Danger Avoidance Research Articles

Smell throughout the life course.

The sense of smell is an important mediator of health and sociality at all stages of life, yet it has received limited attention in our lineage. Olfaction starts in utero and participates in the establishment of social bonds in children, and of romantic and sexual relationships after puberty. Smell further plays a key role in food assessment and danger avoidance; in modern societies, it also guides our consumer behavior. Sensory abilities typically decrease with age and can be impacted by diseases, with repercussions on health and well-being. Here, we critically review our current understanding of human olfactory communication to refute outdated notions that our sense of smell is of low importance. We provide a summary of the biology of olfaction, give a prospective overview of the importance of the sense of smell throughout the life course, and conclude with an outline of the limitations and future directions in this field.

An Investigation of ECAPA-TDNN Audio Type Recognition Method Based on Mel Acoustic Spectrograms

Audio signals play a crucial role in our perception of our surroundings. People rely on sound to assess motion, distance, direction, and environmental conditions, aiding in danger avoidance and decision making. However, in real-world environments, during the acquisition and transmission of audio signals, we often encounter various types of noises that interfere with the intended signals. As a result, the essential features of audio signals become significantly obscured. Under the interference of strong noise, identifying noise segments or sound segments, and distinguishing audio types becomes pivotal for detecting specific events and sound patterns or isolating abnormal sounds. This study analyzes the characteristics of Mel’s acoustic spectrogram, explores the application of the deep learning ECAPA-TDNN method for audio type recognition, and substantiates its effectiveness through experiments. Ultimately, the experimental results demonstrate that the deep learning ECAPA-TDNN method for audio type recognition, utilizing Mel’s acoustic spectrogram as features, achieves a notably high recognition accuracy.

Signal Communication for Collaborative Robot Behavior Control

Robots are increasingly required to work in close cooperation with humans and other robots, performing common tasks jointly, in collaboration. High-level decision making by an autonomous agent with such interactions require specific means of responding to the situation. This paper describes the implementation of the control system for a collaborative robot, based on the emotion-need architecture that provides reliable and interpretable interaction means of the robot with other agents. The robot is an autonomous device whose behavior is aimed at satisfying its current needs. The communication between the operator and the robot is based on signal communication: the operator’s signal ("command") activates an element of the emotion-need scheme — a gateway that implements the emotional feedback. Since the gateway connects the sensors and behavioral procedures, its activation starts the corresponding procedure, as if the sensory system had registered a real stimulus. The external signal of such indirect control can be represented in acoustic form or as the operator’s posture. The needs of the robot are aimed at both its physical survival (danger avoidance) and maintenance of the social connections (accompanying friendly agents). The robot recognizes external commands and activates the gateway associated with the highest priority action. The activity also gradually fades, which allows actions to be performed for some time even in the absence of an appropriate internal stimulus. The resulting robot is able to perform the simplest patrol tasks together with a human, acting in a predictable and understandable (interpretable) way for the human.

THE USE OF EUPHEMISMS BY TSAMARAAMANY IN THE TSAMADENGAN PODCAST: A STYLISTIC STUDY

This study aims to describe the types and functions of euphemisms used by TsamaraAmany in the TsamaDengan Podcast. This type of research falls under qualitative descriptive research. The data collection method used in this study is observation with the techniques of note-taking, recording, and non-participatory observation. The data source for this research is taken from 25 audio recordings of the TsamaDengan Podcast from April 12, 2022, to December 6, 2022. The data consists of oral data containing euphemistic language styles in the TsamaDengan Podcast. The results of the study show that there are data containing euphemistic language styles observed based on their types and functions. There are 10 types of euphemisms found, figurative expression, flippancies, remodelling, circumlocutions, clipping, one for one substitutions, part for whole euphemisms, understatement, borrowing, and colloquial language. As for the functions, there are four classifications, namely speech softening, confidentiality, education, and danger avoidance.

An Emergency Driving Intervention System Designed for Driver Disability Scenarios Based on Emergency Risk Field.

