Driver trust in five driver assistance technologies following real-world use in four production vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Kidd, David G; Cicchino, Jessica B; Reagan, Ian J; Kerfoot, Laura B

2017-05-29

Information about drivers' experiences with driver assistance technologies in real driving conditions is sparse. This study characterized driver interactions with forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control, active lane keeping, side-view assist, and lane departure warning systems following real-world use. Fifty-four Insurance Institute for Highway Safety employees participated and drove a 2016 Toyota Prius, 2016 Honda Civic, 2017 Audi Q7, or 2016 Infiniti QX60 for up to several weeks. Participants reported mileage and warnings from the technologies in an online daily-use survey. Participants reported their level of agreement with five statements regarding trust in an online post-use survey. Responses were averaged to create a composite measure of trust ranging from -2 (strongly disagree) to +2 (strongly agree) for each technology. Mixed-effect regression models were constructed to compare trust among technologies and separately among the study vehicles. Participants' free-response answers about what they liked least about each system were coded and examined. Participants reported driving 33,584 miles during 4 months of data collection. At least one forward collision warning was reported in 26% of the 354 daily reports. The proportion of daily reports indicating a forward collision warning was much larger for the Honda (70%) than for the Audi (18%), Infiniti (15%), and Toyota (10%). Trust was highest for side-view assist (0.98) and lowest for active lane keeping (0.20). Trust in side-view assist was significantly higher than trust in active lane keeping and lane departure warning (0.53). Trust in active lane keeping was significantly lower than trust in adaptive cruise control (0.67) and forward collision warning (0.71). Trust in adaptive cruise control was higher for the Audi (0.72) and Toyota (0.75) compared with the Honda (0.30), and significantly higher for the Infiniti (0.93). Trust in Infiniti's side-view assist (0.58) was significantly lower than

State-of-the-art Versus Time-triggered Object Tracking in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moritz Koplin

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Most state-of-the-art driver assistance systems cannot guarantee that real-time images of object states are updated within a given time interval, because the object state observations are typically sampled by uncontrolled sensors and transmitted via an indeterministic bus system such as CAN. To overcome this shortcoming, a paradigm shift toward time-triggered advanced driver assistance systems based on a deterministic bus system, such as FlexRay, is under discussion. In order to prove the feasibility of this paradigm shift, this paper develops different models of a state-of-the-art and a time-triggered advanced driver assistance system based on multi-sensor object tracking and compares them with regard to their mean performance. The results show that while the state-of-the-art model is advantageous in scenarios with low process noise, it is outmatched by the time-triggered model in the case of high process noise, i.e., in complex situations with high dynamic.

V2I-based startup assistance system at signalized intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianqiang Wang

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Traffic delays are caused by unskilled vehicle operation and driver distraction during the startup process at signalized intersections. To address this issue, we propose a V2I-based driver assistance system that can acquire the current traffic signal status and provide drivers with startup assistance. This article presents the proposed system’s architecture and an assistance algorithm, which contains two types of driver assistance methods: startup prompting and automatic startup control. The automatic startup control method, based on fuzzy logic control, is validated in simulation tests. We also implement startup prompting using a prototype system and validate its performance in field tests. The test results suggest that the proposed assistance algorithm can help drivers start up their vehicles with less delay, which will significantly improve traffic efficiency.

The driver as archetype for driver assistance systems? A driver-model based approach for the development of situation-adaptive DAS; Der Fahrer als Vorbild fuer Fahrerassistenzsysteme? Ein Fahrermodellbasierter Ansatz zur Entwicklung von situationsadaptiven FAS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benmimoun, A. [Inst. fuer Kraftfahrwesen, RWTH-Aachen, Aachen (Germany)

2004-07-01

A new approach for the development of advanced driver assistance systems is presented. The keynote of this new approach is to use the driver model of the traffic simulation tool PELOPS as a control algorithm and to apply it to a vehicle. The fact, that the human driving behaviour is the starting point of the development, is the main advantage of this new approach. Thus important aspects for the development of driver assistance systems like a situation-adaptive and reliable control, understandable behaviour and the consideration of driver-individual parameters are integrated in the controller design from the beginning. An application example of the new approach is shown. (orig.)

Adaptive importance sampling for probabilistic validation of advanced driver assistance systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gietelink, O.J.; Schutter, B. de; Verhaegen, M.

2006-01-01

We present an approach for validation of advanced driver assistance systems, based on randomized algorithms. The new method consists of an iterative randomized simulation using adaptive importance sampling. The randomized algorithm is more efficient than conventional simulation techniques. The

Proving autonomous vehicle and advanced driver assistance systems safety : final research report.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-02-15

The main objective of this project was to provide technology for answering : crucial safety and correctness questions about verification of autonomous : vehicle and advanced driver assistance systems based on logic. : In synergistic activities, we ha...

Sensor-Based Trajectory Generation for Advanced Driver Assistance System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher James Shackleton

2013-03-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the trajectory generation problem for an advanced driver assistance system that could sense the driving state of the vehicle, so that a collision free trajectory can be generated safely. Specifically, the problem of trajectory generation is solved for the safety assessment of the driving state and to manipulate the vehicle in order to avoid any possible collisions. The vehicle senses the environment so as to obtain information about other vehicles and static obstacles ahead. Vehicles may share the perception of the environment via an inter-vehicle communication system. The planning algorithm is based on a visibility graph. A lateral repulsive potential is applied to adaptively maintain a trade-off between the trajectory length and vehicle clearance, which is the greatest problem associated with visibility graphs. As opposed to adaptive roadmap approaches, the algorithm exploits the structured nature of the environment for construction of the roadmap. Furthermore, the mostly organized nature of traffic systems is exploited to obtain orientation invariance, which is another limitation of both visibility graphs and adaptive roadmaps. Simulation results show that the algorithm can successfully solve the problem for a variety of commonly found scenarios.

Modeling and Recognizing Driver Behavior Based on Driving Data: A Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenshuo Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years, modeling and recognizing driver behavior have become crucial to understanding intelligence transport systems, human-vehicle systems, and intelligent vehicle systems. A wide range of both mathematical identification methods and modeling methods of driver behavior are presented from the control point of view in this paper based on the driving data, such as the brake/throttle pedal position and the steering wheel angle, among others. Subsequently, the driver’s characteristics derived from the driver model are embedded into the advanced driver assistance systems, and the evaluation and verification of vehicle systems based on the driver model are described.

Embedded Platforms for Computer Vision-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems: a Survey

OpenAIRE

Velez, Gorka; Otaegui, Oihana

2015-01-01

Computer Vision, either alone or combined with other technologies such as radar or Lidar, is one of the key technologies used in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Its role understanding and analysing the driving scene is of great importance as it can be noted by the number of ADAS applications that use this technology. However, porting a vision algorithm to an embedded automotive system is still very challenging, as there must be a trade-off between several design requisites. Further...

Investigation of user needs for driver assistance: results of an Internet questionnaire

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Driel, Cornelie; van Arem, Bart

2005-01-01

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) aim at supporting the driver with the driving task and are expected to lead to a safer, cleaner and more efficient and comfortable transport system. This paper presents the results of an Internet questionnaire among more than 1000 Dutch car drivers.

Road Interpretation for Driver Assistance Based on an Early Cognitive Vision System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baseski, Emre; Jensen, Lars Baunegaard With; Pugeault, Nicolas

2009-01-01

In this work, we address the problem of road interpretation for driver assistance based on an early cognitive vision system. The structure of a road and the relevant traffic are interpreted in terms of ego-motion estimation of the car, independently moving objects on the road, lane markers and large...... scale maps of the road. We make use of temporal and spatial disambiguation mechanisms to increase the reliability of visually extracted 2D and 3D information. This information is then used to interpret the layout of the road by using lane markers that are detected via Bayesian reasoning. We also...... estimate the ego-motion of the car which is used to create large scale maps of the road and also to detect independently moving objects. Sample results for the presented algorithms are shown on a stereo image sequence, that has been collected from a structured road....

Active gated imaging in driver assistance system

Science.gov (United States)

Grauer, Yoav

2014-04-01

In this paper, we shall present the active gated imaging system (AGIS) in relation to the automotive field. AGIS is based on a fast-gated camera and pulsed illuminator, synchronized in the time domain to record images of a certain range of interest. A dedicated gated CMOS imager sensor and near infra-red (NIR) pulsed laser illuminator, is presented in this paper to provide active gated technology. In recent years, we have developed these key components and learned the system parameters, which are most beneficial to nighttime (in all weather conditions) driving in terms of field of view, illumination profile, resolution, and processing power. We shall present our approach of a camera-based advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) named BrightEye™, which makes use of the AGIS technology in the automotive field.

Driver fatigue alarm based on eye detection and gaze estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Xinghua; Xu, Lu; Yang, Jingyu

2007-11-01

The driver assistant system has attracted much attention as an essential component of intelligent transportation systems. One task of driver assistant system is to prevent the drivers from fatigue. For the fatigue detection it is natural that the information about eyes should be utilized. The driver fatigue can be divided into two types, one is the sleep with eyes close and another is the sleep with eyes open. Considering that the fatigue detection is related with the prior knowledge and probabilistic statistics, the dynamic Bayesian network is used as the analysis tool to perform the reasoning of fatigue. Two kinds of experiments are performed to verify the system effectiveness, one is based on the video got from the laboratory and another is based on the video got from the real driving situation. Ten persons participate in the test and the experimental result is that, in the laboratory all the fatigue events can be detected, and in the practical vehicle the detection ratio is about 85%. Experiments show that in most of situations the proposed system works and the corresponding performance is satisfying.

Stress-oriented driver assistance system for electric vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Athanasiou, Georgia; Tsotoulidis, Savvas; Mitronikas, Epaminondas; Lymberopoulos, Dimitrios

2014-01-01

Stress is physiological and physical reaction that appears in highly demanding situations and affects human's perception and reaction capability. Occurrence of stress events within highly dynamic road environment could lead to life-threatening situation. With the perspective of safety and comfort driving provision to anxious drivers, in this paper a stress-oriented Driver Assistance System (DAS) is proposed. The DAS deployed on Electric Vehicle. This novel DAS customizes driving command signal in respect to road context, when stress is detected. The effectiveness of this novel DAS is verified by simulation in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment.

Far-infrared pedestrian detection for advanced driver assistance systems using scene context

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Guohua; Liu, Qiong; Wu, Qingyao

2016-04-01

Pedestrian detection is one of the most critical but challenging components in advanced driver assistance systems. Far-infrared (FIR) images are well-suited for pedestrian detection even in a dark environment. However, most current detection approaches just focus on pedestrian patterns themselves, where robust and real-time detection cannot be well achieved. We propose a fast FIR pedestrian detection approach, called MAP-HOGLBP-T, to explicitly exploit the scene context for the driver assistance system. In MAP-HOGLBP-T, three algorithms are developed to exploit the scene contextual information from roads, vehicles, and background objects of high homogeneity, and we employ the Bayesian approach to build a classifier learner which respects the scene contextual information. We also develop a multiframe approval scheme to enhance the detection performance based on spatiotemporal continuity of pedestrians. Our empirical study on real-world datasets has demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method. The performance is shown to be better than that of state-of-the-art low-level feature-based approaches.

Vision based Traffic Sign Detection and Analysis for Intelligent Driver Assistance Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møgelmose, Andreas; Trivedi, Mohan M.; Moeslund, Thomas B.

2012-01-01

In this paper, we provide a survey of the traffic sign detection literature, detailing detection systems for Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR) for driver assistance. We separately describe the contributions of recent works to the various stages inherent in traffic sign detection: segmentation, feature...... extraction, and final sign detection. While TSR is a well-established research area, we highlight open research issues in the literature, including a dearth of use of publicly-available image databases, and the over-representation of European traffic signs. Further, we discuss future directions for TSR...

Driver assistance system for lane departure avoidance by steering and differential braking

OpenAIRE

MINOIU-ENACHE, N; MAMMAR, S; GLASER, S; LUSETTI, B

2010-01-01

Lane departure avoidance systems assist actively the driver during inattention or drowsiness and increase driving safety. Most of the lane departure avoidance systems use for the lateral control of the vehicle in closed loop a DC motor similar to the electrical powered steering (EPS) assistance. Important difficulties and limits of this approach are the shared control with the driver on the steering wheel and the vehicle handling at limits. In this paper a combined lateral control using a DC ...

Traffic modelling validation of advanced driver assistance systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tongeren, R. van; Gietelink, O.J.; Schutter, B. de; Verhaegen, M.

2007-01-01

This paper presents a microscopic traffic model for the validation of advanced driver assistance systems. This model describes single-lane traffic and is calibrated with data from a field operational test. To illustrate the use of the model, a Monte Carlo simulation of single-lane traffic scenarios

Review of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)

Science.gov (United States)

Ziebinski, Adam; Cupek, Rafal; Grzechca, Damian; Chruszczyk, Lukas

2017-11-01

New cars can be equipped with many advanced safety solutions. Airbags, seatbelts and all of the essential passive safety parts are standard equipment. Now cars are often equipped with new advanced active safety systems that can prevent accidents. The functions of the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems are still growing. A review of the most popular available technologies used in ADAS and descriptions of their application areas are discussed in this paper.

Adaptive object placement for augmented reality use in driver assistance systems

OpenAIRE

Bordes, Lucie; Breckon, Toby P.; Katramados, Ioannis; Kheyrollahi, Alireza

2011-01-01

We present an approach for adaptive object placement for Augmented Reality (AR) use in driver assistance systems. Combined vanishing point and road surface detection enable the real-time adaptive emplacement of AR objects within a drivers' natural field of view for on-road information display. This work combines both automotive vision and multimedia production aspects of real-time visual engineering.

Handbook of driver assistance systems basic information, components and systems for active safety and comfort

CERN Document Server

Hakuli, Stephan; Lotz, Felix; Singer, Christina

2016-01-01

This fundamental work explains in detail systems for active safety and driver assistance, considering both their structure and their function. These include the well-known standard systems such as Anti-lock braking system (ABS), Electronic Stability Control (ESC) or Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). But it includes also new systems for protecting collisions protection, for changing the lane, or for convenient parking. The book aims at giving a complete picture focusing on the entire system. First, it describes the components which are necessary for assistance systems, such as sensors, actuators, mechatronic subsystems, and control elements. Then, it explains key features for the user-friendly design of human-machine interfaces between driver and assistance system. Finally, important characteristic features of driver assistance systems for particular vehicles are presented: Systems for commercial vehicles and motorcycles.

Far-Infrared Based Pedestrian Detection for Driver-Assistance Systems Based on Candidate Filters, Gradient-Based Feature and Multi-Frame Approval Matching.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Guohua; Liu, Qiong

2015-12-21

Far-infrared pedestrian detection approaches for advanced driver-assistance systems based on high-dimensional features fail to simultaneously achieve robust and real-time detection. We propose a robust and real-time pedestrian detection system characterized by novel candidate filters, novel pedestrian features and multi-frame approval matching in a coarse-to-fine fashion. Firstly, we design two filters based on the pedestrians' head and the road to select the candidates after applying a pedestrian segmentation algorithm to reduce false alarms. Secondly, we propose a novel feature encapsulating both the relationship of oriented gradient distribution and the code of oriented gradient to deal with the enormous variance in pedestrians' size and appearance. Thirdly, we introduce a multi-frame approval matching approach utilizing the spatiotemporal continuity of pedestrians to increase the detection rate. Large-scale experiments indicate that the system works in real time and the accuracy has improved about 9% compared with approaches based on high-dimensional features only.

Far-Infrared Based Pedestrian Detection for Driver-Assistance Systems Based on Candidate Filters, Gradient-Based Feature and Multi-Frame Approval Matching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guohua Wang

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Far-infrared pedestrian detection approaches for advanced driver-assistance systems based on high-dimensional features fail to simultaneously achieve robust and real-time detection. We propose a robust and real-time pedestrian detection system characterized by novel candidate filters, novel pedestrian features and multi-frame approval matching in a coarse-to-fine fashion. Firstly, we design two filters based on the pedestrians’ head and the road to select the candidates after applying a pedestrian segmentation algorithm to reduce false alarms. Secondly, we propose a novel feature encapsulating both the relationship of oriented gradient distribution and the code of oriented gradient to deal with the enormous variance in pedestrians’ size and appearance. Thirdly, we introduce a multi-frame approval matching approach utilizing the spatiotemporal continuity of pedestrians to increase the detection rate. Large-scale experiments indicate that the system works in real time and the accuracy has improved about 9% compared with approaches based on high-dimensional features only.

Getting ADAS on the Road : Actors' Interactions in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Deployment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Walta, L.

2011-01-01

Currently, many car drivers spend many hours in congested traffic. If their cars would have been equipped with an electronic system that automatically follows the car in front of them, congestion might have been prevented. Such a system is an example of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).

State of the art Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).

NARCIS (Netherlands)

OEI, H.-L.

2017-01-01

An overview of state-of-the-art ADA Advanced Driver Assistance systems is given. First a main structuring system for the ADA systems is presented, needed for purposes of relevancy, and consistency : the three phases in the accident process, i.e. pre-crash, crash and post-crash; the driving task at

Generic Model Predictive Control Framework for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, M.

2014-01-01

This thesis deals with a model predictive control framework for control design of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, where car-following tasks are under control. The framework is applied to design several autonomous and cooperative controllers and to examine the controller properties at the

Assessing the utility of TAM, TPB, and UTAUT for advanced driver assistance systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Md Mahmudur; Lesch, Mary F; Horrey, William J; Strawderman, Lesley

2017-11-01

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are intended to enhance driver performance and improve transportation safety. The potential benefits of these technologies, such as reduction in number of crashes, enhancing driver comfort or convenience, decreasing environmental impact, etc., have been acknowledged by transportation safety researchers and federal transportation agencies. Although these systems afford safety advantages, they may also challenge the traditional role of drivers in operating vehicles. Driver acceptance, therefore, is essential for the implementation of these systems into the transportation system. Recognizing the need for research into the factors affecting driver acceptance, this study assessed the utility of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) for modelling driver acceptance in terms of Behavioral Intention to use an ADAS. Each of these models propose a set of factors that influence acceptance of a technology. Data collection was done using two approaches: a driving simulator approach and an online survey approach. In both approaches, participants interacted with either a fatigue monitoring system or an adaptive cruise control system combined with a lane-keeping system. Based on their experience, participants responded to several survey questions to indicate their attitude toward using the ADAS and their perception of its usefulness, usability, etc. A sample of 430 surveys were collected for this study. Results found that all the models (TAM, TPB, and UTAUT) can explain driver acceptance with their proposed sets of factors, each explaining 71% or more of the variability in Behavioral Intention. Among the models, TAM was found to perform the best in modelling driver acceptance followed by TPB. The findings of this study confirm that these models can be applied to ADAS technologies and that they provide a basis for understanding driver

Over-the-Horizon Awareness for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems: the TrafficFilter and microSlotted 1-Persistence Flooding

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Eenennaam, Martijn; Heijenk, Geert; Karagiannis, Georgios; van Arem, Bart

2011-01-01

Vehicle-to-vehicle communications (V2V) is a promising technique for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems to increase traffic safety and efficiency. A proposed system is the Congestion Assistant, which supports drivers when approaching and driving in traffic congestion. Studies have shown great

Development of mechanical brake assist; Mechanical brake assist no kaihatsu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Konishi, M; Shingyoji, S; Nakamura, I; Tagawa, T; Saito, Y; Ishihara, T; Kobayashi, S; Yoshida, M [Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

1997-10-01

We have recognized that there are drivers who cannot apply strong brake pedal force , in spite of the necessity of hard braking in emergencies. We have developed a `mechanical brake assist system` which assists drivers appropriately, according to the drivers` characteristics based on studying the characteristic`s of conditions of drivers applying the brake pedal force in emergency conditions. 2 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab.

A Two-Dimensional Weighting Function for a Driver Assistance System

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Winter, J.; Mulder, M.; Van Paassen, M.M.; Abbink, D.A.; Wieringa, P.A.

2008-01-01

Driver assistance systems that supply force feedback (FF) on the accelerator commonly use relative distance and velocity with respect to the closest lead vehicle in front of the own vehicle. This 1-D feedback might not accurately represent the situation and can cause unwanted step-shaped changes in

Driver-centred vehicle automation: using network analysis for agent-based modelling of the driver in highly automated driving systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Banks, Victoria A; Stanton, Neville A

2016-11-01

To the average driver, the concept of automation in driving infers that they can become completely 'hands and feet free'. This is a common misconception, however, one that has been shown through the application of Network Analysis to new Cruise Assist technologies that may feature on our roads by 2020. Through the adoption of a Systems Theoretic approach, this paper introduces the concept of driver-initiated automation which reflects the role of the driver in highly automated driving systems. Using a combination of traditional task analysis and the application of quantitative network metrics, this agent-based modelling paper shows how the role of the driver remains an integral part of the driving system implicating the need for designers to ensure they are provided with the tools necessary to remain actively in-the-loop despite giving increasing opportunities to delegate their control to the automated subsystems. Practitioner Summary: This paper describes and analyses a driver-initiated command and control system of automation using representations afforded by task and social networks to understand how drivers remain actively involved in the task. A network analysis of different driver commands suggests that such a strategy does maintain the driver in the control loop.

Intelligent speed adaptation as an assistive device for drivers with acquired brain injury

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klarborg, Brith; Lahrmann, Harry Spaabæk; Agerholm, Niels

2012-01-01

Intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) was tested as an assistive device for drivers with an acquired brain injury (ABI). The study was part of the “Pay as You Speed” project (PAYS) and used the same equipment and technology as the main study (Lahrmann et al., in press-a, in press-b). Two drivers......, and in general they described driving with ISA as relaxed. ISA reduced the percentage of the total distance that was driven with a speed above the speed limit (PDA), but the subjects relapsed to their previous PDA level in Baseline 2. This suggests that ISA is more suited as a permanent assistive device (i...

Driver assistance systems - status and future prospects; Fahrerassistenzsysteme fuer Nutzfahrzeuge - Stand und Ausblick

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hipp, E.; Schaller, K.V. [MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, Muenchen (Germany)

2001-07-01

Driver assistance systems help the driver in his work. The demand for such systems will be determined by the marked increase in traffic on our roads and also the growing requirements on drivers of commercial vehicles. These systems are basically understood to be systems which assist navigation, the selection and retention of driving values and the stabilisation with regard to the vehicle and its surroundings. They include - Adaptive cruise control, - stop and go systems, - vehicle to vehicle communication, - lane guard system, - turn-off assistance. New approaches to ease the driver's burden, improve traffic flow and safety will be discussed and - as far as possible - assessed. Their use, acceptance and legal questions are to be presented against a background of long-term evaluation, system limits and functional transparency. (orig.) [German] Fahrerassistenzsysteme helfen dem Fahrer bei seinen Aufgaben. Die deutlichen Veraenderungen im Verkehrsgeschehen auf unseren Strassen aber auch die gestiegenen Anforderungen an den Fahrer von Nutzfahrzeugen werden die Nachfrage nach solchen Systemen bestimmen. Grundsaetzlich werden hier Systeme verstanden, die assistieren bei der Navigation, der Wahl und Einhaltung der Fuehrungsgroessen und bei der Stabilisierung im Umfeld von Fahrzeug und von Fahrumgebung. Betrachtet werden - Adaptive Cruise Control, - Stop and Go-Systeme, - Fahrzeug-Fahrzeug Kommunikation, - Lane Guard System, - Abbiegeassistenz und weiterfuehrende, - Telematiksysteme. Neue Ansaetze, die zur Entlastung des Fahrers, zu Verbesserungen im Verkehrsfluss und der Fahrsicherheit fuehren werden diskutiert und - soweit moeglich - bewertet. Nutzung, Akzeptanz, rechtliche Fragen sollen vor dem Hintergrund von Langzeitbewertung, Systemgrenzen und Funktionstransparenz dargestellt werden. (orig.)

Driver steering model for closed-loop steering function analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bolia, Pratiksh; Weiskircher, Thomas; Müller, Steffen

2014-05-01

In this paper, a two level preview driver steering control model for the use in numerical vehicle dynamics simulation is introduced. The proposed model is composed of cascaded control loops: The outer loop is the path following layer based on potential field framework. The inner loop tries to capture the driver's physical behaviour. The proposed driver model allows easy implementation of different driving situations to simulate a wide range of different driver types, moods and vehicle types. The expediency of the proposed driver model is shown with the help of developed driver steering assist (DSA) function integrated with a conventional series production (Electric Power steering System with rack assist servo unit) system. With the help of the DSA assist function, the driver is prevented from over saturating the front tyre forces and loss of stability and controllability during cornering. The simulation results show different driver reactions caused by the change in the parameters or properties of the proposed driver model if the DSA assist function is activated. Thus, the proposed driver model is useful for the advanced driver steering and vehicle stability assist function evaluation in the early stage of vehicle dynamics handling and stability evaluation.

Design methodology for fault-tolerant control of advanced driver assistance systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gietelink, O.J.; Ploeg, J.; Schutter, B. de; Verhaegen, M.H.G.

2003-01-01

The objective of this project is to develop a methodology for the design, testing, evaluation and implementation of control systems for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Examples of ADAS are collision avoidance systems, lane departure warning systems, pre-crash sensing, and adaptive cruise

Assisting the older driver : intersection design and in-car devices to improve the safety of the older driver. Proefschrift Rijksuniversiteit Groningen RUG, Groningen.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Davidse, R.J.

2007-01-01

In this thesis, the main focus was on assistive devices that may improve and prolong the safe mobility of older drivers. Older drivers form a group of road users that is getting more and more attention in road safety research and policy. An important reason for this growing interest is the increase

Driver assistance systems - road to success for platooning; Fahrerassistenzsysteme - Wegbereiter fuer Lkw-Konvois

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Happe, J.; Preuschoff, E. [Zentrum fuer Lern- und Wissensmanagement und Lehrstuhl Informatik im Maschinenbau der RWTH Aachen, Aachen (Germany)

2004-07-01

Resulting from the continuous increase of freight transport and the limitation of the capacity for road-transport, there is a need of optimising road traffic flow and of improving the utilisation of the given infrastructure. The objective is making the whole traffic system safer, more efficient and environmentally friendly. A potential concept is the realisation of truck platoons on highways by using advanced driver assistant systems (ADAS). The electronic coupling of the trucks in short distance minimises the work-load of the truck drivers and results in a safety benefit. Furthermore the short distances lead to a positive effect on road capacity and a reduction of the fuel consumption of the following vehicles because of lee-driving. Within a project ''Preparing action for the realisation of advanced driver assistant system in freight transport'' a group of scientists of the Aachen University worked on requirements for the medium-term realisation of automatic truck platoons on highways. (orig.)

Progress with situation assessment and risk prediction in advanced driver assistance systems : A survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rendon-Velez, E.; Horváth, I.; Opiyo, E.Z.

2009-01-01

In the field of automotive safety, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are receiving growing attention. Effective ADAS requires awareness of the actual driving situation, a reliable assessment of the risks, and making rapid decisions on assisting actions. This paper reviews the current

Study of human interface for narrow road drive assist system considered characteristic of driver; Driver no tokusei wo koryoshita kyoro soko shien system no human interface no kenkyu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ikeda, A [Subaru Research Center Co., Tokyo (Japan); Amada, N; Kawashima, H [Keio University, Tokyo (Japan)

1997-10-01

The measurement of driver`s watching point, driving time on narrow road and the evaluation of stress etc. were conducted in order to construct the narrow road drive assist system using the stereo image recognition system. Consequently, the driver`s thinking process, stress factor and the indispensable information for this system were clarified. 4 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs.

Evaluation of advanced driver assistance system with the VEHIL test facility: experiences and future developments at TNO automotive

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kusters, L.J.J.; Gietelink, O.J.; Hoof, J.F.A.M. van; Lemmen, P.P.M.

2004-01-01

This paper presents the working principle, functionality and the experience during the first operational period of the VEHIL laboratory, dedicated to the development and testing of advanced driver assistance systems. The position of VEHIL and its PC based full software variant PRESCAN is illustrated

Robust control design for active driver assistance systems a linear-parameter-varying approach

CERN Document Server

Gáspár, Péter; Bokor, József; Nemeth, Balazs

2017-01-01

This monograph focuses on control methods that influence vehicle dynamics to assist the driver in enhancing passenger comfort, road holding, efficiency and safety of transport, etc., while maintaining the driver’s ability to override that assistance. On individual-vehicle-component level the control problem is formulated and solved by a unified modelling and design method provided by the linear parameter varying (LPV) framework. The global behaviour desired is achieved by a judicious interplay between the individual components, guaranteed by an integrated control mechanism. The integrated control problem is also formalized and solved in the LPV framework. Most important among the ideas expounded in the book are: application of the LPV paradigm in the modelling and control design methodology; application of the robust LPV design as a unified framework for setting control tasks related to active driver assistance; formulation and solution proposals for the integrated vehicle control problem; proposal for a re...

Advanced driver assistance systems for teen drivers: Teen and parent impressions, perceived need, and intervention preferences.

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, Eve; Fisher Thiel, Megan; Sultana, Nahida; Hannan, Chloe; Seacrist, Thomas

2018-02-28

From the advent of airbags to electronic stability control, technological advances introduced into automobile design have significantly reduced injury and death from motor vehicle crashes. These advances are especially pertinent among teen drivers, a population whose leading cause of death is motor vehicle crashes. Recently developed advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have the potential to compensate for skill deficits and reduce overall crash risk. Yet, ADAS is only effective if drivers are willing to use it. Limited research has been conducted on the suitability of ADAS for teen drivers. The goal of this study is to identify teen drivers' perceived need for ADAS, receptiveness to in-vehicle technology, and intervention preferences. The long-term goal is to understand public perceptions and barriers to ADAS use and to help determine how these systems must evolve to meet the needs of the riskiest driving populations. Three focus groups (N = 24) were conducted with licensed teen drivers aged 16-19 years and 2 focus groups with parents of teen drivers (N = 12). Discussion topics included views on how ADAS might influence driving skills and behaviors; trust in technology; and data privacy. Discussions were transcribed; the team used conventional content analysis and open coding methods to identify 12 coding domains and code transcripts with NVivo 10. Interrater reliability testing showed moderate to high kappa scores. Overall, participants recognized potential benefits of ADAS, including improved safety and crash reduction. Teens suggested that ADAS is still developing and therefore has potential to malfunction. Many teens reported a greater trust in their own driving ability over vehicle technology. They expressed that novice drivers should learn to drive on non-ADAS-equipped cars and that ADAS should be considered a supplemental aid. Many teens felt that overreliance on ADAS may increase distracted driving or risky behaviors among teens. Parents also

Factors correlated with traffic accidents as a basis for evaluating Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Staubach, Maria

2009-09-01

This study aims to identify factors which influence and cause errors in traffic accidents and to use these as a basis for information to guide the application and design of driver assistance systems. A total of 474 accidents were examined in depth for this study by means of a psychological survey, data from accident reports, and technical reconstruction information. An error analysis was subsequently carried out, taking into account the driver, environment, and vehicle sub-systems. Results showed that all accidents were influenced by errors as a consequence of distraction and reduced activity. For crossroad accidents, there were further errors resulting from sight obstruction, masked stimuli, focus errors, and law infringements. Lane departure crashes were additionally caused by errors as a result of masked stimuli, law infringements, expectation errors as well as objective and action slips, while same direction accidents occurred additionally because of focus errors, expectation errors, and objective and action slips. Most accidents were influenced by multiple factors. There is a safety potential for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), which support the driver in information assimilation and help to avoid distraction and reduced activity. The design of the ADAS is dependent on the specific influencing factors of the accident type.

Driver assistant system for industrial vehicles; Fahrerassistenzsysteme fuer Nutzfahrzeuge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Winterhagen, J.

1999-10-01

It is the intention of DaimlerChrysler AG to automatize future industrial vehicles by means of driver assistant systems. The components - from automatic distance control to fully electric steering - are in different stages of maturity. Some prototypes were presented recently at the Papenburg test site. [German] Fahrerassistenzsysteme werden das Nutzfahrzeug der Zukunft nach Vorstellungen der DaimlerChrysler AG weitestgehend automatisieren. Die dazu notwendigen Techniken - vom automatischen Abstandsregler bis zur vollelektrischen Lenkung - haben unterschiedliche Reifegrade. Einige Prototypen stellte das Unternehmen kuerzlich auf dem Pruefgelaende Papenburg vor. (orig.)

Definition of run-off-road crash clusters-For safety benefit estimation and driver assistance development.

Science.gov (United States)

Nilsson, Daniel; Lindman, Magdalena; Victor, Trent; Dozza, Marco

2018-04-01

Single-vehicle run-off-road crashes are a major traffic safety concern, as they are associated with a high proportion of fatal outcomes. In addressing run-off-road crashes, the development and evaluation of advanced driver assistance systems requires test scenarios that are representative of the variability found in real-world crashes. We apply hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis to define similarities in a set of crash data variables, these clusters can then be used as the basis in test scenario development. Out of 13 clusters, nine test scenarios are derived, corresponding to crashes characterised by: drivers drifting off the road in daytime and night-time, high speed departures, high-angle departures on narrow roads, highways, snowy roads, loss-of-control on wet roadways, sharp curves, and high speeds on roads with severe road surface conditions. In addition, each cluster was analysed with respect to crash variables related to the crash cause and reason for the unintended lane departure. The study shows that cluster analysis of representative data provides a statistically based method to identify relevant properties for run-off-road test scenarios. This was done to support development of vehicle-based run-off-road countermeasures and driver behaviour models used in virtual testing. Future studies should use driver behaviour from naturalistic driving data to further define how test-scenarios and behavioural causation mechanisms should be included. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advanced driver assistance systems: Using multimodal redundant warnings to enhance road safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Biondi, Francesco; Strayer, David L; Rossi, Riccardo; Gastaldi, Massimiliano; Mulatti, Claudio

2017-01-01

This study investigated whether multimodal redundant warnings presented by advanced assistance systems reduce brake response times. Warnings presented by assistance systems are designed to assist drivers by informing them that evasive driving maneuvers are needed in order to avoid a potential accident. If these warnings are poorly designed, they may distract drivers, slow their responses, and reduce road safety. In two experiments, participants drove a simulated vehicle equipped with a forward collision avoidance system. Auditory, vibrotactile, and multimodal warnings were presented when the time to collision was shorter than five seconds. The effects of these warnings were investigated with participants performing a concurrent cell phone conversation (Exp. 1) or driving in high-density traffic (Exp. 2). Braking times and subjective workload were measured. Multimodal redundant warnings elicited faster braking reaction times. These warnings were found to be effective even when talking on a cell phone (Exp. 1) or driving in dense traffic (Exp. 2). Multimodal warnings produced higher ratings of urgency, but ratings of frustration did not increase compared to other warnings. Findings obtained in these two experiments are important given that faster braking responses may reduce the potential for a collision. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Rapid Prototyping Environment for Cooperative Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kay Massow

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS were strong innovation drivers in recent years, towards the enhancement of traffic safety and efficiency. Today’s ADAS adopt an autonomous approach with all instrumentation and intelligence on board of one vehicle. However, to further enhance their benefit, ADAS need to cooperate in the future, using communication technologies. The resulting combination of vehicle automation and cooperation, for instance, enables solving hazardous situations by a coordinated safety intervention on multiple vehicles at the same point in time. Since the complexity of such cooperative ADAS grows with each vehicle involved, very large parameter spaces need to be regarded during their development, which necessitate novel development approaches. In this paper, we present an environment for rapidly prototyping cooperative ADAS based on vehicle simulation. Its underlying approach is either to bring ideas for cooperative ADAS through the prototyping stage towards plausible candidates for further development or to discard them as quickly as possible. This is enabled by an iterative process of refining and assessment. We reconcile the aspects of automation and cooperation in simulation by a tradeoff between precision and scalability. Reducing precise mapping of vehicle dynamics below the limits of driving dynamics enables simulating multiple vehicles at the same time. In order to validate this precision, we also present a method to validate the vehicle dynamics in simulation against real world vehicles.

Continuous traffic flow modeling of driver support systems in multiclass traffic with intervehicle communication and drivers in the loop

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tampere, C.; Hoogendoorn, S.P.; van Arem, Bart

2009-01-01

This paper presents a continuous traffic-flow model for the explorative analysis of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADASs). Such systems use technology (sensors and intervehicle communication) to support the task of the driver, who retains full control over the vehicle. Based on a review of

Principle for the Validation of a Driving Support using a Computer Vision-Based Driver Modelization on a Simulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baptiste Rouzier

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new structure for a driving support designed to compensate for the problems caused by the behaviour of the driver without causing a feeling of unease. This assistance is based on a shared control between the human and an automatic support that computes and applies an assisting torque on the steering wheel. This torque is computed from a representation of the hazards encountered on the road by virtual potentials. However, the equilibrium between the relative influences of the human and the support on the steering wheel are difficult to find and depend upon the situation. This is why this driving support includes a modelization of the driver based on an analysis of several face features using a computer vision algorithm. The goal is to determine whether the driver is drowsy or whether he is paying attention to some specific points in order to adapt the strength of the support. The accuracy of the measurements made on the face features is estimated, and the interest of the proposal as well as the concepts raised by such assistance are studied through simulations.

Prospect theory based estimation of drivers' risk attitudes in route choice behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Lizhen; Zhong, Shiquan; Ma, Shoufeng; Jia, Ning

2014-12-01

This paper applied prospect theory (PT) to describe drivers' route choice behavior under Variable Message Sign (VMS), which presented visual traffic information to assist them to make route choice decisions. A quite rich empirical data from questionnaire and field spot was used to estimate parameters of PT. In order to make the parameters more realistic with drivers' attitudes, they were classified into different types by significant factors influencing their behaviors. Based on the travel time distribution of alternative routes and route choice results from questionnaire, the parameterized value function of each category was figured out, which represented drivers' risk attitudes and choice characteristics. The empirical verification showed that the estimates were acceptable and effective. The result showed drivers' risk attitudes and route choice characteristics could be captured by PT under real-time information shown on VMS. For practical application, once drivers' route choice characteristics and parameters were identified, their route choice behavior under different road conditions could be predicted accurately, which was the basis of traffic guidance measures formulation and implementation for targeted traffic management. Moreover, the heterogeneous risk attitudes among drivers should be considered when releasing traffic information and regulating traffic flow. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Continuous traffic flow modeling of driver support systems in multiclass traffic with inter-vehicle communication and drivers in the loop

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tampere, C.M.J.; Hoogendoorn, S.P.; Arem, B. van

2009-01-01

This paper presents a continuous traffic-flow model for the explorative analysis of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADASs). Such systems use technology (sensors and intervehicle communication) to support the task of the driver, who retains full control over the vehicle. Based on a review of

Heavy-ion driver parametric studies and choice of a base 5 mega-joule driver design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bieri, R.; Meier, W.

1992-01-01

Parametric studies to optimize heavy-ion driver designs are described and an optimized 5 MJ driver design is described. Parametric studies are done on driver parameters including driver energy, number of beams, type of superconductor used in focusing magnets, maximum magnetic field allowed at the superconducting windings, axial quadrupole field packing fraction, ion mass, and ion charge state. All modeled drivers use the maximum beam currents allowed by the Maschke limits; driver scaling is described in a companion paper. The optimized driver described is conservative and cost effective. The base driver direct costs are only $120/Joule, and the base driver uses no recirculation, beam combination, or beam separation. The low driver cost achieved is due, in part, to the use of compact Nb 3 Sn quadrupole arrays, but results primarily from optimization over the large, multi-dimensional, parameter space available for heavy-ion drivers

VEHIL: a test facility for validation of fault management systems for advanced driver assistance systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gietelink, O.J.; Ploeg, J.; Schutter, de B.; Verhaegen, M.H.

2004-01-01

We present a methodological approach for the validation of fault management systems for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). For the validation process the unique VEHIL facility, developed by TNO Automotive and currently situated in Helmond, The Netherlands, is applied. The VEHIL facility

Biventricular assist using a portable driver in combination with implanted devices: preliminary experience.

Science.gov (United States)

von Segesser, L K; Tkebuchava, T; Leskosek, B; Marty, B; Pei, Y C; Turina, M

1997-01-01

Left ventricular assist systems with portable drive units are increasingly used in the clinical setting. However, such systems usually are not suitable for right ventricular support, and therefore, in the case of biventricular heart failure, they must be combined with other support devices that require additional drive consoles. As a result, most of the benefits of the wearable drive units (early mobilization and outpatient care) are lost. This present study was performed to evaluate biventricular support with implanted assist devices and a portable DC/battery-powered driver (Thoratec TLC-II). Electronic control by nonvolatile RAM accessible via RS232 interface, internal backup emergency battery, and optional manual activation are additional features of this 6 kg biventricular drive unit. In 3 bovine experiments (body weight 70 +/- 5 kg) partial cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was established, and two ventricular assist devices were implanted into a preperitoneal pocket on each side after connection to the right atrium and the pulmonary artery and to the left atrium and aorta, respectively. After weaning the patient from CPB, activated coagulation time (ACT) was kept at greater than 180 s, and biventricular support with the portable driver was activated. After 10 min, mean device flow stabilized at 3.5 +/- 0 L/min and remained at that level throughout the ensuing 6 h (3.5 +/- 0.3 L/min; NS). The heart rate moved from 130 +/- 13 beats per minute (bpm) at the end of CPB to 116 +/- 13 bpm after 10 min of assist (p < 0.05). Right atrial pressure moved from 11 +/- 2 mm Hg at the end of CPB to 13 +/- 3 mm Hg after 10 min of assist (not significant [NS]). Mean pulmonary artery pressure was 18 +/- mm Hg at the end of CPB and 17 +/- 5 mm Hg after 10 min of assist (NS). Left atrial pressure was 10 +/- 1 mm Hg at the end of CPB and 13 +/- 3 mm Hg after 10 min of assist (NS). Mean aortic pressure was 73 +/- 11 mm Hg at the end of CPB and 77 +/- 3 mm Hg after 10 min of assist (NS

Effect of haptic assistance on learning vehicle reverse parking skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Hirokawa, Masakazu; Uesugi, Naohisa; Furugori, Satoru; Kitagawa, Tomoko; Suzuki, Kenji

2014-01-01

Compared to conventional visual- and auditory-based assisted driving technologies, haptic modality promises to be more effective and less disturbing assistance to the driver. However, in most previous studies, haptic assistance systems were evaluated from safety and stability viewpoints. Moreover, the effect of haptic assistance on human driving behavior has not been sufficiently discussed. In this paper, we introduce an assisted driving method based on haptic assistance for driver training in reverse parking, which is considered as an uncertain factor in conventional assisted driving systems. The proposed system assists the driver by applying a torque on the steering wheel to guide proper and well-timed steering. To design the appropriate assistance method, we conducted a measurement experiment to determine the qualitative reverse parking driver characteristics. Based on the determined characteristics, we propose a haptic assistance calculation method that utilizes the receding horizon control algorithm. For a simulation environment to assess the proposed assistance method, we also developed a scaled car simulator comprising a 1/10 scaled robot car and an omnidirectional camera. We used the scaled car simulator to conduct comparative experiments on subjects, and observed that the driving skills of the assisted subjects were significantly better than those of the control subjects.

The smartphone and the driver's cognitive workload: A comparison of Apple, Google, and Microsoft's intelligent personal assistants.

Science.gov (United States)

Strayer, David L; Cooper, Joel M; Turrill, Jonna; Coleman, James R; Hopman, Rachel J

2017-06-01

The goal of this research was to examine the impact of voice-based interactions using 3 different intelligent personal assistants (Apple's Siri , Google's Google Now for Android phones, and Microsoft's Cortana ) on the cognitive workload of the driver. In 2 experiments using an instrumented vehicle on suburban roadways, we measured the cognitive workload of drivers when they used the voice-based features of each smartphone to place a call, select music, or send text messages. Cognitive workload was derived from primary task performance through video analysis, secondary-task performance using the Detection Response Task (DRT), and subjective mental workload. We found that workload was significantly higher than that measured in the single-task drive. There were also systematic differences between the smartphones: The Google system placed lower cognitive demands on the driver than the Apple and Microsoft systems, which did not differ. Video analysis revealed that the difference in mental workload between the smartphones was associated with the number of system errors, the time to complete an action, and the complexity and intuitiveness of the devices. Finally, surprisingly high levels of cognitive workload were observed when drivers were interacting with the devices: "on-task" workload measures did not systematically differ from that associated with a mentally demanding Operation Span (OSPAN) task. The analysis also found residual costs associated using each of the smartphones that took a significant time to dissipate. The data suggest that caution is warranted in the use of smartphone voice-based technology in the vehicle because of the high levels of cognitive workload associated with these interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The development of ground unmanned vehicles, driver assistance systems and components according to patent publications

Science.gov (United States)

Saykin, A. M.; Tuktakiev, G. S.; Zhuravlev, A. V.; Zaitseva, E. P.

2018-02-01

The paper contains the analysis of the main trends in the patenting of ground unmanned vehicles, driver assistance systems (ADAS) and unmanned vehicle components abroad during the period from 2010 to 2016. The conclusion was made that the intensity of their patenting abroad increased.

Design and Implementation of Real-Time Vehicular Camera for Driver Assistance and Traffic Congestion Estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

Son, Sanghyun; Baek, Yunju

2015-08-18

As society has developed, the number of vehicles has increased and road conditions have become complicated, increasing the risk of crashes. Therefore, a service that provides safe vehicle control and various types of information to the driver is urgently needed. In this study, we designed and implemented a real-time traffic information system and a smart camera device for smart driver assistance systems. We selected a commercial device for the smart driver assistance systems, and applied a computer vision algorithm to perform image recognition. For application to the dynamic region of interest, dynamic frame skip methods were implemented to perform parallel processing in order to enable real-time operation. In addition, we designed and implemented a model to estimate congestion by analyzing traffic information. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using images of a real road environment. We found that the processing time improved by 15.4 times when all the proposed methods were applied in the application. Further, we found experimentally that there was little or no change in the recognition accuracy when the proposed method was applied. Using the traffic congestion estimation model, we also found that the average error rate of the proposed model was 5.3%.

Design and Implementation of Real-Time Vehicular Camera for Driver Assistance and Traffic Congestion Estimation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sanghyun Son

2015-08-01

Full Text Available As society has developed, the number of vehicles has increased and road conditions have become complicated, increasing the risk of crashes. Therefore, a service that provides safe vehicle control and various types of information to the driver is urgently needed. In this study, we designed and implemented a real-time traffic information system and a smart camera device for smart driver assistance systems. We selected a commercial device for the smart driver assistance systems, and applied a computer vision algorithm to perform image recognition. For application to the dynamic region of interest, dynamic frame skip methods were implemented to perform parallel processing in order to enable real-time operation. In addition, we designed and implemented a model to estimate congestion by analyzing traffic information. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using images of a real road environment. We found that the processing time improved by 15.4 times when all the proposed methods were applied in the application. Further, we found experimentally that there was little or no change in the recognition accuracy when the proposed method was applied. Using the traffic congestion estimation model, we also found that the average error rate of the proposed model was 5.3%.

Toyota drivers' experiences with Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, Pre-Collision System, and Lane-Keeping Assist.

Science.gov (United States)

Eichelberger, Angela H; McCartt, Anne T

2016-02-01

Advanced crash avoidance and driver assistance technologies potentially can prevent or mitigate many crashes. Previous surveys with drivers have found favorable opinions for many advanced technologies; however, these surveys are not necessarily representative of all drivers or all systems. As the technologies spread throughout the vehicle fleet, it is important to continue studying driver acceptance and use of them. This study focused on 2010-2013 Toyota Sienna and Prius models that were equipped with adaptive cruise control, forward collision avoidance, and lane departure warning and prevention (Prius models only). Telephone interviews were conducted in summer 2013 with 183 owners of vehicles with these technologies. About 9 in 10 respondents wanted adaptive cruise control and forward collision avoidance on their next vehicle, and 71% wanted lane departure warning/prevention again. Males and females reported some differences in their experiences with the systems; for example, males were more likely to have turned on lane departure warning/prevention than females, and when using this system, males reported more frequent warnings than did females. Relative to older drivers, drivers age 40 and younger were more likely to have seen or heard a forward collision warning. Consistent with the results in previous surveys of owners of luxury vehicles, the present survey found that driver acceptance of the technologies was high, although less so for lane departure warning/prevention. Experiences with the Toyota systems differed by driver age and gender to a greater degree than in previous surveys, suggesting that the responses of drivers may begin to differ as crash avoidance technology becomes available on a wider variety of vehicles. Crash avoidance technologies potentially can prevent or mitigate many crashes, but their success depends in part on driver acceptance. These systems will be effective only to the extent that drivers use them. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and

Fusion of Data from Heterogeneous Sensors with Distributed Fields of View and Situation Evaluation for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

OpenAIRE

Otto, Carola

2013-01-01

In order to develop a driver assistance system for pedestrian protection, pedestrians in the environment of a truck are detected by radars and a camera and are tracked across distributed fields of view using a Joint Integrated Probabilistic Data Association filter. A robust approach for prediction of the system vehicles trajectory is presented. It serves the computation of a probabilistic collision risk based on reachable sets where different sources of uncertainty are taken into account.

