Investigating the Effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Drivers\u27 Behavior: A Survey Study

In this study, we look at the effects that the COVID-19 lockdown measures enacted in March 2020 had on driving patterns. We hypothesize that the greater portability of remote working associated with the drastic decline in personal mobility, accelerated distracted and aggressive driving. We conducted an online survey where 103 respondents reported on their own and other drivers’ behavior. While respondents agreed to drive less frequently, they also indicated that they were not prone to more aggressive or distracted driving. When asked to report on other motorists’ behavior, however, they indicated to have witnessed more aggressive and distracted drivers on the road after March 2020 relative to the time pre-pandemic. We reconcile these findings with the literature on self-monitoring and self-enhancement bias, and use the studies on the effect of comparable large-scale, disruptive events on traffic patterns to discuss our hypothesis on how driving patterns may change post-pandemic

Evaluating iNAGO’s Car Information Assistant to Improve User Experience and Driver Knowledge and Safety

Research and development of autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) has steadily increased over the last decade and will continue grow in the coming years. Advances in driving technology are intended to increase driver safety, however, recent research suggests that drivers with limited knowledge of these systems such as Adaptive Cruise Control may actually demonstrate increased negative driving behaviors such as distracted driving and speeding. To address the growing concern about driver safety with new advanced and sometimes autonomous features being developed and implemented in vehicles, iNAGO, a software company in Toronto is developing a Car Information Assistant (CI), which is designed to provide information about vehicle features and ADAS functionalities to the driver. Through visual-vocal interaction, CI is intended to act as an in-vehicle personal assistant. This study was designed to test the CI and assess its ability to provide users information about their vehicle and improve their feeling of safety. Each participant (N=20) interacted with the CI and were able to ask it any question they wanted for 20 different vehicle features. After each feature, the participant completed a survey with questions about the effectiveness of CI and how safe they would feel with CI in their vehicle. It was found that 90% of users said they would feel more knowledgeable about the features in their vehicle after using CI, 70% said they would feel safer with this application included in their vehicle, and 90% would use this application compared to a written car manual

Surgical approach to abdominal wall defects: history and new trends

AbstractWe briefly outline the history of hernia surgery development from the Ebers Papyrus to modern prosthetic repairs. The rapid evolution of anatomical, physiological and pathogenetic concepts has involved the rapid evolution of surgical treatments. From hernia sack cauterization to sack ligation, posterior wall repair (Bassini), and prosthetic reinforcement there has been an evident improvement in surgical treatment results that has stimulated surgeons to find new technical solutions over time. The introduction of prosthetic repair, the laparoscopic revolution, the impact of local anesthesia and the diffusion of day surgery have been the main advances of the last 50 years. Searching for new gold standards, the introduction of new devices has also led to new complications and problems. Research of the last 10 years has been directed to overcome prosthetic repair complications, introducing every year new meshes and materials. Lightweight meshes, composite meshes and biologic meshes are novelties of the last few years. We also take a look at future trends

P300 component in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder type I, bipolar disorder type II and healthy controls: a preliminary event-related potential study

The aim of the present study was to investigate P300 event-related potential components in euthymic bipolar disorder type I (BDI) and bipolar disorder type II (BDII) patients and matched controls. A total of 10 BDI patients, 10 BDII patients and 10 healthy individuals were enrolled in the study. Event-related potential data were collected according to a standard auditory 'oddball' paradigm. A significant groups effect in both the peak amplitude (P<0.001) and the mean amplitude (P<0.001) was observed; post-hoc comparisons showed that the peak and mean amplitudes of BDI and BDII patients were significantly lower than the peak and mean amplitudes of the healthy controls. The neurophysiological patterns found in the present study might at least partially reflect the presence of a mild selective cognitive impairment in euthymic BDI and BDII patients. From a clinical point of view, these evidences support the potential role of cognitive interventions in the treatment of BD

Diagnostic accuracy of myocardial perfusion imaging with czt technology. Systemic review and meta-analysis of comparison with invasive coronary angiography

