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This study conducts a comparative assessment of subjective experience of real-world and simulated world driving for investigating factors leading to simulator sickness. Thirty professional car drivers drove a fixed-base driving simulator in real and simulated worlds under No Time Pressure (NTP) and Time Pressure (TP) driving conditions. Drivers rated their perceptions based on real-world driving and simulator driving experiences after each driving session with respect to three factors: simulator sickness, mental workload, and sense of presence. The structural equation model results revealed that drivers experienced high mental workload due to TP driving conditions (factor loading = 0.90) and repeated exposure to simulated world (factor loading = 0.20) which induced simulator sickness (factor loading = 0.41) and resulted in low sense of presence (factor loading = -0.18). Thus, it can be concluded that lack of experience with virtual reality induced high simulator sickness, increased mental workload, and low sense of presence.

In India, over 25,000 pedestrian fatalities occur due to road crashes every year. While several studies have identified possible causative factors that contribute to these fatalities, little is known about how pedestrians perceive their surrounding environment. This study attempts to bridge this gap by analysing the pedestrian perception of the built environment and traffic-related aspects considering urban roads (arterial and sub-arterial). Fourteen parameters were selected to assess pedestrian perception, and four factors were derived through factor analysis. The obtained factor scores were then subjected to two-step cluster analysis to determine whether pedestrian perception is different for people from different socio-economic demographics with varying travel behaviour. Based on the results obtained from the descriptive analysis, the respondents were most satisfied with the 'quality of streetlights at sidewalks' and 'visibility/sight distances', while they were most dissatisfied with 'pedestrian volume at sidewalks' and 'lighting facilities at crossings'. From the cluster analysis, it can be summarized that female pedestrians walk less frequently than males and perceive a higher probability of collision or near-collision incidents against male pedestrians. The study findings can aid the policymakers in the assessment of the pedestrian perception of the existing road infrastructure and suggest improvements to ensure pedestrian safety.

Mobile phone distraction is a significant contributor to pedestrian injuries. However, mobile phone engagement among pedestrians has been scarcely explored in a developing country like India. The present study utilized the beliefs-based theory of planned behaviour to examine the association between pedestrian beliefs towards distracted walking (behavioural, normative, and control) and their mobile phone use frequencies. Based on a survey of 560 pedestrians (64.6% males), it was found that the major use of mobile phones was for listening to music (30.7%), followed by receiving a call (25%), making a call (18.9%), texting (9.8%), navigation (8.5%) and internet browsing (7.1%). A series of multivariate ANOVAs and logistic regression models were developed to investigate the relationships between the beliefs and frequencies of mobile phone use in hands-free and hand-held conditions. Significant multivariate differences were found for behavioural and normative beliefs in hands-free conditions and all three types of beliefs in hand-held conditions. The frequency of mobile phone use was significantly predicted by normative beliefs (

Introduction-Atrial brillation is characterized by disorganized, rapid and irregular atrial activation with loss of atrial contraction and an irregular ventricular rate determined by atrio-ventricular nodal conduction. Atrial brillation is the most common sustained arrhythmia and major public health problems. The present study aimed to nd out possible underlying etiologies for atrial brillation. Method- In this study, total of 100 patients of age >18 years with patients with clinically and electrocardiographically proven atrial brillation were included. However, patients of age

Driving error is an intrinsic component of unsafe driving behaviour. Even though alcohol results in substantial crash fatalities on Indian roads, there is hardly any evidence-based research on alcohol impairment in the driving errors of Indian drivers. The present study examined the effects of differentiated Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) levels (0%, 0.03%, 0.05%, and 0.08%) on the driving errors of Indian drivers. 82 volunteers participated in the driving simulator study and drove in rural and urban environments in a randomized and counterbalanced order. Generalized negative binomial regression models were developed for longitudinal and lateral driving error measures. Compared to the sober state, the increments in speed limit violations were 53%, 138% and 143% in rural driving environment, and 68%, 89%, 95% in urban driving environment at 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.08% BACs. While 0.03% and 0.05% BACs did not significantly influence the lane excursions in rural environment, 0.08% BAC resulted in 107% increment; corresponding increments were 71%, 84%, and 148% in urban environment. In rural environment, 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.08% BACs resulted in 28%, 39% and 58% increments in low RPM frequencies (RPM 5000). In urban environment, the increments were 35%, 56% and 71% for low RPMs at 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.08% BACs; whereas, for high RPMs, the increments at 0.05% and 0.08% BACs were 45% and 67% respectively (no significant influence of 0.03% BAC). The study identified the significant risk factors influencing driving errors, thereby sketching the risky driving profiles.