Headlamps for light based driver assistance

Science.gov (United States)

Götz, M.; Kleinkes, M.

2008-04-01

Driving at night is dangerous. Although only 25% of all driving tasks are performed at night, nearly half of all fatal accidents happen in this time. In order to increase safety when driving under poor visibility conditions, automotive front lighting systems have undergone a strong development in the last fifteen years. One important milestone was the introduction of Xenon headlamps in 1992, which provide more and brighter light for road illumination than ever before. Since then the paradigm of simply providing more light has changed toward providing optimised light distributions, which support the driver's perception. A first step in this direction was the introduction of dynamic bend lighting and cornering light in 2003. In 2006 the first full AFS headlamp (Adaptive Front Lighting System) allowed an optimised adoption of the light distribution to the driving situation. These systems use information provided by vehicle sensors and an intelligent algorithm to guide light towards those areas where needed. Nowadays, even more information about the vehicle's environment is available. Image processing systems, for example, allow to detect other traffic participants, their speed and their driving directions. In future headlamp systems these data will be used to constantly regulate the reach of the light distribution thus allowing a maximal reach without providing glare. Moreover, technologies that allow to constantly use a high-beam light distribution are under development. These systems will illuminate the whole traffic area only excluding other traffic participants. LED light sources will play a significant role in these scenarios, since they allow to precisely illuminate certain areas of the road, while neighbouring parts will be left in dark.

Cellular Automata-Based Application for Driver Assistance in Indoor Parking Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cándido Caballero-Gil

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This work proposes an adaptive recommendation mechanism for smart parking that takes advantage of the popularity of smartphones and the rise of the Internet of Things. The proposal includes a centralized system to forecast available indoor parking spaces, and a low-cost mobile application to obtain data of actual and predicted parking occupancy. The described scheme uses data from both sources bidirectionally so that the centralized forecast system is fed with data obtained with the distributed system based on smartphones, and vice versa. The mobile application uses different wireless technologies to provide the forecast system with actual parking data and receive from the system useful recommendations about where to park. Thus, the proposal can be used by any driver to easily find available parking spaces in indoor facilities. The client software developed for smartphones is a lightweight Android application that supplies precise indoor positioning systems based on Quick Response codes or Near Field Communication tags, and semi-precise indoor positioning systems based on Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. The performance of the proposed approach has been evaluated by conducting computer simulations and real experimentation with a preliminary implementation. The results have shown the strengths of the proposal in the reduction of the time and energy costs to find available parking spaces.

Cellular Automata-Based Application for Driver Assistance in Indoor Parking Areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Caballero-Gil, Cándido; Caballero-Gil, Pino; Molina-Gil, Jezabel

2016-11-15

This work proposes an adaptive recommendation mechanism for smart parking that takes advantage of the popularity of smartphones and the rise of the Internet of Things. The proposal includes a centralized system to forecast available indoor parking spaces, and a low-cost mobile application to obtain data of actual and predicted parking occupancy. The described scheme uses data from both sources bidirectionally so that the centralized forecast system is fed with data obtained with the distributed system based on smartphones, and vice versa. The mobile application uses different wireless technologies to provide the forecast system with actual parking data and receive from the system useful recommendations about where to park. Thus, the proposal can be used by any driver to easily find available parking spaces in indoor facilities. The client software developed for smartphones is a lightweight Android application that supplies precise indoor positioning systems based on Quick Response codes or Near Field Communication tags, and semi-precise indoor positioning systems based on Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. The performance of the proposed approach has been evaluated by conducting computer simulations and real experimentation with a preliminary implementation. The results have shown the strengths of the proposal in the reduction of the time and energy costs to find available parking spaces.

Heading Control System for a Multi-body Vehicle with a Virtual Test Driver

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

POSTALCIOGLU OZGEN, S.

2010-08-01

Full Text Available This paper includes a Heading Control (HC system for a multi-body vehicle. HC system helps reducing the required torque from the driver and improves the lane keeping efficiency. HC system is important for safety and driver comfort in traffic. The controller performance is examined on a virtual test drive platform. The optimal control theory is applied to HC system and examined on a curved path and under a side wind disturbance. Different assistance levels are applied to see the characteristics of the controller with different virtual test drivers. The results are analyzed based on three performance indices; lane keeping performance (LKP index, assist torque performance (ATP index and driver torque performance (DTP index. As seen from the results while using HC system the lateral displacement decreases as the lane keeping performance increases and the driver torque performance decreases as the assist torque performance increases.

Sensors for advanced driver assistance systems; Sensoren fuer Fahrerassistenzsysteme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ritschel, W.; Wixforth, T. [Hella KGaA Hueck und Co., Lippstadt (Germany)

2004-07-01

Essential safety applications and those aimed at driver convenience (blind spot surveillance, stop and go, pre-crash, parking assistant) can be effected in vehicles with the aid of radar sensors. The radar sensors used can be differentiated in terms of the bandwidth required (narrow band or ultra-wide band) and in terms of the modulation of the transmission signal (pulse modulation or CW). Ultra-wide band systems at the moment are not eligible for admission and do not conform with the present regulations in the European Union. The sensors currently being developed at hella for production use are characterized by the fact that they cover the primary applications in motor vehicles. In these cases the transmission signals radiated lie within the valid limits currently approved within the European Union. (orig.)

Vision-Based Steering Control, Speed Assistance and Localization for Inner-City Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miguel Angel Olivares-Mendez

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Autonomous route following with road vehicles has gained popularity in the last few decades. In order to provide highly automated driver assistance systems, different types and combinations of sensors have been presented in the literature. However, most of these approaches apply quite sophisticated and expensive sensors, and hence, the development of a cost-efficient solution still remains a challenging problem. This work proposes the use of a single monocular camera sensor for an automatic steering control, speed assistance for the driver and localization of the vehicle on a road. Herein, we assume that the vehicle is mainly traveling along a predefined path, such as in public transport. A computer vision approach is presented to detect a line painted on the road, which defines the path to follow. Visual markers with a special design painted on the road provide information to localize the vehicle and to assist in its speed control. Furthermore, a vision-based control system, which keeps the vehicle on the predefined path under inner-city speed constraints, is also presented. Real driving tests with a commercial car on a closed circuit finally prove the applicability of the derived approach. In these tests, the car reached a maximum speed of 48 km/h and successfully traveled a distance of 7 km without the intervention of a human driver and any interruption.

Vision-Based Steering Control, Speed Assistance and Localization for Inner-City Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Olivares-Mendez, Miguel Angel; Sanchez-Lopez, Jose Luis; Jimenez, Felipe; Campoy, Pascual; Sajadi-Alamdari, Seyed Amin; Voos, Holger

2016-03-11

Autonomous route following with road vehicles has gained popularity in the last few decades. In order to provide highly automated driver assistance systems, different types and combinations of sensors have been presented in the literature. However, most of these approaches apply quite sophisticated and expensive sensors, and hence, the development of a cost-efficient solution still remains a challenging problem. This work proposes the use of a single monocular camera sensor for an automatic steering control, speed assistance for the driver and localization of the vehicle on a road. Herein, we assume that the vehicle is mainly traveling along a predefined path, such as in public transport. A computer vision approach is presented to detect a line painted on the road, which defines the path to follow. Visual markers with a special design painted on the road provide information to localize the vehicle and to assist in its speed control. Furthermore, a vision-based control system, which keeps the vehicle on the predefined path under inner-city speed constraints, is also presented. Real driving tests with a commercial car on a closed circuit finally prove the applicability of the derived approach. In these tests, the car reached a maximum speed of 48 km/h and successfully traveled a distance of 7 km without the intervention of a human driver and any interruption.

Vision-Based Steering Control, Speed Assistance and Localization for Inner-City Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Olivares-Mendez, Miguel Angel; Sanchez-Lopez, Jose Luis; Jimenez, Felipe; Campoy, Pascual; Sajadi-Alamdari, Seyed Amin; Voos, Holger

2016-01-01

Autonomous route following with road vehicles has gained popularity in the last few decades. In order to provide highly automated driver assistance systems, different types and combinations of sensors have been presented in the literature. However, most of these approaches apply quite sophisticated and expensive sensors, and hence, the development of a cost-efficient solution still remains a challenging problem. This work proposes the use of a single monocular camera sensor for an automatic steering control, speed assistance for the driver and localization of the vehicle on a road. Herein, we assume that the vehicle is mainly traveling along a predefined path, such as in public transport. A computer vision approach is presented to detect a line painted on the road, which defines the path to follow. Visual markers with a special design painted on the road provide information to localize the vehicle and to assist in its speed control. Furthermore, a vision-based control system, which keeps the vehicle on the predefined path under inner-city speed constraints, is also presented. Real driving tests with a commercial car on a closed circuit finally prove the applicability of the derived approach. In these tests, the car reached a maximum speed of 48 km/h and successfully traveled a distance of 7 km without the intervention of a human driver and any interruption. PMID:26978365

A Logic Architecture for 360 ADAS-Alerts for Hazards Detection Based in Driver Actions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Izquierdo-Reyes Javier

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this work is presented a novel approach for passive safety in vehicles by Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS alert emission in 360° around driver to notify about hazards nearby the vehicle depending on the actions taken by driver per the context. This proposal would create a more robust system compared to current passive ADAS systems since the feedback to driver is in the same direction that hazard is detected (Punctual Sound Source Alert, compared with most assistance systems that emits sounds from the monitor or from the dashboard provoking distractions when emits alerts unnecessarily. The increase of security by this method will allow the driver to be aware of their surroundings even in a very quiet cabin or in a noisy environment. Also, it would detect the steering wheel angle, speed of movement and the activation of turning lights among other alerts, which would allow us to define a critical action during driving; apart from using sensors and cameras aimed at the driver to detect patterns of movement during these critical actions and have a prediction of a possible turn or manoeuvre when driving, refer to Figure 1. It will be necessary a reconfiguration of the alert in frequency, time of action depending upon the level of risk to prevent an accident or to reduce the consequences in an imminent accident.

Reversing Control of a Car with a Trailer Using the Driver Assistance System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jae Il Roh

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Passive trailer systems provide a variety of advantages in delivery and transportation applications. The transportation capacity of the truck with multiple trailers can be increased in proportion to the number of trailers. The cost of the car with trailers is much lower than the cost of multiple cars. However, the major drawback of the trailer system is that the control problem is difficult. We concentrate on the motion control problem of ʺpushingʺ trailers because pushing is much more difficult than ʺpullingʺ. In this paper, it is shown how the car with passive trailers can be easily controlled by the use of the proposed driver assist system and the motion control scheme. Since the keypad is the only additional device for the driver assist system, the proposed scheme can be implemented with the conventional trucks without many hardware modifications. The manual control strategy of pushing is established. The kinematic design of the passive trailer is adopted from the prior work (Park and Chung, 2004. The kinematic configuration design of the car with trailers is proposed for pushing control. The usefulness of the proposed scheme is experimentally verified with the small scale car with trailer system for the car parking problem. The parking control requires forward and reverse motion in narrow environment. It is shown that even beginners can easily control the pushing motion with the proposed scheme.

Reversing Control of a Car with a Trailer Using the Driver Assistance System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jae Roh

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Passive trailer systems provide a variety of advantages in delivery and transportation applications. The transportation capacity of the truck with multiple trailers can be increased in proportion to the number of trailers. The cost of the car with trailers is much lower than the cost of multiple cars. However, the major drawback of the trailer system is that the control problem is difficult. We concentrate on the motion control problem of “pushing” trailers because pushing is much more difficult than “pulling”. In this paper, it is shown how the car with passive trailers can be easily controlled by the use of the proposed driver assist system and the motion control scheme. Since the keypad is the only additional device for the driver assist system, the proposed scheme can be implemented with the conventional trucks without many hardware modifications. The manual control strategy of pushing is established. The kinematic design of the passive trailer is adopted from the prior work (Park and Chung, 2004. The kinematic configuration design of the car with trailers is proposed for pushing control. The usefulness of the proposed scheme is experimentally verified with the small scale car with trailer system for the car parking problem. The parking control requires forward and reverse motion in narrow environment. It is shown that even beginners can easily control the pushing motion with the proposed scheme.

Advanced driver assistance system for AHS over communication links with random packet dropouts

Science.gov (United States)

Srinivasan, Seshadhri; Ayyagari, Ramakalyan

2014-12-01

In this paper, we propose an advanced driver assist system (ADAS) for platoon based automated highway system (AHS) with packet loss in inter-vehicle communication. Using the concept of rigidity, we first show that vehicles in a platoon tend to fall apart in the event of a packet loss among vehicles. To overcome this, we propose an estimation based dynamic platooning algorithm which employs the state estimate to maintain the platoon. Communication among the vehicle is reduced by using minimum spanning tree (MST) in state estimation algorithm. Effectiveness of the proposed ADAS scheme is illustrated by simulation wherein, dynamic platoons of holonomic vehicles with integrator dynamics are considered. Simulation studies indicate that the proposed algorithm maintains the platoon up to a packet loss rate of 48%. State transmission scheme proposed in our algorithm has three significant advantages, they are: (1) it handles packet loss in inter-vehicle communication, (2) reduces the effect of error in measured output, and (3) reduces the inter-vehicle communication. These advantages significantly increase the reliability and safety of the AHS.

Designing driver assistance systems with crossmodal signals: multisensory integration rules for saccadic reaction times apply.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rike Steenken

Full Text Available Modern driver assistance systems make increasing use of auditory and tactile signals in order to reduce the driver's visual information load. This entails potential crossmodal interaction effects that need to be taken into account in designing an optimal system. Here we show that saccadic reaction times to visual targets (cockpit or outside mirror, presented in a driving simulator environment and accompanied by auditory or tactile accessories, follow some well-known spatiotemporal rules of multisensory integration, usually found under confined laboratory conditions. Auditory nontargets speed up reaction time by about 80 ms. The effect tends to be maximal when the nontarget is presented 50 ms before the target and when target and nontarget are spatially coincident. The effect of a tactile nontarget (vibrating steering wheel was less pronounced and not spatially specific. It is shown that the average reaction times are well-described by the stochastic "time window of integration" model for multisensory integration developed by the authors. This two-stage model postulates that crossmodal interaction occurs only if the peripheral processes from the different sensory modalities terminate within a fixed temporal interval, and that the amount of crossmodal interaction manifests itself in an increase or decrease of second stage processing time. A qualitative test is consistent with the model prediction that the probability of interaction, but not the amount of crossmodal interaction, depends on target-nontarget onset asynchrony. A quantitative model fit yields estimates of individual participants' parameters, including the size of the time window. Some consequences for the design of driver assistance systems are discussed.

Interpretation of driving environments for driver assistance systems; Interpretation von Fahrumgebungen fuer Fahrerassistenzsysteme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weiss, K.

2007-07-01

A prototype vehicle was equipped with laser scanners, radar and vision sensors by the electronic research department of Volkswagen AG for the perception of the vehicle's surroundings. The data of these sensors and of the vehicle's sensors are fused together by the means of an extended kalman filter into a common description of the vehicle's surroundings, which is here called environmental model. This model is a complex representation of the environment and contains information about one's own vehicle, other vehicles and other environmental objects as wells as the road. The system for the environmental perception is aimed at founding an information base for future driver assistance systems, which are developed to assist the driver in its driving tasks. This thesis deals with the interpretation of the fused environmental data. The maneuvers of one's own vehicle and of the other vehicles as well as their relations between each other are classified. This performs the step from the pure captation of the environmental data to an assessment of the current traffic situation. The relations between the environmental objects are described by an integrated consideration of the states of one's own vehicle, the environmental objects and the road. The maneuvers and the driving states are derived from the estimated states or innovations of the kalman filter, or they are determined by the means of multiple hypothesis methods or multiple model filters. The result of the interpretation is the detection of the maneuvers of one's own vehicle and the other vehicles, the relations between one's own vehicle and the other vehicles are classified and their threat in relation to one's own vehicle are assessed. Detected lane change maneuvers are used for the prediction of the traffic situation. The algorithms of the interpretation are integrated into the environmental perception system of the prototype vehicle and are verified with real measured

Drivers' reactions to sudden lead car braking under varying workload conditions; towards a driver support system.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaap, Nina; van der Horst, A.R.A.; van Arem, Bart; Brookhuis, K.A.

2008-01-01

At urban intersections drivers handle multiple tasks simultaneously, making urban driving a complex task. An advanced driver assistance system may support drivers in this specific driving task, but the design details of such a system need to be determined before they can be fully deployed. A driving

Cellular Automata-Based Application for Driver Assistance in Indoor Parking Areas †

Science.gov (United States)

Caballero-Gil, Cándido; Caballero-Gil, Pino; Molina-Gil, Jezabel

2016-01-01

This work proposes an adaptive recommendation mechanism for smart parking that takes advantage of the popularity of smartphones and the rise of the Internet of Things. The proposal includes a centralized system to forecast available indoor parking spaces, and a low-cost mobile application to obtain data of actual and predicted parking occupancy. The described scheme uses data from both sources bidirectionally so that the centralized forecast system is fed with data obtained with the distributed system based on smartphones, and vice versa. The mobile application uses different wireless technologies to provide the forecast system with actual parking data and receive from the system useful recommendations about where to park. Thus, the proposal can be used by any driver to easily find available parking spaces in indoor facilities. The client software developed for smartphones is a lightweight Android application that supplies precise indoor positioning systems based on Quick Response codes or Near Field Communication tags, and semi-precise indoor positioning systems based on Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. The performance of the proposed approach has been evaluated by conducting computer simulations and real experimentation with a preliminary implementation. The results have shown the strengths of the proposal in the reduction of the time and energy costs to find available parking spaces. PMID:27854282

Drivers' reactions to sudden braking by lead car under varying workload conditions; towards a driver support system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaap, T. W.; van der Horst, A. R. A.; van Arem, B.; Brookhuis, K. A.

2008-01-01

At urban intersections drivers handle multiple tasks simultaneously, making urban driving a complex task. An advanced driver assistance system may support drivers in this specific driving task, but the design details of such a system need to be determined before they can be fully deployed. A driving

An evidence-based review: distracted driver.

Science.gov (United States)

Llerena, Luis E; Aronow, Kathy V; Macleod, Jana; Bard, Michael; Salzman, Steven; Greene, Wendy; Haider, Adil; Schupper, Alex

2015-01-01

Cell phone use and texting are prevalent within society and have thus pervaded the driving population. This technology is a growing concern within the confines of distracted driving, as all diversions from attention to the road have been shown to increase the risk of crashes. Adolescent, inexperienced drivers, who have the greatest prevalence of texting while driving, are at a particularly higher risk of crashes because of distraction. Members of the Injury Control Violence Prevention Committee of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma performed a PubMed search of articles related to distracted driving and cell phone use as a distractor of driving between 2000 and 2013. A total of 19 articles were found to merit inclusion as evidence in the evidence-based review. These articles provided evidence regarding the relationship between distracted driving and crashes, cell phone use contributing to automobile accidents, and/or the relationship between driver experience and automobile accidents. (Adjust methods/results sections to the number of articles that correctly corresponds to the number of references, as well as the methodology for reference inclusion.) Based on the evidence reviewed, we can recommend the following. All drivers should minimize all in-vehicle distractions while on the road. All drivers should not text or use any touch messaging system (including the use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter) while driving. Younger, inexperienced drivers should especially not use cell phones, texting, or any touch messaging system while driving because they pose an increased risk for death and injury caused by distractions while driving.

A learning-based autonomous driver: emulate human driver's intelligence in low-speed car following

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Wei, Junqing; Dolan, John M.; Litkouhi, Bakhtiar

2010-04-01

In this paper, an offline learning mechanism based on the genetic algorithm is proposed for autonomous vehicles to emulate human driver behaviors. The autonomous driving ability is implemented based on a Prediction- and Cost function-Based algorithm (PCB). PCB is designed to emulate a human driver's decision process, which is modeled as traffic scenario prediction and evaluation. This paper focuses on using a learning algorithm to optimize PCB with very limited training data, so that PCB can have the ability to predict and evaluate traffic scenarios similarly to human drivers. 80 seconds of human driving data was collected in low-speed (car-following scenarios. In the low-speed car-following tests, PCB was able to perform more human-like carfollowing after learning. A more general 120 kilometer-long simulation showed that PCB performs robustly even in scenarios that are not part of the training set.

An Evolutionary Approach to Driving Tendency Recognition for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

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Lee Jong-Hyun

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Driving tendency recognition is important for constructing Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS. However, it had not been a lot of research using vehicle sensing data, due to the high difficulty to define it. In this paper, we attempt to improve the learning capability of a machine learning method using evolutionary computation. We propose a driving tendency recognition method, with consideration of data characteristics. Comparison of our classification system with conventional methods demonstrated the effectiveness and accuracy over 92% in our system. Our proposed evolutionary approach is confirmed that improve the classification accuracy of the learning method through evolution in the experiment.

Intersection assistance : A safe solution for older drivers?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dotzauer, Mandy; Caljouw, Simone R.; de Waard, Dick; Brouwer, Wiebo H.

2013-01-01

Within the next few decades, the number of older drivers operating a vehicle will increase rapidly (Eurostat, 2011). As age increases so does physical vulnerability, age-related impairments, and the risk of being involved in a fatal crashes. Older drivers experience problems in driving situations

Brakes, brake control and driver assistance systems function, regulation and components

CERN Document Server

2014-01-01

Braking systems have been continuously developed and improved throughout the last years. Major milestones were the introduction of antilock braking system (ABS) and electronic stability program. This reference book provides a detailed description of braking components and how they interact in electronic braking systems. Contents Motor vehicle safety.- Basic principles of vehicle dynamics.- Car braking systems.- Car braking-system components.- Wheel brakes.- Antilock breaking systems.- Traction control system.- Electronic stability program.- Automatic brake functions.- Hydraulic modulator.- Sensors for brake control.- Sensotronic brake control.- Active steering.- Occupant protection systems.- Driver assistance systems.- Adaptive cruise control.- Parking systems.- Instrumentation.- Orientation methods.- Navigation systems.- Workshop technology. The target groups Motor-vehicle technicians in education and vocational training Master-mechanics and technicians in garage-workshops Teachers and lecturers in vocation...

An Agent-Based Intervention to Assist Drivers Under Stereotype Threat: Effects of In-Vehicle Agents' Attributional Error Feedback.

Science.gov (United States)

Joo, Yeon Kyoung; Lee-Won, Roselyn J

2016-10-01

For members of a group negatively stereotyped in a domain, making mistakes can aggravate the influence of stereotype threat because negative stereotypes often blame target individuals and attribute the outcome to their lack of ability. Virtual agents offering real-time error feedback may influence performance under stereotype threat by shaping the performers' attributional perception of errors they commit. We explored this possibility with female drivers, considering the prevalence of the "women-are-bad-drivers" stereotype. Specifically, we investigated how in-vehicle voice agents offering error feedback based on responsibility attribution (internal vs. external) and outcome attribution (ability vs. effort) influence female drivers' performance under stereotype threat. In addressing this question, we conducted an experiment in a virtual driving simulation environment that provided moment-to-moment error feedback messages. Participants performed a challenging driving task and made mistakes preprogrammed to occur. Results showed that the agent's error feedback with outcome attribution moderated the stereotype threat effect on driving performance. Participants under stereotype threat had a smaller number of collisions when the errors were attributed to effort than to ability. In addition, outcome attribution feedback moderated the effect of responsibility attribution on driving performance. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Older drivers and ADAS : which systems improve road safety?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Davidse, R.J.

2006-01-01

In the coming decades, the number of older drivers that experiences difficulties in traffic as a result of functional limitations will strongly increase. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) could resolve some of these difficulties, by providing personal assistance in a road environment that

An investigation on motor-driven power steering-based crosswind disturbance compensation for the reduction of driver steering effort

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Kim, Kyuwon; Kim, Boemjun; Go, Youngil; Park, Jaeyong; Park, Joonhong; Suh, Insoo; Yi, Kyongsu

2014-07-01

This paper describes a lateral disturbance compensation algorithm for an application to a motor-driven power steering (MDPS)-based driver assistant system. The lateral disturbance including wind force and lateral load transfer by bank angle reduces the driver's steering refinement and at the same time increases the possibility of an accident. A lateral disturbance compensation algorithm is designed to determine the motor overlay torque of an MDPS system for reducing the manoeuvreing effort of a human driver under lateral disturbance. Motor overlay torque for the compensation of driver's steering torque induced by the lateral disturbance consists of human torque feedback and feedforward torque. Vehicle-driver system dynamics have been investigated using a combined dynamic model which consists of a vehicle dynamic model, driver steering dynamic model and lateral disturbance model. The human torque feedback input has been designed via the investigation of the vehicle-driver system dynamics. Feedforward input torque is calculated to compensate additional tyre self-aligning torque from an estimated lateral disturbance. The proposed compensation algorithm has been implemented on a developed driver model which represents the driver's manoeuvreing characteristics under the lateral disturbance. The developed driver model has been validated with test data via a driving simulator in a crosswind condition. Human-in-the-loop simulations with a full-scale driving simulator on a virtual test track have been conducted to investigate the real-time performance of the proposed lateral disturbance compensation algorithm. It has been shown from simulation studies and human-in-the-loop simulation results that the driver's manoeuvreing effort and a lateral deviation of the vehicle under the lateral disturbance can be significantly reduced via the lateral disturbance compensation algorithm.

What the drivers do and do not tell you: using verbal protocol analysis to investigate driver behaviour in emergency situations.

Science.gov (United States)

Banks, Victoria A; Stanton, Neville A; Harvey, Catherine

2014-01-01

Although task analysis of pedestrian detection can provide us with useful insights into how a driver may behave in emergency situations, the cognitive elements of driver decision-making are less well understood. To assist in the design of future Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, such as Autonomous Emergency Brake systems, it is essential that the cognitive elements of the driving task are better understood. This paper uses verbal protocol analysis in an exploratory fashion to uncover the thought processes underlying behavioural outcomes represented by hard data collected using the Southampton University Driving Simulator.

Real-time driver fatigue detection based on face alignment

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Huanhuan; Zhang, Guiying; Zhao, Yong; Zhou, Yi

2017-07-01

The performance and robustness of fatigue detection largely decrease if the driver with glasses. To address this issue, this paper proposes a practical driver fatigue detection method based on face alignment at 3000 FPS algorithm. Firstly, the eye regions of the driver are localized by exploiting 6 landmarks surrounding each eye. Secondly, the HOG features of the extracted eye regions are calculated and put into SVM classifier to recognize the eye state. Finally, the value of PERCLOS is calculated to determine whether the driver is drowsy or not. An alarm will be generated if the eye is closed for a specified period of time. The accuracy and real-time on testing videos with different drivers demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is robust and obtain better accuracy for driver fatigue detection compared with some previous method.

What if it Suddenly Fails? Behavioral Aspects of Advanced Driver Assistant Systems on the Example of Local Danger Alerts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mahr, Angela; Cao, Y.; Theune, Mariet; Dimitrova-Krause, Veronika; Schwartz, Tim; Müller, Christian; Coelho, Helder; Studer, Rudi; Wooldridge, Michael

2010-01-01

Many researchers argue, in assessing the benefits of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) it has to be taken into account that any gains in terms of security may be again reduced by the fact they affect the drivers’ behavior. In this paper, we present results of a driving simulation study in

Guaranteed safety information for rising traffic safety at roads main junctions using infrastructure-aided driver-assistance systems; Sichere Information durch infrastrukturgestuetzte Fahrerassistenzsysteme zur Steigerung der Verkehrssicherheit an Strassenknotenpunkten

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiltschko, T.

2004-07-01

Progress of development of driver assistance systems have more and more lead to systems assisting the driver on guidance level. These systems allow direct or indirect driving process contact thus being safety relevant vehicle systems, and their operation requires high safety and reliability standards. To realize the necessary driver assistance, complete collection and interpretation of traffic actions are required and a number of information and information sources has to be integrated, especially in case of traffic situations at junctions in urban areas. The requirements, however, cannot only be reduced to technical reliability of the system and system components but have also to be extended to the information in- and output thus guaranteeing safe operation. This information has to reach the required quality thus avoiding any hazards during the complete time of information use. It is evident that none of the existing models and methods allow a uniform description of information quality of driver assistance systems. The thesis shows a quality concept for description and evaluation of information quality within information processing systems. The quality concept consists of a quality model and an analysing procedure. The quality model is the basis of the quality concept. All types of information are described by a fixed set of quality characteristic, and suitable parameters are used for concretion and quantification. (orig.)

Injury mitigation estimates for an intersection driver assistance system in straight crossing path crashes in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Scanlon, John M; Sherony, Rini; Gabler, Hampton C

2017-05-29

Accounting for one fifth of all crashes and one sixth of all fatal crashes in the United States, intersection crashes are among the most frequent and fatal crash modes. Intersection advanced driver assistance systems (I-ADAS) are emerging vehicle-based active safety systems that aim to help drivers safely navigate intersections. The objective of this study was to estimate the number of crashes and number of vehicles with a seriously injured driver (Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale [MAIS] 3+) that could be prevented or reduced if, for every straight crossing path (SCP) intersection crash, one of the vehicles had been equipped with an I-ADAS. This study retrospectively simulated 448 U.S. SCP crashes as if one of the vehicles had been equipped with I-ADAS. Crashes were reconstructed to determine the path and speeds traveled by the vehicles. Cases were then simulated with I-ADAS. A total of 30 variations of I-ADAS were considered in this study. These variations consisted of 5 separate activation timing thresholds, 3 separate computational latency times, and 2 different I-ADAS response modalities (i.e., a warning or autonomous braking). The likelihood of a serious driver injury was computed for every vehicle in every crash using impact delta-V. The results were then compiled across all crashes in order to estimate system effectiveness. The model predicted that an I-ADAS that delivers an alert to the driver has the potential to prevent 0-23% of SCP crashes and 0-25% of vehicles with a seriously injured driver. Conversely, an I-ADAS that autonomously brakes was found to have the potential to prevent 25-59% of crashes and 38-79% of vehicles with a seriously injured driver. I-ADAS effectiveness is a strong function of design. Increasing computational latency time from 0 to 0.5 s was found to reduce crash and injury prevention estimates by approximately one third. For an I-ADAS that delivers an alert, crash/injury prevention effectiveness was found to be very sensitive to

Driver's mental workload prediction model based on physiological indices.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Shengyuan; Tran, Cong Chi; Wei, Yingying; Habiyaremye, Jean Luc

2017-09-15

Developing an early warning model to predict the driver's mental workload (MWL) is critical and helpful, especially for new or less experienced drivers. The present study aims to investigate the correlation between new drivers' MWL and their work performance, regarding the number of errors. Additionally, the group method of data handling is used to establish the driver's MWL predictive model based on subjective rating (NASA task load index [NASA-TLX]) and six physiological indices. The results indicate that the NASA-TLX and the number of errors are positively correlated, and the predictive model shows the validity of the proposed model with an R 2 value of 0.745. The proposed model is expected to provide a reference value for the new drivers of their MWL by providing the physiological indices, and the driving lesson plans can be proposed to sustain an appropriate MWL as well as improve the driver's work performance.

Detecting Driver Drowsiness Based on Sensors: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kenneth Sundaraj

2012-12-01

Full Text Available In recent years, driver drowsiness has been one of the major causes of road accidents and can lead to severe physical injuries, deaths and significant economic losses. Statistics indicate the need of a reliable driver drowsiness detection system which could alert the driver before a mishap happens. Researchers have attempted to determine driver drowsiness using the following measures: (1 vehicle-based measures; (2 behavioral measures and (3 physiological measures. A detailed review on these measures will provide insight on the present systems, issues associated with them and the enhancements that need to be done to make a robust system. In this paper, we review these three measures as to the sensors used and discuss the advantages and limitations of each. The various ways through which drowsiness has been experimentally manipulated is also discussed. We conclude that by designing a hybrid drowsiness detection system that combines non-intusive physiological measures with other measures one would accurately determine the drowsiness level of a driver. A number of road accidents might then be avoided if an alert is sent to a driver that is deemed drowsy.

Microcontroller based driver alertness detection systems to detect drowsiness

Science.gov (United States)

Adenin, Hasibah; Zahari, Rahimi; Lim, Tiong Hoo

2018-04-01

The advancement of embedded system for detecting and preventing drowsiness in a vehicle is a major challenge for road traffic accident systems. To prevent drowsiness while driving, it is necessary to have an alert system that can detect a decline in driver concentration and send a signal to the driver. Studies have shown that traffc accidents usually occur when the driver is distracted while driving. In this paper, we have reviewed a number of detection systems to monitor the concentration of a car driver and propose a portable Driver Alertness Detection System (DADS) to determine the level of concentration of the driver based on pixelated coloration detection technique using facial recognition. A portable camera will be placed at the front visor to capture facial expression and the eye activities. We evaluate DADS using 26 participants and have achieved 100% detection rate with good lighting condition and a low detection rate at night.

A Novel GMM-Based Behavioral Modeling Approach for Smartwatch-Based Driver Authentication.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Ching-Han; Chang, Chin-Chun; Liang, Deron

2018-03-28

All drivers have their own distinct driving habits, and usually hold and operate the steering wheel differently in different driving scenarios. In this study, we proposed a novel Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based method that can improve the traditional GMM in modeling driving behavior. This new method can be applied to build a better driver authentication system based on the accelerometer and orientation sensor of a smartwatch. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method, we created an experimental system that analyzes driving behavior using the built-in sensors of a smartwatch. The experimental results for driver authentication-an equal error rate (EER) of 4.62% in the simulated environment and an EER of 7.86% in the real-traffic environment-confirm the feasibility of this approach.

Factors Contributing to Crashes among Young Drivers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lyndel J. Bates

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Young drivers are the group of drivers most likely to crash. There are a number of factors that contribute to the high crash risk experienced by these drivers. While some of these factors are intrinsic to the young driver, such as their age, gender or driving skill, others relate to social factors and when and how often they drive. This article reviews the factors that affect the risk of young drivers crashing to enable a fuller understanding of why this risk is so high in order to assist in developing effective countermeasures.

Survey of pedestrian detection for advanced driver assistance systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerónimo, David; López, Antonio M; Sappa, Angel D; Graf, Thorsten

2010-07-01

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs), and particularly pedestrian protection systems (PPSs), have become an active research area aimed at improving traffic safety. The major challenge of PPSs is the development of reliable on-board pedestrian detection systems. Due to the varying appearance of pedestrians (e.g., different clothes, changing size, aspect ratio, and dynamic shape) and the unstructured environment, it is very difficult to cope with the demanded robustness of this kind of system. Two problems arising in this research area are the lack of public benchmarks and the difficulty in reproducing many of the proposed methods, which makes it difficult to compare the approaches. As a result, surveying the literature by enumerating the proposals one--after-another is not the most useful way to provide a comparative point of view. Accordingly, we present a more convenient strategy to survey the different approaches. We divide the problem of detecting pedestrians from images into different processing steps, each with attached responsibilities. Then, the different proposed methods are analyzed and classified with respect to each processing stage, favoring a comparative viewpoint. Finally, discussion of the important topics is presented, putting special emphasis on the future needs and challenges.

Simulator to evaluate and optimise driver assistance systems; Ein Simulator zur Bewertung und Optimierung von Fahrerassistenzsystemen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Locher, J. [Hella KG Hueck and Co., Paderborn (Germany); Kleinkes, M. [Hella KG Hueck and Co., Lippstadt (Germany)

2003-07-01

For a short time now, the L-LAB (Light-LABoratory), a joint research facility of Hella KG and the University of Paderborn, has had a simulator available which allows the evaluation of driver assistance systems and the optimisation of man-machine interfaces. It is an interactive night driver simulator, which can be used to visualise any type of headlamp beam pattern true to the original. A Smart is used as the input medium; image projection is via a 3-channel high-performance beamer projection system onto large screens. Alongside synthetic roads, there is also a digitalised course available, approx. 10 km long, the original of which is actually used by Hella as a proving ground. Road safety indicators can be recorded directly and indirectly. For example, obstacles which suddenly appear force drivers to apply the brakes. The stopping distance required can be interpreted as a direct indicator for safety. In addition, an eye tracking system is used to record the eye movements of the test subjects, which allows additional road safety indicators to be derived. Comparative investigations between the digitalised proving ground and reality allow validation of the simulator. This year, a comprehensive study will be made to optimise the man-machine interface in connection with infrared vision systems in vehicles. The advantages of simulation are not only in the economical implementation possibilities and control of the variables, but also the fact that properties of driver assistance systems can be evaluated which are not even technically possible yet in reality. The use of the simulator developed here is not limited to tests connected with the visibility of obstacles, however. Rather, it allows the investigation and evaluation of a large range of potential driver assistance systems. (orig.) [German] Dem L-LAB (Light-LABoratory), einer gemeinsamen Forschungseinrichtung der Universitaet Paderborn und der Firma Hella KG in Lippstadt, steht seit kurzer Zeit ein Simulator zur

Modeling of driver's collision avoidance maneuver based on controller switching model.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jong-Hae; Hayakawa, Soichiro; Suzuki, Tatsuya; Hayashi, Koji; Okuma, Shigeru; Tsuchida, Nuio; Shimizu, Masayuki; Kido, Shigeyuki

2005-12-01

This paper presents a modeling strategy of human driving behavior based on the controller switching model focusing on the driver's collision avoidance maneuver. The driving data are collected by using the three-dimensional (3-D) driving simulator based on the CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE), which provides stereoscopic immersive virtual environment. In our modeling, the control scenario of the human driver, that is, the mapping from the driver's sensory information to the operation of the driver such as acceleration, braking, and steering, is expressed by Piecewise Polynomial (PWP) model. Since the PWP model includes both continuous behaviors given by polynomials and discrete logical conditions, it can be regarded as a class of Hybrid Dynamical System (HDS). The identification problem for the PWP model is formulated as the Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) by transforming the switching conditions into binary variables. From the obtained results, it is found that the driver appropriately switches the "control law" according to the sensory information. In addition, the driving characteristics of the beginner driver and the expert driver are compared and discussed. These results enable us to capture not only the physical meaning of the driving skill but the decision-making aspect (switching conditions) in the driver's collision avoidance maneuver as well.

Predicting crash-relevant violations at stop sign-controlled intersections for the development of an intersection driver assistance system.

Science.gov (United States)

Scanlon, John M; Sherony, Rini; Gabler, Hampton C

2016-09-01

Intersection crashes resulted in over 5,000 fatalities in the United States in 2014. Intersection Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (I-ADAS) are active safety systems that seek to help drivers safely traverse intersections. I-ADAS uses onboard sensors to detect oncoming vehicles and, in the event of an imminent crash, can either alert the driver or take autonomous evasive action. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a predictive model for detecting whether a stop sign violation was imminent. Passenger vehicle intersection approaches were extracted from a data set of typical driver behavior (100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study) and violations (event data recorders downloaded from real-world crashes) and were assigned weighting factors based on real-world frequency. A k-fold cross-validation procedure was then used to develop and evaluate 3 hypothetical stop sign warning algorithms (i.e., early, intermediate, and delayed) for detecting an impending violation during the intersection approach. Violation detection models were developed using logistic regression models that evaluate likelihood of a violation at various locations along the intersection approach. Two potential indicators of driver intent to stop-that is, required deceleration parameter (RDP) and brake application-were used to develop the predictive models. The earliest violation detection opportunity was then evaluated for each detection algorithm in order to (1) evaluate the violation detection accuracy and (2) compare braking demand versus maximum braking capabilities. A total of 38 violating and 658 nonviolating approaches were used in the analysis. All 3 algorithms were able to detect a violation at some point during the intersection approach. The early detection algorithm, as designed, was able to detect violations earlier than all other algorithms during the intersection approach but gave false alarms for 22.3% of approaches. In contrast, the delayed detection algorithm sacrificed

Testing advanced driver assistance systems with the interactive driving simulator; Erprobung von Fahrerassistenzsystemen mit dem Interactive Driving Simulator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Friedrichs, A.; Grosse-Kappenberg, S.; Happe, J. [Zentrum fuer Lern- und Wissensmanagement und Lehrstuhl Informatik im Maschinenbau ZLW/IMA der RWTH Aachen (Germany)

2005-07-01

The Centre for Learning and Knowledge Management and Department of Computer Science in Engineering of the Technical University Aachen has developed a truck driving simulator which combines a driving simulation as well as traffic flow calculations to the interactive Driving Simulator (InDriveS). In real-time the effects of the driver's behaviour on the surrounding traffic are considered and vice versa. The integrative part of InDriveS is a software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop development environment. By means of this tool, all phases of development (Analysis, Design, Modelling, Simulation, Implementation as well as Testing and Evaluation) of new vehicle technologies, e.g. Information and Assistance Systems, can be realised in consideration of the road traffic and the driver's behaviour. (orig.)

SPADAS: a high-speed 3D single-photon camera for advanced driver assistance systems

Science.gov (United States)

Bronzi, D.; Zou, Y.; Bellisai, S.; Villa, F.; Tisa, S.; Tosi, A.; Zappa, F.

2015-02-01

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are the most advanced technologies to fight road accidents. Within ADAS, an important role is played by radar- and lidar-based sensors, which are mostly employed for collision avoidance and adaptive cruise control. Nonetheless, they have a narrow field-of-view and a limited ability to detect and differentiate objects. Standard camera-based technologies (e.g. stereovision) could balance these weaknesses, but they are currently not able to fulfill all automotive requirements (distance range, accuracy, acquisition speed, and frame-rate). To this purpose, we developed an automotive-oriented CMOS single-photon camera for optical 3D ranging based on indirect time-of-flight (iTOF) measurements. Imagers based on Single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) arrays offer higher sensitivity with respect to CCD/CMOS rangefinders, have inherent better time resolution, higher accuracy and better linearity. Moreover, iTOF requires neither high bandwidth electronics nor short-pulsed lasers, hence allowing the development of cost-effective systems. The CMOS SPAD sensor is based on 64 × 32 pixels, each able to process both 2D intensity-data and 3D depth-ranging information, with background suppression. Pixel-level memories allow fully parallel imaging and prevents motion artefacts (skew, wobble, motion blur) and partial exposure effects, which otherwise would hinder the detection of fast moving objects. The camera is housed in an aluminum case supporting a 12 mm F/1.4 C-mount imaging lens, with a 40°×20° field-of-view. The whole system is very rugged and compact and a perfect solution for vehicle's cockpit, with dimensions of 80 mm × 45 mm × 70 mm, and less that 1 W consumption. To provide the required optical power (1.5 W, eye safe) and to allow fast (up to 25 MHz) modulation of the active illumination, we developed a modular laser source, based on five laser driver cards, with three 808 nm lasers each. We present the full characterization of

Steering disturbance rejection using a physics-based neuromusculoskeletal driver model

Science.gov (United States)

Mehrabi, Naser; Sharif Razavian, Reza; McPhee, John

2015-10-01

The aim of this work is to develop a comprehensive yet practical driver model to be used in studying driver-vehicle interactions. Drivers interact with their vehicle and the road through the steering wheel. This interaction forms a closed-loop coupled human-machine system, which influences the driver's steering feel and control performance. A hierarchical approach is proposed here to capture the complexity of the driver's neuromuscular dynamics and the central nervous system in the coordination of the driver's upper extremity activities, especially in the presence of external disturbance. The proposed motor control framework has three layers: the first (or the path planning) plans a desired vehicle trajectory and the required steering angles to perform the desired trajectory; the second (or the musculoskeletal controller) actuates the musculoskeletal arm to rotate the steering wheel accordingly; and the final layer ensures the precision control and disturbance rejection of the motor control units. The physics-based driver model presented here can also provide insights into vehicle control in relaxed and tensed driving conditions, which are simulated by adjusting the driver model parameters such as cognition delay and muscle co-contraction dynamics.

DRIVER: Building a Sustainable Infrastructure of European Scientific Repositories

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2007-01-01

The acronym DRIVER stands for “Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for European Research”. Ten partners from eight countries have entered into an international partnership, to connect and network as a first step more than 50 physically distributed institutional repositories to one, large-scale, virtual Knowledge Base of European research. Universities and research organisations around the world currently build repositories, whose overall number is estimated to exceed 600 by far. As the academic information landscape is already highly fragmented, DRIVER is the trans-national catalyst to overcome local, isolated efforts and to stop fragmentation by offering one harmonised, virtual knowledge resource. DRIVER currently builds a production quality test-bed to assist the development of a knowledge infrastructure across Europe. DRIVER as a project, funded by the “Research Infrastructure” unit of the European Commission, is also preparing for the future expansion and upgrade of the Digital Repository in...

DRIVER Building a Sustainable Infrastructure of European Scientific Repositories

CERN Document Server

CERN. Geneva; Hagemann, Melissa

2007-01-01

The acronym DRIVER stands for “Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for European Research”. Ten partners from eight countries have entered into an international partnership, to connect and network as a first step more than 50 physically distributed institutional repositories to one, large-scale, virtual Knowledge Base of European research. Universities and research organisations around the world currently build repositories, whose overall number is estimated to exceed 600 by far. As the academic information landscape is already highly fragmented, DRIVER is the trans-national catalyst to overcome local, isolated efforts and to stop fragmentation by offering one harmonised, virtual knowledge resource. DRIVER currently builds a production quality test-bed to assist the development of a knowledge infrastructure across Europe. DRIVER as a project, funded by the “Research Infrastructure” unit of the European Commission, is also preparing for the future expansion and upgrade of the Digital Repository inf...

Microprocessor-based stepping motor driver

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halbig, J.K.; Klosterbuer, S.F.

1979-09-01

The Pion Generation for Medical Irradiations (PIGMI) program at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory requires a versatile stepping motor driver to do beam diagnostic measurements. A driver controlled by a microprocessor that can move eight stepping motors simultaneously was designed. The driver can monitor and respond to clockwise- and counterclockwise-limit switches, and it can monitor a 0- to 10-V dc position signal. The software controls start and stop ramping and maximum stepping rates. 2 figures, 1 table

Driver assistance - Firstly a contribution to primary safety or rather to comfort?; Fahrerassistenz primaer zum Komfort oder fuer die Sicherheit?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bubb, H. [TU Muenchen, Garching (Germany). Lehrstuhl fuer Ergonomie

2003-07-01

Doubtless assistance systems should contribute to the safety of car driving. They support simultaneously a comfortable use of the car. Especially the operation comfort is characterised by clarity, self explaining, robustness against errors, and so on. Operation comfort doesn't give an inessential contribution to a reliable and appropriate interaction between driver and vehicle that means also a contribution to a reliable function of the total system and thereby to safety. Therefore the subjective experience of assistance systems is of excellent importance with view on the subjective and public confidence in new assistance systems. Are they seen rather as a gain of comfort, as it is preferred by the producer by reasons of production related liability, or as an easing of the driver's behaviour providing safety? Consists in the last called tendency a new kind of danger? In this connection juristic problems may not be unmentioned. The driver may not or not completely be called to account for procedures on which he has no influence or thinks to have no influence. In this case the account for the not compensated damage is contributed to the producer of the system. Therefore, by considering human characteristics and abilities of the driver during the development of assistance systems unwanted juristic consequences should be prevented. (orig.) [German] Assitenzsysteme sollen zweifellos einen Beitrag fuer die Sicherheit des Autofahrers liefern. Zugleich dienen sie aber auch fuer eine komfortable Nutzung des Fahrzeugs. Speziell der Bedienkomfort ist durch leichte Verstaendlichkeit, Selbsterklaerbarkeit, Fehlerrobustheit u.ae. charakterisiert. Durch ihn wird ein nicht unwesentlicher Beitrag zur sicheren und zweckdienlichen Interaktion zwischen Fahrer und Fahrzeug geleistet, also auch ein Beitrag fuer die zuverlaessige Funktion des Systems und damit fuer die Sicherheit. Von herausragender Bedeutung insbesondere im Hinblick auf das subjektive und das oeffentliche

Implementation Of CAN Based Intelligent Driver Alert System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yin Mar Win Kyaw Myo Maung Maung

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This system is an attempt to analyze Intelligent Driver Alert System Using CAN Protocol. CAN Controller Area Network offer an efficient communication protocol among sensors actuators controllers and other nodes in real-time applications and is known for its simplicity reliability and high performance. It has given an effective way by which can increase the car and driver safety. This system presents the development and implementation of a digital driving system for a semi-autonomous vehicle to improve the driver-vehicle interface using microcontroller based data acquisition system that uses ADC to bring all control data from analog to digital format. In this system the signal information like temperature LM35 sensor if the temperature increase above the 60 o C and ultrasonic sensor is adapted to measure the distance between the object and vehicle if obstacle is detected within 75cm from the vehicle the controller gives buzzer to the driver speed measure using RPM sensor if revolution increase up to 1200 per minute controller act and to avoid the maximum revolution and to check the fuel level continuously and display in the percentage if fuel level below 20 percent the controller also gives buzzer to the driver and distance fuel level and temperature continuously display on the LCD.

Driver Drowsiness Warning System Using Visual Information for Both Diurnal and Nocturnal Illumination Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flores MarcoJavier

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Every year, traffic accidents due to human errors cause increasing amounts of deaths and injuries globally. To help reduce the amount of fatalities, in the paper presented here, a new module for Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS which deals with automatic driver drowsiness detection based on visual information and Artificial Intelligence is presented. The aim of this system is to locate, track, and analyze both the drivers face and eyes to compute a drowsiness index, where this real-time system works under varying light conditions (diurnal and nocturnal driving. Examples of different images of drivers taken in a real vehicle are shown to validate the algorithms used.

Reliability prediction for the vehicles equipped with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS and passive safety systems (PSS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Balbir S. Dhillon

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The human error has been reported as a major root cause in road accidents in today’s world. The human as a driver in road vehicles composed of human, mechanical and electrical components is constantly exposed to changing surroundings (e.g., road conditions, environmentwhich deteriorate the driver’s capacities leading to a potential accident. The auto industries and transportation authorities have realized that similar to other complex and safety sensitive transportation systems, the road vehicles need to rely on both advanced technologies (i.e., Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS and Passive Safety Systems (PSS (e.g.,, seatbelts, airbags in order to mitigate the risk of accidents and casualties. In this study, the advantages and disadvantages of ADAS as active safety systems as well as passive safety systems in road vehicles have been discussed. Also, this study proposes models that analyze the interactions between human as a driver and ADAS Warning and Crash Avoidance Systems and PSS in the design of vehicles. Thereafter, the mathematical models have been developed to make reliability prediction at any given time on the road transportation for vehicles equipped with ADAS and PSS. Finally, the implications of this study in the improvement of vehicle designs and prevention of casualties are discussed.

The driver's role in the development of new infotainment- and driver-assistance systems in the car; Die Rolle des Fahrers bei der Entwicklung neuer Infotainment- und Fahrerassistenzsysteme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Christ, S.; Bauer, A. [Spiegel Institut Mannheim, Bruehl (Germany)

2003-07-01

In the following contribution we will stress the importance of including the driver in the development of new Infotainment- and Driver-Assistance Systems. The necessity to do so derives from ever increasing complexity of above systems as well as from growing cost pressure in the automotive industry. Furthermore, we will point out several possibilities including the driver in the development of above systems and illustrate them by practical examples. Finally, we will present methods with the help of which potential users can test future technology at an early design stage, where the engineer still disposes of a wide scope of design possibilities. (orig.) [German] Im folgenden Beitrag soll die Wichtigkeit der Einbeziehung des Fahrers in den Entwicklungsprozess neuer Infotainment- und Fahrerassistenzsysteme dargelegt und begruendet werden. Die Notwendigkeit hierzu leitet sich sowohl aus der zunehmenden Komplexitaet der Systeme sowie dem gewachsenen Kostendruck in der Automobilindustrie ab. Weiter werden unterschiedliche Moeglichkeiten der Integration des Fahrers in den Entwicklungsprozess vorgestellt und durch Fallbeispiele aus der Praxis verdeutlicht. Im letzten Teil werden Verfahren aufgezeigt, mit deren Hilfe zukuenftige Technik von potenziellen Nutzern zu einem Zeitpunkt getestet werden kann, zu dem der Entwickler noch weiten Gestaltungsspielraum besitzt. (orig.)

A predictive control framework for torque-based steering assistance to improve safety in highway driving

Science.gov (United States)

Ercan, Ziya; Carvalho, Ashwin; Tseng, H. Eric; Gökaşan, Metin; Borrelli, Francesco

2018-05-01

Haptic shared control framework opens up new perspectives on the design and implementation of the driver steering assistance systems which provide torque feedback to the driver in order to improve safety. While designing such a system, it is important to account for the human-machine interactions since the driver feels the feedback torque through the hand wheel. The controller should consider the driver's impact on the steering dynamics to achieve a better performance in terms of driver's acceptance and comfort. In this paper we present a predictive control framework which uses a model of driver-in-the-loop steering dynamics to optimise the torque intervention with respect to the driver's neuromuscular response. We first validate the system in simulations to compare the performance of the controller in nominal and model mismatch cases. Then we implement the controller in a test vehicle and perform experiments with a human driver. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed system in avoiding hazardous situations under different driver behaviours.

Combining Front Vehicle Detection with 3D Pose Estimation for a Better Driver Assistance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Peng

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Driver assistant systems enhance traffic safety and efficiency. The accurate 3D pose of a front vehicle can help a driver to make the right decision on the road. We propose a novel real-time system to estimate the 3D pose of the front vehicle. This system consists of two parallel threads: vehicle rear tracking and mapping. The vehicle rear is first identified in the video captured by an onboard camera, after license plate localization and foreground extraction. The 3D pose estimation technique is then employed with respect to the extracted vehicle rear. Most current 3D pose estimation techniques need prior models or a stereo initialization with user cooperation. It is extremely difficult to obtain prior models due to the varying appearance of vehicles' rears. Moreover, it is unsafe to ask for drivers' cooperation when a vehicle is running. In our system, two initial keyframes for stereo algorithms are automatically extracted by vehicle rear detection and tracking. Map points are defined as a collection of point features extracted from the vehicle's rear with their 3D information. These map points are inferences that relate the 2D features detected in following vehicles' rears with the 3D world. The relative 3D pose of the onboard camera to the front vehicle rear is then estimated through matching the map points with point features detected on the front vehicle rear. We demonstrate the capabilities of our system by testing on real-time and synthesized videos. In order to make the experimental analysis visible, we demonstrated an estimated 3D pose through augmented reality, which needs accurate and real-time 3D pose estimation.

Driving Simulator Based Interactive Experiments : Understanding Driver Behavior, Cognition and Technology Uptake under Information and Communication Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-31

Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) and in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) are becoming an integral part of the current driving experience. Although information through in-vehicle technologies provides assistance to drivers with diverse t...

Driver's various information process and multi-ruled decision-making mechanism: a fundamental of intelligent driving shaping model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wuhong Wang

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The most difficult but important problem in advance driver assistance system development is how to measure and model the behavioral response of drivers with focusing on the cognition process. This paper describes driver's deceleration and acceleration behavior based on driving situation awareness in the car-following process, and then presents several driving models for analysis of driver's safety approaching behavior in traffic operation. The emphasis of our work is placed on the research of driver's various information process and multi-ruled decisionmaking mechanism by considering the complicated control process of driving; the results will be able to provide a theoretical basis for intelligent driving shaping model.

ADVANCED DRIVER SAFETY SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR THE URBAN TYPE VEHICLE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katarzyna JEZIERSKA-KRUPA

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Smart Power Team is currently working on the design of an urban electric vehicle designed to compete in the Shell Eco-marathon. One important aspect of this type of vehicle characteristics is it safety. The project of advanced driver assistance systems has included some proposals of such systems and the concept of their execution. The first concept, BLIS (Blind Spot Information System, is to build a system of informing a driver about vehicles appearing in the blind spot. The system constitutes a second concept, CDIS (Collision Detection and Information System, and it is designed to detect a vehicle collision and inform the team. Further systems are: DPMS (Dew Point Measurement System - a system which does not allow a situation, where the windows are fogged, OHRS (Overtaking Horn Reminder System - a system which checks overtaking and MSS (main supervision system - a supervisory system. These concepts are based on the assumption of the use of laser sensors, photoelectric, humidity and temperature, and other commercially available systems. The article presents a detailed description of driver assistance systems and virtual prototyping methodology for these systems, as well as the numerical results of the verification of one of the systems.

Analyzing Drivers' Attitude towards HUD System Using a Stated Preference Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongwei Guo

2014-02-01

Full Text Available It is very important for drivers to obtain driving information easily and efficiently. There are many advanced devices used for driving safety assistance. Of these assistance devices, the head-up display (HUD system can promote the reduction of driver's reaction time and improve spatial awareness. The drivers' attitude towards and preference for HUD system are crucial to design the functional framework and interface of HUD system. This study explored the relationships between drivers' attitude and HUD presentation image designs using stated preference data from questionnaire survey. The questionnaire included drivers' attitude towards the use of HUD and the preference for the information display zone and information display elements of the HUD. Contrastive analysis was adopted to examine the variations in drivers' attitude and preference for age and driving skills. According to the results, the participants have varying attitudes to HUD system, but most participants show relatively unified preference for the information display zone and information display elements. The results can also be used to customize a HUD presentation image which is in accordance with the drivers' feelings and preferences.

Multi-vehicle detection with identity awareness using cascade Adaboost and Adaptive Kalman filter for driver assistant system.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Baofeng; Qi, Zhiquan; Chen, Sizhong; Liu, Zhaodu; Ma, Guocheng

2017-01-01

Vision-based vehicle detection is an important issue for advanced driver assistance systems. In this paper, we presented an improved multi-vehicle detection and tracking method using cascade Adaboost and Adaptive Kalman filter(AKF) with target identity awareness. A cascade Adaboost classifier using Haar-like features was built for vehicle detection, followed by a more comprehensive verification process which could refine the vehicle hypothesis in terms of both location and dimension. In vehicle tracking, each vehicle was tracked with independent identity by an Adaptive Kalman filter in collaboration with a data association approach. The AKF adaptively adjusted the measurement and process noise covariance through on-line stochastic modelling to compensate the dynamics changes. The data association correctly assigned different detections with tracks using global nearest neighbour(GNN) algorithm while considering the local validation. During tracking, a temporal context based track management was proposed to decide whether to initiate, maintain or terminate the tracks of different objects, thus suppressing the sparse false alarms and compensating the temporary detection failures. Finally, the proposed method was tested on various challenging real roads, and the experimental results showed that the vehicle detection performance was greatly improved with higher accuracy and robustness.

Effects of in-car support on mental workload and driving performance of older drivers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Davidse, R.J.; Hagenzieker, M.; van Wolffelaar, P.C.; Brouwer, W.H.

Objective: This study examined the extent to which driving performance of 10 older (70-88 years old) and 30 younger participants (30-50 years old) improves as a result of support by a driver assistance system. Background: Various studies have indicated that advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)

The Use of Persuasive In-Car Technology to Persuade Drivers at the Tactical Level

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Gent, P.; Farah, H.; Nes, Nicole Van; van Arem, B.

2017-01-01

The use of in-car technology has become more prevalent, both as driver assistance systems as well as connectivity or entertainment systems. Driver assistance systems can be built-in, after-market or run on a smartphone. The challenge however, is to increase drivers’ compliance with these systems.

Identification of Constrained Cancer Driver Genes Based on Mutation Timing

Science.gov (United States)

Sakoparnig, Thomas; Fried, Patrick; Beerenwinkel, Niko

2015-01-01

Cancer drivers are genomic alterations that provide cells containing them with a selective advantage over their local competitors, whereas neutral passengers do not change the somatic fitness of cells. Cancer-driving mutations are usually discriminated from passenger mutations by their higher degree of recurrence in tumor samples. However, there is increasing evidence that many additional driver mutations may exist that occur at very low frequencies among tumors. This observation has prompted alternative methods for driver detection, including finding groups of mutually exclusive mutations and incorporating prior biological knowledge about gene function or network structure. Dependencies among drivers due to epistatic interactions can also result in low mutation frequencies, but this effect has been ignored in driver detection so far. Here, we present a new computational approach for identifying genomic alterations that occur at low frequencies because they depend on other events. Unlike passengers, these constrained mutations display punctuated patterns of occurrence in time. We test this driver–passenger discrimination approach based on mutation timing in extensive simulation studies, and we apply it to cross-sectional copy number alteration (CNA) data from ovarian cancer, CNA and single-nucleotide variant (SNV) data from breast tumors and SNV data from colorectal cancer. Among the top ranked predicted drivers, we find low-frequency genes that have already been shown to be involved in carcinogenesis, as well as many new candidate drivers. The mutation timing approach is orthogonal and complementary to existing driver prediction methods. It will help identifying from cancer genome data the alterations that drive tumor progression. PMID:25569148

Driver assistance system for passive multi-trailer vehicles with haptic steering limitations on the leading unit.

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, Jesús; Mandow, Anthony; Martínez, Jorge L; Reina, Antonio J; García-Cerezo, Alfonso

2013-04-03

Driving vehicles with one or more passive trailers has difficulties in both forward and backward motion due to inter-unit collisions, jackknife, and lack of visibility. Consequently, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) for multi-trailer combinations can be beneficial to accident avoidance as well as to driver comfort. The ADAS proposed in this paper aims to prevent unsafe steering commands by means of a haptic handwheel. Furthermore, when driving in reverse, the steering-wheel and pedals can be used as if the vehicle was driven from the back of the last trailer with visual aid from a rear-view camera. This solution, which can be implemented in drive-by-wire vehicles with hitch angle sensors, profits from two methods previously developed by the authors: safe steering by applying a curvature limitation to the leading unit, and a virtual tractor concept for backward motion that includes the complex case of set-point propagation through on-axle hitches. The paper addresses system requirements and provides implementation details to tele-operate two different off- and on-axle combinations of a tracked mobile robot pulling and pushing two dissimilar trailers.

Driver Assistance System for Passive Multi-Trailer Vehicles with Haptic Steering Limitations on the Leading Unit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio J. Reina

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Driving vehicles with one or more passive trailers has difficulties in both forward and backward motion due to inter-unit collisions, jackknife, and lack of visibility. Consequently, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS for multi-trailer combinations can be beneficial to accident avoidance as well as to driver comfort. The ADAS proposed in this paper aims to prevent unsafe steering commands by means of a haptic handwheel. Furthermore, when driving in reverse, the steering-wheel and pedals can be used as if the vehicle was driven from the back of the last trailer with visual aid from a rear-view camera. This solution, which can be implemented in drive-by-wire vehicles with hitch angle sensors, profits from two methods previously developed by the authors: safe steering by applying a curvature limitation to the leading unit, and a virtual tractor concept for backward motion that includes the complex case of set-point propagation through on-axle hitches. The paper addresses system requirements and provides implementation details to tele-operate two different off- and on-axle combinations of a tracked mobile robot pulling and pushing two dissimilar trailers.

The tyre - source of information for driver assistance; Der Reifen - Informationsquelle zur Fahrerassistenz

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holtschulze, J.; Goertz, H. [Inst. fuer Kraftfahrwesen, RWTH Aachen (Germany); Wunderlich, H.; Maeckle, G. [DaimlerChrysler AG, Stuttgart (Germany); Varpula, T. [VTT Automation, Espoo (Finland); Mancosu, F. [Pirelli S.p.A., Mailand (Italy)

2004-07-01

apollo is a research project funded by the European Commission under the 5th Framework Programme ''information society technologies'' (IST). The objective is to develop a prototype of an intelligent tyre. The overall goals are to increase traffic safety and enable improvements for vehicle dynamics control, advanced driver assistance systems and services for external users by providing data on the tyre and the local tyre-road contact. The basics of the tyre deformation behaviour in operation situations show possibilities which signals can be measured and how to derive a set of data for the applications. Free rolling, cornering and braking/driving have to be distinguished. Optimal sensor locations are studied and determined in order to measure deformation characteristics by different quantities such as accelerations. Acquired signals are processed using models of tyre and vehicle behaviour before they are provided to application systems. To transmit the sensor data to the vehicle controller a wireless communication and power supply system is used. (orig.)

Lorentz laser-assisted stripping (Lolas) for H-/H0 injection into proton drivers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gastaldi, Ugo

2002-01-01

We discuss the main components of schemes for Lorentz laser-assisted stripping (abbreviated Lolas henceforth) proposed for injection into proton driver accumulators: H- → H0 + e- Lorentz stripping, H0→H0(n) laser excitation, H0(n)→p+ + e- Lorentz stripping. We mention results obtained in practice of H- beam transport and storage and of experiments addressing physics of the H- ion, of the H0 atom and of vacuum, which prove the feasibility of each Lolas component. For high enough injection energies, it is feasible to split without losses the H0 beam sent towards the accumulator into a fraction stripped to p+s and stored inside the accumulator and a complementary fraction of H0s delivered to high duty-cycle users. The fraction of stored beam can exceed 50% with one single Fabry-Perot cavity used to enhance the laser power density. Aspects of Lolas integration and optimization are pointed out

Volvo and Infiniti drivers' experiences with select crash avoidance technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Braitman, Keli A; McCartt, Anne T; Zuby, David S; Singer, Jeremiah

2010-06-01

Vehicle-based crash avoidance systems can potentially reduce crashes, but success depends on driver acceptance and understanding. This study gauged driver use, experience, and acceptance among early adopters of select technologies. Telephone interviews were conducted in early 2009 with 380 owners of Volvo vehicles equipped with forward collision warning with autobrake, lane departure warning, side-view assist, and/or active bi-xenon headlights and 485 owners of Infiniti vehicles with lane departure warning/prevention. Most owners kept systems turned on most of the time, especially forward collision warning with autobrake and side-view assist. The exception was lane departure prevention; many owners were unaware they had it, and the system must be activated each time the vehicle is started. Most owners reported being safer with the technologies and would want them again on their next vehicles. Perceived false or unnecessary warnings were fairly common, particularly with side-view assist. Some systems were annoying, especially lane departure warning. Many owners reported safer driving behaviors such as greater use of turn signals (lane departure warning), increased following distance (forward collision warning), and checking side mirrors more frequently (side-view assist), but some reported driving faster at night (active headlights). Despite some unnecessary or annoying warnings, most Volvo and Infiniti owners use crash avoidance systems most of the time. Among early adopters, the first requirement of effective warning systems (that owners use the technology) seems largely met. Systems requiring activation by drivers for each trip are used less often. Owner experience with the latest technologies from other automobile manufacturers should be studied, as well as for vehicles on which technologies are standard (versus optional) equipment. The effectiveness of technologies in preventing and mitigating crashes and injuries, and user acceptance of interfaces, should be

Driver Psychology during Automated Platooning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heikoop, D.D.

2017-01-01

With the rapid increase in vehicle automation technology, the call for understanding how humans behave while driving in an automated vehicle becomes more urgent. Vehicles that have automated systems such as Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) or Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) not only support drivers in their

Multi-vehicle detection with identity awareness using cascade Adaboost and Adaptive Kalman filter for driver assistant system.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baofeng Wang

Full Text Available Vision-based vehicle detection is an important issue for advanced driver assistance systems. In this paper, we presented an improved multi-vehicle detection and tracking method using cascade Adaboost and Adaptive Kalman filter(AKF with target identity awareness. A cascade Adaboost classifier using Haar-like features was built for vehicle detection, followed by a more comprehensive verification process which could refine the vehicle hypothesis in terms of both location and dimension. In vehicle tracking, each vehicle was tracked with independent identity by an Adaptive Kalman filter in collaboration with a data association approach. The AKF adaptively adjusted the measurement and process noise covariance through on-line stochastic modelling to compensate the dynamics changes. The data association correctly assigned different detections with tracks using global nearest neighbour(GNN algorithm while considering the local validation. During tracking, a temporal context based track management was proposed to decide whether to initiate, maintain or terminate the tracks of different objects, thus suppressing the sparse false alarms and compensating the temporary detection failures. Finally, the proposed method was tested on various challenging real roads, and the experimental results showed that the vehicle detection performance was greatly improved with higher accuracy and robustness.

Behavioral adaptation of young and older drivers to an intersection crossing advisory system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dotzauer, Mandy; de Waard, Dick; Caljouw, Simone R.; Poehler, Gloria; Brouwer, Wiebo H.

An advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) provided information about the right of way regulation and safety to cross an upcoming intersection. Effects were studied in a longer-term study involving 18 healthy older drivers between the ages of 65 and 82 years and 18 healthy young drivers between the

A method to investigate drivers' acceptance of Blind Spot Detection System®.

Science.gov (United States)

Piccinini, Giuliofrancesco; Simões, Anabela; Rodrigues, Carlos Manuel; Leitão, Miguel

2012-01-01

Lately, with the goal of improving road safety, car makers developed and commercialised some Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) which, through the detection of blind spot areas on the vehicle's sides, could help the drivers during the overtaking and the change lane task. Despite the possible benefits to reduce lateral crashes, the overall impact on road safety of such systems have not been deeply studied yet; notably, despite some researches have been carried out, there is a lack of studies regarding the long-term usage and drivers' acceptance of those systems. In order to fill the research gap, a methodology, based on the combination of focus groups interviews, questionnaires and a small-scale field operational test (FOT), has been designed in this study; such a methodology aims at evaluating drivers' acceptance of Blind Spot Information System® and at proposing some ideas to improve the usability and user-friendliness of this (or similar) device in their future development.

Automotive Radar and Lidar Systems for Next Generation Driver Assistance Functions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. H. Rasshofer

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Automotive radar and lidar sensors represent key components for next generation driver assistance functions (Jones, 2001. Today, their use is limited to comfort applications in premium segment vehicles although an evolution process towards more safety-oriented functions is taking place. Radar sensors available on the market today suffer from low angular resolution and poor target detection in medium ranges (30 to 60m over azimuth angles larger than ±30°. In contrast, Lidar sensors show large sensitivity towards environmental influences (e.g. snow, fog, dirt. Both sensor technologies today have a rather high cost level, forbidding their wide-spread usage on mass markets. A common approach to overcome individual sensor drawbacks is the employment of data fusion techniques (Bar-Shalom, 2001. Raw data fusion requires a common, standardized data interface to easily integrate a variety of asynchronous sensor data into a fusion network. Moreover, next generation sensors should be able to dynamically adopt to new situations and should have the ability to work in cooperative sensor environments. As vehicular function development today is being shifted more and more towards virtual prototyping, mathematical sensor models should be available. These models should take into account the sensor's functional principle as well as all typical measurement errors generated by the sensor.

Steering and evasion assist

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dang, T.; Desens, J.; Franke, U.; Gavrila, D.; Schäfers, L.; Ziegler, W.; Eskandarian, A.

2012-01-01

Steering and evasion assistance defines a new and future class of driver assistance systems to avoid an impending collision with other traffic participants. Dynamic and kinematic considerations reveal that an evasive steering maneuver has high potential for collision avoidance in many driving

The Train Driver Recovery Problem - a Set Partitioning Based Model and Solution Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rezanova, Natalia Jurjevna; Ryan, David

2010-01-01

The need to recover a train driver schedule occurs during major disruptions in the daily railway operations. Based on data from the Danish passenger railway operator DSB S-tog A/S, a solution method to the train driver recovery problem (TDRP) is developed. The TDRP is formulated as a set...... branching strategy using the depth-first search of the Branch & Bound tree. The LP relaxation of the TDRP possesses strong integer properties. We present test scenarios generated from the historical real-life operations data of DSB S-tog A/S. The numerical results show that all but one tested instances...... partitioning problem. We define a disruption neighbourhood by identifying a small set of drivers and train tasks directly affected by the disruption. Based on the disruption neighbourhood, the TDRP model is formed and solved. If the TDRP solution provides a feasible recovery for the drivers within...

Evaluating impacts of different longitudinal driver assistance systems on reducing multi-vehicle rear-end crashes during small-scale inclement weather.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ye; Xing, Lu; Wang, Wei; Wang, Hao; Dong, Changyin; Liu, Shanwen

2017-10-01

Multi-vehicle rear-end (MVRE) crashes during small-scale inclement (SSI) weather cause high fatality rates on freeways, which cannot be solved by traditional speed limit strategies. This study aimed to reduce MVRE crash risks during SSI weather using different longitudinal driver assistance systems (LDAS). The impact factors on MVRE crashes during SSI weather were firstly analyzed. Then, four LDAS, including Forward collision warning (FCW), Autonomous emergency braking (AEB), Adaptive cruise control (ACC) and Cooperative ACC (CACC), were modeled based on a unified platform, the Intelligent Driver Model (IDM). Simulation experiments were designed and a large number of simulations were then conducted to evaluate safety effects of different LDAS. Results indicate that the FCW and ACC system have poor performance on reducing MVRE crashes during SSI weather. The slight improvement of sight distance of FCW and the limitation of perception-reaction time of ACC lead the failure of avoiding MVRE crashes in most scenarios. The AEB system has the better effect due to automatic perception and reaction, as well as performing the full brake when encountering SSI weather. The CACC system has the best performance because wireless communication provides a larger sight distance and a shorter time delay at the sub-second level. Sensitivity analyses also indicated that the larger number of vehicles and speed changes after encountering SSI weather have negative impacts on safety performances. Results of this study provide useful information for accident prevention during SSI weather. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Driver options and burn cycle selection based on power reactor considerations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ehst, D.A.

1983-01-01

Reactor implications for noninductive current drive are presented based on a number of studies. First, the lower hybrid driver for the STARFIRE reactor is discussed and the disadvantages of this driver are reviewed. Next, the results of an extensive search for a better current driver are presented. A large number of alternatives were compared in a common context, the DEMO reactor, in order to examine their suitability on a standard basis. Finally, the methodology of a study, currently in progress, is described. The goals of this last study are to compare tokamak reactor designs optimized for operation under different burn cycles, in order to assess the actual benefits and costs of pulsed versus steady-state operation. (author)

Driver options and burn-cycle selection based on power-reactor considerations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ehst, D.A.

1983-04-01

Reactor implications for noninductive current drive are presented based on a number of studies. First, the lower hybrid driver for the STARFIRE reactor is discussed and the disadvantages of this driver are reviewed. Next, the results of an extensive search for a better current driver are presented. A large number of alternatives were compared in a common context, the DEMO reactor, in order to examine their suitability on a standard basis. Finally, the methodology of a study, currently in progress, is described. The goals of this last study are to compare tokamak reactor designs optimized for operation under different burn cycles, in order to assess the actual benefits and costs of pulsed versus steady-state operation

Driver drowsiness classification using fuzzy wavelet-packet-based feature-extraction algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Khushaba, Rami N; Kodagoda, Sarath; Lal, Sara; Dissanayake, Gamini

2011-01-01

Driver drowsiness and loss of vigilance are a major cause of road accidents. Monitoring physiological signals while driving provides the possibility of detecting and warning of drowsiness and fatigue. The aim of this paper is to maximize the amount of drowsiness-related information extracted from a set of electroencephalogram (EEG), electrooculogram (EOG), and electrocardiogram (ECG) signals during a simulation driving test. Specifically, we develop an efficient fuzzy mutual-information (MI)- based wavelet packet transform (FMIWPT) feature-extraction method for classifying the driver drowsiness state into one of predefined drowsiness levels. The proposed method estimates the required MI using a novel approach based on fuzzy memberships providing an accurate-information content-estimation measure. The quality of the extracted features was assessed on datasets collected from 31 drivers on a simulation test. The experimental results proved the significance of FMIWPT in extracting features that highly correlate with the different drowsiness levels achieving a classification accuracy of 95%-- 97% on an average across all subjects.

Modeling the Speed Choice Behaviors of Drivers on Mountainous Roads with Complicated Shapes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yiming Shao

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Roadway geometric features and pavement conditions can significantly affect driver behavior, particularly with regard to vehicle speed. This paper presents the development of an algorithm for speed selection for use in automated passenger car travel (without driver input on mountainous roads with complicated shapes. The relationship between favorable driving speed and the geometric features of horizontal curves was established on the basis of driving experiments and spot speed observation data, and speed control models were established for driving on curves, curve approaches/departures, and tangents. The models developed can be used to calculate a driver's desired speed on any roadway with a defined geometry. The model considers the driver's behavior type and the vehicle's dynamic properties. This paper presents the results of simulation experiments on roads with small curve radii and narrow widths. The algorithms developed may be used for assisted and automated driving. Under automated driving conditions, speed control and speed change based on the algorithms developed make drivers feel natural as if they drive the car themselves.

Modeling and Recognizing Driver Behavior Based on Driving Data: A Survey

OpenAIRE

Wang, Wenshuo; Xi, Junqiang; Chen, Huiyan

2014-01-01

In recent years, modeling and recognizing driver behavior have become crucial to understanding intelligence transport systems, human-vehicle systems, and intelligent vehicle systems. A wide range of both mathematical identification methods and modeling methods of driver behavior are presented from the control point of view in this paper based on the driving data, such as the brake/throttle pedal position and the steering wheel angle, among others. Subsequently, the driver’s characteristics de...

Driver Fatigue Detection System Using Electroencephalography Signals Based on Combined Entropy Features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhendong Mu

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Driver fatigue has become one of the major causes of traffic accidents, and is a complicated physiological process. However, there is no effective method to detect driving fatigue. Electroencephalography (EEG signals are complex, unstable, and non-linear; non-linear analysis methods, such as entropy, maybe more appropriate. This study evaluates a combined entropy-based processing method of EEG data to detect driver fatigue. In this paper, 12 subjects were selected to take part in an experiment, obeying driving training in a virtual environment under the instruction of the operator. Four types of enthrones (spectrum entropy, approximate entropy, sample entropy and fuzzy entropy were used to extract features for the purpose of driver fatigue detection. Electrode selection process and a support vector machine (SVM classification algorithm were also proposed. The average recognition accuracy was 98.75%. Retrospective analysis of the EEG showed that the extracted features from electrodes T5, TP7, TP8 and FP1 may yield better performance. SVM classification algorithm using radial basis function as kernel function obtained better results. A combined entropy-based method demonstrates good classification performance for studying driver fatigue detection.

Prediction of Driver's Intention of Lane Change by Augmenting Sensor Information Using Machine Learning Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Il-Hwan; Bong, Jae-Hwan; Park, Jooyoung; Park, Shinsuk

2017-06-10

Driver assistance systems have become a major safety feature of modern passenger vehicles. The advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) is one of the active safety systems to improve the vehicle control performance and, thus, the safety of the driver and the passengers. To use the ADAS for lane change control, rapid and correct detection of the driver's intention is essential. This study proposes a novel preprocessing algorithm for the ADAS to improve the accuracy in classifying the driver's intention for lane change by augmenting basic measurements from conventional on-board sensors. The information on the vehicle states and the road surface condition is augmented by using an artificial neural network (ANN) models, and the augmented information is fed to a support vector machine (SVM) to detect the driver's intention with high accuracy. The feasibility of the developed algorithm was tested through driving simulator experiments. The results show that the classification accuracy for the driver's intention can be improved by providing an SVM model with sufficient driving information augmented by using ANN models of vehicle dynamics.

From advanced driver assistance to autonomous driving: perspectives for photonics sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Cochard, Jacques; Bouyé, Clémentine

2016-03-01

Optics components entered in the automotive vehicle one century ago with headlamps and since then move towards even more sophisticated designs in lighting functions. Photonics sensors are just entering now in this market through driver assistance, in complement of incumbent ultrasonic and radar technologies. Gain of market shares is expected for this components with autonomous driving, that was few years ago a nice dream and whose early results exceed surprisingly expectations of roadmaps and historic OEM have quickly joined the course launched by Google Company 5 years ago. Technological components, among them CMOS camera followed by Laser Scanners, cost-effective flash LIDAR are already experimenting their first miles in real condition and new consumers in South Asia plebiscite this new way to drive cars .The issue is still for photonics companies to move from well suited technological solution to mass-production components with corresponding cost reduction. MEMS components that follow the same curve 15 years ago (with market entries in airbags, tire pressure monitoring systems…) experimented the hard pressure on price for wide market adoption. Besides price, which is a CFO issue, photonic technologies will keep in place if they can both reassure OEM CEO and let CTO and designers dream. Reassurance will be through higher level of standardization and reliability of these components whereas dream will be linked to innovative sensing application, e.g spectroscopy.

Exploratory multinomial logit model-based driver injury severity analyses for teenage and adult drivers in intersection-related crashes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Qiong; Zhang, Guohui; Ci, Yusheng; Wu, Lina; Tarefder, Rafiqul A; Alcántara, Adélamar Dely

2016-05-18

Teenage drivers are more likely to be involved in severely incapacitating and fatal crashes compared to adult drivers. Moreover, because two thirds of urban vehicle miles traveled are on signal-controlled roadways, significant research efforts are needed to investigate intersection-related teenage driver injury severities and their contributing factors in terms of driver behavior, vehicle-infrastructure interactions, environmental characteristics, roadway geometric features, and traffic compositions. Therefore, this study aims to explore the characteristic differences between teenage and adult drivers in intersection-related crashes, identify the significant contributing attributes, and analyze their impacts on driver injury severities. Using crash data collected in New Mexico from 2010 to 2011, 2 multinomial logit regression models were developed to analyze injury severities for teenage and adult drivers, respectively. Elasticity analyses and transferability tests were conducted to better understand the quantitative impacts of these factors and the teenage driver injury severity model's generality. The results showed that although many of the same contributing factors were found to be significant in the both teenage and adult driver models, certain different attributes must be distinguished to specifically develop effective safety solutions for the 2 driver groups. The research findings are helpful to better understand teenage crash uniqueness and develop cost-effective solutions to reduce intersection-related teenage injury severities and facilitate driver injury mitigation research.

Effects of in-car support on mental workload and driving performance of older drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Davidse, Ragnhild J; Hagenzieker, Marjan P; van Wolffelaar, Peter C; Brouwer, Wiebo H

2009-08-01

This study examined the extent to which driving performance of 10 older (70-88 years old) and 30 younger participants (30-50 years old) improves as a result of support by a driver assistance system. Various studies have indicated that advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) may provide tailored assistance for older drivers and thereby improve their safe mobility. While drivers followed an urban route in a driving simulator, an ADAS provided them with prior knowledge on the next intersection. The system was evaluated in terms of effects on workload and safety performance. Messages informing drivers about the right-of-way regulation, obstructed view of an intersection, and safe gaps to join or cross traffic streams led to safer driving performance. A message regarding an unexpected one-way street led to fewer route errors. In general, effects were the same for all age groups. Workload was not reduced by the support system. The evaluated support system shows promising effects for all age groups. Longer evaluation periods are needed to determine long-term effects. The messages provided by the evaluated system are currently not provided by existing ADAS such as advanced cruise control and navigation systems, but they could possibly be added to them in the future.

Drivers of international performance of Brazilian technology-based firms

OpenAIRE

Serpa Fagundes de Oliveira, Maria Carolina; Scherer, Flavia Luciane; Schneider Hahn, Ivanete; de Moura Carpes, Aletéia; Brachak dos Santos, Maríndia; Nunes Piveta, Maíra

2018-01-01

For Technology-Based Firms, international expansion represents an opportunity for growth and value creation. The present study was designed to analyze the role of technology-based companies (TBCs) internationalization drivers on international performance. Therefore, a descriptive research was carried out with a quantitative approach performed through a survey. Data collection happened with 53 Brazilian TBCs located in innovation habitats. These data were analyzed by multivariate statistical t...

Exploring Challenges in Developing a Smart and Effective Assistive System for Improving the Experience of the Elderly Drivers

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Sebin; Meng, Hong-Ying; Qin, Sheng-Feng

2017-09-01

As the overall population ages, driving-related accidents and injuries, associated with elderly drivers, have risen. Existing research about elderly drivers mainly focuses on factual data collection and analysis, indicating the elderly's growing fatal accident rates and their different behaviours compared to younger drivers. However, few research has focused on design-led practical solutions to mitigate the elderly's growing fatal accidents, by considering their usability and body conditions, afflicting the elderly, such as decreased vision, hearing, and reaction times. In this paper, first, current worldwide situations on growing fatal accident rates for elderly drivers is reviewed and the key impact factors are identified and discussed with regarding to usability and design trend in the automotive technology for elderly. Second, existing smart vehicle technology-based solutions to promote safe driving are explored and their pros and cons are discussed and analysed. Most of solutions are not created by people with driving difficulties, which are caused by health problems most commonly afflicting the elderly. Thirdly, diverse design-led research activities are taken, such as a survey, observation, and interviews to gain new understanding of what kinds of driving problems elderly drivers have and demonstrate how new system concepts could be developed for the elderly's benefits. Finally, it is found that the elderly's low vision and late reaction are main factors causing their driving difficulties. Based on this finding, usable vehicle system design ideas have been proposed, by utilising facial expression sensing technology as a solution. The proposed solutions would ensure reducing both the elderly's driving problems and high fatal accident rates and provide a more enjoyable driving environment for the elderly population.

Incorporating driver distraction in car-following models : Applying the TCI to the IDM

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoogendoorn, R.G.; van Arem, B.; Hoogendoorn, S.P.

2013-01-01

ITS can play a significant role in the improvement of traffic flow, traffic safety and greenhouse gas emissions. However, the implementation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems may lead to adaptation effects in longitudinal driving behavior following driver distraction. It was however not yet

Driver style and driver skill – Clustering sub-groups of drivers differing in their potential danger in traffic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martinussen, Laila Marianne; Møller, Mette; Prato, Carlo Giacomo

The Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) and the Driver Skill Inventory (DSI) are two of the most frequently used measures of self-reported driving style and driving skill. The motivation behind the present study was to test drivers’ consistency or judgment of their own self-reported driving ability...... based on a combined use of the DBQ and the DSI. Moreover, the joint use of the two instruments was applied to identify sub-groups of drivers that differ in their potential danger in traffic (as measured by frequency of aberrant driving behaviors and level of driving skills), as well as to test whether...... the sub-groups of drivers differed in characteristics such as age, gender, annual mileage and accident involvement. 3908 drivers aged 18–84 participated in the survey. The results suggested that the drivers are consistent in their reporting of driving ability, as the self-reported driving skill level...

Low voltage driven dielectric electro active polymer actuator with integrated piezoelectric transformer based driver

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Thomas; Rødgaard, Martin Schøler; Thomsen, Ole Cornelius

2011-01-01

actuators, a low voltage solution is developed by integrating the driver electronic into a 110 mm tall cylindrical coreless Push InLastor actuator. To decrease the size of the driver, a piezoelectric transformer (PT) based solution is utilized. The PT is essentially an improved Rosen type PT...

Climatic drivers of vegetation based on wavelet analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Claessen, Jeroen; Martens, Brecht; Verhoest, Niko E. C.; Molini, Annalisa; Miralles, Diego

2017-04-01

Vegetation dynamics are driven by climate, and at the same time they play a key role in forcing the different bio-geochemical cycles. As climate change leads to an increase in frequency and intensity of hydro-meteorological extremes, vegetation is expected to respond to these changes, and subsequently feed back on their occurrence. This response can be analysed using time series of different vegetation diagnostics observed from space, in the optical (e.g. Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Solar Induced Fluorescence (SIF)) and microwave (Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD)) domains. In this contribution, we compare the climatic drivers of different vegetation diagnostics, based on a monthly global data-cube of 24 years at a 0.25° resolution. To do so, we calculate the wavelet coherence between each vegetation-related observation and observations of air temperature, precipitation and incoming radiation. The use of wavelet coherence allows unveiling the scale-by-scale response and sensitivity of the diverse vegetation indices to their climatic drivers. Our preliminary results show that the wavelet-based statistics prove to be a suitable tool for extracting information from different vegetation indices. Going beyond traditional methods based on linear correlations, the application of wavelet coherence provides information about: (a) the specific periods at which the correspondence between climate and vegetation dynamics is larger, (b) the frequencies at which this correspondence occurs (e.g. monthly or seasonal scales), and (c) the time lag in the response of vegetation to their climate drivers, and vice versa. As expected, areas of high rainfall volumes are characterised by a strong control of radiation and temperature over vegetation. Furthermore, precipitation is the most important driver of vegetation variability over short terms in most regions of the world - which can be explained by the rapid response of leaf development towards available water content

Driver style and driver skills – clustering drivers differing in their potential danger in traffic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martinussen, Laila Marianne; Møller, Mette; Prato, Carlo Giacomo

The Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) and the Driver Skill Inventory (DSI) are two of the most frequently used measures of driving style and driving skill. The motivation behind the present study was to test drivers’ insight into their own driving ability based on a combined use of the DBQ......, annual mileage and accident involvement. 3908 drivers aged 18–84 participated in the survey. The results suggested that the drivers have good insight into their own driving ability, as the driving skill level mirrored the frequency of aberrant driving behaviors. K-means cluster analysis revealed four...... distinct clusters that differed in the frequency of aberrant driving behavior and driving skills, as well as individual characteristics and driving related factors such as annual mileage, accident frequency and number of tickets and fines. Thus, two sub-groups were identified as more unsafe than the two...

Mobility and safety issues in drivers with dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, David B; O'Neill, Desmond

2015-10-01

Although automobiles remain the mobility method of choice for older adults, late-life cognitive impairment and progressive dementia will eventually impair the ability to meet transport needs of many. There is, however, no commonly utilized method of assessing dementia severity in relation to driving, no consensus on the specific types of assessments that should be applied to older drivers with cognitive impairment, and no gold standard for determining driving fitness or approaching loss of mobility and subsequent counseling. Yet, clinicians are often called upon by patients, their families, health professionals, and driver licensing authorities to assess their patients' fitness-to-drive and to make recommendations about driving privileges. We summarize the literature on dementia and driving, discuss evidenced-based assessments of fitness-to-drive, and outline the important ethical and legal concerns. We address the role of physician assessment, referral to neuropsychology, functional screens, dementia severity tools, driving evaluation clinics, and driver licensing authority referrals that may assist clinicians with an evaluation. Finally, we discuss mobility counseling (e.g. exploration of transportation alternatives) since health professionals need to address this important issue for older adults who lose the ability to drive. The application of a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to the older driver with cognitive impairment will have the best opportunity to enhance our patients' social connectedness and quality of life, while meeting their psychological and medical needs and maintaining personal and public safety.

A preliminary study of MR sickness evaluation using visual motion aftereffect for advanced driver assistance systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakajima, Sawako; Ino, Shuichi; Ifukube, Tohru

2007-01-01

Mixed Reality (MR) technologies have recently been explored in many areas of Human-Machine Interface (HMI) such as medicine, manufacturing, entertainment and education. However MR sickness, a kind of motion sickness is caused by sensory conflicts between the real world and virtual world. The purpose of this paper is to find out a new evaluation method of motion and MR sickness. This paper investigates a relationship between the whole-body vibration related to MR technologies and the motion aftereffect (MAE) phenomenon in the human visual system. This MR environment is modeled after advanced driver assistance systems in near-future vehicles. The seated subjects in the MR simulator were shaken in the pitch direction ranging from 0.1 to 2.0 Hz. Results show that MAE is useful for evaluation of MR sickness incidence. In addition, a method to reduce the MR sickness by auditory stimulation is proposed.

Prevalence of driver physical factors leading to unintentional lane departure crashes.

Science.gov (United States)

Cicchino, Jessica B; Zuby, David S

2017-07-04

Some lane-keeping assist systems in development and production provide autonomous braking and steering to correct unintentional lane drift but otherwise require drivers to fully control their vehicles. The goal of this study was to quantify the proportion of drivers involved in unintentional lane drift crashes who would be unable to regain control of their vehicles to inform the design of such systems. The NHTSA's National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey collected in-depth, on-scene data for a nationally representative sample of 5,470 U.S. police-reported passenger vehicle crashes during 2005-2007 that occurred between 6 a.m. and midnight and for which emergency medical services were dispatched. The physical states of drivers involved in the 631 lane drift crashes in the sample, which represented 259,034 crashes nationally, were characterized. Thirty-four percent of drivers who crashed because they drifted from their lanes were sleeping or otherwise incapacitated. These drivers would be unlikely to regain full control of their vehicles if an active safety system prevented their initial drift. An additional 13% of these drivers had a nonincapacitating medical issue, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) ≥ 0.08%, or other physical factor that may not allow them to regain full vehicle control. When crashes involved serious or fatal injuries, 42% of drivers who drifted were sleeping or otherwise incapacitated, and an additional 14% were impacted by a nonincapacitating medical issue, BAC ≥ 0.08%, or other physical factor. Designers of active safety systems that provide autonomous lateral control should consider that a substantial proportion of drivers at risk of lane drift crashes are incapacitated. Systems that provide only transient corrective action may not ultimately prevent lane departure crashes for these drivers, and drivers who do avoid lane drift crashes because of these systems may be at high risk of other types of crashes when they attempt to regain

Drivers of forests and tree-based systems for food security and nutrition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kleinschmit, Daniela; Sijapati Basnett, Bimbika; Martin, Adrian

2015-01-01

In the context of this chapter, drivers are considered to be natural or anthropogenic developments affecting forests and tree-based systems for food security and nutrition. They can improve and contribute to food security and nutrition, but they can also lead to food insecurity and malnutrition. ...... consumption, income and livelihood; or through both. These drivers are interrelated and can have different consequences depending on the social structure; for example, they can support food security for elite groups but can increase the vulnerability of other groups.......In the context of this chapter, drivers are considered to be natural or anthropogenic developments affecting forests and tree-based systems for food security and nutrition. They can improve and contribute to food security and nutrition, but they can also lead to food insecurity and malnutrition......, commercialisation of agriculture, industrialisation of forest resources, gender imbalances, conflicts, formalisation of tenure rights, rising food prices and increasing per capita income) were identified within these four categories. They affect food security and nutrition through land use and management; through...

Part-based Pedestrian Detection and Feature-based Tracking for Driver Assistance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prioletti, Antonio; Møgelmose, Andreas; Grislieri, Paolo

2013-01-01

Detecting pedestrians is still a challenging task for automotive vision systems due to the extreme variability of targets, lighting conditions, occlusion, and high-speed vehicle motion. Much research has been focused on this problem in the last ten years and detectors based on classifiers have...... on a prototype vehicle and offers high performance in terms of several metrics, such as detection rate, false positives per hour, and frame rate. The novelty of this system relies on the combination of a HOG part-based approach, tracking based on a specific optimized feature, and porting on a real prototype....

PILOT RESULTS ON FORWARD COLLISION WARNING SYSTEM EFFECTIVENESS IN OLDER DRIVERS.

Science.gov (United States)

Lester, Benjamin D; Sager, Lauren N; Dawson, Jeffrey; Hacker, Sarah D; Aksan, Nazan; Rizzo, Matthew; Kitazaki, Satoshi

2015-06-01

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have largely been developed with a "one-size-fits-all" approach. This approach neglects the large inter-individual variability in perceptual and cognitive abilities that affect aging ADAS users. We investigated the effectiveness of a forward collision warning (FCW) with fixed response parameters in young and older drivers with differing levels of cognitive functioning. Drivers responded to a pedestrian stepping into the driver's path on a simulated urban road. Behavioral metrics included response times (RT) for pedal controls and two indices of risk penetration (e.g., maximum deceleration and minimum time-to-collision (TTC)). Older drivers showed significantly slower responses at several time points compared to younger drivers. The FCW facilitated response times (RTs) for older and younger drivers. However, older drivers still showed smaller safety gains compared to younger drivers at accelerator pedal release and initial brake application when the FCW was active. No significant differences in risk metrics were observed within the condition studied. The results demonstrate older drivers likely differ from younger drivers using a FCW with a fixed parameter set. Finally, we briefly discuss how future research should examine predictive relationships between domains of cognitive functioning and ADAS responses to develop parameter sets to fit the individual.

Reducing risky driver behaviour through the implementation of a driver risk management system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rose Luke

2014-11-01

Full Text Available South Africa has one of the highest incidences of road accidents in the world. Most accidents are avoidable and are caused by driver behaviour and errors. The purpose of this article was to identify the riskiest driver behaviours in commercial fleets in South Africa, to determine the business impact of such behaviour, to establish a framework for the management of risky driver behaviour and to test the framework by applying a leading commercial driver behaviour management system as a case study. The case study comprised three South African commercial fleets. Using data from these fleets, critical incident triangles were used to determine the ratio data of risky driver behaviour to near-collisions and collisions. Based on managing the riskiest driver behaviours as causes of more serious incidents and accidents, the results indicated that through the implementation of an effective driver risk management system, risky incidents were significantly reduced.

The Integrative Method Based on the Module-Network for Identifying Driver Genes in Cancer Subtypes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xinguo Lu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available With advances in next-generation sequencing(NGS technologies, a large number of multiple types of high-throughput genomics data are available. A great challenge in exploring cancer progression is to identify the driver genes from the variant genes by analyzing and integrating multi-types genomics data. Breast cancer is known as a heterogeneous disease. The identification of subtype-specific driver genes is critical to guide the diagnosis, assessment of prognosis and treatment of breast cancer. We developed an integrated frame based on gene expression profiles and copy number variation (CNV data to identify breast cancer subtype-specific driver genes. In this frame, we employed statistical machine-learning method to select gene subsets and utilized an module-network analysis method to identify potential candidate driver genes. The final subtype-specific driver genes were acquired by paired-wise comparison in subtypes. To validate specificity of the driver genes, the gene expression data of these genes were applied to classify the patient samples with 10-fold cross validation and the enrichment analysis were also conducted on the identified driver genes. The experimental results show that the proposed integrative method can identify the potential driver genes and the classifier with these genes acquired better performance than with genes identified by other methods.

Gaze position modulates the effectiveness of forward collision warnings for drowsy drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaspar, John G; Schwarz, John-Chris W; Brown, Timothy L; Kang, Julie

2017-12-22

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have the potential to prevent crashes and reduce their severity. Forward collision warnings (FCW) are quickly becoming standard across vehicle lineups and may prevent frontal crashes by alerting drivers. Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of FCW for distracted drivers, but their effectiveness for other types of impairment remains unknown. Like distraction, drowsiness can impair driver response time and lead to crashes. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of FCW for moderately and severely drowsy drivers using a high-fidelity driving simulator. Drowsy drivers were divided into three warning conditions during a revealed stop vehicle forward collision event: An auditory alert, a haptic seat vibration, and a no warning baseline. Results indicate that FCW were effective at speeding drowsy driver response, but only when the drowsy drivers were looking away from the forward roadway at the onset of the event. These results have important implications for ADAS technology and driver state monitoring systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Orientation Sensor-Based Head Tracking System for Driver Behaviour Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yifan Zhao

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Although at present legislation does not allow drivers in a Level 3 autonomous vehicle to engage in a secondary task, there may become a time when it does. Monitoring the behaviour of drivers engaging in various non-driving activities (NDAs is crucial to decide how well the driver will be able to take over control of the vehicle. One limitation of the commonly used face-based head tracking system, using cameras, is that sufficient features of the face must be visible, which limits the detectable angle of head movement and thereby measurable NDAs, unless multiple cameras are used. This paper proposes a novel orientation sensor based head tracking system that includes twin devices, one of which measures the movement of the vehicle while the other measures the absolute movement of the head. Measurement error in the shaking and nodding axes were less than 0.4°, while error in the rolling axis was less than 2°. Comparison with a camera-based system, through in-house tests and on-road tests, showed that the main advantage of the proposed system is the ability to detect angles larger than 20° in the shaking and nodding axes. Finally, a case study demonstrated that the measurement of the shaking and nodding angles, produced from the proposed system, can effectively characterise the drivers’ behaviour while engaged in the NDAs of chatting to a passenger and playing on a smartphone.

Evaluating the effectiveness of Behavior-Based Safety education methods for commercial vehicle drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xuesong; Xing, Yilun; Luo, Lian; Yu, Rongjie

2018-08-01

Risky driving behavior is one of the main causes of commercial vehicle related crashes. In order to achieve safer vehicle operation, safety education for drivers is often provided. However, the education programs vary in quality and may not always be successful in reducing crash rates. Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) education is a popular approach found effective by numerous studies, but even this approach varies as to the combination of frequency, mode and content used by different education providers. This study therefore evaluates and compares the effectiveness of BBS education methods. Thirty-five drivers in Shanghai, China, were coached with one of three different BBS education methods for 13 weeks following a 13-week baseline phase with no education. A random-effects negative binomial (NB) model was built and calibrated to investigate the relationship between BBS education and the driver at-fault safety-related event rate. Based on the results of the random-effects NB model, event modification factors (EMF) were calculated to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of the methods. Results show that (1) BBS education was confirmed to be effective in safety-related event reduction; (2) the most effective method among the three applied monthly face-to-face coaching, including feedback with video and statistical data, and training on strategies to avoid driver-specific unsafe behaviors; (3) weekly telephone coaching using statistics and strategies was rated by drivers as the most convenient delivery mode, and was also significantly effective. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Justice-based social assistance

Science.gov (United States)

Barrientos, Armando

2016-01-01

What are the main objectives of social protection institutions in developing countries? What should be their scope and reach? What is the source of their legitimacy? Finding appropriate answers to these questions is essential to understanding, and shaping, the emergence of welfare institutions in low- and middle-income countries. Most available answers rely on instrumental arguments. Few make reference to normative principles. This article draws on three concepts from Rawls – social justice as regulating cooperation, the social minimum, and the need for a freestanding political notion of social justice – to develop a coherent argument for grounding social assistance on social justice. In line with this argument, it identifies some parameters for a justice-based social assistance. This article then discusses, with examples, the tensions existing between a social justice-based social minimum and ‘real’ social assistance institutions emerging in developing countries. PMID:27708544

Heavy-ion driver design and scaling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bieri, R.; Monsler, M.; Meier, W.; Stewart, L.

1992-01-01

Parametric models for scaling heavy-ion driver designs are described. Scaling of target performance and driver cost is done for driver parameters including driver energy, number of beams, type of superconductor used in focusing magnets, maximum magnetic field allowed at the superconducting windings, linear quadrupole array packing fraction mass, and ion charge state. The cumulative accelerator voltage and beam currents are determined from the Maschke limits on beam current for each choice of driver energy and post-acceleration pulse duration. The heavy-ion driver is optimized over the large available driver parameter space. Parametric studies and the choice of a base driver model are described in a companion paper

Deep Learning-Based Gaze Detection System for Automobile Drivers Using a NIR Camera Sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Naqvi, Rizwan Ali; Arsalan, Muhammad; Batchuluun, Ganbayar; Yoon, Hyo Sik; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-02-03

A paradigm shift is required to prevent the increasing automobile accident deaths that are mostly due to the inattentive behavior of drivers. Knowledge of gaze region can provide valuable information regarding a driver's point of attention. Accurate and inexpensive gaze classification systems in cars can improve safe driving. However, monitoring real-time driving behaviors and conditions presents some challenges: dizziness due to long drives, extreme lighting variations, glasses reflections, and occlusions. Past studies on gaze detection in cars have been chiefly based on head movements. The margin of error in gaze detection increases when drivers gaze at objects by moving their eyes without moving their heads. To solve this problem, a pupil center corneal reflection (PCCR)-based method has been considered. However, the error of accurately detecting the pupil center and corneal reflection center is increased in a car environment due to various environment light changes, reflections on glasses surface, and motion and optical blurring of captured eye image. In addition, existing PCCR-based methods require initial user calibration, which is difficult to perform in a car environment. To address this issue, we propose a deep learning-based gaze detection method using a near-infrared (NIR) camera sensor considering driver head and eye movement that does not require any initial user calibration. The proposed system is evaluated on our self-constructed database as well as on open Columbia gaze dataset (CAVE-DB). The proposed method demonstrated greater accuracy than the previous gaze classification methods.

Modeling driver stop/run behavior at the onset of a yellow indication considering driver run tendency and roadway surface conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Elhenawy, Mohammed; Jahangiri, Arash; Rakha, Hesham A; El-Shawarby, Ihab

2015-10-01

The ability to model driver stop/run behavior at signalized intersections considering the roadway surface condition is critical in the design of advanced driver assistance systems. Such systems can reduce intersection crashes and fatalities by predicting driver stop/run behavior. The research presented in this paper uses data collected from two controlled field experiments on the Smart Road at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) to model driver stop/run behavior at the onset of a yellow indication for different roadway surface conditions. The paper offers two contributions. First, it introduces a new predictor related to driver aggressiveness and demonstrates that this measure enhances the modeling of driver stop/run behavior. Second, it applies well-known artificial intelligence techniques including: adaptive boosting (AdaBoost), random forest, and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms as well as traditional logistic regression techniques on the data in order to develop a model that can be used by traffic signal controllers to predict driver stop/run decisions in a connected vehicle environment. The research demonstrates that by adding the proposed driver aggressiveness predictor to the model, there is a statistically significant increase in the model accuracy. Moreover the false alarm rate is significantly reduced but this reduction is not statistically significant. The study demonstrates that, for the subject data, the SVM machine learning algorithm performs the best in terms of optimum classification accuracy and false positive rates. However, the SVM model produces the best performance in terms of the classification accuracy only. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An innovative non-intrusive driver assistance system for vital signal monitoring.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sun, Y. & Yu, X.

2016-01-01

This paper describes an in-vehicle nonintrusive biopotential measurement system for driver health monitoring and fatigue detection. Previous research has found that the physiological signals including eye features, electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG) and their secondary

An analysis on older driver's driving behavior by GPS tracking data: Road selection, left/right turn, and driving speed

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanning Zhao

2018-02-01

Full Text Available With the high older-related accident ratio and increasing population aging problem, understanding older drivers' driving behaviors has become more and more important for building and improving transportation system. This paper examines older driver's driving behavior which includes road selection, left/right turn and driving speed. A two-month experiment of 108 participants was carried out in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Since apparently contradictory statements were often drawn in survey-based or simulators-based studies, this study collected not only drivers' basic information but also GPS data. Analysis of road selection demonstrates that older drivers are reluctant to drive on expressway not only in short trips but also in long trips. The present study did not find significant difference between older drivers and others while turning at the intersections. To investigate the impact factors on driving speed, a random-effects regression model is constructed with explanatory variables including age, gender, road types and the interaction terms between age and road types. Compared with other variables, it fails to find that age (60 years old or over has significant impact on driving speed. Moreover, the results reflect that older drivers drive even faster than others at particular road types: national road and ordinary municipal road. The results in this study are expected to help improve transportation planning and develop driving assistance systems for older drivers.

ISAF'S Afghan Truck Drivers: The Overlooked Counterinsurgency Population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Myron Varouhakis

2015-12-01

Full Text Available A yearlong U.S. Army field study in Afghanistan examined the demographics and threat perceptions of one of the most-at-risk populations, that of Afghan truck drivers working for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Afghanistan (ISAF. The study collected data from 766 Afghan truck drivers at the U.S.-operated Kandahar Airfield in ISAF’s Regional Command South. The findings show a wide diversity in age of the Afghan drivers as well as in terms of their home province. The findings also show that although all Afghan truck drivers had acute awareness and understanding of the high risks and dangers of the job, they all noted that the attractive salary and scarcity of jobs were dominant reasons for staying on the job. Findings also reveal a strong resentment among the Afghan truck drivers about their treatment by ISAF soldiers, as for the lack of protection for them and their families after the 2014 departure of NATO forces. The findings can provide significant insights and enhance the understanding of scholars, counterinsurgency strategists, policymakers, and military planners about “Host Country Nationals” as an important population of the human terrain.

Obstructive sleep apnea among commercial motor vehicle drivers: using evidence-based practice to identify risk factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Olszewski, Kimberly; Wolf, Debra

2013-11-01

Commercial motor vehicle driving is a hazardous occupation, having the third highest fatality rate among common U.S. jobs. Among the estimated 14 million U.S. commercial motor vehicle drivers, the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea is reported to be 17% to 28%. Despite the identified increased prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea among commercial motor vehicle drivers, federal law does not require that they be screened for obstructive sleep apnea. This article presents an evidence-based practice change project; the authors developed, implemented, and evaluated a screening program to identify commercial motor vehicle drivers' risk for obstructive sleep apnea during commercial driver medical examinations. The results of this practice change indicated screening for obstructive sleep apnea during the commercial driver medical examination led to improved identification of obstructive sleep apnea risk among commercial motor vehicle drivers and should be a clinical standard in occupational health clinics. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

Drivers for animal welfare policies in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Dalla Villa, P; Matthews, L R; Alessandrini, B; Messori, S; Migliorati, G

2014-04-01

The European region has been, and remains, a global leader in the development of animal welfare policies. The region has a great diversity of cultures and religions, different levels of socio-economic development, and varied legislation, policies and practices. Nevertheless, there are common drivers for animal welfare policy based on a history of animal welfare ethics and obligations to animal users and society in general. A unifying goal of countries in the region is to achieve sustainable compliance with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) standards on animal health and welfare. Ethics isthe overarching driver, supported by the actions of governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental activities, markets and trade, science and knowledge. Historically, organisations involved in promoting animal welfare have tended to act in isolation. For example, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have run campaigns to influence retailers and the welfare policies of their farmer suppliers. Increasingly, different organisations with common or complementary goals are working together. For example, competent authorities, inter-governmental bodies and NGOs have combined their efforts to address dog population control across several countries in the region. Also, animal welfare is becoming integrated into the corporate social responsibility targets of private companies. Science and knowledge, as drivers and tools, are assisting with the harmonisation of welfare standards, e.g. by providing a common basis for measuring welfare impacts through animal-based measures and widespread sharing of this information. Current trends suggest that there will be greater collaboration among the organisations driving change, and increasing convergence of animal welfare strategies and welfare assessment tools. The result will be increased harmonisation of animal welfare standards throughout the region.

INFLUENCE OF HMI ERGONOMY ON DRIVERS IN COOPERATIVE SYSTEMS AREA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomáš Jizba

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Modern vehicles are getting smarter and utilize more and more the advantages of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS. Deployment of upcoming technologies, such as cooperative systems (V2X, will most likely be the key step towards a significant reduction of accidents across the globe. Some of these systems extend driver’s field of vision, so the driver can be forewarned against a wide range of threats. Unlike technology, the human processing capacity has remained almost unchanged over centuries. Therefore, it is necessary to bear in mind that drivers have restricted capabilities to process multiple warnings. In this context, an important question arises: How can be V2X warnings integrated into the Human Machine Interface (HMI of vehicles, and what warning policy is needed to ensure high usability, acceptance, efficiency and understanding of such a warning interface from the driver’s point of view. Using a human centered design approach, two concepts of visual driver-vehicle interface for V2X warnings were developed and evaluated. One of those interfaces was based on a 1-stage warning policy and the second one utilized a dynamic 3-stage warning approach. The research revealed that drivers prefer to have dynamic warnings that correspond with the level of danger to which they are exposed, rather than only one warning displayed in a situation of imminent danger. However, with regards to overall usability score and workload measurements, results showed that the 3-stage system performed worse in comparison with the 1-stage system.

Electrodermal Activity Based Wearable Device for Drowsy Drivers

Science.gov (United States)

Malathi, D.; Dorathi Jayaseeli, JD; Madhuri, S.; Senthilkumar, K.

2018-04-01

Road safety and road accident mortality rate are a serious concern for the government. With rise in fatal road accidents, who’s leading cause is the driver being drowsy behind the wheel, measures to alleviate this problem becomes the prime task. To meet the purpose, methods adopted must be of minimum discomfort for the driver, easy to install, provide good detection accuracy and timely alert to circumvent a probable accident. A good candidate to meet these specifications is EDA. As it detects the level of sweat which directly corresponds to the mental state of the person, using EDA for the purposes of driver safety forms a good option. The novelty of this project lies in making use of EDA as a measure to detect if a person is drowsy or not. Much of the challenge lies in building a device equipped with the necessary sensors and processing the data on real-time. The novelty of this work lies in development of an embedded device interfaced with sensors and actuators to detect and alert a driver when found drowsy using sweat as a parameter.

Associating Crash Avoidance Maneuvers with Driver Attributes and Accident Characteristics: A Mixed Logit Model Approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaplan, Sigal; Prato, Carlo Giacomo

2012-01-01

as from the key role of the ability of drivers to perform effective corrective maneuvers for the success of automated in-vehicle warning and driver assistance systems. The analysis is conducted by means of a mixed logit model that accommodates correlations across alternatives and heteroscedasticity. Data...

Knowledge, Risk Perception and Practice Regarding Tuberculosis Transmission among Long Distance Bus Drivers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Cross Sectional Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gebrehiwot, Tsegaye Tewelde; Tesfamichael, Fessahaye Alemseged

2017-11-01

Window opening during bus transportation is recommended as a tuberculosis prevention strategy.Yet, drivers are affected by lack knowledge and risk perception of passengers and assistants. Boosting knowledge of and notifying the high risk of tuberculosis transmission for every passenger could be too costly. However, strategies targeting bus drivers as key agents unlike targeting all passengers might be less costly for window opening. Data were collected from November 18/2014 to December 21/2014 in inter-region bus stations of Addis Ababa using cross sectional study design. Samples of 306 participants were selected using simple random sampling, and data were collected through face-to-face interview. Data were entered into Epi-data version 3.1 andanalyzed using IBM SPSS version 21. From a sample of 306 bus drivers, 303 were interviewed. Nine in ten and nearly half of participants believed in the need for opening all windows and avoiding overcrowding of passengers as TB preventive measures respectively. Few bus drivers (7.3%) believed that bus drivers and their assistants could be at risk of tuberculosis. The majority (85.7%) of bus drivers opened side window the whole day without precondition. Hearing tuberculosis related information from radio was a promoting factor for tuberculosis preventive measures among bus drivers. Tuberculosis preventive practices and knowledge of bus drivers seempositive (opportunities), despite their low risk perception (challenge). Using the opportunity, further empowering bus drivers to persuade passengers and assistants to open all the rest of the windows is needed.

Sensorimotor and postural control factors associated with driving safety in a community-dwelling older driver population.

Science.gov (United States)

Lacherez, Philippe; Wood, Joanne M; Anstey, Kaarin J; Lord, Stephen R

2014-02-01

To establish whether sensorimotor function and balance are associated with on-road driving performance in older adults. The performance of 270 community-living adults aged 70-88 years recruited via the electoral roll was measured on a battery of peripheral sensation, strength, flexibility, reaction time, and balance tests and on a standardized measure of on-road driving performance. Forty-seven participants (17.4%) were classified as unsafe based on their driving assessment. Unsafe driving was associated with reduced peripheral sensation, lower limb weakness, reduced neck range of motion, slow reaction time, and poor balance in univariate analyses. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified poor vibration sensitivity, reduced quadriceps strength, and increased sway on a foam surface with eyes closed as significant and independent risk factors for unsafe driving. These variables classified participants into safe and unsafe drivers with a sensitivity of 74% and specificity of 70%. A number of sensorimotor and balance measures were associated with driver safety and the multivariate model comprising measures of sensation, strength, and balance was highly predictive of unsafe driving in this sample. These findings highlight important determinants of driver safety and may assist in developing efficacious driver safety strategies for older drivers.

Improved power quality based high brightness LED lamp driver

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

consists of a PFC Cuk DC-DC converter which operates in continuous conduction mode (CCM) to improve the ... In proposed LED driver as shown in Figure 1, a Cuk buck boost AC-DC converter ... Design and Analysis of Proposed LED Driver.

Research on Evaluation Model for Secondary Task Driving Safety Based on Driver Eye Movements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lisheng Jin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This study was designed to gain insight into the influence of performing different types of secondary task while driving on driver eye movements and to build a safety evaluation model for secondary task driving. Eighteen young drivers were selected and completed the driving experiment on a driving simulator. Measures of fixations, saccades, and blinks were analyzed. Based on measures which had significant difference between the baseline and secondary tasks driving conditions, the evaluation index system was built. Method of principal component analysis (PCA was applied to analyze evaluation indexes data in order to obtain the coefficient weights of indexes and build the safety evaluation model. Based on evaluation scores, the driving safety was grouped into five levels (very high, high, average, low, and very low using K-means clustering algorithm. Results showed that secondary task driving severely distracts the driver and the evaluation model built in this study could estimate driving safety effectively under different driving conditions.

Driving with a congestion assistant : mental workload and acceptance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brookhuis, K.A.; Driel, C. J.G. van; Hof, T.; Arem, B. van; Hoedemaeker, M.

2009-01-01

New driver support systems are developed and introduced to the market at increasing speed. In conditions of traffic congestion drivers may be supported by a" Congestion Assistant", a system that combines the features of a Congestion Warning System (acoustic warning and gas pedal counterforce) and a

Steering assistance for backing up articulated vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dieter Zoebel

2003-10-01

Full Text Available Articulated vehicles belong to the category of nonholonomous wheelers. Under the aspect of control theory they require a sophisticated handling. This corresponds to the experience of unexercised drivers, for instance maneuvering a car and its caravan into a parking box. In this context some adequate advice for the right steering movements would give an appreciable assistance. Here a visual assistance is proposed and realized. The decisive advice for the driver is derived from kinematic modeling. The system is designed to be integrated into standard cars and trucks. For testing purposes the actual system has been incorporated into an existing backing up simulator.

Interface design considerations for an in-vehicle eco-driving assistance system

OpenAIRE

Jamson, AH; Hibberd, DL; Merat, N

2015-01-01

This high-fidelity driving simulator study used a paired comparison design to investigate the effectiveness of 12 potential eco-driving interfaces. Previous work has demonstrated fuel economy improvements through the provision of in-vehicle eco-driving guidance using a visual or haptic interface. This study uses an eco-driving assistance system that advises the driver of the most fuel efficient accelerator pedal angle, in real time. Assistance was provided to drivers through a visual dashboar...

Impact of Automation on Drivers' Performance in Agricultural Semi-Autonomous Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Bashiri, B; Mann, D D

2015-04-01

Drivers' inadequate mental workload has been reported as one of the negative effects of driving assistant systems and in-vehicle automation. The increasing trend of automation in agricultural vehicles raises some concerns about drivers' mental workload in such vehicles. Thus, a human factors perspective is needed to identify the consequences of such automated systems. In this simulator study, the effects of vehicle steering task automation (VSTA) and implement control and monitoring task automation (ICMTA) were investigated using a tractor-air seeder system as a case study. Two performance parameters (reaction time and accuracy of actions) were measured to assess drivers' perceived mental workload. Experiments were conducted using the tractor driving simulator (TDS) located in the Agricultural Ergonomics Laboratory at the University of Manitoba. Study participants were university students with tractor driving experience. According to the results, reaction time and number of errors made by drivers both decreased as the automation level increased. Correlations were found among performance parameters and subjective mental workload reported by the drivers.

A vision based top-view transformation model for a vehicle parking assistant.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Chien-Chuan; Wang, Ming-Shi

2012-01-01

This paper proposes the Top-View Transformation Model for image coordinate transformation, which involves transforming a perspective projection image into its corresponding bird's eye vision. A fitting parameters searching algorithm estimates the parameters that are used to transform the coordinates from the source image. Using this approach, it is not necessary to provide any interior and exterior orientation parameters of the camera. The designed car parking assistant system can be installed at the rear end of the car, providing the driver with a clearer image of the area behind the car. The processing time can be reduced by storing and using the transformation matrix estimated from the first image frame for a sequence of video images. The transformation matrix can be stored as the Matrix Mapping Table, and loaded into the embedded platform to perform the transformation. Experimental results show that the proposed approaches can provide a clearer and more accurate bird's eye view to the vehicle driver.

A Vision Based Top-View Transformation Model for a Vehicle Parking Assistant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chien-Chuan Lin

2012-03-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes the Top-View Transformation Model for image coordinate transformation, which involves transforming a perspective projection image into its corresponding bird’s eye vision. A fitting parameters searching algorithm estimates the parameters that are used to transform the coordinates from the source image. Using this approach, it is not necessary to provide any interior and exterior orientation parameters of the camera. The designed car parking assistant system can be installed at the rear end of the car, providing the driver with a clearer image of the area behind the car. The processing time can be reduced by storing and using the transformation matrix estimated from the first image frame for a sequence of video images. The transformation matrix can be stored as the Matrix Mapping Table, and loaded into the embedded platform to perform the transformation. Experimental results show that the proposed approaches can provide a clearer and more accurate bird’s eye view to the vehicle driver.

Visualization drivers for Geant4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beretvas, Andy

2005-01-01

This document is on Geant 4 visualization tools (drivers), evaluating pros and cons of each option, including recommendations on which tools to support at Fermilab for different applications. Four visualization drivers are evaluated. They re OpenGL, HepRep, DAWN and VRML. They all have good features, OpenGL provides graphic output with out an intermediate file. HepRep provides menus to assist the user. DAWN provides high quality plots and even for large files produces output quickly. VRML uses the smallest disk space for intermediate files. Large experiments at Fermilab will want to write their own display. They should proceed to make this display graphics independent. Medium experiment will probably want to use HepRep because of it's menu support. Smaller scale experiments will want to use OpenGL in the spirit of having immediate response, good quality output and keeping things simple

Study on driver model for hybrid truck based on driving simulator experimental results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dam Hoang Phuc

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a proposed car-following driver model taking into account some features of both the compensatory and anticipatory model representing the human pedal operation has been verified by driving simulator experiments with several real drivers. The comparison between computer simulations performed by determined model parameters with the experimental results confirm the correctness of this mathematical driver model and identified model parameters. Then the driver model is joined to a hybrid vehicle dynamics model and the moderate car following maneuver simulations with various driver parameters are conducted to investigate influences of driver parameters on vehicle dynamics response and fuel economy. Finally, major driver parameters involved in the longitudinal control of drivers are clarified. Keywords: Driver model, Driver-vehicle closed-loop system, Car Following, Driving simulator/hybrid electric vehicle (B1

Intelligent speed adaptation as an assistive device for drivers with acquired brain injury: a single-case field experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Klarborg, Brith; Lahrmann, Harry; NielsAgerholm; Tradisauskas, Nerius; Harms, Lisbeth

2012-09-01

Intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) was tested as an assistive device for drivers with an acquired brain injury (ABI). The study was part of the "Pay as You Speed" project (PAYS) and used the same equipment and technology as the main study (Lahrmann et al., in press-a, in press-b). Two drivers with ABI were recruited as subjects and had ISA equipment installed in their private vehicle. Their speed was logged with ISA equipment for a total of 30 weeks of which 12 weeks were with an active ISA user interface (6 weeks=Baseline 1; 12 weeks=ISA period; 12 weeks=Baseline 2). The subjects participated in two semi-structured interviews concerning their strategies for driving with ABI and for driving with ISA. Furthermore, they gave consent to have data from their clinical journals and be a part of the study. The two subjects did not report any instances of being distracted or confused by ISA, and in general they described driving with ISA as relaxed. ISA reduced the percentage of the total distance that was driven with a speed above the speed limit (PDA), but the subjects relapsed to their previous PDA level in Baseline 2. This suggests that ISA is more suited as a permanent assistive device (i.e. cognitive prosthesis) than as a temporary training device. As ABI is associated with a multitude of cognitive deficits, we developed a conceptual framework, which focused on the cognitive parameters that have been shown to relate to speeding behaviour, namely "intention to speed" and "inattention to speeding". The subjects' combined status on the two independent parameters made up their "speeding profile". A comparison of the speeding profiles and the speed logs indicated that ISA in the present study was more efficient in reducing inattention to speeding than affecting intention to speed. This finding suggests that ISA might be more suited for some neuropsychological profiles than for others, and that customisation of ISA for different neuropsychological profiles may be required

Study design for a clinical trial to examine food price elasticity among participants in federal food assistance programs: A laboratory-based grocery store study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zach Conrad

2018-06-01

Full Text Available We present a protocol for a study investigating the effect of food price changes on purchasing decisions among individuals participating in federal food assistance programs and among those not participating in these programs. We use a laboratory-based grocery store design, which provides greater control over factors influencing food purchasing than in situ experiments in actual grocery stores. We focus primarily, but not exclusively, on eggs because they are highly nutritious, easy to prepare, can be included in many different dishes, and are a part of a wide range of cultural food menus. The primary aim of this study is to compare the own-and cross-price elasticity of eggs between individuals participating in federal food assistance programs and those not participating in these programs. Our secondary aims are to 1 compare the own- and cross-price elasticity of eggs between overweight/obese individuals and non-overweight/obese individuals, 2 examine whether delay discounting moderates the effect of income on own- and cross-price elasticity, 3 examine whether subjective social status moderates the effect of participation in federal food assistance programs on the purchase of high nutrient-dense foods, and 4 examine whether usual psychological stress level moderates the effect of subjective social status on the purchase of high-nutrient dense foods. The results of this study will provide information about the drivers of food demand among low-income adults. A better understanding of these drivers is needed to develop effective nutrition interventions for this large population. Keywords: Price elasticity, Food assistance, Egg, Obesity, Social status, Stress

Autonomous Driver Based on an Intelligent System of Decision-Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Czubenko, Michał; Kowalczuk, Zdzisław; Ordys, Andrew

The paper presents and discusses a system ( xDriver ) which uses an Intelligent System of Decision-making (ISD) for the task of car driving. The principal subject is the implementation, simulation and testing of the ISD system described earlier in our publications (Kowalczuk and Czubenko in artificial intelligence and soft computing lecture notes in computer science, lecture notes in artificial intelligence, Springer, Berlin, 2010, 2010, In Int J Appl Math Comput Sci 21(4):621-635, 2011, In Pomiary Autom Robot 2(17):60-5, 2013) for the task of autonomous driving. The design of the whole ISD system is a result of a thorough modelling of human psychology based on an extensive literature study. Concepts somehow similar to the ISD system can be found in the literature (Muhlestein in Cognit Comput 5(1):99-105, 2012; Wiggins in Cognit Comput 4(3):306-319, 2012), but there are no reports of a system which would model the human psychology for the purpose of autonomously driving a car. The paper describes assumptions for simulation, the set of needs and reactions (characterizing the ISD system), the road model and the vehicle model, as well as presents some results of simulation. It proves that the xDriver system may behave on the road as a very inexperienced driver.

Multi-scale Drivers of Variations in Atmospheric Evaporative Demand Based on Observations and Physically-based Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, L.; Sheffield, J.; Li, D.

2015-12-01

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key link between the availability of water resources and climate change and climate variability. Variability of ET has important environmental and socioeconomic implications for managing hydrological hazards, food and energy production. Although there have been many observational and modeling studies of ET, how ET has varied and the drivers of the variations at different temporal scales remain elusive. Much of the uncertainty comes from the atmospheric evaporative demand (AED), which is the combined effect of radiative and aerodynamic controls. The inconsistencies among modeled AED estimates and the limited observational data may originate from multiple sources including the limited time span and uncertainties in the data. To fully investigate and untangle the intertwined drivers of AED, we present a spectrum analysis to identify key controls of AED across multiple temporal scales. We use long-term records of observed pan evaporation for 1961-2006 from 317 weather stations across China and physically-based model estimates of potential evapotranspiration (PET). The model estimates are based on surface meteorology and radiation derived from reanalysis, satellite retrievals and station data. Our analyses show that temperature plays a dominant role in regulating variability of AED at the inter-annual scale. At the monthly and seasonal scales, the primary control of AED shifts from radiation in humid regions to humidity in dry regions. Unlike many studies focusing on the spatial pattern of ET drivers based on a traditional supply and demand framework, this study underlines the importance of temporal scales when discussing controls of ET variations.

The driver, the road, the rules … and the rest? A systems-based approach to young driver road safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott-Parker, B; Goode, N; Salmon, P

2015-01-01

The persistent overrepresentation of young drivers in road crashes is universally recognised. A multitude of factors influencing their behaviour and safety have been identified through methods including crash analyses, simulated and naturalistic driving studies, and self-report measures. Across the globe numerous, diverse, countermeasures have been implemented; the design of the vast majority of these has been informed by a driver-centric approach. An alternative approach gaining popularity in transport safety is the systems approach which considers not only the characteristics of the individual, but also the decisions and actions of other actors within the road transport system, along with the interactions amongst them. This paper argues that for substantial improvements to be made in young driver road safety, what has been learnt from driver-centric research needs to be integrated into a systems approach, thus providing a holistic appraisal of the young driver road safety problem. Only then will more effective opportunities and avenues for intervention be realised. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Highly automated driving, secondary task performance, and driver state.

Science.gov (United States)

Merat, Natasha; Jamson, A Hamish; Lai, Frank C H; Carsten, Oliver

2012-10-01

A driving simulator study compared the effect of changes in workload on performance in manual and highly automated driving. Changes in driver state were also observed by examining variations in blink patterns. With the addition of a greater number of advanced driver assistance systems in vehicles, the driver's role is likely to alter in the future from an operator in manual driving to a supervisor of highly automated cars. Understanding the implications of such advancements on drivers and road safety is important. A total of 50 participants were recruited for this study and drove the simulator in both manual and highly automated mode. As well as comparing the effect of adjustments in driving-related workload on performance, the effect of a secondary Twenty Questions Task was also investigated. In the absence of the secondary task, drivers' response to critical incidents was similar in manual and highly automated driving conditions. The worst performance was observed when drivers were required to regain control of driving in the automated mode while distracted by the secondary task. Blink frequency patterns were more consistent for manual than automated driving but were generally suppressed during conditions of high workload. Highly automated driving did not have a deleterious effect on driver performance, when attention was not diverted to the distracting secondary task. As the number of systems implemented in cars increases, an understanding of the implications of such automation on drivers' situation awareness, workload, and ability to remain engaged with the driving task is important.

Evaluation of Candidate Measures for Home-Based Screening of Sleep Disordered Breathing in Taiwanese Bus Drivers

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Hua Ting

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Sleepiness-at-the-wheel has been identified as a major cause of highway accidents. The aim of our study is identifying the candidate measures for home-based screening of sleep disordered breathing in Taiwanese bus drivers, instead of polysomnography. Methods: Overnight polysomnography accompanied with simultaneous measurements of alternative screening devices (pulse oximetry, ApneaLink, and Actigraphy, heart rate variability, wake-up systolic blood pressure and questionnaires were completed by 151 eligible participants who were long-haul bus drivers with a duty period of more than 12 h a day and duty shifting. Results: 63.6% of professional bus drivers were diagnosed as having sleep disordered breathing and had a higher body mass index, neck circumference, systolic blood pressure, arousal index and desaturation index than those professional bus drivers without evidence of sleep disordered breathing. Simple home-based candidate measures: (1 Pulse oximetry, oxygen-desaturation indices by ≥3% and 4% (r = 0.87~0.92; (2 Pulse oximetry, pulse-rising indices by ≥7% and 8% from a baseline (r = 0.61~0.89; and (3 ApneaLink airflow detection, apnea-hypopnea indices (r = 0.70~0.70, based on recording-time or Actigraphy-corrected total sleep time were all significantly correlated with, and had high agreement with, corresponding polysomnographic apnea-hypopnea indices [(1 94.5%~96.6%, (2 93.8%~97.2%, (3 91.1%~91.3%, respectively]. Conversely, no validities of SDB screening were found in the multi-variables apnea prediction questionnaire, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, night-sleep heart rate variability, wake-up systolic blood pressure and anthropometric variables. Conclusions: The indices of pulse oximetry and apnea flow detection are eligible criteria for home-based screening of sleep disordered breathing, specifically for professional drivers.

Toward best practice in Human Machine Interface design for older drivers: A review of current design guidelines.

Science.gov (United States)

Young, K L; Koppel, S; Charlton, J L

2017-09-01

Older adults are the fastest growing segment of the driving population. While there is a strong emphasis for older people to maintain their mobility, the safety of older drivers is a serious community concern. Frailty and declines in a range of age-related sensory, cognitive, and physical impairments can place older drivers at an increased risk of crash-related injuries and death. A number of studies have indicated that in-vehicle technologies such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and In-Vehicle Information Systems (IVIS) may provide assistance to older drivers. However, these technologies will only benefit older drivers if their design is congruent with the complex needs and diverse abilities of this driving cohort. The design of ADAS and IVIS is largely informed by automotive Human Machine Interface (HMI) guidelines. However, it is unclear to what extent the declining sensory, cognitive and physical capabilities of older drivers are addressed in the current guidelines. This paper provides a review of key current design guidelines for IVIS and ADAS with respect to the extent they address age-related changes in functional capacities. The review revealed that most of the HMI guidelines do not address design issues related to older driver impairments. In fact, in many guidelines driver age and sensory cognitive and physical impairments are not mentioned at all and where reference is made, it is typically very broad. Prescriptive advice on how to actually design a system so that it addresses the needs and limitations of older drivers is not provided. In order for older drivers to reap the full benefits that in-vehicle technology can afford, it is critical that further work establish how older driver limitations and capabilities can be supported by the system design process, including their inclusion into HMI design guidelines. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A spring-mass-damper system dynamics-based driver-vehicle integrated model for representing heterogeneous traffic

Science.gov (United States)

Munigety, Caleb Ronald

2018-04-01

The traditional traffic microscopic simulation models consider driver and vehicle as a single unit to represent the movements of drivers in a traffic stream. Due to this very fact, the traditional car-following models have the driver behavior related parameters, but ignore the vehicle related aspects. This approach is appropriate for homogeneous traffic conditions where car is the major vehicle type. However, in heterogeneous traffic conditions where multiple vehicle types are present, it becomes important to incorporate the vehicle related parameters exclusively to account for the varying dynamic and static characteristics. Thus, this paper presents a driver-vehicle integrated model hinged on the principles involved in physics-based spring-mass-damper mechanical system. While the spring constant represents the driver’s aggressiveness, the damping constant and the mass component take care of the stability and size/weight related aspects, respectively. The proposed model when tested, behaved pragmatically in representing the vehicle-type dependent longitudinal movements of vehicles.

[Investigation of Legionella pneumophila seropositivity in the professional long distance drivers as a risky occupation].

Science.gov (United States)

Polat, Yusuf; Ergin, Cağri; Kaleli, Ilknur; Pinar, Ahmet

2007-04-01

Contaminated water sources, reservoirs and systems such as evaporative condensers of air-conditioners are known to be the main transmission routes of Legionella spp. which are ubiquitous aquatic bacteria. By virtue of this point the aim of this study was to investigate the rate of Legionella pneumophila seropositivity in a profession considered as risky due to the direct and prolonged exposure to air-conditioning and air-circulating systems. For this purpose, in the period of February-August 2004 a total of 79 male subjects (63 were bus drivers and 16 were driver assistants) who were continously travelling to two different route (South part as hot climate and Middle/North parts as cold climate of Turkey) from Denizli province coach station (a province located in internal Aegian where accepted as crossroads), were included to the study. The mean age and mean working duration of bus drivers were 43.0 +/- 1.1 years and 20.0 +/- 1.1 years, respectively, while these values were 22.5 +/- 0.9 years and 4.0 +/- 0.6 years, respectively, for the drivers' assistants. The serum samples collected from the subjects were screened by a commercial indirect immunofluorescence method (Euroimmun, Germany) using L. pneumophila serogrup 1-14 antigens for the presence of specific antibodies. Additionally, air-conditioners' moisture exhaust samples of the busses in which seropositive subjects travelling with have been examined by culture and 5S rRNA gene targeted polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods, for the presence of Legionella spp. The overall L. pneumophila seropositivity rate was detected as 15.2% (12/79). This rate was 19% (12/63) for bus drivers while all of the drivers' assistants were found seronegative. The seropositivity rate was found statistically higher in the personnel who were travelling to the hot climates (10/36, 27.8%) than those who travel to cold climates (2/43, 4.6%), (p travel. Our data indicated that long distance bus drivers were chronically exposed to this

Incorporating driver distraction in car-following models: Applying the TCI to the IDM

OpenAIRE

Hoogendoorn, R.G.; van Arem, B.; Hoogendoorn, S.P.

2013-01-01

ITS can play a significant role in the improvement of traffic flow, traffic safety and greenhouse gas emissions. However, the implementation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems may lead to adaptation effects in longitudinal driving behavior following driver distraction. It was however not yet clear how to model these adaptation effects in driving behavior mathematically and on which theoretical framework this should be grounded. To this end in this contribution we introduce a theoretical fr...

The Ventilator-Assisted Child: A Practical Resource Guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Driver, Lynn E.; Nelson, Virginia Simson; Warschausky, Seth A.

The 16 chapters comprising this manual are intended to provide a practical guide for meeting the needs of ventilator-assisted children. Chapters have the following titles and authors: (1)"Spectrum of Care" (Virginia Simson Nelson and Lynn E. Driver); (2) "Long-Term Airway Management for the Ventilator-Assisted Child" (Ann Marie…

Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA).

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2015-01-01

Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) has been a promising type of advanced driver support system for some decades. From a technical point of view, large scale ISA implementation is possible in the short term. The different types of ISA are expected to have different effects on behaviour and traffic

What drives technology-based distractions? A structural equation model on social-psychological factors of technology-based driver distraction engagement.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Huei-Yen Winnie; Donmez, Birsen

2016-06-01

With the proliferation of new mobile and in-vehicle technologies, understanding the motivations behind a driver's voluntary engagement with such technologies is crucial from a safety perspective, yet is complex. Previous literature either surveyed a large number of distractions that may be diverse, or too focuses on one particular activity, such as cell phone use. Further, earlier studies about social-psychological factors underlying driver distraction tend to focus on one or two factors in-depth, and those that examine a more comprehensive set of factors are often limited in their analyses methods. The present work considers a wide array of social-psychological factors within a structural equation model to predict their influence on a focused set of technology-based distractions. A better understanding of these facilitators can enhance the design of distraction mitigation strategies. We analysed survey responses about three technology-based driver distractions: holding phone conversations, manually interacting with cell phones, and adjusting the settings of in-vehicle technology, as well as responses on five social-psychological factors: attitude, descriptive norm, injunctive norm, technology inclination, and a risk/sensation seeking personality. Using data collected from 525 drivers (ages: 18-80), a structural equation model was built to analyse these social-psychological factors as latent variables influencing self-reported engagement in these three technology-based distractions. Self-reported engagement in technology-based distractions was found to be largely influenced by attitudes about the distractions. Personality and social norms also played a significant role, but technology inclination did not. A closer look at two age groups (18-30 and 30+) showed that the effect of social norms, especially of injunctive norm (i.e., perceived approvals), was less prominent in the 30+ age group, while personality remained a significant predictor for the 30+ age group but

Drivers of international performance of Brazilian technology-based firms

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Maria Carolina Serpa Fagundes de Oliveira

2018-01-01

Full Text Available For Technology-Based Firms, international expansion represents an opportunity for growth and value creation. The present study was designed to analyze the role of technology-based companies (TBCs internationalization drivers on international performance. Therefore, a descriptive research was carried out with a quantitative approach performed through a survey. Data collection happened with 53 Brazilian TBCs located in innovation habitats. These data were analyzed by multivariate statistical technique. The results showed that the determinants of the international performance of Brazilian TBCs, can be set by external influencers (localization in innovation habitats, integration into global productive chains, partnerships and strategic alliances for innovation and government policies and internal influencers (innovation capability, international market orientation and international marketing skills.

OLDER DRIVERS AND ADAS

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Ragnhild J. DAVIDSE

2006-01-01

Next, based on the available literature, relevant ADAS are discussed in terms of their availability, their effects on safety and the willingness of older drivers to use and buy them. One of the conclusions is that only very few of the types of support that are thought to be most beneficial to the safety of older drivers are provided by the ADAS that are currently available.

Environmental Drivers of NDVI-Based Vegetation Phenology in Central Asia

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Jahan Kariyeva

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Through the application and use of geospatial data, this study aimed to detect and characterize some of the key environmental drivers contributing to landscape-scale vegetation response patterns in Central Asia. The objectives of the study were to identify the variables driving the year-to-year vegetation dynamics in three regional landscapes (desert, steppe, and mountainous; and to determine if the identified environmental drivers can be used to explain the spatial-temporal variability of these spatio-temporal dynamics over time. It was posed that patterns of change in terrestrial phenology, derived from the 8 km bi-weekly time series of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI data acquired by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR satellites (1981–2008, can be explained through a multi-scale analysis of a suite of environmental drivers. Multiple linear stepwise regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses and address the objectives of the study. The annually computed phenological response variables or pheno-metricstime (season start, season length, and an NDVI-based productivity metric were modeled as a function of ten environmental factors relating to soil, topography, and climate. Each of the three studied regional landscapes was shown to be governed by a distinctive suite of environmental drivers. The phenological responses of the steppe landscapes were affected by the year-to-year variation in temperature regimes. The phenology of the mountainous landscapes was influenced primarily by the elevation gradient. The phenological responses of desert landscapes were demonstrated to have the greatest variability over time and seemed to be affected by soil carbon content and year-to-year variation of both temperature regimes and winter precipitation patterns. Amounts and scales of observed phenological variability over time (measured through coefficient of variation for each pheno-metrictime in each of the regional

[Simulation-based robot-assisted surgical training].

Science.gov (United States)

Kolontarev, K B; Govorov, A V; Rasner, P I; Sheptunov, S A; Prilepskaya, E A; Maltsev, E G; Pushkar, D Yu

2015-12-01

Since the first use of robotic surgical system in 2000, the robot-assisted technology has gained wide popularity throughout the world. Robot-assisted surgical training is a complex issue that requires significant efforts from students and teacher. During the last two decades, simulation-based training had received active development due to wide-spread occurrence and popularization of laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgical techniques. We performed a systematic review to identify the currently available simulators for robot-assisted surgery. We searched the Medline and Pubmed, English sources of literature data, using the following key words and phrases: "robotics", "robotic surgery", "computer assisted surgery", "simulation", "computer simulation", "virtual reality", "surgical training", and "surgical education". There were identified 565 publications, which meet the key words and phrases; 19 publications were selected for the final analysis. It was established that simulation-based training is the most promising teaching tool that can be used in the training of the next generation robotic surgeons. Today the use of simulators to train surgeons is validated. Price of devices is an obvious barrier for inclusion in the program for training of robotic surgeons, but the lack of this tool will result in a sharp increase in the duration of specialists training.

Exploring older driver crash trend: New Jersey case study

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Vanvi Trieu

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Older drivers age 65 and above are known to experience greater risk on the roadway as well as increasing the risk to other roadway users. Within the next 20 years, their population is expected to increase from 41 million in 2011 to 70 million in 2030. To address this foreseeable change, the nation's recent Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21 act requires state and local governments to examine older drivers and pedestrian risks and implement countermeasures as appropriate. This research was conducted to assist agencies in strategising for future plans, programmes and initiatives to better address the problem presented. This was accomplished by performing a detailed engineering analysis on crash data of older drivers over a 10-year period (2003–2012 from the state of New Jersey to identify crash trends and characteristics. A major finding from this research was the increase in fatal crashes of older drivers as a function of age. Top-ranking collision types with other vehicles and non-vehicles were identified. Crashes as a function of seasonal change, climate and lighting conditions were also examined.

Driver Distraction Using Visual-Based Sensors and Algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández, Alberto; Usamentiaga, Rubén; Carús, Juan Luis; Casado, Rubén

2016-10-28

Driver distraction, defined as the diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving toward a competing activity, is increasingly recognized as a significant source of injuries and fatalities on the roadway. Additionally, the trend towards increasing the use of in-vehicle information systems is critical because they induce visual, biomechanical and cognitive distraction and may affect driving performance in qualitatively different ways. Non-intrusive methods are strongly preferred for monitoring distraction, and vision-based systems have appeared to be attractive for both drivers and researchers. Biomechanical, visual and cognitive distractions are the most commonly detected types in video-based algorithms. Many distraction detection systems only use a single visual cue and therefore, they may be easily disturbed when occlusion or illumination changes appear. Moreover, the combination of these visual cues is a key and challenging aspect in the development of robust distraction detection systems. These visual cues can be extracted mainly by using face monitoring systems but they should be completed with more visual cues (e.g., hands or body information) or even, distraction detection from specific actions (e.g., phone usage). Additionally, these algorithms should be included in an embedded device or system inside a car. This is not a trivial task and several requirements must be taken into account: reliability, real-time performance, low cost, small size, low power consumption, flexibility and short time-to-market. The key points for the development and implementation of sensors to carry out the detection of distraction will also be reviewed. This paper shows a review of the role of computer vision technology applied to the development of monitoring systems to detect distraction. Some key points considered as both future work and challenges ahead yet to be solved will also be addressed.

Driver Distraction Using Visual-Based Sensors and Algorithms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alberto Fernández

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Driver distraction, defined as the diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving toward a competing activity, is increasingly recognized as a significant source of injuries and fatalities on the roadway. Additionally, the trend towards increasing the use of in-vehicle information systems is critical because they induce visual, biomechanical and cognitive distraction and may affect driving performance in qualitatively different ways. Non-intrusive methods are strongly preferred for monitoring distraction, and vision-based systems have appeared to be attractive for both drivers and researchers. Biomechanical, visual and cognitive distractions are the most commonly detected types in video-based algorithms. Many distraction detection systems only use a single visual cue and therefore, they may be easily disturbed when occlusion or illumination changes appear. Moreover, the combination of these visual cues is a key and challenging aspect in the development of robust distraction detection systems. These visual cues can be extracted mainly by using face monitoring systems but they should be completed with more visual cues (e.g., hands or body information or even, distraction detection from specific actions (e.g., phone usage. Additionally, these algorithms should be included in an embedded device or system inside a car. This is not a trivial task and several requirements must be taken into account: reliability, real-time performance, low cost, small size, low power consumption, flexibility and short time-to-market. The key points for the development and implementation of sensors to carry out the detection of distraction will also be reviewed. This paper shows a review of the role of computer vision technology applied to the development of monitoring systems to detect distraction. Some key points considered as both future work and challenges ahead yet to be solved will also be addressed.

49 CFR 397.101 - Requirements for motor carriers and drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... level of radiological risk; and (3) Tell the driver which route to take and that the motor vehicle... will access emergency assistance in each State to be entered. (e) No person may transport a package of highway route controlled quantity of Class 7 (radioactive) materials on a public highway unless: (1) The...

Convolutional Neural Network-Based Classification of Driver's Emotion during Aggressive and Smooth Driving Using Multi-Modal Camera Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kwan Woo; Yoon, Hyo Sik; Song, Jong Min; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-03-23

Because aggressive driving often causes large-scale loss of life and property, techniques for advance detection of adverse driver emotional states have become important for the prevention of aggressive driving behaviors. Previous studies have primarily focused on systems for detecting aggressive driver emotion via smart-phone accelerometers and gyro-sensors, or they focused on methods of detecting physiological signals using electroencephalography (EEG) or electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors. Because EEG and ECG sensors cause discomfort to drivers and can be detached from the driver's body, it becomes difficult to focus on bio-signals to determine their emotional state. Gyro-sensors and accelerometers depend on the performance of GPS receivers and cannot be used in areas where GPS signals are blocked. Moreover, if driving on a mountain road with many quick turns, a driver's emotional state can easily be misrecognized as that of an aggressive driver. To resolve these problems, we propose a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based method of detecting emotion to identify aggressive driving using input images of the driver's face, obtained using near-infrared (NIR) light and thermal camera sensors. In this research, we conducted an experiment using our own database, which provides a high classification accuracy for detecting driver emotion leading to either aggressive or smooth (i.e., relaxed) driving. Our proposed method demonstrates better performance than existing methods.

