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This study clarifies the prevalence of rear seat belt use among university students and explores the factors that influence seat belt use on general roads and expressways. Questionnaires were distributed to 1,091 students who attended health education lectures: 893 students (81.9%) agreed to participate and met the criteria; among them, 660 (73.9%) provided complete responses. While one-third (33.0%) of rear seat passengers "always" used seat belts on general traffic roads, three-fourths (73.2%) "always" used them on expressways. Multivariate analysis revealed that being male and the perception of obligation and recognition of the benefits of rear seat belt use were associated with use on general roads, whereas the possession of a driver's license and recognition of benefits were associated with use on expressways. Finally, we suggest that educational programs on seat belt use be developed and delivered to general road and expressway users to promote seat belt use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews various sensor technologies with application in automobiles and robots. Several automotive sensors have been developed using the micro‐electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. The technologies related to combustion pressure sensors, yaw rate sensors, acceleration sensors, and optical scanners are described here. The combustion pressure sensors are used for engine control, while the yaw rate sensors of quartz and silicon crystals and the acceleration sensors are applied for vehicle motion control. Optical scanners are developed for autonomous driving. Several automotive sensors have been significantly reduced in size and cost, and their performance has been improved dramatically by MEMS technology. The inertial force‐sensing system with yaw rate and acceleration sensors enabled the assistant and partner robots to stand on two legs, walk, or invert and move on two wheels. Because the robots are required to have a variety of sensors, a nerve‐net sensing system was developed. This sensing system has three layers: the host, relay, and sensor nodes. The sensor node is a special large‐scale integration called a 'nerve‐net chip.' A triaxial force tactile sensor integrated with the nerve‐net chip was developed as a 2.8‐mm square surface‐mountable chip. A force and thermal tactile sensor was also developed, which detected heat flows and discriminated the materials of contacted objects. The heat flow sensor was thinned with thin‐film technology. The sensor technologies will be used for eco cars and autonomous vehicles. Next‐generation robots are also supported by several automotive sensor technologies. © 2020 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1951, the Japanese government introduced a vehicle safety inspection system and this system has an effect of shortening the ‘economic’ lifetimes of automobiles and increasing CO 2 emissions associated with vehicle life-cycle. This study develops an integrated assessment framework by combining dynamic discrete choice analysis with life-cycle environmental accounting analysis based on a dynamic stock model. From the empirical results, we found that (1) the economic lifetime of a Prius in the benchmark model is surprisingly short, 5.07 years, due to the strict car inspection system, and this replacement cycle has contributed to increasing CO 2 over time; and (2) abolishing car inspections at the third and fifth years would considerably contribute to reducing life-cycle CO 2 emissions associated with Prius sold during the study period, 1997 to 2016, accounting for approximately one million tons-CO 2 eq. over 20 years. Thus, we conclude that modifying the regulation policy with a focus on the car inspection system to induce car owners to keep their automobiles longer would have environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J. D. Power and Associates (JDP) conducts customer surveys and reports information on automobile quality, reliability, safety, satisfaction and buyer behavior. The Initial Quality Study (IQS) by JDP provides feedback on the quality of new vehicles during the first 90 days of ownership. This paper evaluates the quality measurements of IQS and its economic impact on the sales performance of major U.S. automakers (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) and Japanese automakers (Toyota, Honda, and Nissan) between 2001 and 2010. The following research questions are addressed: (1) Does IQS have significant impact on the customers' purchasing behavior during the period of study? (2) Who benefits more from IQS, U.S. or Japanese automakers? (3) How can the quality information of IQS be measured and evaluated? In order to address the first two questions, the event study methodology is used to analyze the impact the IQS surveys on U.S. market sales. IQS resulted in the positive response to the market (or increasing market share) for Japanese automakers with the opposite result for U.S. auto manufacturers. To address the third question, two quality measures (IQS score and event type, i.e., positive or negative event) are defined and analyzed. The analysis shows that there is a positive relationship between IQS score and market share response. Similarly, positive news had a significant effect on the market response of IQS reports, while the effect of negative news was not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There is little data concerning the injuries induced by being run over in children. Problem: Characteristics of injuries suffered in children by being run over were investigated. Materials and Methods: Between January 1998 and December 2007, the medical charts were retrospectively reviewed to investigate characteristics of the injuries in pediatric patients run over by a car. Patients meeting the following criteria were included: (1) age ≤ 12 years old; (2) the patient was struck by an automobile. The subjects were divided into three groups by the mechanisms of injury: (1) run over; (2) carried away; (3) contact. Results: Twelve patients had been run over, 44 patients were carried away and 44 patients had been hit by a car (contact). The average age in the run over group was the lowest, followed by that in the carried away group and that in the contact group was the highest. The children's coma score and injury severity score were not significantly different among the three groups; however, the average chest abbreviated injury score was the highest in the run over group, followed by that in the carried away group and that in the contact group was the lowest. The average duration of admission and survival rate among three groups, were not significantly different. Conclusion: The patients who were injured due to being run over by a car, tended to be younger and to have severe chest injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2003, Japanese metropolitan municipalities in the Tokyo region introduced a unique regulation, called 'operational regulation', to control air pollution from automobiles. The regulation requires the owners of old fume-spewing trucks and buses to install diesel particulate filters (DPFs) to eliminate particulate matter (PM) emissions. Regulated vehicles without DPFs are prohibited from running in the municipalities. However, there was no policy evaluation conducted before the legislation was introduced. This study constitutes a cost-benefit analysis of the