31 research outputs found
15-01 Effect of Cycling Skills on Bicycle Safety and Comfort Associated with Bicycle Infrastructure and Environment
This study seeks to improve the methodology for determining the relationship between cycling dynamic performance and roadway environment characteristics across different bicyclistsâ skill levels. To achieve the goal of this study, an Instrumented Probe Bicycle (IPB) equipped with various sensors was built. A naturalistic field experiment, including intersections, roundabout, alignment changes, and different road surface conditions, was conducted. Two self-reported questionnaires were used in order to obtain each participantâs skill level as well as perception on the level of cycling comfortability. The Cycling Comfortability Index (CCI) was derived from the probabilistic outcome of an Ordered Probit Model, which describes the relationship between bicycle dynamics and level of comfortability. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), a technique widely used to measure the risk of a fault event occurrence in a system, was employed to integrate mobility and comfortability. The estimation results showed that the probability of a fault event occurrence is related to the bicyclistâs experience level, incline of the roadway, and quality of the road surface. It was also found that cycling comfort level is significantly affected by the average y-axis acceleration and the mean absolute deviation of the z-axis velocity. The results of this study have practical implications for improving bicyclist perceptions on comfortability and for increasing safety for cyclists
Azelia\u27s Walker
A Biomedical Engineering student, KC Balfour, two Mechanical Engineering students, Jayne Benedict and Gabrielle Merkin, and one Industrial Engineering student, Jordan Ramsey, make up the interdisciplinary senior project team of Azeliaâs Walker. The goal of Azeliaâs Walker is to create a custom walker for an 8-year-old girl in the San Luis Obispo Community, named Azelia, who has decreased motor control. Her current walker does not suit her active and energetic lifestyle, so Azeliaâs Walker is challenged to design and manufacture a collapsible all-terrain walker that best suits Azeliaâs needs. Throughout the academic year, Azeliaâs Walker participated in the brain-storming and iteration process to produce a final design, created a manufacturing plan, and fabricated a prototype. Several key design features of the new walker are its all-terrain ability, height adjustments, portability, and ergonomic features. This report will take you, the reader, through Azeliaâs Walker senior project teamâs design and fabrication process. This project culminated in a to-scale prototype. Although the final product succeeded in meeting its all-terrain and portability requirements, the walker was deemed unusable for Azelia due to certain safety concerns outlined in the report. The members of Azeliaâs Walker have thoroughly enjoyed this design process and have learned a great deal about the engineering research and design (R&D), analysis, fabrication, and testing process
A Systematic Approach to Human Powered Vehicle Design with an Emphasis on Providing Guidelines for Mentoring Students
The objective of this research is to provide guidebook that approaches the design of a human powered vehicle (HPV) from a systematic view for an ASME competition. The guidebook introduces students to design and enhances their current understanding related to design, general engineering principals, and engineering principals specific to HPVs. In terms of the design process a combination between the traditional design process and the systems engineering design process is discussed. From here the design process in broken into six main sections for the guidebook, and an evaluation section used to emphasis the usefulness of the guidebook. First an overall view of the traditional and system engineering design processes are given, along with an overview of the human powered vehicle competition (HPVC). This is followed by details of project planning and problem development. Next the conceptual stage is introduced where concept generation and evaluation methods and examples are discussed. Embodiment design is given in the following section, where solution variants are modeled in a preliminary layout. Next, methods of how to create a more defined preliminary layout are given in the detail design section were a definitive layout is established. Finally prototyping, testing, redesigns, and final design recommendations are outlined in the last section. In addition, the guidebook provided is meant to serve as a method that can be used to mentor students in the design process of an HPV. As such, the guidebook has been developed through a literature review of design theories, managerial, organizational, and engineering practices that have had beneficial impacts, and past experiences with designing HPVs. In terms of past experiences, the interactions with students involved in a creative inquiry at Clemson University have used as a subjective means to outline some of the important design considerations needed to be discussed. Additionally, Clemson\u27s HPVs have primarily consisted of tadpole tricycles and as such, a more in depth analysis is included for this particular HPV style
The Social World(s) of The Scooter: Two-Wheeled Mobilities in Cairo and Alexandria
My research project looks at the scooter as a particular type of two-wheeled motorcycle, which has shot into prominence as a specific mode of transportation used by middle class women and men in the past few years and has been notably visible in prominent Egyptian cities. This research is based on a multi-sited ethnography in Alexandria and Cairo, tracing the scooter through the urban landscape in time and space, addressing first questions related to navigating the city in times of pandemic and what kind of theory could be produced from these ordinary cities in such an extraordinary time.