Analyzing the Influence of Mobile Phone Use of Drivers on Traffic Flow Based on an Improved Cellular Automaton Model

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Yao Xiao

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper aimed to analyze the influence of drivers’ behavior of phone use while driving on traffic flow, including both traffic efficiency and traffic safety. An improved cellular automaton model was proposed to simulate traffic flow with distracted drivers based on the Nagel-Schreckenberg model. The driving characters of drivers using a phone were first discussed and a value representing the probability to use a phone while driving was put into the CA model. Simulation results showed that traffic flow rate was significantly reduced if some drivers used a phone compared to no phone use. The flow rate and velocity decreased as the proportion of drivers using a phone increased. While, under low density, the risk of traffic decreased first and then increased as the distracted drivers increased, the distracted behavior of drivers, like using a phone, could reduce the flow rate by 5 percent according to the simulation.

Deep Learning-Based Gaze Detection System for Automobile Drivers Using a NIR Camera Sensor

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Rizwan Ali Naqvi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available A paradigm shift is required to prevent the increasing automobile accident deaths that are mostly due to the inattentive behavior of drivers. Knowledge of gaze region can provide valuable information regarding a driver’s point of attention. Accurate and inexpensive gaze classification systems in cars can improve safe driving. However, monitoring real-time driving behaviors and conditions presents some challenges: dizziness due to long drives, extreme lighting variations, glasses reflections, and occlusions. Past studies on gaze detection in cars have been chiefly based on head movements. The margin of error in gaze detection increases when drivers gaze at objects by moving their eyes without moving their heads. To solve this problem, a pupil center corneal reflection (PCCR-based method has been considered. However, the error of accurately detecting the pupil center and corneal reflection center is increased in a car environment due to various environment light changes, reflections on glasses surface, and motion and optical blurring of captured eye image. In addition, existing PCCR-based methods require initial user calibration, which is difficult to perform in a car environment. To address this issue, we propose a deep learning-based gaze detection method using a near-infrared (NIR camera sensor considering driver head and eye movement that does not require any initial user calibration. The proposed system is evaluated on our self-constructed database as well as on open Columbia gaze dataset (CAVE-DB. The proposed method demonstrated greater accuracy than the previous gaze classification methods.

Examination of Supplemental Driver Training and Online Basic Driver Education

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-01

This report describes supplemental driver training programs and online basic driver education. It coves supplemental driver training that : focused on knowledge and skills beyond those normally found in traditional driver education delivered in the U...

Analysis of Driver Evasive Maneuvering Prior to Intersection Crashes Using Event Data Recorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Scanlon, John M; Kusano, Kristofer D; Gabler, Hampton C

2015-01-01

Intersection crashes account for over 4,500 fatalities in the United States each year. Intersection Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (I-ADAS) are emerging vehicle-based active safety systems that have the potential to help drivers safely navigate across intersections and prevent intersection crashes and injuries. The performance of an I-ADAS is expected to be highly dependent upon driver evasive maneuvering prior to an intersection crash. Little has been published, however, on the detailed evasive kinematics followed by drivers prior to real-world intersection crashes. The objective of this study was to characterize the frequency, timing, and kinematics of driver evasive maneuvers prior to intersection crashes. Event data recorders (EDRs) downloaded from vehicles involved in intersection crashes were investigated as part of NASS-CDS years 2001 to 2013. A total of 135 EDRs with precrash vehicle speed and braking application were downloaded to investigate evasive braking. A smaller subset of 59 EDRs that collected vehicle yaw rate was additionally analyzed to investigate evasive steering. Each vehicle was assigned to one of 3 precrash movement classifiers (traveling through the intersection, completely stopped, or rolling stop) based on the vehicle's calculated acceleration and observed velocity profile. To ensure that any significant steering input observed was an attempted evasive maneuver, the analysis excluded vehicles at intersections that were turning, driving on a curved road, or performing a lane change. Braking application at the last EDR-recorded time point was assumed to indicate evasive braking. A vehicle yaw rate greater than 4° per second was assumed to indicate an evasive steering maneuver. Drivers executed crash avoidance maneuvers in four-fifths of intersection crashes. A more detailed analysis of evasive braking frequency by precrash maneuver revealed that drivers performing complete or rolling stops (61.3%) braked less often than drivers

Driver's Behavior Modeling Using Fuzzy Logic

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Sehraneh Ghaemi

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In this study, we propose a hierarchical fuzzy system for human in a driver-vehicle-environment system to model takeover by different drivers. The driver's behavior is affected by the environment. The climate, road and car conditions are included in fuzzy modeling. For obtaining fuzzy rules, experts' opinions are benefited by means of questionnaires on effects of parameters such as climate, road and car conditions on driving capabilities. Also the precision, age and driving individuality are used to model the driver's behavior. Three different positions are considered for driving and decision making. A fuzzy model called Model I is presented for modeling the change of steering angle and speed control by considering time distances with existing cars in these three positions, the information about the speed and direction of car, and the steering angle of car. Also we obtained two other models based on fuzzy rules called Model II and Model III by using Sugeno fuzzy inference. Model II and Model III have less linguistic terms than Model I for the steering angle and direction of car. The results of three models are compared for a driver who drives based on driving laws.

Are professional drivers less sleepy than non-professional drivers?

Science.gov (United States)

Anund, Anna; Ahlström, Christer; Fors, Carina; Åkerstedt, Torbjörn

2018-01-01

Objective It is generally believed that professional drivers can manage quite severe fatigue before routine driving performance is affected. In addition, there are results indicating that professional drivers can adapt to prolonged night shifts and may be able to learn to drive without decreased performance under high levels of sleepiness. However, very little research has been conducted to compare professionals and non-professionals when controlling for time driven and time of day. Method The aim of this study was to use a driving simulator to investigate whether professional drivers are more resistant to sleep deprivation than non-professional drivers. Differences in the development of sleepiness (self-reported, physiological and behavioral) during driving was investigated in 11 young professional and 15 non-professional drivers. Results Professional drivers self-reported significantly lower sleepiness while driving a simulator than non-professional drivers. In contradiction, they showed longer blink durations and more line crossings, both of which are indicators of sleepiness. They also drove faster. The reason for the discrepancy in the relation between the different sleepiness indicators for the two groups could be due to more experience to sleepiness among the professional drivers or possibly to the faster speed, which might unconsciously have been used by the professionals to try to counteract sleepiness. Conclusion Professional drivers self-reported significantly lower sleepiness while driving a simulator than non-professional drivers. However, they showed longer blink durations and more line crossings, both of which are indicators of sleepiness, and they drove faster.

Research and implementation of intelligent gateway driver layer based on Linux bus

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ZHANG Jian

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Currently,in the field of smart home,there is no relevant organization that yet has proposed an unified protocol standard.It increases the complexity and limitations of heterogeneous gateway software framework design that different vendor′s devices have different communication mode and protocol standards.In this paper,a serial of interfaces are provided by Linux kernel,and a virtual bus is registered under Linux.The physical device drivers are able to connect to the virtual bus.The detailed designs of the communication protocol are placed in the underlying adapters,making the integration of heterogeneous networks more natural.At the same time,designing the intelligent gateway system driver layer based on Linux bus can let the application layer be more unified and clear logical.And it also let the hardware access network become more convenient and distinct.

Driver-Array Based Flat-Panel Loudspeakers: Theoretical Background and Design Guidelines

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, David Allan

This thesis relates to the simulation and design of flat-panel loudspeakers using moving-coil driver elements. A brief history of the industry is given, including a collection of products and patents from 1925 until the present, an overview of research papers, and a discussion of current products available. The mechanics of bending flat panels are developed with respect to localized driving forces, both in the frequency domain and the time domain as an impulse response. These simulations are compared to measurements on prototype panels. Additional resonant elements influence the behavior of the system: an optional ported rear enclosure and the resonant characteristics of the drivers. The governing equations for these systems are derived and solutions are implemented using equivalent mechanical circuits and numerical methods. The idea of using driver arrays to independently actuate modes of the panel is discussed at length with respect to modal addressability, modal spillover, and experimental validation. The numerical approach to determining the optimal driver placement for a given set of modes is derived and experimentally validated. An investigation of the acoustic behavior of flat panel loudspeakers is presented, using mechanical simulation results to predict the acoustic radiation. The simulations are compared to measurements and found to accurately predict important mechanical and acoustical behaviors. It is demonstrated that a driver array, with the proper biasing, is capable of creating a flat panel loudspeaker which acts more like a piston than a "diffuse radiator" flat panel loudspeaker. The techniques of "Modal Crossover Networks" are introduced, which use multi-band filters to bias the driver array differently for different frequency bands, optimized for audio reproduction. The question of how many drivers are necessary for a modal crossover network is addressed and found to be dependent on the estimated quality factor (Q) of the panel material and edge

Driver head pose tracking with thermal camera

Science.gov (United States)

Bole, S.; Fournier, C.; Lavergne, C.; Druart, G.; Lépine, T.

2016-09-01

Head pose can be seen as a coarse estimation of gaze direction. In automotive industry, knowledge about gaze direction could optimize Human-Machine Interface (HMI) and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Pose estimation systems are often based on camera when applications have to be contactless. In this paper, we explore uncooled thermal imagery (8-14μm) for its intrinsic night vision capabilities and for its invariance versus lighting variations. Two methods are implemented and compared, both are aided by a 3D model of the head. The 3D model, mapped with thermal texture, allows to synthesize a base of 2D projected models, differently oriented and labeled in yaw and pitch. The first method is based on keypoints. Keypoints of models are matched with those of the query image. These sets of matchings, aided with the 3D shape of the model, allow to estimate 3D pose. The second method is a global appearance approach. Among all 2D models of the base, algorithm searches the one which is the closest to the query image thanks to a weighted least squares difference.

Tracking progress in teenage driver crash risk in the United States since the advent of graduated driver licensing programs.

Science.gov (United States)

McCartt, Anne T; Teoh, Eric R

2015-06-01

This study examined U.S. teenagers' crash rates since 1996, when the first graduated driver licensing (GDL) program in the United State was implemented. Passenger vehicle driver crash involvement rates for 16-19 and 30-59 (middle-aged) year-olds were examined, using data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System, Census Bureau, and National Household Travel Surveys. Per capita fatal and police-reported crash rates in 2012 were lower for 16year-olds than for middle-aged drivers but older teenagers' rates were higher. Mileage-based fatal and police-reported crash rates in 2008 were higher for teenagers than for middle-aged drivers and higher for 16-17year-olds than for older teenagers. In 1996-2012, teenagers' per capita fatal and police-reported crash rates declined sharply, especially for 16-17year-olds, and more so than for middle-aged drivers. Substantial declines also occurred in teenagers' mileage-based fatal and police-reported crash rates from 1995-96 to 2008, generally more so than for middle-aged drivers. Regarding factors in fatal crashes in 1996 and 2012, proportions of young teenagers' crashes occurring at night and with multiple teenage passengers declined, more so than among older teenagers and middle-aged drivers. The proportion of fatally injured drivers who had been drinking declined for teenagers but changed little for middle-aged drivers. Improvements were not apparent in rates of driver errors or speeding among teenage drivers in fatal crashes. Teenage drivers' crash risk dropped during the period of implementation of GDL laws, especially fatal crash types targeted by GDL. However, teenagers' crash risk remains high, and important crash factors remain unaddressed by GDL. Although this study was not designed to examine the role of GDL, the results are consistent with the increased presence of such laws. More gains are achievable if states strengthen their laws. Copyright © 2015

Bus driving assistance system for town area by using ATmega328P microcontroller

Science.gov (United States)

Zakaria, Mohamad Fauzi; Soon, Tan Jiah; Rohani, Munzilah Md

2017-09-01

Recently, several bus accidents happened because of bus driver's behavior. In fact, there is no dedicated tool for assisting them to drive safely. This project gives solutions to this by assisting the driver, according to the speed and acceleration of the bus. These data are collected by using a motion processing unit (MPU-6050) and a global positioning system (GPS) and then indicate the driving mode status on the LEDs. All data and status are recorded in a secure digital (SD) card for the authority or the bus company to analyze the driving behavior of a bus driver. This system has been successfully developed and tested in two different areas which includes the UTHM main campus and the road from Parit Raja to Batu Pahat.

New Incremental Actuators based on Electro-active Polymer: Conceptual, Control, and Driver Design Considerations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thummala, Prasanth; Schneider, Henrik; Zhang, Zhe

2016-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the widely usedconventional linear actuator technologies and existing electroactivepolymer based linear and rotary actuators. It also providesthe conceptual, control and driver design considerations for anew dielectric electro-active polymer (DEAP) based...

A Model for Traffic Accidents Prediction Based on Driver Personality Traits Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marjana Čubranić-Dobrodolac

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The model proposed in this paper uses four psychological instruments for assessing driver behaviour and personality traits aiming to find a relationship between the considered constructs and the occurrence of traffic accidents. A Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11 was used for the assessment of impulsivity, Aggressive Driving Behaviour Questionnaire (ADBQ for assessing the aggressiveness while driving, Manchester Driver Attitude Questionnaire (DAQ and the Questionnaire for self-assessment of driving ability. Besides these instruments, the participants filled out an extensive demographic survey. Within the statistical analysis, in addition to the descriptive indicators, correlation coefficients were calculated and four hierarchical regression analyses were performed to determine the predictive power of personality traits on the occurrence of traffic accidents. Further, to confirm the results and to obtain additional information about the relationship between the considered variables, the structural equation modelling and binary logistic regression have been implemented. A sample of this research covered 305 drivers, of which there were 100 bus drivers and 102 truck drivers, as well as 103 drivers of privately owned vehicles. The results indicate that BIS-11 and ADBQ questionnaires show the best predictive power which means that impulsivity and aggressiveness as personality traits have the greatest influence on the occurrence of traffic accidents. This research could be useful in many fields, such as the design of selection procedures for professional drivers, development of programs for the prevention of traffic accidents and violations of law, rehabilitation of drivers who have been deprived of the driving license, etc.

Driver behavior analysis for right-turn drivers at signalized intersections using SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study data.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jianqing; Xu, Hao

2017-12-01

Understanding driver behavior is important for traffic safety and operation, especially at intersections where different traffic movements conflict. While most driver-behavior studies are based on simulation, this paper documents the analysis of driver-behavior at signalized intersections with the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS) data. This study analyzes the different influencing factors on the operation (speed control) and observation of right-turn drivers. A total of 300 NDS trips at six signalized intersections were used, including the NDS time-series sensor data, the forward videos and driver face videos. Different factors of drivers, vehicles, roads and environments were studied for their influence on driver behavior. An influencing index function was developed and the index was calculated for each influencing factor to quantitatively describe its influencing level. The influencing index was applied to prioritize the factors, which facilitates development and selection of safety countermeasures to improve intersection safety. Drivers' speed control was analyzed under different conditions with consideration of the prioritized influencing factors. Vehicle type, traffic signal status, conflicting traffic, conflicting pedestrian and driver age group were identified as the five major influencing factors on driver observation. This research revealed that drivers have high acceleration and low observation frequency under Right-Turn-On-Red (RTOR), which constituted potential danger for other roadway users, especially for pedestrians. As speed has a direct influence on crash rates and severities, the revealed speed patterns of the different situations also benefit selection of safety countermeasures at signalized intersections. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

DRIVER INATTENTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard TAY

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Driver inattention, especially driver distraction, is an extremely influential but generally neglected contributing factor of road crashes. This paper explores some of the common behaviours associated with several common forms of driver inattention, with respect to their perceived crash risks, rates of self-reported behaviours and whether drivers regulate such behaviours depending on the road and traffic environment, and provides some policy recommendations to address issues raised.

Battery electric vehicles - implications for the driver interface.

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Isabel; Krems, Josef F

2016-03-01

The current study examines the human-machine interface of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) from a user-perspective, focussing on the evaluation of BEV-specific displays, the relevance of provided information and challenges for drivers due to the concept of electricity in a road vehicle. A sample of 40 users drove a BEV for 6 months. Data were gathered at three points of data collection. Participants perceived the BEV-specific displays as only moderately reliable and helpful for estimating the displayed parameters. This was even less the case after driving the BEV for 3 months. A taxonomy of user requirements was compiled revealing the need for improved and additional information, especially regarding energy consumption and efficiency. Drivers had difficulty understanding electrical units and the energy consumption of the BEV. On the background of general principles for display design, results provide implications how to display relevant information and how to facilitate drivers' understanding of energy consumption in BEVs. Practitioner Summary: Battery electric vehicle (BEV) displays need to incorporate new information. A taxonomy of user requirements was compiled revealing the need for improved and additional information in the BEV interface. Furthermore, drivers had trouble understanding electrical units and energy consumption; therefore, appropriate assistance is required. Design principles which are specifically important in the BEV context are discussed.

Color adjustable LED driver design based on PWM

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Yiying; Yu, Caideng; Que, Longcheng; Zhou, Yun; Lv, Jian

2012-10-01

Light-emitting diode (LED) is a liquid cold source light source that rapidly develops in recent years. The merits of high brightness efficiency, long duration, high credibility and no pollution make it satisfy our demands for consumption and natural life, and gradually replace the traditional lamp-house-incandescent light and fluorescent light. However, because of the high cost and unstable drive circuit, the application range is restricted. To popularize the applications of the LED, we focus on improving the LED driver circuit to change this phenomenon. Basing on the traditional LED drive circuit, we adopt pre-setup constant current model and introduce pulse width modulation (PWM) control method to realize adjustable 256 level-grays display. In this paper, basing on human visual characteristics and the traditional PWM control method, we propose a new PWM control timing clock to alter the duty cycle of PWM signal to realize the simple gamma correction. Consequently, the brightness can accord with our visual characteristics.

Research on driver fatigue detection

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ting; Chen, Zhong; Ouyang, Chao

2018-03-01

Driver fatigue is one of the main causes of frequent traffic accidents. In this case, driver fatigue detection system has very important significance in avoiding traffic accidents. This paper presents a real-time method based on fusion of multiple facial features, including eye closure, yawn and head movement. The eye state is classified as being open or closed by a linear SVM classifier trained using HOG features of the detected eye. The mouth state is determined according to the width-height ratio of the mouth. The head movement is detected by head pitch angle calculated by facial landmark. The driver's fatigue state can be reasoned by the model trained by above features. According to experimental results, drive fatigue detection obtains an excellent performance. It indicates that the developed method is valuable for the application of avoiding traffic accidents caused by driver's fatigue.

Associating crash avoidance maneuvers with driver attributes and accident characteristics: a mixed logit model approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaplan, Sigal; Prato, Carlo Giacomo

2012-01-01

from the key role of proactive and state-aware road users within the concept of sustainable safety systems, as well as from the key role of effective corrective maneuvers in the success of automated in-vehicle warning and driver assistance systems. Methods: The analysis is conducted by means of a mixed...... about the risks of driving under fatigue and distraction being comparable to the risks of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Moreover, the results suggest the need to educate drivers about hazard perception, designing a forgiving infrastructure within a sustainable safety systems......Objective: The current study focuses on the propensity of drivers to engage in crash avoidance maneuvers in relation to driver attributes, critical events, crash characteristics, vehicles involved, road characteristics, and environmental conditions. The importance of avoidance maneuvers derives...

Driving fatigue in professional drivers: a survey of truck and taxi drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Fanxing; Li, Shuling; Cao, Lingzhi; Li, Musen; Peng, Qijia; Wang, Chunhui; Zhang, Wei

2015-01-01

Fatigue among truck drivers has been studied extensively; however, less is known regarding the fatigue experience of taxi drivers in heavily populated metropolitan areas. This study aimed to compare the differences and similarities between truck and taxi driver fatigue to provide implications for the fatigue management and education of professional drivers. A sample of 274 truck drivers and 286 taxi drivers in Beijing was surveyed via a questionnaire, which included items regarding work characteristics, fatigue experience, accident information, attitude toward fatigue, and methods of counteracting fatigue. Driver fatigue was prevalent among professional drivers, and it was even more serious for taxi drivers. Taxi drivers reported more frequent fatigue experiences and were involved in more accidents. Among the contributing factors to fatigue, prolonged driving time was the most important factor identified by both driver groups. Importantly, the reason for the engagement in prolonged driving was neither due to the lack of awareness concerning the serious outcome of fatigue driving nor because of their poor detection of fatigue. The most probable reason was the optimism bias, as a result of which these professional drivers thought that fatigue was more serious for other drivers than for themselves, and they thought that they were effective in counteracting the effect of fatigue on their driving performance. Moreover, truck drivers tended to employ methods that require stopping to counteract fatigue, whereas taxi drivers preferred methods that were simultaneous with driving. Although both driver groups considered taking a nap as one of the most effective means to address fatigue, this method was not commonly used. Interestingly, these drivers were aware that the methods they frequently used were not the most effective means to counteract fatigue. This study provides knowledge on truck and taxi drivers' characteristics in fatigue experience, fatigue attitude, and

Activity-Based Costing Using Multicriteria Drivers: An Accounting Proposal to Boost Companies Toward Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heitor F. Marinho Neto

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Recognizing that natural environment is reaching its maximum limits in providing resources and diluting the waste generated by human production systems, efforts toward more sustainable production systems are mandatory to secure the development of future generations. For this purpose, changing the productivity model adopted by companies that are almost exclusively rooted on circulating money to generate profit, named business as usual, is an important issue. In this sense, an alternative would be establishing the relationship of stocks and flows of energy, material, and information with environmental, economic and social outcomes, thus resulting in new accounting approaches. This work aims to propose an activity-based costing (ABC based on multicriteria drivers including economic, emissions, and emergy (with an “m” values. The proposed ABC costing allocates each one of the multicriteria drivers into a specific part of the sustainability conceptual model, in an attempt to embrace a holistic perspective and allow for a sustainable-based decision, rather than considering purely economic drivers. The goal programming (GP method is considered so as to support a decision based on multicriteria aspects. Results show that the proposed accounting approach known as ABCsustain allows for decisions toward a company's sustainability by acting on both the amount and kind of a company's product that should be managed, as well as on the effective increase of a specific company's activity or process. The proposed ABCsustain could make the insertion of environmental issues into companies strategic planning more effective. It is expected that environmental issues go beyond a simple diagnoses and begin to be considered as action in factum in the companies' decisions toward achieving a more sustainable world system.

Development of pulsed high current drivers for fast Z-pinch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Fengju; Qiu Aici; Zeng Zhengzhong; Zeng Jiangtao; Kuai Bin; Yang Hailiang

2006-01-01

It is required that the peak current of high power pulsed drive for fast Z-pinch reaches 60 MA to realize inertial confine fusion (ICF) and high yield (HY). With the conventional technological methods similar to the Z or Saturn apparatus, increasing driver current further is impractical and difficult according to the cost, structure complexity and reliability of the driver, so it is necessary to develop novel fast pulsed high current driver. The present art-of-state and trends of fast Z-pinch driver are summarized, and the typical conceptual designs and technological methods on ICF/HY PRS (plasma radiation source) and destroying-level super X-ray simulators in USA and Russia are outlined, such as HCEI's UGXX1 driver and new Saturn driver based on fast linear transformer driver (FLTD) and novel driver based on fast Marx generator (FMG) with current of 15 MA. The crucial technological problems and requirements to investigate in the future are presented. (authors)

A driver-adaptive stability control strategy for sport utility vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Shenjin; He, Yuping

2017-08-01

Conventional vehicle stability control (VSC) systems are designed for average drivers. For a driver with a good driving skill, the VSC systems may be redundant; for a driver with a poor driving skill, the VSC intervention may be inadequate. To increase safety of sport utility vehicles (SUVs), this paper proposes a novel driver-adaptive VSC (DAVSC) strategy based on scaling the target yaw rate commanded by the driver. The DAVSC system is adaptive to drivers' driving skills. More control effort would be exerted for drivers with poor driving skills, and vice versa. A sliding mode control (SMC)-based differential braking (DB) controller is designed using a three degrees of freedom (DOF) yaw-plane model. An eight DOF nonlinear yaw-roll model is used to simulate the SUV dynamics. Two driver models, namely longitudinal and lateral, are used to 'drive' the virtual SUV. By integrating the virtual SUV, the DB controller, and the driver models, the performance of the DAVSC system is investigated. The simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the DAVSC strategy.

A drug identification system for intoxicated drivers based on a systematic review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alfonso GONZÁLEZ

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Tests to detect the use of illegal substances among drivers are becoming more common. During these tests, a saliva test is performed and agents observe the driver to determine whether or not they are driving under the influence of psychoactive substances. During the joint control of alcohol and drugs, a breath test is performed followed by a saliva test. In addition, agents use a previously established observation questionnaire to evaluate external signs that the driver may present. This review aims to help expand and improve the questionnaire administered by the traffic officer to the driver, so that upon completing the questionnaire as indicated, it is possible to determine which drug corresponds to the symptoms displayed by the driver. The diagnosis will be facilitated by a software tool that employs the use of decision trees whose gain function has been modified to give different weights to signs and methods. A study was conducted on the symptoms and observable and/or easily detectable signs of drugs detected at sobriety checkpoints. This has enabled the creation of a test that determines the substance consumed by the driver. The proposal facilitates the detection of drugs with the data gathered from the test.

A New Method to Detect Driver Fatigue Based on EMG and ECG Collected by Portable Non-Contact Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lin Wang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Recently, detection and prediction on driver fatigue have become interest of research worldwide. In the present work, a new method is built to effectively evaluate driver fatigue based on electromyography (EMG and electrocardiogram (ECG collected by portable real-time and non-contact sensors. First, under the non-disturbance condition for driver’s attention, mixed physiological signals (EMG, ECG and artefacts are collected by non-contact sensors located in a cushion on the driver’s seat. EMG and ECG are effectively separated by FastICA, and de-noised by empirical mode decomposition (EMD. Then, three physiological features, complexity of EMG, complexity of ECG, and sample entropy (SampEn of ECG, are extracted and analysed. Principal components are obtained by principal components analysis (PCA and are used as independent variables. Finally, a mathematical model of driver fatigue is built, and the accuracy of the model is up to 91%. Moreover, based on the questionnaire, the calculation results of model are consistent with real fatigue felt by the participants. Therefore, this model can effectively detect driver fatigue.

Optimizing the Universal Robots ROS driver

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Thomas Timm

improvement both in terms of faster reaction as well as making it possible to control the robot using either ros_control or ordinary joint speed commands, which is required for many types of sensory based control like visual servoing. The developed driver is compared to the drivers already existing in the ROS...

Performance of an Additional Task During Level 2 Automated Driving: An On-Road Study Comparing Drivers With and Without Experience With Partial Automation.

Science.gov (United States)

Solís-Marcos, Ignacio; Ahlström, Christer; Kircher, Katja

2018-05-01

To investigate the influence of prior experience with Level 2 automation on additional task performance during manual and Level 2 partially automated driving. Level 2 automation is now on the market, but its effects on driver behavior remain unclear. Based on previous studies, we could expect an increase in drivers' engagement in secondary tasks during Level 2 automated driving, but it is yet unknown how drivers will integrate all the ongoing demands in such situations. Twenty-one drivers (12 without, 9 with Level 2 automation experience) drove on a highway manually and with Level 2 automation (exemplified by Volvo Pilot Assist generation 2; PA2) while performing an additional task. In half of the conditions, the task could be interrupted (self-paced), and in the other half, it could not (system-paced). Drivers' visual attention, additional task performance, and other compensatory strategies were analyzed. Driving with PA2 led to decreased scores in the additional task and more visual attention to the dashboard. In the self-paced condition, all drivers looked more to the task and perceived a lower mental demand. The drivers experienced with PA2 used the system and the task more than the novice group and performed more overtakings. The additional task interfered more with Level 2 automation than with manual driving. The drivers, particularly the automation novice drivers, used some compensatory strategies. Automation designers need to consider these potential effects in the development of future automated systems.

High-Voltage LED Light Engine with Integrated Driver

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soer, Wouter [Lumileds LLC, San Jose, CA (United States)

2016-02-29

LED luminaires have seen dramatic changes in cost breakdown over the past few years. The LED component cost, which until recently was the dominant portion of luminaire cost, has fallen to a level of the same order as the other luminaire components, such as the driver, housing, optics etc. With the current state of the technology, further luminaire performance improvement and cost reduction is realized most effectively by optimization of the whole system, rather than a single component. This project focuses on improving the integration between LEDs and drivers. Lumileds has developed a light engine platform based on low-cost high-power LEDs and driver topologies optimized for integration with these LEDs on a single substrate. The integration of driver and LEDs enables an estimated luminaire cost reduction of about 25% for targeted applications, mostly due to significant reductions in driver and housing cost. The high-power LEDs are based on Lumileds’ patterned sapphire substrate flip-chip (PSS-FC) technology, affording reduced die fabrication and packaging cost compared to existing technology. Two general versions of PSS-FC die were developed in order to create the desired voltage and flux increments for driver integration: (i) small single-junction die (0.5 mm²), optimal for distributed lighting applications, and (ii) larger multi-junction die (2 mm² and 4 mm²) for high-power directional applications. Two driver topologies were developed: a tapped linear driver topology and a single-stage switch-mode topology, taking advantage of the flexible voltage configurations of the new PSS-FC die and the simplification opportunities enabled by integration of LEDs and driver on the same board. A prototype light engine was developed for an outdoor “core module” application based on the multi-junction PSS-FC die and the single-stage switch-mode driver. The light engine meets the project efficacy target of 128 lm/W at a luminous flux

Understanding the knowledge and attitudes of commercial drivers in Ghana regarding alcohol impaired driving

Science.gov (United States)

Asiamah, G; Mock, C; Blantari, J

2002-01-01

Objectives: The knowledge and attitudes of commercial drivers in Ghana as regards alcohol impaired driving were investigated. This was done in order to provide information that could subsequently be used to develop antidrunk driving social marketing messages built upon the intrinsic values and motivation of these drivers. Methods: Focus group discussions were held with 43 bus and minibus drivers in the capital city, Accra. A structured discussion guide was used to capture information related to values, risk perceptions, leisure time activities, and attitudes on alcohol impaired driving. Results: The majority of drivers expressed an understanding that drunk driving was a significant risk factor for crashes. There was a significant under-appreciation of the extent of the problem, however. Most believed that it was only rare, extremely intoxicated drivers who were the problem. The drivers also had a minimal understanding of the concept of blood alcohol concentration and related legal limits. Despite these factors, there was widespread support for increased enforcement of existing antidrunk driving laws. Conclusions: In Ghana, commercial drivers understand the basic danger of drunk driving and are motivated to assist in antidrunk driving measures. There are misconceptions and deficits in knowledge that need to be addressed in subsequent educational campaigns. PMID:11928975

Recognition method of construction conflict based on driver's eye movement.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Yi; Li, Shiwu; Gao, Song; Tan, Derong; Guo, Dong; Wang, Yuqiong

2018-04-01

Drivers eye movement data in simulated construction conflicts at different speeds were collected and analyzed to find the relationship between the drivers' eye movement and the construction conflict. On the basis of the relationship between the drivers' eye movement and the construction conflict, the peak point of wavelet processed pupil diameter, the first point on the left side of the peak point and the first blink point after the peak point are selected as key points for locating construction conflict periods. On the basis of the key points and the GSA, a construction conflict recognition method so called the CCFRM is proposed. And the construction conflict recognition speed and location accuracy of the CCFRM are verified. The good performance of the CCFRM verified the feasibility of proposed key points in construction conflict recognition. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A study of driver's route choice behavior based on evolutionary game theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Xiaowei; Ji, Yanjie; Du, Muqing; Deng, Wei

2014-01-01

This paper proposes a route choice analytic method that embeds cumulative prospect theory in evolutionary game theory to analyze how the drivers adjust their route choice behaviors under the influence of the traffic information. A simulated network with two alternative routes and one variable message sign is built to illustrate the analytic method. We assume that the drivers in the transportation system are bounded rational, and the traffic information they receive is incomplete. An evolutionary game model is constructed to describe the evolutionary process of the drivers' route choice decision-making behaviors. Here we conclude that the traffic information plays an important role in the route choice behavior. The driver's route decision-making process develops towards different evolutionary stable states in accordance with different transportation situations. The analysis results also demonstrate that employing cumulative prospect theory and evolutionary game theory to study the driver's route choice behavior is effective. This analytic method provides an academic support and suggestion for the traffic guidance system, and may optimize the travel efficiency to a certain extent.

Development of a software tool for evaluating driving assistance systems; Entwicklung eines Softwaretools zur Bewertung von Fahrerassistenzsystemen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marstaller, R.; Bubb, H. [Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany). Lehrstuhl fuer Ergonomie

2002-07-01

The increase in road safety in Germany could for example be indicated by the reducing number of seriously injured and killed people (/6/) in spite of increasing number of cars and total amount of kilometres. The selective measures therefore are based on four points: Improvement of active and passive security, direct and indirect psychological measures. While developing systems, which assist drivers on the guidance level, the question of safety of these measures more and more occurs. This led to the development of software, which contains a so called normative driver model, and compares actual driving data with this model. Thereby, situations can be identified, which deviate from the situational normative model, and consequently could be classified as critical. The practical application to driving data with active assistance systems with regulation in longitudinal and lateral direction showed significant improvement of driving safety in comparison to data without system usage. (orig.)

Design of device driver program for PCI data acquisition adapters based on WDM of windows 2000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan Weihua; Qiao Weimin; Jing Lan; Zhu Haijun

2003-01-01

The paper describes the design of device driver program for PCI data acquisition adapters based on WDM of Windows 2000. Give an actual example of PCI6208. Now, several data acquisition adapters based in this method are using in national big science engineer HIRFL-CSR. (authors)

The influence of highly automated driving on the self-perception of drivers in the context of Conduct-by-Wire.

Science.gov (United States)

Kauer, Michaela; Franz, Benjamin; Maier, Alexander; Bruder, Ralph

2015-01-01

Today, new driving paradigms are being introduced that aim to reduce the number of standalone driver assistance systems by combining these into one overarching system. This is done to reduce the demands on drivers but often leads to a higher degree of automation. Feasibility and driver behaviour are often the subject of studies, but this is contrasted by a lack of research into the influence of highly automated driving on the self-perception of drivers. This article begins to close this gap by investigating the influences of one highly automated driving concept--Conduct-by-Wire--on the self-perception of drivers via a combined driving simulator and interview study. The aim of this work is to identify changes in the role concept of drivers indicated by highly automated driving, to evaluate these changes from the drivers' point of view and to give suggestions of possible improvements to the design of highly automated vehicles.

Wavelet Packet Transform Based Driver Distraction Level Classification Using EEG

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mousa Kadhim Wali

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We classify the driver distraction level (neutral, low, medium, and high based on different wavelets and classifiers using wireless electroencephalogram (EEG signals. 50 subjects were used for data collection using 14 electrodes. We considered for this research 4 distraction stimuli such as Global Position Systems (GPS, music player, short message service (SMS, and mental tasks. Deriving the amplitude spectrum of three different frequency bands theta, alpha, and beta of EEG signals was based on fusion of discrete wavelet packet transform (DWPT and FFT. Comparing the results of three different classifiers (subtractive fuzzy clustering probabilistic neural network, -nearest neighbor was based on spectral centroid, and power spectral features extracted by different wavelets (db4, db8, sym8, and coif5. The results of this study indicate that the best average accuracy achieved by subtractive fuzzy inference system classifier is 79.21% based on power spectral density feature extracted by sym8 wavelet which gave a good class discrimination under ANOVA test.

Locomotor diseases among male long-haul truck drivers and other professional drivers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Anker; Kaerlev, Linda; Tüchsen, Finn

2007-01-01

-249) and for other truck drivers (SHR: 130, 95% CI: 108-156) compared to bus drivers (SHR: 110, 95% CI: 79-149). All drivers had high SHR for lesions of the ulnar nerve (SHR: 159, 95% CI: 119-207), especially bus drivers (SHR: 197, 95% CI: 116-311). Long-haul truck drivers had high SHRs for synovitis and bursitis...

The older adult road user : recommendations for driver assistance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wilschut, E.S.; Kroon, E.C.M.; Goede, M. de; Cremers, A.H.M.; Hoedemaeker, D.M.

2014-01-01

The number of older road users is getting increasingly larger in Europe. Therefore policy makers pay more attention to the abilities and limitations of this group of road users. Providing accessible and comfortable assistance and safety functions for mobility is a key challenge in the objective of

Using shadow page cache to improve isolated drivers performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Hao; Dong, Xiaoshe; Wang, Endong; Chen, Baoke; Zhu, Zhengdong; Liu, Chengzhe

2015-01-01

With the advantage of the reusability property of the virtualization technology, users can reuse various types and versions of existing operating systems and drivers in a virtual machine, so as to customize their application environment. In order to prevent users' virtualization environments being impacted by driver faults in virtual machine, Chariot examines the correctness of driver's write operations by the method of combining a driver's write operation capture and a driver's private access control table. However, this method needs to keep the write permission of shadow page table as read-only, so as to capture isolated driver's write operations through page faults, which adversely affect the performance of the driver. Based on delaying setting frequently used shadow pages' write permissions to read-only, this paper proposes an algorithm using shadow page cache to improve the performance of isolated drivers and carefully study the relationship between the performance of drivers and the size of shadow page cache. Experimental results show that, through the shadow page cache, the performance of isolated drivers can be greatly improved without impacting Chariot's reliability too much.

On-Road Driver Monitoring System Based on a Solar-Powered In-Vehicle Embedded Platform

OpenAIRE

Yen-Lin Chen; Chao-Wei Yu; Zi-Jie Chien; Chin-Hsuan Liu; Hsin-Han Chiang

2014-01-01

This study presents an on-road driver monitoring system, which is implemented on a stand-alone in-vehicle embedded system and driven by effective solar cells. The driver monitoring function is performed by an efficient eye detection technique. Through the driver’s eye movements captured from the camera, the attention states of the driver can be determined and any fatigue states can be avoided. This driver monitoring technique is implemented on a low-power embedded in-vehicle platform. Besides...

Driver Behavior and Performance with Augmented Reality Pedestrian Collision Warning: An Outdoor User Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyungil; Gabbard, Joseph L; Anon, Alexandre Miranda; Misu, Teruhisa

2018-04-01

This article investigates the effects of visual warning presentation methods on human performance in augmented reality (AR) driving. An experimental user study was conducted in a parking lot where participants drove a test vehicle while braking for any cross traffic with assistance from AR visual warnings presented on a monoscopic and volumetric head-up display (HUD). Results showed that monoscopic displays can be as effective as volumetric displays for human performance in AR braking tasks. The experiment also demonstrated the benefits of conformal graphics, which are tightly integrated into the real world, such as their ability to guide drivers' attention and their positive consequences on driver behavior and performance. These findings suggest that conformal graphics presented via monoscopic HUDs can enhance driver performance by leveraging the effectiveness of monocular depth cues. The proposed approaches and methods can be used and further developed by future researchers and practitioners to better understand driver performance in AR as well as inform usability evaluation of future automotive AR applications.

A Vehicle Active Safety Model: Vehicle Speed Control Based on Driver Vigilance Detection Using Wearable EEG and Sparse Representation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zutao; Luo, Dianyuan; Rasim, Yagubov; Li, Yanjun; Meng, Guanjun; Xu, Jian; Wang, Chunbai

2016-02-19

In this paper, we present a vehicle active safety model for vehicle speed control based on driver vigilance detection using low-cost, comfortable, wearable electroencephalographic (EEG) sensors and sparse representation. The proposed system consists of three main steps, namely wireless wearable EEG collection, driver vigilance detection, and vehicle speed control strategy. First of all, a homemade low-cost comfortable wearable brain-computer interface (BCI) system with eight channels is designed for collecting the driver's EEG signal. Second, wavelet de-noising and down-sample algorithms are utilized to enhance the quality of EEG data, and Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) is adopted to extract the EEG power spectrum density (PSD). In this step, sparse representation classification combined with k-singular value decomposition (KSVD) is firstly introduced in PSD to estimate the driver's vigilance level. Finally, a novel safety strategy of vehicle speed control, which controls the electronic throttle opening and automatic braking after driver fatigue detection using the above method, is presented to avoid serious collisions and traffic accidents. The simulation and practical testing results demonstrate the feasibility of the vehicle active safety model.

Prediction of safe driving Behaviours based on health belief model: the case of taxi drivers in Bandar Abbas, Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Razmara, Asghar; Aghamolaei, Teamur; Madani, Abdoulhossain; Hosseini, Zahra; Zare, Shahram

2018-03-20

Road accidents are among the main causes of mortality. As safe and secure driving is a key strategy to reduce car injuries and offenses, the present research aimed to explore safe driving behaviours among taxi drivers based on the Health Belief Model (HBM). This study was conducted on 184 taxi drivers in Bandar Abbas who were selected based on a multiple stratified sampling method. Data were collected by a questionnaire comprised of a demographic information section along with the constructs of the HBM. Data were analysed by SPSS ver19 via a Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regressions. The mean age of the participants was 45.1 years (SD = 11.1). They all had, on average, 10.3 (SD = 7/5) years of taxi driving experience. Among the HBM components, cues to action and perceived benefits were shown to be positively correlated with safe driving behaviours, while perceived barriers were negatively correlated. Cues to action, perceived barriers and perceived benefits were shown to be the strongest predictors of a safe drivers' behaviour. Based on the results of this study in designing health promotion programmes to improve safe driving behaviours among taxi drivers, cues to action, perceived benefits and perceived barriers are important. Therefore, advertising, the design of information campaigns, emphasis on the benefits of safe driving behaviours and modification barriers are recommended.

ISG hybrid powertrain: a rule-based driver model incorporating look-ahead information

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Shuiwen; Zhang, Junzhi; Chen, Xiaojiang; Zhong, Qing-Chang; Thornton, Roger

2010-03-01

According to European regulations, if the amount of regenerative braking is determined by the travel of the brake pedal, more stringent standards must be applied, otherwise it may adversely affect the existing vehicle safety system. The use of engine or vehicle speed to derive regenerative braking is one way to avoid strict design standards, but this introduces discontinuity in powertrain torque when the driver releases the acceleration pedal or applies the brake pedal. This is shown to cause oscillations in the pedal input and powertrain torque when a conventional driver model is adopted. Look-ahead information, together with other predicted vehicle states, are adopted to control the vehicle speed, in particular, during deceleration, and to improve the driver model so that oscillations can be avoided. The improved driver model makes analysis and validation of the control strategy for an integrated starter generator (ISG) hybrid powertrain possible.

Assessing Chinese coach drivers' fitness to drive: The development of a toolkit based on cognition measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Huarong; Mo, Xian; Wang, Ying; Liu, Ruixue; Qiu, Peiyu; Dai, Jiajun

2016-10-01

Road traffic accidents resulting in group deaths and injuries are often related to coach drivers' inappropriate operations and behaviors. Thus, the evaluation of coach drivers' fitness to drive is an important measure for improving the safety of public transportation. Previous related research focused on drivers' age and health condition. Comprehensive studies about commercial drivers' cognitive capacities are limited. This study developed a toolkit consisting of nine cognition measurements across driver perception/sensation, attention, and reaction. A total of 1413 licensed coach drivers in Jiangsu Province, China were investigated and tested. Results indicated that drivers with accident history within three years performed overwhelmingly worse (panalysis, in which the eliminated 5% tail was calculated from on integrated index. Methods to categorizing qualified, good, and excellent coach drivers and criteria for evaluating and training Chinese coach drivers' fitness to drive were also proposed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Landscape-based upstream-downstream prevalence of land-use/cover change drivers in southeastern rift escarpment of Ethiopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Temesgen, Habtamu; Wu, Wei; Legesse, Abiyot; Yirsaw, Eshetu; Bekele, Belew

2018-02-23

Characterized by high population density on a rugged topography, the Gedeo-Abaya landscape dominantly contains a multi-strata traditional agroforests showing the insight of Gedeo farmers on natural resource management practices. Currently, this area has been losing its resilience and is becoming unable to sustain its inhabitants. Based on both RS-derived and GIS-computed land-use/cover changes (LUCC) as well as socioeconomic validations, this article explored the LUCC and agroecological-based driver patterns in Gedeo-Abaya landscape from 1986 to 2015. A combination of geo-spatial technology and cross-sectional survey design were employed to detect the drivers behind these changes. The article discussed that LUCC and the prevalence of drivers are highly diverse and vary throughout agroecological zones. Except for the population, most downstream top drivers are perceived as insignificant in the upstream region and vice versa. In the downstream, land-use/cover (LUC) classes are more dynamic, diverse, and challenged by nearly all anticipated drivers than are upstream ones. Agroforestry LUC has been increasing (by 25% of its initial cover) and is becoming the predominant cover type, although socioeconomic analysis and related findings show its rapid LUC modification. A rapid reduction of woodland/shrubland (63%) occurred in the downstream, while wetland/marshy land increased threefold (158%), from 1986 to 2015 with annual change rates of - 3.7 and + 6%, respectively. Land degradation induced by changes in land use is a serious problem in Africa, especially in the densely populated sub-Saharan regions such as Ethiopia (FAO 2015). Throughout the landscape, LUCC is prominently affecting land-use system of the study landscape due to population pressure in the upstream region and drought/rainfall variability, agribusiness investment, and charcoaling in the downstream that necessitate urgent action.

Estimating likelihood of future crashes for crash-prone drivers

OpenAIRE

Subasish Das; Xiaoduan Sun; Fan Wang; Charles Leboeuf

2015-01-01

At-fault crash-prone drivers are usually considered as the high risk group for possible future incidents or crashes. In Louisiana, 34% of crashes are repeatedly committed by the at-fault crash-prone drivers who represent only 5% of the total licensed drivers in the state. This research has conducted an exploratory data analysis based on the driver faultiness and proneness. The objective of this study is to develop a crash prediction model to estimate the likelihood of future crashes for the a...

Schoolbus driver performance can be improved with driver training, safety incentivisation, and vehicle roadworthy modifications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A van Niekerk

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In South Africa (SA, the school transport industry provides millions of children with a means of travelling to and from school. The industry has, however, been reported to be plagued by widespread safety concerns. The consequent road traffic incidents have often been attributed to driver factors, including driving in excess of legal speeds or at inappropriate speeds; driving while under the influence of alcohol, while sleepy or fatigued; or driving without using protective equipment for vehicle occupants. There are currently very few SA interventions that specifically target this important industry role-player. The Safe Travel to School Programme was recently implemented by a national child safety agency, with a focus on driver road safety awareness, defensive driver training, eye- testing, vehicle roadworthy inspections with selected upgrades, incentives for safe performance, and implementation of a vehicle telematics tracking system with regular, individual driving behaviour information updates. This quasi-experimental study offers an evaluation of the initial impact on safety performance of this telematics-based driver and vehicle safety intervention in terms of speeding, acceleration, braking, cornering, and time-of-day driving, and compares the school transport driver performance with that of general motorists. Despite concerns that some school transport vehicles are used for multiple purposes outside of school transport duties, at night, and for longer distances, overall these vehicles recorded lower percentages of speeding, lower harsh braking, and lower average harsh cornering and acceleration than general drivers.

Classifying Drivers' Cognitive Load Using EEG Signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Barua, Shaibal; Ahmed, Mobyen Uddin; Begum, Shahina

2017-01-01

A growing traffic safety issue is the effect of cognitive loading activities on traffic safety and driving performance. To monitor drivers' mental state, understanding cognitive load is important since while driving, performing cognitively loading secondary tasks, for example talking on the phone, can affect the performance in the primary task, i.e. driving. Electroencephalography (EEG) is one of the reliable measures of cognitive load that can detect the changes in instantaneous load and effect of cognitively loading secondary task. In this driving simulator study, 1-back task is carried out while the driver performs three different simulated driving scenarios. This paper presents an EEG based approach to classify a drivers' level of cognitive load using Case-Based Reasoning (CBR). The results show that for each individual scenario as well as using data combined from the different scenarios, CBR based system achieved approximately over 70% of classification accuracy.