Driver disability has become an increasing factor leading to traffic accidents, especially for commercial vehicle drivers who endure high mental and physical pressure because of long periods of work. Once driver disability occurs, e.g., heart disease or heat stroke, the loss of driving control may lead to serious traffic incidents and public damage. This paper proposes a novel driving intervention system for autonomous danger avoidance under driver disability conditions, including a quantitative risk assessment module named the Emergency Safety Field (ESF) and a motion-planning module. The ESF considers three factors affecting hedging behavior: road boundaries, obstacles, and target position. In the field-based framework, each factor is modeled as an individual risk source generating repulsive or attractive force fields. Individual risk distributions are regionally weighted and merged into one unified emergency safety field denoting the level of danger to the ego vehicle. With risk evaluation, a path-velocity-coupled motion planning module was designed to generate a safe and smooth trajectory to pull the vehicle over. The results of our experiments show that the proposed algorithms have obvious advantages in success rate, efficiency, stability, and safety compared with the traditional method. Validation on multiple simulation and real-world platforms proves the feasibility and adaptivity of the module in traffic scenarios.

Social attention, memory, and memory-guided orienting change across the menstrual cycle

Numerous studies have shown that perception of emotion and emotional memory vary across the menstrual cycle. However, most of these studies used stimuli that contained not only emotional but also social elements. Importantly, the social cognitive abilities of individuals are as crucial as emotional abilities for danger avoidance and recruitment of allies. Therefore, the issue that natural hormonal fluctuations may affect emotion processing should be revisited. To investigate whether the effects of the menstrual cycle are emotion-specific or can also be attributed to social information processing, the present study examined social attention across the menstrual cycle in three tasks—visual search, memory, and memory-guided orienting—with a combination of behavioral and eye-tracking measures. We used images of people standing upright with neutral emotion as social distractors and everyday objects with physical properties matched as non-social distractors. Thirty-six healthy women without hormone use and with stable menstrual cycles of 26 – 30 days participated in the three tasks in the late follicular phase (FP) and mid-luteal phase (LP), respectively. During visual search, participants were asked to search for targets accompanied by social or non-social distractors in complex scenes. Social attentional bias, as evidenced by longer search times and shorter gaze behaviors for targets with social distractors, was found in the FP but not in the LP. In the following memory task, memory accuracy for targets was higher in the FP than in the LP, and the memory for targets with social distractors was more precise in both phases. Finally, in the orienting task, targets in social scenes were detected more slowly than in non-social scenes in LP. Taken together, these findings point to the interplay between social attention, memory, and memory-oriented attention and reveal the distinct processing pathways for social information in the FP and LP. The underlying mechanisms from an evolutionary perspective and from behavioral and neural basis were discussed.

The influence of pre-college behaviors and parenting practices on alcohol misuse, sexual risk-taking, and adverse outcomes among first-year college women

Objective Although numerous reports document college students’ risk-taking behaviors, few examine these behaviors in a developmental context. The purpose of this study was to examine female freshmen college students’ pre-college experiences and parenting influences on first semester experiences with alcohol misuse, sexual risk-taking, and adverse outcomes, including violence. Methods We surveyed 229 female freshman residential college students at the end of their first semester in college. Results Participants who drank frequently in high school were more likely to binge drink in college and regret doing something while drinking. Mother–daughter closeness and parental discussions of sexual risks, personal safety and danger avoidance were associated with a reduced likelihood of regretting doing something while drinking, experiencing sexual violence, and having sex without a condom. Parental provision of alcohol was associated with alcohol misuse. Conclusion These findings provide a life course perspective on the development of risk behaviors and adverse outcomes during emerging adulthood.

Modeling and Simulation of Exit Selection Behavior in Pedestrian Evacuation Based on Information Perception and Transmission

This paper aims to present an improved evacuation model, which is capable of simulating individual exit selection behavior based on the acquisition and processing of information, especially in dangerous and unfamiliar environments. Firstly, an evacuation model was improved by the introduction of a floor field of gas concentration and an exit selection model, considering the congestion avoidance and danger avoidance behavior. Secondly, the process of information perception and transmission was studied and introduced into the model with a set of rules. Finally, real experiments in a simple double-exit room were conducted for model validation and parameter setting, and simulation experiments in scenarios with an unknown hazard or unknown exits were conducted to confirm the necessity and rationality of introducing information perception and transmission. The simulation results show that, with the increase in perception distance or trust extent, the pedestrian safety increases. The critical values of perception distance or trust extent, below which some people cannot acquire any new information, vary depending on the pedestrian density. When the density is high, the influence of perception distance or trust extent reduces, and the probability of reselecting an exit increases, which causes the safety of pedestrians to decrease.

A situational understanding enhancer based on augmented visual prompts for teleoperation using a multi-monitor system

This study proposes an operator support system that enhances understandability of multiple monitor for teleoperated disaster response robots. The autonomous environmental camera control system we previously developed could provide operators with various visual information suited to the situation. To enable operators to adequately recognize environmental situations, multiple camera images are projected on multiple monitors, but this may increase the cognitive load of operators. The proposed situational understanding enhancer thus supports selective visual attention, situational awareness, and action decision, based on augmented visual prompts (AVPs). To support both work facilitation and danger avoidance, the AVPs include (i) monitor frame, (ii) obscuration, (iii) end-point vertical arrow, and (iv) distance arrow, with variable color and flashing effect. The system adaptively draws visual attention by changing the types and parameters of the AVPs according to the situations. Debris-removal tasks were conducted using a virtual reality simulator to compare the systems with and without AVP support. The results showed that the AVP support reduced the frequent changes in point of gaze, provided a sense of depth, and drew attention to potential collisions.

Dorsal periaqueductal gray ensembles represent approach and avoidance states.

Animals must balance needs to approach threats for risk assessment and to avoid danger. The dorsal periaqueductal gray (dPAG) controls defensive behaviors, but it is unknown how it represents states associated with threat approach and avoidance. We identified a dPAG threatavoidance ensemble in mice that showed higher activity farther from threats such as the open arms of the elevated plus maze and a predator. These cells were also more active during threat avoidance behaviors such as escape and freezing, even though these behaviors have antagonistic motor output. Conversely, the threat approach ensemble was more active during risk assessment behaviors and near threats. Furthermore, unsupervised methods showed that avoidance/approach states were encoded with shared activity patterns across threats. Lastly, the relative number of cells in each ensemble predicted threat avoidance across mice. Thus, dPAG ensembles dynamically encode threat approach and avoidance states, providing a flexible mechanism to balance risk assessment and danger avoidance.

Human Olfaction at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Biology

The human sense of smell can accomplish astonishing feats, yet there remains a prevailing belief that olfactory language is deficient. Numerous studies with English speakers support this view: there are few terms for odors, odor talk is infrequent, and naming odors is difficult. However, this is not true across the world. Many languages have sizeable smell lexicons - smell is even grammaticalized. In addition, for some cultures smell talk is more frequent and odor naming easier. This linguistic variation is as yet unexplained but could be the result of ecological, cultural, or genetic factors or a combination thereof. Different ways of talking about smells may shape aspects of olfactory cognition too. Critically, this variation sheds new light on this important sensory modality.

Insights Into Spinal Dorsal Horn Circuit Function and Dysfunction Using Optical Approaches.

Somatosensation encompasses a variety of essential modalities including touch, pressure, proprioception, temperature, pain, and itch. These peripheral sensations are crucial for all types of behaviors, ranging from social interaction to danger avoidance. Somatosensory information is transmitted from primary afferent fibers in the periphery into the central nervous system via the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. The dorsal horn functions as an intermediary processing center for this information, comprising a complex network of excitatory and inhibitory interneurons as well as projection neurons that transmit the processed somatosensory information from the spinal cord to the brain. It is now known that there can be dysfunction within this spinal cord circuitry in pathological pain conditions and that these perturbations contribute to the development and maintenance of pathological pain. However, the complex and heterogeneous network of the spinal dorsal horn has hampered efforts to further elucidate its role in somatosensory processing. Emerging optical techniques promise to illuminate the underlying organization and function of the dorsal horn and provide insights into the role of spinal cord sensory processing in shaping the behavioral response to somatosensory input that we ultimately observe. This review article will focus on recent advances in optogenetics and fluorescence imaging techniques in the spinal cord, encompassing findings from both in vivo and in vitro preparations. We will also discuss the current limitations and difficulties of employing these techniques to interrogate the spinal cord and current practices and approaches to overcome these challenges.

Self-compassion, physical health, and health behaviour: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT This meta-analysis investigated relationships between self-compassion and (1) physical health and (2) health-promoting behaviour in a large pooled sample (N = 29,588) sourced from 94 peer-reviewed articles. As hypothesised, omnibus analyses revealed positive associations between self-compassion and both physical health (r = .18) and health behaviour (r = .26). Moderation analyses using 290 effects found that both associations varied according to health domain, participant age, intervention duration, and self-compassion measure. Self-compassion predicted outcomes in most health domains, with the strongest effects observed on global physical health, functional immunity, composite health behaviour, sleep, and danger avoidance. It did not predict frailty, maladaptive bodily routines, and substance abuse. Multi-session interventions designed to boost self-compassion predicted increased physical health and health behaviour, thereby supporting causal links between self-compassion and health outcomes. The effects of single-session inductions were non-significant. The mean effect of self-compassion on physical health was non-significant for young participants (12.00–19.99) and its effect on health behaviour was weakest among older participants (40.00+). Results support the proposition that self-compassion can promote better physical health. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.

PORA: A Physarum-inspired obstacle-avoiding routing algorithm for integrated circuit design

The plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum, a large, amoeboid cell, has attracted much attention recently due to its intelligent behaviors in pathfinding, danger avoidance, and network construction. Inspired by the biological behaviors of this primitive organism, in this study, we explore the optimization capability of Physarum polycephalum systematically and present the first Physarum-inspired obstacle-avoiding routing algorithm for the physical design of integrated circuits. We simulate the foraging behaviors of Physarum polycephalum using a novel nutrition absorption/consumption mathematical model, thereby presenting an efficient routing tool called Physarum router. With the proposed routing approach, for a given set of pin vertices and a given set of on-chip functional modules, a rectilinear Steiner minimal tree connecting all the pin vertices while avoiding the blockage of functional modules can be constructed automatically. Furthermore, several heuristics including a divide-and-conquer strategy, a non-pin leaf node pruning strategy, a dynamic parameter strategy, etc., are integrated into the proposed algorithm to fundamentally improve the performance of the Physarum router. Simulation results on multiple benchmarks confirm that the proposed algorithm leads to shorter wirelength compared with several state-of-the-art methods.

ВЕРБАЛІЗАЦІЯ ЕМОЦІЙНОГО СТАНУ ВІДРАЗИ В АНГЛОМОВНОМУ ХУДОЖНЬОМУ ТЕКСТІ

The article highlights the peculiarities of verbalization of the emotional state of disgust in modern English literary texts. Disgust has been recognized as a basic human emotion. It is a response to the sensory quality of the disgusting stimulus. It functions as a self-preserving mechanism as it is a powerful system of danger avoidance. Disgust is associated with a distinctive facial expression involving retraction of upper lip, down-turning of the corners of the mouth, and nose wrinkling.Sensory words, i.e. taste words, smell words, sight words, hearing words, and touch words verbalize sense perception in literary texts. Combining with negative evaluative adjectives, sensory words make the following word combinations: to taste disgusting, a disgusting sweetish taste, unpleasant to the taste, to smell disgusting, disgusting smell, a disgusting odor, to look disgusting, a very disgusting sight, disgusting sound, a disgusting noise, unpleasant touch, disgusting to the touch, etc. which represent the type of sensory perception of disgust-evoking objects.The emotional state of disgust comprises internal (heart rhythm, respiratory rhythm, blood pressure, changes in the endocrine glands, organs of digestion and secretion) and external (distinctive facial expression, body posture, or vocalization) reactions. The emotional state of disgust is revealed through a description of the behaviour of characters, their reactions to the surrounding reality and the very description of extralinguistic manifestations of the investigated emotional state.Words, word combinations, sentences, and super-phrasal unities are means of verbalization of the experience of the emotional state of disgust in literary texts.

An evaluation of silver-stage American Eel conspecific chemical cueing during outmigration

American Eel Anguilla rostrata abundance has declined in recent decades, in part because sexually maturing, silver-stage adults, outmigrating from freshwater to oceanic spawning grounds, encounter migratory blockades or perish when passing through active hydroelectric turbines. To help improve downstream passage effectiveness and increase survival rates, the role of silver-stage American Eel conspecific chemical cueing during outmigration was investigated using a new type of bioassay. Inside a laboratory flume, downstream-swimming eels were exposed to both live (putative attractant) and dead (putative repellent) conspecific washings to determine whether their trajectory of downstream movement, level of activity, or time spent inside targeted areas of the arena changed after exposure. Silver eels were not attracted to or repulsed by either odor, as none of five scoring metrics indicated a behavioral response. Results did not support the hypothesis that conspecific chemical cueing is a mechanism for downstream migration coordination or danger avoidance; however responses may not have been readily apparent in this type of assay. Fisheries managers may opt to focus future research on more feasible restoration efforts using alternate experimental designs to remedy this ecological issue.

Central peptidergic modulation of peripheral olfactory responses

BackgroundAnimal olfactory systems detect volatile environmental chemicals and integrate this information to direct the discovery of food and mates as well as danger avoidance. Rather than remaining constant, olfactory response thresholds are modulated by internal and external cues to adapt odor-guided behaviors to changing conditions.ResultsHere, we show in Drosophila melanogaster that neuropeptide F (NPF) modulates the responses of a specific population of antennal olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) to food-derived odors. We show that knock-down of NPF in NPF neurons specifically reduces the responses of the ab3A neurons to ethyl butyrate, a volatile ester found in apples and other fruits. Knock-down of the NPF receptor (NPFR) in the ab3A neuron reduces their responses and disrupts the ability of the flies to locate food. We also identify a sexual dimorphism in ab3A responsiveness: ab3A neurons in females immediately post-eclosion are less responsive to ethyl butyrate than those of both age-matched males and older females. Not only does this change correlate with brain NPF levels, but also NPFR mutants show no such sexual dimorphism. Finally, by way of mechanism, we show that mutation of NPFR seems to cause intracellular clustering of OR22a, the odorant receptor expressed in the ab3A neurons.ConclusionsInterestingly, this modulation of the peripheral odorant responsiveness of the ab3A neurons by NPF is distinct from the modulation of presynaptic gain in the ab3A neurons previously observed with the similarly named but distinct neuropeptide sNPF. Rather than affecting the strength of the output at the level of the first synapse in the antennal lobe, NPF-NPFR signaling may affect the process of odorant detection itself by causing intracellular OR clustering.

Real-time vessel behavior prediction

Vessel traffic management systems (VTMS) and vessel traffic monitoring information systems (VTMIS) have been available for a number of years now. These systems have significantly contributed to increasing the efficiency and safety of operations at sea. However, nowadays, risks at sea are once again on the rise, thus demanding an evolution in VTMS and VTMIS, such that they can support a human operator’s better understanding of the complex reality at sea and enhance his or her decision-making in light of danger. A critical requirement of such systems, is that they exhibit the ability to for-see unfolding cautious and potentially hazardous situations, so as to propose measures of danger avoidance. In this study, we employ machine learning, and specifically artificial neural networks, as a tool to add predictive capacity to VTMIS. The main objective of this study is to implement a publicly accessible, web-based system capable of real time learning and accurately predicting any vessels future behavior in low computational time. This work describes our approach, design choices, implementation and evaluation details, while we present a proof of concept prototype system. Our proposal can potentially be used as the predictive foundation for various intelligent systems, including vessel collision prevention, vessel route planning, operation efficiency estimation and even anomaly detection systems.

Associative learning for danger avoidance nullifies innate positive chemotaxis to host olfactory stimuli in a parasitic wasp.

Animals rely on associative learning for a wide range of purposes, including danger avoidance. This has been demonstrated for several insects, including cockroaches, mosquitoes, drosophilid flies, paper wasps, stingless bees, bumblebees and honeybees, but less is known for parasitic wasps. We tested the ability of Psyttalia concolor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) females to associate different dosages of two innately attractive host-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), ethyl octanoate and decanal, with danger (electric shocks). We conducted an associative treatment involving odours and shocks and two non-associative controls involving shocks but not odours and odours but not shocks. In shock-only and odour-only trained wasps, females preferred on HIPV-treated than on blank discs. In associative-trained wasps, however, P. concolor's innate positive chemotaxis for HIPVs was nullified (lowest HIPV dosage tested) or reversed (highest HIPV dosage tested). This is the first report of associative learning of olfactory cues for danger avoidance in parasitic wasps, showing that the effects of learning can override innate positive chemotaxes.

Development of Danger Avoidance Assist System for Electric Cart

Four-wheeled electric carts developed for the elderly have come to be widely used. Along with that, the number of accidents involving them is increasing due to carelessness and error of the drivers. Similar to ordinary cars, electric carts have mechanical features inner and outer track differences requiring that driver pay attention to their surroundings while driving. Aged drivers having a narrow field of vision may find it difficult to pay sufficient attention. In this study we developed an electric cart with a danger avoidance assist system that stops the cart safely before a collision even if the driver overlooks an obstacle. The assist system also helps prevent driver errors.