The Use of Lane-Centering to Ensure the Visible Light Communication Connectivity for a Platoon of Autonomous Vehicles

International audienceThe new emerging Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology has been subjected to intensive investigation, evaluation, and lately, deployed in the context of convoy-based applications for Intelligent Transportations Systems (ITS). The technology limitations were defined and supported by different solution proposals to enhance the crucial alignment and mobility limitations. In this paper, we propose to incorporate VLC technology and the Lane-Centering (LC) technique to ensure the VLC-connectivity by keeping the autonomous vehicle aligned to the lane center using vision-based lane detection in a convoy-based formation. As soon as the road lanes are detectable, the evaluated system showed stable behavior independently of the inter-vehicle distances and without the need to exchange information between vehicles. Such a combination can ensure the optical communication connectivity with a lateral error of less than 30 cm. The evaluation of the proposed system is verified using VLC prototype and an empirical result of an LC active application over 60 km on the Madrid M40 highway

Abstract A68: What do they do? The art and science of patient navigation among underserved Latina minorities: The significance of language

Abstract Background: Patient Navigation has evolved to reduce cancer health disparities by eliminating barriers to diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship services. Attempts have been made to describe barriers to care and navigator actions. Little attention has been paid to the unique needs of underserved minorities. Here we describe barriers to care reported by Latina survivors in the context of a social-ecological framework, actions taken by navigators to resolve those barriers, and the consequences of those activities. Methods: We evaluated 399 barriers to care reported by Latinas diagnosed with cancer as part of Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Research Network from July 2008-January 2011. Navigators maintained monthly logs of encounters with patients and recorded reported barriers to care and actions taken to overcome each barrier. Spearman Correlation, Chi-squared analysis and Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the barriers and actions. Results: The most common barrier to care was needed Spanish-English translation (55.6%). Personal (e.g. fear) and system barriers (e.g. insurance) accounted for the remainder. 85% of all Latinas reported one or more barriers; 37% reported more than one. Multiple (2+) barriers resulted in slightly longer time to treatment (aHR [adjusted Hazard Ratio]= 0.871; p < .05). However this disappeared when barriers were tallied without translation (aHR=0.964; p=.982). Many barriers not specifically reported to be language-based in nature were resolved by providing translation services in the social-ecological context of the reported problem. This was reflected in significant correlation between patient-reported barriers involving Health Education, Insurance issues, Fear, and Beliefs and navigator actions regarding translation services (all p < .05). For example, of 70 instances of “fear” reported as a barrier to care, 12 (17.1%) were resolved with a translation action. Conclusions: Barriers reported by Latinas are predominantly linguistic in nature. Multiple barriers appear to result in a delay between diagnosis and treatment initiation; however this effect disappears when accounting for the effects of a language barrier. Health care systems must attend to the special needs of underserved minorities when planning and improving programs. Citation Format: Amelie G. Ramirez, Eliseo J. Perez-Stable, Frank Penedo, Gregory A. Talavera, J. Emilio Carrillo, Maria Fernandez, Alan E. C. Holden, Edgar Munoz, Sandra San Miguel, Kipling Gallion. What do they do? The art and science of patient navigation among underserved Latina minorities: The significance of language. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Seventh AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 9-12, 2014; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A68