Impact of Perceptual Speed Calming Curve Countermeasures On Drivers’ Anticipation & Mitigation Ability – A Driving Simulator Study

A potential factor for curve accidents are anticipatory skills. Horizontal curves have been recognized as a significant safety issue for many years. This study investigates the impact and effectiveness of three curve based perceptual speed calming countermeasures (advanced curve warning signs, chevron sign, and heads-up display(HUD) sign) on drivers’ hazard anticipation and mitigation behavior across both left and right-winding curves, and sharp (radius 200m) and flat (radius 500m) curves. Experimental results show that the speed and lateral control in the horizontal curves differed with respect to curve radii, direction, and the type of countermeasure presented. These differences in behavior are probably due to curve-related disparities, the type of perceptual countermeasure, and the presence of hazard at the apex of the curve. HUD is found to be effective at not only reducing the drivers’ speed in the curve, but also improve the latent hazard anticipation ability of the driver at the apex of the curve. Flat and sharp curves with indications of a safety problem were virtually developed in the simulator as representative as possible without upsetting the simulator’s fidelity. 48 participants were recruited for this study between the age range of 18 and 34, and driving experience range was from 0.25 to 17.75 years

Ethical Decision Making Behind the Wheel – A Driving Simulator Study

Over the past several years, there has been considerable debate surrounding ethical decision making in situations resulting in inevitable casualties. Given enough time and all other things being equal, studies show that drivers will typically decide to strike the fewest number of pedestrians in scenarios where there is a choice between striking several versus one or no pedestrians. However, it is unclear whether drivers behave similarly under situations of time pressure. In our experiment in a driving simulator, 32 drivers were given up to 2 s to decide which group of pedestrians to avoid among groups of larger (5) or smaller (≤1) number of pedestrians. Our findings suggest that while people frequently choose utilitarian decisions in the typical, abstract manifestations of the Trolley Problems, drivers can fail to make utilitarian decisions in simulated driving environments under a restricted period of time representative of the time they would have to make the same decision in the real world (2 s). Analysis of eye movement data shows that drivers are less likely to glance at left and right sides of crosswalks under situations of time duress. Our results raise critical engineering and ethical questions. From a cognitive engineering standpoint, we need to know how long at minimum a driver needs to make simple, moral decisions in different scenarios. From an ethical standpoint, we may need to evaluate whether automated vehicle algorithms can aid decision making on our behalf when there is not enough time for a driver to make a moral decision

Me3Al-mediated domino nucleophilic addition/intramolecular cyclisation of 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines; a convenient approach for the synthesis of substituted 1-aminoisoquinolines

A simple and efficient protocol for the construction of 1-aminoisoquinolines was achieved by treating 2-(2-oxo-2- phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines in the presence of Me 3 Al. The reaction proceeds via a domino nucleophilic addition with subsequent intramolecular cyclisation. This method provides a wide variety of substituted 1-aminoisoquinolines with good func- tional group tolerance. Furthermore, the synthetic utility of this protocol was demonstrated in the successful synthesis of the anti- tumor agent CWJ-a-5 in gram scale

Analysis of off -farm employment and income in Nebraska

The two objectives of the study are to review and compare the changes in structure and composition of off-farm employment in Nebraska between 1970\u27s and 1990\u27s, and to investigate the affect of farm characteristics, household characteristics, and local labor market conditions on off-farm employment in Nebraska in the mid 1990\u27s. To study the changes in structure and composition of off-farm employment, the Census of Agriculture data is analyzed for the years 1974 and 1997. To study the influence of farm, household, and labor market characteristics on off-farm income, a Tobit maximum likelihood analysis was performed using 1994 primary data from 1994 Nebraska farm financial survey. The key findings of analyzing the first objective are: Between 1974 and 1997, off-farm employment has increased across all farms with size less than 1000 acres, especially in farms with sizes between 180 and 500 acres. This reveals that between 1974 and 1997, dependency on off-farm income increased in small and marginal farms with size less than 1000 acres. Participation in off-farm employment increased in all age groups studied that are below 65 years. Also, higher steady participation in off-farm employment is evidenced until the age of 55 years in 1997 as opposed to declining participation in off-farm employment as age progressed, in 1974. Also, the proportion of corporate farms to that of the total farms doubled between 1974 and 1997 and during the same time, there has been a significant decrease in farms with sizes between 180 and 500 acres. While the average off-farm employment (for any number of days by either operator or spouse) participation rates in the U.S., and Nebraska are around 75 percent, off-farm wages constituted only 30 percent of household income in Nebraska against a national average of 46 percent. The Tobit analysis revealed that farm size, farming experience, household human capital, and farm organizational-type influenced the off-farm income significantly. One important outcome of the study was that the labor market conditions are pretty uniform across Nebraska compared to the U.S., and they did not significantly influence the off-farm incomes in Nebraska. The results clearly show the differences in labor market conditions between Nebraska and the U.S. The main policy implication from this study is to focus on human capital development for farm households under 1000 acres. Policy should be geared not to merely increase off-farm employment but to capitalize on the synergy between farming and off-farm employment because a third of the households depended on off-farm employment for health insurance