Collective Perception: A Safety Perspective

Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication is seen as one of the main enabling technol-ogies for automated vehicles. Collective perception is especially promising, as it allows connected traffic participants to “see through the eyes of others” by sharing sensor-detected objects via V2X communication. Its benefit is typically assessed in terms of the increased object update rate, redun-dancy, and awareness. To determine the safety improvement thanks to collective perception, the authors introduce new metrics, which quantify the environmental risk awareness of the traffic par-ticipants. The performance of the V2X service is then analyzed with the help of the test platform TEPLITS, using real traffic traces from German highways, amounting to over 100 h of total driving time. The results in the considered scenarios clearly show that collective perception not only con-tributes to the accuracy and integrity of the vehicles’ environmental perception, but also that a V2X market penetration of at least 25% is necessary to increase traffic safety from a “risk of serious traffic accidents” to a “residual hypothetical risk of collisions without minor injuries” for traffic participants equipped with non-redundant 360° sensor systems. These results support the ongoing world-wide standardization efforts of the collective perception service

Cooperative awareness using roadside unit networks in mixed traffic

International audienceVehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) messaging is an indispensable component of connected autonomous vehicle systems. Although V2V standards have been specified by the European Union, United States, and Japan, the deployment phase represents mixed traffic in which connected and legacy vehicles co-exist. To enhance cooperative awareness in this mixed traffic, we assessed the special roadside unit that we developed in our previous work that generates required V2V messages on behalf of sensed target vehicles. In this paper, we extend our earlier work to propose a system called Grid Proxy Cooperative Awareness Message to broaden the cooperative awareness message dissemination area by connecting infrastructure using high-speed roadside networks. To minimize delay in message delivery, we designed the proposed system to use edge computing. The proposed scheme delivers cooperative messages to a wider area with a low delay and a high packet delivery ratio by prioritizing packets by their respective safety contributions. Our simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme efficiently delivers messages in heavy road traffic conditions modeled on real maps of Tokyo and Paris

Losing Touch:An embodiment perspective on coordination in robotic surgery

Because new technologies allow new performances, mediations, representations, and information flows, they are often associated with changes in how coordination is achieved. Current coordination research emphasizes its situated and emergent nature, but seldom accounts for the role of embodied action. Building on a 25-month field study of the da Vinci robot, an endoscopic system for minimally invasive surgery, we bring to the fore the role of the body in how coordination was reconfigured in response to a change in technological mediation. Using the robot, surgeons experienced both an augmentation and a reduction of what they can do with their bodies in terms of haptic, visual, and auditory perception and manipulative dexterity. These bodily augmentations and reductions affected joint task performance and led to coordinative adaptations (e.g., spatial relocating, redistributing tasks, accommodating novel perceptual dependencies, and mounting novel responses) that, over time, resulted in reconfiguration of roles, including expanded occupational knowledge, emergence of new specializations, and shifts in status and boundaries. By emphasizing the importance of the body in coordination, this paper suggests that an embodiment perspective is important for explaining how and why coordination evolves following the introduction of a new technology

