OBJECTIVE To determine whether varying the seat belt load limiter (SBL) according to crash and occupant characteristics could have real-world injury reduction benefits in frontal impacts and, if so, to quantify those benefits. METHODS Real-world UK accident data were used to identify the target population of vehicle occupants and frontal crash scenarios where improved chest protection could b...

Occupancy profile is one of the driving factors behind discrepancies between the measured and simulated energy consumption of buildings. The frequencies of occupants leaving their offices and the corresponding durations of absences have significant impact on energy use and the operational controls of buildings. This study used statistical methods to analyze the occupancy status, based on measur...

Smart building, which delivers useful services to residents at the lowest cost and maximum comfort, has gained increasing attention. HVAC equipment is a particularly expensive and energy consuming of building operation. A variety of emerging information technologies has been adopted. As a result, the concept of “demanddriven HVAC control” is a hot research topic. In this work, we investigated t...

A lighting controls study performed over a three month period provided data that can be used to determine the impact of manual switching and dimming controls on occupant behavior and attitudes and on energy use. Data were analyzed for 58 private offices on a single floor of a modern office building in Boulder, Colorado. Each office was equipped with a ceiling-mounted infrared motion sensor, a d...

In recent years much attention has been devoted to understanding and predicting when and how occupants perform their daily routines and use electric appliances within buildings. The purpose here is to better estimate energy consumption. Despite efforts to capture individual behavior with precision, models often neglect how occupants interact with one another. Concretely, they do not accurately ...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate the crash characteristics, injury distribution, and injury mechanisms for Maximum Abbreviated Injury Score (MAIS) 2+ injured belted, near-side occupants in airbag-equipped modern vehicles. Furthermore, differences in injury distribution for senior occupants compared to non-senior occupants was investigated, as well as whether the near-side occupant inju...