Indoor air quality (IAQ) in a building is a very important element to ensure the health and comfort level of the building occupants. This is because work productivity may be interrupted due to the polluted environmental condition and bad indoor air quality. Both factors may lead to bad health and physical condition and consequently to bad work performance. The study presents the understanding a...

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect on fatality rates in crashes of installation of shoulder belts in automobile back seats. METHODS During 1988-96, fatalities to rear outboard seat occupants of passenger cars, classified by age of occupant and vehicle curb weight were matched to data on model year in which shoulder belts became standard equipment. The same data were obtained from the same year...

Mass transportation systems and specifically bus systems are a key element of the national transportation network. Buses are one of the safest forms of transportation. Nonetheless, bus crashes resulting in occupant injuries and fatalities do occur. Therefore, crashworthiness research is a continuing effort. Using funding from the Federal Transit Administration, NIAR at Wichita State University ...

Indoor environmental conditions (thermal, noise, light, and indoor air quality) may affect workers' comfort, and consequently their health and well-being, as well as their productivity. This study aimed to assess the relations between perceived indoor environment and occupants' comfort, and to examine the modifying effects of both personal and building characteristics. Within the framework of t...

Abstract—Buildings with shared spaces such as corporate office buildings, university dorms, etc. are occupied by multiple occupants who typically have different temperature preferences. Attaining a common temperature set-point that is agreeable to all users (occupants) in such a multi-occupant space is a challenging problem. Furthermore, the ideal temperature set-point should optimally trade of...

background: this toxicological investigation involves a report on the death of four ‎occupants of a sport utility vehicle on one of the major busy federal roads of nigeria ‎where they were held for up to three hours in a traffic jam while the car was steaming.‎ methods: autopsy was executed using the standard procedure and toxicological ‎analysis was done using simple spectrophotometric method ...

Passive houses and other highly energy-efficient buildings need mechanical ventilation. However, ventilation systems in such houses are regarded with a certain degree of skepticism by parts of the public due to alleged negative health effects. Within a quasi-experimental field study, we investigated if occupants of two types of buildings (mechanical vs. natural ventilation) experience different...

This multidisciplinary in-depth investigation of accidents using 24 occupants with neck symptoms shows the complexity of whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) in frontal impacts with respect to factors that influence occurrence as well as duration of symptoms. Several different occupant kinematics have been identified, all resulting in symptoms classified as WAD. Compared to occupants restrained ...

This study clarified the effect of body physique to abdominal injury distribution in terms of frontal passengers at frontal collision using NASS/CDS database with medical knowledge and engineering analysis. Present research based on the real-world accident data showed that distribution and severity of abdominal injuries of the restrained front seat occupants in frontal collisions was reflected ...

A weighted logistic regression with careful selection of crash, vehicle, occupant and injury data and sequentially adjusting the covariants, was used to investigate the predictors of the odds of head/face and neck (HFN) injuries during rollovers. The results show that unbelted occupants have statistically significant higher HFN injury risks than belted occupants. Age, number of quarter-turns, r...