The Belief and Attitude of the Drivers Toward the Usage of Cellphone while Driving; A Population-Based Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Sedaghati Shokri, Batoul; Davoodi, Seyed Rasoul; Azimmohseni, Majid; Khoshfar, Gholamreza

2017-01-01

Objective: To presents a survey investigating differences between drivers' beliefs regarding utilizing cellphone when driving. Methods: In this population-based survey, the participants who were studied in the North of Iran, Gorgan, were categorized as main urban and rural areas. A sample of 400 drivers, 92 women and 308 men, filled out the four sections questionnaire which was based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) used for measuring the differences between the drivers' opinions (attitudinal beliefs, normative beliefs, and perceived control behavioral beliefs) about utilizing a cell phone when driving along with their age and driving purpose. Data were collected by distributing the 68- query questionnaire between the drivers. Results: The MANOVA analysis showed that important discrepancies were found between the normative, control and behavioral beliefs of cellular phone users while driving. As expected, frequent business and younger users with sturdy intention expressed more benefits of further concentration on family members and fewer obstacles that would prevent them from utilizing cellphone when driving than older and frequently personal users. Conclusion: These results indicated that the benefits of utilizing cellphone while driving are greater than its dangers. To reduce cellphone utilization when driving and increase road safety, more effort is required to lower the perceived advantages of the behavior and to outstand the risks of this hazardous driving act. PMID:29177176

Longer-term effects of ADAS use on speed and headway control in drivers diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Dotzauer, Mandy; Caljouw, Simone R; De Waard, Dick; Brouwer, Wiebo H

2015-01-01

An advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) provided information about speed limits, speed, speeding, and following distance. Information was presented to the participants by means of a head-up display. Effects of the information on speed and headway control were studied in a longer-term driving simulator study including 12 repeated measures spread out over 4 weeks. Nine healthy older drivers between the ages of 65 and 82 years and 9 drivers between the ages of 68 and 82 years diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) participated in the study. Within the 4 weeks, groups completed 12 consecutive sessions (10 with ADAS and 2 without ADAS) in a driving simulator. Results indicate an effect of ADAS use on performance. Removing ADAS after short-term exposure led to deterioration of performance in all speed measures in the group of drivers diagnosed with PD. These results suggest that provision of traffic information was utilized by drivers diagnosed with PD in order to control their speed.

24 CFR 1000.103 - How may IHBG funds be used for tenant-based or project-based rental assistance?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... Housing Activities § 1000.103 How may IHBG funds be used for tenant-based or project-based rental assistance? (a) IHBG funds may be used for project-based or tenant-based rental assistance. (b) IHBG funds may be used for project-based or tenant-based rental assistance that is provided in a manner...

Kin-Driver: a database of driver mutations in protein kinases.

Science.gov (United States)

Simonetti, Franco L; Tornador, Cristian; Nabau-Moretó, Nuria; Molina-Vila, Miguel A; Marino-Buslje, Cristina

2014-01-01

Somatic mutations in protein kinases (PKs) are frequent driver events in many human tumors, while germ-line mutations are associated with hereditary diseases. Here we present Kin-driver, the first database that compiles driver mutations in PKs with experimental evidence demonstrating their functional role. Kin-driver is a manual expert-curated database that pays special attention to activating mutations (AMs) and can serve as a validation set to develop new generation tools focused on the prediction of gain-of-function driver mutations. It also offers an easy and intuitive environment to facilitate the visualization and analysis of mutations in PKs. Because all mutations are mapped onto a multiple sequence alignment, analogue positions between kinases can be identified and tentative new mutations can be proposed for studying by transferring annotation. Finally, our database can also be of use to clinical and translational laboratories, helping them to identify uncommon AMs that can correlate with response to new antitumor drugs. The website was developed using PHP and JavaScript, which are supported by all major browsers; the database was built using MySQL server. Kin-driver is available at: http://kin-driver.leloir.org.ar/ © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Anatomical characterization of cre driver mice for neural circuit mapping and manipulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julie Ann Harris

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Significant advances in circuit-level analyses of the brain require tools that allow for labeling, modulation of gene expression, and monitoring and manipulation of cellular activity in specific cell types and/or anatomical regions. Large-scale projects and individual laboratories have produced hundreds of gene-specific promoter-driven Cre mouse lines invaluable for enabling genetic access to subpopulations of cells in the brain. However, the potential utility of each line may not be fully realized without systematic whole brain characterization of transgene expression patterns. We established a high-throughput in situ hybridization, imaging and data processing pipeline to describe whole brain gene expression patterns in Cre driver mice. Currently, anatomical data from over 100 Cre driver lines are publicly available via the Allen Institute’s Transgenic Characterization database, which can be used to assist researchers in choosing the appropriate Cre drivers for functional, molecular, or connectional studies of different regions and/or cell types in the brain.

Anatomical characterization of Cre driver mice for neural circuit mapping and manipulation

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Julie A.; Hirokawa, Karla E.; Sorensen, Staci A.; Gu, Hong; Mills, Maya; Ng, Lydia L.; Bohn, Phillip; Mortrud, Marty; Ouellette, Benjamin; Kidney, Jolene; Smith, Kimberly A.; Dang, Chinh; Sunkin, Susan; Bernard, Amy; Oh, Seung Wook; Madisen, Linda; Zeng, Hongkui

2014-01-01

Significant advances in circuit-level analyses of the brain require tools that allow for labeling, modulation of gene expression, and monitoring and manipulation of cellular activity in specific cell types and/or anatomical regions. Large-scale projects and individual laboratories have produced hundreds of gene-specific promoter-driven Cre mouse lines invaluable for enabling genetic access to subpopulations of cells in the brain. However, the potential utility of each line may not be fully realized without systematic whole brain characterization of transgene expression patterns. We established a high-throughput in situ hybridization (ISH), imaging and data processing pipeline to describe whole brain gene expression patterns in Cre driver mice. Currently, anatomical data from over 100 Cre driver lines are publicly available via the Allen Institute's Transgenic Characterization database, which can be used to assist researchers in choosing the appropriate Cre drivers for functional, molecular, or connectional studies of different regions and/or cell types in the brain. PMID:25071457

Perceptions of mobile network operators regarding the cost drivers of the South African mobile phone industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Musenga F. Mpwanya

2016-11-01

Implications: The findings of this study should assist MNOs in their monitoring of cost drivers and in the identification of cost reduction opportunities, in order to remain effective and efficient in the industry. This study’s findings should help regulating authorities (such as the Department of Communications and the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa [ICASA] to gain insights into the cost drivers of the South African mobile phone industry from the perspective of a network operator, and thus to develop appropriate mobile phone policies.

Design and simulation of advanced charge recovery piezoactuator drivers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biancuzzi, G; Lemke, T; Woias, P; Goldschmidtboeing, F; Ruthmann, O; Schrag, H J; Vodermayer, B; Schmid, T

2010-01-01

The German Artificial Sphincter System project aims at the development of an implantable sphincter prosthesis driven by a piezoelectrically actuated micropump. The system has been designed to be fully implantable, i.e. the power supply is provided by a rechargeable lithium polymer battery. In order to provide sufficient battery duration and to limit battery dimensions, special effort has to be made to minimize power consumption of the whole system and, in particular, of the piezoactuator driver circuitry. Inductive charge recovery can be used to recover part of the charge stored within the actuator. We are going to present a simplified inductor-based circuit capable of voltage inversion across the actuator without the need of an additional negative voltage source. The dimension of the inductors required for such a concept is nevertheless significant. We therefore present a novel alternative concept, called direct switching, where the equivalent capacitance of the actuator is charged directly by a step-up converter and discharged by a step-down converter. We achieved superior performance compared to a simple inductor-based driver with the advantage of using small-size chip inductors. As a term of comparison, the performance of the aforementioned drivers is compared to a conventional driver that does not implement any charge recovery technique. With our design we have been able to achieve more than 50% reduction in power consumption compared to the simplest conventional driver. The new direct switching driver performs 15% better than an inductor-based driver. A novel, whole-system SPICE simulation is presented, where both the driving circuit and the piezoactuator are modeled making use of advanced nonlinear models. Such a simulation is a precious tool to design and optimize piezoactuator drivers

Drivers' Visual Characteristics when Merging onto or Exiting an Urban Expressway.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ying Cheng

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to examine drivers' visual and driving behavior while merging onto or exiting an urban expressway with low and high traffic densities. The analysis was conducted according to three periods (approaching, merging or exiting, and accelerating or decelerating. A total of 10 subjects (8 males and 2 females with ages ranging from 25 to 52 years old (M = 30.0 years old participated in the study. The research was conducted in a natural driving situation, and the drivers' eye movements were monitored and recorded using an eye tracking system. The results show that the influence of traffic density on the glance duration and scan duration is more significant when merging than when exiting. The results also demonstrate that the number of glances and the mean glance duration are mainly related to the driving task (e.g., the merging period. Therefore, drivers' visual search strategies mainly depend on the current driving task. With regard to driving behavior, the variation tendencies of the duration and the velocity of each period are similar. These results support building an automated driving assistant system that can automatically identify gaps and accelerate or decelerate the car accordingly or provide suggestions to the driver to do so.

Free Electron Laser as Energy Driver for Inertial Confinement Fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saldin, E.L.; Shnejdmiller, E.A.; Ul'yanov, Yu.N.; Sarantsev, V.P.; Yurkov, M.V.

1994-01-01

A FEL based energy driver for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) is proposed. The key element of the scheme is free electron laser system. Novel technical solutions reveal a possibility to construct the FEL system operating at radiation wavelength λ = 0.5 μm and providing flash energy E = 1 MJ and brightness 4 x 10 22 W cm -2 sr -1 within steering pulse duration 0.1-2 ns. Total energy efficiency of the proposed ICF energy driver is about of 11% and repetition rate is 40 Hz. Dimensions of such an ICF driver are comparable with those of heavy-ion ICF driver, while the problem of technical realization seems to be more realistic. It is shown that the FEL based ICF energy driver may be constructed at the present level of accelerator technique R and D. 27 refs., 10 figs., 3 tabs

Evaluation of Beginner Driver Education in Oregon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan Mayhew

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Although driver education (DE is widely accepted as an effective teen driver safety measure and widely available in the United States, Canada and elsewhere, evaluations have generally failed to show that such formal programs actually produce safer drivers. To address the issue of safety effects as part of a larger investigation, two studies were conducted to examine whether the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT-approved DE program was associated with reductions in collisions and convictions. In the first study, DE status among a relatively small sample of teens who completed an online survey was not found to have a significant effect on collisions and convictions. In the second study, of a much larger population of teen drivers, DE status was associated with a lower incidence of collisions and convictions. On balance, this suggests that the safety effects of DE are either neutral, based on the results of the first Oregon study, or cautiously optimistic based on the results of the second study. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of making improvements in DE that are evidence-based, and the need for further evaluation to establish that improved and new programs meet their safety objectives.

Design of a Fatigue Detection System for High-Speed Trains Based on Driver Vigilance Using a Wireless Wearable EEG

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoliang Zhang

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The vigilance of the driver is important for railway safety, despite not being included in the safety management system (SMS for high-speed train safety. In this paper, a novel fatigue detection system for high-speed train safety based on monitoring train driver vigilance using a wireless wearable electroencephalograph (EEG is presented. This system is designed to detect whether the driver is drowsiness. The proposed system consists of three main parts: (1 a wireless wearable EEG collection; (2 train driver vigilance detection; and (3 early warning device for train driver. In the first part, an 8-channel wireless wearable brain-computer interface (BCI device acquires the locomotive driver’s brain EEG signal comfortably under high-speed train-driving conditions. The recorded data are transmitted to a personal computer (PC via Bluetooth. In the second step, a support vector machine (SVM classification algorithm is implemented to determine the vigilance level using the Fast Fourier transform (FFT to extract the EEG power spectrum density (PSD. In addition, an early warning device begins to work if fatigue is detected. The simulation and test results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed fatigue detection system for high-speed train safety.

Development of driver’s assistant system of additional visual information of blind areas for Gazelle Next

Science.gov (United States)

Makarov, V.; Korelin, O.; Koblyakov, D.; Kostin, S.; Komandirov, A.

2018-02-01

The article is devoted to the development of the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for the GAZelle NEXT car. This project is aimed at developing a visual information system for the driver integrated into the windshield racks. The developed system implements the following functions: assistance in maneuvering and parking; Recognition of road signs; Warning the driver about the possibility of a frontal collision; Control of "blind" zones; "Transparent" vision in the windshield racks, widening the field of view, behind them; Visual and sound information about the traffic situation; Control and descent from the lane of the vehicle; Monitoring of the driver’s condition; navigation system; All-round review. The scheme of action of sensors of the developed system of visual information of the driver is provided. The moments of systems on a prototype of a vehicle are considered. Possible changes in the interior and dashboard of the car are given. The results of the implementation are aimed at the implementation of the system - improved informing of the driver about the environment and the development of an ergonomic interior for this system within the new Functional Salon of the Gazelle Next vehicle equipped with a visual information system for the driver.

Highway crash rates and age-related driver limitations: Literature review and evaluation of data bases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hu, P.S. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Young, J.R. [Tennessee Univ., Knoxville, TN (United States); Lu, An [Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc., TN (United States)

1993-08-01

American society is undergoing a major demographic transformation that is resulting in a larger proportion of older individuals in the population. Moreover, recent travel surveys show that an increasing number of older individuals are licensed to drive and that they drive more than their same age cohort a decade ago. However, they continue to take shorter trips than younger drivers and they avoid driving during congested hours. This recent demographic transformation in our society, the graying of America, coupled with the increasing mobility of the older population impose a serious highway safety issue that cannot be overlooked. Some of the major concerns are the identification of ``high-risk`` older drivers and the establishment of licensing guidelines and procedures that are based on conclusive scientific evidence. Oak Ridge National Laboratory`s (ORNL) objectives in this project can be characterized by the following tasks: Review and evaluate the 1980 American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) licensing guidelines. Determine whether the license restriction recommended in the 1980 AAMVA and NHTSA guidelines was based on scientific evidence or on judgement of medical advisors. Identify in the scientific literature any medical conditions which are found to be highly associated with highway crashes, and which are not mentioned in the 1980 guidelines. Summarize States` current licensing practices for drivers with age-related physical and mental limitations. Identify potential data sources to establish conclusive evidence on age-related functional impairments and highway crashes.

The Train Driver Recovery Problem - a Set Partitioning Based Model and Solution Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rezanova, Natalia Jurjevna; Ryan, David

The need to recover a train driver schedule occurs during major disruptions in the daily railway operations. Using data from the train driver schedule of the Danish passenger railway operator DSB S-tog A/S, a solution method to the Train Driver Recovery Problem (TDRP) is developed. The TDRP...... the depth-first search of the Branch & Bound tree. Preliminarily results are encouraging, showing that nearly all tested real-life instances produce integer solutions to the LP relaxation and solutions are found within a few seconds....

Vision-based Vehicle Detection Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex David S

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Nowadays thousands of drivers and passengers were losing their lives every year on road accident, due to deadly crashes between more than one vehicle. There are number of many research focuses were dedicated to the development of intellectual driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles over the past decade, which reduces the danger by monitoring the on-road environment. In particular, researchers attracted towards the on-road detection of vehicles in recent years. Different parameters have been analyzed in this paper which includes camera placement and the various applications of monocular vehicle detection, common features and common classification methods, motion- based approaches and nighttime vehicle detection and monocular pose estimation. Previous works on the vehicle detection listed based on camera poisons, feature based detection and motion based detection works and night time detection.

A rear-end collision risk assessment model based on drivers' collision avoidance process under influences of cell phone use and gender-A driving simulator based study.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaomeng; Yan, Xuedong; Wu, Jiawei; Radwan, Essam; Zhang, Yuting

2016-12-01

Driver's collision avoidance performance has a direct link to the collision risk and crash severity. Previous studies demonstrated that the distracted driving, such as using a cell phone while driving, disrupted the driver's performance on road. This study aimed to investigate the manner and extent to which cell phone use and driver's gender affected driving performance and collision risk in a rear-end collision avoidance process. Forty-two licensed drivers completed the driving simulation experiment in three phone use conditions: no phone use, hands-free, and hand-held, in which the drivers drove in a car-following situation with potential rear-end collision risks caused by the leading vehicle's sudden deceleration. Based on the experiment data, a rear-end collision risk assessment model was developed to assess the influence of cell phone use and driver's gender. The cell phone use and driver's gender were found to be significant factors that affected the braking performances in the rear-end collision avoidance process, including the brake reaction time, the deceleration adjusting time and the maximum deceleration rate. The minimum headway distance between the leading vehicle and the simulator during the rear-end collision avoidance process was the final output variable, which could be used to measure the rear-end collision risk and judge whether a collision occurred. The results showed that although cell phone use drivers took some compensatory behaviors in the collision avoidance process to reduce the mental workload, the collision risk in cell phone use conditions was still higher than that without the phone use. More importantly, the results proved that the hands-free condition did not eliminate the safety problem associated with distracted driving because it impaired the driving performance in the same way as much as the use of hand-held phones. In addition, the gender effect indicated that although female drivers had longer reaction time than male drivers in

The MMPI Assistant: A Microcomputer Based Expert System to Assist in Interpreting MMPI Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Tanner, Barry A.

1989-01-01

The Assistant is an MS DOS program to aid clinical psychologists in interpreting the results of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Interpretive hypotheses are based on the professional literature and the author's experience. After scores are entered manually, the Assistant produces a hard copy which is intended for use by a psychologist knowledgeable about the MMPI. The rules for each hypothesis appear first on the monitor, and then in the printed output, followed by the patient's scores on the relevant scales, and narrative hypotheses for the scores. The data base includes hypotheses for 23 validity configurations, 45 two-point clinical codes, 10 high scoring single-point clinical scales, and 10 low scoring single-point clinical scales. The program can accelerate the production of test reports, while insuring that actuarial rules are not overlooked. It has been especially useful as a teaching tool with graduate students. The Assistant requires an IBM PC compatible with 128k available memory, DOS 2.x or higher, and a printer.

Schoolbus driver performance can be improved with driver training ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

and compares the school transport driver performance with that of general motorists. Despite concerns that ... To compare Safe Travel to School Programme driver safety perfor- .... The SA government has recognised the challenges faced with.

Driving Control for Electric Power Assisted Wheelchair Based on Regenerative Brake

Science.gov (United States)

Seki, Hirokazu; Takahashi, Kazuki; Tadakuma, Susumu

This paper describes a novel safety driving control scheme for electric power assisted wheelchairs based on the regenerative braking system. “Electric power assisted wheelchair” which assists the driving force by electric motors is expected to be widely used as a mobility support system for elderly people and disabled people, however, the safe and secure driving performance especially on downhill roads must be further improved because electric power assisted wheelchairs have no braking devices. The proposed control system automatically switches the driving mode, from “assisting mode” to “braking mode”, based on the wheelchair's velocity and the declined angle and smoothly suppresses the wheelchair's acceleration based on variable duty ratio control in order to realize the safety driving and to improve the ride quality. Some experiments on the practical roads and subjective evaluation show the effectiveness of the proposed control system.

The accuracy and timing of pedestrian warnings at intersections: the acceptance from drivers and their preferences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Boer, Josine; Chaziris, Antonios; Vreeswijk, Jacob Dirk; Bie, Jing; van Arem, Bart; Abadi, A.; Bauer e.a., D.

2010-01-01

The safety of vulnerable road users at traffic intersections is critical. Driver assistance systems can improve safety but have to rely on accurate detection of hazardous situations. Given the complexity of pedestrian movement, detection of pedestrian presence and prediction of their behaviour are

Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Family Businesses

OpenAIRE

Mengel, Niklas

2016-01-01

This thesis analyzed the Drivers and Implementation Approaches of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Family Businesses. Qualitative Analysis based on Semi-Structured Interviews was conducted in the region of Southern Lower Saxony and later on quantified through category-based Content Analysis. The results suggest that Drivers of CSR can be divided into value-based and strategic, and Implementation Approaches into informal and formal. Family Businesses are more likely to be driven by val...

Drivers of forests and tree-based systems for food security and nutrition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kleinschmit, Daniela; Sijapati Basnett, Bimbika; Martin, Adrian

2015-01-01

In the context of this chapter, drivers are considered to be natural or anthropogenic developments affecting forests and tree-based systems for food security and nutrition. They can improve and contribute to food security and nutrition, but they can also lead to food insecurity and malnutrition......, commercialisation of agriculture, industrialisation of forest resources, gender imbalances, conflicts, formalisation of tenure rights, rising food prices and increasing per capita income) were identified within these four categories. They affect food security and nutrition through land use and management; through...

Cross-cultural differences in drivers' speed choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Wallén Warner, Henriette; Ozkan, Türker; Lajunen, Timo

2009-07-01

The aim of the present study was to examine if there are any cross-cultural differences between Swedish and Turkish drivers' rating of the variables in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) with regard to complying with the speed limit. A sample of 219 Swedish and 252 Turkish drivers completed a questionnaire including questions based on the theory of planned behaviour (i.e. regarding attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, intention and behaviour). The results show that country differences in drivers' intention to comply with the speed limit as well as their self-reported compliance could be explained by differences found in their attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. Furthermore, drivers who live in a country with fewer road traffic fatalities (i.e. Sweden), compared with drivers who live in a country with more road traffic fatalities (i.e. Turkey), reported a more positive attitude towards complying with the speed limit, a more positive subjective norm, a higher perceived behavioural control, a higher intention and a larger proportion of the time spent complying.

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy: The Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association's Model Overview of Equine-Based Modalities

Science.gov (United States)

Notgrass, Clayton G.; Pettinelli, J. Douglas

2015-01-01

This article describes the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association's (EAGALA) experiential model called "Equine Assisted Psychotherapy" (EAP). EAGALA's model is based on the Association for Experiential Education's (AEE) tenets and is focused on the learner's experience with horses. Drawing on the historical use of equines in the…

Advanced laser-based tracking device for motor vehicle lane position monitoring and steering assistance

Science.gov (United States)

Bachalo, William D.; Inenaga, Andrew; Schuler, Carlos A.

1995-12-01

Aerometrics is developing an innovative laser-diode based device that provides a warning signal when a motor-vehicle deviates from the center of the lane. The device is based on a sensor that scans the roadway on either side of the vehicle and determines the lateral position relative to the existing painted lines marking the lane. No additional markings are required. A warning is used to alert the driver of excessive weaving or unanticipated departure from the center of the lane. The laser beams are at invisible wavelengths to that operation of the device does not pose a distraction to the driver or other motorists: When appropriate markers are not present on the road, the device is capable of detecting this condition and warn the driver. The sensor system is expected to work well irrespective of ambient light levels, fog and rain. This sensor has enormous commercial potential. It could be marketed as an instrument to warn drivers that they are weaving, used as a research tool to monitor driving patterns, be required equipment for those previously convicted of driving under the influence, or used as a backup sensor for vehicle lateral position control. It can also be used in storage plants to guide robotic delivery vehicles. In this paper, the principles of operation of the sensor, and the results of Aerometrics ongoing testing will be presented.

Older drivers' risks of at-fault motor vehicle collisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Ichikawa, Masao; Nakahara, Shinji; Taniguchi, Ayako

2015-08-01

In aging societies, increasing numbers of older drivers are involved in motor vehicle collisions (MVCs), and preserving their safety is a growing concern. In this study, we focused on whether older drivers were more likely to cause MVCs and injuries than drivers in other age groups. To do so we compared at-fault MVC incidence and resulting injury risks by drivers' ages, using data from Japan, a country with a rapidly aging population. The at-fault MVC incidence was calculated based on distance traveled made for non-commercial purposes, and the injury risks posed to at-fault drivers and other road users per at-fault MVCs. We used MVC data for 2010 from the National Police Agency of Japan and driving exposure data from the Nationwide Person Trip Survey conducted by a Japanese governmental ministry in 2010. The at-fault MVC incidence showed a U-shaped curve across the drivers' ages, where teenage and the oldest drivers appeared to be the highest risk groups in terms of causing MVCs, and the incidence was higher for female drivers after age 25. The injury risk older drivers posed to other vehicle occupants because of their at-fault MVCs was lower than for drivers in other age groups, while their own injury risk appeared much higher. As the number of older drivers is increasing, efforts to reduce their at-fault MVCs appear justified. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Myocardial infarction in Swedish subway drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Bigert, Carolina; Klerdal, Kristina; Hammar, Niklas; Gustavsson, Per

2007-08-01

Particulate matter in urban air is associated with the risk of myocardial infarction in the general population. Very high levels of airborne particles have been detected in the subway system of Stockholm, as well as in several other large cities. This situation has caused concern for negative health effects among subway staff. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is an increased incidence of myocardial infarction among subway drivers. Data from a population-based case-control study of men aged 40-69 in Stockholm County in 1976-1996 were used. The study included all first events of myocardial infarction in registers of hospital discharges and deaths. The controls were selected randomly from the general population. National censuses were used for information on occupation. Altogether, 22 311 cases and 131 496 controls were included. Among these, 54 cases and 250 controls had worked as subway drivers. The relative risk of myocardial infarction among subway drivers was not increased. It was 0.92 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.68-1.25] when the subway drivers were compared with other manual workers and 1.06 (95% CI 0.78-1.43) when the subway drivers were compared with all other gainfully employed men. Subgroup analyses indicated no influence on the risk of myocardial infarction from the duration of employment, latency time, or time since employment stopped. Subway drivers in Stockholm do not have a higher incidence of myocardial infarction than other employed persons.

Negativity Bias in Dangerous Drivers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Chai

Full Text Available The behavioral and cognitive characteristics of dangerous drivers differ significantly from those of safe drivers. However, differences in emotional information processing have seldom been investigated. Previous studies have revealed that drivers with higher anger/anxiety trait scores are more likely to be involved in crashes and that individuals with higher anger traits exhibit stronger negativity biases when processing emotions compared with control groups. However, researchers have not explored the relationship between emotional information processing and driving behavior. In this study, we examined the emotional information processing differences between dangerous drivers and safe drivers. Thirty-eight non-professional drivers were divided into two groups according to the penalty points that they had accrued for traffic violations: 15 drivers with 6 or more points were included in the dangerous driver group, and 23 drivers with 3 or fewer points were included in the safe driver group. The emotional Stroop task was used to measure negativity biases, and both behavioral and electroencephalograph data were recorded. The behavioral results revealed stronger negativity biases in the dangerous drivers than in the safe drivers. The bias score was correlated with self-reported dangerous driving behavior. Drivers with strong negativity biases reported having been involved in mores crashes compared with the less-biased drivers. The event-related potentials (ERPs revealed that the dangerous drivers exhibited reduced P3 components when responding to negative stimuli, suggesting decreased inhibitory control of information that is task-irrelevant but emotionally salient. The influence of negativity bias provides one possible explanation of the effects of individual differences on dangerous driving behavior and traffic crashes.

Linking forms of inbound open innovation to a driver-based typology of environmental innovation: Evidence from French manufacturing firms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li-Ying, Jason; Mothe, Caroline; Nguyen, Thi Thuc Uyen

2017-01-01

Environmental innovation research has not yet clarified how different forms of inbound innovation might exert effects. The current article proposes four driver-based EI types according to two main dimensions: compliance versus voluntary and own value capture versus customer value capture. With a ......Environmental innovation research has not yet clarified how different forms of inbound innovation might exert effects. The current article proposes four driver-based EI types according to two main dimensions: compliance versus voluntary and own value capture versus customer value capture....... With a problem-solving perspective, we develop links from different forms of inbound innovation to various types of EI and test the related hypotheses with two waves of the French Community Innovation Survey. On a short-term basis, R&D cooperation and technology acquisition correlate positively with all four...... types of EI, but over time, persistent R&D cooperation and technology acquisition are associated with EI only at the production stage, according to voluntary/strategic or compliance drivers. Inbound innovation enables quick responses to market demands for EI in the final use stage....

X3 expansion tube driver gas spectroscopy and temperature measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Parekh, V.; Gildfind, D.; Lewis, S.; James, C.

2018-07-01

The University of Queensland's X3 facility is a large, free-piston driven expansion tube used for super-orbital and high Mach number scramjet aerothermodynamic studies. During recent development of new scramjet test flow conditions, experimentally measured shock speeds were found to be significantly lower than that predicted by initial driver performance calculations. These calculations were based on ideal, isentropic compression of the driver gas and indicated that loss mechanisms, not accounted for in the preliminary analysis, were significant. The critical determinant of shock speed is peak driver gas sound speed, which for a given gas composition depends on the peak driver gas temperature. This temperature may be inaccurately estimated if an incorrect fill temperature is assumed, or if heat losses during driver gas compression are significant but not accounted for. For this study, the ideal predicted peak temperature was 3750 K, without accounting for losses. However, a much lower driver temperature of 2400 K is suggested based on measured experimental shock speeds. This study aimed to measure initial and peak driver gas temperatures for a representative X3 operating condition. Examination of the transient temperatures of the driver gas and compression tube steel wall during the initial fill process showed that once the filling process was complete, the steady-state driver gas temperature closely matched the tube wall temperature. Therefore, while assuming the gas is initially at the ambient laboratory temperature is not a significant source of error, it can be entirely mitigated by simply monitoring tube wall temperature. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to determine the driver gas spectra after diaphragm rupture; the driver gas emission spectrum exhibited a significant continuum radiation component, with prominent spectral lines attributed to contamination of the gas. A graybody approximation of the continuum suggested a peak driver gas temperature of

X3 expansion tube driver gas spectroscopy and temperature measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Parekh, V.; Gildfind, D.; Lewis, S.; James, C.

2017-11-01

The University of Queensland's X3 facility is a large, free-piston driven expansion tube used for super-orbital and high Mach number scramjet aerothermodynamic studies. During recent development of new scramjet test flow conditions, experimentally measured shock speeds were found to be significantly lower than that predicted by initial driver performance calculations. These calculations were based on ideal, isentropic compression of the driver gas and indicated that loss mechanisms, not accounted for in the preliminary analysis, were significant. The critical determinant of shock speed is peak driver gas sound speed, which for a given gas composition depends on the peak driver gas temperature. This temperature may be inaccurately estimated if an incorrect fill temperature is assumed, or if heat losses during driver gas compression are significant but not accounted for. For this study, the ideal predicted peak temperature was 3750 K, without accounting for losses. However, a much lower driver temperature of 2400 K is suggested based on measured experimental shock speeds. This study aimed to measure initial and peak driver gas temperatures for a representative X3 operating condition. Examination of the transient temperatures of the driver gas and compression tube steel wall during the initial fill process showed that once the filling process was complete, the steady-state driver gas temperature closely matched the tube wall temperature. Therefore, while assuming the gas is initially at the ambient laboratory temperature is not a significant source of error, it can be entirely mitigated by simply monitoring tube wall temperature. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to determine the driver gas spectra after diaphragm rupture; the driver gas emission spectrum exhibited a significant continuum radiation component, with prominent spectral lines attributed to contamination of the gas. A graybody approximation of the continuum suggested a peak driver gas temperature of

The micro-step motor controller protocol and driver

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Kwang Pyo; Lee, Chang Hee; Moon, Myung Kook; Choi, Bung Hun; Choi, Young Hyun; Cheon, Jong Gu

2004-11-01

We developed the communication protocol which is a main kernel of motor control firmware program that is used at HANARO neutron spectrometer now. This protocol driver divide into as a 4 group(Serial protocol, DLL, Active-X, Labview driver), so end-user can control the motor control as easily by PC RS232/422 port and have a merits as follows: Support a Low Level/High level driver, Support a Network Connectivity function by using High level Driver, One Server can services many client request. By using this protocol, The End-user can be easily makes a application motor control program and developed another application system program by using several kinds of programming tools under Widows and Linux based operation systems

A RE-ASSESSMENT OF OLDER DRIVERS AS A ROAD SAFETY RISK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jim LANGFORD

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Older drivers are frequently viewed as overly represented in crashes, particularly when crash involvement per distance travelled is considered. This perception has led to a call for tighter licensing conditions for older drivers, a policy which inevitably results in mobility restrictions for at least some drivers. However there is a growing body of research evidence which shows that as a group, older drivers represent no greater road risk than drivers from other age groups once different levels of driving activity are taken into account. This paper has examined aspects of older drivers' fitness to drive based on survey data and off-road and on-road driving performance from a sample of 905 New Zealand older drivers. The results show that policies which target all older drivers and lead to licensing and mobility restrictions cannot be justified from a safety basis.

Education and driver-training

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrej Justinek

1999-12-01

Full Text Available The characteristics of the driver are manifested in his/her behaviour. For safe driving one must have a driver's knowledge. The contents of educational material are determined by law, and are both theoretical and practical, yet frequently they do not suffice to meet the requirements of safe driving. In this paper, the author suggests that, in the training of drivers, more educational elements should be included, such a would have  an effective influence on the driver's moti ves and attitudes. The driver's motives - which may result in incorrect driving­ are diverse: most often, the default is overspeeding, even though the drivers always over-estimate the potential time gain. In fact, over-fast driving is a way of satisfying other, different needs; and, above all, it is a form of compensation for unsettled life problems, and at the same time an indication of the driver's personal inability to cope with stress.

Assessing drivers' response during automated driver support system failures with non-driving tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Sijun; Neyens, David M

2017-06-01

With the increase in automated driver support systems, drivers are shifting from operating their vehicles to supervising their automation. As a result, it is important to understand how drivers interact with these automated systems and evaluate their effect on driver responses to safety critical events. This study aimed to identify how drivers responded when experiencing a safety critical event in automated vehicles while also engaged in non-driving tasks. In total 48 participants were included in this driving simulator study with two levels of automated driving: (a) driving with no automation and (b) driving with adaptive cruise control (ACC) and lane keeping (LK) systems engaged; and also two levels of a non-driving task (a) watching a movie or (b) no non-driving task. In addition to driving performance measures, non-driving task performance and the mean glance duration for the non-driving task were compared between the two levels of automated driving. Drivers using the automated systems responded worse than those manually driving in terms of reaction time, lane departure duration, and maximum steering wheel angle to an induced lane departure event. These results also found that non-driving tasks further impaired driver responses to a safety critical event in the automated system condition. In the automated driving condition, driver responses to the safety critical events were slower, especially when engaged in a non-driving task. Traditional driver performance variables may not necessarily effectively and accurately evaluate driver responses to events when supervising autonomous vehicle systems. Thus, it is important to develop and use appropriate variables to quantify drivers' performance under these conditions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

Ion accelerators as drivers for inertial confinement fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faltens, A.; Keefe, D.; Rosenblum, S.S.

1980-11-01

During the past few years the possibility of using intense ion beams to ignite a pellet of fusion fuel has looked increasingly promising. Ion beams ranging in mass from protons up to uranium have been investigated and several machines have been built at different laboratories to investigate the required technology. Light ion drivers are based on the use of high current, high voltage diodes arranged around a central target. These devices have the necessary power and energy to initiate fusion burn but suffer from the inability to transport stably the necessary huge beam currents over long distances to a small target. Heavy ion drivers are based either on the radio-frequency linac or the induction linac. Because heavy ions have a much shorter range than light ions of the same energy, one is able to raise the beam voltage by a factor of one-thousand and lower the current correspondingly. The expected parameters for a fusion driver will be delineated and the present state of development of the technology for the candidate ion beam drivers will be described in light of these desiderata

Discriminating Drivers through Human Factor and Behavioral Difference

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ju Seok Oh

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Since Greenwood and Woods' (1919 study in tendency of accident, many researchers have insisted that various human factors (sensation seeking, anger, anxiety are highly correlated with reckless driving and traffic accidents. Oh and Lee (2011 designed the Driving Behavior Determinants Questionnaire, a psychological tool to predict danger level of drivers and discriminate them into three groups (normal, unintentionally reckless, and intentionally reckless by their characteristics, attitude, and expected reckless behavior level. This tool's overall accuracy of discrimination was 70%. This study aimed to prove that the discrimination reflects the behavioral difference of drivers. Twenty-four young drivers were requested to react to the visual stimuli (tests for subjective speed sense, simple visual reaction time, and left turning at own risk. The results showed no differences in subjective speed sense among the driver groups, which means drivers' excessive speeding behaviors occur due to intention based on personality and attitude, not because of sensory disorders. In addition, there were no differences in simple reaction time among driver groups. However, the results of the ‘Left turning at drivers’ own risk task” revealed significant group differences. All reckless drivers showed a greater degree of dangerous left turning behaviors than the normal group did.

Improving drivers' knowledge of road rules using digital games.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Qing; Tay, Richard

2014-04-01

Although a proficient knowledge of the road rules is important to safe driving, many drivers do not retain the knowledge acquired after they have obtained their licenses. Hence, more innovative and appealing methods are needed to improve drivers' knowledge of the road rules. This study examines the effect of game based learning on drivers' knowledge acquisition and retention. We find that playing an entertaining game that is designed to impart knowledge of the road rules not only improves players' knowledge but also helps them retain such knowledge. Hence, learning by gaming appears to be a promising learning approach for driver education. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Young Drivers Perceptual Learning Styles Preferences and Traffic Accidents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Svetlana Čičević

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Young drivers are over-represented in crash and fatality statistics. One way of dealing with this problem is to achieve primary prevention through driver education and training. Factors of traffic accidents related to gender, age, driving experience, and self-assessments of safety and their relationship to perceptual learning styles (LS preferences have been analyzed in this study. The results show that auditory is the most prominent LS. Drivers in general, as well as drivers without traffic accidents favour visual and tactile LS. Both inexperienced and highly experienced drivers show relatively high preference of kinaesthetic style. Yet, taking into account driving experience we could see that the role of kinaesthetic LS is reduced, since individual LS has become more important. Based on the results of this study it can be concluded that a multivariate and multistage approach to driver education, taking into account differences in LS preferences, would be highly beneficial for traffic safety.

Underbelly injury based identification of the driver in a three-rider motorcycle accident.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shengxiong; Yin, Zhiyong; Su, Sen; Li, Kui

2016-01-01

This paper presents a three-rider motorcycle accident which took place in a suburb of Chongqing China. In the accident, the motorcycle impacted the terminal of a bridge footpath and led to two riders died and one rider injured. After the accident, one rider received injuries around the groin area including the underbelly area and the perineum area. Another rider suffered from injuries only on the perineum areas. In medico-legal judgments, injuries around the groin area also called groin injuries in victims of motorcycle accidents are usually regarded as "fuel tank injuries" which are commonly found in drivers. But, the injuries around the groin area are sometimes confused with the perineum injuries. Therefore, the perineum injuries are often wrongly reckoned as the "fuel tank injuries" and used to identify the drivers too. Actually, passengers can sometimes suffer from perineum injuries in many head-on impacting motorcycle accidents. It is of vital matters to understand the differences between groin injuries and perineum injuries so that the real driver who should be responsible for the accident can be recognized. In this paper, the three-rider motorcycle accident was presented and the injury information of the three riders was studied in order to distinguish the real driver from the riders. We consider that the groin injury has some differences with the perineum injury and the latter should not always be related to the driver especially in high-speed head-on impacting motorcycle accidents. In addition, the injury on underbelly areas is important to identify the driver. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contributory fault and level of personal injury to drivers involved in head-on collisions: Application of copula-based bivariate ordinal models.

Science.gov (United States)

Wali, Behram; Khattak, Asad J; Xu, Jingjing

2018-01-01

The main objective of this study is to simultaneously investigate the degree of injury severity sustained by drivers involved in head-on collisions with respect to fault status designation. This is complicated to answer due to many issues, one of which is the potential presence of correlation between injury outcomes of drivers involved in the same head-on collision. To address this concern, we present seemingly unrelated bivariate ordered response models by analyzing the joint injury severity probability distribution of at-fault and not-at-fault drivers. Moreover, the assumption of bivariate normality of residuals and the linear form of stochastic dependence implied by such models may be unduly restrictive. To test this, Archimedean copula structures and normal mixture marginals are integrated into the joint estimation framework, which can characterize complex forms of stochastic dependencies and non-normality in residual terms. The models are estimated using 2013 Virginia police reported two-vehicle head-on collision data, where exactly one driver is at-fault. The results suggest that both at-fault and not-at-fault drivers sustained serious/fatal injuries in 8% of crashes, whereas, in 4% of the cases, the not-at-fault driver sustained a serious/fatal injury with no injury to the at-fault driver at all. Furthermore, if the at-fault driver is fatigued, apparently asleep, or has been drinking the not-at-fault driver is more likely to sustain a severe/fatal injury, controlling for other factors and potential correlations between the injury outcomes. While not-at-fault vehicle speed affects injury severity of at-fault driver, the effect is smaller than the effect of at-fault vehicle speed on at-fault injury outcome. Contrarily, and importantly, the effect of at-fault vehicle speed on injury severity of not-at-fault driver is almost equal to the effect of not-at-fault vehicle speed on injury outcome of not-at-fault driver. Compared to traditional ordered probability

Can We Model Driver Perceptions? An In-Situ Experiment in Real-World Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aly M. Tawfik, PhD

2014-06-01

Full Text Available It is clear that perceptions play a significant role in traveler decisions. Consequently, traveler perceptions are a corner stone in the feasibility of traveler information systems; for traveler information systems are only valuable if the drivers are incapable of accurately acquiring the provided information on their own, and if the provided information is relevant for the drivers' decision criteria. Accuracy of traveler perceptions has been repeatedly researched in public transportation, and has been found to vary according to different reasons. However, in spite of the clear significance of traveler perceptions, minimal effort has been put into modeling it. Almost all travel behavior models are based on traveler experiences, which are assumed to reflect traveler perceptions via the addition of some random error component. This works introduces an alternative approach: instead of adding an error component to represent driver perceptions, it proposes to model driver perceptions. This work is based on a real-world route choice experiment of a sample of 20 drivers who made more than 2,000 real-world route choices. Each of the drivers' experiences, perceptions, and choices were recorded, analyzed and cross examined. The paper demonstrates that: i driver experiences are different from driver perceptions, ii driver perceptions explain driver choices better than driver experiences, iii it is possible to model and predict driver perceptions of travel distance, time and speed.

Effects of autonomy, traffic conditions and driver personality traits on attitudes and trust towards in-vehicle agents

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cramer, H.; Evers, V.; Kemper, N.; Wielinga, B.; Li, Y.; Pasi, G.; Zhang, C.; Cercone, N.; Cao, L.

2008-01-01

In-vehicle agents can potentially avert dangerous driving situations by adapting to the driver, context and traffic conditions. However, perceptions of system autonomy, the way agents offer assistance, driving contexts and users’ personality traits can all affect acceptance and trust. This paper

Aging baby boomers--a blessing or challenge for driver licensing authorities.

Science.gov (United States)

Dobbs, Bonnie M

2008-08-01

In less than 5 years, the first wave of baby boomers will begin turning 65, with the last wave of boomers entering their senior years in January 2029. Currently, boomers make up a significant percentage of the population in Canada, the United States, and other developed countries. The baby boom generation has had a profound impact on our society over the last six decades, and this large cohort will continue to exert its influence for several decades to come. Central to this article is the rapid growth in the number of persons 65 years of age and older, beginning in 2011, with a corresponding increase in the number of older drivers. The demographic shift has important implications for licensing authorities, the regulatory bodies charged with licensing and 'fitness to drive' decisions. The objectives of this paper are to summarize the published scientific literature on licensing policies and procedures currently in use for older drivers, discuss their limitations, and provide recommendations for meeting the upcoming challenges of an aging baby boomer population of drivers. Online searches were conducted using the following databases: PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Scopus, and TRIS. Google and Google Scholar also were searched for scientific articles. References identified from database and online searches were examined for relevant articles. A number of studies have investigated the utility of different licensing policies and procedures for identifying older drivers who may be at risk for impaired driving performance. Overall, results suggest that current policies and procedures are ineffective in identifying high-risk older drivers. The results also emphasize the need for a different approach for the identification of high risk older drivers by licensing agencies. Recommendations to assist with that goal are provided. The aging of the baby boomer population, combined with the projected high crash rates for this cohort of drivers as it moves through the senior years, underscores

Key drivers of airline loyalty.

Science.gov (United States)

Dolnicar, Sara; Grabler, Klaus; Grün, Bettina; Kulnig, Anna

2011-10-01

This study investigates drivers of airline loyalty. It contributes to the body of knowledge in the area by investigating loyalty for a number of a priori market segments identified by airline management and by using a method which accounts for the multi-step nature of the airline choice process. The study is based on responses from 687 passengers. Results indicate that, at aggregate level, frequent flyer membership, price, the status of being a national carrier and the reputation of the airline as perceived by friends are the variables which best discriminate between travellers loyal to the airline and those who are not. Differences in drivers of airline loyalty for a number of segments were identified. For example, loyalty programs play a key role for business travellers whereas airline loyalty of leisure travellers is difficult to trace back to single factors. For none of the calculated models satisfaction emerged as a key driver of airline loyalty.

Flow processes in electric discharge drivers

Science.gov (United States)

Baganoff, D.

1975-01-01

The performance of an electric discharge shock tube is discussed from the point of view that the conditions at the sonic station are the primary controlling variables (likewise in comparing designs), and that the analysis of the flow on either side of the sonic station should be done separately. The importance of considering mass-flow rate in matching a given driver design to the downstream flow required for a particular shock-wave speed is stressed. It is shown that a driver based on the principle of liquid injection (of H2) is superior to one based on the Ludwieg tube, because of the greater mass-flow rate and the absence of a massive diaphragm.

Commercialization of Plasma-Assisted Technologies: The Indian Experience

Science.gov (United States)

John, P. I.

The paper describes an initiative by the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), India in establishing links with the Indian industry for developing and commercialising advanced plasma-based industrial technologies. This has culminated in the creation of a self-financing technology development, incubation, demonstration and delivery facility. A business plan for converting the knowledge base to commercially viable technologies conceived technology as a product and the industry as the market and addressed issues like resistance to new technologies, the key role of entrepreneur, thrust areas and the necessity of technology incubation and delivery. Success of this strategy is discussed in a few case studies. We conclude by identifying the cost, environmental, strategic and techno-economic aspects, which would be the prime drivers for plasma-assisted manufacturing technology in India.

Sleep quality, posttraumatic stress, depression, and human errors in train drivers: a population-based nationwide study in South Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeon, Hong Jin; Kim, Ji-Hae; Kim, Bin-Na; Park, Seung Jin; Fava, Maurizio; Mischoulon, David; Kang, Eun-Ho; Roh, Sungwon; Lee, Dongsoo

2014-12-01

Human error is defined as an unintended error that is attributable to humans rather than machines, and that is important to avoid to prevent accidents. We aimed to investigate the association between sleep quality and human errors among train drivers. Cross-sectional. Population-based. A sample of 5,480 subjects who were actively working as train drivers were recruited in South Korea. The participants were 4,634 drivers who completed all questionnaires (response rate 84.6%). None. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS). Of 4,634 train drivers, 349 (7.5%) showed more than one human error per 5 y. Human errors were associated with poor sleep quality, higher PSQI total scores, short sleep duration at night, and longer sleep latency. Among train drivers with poor sleep quality, those who experienced severe posttraumatic stress showed a significantly higher number of human errors than those without. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that human errors were significantly associated with poor sleep quality and posttraumatic stress, whereas there were no significant associations with depression, trait and state anxiety, and work stress after adjusting for age, sex, education years, marital status, and career duration. Poor sleep quality was found to be associated with more human errors in train drivers, especially in those who experienced severe posttraumatic stress. © 2014 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

Consistency between subjectively and objectively measured hazard perception skills among young male drivers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abele, Liva; Haustein, Sonja; Møller, Mette

2018-01-01

. Subjective measures of HPS include self-reports derived based on the Hazard Perception Questionnaire (HPQ), Driving Skill Questionnaire (DSQ), and Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS). Results show that drivers who respond to the hazards on time, as compared to drivers who do not respond, have higher scores......Young male drivers have lower hazard perception skills (HPS) than older and more experienced drivers and a tendency to overestimate their skills in hazardous situations. Both factors contribute to an over-representation in traffic accidents. Based on a sample of 63 drivers aged 18-24, this study...... negatively when the hazard is visible. To enhance the HPS among young drivers, the results of this study suggest that specific hazard perception training is relevant, especially for hazards that require more advanced HPS....

Examination of supplemental driver training and online basic driver education courses : traffic tech.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-01

The first six months of unsupervised driving are the most : hazardous in a novice drivers driving experience. Most : States adopted graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems : to give novice drivers experience in a protective environment, : gradual...

The Drivers of Success in Business Model Transformation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nenad Savič

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Existing empirical literature on business models is still inconclusive about the key drivers of successful business model transformation. The paper explores this issue by using a single longitudinal case study design in combination with grounded theory approach on a medium-sized, high-tech and globally oriented company. Based on on-site visits, interviews and secondary documentation data analysis, the study identifies six generic drivers of successful business model transformation: transformational leadership, discovery driven decision-making, industry improvement – customer specific orientation, content-oriented communication, self-initiative collaborators, and phased separation strategy. The new drivers supplement our existing knowledge on how successful transformation takes place and add to existing drivers, while extensive discussion of their implications may help the managers to execute business transformations more effectively.

