A Study of Post-Crash Bus Evacuation Problems

This study was conducted to provide information related to the post-crash evacuation of inter-city buses. A review of bus accident data and relevant literature was completed to provide an understanding of the variables related to bus evacuation. A survey was completed to document the passenger characteristics of a typical bus load. A special data base was analyzed for injuries resulting from falls or jumps of eight feet or less. A study was then designed and conducted to investigate bus evacuation under several “worst-case” conditions. The study was then conducted and 16 mm movie films were made of each evacuation. An analysis of the study provided information on time to evacuate for various conditions, hazards in evacuation, subjects reaction to the evacuation tests and recommendations for bus design and operation to minimize evacuation problems.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Power Window Control Location Stereotypes

A paper-and-pencil survey instrument and an operational test were used to assess stereotype strength for automobile power window controls. Control panel layout (square vs. linear) and mounting plane were examined along with stereotype differences between subjects with technical backgrounds and those with non-technical backgrounds.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

A Study of Bicycle Design as it Affects Safety of Operation

This paper presents the results of studies concerned with bicycle design and safety of operation. One study concerned the relationship between handlebar design, i.e., racing, regular and hi-rise, to bicycle control. It was found that the popular racing style handlebars used on the popular ten-speed bicycle produces problems in sensing visual and auditory information and responding to this information as compared to the regular handlebar design.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Escape Worthiness of Vehicles with Passive Belt Restraint Systems

There are a variety of conditions that can exist in the post-crash environment which make rapid escape necessary for survival or to avoid further injury. These include a post-crash fire, the vehicle going into the water, or avoiding being struck in a secondary collision. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has defined this parameter vehicle escapeworthiness. It has been estimated in past research performed by the author for NHTSA that escapeworthiness becomes important in up to 7% of all vehicle crashes. Since escapeworthiness research was performed in the early 1970's, the advent of passive shoulder belt systems has made it necessary to again review the impact of this development on escapeworthiness. In particular, the inability of the occupants to release the passive restraint because the door cannot be opened after the crash, coupled with the inability to release the passive restraint due to its design or a lack of experience, or knowledge of how to release the passive restraint while the door is closed, creates a serious problem. Thus, the present study was performed to investigate the impact of passive restraint systems on the time required to escape from the vehicle under various conditions of available escape routes, and physical condition of the occupants. The experimental design included the variables of age, gender, escape route, level of incapacitation and type of passive restraint system. The times to effect an escape as well as the method of escaping were determined through videographic analysis of all escape trials. The findings demonstrated that the use of passive restraint systems increased the time to escape significantly, ranging from 37 to 65 percent for the respective conditions. This difference may determine whether a person survives or not after some post-crash conditions. The results have significance for the design of passive restraint systems for easy release, while at the same time not creating an incentive for some users to routinely leave the passive restraint unfastened.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Assessing Air Velocity Distribution in Three Sizes of Commercial Broiler Houses During Tunnel Ventilation

Convective cooling is a critical management strategy for maintaining an environment that promotes production efficiency, thermal comfort, and animal well-being in commercial broiler houses. Variations in house size, design, and equipment configuration contribute greatly to the air velocity distribution within the facility. This study assessed total airflow, air velocity distribution, and quantified the floor area in three facilities experiencing insufficient air velocity for maintenance of production efficiency, thermal comfort, and animal well-being. Test facility 1 was an 18.3 x 170.7 m solid side-wall broiler house, test facility 2 was a 15.24 x 144.8 m solid side-wall broiler house, and test facility 3 was a 12.19 x 121.9 m curtain side-wall broiler house. Total airflow of each facility, measured with a Fan Assessment and Numeration System, was 512,730, 389,495, and 329,270 m3 h-1 for test facilities 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Air velocity distribution patterns were characterized in each house with a Scalable Environment Assessment System (SEAS) and spatial statistics. The air velocity distributions within the test facilities were variable, with notable maxima immediately downstream of the tunnel inlets, which serve as a well-defined vena contracta, and local minima near the leading end of the evaporative pads and the exhaust fans. Equipment within the facilities had an impact on the air velocity distribution by creating reduced cross-sectional areas that resulted in localized increases in air velocity. The percentage of total bird-level floor area in each facility experiencing air velocities below 1.5 m s-1 was 14.3%, 20.7%, and 10.0% for test facilities 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The effective design velocity (Ved) was calculated from total airflow using the measured building cross-sectional area. The Ved measured 2.97, 2.45, and 2.34 m s-1 for test facilities 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Mean cross-sectional air velocity (Vcs) was calculated from SEAS data and normalized using each facility‘s Ved to account for differences in building size for comparison. Test facility 1, the largest of the three houses, generated substantially higher Vcs/Ved than test facilities 2 and 3. Test facilities 2 and 3 maintained a larger proportion of Vcs above Ved than test facility 1. Test facility 1 showed 26.5% of the total house length below Ved, while test facilities 2 and 3 had only 20.8% and 17.5%, respectively, of the total house length below Ved. The lower-velocity regions were due to the length of the evaporative cooling pad inlet and the use of tunnel doors, and the exhaust fan placement on the side-walls in test facility 1 created an additional pronounced low-velocity area. Placement of tunnel ventilation fans on the end-wall of the facility, rather than the side-wall, eliminated the low-velocity region at the exhaust end of the facility. Modifications to current practices for broiler production facility construction and evaporative cooling pad inlet installation would be required to minimize the low-velocity region at the inlet end of these facilities. Consideration of house width and physical arrangement of the air inlets, tunnel fans, and internal equipment are critical for improving the uniformity of air velocity in commercial broiler houses

