First-Year Students\u27 Perception of Vocation at a Private Faith-Based Liberal Arts Institution

The current study surveyed 100 first-year students in order to answer the research question, “What are the perceptions of vocation of first-year students at a private faith-based liberal arts institution?” The study ultimate aimed to use the findings to assist career development professionals in planning programs that foster students’ discovery of their career aspirations and life purpose. A review of the literature revealed a gap regarding the perceptions of vocation among first-year students and how a private faith-based liberal arts institution can better support students’ vocational aspirations. The study utilized a modified grounded research theory qualitative design, which enabled the identification of themes through the analysis of student responses. The researcher selected the methods to achieve a more accurate theoretical sampling of the first-year students’ understanding of vocation by allowing their voices to drive the results. The participants received twenty-five minutes to respond to the following questions: “How would you describe your understanding of the idea of vocation?” and “How do you believe attending this university will impact your sense of vocation, calling, and/or life’s purpose?” The researcher read, analyzed, and categorized the essays into themes that emerged from the participants’ responses. Seven themes emerged from each question. The primary finding of question one indicated that 90% of the participants viewed vocation as “a calling.” In response to question two, the predominant theme showed that students desired encouragement from their university community to develop their self-awareness and career path. The results of this study reflected the critical role of career development professionals—as well as the high expectations that students have of their institutions—to offer students support in discovering their career aspirations and life purpose. Future research could include the development of a survey instrument and quantitative analysis in order to gain a more precise understanding of students understanding of vocation

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

Development of geometric specifications for a small female anthropomorphic test device pelvis

Target surface geometry for the small female anthropomorphic test device pelvis was predicted by a statistical pelvis geometry model developed through analysis of medical imaging data. The resulting geometry was compared to the Hybrid III small female pelvis geometry and an estimate of female pelvis geometry obtained by length scaling the midsize male pelvis based on bispinous breadth. Differences were found in the shape of the pubic rami, ischial tuberosities, and anterior superior iliac wings between the small female pelvis model and the Hybrid III pelvis, which may affect interactions with seat belts and vehicle structures.National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117574/1/103243.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117574/4/103243-1.pdfDescription of 103243.pdf : This file has been superceded. The new file, current as of June 20, 2016, is named 103243-1.pdf.Description of 103243-1.pdf : Final report; supercedes all versions downloaded prior to June 20, 2016

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

Injury patterns in motor-vehicle crashes in the United States: 1998 - 2014

The NASS-CDS database for years 1998-2014 was analyzed to examine trends in injury patterns. To account for changes in data collection for years 2009 and later, most analyses focused on occupants in vehicles newer than 10 years relative to the given crash year. However, for analysis of trends by crash year, the number of occupants injured in older vehicle was estimated. The number of occupants with AIS2+ or AIS3+ injuries was assessed by main crash type (rollover, frontal, rear, near-side, and far-side) and AIS body region (head, face, neck, thorax, spine, abdomen, upper extremity and lower extremity). Risk of AIS2+ or AIS3+ injury was also calculated. Dependent variables include occupant age, BMI, gender, occupant seating position, and restraint; vehicle type and model year; plus crash year. Additional analyses were performed to determine if injury patterns varied within body region. Overall trends in injury indicate a substantial drop in the total number of injuries since 1999. Risk has dropped consistently for near- and far-side crashes, but not for rollovers, frontal, or rear impacts. For AIS3+ injured occupants, the 16% of occupants who are unbelted make up between 45-55% of injured occupants in all crash types except for near-side. Rear occupants have a 1.7 times greater risk of AIS2+ injury in far-side impacts and 2.2 times greater risk in rear impacts compared to front seat occupants, but front occupants have 1.5 times greater risk than rear occupants in frontal crashes. The risk of AIS2+ and AIS3+ injury to all body regions generally increase with age. The proportion of AIS2+ and AIS3+ injured occupants in rollovers decreases with age. In frontal, near-side, and far-side crashes, occupants with AIS2+ injury aged 66 and greater make up a higher proportion of the injured occupants compared to their involvement crashes. Risk of AIS3+ injury is highest in pickup trucks for frontal crashes, near-side and rear crashes and in passenger cars for far-side and rollovers. Risk of AIS2+ and AIS3+ injury is highest in pickup trucks for all AIS body regions. Risk of AIS3+ injury to the pelvis and femur have dropped substantially since vehicle model years 1999-2004.National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135950/1/103253.pdfDescription of 103253.pdf : Final repor

A perspective on emerging automotive safety applications, derived from lessons learned through participation in the DARPA Grand Challenges