Discovery of cancer common and specific driver gene sets

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Abstract Cancer is known as a disease mainly caused by gene alterations. Discovery of mutated driver pathways or gene sets is becoming an important step to understand molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis. However, systematically investigating commonalities and specificities of driver gene sets among multiple cancer types is still a great challenge, but this investigation will undoubtedly benefit deciphering cancers and will be helpful for personalized therapy and precision medicine in cancer treatment. In this study, we propose two optimization models to de novo discover common driver gene sets among multiple cancer types (ComMDP) and specific driver gene sets of one certain or multiple cancer types to other cancers (SpeMDP), respectively. We first apply ComMDP and SpeMDP to simulated data to validate their efficiency. Then, we further apply these methods to 12 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and obtain several biologically meaningful driver pathways. As examples, we construct a common cancer pathway model for BRCA and OV, infer a complex driver pathway model for BRCA carcinogenesis based on common driver gene sets of BRCA with eight cancer types, and investigate specific driver pathways of the liquid cancer lymphoblastic acute myeloid leukemia (LAML) versus other solid cancer types. In these processes more candidate cancer genes are also found. PMID:28168295

Lane-changing model with dynamic consideration of driver's propensity

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiaoyuan; Wang, Jianqiang; Zhang, Jinglei; Ban, Xuegang Jeff

2015-07-01

Lane-changing is the driver's selection result of the satisfaction degree in different lane driving conditions. There are many different factors influencing lane-changing behavior, such as diversity, randomicity and difficulty of measurement. So it is hard to accurately reflect the uncertainty of drivers' lane-changing behavior. As a result, the research of lane-changing models is behind that of car-following models. Driver's propensity is her/his emotion state or the corresponding preference of a decision or action toward the real objective traffic situations under the influence of various dynamic factors. It represents the psychological characteristics of the driver in the process of vehicle operation and movement. It is an important factor to influence lane-changing. In this paper, dynamic recognition of driver's propensity is considered during simulation based on its time-varying discipline and the analysis of the driver's psycho-physic characteristics. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is used to quantify the hierarchy of driver's dynamic lane-changing decision-making process, especially the influence of the propensity. The model is validated using real data. Test results show that the developed lane-changing model with the dynamic consideration of a driver's time-varying propensity and the AHP method are feasible and with improved accuracy.

An application of the driver behavior questionnaire to Chinese carless young drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qian; Jiang, Zuhua; Zheng, Dongpeng; Wang, Yifan; Man, Dong

2013-01-01

Carless young drivers refers to those drivers aged between 18 and 25 years who have a driver's license but seldom have opportunities to practice their driving skills because they do not have their own cars. Due to China's lower private car ownership, many young drivers turn into carless young drivers after licensure, and the safety issue associated with them has become a matter of great concern in China. Because few studies have examined the driving behaviors of these drivers, this study aims to utilize the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) to investigate the self-reported driving behaviors of Chinese carless young drivers. A total of 523 Chinese carless young drivers (214 females, 309 males) with an average age of 21.91 years completed a questionnaire including the 27-item DBQ and demographics. The data were first randomized into 2 subsamples for factor analysis and then combined together for the following analyses. Both an exploratory factor analysis (EFA, n = 174) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA, n = 349) were performed to investigate the factor structure of the DBQ. Correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between the demographics and the DBQ scales' variables. Multivariate linear regression and logistic regression were performed to investigate the prediction of the DBQ scales and crash involvement in the previous year. The EFA produced a 4-factor structure identified as errors, violations, attention lapses, and memory lapses, and the CFA revealed a good model fit after the removal of one item with a low factor loading and the permission of the error covariance between some items. The Chinese carless young drivers reported a comparatively low level of aberrant driving behaviors. The 3 most frequently reported behaviors were all lapses and the 3 least were all violations. Gender was the only significant predictor of the 2 lapses scales and lifetime mileage was the only significant predictor of the violations scale. Only the

Child safety driver assistant system and its acceptance.

Science.gov (United States)

Quendler, Elisabeth; Diskus, Christian; Pohl, Alfred; Buchegger, Thomas; Beranek, Ernst; Boxberger, Josef

2009-01-01

Farming machinery incidents frequently cause the injury and death of children on farms worldwide. The two main causes of this problem are the driver's view being restricted by construction and/or environmental factors and insufficient risk awareness by children and parents. It is difficult to separate working and living areas on family farms, and the adult supervision necessary to avoid work accidents is often lacking. For this reason, additional preventive measures are required to reduce the number of crushings. Electronic tools that deliver information about the presence of children in the blind spots surrounding vehicles and their attached machines can be very effective. Such an electronic device must cover all security gaps around operating agricultural vehicles and their attached machines, ensure collision-free stopping in risk situations, and be inexpensive. Wireless sensor network and electrical near-field electronic components are suited to the development of low-cost wireless detection devices. For reliable detection in a versatile environment, it is necessary for children to continuously wear a slumbering transponder. This means that children and adults must have a high acceptance of the device, which can be improved by easy usability, design, and service quality. The developed demonstrator achieved detection distances of up to 40 m in the far field and 2.5 m in the near field. Recognized far-field sensor detection weaknesses, determined by user-friendliness tests, are false alarms in farmyards and around buildings. The detection distance and reliability of the near-field sensor varied with the design of the attached machines' metallic components.

"Good Passengers and Not Good Passengers:" Adolescent Drivers' Perceptions About Inattention and Peer Passengers.

Science.gov (United States)

McDonald, Catherine C; Sommers, Marilyn S

The purpose of this qualitative focus group elicitation research study was to explore teen driver perceptions of peer passengers and driver inattention. We utilized focus groups for data collection and content analysis to analyze the data, both of which were guided by the theory of planned behavior. We conducted 7 focus groups with 30 teens, ages 16-18, licensed for ≤1year to examine attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and norms related to driving inattention and peer passengers. The sample was 50% male, mean age 17.39 (SD 0.52) with mean length of licensure 173.7days (SD 109.2). Three themes emerged: 1) "Good and not good" passengers; 2) Passengers and technology as harmful and helpful; and 3) The driver is in charge. While passengers can be a source of distraction, our participants also identified passenger behaviors that reduced risk, such as assistance with technology and guidance for directions. An understanding of teens' perceptions of peer passengers can contribute to the development of effective interventions targeting teen driver inattention. Nurses are well-positioned to contribute to these teen crash prevention efforts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Longer-term effects of ADAS use on speed and headway control in drivers diagnosed with Parkinson's disease

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dotzauer, Mandy; Caljouw, Simone R.; De Waard, Dick; Brouwer, Wiebo H.

2015-01-01

Objective: An advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) provided information about speed limits, speed, speeding, and following distance. Information was presented to the participants by means of a head-up display. Methods: Effects of the information on speed and headway control were studied in a

Hardware simulation of automatic braking system based on fuzzy logic control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noor Cholis Basjaruddin

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In certain situations, a moving or stationary object can be a barrier for a vehicle. People and vehicles crossing could potentially get hit by a vehicle. Objects around roads as sidewalks, road separator, power poles, and railroad gates are also a potential source of danger when the driver is inattentive in driving the vehicle. A device that can help the driver to brake automatically is known as Automatic Braking System (ABS. ABS is a part of the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS, which is a device designed to assist the driver in driving the process. This device was developed to reduce human error that is a major cause of traffic accidents. This paper presents the design of ABS based on fuzzy logic which is simulated in hardware by using a remote control car. The inputs of fuzzy logic are the speed and distance of the object in front of the vehicle, while the output of fuzzy logic is the intensity of braking. The test results on the three variations of speed: slow-speed, medium-speed, and high-speed shows that the design of ABS can work according to design.

New Incremental Actuators based on Electro-active Polymer: Conceptual, Control, and Driver Design Considerations. 

OpenAIRE

Thummala, Prasanth; Schneider, Henrik; Zhang, Zhe; Andersen, Michael A. E.; Sarban, Rahimullah

2016-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the widely usedconventional linear actuator technologies and existing electroactivepolymer based linear and rotary actuators. It also providesthe conceptual, control and driver design considerations for anew dielectric electro-active polymer (DEAP) based incrementalactuator. The DEAP incremental actuator consists of threeindependent DEAP actuators with a unique cylindrical designthat potentially simplifies mass production and scalabilitycompared to existing ...

Predictors of Self-reported Crashes among Iranian Drivers: Exploratory Analysis of an Extended Driver Behavior Questionnaire

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amin Mohamadi Hezaveh

2018-02-01

Full Text Available More than 16,500 people lose their lives each year due to traffic crashes in Iran, which reflects one of the highest road traffic fatality rates in the world. The aim of the present study is to investigate the factors structure of an extended Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ and to examine the gender differences in the extracted factors among Iranian drivers. Further, the study tested the association between DBQ factors, demographic characteristics, and self-reported crashes. Based on Iranian driving culture, an extended (36 items Internet-based version of the DBQ was distributed among Iranian drivers. The results of Exploratory Factor Analysis based on a sample of 632 Iranians identified a five-factor solution named “Speeding and Pushing Violations”, “Lapses and Errors”, “Violations Causing Inattention”, “Aggressive Violations” and “Traffic Violations” which account for 44.7 percent of the total variance. The results also revealed that females were more prone to Lapses and Errors, whereas males reported more violations than females. Logistic regression analysis identified Violations Causing Inattention, Speeding and Pushing Violations as predictors of self-reported crashes in a three-year period. The results were discussed in line with road traffic safety countermeasures suitable for the Iranian context.

Monitoring driver fatigue using a single-channel electroencephalographic device: A validation study by gaze-based, driving performance, and subjective data.

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, José M; Díaz-Piedra, Carolina; Rieiro, Héctor; Roca-González, Joaquín; Romero, Samuel; Catena, Andrés; Fuentes, Luis J; Di Stasi, Leandro L

2017-12-01

Driver fatigue can impair performance as much as alcohol does. It is the most important road safety concern, causing thousands of accidents and fatalities every year. Thanks to technological developments, wearable, single-channel EEG devices are now getting considerable attention as fatigue monitors, as they could help drivers to assess their own levels of fatigue and, therefore, prevent the deterioration of performance. However, the few studies that have used single-channel EEG devices to investigate the physiological effects of driver fatigue have had inconsistent results, and the question of whether we can monitor driver fatigue reliably with these EEG devices remains open. Here, we assessed the validity of a single-channel EEG device (TGAM-based chip) to monitor changes in mental state (from alertness to fatigue). Fifteen drivers performed a 2-h simulated driving task while we recorded, simultaneously, their prefrontal brain activity and saccadic velocity. We used saccadic velocity as the reference index of fatigue. We also collected subjective ratings of alertness and fatigue, as well as driving performance. We found that the power spectra of the delta EEG band showed an inverted U-shaped quadratic trend (EEG power spectra increased for the first hour and half, and decreased during the last thirty minutes), while the power spectra of the beta band linearly increased as the driving session progressed. Coherently, saccadic velocity linearly decreased and speeding time increased, suggesting a clear effect of fatigue. Subjective data corroborated these conclusions. Overall, our results suggest that the TGAM-based chip EEG device is able to detect changes in mental state while performing a complex and dynamic everyday task as driving. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research on Taxi Driver Strategy Game Evolution with Carpooling Detour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Zhang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available For the problem of taxi carpooling detour, this paper studies driver strategy choice with carpooling detour. The model of taxi driver strategy evolution with carpooling detour is built based on prospect theory and evolution game theory. Driver stable strategies are analyzed under the conditions of complaint mechanism and absence of mechanism, respectively. The results show that passenger’s complaint mechanism can effectively decrease the phenomenon of driver refusing passengers with carpooling detour. When probability of passenger complaint reaches a certain level, the stable strategy of driver is to take carpooling detour passengers. Meanwhile, limiting detour distance and easing traffic congestion can decrease the possibility of refusing passengers. These conclusions have a certain guiding significance to formulating taxi policy.

Characteristics of Chinese Driver Behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Li, J.

2014-01-01

The high growth rate of vehicle ownership and many novel drivers in China determine the special features of Chinese driver behavior. This thesis introduces a comparative study on driver behavior by the analysis of saturation flow at urban intersections, Driver Behavior Questionnaire surveys, focus

Estimating likelihood of future crashes for crash-prone drivers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Subasish Das

2015-06-01

Full Text Available At-fault crash-prone drivers are usually considered as the high risk group for possible future incidents or crashes. In Louisiana, 34% of crashes are repeatedly committed by the at-fault crash-prone drivers who represent only 5% of the total licensed drivers in the state. This research has conducted an exploratory data analysis based on the driver faultiness and proneness. The objective of this study is to develop a crash prediction model to estimate the likelihood of future crashes for the at-fault drivers. The logistic regression method is used by employing eight years' traffic crash data (2004–2011 in Louisiana. Crash predictors such as the driver's crash involvement, crash and road characteristics, human factors, collision type, and environmental factors are considered in the model. The at-fault and not-at-fault status of the crashes are used as the response variable. The developed model has identified a few important variables, and is used to correctly classify at-fault crashes up to 62.40% with a specificity of 77.25%. This model can identify as many as 62.40% of the crash incidence of at-fault drivers in the upcoming year. Traffic agencies can use the model for monitoring the performance of an at-fault crash-prone drivers and making roadway improvements meant to reduce crash proneness. From the findings, it is recommended that crash-prone drivers should be targeted for special safety programs regularly through education and regulations.

How to identify the key factors that affect driver perception of accident risk. A comparison between Italian and Spanish driver behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

de Oña, Juan; de Oña, Rocio; Eboli, Laura; Forciniti, Carmen; Mazzulla, Gabriella

2014-12-01

Road crashes can be caused by different factors, including infrastructure, vehicles, and human variables. Many research studies have focused solely on identifying the key factors that cause road crashes. From these studies, it emerged that human factors have the most relevant impact on accident severity. More specifically, accident severity depends on several factors related directly to the driver, i.e., driving experience, driver's socio-economic characteristics, and driving behavior and attitudes. In this paper, we investigate driver behaviors and attitudes while driving and specifically focus on different methods for identifying the factors that most affect the driver's perception of accident risk. To this end, we designed and conducted a survey in two different European contexts: the city of Cosenza, which is located in the south of Italy, and the city of Granada, which is located in the south of Spain. Samples of drivers were contacted for their opinions on certain aspects of driving rules and attitudes while driving, and different types of questions were addressed to the drivers to assess their judgments of these aspects. Consequently, different methods of data analysis were applied to determine the aspects that heavily influence driver perception of accident risk. An experiment based on the stated preferences (SP) was carried out with the drivers, and the SP data were analyzed using an ordered probit (OP) model. Interesting findings emerged from different analyses of the data and from the comparisons among the data collected in the two different territorial contexts. We found that both Italian and Spanish drivers consider driving in an altered psychophysical state and violating the overtaking rules to be the most risky behaviors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Overview on Study of Identification of Driver Behavior Characteristics for Automotive Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Na Lin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Driver characteristics have been the research focus for automotive control. Study on identification of driver characteristics is provided in this paper in terms of its relevant research directions and key technologies involved. This paper discusses the driver characteristics based on driver’s operation behavior, or the driver behavior characteristics. Following the presentation of the fundamental of the driver behavior characteristics, the key technologies of the driver behavior characteristics are reviewed in detail, including classification and identification methods of the driver behavior characteristics, experimental design and data acquisition, and model adaptation. Moreover, this paper discusses applications of the identification of the driver behavior characteristics which has been applied to the intelligent driver advisory system, the driver safety warning system, and the vehicle dynamics control system. At last, some ideas about the future work are concluded.

Anger expression among Danish cyclists and drivers: A comparison based on mode specific anger expression inventories

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Mette; Haustein, Sonja

2017-01-01

, gender, self-reported aggressive behaviours and traffic fines: Women scored for instance lower in physical expression, while older people scored higher in constructive expression. The effect of age and gender on anger expression among drivers and cyclists remained significant when controlling......Based on the short form of the driving anger expression inventory (DAX-short, 15-item), the present study developed an adapted version of the DAX for cyclists (CAX, 14 items). The data basis was an online survey of 2000 inhabitants of Denmark. A principle component analysis on the translated DAX...... for exposure and other factors in linear regression analyses. These analyses also showed a relationship between a positive attitude towards driving and higher levels of anger expression among drivers, while this was not the case for cyclists....

Acoustic Levitation With One Driver

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, T. G.; Rudnick, I.; Elleman, D. D.; Stoneburner, J. D.

1985-01-01

Report discusses acoustic levitation in rectangular chamber using one driver mounted at corner. Placement of driver at corner enables it to couple effectively to acoustic modes along all three axes. Use of single driver reduces cost, complexity and weight of levitation system below those of three driver system.

A Clinical Trial on Weight Loss among Truck Drivers

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MS Thiese

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Background: The high prevalence of obesity among commercial truck drivers may be related to sedentary nature of the job, lack of healthy eating choices, and lack of exercise. There may be a link between obesity and crash risk, therefore an intervention to reduce obesity in this population is needed. Objective: To assess feasibility of a 12-week weight loss intervention for truck drivers with a weight loss goal of 10% of initial body weight. Methods: Drivers were selected based on age (≥21 years and body mass index (≥30 kg/m2. The drivers participated in a before-after clinical trial. The intervention included a 12-week program that provided information on healthy diet and increasing exercise, and telephone-based coaching using SMART goals. Outcomes included change from baseline in reported energy intake, measured weight, waist, hip, and neck circumference, blood pressure, and point of care capillary blood lipids and hemoglobin A1c. Exit interviews were conducted to gain insight into driver opinions on the program features and usefulness. This study was registered with the NIH Clinical Trials Registry, number NCT02348983. Results: 12 of 13 drivers completed the study. Weight loss was statistically significant (p=0.03. Reported energy (p=0.005, total fat consumption (p=0.04, and saturated fat consumption (p=0.02 intake were also lower after the 12-week intervention. Drivers attributed their weight loss to health coaching and suggested a longer intervention so that they could reach their goal and become accustomed to the changes. Conclusion: This weight loss intervention is feasible for this difficult population. Additional research is needed to compare this intervention with a control group.

Challenges for Older Drivers in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Settings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rashmi P. Payyanadan

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Along with age-related factors, geographical settings—urban, suburban, and rural areas—also contribute to the differences in fatal crashes among older drivers. These differences in crash outcomes might be attributed to the various driving challenges faced by older drivers residing in different locations. To understand these challenges from the perspective of the older driver, a focus group study was conducted with drivers 65 and older from urban, suburban, and rural settings. Guided-group interviews were used to assess driving challenges, mobility options, opportunities for driver support systems (DSS, and alternate transportation needs. Content analysis of the interview responses resulted in four categories representing common challenges faced by older drivers across the settings: behavior of other drivers on the road, placement of road signs, reduced visibility of road signs due to age-related decline, and difficulties using in-vehicle technologies. Six categories involved location-specific challenges such as heavy traffic situations for urban and suburban drivers, and multi-destination trips for rural drivers. Countermeasures implemented by older drivers to address these challenges primarily involved route selection and avoidance. Technological advances of DSS systems provide a unique opportunity to support the information needs for route selection and avoidance preferences of drivers. Using the content analysis results, a framework was built to determine additional and modified DSS features to meet the specific challenges of older drivers in urban, suburban, and rural settings. These findings suggest that there is heterogeneity in the driving challenges and preferences of older drivers based on their location. Consequently, DSS technologies and vehicle automation need to be tailored to not only meet the driving safety and mobility needs of older drivers as a population, but also to their driving environment.

Adapting Animal-Assisted Therapy Trials to Prison-Based Animal Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Allison, Molly; Ramaswamy, Megha

2016-09-01

Prison-based animal programs have shown promise when it comes to increased sociability, responsibility, and levels of patience for inmates who participate in these programs. Yet there remains a dearth of scientific research that demonstrates the impact of prison-based animal programs on inmates' physical and mental health. Trials of animal-assisted therapy interventions, a form of human-animal interaction therapy most often used with populations affected by depression/anxiety, mental illness, and trauma, may provide models of how prison-based animal program research can have widespread implementation in jail and prison settings, whose populations have high rates of mental health problems. This paper reviews the components of prison-based animal programs most commonly practiced in prisons today, presents five animal-assisted therapy case studies, evaluates them based on their adaptability to prison-based animal programs, and discusses the institutional constraints that act as barriers for rigorous prison-based animal program research implementation. This paper can serve to inform the development of a research approach to animal-assisted therapy that nurses and other public health researchers can use in working with correctional populations. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Drivers Advancing Oral Health in a Large Group Dental Practice Organization.

Science.gov (United States)

Simmons, Kristen; Gibson, Stephanie; White, Joel M

2016-06-01

Three change drivers are being implemented to high standards of patient centric and evidence-based oral health care within the context of a large multispecialty dental group practice organization based on the commitment of the dental hygienist chief operating officer and her team. A recent environmental scan elucidated 6 change drivers that can impact the provision of oral health care. Practitioners who can embrace and maximize aspects of these change drivers will move dentistry forward and create future opportunities. This article explains how 3 of these change drivers are being applied in a privately held, accountable risk-bearing entity that provides individualized treatment programs for more than 417,000 members. To facilitate integration of the conceptual changes related to the drivers, a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary, highly functioning collaborative work group was formed. The document Dental Hygiene at a Crossroads for Change(1) inspired the first author, a dental hygienist in a unique position as chief operating officer of a large group practice, to pursue evidence-based organizational change and to impact the quality of patient care. This was accomplished by implementing technological advances including dental diagnosis terminology in the electronic health record, clinical decision support, standardized treatment guidelines, quality metrics, and patient engagement to improve oral health outcomes at the patient and population levels. The systems and processes used to implement 3 change drivers into a large multi-practice dental setting is presented to inform and inspire others to implement change drivers with the potential for advancing oral health. Technology implementing best practices and improving patient engagement are excellent drivers to advance oral health and are an effective use of oral health care dollars. Improved oral health can be leveraged through technological advances to improve clinical practice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc

Crash probability estimation via quantifying driver hazard perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yang; Zheng, Yang; Wang, Jianqiang; Kodaka, Kenji; Li, Keqiang

2018-07-01

Crash probability estimation is an important method to predict the potential reduction of crash probability contributed by forward collision avoidance technologies (FCATs). In this study, we propose a practical approach to estimate crash probability, which combines a field operational test and numerical simulations of a typical rear-end crash model. To consider driver hazard perception characteristics, we define a novel hazard perception measure, called as driver risk response time, by considering both time-to-collision (TTC) and driver braking response to impending collision risk in a near-crash scenario. Also, we establish a driving database under mixed Chinese traffic conditions based on a CMBS (Collision Mitigation Braking Systems)-equipped vehicle. Applying the crash probability estimation in this database, we estimate the potential decrease in crash probability owing to use of CMBS. A comparison of the results with CMBS on and off shows a 13.7% reduction of crash probability in a typical rear-end near-crash scenario with a one-second delay of driver's braking response. These results indicate that CMBS is positive in collision prevention, especially in the case of inattentive drivers or ole drivers. The proposed crash probability estimation offers a practical way for evaluating the safety benefits in the design and testing of FCATs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing the relationship between the Driver Behavior Questionnaire and the Driver Skill Inventory: Revealing sub-groups of drivers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martinussen, Laila Marianne; Møller, Mette; Prato, Carlo Giacomo

2014-01-01

The Driver Behavior Questionnaire and the Driver Skill Inventory are two of the most frequently used measures of self-reported driving style and driving skill. The motivation behind the present study was to identify sub-groups of drivers that potentially act dangerously in traffic (as measured...... self-reported driving skills and whether the reported skill level was reflected in the reported aberrant driving behaviors. 3908 drivers aged 18–84 participated in the survey. K-means cluster analysis revealed four distinct sub-groups that differed in driving skills and frequency of aberrant driving...... by frequency of aberrant driving behaviors and level of driving skills), as well as to test whether the sub-groups differ in characteristics such as age, gender, annual mileage and accident involvement. Furthermore, the joint analysis of the two instruments was used to test drivers’ assessment of their own...

A Stochastic LWR Model with Consideration of the Driver's Individual Property

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang Tieqiao; Wang Yunpeng; Yu Guizhen; Huang Haijun

2012-01-01

In this paper, we develop a stochastic LWR model based on the influences of the driver's individual property on his/her perceived density and speed deviation. The numerical results show that the driver's individual property has great effects on traffic flow only when the initial density is moderate, i.e., at this time, oscillating traffic flow will occur and the oscillating phenomena in the traffic system consisting of the conservative and aggressive drivers is more serious than that in the traffic system consisting of the conservative (aggressive) drivers.

The role of simulation in the assessment of older drivers.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sommer, Sascha; Rothermel, Stefan; Henriksson, Per; de Waard, Dick; Brookhuis, Karel; Sommer, Sascha; Verwey, Willem B.

2003-01-01

Within the project AGILE an assessment system for ageing drivers is developed. A multi-tier procedure including simulator-based diagnostic tests is will be created. Objective driver performance measurement, design of risky scenarios to test performance limits and high face validity are benefits of

Cyclist-related content in novice driver education and training.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonham, Jennifer; Johnson, Marilyn

2018-02-01

In Australia, the increasing public profile and policy interest in cycling contrasts with variable cycling participation rates across jurisdictions (Australian Bicycle Council, 2017) and lack of cyclist-specific infrastructure. Cyclists and drivers often share road space, usually without indication from the built environment about how to maximise each other's safety and utility. Yet despite this regular interaction, cyclists are largely absent from the driver licensing process in Australia. That is, novice drivers are not taught how to share the road with cyclists. This case study used a mixed methods approach to examine the cyclist-related content in the Graduated Driver Licensing System (GDLS) in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The case study was conducted in four stages: 1) content analysis of all documents used through the GDLS; 2) observations of the Road Ready course and learner driver lessons; 3) online survey; and, 4) semi-structured interviews. Cyclists are rarely mentioned in the GDLS in the ACT and references often constructed cyclists as problematic or were based in instructors' personal opinion (rather than scripted responses). Outcomes from this study have directly informed a new vulnerable road user driver licence competency in the ACT and findings include recommendations for greater inclusion of cyclists in the driver licensing system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Engagement with the TeenDrivingPlan and diversity of teens' supervised practice driving: lessons for internet-based learner driver interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Winston, Flaura K; Mirman, Jessica H; Curry, Allison E; Pfeiffer, Melissa R; Elliott, Michael R; Durbin, Dennis R

2015-02-01

Inexperienced, less-skilled driving characterises many newly licensed drivers and contributes to high crash rates. A randomised trial of TeenDrivingPlan (TDP), a new learner driver phase internet-based intervention, demonstrated effectiveness in improving safety relevant, on-road driving behaviour, primarily through greater driving practice diversity. To inform future learner driver interventions, this analysis examined TDP use and its association with practice diversity. Posthoc analysis of data from teen/parent dyads (n=107), enrolled early in learner phase and assigned to treatment arm in randomised trial. Inserted software beacons captured TDP use data. Electronic surveys completed by parents and teens assessed diversity of practice driving and TDP usability ratings at 24 weeks (end of study period). Most families (84%) used TDP early in the learner period; however, the number of TDP sessions in the first week was three times higher among dyads who achieved greater practice diversity than those with less. By week five many families still engaged with TDP, but differences in TDP use could not be detected between families with high versus low practice diversity. Usability was not a major issue for this sample based on largely positive user ratings. An engaging internet-based intervention, such as TDP, can support families in achieving high practice diversity. Future learner driver interventions should provide important information early in the learner period when engagement is greatest, encourage continued learning as part of logging practice drives, and incorporate monitoring software for further personalisation to meet family needs. NCT01498575. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Older drivers : a review.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hakamies-Blomqvist, L. Sirén, A. & Davidse, R.J.

2004-01-01

The proportion of senior citizens (aged 65+) will grow from about 15 per cent in the year 2000 to about 30 per cent in the year 2050. The share of older drivers in the driver population will grow even faster because of increasing licensing rates among the ageing population. Older drivers do not have

Sound-based assistive technology support to hearing, speaking and seeing

CERN Document Server

Ifukube, Tohru

2017-01-01

This book "Sound-based Assistive Technology" explains a technology to help speech-, hearing- and sight-impaired people. They might benefit in some way from an enhancement in their ability to recognize and produce speech or to detect sounds in their surroundings. Additionally, it is considered how sound-based assistive technology might be applied to the areas of speech recognition, speech synthesis, environmental recognition, virtual reality and robots. It is the primary focus of this book to provide an understanding of both the methodology and basic concepts of assistive technology rather than listing the variety of assistive devices developed in Japan or other countries. Although this book presents a number of different topics, they are sufficiently independent from one another that the reader may begin at any chapter without experiencing confusion. It should be acknowledged that much of the research quoted in this book was conducted in the author's laboratories both at Hokkaido University and the University...

Drivers of Changes in Product Development Rules

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, John K.; Varnes, Claus J.

2015-01-01

regimes. However, the analysis here indicates that there are different drivers, both internal and external, that cause companies to adopt new rules or modify their existing ones, such as changes in organizational structures, organizational conflicts, and changes in ownership or strategy. In addition......Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to investigate the drivers that induce companies to change their rules for managing product development. Most companies use a form of rule-based management approach, but surprisingly little is known about what makes companies change these rules...... 10 years based on three rounds of interviews with 40 managers. Findings: - Previous research has assumed that the dynamics of product development rules are based on internal learning processes, and that increasingly competent management will stimulate the implementation of newer and more complex rule...

Drivers and moderators of business decline

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Marius Pretorius

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Reports of business failure elicit various reactions, while research in this domain often appears to be limited by a lack of access to information about failure and by the negativity that surrounds it. Those who have experienced failure do not readily talk about it, or they disappear from the radar screen of researchers. Yet failure is preceded by decline which, when focused on strategically, can reduce eventual failures if early action is taken. The main purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual framework or typology of the drivers and moderators of business decline. Design/methodology/approach: After applying the "grounded theory" approach to the academic literature on decline and failure, a conceptual framework for the variables that drive and moderate business decline is proposed. Findings: The study proposes that decline has three core drivers, three peripheral drivers and four moderators. The core drivers identified are: resource munificence; leadership as origin; and causality (strategic versus operational origin of decline. The three peripheral drivers are: unique preconditions; continuous decisions impact; and extremes dichotomy. The study describes four moderators of the drivers: life cycle stage; stakeholder perspective; quantitative versus qualitative nature of signs and causes; and finally the age and size effects. Research limitations/implications: The proposed conceptual framework is based on literature only, although it has found support during discussions with practitioners. It is proposed to readers of this journal for scrutiny and validation. Practical implications: Strategists need to understand what drives decline in order to act timeously; practitioners who have an insight into the moderators with their impacts could make better decisions in response to decline in organisations and possibly avoid business failure. Originality/Value: Understanding business decline is still a huge theoretical challenge, which

Using Shadow Page Cache to Improve Isolated Drivers Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Zheng

2015-01-01

Full Text Available With the advantage of the reusability property of the virtualization technology, users can reuse various types and versions of existing operating systems and drivers in a virtual machine, so as to customize their application environment. In order to prevent users’ virtualization environments being impacted by driver faults in virtual machine, Chariot examines the correctness of driver’s write operations by the method of combining a driver’s write operation capture and a driver’s private access control table. However, this method needs to keep the write permission of shadow page table as read-only, so as to capture isolated driver’s write operations through page faults, which adversely affect the performance of the driver. Based on delaying setting frequently used shadow pages’ write permissions to read-only, this paper proposes an algorithm using shadow page cache to improve the performance of isolated drivers and carefully study the relationship between the performance of drivers and the size of shadow page cache. Experimental results show that, through the shadow page cache, the performance of isolated drivers can be greatly improved without impacting Chariot’s reliability too much.

[Risk factors for road traffic injury in agricultural vehicle drivers].

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, M J; Chen, Y; Li, Y; Hu, J; Zhang, X J

2017-08-20

Objective: To examine the risk factors for road traffic injury in agricultural vehicle drivers. Methods: A total of 103 drivers (who had suffered agricultural vehicle road traffic injury within the past year based on the road traffic injury registrar from the Traffic Management Bureau) who were involved in the annual agricultural vehicle inspection from December 2014 to January 2015 were randomly sampled from the Yixing Agricultural Vehicle Station as the case group for this study. Based on a 1∶2 assignment ratio and matched for sex, age, and education, a total of 206 drivers who had not suffered any agricultural vehicle road traffic injury within the past year were selected as the control group. The general information, vehicle information, driving information, driving behavior, and accident details of the agricultural vehicle drivers were analyzed. Results: The incidence rate of road traffic injury was 7.24% given the 103 agricultural vehicle drivers who had suffered agricultural vehicle road traffic injury in the past year. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that drinking, debt, pressure, history of car accident, history of drunk driving, smoking and phone use during driving, fatigue driving, and driving with illness were the risk factors for road traffic injury in agricultural vehicle drivers ( OR =2.332, 2.429, 19.778, 5.589, 8.517, 2.125, 3.203, 10.249 and 5.639, respectively) . Multivariate logistic regression analysis also demonstrated that pressure, history of car accident, history of drunk driving, fatigue driving, and driving with illness were the risk factors for road traffic injury in agricultural vehicle drivers ( OR =12.139, 11.184, 6.729, 5.939, and 6.544, respectively) . Conclusion: Pressure, history of car accident, history of drunk driving, fatigue driving, and driving with illness are the major risk factors for road traffic injury in agricultural vehicle drivers.

Using multiple resources for the driver-vehicle-interaction; Moeglichkeiten der Nutzung unterschiedlicher Ressourcen fuer die Fahrer-Fahrzeug-Interaktion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vollrath, M. [DLR, Braunschweig (Germany). Inst. fuer Verkehrsfuehrung und Fahrzeugsteuerung; Totzke, I. [Wuerzburg Univ. (Germany). Interdisziplinaeres Zentrum fuer Verkehrswissenschaften

2003-07-01

New information systems and additional vehicle functions require the driver to engage in an interaction with the car which may distract him from driving. Following the model of multiple resources (e.g., [9]) this distraction will be strong if the visual channel is used for the information input and if a motor reaction is necessary. To avoid this interference, a driver-vehicle-interaction could use the acoustic channel and verbal reactions. As speech recognition and speech output is still problematic in the car, driver assistance systems can be introduced to assist the driver and free resources which can be used for the interaction. The paper presented here tests these two approaches in a driving simulation. Although both approaches show avoid interference to some extent, negative effects can also be demonstrated. Thus, these strategies should be well designed and tested. (orig.) [German] Informationssysteme im Fahrzeug und zusaetzliche Fahrzeugfunktionen fuehren dazu, dass der Fahrer vermehrt in eine Interaktion mit dem Fahrzeug eingebunden wird, die vom Fahren ablenken kann. Entsprechend einem Ressourcenmodell der menschlichen Aufmerksamkeit (z. B. [9]) ist diese Ablenkung dann besonders stark, wenn bei der Informationsaufnahme der visuelle Kanal genutzt wird und die Handlungsausfuehrung motorisch geschieht. Deshalb wird gefordert, die Fahrer-Fahrzeug-Interaktion ueber Sprachausgabe und Sprachkennung zu gestalten. Da dies nach wie vor technisch im Fahrzeug (Umgebungsbedingungen, Wortschatz) schwierig ist, sollen alternativ Fahrerassistenzsysteme die negativen Effekte kompensieren. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden diese beiden Ansaetze geprueft. Zwar zeigen sich fuer beide Ansaetze Teilerfolge, aber eine unkritische Anwendung kann auch negative Effekte nach sich ziehen. (orig.)

Modeling taxi driver anticipatory behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zheng, Zhong; Rasouli, S.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2018-01-01

As part of a wider behavioral agent-based model that simulates taxi drivers’ dynamic passenger-finding behavior under uncertainty, we present a model of strategic behavior of taxi drivers in anticipation of substantial time varying demand at locations such as airports and major train stations. The

Cognitive characteristics of older Japanese drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Susilowati, Indri H; Yasukouchi, Akira

2012-02-29

Some causes of accidents among older drivers are: not paying attention to traffic signals; missing stop lines; and having to deal with and misjudging emergency situations. These causes of accidents reveal problems with attention and cognition. Such incidents are also related to driver perception and stress-coping mechanisms. It is important to examine the relation of stress reactions to attention and cognition as a factor influencing the causes of accidents commonly involving older drivers. Subjects were 10 young drivers (23.3 ± 3.33 years) and 25 older drivers divided into two groups (older1 [60 to 65 years] and older2 [> 65 years]). This study revealed the correlation within driver stress inventory and driver coping questionnaires parameters was observed only in older drivers. They also needed a longer response time for Trail Making Test A and B. The factors affected the attention and cognition of older drivers by age but not driving experience itself, and coping parameters such as emotion focus, reappraisal, and avoidance were not included as stress inventory parameters. Being prone to fatigue was less for younger drivers than older drivers. Because they have shorter distances, shorter drive times, and no need for expressways, older drivers also had a significantly lower risk of thrill-seeking behaviour and more patience. The intervention addressing their attention skills, aggressive feelings, and emotion focus should be considered. The technological improvements in cars will make older drivers feel safer and make driving easier which might lower the attention paid to the road, and regular driving training might be needed to assess and enhance their safety.

A case-based assistant for clinical psychiatry expertise.

OpenAIRE

Bichindaritz, I.

1994-01-01

Case-based reasoning is an artificial intelligence methodology for the processing of empirical knowledge. Recent case-based reasoning systems also use theoretic knowledge about the domain to constrain the case-based reasoning. The organization of the memory is the key issue in case-based reasoning. The case-based assistant presented here has two structures in memory: cases and concepts. These memory structures permit it to be as skilled in problem-solving tasks, such as diagnosis and treatmen...

[Health reasons for work disability among municipal transport drivers].

Science.gov (United States)

Szubert, Zuzanna; Sobala, Wojciech

2005-01-01

The health condition of public transport drivers is one of the factors playing a role in assuring safety of passengers taking use of this kind of transportation means. Therefore, the assessment of pathologies occurring in this occupational group is essential from the prevention point of view. Drivers employed in the municipal transport system are at particular risk. The aim of the study was to define health reasons of work disability among bus and tram drivers in general and to indicate pathologies responsible for disabilities in particular. The study covered 940 drivers (including 788 men and 152 women) employed in a municipal transportation enterprise during the years 1996-2000. Bus (30%) and tram (22%) drivers as well as transport service workers (48%), aged over 45 years, but under the retirement age, were eligible for the study. The analysis of temporary work disability during a five-year period was based on sickness absence, sickness absence rate and the average duration of sickness absence. The analysis revealed that diseases of the circulatory system form the major group of pathologies responsible for total sickness absence among bus drivers (43%), tram drivers (27%) and transport service workers (27%). These disease are also a leading cause of earlier retirement. They mostly include ischemic heart disease in bus drivers and hypertension in tram drivers. Cancers (pleura, kidney and eye) were responsible for 9% of sickness absence in the group of male tram drivers, whereas endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases and immunity disorders (diabetes, disorders of thyroid gland) in 16% of female tram drivers. Diseases of the musculoskeletal system were major causes of sickness absence among female tram drivers (24%), whereas malignant and benign neoplasms of breast and uterine myoma in 24% of female transport service workers. The results of the analysis are in agreement with the literature findings and provide explicit evidence that employment in the

Driver sleepiness and risk of motor vehicle crash injuries: a population-based case control study in Fiji (TRIP 12).

Science.gov (United States)

Herman, Josephine; Kafoa, Berlin; Wainiqolo, Iris; Robinson, Elizabeth; McCaig, Eddie; Connor, Jennie; Jackson, Rod; Ameratunga, Shanthi

2014-03-01

Published studies investigating the role of driver sleepiness in road crashes in low and middle-income countries have largely focused on heavy vehicles. We investigated the contribution of driver sleepiness to four-wheel motor vehicle crashes in Fiji, a middle-income Pacific Island country. The population-based case control study included 131 motor vehicles involved in crashes where at least one person died or was hospitalised (cases) and 752 motor vehicles identified in roadside surveys (controls). An interviewer-administered questionnaire completed by drivers or proxies collected information on potential risks for crashes including sleepiness while driving, and factors that may influence the quantity or quality of sleep. Following adjustment for confounders, there was an almost six-fold increase in the odds of injury-involved crashes for vehicles driven by people who were not fully alert or sleepy (OR 5.7, 95%CI: 2.7, 12.3), or those who reported less than 6 h of sleep during the previous 24 h (OR 5.9, 95%CI: 1.7, 20.9). The population attributable risk for crashes associated with driving while not fully alert or sleepy was 34%, and driving after less than 6 h sleep in the previous 24 h was 9%. Driving by people reporting symptoms suggestive of obstructive sleep apnoea was not significantly associated with crash risk. Driver sleepiness is an important contributor to injury-involved four-wheel motor vehicle crashes in Fiji, highlighting the need for evidence-based strategies to address this poorly characterised risk factor for car crashes in less resourced settings. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Rational-driver approximation in car-following theory

Science.gov (United States)

Lubashevsky, Ihor; Wagner, Peter; Mahnke, Reinhard

2003-11-01

The problem of a car following a lead car driven with constant velocity is considered. To derive the governing equations for the following car dynamics a cost functional is constructed. This functional ranks the outcomes of different driving strategies, which applies to fairly general properties of the driver behavior. Assuming rational-driver behavior, the existence of the Nash equilibrium is proved. Rational driving is defined by supposing that a driver corrects continuously the car motion to follow the optimal path minimizing the cost functional. The corresponding car-following dynamics is described quite generally by a boundary value problem based on the obtained extremal equations. Linearization of these equations around the stationary state results in a generalization of the widely used optimal velocity model. Under certain conditions (the “dense traffic” limit) the rational car dynamics comprises two stages, fast and slow. During the fast stage a driver eliminates the velocity difference between the cars, the subsequent slow stage optimizes the headway. In the dense traffic limit an effective Hamiltonian description is constructed. This allows a more detailed nonlinear analysis. Finally, the differences between rational and bounded rational driver behavior are discussed. The latter, in particular, justifies some basic assumptions used recently by the authors to construct a car-following model lying beyond the frameworks of rationality.

An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hosonuma, Noriko; Herold, Martin; De Sy, Veronique; De Fries, Ruth S; Brockhaus, Maria; Verchot, Louis; Angelsen, Arild; Romijn, Erika

2012-01-01

Countries are encouraged to identify drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the development of national strategies and action plans for REDD+. In this letter we provide an assessment of proximate drivers of deforestation and forest degradation by synthesizing empirical data reported by countries as part of their REDD+ readiness activities, CIFOR country profiles, UNFCCC national communications and scientific literature. Based on deforestation rate and remaining forest cover 100 (sub)tropical non-Annex I countries were grouped into four forest transition phases. Driver data of 46 countries were summarized for each phase and by continent, and were used as a proxy to estimate drivers for the countries with missing data. The deforestation drivers are similar in Africa and Asia, while degradation drivers are more similar in Latin America and Asia. Commercial agriculture is the most important driver of deforestation, followed by subsistence agriculture. Timber extraction and logging drives most of the degradation, followed by fuelwood collection and charcoal production, uncontrolled fire and livestock grazing. The results reflect the most up to date and comprehensive overview of current national-level data availability on drivers, which is expected to improve over time within the frame of the UNFCCC REDD+ process. (letter)

Investigations on Driver Unique Identification from Smartphone’s GPS Data Alone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arijit Chowdhury

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Driver identification is an emerging area of interest in vehicle telematics, automobile control, and insurance. Recent body of works indicates that it may be possible to uniquely identify a driver using multiple dedicated sensors. In this paper, we present an approach for driver identification using smartphone GPS data alone. For our experiments, we collected data from 38 drivers for two months. We quantified the driver’s natural style by extracting a set of 137 statistical features from data generated for each completed trip. The analysis shows that, for the “driver identification” problem, an average accuracy of 82.3% is achieved for driver groups of 4-5 drivers. This is comparable to the state of the arts where mostly a multisensor approach has been taken. Further, it is shown that certain behavioral attributes like high driving skill impact identification accuracy. We observe that Random Forest classifier offers the best results. These results have great implications for various stakeholders since the proposed method can identify a driver based on his/her naturalistic driving style which is quantified in terms of statistical parameters extracted from only GPS data.

Association between unsafe driving performance and cognitive-perceptual dysfunction in older drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Si-Woon; Choi, Eun Seok; Lim, Mun Hee; Kim, Eun Joo; Hwang, Sung Il; Choi, Kyung-In; Yoo, Hyun-Chul; Lee, Kuem Ju; Jung, Hi-Eun

2011-03-01

To find an association between cognitive-perceptual problems of older drivers and unsafe driving performance during simulated automobile driving in a virtual environment. Cross-sectional study. A driver evaluation clinic in a rehabilitation hospital. Fifty-five drivers aged 65 years or older and 48 drivers in their late twenties to early forties. All participants underwent evaluation of cognitive-perceptual function and driving performance, and the results were compared between older and younger drivers. The association between cognitive-perceptual function and driving performance was analyzed. Cognitive-perceptual function was evaluated with the Cognitive Perceptual Assessment for Driving (CPAD), a computer-based assessment tool consisting of depth perception, sustained attention, divided attention, the Stroop test, the digit span test, field dependency, and trail-making test A and B. Driving performance was evaluated with use of a virtual reality-based driving simulator. During simulated driving, car crashes were recorded, and an occupational therapist observed unsafe performances in controlling speed, braking, steering, vehicle positioning, making lane changes, and making turns. Thirty-five older drivers did not pass the CPAD test, whereas all of the younger drivers passed the test. When using the driving simulator, a significantly greater number of older drivers experienced car crashes and demonstrated unsafe performance in controlling speed, steering, and making lane changes. CPAD results were associated with car crashes, steering, vehicle positioning, and making lane changes. Older drivers who did not pass the CPAD test are 4 times more likely to experience a car crash, 3.5 times more likely to make errors in steering, 2.8 times more likely to make errors in vehicle positioning, and 6.5 times more likely to make errors in lane changes than are drivers who passed the CPAD test. Unsafe driving performance and car crashes during simulated driving were more

The Effect of Working Conditions to the Health Status in Taxi and Bus Drivers in Canakkale, Turkey; Community Based Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aysegul Uludag

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Aim: The growing taxi and bus driver workforce is at risk for poor health status, obesity, hypertension, metabolic syndrome and with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. We aimed to determine the relationship between working conditions and health status in taxi and bus drivers. Material and Method: This study is a descriptive study. The population of the study was taxi and bus drivers in central of Canakkale. There were total 250 taxi and bus drivers who registered in The Chamber of Canakkale Drivers and Vehicle. We reached the 70 taxi drivers and 93 bus drivers. The participants were visited at their workplace. We performed the questionnaire that include the socio-demografic features, habits, the working conditions. We evaluated the blood pressure, waist-hip measurements and capillary blood glucose at any time. Results: Total of the 163 men drivers were enrolled the study. Nine (12.9% taxi drivers and 6 (6.5% bus drivers were hipertensive, and 1 taxi driver and 2 bus drivers with random capillary blood glucose levels higher than 200 mg. The prevalence of hypertension was 9.2%, diabetes mellitus was 1.8, obesity was 49.4%. Discussion: Drivers have many risk factors for CVD like stress and immobility. In our study, the socio-demografic and working conditions are limited for explaining the risk for hipertension, diabetes mellitus and obesity in drivers in Canakkale. These study have to be done in metropolitan cities. In this aspect, the drivers can be evaluated in their own living spaces and working conditions.

Cognitive characteristics of older Japanese drivers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susilowati Indri H

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Some causes of accidents among older drivers are: not paying attention to traffic signals; missing stop lines; and having to deal with and misjudging emergency situations. These causes of accidents reveal problems with attention and cognition. Such incidents are also related to driver perception and stress-coping mechanisms. It is important to examine the relation of stress reactions to attention and cognition as a factor influencing the causes of accidents commonly involving older drivers. Finding Subjects were 10 young drivers (23.3 ± 3.33 years and 25 older drivers divided into two groups (older1 [60 to 65 years] and older2 [> 65 years]. This study revealed the correlation within driver stress inventory and driver coping questionnaires parameters was observed only in older drivers. They also needed a longer response time for Trail Making Test A and B. The factors affected the attention and cognition of older drivers by age but not driving experience itself, and coping parameters such as emotion focus, reappraisal, and avoidance were not included as stress inventory parameters. Being prone to fatigue was less for younger drivers than older drivers. Because they have shorter distances, shorter drive times, and no need for expressways, older drivers also had a significantly lower risk of thrill-seeking behaviour and more patience. Conclusion The intervention addressing their attention skills, aggressive feelings, and emotion focus should be considered. The technological improvements in cars will make older drivers feel safer and make driving easier which might lower the attention paid to the road, and regular driving training might be needed to assess and enhance their safety.

On-Road Driver Monitoring System Based on a Solar-Powered In-Vehicle Embedded Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yen-Lin Chen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This study presents an on-road driver monitoring system, which is implemented on a stand-alone in-vehicle embedded system and driven by effective solar cells. The driver monitoring function is performed by an efficient eye detection technique. Through the driver’s eye movements captured from the camera, the attention states of the driver can be determined and any fatigue states can be avoided. This driver monitoring technique is implemented on a low-power embedded in-vehicle platform. Besides, this study also proposed monitoring machinery that can detect the brightness around the car to effectively determine whether this in-vehicle system is driven by the solar cells or by the vehicle battery. On sunny days, the in-vehicle system can be powered by solar cell in places without the vehicle battery. While in the evenings or on rainy days, the ambient solar brightness is insufficient, and the system is powered by the vehicle battery. The proposed system was tested under the conditions that the solar irradiance is 10 to 113 W/m2 and solar energy and brightness at 10 to 170. From the testing results, when the outside solar radiation is high, the brightness of the inside of the car is increased, and the eye detection accuracy can also increase as well. Therefore, this solar powered driver monitoring system can be efficiently applied to electric cars to save energy consumption and promote the driving safety.

