No abstract

Triphenyltin compounds are used globally in agriculture as fungicides for a wide variety of crops. Their persistence in aquatic habitats and toxicity make them of special concern to amphibian species using temporary ponds or lakes for critical life-history functions. The effects of short-term exposure to three concentrations (5, 10, 20 pg/L) of triphenyltin chloride (TPT) were assessed for the swimming and feeding behavior of tadpoles of the European frog, Rana esculenta. The proportion of time spent swimming declined 33.8% with increasing TPT level. Treatments also had a significant effect on the proportion of time spent feeding, initially increasing in the acetone and lowest TPT treatments, but thereafter declining 19.6% with increasing TPT level. Tadpoles also compensated for reduced swimming by spending an increased proportion of activity time on feeding, but even this compensation declined at the highest TPT levels. Reduced swimming activity and food intake are likely to result in decreased growth and development as well as negatively influence adult traits such as size at maturity, survival to first reproduction, and fecundity.' . -

No abstract

Level 2 driving automation has the potential to reduce crashes; however, there are known risks when using these systems, particularly as they relate to drivers becoming disengaged from driving. This paper provides data-driven recommendations for Level 2 driving automation design using the best currently available methods to encourage driver engagement and communicate where and how a system can safely be used. Our recommendations pertaining to driver engagement concern driver management systems that monitor the driver for signs of disengagement and return the driver to the loop using a multimodal escalation process with attention reminders, countermeasures for sustained noncompliance to the attention reminders, and proactive methods for keeping drivers engaged with respect to driver-system interactions and system functionality considerations. We also provide guidance on how the operational design domain (ODD), driver responsibilities, and system limitations should be communicated and how these systems must be self-limited within the ODD. In addition, we discuss the benefits and limitations of training to emphasize the importance of making these systems intuitive to all users, regardless of training, to ensure proper use. These recommendations should be applied as a whole, because selectively adhering to only some may inadvertently exacerbate the dangers of driver disengagement.

Humans are able to judge whether a target is accelerating in many viewing contexts, but it is an open question how the motion pattern per se affects visual acceleration perception. We measured acceleration and deceleration detection using patterns of random dots with horizontal (simpler) or radial motion (more visually complex). The results suggest that we detect acceleration better when viewing radial optic flow than horizontal translation. However, the direction within each type of pattern has no effect on performance and observers detect acceleration and deceleration similarly within each condition. We conclude that sensitivity to the presence of acceleration is generally higher for more complex patterns, regardless of the direction within each type of pattern or the sign of acceleration.