Assessing the driving performance of older adult drivers: on-road versus simulated driving

To validate a laboratory-based driving simulator in measuring on-road driving performance, 129 older adult drivers were assessed with both the simulator and an on-road test. The driving performance of the participants was gauged by appropriate and reliable age-specific assessment criteria, which were found to be negatively correlated with age. Using principal component analysis, two performance indices were developed from the criteria to represent the overall performance in simulated driving and the on-road assessment. There was significant positive association between the two indices, with the simulated driving performance index explaining over two-thirds of the variability of the on-road driving performance index, after adjustment for age and gender of the drivers. The results supported the validity of the driving simulator and it is a safer and more economical method than the on-road testing to assess the driving performance of older adult drivers.     

Performance evaluation of a downwind diffuser on vertical axis wind turbine

Research has proven that the performance of a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWTs) can be increased significantly by the application of a diffuser. It serves as a power augmented feature to draw higher wind flow toward the HAWT. However, research on integrating a diffuser onto vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) is scant, where most of the available power augmentation devices used for VAWTs are the convergent duct, deflector plate, shroud, and guide vanes which are placed in a proper configuration at the upwind. In this paper, laboratory tests and computational simulations have been carried out to study the impacts of a downwind diffuser on the performance of a VAWT. The diffuser is designed with the absence of a concentrator or flange and is placed downwind of the VAWT. Parametric computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies were carried out for the downwind diffuser length and semi-opening angle. A five-bladed H-rotor was selected as the testing wind turbine, whereas the diffuser used was made up of flat plates. Both simulations and experiment results are consistent. From the experiments, it was found that a downwind diffuser increases the VAWT performance remarkably. The diffuser-augmented VAWT produced an increment in the maximum coefficient of power of 31.42% at the TSR 0.65 to 0.75. Moreover, the diffuser induced a better self-start ability on the VAWT. The simulation showed that the flow field at the diffuser promotes a flow expansion which created a lower-pressure region at downstream that accelerates the wind toward the VAWT, hence increasing the turbine performance significantly.     

Antimony Induced {112}A Faceted Triangular GaAs1−xSbx/InP Core/Shell Nanowires and Their Enhanced Optical Quality

Mid‐infrared GaAs_1?xSb_x/InP core/shell nanowires are grown coherently with perfectly twin‐free zinc blende crystal structure. An unusual triangular InP shell with predominantly {112}A facets instead of {112}B facets is reported. It is found that this polarity preference is due to the surfactant role of Sb, which inhibits InP shell growth rate in the 〈112〉A directions. This behavior reveals a new degree of control and tunability allowed in manipulating nanowire facet geometry and polarity in radial heterostructures by a simple means. Tuning the Sb composition in the core yields controllable intense photoluminescence emission in both the 1.3 and 1.5 μm optical telecommunication windows, up to room temperature for single nanowires. The internal quantum efficiency of the core/shell nanowires is experimentally determined to be as high as 56% at room temperature. Transient Rayleigh scattering analysis brings complementary information, revealing the photoexcited carrier lifetime in the core/shell nanowire to be ≈100 ps at 300 K and ≈800 ps at 10 K. In comparison, the carrier lifetime of core‐only nanowire is below the detection limit of the system (25 ps). The demonstrated superior optical quality of the core/shell nanowires and their ideal emission wavelength range makes them highly relevant candidates for near‐infrared optoelectronic applications.     

Biochemical basis of insect resistance in inged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) seeds

Mature seeds of the inged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) are toxic to developing larvae of a range of cosmopolitan storage Bruchidae of economic importance, including the copea seed eevil, Callosobruchus maculatus. Insect feeding trials ere carried out in hich protein fractions from seeds of inged bean ere incorporated at a range of concentrations into artificial seeds, and their effects upon development of C maculatus determined. Both albumin and globulin fractions ere toxic to the developing larvae and their toxicity correlated ith their haemagglutinating activity. Assay of Psophocarpin A, B and C fractions demonstrated Psophocarpin B to be the most insecticidal and to contain the highest haemagglutinating activity. Purified basic seed lectin as highly insecticidal to C maculatus larvae, ith an LC₅₀ value of c. 3·5 g kg^?1. The physiological level of this protein in inged bean seeds is sufficient to account for their resistance to attack by C maculatus. inged bean trypsin inhibitor as also purified and tested in artificial seeds against C maculatus. Hoever, even at concentrations in excess of tice the physiological concentration it had no deleterious effects upon development.     