Cartalk 2000: development of a co-operative ADAS based on vehicle-to-vehicle communication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morsink, P.L.J.; Hallouzi, R.; Dagli, I.; Cseh, C.; Schäfers, L.; Nelisse, M.W.; Bruin, D. de

2003-01-01

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) benefit from using vehicle-to-vehicle communication. In the 5th framework EC project CarTALK2000 co-operative ADAS are designed, tested and evaluated with respect to increasing traffic safety, efficiency and driving comfort. Communication based longitudinal

Novice drivers' individual trajectories of driver behavior over the first three years of driving.

Science.gov (United States)

Roman, Gabriela D; Poulter, Damian; Barker, Edward; McKenna, Frank P; Rowe, Richard

2015-09-01

Identifying the changes in driving behavior that underlie the decrease in crash risk over the first few months of driving is key to efforts to reduce injury and fatality risk in novice drivers. This study represented a secondary data analysis of 1148 drivers who participated in the UK Cohort II study. The Driver Behavior Questionnaire was completed at 6 months and 1, 2 and 3 years after licensure. Linear latent growth models indicated significant increases across development in all four dimensions of aberrant driving behavior under scrutiny: aggressive violations, ordinary violations, errors and slips. Unconditional and conditional latent growth class analyses showed that the observed heterogeneity in individual trajectories was explained by the presence of multiple homogeneous groups of drivers, each exhibiting specific trajectories of aberrant driver behavior. Initial levels of aberrant driver behavior were important in identifying sub-groups of drivers. All classes showed positive slopes; there was no evidence of a group of drivers whose aberrant behavior decreased over time that might explain the decrease in crash involvement observed over this period. Male gender and younger age predicted membership of trajectories with higher levels of aberrant behavior. These findings highlight the importance of early intervention for improving road safety. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding the behavioral underpinnings of the decrease in crash involvement observed in the early months of driving. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

THE RELATION BETWEEN DRIVER BEHAVIOR AND INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alica Kalašová

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The main objective of Slovakia’s transport policy is to reduce the number of traffic accidents and increase safety on our roads. Implementation of intelligent transport systems presents one of the possibilities how to meet this goal. Acceptance of these systems by motor vehicle drivers and other road traffic participants is necessary in order for them to fulfill their purpose. Only if the drivers will accept intelligent transport systems, it is possible to flexibly and effectively manage road traffic flexibly and effectively. From the perspective of a driver it concerns, in particular, the possibility of using alternative routes when traffic accidents or other obstacles occurs on the route that would significantly affect the continuity and safety of road traffic. Thanks to these technologies, it is possible to choose the appropriate route while driving, of course based on the criterion, which the driver considers the most important during the transport from origin to destination (driving time, distance from origin to destination, fuel consumption, quality of infrastructure. Information isare provided to the driver through variable message signs or directly in the vehicle (RDS-TMC. Another advantage of intelligent transport systems is a positive impact on psychological well-being of the driver while driving. Additional information about the possible obstacles, weather conditions and dangerous situations that occur on the roads as well as alternative routes are provided to the driver well in advance. This paper is mainly focused on how the drivers perceive the influence of intelligent transport systems in Žilina region.

Training of Drivers in the Function of Road Traffic Safety

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sinan Alispahić

2007-09-01

Full Text Available The problem of the participation of young drivers in trafficaccidents is constantly present and represents a significant socialproblem. In complex and dynamic conditions of moderntraffic flows, the young drivers are exposed to various and unforeseenhazard situations and events which they had not experiencedduring the basic training. Therefore, they should be providedwith the possibility of acquiring additional experiences insolving typical hazard situations in traffic. This is possible bythe system of advanced training which places the course participantin the situation of facing possible hazards, with the aim ofincreasing the awareness of risk in driving and behaviour at thesteering wheel. Advanced driver training is based on the specificprogram and training the drivers to acquire additional experiencesin solving dangerous traffic situations.

Advanced driver assistance system: Road sign identification using VIAPIX system and a correlation technique

Science.gov (United States)

Ouerhani, Y.; Alfalou, A.; Desthieux, M.; Brosseau, C.

2017-02-01

We present a three-step approach based on the commercial VIAPIX® module for road traffic sign recognition and identification. Firstly, detection in a scene of all objects having characteristics of traffic signs is performed. This is followed by a first-level recognition based on correlation which consists in making a comparison between each detected object with a set of reference images of a database. Finally, a second level of identification allows us to confirm or correct the previous identification. In this study, we perform a correlation-based analysis by combining and adapting the Vander Lugt correlator with the nonlinear joint transformation correlator (JTC). Of particular significance, this approach permits to make a reliable decision on road traffic sign identification. We further discuss a robust scheme allowing us to track a detected road traffic sign in a video sequence for the purpose of increasing the decision performance of our system. This approach can have broad practical applications in the maintenance and rehabilitation of transportation infrastructure, or for drive assistance.

Self- and peer-assessments of ambulance drivers' driving performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Sundström

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study was to develop and examine the quality of the Ambulance Driver Self-assessment Questionnaire (ADSQ and the Ambulance Driver Peer-assessment Questionnaire (ADPQ measuring aspects of, driving performance, driving style and driving competence. In addition the ADSQ measures self-reflection and safety-attitudes. The aim of the study was also to examine ambulance drivers' self- and peer-assessments as well as to examine the accuracy of self-assessments by comparing self-assessed and peer-assessed driving performance, driving style and competence. 76 ambulance drivers employed at two ambulance stations in northern Sweden completed ADSQ and ADPQ. Item analyses were conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the items, and based on the results some revisions were made to improve the questionnaires. The revised questionnaires were functioning rather well, although some subscale demonstrated low internal consistency. Subscale inter-correlations provided support for construct validity. Self- and peer-assessments indicated safe driving performance and good driver competence, which is positive from a traffic safety perspective. A comparison of mean self- and peer-assessment ratings, controlling for age, gender and driving experience showed no significant differences, except for the subscale overtaking. This indicates that ambulance drivers' self-assessments are realistic in most areas.

The impact of a congestion assistant on traffic flow efficiency and safety in congested traffic caused by a lane drop

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Driel, Cornelie; van Arem, Bart

2010-01-01

This article presents the results of a microscopic traffic simulation study conducted to investigate the impact of a Congestion Assistant on traffic efficiency and traffic safety. The Congestion Assistant is an in-vehicle system in which an active pedal supports the driver when approaching

Aligning drivers, contract, and management of IT-outsourcing relationships: a type-dependent model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arenfeldt, Katrine; Corty Dam, Amalie; Fenger, Kim Harder

2017-01-01

In today’s competitive business environment, information technology outsourcing has become a wide-spread reality across all industries and sectors. Researchers have investigated this complex phenomenon from various angles, and established a sound knowledge base regarding the drivers, management......, and success factors related to IT outsourcing. However, little is known about the relationship between outsourcing drivers and goals on the one hand, and contractual and managerial aspects on the other hand. To overcome this gap, this study presents a synthesized conceptual model of existing literature...... that relates aspects of contractual governance and relationship management to three generic types of IT outsourcing, based on their underlying drivers: task-based, process-based, and partnership-based outsourcing. Our model identifies the specific contractual and managerial factors relevant for each type...

FORMALIZATION OF LOCOMOTIVE DRIVER ACTIVITY TENSION INDICATOR BASED ON THE ERGONOMIC MODEL

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O. M. Horobchenko

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Purpose. A key factor contributing to the safety and quality of ergatic system "train-driver" is the intensity of the locomotive crew’s work. The aim of this work is formalization of locomotive driver activity tension indicator. Methodology. One of the characteristics of driver activity tension is the difference between the time allotted to complete the task, and the necessary (external reserve or deficiency time. The sets of major and minor operations in the management of the train locomotive in different train situations were identified. Using the methods of fuzzy logic, the concept of "materiality of the operation of the locomotive control" is presented in the form of a set of linguistic variables. To determine the function membership of the elements of the set "the importance of the operation of the locomotive control" the method of expert evaluations was used. Coefficient of temporary tension is presented in the form of fuzzy number L-R-type. Findings. It was found the value of the relative number of operations of locomotive control according to the distribution using the parameter of operation "importance". To determine the most tensioned mode of the driver ranking the traffic condition according to the parameter of relative amounts of the important management operations was conducted. The most difficult modes are the "front hindrance", "movement in unfavorable weather conditions" and "departure from the station to the running line". Originality. The introduction of the value "conventional importance of the operation" allowed us to more accurately describe the terms of train driving. For the first time the work presents determination of tension of the driver’s work in the form of a unimodal fuzzy number, which will make it possible to use the methods of the theory of artificial intelligence to simulate activity of the locomotive driver and develop intelligent control systems. Practical value. There were obtained the opportunity to

Research on Driver Behavior in Yellow Interval at Signalized Intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaosheng Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Vehicles are often caught in dilemma zone when they approach signalized intersections in yellow interval. The existence of dilemma zone which is significantly influenced by driver behavior seriously affects the efficiency and safety of intersections. This paper proposes the driver behavior models in yellow interval by logistic regression and fuzzy decision tree modeling, respectively, based on camera image data. Vehicle’s speed and distance to stop line are considered in logistic regression model, which also brings in a dummy variable to describe installation of countdown timer display. Fuzzy decision tree model is generated by FID3 algorithm whose heuristic information is fuzzy information entropy based on membership functions. This paper concludes that fuzzy decision tree is more accurate to describe driver behavior at signalized intersection than logistic regression model.

"The little squealer" or "the virtual guardian angel"? Young drivers' and their parents' perspective on using a driver monitoring technology and its implications for parent-young driver communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Guttman, Nurit; Gesser-Edelsburg, Anat

2011-02-01

In-vehicle driving monitoring technologies have the potential to enable young drivers to learn from self-assessment. However, their use is largely dependent on parental involvement. A total of 79 interviews were conducted with young drivers and parents regarding this technology and its use. Most had the experience of having an in-vehicle data recorder installed in the vehicle driven by the young drivers. Parents and the young drivers expressed both appreciation as well as reservations about its potential as a means to enhance the driving safety of young drivers. A surprising finding was that some parents did not check the feedback and said they relied on the young driver to do so. Main concerns related to privacy, parent-young driver relationship, self-esteem and confidence, constructive use of the feedback data, and the limitations of the documentation that can be done by the technology. Providing parents and young drivers with a support system and tools to discuss and utilize the feedback are underscored. Challenges include addressing the invasion of young drivers' privacy and gender differences, and using the monitoring-capacity of the technology to enhance safe driving practices. Implications for programs to enhance communication and a dialogical approach between parents and young drivers are discussed. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High- and Low-Order Overtaking-Ability Affordances: Drivers Rely on the Maximum Velocity and Acceleration of Their Cars to Perform Overtaking Maneuvers.

Science.gov (United States)

Basilio, Numa; Morice, Antoine H P; Marti, Geoffrey; Montagne, Gilles

2015-08-01

The aim of this study was to answer the question, Do drivers take into account the action boundaries of their car when overtaking? The Morice et al. affordance-based approach to visually guided overtaking suggests that the "overtake-ability" affordance can be formalized as the ratio of the "minimum satisfying velocity" (MSV) of the maneuver to the maximum velocity (V(max)) of the driven car. In this definition, however, the maximum acceleration (A(max)) of the vehicle is ignored. We hypothesize that drivers may be sensitive to an affordance redefined with the ratio of the "minimum satisfying acceleration" (MSA) to the A(max) of the car. Two groups of nine drivers drove cars differing in their A(max). They were instructed to attempt overtaking maneuvers in 25 situations resulting from the combination of five MSA and five MSV values. When overtaking frequency was expressed as a function of MSV and MSA, maneuvers were found to be initiated differently for the two groups. However, when expressed as a function of MSV/V(max) and MSA/A(max), overtaking frequency was quite similar for both groups. Finally, a multiple regression coefficient analysis demonstrated that overtaking decisions are fully explained by a composite variable comprising MSA/A(max) and the time required to reach MSV. Drivers reliably decide whether overtaking is safe (or not) by using low- and high-order variables taking into account their car's maximum velocity and acceleration, respectively, as predicted by "affordance-based control" theory. Potential applications include the design of overtaking assistance, which should exploit the MSA/A(max) variables in order to suggest perceptually relevant overtaking solutions. © 2015, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Eco-routing: More green drivers means more benefits?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valdes Serrano, C.; Perez Prada, F.; Monzon de Caceres, A.

2016-07-01

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)/Information and Technology Services (ITS) can play an important role in the transport sector, helping in maintaining accessibility and contemporarily optimizing the use of the vehicles. Among these ICT measures, eco-routing seems a promising one. Drivers normally follow the route which minimizes their generalized costs, normally time and money. But environmental concern is increasing, and drivers are starting to think about the effects of their driving. This means including CO2 emissions or fuel consumption in their route choice. But is this always positive, independently of the traffic situation and the penetration level of green drivers? This articles aims to analyze what happens in terms of fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and travel time, when different penetration levels of drivers, and with different traffic situations, follow the route of minimum fuel consumption instead of the conventional generalized costs. The analysis is based on a modelling process using a transport model of the whole region of Madrid. A total of 18 scenarios are considered: 3 reference scenarios (for congested, medium and low flow traffic situations), and 5 different penetration levels of green drivers for each traffic situation. Results show how impact varies substantially with the level of traffic and, also, that the more the best is not always true. (Author)

The effect of feedback on attitudes toward cellular phone use while driving: a comparison between novice and experienced drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ying; Zhang, Wei; Reimer, Bryan; Lavallière, Martin; Lesch, Mary F; Horrey, William J; Wu, Su

2010-10-01

To assess and compare the effectiveness of a simulation-based approach to change drivers' attitudes toward cellular phone use while driving for younger novice and older experienced drivers. Thirty young novice drivers were tested on a driving simulator in this study. Their performance in dealing with driving tasks was measured for a single task and dual tasks (driving while using a cellular phone) and compared to 30 older experienced drivers tested previously in another study. Half of the younger drivers received video-based feedback regarding their performance in the two conditions, with an emphasis on the contribution of dual-tasking to degraded performance. The other half did not receive any performance feedback. Drivers' perceptions and attitudes toward cellular phone use while driving were investigated by a questionnaire before, immediately after, and again one month following the simulation-based testing for both groups of drivers (feedback; no feedback). All drivers (including the novice and experienced) reported willingness to engage in driving and talking on a cellular phone in some situations. The simulated driving test showed that a secondary cellular phone task significantly degraded driving performance for both the novice and the experienced drivers. The feedback treatment group (both the novice and the experienced) showed significant attitude change toward cellular phone use while driving (toward being less favorable), whereas the control group had no attitude change. At the one-month follow-up, the benefit of feedback was sustained more so in the experienced driver group than the novice driver group, although both groups still benefited relative to the control conditions. Simulation-based feedback training is promising for short-term education in novice drivers but may be more effective in the long-term for drivers with higher levels of experience. Drivers with more experience appear to have a greater, more sustained benefit from the training than

The National Nursing Assistant Survey: Improving the Evidence Base for Policy Initiatives to Strengthen the Certified Nursing Assistant Workforce

Science.gov (United States)

Squillace, Marie R.; Remsburg, Robin E.; Harris-Kojetin, Lauren D.; Bercovitz, Anita; Rosenoff, Emily; Han, Beth

2009-01-01

Purpose: This study introduces the first National Nursing Assistant Survey (NNAS), a major advance in the data available about certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and a rich resource for evidence-based policy, practice, and applied research initiatives. We highlight potential uses of this new survey using select population estimates as examples of…

Young novice drivers.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2013-01-01

In The Netherlands, young novice drivers (18-24 years of age) show a crash rate that is five times higher than that of experienced drivers (30-59 years of age). The rate of young males is even seven times as high. The main reasons are lack of driving experience and hazardous behaviour typical of

Arbitrary waveform generator to improve laser diode driver performance

Science.gov (United States)

Fulkerson, Jr, Edward Steven

2015-11-03

An arbitrary waveform generator modifies the input signal to a laser diode driver circuit in order to reduce the overshoot/undershoot and provide a "flat-top" signal to the laser diode driver circuit. The input signal is modified based on the original received signal and the feedback from the laser diode by measuring the actual current flowing in the laser diode after the original signal is applied to the laser diode.

Cost-analysis of robotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy versus total abdominal hysterectomy for women with endometrial cancer and atypical complex hyperplasia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Herling, Suzanne Forsyth; Palle, Connie; Møller, Ann M.

2016-01-01

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to analyse the hospital cost of treatment with robotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy and total abdominal hysterectomy for women with endometrial cancer or atypical complex hyperplasia and to identify differences in resource use and cost. MATERIAL...... AND METHODS: This cost analysis was based on two cohorts: women treated with robotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy (n = 202) or with total abdominal hysterectomy (n = 158) at Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, Denmark. We conducted an activity-based cost analysis including consumables and healthcare...... professionals' salaries. As cost-drivers we included severe complications, duration of surgery, anesthesia and stay at the post-anesthetic care unit, as well as number of hospital bed-days. Ordinary least-squares regression was used to explore the cost variation. The primary outcome was cost difference...

Multiple logistic regression model of signalling practices of drivers on urban highways

Science.gov (United States)

Puan, Othman Che; Ibrahim, Muttaka Na'iya; Zakaria, Rozana

2015-05-01

Giving signal is a way of informing other road users, especially to the conflicting drivers, the intention of a driver to change his/her movement course. Other users are exposed to hazard situation and risks of accident if the driver who changes his/her course failed to give signal as required. This paper describes the application of logistic regression model for the analysis of driver's signalling practices on multilane highways based on possible factors affecting driver's decision such as driver's gender, vehicle's type, vehicle's speed and traffic flow intensity. Data pertaining to the analysis of such factors were collected manually. More than 2000 drivers who have performed a lane changing manoeuvre while driving on two sections of multilane highways were observed. Finding from the study shows that relatively a large proportion of drivers failed to give any signals when changing lane. The result of the analysis indicates that although the proportion of the drivers who failed to provide signal prior to lane changing manoeuvre is high, the degree of compliances of the female drivers is better than the male drivers. A binary logistic model was developed to represent the probability of a driver to provide signal indication prior to lane changing manoeuvre. The model indicates that driver's gender, type of vehicle's driven, speed of vehicle and traffic volume influence the driver's decision to provide a signal indication prior to a lane changing manoeuvre on a multilane urban highway. In terms of types of vehicles driven, about 97% of motorcyclists failed to comply with the signal indication requirement. The proportion of non-compliance drivers under stable traffic flow conditions is much higher than when the flow is relatively heavy. This is consistent with the data which indicates a high degree of non-compliances when the average speed of the traffic stream is relatively high.

Drivers of seasonality in Arctic carbon dioxide fluxes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mbufong, Herbert Njuabe

, while there were no discernable drivers of CO2 fluxes in Stordalen, growing season length showed significant controls on net ecosystem exchange (NEE) in Zackenberg and with gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Re) in Daring Lake. This is important considering the recent observations...... compensates for the shorter growing season due to increase snow cover and duration. Other drivers of growing season CO2 fluxes were mainly air temperature, growing degree days and photosynthetic active radiation in a high and a low Arctic tundra ecosystem. Upscaling Arctic tundra NEE based on an acquired...... understanding of the drivers of NEE during this research venture, shows an estimation of reasonable fluxes at three independent sites in low Arctic Alaska. However, this later project is still ongoing and its findings are only preliminary....

SPL-based Proton Driver for a nu-Factory at CERN

CERN Document Server

Benedetto, E; Garoby, R; Meddahi, M

2010-01-01

The conceptual design and feasibility studies for a nu-Factory Proton Driver based on the CERN Superconducting Proton Linac (SPL) have been com- pleted. In the proposed scenario, the 4 MW proton beam (H- beam) is acceler- ated with the upgraded High Power (HP)-SPL to 5 GeV, stored in an accumu- lator ring and Þnally transported to a compressor ring, where bunch rotation takes place, in order to achieve the speciÞc time structure. We here summa- rize the choices in terms of lattice, magnet technology and RF manipulations in the two rings. The possible critical issues, such as heating of the foil for the charge-exchange injection, space-charge problems in the compressor and beam stability in the accumulator ring, have been addressed and are shown not to be show-stoppers. The analysis focuses on the baseline scenario, consider- ing 6 bunches in the accumulator, and preliminary studies are discussed for the option of 3 or a single bunch per burst.

Experimental Research in Boost Driver with EDLCs

Science.gov (United States)

Matsumoto, Hirokazu

The supply used in servo systems tends to have a high voltage in order to reduce loss and improve the response of motor drives. We propose a new boost motor driver that comprises EDLCs. The proposed driver has a simple structure, wherein the EDLCs are connected in series to the supply, and comprises a charge circuit to charge the EDLCs. The proposed driver has three advantages over conventional boost drivers. The first advantage is that the driver can easily attain the stable boost voltage. The second advantage is that the driver can reduce input power peaks. In a servo system, the input power peaks become greater than the rated power in order to accelerate the motor rapidly. This implies that the equipments that supply power to servo systems must have sufficient power capacity to satisfy the power peaks. The proposed driver can suppress the increase of the power capacity of supply facilities. The third advantage is that the driver can store almost all of the regenerative energy. Conventional drivers have a braking resistor to suppress the increase in the DC link voltage. This causes a considerable reduction in the efficiency. The proposed driver is more efficient than conventional drivers. In this study, the experimental results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed driver and showed that the drive performance of the proposed driver is the same as that of a conventional driver. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the results of the simulation of a model of the EDLC module, whose capacitance is dependent on the frequency, correspond well with the experimental results.

Driver competence performance indicators using OTMR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hassan EL Rashidy, R.A.

2016-07-01

The current practice for assessing driver competence performance is in-cab riding by driver managers. However, this paper investigates whether real-world driving data extracted from on-train monitoring recorders data (OTMR) can be used to assess the driver performance. A number of indicators were used to evaluate the drivers’ performance. These include: their use of the emergency bypass switch, the driver's reminder appliance as well as the driver’s reaction time. A study case illustrated the applicability of OTMR data to estimate the proposed indicators, which suggests that the indicators can be useful in the driver management system in addition to the current indicators. Furthermore, the proposed indicators could be used to tailor the driver training schemes up to their individual needs and evaluate their effectiveness. They could even be used for improving driver competence performance and reducing crash involvement by revealing potentially detrimental driving performance. (Author)

Driving context influences drivers' decision to engage in visual-manual phone tasks: Evidence from a naturalistic driving study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tivesten, Emma; Dozza, Marco

2015-06-01

Visual-manual (VM) phone tasks (i.e., texting, dialing, reading) are associated with an increased crash/near-crash risk. This study investigated how the driving context influences drivers' decisions to engage in VM phone tasks in naturalistic driving. Video-recordings of 1,432 car trips were viewed to identify VM phone tasks and passenger presence. Video, vehicle signals, and map data were used to classify driving context (i.e., curvature, other vehicles) before and during the VM phone tasks (N=374). Vehicle signals (i.e., speed, yaw rate, forward radar) were available for all driving. VM phone tasks were more likely to be initiated while standing still, and less likely while driving at high speeds, or when a passenger was present. Lead vehicle presence did not influence how likely it was that a VM phone task was initiated, but the drivers adjusted their task timing to situations when the lead vehicle was increasing speed, resulting in increasing time headway. The drivers adjusted task timing until after making sharp turns and lane change maneuvers. In contrast to previous driving simulator studies, there was no evidence of drivers reducing speed as a consequence of VM phone task engagement. The results show that experienced drivers use information about current and upcoming driving context to decide when to engage in VM phone tasks. However, drivers may fail to sufficiently increase safety margins to allow time to respond to possible unpredictable events (e.g., lead vehicle braking). Advanced driver assistance systems should facilitate and possibly boost drivers' self-regulating behavior. For instance, they might recognize when appropriate adaptive behavior is missing and advise or alert accordingly. The results from this study could also inspire training programs for novice drivers, or locally classify roads in terms of the risk associated with secondary task engagement while driving. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Electroencephalography (EEG) Based Control in Assistive Mobile Robots: A Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krishnan, N Murali; Mariappan, Muralindran; Muthukaruppan, Karthigayan; Hijazi, Mohd Hanafi Ahmad; Kitt, Wong Wei

2016-01-01

Recently, EEG based control in assistive robot usage has been gradually increasing in the area of biomedical field for giving quality and stress free life for disabled and elderly people. This study reviews the deployment of EGG based control in assistive robots, especially for those who in need and neurologically disabled. The main objective of this paper is to describe the methods used for (i) EEG data acquisition and signal preprocessing, (ii) feature extraction and (iii) signal classification methods. Besides that, this study presents the specific research challenges in the designing of these control systems and future research directions. (paper)

Online driver's license renewal.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-09-01

The Kentucky Department of Vehicle Regulation is exploring the possibility of developing and implementing online : drivers license renewal. The objective of this project was to: 1) evaluate online drivers license and REAL ID renewal : programs ...

Identification of mutated driver pathways in cancer using a multi-objective optimization model.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Chun-Hou; Yang, Wu; Chong, Yan-Wen; Xia, Jun-Feng

2016-05-01

New-generation high-throughput technologies, including next-generation sequencing technology, have been extensively applied to solve biological problems. As a result, large cancer genomics projects such as the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the International Cancer Genome Consortium are producing large amount of rich and diverse data in multiple cancer types. The identification of mutated driver genes and driver pathways from these data is a significant challenge. Genome aberrations in cancer cells can be divided into two types: random 'passenger mutation' and functional 'driver mutation'. In this paper, we introduced a Multi-objective Optimization model based on a Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) to solve the maximum weight submatrix problem, which can be employed to identify driver genes and driver pathways promoting cancer proliferation. The maximum weight submatrix problem defined to find mutated driver pathways is based on two specific properties, i.e., high coverage and high exclusivity. The multi-objective optimization model can adjust the trade-off between high coverage and high exclusivity. We proposed an integrative model by combining gene expression data and mutation data to improve the performance of the MOGA algorithm in a biological context. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Driving with a partially autonomous forward collision warning system: how do drivers react?

Science.gov (United States)

Muhrer, Elke; Reinprecht, Klaus; Vollrath, Mark

2012-10-01

The effects of a forward collision warning (FCW) and braking system (FCW+) were examined in a driving simulator study analyzing driving and gaze behavior and the engagement in a secondary task. In-depth accident analyses indicate that a lack of appropriate expectations for possible critical situations and visual distraction may be the major causes of rear-end crashes. Studies with FCW systems have shown that a warning alone was not enough for a driver to be able to avoid the accident. Thus,an additional braking intervention by such systems could be necessary. In a driving simulator experiment, 30 drivers took part in a car-following scenario in an urban area. It was assumed that different lead car behaviors and environmental aspects would lead to different drivers' expectations of the future traffic situation. Driving with and without FCW+ was introduced as a between-subjects factor. Driving with FCW+ resulted in significantly fewer accidents in critical situations. This result was achieved by the system's earlier reaction time as compared with that of drivers. The analysis of the gaze behavior showed that driving with the system did not lead to a stronger involvement in secondary tasks. The study supports the hypotheses about the importance of missing expectations for the occurrence of accidents. These accidents can be prevented by an FCW+ that brakes autonomously. The results indicate that an autonomous braking intervention should be implemented in FCW systems to increase the effectiveness of these assistance systems.

Evaluating Older Drivers' Skills

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-01

Research has demonstrated that older drivers pose a higher risk of involvement in fatal crashes at intersections than : younger drivers. Age-triggered restrictions are problematic as research shows that the majority of older people : have unimpaired ...

Augmented Reality Cues and Elderly Driver Hazard Perception

Science.gov (United States)

Schall, Mark C.; Rusch, Michelle L.; Lee, John D.; Dawson, Jeffrey D.; Thomas, Geb; Aksan, Nazan; Rizzo, Matthew

2013-01-01

Objective Evaluate the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR) cues in improving driving safety in elderly drivers who are at increased crash risk due to cognitive impairments. Background Cognitively challenging driving environments pose a particular crash risk for elderly drivers. AR cueing is a promising technology to mitigate risk by directing driver attention to roadway hazards. This study investigates whether AR cues improve or interfere with hazard perception in elderly drivers with age-related cognitive decline. Methods Twenty elderly (Mean= 73 years, SD= 5 years), licensed drivers with a range of cognitive abilities measured by a speed of processing (SOP) composite participated in a one-hour drive in an interactive, fixed-base driving simulator. Each participant drove through six, straight, six-mile-long rural roadway scenarios following a lead vehicle. AR cues directed attention to potential roadside hazards in three of the scenarios, and the other three were uncued (baseline) drives. Effects of AR cueing were evaluated with respect to: 1) detection of hazardous target objects, 2) interference with detecting nonhazardous secondary objects, and 3) impairment in maintaining safe distance behind a lead vehicle. Results AR cueing improved the detection of hazardous target objects of low visibility. AR cues did not interfere with detection of nonhazardous secondary objects and did not impair ability to maintain safe distance behind a lead vehicle. SOP capacity did not moderate those effects. Conclusion AR cues show promise for improving elderly driver safety by increasing hazard detection likelihood without interfering with other driving tasks such as maintaining safe headway. PMID:23829037

Development of fast pulsed power driver for radiography and Z-pinch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qiu Aici; Sun Fengju

2008-01-01

Z-pinch and flash X-ray radiography have an important application in inertial confine fusion (ICF) and nuclear radiation effects simulation and high performance hydrodynamic test, etc. Z-pinch ICF and multi-pulse multi-axis high energy X-ray radiography put forward a huge challenge for pulsed power driver, so the direct-driven-load fast pulsed power driver are developed actively in home and abroard. The paper summarized the recent advances and developing trends of the fast pulsed power driver based on fast Marx(FMG) and fast linear transformer driver (LTD), and analysized the advantages and disadvantages and restricting factors about FMG and FLTD and their key technologies, then introduced the state-of-arts on the investigation in Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology. In the end, the paper presented some advices and views about studying fast pulsed power driver applied to Z-pinch and flash X-ray radiography in home. (authors)

Inertial confinement fusion driver enhancements: Final focusing systems and compact heavy-ion driver designs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bieri, R.L.

1991-01-01

Required elements of an inertial confinement fusion power plant are modeled and discussed. A detailed analysis of two critical elements of candidate drivers is done, and new component designs are proposed to increase the credibility and feasibility of each driver system. An analysis of neutron damage to the final elements of a laser focusing system is presented, and multilayer -- dielectric mirrors are shown to have damage lifetimes which axe too short to be useful in a commercial power plant. A new final-focusing system using grazing incidence metal mirrors to protect sensitive laser optics is designed and shown to be effective in extending the lifetime of the final focusing system. The reflectivities and damage limits of grazing incidence metal mirrors are examined in detail, and the required mirror sizes are shown to be compatible with the beam sizes and illumination geometries currently envisioned for laser drivers. A detailed design and analysis is also done for compact arrays of superconducting magnetic quadrupoles, which are needed in a multi-beam heavy-ion driver. The new array model is developed in more detail than some previous conceptual designs and models arrays which are more compact than arrays scaled from existing single -- quadrupole designs. The improved integrated model for compact arrays is used to compare the effects of various quadrupole array design choices on the size and cost of a heavy-ion driver. Array design choices which significantly affect the cost of a heavy-ion driver include the choice of superconducting material and the thickness of the collar used to support the winding stresses. The effect of these array design choices on driver size and cost is examined and the array model is used to estimate driver cost savings and performance improvements attainable with aggressive quadrupole array designs with high-performance superconductors

EPICS: operating system independent device/driver support

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kraimer, M.R.

2003-01-01

Originally EPICS input/output controllers (IOCs) were only supported on VME-based systems running the vxWorks operating system. Now IOCs are supported on many systems: vxWorks, RTEMS, Solaris, HPUX, Linux, WIN32, and Darwin. A challenge is to provide operating-system-independent device and driver support. This paper presents some techniques for providing such support. EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) is a set of software tools, libraries, and applications developed collaboratively and used worldwide to create distributed, real-time control systems for scientific instruments such as particle accelerators, telescopes, and other large scientific experiments. An important component of all EPICS-based control systems is a collection of input/output controllers (IOCs). An IOC has three primary components: (1) a real-time database; (2) channel access, which provides network access to the database; and (3) device/driver support for interfacing to equipment. This paper describes some projects related to providing device/driver support on non-vxWorks systems. In order to support IOCs on platforms other than vxWorks, operating-system-independent (OSI) application program interfaces (APIs) were defined for threads, semaphores, timers, etc. Providing support for a new platform consists of providing an operating-system-dependent implementation of the OSI APIs.

Empirical assessment of loyalty drivers using consumers’ retail format choice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gindi, A.A.

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Using Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R framework, this study examines Stimulus– Response relationships of fresh vegetable consumers’ behavior in Klang Valley, Malaysia. In particular, the study focused on how loyalty drivers affect retail formats choice by the fresh vegetable (FV consumers. The Stimuli that pertain to loyalty drivers include promotional activities, perceived price and social interaction and the Response is the retail format choice. Three hypotheses were developed and tested with the data collected from a survey using simple random sampling technique. Structural Equation Model (SEM was used in analyzing the data. Results of the study revealed that Stimuli (loyalty drivers influence Response (retail format choice for the different FV markets in Malaysia. Based on the finding of the research, Malaysian retailers have different marketing strategies to be considered with regards to loyalty drivers.

Non-faith-based arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Science.gov (United States)

Sulmasy, Daniel P; Travaline, John M; Mitchell, Louise A; Ely, E Wesley

2016-08-01

This article is a complement to "A Template for Non-Religious-Based Discussions Against Euthanasia" by Melissa Harintho, Nathaniel Bloodworth, and E. Wesley Ely which appeared in the February 2015 Linacre Quarterly . Herein we build upon Daniel Sulmasy's opening and closing arguments from the 2014 Intelligence Squared debate on legalizing assisted suicide, supplemented by other non-faith-based arguments and thoughts, providing four nontheistic arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: (1) "it offends me"; (2) slippery slope; (3) "pain can be alleviated"; (4) physician integrity and patient trust. Lay Summary: Presented here are four non-religious, reasonable arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: (1) "it offends me," suicide devalues human life; (2) slippery slope, the limits on euthanasia gradually erode; (3) "pain can be alleviated," palliative care and modern therapeutics more and more adequately manage pain; (4) physician integrity and patient trust, participating in suicide violates the integrity of the physician and undermines the trust patients place in physicians to heal and not to harm.

The characteristics and use patterns of all-terrain vehicle drivers in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodgers, G B

1999-07-01

The consent decrees between the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and the major distributors of all-terrain vehicles (ATV), which were designed to address ATV-related injuries and deaths, expired in April, 1998. While national estimates of nonfatal and fatal injuries involving ATVs declined after the consent decrees went into effect 10 years ago, the injury estimates have stabilized in recent years. To gain a better understanding of current ATV use patterns, the CPSC sponsored a national probability survey of ATV drivers in the fall of 1997. The survey was designed to collect information about the characteristics and use patterns of ATV drivers and to quantify the numbers and types of ATVs in use. It employed a single stage list-assisted random-digit-dial sample design. This article describes the results of the survey, and discusses long term ATV usage trends.

Attitudes of Greek Drivers with Focus on Mobile Phone Use While Driving.

Science.gov (United States)

Yannis, George; Theofilatos, Athanasios; Marinou, Paraskevi

2015-01-01

This article investigates the attitudes and behavior of Greek drivers with specific focus on mobile phone use while driving. The research is based on the data of the pan-European SARTRE 4 survey, which was conducted on a representative sample of Greek drivers in 2011. Analysis of the drivers' behavior was carried out by the statistical methods of factor and cluster analysis. According to the results of factor analysis, Greek drivers' responses in the selected questions were summarized into 4 factors, describing road behavior and accident involvement probability as well as their views on issues concerning other drivers' road behaviors, fatigued driving, enforcement of road safety, and mobile phone use while driving. The results of cluster analysis indicated 5 different groups of Greek drivers--the moderate, the optimistic, the conservative, the risky, and the reasonably cautious--and the characteristics of each group where identified. These results may be useful for the appropriate design of targeted road safety campaigns and other countermeasures.

The effect of performance feedback on drivers' hazard perception ability and self-ratings.

Science.gov (United States)

Horswill, Mark S; Garth, Megan; Hill, Andrew; Watson, Marcus O

2017-04-01

Drivers' hazard perception ability has been found to predict crash risk, and novice drivers appear to be particularly poor at this skill. This competency appears to develop only slowly with experience, and this could partially be a result of poor quality performance feedback. We report an experiment in which we provided high-quality artificial feedback on individual drivers' performance in a validated video-based hazard perception test via either: (1) a graph-based comparison of hazard perception response times between the test-taker, the average driver, and an expert driver; (2) a video-based comparison between the same groups; or (3) both. All three types of feedback resulted in both an improvement in hazard perception performance and a reduction in self-rated hazard perception skill, compared with a no-feedback control group. Video-based and graph-based feedback combined resulted in a greater improvement in hazard perception performance than either of the individual components, which did not differ from one another. All three types of feedback eliminated participants' self-enhancement bias for hazard perception skill. Participants judged both interventions involving video feedback to be significantly more likely to improve their real-world driving than the no feedback control group. While all three forms of feedback had some value, the combined video and graph feedback intervention appeared to be the most effective across all outcome measures. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Anthropogenic Drivers of Ecosystem Change: an Overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerald C. Nelson

2006-12-01

Full Text Available This paper provides an overview of what the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA calls "indirect and direct drivers" of change in ecosystem services at a global level. The MA definition of a driver is any natural or human-induced factor that directly or indirectly causes a change in an ecosystem. A direct driver unequivocally influences ecosystem processes. An indirect driver operates more diffusely by altering one or more direct drivers. Global driving forces are categorized as demographic, economic, sociopolitical, cultural and religious, scientific and technological, and physical and biological. Drivers in all categories other than physical and biological are considered indirect. Important direct drivers include changes in climate, plant nutrient use, land conversion, and diseases and invasive species. This paper does not discuss natural drivers such as climate variability, extreme weather events, or volcanic eruptions.

Designing an Elderly Assistance Program Based-on Home Care

Science.gov (United States)

Umusya'adah, L.; Juwaedah, A.; Jubaedah, Y.; Ratnasusanti, H.; Puspita, R. H.

2018-02-01

PKH (Program Keluarga Harapan) is a program of Indonesia’s Government through the ministry of social directorate to accelerate the poverty reduction and the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target as well as the policies development in social protection and social welfare domain or commonly referred to as Indonesian Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program. This research is motivated that existing participants of the family expectation program (PKH) that already exist in Sumedang, Indoensia, especially in the South Sumedang on the social welfare components is only limited to the health checking, while for assisting the elderly based Home Care program there has been no structured and systematic, where as the elderly still need assistance, especially from the family and community environment. This study uses a method of Research and Development with Model Addie which include analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. Participants in this study using purposive sampling, where selected families of PKH who provide active assistance to the elderly with 82 participants. The program is designed consists of program components: objectives, goals, forms of assistance, organizing institutions and implementing the program, besides, program modules include assisting the elderly. Form of assistance the elderly cover physical, social, mental and spiritual. Recommended for families and companions PKH, the program can be implemented to meet the various needs of the elderly. For the elderly should introspect, especially in the health and follow the advice recommended by related parties

Why do drivers maintain short headways in fog? A driving-simulator study evaluating feeling of risk and lateral control during automated and manual car following.

Science.gov (United States)

Saffarian, M; Happee, R; Winter, J C F de

2012-01-01

Drivers in fog tend to maintain short headways, but the reasons behind this phenomenon are not well understood. This study evaluated the effect of headway on lateral control and feeling of risk in both foggy and clear conditions. Twenty-seven participants completed four sessions in a driving simulator: clear automated (CA), clear manual (CM), fog automated (FA) and fog manual (FM). In CM and FM, the drivers used the steering wheel, throttle and brake pedals. In CA and FA, a controller regulated the distance to the lead car, and the driver only had to steer. Drivers indicated how much risk they felt on a touchscreen. Consistent with our hypothesis, feeling of risk and steering activity were elevated when the lead car was not visible. These results might explain why drivers adopt short headways in fog. Practitioner Summary: Fog poses a serious road safety hazard. Our driving-simulator study provides the first experimental evidence to explain the role of risk-feeling and lateral control in headway reduction. These results are valuable for devising effective driver assistance and support systems.

Population-based health promotion perspective for older driver safety: Conceptual framework to intervention plan

Science.gov (United States)

Classen, Sherrilene; Lopez, Ellen DS; Winter, Sandra; Awadzi, Kezia D; Ferree, Nita; Garvan, Cynthia W

2007-01-01

The topic of motor vehicle crashes among the elderly is dynamic and multi-faceted requiring a comprehensive and synergistic approach to intervention planning. This approach must be based on the values of a given population as well as health statistics and asserted through community, organizational and policy strategies. An integrated summary of the predictors (quantitative research), and views (qualitative research) of the older drivers and their stakeholders, does not currently exist. This study provided an explicit socio-ecological view explaining the interrelation of possible causative factors, an integrated summary of these causative factors, and empirical guidelines for developing public health interventions to promote older driver safety. Using a mixed methods approach, we were able to compare and integrate main findings from a national crash dataset with perspectives of stakeholders. We identified: 11 multi-causal factors for safe elderly driving; the importance of the environmental factors - previously underrated in the literature- interacting with behavioral and health factors; and the interrelatedness among many socio-ecological factors. For the first time, to our knowledge, we conceptualized the fundamental elements of a multi-causal health promotion plan, with measurable intermediate and long-term outcomes. After completing the detailed plan we will test the effectiveness of this intervention on multiple levels. PMID:18225470

Drivers' communicative interactions: on-road observations and modelling for integration in future automation systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Portouli, Evangelia; Nathanael, Dimitris; Marmaras, Nicolas

2014-01-01

Social interactions with other road users are an essential component of the driving activity and may prove critical in view of future automation systems; still up to now they have received only limited attention in the scientific literature. In this paper, it is argued that drivers base their anticipations about the traffic scene to a large extent on observations of social behaviour of other 'animate human-vehicles'. It is further argued that in cases of uncertainty, drivers seek to establish a mutual situational awareness through deliberate communicative interactions. A linguistic model is proposed for modelling these communicative interactions. Empirical evidence from on-road observations and analysis of concurrent running commentary by 25 experienced drivers support the proposed model. It is suggested that the integration of a social interactions layer based on illocutionary acts in future driving support and automation systems will improve their performance towards matching human driver's expectations. Practitioner Summary: Interactions between drivers on the road may play a significant role in traffic coordination. On-road observations and running commentaries are presented as empirical evidence to support a model of such interactions; incorporation of drivers' interactions in future driving support and automation systems may improve their performance towards matching driver's expectations.

General oilfield driver improvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, G.

1997-01-01

The general oilfield driver improvement (GODI) course was discussed. The course is offered to truckers in the oil and gas industry to help reduce accidents and injuries. Oilfield trucking is one of the most accident and injury prone sectors in the Alberta economy. This paper presented Heck's Trucking company's experience in sending its employees on the course. Drivers were taught (1) the National safety code requirements, (2) Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance requirements, (3) occupational health and safety concerns, (4) vehicle dimension and GVW restrictions, (5) hours of service regulations, (6) log book and pre-trip inspection requirements, (7) workplace hazardous material information, and (8) transportation of dangerous goods. Overall, the course was judged to provide excellent training before sending drivers into the field. The employee, the customer, and the company, all stand to benefit from having rigorous and uniform standards for all drivers in the oil and gas industry

VD-411 branch driver

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gorbunov, N.V.; Karev, A.G.; Mal'tsev, Eh.I.; Morozov, B.A.

1985-01-01

The VD-411 branch driver for CAMAC moduli control by the SM-4 computer is described. The driver realizes data exchange with moduli disposed in 28 crates grouped in 4 branches. Data exchange can be carried out either in the program regime or in the regime of direct access to the memory. Fulfilment of 11 block regimes and one program regime is provided for. A possibility of individual programming of exchange methods in block regimes is left for users for organisation of quicker and most flexible data removal from the CAMAC moduli. In the regime of direct access the driver provides data transmission at the size up to 64 Kwords placing it in the computer memory of 2 M byte. High rate of data transmission and the developed system of interruptions ensure efficient utilization of the VD-411 branch driver at data removal from facilities in high energy physics experiments

Driver perceptions of the safety implications of quiet electric vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Cocron, Peter; Krems, Josef F

2013-09-01

Previous research on the safety implications of quiet electric vehicles (EVs) has mostly focused on pedestrians' acoustic perception of EVs, and suggests that EVs are more difficult for pedestrians to hear and, therefore, compromise traffic safety. The two German field studies presented here examine the experiences of 70 drivers with low noise emissions of EVs and the drivers' long-term evaluation of the issue. Participants were surveyed via interviews and questionnaires before driving an EV for the first time, after 3 months of driving, and in the first study, again after 6 months. Based on participants' reports, a catalogue of safety-relevant incidents was composed in Study 1. The catalogue revealed that low noise-related critical incidents only rarely occur, and mostly take place in low-speed environments. The degree of hazard related to these incidents was rated as low to medium. In Study 1, driver concern for vulnerable road users as a result of low noise diminished with increasing driving experience, while perceived comfort due to this feature increased. These results were replicated in Study 2. In the second study, it was additionally examined, if drivers adjust their perceived risk of harming other road users over time. Results show that the affective assessment of risk also decreased with increased driving experience. Based on individual experience, drivers adjust their evaluation of noise-related hazards, suggesting that dangers associated with low noise emissions might be less significant than previously expected. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Are cellular phone blocking applications effective for novice teen drivers?

Science.gov (United States)

Creaser, Janet I; Edwards, Christopher J; Morris, Nichole L; Donath, Max

2015-09-01

Distracted driving is a significant concern for novice teen drivers. Although cellular phone bans are applied in many jurisdictions to restrict cellular phone use, teen drivers often report making calls and texts while driving. The Minnesota Teen Driver Study incorporated cellular phone blocking functions via a software application for 182 novice teen drivers in two treatment conditions. The first condition included 92 teens who ran a driver support application on a smartphone that also blocked phone usage. The second condition included 90 teens who ran the same application with phone blocking but which also reported back to parents about monitored risky behaviors (e.g., speeding). A third control group consisting of 92 novice teen drivers had the application and phone-based software installed on the phones to record cellular phone (but not block it) use while driving. The two treatment groups made significantly fewer calls and texts per mile driven compared to the control group. The control group data also demonstrated a higher propensity to text while driving rather than making calls. Software that blocks cellular phone use (except 911) while driving can be effective at mitigating calling and texting for novice teen drivers. However, subjective data indicates that some teens were motivated to find ways around the software, as well as to use another teen's phone while driving when they were unable to use theirs. Cellular phone bans for calling and texting are the first step to changing behaviors associated with texting and driving, particularly among novice teen drivers. Blocking software has the additional potential to reduce impulsive calling and texting while driving among novice teen drivers who might logically know the risks, but for whom it is difficult to ignore calling or texting while driving. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

Improving Night Time Driving Safety Using Vision-Based Classification Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Chien, Jong-Chih; Chen, Yong-Sheng; Lee, Jiann-Der

2017-09-24

The risks involved in nighttime driving include drowsy drivers and dangerous vehicles. Prominent among the more dangerous vehicles around at night are the larger vehicles which are usually moving faster at night on a highway. In addition, the risk level of driving around larger vehicles rises significantly when the driver's attention becomes distracted, even for a short period of time. For the purpose of alerting the driver and elevating his or her safety, in this paper we propose two components for any modern vision-based Advanced Drivers Assistance System (ADAS). These two components work separately for the single purpose of alerting the driver in dangerous situations. The purpose of the first component is to ascertain that the driver would be in a sufficiently wakeful state to receive and process warnings; this is the driver drowsiness detection component. The driver drowsiness detection component uses infrared images of the driver to analyze his eyes' movements using a MSR plus a simple heuristic. This component issues alerts to the driver when the driver's eyes show distraction and are closed for a longer than usual duration. Experimental results show that this component can detect closed eyes with an accuracy of 94.26% on average, which is comparable to previous results using more sophisticated methods. The purpose of the second component is to alert the driver when the driver's vehicle is moving around larger vehicles at dusk or night time. The large vehicle detection component accepts images from a regular video driving recorder as input. A bi-level system of classifiers, which included a novel MSR-enhanced KAZE-base Bag-of-Features classifier, is proposed to avoid false negatives. In both components, we propose an improved version of the Multi-Scale Retinex (MSR) algorithm to augment the contrast of the input. Several experiments were performed to test the effects of the MSR and each classifier, and the results are presented in experimental results section