Kollektive Perzeption in fahrzeugbasierten Ad-hoc Netzwerken

In combination with the current developments in the area of automatically driving vehicles, the introduction of inter-vehicle communication plays a crucial role for realising the long-term objective of what is known as cooperative driving. A cornerstone for the expansion of automated vehicles is their thorough understanding of the current driving environment. For this purpose, each vehicle generates an environment model containing information about other perceived traffic participants and objects. Local perception sensors are important data providers for this model, as they contribute implicit knowledge about the environment. In combination with a direct communication link between traffic participants, explicit knowledge can be added to the environment model as well. The key concept developed within this thesis is called Collective Perception: it focuses on sharing data gathered by local perception sensors of one vehicle with other traffic participants by means of inter-vehicle communication. As a result of this concept, future applications relying on a comprehensive understanding of the current driving environment are made feasible. The analyses presented in this thesis employ a vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) based on the standardised framework of the European IEEE 802.11p-based ITS G5 protocol stack for inter-vehicle communication. The effectiveness of the technology relies on an existing communication link between a sufficient number of communication partners - the critical mass. The expansion of inter-vehicle communication, however, can be supported by capacitating indirect effects. Collective Perception is one representative of these effects, as the information density within the network between the vehicles is increased, even at low market penetration rates. At the core of Collective Perception stands the introduction of a message format which serves as a vehicle for the exchange of sensor data within a VANET. The development of the message is influenced by two perspectives: First, the vehicle perspective affects the relevant contents of the message required by data-fusion processes and application algorithms. Second, from the network perspective, constraints resulting from the network stack and effects caused by congestion control mechanisms have to be considered. This thesis addresses both perspectives to develop a holistic concept for exchanging sensor data within a VANET.Im Zusammenhang mit den aktuellen Entwicklungen im Themenbereich automatisch fahrender Fahrzeuge spielt die Einführung der Fahrzeug-zu-Fahrzeug-Kommunikation eine zunehmend wichtige Rolle, um langfristig kooperatives Fahren zu realisieren. Eine Voraussetzung für dessen Umsetzung ist dabei die umfassende Wahrnehmung der aktuellen Fahrumgebung. Jedes Fahrzeug erstellt dafür ein sogenanntes Umfeldmodell, welches Informationen über andere Verkehrsteilnehmer und Objekte beinhaltet. Eine wichtige Datenquelle für dieses Modell sind zum einen lokale Umfeldsensoren, welche implizites Wissen über die aktuelle Fahrumgebung beisteuern. Zum anderen kann dem Umfeldmodell bei einer direkten Kommunikationsverbindung mit anderen Verkehrsteilnehmern auch explizites Wissen hinzugefügt werden. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird ein Konzept zur Realisierung der sogenannten kollektiven Wahrnehmung entwickelt: Hierbei wird Fahrzeugen der Austausch lokaler Sensordaten mit anderen Verkehrsteilnehmern unter Verwendung der Fahrzeug-zu-Fahrzeug-Kommunikation ermöglicht. Somit können zukünftige Fahrerassistenzfunktionen auf ein umfassenderes Umfeldmodell zugreifen. Den im Rahmen der Arbeit durchgeführten Analysen liegt ein fahrzeugbasiertes Ad-hoc Netzwerk zugrunde, welches auf dem europäischen IEEE 802.11p basierten ITS G5 Protokollstapel beruht. Die Effektivität der Technologie fußt hierbei auf der Existenz der sogenannten kritischen Masse: Eine ausreichende Anzahl an Kommunikationspartnern muss zugegen sein, damit der Technologie ein Nutzen zugemessen werden kann. Die Verbreitung der Technologie kann jedoch durch indirekte Effekte unterstützt werden. Die kollektive Wahrnehmung ist ein Repräsentant dieser indirekten Effekte, da die Informationsdichte in dem zwischen den Fahrzeugen bestehenden Netzwerk selbst bei niedrigen Marktausstattungsraten erhöht wird. Im Rahmen der Arbeit wird daher ein neues Nachrichtenformat entwickelt, welches von zwei Perspektiven beeinflusst: Die Sicht der fahrzeugseitigen Assistenzsysteme und deren Datenfusionsalgorithmen beeinflusst die notwendigen Inhalte der Nachricht. Weiterhin werden aus der Netzwerksicht durch Mechanismen wie denen der Lastkontrolle und den bestehenden Nachrichtengrößenbeschränkungen spezifische Anforderungen gestellt. Beide Untersuchungen werden dabei in der Arbeit zur Erstellung eines ganzheitlichen Konzeptes für die kollektive Wahrnehmung verbunden

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 386)

This bibliography lists 117 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Mar. 1994. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance

Art and Medicine: A Collaborative Project Between Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar and Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar

Four faculty researchers, two from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, and two from Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar developed a one semester workshop-based course in Qatar exploring the connections between art and medicine in a contemporary context. Students (6 art / 6 medicine) were enrolled in the course. The course included presentations by clinicians, medical engineers, artists, computing engineers, an art historian, a graphic designer, a painter, and other experts from the fields of art, design, and medicine. To measure the student experience of interdisciplinarity, the faculty researchers employed a mixed methods approach involving psychometric tests and observational ethnography. Data instruments included pre- and post-course semi-structured audio interviews, pre-test / post-test psychometric instruments (Budner Scale and Torrance Tests of Creativity), observational field notes, self-reflective blogging, and videography. This book describes the course and the experience of the students. It also contains images of the interdisciplinary work they created for a culminating class exhibition. Finally, the book provides insight on how different fields in a Middle Eastern context can share critical /analytical thinking tools to refine their own professional practices

Infrastructure in-between: reprogramming urban infrastructure

This thesis proposes that highways and other infrastructure be looked at in a different manner. Though typically divisive in the urban context, it doesn\u27t have to be so. Just as transportation systems connect across the country, so it can connect at a local level. The proposition is not anti-thetical place or community, but neither is it subjected and held hostage to them. It is both rooted and free, reflecting American culture itself. The site is located under and adjacent to a short section of Interstate 40 in Knoxville, Tennessee, home of what has been the largest socio-infrastructural effort in the country\u27s history, and 40 miles from Oak Ridge, where development of the Atomic bomb changed the perception, scale, and impact of our common arsenal. The site also adjoins very real and valuable communities. The eclectic residential neighborhood of 4th & Gill borders to the north, and the entertainment and retail district known as the Old City to the south. Between the two districts the landscape is deteriorated, though some valuable manufacturing defines the zone, and provides some larger scale massing in an otherwise lower scale of context. Each community that occupies or engages the ground-plane of the site is local and particular to the history of the city of Knoxville. Another, very different community uses the site in a very different way, and a different elevation. That is, the linear community of the highway. The infrastructure here has acted to the detriment of the city and those who pass through it. Recognizing the current, changed nature of the site requires that the modern place of the highway be recognized, designed for, and integrated. Essentially, the intent is not only to reconnect severed districts, but also connect them to the element that disconnects them. The goal is to integrate the exclusive communities by providing for common programmatic needs. The primary program is providing the city and Interstate with an intermodal transportation center; though, additional programs are integrated to engage both the visitor and resident. Everyday needs of people who live the various lifestyles are surprisingly similar. Each need markets, restaurants, laundries, Post offices, places for recreation and exercise, etc. That given, there are other needs that are addressed in particular ways. Travelers are provided with places for rest and relief that are typical of travel centers. City residents are accommodated with evene�paces, a learning center, clinic, etcetera. Though these programs are understood to be directive, they remain non-exclusive and would certainly allow for situations of contact and engagement across boundaries that are currently impassable. Transforming boundaries into thre�holds is the architectural and social directive explored here. It is achieved through simple observation, realization of overlapping opportunities and needs, and a design that recognizes scale, connectivity, identity, and experience

Visual expertise as embodied practice

This study looks at the practice of thoracic radiology and follows a group of radiologists and radiophysicists in their efforts to find, discuss, and formulate issues or troubles ensuing the implementation of a new radiographic imaging technology. Based in the theoretical tradition of ethnomethodology it examines the local endogenous practices pertaining to the radiologists’ expertise in the interpretation of visual representations and tries to explicate the ways in which they draw upon various resources in order to accomplish their professional tasks. As the study is addressing the topic of visual expertise it also aims to do so in terms that acknowledge that all expertise is rooted in embodied practices. The analysis follows a case of what is called the enacted production of radiological reasoning. One of the central features of the described work is the manner in which it is carried out by way of the living present body of an expert. The experienced radiologist interweaves anatomical and technological terminology with visual representations and gestures in such a way that none of these components can be said to be superfluous to the argumentation. As a consequence, we should appreciate gestures and embodied actions as important means through which expertise become organised. These are parts of a repertoire of methods through which the experts learn their profession. In addition, gestures can also become enrolled in the re-negotiation of expertise in the face of new challenges

Robust distributed resource allocation for cellular vehicle-to-vehicle communication

