Decisions and actions of distracted drivers at the onset of yellow light

Driving on an approach to a signalized intersection while distracted is relatively risky, as potential vehicular conflicts and resulting angle collisions tend to be relatively more severe compared to other locations. Given the prevalence and importance of this particular scenario, the objective of this study was to examine the decisions and actions of distracted drivers during the onset of yellow lights. Driving simulator data were obtained from a sample of 69 drivers under baseline and handheld cell phone conditions at the University of Iowa – National Advanced Driving Simulator. Explanatory variables included age, gender, cell phone use, distance to stop-line, and speed. Although there is extensive research on drivers’ responses to yellow traffic signals, the examinations have been conducted from a traditional regression-based approach, which do not necessary provide the underlying relations and patterns among the sampled data. In this paper, we exploit the benefits of both classical statistical inference and data mining techniques to identify the a priori relationships among main effects, non-linearities, and interaction effects. Results suggest that the probability of yellow light running increases with the increase in driving speed at the onset of yellow. Both young (18–25 years) and middle-aged (30–45 years) drivers reveal reduced propensity for yellow light running whilst distracted across the entire speed range, exhibiting possible risk compensation during this critical driving situation. The propensity for yellow light running for both distracted male and female older (50–60 years) drivers is significantly higher. Driver experience captured by age interacts with distraction, resulting in their combined effect having slower physiological response and being distracted particularly risky.

Small gold nanoparticles as crystallization "catalysts": Effect of seed size and concentration on Au-ZnO hetero nanoparticles

This work reports the effect of seed nanoparticle size and concentration effects on heterogeneous crystal nucleation and growth in colloidal suspensions. We examined these effects in the Au nanoparticle-seeded growth of Au-ZnO hetero-nanocrystals under synthesis conditions that generate hexagonal, cone-shaped ZnO nanocrystals. It was observed that small (~ 4 nm) Au seed nanoparticles form one-to-one Au-ZnO hetero dimers and that Au nanoparticle seeds of this size can also act as crystallization ‘catalysts’ that readily promote the nucleation and growth of ZnO nanocrystals. Larger seed nanoparticles (~9 nm, ~ 11 nm) provided multiple, stable ZnO-nucleation sites, generating multi-crystalline hetero trimers, tetramers and oligomers.

Influential parameters on particle concentration and size distribution in the mainstream of e-cigarettes

Electronic cigarette-generated mainstream aerosols were characterized in terms of particle number concentrations and size distributions through a Condensation Particle Counter and a Fast Mobility Particle Sizer spectrometer, respectively. A thermodilution system was also used to properly sample and dilute the mainstream aerosol. Different types of electronic cigarettes, liquid flavors, liquid nicotine contents, as well as different puffing times were tested. Conventional tobacco cigarettes were also investigated. The total particle number concentration peak (for 2-s puff), averaged across the different electronic cigarette types and liquids, was measured equal to 4.39 ± 0.42 × 109 part. cm−3, then comparable to the conventional cigarette one (3.14 ± 0.61 × 109 part. cm−3). Puffing times and nicotine contents were found to influence the particle concentration, whereas no significant differences were recognized in terms of flavors and types of cigarettes used. Particle number distribution modes of the electronic cigarette-generated aerosol were in the 120–165 nm range, then similar to the conventional cigarette one.

Dependence of light attenuation and backscattering on collagen concentration and chondrocyte density in agarose scaffolds

