Behind the wheel: Probing into personality, skills, and driving behavior’s role in bus rapid transit crashes

Personality traits and driving skills are significantly associated with driving behaviors and crashes. In the case of professional bus drivers, the relationships amongst these variables have not been sufficiently examined in terms of road crashes. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the relationship between personality traits, driving skills, driving behaviors, and crash involvement among Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) drivers. The study employed a comprehensive data collection strategy involving self-reported questionnaires, including the driver behavior questionnaire, driver skill inventory, and Big Five inventory, alongside Global Positioning System (GPS)-extracted speeding data from a sample of 166 drivers. To explore the relationship between variables, the study utilized the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) as the analytical method. The findings reveal that self-reported violations and actual speeding performed by drivers were positively associated with crash involvement, whereas positive driving behavior negatively influences violation, errors, speeding and crash involvement. The study also found that the safety skills were negatively associated with violations, errors, and speeding, while higher perceptual-motor skills were associated with higher instances of speeding violations, resulting to a higher possibility of getting involved in a crash. Finally, the study reveals that certain personality traits (extraversion and neuroticism) were positively associated with violations, errors, and speeding, leading to a higher risk of getting involved in crashes, whereas certain personality traits (conscientiousness and agreeableness) were associated with safe driving. The study findings offer valuable insights into the predictors of crashes among professional BRT drivers, which can be used to enhance driving practices, ensuring the safety of the public. Moreover, these findings provide transportation agencies with better management and decision-making capabilities to implement effective interventions to improve road safety.</p

Methodology adopted for identifying gut bacterial peptides with auto-immunity potential (candidate peptides) and their functional annotation.

<p>Methodology adopted for identifying gut bacterial peptides with auto-immunity potential (candidate peptides) and their functional annotation.</p

Gut bacterial peptides with autoimmunity potential as environmental trigger for late onset complex diseases: <i>In–silico</i> study

<div><p>Recent evidences suggest that human gut microbiota with major component as bacteria can induce immunity. It is also known that gut lining depletes with ageing and that there is increased risk of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders with ageing. It is therefore likely that both may be correlated as depletion of gut lining exposes the gut bacterial antigens to host immune mechanisms, which may induce immunity to certain bacterial proteins, but at the same time such immunity may also be auto-immunogenic to host. This autoimmunity may make a protein molecule nonfunctional and thereby may be involved in late onset metabolic, autoimmune and inflammatory disorders such as, Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hyperlipidemias and Cancer. In this <i>in-silico</i> study we found a large number of peptides identical between human and gut bacteria which were binding to HLA-II alleles, and hence, likely to be auto-immunogenic. Further we observed that such autoimmune candidates were enriched in bacterial species belonging to <i>Firmicutes</i> and <i>Proteobacteria</i> phyla, which lead us to conclude that these phyla may have higher disease impact in genetically predisposed individuals. Functional annotation of human proteins homologous to candidate gut-bacterial peptides showed significant enrichment in metabolic processes and pathways. Cognitive trait, Ageing, Alzheimer, Type 2 diabetes, Chronic Kidney Failure (CKF), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and various Cancers were the major diseases represented in the dataset. This dataset provides us with gut bacterial autoimmune candidates which can be studied for their clinical significance in late onset diseases.</p></div

Clustered heatmap of human candidate proteins associated with late onset complex diseases and their binding affinity threshold with common HLA class II alleles.

<p>Binding affinity threshold [range: 1(red)– 11(green)]. Lower the threshold higher is the binding affinity with particular HLA class II allele. Human candidate proteins and the homologous gut bacterial proteins (Hu. protein_Bac. Protein, as provided in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0180518#pone.0180518.s002" target="_blank">S1 Table</a>) have been indicated on the y-axis. The common HLA class II alleles tested have been indicated on x-axis. Only, human candidate proteins depicted in Fig 2 and having common HLA class II binding affinity are represented here.</p

Human candidate proteins and their significant association with different KEGG pathways.

<p>Human candidate proteins and their significant association with different KEGG pathways.</p

Human candidate proteins and their expression in different tissues.

