PURPOSES : Basic research to calculate the appropriate gap acceptance for autonomous vehicles at merging section. Research on whether users prefer short or long gap acceptance. METHODS : Using a driving simulator, experience autonomous driving with different gap acceptance in different weather condition, and analyze which gap acceptance is preferred using survey and biometric data. RESULTS : Regardless of the weather condition, long gap acceptance was preferred, and difference was especially clear in rainy or foggy situation. CONCLUSIONS : It was analyzed that users prefer long gap acceptance over short gap acceptance, and that they feel less frustrated due to long gap acceptance when weather condition is poor.

The rapid digital transformation and the ever-changing needs of consumers have provided both academia and practice a stimulating setting and chance for grasping evolving opportunities and reinventing the traditional marketing approaches. Agility is one emergent approach to manage challenges like increasing uncertainty or high volatility. Due to its relative novelty, the extant academic literature on marketing agility is narrow, and although the operationalization of the construct is slowly expanding, there is yet the need for further refinement of the definition, the construct, terminology, and its dimensions. Similarly, in practitioner circles there is a growing “buzz” about implementing agile practices (e.g., continuous feedback-learning cycles, collaboration, flexibility, and speed) in the field of marketing to manage changing market environments. What exactly makes an organization, a department, or a team agile is, however, still blurred.

PURPOSES : Aiming to evaluate the consistency of road markings at night, the luminance values of road markings at night were compared for merging and diverging areas. METHODS : To evaluate the consistency of road marking at nighttime in merging and diverging areas, the highway geometric structures and luminance of the road markings were collected and analyzed together at the merging and diverging areas. "Luminance" in this study referred to the overall luminance of the road markings as reflected together from surrounding lights, such as moonlight or artificial lights. The luminance of the road markings 90 m ahead of the driver were used. The measured luminance values were analyzed based on the difference ratios and an analysis of variance. RESULTS : Based on a grouping of three categories (interchanges (ICs), merging, and diverging areas), it was found that the difference ratios and analysis of variance values from the ICs and merging and diverging areas were not consistently acceptable. CONCLUSIONS : After evaluating the consistency of road markings at night in the merging and diverging areas, it can be concluded that there is a need for more consistency in the luminance on merging and diverging areas on highways. To enhance consistency, more dedicated lighting guidance for merging and diverging areas on highway areas may be necessary.

We demonstrate the subsurface origin of the observed evolution of the solar active region 10930 (AR10930) associated with merging and breakup of magnetic polarity regions at the solar surface. We performed a magnetohydrodynamic simulation of an emerging magnetic flux tube whose field-line twist is asymmetrically distributed along its axis, which is a key to merging and fragmentation in this active region. While emerging into the surface, the flux tube is subjected to partial splitting of its weakly twisted portion, forming separate polarity regions at the solar surface. As emergence proceeds, these separate polarity regions start to merge and then break up, while in the corona sigmoidal structures form and a solar eruption occurs. We discuss what physical processes could be involved in the characteristic evolution of an active region magnetic field that leads to the formation of a sunspot surrounded by satellite polarity regions.

The highway junctions are the areas where frequent congestion occurs due to a conflict between vehicles entering the main road from the connecting road and vehicles passing through the main road, which is the main target of microscopic and macroscopic traffic flow study. The importance of study on the behavior and the interaction between vehicles at the highway junctions has been emphasized as an essential element of the Cooperation Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS) and Autonomous Vehicle technology. In this study, merging location and time of vehicles in acceleration lane of highway merging area is recorded by aerial videos from drones, and vectormodelling method was developed with merging location (y-axis) and merging time (x-axis). In the vector model, the vector region of the traffic flow is represented by the realistic expressible vector region and the stable entry into the highway. The model is compared with the traffic conditions according to speed, traffic volume, and density in main line and connecting road. This study can be used as a basic data for understanding the behavior of vehicles at the highway junctions and It is expected to be used as an operational indicator for advanced transportation such as lamp metering, C-ITS, and Autonomous Vehicle technology to stable traffic flow on the highway.