Effects of Non-Verbal Communication Cues on Decisions and Confidence of Drivers at an Uncontrolled Intersection

Drivers read other drivers’ intentions using various non-verbal communication cues in situations where traffic regulations play only a limited role. Although such communication is important to reach safe joint actions with other driver(s), effects of communication have not been fully understood. The objective of this study was to understand effects of communication cues on driver’s decisions and confidence. Straight-cross-path and left-turn scenarios around an uncontrolled intersection were studied in an interview-based experiment using 65 subjects. The subject’s car approached the intersection while another car was approaching the same intersection and sent communication cues consisting of various combinations of vehicle behaviors (constant speed, speeding up, and slowing down) and hand gestures (meaning “Go ahead” and “Stop”). Computer animations of the scenarios were presented to the subjects and terminated before the two cars reached the intersection. The subjects rated yielding frequency and confidence level for each cue combination in each scenario. The results showed that the vehicle behaviors and the hand gestures affected subjects’ yielding frequencies and confidence levels. The cues also interacted with the priority rule in the left turn scenarios. The hand gestures were especially effective to consolidate subjects’ decisions to yield or go with confidence when the priority rule was ineffective (i.e. in the straight-cross-path scenarios). The hand gestures were also effective to change the yielding frequencies to accept the cues conflicting with the effective priority rule (i.e. in the left-turn scenarios). Some requirements and recommendations for autonomous vehicle were discussed

Effect of low load combustion and emissions on fuel dilution in lubricating oil and deposit formation of DI diesel engines fueled by straight rapeseed oil

The objective of this study is to apply neat biomass fuel to a DI diesel engine and investigate the effect of in-cylinder gas flow and combustion on the deposit formation and the fuel dilution in lubricating oil. The study focuses on the low load combustion and emissions considering that low load exhaust contain much unburned fuels and the unburned fuels are the source of the deposit formation and the fuel dilution. Piston configuration and swirl velocity were altered in the engine test. The engine was fueled by neat rapeseed oil. The test was carried out through the four hours continuous engine operation with keeping low load. After the operation, state of deposit formation and fuel dilution in lubricating oil were investigated. Results indicate that Re-entrant piston which creates strong reverse squish and high swirl forms the deposit annular on the piston top. Toroidal piston easily produces deposit on the undersurface of cylinder head. The deposit in the cavity accumulates where initial rapeseed oil spray impinges regardless of piston types. The carbonization of the deposit is promoted on the wall surface where the burned gas with high temperature and high velocity comes into contact. It is important to avoid extremely strong reverse squish to the cylinder liner in order to control the fuel dilution. The deep-bowl chamber changes the direction of reverse squish from the cylinder liner direction to the cylinder head direction. The low velocity outflow from the piston cavity reduces the adhesion of unburned fuel on the cylinder liner, resulting in the smaller amount of unburned fuel scraped off by a piston ring

Implicit social associations for geometric-shape agents more strongly influenced by visual form than by explicitly identified social actions

Studies of infants' and adults' social cognition frequently use geometric-shape agents such as coloured squares and circles, but the influence of agent visual-form on social cognition has been little investigated. Here, although adults gave accurate explicit descriptions of interactions between geometric-shape aggressors and victims, implicit association tests for dominance and valence did not detect tendencies to encode the shapes’ social attributes on an implicit level. With regard to valence, the lack of any systematic implicit associations precludes conclusive interpretations. With regard to dominance, participants implicitly associated a yellow square as more dominant than a blue circle, even when the true relationship was the reverse of this and was correctly explicitly described by participants. Therefore, although explicit dominance judgements were strongly influenced by observed behaviour, implicit dominance associations were more clearly influenced by preconceived associations between visual form and social characteristics. This study represents a cautionary tale for those conducting experiments using geometric-shape agents

Inner Surface Biofilm Inactivation by Atmospheric Pressure Helium Porous Plasma Jet

