Are You Used To It Yet? Braking Performance and Adaptation in a Fixed-base Driving Simulator.

During braking-to-stop manoeuvres in a fixed-base driving simulator, the paucity of visual and vestibular cues can lead to driver misperception and produce different patterns of braking response between real and simulated driving. For these reasons, drivers must adapt their behaviour in a simulator to affect a comfortable and efficient braking manoeuvre. Such behavioural adaptation is likely to have negative consequences by increasing a driver’s attentional demand. In this study, 48 participants underwent a series of braking-to-stop manoeuvres in an instrumented vehicle on a test-track. Each participant was instructed to drive at 40mph. A set of traffic lights, on occasions, changed to red as the vehicle was 58m from the lights. Deceleration profiles provided the baseline data. The same scenario was modelled in a fixed-base driving simulator. Two groups, each of 24 participants, one familiar with the simulator from previous investigations and one with no prior simulator experience, underwent the simulated traffic light scenario ten times. This paper suggests a method of objectively assessing driver braking performance between the real and simulated environments. Results appear to suggest that in as little as five or six practice stops drivers can adapt their simulator driving style to closely match that observed in a real vehicle on a test track. However, any process of adaptation from prior exposure to the simulator is short-lived

Contextual effect on mortality of neighbourhood level education explained by earlier life deprivation

Various aspects of socioeconomic conditions in the neighbourhood have in recent years been found to have an influence on morbidity and mortality even after individual characteristics are taken into account.1 Increasing evidence suggests that to measure fully the impact social conditions may have on mortality risk, the whole life course must be taken into account as mortality risk increases cumulatively over the life course.2 Few studies have combined ecological and life course factors to see if contextual effects may be explained by social conditions earlier in life at the individual level.3,4 Most studies of neighbourhood effects have had a cross sectional design or with short follow up. Effects seen could be a consequence of the fact that people in these areas may have different earlier life experiences that have not been fully taken into account. In this study we examine whether the contextual effect of educational level aggregated to the neighbourhood on mortality risk could be explained by earlier life deprivation

Prophylactic immunization against rabies with duck embryo vaccine

No Abstract

Evolutionarily Stable Strategies in Quantum Games

Evolutionarily Stable Strategy (ESS) in classical game theory is a refinement of Nash equilibrium concept. We investigate the consequences when a small group of mutants using quantum strategies try to invade a classical ESS in a population engaged in symmetric bimatrix game of Prisoner's Dilemma. Secondly we show that in an asymmetric quantum game between two players an ESS pair can be made to appear or disappear by resorting to entangled or unentangled initial states used to play the game even when the strategy pair remains a Nash equilibrium in both forms of the game.Comment: RevTex,contents extended to include asymmetric games,no figur

Are industries responding differently to the employment equity challenge?

The primary objective of the study was to determine whether the Employment Equity Questionnaire detects significant differences between employment equity practices of companies from different industries in order to assess the discriminant validity of the scale. Samples of convenience from nine different companies representing different industries, constituted a larger sample of 4729. First and second level factor analyses on 41 common items across all nine companies yielded a single scale with an acceptable Alpha coefficient of 0,959. Analysis of variance, followed by post hoc contrast tests, indicated significant differences between some organisations. The discriminant validity of the scale could be established and recommendations for further improvement of the scale were made

Two King Lears: The meaning potentials of writing and speech for talking books

The talking book is a type of assistive technology where original print text is audio recorded and marked-up in order to make it accessible for people with print-disabilities, such as visual impairments or dyslexia. In this pilot study, we explore the implications of remediating a written text, the script of Shakespeare’s King Lear, into spoken text. We compare two readings of the play: a talking book version; and a commercial audiobook recording. We examine intonation choices in an excerpt from the play in the two readings. The analysis shows significant variation in choices of intonation, and thus the meanings that are produced in the two versions, resulting in not one but two King Lear plays. One implication of such variation might be that different styles of narration demand different ways of reading. The results point to the need to explore how intonation makes meaning for actual talking book readers in situ, where meaning-potentials are realised through the interaction and encounter between the text, the reader(s), the social settings in which they are reading, and the material properties of talking books

User guide for the BGS UK Coal Resource for New Exploitation Technologies (Version 1) dataset

This report describes the Coal for New Technologies GIS dataset, which is a suite of data layers developed in 2004 by the British Geological Survey (BGS), with the assistance of Wardell Armstrong and Imperial College, London. The principle aim of the original study was to develop a methodology to assess the potential of the UK onshore coal resources for both exploitation by conventional (mining) and new technologies. Digital data was created using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to produce the delivered output of the original project, a series of paper maps that would identify prospective areas. The Coal for New Technologies digital data has been derived from the original source data. No updating has been carried out and has been published in its original format under Open Government Licence as a set of data layers covering mining technologies: Mining Technologies: Area with technical potential for opencast workings (source Coal Resource Map of Great Britain BGS/Coal Authority 1999) Underground mining exploration prospects Good prospects for abandoned mine methane (AMM) (Mine workings not recovered) Resource area for coal mine methane (CMM) (source Coal Authority Underground Licences, May 2002) Extent of underground workings with 500m buffer zone (based on Coal Authority data, May 2002) New Technologies: Area greater than 1200m from surface with potential for CO2 sequestration Area with good coalbed methane (CBM) potential Underground coal gasification (UCG) potential Coalbed methane (CBM) resource area Coal-bearing strata The original methodology is described in the project report which outlines the assessment, development and uncertainties of the methodology which is available as a free download on the BGS website here: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/downloads/start.cfm?id=1712

The Relationship Between the Mid-Point and Most-Prominent Point on the Labial Curve of Upper Anterior Teeth

Objectives: This study investigates coincidence of the most-prominent point and the mid-point on upper anterior teeth in relation to the use of straight-wire appliances. Materials and Methods: Alginate impressions of the upper jaw were obtained from forty Caucasian patients. Impressions were cast using hard dental stone. The teeth on each upper study model (canine to canine) were marked along the facial axis of the clinical crown (FACC line) then separated using a very thin diamond disc. Each tooth was mounted on a glass slide using sticky wax and cut into two halves down this FACC line. Images were acquired of the sections and a straight line connecting the gingival margin and the incisal edge was drawn on the flat cut surfaces (now the proximal crosssectional view). From this line, perpendicular lines were drawn at the mid-point and most prominent point to the labial curve. Coincidence rate was calculated or whether the most prominent point was gingival or incisal to the mid-point. Results: Approximately 80% of upper central incisors had coincident mid- and most-prominent points. Upper lateral incisors and canine teeth had approximately 50% coincidence. The vast majority of cases without coincidence showed the most-prominent point incisal to the mid-point for all tooth kinds with just 5% or less gingival. Conclusions: The high proportions of non-coincident examples found suggest that clinicians should be aware of individual variation and that this may possibly effect 3rd order alignment. </jats:p

Entanglement and Dynamic Stability of Nash Equilibria in a Symmetric Quantum Game

We study the evolutionary stability of Nash equilibria (NE) in a symmetric quantum game played by the recently proposed scheme of applying `identity' and `Pauli spin flip' operators on the initial state with classical probabilities. We show that in this symmetric game dynamic stability of a NE can be changed when the game changes its form, for example, from classical to quantum. It happens even when the NE remains intact in both forms.Comment: Latex,no figure,submitted to Physics Letters