as nap habit, age, gender, and driving experience was also collected through questionnaires distributed to the participants. An Accelerated Failure Time (AFT) model was developed to estimate the driving time before detection of drowsiness. The results of the AFT model showed driving time before drowsiness was longer during the day than at night, and was longer at lower temperatures. Additionally, drivers who identified as having a nap habit were more vulnerable to drowsiness. Generally, higher average travel speeds were correlated to a higher risk of drowsy driving, as were longer periods of low-speed driving in traffic jam conditions. Considering different road types, drivers felt drowsy more quickly on freeways compared to other facilities. The proposed model provides a better understanding of how driver drowsiness is influenced by different environmental and demographic factors. The model can be used to provide real-time data for the LBS-based drowsy driving warning system, improving past methods based only on a fixed driving. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of naturalistic driving videos of fleet services drivers to estimate driver error and potentially distracting behaviors as risk factors for rear-end versus angle crashes.

PubMed

Harland, Karisa K; Carney, Cher; McGehee, Daniel

2016-07-03

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence and odds of fleet driver errors and potentially distracting behaviors just prior to rear-end versus angle crashes. Analysis of naturalistic driving videos among fleet services drivers for errors and potentially distracting behaviors occurring in the 6 s before crash impact. Categorical variables were examined using the Pearson's chi-square test, and continuous variables, such as eyes-off-road time, were compared using the Student's t-test. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of a driver error or potentially distracting behavior being present in the seconds before rear-end versus angle crashes. Of the 229 crashes analyzed, 101 (44%) were rear-end and 128 (56%) were angle crashes. Driver age, gender, and presence of passengers did not differ significantly by crash type. Over 95% of rear-end crashes involved inadequate surveillance compared to only 52% of angle crashes (P < .0001). Almost 65% of rear-end crashes involved a potentially distracting driver behavior, whereas less than 40% of angle crashes involved these behaviors (P < .01). On average, drivers spent 4.4 s with their eyes off the road while operating or manipulating their cell phone. Drivers in rear-end crashes were at 3.06 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.73-5.44) times adjusted higher odds of being potentially distracted than those in angle crashes. Fleet driver driving errors and potentially distracting behaviors are frequent. This analysis provides data to inform safe driving interventions for fleet services drivers. Further research is needed in effective interventions to reduce the likelihood of drivers' distracting behaviors and errors that may potentially reducing crashes.

Lifestyle and accidents among young drivers.

PubMed

Gregersen, N P; Berg, H Y

1994-06-01

This study covers the lifestyle component of the problems related to young drivers' accident risk. The purpose of the study is to measure the relationship between lifestyle and accident risk, and to identify specific high-risk and low-risk groups. Lifestyle is measured through a questionnaire, where 20-year-olds describe themselves and how often they deal with a large number of different activities, like sports, music, movies, reading, cars and driving, political engagement, etc. They also report their involvement in traffic accidents. With a principal component analysis followed by a cluster analysis, lifestyle profiles are defined. These profiles are finally correlated to accidents, which makes it possible to define high-risk and low-risk groups. The cluster analysis defined 15 clusters including four high-risk groups with an average overrisk of 150% and two low-risk groups with an average underrisk of 75%. The results are discussed from two perspectives. The first is the importance of theoretical understanding of the contribution of lifestyle factors to young drivers' high accident risk. The second is how the findings could be used in practical road safety measures, like education, campaigns, etc.

Study of cervical muscle response and injury of driver during a frontal vehicle collision.

PubMed

Gao, Zhenhai; Li, Chuzhao; Hu, Hongyu; Zhao, Hui; Chen, Chaoyang; Yu, Huili

2015-01-01

Frontal vehicle collisions can cause injury to a driver's cervical muscles resulting from intense changes in muscle strain and muscle load. This study investigated the influence of collision forces in a sled test environment using a modified Hybrid III 50th percentile dummy equipped with simulated spring-type muscles. Cervical muscle responses including strain and load of the sternocleidomastoid (SCM), splenius capitis (SPL), and trapezius (TRP) were analyzed, and muscle injury was assessed. The SCM, SPL, and TRP suffered average peak muscle strains of 21%, 40%, and 23%, respectively, exceeding the injury threshold. The average peak muscle loads of the SCM, SPL and TRP were 11 N, 25 N, and 25 N, respectively, lower than the ultimate failure load. The SPL endured the largest injury, while the injuries to the SCM and TRP were relatively small. This is a preliminary study to assess the cervical muscle of driver during a frontal vehicle collision. This study provides a foundation for investigating the muscle response and injury in sled test environments, which can lead to the improvement of occupant protections.

Association of driver air bags with driver fatality: a matched cohort study

PubMed Central

Cummings, Peter; McKnight, Barbara; Rivara, Frederick P; Grossman, David C

2002-01-01

Objective To estimate the association of driver air bag presence with driver fatality in road traffic crashes. Design Matched pair cohort study. Setting All passenger vehicle crashes in the United States during 1990-2000 inclusive. Subjects 51 031 driver-passenger pairs in the same vehicle. Main outcome measures Relative risk of death within 30 days of a crash. Results Drivers with an air bag were less likely to die than drivers without an air bag (adjusted relative risk 0.92 (95% confidence interval 0.88 to 0.96)). This estimate was nearly the same whether drivers wore a seat belt (adjusted relative risk 0.93) or not (0.91). Air bags were associated with more protection for women (0.88 (0.82 to 0.93)), than for men (0.94 (0.90 to 0.99)). Drivers wearing a seat belt were less likely to die than unbelted drivers (0.35 (0.33 to 0.36)). Belted drivers with an air bag were less likely to die than unbelted drivers without an air bag (0.32 (0.30 to 0.34)). Conclusions If the associations are causal the average risk of driver death was reduced 8% (95% confidence interval 4% to 12%) by an air bag. Benefit was similar for belted and unbelted drivers and was slightly greater for women. However, seat belts offered much more protection than air bags. What is already known on this topicStudies have estimated that driver air bags reduce the risk of death in a road vehicle crash by 10-14%These studies disagree as to whether benefit is greater for drivers wearing a seat belt or for unbelted driversWhat this study addsHaving an air bag was associated with an 8% reduction in the risk of death, whether the driver was belted or notThe reduction in risk was greater for women (12%) than for men (6%)Seat belts provided much greater protection, with seat belt use reducing the risk of death by 65% (or by 68% in combination with an air bag) PMID:12003882

Comparing Gravimetric and Real-Time Sampling of PM2.5 Concentrations Inside Truck Cabins

PubMed Central

Zhu, Ying; Smith, Thomas J.; Davis, Mary E.; Levy, Jonathan I.; Herrick, Robert; Jiang, Hongyu

2012-01-01

As part of a study on truck drivers’ exposure and health risk, pickup and delivery (P&D) truck drivers’ on-road exposure patterns to PM2.5 were assessed in five weeklong sampling trips in metropolitan areas of five U.S. cities from April to August of 2006. Drivers were sampled with real-time (DustTrak) and gravimetric samplers to measure average in-cabin PM2.5 concentrations and to compare their correspondence in moving trucks. In addition, GPS measurements of truck locations, meteorological data, and driver behavioral data were collected throughout the day to determine which factors influence the relationship between real-time and gravimetric samplers. Results indicate that the association between average real-time and gravimetric PM2.5 measurements on moving trucks was fairly consistent (Spearman rank correlation of 0.63), with DustTrak measurements exceeding gravimetric measurements by approximately a factor of 2. This ratio differed significantly only between the industrial Midwest cities and the other three sampled cities scattered in the South and West. There was also limited evidence of an effect of truck age. Filter samples collected concurrently with DustTrak measurements can be used to calibrate average mass concentration responses for the DustTrak, allowing for real-time measurements to be integrated into longer-term studies of inter-city and intra-urban exposure patterns for truck drivers. PMID:21991940

Optical flow and driver's kinematics analysis for state of alert sensing.

PubMed

Jiménez-Pinto, Javier; Torres-Torriti, Miguel

2013-03-28

Road accident statistics from different countries show that a significant number of accidents occur due to driver's fatigue and lack of awareness to traffic conditions. In particular, about 60% of the accidents in which long haul truck and bus drivers are involved are attributed to drowsiness and fatigue. It is thus fundamental to improve non-invasive systems for sensing a driver's state of alert. One of the main challenges to correctly resolve the state of alert is measuring the percentage of eyelid closure over time (PERCLOS), despite the driver's head and body movements. In this paper, we propose a technique that involves optical flow and driver's kinematics analysis to improve the robustness of the driver's alert state measurement under pose changes using a single camera with near-infrared illumination. The proposed approach infers and keeps track of the driver's pose in 3D space in order to ensure that eyes can be located correctly, even after periods of partial occlusion, for example, when the driver stares away from the camera. Our experiments show the effectiveness of the approach with a correct eyes detection rate of 99.41%, on average. The results obtained with the proposed approach in an experiment involving fifteen persons under different levels of sleep deprivation also confirm the discriminability of the fatigue levels. In addition to the measurement of fatigue and drowsiness, the pose tracking capability of the proposed approach has potential applications in distraction assessment and alerting of machine operators.

Optical Flow and Driver's Kinematics Analysis for State of Alert Sensing

PubMed Central

Jiménez-Pinto, Javier; Torres-Torriti, Miguel

2013-01-01

Road accident statistics from different countries show that a significant number of accidents occur due to driver's fatigue and lack of awareness to traffic conditions. In particular, about 60% of the accidents in which long haul truck and bus drivers are involved are attributed to drowsiness and fatigue. It is thus fundamental to improve non-invasive systems for sensing a driver's state of alert. One of the main challenges to correctly resolve the state of alert is measuring the percentage of eyelid closure over time (PERCLOS), despite the driver's head and body movements. In this paper, we propose a technique that involves optical flow and driver's kinematics analysis to improve the robustness of the driver's alert state measurement under pose changes using a single camera with near-infrared illumination. The proposed approach infers and keeps track of the driver's pose in 3D space in order to ensure that eyes can be located correctly, even after periods of partial occlusion, for example, when the driver stares away from the camera. Our experiments show the effectiveness of the approach with a correct eyes detection rate of 99.41%, on average. The results obtained with the proposed approach in an experiment involving fifteen persons under different levels of sleep deprivation also confirm the discriminability of the fatigue levels. In addition to the measurement of fatigue and drowsiness, the pose tracking capability of the proposed approach has potential applications in distraction assessment and alerting of machine operators. PMID:23539029

Steady State Condition in the Measurement of VO2and VCO2by Indirect Calorimetry.

PubMed

Cadena, M; Sacristan, E; Infante, O; Escalante, B; Rodriguez, F

2005-01-01

Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is computed using VO2and VCO2short time 15-minute window measurement with Indirect Calorimetry (IC) instruments designed with mixing chamber. Steady state condition using a 10% variation coefficient criteria is the main objective to achieve metabolic long time prediction reliability. This study address how susceptible is the steady state VO2, VCO2measurement condition to the clino-orthostatic physiological maneuver. 30 young healthy subjects were analyzed. Only 18 passed the 10% variation coefficient inclusive criteria. They were exposed to 10 minutes clino-stage and 10 minutes orthostage. The hypothesis tests show not statistical significance (p< 0.1) in the average and variance analysis. It is concluded that the steady state is not influenced by the patient position IC test, probably because IC mixing chamber instruments are insensitive to detect a mayor physiological dynamics changes that can modify the steady state definition.

Age and gender differences in time to collision at braking from the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study.

PubMed

Montgomery, Jade; Kusano, Kristofer D; Gabler, Hampton C

2014-01-01

Forward collision warning (FCW) is an active safety system that aims to mitigate the effect of forward collisions by warning the driver of objects in front of the vehicle. Success of FCW relies on how drivers react to the alerts. Drivers who receive too many warnings that they deem as unnecessary-that is, nuisance alarms-may grow to distrust and turn the system off. To reduce the perception of nuisance alarms, FCW systems can be tailored to individual driving styles, but these driving styles must first be characterized. The objective of this study was to characterize differences in braking behavior between age and gender groups in car-following scenarios using data from the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study. The data source for this study was the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study, which recorded the driving of 108 primary drivers for approximately a year. Braking behavior was characterized in terms of time to collision (TTC) at brake application, a common metric used in the design of warning thresholds of FCW. Because of the large volume of data analyzed, the TTC at which drivers braked during car-following situations was collected via an automated search algorithm. The minimum TTC for each vehicle speed 10 mph increment from 10 mph to 80 mph was recorded for each driver. Mixed model analysis of variance was used to examine the differences between age and gender groups. In total, 527,861 brake applications contained in 11,503 trips were analyzed. Differences in TTC at braking were statistically significant for age and gender (P<.01 for both cases). Males age 18-20 (n=7) had the lowest average minimum TTC at braking of 2.5±0.8 s, and females age 31-50 (n=6) had the highest average minimum TTC at braking of 6.4±0.9 s. On average, women (n=32) braked at a TTC 1.3 s higher than men (n=52). Age was a statistically significant factor for TTC at braking between participants under 30 (n=42) and participants over 30 (n=42), with the latter braking 1.7 s on average before the former. No statistical significance was found between ages 18-20 (n=15) and 21-30 (n=27) or between ages 31-50 (n=23) and 50+(n=19). There are clear statistical differences in TTC at braking for both gender and those over 30 vs. those under 30. Designers of FCW systems can use the data found in this study to tailor alert timings to the target demographic of a vehicle when designing forward collision warning systems. Appropriate alert timings for FCW systems will maximize effectiveness in collision reduction and mitigation.

Driving performance at lateral system limits during partially automated driving.

PubMed

Naujoks, Frederik; Purucker, Christian; Wiedemann, Katharina; Neukum, Alexandra; Wolter, Stefan; Steiger, Reid

2017-11-01

This study investigated driver performance during system limits of partially automated driving. Using a motion-based driving simulator, drivers encountered different situations in which a partially automated vehicle could no longer safely keep the lateral guidance. Drivers were distracted by a non-driving related task on a touch display or driving without an additional secondary task. While driving in partially automated mode drivers could either take their hands off the steering wheel for only a short period of time (10s, so-called 'Hands-on' variant) or for an extended period of time (120s, so-called 'Hands-off' variant). When the system limit was reached (e.g., when entering a work zone with temporary lines), the lateral vehicle control by the automation was suddenly discontinued and a take-over request was issued to the drivers. Regardless of the hands-off interval and the availability of a secondary task, all drivers managed the transition to manual driving safely. No lane exceedances were observed and the situations were rated as 'harmless' by the drivers. The lack of difference between the hands-off intervals can be partly attributed to the fact that most of the drivers kept contact to the steering wheel, even in the hands-off condition. Although all drivers were able to control the system limits, most of them could not explain why exactly the take-over request was issued. The average helpfulness of the take-over request was rated on an intermediate level. Consequently, providing drivers with information about the reason for a system limit can be recommended. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Concept and benefits of the Inverted Classroom method for a competency-based biochemistry course in the pre-clinical stage of a human medicine course of studies

PubMed Central

Kühl, Susanne J.; Toberer, Matthias; Keis, Oliver; Tolks, Daniel; Fischer, Martin R.; Kühl, Michael

2017-01-01

Background: Medical students often have a problem recognising the relevance of basic science subjects for their later professional work in the pre-clinical stage of their studies. This can lead to a lower motivation to learn biochemical content and dissatisfaction in the courses amongst the students. Alternative teaching methods such as the Inverted Classroom (IC) method can address this deficiency. The goal of this study was: to analyse the motivation and satisfaction of the students in a biochemistry seminar through the use of the e-learning-based IC method, to investigate the acceptance against the IC teaching method in biochemistry, and to compare the learning success achieved using the IC approach with that of a traditional course. We also investigated how a biochemistry course in the pre-clinical stage of a human medicine course of studies can be successfully organised according to the IC method. Furthermore, we examined the benefits of the IC method over conventional teaching formats. Method: The IC method was implemented in accordance with the guidelines of the GMA committee “New Media” [30] in a biochemistry seminar for two student IC intervention groups with 42 students. A part of the factual knowledge from the on-site phase in the form of teaching videos together with self-learning control tasks were provided online before the seminar for both IC intervention groups. Exporting content to the self-learning phase creates new free time in the on-site phase, during which the content can be critically considered and processed and additional competency-based learning objectives can be taught. Identical biochemistry teaching content was taught in parallel control groups (14 student groups with n=299 students), but no material was handed out beforehand for a self-learning phase. These students only received the materials after the on-site phase. Motivation and satisfaction as well as the acceptance for the teaching methods were recorded by questionnaires, the acquisition of knowledge by MC exams. Results: On a Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree), the students in the IC intervention groups could be seen to be much more motivated (5.53) than students in the control group (4.01). Students in the IC intervention groups also recognised the relevance of the learning content much more clearly (5.44) than students in the control group (4.01). Furthermore, the IC group also observed that additional competencies were trained in addition to the biochemistry content. In addition, the IC intervention group award the event a school grade of 1.53, the traditional control group a grade of 2.96. The teaching videos were rated very positively by both groups with an average school grade of 1.3 in each case. A qualitative analysis showed that the motivation and a positive attitude of the lecturers played a decisive role in the successful implementation of the IC method. Discussion and conclusion: Pre-clinical students display a high acceptance of the e-learning-based IC method. Teaching communication competencies in a biochemistry seminar was also rated very positively by the students. The quality of the teaching video and the motivation of the lecturers were shown to be a critical parameter for the successful performance of the IC method. What’s more, the IC method can contribute to implementing a competence orientation in medical studies. PMID:28890922

Concept and benefits of the Inverted Classroom method for a competency-based biochemistry course in the pre-clinical stage of a human medicine course of studies.

PubMed

Kühl, Susanne J; Toberer, Matthias; Keis, Oliver; Tolks, Daniel; Fischer, Martin R; Kühl, Michael

2017-01-01

Background: Medical students often have a problem recognising the relevance of basic science subjects for their later professional work in the pre-clinical stage of their studies. This can lead to a lower motivation to learn biochemical content and dissatisfaction in the courses amongst the students. Alternative teaching methods such as the Inverted Classroom (IC) method can address this deficiency. The goal of this study was: to analyse the motivation and satisfaction of the students in a biochemistry seminar through the use of the e-learning-based IC method, to investigate the acceptance against the IC teaching method in biochemistry, and to compare the learning success achieved using the IC approach with that of a traditional course. We also investigated how a biochemistry course in the pre-clinical stage of a human medicine course of studies can be successfully organised according to the IC method. Furthermore, we examined the benefits of the IC method over conventional teaching formats. Method: The IC method was implemented in accordance with the guidelines of the GMA committee "New Media" [30] in a biochemistry seminar for two student IC intervention groups with 42 students. A part of the factual knowledge from the on-site phase in the form of teaching videos together with self-learning control tasks were provided online before the seminar for both IC intervention groups. Exporting content to the self-learning phase creates new free time in the on-site phase, during which the content can be critically considered and processed and additional competency-based learning objectives can be taught. Identical biochemistry teaching content was taught in parallel control groups (14 student groups with n=299 students), but no material was handed out beforehand for a self-learning phase. These students only received the materials after the on-site phase. Motivation and satisfaction as well as the acceptance for the teaching methods were recorded by questionnaires, the acquisition of knowledge by MC exams. Results: On a Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree), the students in the IC intervention groups could be seen to be much more motivated (5.53) than students in the control group (4.01). Students in the IC intervention groups also recognised the relevance of the learning content much more clearly (5.44) than students in the control group (4.01). Furthermore, the IC group also observed that additional competencies were trained in addition to the biochemistry content. In addition, the IC intervention group award the event a school grade of 1.53, the traditional control group a grade of 2.96. The teaching videos were rated very positively by both groups with an average school grade of 1.3 in each case. A qualitative analysis showed that the motivation and a positive attitude of the lecturers played a decisive role in the successful implementation of the IC method. Discussion and conclusion: Pre-clinical students display a high acceptance of the e-learning-based IC method. Teaching communication competencies in a biochemistry seminar was also rated very positively by the students. The quality of the teaching video and the motivation of the lecturers were shown to be a critical parameter for the successful performance of the IC method. What's more, the IC method can contribute to implementing a competence orientation in medical studies.

Validation of the doubly labeled water method using off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy and isotope ratio mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Melanson, Edward L; Swibas, Tracy; Kohrt, Wendy M; Catenacci, Vicki A; Creasy, Seth A; Plasqui, Guy; Wouters, Loek; Speakman, John R; Berman, Elena S F

2018-02-01

When the doubly labeled water (DLW) method is used to measure total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), isotope measurements are typically performed using isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). New technologies, such as off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy (OA-ICOS) provide comparable isotopic measurements of standard waters and human urine samples, but the accuracy of carbon dioxide production (V̇co 2 ) determined with OA-ICOS has not been demonstrated. We compared simultaneous measurement V̇co 2 obtained using whole-room indirect calorimetry (IC) with DLW-based measurements from IRMS and OA-ICOS. Seventeen subjects (10 female; 22 to 63 yr) were studied for 7 consecutive days in the IC. Subjects consumed a dose of 0.25 g H 2 18 O (98% APE) and 0.14 g 2 H 2 O (99.8% APE) per kilogram of total body water, and urine samples were obtained on days 1 and 8 to measure average daily V̇co 2 using OA-ICOS and IRMS. V̇co 2 was calculated using both the plateau and intercept methods. There were no differences in V̇co 2 measured by OA-ICOS or IRMS compared with IC when the plateau method was used. When the intercept method was used, V̇co 2 using OA-ICOS did not differ from IC, but V̇co 2 measured using IRMS was significantly lower than IC. Accuracy (~1-5%), precision (~8%), intraclass correlation coefficients ( R = 0.87-90), and root mean squared error (30-40 liters/day) of V̇co 2 measured by OA-ICOS and IRMS were similar. Both OA-ICOS and IRMS produced measurements of V̇co 2 with comparable accuracy and precision compared with IC.

Vagal stimulation targets select populations of intrinsic cardiac neurons to control neurally induced atrial fibrillation

PubMed Central

Salavatian, Siamak; Beaumont, Eric; Longpré, Jean-Philippe; Armour, J. Andrew; Vinet, Alain; Jacquemet, Vincent; Shivkumar, Kalyanam

2016-01-01

Mediastinal nerve stimulation (MNS) reproducibly evokes atrial fibrillation (AF) by excessive and heterogeneous activation of intrinsic cardiac (IC) neurons. This study evaluated whether preemptive vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) impacts MNS-induced evoked changes in IC neural network activity to thereby alter susceptibility to AF. IC neuronal activity in the right atrial ganglionated plexus was directly recorded in anesthetized canines (n = 8) using a linear microelectrode array concomitant with right atrial electrical activity in response to: 1) epicardial touch or great vessel occlusion vs. 2) stellate or vagal stimulation. From these stressors, post hoc analysis (based on the Skellam distribution) defined IC neurons so recorded as afferent, efferent, or convergent (afferent and efferent inputs) local circuit neurons (LCN). The capacity of right-sided MNS to modify IC activity in the induction of AF was determined before and after preemptive right (RCV)- vs. left (LCV)-sided VNS (15 Hz, 500 μs; 1.2× bradycardia threshold). Neuronal (n = 89) activity at baseline (0.11 ± 0.29 Hz) increased during MNS-induced AF (0.51 ± 1.30 Hz; P < 0.001). Convergent LCNs were preferentially activated by MNS. Preemptive RCV reduced MNS-induced changes in LCN activity (by 70%) while mitigating MNS-induced AF (by 75%). Preemptive LCV reduced LCN activity by 60% while mitigating AF potential by 40%. IC neuronal synchrony increased during neurally induced AF, a local neural network response mitigated by preemptive VNS. These antiarrhythmic effects persisted post-VNS for, on average, 26 min. In conclusion, VNS preferentially targets convergent LCNs and their interactive coherence to mitigate the potential for neurally induced AF. The antiarrhythmic properties imposed by VNS exhibit memory. PMID:27591222

Excited states with internally contracted multireference coupled-cluster linear response theory.

PubMed

Samanta, Pradipta Kumar; Mukherjee, Debashis; Hanauer, Matthias; Köhn, Andreas

2014-04-07

In this paper, the linear response (LR) theory for the variant of internally contracted multireference coupled cluster (ic-MRCC) theory described by Hanauer and Köhn [J. Chem. Phys. 134, 204211 (2011)] has been formulated and implemented for the computation of the excitation energies relative to a ground state of pronounced multireference character. We find that straightforward application of the linear-response formalism to the time-averaged ic-MRCC Lagrangian leads to unphysical second-order poles. However, the coupling matrix elements that cause this behavior are shown to be negligible whenever the internally contracted approximation as such is justified. Hence, for the numerical implementation of the method, we adopt a Tamm-Dancoff-type approximation and neglect these couplings. This approximation is also consistent with an equation-of-motion based derivation, which neglects these couplings right from the start. We have implemented the linear-response approach in the ic-MRCC singles-and-doubles framework and applied our method to calculate excitation energies for a number of molecules ranging from CH2 to p-benzyne and conjugated polyenes (up to octatetraene). The computed excitation energies are found to be very accurate, even for the notoriously difficult case of doubly excited states. The ic-MRCC-LR theory is also applicable to systems with open-shell ground-state wavefunctions and is by construction not biased towards a particular reference determinant. We have also compared the linear-response approach to the computation of energy differences by direct state-specific ic-MRCC calculations. We finally compare to Mk-MRCC-LR theory for which spurious roots have been reported [T.-C. Jagau and J. Gauss, J. Chem. Phys. 137, 044116 (2012)], being due to the use of sufficiency conditions to solve the Mk-MRCC equations. No such problem is present in ic-MRCC-LR theory.

AmeriFlux US-ICs Imnavait Creek Watershed Wet Sedge Tundra

DOE Data Explorer

Bret-Harte, Syndonia [University of Alaska Fairbanks; Euskirchen, Eugenie [University of Alaska Fairbanks; Shaver, Gaius [Marine Biological Laboratory

2016-01-01

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-ICs Imnavait Creek Watershed Wet Sedge Tundra. Site Description - The Imnavait Creek Watershed Wet Sedge Tundra (Fen Station) is located near Imnavait Creek in Alaska, north of the Brooks Range in the Kuparuk basin near Lake Toolik and the Toolik Field Station. The Kuparuk River has its headwaters in the Brooks Range and drains through northern Alaska into the Arctic Ocean. Within these headwaters lies the Imnavait basin at an average elevation of 930 m. Water tracks run down the hill in parallel zones with a spacing of approximately 10 m. The Fen Station was deployed at the end of Summer 2007.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Yu-Qian; Modjaz, Maryam; Bianco, Federica B.

Using the largest spectroscopic data set of stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae (stripped SNe), we present a systematic investigation of spectral properties of Type IIb SNe (SNe IIb), Type Ib SNe (SNe Ib), and Type Ic SNe (SNe Ic). Prior studies have been based on individual objects or small samples. Here, we analyze 242 spectra of 14 SNe IIb, 262 spectra of 21 SNe Ib, and 207 spectra of 17 SNe Ic based on the stripped SN data set of Modjaz et al. and other published spectra of individual SNe. Each SN in our sample has a secure spectroscopic ID, a datemore » of V -band maximum light, and most have multiple spectra at different phases. We analyze these spectra as a function of subtype and phase in order to improve the SN identification scheme and constrain the progenitors of different kinds of stripped SNe. By comparing spectra of SNe IIb with those of SNe Ib, we find that the strength of H α can be used to quantitatively differentiate between these two subtypes at all epochs. Moreover, we find a continuum in observational properties between SNe IIb and Ib. We address the question of hidden He in SNe Ic by comparing our observations with predictions from various models that either include hidden He or in which He has been burnt. Our results favor the He-free progenitor models for SNe Ic. Finally, we construct continuum-divided average spectra as a function of subtype and phase to quantify the spectral diversity of the different types of stripped SNe.« less

Using trip diaries to mitigate route risk and risky driving behavior among older drivers.

PubMed

Payyanadan, Rashmi P; Maus, Adam; Sanchez, Fabrizzio A; Lee, John D; Miossi, Lillian; Abera, Amsale; Melvin, Jacob; Wang, Xufan

2017-09-01

To reduce exposure to risky and challenging driving situations and prolong mobility and independence, older drivers self-regulate their driving behavior. But self-regulation can be challenging because it depends on drivers' ability to assess their limitations. Studies using self-reports, survey data, and hazard and risk perception tests have shown that driving behavior feedback can help older drivers assess their limitations and adjust their driving behavior. But only limited work has been conducted in developing feedback technology interventions tailored to meet the information needs of older drivers, and the impact these interventions have in helping older drivers self-monitor their driving behavior and risk outcomes. The vehicles of 33 drivers 65 years and older were instrumented with OBD2 devices. Older drivers were provided access to customized web-based Trip Diaries that delivered post-trip feedback of the routes driven, low-risk route alternatives, and frequency of their risky driving behaviors. Data were recorded over four months, with baseline driving behavior collected for one month. Generalized linear mixed effects regression models assessed the effects of post-trip feedback on the route risk and driving behaviors of older drivers. Results showed that post-trip feedback reduced the estimated route risk of older drivers by 2.9% per week, and reduced their speeding frequency on average by 0.9% per week. Overall, the Trip Diary feedback reduced the expected crash rate from 1 in 6172 trips to 1 in 7173 trips, and the expected speeding frequency from 46% to 39%. Thus providing older drivers with tailored feedback of their driving behavior and crash risk could help them appropriately self-regulate their driving behavior, and improve their crash risk outcomes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rectal culture-directed antibiotic prophylaxis before transrectal prostate biopsy: Reduced infectious complications and healthcare costs.

PubMed

Baldissera-Aradas, J V; Rodríguez-Villamil, L; Blanco-Fernández, R; Pérez-García, C; Viejo de la Guerra, G; González-Rodríguez, I; Mosquera-Madera, J

2018-01-10

Transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TUPB) is associated with infectious complications (ICs), which are related to a greater prevalence of ciprofloxacin-resistant bacteria (CRB) in rectal flora. We examined the ICs that occurred in 2 groups: A guided antibiotic prophylaxis (GP) group and an empiric prophylaxis (EP) group. We assessed the financial impact of GP. The GP group was studied prospectively (June 2013 to July 2014). We collected rectal cultures (RCs) before the TUPB, which were seeded on selective media with ciprofloxacin to determine the presence of CRB. The patients with sensitive bacteria were administered ciprofloxacin. Patients with resistant bacteria were administered GP according to the RC antibiogram. The EP group was studied retrospectively (January 2011 to June 2009). RCs were not performed, and all patients were treated with ciprofloxacin as prophylaxis. The ICs in both groups were recorded during a period no longer than 30 days following TUPB (electronic medical history). Three hundred patients underwent TUPB, 145 underwent GP, and 155 underwent EP. In the GP group, 23 patients (15.86%) presented CRB in the RCs. Only one patient (0.7%) experienced a UTI. In the EP group, 26 patients (16.8%) experienced multiple ICs (including 2 cases of sepsis) (P<.005). The estimated total cost, including the management of the ICs, was €57,076 with EP versus €4802.33 with GP. The average cost per patient with EP was €368.23 versus €33.11 with GP. GP achieved an estimated total savings of €52,273.67. Six patients had to undergo GP to prevent an IC. GP is associated with a marked decrease in the incidence of ICs caused by CRB and reduced healthcare costs. Copyright © 2017 AEU. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Chinese carless young drivers' self-reported driving behavior and simulated driving performance.

PubMed

Zhang, Qian; Jiang, Zuhua; Zheng, Dongpeng; Man, Dong; Xu, Xunnan

2013-01-01

Carless young drivers refers to those drivers aged between 18 and 25 years who have a driver's license but seldom have opportunities to practice their driving skills because they do not have their own cars. Due to China's lower private car ownership, many young drivers become carless young drivers after licensure, and the safety issue associated with them has raised great concern in China. This study aims to provide initial insight into the self-reported driving behaviors and simulated driving performance of Chinese carless young drivers. Thirty-three carless young drivers and 32 young drivers with their own cars (as a comparison group) participated in this study. A modified Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) with a 4-factor structure (errors, violations, attention lapses, and memory lapses) was used to study carless young drivers' self-reported driving behaviors. A simulated driving experiment using a low-cost, fixed-base driving simulator was conducted to measure their simulated driving performance (errors, violations, attention lapses, driving maintenance, reaction time, and accidents). Self-reported DBQ outcomes showed that carless young drivers reported similar errors, more attention lapses, fewer memory lapses, and significantly fewer violation behaviors relative to young drivers with their own cars, whereas simulated driving results revealed that they committed significantly more errors, attention lapses, and violation behaviors than the comparison group. Carless young drivers had a lower ability to maintain the stability of speed and lane position, drove more cautiously approaching and passing through red traffic lights, and committed more accidents during simulated driving. A tendency to speed was not found among carless young drivers; their average speed and speeding frequency were all much lower than that of the comparison group. Lifetime mileage was the only significant predictor of carless young drivers' self-reported violations, simulated violations, speed, and reaction time, whereas no significant predictor was found for young drivers with their own cars. Carless young drivers had poorer driving performance and were more overconfident of their self-reported driving skills compared to those young drivers with greater access to vehicles. Given that the lifetime mileage positively predicted the simulated violations measure of carless young drivers, immediate interventions are needed to help them increase driving exposure and gain driving experience gradually before moving to more challenging on-road driving tasks. Supplemental materials are available for this article.

Best response game of traffic on road network of non-signalized intersections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Wang; Jia, Ning; Zhong, Shiquan; Li, Liying

2018-01-01

This paper studies the traffic flow in a grid road network with non-signalized intersections. The nature of the drivers in the network is simulated such that they play an iterative snowdrift game with other drivers. A cellular automata model is applied to study the characteristics of the traffic flow and the evolution of the behaviour of the drivers during the game. The drivers use best-response as their strategy to update rules. Three major findings are revealed. First, the cooperation rate in simulation experiences staircase-shaped drop as cost to benefit ratio r increases, and cooperation rate can be derived analytically as a function of cost to benefit ratio r. Second, we find that higher cooperation rate corresponds to higher average speed, lower density and higher flow. This reveals that defectors deteriorate the efficiency of traffic on non-signalized intersections. Third, the system experiences more randomness when the density is low because the drivers will not have much opportunity to update strategy when the density is low. These findings help to show how the strategy of drivers in a traffic network evolves and how their interactions influence the overall performance of the traffic system.

Risk of Alcohol-Impaired Driving Recidivism Among First Offenders and Multiple Offenders

PubMed Central

Zador, Paul L.; Ahlin, Eileen M.; Howard, Jan M.; Frissell, Kevin C.; Duncan, G. Doug

2010-01-01

Objectives. We sought to determine the statewide impact of having prior alcohol-impaired driving violations of any type on the rate of first occurrence or recidivism among drivers with 0, 1, 2, or 3 or more prior violations in Maryland. Methods. We analyzed more than 100 million driver records from 1973 to 2004 and classified all Maryland drivers into 4 groups: those with 0, 1, 2, or 3 or more prior violations. The violation rates for approximately 21 million drivers in these 4 groups were compared for the study period 1999 to 2004. Results. On average, there were 3.4, 24.3, 35.9, and 50.8 violations per 1000 drivers a year among those with 0, 1, 2, or 3 or more priors, respectively. The relative risks for men compared with women among these groups of drivers were 3.8, 1.2, 1.0, and 1.0, respectively. Conclusions. The recidivism rate among first offenders more closely resembles that of second offenders than of nonoffenders. Men and women are at equal risk of recidivating once they have had a first violation documented. Any alcohol-impaired driving violation, not just convictions, is a marker for future recidivism. PMID:19846687

Fatigue and crashes: the case of freight transport in Colombia.

PubMed

Torregroza-Vargas, Nathaly M; Bocarejo, Juan Pablo; Ramos-Bonilla, Juan P

2014-11-01

Truck drivers have been involved in a significant number of road fatalities in Colombia. To identify variables that could be associated with crashes in which truck drivers are involved, a logistic regression model was constructed. The model had as the response variable a dichotomous variable that included the presence or absence of a crash during a specific trip. As independent variables the model included information regarding a driver's work shift, with variables that could be associated with driver's fatigue. The model also included potential confounders related with road conditions. With the model, it was possible to determine the odds ratio of a crash in relation to several variables, adjusting for confounding. To collect the information about the trips included in the model, a survey among truck drivers was conducted. The results suggest strong associations between crashes (i.e., some of them statistically significant) with the number of stops made during the trip, and the average time of each stop. Survey analysis allowed us to identify the practices that contribute to generating fatigue and unhealthy conditions on the road among professional drivers. A review of national regulations confirmed the lack of legislation on this topic. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring driver responses at railway level crossings.

PubMed

Tey, Li-Sian; Ferreira, Luis; Wallace, Angela

2011-11-01

Railway level crossings are amongst the most complex of road safety control systems, due to the conflicts between road vehicles and rail infrastructure, trains and train operations. Driver behaviour at railway crossings is the major collision factor. The main objective of the present paper was to evaluate the existing conventional warning devices in relation to driver behaviour. The common conventional warning devices in Australia are a stop sign (passive), flashing lights and a half boom-barrier with flashing lights (active). The data were collected using two approaches, namely: field video recordings at selected sites and a driving simulator in a laboratory. This paper describes and compares the driver response results from both the field survey and the driving simulator. The conclusion drawn is that different types of warning systems resulted in varying driver responses at crossings. The results showed that on average driver responses to passive crossings were poor when compared to active ones. The field results were consistent with the simulator results for the existing conventional warning devices and hence they may be used to calibrate the simulator for further evaluation of alternative warning systems. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Algorithmic methods to infer the evolutionary trajectories in cancer progression

PubMed Central

Graudenzi, Alex; Ramazzotti, Daniele; Sanz-Pamplona, Rebeca; De Sano, Luca; Mauri, Giancarlo; Moreno, Victor; Antoniotti, Marco; Mishra, Bud

2016-01-01

The genomic evolution inherent to cancer relates directly to a renewed focus on the voluminous next-generation sequencing data and machine learning for the inference of explanatory models of how the (epi)genomic events are choreographed in cancer initiation and development. However, despite the increasing availability of multiple additional -omics data, this quest has been frustrated by various theoretical and technical hurdles, mostly stemming from the dramatic heterogeneity of the disease. In this paper, we build on our recent work on the “selective advantage” relation among driver mutations in cancer progression and investigate its applicability to the modeling problem at the population level. Here, we introduce PiCnIc (Pipeline for Cancer Inference), a versatile, modular, and customizable pipeline to extract ensemble-level progression models from cross-sectional sequenced cancer genomes. The pipeline has many translational implications because it combines state-of-the-art techniques for sample stratification, driver selection, identification of fitness-equivalent exclusive alterations, and progression model inference. We demonstrate PiCnIc’s ability to reproduce much of the current knowledge on colorectal cancer progression as well as to suggest novel experimentally verifiable hypotheses. PMID:27357673

Improving Night Time Driving Safety Using Vision-Based Classification Techniques.

PubMed

Chien, Jong-Chih; Chen, Yong-Sheng; Lee, Jiann-Der

2017-09-24

The risks involved in nighttime driving include drowsy drivers and dangerous vehicles. Prominent among the more dangerous vehicles around at night are the larger vehicles which are usually moving faster at night on a highway. In addition, the risk level of driving around larger vehicles rises significantly when the driver's attention becomes distracted, even for a short period of time. For the purpose of alerting the driver and elevating his or her safety, in this paper we propose two components for any modern vision-based Advanced Drivers Assistance System (ADAS). These two components work separately for the single purpose of alerting the driver in dangerous situations. The purpose of the first component is to ascertain that the driver would be in a sufficiently wakeful state to receive and process warnings; this is the driver drowsiness detection component. The driver drowsiness detection component uses infrared images of the driver to analyze his eyes' movements using a MSR plus a simple heuristic. This component issues alerts to the driver when the driver's eyes show distraction and are closed for a longer than usual duration. Experimental results show that this component can detect closed eyes with an accuracy of 94.26% on average, which is comparable to previous results using more sophisticated methods. The purpose of the second component is to alert the driver when the driver's vehicle is moving around larger vehicles at dusk or night time. The large vehicle detection component accepts images from a regular video driving recorder as input. A bi-level system of classifiers, which included a novel MSR-enhanced KAZE-base Bag-of-Features classifier, is proposed to avoid false negatives. In both components, we propose an improved version of the Multi-Scale Retinex (MSR) algorithm to augment the contrast of the input. Several experiments were performed to test the effects of the MSR and each classifier, and the results are presented in experimental results section of this paper.

Quantifying the association between obesity, automobile travel, and caloric intake.

PubMed

Behzad, Banafsheh; King, Douglas M; Jacobson, Sheldon H

2013-02-01

The objective of this study is to assess the association between average adult body mass index (BMI), automobile travel, and caloric intake in the US in order to predict future trends of adult obesity. Annual BMI data (1984-2010) from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), vehicle miles traveled data (1970-2009) from the Federal Highway Administration, licensed drivers data (1970-2009) from the Federal Highway Administration, and adult average daily caloric intake data (1970-2009) from the US Department of Agriculture were collected. A statistical model is proposed to capture multicollinearity across the independent variables. The proposed statistical model provides an estimate of changes in the average adult BMI associated with changes in automobile travel and caloric intake. According to this model, reducing daily automobile travel by one mile per driver would be associated with a 0.21 kg/m(2) reduction in the national average BMI after six years. Reducing daily caloric intake by 100 calories per person would be associated with a 0.16 kg/m(2) reduction in the national average BMI after three years. Making small changes in travel or diet choices may lead to comparable obesity interventions, implying that travel-based interventions may be as effective as dietary interventions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Predictors of driving safety in early Alzheimer disease.

PubMed

Dawson, J D; Anderson, S W; Uc, E Y; Dastrup, E; Rizzo, M

2009-02-10

To measure the association of cognition, visual perception, and motor function with driving safety in Alzheimer disease (AD). Forty drivers with probable early AD (mean Mini-Mental State Examination score 26.5) and 115 elderly drivers without neurologic disease underwent a battery of cognitive, visual, and motor tests, and drove a standardized 35-mile route in urban and rural settings in an instrumented vehicle. A composite cognitive score (COGSTAT) was calculated for each subject based on eight neuropsychological tests. Driving safety errors were noted and classified by a driving expert based on video review. Drivers with AD committed an average of 42.0 safety errors/drive (SD = 12.8), compared to an average of 33.2 (SD = 12.2) for drivers without AD (p < 0.0001); the most common errors were lane violations. Increased age was predictive of errors, with a mean of 2.3 more errors per drive observed for each 5-year age increment. After adjustment for age and gender, COGSTAT was a significant predictor of safety errors in subjects with AD, with a 4.1 increase in safety errors observed for a 1 SD decrease in cognitive function. Significant increases in safety errors were also found in subjects with AD with poorer scores on Benton Visual Retention Test, Complex Figure Test-Copy, Trail Making Subtest-A, and the Functional Reach Test. Drivers with Alzheimer disease (AD) exhibit a range of performance on tests of cognition, vision, and motor skills. Since these tests provide additional predictive value of driving performance beyond diagnosis alone, clinicians may use these tests to help predict whether a patient with AD can safely operate a motor vehicle.

The influence of different screw tightening forces on the vertical misfit of implant-supported frameworks.

PubMed

Vasconcellos, Diego Klee de; Bottino, Marco Antonio; Nishioka, Renato Sussumu; Valandro, Luiz Felipe; Costa, Elza Maria Valadares da

2005-06-01

The present in vitro study was designed to compare the differences in the vertical misfit of implant-supported frameworks using three different forces for tightening the bridge locking screws: fastening by hand until first resistance, and using torque drivers with 10 and 20Ncm. The investigation was conducted based on the results given by 9 six-unit nickel-chromium (2 abutments/ 4 pontics) screw-retained implant-supported frameworks. The structures were exposed to simulated porcelain firings. The marginal misfit measurements were made using a traveling measuring microscope at selected screw tightening forces: fastening by hand until first resistance, and using torque drivers with 10 and 20Ncm. The results were submitted to one-way ANOVA with repeated measures on one factor, and post hoc pairwise comparisons using Tukey test (5%). The mean marginal misfit of the frameworks, fastening the screws by hand until first resistance, was 41.56µm (SD±12.45µm). The use of torque driver devices caused a significant reduction in marginal opening (p<0.05). With the lowest torque available (10Ncm), the mean marginal discrepancy at the abutment-framework interface was reduced an average of 52% to a mean marginal opening of 19.71µm (SD±2.97µm). After the use of the 20Ncm torque driver, the mean marginal discrepancy of the frameworks was reduced an average of 69% to a mean marginal opening of 12.82µm (SD±4.0µm). Comparing the use of torque drivers with 10 and 20 Ncm torque, the means are not significantly different from one another. The seating force has an important effect on the vertical misfit measurements, once it may considerably narrow the vertical misfit gaps at the abutment-framework interface, thus leading to a misjudgment of the real marginal situation.

VO2 and VCO2 variabilities through indirect calorimetry instrumentation.

PubMed

Cadena-Méndez, Miguel; Escalante-Ramírez, Boris; Azpiroz-Leehan, Joaquín; Infante-Vázquez, Oscar

2013-01-01

The aim of this paper is to understand how to measure the VO2 and VCO2 variabilities in indirect calorimetry (IC) since we believe they can explain the high variation in the resting energy expenditure (REE) estimation. We propose that variabilities should be separately measured from the VO2 and VCO2 averages to understand technological differences among metabolic monitors when they estimate the REE. To prove this hypothesis the mixing chamber (MC) and the breath-by-breath (BbB) techniques measured the VO2 and VCO2 averages and their variabilities. Variances and power spectrum energies in the 0-0.5 Hertz band were measured to establish technique differences in steady and non-steady state. A hybrid calorimeter with both IC techniques studied a population of 15 volunteers that underwent the clino-orthostatic maneuver in order to produce the two physiological stages. The results showed that inter-individual VO2 and VCO2 variabilities measured as variances were negligible using the MC while variabilities measured as spectral energies using the BbB underwent 71 and 56% (p < 0.05), increase respectively. Additionally, the energy analysis showed an unexpected cyclic rhythm at 0.025 Hertz only during the orthostatic stage, which is new physiological information, not reported previusly. The VO2 and VCO2 inter-individual averages increased to 63 and 39% by the MC (p < 0.05) and 32 and 40% using the BbB (p < 0.1), respectively, without noticeable statistical differences among techniques. The conclusions are: (a) metabolic monitors should simultaneously include the MC and the BbB techniques to correctly interpret the steady or non-steady state variabilities effect in the REE estimation, (b) the MC is the appropriate technique to compute averages since it behaves as a low-pass filter that minimizes variances, (c) the BbB is the ideal technique to measure the variabilities since it can work as a high-pass filter to generate discrete time series able to accomplish spectral analysis, and (d) the new physiological information in the VO2 and VCO2 variabilities can help to understand why metabolic monitors with dissimilar IC techniques give different results in the REE estimation.

4 channels x 10-Gbps optoelectronic transceiver based on silicon optical bench technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chin T.; Hsiao, Hsu L.; Chang, Chia. C.; Shen, Po K.; Lu, Guan F.; Lee, Yun C.; Chang, Shou F.; Lin, Yo S.; Wu, Mount L.

2012-01-01

In this paper, a bi-directional 4-channel x 10-Gbps optoelectronic transceiver based on this silicon optical bench (SiOB) technology is developed. A bi-directional optical sub-assembly (BOSA), fiber ribbon assembly, PCB with high frequency trace design, transmitter driver, and receiver TIA IC are included in this transceiver. The BOSA and PCB also have some specific design for conventional chip-on-board (COB) process. In eye diagram measurement, the transmitter can pass 10-G Ethernet eye mask with 25% margin at room temperature; Bit-error-rate (BER) performance from the transmitter to receiver via 10-meter fiber can achieve 10-12 order, which confirm the transceiver's ability of 10-Gbps data transmission per a channel.

Needle thoracostomy in the treatment of a tension pneumothorax in trauma patients: what size needle?

PubMed

Zengerink, Imme; Brink, Peter R; Laupland, Kevin B; Raber, Earl L; Zygun, Dave; Kortbeek, John B

2008-01-01

A tension pneumothorax requires immediate decompression using a needle thoracostomy. According to advanced trauma life support guidelines this procedure is performed in the second intercostal space (ICS) in the midclavicular line (MCL), using a 4.5-cm (2-inch) catheter (5-cm needle). Previous studies have shown a failure rate of up to 40% using this technique. Case reports have suggested that this high failure rate could be because of insufficient length of the needle. To analyze the average chest wall thickness (CWT) at the second ICS in the MCL in a trauma population and to evaluate the length of the needle used in needle thoracostomy for emergency decompression of tension pneumothoraces. Retrospective review of major trauma admissions (Injury Severity Score >12) at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary, Canada, who underwent a computed tomography chest scan admitted in the period from October 2001 until March 2004. Subgroup analysis on men and women, <40 years of age and >/=40 years of age was defined a priori. CWT was measured to the nearest 0.01 cm at the second ICS in the MCL. The mean CWT in the 604 male patients and 170 female patients studied averaged 3.50 cm at the left second ICS MCL and 3.51 cm on the right. The mean CWT was significantly higher for women than men (p < 0.0001). About 9.9% to 19.3% of the men had a CWT >4.5 cm and 24.1% to 35.4% of the women studied. A catheter length of 4.5 cm may not penetrate the chest wall of a substantial amount (9.9%-35.4%) of the population, depending on age and gender. This study demonstrates the need for a variable needle length for relief of a tension pneumothorax in certain population groups to improve effectiveness of needle thoracostomy.

Spanish version of Bus Drivers' Job Demands Scale (BDJD-24).

PubMed

Boada-Grau, Joan; Prizmic-Kuzmica, Aldo-Javier; González-Fernández, Marcos-David; Vigil-Colet, Andreu

2013-01-01

Karasek and Theorell's Job Demands-Control Model argues that adverse health-related outcomes, both psychological and physiological, arise from a combination of high job demand and a low level of job control. The objective was to adapt Meijman and Kompier's Bus Drivers' Job Demands Scale (BDJD-24), which enables us to assess the job demands of bus drivers, to Spanish. The final version of the Spanish adaptation was applied to a sample made up of 287 bus drivers living in Spain (80.1% men and 19.9% women), whose average age was 40.44 (SD= 11.78). The results yielded a three-factor structure for the scale used: Time Pressure, Safety, and Passengers. These findings confirm that the Spanish version replicates the factor structure of the original English scale. The reliability of the three subscales was acceptable, ranging from .75 to .84. Furthermore, the subscales were also related to different external correlates and to other scales and showed good convergent and criterion validity. The present instrument can be used to evaluate job demands of bus drivers, as its psychometrics are substantially sound.

Predicting Energy Consumption for Potential Effective Use in Hybrid Vehicle Powertrain Management Using Driver Prediction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magnuson, Brian

A proof-of-concept software-in-the-loop study is performed to assess the accuracy of predicted net and charge-gaining energy consumption for potential effective use in optimizing powertrain management of hybrid vehicles. With promising results of improving fuel efficiency of a thermostatic control strategy for a series, plug-ing, hybrid-electric vehicle by 8.24%, the route and speed prediction machine learning algorithms are redesigned and implemented for real- world testing in a stand-alone C++ code-base to ingest map data, learn and predict driver habits, and store driver data for fast startup and shutdown of the controller or computer used to execute the compiled algorithm. Speed prediction is performed using a multi-layer, multi-input, multi- output neural network using feed-forward prediction and gradient descent through back- propagation training. Route prediction utilizes a Hidden Markov Model with a recurrent forward algorithm for prediction and multi-dimensional hash maps to store state and state distribution constraining associations between atomic road segments and end destinations. Predicted energy is calculated using the predicted time-series speed and elevation profile over the predicted route and the road-load equation. Testing of the code-base is performed over a known road network spanning 24x35 blocks on the south hill of Spokane, Washington. A large set of training routes are traversed once to add randomness to the route prediction algorithm, and a subset of the training routes, testing routes, are traversed to assess the accuracy of the net and charge-gaining predicted energy consumption. Each test route is traveled a random number of times with varying speed conditions from traffic and pedestrians to add randomness to speed prediction. Prediction data is stored and analyzed in a post process Matlab script. The aggregated results and analysis of all traversals of all test routes reflect the performance of the Driver Prediction algorithm. The error of average energy gained through charge-gaining events is 31.3% and the error of average net energy consumed is 27.3%. The average delta and average standard deviation of the delta of predicted energy gained through charge-gaining events is 0.639 and 0.601 Wh respectively for individual time-series calculations. Similarly, the average delta and average standard deviation of the delta of the predicted net energy consumed is 0.567 and 0.580 Wh respectively for individual time-series calculations. The average delta and standard deviation of the delta of the predicted speed is 1.60 and 1.15 respectively also for the individual time-series measurements. The percentage of accuracy of route prediction is 91%. Overall, test routes are traversed 151 times for a total test distance of 276.4 km.

Lower inhibitory control interacts with greater pain catastrophizing to predict greater pain intensity in women with migraine and overweight/obesity.

PubMed

Galioto, Rachel; O'Leary, Kevin C; Thomas, J Graham; Demos, Kathryn; Lipton, Richard B; Gunstad, John; Pavlović, Jelena M; Roth, Julie; Rathier, Lucille; Bond, Dale S

2017-12-01

Pain catastrophizing (PC) is associated with more severe and disabling migraine attacks. However, factors that moderate this relationship are unknown. Failure of inhibitory control (IC), or the ability to suppress automatic or inappropriate responses, may be one such factor given previous research showing a relationship between higher PC and lower IC in non-migraine samples, and research showing reduced IC in migraine. Therefore, we examined whether lower IC interacts with increased PC to predict greater migraine severity as measured by pain intensity, attack frequency, and duration. Women (n = 105) aged 18-50 years old (M = 38.0 ± 1.2) with overweight/obesity and migraine who were seeking behavioral treatment for weight loss and migraine reduction completed a 28-day smartphone-based headache diary assessing migraine headache severity. Participants then completed a modified computerized Stroop task as a measure of IC and self-report measures of PC (Pain Catastrophizing Scale [PCS]), anxiety, and depression. Linear regression was used to examine independent and joint associations of PC and IC with indices of migraine severity after controlling for age, body mass index (BMI) depression, and anxiety. Participants on average had BMI of 35.1 ± 6.5 kg/m 2 and reported 5.3 ± 2.6 migraine attacks (8.3 ± 4.4 migraine days) over 28 days that produced moderate pain intensity (5.9 ± 1.4 out of 10) with duration of 20.0 ± 14.2 h. After adjusting for covariates, higher PCS total (β = .241, SE = .14, p = .03) and magnification subscale (β = .311, SE = .51, p < .01) scores were significant independent correlates of longer attack duration. IC interacted with total PCS (β = 1.106, SE = .001, p = .03) rumination (β = 1.098, SE = .001, p = .04), and helplessness (β = 1.026, SE = .001, p = .04) subscale scores to predict headache pain intensity, such that the association between PC and pain intensity became more positive at lower levels of IC. Results showed that lower IC interacted with higher PC, both overall and specific subcomponents, to predict higher pain intensity during migraine attacks. Future studies are needed to determine whether interventions to improve IC could lead to less painful migraine attacks via improvements in PC.

Is take-over time all that matters? The impact of visual-cognitive load on driver take-over quality after conditionally automated driving.

PubMed

Zeeb, Kathrin; Buchner, Axel; Schrauf, Michael

2016-07-01

Currently, development of conditionally automated driving systems which control both lateral and longitudinal vehicle guidance is attracting a great deal of attention. The driver no longer needs to constantly monitor the roadway, but must still be able to resume vehicle control if necessary. The relaxed attention requirement might encourage engagement in non-driving related secondary tasks, and the resulting effect on driver take-over is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine how engagement in three different naturalistic secondary tasks (writing an email, reading a news text, watching a video clip) impacted take-over performance. A driving simulator study was conducted and data from a total of 79 participants (mean age 40 years, 35 females) were used to examine response times and take-over quality. Drivers had to resume vehicle control in four different non-critical scenarios while engaging in secondary tasks. A control group did not perform any secondary tasks. There was no influence of the drivers' engagement in secondary tasks on the time required to return their hands to the steering wheel, and there seemed to be only little if any influence on the time the drivers needed to intervene in vehicle control. Take-over quality, however, deteriorated for distracted drivers, with drivers reading a news text and drivers watching a video deviating on average approximately 8-9cm more from the lane center. These findings seem to indicate that establishing motor readiness may be carried out almost reflexively, but cognitive processing of the situation is impaired by driver distraction. This, in turn, appears to determine take-over quality. The present findings emphasize the importance to consider both response times and take-over quality for a comprehensive understanding of factors that influence driver take-over. Furthermore, a training effect in response times was found to be moderated by the drivers' prior experience with driver assistance systems. This shows that besides driver distraction, driver-related factors influencing take-over performance exist. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Older driver crash rates in relation to type and quantity of travel.

PubMed

Keall, Michael D; Frith, William J

2004-03-01

It is a well-established phenomenon that, notwithstanding their overall good crash record, older drivers have a higher than average rate of involvement in injury crashes when the rate is calculated by dividing crash numbers by distance driven. It has been hypothesised that at least some of this higher crash rate is an artefact of the different nature of driving undertaken by many older drivers. For example, driving in congested urban environments provides more opportunities for collisions than driving the same distance on a motorway. However, there have been few opportunities to investigate this theory, as relevant data are difficult to acquire. High-quality data from the New Zealand Travel Survey (1997/1998) were combined with crash data to enable a statistical model to estimate the risk of driver groups under various driving conditions characterised by the type of road used, time of day, day of week, and season of year. Despite elevated crash risks per distance driven compared with middle-aged drivers for most road types, older drivers were as safe as any other age group when driving on motorways. Accounting for the fragility of older drivers and their passengers in the risk estimates for other road types, older drivers appeared to have daytime risks comparable to 25-year-olds and night-time risks as low as any other age group. The driving patterns of older drivers (in terms of when and where they drive) were estimated to minimize their risks in comparison with the driving patterns of other age groups. These results are of interest to both policy makers and transportation planners working against the background of inevitable increases in the number of older drivers as the population ages.

