Real-world adjustments of driver seat and head restraint in Saab 9-3 vehicles

Objective: Whiplash-associated disorder (WAD), commonly denoted whiplash injury, is a worldwide problem. These injuries occur at relatively low changes of velocity (typically <25 km/h) in impacts from all directions. Rear impacts, however, are the most common in the injury statistics. Females have a 1.5–3 times higher risk of whiplash injury than males.

?Improved seat design is the prevailing means of increasing the protection of whiplash injury for occupants in rear impacts. Since 1997, more advanced whiplash protection systems have been introduced on the market, the Saab Active Head Restraint (SAHR) being one of the most prominent. The SAHR—which is height adjustable—is mounted to a pressure plate in the seatback by means of a spring-resisted link mechanism.

?Nevertheless, studies have shown that seats equipped with reactive head restraints (such as the SAHR) have a very high injury-reducing effect for males (～60–70%) but very low or no reduction effect for females. One influencing factor could be the position of the head restraint relative to the head, because a number of studies have reported that adjustable head restraints often are incorrectly positioned by drivers.

?The aim was to investigate how female and male Saab drivers adjust the seat in the car they drive the most.

Methods: The seated positions of drivers in stationary conditions have been investigated in a total of 76 volunteers (34 females, 42 males) who participated in the study. Inclusion criteria incorporated driving a Saab 9–3 on a regularly basis.

Results: The majority of the volunteers (89%) adjusted the head restraint to any of the 3 uppermost positions and as many as 59% in the top position.

?The average vertical distance between the top of the head and the top of the head restraint (offset) increase linearly with increasing statures, from an average of ?26 mm (head below the head restraint) for small females to an average of 82 mm (head above the head restraint) for large males. On average, the offset was 23 mm for females, which is within a satisfactory range and in accordance with recommendations; the corresponding value for males was 72 mm.

?The backset tended to be shorter among female volunteers (on average 27 mm) compared to the male volunteers (on average 44 mm). Moreover, the backset tended to increase with increasing statures.

Conclusions: Incorrect adjustment of the head restraint cannot explain the large differences found between the sexes in the effectiveness of the SAHR system.     

Perils of using speed zone data to assess real-world compliance to speed limits

Objective: Real-world driving studies, including those involving speeding alert devices and autonomous vehicles, can gauge an individual vehicle's speeding behavior by comparing measured speed with mapped speed zone data. However, there are complexities with developing and maintaining a database of mapped speed zones over a large geographic area that may lead to inaccuracies within the data set. When this approach is applied to large-scale real-world driving data or speeding alert device data to determine speeding behavior, these inaccuracies may result in invalid identification of speeding. We investigated speeding events based on service provider speed zone data.

Methods: We compared service provider speed zone data (Speed Alert by Smart Car Technologies Pty Ltd., Ultimo, NSW, Australia) against a second set of speed zone data (Google Maps Application Programming Interface [API] mapped speed zones).

Results: We found a systematic error in the zones where speed limits of 50–60 km/h, typical of local roads, were allocated to high-speed motorways, which produced false speed limits in the speed zone database. The result was detection of false-positive high-range speeding. Through comparison of the service provider speed zone data against a second set of speed zone data, we were able to identify and eliminate data most affected by this systematic error, thereby establishing a data set of speeding events with a high level of sensitivity (a true positive rate of 92% or 6,412/6,960).

Conclusions: Mapped speed zones can be a source of error in real-world driving when examining vehicle speed. We explored the types of inaccuracies found within speed zone data and recommend that a second set of speed zone data be utilized when investigating speeding behavior or developing mapped speed zone data to minimize inaccuracy in estimates of speeding.     

Factors affecting adolescents’ use of urban public spaces in their leisure time: an exploratory study from the city of Vienna

Urban public spaces are important areas for leisure, recreation and physical activity and therefore contribute to the quality of life in cities. In particular, for adolescents they provide important spaces to meet with their peers, away from parental or school control. In many cities worldwide, public spaces have undergone severe developmental processes, and often a withdrawal from public space is noted. With regard to the opportunities those spaces provide for adolescents, it is necessary to investigate their current meaning for adolescents in a leisure context. In this article, qualitative research methods were used to investigate factors affecting adolescents’ use of public spaces in Vienna, Austria. In total 45 adolescents were interviewed. Results show that public open spaces are not regarded as important leisure spaces, and data reveal a strong retreat to private areas for leisure purposes. Perceived insecurities and fears support these processes and often result in avoidance of public spaces but also the wish for more control by authorities.     

Variations of anthropogenic CO2 in urban area deduced by radiocarbon concentration in modern tree rings

Radiocarbon concentration in the atmosphere is significantly lower in areas where man-made emissions of carbon dioxide occur. This phenomenon is known as Suess effect, and is caused by the contamination of clean air with non-radioactive carbon from fossil fuel combustion. The effect is more strongly observed in industrial and densely populated urban areas. Measurements of carbon isotope concentrations in a study area can be compared to those from areas of clear air in order to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide emission from fossil fuel combustion by using a simple mathematical model. This can be calculated using the simple mathematical model. The result of the mathematical model followed in this study suggests that the use of annual rings of trees to obtain the secular variations of 14C concentration of atmospheric CO2 can be useful and efficient for environmental monitoring and modeling of the carbon distribution in local scale.     

窄前沿高压脉冲放电等离子体降解水中苯胺

采用高压电极在气相、接地极在液相的针-板式放电装置,考察了窄前沿高压脉冲放电等离子体降解水中苯胺的效果。比较了窄前沿高压脉冲放电(上升沿为25μs)和常规高压脉冲放电(上升沿为5μs)的脉冲波形、单脉冲能量、脉冲功率、对苯胺的降解效果、能量利用率以及发射光谱的差异。实验结果表明,窄前沿高压脉冲和常规高压脉冲放电的单脉冲能量分别为0.0078 J和0.016 J,脉冲功率分别为1.02 W和1.285 W,放电60 min后对苯胺的降解率分别为90%和55%,前者的能量利用率是后者的2.06倍。利用多通道光纤光谱仪在气相放电中检测到5种活性物质,分别是O、O+、N2、N和·OH,且窄前沿脉冲产生活性物质的信号强度高于常规脉冲。     

Interactions between an invasive and a native bryozoan (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Membranipora membranacea</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Electra pilosa</Emphasis>) species on kelp and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fucus</Emphasis> substrates in Nova Scotia,Canada

Most research on biological invasions to date has focused on the population dynamics of very successful and disruptive introduced species; however, additional knowledge of the biology of the native species is essential for understanding interactions between the two and may reveal factors that limit invasion success. The invasive bryozoan Membranipora membranacea interacts with native Electra pilosa on two substrates in northwest Atlantic subtidal habitats: highly dynamic and fast-growing kelps; and smaller, more stable, and slow-growing fucoid algae. We quantified the relative abundance and evaluated encounter outcomes in different seasons of these two bryozoans on kelp and Fucus at four sites in Nova Scotia. We also examined the effects of substrate (kelp, Fucus), temperature (7, 10, 13°C), and food (limited, unlimited) on growth rates of E. pilosa in laboratory experiments and using field manipulations. We compared our findings on factors affecting the growth of E. pilosa to those on M. membranacea obtained in similar and thus directly comparable experiments from a previous study. The proportional abundance of M. membranacea was greater than that of E. pilosa on kelps, but the opposite was observed on Fucus. Competitive standoffs between the two bryozoans were more frequent than expected, with no differences recorded between substrates; most encounters were won by M. membranacea. Growth of E. pilosa was faster on Fucus than kelp, decreased with increasing temperature only on Fucus, and was not affected by food. Growth rate of E. pilosa in all treatments was slower than that previously measured for M. membranacea. Faster growth and strong overgrowth abilities likely interact on kelps to ensure success of the invasive bryozoan. Success can be limited by low space availability, which in turn restricts growth rate, and consequently, colony size, such as on fucoid substrates. The incorporation of alternative contexts into invasion research can reveal factors involved in the resilience of native communities.     

Model-based experimental design for assessing effects of mixtures of chemicals

We exposed flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum) to a mixture of four poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The experimental setup was chosen such that the emphasis was on assessing partial effects. We interpreted the effects of the mixture by a process-based model, with a threshold concentration for effects on survival. The behavior of the threshold concentration was one of the key features of this research. We showed that the threshold concentration is shared by toxicants with the same mode of action, which gives a mechanistic explanation for the observation that toxic effects in mixtures may occur in concentration ranges where the individual components do not show effects. Our approach gives reliable predictions of partial effects on survival and allows for a reduction of experimental effort in assessing effects of mixtures, extrapolations to other mixtures, other points in time, or in a wider perspective to other organisms.     

Consumer exposure to pesticide residues in apples from the region of south-eastern Poland

The production of apples in Poland is the largest among the countries of the European Union, and therefore, the consumption of these fruits is high in our country. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of pesticide residues in Polish apples and to assess if these residues pose a risk to the health of the consumer. Furthermore, compliance with legal regulations concerning the use of plant protection products in crop cultivation was ascertained. Pesticide residues were found in 192 samples (61.5 % of tested samples). In six samples (1.9 %), residues exceeded maximum residue limits. Violations concerned the insecticides: indoxacarb, diazinon and fenitrothion. The highest long-term consumer exposure was found in the case of consumption of apples with diazinon residue for both groups, adults and toddlers [4 % acceptable daily intake (ADI), adults; 21 % ADI, toddlers]. The highest values of short-term exposure were obtained in the case of consumption of apples with indoxacarb [5 % acute reference dose (ARfD), adults; 27 % ARfD, toddlers] and fenitrothion (4 % ARfD, adults; 23 % ARfD, toddlers). Although fungicides are the pesticides found most often in apples, the consumption of apples with insecticide residues constitutes the greatest hazard to human health.     

The effect of information on public acceptance – The case of water from alternative sources

This study aims to provide conclusive evidence that information about water from alternative sources increases public acceptance. We conducted an experiment with 1000 Australian respondents asking them about their acceptance of recycled and desalinated water for a range of purposes under two conditions: 1) no information provided and 2) information about the production process provided. Results indicate that – both for desalinated and recycled water – the stated likelihood of use increases significantly if people are provided with information about the production process. This has major implications for public policy makers indicating that providing factual information (as opposed to persuasive campaigns) will increase public support of water augmentation projects.