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In real-world unbounded outdoor scenes with cars, there are various specular reflections caused by the surrounding environment appearing on the reflective surfaces of cars. Background regions of unbounded scenes encode inherent ambiguity of rendering, and specular reflections on cars violates the multi-view consistency. NeRF++ struggles in these scenes because of the enormous ambiguity. To deal with the challenges of rendering unbounded scenes with cars, we present a novel module to strengthen the capability of the basic model in this task. We propose to learn the positional bias between sampled points along a camera ray and target points along the incident light by multi-layer perceptrons to reconstitute the input points and view direction with regularization constraints for physical rendering. Considering the variety of materials and textures in unbounded scenes, we implicitly separate learned foreground colors into two components, diffuse and specular colors, to acquire smooth results. Our module improves basic models by 2.5% on average SSIM in our extensive experiments, produces more photo-realistic novel views of real-world unbounded scenes than other compared methods, and achieves the physical color editing of cars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While reflective supervision and trauma-informed care are often implemented separately within early care and education (ECE) settings, there is meaningful intersection between these two approaches that may support ongoing efforts to support young children who have experienced trauma. The current study presents secondary analysis of qualitative data from three focus groups with 11 ECE supervisors who attended a reflective supervision training, paired with reflective consultation. ECE supervisors who engaged in a reflective supervision training noted shifts in experience and practice that intersect with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA's) six principles of trauma-informed care: 1) safety, 2) trustworthiness and transparency, 3) peer support, 4) collaboration and mutuality, 5) empowerment, voice, and choice, and 6) cultural, historical, and gender issues. Reflective supervision may serve as an effective tool for organizations to invest in trauma-informed care, which creates a space for teachers to engage in relational learning. This investment can lead to enhanced support for young children, especially those who have experienced trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that informal workers in developing countries are exposed to occupational health problems (OHPs), and they work unsafely. However, little is known about how their religious beliefs influence their safety behavior at the workplace. This study explores the interaction between the automobile artisans' religious beliefs and their workplace safety behavior. Forty three male artisans (either Christian: n = 17; or Muslim: n = 26) were purposively interviewed. Even though their religious teachings are against risk-taking, the artisans took risks at their workplace. Specific programs like seminars and various outreaches for workers in religious settings influence their perception of OHP prevention. Religious organizations have a role to play in OHP prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a mathematical model for the motion of toy pull-back cars that can be introduced and revisited throughout an undergraduate differential equations course. This survey of the pull-back car modeling scenario enables students to connect course content with real-world experiences and experimental data, while leaving room for further exploration and advancement of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A test facility was constructed to investigate the flow characteristics of lateral synthetic jets generated by an actuator composed of a cavity, an orifice and a vibrating piezoelectric disc. Subsequently, 3D unsteady numerical simulations were conducted to analyze the formation of the synthetic jets and their dependence on the height of the orifice exit from the outer surface of the cavity. The time-averaged axial velocity was measured and used to validate the numerical results, and the maximum velocity reached approximately 8 m/s. In this work, it was found that the interaction of the vortex tube generated at the edge of the orifice exit and the outer surface of the cavity has a significant impact on the axial velocity distribution and characteristics of the lateral synthetic jets. Based on the experimental data and the numerical results, an attempt has been made to understand the formation of the synthetic jets and their interaction with the outer surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work has demonstrated that Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) can be trained to generate 3D content from 2D image collections, by synthesizing features for neural radiance field rendering. However, most such solutions generate radiance, with lighting entangled with materials. This results in unrealistic appearance, since lighting cannot be changed and view‐dependent effects such as reflections do not move correctly with the viewpoint. In addition, many methods have difficulty for full, 360° rotations, since they are often designed for mainly front‐facing scenes such as faces. We introduce a new 3D GAN framework that addresses these shortcomings, allowing multi‐view coherent 360° viewing and at the same time relighting for objects with shiny reflections, which we exemplify using a car dataset. The success of our solution stems from three main contributions. First, we estimate initial camera poses for a dataset of car images, and then learn to refine the distribution of camera parameters while training the GAN. Second, we propose an efficient Image‐Based Lighting model, that we use in a 3D GAN to generate disentangled reflectance, as opposed to the radiance synthesized in most previous work. The material is used for physically‐based rendering with a dataset of environment maps. Third, we improve the 3D GAN architecture compared to previous work and design a careful training strategy that allows effective disentanglement. Our model is the first that generate a variety of 3D cars that are multi‐view consistent and that can be relit interactively with any environment map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the transition period when connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) and human-driven vehicles (HDVs) coexist on the roadway, miscommunication and improper interactions may lead to accidents due to lack of awareness of each other's intentions. The most promising approach to this problem is to view roadway transportation as a cyber-physical-social system consisting of CAV, HDV, and infrastructure subsystems. Although adaptations of infrastructure are as critical as the technological advances of vehicles, the role of infrastructure in CAV and HDV interactions has not been fully acknowledged. We consider the roadway transportation system from the system-of-systems perspective, taking a human-centred approach that integrates the behaviours of human drivers and CAVs with the design and enhancement of transportation infrastructure. We provide an overview of prior studies regarding information-processing and communication of the subsystems. Interactions between HDVs and infrastructure are summarised by human driving behaviours and HDV crash analysis. Interactions between HDVs and CAVs focus on how they perceive and predict actions of each other. Interactions between CAVs and infrastructure are characterised by possible adaptations of infrastructure to support CAV navigation. Lastly, we propose a human-centred framework to provide guidance for research on and design of next-generation transportation infrastructure with CAVs and HDVs. Implementation of CAVs on the roadways with HDVs requires a system-of-systems approach that includes the CAVs, HDVs, and transportation infrastructure. Humans must be at the center of this approach because their actions are central to the success of the entire system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quicksort is a classical divide-and-conquer sorting algorithm. It is a comparison sort that makes an average of 2 (n + 1) H n − 4 n comparisons on an array of size n ordered uniformly at random, where H n : = ∑ i = 1 n 1 i is the nth harmonic number. Therefore it makes n ! [ 2 (n + 1) H n − 4 n ] comparisons to sort all possible orderings of the array. In this article, we prove that this count also enumerates the parking preference lists of n cars parking on a one-way street with n parking spots resulting in exactly n − 1 lucky cars (i.e., cars that park in their preferred spot). For n ≥ 2 , both counts satisfy the second order recurrence relation f n = 2 n f n − 1 − n (n − 1) f n − 2 + 2 (n − 1) ! with f 0 = f 1 = 0 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To promote the application of automated vehicles in large airports, in this study, we present an integrated optimization method for scheduling Unmanned follow-me cars. The scheduling process is divided into three phases: Dispatch, Guidance, and Recycle. For the Dispatch phase, we establish a vehicle assignment model, to allocate the vehicle resource equitably. For the Guidance phase, we offer an quantitative way, to measure the spacing between Unmanned follow-me car and aircraft. To optimize the efficiency of airport operation in the three phases and ensure safety, the collaborative planning model, and the conflict prediction model are established. An improved grey wolf optimization algorithm is adopted to enhance the convergence speed and generalization performance. A case study at Ezhou Huahu Airport in China demonstrates the effectiveness of the methods. The results show that the model of collaborative planning can make the balance of path selection, Unmanned follow-me car's working time, and departure sequence. The convergence speed of the improved algorithm has been increased by 18.75%. The inequity index of vehicle assignment is only 0.015731, and the spatiotemporal distribution of conflicts is influenced by the airport's surface layout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connected Automobile Vehicles (CAVs) enable cooperative driving and traffic management by sharing traffic information between them and other vehicles and infrastructures. However, malicious vehicles create Sybil vehicles by forging multiple identities and sharing false location information with CAVs, misleading their decisions and behaviors. The existing work on defending against Sybil attacks has almost exclusively focused on detecting Sybil vehicles, ignoring the traceability of malicious vehicles. As a result, they cannot fundamentally alleviate Sybil attacks. In this work, we focus on tracking the attack source of malicious vehicles by using a novel detection