Effects of obesity on seat belt fit

Obesity has been shown to increase the risk of some types of injury in crashes. One hypothesis is that obesity adversely effects belt fit by changing the routing of the belt relative to the underlying skeletal structures. To evaluate this hypothesis, belt fit was measured in a laboratory study of 54 men and women, 48 percent of whom were obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or greater. Test conditions included a wide range of upper and lower belt anchorage locations and ranges of seat height, seat cushion angle, and seat back angle spanning a large fraction of current vehicle front and rear seats. In some conditions, foot position was restricted to simulate the typical situation in the second row of a small sedan. Across individuals, an increase in BMI of 10-kg/m2 was associated with a lap belt positioned 43 mm further forward and 21 mm higher relative to the anterior-superior iliac spines of the pelvis. Each 10-kg/m2 increase in BMI was associated with an increase in lap belt webbing length of 130 mm. The worsening of lap belt fit with restricted foot position was slightly greater for obese participants. Obesity was associated with a more-inboard shoulder belt routing across a wide range of upper belt anchorage locations, and the shoulder belt webbing length between the D-ring and latchplate increased by an average of 60 mm with each 10-kg/m2 increase in BMI. The results suggest that obesity effectively introduces slack in the seat belt system by routing the belt further away from the skeleton. Particularly in frontal crashes, but also in rollovers and other scenarios, this slack will result in increased excursions and an increased likelihood and severity of contacts with the interior. The higher routing of the lap belt with respect to the pelvis also increases the likelihood of submarining in frontal crashes.National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89867/1/102813.pd

Effect of realistic vehicle seats, cushion length, and lap belt geometry on child ATD kinematics

This series of sled tests examined the effect of using real vehicle seats on child ATD performance. Cushion length was varied from production length of 450 mm to a shorter length of 350 mm. Lap belt geometry was set to rear, mid, and forward anchorage locations that span the range of allowable lap belt angles found in real vehicles. Six tests each were performed with the standard Hybrid III 6YO and 10YO ATDs. One additional test was performed using a booster seat with the 6YO. An updated version of the UMTRI seating procedure was used to position the ATDs that positions the ATD hips further forward with longer seat cushions to reflect the effect of cushion length on posture that has been measured with child volunteers. ATD kinematics were evaluated using peak head excursion, peak knee excursion, the difference between peak head and peak knee excursion, and the minimum torso angle. Shortening the seat cushion improved kinematic outcomes, particularly for the 10YO. Lap belt geometry had a greater effect on kinematics with the longer cushion length, with mid and forward belt geometries producing better kinematics than the rearward belt geometry. The worst kinematics for both ATDs occurred with the long cushion length and rearward lap belt geometry. The improvements in kinematics from shorter cushion length or more forward belt geometry are smaller than those provided by a booster seat. The results show potential benefits in occupant protection from shortening cushion length, particularly for children the size of the 10YO ATD.National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90972/1/102859.pd

CRISPaint allows modular base-specific gene tagging using a ligase-4-dependent mechanism

The site-specific insertion of heterologous genetic material into genomes provides a powerful means to study gene function. Here we describe a modular system entitled CRISPaint (CRISPR-assisted insertion tagging) that allows precise and efficient integration of large heterologous DNA cassettes into eukaryotic genomes. CRISPaint makes use of the CRISPR-Cas9 system to introduce a double-strand break (DSB) at a user-defined genomic location. A universal donor DNA, optionally provided as minicircle DNA, is cleaved simultaneously to be integrated at the genomic DSB, while processing the donor plasmid at three possible positions allows flexible reading-frame selection. Applying this system allows to create C-terminal tag fusions of endogenously encoded proteins in human cells with high efficiencies. Knocking out known DSB repair components reveals that site-specific insertion is completely dependent on canonical NHEJ (DNA-PKcs, XLF and ligase-4). A large repertoire of modular donor vectors renders CRISPaint compatible with a wide array of applications

The Quark Model and bb Baryons

The recent observation at the Tevatron of $\Sigma_b^{\pm}$ ($uub$ and $ddb$) baryons within 2 MeV of the predicted $\Sigma_b - \Lambda_b$ splitting and of $\Xi_b^-$ $(dsb)$ baryons at the Tevatron within a few MeV of predictions has provided strong confirmation for a theoretical approach based on modeling the color hyperfine interaction. The prediction of $M(\Xi^-_b) = 5790$ to 5800 MeV is reviewed and similar methods used to predict the masses of the excited states $\Xi_b^\prime$ and $\Xi_b^*$. The main source of uncertainty is the method used to estimate the mass difference $m_b - m_c$ from known hadrons. We verify that corrections due to the details of the interquark potential and to $\Xi_b$--$\Xi_b^\prime$ mixing are small. For S-wave $qqb$ states we predict $M(\Omega_b) = 6052.1 \pm 5.6$ MeV, $M(\Omega^*_b) = 6082.8 \pm 5.6$ MeV, and $M(\Xi_b^0) = 5786.7 \pm 3.0$ MeV. For states with one unit of orbital angular momentum between the $b$ quark and the two light quarks we predict $M(\Lambda_{b[1/2]}) = 5929 \pm 2$ MeV, $M(\Lambda_{b[3/2]}) = 5940 \pm 2$ MeV, $M(\Xi_{b[1/2]}) = 6106 \pm 4$ MeV, and $M(\Xi_{b[3/2]}) = 6115 \pm 4$ MeV. Results are compared with those of other recent approaches.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Annals of Physics. Eq. (58) correcte

