Detecting fatigue in car drivers and aircraft pilots by using eye-motion metrics

Fatigue is widely recognised for risking the safety of aviation and ground transportation. To enhance transport safety, fatigue detection systems based on psychophysiological measures have been under development for many years. However, a reliable and robust fatigue detection system is still missing. This thesis starts with a literature review of fatigue concepts in the transportation field and the current psychophysiological measures to fatigue, and narrows down the focus to improving fatigue detection systems using eye-motion measures. A research gap was identified between current fatigue systems only focusing on part of sleepy symptoms and a comprehensive fatigue detection system including mental fatigue needed. To address this gap, four studies were conducted to reshape the understanding of fatigue in transportation and explore effective eye-motion metrics for indicating fatigue considering different causal factors. Studies 1 and 2 investigated the influence of two types of task-related fatigue on eye movement. Twenty participants completed a vigilance task before and after a 1-h simulator-based drive with a secondary task. Forty participants, divided equally into two groups, finished the same task before and after a 1-h and 1.5-h monotonous driving task. The results demonstrated that two types of task-related fatigue caused by cognitive overload and prolonged underload induced different physiological responses to eye-motion metrics. The results also proved that the increased mental fatigue decreased driver’s vigilance. Studies 3 and 4 simulated two hazardous fatigue scenarios for pilots. Study 3 explored the relationship between eye-motion metrics and pilot fatigue in an underload flight condition with sleep deprivation (low workload and sleep pressure). Study 4 explored the effective eye-motion metrics to estimate pilot’s cognitive fatigue imposed by time on task and high workload. The results suggested different eye-motion metrics to indicate sleepiness and mental fatigue. In addition, based on the sleepiness and mental fatigue indicators in Studies 3 and 4, several classifiers were built and evaluated to accurately detect sleepiness and mental fatigue. These findings show that considering casual factors such as sleep pressure, time on task and workload when using eye-motion metrics to detect fatigue can improve the accuracy and face validity of the current fatigue detection systems

a neuro fuzzy fatigue tracking and classification system for wheelchair users

With the elderly and disabled population increasing worldwide, the functionalities of smart wheelchairs as mobility assistive equipment are becoming more enriched and extended. Although there is a well-established body of literature on fatigue detection methods and systems, fatigue detection for wheelchair users has still not been widely explored. This paper proposes a neuro-fuzzy fatigue tracking and classification system and applies this method to classify fatigue degree for manual wheelchair users. In the proposed system, physiological and kinetic data are collected, including surface electromyography, electrocardiography, and acceleration signals. The necessary features are then extracted from the signals and integrated with a self-rating method to train the neuro-fuzzy classifier. Four degrees of fatigue status can be distinguished to provide further fatigue and alertness prediction in the event of musculoskeletal disorders caused by underlying fatigue

Fine-Tuning Stomatal Movement Through Small Signaling Peptides

As sessile organisms, plants are continuously exposed to a wide range of environmental stress. In addition to their crucial roles in plant growth and development, small signaling peptides are also implicated in sensing environmental stimuli. Notably, recent studies in plants have revealed that small signaling peptides are actively involved in controlling stomatal aperture to defend against biotic and abiotic stress. This review illustrates our growing knowledge of small signaling peptides in the modulation of stomatal aperture and highlights future challenges to decipher peptide signaling pathways in guard cells

Regulation of Wnt Singaling Pathway by Poly (ADP-Ribose) Glycohydrolase (PARG) Silencing Suppresses Lung Cancer in Mice Induced by Benzo(a)pyrene Inhalation Exposure