mechanism that relies on vehicle broadcast beacon packets. Firstly, the roadside units (RSUs) randomly instruct vehicles to perform customized key broadcasting and listening within communication range. This allows the vehicle to prove its physical presence by broadcasting. Then, RSU analyzes the beacon packets listened to by the vehicle and constructs a neighbor graph between the vehicles based on the customized particular fields in the beacon packets. Finally, the vehicle's credibility is determined by calculating the edge success probability of vehicles in the neighbor graph, ultimately achieving the detection of Sybil vehicles and tracing malicious vehicles. The experimental results demonstrate that our scheme achieves the real-time detection and tracking of Sybil vehicles, with precision and recall rates of 98.53% and 95.93%, respectively, solving the challenge of existing detection schemes failing to combat Sybil attacks from the root. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We count lucky cars in parking functions of a given length, and provide elementary derivations for the generating functions, expected values and variances. We consider not only classical parking functions, but also problems with additional parking slots, and with cars of different sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government implements incentive strategies for Battery-Based Electric Motor Vehicles (BEMVs) to reach the net zero emission goal. However, during its implementation, contrasting narratives arise concerning this policy. This study seeks to examine the governmental context behind the establishment of incentive policies for BEMVs in Indonesia, through the analysis of the government's narrative and contrasting narratives from various stakeholders. This study employs a qualitative approach using the Narrative Policy Analysis (NPA) method. Sources of data encompass materials from government agencies like transcripts of speeches, official statements, and news disseminated through online media platforms. The comparison of the government's narrative with counter-narratives from academics and civil society groups reveals differences in belief systems. The government links carbon emissions to privately owned vehicles fueled by gasoline, thus proposing for BEMVs as a solution. On the other hand, t the counter-narrative believes that BEMVs fail to tackle pollution and emission concerns since the electricity fueling them predominantly originates from fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal. In essence, both sides acknowledge the necessity of transitioning away from gasoline to mitigate carbon emissions, but the current choice of electricity is viewed as unsuitable due to limitations in resource availability and the emissions it generates. The BEMV incentive policy strategy needs to be reconsidered, ensuring that electricity sources come from renewable energy, readiness for battery charging, effective waste management systems, and a more precise distribution of incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the role of automobiles in John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." It discusses how automobiles became cultural signs in the 1930s, reflecting social class distinctions and cultural shifts during the Great Depression. It also explores how automobiles acted as vehicles for westward mobility but also revealed the limitations and gender dynamics within the family and delves into the symbolism of automobiles as technology and machinery.

Background and aims: People who inject drugs (PWID) are at risk for adverse outcomes across multiple dimensions. While evidence‐based interventions are available, services are often fragmented and difficult to access. We measured the effectiveness of an integrated care van (ICV) that offered services for PWID. Design, setting and participants: This was a cluster‐randomized trial, which took place in Baltimore, MD, USA. Prior to randomization, we used a research van to recruit PWID cohorts from 12 Baltimore neighborhoods (sites), currently served by the city's mobile needle exchange program. Intervention and comparator: We randomized sites to receive weekly visits from the ICV (n = 6) or to usual services (n = 6) for 14 months. The ICV offered case management; buprenorphine/naloxone; screening for HIV, hepatitis C virus and sexually transmitted infections; HIV pre‐exposure prophylaxis; and wound care. Measurements: The primary outcome was a composite harm mitigation score that captured access to evidence‐based services, risk behaviors and adverse health events (range = 0−15, with higher numbers indicating worse status). We evaluated effectiveness by comparing changes in the composite score at 7 months versus baseline in the two study arms. Findings We enrolled 720 cohort participants across the study sites (60 per site) between June 2018 and August 2019: 38.3% women, 72.6% black and 85.1% urine drug test positive for fentanyl. Over a median of 10.4 months, the ICV provided services to 734 unique clients (who may or may not have been cohort participants) across the six intervention sites, including HIV/hepatitis C virus testing in 577 (78.6%) and buprenorphine/naloxone initiation in 540 (74%). However, only 52 (7.2%) of cohort participants received services on the ICV. The average composite score decreased at 7 months relative to baseline, with no significant difference in the change between ICV and usual services (difference