323 research outputs found
Handover issues in autonomous driving: A literature review
The present review was undertaken to inform a workpackage of the Venturer Project undertaking studies into the handover of control between a human driver and an autonomous road vehicle. The âhandover problemâ arises as a feature of the development of autonomous vehicles that are âhighlyâ but not âfullyâ autonomous (DfT, 2015). As human error is a major cause of road accidents, contributing to over 90% of road collisions, removing the human operator would likely reduce their incidence. (DfT 2015; Reason, Manstead, Stradling, Baxter, & Cambell, 1990). However, levels of automation which do not completely eliminate the role for a driver can themselves provide problems for the human operator (Stanton and Marsden, 1996; Parasuraman & Manzey, 2010; Parasuraman & Riley, 1997), due to required tasks such as âhandoverâ. The report considers the existing evidence on handover, identifying research gaps for handover particularly in urban areas, and considers the policy implications
Proton and cadmium adsorption by the archaeon Thermococcus zilligii: Generalising the contrast between thermophiles and mesophiles as sorbents
Adsorption by microorganisms can play a significant role in the fate and transport of metals in natural systems. Surface complexation models (SCMs) have been applied extensively to describe metal adsorption by mesophilic bacteria, and several recent studies have extended this framework to thermophilic bacteria. We conduct acid-base titrations and batch experiments to characterise proton and Cd adsorption onto the thermophilic archaeon Thermococcus zilligii. The experimental data and the derived SCMs indicate that the archaeon displays significantly lower overall sorption site density compared to previously studied thermophilic bacteria such Anoxybacillus flavithermus, Geobacillus stearothermophilus, G. thermocatenulatus, and Thermus thermophilus. The thermophilic bacteria and archaea display lower sorption site densities than the mesophilic microorganisms that have been studied to date, which points to a general pattern of total concentration of cell wall adsorption sites per unit biomass being inversely correlated to growth temperature
Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury IX: A Photometric Survey of Planetary Nebulae in M31
We search Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and
Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) broadband imaging data from the Panchromatic Hubble
Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey to identify detections of cataloged planetary
nebulae (PNe). Of the 711 PNe currently in the literature within the PHAT
footprint, we find 467 detected in the broadband. For these 467 we are able to
refine their astrometric accuracy from ~0."3 to 0."05. Using the resolution of
HST, we are able to show that 152 objects currently in the catalogs are
definitively not PNe, and we show that 32 objects thought to be extended in
ground-based images are actually point-like and therefore good PN candidates.
We also find one PN candidate that is marginally resolved. If this is a PN, it
is up to 0.7 pc in diameter. With our new photometric data, we develop a method
of measuring the level of excitation in individual PNe by comparing broadband
and narrowband imaging and describe the effects of excitation on a PN's
photometric signature. Using the photometric properties of the known PNe in the
PHAT catalogs, we search for more PN, but do not find any new candidates,
suggesting that ground-based emission-line surveys are complete in the PHAT
footprint to F475W 24.Comment: 41 pages, 20 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in Ap
Shocked Quartz in Polymict Impact Breccia from the Upper Cretaceous Yallalie Impact Structure in Western Australia
Yallalie is a ~12 km diameter circular structure located ~200 km north of Perth, Australia. Previous studies have proposed that the buried structure is a complex impact crater based on geophysical data. Allochthonous breccia exposed near the structure has previously been interpreted as proximal impact ejecta; however, no diagnostic indicators of shock metamorphism have been found. Here we report multiple (27) shocked quartz grains containing planar fractures (PFs) and planar deformation features (PDFs) in the breccia. The PFs occur in up to five sets per grain, while the PDFs occur in up to four sets per grain. Universal stage measurements of all 27 shocked quartz grains confirms that the planar microstructures occur in known crystallographic orientations in quartz corresponding to shock compression from 5 to 20 GPa. Proximity to the buried structure (~4 km) and occurrence of shocked quartz indicates that the breccia represents either primary or reworked ejecta. Ejecta distribution simulated using iSALE hydrocode predicts the same distribution of shock levels at the site as those found in the breccia, which supports a primary ejecta interpretation, although local reworking cannot be excluded. The Yallalie impact event is stratigraphically constrained to have occurred in the interval from 89.8 to 83.6 Ma based on the occurrence of Coniacian clasts in the breccia and undisturbed overlying Santonian to Campanian sedimentary rocks. Yallalie is thus the first confirmed Upper Cretaceous impact structure in Australia
HighâThroughput Miniaturized Screening of Nanoparticle Formation via Inkjet Printing
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article:Ioanna D. Styliari, et al, âHighâThroughput Miniaturized Screening of Nanoparticle Formation via Inkjet Printingâ, Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, (2018), which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.201800146. Under embargo until 27 May 2019. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.The selfâassembly of specific polymers into wellâdefined nanoparticles (NPs) is of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry as the resultant materials can act as drug delivery vehicles. In this work, a highâthroughput method to screen the ability of polymers to selfâassemble into NPs using a picoliter inkjet printer is presented. By dispensing polymer solutions in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) from the printer into the wells of a 96âwell plate, containing water as an antisolvent, 50 suspensions are screened for nanoparticle formation rapidly using only nanoliters to microliters. A variety of polymer classes are used and in situ characterization of the submicroliter nanosuspensions shows that the particle size distributions match those of nanoparticles made from bulk suspensions. Dispensing organic polymer solutions into well plates via the printer is thus shown to be a reproducible and fast method for screening nanoparticle formation which uses two to three orders of magnitude less material than conventional techniques. Finally, a pilot study for a highâthroughput pipeline of nanoparticle production, physical property characterization, and cytocompatibility demonstrates the feasibility of the printing approach for screening of nanodrug delivery formulations. Nanoparticles are produced in the well plates, characterized for size and evaluated for effects on metabolic activity of lung cancer cells.Peer reviewe
Prospectus, October 7, 1992
https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1992/1018/thumbnail.jp
Gaia: Establishing the worldâs first climate Command and Control (C2) centre
Establishing Gaia, a Command-and-Control Centre focused on climate activity, based in Wales. It aims to apply command and control principles to the evolving map of climate data and explore how such data can be integrated with policy, and with other information: resources and vulnerabilities to influence behaviour change on a regional and national level
The blame game: double standards apply to autonomous vehicle accidents
Who is to blame when autonomous vehicles are involved in accidents? We report findings from an online study in which the attribution of blame and trust were measured from 206 participants who studied 18 hypothetical vignettes portraying traffic incidents under different driving environments. The focal vehicle involved in the incident was either controlled by a human driver or autonomous system. The accident severity also varied from near miss, minor accident to major accident. Participants applied double standards when assigning blame to humans and autonomous systems: an autonomous system was usually blamed more than a human driver for executing the same actions under the same circumstances with the same consequences. These findings not only have important implications to AI-related legislation, but also highlight the necessity to promote the design of robots and other automation systems which can help calibrate public perceptions and expectations of their characteristics and capabilities
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