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...

background : a cross-sectional study of pattern of injuries in road traffic accidents was conducted over a period of one year involving 179 victims. material and methods: males (143) were more commonly involved than females (36) and majority of the victims (56) were in the age group of 21-30 years. results: rural victims(151) outnumbered the urban (28). one third of the victims were illiterates...

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...

Occupants' adaptive strategies play an important role in the energy consumption of office buildings. Previous research has mostly focused on triggered by occupants' indoor discomfort; however, it is crucial to understand if specific are linked energy-saving intentions. This study explores relationships among employees’ heuristic decision-making their first choice (technological solutions or per...

The population of occupants in far-side crashes that are documented in the US National database (NASS/CDS) was studied. The annual number of front seat occupants with serious or fatal injuries in far-side planar and rollover crashes was 17,194. The crash environment that produces serious and fatal injuries to belted front seat occupants in planar far-side crashes was investigated in detail. It ...

A dual-mode demand control ventilation strategy was established targeting at use in buildings where the number of occupants varies frequently. The 4rst contaminant chosen for sensor control is CO2 and the second is a non-occupant-related indoor pollutant which indicates the demand of fresh air to dilute the non-occupant-related indoor contaminants. Experiments were conducted to verify the perfo...

Nearly 20% of total energy consumption in the United States is accounted for in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Smart sensing and adaptive energy management agents can greatly decrease the energy usage of HVAC systems in many building applications, for example by enabling the operator to shut off HVAC to unoccupied rooms. We implement a multi-modal sensor agent that i...

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 ...

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 ...

The research question addressed in this paper is whether or not occupant death, injury, and ejection outcomes differ between vehicles equipped with 3-point manual belts versus 2-point motorized-shoulder/manual-lap (motorized/manual) belt systems. Census crash data sets for the states of Washington and Texas, and the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) were subset to provide data on front-out...