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• Human drivers' interactions with automated vehicles was studied in a field test. • Human drivers adapt their driving behaviour when interacting with automated vehicles. • Drivers interacting with recognizable automated vehicles adopt smaller critical gaps. • After overtaking, drivers merge closer in front of recognizable automated vehicles. • Results suggest potential exploitation of automated vehicles by drivers in traffic. Advancements in technology are bringing automated vehicles (AVs) closer to wider deployment. However, in the early phases of their deployment, AVs will coexist and frequently interact with human-driven vehicles (HDVs). These interactions might lead to changes in the driving behavior of HDVs. A field test was conducted in the Netherlands with 18 participants focusing on gap acceptance, car-following, and overtaking behaviors to understand such behavioral adaptations. The participants were asked to drive their vehicles in a controlled environment, interacting with an HDV and a Wizard of Oz AV. The effects of positive and negative information regarding AV behavior on the participants' driving behavior and their trust in AVs were also studied. The results show that human drivers adopted significantly smaller critical gaps when interacting with the approaching AV as compared to when interacting with the approaching HDV. Drivers also maintained a significantly shorter headway after overtaking the AV in comparison to overtaking the HDV. Positive information about the behavior of the AV led to closer interactions in comparison to HDVs. Additionally, drivers showed higher trust in the interacting AV when they were provided with positive information regarding the AV in comparison to scenarios where no information was provided. These findings suggest the potential exploitation of AV technology by HDV drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Time headway is significantly different from various designs of dedicated lanes. • A significant lower time headway was observed on the continuous access lane. • The average time headway of males is distinctly lower than females. • Time headway is significantly negatively correlated with the years of driving. Automated vehicles (AVs) are expected to improve traffic flow efficiency and safety. The deployment of AVs on motorways is expected to be the first step in their implementation. One of the main concerns is how human drivers will interact with AVs. Dedicating specific lanes to AVs have been suggested as a possible solution. However, there is still a lack of evidence-based research on the consequence of dedicated lanes for AVs on human drivers' behavior. To bridge this research gap, a driving simulator experiment was conducted to investigate the behavior of human drivers exposed to different road design configurations of dedicated lanes on motorways. The experiment sample consisted of 34 (13 female) licensed drivers in the age range of 20–30. A repeated measures ANOVA was applied, which revealed that the type of separation between the dedicated lane and the other lanes has a significant influence on the behavior of human drivers driving in the proximity of AV platoons. Human drivers maintained a significantly lower time headway (THW) when driving in the proximity of a continuous access dedicated lane as compared to a limited-access dedicated lane with a guardrail separation for AV platoons. A similar result was found for the limited-access dedicated lane in comparison to the limited-access dedicated lane with guardrail separation. Moreover, the results regarding the empirical relationships between THW and sociodemographic variables indicate a significant THW difference between males and females as well as a significant inverse relationship between THW and the years of driving experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the first time in the Netherlands, the Adjustment Scales for Early Transition in Schooling (ASETS) have been applied to kindergarten and first-grade elementary school. A study was conducted to examine the relation between the different behavioral (phenotypes) and situational dimensions (situtypes) of the ASETS and learning performance on standardized language and numeracy tests. Results show that a proportion of children experience socioemotional and behavioral problems. Among boys, in particular, emotional or behavioral problems are significant. Furthermore, results show that these problems translate into a fairly consistent pattern of negative correlations with language and numeracy performance. These outcomes support the assertion that some children are not yet ready for school. It therefore seems important that the structured academic approach that is central to many methods used in early childhood education undergoes critical reflection, as by no means all target group children are ready for this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Modern occupants hardly use their capacity to adapt to the wide range of thermal environments due to living in well-insulated buildings with indoor climatization. However, climate change with associated health hazards necessitates exploring the limits of human adaptability to extreme environments. Thus, this work compared the adaptive actions of Tuvan nomads living in lightweight yurts in Siberia and modern sedentary dwellers from the Netherlands. The descriptive analysis focused on differences in behavior, thermal exposure, and comfort expectations. Body accelerometry, skin, and exposure temperature were monitored over 3 days in wintertime using wearable sensors, while the indoor environment was monitored using stationary sensors. A significant difference in the daytime lifestyle between the Dutch and the Tuvans was reflected in the time spent indoors (66–100% vs. 15–51%), frequency of going outdoors (1–6 vs. 6–25 times), and the indoor clothing fashion (<1 clo vs. 1.1–2.3 clo). The nomadic population was exposed to a greater variation of the thermal environment (from −30 °C to +40 °C) in contrast to the Dutch (from 21 to 26 °C). Skin temperatures and the estimated Predictive Mean Vote (PMV) index indicated that Tuvans were relatively warm indoors than the Dutch, despite cold outdoors (mean −22 °C). The combination of greater clothing insulation, greater overall daily activity, elevated metabolic rate, and occasional overheating indoors defined such a difference. Nomads mainly relied on their actions rather than housing to keep themselves warm, and they had modest expectations of comfort, making them accept wider temperature variations, which was the crucial difference from modern expectations. • The extent of human adaptability to extreme environments provides insight for resilient living. • Modern occupants live in a narrow range of indoor temperatures minimizing their behavioral adaptation. • The modern sedentary lifestyle makes people stay indoors and less connected with the outdoors. • Nomads living in lightweight yurts rely on their activity and clothing than the housing to cope with environmental extremes. • Nomads accept greater variation of the thermal environment and less concern about stable thermal conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]