Examination of trust and sustainability concerns in autonomous vehicle adoption

The latest developments regarding autonomous vehicles (AVs) have drawn the attention of tech-savvy individuals and marketers. AVs are expected to cause a major change in the markets of vehicle selling, transportation and logistics. Therefore, it is crucial to understand consumer acceptance so that the companies in these markets can develop their penetration strategies accordingly and technology companies can shape their technology development strategies. This study aims to examine individuals' adoption attitudes toward AVs by considering trust and sustainability concerns. This was achieved by expanding the technology acceptance model (TAM). A survey of 391 participants was conducted and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results confirmed previous technology acceptance models by showing the relationships between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and behavioral intention. Moreover, the direct and indirect effects of trust on behavioral intention were also shown. This study provides evidence to extend the TAM to the adoption of AVs by uncovering individuals’ sustainability concerns.     

Role of Fuzzy Approach towards Fault Detection for Distributed Components

Component-based software development is rapidly introducing numerous new paradigms and possibilities to deliver highly customized software in a distributed environment. Among other communication, teamwork, and coordination problems in global software development, the detection of faults is seen as the key challenge. Thus, there is a need to ensure the reliability of component-based applications requirements. Distributed device detection faults applied to tracked components from various sources and failed to keep track of all the large number of components from different locations. In this study, we propose an approach for fault detection from component-based systems requirements using the fuzzy logic approach and historical information during acceptance testing. This approach identified error-prone components selection for test case extraction and for prioritization of test cases to validate components in acceptance testing. For the evaluation, we used empirical study, and results depicted that the proposed approach significantly outperforms in component selection and acceptance testing. The comparison to the conventional procedures, i.e., requirement criteria, and communication coverage criteria without irrelevancy and redundancy successfully outperform other procedures. Consequently, the F-measures of the proposed approach define the accurate selection of components, and faults identification increases in components using the proposed approach were higher (i.e., more than 80 percent) than requirement criteria, and code coverage criteria procedures (i.e., less than 80 percent), respectively. Similarly, the rate of fault detection in the proposed approach increases, i.e., 92.80 compared to existing methods i.e., less than 80 percent. The proposed approach will provide a comprehensive guideline and roadmap for practitioners and researchers.     

Gender differences in user perception of usability and performance of online travel agency websites

The success of online travel business largely depends on the usability of online travel agency websites, and, hence, the need to rigorously evaluate such websites. Gender-a key variable that explains a website's usage behavior (i.e., acceptance) and gratification from Internet use (i.e., purpose)-may influence the usability requirements of the design of online travel agency websites. This empirical study examines the usability of existing online travel agency websites in terms of gender, focusing on both user perception and performance. The findings show that women have more usability needs than men. The two gender groups have different expectations of different usability features as well. We argue that these findings can improve the understanding of gender differences in user behavior in terms of usability. Developers can thus increase the quality of experience of travel agency websites by improving the websites' flexibility and user satisfaction.     

What makes an article influential? Predicting impact in social and personality psychology

Factors contributing to citation impact in social-personality psychology were examined in a bibliometric study of articles published in the field’s three major journals. Impact was operationalized as citations accrued over 10 years by 308 articles published in 1996, and predictors were assessed using multiple databases and trained coders. Predictors included author characteristics (i.e., number, gender, nationality, eminence), institutional factors (i.e., university prestige, journal prestige, grant support), features of article organization (i.e., title characteristics, number of studies, figures and tables, number and recency of references), and research approach (i.e., topic area, methodology). Multivariate analyses demonstrated several strong predictors of impact, including first author eminence, having a more senior later author, journal prestige, article length, and number and recency of references. Many other variables — e.g., author gender and nationality, collaboration, university prestige, grant support, title catchiness, number of studies, experimental vs. correlational methodology, topic area — did not predict impact.     

