Ontario Ministry of Transportation

About: Ontario Ministry of Transportation is a government organization based out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Poison control & Asphalt. The organization has 4652 authors who have published 3882 publications receiving 59011 citations.

Update on the Risk of Motor Vehicle Collision or Driving Impairment with Dementia: A Collaborative International Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract: Guidelines that physicians use to assess fitness to drive for dementia are limited in their currency, applicability, and rigor of development Therefore, we performed a systematic review to determine the risk of motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) or driving impairment caused by dementia, in order to update international guidelines on driving with dementia Seven literature databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, etc) were searched for all research studies published after 2004 containing participants with mild, moderate, or severe dementia From the retrieved 12,860 search results, we included nine studies in this analysis, involving 378 participants with dementia and 416 healthy controls Two studies reported on self-/informant-reported MVC risk, one revealing a four-fold increase in MVCs per 1,000 miles driven per week in 3 years prior, and the other showing no statistically significant increase over the same time span We found medium to large effects of dementia on driving abilities in six of the seven recent studies that examined driving impairment We also found that persons with dementia were much more likely to fail a road test than healthy controls (RR: 1077, 95% CI: 300–3862, z = 365, p 2 = 150, p = 068, I 2 = 0%) in a pooled analysis of four studies Although the limited data regarding MVCs are equivocal, even mild stages of dementia place patients at a substantially higher risk of failing a performance-based road test and of demonstrating impaired driving abilities on the road

Design method for piezoelectric cantilever beam structure under low frequency condition

Abstract: In this study, to obtain the optimum design of piezoelectric cantilever beam under a low frequency condition, piezoelectric cantilever beams are designed based on finite element method with the validation of laboratory experiments. The finite element analysis software ANSYS is used to calculated the relationship between the dimension and the natural frequencies of the piezoelectric cantilever beam. Two piezoelectric cantilever beams are designed using both theoretical analysis and simulation results. Results show that the natural frequencies of the two kinds of piezoelectric cantilever beam are 9.77 Hz and 10.02 Hz, respectively. Laboratory experiments of the two piezoelectric cantilever beam show that the natural frequencies are 8.79 Hz and 8.83 Hz, respectively, with the peak voltage of 42.6 V and 57.0 V, and the average power of 1.04 mW and 1.97 mW. The good agreement on natural frequencies between numerical analysis and laboratory experiments demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed design method.

Human cytomegalovirus IE1 downregulates Hes1 in neural progenitor cells as a potential E3 ubiquitin ligase.

Abstract: Congenital human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is the leading cause of neurological disabilities in children worldwide, but the mechanisms underlying these disorders are far from well-defined. HCMV infection has been shown to dysregulate the Notch signaling pathway in human neural progenitor cells (NPCs). As an important downstream effector of Notch signaling, the transcriptional regulator Hairy and Enhancer of Split 1 (Hes1) is essential for governing NPC fate and fetal brain development. In the present study, we report that HCMV infection downregulates Hes1 protein levels in infected NPCs. The HCMV 72-kDa immediate-early 1 protein (IE1) is involved in Hes1 degradation by assembling a ubiquitination complex and promoting Hes1 ubiquitination as a potential E3 ubiquitin ligase, followed by proteasomal degradation of Hes1. Sp100A, an important component of PML nuclear bodies, is identified to be another target of IE1-mediated ubiquitination. A C-terminal acidic region in IE1, spanning amino acids 451 to 475, is required for IE1/Hes1 physical interaction and IE1-mediated Hes1 ubiquitination, but is dispensable for IE1/Sp100A interaction and ubiquitination. Our study suggests a novel mechanism linking downregulation of Hes1 protein to neurodevelopmental disorders caused by HCMV infection. Our findings also complement the current knowledge of herpesviruses by identifying IE1 as the first potential HCMV-encoded E3 ubiquitin ligase.

Research of Asphalt Pavement Structures on Lithuanian Roads (I)

Abstract: The rapid growth of heavy traffic, the increase in the standard axle load make scientists to look forward for new durable road constructing materials and their mixes. The continuously increasing need for strengthening the road pavement structures induces to use new road reconstruction technologies, to search for new methods in constructing pavement structural layers and investigate pavement structures under real conditions. The article presents construction of experimental pavement structures for the first time in the road history of Lithuania. The article also describes the installation process of stress and strain transducers in different layers of experimental pavement structures and initial results of stress and strain measurements. These measurements will be carried out each time after passed 20 000 ESAL’s calculated to 100 kN.

A SVM based routing scheme in VANETs

Abstract: In recent years, VANET as the key communication networking technology has been attracted by academia and industries with remarkable development. However, there is still many shortcomings especially in communication efficiency where routing algorithm is one of them. In the design phase of routing algorithms, only very few features of vehicle nodes are considered manually to improve the classic algorithms e.g. GPSR. This paper studies the features of vehicle nodes and drivers. In addition, we introduce machine learning algorithm in particular Support Vector Machine (SVM) to process the vehicle data and generate routing metric to enhance the effect of these features. This paper studies the methods of analyzing and processing probe car data and also discusses the possibility of applying machine learning algorithms in the generation of VANET routing algorithm. The simulation results show better reliability and communication efficiency is achieved.