Comparative analysis of the frequency and the severity of diagnosed lesions between pedestrians struck by motor vehicles and other blunt trauma mechanisms victims

ABSTRACTObjective:to compare the frequency and the severity of diagnosed injuries between pedestrians struck by motor vehicles and victims of other blunt trauma mechanisms.Methods:retrospective analysis of data from the Trauma Registry, including adult blunt trauma patients admitted from 2008 to 2010. We reviewed the mechanism of trauma, vital signs on admission and the injuries identified. Severity stratification was carried using RTS, AIS-90, ISS e TRISS. Patients were assigned into group A (pedestrians struck by motor vehicle) or B (victims of other mechanisms of blunt trauma). Variables were compared between groups. We considered p<0.05 as significant.Results:a total of 5785 cases were included, and 1217 (21,0%) of which were in group A. Pedestrians struck by vehicles presented (p<0.05) higher mean age, mean heart rate upon admission, mean ISS and mean AIS in head, thorax, abdomen and extremities, as well as lower mean Glasgow coma scale, arterial blood pressure upon admission, RTS and TRISS. They also had a higher frequency of epidural hematomas, subdural hematomas, subarachnoid hemorrhage, brain swelling, cerebral contusions, costal fractures, pneumothorax, flail chest, pulmonary contusions, as well as pelvic, superior limbs and inferior limbs fractures.Conclusion:pedestrian struck by vehicles sustained intracranial, thoracic, abdominal and extremity injuries more frequently than victims of other blunt trauma mechanism as a group. They also presented worse physiologic and anatomic severity of the trauma.

Heavy Duty ilmarenkaiden hinnasto

kuv., 12 x 14 cm

Heavy Duty Speed Wagon

kuv., 10 x 23 cm

Relationship between weight, age and hatching success and the concentration of heavy metals in nestling blue macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus Latham, 1790) in the Pantanal,Mato Grosso do Sul

Abstract: The concentration of heavy metals (Cr, Fe, Al, As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Mo, Ni, Se and Zn) was evaluated in the blood of nestling blue macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) captured in the Pantanal, Mato Grosso do Sul (n=26) in 2012; this was based on the hypothesis that these birds exhibit levels of these heavy metals in their organism and that these interfere in hatching success, weight and age of the chicks. Blood samples were digested with nitric acid and hydrochloric acid and the quantification of metals was performed by ICP-OES (Optical Emission Spectroscopy and Inductively Coupled Plasma). Blood samples of nestlings showed concentrations of Cr (0.10μg/g) Fe (3.06μg/g) Al (3.46μg/g), Cd (0.25μg/g) Cu (0.74μg/g), Mo (0.33μg/g), Ni (0.61μg/g), Se (0.98μg/g), and Zn (2.08μg/g). The levels of heavy metals found were not associated with weight, age and hatching success of the chicks.

Curving simulation and stability of a creep-controlled wheelset for high speed rail-vehicles

Higher travel speeds of rail vehicles will be possible by developing sophisticated top performance bogies having creep-controlled wheelsets. In this case the torque transmission between the right and the left wheel is realized by an actively controlled creep coupling. To investigate hunting stability and curving capability the linear equations of motion are written in state space notation. Simulation results are obtained with realistic system parameters from industry and various controller gains. The advantage of the „creep-controlled wheelset" is discussed by comparison the simulation results with the dynamic behaviour of the special cases „solid-axle wheelset" and „loose wheelset" (independent rotation of the wheels). The stability is also investigated with a root-locus analysis.

Kuljetusvirtojen yhdistely kannattavaksi kuljetussuoritteeksi maatalouteen liittyvissä tuoteryhmissä

Diplomityön tavoitteena on arvioida kuljetusvirtojen yhdistämisen kannattavuutta. Kannattavuuden arvioimiseksi määritetään kuljetusvirtojen yhdistämisestä syntyneiden kuljetusreittien hinnat, jotka perustuvat reitillä käytettävien ajoneuvojen kuljetuskustannuksiin. Työssä kuvataan reitin hinnan määrittämiseksi rakennetun hinnoittelutyökalun ominaisuuksia ja käyttöä. Kova kilpailu ja huomattava kuljetuskustannusten osuus kaikista logistiikkakustannuksista haastavat yritykset kehittämään toimituspalveluistaan yhä tehokkaampia. Jotta niin asiakkaiden, toimittajien kuin kuljetusyritystenkin tarpeet voidaan mahdollisimman hyvin huomioida, on ensisijaisesti tarkasteltava yrityksen omaa toimintaa ja sen kehittymisvalmiuksia kuljetusten hallinnassa. Kuljetuskustannusten muodostumisen havainnollistamiseksi työssä perehdytään raskaan kuljetuskaluston kustannuslaskelmiin eri tekijöineen. Perusteluja kuljetusten yhdistämisen kannattavuudelle haetaan yritysmaailmassa jo toteutetuista esimerkeistä ja kuljetusten yhdistämisen rajoituksista. Kuljetusvirtojen yhdistelyn avulla yrityksen on mahdollista tehostaa logistisia palveluitaan kuljetusten osalta. Taulukkolaskentapohjainen työkalu auttaa tyhjänä ajettavien reittiosuuksien minimoinnissa. Tyhjänä ajon vähentymisen vaikutus näkyy kuljetuskustannusten alenemisena, jonka hyötyjä voidaan pitkällä aikavälillä jakaa useamman sidosryhmän kesken.

