Researchers have postulated that the implementation of driving automation systems could reduce the prevalence of driver errors, or at least mitigate the severity of their consequences. While driving automation systems are becoming increasingly common on new vehicles, drivers seem to know very little about them. The following dissertation describes an investigation of driver behavior and behavioral adaptation while using driving automation systems in order to improve consumer education and training. This dissertation uses data collected from test track environments and two naturalistic driving studies, the Virginia Connected Corridor 50 (VCC50) Vehicle Naturalistic Driving Study and the NHTSA Level 2 Naturalistic Driving Study (L2 NDS), to investigate driver behavior with driving automation systems and make suggestions for modifications to current consumer education practices. Results from the test track study indicated that while training strategy elicited limited differences in knowledge and no difference in driver behaviors or attitudes, operator behaviors and attitudes were heavily influenced by time and experience with the driving automation. The naturalistic assessment of VCC50 data showed that drivers tended to activate systems more frequently in appropriate roadway environments. However, drivers spent more time looking away from the road while driving automation systems were active and drivers were more likely be observed browsing on their cell phones while using driving automation systems. The analysis of L2 NDS showed that drivers' time gap preferences changes as drivers gain experience using the driving automation systems. Additionally, driver eye glance behavior was significantly different with automation use and indicated the potential for an adaptive trend with increased exposure to the system for both glances away from the roadway and glances to the instrument panel. The penultimate chapter of this work presents training guidelines and recommendations for consumer education with driving automation systems based on this and other research that has been conducted on driver interaction with driving automation systems. The results of this research indicate that driver training should be a key focus in future efforts to ensure the continued safe use of driving automation systems as they continue to emerge in the vehicle fleet. / Doctor of Philosophy / While driving automation systems are becoming increasingly common on new vehicles, drivers seem to know very little about them. Previous studies have found that owners of vehicles equipped with advanced technologies have demonstrated misperceptions or lack of awareness about system limitations, which may impact driver comfort with and reliance on these systems. Partial driving automation systems are designed to assist drivers in some vehicle operation demands, they are not, however, designed to completely remove the driver from the driving task. The following dissertation describes an investigation of driver behavioral adaptation while using driving automation systems with the goal of improving consumer education and training.

Obesity is one of the major health concerns nowadays according to the World Health Organisation (WHO global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2010). Thus, there is an urgent need for understanding obesity-associated alterations in food-related and general cognition and their underlying structural and functional correlates within the central nervous system (CNS). Neuroscientific research of the past decade has mainly focussed on obesity-related differences within homeostatic and hedonic processing of food stimuli. Therein, alterations during anticipation and consumption of food-reward stimuli in obese compared with lean subjects have been highlighted. This points at an altered adaptation of eating behavior in obese individuals. This thesis investigates if adaptation of behavior is attenuated in obese compared to lean individuals in learning-related processes beyond the food domain. In five consecutive experimental studies, we show that obese participants reveal reduced adaptation of behavior within and outside the food context. With the help of MRI, we relate these behavioral findings to alterations in structure and function of the fronto-striatal dopaminergic system in obesity. In more detail, reduced behavioral adaptation seems to be associated with attenuated utilization of negative prediction errors in obese individuals. Within the brain, this relates to reduced functional coupling between subcortical dopaminergic target regions (ventral striatum) and executive cortical structures (supplementary motor area) in obesity, as revealed by fMRI analysis.

