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During the pre-GE-14, political parties in Terengganu have expressed their confidence to come to power based on current issues, government performance and leadership. In GE-14, the people have chosen to give PAS a chance to lead the Terengganu State Government. After GE-14, there was also a conflict between UMNO and PAS in the state. Therefore, the purpose of writing this article is to analyze the geopolitics of Terengganu in pre-GE-14, GE-14 and post GE-14. The writing of this article is based on analysis of GE 2018 results data, field observations and analysis of secondary sources such as journal articles and conference papers. Findings show that geopolitics or governing power based on pre-GE-14, GE-14 and post-GE-14 scenarios in Terengganu depends on the influence of voter support for political parties, the role and volume of key leaders and current issues in the state. The instability of BN Government leaders and local issues have opened up space for PAS to win the hearts of Terengganu people in GE-14. However, this rejection is seen not because of the strength of PAS but rather the weakness of BN in addressing issues that arise in the community, especially in Terengganu. Meanwhile, PH is also not seen as dominant in any part except in Kemaman and Kuala Terengganu. Post GE-14 shows PAS cooperating with UMNO to form a Muafakat Nasional (MN) on the basis of the Malay-Muslim political cooperation. For the first time in the state, the opposition in the state assembly is governmen-friendly. However, the open conflict between the main leadership of UMNO and PAS over the distribution of development allocations and the distribution of seats in the next general election will be a challenge to both political parties to maintain long-term and consistent political cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To further improve the ride comfort of commercial vehicles, a seat ISD (Inerter–Spring–Damper) suspension utilizing a mechatronic inerter is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a five-DOF (degree-of-freedom) commercial vehicle seat ISD model was built. Then, the positive real network constraint conditions of a biquadratic impedance transfer function were determined, and the meta-heuristic intelligent optimization algorithm was used to solve the parameters. According to the solution, the impedance transfer function was obtained and the specific network structure was realized by network synthesis. Lastly, this study compares the vibration isolation performance of the mechatronic ISD suspension of the vehicle seat with that of a passive suspension. In comparison to passive seat suspension, the seat mechatronic ISD suspension reduces seat vibration transmissibility by 16.33% and vertical acceleration by 16.78%. Results indicate that the new suspension system can be an effective improvement in ride comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In self-driving vehicles, passengers can set their seats in an unconventional seating position, such as rear-facing. Sitting in such an orientation can increase the risk of whiplash in the head-and-neck system in a frontal impact, as frontal crashes usually have higher severities compared with rear-end crashes. This paper shows that a forward-facing front seat optimised for rear-impact protection needs to be redesigned to be used as a rear-facing seat. In the second and main part of this paper, a restraint system for rear-facing car seats is developed, and frontal impact simulations with 64 km/h of delta-V are used to evaluate its performance. The designed seating system comprises two rigid torso plates, a fixed recliner and an energy absorber under the seat pan. Without using the developed restraint system, the 50th percentile male human model is exposed to neck shear forces exceeding 600 N. With the developed restraint system, neck shear forces are less than 350 N in frontal impacts with 64 km/h of delta-V. Apart from whiplash, the risk of head, chest, lower extremity and lower back injuries are also evaluated. The results confirm that the developed restraint system successfully protects the occupant since all assessment criteria values are lower than the injury assessment reference values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of polynomial iterative learning tracking control (Poly-ILC) for continuous-time linear systems (LTI) operating repetitively. It explores the design of an iterative learning control law by examining the stability along the pass theory of 2D repetitive systems. The obtained result is a generalization of the notion of stability along passages, taking into account transient performances. To strike a balance between stability along passages and transient performance, we extend our developed result in the discrete case, relying on some numerical tools. Specifically, in this work we investigate the convergence of tracking error with given learning controller gains. The key contribution of this structure of control lies in establishing an LMI (linear matrix inequality) condition that ensures both pole placement according to desired specifications and the convergence of output error between iterations. Furthermore, new sufficient conditions for stability regions along the pass addressing the tracking problem of differential linear repetitive processes are developed. Numerical results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes and simulates a smart system that can be used in production car seats to decrease whiplash risk in rear-end crashes. A sliding seat incorporating a semiactively controlled magnetorheological (MR) damper model positioned under the seat-pan is simulated with a validated biofidelic human body model. Since this is the first study that demonstrates a computer controlled anti-whiplash car seat system to the best of the authors' knowledge, a benchmark analysis is carried out to compare the proposed semiactive seat with a state-of-the-art passive anti-whiplash car seat using 23 different crash pulses, including the moderate and high severity crash pulses within the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP) whiplash risk assessment framework. The proposed semiactive design outperforms the passive seat design by further reducing the values of the critical EuroNCAP whiplash criteria, such as NIC and N k m , together with the loads acting on the upper neck. The semiactive seat lowers the upper-neck shear force by an amount of 4 kg and 7 kg while lessening the NIC by 10% and 21% and N k m by 9% and 56% for the EuroNCAP crash pulses, having a delta-V of 16 km/h and 24 km/h, respectively. The findings presented in this paper can aid in the design of car seats to further mitigate whiplash risk in rear-end crashes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study of the vibration isolation properties of pneumatic suspension systems for work machinery seats, with a particular focus on adjustable stiffness. It highlights the contribution that semi-active seat suspension systems make to vibration reduction, ultimately leading to improved passenger comfort levels and increased safety for vehicle users. The primary objectives of the research were twofold: firstly, to identify the key parameters of the apneumatic vibration isolation system; and secondly, to evaluate its performance in improving vibration damping. This entailed the development of a mathematical model that would foreground the movement through simulations based on different initial pressures, thus enabling the accurate prediction of real-life scenarios concerning the vibration-damping characteristics of the seating system, taking into account the different design options available for working machine technology applied at the test bed level, of which the pneumatic isolator is an integral component. In the cognitive process, the verification and validation of the formulated theoretical model play an important role. This approach enables the behaviour of the