320 research outputs found
Modelling Safety-Related Driving Behaviour - the Impact of Parameter Values
Traffic simulation models make assumptions about the safety-related behaviour of drivers. These
assumptions may or may not replicate the real behaviour of those drivers who adopt seemingly unsafe
behaviour, for example running red lights at signalised intersections or too closely following the vehicles
in front. Such behaviour results in the performance of the system that we observe but will often result in
conflicts and very occasionally in accidents. The question is whether these models should reflect safe behav-
iour or actual behaviour. Good design should seek to enhance safety, but is the safety of a design neces-
sarily enhanced by making unrealistically optimistic assumptions about the safety of drivers behaviour?
This paper explores the questions associated with the choice of values for safety-related parameters in
simulation models. The paper identifies the key parameters of traffic simulation models and notes that sev-
eral of them have been derived from theory or informed guesswork rather than observation of real behav-
iour and that, even where they are based on observations, these may have been conducted in circumstances
quite different to those which now apply. Tests with the micro-simulation model DRACULA demonstrate
the sensitivity of model predictions—and perhaps policy decisions—to the value of some of the key param-
eters. It is concluded that, in general, it is better to use values that are realistic-but-unsafe than values that
are safe-but-unrealistic. Although the use of realistic-but-unsafe parameter values could result in the adop-
tion of unsafe designs, this problem can be overcome by paying attention to the safety aspects of designs.
The possibility of using traffic simulation models to culties involved in doing so are discussed
Crystalline Order on a Sphere and the Generalized Thomson Problem
We attack generalized Thomson problems with a continuum formalism which
exploits a universal long range interaction between defects depending on the
Young modulus of the underlying lattice. Our predictions for the ground state
energy agree with simulations of long range power law interactions of the form
1/r^{gamma} (0 < gamma < 2) to four significant digits. The regime of grain
boundaries is studied in the context of tilted crystalline order and the
generality of our approach is illustrated with new results for square tilings
on the sphere.Comment: 4 pages, 5 eps figures Fig. 2 revised, improved Fig. 3, reference
typo fixe
Contractile force is enhanced in Aortas from pendrin null mice due to stimulation of angiotensin II-dependent signaling.
Pendrin is a Cl-/HCO3- exchanger expressed in the apical regions of renal intercalated cells. Following pendrin gene ablation, blood pressure falls, in part, from reduced renal NaCl absorption. We asked if pendrin is expressed in vascular tissue and if the lower blood pressure observed in pendrin null mice is accompanied by reduced vascular reactivity. Thus, the contractile responses to KCl and phenylephrine (PE) were examined in isometrically mounted thoracic aortas from wild-type and pendrin null mice. Although pendrin expression was not detected in the aorta, pendrin gene ablation changed contractile protein abundance and increased the maximal contractile response to PE when normalized to cross sectional area (CSA). However, the contractile sensitivity to this agent was unchanged. The increase in contractile force/cross sectional area observed in pendrin null mice was due to reduced cross sectional area of the aorta and not from increased contractile force per vessel. The pendrin-dependent increase in maximal contractile response was endothelium- and nitric oxide-independent and did not occur from changes in Ca2+ sensitivity or chronic changes in catecholamine production. However, application of 100 nM angiotensin II increased force/CSA more in aortas from pendrin null than from wild type mice. Moreover, angiotensin type 1 receptor inhibitor (candesartan) treatment in vivo eliminated the pendrin-dependent changes contractile protein abundance and changes in the contractile force/cross sectional area in response to PE. In conclusion, pendrin gene ablation increases aorta contractile force per cross sectional area in response to angiotensin II and PE due to stimulation of angiotensin type 1 receptor-dependent signaling. The angiotensin type 1 receptor-dependent increase in vascular reactivity may mitigate the fall in blood pressure observed with pendrin gene ablation
Freezing of the quantum Hall liquid at 1/7 and 1/9
We compare the free energy computed from the ground state energy and
low-lying excitations of the 2-D Wigner solid and the fractional quantum Hall
liquid, at magnetic filling factors and 1/9. We find that the
Wigner solid melts into the fractional quantum Hall liquid at roughly the same
temperature as that of some recent luminescence experiments, while it remains a
solid at the lower temperatures characteristic of the transport experiments. We
propose this melting as a consistent interpretation of both sets of
experiments.Comment: uses RevTeX 2.0 or 3.
