A series of 24 full-scale experiments was conducted during the summer of 2008 to examine the effects of alarm type (photoelectric, ionization, and dual sensor), alarm location, fabric type (100 % cotton and 100 % polyester), polyurethane foam density, ignition scenario, and room configuration, on smoke alarm performance. A two-level, fractional factorial design of eight experimental configurati...

BACKGROUND Polyurethane foam-covered silicone gel-filled breast implants, introduced in the 1970s, were used in more than 110,000 American women. Because of concerns about possible toxicity, they were withdrawn from the US market in 1991. These implants remain popular in many parts of the world. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to evaluate long-term experience with polyurethane foam-cover...

The vibration environment is a common man-made artificial surrounding with which humans have a limited tolerance to cope due to their body dynamics. This research studied the dynamic characteristics of a seated human body/seat system in a vibration environment. The main result is a multi degrees of freedom lumped parameter model that synthesizes two basic dynamics: (i) global human dynamics, th...

A Bacillus sp. which is capable of degrading dimethylphthalate (DMP) was immobilized in calcium alginate and polyurethane foam for efficient and long term degradation of DMP. Freely suspended cells (10(12) cfu ml-1) degraded a maximum of 20 mM DMP. Whereas, alginate-(10(12)cfu g-1 beads) and polyurethane foam-entrapped (0.34 x 10(6-9) cfu g-1 foam cubes) cells degraded a maximum of 40 mM DMP wi...

The effects of seat-back angle and accelerometer height at the seat-back on seat-back x-axis frequency-weighted root-mean-square (r.m.s.) acceleration have been investigated in field experiments. Experiment 1 investigated the range and variability, of frequency-weighted r.m.s. acceleration at the same measurement position, where the seat-back angle was 24 degrees from vertical on the floor and ...

Background/Obiective: Tilt and recline variable position seating systems are most commonly used for pressure relief to decrease potential for skin breakdown. This study provides quantitative information on the magnitudes of loading on the seat and back during phases of tilt, recline, and standing. The objective of this study was to show that the amount of force reduction at the seat would diffe...

the down-flow hanging sponge (dhs) reactor, which was developed for post-treatment of effluent from up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (uasb) process treating sewage, uses polyurethane sponge as media to retain biomass. wastewater is trickled from the top of the reactor and purified by microorganisms retained both inside and outside of the sponge media as the wastewater flows vertically down thro...

Biomechanical study of car driver posture is one of the most referenced aspects for the ergonomic design process of the whole vehicle. The aim of this work is to present a multi-factor method for the analysis of sitting posture and the resulting interactions of the car driver body with the cushion and the backrest. The proposed method, based on the combined use of an optoelectronic system for m...