We propose an ultra-thin elastic cloak to control the scattering of bending waves in isotropic heterogeneous thin plates. The cloak design makes use of the scattering cancellation technique applied, for the first time, to the biharmonic operator describing the propagation of bending waves in thin plates. We first analyze scattering from hard and soft cylindrical objects in the quasistatic limit...

BACKGROUND Unintentional drug overdose has increased markedly in the past two decades and surpassed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of injury mortality in many states. The purpose of this study was to understand the trajectory of the drug overdose epidemic in the United States by applying Farr's Law. Farr's "law of epidemics" and the Bregman-Langmuir back calculation method were appl...

A survey among 127 wheelchair users was conducted to characterize wheelchair occupant restraint usage patterns, restraint deficiencies, user characteristics, and essential wheelchair occupant restraint design parameters for when individuals travel in motor vehicles while seated in their wheelchairs. Survey respondents value independent travel and seem generally interested in the use of an occup...

Research has indicated that laws requiring use of restraint devices for young children traveling in automobiles have had significant effects in increasing restraint use and reducing crash-related childhood injuries. This study examined dimensions along which the effectiveness of Michigan’s April 1982 mandatory child restraint law varied. All children involved in motor vehicle crashes in Michiga...

OBJECTIVES Motor vehicle crash fatality rates have been consistently higher in rural areas than in urban areas. However, the explanations for these differences are less clear. In this study the decomposition method was used to explore the factors associated with increased fatal crash involvement rates in rural communities. DESIGN Using national databases, the fatal crash incidence density was...

The hypothesized relation between uncomfortably hot temperatures and aggressive behavior was examined in two studies of violent and nonviolent crime. Data on rates of murder, rape, assault, robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft were gathered from archival sources. The first three crimes listed are violent; the latter four are less violent (labeled nonviolent). On the basis o...

The desirable goal in passenger transportation is moving more people in fewer vehicles. This goal, in respect of road transport, can be attained by encouraging public transport modes like buses by assigning priority. This paper is concerned with application of micro simulation technique to study the impact of provision of reserved bus lanes on the flow of highly heterogeneous traffic on urban r...

The potential environmental impact of equipping vehicles with oxidation catalysts is estimated. Three independent techniques are used to appraise community exposures. Incremental increases in suspended sulfates and sulfuric acid aerosols are evaluated in terms of the number of vehicles equipped with oxidation catalysts.

Drugged driving is a serious safety concern, but its role in motor vehicle crashes has not been adequately studied. Using a case-control design, the authors assessed the association between drug use and fatal crash risk. Cases (n=737) were drivers who were involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes in the continental United States during specific time periods in 2007, and controls (n=7719) were pa...

This paper describes common features in data sets from motor vehicle insurance companies and proposes a general approach which exploits knowledge of such features in order to model high-dimensional data sets with a complex dependency structure. The results of the approach can be a basis to develop insurance tariffs. The approach is applied to a collection of data sets from several motor vehicle...