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been applied for high resolution imaging of articular cartilage. However, the contribution of individual structural elements of cartilage on OCT signal has not been thoroughly studied. We hypothesize that both collagen and chondrocytes, essential structural components of cartilage, act as important light scatterers and that variation in their concentrations can be detected by OCT through changes in backscattering and attenuation. To evaluate this hypothesis, we established a controlled model system using agarose scaffolds embedded with variable collagen concentrations and chondrocyte densities. Using OCT, we measured the backscattering coefficient (µb) and total attenuation coefficient (µt) in these scaffolds. Along our hypothesis, light backscattering and attenuation in agarose were dependent on collagen concentration and chondrocyte density. Significant correlations were found between µt and chondrocyte density (ρ = 0.853, p < 0.001) and between µt and collagen concentration (ρ = 0.694, p < 0.001). µb correlated significantly with chondrocyte density (ρ = 0.504, p < 0.001) but not with collagen concentration (ρ = 0.103, p = 0.422) of the scaffold. Thus, quantitation of light backscattering and, especially, attenuation could be valuable when evaluating the integrity of soft tissues, such as articular cartilage with OCT.

Temporal trend of pesticide concentrations in the Chikugo River (Japan) with changes in environmental regulation and field infrastructure

Contamination of pesticides, which are applied to rice paddy fields, in river water has been a major problem in Japan for decades. A prolonged water holding period after pesticide application in paddy fields is expected to reduce the concentration of rice pesticides in river water. Therefore, a long monitoring campaign was conducted from 2004 to 2010 to measure the concentrations of pesticides in water samples collected from several points along the Chikugo River (Japan) including tributaries and the main stream to see if there was any reduction in the level of pesticide contamination after the extension of the water holding period (from 3–4 days to 7 days) was introduced in 2007 by the new water management regulation. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was found in pesticide concentrations between the periods before and after 2007 in all monitoring points, except in one tributary where the pesticide concentrations after 2007 were even higher than that of the previous period. A detailed study in one of the tributaries also revealed that the renovated infrastructure did not reduce the pesticide concentrations in the drainage canals. Neither the introduction of the new regulation nor the improved infrastructure had any significant effect on reducing the contamination of pesticides in water of the Chikugo River. It is probably because most farmers did not properly implement the new requirement of holding paddy water within the field for 7 days after the application of pesticides. Only tightening the regulation would not be sufficient and more actions should be taken to enforce/provide extension support for the new water management regulation in order to reduce the level of residual pesticides in river water in Japan.

Raman spectroscopy techniques for detection of energetic materials at high and low concentration

This thesis presents the development of a rapid, sensitive and reproducible spectroscopic method for the detection of TNT in forensic and environmental applications. Simple nano sensors prepared by cost effective methods were utilized as sensitive platforms for the detection of TNT by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. The optimization of the substrate and the careful selection of a suitable recognition molecule contributed to the significant improvements of sensitive and selective targeting over current detection methods. The work presented in this thesis paves the way for effective detection and monitoring of explosives residues in law enforcement and environmental health applications.

Malnutrition, gastroenteritis and trypsinogen concentration in hospitalised aboriginal children

Objective: To explore relationships between malnutrition and pancreatic damage in hospitalised aboriginal children. Methods: Immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) concentrations were measured in two populations of hospitalised aboriginal children in Australia; 472 children aged 0-3 years, in Alice Springs (Northern Territory); and 187 children aged 0-16 years in Mount Isa (Queensland). Correlation of whole blood IRT with height and weight z-scores, four-site skinfold thickness and upper arm circumference was sought. Results: In Mount Isa, the geometric mean IRT concentration rose with decreasing weight z-score. The IRT concentration was otherwise unrelated to nutritional indices. Sixty percent of the 39 Mount Isa patients with gastroenteritis and 24.5% of the 358 Alice Springs patients with gastroenteritis had an IRT concentration in the upper quartile for their population, compared with 16% for patients with other diagnoses in both populations. Conclusions: A high IRT concentration in patients with low weight z-scores is a confounding effect of gastroenteritis, and may result from subclinical pancreatic disease in gastroenteritis.