Mit Release 14 des LTE Standards unterstützt dieser die direkte Fahrzeug-zu-Fahrzeug-Kommunikation über den Sidelink. Diese Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit dem Scheduling Modus 4, einem verteilten MAC-Protokoll ohne Involvierung der Basisstation, das auf periodischer Wiederverwendung von Funkressourcen aufbaut. Der Stand der Technik und eine eigene Analyse des Protokolls decken verschiedene Probleme auf. So wiederholen sich Kollisionen von Paketen, wodurch manche Fahrzeuge für längere Zeit keine sicherheitskritischen Informationen verbreiten können. Kollisionen entstehen vermehrt auch dadurch, dass Hidden-Terminal-Probleme in Kauf genommen werden oder veränderliche Paketgrößen und -raten schlecht unterstützt werden. Deshalb wird ein Ansatz namens "Scheduling based on Acknowledgement Feedback Exchange" vorgeschlagen. Zunächst wird eine Funkreservierung in mehrere ineinander verschachtelte Unter-Reservierungen mit verschiedenen Funkressourcen unterteilt, was die Robustheit gegenüber wiederholenden Kollisionen erhöht. Dies ist die Grundlage für eine verteilte Staukontrolle, die die Periodizitätseigenschaft nicht verletzt. Außerdem können so veränderliche Paketgrößen oder -raten besser abgebildet werden. Durch die periodische Wiederverwendung können Acknowledgements für Funkressourcen statt für Pakete ausgesendet werden. Diese können in einer Bitmap in den Padding-Bits übertragen werden. Mittels der Einbeziehung dieser Informationen bei der Auswahl von Funkressourcen können Hidden-Terminal-Probleme effizient vermieden werden, da die Acknowledgements auch eine Verwendung dieser Funkressource ankündigen. Kollisionen können nun entdeckt und eine Wiederholung vermieden werden. Die Evaluierung des neuen MAC-Protokolls wurde zum großen Teil mittels diskreter-Event-Simulationen durchgeführt, wobei die Bewegung jedes einzelnen Fahrzeuges simuliert wurde. Der vorgeschlagene Ansatz führt zu einer deutlich erhöhten Paketzustellrate. Die Verwendung einer anwendungsbezogenen Awareness-Metrik zeigt, dass die Zuverlässigkeit der Kommunikation durch den Ansatz deutlich verbessert werden kann. Somit zeigt sich der präsentierte Ansatz als vielversprechende Lösung für die erheblichen Probleme, die der LTE Modus 4 mit sich bringt.The LTE Standard added support for a direct vehicle-to-vehicle communication via the Sidelink with Release 14. This dissertation focuses on the scheduling Mode 4, a distributed MAC protocol without involvement of the base station, which requires the periodic reuse of radio resources. The state of the art and a own analysis of this protocol unveil multiple problems. For example, packet collisions repeat in time, so that some vehicles are unable to distribute safety-critical information for extended periods of time. Collisions also arise due to the hidden-terminal problem, which is simply put up with in Mode 4. Additionally, varying packet sizes or rates can hardly be supported. Consequently, an approach called "Scheduling based on Acknowledgement Feedback Exchange" is proposed. Firstly, a reservation of radio resources is split into multiple, interleaved sub-reservations that use different radio resources. This increases the robustness against repeating collisions. It is also the basis for a distributed congestion control that does not violate the periodicity. Moreover, different packet rates or sizes can be supported. The periodic reuse of radio resources enables the transmission of acknowledgements for radio resources instead of packets. These can be transmitted in a bitmap inside the padding bits. Hidden-terminal problems can be mitigated by considering the acknowledgements when selecting radio resources as they announce the use of these radio resources. Collisions can also be detected and prevented from re-occurring. The evaluation of the MAC protocol is mostly performed using discrete-event simulations, which model the movement of every single vehicle. The presented approach leads to a clear improvement of the packet delivery rate. The use of an application-oriented metric shows that the communication robustness can be improved distinctly. The proposed approach hence presents itself as a promising solution for the considerable problems of LTE Mode 4

Interoception, Contemplative Practice, and Health

AcceptedArticleCopyright: © 2015 Farb, Daubenmier, Price, Gard, Kerr, Dunn, KLein, Paulus and Mehling.This Document is Protected by copyright and was first published by Frontiers. All rights reserved. it is reproduced with permission.Interoception can be broadly defined as the sense of signals originating within the body. As such, interoception is critical for our sense of embodiment, motivation and well-being. And yet, despite its importance, interoception remains poorly understood within modern science. This paper reviews interdisciplinary perspectives on interoception, with the goal of presenting a unified perspective from diverse fields such as neuroscience, clinical practice, and contemplative studies. It is hoped that this integrative effort will advance our understanding of how interoception determines well-being, and identify the central challenges to such understanding. To this end, we introduce an expanded taxonomy of interoceptive processes, arguing that many of these processes can be understood through an emerging predictive coding model for mind-body integration. The model, which describes the tension between expected and felt body sensation, parallels contemplative theories, and implicates interoception in a variety of affective and psychosomatic disorders. We conclude that maladaptive construal of bodily sensations may lie at the heart of many contemporary maladies, and that contemplative practices may attenuate these interpretative biases, restoring a person’s sense of presence and agency in the world