The Car-Following Model and Its Applications in the V2X Environment: A Historical Review

The application of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology has resulted in the traffic environment being different from how it was in the past. In the V2X environment, the information perception ability of the driver–vehicle unit is greatly enhanced. With V2X technology, the driver–vehicle unit can obtain a massive amount of traffic information and is able to form a connection and interaction relationship between multiple vehicles and themselves. In the traditional car-following models, only the dual-vehicle interaction relationship between the object vehicle and its preceding vehicle was considered, making these models unable to be employed to describe the car-following behavior in the V2X environment. As one of the core components of traffic flow theory, research on car-following behavior needs to be further developed. First, the development process of the traditional car-following models is briefly reviewed. Second, previous research on the impacts of V2X technology, car-following models in the V2X environment, and the applications of these models, such as the calibration of the model parameters, the analysis of traffic flow characteristics, and the methods that are used to estimate a vehicle’s energy consumption and emissions, are comprehensively reviewed. Finally, the achievements and shortcomings of these studies along with trends that require further exploration are discussed. The results that were determined here can provide a reference for the further development of traffic flow theory, personalized advanced driving assistance systems, and anthropopathic autonomous-driving vehicles.

Transient and Long-Term Improvements in Cognitive Processes following Video Games: An Italian Cross-Sectional Study

The aim of the present study is to compare the short- and long-term effects of video-gaming by using the same measurements. More precisely, habitual and occasional video-gamers were compared so as to analyze the long-term effects. An ABABABA design was used to analyze the short-term effects. The first A refers to baseline measurements: Visual RT, Auditory RT, Aim trainer RT, Go/No-Go RT and N-Back RT. The first B refers to 30 min of gaming, the second A refers to the measurements used in the baseline, the second B refers to 60 min of a video game, the third A refers to the same measurements used in the baseline, the third B refers to a 30-min rest, and finally, the fourth A refers to the measurements used in the baseline. Seventy participants, twenty-nine habitual video-gamers and forty-one occasional video-gamers, participated in the study. The results showed a temporary improvement of cognitive functions (Visual RT, Auditory RT, Aim trainer RT, Go/No-Go RT and N-Back RT) in the short term and a strong enhancement of cognitive functions in the long term. The results are discussed in light of Flow Theory and the automatization process. Contribution of the study: The contribution of this research is to highlight that despite there being a transient enhancement of executive and cognitive functions through the use of mobile video games in the short-term period, with a decrease of performance after a 30-min rest, there is a strong increase of cognitive performance in the long-term period. Flow Theory and the automatization process together can explain this apparent inconsistency between the positive increase of long-term performance and the transient increase of short-term performance. One limitation of the present research is that it is not possible to distinguish whether the long-term enhancements can be attributed either to continued practice in the use of video games compared to non-gamers, or to the possibility that gamers are already predisposed to video game playing. Future research should address this issue.

Painting With Light: Artistic Experiments into the use of Virtual Reality as an Animation Production Environment

While many researchers have examined the technical characteristics of using VR as a production environment for animation, its artistic potential has only sporadically been investigated. We want to contribute to this line of thought through reflection on a number of expanded animation workshops organized in the context of the Painting With Light project. In this paper we use flow theory in order to discuss the experience of using VR as a 3D prototyping tool. Our findings suggest that this practice can add an improvisatory and co-creative dimension to animation.