Study on the Influence of Road Geometry on Vehicle Lateral Instability

According to the accident analysis of vehicles in the curve, the skidding, rollover, and lateral drift of vehicles are determined as means to evaluate the lateral stability of vehicles. -e utility truck of rear-wheel drive (RWD) is researched, which is high accident rate. Human-vehicle-road simulation models are established by CarSim. -rough the orthogonal experiment method, the effects of different road geometries, speed, and interaction factors between road geometries on vehicle lateral stability are studied. In this paper, skidding risk of the vehicle is characterized by the Side-way Force Coefficient (SFC). Rollover risk of the vehicle is characterized by lateral acceleration and the load transfer ratio. Lateral drift risk of the vehicle is characterized by the sideslip angle of wheels. -e results of orthogonal analysis reveal that the maximum tire-road friction coefficient and speed are highly significant in skidding of the vehicle. -e effects of the combination of horizontal alignment and superelevation on vehicle skidding are important. -e effects of horizontal alignment and speed on vehicle rollover risk are highly significant. -e effects of superelevation on vehicle rollover risk are significant. -e effects of the interaction of horizontal alignment and superelevation are also important on vehicles’ rollover risk. -e speed and the maximum tire-road friction coefficient have highly significant effect on the vehicle’s lateral drift. -e superelevation has a significant effect on the vehicle’s lateral drift. -e effects of the interaction of horizontal alignment and superelevation and longitudinal slope are also important on the lateral drift of the vehicle

The Influence of Road Geometry on Vehicle Rollover and Skidding

This paper analyzes the influence of single and combined unfavorable road geometry on rollover and skidding risks of D-class mid-sized sport utility vehicles (SUVs) with front-wheel drive for roads with design speeds at 80 km/h. A closed-loop simulation model of human-vehicle-road interactions is established to examine the systematic influence of road geometry on vehicle rollover and skidding. The effects of different road geometry on rollover and skidding on SUVs are studied for pavement surface with good and poor friction when vehicles are in the action of steady state cornering. The rollover and skidding risks of the most unfavorable road segments are assessed. The critical wheel is defined by the threshold of skidding during curve negotiation. The results found that SUVs are not easy to rollover on the most unfavorable roads, regardless of good or poor friction of pavement surface. The safety margin of rollover is greater than that of skidding. The safety margin of skidding is minimal on poor friction roads. Therefore, for the sake of driving safety, it is not recommended to design the roads with these unfavorable road geometry combinations

Marginal treatment benefit in anaplastic thyroid cancer

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99665/1/cncr28187.pd

Evaluation on the possibility of sound conduction independent of tympanic air cavity for severe tympanic adhesion patients by finite element analysis

Background: For patients with severe tympanic adhesion, reconstructing the tympanic air cavity is often challenging, resulting in poor hearing reconstruction outcomes. Therefore, establishing a sound conduction pathway independent of the tympanic air cavity may be a viable method for reconstructing hearing in these patients.Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of sound conduction independent of the tympanic air cavity (i.e., replacing the original cavity with a tympanic vibrating material) using finite element analysis.Methods: We established a sound-structure coupling finite element model of the tympanum vibration conduction system, which included the tympanic membrane (TM), ossicular prosthesis, and tympanic vibrating material. This model was used to simulate middle ear vibrations under sound pressure, and we extracted the frequency response curve of the ossicular prosthesis’ vibration displacement amplitude to evaluate the sound conduction effect of the middle ear. Next, we adjusted the structural and mechanical parameters of the tympanic vibrating material to analyze its impact on the sound conduction effect of the middle ear. Finally, we compared the frequency response curve of the stapes footplate in normal subjects to evaluate the feasibility of sound conduction independent of the tympanic air cavity.Results: The Shell tympanic vibrating material had a better vibration conduction effect compared to solid or porous tympanic vibrating material. The vibration amplitude decreases with the increasing elastic modulus of the tympanic vibrating material. Implantation of 40 kPa-shell tympanic vibrating material had the lowest hearing loss less than 5 dB, and the hearing loss with 1 MPa-porous tympanic vibrating material was largest and less than 25 dB.Conclusion: Our study suggests that replacing the tympanic air cavity with a tympanic vibrating material is feasible. The establishment of a sound conduction pathway independent of the tympanic air cavity could potentially provide a method for hearing reconstruction in patients with severe tympanic adhesion

In-Hospital and 1-Year Mortality Trends in a National Cohort of US Veterans with Acute Kidney Injury