Individual differences in drivers’ cognitive processing of road safety messages

Using Gray and McNaughton's (2000) revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (r-RST), we examined the influence of personality on processing of words presented in gain-framed and loss-framed anti-speeding messages and how the processing biases associated with personality influenced message acceptance. The r-RST predicts that the nervous system regulates personality and that behaviour is dependent upon the activation of the behavioural activation system (BAS), activated by reward cues and the fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS), activated by punishment cues. According to r-RST, individuals differ in the sensitivities of their BAS and FFFS (i.e., weak to strong), which in turn leads to stable patterns of behaviour in the presence of rewards and punishments, respectively. It was hypothesised that individual differences in personality (i.e., strength of the BAS and the FFFS) would influence the degree of both message processing (as measured by reaction time to previously viewed message words) and message acceptance (measured three ways by perceived message effectiveness, behavioural intentions, and attitudes). Specifically, it was anticipated that, individuals with a stronger BAS would process the words presented in the gain-frame messages faster than those with a weaker BAS and individuals with a stronger FFFS would process the words presented in the loss-frame messages faster than those with a weaker FFFS. Further, it was expected that greater processing (faster reaction times) would be associated with greater acceptance for that message. Driver licence holding students (N = 108) were recruited to view one of four anti-speeding messages (i.e., social gain-frame, social loss-frame, physical gain-frame, and physical loss-frame). A computerised lexical decision task assessed participants’ subsequent reaction times to message words, as an indicator of the extent of processing of the previously viewed message. Self-report measures assessed personality and the three message acceptance measures. As predicted, the degree of initial processing of the content of the social gain-framed message mediated the relationship between the reward sensitive trait and message effectiveness. Initial processing of the physical loss-framed message partially mediated the relationship between the punishment sensitive trait and both message effectiveness and behavioural intention ratings. These results show that reward sensitivity and punishment sensitivity traits influence cognitive processing of gain-framed and loss-framed message content, respectively, and subsequently, message effectiveness and behavioural intention ratings. Specifically, a range of road safety messages (i.e., gain-frame and loss-frame messages) could be designed which align with the processing biases associated with personality and which would target those individuals who are sensitive to rewards and those who are sensitive to punishments.     

Understanding the antecedents of hedonic motivation in autonomous vehicle technology acceptance domain: A cross-country analysis

The literature on autonomous vehicle (AV) acceptance highlights the significance of hedonic motivation in AV adoption. Numerous studies empirically confirm hedonic motivation as either the most or one of the most influential factors in the acceptance of AV. This fact calls for a need to achieve a wider understanding of the potential AV users’ perceived enjoyment (i.e., hedonic motivation). To this end, this study investigates the antecedents of hedonic motivation in the AV technology acceptance domain. The partial least square structural equations modeling approach was applied to analyze the data collected from 1823 respondents from 11 countries via an online survey. The developed hypotheses are examined for the entire sample, as well as separately for the Global North (GN) countries' sample, Global South (GS) countries' sample, and each individual country through a cross-country analysis. The results for the entire sample indicate that social influence is the strongest predictor of hedonic motivation, consistent with the findings of the GN sample. However, in the GS sample, self-efficacy emerges as the strongest predictor of hedonic motivation. Perceived safety is the second strongest predictor of hedonic motivation for both the GN and GS samples, highlighting its importance in relation to the perceived enjoyment of PAV. Trust does not significantly contribute to hedonic motivation, while the enjoyment of driving conventional cars has a small negative impact on hedonic motivation in the GS sample. The cross-country analysis reveals general patterns in the findings of the GN and GS samples, while highlighting a few exceptions. The results of the multi-group moderation analysis highlight the significant impact of the respondents' geographical distribution (GN vs GS) on their perceived enjoyment of PAV. Additionally, the analysis indicates that female respondents who enjoy driving conventional cars are less likely to perceive PAV as enjoyable compared to male participants who enjoy driving conventional cars.     

Design and Analysis of Antipodal Vivaldi Antennas for Breast CancerDetection

This paper presents the design and analysis of antipodal Vivaldi antennas (AVAs) for breast cancer detection. In order to enhance the antenna gain, different techniques such as using the uniform and non-uniform corrugation, expanding the dielectric substrate and adding the parasitic patch are applied to original AVA. The design procedure of two developed AVA structures i.e., AVA with non-uniform corrugation and AVA with parasitic patch are presented. The proposed AVAs are designed on inexpensive FR4 substrate. The AVA with non-uniform corrugation has compact dimension of mm² or , where is wavelength of the lowest operating frequency. The antenna can operate within the frequency range from 1.63 GHz to over 8 GHz. For the AVA with parasitic patch and uniform corrugation, the overall size of antenna is mm² or It can operate within the frequency range from 1.4 GHz to over 8 GHz. The maximum gain for AVA with non-uniform corrugation and AVA with parasitic patch and uniform corrugation are 9.03 and 11.31 dBi, respectively. The corrugation profile and parasitic patch of the proposed antenna are optimized to achieve the desired properties for breast cancer detection. In addition, the proposed AVAs are measured with breast phantom to detect cancerous cell inside the breast and the performance in detecting cancerous cell are discussed. The measured result can confirm that the proposed AVAs can detect unwanted cell inside the breast while maintaining the compact size, simple structure and low complexity in design.     