Comparison of algorithms for the detection of cancer-drivers at sub-gene resolution

PubMed Central

Porta-Pardo, Eduard; Kamburov, Atanas; Tamborero, David; Pons, Tirso; Grases, Daniela; Valencia, Alfonso; Lopez-Bigas, Nuria; Getz, Gad; Godzik, Adam

2018-01-01

Understanding genetic events that lead to cancer initiation and progression remains one of the biggest challenges in cancer biology. Traditionally most algorithms for cancer driver identification look for genes that have more mutations than expected from the average background mutation rate. However, there is now a wide variety of methods that look for non-random distribution of mutations within proteins as a signal they have a driving role in cancer. Here we classify and review the progress of such sub-gene resolution algorithms, compare their findings on four distinct cancer datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas and discuss how predictions from these algorithms can be interpreted in the emerging paradigms that challenge the simple dichotomy between driver and passenger genes. PMID:28714987

Manual control of unstable systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allen, R. W.; Hogue, J. R.; Parseghian, Z.

1986-01-01

Under certain operational regimes and failure modes, air and ground vehicles can present the human operator with a dynamically unstable or divergent control task. Research conducted over the last two decades has explored the ability of the human operator to control unstable systems under a variety of circumstances. Past research is reviewed and human operator control capabilities are summarized. A current example of automobile directional control under rear brake lockup conditions is also reviewed. A control system model analysis of the driver's steering control task is summarized, based on a generic driver/vehicle model presented at last year's Annual Manual. Results from closed course braking tests are presented that confirm the difficulty the average driver has in controlling the unstable directional dynamics arising from rear wheel lockup.

[Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome in professional drivers and the relationship with traffic accidents].

PubMed

Liu, Y; Tu, C L; Yao, W F; Yu, Y F; Wang, Z; Hu, J R

2016-12-27

Objective: To study the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) and its relationship with traffic accidents in the professional drivers. Methods: Questionnaires of OSAHS were sent to 950 professional drivers who had annual physical examination at the Central Hospital of Jiading District in Shanghai from October 2014 to September 2015. Those with moderate to severe snoring and/or Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS)≥9 performed the home sleep testing. All drivers were divided into OSAHS and non-OSAHS according to the survey and monitoring. The following parameters were compared such as driving ages, neck circumference, body mass index (BMI), average night sleep time, ESS, hypertension, diabetes, hypertrophy of tonsil and the incidence of traffic accidents. The risk factors of traffic accidents were analyzed by multivariate Logistic regression. Results: Totally 826 responses were eligible, including 578 (70.0%) with self-reported snoring. There was measurement failure involving 3 of 233 the home sleep testing due to sensor off, 823 subjects were included in the study. The prevalence of OSAHS was 13.5% (111/823). The mild, moderate and severe OSAHS were 47, 38 and 26 cases respectively. There were 712 drives without OSAHS. The neck circumference[(39.8±3.8) vs (39.0±3.0) cm]and BMI[(26.7±4.2) vs (24.4±3.8) kg/m 2 ]were significantly higher in the drivers suffering from OSAHS (all P <0.05). The percentage of ESS≥ 9 (57.7% vs 12.6%), hypertension (27.9% vs 5.9%), diabetes (4.5% vs 1.1%), hypertrophy of tonsil (7.2% vs 2.3%) were higher in the drivers with OSAHS (all P <0.05). There were no significant difference in driving ages and average night sleep time between two groups (all P >0.05). The overall incidence of traffic accidents was 5.8% (48/823) in a year. The percentage was respectively 17.1% (19/111) in OSAHS and 4.1% (29/712) in non-OSAHS ( P <0.001). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that sleepiness ( OR =30.578, 95% CI: 10.699-87.394; P <0.001), OSAHS ( OR =14.062, 95% CI: 4.791-41.269; P <0.001) and vehicle years ( OR =2.345, 95% CI : 1.183-4.646; P <0.05)were the risk factors, while the average night sleep time ( OR =0.037, 95% CI : 0.014-0.098; P <0.001) was the protective factor. Conclusion: Professional drivers have higher prevalence of OSAHS, which contributes to the increased risk of traffic accidents.

Key cost drivers of pharmaceutical clinical trials in the United States.

PubMed

Sertkaya, Aylin; Wong, Hui-Hsing; Jessup, Amber; Beleche, Trinidad

2016-04-01

The increasing cost of clinical research has significant implications for public health, as it affects drug companies' willingness to undertake clinical trials, which in turn limits patient access to novel treatments. Thus, gaining a better understanding of the key cost drivers of clinical research in the United States is important. The study which is based on a report prepared by Eastern Research Group, Inc., for the US Department of Health and Human Services, examined different factors, such as therapeutic area, patient recruitment, administrative staff, and clinical procedure expenditures, and their contribution to pharmaceutical clinical trial costs in the United States by clinical trial phase. The study used aggregate data from three proprietary databases on clinical trial costs provided by Medidata Solutions. We evaluated per-study costs across therapeutic areas by aggregating detailed (per patient and per site) cost information. We also compared average expenditures on cost drivers with the use of weighted mean and standard deviation statistics. Therapeutic area was an important determinant of clinical trial costs by phase. The average cost of a Phase 1 study conducted at a US site ranged from US$1.4 million (pain and anesthesia) to US$6.6 million (immunomodulation), including estimated site overhead and monitoring costs of the sponsoring organization. A Phase 2 study cost from US$7.0 million (cardiovascular) to US$19.6 million (hematology), whereas a Phase 3 study cost ranged from US$11.5 million (dermatology) to US$52.9 (pain and anesthesia) on average. Across all study phases and excluding estimated site overhead costs and costs for sponsors to monitor the study, the top three cost drivers of clinical trial expenditures were clinical procedure costs (15%-22% of total), administrative staff costs (11%-29% of total), and site monitoring costs (9%-14% of total). The data were from 2004 through 2012 and were not adjusted for inflation. Additionally, the databases used represented a convenience, that is, non-probability, sample and did not allow for statistically valid estimates of cost drivers. Finally, the data were from trials funded by the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry only. Hence, our study findings are limited to that segment. Therapeutic area being studied as well as number and types of clinical procedures involved were the key drivers of direct costs in Phase 1 through Phase 3 studies. Research shows that strategies exist for reducing the price tag of some of these major direct cost components. Therefore, to increase clinical trial efficiency and reduce costs, gaining a better understanding of the key direct cost drivers is an important step. © The Author(s) 2016.

Behind the Wheel: Predictors of Driving Exposure in Older Drivers.

PubMed

Coxon, Kristy; Chevalier, Anna; Lo, Serigne; Ivers, Rebecca; Brown, Julie; Keay, Lisa

2015-06-01

To explore and deepen understanding of factors influencing driving exposure for older drivers. Cross-sectional. Baseline data on function and driving exposure from 1 week of driving were evaluated. A convenience sample of 380 drivers aged 75 and older, residing in northwest Sydney, was recruited. Participants were required to be the primary drivers of their own vehicle. Driver function was evaluated using the DriveSafe and DriveAware clinic-based assessments to measure visual attention to the driving environment and awareness of driving ability. Demographic information was obtained through interview. An in-vehicle monitoring device with data logger and GPS receiver, was used to measure driving exposure in 362 of 380 participants' vehicles. Driving exposure outcomes were total distance driven, furthest distance traveled from home, and average trip length. Factors influencing these exposure outcomes were analyzed using generalized linear regression. Drivers typically drove 100 km in local and surrounding areas during the week. Function was predictive of all driving exposure outcomes. Drivers with lower levels of function drove fewer kilometers and took shorter trips closer to home. Age, health status, and personal circumstance (e.g., rural residence) also influenced exposure, but sex did not. Using objective measures, this study provides evidence that function, age, health status, and personal circumstance influence driving exposure of older drivers. Understanding how older people use driving to preserve their independence is important for exploring safe driving strategies for older people. © 2015, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2015, The American Geriatrics Society.

Objective assessment of the effects of texting while driving: a simulator study.

PubMed

Bendak, Salaheddine

2015-01-01

Recent advances in electronic communication technology led to many drivers opting to send and receive text messages while driving. This, inevitably, has a potential to distract drivers, impair driving performance and lead to crashes. This study aims to assess the risk involved in texting while driving through assessing the distraction caused and determining the change in key driving performance indicators. Twenty-one paid young male volunteers were recruited to participate in this study. Each participant drove a driving simulator on four different scenarios involving driving while texting and without texting on highways and town roads. Results showed that texting while driving led, on average, to five times more crashes than driving without texting. Due to distraction also, participants unnecessarily crossed lane boundaries and road boundaries more often while texting as compared to driving without texting. Moreover, distraction due to texting led to participants deviating their eyes off the road while texting 15 times per session, on average, more than without texting. Results demonstrated a high-risk level of distraction and clear impairment in drivers' ability to drive safely due to texting. Based on the results, practical recommendations to combat this phenomenon are given.

Cooperation and Defection at the Crossroads

PubMed Central

Abramson, Guillermo; Semeshenko, Viktoriya; Iglesias, José Roberto

2013-01-01

We study a simple traffic model with a non-signalized road intersection. In this model the car arriving from the right has precedence. The vehicle dynamics far from the crossing are governed by the rules introduced by Nagel and Paczuski, which define how drivers behave when braking or accelerating. We measure the average velocity of the ensemble of cars and its flow as a function of the density of cars on the roadway. An additional set of rules is defined to describe the dynamics at the intersection assuming a fraction of drivers that do not obey the rule of precedence. This problem is treated within a game-theory framework, where the drivers that obey the rule are cooperators and those who ignore it are defectors. We study the consequences of these behaviors as a function of the fraction of cooperators and defectors. The results show that cooperation is the best strategy because it maximizes the flow of vehicles and minimizes the number of accidents. A rather paradoxical effect is observed: for any percentage of defectors the number of accidents is larger when the density of cars is low because of the higher average velocity. PMID:23610596

Classifying visuomotor workload in a driving simulator using subject specific spatial brain patterns

PubMed Central

Dijksterhuis, Chris; de Waard, Dick; Brookhuis, Karel A.; Mulder, Ben L. J. M.; de Jong, Ritske

2013-01-01

A passive Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is a system that responds to the spontaneously produced brain activity of its user and could be used to develop interactive task support. A human-machine system that could benefit from brain-based task support is the driver-car interaction system. To investigate the feasibility of such a system to detect changes in visuomotor workload, 34 drivers were exposed to several levels of driving demand in a driving simulator. Driving demand was manipulated by varying driving speed and by asking the drivers to comply to individually set lane keeping performance targets. Differences in the individual driver's workload levels were classified by applying the Common Spatial Pattern (CSP) and Fisher's linear discriminant analysis to frequency filtered electroencephalogram (EEG) data during an off line classification study. Several frequency ranges, EEG cap configurations, and condition pairs were explored. It was found that classifications were most accurate when based on high frequencies, larger electrode sets, and the frontal electrodes. Depending on these factors, classification accuracies across participants reached about 95% on average. The association between high accuracies and high frequencies suggests that part of the underlying information did not originate directly from neuronal activity. Nonetheless, average classification accuracies up to 75–80% were obtained from the lower EEG ranges that are likely to reflect neuronal activity. For a system designer, this implies that a passive BCI system may use several frequency ranges for workload classifications. PMID:23970851

Modeling of electronic power steering system for IKCO SAMAND vehicle and investigating on its performance via CARSIM software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haghgoo, Esmail; Zamani, Mohammad; Sharbati, Ali

2017-02-01

The point of this article is introducing the usage of electronic power steering (ESP) system in IKCO SAMAND vehicle and investigating on it's benefit's. Also the operation of electronic steering system and it's performance in IKCO SAMAND vehicle have been described. The optimization of IC engine efficiency and it's fuel consumption have been simulated via ADVISOR software used in MATLAB software. Usually, mechanical steering systems and hydraulic steering systems are producing inside IRAN that the mechanical types have not accepted because of it's too many disadvantages. The hydraulic steering systems, that have been replaced with mechanical types, indeed have the same features with mechanical types but with a difference which they have a hydraulic booster to facilitate the rotation of steering wheel. Beside advantages in hydraulic systems, they are some disadvantages in this system that one of the most important of them is reducing the output power of engine. To restore this power dissipated, we use ESP systems. In this article output diagrams given by software, are showing that IKCO SAMAND vehicle which equipped with ESP system, exerts less torque and power on steering wheel. This improves the safety of driver and also performance of the vehicle at high speeds and reduces fuel consumption beside increasing the efficiency of IC engine.

Inflammatory bowel disease in Bahrain: single-center experience

PubMed Central

Abdulla, Maheeba; Al Saeed, Mahmood; Fardan, Rawdha Hameed; Alalwan, Hawra Faisal; Ali Almosawi, Zahra S; Almahroos, Amal Fuad; Al Qamish, Jehad

2017-01-01

Purpose The number of newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cases such as ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn’s disease (CD), and indeterminate colitis (IC) is rapidly increasing in Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and prevalence of IBD in patients who have attended the Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain, between the years 1984 and 2014. Patients and methods All patients who had attended the Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain, and had been diagnosed with UC, CD, or IC, between the years 1984 and 2014, were included in the analysis. Data collected were: patient demographics, symptoms, clinical signs, complications, surgical interventions, extent of disease, endoscopic findings, histopathology, and lab measurements. Results A total of 187 cases were included; 61 had CD, 123 had UC, and a further 3 cases presented with IC. A clear increase in the incidence and prevalence of IBD can be seen in this cohort. The prevalence of IBD was calculated to be 26.25/105 cases. The average number of IBD cases increased from 3 cases (average for the years 1984–2001) to 12 cases (average for the years 2002–2014). A number of factors correlate positively or negatively with CD and UC. In the current study, a link between gastrointestinal complications in CD cases and the use of steroids as a treatment was noted (p-value −0.02). Age also had a significant influence on the need for surgery in CD cases (p-value −0.04), and a family history of UC was statistically linked to surgical intervention (p-value −0.05). Conclusions IBD can no longer be considered a rare disease in Bahrain. The incidence of both UC and CD is steadily increasing. There is a need for increasing awareness of the Bahraini public to IBD in order for proper medical care to be given. PMID:28765713

Long-haul truck drivers want healthful meal options at truck-stop restaurants.

PubMed

Whitfield Jacobson, Pamela J; Prawitz, Aimee D; Lukaszuk, Judith M

2007-12-01

Long-haul truckers are confined, by parking regulations and other constraints, to dining at truck-stop restaurants. Objectives were to (a) compare truckers' anthropometrics with recommended guidelines; and (b) assess eating/exercise habits, importance of healthful food choices, and attitudes about restaurants' provision of healthful options. Hypotheses were: (a) overweight/obese drivers will place less importance on healthful food choices than will drivers of optimal weight; (b) importance of healthful food choices and attitudes about their provision will be positively correlated. Questionnaires included Food Choices Index, Nutrition Attitude Survey, and demographic information; bioelectrical impedance assessed weight, body fat, and body mass index. Subjects (n=92) were truckers at a Midwestern truck-stop restaurant; 79 were overweight, 52 were obese. Mean rating of importance of healthful choices was above average. There was no difference in importance of healthful food choices for overweight/obese and optimal weight drivers, t(89)=-1.312; P=0.19. Drivers placing more importance on healthful food choices had more positive attitudes about restaurants' provision of such options, r(90)=0.74, P<0.001. Overall, drivers indicated they would choose healthful foods if available and appetizing. Registered dietitian-directed wellness programs that include education, support, and cooperation of truck-stop restaurants are critical to reduce obesity and risk of disease in this population.

Differences in head impulse test results due to analysis techniques.

PubMed

Cleworth, Taylor W; Carpenter, Mark G; Honegger, Flurin; Allum, John H J

2017-01-01

Different analysis techniques are used to define vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain between eye and head angular velocity during the video head impulse test (vHIT). Comparisons would aid selection of gain techniques best related to head impulse characteristics and promote standardisation. Compare and contrast known methods of calculating vHIT VOR gain. We examined lateral canal vHIT responses recorded from 20 patients twice within 13 weeks of acute unilateral peripheral vestibular deficit onset. Ten patients were tested with an ICS Impulse system (GN Otometrics) and 10 with an EyeSeeCam (ESC) system (Interacoustics). Mean gain and variance were computed with area, average sample gain, and regression techniques over specific head angular velocity (HV) and acceleration (HA) intervals. Results for the same gain technique were not different between measurement systems. Area and average sample gain yielded equally lower variances than regression techniques. Gains computed over the whole impulse duration were larger than those computed for increasing HV. Gain over decreasing HV was associated with larger variances. Gains computed around peak HV were smaller than those computed around peak HA. The median gain over 50-70 ms was not different from gain around peak HV. However, depending on technique used, the gain over increasing HV was different from gain around peak HA. Conversion equations between gains obtained with standard ICS and ESC methods were computed. For low gains, the conversion was dominated by a constant that needed to be added to ESC gains to equal ICS gains. We recommend manufacturers standardize vHIT gain calculations using 2 techniques: area gain around peak HA and peak HV.

The geographical co-distribution and socio-ecological drivers of childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea in Queensland, Australia.

PubMed

Xu, Z; Hu, W; Tong, S

2015-04-01

SUMMARY This study aimed to explore the spatio-temporal patterns, geographical co-distribution, and socio-ecological drivers of childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea in Queensland. A Bayesian conditional autoregressive model was used to quantify the impacts of socio-ecological factors on both childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea at a postal area level. A distinct seasonality of childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea was found. Childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea were mainly distributed in the northwest of Queensland. Mount Isa city was the high-risk cluster where childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea co-distributed. Emergency department visits (EDVs) for pneumonia increased by 3% per 10-mm increase in monthly average rainfall in wet seasons. By comparison, a 10-mm increase in monthly average rainfall may cause an increase of 4% in EDVs for diarrhoea. Monthly average temperature was negatively associated with EDVs for childhood diarrhoea in wet seasons. Low socioeconomic index for areas (SEIFA) was associated with high EDVs for childhood pneumonia. Future pneumonia and diarrhoea prevention and control measures in Queensland should focus more on Mount Isa.

Health risk equations and risk assessment of airborne benzene homologues exposure to drivers and passengers in taxi cabins.

PubMed

Chen, Xiaokai; Feng, Lili; Luo, Huilong; Cheng, Heming

2016-03-01

Interior air environment and health problems of vehicles have attracted increasing attention, and benzene homologues (BHs) including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and styrene are primary hazardous gases in vehicular cabins. The BHs impact on the health of passengers and drivers in 38 taxis is assessed, and health risk equations of in-car BHs to different drivers and passengers are induced. The health risk of in-car BHs for male drivers is the highest among all different receptors and is 1.04, 6.67, and 6.94 times more than ones for female drivers, male passengers, and female passengers, respectively. In-car BHs could not lead to the non-cancer health risk to all passengers and drivers as for the maximal value of non-cancer indices is 0.41 and is less than the unacceptable value (1.00) of non-cancer health risk from USEPA. However, in-car BHs lead to cancer health risk to drivers as for the average value of cancer indices is 1.21E-04 which is 1.21 times more than the unacceptable value (1.00E-04) of cancer health risk from USEPA. Finally, for in-car airborne benzene concentration (X, μg/m(3)) to male drivers, female drivers, male passengers, and female passengers, the cancer health risk equations are Y = 1.48E-06X, Y = 1.42E-06X, Y = 2.22E-07X, and Y = 2.13E-07X, respectively, and the non-cancer health risk equations are Y = 1.70E-03X, Y = 1.63E-03X, Y = 2.55E-04X, and Y = 2.45E-04X, respectively.

Plasma properties of driver gas following interplanetary shocks observed by ISEE-3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zwickl, R. D.; Asbridge, J. R.; Bame, S. J.; Feldman, W. C.; Gosling, J. T.; Smith, E. J.

1983-01-01

Plasma fluid parameters calculated from solar wind and magnetic field data to determine the characteristic properties of driver gas following a select subset of interplanetary shocks were studied. Of 54 shocks observed from August 1978 to February 1980, 9 contained a well defined driver gas that was clearly identifiable by a discontinuous decrease in the average proton temperature. While helium enhancements were present downstream of the shock in all 9 of these events, only about half of them contained simultaneous changes in the two quantities. Simultaneous with the drop in proton temperature the helium and electron temperature decreased abruptly. In some cases the proton temperature depression was accompanied by a moderate increase in magnetic field magnitude with an unusually low variance, by a small decrease in the variance of the bulk velocity, and by an increase in the ratio of parallel to perpendicular temperature. The cold driver gas usually displayed a bidirectional flow of suprathermal solar wind electrons at higher energies.

Ecodriving in hybrid electric vehicles--Exploring challenges for user-energy interaction.

PubMed

Franke, Thomas; Arend, Matthias Georg; McIlroy, Rich C; Stanton, Neville A

2016-07-01

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) can help to reduce transport emissions; however, user behaviour has a significant effect on the energy savings actually achieved in everyday usage. The present research aimed to advance understanding of HEV drivers' ecodriving strategies, and the challenges for optimal user-energy interaction. We conducted interviews with 39 HEV drivers who achieved above-average fuel efficiencies. Regression analyses showed that technical system knowledge and ecodriving motivation were both important predictors for ecodriving efficiency. Qualitative data analyses showed that drivers used a plethora of ecodriving strategies and had diverse conceptualisations of HEV energy efficiency regarding aspects such as the efficiency of actively utilizing electric energy or the efficiency of different acceleration strategies. Drivers also reported several false beliefs regarding HEV energy efficiency that could impair ecodriving efforts. Results indicate that ecodriving support systems should facilitate anticipatory driving and help users locate and maintain drivetrain states of maximum efficiency. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Driver drowsiness classification using fuzzy wavelet-packet-based feature-extraction algorithm.

PubMed

Khushaba, Rami N; Kodagoda, Sarath; Lal, Sara; Dissanayake, Gamini

2011-01-01

Driver drowsiness and loss of vigilance are a major cause of road accidents. Monitoring physiological signals while driving provides the possibility of detecting and warning of drowsiness and fatigue. The aim of this paper is to maximize the amount of drowsiness-related information extracted from a set of electroencephalogram (EEG), electrooculogram (EOG), and electrocardiogram (ECG) signals during a simulation driving test. Specifically, we develop an efficient fuzzy mutual-information (MI)- based wavelet packet transform (FMIWPT) feature-extraction method for classifying the driver drowsiness state into one of predefined drowsiness levels. The proposed method estimates the required MI using a novel approach based on fuzzy memberships providing an accurate-information content-estimation measure. The quality of the extracted features was assessed on datasets collected from 31 drivers on a simulation test. The experimental results proved the significance of FMIWPT in extracting features that highly correlate with the different drowsiness levels achieving a classification accuracy of 95%-- 97% on an average across all subjects.

40 CFR 63.1257 - Test methods and compliance procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...)(2), or 63.1256(h)(2)(i)(C) with a minimum residence time of 0.5 seconds and a minimum temperature of... temperature of the organic HAP, must consider the vent stream flow rate, and must establish the design minimum and average temperature in the combustion zone and the combustion zone residence time. (B) For a...

40 CFR 63.1257 - Test methods and compliance procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...)(2), or 63.1256(h)(2)(i)(C) with a minimum residence time of 0.5 seconds and a minimum temperature of... temperature of the organic HAP, must consider the vent stream flow rate, and must establish the design minimum and average temperature in the combustion zone and the combustion zone residence time. (B) For a...

40 CFR 63.1257 - Test methods and compliance procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...)(2), or 63.1256(h)(2)(i)(C) with a minimum residence time of 0.5 seconds and a minimum temperature of... temperature of the organic HAP, must consider the vent stream flow rate, and must establish the design minimum and average temperature in the combustion zone and the combustion zone residence time. (B) For a...

Relationship between occupational stress and cardiovascular diseases risk factors in drivers.

PubMed

Biglari, Hamed; Ebrahimi, Mohammad Hossein; Salehi, Maryam; Poursadeghiyan, Mohsen; Ahmadnezhad, Iman; Abbasi, Milad

2016-11-18

Of all work stressors, occupational stress is the leading cause of many disorders among workers. Drivers are classified as a high risk group for work related stress. This study set out to determine the relationship between risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and occupational stress among drivers. Two hundred and twenty two Ilam's intercity drivers were selected for the study. For measuring work stress, the Osipow work stress questionnaire was used. After a 10-h fasting period, systolic and diastolic blood pressure was recorded. Intravenous blood samples were taken to determine cholesterol, triglyceride and blood glucose levels. The independent samples t-test and Pearson's correlation test were used to assess the relationship between variables and occupational stress. Seventy-one percent of the intercity drivers suffered from average to acute stress, and 3.1% of them suffered from acute stress. There was no significant relationship between occupational stress and diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.254) among the drivers. Nevertheless, the Pearson's correlation test demonstrated a strong relationship between work stress and blood glucose (p < 0.01), while no strong correlation was found for blood triglycerides and cholesterol levels. Based on the results, high rates of occupational stress were observed in the Ilam's intercity drivers. Occupational stress may have effect on blood glucose levels but the results did not suggest a considerable relationship between risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and occupational stress among intercity drivers. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2016;29(6):895-901. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

Comparison of older and younger novice driver crash rates: Informing the need for extended Graduated Driver Licensing restrictions.

PubMed

Curry, Allison E; Metzger, Kristina B; Williams, Allan F; Tefft, Brian C

2017-11-01

Few previous studies have directly compared crash rates of older and younger novice drivers. To inform discussion about whether Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) policies that are applied in the US for younger novice drivers should be applied to older novice drivers, we conducted a longitudinal study to examine overall, nighttime, and multiple passenger crash rates over the initial four years of licensure differ for novice drivers licensed at different ages. Using data from the New Jersey Traffic Safety Outcomes (NJ-TSO) data warehouse, we selected all NJ drivers who obtained their initial intermediate driver's license from 2006 through 2014 and had at least one month of follow-up from the date of licensure to study end or death (n=1,034,835). Novice drivers were grouped based on age at licensure: age 17; 18-20; 21-24; and 25 or older. We estimated monthly rates for overall crashes (per 10,000 licensed drivers) as well as: late night crashes (11:01 p.m.-4:59 a.m.); early night crashes (9:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m.); and multiple passenger crashes (two or more passengers). Average monthly rates were calculated for specific relevant time periods and Poisson regression models were used to compare rates: (1) between novice driver groups with the same time since licensure; (2) over the first 48 months of licensure within each novice driver group; and (3) between same-aged 21-year-old drivers with varying lengths of licensure. Although initial (three months post-licensure) overall crash rates of novice NJ drivers age 21 and older were higher than rates of same-aged experienced drivers, they were substantially lower than initial rates for 17- to 20-year-old novice drivers, who are licensed under GDL policies. Moreover, older novice drivers experience much less steep crash reductions over the first year of licensure than younger novice drivers. Nighttime crash rates among the 21- to 24-year old and aged 25 and older novice driver groups were stable over the first year of licensure. For novice drivers under age 21, early night crash rates declined rapidly over the course of licensure, while changes in late night crashes were much smaller. First-year multiple passenger crash rates were highest for drivers licensed at age 18-20, and novice driver groups experienced varying amounts of reduction in multiple passenger crashes over time. Study findings support NJ's current GDL policies for 17- to 20-year-old novice drivers and the potential for added benefits from beginning the nighttime restriction at 9:00 p.m. Conversely, there was a lack of compelling evidence for additional policies for drivers licensed at age 21-24 and no evidence to indicate a need for additional GDL policies for NJ novices aged 25 years and older. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Food Insecurity Is Associated with Low Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and Adverse Health Conditions in Portuguese Adults.

PubMed

Gregório, Maria João; Rodrigues, Ana M; Graça, Pedro; de Sousa, Rute Dinis; Dias, Sara S; Branco, Jaime C; Canhão, Helena

2018-01-01

Food insecurity is a limited or uncertain access to the adequate food and is a significant public health problem. We aimed to assess determinants of food insecurity and the corresponding health impact in Portugal, a southern European country that faced a severe economic crisis. Data were derived from the Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases Cohort Study (EpiDoC), a population-based cohort of 10,661 individuals that were representative of the Portuguese adult population and followed since 2011. A cross-sectional analysis of the third wave of evaluation (EpiDoC 3) was performed between 2015 and 2016. Food insecurity was assessed with the household food insecurity psychometric scale. Socioeconomic, demographic, lifestyle, adherence to Mediterranean diet (MD), self-reported non-communicable disease, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (EQ-5D-3L), physical function (HAQ score), and health resource consumption information was also collected. The estimated proportion of food insecurity was 19.3% among a total of 5,653 participants. Food insecure households had low adherence to the MD (OR = 0.44; 95% IC 0.31-0.62). In addition, diabetes (OR = 1.69; 95% IC 1.20-2.40), rheumatic disease (OR = 1.67; 95% IC 1.07-2.60), and depression symptoms (OR = 1.50; 95% IC 1.09-2.06) were independently associated with food insecurity. On average, food insecure households had a lower HRQoL (OR = 0.18; 95% IC 0.11-0.31) and a higher disability (OR = 2.59; 95% IC 2.04-3.29). A significantly higher proportion of food insecure households reported being hospitalized (OR = 1.57; 95% IC 1.18-2.07) and had more public hospital medical appointments (OR = 1.48; 95% IC 1.12-1.94) in the previous 12 months. We found that food insecurity is highly prevalent in Portugal. Food insecurity was associated with low adherence to the MD, non-communicable chronic diseases, lower quality of life, and higher health resource consumption. Therefore, this study provides valuable insight into the relationship between food security and the diet and health of the population during an economic crisis.

Ion recombination and polarity correction factors for a plane-parallel ionization chamber in a proton scanning beam.

PubMed

Liszka, Małgorzata; Stolarczyk, Liliana; Kłodowska, Magdalena; Kozera, Anna; Krzempek, Dawid; Mojżeszek, Natalia; Pędracka, Anna; Waligórski, Michael Patrick Russell; Olko, Paweł

2018-01-01

To evaluate the effect on charge collection in the ionization chamber (IC) in proton pencil beam scanning (PBS), where the local dose rate may exceed the dose rates encountered in conventional MV therapy by up to three orders of magnitude. We measured values of the ion recombination (k s ) and polarity (k pol ) correction factors in water, for a plane-parallel Markus TM23343 IC, using the cyclotron-based Proteus-235 therapy system with an active proton PBS of energies 30-230 MeV. Values of k s were determined from extrapolation of the saturation curve and the Two-Voltage Method (TVM), for planar fields. We compared our experimental results with those obtained from theoretical calculations. The PBS dose rates were estimated by combining direct IC measurements with results of simulations performed using the FLUKA MC code. Values of k s were also determined by the TVM for uniformly irradiated volumes over different ranges and modulation depths of the proton PBS, with or without range shifter. By measuring charge collection efficiency versus applied IC voltage, we confirmed that, with respect to ion recombination, our proton PBS represents a continuous beam. For a given chamber parameter, e.g., nominal voltage, the value of k s depends on the energy and the dose rate of the proton PBS, reaching c. 0.5% for the TVM, at the dose rate of 13.4 Gy/s. For uniformly irradiated regular volumes, the k s value was significantly smaller, within 0.2% or 0.3% for irradiations with or without range shifter, respectively. Within measurement uncertainty, the average value of k pol , for the Markus TM23343 IC, was close to unity over the whole investigated range of clinical proton beam energies. While no polarity effect was observed for the Markus TM23343 IC in our pencil scanning proton beam system, the effect of volume recombination cannot be ignored. © 2017 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Impact of Initial Condition Errors and Precipitation Forecast Bias on Drought Simulation and Prediction in the Huaihe River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, H.; Luo, L.; Wu, Z.

2016-12-01

Drought, regarded as one of the major disasters all over the world, is not always easy to detect and forecast. Hydrological models coupled with Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) has become a relatively effective method for drought monitoring and prediction. The accuracy of hydrological initial condition (IC) and the skill of NWP precipitation forecast can both heavily affect the quality and skill of hydrological forecast. In the study, the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model and Global Environmental Multi-scale (GEM) model were used to investigate the roles of IC and NWP forecast accuracy on hydrological predictions. A rev-ESP type experiment was conducted for a number of drought events in the Huaihe river basin. The experiment suggests that errors in ICs indeed affect the drought simulations by VIC and thus the drought monitoring. Although errors introduced in the ICs diminish gradually, the influence sometimes can last beyond 12 months. Using the soil moisture anomaly percentage index (SMAPI) as the metric to measure drought severity for the study region, we are able to quantify that time scale of influence from IC ranges. The analysis shows that the time scale is directly related to the magnitude of the introduced IC range and the average precipitation intensity. In order to explore how systematic bias correction in GEM forecasted precipitation can affect precipitation and hydrological forecast, we then both used station and gridded observations to eliminate biases of forecasted data. Meanwhile, different precipitation inputs with corrected data during drought process were conducted by VIC to investigate the changes of drought simulations, thus demonstrated short-term rolling drought prediction using a better performed corrected precipitation forecast. There is a word limit on the length of the abstract. So make sure your abstract fits the requirement. If this version is too long, try to shorten it as much as you can.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Luhman, K. L.; Esplin, T. L.; Loutrel, N. P., E-mail: kluhman@astro.psu.edu

We have obtained optical and near-infrared spectra of candidate members of the star-forming clusters IC 348 and NGC 1333. We classify 100 and 42 candidates as new members of the clusters, respectively, which brings the total numbers of known members to 478 and 203. We also have performed spectroscopy on a large majority of the previously known members of NGC 1333 in order to provide spectral classifications that are measured with the same scheme that has been applied to IC 348 in previous studies. The new census of members is nearly complete for K {sub s}< 16.8 at A {submore » J}< 1.5 in IC 348 and for K {sub s}< 16.2 at A {sub J}< 3 in NGC 1333, which correspond to masses of ≳0.01 M {sub ⊙} for ages of 3 Myr according to theoretical evolutionary models. The faintest known members extend below these completeness limits and appear to have masses of ∼0.005 M {sub ⊙}. In extinction-limited samples of cluster members, NGC 1333 exhibits a higher abundance of objects at lower masses than IC 348. It would be surprising if the initial mass functions of these clusters differ significantly given their similar stellar densities and formation environments. Instead, it is possible that average extinctions are lower for less massive members of star-forming clusters, in which case extinction-limited samples could be biased in favor of low-mass objects in the more heavily embedded clusters like NGC 1333. In the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, the median sequences of IC 348 and NGC 1333 coincide with each other for the adopted distances of 300 and 235 pc, which would suggest that they have similar ages. However, NGC 1333 is widely believed to be younger than IC 348 based on its higher abundance of disks and protostars and its greater obscuration. Errors in the adopted distances may be responsible for this discrepancy.« less

Radio Observations of a Sample of Broad-Line Type IC Supernovae Discovered by PTF/IPTF: A Search for Relativistic Explosions

DOE PAGES

Corsi, Alessandra; Gal-Yam, A.; Kulkarni, S. R.; ...

2016-10-10

Long duration γ-ray bursts are a rare subclass of stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae (SNe) that launch collimated relativistic outflows (jets). All γ-ray-burst-associated SNe are spectroscopically Type Ic, with broad-lines, but the fraction of broad-lined SNe Ic harboring low-luminosity γ-ray bursts remains largely unconstrained. Some SNe should be accompanied by off-axis γ-ray burst jets that initially remain invisible, but then emerge as strong radio sources (as the jets decelerate). However, this critical prediction of the jet model for γ-ray bursts has yet to be verified observationally. Here, we present K. G. Jansky Very Large Array observations of 15 broad-lined SNe of Type Ic discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory in an untargeted manner. Most of the SNe in our sample exclude radio emission observationally similar to that of the radio-loud, relativistic SN 1998bw. We constrain the fraction of 1998bw-like broad-lined SNe Ic to bemore » $$\\lesssim 41 \\% $$ (99.865% confidence). Most of the events in our sample also exclude off-axis jets similar to GRB 031203 and GRB 030329, but we cannot rule out off-axis γ-ray bursts expanding in a low-density wind environment. Three SNe in our sample are detected in the radio. PTF11qcj and PTF14dby show late-time radio emission with average ejecta speeds of ≈0.3–0.4 c, on the dividing line between relativistic and "ordinary" SNe. The speed of PTF11cmh radio ejecta is poorly constrained. We estimate that $$\\lesssim 85 \\% $$ (99.865% confidence) of the broad-lined SNe Ic in our sample may harbor off-axis γ-ray bursts expanding in media with densities in the range probed by this study.« less

Mature Driver Laws and State Predictors of Motor Vehicle Crash Fatality Rates Among the Elderly: A Cross-sectional Ecological Study.

PubMed

Bell, Teresa M; Qiao, Nan; Zarzaur, Ben L

2015-01-01

State-level data have indicated that motor vehicle crash (MVC) fatality rates among the elderly vary widely across states. To date, the majority of states have implemented mature driver laws, which often require more frequent license renewals, in-person renewal, and vision testing for drivers above a certain age. We sought to evaluate the impact of mature driver laws on states' MVC fatality rates among the elderly while examining other state-level determinants of MVC-related deaths. We performed a cross-sectional ecological study and modeled state MVC fatality rates for the population over age 65 as a function of state transportation policies and demographic, health system, population health, travel, and climate characteristics using a general linear model. Principal component analysis was used to reduce dimensionality of the data and overcome multicollinearity of state predictor variables. Higher average temperature, higher gas prices, and a greater number of emergency medicine physicians to population size were significantly associated with lower MVC fatality rates. Positive predictors of MVC fatality rates were percentage of population overweight or obese and percentage with college degree over the age of 65. Having any restriction on elderly drivers was associated with a higher MVC fatality rate and no individual component of mature driver laws (shortened renewal cycle, in-person renewal, and vision testing) was significantly associated with lower fatality MVC rates for adults over 65. Mature driver laws are not associated with lower state MVC fatality rates among the elderly.

Effect of traffic density on drivers' lane change and overtaking maneuvers in freeway situation - A driving simulator based study.

PubMed

Yang, Liu; Li, Xiaomeng; Guan, Wei; Zhang, H Michael; Fan, Lingling

2018-05-14

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of traffic density on drivers' lane change and overtaking maneuvers. The differences between drivers' left and right lane-changing/overtaking maneuvers were also investigated. A driving simulator experiment was conducted and 24 participants took part in this experiment. Based on the driving simulation data, lane change frequency, time duration, average speed and acceleration were extracted as key variables of lane change maneuvers; overtaking frequency, overtaking duration, initial overtaking distance and headway, instantaneous speed and acceleration before overtaking were analyzed as the key overtaking variables. One-way repeated measures ANOVA, Friedman test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were adopted for hypothesis tests with significance level of 0.05. Further pairwise comparisons were performed with a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Some significant differences in lane change and overtake behaviors were observed among different traffic densities: 1) both lane change and overtaking frequencies significantly increase with traffic density; 2) the average lane change acceleration and instantaneous overtaking acceleration significantly increase with traffic density; 3) as the traffic density increases, the initial overtaking distance and headway decrease. As for the effect of the directions of maneuvers: 1) the time duration of lane change and overtaking from right side was significantly shorter than that from left side; 2) the right initial overtaking distance/headway was smaller than that of left side; 3) the right instantaneous overtaking acceleration was significantly higher than the left instantaneous acceleration. The results showed that as traffic density increases, drivers' intention for lane change and overtaking is enhanced. Both initial overtaking distance and headway decrease with traffic density, which might influence road safety. In addition, drivers do not show a preference on the directions of lane change or overtaking according to the frequency. However, drivers tend to be more decisive and reckless when conducting the right overtaking because of a smaller distance/headway before overtaking, higher instantaneous acceleration and also a more restricted field of view compared with left overtaking.

Structural stability, elastic and thermodynamic properties of Au-Cu alloys from first-principles calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Ge-Xing; Ma, Xiao-Juan; Liu, Qi-Jun; Li, Yong; Liu, Zheng-Tang

2018-03-01

Using first-principles calculations method based on density functional theory (DFT) with the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) implementation of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), we investigate the structural, elastic and thermodynamic properties of gold-copper intermetallic compounds (Au-Cu ICs). The calculated lattice parameters are in excellent agreement with experimental data. The elastic constants show that all the investigated Au-Cu alloys are mechanically stable. Elastic properties, including the shear modulus, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and Pugh's indicator, of the intermetallic compounds are evaluated and discussed, with special attention to the remarkable anisotropy displayed by Au-Cu ICs. Thermodynamic and transport properties including the Debye temperature, thermal conductivity and melting point are predicted from the averaged sound velocity and elastic moduli, using semi-empirical formulas.

Refinement and application of acoustic impulse technique to study nozzle transmission characteristics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salikuddin, M.; Brown, W. H.; Ramakrishnan, R.; Tanna, H. K.

1983-01-01

An improved acoustic impulse technique was developed and was used to study the transmission characteristics of duct/nozzle systems. To accomplish the above objective, various problems associated with the existing spark-discharge impulse technique were first studied. These included (1) the nonlinear behavior of high intensity pulses, (2) the contamination of the signal with flow noise, (3) low signal-to-noise ratio at high exhaust velocities, and (4) the inability to control or shape the signal generated by the source, specially when multiple spark points were used as the source. The first step to resolve these problems was the replacement of the spark-discharge source with electroacoustic driver(s). These included (1) synthesizing on acoustic impulse with acoustic driver(s) to control and shape the output signal, (2) time domain signal averaging to remove flow noise from the contaminated signal, (3) signal editing to remove unwanted portions of the time history, (4) spectral averaging, and (5) numerical smoothing. The acoustic power measurement technique was improved by taking multiple induct measurements and by a modal decomposition process to account for the contribution of higher order modes in the power computation. The improved acoustic impulse technique was then validated by comparing the results derived by an impedance tube method. The mechanism of acoustic power loss, that occurs when sound is transmitted through nozzle terminations, was investigated. Finally, the refined impulse technique was applied to obtain more accurate results for the acoustic transmission characteristics of a conical nozzle and a multi-lobe multi-tube supressor nozzle.

Trans-hemispheric contribution of C2-C10 α, ω-dicarboxylic acids, and related polar compounds to water-soluble organic carbon in the western Pacific aerosols in relation to photochemical oxidation reactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

SempéRé, Richard; Kawamura, Kimitaka

2003-06-01

Marine aerosol samples were collected during a western Pacific cruise covering the latitude range between 35°N and 40°S (140°E-180°E). They were analyzed for total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) along with the molecular distributions of C2-C10 α, ω-dicarboxylic acids, and related polar compounds, mainly, ω-oxocarboxylic acids (C2-C9) and α-dicarbonyls (C2-C3). Oxalic acid (C2) was the most abundant followed by malonic (C3) and succinic (C4) acids. The total diacid concentration range was 7-605 ng m-3 (av. 85 ng m-3) and the diacid-carbon accounted for 2-15% (average 8%) of WSOC which comprised 29-55% (average 40%) of TC. Dry depositions of total diacids over the northern and southern Pacific Ocean were estimated to be 256-1907 μg m-2 yr-1 (average 735; n = 4) and 22-396 μg m-2 yr-1 (average 134; n = 14), respectively, whereas the air-to-sea flux of oxalic acid was 18-1351 μg m-2 yr-1 (average 466 μg m-2 yr-1) and 7.5-275 μg m-2 yr-1 (average 75 μg m-2 yr-1) in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. We observed that the concentration ratios of diacid-C/WSOC, azelaic acid (C9)/ω-oxononanoic acid, maleic acid (iC4cis)/fumaric (iC4trans) acid and succinic acid (C4)/total diacids were correlated with air temperature. These findings showed that the intensity of photochemical oxidation reactions and thus the variation in sunlight intensity characterized here by air temperature, significantly control the molecular distribution of water-soluble organic compounds during the long-range transport of anthropogenic and/or biogenic higher molecular weight organic compounds.

Institutional learning curve of cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion for peritoneal malignancies.

PubMed

Polanco, Patricio M; Ding, Ying; Knox, Jordan M; Ramalingam, Lekshmi; Jones, Heather; Hogg, Melissa E; Zureikat, Amer H; Holtzman, Matthew P; Pingpank, James; Ahrendt, Steven; Zeh, Herbert J; Bartlett, David L; Choudry, Haroon A

2015-05-01

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion (HIPEC) is routinely used to treat certain peritoneal carcinomatoses (PC), but it can be associated with relatively high complication rates, prolonged hospital length of stay, and potential mortality. Our objective was to determine the learning curve (LC) of CRS/HIPEC in our high-volume institution. A total of 370 patients with PC from mucinous appendiceal neoplasms (MAN = 282), malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM = 60), and gastric cancer (GC = 24) were studied. Outcomes analyzed included incomplete cytoreduction (IC), severe morbidity (SM), 60-day mortality, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Risk-adjusted sequential probability ratio test (RA-SPRT) was employed to assess the LC of CRS/HIPEC for IC and SM using prespecified odds ratio (OR) boundaries derived from previously published data. Risk adjusted-cumulative average probability (RA-CAP) was used to analyze 1-year PFS and 2-year OS. Complete cytoreduction, severe morbidity, and 60-day mortality were 84.2, 30, and 1.9 % respectively. Higher simplified peritoneal cancer index was the major independent risk factor for IC, whereas high-grade histology, IC, and diagnosis of MPM and GC (compared with MAN) were predictors of SM after CRS/HIPEC (p < 0.05). RA-SPRT showed that approximately 180 cases are needed to achieve the lowest risk of IC and SM. Ninety cases were needed to achieve a steady 1-year PFS and 2-year OS in RA-CAP plots. The completeness of cytoreduction, morbidity, and mortality rates for CRS/HIPEC at our institution are comparable to previously reported data. Approximately 180 and 90 procedures are required to improve operative and oncologic outcomes respectively.

Professional deontology and medical practice in prisons.

PubMed

García-Guerrero, J; Vera-Remartínez, E J

2015-01-01

To study the knowledge on professional deontology amongst doctors in prisons. Descriptive, transversal and multi-centre study. Labour, collegiate, social, demographic and deontological variables were collected. A descriptive analysis of the variables was performed. A bivariate analysis was made by binary logistic regression models, attending to the odds ratio, and assuming a 95% confidence interval. Data was processed by SPSS v.20 software. 118 doctors replied. 68 men (57.6%), with an average age of 51 years (50-53). 100 know about the Deontology Committee (84.7%), but just 77 (65.3%) know its functions properly. 42 (35.6%) know about the existence of the Deontological Code, and 37 (31.3%) have read and apply it. Those who made a correct definition of deontology do find more deontological issues in their daily work [23(46.9%) vs. 18(26.1%); OR: 2.506; IC95%: 1.153-5.451; p=0.020] and would denounce a colleague more often to the Medical Association [40(81.6%) vs. 42 (60.9%); OR: 2.857; IC95%: 1.197-6.819; p=0.018]. Older ones know more about the deontology commissions' functions [54(73%) vs. 23(52.3%); OR: 2.465; IC95%: 1.127-5.394; p=0.024] and have already denounced situations to the Medical Association [27(36.5% vs. 5(11.4%); OR: 4.481; IC95%: 1.577-12.733; p=0.005], but think that a different Care Ethics Committee is unnecessary [57(77%) vs. 42(95.5%); OR: 0.160; IC95%: 0.035- 0.729; p=0.018]. Prison doctors know little about what professional deontology really is. This knowledge increases with age in the profession and is associated with an increased perception of deontological issues in daily practice.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Corsi, Alessandra; Gal-Yam, A.; Kulkarni, S. R.

Long duration γ-ray bursts are a rare subclass of stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae (SNe) that launch collimated relativistic outflows (jets). All γ-ray-burst-associated SNe are spectroscopically Type Ic, with broad-lines, but the fraction of broad-lined SNe Ic harboring low-luminosity γ-ray bursts remains largely unconstrained. Some SNe should be accompanied by off-axis γ-ray burst jets that initially remain invisible, but then emerge as strong radio sources (as the jets decelerate). However, this critical prediction of the jet model for γ-ray bursts has yet to be verified observationally. Here, we present K. G. Jansky Very Large Array observations of 15 broad-lined SNe of Type Ic discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory in an untargeted manner. Most of the SNe in our sample exclude radio emission observationally similar to that of the radio-loud, relativistic SN 1998bw. We constrain the fraction of 1998bw-like broad-lined SNe Ic to bemore » $$\\lesssim 41 \\% $$ (99.865% confidence). Most of the events in our sample also exclude off-axis jets similar to GRB 031203 and GRB 030329, but we cannot rule out off-axis γ-ray bursts expanding in a low-density wind environment. Three SNe in our sample are detected in the radio. PTF11qcj and PTF14dby show late-time radio emission with average ejecta speeds of ≈0.3–0.4 c, on the dividing line between relativistic and "ordinary" SNe. The speed of PTF11cmh radio ejecta is poorly constrained. We estimate that $$\\lesssim 85 \\% $$ (99.865% confidence) of the broad-lined SNe Ic in our sample may harbor off-axis γ-ray bursts expanding in media with densities in the range probed by this study.« less

Inhaled corticosteroid metered-dose inhalers: how do variations in technique for solutions versus suspensions affect drug distribution?

PubMed

Robinson, Christie A; Tsourounis, Candy

2013-03-01

To assess the literature that evaluates how variations in metered-dose inhaler (MDI) technique affect lung distribution for inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) formulated as MDI suspensions and solutions. PubMed (up to November 2012) and Cochrane Library (up to November 2012) were searched using the terms metered-dose inhalers, HFA 134a, Asthma/*drug therapy, and inhaled corticosteroids. In addition, reference citations from publications identified were reviewed. All articles in English from the data sources that assessed MDI technique comparing total lung distribution (TLD) of MDI solutions or suspensions formulated with ICSs were included in the review. Five relevant studies were identified. Five controlled studies compared how variations in MDI technique affect TLD for ICS MDI solutions with suspensions. MDI solutions resulted in greater TLD compared with larger particle MDI suspensions. Delayed or early inspiration upon device actuation of MDI solutions resulted in less TLD than coordinated actuation, but with a 3- to 4-times greater TLD than MDI suspensions inhaled using a standard technique. A sixth study evaluated inspiratory flow rates (IFR) for small, medium, and large particles. Rapid and slow IFRs resulted in similar TLD for small particles, while far fewer particles reached the airways with medium and large particles at rapid, rather than slow, IFRs. Based on the literature evaluated, standard MDI technique should be used for ICS suspensions. ICS MDI solutions can provide a higher average TLD than larger-particle ICS suspensions using standard technique, discoordinated inspiration and medication actuation timing, or rapid and slow IFRs. ICS MDI solutions allow for a more forgiving technique, which makes them uniquely suitable options for patients with asthma who have difficultly with MDI technique.

Understanding the role of sleep quality and sleep duration in commercial driving safety.

PubMed

Lemke, Michael K; Apostolopoulos, Yorghos; Hege, Adam; Sönmez, Sevil; Wideman, Laurie

2016-12-01

Long-haul truck drivers in the United States suffer disproportionately high injury rates. Sleep is a critical factor in these outcomes, contributing to fatigue and degrading multiple aspects of safety-relevant performance. Both sleep duration and sleep quality are often compromised among truck drivers; however, much of the efforts to combat fatigue focus on sleep duration rather than sleep quality. Thus, the current study has two objectives: (1) to determine the degree to which sleep impacts safety-relevant performance among long-haul truck drivers; and (2) to evaluate workday and non-workday sleep quality and duration as predictors of drivers' safety-relevant performance. A non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional design was employed to collect survey and biometric data from 260 long-haul truck drivers. The Trucker Sleep Disorders Survey was developed to assess sleep duration and quality, the impact of sleep on job performance and accident risk, and other relevant work organization characteristics. Descriptive statistics assessed work organization variables, sleep duration and quality, and frequency of engaging in safety-relevant performance while sleepy. Linear regression analyses were conducted to evaluate relationships between sleep duration, sleep quality, and work organization variables with safety composite variables. Drivers reported long work hours, with over 70% of drivers working more than 11h daily. Drivers also reported a large number of miles driven per week, with an average of 2,812.61 miles per week, and frequent violations of hours-of-service rules, with 43.8% of drivers "sometimes to always" violating the "14-h rule." Sleep duration was longer, and sleep quality was better, on non-workdays compared on workdays. Drivers frequently operated motor vehicles while sleepy, and sleepiness impacted several aspects of safety-relevant performance. Sleep quality was better associated with driving while sleepy and with job performance and concentration than sleep duration. Sleep duration was better associated with accidents and accident risk than sleep quality. Sleep quality appears to be better associated with safety-relevant performance among long-haul truck drivers than sleep duration. Comprehensive and multilevel efforts are needed to meaningfully address sleep quality among drivers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving Night Time Driving Safety Using Vision-Based Classification Techniques

PubMed Central

Chien, Jong-Chih; Chen, Yong-Sheng; Lee, Jiann-Der

2017-01-01

The risks involved in nighttime driving include drowsy drivers and dangerous vehicles. Prominent among the more dangerous vehicles around at night are the larger vehicles which are usually moving faster at night on a highway. In addition, the risk level of driving around larger vehicles rises significantly when the driver’s attention becomes distracted, even for a short period of time. For the purpose of alerting the driver and elevating his or her safety, in this paper we propose two components for any modern vision-based Advanced Drivers Assistance System (ADAS). These two components work separately for the single purpose of alerting the driver in dangerous situations. The purpose of the first component is to ascertain that the driver would be in a sufficiently wakeful state to receive and process warnings; this is the driver drowsiness detection component. The driver drowsiness detection component uses infrared images of the driver to analyze his eyes’ movements using a MSR plus a simple heuristic. This component issues alerts to the driver when the driver’s eyes show distraction and are closed for a longer than usual duration. Experimental results show that this component can detect closed eyes with an accuracy of 94.26% on average, which is comparable to previous results using more sophisticated methods. The purpose of the second component is to alert the driver when the driver’s vehicle is moving around larger vehicles at dusk or night time. The large vehicle detection component accepts images from a regular video driving recorder as input. A bi-level system of classifiers, which included a novel MSR-enhanced KAZE-base Bag-of-Features classifier, is proposed to avoid false negatives. In both components, we propose an improved version of the Multi-Scale Retinex (MSR) algorithm to augment the contrast of the input. Several experiments were performed to test the effects of the MSR and each classifier, and the results are presented in experimental results section of this paper. PMID:28946643

ECG-based gating in ultra high field cardiovascular magnetic resonance using an independent component analysis approach.

PubMed

Krug, Johannes W; Rose, Georg; Clifford, Gari D; Oster, Julien

2013-11-19

In Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR), the synchronization of image acquisition with heart motion is performed in clinical practice by processing the electrocardiogram (ECG). The ECG-based synchronization is well established for MR scanners with magnetic fields up to 3 T. However, this technique is prone to errors in ultra high field environments, e.g. in 7 T MR scanners as used in research applications. The high magnetic fields cause severe magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects which disturb the ECG signal. Image synchronization is thus less reliable and yields artefacts in CMR images. A strategy based on Independent Component Analysis (ICA) was pursued in this work to enhance the ECG contribution and attenuate the MHD effect. ICA was applied to 12-lead ECG signals recorded inside a 7 T MR scanner. An automatic source identification procedure was proposed to identify an independent component (IC) dominated by the ECG signal. The identified IC was then used for detecting the R-peaks. The presented ICA-based method was compared to other R-peak detection methods using 1) the raw ECG signal, 2) the raw vectorcardiogram (VCG), 3) the state-of-the-art gating technique based on the VCG, 4) an updated version of the VCG-based approach and 5) the ICA of the VCG. ECG signals from eight volunteers were recorded inside the MR scanner. Recordings with an overall length of 87 min accounting for 5457 QRS complexes were available for the analysis. The records were divided into a training and a test dataset. In terms of R-peak detection within the test dataset, the proposed ICA-based algorithm achieved a detection performance with an average sensitivity (Se) of 99.2%, a positive predictive value (+P) of 99.1%, with an average trigger delay and jitter of 5.8 ms and 5.0 ms, respectively. Long term stability of the demixing matrix was shown based on two measurements of the same subject, each being separated by one year, whereas an averaged detection performance of Se = 99.4% and +P = 99.7% was achieved.Compared to the state-of-the-art VCG-based gating technique at 7 T, the proposed method increased the sensitivity and positive predictive value within the test dataset by 27.1% and 42.7%, respectively. The presented ICA-based method allows the estimation and identification of an IC dominated by the ECG signal. R-peak detection based on this IC outperforms the state-of-the-art VCG-based technique in a 7 T MR scanner environment.

An application of the driver behavior questionnaire to Chinese carless young drivers.

