Autonomous emergency braking systems adapted to snowy road conditions improve drivers' perceived safety and trust

Objective: This study investigated drivers' evaluation of a conventional autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system on high and reduced tire–road friction and compared these results to those of an AEB system adaptive to the reduced tire–road friction by earlier braking. Current automated systems such as the AEB do not adapt the vehicle control strategy to the road friction; for example, on snowy roads. Because winter precipitation is associated with a 19% increase in traffic crashes and a 13% increase in injuries compared to dry conditions, the potential of conventional AEB to prevent collisions could be significantly improved by including friction in the control algorithm. Whereas adaption is not legally required for a conventional AEB system, higher automated functions will have to adapt to the current tire–road friction because human drivers will not be required to monitor the driving environment at all times. For automated driving functions to be used, high levels of perceived safety and trust of occupants have to be reached with new systems. The application case of an AEB is used to investigate drivers' evaluation depending on the road condition in order to gain knowledge for the design of future driving functions.

Methods: In a driving simulator, the conventional, nonadaptive AEB was evaluated on dry roads with high friction (μ = 1) and on snowy roads with reduced friction (μ = 0.3). In addition, an AEB system adapted to road friction was designed for this study and compared with the conventional AEB on snowy roads with reduced friction. Ninety-six drivers (48 males, 48 females) assigned to 5 age groups (20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, and 60–75 years) drove with AEB in the simulator. The drivers observed and evaluated the AEB's braking actions in response to an imminent rear-end collision at an intersection.

Results: The results show that drivers' safety and trust in the conventional AEB were significantly lower on snowy roads, and the nonadaptive autonomous braking strategy was considered less appropriate on snowy roads compared to dry roads. As expected, the adaptive AEB braking strategy was considered more appropriate for snowy roads than the nonadaptive strategy. In conditions of reduced friction, drivers' subjective safety and trust were significantly improved when driving with the adaptive AEB compared to the conventional AEB. Women felt less safe than men when AEB was braking. Differences between age groups were not of statistical significance.

Conclusions: Drivers notice the adaptation of the autonomous braking strategy on snowy roads with reduced friction. On snowy roads, they feel safer and trust the adaptive system more than the nonadaptive automation.     

Overestimation of self-reported driving exposure: Results from the SHRP2 Naturalistic Driving Study

Objectives: The accuracy of self-reported driving exposure has questioned the validity of using self-reported mileage to inform research questions. Studies examining the accuracy of self-reported driving exposure compared to objective measures find low validity, with drivers overestimating and underestimating driving distance. The aims of the current study were to (1) examine the discrepancy between self-reported annual mileage and driving exposure the following year and (2) investigate whether these differences depended on age and annual mileage.

Methods: Two estimates of drivers’ self-reported annual mileage collected during vehicle installation (obtained via prestudy questionnaires) and approximated annual mileage driven (based upon Global Positioning System data) were acquired from 3,323 participants who participated in the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP2) Naturalistic Driving Study.

Results: A Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that there was a significant difference between self-reported and annual driving exposure during participation in SHRP 2, with the majority of self-reported responses overestimating annual mileage the following year, irrespective of whether an ordinal or ratio variable was examined. Over 15% of participants provided self-reported responses with over 100% deviation, which were exclusive to participants underestimating annual mileage. Further, deviations in reporting differed between participants who had low, medium, and high exposure, as well as between participants in different age groups.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that although self-reported annual mileage is heavily relied on for research, such estimates of driving distance may be an overestimate of current or future mileage and can influence the validity of prior research that has utilized estimates of driving exposure.     

长江近口段沿岸刀鲚生物量的时间格局

为了解长江刀鲚Coilia nasus资源的变动状况,探讨沿岸水域对刀鲚资源的保育作用,于2002~2013年间用定制张网对长江靖江段沿岸鱼类作了每月2~3个样本的采集。分析结果显示,12a采集的369份样品中,刀鲚的出现频率达94.6%,分别占总渔获数量和重量的5.18%和5.46%。刀鲚平均CPUEN和CPUEW有16.7±19.9尾和106.6±109.5g,是沿岸鱼类群聚的优势种或次优势种。但其年资源量并不稳定,最高的2010年是最低2002年的5.4陪。平均体长123.6±37.0mm,平均体重仅7.5±8.2g。0+龄组占78.9%,1+龄组占20.7%,2+龄仅出现在4、5月份,且仅占当月个体数的3.0%,幼体是沿岸刀鲚群体的主要组成成分。从0+龄个体的月度体长分布看,当年孵化的幼鱼大多栖息在河岸水域,沿岸生境在维持刀鲚幼鱼资源上具有重要作用。分析显示,4月1日至6月30日的长江禁渔期虽可保护约42.6%的幼鱼个体,但从保护效果看,还因适当延长沿岸水域的禁渔时间。维护沿岸水域的生境完整性,也是保护长江刀鲚幼鱼资源的重要措施。     

