Driver Behavior as a Function of Ambient Light and Road Geometry

OBJECTIVES To determine how ambient light (day versus night) and road geometry affect driving behavior,especially the speeds that drivers choose when not constrained by lead vehicles.METHODSRecently, it has become technically easier to observe how people drive b offering them longtermuse of highly instrumented vehicles. Much of this type of work has been done in connectionwith large-scale field operational tests (FOTs) of various innovative vehicle systems. Theinformation obtained is in many ways complementary to information from observation of traffic.Traffic observation often provides information about a large number of drivers, but at a relativelycoarse level and in a spatially and temporally limited context (i.e., observing how a large numberof drivers negotiate a particular intersection). In contrast, long-term use of highly instrumentedvehicles is more restricted in terms of how many drivers can be observed, although the feasiblenumbers are now reasonably high. On the positive side, data from instrumented vehicles canoffer very detailed information about driving behavior over many miles and many days.In this paper, we present results from a database of driving behavior that was derived from arecent FOT for an adaptive cruise control (ACC) system (although the data used here are all fromphases of the study that involved only normal vehicle equipment). The FOT involved tenidentical cars that were instrumented for a variety of types of data. The most important data forpresent purposes were: speed, yaw rate, location from the Global Positioning System (GPS), andpresence or absence of a lead vehicle within about 100 m based on the forward-looking sensorsof the ACC system. The instrumented cars were driven by a total of 108 participants, each ofwhom was given a car to use as his or her own vehicle in normal driving for either two or fiveweeks. The participants were sampled from licensed drivers in southeastern Michigan, andrepresented a wide range of age and driving experience.RESULTSResults will be reported in terms of speed as a function of horizontal road curvature in light anddark conditions, and as a function of driver age and gender, all for situations in which there is nolead vehicle within about 100 m. CONCLUSIONSCurrent evidence about headlighting suggests that drivers’ ability to see and negotiate theroadway is virtually unaffected by differences in ambient light, although their ability to perceiveand avoid objects on the road, such as pedestrians, is greatly reduced when headlamps are themain source of light. There is also evidence that drivers do not markedly reduce their speed inconditions of low ambient light. The current analysis allows us to determine how drivers react tospecific road geometries in light and dark conditions. This has implications for how well drivers’perceptual abilities match their driving behavior, and also for assessing the potential benefit of avariety of innovative headlighting systems that are currently being designed to adapt in variousways to vehicle speed and road geometry

Driver Behavior as a Function of Ambient Light and Road Geometry

OBJECTIVES To determine how ambient light (day versus night) and road geometry affect driving behavior,especially the speeds that drivers choose when not constrained by lead vehicles.METHODSRecently, it has become technically easier to observe how people drive b offering them longtermuse of highly instrumented vehicles. Much of this type of work has been done in connectionwith large-scale field operational tests (FOTs) of various innovative vehicle systems. Theinformation obtained is in many ways complementary to information from observation of traffic.Traffic observation often provides information about a large number of drivers, but at a relativelycoarse level and in a spatially and temporally limited context (i.e., observing how a large numberof drivers negotiate a particular intersection). In contrast, long-term use of highly instrumentedvehicles is more restricted in terms of how many drivers can be observed, although the feasiblenumbers are now reasonably high. On the positive side, data from instrumented vehicles canoffer very detailed information about driving behavior over many miles and many days.In this paper, we present results from a database of driving behavior that was derived from arecent FOT for an adaptive cruise control (ACC) system (although the data used here are all fromphases of the study that involved only normal vehicle equipment). The FOT involved tenidentical cars that were instrumented for a variety of types of data. The most important data forpresent purposes were: speed, yaw rate, location from the Global Positioning System (GPS), andpresence or absence of a lead vehicle within about 100 m based on the forward-looking sensorsof the ACC system. The instrumented cars were driven by a total of 108 participants, each ofwhom was given a car to use as his or her own vehicle in normal driving for either two or fiveweeks. The participants were sampled from licensed drivers in southeastern Michigan, andrepresented a wide range of age and driving experience.RESULTSResults will be reported in terms of speed as a function of horizontal road curvature in light anddark conditions, and as a function of driver age and gender, all for situations in which there is nolead vehicle within about 100 m. CONCLUSIONSCurrent evidence about headlighting suggests that drivers’ ability to see and negotiate theroadway is virtually unaffected by differences in ambient light, although their ability to perceiveand avoid objects on the road, such as pedestrians, is greatly reduced when headlamps are themain source of light. There is also evidence that drivers do not markedly reduce their speed inconditions of low ambient light. The current analysis allows us to determine how drivers react tospecific road geometries in light and dark conditions. This has implications for how well drivers’perceptual abilities match their driving behavior, and also for assessing the potential benefit of avariety of innovative headlighting systems that are currently being designed to adapt in variousways to vehicle speed and road geometry

