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    <language>en-us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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    <item>
      <title>Fatigue Risk in Helicopter Air Ambulance Pilots</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2352289</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Pilot fatigue risks in helicopter air ambulance (HAA) operations due to the on-call nature and shiftwork required for 24-hour emergency service are an important safety consideration. The objective of this research is to characterize the current state of fatigue in HAA operations in the United States. This will consist of a field study with HAA pilots as they perform their normal scheduled duties and flights in response to emergency medical service requests. Research will target known fatigue risk areas based on the draft fatigue-risk baseline, including circadian disruptions, cumulative fatigue, and sleep inertia. Specifically, the focus of this analysis will include factors that explain pilots' performance, fatigue ratings, sleepiness rating, and sleep metrics in separate statistical models. Research will provide empirical data to inform Flight Standards (FS) personnel who update FAA regulatory and guidance material to improve the strategic use of rest facilities, and fitness for duty requirements in HAA Operations.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Sep 2024 11:25:20 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2352289</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Biomarkers for Noise-Induced Sleep Deprivation</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2083614</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project aims to investigate biological indicators for noise-induced sleep disruption and cognitive changes. The project is a sub-study, part of a larger ASCENT COE project designed to test the ability of broadband (e.g., pink) noise to serve as a countermeasure for sleep loss from simulated aircraft noise.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:04:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2083614</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Restart Study</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1400154</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The study compared 5-month work schedules and assessed SCEs (e.g., crashes, near-crashes, and crash-relevant conflicts), operator fatigue/alertness, and short-term health outcomes among CMV drivers operating under a 1-night rest period versus drivers operating under a rest period with 2 or more nights. The study also analyzed the safety and fatigue effects on CMV drivers who had less than 168 hours between their restart periods and those drivers who had at least 168 hours between their restart periods. Drivers were recruited from small, medium, and large fleets across a variety of operations (long-haul, short-haul, and regional) and different sectors of the industry (flat-bed, refrigerated, tank, and dry-van). FMCSA would like to thank the many CMV drivers and companies who volunteered to participate in this study.

The study used data collected from:

Electronic logging devices (ELDs) (which tracked drivers’ time on duty).
Psychomotor Vigilance Tests (PVTs) (which measured alertness).
Actigraph watches (which assessed sleep).
Camera-based onboard monitoring systems (which recorded or measured SCEs and driver alertness).
Smartphone-based self-report questionnaires that measured sleepiness, stress, hours slept, and caffeine intake.
A study plan, which was peer-reviewed by a panel of independent experts with relevant medical and scientific qualifications, was published in April of 2015. The final report and findings underwent a similar independent peer review. The Secretary submitted an outline of the study’s scope and methodology to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Inspector General. The Secretary also submitted the final report to the Inspector General.The study uses data collected from:
•	Electronic logging devices (ELDs) (which track drivers’ time on duty).
•	Psychomotor Vigilance Tests (PVTs) (which measure alertness).
•	Actigraph watches (which assess sleep).
•	Camera-based onboard monitoring systems (which record or measure SCEs and driver alertness).
•	Smartphone-based self-report questionnaires that measure sleepiness, stress, hours slept, and caffeine intake.
An initial study plan, which was peer-reviewed by a panel of independent experts with relevant medical and scientific qualifications, was published in March of 2015. The final report and findings will undergo a similar independent peer review. The Secretary submitted an outline of the study’s scope and methodology to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Inspector General. The Secretary will also submit the final report to the Inspector General.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Mar 2016 13:30:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1400154</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>NOI # 17 - Sleep Disturbance
</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1368641</link>
      <description><![CDATA[No summary provided.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2015 10:57:27 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1368641</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Project 25 - Noise Exposure Response: Sleep &amp; Student Learning</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1364450</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Project 25's goal is to understand the impact of aircraft noise on sleep, and to develop models that predict sleep disruption for a given aircraft noise profile. Chronic sleep disturbance is associated with multiple health issues including cognitive difficulties, exhaustion, high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression. The amount of time spent in different sleep stages is important in terms of physical and psychological well being. What is not fully understood is how much aircraft noise impacts sleep in communities around airports, and how impacts due to aircraft noise compare with those due to other things (other noise sources, weight, age, stress, etc.) that are known to affect sleep. Models that predict the probability of being in different sleep stages given different profiles of night-time noise exposure are being examined, as are models that predict awakenings. The aim is to build on these and other models and incorporate a better characterization of how noise characteristics, for example, loudness and rate of onset, affect sleep and time spent in different sleep stages. By coupling the resulting sleep disturbance models with noise prediction tools, it will be possible to show, e.g., potential awakening patterns in communities for a wide range of different airport and air traffic scenarios. The model will be tuned to produce results that replicate those observed in field studies (usually conscious awakenings) and in laboratory studies (both awakenings and sleep structure). The community response simulation will help us quantify how much and what type of data should be collected in future sleep disturbance studies to fully validate the proposed higher-fidelity models. With the most recent U.S. field study dating back to 1996, and when compared to the sleep disturbance efforts of other, especially European, countries, U.S. research on the effects of aircraft noise on sleep has lagged over the past 15 years, while aircraft noise has continued to evolve. Within this period, air traffic has changed significantly, with substantial increases in traffic volume, on one hand, and significant improvements in noise levels of single aircraft, on the other. Due to inter-cultural differences, results from studies performed outside the U.S. may not be transferred 1:1 to U.S. domestic airports. Therefore, it is important that U.S. field studies be conducted to acquire current sleep disturbance data for varying degrees of noise exposure. It is one major objective of Project 25 to suggest an optimal study design for a U.S. field study on the effects of aircraft noise on sleep based on the current scientific knowledge in both the noise effects research and the sleep research area.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 08 Aug 2015 01:01:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1364450</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The Effect of Early Evening and Nighttime Aircraft Noise on Children's Learning</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1363385</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Project 25's goal is to understand the impact of aircraft noise on sleep, and to develop models that predict sleep disruption for a given aircraft noise profile. Chronic sleep disturbance is associated with multiple health issues including cognitive difficulties, exhaustion, high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression. The amount of time spent in different sleep stages is important in terms of physical and psychological well being. What is not fully understood is how much aircraft noise impacts sleep in communities around airports, and how impacts due to aircraft noise compare with those due to other things (other noise sources, weight, age, stress, etc.) that are known to affect sleep. Models that predict the probability of being in different sleep stages given different profiles of night-time noise exposure are being examined, as are models that predict awakenings.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 30 Jul 2015 01:00:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1363385</guid>
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