Suchergebnisse

Introduction: the longevity paradox -- Vital force -- Myths -- The future is female -- A tale of two villages -- Radical empathy and transcendent design -- Health, safety, and the triumph of magical thinking -- The pursuit of happiness -- Meaning and legacy in the longevity economy

The baby boomers, 77 million people born between 1946 and 1964, are the single largest generation in American history. They have changed the face of the United States while placing new demands on the transportation sector. Today, America's "youth generation" is aging. Although older driver safety is a perennial issue, this article does not address this topic; instead, the focus is on the following: Who are the baby boomers, how are they different from previous generations of older people, and what difference does it make for transportation? What will they be doing in old age? Where will they live, and how will they get around? What role might new technologies play in their mobility? What does their retirement mean for the transportation workforce in both government and industry? This article identifies key transportation research questions, policy issues, and practical implications associated with an aging America.

This article examines the range and limitations of strategies available to a cabinet secretary entrepreneur to take charge of an agency and to set the agenda in a particular policy area. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner's attempt to reinvigorate his office and frame the policy debate surrounding the reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Act between 1989 and 1991 through the development of a National Transportation Policy provides the basis for this analysis.

The United States' demographic profile is changing. Tomorrow's America will be older, more ethnically and culturally diverse, experience more immigration both internally and internationally, and have a new generation of better educated women. How will these potentially disruptive demographics affect the future of the transportation system? This article outlines the objectives of a U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration's University Transportation Centers Program's Spotlight Conference on the Impact of Changing Demographics on the Transportation System, held at the National Academies, Washington, DC, October 2008. Seven of the several papers presented are published here as a special issue to identify key research questions and implications for both policy and practice.

More and more people are using planes, trains, and automobiles. Traffic congestion plagues both highways and airports, making travel between cities more problematic with the passage of time. Gridlock and winglock are becoming part of American life. High-tech solutions to congestion exist. One is the maglev train, which can reach speeds of up to 300 mph (486 kph). This article examines 2 periods in the last 30 years in which maglev was considered as a possible solution to transportation congestion. However, in both instances, the coupling was not made between problem and solution. It is argued that although technicalfeasibility and economics are crucial, a successful solution requires three political elements: affordability, acceptability, and accessibility. The failure of maglev is explained in terms of the requisite components of a successful solution.

Objective: To assess the sensitivity of two physiological measures for discriminating between levels of cognitive demand under driving conditions across different age groups. Background: Previous driving research presents a mixed picture concerning the sensitivity of physiological measures for differentiating tasks with presumed differences in mental workload. Method: A total of 108 relatively healthy drivers balanced by gender and across three age groups (20–29, 40–49, 60–69) engaged in three difficulty levels of an auditory presentation–verbal response working memory task. Results: Heart rate and skin conductance level (SCL) both increased in a statistically significant fashion with each incremental increase in cognitive demand, whereas driving performance measures did not provide incremental discrimination. SCL was lower in the 40s and 60s age groups; however, the pattern of incremental increase with higher demand was consistent for heart rate and SCL across all age groups. Although each measure was quite sensitive at the group level, considering both SCL and heart rate improved detection of periods of heightened cognitive demand at the individual level. Conclusion: The data provide clear evidence that two basic physiological measures can be utilized under field conditions to differentiate multiple levels of objectively defined changes in cognitive demand. Methodological considerations, including task engagement, may account for some of the inconsistencies in previous research. Application: These findings increase the confidence with which these measures may be applied to assess relative differences in mental workload when developing and optimizing human machine interface (HMI) designs and in exploring their potential role in advanced workload detection and augmented cognition systems.

Abstract

Objectives
Role theory suggests occupying simultaneous family caregiving and employment roles in midlife may exert positive and negative effects on psychological health. However, there is a lack of causal evidence examining the degree to which combinations of these roles influence psychological health at the intersection of gender and racial identity.


Methods
Longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (2004–2018) are used to estimate a series of individual fixed effects models examining combinations of employment status and parental caregiving situation on Center for Epidemiological Studies—Depression Scale (CES-D) depression scores among Black and White men and women aged 50–65. Subsequent models were stratified by intensity of caregiving situation and work schedule.


Results
Individual fixed effects models demonstrate combining work, and parental caregiving is associated with greater depressive symptoms than only working, and with lower depressive symptoms than only caregiving, suggesting that paid employment exerts a protective effect on psychological health whereas parental caregiving may be a risk factor for depressive symptoms in later life. Analyses using an intersectional lens found that combining paid work with parental caregiving exerted a protective effect on CES-D scores among White women and men regardless of participants' intensity of care situation or work schedule. This effect was not present for Black men and women.


Discussion
Accounting for intersectionality is imperative to research on family caregiving, work, and psychological health.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess sensitivity of visual attention and driving performance for detecting changes in driver cognitive workload across different age groups. Background: The literature shows mixed results concerning the sensitivity of gaze concentration metrics to variations in cognitive demand. No studies appear showing how age affects gaze allocation during cognitive demand. Method: Recordings of drivers' gaze and driving performance by individuals in their 20s, 40s, and 60s were captured in actual driving conditions during three levels of cognitive demand. Results: Gaze concentration increased with task difficulty through the low and moderate levels of demand and then appeared to level out at the high demand level. At the moderate difficulty level, gaze concentration increased by 2.4 cm (≈2°) from the reference period. The degree of gaze concentration with added cognitive demand is not related to age in the relatively healthy drivers studied. Driving performance measures did not show a consistent relationship with the objective demand level. Conclusion: Gaze concentration appears at low levels of cognitive demand prior to the appearance of marked decrements in driving control. There is no compelling evidence from this study that driving performance measures can be used to index differences in workload prior to capacity saturation. Application: Drivers' awareness of vehicle surroundings is incrementally affected by increases in cognitive demand. Developers of more advanced driver support systems should consider gaze concentration as a measure of driver cognitive workload. This recommendation is particularly relevant in light of the added benefits of gaze measurements for detecting visual demand. Keywords: mental workload, cognitive distraction, eye movements, visual tunneling, driving safety, situational awareness, voice interfaces, cellular telephones