Suchergebnisse

Objective This study investigated users' subjective evaluation of three highly automated driving styles, in terms of comfort and naturalness, when negotiating a UK road in a high-fidelity, motion-based, driving simulator. Background Comfort and naturalness play an important role in contributing to users' acceptance and trust of automated vehicles (AVs), although not much is understood about the types of driving style which are considered comfortable or natural. Method A driving simulator study, simulating roads with different road geometries and speed limits, was conducted. Twenty-four participants experienced three highly automated driving styles, two of which were recordings from human drivers, and the other was based on a machine learning (ML) algorithm, termed Defensive, Aggressive, and Turner, respectively. Participants evaluated comfort or naturalness of each driving style, for each road segment, and completed a Sensation Seeking questionnaire, which assessed their risk-taking propensity. Results Participants regarded both human-like driving styles as more comfortable and natural, compared with the less human-like, ML-based, driving controller. Particularly, between the two human-like controllers, the Defensive style was considered more comfortable, especially for the more challenging road environments. Differences in preference for controller by driver trait were also observed, with the Aggressive driving style evaluated as more natural by the high sensation seekers. Conclusion Participants were able to distinguish between human- and machine-like AV controllers. A range of psychological concepts must be considered for the subjective evaluation of controllers. Application Insights into how different driver groups evaluate automated vehicle controllers are important in designing more acceptable systems.

State failure, ethnopolitical war, genocide, famine, and refugee flows are variants of a type of complex political and humanitarian crisis, exemplified during the 1990s in places like Somalia, Bosnia, Liberia, and Afghanistan. The international consequences of such crises are profound, often threatening regional security and requiring major inputs of humanitarian assistance. They also may pose long-term and costly challenges of rebuilding shattered governments and societies. A vital policy question is whether failures can be diagnosed far enough in advance to facilitate effective international efforts at prevention or peaceful transformation. This volume of original essays examines crisis early warning factors at different levels, in different settings, and judges their effectiveness according to various models. Top contributors offer answers along with analyses as they move from early warning to early response in their policy recommendations.

Solar, wind and geothermal energy applications in agriculture: back to the future? / Jochen Bundschuh, Guangnan Chen, Barbara Tomaszewska, Noreddine Ghaffour, Shahbaz Mushtaq, Ihsan Hamawant, Kathryn Reardon-Smith, Tek Maraseni, Thomas Banhazi, Hacene Mahmoudi, Mattheus Goosen & Diogenes L. Antille -- Agriculture sector modernization and renewable energy development: perspectives from developing countries / Robert K. Dixon & Ming Yang -- Linking food and nutrition security, urban and peri-urban agriculture, and sustainable energy use: experiences from South America / Deborah Hines & Sarah Balistreri -- Renewable energy use for aquaponies development on a global scale towards sustainable food production / Ragnheidur Thorarinsdottir, Daniel Coaten, Edoardo Pantanella, Charlie Shultz, Henk Stander & Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir -- Renewable energy use and potential in remote central Australia / Yiheyis Maru, Supriya Mathew, Digby Race & Bruno Spandonide -- Opportunities of adopting renewable energy for the nursery industry in Australia / Guangnan Chen, Erik Schmidt, Tek Maraseni, Jochen Bundschuh, Thomas Banhazi & Diogenes L. Antille -- Fundamentals of solar energy / Maciej Klein, Kamil Lapinski, Katarzyna Siuzdak & Adam Cenian -- Renewable energy technologies for greenhouses in semi-arid climates / Francisco Javier Cabrera, Jorge Antonio Sánchez-Molina, Guillermo Zaragoza, Manuel Pérez-García & Francisco Rodríguez-Díaz -- Solar photocatalytic disinfection of water for reuse in irrigation / Pilar Fernández-Ibáñez, María Inmaculada Polo-López, Sixto Malato, Alba Ruiz-Aguirre & Guillermo Zaragoza -- Polar PV for water pumping and irrigation / Istváan Patay, István Seres & Jochen Bundschuh -- Solar drying / Om Prakash, Anil Kumar & Atul Sharma -- Small-scale wind power energy systems for use in agriculture and similar applications / Wojciech Miaskowski, Krzysztof Nalepa, Pawel Pietkiewicz & Janusz Piechocki -- Windmills for water pumping, irrigation and drainage / István Patay & Norbert Schrempf -- Lakes as a heat source for heat pumps: a model study to determine the ecological impact of summer heat transfer / Renata Brzozowska, Maciej Neugebauer & Janusz Piechocki.

AbstractYoung water professionals (YWPs) have a critical role in ensuring how water resources will be managed to contribute towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To address the challenges of climate change, population growth, and urbanization, YWPs require leadership skills, transdisciplinary competencies, technical knowledge, and practical experience. This article presents the India YWP training program, led by Western Sydney University and the Australia India Water Centre (AIWC), aimed at developing a cohort of skilled YWPs and nurturing the next generation of water leaders in support of India's water reform agenda and the National Water Mission. The program engaged 20 YWPs, consisting of an equal gender representation, selected by the Ministry of Jal Shakti from various water management agencies and departments across India. The 11‐month training program was designed to be transformative and interactive, and it used an online platform comprising online lectures, mentoring, and project‐based learning facilitated by the AIWC team. The training methodology focused on engaged learning, incorporating online workshops, Situation Understanding and Improvement Projects (SUIPs), online group discussions, and mentoring. The SUIPs provided a platform for YWPs to work in pairs, receiving guidance from AIWC members, enabling them to develop practical skills and knowledge in real‐world contexts. The program effectively enhanced participants' capacities in project planning, design, implementation, and management, while fostering critical thinking and problem‐solving skills by adopting transdisciplinary approaches. Furthermore, participants demonstrated improved leadership, project management, time management, and communication skills. The training helped YWPs to equip them with a holistic perspective and stakeholder‐focused mindset to address diverse water challenges from a holistic and long‐term standpoint.