Les primates doivent pouvoir reconnaître de nouvelles situations pour pouvoir s'y adapter. La représentation de ces situations dans l'activité du cortex est le sujet de cette thèse. Les situations complexes s'expliquent souvent par l'interaction entre des informations sensorielles, internes et motrices. Des activités unitaires dénommées sélectivité mixte, qui sont très présentes dans le cortex préfrontal (CPF), sont un mécanisme possible pour représenter n'importe quelle interaction entre des informations. En parallèle, le Reservoir Computing a démontré que des réseaux récurrents ont la propriété de recombiner des entrées actuelles et passées dans un espace de plus haute dimension, fournissant ainsi un pré-codage potentiellement universel de combinaisons pouvant être ensuite sélectionnées et utilisées en fonction de leur pertinence pour la tâche courante. En combinant ces deux approches, nous soutenons que la nature fortement récurrente de la connectivité locale du CPF est à l'origine d'une forme dynamique de sélectivité mixte. De plus, nous tentons de démontrer qu'une simple régression linéaire, implémentable par un neurone seul, peut extraire n'importe qu'elle information/contingence encodée dans ces combinaisons complexes et dynamiques. Finalement, les entrées précédentes, qu'elles soient sensorielles ou motrices, à ces réseaux du CPF doivent être maintenues pour pouvoir influencer les traitements courants. Nous soutenons que les représentations de ces contextes définis par ces entrées précédentes doivent être exprimées explicitement et retournées aux réseaux locaux du CPF pour influencer les combinaisons courantes à l'origine de la représentation des contingences / In order to adapt to new situations, primates must be able to recognize these situations. How the cortex represents contingencies in its activity is the main subject of this thesis. First, complex new situations are often explained by the interaction between sensory, internal and motor information. Recent studies have shown that single-neuron activities referred to as mixed selectivity which are ubiquitous in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are a possible mechanism to represent arbitrary interaction between information defining a contingency. In parallel, a recent area of reasearch referred to as Reservoir Computing has demonstrated that recurrent neural networks have the property of recombining present and past inputs into a higher dimensional space thereby providing a pre-coding of an essentially universal set of combinations which can then be selected and used arbitrarily for their relevance to the task at hand. Combining these two approaches we argue that the highly recurrent nature of local prefrontal connectivity is at the origin of dynamic form of mixed selectivity. Also, we attempt to demonstrate that a simple linear regression, implementable by a single neuron, can extract any information/ contingency encoded in these highly complex and dynamic combinations. In addition, previous inputs, whether sensory or motor, to these PFC networks must be maintained in order to influence current processing and behavioral demand. We argue that representations of contexts defined by these past inputs must be expressed explicitely and fed back to the local PFC networks in order to influence the current combinations at the origin of contingencies representation

Neste trabalho é apresentado um estudo da evolução da acidentalidade viária em cinco municípios do Estado de São Paulo: Araraquara, Franca, Matão, Ribeirão Preto e São Carlos. O estudo tem como objetivo verificar se os fatores que influenciaram na alteração da tendência dos índices de acidentalidade estão relacionados a ações de Engenharia, Educação e Esforço Legal, e se a acidentalidade é proveniente de adaptações comportamentais dos usuários do sistema viário de cada município. Para que isso fosse possível, foi utilizada uma metodologia composta pelas seguintes etapas: (1) realização de entrevistas de grupo investigativas com as autoridades de cada município analisado, (2) elaboração e aplicação de um questionário junto aos usuários do sistema viário e (3) análise dos resultados obtidos para devidas considerações. Na primeira etapa foram realizadas entrevistas seguindo as técnicas de Grupos Focais com as autoridades competentes responsáveis pela gestão do trânsito nas áreas de engenharia, educação e esforço legal. A partir dos resultados obtidos na primeira etapa, foi elaborado e aplicado um questionário que visava identificar qual a sensibilidade da população frente às ações implementadas em cada um dos municípios analisados composto por questões ligadas à avaliação da qualidade do trânsito dos municípios do ponto de vista dos usuários do sistema e à avaliação da frequência de investimentos em engenharia, educação e esforço legal por parte das autoridades competentes. Por fim, com os dados obtidos através dos questionários, foi possível realizar uma investigação sobre os principais fatores que afetaram os índices de acidentalidade de cada município. Em alguns municípios foi possível observar que as ações implementadas foram percebidas pela população, ficando claro que houve adaptação comportamental dos usuários do sistema, fato que pode explicar a alteração da tendência dos índices de acidentalidade. Em outros, não foi possível chegar a conclusões por não ser possível identificar as causas da mudança da tendência dos índices de acidentalidade devido a dificuldades encontradas e sentidas de adesão e colaboração por parte das autoridades gestoras responsáveis pelo trânsito, ou por parte da população. / This thesis presents a study of the evolution of road accidentality in five municipalities of the State of São Paulo: Araraquara, Franca, Matão, Ribeirão Preto and São Carlos. The