PubMed

Zhang, Qian; Jiang, Zuhua; Zheng, Dongpeng; Wang, Yifan; Man, Dong

2013-01-01

Carless young drivers refers to those drivers aged between 18 and 25 years who have a driver's license but seldom have opportunities to practice their driving skills because they do not have their own cars. Due to China's lower private car ownership, many young drivers turn into carless young drivers after licensure, and the safety issue associated with them has become a matter of great concern in China. Because few studies have examined the driving behaviors of these drivers, this study aims to utilize the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) to investigate the self-reported driving behaviors of Chinese carless young drivers. A total of 523 Chinese carless young drivers (214 females, 309 males) with an average age of 21.91 years completed a questionnaire including the 27-item DBQ and demographics. The data were first randomized into 2 subsamples for factor analysis and then combined together for the following analyses. Both an exploratory factor analysis (EFA, n = 174) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA, n = 349) were performed to investigate the factor structure of the DBQ. Correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between the demographics and the DBQ scales' variables. Multivariate linear regression and logistic regression were performed to investigate the prediction of the DBQ scales and crash involvement in the previous year. The EFA produced a 4-factor structure identified as errors, violations, attention lapses, and memory lapses, and the CFA revealed a good model fit after the removal of one item with a low factor loading and the permission of the error covariance between some items. The Chinese carless young drivers reported a comparatively low level of aberrant driving behaviors. The 3 most frequently reported behaviors were all lapses and the 3 least were all violations. Gender was the only significant predictor of the 2 lapses scales and lifetime mileage was the only significant predictor of the violations scale. Only the violations factor was found to be significantly predictive of crash involvement in the previous year. The current study provides evidence that the DBQ can successfully be utilized to examine the self-reported driving behaviors of Chinese carless young drivers. However, the factor structure as well as the level of reported aberrant driving behaviors suggests that Chinese carless young drivers are a special population and thus should be treated differently when interventions are performed. Supplemental materials are available for this article.

Sitting biomechanics, part II: optimal car driver's seat and optimal driver's spinal model.

PubMed

Harrison, D D; Harrison, S O; Croft, A C; Harrison, D E; Troyanovich, S J

2000-01-01

Driving has been associated with signs and symptoms caused by vibrations. Sitting causes the pelvis to rotate backwards and the lumbar lordosis to reduce. Lumbar support and armrests reduce disc pressure and electromyographically recorded values. However, the ideal driver's seat and an optimal seated spinal model have not been described. To determine an optimal automobile seat and an ideal spinal model of a driver. Information was obtained from peer-reviewed scientific journals and texts, automotive engineering reports, and the National Library of Medicine. Driving predisposes vehicle operators to low-back pain and degeneration. The optimal seat would have an adjustable seat back incline of 100 degrees from horizontal, a changeable depth of seat back to front edge of seat bottom, adjustable height, an adjustable seat bottom incline, firm (dense) foam in the seat bottom cushion, horizontally and vertically adjustable lumbar support, adjustable bilateral arm rests, adjustable head restraint with lordosis pad, seat shock absorbers to dampen frequencies in the 1 to 20 Hz range, and linear front-back travel of the seat enabling drivers of all sizes to reach the pedals. The lumbar support should be pulsating in depth to reduce static load. The seat back should be damped to reduce rebounding of the torso in rear-end impacts. The optimal driver's spinal model would be the average Harrison model in a 10 degrees posterior inclining seat back angle.

The effect of performance feedback on drivers' hazard perception ability and self-ratings.

PubMed

Horswill, Mark S; Garth, Megan; Hill, Andrew; Watson, Marcus O

2017-04-01

Drivers' hazard perception ability has been found to predict crash risk, and novice drivers appear to be particularly poor at this skill. This competency appears to develop only slowly with experience, and this could partially be a result of poor quality performance feedback. We report an experiment in which we provided high-quality artificial feedback on individual drivers' performance in a validated video-based hazard perception test via either: (1) a graph-based comparison of hazard perception response times between the test-taker, the average driver, and an expert driver; (2) a video-based comparison between the same groups; or (3) both. All three types of feedback resulted in both an improvement in hazard perception performance and a reduction in self-rated hazard perception skill, compared with a no-feedback control group. Video-based and graph-based feedback combined resulted in a greater improvement in hazard perception performance than either of the individual components, which did not differ from one another. All three types of feedback eliminated participants' self-enhancement bias for hazard perception skill. Participants judged both interventions involving video feedback to be significantly more likely to improve their real-world driving than the no feedback control group. While all three forms of feedback had some value, the combined video and graph feedback intervention appeared to be the most effective across all outcome measures. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Staircase Methods of Sensitivity Testing,

DTIC Science & Technology

1946-03-21

Mathematical Preliminaries ............. 32 b. Outline of the Investigation ..... .......... 35 8. The Possible Adjustments ...... ............... .. 36 9...bh Ar’Lied MathematIcs Pa-nel. ZCC, uU, -. for one decermntation !f tie per centtage point and the average nmber ee exp-li.-n. required far one such...accuracy per explosion. 32. II. TECOI4ICPJJ 7. Introduction. a. Some Mathematical Preliminaries. Expressed mathematically , the problem of sensitivity

Percentiles of the run-length distribution of the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) median chart

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, K. L.; Chong, Z. L.; Khoo, M. B. C.; Teoh, W. L.; Teh, S. Y.

2017-09-01

Quality control is crucial in a wide variety of fields, as it can help to satisfy customers’ needs and requirements by enhancing and improving the products and services to a superior quality level. The EWMA median chart was proposed as a useful alternative to the EWMA \\bar{X} chart because the median-type chart is robust against contamination, outliers or small deviation from the normality assumption compared to the traditional \\bar{X}-type chart. To provide a complete understanding of the run-length distribution, the percentiles of the run-length distribution should be investigated rather than depending solely on the average run length (ARL) performance measure. This is because interpretation depending on the ARL alone can be misleading, as the process mean shifts change according to the skewness and shape of the run-length distribution, varying from almost symmetric when the magnitude of the mean shift is large, to highly right-skewed when the process is in-control (IC) or slightly out-of-control (OOC). Before computing the percentiles of the run-length distribution, optimal parameters of the EWMA median chart will be obtained by minimizing the OOC ARL, while retaining the IC ARL at a desired value.

[Use of seat belts and mobile phone while driving in Florence: trend from 2005 to 2009].

PubMed

Lorini, Chiara; Pellegrino, Elettra; Mannocci, Federico; Allodi, Guendalina; Indiani, Laura; Mersi, Anna; Petrioli, Giuseppe; Santini, Maria Grazia; Garofalo, Giorgio; Bonaccorsi, Guglielmo

2012-01-01

to evaluate the trend over time of the use of seat belts by drivers and passengers of cars and vans and the use of hand held mobile phone while driving in Florence from 2005 to 2009. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: direct observations (58,773 vehicles) have been conducted to detect the use of seat belts by occupants of cars and vans, and the use of mobile phone while driving. It has been carried out correlation analysis between the use of the seat belt by occupants of vehicles and between the simultaneous use of this device and mobile phone while driving.Moreover, it has been carried out time series analysis (ARIMA Box Jenkins) of in the prevalence of the use of seat belts by occupants of vehicles observed, of mobile phone by drivers and the trend of the risk to drive using the mobile phone with unfastened seat belt rather than to drive using the mobile phone with fastened seat belt. seat belts were used on average by 75.7% of drivers, 75.5% of front passengers and 25.1% of rear passengers. The average mobile phone use while driving was 4.5%. Drivers most frequently fasten seat belt if front passengers use it and while they do not use mobile phone. The use of seat belts by drivers and front passengers has not changed over time, whereas the use of mobile phone while driving has significantly increased. The prevalence of using mobile phone with unfastened seat belt rather than to use it with fastened seat belt while driving has significantly decreased over the years, indicating an increase in the use of mobile phone, especially among those who fasten the seat belt. it is necessary to plan and realize stronger interventions in the whole area.

An Evaluation of Graduated Driver Licensing Effects on Fatal Crash Involvements of Young Drivers in the United States

PubMed Central

Fell, James C.; Jones, Kristina; Romano, Eduardo; Voas, Robert

2013-01-01

Objective Graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems are designed to reduce the high crash risk of young novice drivers. Almost all states in the United States have some form of a three-phased GDL system with various restrictions in the intermediate phase. Studies of the effects of GDL in various states show significant reductions in fatal crash involvements of 16- and 17-year-old drivers; however, only a few national studies of GDL effects have been published. The objective of this national panel study was to evaluate the effect of GDL laws on the fatal crash involvements of novice drivers while controlling for possible confounding factors not accounted for in prior studies. Methods The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) was used to examine 16- and 17-year-old driver involvement in fatal crashes (where GDL laws are applied) relative to two young driver age groups (19-20, 21-25) where GDL would not be expected to have an effect. Dates when various GDL laws were adopted in the states between 1990 and 2007 were coded from a variety of sources. Covariates in the longitudinal panel regression analyses conducted included four laws that could have an effect on 16- and 17-year-old drivers: primary enforcement seat belt laws, zero-tolerance (ZT) alcohol laws for drivers younger than age 21, lowering the blood alcohol concentration limit for driving to .08, and so-called “use and lose” laws where drivers aged 20 and younger lose their licenses for underage drinking violations. Results The adoption of a GDL law of average strength was associated with a significant decrease in fatal crash involvements of 16- and 17-year-old drivers relative to fatal crash involvements of one of the two comparison groups. GDL laws rated as “good” showed stronger relationships to fatal crash reductions, and laws rated as “less than good” showed no reductions in crash involvements relative to the older driver comparison groups. Conclusions States that adopt a basic GDL law can expect a decrease of 8 to 14% in the proportion of 16- and 17-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes (relative to 21- to 25-year-old drivers), depending upon their other existing laws that affect novice drivers, such as those used in these analyses. This finding is consistent with recent national studies that used different outcome measures and covariates. The results of this study provide additional support for states to adopt, maintain, and upgrade GDL systems to reduce youthful traffic crash fatalities. PMID:21972851

Investigating cognitive ability and self-reported driving performance of post-stroke adults in a driving simulator.

PubMed

Blane, Alison; Falkmer, Torbjörn; Lee, Hoe C; Dukic Willstrand, Tania

2018-01-01

Background Safe driving is a complex activity that requires calibration. This means the driver can accurately assess the level of task demand required for task completion and can accurately evaluate their driving capability. There is much debate on the calibration ability of post-stroke drivers. Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the cognition, self-rated performance, and estimation of task demand in a driving simulator with post-stroke drivers and controls. Methods A between-groups study design was employed, which included a post-stroke driver group and a group of similarly aged older control drivers. Both groups were observed driving in two simulator-based driving scenarios and asked to complete the NASA Task Load Index (TLX) to assess their perceived task demand and self-rate their driving performance. Participants also completed a battery of psychometric tasks to assess attention and executive function, which was used to determine whether post-stroke cognitive impairment impacted on calibration. Results There was no difference in the amount of perceived task demand required to complete the driving task. Despite impairments in cognition, the post-stroke drivers were not more likely to over-estimate their driving abilities than controls. On average, the post-stroke drivers self-rated themselves more poorly than the controls and this rating was related to cognitive ability. Conclusion This study suggests that post-stroke drivers may be aware of their deficits and adjust their driving behavior. Furthermore, using self-performance measures alongside a driving simulator and cognitive assessments may provide complementary fitness-to-drive assessments, as well as rehabilitation tools during post-stroke recovery.

Older drivers and rapid deceleration events: Salisbury Eye Evaluation Driving Study.

PubMed

Keay, Lisa; Munoz, Beatriz; Duncan, Donald D; Hahn, Daniel; Baldwin, Kevin; Turano, Kathleen A; Munro, Cynthia A; Bandeen-Roche, Karen; West, Sheila K

2013-09-01

Drivers who rapidly change speed while driving may be more at risk for a crash. We sought to determine the relationship of demographic, vision, and cognitive variables with episodes of rapid decelerations during five days of normal driving in a cohort of older drivers. In the Salisbury Eye Evaluation Driving Study, 1425 older drivers aged 67-87 were recruited from the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration's rolls for licensees in Salisbury, Maryland. Participants had several measures of vision tested: visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual fields, and the attentional visual field. Participants were also tested for various domains of cognitive function including executive function, attention, psychomotor speed, and visual search. A custom created driving monitoring system (DMS) was used to capture rapid deceleration events (RDEs), defined as at least 350 milli-g deceleration, during a five day period of monitoring. The rate of RDE per mile driven was modeled using a negative binomial regression model with an offset of the logarithm of the number of miles driven. We found that 30% of older drivers had one or more RDE during a five day period, and of those, about 1/3 had four or more. The rate of RDE per mile driven was highest for those drivers driving<59 miles during the 5-day period of monitoring. However, older drivers with RDE's were more likely to have better scores in cognitive tests of psychomotor speed and visual search, and have faster brake reaction time. Further, greater average speed and maximum speed per driving segment was protective against RDE events. In conclusion, contrary to our hypothesis, older drivers who perform rapid decelerations tend to be more "fit", with better measures of vision and cognition compared to those who do not have events of rapid deceleration. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Professional experience and traffic accidents/near-miss accidents among truck drivers.

PubMed

Girotto, Edmarlon; Andrade, Selma Maffei de; González, Alberto Durán; Mesas, Arthur Eumann

2016-10-01

To investigate the relationship between the time working as a truck driver and the report of involvement in traffic accidents or near-miss accidents. A cross-sectional study was performed with truck drivers transporting products from the Brazilian grain harvest to the Port of Paranaguá, Paraná, Brazil. The drivers were interviewed regarding sociodemographic characteristics, working conditions, behavior in traffic and involvement in accidents or near-miss accidents in the previous 12 months. Subsequently, the participants answered a self-applied questionnaire on substance use. The time of professional experience as drivers was categorized in tertiles. Statistical analyses were performed through the construction of models adjusted by multinomial regression to assess the relationship between the length of experience as a truck driver and the involvement in accidents or near-miss accidents. This study included 665 male drivers with an average age of 42.2 (±11.1) years. Among them, 7.2% and 41.7% of the drivers reported involvement in accidents and near-miss accidents, respectively. In fully adjusted analysis, the 3rd tertile of professional experience (>22years) was shown to be inversely associated with involvement in accidents (odds ratio [OR] 0.29; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.16-0.52) and near-miss accidents (OR 0.17; 95% CI 0.05-0.53). The 2nd tertile of professional experience (11-22 years) was inversely associated with involvement in accidents (OR 0.63; 95% CI 0.40-0.98). An evident relationship was observed between longer professional experience and a reduction in reporting involvement in accidents and near-miss accidents, regardless of age, substance use, working conditions and behavior in traffic. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effects of a new traffic safety law in the Republic of Serbia on driving under the influence of alcohol.

PubMed

Zivković, Vladimir; Nikolić, Slobodan; Lukić, Vera; Zivadinović, Nenad; Babić, Dragan

2013-04-01

The aim of the study presented here has been to see what the effects of the new traffic safety law are, 2 years into its initial implementation, on driving under the influence of alcohol. Until the end of 2009, the legal limit for blood concentration for drivers in Serbia was 0.5g/l; however, the new traffic safety law stipulates the new limit to be 0.3g/l. A retrospective autopsy study was performed over a 6-year period (from 2006 to 2011) whose sample covered cases of fatally injured drivers who had died at the scene of the incident, before being admitted to hospital. A total of 161 fatally injured drivers were examined for their blood alcohol concentration. The average age for these drivers was 40.2±15.4 years, with a significant male predominance of 152 men to 9 women (χ(2)=152.000, p<0.001). This study has shown no decrease in the ratio of drivers under the influence of alcohol vs. all drivers (Pearson χ(2)=4.415, df=5, p=0.491), nor in the number of drivers under the influence of alcohol (Pearson χ(2)=6.629, df=5, p=0.250), nor a decrease in the mean blood alcohol concentration in drivers (1.72±0.87 vs. 1.68±0.95g/l, t=0.177, df=80, p=0.860). The conclusion of this study is that the new law has had a limited effect on driving under the influence of alcohol, which still remains one of the major human factors, responsible for road-traffic crashes in Serbia. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Older Drivers and Rapid Deceleration Events: Salisbury Eye Evaluation Driving Study

PubMed Central

Keay, Lisa; Munoz, Beatriz; Duncan, Donald D; Hahn, Daniel; Baldwin, Kevin; Turano, Kathleen A; Munro, Cynthia A; Bandeen-Roche, Karen; West, Sheila K

2012-01-01

Drivers who rapidly change speed while driving may be more at risk for a crash. We sought to determine the relationship of demographic, vision, and cognitive variables with episodes of rapid decelerations during five days of normal driving in a cohort of older drivers. In the Salisbury Eye Evaluation Driving Study, 1425 older drivers ages 67 to 87 were recruited from the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration’s rolls for licensees in Salisbury, Maryland. Participants had several measures of vision tested: visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual fields, and the attentional visual field. Participants were also tested for various domains of cognitive function including executive function, attention, psychomotor speed, and visual search. A custom created Driving Monitor System (DMS) was used to capture rapid deceleration events (RDE), defined as at least 350 milli-g deceleration, during a five day period of monitoring. The rate of RDE per mile driven was modeled using a negative binomial regression model with an offset of the logarithm of the number of miles driven. We found that 30% of older drivers had one or more RDE during a five day period, and of those, about 1/3 had four or more. The rate of RDE per mile driven was highest for those drivers driving <59 miles during the 5-day period of monitoring. However, older drivers with RDE’s were more likely to have better scores in cognitive tests of psychomotor speed and visual search, and have faster brake reaction time. Further, greater average speed and maximum speed per driving segment was protective against RDE events. In conclusion, contrary to our hypothesis, older drivers who perform rapid decelerations tend to be more “fit”, with better measures of vision and cognition compared to those who do not have events of rapid deceleration. PMID:22742775

Study of Periodical Flow Heat Transfer in an Internal Combustion Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Xi

In-cylinder heat transfer is one of the most critical physical behaviors which has a direct influence on engine out emission and thermal efficiency for IC engine. In-cylinder wall temperature has to be precisely controlled to achieve high efficiency and low emission. However, this cannot be done without knowing gas-to-wall heat flux. This study reports on the development of a technique suitable for engine in-cylinder surface temperature measurement, as the traditional method is "hard to reach." A laser induced phosphorescence technique was used to study in-cylinder wall temperature effects on engine out unburned hydrocarbons during the engine transitional period (warm up). A linear correlation was found between the cylinder wall surface temperature and the unburned hydrocarbons at mediate and high charge densities. At low charge density, no clear correlation was observed because of miss-fire events. A new auto background correction infrared (IR) diagnostic was developed to measure the instantaneous in-cylinder surface temperature at 0.1 CAD resolution. A numerical mechanism was designed to suppress relatively low-frequency background noise and provide an accurate in-cylinder surface temperature measurements with an error of less than 1.4% inside the IC engine. In addition, a proposed optical coating reduced time delay errors by 50% compared to more conventional thermocouple techniques. A new cycle-averaged Res number was developed for an IC engine to capture the characteristics of engine flow. Comparison and scaling between different engine flow parameters are available by matching the averaged Res number. From experimental results, the engine flow motion was classified as intermittently turbulent, and it is different from the original fully developed turbulent assumption, which has previously been used in almost all engine simulations. The intermittent turbulence could have a great impact on engine heat transfer because of the transitional turbulence effect. Engine 3D CFD model further proves the existence of transitional turbulence flow. A new multi zone heat transfer model is proposed for IC engines only. The model includes pressure work effects and improved heat transfer prediction compared to the standard Law of the wall model.

Aging driver and pedestrian safety : parking lot hazards study.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-20

In 2009, Florida reported the highest rate of : pedestrian fatalities in the nation. At 2.51 : deaths per 100,000 residents, Floridas rate was : nearly twice the national average. These deaths : occurred in all age groups, but compared to : other ...

Comparative effectiveness of NiCl2, Ni- and NiO-NPs in controlling oral bacterial growth and biofilm formation on oral surfaces.

PubMed

Khan, Shams Tabrez; Ahamed, Maqusood; Alhadlaq, Hisham A; Musarrat, Javed; Al-Khedhairy, Abdulaziz

2013-12-01

Oral ailments are often treated with antibiotics, which are rendered ineffective as bacteria continue to develop resistance against them. It has been suggested that the nanoparticles (NPs) approach may provide a safer and viable alternative to traditional antibacterial agents. Therefore, nickel (Ni)- and nickel oxide (NiO)-NPs were synthesized, characterized and assessed for their efficacy in reducing oral bacterial load in vitro. Also, the effects of bulk compound NiCl2 (Ni ions), along with the Ni- and NiO-NPs on bacterial exopolysaccharide (EPS) production and biofilm formation on the surface of artificial teeth, and acrylic dentures, were investigated. Total bacteria from a healthy male were collected and adjusted to 4×109cells/ml for all the tests. Effect of the NPs on growth, biofilm formation, EPS production and acid production from glucose was tested using standard protocols. Data revealed that the Ni-NPs (average size 41.23nm) exhibited an IC50 value of 73.37μg/ml against total oral bacteria. While, NiO-NPs (average size 35.67nm) were found less effective with much higher IC50 value of 197.18μg/ml. Indeed, the Ni ions exhibited greater biocidal activity with an IC50 value of 70μg/ml. Similar results were obtained with biofilm inhibition on the surfaces of dental prostheses. The results explicitly suggested the effectiveness of tested Ni compounds on the growth of oral bacteria and biofilm formation in the order as NiCl2>Ni-NPs>NiO-NPs. The results elucidated that Ni-NPs could serve as effective nanoantibiotics against oral bacteria. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Death and Disability in Patients with Sleep Apnea - A Meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Fonseca, Maria Inês Pires; Pereira, Telmo; Caseiro, Paulo

2015-01-01

Background Several studies have been attempting to ascertain the risks of Sleep Apnea Syndrome (SAS) and its morbidity and mortality. Objective The main objective was to verify whether SAS increases the risk of death; the secondary objective was to evaluate its morbidity in relation to cardiovascular disease and the number of days hospitalized. Methods A systematic review and a meta-analysis were performed of the published literature. The research focused on studies comparing the number of deaths in patients with untreated SAS and in patients with non-SAS. Results The meta-analysis was based on 13 articles, corresponding to a total of 13394 participants divided into two groups (non-SAS = 6631; SAS = 6763). The meta-analysis revealed a clear association of SAS with the occurrence of fatal events, where the presence of SAS corresponded to a 61% higher risk of total mortality (OR=1.61; CI: 1.43 - 1.81; p < 0.00001), while the risk of death from cardiac causes was 2.52 times higher in these patients (OR = 2.52; IC: 1.80 - 3.52; p < 0.00001). Similar results were obtained for mortality from other causes (OR = 1.68; CI: 1.08 - 2.61; p = 0.02). Resembling results were obtained in the remaining outcomes: non-fatal cardiovascular events were higher in the SAS group (OR = 2.46; IC: 1.80 - 3.36; p < 0.00001), the average number of days hospitalized was also higher in the SAS group (IV = 18.09; IC: 13.34 - 22.84; p < 0.00001). Conclusion The results show that untreated SAS significantly increases the risk of death, cardiovascular events and the average number of days hospitalized. PMID:25409880

Integrated HIFU Drive System on a Chip for CMUT-Based Catheter Ablation System.

PubMed

Farhanieh, Omid; Sahafi, Ali; Bardhan Roy, Rupak; Ergun, Arif Sanli; Bozkurt, Ayhan

2017-06-01

Conventional High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is a therapeutic modality which is extracorporeally administered. In applications where a relatively small HIFU lesion is required, an intravascular HIFU probe can be deployed to the ablation site. In this paper, we demonstrate the design and implementation a fully integrated HIFU drive system on a chip to be placed on a 6 Fr catheter probe. An 8-element capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT) ring array of 2 mm diameter has been used as the ultrasound source. The driver chip is fabricated in 0.35 μm AMS high-voltage CMOS technology and comprises eight continuous-wave (CW) high-voltage CMUT drivers (10.9 ns and 9.4 ns rise and fall times at 20 V pp output into a 15 pF), an eight-channel digital beamformer (8-12 MHz output frequency with 11.25 ° phase accuracy) and a phase locked loop with an integrated VCO as a tunable clock source (128-192 MHz). The chip occupies 1.85 × 1.8 mm 2 area including input and output (I/O) pads. When the transducer array is immersed in sunflower oil and driven by the IC with eight 20 V pp CW pulses at 10 MHz, real-time thermal images of the HIFU beam indicate that the focal temperature rises by 16.8  ° C in 11 seconds. Each HV driver consumes around 67 mW of power when driving the CMUT array at 10 MHz, which adds up to 560 mW for the whole chip. FEM based analysis reveals that the outer surface temperature of the catheter is expected to remain below the 42  ° C tissue damage limit during therapy.

Stacked Transformer for Driver Gain and Receive Signal Splitting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Driscoll, Kevin R.

2013-01-01

In a high-speed signal transmission system that uses transformer coupling, there is a need to provide increased transmitted signal strength without adding active components. This invention uses additional transformers to achieve the needed gain. The prior art uses stronger drivers (which require an IC redesign and a higher power supply voltage), or the addition of another active component (which can decrease reliability, increase power consumption, reduce the beneficial effect of serializer/deserializer preemphasis or deemphasis, and/or interfere with fault containment mechanisms), or uses a different transformer winding ratio (which requires redesign of the transformer and may not be feasible with high-speed signals that require a 1:1 winding ratio). This invention achieves the required gain by connecting the secondaries of multiple transformers in series. The primaries of these transformers are currently either connected in parallel or are connected to multiple drivers. There is also a need to split a receive signal to multiple destinations with minimal signal loss. Additional transformers can achieve the split. The prior art uses impedance-matching series resistors that cause a loss of signal. Instead of causing a loss, most instantiations of this invention would actually provide gain. Multiple transformers are used instead of multiple windings on a single transformer because multiple windings on the same transformer would require a redesign of the transformer, and may not be feasible with high-speed transformers that usually require a bifilar winding with a 1:1 ratio. This invention creates the split by connecting the primaries of multiple transformers in series. The secondary of each transformer is connected to one of the intended destinations without the use of impedance-matching series resistors.

Combination inhaled steroid and long-acting beta₂-agonist in addition to tiotropium versus tiotropium or combination alone for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

PubMed

Rojas-Reyes, Maria Ximena; García Morales, Olga M; Dennis, Rodolfo J; Karner, Charlotta

2016-06-06

The long-acting bronchodilator tiotropium and single-inhaler combination therapy of inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting beta2-agonists (ICS/LABA) are commonly used for maintenance treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Combining these treatments, which have different mechanisms of action, may be more effective than administering the individual components. To assess relative effects of the following treatments on markers of exacerbations, symptoms, quality of life and lung function in patients with COPD.• Tiotropium plus LABA/ICS versus tiotropium.• Tiotropium plus LABA/ICS versus LABA/ICS. We searched the Cochrane Airways Group Specialised Register of Trials (April 2015), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.ClinicalTrials.gov), the World Health Organization (WHO) trials portal and reference lists of relevant articles. We included parallel, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) lasting three months or longer conducted to compare ICS and LABA combination therapy in addition to inhaled tiotropium versus tiotropium alone or combination therapy alone. We independently assessed trials for inclusion, then extracted data on trial quality and outcome results. We contacted study authors to ask for additional information. We collected trial information on adverse effects. Tiotropium plus LABA/ICS versus tiotropiumWe included six studies (1902 participants) with low risk of bias that compared tiotropium in addition to inhaled corticosteroid and long-acting beta2-agonist combination therapy versus tiotropium alone. Investigators found no statistically significant differences in mortality between treatments (odds ratio (OR) 1.80, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.55 to 5.91; two studies; 961 participants), a reduction in all-cause hospitalisations with the use of combined therapy (tiotropium + LABA/ICS) (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.92; two studies; 961 participants; number needed to treat for an additional beneficial outcome (NNTB) 19.7, 95% CI 10.75 to 123.41). The effect on exacerbations was heterogeneous among trials and was not meta-analysed. Health-related quality of life measured by St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) showed a statistically significant improvement in total scores with use of tiotropium + LABA/ICS compared with tiotropium alone (mean difference (MD) -3.46, 95% CI -5.05 to -1.87; four studies; 1446 participants). Lung function was significantly different in the combined therapy (tiotropium + LABA/ICS) group, although average benefit with this therapy was small. None of the included studies included exercise tolerance as an outcome.A pooled estimate of these studies did not show a statistically significant difference in adverse events (OR 1.16, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.47; four studies; 1363 participants), serious adverse events (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.57 to 1.30; four studies; 1758 participants) and pneumonia (Peto OR 1.62, 95% CI 0.54 to 4.82; four studies; 1758 participants). Tiotropium plus LABA/ICS versus LABA/ICSOne of the six studies (60 participants) also compared combined therapy (tiotropium + LABA/ICS) versus LABA/ICS therapy alone. This study was affected by lack of power; therefore results did not allow us to draw conclusions for this comparison. In this update, we found new moderate-quality evidence that combined tiotropium + LABA/ICS therapy compared with tiotropium plus placebo decreases hospital admission. Low-quality evidence suggests an improvement in disease-specific quality of life with combined therapy. However, evidence is insufficient to support the benefit of tiotropium + LABA/ICS for mortality and exacerbations (moderate- and low-quality evidence, respectively). Of note, not all participants enrolled in the included studies would be candidates for triple therapy according to current international guidance.Compared with the use of tiotropium plus placebo, tiotropium + LABA/ICS-based therapy does not increase undesirable effects such as adverse events or serious non-fatal adverse events.

Safer Vehicles for People and the Planet: Letter to the Editor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wenzel, Thomas P; Wenzel, Thomas P; Ross, Marc

Letter to the Editors from Leonard Evans, Bloomfield Hills, MI: Single-vehicle crashes, which account for half of occupant fatalities, are not mentioned in 'Safer Vehicles for People and the Planet', by Thomas P. Wenzel and Marc Ross (March-April). Simple physics shows that in such crashes risk declines as vehicle mass increases. The authors write 'driving imported luxury cars carries extremely low risk, for reasons that are not obvious'. The reasons are obvious--the cars are purchased by low-risk drivers. If they swapped vehicles with drivers of sports cars (which have high risk), the risks would stick with the drivers, not themore » vehicles. The article reflects the American belief that death on our roads can be substantially reduced by making vehicles in which it is safer to crash. From 1979 through 2002, Great Britain, Canada and Australia reduced fatalities by an average of 49 percent, compared with 16 percent in the U.S. Accumulating the differences over this time shows that by merely matching the safety performance of these other countries, about 200,000 fewer Americans would have died. These trends continue. In 2006 the U.S. recorded 42,642 traffic deaths, a modest 22 percent decline from our all-time high. Sweden recorded 445, a reduction of 66 percent from their all-time high. The obsessive focus on vehicles rather than on countermeasures that scientific research shows substantially reduce risk is at the core of our dramatic safety failure. The only way to substantially reduce deaths is to reduce the risk of crashing, not to make it safer to crash. The response from Drs. Wenzel and Ross: Of course Dr. Evans is correct in stating that driver behavior influences crash risk. In our article we made clear that our estimates of risk include how well a vehicle/driver combination avoids a crash, as well as how crash-worthy a vehicle (and robust a driver) is once a crash occurs. We also analyzed two variables that can account for driver behavior: the fraction of all driver fatalities that are young men, and a 'bad driver' rating that combines information about the current crash (drug or alcohol involvement, driving without a license, or reckless driving) as well as the operator's driving record for the previous three years. For example, the high risks of sports cars, and the low risks of minivans, are clearly influenced by who drives these types of vehicles (36 percent young males and 0.77 bad driver rating for sports cars, vs. 4 percent and 0.21 for minivans; the average values for all types of cars are 20 percent and 0.50). On the other hand, we were surprised to find that the imported luxury cars, with the lowest risks, have only average drivers (21 percent young males, 0.57 bad driver rating). That is the basis for our conclusion that the design of imported luxury vehicles, or at least specific safety features on them, overcome risky behavior taken by their drivers. The safety of vehicles has greatly improved over the years. In our studies we have found several examples of models that greatly reduced their risks over time; for example, the Ford Focus has a much better risk to its drivers (118) than the Ford Escort it replaced (148). Our data indicate that more young males drive the Focus (21 percent) than the Escort (15 percent), and that Focus drivers are perhaps slightly more risky (0.50 vs. 0.44 bad driver rating). Clearly vehicle design does not play as small a role in vehicle safety as Dr. Evans suggests. Dr. Evans asserts that we ignore single-vehicle crashes and that simple physics dictates that vehicle mass provides safety in single-vehicle crashes. By itself, additional vehicle mass does provide some protection from rapid deceleration in crashes with a movable object, particularly for an unbelted occupant. However, when it comes to vehicle safety, our research by vehicle model indicates that there is essentially no relationship between car mass and risk, even in frontal crashes. In his own papers, Dr. Evans appears to admit that it is not clear whether mass, or size (specifically crush space) is inherent to vehicle safety. Additional research indicates that it is not size per se that protects in two-vehicle crashes, but how well the stiff structures on the vehicles are aligned. The auto manufacturing industry has voluntarily made design changes to their pickup trucks to increase the likelihood that truck and car bumpers will interact in a frontal crash, reducing the aggressivity of pickup trucks in recent years. Regarding the differences in experiences between the U.S. and other countries, it is important to keep in mind that the U.S. vehicle fleet is fairly unique; about half of U.S. vehicles are light duty trucks (pickups, SUVs and minivans), which many studies have shown are dangerous to other road users.« less

A wearable infrared video pupillography with multi-stimulation of consistent illumination for binocular pupil response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mang, Ou-Yang; Ko, Mei Lan; Tsai, Yi-Chun; Chiou, Jin-Chern; Huang, Ting-Wei

2016-03-01

The pupil response to light can reflect various kinds of diseases which are related to physiological health. Pupillary abnormalities may be influenced on people by autonomic neuropathy, glaucoma, diabetes, genetic diseases, and high myopia. In the early stage of neuropathy, it is often asymptomatic and difficulty detectable by ophthalmologists. In addition, the position of injured nerve can lead to unsynchronized pupil response for human eyes. In our study, we design the pupilometer to measure the binocular pupil response simultaneously. It uses the different wavelength of LEDs such as white, red, green and blue light to stimulate the pupil and record the process. Therefore, the pupilometer mainly contains two systems. One is the image acquisition system, it use the two cameras modules with the same external triggered signal to capture the images of the pupil simultaneously. The other one is the illumination system. It use the boost converter ICs and LED driver ICs to supply the constant current for LED to maintain the consistent luminance in each experiments for reduced experimental error. Furthermore, the four infrared LEDs are arranged nearby the stimulating LEDs to illuminate eyes and increase contrast of image for image processing. In our design, we success to implement the function of synchronized image acquisition with the sample speed in 30 fps and the stable illumination system for precise measurement of experiment.

Direct Digital Demultiplexing of Analog TDM Signals for Cable Reduction in Ultrasound Imaging Catheters

PubMed Central

Carpenter, Thomas M.; Rashid, M. Wasequr; Ghovanloo, Maysam; Cowell, David M. J.; Freear, Steven; Degertekin, F. Levent

2016-01-01

In real-time catheter based 3D ultrasound imaging applications, gathering data from the transducer arrays is difficult as there is a restriction on cable count due to the diameter of the catheter. Although area and power hungry multiplexing circuits integrated at the catheter tip are used in some applications, these are unsuitable for use in small sized catheters for applications like intracardiac imaging. Furthermore, the length requirement for catheters and limited power available to on-chip cable drivers leads to limited signal strength at the receiver end. In this paper an alternative approach using Analog Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) is presented which addresses the cable restrictions of ultrasound catheters. A novel digital demultiplexing technique is also described which allows for a reduction in the number of analog signal processing stages required. The TDM and digital demultiplexing schemes are demonstrated for an intracardiac imaging system that would operate in the 4 MHz to 11 MHz range. A TDM integrated circuit (IC) with 8:1 multiplexer is interfaced with a fast ADC through a micro-coaxial catheter cable bundle, and processed with an FPGA RTL simulation. Input signals to the TDM IC are recovered with −40 dB crosstalk between channels on the same micro-coax, showing the feasibility of this system for ultrasound imaging applications. PMID:27116738

A High Noise Immunity, 28 × 16-Channel Finger Touch Sensing IC Using OFDM and Frequency Translation Technique

PubMed Central

Kim, SangYun; Samadpoor Rikan, Behnam; Pu, YoungGun; Yoo, Sang-Sun; Lee, Minjae; Yang, Youngoo; Lee, Kang-Yoon

2018-01-01

In this paper, a high noise immunity, 28 × 16-channel finger touch sensing IC for an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) touch sensing scheme is presented. In order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the OFDM sensing scheme is proposed. The transmitter (TX) transmits the orthogonal signal to each channels of the panel. The receiver (RX) detects the magnitude of the orthogonal frequency to be transmitted from the TX. Due to the orthogonal characteristics, it is robust to narrowband interference and noise. Therefore, the SNR can be improved. In order to reduce the noise effect of low frequencies, a mixer and high-pass filter are proposed as well. After the noise is filtered, the touch SNR attained is 60 dB, from 20 dB before the noise is filtered. The advantage of the proposed OFDM sensing scheme is its ability to detect channels of the panel simultaneously with the use of multiple carriers. To satisfy the linearity of the signal in the OFDM system, a high-linearity mixer and a rail-to-rail amplifier in the TX driver are designed. The proposed design is implemented in 90 nm CMOS process. The SNR is approximately 60 dB. The area is 13.6 mm2, and the power consumption is 62.4 mW. PMID:29883435

The Effect of DEM Source and Grid Size on the Index of Connectivity in Savanna Catchments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jarihani, Ben; Sidle, Roy; Bartley, Rebecca; Roth, Christian

2017-04-01

The term "hydrological connectivity" is increasingly used instead of sediment delivery ratio to describe the linkage between the sources of water and sediment within a catchment to the catchment outlet. Sediment delivery ratio is an empirical parameter that is highly site-specific and tends to lump all processes, whilst hydrological connectivity focuses on the spatially-explicit hydrologic drivers of surficial processes. Detailed topographic information plays a fundamental role in geomorphological interpretations as well as quantitative modelling of sediment fluxes and connectivity. Geomorphometric analysis permits a detailed characterization of drainage area and drainage pattern together with the possibility of characterizing surface roughness. High resolution topographic data (i.e., LiDAR) are not available for all areas; however, remotely sensed topographic data from multiple sources with different grid sizes are used to undertake geomorphologic analysis in data-sparse regions. The Index of Connectivity (IC), a geomorphometric model based only on DEM data, is applied in two small savanna catchments in Queensland, Australia. The influence of the scale of the topographic data is explored by using DEMs from LiDAR ( 1 m), WorldDEM ( 10 m), raw SRTM and hydrologically corrected SRTM derived data ( 30 m) to calculate the index of connectivity. The effect of the grid size is also investigated by resampling the high resolution LiDAR DEM to multiple grid sizes (e.g. 5, 10, 20 m) and comparing the extracted IC.

Effects of age and illumination on night driving: a road test.

PubMed

Owens, D Alfred; Wood, Joanne M; Owens, Justin M

2007-12-01

This study investigated the effects of drivers' age and low light on speed, lane keeping, and visual recognition of typical roadway stimuli. Poor visibility, which is exacerbated by age-related changes in vision, is a leading contributor to fatal nighttime crashes. There is little evidence, however, concerning the extent to which drivers recognize and compensate for their visual limitations at night. Young, middle-aged, and elder participants drove on a closed road course in day and night conditions at a "comfortable" speed without speedometer information. During night tests, headlight intensity was varied over a range of 1.5 log units using neutral density filters. Average speed and recognition of road signs decreased significantly as functions of increased age and reduced illumination. Recognition of pedestrians at night was significantly enhanced by retroreflective markings of limb joints as compared with markings of the torso, and this benefit was greater for middle-aged and elder drivers. Lane keeping showed nonlinear effects of lighting, which interacted with task conditions and drivers' lateral bias, indicating that older drivers drove more cautiously in low light. Consistent with the hypothesis that drivers misjudge their visual abilities at night, participants of all age groups failed to compensate fully for diminished visual recognition abilities in low light, although older drivers behaved more cautiously than the younger groups. These findings highlight the importance of educating all road users about the limitations of night vision and provide new evidence that retroreflective markings of the limbs can be of great benefit to pedestrians' safety at night.

Long-term evolution of a propagating non-transform offset on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge over the last 26 m.y.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, T.; Tucholke, B. E.; Lin, J.

2017-12-01

By making plate reconstructions from Chron 8n ( 26.54 Ma) to present and analyzing multibeam bathymetry, long-range HMR1 sidescan sonar images, residual mantle Bouguer gravity anomaly (RMBA) and gravity-derived crust thickness, we investigated the structure and evolution of a propagating non-transform discontinuity (NTD) and adjacent ridge segments that now intersect the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) axis at 25°37'N. The NTD has propagated consistently northward since Chron 8n at a rate of 4.76 km/m.y. Offset across the NTD since Chron 6an (22 Ma) has been right lateral and has ranged from 8-52 km. Key features are: 1) Inside-corner (IC) crust consistently has higher values of RMBA than the adjacent ridge segments, implying thinner crust. 2) IC crust typically exhibits elevated, irregular edifices. Slopes of the NTD walls are steeper at ICs than at outside corners (OCs). Steep (up to 40°), abrupt slopes are particularly pronounced at the IC on the north side of the NTD. 3) OC crust is deeper and normally exhibits long linear ridges that curve toward the MAR axis at the southern edge of the NTD but show little curvature at the northern edge. 4) Width of the NTD between its northern and southern walls (at mid-depth) has ranged from 2 to 22 km, averaging 15 km. 5) The NTD valley was intermittently crossed by individual ridges or blocks every 5-60 km (average 20 km) along the run of the NTD. The ridges curve along the transtensional plate boundary within the NTD but are often discontinuous. HMR1 data show lumpy small-scale topography and occasional volcanic cones on the ridges and blocks. Their intermittency indicates that melt intruded sporadically into the NTD. Propagation of the NTD occurred as the transtensional plate boundary within the NTD jumped northward from a volcanic ridge axis or block, apparently as magmatism waned. The jumps captured crust and transferred it to the east flank only within the NTD, not from the northern IC edifices. We propose two possible causes for the northward propagation: 1) Enhanced melt supply (implied by more negative RMBA) in the segment south of the NTD may have driven the northward propagation; however, RMBA data are limited prior to Chron 5n, so the validity of this mechanism is uncertain. 2) The loci of rising parcels of fertile mantle that supplied melt to the crust may have shifted northward through time.

An epidemiological study of low back pain in professional drivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bovenzi, Massimo; Rui, Francesca; Negro, Corrado; D'Agostin, Flavia; Angotzi, Giuliano; Bianchi, Sandra; Bramanti, Lucia; Festa, GianLuca; Gatti, Silvana; Pinto, Iole; Rondina, Livia; Stacchini, Nicola

2006-12-01

The prevalence of low back pain (LBP) was investigated in 598 Italian professional drivers exposed to whole-body vibration (WBV) and ergonomic risk factors (drivers of earth moving machines, fork-lift truck drivers, truck drivers, bus drivers). The control group consisted of a small sample of 30 fire inspectors not exposed to WBV. Personal, occupational and health histories were collected by means of a structured questionnaire. Vibration measurements were performed on representative samples of the machines and vehicles used by the driver groups. From the vibration magnitudes and exposure durations, alternative measures of vibration dose were estimated for each subject. Daily vibration exposure, expressed in terms of 8-h energy-equivalent frequency-weighted acceleration, A(8), averaged 0.28-0.61 (range 0.10-1.18) m s -2 rms in the driver groups. Duration of exposure to WBV ranged between 1 and 41 years. The 7-day and 12-month prevalence of LBP was greater in the driver groups than in the controls. In the professional drivers, the occurrence of 12-month LBP, high intensity of LBP (Von Korff pain scale score ⩾5), and LBP disability (Roland & Morris disability scale score ⩾12) significantly increased with increasing cumulative vibration exposure. Even though several alternative measures of vibration exposure were associated with LBP outcomes, nevertheless a more regular trend of association with LBP was found for vibration dose expressed as ∑ a vit i (m s -2 h), in which the frequency-weighted acceleration, a v, and lifetime exposure duration, t, were given equal weight. In multivariate data analysis, individual characteristics (e.g. age, body mass index) and a physical load index (derived from combining manual materials handling and awkward postures) were significantly associated with LBP outcomes, while psychosocial work factors (e.g. job decision, job support) showed a marginal relation to LBP. This study tends to confirm that professional driving in industry is associated with an increased risk of work-related LBP. Exposure to WBV and physical loading factors at work are important components of the multifactorial origin of LBP in professional drivers.

Gold nanoparticles interacting with β-cyclodextrin-phenylethylamine inclusion complex: a ternary system for photothermal drug release.

PubMed

Sierpe, Rodrigo; Lang, Erika; Jara, Paul; Guerrero, Ariel R; Chornik, Boris; Kogan, Marcelo J; Yutronic, Nicolás

2015-07-22

We report the synthesis of a 1:1 β-cyclodextrin-phenylethylamine (βCD-PhEA) inclusion complex (IC) and the adhesion of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) onto microcrystals of this complex, which forms a ternary system. The formation of the IC was confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction and NMR analyses ((1)H and ROESY). The stability constant of the IC (760 M(-1)) was determined using the phase solubility method. The adhesion of AuNPs was obtained using the magnetron sputtering technique, and the presence of AuNPs was confirmed using UV-vis spectroscopy (surface plasmon resonance effect), which showed an absorbance at 533 nm. The powder X-ray diffractograms of βCD-PhEA were similar to those of the crystals decorated with AuNPs. A comparison of the one- and two-dimensional NMR spectra of the IC with and without AuNPs suggests partial displacement of the guest to the outside of the βCD due to attraction toward AuNPs, a characteristic tropism effect. The size, morphology, and distribution of the AuNPs were analyzed using TEM and SEM. The average size of the AuNPs was 14 nm. Changes in the IR and Raman spectra were attributed to the formation of the complex and to the specific interactions of this group with the AuNPs. Laser irradiation assays show that the ternary system βCD-PhEA-AuNPs in solution enables the release of the guest.

Effects of a 2009 Illinois Alcohol Tax Increase on Fatal Motor Vehicle Crashes.

PubMed

Wagenaar, Alexander C; Livingston, Melvin D; Staras, Stephanie S

2015-09-01

We examined the effects of a 2009 increase in alcohol taxes in Illinois on alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes. We used an interrupted time-series design, with intrastate and cross-state comparisons and measurement derived from driver alcohol test results, for 104 months before and 28 months after enactment. Our analyses used autoregressive moving average and generalized linear mixed Poisson models. We examined both population-wide effects and stratifications by alcohol level, age, gender, and race. Fatal alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes declined 9.9 per month after the tax increase, a 26% reduction. The effect was similar for alcohol-impaired drivers with positive alcohol levels lower than 0.15 grams per deciliter (-22%) and drivers with very high alcohol levels of 0.15 or more (-25%). Drivers younger than 30 years showed larger declines (-37%) than those aged 30 years and older (-23%), but gender and race stratifications did not significantly differ. Increases in alcohol excise taxes, such as the 2009 Illinois act, could save thousands of lives yearly across the United States as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce alcohol-impaired driving.

Understanding the Linkage between Charging Network Coverage and Charging Opportunity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Changzheng; Lin, Zhenhong; Kontou, Eleftheria

2016-01-01

Using GPS-based travel survey data, this paper estimates the relationship between public charging network coverage and charging opportunity, defined as the probability of being able to access public charging for a driver at one of his/her stops or at one travel day. Understanding this relationship is of important interests to the electric vehicle industry and government in determining appropriate charging infrastructure deployment level and estimating the impact of public charging on market adoption of electric vehicles. The analysis finds that drivers trip destinations concentrate on a few popular places. If top 1% of most popular places are installed with publicmore » chargers, on average, drivers will be able to access public charging at 20% of all their stops and 1/3 of their travel days; If 20% of most popular places are installed with public chargers, drivers will be able to access public charging at 89% of all their stops and 94% of their travel days. These findings are encouraging, implying charging network can be efficiently designed by concentrating at a few popular places while still providing a high level of charging opportunity.« less

Assessing the direct effects of deep brain stimulation using embedded axon models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sotiropoulos, Stamatios N.; Steinmetz, Peter N.

2007-06-01

To better understand the spatial extent of the direct effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on neurons, we implemented a geometrically realistic finite element electrical model incorporating anisotropic and inhomogenous conductivities. The model included the subthalamic nucleus (STN), substantia nigra (SN), zona incerta (ZI), fields of Forel H2 (FF), internal capsule (IC) and Medtronic 3387/3389 electrode. To quantify the effects of stimulation, we extended previous studies by using multi-compartment axon models with geometry and orientation consistent with anatomical features of the brain regions of interest. Simulation of axonal firing produced a map of relative changes in axonal activation. Voltage-controlled stimulation, with clinically typical parameters at the dorso-lateral STN, caused axon activation up to 4 mm from the target. This activation occurred within the FF, IC, SN and ZI with current intensities close to the average injected during DBS (3 mA). A sensitivity analysis of model parameters (fiber size, fiber orientation, degree of inhomogeneity, degree of anisotropy, electrode configuration) revealed that the FF and IC were consistently activated. Direct activation of axons outside the STN suggests that other brain regions may be involved in the beneficial effects of DBS when treating Parkinsonian symptoms.

On the intrinsic spectrum of PKS 2155-304 from H.E.S.S. 2003 data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Costamante, L.; Benbow, W.; Horns, D.

2005-02-21

In 2003, PKS 2155-304 has been significantly detected by H.E.S.S. at Very High Energies (VHE), with an average spectrum of {gamma} = 3.3. Due to absorption by the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL), the intrinsic spectrum is heavily modified both in shape and intensity. To correct for this effect, and locate the Inverse Compton (IC) peak of the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED), we used three EBL models (representatives of three different flux levels for the stellar peak component). The resulting TeV spectrum has a peak around 1 TeV for stellar peak fluxes above the Primack (2001) calculation, while the spectrum ismore » steeper than {gamma} = 2 (thus locating the IC peak < 200 GeV) for fluxes below. With bulk Lorentz factors {delta} = 20 - 30 (typically used for this object), in the first case the IC peak is in the Klein-Nishina transition region, while in the other case it is in the Thompson regime, and in agreement with the commonly fitted source parameters (e.g. [17]). The constraint on {delta} given by transparency to 2 TeV photons is {delta} > 19 (for historical SED fluxes and 2 hours variability timescale)« less

Noise reduction in functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals by independent component analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santosa, Hendrik; Jiyoun Hong, Melissa; Kim, Sung-Phil; Hong, Keum-Shik

2013-07-01

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is used to detect concentration changes of oxy-hemoglobin and deoxy-hemoglobin in the human brain. The main difficulty entailed in the analysis of fNIRS signals is the fact that the hemodynamic response to a specific neuronal activation is contaminated by physiological and instrument noises, motion artifacts, and other interferences. This paper proposes independent component analysis (ICA) as a means of identifying the original hemodynamic response in the presence of noises. The original hemodynamic response was reconstructed using the primary independent component (IC) and other, less-weighting-coefficient ICs. In order to generate experimental brain stimuli, arithmetic tasks were administered to eight volunteer subjects. The t-value of the reconstructed hemodynamic response was improved by using the ICs found in the measured data. The best t-value out of 16 low-pass-filtered signals was 37, and that of the reconstructed one was 51. Also, the average t-value of the eight subjects' reconstructed signals was 40, whereas that of all of their low-pass-filtered signals was only 20. Overall, the results showed the applicability of the ICA-based method to noise-contamination reduction in brain mapping.

Stability of landsat-4 thematic mapper outgassing models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Micijevic, E.; Chander, G.

2006-01-01

Oscillations in radiometric gains of the short wave infrared (SWIR) bands in Landsat-4 (L4) and Landsat-5 (L5) Thematic Mappers (TMs) are observed through an analysis of detector responses to the Internal Calibrator (IC) pulses. The oscillations are believed to be caused by an interference effect due to a contaminant film buildup on the window of the cryogenically cooled dewar that houses these detectors. This process of contamination, referred to as outgassing effects, has been well characterized using an optical thin-film model that relates detector responses to the accumulated film thickness and its growth rate. The current models for L4 TM are based on average detector responses to the second brightest IC lamp and have been derived from three data sets acquired during different times throughout the instrument's lifetime. Unlike in L5 TM outgassing characterization, it was found that the L4 TM responses to all three IC lamps can be used to provide accurate characterization and correction for outgassing effects. The analysis of single detector responses revealed an up to five percent difference in the estimated oscillating periods and also indicated a gradual variation of contaminant growth rate over the focal plane.

On the intrinsic spectrum of PKS 2155-304 from H.E.S.S. 2003 data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costamante, L.; Benbow, W.; Horns, D.; Reimer, A.; H.E.S.S. Collaboration

2005-02-01

In 2003, PKS 2155-304 has been significantly detected by H.E.S.S. at Very High Energies (VHE), with an average spectrum of Γ = 3.3. Due to absorption by the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL), the intrinsic spectrum is heavily modified both in shape and intensity. To correct for this effect, and locate the Inverse Compton (IC) peak of the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED), we used three EBL models (representatives of three different flux levels for the stellar peak component). The resulting TeV spectrum has a peak around 1 TeV for stellar peak fluxes above the Primack (2001) calculation, while the spectrum is steeper than Γ = 2 (thus locating the IC peak < 200 GeV) for fluxes below. With bulk Lorentz factors δ = 20 - 30 (typically used for this object), in the first case the IC peak is in the Klein-Nishina transition region, while in the other case it is in the Thompson regime, and in agreement with the commonly fitted source parameters (e.g. [17]). The constraint on δ given by transparency to 2 TeV photons is δ > 19 (for historical SED fluxes and 2 hours variability timescale).

Analysis of acidic components, heavy metals and PAHS of particulate in the Changwon-Masan area of Korea.

PubMed

Lee, Byeong-Kyu; Lee, Chang-Heub

2008-01-01

This study is an analysis of the concentrations and components of heavy metals in PM2.5 and the total suspended particulate (TSP) collected at a mechanical industrial complex (IC) site in Changwon and at a residential site in Masan, Korea. Particulate was collected during two sampling periods, from the late summer to the early fall and from the middle to late fall, at the IC site and one sampling period, from the middle fall to the early winter, at the residential site. PM2.5 and TSP samples were taken by an annular denuder system and a hi-volume air sampler, respectively. The authors also identified the concentrations and components of heavy metals extracted from the PM2.5 and TSP filters, the acidic components extracted from the PM2.5 filters, and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) extracted from polyurethane foam (PUF) plug. The average concentrations of the PM2.5 collected at the IC and residential sites were very similar. Major sources of PM2.5 at the study sites, however, were air emissions from vehicles and industry as well as emissions from residential heating and soil origins, respectively. The higher concentrations of the TSP at the IC site, as compared to those at the residential site, were due to either increased suspended dust from vehicle emissions or re-suspended road dust because of increased vehicle speeds near the IC site. Heavy metal concentrations in the TSPs were higher than those in the PM2.5. The heavy metal concentrations in the PM2.5 and TSP at the IC site with heavy traffic were substantially greater than those at the residential site. The concentrations of TSP and heavy metals and PAHs in PM during the period of the middle to late fall was much higher than those during the period of the late summer to early fall at the IC site. This is because of the difference in meteorological characteristics and energy uses between two periods. The residential site also showed higher concentrations of acidic anions while the IC site showed higher concentrations of acidic cation. Secondary aerosols or particulates, such as ammonium nitrate or ammonium nitrite, might have been important constituents of the PM2.5 at the residential site. The PAHs in the TSP collected at the IC site was greatly affected by traffic and industry emissions consisting mostly of high molecular weight PAHs with two to four rings. PAHs in the TSP at the site, however, were affected by residential heating and air emissions from small chemical plants having higher concentrations of low molecular weight PAHs with five to six rings.

Forward Collision Warning: Clues to Optimal Timing of Advisory Warnings

PubMed Central

Aksan, Nazan; Sager, Lauren; Hacker, Sarah; Marini, Robert; Dawson, Jeffrey; Anderson, Steven; Rizzo, Matthew

2016-01-01

We examined the effectiveness of a heads-up Forward Collision Warning (FCW) system in 39 younger to middle aged drivers (25-50, mean = 35 years) and 37 older drivers (66-87, mean = 77 years). The warnings were implemented in a fixed based, immersive, 180 degree forward field of view simulator. The FCW included a visual advisory component consisting of a red horizontal bar which flashed in the center screen of the simulator that was triggered at time-to-collision (TTC) 4 seconds. The bar roughly overlapped the rear bumper of the lead vehicle, just below the driver's line-of-sight. A sustained auditory tone (~80 dB) was activated at TTC=2 to alert the driver to an imminent collision. Hence, the warning system differed from the industry standard in significant ways. 95% Confidence intervals for the safety gains ranged from −.03 to .19 seconds in terms of average correction time across several activations. Older and younger adults did not differ in terms of safety gains. Closer inspection of data revealed that younger to middle aged drivers were already braking (42%) on a larger proportion of FCW activations than older drivers (26%), p < .001. Conversely, older drivers were still accelerating (38%) on a larger proportion of FCW activations than younger to middle aged drivers (23%) at the time FCW was activated, p < .009. There were no differences in the proportion of activations when drivers were coasting at the time FCW was activated, p = .240. Furthermore, large individual differences in basic visual, motor, and cognitive function predicted the tendency to brake prior to FCW activation. Those who tended to be better functioning in each of these domains were more likely to be already braking prior to FCW activation at the fixed threshold of TTC=4. These findings suggest optimal timing for advisory alerts for forward events may need to be larger than TTC=4. PMID:27648455

Investigation on occupant injury severity in rear-end crashes involving trucks as the front vehicle in Beijing area, China.