Non-communicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, are the leading cause of decreased life expectancy and death in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although a lifestyle, which includes no tobacco use, good nutrition, and regular physical activity is touted as key to health, the environmental, racial, social and economic conditions, which underpin lifestyle are often ignored or considered only secondarily. Placing the main responsibility on a patient to change their lifestyle or to simply comply with pharmacological treatment ignores the specific conditions in which the individual lives. Furthermore, there are major disparities in access to both healthy living conditions as well as access to medical care.There is sufficient evidence to support advocating for policies that support healthy living, particularly healthy food choices. Progress is being made to improve the food environment with enactment of front of package nutritional labels. However, policies were enacted only after intense regional research and advocacy supporting their implementation.Government officials must rise above the pressures of commercial interests and support health-promoting policies or be exposed as self-interest groups themselves. Strong advocacy is required to persuade officials that all policies should take health into consideration both to improve lives and economies.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of sustained impairment in military and civilian populations. However, mild TBI (mTBI) can be difficult to detect using conventional MRI or CT. Injured brain tissues in mTBI patients generate abnormal slow-waves (1–4 Hz) that can be measured and localized by resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG). In this study, we develop a voxel-based whole-brain MEG slow-wave imaging approach for detecting abnormality in patients with mTBI on a single-subject basis. A normative database of resting-state MEG source magnitude images (1–4 Hz) from 79 healthy control subjects was established for all brain voxels. The high-resolution MEG source magnitude images were obtained by our recent Fast-VESTAL method. In 84 mTBI patients with persistent post-concussive symptoms (36 from blasts, and 48 from non-blast causes), our method detected abnormalities at the positive detection rates of 84.5%, 86.1%, and 83.3% for the combined (blast-induced plus with non-blast causes), blast, and non-blast mTBI groups, respectively. We found that prefrontal, posterior parietal, inferior temporal, hippocampus, and cerebella areas were particularly vulnerable to head trauma. The result also showed that MEG slow-wave generation in prefrontal areas positively correlated with personality change, trouble concentrating, affective lability, and depression symptoms. Discussion is provided regarding the neuronal mechanisms of MEG slow-wave generation due to deafferentation caused by axonal injury and/or blockages/limitations of cholinergic transmission in TBI. This study provides an effective way for using MEG slow-wave source imaging to localize affected areas and supports MEG as a tool for assisting the diagnosis of mTBI.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of sustained impairment in military and civilian populations. However, mild TBI (mTBI) can be difficult to detect using conventional MRI or CT. Injured brain tissues in mTBI patients generate abnormal slow-waves (1-4Hz) that can be measured and localized by resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG). In this study, we develop a voxel-based whole-brain MEG slow-wave imaging approach for detecting abnormality in patients with mTBI on a single-subject basis. A normative database of resting-state MEG source magnitude images (1-4Hz) from 79 healthy control subjects was established for all brain voxels. The high-resolution MEG source magnitude images were obtained by our recent Fast-VESTAL method. In 84 mTBI patients with persistent post-concussive symptoms (36 from blasts, and 48 from non-blast causes), our method detected abnormalities at the positive detection rates of 84.5%, 86.1%, and 83.3% for the combined (blast-induced plus with non-blast causes), blast, and non-blast mTBI groups, respectively. We found that prefrontal, posterior parietal, inferior temporal, hippocampus, and cerebella areas were particularly vulnerable to head trauma. The result also showed that MEG slow-wave generation in prefrontal areas positively correlated with personality change, trouble concentrating, affective lability, and depression symptoms. Discussion is provided regarding the neuronal mechanisms of MEG slow-wave generation due to deafferentation caused by axonal injury and/or blockages/limitations of cholinergic transmission in TBI. This study provides an effective way for using MEG slow-wave source imaging to localize affected areas and supports MEG as a tool for assisting the diagnosis of mTBI.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of sustained impairment in military and civilian populations. However, mild TBI (mTBI) can be difficult to detect using conventional MRI or CT. Injured brain tissues in mTBI patients generate abnormal slow-waves (1-4Hz) that can be measured and localized by resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG). In this study, we develop a voxel-based whole-brain MEG slow-wave imaging approach for detecting abnormality in patients with mTBI on a single-subject basis. A normative database of resting-state MEG source magnitude images (1-4Hz) from 79 healthy control subjects was established for all brain voxels. The high-resolution MEG source magnitude images were obtained by our recent Fast-VESTAL method. In 84 mTBI patients with persistent post-concussive symptoms (36 from blasts, and 48 from non-blast causes), our method detected abnormalities at the positive detection rates of 84.5%, 86.1%, and 83.3% for the combined (blast-induced plus with non-blast causes), blast, and non-blast mTBI groups, respectively. We found that prefrontal, posterior parietal, inferior temporal, hippocampus, and cerebella areas were particularly vulnerable to head trauma. The result also showed that MEG slow-wave generation in prefrontal areas positively correlated with personality change, trouble concentrating, affective lability, and depression symptoms. Discussion is provided regarding the neuronal mechanisms of MEG slow-wave generation due to deafferentation caused by axonal injury and/or blockages/limitations of cholinergic transmission in TBI. This study provides an effective way for using MEG slow-wave source imaging to localize affected areas and supports MEG as a tool for assisting the diagnosis of mTBI.