study has as objective to verify if the factors that influenced the change in the tendency of accidentality indexes are related to engineering, education and enforcement actions and if the accidentality is coming from road users behavioral adaptations in each municipality. In the first step, group interviews were conducted following the Focus Groups techniques with the competent authorities responsible for the traffic management in the areas of engineering, education and enforcement. To make this possible, the following methodology was used: (1) carrying out investigative group interviews with authorities of each targeted municipality, (2) development and application of a questionnaire to road users and (3) analysis of the results obtained, and its proper considerations. From the results obtained in the first step, a questionnaire was prepared and applied to identify the sensitivity of the population to the actions implemented in each analyzed municipalities. This questionnaire resulted in road users evaluations regarding the quality of urban road transport and the frequency of investments in engineering, education and enforcement by the competent authorities. Finally, with the data obtained from the questionnaires, it was possible to conduct an investigation into the major factors affecting the accidentality rates of each municipality. In some municipalities it was observed that the implemented actions were perceived by the population, making it clear that there were road users behavioral adaptations, which may explain the change in the tendency of accidentality rates. In other municipalities, it was not possible to reach conclusions that could explain the causes of changes in the tendency of accidentality rates due to experienced difficulties in getting the cooperation from the administrative authorities responsible for traffic, or from the population.

Cette thèse explore le potentiel des dispositifs de l’aménagement architectural et urbain à très petite échelle afin d’améliorer le confort piétonnier dans un contexte d’inconfort thermique estival. Partant du postulat que le plaisir et la capacité d’adaptation thermique du piéton reposent sur l’expérience d’états climatiques non uniformes et transitoires, on cherche à identifier les événements climatiques court-terme qui représentent des« invites » de rafraîchissement. Pour caractériser les invites des événements climatiques du piéton, on définit d’abord une échelle « pico » et ses descripteurs.La thèse présente trois corpus d’étude d’expériences climatiques proposées dans des contextes et périodes différentes. Au sein du premier corpus, on présente et discute les expériences climatiques proposées dans les travaux théoriques et expérimentations réalisés dans la période des années 1950-70 par les auteurs de l’avant garde artistique et architecturale. Dans le deuxième corpus, on s’intéresse aux installations artistiques et architecturales contemporaines dédiées aux variations climatiques, apparues dans les deux dernières décennies,in vitro ou dans l’espace urbain. Le troisième corpus est une recherche d’identification plus précise des adaptations comportementales manifestées par les habitants lors de leur rencontre avec les dispositifs climatiques de rafraîchissement dans un contexte urbain.La ville de Madrid en période estivale est ici considérée comme laboratoire donnant à voir les usages et les stratégies réalisés par les habitants en vue de se rafraîchir. L’expression corporelle est considérée comme un indice d’appréciation et du ressenti thermique et comme premier instrument du contrôle de son propre état de confort.On discute les potentiels de l’échelle « pico » pour la conception des dispositifs de rafraîchissement et la mesure dans laquelle l’accessibilité des indices sur la présence et le fonctionnement d’une « invite » peut être mise en relation avec les modèles d'adaptations comportementales particulières. / This thesis investigates the potential of architectural and urban design schemes on a very small scale so as to improve pedestrian comfort during excessive summertime heat conditions. Starting from the premise that pedestrian’s pleasure and ability to thermally adapt are based upon experience of transient and non-uniform climate states, attempts are being made to identify short-term climate events named cold inducing"affordances". In order to enhance affordances of climate events related to the pedestrian, firstly a scale denominated "pico" and its descriptors are defined.The thesis outlines three study corpuses of climatic experiences that have been proposed in different periods of time and various contexts. The first corpus introduces and discusses climatic experiences that have been proposed in theoretical studies and experiments realized between 1950 and 1970 by the authors from the artistic and architectural avant-garde. The second corpus is focused on contemporary artistic and architectural installations dedicated to climatic variations, which showed up during the last two decades, in vitro or in urban space. The aim of the third corpus is to identify more precisely behavioral adaptations expressed by inhabitants during their encounter with selected cooling climate features in an urban context. The city of Madrid during summertime is considered as a laboratory, revealing uses and strategies of inhabitants in order to cool down. Behavioral expression is regarded as an index parameter revealing appreciation and thermal feel and as a prime instrument of control of one’s own comfort state.The potentials of the "pico" scale are discussed inregard to cold inducing design schemes along with the extent to which the accessibility of information related to existence and usability of an "affordance" can be related to specific behavioral adaptations.