生物活性炭工艺深度处理丹江口水库水的中试

活性炭过滤是饮用水深度处理的重要工艺,其中滤速、炭层高度、温度和炭龄是影响活性炭滤池运行效果的关键因素.以丹江口水库水为处理对象,以混凝-沉淀-砂滤出水作为炭滤池进水,以高锰酸盐指数和UV254去除率为评价指标,考察2011年4月—2013年5月取自北京某水厂的新炭、1年炭、3年炭和5年炭(2011年5月时炭龄)对水中有机物的去除效果.结果表明,随着滤速的增大,有机物去除率降低;活性炭炭柱滤速为8 m/h时,高锰酸盐指数和UV254去除率分别为41.9%和41.2%,能够获得较好的处理效果.UV254去除率随总炭层高度的增大而增大.随着炭层高度的增加,单位高度活性炭滤料对UV254的去除率降低.夏季高温期,1年炭对高锰酸盐指数和UV254的去除率分别为44.2%~57.4%和38.5%~53.1%,高于其在冬季低温期的去除率(38.9%~51.1%和31.7%~45.5%).活性炭在使用初期,主要依靠吸附作用去除有机物;随着使用年限的增长,活性炭的生物载体作用日益明显,生物作用占主导地位,炭龄对有机物去除效果的影响变小,不同炭龄活性炭的处理效果差异不大,可适当延长活性炭的使用年限,降低处理成本.     

Organizational embeddedness,turnover intentions,and voluntary turnover: The moderating effects of employee demographic characteristics and value orientations

To explain why some employees who experience high embeddedness contemplate leaving their organizations and others do not, we examined the moderating effects of employee demographic characteristics (age and gender) and value orientations (individualism and risk aversion) between organizational embeddedness and turnover intentions. Turnover intentions were further expected to increase voluntary turnover. Data were collected from 643 full‐time employees at three points in time over a 12‐month time period in a wide range of organizations in Japan, a relatively low turnover context with little prior embeddedness research. Findings show that gender and risk aversion moderate the relationship between organizational embeddedness and turnover intentions, which in turn predict voluntary turnover. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of Aging on Brain Injury Prediction in Rotational Head Trauma—A Parameter Study with a Rat Finite Element Model

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the possible effects of age-related intracranial changes on the potential outcome of diffuse axonal injuries and acute subdural hematoma under rotational head loading.

Methods: A simulation-based parametric study was conducted using an updated and validated finite element model of a rat head. The validation included a comparison of predicted brain cortex sliding with respect to the skull. Further, model material properties were modified to account for aging; predicted tissue strains were compared with experimental data in which groups of rats in 2 different lifecycle stages, young adult and mature adult, were subjected to rotational trauma. For the parameter study, 2 age-dependent factors—brain volume and region-specific brain material properties—were implemented into the model. The models young adult and old age were subjected to several injurious and subinjurious sagittal plane rotational acceleration levels.

Results: Sequential analysis of the simulated trauma progression indicates that an increase in acute subdural hematoma injury risk indicator occurs at an early stage of the trauma, whereas an increase in diffuse axonal injury risk indicators occurs at a later stage. Tissue stiffening from young adult to mature adult rats produced an increase in strain-based thresholds accompanied by a wider spread of strain distribution toward the rear part of the brain, consistent with rotational trauma experiments with young adult and mature adult rats. Young adult to old age brain tissue softening and brain atrophy resulted in an increase in diffuse axonal injuries and acute subdural hematoma injury risk indicators, respectively.

Conclusions: The findings presented in this study suggest that age-specific injury thresholds should be developed to enable the development of superior restraint systems for the elderly. The findings also motivate other further studies on age-dependency of head trauma.     