Older drivers: On-road and off-road test results

Eighty-five volunteer drivers, 65–85 years old, without cognitive impairments impacting on their driving were examined, in order to investigate driving errors characteristic for older drivers. In addition, any relationships between cognitive off-road and on-road tests results, the latter being the gold standard, were identified. Performance measurements included Trail Making Test (TMT), Nordic Stroke Driver Screening Assessment (NorSDSA), Useful Field of View (UFOV), self-rating driving performance and the two on-road protocols P-Drive and ROA. Some of the older drivers displayed questionable driving behaviour. In total, 21% of the participants failed the on-road assessment. Some of the specific errors were more serious than others. The most common driving errors embraced speed; exceeding the speed limit or not controlling the speed. Correlations with the P-Drive protocol were established for NorSDSA total score (weak), UFOV subtest 2 (weak), and UFOV subtest 3 (moderate). Correlations with the ROA protocol were established for UFOV subtest 2 (weak) and UFOV subtest 3 (weak). P-Drive and self ratings correlated weakly, whereas no correlation between self ratings and the ROA protocol was found. The results suggest that specific problems or errors seen in an older person's driving can actually be “normal driving behaviours”.     

Self-healing of fractured GaAs nanowires

In-situ deformation experiments were carried out in a transmission electron microscope to investigate the structural response of single crystal GaAs nanowires (NWs) under compression. A repeatable self-healing process was discovered in which a partially fractured GaAs NW restored its original single crystal structure immediately after an external compressive force was removed. Possible mechanisms of the self-healing process are discussed.     

Growth of straight InAs-on-GaAs nanowire heterostructures

One of the main motivations for the great interest in semiconductor nanowires is the possibility of easily growing advanced heterostructures that might be difficult or even impossible to achieve in thin films. For III-V semiconductor nanowires, axial heterostructures with an interchange of the group III element typically grow straight in only one interface direction. In the case of InAs-GaAs heterostructures, straight nanowire growth has been demonstrated for growth of GaAs on top of InAs, but so far never in the other direction. In this article, we demonstrate the growth of straight axial heterostructures of InAs on top of GaAs. The heterostructure interface is sharp and we observe a dependence on growth parameters closely related to crystal structure as well as a diameter dependence on straight nanowire growth. The results are discussed by means of accurate first principles calculations of the interfacial energies. In addition, the role of the gold seed particle, the effect of its composition at different stages during growth, and its size are discussed in relation to the results observed.     

Efficient phosphorescent green and red organic light-emitting diodes based on the novel carbazole-type host material

We developed a novel carbazole-type material, 9-phenyl-3,6-bis(4-(1-phenyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)phenyl)-9H-carbazole (LPGH 153), and fabricated the green and red phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) using LPGH 153 as host. The red and green devices have the max. luminous efficiencies of 22.2 cd/A and 32.2 cd/A, respectively.     

Ion-implanted GaAs for subpicosecond optoelectronic applications

Ion implantation is shown to be able to shorten the carrier lifetime in semi-insulating GaAs independent of the ion species. Although ion implantation alone may shorten the lifetime to the order of femtoseconds, to obtain good resistivity and mobility an annealing process is required. Furthermore, chemically active ions may complicate the recovery of resistivity, such as Si which may be activated as dopants during annealing or O which creates additional deep levels. Optimum annealing temperature was determined to be around 600°C with carrier lifetime still in the picosecond range but with mobility ~2000 cm²V.s. The shortening of the carrier lifetimes and electrical properties of these materials are correlated to the structural properties