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Effects of a foldable booster safety seat with integrated seatbelt buckle on protecting 6-year-old and 10-year-old children
Get PDFMotor vehicle crashes and accidents have injured millions of children, making them a grave concern for automotive engineers. Child restraint systems (CRS) have been found to offer significant benefits in mitigating the risk of damage in children. Hence, the foldable booster seat (FBS) with an integrated seatbelt buckle, a new CRS, can be an excellent safety seat for protecting children’s passengers. For the first time, this study compares the kinematic and injury metrics of 6-year-old (6YO) and 10-year-old (10YO) children passengers seated in different CRS to assess the reducing injury effect of the FBS, considering various initial velocities. The based finite element child sled models were constructed using booster seat CAD geometry and analyzed using the crash pulse of a correlated finite element sedan model. Eighteen scenarios were investigated, considering 6YO and 10YO dummies with and without using a traditional booster seat (TBS) and a FBS subjected to various accident velocities (30, 50, and 64 km/h). To determine the efficacy of the FBS, the child kinematics, head acceleration, HIC15, chest acceleration, and Nij were extracted as metrics. In this specific study, the results determined that the FBS effectively decreased the risk of neck entrapment and provided improved restraint for the dummy within the seat. Although there may be a slight increase in head acceleration, HIC15, and chest acceleration, the FBS still ensures that injury responses remain within acceptable safety limits in most cases. Results propose that FBS are innovative and practical, with the capacity to enhance the protection of children in frontal accidents
The Time Machine Stops
No full textAs of this writing, 1653744144847 milliseconds have elapsed since midnight on January 1, 1970, the start of the “Unix Epoch,” so named for the operating system upon which the internet is based. While that date was chosen arbitrarily, it also denotes the onset of “computime,” which Jeremy Rifkin calls “the final abstraction of time and its complete separation from human experience and rhythms of nature.” This chapter explores this notion of computime from within the computer in the form of a dialogue set in the future, which takes place inside of a game that simulates nature. The religious scholar James Carse divided games into two types: “A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.” One has temporal boundaries, the other eliminates them; one is defined externally by “world time,” the other defines time internally through the gameplay. Now the world outside of the computer begins to look finite: the passage of time appears as a form of energy that is progressively being dispersed, and when it has been exhausted, the game is over
Touch, agency and the interplay between dance, disability and robotics
No full textThe themes of touch, contact and consent in relation to disability generate a lot of discussion and are brought further into view in the context of performance, and specifically dance performance. Disabled dance artists develop expertise that is particular to their own body, and if they dance with an assistive technology, such as a prosthesis, crutch or wheelchair, the dancer has additional expertise in how their corporeal body interfaces with non-human agents. If the non-human agent is a robot, questions around touch and consent may take on a different force. This article discusses a recent project that brought together an interdisciplinary team to ask questions about how expert disabled dancers encounter robots, and how bodily contact with robots can be generative and reimagine contact as creative, expressive and trustworthy, rather than potentially harmful. The discussion also asks whether AI offers an opportunity to develop more inclusive research methodologies, or whether it calls into sharp focus the inequalities if lived experience of difference and diversity is overlooked
A Context-Aware Real-Time Security Model for Automotive Systems
No full textThe growing complexity of vehicle network connectivity hasbroadened the cyber-threat landscape, introducing substantial safetyrisks for both passengers and the environment. Traditional security mechanisms, relying on rigid decision-making processes, often fail to addressthe demands of this dynamic and interconnected ecosystem. To effectively manage emerging security threats and adapt to diverse scenarios,integrating context awareness has become crucial. Context-aware systems can typically adapt their behaviour in response to changes in theirsurrounding environment using context information. Ontologies serveas powerful tools for modelling and reasoning of context information.However, existing ontology-based context-aware security models are constrained by static thresholds and fail to adapt the rapid changes in real-time. This paper introduces a dynamic context-aware real-time securitymodel for the automotive domain. By leveraging a Python-based implementation alongside OWL 2 RL Ontology model, the proposed approachdynamically adapts context information based on live data for securityanalysis. The applicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach isdemonstrated using a use case of EV charging process
Acting on Good Intentions? A Longitudinal Study of Prosocial Lending Intentions and Behaviours
