What is the one element found in approximately half the U.S. highway fatalities? This question has been raised over the last few decades and the answer is still the same: Alcohol. This answer generates another question: If a single, identifiable element is involved in such a large portion of a serious public health and public safety problem, should it not receive top priority for investigation,...

T theory of real options offers an approach for the valuation of investments in real assets, based on the methodology developed for financial options. This approach is especially appropriate in the context of strategic decision making under conditions of uncertainty. This is the case for the valuation of highway concessions, where real options arise from certain clauses of the contracts, for ex...

Drowsiness while driving is a major cause of accidents. A driver fatigue detection system that is designed to sound an alarm, when appropriate, can prevent many accidents that sometime leads to the loss of life and property. In this paper, we classify drowsiness detection sensors and their strong and weak points. A compound model is proposed that uses image processing techniques to study the dy...

Communication of information from the roadway infrastructure to vehicles is expected to enhance Automated Highway Systems (AHS) by supporting subsystem functions like vehicle motion control, multiple vehicle coordination, and vehicle navigation. A suitable communication channel is information coding in the lateral reference used for automatic steering and lane keeping control, e.g. in the magne...

Driverless haulage trucks have recently been developed for open pit mines. To predict the benefits of an Autonomous Haulage System (AHS), a deterministic/stochastic model has been created to compare AHS to a manual system by estimating benchmarked Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as productivity, safety, breakdown frequencies, maintenance and labor costs, fuel consumption, tire wear, and ...

With the developments in automobile technologies; more focus is given to the vehicle weight reduction. About 30% weight is contributed by the automobile body. Now-a-days, plastic composites are used to manufacture automobile bodies as they are strong, light, corrosion resistant and easy to use. This paper represents the selection of plastic composites to build vehicle roof as a replacement of c...

Since the invention of the automobile, cars have taken an important role in our society. Once they were available only to the wealthy few that could afford them as a luxury in life. However, today cars have become a necessity for everyone. German automobile companies like Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi are well known for their Engineering and technology. Identifying the above said fact...

This paper presents the results of comparative research between the Japanese and Korean automobile industries on the result of quality management and the improvement. Japanese vehicles have been seen as reliable, low maintenance, and good quality cars. Japanese manufacturers developed several important quality management purposes and unique vernacular standards. Meanwhile, though the Korean aut...

This paper examines the effects of increased intra-industry trade on the labour market adjustment costs in Portugal’s automobile industry. Using a static and dynamic panel data approach, the results show a negative correlation between changes of employment and marginal intra-industry trade. These results confirm the smooth adjustment hypothesis, as well as suggesting that the multinational comp...

Emission systems and devices are required on automobile engines to reduce air pollution problems. Catalytic converters have been used on most 1975 and newer automobiles to reduce hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions to a value that meets the Environmental Protection Agency requirements established for 1975 and 1976. The 1980-1981 Boise, Idaho, study shows that with a functioning catal...