Expected travel time and optimal boundary formulas for a two-class-based automated storage/retrieval system

Our paper studies a two-class-based rectangular-in-time automated storage/ retrieval system (AS/RS). We present explicit formulas for the optima! boundary of the two storage areas as well as for the expected single command cycle time for an optimally designed rack. In the basic model each crane handles a single aisle. These formulas provide the designer with a full picture of the quantitative effects of the various factors (i.e., access frequencies of the two storage areas, and dimensions of the rack) on the optimal boundary of the two storage areas and the achievable cycle lime in the warehouse. We also develop expected travel time formulas for the dual command AS/RS with two-class-based storage policies and obtain the optimal boundary with a one-dimensional search procedure. Similar developments (i.e., expected travel time formulas and optimal boundary search procedures) are discussed for AS/RS with a single command policy but with each crane handling multiple aisles.     

A conceptual framework for road safety and mobility applied to cycling safety

Scientific literature lacks a model which combines exposure to risk, risk, and the relationship between them. This paper presents a conceptual road safety framework comprising mutually interacting factors for exposure to risk resulting from travel behaviour (volumes, modal split, and distribution of traffic over time and space) and for risk (crash and injury risk). The framework's three determinants for travel behaviour are locations of activities; resistances (generalized transport costs); needs, opportunities, and abilities. Crash and injury risks are modelled by the three ‘safety pillars’: infrastructure, road users and the vehicles they use. Creating a link in the framework between risk and exposure is important because of the ‘non-linear relationship’ between them, i.e. risk tends to decrease as exposure increases. Furthermore, ‘perceived’ risk (a type of travel resistance) plays a role in mode choice, i.e. the perception that a certain type of vehicle is unsafe can be a deterrent to its use. This paper uses theories to explain how the elements in the model interact. Cycling is an area where governments typically have goals for both mobility and safety. To exemplify application of the model, the paper uses the framework to link research on cycling (safety) to land use and infrastructure. The model's value lies in its ability to identify potential consequences of measures and policies for both exposure and risk. This is important from a scientific perspective and for policy makers who often have objectives for both mobility and safety.     

Retention and Performance of Male and Female Engineering Students: An Examination of Academic and Environmental Variables

In the present article, we conducted an exploratory study of student persistence and performance in a key course in the engineering sequence (i.e., Statics). At issue was whether certain characteristics of students (i.e., their gender, SAT-math scores, GPA) and institutions (i.e., class size, percentage of female enrollment, gender of instructor) would be associated with higher levels of persistence and performance. Students from 48 sections of Statics from 17 institutions were included in the study (N = 4,993 males and 1,123 females). Within-gender analyses showed that the primary factors associated with persistence were GPAs and SAT-math scores. Between-gender analyses revealed that the size and direction of the gender gap in persistence varied across institutions. Factors associated with these variations included the selectivity of the institution and the relative level of female persistence.     

A comparison of the views of experts and the public on automated vehicles technologies and societal implications

Automated vehicles (AVs) are seen as a gateway to safer and more accessible mobility, while others see AVs as unrealistic and dangerous. Public perception of AVs is not always in line with experts' views on issues relating to technology and public safety. To explore how the views of the public and experts compare, two qualitative studies were conducted with the aim of understanding attitudes, opinions, and expertise on a variety of matters relating to emerging AV technology and its societal impacts. Interviews were conducted with 11 AV experts from a variety of fields of expertise including optometry, engineering, computer science and psychology. Additionally, eight focus groups were held with 34 members of the public to discuss their opinions about AV technologies. Views from the public and experts were divided into 12 themes, with three categories (positive, mixed, and negative feelings towards AVs). The five themes under the positive category included topics of the danger of conventional vehicles, inclusive mobility, the use of time and space, familiarisation with AVs, and safety benefits. The two themes under the mixed feelings categories were, concerns about trust and the legal challenges. The five themes under the negative category were, the technological challenges, the complexity of monitoring, mixed-fleet danger, skills atrophy, and cybersecurity. The results showed that both the experts and public participants were enthusiastic about AVs, with a minority from both groups sceptical about this emerging technology. Insights from this research can be used to help inform 1) how the law can be adapted to AVs and 2) areas that can be focused on to alleviate the public's concerns around AVs.     