actual system to be inferred from the results of simulation studies, thus allowing the design of an appropriate vibration control system. By simulating different air bellow pressures, the characteristics of the seat suspension system can be assessed. This study provides valuable insights into optimising the vibration-damping capability of the air suspension system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares and analyzes the present situation and the key technology of the research on the impact loading of the automobile seat at home and abroad, and analyzes the concrete problems existing in the research of the automobile seat in our country at present, this paper puts forward the new principle of impact loading of automobile seat, explains the loading process of impact loading principle in detail, constructs the mathematical model of loading principle and simulates and analyzes the loadability, the hydraulic system of the impact loading system of the automobile seat is designed in detail, and the hydraulic loading process of the automobile seat is refined, the simulation and test of the integrated performance of the vehicle seat impact loading system are carried out, which validates the feasibility of the design and lays a solid foundation for the next development of the entity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deploying an airbag when a vehicle occupant is too close to it can cause injury. An adaptive Airbag Control Unit (ACU) would improve the effectiveness of the safety system, provided it is aware of the actual position of the occupants once the crash is going to occur. Occupants can be monitored with vision-based and radar-based sensing in the vehicle, but the research question is whether other reliable devices exist. In this research, a real seat is equipped with four sensors in the supports from the floor, as well as an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and a microcontroller. The device is capable of identifying correct position or different Out of Position (OP) conditions and inform an adaptive ACU. The paper presents the seat layout in detail and its testing in extensive driving experiments with multiple participants. Depending on the position of the driver, the identification is correct 45–100% of the time. Monitoring the occupant position by a sensorized seat is feasible and can improve the reliability of the onboard safety system when integrated with other occupant monitoring devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: By giving specific road excitation, the differential equations and analytical solutions derived in this paper can be used to quickly estimate the vertical displacement and acceleration of the bus passing through this section of the road. The theoretical results and formulae in this paper can provide some guidelines for bus design and bus driving. The comfort of a bus running on different road conditions is a matter of public concern. In this paper, the differential equations of motion are established for a bus running on different road conditions and the whole driving process is mechanically analyzed. Firstly, the bump degree at different positions is quantitatively analyzed and it is found that the rear row is bumpier on different roads. Then, the relationship between the speed of the bus and the vertical displacement and acceleration is quantitatively described. Regardless of the speed, a similar displacement and acceleration will be eventually achieved, but the speed is higher, and the duration of maximum displacement and acceleration is longer. When the speed is 8 m/s, resonance occurs on the bus during road condition II. Finally, the change in vertical displacement and acceleration under the action of different spring stiffness coefficient ratios of the front and rear wheels is quantitatively analyzed. High stiffness ratios mean less displacement and acceleration. By establishing an actual excitation road surface, the differential equations and analytical solutions in this paper can be used to roughly analyze the mechanical response of a traveling bus. These results can provide some guidance for the design and driving of buses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inappropriate or unsafe speed is one of the main factors that affects the number of road crashes as well as the severity of the consequences. Research shows that speed is an influential factor in the occurrence of road crashes in more than 30% of road crashes with fatal outcomes and in over 12% of all road crashes. With an increase in speed, the risk of road crashes increases as well as the severity of the consequences. The perception of the vehicle speed in the traffic lane is one of the basic prerequisites for the safe functioning of traffic, that is, for the successful and timely interaction of all road users. Therefore, the challenge of this paper is to examine how the assessment of the speed of a passenger vehicle in different environments affects the prediction of the respondent's participation in road crashes. Bearing the above in mind, an experimental study was carried out, in real traffic conditions (RTC) as well as in a virtual environment using a driving simulator (DS), at different passenger vehicle speeds (30, 50 and 70 km/h), and at different perspectives of observing the oncoming vehicle (observing the vehicle from the front, from the back, from the side and from the driver's seat) by the respondents. The respondents had the task of evaluating the passenger vehicle speed, in all tested conditions and at all tested speeds. Standard statistical models and fuzzy logic were used to analyze the obtained results. The results show statistically significant differences for all tested situations and all tested speeds as well as statistically significant differences depending on the gender of the respondents, the driver's license category, the driver's experience, frequency of driving and depending on whether respondents wear glasses. Bearing in mind the results of the developed model, by applying fuzzy logic, it can be concluded that the proposed model can be used to assess the propensity of respondents to participate in road crashes, based on perception of vehicle speeds in two tested environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy fault-tolerant control (FTC) scheme is proposed for active seat suspension systems. The addressed system contains electromagnetic actuator faults. In addition, the constraints of the displacements of the car seat, active suspension, and wheel, their vertical vibration speeds and current intensity are included. In the control design, since the systems have dynamic characteristics of complexities and spring non-linearities, the fuzzy logic systems are utilized to approximate the unknown nonlinear dynamics. By the aid of Barrier Lyapunov functions and based on the adaptive backstepping recursive design algorithm, a novel adaptive fuzzy FTC scheme is formulated. When the electromagnetic actuator fails, the developed control scheme can guarantee that all the vertical vibration states are stable. Eventually, the effectiveness of the presented control method is offered to illustrate by a random road surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Furniture as a functional object must satisfy both artistic and scientific requirements. In particular, ergonomic factors are very important in furniture design in terms of human health and productivity. To make furniture designs at the ideal intersection of science and art, it is necessary to approach furniture design with a scientific systematic. Accordingly, this paper summarizes and analyzes the current state of biomechanics in ergonomic furniture design, covering an overview of the biomechanics utilized in different types of furniture design, biomechanical analysis, and testing methods. In the conclusion of the study, the literature analysis identifies the key topics and areas of future exploration regarding the use of biomechanics in