PubMed

Yuan, Quan; Lu, Meng; Theofilatos, Athanasios; Li, Yi-Bing

2017-02-01

Rear-end crashes attribute to a large portion of total crashes in China, which lead to many casualties and property damage, especially when involving commercial vehicles. This paper aims to investigate the critical factors for occupant injury severity in the specific rear-end crash type involving trucks as the front vehicle (FV). This paper investigated crashes occurred from 2011 to 2013 in Beijing area, China and selected 100 qualified cases i.e., rear-end crashes involving trucks as the FV. The crash data were supplemented with interviews from police officers and vehicle inspection. A binary logistic regression model was used to build the relationship between occupant injury severity and corresponding affecting factors. Moreover, a multinomial logistic model was used to predict the likelihood of fatal or severe injury or no injury in a rear-end crash. The results provided insights on the characteristics of driver, vehicle and environment, and the corresponding influences on the likelihood of a rear-end crash. The binary logistic model showed that drivers' age, weight difference between vehicles, visibility condition and lane number of road significantly increased the likelihood for severe injury of rear-end crash. The multinomial logistic model and the average direct pseudo-elasticity of variables showed that night time, weekdays, drivers from other provinces and passenger vehicles as rear vehicles significantly increased the likelihood of rear drivers being fatal. All the abovementioned significant factors should be improved, such as the conditions of lighting and the layout of lanes on roads. Two of the most common driver factors are drivers' age and drivers' original residence. Young drivers and outsiders have a higher injury severity. Therefore it is imperative to enhance the safety education and management on the young drivers who steer heavy duty truck from other cities to Beijing on weekdays. Copyright © 2016 Daping Hospital and the Research Institute of Surgery of the Third Military Medical University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Taxi driver speeding: Who, when, where and how? A comparative study between Shanghai and New York City.

PubMed

Huang, Yizhe; Sun, Daniel Jian; Tang, Juanyu

2018-04-03

The 3 objectives of this study are to (1) identify the driving style characteristics of taxi drivers in Shanghai and New York City (NYC) using taxi Global Positioning System (GPS) data and make a comparative analysis; (2) explore the influence of different driving style characteristics on the frequency of speeding (who and how?) and (3) explore the influence of driving style characteristics, road attributes, and environmental factors on the speeding rate (when, where, and how?) Methods: This study proposes a driver-road-environment identification (DREI) method to investigate the determinant factors of taxi speeding violations. Driving style characteristics, together with road and environment variables, were obtained based on the GPS data and auxiliary spatiotemporal data in Shanghai and NYC. The daily working hours of taxi drivers in Shanghai (18.6 h) was far more than in NYC (8.5 h). The average occupancy speed of taxi drivers in Shanghai (21.3 km/h) was similar to that of NYC (20.3 km/h). Speeders in both cities had shorter working hours and longer daily driving distance than other taxi drivers, though their daily income was similar. Speeding drivers routinely took long-distance trips (>10 km) and preferred relatively faster routes. Length of segments (1.0-1.5 km) and good traffic condition were associated with high speeding rates, whereas central business district area and secondary road were associated with low speeding rates. Moreover, many speeding violations were identified between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. in both Shanghai and NYC and the worst period was between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. in both cities. Characteristics of drivers, road attributes, and environment variables should be considered together when studying driver speeding behavior. Findings of this study may assist in stipulating relevant laws and regulations such as stricter offense monitoring in the early morning, long segment supervision, shift rule regulation, and working hour restriction to mitigate the risk of potential crashes.

Powered two-wheeler drivers' risk of hitting a pedestrian in towns.

PubMed

Clabaux, Nicolas; Fournier, Jean-Yves; Michel, Jean-Emmanuel

2014-12-01

The risk of collision between pedestrians and powered two-wheelers is poorly understood today. The objective of this research is to determine the risk for powered two-wheeler drivers of hitting and injuring a pedestrian per kilometer driven in towns and to compare this risk with that run by four-wheeled vehicle drivers. Using the bodily injury accidents recorded by the police on nine roads in the city of Marseille in 2011 and a campaign of observations of powered two-wheeler traffic, we estimated the risk per kilometer driven by powered two-wheeler drivers of hitting a pedestrian and compared it with the risk run by four-wheeled vehicle drivers. The results show that the risk for powered two-wheeler drivers of hitting and injuring a pedestrian is significantly higher than the risk run by four-wheeled vehicle drivers. On the nine roads studied, it is on average 3.33 times higher (95% CI: 1.63; 6.78). Taking four more years into account made it possible to consolidate these results and to tighten the confidence interval. There does indeed seem to be problems in the interactions between pedestrians and powered two-wheeler users in urban traffic. These interaction problems lead to a higher risk of hitting and injuring a pedestrian for powered two-wheeler drivers than for four-wheeled vehicle drivers. The analysis of the police reports suggests that part of this increased risk comes from filtering maneuvers by powered two-wheelers. Possible countermeasures deal with the urban street layout. Measures consisting in reducing the width and the number of traffic lanes to a strict minimum and installing medians or pedestrian islands could be an effective way for the prevention of urban accidents between pedestrians and powered two-wheelers. Copyright © 2014 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

30 CFR 57.22202 - Main fans (I-A, I-B, I-C, II-A, III, V-A, and V-B mines).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... mines, provided with an automatic signal device to give an alarm when the fan stops. The signal device... possible explosive forces; (2) Equipped with explosion-doors, a weak-wall, or other equivalent devices... or weak-wall shall be at least equivalent to the average cross-sectional area of the airway. (c) (1...

30 CFR 57.22202 - Main fans (I-A, I-B, I-C, II-A, III, V-A, and V-B mines).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... mines, provided with an automatic signal device to give an alarm when the fan stops. The signal device... possible explosive forces; (2) Equipped with explosion-doors, a weak-wall, or other equivalent devices... or weak-wall shall be at least equivalent to the average cross-sectional area of the airway. (c) (1...

30 CFR 57.22202 - Main fans (I-A, I-B, I-C, II-A, III, V-A, and V-B mines).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... mines, provided with an automatic signal device to give an alarm when the fan stops. The signal device... possible explosive forces; (2) Equipped with explosion-doors, a weak-wall, or other equivalent devices... or weak-wall shall be at least equivalent to the average cross-sectional area of the airway. (c) (1...

30 CFR 57.22202 - Main fans (I-A, I-B, I-C, II-A, III, V-A, and V-B mines).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... mines, provided with an automatic signal device to give an alarm when the fan stops. The signal device... possible explosive forces; (2) Equipped with explosion-doors, a weak-wall, or other equivalent devices... or weak-wall shall be at least equivalent to the average cross-sectional area of the airway. (c) (1...

Dosimetric characterization and behaviour in small X-ray fields of a microchamber and a plastic scintillator detector.

PubMed

Pasquino, Massimo; Cutaia, Claudia; Radici, Lorenzo; Valzano, Serena; Gino, Eva; Cavedon, Carlo; Stasi, Michele

2017-01-01

The aim of this work was to investigate the main dosimetric characteristics and the performance of an A26 Exradin ionization microchamber (A26 IC) and a W1 Exradin plastic scintillation detector (W1 PSD) in small photon beam dosimetry for treatment planning system commissioning and quality assurance programme. Detector characterization measurements (short-term stability, dose linearity, angular dependence and energy dependence) were performed in water for field sizes up to 10 × 10 cm 2 . Polarity effect (P pol ) was examined for the A26 IC. The behaviour of the detectors in small field relative dosimetry [percentage depth dose, dose profiles often called the off-axis ratio and output factors (OFs)] was investigated for field sizes ranging from 1 × 1 to 3 × 3 cm 2 . Results were compared with those obtained with other detectors we already use for small photon beam dosimetry. A26 IC and W1 PSD showed a linear dose response. While the A26 IC showed no energy dependence, the W1 PSD showed energy dependence within 2%; no angular dependence was registered. P pol values for A26 IC were below 0.9% (0.5% for field size >2 × 2 cm 2 ). A26 IC and W1 PSD depth-dose curves and lateral profiles agreed with those obtained with an EDGE diode. No differences were observed among the detectors in OF measurement for field sizes larger than 1 × 1 cm 2 , with average differences <1%. For field sizes <1 × 1 cm 2 , the effective volume of ionization chamber and non-water equivalence of EDGE diode become significant. A26 IC OF values were significantly lower than EDGE diode and W1 PSD values, with percentage differences of about -23 and -13% for the smallest field, respectively. W1 PSD OF values lay between ion chambers and diode values, with a maximum percentage difference of about -10% with respect to the EDGE diode, for a 6 × 6-mm 2 field size. The results of our investigation confirm that A26 IC and W1 PSD could play an important role in small field relative dosimetry. Advances in knowledge: Dosimetric characteristics of Exradin A26 ionization microchamber and W1 plastic scintillation detector for small field dosimetry.

Sleep-deprived young drivers and the risk for crash: the DRIVE prospective cohort study.

PubMed

Martiniuk, Alexandra L C; Senserrick, Teresa; Lo, Serigne; Williamson, Ann; Du, Wei; Grunstein, Ronald R; Woodward, Mark; Glozier, Nick; Stevenson, Mark; Norton, Robyn; Ivers, Rebecca Q

2013-07-01

Short sleep duration is common in adolescents and young adults, and short sleep duration is a risk factor for motor vehicle crash. To assess the association between hours of sleep and the risk for motor vehicle crash, including the time of day of crash and types of crash (single, multiple vehicle, run off road, and intersection). Prospective cohort study. New South Wales, Australia. Questionnaire responses were obtained from 20,822 newly licensed drivers aged 17 to 24 years. Participants held a first-stage provisional license between June 2003 and December 2004 prospectively linked to licensing and police-reported crash data, with an average of 2 years of follow-up. Analyses were conducted on a subsample of 19,327 participants for which there was full information. Sleeping 6 or fewer hours per night. The main outcome variable was police-reported crash. Multivariable Poisson regression models were used to investigate the role of sleep duration on the risk for crash. On average, those who reported sleeping 6 or fewer hours per night had an increased risk for crash compared with those who reported sleeping more than 6 hours (relative risk [RR], 1.21; 95% CI, 1.04-1.41). Less weekend sleep was significantly associated with an increased risk for run-off-road crashes (RR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.21-2.00). Crashes for individuals who had less sleep per night (on average and on weekends) were significantly more likely to occur between 8 pm and 6 am (RR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.11-3.13, for midnight to 5:59 am and RR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.15-2.39, for 8:00 pm to 11:59 pm). Less sleep per night significantly increased the risk for crash for young drivers. Less sleep on weekend nights increased the risk for run-off-road crashes and crashes occurring in the late-night hours. This provides rationale for governments and health care providers to address sleep-related crashes among young drivers.

The effect of precrash velocity reduction on occupant response using a human body finite element model.

PubMed

Guleyupoglu, B; Schap, J; Kusano, K D; Gayzik, F S

2017-07-04

The objective of this study is to use a validated finite element model of the human body and a certified model of an anthropomorphic test dummy (ATD) to evaluate the effect of simulated precrash braking on driver kinematics, restraint loads, body loads, and computed injury criteria in 4 commonly injured body regions. The Global Human Body Models Consortium (GHBMC) 50th percentile male occupant (M50-O) and the Humanetics Hybrid III 50th percentile models were gravity settled in the driver position of a generic interior equipped with an advanced 3-point belt and driver airbag. Fifteen simulations per model (30 total) were conducted, including 4 scenarios at 3 severity levels: median, severe, and the U.S. New Car Assessment Program (U.S.-NCAP) and 3 extra per model with high-intensity braking. The 4 scenarios were no precollision system (no PCS), forward collision warning (FCW), FCW with prebraking assist (FCW+PBA), and FCW and PBA with autonomous precrash braking (FCW + PBA + PB). The baseline ΔV was 17, 34, and 56.4 kph for median, severe, and U.S.-NCAP scenarios, respectively, and were based on crash reconstructions from NASS/CDS. Pulses were then developed based on the assumed precrash systems equipped. Restraint properties and the generic pulse used were based on literature. In median crash severity cases, little to no risk (<10% risk for Abbreviated injury Scale [AIS] 3+) was found for all injury measures for both models. In the severe set of cases, little to no risk for AIS 3+ injury was also found for all injury measures. In NCAP cases, highest risk was typically found with No PCS and lowest with FCW + PBA + PB. In the higher intensity braking cases (1.0-1.4 g), head injury criterion (HIC), brain injury criterion (BrIC), and chest deflection injury measures increased with increased braking intensity. All other measures for these cases tended to decrease. The ATD also predicted and trended similar to the human body models predictions for both the median, severe, and NCAP cases. Forward excursion for both models decreased across median, severe, and NCAP cases and diverged from each other in cases above 1.0 g of braking intensity. The addition of precrash systems simulated through reduced precrash speeds caused reductions in some injury criteria, whereas others (chest deflection, HIC, and BrIC) increased due to a modified occupant position. The human model and ATD models trended similarly in nearly all cases with greater risk indicated in the human model. These results suggest the need for integrated safety systems that have restraints that optimize the occupant's position during precrash braking and prior to impact.

Association of heart rate variability in taxi drivers with marked changes in particulate air pollution in Beijing in 2008.

PubMed

Wu, Shaowei; Deng, Furong; Niu, Jie; Huang, Qinsheng; Liu, Youcheng; Guo, Xinbiao

2010-01-01

Heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of cardiac autonomic function, has been -associated with particulate matter (PM) air pollution, especially in older patients and those with cardio-vascular diseases. However, the effect of PM exposure on cardiac autonomic function in young, healthy adults has received less attention. We evaluated the relationship between exposure to traffic-related PM with an aerodynamic diameter

Action prediction based on anticipatory brain potentials during simulated driving.

PubMed

Khaliliardali, Zahra; Chavarriaga, Ricardo; Gheorghe, Lucian Andrei; Millán, José del R

2015-12-01

The ability of an automobile to infer the driver's upcoming actions directly from neural signals could enrich the interaction of the car with its driver. Intelligent vehicles fitted with an on-board brain-computer interface able to decode the driver's intentions can use this information to improve the driving experience. In this study we investigate the neural signatures of anticipation of specific actions, namely braking and accelerating. We investigated anticipatory slow cortical potentials in electroencephalogram recorded from 18 healthy participants in a driving simulator using a variant of the contingent negative variation (CNV) paradigm with Go and No-go conditions: count-down numbers followed by 'Start'/'Stop' cue. We report decoding performance before the action onset using a quadratic discriminant analysis classifier based on temporal features. (i) Despite the visual and driving related cognitive distractions, we show the presence of anticipatory event related potentials locked to the stimuli onset similar to the widely reported CNV signal (with an average peak value of -8 μV at electrode Cz). (ii) We demonstrate the discrimination between cases requiring to perform an action upon imperative subsequent stimulus (Go condition, e.g. a 'Red' traffic light) versus events that do not require such action (No-go condition; e.g. a 'Yellow' light); with an average single trial classification performance of 0.83 ± 0.13 for braking and 0.79 ± 0.12 for accelerating (area under the curve). (iii) We show that the centro-medial anticipatory potentials are observed as early as 320 ± 200 ms before the action with a detection rate of 0.77 ± 0.12 in offline analysis. We show for the first time the feasibility of predicting the driver's intention through decoding anticipatory related potentials during simulated car driving with high recognition rates.

Regional meteorological drivers and long term trends of winter-spring nitrate dynamics across watersheds in northeastern North America

USGS Publications Warehouse

Crossman, Jill; Eimers, M Catherine; Casson, Nora J.; Burns, Douglas A.; Campbell, John L.; Likens, Gene E; Mitchell, Myron J; Nelson, Sarah J.; Shanley, James B.; Watmough, Shaun A.; Webster, Kara L

2016-01-01

This study evaluated the contribution of winter rain-on-snow (ROS) events to annual and seasonal nitrate (N-NO3) export and identified the regional meteorological drivers of inter-annual variability in ROS N-NO3 export (ROS-N) at 9 headwater streams located across Ontario, Canada and the northeastern United States. Although on average only 3.3 % of annual precipitation fell as ROS during winter over the study period, these events contributed a significant proportion of annual and winter N-NO3 export at the majority of sites (average of 12 and 42 %, respectively); with the exception of the most northern catchment, where total winter precipitation was exceptionally low (average 77 mm). In years with a greater magnitude of ROS events, the timing of the peak N-NO3 export period (during spring melt) was redistributed to earlier in the year. Variability in ROS frequency and magnitude amongst sites was high and a generalised linear model demonstrated that this spatial variability could be explained by interactive effects between regional and site-specific drivers. Snowpack coverage was particularly important for explaining the site-specific ROS response. Specifically, ROS events were less common when higher temperatures eliminated snow cover despite increasing the proportion of winter rainfall, whereas ROS event frequency was greater at sites where sufficient snow cover remained. This research suggests that catchment response to changes in N deposition is sensitive to climate change; a vulnerability which appears to vary in intensity throughout the seasonally snow-covered temperate region. Furthermore, the sensitivity of stream N-NO3 export to ROS events and potential shifts (earlier) in the timing of N-NO3 export relative to other nutrients affect downstream nutrient stoichiometry and the community composition of phytoplankton and other algae.

Very low-grade metamorphic rocks in some representative districts in Tibet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bi, X.; Mo, X.

2011-12-01

*Response author: Bi,Xianmei,bixm10@sina.com Very low grade metamorphic rocks are widely distributed in Tibet, providing an insight into deformation and metamorphism during the evolution of the Tibetan Plateau. Eighty five Samples of clay mineral-bearing rocks has been collected from various strata including D, P1, T1, T2, T3, J1, J3, K1, K2 and N strata in the Qiangtang terrane, the Gangdese, the Yarlung Zangbo suture and the Tethyan Himalaya. Analyses and refining of clay minerals in samples have been conducted in the Laboratory of X-ray Diffraction, Institute of Petroleum Exploration. Index of illite crystallinity (Ic) along with average thickness of crystal layers of illite, reflectivity of vitrinite and of clay mineral association have been employed as indicators of degree of very low-grade metamorphism. The scheme of classification[1,2] of very-low grade metamorphism based on clay mineral indexes ( mainly index of illite crystallinity) has been used in the present work, that is, low metamorphism (Ic<0.25), higher very-low grade metamorphism (Ic = 0.25-0.30), lower very-low grade metamorphism (Ic = 0.30-0.42) and diagenesis (Ic>0.42). The analytical results show interesting information. In the Qiangtang terrane, clay minerals in the Jurassic strata have indexes of illite crystalinity (Ic) 0.47-0.70, indicating higher diagenesis and in favor of petroleum-generation. However, index of illite crystalinity (Ic) for the Devonian is 0.23, indicating low metamorphism. Indexes of illite crystalinity (Ic) for the J-K strata in middle Gangdese are mostly 0.37-0.25 (very-low grade metamorphism) and a few 0.78-0.48 (diagenesis). Indexes of illite crystalinity (Ic) for the C-P strata in eastern Gangdese are mostly 0.25-0.42 (very-low grade metamorphism) and a few 0.20-0.25 (low metamorphism). The Mesozoic and Cenozoic magmatism and related mineralization are very strong in the Gangdese, which may affect in some extent on indexes of illite crystalinity. In Tethyan Himalaya, clay mineral-bearing rocks from P1, T1, T2, T3, J1 and J3 strata underwent low-very low grade metamorphism, having indexes of illite crystalinity (Ic) 0.12 for P1 stratum, 0.21 for T1 stratum and 0.22-0.33 for the strata from T2 to J3, whereas K1 and N strata underwent diagenesis, having Ic = 0.52 and 1.61, respectively. Metamorphic degree generally reduced from older strata to younger strata according to clay mineral indexes. The rocks affected by magmatism or by major faulting, however, were out of the general trend and increased their metamorphic degree by 0.1-0.3 units reduction of index of illite crystallinity. Rocks within Yarlung Zangbo suture show higher metamorphic degree than those in Tethyan Himalaya. For instance, while the late Triassic has 0.19 of index of illite crystallinity in the former (the Yarlung Zangbo suture), 0.27-0.33 of indexes of illite crystallinity in the latter. The early Cretaceous has 0.28 of index of illite crystallinity in the former, whereas 0.52 in the latter. However, the late Cretaceous Xigaze Group formed in a fore-arc environment was weakly metamorphosed, having Ic 0.7-1.6 and all falling into diagenesis field.

Drivers of solar radiation variability in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

USGS Publications Warehouse

Obryk, Maciej; Fountain, Andrew G.; Doran, Peter; Lyons, Berry; Eastman, Ryan

2018-01-01

Annually averaged solar radiation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica has varied by over 20 W m−2 during the past three decades; however, the drivers of this variability are unknown. Because small differences in radiation are important to water availability and ecosystem functioning in polar deserts, determining the causes are important to predictions of future desert processes. We examine the potential drivers of solar variability and systematically eliminate all but stratospheric sulfur dioxide. We argue that increases in stratospheric sulfur dioxide increase stratospheric aerosol optical depth and decrease solar intensity. Because of the polar location of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (77–78°S) and relatively long solar ray path through the stratosphere, terrestrial solar intensity is sensitive to small differences in stratospheric transmissivity. Important sources of sulfur dioxide include natural (wildfires and volcanic eruptions) and anthropogenic emission.

The effects of anti-speeding advertisements on the simulated driving behaviour of young drivers.

PubMed

Plant, Bernice R C; Irwin, Julia D; Chekaluk, Eugene

2017-03-01

Recent examinations of road safety communications, including anti-speeding advertisements, have considered the differential effects of positive and negative emotional appeals on driver behaviour. However, empirical evaluations of anti-speeding messages have largely relied on measures of viewers' reported intentions to comply with speed limits and the self-reported driving behaviour of viewers post-exposure, which might not be indicative of the direct effects that these messages have on real-world driving behaviour. The current research constitutes a first empirical evaluation of different real-world anti-speeding advertisements, as measured by their effects on young drivers' speeding behaviour, using a driving simulator. Licensed drivers (N=116) aged 17-25 years completed driving measures prior to, immediately following, and 7-10days after viewing one of four social marketing advertisements. Results indicated that young drivers' average driving speeds were modestly reduced immediately after they viewed an anti-speeding advertisement that depicted social consequences for speeding and employed a positive emotional appeal when compared to an emotion-matched control advertisement; however, this effect was not found for the anti-speeding advertisement depicting a crash. Interestingly, the results based on reported intentions to reduce speeding predicted the opposite pattern of results. However, there was no evidence that the immediate changes to speeding were maintained 7-10days later, and prompts during Phase 2 did not appear to have an effect. The implications of these findings for road safety advertisements targeting young drivers are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predictors of older drivers' involvement in high-range speeding behavior.

PubMed

Chevalier, Anna; Coxon, Kristy; Rogers, Kris; Chevalier, Aran John; Wall, John; Brown, Julie; Clarke, Elizabeth; Ivers, Rebecca; Keay, Lisa

2017-02-17

Even small increases in vehicle speed raise crash risk and resulting injury severity. Older drivers are at increased risk of involvement in casualty crashes and injury compared to younger drivers. However, there is little objective evidence about older drivers' speeding. This study investigates the nature and predictors of high-range speeding among drivers aged 75-94 years. Speed per second was estimated using Global Positioning System devices installed in participants' vehicles. High-range speeding events were defined as traveling an average 10+km/h above the speed limit over 30 seconds. Descriptive analysis examined speeding events by participant characteristics and mileage driven. Regression analyses were used to examine the association between involvement in high-range speeding events and possible predictive factors. Most (96%, 182/190) participants agreed to have their vehicle instrumented, and speeding events were accurately recorded for 97% (177/182) of participants. While 77% (136/177) of participants were involved in one or more high-range events, 42% (75/177) were involved in greater than five events during 12-months of data collection. Participants involved in high-range events drove approximately twice as many kilometres as those not involved. High-range events tended to be infrequent (median = 6 per 10,000 km; IQR = 2-18). The rate of high-range speeding was associated with better cognitive function and attention to the driving environment. This suggests those older drivers with poorer cognition and visual attention may drive more cautiously, thereby reducing their high-range speeding behavior.

Aging driver and pedestrian safety : parking lot hazards study [summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

In 2009, Florida reported the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities in the nation. At 2.51 deaths per 100,000 residents, Floridas rate was nearly twice the national average. These deaths occurred in all age groups, but compared to other age groups...

EEG-based emergency braking intention prediction for brain-controlled driving considering one electrode falling-off.

PubMed

Huikang Wang; Luzheng Bi; Teng Teng

2017-07-01

This paper proposes a novel method of electroencephalography (EEG)-based driver emergency braking intention detection system for brain-controlled driving considering one electrode falling-off. First, whether one electrode falls off is discriminated based on EEG potentials. Then, the missing signals are estimated by using the signals collected from other channels based on multivariate linear regression. Finally, a linear decoder is applied to classify driver intentions. Experimental results show that the falling-off discrimination accuracy is 99.63% on average and the correlation coefficient and root mean squared error (RMSE) between the estimated and experimental data are 0.90 and 11.43 μV, respectively, on average. Given one electrode falls off, the system accuracy of the proposed intention prediction method is significantly higher than that of the original method (95.12% VS 79.11%) and is close to that (95.95%) of the original system under normal situations (i. e., no electrode falling-off).

High time resolution observations of the drivers of Forbush decreases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jordan, A. P.; Spence, H. E.; Blake, J. B.; Mulligan, T. L.; Shaul, D. N.

2008-12-01

The drivers of Forbush decreases in galactic cosmic ray (GCR) fluxes are thought to be magnetic turbulence in the sheath of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) and the closed magnetic field lines in the ICME itself. This model, however, is the result of studies utilizing hourly or longer time averaging. Such averaging can smooth over important correlations between variabilities in the GCR flux and those in the interplanetary medium. To test the validity of the current model of Forbush decreases, we analyze a number of Forbush decreases using high time resolution GCR data from the High Sensitivity Telescope (HIST) on Polar and the Spectrometer for INTEGRAL (SPI). We seek causal correlations between the onset of the decrease and structures in the solar wind plasma and interplanetary magnetic field, as measured concurrently with ACE and/or Wind. We find evidence that planar magnetic structures in the sheath preceding the ICME may be a factor in driving the decrease in at least one event.

Past and future changes in streamflow in the U.S. Midwest: Bridging across time scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villarini, G.; Slater, L. J.; Salvi, K. A.

2017-12-01

Streamflows have increased notably across the U.S. Midwest over the past century, principally due to changes in precipitation and land use / land cover. Improving our understanding of the physical drivers that are responsible for the observed changes in discharge may enhance our capability of predicting and projecting these changes, and may have large implications for water resources management over this area. This study will highlight our efforts towards the statistical attribution of changes in discharge across the U.S. Midwest, with analyses performed at the seasonal scale from low to high flows. The main drivers of changing streamflows that we focus on are: urbanization, agricultural land cover, basin-averaged temperature, basin-averaged precipitation, and antecedent soil moisture. Building on the insights from this attribution, we will examine the potential predictability of streamflow across different time scales, with lead times ranging from seasonal to decadal, and discuss a potential path forward for engineering design for future conditions.

Leukaemia, brain tumours and exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields: cohort study of Swiss railway employees

PubMed Central

Röösli, Martin; Lörtscher, Manfred; Egger, Matthias; Pfluger, Dominik; Schreier, Nadja; Lörtscher, Emanuel; Locher, Peter; Spoerri, Adrian; Minder, Christoph

2007-01-01

Aims To investigate the relationship between extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF‐MF) exposure and mortality from leukaemia and brain tumour in a cohort of Swiss railway workers. Methods 20 141 Swiss railway employees with 464 129 person‐years of follow‐up between 1972 and 2002 were studied. Mortality rates for leukaemia and brain tumour of highly exposed train drivers (21 μT average annual exposure) were compared with medium and low exposed occupational groups (i.e. station masters with an average exposure of 1 μT). In addition, individual cumulative exposure was calculated from on‐site measurements and modelling of past exposures. Results The hazard ratio (HR) for leukaemia mortality of train drivers was 1.43 (95% CI 0.74 to 2.77) compared with station masters. For myeloid leukaemia the HR of train drivers was 4.74 (95% CI 1.04 to 21.60) and for Hodgkin's disease 3.29 (95% CI 0.69 to 15.63). Lymphoid leukaemia, non‐Hodgkin's disease and brain tumour mortality were not associated with magnetic field exposure. Concordant results were obtained from analyses based on individual cumulative exposure. Conclusions Some evidence of an exposure–response association was found for myeloid leukaemia and Hodgkin's disease, but not for other haematopoietic and lymphatic malignancies and brain tumours. PMID:17525094

Time trends in leisure time physical activity and physical fitness in the elderly: five-year follow-up of the Spanish National Health Survey (2006-2011).

PubMed

Casado-Pérez, Carmen; Hernández-Barrera, Valentín; Jiménez-García, Rodrigo; Fernández-de-las-Peñas, Cesar; Carrasco-Garrido, Pilar; López-de-Andrés, Ana; Jimenez-Trujillo, Ma Isabel; Palacios-Ceña, Domingo

2015-04-01

To estimate the trends in the practice of leisure time physical activity, walking up 10 steps, and walking for 1h, during the years 2006-2011, in elderly Spanish people. Observational study, retrospective analysis of Spanish National Health Surveys. We analysed data collected from the Spanish National Health Surveys conducted in 2006 (n=30,072) and 2011 (n=21,007), through self-reported information. The number of subjects aged ≥65 years included in the current study was n=5756 in 2006 (19.14%) and n=4617 in 2011 (21.97%). We included responses from adults aged 65 years and older. The main variables included leisure-time physical activity, walking up 10 steps, and walking for 1h. We analysed socio-demographic characteristics, individuals' self-rated health status, lifestyle habits, co-morbid conditions and disability using multivariable logistic regression models. The total number of subjects was 10,373 (6076 women, 4297 men). The probability of self-reported capacity was significantly higher in 2006 than in 2011 for leisure-time physical activity, walking up 10 steps, and walking for 1h for both sexes (women: OR 2.20, 95%IC 1.91-5.55; OR 2.50, 95%IC 1.99-3.14; OR 1.04, 95%IC 1.01-1.07; men: OR 2.20, 95%IC 1.91-2.55; OR 2.01, 95%IC 1.40-2.89; OR 1.05, 95%IC 1.0-1.1) respectively. Both sexes were associated with a significantly lower probability of performing leisure-time physical activity, walking up 10 steps, and walking for 1h. Additionally, those over 80 years of age, on average, showed a poor or very poor perception of their health and presented with some type of disability. A decrease in the proportion of respondents who self-reported undertaking leisure-time physical activity, walking up 10 steps, and walking for 1h was observed in the Spanish population of over 65 years between 2006 and 2011. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A GPU-based symmetric non-rigid image registration method in human lung.

PubMed

Haghighi, Babak; D Ellingwood, Nathan; Yin, Youbing; Hoffman, Eric A; Lin, Ching-Long

2018-03-01

Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) of the lungs plays an increasing role in identifying sub-phenotypes of pathologies previously lumped into broad categories such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Methods for image matching and linking multiple lung volumes have proven useful in linking structure to function and in the identification of regional longitudinal changes. Here, we seek to improve the accuracy of image matching via the use of a symmetric multi-level non-rigid registration employing an inverse consistent (IC) transformation whereby images are registered both in the forward and reverse directions. To develop the symmetric method, two similarity measures, the sum of squared intensity difference (SSD) and the sum of squared tissue volume difference (SSTVD), were used. The method is based on a novel generic mathematical framework to include forward and backward transformations, simultaneously, eliminating the need to compute the inverse transformation. Two implementations were used to assess the proposed method: a two-dimensional (2-D) implementation using synthetic examples with SSD, and a multi-core CPU and graphics processing unit (GPU) implementation with SSTVD for three-dimensional (3-D) human lung datasets (six normal adults studied at total lung capacity (TLC) and functional residual capacity (FRC)). Success was evaluated in terms of the IC transformation consistency serving to link TLC to FRC. 2-D registration on synthetic images, using both symmetric and non-symmetric SSD methods, and comparison of displacement fields showed that the symmetric method gave a symmetrical grid shape and reduced IC errors, with the mean values of IC errors decreased by 37%. Results for both symmetric and non-symmetric transformations of human datasets showed that the symmetric method gave better results for IC errors in all cases, with mean values of IC errors for the symmetric method lower than the non-symmetric methods using both SSD and SSTVD. The GPU version demonstrated an average of 43 times speedup and ~5.2 times speedup over the single-threaded and 12-threaded CPU versions, respectively. Run times with the GPU were as fast as 2 min. The symmetric method improved the inverse consistency, aiding the use of image registration in the QCT-based evaluation of the lung.

The restless mind while driving: drivers' thoughts behind the wheel.

PubMed

Berthié, Gaëlle; Lemercier, Céline; Paubel, Pierre-Vincent; Cour, Maurice; Fort, Alexandra; Galéra, Cédric; Lagarde, Emmanuel; Gabaude, Catherine; Maury, Bertrand

2015-03-01

Recent research has clearly shown that inattention when driving has an indisputable impact on road safety. "Mind wandering" (MW), an inattentional state caused by a shift in attention from the ongoing task to inner thoughts, is not only frequent in everyday activities but also known to impact performance. There is a growing body of research investigating the concept of MW, suggesting potential causes that could foster such a phenomenon. Only one epidemiological study has focused on this issue in a critical driving context (Galéra et al., 2012), and it revealed the harmful effects of MW in increasing the risk of a car crash. Experimental studies rather consider that driver would adduce in MW (Lemercier et al., 2014). When the driving context is too hard or the thought too difficult to proceed, driver reduced their MW. The aim of this paper is to examine this issue using the most recent trip of ordinary drivers whose MW state did not lead to a road accident. Using a questionnaire, information was collected about the participants' most recent trip as a driver, including: (1) personal characteristics, (2) context in which MW occurs, (3) awareness of MW episodes and finally (4) characteristics of the thoughts. revealed that MW affected 85.2% of the drivers, who spent on average 34.74% of their trip in a MW state. Moreover, we found that the contexts which favor MW are situations in which less of the driver's attention is needed to drive, such as familiar commutes, monotonous motorways or by-passes, or when drivers were alone in their cars. In these MW situations, the drivers quickly became aware of their MW episodes. Thoughts tend to involve neutral private concerns, related to present- or future-oriented content. Our findings suggest that MW is a functional state aiming to solve current problems. Future investigations should focus on this critical concept of MW when driving, both to identify safety issues and to provide suitable solutions for drivers subject to a wandering mind. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of billboards on driver visual behavior: a systematic literature review.

PubMed

Decker, John S; Stannard, Sarah J; McManus, Benjamin; Wittig, Shannon M O; Sisiopiku, Virginia P; Stavrinos, Despina

2015-01-01

External distraction appears to affect at least 6-9% of distraction-affected motor vehicle collisions. Billboards may be good models for studying external distraction in general, and it is also desirable to understand billboard-related distraction per se. However, there has not yet been a clear consensus on the scope of billboard-related distraction or its dynamics with respect to characteristics of drivers, billboards, traffic, and the roadway. To narrow these knowledge gaps, a systematic literature review was conducted on billboard-related changes in driver visual behavior. A systematic literature search yielded 443 results, of which 8 studies met all inclusion criteria. Five studies meeting all inclusion criteria were later identified and added. RESULTS were analyzed in terms of 4 categories of visual behavior: (1) gaze variability (GV), glance pattern activity (GPA), and percentage of time spent glancing at the forward roadway; (2) glances at unexpected drive-relevant stimuli; (3) glances at expected drive-relevant stimuli; and (4) glances at billboards. There was considerable evidence that about 10-20% of all glances at billboards were ≥0.75 s, that active billboards drew more glances and more long glances (≥0.75 s, ≥2.0 s) than passive billboards but did not attract a longer average glance, and that there was large variability among individual billboards within categories (e.g., active vs. passive). The extent to which billboards attracted glances ≥ 2.0 s was uncertain. There was tentative evidence that billboards did not affect GPA, glances at expected drive-relevant stimuli, or the proportion of time drivers spent glancing at the forward roadway and that they did affect vertical GV and glances at unexpected drive-relevant stimuli. Generally, billboard-related distraction appeared to be minor and regulated by drivers as the demands of the driving task changed. However, this review's findings suggest that this may not be true in all cases. Future research should emphasize the tails of the distribution in addition to average cases, in terms of both the analysis of visual behavior and the complexity of driving tasks. Further research is also needed to understand the effects of billboard design, driver characteristics, and road and traffic context.

Use of reward-penalty structures in human experimentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stein, A. C.; Allen, R. W.; Schwartz, S. H.

1978-01-01

The use of motivational techniques in human performance research is reviewed and an example study employing a reward-penalty structure to simulate the motivations inherent in a real-world situation is presented. Driver behavior in a decision-making driving scenario was studied. The task involved control of an instrumented car on a cooperative test course. Subjects were penalized monetarily for tickets and accidents and rewarded for saving driving time. Two groups were assigned different ticket penalties. The group with the highest penalties tended to drive more conservatively. However, the average total payoff to each group was the same, as the conservative drivers traded off slower driving times with lower ticket penalties.

Driver hand-held cellular phone use: a four-year analysis.

PubMed

Eby, David W; Vivoda, Jonathon M; St Louis, Renée M

2006-01-01

The use of hand-held cellular (mobile) phones while driving has stirred more debate, passion, and research than perhaps any other traffic safety issue in the past several years. There is ample research showing that the use of either hand-held or hands-free cellular phones can lead to unsafe driving patterns. Whether or not these performance deficits increase the risk of crash is difficult to establish, but recent studies are beginning to suggest that cellular phone use elevates crash risk. The purpose of this study was to assess changes in the rate of hand-held cellular phone use by motor-vehicle drivers on a statewide level in Michigan. This study presents the results of 13 statewide surveys of cellular phone use over a 4-year period. Hand-held cellular phone use data were collected through direct observation while vehicles were stopped at intersections and freeway exit ramps. Data were weighted to be representative of all drivers traveling during daylight hours in Michigan. The study found that driver hand-held cellular phone use has more than doubled between 2001 and 2005, from 2.7% to 5.8%. This change represents an average increase of 0.78 percentage points per year. The 5.8% use rate observed in 2005 means that at any given daylight hour, around 36,550 drivers were conversing on cellular phones while driving on Michigan roadways. The trend line fitted to these data predicts that by the year 2010, driver hand-held cellular phone use will be around 8.6%, or 55,000 drivers at any given daylight hour. These results make it clear that cellular phone use while driving will continue to be an important traffic safety issue, and highlight the importance of continued attempts to generate new ways of alleviating this potential hazard.

Who actually receives cell phone use while driving citations and how much are these laws enforced among states? A descriptive, cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Rudisill, Toni M; Zhu, Motao

2016-06-14

While numerous cell phone use while driving laws have been passed among states, little information exists regarding who gets cited for these traffic infractions and how much these laws are enforced at the state-level within the USA. Cross-sectional, descriptive study. 14 states and the District of Columbia. Those receiving cell phone use while driving citations within included states from 2007 to 2013. Demographic characteristics of cited drivers were assessed. Rates of infractions per 100 000 licensed in-state drivers per year for various cell phone use while driving violations were calculated. Drivers were cited for hand-held use violations (n=2.5 million) more than texting (n=14 682) or young driver all cell phone bans (n=342). Among states that provided data for all traffic violations, cell phone use while driving citations comprised 1% of all written citations. Regardless of ban type, males (68.2%) were cited more frequently than females. Drivers 25-64 years of age (90.8%) were more likely to be cited for hand-held phone use. The average yearly rate of infractions per 100 000 licensed in-state drivers from 2010-2013 was 5.8 for texting bans, 2607 for hand-held bans, and 9954 for any traffic violation. Among cited drivers, age and sex differences existed by the type of ban violated. State-level enforcement appeared sparse. Due to the potential serious consequences of cell phone use while driving in the USA, more enforcement and targeted public safety campaigns are likely needed. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Who actually receives cell phone use while driving citations and how much are these laws enforced among states? A descriptive, cross-sectional study

PubMed Central

Rudisill, Toni M; Zhu, Motao

2016-01-01

Objectives While numerous cell phone use while driving laws have been passed among states, little information exists regarding who gets cited for these traffic infractions and how much these laws are enforced at the state-level within the USA. Design Cross-sectional, descriptive study. Setting 14 states and the District of Columbia. Participants Those receiving cell phone use while driving citations within included states from 2007 to 2013. Primary outcome Demographic characteristics of cited drivers were assessed. Rates of infractions per 100 000 licensed in-state drivers per year for various cell phone use while driving violations were calculated. Results Drivers were cited for hand-held use violations (n=2.5 million) more than texting (n=14 682) or young driver all cell phone bans (n=342). Among states that provided data for all traffic violations, cell phone use while driving citations comprised 1% of all written citations. Regardless of ban type, males (68.2%) were cited more frequently than females. Drivers 25–64 years of age (90.8%) were more likely to be cited for hand-held phone use. The average yearly rate of infractions per 100 000 licensed in-state drivers from 2010–2013 was 5.8 for texting bans, 2607 for hand-held bans, and 9954 for any traffic violation. Conclusions Among cited drivers, age and sex differences existed by the type of ban violated. State-level enforcement appeared sparse. Due to the potential serious consequences of cell phone use while driving in the USA, more enforcement and targeted public safety campaigns are likely needed. PMID:27301485

Effect of free distribution of safety equipment on usage among motorcycle-taxi drivers in Tanzania--A cluster randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Sumner, Steven A; Pallangyo, Anthony J; Reddy, Elizabeth A; Maro, Venance; Pence, Brian W; Lynch, Catherine; Turner, Elizabeth L; Egger, Joseph R; Thielman, Nathan M

2014-11-01

Deaths due to road traffic injuries, particularly motorcycle crashes, have increased rapidly in many African nations and context-specific strategies to improve preventative behaviours are needed. Although adhering to conspicuity measures by wearing reflective safety vests is a highly effective crash prevention strategy and mandated by law among motorcycle-taxi drivers in some African countries, actual use is currently low. We aimed to test whether eliminating cost-barriers through the provision of free reflective, fluorescent motorcycle safety vests would lead to increased utilisation among a high-risk population of motorcycle-taxi drivers in Tanzania. A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted among 180 motorcycle-taxi drivers. Participants randomised to the intervention arm (90) received free, reflective, fluorescent vests; participants randomised to the control arm (90) did not receive free vests. Participants' use of reflective vests was then observed on city streets over a three month period and differential uptake was estimated using mixed-effects logistic regression. Baseline use of reflective vests was 3.3% in both arms. Seventy-nine drivers in the intervention arm and 82 drivers in the control arm were observed during follow-up. The average proportion of observations during which motorcycle drivers were using a reflective vest was 9.5% in the intervention arm, compared to 2.0% in the control arm (odds ratio: 5.5, 95% confidence interval: 1.1-26.9, p-value: 0.04). Although distribution of free reflective vests led to a statistically significant increase in vest usage, the absolute increase was modest. Additional strategies beyond removing economic barriers are important to augment adherence to road safety behaviours for injury prevention. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nuclear characteristics of a fissioning uranium plasma test reactor with light-water cooling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitmarsh, C. L., Jr.

1973-01-01

An analytical study was performed to determine a design configuration for a cavity test reactor. Test section criteria were that an average flux of 10 to the 15th power neutrons/sq cm/sec (E less than or equal to 0.12 eV) be supplied to a 61-cm-diameter spherical cavity at 200-atm pressure. Design objectives were to minimize required driver power, to use existing fuel-element technology, and to obtain fuel-element life of 10 to 100 full-power hours. Parameter calculations were made on moderator region size and material, driver fuel arrangement, control system, and structure in order to determine a feasible configuration. Although not optimized, a configuration was selected which would meet design criteria. The driver fuel region was a cylindrical annular region, one element thick, of 33 MTR-type H2O-cooled elements (Al-U fuel plate configuration), each 101 cm long. The region between the spherical test cavity and the cylindrical driver fuel region was Be (10 vol. % H2O coolant) with a midplane dimension of 8 cm. Exterior to the driver fuel, the 25-cm-thick cylindrical and axial reflectors were also Be with 10 vol. % H2O coolant. The entire reactor was contained in a 10-cm-thick steel pressure vessel, and the 200-atm cavity pressure was equalized throughout the driver reactor. Fuel-element life was 50 hr at the required driver power of 200 MW. Reactor control would be achieved with rotating poison drums located in the cylindrical reflector region. A control range of about 18 percent delta k/k was required for reactor operation.

Cell phone use while driving and attributable crash risk.

PubMed

Farmer, Charles M; Braitman, Keli A; Lund, Adrian K

2010-10-01

Prior research has estimated that crash risk is 4 times higher when talking on a cell phone versus not talking. The objectives of this study were to estimate the extent to which drivers talk on cell phones while driving and to compute the implied annual number of crashes that could have been avoided if driver cell phone use were restricted. A national survey of approximately 1200 U.S. drivers was conducted. Respondents were asked to approximate the amount of time spent driving during a given day, number of cell phone calls made or received, and amount of driving time spent talking on a cell phone. Population attributable risk (PAR) was computed for each combination of driver gender, driver age, day of week, and time of day. These were multiplied by the corresponding crash counts to estimate the number of crashes that could have been avoided. On average, drivers were talking on cell phones approximately 7 percent of the time while driving. Rates were higher on weekdays (8%), in the afternoon and evening (8%), and for drivers younger than 30 (16%). Based on these use rates, restricting cell phones while driving could have prevented an estimated 22 percent (i.e., 1.3 million) of the crashes in 2008. Although increased rates of cell phone use while driving should be leading to increased crash rates, crash rates have been declining. Reasons for this paradox are unclear. One possibility is that the increase in cell phone use and crash risk due to cell phone use have been overestimated. Another possibility is that cell phone use has supplanted other driving distractions that were similarly hazardous.

The effect of decreases in vehicle weight on injury crash rates

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

This study presents the results of an analysis to estimate the effect of a one hundred (1 00) pound reduction in the : average weight of passenger vehicles on the crash rates of driver incapacitating injury. The analysis was conducted : as a part of ...

Hospital heavies. Venture capital bulks up companies that outsource medicine's newest specialty: inpatient-only care.

PubMed

Huff, C

They're the designated drivers of inpatient care, cutting hospital stays by 19 percent on average. Yet as venture capital firms infuse hospitalist startup companies, some primary care doctors complain that their sickest patients are being taken away from them.

A Source Term for Wave Attenuation by Sea Ice in WAVEWATCH III (registered trademark): IC4

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-07

by ANSI Std. Z39.18 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for... time . Diamonds indicate active, moored AWACs. Circle indicates location of R/V Sikuliaq. Thick magenta and white lines indicate path of R/V Sikuliaq...past and future ship position, respectively). .................................................................. 15 Figure 10 Time series of

The Decision to Not Invade Baghdad (Persian Gulf War)

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-04-12

LAWRENCE K. MONTGOMERY, JR. United States Army National Guard Se ni or Se rv ic e Co lle ge DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for Public Release...Distribution is Unlimited. USAWC CLASS OF 2007 REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of...information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and

NASA Sea Ice Validation Program for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Special Sensor Microwave Imager

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cavalieri, Donald J. (Editor); Crawford, John P.; Drinkwater, Mark R.; Emery, William J.; Eppler, Duane T.; Farmer, L. Dennis; Fowler, Charles W.; Goodberlet, Mark; Jentz, Robert R.; Milman, Andrew

1992-01-01

The history of the program is described along with the SSM/I sensor, including its calibration and geolocation correction procedures used by NASA, SSM/I data flow, and the NASA program to distribute polar gridded SSM/I radiances and sea ice concentrations (SIC) on CD-ROMs. Following a discussion of the NASA algorithm used to convert SSM/I radiances to SICs, results of 95 SSM/I-MSS Landsat IC comparisons for regions in both the Arctic and the Antarctic are presented. The Landsat comparisons show that the overall algorithm accuracy under winter conditions is 7 pct. on average with 4 pct. negative bias. Next, high resolution active and passive microwave image mosaics from coordinated NASA and Navy aircraft underflights over regions of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in March 1988 were used to show that the algorithm multiyear IC accuracy is 11 pct. on average with a positive bias of 12 pct. Ice edge crossings of the Bering Sea by the NASA DC-8 aircraft were used to show that the SSM/I 15 pct. ice concentration contour corresponds best to the location of the initial bands at the ice edge. Finally, a summary of results and recommendations for improving the SIC retrievals from spaceborne radiometers are provided.

Thermoelectric infrared imaging sensors for automotive applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirota, Masaki; Nakajima, Yasushi; Saito, Masanori; Satou, Fuminori; Uchiyama, Makoto

2004-07-01

This paper describes three low-cost thermoelectric infrared imaging sensors having a 1,536, 2,304, and 10,800 element thermoelectric focal plane array (FPA) respectively and two experimental automotive application systems. The FPAs are basically fabricated with a conventional IC process and micromachining technologies and have a low cost potential. Among these sensors, the sensor having 2,304 elements provide high responsivity of 5,500 V/W and a very small size with adopting a vacuum-sealed package integrated with a wide-angle ZnS lens. One experimental system incorporated in the Nissan ASV-2 is a blind spot pedestrian warning system that employs four infrared imaging sensors. This system helps alert the driver to the presence of a pedestrian in a blind spot by detecting the infrared radiation emitted from the person"s body. The system can also prevent the vehicle from moving in the direction of the pedestrian. The other is a rearview camera system with an infrared detection function. This system consists of a visible camera and infrared sensors, and it helps alert the driver to the presence of a pedestrian in a rear blind spot. Various issues that will need to be addressed in order to expand the automotive applications of IR imaging sensors in the future are also summarized. This performance is suitable for consumer electronics as well as automotive applications.

Prediction of kinase-inhibitor binding affinity using energetic parameters

PubMed Central

Usha, Singaravelu; Selvaraj, Samuel

2016-01-01

The combination of physicochemical properties and energetic parameters derived from protein-ligand complexes play a vital role in determining the biological activity of a molecule. In the present work, protein-ligand interaction energy along with logP values was used to predict the experimental log (IC50) values of 25 different kinase-inhibitors using multiple regressions which gave a correlation coefficient of 0.93. The regression equation obtained was tested on 93 kinase-inhibitor complexes and an average deviation of 0.92 from the experimental log IC50 values was shown. The same set of descriptors was used to predict binding affinities for a test set of five individual kinase families, with correlation values > 0.9. We show that the protein-ligand interaction energies and partition coefficient values form the major deterministic factors for binding affinity of the ligand for its receptor. PMID:28149052

Partial correlation-based functional connectivity analysis for functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akın, Ata

2017-12-01

A theoretical framework, a partial correlation-based functional connectivity (PC-FC) analysis to functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data, is proposed. This is based on generating a common background signal from a high passed version of fNIRS data averaged over all channels as the regressor in computing the PC between pairs of channels. This approach has been employed to real data collected during a Stroop task. The results show a strong significance in the global efficiency (GE) metric computed by the PC-FC analysis for neutral, congruent, and incongruent stimuli (NS, CS, IcS; GEN=0.10±0.009, GEC=0.11±0.01, GEIC=0.13±0.015, p=0.0073). A positive correlation (r=0.729 and p=0.0259) is observed between the interference of reaction times (incongruent-neutral) and interference of GE values (GEIC-GEN) computed from [HbO] signals.

Artificial Diversity and Defense Security (ADDSec) Final Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chavez, Adrian R.; Hamlet, Jason; Stout, William M.S.

Critical infrastructure systems continue to foster predictable communication patterns and static configurations over extended periods of time. The static nature of these systems eases the process of gathering reconnaissance information that can be used to design, develop, and launch attacks by adversaries. In this research effort, the early phases of an attack vector will be disrupted by randomizing application port numbers, IP addresses, and communication paths dynamically through the use of overlay networks within Industrial Control Systems (ICS). These protective measures convert static systems into "moving targets," adding an additional layer of defense. Additionally, we have developed a framework thatmore » automatically detects and defends against threats within these systems using an ensemble of machine learning algorithms that classify and categorize abnormal behavior. Our proof-of-concept has been demonstrated within a representative ICS environment. Performance metrics of our proof-of-concept have been captured with latency impacts of less than a millisecond, on average.« less

Optimizing study design for interobserver reliability: IUGA-ICS classification of complications of prostheses and graft insertion.

PubMed

Haylen, Bernard T; Lee, Joseph; Maher, Chris; Deprest, Jan; Freeman, Robert

2014-06-01

Results of interobserver reliability studies for the International Urogynecological Association-International Continence Society (IUGA-ICS) Complication Classification coding can be greatly influenced by study design factors such as participant instruction, motivation, and test-question clarity. We attempted to optimize these factors. After a 15-min instructional lecture with eight clinical case examples (including images) and with classification/coding charts available, those clinicians attending an IUGA Surgical Complications workshop were presented with eight similar-style test cases over 10 min and asked to code them using the Category, Time and Site classification. Answers were compared to predetermined correct codes obtained by five instigators of the IUGA-ICS prostheses and grafts complications classification. Prelecture and postquiz participant confidence levels using a five-step Likert scale were assessed. Complete sets of answers to the questions (24 codings) were provided by 34 respondents, only three of whom reported prior use of the charts. Average score [n (%)] out of eight, as well as median score (range) for each coding category were: (i) Category: 7.3 (91 %); 7 (4-8); (ii) Time: 7.8 (98 %); 7 (6-8); (iii) Site: 7.2 (90 %); 7 (5-8). Overall, the equivalent calculations (out of 24) were 22.3 (93 %) and 22 (18-24). Mean prelecture confidence was 1.37 (out of 5), rising to 3.85 postquiz. Urogynecologists had the highest correlation with correct coding, followed closely by fellows and general gynecologists. Optimizing training and study design can lead to excellent results for interobserver reliability of the IUGA-ICS Complication Classification coding, with increased participant confidence in complication-coding ability.

Controller adherence following hospital discharge in high risk children: A pilot randomized trial of text message reminders.

PubMed

Kenyon, Chén C; Gruschow, Siobhan M; Quarshie, William O; Griffis, Heather; Leach, Michelle C; Zorc, Joseph J; Bryant-Stephens, Tyra C; Miller, Victoria A; Feudtner, Chris

2018-02-13

To assess the feasibility of a mobile health, inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) adherence reminder intervention and to characterize adherence trajectories immediately following severe asthma exacerbation in high-risk urban children with persistent asthma. Children aged 2-13 with persistent asthma were enrolled in this pilot randomized controlled trial during an asthma emergency department (ED) visit or hospitalization. Intervention arm participants received daily text message reminders for 30 days, and both arms received electronic sensors to measure ICS use. Primary outcomes were feasibility of sensor use and text message acceptability. Secondary outcomes included adherence to prescribed ICS regimen and 30-day adherence trajectories. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to examine adherence trajectories. Forty-one participants (mean age 5.9) were randomized to intervention (n = 21) or control (n = 20). Overall, 85% were Black, 88% had public insurance, and 51% of the caregivers had a high school education or less. Thirty-two participant families (78%) transmitted medication adherence data; of caregivers who completed the acceptability survey, 25 (96%) chose to receive daily reminders beyond that study interval. Secondary outcome analyses demonstrated similar average daily adherence between groups (intervention = 36%; control = 32%, P = 0.73). Three adherence trajectories were identified with none ever exceeding 80% adherence. Within a high-risk pediatric cohort, electronic monitoring of ICS use and adherence reminders delivered via text message were feasible for most participants, but there was no signal of effect. Adherence trajectories following severe exacerbation were suboptimal, demonstrating an important opportunity for asthma care improvement.

Knowledge of the law about withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment by intensivists and other specialists.

PubMed

White, Ben; Willmott, Lindy; Cartwright, Colleen; Parker, Malcolm H; Williams, Gail

2016-06-01

Decisions about withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment (WWLST) from adults who lack capacity are an integral part of intensive care (IC) practice. We compare the knowledge, attitudes and practice of intensivists in relation to the law about WWLST with six other specialties most often involved in end-of-life care. We used a cross-sectional postal survey of medical specialists in the three most populous Australian states, and analysed responses from 867 medical specialists from the seven specialties most likely to be involved in WWLST decisions in the acute-care setting (emergency, geriatric, palliative, renal and respiratory medicine, medical oncology and IC). Attitudes to, and knowledge and practice of, the law relating to end-of-life care. Of 2702 surveys sent to eligible practitioners, 867 completed questionnaires were returned. There was an overall response rate of 32% and an IC response rate also of 32% (125/388). Intensivists performed better than average in legal knowledge but important knowledge gaps remain. Intensivists had a more negative attitude to the role of law in this area than other specialty groups but reported being seen as a leading source of information about legal issues by other medical specialists and nurses. Intensivists also reported being the specialists most frequently making decisions about end-of-life treatment. Improved legal knowledge and open engagement with the law can help manage the risk of harm to patients and protect intensivists from liability. IC guidelines and continuing professional development are important strategies to address these issues.

Effect of climate change, CO2 trends, nitrogen addition, and land-cover and management intensity changes on the carbon balance of European grasslands.

