OBJECTIVE Dependence on motorized forms of transportation may contribute to the worldwide obesity epidemic. Shifts in transportation patterns occurring in China provide an ideal opportunity to study the association between vehicle ownership and obesity. Our objective was to determine whether motorized forms of transportation promote obesity. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES A multistage random...

BACKGROUND Cerebral edema is a major threat for stroke victims. Most studies have focused on the neuroprotective activities of propofol, addressing infarct volume rather than cerebral edema. Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) plays an important role in maintaining brain water homeostasis under various neurological insults. We explored the effect of propofol pretreatment on cerebral edema in a rat model of brai...

Identifying whether two vehicles in different images are same or not is called vehicle reidentification. In cities, there are lots of cameras, but cameras cannot cover all the areas. If we can re-identify a car disappearing from one camera and appearing in another in two adjacent regions, we can easily track the vehicle and use the information help with traffic management. In this paper, we pro...

In this study, a genetic algorithm is applied to obtain the best combination of transportation parameters for vehicle dispatching. The searching mechanism based on genetic algorithm can find several feasible solutions of dispatching parameters to proceed with transportation plan within constrained conditions. Besides, the concept of fuzzy due time is applied to replace that of time window so as...

OBJECTIVE The popularity of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) is growing, and they are increasingly being used as family vehicles. Because of the large size of SUVs, relative to passenger cars, parents may perceive that they are safer family vehicles. However, little is known about the safety of children in SUVs, compared with passenger cars. The objective of this study was to determine the relativ...

Plus-sizing, or the fitting of larger diameter rims and lower profile tires to vehicles, continues to be a significant commercial force in the tire marketplace. When offering plus-size fitments to customers, many sellers simply offer “what fits” on a given vehicle. However, the various choices made by the seller, such as wheel width, wheel offset, inflation pressure, and so on, have the potenti...

A hybrid-electric vehicle powertrain architecture consists of single or multiple driving modes, i.e., connection arrangements among engine, motors and vehicle output shaft that determine distribution of power. While most architecture development work to date has focused primarily on passenger cars, interest has been growing in exploring architectures for special-purpose vehicles such as vans or...

OBJECTIVE Passenger cars often are at a disadvantage when colliding with light trucks (sport utility vehicles [SUVs] and pickups) due to differences in mass, vehicle structural alignment, and stiffness. In 2003, vehicle manufacturers agreed to voluntary measures to improve compatibility, especially in front-to-front and front-to-side crashes, with full adherence to be achieved by September 2009...