Manufacturing cells' design in consideration of various production factors

A cell formation problem is introduced that incorporates various real-life production factors such as the alternative process routing, operation sequence, operation time, production volume of parts, machine capacity, machine investment cost, machine overload, multiple machines available for machine types and part process routing redesigning cost. None of the cell formation models in the literature has considered these factors simultaneously. A similarity coefficient is developed that incorporates alternative process routing, operation sequence, operation time and production volume factors. Although very few studies have considered the machine capacity violated issue under the alternative process routing environment, owing to the difficulties of the issue discussed here, these studies fail to deal with the issue because they depend on some unrealistic assumptions. Five solutions have been proposed here and are used to cope with this difficulty. A heuristic algorithm that consists of two stages is developed. The developed similarity coefficient is used in stage 1 to obtain basic machine cells. Stage 2 solves the machine-capacity violated issue, assigns parts to cells, selects process routing for each part and refines the final cell formation solution. Some numerical examples are used to compare with other related approaches in the literature and two large size problems are also solved to test the computational performance of the developed algorithm. The computational results suggest that the approach is reliable and efficient in either the quality or the speed for solving cell formation problems.     

Laser Refining of a Surface Layer with Silicon Carbide

The article discusses the effect of adding silicon carbide by laser remelting of low-carbon steel. Tests in laser remelting were carried out with energy inputs ranging between 10 and 80 J/mm² with the most favorable degree, i.e., 30%, of overlapping of individual trace. Sufficient energy input was necessary to dissolve silicon-carbide with iron. A microchemical analysis of the remelted layer confirmed the dissolution of silicon carbide and formation of a smaller portion of martensite (10-20%) and of suesite Fe₃Si (65-80%). It was found that the test-specimen deformation was smallest with the laser-beam in the zig-zag motion. The surface was also assessed visually. The choice of adequate remelting conditions reduced, i.e., prevented, the occurrence of cracks and other defects. The influence of energy input and the mode of laser-beam travel on the efficiency of remelting, i.e., refining, was described by a ratio of the width of the remelted surface layer to its depth, which should amount to around 5:1.     

基于自动驾驶汽车接受度的个性化用户研究

目的 自动驾驶汽车出现以来,如何提升其大众接受度一直是学术界和工业界的关注热点。本文通过对影响自动驾驶汽车接受度的个性特征进行梳理,为后续提升用户接受度的个性化设计实践提供参考。方法 对近10年来有关自动驾驶接受度的研究进行系统性梳理,总结了社会人口学特征、经验水平和心理特质三类用户因素对自动驾驶接受度的影响。结果 影响自动驾驶汽车接受度的社会人口学因素主要包括性别、年龄、地域、教育、收入,以及身体状况等方面。用户驾驶经验和先验知识水平亦会影响自动驾驶汽车的接受度。心理特质是解释用户接受度差异的核心因素,包括大五人格、自我认知、个人控制、焦虑特征等维度。根据前述用户特征可知,从包容性设计、娱乐交互组件、信息交换方式、自动驾驶风格和外观五个方面开展个性化设计将有助于提升用户接受度。结论 基于用户特征的个性化设计实践,将是提升用户自动驾驶汽车接受度的重要途径。未来应进一步开展多维用户因素的交互机制及权重分析研究,并通过实证研究来明确不同个性化设计的作用,以推进自动驾驶汽车的普及。     

Evaluating order acceptance policies for divergent production systems with co-production

The impacts of using different order acceptance policies in manufacturing sectors are usually well known and documented in the literature. However, for industries facing divergent processes with co-production (i.e. several products produced at the same time from a common raw material), the evaluation, comparison and selection of policies are not trivial tasks. This paper proposes a framework to enable this evaluation. Using a simulation model that integrates a custom-built ERP, we compare and evaluate different order acceptance policies in various market conditions. Experiments are carried out using a case from the forest products industry. Results illustrate how and when different market conditions related to divergent/co-production industries may call for available-to-promise (ATP), capable-to-promise (CTP), and other known strategies. Especially, we show that advanced order acceptance policies like CTP may generate a better income for certain types of market and, conversely to typical manufacturing industries, ATP performs better than other strategies for a specific demand patterns.     