Characterizing Child Head Motions Relative to Vehicle Rear Seat Compartment in Motor Vehicle Crashes

Technical Report FinalImproved padding or other countermeasures in vehicle rear compartments could reduce the incidence of head trauma for child occupants. However, knowledge of likely child head impact locations for a range of crash scenarios is needed to determine which areas and structures should be padded and where a side curtain should be deployed to protect child occupants. The objective of this study is to use a scalable MAthematical DYnamic MOdels (MADYMO) model of a child occupant to estimate the distributions of possible head impact locations as a function of crash type, vehicle interior characteristics, and child size. To achieve this goal, a series of simulations using a scalable MADYMO child-ATD model was conducted. The geometries of the second-row compartment from 5 vehicles were recorded using a laser scanner to provide high-resolution data for assessing probable head contact zones. Distributions of lateral and longitudinal delta V were calculated as a function of PDOF using the NASS-CDS dataset to provide proper simulation conditions based on real-world crashes. Simulations of crashes ranging from pure frontal to pure side impact (9 o’clock to 3 o’clock) with child ATDs with and without backless boosters were conducted using UMTRI’s parametric child ATD model in MADYMO, UMTRI's child ATD positioning procedure, and UMTRI's automated belt-fit and crash simulation system. The simulation results were used to create a model of the spatial distribution of head trajectories based on child body size and crash direction. By combining the head motion model and the vehicle second-row geometry models, the likely head contact zones with respect to interior components were identified. The findings of this study provide a reference for future vehicle rear compartment design to reduce head injuries for older children.National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154006/1/UMTRI-2012-20.pd

CLEO Spectroscopy Results

Recent contributions of the CLEO experiment to hadron spectroscopy are presented.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, presented at Beauty 2005, Assisi, Italy, 20--24 June 2005 References further update

Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR)

Regolith is abundant on extra-terrestrial surfaces and is the source of many resources such as oxygen, hydrogen, titanium, aluminum, iron, silica and other valuable materials, which can be used to make rocket propellant, consumables for life support, radiation protection barrier shields, landing pads, blast protection berms, roads, habitats and other structures and devices. Recent data from the Moon also indicates that there are substantial deposits of water ice in permanently shadowed crater regions and possibly under an over burden of regolith. The key to being able to use this regolith and acquire the resources, is being able to manipulate it with robotic excavation and hauling machinery that can survive and operate in these very extreme extra-terrestrial surface environments. In addition, the reduced gravity on the Moon, Mars, comets and asteroids poses a significant challenge in that the necessary reaction force for digging cannot be provided by the robot's weight as is typically done on Earth. Space transportation is expensive and limited in capacity, so small, lightweight payloads are desirable, which means large traditional excavation machines are not a viable option. A novel, compact and lightweight excavation robot prototype for manipulating, excavating, acquiring, hauling and dumping regolith on extra-terrestrial surfaces has been developed and tested. Lessons learned and test results will be presented including digging in a variety of lunar regolith simulant conditions including frozen regolith mixed with water ice

Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot Excavator

The Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) excavator robot is a teleoperated mobility platform with a space regolith excavation capability. This more compact, lightweight design (<50 kg) has counterrotating bucket drums, which results in a net-zero reaction horizontal force due to the self-cancellation of the symmetrical, equal but opposing, digging forces

High-throughput detection of mutations responsible for childhood hearing loss using resequencing microarrays

Background: Despite current knowledge of mutations in 45 genes that can cause nonsyndromic sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), no unified clinical test has been developed that can comprehensively detect mutations in multiple genes. We therefore designed Affymetrix resequencing microarrays capable of resequencing 13 genes mutated in SNHL (GJB2, GJB6, CDH23, KCNE1, KCNQ1, MYO7A, OTOF, PDS, MYO6, SLC26A5, TMIE, TMPRSS3, USH1C). We present results from hearing loss arrays developed in two different research facilities and highlight some of the approaches we adopted to enhance the applicability of resequencing arrays in a clinical setting. Results: We leveraged sequence and intensity pattern features responsible for diminished coverage and accuracy and developed a novel algorithm, sPROFILER, which resolved >80% of no-calls from GSEQ and allowed 99.6% (range: 99.2-99.8%) of sequence to be called, while maintaining overall accuracy at >99.8% based upon dideoxy sequencing comparison. Conclusions: Together, these findings provide insight into critical issues for disease-centered resequencing protocols suitable for clinical application and support the use of array-based resequencing technology as a valuable molecular diagnostic tool for pediatric SNHL and other genetic diseases with substantial genetic heterogeneity