PubMed

Chang, Jinfeng; Ciais, Philippe; Viovy, Nicolas; Vuichard, Nicolas; Herrero, Mario; Havlík, Petr; Wang, Xuhui; Sultan, Benjamin; Soussana, Jean-François

2016-01-01

Several lines of evidence point to European managed grassland ecosystems being a sink of carbon. In this study, we apply ORCHIDEE-GM a process-based carbon cycle model that describes specific management practices of pastures and the dynamics of carbon cycling in response to changes in climatic and biogeochemical drivers. The model is used to simulate changes in the carbon balance [i.e., net biome production (NBP)] of European grasslands over 1991-2010 on a 25 km × 25 km grid. The modeled average trend in NBP is 1.8-2.0 g C m(-2)  yr(-2) during the past two decades. Attribution of this trend suggests management intensity as the dominant driver explaining NBP trends in the model (36-43% of the trend due to all drivers). A major change in grassland management intensity has occurred across Europe resulting from reduced livestock numbers. This change has 'inadvertently' enhanced soil C sequestration and reduced N2 O and CH4 emissions by 1.2-1.5 Gt CO2 -equivalent, offsetting more than 7% of greenhouse gas emissions in the whole European agricultural sector during the period 1991-2010. Land-cover change, climate change and rising CO2 also make positive and moderate contributions to the NBP trend (between 24% and 31% of the trend due to all drivers). Changes in nitrogen addition (including fertilization and atmospheric deposition) are found to have only marginal net effect on NBP trends. However, this may not reflect reality because our model has only a very simple parameterization of nitrogen effects on photosynthesis. The sum of NBP trends from each driver is larger than the trend obtained when all drivers are varied together, leaving a residual - nonattributed - term (22-26% of the trend due to all drivers) indicating negative interactions between drivers. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Consistent Condom Use during Casual Sex among Long-Truck Drivers in Togo.

PubMed

Yaya, Issifou; Landoh, Dadja Essoya; Saka, Bayaki; Vignikin, Kokou; Aboubakari, Abdoul-Samadou; N'dri, Kouamé Mathias; Gbetoglo, Kodjo Dodji; Edorh, Atavi-Mensah; Ahlegnan, Komla; Yenkey, Holali Comlan; Toudeka, Ayawavi Sitsopé; Pitché, Palokinam

2016-01-01

In 2008, the proportion of truck drivers who were not systematically protected during sex was 63% with casual partners and 60% with sex workers. Despite the high level of knowledge on HIV/AIDS and the growing awareness of the existence of the risk of HIV infection, condom use always encounters resistance among truck drivers in Togo. We sought to document the factors associated with condom use during casual sex among trucks' drivers in Togo. This was an analytical cross-sectional study conducted in 2010 and targeted truckers at truck station on the two main roads of Togo, Lomé-Cinkassé and Kodjoviakopé-Sanvee Condji. In this study, 1,782 trucks' drivers and their helpers were interviewed. All were men, and their mean age was 28.8 ± 8.8 years. Trucks' drivers were doing an average of 3 stops on their journeys and 1,229 (69%) of them had at least two years of experience in the work. Of the 1,782 trucks' drivers, only 620 (34.8%) had consistently used condoms during casual sex in the last three months. In multivariate analysis, predictors were: education level (primary schooling: OR = 1.54; p = 0.002; Secondary schooling and higher OR = 1.38; p = 0.036), good knowledge of ways of HIV transmission (OR = 1.53; p = 0.000), tested for HIV (OR = 1.67, p = 0.000), duration in the profession (2-5 years: OR = 1.43, p = 0.008; more than 5 years: OR = 1.38, p = 0.027), and HIV risk's perception (OR = 1.44, p = 0.000). These results highlight factors associated with consistent condom use during casual sex by truck drivers in Togo. This is a key population group at high risk of HIV transmission toward which the national HIV/AIDS control program should strengthen the HIV prevention strategies.

Consistent Condom Use during Casual Sex among Long-Truck Drivers in Togo

PubMed Central

Yaya, Issifou; Landoh, Dadja Essoya; Saka, Bayaki; Vignikin, Kokou; Aboubakari, Abdoul-Samadou; N’dri, Kouamé Mathias; Gbetoglo, Kodjo Dodji; Edorh, Atavi-Mensah; Ahlegnan, Komla; Yenkey, Holali Comlan; Toudeka, Ayawavi Sitsopé; Pitché, Palokinam

2016-01-01

Background In 2008, the proportion of truck drivers who were not systematically protected during sex was 63% with casual partners and 60% with sex workers. Despite the high level of knowledge on HIV/AIDS and the growing awareness of the existence of the risk of HIV infection, condom use always encounters resistance among truck drivers in Togo. We sought to document the factors associated with condom use during casual sex among trucks’ drivers in Togo. Methods This was an analytical cross-sectional study conducted in 2010 and targeted truckers at truck station on the two main roads of Togo, Lomé-Cinkassé and Kodjoviakopé-Sanvee Condji. Results In this study, 1,782 trucks’ drivers and their helpers were interviewed. All were men, and their mean age was 28.8 ± 8.8 years. Trucks’ drivers were doing an average of 3 stops on their journeys and 1,229 (69%) of them had at least two years of experience in the work. Of the 1,782 trucks’ drivers, only 620 (34.8%) had consistently used condoms during casual sex in the last three months. In multivariate analysis, predictors were: education level (primary schooling: OR = 1.54; p = 0.002; Secondary schooling and higher OR = 1.38; p = 0.036), good knowledge of ways of HIV transmission (OR = 1.53; p = 0.000), tested for HIV (OR = 1.67, p = 0.000), duration in the profession (2–5 years: OR = 1.43, p = 0.008; more than 5 years: OR = 1.38, p = 0.027), and HIV risk’s perception (OR = 1.44, p = 0.000). Conclusion These results highlight factors associated with consistent condom use during casual sex by truck drivers in Togo. This is a key population group at high risk of HIV transmission toward which the national HIV/AIDS control program should strengthen the HIV prevention strategies. PMID:27071059

Binaural electric-acoustic interactions recorded from the inferior colliculus of Guinea pigs: the effect of masking observed in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus.

PubMed

Noh, Heil; Lee, Dong-Hee

2012-09-01

To investigate the electric-acoustic interactions within the inferior colliculus of guinea pigs and to observe how central masking appears in invasive neural recordings of the inferior colliculus (IC). A platinum-iridium wire was inserted to scala tympani through cochleostomy with a depth no greater than 1 mm for intracochlear stimulation of electric pulse train. A 5 mm 100 µm, single-shank, thin-film, penetrating recording probe was inserted perpendicularly to the surface of the IC in the coronal plane at an angle of 30-40° off the parasagittal plane with a depth of 2.0-2.5 mm. The peripheral and central masking effects were compared using electric pulse trains to the left ear and acoustic noise to the left ear (ipsilateral) and to the right ear (contralateral). Binaural acoustic stimuli were presented with different time delays and compared with combined electric and acoustic stimuli. The averaged evoked potentials and total spike numbers were measured using thin-film electrodes inserted into the central nucleus of the IC. Ipsilateral noise had more obvious effects on the electric response than did contralateral noise. Contralateral noise decreased slightly the response amplitude to the electric pulse train stimuli. Immediately after the onset of acoustic noise, the response pattern changed transiently with shorter response intervals. The effects of contralateral noise were evident at the beginning of the continuous noise. The total spike number decreased when the binaural stimuli reached the IC most simultaneously. These results suggest that central masking is quite different from peripheral masking and occurs within the binaural auditory system, and this study showed that the effect of masking could be observed in the IC recording. These effects are more evident and consistent with the psychophysical data from spike number analyses than with the previously reported gross potential data.

What is needed to make low-density lipoprotein transport in human aorta computational models suitable to explore links to atherosclerosis? Impact of initial and inflow boundary conditions.

PubMed

De Nisco, Giuseppe; Zhang, Peng; Calò, Karol; Liu, Xiao; Ponzini, Raffaele; Bignardi, Cristina; Rizzo, Giovanna; Deng, Xiaoyan; Gallo, Diego; Morbiducci, Umberto

2018-02-08

Personalized computational hemodynamics (CH) is a promising tool to clarify/predict the link between low density lipoproteins (LDL) transport in aorta, disturbed shear and atherogenesis. However, CH uses simplifying assumptions that represent sources of uncertainty. In particular, modelling blood-side to wall LDL transfer is challenged by the cumbersomeness of protocols needed to obtain reliable LDL concentration profile estimations. This paucity of data is limiting the establishment of rigorous CH protocols able to balance the trade-offs among the variety of in vivo data to be acquired, and the accuracy required by biological/clinical applications. In this study, we analyze the impact of LDL concentration initialization (initial conditions, ICs) and inflow boundary conditions (BCs) on CH models of LDL blood-to-wall transfer in aorta. Technically, in an image-based model of human aorta, two different inflow BCs are generated imposing subject-specific inflow 3D PC-MRI measured or idealized (flat) velocity profiles. For each simulated BC, four different ICs for LDL concentration are applied, imposing as IC the LDL distribution resulting from steady-state simulations with average conditions, or constant LDL concentration values. Based on CH results, we conclude that: (1) the imposition of realistic 3D velocity profiles as inflow BC reduces the uncertainty affecting the representation of LDL transfer; (2) different LDL concentration ICs lead to markedly different patterns of LDL transfer. Given that it is not possible to verify in vivo the proper LDL concentration initialization to be applied, we suggest to carefully set and unambiguously declare the imposed BCs and LDL concentration IC when modelling LDL transfer in aorta, in order to obtain reproducible and ultimately comparable results among different laboratories. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Percutaneous nephrolithotomy for kidney stones in elderly patients: Meta-analysis of results and complications].

PubMed

Haider, R; Regnier, P; Roustan, F-R; Séverac, F; Treacy, P-J; Mendel, L; Bodokh, Y; Tibi, B; Prader, R; Traxer, O; Chevallier, D; Amiel, J; Durand, M

2017-02-01

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is the gold standard treatment for kidney stones regardless of age. Elderly patients (EP)≥65years old, in growing numbers, have more comorbidities than the general population, may alter results of PCNL. The aim of this meta-analysis was to compare efficacy and complications of this procedure between EP and young patients (YP). Original studies of prospective and historical cohorts, in English or French, presenting PCNL series published on PubMed until 2015 were identified using the keywords percutaneous nephrolithotomy, elderly patients, kidney stones and staghorn calculi. Our analysis focused on therapeutic efficacy, defined by absence of residual fragment or the presence of residual fragments<4mm at 3 postoperative months, and postoperative complications according to patient age: YP<65 years old and EP≥65 years old. Binary qualitative data were analyzed using odds ratio (OR) and quantitative data by estimating the difference of means. In total 397 studies were identified among which 23 were checked and 8 included in the meta-analysis for methodological quality corresponding to 4995 YP and 820 EP. No efficacy difference (OR=0.96; [IC95 %: 0.80; 1.17]; P=0.71), operating time (+1.15min in EP [IC95 %: -2.83; 5.12]; P=0.57) and average length of stay (+0.29 days in EP [IC95 %: -0.14; 0.72]; P=0.19) has been reported. It was a trend to more urinary infections (OR=2.24; [IC95 %: 0.74-6.80]; P=0.16) and a significantly increase of postoperative blood transfusions in EP (OR=1.41; [IC95 %: 1.00-1.97]; P=0.04). PCNL for kidney stones n EP is effective with a significantly increase the risk of postoperative blood transfusions compared to YP. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, R; Bai, W

Purpose: Because of statistical noise in Monte Carlo dose calculations, effective point doses may not be accurate. Volume spheres are useful for evaluating dose in Monte Carlo plans, which have an inherent statistical uncertainty.We use a user-defined sphere volume instead of a point, take sphere sampling around effective point make the dose statistics to decrease the stochastic errors. Methods: Direct dose measurements were made using a 0.125cc Semiflex ion chamber (IC) 31010 isocentrically placed in the center of a homogeneous Cylindric sliced RW3 phantom (PTW, Germany).In the scanned CT phantom series the sensitive volume length of the IC (6.5mm) weremore » delineated and defined the isocenter as the simulation effective points. All beams were simulated in Monaco in accordance to the measured model. In our simulation using 2mm voxels calculation grid spacing and choose calculate dose to medium and request the relative standard deviation ≤0.5%. Taking three different assigned IC over densities (air electron density(ED) as 0.01g/cm3 default CT scanned ED and Esophageal lumen ED 0.21g/cm3) were tested at different sampling sphere radius (2.5, 2, 1.5 and 1 mm) statistics dose were compared with the measured does. Results: The results show that in the Monaco TPS for the IC using Esophageal lumen ED 0.21g/cm3 and sampling sphere radius 1.5mm the statistical value is the best accordance with the measured value, the absolute average percentage deviation is 0.49%. And when the IC using air electron density(ED) as 0.01g/cm3 and default CT scanned EDthe recommented statistical sampling sphere radius is 2.5mm, the percentage deviation are 0.61% and 0.70%, respectivly. Conclusion: In Monaco treatment planning system for the ionization chamber 31010 recommend air cavity using ED 0.21g/cm3 and sampling 1.5mm sphere volume instead of a point dose to decrease the stochastic errors. Funding Support No.C201505006.« less

The relationship between serious injury and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in fatal motor vehicle accidents: BAC = 0.01% is associated with significantly more dangerous accidents than BAC = 0.00%.

PubMed

Phillips, David P; Brewer, Kimberly M

2011-09-01

To analyze the severity of automotive injuries associated with blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in increments of 0.01%. Epidemiological study using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. All people in US fatal automotive accidents, 1994-2008 (n = 1 495 667). The ratio of serious: non-serious injuries for drivers, by BAC. Accident severity increases significantly even when the driver is merely 'buzzed', a finding that persists after standardization for various confounding factors. Three mechanisms mediate between buzzed driving and high accident severity: compared to sober drivers, buzzed drivers are significantly more likely to speed, to be improperly seatbelted and to drive the striking vehicle. In addition, there is a strong 'dose-response' relationship for all three factors in relation to accident severity (e.g. the greater the BAC, the greater the average speed of the driver and the greater the severity of the accident). The severity of life-threatening motor vehicle accidents increases significantly at blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) far lower than the current US limit of 0.08%. Lowering the legal limit could save lives, prevent serious injuries and reduce financial and social costs associated with motor vehicle accidents. © 2011 Society for the Study of Addiction. No claim to original US government works.

Prediction of safe driving Behaviours based on health belief model: the case of taxi drivers in Bandar Abbas, Iran.

PubMed

Razmara, Asghar; Aghamolaei, Teamur; Madani, Abdoulhossain; Hosseini, Zahra; Zare, Shahram

2018-03-20

Road accidents are among the main causes of mortality. As safe and secure driving is a key strategy to reduce car injuries and offenses, the present research aimed to explore safe driving behaviours among taxi drivers based on the Health Belief Model (HBM). This study was conducted on 184 taxi drivers in Bandar Abbas who were selected based on a multiple stratified sampling method. Data were collected by a questionnaire comprised of a demographic information section along with the constructs of the HBM. Data were analysed by SPSS ver19 via a Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regressions. The mean age of the participants was 45.1 years (SD = 11.1). They all had, on average, 10.3 (SD = 7/5) years of taxi driving experience. Among the HBM components, cues to action and perceived benefits were shown to be positively correlated with safe driving behaviours, while perceived barriers were negatively correlated. Cues to action, perceived barriers and perceived benefits were shown to be the strongest predictors of a safe drivers' behaviour. Based on the results of this study in designing health promotion programmes to improve safe driving behaviours among taxi drivers, cues to action, perceived benefits and perceived barriers are important. Therefore, advertising, the design of information campaigns, emphasis on the benefits of safe driving behaviours and modification barriers are recommended.

Predictors of driving safety in early Alzheimer disease

PubMed Central

Dawson, J D.; Anderson, S W.; Uc, E Y.; Dastrup, E; Rizzo, M

2009-01-01

Objective: To measure the association of cognition, visual perception, and motor function with driving safety in Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods: Forty drivers with probable early AD (mean Mini-Mental State Examination score 26.5) and 115 elderly drivers without neurologic disease underwent a battery of cognitive, visual, and motor tests, and drove a standardized 35-mile route in urban and rural settings in an instrumented vehicle. A composite cognitive score (COGSTAT) was calculated for each subject based on eight neuropsychological tests. Driving safety errors were noted and classified by a driving expert based on video review. Results: Drivers with AD committed an average of 42.0 safety errors/drive (SD = 12.8), compared to an average of 33.2 (SD = 12.2) for drivers without AD (p < 0.0001); the most common errors were lane violations. Increased age was predictive of errors, with a mean of 2.3 more errors per drive observed for each 5-year age increment. After adjustment for age and gender, COGSTAT was a significant predictor of safety errors in subjects with AD, with a 4.1 increase in safety errors observed for a 1 SD decrease in cognitive function. Significant increases in safety errors were also found in subjects with AD with poorer scores on Benton Visual Retention Test, Complex Figure Test-Copy, Trail Making Subtest-A, and the Functional Reach Test. Conclusion: Drivers with Alzheimer disease (AD) exhibit a range of performance on tests of cognition, vision, and motor skills. Since these tests provide additional predictive value of driving performance beyond diagnosis alone, clinicians may use these tests to help predict whether a patient with AD can safely operate a motor vehicle. GLOSSARY AD = Alzheimer disease; AVLT = Auditory Verbal Learning Test; Blocks = Block Design subtest; BVRT = Benton Visual Retention Test; CFT = Complex Figure Test; CI = confidence interval; COWA = Controlled Oral Word Association; CS = contrast sensitivity; FVA = far visual acuity; JLO = Judgment of Line Orientation; MCI = mild cognitive impairment; MMSE = Mini-Mental State Examination; NVA = near visual acuity; SFM = structure from motion; TMT = Trail-Making Test; UFOV = Useful Field of View. PMID:19204261

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wiedenman, B. J.; White, T. L.; Mahannah, R. N.

Ion Chromatography (IC) is the principal analytical method used to support studies of Sludge Reciept and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) chemistry at DWPF. A series of prior analytical ''Round Robin'' (RR) studies included both supernate and sludge samples from SRAT simulant, previously reported as memos, are tabulated in this report.2,3 From these studies it was determined to standardize IC column size to 4 mm diameter, eliminating the capillary column from use. As a follow on test, the DWPF laboratory, the PSAL laboratory, and the AD laboratory participated in the current analytical RR to determine a suite of anions in SRAT simulantmore » by IC, results also are tabulated in this report. The particular goal was to confirm the laboratories ability to measure and quantitate glycolate ion. The target was + or - 20% inter-lab agreement of the analyte averages for the RR. Each of the three laboratories analyzed a batch of 12 samples. For each laboratory, the percent relative standard deviation (%RSD) of the averages on nitrate, glycolate, and oxalate, was 10% or less. The three laboratories all met the goal of 20% relative agreement for nitrate and glycolate. For oxalate, the PSAL laboratory reported an average value that was 20% higher than the average values reported by the DWPF laboratory and the AD laboratory. Because of this wider window of agreement, it was concluded to continue the practice of an additional acid digestion for total oxalate measurement. It should also be noted that large amounts of glycolate in the SRAT samples will have an impact on detection limits of near eluting peaks, namely Fluoride and Formate. A suite of scoping experiments are presented in the report to identify and isolate other potential interlaboratory disceprancies. Specific ion chromatography inter-laboratory method conditions and differences are tabulated. Most differences were minor but there are some temperature control equipment differences that are significant leading to a recommendation of a heated jacket for analytical columns that are remoted for use in radiohoods. A suggested method improvement would be to implement column temperture control at a temperature slightly above ambient to avoid peak shifting due to temperature fluctuations. Temperature control in this manner would improve short and longer term peak retention time stability. An unknown peak was observed during the analysis of glycolic acid and SRAT simulant. The unknown peak was determined to best match diglycolic acid. The development of a method for acetate is summaraized, and no significant amount of acetate was observed in the SRAT products tested. In addition, an alternative Gas Chromatograph (GC) method for glycolate is summarized.« less

Effects of a 2009 Illinois Alcohol Tax Increase on Fatal Motor Vehicle Crashes

PubMed Central

Livingston, Melvin D.; Staras, Stephanie S.

2015-01-01

Objectives. We examined the effects of a 2009 increase in alcohol taxes in Illinois on alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes. Methods. We used an interrupted time-series design, with intrastate and cross-state comparisons and measurement derived from driver alcohol test results, for 104 months before and 28 months after enactment. Our analyses used autoregressive moving average and generalized linear mixed Poisson models. We examined both population-wide effects and stratifications by alcohol level, age, gender, and race. Results. Fatal alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes declined 9.9 per month after the tax increase, a 26% reduction. The effect was similar for alcohol-impaired drivers with positive alcohol levels lower than 0.15 grams per deciliter (−22%) and drivers with very high alcohol levels of 0.15 or more (−25%). Drivers younger than 30 years showed larger declines (−37%) than those aged 30 years and older (−23%), but gender and race stratifications did not significantly differ. Conclusions. Increases in alcohol excise taxes, such as the 2009 Illinois act, could save thousands of lives yearly across the United States as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. PMID:25790414

An Experimental Investigation of Unsteady Thrust Augmentation Using a Speaker-Driven Jet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paxson, Daniel E.; Wernet, Mark P.; John, Wentworth T.

2004-01-01

An experimental investigation is described in which a simple speaker-driven jet was used as a pulsed thrust source (driver) for an ejector configuration. The objectives of the investigation were twofold: first, to add to the experimental body of evidence showing that an unsteady thrust source, combined with a properly sized ejector generally yields higher thrust augmentation values than a similarly sized, steady driver of equivalent thrust. Second, to identify characteristics of the unsteady driver that may be useful for sizing ejectors, and predicting what thrust augmentation values may be achieved. The speaker-driven jet provided a convenient source for the investigation because it is entirely unsteady (having no mean component) and because relevant parameters such as frequency, time-averaged thrust, and diameter are easily variable. The experimental setup will be described, as will the various measurements made. These include both thrust and Digital Particle Imaging Velocimetry of the driver. It will be shown that thrust augmentation values as high as 1.8 were obtained, that the diameter of the best ejector scaled with the dimensions of the emitted vortex, and that the so-called Formation Number serves as a useful dimensionless number by which to characterize the jet and predict performance.

Quantitative evidence for the effects of multiple drivers on continental-scale amphibian declines

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grant, Evan H. Campbell; Miller, David A. W.; Schmidt, Benedikt R.; Adams, Michael J.; Amburgey, Staci M.; Chambert, Thierry A.; Cruickshank, Sam S.; Fisher, Robert N.; Green, David M.; Hossack, Blake R.; Johnson, Pieter T.J.; Joseph, Maxwell B.; Rittenhouse, Tracy A. G.; Ryan, Maureen E.; Waddle, J. Hardin; Walls, Susan C.; Bailey, Larissa L.; Fellers, Gary M.; Gorman, Thomas A.; Ray, Andrew M.; Pilliod, David S.; Price, Steven J.; Saenz, Daniel; Sadinski, Walt; Muths, Erin L.

2016-01-01

Since amphibian declines were first proposed as a global phenomenon over a quarter century ago, the conservation community has made little progress in halting or reversing these trends. The early search for a “smoking gun” was replaced with the expectation that declines are caused by multiple drivers. While field observations and experiments have identified factors leading to increased local extinction risk, evidence for effects of these drivers is lacking at large spatial scales. Here, we use observations of 389 time-series of 83 species and complexes from 61 study areas across North America to test the effects of 4 of the major hypothesized drivers of declines. While we find that local amphibian populations are being lost from metapopulations at an average rate of 3.79% per year, these declines are not related to any particular threat at the continental scale; likewise the effect of each stressor is variable at regional scales. This result - that exposure to threats varies spatially, and populations vary in their response - provides little generality in the development of conservation strategies. Greater emphasis on local solutions to this globally shared phenomenon is needed.

EEG-Based Detection of Braking Intention Under Different Car Driving Conditions

PubMed Central

Hernández, Luis G.; Mozos, Oscar Martinez; Ferrández, José M.; Antelis, Javier M.

2018-01-01

The anticipatory recognition of braking is essential to prevent traffic accidents. For instance, driving assistance systems can be useful to properly respond to emergency braking situations. Moreover, the response time to emergency braking situations can be affected and even increased by different driver's cognitive states caused by stress, fatigue, and extra workload. This work investigates the detection of emergency braking from driver's electroencephalographic (EEG) signals that precede the brake pedal actuation. Bioelectrical signals were recorded while participants were driving in a car simulator while avoiding potential collisions by performing emergency braking. In addition, participants were subjected to stress, workload, and fatigue. EEG signals were classified using support vector machines (SVM) and convolutional neural networks (CNN) in order to discriminate between braking intention and normal driving. Results showed significant recognition of emergency braking intention which was on average 71.1% for SVM and 71.8% CNN. In addition, the classification accuracy for the best participant was 80.1 and 88.1% for SVM and CNN, respectively. These results show the feasibility of incorporating recognizable driver's bioelectrical responses into advanced driver-assistance systems to carry out early detection of emergency braking situations which could be useful to reduce car accidents. PMID:29910722

Online Detection of Driver Fatigue Using Steering Wheel Angles for Real Driving Conditions.

PubMed

Li, Zuojin; Li, Shengbo Eben; Li, Renjie; Cheng, Bo; Shi, Jinliang

2017-03-02

This paper presents a drowsiness on-line detection system for monitoring driver fatigue level under real driving conditions, based on the data of steering wheel angles (SWA) collected from sensors mounted on the steering lever. The proposed system firstly extracts approximate entropy (ApEn)featuresfromfixedslidingwindowsonreal-timesteeringwheelanglestimeseries. Afterthat, this system linearizes the ApEn features series through an adaptive piecewise linear fitting using a given deviation. Then, the detection system calculates the warping distance between the linear features series of the sample data. Finally, this system uses the warping distance to determine the drowsiness state of the driver according to a designed binary decision classifier. The experimental data were collected from 14.68 h driving under real road conditions, including two fatigue levels: "wake" and "drowsy". The results show that the proposed system is capable of working online with an average 78.01% accuracy, 29.35% false detections of the "awake" state, and 15.15% false detections of the "drowsy" state. The results also confirm that the proposed method based on SWA signal is valuable for applications in preventing traffic accidents caused by driver fatigue.

Online Detection of Driver Fatigue Using Steering Wheel Angles for Real Driving Conditions

PubMed Central

Li, Zuojin; Li, Shengbo Eben; Li, Renjie; Cheng, Bo; Shi, Jinliang

2017-01-01

This paper presents a drowsiness on-line detection system for monitoring driver fatigue level under real driving conditions, based on the data of steering wheel angles (SWA) collected from sensors mounted on the steering lever. The proposed system firstly extracts approximate entropy (ApEn) features from fixed sliding windows on real-time steering wheel angles time series. After that, this system linearizes the ApEn features series through an adaptive piecewise linear fitting using a given deviation. Then, the detection system calculates the warping distance between the linear features series of the sample data. Finally, this system uses the warping distance to determine the drowsiness state of the driver according to a designed binary decision classifier. The experimental data were collected from 14.68 h driving under real road conditions, including two fatigue levels: “wake” and “drowsy”. The results show that the proposed system is capable of working online with an average 78.01% accuracy, 29.35% false detections of the “awake” state, and 15.15% false detections of the “drowsy” state. The results also confirm that the proposed method based on SWA signal is valuable for applications in preventing traffic accidents caused by driver fatigue. PMID:28257094

5-year analysis of background surface ozone and carbon dioxide variations during summer seasons at Terra Nova Bay (Antarctica)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cristofanelli, Paolo; Bonasoni, Paolo; Bonafe', Ubaldo; Calzolari, Frencescopiero; Duchi, Rocco; Lanconelli, Christian; Lupi, Angelo; Vitale, Vito; Colombo, Tiziano

2010-05-01

Carbon dioxide (CO2) and tropospheric ozone (O3) play important roles in determining the radiative budget of the atmosphere. While CO2 is considered the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas, O3 is evaluated as the third most powerful greenhouse gas since pre-industrial ages and, by influencing the lifetime of others greenhouse gases, it provides also an indirect impact on climate. Within the framework of the Italian National Programme of Antarctic Researches (PNRA), continuous measurements of CO2, O3 as well as meteorological parameters have been conducted at the clean-air facility of Icaro Camp at the "Mario Zucchelli" Station (74.7 S, 164.1 E, 41 m a.s.l., hereinafter MZS-IC) during five experimental summer campaigns from November 2001 to February 2006. At MZS-IC, average O3 background concentrations ranged from 18.5 +/- 4.6 ppbv (summer 2005 - 2006) to 22.0 +/- 4.3 ppbv (summer 2003 - 2004). For CO2, in good agreement with the global trend observed for the period 2001-2006, background concentrations showed an average growth rate of 2.12 ppmv/year ranging from 369.28 +/- 0.18 ppmv during the summer 2001 - 2002 to 377.76 +/- 0.26 ppmv during the summer 2005 - 2006. On average, over the five summer campaigns, the O3 behaviour showed a decreasing trend with highest values in November and a minimum in January, while a broad December-January minimum characterised CO2, well tracing the typical O3 and CO2 high-latitude seasonal cycles in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sleep Duration and Injury-Related Risk Behaviors Among High School Students--United States, 2007-2013.

PubMed

Wheaton, Anne G; Olsen, Emily O'Malley; Miller, Gabrielle F; Croft, Janet B

2016-04-08

Insufficient sleep is common among high school students and has been associated with an increased risk for motor vehicle crashes (1), sports injuries (2), and occupational injuries (3). To evaluate the association between self-reported sleep duration on an average school night and several injury-related risk behaviors (infrequent bicycle helmet use, infrequent seatbelt use, riding with a driver who had been drinking, drinking and driving, and texting while driving) among U.S. high school students, CDC analyzed data from 50,370 high school students (grades 9-12) who participated in the national Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBSs) in 2007, 2009, 2011, or 2013. The likelihood of each of the five risk behaviors was significantly higher for students who reported sleeping ≤7 hours on an average school night; infrequent seatbelt use, riding with a drinking driver, and drinking and driving were also more likely for students who reported sleeping ≥10 hours compared with 9 hours on an average school night. Although insufficient sleep directly contributes to injury risk, some of the increased risk associated with insufficient sleep might be caused by engaging in injury-related risk behaviors. Intervention efforts aimed at these behaviors might help reduce injuries resulting from sleepiness, as well as provide opportunities for increasing awareness of the importance of sleep.

Faster poleward range shifts in moths with more variable colour patterns

PubMed Central

Forsman, Anders; Betzholtz, Per-Eric; Franzén, Markus

2016-01-01

Range shifts have been documented in many organisms, and climate change has been implicated as a contributing driver of latitudinal and altitudinal range modifications. However, little is known about what species trait(s) allow for faster environmental tracking and improved capacity for distribution expansions. We used data for 416 species of moths, and show that range limits in Sweden have shifted to the north by on average 52.4 km per decade between 1973 and 2014. When also including non-expanding species, average expansion rate was 23.2 km per decade. The rate of boundary shifts increased with increasing levels of inter-individual variation in colour patterns and decreased with increasing latitude. The association with colour patterns indicate that variation in this functionally important trait enables species to cope with novel and changing conditions. Northern range limits also increased with average abundance and decreased with increasing year-to-year abundance fluctuations, implicating production of dispersers as a driver of range dynamics. Studies of terrestrial animals show that rates of poleward shifts differ between taxonomic groups, increase over time, and depend on study duration and latitude. Knowledge of how distribution shifts change with time, location, and species characteristics may improve projections of responses to climate change and aid the protection of biodiversity. PMID:27808116

Faster poleward range shifts in moths with more variable colour patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forsman, Anders; Betzholtz, Per-Eric; Franzén, Markus

2016-11-01

Range shifts have been documented in many organisms, and climate change has been implicated as a contributing driver of latitudinal and altitudinal range modifications. However, little is known about what species trait(s) allow for faster environmental tracking and improved capacity for distribution expansions. We used data for 416 species of moths, and show that range limits in Sweden have shifted to the north by on average 52.4 km per decade between 1973 and 2014. When also including non-expanding species, average expansion rate was 23.2 km per decade. The rate of boundary shifts increased with increasing levels of inter-individual variation in colour patterns and decreased with increasing latitude. The association with colour patterns indicate that variation in this functionally important trait enables species to cope with novel and changing conditions. Northern range limits also increased with average abundance and decreased with increasing year-to-year abundance fluctuations, implicating production of dispersers as a driver of range dynamics. Studies of terrestrial animals show that rates of poleward shifts differ between taxonomic groups, increase over time, and depend on study duration and latitude. Knowledge of how distribution shifts change with time, location, and species characteristics may improve projections of responses to climate change and aid the protection of biodiversity.

Graduated driver licensing and differential deterrence: The effect of license type on intentions to violate road rules.

PubMed

Poirier, Brigitte; Blais, Etienne; Faubert, Camille

2018-01-01

In keeping with the differential deterrence theory, this article assesses the moderating effect of license type on the relationship between social control and intention to violate road rules. More precisely, the article has two objectives: (1) to assess the effect of license type on intentions to infringe road rules; and (2) to pinpoint mechanisms of social control affecting intentions to violate road rules based on one's type of driver license (a restricted license or a full license). This effect is examined among a sample of 392 young drivers in the province of Quebec, Canada. Drivers taking part in the Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) program have limited demerit points and there is zero tolerance for drinking-and-driving. Propensity score matching techniques were used to assess the effect of the license type on intentions to violate road rules and on various mechanisms of social control. Regression analyses were then conducted to estimate the moderating effect of license type. Average treatment effects from propensity score matching analyses indicate that respondents with a restricted license have lower levels of intention to infringe road rules. While moral commitment and, to a lesser extent, the perceived risk of arrest are both negatively associated with intentions to violate road rules, the license type moderates the relationship between delinquent peers and intentions to violate road rules. The effect of delinquent peers is reduced among respondents with a restricted driver license. Finally, a diminished capability to resist peer pressure could explain the increased crash risk in months following full licensing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Long-term recovery of quality of life and physical function over three years in adult survivors of acute myeloid leukemia after intensive chemotherapy.

PubMed

Timilshina, N; Breunis, H; Tomlinson, G A; Brandwein, J M; Buckstein, R; Durbano, S; Alibhai, S M H

2018-06-08

We previously described impairments in quality of life (QOL) and physical function among acute myeloid leukemia (AML) survivors between diagnosis and 1 year. The aim of the current study is to describe and compare to normative data QOL and physical function recovery over 3 years from diagnosis and treatment with intensive chemotherapy (IC). At assessments done at baseline (pre-IC) and at 11 time points over 3 years, QOL, fatigue, and 3 physical performance measures (PPMs; grip strength, 6-min walk test (6MWT), and timed chair stands) were collected. Long-term recovery was defined by reaching scores within the minimum clinically important difference of normative data. Global QOL recovery was seen in 79% at 1 year, 75% at 2 years, and 86% at 3 years. At 3 years, the QLQ-C30 subscales with the greatest recovery were physical and emotional functioning. For FACT-fatigue, recovery was seen in 68% at 1 year and 77% at 3 years. Recovery on PPMs was poorer on average, with only 17% on the 6MWT and 42% in grip strength returning to normal at 3 years. The vast majority of AML survivors after IC achieve recovery in QOL and fatigue by three years. However, recovery in physical performance remained blunted.

Target representation of naturalistic echolocation sequences in single unit responses from the inferior colliculus of big brown bats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanderson, Mark I.; Simmons, James A.

2005-11-01

Echolocating big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) emit trains of frequency-modulated (FM) biosonar signals whose duration, repetition rate, and sweep structure change systematically during interception of prey. When stimulated with a 2.5-s sequence of 54 FM pulse-echo pairs that mimic sounds received during search, approach, and terminal stages of pursuit, single neurons (N=116) in the bat's inferior colliculus (IC) register the occurrence of a pulse or echo with an average of <1 spike/sound. Individual IC neurons typically respond to only a segment of the search or approach stage of pursuit, with fewer neurons persisting to respond in the terminal stage. Composite peristimulus-time-histogram plots of responses assembled across the whole recorded population of IC neurons depict the delay of echoes and, hence, the existence and distance of the simulated biosonar target, entirely as on-response latencies distributed across time. Correlated changes in pulse duration, repetition rate, and pulse or echo amplitude do modulate the strength of responses (probability of the single spike actually occurring for each sound), but registration of the target itself remains confined exclusively to the latencies of single spikes across cells. Modeling of echo processing in FM biosonar should emphasize spike-time algorithms to explain the content of biosonar images.

On the intrinsic spectrum of PKS 2155-304 from the H.E.S.S. 2003 data.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costamante, L.; Aharonian, F.; Benbow, W.; Horns, D.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Rowell, G.; H.E.S.S. Collaboration

2004-08-01

In 2003, PKS 2155-304 (z=0.116) has been significantly detected by H.E.S.S. ( 44sigma) at TeV energies, with an average spectrum of Γ =3.3. Due to absorption by the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL), the intrinsic spectrum is heavily modified both in shape and intensity. To correct for this effect, and see where could be the Inverse Compton (IC) peak of the SED, we used 3 EBL models (representatives of 3 different flux levels for the stellar peak component). The resulting TeV spectrum has a peak around 1 TeV for stellar peak fluxes above the Primack (2001) calculation, while the spectrum is steeper than 2 (thus locating the IC peak <200 GeV) for fluxes below. With bulk Lorentz factors δ =20-30 (typically used for this object), in the first case the IC peak is in the Klein-Nishina transition region, while in the other case it is in the Thomson regime, and in agreement with the commonly fitted source parameters (e.g. Tavecchio et al. 1998). The constraint on δ given by transparency to 1-2 TeV photons is δ >19 (for historical SED fluxes and 2 hrs variability timescale).

[Solar exposure time for sunburn in Mexican population].

PubMed

Castanedo Cázares, Juan Pablo; Torres Álvarez, Bertha; Sobrevilla Ondarza, Salvador; Ehnis Pérez, Adriana; Gordillo Moscoso, Antonio

2012-01-01

THe minimal erythemal dose (MED) quantifies an individual's sensitivity to UV radiation (UVR). To estimate it in our population and establish the time of exposure inducing it during daily activities would allow us to calculate risk intervals. From 2005-2012, the UV solar radiation was measured with terrestrial radiometry and compared to public UV index (UVI). We determined the MED in 90 individuals with the prevalent phototypes in Mexico (III, IV, V), and estimated the time needed for the development of sunburn. The average MED for phototype III was 39 (IC 95%: 35-42) mJ/cm2, for IV 48 (IC 95%:42-53) mJ/cm2, and for V was 84 (IC 95%:75-92) mJ/cm2 (ANOVA, p ≤ 0.001). Approximately, 80% of the daily UVR was accumulated between 10:00-16:00 h, and 77% of the annual UV dose is received between March-October. The public UVI had a high correlation with the one quantified at terrestrial level (r = 0.89; p ≤ 0.001). Mexico receives continuously high levels of UVR. Phototype III will present sunburn after 22-33 min in a summer day, while phototype V will require over one hour of exposure. This last group is at risk of chronic exposure without considering consequences.

Generalized approach for identification and evaluation of technology-insertion options for military avionics systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harkness, Linda L.; Sjoberg, Eric S.

1996-06-01

The Georgia Tech Research Institute, sponsored by the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, has developed an approach for efficiently postulating and evaluating methods for extending the life of radars and other avionics systems. The technique identified specific assemblies for potential replacement and evaluates the system level impact, including performance, reliability and life-cycle cost of each action. The initial impetus for this research was the increasing obsolescence of integrated circuits contained in the AN/APG-63 system. The operational life of military electronics is typically in excess of twenty years, which encompasses several generations of IC technology. GTRI has developed a systems approach to inserting modern technology components into older systems based upon identification of those functions which limit the system's performance or reliability and which are cost drivers. The presentation will discuss the above methodology and a technique for evaluating and ranking the different potential system upgrade options.

Second Breakdown of 18V Grounded Gate NMOS induced by the Kirk Effect under Electrostatic Discharge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeon, Byung-Chul; Lee, Seung-Chul; Han, Min-Koo

2003-09-01

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) failure mechanisms of 18V grounded gate NMOS (GGNMOS) for liquid crystal display driver IC (LDI) applications are investigated and effects of layout design parameters on the ESD immunity level are analyzed. Experimental results show that 18V GGNMOS exhibits snapback characteristics and the ESD immunity level is rather high when XO (N-drift overlap over n+ source/drain) is sufficiently large, while GGNMOS does not exhibit the sustaining region and is very vulnerable to ESD stress when XO is relatively small. Simulation results show that the ESD failure mechanism of 18V GGNMOS could be the low-temperature second breakdown induced by the Kirk effect. It is inferred that a certain amount of XO is indispensable to ensure snapback characteristics and high ESD immunity level. Simulation results also show that the ESD immunity level is increased as drain contact to gate space (DCGS) is increased.

Do alcohol excise taxes affect traffic accidents? Evidence from Estonia.

PubMed

Saar, Indrek

2015-01-01

This article examines the association between alcohol excise tax rates and alcohol-related traffic accidents in Estonia. Monthly time series of traffic accidents involving drunken motor vehicle drivers from 1998 through 2013 were regressed on real average alcohol excise tax rates while controlling for changes in economic conditions and the traffic environment. Specifically, regression models with autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) errors were estimated in order to deal with serial correlation in residuals. Counterfactual models were also estimated in order to check the robustness of the results, using the level of non-alcohol-related traffic accidents as a dependent variable. A statistically significant (P <.01) strong negative relationship between the real average alcohol excise tax rate and alcohol-related traffic accidents was disclosed under alternative model specifications. For instance, the regression model with ARIMA (0, 1, 1)(0, 1, 1) errors revealed that a 1-unit increase in the tax rate is associated with a 1.6% decrease in the level of accidents per 100,000 population involving drunk motor vehicle drivers. No similar association was found in the cases of counterfactual models for non-alcohol-related traffic accidents. This article indicates that the level of alcohol-related traffic accidents in Estonia has been affected by changes in real average alcohol excise taxes during the period 1998-2013. Therefore, in addition to other measures, the use of alcohol taxation is warranted as a policy instrument in tackling alcohol-related traffic accidents.

Who Adopts Improved Fuels and Cookstoves? A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Lewis, Jessica J.

2012-01-01

Background: The global focus on improved cookstoves (ICSs) and clean fuels has increased because of their potential for delivering triple dividends: household health, local environmental quality, and regional climate benefits. However, ICS and clean fuel dissemination programs have met with low rates of adoption. Objectives: We reviewed empirical studies on ICSs and fuel choice to describe the literature, examine determinants of fuel and stove choice, and identify knowledge gaps. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the literature on the adoption of ICSs or cleaner fuels by households in developing countries. Results are synthesized through a simple vote-counting meta-analysis. Results: We identified 32 research studies that reported 146 separate regression analyses of ICS adoption (11 analyses) or fuel choice (135 analyses) from Asia (60%), Africa (27%), and Latin America (19%). Most studies apply multivariate regression methods to consider 7–13 determinants of choice. Income, education, and urban location were positively associated with adoption in most but not all studies. However, the influence of fuel availability and prices, household size and composition, and sex is unclear. Potentially important drivers such as credit, supply-chain strengthening, and social marketing have been ignored. Conclusions: Adoption studies of ICSs or clean energy are scarce, scattered, and of differential quality, even though global distribution programs are quickly expanding. Future research should examine an expanded set of contextual variables to improve implementation of stove programs that can realize the “win-win-win” of health, local environmental quality, and climate associated with these technologies. PMID:22296719

The Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC) Online Database: Uploading, Searching and Visualizing Paleomagnetic and Rock Magnetic Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minnett, R.; Koppers, A.; Tauxe, L.; Constable, C.; Pisarevsky, S. A.; Jackson, M.; Solheid, P.; Banerjee, S.; Johnson, C.

2006-12-01

The Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC) is commissioned to implement and maintain an online portal to a relational database populated by both rock and paleomagnetic data. The goal of MagIC is to archive all measurements and the derived properties for studies of paleomagnetic directions (inclination, declination) and intensities, and for rock magnetic experiments (hysteresis, remanence, susceptibility, anisotropy). MagIC is hosted under EarthRef.org at http://earthref.org/MAGIC/ and has two search nodes, one for paleomagnetism and one for rock magnetism. Both nodes provide query building based on location, reference, methods applied, material type and geological age, as well as a visual map interface to browse and select locations. The query result set is displayed in a digestible tabular format allowing the user to descend through hierarchical levels such as from locations to sites, samples, specimens, and measurements. At each stage, the result set can be saved and, if supported by the data, can be visualized by plotting global location maps, equal area plots, or typical Zijderveld, hysteresis, and various magnetization and remanence diagrams. User contributions to the MagIC database are critical to achieving a useful research tool. We have developed a standard data and metadata template (Version 2.1) that can be used to format and upload all data at the time of publication in Earth Science journals. Software tools are provided to facilitate population of these templates within Microsoft Excel. These tools allow for the import/export of text files and provide advanced functionality to manage and edit the data, and to perform various internal checks to maintain data integrity and prepare for uploading. The MagIC Contribution Wizard at http://earthref.org/MAGIC/upload.htm executes the upload and takes only a few minutes to process several thousand data records. The standardized MagIC template files are stored in the digital archives of EarthRef.org where they remain available for download by the public (in both text and Excel format). Finally, the contents of these template files are automatically parsed into the online relational database, making the data available for online searches in the paleomagnetic and rock magnetic search nodes. The MagIC database contains all data transferred from the IAGA paleomagnetic poles database (GPMDB), the lava flow paleosecular variation database (PSVRL), lake sediment database (SECVR) and the PINT database. Additionally, a substantial number of data compiled under the Time Averaged Field Investigations project is now included plus a significant fraction of the data collected at SIO and the IRM. Ongoing additions of legacy data include over 40 papers from studies on the Hawaiian Islands and Mexico, data compilations from archeomagnetic studies and updates to the lake sediment dataset.

Evolution of the crashworthiness and aggressivity of the Spanish car fleet.

PubMed

Gómez Méndez, Alvaro; Aparicio Izquierdo, Francisco; Arenas Ramírez, Blanca

2010-11-01

This paper investigates the relationship between a passenger car's year of registration and its crashworthiness and aggressivity in real-world crashes. Crashworthiness is defined as the ability of a car to protect its own occupants, and has been evaluated in single and two-car crashes. Aggressivity is defined as the ability to protect users travelling in other vehicles, and has been evaluated only in two-car crashes. The dependent variable is defined as the proportion of injured drivers who are killed or seriously injured; following previous research, we refer to this magnitude as injury severity. A decrease in the injury severity of a driver is interpreted as an improvement in the crashworthiness of their car; similarly, a decrease in the injury severity of the opponent driver is regarded as an improvement in aggressivity. Data have been extracted from the Spanish Road Accident Database, which contains information on every accident registered by the police in which at least one person was injured. Two types of regression models have been used: logistic regression models in single-car crashes, and generalised estimating equations (GEE) models in two-car crashes. GEE allow to take account of the correlation between the injury severities of drivers involved in the same crash. The independent variables considered have been: year of registration of the subject car (crashworthiness component), year of registration of the opponent car (aggressivity component), and several factors related to road, driver and environment. Our models confirm that crashworthiness has largely improved in two-car crashes: when crashing into the average opponent car, drivers of cars registered before 1985 have a significantly higher probability of being killed or seriously injured than drivers of cars registered in 2000-2005 (odds ratio: 1.80; 95% confidence interval: 1.61; 2.01). In single-car crashes, the improvement in crashworthiness is very slight (odds ratio: 1.04; 95% confidence interval: 0.93; 1.16). On the other hand, we have also found a significant worsening in aggressivity in two-car crashes: the driver of the average car has a significantly lower probability of being killed or seriously injured when crashing into a car registered before 1985, than when crashing into a car registered in 2000-2005 (odds ratio: 0.52; 95% confidence interval: 0.45; 0.60). Our results are consistent with a large amount of previous research that has reported significant improvements in the protection of car occupants. They also add to some recent studies that have found a worsening in the aggressivity of modern cars. This trend may be reflecting the impact of differences in masses and travel speeds, as well as the influence of consumer choices. The precise reasons have to be investigated. Also, the causes have to be found for so large a discrepancy between crashworthiness in single and two-car crashes. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ESTIMATING BASAL ENERGY EXPENDITURE IN LIVER TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS: THE VALUE OF THE HARRIS-BENEDICT EQUATION.

PubMed

Pinto, Andressa S; Chedid, Marcio F; Guerra, Léa T; Álvares-DA-Silva, Mario R; Araújo, Alexandre de; Guimarães, Luciano S; Leipnitz, Ian; Chedid, Aljamir D; Kruel, Cleber R P; Grezzana-Filho, Tomaz J M; Kruel, Cleber D P

2016-01-01

Reliable measurement of basal energy expenditure (BEE) in liver transplant (LT) recipients is necessary for adapting energy requirements, improving nutritional status and preventing weight gain. Indirect calorimetry (IC) is the gold standard for measuring BEE. However, BEE may be estimated through alternative methods, including electrical bioimpedance (BI), Harris-Benedict Equation (HBE), and Mifflin-St. Jeor Equation (MSJ) that carry easier applicability and lower cost. To determine which of the three alternative methods for BEE estimation (HBE, BI and MSJ) would provide most reliable BEE estimation in LT recipients. Prospective cross-sectional study including dyslipidemic LT recipients in follow-up at a 735-bed tertiary referral university hospital. Comparisons of BEE measured through IC to BEE estimated through each of the three alternative methods (HBE, BI and MSJ) were performed using Bland-Altman method and Wilcoxon Rank Sum test. Forty-five patients were included, aged 58±10 years. BEE measured using IC was 1664±319 kcal for males, and 1409±221 kcal for females. Average difference between BEE measured by IC (1534±300 kcal) and BI (1584±377 kcal) was +50 kcal (p=0.0384). Average difference between the BEE measured using IC (1534±300 kcal) and MSJ (1479.6±375 kcal) was -55 kcal (p=0.16). Average difference between BEE values measured by IC (1534±300 kcal) and HBE (1521±283 kcal) was -13 kcal (p=0.326). Difference between BEE estimated through IC and HBE was less than 100 kcal for 39 of all 43patients. Among the three alternative methods, HBE was the most reliable for estimating BEE in LT recipients. Estimativa confiável do metabolismo basal em pacientes transplantados de fígado é necessária para adaptar os requerimentos energéticos, melhorar o estado nutricional e prevenir ganho de peso. Calorimetria indireta (CI) é o padrão-ouro para a medição do metabolismo basal. No entanto, ele pode ser estimado utilizando-se métodos alternativos, incluindo a bioimpedância (BI), a Equação de Harris-Benedict (EHB), e também a Equação de Mifflin-St. Jeor (MSJ). Esses métodos alternativos possuem aplicabilidade mais fácil e custo inferior quando comparados à CI. Determinar qual dos três métodos alternativos para a estimativa do metabolismo basal (EHB, BI e MSJ) seria o mais confiável em pacientes transplantados de fígado. Foi realizado estudo transversal prospectivo incluindo pacientes transplantados de fígado com dislipidemia, em acompanhamento ambulatorial. Comparações dos valores calculados de metabolismo basal via CI aos valores estimados por cada um dos três métodos alternativos (EHB, BI e MSJ) foram realizadas utilizando o de Bland-Altman e o teste de Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney. Quarenta e cinco pacientes foram incluídos com idade 58±10 anos. O metabolismo basal medido via CI foi 1664±319 kcal para pacientes do gênero masculino, e 1409±221 kcal para o feminino. A diferença média entre a taxa de metabolismo basal aferida por CI (1534±300 kcal) e estimada por BI (1584±377 kcal) foi +50 kcal (p=0.0384). A diferença média entre a taxa de metabolismo basal aferida via CI (1534±300 kcal) e estimada por MSJ (1479.6±375 kcal) foi -55 kcal (p=0.16). A diferença média entre os valores de taxa de metabolismo basal medidos via CI (1534±300 kcal) e estimados por EHB (1521±283 kcal) foi -13 kcal (p=0.326). Além disso, a diferença entre a taxa de metabolismo basal estimada via CI e a aferida por EHB foi menor que 100 kcal para 39 de todos os 43 pacientes avaliados. A EHB foi o mais confiável dos três métodos de estimativa da taxa de metabolismo basal em pacientes transplantados de fígado em acompanhamento ambulatorial.

A Study of the 5S Ribosomal RNAs of the Vibrionaceae

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-01-01

codon (UAA, UAG, or UGA) TBE Tris-borate-EDTA buffer ug microgram, i.e., 10-’ gram 6 ul microliter. iJe., 10- 6 liter UPG unweighted pair-group UPGMA ...Psy~ww~w .......................... .. 4.------------------ 0 IC 5b. The UPGMA , or UPS average linkage, dendrogram resulting from the...cluster, and the V. damsela - Q. anguillarus doublet are identical to that predicted by UPGMA analysis. C. CONSERVED AND HYPERVARIABLE REGIONS As

VizieR Online Data Catalog: FTS reference UV wavelengths of CrIII (Smillie+, 2008)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smillie, D. G.; Pickering, J. C.; Smith, P. L.

2009-03-01

The Cr III spectrum was acquired in the wavenumber range 31596 to 63192cm-1, using the Imperial College (IC) VUV FTS, and a PDL as light source. The spectral resolution used, 0.12cm-1, was sufficient to fully resolve the Doppler broadened transition line profiles, for which the average unblended full-width at half maximum (FWHM) was just under 0.3cm-1. (1 data file).

High Pressure Equation of State Investigation of Rocks

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-09-01

0188 Pub•ic repon burden for this collection of information is estmnated to average I hour per response incluang me time for reviewing instructions...searching existing dats sources. gathering and maintaining the data needed, and compo0ng and reviewing the cooection of infomation. Send comments...work was directed by Ms. Audrey Martinez, DNA/FCTP. The authors are thankful for the careful review of the text by A. Martinez and E. Rinehart

Reference Dosimetry for the 1992 NATO Battlefield Dosimetry Intercomparison at the Army Pulse Radiation Facility

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-04-01

dosimeter using the Rh -103(n,n’) Rh - 103m reaction. Health Physics 25: 291-297, 1973. 11. Zeman, G. H. Rhodium-103 and indium-115 inelastic scattering... Rh foil 203 .... A120 3 TLD -- 17.0 -- TE-Mg ICI 205 16.1 221 93 APRF TE-Mg IC 205 17.6 223 92 CaF TLD -- 22.1 .... Average 204 17.5 222 92 +/- 1.5

The HALNA project: Diode-pumped solid-state laser for inertial fusion energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawashima, T.; Ikegawa, T.; Kawanaka, J.; Miyanaga, N.; Nakatsuka, M.; Izawa, Y.; Matsumoto, O.; Yasuhara, R.; Kurita, T.; Sekine, T.; Miyamoto, M.; Kan, H.; Furukawa, H.; Motokoshi, S.; Kanabe, T.

2006-06-01

High-enery, rep.-rated, diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is one of leading candidates for inertial fusion energy driver (IFE) and related laser-driven high-field applications. The project for the development of IFE laser driver in Japan, HALNA (High Average-power Laser for Nuclear Fusion Application) at ILE, Osaka University, aims to demonstrate 100-J pulse energy at 10 Hz rep. rate with 5 times diffraction limited beam quality. In this article, the advanced solid-state laser technologies for one half scale of HALNA (50 J, 10 Hz) are presented including thermally managed slab amplifier of Nd:phosphate glass and zig-zag optical geometry, and uniform, large-area diode-pumping.

Environmental control and life support system requirements and technology needs for advanced manned space missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Powell, Ferolyn T.; Sedej, Melaine; Lin, Chin

1987-01-01

NASA has completed an environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) technology R&D plan for advanced missions which gave attention to the drivers (crew size, mission duration, etc.) of a range of manned missions under consideration. Key planning guidelines encompassed a time horizon greater than 50 years, funding resource requirements, an evolutionary approach to goal definition, and the funding of more than one approach to satisfy a given perceived requirement. Attention was given to the ECLSS requirements of transportation and service vehicles, platforms, bases and settlements, ECLSS functions and average load requirements, unique drivers for various missions, and potentially exploitable commonalities among vehicles and habitats.

The role of illicit, licit, and designer drugs in the traffic in Hungary.

PubMed

Institóris, László; Hidvégi, Előd; Dobos, Adrienn; Sija, Éva; Kereszty, Éva M; Tajti, László Balázs; Somogyi, Gábor Pál; Varga, Tibor

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and pattern of psychoactive substances among suspected DUID (Driving Under the Influence of Drugs) drivers in Hungary in 2014 and 2015. Blood and/or urine samples of 1252 suspected drivers (600 in 2014 and 652 in 2015) were analyzed for classical illicit and licit drugs, stimulant designer drugs (SDDs), and for synthetic cannabinoids, with 78.3% and 79.6% positive cases for at least one substance in 2014, and 2015, respectively. Impairment was proven in 39.2% (2014) and 35.7% (2015) of all drivers tested, based on the legal criteria of Hungary. Classical illicit drugs were found to be present in blood or urine of 89-61%, drivers tested. Drivers also tested positive for legal medications in 20-22%, SDDs in 21-28%, and synthetic cannabinoids in 15-19% of all cases. This indicates a drop in prevalence for classical illicit drugs and a slight but statistically non-significant increase for the other three substance groups. The distribution of drug types in each category were: [1] classical illicit drugs: cannabis (432), amphetamine (321), and cocaine (79); [2] medicines: alprazolam (94) and clonazepam (36); [3] SDDs: pentedrone (137) and α-PVP (33); [4] synthetic cannabinoids: AB-CHMINACA (46) and MDMB-CHMICA (30). The average age of illicit drug and SDD users was 30 years, while legal medications users were 36 years old on average, and the mean age of synthetic cannabinoid users was 26.5 years. The presence of both alcohol and at least one drug in samples was found in about 10% of the cases, both years. The ratio of multi-drug use was 33.0% in 2014 and 41.3% in 2015. Compared to former years the number of drivers who tested positive for drugs doubled in Hungary, but it is still low compared to alcohol positive cases. The relatively low detected rate of DUID can be explained by (1) combined alcohol consumption masking drug symptoms, (2) the absence of road-side tests for illicit and designer drugs and, (3) police officers not adequately trained to recognize milder symptoms of impairment. Targeted education of police officers, prompt medical examination and the use of a symptom-focused on-site survey, could improve the efficacy of DUID investigations. Our findings are not comparable with drug consumption habits of the general driving population. The last roadside survey (DRUID EU-6 Project) was performed in Hungary in 2008-2009, prior to the mass spreading of designer drugs. As their appearance has drastically changed the pattern of drug consumption of the population, a new roadside survey, targeting general drivers, would be necessary. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the effect of vehicle impoundment policy on illegal construction and demolition waste dumping: Israel as a case study.

