A numerical investigation into the effect of CRS misuse on the injury potential of children in frontal and side impact crashes

This research focuses on an investigation into the head and neck injuries sustained by toddlers due to CRS misuse under frontal and side impact crashes. A fully deformable FE model incorporating a Hybrid III 3-year-old dummy was developed which has been previously validated for frontal impacts under CMVSS 208 and FMVSS 213 testing conditions. Furthermore, this model has also been validated under near-side impact conditions in accordance to crash tests carried out by NHTSA. In addition, numerical models incorporating a Q3/Q3s prototype child crash test dummies were developed. The objective of this research was to study the effect of seatbelt slack and the absence of the top tether strap on the head and neck injuries sustained by toddlers in a vehicle crash. Numerical simulations were conducted under full frontal and near side impact crash testing conditions in accordance with FMVSS 213 for the Hybrid III 3-year-old dummy and Q3/Q3s dummies in the absence and presence of slack in the seatbelt webbing, and in the absence and presence of the top tether strap. In addition, the effect of using a cross-shaped rigid ISOFIX system was also investigated. An analysis of the head and chest accelerations, neck loads and moments was completed to investigate the potential of injury due to CRS misuse. An increase in HIC₁₅ by approximately 30–40% for the frontal impact and 10–20% for the near-side impact respectively was observed for the Q3 child dummy due to both forms of CRS misuse. In the absence of the top tether strap the forward head excursions were observed to be increased by approximately 70% for the Hybrid III 3-year-old dummy and 40% for the Q3 dummy, respectively. Use of the cross-shaped rigid ISOFIX system illustrated a reduction in head and neck injury parameters, for both frontal and side impact conditions, in the absence and presence of CRS misuse. CRS misuse results in a significant increase in injury parameters and potential for contact related head injuries. Use of a rigid ISOFIX system to restrain a CRS provides better CRS and dummy confinement and reduced injury potential than a flexible ISOFIX system.     

Distribution of transport injury and related risk behaviours in a large national cohort of Thai adults

Background

A major barrier to addressing the problem of transport injury in low to middle-income countries is the lack of information regarding the incidence of traffic crashes and the demographic, behavioural and socio-economic determinants of crash-related injury. This study aimed to determine the baseline frequency and distribution of transport injury and the prevalence of various road safety behaviours in a newly recruited cohort of Thai adults.

Methods

The Thai Health-Risk Transition Study includes an ongoing population-based cohort study of 87,134 adult students residing across Thailand. Baseline survey data from 2005 includes data on self-reported transport injury within the previous 12 months and demographic, behavioural and transportation factors that could be linked to Thailand's transport risks.

Results

Overall, 7279 (8.4% or 8354 per 100,000) of respondents reported that their most serious injury in the 12 months prior to recruitment in the cohort was transport-related, with risk being higher for males and those aged 15–19 years. Most transport injuries occurred while using motorcycles. A much higher proportion of males reported driving after three or more glasses of alcohol at least once in the previous year compared to females. The prevalence of motorcycle helmet and seat belt wearing in this sample were higher than previously reported for Thailand.

Conclusions

The reported data provide the basis for monitoring changes in traffic crash risks and risk behaviours in a cohort of adults in the context of ongoing implementation of policy and programs that are currently being introduced to address the problem of transport-related injury in Thailand.     

Transition to hydrogen economy in the United States: A 2006 status report

Energy crises in the latter part of the 20th century, as well as the current increase in the cost of oil, emphasize the need for alternate sources of energy in the United States. Concerns about climate change dictate that the source be clean and not contribute to global warming. Hydrogen has been identified as such a source for many years and the transition to a hydrogen economy was predicted to occur from the mid-1970s to 2000. This paper reports on the status of this transition in the year 2006. Instead of being a clean source of energy, most of the hydrogen produced in the US results from steam reforming of fossil fuels, releasing _CO2${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ and other pollutants to the atmosphere. Nuclear process heat is ideally suited for the production of hydrogen, either using electricity for electrolysis of water, or heat for thermochemical hydrogen production or reforming of fossil fuels. However, no new nuclear plants have been ordered or built in the United States since 1979, and it may be many years before high-temperature nuclear reactors are available for production of hydrogen. Considerable research and development efforts are focused on commercializing hydrogen-powered vehicles to lessen the dependence of the transportation sector on imported oil. However, the use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCV) in 2006 is two orders-of-magnitude less than what has been predicted. Although it makes little sense environmentally or economically, hydrogen is also used as fuel in internal combustion engines. Development of hydrogen economy will require a strong intervention by external forces.     

