<p> Driving is a complicated task that requires the coordination of visual and sensory-motor skills. Unsafe driving behavior and accidents can happen regardless of the level of drivers&rsquo; experience. The main cause of the most of these accidents is human error. Emotions influence the way drivers process and react to internal or environmental factors. Specifically, anger elicited either from traffic or personal issues, is a serious threat on the road. Therefore, having an affective intelligent system in the car that can estimate drivers&rsquo; anger and respond to it appropriately can help drivers adapt to moment to-moment changes in driving situations. To this end, the present dissertation uses an integrated approach to monitoring drivers&rsquo; affective states in various driving contexts to address the question: &ldquo;What types of music can mitigate the effects of anger on driving performance?&rdquo; Three sources of information (behavioral, physiological, and subjective data) were considered in two experiments. In Experiment 1, three groups of participants were compared based on their emotional reactions and driving behaviors. Results showed that angry drivers who did not listen to music had riskier driving behavior than emotion neutral drivers. Results from heart rate, oxygenation level in prefrontal cortex, and self report questionnaires showed that music could help angry drivers react at the similar level to emotion-neutral drivers both internally and behaviorally. In Experiment 2, types of music emotion and familiarity of music were addressed to identify what kind of music an in-vehicle auditory system should play when it recognizes drivers&rsquo; anger. Results showed that different kinds of music did not effect driving performance. However, drivers experienced less frustration and effort when listening to music in general and less viii frustration when listening to self-selected music specifically. Regarding personality characteristics, drivers who had anger-expression out style had riskier driving behavior just as in Experiment 1. In conclusion, this research showed the benefits of music as a possible strategy to help angry drivers. In addition, important patterns were uncovered relating to assessing driver anger for possible affective intelligent systems in cars.</p><p>

<p> At a time of increased use and competitiveness amongst U.S. regional airlines, and the growing pilot shortage, regional air carriers and pilots alike lack proper understanding how pilot commutes by airplane affect satisfaction with life. There are numerous studies on how commuting by vehicle, bicycle, mass transit system, or walking (traditional commute) to and from work affects one&rsquo;s satisfaction with life. There are no identified studies which investigate regional airline pilots&rsquo; commute by airplane and its affect on satisfaction with life.</p><p> The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge on regional airline pilot commutes, how commuting affects regional pilots&rsquo; satisfaction with life, and to explore why regional airline pilots choose to commute. This study used both qualitative and quantitative measures to accomplish this task by imploring a mixed methods exploratory sequential design. The two research questions were what is the variation in the Satisfaction With Life Scale scores between different groups of regional pilots and what aspects of pilot commuting are related to traditional commuting?</p><p> This study used previous related research and regional airline pilot qualitative interviews to build a quantitative survey to measure satisfaction with life. The survey was distributed to a large regional airline to get a representative pilot population sample response. Statistical analysis was conducted on the responses which looked for significance between different groups of regional airline pilots.</p><p> Results from a t-test indicated that there is a significant difference in Satisfaction With Life Scores for regional pilots that are able to traditionally commute to their domicile vs. regional pilots who commute by airplane to their domicile. Further t-test results indicated that there is a significant difference in satisfaction with life for airplane commute captains vs. traditional commute captains, and airplane commute captains vs. traditional commute first officers. When only airplane commute pilots were analyzed, there are significant differences in satisfaction with life for pilots that commute over 43.33 hours a month (equivalent to one hour, one way traditional commute), and a one way airplane commute of two or more legs. A Between-Groups ANOVA indicated that commuting the day before a trip begins and commuting the day after a trip ends (un-commutable trip) produces a less satisfied pilot compared to trips that are commutable at the beginning, end or both ends.</p>

<p> Research with human participants involves a complex combination of procedural elements in order to establish internal, external and measurement validity. Examining the accuracy of research equipment and methods that elicit similar behaviors as the general public is difficult. This research used driving as a model to address elements in the procedures that participants experience to elicit realistic behaviors. </p><p> An instrumented vehicle (IV) and driving simulator (SIM) measured experimental behaviors for average approach speed (in the 20m before the legal stop line); lateral distance from curb at 20m; lateral distance from curb at legal stop line (0m) and the stopping location (distance before or after 0m); and, compared with measured general driving public behaviors at stop-controlled intersections. The linear mixed effect analyses combined two experiments. In both, surveys were administered to gather driver&rsquo;s trait anxiety, driving anxiety and social desirability scores. Experiment One drivers (36% female) were grouped as Novice (5, 16-17 year olds who just obtained driving license), Young (4, 16-17 year olds who obtained license over a year ago) and Adult (5, 30-55 year olds licensed near age 16). Experiment Two drivers (47 SIM, 44 IV; 35% female) were College age (18-21 year olds licensed near age 16) and exposed to 1 of 16 different combinations (one of those treatments matched Experiment One&rsquo;s procedure) of procedural changes for: researcher attire (casual or formal), researcher proximity (control room, front or rear passenger seat), mode of instruction delivery (spoken, read or video) and hypothesis statement (none or explicit). At the end of Experiment Two, participants&rsquo; understanding of the experiment was coded into three debriefing variables. </p><p> Absolute behavioral validity of the IV to public behavior was achieved in one treatment (formal, front seat, spoken and no hypothesis) and including the debriefing variables in the model; no SIM combination achieved this. Trait anxiety scores appeared to explain behaviors in the IV or SIM and improved result interpretation as interactions with other independent variables. For improved research methods, it is recommended that coded debriefing variables, specific procedural elements, and trait anxiety scores be included and used to explain interactions or differences in participant behaviors. </p>

<p> In order to perform their duties, airline pilots must have no clinical diagnosis of mental illness or any substance use disorder. However, provisions have been in place since the 1970s that provide for a return to work for airline pilots with alcohol problems. To date, over 5,000 airline pilots have undergone rehabilitation for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and successfully returned to work. An important gap in the literature remains with regard to what extent improvements in cognitive performance may be experienced by airline pilots who complete treatment and to what extent age influences the amount of change. This study examined the archival data of 95 male Caucasian pilots who were assessed for cognitive performance shortly after entry to 30-day inpatient treatment and approximately 5 months later during the return to work evaluation. A nonexperimental within subjects design compared pre- and post-treatment scores on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV (WAIS-IV) full scale and 4 index scores as well as differences for age groups (25 to 44, 45 to 54, and 55 to 64). Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that there were significant gains on all WAIS-IV measures pre&ndash;post treatment for AUD. MANOVA results indicated no differences between age groups. These findings support current Federal Aviation Administration program practices with regard to returning airline pilots to work following rehabilitation and a sufficient period of abstinence. The potential of this study to promote the agenda of social change may be substantive for raising awareness of the cognitive deficits associated with AUD and how these may impact the safety of flight operations.</p>