regulation to determine whether it is a valid policy for obtaining cleaner air. The benefit is regarded as reduced health damage achieved by mitigating emissions. The cost is the additional expenditure by vehicle owners to comply with the regulation. As a result, the total cost was 36.1 billion yen for a benefit of 264 billion yen. It is concluded that the operational regulation is a valid policy against air pollution because the net benefit is positive. In addition, this result implies that the complementary policy of replacing old vehicles with new cleaner vehicles is important and effective for further improving social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When initial automobile environmental standards were introduced during the 1970s and 1980s there was a large difference in the level and timing of the introduction of these initial emission standards in the United States, Japan and Europe. Trade in automobiles was the target of fierce trade disputes in the 1980s between, for example, the United States and Japan. The governments of Japan, the United States and Europe were involved in trade negotiations as agents of the automobile industry of each country, often focusing on environmental standards as sources of non-tariff barriers. But since the mid-1990s, because of the globalization of the automobile industry, automobile firms have had common interests in collaborating in relation to voluntary harmonized standards. They also have common interests in relation to other sectors such as the petroleum industry in that the burden for emission reductions needs to be shared equitably among sectors. In that sense, it can be said that a 'depoliticizing strategy' has been used, which is the strategy used by the automobile industry not to rely on government intervention and trade conflicts at an intergovernmental level to deal with the difference in standards. There is a tendency for high-level convergence concerning environmental emission standards for NOx etc. in Japan, the United States and Europe and related sulfur content standards for complying with them. In addition, the automobile industry has been consciously seeking international harmonization through the Trans Atlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) and the TrilateralWorking Group. Harmonization has also been attempted at the intergovernmental level to gain legitimacy at the arena of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) through the signing of the 1995 Agreement (the revision of 1958 Agreement) and the establishment of the 1998 Global Agreement. In the process, governments have been requested by automobile firms to adopt harmonized standards; but governments also have their own incentives to set up an intergovernmental mechanism to establish harmonized standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically examines the relationship between the credit risk of Toyota, Nissan and Honda keiretsu-affiliated firms and the credit risk of the respective parent company. As credit spread data for keiretsu-affiliated firms were not available we create a keiretsu default index, as a proxy, using expected default probabilities obtained from the KMV and Leland and Toft ( J. Finance 51, 987–1019, 1996) option pricing models. We find parent credit spreads do not Granger cause our keiretsu default index and vice versa in a bivariate vector autoregressive (VAR) framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The time course of ambient benzene level and benzene discharge was investigated. Data obtained by continuous monitoring and monthly monitoring showed a decreasing trend of ambient benzene level. The rate of decrease was around 22–25% per two years from FY 1997 to FY 1999. The discharge data of benzene reported by several organizations were collected and re-arranged to estimate the total discharge in Japan. The total amount of benzene discharged decreased by 25% from 1997 to 1999. Risk reduction due to the regulation of benzene content in gasoline as predicted in our previous report was verified by the obtained data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A method to calculate source contributions to atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their nitrated congeners (NPAHs) is proposed, using pyrene (Pyr) and 1-nitropyrene (1-NP), as respective representatives of PAHs and NPAHs. This is based on the known increases in NPAH to PAH ratios as combustion temperatures increase. The fractions of 1-NP and Pyr from high temperature combustion sources in total 1-NP and Pyr are respectively calculated as a (0 < a <1) and b (0 < b < 1). By using atmospheric concentrations of Pyr and 1-NP obtained at monitoring sites, contributions of high and low temperature combustion sources were calculated. Using this method, the contributions of automobiles and coal combustion facilities/industries to atmospheric Pyr and 1-NP concentrations were calculated for atmospheric samples collected in Kanazawa, Japan during a seasonal Asian dust event. The results show that Pyr was almost entirely emitted from industries in China and transported long-range to Japan. By contrast, 1-NP was emitted primarily from automobiles in Kanazawa and its surrounding areas, with a small amount of 1-NP possibly transported from China. The proposed method can provide greater clarity on source identification compared to the typically used PAH isomer pairs., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Airborne particulate matter (PM) contains numerous hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as well as their functionalized congeners. However, the lack of useful methods to identify the sources of PM has hindered the development of researches in atmospheric and public health fields. This report proposes a new method for estimating the source contribution of combustion-derived particulate (P c ) by using 1-nitropyrene (1-NP) and pyrene (Pyr) as markers. This is premised on the fact that the formation of nitrogen oxides in the flame gas and the subsequent nitration of PAHs are functions of combustion temperature and therefore the concentration ratios of NPAHs to PAHs are highly temperature dependent. This method divides combustion sources into two groups - high and low temperatures - which here are respectively represented by automobile engine and coal combustion in urban areas. Formulae are derived for combustion-derived particulate (P c ), whose fraction in the total particulate is y (0 < y < 1), and particulates from combustion sources with high temperatures (P h ), whose fraction in P c is x (0 < x < 1), and low temperatures (P l ), whose fraction is (1 －x). When concentrations of 1-NP and Pyr in P h and P l are known, values x and y can be calculated from the formulae by determining atmospheric 1-NP and Pyr concentrations at monitoring sites. Then atmospheric concentrations of P c , P h and P l can be calculated. The proposed method has been applied for total suspended particulate matter (TSP) samples collected in Kanazawa and Kitakyushu (Japan) and Beijing (China) having different types of atmospheric pollution to clarify the change of contributions of automobiles and coal combustion., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors of this paper have declare that: (i) no support, financial or otherwise, has been received from any organization that may have an interest in the submitted work; and (ii) there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)