Neste trabalho é apresentado um estudo da evolução da acidentalidade viária em cinco municípios do Estado de São Paulo: Araraquara, Franca, Matão, Ribeirão Preto e São Carlos. O estudo tem como objetivo verificar se os fatores que influenciaram na alteração da tendência dos índices de acidentalidade estão relacionados a ações de Engenharia, Educação e Esforço Legal, e se a acidentalidade é proveniente de adaptações comportamentais dos usuários do sistema viário de cada município. Para que isso fosse possível, foi utilizada uma metodologia composta pelas seguintes etapas: (1) realização de entrevistas de grupo investigativas com as autoridades de cada município analisado, (2) elaboração e aplicação de um questionário junto aos usuários do sistema viário e (3) análise dos resultados obtidos para devidas considerações. Na primeira etapa foram realizadas entrevistas seguindo as técnicas de Grupos Focais com as autoridades competentes responsáveis pela gestão do trânsito nas áreas de engenharia, educação e esforço legal. A partir dos resultados obtidos na primeira etapa, foi elaborado e aplicado um questionário que visava identificar qual a sensibilidade da população frente às ações implementadas em cada um dos municípios analisados composto por questões ligadas à avaliação da qualidade do trânsito dos municípios do ponto de vista dos usuários do sistema e à avaliação da frequência de investimentos em engenharia, educação e esforço legal por parte das autoridades competentes. Por fim, com os dados obtidos através dos questionários, foi possível realizar uma investigação sobre os principais fatores que afetaram os índices de acidentalidade de cada município. Em alguns municípios foi possível observar que as ações implementadas foram percebidas pela população, ficando claro que houve adaptação comportamental dos usuários do sistema, fato que pode explicar a alteração da tendência dos índices de acidentalidade. Em outros, não foi possível chegar a conclusões por não ser possível identificar as causas da mudança da tendência dos índices de acidentalidade devido a dificuldades encontradas e sentidas de adesão e colaboração por parte das autoridades gestoras responsáveis pelo trânsito, ou por parte da população. / This thesis presents a study of the evolution of road accidentality in five municipalities of the State of São Paulo: Araraquara, Franca, Matão, Ribeirão Preto and São Carlos. The study has as objective to verify if the factors that influenced the change in the tendency of accidentality indexes are related to engineering, education and enforcement actions and if the accidentality is coming from road users behavioral adaptations in each municipality. In the first step, group interviews were conducted following the Focus Groups techniques with the competent authorities responsible for the traffic management in the areas of engineering, education and enforcement. To make this possible, the following methodology was used: (1) carrying out investigative group interviews with authorities of each targeted municipality, (2) development and application of a questionnaire to road users and (3) analysis of the results obtained, and its proper considerations. From the results obtained in the first step, a questionnaire was prepared and applied to identify the sensitivity of the population to the actions implemented in each analyzed municipalities. This questionnaire resulted in road users evaluations regarding the quality of urban road transport and the frequency of investments in engineering, education and enforcement by the competent authorities. Finally, with the data obtained from the questionnaires, it was possible to conduct an investigation into the major factors affecting the accidentality rates of each municipality. In some municipalities it was observed that the implemented actions were perceived by the population, making it clear that there were road users behavioral adaptations, which may explain the change in the tendency of accidentality rates. In other municipalities, it was not possible to reach conclusions that could explain the causes of changes in the tendency of accidentality rates due to experienced difficulties in getting the cooperation from the administrative authorities responsible for traffic, or from the population.