PubMed

Seror, Nissim; Hareli, Shlomo; Portnov, Boris A

2014-08-01

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste dumped alongside roads and in open areas is a major source of soil and underground water pollution. Since 2006, Israeli ministry for environmental protection enacted a policy of vehicle impoundment (VI) according to which track drivers caught while dumping C&D waste illegally have their vehicles impounded. The present study attempted to determine whether the VI policy was effective in increasing the waste hauling to authorized landfill sites, thus limiting the number of illegal unloads of C&D waste at unauthorized landfill sites and in open areas. During the study, changes in the ratio between the monthly amount of C&D waste brought to authorized landfills sites and the estimated total amount of C&D waste generated in different administrative districts of Israel were examined, before and after the enactment of the 2006 VI policy. Short questionnaires were also distributed among local track drivers in order to determine the degree of awareness about the policy in question and estimate its deterrence effects. According to the study's results, in the district of Haifa, in which the VI policy was stringently enacted, the ratio between C&D waste, dumped in authorized landfill sites, and the total amount of generated C&D waste, increased, on the average, from 20% in January 2004 to 35% in October 2009, with the effect attributed to the number of vehicle impoundments being highly statistically significant (t=2.324; p<0.05). By contrast, in the Jerusalem and Southern districts, in which the VI policy was less stringently enforced, the effect of VI on the above ratio was found to be insignificant (p>0.1). The analysis of the questionnaires, distributed among the local truck drivers further indicated that the changes observed in the district of Haifa are not coincident and appeared to be linked to the VI policy's enactment. In particular, 62% of the truck drivers, participated in the survey, were aware of the policy and 47% of them personally knew a driver whose vehicle was impounded. Furthermore, the drivers estimated the relative risk of being caught for unloading C&D waste in unauthorized sites, on the average, as high as 67%, which is likely to become a deterrent on its own. Our conclusion is that the VI policy appears to have a deterring effect on truck drivers, by encouraging them to haul C&D waste to authorized landfill sites. As we suggest, the research methodology implemented in the study and its results may help policy makers in other regions and countries, which experience similar environment enforcement problem, to analyze policy responses. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plasma properties of driver gas following interplanetary shocks observed by ISEE-3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zwickl, R. D.; Ashbridge, J. R.; Bame, S. J.; Feldman, W. C.; Gosling, J. T.; Smith, E. J.

1982-01-01

Plasma fluid parameters calculated from solar wind and magnetic field data obtained on ISEE 3 were studied. The characteristic properties of driver gas following interplanetary shocks was determined. Of 54 shocks observed from August 1978 to February 1980, nine contained a well defined driver gas that was clearly identifiable by a discontinuous decrease in the average proton temperature across a tangential discontinuity. While helium enhancements were present in all of nine of these events, only about half of them contained simultaneous changes in the two quantities. Often the He/H ratio changed over a period of minutes. Simultaneous with the drop in proton temperature the helium and electron temperature decreased abruptly. In some cases the proton temperature depression was accompanied by a moderate increase in magnetic field magnitude with an unusually low variance and by an increase in the ratio of parallel to perpendicular temperature. The drive gas usually displayed a bidirectional flow of suprathermal solar wind electrons at higher energies.

Spatiotemporal variability in wildfire patterns and analysis of the main drivers in Honduras using GIS and MODIS data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valdez Vasquez, M. C.; Chen, C. F.

2017-12-01

Wildfires are unrestrained fires in an area of flammable vegetation and they are one of the most frequent disasters in Honduras during the dry season. During this period, anthropogenic activity combined with the harsh climatic conditions, dry vegetation and topographical variables, cause a large amount of wildfires. For this reason, there is a need to identify the drivers of wildfires and their susceptibility variations during the wildfire season. In this study, we combined the wildfire points during the 2010-2016 period every 8 days with a series of variables using the random forest (RF) algorithm. In addition to the wildfire points, we randomly generated a similar amount of background points that we use as pseudo-absence data. To represent the human imprint, we included proximity to different types of roads, trails, settlements and agriculture sites. Other variables included are the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectra-radiometer (MODIS)-derived 8-day composites of land surface temperature (LST) and the normalized multi-band drought index (NMDI), derived from the MODIS surface reflectance data. We also included monthly average precipitation, solar radiation, and topographical variables. The exploratory analysis of the variables reveals that low precipitation combined with the low NMDI and accessibility to non-paved roads were the major drivers of wildfires during the early months of the dry season. During April, which is the peak of the dry season, the explanatory variables of relevance also included elevation and LST in addition to the proximity to paved and non-paved roads. During May, proximity to crops becomes relevant, in addition to the aforesaid variables. The average estimated area with high and very high wildfire susceptibility was 22% of the whole territory located mainly in the central and eastern regions, drifting towards the northeast areas during May. We validated the results using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) for each 8-day period, and the average AUC acquired was acceptable using an independent test data. We suggest that the 8-day frequency spatiotemporal mapping of wildfire patterns and the identification of the most relevant drivers can lead to localized prevention and control actions in specific time-frames in areas of high wildfire susceptibility.

A compact 16-module camera using 64-pixel CsI(Tl)/Si p-i-n photodiode imaging modules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choong, W.-S.; Gruber, G. J.; Moses, W. W.; Derenzo, S. E.; Holland, S. E.; Pedrali-Noy, M.; Krieger, B.; Mandelli, E.; Meddeler, G.; Wang, N. W.; Witt, E. K.

2002-10-01

We present a compact, configurable scintillation camera employing a maximum of 16 individual 64-pixel imaging modules resulting in a 1024-pixel camera covering an area of 9.6 cm/spl times/9.6 cm. The 64-pixel imaging module consists of optically isolated 3 mm/spl times/3 mm/spl times/5 mm CsI(Tl) crystals coupled to a custom array of Si p-i-n photodiodes read out by a custom integrated circuit (IC). Each imaging module plugs into a readout motherboard that controls the modules and interfaces with a data acquisition card inside a computer. For a given event, the motherboard employs a custom winner-take-all IC to identify the module with the largest analog output and to enable the output address bits of the corresponding module's readout IC. These address bits identify the "winner" pixel within the "winner" module. The peak of the largest analog signal is found and held using a peak detect circuit, after which it is acquired by an analog-to-digital converter on the data acquisition card. The camera is currently operated with four imaging modules in order to characterize its performance. At room temperature, the camera demonstrates an average energy resolution of 13.4% full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) for the 140-keV emissions of /sup 99m/Tc. The system spatial resolution is measured using a capillary tube with an inner diameter of 0.7 mm and located 10 cm from the face of the collimator. Images of the line source in air exhibit average system spatial resolutions of 8.7- and 11.2-mm FWHM when using an all-purpose and high-sensitivity parallel hexagonal holes collimator, respectively. These values do not change significantly when an acrylic scattering block is placed between the line source and the camera.

New insights into the interstellar medium of the dwarf galaxy IC 10: connection between magnetic fields, the radio-infrared correlation and star formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basu, Aritra; Roychowdhury, Sambit; Heesen, Volker; Beck, Rainer; Brinks, Elias; Westcott, Jonathan; Hindson, Luke

2017-10-01

We present the highest sensitivity and angular resolution study at 0.32 GHz of the dwarf irregular galaxy IC 10, observed using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, probing ˜45 pc spatial scales. We find the galaxy-averaged radio continuum spectrum to be relatively flat, with a spectral index α = -0.34 ± 0.01 (Sν ∝ να), mainly due to a high contribution from free-free emission. At 0.32 GHz, some of the H II regions show evidence of free-free absorption as they become optically thick below ˜0.41 GHz with corresponding free electron densities of ˜ 11-22 cm- 3. After removing the free-free emission, we studied the radio-infrared (IR) relations on 55, 110 and 165 pc spatial scales. We find that on all scales the non-thermal emission at 0.32 and 6.2 GHz correlates better with far-infrared (FIR) emission at 70 μm than mid-IR emission at 24 μm. The dispersion of the radio-FIR relation arises due to variations in both magnetic field and dust temperature, and decreases systematically with increasing spatial scale. The effect of cosmic ray transport is negligible as cosmic ray electrons were only injected ≲5 Myr ago. The average magnetic field strength (B) of 12 μG in the disc is comparable to that of large star-forming galaxies. The local magnetic field is strongly correlated with local star formation rate (SFR) as B ∝ SFR0.35 ± 0.03, indicating a starburst-driven fluctuation dynamo to be efficient (˜10 per cent) in amplifying the field in IC 10. The high spatial resolution observations presented here suggest that the high efficiency of magnetic field amplification and strong coupling with SFR likely sets up the radio-FIR correlation in cosmologically young galaxies.

A hierarchical approach for online temporal lobe seizure detection in long-term intracranial EEG recordings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Sheng-Fu; Chen, Yi-Chun; Wang, Yu-Lin; Chen, Pin-Tzu; Yang, Chia-Hsiang; Chiueh, Herming

2013-08-01

Objective. Around 1% of the world's population is affected by epilepsy, and nearly 25% of patients cannot be treated effectively by available therapies. The presence of closed-loop seizure-triggered stimulation provides a promising solution for these patients. Realization of fast, accurate, and energy-efficient seizure detection is the key to such implants. In this study, we propose a two-stage on-line seizure detection algorithm with low-energy consumption for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Approach. Multi-channel signals are processed through independent component analysis and the most representative independent component (IC) is automatically selected to eliminate artifacts. Seizure-like intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG) segments are fast detected in the first stage of the proposed method and these seizures are confirmed in the second stage. The conditional activation of the second-stage signal processing reduces the computational effort, and hence energy, since most of the non-seizure events are filtered out in the first stage. Main results. Long-term iEEG recordings of 11 patients who suffered from TLE were analyzed via leave-one-out cross validation. The proposed method has a detection accuracy of 95.24%, a false alarm rate of 0.09/h, and an average detection delay time of 9.2 s. For the six patients with mesial TLE, a detection accuracy of 100.0%, a false alarm rate of 0.06/h, and an average detection delay time of 4.8 s can be achieved. The hierarchical approach provides a 90% energy reduction, yielding effective and energy-efficient implementation for real-time epileptic seizure detection. Significance. An on-line seizure detection method that can be applied to monitor continuous iEEG signals of patients who suffered from TLE was developed. An IC selection strategy to automatically determine the most seizure-related IC for seizure detection was also proposed. The system has advantages of (1) high detection accuracy, (2) low false alarm, (3) short detection latency, and (4) energy-efficient design for hardware implementation.

Nutritional status and eating habits of bus drivers during the day and night.

PubMed

Balieiro, Laura Cristina Tibiletti; Rossato, Luana Thomazetto; Waterhouse, Jim; Paim, Samantha Lemos; Mota, Maria Carliana; Crispim, Cibele Aparecida

2014-12-01

The aim of this study was to compare anthropometry and food intake patterns in bus drivers working during the day and night. One hundred and fifty males (81 night workers and 69 day workers) participated in the study. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Measurements of height, weight, waist circumference (WC), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose, and lipid profile were obtained. A significant difference between groups was observed for mean WC (98.5 ± 10.7 cm in day workers versus 103.2 ± 9.7 cm in night workers; p = 0.005). Night workers had higher prevalence of being overweight and obese (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m(2)) than day workers (78.2% day workers versus 90.2% night workers; p = 0.004) and increased WC (>94 cm) (72.4% day workers versus 86.4% night workers; p = 0.03). Significant differences were found for meat consumption (2.3 servings ±0.9 for night workers versus 2.0 servings ±0.7 day workers, p = 0.04) and fruit intake (0.9 servings ±0.4 for night workers versus 0.7 servings for day workers ±0.5; p = 0.006). Night workers had a lower intake of vegetables than recommended compared to day workers (100 versus 92.7%, respectively, p = 0.01) and higher intake of oil (40.7 versus 24.6%, p = 0.03). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that night work was associated with being overweight (OR = 2.94, 95% IC: 1.14-7.66, p = 0.03) and abnormal values of WC (OR = 2.82, 95% IC: 1.20-6.69, p = 0.009) after adjusting for potential confounders. It is concluded that night workers had a higher prevalence and risk of being overweight/obese and increased WC compared with day workers. Night workers also presented a higher proportion of inappropriate intakes of food groups when compared to day workers, even though both groups were eating poor diets. These results demonstrate the need of lifestyle-intervention programs in these workers.

The Behavioral Impact of an Advertising Campaign to Promote Safety Belt Use.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cope, John G.; And Others

1988-01-01

Safety belt use with and without addition of an incentive strategy was observed among 8,635 drivers at a drive-through restaurant. During the promotional campaign, average rate of belt use tripled compared to baseline following the introduction of a contingent reward (a large soft drink), and declined during followup. (JW)

Increasing Intelligence in Inter-Vehicle Communications to Reduce Traffic Congestions: Experiments in Urban and Highway Environments.

PubMed

Meneguette, Rodolfo I; Filho, Geraldo P R; Guidoni, Daniel L; Pessin, Gustavo; Villas, Leandro A; Ueyama, Jó

2016-01-01

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) rely on Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) to streamline the operation of vehicles by managing vehicle traffic, assisting drivers with safety and sharing information, as well as providing appropriate services for passengers. Traffic congestion is an urban mobility problem, which causes stress to drivers and economic losses. In this context, this work proposes a solution for the detection, dissemination and control of congested roads based on inter-vehicle communication, called INCIDEnT. The main goal of the proposed solution is to reduce the average trip time, CO emissions and fuel consumption by allowing motorists to avoid congested roads. The simulation results show that our proposed solution leads to short delays and a low overhead. Moreover, it is efficient with regard to the coverage of the event and the distance to which the information can be propagated. The findings of the investigation show that the proposed solution leads to (i) high hit rate in the classification of the level of congestion, (ii) a reduction in average trip time, (iii) a reduction in fuel consumption, and (iv) reduced CO emissions.

Increasing Intelligence in Inter-Vehicle Communications to Reduce Traffic Congestions: Experiments in Urban and Highway Environments

PubMed Central

Filho, Geraldo P. R.; Guidoni, Daniel L.; Pessin, Gustavo; Villas, Leandro A.; Ueyama, Jó

2016-01-01

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) rely on Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) to streamline the operation of vehicles by managing vehicle traffic, assisting drivers with safety and sharing information, as well as providing appropriate services for passengers. Traffic congestion is an urban mobility problem, which causes stress to drivers and economic losses. In this context, this work proposes a solution for the detection, dissemination and control of congested roads based on inter-vehicle communication, called INCIDEnT. The main goal of the proposed solution is to reduce the average trip time, CO emissions and fuel consumption by allowing motorists to avoid congested roads. The simulation results show that our proposed solution leads to short delays and a low overhead. Moreover, it is efficient with regard to the coverage of the event and the distance to which the information can be propagated. The findings of the investigation show that the proposed solution leads to (i) high hit rate in the classification of the level of congestion, (ii) a reduction in average trip time, (iii) a reduction in fuel consumption, and (iv) reduced CO emissions PMID:27526048

Social cost of heavy drinking and alcohol dependence in high-income countries.

PubMed

Mohapatra, Satya; Patra, Jayadeep; Popova, Svetlana; Duhig, Amy; Rehm, Jürgen

2010-06-01

A comprehensive review of cost drivers associated with alcohol abuse, heavy drinking, and alcohol dependence for high-income countries was conducted. The data from 14 identified cost studies were tabulated according to the potential direct and indirect cost drivers. The costs associated with alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, and heavy drinking were calculated. The weighted average of the total societal cost due to alcohol abuse as percent gross domestic product (GDP)--purchasing power parity (PPP)--was 1.58%. The cost due to heavy drinking and/or alcohol dependence as percent GDP (PPP) was estimated to be 0.96%. On average, the alcohol-attributable indirect cost due to loss of productivity is more than the alcohol-attributable direct cost. Most of the countries seem to incur 1% or more of their GDP (PPP) as alcohol-attributable costs, which is a high toll for a single factor and an enormous burden on public health. The majority of alcohol-attributable costs incurred as a consequence of heavy drinking and/or alcohol dependence. Effective prevention and treatment measures should be implemented to reduce these costs.

Driver distraction by smartphone use (WhatsApp) in different age groups.

PubMed

Ortiz, C; Ortiz-Peregrina, S; Castro, J J; Casares-López, M; Salas, C

2018-08-01

This paper investigates the effect that texting with WhatsApp, one of the most common applications for instant messaging, exerts on driving performance. Because distracted driving also affects older drivers, who can have seriously compromised vision, we also analysed the associations between visual-function parameters and driving performance. A total of 75 drivers, experienced in sending WhatsApp messages (≥10WhatsApp messages/week), participated in this study and were divided into four age categories. Visual-function tests included contrast sensitivity with and without glare, retinal straylight and objective assessment of optical quality. Simulated driving performance was assessed under a baseline driving condition (without distraction) as well as a texting condition (WhatsApp messages) while driving. The participants used their own mobile phone. Lastly, objective results of driving performance were compared with subjective self-report data from the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ). The analysis indicated that functional changes occurring with age, such as a lower contrast sensitivity and greater retinal straylight, were correlated with a higher number of collisions, longer distances driven outside the lane, and greater standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP). The results showed a significant main effect of age for the driving-performance parameters. Also, compared to the baseline, texting WhatsApp messages while driving worsens driving performance for all age groups, most notably among older participants. Thus, the older drivers' SDLP was ∼14% higher than that for the baseline average of all the other drivers and rose to 29% under distraction, reflecting the impact of secondary tasks. The negative effect of the use of the smartphone during driving was also reflected in the number of collisions, with a greater risk of accidents in all the groups of drivers (by 8.3% for young adults, 25.0% for adults, 80.5% for middle-aged adults, and 134.5% for older drivers). Lastly, participants' subjective responses indicated that younger drivers (18-24 years) had a higher risk of deliberately violating safe driving practices (p < 0.05). The present study demonstrates that texting WhatsApp messages while driving significantly impairs the ability to drive safely, with older drivers being the group most adversely affected. It would be recommendable to include other nonstandard vision tests, which have shown associations with driving performance, in the examination for driver licensing. This would help raise the awareness of older drivers concerning their visual limitations, permitting them to adopt compensatory measures to improve their driving safety. Nevertheless, it is also necessary to raise awareness among the younger drivers of the risks involved in behaviour behind the wheel. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Image and flow cytometric analysis of gold nanoparticle uptake by macrophages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fixler, Dror; Ankri, Rinat; Weiss, Ronald; Grahnert, Anja; Melzer, Susanne; Tárnok, Attila

2016-03-01

Background/Aim: In atherosclerosis stable and vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque types are distinguished that behave differently concerning rupture, thrombosis and clinical events. The stable are rich in M2 macrophages. The unstable are rich in inflammatory M1 macrophages and are highly susceptible to rupture, setting patients at risk for thrombotic events when they undergo invasive diagnosis such as coronary angiography. Therefore, novel approaches for non-invasive detection and classification of vulnerable plaques in vivo are needed. Whereas classical approaches fail to differentiate between both plaque types, a new biophotonic method (combination of the diffusion reflection (DR) method with flow cytometry (FCM) or image cytometry (IC)) to analyze gold nanoparticle (GNP) loading of plaques could overcome this limitation. Methods: Two types of GNP were used three variants of gold nanorods (GNRI with 40x18 nm, II 65x25 nm and III 52x13 nm in size) and gold nanospheres (GNS with an average diameter of 18.5 nm). The GNS had an absorption peak at 520 nm and the GNR at 630 nm. Monocytes were isolated from human buffy blood samples, differentiated into macrophages and their subtypes and labelled with GNR and GNS for 3 and 24 h. GNS and GNR loading were determined by FCM and/or IC. Macrophages within tissue-like phantoms were analyzed by the DR system. Results: After GNR labelling of macrophages the FCM light scatter values increased up to 3.7 fold and the DR slope changed from an average slope of 0.196 (macrophages only) to an average slope of 0.827 (macrophages labelled with GNR). But, GNRIII did not present much higher DR slopes than the control phantoms, indicating that macrophages take up GNRIII in a lower amount than GNRI or II. IC and microscopy showed that all particle variants were taken up by the cells in a heterogeneous fashion. Conclusion and outlook: The combination of FCM and DR measurements provides a potential novel, highly sensitive and non-invasive method for the identification of atherosclerotic vulnerable plaques, aimed to develop a potential tool for in vivo tracking. Further experiments will show, if different macrophage subtypes (M1 or M2) take up the particles differently and may thereby serve to distinguish stable from vulnerable plaques.

Risperidone Effects on Brain Dynamic Connectivity-A Prospective Resting-State fMRI Study in Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Lottman, Kristin K; Kraguljac, Nina V; White, David M; Morgan, Charity J; Calhoun, Vince D; Butt, Allison; Lahti, Adrienne C

2017-01-01

Resting-state functional connectivity studies in schizophrenia evaluating average connectivity over the entire experiment have reported aberrant network integration, but findings are variable. Examining time-varying (dynamic) functional connectivity may help explain some inconsistencies. We assessed dynamic network connectivity using resting-state functional MRI in patients with schizophrenia, while unmedicated ( n  = 34), after 1 week ( n  = 29) and 6 weeks of treatment with risperidone ( n  = 24), as well as matched controls at baseline ( n  = 35) and after 6 weeks ( n  = 19). After identifying 41 independent components (ICs) comprising resting-state networks, sliding window analysis was performed on IC timecourses using an optimal window size validated with linear support vector machines. Windowed correlation matrices were then clustered into three discrete connectivity states (a relatively sparsely connected state, a relatively abundantly connected state, and an intermediately connected state). In unmedicated patients, static connectivity was increased between five pairs of ICs and decreased between two pairs of ICs when compared to controls, dynamic connectivity showed increased connectivity between the thalamus and somatomotor network in one of the three states. State statistics indicated that, in comparison to controls, unmedicated patients had shorter mean dwell times and fraction of time spent in the sparsely connected state, and longer dwell times and fraction of time spent in the intermediately connected state. Risperidone appeared to normalize mean dwell times after 6 weeks, but not fraction of time. Results suggest that static connectivity abnormalities in schizophrenia may partly be related to altered brain network temporal dynamics rather than consistent dysconnectivity within and between functional networks and demonstrate the importance of implementing complementary data analysis techniques.

Asthma medication adherence: the role of God and other health locus of control factors.

PubMed

Ahmedani, Brian K; Peterson, Edward L; Wells, Karen E; Rand, Cynthia S; Williams, L Keoki

2013-02-01

Medication adherence is an important determinant of disease outcomes, yet medication use on average tends to be low among patients with chronic conditions, including asthma. Although several predictors of non-adherence have been assessed, more research is needed on patients' beliefs about God and how these relate to medication use. To examine the relationship between perceptions about "God's" role in health and other locus of control factors with inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) adherence among asthma patients. Participants were from a clinical trial to improve ICS adherence and were 5-56 years old, had a diagnosis of asthma, and were receiving ICS medication. Baseline adherence was estimated from electronic prescription and pharmacy fill records. Patients were considered to be adherent if ICS use was ≥80% of prescribed. A baseline survey with the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale was used to assess five sources (God, doctors, other people, chance, and internal). Medication adherence was low (36%). Patients' who had a stronger belief that God determined asthma control were less likely to be adherent (odds ratio [OR] 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.70-0.96). This relationship was stronger among African American (OR 0.68, 95% CI0.47-0.99) compared to white patients (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.75-1.04), and among adults (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.69-0.96) compared to children (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.58-1.22). Patients' belief in God's control of health appears to be a factor in asthma controller use, and therefore should be considered in physician-patient discussions concerning course of treatment. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00459368. Copyright © 2013 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An efficient adsorption of indigo carmine dye from aqueous solution on mesoporous Mg/Fe layered double hydroxide nanoparticles prepared by controlled sol-gel route.

PubMed

Ahmed, M A; Brick, A A; Mohamed, A A

2017-05-01

A new approach for removal of indigo carmine blue (IC) dye which is extensively used in jeans manufacture was successfully performed on novel mesoporous [LDH] nanoparticles prepared by sol-gel route using CTAB as shape and pore directing agent. The physicochemical features were monitored by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformer infra-red (FTIR), N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherm, Field emission electron microscope (FESEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM). The influence of reaction parameters affecting dye adsorption including contact time, initial dye concentration, pH and temperature were investigated. Textural analysis and HRTEM images indicate the existence of mesoporous spherical nanoparticles of size = 26 nm connected to each other's and embedded large numbers of mesopores of average pore radius = 43.5 Å. A successful adsorption of IC on LDH nanoparticles of surface area = 85.6 m 2 /g at various pH with maximum adsorption capacity = 62.8 mg/g at pH = 9.5. Langmuir model is more favorable to describe the adsorption of IC rather than Freundlich model which reflecting the preferential formation of monolayer on the surface of LDH. Both film diffusion and the intraparticle diffusion affect the dye adsorption. The values of enthalpy change (ΔH) for and (ΔS) are + 28.18 and + 0.118 kJ/mol, respectively indicating that the removal process is endothermic. The results indicated that LDH nanoparticles conserved a good activity even after five consecutive cycles of reuse. Our results suggest that mesoporous LDH nanoparticles are considered a potential novel adsorbent for remediation of wastewater containing IC. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cortical substrates and functional correlates of auditory deviance processing deficits in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Rissling, Anthony J.; Miyakoshi, Makoto; Sugar, Catherine A.; Braff, David L.; Makeig, Scott; Light, Gregory A.

2014-01-01

Although sensory processing abnormalities contribute to widespread cognitive and psychosocial impairments in schizophrenia (SZ) patients, scalp-channel measures of averaged event-related potentials (ERPs) mix contributions from distinct cortical source-area generators, diluting the functional relevance of channel-based ERP measures. SZ patients (n = 42) and non-psychiatric comparison subjects (n = 47) participated in a passive auditory duration oddball paradigm, eliciting a triphasic (Deviant−Standard) tone ERP difference complex, here termed the auditory deviance response (ADR), comprised of a mid-frontal mismatch negativity (MMN), P3a positivity, and re-orienting negativity (RON) peak sequence. To identify its cortical sources and to assess possible relationships between their response contributions and clinical SZ measures, we applied independent component analysis to the continuous 68-channel EEG data and clustered the resulting independent components (ICs) across subjects on spectral, ERP, and topographic similarities. Six IC clusters centered in right superior temporal, right inferior frontal, ventral mid-cingulate, anterior cingulate, medial orbitofrontal, and dorsal mid-cingulate cortex each made triphasic response contributions. Although correlations between measures of SZ clinical, cognitive, and psychosocial functioning and standard (Fz) scalp-channel ADR peak measures were weak or absent, for at least four IC clusters one or more significant correlations emerged. In particular, differences in MMN peak amplitude in the right superior temporal IC cluster accounted for 48% of the variance in SZ-subject performance on tasks necessary for real-world functioning and medial orbitofrontal cluster P3a amplitude accounted for 40%/54% of SZ-subject variance in positive/negative symptoms. Thus, source-resolved auditory deviance response measures including MMN may be highly sensitive to SZ clinical, cognitive, and functional characteristics. PMID:25379456

Changes in self-regulatory driving among older drivers over time.

PubMed

Braitman, Keli A; Williams, Allan F

2011-12-01

The primary goal of the study was to identify to what extent older people modify their driving, what influences them to do so, and how self-regulatory behavior changes over time in relation to changes in perceived impairments and lifestyle characteristics. Participants 65 and older (n = 2650) were recruited while renewing their driver's licenses in Connecticut, Kentucky, and Rhode Island and were interviewed by telephone about current driving patterns, recent changes in driving, functional abilities related to driving (i.e., vision, memory, physical mobility, diagnosed medical conditions), crash involvements, and lifestyle characteristics. Participants were called annually to participate in follow-up telephone interviews; 2057 completed a second interview, 1698 completed 3 interviews, and 1437 completed all 4 interviews. Stepwise regression analyses examined how changes in impairments and life events (i.e., retiring, becoming widowed or divorced) related to changes in the number of miles driven during a typical week and in the number of driving situations avoided. Based on information provided in the initial survey, participants who completed all 4 surveys were slightly younger, more likely to be married, slightly less impaired in terms of physical mobility and medical conditions, and drove more weekly miles and avoided fewer driving situations compared with those who dropped out. Participants who completed all 4 interviews reported driving an average of 94 miles per week in year 1 compared with 78 miles in year 4. Reported impairments generally were low to moderate and changed little. Analyses comparing years 1 and 4 indicated that drivers drove 35 fewer miles per week if they retired or lost their job and 61 fewer miles if they moved from a retirement home to a private home or assisted living. They drove 25 more miles per week on average if they became widowed or divorced. Small increases in the number of driving situations avoided were associated with increasing impairments in memory and mobility. Lifestyle changes such as becoming widowed or divorced or retiring were associated with changes in mileages. Older drivers with worsening memory and physical mobility regulated their driving to some extent by avoiding more driving situations, confirming the hypothesis that some older drivers do take steps to compensate for increases in some perceived impairments. However, during the 3-year study period, reported changes were not large, perhaps because older drivers with larger changes were among those who dropped out (46% of those who took the first survey).

Association of Heart Rate Variability in Taxi Drivers with Marked Changes in Particulate Air Pollution in Beijing in 2008

PubMed Central

Wu, Shaowei; Deng, Furong; Niu, Jie; Huang, Qinsheng; Liu, Youcheng; Guo, Xinbiao

2010-01-01

Background Heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of cardiac autonomic function, has been associated with particulate matter (PM) air pollution, especially in older patients and those with cardiovascular diseases. However, the effect of PM exposure on cardiac autonomic function in young, healthy adults has received less attention. Objectives We evaluated the relationship between exposure to traffic-related PM with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and HRV in a highly exposed panel of taxi drivers. Methods Continuous measurements of personal exposure to PM2.5 and ambulatory electrocardiogram monitoring were conducted on 11 young healthy taxi drivers for a 12-hr work shift during their work time (0900–2100 hr) before, during, and after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Mixed-effects regression models were used to estimate associations between PM2.5 exposure and percent changes in 5-min HRV indices after combining data from the three time periods and controlling for potentially confounding variables. Results Personal exposures of taxi drivers to PM2.5 changed markedly across the three time periods. The standard deviation of normal-to-normal (SDNN) intervals decreased by 2.2% [95% confidence interval (CI), −3.8% to −0.6%] with an interquartile range (IQR; 69.5 μg/m3) increase in the 30-min PM2.5 moving average, whereas the low-frequency and high-frequency powers decreased by 4.2% (95% CI, −9.0% to 0.8%) and 6.2% (95% CI, −10.7% to −1.5%), respectively, in association with an IQR increase in the 2-hr PM2.5 moving average. Conclusions Marked changes in traffic-related PM2.5 exposure were associated with altered cardiac autonomic function in young healthy adults. PMID:20056565

Estimating Drivers of Autochthonous Transmission of Chikungunya Virus in its Invasion of the Americas

PubMed Central

Perkins, T. Alex; Metcalf, C. Jessica E.; Grenfell, Bryan T.; Tatem, Andrew J.

2015-01-01

Background Chikungunya is an emerging arbovirus that has caused explosive outbreaks in Africa and Asia for decades and invaded the Americas just over a year ago. During this ongoing invasion, it has spread to 45 countries where it has been transmitted autochthonously, infecting nearly 1.3 million people in total. Methods Here, we made use of weekly, country-level case reports to infer relationships between transmission and two putative climatic drivers: temperature and precipitation averaged across each country on a monthly basis. To do so, we used a TSIR model that enabled us to infer a parametric relationship between climatic drivers and transmission potential, and we applied a new method for incorporating a probabilistic description of the serial interval distribution into the TSIR framework. Results We found significant relationships between transmission and linear and quadratic terms for temperature and precipitation and a linear term for log incidence during the previous pathogen generation. The lattermost suggests that case numbers three to four weeks ago are largely predictive of current case numbers. This effect is quite nonlinear at the country level, however, due to an estimated mixing parameter of 0.74. Relationships between transmission and the climatic variables that we estimated were biologically plausible and in line with expectations. Conclusions Our analysis suggests that autochthonous transmission of Chikungunya in the Americas can be correlated successfully with putative climatic drivers, even at the coarse scale of countries and using long-term average climate data. Overall, this provides a preliminary suggestion that successfully forecasting the future trajectory of a Chikungunya outbreak and the receptivity of virgin areas may be possible. Our results also provide tentative estimates of timeframes and areas of greatest risk, and our extension of the TSIR model provides a novel tool for modeling vector-borne disease transmission. PMID:25737803

Head restraint backset during routine automobile driving: drivers usually exceed the recommended guidelines.

PubMed

Shugg, Jarrod A J; Vernest, Kyle; Dickey, James P

2011-04-01

Although several previous studies have evaluated horizontal head restraint backset distances, few studies have evaluated them during driving. The purpose of this study was to measure this backset during routine automobile driving and to specifically evaluate the backset during individual driving tasks such as turning, stopping, starting, and lane changes. Fourteen subjects drove around a specified route through the city of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, that included residential, thruway, and highway driving; additional minor driving tasks, such as lane changes, were evaluated. The distance of head restraint to posterior aspect of the head was measured continuously throughout the drive using an ultrasonic measurement system. The timing of specific tasks was documented using a video camera. The average head-to-restraint distance throughout the driving route was 78.1 mm (standard deviation [SD] 24.8 mm); this distance did not vary significantly between the global measures during various driving areas (residential, thruway, and highway). We observed that the head restraint backsets during right turns (93.6 mm; SD 34.8 mm) were significantly larger compared to the other driving tasks (p < .001). The 7 males and 7 females showed similar backset distances: 84.52 mm (SD 12.08) and 71.68 mm (SD 5.53), respectively (p = .0785). We observed that most subjects maintain a relatively consistent head-to-restraint distance throughout their driving route; 2 subjects adopted very large head restraint backset distances throughout their drive and 2 others adopted very small head restraint backset distances-this appears to reflect driver posture. Twelve of 14 subjects had average backset distances that exceed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard guidelines, indicating that most drivers may be at risk for whiplash-like disorders if exposed to a rear impact while driving. Of the monitored driving tasks, turning, especially right turns, caused drivers to increase their head-to-restraint backset distance.

Contrast sensitivity measured by two different test methods in healthy, young adults with normal visual acuity.

PubMed

Koefoed, Vilhelm F; Baste, Valborg; Roumes, Corinne; Høvding, Gunnar

2015-03-01

This study reports contrast sensitivity (CS) reference values obtained by two different test methods in a strictly selected population of healthy, young adults with normal uncorrected visual acuity. Based on these results, the index of contrast sensitivity (ICS) is calculated, aiming to establish ICS reference values for this population and to evaluate the possible usefulness of ICS as a tool to compare the degree of agreement between different CS test methods. Military recruits with best eye uncorrected visual acuity 0.00 LogMAR or better, normal colour vision and age 18-25 years were included in a study to record contrast sensitivity using Optec 6500 (FACT) at spatial frequencies of 1.5, 3, 6, 12 and 18 cpd in photopic and mesopic light and CSV-1000E at spatial frequencies of 3, 6, 12 and 18 cpd in photopic light. Index of contrast sensitivity was calculated based on data from the three tests, and the Bland-Altman technique was used to analyse the agreement between ICS obtained by the different test methods. A total of 180 recruits were included. Contrast sensitivity frequency data for all tests were highly skewed with a marked ceiling effect for the photopic tests. The median ICS for Optec 6500 at 85 cd/m2 was -0.15 (95% percentile 0.45), compared with -0.00 (95% percentile 1.62) for Optec at 3 cd/m2 and 0.30 (95% percentile 1.20) FOR CSV-1000E. The mean difference between ICSFACT 85 and ICSCSV was -0.43 (95% CI -0.56 to -0.30, p<0.00) with limits of agreement (LoA) within -2.10 and 1.22. The regression line on the difference of average was near to zero (R2=0.03). The results provide reference CS and ICS values in a young, adult population with normal visual acuity. The agreement between the photopic tests indicated that they may be used interchangeably. There was little agreement between the mesopic and photopic tests. The mesopic test seemed best suited to differentiate between candidates and may therefore possibly be useful for medical selection purposes. © 2014 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Synoptic and meteorological drivers of extreme ozone concentrations over Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otero, Noelia Felipe; Sillmann, Jana; Schnell, Jordan L.; Rust, Henning W.; Butler, Tim

2016-04-01

The present work assesses the relationship between local and synoptic meteorological conditions and surface ozone concentration over Europe in spring and summer months, during the period 1998-2012 using a new interpolated data set of observed surface ozone concentrations over the European domain. Along with local meteorological conditions, the influence of large-scale atmospheric circulation on surface ozone is addressed through a set of airflow indices computed with a novel implementation of a grid-by-grid weather type classification across Europe. Drivers of surface ozone over the full distribution of maximum daily 8-hour average values are investigated, along with drivers of the extreme high percentiles and exceedances or air quality guideline thresholds. Three different regression techniques are applied: multiple linear regression to assess the drivers of maximum daily ozone, logistic regression to assess the probability of threshold exceedances and quantile regression to estimate the meteorological influence on extreme values, as represented by the 95th percentile. The relative importance of the input parameters (predictors) is assessed by a backward stepwise regression procedure that allows the identification of the most important predictors in each model. Spatial patterns of model performance exhibit distinct variations between regions. The inclusion of the ozone persistence is particularly relevant over Southern Europe. In general, the best model performance is found over Central Europe, where the maximum temperature plays an important role as a driver of maximum daily ozone as well as its extreme values, especially during warmer months.

Risky driving among UK regular armed forces personnel: changes over time

PubMed Central

Sheriff, Rebecca J Syed; Forbes, Harriet J; Wessely, Simon C; Greenberg, Neil; Jones, Norman; Fertout, Mohammed; Harrison, Kate; Fear, Nicola T

2015-01-01

Objectives To compare the prevalence of self-reported risky driving in a sample of UK military personnel at 2 different time points (2004 and 2009), and to identify the incidence of new onset risky driving and possible determinants of becoming a new risky driver. Methods Data were used from 2 phases of a military cohort study investigating the health and well-being of UK military personnel between 2004 and 2009. Participants were included if they were undertaking regular (rather than reserve) engagements, had completed both surveys and reported being a driver at both surveys. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship between risky driving status and sociodemographic and military characteristics. Data analysis was conducted in 2011. Results The prevalence of risky driving reduced from 18% to 14%, over an average of 3.3 years. The incidence of new onset risky driving was 7%. Predictors for becoming a new risky driver were: younger age, not being in a relationship at phase 2 and harmful alcohol use. Those deployed after 2007 were less likely to become risky drivers following deployment, compared with those deployed before 2007 (adjusted OR 0.62 (95% CI 0.40 to 0.95)). Conclusions The prevalence of becoming a risky driver appears to have reduced over time. This paper suggests a number of explanations for this reduction, including changes in the way that the UK military have dealt with road safety with the introduction of the road safety campaign (in 2007). PMID:26399573

Important Child Occupant Saftety Trends, Indiana Between 2005 and 2010

PubMed Central

O’Neil, Joseph; Bull, Marilyn J.; Talty, Judith; Slaven, James E.

2011-01-01

This study reviews trends, rear facing, top tether use, and seating position for children younger than 13y among motor vehicle passengers in Indiana. This is an observational, cross-sectional survey of drivers transporting children 15 years and younger and drivers collected at 25 convenience locations randomly selected in Indiana during summers 2005 through 2010. Observations were conducted by Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPST). As the driver completed a written survey collecting demographic data on the driver and children, the CPST recorded the vehicle seating location, the type of restraint, direction the car safety seat (CSS) was facing, and use of the CSS harness or safety belt as appropriate. Data was analyzed for infants younger than twelve months, children in forward facing CSS, and children < 13y. Between 2005 and 2010, 514 infants (age < 12m) were observed in motor vehicles. On average 83.5% (SD 4.8%) of the infants were rear facing. The percent of infants rear facing was 75.5% during 2005 and rose to 88.9% during 2010. Of the 442 vehicles observed with a forward facing car seat, 58% (SD 16.5%) had the top tether attached. In our sample, more than 88.7% (SD 0.8%) children < 13y were seated in a rear seat vehicle position. Driver variables affecting occupant protection are discussed. This information can be used by primary care providers and child passenger safety technicians and other child passenger safety advocates to develop counseling points and educational campaigns. PMID:22105380

Exposure of jeepney drivers in Manila, Philippines, to selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

PubMed

Balanay, Jo Anne G; Lungu, Claudiu T

2009-01-01

The objective of this study was to assess the occupational exposure of jeepney drivers to selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in Manila, Philippines. Personal sampling was conducted on 15 jeepney drivers. Area sampling was conducted to determine the background VOC concentration in Manila as compared to that in a rural area. Both personal and area samples were collected for 5 working days. Samples were obtained using diffusive samplers and were analyzed for 6 VOCs (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m,p-xylene and o-xylene) using gas chromatography. Results showed that the average personal exposure concentration of jeepney drivers was 55.6 (+/-9.3), 196.6 (+/-75.0), 17.9 (+/-9.0), 72.5 (+/-21.1) and 88.5 (+/-26.5) microg/m(3) for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m,p-xylene and o-xylene, respectively. The urban ambient concentration was 11.8 (+/-2.2), 83.7 (+/-40.5) and 38.0 (+/-12.1) microg/m(3) for benzene, toluene and o-xylene, respectively. The rural ambient concentration was 14.0 (+/-6.0) and 24.7 (+/-11.9) microg/m(3) for toluene and o-xylene, respectively. The personal samples had significantly higher (p<0.05) concentrations for all selected VOCs than the urban area samples. Among the area samples, the urban concentrations of benzene and toluene were significantly higher (p<0.05) than the rural concentrations. The personal exposures for all the target VOCs were not significantly different among the jeepney drivers.

Occupational conditions and the risk of the use of amphetamines by truck drivers.

PubMed

de Oliveira, Lúcio Garcia; de Souza, Letícia Maria de Araújo; Barroso, Lúcia Pereira; Gouvêa, Marcela Júlio César; de Almeida, Carlos Vinícius Dias; Muñoz, Daniel Romero; Leyton, Vilma

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE To test whether the occupational conditions of professional truck drivers are associated with amphetamine use after demographic characteristics and ones regarding mental health and drug use are controlled for.METHODS Cross-sectional study, with a non-probabilistic sample of 684 male truck drivers, which was collected in three highways in Sao Paulo between years 2012 and 2013. Demographic and occupational information was collected, as well as data on drug use and mental health (sleep quality, emotional stress, and psychiatric disorders). A logistic regression model was developed to identify factors associated with amphetamine use. Odds ratio (OR; 95%CI) was defined as the measure for association. The significance level was established as p < 0.05.RESULTS The studied sample was found to have an average age of 36.7 (SD = 7.8) years, as well as low education (8.6 [SD = 2.3] years); 29.0% of drivers reported having used amphetamines within the twelve months prior to their interviews. After demographic and occupational variables had been controlled for, the factors which indicated amphetamine use among truck drivers were the following: being younger than 38 years (OR = 3.69), having spent less than nine years at school (OR = 1.76), being autonomous (OR = 1.65), working night shifts or irregular schedules (OR = 2.05), working over 12 hours daily (OR = 2.14), and drinking alcohol (OR = 1.74).CONCLUSIONS Occupational aspects are closely related to amphetamine use among truck drivers, which reinforces the importance of closely following the application of law (Resting Act ("Lei do Descanso"); Law 12,619/2012) which regulates the workload and hours of those professionals. Our results show the need for increased strictness on the trade and prescription of amphetamines in Brazil.

Biomechanical and ergonomic assessment of urban transit operators.

PubMed

Albert, Wayne J; Everson, Donald; Rae, Michelle; Callaghan, Jack P; Croll, Jim; Kuruganti, Usha

2014-01-01

The prevalence of neck and low back musculoskeletal injuries in transit operators has been shown to be high; with work absences exceeding double the National average. There is a lack of biomechanical data generated from field researches to inform on musculoskeletal risk associated with transportation and driving occupations. Instead there has been a reliance on simulated driving and questionnaire-based research. This study was designed to examine the musculoskeletal and biomechanical stresses experienced by urban bus drivers. The main objective was to obtain a baseline understanding of sitting posture, muscle activiation and subjective ratings of stress during regular driving tasks. Fifteen urban city bus drivers were recruited for this study. Bus drivers drove the same 65-minute bus route once, at the same time of day, in the same preselected bus. Wireless surface electromyography monitored muscular activity of the drivers' neck, upper trapezius, and erector spinae and video analysis and seat pressure mapping was used to monitor changes in driving posture. A health and lifestyle questionnaire was administered to record specific neck and back pain experienced by drivers as well as to provide lifestyle habits. Drivers were found to exhibit non-neutral postures for less than 30% of the time while conducting routine tasks of turning and stopping for passenger loading and unloading. The neck posture was the greatest concern in terms of non-neutral posture and this was supported by the higher muscle activation to the neck musculature. There was significant posture adjustment made during the one-hour driving period with the adjustments increasing with driving time. Activities associated with bus driving appear to require the use of non-neutral postures an increase in muscle activation. Significant postural adjustments were needed over the one-hour observation period suggesting that the musculoskeletal demands may increase over a regular 12-hour shift.

Occupational conditions and the risk of the use of amphetamines by truck drivers

PubMed Central

de Oliveira, Lúcio Garcia; de Souza, Letícia Maria de Araújo; Barroso, Lúcia Pereira; Gouvêa, Marcela Júlio César; de Almeida, Carlos Vinícius Dias; Muñoz, Daniel Romero; Leyton, Vilma

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE To test whether the occupational conditions of professional truck drivers are associated with amphetamine use after demographic characteristics and ones regarding mental health and drug use are controlled for. METHODS Cross-sectional study, with a non-probabilistic sample of 684 male truck drivers, which was collected in three highways in Sao Paulo between years 2012 and 2013. Demographic and occupational information was collected, as well as data on drug use and mental health (sleep quality, emotional stress, and psychiatric disorders). A logistic regression model was developed to identify factors associated with amphetamine use. Odds ratio (OR; 95%CI) was defined as the measure for association. The significance level was established as p < 0.05. RESULTS The studied sample was found to have an average age of 36.7 (SD = 7.8) years, as well as low education (8.6 [SD = 2.3] years); 29.0% of drivers reported having used amphetamines within the twelve months prior to their interviews. After demographic and occupational variables had been controlled for, the factors which indicated amphetamine use among truck drivers were the following: being younger than 38 years (OR = 3.69), having spent less than nine years at school (OR = 1.76), being autonomous (OR = 1.65), working night shifts or irregular schedules (OR = 2.05), working over 12 hours daily (OR = 2.14), and drinking alcohol (OR = 1.74). CONCLUSIONS Occupational aspects are closely related to amphetamine use among truck drivers, which reinforces the importance of closely following the application of law (Resting Act (“Lei do Descanso”); Law 12,619/2012) which regulates the workload and hours of those professionals. Our results show the need for increased strictness on the trade and prescription of amphetamines in Brazil. PMID:26398875

Drought and Snow: Analysis of Drivers, Processes and Impacts of Streamflow Droughts in Snow-Dominated Regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Loon, Anne; Laaha, Gregor; Van Lanen, Henny; Parajka, Juraj; Fleig, Anne; Ploum, Stefan

2016-04-01

Around the world, drought events with severe socio-economic impacts seem to have a link with winter snowpack. That is the case for the current California drought, but analysing historical archives and drought impact databases for the US and Europe we found many impacts that can be attributed to snowpack anomalies. Agriculture and electricity production (hydropower) were found to be the sectors that are most affected by drought related to snow. In this study, we investigated the processes underlying hydrological drought in snow-dominated regions. We found that drought drivers are different in different regions. In Norway, more than 90% of spring streamflow droughts were preceded by below-average winter precipitation, while both winter air temperature and spring weather were indifferent. In Austria, however, spring streamflow droughts could only be explained by a combination of factors. For most events, winter and spring air temperatures were above average (70% and 65% of events, respectively), and winter and spring precipitation was below average (75% and 80%). Because snow storage results from complex interactions between precipitation and temperature and these variables vary strongly with altitude, snow-related drought drivers have a large spatial variability. The weather input is subsequently modified by land properties. Multiple linear regression between drought severity variables and a large number of catchment characteristics for 44 catchments in Austria showed that storage influences both drought duration and deficit volume. The seasonal storage of water in snow and glaciers was found to be a statistically important variable explaining streamflow drought deficit. Our drought impact analysis in Europe also showed that 40% of the selected drought impacts was caused by a combination of snow-related and other drought types. For example, the combination of a winter drought with a preceding or subsequent summer drought was reported to have a large effect on reservoir levels and, consequently, on drinking water and electricity production. Snow storage therefore, is an important factor to consider in drought monitoring, prediction and management.

Drought and Snow: Analysis of Drivers, Processes and Impacts of Streamflow Droughts in Snow-Dominated Regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Loon, A.; Laaha, G.; Van Lanen, H.; Parajka, J.; Fleig, A. K.; Ploum, S.

2015-12-01

Around the world, drought events with severe socio-economic impacts seem to have a link with winter snowpack. That is the case for the current California drought, but analysing historical archives and drought impact databases for the US and Europe we found many impacts that can be attributed to snowpack anomalies. Agriculture and electricity production (hydropower) were found to be the sectors that are most affected by drought related to snow. In this study, we investigated the processes underlying hydrological drought in snow-dominated regions. We found that drought drivers are different in different regions. In Norway, more than 90% of spring streamflow droughts were preceded by below-average winter precipitation, while both winter air temperature and spring weather were indifferent. In Austria, however, spring streamflow droughts could only be explained by a combination of factors. For most events, winter and spring air temperatures were above average (70% and 65% of events, respectively), and winter and spring precipitation was below average (75% and 80%). Because snow storage results from complex interactions between precipitation and temperature and these variables vary strongly with altitude, snow-related drought drivers have a large spatial variability. The weather input is subsequently modified by land properties. Multiple linear regression between drought severity variables and a large number of catchment characteristics for 44 catchments in Austria showed that storage influences both drought duration and deficit volume. The seasonal storage of water in snow and glaciers was found to be a statistically important variable explaining streamflow drought deficit. Our drought impact analysis in Europe also showed that 40% of the selected drought impacts was caused by a combination of snow-related and other drought types. For example, the combination of a winter drought with a preceding or subsequent summer drought was reported to have a large effect on reservoir levels and, consequently, on drinking water and electricity production. Snow storage therefore, is an important factor to consider in drought monitoring, prediction and management.

P sub n from the Nevada Test Site

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-12-15

reviewed and is approved for publication" JAMES0- t1IC Z--C J (TEX S C. BAkTIS CnLract Manager Acting Chief Solid Earth Geophysics Branch Solid Earth...high frequency Pn . The data base being used in the development consists of signals from explosions and earthquakes recorded on the western U.S. digital...measured quantitatively by correlating the average explosiorn ?n trace wiLh a data base of explosion and earthquake signals. The populations

Consolidated National Intelligence Centers: The Potential Impact on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of America’s National Intelligence Community

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-10

the ability of IC leaders to think and manage jointly, while not diluting the specialized activities of collectors and analysts working within their...organizational model and doctrine that are increasingly relics of Cold-War threats and thinking . As the military has learned , it takes decades to...burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions , searching existing

Lasers and Optics

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-05

AFRL:! ... J ,, 4 DISTRIBUTION A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. • High Average Power Solid-State Lasers • Ceramic Solid...Stanford Romain Gaume – U.C.F. DISTRIBUTION A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. 11 DISTRIBUTION A: Approved for public...Ceramics Robert Byer - Stanford Romain Gaume – U.C.F. 12 0 5 10 15 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 A b s o rp ti o n C o e ff ic e in

Device Discovery in Frequency Hopping Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-09-01

10.1. Benchmark scatternet configuration used for outreach compar- ison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 10.2. Average...Slave - Slave A B C DE Figure 10.1: Benchmark scatternet configuration used for outreach comparison. Additionally: • All nodes are within range of one...MSTSs ISOM mean = 6.97 MSTSs NISOM mean = 7.21 MSTSs Exponential distribution MSTSs P ic on et A -D p ac ke t g en er at io n ti m e pr ob ab il it y

Use and disclosure of health information and protection of patient privacy in Taiwan.

PubMed

Liu, Han-Hsi

2010-03-01

This paper examines Taiwan's current regulatory system for the use of healthcare information from the viewpoint of patient privacy protection. The author proposes a patient-centered, cooperative system centered on the "traffic light theory", as a solution to the potential conflict between the use of healthcare information and the protection of patient privacy. Taiwan, a country with a national healthcare insurance program and state-of-the-art electronic technology, takes a distinctive approach to the protection of patient privacy. On January 1st, 2004, the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) implemented a comprehensive embedded integrated circuit (IC) card, which puts the wide-ranging health information of its 22 million beneficiaries online to facilitate review of use and disclosure. It is well understood that healthcare information is of a personal and sensitive nature, demanding stringent privacy protection. Nevertheless, there is no denying the potential benefit of using personal health information (PHI) to achieve public good, especially in the area of cost containment. The comprehensive e-health system in Taiwan greatly facilitates copying, transmission, and use of PHI, but does the regulatory system provide enough safeguards for patient privacy? Because the law in Taiwan does not provide clear standards for the use and disclosure of healthcare information, healthcare providers are either too conservative or too aggressive. While most healthcare providers keep their oath of confidentiality, some rogue members severely abuse patient privacy. This paper proposes a "traffic-light system" to remedy this situation. Flashing yellow lights allow aggressive drivers to ignore others, while causing overly cautious drivers to be too hesitant. The author contends that clear standards should have been established for healthcare providers. Like car drivers, healthcare providers need red and green traffic signals. The law should indicate, through workable privacy regulations and guidelines, when the light is red or green-when to stop or to advance.

Car Transfer and Wheelchair Loading Techniques in Independent Drivers with Paraplegia

PubMed Central

Haubert, Lisa Lighthall; Mulroy, Sara J.; Hatchett, Patricia E.; Eberly, Valerie J.; Maneekobkunwong, Somboon; Gronley, Joanne K.; Requejo, Philip S.

2015-01-01

Car transfers and wheelchair (WC) loading are crucial for independent community participation in persons with complete paraplegia from spinal cord injury, but are complex, physically demanding, and known to provoke shoulder pain. This study aimed to describe techniques and factors influencing car transfer and WC loading for individuals with paraplegia driving their own vehicles and using their personal WCs. Sedans were the most common vehicle driven (59%). Just over half (52%) of drivers place their right leg only into the vehicle prior to transfer. Overall, the leading hand was most frequently placed on the driver’s seat (66%) prior to transfer and the trailing hand was most often place on the WC seat (48%). Vehicle height influenced leading hand placement but not leg placement such that drivers of higher profile vehicles were more likely to place their hand on the driver’s seat than those who drove sedans. Body lift time was negatively correlated with level of injury and age and positively correlated with vehicle height and shoulder abduction strength. Drivers who transferred with their leading hand on the steering wheel had significantly higher levels of shoulder pain than those who placed their hand on the driver’s seat or overhead. The majority of participants used both hands (62%) to load their WC frame, and overall, most loaded their frame into the back (62%) vs. the front seat. Sedan drivers were more likely to load their frame into the front seat than drivers of higher profile vehicles (53 vs. 17%). Average time to load the WC frame (10.7 s) was 20% of the total WC loading time and was not related to shoulder strength, frame weight, or demographic characteristics. Those who loaded their WC frame into the back seat had significantly weaker right shoulder internal rotators. Understanding car transfers and WC loading in independent drivers is crucial to prevent shoulder pain and injury and preserve community participation. PMID:26442253

Identifying compensatory driving behavior among older adults using the situational avoidance questionnaire.

PubMed

Davis, Jessica J; Conlon, Elizabeth G

2017-12-01

Driving self-regulation is considered a means through which older drivers can compensate for perceived declines in driving skill or more general feelings of discomfort on the road. One form of driving self-regulation is situational avoidance, the purposeful avoidance of situations perceived as challenging or potentially hazardous. This study aimed to validate the Situational Avoidance Questionnaire (SAQ, Davis, Conlon, Ownsworth, & Morrissey, 2016) and identify the point on the scale at which drivers practicing compensatory avoidance behavior could be distinguished from those whose driving is unrestricted, or who are avoiding situations for other, non-compensatory reasons (e.g., time or convenience). Seventy-nine Australian drivers (M age =71.48, SD=7.16, range: 55 to 86years) completed the SAQ and were classified as a compensatory-restricted or a non-restricted driver based on a semi-structured interview designed to assess the motivations underlying avoidance behavior reported on the SAQ. Using receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) analysis, the SAQ was found to have high diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity: 85%, specificity: 82%) in correctly classifying the driver groups. Group comparisons confirmed that compensatory-restricted drivers were self-regulating their driving behavior to reduce the perceived demands of the driving task. This group had, on average, slower hazard perception reaction times, and reported greater difficulty with driving, more discomfort when driving due to difficulty with hazard perception skills, and greater changes in cognition over the past five years. The SAQ is a psychometrically sound measure of situational avoidance for drivers in baby boomer and older adult generations. Use of validated measures of driving self-regulation that distinguish between compensatory and non-compensatory behavior, such as the SAQ, will advance our understanding of the driving self-regulation construct and its potential safety benefits for older road users. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The epidemiology of invasive disease due to Haemophilus influenzae serotype a in the Canadian North from 2000 to 2010.

