Future cities and autonomous vehicles: analysis of the barriers to full adoption

The inevitable upcoming technology of autonomous vehicles (AVs) will affect our cities and several aspects of our lives. The widespread adoption of AVs repose at crossing distinct barriers that prevent their full adoption. This paper presents a critical review of recent debates about AVs and analyse the key barriers to their full adoption. This study has employed a mixed research methodology on a selected database of recently published research works. Thus, the outcomes of this review integrate the barriers into two main categories; (1) User/Government perspectives that include (i) Users' acceptance and behaviour, (ii) Safety, and (iii) Legislation. (2) Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) which include (i) Computer software and hardware, (ii) Communication systems V2X, and (iii) accurate positioning and mapping. Furthermore, a framework of barriers and their relations to AVs system architecture has been suggested to support future research and technology development

GERÇEK ZAMANLI BENZETİM VE DONANIMIN DÖNGÜDE TESTİ TEKNİKLERİNİN UYDU YÖNELİM SİSTEMLERİNE UYGULANMASI

Uzay araçları, elektrikli gemiler, hibrit elektrikli araçlar, dagıtık enerji sistemleri gibi bazı uygulamalar, içerlerinde karmasık güç üretim ve dagıtım sistemlerini barındırırlar. Çok sayıda elektrik motorunun, jeneratörün ve karmasık yükün güç elektronigi devreleriyle birbirine baglandıgı bu sistemlerde kontrol algoritmalarının dogrulugunu ve güvenilirligi tüm çalısma kosullarında saglamak çok önemlidir. Bu tür karmasık sistemlerin tasarımı, birlestirilmesi ve üretim sonrası kabul testleri büyük zorluklar içermektedir. Çok sayıda dinamik degisken içeren bu sistemlerin tüm çalısma kosulları için testlerini gerçeklestirmek çogu zaman olası olmamakta veya çok özel test ortamlarının kullanımını gerektirmektedir. Son yıllarda, zaman alıcı ve pahalı olan bu yöntemlere seçenek olarak gerçek zamanlı sayısal benzetim yöntemi ve donanımın döngüde testi yöntemi gelistirilmistir. Gerçek zamanlı benzetimde modellenen sistemin tepkisini hesaplamak için islemci tarafından harcanacak zaman gerçekte harcanacak zaman ile esittir. Gerçek zamanlı bu islem benzeticiye dısarıdan cihaz baglanmasını olanak saglamaktadır. Bu da gerçek zamanlı benzeticilerin fiziksel kontrol ve koruma cihazlarının test edilmesinde kullanımını olanaklı hale getirmektedir. Bu çalısma kapsamında gerçek zamanlı benzetim ve donanımın döngüde sınanması tekniklerinin kullanılabilecegi bir altyapı gelistirilmistir. Standart kisisel bilgisayar (PC) üzerinde çalısabilen sistemde 9 μs adım aralıgına inilebilmistir. Gelistirilen altyapıda, uydu yönelimi için kullanılan moment kontrol jiroskoplarının (MKJ) sınanması hedeflenmis ve bu amaçla iki adet MKJ üretilmistir. Bu sistemi olusturan tüm motorların ve sistemde kullanılan yönelim algoritmasının gerçek zamanlı benzetim modeli gelistirilmistir. Yapılan benzetim çalısmaları MATLAB Simulink modelleri ile karsılastırılmıs, sonuçların dogrulugu görüldükten sonra döngü içerisinde sınama çalısmalarına geçilmis ve deneyler basarıyla tamamlanmıstır.Applications such as spaceships, boats running on electric power, hybrid cars and distributed energy systems require complex power generation and transmission systems. In those systems having multiple generators and complex loads connected together with power circuits, it is very important to preserve quality and reliability of the energy in all operating conditions. Design, integration and acceptance tests of such systems involve major difficulties. Testing of systems having too many dynamic variables for all cases of operation usually will not be possible or it requires highly specialized test environments. As an alternative of these time consuming and expensive methods, real time digital simulation and hardware in the loop methods are developed in the latest years. In real time simulation the time spent by the processor to calculate the response of the modeled system should be equal to the time actually spent. This real time operation allows the connection of external devices to the simulator and, use of real time simulators in testing of physical control and protection devices becomes possible. A platform that enables the use of real time digital simulation and hardware-inthe- loop (HIL) techniques has been developed in this thesis. The system runs on a standard PC, and 9 micro second time step has been achieved. Test of Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs), which are used in satellite attitude control systems, has been aimed and therefore two CMG units have been manufactured for this purpose. Real time models of all the motors used in the system and the attitude control algorithm have been developed. First, the real time simulation results were compared to those of MATLAB Simulink, and once the results were verified, HIL tests were started. Experiments have been successfully completed

Anomaly detection in vehicle traffic with image processing and machine learning

Complex Adaptive Systems Conference with Theme: Cyber Physical Systems and Deep Learning (2018 : United States)Anomaly detection is an important part of an Intelligent Transportation System. In this study, image processing and machine learning techniques are used to detect anomalies in vehicle movements. These anomalies include standing and traveling in reverse direction. Images are captured using CCTV cameras from front and rear side of the vehicle. This capability makes the results robust to the variations in operational and environmental conditions. Multiple consecutive frames are acquired for motion detection. Features such as edges and license plate corner locations are extracted for tracking purposes. Direction of the traffic flow is obtained from the trained classifier. K-nearest neighbor is chosen as the classifier model. The proposed method is evaluated on a public highway and promising detection results are achieved. © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