This research looks at the material trajectories of the scooter by writing a possible social biography of it, reading it in the context of the larger navigational urban grammar of both Cairo and Alexandria: engaging with questions of relationality with other modes of transportation prominent in the Egyptian context, private and public modes of transportation. As it follows, this research looks also into the different figures driving these vehicles, where the âYouthfulâ character of the scooterâs rider allows a particular narrative and the consolidation of a sub-culture, which builds networks, markets, and a vocabulary both in the material and virtual worlds.
The variety of activities around the scooter allows to shed light on the laboring practices around it. These practices have taken different shapes and have been motivated and actualized by an array of formal policies, informal agreements, personal histories, and collective imaginaries in the face of economic and social precarity, accentuated in time of pandemic. The activities surrounding the scooter also extend the gender element in this experience, in an attempt to understand how women navigate the scooter on two-wheels motorcycle, and what kind of gender politics are present when on the move, looking at the different discussions, compromises, maneuvers to see and be seen on the road, and how that then femineity and masculinity is performed on the go.
Finally, using both participant observation and autoethnography, this research looks at the body and its rhythms in the city: unpacking the always-present (and even probable) possibility of an accident while riding a scooter as an inherent and organic affective urban presence, and how this mentality of near-miss lends itself to other form of risk-taking, allowing the experience of riding the scooter to be lived as a form of urban play, and as such, reshaping the subjectâs affective relationship to the city by having their bodies in & out of rhythms
The impact of autonomous vehicles on highway tunnel work zones
In the transition step to the near future where autonomous vehicles fill the highways, the autonomous vehiclesâ successful implementation counts on knowledge about their interaction with conventional vehicles. Due to the lack of numbers of the autonomous vehicles on roadways, many transportation professionals depend on simulations in order to examine the coexistence of both vehicle types and their interaction in the circumstance of higher market penetration rates of the autonomous vehicles. In this study, VISSIM microscopic simulator is used for inspecting the autonomous vehicles interactions and assessing their impacts on traffic stream. A case study that evaluates the effects on vehicles throughput, delay, queue length, and safety at the highway work zone merging area is investigated. The simulation was generated the proximity of the Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine tunnel, which connects Boucherville and MontrĂ©al island. To simulate coexist periods, the autonomous vehicles were put into the simulation with different penetration rates starting at 20% and increasing 20% for each scenario until reaching 80% of the rates of the autonomous vehicles. Furthermore, the safety impact of the autonomous vehicles in the matter of conflicts was studied using the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM). The simulation results showed that the tunnel work zoneâs capacity per lane was increased when CAVs were added to the simulation. The average vehicle delay did not improve a low CAV penetration rates. However, as CAVs account for more than 40% of the total passenger vehicles, the vehicle delay improved. The simulated model also showed that the average queue length increased with the increase of CAV in the traffic stream. Nonetheless, the conflict analysis results proved that CAVs can improve overall traffic safety at the work zone
An integrated model for predicting driverâs discomfort while interacting with car seat and car controls
A driving task requires physical demands from the driver to operate car controls, while sitting on the car seat. The near static seated posture in a confined space may causes discomfort and fatigue. In Malaysia, fatigue is the third highest contributing factors to road accident, accounting for 15.7%. Fatigue can interfere with concentration while driving the car. When the driver is getting fatigue, it may reduce the performance, and hence increase the risk of
road accident. This show that fatigue effect can cause danger to the driver. The four main objectives of this research are: (1) to evaluate driverâs discomfort and performance while engaged with the car seat and car controls based on subjective assessment.; (2) to analyse
the pressure interface on the car seat based on different driving positions.; (3) to evaluate the SEMG surface electromyography (SEMG) signal for the muscle activity based on different driving positions and actions.; and (4) to develop integrated model to predict driverâs discomfort while engaged with the car seat and car controls. Eleven test subjects participated in this experiment. The data for this research were collected by using mixed method approach, comprising of the subjective (Visual Analogue Scales, VAS) and objective assessment methods (SEMG and pressure measurement). The VAS was the
subjective assessment method used for measuring the car driverâs discomfort perception while engaging with car seat and car controls, namely steering wheel, manual gear and accelerator pedal. The SEMG was used to measure muscle activity for Deltoid Anterior
(DA), Gastrocnemius Medial (GM) and Tibialis Anterior (TA) involving two different positions, the closest seated position to the car controls (Position A) and the further seated position from the car controls (Position B). Having done that, the data were analysed by using Temporal and Amplitude Analysis based on Maximal Voluntary Contraction. The SEMG analysis was in accordance to the SEMG for the Non-Invasive Assessment of Muscles recommendation. The pressure mat was used to measure the pressure distribution of the car seat. In addition, the body measurement, consisting of anthropometric dimension and the joint angle were measured in this study. Referring to VAS assessment, subjects feel more discomfort at Position B while operating the steering wheel at 45 turning degree and gear during changing the gear to gear 1. For pedal control, the subjects experienced discomfort at Position A particularly when releasing the pedal. The SEMGâs findings for the steering wheel task showed the DA at Position B with 45 turning degree showed a higher muscle contraction. Changing the gear to Gear 1 at Position B demonstrated the highest Amplitude at the DA. For pedal control, TA depicted the highest muscle contraction in releasing action at Position A, while the GM showed the highest muscle contraction in pressing action at Position B. In terms of pressure distribution measurement, the buttocks part at Position A depicted the highest mean pressure. The regression test was used to determine the level of significance whether the coefficient of working muscle activity can be used as characteristics and predictors for driverâs discomfort. From the results, the prediction model could be developed. The results indicated that integration between the body measurement and pressure interface or muscle activity show a higher R2; car seat (R2
= 0.952), steering (R2 = 0.983), gear (R2 = 0.980), and pedal (R2 = 0.911 and 0.952). Thus, it can be concluded that the prediction on driversâ discomfort when driving in different conditions produces better results when incorporating the body measurement that is related
with the car seat and car controls
Everyday Enactments of Resistance : Portraits of Secondary Public School Teachers Navigating New Professionalism
New professionalism has changed the roles and responsibilities of teachers. It has created a professional culture that prioritizes managerialism, bureaucracy, standardization and assessment, and performance review. This shift has created tension and anxiety amongst teachers, but a population of teachers continue to openly question, resist, or protest directives that do not align with their goals and values. The goal of this study was to gain understanding of the lived experiences of veteran, secondary, public school teachers who have attempted to find ways to navigate and resist new professionalism. Using Sara Lawrence-Lightfootâs portraiture method, participantsâ narratives bring life to the ways these veteran teachers have endeavored to make decisions about their profession. The insights gained from these participantsâ portraits have implications for teacher education and future research on veteran teacher resistance
A cumulative index to a continuing bibliography on aeronautical engineering
This bibliography is a cumulative index to the abstracts contained in NASA-SP-7037(184) through NASA-SP-7037(195) of Aeronautical Engineering: A Continuing Bibliography. NASA SP-7037 and its supplements have been compiled through the cooperative efforts of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This cumulative index includes subject, personal author, corporate source, foreign technology, contract, report number, and accession number indexes