<p>Human candidate proteins and their expression in different tissues.</p

Solid State Assemblies and Photophysical Characteristics of Linear and Bent-Core π‑Conjugated Oligophenylenevinylenes

New classes of luminescent linear, bent-core, and star-shaped oligophenylenevinylenes (OPVs) having 1,4-para and 1,3-meta rigid aromatic cores were designed and developed. 3-Pentadecylphenol, a renewable resource molecule, was chosen as the flexible unit at the longitudinal or middle position of the OPV aromatic core for solid state ordering. Depending upon the nature of the π-core, the OPVs exhibited either mosaic-type liquid crystalline textures or spherulitic crystalline solids. The enthalpies of melting transitions revealed that the bent-core OPV structure showed enhanced solid state packing compared to linear or star-shaped OPVs. Small and wide-angle X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed layered-like assemblies in OPV molecules. Photophysical experiments such as excitation, emission, and time-resolved fluorescence decay dynamics were carried out to trace the molecular self-organization of OPV chromophores. Time correlated single photon counting technique (TCSPC) luminescent decay profiles and decay lifetimes (τ₁ and τ₂ values) revealed that the OPV chromophores showed faster exciton decay in the tightly packed bent-core structure. The weakly packed star-shaped OPV showed enhanced excited state luminescence stability up to 10 ns. A direct correlation between the OPV chemical structure, solid state ordering, and photophysical characteristics was established

Interactions between Sulpha Drugs and Magnesium Chloride in Aqueous Solutions at <i>T</i> = (288.15 to 318.15) K: Volumetric and Viscometric Approach

The densities (ρ) and viscosities (η) for sulphanilamide, sulphanilic acid, and sulphosalicylic acid dihydrate in aqueous solutions of magnesium chloride hexahydrate (0.05, 0.1, 0.25, and 0.5) mol·kg^–1 at temperatures from (288.15 to 318.15) K have been measured by using vibrating tube digital densimeter and Micro–Ubbelohde type capillary viscometer, respectively. These data have been used to obtain partial molar volumes (<i>V</i>₂⁰) at infinite dilution and viscosity <i>B</i> coefficients. The present partial molar volumes and <i>B</i>-coefficient data in conjunction with that reported in water have further been used to calculate the corresponding transfer parameters (Δ_tr<i>V</i>₂⁰ and Δ_tr<i>B</i>). The results have been compared with the data already reported for these drugs in aqueous sodium chloride solutions

Theoretical study on the nature of S···H and O ··· H hydrogen bonds

<div><p>Hydrogen bond acceptor ability of sulfur and oxygen has been analyzed in the adducts of dimethyl sulfide ((CH₃)₂S) and dimethyl ether ((CH₃)₂O) with H₂O, CH₃OH, HCOOH, NH₂OH, CH₃NH₂, NH₂NH₂, HCONH₂, HF and HCl. The stabilization energies have been evaluated using MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ, B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ, gaussian2 (G2) and complete basis set (CBS) theoretical levels. The contributors to stabilization energies are explored by employing symmetry adapted perturbation theory analysis, natural bond orbital analysis in addition to molecular orbital methods. Electrostatic component is the major contributor toward stabilization energy in both the type of adducts involving (CH₃)₂S and (CH₃)₂O which has been assigned to secondary electrostatic interactions. The second important contributor to comparable stabilization energies in the two series is the repulsive <i>E</i>_exch component which is relatively higher in adducts of (CH₃)₂O because of the relatively longer proximity of the monomeric units arising from smaller size of oxygen.</p></div

DataSheet_1_Genome-wide characterization of FK506-binding proteins, parvulins and phospho-tyrosyl phosphatase activators in wheat and their regulation by heat stress.pdf

Peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerases (PPIases) are ubiquitous proteins which are essential for cis-trans isomerisation of peptide bonds preceding the proline residue. PPIases are categorized into four sub-families viz., cyclophilins, FK506-binding proteins (FKBPs), parvulins and protein phosphatase 2A phosphatase activators (PTPAs). Apart from catalysing the cis-trans isomerization, these proteins have also been implicated in diverse cellular functions. Though PPIases have been identified in several important crop plants, information on these proteins, except cyclophilins, is scanty in wheat. In order to understand the role of these genes in wheat, we carried out genome-wide identification using computational approaches. The present study resulted in identification of 71 FKBP (TaFKBP) 12 parvulin (TaPar) and 3 PTPA (TaPTPA) genes in hexaploid wheat genome, which are distributed on different chromosomes with uneven gene densities. The TaFKBP and TaPar proteins, besides PPIase domain, also contain additional domains, indicating functional diversification. In silico prediction also revealed that TaFKBPs are localized to ER, nucleus, chloroplast and cytoplasm, while the TaPars are confined to cytoplasm and nucleus. The TaPTPAs, on the contrary, appear to be present only in the cytoplasm. Evolutionary studies predicted that most of the TaFKBP, TaPar and TaPTPA genes in hexaploid wheat have been derived from their progenitor species, with some events of loss or gain. Syntenic analysis revealed the presence of many collinear blocks of TaFKBP genes in wheat and its sub-genome donors. qRT-PCR analysis demonstrated that expression of TaFKBP and TaPar genes is regulated differentially by heat stress, suggesting their likely involvement in thermotolerance. The findings of this study will provide basis for further functional characterization of these genes and their likely applications in crop improvement.</p