PubMed

Rotondo, Jenny L; Sherrard, Lindsey; Helferty, Melissa; Tsang, Raymond; Desai, Shalini

2013-01-01

The International Circumpolar Surveillance (ICS) project is a population-based surveillance network. Since 2000, Canada has participated in the ICS Invasive Bacterial Disease Working Group's surveillance of invasive disease due to Haemophilus influenzae (Hi). A standardized case report form containing demographic and clinical information was completed for all reported Hi cases in the study regions. Isolates were sent to a reference laboratory for confirmation and serotyping. Analysis was conducted on all Hi serotype a (Hia) cases reported from 2000 to 2010. The northern Canadian population was estimated using Statistics Canada information. Of the 130 Hi cases reported from 2000 to 2010, 72 (56% of cases with serotype information) were due to Hia. The number of Hia cases reported each year ranged from 2 in 2008 to 13 in 2010. The average Hia incidence over the 11 years was 4.6 cases per 100,000 population per year. The majority of Hia occurred in infants less than 2 years of age (73% of cases). This age group had an average annual incidence of 87.5 cases per 100,000 population. Among cases for which ethnicity was indicated, 91% of Hia cases reported Aboriginal status with the average incidence being 6.9 cases per 100,000 population per year. The most common clinical presentation was meningitis (reported in 37% of cases), followed by bacteraemia (34%) and pneumonia (27%). More than 90% of cases were hospitalized, and there were 4 deaths, resulting in a case fatality ratio of 5.6%. In the last decade, Hia has become an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the Canadian North. More detailed surveillance information from a national perspective is needed. Further work on vaccine development should be encouraged.

Enhancing the Quantitative Representation of Socioeconomic Conditions in the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) using the International Futures Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rothman, D. S.; Siraj, A.; Hughes, B.

2013-12-01

The international research community is currently in the process of developing new scenarios for climate change research. One component of these scenarios are the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs), which describe a set of possible future socioeconomic conditions. These are presented in narrative storylines with associated quantitative drivers. The core quantitative drivers include total population, average GDP per capita, educational attainment, and urbanization at the global, regional, and national levels. At the same time there have been calls, particularly by the IAV community, for the SSPs to include additional quantitative information on other key social factors, such as income inequality, governance, health, and access to key infrastructures, which are discussed in the narratives. The International Futures system (IFs), based at the Pardee Center at the University of Denver, is able to provide forecasts of many of these indicators. IFs cannot use the SSP drivers as exogenous inputs, but we are able to create development pathways that closely reproduce the core quantitative drivers defined by the different SSPs, as well as incorporating assumptions on other key driving factors described in the qualitative narratives. In this paper, we present forecasts for additional quantitative indicators based upon the implementation of the SSP development pathways in IFs. These results will be of value to many researchers.

Injury risks for on-road farm equipment and horse and buggy crashes in Pennsylvania: 2010-2013.

PubMed

Gorucu, Serap; Murphy, Dennis J; Kassab, Cathy

2017-04-03

The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics associated with farm equipment and horse and buggy roadway crashes in relation to person, incident, and injury characteristics to identify appropriate points for injury incident prevention. Information on crashes occurring on public roads during the years 2010-2013 was obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and analyzed. There were 344 farm equipment and 246 horse and buggy crashes during the 4-year study period. These crashes involved 666 and 504 vehicles and 780 and 838 people, respectively. In incidents with farm equipment, the non-farm equipment drivers had an almost 2 times greater injury risk than farm equipment operators. Horse and buggy crashes were almost 3 times more injurious to the horse and buggy drivers than the drivers of the other vehicles. The average crash rate for farm equipment was 198.4 crashes per 100,000 farm population and for horse and buggy the crash rate was calculated as 89.4 crashes per 100,000 Amish population per year. This study suggests that road safety and public health programs should focus not only on farm equipment operators and horse and buggy drivers but on other motorists sharing the roadway with them.

Design and Implementation of Real-Time Vehicular Camera for Driver Assistance and Traffic Congestion Estimation

PubMed Central

Son, Sanghyun; Baek, Yunju

2015-01-01

As society has developed, the number of vehicles has increased and road conditions have become complicated, increasing the risk of crashes. Therefore, a service that provides safe vehicle control and various types of information to the driver is urgently needed. In this study, we designed and implemented a real-time traffic information system and a smart camera device for smart driver assistance systems. We selected a commercial device for the smart driver assistance systems, and applied a computer vision algorithm to perform image recognition. For application to the dynamic region of interest, dynamic frame skip methods were implemented to perform parallel processing in order to enable real-time operation. In addition, we designed and implemented a model to estimate congestion by analyzing traffic information. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using images of a real road environment. We found that the processing time improved by 15.4 times when all the proposed methods were applied in the application. Further, we found experimentally that there was little or no change in the recognition accuracy when the proposed method was applied. Using the traffic congestion estimation model, we also found that the average error rate of the proposed model was 5.3%. PMID:26295230

Design and Implementation of Real-Time Vehicular Camera for Driver Assistance and Traffic Congestion Estimation.

PubMed

Son, Sanghyun; Baek, Yunju

2015-08-18

As society has developed, the number of vehicles has increased and road conditions have become complicated, increasing the risk of crashes. Therefore, a service that provides safe vehicle control and various types of information to the driver is urgently needed. In this study, we designed and implemented a real-time traffic information system and a smart camera device for smart driver assistance systems. We selected a commercial device for the smart driver assistance systems, and applied a computer vision algorithm to perform image recognition. For application to the dynamic region of interest, dynamic frame skip methods were implemented to perform parallel processing in order to enable real-time operation. In addition, we designed and implemented a model to estimate congestion by analyzing traffic information. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using images of a real road environment. We found that the processing time improved by 15.4 times when all the proposed methods were applied in the application. Further, we found experimentally that there was little or no change in the recognition accuracy when the proposed method was applied. Using the traffic congestion estimation model, we also found that the average error rate of the proposed model was 5.3%.

Experimental Investigation of Unsteady Thrust Augmentation Using a Speaker-Driven Jet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paxson, Daniel E.; Wernet, Mark P.; John, Wentworth T.

2007-01-01

An experimental investigation is described in which a simple speaker-driven jet was used as a pulsed thrust source (driver) for an ejector configuration. The objectives of the investigation were twofold. The first was to expand the experimental body of evidence showing that an unsteady thrust source, combined with a properly sized ejector generally yields higher thrust augmentation values than a similarly sized, steady driver of equivalent thrust. The second objective was to identify characteristics of the unsteady driver that may be useful for sizing ejectors, and for predicting the thrust augmentation levels that may be achieved. The speaker-driven jet provided a convenient source for the investigation because it is entirely unsteady (i.e., it has no mean velocity component) and because relevant parameters such as frequency, time-averaged thrust, and diameter are easily variable. The experimental setup will be described, as will the two main measurements techniques employed. These are thrust and digital particle imaging velocimetry of the driver. It will be shown that thrust augmentation values as high as 1.8 were obtained, that the diameter of the best ejector scaled with the dimensions of the emitted vortex, and that the so-called formation time serves as a useful dimensionless parameter by which to characterize the jet and predict performance.

[Stress in auto-transportation sector between prejudice and reality].

PubMed

Ferranti, A; Spada, S; Mosconi, G

2009-01-01

Every year in the EU about 800 drivers die in road accidents. In Italy the average is around 200 deaths per year. Based on this context the Occupational Medicine Department (OMD) of Bergamo Hospital has sponsored a new project dedicated to the healthcare and safety of all employees of road haulage in the province of Bergamo. Furthermore the collaboration between UMD and the Clinical Psychology Department of the hospital has allowed the fulfillment of another project aiming to evaluate the personality profile of around 80 drivers employed in the road haulage sector". The aims of the projects is to identify and to point out dangerous situations of significant psychological vulnerability; to know the current situation and to discriminate stress factors from protective ones; to make companies more aware of prevention activities; to inform the drivers about their companies' policy in order to grant safety in their job. The psychological tools used were: half open interview and Personality Inventory MMPI2. The population was selected randomly from volunteers. Now we know the results in 33 tested drivers. So far seven cases have been classified as psychological vulnerable and stress and protective factors have been identified. Results underline the relevance of an integrated approach able to take care of the employees and involving the companies in the prevention programs.

Real-time eye tracking for the assessment of driver fatigue.

PubMed

Xu, Junli; Min, Jianliang; Hu, Jianfeng

2018-04-01

Eye-tracking is an important approach to collect evidence regarding some participants' driving fatigue. In this contribution, the authors present a non-intrusive system for evaluating driver fatigue by tracking eye movement behaviours. A real-time eye-tracker was used to monitor participants' eye state for collecting eye-movement data. These data are useful to get insights into assessing participants' fatigue state during monotonous driving. Ten healthy subjects performed continuous simulated driving for 1-2 h with eye state monitoring on a driving simulator in this study, and these measured features of the fixation time and the pupil area were recorded via using eye movement tracking device. For achieving a good cost-performance ratio and fast computation time, the fuzzy K -nearest neighbour was employed to evaluate and analyse the influence of different participants on the variations in the fixation duration and pupil area of drivers. The findings of this study indicated that there are significant differences in domain value distribution of the pupil area under the condition with normal and fatigue driving state. Result also suggests that the recognition accuracy by jackknife validation reaches to about 89% in average, implying that show a significant potential of real-time applicability of the proposed approach and is capable of detecting driver fatigue.

Real-time eye tracking for the assessment of driver fatigue

PubMed Central

Xu, Junli; Min, Jianliang

2018-01-01

Eye-tracking is an important approach to collect evidence regarding some participants’ driving fatigue. In this contribution, the authors present a non-intrusive system for evaluating driver fatigue by tracking eye movement behaviours. A real-time eye-tracker was used to monitor participants’ eye state for collecting eye-movement data. These data are useful to get insights into assessing participants’ fatigue state during monotonous driving. Ten healthy subjects performed continuous simulated driving for 1–2 h with eye state monitoring on a driving simulator in this study, and these measured features of the fixation time and the pupil area were recorded via using eye movement tracking device. For achieving a good cost-performance ratio and fast computation time, the fuzzy K-nearest neighbour was employed to evaluate and analyse the influence of different participants on the variations in the fixation duration and pupil area of drivers. The findings of this study indicated that there are significant differences in domain value distribution of the pupil area under the condition with normal and fatigue driving state. Result also suggests that the recognition accuracy by jackknife validation reaches to about 89% in average, implying that show a significant potential of real-time applicability of the proposed approach and is capable of detecting driver fatigue. PMID:29750113

Who can best influence the quality of teenagers' cars?

PubMed

Keall, Michael D; Newstead, Stuart

2013-01-01

Because young drivers' vehicles have been found to offer poor occupant protection in many countries, this study sought to identify the most appropriate audience for information and publicity designed to change purchasing preferences to improve these vehicles and resultant injury outcomes. An analysis of New Zealand vehicles crashed by drivers aged 19 years or less linked to data on the owner of the vehicle was undertaken. Details on the crashed vehicles were merged with licensing information to identify the owner's age group. It was presumed that most vehicles driven by teens but owned by someone aged 30 to 59 would be owned by a parent of the teen. Only 14 percent of vehicles crashed by teens were owned by teens. Generally, older vehicles with poor crashworthiness were provided for the teenage driver, whatever the age group of the owner. However, cars crashed by teens but owned by their parents were on average almost 2 years younger and had relatively superior crashworthiness than the teenager-owned and crashed vehicles, although their crashworthiness was still poor compared to vehicles driven by older drivers. Evidently, parents are key people in making vehicle purchasing decisions regarding the cars that teenagers drive and should be the main audience for measures to improve the poor secondary safety performance of teenagers' vehicles.

General deterrence effects of U.S. statutory DUI fine and jail penalties: long-term follow-up in 32 states.

PubMed

Wagenaar, Alexander C; Maldonado-Molina, Mildred M; Erickson, Darin J; Ma, Linan; Tobler, Amy L; Komro, Kelli A

2007-09-01

We examined effects of state statutory changes in DUI fine or jail penalties for firsttime offenders from 1976 to 2002. A quasi-experimental time-series design was used (n=324 monthly observations). Four outcome measures of drivers involved in alcohol-related fatal crashes are: single-vehicle nighttime, low BAC (0.01-0.07g/dl), medium BAC (0.08-0.14g/dl), high BAC (>/=0.15g/dl). All analyses of BAC outcomes included multiple imputation procedures for cases with missing data. Comparison series of non-alcohol-related crashes were included to efficiently control for effects of other factors. Statistical models include state-specific Box-Jenkins ARIMA models, and pooled general linear mixed models. Twenty-six states implemented mandatory minimum fine policies and 18 states implemented mandatory minimum jail penalties. Estimated effects varied widely from state to state. Using variance weighted meta-analysis methods to aggregate results across states, mandatory fine policies are associated with an average reduction in fatal crash involvement by drivers with BAC>/=0.08g/dl of 8% (averaging 13 per state per year). Mandatory minimum jail policies are associated with a decline in single-vehicle nighttime fatal crash involvement of 6% (averaging 5 per state per year), and a decline in low-BAC cases of 9% (averaging 3 per state per year). No significant effects were observed for the other outcome measures. The overall pattern of results suggests a possible effect of mandatory fine policies in some states, but little effect of mandatory jail policies.

Spatial Patterns and Socioecological Drivers of Dengue Fever Transmission in Queensland, Australia

PubMed Central

Clements, Archie; Williams, Gail; Tong, Shilu; Mengersen, Kerrie

2011-01-01

Background: Understanding how socioecological factors affect the transmission of dengue fever (DF) may help to develop an early warning system of DF. Objectives: We examined the impact of socioecological factors on the transmission of DF and assessed potential predictors of locally acquired and overseas-acquired cases of DF in Queensland, Australia. Methods: We obtained data from Queensland Health on the numbers of notified DF cases by local government area (LGA) in Queensland for the period 1 January 2002 through 31 December 2005. Data on weather and the socioeconomic index were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, respectively. A Bayesian spatial conditional autoregressive model was fitted at the LGA level to quantify the relationship between DF and socioecological factors. Results: Our estimates suggest an increase in locally acquired DF of 6% [95% credible interval (CI): 2%, 11%] and 61% (95% CI: 2%, 241%) in association with a 1-mm increase in average monthly rainfall and a 1°C increase in average monthly maximum temperature between 2002 and 2005, respectively. By contrast, overseas-acquired DF cases increased by 1% (95% CI: 0%, 3%) and by 1% (95% CI: 0%, 2%) in association with a 1-mm increase in average monthly rainfall and a 1-unit increase in average socioeconomic index, respectively. Conclusions: Socioecological factors appear to influence the transmission of DF in Queensland, but the drivers of locally acquired and overseas-acquired DF may differ. DF risk is spatially clustered with different patterns for locally acquired and overseas-acquired cases. PMID:22015625

Random breath testing in Queensland and Western Australia: examination of how the random breath testing rate influences alcohol related traffic crash rates.

PubMed

Ferris, Jason; Mazerolle, Lorraine; King, Mark; Bates, Lyndel; Bennett, Sarah; Devaney, Madonna

2013-11-01

In this paper we explore the relationship between monthly random breath testing (RBT) rates (per 1000 licensed drivers) and alcohol-related traffic crash (ARTC) rates over time, across two Australian states: Queensland and Western Australia. We analyse the RBT, ARTC and licensed driver rates across 12 years; however, due to administrative restrictions, we model ARTC rates against RBT rates for the period July 2004 to June 2009. The Queensland data reveals that the monthly ARTC rate is almost flat over the five year period. Based on the results of the analysis, an average of 5.5 ARTCs per 100,000 licensed drivers are observed across the study period. For the same period, the monthly rate of RBTs per 1000 licensed drivers is observed to be decreasing across the study with the results of the analysis revealing no significant variations in the data. The comparison between Western Australia and Queensland shows that Queensland's ARTC monthly percent change (MPC) is 0.014 compared to the MPC of 0.47 for Western Australia. While Queensland maintains a relatively flat ARTC rate, the ARTC rate in Western Australia is increasing. Our analysis reveals an inverse relationship between ARTC RBT rates, that for every 10% increase in the percentage of RBTs to licensed driver there is a 0.15 decrease in the rate of ARTCs per 100,000 licenced drivers. Moreover, in Western Australia, if the 2011 ratio of 1:2 (RBTs to annual number of licensed drivers) were to double to a ratio of 1:1, we estimate the number of monthly ARTCs would reduce by approximately 15. Based on these findings we believe that as the number of RBTs conducted increases the number of drivers willing to risk being detected for drinking driving decreases, because the perceived risk of being detected is considered greater. This is turn results in the number of ARTCs diminishing. The results of this study provide an important evidence base for policy decisions for RBT operations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rapid toxicity assessment using an in vivo enzyme test for Brachionus plicatilis (Rotifera).

PubMed

Moffat, B D; Snell, T W

1995-02-01

A 1-hr in vivo enzyme inhibition assay based on esterase activity has good potential for marine toxicity assessment. A test was developed for the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis based on the nonfluorescent substrate fluorescein diacetate (FDA), which is metabolized by esterases to a fluorescent product. Enzyme inhibition, as determined by reduced fluorescence, can be scored visually or quantified using a fluorometer. Quantification of fluorescence permits the calculation of NOEC, LOEC, chronic value, and IC20. The 1-hr esterase inhibition test has sensitivity comparable to that of 24-hr rotifer acute tests for several compounds. The toxicity of six compounds was examined using the quantified assay. The resulting IC20s were within a factor of 3 of the 24-hour LC50s. IC20 values ranged from 0.017 mg/l for tributyltin to 3.1 mg/l for zinc, with an average coefficient of variation of 17.8%. Electrophoretic analysis of rotifer homogenates suggested that a single C esterase (acetylesterase) was responsible for FDA metabolism in B. plicatilis. Several other aquatic species are capable of metabolizing FDA, including Brachionus calyciflorus, Mysidopsis bahia, Menidia beryllina, Pimephales promelas, Ceriodaphnia dubia, Daphnia pulex, Artemia salina, and Ophryotrocha sp. The esterase inhibition test is an attractive tool for assessing aquatic toxicity because of its speed, simplicity, sensitivity, and applicability to a broad range of aquatic species.

Results of endovesical hyaluronic acid/chondroitin sulfate in the treatment of Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome.

PubMed

Porru, D; Cervigni, M; Nasta, L; Natale, F; Lo Voi, R; Tinelli, C; Gardella, B; Anghileri, A; Spinillo, A; Rovereto, B

2008-05-01

The aim of our study was to test the effect of a more viscous compound than existent hyaluronic acid formulation in helping to restore a defective glycosaminoglycan layer, and therefore in improving Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome (IC/PBS) symptoms when administered intravesically in IC/PBS patients. A total of 23 female patients completed the study. Patients received endovesical administration of hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate in normal saline, 40 ml, weekly for 12 weeks and then bi-weekly for 6 months, if there was initial response. After 12 weeks treatment both Interstitial Cystitis Symptom and Problem Index (ICSI/ICPI), pelvic pain and Urgency/Frequency Symptom Scale (PUF) showed a mean significant improvement, which was maintained thereafter. The average number of voidings and mean voiding volumes revealed significant improvement after the 12 weeks' treatment period, with a significant reduction and increase, respectively. Mean voiding volume increased from 143 ml to 191, which apparently was not reflected in a corresponding reduction of number of daily voids (from 15,5 to 14). VAS values decreased from 5,4 to 3,6 (pain) and from 6,0 to 3,5 (urgency) after the treatment cycle, showing a significant improvement. In our preliminary experience, the administration of intravesical hyaluronic acid plus chondroitine sulphate appears to be a safe and efficacious method of treatment in IC/PBS.

High-dose N-acetylcysteine in the prevention of COPD exacerbations: rationale and design of the PANTHEON Study.

PubMed

Zheng, Jin-Ping; Wen, Fu-Qiang; Bai, Chun-Xue; Wan, Huan-Ying; Kang, Jian; Chen, Ping; Yao, Wan-Zhen; Ma, Li-Jun; Xia, Qi-Kui; Gao, Yi; Zhong, Nan-Shan

2013-04-01

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by persistent airflow limitation; from a pathophysiological point of view it involves many components, including mucus hypersecretion, oxidative stress and inflammation. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a mucolytic agent with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Long-term efficacy of NAC 600mg/d in COPD is controversial; a dose-effect relationship has been demonstrated, but at present it is not known whether a higher dose provides clinical benefits. The PANTHEON Study is a prospective, ICS stratified, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multi-center trial designed to assess the efficacy and safety of high-dose (1200 mg/daily) NAC treatment for one year in moderate-to-severe COPD patients. The primary endpoint is the annual exacerbation rate. Secondary endpoints include recurrent exacerbations hazard ratio, time to first exacerbation, as well as quality of life and pulmonary function. The hypothesis, design and methodology are described and baseline characteristics of recruited patients are presented. 1006 COPD patients (444 treated with maintenance ICS, 562 ICS naive, aged 66.27±8.76 yrs, average post-bronchodilator FEV1 48.95±11.80 of predicted) have been randomized at 34 hospitals in China. Final results of this study will provide objective data on the effects of high-dose (1200 mg/daily) long-term NAC treatment in the prevention of COPD exacerbations and other outcome variables.

Assessment of Mycosphaerella graminicola resistance to azoxystrobin.

PubMed

Siah, A; Deweer, C; Morand, E; Reignault, Ph; Halama, P

2008-01-01

Azoxystrobin resistance levels of twenty two strains sampled from ten French locations and two reference isolates (IPO323 and IPO94269) of the wheat pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola were investigated in vitro. French strains assayed were selected from twenty two genetic groups determined from three hundred sixty three strains previously characterised using microsatellites, actine and beta-tubuline markers. For the first time, the evaluation was carried out using four distinct methods: spotting on PDA medium, spore germination on PDA medium and using microtitre plates with and without Alamar blue, a growth indicator. From dose-response curve, half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was determined for each strain. The results obtained using microtitre plates with the addition of Alamar blue displayed high standard deviations from the growth averages observed. Therefore, we suggest that this method is inadequate to assess M. graminicolo resistance to fungicides. However, a good correlation was observed between the rankings of strains according to their IC50 values with the three other methods used. The two reference isolates, as expected, were inhibited by low azoxystrobin concentrations. On the other hand, the IC50 values obtained showed presence of a threshold between sensitive and resistant strains that corroborates the disruptive resistance of M. graminicola against strobilurin fungicides. In addition, the strains showing resistance were those sampled mainly from northern France, where a high frequency of strobilurin resistant isolates among M. graminicola populations was reported by several studies.

The Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC) Online Database: Uploading, Searching and Visualizing Paleomagnetic and Rock Magnetic Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koppers, A.; Tauxe, L.; Constable, C.; Pisarevsky, S.; Jackson, M.; Solheid, P.; Banerjee, S.; Johnson, C.; Genevey, A.; Delaney, R.; Baker, P.; Sbarbori, E.

2005-12-01

The Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC) operates an online relational database including both rock and paleomagnetic data. The goal of MagIC is to store all measurements and their derived properties for studies of paleomagnetic directions (inclination, declination) and their intensities, and for rock magnetic experiments (hysteresis, remanence, susceptibility, anisotropy). MagIC is hosted under EarthRef.org at http://earthref.org/MAGIC/ and has two search nodes, one for paleomagnetism and one for rock magnetism. These nodes provide basic search capabilities based on location, reference, methods applied, material type and geological age, while allowing the user to drill down from sites all the way to the measurements. At each stage, the data can be saved and, if the available data supports it, the data can be visualized by plotting equal area plots, VGP location maps or typical Zijderveld, hysteresis, FORC, and various magnetization and remanence diagrams. All plots are made in SVG (scalable vector graphics) and thus can be saved and easily read into the user's favorite graphics programs without loss of resolution. User contributions to the MagIC database are critical to achieve a useful research tool. We have developed a standard data and metadata template (version 1.6) that can be used to format and upload all data at the time of publication in Earth Science journals. Software tools are provided to facilitate easy population of these templates within Microsoft Excel. These tools allow for the import/export of text files and they provide advanced functionality to manage/edit the data, and to perform various internal checks to high grade the data and to make them ready for uploading. The uploading is all done online by using the MagIC Contribution Wizard at http://earthref.org/MAGIC/upload.htm that takes only a few minutes to process a contribution of approximately 5,000 data records. After uploading these standardized MagIC template files will be stored in the digital archives of EarthRef.org from where they can be downloaded at all times. Finally, the contents of these template files will be automatically parsed into the online relational database, making the data available for online searches in the paleomagnetic and rock magnetic search nodes. The MagIC database contains all data transferred from the IAGA paleomagnetic poles database (GPMDB), the lava flow paleosecular variation database (PSVRL), lake sediment database (SECVR) and the PINT database. In addition to that a substantial number of data compiled under the Time Averaged Field Investigations project is now included plus a significant fraction of the data collected at SIO and the IRM. Ongoing additions of legacy data include ~40 papers from studies on the Hawaiian Islands, data compilations from archeomagnetic studies and updates to the lake sediment dataset.

Standardizing Imperata cylindrica--source material for quality allergen preparations.

PubMed

Bijli, Kaiser M; Singh, B P; Sridhara, Susheela; Gaur, S N; Arora, Naveen

2002-02-01

Tropical countries experience wide variations in daytime temperature and relative humidity. This affects the quality of the source material used for allergen extracts. The present study was undertaken to standardize the processing and preservation conditions of Imperata cylindrica grass pollen. I. cylindrica (Ic) inflorescence were freeze-dried, pollens sieved out and stored at -70 degrees C (IcA). Alternatively, the inflorescence were dried at room temperature and then at 37 degrees C, pollens sieved out and stored at 4 degrees C (IcB). The extracts prepared in PBS were analyzed in vivo by skin tests and in vitro by immunochemical methods. Reduced SDS-PAGE revealed 37 protein bands in IcA extract and 23 in IcB extract. IgE immunoblot with a pool of sera from Ic hypersensitive patients showed 30 allergenic bands in IcA and 14 in IcB. Immunoblot using anti-Ic rabbit sera revealed 33 antigenic bands in IcA and 22 in IcB. In both blots, the IcA extract exhibited sharp bands and the IcB extract exhibited diffuse bands. ELISA, ELISA inhibition and skin test procedures showed that IcA extracts had a higher potency than IcB extracts. Extracts prepared from -70 degrees C processed and preserved pollens (IcA) are allergenically more potent and contain a greater number of major and minor allergens than IcB extracts.

77 FR 31684 - Hours of Service of Drivers: RockTenn, Exemption Application

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-29

... 14th hour of coming on duty. This exemption will allow these individuals to occasionally work up to 16 consecutive hours and be allowed to return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty... public road--Compress Street--an average of forty times per day to travel between its manufacturing...

Carbon stores from a tropical seagrass meadow in the midst of anthropogenic disturbance.

PubMed

Rozaimi, Mohammad; Fairoz, Mohammad; Hakimi, Tuan Mohamad; Hamdan, Nur Hidayah; Omar, Ramlan; Ali, Masni Mohd; Tahirin, Siti Aishah

2017-06-30

Seagrass meadows provide important carbon sequestration services but anthropogenic activities modify the natural ecosystem and inevitably lower carbon storage capacity. The tropical mixed-species meadows in the Sungai Pulai Estuary (Johor, Malaysia) are impacted by such activities. In this study, we provide baseline estimates for carbon stores analysed from sediment cores. In sediment depths up to 100cm, organic (OC) and inorganic carbon (IC) stores were 43-101MgCha -1 and 46-83MgCha -1 , respectively, and are in the lower end of global average values. The bulk of OC (53-98%) originated from seston suggesting that the meadows had low capacity to retain seagrass-derived organic matter. The species factor resulted in some variability in OC stores but did not appear to influence IC values. The low carbon stores in the meadow may be a direct result of sediment disturbances but natural biogeochemical processes are not discounted as possible causal factors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preoperative Duplex Scanning is a Helpful Diagnostic Tool in Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.

PubMed

Orlando, Megan S; Likes, Kendall C; Mirza, Serene; Cao, Yue; Cohen, Anne; Lum, Ying Wei; Freischlag, Julie A

2016-01-01

To evaluate the diagnostic role of venous and arterial duplex scanning in neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (NTOS). Retrospective review of patients who underwent duplex ultrasonography prior to first rib resection and scalenectomy (FRRS) for NTOS from 2005 to 2013. Abnormal scans included ipsilateral compression (IC) with abduction of the symptomatic extremity (>50% change in subclavian vessel flow), contralateral (asymptomatic side) compression (CC) or bilateral compression (BC). A total of 143 patients (76% female, average age 34, range 13-59) underwent bilateral preoperative duplex scanning. Ipsilateral compression was seen in 44 (31%), CC in 12 (8%), and BC in 14 (10%). Seventy-three (51%) patients demonstrated no compression. Patients with IC more often experienced intraoperative pneumothoraces (49% vs. 25%, P < .05) and had positive Adson tests (86% vs. 61%, P < .02). Compression of the subclavian vein or artery on duplex ultrasonography can assist in NTOS diagnosis. Ipsilateral compression on abduction often correlates with Adson testing. © The Author(s) 2016.

Light-induced voltage alteration for integrated circuit analysis

DOEpatents

Cole, Jr., Edward I.; Soden, Jerry M.

1995-01-01

An apparatus and method are described for analyzing an integrated circuit (IC), The invention uses a focused light beam that is scanned over a surface of the IC to generate a light-induced voltage alteration (LIVA) signal for analysis of the IC, The LIVA signal may be used to generate an image of the IC showing the location of any defects in the IC; and it may be further used to image and control the logic states of the IC. The invention has uses for IC failure analysis, for the development of ICs, for production-line inspection of ICs, and for qualification of ICs.

Light-induced voltage alteration for integrated circuit analysis

DOEpatents

Cole, E.I. Jr.; Soden, J.M.

1995-07-04

An apparatus and method are described for analyzing an integrated circuit (IC). The invention uses a focused light beam that is scanned over a surface of the IC to generate a light-induced voltage alteration (LIVA) signal for analysis of the IC. The LIVA signal may be used to generate an image of the IC showing the location of any defects in the IC; and it may be further used to image and control the logic states of the IC. The invention has uses for IC failure analysis, for the development of ICs, for production-line inspection of ICs, and for qualification of ICs. 18 figs.

IC97 Is a Novel Intermediate Chain of I1 Dynein That Interacts with Tubulin and Regulates Interdoublet Sliding

PubMed Central

Wirschell, Maureen; Yang, Chun; Yang, Pinfen; Fox, Laura; Yanagisawa, Haru-aki; Kamiya, Ritsu; Witman, George B.; Porter, Mary E.

2009-01-01

Our goal is to understand the assembly and regulation of flagellar dyneins, particularly the Chlamydomonas inner arm dynein called I1 dynein. Here, we focus on the uncharacterized I1-dynein IC IC97. The IC97 gene encodes a novel IC without notable structural domains. IC97 shares homology with the murine lung adenoma susceptibility 1 (Las1) protein—a candidate tumor suppressor gene implicated in lung tumorigenesis. Multiple, independent biochemical assays determined that IC97 interacts with both α- and β-tubulin subunits within the axoneme. I1-dynein assembly mutants suggest that IC97 interacts with both the IC138 and IC140 subunits within the I1-dynein motor complex and that IC97 is part of a regulatory complex that contains IC138. Microtubule sliding assays, using axonemes containing I1 dynein but devoid of IC97, show reduced microtubule sliding velocities that are not rescued by kinase inhibitors, revealing a critical role for IC97 in I1-dynein function and control of dynein-driven motility. PMID:19420136

Effects of rearview cameras and rear parking sensors on police-reported backing crashes.

PubMed

Cicchino, Jessica B

2017-11-17

The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of rearview cameras, rear parking sensors, and both systems combined in preventing police-reported backing crashes. Negative binomial regression was used to compare rates of police-reported backing crash involvements per insured vehicle year in 22 U.S. states during 2009-2014 between passenger vehicle models with backing technologies and the same vehicle models where the optional systems were not purchased, controlling for other factors affecting crash risk. Rearview cameras were examined from four automakers, rear parking sensors from 2 automakers, and both systems combined from a single automaker. Rearview cameras reduced backing crash involvement rates by 17%. Reductions were larger for drivers 70 and older (36%) than for drivers younger than 70 (16%); however, estimates for older and younger drivers did not differ significantly from one another. The Buick Lucerne's rear parking sensor system reduced backing crash involvement rates significantly by 34%, but the reduction for Mercedes-Benz vehicles fit with a sensor system was small and not statistically significant. When averaged between the 2 automakers, effects were significantly larger for drivers 70 and older (38% reduction) than for drivers younger than 70 (1% increase); effects were significant for older but not younger drivers. Backing crash involvement rates were 13% lower among Mercedes-Benz vehicles with a rearview camera and parking sensors than among vehicles without, but this finding was not significant. Rearview cameras are effective in preventing police-reported backing crashes. Effects of rear parking sensors are less straightforward; it is unclear whether the Buick Lucerne system's benefits are due to the older age of its drivers, characteristics of the vehicle or system, or a combination. Systems may be especially beneficial to older drivers who might have limitations that make backing challenging. Although effect estimates did not differ significantly between older and younger drivers for both system types, the magnitude of the differences was large and the pattern of results was consistent across 6 of the 7 systems examined. When rear visibility systems become required equipment on new passenger vehicles in 2018, rearview cameras can be expected to prevent 1 in 6 backing crashes reported to police that involve equipped vehicles.

Add-on LABA in a separate inhaler as asthma step-up therapy versus increased dose of ICS or ICS/LABA combination inhaler.

PubMed

Price, David B; Colice, Gene; Israel, Elliot; Roche, Nicolas; Postma, Dirkje S; Guilbert, Theresa W; van Aalderen, Willem M C; Grigg, Jonathan; Hillyer, Elizabeth V; Thomas, Victoria; Martin, Richard J

2016-04-01

Asthma management guidelines recommend adding a long-acting β 2 -agonist (LABA) or increasing the dose of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) as step-up therapy for patients with uncontrolled asthma on ICS monotherapy. However, it is uncertain which option works best, which ICS particle size is most effective, and whether LABA should be administered by separate or combination inhalers. This historical, matched cohort study compared asthma-related outcomes for patients (aged 12-80 years) prescribed step-up therapy as a ≥50% extrafine ICS dose increase or add-on LABA, via either a separate inhaler or a fine-particle ICS/LABA fixed-dose combination (FDC) inhaler. Risk-domain asthma control was the primary end-point in comparisons of cohorts matched for asthma severity and control during the baseline year. After 1:2 cohort matching, the increased extrafine ICS versus separate ICS+LABA cohorts included 3232 and 6464 patients, respectively, and the fine-particle ICS/LABA FDC versus separate ICS+LABA cohorts included 7529 and 15 058 patients, respectively (overall mean age 42 years; 61-62% females). Over one outcome year, adjusted OR (95% CI) for achieving asthma control were 1.25 (1.13-1.38) for increased ICS versus separate ICS+LABA and 1.06 (1.05-1.09) for ICS/LABA FDC versus separate ICS+LABA. For patients with asthma, increased dose of extrafine-particle ICS, or add-on LABA via ICS/LABA combination inhaler, is associated with significantly better outcomes than ICS+LABA via separate inhalers.

MO-F-CAMPUS-J-01: Effect of Iodine Contrast Agent Concentration On Cerebrovascular Dose for Synchrotron Radiation Microangiography Based On a Simple Mouse Head Model and a Voxel Mouse Head Phantom

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lin, H; Jing, J; Xie, C

Purpose: To find effective setting methods to mitigate the irradiation injure in synchrotron radiation microangiography(SRA) by Monte Carlo simulation. Methods: A mouse 1-D head model and a segmented voxel mouse head phantom were simulated by EGSnrc/Dosxyznrc code to investigate the dose enhancement effect of the iodine contrast agent irradiated by a monochromatic synchrotron radiation(SR) source. The influence of, like iodine concentration (IC), vessel width and depth, with and without skull layer protection and the various incident X ray energies, were simulated. The dose enhancement effect and the absolute dose based on the segmented voxel mouse head phantom were evaluated. Results:more » The dose enhancement ratio depends little on the irradiation depth, but strongly on the IC, which is linearly increases with IC. The skull layer protection cannot be ignored in SRA, the 700µm thick skull could decrease 10% of the dose. The incident X-ray energy can significantly affact the dose. E.g. compared to the dose of 33.2keV for 50mgI/ml, the 32.7keV dose decreases 38%, whereas the dose of 33.7 keV increases 69.2%, and the variation will strengthen more with enhanced IC. The segmented voxel mouse head phantom also showed that the average dose enhancement effect and the maximal voxel dose per photon depends little on the iodine voxel volume ratio, but strongly on IC. Conclusion: To decrease dose damage in SRA, the high-Z contrast agent should be used as little as possible, and try to avoid radiating locally the injected position immediately after the contrast agent injection. The fragile vessel containing iodine should avoid closely irradiating. Avoiding irradiating through the no or thin skull region, or appending thin equivalent material from outside to protect is also a better method. As long as SRA image quality is ensured, using incident X-ray energy as low as possible.« less

Significant savings with a stepped care model for treatment of patients with intermittent claudication.

PubMed

Fokkenrood, H J P; Scheltinga, M R M; Koelemay, M J W; Breek, J C; Hasaart, F; Vahl, A C; Teijink, J A W

2014-10-01

International guidelines recommend supervised exercise therapy (SET) as primary treatment for intermittent claudication (IC). The aim of this study was to calculate treatment costs in patients with IC and to estimate nationwide annual savings if a stepped care model (SCM, primary SET treatment followed by revascularization in case of SET failure) was followed. Invoice data of all patients with IC in 2009 were obtained from a Dutch health insurance company (3.4 million members). Patients were divided into three groups based on initial treatment after diagnosis (t0). The SET group received SET initiated at any time between 12 months before and up to 3 months after t0. The intervention group (INT) underwent endovascular or open revascularization between t0 and t+3 months. The third group (REST) received neither SET nor any intervention. All peripheral arterial disease related invoices were recorded during 2 years and average costs per patient were calculated. Savings following use of a SCM were calculated for three scenarios. Data on 4954 patients were analyzed. Initial treatment was SET (n = 701, 14.1%), INT (n = 1363, 27.5%), or REST (n = 2890, 58.3%). Within 2 years from t0, invasive revascularization in the SET group was performed in 45 patients (6.4%). Additional interventions (primary at other location and/or re-interventions) were performed in 480 INT patients (35.2%). Some 431 REST patients received additional SET (n = 299, 10.3%) or an intervention (n = 132, 4.5%). Mean total IC related costs per patient were €2,191, €9851 and €824 for SET, INT, and REST, respectively. Based on a hypothetical worst, moderate, and best case scenario, some 3.8, 20.6, or 33.0 million euros would have been saved per annum if SCM was implemented in the Dutch healthcare system. Implementation of a SCM treatment for patients with IC may lead to significant savings of health care resources. Copyright © 2014 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Salvage cryotherapy of prostate cancer after failed external radiotherapy and brachytherapy: Morbidity and mid-term oncological results].

PubMed

Gevorgyan, A; Hétet, J-F; Robert, M; Duchattelle-Dussaule, V; Corno, L; Boulay, I; Baumert, H

2018-04-01

To study the oncologic and functional results of salvage cryotherapy after failure of external radiotherapy and brachytherapy. Patients treated by total salvage cryotherapy (3rd generation) in 2 centers (Groupe Hospitalier Saint-Joseph in Paris and Clinique Jule-Verne Nantes) in between January 2008 and April 2016 were included. The biochemical recurrence-free survival (BRFS) was calculated using the Phoenix criteria (PSA>nadir+2ng/mL). The functional results were assessed clinically. Ninety-seven patients with an average follow up of 39.4months were evaluated retrospectively. The 5-year biochemical recurrence-free survival (5y-BRFS) among all patients was 58.1% (IC à 95% [45.9-68.5]). Low and intermediate risk patients (d'Amico classification) were less prone to biochemical recurrence than high risk (81.05% (IC à 95% [64.1-90.5]) 5y-BRFS as opposed to 35.09% (IC à 95% [20.1-50.4]) respectively) (P<0.0001). As were patients with a Gleason score≤7 75.35% (IC à 95% [59.7-85.6]) compared to 32.31% (IC à 95% [16.5-49.2]) for higher Gleason (>7 scores [P=0.0002]). A Gleason score>7 (OR=6.9; P=0.002), PSA nadir>1ng/mL (OR=25.8; P=0.0026) and peri-urethral invasion (OR=35.8; P<0.001) were major risk factors for local recurrence in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, only PSA nadir>1ng/mL (OR=12.9; P=0.042) and peri-urethral invasion (OR=21.6; P=0.0003) remain major risk factors for recurrence. About 13 (16.46%) patients were incontinent of which 3 (3.79%) required placement of an artificial urinary sphincter. Erectile dysfunction was present in 66 (83.5%) patients. Recto-urethral fistula was uncommon in 1 patient (1.27%). Salvage cryotherapy after failure of external radiotherapy and brachytherapy is a reliable and reproducible technique with promising oncological and functional results. Study of prognostic factors will help better select eligible patients in the future. 4. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gagnon, Jean-Christophe; Theriault, Dany; Guillot, Mathieu

Purpose: To compare the performance of plastic scintillation detectors (PSD) for quality assurance (QA) in stereotactic radiosurgery conditions to a microion-chamber (IC), Gafchromic EBT2 films, 60 008 shielded photon diode (SD) and unshielded diodes (UD), and assess a new 2D crosshair array prototype adapted to small field dosimetry. Methods: The PSD consists of a 1 mm diameter by 1 mm long scintillating fiber (BCF-60, Saint-Gobain, Inc.) coupled to a polymethyl-methacrylate optical fiber (Eska premier, Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). Output factors (S{sub c,p}) for apertures used in radiosurgery ranging from 4 to 40 mm in diameter have been measured.more » The PSD crosshair array (PSDCA) is a water equivalent device made up of 49 PSDs contained in a 1.63 cm radius area. Dose profiles measurements were taken for radiosurgery fields using the PSDCA and were compared to other dosimeters. Moreover, a typical stereotactic radiosurgery treatment using four noncoplanar arcs was delivered on a spherical phantom in which UD, IC, or PSD was placed. Using the Xknife planning system (Integra Radionics Burlington, MA), 15 Gy was prescribed at the isocenter, where each detector was positioned. Results: Output Factors measured by the PSD have a mean difference of 1.3% with Gafchromic EBT2 when normalized to a 10 x 10 cm{sup 2} field, and 1.0% when compared with UD measurements normalized to the 35 mm diameter cone. Dose profiles taken with the PSD crosshair array agreed with other single detectors dose profiles in spite of the presence of the 49 PSDs. Gamma values comparing 1D dose profiles obtained with PSD crosshair array with Gafchromic EBT2 and UD measured profiles shows 98.3% and 100.0%, respectively, of detector passing the gamma acceptance criteria of 0.3 mm and 2%. The dose measured by the PSD for a complete stereotactic radiosurgery treatment is comparable to the planned dose corrected for its SD-based S{sub c,p} within 1.4% and 0.7% for 5 and 35 mm diameter cone, respectively. Furthermore, volume averaging of the IC can be observed for the 5 mm aperture where it differs by as much as 9.1% compared to the PSD measurement. The angular dependency of the UD is also observed, unveiled by an under-response around 2.5% of both 5 and 35 mm apertures. Conclusions: Output Factors and dose profiles measurements performed, respectively, with the PSD and the PSDCA were in agreement with those obtained with the UD and EBT2 films. For stereotactic radiosurgery treatment verification, the PSD gives accurate results compared to the planning system and the IC once the latter is corrected to compensate for the averaging effect of the IC. The PSD provides precise results when used as a single detector or in a dense array, resulting in a great potential for stereotactic radiosurgery QA measurements.« less

Evidence of bladder oversensitivity in the absence of an infection in premenopausal women with a history of recurrent urinary tract infections.

PubMed

Arya, Lily A; Northington, Gina M; Asfaw, Tirsit; Harvie, Heidi; Malykhina, Anna

2012-07-01

Study Type - Prevalence (case control) Level of Evidence 4. What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Urinary tract infections (UTIs) have been implicated in the aetiology of interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS). Prior studies have described symptoms and laboratory tests suggestive of UTI at the onset of IC/PBS as well as a significant history of childhood recurrent UTIs. However, the mechanism by which recurrent UTIs contribute to the development of IC/PBS is not clear. Our study shows that women with recurrent UTI suffer from bladder oversensitivity. Our findings have useful clinical implications. Women with bladder oversensitivity complain of urinary frequency which is often misdiagnosed as an infection and treated with unnecessary antibiotics. Additionally, there are no effective therapies for bladder oversensitivity. Therefore, women with recurrent UTI should undergo prompt evaluation and treatment of episodes of infection to prevent the development of bladder oversensitivity. Our findings also provide a possible mechanism for the development of IC/PBS. Whether women with recurrent UTI are at increased risk for developing IC/PBS in the future will need to be confirmed in future studies. • To compare the mean voided volume and bladder sensation during filling cystometry in women with a history of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) and controls. • This was a case-control study including adult women seen in the urogynaecology clinic. • The cases were 49 women with at least three documented positive urine cultures >105 colonies/mL in the previous 12 months and no active infection at the time of data collection. • Controls were 53 women with stress urinary incontinence and no history of recurrent UTI or coexistent urge urinary incontinence. • We compared bladder diary variables and filling cystometry data in the absence of an active infection. • There was no significant difference in the median age, parity and body mass index of women with a history of recurrent UTI and controls. • The median number of voids per day and median number of voids per litre of fluid intake was significantly greater in women with recurrent UTI than controls (12 vs 7 voids/day and 6 vs 4 voids/L, P= 0.005 and P= 0.004 respectively). • The median average voided volume was significantly lower in women with recurrent UTI than controls (155 vs 195 mL, P= 0.008). • On filling cystometry, median volumes of strong desire to void and maximum cystometric capacity were significantly lower in women with recurrent UTI than controls (all P < 0.05). • In the absence of an infection, premenopausal women with a history of recurrent UTI have significantly greater urinary frequency, lower average voided volume and a lower threshold of bladder sensitivity than controls. © 2011 THE AUTHORS. BJU INTERNATIONAL © 2011 BJU INTERNATIONAL.

Integrated Cognitive-neuroscience Architectures for Understanding Sensemaking (ICArUS): Overview of Test and Evaluation Materials

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-01

Phase 2 than for Phase 1 ) in three components of T&E: a qualitative Neural Fidelity Assessment (NFA), a quantitative Cognitive Fidelity Assessment ( CFA ...Burns Craig Bonaceto Michael Fine Carsten Oertel November, 2014 MT R 1 4 04 0 9 MIT R E T E C H N IC A L R E P OR T...No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing

Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor BMS-986142 in experimental models of rheumatoid arthritis enhances efficacy of agents representing clinical standard-of-care.

PubMed

Gillooly, Kathleen M; Pulicicchio, Claudine; Pattoli, Mark A; Cheng, Lihong; Skala, Stacey; Heimrich, Elizabeth M; McIntyre, Kim W; Taylor, Tracy L; Kukral, Daniel W; Dudhgaonkar, Shailesh; Nagar, Jignesh; Banas, Dana; Watterson, Scott H; Tino, Joseph A; Fura, Aberra; Burke, James R

2017-01-01

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) regulates critical signal transduction pathways involved in the pathobiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune disorders. BMS-986142 is a potent and highly selective reversible small molecule inhibitor of BTK currently being investigated in clinical trials for the treatment of both RA and primary Sjögren's syndrome. In the present report, we detail the in vitro and in vivo pharmacology of BMS-986142 and show this agent provides potent and selective inhibition of BTK (IC50 = 0.5 nM), blocks antigen receptor-dependent signaling and functional endpoints (cytokine production, co-stimulatory molecule expression, and proliferation) in human B cells (IC50 ≤ 5 nM), inhibits Fcγ receptor-dependent cytokine production from peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and blocks RANK-L-induced osteoclastogenesis. Through the benefits of impacting these important drivers of autoimmunity, BMS-986142 demonstrated robust efficacy in murine models of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), including collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and collagen antibody-induced arthritis (CAIA). In both models, robust efficacy was observed without continuous, complete inhibition of BTK. When a suboptimal dose of BMS-986142 was combined with other agents representing the current standard of care for RA (e.g., methotrexate, the TNFα antagonist etanercept, or the murine form of CTLA4-Ig) in the CIA model, improved efficacy compared to either agent alone was observed. The results suggest BMS-986142 represents a potential therapeutic for clinical investigation in RA, as monotherapy or co-administered with agents with complementary mechanisms of action.

The scaling of performance and losses in miniature internal combustion engines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menon, Shyam Kumar

Miniature glow ignition internal combustion (IC) piston engines are an off--the--shelf technology that could dramatically increase the endurance of miniature electric power supplies and the range and endurance of small unmanned air vehicles provided their overall thermodynamic efficiencies can be increased to 15% or better. This thesis presents the first comprehensive analysis of small (<500 g) piston engine performance. A unique dynamometer system is developed that is capable of making reliable measurements of engine performance and losses in these small engines. Methodologies are also developed for measuring volumetric, heat transfer, exhaust, mechanical, and combustion losses. These instruments and techniques are used to investigate the performance of seven single-cylinder, two-stroke, glow fueled engines ranging in size from 15 to 450 g (0.16 to 7.5 cm3 displacement). Scaling rules for power output, overall efficiency, and normalized power are developed from the data. These will be useful to developers of micro-air vehicles and miniature power systems. The data show that the minimum length scale of a thermodynamically viable piston engine based on present technology is approximately 3 mm. Incomplete combustion is the most important challenge as it accounts for 60-70% of total energy losses. Combustion losses are followed in order of importance by heat transfer, sensible enthalpy, and friction. A net heat release analysis based on in-cylinder pressure measurements suggest that a two--stage combustion process occurs at low engine speeds and equivalence ratios close to 1. Different theories based on burning mode and reaction kinetics are proposed to explain the observed results. High speed imaging of the combustion chamber suggests that a turbulent premixed flame with its origin in the vicinity of the glow plug is the primary driver of combustion. Placing miniature IC engines on a turbulent combustion regime diagram shows that they operate in the 'flamelet in eddy' regime whereas conventional--scale engines operate mostly in the 'wrinkled laminar flame sheet' regime. Taken together, the results show that the combustion process is the key obstacle to realizing the potential of small IC engines. Overcoming this obstacle will require new diagnostic techniques, measurements, combustion models, and high temperature materials.

Dynamical Competition of IC-Industry Clustering from Taiwan to China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Bi-Huei; Tsai, Kuo-Hui

2009-08-01

Most studies employ qualitative approach to explore the industrial clusters; however, few research has objectively quantified the evolutions of industry clustering. The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively analyze clustering among IC design, IC manufacturing as well as IC packaging and testing industries by using the foreign direct investment (FDI) data. The Lotka-Volterra system equations are first adopted here to capture the competition or cooperation among such three industries, thus explaining their clustering inclinations. The results indicate that the evolution of FDI into China for IC design industry significantly inspire the subsequent FDI of IC manufacturing as well as IC packaging and testing industries. Since IC design industry lie in the upstream stage of IC production, the middle-stream IC manufacturing and downstream IC packing and testing enterprises tend to cluster together with IC design firms, in order to sustain a steady business. Finally, Taiwan IC industry's FDI amount into China is predicted to cumulatively increase, which supports the industrial clustering tendency for Taiwan IC industry. Particularly, the FDI prediction of Lotka-Volterra model performs superior to that of the conventional Bass model after the forecast accuracy of these two models are compared. The prediction ability is dramatically improved as the industrial mutualism among each IC production stage is taken into account.

Relationship of Near-Crash/Crash Risk to Time Spent on a Cell Phone While Driving.

PubMed

Farmer, Charles M; Klauer, Sheila G; McClafferty, Julie A; Guo, Feng

2015-01-01

The objective of this study was to examine in a naturalistic driving setting the dose-response relationship between cell phone usage while driving and risk of a crash or near crash. How is the increasing use of cell phones by drivers associated with overall near-crash/crash risk (i.e., during driving times both on and off the phone)? Day-to-day driving behavior of 105 volunteer subjects was monitored over a period of 1 year. A random sample was selected comprised of 4 trips from each month that each driver was in the study, and in-vehicle video was used to classify driver behavior. The proportion of driving time spent using a cell phone was estimated for each 3-month period and correlated with overall crash and near-crash rates for each period. Thus, it was possible to test whether changes in an individual driver's cell phone use over time were associated with changes in overall near-crash/crash risk. Drivers in the study spent 11.7% of their driving time interacting with a cell phone, primarily talking on the phone (6.5%) or simply holding the phone in their hand or lap (3.7%). The risk of a near-crash/crash event was approximately 17% higher when the driver was interacting with a cell phone, due primarily to actions of reaching for/answering/dialing, which nearly triples risk (relative risk = 2.84). However, the amount of driving time spent interacting with a cell phone did not affect a driver's overall near-crash/crash risk. Vehicle speeds within 6 s of the beginning of each call on average were 5-6 mph lower than speeds at other times. Results of this naturalistic driving study are consistent with the observation that increasing cell phone use in the general driving population has not led to increased crash rates. Although cell phone use can be distracting and crashes have occurred during this distraction, overall crash rates appear unaffected by changes in the rate of cell phone use, even for individual drivers. Drivers compensate somewhat for the distraction by conducting some of the more demanding tasks, such as reaching for or dialing a cell phone, at lower speeds. It is also possible that cell phones and other electronic devices in cars are changing how drivers manage their attention to various tasks and/or changing the kinds of secondary tasks in which they engage.

EMERGENCY BRAKING IN ADULTS VERSUS NOVICE TEEN DRIVERS: RESPONSE TO SIMULATED SUDDEN DRIVING EVENTS.

PubMed

Loeb, Helen S; Kandadai, Venk; McDonald, Catherine C; Winston, Flaura K

Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death in teens in the United States. Newly licensed drivers are the group most at risk for crashes. Their driving skills are very new, still very often untested, so that their ability to properly react in an emergency situation remains a research question. Since it is impossible to expose human subjects to critical life threatening driving scenarios, researchers have been increasingly using driving simulators to assess driving skills. This paper summarizes the results of a driving scenario in a study comparing the driving performance of novice teen drivers (n=21) 16-17 year olds with 90 days of provisional licensure with that of experienced adult drivers (n=17) 25-50 year olds with at least 5 years of PA licensure, at least 100 miles driven per week and no self-reported collisions in the previous 3 years. As part of a 30 to 35 simulated drive that encompassed the most common scenarios that result in serious crashes, participants were exposed to a sudden car event. As the participant drove on a suburban road, a car surged from a driveway hidden by a fence on the right side of the road. To avoid the crash, participants must hard brake, exhibiting dynamic control over both attentional and motor resources. The results showed strong differences between the experienced adult and novice teen drivers in the brake pressure applied. When placed in the same situation, the novice teens decelerated on average 50% less than the experienced adults (p<0.01).

Hydrogen sulfide gas emissions in the human-occupied zone during disturbance and removal of stored spent mushroom compost.

PubMed

Velusami, B; Curran, T P; Grogan, H M

2013-10-01

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas levels were monitored in the human-occupied zone at four spent mushroom compost (SMC) storage sites during removal of SMC for application on agricultural land. During SMC removal operations, H2S gas monitors were mounted on the outside of the tractor positioned at the SMC periphery, and worn by individual tractor drivers. The highest H2S concentrations (10 s average) detected outside the tractor, at the SMC periphery, and for the tractor driver were, respectively, 454, 249, and 100 ppm for the outdoor sites and 214, 75, and 51 ppm for the indoor sites. The highest short-term exposure values (STEV over a 15 min period) outside the tractor at the SMC periphery, and for the tractor driver were 147, 55, and 86 ppm for the outdoor sites and 19, 9, and 10 ppm for the indoor sites. The values exceeded the current maximum permissible concentration limit of 10 ppm for all the sites except for the SMC periphery and tractor driver at the indoor sites. Results suggest that H2S levels detected at indoor storage sites during SMC removal are lower compared to outdoor storage sites. Results indicate that there is a substantial health and safety risk associated with working in the vicinity of stored SMC when it is being disturbed and removed for land application, and that the risk is great for the tractor driver. This article discusses possible control measures and lists recommendations to reduce the risks.

A gating grid driver for time projection chambers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tangwancharoen, S.; Lynch, W. G.; Barney, J.; Estee, J.; Shane, R.; Tsang, M. B.; Zhang, Y.; Isobe, T.; Kurata-Nishimura, M.; Murakami, T.; Xiao, Z. G.; Zhang, Y. F.; SπRIT Collaboration

2017-05-01

A simple but novel driver system has been developed to operate the wire gating grid of a Time Projection Chamber (TPC). This system connects the wires of the gating grid to its driver via low impedance transmission lines. When the gating grid is open, all wires have the same voltage allowing drift electrons, produced by the ionization of the detector gas molecules, to pass through to the anode wires. When the grid is closed, the wires have alternating higher and lower voltages causing the drift electrons to terminate at the more positive wires. Rapid opening of the gating grid with low pickup noise is achieved by quickly shorting the positive and negative wires to attain the average bias potential with N-type and P-type MOSFET switches. The circuit analysis and simulation software SPICE shows that the driver restores the gating grid voltage to 90% of the opening voltage in less than 0.20 μs, for small values of the termination resistors. When tested in the experimental environment of a time projection chamber larger termination resistors were chosen so that the driver opens the gating grid in 0.35 μs. In each case, opening time is basically characterized by the RC constant given by the resistance of the switches and terminating resistors and the capacitance of the gating grid and its transmission line. By adding a second pair of N-type and P-type MOSFET switches, the gating grid is closed by restoring 99% of the original charges to the wires within 3 μs.