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: AKI, a frequent complication among hospitalized patients, confers excess short- and long-term mortality. We sought to determine trends in in-hospital and 1-year mortality associated with AKI as defined by Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes consensus criteria. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: This retrospective cohort study used data from the national Veterans Health Administration on all patients hospitalized from October 1, 2008 to September 31, 2017. AKI was defined by Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes serum creatinine criteria. In-hospital and 1-year mortality trends were analyzed in patients with and without AKI using Cox regression with year as a continuous variable. RESULTS: We identified 1,688,457 patients and 2,689,093 hospitalizations across the study period. Among patients with AKI, 6% died in hospital, and 28% died within 1 year. In contrast, in-hospital and 1-year mortality rates were 0.8% and 14%, respectively, among non-AKI hospitalizations. During the study period, there was a slight decline in crude in-hospital AKI-associated mortality (hazard ratio, 0.98 per year; 95% confidence interval, 0.98 to 0.99) that was attenuated after accounting for patient demographics, comorbid conditions, and acute hospitalization characteristics (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.99 per year; 95% confidence interval, 0.99 to 1.00). This stable temporal trend in mortality persisted at 1 year (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.00 per year; 95% confidence interval, 0.99 to 1.00). CONCLUSIONS: AKI associated mortality remains high, as greater than one in four patients with AKI died within 1 year of hospitalization. Over the past decade, there seems to have been no significant progress toward improving in-hospital or long-term AKI survivorship

Sequencing and Genomic Diversity Analysis of IncHI5 Plasmids

IncHI plasmids could be divided into five different subgroups IncHI1–5. In this study, the complete nucleotide sequences of seven blaIMP- or blaVIM-carrying IncHI5 plasmids from Klebsiella pneumoniae, K. quasipneumoniae, and K. variicola were determined and compared in detail with all the other four available sequenced IncHI5 plasmids. These plasmids carried conserved IncHI5 backbones composed of repHI5B and a repFIB-like gene (replication), parABC (partition), and tra1 (conjugal transfer). Integration of a number of accessory modules, through horizontal gene transfer, at various sites of IncHI5 backbones resulted in various deletions of surrounding backbone regions and thus considerable diversification of IncHI5 backbones. Among the accessory modules were three kinds of resistance accessory modules, namely Tn10 and two antibiotic resistance islands designated ARI-A and ARI-B. These two islands, inserted at two different fixed sites (one island was at one site and the other was at a different site) of IncHI5 backbones, were derived from the prototype Tn3-family transposons Tn1696 and Tn6535, respectively, and could be further discriminated as various intact transposons and transposon-like structures. The ARI-A or ARI-B islands from different IncHI5 plasmids carried distinct profiles of antimicrobial resistance markers and associated mobile elements, and complex events of transposition and homologous recombination accounted for assembly of these islands. The carbapenemase genes blaIMP-4, blaIMP-38 and blaVIM-1 were identified within various class 1 integrons from ARI-A or ARI-B of the seven plasmids sequenced in this study. Data presented here would provide a deeper insight into diversification and evolution history of IncHI5 plasmids

Genetic Characterization of a blaVIM–24-Carrying IncP-7β Plasmid p1160-VIM and a blaVIM–4-Harboring Integrative and Conjugative Element Tn6413 From Clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa

This study presents three novel integrons In1394, In1395, and In1443, three novel unit transposons Tn6392, Tn6393, and Tn6403, one novel conjugative element (ICE) Tn6413, and the first sequenced IncP-7 resistance plasmid p1160-VIM from clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Detailed sequence comparison of p1160-VIM (carrying Tn6392 and Tn6393) and Tn6413 (carrying Tn6403) with related elements were performed. Tn6392, Tn6393, and Tn6403 were generated from integration of In1394 (carrying blaVIM–24), In1395 and In1443 (carrying blaVIM–4) into prototype Tn3-family unit transposons Tn5563, Tn1403, and Tn6346, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a blaVIM–24-carrying P. aeruginosa isolate

Replicon-Based Typing of IncI-Complex Plasmids, and Comparative Genomics Analysis of IncIγ/K1 Plasmids

IncI-complex plasmids can be divided into seven subgroups IncI1, IncI2, IncIγ, IncB/O, IncK1, IncK2, and IncZ. In this study, a replicon-based scheme was proposed for typing IncI-complex plasmids into four separately clustering subgroups IncI2, IncI1/B/O, IncIγ/K1 and IncK2/Z, the last three of which were combined from IncI1 and IncB/O, IncIγ and IncK1, and IncK2 and IncZ, respectively. Four IncIγ/K1 plasmids p205880-NR2, p14E509-CTXM, p11011-CTXM and p61806-CTXM were fully sequenced and compared with IncIγ/K1 reference pCT, IncI2 reference R721, IncI1/B/O reference R64 and IncK2/Z reference pO26-CRL-125. These plasmids shared conserved gene organization in the replication and conjugal transfer regions, but displaying considerable sequence diversity among different subgroups. Remarkable modular differences were observed in the maintenance and transfer leading regions. p205880-NR2 contained no resistance genes or accessory modules, while the other seven plasmids acquired one or more accessory modules, which harbored mobile elements [including unit transposons, insertion sequence (IS)-based transposition units and individual IS elements] and associated resistance markers (especially including those involved in resistance to β-lactams, aminoglycosides, tetracyclins, phenicols, streptomycins, trimethoprims, sulphonamides, tunicamycins and erythromycins). Data presented here provided a deeper insight into diversification and evolution of IncI-complex plasmids