Genetic analysis of grain protein deviation in wheat

Relatório de estágio do mestrado em Ensino da Educação Física nos Ensinos Básico e Secundário, apresentado à Faculdade de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física da Universidade de CoimbraO Estágio Pedagógico operacionalizado na Escola Secundária de Anadia representou a possibilidade de aplicar em contexto real os conhecimentos e saberes científicos adquiridos ao longo do curso, aliados à experiência profissional já adquirida. Ao longo deste percurso assumiu particular importância a reflexão constante sobre a prática, aliada à investigação e mobilização de saberes pertinentes. É esta dinâmica que permite ao professor ser produtor da sua profissão, ser um profissional reflexivo e crítico, pois o ato de ensinar representa uma atividade transformadora da sociedade. Os professores devem questionar diariamente o que ensinam, a forma como o fazem e os objetivos que perseguem. A cultura de profissionalidade docente assenta no conhecimento pedagógico de e para a mestria. Uma das principais conclusões deste processo de formação evidencia a necessidade de ensinar e promover a aprendizagem para todos os alunos. Até os menos aptos no domínio motor podem aceder a níveis elevados de aprendizagem, desde que beneficiem de oportunidades e condições educativas apropriadas. Esta é uma preocupação que deve assistir a todos os professores, pois trata-se acima de tudo, de uma questão de responsabilidade educativa social. Apenas com professores que acreditem na importância da qualidade do ensino se pode credibilizar a Educação Física. Assiste-se a um momento de particular incerteza, sobretudo nas orientações emanadas da administração central, evidenciadas, por exemplo, na exclusão da nota de Educação Física no apuramento da média final do Ensino Secundário. Esta medida constituiu uma clara desvalorização da disciplina, com reflexos negativos na participação e empenho motor dos alunos. Cabe-nos a nós, futuros profissionais, guiados por valores éticos e morais, devolver o reconhecimento da importância inequívoca da disciplina de Educação Física, com estatuto formal igual às demais. The Teaching Practice that took place in the Secondary School of Anadia provided the possibility to apply in real context the scientific knowledge and skills acquired while taking the degree, combined with professional experience already acquired. Throughout this path, it became particularly important the constant reflection on the practice, along with the research and the use of relevant knowledge. This dynamics allows the teacher to be a producer of his career, to be a reflective and critical professional, as teaching is an activity that enables society to change. Teachers should question what they teach, how they teach and their teaching goals. The professional teaching culture is based on knowledge and teaching to mastery. One of the main conclusions of this practice process highlights the need to teach and to promote learning for all students. Even the least able at the motor domain, can have access to higher levels of learning, if they are given the educational opportunities and the appropriate conditions. This is a concern all teachers should have in mind, since that is a question of educational and social responsibility. Only the teachers who believe in the importance of the quality of education can make Physical Education more credible. We are witnessing a moment of particular uncertainty, especially in the guidelines issued by the government, seen mainly when the Physical Education marks are not taken into account to calculate the final average of Secondary School Education. This measure was a clear devaluation of this school subject, with negative effects on students’ participation and effort. It is up to us, as future professionals guided by ethical and moral values, to gain back the recognition of the clear relevance of Physical Education – a subject as important as all the others

Concepts and Benefits of Lunar Core Drilling

Understanding lunar material at depth is critical to nearly every aspect of NASA s Vision and Strategic Plan. As we consider sending human s back to the Moon for brief and extended periods, we will need to utilize lunar materials in construction, for resource extraction, and for radiation shielding and protection. In each case, we will be working with materials at some depth beneath the surface. Understanding the properties of that material is critical, thus the need for Lunar core drilling capability. Of course, the science benefit from returning core samples and operating down-hole autonomous experiments is a key element of Lunar missions as defined by NASA s Exploration Systems Architecture Study. Lunar missions will be targeted to answer specific questions concerning lunar science and re-sources

Terrorism, governmentality and the simulated city: the Boston Marathon bombing and the search for suspect two

This article examines the online circulation of a photograph of the immediate aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings taken by David Green, a Boston Marathon runner. The photograph fortuitously captured an image of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger Tsarnaev brother, running from the scene. Initially, Tsarnaev went unnoticed by online message board users and FBI investigators – he was just another face in the urban crowd. However, after he was identified as suspect two, he emerged in the photograph as the figure of terror, the condensed embodiment of the spectacular attack, and thus as a spectre, a figure whose appearance in the archive of the past haunts the future. The author examines how this spectral emergence simultaneously reveals the attack terrorism launches against everyday mediations and how everyday mediations respond to terrorist spectacle. He argues that photography sustains vernacular practices that also support the practices of urban governmentality. Understanding urban governmentality thus requires attending to the urban archive of visual mediation in which the relationships between past and present, image and reality, and surveillance and spectacle are always contingent and open to revision

