Drivers’ and cyclists’ safety perceptions in overtaking maneuvers

Drivers overtaking cyclists on rural roads are a safety concern, as drivers need to handle the interaction with the cyclist and possibly an oncoming vehicle. Improving the maneuver’s outcome requires an understanding of not only the objective, measurable safety metrics, but also the subjective, perceived safety of each road user. Previous research has shown that the perceived safety of the cyclist is most at risk at the passing moment, when driver and cyclist are closest to each other. However, to develop safety measures, it is necessary to know how both road users perceive safety, by understanding the factors that influence their perceptions during the overtaking maneuver. This study measured the perceived safety of drivers in a test-track experiment in Sweden and the perceived safety of cyclists in a field test in Spain. For both drivers and cyclists, we developed Bayesian ordinal logistic regression models of perceived safety scores that take as input objective safety metrics representing the different crash risks at the passing moment. Our results show that while drivers’ perceived safety decreases when there is an oncoming vehicle with a low time-to-collision, cyclists’ perceived safety is reduced by a small lateral clearance and a high overtaking speed. Although our datasets are heterogeneous and limited, our results are in line with previous research. In addition, the Bayesian models presented in this paper are novel and may be improved in future studies once more naturalistic data become available. We discuss how our models may support infrastructure development and regulation, policymaking, driver coaching, the development of active safety systems, and automated driving by providing a possible method for predicting perceived safety.     

Why would people want to travel more with automated cars?

The use of automated vehicles (AVs) may enable drivers to focus on non-driving related activities while travelling and reduce the unwanted efforts of the driving task. This is expected to make using a car more attractive, or at least less unpleasant compared to manually driven vehicles. Consequently, the number and length of car trips may increase. The aim of this study was to identify the main contributors to travelling more by AV.We analysed the L3Pilot project’s pilot site questionnaire data from 359 respondents who had ridden in a conditionally automated car (SAE level 3) either as a driver or as a passenger. The questionnaire queried the respondents’ user experience with the automated driving function, current barriers of travelling by car, previous experience with advanced driving assistance systems, and general priorities in travelling. The answers to these questions were used to predict willingness to travel more or longer trips by AV, and to use AVs on currently undertaken trips. The most predictive subset of variables was identified using Bayesian cumulative ordinal regression with a shrinkage prior (regularised horseshoe).The current study found that conditionally automated cars have a substantial potential to increase travelling by car once they become available. Willingness to perform leisure activities during automated driving, experienced usefulness of the system, and unmet travel needs, which AVs could address by making travelling easier, were the main contributors to expecting to travel more by AV. For using AVs on current trips, leisure activities, trust in AVs, satisfaction with the system, and traffic jams as barriers to current car use were important contributors. In other words, perceived usefulness motivated travelling more by AV and using AVs on current trips, but also other factors were important for using them on current trips. This suggests that one way to limit the growth of traffic with private AVs could be to address currently unmet travel needs with alternative, more sustainable travel modes.     

青少年抑郁与自伤关系的追踪研究：亲子沟通的调节作用

为考察青少年抑郁与自伤的双向关系及亲子沟通的调节效应,采用青少年自我伤害问卷、流动中心用抑郁量表和亲子沟通量表对595名初一学生进行为期10个月的追踪研究。结果发现,从初一到初二,抑郁呈增长趋势,且性别差异显著,而自伤的增长趋势不明显,但到初二后表现出了明显的性别差异;抑郁和自伤的同时性相关和继时性相关均显著;前测抑郁对后测自伤有明显的预测作用,但前测自伤对后测抑郁的预测作用不明显;父子沟通和母子沟通在前测抑郁与后测自伤水平之间有显著的负向调节作用。     

An Empirical Investigation of Partial Effect Sizes in Meta-Analysis of Correlational Data

ABSTRACT. The partial correlation and the semi-partial correlation can be seen as measures of partial effect sizes for the correlational family. Thus, both indices have been used in the meta-analysis literature to represent the relationship between an outcome and a predictor of interest, controlling for the effect of other variables in the model. This article evaluates the accuracy of synthesizing these two indices under different situations. Both partial correlation and the semi-partial correlation appear to behave as expected with respect to bias and root mean squared error (RMSE). However, the partial correlation seems to outperform the semi-partial correlation regarding Type I error of the homogeneity test (Q statistic). Although further investigation is needed to fully understand the impact of meta-analyzing partial effect sizes, the current study demonstrates the accuracy of both indices.     

