Truck Driver Training Using Simulation in England

The UK Department for Transport, on behalf of the Road Haulage Modernisation Fund, has established a research programme to determine the potential role of synthetic training in both ab initio license acquisition and also skills development in experienced drivers. TRL and EADS Dornier are commissioning an advanced full-motion-base truck simulator and developing bespoke courseware. The potential benefit of the system will be evaluated through a structured programme of training over 600 drivers. This paper reviews the current legislative framework in the UK and the European Union and discusses potential changes that will impact the training market. The paper then discusses the outline of the research programme and the technical capability of the system being develope

Truck Driver Training Using Simulation in England

The UK Department for Transport, on behalf of the Road Haulage Modernisation Fund, has established a research programme to determine the potential role of synthetic training in both ab initio license acquisition and also skills development in experienced drivers. TRL and EADS Dornier are commissioning an advanced full-motion-base truck simulator and developing bespoke courseware. The potential benefit of the system will be evaluated through a structured programme of training over 600 drivers. This paper reviews the current legislative framework in the UK and the European Union and discusses potential changes that will impact the training market. The paper then discusses the outline of the research programme and the technical capability of the system being develope

Time-to-Contact and Collision-Detection Estimations as Measures of Driving Safety in Old and Dementia Drivers

The paper discusses the importance of Time-to-Contact (TTC) and collision occurrence (CD) estimations for safe driving. It describes a computerised testing tool that requires TTC and CD estimations while dividing attention and discusses the association between performance on this task and several measures of driving safety. We report four studies showing that the task is sensitive to age effects and dementia effects, that the accuracy of Time-to-Contact estimations differentiates between old and dementia drivers recently involved in accidents and those not involved. We also found an association between performance on this task and that on navigation and car following tasks in a driving simulator

Experimenting with ecosystem interaction networks in search of threshold potentials in real-world marine ecosystems

Thresholds profoundly affect our understanding and management of ecosystem dynamics, but we have yet to develop practical techniques to assess the risk that thresholds will be crossed. Combining ecological knowledge of critical system interdependencies with a large-scale experiment, we tested for breaks in the ecosystem interaction network to identify threshold potential in real-world ecosystem dynamics. Our experiment with the bivalves Macomona liliana and Austrovenus stutchburyi on marine sandflats in New Zealand demonstrated that reductions in incident sunlight changed the interaction network between sediment biogeochemical fluxes, productivity, and macrofauna. By demonstrating loss of positive feedbacks and changes in the architecture of the network, we provide mechanistic evidence that stressors lead to break points in dynamics, which theory predicts predispose a system to a critical transition

Simultaneous angiotensin receptor blockade and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor activation ameliorate albuminuria in obese insulin-resistant rats.

Insulin resistance increases renal oxidant production by upregulating NADPH oxidase 4 (Nox4) expression contributing to oxidative damage and ultimately albuminuria. Inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and activation of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor signalling may reverse this effect. However, whether angiotensin receptor type 1 (AT1) blockade and GLP-1 receptor activation improve oxidative damage and albuminuria through different mechanisms is not known. Using insulin-resistant Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats, we tested the hypothesis that simultaneous blockade of AT1 and activation of GLP-1r additively decrease oxidative damage and urinary albumin excretion (Ualb V) in the following groups: (a) untreated, lean LETO (n = 7), (b) untreated, obese OLETF (n = 9), (c) OLETF + angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB; 10 mg olmesartan/kg/d; n = 9), (d) OLETF + GLP-1 mimetic (EXE; 10 µg exenatide/kg/d; n = 7) and (e) OLETF + ARB +exenatide (Combo; n = 6). Mean kidney Nox4 protein expression and nitrotyrosine (NT) levels were 30% and 46% greater, respectively, in OLETF compared with LETO. Conversely, Nox4 protein expression and NT were reduced to LETO levels in ARB and EXE, and Combo reduced Nox4, NT and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal levels by 21%, 27% and 27%, respectively. At baseline, Ualb V was nearly double in OLETF compared with LETO and increased to nearly 10-fold greater levels by the end of the study. Whereas ARB (45%) and EXE (55%) individually reduced Ualb V, the combination completely ameliorated the albuminuria. Collectively, these data suggest that AT1 blockade and GLP-1 receptor activation reduce renal oxidative damage similarly during insulin resistance, whereas targeting both signalling pathways provides added benefit in restoring and/or further ameliorating albuminuria in a model of diet-induced obesity

Archaeal community diversity and abundance changes along a natural salinity gradient in estuarine sediments

Archaea are widespread in marine sediments, but their occurrence and relationship with natural salinity gradients in estuarine sediments is not well understood. This study investigated the abundance and diversity of Archaea in sediments at three sites (Brightlingsea [BR], Alresford [AR] and Hythe [HY]) along the Colne Estuary, using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) of 16S rRNA genes, DNA hybridisation, Archaea 16S rRNA and mcrA gene phylogenetic analyses. Total archaeal 16S rRNA abundance in sediments were higher in the low-salinity brackish sediments from HY (2–8 × 107 16S rRNA gene copies cm−3) than the high-salinity marine sites from BR and AR (2 × 104–2 × 107 and 4 × 106–2 × 107 16S rRNA gene copies cm−3, respectively), although as a proportion of the total prokaryotes Archaea were higher at BR than at AR or HY. Phylogenetic analysis showed that members of the ‘Bathyarchaeota’ (MCG), Thaumarchaeota and methanogenic Euryarchaeota were the dominant groups of Archaea. The composition of Thaumarchaeota varied with salinity, as only ‘marine’ group I.1a was present in marine sediments (BR). Methanogen 16S rRNA genes from low-salinity sediments at HY were dominated by acetotrophic Methanosaeta and putatively hydrogentrophic Methanomicrobiales, whereas the marine site (BR) was dominated by mcrA genes belonging to methylotrophic Methanococcoides, versatile Methanosarcina and methanotrophic ANME-2a. Overall, the results indicate that salinity and associated factors play a role in controlling diversity and distribution of Archaea in estuarine sediments

Twisting the N=2 String

The most general homogeneous monodromy conditions in $N{=}2$ string theory are classified in terms of the conjugacy classes of the global symmetry group $U(1,1)\otimes{\bf Z}_2$. For classes which generate a discrete subgroup \G, the corresponding target space backgrounds {\bf C}^{1,1}/\G include half spaces, complex orbifolds and tori. We propose a generalization of the intercept formula to matrix-valued twists, but find massless physical states only for $\Gamma{=}{\bf 1}$ (untwisted) and $\Gamma{=}{\bf Z}_2$ (\`a la Mathur and Mukhi), as well as for $\Gamma$ being a parabolic element of $U(1,1)$. In particular, the sixteen ${\bf Z}_2$-twisted sectors of the $N{=}2$ string are investigated, and the corresponding ground states are identified via bosonization and BRST cohomology. We find enough room for an extended multiplet of `spacetime' supersymmetry, with the number of supersymmetries being dependent on global `spacetime' topology. However, world-sheet locality for the chiral vertex operators does not permit interactions among all massless `spacetime' fermions.Comment: 42 pages, LaTeX, no figures, 120 kb, ITP-UH-24/93, DESY 93-191 (abstract and introduction clarified, minor corrections added