Search results for "Reliability and Quality"
showing 10 items of 386 documents
Predictors of driving after alcohol and drug use among adolescents in Valencia (Spain).
2010
Producción Científica
Under-reporting bicycle accidents to police in the COST TU1101 international survey: Cross-country comparisons and associated factors
2018
Police crash reports are often the main source for official data in many countries. However, with the exception of fatal crashes, crashes are often underreported in a biased manner. Consequently, the countermeasures adopted according to them may be inefficient. In the case of bicycle crashes, this bias is most acute and it probably varies across countries, with some of them being more prone to reporting accidents to police than others. Assessing if this bias occurs and the size of it can be of great importance for evaluating the risks associated with bicycling.This study utilized data collected in the COST TU1101 action "Towards safer bicycling through optimization of bicycle helmets and us…
Measurements of projected areas of seated and standing people of southern Italy based on a statistical analysis
2006
One of the most important components affecting the human thermal balance is represented by its radiative exchange with the surrounding surfaces. The projected area of the human body is an important parameter of these thermal exchanges. Unfortunately, although the anthropometric measures of people are characterized by significant differences among various populations, the experimental data currently available in the literature refers to a small group of people. Moreover, measurements are generally performed regardless of the statistical significance of the involved subjects with respect to the population to which they belong. In this study, a statistical study is introduced that is based on …
Naturalistic study on the usage of smartphone applications among Finnish drivers
2018
We present results from a naturalistic study that tracked how Finnish drivers use their smartphones while on the move. We monitored 30 heavy in-car smartphone users in Finland during June–September 2016, recording the times that they used their phones, the application used at the time of touch (calls excluded), the location and driving speed. Touches per time unit were used as a proxy for estimating visual-manual distraction due to visual-manual tasks. Our data set allows the determining of whether drivers use their phones differently on varying road types (highway, main road, local rural road, urban road). We found that the road type has an effect on phone use but the effect is contrary to…
Sleep and sleepiness in shift-working tram drivers
2020
Driver sleepiness contributes to traffic accidents. However, sleepiness in urban public transport remains an understudied subject. To fill this gap, we examined the sleepiness, sleep, and on-duty sleepiness countermeasures (SCMs) in 23 tram drivers working morning, day, and evening shifts for three weeks. Sleepiness was measured using Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS). Nocturnal total sleep time (TST) was measured with wrist actigraphy. SCMs and naps were self-reported with a smartphone application. Caffeine and napping were considered effective SCMs. Severe sleepiness (KSS >= 7) was observed in 22% of shifts with no differences between shift types. Rest breaks were associated with slight r…
Alcohol-impaired Walking in 16 Countries: A Theory-Based Investigation.
2021
Alcohol is a global risk factor for road trauma. Although drink driving has received most of the scholarly attention, there is growing evidence of the risks of alcohol-impaired walking. Alcohol-impaired pedestrians are over-represented in fatal crashes compared to non-impaired pedestrians. Additionally, empirical evidence shows that alcohol intoxication impairs road-crossing judgements. Besides some limited early research, much is unknown about the global prevalence and determinants of alcohol-impaired walking. Understanding alcohol-impaired walking will support health promotion initiatives and injury prevention. The present investigation has three aims: (1) compare the prevalence of alcoho…
Not gendered… but different from each other? A structural equation model for explaining risky road behaviors of female and male pedestrians.
2020
Abstract As alternative transportation is getting more and more fashionable, and more people worldwide are "shifting" to walking trips, even for their daily commuting, traffic crashes suffered by pedestrians are still a great concern for road safety and public health researchers and practitioners. In this regard, risky or "aberrant" road behaviors have emerged, during the last few years, as a key issue to be considered for crash prevention. Nevertheless, the idea of a "generic pedestrian" is getting re-evaluated, and analyzing key features, such as gender, seems to be crucial for understanding pedestrians' performance and safety outcomes. Objective The objective of this study was to examine…
Ultrasonic inspection for the detection of debonding in CFRP-reinforced concrete
2017
Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites are extensively used to retrofit civil structures. However, the quality and the characteristics of the bond between the FRP and the structure are critical to ensure the efficacy of the retrofit. For this reason, effective non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods are often necessary to assess the bonding conditions. This article presents an ultrasonic technique for detecting defects at the FRP-substrate interface. The technique uses the Akaike Information Criterion, to detect automatically the onset of the ultrasonic signals, and the novel Equivalent Time Lenght (ETL) parameter, to quantify the energy of the propagating ultrasonic signals along the i…
Impact behaviour of flax/epoxy composite plates
2015
This paper presents an experimental investigation of the impact behaviour of flax/epoxy composite plates submitted to low-velocity transverse impact. Low energy drop-weight impact tests have been performed on two types of quasi-isotropic flax/epoxy composites, rectangularly shaped with edges lengths of 142 mm × 94 mm and 2.85 mm thick. Residual properties have been assessed by compression after impact tests. A detailed description of damage development, especially the increase of the rear face crack with respect to the impact energy is given by the microscopic observation. The influence of impact damage on the residual strength is described. A loss of 15%–30% in compression resistance was n…
Application of the ESR spectrometry to evaluate the original dose in irradiated dried fruit
2008
The identification of irradiated dried fruit can be achieved by means of the electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometry, as recommended by the European Community, since ionizing radiation induces free radicals in cellulose, a constituent of the shell. The aim of this work was to use the ESR spectrometry also as a quantitative procedure to evaluate the original dose in irradiated dried fruits, using the additive dose method. Little shell pieces, taken from nuts, chestnuts, peanuts and pistachios, were irradiated at original dose values in the range 1 to 8 kGy, and the ESR signal intensity was measured. Each specimen was then reirradiated with added doses of 1 kGy, and the ESR signal was me…