ergonomic furniture design. The findings of the review indicate that (1) the primary studies on biomechanics used in furniture design concentrate on special furniture, such as wheelchairs and transportation vehicle seats, with minimal investigation performed on common furniture; (2) mechanical analysis, experimental testing, and computer-aided ergonomics represent the main techniques applied in furniture design biomechanics; (3) the reliability of biomechanics used in furniture design needs to be improved due to the lack of fundamental parameters of the muscles and skeleton of the human body; and (4) more attention should be paid to the use of biomechanics in the design of common furniture, such as household and office furniture, which affects people's health and comfort. The scientific and rational application of biomechanics should be integrated into ergonomic furniture design to promote healthy living and enhance work efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a view to maintaining the competitiveness required by the market, the automotive industry strongly encourages its suppliers to develop new production methods and technologies capable of reducing the costs of produced products, ensuring the necessary quality, and increasing flexibility, with a view to responding more easily to the customization of the products that the market increasingly demands. The main goal of this work was to increase the flexibility and productivity of equipment capable of producing the first subset that constitutes the product commonly known as the Bowden cable. To this end, the design science research methodology was used, which was understood as the most effective in describing scientific work related to the improvement of existing systems. Bowden cables are cables that activate various devices in the car, such as opening doors, moving window glasses, and adjusting some car seats, among others. The work consisted of integrating several operations usually carried out for the manufacture of the referred subset, reducing logistics operations and manual work, increasing operator safety, and increasing the production rate and flexibility of the equipment, by reducing the setup time. For this purpose, new mechanical concepts were developed, and automation was applied, which resulted in a completely new concept, able to fulfill all the objectives initially set. It should be noted here that the new equipment allowed a production rate of 1140 p/h, when the initial objective was 1100 p/h; it requires an investment of only around EUR 55,000 (easy return on investment), occupies only 11.6 m2, and has reinforced safety systems to avoid workers' injuries, an aspect that is very important in this type of equipment, where operators deal with cutting systems and high temperatures. The dissemination of this concept could help other researchers to easily find solutions to certain problems that they face in the development of modern equipment. The main contributions of this paper are the novel concepts created to overcome some process difficulties, which can be used for a wide range of other processing situations with similar difficulties. The solutions proposed allow a decrease in the cycle time, present high flexibility, save workshop space, and are affordable in terms of global cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport of liquid water is one of the basic producer requirements to ensure the suitable physiological comfort of drivers. This paper deals with the investigation of car seat covers' efficiency from the point of view of their moisture management. Two methods were used for the evaluation of moisture transport in the car seat cover structures. Both of them use a thermography system for water transport detection. The first method evaluates dynamic water spreading in cross-section in the frontal plane; the second one examines horizontally dynamic spreading of liquid drops on the upper face of the sample. The tested materials were designed to understand the role of the middle layer of textile sandwich car seats in their moisture management behavior. The same PES woven structure in the top layer was used for all tested samples. Knitted spacer fabric (3D spacer fabric), polyurethane foam, and nonwoven were used as padding in the middle layer in car seat covers. In summary, the distribution and transport of liquid moisture in a sandwich structure are fundamentally affected by the middle layer of composite, especially by material composition and the value of porosity. The best results were shown in 3D spacer fabric for car seat covers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: Motion comfort of automated driving and other transportation modes. In future automated vehicles we will often engage in non-driving tasks and will not watch the road. This will affect postural stabilization and may elicit discomfort or even motion sickness in dynamic driving. Future vehicles will accommodate this with properly designed seats and interiors, whereas comfortable vehicle motion will be achieved with smooth driving styles and well-designed (active) suspensions. To support research and development in dynamic comfort, this paper presents the validation of a multi-segment full-body human model, including visuo-vestibular and muscle spindle feedback, for postural stabilization. Dynamic driving is evaluated using a "sickening drive", including a 0.2 Hz 4 m/s2 slalom. Vibration transmission is evaluated with compliant automotive seats, applying 3D platform motion and evaluating 3D translation and rotation of pelvis, trunk and head. The model matches human motion in dynamic driving and reproduces fore–aft, lateral and vertical oscillations. Visuo-vestibular and muscle spindle feedback are shown to be essential, in particular, for head–neck stabilization. Active leg muscle control at the hips and knees is shown to be essential to stabilize the trunk in the high-amplitude slalom condition but not with low-amplitude horizontal vibrations. However, active leg muscle control can strongly affect 4–6 Hz vertical vibration transmission. Compared to the vibration tests, the dynamic driving tests show enlarged postural control gains to minimize trunk and head roll and pitch and to align head yaw with driving direction. Human modelling can enable the insights required to achieve breakthrough comfort enhancements, while enabling efficient developments for a wide range of driving conditions, body sizes and other factors. Hence, modelling human postural control can accelerate the innovation of seats and vehicle motion-control strategies for (automated) vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is one of the typical structured, systematic and proactive approaches for product or system failure analysis. A critical step in FMEA is identifying potential failure modes for product sub-systems, components, and processes, for which component-failure mode (CF) knowledge is necessarily needed as an important source of knowledge. However, this knowledge is usually acquired manually based on historical documents such as bills of material and failure analysis reports, which is a labor-intensive and time-consuming task, incurring inefficiency and plenty of mistakes. Nevertheless, few existing studies have developed an effective and intelligent approach to acquiring accurate CF knowledge automatically. To fill the gap, this paper proposes a method to construct the CF matrix automatically by mining unstructured and short quality problem texts and mapping as well as representing them as CF knowledge. Starting with mining the frequent itemsets of failure modes through Apriori algorithm, the method uses the semantic dictionary WordNet to find synonyms in the set of failure modes, based on which the standard set of failure modes is finally built. Subsequently, upon the previous work and components set, we design the component-failure mode matrix mining (CFMM) algorithm and apply it to establish the CF matrix from unstructured quality