Assessing driver’s ability to estimate compliance rates to in-car, advisory driver support

\u3cp\u3ePurpose: In-car support systems focus increasingly on improving traffic flow and throughput. Advisory systems allow for fast market penetration, advising drivers how to drive in order to improve general flow. By following the advice, drivers cannot create a beneficial effect by themselves but rely on other road users to comply as well. Drivers who sense a low compliance among other road users may be discouraged to use the system themselves. The present experiment investigated whether drivers are able to distinguish between various compliance rates to Connected Cruise Control (CCC), an advisory driver support system that gives headway, speed and lane advice to improve throughput on motorways. Method: Forty-two participants estimated the compliance of other road users to CCC in a driving simulator. Actual system compliance was varied between 10, 50 and 90 %. Half of the participants received detailed information about the advice and the manifestation of compliant behaviour in traffic. Results: Compliance estimates showed no effect of actual compliance rates. Overall compliance ratings were higher for participants who had not received additional information about the system. Difference scores between compliance estimate and actual compliance indicate that additional information did not improve estimation accuracy, neither did it increase participants' confidence with their estimate. Conclusions: When actual compliance is low, drivers still show high compliance estimates which can have beneficial effect on system acceptance. Additional information does not improve compliance estimates.\u3c/p\u3

Automated Driving and its Effect on the Safety Ecosystem: How do Compatibility Issues Affect the Transition Period?

AbstractDifferent components of automated vehicles are being made available commercially as we speak. Much research has been conducted into these components and many of these have been studied with respect to their effects on safety, but the transition period from non-automated driving to fully automated vehicles raises safety related issues dealing with mixed traffic situations. More in-depth knowledge should be gained in (the safety of) the behaviour of drivers of unequipped vehicles, enabling automated vehicles to predict and adequately respond to potentially unsafe behaviour, a concept we call backwards compatibility. Also, automated vehicle system design tends to be from an optimal system performance perspective which leads to driving patterns such as driving in the centre of a lane. Other (human) road users however likely exhibit driving behaviour in line with different rationales which allow for suboptimal driving patterns. As of yet, it remains unclear whether these patterns contain indications about the intentions of a driver and if or how other road users anticipate these. This could have two consequences with regard to mixed traffic situations. First of all, other road users might miss important cues from the behaviour of the automated vehicle (what we call forward incompatibility). Secondly, the occupant of an automated vehicle might expect human-like behaviour from the automated vehicle in safety-critical situations, lowering acceptance if this does not meet expectations. The current paper considers these issues and states that we need more insight in how road users use other road users’ behaviour to anticipate safety critical events, especially in the transition period towards fully automated vehicles

Growth Efficiency and Carbon Balance for the Sponge Haliclona oculata

To obtain more knowledge about carbon requirements for growth by sponges, the growth rate, respiration rate, and clearance rate was measured in situ in Haliclona oculata. We found that only 34% of the particulate carbon pumped through the sponge was used for both respiration and growth. The net growth efficiency, being the ratio of carbon incorporated in biomass and the total carbon used by the sponge for respiration and growth, was found to be 0.099 ± 0.013. Thus, about 10% of the total used carbon was fixed in biomass, and over 90% was used for generating energy for growth, maintenance, reproduction, and pumping. H. oculata had 2.5 μmol C available for every micromole O2 consumed. A value of 0.75 for respiratory quotient (RQ in micromole CO2 micromole O2−1) was used for H. oculata, which is the average value reported in literature for different marine invertebrates. Thus, carbon was available in excess to meet the respiratory demand. Oxygen was found not to be the limiting factor for growth, since only 3.3% of the oxygen pumped through the sponge body was used. Our results indicate that both oxygen and carbon availability are not limiting. The low growth efficiency agrees with the low growth rates found for the species used in this study

The association between mitochondrial DNA abundance and stroke : A combination of multivariable-adjusted survival and Mendelian randomization analyses

Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to the UK Biobank for allowing us the use of their data. The analyses done in UK Biobank were done under project number 56340. Furthermore, the authors acknowledge the participants and investigators of the MEGASTROKE consortium and the FinnGen Biobank who contributed to the summary statistics data which are made available for further studies. Financial support This work was supported by the VELUX Stiftung [grant number 1156] to DvH and RN, and JL was supported by the China Scholarship Counsel [No.201808500155]. RN was supported by an innovation grant from the Dutch Heart Foundation [grant number 2019T103 to R.N.]. Parts of this work were funded by the Åke Wibergs Foundation (grant number M19-0294 to F.G).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

How can humans understand their automated cars? HMI principles, problems and solutions

As long as vehicles do not provide full automation, the design and function of the Human Machine Interface (HMI) is crucial for ensuring that the human “driver” and the vehicle-based automated systems collaborate in a safe manner. When the driver is decoupled from active control, the design of the HMI becomes even more critical. Without mutual understanding, the two agents (human and vehicle) will fail to accurately comprehend each other’s intentions and actions. This paper proposes a set of design principles for in-vehicle HMI and reviews some current HMI designs in the light of those principles. We argue that in many respects, the current designs fall short of best practice and have the potential to confuse the driver. This can lead to a mismatch between the operation of the automation in the light of the current external situation and the driver’s awareness of how well the automation is currently handling that situation. A model to illustrate how the various principles are interrelated is proposed. Finally, recommendations are made on how, building on each principle, HMI design solutions can be adopted to address these challenges

Motivated learning with digital learning tasks: what about autonomy and structure?

Article about Motivated learning with digital learning tasks: what about autonomy and structure

Acute Endovascular Treatment of Patients With lschemic Stroke From Intracranial Large Vessel Occlusion and Extracranial Carotid Dissection

Introduction: Carotid artery dissection (CAD) and atherosclerotic carotid artery occlusion (ACAO) are major causes of a tandem occlusion in patients with intracranial large vessel occlusion (LVO). Presence of tandem occlusions may hamper intracranial access and potentially increases the risk of procedural complications of endovascular treatment (EVT). Our aim was to assess neurological, functional and technical outcome and complications of EVT for intracranial LVO in patients with CAD in comparison to patients with ACAO and to patients without CAD or ACAO. Methods: We analyzed data of the MR CLEAN trial intervention arm and MR CLEAN Registry, acquired in 16 Dutch EVT-centers. Primary outcome was the change in stroke severity by comparing the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score at 24-48 h after treatment vs. baseline. Secondary outcomes included reperfusion rate and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH). We compared outcomes and complications between patients with CAD vs. patients with ACAO and patients without CAD or ACAO. Results: In total, we identified 74 (4.7%) patients with CAD, 92 (5.9%) patients with ACAO and 1398 (89.4%) patients without CAD or ACAO. Neurological improvement at short-term after EVT in patients with CAD was significantly better compared to ACAO (raw mean -5 vs. mean -1 NIHSS point; p = 0.03) and did not differ compared to patients without CAD or ACAO (-4 NIHSS points; p = 0.62). Rates of successful reperfusion in patients with CAD (47%) was comparable to patients with ACAO (47%; p = 1.00), but was less often achieved compared to patients without CAD or ACAO (58%; p = 0.08). Occurrence of sICH did not differ significantly between CAD patients (5%) and ACAO (11%; p = 0.33) or without CAD/ACAO (6%; p = 1.00). Conclusion: EVT in patients with intracranial LVO due to CAD results in neurological improvement comparable to patients without tandem occlusions. Therefore, carotid artery dissection by itself should not be a contraindication for endovascular treatment in stroke patients with intracranial large vessel occlusion. Although more challenging endovascular procedures are to be suspected in both patients with CAD or ACAO, accurate distinction between CAD and ACAO might influence clinical decision making as better clinical outcome can be expected in patients with CAD