Measurement invariance tests of the Impression Management sub-scale of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding

The Impression Management (IM) subscale of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (Paulhus, 1988) has been used as a proxy for common method variance in anonymous settings and as a cause of faking on personality testing in confidential settings. This study uses confirmatory factor analysis to conduct measurement invariance/equivalence tests (also known as multiple group analysis) on the IM subscale in a quasi-experiment in anonymous and confidential data collection settings. Using Brown’s (2006) bottom-up approach to Cheung and Rensvold’s (1999) model testing steps and Cheung and Rensvold’s (2002) statistical tests, the IM sub-scale was determined to have equal form, equal factor loadings, equal indicator error variances, equal factor variance, and an equal factor covariance in both 1-factor and 2-factor models in both data collection settings. Mean scale scores were significantly higher in the confidential group than in the anonymous group. These results suggest that using the IM sub-scale as a cause of faking and as a proxy for common method variance (CMV) is likely to be acceptable because the psychometric properties of the instrument are invariant across testing conditions.     

Estimating Causal Impacts of School Counselors With Regression Discontinuity Designs

This article presents a causal regression discontinuity framework for quantifying the impact of high school counselors on students’ education outcomes. To demonstrate this method, the authors used data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). Using high school counselor staffing counts and 4‐year college‐going rates collected through the SASS, the authors found that an additional high school counselor is predicted to induce a 10 percentage point increase in 4‐year college enrollment.     

儿童的同伴交往与孤独感:一项2年纵向研究

用提名法和问卷法对小学的3、4年级274名儿童进行两年追踪调查,采用交叉滞后设计,考察了同伴交往4个特征水平上的变量与孤独感的相互预测关系。结果发现：（1）自我报告的同伴交往变量——友谊质量和社交自我知觉与孤独感之间的交叉滞后效应显著;而同伴评定的同伴交往变量——积极提名、消极提名、受同伴欺负、消极退缩与孤独感之间的交叉滞后效应不显著;另外,前测的互选朋友数能显著负向预测后测的孤独感,前测的孤独感不能显著预测后测的互选朋友数。（2）在排除了早期其它变量的效应之后,积极提名分、消极提名分、受同伴欺负得分、消极退缩得分、互选朋友数在两年之间仍然呈现出高度的稳定性;友谊质量和社交自我知觉以及孤独感则表现出中等程度的稳定性     

Adaptation to increased work autonomy: The role of task reflection

Psychological contracts are a powerful concept in research on organizational behaviour. Substantial negative reactions towards perceived breaches to the psychological contract have been reported in many studies. There are sound theoretical arguments for the existence of a point in the continuous perception of contract breach, where sudden changes in attitudes occur in the relationship between breach and outcomes (i.e., thresholds). Using questionnaire data from 592 employees working in more than 30 different organizations across Germany, segmented regression models were tested against curvilinear effects for the relationship between breach of the psychological contract and job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, intention to quit, violation, and trust. This study provides empirical evidence for threshold models of psychological contract breach. The results imply that prior studies have underestimated the impact of psychological contract breach.     

Peter and the renegade ‘It was Georgie I loved best’

This article contains reflections on my last conversation with Peter Lomas. As a consequence of this interchange, I consider Peter's inheritance of Sandor Ferenczi's therapeutic legacy. Some critics of the work of both practitioners insinuated that their ideas and practice amounted to a form of ‘wild analysis’: I examine this mistaken attribution and argue that the creativity inherent in their therapeutic ideas and practice was wrongly perceived as ‘wild analysis’. I consider Peter's misgivings in relation to Winnicott's ideas about regression in therapy, predicated on idealisation of the mother–baby relationship and entailing undue idealisation of the therapist–patient relationship without due attention being paid to the role of the father. I muse upon Peter's love of football, seeing it as a metaphor for the practice of psychotherapy.