Public Education for Work Zone Safety

This project aims to help improve work zone driver safety in Indiana through driver education and public awareness campaigns. The project focused on two specific objectives: (1) to design a public awareness campaign to increase drivers’ knowledge and influence positive attitudes about work zone driver safety practices; and (2) to prepare educational materials to be incorporated into driver’s education or training curriculum prior to taking driving test and getting a driver’s license issued. The campaign was informed by formative research, conducted using a survey to assess public knowledge and attitudes. Based on these results, campaign messages were designed. The effectiveness of the campaign messages was tested through an online survey which provided feedback to improve the effectiveness of materials and messages. This report concludes with recommendations to INDOT for the successful implementation of the public awareness campaign and educational materials, that might be applicable to other states as well

Design of Educational Material and Public Awareness Campaigns for Improving Work Zone Driver Safety

This project aims to help improve work zone driver safety in Indiana through driver education and public awareness campaigns. The project focused on two specific objectives: (1) to design a public awareness campaign to increase drivers’ knowledge and influence positive attitudes about work zone driver safety practices; and (2) to prepare educational materials to be incorporated into driver’s education or training curriculum prior to taking driving test and getting a driver’s license issued. The campaign was informed by formative research, conducted using a survey to assess public knowledge and attitudes. Based on these results, campaign messages were designed. The team also designed an education curriculum which consists of three modules and fourteen knowledge questions. This report concludes with recommendations to INDOT for the successful implementation of the public awareness campaign and educational materials, that might be applicable to other states as well

3rd IML Machine Learning Workshop

Neural networks are so powerful universal approximator of complicated patterns in large-scale data, leading the explosive developments of AI in terms of deep learning. However, in many cases, usual neural networks are trained to possess poor level of abstraction, so that the model's predictability and generalizability can be quite unstable, depending on the quality and amount of the data used for training. In this presentation, we introduce a new neural network architecture which has improved capability of capturing the key features and the physical laws hidden in data, in a mathematically more robust and simpler way. We demonstrate the performance of the new architecture, with an application for high energy particle scattering processes at the LHC

Participation in Regular Physical Activity According to the Type of Disability, Sex, Point of Disability Diagnosis, and Ability to Walk Independently in South Korea

This study aimed to compare rates of participation in physical activity according to the type of disability, sex, point of disability diagnosis (congenital vs. acquired), and ability to walk independently. The study involved individuals who were registered as disabled based on the 2020 Sports Survey for the Disabled project of the Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare. Participants (mean age: 49.94 ± 12.35 years) included those with physical disabilities (n = 889), visual impairments (n = 523), hearing/speech impairments (n = 412), intellectual disabilities (n = 561), and disabilities associated with brain lesions (n = 364). Rates of severe (100%) and congenital disability (65.95%) were highest in the intellectual disability group. Acquired disability was most frequent in the physical disability group (94.71%). The highest frequency of independent walking ability was observed in the hearing/speech impairment group (99.27%). The rate of participation in physical activity was significantly higher in the acquired (odds ratio [OR] = 1.46, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.12–1.87, p = 0.005) and independent walking (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.11–1.84, p = 0.005) hearing/speech impairment groups than in the corresponding physical disability groups after adjusting for age, sex, and severity. Our findings highlight the need to promote physical activity for people with physical and intellectual disabilities based on the factors examined in this study

Participation in physical activity among people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea

Background: Quarantine, social distancing, and restricted movement and social interaction due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have been reported reduce physical activity across several countries. However, few studies have evaluated the changes in physical activity patterns before and after COVID-19 among people with disabilities. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate how physical activity participation has changed during COVID-19 among people with disabilities in South Korea. Methods: This study was conducted among 3871 persons with disabilities, aged 10–69 years, who participated in the 2020 Sports Survey for the Disabled conducted by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in March 2020. This survey collected data regarding participants’ demographic characteristics (age, gender, etc.) and disability along with the type of physical activity (intensity, frequency, time, etc.), method (facilities, home training, classes/lectures, club), and type (swimming, resistance training, walking and jogging, etc.) of participation in physical activity before and after COVID-19. A chi-squared frequency test was performed to confirm the difference in the ratio of participation frequency, time, intensity, and method and type of physical activity before and after COVID-19. Results: After the COVID-19 outbreak, the frequency, duration, and intensity of physical activity of people with disabilities were reduced compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, in terms of physical activity participation method, attendance of classes, lectures, and clubs decreased, while physical activity at home increased. In participation types of physical activity, participation in walking and jogging, gymnastics, mountain climbing, and cycling increased, whereas swimming, weight training, and other activities decreased. Conclusion: Public health guidelines and social distancing due to COVID-19 have reduced the frequency, duration, and intensity of physical activity, while changing the types and methods of participation in physical activity for people with disabilities. Therefore, public health support to promote adherence to physical activity should be needed

Tissue-specific expression and subcellular localization of ALADIN, the absence of which causes human triple A syndrome

Triple A syndrome is a rare genetic disorder caused by mutations in the achalasia-addisonianism-alacrima syndrome (AAAS) gene which encodes a tryptophan aspartic acid (WD) repeat-containing protein named alacrima-achalasia-adrenal insufficiency neurologic disorder (ALADIN). Northern blot analysis shows that the 2.1 kb AAAS mRNA is expressed in various tissues with stronger expression in testis and pancreas. We show that human ALADIN is a protein with an apparent molecular weight of 60 kDa, and expressed in the adrenal gland, pituitary gland and pancreas. Furthermore, biochemical analysis using anti-ALADIN antibody supports the previous finding of the localization of ALADIN in the nuclear membrane. The mutations S544G and S544X show that alteration of S544 residue affects correct targeting of ALADIN to the nuclear membrane