Practicing for and performance on drivers license tests in relation to gender differences in crash involvement among novice drivers

PROBLEM: Young male novice drivers are overrepresented in injury motor-vehicle crashes compared to females in the same category. This difference in crash involvement is often assumed to include factors such as overestimation, risk acceptance, and sensation seeking, but it can also be related to acquisition of knowledge, skills, insight, and driving experience. Therefore, this study explored possible gender differences among 18-24-year-olds in Sweden regarding practicing as learners, outcome of the driver's tests, and crash involvement during the first year after licensure. METHOD: Data for 2005 from different sources (e.g., questionnaires, license test, and crash statistics) were examined. It was not possible to follow individual subjects through all stages or in all analyses. Nevertheless, the study design did enable scrutinization and discussion of gender differences between younger inexperienced drivers with respect to education and training, license test results, and initial period of licensure. RESULTS: Males and females assimilated tuition in different ways. Females studied more theory, pursued training in a more structured manner, practiced more elements of driving in several different environments, and participated more extensively in driving school instruction. National statistics showed that females did better on the written test but not on the driving test. Males were involved in 1.9 more injury crashes per 1,000 drivers than females during their first year of licensed driving. The proportional distribution of crash types was the same for both sexes during the first period as novice drivers, but the circumstances surrounding the accidents varied (e.g., males were involved in more night crashes). IMPACT ON TRAFFIC SAFETY: More structured training while learning appears to be one of the reasons why females initially do better than males as novice drivers. Therefore, in the future, driver education should focus not only on matters such as the amount of time spent on training and preconditioning, but also on the importance of the organization and content of the learning process.     

Thermodynamic investigations on materials corrosion in some industrial and environmental processes

For better understanding of corrosion schemes and corrosion mechanisms of a wide range of steels/Fe-alloys, Ni-/NiFe-/Co-superalloys, Al-/Mg-/Ti-/Zr-/Sn-/Cu-/Zn-alloys, electronic-packing alloys, medical-instrument alloys and other materials, under various corrosive environments (such as aqueous solutions, non-aqueous solutions, molten salts, high-temperature gases, etc.) during production/application processes and experimental observations, the Thermo-Calc software/database/programming-interface package can be used. This article is aimed at presenting some application examples of thermodynamic calculations/simulations in some specific areas: aqueous corrosions of stainless steels and other alloys, and of high-performance corrosion-resistant materials (HPCRM); molten salt corrosions of stainless steels and high-temperature alloys; high-temperature gaseous corrosions of steels/alloys; formations of oxide-coated protective layers on steel/alloy surfaces; and emergence conditions during oxidation of steels/alloys.     

Headspace and small-chamber studies of airborne diacetyl release from selected food flavoring mixtures: activity coefficients and air modeling implications

Laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate airborne release of diacetyl from selected mixtures simulating butter flavorings added to foods. The test materials included diacetyl (97% purity); 0.015%, 0.15%, 1.5%, and 3.0% diacetyl in a water/propylene glycol mixture; 1.5% diacetyl in deionized water or soybean oil; and 3% or 6% diacetyl in a commercial steam distillate from milk fermentation known as “butter starter distillate.” Diacetyl was quantified by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. Expected concentration-dependent emission patterns based on liquid diacetyl content were demonstrated, but were significantly altered by mixture composition. Soybean oil and deionized water more readily released diacetyl when compared with starter distillate, propylene glycol solutions, and pure diacetyl. Measured diacetyl concentrations under static headspace and dynamic flow-chamber conditions were compared to estimated concentrations utilizing Raoult's law with published and fitted activity coefficient corrections for each mixture, indicating that published coefficients often understated the measured concentrations. It is concluded that headspace (static) and small-chamber (dynamic) measurements of airborne diacetyl provide data to assist in validating model-estimated airborne diacetyl concentrations by using mixture-specific activity coefficients. Implications of these empirical data for validating exposure estimates for diacetyl based on near-field/far-field modeling in workplace settings are discussed.     

Pessimism and Optimism in the Debate on Climate Change: A Critical Analysis

Successful transitions to a sustainable bioeconomy require novel technologies, processes, and practices as well as a general agreement about the overarching normative direction of innovation. Both requirements necessarily involve collective action by those individuals who purchase, use, and co-produce novelties: the consumers. Based on theoretical considerations borrowed from evolutionary innovation economics and consumer social responsibility, we explore to what extent consumers’ scope of action is addressed in the scientific bioeconomy literature. We do so by systematically reviewing bioeconomy-related publications according to (i) the extent to which consumers are regarded as passive vs. active, and (ii) different domains of consumer responsibility (depending on their power to influence economic processes). We find all aspects of active consumption considered to varying degrees but observe little interconnection between domains. In sum, our paper contributes to the bioeconomy literature by developing a novel coding scheme that allows us to pinpoint different aspects of consumer activity, which have been considered in a rather isolated and undifferentiated manner. Combined with our theoretical considerations, the results of our review reveal a central research gap which should be taken up in future empirical and conceptual bioeconomy research. The system-spanning nature of a sustainable bioeconomy demands an equally holistic exploration of the consumers’ prospective and shared responsibility for contributing to its coming of age, ranging from the procurement of information on bio-based products and services to their disposal.

     

Noninvasive prenatal screening for cystic fibrosis using circulating trophoblasts: Detection of the 50 most common disease-causing variants

Objectives

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common severe autosomal recessive disorders. Prenatal or preconception CF screening is offered in some countries. A maternal blood sample in early pregnancy can provide circulating trophoblasts and offers a DNA source for genetic analysis of both the mother and the fetus. This study aimed to develop a cell-based noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT) to screen for the 50 most common CF variants.

Methods

Blood samples were collected from 30 pregnancies undergoing invasive diagnostics and circulating trophoblasts were harvested in 27. Cystic fibrosis testing was conducted using two different methods: by fragment length analysis and by our newly developed NGS-based CF analysis.

Results

In all 27 cases, cell-based NIPT provided a result using both methods in agreement with the invasive test result.

Conclusion

This study shows that cell-based NIPT for CF screening provides a reliable result without the need for partner- and proband samples.