in differences: −0.31; 95% confidence interval: −0.70, 0.08; P = 0.13). Conclusions: This cluster‐randomized trial in Baltimore, MD, USA, found no evidence that weekly neighborhood visits from a mobile health van providing injection‐drug‐focused services improved access to services and outcomes among people who injected drugs in the neighborhood, relative to usual services. The van successfully served large numbers of clients but unexpectedly low use of the van by cohort participants limited the ability to detect meaningful differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate how the visual complexity of head-up displays (HUDs) influence the allocation of driver's attention in two separate visual domains (near and far domains). Background: The types and amount of information displayed on automobile HUDs have increased. With limited human attention capacity, increased visual complexity in the near domain may lead to interference in the effective processing of information in the far domain. Method: Near-domain and far-domain vision were separately tested using a dual-task paradigm. In a simulated road environment, 62 participants were to control the speed of the vehicle (SMT; near domain) and manually respond to probes (PDT; far domain) simultaneously. Five HUD complexity levels including a HUD-absent condition were presented block-wise. Results: Near domain performance was not modulated by the HUD complexity levels. However, the far domain detection accuracies were impaired as the HUD complexity level increased, with greater accuracy differences observed between central and peripheral probes. Conclusion: Increased HUD visual complexity leads to a biased deployment of driver attention toward the central visual field. Therefore, the formulation of HUD designs must be preceded by an in-depth investigation of the dynamics of human cognition. Application: To ensure driving safety, HUD designs should be rendered with minimal visual complexity by incorporating only essential information relevant to driving and removing driving-irrelevant or additional visual details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In passenger cars, the ride characteristics are fundamental to the driver and passenger engagement, as they define the comfort and road holding performance. Therefore, the methods and tools to assess ride quality are of significant interest to the vehicle dynamics specialists, and are an important part of the internal know-how of each car maker and Tier 1 supplier, which is often kept confidential. Unfortunately, the available literature does not include a comprehensive survey on the evaluation of the objective and subjective aspects related to ride, and their correlation. This review targets the gap, and deals with: (i) the available tools and techniques to objectively assess primary and secondary ride, including typical manoeuvres, road profiles, required vehicle instrumentation, and key performance indicators (KPIs); (ii) the subjective attributes and their categorisation; (iii) the approaches and mathematical models to correlate the objective KPIs with the subjective evaluation; and (iv) future trends. The know-how of the authors on the ride assessment of high-performance passenger cars will also be used to cover the aspects that are currently overlooked by the available literature and standards. In summary, the manuscript provides the interested reader with useful guidance on the procedures to perform ride quality analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) has long been the gold standard for non-intrusively measuring gas temperature in reacting flows such as flames and plasmas. Recently, the development of ultrafast hybrid fs/ps CARS has enabled the exploitation of coherence beating between neighboring spectral lines to simultaneously measure rotational and vibrational temperatures from a single pure rotational spectrum. However, the influence of non-Boltzmann vibrational state distributions and limitations due to collisional dephasing at pressures greater than 1 atm remains unclear. In this work, we use spectral simulations to investigate the effects of non-Boltzmann vibrational state distributions and the applicability of coherence beating at pressures up to 10 atm. We show that short probe pulses can be leveraged to quantify non-Boltzmann vibrational state distributions of N2. Furthermore, we demonstrate that fs/ps CARS coherence beating can simultaneously provide sensitive measurements of rotational and vibrational temperatures of both O2 and N2 in air. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to qualitatively explain the accuracy and precision comparisons between probe delays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Car dependence" emerges as an academic concept supported by decades of multidisciplinary research, which aims to understand the factors that drive car-based choices. The variety of approaches and indicators used to interpret this phenomenon underscores its multidimensionality and highlights the necessity for a comprehensive framework to define and operationalise it. This paper contributes to this goal by conducting a systematic literature review that examines the indicators, associations, and meanings used by research in defining and quantifying car dependence. Results show that car dependence has been mainly studied considering transport demand, despite criticisms pointing out to the need of including accessibility and subjective