A Constant Gain and Miniaturized Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna for 5G Communication Applications

This paper proposes a stable gain and a compact Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna (AVA) for a 38 GHz band of 5G communication. A novel compact AVA is designed to provide constant gain, high front to back ratio (FBR), and very high efficiency. The performance of the proposed AVA is enhanced with the help of a dielectric lens (DL) and corrugations. A rectangular-shaped DL is incorporated in conventional AVA (CAVA) to enhance its gain up to 1 dBi and the bandwidth by 1.8 GHz. Next, the rectangular corrugations are implemented in CAVA with lens (CAVA-L) to further improve the gain and bandwidth. The proposed AVA with lens and corrugations (AVA-LC) gives a constant and high gain of 8.2 to 9 dBi. The designed AVA-LC operates from 34 to 45 GHz frequency which covers 38 GHz (37.5 to 43.5 GHz) band of 5G applications. Further, the presented AVA-LC mitigates the back lobe and sidelobe levels, resulting in FBR and efficiency improvement. The FBR is in the range of 12.2  to 22 dB, and efficiency is 99%, almost constant. The AVA-LC is fabricated on Roger’s RT/duroid 5880 substrate, and it is tested to verify the simulated results. The proposed compact AVA-LC with high gain, an improved FBR, excellent efficiency, and stable radiation patterns is suitable for the 38 GHz band of 5G devices.     

A new acceptance model for artificial intelligence with extensions to UTAUT2: An empirical study in three segments of application

More and more products in everyday life are using artificial intelligence (AI). The purpose of this research is to investigate influence factors in an acceptance model on behavioral intention and use behavior for products containing AI in an everyday life environment. Using PLS-Analysis, this study analyzes additional influence factors to the UTAUT2 model in the three application segments mobility, household, and health, using a sample of 21,841 respondents. Except for safety security, all additional factors to the UTAUT2 model play a relevant role in explaining behavioral intention and use behavior of products containing AI. This study answers the applicability of an established acceptance model for products that incorporate AI, extended by five additional influencing factors.     

H/D exchange and mass spectrometry-based method for biophysical analysis of multidomain proteins at the domain level

A protocol was developed to characterize the domain-specific thermodynamic stabilities of multidomain proteins using SUPREX (Stability of Unpurified Proteins from Rates of H/D Exchange). The protocol incorporates a protease digestion step into the conventional SUPREX protocol and enables folding free energy (DeltaGf) and cooperativity (m-value) measurements to be made on the individual domains of multidomain proteins in their native context (i.e., in the intact protein). Three multidomain protein systems (calmodulin, a Fyn construct, and transferrin) were used to validate the SUPREX-protease digestion protocol. The DeltaGf and m-value of each domain in the intact test proteins were measured in the absence and presence of ligands using the new protocol. Domain-specific thermodynamic parameters were obtained on each system; and the measured parameters were consistent with known biophysical properties of the test proteins. The known stabilization of the N-terminal domain of CaM in the context of the intact protein and the known binding affinity of a proline-rich peptide to the SH3 domain in the Fyn construct were successfully quantified using the new protocol. Qualitative information about the relative calcium binding affinities of the N- and C-terminal domains of CaM and about the relative iron binding affinities of the N- and C-terminal domains of transferrin was also obtained using the new protocol.     

Taking a look behind the wheel: An investigation into the personality predictors of aggressive driving

The present study evaluated a theoretical model of the relationships among six aspects of driver personality (i.e., driving anger and the Big Five personality factors), aggressive driving, and two outcomes of aggressive driving: motor vehicle crashes and moving violations. Data from 308 drivers recruited from two vehicle licensing offices were analyzed using structural equation modeling. As expected, aggressive driving predicted crashes and moving violations. Based on the zero-order correlations, emotional stability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were related to aggressive driving in the expected directions; however, the picture changed when the joint effects of all variables were examined via structural equation modeling. A model in which driver personality predicted aggressive driving, which in turn predicted crashes and moving violations was supported. Drivers who were high on driving anger and low on agreeableness reported driving more aggressively. Implications for traffic safety professionals and researchers are discussed.     

Which young people accept a lift from a drunk or drugged driver?

Introduction

Riding with a drunk and/or a drugged driver (RDD) is a risk behaviour that has received very little attention in spite of its potential dangers. Young people involved in the recreational nightlife context are especially at risk.

Method

1363 regular users of recreational nightlife from nine European countries (mean age: 21.75; 51.5% women) filled out a self-administered and anonymous questionnaire (in 2006).

Results

37.2% had practised RDD during the previous month. RDD is related to drunkenness and use of drugs, personality factors such as impulsivity, preferring to use a private car to get to nightlife venues, living in a southern European country and being unemployed. No significant influence was found for age, gender, educational level or socioeconomic status.

Discussion

It is important to raise awareness about the high prevalence of RDD. This lack of awareness can be related to its social acceptance among young people. The use of private cars for going to nightlife venues should be discouraged.