QUALITY EVALUATION OF STEREOSCOPIC VIDEOS USING DEPTH MAP SEGMENTATION

This paper presents a new quality evaluation model for stereoscopic videos using depth map segmentation. This study includes both objective and subjective evaluation. The goal of this study is to understand the effect of different depth levels on the overall 3D quality. Test sequences with different coding schemes are used. The results show that overall quality has a strong correlation with the quality of the background, where disparity is smaller relative to the foreground. The results also showed that content type is an important factor in determining the visual quality. While depth segmentation gives information related to 3D perception, additional work is required to develop an objective metric

On the ballistic performance of the AA7075 based functionally graded material with boron carbide reinforcement

In this study, the functionally graded materials (FGMs) bearing three layers were produced via hot pressing to investigate their ballistic performances against 7.62 mm armor piercing (AP) projectile. In the FGM samples, the bottom layer was considered as unreinforced AA7075 alloy, whereas the middle and top layers were made of the AA7075 composite layers having various proportions of B4C particles. Prior to the ballistic testing, the hardness change in the layers with respect to aging time at different temperatures was determined. And then, the ballistic testing of the samples was performed at a ballistic laboratory using 7.62 mm AP projectile. In the ballistic testing, five separate specimens for each FGM group having fixed composition and thickness were used. The experimental results showed that the ballistic impact resistance of the investigated FGMs increased with increasing boron carbide content and the thickness in the layers. Moreover, there were no separations observed between the layers in the failed samples

Cesarean section rates and indications at our clinic between 2001 and 2005

OBJECTIVE: Cesarean section has increased risks for maternal mortality and morbidity, and perinatal morbidity. The purpose of this study was to analyze the annual distribution of indications and rates of cesarean sections in all deliveries that happened between 2001 and 2005. MATERIAL-METHODS: We evaluated retrospectively the hospital records of 1806 patients who underwent cesarean section among 2416 deliveries at Suleyman Demirel University, School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, between 2001- 2005. The annual distribution of patients with cesarean section were analyzed with respect to age, parity, vaginal birth rate and cesarean section indications. RESULTS: The rate of cesarean section is between 58.1% and 85.2%. This rate increased by years. The most increased indications of cesarean section were previous cesarean, cephalo-pelvic disproportion, and fetal distress. While the rate of previous cesarean was 18.3 % in 2001, it increased to 29.6 % in 2005. In a same manner, the rates of cephalo-pelvic disproportion was raised from 2.8% to 21.4%.. The indications of fetal distress and desire of contraception were decreased during this period (p CONCLUSION: The cesarean rate has increased by years in our clinic. This increase was attributed to the increased rate of previous cesarean section, the increased number of primigravid women over 35 year old, and the management of breech presentations. The widespread use of antenatal diagnostic techniques also caused an increase in the rate of cesarean section

The ballistic performance of SiC-AA7075 functionally graded composite produced by powder metallurgy

The potential of silicon carbide reinforced Functionally Gradient Material (FGM) to be used as armor material was investigated under the impact of armor piercing projectile. For this purpose, the SiC-Aluminum Alloy (AA) 7075 functionally graded composite at different thicknesses was produced from the metallic and ceramic powders via powder metallurgy method. Before the ballistic testing, the precipitation hardening behavior of the samples was determined. And also, the microstructural characterizations of the samples were done with the aid of microscopy techniques. Next, the FGM samples were tested using armor piercing projectile to analyze their impact behavior. In the produced samples, some pore formation was detected. The ballistic experiments showed that the investigated FGMs (up to a thickness of 25 mm) did not withstand the impact of the projectile. At the tested samples, some major cracks and plug formation were detected at macrolevel while there were some microcracks, deformed and elongated grains in the regions near to the deformation zone of the samples

Investigating the scientific process skills of medical students in relation to medical decision making: Research on basic medical science competence

Background: Medical students are expected to convey scientific literacy and possess certain scientific skills prior to being admitted to medical schools. Laboratory practices being provided during their education play a crucial role in their professional development and the usefulness of these practices is possible and can be enriched if the students possess prior scientific skills. The purpose of this study is to determine the scientific process skills of second year medical students in Suleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Medicine, Turkey. Methods: The study was conducted in April 2006 by using the Scientific Process Skills Questionnaire (SPSQ) for laboratory practices. Randomly selected (n = 76) second year medical students participated in the study. Results: Nine basic scientific process skills were investigated. All of the students responded correctly to the question that measured their ability to interpret data. Students abilities to set up hypothesis and make estimations were found quite high. (94.7 %, 92.1 % respectively) The two skills that were challenging to students were the ability to make an observation and their proficiency in scales. The percentage of correct responses to those questions were 50 % and 50.5 % respectively. Conclusions: The study suggests that students in the study group possess the necessary scientific process skills at some degree (86 %). However, this ratio, thus the productivity of laboratory practices can be enhanced by building up on skills such as making observations and interpreting scales. Quality in medical education cannot be achieved if we do not provide our students with basic scientific process skills early in their education

The ballistic performance of SiC–AA7075 functionally graded composite produced by powder metallurgy

The potential of silicon carbide reinforced Functionally Gradient Material (FGM) to be used as armor material was investigated under the impact of armor piercing projectile. For this purpose, the SiC-Aluminum Alloy (AA) 7075 functionally graded composite at different thicknesses was produced from the metallic and ceramic powders via powder metallurgy method. Before the ballistic testing, the precipitation hardening behavior of the samples was determined. And also, the microstructural characterizations of the samples were done with the aid of microscopy techniques. Next, the FGM samples were tested using armor piercing projectile to analyze their impact behavior. In the produced samples, some pore formation was detected. The ballistic experiments showed that the investigated FGMs (up to a thickness of 25 mm) did not withstand the impact of the projectile. At the tested samples, some major cracks and plug formation were detected at macrolevel while there were some microcracks, deformed and elongated grains in the regions near to the deformation zone of the samples