perceptions as well. As a consequence, the paper proposes a holistic approach to the term car dependence by proposing six dimensions covering the full spectrum of the concept as presented in the academic literature. The findings also suggest to move towards harmonising measures of the concept, which would facilitate the development of policies and the assessment of their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In practical multi‐train systems, there are four different kinds of necessary nonlinearities cause by the interactive forces between adjacent cars, the nonlinear resistances, the input constraints, and the velocity constraints. However, most of the existing works on distributed control for multi‐train systems only focused one or two kinds of these nonlinearities. To the best of our knowledge, there are only a few works considering three kinds of these nonlinearities. In this paper, the effects of control input and velocity constraints, interactive forces between adjacent cars and the train running resistance on the system are studied, and a distributed cooperative control algorithm based on the state information of adjacent cars is proposed. The analysis is given based on model transformations, appropriate parameter selection and convex analysis. It is proved that all trains finally run in a given formation even when the inputs and velocities of all trains are constrained to lie in some given sets. Numerical simulation examples are presented to demonstrate the theoretical conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the development of alternative modes of urban transport, the private car is still the most popular transport option in many regions around the world. Various spatial and socio-economic characteristics of metropolitan areas (MAs) seem to be generally correlated with levels of car use, and thus with car dependency. In this research, we study car dependency in a subgroup of global MAs, that are characterized profiles of car dependency, and are therefore considered outliers. Drawing on data that are available from the Mobility in Cities Database (MCD), we consider 56 MAs and use Mahalanobis distance to identify 7 outlier MAs that are either more, or less car dependent than anticipated by the regression model. We investigate the driving forces behind unpredicted levels of car use and position the outlier MAs in a catalogue of mobility profiles. A combination of urban form, convenience of car use, availability of alternative modes to car and car ownership characteristics were found to contribute to the level of car dependency in these MAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stability of a car's trajectory of motion is the ability of a car to retain its required state of motion, under different conditions of motion. Depending on different states of motion, cars can lose direction of motion instability when there is a lateral force, due to vehicle speed, due to turning or braking the road with different grip coefficients on the sides of the wheel. In such complex moving conditions, cars need to keep a stable trajectory of movement under the driver's control. The paper examines the stability of the car's trajectory in linear motion conditions with the influence of lateral forces and the velocity of the vehicle, these two factors act to change the state of movement of the vehicle, which significantly affects the safety of the vehicle's movement. The authors looked at the effect of vehicle velocity and lateral forces on vehicle transverse dynamics: lateral forces caused by horizontal winds, inclination of the road surface, speed of movement of the vehicle acting on the entire body create centrifugal inertial forces; this force acts to cause the tires to deform. At this point the vehicle is shifted from its original trajectory. In the research content, the authors built a lateral Dynamics Model, in which the influencing factors are set as inputs to the model including vehicle velocity and transverse wind forces, output is the rotation angle of the body, transverse acceleration and horizontal displacement of the vehicle. The simulation results showed that the effect of vehicle speed was relatively large: lateral displacement increased by 228 % at a speed of 120 km/h. Therefore, when driving on the highway, there should always be driver control to ensure that the car does not deviate from the lane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The evolution and speciation of chlorine during ASR pyrolysis are studied. • Org-chlorine can be converted to InO-chlorine and remain in char. • Up to 12% and over 64% of chlorine are migrated to HCl and char, respectively. • Rising temperature promotes the conversion from Org-chlorine to inorganic in char. • Calcium-based compounds in ASR play a predominant role in the capture of chlorine. Disposal of automobile shredder residue (ASR) via pyrolysis enables the recovery of valuable products; however, the production of hazardous pollutants and low-value products is inevitable due to its high chlorine content. In this work, chlorine evolution behavior and the conversion mechanism during ASR pyrolysis between 480 and 600 °C were systematically studied. The experimental results for organic chlorine (Org-Cl) showed that released chlorinated gases were complex, and HCl only accounted for 35% of the gas phase products, while short-chain hydrocarbons with carbon atoms between two and four accounted for 52%. Chlorine was predominantly