This paper investigates the effects of mandatory seat belt laws on driver behavior and traffic fatalities. Using a unique panel data set on seat belt usage in all U.S. jurisdictions, we analyze how such laws, by influencing seat belt use, affect the incidence of traffic fatalities. Allowing for the endogeneity of seat belt usage, we find that such usage decreases overall traffic fatalities. The...

INTRODUCTION Obesity has been shown to increase the risks of some types of injury in crashes. One way in which obesity may increase injury risk is by changing the routing of the belt relative to the underlying skeletal structures. METHODS Belt fit was measured in a laboratory study of 54 men and women, 48 percent of whom were obese, defined by body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m(2) or greater. T...

background: seat belts have been proven as one of the most successful means of preventing or reducing injuries to occupants of cars during an accident. this paper examines the reasons behind the non-compliance of the seat belt law in malaysia and suggests possible measures to get the percentage of seat belt usage up higher. methods: various databases of articles were searched for seat belt usag...

Visual input provides vital information for helping us modify our walking pattern. For example, artificial optic flow can drive changes in step length during locomotion and may also be useful for augmenting locomotor training for individuals with gait asymmetries. Here we asked whether optic flow could modify the acquisition of a symmetric walking pattern during split-belt treadmill adaptation....

Many Rust-Belt cities have seen almost half their populations move from inside the city borders to the surrounding suburbs and elsewhere since the 1970s. As populations shifted, neighborhoods changed—in their average income, educational profi le, and housing prices. But the shift did not happen in every neighborhood at the same rate. Recent research has uncovered some of the patterns characteri...

Keywords: continental climate of the temperate belt, east-coast climate of the temperate belt, subtropical continental climate, subtropical east-coast climate, subtropical west-coast climate, west-coast climate of the temperate belt. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Subtropical belt 2.1. Subtropical continental climate 2.2. Subtropical oceanic climate 2.3. Subtropical west-coast climate 2.4. Subtrop...

Three Music Theater vocal qualities ("chesty belt," "twangy belt," and "legit") were investigated in female singers at their overlap range, between F#4-D5 (~370-600 Hz). Six experienced Music Theater singers performed each quality on two different vowels ([e], [ɔ]). Audio and electroglottographic (EGG) signals were recorded as well as the vocal tract impedance. In chesty belt and twangy belt, s...

BACKGROUND The American "stroke belt" has contributed to the study of stroke. However, U.S. geographic patterns of diabetes have not been as specifically characterized. PURPOSE This study identifies a geographically coherent region of the U.S. where the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes is especially high, called the "diabetes belt." METHODS In 2010, data from the 2007 and 2008 Behavioral Ri...

Despite the popularity of the conveyor-belt model for portraying the airflow through midlatitude cyclones, questions arise as to the path of the cold conveyor belt, the lower-tropospheric airflow poleward of and underneath the warm front. Some studies, beginning with Carlson’s analysis of the eastern U.S. cyclone of 5 December 1977, depict the cold conveyor belt moving westward, reaching the no...

This work investigated how wearing a new design of back belt affects erector spinae activity, hand force, and body stability. The belt was first tested with static holding tasks and found to significantly decrease the back muscle activity. Actual lifting tasks were further carried out to test the effect of the belt. Ten male subjects performed a symmetric lifting task of low-lying loads (11 and...