Exploring the effects of road type on drivers' eye behavior and workload.

The number of traffic accidents is increasing every year. This study researched the effect of road type on driver's workload and eye behavior. The results showed that the road type has an effect on workload, pupil diameter, fixation rate and number of fixations. The workload, pupil diameter, fixation rate and number of fixations have a positive correlation with the complexity of road conditions. The research on visual attention area found that the driver's attention area during driving includes the rear-view mirror, left mirror, right mirror and middle area of the interface. In addition, the search range in the horizontal direction is largest under the urban road condition. Drivers focus on the ahead situation in the expressway condition, and the driver focuses on the opposite and front road in the rural road condition. The research results can be used for drivers' training in the future.

Application of a Bayesian network to quantify human reliability in nuclear power plants based on the SPAR-H method.

Human error is an important factor leading to nuclear power plant (NPP) accidents. Human reliability analysis (HRA) is considered an effective method to reduce human error. Therefore, this article proposes a method to quantify human reliability based on the standardized plant analysis risk-human reliability analysis (SPAR-H) method. Firstly, the method used the performance shaping factors of SPAR-H to build a human reliability model. Secondly, the triangular fuzzy number was used to quantify the qualitative information of root nodes, and the fuzzy IF-THEN rule was used to determine the prior probability distribution of intermediate nodes. Finally, Bayesian reasoning was used to quantify human reliability based on the human reliability model. The result of the developed method is consistent with the result of cognitive reliability and error analysis methods (CREAM). The developed method can be used as a tool to quantify human reliability in the NPP system.

Driver's mental workload prediction model based on physiological indices.

Developing an early warning model to predict the driver's mental workload (MWL) is critical and helpful, especially for new or less experienced drivers. The present study aims to investigate the correlation between new drivers' MWL and their work performance, regarding the number of errors. Additionally, the group method of data handling is used to establish the driver's MWL predictive model based on subjective rating (NASA task load index [NASA-TLX]) and six physiological indices. The results indicate that the NASA-TLX and the number of errors are positively correlated, and the predictive model shows the validity of the proposed model with an R2 value of 0.745. The proposed model is expected to provide a reference value for the new drivers of their MWL by providing the physiological indices, and the driving lesson plans can be proposed to sustain an appropriate MWL as well as improve the driver's work performance.

Development of a One Step Reverse Transcription-Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification System for a Highly Sensitive Detection of Rabbit Hepatitis E Virus.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a major cause of acute viral hepatitis in areas with poor sanitation. Rabbit is one of important animal reservoirs of the virus. Reverse transcription-loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) system is a novel nucleic acid amplification assay, for which the specificity and sensitivity are much higher than that of conventional PCR. However, previously reported RT-LAMP system cannot detect rabbit HEV, which was identified recently and seems to be another potential source of human HEV infection. METHODS: In this study, genotype 4 HEV strains and rabbit HEV strains were used to verify the applicability of the previously reported HEV RT-LAMP. A new specific one step RT-LAMP system was developed and evaluated to amplify rabbit HEV RNA. In order to test the sensitivity of the newly-developed assay, serial dilutions (from 5 x 103 to 5 x 10-1/µL) of the rabbit HEV RNA were used as template to be detected by RT-LAMP, real-time RTPCR, and nested RT-PCR. Specificity of the new assay was further evaluated using HAV, HBV, and HCV. With this new assay, 46 rabbit fecal samples were retrospectively investigated with real-time RT-PCR and nested RTPCR in parallel. RESULTS: The detection limit of this newly-developed RT-LAMP assay reached as low as 10 copies/reaction and no cross-reactivity was observed with other hepatitis viruses including hepatitis A, B, and C virus, which indicated that this assay has much higher sensitivity and specificity than that of nested RT-PCR and real time RT-PCR. Furthermore, among 46 rabbit fecal samples, there were four positive samples determined by those three assays and one positive sample only detected by HEV RT-LAMP and real-time RT-PCR. CONCLUSIONS: Using a combination of sensitivity, specificity, and evaluation of clinical samples, this study provides the first data on the usefulness of RT-LAMP in the diagnosis of rabbit HEV RNA.

Methods Comparison and Bias Estimation of Three Distinct Biochemistry Analytical Systems in One Clinical Laboratory Using Patient Samples.

BACKGROUND: In China, one laboratory usually owns more than one diagnostic device or reagent kit measuring the same analyte and this situation causes great troubles for quality control and traceability. To determine if the different devices yield equivalent results, the correlation coefficients and predicted bias between three distinct bio-chemistry analyzers in our lab were evaluated. METHODS: 40 analytes were detected and used to evaluate method performance and comparability of results between different analyzers. The Vitros5600 and Hitachi7170 analyzers were separately compared with the Cobas 8000 analyzer according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guideline (EP9-A2). Within-day and between-day imprecision of the three analytical systems were calculated in accordance with CLSI guidelines EP15-A2. RESULTS: Comparing the Hitachi7170 with Cobas8000 analyzer, except for calcium, magnesium, chloride ion (CL-), and carbon dioxide, the other 36 analytes were closely correlated (R2 > 0.95), while 4 of the 36 analytes' predicted bias exceeded the acceptable criteria. As for the Vitros5600 and Cobas8000, except for albumin, sodium ion (NA+), magnesium, and chloride (CL), the other 13 analytes were closely correlated (R2 > 0.95), while 5 of the 13 analytes' predicted bias exceeded the acceptable criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Significant differences for several analytes between distinct analyzers were found; for some analytes the predicted bias between dry chemical analyzer and conventional wet chemical analyzer can reach 30%, which is worthy of our concern. When one analyte was detected on more than one device, a strict method comparison study should be performed regularly. Reference intervals should be validated and transferred from the Cobas 8000 to Vitros5600 when the bias cannot be adjusted.