Inattentive Driving Detection Using Body-Worn Sensors: Feasibility Study.

This study aims to build a system for detecting a driver's internal state using body-worn sensors. Our system is intended to detect inattentive driving that occurs during long-term driving on a monotonous road, such as a high-way road. The inattentive state of a driver in this study is an absent-minded state caused by a decrease in driver vigilance levels due to fatigue or drowsiness. However, it is difficult to clearly define these inattentive states because it is difficult for the driver to recognize when they fall into an absent-minded state. To address this problem and achieve our goal, we have proposed a detection algorithm for inattentive driving that not only uses a heart rate sensor, but also uses body-worn inertial sensors, which have the potential to detect driver behavior more accurately and at a much lower cost. The proposed method combines three detection models: body movement, drowsiness, and inattention detection, based on an anomaly detection algorithm. Furthermore, we have verified the accuracy of the algorithm with the experimental data for five participants that were measured in long-term and monotonous driving scenarios by using a driving simulator. The results indicate that our approach can detect both the inattentive and drowsiness states of drivers using signals from both the heart rate sensor and accelerometers placed on wrists.

Highly Efficient and Specific Gelation of Ionic Liquids by Polymeric Electrolytes to Form Ionogels with Substantially High Gel-Sol Transition Temperatures and Rheological Properties Like Self-Standing Ability and Rapid Recovery.

We synthesized gel-forming polyelectrolytes having N,N'-(trans-cyclohexane-1,4-diyl)dibenzamide linkages, with chloride, bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide, bis(fluorosulfonyl)amide, or tetrafluoroborate anions that could gelatinize a variety of ionic liquids at very low concentrations. The temperatures at which these ionogels transitioned into isotropic fluids were greater than 100 °C even at concentrations as low as 5 g/L. In addition, the ionogels exhibited high mechanical strength without a significant loss in their ionic conductivities, along with the rapid recovery.

Organogelation of diacetylene cholesteryl esters having two urethane linkages and their photopolymerization in the gel state.

Various diacetylene cholesteryl esters having two urethane linkages were synthesized to study the relationship between their gelation properties and chemical structures. Most of these compounds form organogels in cyclohexane, and some compounds gelatinized hexane, diethyl ether, N,N-dimethylformamide, and ethanol. The cholesteryl moieties play an important role in gel formation, but IR spectroscopic measurements show that the main driving force for gelation is hydrogen bonding of the urethane groups. Upon UV irradiation, most of the gels polymerized to give polydiacetylenes, with concomitant changes from colorless to a variety of hues, such as dark blue, orange, and pink. The polymerization proceeds efficiently in cases where the gels change color to dark blue. The polymerization reached 52% chemical yield, with the quantum yield estimated to be at least 54. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy confirmed that polymerization in the gel state proceeds via 1,4-addition.