Get PDFResearch examining potential drivers of lender intentions and behaviours in prosocial lending platforms has often ignoredethical considerations in such decisions. We suggest a new model in this context which marries the components of thetheory of planned behaviour with two additional variables: sense of moral obligation and platform trust. We apply structuralequational modelling to a novel longitudinal dataset that combines information derived from a survey of 2398 individuallenders and data obtained directly from the UK-based platform Lendwithcare. Our analysis demonstrates that lender intentionsand behaviour are positively and significantly associated with ethical factors, including moral obligation and platformtrust. These relationships are shown to be consistent when using different measures of lending behaviour, as well as acrossdifferent time periods pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic. The evidence highlights the importance of ethical considerationsin understanding intention and behaviour in prosocial lending crowdfunding
An Approach to Formal Verification of Autonomous Vehicle Systems using Threat Analysis
No full textThe rapid advancement and deployment of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) present transformative opportunities to enhance safety, efficiency, and convenience within the transportation industry. However, these innovations introduce significant cybersecurity risks due to the complex electronics and continuous connectivity that CAVs depend on. Traditional testing methods, while critical, often fall short in detecting vulnerabilities across the vast range of scenarios these vehicles may encounter. Formal verification, a mathematical approach to system validation, offers a more rigorous and comprehensive solution by ensuring that systems operate as expected to search through all possible execution paths. However, defining appropriate system properties for verification remains a challenge, as a system designer may write properties that fail to address real-world threats effectively. This research addresses this gap by integrating threat analysis into the process of defining security properties, ensuring that the verification process is aligned with actual cybersecurity risks. We leverage Natural Language Processing (NLP) to extract key security details from threat analysis result texts, automating the generation of system properties. This approach simplifies the verification process, with its usability demonstrated through a high-level 5G-V2X design use case scenario
Research Methods; Functional Measures of Nailfold Capillaroscopy Including Permeability, Perfusion and Oxygenation
No full textFunctional measures of nailfold capillaries (permeability, red blood cell velocity and oxygenation) offer value in disentangling the relationship between microvascular function and morphology. They offer the potential to further elucidate early disease changes that may occur prior to the vasculopathy observed in capillary architectural changes. In addition, they may be useful as sensitive outcome measures in clinical trials, to monitor response to (mainly pharmacological) treatment. These techniques currently remain in the research domain, due to their relative complexity and a slower rate of technological development than structural nailfold capillaroscopy; they still require validation. In this chapter we explore their current status, progress and limitations. We evaluate their potential in translation towards clinical application.</p
Predicting At-Risk Programming Students in Small Imbalanced Datasets using Synthetic Data
No full textThis study is part of a larger project focused on measuring, understanding, and improving student engagement in programming education. We investigate whether synthetic data generation can help identify at-risk students earlier in a small, imbalanced dataset from an introductory programming module. The analysis used anonymised records from 379 students, with 15% marked as failing, and applied several machine learning algorithms. The first experiments showed poor recall for the failing group. However, using synthetic data generation methods led to a significant improvement in performance. Our results suggest that, when combined with synthetic data, machine learning can help identify at-risk students early in programming courses. This research lays the groundwork for validating and using these models with live student cohorts in the future, to allow for timely and effective interventions that can improve student outcomes. It also includes feature importance analysis to refine formative tasks. Overall, this study contributes to developing practical workflows that help detect disengagement early and improve student success in programming education
Ubuntu and African Social Movements:Local and International Coalitions for Environmental and Climate Justice in Kenya and Uganda
No full textThis chapter examines the environmental and climate movements in Kenya and Uganda, emerging in response to the impacts of extractivism, environmental degradation, and climate change. These movements are deeply rooted in the historical context of colonial land-use changes that displaced Indigenous communities and disrupted the communal values of Ubuntu, a philosophy that emphasizes collective responsibility and respect for the environment. Despite the rise of large-scale development projects in the post-colonial era that continue to marginalize communities and threaten ecosystems, activism for environmental justice in East Africa has grown. This chapter explores how activists in Kenya and Uganda use a combination of public awareness campaigns, coalitions, and protests to challenge environmental injustices, while also critiquing the limitations of traditional social movement theories derived from European and North American contexts. Drawing on qualitative research, including interviews with East African youth activists, the chapter illustrates the political context, the role of local and international coalitions, and the significance of African values like Ubuntu in shaping the fight for climate justice. Finally, it discusses how partnerships between local and international actors can be structured to more effectively support these movements