Economical potential of controlling charging of electric vehicles by using price signal

The number of electric vehicles grows continuously and the implementation of charging electric vehicles is an important issue for the future. Increasing amount of electric vehicles can cause problems to distribution grid by increasing peak load. Currently charging of electric vehicles is uncontrolled, but as the amount of electric vehicles grows, smart charg-ing (controlled charging) will be one possible solution to handle this situation. In this thesis smart charging of electric vehicles is examined from electricity retailers` point of view. The purpose is to find out plausible saving potentials of smart charging, when it´s controlled by price signal. Saving potential is calculated by comparing costs of price signal controlled charging and uncontrolled charging.

Quantitative evidence for neurofilament heavy subunit aggregation in motor neurons of spinal cords of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease of unknown etiology, affects motor neurons leading to atrophy of skeletal muscles, paralysis and death. There is evidence for the accumulation of neurofilaments (NF) in motor neurons of the spinal cord in ALS cases. NF are major structural elements of the neuronal cytoskeleton. They play an important role in cell architecture and differentiation and in the determination and maintenance of fiber caliber. They are composed of three different polypeptides: light (NF-L), medium (NF-M) and heavy (NF-H) subunits. In the present study, we performed a morphological and quantitative immunohistochemical analysis to evaluate the accumulation of NF and the presence of each subunit in control and ALS cases. Spinal cords from patients without neurological disease and from ALS patients were obtained at autopsy. In all ALS cases there was a marked loss of motor neurons, besides atrophic neurons and preserved neurons with cytoplasmic inclusions, and extensive gliosis. In control cases, the immunoreaction in the cytoplasm of neurons was weak for phosphorylated NF-H, strong for NF-M and weak for NF-L. In ALS cases, anterior horn neurons showed intense immunoreactivity in focal regions of neuronal perikarya for all subunits, although the difference in the integrated optical density was statistically significant only for NF-H. Furthermore, we also observed dilated axons (spheroids), which were immunopositive for NF-H but negative for NF-M and NF-L. In conclusion, we present qualitative and quantitative evidence of NF-H subunit accumulation in neuronal perikarya and spheroids, which suggests a possible role of this subunit in the pathogenesis of ALS.

Effects of life cycle profits on the profitability of industrial heavy duty cranes

The goal of the thesis was to investigate how much after-sales profits a crane sale generates over the life cycle of the crane and the effects of these after-sales profits on the overall profitability of the crane. The thesis utilizes theories about life cycle costing from an equipment and service supplier’s point of view. However, instead of costs, the thesis is focused on the life cycle after-sales profits from maintenance services and spare parts provided for the sold crane. The case study approach was chosen and a total of five cranes from three different segments were investigated. An eight-step life cycle profit calculation model was developed in order to analyze the chosen cases’ life cycle profits systematically. The results of the investigation suggest that the life cycle after-sales profits are significant in value. In the case analyses they accounted for between 20% and 44% of the overall life cycle profits of the case cranes. The after-sales profits should be taken into account already in the pricing when offering a crane to a customer.

Ambient particulate air pollution from vehicles promotes lipid peroxidation and inflammatory responses in rat lung

Oxidative stress plays a major role in the pathogenesis of particle-dependent lung injury. Ambient particle levels from vehicles have not been previously shown to cause oxidative stress to the lungs. The present study was conducted to a) determine whether short-term exposure to ambient levels of particulate air pollution from vehicles elicits inflammatory responses and lipid peroxidation in rat lungs, and b) determine if intermittent short-term exposures (every 4 days) induce some degree of tolerance. Three-month-old male Wistar rats were exposed to ambient particulate matter (PM) from vehicles (N = 30) for 6 or 20 continuous hours, or for intermittent (5 h) periods during 20 h for 4 consecutive days or to filtered air (PM <10 µm; N = 30). Rats continuously breathing polluted air for 20 h (P-20) showed a significant increase in the total number of leukocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage compared to control (C-20: 2.61 x 105 ± 0.51;P-20: 5.01 x 105 ± 0.81; P < 0.05) and in lipid peroxidation ([MDA] nmol/mg protein: C-20: 0.148 ± 0.01; P-20: 0.226 ± 0.02; P < 0.05). Shorter exposure (6 h) and intermittent 5-h exposures over a period of 4 days did not cause significant changes in leukocytes. Lipid damage resulting from 20-h exposure to particulate air pollution did not cause a significant increase in lung water content. These data suggest oxidative stress as one of the mechanisms responsible for the acute adverse respiratory effects of particles, and suggest that short-term inhalation of ambient particulate air pollution from street with high automobile traffic represents a biological hazard.