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon that specifically causes cancer and is widely distributed in the environment. Poly (ADP-ribosylation), as a key post-translational modification in BaP-induced carcinogenesis, is mainly catalyzed by poly (ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (PARG) in eukaryotic organisms. Previously, it is found that PARG silencing can counteract BaP-induced carcinogenesis in vitro, but the mechanism remained unclear. In this study, we further examined this process in vivo by using heterozygous PARG knockout mice (PARG+/−). Wild-type and PARG+/− mice were individually treated with 0 or 10 μg/m3 BaP for 90 or 180 days by dynamic inhalation exposure. Pathological analysis of lung tissues showed that, with extended exposure time, carcinogenesis and injury in the lungs of WT mice was progressively worse; however, the injury was minimal and carcinogenesis was not detected in the lungs of PARG+/− mice. These results indicate that PARG gene silencing protects mice against lung cancer induced by BaP inhalation exposure. Furthermore, as the exposure time was extended, the protein phosphorylation level was down-regulated in WT mice, but up-regulated in PARG+/− mice. The relative expression of Wnt2b and Wnt5b mRNA in WT mice were significantly higher than those in the control group, but there was no significant difference in PARG+/− mice. Meanwhile, the relative expression of Wnt2b and Wnt5b proteins, as assessed by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis, was significantly up-regulated by BaP in WT mice; while in PARG+/− mice it was not statistically affected. Our work provides initial evidence that PARG silencing suppresses BaP induced lung cancer and stabilizes the expression of Wnt ligands, PARG gene and Wnt ligands may provide new options for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer

Effect of Heat Treatment on the In-Plane Anisotropy of As-Rolled 7050 Aluminum Alloy

Tensile tests were conducted on both as-quenched and over-aged 7050 aluminum alloy to investigate the effect of heat treatment on the in-plane anisotropy of as-rolled 7050 aluminum alloy. The results showed that the tensile direction has limited effect on mechanical properties of the as-quenched 7050 aluminum alloy. The in-plane anisotropy factors (IPA factor) of tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation in as-rolled 7050 aluminum alloy fluctuate in the vicinity of 5%. The anisotropy of the as-quenched 7050 aluminum alloy is mainly affected by the texture according to single crystal analysis based on the Schmid factor method. Besides, the IPA factor of the elongation in the over-aged 7050 aluminum alloy reaches 11.6%, illustrating that the anisotropy of the over-aged 7050 aluminum alloy is more prominent than that of the as-quenched. The occurrence of the anisotropy in the over-aged 7050 aluminum alloy is mainly attributed to the microstructures. which are characterized by visible precipitate free zones (PFZs) and coarse precipitates in (sub)grain boundaries

Ecopolitical discourse: Authoritarianism or democracy? - Evidence from China.

From the discourse analysis perspective, ecopolitics has experienced a discourse change from authoritarianism to democracy. This study uses theory of authoritarianism and democracy in ecopolitics to explore the impact of authoritarian ecopolitical discourse (AED) and democratic ecopolitical discourse (DED) on environmental quality in China. After analysis using panel data and comparison of three main regions, results suggest a negative relationship between AED of the central government and environmental quality. By contrast, a positive relationship exists between AED of local governments and environmental quality. A positive relationship exists between DED, which measures the proposals of People's Congress deputies and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and environmental quality. Nevertheless, the positive effect of DED is weaker than that of AED. The impact is also different among the regions. Our interpretations are as follows. China's current governance mechanism is a top-down decision-making mechanism, rather than a bottom-up information transmission mechanism. The concentration of power keeps decision-making power and resources away from levels with considerably accurate information and capabilities in problem solving. Therefore, we suggest that governments should change their decision-making process and exert effort to be transparent to the entire society. A bottom-up mechanism of information collection and transmission should be established, such as environmental inspection mechanism and checking on cadres' achievements with green GDP

Pre-service teachers' information communication technology (ICT) adoption in preschool settings in Hong Kong