The modern day bystander: Online and face-to-face bystander actions of adolescents in traditional bullying and cyberbullying

This study investigated whether bystanders of traditional bullying and cyberbullying used face-to-face methods, online methods or both methods when reporting, discouraging and providing support to the victims of traditional bullying and cyberbullying. A questionnaire was completed by 348 high school students (Years 7 – 12) from seven independent schools in Australia. Overall, students predominantly utilized face-to-face methods when reporting to others for both types of bullying. Older students were more likely to use online methods to discourage the traditional bully (i.e., asking the bully to stop). Males and older students were more likely to use online methods to support victims of traditional bullying. Females were more likely to use face-to-face methods to support victims of cyberbullying. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

From vision to actions: Towards adaptive and autonomous humanoid robots

Although robotics research has seen advances over the last decades robots are still not in widespread use outside industrial applications. Yet a range of proposed scenarios have robots working together, helping and coexisting with humans in daily life. In all these a clear need to deal with a more unstructured, changing environment arises. I herein present a system that aims to overcome the limitations of highly complex robotic systems, in terms of autonomy and adaptation. The main focus of research is to investigate the use of visual feedback for improving reaching and grasping capabilities of complex robots. To facilitate this a combined integration of computer vision and machine learning techniques is employed. From a robot vision point of view the combination of domain knowledge from both imaging processing and machine learning techniques, can expand the capabilities of robots. I present a novel framework called Cartesian Genetic Programming for Image Processing (CGP-IP). CGP-IP can be trained to detect objects in the incoming camera streams and successfully demonstrated on many different problem domains. The approach requires only a few training images (it was tested with 5 to 10 images per experiment) is fast, scalable and robust yet requires very small training sets. Additionally, it can generate human readable programs that can be further customized and tuned. While CGP-IP is a supervised-learning technique, I show an integration on the iCub, that allows for the autonomous learning of object detection and identification. Finally this dissertation includes two proof-of-concepts that integrate the motion and action sides. First, reactive reaching and grasping is shown. It allows the robot to avoid obstacles detected in the visual stream, while reaching for the intended target object. Furthermore the integration enables us to use the robot in non-static environments, i.e. the reaching is adapted on-the- fly from the visual feedback received, e.g. when an obstacle is moved into the trajectory. The second integration highlights the capabilities of these frameworks, by improving the visual detection by performing object manipulation actions.

Submission on NSW Attorney-General's Discussion Paper on Amendment of Limitation of Actions Act 1969 to remove time limit for civil claims for child abuse

The New South Wales Attorney-General and Justice Policy Division released a Discussion Paper about reform of the Limitation of Actions Act 1969. The key question was whether and how to amend the statute to better provide access to justice for civil claimants in child abuse cases. This submission draws on published literature and multidisciplinary research to support the Discussion Paper's Option A, namely, to abolish the time limit for civil claims for injuries in criminal child abuse cases, and for this to be made retrospective.

Sediment concentration prediction and statistical evaluation for annual load estimation

We consider the development of statistical models for prediction of constituent concentration of riverine pollutants, which is a key step in load estimation from frequent flow rate data and less frequently collected concentration data. We consider how to capture the impacts of past flow patterns via the average discounted flow (ADF) which discounts the past flux based on the time lapsed - more recent fluxes are given more weight. However, the effectiveness of ADF depends critically on the choice of the discount factor which reflects the unknown environmental cumulating process of the concentration compounds. We propose to choose the discount factor by maximizing the adjusted R-2 values or the Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient. The R2 values are also adjusted to take account of the number of parameters in the model fit. The resulting optimal discount factor can be interpreted as a measure of constituent exhaustion rate during flood events. To evaluate the performance of the proposed regression estimators, we examine two different sampling scenarios by resampling fortnightly and opportunistically from two real daily datasets, which come from two United States Geological Survey (USGS) gaging stations located in Des Plaines River and Illinois River basin. The generalized rating-curve approach produces biased estimates of the total sediment loads by -30% to 83%, whereas the new approaches produce relatively much lower biases, ranging from -24% to 35%. This substantial improvement in the estimates of the total load is due to the fact that predictability of concentration is greatly improved by the additional predictors.