This paper reports on various aspects of the Intelligent Vehicle Systems (IVS) team's involvement in the recent 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, wherein our platform, the autonomous “XAV-250,'' competed as one of the 11 finalists qualifying for the event. We provide a candid discussion of the hardware and software design process that led to our team's entry, along with lessons learned at this event and derived from participation in the two previous Grand Challenges. In addition, we give an overview of our vision-, radar-, and LIDAR-based perceptual sensing suite, its fusion with a military-grade inertial navigation package, and the map-based control and planning architectures used leading up to and during the event. The underlying theme of this article is to elucidate how the development of future automotive safety systems can potentially be accelerated by tackling the technological challenges of autonomous ground vehicle robotics. Of interest, we will discuss how a production manufacturing mindset imposes a unique set of constraints upon approaching the problem and how this worked for and against us, given the very compressed timeline of the contests. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61244/1/20264_ftp.pd

Developing parametric human models representing various vulnerable populations in motor vehicle crashes

Children, small female, elderly, and obese occupants are vulnerable populations and may sustain increased risk of death and serious injury in motor-vehicle crashes compared with mid-size young male occupants. Unfortunately, current injury assessment tools do not account for immature and growing body structures for children, nor the body shape and composition changes that are thought make female/aging/obese adults more vulnerable. The greatest opportunity to broaden crash protection to encompass all vehicle occupants lies in improved, parametric human models that can represent a wide range of human attributes. In this study, a novel approach to develop such models is proposed. The method includes 1) developing statistical skeleton and human body surface contour models based on medical images and body scan data using Mimics and a series of statistical methods, and 2) linking the statistical geometry model to a baseline human finite element (FE) model through an automated mesh morphing algorithm using radial basis functions, so that the FE model can represent population variability. Examples of using this approach to develop parametric pediatric head model, adult thorax and lower extremity models, and whole-body human models representing various populations were represented. The method proposed in this study enables future safety design optimizations targeting at various vulnerable populations that cannot be considered with current injury assessment tools.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113667/1/103204.pdf-

Optimizing protection for rear seat occupants: assessing booster performance with realistic belt geometry using the Hybrid III 6YO ATD

A series of sled tests was conducted to examine the performance of booster seats under belt geometries representing the range found in the rear seats of current vehicles. Twelve tests were performed with the standard 6YO Hybrid III ATD and 29 tests were performed with a modified version of the 6YO ATD. The modified dummy has a pelvis with more realistic shape and flesh stiffness, a gel abdomen with biomechanically-based stiffness characteristics, and a custom neoprene jacket. Shoulder belt upper anchorage was set at the FMVSS No. 213 belt anchorage location and 64 mm inboard and outboard from this location. Lap belt anchorage locations were chosen to span the range of lap belt angles permitted under FMVSS 210, using the FMVSS No. 213 belt anchorage locations and forward belt anchorage locations that produce a much steeper lap belt angle. Four booster seats that provide a range of static belt fit were used. The ATDs were positioned using either the standard FMVSS No. 213 seating procedure or an alternate UMTRI procedure that produces postures closer to those of similar-size children. Kinematic results for the standard and modified dummies under the same test conditions were more similar than expected. The current version of the modified 6YO is less sensitive to lap belt geometry than the prototype version of the dummy. The seating procedure had a greater affect on kinematic results. The UMTRI seating procedure produced greater knee-head excursion differences and less forward torso rotation than the FMVSS No. 213 procedure. Shifting the shoulder belt upper anchorage 128 mm laterally produced minimal variations in kinematics for a given booster seat/lap belt condition, likely because the belt-routing features of the booster seats limited the differences in static shoulder belt score to less than 10 mm. Moving the lap belt geometry from rearward (shallow angle) to forward (steep angle) produced less desirable kinematics with all booster seats tested. The forward position of the lap belt anchorage allows greater forward translation of the booster and ATD before the belt engages the pelvis. Steeper belt angles are associated with better lap belt fit for children sitting without boosters, so designing rear seat belts for children who sit with and without boosters may involve a performance tradeoff.National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90973/1/102860.pd

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

Comparing the CRABI-12 and CRABI-18 for Infant Child Restraint System Evaluation

Technical Report FinalA preliminary study was performed to consider how evaluation of rear-facing-only child restraints might differ if the CRABI 18 month old crash test dummy was used instead of the CRABI 12 month old. In comparison to child anthropometry data, the CRABI-18 does a better job in representing the dimensions of children over 1 year old. Nineteen rear-facing-only child restraint systems (CRS) were measured, and both test dummies were installed in the CRSs for static evaluation. The CRABI-12 fit well in all the CRSs. Nine child restraints were too narrow for the CRABI-18 shoulders (including 7 CRSs for use with children at or over 18 kg [30 lb]), and 12 child restraints did not allow the recommended 25 mm head clearance. In dynamic FMVSS No. 213 testing with 3 CRSs (Graco Snugride30, Chicco KeyFit, and Evenflo Embrace), the measured response of both test dummies was similar; both met all FMVSS No. 213 requirements.National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154007/1/UMTRI-2013-5.pd