1,682 research outputs found

    Pumping the Brakes on Robot Cars: Current Urban Traveler Willingness to Consider Driverless Vehicles

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    A growing literature suggests that widespread travel conducted through driverless connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) accessed as a service, in contrast to those personally owned, could have significant impacts on the sustainability of urban transportation. However, it is unclear how the general public currently considers willingness to travel in driverless vehicles, and if they would be more comfortable doing so in one personally owned or one accessed as a service. To address this, we collected travel survey data by intercepting respondents on discretionary or social trips to four popular destinations in a medium-size U.S. city in the spring of 2017. After collecting data on how the respondent reached the survey site and the trip’s origin and destination, survey administrators then asked if respondents would have been willing to make their current trip in either a personally-owned driverless vehicle or through a driverless vehicle service. Over one-third expressed willingness to use both forms, while 31% were unwilling to use either. For those that considered only one, slightly more favored the personally-owned model. Consideration of an existing mobility service was consistently a positive and significant predictor of those that expressed willingness to travel in a driverless vehicle, while traveling downtown negatively and significantly influenced consideration of at least one form of driverless vehicle. These findings highlight the diverse public views about the prospect of integration of CAVs in transportation systems and raise questions about the assumption that travelers to central city locations would be early adopters of automated vehicle mobility services.The research reported here was supported in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), SPEED Program Grant No. 83594901the University of Michigan Energy Institute (UMEI) and University of Michigan Dow Sustainability Fellows progra

    All plug-in electric vehicles are not the same: Predictors of preference for a plug-in hybrid versus a battery-electric vehicle

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    This study analyzes data from a survey of drivers (n = 1080) administered in late 2013 to assess factors that influence potential car buyers to consider two different types of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in the United States: plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The results indicate distinct profiles of respondents preferring PHEVs, which have a gasoline backup engine, versus battery BEVs, which rely solely on a battery for power. Respondents interested in selecting a PHEV consider it more for its economic benefits, such as reduced gasoline and maintenance expenditures. Respondents preferring a BEV are drawn to its environmental and technological appeal. The absence of range anxiety for PHEV is a major factor influencing potential PEV buyers

    Mitigation of Cognitive Bias with a Serious Game: Two Experiments Testing Feedback Timing and Source

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    One of the benefits of using digital games for education is that games can provide feedback for learners to assess their situation and correct their mistakes. We conducted two studies to examine the effectiveness of different feedback design (timing, duration, repeats, and feedback source) in a serious game designed to teach learners about cognitive biases. We also compared the digital game-based learning condition to a professional training video. Overall, the digital game was significantly more effective than the video condition. Longer durations and repeats improve the effects on bias-mitigation. Surprisingly, there was no significant difference between just-in-time feedback and delayed feedback, and computer-generated feedback was more effective than feedback from other players

    Long-lived photoexcited states in polydiacetylenes with different molecular and supramolecular organization

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    With the aim of determining the importance of the molecular and supramolecular organization on the excited states of polydiacetylenes, we have studied the photoinduced absorption spectra of the red form of poly[1,6-bis(3,6-didodecyl-N-carbazolyl)-2,4-hexadiyne] (polyDCHD-S) and the results compared with those of the blue form of the same polymer. An interpretation of the data is given in terms of both the conjugation length and the interbackbone separation also in relation to the photoinduced absorption spectra of both blue and red forms of poly[1,6-bis(N-carbazolyl)-2,4-hexadiyne] (polyDCHD), which does not carry the alkyl substituents on the carbazolyl side groups. Information on the above properties is derived from the analysis of the absorption and Raman spectra of this class of polydiacetylenes

    Optical Propagation and Communication

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    Contains research summary and reports on four research projects.National Science Foundation (Grant ECS81-20637)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS85-09143)Maryland Procurement Office (Contract MDA904-84-C-6037)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS84-15580)U.S. Army Research Office - Durham (Contract DAAG29-84-K-0095)U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract NO0014-80-C-0941

    Linear and nonlinear optical properties of the conjugated polymers PPV and MEH-PPV

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    We have used absorption and electroabsorption spectroscopy to investigate the electronic structure of poly(para-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) and poly (2-methoxy, 5-(2'-(ethyl)hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV). In particular we examine the often used assumption that the electronic structure of PPV and its dialkoxy substituted derivatives are essentially the same. The absorption spectrum of PPV consists of three peaks, while that of MEH-PPV has four peaks. We discuss the controversial origin of the extra peak as well as evidence for Davydov splitting effects in the absorption spectrum of PPV. The analysis of the nonlinear spectra shows further differences between the two materials. First, the binding energy of the 1B(u) exciton for PPV is some 0.1 eV higher than for MEH-PPV. Second, the peak value of Im{chi((3))(-omega;0,0,omega)} for PPV is approximately 40 times higher than that of MEH-PPV. We also found that the sum-over-states modeling of the electroabsorption spectra indicates that the transition dipole moment between the mA(g) and nB(u) states is of opposite sign in the two polymers. [S0163-1829(99)02523-0]

    Optical Propagation and Communication

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    Contains research objectives and reports on four research projects.National Science Foundation (Grant ECS 85-09143)Maryland Procurement Office (Contract MDA 904-84-C-6037)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS 84-15580)U.S. Army Research Office - Durham (Contract DAAG29-84-K-0095)U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-80-C-0941
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