Nonparametric rank regression for analyzing water quality concentration data with multiple detection limits

Environmental data usually include measurements, such as water quality data, which fall below detection limits, because of limitations of the instruments or of certain analytical methods used. The fact that some responses are not detected needs to be properly taken into account in statistical analysis of such data. However, it is well-known that it is challenging to analyze a data set with detection limits, and we often have to rely on the traditional parametric methods or simple imputation methods. Distributional assumptions can lead to biased inference and justification of distributions is often not possible when the data are correlated and there is a large proportion of data below detection limits. The extent of bias is usually unknown. To draw valid conclusions and hence provide useful advice for environmental management authorities, it is essential to develop and apply an appropriate statistical methodology. This paper proposes rank-based procedures for analyzing non-normally distributed data collected at different sites over a period of time in the presence of multiple detection limits. To take account of temporal correlations within each site, we propose an optimal linear combination of estimating functions and apply the induced smoothing method to reduce the computational burden. Finally, we apply the proposed method to the water quality data collected at Susquehanna River Basin in United States of America, which dearly demonstrates the advantages of the rank regression models.

GABAAα1 and GABAAρ1 subunits are expressed in cultured human RPE cells and GABAA receptor agents modify the intracellular calcium concentration.

Purpose: Gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABAA) receptors (GABAARs), which are ionotropic receptors involving chloride channels, have been identified in various neural (e.g., mouse retinal ganglion cells) and nonneural cells (e.g., mouse lens epithelial cells) regulating the intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)]i). GABAAR β-subunit protein has been isolated in the cultured human and rat RPE, and GABAAα1 and GABAAρ1 mRNAs and proteins are present in the chick RPE. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of GABAAα1 and GABAAρ1, two important subunits in forming functional GABAARs, in the cultured human RPE, and further to explore whether altering receptor activation modifies [Ca(2+)]i. Methods: Human RPE cells were separately cultured from five donor eye cups. Real-time PCR, western blots, and immunofluorescence were used to test for GABAAα1 and GABAAρ1 mRNAs and proteins. The effects of the GABAAR agonist muscimol, antagonist picrotoxin, or the specific GABAAρ antagonist 1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridin-4-yl) methylphosphinic acid (TPMPA) on [Ca(2+)]i in cultured human RPE were demonstrated using Fluo3-AM. Results: Both GABAAα1 and GABAAρ1 mRNAs and proteins were identified in cultured human RPE cells; antibody staining was mainly localized to the cell membrane and was also present in the cytoplasm but not in the nucleus. Muscimol (100 μM) caused a transient increase of the [Ca(2+)]i in RPE cells regardless of whether Ca(2+) was added to the buffer. Muscimol-induced increases in the [Ca(2+)]i were inhibited by pretreatment with picrotoxin (300 μM) or TPMPA (500 μM). Conclusions: GABAAα1 and GABAAρ1 are expressed in cultured human RPE cells, and GABAA agents can modify [Ca(2+)]i.

Factors influencing the outdoor concentration of carbonaceous aerosols at urban schools in Brisbane, Australia: implications for children’s exposure

This comprehensive study aimed to determine the sources and driving factors of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations in ambient PM2.5 in urban schools. Sampling was conducted outdoors at 25 schools in the Brisbane Metropolitan Area, Australia. Concentrations of primary and secondary OC were quantified using the EC tracer method, with secondary OC accounting for an average of 60%. Principal component analysis distinguished the contributing sources above the background and identified groups of schools with differing levels of primary and secondary carbonaceous aerosols. Overall, the results showed that vehicle emissions, local weather conditions and secondary organic aerosols (SOA) were the key factors influencing concentrations of carbonaceous component of PM2.5 at these schools. These results provide insights into children’s exposure to vehicle emissions and SOA at such urban schools.

Defamation proceedings - Limitation of Actions Act 1974

In Noonan v MacLennan [2010] QCA 50 the Queensland Court of Appeal considered for the first time the provision permitting extension of the limitation period for a defamation action under s32A of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974.