We present a helium porous plasma jet based on gas diffuser, designed with the aim ofdecontaminating inner surfaces of contaminated structures, e.g., pipes. The porous plasma jet operates with three discharge modes in ambient air and inside a vessel. Its decontamination capacity is demonstrated by evaluating the inactivation efficacy of biofilm form of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, adherent to inner surface of a glass vial.Plasma treatments for 5 min with filament mode and double region helium discharge mode reduced bacterial numbers by 2.4 and 2.5 Log10CFU/ml.Plasma treatment with double region air-like discharge mode was the most effective, reducin bacterial cells by 4.5 Log10CFU/ml, which demonstrates porous plasma jet could provide an efficient approach for inner surface decontamination

非意志的な状態述語の命令形とその史的変遷

In modern Japanese, it is difficult for a non-volitional verb to take the imperative form; instead, it is better to accompany non-volitional verbs with a benefactive auxiliary verb. However, in old Japanese, it is common for non-volitional verbs to take the imperative form. Similar relations are satisfied by the imperative form of adjectives, the negative auxiliary verb Zari, and the attitudinal expression On-Ari, which is used in middle Japanese. In this paper, I estimate that that it was during the early Edo period that the use of imperative forms with non-volitional verbs diminished. This diminution was caused by a preference for benefactive auxiliary verbs, a preference that was, in turn, caused by a change in the directive expressions system

Pilot Results on Forward Collision Warning System Effectiveness in Older Drivers

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have largely been developed with a “one-size-fits-all” approach. This approach neglects the large inter-individual variability in perceptual and cognitive abilities that affect aging ADAS users. We investigated the effectiveness of a forward collision warning (FCW) with fixed response parameters in young and older drivers with differing levels of cognitive functioning. Drivers responded to a pedestrian stepping into the driver’s path on a simulated urban road. Behavioral metrics included response times (RT) for pedal controls and two indices of risk penetration (e.g., maximum deceleration and minimum time-to-collision (TTC)). Older drivers showed significantly slower responses at several time points compared to younger drivers. The FCW facilitated response times (RTs) for older and younger drivers. However, older drivers still showed smaller safety gains compared to younger drivers at accelerator pedal release and initial brake application when the FCW was active. No significant differences in risk metrics were observed within the condition studied. The results demonstrate older drivers likely differ from younger drivers using a FCW with a fixed parameter set. Finally, we briefly discuss how future research should examine predictive relationships between domains of cognitive functioning and ADAS responses to develop parameter sets to fit the individual

Interleukin-10 in the Pathophysiology of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Increased Serum Concentrations During the Recovery Phase

Using a specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, IL-10 concentrations were measured in serum from 62 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), 43 with Crohn's disease (CD), 25 with other colitides, and 44 normal control subjects. Serum IL-10 concentrations were increased in patients with active UC but not in those with active CD when compared with normal control subjects. A time course study showed that in patients with UC and CD, serum concentrations of IL-6 and C-reactive protein increased during the acute phase and returned to normal as patients go into remission. Notably, serum IL-10 concentrations increased during the phase of disease resolution and declined thereafter regardless of the treatment modality. Gel filtration analysis indicated that IL-10 circulated predominantly as a dimer. In conclusion, this study shows that serum IL-10 is increased during disease recovery in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and may be a helpful marker in monitoring disease status

The intriguing evolutionary dynamics of plant mitochondrial DNA

The mitochondrial genome of plants is-in every respect and for yet unclear reasons-very different from the well-studied one of animals. Thanks to next-generation sequencing technologies, Davila et al. precisely characterized the role played by recombination and DNA repair in controlling mitochondrial variations in Arabidopsis thaliana, thus opening new perspectives on the long-term evolution of this intriguing genome

Toward understanding transcriptional regulatory networks in abiotic stress responses and tolerance in rice

長崎大学学位論文 [学位記番号]博（医歯薬）甲第1168号 [学位授与年月日]令和元年6月5