The use of volumetric projections in Digital Human Modelling software for the identification of large goods vehicle blind spots

The aim of the study is to understand the nature of blind spots in the vision of drivers of Large Goods Vehicles caused by vehicle design variables such as the driver eye height, and mirror designs. The study was informed by the processing of UK national accident data using cluster analysis to establish if vehicle blind spots contribute to accidents. In order to establish the cause and nature of blind spots six top selling trucks in the UK, with a range of sizes were digitized and imported into the SAMMIE Digital Human Modelling (DHM) system. A novel CAD based vision projection technique, which has been validated in a laboratory study, allowed multiple mirror and window aperture projections to be created, resulting in the identification and quantification of a key blind spot. The identified blind spot was demonstrated to have the potential to be associated with the scenarios that were identified in the accident data. The project led to the revision of UNECE Regulation 46 that defines mirror coverage in the European Union, with new vehicle registrations in Europe being required to meet the amended standard after June of 2015

The development of improvements to drivers' direct and indirect vision from vehicles - impact assessment

The development of improvements to drivers' direct and indirect vision from vehicles - impact assessmen

The development of improvements to drivers' direct and indirect vision from vehicles - phase 2

This report describes the work undertaken in fulfilment of Phase 2 of the research project relating to the development of improvements to drivers‘ direct and indirect vision from vehicles

Multiwavelength Monitoring of the BL Lacertae Object PKS 2155-304 in May 1994. II. The IUE Campaign

PKS 2155-304, the brightest BL Lac object in the ultraviolet sky, was monitored with the IUE satellite at ~1 hour time-resolution for ten nearly uninterrupted days in May 1994. The campaign, which was coordinated with EUVE, ROSAT, and ASCA monitoring, along with optical and radio observations from the ground, yielded the largest set of spectra and the richest short time scale variability information ever gathered for a blazar at UV wavelengths. The source flared dramatically during the first day, with an increase by a factor ~2.2 in an hour and a half. In subsequent days, the flux maintained a nearly constant level for ~5 days, then flared with ~35% amplitude for two days. The same variability was seen in both short- and long-wavelength IUE light curves, with zero formal lag (~<2 hr), except during the rapid initial flare, when the variations were not resolved. Spectral index variations were small and not clearly correlated with flux. The flux variability observed in the present monitoring is so rapid that for the first time, based on the UV emission alone, the traditional Delta L/Delta t limit indicating relativistic beaming is exceeded. The most rapid variations, under the likely assumption of synchrotron radiation, lead to a lower limit of 1 G on the magnetic field strength in the UV emitting region. These results are compared with earlier intensive monitoring of PKS 2155-304 with IUE in November 1991, when the UV flux variations had completely different characteristics.Comment: 45 pages, Latex, 11 PostScript figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journa

Living for the weekend: youth identities in northeast England

Consumption and consumerism are now accepted as key contexts for the construction of youth identities in de-industrialized Britain. This article uses empirical evidence from interviews with young people to suggest that claims of `new community' are overstated, traditional forms of friendship are receding, and increasingly atomized and instrumental youth identities are now being culturally constituted and reproduced by the pressures and anxieties created by enforced adaptation to consumer capitalism. Analysis of the data opens up the possibility of a critical rather than a celebratory exploration of the wider theoretical implications of this process

Increased Mortality from Lung Cancer and Bronchiectasis in Young Adults after Exposure to Arsenic in Utero and in Early Childhood

Arsenic in drinking water is an established cause of lung cancer, and preliminary evidence suggests that ingested arsenic may also cause nonmalignant lung disease. Antofagasta is the second largest city in Chile and had a distinct period of very high arsenic exposure that began in 1958 and lasted until 1971, when an arsenic removal plant was installed. This unique exposure scenario provides a rare opportunity to investigate the long-term mortality impact of early-life arsenic exposure. In this study, we compared mortality rates in Antofagasta in the period 1989–2000 with those of the rest of Chile, focusing on subjects who were born during or just before the peak exposure period and who were 30–49 years of age at the time of death. For the birth cohort born just before the high-exposure period (1950–1957) and exposed in early childhood, the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for lung cancer was 7.0 [95% confidence interval (CI), 5.4–8.9; p < 0.001] and the SMR for bronchiectasis was 12.4 (95% CI, 3.3–31.7; p < 0.001). For those born during the high-exposure period (1958–1970) with probable exposure in utero and early childhood, the corresponding SMRs were 6.1 (95% CI, 3.5–9.9; p < 0.001) for lung cancer and 46.2 (95% CI, 21.1–87.7; p < 0.001) for bronchiectasis. These findings suggest that exposure to arsenic in drinking water during early childhood or in utero has pronounced pulmonary effects, greatly increasing subsequent mortality in young adults from both malignant and nonmalignant lung disease

The mechanisms and processes of connection: developing a causal chain model capturing impacts of receiving recorded mental health recovery narratives.

BACKGROUND: Mental health recovery narratives are a core component of recovery-oriented interventions such as peer support and anti-stigma campaigns. A substantial number of recorded recovery narratives are now publicly available online in different modalities and in published books. Whilst the benefits of telling one's story have been investigated, much less is known about how recorded narratives of differing modalities impact on recipients. A previous qualitative study identified connection to the narrator and/or to events in the narrative to be a core mechanism of change. The factors that influence how individuals connect with a recorded narrative are unknown. The aim of the current study was to characterise the immediate effects of receiving recovery narratives presented in a range of modalities (text, video and audio), by establishing the mechanisms of connection and the processes by which connection leads to outcomes. METHOD: A study involving 40 mental health service users in England was conducted. Participants were presented with up to 10 randomly-selected recovery narratives and were interviewed on the immediate impact of each narrative. Thematic analysis was used to identify the mechanisms of connection and how connection leads to outcome. RESULTS: Receiving a recovery narrative led participants to reflect upon their own experiences or those of others, which then led to connection through three mechanisms: comparing oneself with the narrative and narrator; learning about other's experiences; and experiencing empathy. These mechanisms led to outcomes through three processes: the identification of change (through attending to narrative structure); the interpretation of change (through attending to narrative content); and the internalisation of interpretations. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to identify mechanisms and processes of connection with recorded recovery narratives. The empirically-based causal chain model developed in this study describes the immediate effects on recipients. This model can inform selection of narratives for use in interventions, and be used to support peer support workers in recounting their own recovery narratives in ways which are maximally beneficial to others

Tracing the role of human civilization in the globalization of plant pathogens

Acknowledgments. We apologize to all those colleagues whose work was not cited because of space restrictions.Peer reviewedPostprin