Habitat moisture is an important driver of patterns of sap flow and water balance in tropical montane cloud forest epiphytes.

PubMed

Darby, Alexander; Draguljić, Danel; Glunk, Andrew; Gotsch, Sybil G

2016-10-01

Microclimate in the tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF) is variable on both spatial and temporal scales and can lead to large fluctuations in both leaf-level transpiration and whole plant water use. While variation in transpiration has been found in TMCFs, the influence of different microclimatic drivers on plant water relations in this ecosystem has been relatively understudied. Within the TMCF, epiphytes may be particularly affected by natural variation in microclimate due to their partial or complete disassociation from soil resources. In this study, we examined the effects of seasonal microclimate on whole plant water balance in epiphytes in both an observational and a manipulative experiment. We also evaluated the effects of different microclimatic drivers using three hierarchical linear (mixed) models. On average, 31 % of total positive sap flow was recovered via foliar water uptake (FWU) over the course of the study. We found that precipitation was the greatest driver of foliar water uptake and nighttime sap flow in our study species and that both VPD and precipitation were important drivers to daytime sap flow. We also found that despite adaptations to withstand seasonal drought, an extended dry period caused severe desiccation in most plants despite a large reduction in leaf-level and whole plant transpiration. Our results indicate that the epiphytes studied rely on FWU to maintain positive water balance in the dry season and that increases in dry periods in the TMCF may be detrimental to these common members of the epiphyte community.

EMERGENCY BRAKING IN ADULTS VERSUS NOVICE TEEN DRIVERS: RESPONSE TO SIMULATED SUDDEN DRIVING EVENTS

PubMed Central

Kandadai, Venk; McDonald, Catherine C.; Winston, Flaura K.

2015-01-01

Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death in teens in the United States. Newly licensed drivers are the group most at risk for crashes. Their driving skills are very new, still very often untested, so that their ability to properly react in an emergency situation remains a research question. Since it is impossible to expose human subjects to critical life threatening driving scenarios, researchers have been increasingly using driving simulators to assess driving skills. This paper summarizes the results of a driving scenario in a study comparing the driving performance of novice teen drivers (n=21) 16–17 year olds with 90 days of provisional licensure with that of experienced adult drivers (n=17) 25–50 year olds with at least 5 years of PA licensure, at least 100 miles driven per week and no self-reported collisions in the previous 3 years. As part of a 30 to 35 simulated drive that encompassed the most common scenarios that result in serious crashes, participants were exposed to a sudden car event. As the participant drove on a suburban road, a car surged from a driveway hidden by a fence on the right side of the road. To avoid the crash, participants must hard brake, exhibiting dynamic control over both attentional and motor resources. The results showed strong differences between the experienced adult and novice teen drivers in the brake pressure applied. When placed in the same situation, the novice teens decelerated on average 50% less than the experienced adults (p<0.01). PMID:26709330

Drivers of leaf carbon exchange capacity across biomes at the continental scale.

PubMed

Smith, Nicholas G; Dukes, Jeffrey S

2018-04-29

Realistic representations of plant carbon exchange processes are necessary to reliably simulate biosphere-atmosphere feedbacks. These processes are known to vary over time and space, though the drivers of the underlying rates are still widely debated in the literature. Here, we measured leaf carbon exchange in >500 individuals of 98 species from the Neotropics to high boreal biomes to determine the drivers of photosynthetic and dark respiration capacity. Covariate abiotic (long- and short-term climate) and biotic (plant type, plant size, ontogeny, water status) data were used to explore significant drivers of temperature-standardized leaf carbon exchange rates. Using model selection, we found the previous week's temperature and soil moisture at the time of measurement to be a better predictor of photosynthetic capacity than long-term climate, with the combination of high recent temperatures and low soil moisture tending to decrease photosynthetic capacity. Non-trees (annual and perennials) tended to have greater photosynthetic capacity than trees, and, within trees, adults tended to have greater photosynthetic capacity than juveniles, possibly as a result of differences in light availability. Dark respiration capacity was less responsive to the assessed drivers than photosynthetic capacity, with rates best predicted by multi-year average site temperature alone. Our results suggest that, across large spatial scales, photosynthetic capacity quickly adjusts to changing environmental conditions, namely light, temperature, and soil moisture. Respiratory capacity is more conservative and most responsive to longer-term conditions. Our results provide a framework for incorporating these processes into large-scale models and a data set to benchmark such models. © 2018 by the Ecological Society of America.

Mechanisms of activation of the paternally expressed genes by the Prader-Willi imprinting center in the Prader-Willi/Angelman syndromes domains

PubMed Central

Rabinovitz, Shiri; Kaufman, Yotam; Ludwig, Guy; Razin, Aharon; Shemer, Ruth

2012-01-01

The Prader-Willi syndrome/Angelman syndrome (PWS/AS) imprinted domain is regulated by a bipartite imprinting control center (IC) composed of a sequence around the SNRPN promoter (PWS-IC) and a 880-bp sequence located 35 kb upstream (AS-IC). The AS-IC imprint is established during gametogenesis and confers repression upon PWS-IC on the maternal allele. Mutation at PWS-IC on the paternal allele leads to gene silencing across the entire PWS/AS domain. This silencing implies that PWS-IC functions on the paternal allele as a bidirectional activator. Here we examine the mechanism by which PWS-IC activates the paternally expressed genes (PEGs) using transgenes that include the PWS-IC sequence in the presence or absence of AS-IC and NDN, an upstream PEG, as an experimental model. We demonstrate that PWS-IC is in fact an activator of NDN. This activation requires an unmethylated PWS-IC in the gametes and during early embryogenesis. PWS-IC is dispensable later in development. Interestingly, a similar activation of a nonimprinted gene (APOA1) was observed, implying that PWS-IC is a universal activator. To decipher the mechanism by which PWS-IC confers activation of remote genes, we performed methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) array analysis on lymphoblast cell lines that revealed dispersed, rather than continued differential methylation. However, chromatin conformation capture (3c) experiments revealed a physical interaction between PWS-IC and the PEGs, suggesting that activation of PEGs may require their proximity to PWS-IC. PMID:22529396

An exactly solvable, spatial model of mutation accumulation in cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paterson, Chay; Nowak, Martin A.; Waclaw, Bartlomiej

2016-12-01

One of the hallmarks of cancer is the accumulation of driver mutations which increase the net reproductive rate of cancer cells and allow them to spread. This process has been studied in mathematical models of well mixed populations, and in computer simulations of three-dimensional spatial models. But the computational complexity of these more realistic, spatial models makes it difficult to simulate realistically large and clinically detectable solid tumours. Here we describe an exactly solvable mathematical model of a tumour featuring replication, mutation and local migration of cancer cells. The model predicts a quasi-exponential growth of large tumours, even if different fragments of the tumour grow sub-exponentially due to nutrient and space limitations. The model reproduces clinically observed tumour growth times using biologically plausible rates for cell birth, death, and migration rates. We also show that the expected number of accumulated driver mutations increases exponentially in time if the average fitness gain per driver is constant, and that it reaches a plateau if the gains decrease over time. We discuss the realism of the underlying assumptions and possible extensions of the model.

UWB multi-burst transmit driver for averaging receivers

DOEpatents

Dallum, Gregory E

2012-11-20

A multi-burst transmitter for ultra-wideband (UWB) communication systems generates a sequence of precisely spaced RF bursts from a single trigger event. There are two oscillators in the transmitter circuit, a gated burst rate oscillator and a gated RF burst or RF power output oscillator. The burst rate oscillator produces a relatively low frequency, i.e., MHz, square wave output for a selected transmit cycle, and drives the RF burst oscillator, which produces RF bursts of much higher frequency, i.e., GHz, during the transmit cycle. The frequency of the burst rate oscillator sets the spacing of the RF burst packets. The first oscillator output passes through a bias driver to the second oscillator. The bias driver conditions, e.g., level shifts, the signal from the first oscillator for input into the second oscillator, and also controls the length of each RF burst. A trigger pulse actuates a timing circuit, formed of a flip-flop and associated reset time delay circuit, that controls the operation of the first oscillator, i.e., how long it oscillates (which defines the transmit cycle).

Coronal plane socket stability during gait in persons with transfemoral amputation: Pilot study.

PubMed

Fatone, Stefania; Dillon, Michael; Stine, Rebecca; Tillges, Robert

2014-01-01

Little research describes which transfemoral socket design features are important for coronal plane stability, socket comfort, and gait. Our study objectives were to (1) relate socket comfort during gait to a rank order of changes in ischial containment (IC) and tissue loading and (2) compare socket comfort during gait when tissue loading and IC were systematically manipulated. Six randomly assigned socket conditions (IC and tissue compression) were assessed: (1) IC and high, (2) IC and medium, (3) IC and low, (4) no IC and high, (5) no IC and medium, and (6) no IC and low. For the six subjects in this study, there was a strong, negative relationship between comfort and changes in IC and tissue loading (rho = -0.89). With the ischium contained, tissue loading did not influence socket comfort (p = 0.47). With no IC, the socket was equally comfortable with high tissue loading (p = 0.36) but the medium (p = 0.04) and low (p = 0.02) tissue loading conditions decreased comfort significantly. Coronal plane hip moments, lateral trunk lean, step width, and walking speed were invariant to changes in IC and/or tissue loading. Our results suggest that in an IC socket, medial tissue loading mattered little in terms of comfort. Sockets without IC required high tissue loading to be as comfortable as those with IC, while suboptimal tissue loading compromised comfort.

Dihydropyrimidones: As novel class of β-glucuronidase inhibitors.

PubMed

Ali, Farman; Khan, Khalid Mohammed; Salar, Uzma; Iqbal, Sarosh; Taha, Muhammad; Ismail, Nor Hadiani; Perveen, Shahnaz; Wadood, Abdul; Ghufran, Mehreen; Ali, Basharat

2016-08-15

Dihydropyrimidones 1-37 were synthesized via a 'one-pot' three component reaction according to well-known Biginelli reaction by utilizing Cu(NO3)2·3H2O as catalyst, and screened for their in vitro β-glucuronidase inhibitory activity. It is worth mentioning that amongst the active molecules, compounds 8 (IC50=28.16±.056μM), 9 (IC50=18.16±0.41μM), 10 (IC50=22.14±0.43μM), 13 (IC50=34.16±0.65μM), 14 (IC50=17.60±0.35μM), 15 (IC50=15.19±0.30μM), 16 (IC50=27.16±0.48μM), 17 (IC50=48.16±1.06μM), 22 (IC50=40.16±0.85μM), 23 (IC50=44.16±0.86μM), 24 (IC50=47.16±0.92μM), 25 (IC50=18.19±0.34μM), 26 (IC50=33.14±0.68μM), 27 (IC50=44.16±0.94μM), 28 (IC50=24.16±0.50μM), 29 (IC50=34.24±0.47μM), 31 (IC50=14.11±0.21μM) and 32 (IC50=9.38±0.15μM) found to be more potent than the standard d-saccharic acid 1,4-lactone (IC50=48.4±1.25μM). Molecular docking study was conducted to establish the structure-activity relationship (SAR) which demonstrated that a number of structural features of dihydropyrimidone derivatives were involved to exhibit the inhibitory potential. All compounds were characterized by spectroscopic techniques such as (1)H, (13)C NMR, EIMS and HREI-MS. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phenoxyacetohydrazide Schiff bases: β-glucuronidase inhibitors.

PubMed

Jamil, Waqas; Perveen, Shagufta; Shah, Syed Adnan Ali; Taha, Muhammad; Ismail, Nor Hadiani; Perveen, Shahnaz; Ambreen, Nida; Khan, Khalid M; Choudhary, Muhammad I

2014-06-25

Phenoxyacetohydrazide Schiff base analogs 1-28 have been synthesized and their in vitro β-glucouoronidase inhibition potential studied. Compounds 1 (IC50=9.20±0.32 µM), 5 (IC50=9.47±0.16 µM), 7 (IC50=14.7±0.19 µM), 8 (IC50=15.4±1.56 µM), 11 (IC50=19.6±0.62 µM), 12 (IC50=30.7±1.49 µM), 15 (IC50=12.0±0.16 µM), 21 (IC50=13.7±0.40 µM) and 22 (IC50=22.0±0.14 µM) showed promising β-glucuronidase inhibition activity, better than the standard (D-saccharic acid-1,4-lactone, IC50=48.4±1.25 µM).

A survey of infection control teaching in U.S. dental schools.

PubMed

Porteous, Nuala B; Bizra, Eamon; Cothron, Annaliese; Yeh, Chih-Ko

2014-02-01

This study was conducted to determine the content of infection control (IC) curricula, the extent of IC monitoring and compliance, and the number of bloodborne pathogen (BBP) exposures/year in U.S. dental schools. A questionnaire was emailed to persons responsible for predoctoral IC programs. The response rate was 60 percent. Most schools did not have an independent course and used classroom lectures and clinic demonstrations to teach IC. Schools with an IC committee were more likely to use online learning (p<0.05), utilize multiple teaching methods (p<0.05), issue written warnings for IC violations (p<0.0001), and use multiple disciplinary actions (p<0.005) than schools without an IC committee. Schools with an IC coordinator were less likely to issue grade reductions for IC violations than schools with no IC coordinator (p<0.05). Thirty-eight percent reported ≥ 16 BBP exposures/year, and 18 percent reported <5. There was significant correlation between BBP exposure incidents and large class size (p<0.005). Respondents were satisfied with their IC curriculum and perceived that dental students had a high level of IC compliance and satisfaction, along with staff IC promotion and compliance. The findings suggest that schools without an IC committee should consider its benefits. Further investigation of schools with high numbers of BBP exposures is recommended.

Trends in driver licensing status and driving among high school seniors in the United States, 1996–2010☆

PubMed Central

Shults, Ruth A.; Williams, Allan F.

2017-01-01

Introduction Understanding the reasons for fluctuations in teenage driver crashes over time in the United States is clouded by the lack of information on licensure rates and driving exposure. Methods We examined results from the Monitoring the Future survey to estimate the proportion of high school seniors who possessed a driver’s license and the proportion of seniors who did not drive “during an average week” during the 15-year period of 1996–2010. Results During 1996–2010, the proportion of high school seniors in United States who reported having a driver’s license declined by 12 percentage points (14%) from 85% to 73%. Two-thirds of the decline (8 percentage points) occurred during 2006–2010. During the same 15-year period, the proportion of high school seniors who did not drive during an average week increased by 7 percentage points (47%) from 15% in 1996 to 22% in 2010, with essentially all of the increase occurring during 2006–2009. Discussion Findings in this report suggest that the economic recession in recent years has reduced rates of licensure and driving among high school seniors. PMID:23932698

Online detection of potential duplicate medications and changes of physician behavior for outpatients visiting multiple hospitals using national health insurance smart cards in Taiwan.

PubMed

Hsu, Min-Huei; Yeh, Yu-Ting; Chen, Chien-Yuan; Liu, Chien-Hsiang; Liu, Chien-Tsai

2011-03-01

Doctor shopping (or hospital shopping), which means changing doctors (or hospitals) without professional referral for the same or similar illness conditions, is common in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. Due to the lack of infrastructure for sharing health information and medication history among hospitals, doctor-shopping patients are more likely to receive duplicate medications and suffer adverse drug reactions. The Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) adopted smart cards (or NHI-IC cards) as health cards in Taiwan. With their NHI-IC cards, patients can freely access different medical institutions. Because an NHI-IC card carries information about a patient's prescribed medications received from different hospitals nationwide, we used this system to address the problem of duplicate medications for outpatients visiting multiple hospitals. A computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system was enhanced with the capability of accessing NHI-IC cards and providing alerts to physicians when the system detects potential duplicate medications at the time of prescribing. Physician responses to the alerts were also collected to analyze changes in physicians' behavior. Chi-square tests and two-sided z-tests with Bonferroni adjustments for multiple comparisons were used to assess statistical significance of differences in actions taken by physicians over the three months. The enhanced CPOE system for outpatient services was implemented and installed at the Pediatric and Urology Departments of Taipei Medical University Wan-Fang Hospital in March 2007. The "Change Log" that recorded physician behavior was activated during a 3-month study period from April to June 2007. In 67.93% of patient visits, the physicians read patient NHI-IC cards, and in 16.76% of the reads, the NHI-IC card contained at least one prescribed medication that was taken by the patient. Among the prescriptions issued by physicians, on average, there were 2.36% prescriptions containing at least one medication that might be duplicative to the prior prescriptions stored in NHI-IC cards. The rate of potential duplicate medication alerts for the Pediatric Department was higher than that for the Urology Department (2.78% versus 1.67%). However, the rate of revisions to prescriptions was higher in the Urology Department than the Pediatric Department. Overall, the rate of physicians reviewing and revising their prescriptions was 29.25%; the rate of physicians reviewing without revising their prescriptions was 43.62%; the rate of physicians turning off the alert screens right after the screens popped up (overridden) was 27.13%. Thus, physicians accepted alerts to review their prescriptions with patients in most situations (72.87%). Moreover, over the study period, the rate of total revisions made to prescriptions increased and the "overridden" rate decreased. Our approach enhances the capability of CPOE systems using NHI-IC cards as a nationwide infrastructure to provide more complete patient health information and medication history sharing among hospitals in Taiwan. Thus, our system can provide a better prescribing tool to help physicians detect potential duplicate medications for frequent doctor-shopping patients and hence enhance patient safety across hospital boundaries. However, the effectiveness of detecting duplicate medications with our approach is very much dependent on the completeness of NHI-IC cards, which in turn primarily depends on physician use of the cards when prescribing. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dinuclear (d(3)-d(3)) Diolate Complexes of Molybdenum and Tungsten. 2.(1) Derivatives of 2,2'-Methylenebis(6-tert-butyl-4-methylphenoxide). Direct Observation of the Conversion of Bridged to Chelate Isomers (M = Mo) and Reversible Carbon-Hydrogen Bond Oxidative Addition (M = W).

PubMed

Chisholm, Malcolm H.; Huang, Jui-Hsien; Huffman, John C.; Parkin, Ivan P.

1997-04-09

Hydrocarbon solutions of Mo(2)(NMe(2))(6) and 2,2'-methylenebis(6-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol) (>/=2 equiv), HO&ndblwave;CH(2)&ndblwave;OH, yield Mo(2)(NMe(2))(2)(O&ndblwave;CH(2)&ndblwave;O)(2), I, which exists in bridged Ib and chelated Ic isomers. These are formed under kinetic control, and recrystallization allows the separation of Ib (orange cubes) from Ic (yellow cubes) both of which have been crystallographically characterized. In each there is an ethane-like O(2)NMo&tbd1;MoO(2)N core with Mo-Mo = 2.2 Å (average). In Ib the two O&ndblwave;CH(2)&ndblwave;O ligands span the Mo&tbd1;Mo bond yielding a molecule of C(2) symmetry. In Ic the molecule has near-C(2) symmetry in the solid state, but in solution there is either rapid rotation about the M&tbd1;M bond or the anti-rotamer is preferred. In benzene-d(6), Ib and Ic do not interconvert at 110 degrees C over a period of days. However, the addition of pyridine or acetonitrile causes the isomerization of Ib to Ic, thereby establishing that Ic is the thermodynamic isomer. The rate of conversion of Ib to Ic has been shown to be dependent on the square of the concentration of added pyridine: k(obs) = k[py](2). From the temperature dependence of k(obs), we determine DeltaH() = 19 (+/-1) kcal/mol and DeltaS() = -25 (+/-3) eu for the pyridine-promoted isomerization of Ib to Ic. The related reaction involving W(2)(NMe(2))(6) and HO&ndblwave;CH(2)&ndblwave;OH (>/=2 equiv) in hydrocarbon solvents at room temperature and below yields a dark brown crystalline compound, wherein C-H activation has occurred at one of the O&ndblwave;CH(2)&ndblwave;O diolate ligands, W(2)(&mgr;-H)(&mgr;-NMe(2))(NMe(2))(eta(2)-O&ndblwave;CH(2)&ndblwave;O)(eta(3)-O&ndblwave;CH&ndblwave;O)(HNMe(2)), 2. The W-W distance in 2 is 2.495(1) Å, consistent with a (W=W)(8+) core. Heating 2 in the solid-state under a dynamic vacuum leads to the elimination of HNMe(2) and the formation of 3, W(2)(NMe(2))(2)(eta(2)-O&ndblwave;CH(2)&ndblwave;O)(2), an analog of Ic. In benzene-d(6) the equilibrium involving 2 and 3 + HNMe(2) has been observed by (1)H NMR spectroscopy. The addition of pyridine to hydrocarbon solutions of 3 yields W(2)(&mgr;-H)(&mgr;-NMe(2))(eta(2)-O&ndblwave;CH(2)&ndblwave;O)(&mgr;(3)-O&ndblwave;CH&ndblwave;O)(NMe(2))(py), 4, which has been shown by single-crystal X-ray crystallography to be an analogue of 2. Studies of the addition of PMe(3) to toluene-d(8) solutions of 3 at low temperatures reveal that adduct formation occurs prior to C-H oxidative addition. For the equilibrium involving 4 and 3 + py in benzene-d(6), DeltaH degrees = 14 (+/-1) kcal/mol and DeltaS degrees = 22 (+/-3) eu.

Solid-state dosimeters: A new approach for mammography measurements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brateman, Libby F., E-mail: bratel@radiology.ufl.edu; Heintz, Philip H.

2015-02-15

Purpose: To compare responses of modern commercially available solid-state dosimeters (SStDs) used in mammography medical physics surveys for two major vendors of current digital mammography units. To compare differences in dose estimates among SStD responses with ionization chamber (IC) measurements for several target/filter (TF) combinations and report their characteristics. To review scientific bases for measurements of quantities required for mammography for traditional measurement procedures and SStDs. Methods: SStDs designed for use with modern digital mammography units were acquired for evaluation from four manufacturers. Each instrument was evaluated under similar conditions with the available mammography beams provided by two modern full-fieldmore » digital mammography units in clinical use: a GE Healthcare Senographe Essential (Essential) and a Hologic Selenia Dimensions 5000 (Dimensions), with TFs of Mo/Mo, Mo/Rh; and Rh/Rh and W/Rh, W/Ag, and W/Al, respectively. Measurements were compared among the instruments for the TFs over their respective clinical ranges of peak tube potentials for kVp and half-value layer (HVL) measurements. Comparisons for air kerma (AK) and their associated relative calculated average glandular doses (AGDs), i.e., using fixed mAs, were evaluated over the limited range of 28–30 kVp. Measurements were compared with reference IC measurements for AK, reference HVLs and calculated AGD, for two compression paddle heights for AK, to evaluate scatter effects from compression paddles. SStDs may require different positioning from current mammography measurement protocols. Results: Measurements of kVp were accurate in general for the SStDs (within −1.2 and +1.1 kVp) for all instruments over a wide range of set kVp’s and TFs and most accurate for Mo/Mo and W/Rh. Discrepancies between measurements and reference values were greater for HVL and AK. Measured HVL values differed from reference values by −6.5% to +3.5% depending on the SStD and TF. AK measurements over limited (28–30) kVp’s ranged from −6% to +7% for SStDs, compared with IC reference values. Relative AGDs for each SStD using its associated measurements of kVp, HVL and AK underestimated AGD in nearly all cases, compared with reference IC values, with discrepancies of <−1% to ∼−10%. Some differences in AGD were related to differences in contributions of compression paddle scatter to AK measurements made by ICs. Applying measured factors for scatter effects in AK measurements for three SStDs reduced discrepancies between −6.2% and +1.3%, shifting AGDs from SStDs closer to IC AGDs. Conclusions: This study revealed that SStD measurements yielded good agreement with set kVp, poor agreement with standard HVL determinations, and AK measurements that were substantially different from IC measurements. Discrepancies are partly related to the scattered radiation measured by ICs in determining AK. As a result, IC measurements required for AGD, using currently accepted methodology, typically result in higher AGDs than SStDs, because current methodologies do not account for differing instrument responses to scatter. HVLs reported by SStDs contribute to discrepancies in calculated AGD that depend on kVp and TF. Medical physicists are encouraged to compare their results for SStD instruments using a similar methodology for potential discrepancies with their traditional instruments.« less

Prototype Early Warning Systems for Vector-Borne Diseases in Europe

PubMed Central

Semenza, Jan C.

2015-01-01

Globalization and environmental change, social and demographic determinants and health system capacity are significant drivers of infectious diseases which can also act as epidemic precursors. Thus, monitoring changes in these drivers can help anticipate, or even forecast, an upsurge of infectious diseases. The European Environment and Epidemiology (E3) Network has been built for this purpose and applied to three early warning case studies: (1) The environmental suitability of malaria transmission in Greece was mapped in order to target epidemiological and entomological surveillance and vector control activities. Malaria transmission in these areas was interrupted in 2013 through such integrated preparedness and response activities. (2) Since 2010, recurrent West Nile fever outbreaks have ensued in South/eastern Europe. Temperature deviations from a thirty year average proved to be associated with the 2010 outbreak. Drivers of subsequent outbreaks were computed through multivariate logistic regression models and included monthly temperature anomalies for July and a normalized water index. (3) Dengue is a tropical disease but sustained transmission has recently emerged in Madeira. Autochthonous transmission has also occurred repeatedly in France and in Croatia mainly due to travel importation. The risk of dengue importation into Europe in 2010 was computed with the volume of international travelers from dengue affected areas worldwide.These prototype early warning systems indicate that monitoring drivers of infectious diseases can help predict vector-borne disease threats. PMID:26042370

Prototype early warning systems for vector-borne diseases in Europe.

PubMed

Semenza, Jan C

2015-06-02

Globalization and environmental change, social and demographic determinants and health system capacity are significant drivers of infectious diseases which can also act as epidemic precursors. Thus, monitoring changes in these drivers can help anticipate, or even forecast, an upsurge of infectious diseases. The European Environment and Epidemiology (E3) Network has been built for this purpose and applied to three early warning case studies: (1) The environmental suitability of malaria transmission in Greece was mapped in order to target epidemiological and entomological surveillance and vector control activities. Malaria transmission in these areas was interrupted in 2013 through such integrated preparedness and response activities. (2) Since 2010, recurrent West Nile fever outbreaks have ensued in South/eastern Europe. Temperature deviations from a thirty year average proved to be associated with the 2010 outbreak. Drivers of subsequent outbreaks were computed through multivariate logistic regression models and included monthly temperature anomalies for July and a normalized water index. (3) Dengue is a tropical disease but sustained transmission has recently emerged in Madeira. Autochthonous transmission has also occurred repeatedly in France and in Croatia mainly due to travel importation. The risk of dengue importation into Europe in 2010 was computed with the volume of international travelers from dengue affected areas worldwide.These prototype early warning systems indicate that monitoring drivers of infectious diseases can help predict vector-borne disease threats.

Increasing the default interletter spacing of words can help drivers to read traffic signs at longer distances.

PubMed

Tejero, Pilar; Insa, Beatriz; Roca, Javier

2018-08-01

Would an increase in the default interletter spacing improve the legibility of words in traffic signs? Previous evidence on traffic sign design and recent studies on the cognitive processes involved in visual word recognition have provided conflicting results. The present work examined whether an increase in the default interletter spacing would improve the search of a word in direction traffic signs. To achieve this objective, twenty-two drivers participated in a driving simulation experiment. They followed a highway route and indicated whether a target place name was present among a set of distractors shown on direction traffic signs along the route. We compared the default interletter spacing of the Spanish "CC Rige" font (which is based on the internationally-used Transport font) and a 2.5-times expanded interletter spacing. The results revealed that the drivers were able to give a correct response at a distance to the traffic sign that was on average longer in the expanded than in the default spacing condition. This advantage in the legibility distance was observed in the absence of significant differences in reading accuracy, gaze behavior, or driving performance measures. Therefore, the evidence provided supports that drivers can benefit from a slight increase in interletter spacing relative to the standard spacing. Some of the design factors influencing this effect are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Fabric for Frontier Experiments Project at Fermilab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirby, Michael

2014-06-01

The FabrIc for Frontier Experiments (FIFE) project is a new, far-reaching initiative within the Fermilab Scientific Computing Division to drive the future of computing services for experiments at FNAL and elsewhere. It is a collaborative effort between computing professionals and experiment scientists to produce an end-to-end, fully integrated set of services for computing on the grid and clouds, managing data, accessing databases, and collaborating within experiments. FIFE includes 1) easy to use job submission services for processing physics tasks on the Open Science Grid and elsewhere; 2) an extensive data management system for managing local and remote caches, cataloging, querying, moving, and tracking the use of data; 3) custom and generic database applications for calibrations, beam information, and other purposes; 4) collaboration tools including an electronic log book, speakers bureau database, and experiment membership database. All of these aspects will be discussed in detail. FIFE sets the direction of computing at Fermilab experiments now and in the future, and therefore is a major driver in the design of computing services worldwide.

1393 Ring Bus at JPL: Description and Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wysocky, Terry R.

2007-01-01

Completed Ring Bus IC V&V Phase - Ring Bus Test Plan Completed for SIM Project - Applicable to Other Projects Implemented a Avionics Bus Based upon the IEEE 1393 Standard - Excellent Starting Point for a General Purpose High-Speed Spacecraft Bus - Designed to Meet SIM Requirements for - Real-time deterministic, distributed systems. - Control system requirements - Fault detection and recovery Other JPL Projects Considering Implementation F'light Software Ring Bus Driver Module Began in 2006, Continues Participating in Standard Revision. Search for Earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars and measure the masses and orbits of the planets it finds. Survey 2000 nearby stars for planetary systems to learn whether our Solar System is unusual, or typical. Make a new catalog of star position 100 times more accurate than current measurements. Learn how our galaxy formed and will evolve by studying the dynamics of its stars. Critically test models of exactly how stars shine, including exotic objects like black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs.

Persistence of initial conditions in continental scale air quality ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This study investigates the effect of initial conditions (IC) for pollutant concentrations in the atmosphere and soil on simulated air quality for two continental-scale Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model applications. One of these applications was performed for springtime and the second for summertime. Results show that a spin-up period of ten days commonly used in regional-scale applications may not be sufficient to reduce the effects of initial conditions to less than 1% of seasonally-averaged surface ozone concentrations everywhere while 20 days were found to be sufficient for the entire domain for the spring case and almost the entire domain for the summer case. For the summer case, differences were found to persist longer aloft due to circulation of air masses and even a spin-up period of 30 days was not sufficient to reduce the effects of ICs to less than 1% of seasonally-averaged layer 34 ozone concentrations over the southwestern portion of the modeling domain. Analysis of the effect of soil initial conditions for the CMAQ bidirectional NH3 exchange model shows that during springtime they can have an important effect on simulated inorganic aerosols concentrations for time periods of one month or longer. The effects are less pronounced during other seasons. The results, while specific to the modeling domain and time periods simulated here, suggest that modeling protocols need to be scrutinized for a given application and that it cannot be assum

[Idiopathic ventricular arrhythmia in children. Apropos of 24 cases].

PubMed

Coeurderoy, A; Almange, C; Laurent, M; Biron, Y; Leborgne, P

1985-12-01

The severity and prognosis of idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias in childhood were studied in 24 patients (12 boys, 12 girls) with an average age of 8 years at the time of diagnosis of the arrhythmia. Investigations included clinical assessment and analysis of basal ECG (morphology of the arrhythmias) and dynamic recordings (Holter and exercise stress testing). The clinical course was followed for an average of 3.8 years. The patients were classified in two groups: monomorphic arrhythmias (Group I) and polymorphic arrhythmias (Group II). Group I was divided into 4 subgroups: isolated ventricular extrasystoles (IA), 11 patients; ventricular extrasystoles with bursts of ventricular tachycardia (IB), 6 patients; sustained ventricular tachycardia without intercritical extrasystoles (IC), 1 patient; accelerated idioventricular rhythm (ID), 2 patients. Subgroups IA, IB and ID were characterised by the absence of symptoms, the disappearance of the arrhythmia on exercise, the decreased efficacy of antiarrhythmic drugs and an excellent prognosis. Therapeutic abstention was the rule in these patients. Patients in Group IC were characterised by the variability of their symptoms, the absence of exercise induced arrhythmias, the need for treatment in most cases and a good long-term prognosis. Group II was divided into 2 subgroups: adrenergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (IIA), 2 patients, and non-adrenergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (IIB), 2 patients. Patients in Subgroup IIA were characterised by syncope on exercise or emotion, the need for betablocker therapy which considerably improved the patients symptoms but which did not usually prevent sudden death.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Wide-temperature integrated operational amplifier

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mojarradi, Mohammad (Inventor); Levanas, Greg (Inventor); Chen, Yuan (Inventor); Cozy, Raymond S. (Inventor); Greenwell, Robert (Inventor); Terry, Stephen (Inventor); Blalock, Benjamin J. (Inventor)

2009-01-01

The present invention relates to a reference current circuit. The reference circuit comprises a low-level current bias circuit, a voltage proportional-to-absolute temperature generator for creating a proportional-to-absolute temperature voltage (VPTAT), and a MOSFET-based constant-IC regulator circuit. The MOSFET-based constant-IC regulator circuit includes a constant-IC input and constant-IC output. The constant-IC input is electrically connected with the VPTAT generator such that the voltage proportional-to-absolute temperature is the input into the constant-IC regulator circuit. Thus the constant-IC output maintains the constant-IC ratio across any temperature range.

In defense of adolescents: They really do use braces for the hours prescribed, if good help is provided. Results from a prospective everyday clinic cohort using thermobrace

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The effectiveness of bracing relies on the quality of the brace, compliance of the patient, and some disease factors. Patients and parents tend to overestimate adherence, so an objective assessment of compliance has been developed through the use of heat sensors. In 2010 we started the everyday clinical use of a temperature sensor, and the aim of this study is to present our initial results. Methods Population: A prospective cohort of 68 scoliosis patients that finished at least 4 months of brace treatment on March 31, 2011: 48 at their first evaluation (79% females, age 14.2±2.4) and 20 already in treatment. Treatment: Bracing (SPoRT concept); physiotherapic specific exercises (SEAS School); team approach according to the SOSORT Bracing Management Guidelines. Methods. A heat sensor, “Thermobrace” (TB), has been validated and applied to the brace. The real (measured by TB) and referred (reported by the patient) compliances were calculated. Statistics. The distribution was not normal, hence median and 95% interval confidence (IC95) and non-parametric tests had to be used. Results Average TB use: 5.5±1.5 months. Brace prescription was 23 hours/day (h/d) (IC95 18–23), with a referred compliance of 100% (IC95 70.7-100%) and a real one of 91.7% (IC95 56.6-101.7%), corresponding to 20 h/d (IC95 11–23). The more the brace was prescribed, the more compliant the patient was (94.8% in 23 h/d vs. 73.2% in 18 h/d, P < 0.05). Sixty percent of the patients had at least 90% compliance, and 45% remained within 1 hour of what had been prescribed. Non-wearing days were 0 (IC95 0–12.95), and involved 29% of patients. Conclusion This is the first study using a TB in a setting of respect for the SOSORT criteria for bracing, and it states that it is possible to achieve a very good compliance, even with a full time prescription, and better than what was previously reported (80% maximum). We hypothesize that the treating team (SOSORT criteria) plays a major role in our results. This study suggests that compliance is neither due to the type of treatment only nor to the patient alone. According to our experience, TB offers valuable insights and do not undermine the relationship with the patients. PMID:22651570

Mod 1 ICS TI Report: ICS Conversion of a 140% HPGe Detector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bounds, John Alan

This report evaluates the Mod 1 ICS, an electrically cooled 140% HPGe detector. It is a custom version of the ORTEC Integrated Cooling System (ICS) modified to make it more practical for us to use in the field. Performance and operating characteristics of the Mod 1 ICS are documented, noting both pros and cons. The Mod 1 ICS is deemed a success. Recommendations for a Mod 2 ICS, a true field prototype, are provided.

An experimental study on the preparation of tochilinite-originated intercalation compounds comprised of Fe 1-xS host layers and various kinds of guest layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Yiya; Xi, Guangcheng; Zhong, Chang; Wang, Linping; Lu, Jun; Sun, Ximeng; Zhu, Lu; Han, Qikun; Chen, Lin; Shi, Lei; Sun, Mei; Li, Qianrong; Yu, Min; Yin, Mingwen

2009-08-01

Tochilinite represents a mineral group of ordered mixed-layer structures containing alternating Fe 1-xS layers with mackinawite-like structure and metal hydroxide layers with Mg(OH) 2-like structure. In this article, we report the preparation of a series of tochilinite-originated (or Fe 1-xS-based) intercalation compounds (ICs). According to their preparation procedures, these ICs can be divided into four kinds. The first kind of IC was sodium tochilinite (Na-tochilinite), which was prepared by the hydrothermal reaction of metallic Fe particles with concentrated Na 2S·9H 2O aqueous solutions. The hydroxide layer of the Na-tochilinite was a mixed hydroxide of Na + ions along with a certain amount of Fe 2+ ions. When the hydroxide layer of the Na-tochilinite completely dissolved in aqueous solutions, a Fe-deficient mackinawite-like phase Fe 1-xS was obtained, which was probably an electron-deficient p-type conductor. The second kind of ICs was prepared by 'low-temperature direct intercalation in aqueous solutions, using Na-tochilinite as a parental precursor. When the Na-tochilinite was ultrasonicated in aqueous solutions containing Lewis basic complexing agents (like NH 3, N 2H 4, 2,2'-bipyridine (bipy), and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen)), the Na + ions of the Na-tochilinite were removed and the Lewis basic complexing agents entered the hydroxide layer of the Na-tochilinite and became coordinated with the Fe 2+ ions, and the second kind of ICs was thus produced. The second kind of ICs includes NH 3 IC, N 2H 4 IC, N 2H 4-NH 3 IC, [Fe(bipy) 3] 2+-containing IC and [Fe(phen) 3] 2+-containing IC. The third kind of ICs, which includes NH 3 IC, N 2H 4-NH 3 IC and N 2H 4-LiOH (NaOH) IC, was prepared by the hydrothermal reaction of metallic Fe particles with (NH 4) 2S aqueous solution, S (elemental) + N 2H 4·H 2O aqueous solution, and S + N 2H 4·H 2O + LiOH (NaOH) aqueous solution, respectively. The third kind of ICs has a close relationship with the second kind of ICs both in composition and structure. The fourth kind of ICs was prepared by the oxidation and reduction of some of the N 2H 4-containing ICs mentioned above, which include N 2H 2 (diazene or diimide) IC, N 2 (dinitrogen) IC and NH 3 IC. The N 2H 2 IC was prepared by mild air oxidation of the N 2H 4-LiOH IC. The N 2 IC was prepared by strong air oxidation of the N 2H 4-LiOH IC, however, we have not been able to separate the pure phase N 2 IC. Hydrothermal reduction of the N 2H 4 IC made by the direct intercalation method in strong reducing environment by H 2S + Fe (metal) led to the production of the NH 3 IC of the fourth kind of ICs. The NH 3 ICs prepared by the three methods had similar compositions and structures. As almost all the ICs reported in this paper were extremely sensitive both to air and to the electron beam, they were mainly characterized by XRD. The properties and interrelationships (or mutual transformations) of the Fe 1-xS-based ICs revealed novel chemistry occurring in the sub-nanoscopic space between the micrometer- to nanometer-sized electron-deficient Fe 1-xS layers. An important finding of this novel chemistry was that the Fe 1-xS-based ICs tended to oxidize or reduce the intercalated species when the redox state of their environments varied. The results of our experiments potentially have many cosmochemical implications. The most important implication is that our experimental results, along with previous studies, strongly suggested that some of the ammonium salts, ammonia and carbonates existing in the matrix of the CM carbonaceous chondrites may have been formed by abiotic reactions employing molecular nitrogen as the nitrogen source and carbon monoxide as the carbon source and iron sulfide and/or iron hydroxide as catalysts.

Live Cell Imaging Reveals Differential Modifications to Cytoplasmic Dynein Properties by Phospho- and Dephospho-mimic Mutations of the Intermediate Chain 2C S84

PubMed Central

Blasier, Kiev R.; Humsi, Michael K.; Ha, Junghoon; Ross, Mitchell W.; Smiley, W. Russell; Inamdar, Nirja A.; Mitchell, David J.; Lo, Kevin W.-H.; Pfister, K. Kevin

2014-01-01

Cytoplasmic dynein is a multi-subunit motor protein responsible for intracellular cargo transport toward microtubule minus ends. There are multiple isoforms of the dynein intermediate chain (DYNC1I, IC) which is encoded by two genes. One way to regulate cytoplasmic dynein is by IC phosphorylation. The IC-2C isoform is expressed in all cells and the functional significance of phosphorylation on IC-2C serine 84 was investigated using live cell imaging of fluorescent protein-tagged wild type IC-2C (WT) and phospho- and dephospho-mimic mutant isoforms in axonal transport model systems. Both mutations modulated dynein functional properties. The dephospho-mimic mutant IC-2C S84A had greater co-localization with mitochondria than IC-2C wild-type (WT) or the phospho-mimic mutant IC-2C S84D. The dephospho-mimic mutant IC-2C S84A was also more likely to be motile than the phospho-mimic mutant IC-2C S84D or IC-2C WT. In contrast, the phospho-mimic mutant IC-2C S84D mutant was more likely to move in the retrograde direction than was the IC-2C S84A mutant. The phospho-mimic IC-2C S84D was also as likely as IC-2C WT to co-localize with mitochondria. Both the S84D phospho- and S84A, dephospho-mimic mutants were found to be capable of microtubule minus end directed (retrograde) movement in axons. They were also observed to be passively transported in the anterograde direction. These data suggest that the IC-2C S84 has a role in modulating dynein properties. PMID:24798412

Characterizing driver-response relationships in marine pelagic ecosystems for improved ocean management.

PubMed

Hunsicker, Mary E; Kappel, Carrie V; Selkoe, Kimberly A; Halpern, Benjamin S; Scarborough, Courtney; Mease, Lindley; Amrhein, Alisan

2016-04-01

Scientists and resource managers often use methods and tools that assume ecosystem components respond linearly to environmental drivers and human stressors. However, a growing body of literature demonstrates that many relationships are-non-linear, where small changes in a driver prompt a disproportionately large ecological response. We aim to provide a comprehensive assessment of the relationships between drivers and ecosystem components to identify where and when non-linearities are likely to occur. We focused our analyses on one of the best-studied marine systems, pelagic ecosystems, which allowed us to apply robust statistical techniques on a large pool of previously published studies. In this synthesis, we (1) conduct a wide literature review on single driver-response relationships in pelagic systems, (2) use statistical models to identify the degree of non-linearity in these relationships, and (3) assess whether general patterns exist in the strengths and shapes of non-linear relationships across drivers. Overall we found that non-linearities are common in pelagic ecosystems, comprising at least 52% of all driver-response relation- ships. This is likely an underestimate, as papers with higher quality data and analytical approaches reported non-linear relationships at a higher frequency (on average 11% more). Consequently, in the absence of evidence for a linear relationship, it is safer to assume a relationship is non-linear. Strong non-linearities can lead to greater ecological and socioeconomic consequences if they are unknown (and/or unanticipated), but if known they may provide clear thresholds to inform management targets. In pelagic systems, strongly non-linear relationships are often driven by climate and trophodynamic variables but are also associated with local stressors, such as overfishing and pollution, that can be more easily controlled by managers. Even when marine resource managers cannot influence ecosystem change, they can use information about threshold responses to guide how other stressors are managed and to adapt to new ocean conditions. As methods to detect and reduce uncertainty around threshold values improve, managers will be able to better understand and account for ubiquitous non-linear relationships.

Synergistic effect of sevoflurane and isoflurane on inhibition of the adult-type muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor by rocuronium.

PubMed

Liu, Li; Li, Wei; Wei, Ke; Cao, Jun; Luo, Jie; Wang, Bin; Min, Su

2013-06-01

Inhaled anesthetics increase the incidence of postoperative residual neuromuscular blockade, and the mechanism is still unclear. We have investigated the synergistic effect of low-concentration inhaled anesthetics and rocuronium on inhibition of the inward current of the adult-type muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (ε-nAChR). Adult-type mouse muscle ε-nAChR was expressed in HEK293 cells by liposome transfection. The inward current of the ε-nAChR was activated by use of 10 μmol/L acetylcholine alone or in combination with different concentrations of sevoflurane, isoflurane, or rocuronium. The concentration-response curves of five cells were constructed, and the data yielded the 5, 25, and 50 % inhibitory concentrations (IC5, IC25, and IC50, respectively) for single-drug application. Subsequently, the functional channels were perfused by adding 0.5 IC5 of either sevoflurane or isoflurane (aqueous concentrations 140 and 100 μmol/L, respectively) to the solution, followed by addition of IC5, IC25, or IC50 rocuronium. The amount of inhibition was calculated to quantify their synergistic effect. The inhibitory effect of rocuronium was enhanced by sevoflurane or isoflurane in a concentration-dependent manner. Sevoflurane or isoflurane (0.5 IC5) with rocuronium at IC5, IC25, and IC50 synergistically inhibited the current amplitude of adult-type muscle ε-nAChR. When the IC5 of rocuronium was used, isoflurane had a stronger synergistic effect than sevoflurane (p < 0.05). When rocuronium was applied at higher concentrations (IC25 and IC50), sevoflurane had an effect similar to that of isoflurane. For both inhaled anesthetics, the synergistic effect was more intense for rocuronium at IC5 than for rocuronium at IC25 or IC50. Residual-concentration sevoflurane or isoflurane has a strong synergistic effect with rocuronium at clinically relevant residual concentrations. A lower rocuronium concentration resulted in a stronger synergistic effect.

Interaction of temperature, humidity, driver preferences, and refrigerant type on air conditioning compressor usage.

PubMed

Levine, C; Younglove, T; Barth, M

2000-10-01

Recent studies have shown large increases in vehicle emissions when the air conditioner (AC) compressor is engaged. Factors that affect the compressor-on percentage can have a significant impact on vehicle emissions and can also lead to prediction errors in current emissions models if not accounted for properly. During 1996 and 1997, the University of California, Riverside, College of Engineering-Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) conducted a vehicle activity study for the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in the Sacramento, CA, region. The vehicles were randomly selected from all registered vehicles in the region. As part of this study, ten vehicles were instrumented to collect AC compressor on/off data on a second-by-second basis in the summer of 1997. Temperature and humidity data were obtained and averaged on an hourly basis. The ten drivers were asked to complete a short survey about AC operational preferences. This paper examines the effects of temperature, humidity, refrigerant type, and driver preferences on air conditioning compressor activity. Overall, AC was in use in 69.1% of the trips monitored. The compressor was on an average of 64% of the time during the trips. The personal preference settings had a significant effect on the AC compressor-on percentage but did not interact with temperature. The refrigerant types, however, exhibited a differential response across temperature, which may necessitate separate modeling of the R12 refrigerant-equipped vehicles from the R134A-equipped vehicles. It should be noted that some older vehicles do get retrofitted with new compressors that use R134A; however, none of the vehicles in this study had been retrofitted.

Backset and cervical retraction capacity among occupants in a modern car.

PubMed

Jonsson, Bertil; Stenlund, Hans; Svensson, Mats Y; Björnstig, Ulf

2007-03-01

The horizontal distance between the back of the head and the frontal of the head restraint (backset) and rearward head movement relative to the torso (cervical retraction) were studied in different occupant postures and positions in a modern car. A stratified randomized population of 154 test subjects was studied in a Volvo V70 year model 2003 car, in driver, front passenger, and rear passenger position. In each position, the subjects adopted (i) a self-selected posture, (ii) a sagging posture, and (iii) an erect posture. Cervical retraction, backset, and vertical distance from the top of the head restraint to the occipital protuberance in the back of the head of the test subject were measured. These data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and linear regression analysis with a significance level set to p < 0.05. In the self-selected posture, the average backset was 61 mm for drivers, 29 mm for front passengers, and 103 mm for rear passengers (p < 0.001). Women had lower mean backset (40 mm) than men (81 mm), particularly in the self-selected driving position. Backset was larger and cervical retraction capacity lower in the sagging posture than in the self-selected posture for occupants in all three occupant positions. Rear passengers had the largest backset values. Backset values decreased with increased age. The average cervical retraction capacity in self-selected posture was 35 mm for drivers, 30 mm for front passengers, and 33 mm for rear passengers (p < 0.001). Future design of rear-end impact protection may take these study results into account when trying to reduce backset before impact. Our results might be used for future development and use of BioRID manikins and rear-end tests in consumer rating test programs such as Euro-NCAP.

Can multi-generational exposure to ocean warming and acidification lead to the adaptation of life history and physiology in a marine metazoan?

PubMed

Gibbin, Emma M; Chakravarti, Leela J; Jarrold, Michael D; Christen, Felix; Turpin, Vincent; Massamba N'Siala, Gloria; Blier, Pierre U; Calosi, Piero

2017-02-15

Ocean warming and acidification are concomitant global drivers that are currently threatening the survival of marine organisms. How species will respond to these changes depends on their capacity for plastic and adaptive responses. Little is known about the mechanisms that govern plasticity and adaptability or how global changes will influence these relationships across multiple generations. Here, we exposed the emerging model marine polychaete Ophryotrocha labronica to conditions simulating ocean warming and acidification, in isolation and in combination over five generations to identify: (i) how multiple versus single global change drivers alter both juvenile and adult life-history traits; (ii) the mechanistic link between adult physiological and fitness-related life-history traits; and (iii) whether the phenotypic changes observed over multiple generations are of plastic and/or adaptive origin. Two juvenile (developmental rate; survival to sexual maturity) and two adult (average reproductive body size; fecundity) life-history traits were measured in each generation, in addition to three physiological (cellular reactive oxygen species content, mitochondrial density, mitochondrial capacity) traits. We found that multi-generational exposure to warming alone caused an increase in juvenile developmental rate, reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial density, decreases in average reproductive body size and fecundity, and fluctuations in mitochondrial capacity, relative to control conditions. Exposure to ocean acidification alone had only minor effects on juvenile developmental rate. Remarkably, when both drivers of global change were present, only mitochondrial capacity was significantly affected, suggesting that ocean warming and acidification act as opposing vectors of stress across multiple generations. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Seat belt use to save face: impact on drivers' body region and nature of injury in motor vehicle crashes.

PubMed

Han, Guang-Ming; Newmyer, Ashley; Qu, Ming

2015-01-01

Seat belt use is the single most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries in motor vehicle crashes. However, some case reports described seat belt use as a double-edged sword because some injuries are related to seat belt use in motor vehicle crashes. To comprehensively understand the effects of seat belt use, we systemically investigated the association between seat belt use and injuries based on anatomic body region and type of injury in drivers involved in motor vehicle crashes. The injury information was obtained by linking crash reports with hospital discharge data and categorized by using the diagnosis codes based on the Barell injury diagnosis matrix. A total of 10,479 drivers (≥15 years) in passenger vehicles involved in motor vehicle crashes from 2006 to 2011 were included in this study. Seat belt use significantly reduced the proportions of traumatic brain injury (10.4% non-seat belt; 4.1% seat belt) and other head, face, and neck injury (29.3% non-seat belt; 16.6% seat belt) but increased the proportion of spine: thoracic to coccyx injury (17.9% non-seat belt; 35.5% seat belt). Although the proportion of spine: thoracic to coccyx injury was increased in drivers with seat belt use, the severity of injury was decreased, such as fracture (4.2% with seat belt use; 22.0% without seat belt use). Furthermore, the total medical charges decreased due to the change of injury profiles in drivers with seat belt use from a higher percentage of fractures (average cost for per case $26,352) to a higher percentage of sprains and/or strains ($1,897) with spine: thoracic to coccyx injury. This study provide a comprehensive picture for understanding the protective effect of seat belt use on injuries based on anatomic body region and type of injury in drivers involved in motor vehicle crashes.

Key drivers for market penetration of biosimilars in Europe.

PubMed

Rémuzat, Cécile; Dorey, Julie; Cristeau, Olivier; Ionescu, Dan; Radière, Guerric; Toumi, Mondher

2017-01-01

Background & Objectives : Potential drivers and barriers of biosimilar uptake were mainly analysed through qualitative approaches. The study objective was to conduct a quantitative analysis and identify drivers of biosimilar uptake of all available biosimilars in the European Union (EU). Methods : A three-step process was established to identify key drivers for the uptake of biosimilars in the top 10 EU member states (MS) pharmaceutical markets (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK): (1) literature review to identify incentive policies in place to enhance biosimilars adoption; (2) assessment of biosimilar market dynamics based on database analysis; (3) regression model analysis on price using the following explicative variables: incentive policies; price difference between the biosimilar and the originator product; distribution channel; generic uptake and generic price cut; pharmaceutical expenditure per capita; and market competition. Results : At the study cut-off date, 20 biosimilars were available on the market. Incentive policies applied to biosimilars were found to be heterogeneous across countries, and uptakes of biosimilars were also very heterogeneous between different therapeutic classes and countries. Results from the model demonstrated that incentive policies and the date of first biosimilar market entry were correlated to biosimilar uptake. Pharmaceutical expenditure per capita and the highest generic uptake were inversely correlated with biosimilar uptake. Average generic price discount over originator and the number of biosimilars showed a trend toward statistical significance for correlation with biosimilar uptake, but did not reach the significance threshold. Biosimilar price discount over original biologic price, the number of analogues, and the distribution channel were not correlated with the biosimilar uptake. Conclusions : Understanding drivers of biosimilar uptake becomes a critical issue to inform policy decision-makers. This study showed that incentive policies to enhance uptake remain an important driver of biosimilar penetration, while biosimilar price discounts have no impact. Future research is warranted when the biosimilar market gains maturity.

Key drivers for market penetration of biosimilars in Europe

PubMed Central

Rémuzat, Cécile; Dorey, Julie; Cristeau, Olivier; Ionescu, Dan; Radière, Guerric; Toumi, Mondher

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Background & Objectives: Potential drivers and barriers of biosimilar uptake were mainly analysed through qualitative approaches. The study objective was to conduct a quantitative analysis and identify drivers of biosimilar uptake of all available biosimilars in the European Union (EU). Methods: A three-step process was established to identify key drivers for the uptake of biosimilars in the top 10 EU member states (MS) pharmaceutical markets (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK): (1) literature review to identify incentive policies in place to enhance biosimilars adoption; (2) assessment of biosimilar market dynamics based on database analysis; (3) regression model analysis on price using the following explicative variables: incentive policies; price difference between the biosimilar and the originator product; distribution channel; generic uptake and generic price cut; pharmaceutical expenditure per capita; and market competition. Results: At the study cut-off date, 20 biosimilars were available on the market. Incentive policies applied to biosimilars were found to be heterogeneous across countries, and uptakes of biosimilars were also very heterogeneous between different therapeutic classes and countries. Results from the model demonstrated that incentive policies and the date of first biosimilar market entry were correlated to biosimilar uptake. Pharmaceutical expenditure per capita and the highest generic uptake were inversely correlated with biosimilar uptake. Average generic price discount over originator and the number of biosimilars showed a trend toward statistical significance for correlation with biosimilar uptake, but did not reach the significance threshold. Biosimilar price discount over original biologic price, the number of analogues, and the distribution channel were not correlated with the biosimilar uptake. Conclusions: Understanding drivers of biosimilar uptake becomes a critical issue to inform policy decision-makers. This study showed that incentive policies to enhance uptake remain an important driver of biosimilar penetration, while biosimilar price discounts have no impact. Future research is warranted when the biosimilar market gains maturity. PMID:28265349

Taking actions to quit chewing betel nuts and starting a new life: taxi drivers' successful experiences of quitting betel nut chewing.

PubMed

Yang, Tsui-Yun; Lin, Hung-Ru

2017-04-01

To understand taxi drivers' successful experiences of quitting betel nut chewing. Previous studies verified that betel nut chewing significantly increases the risk of oral cancer. In Taiwan, taxi drivers work for approximately 10-13 hours per day, and 31·7-80% of them choose to chew betel nuts for their invigorating qualities, which enable them to work more hours and receive more income. A qualitative research design was used. This study used the grounded theory method with purposive sampling to perform in-depth interviews with male taxi drivers who had successfully quit betel nut chewing for more than six months. The interviewed participants were 25 taxi drivers aged 45-67 who had chewed betel nuts for an average of 30·9 years. A constant comparative analysis of the 25 interviews revealed six categories, namely the first experience of chewing betel nuts, a part of work and life, perceiving the impact of betel nuts, trying to change, acting to quit betel nut chewing and starting a new life. During the cessation process, taxi drivers tended to be affected by their addiction to chewing betel nuts and the temptation of friends' invitations to chew betel nuts. However, their recognition of the physical effects of betel nut chewing and their sense of responsibility and commitment to family were the critical factors affecting their determination to quit betel nut chewing. Their willpower to not to chew betel nuts and the source of their motivation to exercise self-control also contributed to their success. Healthcare personnel should understand the experiences and perceptions of betel nut chewers, strengthen their understanding of the effects of betel nut chewing on physical health during the cessation period and support their self-efficacy and quitting behaviours with the assistance of significant others. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.