retained in the char, and Org-Cl was the primary contributor to the residual chlorine, accounting for over 50% of the char. The content of inorganic chlorine (InO-Cl) was low in the raw sample but significantly increased in the char. Through the distinction between organic and inorganic chlorine content in char, it was confirmed that Org-Cl could be converted to InO-Cl due to complex secondary reactions with metallic compounds. The conversion was favored by increasing the Org-Cl content and the temperature. Our findings clarified the evolution mechanism of chlorine and the transformation from Org-Cl to InO-Cl, thus providing guidance for chlorine regulation and the efficient recycling of metal resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to improve attitudes towards digital technology. To this end, we compared two ways of introducing technology: an enactive mastery versus a vicarious experience. The former aimed at improving employees' self-efficacy to use a robotic technology and, thereby, their attitudes towards it. We examined three attitude dimensions that are relevant when implementing new technology: (1) technology enthusiasm, (2) resistance to change, and (3) job insecurity. We also tested for self-efficacy as mediator between experience and attitudes. The results of the pre-registered quasi-experiment with operators working in the automotive sector (N = 106) supported our hypothesis: Enactive mastery experience, in which workers actively engaged with the technology, led to a higher technology enthusiasm as compared to vicarious experience. This effect was explained by an increase in self-efficacy. Additional analyses revealed that enactive mastery experience also led to lower resistance to change, but not to lower job insecurity. The findings highlight how organisations can apply a simple, yet effective strategy to successfully implement technology at work and motivate employees to use it. They also reveal self-efficacy as the underlying psychological mechanism of enactive mastery, thereby providing an important starting point for designing interventions in organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we compile a new data set of firms in the Thai automotive industry and discuss the localisation of both automotive parts suppliers and assemblers in Thailand. We first review the factors affecting the development and location of the Thai automotive industry and examine how Thailand came up with the strategy to promote one-ton pickup trucks as the first 'product champion'. We argue that the government played a significant role in creating a 'sizable' domestic market and building the essential infrastructure, resulting in the promotion of dynamic growth and a vibrant productive capacity. Then, applying Duraton and Overman's continuous approach, this paper examines the localisation of automotive firms. Using the spatial distribution of manufacturing establishments as a benchmark, this study finds that all categories of parts suppliers were significantly localised. Moreover, it is revealed that statistically significant localisation takes place only within 150 kilometers with respect to the bilateral distances between suppliers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated the hydrogen production and energy conversion from automobile shredder residues (ASRs) and paper mill sludge (PMS) co-gasified in a full-scale fluidized bed gasification plant. The results obtained from full-scale tests provided important information on the feasible assessment of ASRs-to-energy and the selection of alternative technologies for ASRs. Based on the analysis results of produced gas composition, H 2 , CO, and CH 4 composition produced from paper-mill sludge gasified were 4.17%–6.01%, 3.08%–4.32%, 1.71%–2.4%, respectively. Another C 2 gas composition ranged from 2.9% to 3.59%. The heating value of produced gas ranged between 1.64 MJ/Nm3 and 2.18 MJ/Nm3. In the case of 10% ASR addition, the heating value of produced gas was slightly increased to 1.84 MJ/Nm3-2.34 MJ/Nm3. The dioxin emission concentration of flue gas was approximately 0.064 ng I-TEQ/Nm3. It can comply with Taiwan regulation thresholds. The dioxin leaching concentrations of residues derived from gasification were also in compliance with regulation limits by the TCLP test. Meanwhile, in the case of 10% ASRs addition, the dioxin equivalence concentration of gasified residue was nearly 0.002 ng I-TEQ/Nm3. It was far below the current regulation standard limit. In summary, the results of this research have proved the performance of ASRs-to-energy by co-gasified with paper mill sludge using a full-scale gasification plant. The results obtained from this research also provided the information for selecting ASRs alternative technologies and operating full-scale gasifiers in the future. [Display omitted] • This study has confirmed the feasibility of co-gasification of calcium-rich PMS and chlorine-rich ASRs. • Adding 5%–15% of ASRs can maintain the regular operation of the full-scale commercial gasifier. • The synthesis gas has a composition of 4.91 vol% H 2 and 2.06 vol% CO, with a LHV of 1.93 MJ/Nm3. • The HCl emission could comply with regulation thresholds in co-gasification. • Dioxin reformation reduced significantly in co-gasification of PMS and ASRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many commuters view their commute as a waste of time. Although there is an ample amount of research on commuting, there is limited