The probe beam linac in CTF3

JACoW web site http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/AccelConf/e06/The test facility CTF3, presently under construction at CERN within an international collaboration, is aimed at demonstrating the key feasibility issues of the multi-TeV linear collider CLIC. The objective of the probe beam linac is to "mimic" the main beam of CLIC in order to measure precisely the performances of the 30 GHz CLIC accelerating structures. In order to meet the required parameters of this 200 MeV probe beam, in terms of emittance, energy spread and bunch-length, the most advanced techniques have been considered: laser triggered photo-injector, velocity bunching, beam-loading compensation, RF pulse compression ... The final layout is described, and the selection criteria and the beam dynamics results are reviewed

Taking the pulse of Mars via dating of a plume-fed volcano

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The attached file is the published version of the article

Farming and the geography of nutrient production for human use: a transdisciplinary analysis

Background: Information about the global structure of agriculture and nutrient production and its diversity is essential to improve present understanding of national food production patterns, agricultural livelihoods, and food chains, and their linkages to land use and their associated ecosystems services. Here we provide a plausible breakdown of global agricultural and nutrient production by farm size, and also study the associations between farm size, agricultural diversity, and nutrient production. This analysis is crucial to design interventions that might be appropriately targeted to promote healthy diets and ecosystems in the face of population growth, urbanisation, and climate change. Methods: We used existing spatially-explicit global datasets to estimate the production levels of 41 major crops, seven livestock, and 14 aquaculture and fish products. From overall production estimates, we estimated the production of vitamin A, vitamin B₁₂, folate, iron, zinc, calcium, calories, and protein. We also estimated the relative contribution of farms of different sizes to the production of different agricultural commodities and associated nutrients, as well as how the diversity of food production based on the number of different products grown per geographic pixel and distribution of products within this pixel (Shannon diversity index [H]) changes with different farm sizes. Findings: Globally, small and medium farms (≤50 ha) produce 51–77% of nearly all commodities and nutrients examined here. However, important regional differences exist. Large farms (>50 ha) dominate production in North America, South America, and Australia and New Zealand. In these regions, large farms contribute between 75% and 100% of all cereal, livestock, and fruit production, and the pattern is similar for other commodity groups. By contrast, small farms (≤20 ha) produce more than 75% of most food commodities in sub-Saharan Africa, southeast Asia, south Asia, and China. In Europe, west Asia and north Africa, and central America, medium-size farms (20–50 ha) also contribute substantially to the production of most food commodities. Very small farms (≤2 ha) are important and have local significance in sub-Saharan Africa, southeast Asia, and south Asia, where they contribute to about 30% of most food commodities. The majority of vegetables (81%), roots and tubers (72%), pulses (67%), fruits (66%), fish and livestock products (60%), and cereals (56%) are produced in diverse landscapes (H>1·5). Similarly, the majority of global micronutrients (53–81%) and protein (57%) are also produced in more diverse agricultural landscapes (H>1·5). By contrast, the majority of sugar (73%) and oil crops (57%) are produced in less diverse ones (H≤1·5), which also account for the majority of global calorie production (56%). The diversity of agricultural and nutrient production diminishes as farm size increases. However, areas of the world with higher agricultural diversity produce more nutrients, irrespective of farm size. Interpretation: Our results show that farm size and diversity of agricultural production vary substantially across regions and are key structural determinants of food and nutrient production that need to be considered in plans to meet social, economic, and environmental targets. At the global level, both small and large farms have key roles in food and nutrition security. Efforts to maintain production diversity as farm sizes increase seem to be necessary to maintain the production of diverse nutrients and viable, multifunctional, sustainable landscapes. Funding: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CGIAR Research Programs on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security and on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health funded by the CGIAR Fund Council, Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, European Union, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Australian Research Council, National Science Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change—Belmont Forum

Integrating fish into irrigation infrastructure projects in Myanmar: rice-fish what if…?

With rapidly increasing investment in water control infrastructure (WCI) and a recently ratified agriculture development strategy that promotes integrated farming of high-value products such as fish, agricultural production, already fundamental to Myanmar’s economy, will be central to driving the countries’ socioeconomic transformation. Water planners and managers have a unique opportunity to design and manage WCI to incorporate fish and, in so doing, reduce conflicts and optimise the benefits to both people and the ecosystem services upon which they depend. Results from rice–fish culture experimental trials in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta are providing an evidence base for the importance of integrating fish into WCI, highlighting a range of both environmental and social benefits. By using less than 13% of paddy land area and through best management practices, existing rice productivity is sustained, alongside a 25% increase in economic returns for the same land area from fish. In addition, there are considerably more protein and micronutrients available from the fish produced in the system. Should these farming system innovations be adopted at scale, Myanmar stands to benefit from increased employment, incomes and nutritional value of farm plots (alongside associated reductions in pesticide pollution) and water use benefits