Crash protection systems for handicapped school and transit bus occupants. Volume I: executive summary. Interim report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Crash protection systems for handicapped school and transit bus occupants. Volume III: appendices A, B, C and D. Interim report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Crash protection systems for handicapped school and transit bus occupants. Volume IV: appendix E. Interim report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

San Diego wheelchair accessible bus study. Interim report.

Urban Mass Transportation Administration, Washington, D.C.

Accident information related to driver visibility and mirrors. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Vehicle Safety Standards, Washington, D.C.

A simulation study of unified GPS and roadside ranging technologies for vehicle positioning

The future vehicle navigation for safety applications requires seamless positioning at the accuracy of sub-meter or better. However, standalone Global Positioning System (GPS) or Differential GPS (DGPS) suffer from solution outages while being used in restricted areas such as high-rise urban areas and tunnels due to the blockages of satellite signals. Smoothed DGPS can provide sub-meter positioning accuracy, but not the seamless requirement. A disadvantage of the traditional navigation aids such as Dead Reckoning and Inertial Measurement Unit onboard vehicles are either not accurate enough due to error accumulation or too expensive to be acceptable by the mass market vehicle users. One of the alternative technologies is to use the wireless infrastructure installed in roadside to locate vehicles in regions where the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signals are not available (for example: inside tunnels, urban canyons and large indoor car parks). The examples of roadside infrastructure which can be potentially used for positioning purposes could include Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)/Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) based positioning systems, Ultra-wide band (UWB) based positioning systems, Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) devices, Locata’s positioning technology, and accurate road surface height information over selected road segments such as tunnels. This research reviews and compares the possible wireless technologies that could possibly be installed along roadside for positioning purposes. Models and algorithms of integrating different positioning technologies are also presented. Various simulation schemes are designed to examine the performance benefits of united GNSS and roadside infrastructure for vehicle positioning. The results from these experimental studies have shown a number of useful findings. It is clear that in the open road environment where sufficient satellite signals can be obtained, the roadside wireless measurements contribute very little to the improvement of positioning accuracy at the sub-meter level, especially in the dual constellation cases. In the restricted outdoor environments where only a few GPS satellites, such as those with 45 elevations, can be received, the roadside distance measurements can help improve both positioning accuracy and availability to the sub-meter level. When the vehicle is travelling in tunnels with known heights of tunnel surfaces and roadside distance measurements, the sub-meter horizontal positioning accuracy is also achievable. Overall, simulation results have demonstrated that roadside infrastructure indeed has the potential to provide sub-meter vehicle position solutions for certain road safety applications if the properly deployed roadside measurements are obtainable.

Nasal administration of liquid crystal precursor mucoadhesive vehicle as an alternative antiretroviral therapy

The purpose of this study was to develop a mucoadhesive stimuli-sensitive drug delivery system for nasal administration of zidovudine (AZT). The system was prepared by formulating a low viscosity precursor of a liquid crystal phase, taking advantage of its lyotropic phase behavior. Flow rheology measurements showed that the formulation composed of PPG-5-CETETH-20, oleic acid and water (55, 30, 15% w/w), denominated P, has Newtonian flow behavior. Polarized light microscopy (PLM) revealed that formulation P is isotropic, whereas its 1:1 (w/w) dilution with artificial nasal mucus (ANM) changed the system to an anisotropic lamellar phase (PD). Oscillatory frequency sweep analysis showed that PD has a high storage modulus (G′) at nasal temperatures. Measurement of the mucoadhesive force against excised porcine nasal mucosa or a mucin disk proved that the transition to the lamellar phase tripled the work of mucoadhesion. Ex vivo permeation studies across porcine nasal mucosa exhibited an 18-fold rise in the permeability of AZT from the formulation. The Weibull mathematical model suggested that the AZT is released by Fickian diffusion mechanisms. Hence, the physicochemical characterization, combined with ex vivo studies, revealed that the PPG-5-CETETH-20, oleic acid, and water formulation could form a mucoadhesive matrix in contact with nasal mucus that promoted nasal absorption of the AZT. For an in vivo assessment, the plasma concentrations of AZT in rats were determined by HPLC method following intravenous and intranasal administration of AZT-loaded P formulation (PA) and AZT solution, respectively, at a dose of 8 mg/kg. The intranasal administration of PA resulted in a fast absorption process (Tmax = 6.7 min). Therefore, a liquid crystal precursor formulation administered by the nasal route might represent a promising novel tool for the systemic delivery of AZT and other antiretroviral drugs. In the present study, the uptake of AZT absorption in the nasal mucosa was demonstrated, providing new foundations for clinical trials in patients with AIDS. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