research on what negatively impacts the commuting experience. The current study sought to evaluate the relationship between commuters and their everyday commute. The following factors (i.e., gender identity, age, length, unpredictability, delays, time pressures, and congestion) were evaluated to predict seeing one's commute as a waste of time. We hypothesized that men and younger commuters, as well as those who were unsatisfied with the length, unpredictability, delays, time pressures, and congestion during the commute, would find their commutes more of a waste of time. We also predicted that those who used their commute productively would not see it as a waste of time. For this study, 490 participants took an online survey. Using hierarchical multiple regressions, we found that gender identity, length, unpredictability, and time pressures predicted seeing one's commute to work as a waste of time. The same predictors, except for time pressures, that were significant for commuting to work were also significant predictors from work. However, delays and congestion were additional predictors. Women reported that they viewed their commute to and from work as more of a waste of time. Limitations and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study were to (1) explore this sample's pre- and post-intervention dietary intake, specifically the macro- and micronutrients, and their eating habits related to location of consumption and use of electronic devices, and (2) compare this sample's nutritional measures to the current Dietary Guidelines 2020 to 2025. Twenty-eight participants were included in the secondary data analysis. Participants reported a total of 822 items consumed during this study. Most items were consumed at home (n = 629, 76.5%). We found significant differences in the intake of energy, protein, total fat, carbohydrates, total vegetables, total grains, and total meat in different locations. For most of these measures, consumption at home and/or restaurants resulted in a greater magnitude of consumption than at other locations (e.g., car, daycare). Participants reported consuming most of their energy and nutrients while either using electronic devices alone (n = 365, 44.4%) or using no devices (n = 346, 42.1%). Significant differences were found among three measures including energy, total fat, and total fiber. The majority of the macronutrients (total fiber, fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy) consumed by our sample were under the threshold recommended in the 2020 to 2025 Dietary Guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A passive suspension system is used by the automotive industry to control the motion of the vehicle. Nowadays, semiactive and active suspension systems are a requirement of commercial vehicles to improve performance characteristics and road comfort. The objective of the paper is to present a comprehensive analysis of passive, semiactive, and active suspension systems. The fuzzy logic controller is used to present the active suspension system. The characteristic of the shock absorber (damper) is non-linear and hysteresis in nature. Hence, a Magneto-rheological (MR) damper-based Bouc-Wen model is utilized to present the semiactive suspension. The comparative analysis of vehicle suspension characteristics has been carried out by using a bump road profile. The modeling of the Bouc-Wen model and quarter car system is carried out in the Simulink environment. The simulated results show that the semiactive and active suspension systems can be a better option for vehicle suspension systems to provide passengers with road comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late nineteenth century, Canada has required modern construction machines for industrial growth. Thanks to their novelty and visibility, these machines entered the Canadian psyche, symbolizing hopes and fears about the relentless transformations of modernity. Metaphors depicting these machines as zoomorphic and monstruous reflected the environmental-technological infrastructures they built, which redefined nature through technologies like trains, ships, and automobiles. This article discusses how Anglo-Canadians, particularly Ontarians, interpreted technology, drawing parallels with the automobile's history. Both had a problematic coexistence with humans as equally empowering and oppressive mobile machines that were imposed on public spaces and constructed as necessary for progress. The builders used the machines' allure to present construction as an inclusive civic spectacle and foster public tolerance for their relentless disruptions. They accomplished this faster than the automobile industry came to dominate the streets, as evidenced by the celebration of "sidewalk superintendents," compared to the contentious reproach of "jaywalkers." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A battery module based on harmonica tube cold plate was designed for the lithium-ion battery thermal management system with electric vehicle air conditioning refrigerant to directly cool the battery pack. The comparison between direct cooling and liquid cooling was carried out, and the effects of ambient temperature, compressor speed, valve opening and discharge rate on refrigerant flow, evaporation temperature and heat dissipation characteristics of the battery pack were investigated. The results show that direct cooling has better cooling effect than liquid cooling in controlling the average temperature of the battery pack. Increasing the compressor speed has significant temperature control effect on the battery pack. Even for high-rate discharge of 2.0 C, the temperature can be controlled below 40.00℃ at speed of 3500 r/min. Increasing the valve opening is beneficial to reducing the average temperature of the battery pack, but it is not conducive to reducing the temperature difference of the battery pack. When the battery pack temperature difference is large, the temperature difference of single battery can account for 88% of the battery pack temperature difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detailed simulations of car and train platoons are critical steps towards successful implementations of the platooning technologies. This paper developed a simulation method that can be used for both car and train platoon simulations. The method includes three main parts: (1) a scalable adaptive longitudinal space controller, (2) 2D multibody dynamics simulations that consider wheel-rail contact (Polach model), tyre-road contact (Magic Formula), suspensions and in-train forces, and (3) a scalable parallel computing method that processes the dynamics simulation of each individual vehicle (one car or one carriage) by using one independent computer core. Two case studies were conducted to simulate a 6-car platoon and a 3-train platoon on real-world road and track. The maximum space errors for the car platoon and the train platoon results were about 0.32 and 0.23 m, respectively. When the platoons were running at a steady speed, space errors were well controlled within ±0.05 m for both car and train platoons. Example dynamics results were presented including wheel-rail contact forces, tyre-road contact forces, and carbody vibrations. This information can be used to conduct a wide range of related studies such as passenger ride comfort and system damage assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's world, due to the rapid changes and developments in automobile brands, consumer preferences have become crucial in selecting car brands and features. In this study, survey data obtained from 571 car users residing in Kilis Province in 2022 were evaluated using Markov analysis to predict the future car brand, fuel type, and gear preferences of car users categorized as women and men driver; low, middle, and high-income participants; young, middle-aged, and elderly individuals. Through the markov analysis, the frequency matrix of transitions, the probability matrix of transitions, and the long-term equilibrium state matrix were determined. By looking at the long-term equilibrium state matrices, it was found that low-income participants will mostly prefer Tofaş, middle-income participants will prefer Toyota, and high-income participants will prefer Audi in the future. Low and middle-income participants will mostly prefer LPG fuel type and manual transmission, while high-income participants will prefer diesel fuel type and automatic transmission. Young individuals are predicted to mostly prefer Volkswagen, middle-aged individuals and elderly individuals will mostly prefer Toyota brand in the long term. Young individuals will prefer LPG, middle-aged indiiduals will prefer diesel and LPG, and elderly individuals will prefer diesel fuel type. In the future, young individuals will mostly prefer manual transmission, middle-aged individuals will prefer manual and automatic transmission, and elderly individuals will prefer automatic transmission. Furthermore, women driver will prefer Volkswagen and automatic, gasoline cars, while men driver will prefer Toyota, manual, diesel and LPG cars in terms of brand, gear and fuel type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are doubts about vehicle driving restriction for patients with Alzheimer's disease. A scoping review was carried out using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis Protocols (PRISMA‐ScR) methodology. Relevant databases were searched for articles published between 2000 and 2022 in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. Articles were included if they specifically addressed driving, risk of accidents, permission or licence to drive a motor vehicle in a context of important cognitive decline, or if addressed traffic legislation on driving and dementia. Twenty‐three articles were selected for full reading, six of which were observational studies and only one with an interventionist method. All articles were carried out in high‐income countries such as the UK, the US, and Australia. As a conclusion, there is no psychometric test in the literature sensitive enough to assess vehicle driving competence in older adults with cognitive deficits. Based on selected studies, there is no robust evidence to make recommendation for or against the cessation of vehicular driving for patients with mild cognitive decline or with mild dementia. In some situations, vehicle driving cessation can impact patients and their families. In addition, legal regulations regarding vehicle driving for older adults and people with dementia are scarce worldwide. Despite the scarcity of studies addressing the theme of vehicle driving in the context of dementia, there is some level of consensual reasoning that patients with moderate to severe dementia should halt driving activities, but the same does not apply for patients with mild levels of cognitive impairment, including mild dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]