Effect of Measurement Density on Characterizing Air Velocity Distribution in Commercial Broiler Houses

Increasing air velocity of tunnel ventilation systems in commercial broiler facilities improves production efficiency. As a consequence, many housing design specifications require a minimum air velocity in the house. Air velocities are typically assessed with a hand-held anemometer at random locations, rather than systematic traverses. Simultaneous measurement of air velocity at multiple locations in the facility would provide a more accurate estimation of air velocity distribution. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of measurement density on accuracy of estimating air velocity distribution in a tunnel-ventilated broiler production facility. An array of 40 anemometers was placed on a series of transverse cross-sections in a commercial broiler production facility with curtain sidewalls (no birds present) measuring 12.8 × 121.9 m. The house was equipped with ten 121.9 cm exhaust fans. Cross-sectional air velocity measurements were taken along the length of the house in increments of 3.05 m axially. Data were sampled at 1 Hz for 2 min; three 2 min subsamples were obtained at each cross-section. Horizontal plane air velocity distribution maps were generated using 12.19, 6.10, and 3.05 m axial measurement distances between cross-sections at 0.46 m above the litter. Vertical plane air velocity distribution maps were created using 10, 20, and 40 symmetrical sampling points from the original data set. Cross-validation analysis revealed that higher spatial measurement density in the axial direction yielded a higher correlation between observed and predicted values (79%) and lower mean squared prediction error (MSPE; 0.10 m s-1) when compared to decreased sampling densities. Vertical cross-section measurement density comparisons showed a reduction in MSPE and an increase in correlation between observed and predicted values at higher sampling densities in all cases tested excluding one. In the case of improved interpolation results with fewer measurement points, the cross-section demonstrated high variation in air velocity and velocity values being very low. Axial cross-sectional measurement distances of =3.05 m and vertical plane measurement densities of =40 measurement points should be used to accurately characterize air velocity distribution in a 12.8 × 121.9 m broiler production facility. Although more sensors and time are required to collect 40-point cross-sections at 3.05 m, the improved visualization allows better identification of distribution effects caused by equipment placement in the facility

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A BROILER MORTALITY REMOVAL ROBOT

Manual collection of broiler mortality is time-consuming, unpleasant, and laborious. The objectives of this research were: (1) to design and fabricate a broiler mortality removal robot from commercially available components to automatically collect dead birds; (2) to compare and evaluate deep learning models and image processing algorithms for detecting and locating dead birds; and (3) to examine detection and mortality pickup performance of the robot under different light intensities. The robot consisted of a two-finger gripper, a robot arm, a camera mounted on the robot’s arm, and a computer controller. The robot arm was mounted on a table, and 64 Ross 708 broilers between 7 and 14 days of age were used for the robot development and evaluation. The broiler shank was the target anatomical part for detection and mortality pickup. Deep learning models and image processing algorithms were embedded into the vision system and provided location and orientation of the shank of interest, so that the gripper could approach and position itself for precise pickup. Light intensities of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 1000 lux were evaluated. Results indicated that the deep learning model “You Only Look Once (YOLO)” V4 was able to detect and locate shanks more accurately and efficiently than YOLO V3. Higher light intensities improved the performance of the deep learning model detection, image processing orientation identification, and final pickup performance. The final success rate for picking up dead birds was 90.0% at the 1000-lux light intensity. In conclusion, the developed system is a helpful tool towards automating broiler mortality removal from commercial housing, and contributes to further development of an integrated autonomous set of solutions to improve production and resource use efficiency in commercial broiler production, as well as to improve well-being of workers

Air Exchange Rate in a Horse Trailer During Road Transport

Horses traveling by road commonly experience heat stress conditions and poor air quality, which may be caused by insufficient ventilation; however, there are few estimates of air exchange in a horse trailer during transport. Air exchange rate was measured at ten locations within a four-horse trailer (internal volume 18.5 m3) using tracer gas decay measurement to assess the adequacy of ventilation. Three vehicle speeds (13, 48, and 97 km h-1) and three window configurations (all windows and roof vents closed, all windows open, all windows open and roof vents open forward) were tested with and without animals present in the trailer. External air temperature ranged from 22.3°C to 28.3°C with an average of 25.3°C, and internal air temperature ranged from 29.9°C to 34.8°C with an average of 31.3°C with animals present. Air exchange rate increased with vehicle speed and open window and vent area. The average air exchange rate over all vehicle speeds and ventilation configurations was 0.52 min-1 with animals present and 0.76 min-1 without animals. Without animals present, the maximum mean exchange rate was 1.42 min-1 at 97 km h-1 at the rear left window with all windows and vents open; the lowest mean exchange rate was 0.12 min-1 at 13 km h-1 with all windows and vents closed at the lower position of the rearmost stall divider. With animals present, the maximum air exchange rate observed was 0.84 min-1 with all windows and vents open and traveling at 97 km h-1. Ventilation in the trailer was not adequate when compared to recommendations for stabled horses for any combination of vehicle speed or ventilation configuration. Increasing open vent area, either by increasing the number and size of roof vents or the size of windows in the sidewall, would be the most cost-effective means of increasing air exchange in a horse trailer

Examining the Value of Expert Testimony regarding Warnings

This alternative format session is designed to examine the value of expert testimony related to warnings. Specific objectives of the session include informing HFES members of the views of some members of the legal community who question the value and appropriateness of expert testimony regarding warnings; identifying appropriate responses to such positions; discussing the basic role that experts play in assisting the litigation process; and describing and discussing the perceptions and experiences of HFES members regarding the value of their activities in forensic matters.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline