Study of the possible relationships between tramway front-end geometry and pedestrian injury risk

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this article is to report on the possible relationships between tramway front-end geometry and pedestrian injury risk over a wide range of possible tramway shapes. METHODS: To study the effect of tramway front-end shape on pedestrian injury metrics, accidents were simulated using a custom parameterized model of tramway front-end and pedestrian models available with the MADYMO multibody solver. The approach was automated, allowing the systematic exploration of tramway shapes in conjunction with 4 pedestrian sizes (e.g., 50th percentile male or M50). RESULTS: A total of 8,840 simulations were run, showing that the injury risk is more important for the head than for other body regions (thorax and lower extremities). The head of the M50 impacted the windshield of the tramway in most of the configurations. Two antagonist mechanisms affecting impact velocity of the head and corresponding head injury criterion (HIC) values were observed. The first is a trunk rotation resulting from an engagement of the lower body that can contribute to an increase in head velocity in the direction of the tram. The second is the loading of the shoulder, which can accelerate the upper trunk and head away from the windshield, resulting in lower impact velocities. Groups of design were defined based on 2 main parameters (windshield height and offset), some of which seem more beneficial than others for tramway design. The pedestrian size and tramway velocity (30 vs. 20?km/h) also affected the results. CONCLUSIONS: When considering only the front-end shape, the best strategy to limit the risk of head injury due to contact with the stiff windshield seems to be to promote the mechanism involving shoulder loading. Because body regions engaged vary with the pedestrian size, none of the groups of designs performed equally well for all pedestrian sizes. The best compromise is achieved with a combination of a large windscreen offset and a high windscreen. Conversely, particularly unfavorable configurations are observed for low windshield heights, especially with a large offset. Beyond the front-end shape, considering the stiffness of the current windshields and the high injury risks predicted for 30?km/h, the stiffness of the windshield should be considered in the future for further gains in pedestrian safety

Real time x‐ray studies of rapidly annealed epitaxial layers

Time‐resolved x‐ray scattering studies of epitaxial overlayers are presented. The results illustrate the usefulness of high‐brightness synchrotron probes for studying the cooperative kinetics of interfaces during rapid thermal processing.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70481/2/RSINAK-63-1-704-1.pd

Synchrotron radiation applications of charge coupled device detectors (invited)

Scientific charge coupled devices (CCDs) offer many opportunities for high brightness synchrotron radiation applications where good spatial resolution and fast data acquisition are important. We describe the use of virtual‐phase CCD pixel arrays as two‐dimensional area detectors illustrating the techniques with results from recent x‐ray scattering, imaging, and absorption spectroscopy studies at NSLS, CHESS, SRC, and LURE DCI. The virtual phase architecture allows direct frontside illumination of the CCD detector chips giving advantages in the speed and sensitivity of the detector. Combining developments in x‐ray optics (dispersive geometry), position sensitive area detectors (CCDs), and fast data acquisition, we have been able to perform time‐resolved measurements at the microsecond level. Current developments include faster data transfer rates so that the single bunch timing structure of third generation synchrotron sources can be exploited.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70562/2/RSINAK-63-1-784-1.pd

Cournon-d’Auvergne – Carré du Buisson (lotissement Bois Joli 2)

Identifiant de l'opération archéologique : 2006/78 Date de l'opération : 2007 (EX) La commune de Cournon d’Auvergne, située à quelque5km au sud-est de Clermont-Ferrand, s’inscrit entre la grande plaine de La Limagne au nord, la dépression du bassin de Sarliève à l’ouest, bordé lui-même par des collines calcaires et la rivière Allier à l’est. Elle se situe donc au débouché du bassin de l’Allier vers la plaine. Le bassin de Sarliève, qui intéresse plus particulièrement, notre dossier est dominé..

Lempdes – Les Gibaudonnes et La Ponsole, Fontanille, Croix Saint-Masson (ZAC de la Fontanille II)

L’emprise de la future ZAC de la Fontanille à Lempdes est située entre les ronds-points de la Croix Saint-Masson et de Chazal. Les parcelles concernées par l’opération archéologique se trouvent au pied de la butte marnocalcaire de Chambussière, en bordure sud de la grande plaine de La Limagne, dans le secteur communément appelée les Marais. Cette opération, menée du 13 novembre 2006 au 23 décembre 2006 et du 8 au 26 janvier 2007, concerne un projet d’une surface de 375 776 m2 (BSR 2006, p. 10..

Developpement d'un detecteur CCD programmable pour l'imagerie, les etudes en temps reel et d'autres applications relatives a un synchrotron

SIGLEAvailable from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : TD 81591 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

MyD88-dependent and -independent murine cytomegalovirus sensing for IFN-alpha release and initiation of immune responses in vivo.

International audienceAntiviral immunity requires early and late mechanisms in which IFN-alpha and IL-12 play major roles. However, the initial events leading to their production remain largely unclear. Given the crucial role of TLR in innate recognition, we investigated their role in antiviral immunity in vivo. Upon murine CMV (MCMV) infection, both MyD88-/- and TLR9-/- mice were more susceptible and presented increased viral loads compared with C57BL/6, TLR2-/-, TLR3-/-, or TLR4-/- mice. However, in terms of resistance to infection, IFN-alpha production and in many other parameters of early inflammatory responses, the MyD88-/- mice showed a more defective response than TLR9-/- mice. In the absence of the TLR9/MyD88 signaling pathway, cytokine production was dramatically impaired with a complete abolition of bioactive IL-12p70 serum release contrasting with a high flexibility for IFN-alpha release, which is initially (36 h) plasmacytoid dendritic cell- and MyD88-dependent, and subsequently (44 h) PDC-, MyD88-independent and, most likely, TLR-independent. NK cells from MCMV-infected MyD88-/- and TLR9-/- mice displayed a severely impaired IFN-gamma production, yet retained enhanced cytotoxic activity. In addition, dendritic cell activation and critical inflammatory cell trafficking toward the liver were still effective. In the long term, except for isotype switching to MCMV-specific IgG1, the establishment of Ab responses was not significantly altered. Thus, our results demonstrate a critical requirement of TLR9 in the process of MCMV sensing to assure rapid antiviral responses, coordinated with other TLR-dependent and -independent events that are sufficient to establish adaptive immunity

Real-Time Monitoring of Growing Nanoparticles

International audienc