A New Perspective on ISA-Equipment: Assistive devices for Drivers with Acquired Brain Injury

Intelligent Speed Adaptation [ISA] has proved successful at reducing the speed of normal drivers. However, until now the potential of ISA as an assistive device has been neglected. Two case studies were conducted to test ISA as a support for drivers with acquired brain injury [ABI] in driving with appropriate speed and thereby releasing cognitive capacity for other aspects of driving. The participants were two persons with ABI, who had retained their driving licenses. They were interviewed about their driving strategies before installation of ISA, and about their experience driving with ISA after the test period. The effect of ISA on the participants’ speed is analyzed and combined with their evaluation of the utility of ISA. The results suggest that with further customisation ISA may be a suitable “cognitive prosthesis” for drivers with ABI, but with some reservations towards certain cognitive deficits

A new Perspective on ISA-Equipment:assistive Devices for Drives with acquired Brain Injury

Intelligent Speed Adaptation [ISA] has proved successful at reducing the speed of normal drivers. However, until now the potential of ISA as an assistive device has been neglected. Two case studies were conducted to test ISA as a support for drivers with acquired brain injury [ABI] in driving with appropriate speed and thereby releasing cognitive capacity for other aspects of driving. The participants were two persons with ABI, who had retained their driving licenses. They were interviewed about their driving strategies before installation of ISA, and about their experience driving with ISA after the test period. The effect of ISA on the participants’ speed is analyzed and combined with their evaluation of the utility of ISA. The results suggest that with further customisation ISA may be a suitable “cognitive prosthesis” for drivers with ABI, but with some reservations towards certain cognitive deficits

Spar på Farten: – de første resultater af et Intelligent Farttilpasnings-projekt i Nordjylland baseret på incitament (forsikringsrabat)

Forsøg med Intelligent Farttilpasning (ISA) har i det seneste årti været gennemført i og udenfor Danmark. Det første danske projekt, INFATI-projektet, blev gennemført i Nordjylland i perioden 1998-2001 og viste lovende resultater. Det igangværende ISA-projekt, Spar på Farten (SPF) er en videreudvikling af INFATI-projektets teknik og ide. SPF er et resultat af et omfattende arbejde med at udarbejde digitale hastighedskort for hele Nordjylland samt udvikling af teknologi for kontinuerlig positionsbestemmelse af køretøjer. SPF retter sig specielt mod unge bilister i Nordjylland. Disse tilbydes en rabat på deres bilforsikring på 30 %, forudsat at de ikke overskrider hastighedsgrænsen. Den kombinerede brug af ISA-udstyr og forsikringsrabat er ny. Derfor bliver der gennemført et fuldskalaforsøg, der skal belyse betydningen af henholdsvis ISA-information og forsikringsrabat. I dette paper præsenteres de første resultater af undersøgelsen. I alt foreligger hastighedsdata fra 38 unge forsøgsbilister fra projektets første 3 måneder, desuden foreligger resultater af en spørgeskemaundersøgelse, der blev besvaret af unge deltagere i SPF-projektet og også af unge bilister, der fik tilbuddet om at deltage, men ikke ønskede det. Spørgeskemaundersøgelsen skal belyse den mulige forskel i baggrund og holdning mellem deltagere og ikke-deltagere i projektet. De første resultater tyder på, at både ISA-information og kombinationen af ISA-information med incitament medfører en betragtelig reduktion i andelen af den kørte distance, hvor bilisten overskrider hastighedsgrænsen. Denne effekt ses især ved hastighedsgrænser på 80 km/t. Dette er også den hastighedsgrænse, der overskrides oftest og den hastighedsgrænse, som bilister, både i denne og tidligere undersøgelser, finder mindst acceptabel. Desuden er det netop ved denne hastighedsgrænse (typisk på landeveje), at de fleste alvorlige uheld indtræffer

Spar på Farten: – de første resultater af et Intelligent Farttilpasnings-projekt i Nordjylland baseret på incitament (forsikringsrabat)

Forsøg med Intelligent Farttilpasning (ISA) har i det seneste årti været gennemført i og udenfor Danmark. Det første danske projekt, INFATI-projektet, blev gennemført i Nordjylland i perioden 1998-2001 og viste lovende resultater. Det igangværende ISA-projekt, Spar på Farten (SPF) er en videreudvikling af INFATI-projektets teknik og ide. SPF er et resultat af et omfattende arbejde med at udarbejde digitale hastighedskort for hele Nordjylland samt udvikling af teknologi for kontinuerlig positionsbestemmelse af køretøjer. SPF retter sig specielt mod unge bilister i Nordjylland. Disse tilbydes en rabat på deres bilforsikring på 30 %, forudsat at de ikke overskrider hastighedsgrænsen. Den kombinerede brug af ISA-udstyr og forsikringsrabat er ny. Derfor bliver der gennemført et fuldskalaforsøg, der skal belyse betydningen af henholdsvis ISA-information og forsikringsrabat. I dette paper præsenteres de første resultater af undersøgelsen. I alt foreligger hastighedsdata fra 38 unge forsøgsbilister fra projektets første 3 måneder, desuden foreligger resultater af en spørgeskemaundersøgelse, der blev besvaret af unge deltagere i SPF-projektet og også af unge bilister, der fik tilbuddet om at deltage, men ikke ønskede det. Spørgeskemaundersøgelsen skal belyse den mulige forskel i baggrund og holdning mellem deltagere og ikke-deltagere i projektet. De første resultater tyder på, at både ISA-information og kombinationen af ISA-information med incitament medfører en betragtelig reduktion i andelen af den kørte distance, hvor bilisten overskrider hastighedsgrænsen. Denne effekt ses især ved hastighedsgrænser på 80 km/t. Dette er også den hastighedsgrænse, der overskrides oftest og den hastighedsgrænse, som bilister, både i denne og tidligere undersøgelser, finder mindst acceptabel. Desuden er det netop ved denne hastighedsgrænse (typisk på landeveje), at de fleste alvorlige uheld indtræffer

Assessing the Effects of Climate on Host-Parasite Interactions: A Comparative Study of European Birds and Their Parasites

[Background] Climate change potentially has important effects on distribution, abundance, transmission and virulence of parasites in wild populations of animals. [Methodology/Principal Finding] Here we analyzed paired information on 89 parasite populations for 24 species of bird hosts some years ago and again in 2010 with an average interval of 10 years. The parasite taxa included protozoa, feather parasites, diptera, ticks, mites and fleas. We investigated whether change in abundance and prevalence of parasites was related to change in body condition, reproduction and population size of hosts. We conducted analyses based on the entire dataset, but also on a restricted dataset with intervals between study years being 5–15 years. Parasite abundance increased over time when restricting the analyses to datasets with an interval of 5–15 years, with no significant effect of changes in temperature at the time of breeding among study sites. Changes in host body condition and clutch size were related to change in temperature between first and second study year. In addition, changes in clutch size, brood size and body condition of hosts were correlated with change in abundance of parasites. Finally, changes in population size of hosts were not significantly related to changes in abundance of parasites or their prevalence. [Conclusions/Significance] Climate change is associated with a general increase in parasite abundance. Variation in laying date depended on locality and was associated with latitude while body condition of hosts was associated with a change in temperature. Because clutch size, brood size and body condition were associated with change in parasitism, these results suggest that parasites, perhaps mediated through the indirect effects of temperature, may affect fecundity and condition of their hosts. The conclusions were particularly in accordance with predictions when the restricted dataset with intervals of 5–15 years was used, suggesting that short intervals may bias findings.The Academy of Finland is acknowledged for a grant to TE (project 8119367) and EK (project 250709). PLP was supported by a research grant (TE_291/2010) offered by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Science. T. Szép received funding from OTKA K69068 and JT from OTKA 75618. JMP was supported by a JAE grant from Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. SM-JM, FdL-AM, JF, JJS and FV were respectively supported by projects CGL2009-09439, CGL2012-36665, CGL2009- 11445, CGL2010-19233-C03-01 and CGL2008-00562 by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and FEDER and project EVITAR by the Spanish Ministry of Health. FV was also supported by the European Regional Development Fund. MACT was funded by a predoctoral FPU grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education (AP20043713). PM was supported by grant from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (project 2P04F07030), and the Foundation for Polish Science

Anterior and posterior commissures in agenesis of the corpus callosum: alternative pathways for attention processes?

Developmental absence (agenesis) of the corpus callosum (AgCC) is a congenital brain malformation resulting from disruption of corpus callosum formation, a structure that is crucial for the transfer and integration of information, including attention processes, across the brain. This study aimed to investigate previously proposed candidates for alternative inter-hemispheric pathways in AgCC by examining (1) white matter volume and microstructure of the anterior and posterior commissures in children with AgCC compared to typically developing controls (TDC), and (2) in children with AgCC, examine the associations of white matter volume and microstructure of the anterior and posterior commissures and any remaining corpus callosum with attention processes. Participants were 21 children with AgCC (13 complete, 8 partial) recruited from The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, and 30 TDC aged 8–17 years. T1-and diffusion-weighted MR sequences were used to calculate volume and microstructural parameters. Neuropsychological testing assessed attention processes. We found the anterior commissure was significantly larger in volume in children with AgCC than TDC (p = .027), with reduced mean FA (p = .001) associated with increased mean RD (p < .001). In children with AgCC, we found microstructural properties of the anterior commissure associated with attentional processes, specifically, mean FA of the anterior commissure was associated with better divided attention (p = .03), and the association between alerting attention and mean AD and RD was found to be moderated by age (p = .027, p = .008) and the degree of corpus callosum agenesis (p = .025, p = .016). Furthermore, in partial AgCC, larger posterior commissure volume was associated with better orienting attention (p = .035). In conclusion, we provide evidence that the volume and microstructure of the anterior commissure are altered in children with AgCC, and this neuroplastic response might have an influence on attention processes