Initial Studies of Dynamic Responses of Female and Male Volunteers in Rear Impact Tests

Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD) - commonly denoted whiplash injury - resulting from vehicle impacts, is a worldwide epidemic. These injuries occur at relatively low changes of velocity (typically between 10-25 km/h) and in impacts from all directions. Rear impacts are however the most common in the accident statistics. Since the middle of the 1960s, statistical data has shown that females have up to three times higher risk of sustaining whiplash injuries than males, even under similar crash conditions. Studies have indicated that there may be characteristic differences in the rear impact dynamic response between males and females. The 50th percentile male dummy might thus limit the assessment and development of whiplash prevention systems that adequately protect both male and female occupants. Data from volunteer tests is needed to establish the dynamic response for females and males. Such data is fundamental for developing future occupant mathematical and/or mechanical models for crash safety development and assessment. These models can be used, not only as a tool in the design of protective systems, but also in the process of further evaluation and development of injury criteria. The aim of this study was to quantify the differences in dynamic response between average sized females and males in low-speed rear impacts. Two rear impact volunteer studies were conducted. In the first study, data for the 50th percentile female were extracted from a previously performed rear impact car-to-car crash test series with female and male volunteers at 4 km/h and 8 km/h. In the second study, a sled test series was performed with 50th percentile female volunteers at 5 km/h and 7 km/h. In both studies, response corridors for the female volunteers were generated and compared with previously published corridors for the 50th percentile male. Additionally, the Neck Injury Criterion (NIC) values, head-to-head restraint distances and contact times were compared for the female and male volunteers in both studies. The overall result showed differences between the females and the males in the dynamic response and in the NIC values. For example, the head x-acceleration peaks were on average higher and earlier for the females; the head, T1, and head relative to T1 x-displacement peaks were on average lower and earlier; the initial head-to-head restraint distance was on average smaller for the females, resulting in earlier head-to-head restraint contact time for the females

Identifying social and political obstacles to bioethanol production from sugarcane in East Java, Indonesia

Indonesia has implemented national policies and legislations to encourage biofuel production as means to achieve energy security and self-sufficiency and to reduce reliance of fossil fuel reserves. However, there is still no clear road-map for the socio-technological transition. While acknowledging economic impediments, this case study investigates social and political obstacles to bioethanol production from sugarcane in East Java, Indonesia. This study is based on Multi-Level Perspective and Technological Innovation System as integrated theoretical frameworks together with Political Ecology as an approach to get around the complexity of biofuels. Based on primary data, the research identifies several social and political obstacles to the bioethanol development. Indonesia’s sugar industry is facing many issues and therefore this study considers a reboot of the sector to be a prerequisite for bioethanol development in Indonesia. The research finds that many obstacles are related to lack of mobilisation of resources, and cooperation is found to be key in facilitating the bioethanol transformation in the particular context. The inconsistency of policies and legislations of sugar import, bioethanol targets and export regulations is evident, and can be traced to be hampered by lack of government commitment and top-down policy structure. For the socio-technological transition to take off, it is essential for all stakeholders involved to strive for sugar- and bioethanol industries to be integrated, through measures of more effective communication tools, multi-stakeholder participatory processes and incentives for collaboration

Hur hinner man med? ­ En studie om musiklärares strategier för att hinna med sina arbetsuppgifter på ordinarie arbetstid

Syfte: Syftet med vår uppsats var att undersöka vilka olika strategier som finns för att som musiklärare få arbetstiden att räcka till och att få ihop sin arbetsdag på ett väl fungerande sätt. Frågeställningar: · Vad anges i befintliga styrdokument angående musiklärares arbetsuppgifter och eventuella prioriteringar? · Hur fördelas musiklärares arbetsuppgifter mellan undervisningochandra arbetsuppgifter och hur planerar de sin arbetstid över terminen? · Vilka tidsmässiga och rumsmässiga förutsättningar har musikläraren? · Hur ser musiklärare på sin arbetssituation?

A General Method for Handling Disturbances on Utilities in the Process Industry

Utilities, such as steam or cooling water, have shown to play an important role within the process industry, since a malfunctioning utility is a plant-wide disturbance that can lead to large revenue losses due to reduced production quantities. This work focuses on identifying disturbances on utilities that give economical consequences. Measures of utility availability and area availability are introduced and used for estimating the ratio of disturbances on utilities. A generic method for handling disturbances on utilities is presented, which could be applied using site models of different level of detail. Some modeling approaches for modeling a site are described and the framework of the general method is demonstrated with a case study example at Perstorp AB, Sweden

An Exploratory Three Year Segmentation of Finnish Mobile Service Users

In this study we describe users of mobile phones and mobile services, based on three random samples from the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 which are valid representations of the Finnish general population. We carried out a detailed analysis of the sample for 2009 and used the results to do a first exploratory segmentation of Finnish mobile service users. Then we wanted to find out if the same segments could be found in the 2007 and 2008 sam- ples as well or if there has been some evolution in the formation of user categories. The findings are potentially important both as mobile service providers do not appear to pay attention to the consumer segments and as changes in the major segments offer opportunities for either successes or disasters in the mobile services market. We add to the body of knowledge on mobile services as the results we have and the methods we use can be benchmarked in other countries and comparisons can contribute to a general understanding of the demand for mobile services

I AM A SMART PHONE USER - KEY INSIGHTS FROM THE FINNISH MARKET

Smart phones are seen to drive the development of mobile applications and a more or less intuitive belief is that once the users have a smart phone they will download applications and start using a wider variety of mobile services and/or more advanced mobile services. In this paper we describe Finnish smart phone users based on a survey study carried out with a random sample representative of Finnish consumers between the ages of 16 and 64. We divide smart phone users into three categories based on the range and frequency of using different mobile services and applications. We find, in addition to a small ‘power user’ group (15 %) and a substantial set of ‘interested but inactive users’ (47 %), that 38 % of smart phone users do not use their devices for any advanced services and have a low motivation to continue using smart phones in the future. The demand for and the sales of smart phones is growing rapidly; combined with this is the notion that users of smart phones will become users of more advanced applications and a wider variety of services, which will give a boost to the mobile service market. In light of our results we believe this development is slower to happen than expected. Also noteworthy is the sizeable minority of decidedly underwhelmed smart phone users, who are likely to jump ship to simpler devices

Availability Estimations for Utilities in the Process Industry

An important performance measure of a plant is the plant-availability. The higher availability the better, since a high availability implies a possibility for a large production volume and thereby an increased profit for the company. One way of increasing the plant-availability is by eliminating, or minimizing the effect of disturbances. The cause of a disturbance can be personnel, material or equipment, where material includes both raw materials and utilities. The aim of this work is to increase the plant-availability by decreasing the effects of plant-wide disturbances caused by utilities. The first step is to determine the set of utilities that can be present at an industrial site, what disturbances these utilities can suffer, and how frequent and safety-critical these disturbances are. A later step will be to determine the effects on the plant-availability, and ways to decrease or eliminate these effects

Evaluation of seatbelt use among pregnant women in Sweden

A digital questionnaire was distributed through social media targeting women who were or had been pregnant.The primary objective was to investigate self-reported seatbelt use and misuse during pregnancy. The secondobjective was to study if, and to which extent, women had received information regarding seatbelt use and howto wear it during pregnancy.The survey of 2,030 women who were or had been pregnant showed a total seatbelt wearing rate of 99%.However, 39% were wearing the seatbelt wrongly. In 35% of cases, the shoulder section of the seatbelt wasincorrectly positioned, and the lap section of the seatbelt in 8% of cases. In 4% of cases, both the shoulder andlap belt parts of the seatbelt were incorrectly positioned.The majority (66%) had not received any information regarding proper seatbelt use during pregnancy. Of the 700women (34%) who had received information, most of them had actively sought out information about how theseatbelt should be worn during pregnancy. This subgroup had significantly lower misuse rate, although a third ofthe group wore the seatbelt incorrectly. Very few (6%), had received information via a health care provider.Present data highlight the need for improved seatbelt fit for pregnant women. The result from the survey showsthat misuse was lower among the women whom actively searched for information regarding how to wear theseatbelt. To reach other user groups, it should be a priority for several stakeholders to communicate informationregarding proper seatbelt use during pregnancy