SEXUALIDADE E DST/AIDS: CONHECIMENTOS E PRÁTICAS DE PROTEÇÃO COM ESCOLARES

This work has for general objective to investigate the information regarding sexuality and STD/Aids among students in the city of Rondonópolis (Mato Grosso), observing the behavior of this public for concepts on sexuality and STD, use of condoms and behaviors faced in a virus HIV intense reality. The analysis involves the interpretations, beliefs, images or symbols shared and used for the people in its interaction with sexuality and STD. This manner, the analysis of literature demonstrated that the lack of information on the STD don t usually differs from a situation of salient social differences. The Structuration theory, theoretical framework of the present work, visualizes that the themes like sexuality and the STD s/Aids needs to be part of day-by-day of the young and the adolescents of all the societies, independent of the social or cultural class of the same ones. In this way, it is conceived that school is an important vehicle of information that must be used in all its amplitude, thus assisting in the maintenance of the public health through the prevention of the STD s/Aids. For in such a way, a collection of data was carried to get more details on questions as: Knowledge on sexuality and concept and use of condoms. Among others results founded, it has evidence of the necessity of the school, while privileged space of the information and knowledge, to insert itself in programs that oportunizes the debate and the reflection of the such themes.

SEXUALIDADE E DST/AIDS: CONHECIMENTOS E PRÁTICAS DE PROTEÇÃO COM ESCOLARES

This work has for general objective to investigate the information regarding sexuality and STD/Aids among students in the city of Rondonópolis (Mato Grosso), observing the behavior of this public for concepts on sexuality and STD, use of condoms and behaviors faced in a virus HIV intense reality. The analysis involves the interpretations, beliefs, images or symbols shared and used for the people in its interaction with sexuality and STD. This manner, the analysis of literature demonstrated that the lack of information on the STD don t usually differs from a situation of salient social differences. The Structuration theory, theoretical framework of the present work, visualizes that the themes like sexuality and the STD s/Aids needs to be part of day-by-day of the young and the adolescents of all the societies, independent of the social or cultural class of the same ones. In this way, it is conceived that school is an important vehicle of information that must be used in all its amplitude, thus assisting in the maintenance of the public health through the prevention of the STD s/Aids. For in such a way, a collection of data was carried to get more details on questions as: Knowledge on sexuality and concept and use of condoms. Among others results founded, it has evidence of the necessity of the school, while privileged space of the information and knowledge, to insert itself in programs that oportunizes the debate and the reflection of the such themes.

SEXUALIDADE E DST/AIDS: CONHECIMENTOS E PRÁTICAS DE PROTEÇÃO COM ESCOLARES

This work has for general objective to investigate the information regarding sexuality and STD/Aids among students in the city of Rondonópolis (Mato Grosso), observing the behavior of this public for concepts on sexuality and STD, use of condoms and behaviors faced in a virus HIV intense reality. The analysis involves the interpretations, beliefs, images or symbols shared and used for the people in its interaction with sexuality and STD. This manner, the analysis of literature demonstrated that the lack of information on the STD don t usually differs from a situation of salient social differences. The Structuration theory, theoretical framework of the present work, visualizes that the themes like sexuality and the STD s/Aids needs to be part of day-by-day of the young and the adolescents of all the societies, independent of the social or cultural class of the same ones. In this way, it is conceived that school is an important vehicle of information that must be used in all its amplitude, thus assisting in the maintenance of the public health through the prevention of the STD s/Aids. For in such a way, a collection of data was carried to get more details on questions as: Knowledge on sexuality and concept and use of condoms. Among others results founded, it has evidence of the necessity of the school, while privileged space of the information and knowledge, to insert itself in programs that oportunizes the debate and the reflection of the such themes.

Quantification of motor vehicle emission factors from on road measurements

Assessment and prediction of the impact of vehicular traffic emissions on air quality and exposure levels requires knowledge of vehicle emission factors. The aim of this study was quantification of emission factors from an on road, over twelve months measurement program conducted at two sites in Brisbane: 1) freeway type (free flowing traffic at about 100 km/h, fleet dominated by small passenger cars - Tora St); and 2) urban busy road with stop/start traffic mode, fleet comprising a significant fraction of heavy duty vehicles - Ipswich Rd. A physical model linking concentrations measured at the road for specific meteorological conditions with motor vehicle emission factors was applied for data analyses. The focus of the study was on submicrometer particles; however the measurements also included supermicrometer particles, PM2.5, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen. The results of the study are summarised in this paper. In particular, the emission factors for submicrometer particles were 6.08 x 1013 and 5.15 x 1013 particles per vehicle-1 km-1 for Tora St and Ipswich Rd respectively and for supermicrometer particles for Tora St, 1.48 x 109 particles per vehicle-1 km-1. Emission factors of diesel vehicles at both sites were about an order of magnitude higher than emissions from gasoline powered vehicles. For submicrometer particles and gasoline vehicles the emission factors were 6.08 x 1013 and 4.34 x 1013 particles per vehicle-1 km-1 for Tora St and Ipswich Rd, respectively, and for diesel vehicles were 5.35 x 1014 and 2.03 x 1014 particles per vehicle-1 km-1 for Tora St and Ipswich Rd, respectively. For supermicrometer particles at Tora St the emission factors were 2.59 x 109 and 1.53 x 1012 particles per vehicle-1 km-1, for gasoline and diesel vehicles, respectively.