Performance of IUCN proxies for generation length

One of the criteria used by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to assess threat status is the rate of decline in abundance over 3 generations or 10 years, whichever is longer. The traditional method for calculating generation length (T) uses age‐specific survival and fecundity, but these data are rarely available. Consequently, proxies that require less information are often used, which introduces potential biases. The IUCN recommends 2 proxies based on adult mortality rate, = α + 1/d, and reproductive life span, = α + z^*RL, where α is age at first reproduction, d is adult mortality rate, RL is reproductive life span, and z is a coefficient derived from data for comparable species. We used published life tables for 78 animal and plant populations to evaluate precision and bias of these proxies by comparing and with true generation length. Mean error rates in estimating T were 31% for and 20% for , but error rates for were 16% when we subtracted 1 year ( ), as suggested by theory; also provided largely unbiased estimates regardless of the true generation length. Performance of depends on compilation of detailed data for comparable species, but our results suggest taxonomy is not a reliable indicator of comparability. All 3 proxies depend heavily on a reliable estimate of age at first reproduction, as we illustrated with 2 test species. The relatively large mean errors for all proxies emphasized the importance of collecting the detailed life‐history information necessary to calculate true generation length. Unfortunately, publication of such data is less common than it was decades ago. We identified generic patterns of age‐specific change in vital rates that can be used to predict expected patterns of bias from applying .     

不同林龄马尾松（Pinus massoniana）人工林碳氮磷分配格局及化学计量特征

为了解长江上游低山丘陵区马尾松（Pinus massoniana）人工林生态系统的C、N、P分配格局及化学计量特征，本文采用时空互代的方法，在宜宾高县来复林区选取三种不同林龄（5年生幼龄林、14年生中龄林、39年生成熟林），但立地条件相近、样地情况基本一致的马尾松（Pinus massoniana）人工林作为研究对象，对马尾松针叶、凋落物及土壤中的C、N、P含量及 w（C）？w（N）？w（P）化学计量特征进行测定和分析。结果表明，（1）C、N、P 含量均表现为针叶〉凋落物〉土壤，且在三个库之间差异显著；（2）林龄对针叶、凋落物、土壤的 C、N、P 及 w（C）？w（N）、w（C）？w（P）计量比均有显著影响。（3）土壤 C、N、P含量在成熟林中最高；针叶和凋落物的C含量在成熟林中最低，N、P含量则在中龄林中最高。（4）随林龄增加马尾松对N、P的利用效率降低，针叶、凋落物及土壤的w（C）？w（N）与 w（C）？w（P）均表现为下降。（5）马尾松针叶w（N）？w（P）比值在14.37~15.53之间，说明该地区马尾松人工林受N和P的共同限制，但林龄对N、P养分限制的影响不显著。为提高该区马尾松人工林的生产力，建议在人工林的抚育管理中要适当增加N肥和P肥，同时也可在马尾松人工林引入豆科固氮植物以提高地力。该研究将马尾松针叶、凋落物及土壤结合起来探究随林龄增长C、N、P养分元素的分配格局及化学计量特征的变化，有助于全面、系统地揭示马尾松人工林生态系统的养分循环，对指导马尾松人工林生产，调节和改善林木生长环境，提高系统的养分利用效率及林地生产力具有重要意义。     

重庆市居民头发重金属富集特征及相关性分析

本研究利用火焰原子吸收法测定了重庆主城与郊区居民头发中镉、铜、镍、铅和锌等5种重金属的浓度水平,比较分析了人发中5种重金属含量水平及与年龄、性别和吸烟与否的关系,最后通过相关性分析和主成分分析初步了解重庆居民人发中重金属可能的来源.结果表明,重庆主城人发中Cd、Cu、Ni、Pb和Zn的平均含量分别为3.1、24.3、9.7、42.8和209.6 μg·g^-1,郊区居民人发的平均含量分别为0.9、15.8、5.6、15.2和173.4 μg·g^-1;5种重金属在主城居民头发中的含量均显著高于郊区居民头发中含量（t-检验,P<0.01）,并且其组成与居民附近土壤样品的组成基本一致;5种重金属的含量在不同年龄段人群中的分布没有明显趋势,只是在郊区居民头发中的Cu和Zn含量随着年龄增长而减少;主城和郊区男性头发中Cd和Pb含量均显著高于女性（P<0.01）,并且在主城和郊区吸烟者头发中的Cd和Pb显著高于非吸烟者（P<0.01）;通过相关性分析发现主城和郊区中Cd、Cu、Ni和Pb之间具有相似的相关性模式,并且主成分分析结果显示,在主城中,人发Cu、Ni和Pb具有相似的来源,而在郊区中,人发Cd、Ni和Pb具有相似的来源.     

汶川大地震灾后青少年心理援助经验启示

为探索和创新汶川大地震以及其他灾情灾后青少年心理援助提供科学决策依据，通过对四川灾区民众的调查分析及其对收集的信息资料研究，着重揭示了汶川大地震灾后青少年心理援助的经验：“三个加强”——加强方式、方法、机制“三位一体”对青少年心理援助，“三个强化”——社会、学校、家庭“三位一体”对青少年心理援助的启示。