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to summarize the evidence on stress myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) using cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) technology for the diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). The CZT cameras are newly introduced, and comparative data with the conventional Anger technology (Anger-MPI) are lacking. BACKGROUND: The diagnostic accuracy of Anger-MPI for detection of angiographically significant CAD is well established; however, less evidence is available on the diagnostic accuracy of CZT-MPI. METHODS: Clinical studies comparing CZT-MPI and invasive coronary angiography were systematically searched and abstracted. Calculations of diagnostic accuracy, including sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, and diagnostic odds ratio, were obtained with fixed and random effects, reporting point estimates and 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Based on our search, a total of 16 studies (N = 2,092) were included. The sensitivity of CZT-MPI was 0.84 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.78 to 0.89), whereas the specificity of 0.69 (95% CI: 0.62 to 0.76) was significantly reduced. The positive likelihood ratio was 2.73 (95% CI: 2.21 to 3.39), the negative likelihood ratio was 0.24 (95% CI: 0.17 to 0.31), and the diagnostic odds ratio was 11.93 (95% CI: 7.84 to 17.42). At subgroup and meta-regression analyses, the diagnostic accuracy between D-SPECT and Discovery cameras was similar (p = 0.711) and not impacted upon by smaller sample size studies (p = 0.573). CONCLUSIONS: CZT-MPI has satisfactory sensitivity for angiographically significant CAD, but its suboptimal specificity warrants further development and research

Cementless Total Hip Arthroplasty After an Iatrogenic Subtrochanteric Fracture due to Hardware Removal: A Case Report

Introduction: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) after proximal femoral fixation is a challenging procedure due to possible hardware-related complications. Case presentation: A 78-year-old female with hip osteoarthritis had a proximal femoral osteotomy fixed using a blade plate in the same femur 41 years ago. A two-step approach was planned. After a challenging hardware removal, an iatrogenic subtrochanteric fracture below the degenerated hip occurred after three months. THA with a tapered long stem was successfully performed with no need for additional osteosynthesis, and good results were seen two years later. Discussion: THAs in subtrochanteric fractures are technically demanding but feasible in selected cases. Hardware removal before THA implantation may carry important risks, and the surgical team should be prepared to perform arthroplasty in case of complications. Conclusion: THA in a subtrochanteric fracture below hip osteoarthritis is a feasible option in selected cases

Neutron - mirror neutron mixing and neutron stars

The oscillation of neutrons $n$ into mirror neutrons $n'$, their mass degenerate partners from dark mirror sector, can have interesting implications for neutron stars: an ordinary neutron star could gradually transform into a mixed star consisting in part of mirror dark matter. Mixed stars can be detectable as twin partners of ordinary neutron stars: namely, there can exist compact stars with the same masses but having different radii. For a given equation of state (identical between the ordinary and mirror components), the mass and radius of a mixed star depend on the proportion between the ordinary and mirror components in its interior which in turn depends on its age. If $50 \% - 50\%$ proportion between two fractions can be reached asymptotically in time, then the maximum mass of such "maximally mixed stars" should be $\sqrt2$ times smaller than that of ordinary neutron star while the stars exceeding a critical mass value $M^{\rm max}_{NS}/\sqrt2$ should collapse in black holes after certain time. We evaluate the evolution time and discuss the implications of $n-n'$ transition for the pulsar observations as well as for the gravitational waves from the neutron star mergers and associated electromagnetic signals.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

A Dual-phase Xenon TPC for Scintillation and Ionisation Yield Measurements in Liquid Xenon

A small-scale, two-phase (liquid/gas) xenon time projection chamber (Xurich II) was designed, constructed and is under operation at the University of Zurich. Its main purpose is to investigate the microphysics of particle interactions in liquid xenon at energies below 50 keV, which are relevant for rare event searches using xenon as target material. Here we describe in detail the detector, its associated infrastructure, and the signal identification algorithm developed for processing and analysing the data. We present the first characterisation of the new instrument with calibration data from an internal 83m-Kr source. The zero-field light yield is 15.0 and 14.0 photoelectrons/keV at 9.4 keV and 32.1 keV, respectively, and the corresponding values at an electron drift field of 1 kV/cm are 10.8 and 7.9 photoelectrons/keV. The charge yields at these energies are 28 and 31 electrons/keV, with the proportional scintillation yield of 24 photoelectrons per one electron extracted into the gas phase, and an electron lifetime of 200 $\mu$s. The relative energy resolution, $\sigma/E$, is 11.9 % and 5.8 % at 9.4 keV and 32.1 keV, respectively using a linear combination of the scintillation and ionisation signals. We conclude with measurements of the electron drift velocity at various electric fields, and compare these to literature values.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure