Virtual vehicle vibrations

UI researcher designs program to predict role posture may play in reducing head, neck injuries

2013-02-12

(Press-News.org) "Sit up straight in your chair!"

That command given by countless parents to their children may one day be delivered by vehicle designers to a robot that is actually a computerized model of a long-distance truck driver or other heavy equipment operator, thanks to a University of Iowa research program.

That's because a UI researcher has designed a computer program that allows engineers to accurately predict the role posture plays in transferring the stress of vehicle motion to bone and muscle in the head and neck.

Titled "Human head-neck models in whole-body vibration: Effect of posture," the paper is published in the online Jan. 3 issue of the Journal of Biomechanics.

Lead author Salam Rahmatalla, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and research engineer at the Virtual Soldier Research (VSR) Program, a part of the College of Engineering's Center for Computer-Aided Design (CCAD), says that a computer model is needed.

"Studies have shown that awkward head-neck postures inside whole-body vibration environments can increase discomfort and the risk of injury," he says. "The goal of this project is to introduce a computerized human model that can be used to predict human motion in response to whole-body vibration when the human takes different head-neck postures."

He notes that the predicted motion data of his current model can be used to drive more sophisticated computer human models—with muscles and internal tissues—that can predict muscle forces and internal strain and stress between tissues and vertebrae.

Significantly, the computer program may reduce the need for actual human subjects to drive test vehicles.

"One major benefit of the current computer human model is the possibility of using it instead of humans in the design/modification loop of equipment in whole-body vibration," he says.

Rahmatalla says a wide variety of industry, university, and other researcher venues likely will learn from his work.

"The automotive industry, and manufacturers of heavy machinery including construction, agriculture, mining, and military vehicles can benefit from the application of this model to the design of their equipment," he says.

"Also, human factors researchers and ergonomists can use this model to investigate the effect of head-neck posture on human response, performance, human machine interaction, and injury risk in whole-body vibration."

Rahmatalla's long-term VSR objective is to develop a virtual human capable of reproducing complex human responses to a whole body vibration environment that will help answer questions related to potential injury risks and design modifications.

Rahmatalla conducted the study by having 11 male participants sit in a vehicle simulator where they were subjected to white-noise random vibration and the acceleration data of the head and neck for each was recorded. The recorded motion data was used to calibrate the computer human model.

His colleague in the study was Yang Wang, a student in the UI Graduate College and CCAD graduate research assistant.

### END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Prostate-specific antigen screening: Values and techniques shape decisions

2013-02-12

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - What's most important to a man as he decides whether or not to undergo prostate-specific antigen- PSA- screening for prostate cancer? What does he value most about the screening? And what's the best way to present the information to help him make an appropriate decision for himself? An international team of scientists led by the University of North Carolina has published a study evaluating different ways of helping men consider their values about PSA screening. They report that the decision-making process was influenced by the format in which information ...

1-2 punch strategy against bacteria and cancer

2013-02-12

HOUSTON -- (Feb. 11, 2013) -- Cancer researchers from Rice University suggest that a new man-made drug that's already proven effective at killing cancer and drug-resistant bacteria could best deliver its knockout blow when used in combination with drugs made from naturally occurring toxins. "One of the oldest tricks in fighting is the one-two punch -- you distract your opponent with one attack and deliver a knockout blow with another," said José Onuchic of Rice's Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP). "Combinatorial drug therapies employ that strategy at a ...

Strokes associated with surgery can be devastating

2013-02-12

MAYWOOD, Il. – Strokes that occur during or shortly after surgery can be devastating, resulting in longer hospital stays and increased risks of death or long-term disability. But prompt identification and treatment of such strokes can improve neurologic outcomes, according to an article in the journal Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics by Loyola University Medical Center stroke specialists Sarkis Morales-Vidal, MD and Michael Schneck, MD. The article answers commonly asked questions about the management of perioperative stroke. (A perioperative stroke is a stroke that ...

NASA sees Tropical Cyclone 15S form in So. Indian Ocean

2013-02-12

The fifteenth tropical cyclone of the Southern Indian Ocean season strengthened into a tropical storm today, Feb. 11, and NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead hours after it reached tropical storm strength. Tropical Cyclone 15S was born from the low pressure area designated as System 92S. System 92S developed on Feb. 9 and intensified into a tropical storm on Feb. 11 at 0300 UTC. At that time, Tropical Cyclone 15S had maximum sustained winds near 35 knots (40.2 mph/64.8 kph), making it a tropical storm. It was centered near 12.1 south latitude and 82.5 east longitude, ...

NASA eyes the birth of Tropical Cyclone Haley

2013-02-12

Tropical Cyclone Haley was forming quickly as NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of the storm in the South Pacific Ocean. On Feb. 9 at 2020 UTC (3:20 p.m. EST) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of System 93P (known in Fiji as 14F). The MODIS image showed a circular center of circulation with banding features, two things that indicated that the low pressure area was quickly organizing. The next day, the low became Tropical Storm Haley. Tropical Cyclone Haley formed on Feb. ...

Parents' praise predicts attitudes toward challenge 5 years later

2013-02-12

Toddlers whose parents praised their efforts more than they praised them as individuals had a more positive approach to challenges five years later. That's the finding of a new longitudinal study that also found gender differences in the kind of praise that parents offer their children. The study, by researchers at the University of Chicago and Stanford University, appears in the journal Child Development. "Previous studies have looked at this issue among older students," according to Elizabeth A. Gunderson, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Temple University; Gunderson ...

Negative stereotypes about boys hinder their academic achievement

2013-02-12

Negative stereotypes about boys may hinder their achievement, while assuring them that girls and boys are equally academic may help them achieve. From a very young age, children think boys are academically inferior to girls, and they believe adults think so, too. Even at these very young ages, boys' performance on an academic task is affected by messages that suggest that girls will do better than they will. Those are the conclusions of new research published in the journal Child Development and conducted at the University of Kent. The research sought to determine the ...

Differential parenting found to affect whole family

2013-02-12

Parents act differently with different children—for example, being more positive with one child and more negative with another. A new longitudinal study has found that this behavior negatively affects not only the child who receives more negative feedback, but all the children in the family. The study also found that the more risks experienced by parents, the more likely they will treat their children differentially. Carried out at the University of Toronto with researchers from McMaster University and the University of Rochester, the study appears in the journal Child ...

Teaching teens that people can change reduces aggression in school

2013-02-12

Teenagers from all walks of life who believe people can't change react more aggressively to a peer conflict than those who think people can change. And teaching them that people have the potential to change can reduce these aggressive reactions. Those are the findings of a new study published in the journal Child Development. The research was conducted at the University of Texas at Austin, Emory University, and Stanford University. Prior research has shown that children who grow up in hostile environments, such as high-violence neighborhoods, are more likely to interpret ...

Alcohol abusers' depression often related to drinking

2013-02-12

PISCATAWAY, NJ – For problem drinkers, bouts of depressive symptoms are often the direct result of their heavy alcohol intake, according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Experts have long known that heavy drinking can spur temporary episodes of depression—what's known as "substance-induced depression." However, this information is not always apparent to busy clinicians, and the new findings strengthen the evidence that the phenomenon exists as well as how common and clinically important it is. "I don't know that the average ...

In a landmark study, an NYBG scientist and colleagues find that reforestation stands out among plant-based climate-mitigation strategies as most beneficial for wildlife biodiversity

Virtual vehicle vibrations

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: