Great expectations: a predictive processing account of automobile driving

Predictive processing has been proposed as a unifying framework for understanding brain function, suggesting that cognition and behaviour can be fundamentally understood based on the single principle of prediction error minimisation. According to predictive processing, the brain is a statistical organ that continuously attempts get a grip on states in the world by predicting how these states cause sensory input and minimising the deviations between the predicted and actual input. While these ideas have had a strong influence in neuroscience and cognitive science, they have so far not been adopted in applied human factors research. The present paper represents a first attempt to do so, exploring how predictive processing concepts can be used to understand automobile driving. It is shown how a framework based on predictive processing may provide a novel perspective on a range of driving phenomena and offer a unifying framework for traditionally disparate human factors models.     

Raw and processed fish show identical Listeria monocytogenes genotypes with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis

A total of 257 raw fish samples at two different sites were examined for the presence of Listeria monocytogenes. The prevalence of L. monocytogenes was 4%. From 11 positive samples, nine different L. monocytogenes pulsed-field gel electrophoresis genotypes were recovered. From nine pulsotypes recovered from raw fish and 32 pulsotypes shown by 101 fish product isolates, two raw fish and fish product pulsotypes were indistinguishable from each other. Although the prevalence of L. monocytogenes in raw fish is low, the range of L. monocytogenes strains entering the processing plant in large amounts of raw material is wide. This indicates that the raw material is an important initial contamination source of L. monocytogenes in fish processing plants. This postulation is supported by the identical pulsotypes recovered from both raw and processed fish. Some L. monocytogenes strains entering a plant may thus contaminate and persist in the processing environment, causing recurrent contamination of the final products via processing machines.     

Rotating nuclear demagnetization refrigerator for experiments on superfluid he3

A nuclear demagnetization cryostat, capable of producing submillikelvin temperatures during rotational motion, was constructed. The apparatus has been used for NMR experiments on superfluid He³ at angular velocities up to 1.5 rad s^?1. The essential technical details and the operation of the cryostat are described.     

Prevalence and genetic diversity of Listeria monocytogenes in the tonsils of pigs

This study was set up to establish the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in the tonsils of sows and fattening pigs from five Finnish slaughterhouses and to evaluate the genetic similarity of L. monocytogenes strains isolated from the tonsils. A total of 271 pig tonsils (132 tonsils from fattening pigs and 139 from sows) from five different slaughterhouses in various parts of Finland were studied from June 1999 to March 2000. Overall, 14 and 4% of pig tonsils harbored L. monocytogenes and Listeria innocua, respectively. The prevalence of L. monocytogenes in tonsils of fattening pigs (22%) was significantly higher than in sows (6%). The isolates (n = 38) recovered from tonsils showed a wide genetic diversity by means of 24 different pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) types presented by the strains. Moreover, in numerical analyses of restriction patterns, no association was found between the clustering of strains and the slaughterhouses, and strains showing a similar PFGE type were recovered from pigs of different slaughterhouses. The high prevalence of L. monocytogenes showing various PFGE types in the tonsils of pigs could indicate a potential source of contamination of pluck sets, carcasses, and the slaughterhouse environment and of subsequent processing steps.     

Ultraviolet B irradiation modulates the immune system of fish (Rutilus rutilus, Cyprinidae). I. Phagocytes

When western blotting analysis of Japanese eel neutrophil lysate was performed using antibody against the synthetic peptide corresponding to the carboxyl terminal region of human cytochrome b558 large subunit, a broad band was specifically detected at approximately 90 kDa. The antibody recognized the epitope present in eel neutrophils only after the cells were permeabilized with detergent. These results indicate that the large subunit of cytochrome b exists in fish neutrophils and the epitope is exposed to the cytoplasmic side of membrane, and suggest that cytochrome b is conserved across species.     

On the road – listening to data subjects’ personal mobility data privacy concerns

Efficient utilisation of new mobility data-based services and promotion of acceptance of data collection from vehicles and people demand an understanding of mobility data privacy concerns, associated with increasing use of tracking technologies, diverse data usages and complex data collection environments. Understanding privacy concerns enables improved service and system development and identification of appropriate data management solutions that contribute to data subjects’ privacy protection, as well as efficient utilisation of the collected data. This study aimed to explore earlier research findings on privacy concerns evaluation and investigate their validity in mobility data collection. Explorative multimethod research was conducted in a mobility service pilot through data controller interviews, user interviews and a user survey. The study's results indicated the need to revise and complement existing privacy concerns evaluation in mobility data collection contexts. The primary findings were as follows: (1) Privacy concerns specific to the mobility data collection context exist. (2) Privacy concerns may change during the service use. (3) Users are not necessarily personally worried about their privacy although they ponder on privacy issues. (4) In contrast to traditional ‘privacy calculus’ thinking, users’ expected benefits from data disclosure may also be driven by altruistic motives.     

Monocyte adhesion and adhesion molecule expression on human endothelial cells on plasma-treated PET and PTFE in vitro

The aim of this study was to evaluate in vitro the inflammatory potential of endothelialized surfaces of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) after ammonia gas plasma modification. HUVECs grown on polystyrene and HUVECs stimulated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) were used as controls. At day 1 and day 7, surfaces were evaluated for U937 cells and HUVECs using flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. Plasma-treated PET (T-PET) and treated PTFE (T-PTFE) increased U937 cell adhesion compared to the negative control but this was not statistically significant. Maximal adhesion of U937 cells to HUVEC was observed on TNF-alpha stimulated endothelium with significant differences between day 1 and day 7. There was a small increase in U937 cell adhesion to plasma-treated PET compared to PTFE on both day 1 and day 7, but this was not statistically significant. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated two patterns of distribution for monocyte adhesion on materials. On T-PET the cells were positioned in clusters attached to HUVECs and on T-PTFE the cells were randomly distributed on HUVECs and material. The effects of plasma-treated PET and PTFE on HUVEC adhesion and proliferation were also studied. On day 1 there were slight increases in the growth of HUVECs on both of T-PET and T-PTFE but this was not statistically significant. On day 7, cell number increased significantly on all of surfaces compared to the negative control. The results demonstrate that the plasma treatment of PET and PTFE with ammonia improves the adhesion and growth of endothelial cells and these surfaces do not exhibit a direct inflammatory effect in terms of monocyte adhesion. Plasma-treated PTFE enhances HUVECs growth and was less adhesive for monocytes as compared with treated PET. The monocyte adhesion to endothelial cells on surfaces can be used as a tool for the evaluation of material surface modification and further to study the mechanisms of cell to cell interactions in response to surfaces.     

Ad Hoc LTE Method for Resilient Smart Grid Communications

Wireless Personal Communications - LTE network is a good choice for delivering smart grid demand response (DR) traffic. However, LTE connectivity is not pervasively available due to smart meter...