275 research outputs found
Large Reductions Are Possible in Older Driver Crashes at Intersections
Among all crash types, the largest percentage of older driver fatalities occur at intersections. Many explanations have been offered for older drivers\u27 increased risks of crashing at intersections; however, only recently was it determined that older drivers were much less likely to glance for latent threats after entering an intersection than middle-aged drivers. In response, training programmes were designed to increase the frequency of such glances. The programmes have proven effective, doubling the frequency of these glances for up to a period of two years post-training. The programmes take only an hour to administer and are not directly targeted at remediating any of the underlying declines in cognitive, visual or motor function that can explain the decrease in the frequency of glances for threat vehicles among older drivers. The first question we addressed was, what are the basic declines that can explain the decrease in glances for threat vehicles? The second question we addressed was, how did the training programme achieve the results it did without directly addressing these declines? We hypothesise that drivers are learning to decouple hand, foot and head movements in the training programmes and that this serialisation of behaviour essentially sidesteps the major declines in cognitive, visual and motor functions. We provide evidence that the assumptions of the decoupling hypothesis about the capabilities of older drivers when the movements are decoupled, are consistent with the evidence from existing experiments. More research is needed to evaluate this hypothesis
Strict limit on in-plane ordered magnetic dipole moment in URu2Si2
Neutron diffraction is used to examine the polarization of weak static
antiferromagnetism in high quality single crystalline URu2Si2. As previously
documented, elastic Bragg-like diffraction develops for temperature T<T_{HO}=
17.5 K at q=(100) but not at wave vector transfer q=(001). The peak width
indicates correlation lengths \xi_c=230(12) \AA \ and \xi_a=240(15) \AA. The
integrated intensity of the T-dependent peaks corresponds to a sample averaged
c-oriented staggered moment of \mu_{c}=0.022(1) \mu_B at T=1.7 K. The absence
of T-dependent diffraction at q=(001) places a limit \mu_{\perp}<0.0011 \mu_B
on an f- or d-orbital based in-plane staggered magnetic dipole moment, which is
associated with multipolar orders proposed for URu_2Si_2.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Dobutamine stress echocardiography in a patient with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome
We describe the case of a patient with ventricular pre-excitation who underwent dobutamine
stress echocardiography to evaluate atypical chest pain. The patient safely underwent the
procedure with interesting electrocardiographic findings during pharmacological stress. The
risks of dobutamine stress testing, along with possible explanations of this observed event, are
discussed. In conclusion, the safety of dobutamine stress testing in patients with ventricular
pre-excitation has not been established; further prospective studies are needed to decide whether
dobutamine stress testing is safe in certain subsets of this population. (Cardiol J 2011; 18, 4:
437–440
Neutron Scattering Study of URuReSi with = 0.10: Driving Order towards Quantum Criticality
We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements in the hidden order state
of URuReSi with = 0.10. We observe that towards the
ferromagnetic quantum critical point induced by the negative chemical pressure
of Re-doping, the gapped incommensurate fluctuations are robust and comparable
in intensity to the parent material. As the Re doping moves the system toward
the quantum critical point, the commensurate spin fluctuations related to
hidden order weaken, display a shortened lifetime and slow down. Halfway to the
quantum critical point, the hidden order phase survives, albeit weakened, in
contrast to its destruction by hydrostatic pressure and by positive chemical
pressure from Rh-doping.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, 24 reference
Quantum Spin Excitations through the metal-to-insulator crossover in
We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the temperature dependence of
the spin excitations of a detwinned superconducting YBaCuO
( K). In contrast to earlier work on YBaCuO (
K), where the prominent features in the magnetic spectra consist of a sharp
collective magnetic excitation termed ``resonance'' and a large
( meV) superconducting spin gap, we find that the spin
excitations in YBaCuO are gapless and have a much broader
resonance. Our detailed mapping of magnetic scattering along the
/-axis directions at different energies reveals that spin
excitations are unisotropic and consistent with the ``hourglass''-like
dispersion along the -axis direction near the resonance, but they are
isotropic at lower energies. Since a fundamental change in the low-temperature
normal state of YBaCuO when superconductivity is suppressed
takes place at with a metal-to-insulator crossover (MIC), where the
ground state transforms from a metallic to an insulating-like phase, our
results suggest a clear connection between the large change in spin excitations
and the MIC. The resonance therefore is a fundamental feature of metallic
ground state superconductors and a consequence of high- superconductivity.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.
Age-Related Differences in Vehicle Control and Eye Movement Patterns at Intersections: Older and Middle-Aged Drivers
Older drivers are at increased risk of intersection crashes. Previous work found that older drivers execute less frequent glances for detecting potential threats at intersections than middle-aged drivers. Yet, earlier work has also shown that an active training program doubled the frequency of these glances among older drivers, suggesting that these effects are not necessarily due to age-related functional declines. In light of findings, the current study sought to explore the ability of older drivers to coordinate their head and eye movements while simultaneously steering the vehicle as well as their glance behavior at intersections. In a driving simulator, older (M = 76 yrs) and middle-aged (M = 58 yrs) drivers completed different driving tasks: (1) travelling straight on a highway while scanning for peripheral information (a visual search task) and (2) navigating intersections with areas potential hazard. The results replicate that the older drivers did not execute glances for potential threats to the sides when turning at intersections as frequently as the middle-aged drivers. Furthermore, the results demonstrate costs of performing two concurrent tasks, highway driving and visual search task on the side displays: the older drivers performed more poorly on the visual search task and needed to correct their steering positions more compared to the middle-aged counterparts. The findings are consistent with the predictions and discussed in terms of a decoupling hypothesis, providing an account for the effects of the active training program
Incommensurate Spin Ordering and Fluctuations in underdoped La_{2-x}Ba_{x}CuO_{4}
Using neutron scattering techniques, we have studied incommensurate spin
ordering as well as low energy spin dynamics in single crystal underdoped \LBCO
with x0.095 and 0.08; high temperature superconductors with T 27
K and 29 K respectively. Static two dimensional incommensurate magnetic order
appears below T=39.5 0.3 K in \LBCO (x=0.095) and a similar
temperature for x=0.08 within the low temperature tetragonal phase. The spin
order is unaffected by either the onset of superconductivity or the application
of magnetic fields of up to 7 Tesla applied along the c-axis in the x=0.095
sample. Such magnetic field {\it independent} behaviour is in marked contrast
with the field induced enhancement of the staggered magnetisation observed in
the related \LSCO system, indicating this phenomenon is not a universal
property of cuprate superconductors. Surprisingly, we find that
incommensurability is only weakly dependent on doping relative to
\LSCO. Dispersive excitations in \LBCO (x=0.095) at the same incommensurate
wavevector persist up to at least 60 K. The dynamical spin susceptibility of
the low energy spin excitations saturates below \tc, in a similar manner to
that seen in the superconducting state of LaCuO.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, submitted to PRB, figures update
Ethical Decision Making Behind the Wheel – A Driving Simulator Study
Over the past several years, there has been considerable debate surrounding ethical decision making in situations resulting in inevitable casualties. Given enough time and all other things being equal, studies show that drivers will typically decide to strike the fewest number of pedestrians in scenarios where there is a choice between striking several versus one or no pedestrians. However, it is unclear whether drivers behave similarly under situations of time pressure. In our experiment in a driving simulator, 32 drivers were given up to 2 s to decide which group of pedestrians to avoid among groups of larger (5) or smaller (≤1) number of pedestrians. Our findings suggest that while people frequently choose utilitarian decisions in the typical, abstract manifestations of the Trolley Problems, drivers can fail to make utilitarian decisions in simulated driving environments under a restricted period of time representative of the time they would have to make the same decision in the real world (2 s). Analysis of eye movement data shows that drivers are less likely to glance at left and right sides of crosswalks under situations of time duress. Our results raise critical engineering and ethical questions. From a cognitive engineering standpoint, we need to know how long at minimum a driver needs to make simple, moral decisions in different scenarios. From an ethical standpoint, we may need to evaluate whether automated vehicle algorithms can aid decision making on our behalf when there is not enough time for a driver to make a moral decision
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