Teacher education programmes are expected to prepare pre-service teachers (PSTs) to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their future teaching and learning practice. However, whether and how PSTs actually integrate ICT in their teaching practice is influenced by many other factors in addition to their own personal background and educational exposure. This study investigates the technologies used and the kind of ICT-related pedagogical approaches adopted by PSTs’ teaching practicum, and to examine how these are influenced by school-level and personal-level factors. Fifteen PSTs assigned in the same teaching practicum group were selected as the focal subjects for this study. The methodological approach taken in this research was multiple case studies, involving in-depth data collection through surveys, interviews, observations and document analysis during various stages of the PSTs’ in seven preschools over two semesters. Findings reveal three pedagogical approaches adopted by the PSTs: 1) teacher-initiated and teacher-directed, 2) teacher-initiated and children-directed, and 3) children-initiated and children-directed. The most frequent pedagogical approach overall was teacher-directed approach. The adoption of children-directed activities was much lower, and children-initiated activities were very infrequent. Similar patterns were found in ICT-related learning activities: a majority of these were initiated and directed by PSTs and only limited opportunities for children to direct the use of ICT. No ICT was used in children-initiated activities. Further analyses reveal that school-level conditions were important in influencing PSTs’ decision-making in relation to ICT use. These conditions include: nature of the curriculum adopted by the school, ICT access, and the mentor teachers’ pedagogical use of ICT. In schools with a greater understanding and adoption of children-centred approaches, PSTs had more opportunities to involve children in using ICT in teacher-initiated and children-directed activities. In structured teacher-centred classrooms, PSTs follow their mentor teacher’s use of ICT, mainly in teacher-initiated and teacher-directed approach. It is found that the mentor teacher played a very important role in demonstrating the pedagogical use of ICT. The study found that personal conditions such as the PSTs’ self-reported personal use of ICT and their competence in using ICT also affected how they used ICT in their practice. While the PSTs had similar ways of using ICT for their own personal activities, they varied in the confidence and competence in pedagogical use of ICT. They all felt confident in using ICT to prepare and present visual learning resources, but were less confident in preparing lessons that involve the use of ICT by children, and even less confident in guiding children’s use of ICT. These findings suggest that in order for teacher education programmes to effectively prepare PSTs for ICT integration, mutual understanding and collaboration with practicum schools and mentor teachers are important. Teacher educators and teacher education institutions are only part of the education ecosystem. Aligned vision and efforts involving policy makers and school leaders at the system and school levels are necessary to create the appropriate conditions for mentor teachers to support PSTs in exploring innovative ways of using ICT in early childhood education.published_or_final_versionEducationDoctoralDoctor of Educatio

BeiDou Code Pseudorange Precision Estimation and Time Correlation Analysis from Trimble Net-R9 and ComNav 708 Receivers

Stochastic models describe the observation precisions and their correlations with each other and play an important role in reliable global navigation satellite system ambiguity resolution and precise positioning. However, the characteristics of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) observations are still not clear at present. In general, the stochastic model used for BDS is based on empirical models from global positioning system (GPS) knowledge in most cases. In this paper, the zero-baseline dual-frequency GPS and BDS data with different sampling intervals are used to evaluate the precision and time correlation of the BDS code pseudorange observations. The results show that the precisions of BDS and GPS code measurements are almost of the same magnitude. However, the standard deviations of BDS measurements are larger than those of GPS measurements. Inclined geostationary orbit observations suffer from periodic error, which has been confirmed to be unaffected by multipath error in this paper. Traditional elevation-dependent models cannot work well for precise positioning for either GPS or BDS because the elevation dependencies of the two carrier frequencies' pseudorange observations are not the same. Moreover, BDS observations have a significant time correlation, especially for geostationary orbit satellites. The time correlation coefficients are maintained at similar to 0.63-0.75 for different receiver types. Consequently, the BDS positioning residuals are significantly larger than those of GPS even if the observations have similar precision

Correction: Salas-Pilco et al. Artificial Intelligence and Learning Analytics in Teacher Education: A Systematic Review. <i>Educ. Sci.</i> 2022, <i>12</i>, 569

There was an error in the original publication [...

Artificial Intelligence and Learning Analytics in Teacher Education: A Systematic Review

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) and learning analytics (LA) have been introduced into the field of education, where their use has great potential to enhance the teaching and learning processes. Researchers have focused on applying these technologies to teacher education, as they see the value of technology for educating. Therefore, a systematic review of the literature on AI and LA in teacher education is necessary to understand their impact in the field. Our methodology follows the PRISMA guidelines, and 30 studies related to teacher education were identified. This review analyzes and discusses the several ways in which AI and LA are being integrated in teacher education based on the studies&rsquo; goals, participants, data sources, and the tools used to enhance teaching and learning activities. The findings indicate that (a) there is a focus on studying the behaviors, perceptions, and digital competence of pre- and in-service teachers regarding the use of AI and LA in their teaching practices; (b) the main data sources are behavioral data, discourse data, and statistical data; (c) machine learning algorithms are employed in most of the studies; and (d) the ethical clearance is mentioned by few studies. The implications will be valuable for teachers and educational authorities, informing their decisions regarding the effective use of AI and LA technologies to support teacher education