Human activity was a major driver of the mid-Holocene vegetation change in southern Cumbria: Implications for the elm decline in the British Isles
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.The dramatic decline in elm (Ulmus) across a large swathe of north-west Europe in the mid-Holocene has been ascribed to a number of possible factors, including climate change, human activity and/or pathogens. A major limitation for identifying the underlying cause(s) has been the limited number of high-resolution records with robust geochronological frameworks. Here, we report a multiproxy study of an upland (Blea Tarn) and lowland (Urswick Tarn) landscape in southern Cumbria (British Isles) to reconstruct vegetation change across the elm decline in an area with a rich and well-dated archaeological record to disentangle different possible controls. Here we find a two-stage decline in Ulmus taking place between 6350–6150 and 6050–5850 cal a BP, with the second phase coinciding with an intensification of human activity. The scale of the decline and associated human impact is more abrupt in the upland landscape. We consider it likely that a combination of human impact and disease drove the Ulmus decline within southern Cumbria.This work was funded by a studentship for MJG from the University of Exeter and Sir John Fisher Foundation. Additional funding for 14C dating was from the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society (Clare Fell Bursary to MJG), and the Australian Research Council (FL100100195)
An agent-based approach to assess drivers’ interaction with pre-trip information systems.
This article reports on the practical use of a multi-agent microsimulation framework to address the issue of assessing drivers’
responses to pretrip information systems. The population of drivers is represented as a community of autonomous agents,
and travel demand results from the decision-making deliberation performed by each individual of the population as regards
route and departure time. A simple simulation scenario was devised, where pretrip information was made available to users
on an individual basis so that its effects at the aggregate level could be observed. The simulation results show that the
overall performance of the system is very likely affected by exogenous information, and these results are ascribed to demand
formation and network topology. The expressiveness offered by cognitive approaches based on predicate logics, such as the
one used in this research, appears to be a promising approximation to fostering more complex behavior modelling, allowing
us to represent many of the mental aspects involved in the deliberation process
Cyclotron resonance of correlated electrons in semiconductor heterostructures
The cyclotron resonance absorption of two-dimensional electrons in
semiconductor heterostructures in high magnetic fields is investigated. It is
assumed that the ionized impurity potential is a dominant scattering mechanism,
and the theory explicitly takes the Coulomb correlation effect into account
through the Wigner phonons. The cyclotron resonance linewidth is in
quantitative agreement with the experiment in the Wigner crystal regime at
T=4.2K. Similar to the cyclotron resonance theory of the charge density waves
pinned by short-range impurities, the present results for the long-range
scattering also show the doubling of the resonance peaks. However, unlike the
case of the charge density waves, our theory gives the pinning mode independent
of the bulk compressibility of the substrate materials.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Liquid Crystal Phases of Quantum Hall Systems
Mean-field calculations for the two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a
large magnetic field with a partially filled Landau level with index
consistently yield ``stripe-ordered'' charge-density wave ground-states, for
much the same reason that frustrated phase separation leads to stripe ordered
states in doped Mott insulators. We have studied the effects of quantum and
thermal fluctuations about such a state and show that they can lead to a set of
electronic liquid crystalline states, particularly a stripe-nematic phase which
is stable at . Recent measurements of the longitudinal resistivity of a
set of quantum Hall devices have revealed that these systems spontaneously
develop, at low temepratures, a very large anisotropy. We interpret these
experiments as evidence for a stripe nematic phase, and propose a general phase
diagram for this system.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Cyclotron resonance lineshape in a Wigner crystal
The cyclotron resonance absorption spectrum in a Wigner crystal is
calculated. Effects of spin-splitting are modelled by substitutional disorder,
and calculated in the coherent potential approximation. Due to the increasing
strength of the dipole-dipole interaction, the results show a crossover from a
double-peak spectrum at small filling factors to a single-peak spectrum at
filling factors \agt 1/6. Radiation damping and magnetophonon scattering can
also influence the cyclotron resonance. The results are in very good agreement
with experiments.Comment: 4 pages REVTEX, attempt to append 3 figures that seem to have been
lost last tim
Volatile Decision Dynamics: Experiments, Stochastic Description, Intermittency Control, and Traffic Optimization
The coordinated and efficient distribution of limited resources by individual
decisions is a fundamental, unsolved problem. When individuals compete for road
capacities, time, space, money, goods, etc., they normally make decisions based
on aggregate rather than complete information, such as TV news or stock market
indices. In related experiments, we have observed a volatile decision dynamics
and far-from-optimal payoff distributions. We have also identified ways of
information presentation that can considerably improve the overall performance
of the system. In order to determine optimal strategies of decision guidance by
means of user-specific recommendations, a stochastic behavioural description is
developed. These strategies manage to increase the adaptibility to changing
conditions and to reduce the deviation from the time-dependent user
equilibrium, thereby enhancing the average and individual payoffs. Hence, our
guidance strategies can increase the performance of all users by reducing
overreaction and stabilizing the decision dynamics. These results are highly
significant for predicting decision behaviour, for reaching optimal behavioural
distributions by decision support systems, and for information service
providers. One of the promising fields of application is traffic optimization.Comment: For related work see http://www.helbing.or
- …