Examining the relative effectiveness of different message framing strategies for child passenger safety: Recommendations for increased comprehension and compliance

Background

Age-appropriate child restraints and rear seating dramatically reduce injury in vehicle crashes. Yet parents and caregivers struggle to comply with child passenger safety (CPS) recommendations, and frequently make mistakes when choosing and installing restraints. The purpose of this research was to evaluate various methods of framing CPS recommendations, and to examine the relative effectiveness on parents’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions related to best practices and proper use of child restraints. Emphasis framing is a persuasion technique that involves placing focus on specific aspects of the content in order to encourage or discourage certain interpretations of the content.

Method

A 5 (flyer group) X 2 (time) randomized experiment was conducted in which 300 parent participants answered a pre-survey, viewed one of four flyer versions or a no-education control version, and completed a post-survey. Surveys measured CPS knowledge, attitudes, perceptions of efficacy and risk, and behavioral intentions. The four flyers compared in this study all communicated the same CPS recommendations, but several versions were tested which each employed a different emphasis frame: (1) recommendations organized by the natural progression of seat types; (2) recommendations which focused on avoiding premature graduation; (3) recommendations which explained the risk-reduction rationale behind the information given; or (4) recommendations which were organized by age. In a fifth no-education (control) condition, participants viewed marketing materials.

Results

Analyses of covariance and pairwise comparisons indicated the risk-reduction rationale flyer outperformed other flyers for many subscales, and significantly differed from no-education control for the most subscales, including restraint selection, back seat knowledge, rear-facing knowledge and attitudes, total efficacy, overall attitudes, and stated intentions.

Conclusions

This research provides insight for increasing caregiver understanding and compliance with CPS information. Recommendations for the field include communicating the rationale behind the information given, using behavior-based directives in headers, avoiding age-based headers, and incorporating back-seat positioning directives throughout.     

区域性综合交通枢纽城市的综合交通规划探析——以梧州市为例

梧州市作为区域性综合交通枢纽城市,交通发展受多种因素的影响,应协调经济、文化、资源,环境等因素,探索一种可持续发展的交通模式.梧州市综合交通规划立足交通发展现状,采用交通可持续发展理念,以及交通规划与土地利用规划相协调的理念,提出“九网合一”的交通模式,构建“一环七射三连”的高速公路网和“丰”字形铁路主骨架.     

膨胀烟丝的包装和运输优化

对目前国内CO2膨胀烟丝的生产能力及分布进行了分析,详细讨论了膨胀烟丝总加工使用成本,其中包括膨胀烟丝的加工费、膨胀烟丝的包装形式及费用、膨胀烟丝的运输方式及费用,同时也给出了膨胀烟丝的包装与贮存中的温湿度条件以及几种膨胀烟丝包装运输方式的造碎情况对比。由此得出如下结论:①国内新建CO2膨胀烟丝生产点时,应向大规模集约化发展,同时应考虑汽车运输半径在600km左右;②未上膨胀烟丝的中小型卷烟企业可以使用外购的膨胀烟丝,以减少重复投资;③膨胀烟丝国内销售建议使用1型纸箱包装,距离较近时采用5t箱式汽车运输,距离较远时采用火车运输;④建议制订膨胀烟丝包装行业标准,使膨胀烟丝包装标准化、规范化。     