problem texts. Lastly, we examine the quality data of the seat module of an automobile company as a case study in order to validate the proposed method. The result shows that the failure mode extraction method with standardized features can extract failure modes more effectively than the FP-growth and K-means clustering methods. Meanwhile, the devised CFMM algorithm can extract more combinations of CF than the FP-growth method and build a richer CF matrix. Although different industries have distinct domain characteristics, our proposed method can be applicable not only to manufacturing but also to other fields needing FMEA to enhance product and system reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problems of slow manual inspection speed and low fault detection accuracy of car seat back parts, this article using Q company's car seat back parts researches and designs a car seat back classification and quality inspection screening system. Firstly, SURF (speeded up robust features) is combined with the CNN (convolutional neural network) to classify three types of car seat backrests: A, B, and C. Then, to establish the spring hook angle detection model of the car seat back to detect the misfitting and omission of the Class A car seat back springs, experimental results showed that the neural network-based car seat back detection method proposed in this paper had a feature point mismatch rate, which is less than 1.5% in the classification and recognition of car seat backs. The recognition rate of the training sample was 100% and that of the test sample was 99.56%. The accuracy rate of detection when inspecting 50 car seat backrests reached 98%, and the test results showed that the system can effectively reduce labor costs and improve the detection efficiency of auto parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little work has been carried out to predict the comfort of aircraft seats, a component in close contact with the human body during travel. In order to more accurately predict the nonlinear and complex relationship between subjective and objective evaluations of comfort, this paper proposes a prediction method based on the Improved Particle Swarm Algorithm (IPSO) and optimized Support Vector Machine Regression (SVR). Focusing on the problems of the too-fast convergence and low accuracy of the traditional particle swarm algorithm (PSO), the improved particle swarm algorithm (IPSO) is obtained by linearly decreasing the dynamic adjustments of inertia weight ω , self-learning factor c 1 , and social factor c 2 ; then, the penalty parameter C and kernel function parameter σ of SVR are optimized by the IPSO algorithm, and the comfort prediction of IPSO-SVR is established. The prediction accuracy of IPSO-SVR was 94.00%, the root mean square error RMSE was 0.37, the mean absolute value error MAE was 0.32, and the goodness of fit R2 was 0.92. The results show that the optimized IPSO-SVR prediction model can more accurately predict seat comfort under different angles and backrest tilt angles and can provide reference and research value for related industries. The results show that the optimized nonlinear prediction model of IPSO-SVR has higher accuracy, and its prediction method is feasible and generalizable, meaning it can provide a reliable basis for the prediction of seat comfort under different angles and backrest inclinations, as well as providing reference and research value for related industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The examination of seated occupants' ride comfort under whole-body vibration is a complex topic that involves multiple factors. Whole-body vibration refers to the mechanical vibration that is transmitted to the entire body through a supporting surface, such as a vehicle seat, when traveling on rough or uneven surfaces. There are several methods to assess ride comfort under whole-body vibration, such as subjective assessments, objective measurements, and mathematical models. Subjective assessments involve asking participants to rate their perceived level of discomfort or satisfaction during the vibration exposure, typically using a numerical scale or questionnaire. Objective measurements include accelerometers or vibration meters that record the actual physical vibrations transmitted to the body during the exposure. Mathematical models use various physiological and biomechanical parameters to predict the level of discomfort based on the vibration data. The examination of seated occupants ride comfort under whole-body vibration has been of great interest for many years. In this paper, a multi-body biomechanical model of a seated occupant with a backrest is proposed to perform ride comfort analysis. The novelty of the present model is that it represents complete passenger by including thighs, legs, and foot which were neglected in the past research. A multi-objective firefly algorithm is developed to evaluate the biomechanical parameters (mass, stiffness and damping) of the proposed model. Based on the optimized parameters, segmental transmissibilities are calculated and compared with experimental readings. The proposed model is then combined with a 7-dofs commercial car model to perform a ride comfort study. The ISO 2631-1:1997 ride comfort standards are used to compare the simulated segmental accelerations. Additionally, the influence of biomechanical parameters on most critical organs is analyzed to improve ride comfort. The outcomes of the analysis reveal that seated occupants perceive maximum vibration in the 3–6 Hz frequency range. To improve seated occupants' ride comfort, automotive designers must concentrate on the pelvis region. The adopted methodology and outcomes are helpful to evaluate protective measures in automobile industries. Furthermore, these procedures may be used to reduce the musculoskeletal disorders in seated occupants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a prototype of a disinfection system for public transport specifically aiming to disinfect surfaces contaminated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus on buses using 222 nm wavelength far-ultraviolet light (far-UVC). Our study involved testing the developed technical system installed in a 12 m long M3 category urban bus, an investigation of optimal far-UVC light angles, and the determination of disinfection parameters for bus seat disinfection. The study identified the ideal positioning of a light source for effective disinfection and analyzed three disinfection scenarios, considering zone coverage, disinfection time, and energy demand. A subsystem employing real-time occupancy monitoring enhances the disinfection process in crowded areas of buses. An energy efficiency assessment model is proposed for optimizing energy consumption. Furthermore, the energy consumption analyses in different disinfection scenarios provide valuable insights for optimizing energy usage in public transport disinfection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graduated compression is widely used for medical application to prevent perioperative venous thromboembolism, but other applications such as sportswear can potentially also benefit from it. A tight-fit cycling shirt meant to ensure the correct position during cycling and prevent injuries was designed. The aim of this study was to improve garment pattern design from the aspect of clothing pressure for providing support and enhancing comfort to the user. This paper investigates the suitability of pressure maps from 3D fashion design software CLO 3D for design and in particular its capability to discriminate between various materials and cycling postures. Moreover, the impact of the mechanical properties of fabric was analyzed. In particular, virtual prototyping tool CLO 3D and pressure mapping were employed to achieve the required graduated compression while ensuring fit and comfort. Pattern adjustments were iteratively performed until stress, strain, and pressure maps showed adequate fit and pressure of the cycling garment on the virtual cyclist in static and dynamic cycling positions. The impact of fabric types on garment fit has been shown by generating the stress, strain, and pressure maps with a virtual simulation. It was found that the visualized pressure on the human body model shows distributions that are related to contact between body and garment, and large compression stresses occur in the lower parts of the two shirts. Evident garment deformation was shown at hip level, upper arm, lower front side seam, and front neck, which can reduce garment wear comfort and freedom of movement. The output was found to be sufficiently accurate to optimize the garments based on material and cycling posture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blast mitigation continues to be a popular field of research when military vehicles are concerned. The main problem is coping with the vehicle global motion consequences following an explosion. The paper presents a potential application of the linear vacuum packed particle (VPP) damper as a supplementation for a viscous shock absorber in a traditional blast mitigation seat design. The paper also presents field test results for the underbelly blast explosion, comparing them to the laboratory tests carried out on the impact bench. To collect accelerations, the anthropomorphic test device, i.e. the Hybrid III dummy, was used. A set of numerical simulations of the modified blast mitigation seat with the additional VPP linear damper were revealed. The VPP damper was modeled according to the Johnson-Cook model of viscoplasticity. The Hertzian contact theory was adopted to model the contact between the vehicle and the ground. The reduction of the dynamic response index (DRI) in the case of the VPP damper application was also proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the near future, cities will have to supply innovative and high value-added mobility services, that shall be sustainable in terms of environmental impact, traffic management and energy efficiency. This represents a great challenge: transportation accounts for 20% of the global energy consumption, with a large share in urban areas (around 40% of total transport consumption). One of the most promising solutions to reduce congestion, energy consumption and air pollutants in highly-populated areas is Ride Sharing. Ride Sharing systems aim to bring together travellers with similar itineraries and time schedules, thus providing significant societal and environmental benefits, such as reducing the number of cars used for personal travel and improving the utilization of available seat capacity (also defined "occupancy rate"). This paper examines the impact of Ride Sharing by developing an enhanced transport model in Visum, which takes into account the shareability of passengers mobility patterns. The model is applied to the Milan Metropolitan Area, which represents an interesting test case for two main reasons: first, its high population density and strong transport offer and second, the large amount of information and data available on passengers mobility. The paper assumes an optimal 20% participation rate to Ride Sharing and estimates its benefits in terms of congestion reduction, energy efficiency and environmental impact. The COPERT software is used to estimate Carbon Dioxide emissions and fuel consumption savings. The simulation results show that Ride Sharing brings a sort of rebound effect, since there is an increase in passengers traveling by car. However, the overall effect is a reduction in the number of vehicles used, with consequent reductions in vehicle kilometers travelled (-3.8%). This translates into 6% energy savings and 6% Carbon Dioxide emissions reduction. Some policy recommendations are provided to develop Ride Sharing in order to increase the effectiveness of this system while restraining side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main fields of application of personal sound zones (PSZs) is the car industry. PSZ systems are usually designed assuming that the acoustic environment is not changing. However, due to variability in the car cabin's acoustic conditions, it is necessary to design a system capable of adapting to these variations. This paper introduces the use of the filtered-x least-mean-squares algorithm to adapt a PSZ system in a car cabin when the seat positions change. The article focuses on four aspects. First, the effect of the initial coefficients is investigated to help with the convergence of the adaptive algorithm. Second, a study is made on the definition of the desired pressure and its effect on the reproduction. Third, the system's sensitivity to external noise is also evaluated. Last, the possibility to reduce the number of microphones for the adaptive system is considered. The method's performance is evaluated using a two headrest system installed in a car cabin and when moving the seats to different positions. It is shown that the system is capable of maintaining the performance in the different seat positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature the value of the driver's head acceleration has been widely used as an objective function for the modification of the suspension and/or the seat characteristics in order to optimize the ride comfort of a vehicle. For these optimization procedures various lumped parameter Vehicle–Seat–Human models are proposed. In the present paper a Quarter Car model is integrated with three Seat–Human models with different levels of detail. The level of detail corresponds to the number of degrees of freedom used to describe the Seat–Human system. Firstly, the performance of the Quarter Car model, used as a basis, is analyzed in six excitations with different characteristics. Then, the performance of the three lumped parameter Vehicle–Seat–Human models are monitored in the same excitations. The results indicated that in the case of single disturbance excitations the Quarter Car model provided 50–75% higher values of acceleration compared with the eight degrees of freedom model. As far as the periodic excitation is concerned, the Vehicle–Seat–Human models provided values of acceleration up to eight times those of the Quarter Car model. On the other hand, in stochastic excitations the Vehicle–Seat–Human model with three degrees of freedom produced the closest results to the Quarter Car model followed by the eight degrees of freedom model. Finally, with respect to the computational efficiency it was found that an increase in the degrees of freedom of the Vehicle–Seat–Human model by one caused an increase in the CPU time from 2.1 to 2.6%, while increasing the number of the degrees of freedom by five increased the CPU time from 7.4 to 11.5% depending on the excitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this article is to present the possibility of assessing the intensity of the impact of vibrations on vehicle users. During vehicle operation, many factors can have impacts on changes in the characteristics of car suspension, which can affect passenger comfort. This paper presents the results obtained from calculations based on a mathematical model, as well as from measurements during laboratory tests. The tests were performed on vehicles that differed in characteristics of damping suspension. The tests were carried out using a test stand for evaluating the effectiveness of shock absorbers in vehicles. During the tests, vibration propagations on the driver's seat and the steering wheel were evaluated. An analysis of the amplitudes and frequencies of vibrations experienced by occupants was carried out. A method for assessing the impact of changes in the damping characteristics of a suspension system on vehicle users' comfort during technical inspection was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seat of a construction machinery cab is used as the research object. For the current human-seat coupling system comfort research methods and optimization index deficiencies, the seat body pressure comfort and vibration comfort at the same time optimized. Based on the more specialized Toyota 50 percentile dummy model, a human-seat finite element simulation model is established, and the body pressure distribution and vibration response are simulated and calculated. The transverse and longitudinal pressure distributions of the backrest and seat cushion and the pressure map are used to verify the simulation model's body pressure comfort evaluation indexes. At the same time, the vibration response test is used to verify the vibration comfort evaluation indexes of the simulation model. The test results show that the accuracy of each evaluation index of the established coupling model is greater than 85%, which can provide model support for the subsequent optimization work. In order to improve the comfort of the seat of construction machinery during operation, the hardness of the upper sponge and lower layer sponge is reduced and increased by 10% and 15%, respectively, on the original seat. The body pressure comfort evaluation indexes of the ischium peak pressure, ischium mean pressure, thigh peak pressure and thigh mean pressure are used to evaluate the improved seat. The proposed optimization scheme is to reduce the hardness of the upper sponge and lower layer sponge of the seat cushion by 10% to improve the seat body pressure comfort. Finally, the evaluation indexes of body pressure comfort and vibration comfort are verified by four subjects in an improved seat, and the cushion pressure of different subjects is reduced while the vibration isolation rate is increased, which shows the rationality of the proposed optimization scheme. In addition, the evaluation results of the improved seat are different for subjects of different body sizes, with the most significant improvement for the subject of greater height and weight. The modeling and comfort evaluation methods adopted in the paper can provide a reference for the design and development of the seat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detection of seat belts is an essential aspect of vehicle safety. It is crucial in providing protection in the event of an accident. Seat belt detection devices are installed into many automobiles, although they may be easily manipulated or disregarded. As a result, the existing approaches and algorithms for seat belt detection are insufficient. Using various external methods and algorithms, it is required to determine if the seat belt is fastened or not. This paper proposes an approach to identify seat belt fastness using the concepts of image processing and deep learning. Our proposed approach can be deployed in any organizational setup to aid the concerned authorities in identifying whether or not the drivers of the vehicles passing through the entrance have buckled their seat belts up. If a seat belt is not detected in a vehicle, the number plate recognition module records the vehicle number. The concerned authorities might use this record to take further necessary actions. This way, the organization authorities can keep track of all the vehicles entering the premises and ensure that all drivers/shotgun seat passengers are wearing seat belts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drivers of heavy trucks are exposed to large amounts of vibration which can lead to serious health risks. Many suspension systems/methods can be used to isolate these transmitted vibrations, such as vehicle suspension systems, cabin suspension systems and seating suspension systems. The central idea of the work is to identify the research gaps and raise our future research questions in this specific area. The novelty of this paper is proposing a model predictive controller for active vibration control of seating suspension systems. A systematic literature review of the existing work of the vibration control of seating suspension systems has been conducted. Various control techniques that are used in the seating suspension systems have been summarized and evaluated. This paper focusses on the biodynamic model of the driver and seat for the first step needed in the design of the seating suspension system. Then, it illustrates the different types of the system vibration controls and their performance evaluation methods. At the end, the paper details several active seating suspension systems including their actuation system structures and control algorithms which are used in the heavy vehicle trucks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reform of the self–governments in Slovakia caused the transfer of competencies from state authorities to municipalities. Every municipality is in accordance with Act no. 369/1990 Coll. on the Municipal Establishment obliged to ensure original and transferred competences for its inhabitants. However, for objective reasons, not all municipalities are able to perform them. Municipalities began to use the possibility of mutual contractual cooperation in accordance with the amendment to the Act on Municipal Establishment, under which municipalities can cooperate with each other for the purpose of carrying out a specific task or activity. Such cooperation between municipalities also exists for the purpose of exercising competence in the field of the building order. Pursuant to Act no. 50/1976 Coll. as amended, each municipality is a building authority. The aim of the paper is to qualitatively assess the reasons for contractual cooperation between the municipalities of the Nitra (NR) and Košice (KE) regions in the area of the building order (by using the method of structured interview). So far, 2 649 municipalities, which are a part of 189 joint building offices (JBO), have used the possibility of mutual contractual cooperation in the SR. Specifically, in the NR region there are 343 municipalities, which are part of 26 JBOs and in the KE region 391 municipalities, which are part of 28 JBOs. The qualitative method was used to find out the opinions of the building offices. Based on the obtained results, an optimal solution for problems of cooperation of municipalities was proposed by adopting new legislation, namely by the allocation of building offices to the seats of registry offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyester is currently the main material used for the manufacture of safety belts used in car transport for the protection of passengers and the driver. The seat belt is the main passive safety element used in vehicle engineering. In this work, the behavior of two safety belts, one with three-point fastening and the other with four-point fastening, which equip the seat of a racing car used in Formula Student for use in a frontal impact with a vertical wall. A model with finite elements is used to describe the entire car–driver shock-absorber assembly. The von Mises stresses calculated for both cases under consideration are below the tensile strength. The tensions arising in the belt and the accelerations required at various points of the driver's body are determined by both the properties of the utilized polyester and the chosen construction variant. The obtained results justify the use of the three-point and four-point belt in the cases of both common and race cars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of laboratory simulation tests of a suspension system for a car seat. The first part of the paper contains a description of the experiment, paying particular attention to the conditions in which the tests were conducted and the properties of the electrically controlled damper, which was mounted in the tested car seat's suspension. Graphs of the damper's operation were determined for different values of current intensity and the signal controlling the damper's damping ratio and then the damping characteristics were determined on this basis. Simulated tests of the car seat's suspension were carried out on a car component test station. During the tests, the values measured were the acceleration recorded at selected points on the dummy, which was placed on a seat equipped with suspension using a magnetorheological (MR) damper during the experiment. The second part of the paper presents an analysis of the results of the experimental tests with particular emphasis on the influence of the current that controls the operation of the damper on the values of the RMS index of the acceleration at selected points of the dummy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lot of daily activities are conducted in a sedentary posture. This includes a thermal interaction between the human and the seat that has implications on thermal perception and comfort. These interactions are investigated by simulating heat and mass transfer, thus, reducing a need for costly and time demanding subject studies. However, it is not clear, from the available literature, what portion of the body surface area is actually affected by the seat with respect to human anthropometry. The aim of this study was to develop a predicting function of the seat contact area based on anthropometric parameters. The results showed strong linear correlation between the contact area obtained by printing a body silhouette on paper placed at the seat and body weight, height, body surface area, and body mass index. The body surface area and the body weight were identified as the best predictors for the contact area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The term luxury and sustainability, within the fashion and textile industries are seldom seen as natural bedfellows. Recently however, the perception of luxury has begun to include a definition left behind in the twentieth century; beautifully hand crafted artefacts valued for the time, skill and design invested in them. It is possible though, for the concept of luxury textiles to embrace this definition and that of the sustainable credentials of a “Cradle to Cradle” (McDonough and Braungart, 2002) mindset (that of a life beyond original creation) and be fashionable. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Utilising a variety of methodologies including case studies, reflective practice and a practice-based approach; this paper examines the use of pre-consumer waste in the creation of new luxury textiles. Several projects are cited, offering examples of collaboration between textile mills and designers in the creation of new fabrics made from luxury by-products. This luxury waste is routinely shredded for automobile seat filling or landfill, however current sustainable thinking encourages a more creative solution to this circumstance. Designers have a crucial role to play in converting an unwanted by-product to one that is highly desirable. Findings – Traditional values of what constitutes a luxury item include the concept of time invested in making a unique handmade artefact. More recently, this premise has been overlooked in favour of branded goods. The slow fashion movement advocates the inherent value of craftsmanship coupled with the ethical use of sustainable and or local materials and processes. The traditional techniques of felting, weave and stitch are utilised to create beautiful, original textiles from discarded waste. By collaborating with local mills, designers provide solutions to something that could be perceived as a problem. Originality/value – The embedded narrative within these layered textiles provides an original quality and added value, building on their Scottish heritage. The resulting textiles reflect their provenance; the landscape they come from and the people who created them. As a result of purchase, the story continues with the new custodian, adding to the ongoing history of the textile. The design work and collaboration that this paper outlines embodies a transferable model for sustainable upcycled luxury textiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve the secondary production in multistage fracturing wells of tight oil, milling tools are usually used to remove the multistage fracturing ball seats to achieve production with a large diameter in later. In this paper, first of all, the working mechanism of milling tools for multistage fracturing ball seats was studied and a mechanical analysis model of single abrasive grain was established. Then, an experimental system for milling tools was developed, and the experimental tests of the flat, the blade, and the slope milling tool were conducted in order. Besides, the morphology of chips and the surface morphology of the workpiece after the experiment were analyzed. Also, the working performance of milling tools was evaluated from the perspectives of working safety, working efficiency, and wear resistance of the milling tool. The results show that the torque of the milling tool increases nonlinearly with the increase in the cutting depth of the abrasive grain and increases linearly with the increase in the cutting width. Also, the chips are irregular particles and the size is mainly from 10 to 50 μm. So, the chips should be pumped up with a small pump pressure and a large displacement. Besides this, the cutting depths of the abrasive grains are from 216.20 to 635.47 μm and the bottom surface of the milling tool should be eccentric to avoid the zero point of cutting speed. Furthermore, the torque of the slope milling tool is 23.8% larger than that of the flat milling tool, which is also 30.4% smaller than that of the blade milling tool. Compared with the flat milling tool, the working efficiency of the blade milling tool improves by 79.9% and the slope milling tool improves by 111.1%. Also, the wear resistance of the blade milling tool decreases by 102.7%, while the slope milling tool declines by 32.6% when compared with the flat milling tool. Therefore, the slope milling tool has the characteristics of moderate torque, stable working conditions, the highest working efficiency, and fine wear resistance, which is preferably used to mill multistage fracturing ball seats. This study provides a theoretical basis and guidance for milling multistage fracturing ball seats on-site and realizing production with a large diameter in later stages of multistage fracturing wells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the parameter sensitivity analysis of a passenger/seat model that can be used for ride comfort assessments. The final aim is to produce a comprehensive framework for enabling vehicle seat designers to develop comfortable (and healthy) seats, especially for those people who spend their lives while working on vehicles. In this paper a seated passenger proprietary model has been proposed and validated either by comparing it with a mathematical model derived by means of commercial software, either by experimental activities. On the basis of the validated model a sensitivity analysis has been performed, aiming to identify the key parameters affecting the ride comfort. A total of 47 parameters were accounted for. Many parameters seem relevant to describe the ride comfort of a seated road vehicle passenger. The most important conclusion of the research is that the parameters referring to posture have proved to influence ride comfort to a great extent. Other relevant but less important parameters are: the stiffness and damping of the seat, the geometry of the seat, the size and inertia properties of the body segments, and the stiffness and damping of the different parts of the human body. Different running conditions have been considered, i.e. vehicle passing over cleats or running on a randomly profiled road. Different running conditions influence differently the ride comfort, so care has to be used when performing either experimental or numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opera has gone from a cherished vehicle for royal and aristocratic socializing to a forum for cultural experiences open to everybody. At least for those of us who can afford a ticket. This paper presents findings regarding the transition of audience revenues from the renting out of boxes and seats for all performances during one season to the aristocracy to a much larger share of tickets sold for single performances to a more general audience. Although it was a long, drawn-out process, it seems that the French Revolution was a tipping point not only for the French opera houses, but for those in other European countries as well. Possible pull factors for the much increased bourgeoisie demand are discussed. They include the general economic growth, stable ticket prices, technological evolution, changes in repertoire, the social identification factor, conspicuous consumption, and the new ‘celebrity industry’. This story is told based on primary data collected in the archives belonging to the Opéra National de Paris, Kungliga Operan in Stockholm, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Teatro Regio in Turin and Königliche Preussische Hofoper in Berlin. Secondary sources are used to describe what occurred in opera venues in London. The paper also includes information on how seats were sold, who rented boxes annually, box office revenues and on the share of these revenues in the opera revenues. The study ranges from 1750 to 1824. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an 8-DOF model including driver seat dynamics, subjected to random road disturbances is used in order to investigate the advantage of active over conventional passive suspension system. Force actuators are mounted parallel to the body suspensions and the driver seat suspension. An optimal control approach is taken in the active suspension used in the vehicle. The performance index for the optimal control design is a quantification of both ride comfort and road handling. To simulate the real road profile condition, stochastic inputs are applied. Due to practical limitations, not all the states of the system required for the state-feedback controller are measurable, and hence must be estimated with an observer. In this paper, to have the best estimation, an optimal Kalman observer is used. The simulation results indicate that an optimal observer-based controller causes both excellent ride comfort and road handling characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel, simple and reliable control strategy for an active seat suspension, intended for use in a vehicle, which attenuates the harmful low-frequency vertical vibration at the driver’s seat. An advantage of this strategy is that it uses measurable preview information from the vehicle suspension. The control force is calculated from this preview information and controller gains obtained by optimising an objective function using a genetic algorithm (GA) approach. The objective function optimises ride comfort in terms of the Seat Effective Amplitude Transmissibility factor, taking into account constraints on both the allowable seat suspension stroke and actuator force capacity. This new controller is evaluated using both simulation and experimental tests in both the frequency and time domains. The simulation model is based upon a linear quarter vehicle model and a single degree of freedom seat suspension. Experimental tests are performed using a multi-axis simulation table and an active seat suspension. Finally, the performance of the active seat suspension is analysed and compared to a passive system, demonstrating significant acceleration attenuation of more than 10 dB across a broad frequency range. Consequently, this has the potential to improve ride comfort and hence reduce the driver’s fatigue using a reliable and cost-effective control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new hybrid controller which is a combination of three control schemes: fuzzy neural control, PI control and sliding mode control. The interval type 2 fuzzy model featuring updated rules via online is used in this study and in order to support the fuzzy model, a granular clustering method is applied to find groups of data related to the initial fuzzy rule. Then the output for fuzzy model is used for the PI-sliding mode controller. The combination of PI and sliding mode controls is carried out by H-infinity technique method which is rely on the modified Riccati-like equation. After developing the mathematical model, the proposed controller is applied to vibration control of a vehicle seat suspension featuring magneto-rheological (MR) damper. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller, two different excitations of bump and random signals are adopted and corresponding vibration control performances are evaluated. It is demonstrated through both simulation and experiment that the proposed controller can provide much better than vibration control performance compared with the conventional controllers showing more robust stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aims to: 1) Explore the mobility experiences of seniors with slow walking speeds (SSWS) in urban neighborhoods; and 2) Investigate their environmental barriers and supports. Methods: Go-along interviews were conducted with 36 SSWS residing in urban neighborhoods of Chongqing City, China. The mobility patterns and built environment factors influencing their mobility were revealed through cartographic analysis and thematic analysis. Results: SSWS primarily focused their activities within a 400-meter radius of their homes. Built environment themes included topography, neighborhood services, sidewalks, seating, traffic safety, weather, greenery, and lighting. Significant mobility barriers included long stairs, steep slopes, fast-moving objects on sidewalks, road crossings, and fast traffic. Available handrails, nearby food-service places, ample seating, and greenery were identified as supportive factors for their mobility. Conclusion: This study stands out as the first to specifically examine the mobility of SSWS within the built environment. We suggest that SSWS should be taken into account when establishing a benchmark for general design frameworks. These improvements not only contribute to the mobility of slow walkers but also have positive impacts on the broader population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a personal account of Jerry Ericksen's family perspectives, as told by his daughter Lynn Cadmus and son Randy Ericksen. Lynn recalls fond memories of her father teaching her about nature, swimming, and making meal times fun. Randy reflects on their father's diverse range of interests, including mathematics, mechanics, smoking a pipe, watching television, and collecting various items. Both Lynn and Randy express admiration for their father's accomplishments and the impact he had on others in his field. [Extracted from the article]

The aim of the study is to compare the head displacement of the KPSIT C50 dummy during a frontal collision at a speed of 20 km/h, along with the change in the angle of the car seat backrest. Passenger car manufacturers recommend setting the backrest angle of the car seat between 100 and 125 degrees. It should be noted that the driver's position is of great importance in the event of a collision injury. In the event of a rear-end collision, the position of the headrest of the car seat is an element that affects the degree of the driver's injuries. In extreme cases, incorrect positioning of the headrest, even at low speed, can lead to serious injuries to the cervical spine and even death. The article is part of a large-scale study on low-speed crash testing. The research problem concerned the influence of the seat backrest angle on the head displacement during a low-speed collision. The article compares the displacement of the head of the KPSIT C50 dummy during a series of crash tests, where the angle of the car seat backrest was changed. On the basis of the research, it was found that the optimal angle of the car seat backrest is 110 degrees. In addition, a preliminary analysis of the displacements of the dummy's head showed a high risk of whiplash injury in people sitting in a fully reclined seat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]