Heavy metals investigation in bovine tissues in Brazil

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of arsenic, lead, and cadmium residues in samples of liver, kidney, and muscle of cattle during the years of 2002 to 2008. A total of 1017 samples from 20 Brazilian States were used. The samples were analyzed at the National Agricultural Laboratory using the atomic absorption spectrometry technique. Arsenic residues were detected in 15.7% of liver samples and 28.7% of kidney samples although no results have exceeded the MRL. With regard to lead, 16 samples of liver and 74 samples of kidney were contaminated (5.2 and 10.9%, respectively). Among these samples, only one liver and two of kidney samples had lead levels above the MRL. Cadmium was found with levels below the MRL in 12.5% of the liver samples, and only 3 samples (1%) were quantified above the MRL. Among the kidney samples, 420 (60.8% of the total tested) had cadmium residues, and five of them exceeded the limits established by legislation. It is concluded that the Brazilian meat meets the legislation requirements without putting consumer's healthy at risk since as it satisfies the national and international food-safety conditions.

Real-time simulation of multibody systems with applications for working mobile vehicles

This dissertation describes an approach for developing a real-time simulation for working mobile vehicles based on multibody modeling. The use of multibody modeling allows comprehensive description of the constrained motion of the mechanical systems involved and permits real-time solving of the equations of motion. By carefully selecting the multibody formulation method to be used, it is possible to increase the accuracy of the multibody model while at the same time solving equations of motion in real-time. In this study, a multibody procedure based on semi-recursive and augmented Lagrangian methods for real-time dynamic simulation application is studied in detail. In the semirecursive approach, a velocity transformation matrix is introduced to describe the dependent coordinates into relative (joint) coordinates, which reduces the size of the generalized coordinates. The augmented Lagrangian method is based on usage of global coordinates and, in that method, constraints are accounted using an iterative process. A multibody system can be modelled as either rigid or flexible bodies. When using flexible bodies, the system can be described using a floating frame of reference formulation. In this method, the deformation mode needed can be obtained from the finite element model. As the finite element model typically involves large number of degrees of freedom, reduced number of deformation modes can be obtained by employing model order reduction method such as Guyan reduction, Craig-Bampton method and Krylov subspace as shown in this study The constrained motion of the working mobile vehicles is actuated by the force from the hydraulic actuator. In this study, the hydraulic system is modeled using lumped fluid theory, in which the hydraulic circuit is divided into volumes. In this approach, the pressure wave propagation in the hoses and pipes is neglected. The contact modeling is divided into two stages: contact detection and contact response. Contact detection determines when and where the contact occurs, and contact response provides the force acting at the collision point. The friction between tire and ground is modelled using the LuGre friction model, which describes the frictional force between two surfaces. Typically, the equations of motion are solved in the full matrices format, where the sparsity of the matrices is not considered. Increasing the number of bodies and constraint equations leads to the system matrices becoming large and sparse in structure. To increase the computational efficiency, a technique for solution of sparse matrices is proposed in this dissertation and its implementation demonstrated. To assess the computing efficiency, augmented Lagrangian and semi-recursive methods are implemented employing a sparse matrix technique. From the numerical example, the results show that the proposed approach is applicable and produced appropriate results within the real-time period.

Small teleoperated vehicles: study of potential use cases and empirical prototyping

This thesis researches the current state of small teleoperated devices, the need for them and developing one. Small teleoperated devices give the possibility to perform tasks that are impossible or dangerous for humans. This work concentrates on small devices and cheap components and discloses one way of developing a teleoperated vehicle, but not necessarily the optimal way. Development and the current state of teleoperation were studied by a literature review, in which the data was searched from literature as well as from the Internet. The need for teleoperated devices was mapped through a survey, where 11 professionals from variating fields were interviewed how they could utilize a teleoperated devices and with what kind of features. Also, a prototype was built as a proof of concept of small teleoperated devices. The prototype is controlled by a single-board microcomputer that also streams video to the controlling device. The video can be viewed on a display or with a head mounted display.