Importance of biodiesel as transportation fuel

The scarcity of known petroleum reserves will make renewable energy resources more attractive. The most feasible way to meet this growing demand is by utilizing alternative fuels. Biodiesel is defined as the monoalkyl esters of vegetable oils or animal fats. Biodiesel is the best candidate for diesel fuels in diesel engines. The biggest advantage that biodiesel has over gasoline and petroleum diesel is its environmental friendliness. Biodiesel burns similar to petroleum diesel as it concerns regulated pollutants. On the other hand, biodiesel probably has better efficiency than gasoline. One such fuel for compression-ignition engines that exhibit great potential is biodiesel. Diesel fuel can also be replaced by biodiesel made from vegetable oils. Biodiesel is now mainly being produced from soybean, rapeseed and palm oils. The higher heating values (HHVs) of biodiesels are relatively high. The HHVs of biodiesels (39–41 MJ/kg) are slightly lower than that of gasoline (46 MJ/kg), petrodiesel (43 MJ/kg) or petroleum (42 MJ/kg), but higher than coal (32–37 MJ/kg). Biodiesel has over double the price of petrodiesel. The major economic factor to consider for input costs of biodiesel production is the feedstock, which is about 80% of the total operating cost. The high price of biodiesel is in large part due to the high price of the feedstock. Economic benefits of a biodiesel industry would include value added to the feedstock, an increased number of rural manufacturing jobs, an increased income taxes and investments in plant and equipment. The production and utilization of biodiesel is facilitated firstly through the agricultural policy of subsidizing the cultivation of non-food crops. Secondly, biodiesel is exempt from the oil tax. The European Union accounted for nearly 89% of all biodiesel production worldwide in 2005. By 2010, the United States is expected to become the world's largest single biodiesel market, accounting for roughly 18% of world biodiesel consumption, followed by Germany.     

Wayfinding design in transportation architecture e are saliency models or designer visual attention a good predictor of passenger visual attention?

In transportation architecture, wayfinding quality is a crucial factor for determining transfer efficiency and level of service. When developing architectural design concepts, designers often employ their visual attention to imagine where passengers will look. A saliency model is a software program that can predict human visual attention. This research examined whether a saliency model or designer visual attention is a good predictor of passenger visual attention during wayfinding inside transportation architecture. Using a remote eye-tracking system, the eye-movements of 29 participants watching 100 still images depicting different indoor scenes of transportation architecture were recorded and transformed into saliency maps to illustrate participants' visual attention. Participants were categorized as either “designers” or “laypeople” based on their architectural design expertise. Similarities were compared among the “designers'” visual attention, saliency model predictions, and “laypeople's” visual attention. The results showed that while the “designers'” visual attention was the best predictor of that of “laypeople”, followed by saliency models, a single designer's visual attention was not a good predictor. The divergence in visual attention highlights the limitation of designers in predicting passenger wayfinding behavior and implies that integrating a saliency model in practice can be beneficial for wayfinding design.     

The effect of night transportation on the heart rate and skin temperature of ostriches during real transportation

Literature has identified a number of stressors that have negative impacts on the welfare of ostriches during transportation. In order to maintain or improve the welfare of animals it is important to minimise or eliminate the impact of such stressors. Literature suggested that ostrich welfare during transit might be improved by using darkened vehicles. A preliminary study was carried out which measured the response of ostrich heart rate and skin temperature (indicators of stress) to transportation. Comparisons were made between transportation during the day and at night. Statistical tests suggested that heart rates and skin temperatures recorded during the night were lower than those recorded during the day. The usual response of ostriches to darkness is to sit, which provides greater stability for the bird while the transportation unit is in motion. Temperatures inside the transportation unit were significantly lower at night. This may also contribute to the lowering of heart rate and skin temperature as it reduces effects of heat stress. The conclusion has been drawn that transporting ostriches at night is potentially beneficial for the reduction of stress and maintenance of welfare.     

热网终端计算机通讯网络的研究

本文介绍了热网络端计算机数据通讯网络的设计,该网络具有工作可靠,性价比高的特点,尤其适用于局域网络的低速运行系统。