6/22/2017· Transportation
Autonomous and Inevitable, Part 5: The Regulatory Environment -- Initial Thoughts
By: Ned Einstein
Industry insiders, including government officials, cite an interesting analogy as a justification for their initial jump into the regulation of driverless vehicles that was first promulgated on September 20, 2016. The point made is that, had current regulations been in effect when the "Model T" hit the streets, we would have experienced far fewer collisions.
7/14/2017· Automotive - Vehicular
Autonomous and Inevitable, Part 6: The Transition to Complete Autonomy
By: Ned Einstein
When an asteroid strikes a planet, things tend to change quickly. Most other changes occur gradually, even while a small handful are occasionally more significant. These latter changes are sometimes referred to as "paradigm shifts," largely because they affect so many things around them, and cause such dramatic changes in the things they affect directly.
7/24/2017· Transportation
Autonomous and Inevitable, Part 7: Cameras and Sensors
By: Ned Einstein
The previous six National Bus Trader articles on this subject stabbed at some highlights and low-lights within the extraordinary spectrum of socio-economic, institutional and other issues encompassed by our transition from humanoid-driven to robotic vehicles. At this point, I thought it might be helpful to take a quick glance at some of the hardware that serves as the robots' mechanical fixtures, apart from the electronics and the digitalia: Cameras and sensors. These components were employed in "transitional" or "steppingstone" efforts along the path to truly driverless vehicles. So I feel it is worth a look at how these technologies were used and abused at this earlier stage of HAV (highly-automated vehicle) development. Should the reader wish to view the math in the robots' brains, I recommend Multiple View Geometry in Computer Vision by Richard Hartley and Andrew Zisserman. The bible for artificial intelligence. Way over my head. If also over yours, no apologies necessary.
8/24/2017· Automotive - Vehicular
Autonomous and Inevitable, Part 8: Access and Accountability
By: Ned Einstein
What is interesting, and the focus of this installment, is the glaring disparity between the magnitude of information available about a vehicle or driver's performance and the general disinterest in examining it. This disparity is not a technological problem. It is largely an institutional and attitudinal problem. Or one might characterize it as a cultural problem. Or a values problem in a money-oriented society. Nevertheless, it raises an important point about driverless vehicles: While a vehicle's brain may contribute to and/or improve safety (fewer accidents and incidents) and performance (e.g., better mileage, less pollution), this brain's extraordinary analytical capabilities may be pointless because no non-robot is likely to ever examine the data.
9/12/2017· Automotive - Vehicular
Autonomous and Inevitable, Part 9: Conclusion -- The Best of Both Worlds
By: Ned Einstein
The past eight installments of this series covered a lot of ground -- some technical, but mostly socio-economic and conceptual. But in the debate over the pros and cons of human versus robotic drivers, is it not possible to have the wisdom to take the best of both worlds? In early articles I acknowledged some of the advantages of Highly-Automated Vehicles (HAVs), including:
10/5/2019· Automotive - Vehicular
Autonomous and Inevitable: Drivers v. Robots, Part 1
By: Ned Einstein
This series of installments, which shall appear periodically, will examine some likely reactions to the robots by drivers.
4/5/2024· Plastic / Reconstructive / Cosmetic Surgery
Avoiding An Aesthetic Malpractice Lawsuit
By: Dr. Jorge Perez
The practice of medicine has always been vulnerable to our litigious climate. In addition, current trends in healthcare with declining third-party reimbursements, have increased the number of physicians venturing into aesthetic medicine seeking better compensation for their services.
5/29/2003· Expert Witnessing
Avoiding Ipse Dixit Mislabeling: Post-Daubert Approaches To Expert Clinical Opinions
By: Harold Bursztajn, MD and Thomas G. Gutheil, MD
Recent Supreme Court decisions emphasize the need to regulate the admissibility of expert testimony by means of standards that require opinions going beyond ipse dixit; that is, that are based on more than the fact that the expert "said it him/herself
12/30/2013· Transportation
Awakening From Denial: Acknowledging the Crisis of Sleep Apnea
By: Ned Einstein
For decades, multiple sources cited the commonly-accepted statistic that only an estimated four percent of all individuals possessed a medical condition known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). OSA is largely the result of certain physical characteristics and lifestyle habits that reduce the flow of oxygen into one's lungs while asleep. These characteristics result in lowered blood oxygen levels throughout one's normal night's sleep, and lower the quality of that sleep such that the individual is fatigued through much of the day.
6/30/2014· Plants & Trees
Back to the Future - The Future of Landscape Appraisals
By: Joe Samnik
The new 10th Edition, Guide for Plant Appraisals, is currently in the review and comment phase. This long awaited publication (if not Holy Grail) could be available in 2013. Having reviewed the publication I can, at this time, state with some certainty that future depositions will become much shorter and the ranks of the new unqualified landscape appraisers will be filled in large part from the current ranks of the qualified. As a book review goes, I shall go no further until such time that the 10th Edition is playing in a theater near you.
