Prediction of thermal environment via revision of PMV index with body temperature

PMV （Predicted Mean Vote） is a widely used index for evaluating the thermal environment. However, few studies have been conducted to take physiological values directly as evaluating indices. This paper assumes a linear relation between body temperature and both sweating rate and heat produced by shivering, and introduces the linear relation into the human heat balance equation to revise the classic PMV. And the assumption of linear relation is subsequently proved. The revised PMV possesses the same characteristic of dependent heat load as that of the classic one, and moreover it is convenient to be calculated.     

Fe—Mo合金的时效析出行为

用 X 射线、电子衍射及透射电镜观察等方法研究了 Fe-27Mo 及 Fe-16Mo 合金的时效析出行为.结果发现,在873～1453K 时效时.时效初期,两种合金中均有一种新的过渡相——R 相析出.随时效进行,过渡相 R 将向平衡相μ(1213～1453K)或 Laves(873～1213K)转度.过渡相 R 为菱形点阵,点阵常数α=0.8977nm,α=74.4°,其 Mo 含量为48%,呈棒状或块状形态析出.时效初期由于过渡相 R 的析出引起合金硬化.     

Studies on the optimization of stern hull form based on a potential flow solver

A hypothesis of the minimum energy of secondary flow, suggested by Bessho, is introduced here. According to this hypothesis, it can be expected that hull forms having frame lines with a minimum energy of secondary flow show less form drag. In the first part of this article, secondary flow energy is evaluated for the cases with and without a free-surface effect, and Bessho’s hypothesis is confirmed for practical hull forms. Then optimization methods for the stern hull form are suggested, in which a nonlinear optimization technique is introduced. Numerical examples are given for a practical tanker hull form and a practical container hull form. From these studies, the suggested optimization method can be confirmed as a simplified and practical design method to the select frame lines of stern hull forms.     

美国铁路客车的发展动向与水平

文章阐述了美国地铁、高速列车等轨道车辆的发展水平、动态,以及铁道车辆市场现状。介绍了美国针对铁路事故而开展提高车辆强度、抗碰撞能力的研究及取得的成果。     

Clarifying multiple-mode decision making in conventional psychological models: A consideration of the influential mechanism of car use's characteristics on the behavioral use of public transportation

The existence of the multiple-mode decision making process challenges the existing psychological theories those predict travel behaviors because the theories were mainly to explain the relationship between travelers' perceived attributes of a targeted mode, not to make choices between modes. A review of related literatures showed a lack of focus on the mechanism of one mode influencing other mode in psychological models. The present study investigates how car-related factors affect the establishment of bus use intention in a psychological investigation. It is hypothesized that single car use factors do not directly influence bus use intention, rather than that; they indirectly influence bus use intention through an overall factor of car use. Results from a dataset of 270 samples investigating three types of daily trips in the Japanese context showed support to the mediating effect of the overall car use factor. As such, an arbitrary inclusion of car-related factors to psychological models of public transportation may not be recommended.     

Two-dimensional numerical simulation of water splash phenomena with and without surface tension

Two-dimensional numerical analyses were conducted and analyzed to simulate water splash produced by free falling object models starting from the resting position. The equilateral prism-shaped object models were allowed to fall onto the free surface of the water. The moving-particle semi-implicit (MPS) method was used to solve the unsteady Navier-Stokes equation for incompressible fluid flows with and without the surface tension effect. Froude numbers of 0.75, 1.0, and 1.25 were used with different model sizes for the entry velocity at the free surface. Splashes obtained by numerical computation closely agreed with the experimental results. The surface tension force, the Froude number, and the Weber number were found in these calculations to play major roles in determining various types of splash shapes. Model size was found to influence splash phenomena, even if the Froude number remained the same. The dependencies on these two nondimensional numbers and the fundamental law of similarity on water splash with and without the surface tension effect were thoroughly investigated in this research. Several two-dimensional numerical simulations are presented in this article to describe the hydrodynamic behaviors of water splash with and without the surface tension effect.     

A mechanism to enhance bicycle conspicuity and visibility and increase detection distances: New insights into bicycle safety

Poor sensory conspicuity and poor visibility of bicycles are key factors that correlate strongly with bicycle-vehicle accidents. Although researchers have explored how to improve detection distances, i.e., the distances from which bicycles can be recognized by other road users, there is a dearth of research on ways to signal bicyclists' presence on the road. This study investigates how to enhance, at minimum cost, the level of visibility and sensory conspicuity of bicycles; it also considers ways to signal their presence to other road users, without necessitating any active behavior by bicyclists themselves. In the first study, the level of visibility of 6 rear-end components of bicycles was analyzed according to Adrian's model; the sensory conspicuity of these same components was analyzed via respondent perceptions in conditions of sunlight, twilight with no car headlights, twilight with car headlights, and night with car headlights. The level of visibility and sensory conspicuity of the 6 rear-end components were compared with considering angular size of the components under 4 lighting conditions. The level of visibility of the rear fender was good under sunlight and night-time conditions; in other conditions, the level of visibility was directly affected by painting the fender a silver color with reflectivity and also by the fender's angular size. However, the rear tire, among the 6 components tested, had a higher visible area when used with a short fender; it also produced rotational effects during riding conditions with no extra effort by the cyclists. In the second study, adhesive tape with specific patterns and 6 different color combinations were applied to the rear tire of a bicycle under the same lighting conditions, with the aim of creating a strong signal of the bicycle's presence for other road users. Among the 6 combinations, white stripes overlaid on the color red provide an optimal combination in terms of detection distance. The mean detection distance of white stripes on red in sunlight was 138.67 m, 94.67 m in twilight without car headlights, 94 m in twilight with car headlights, and 53.67 m at night with car headlights. In addition, this combination strongly signals the presence of the bicycle to other road users with no extra effort by the cyclists, thereby reducing the likelihood of drivers looking but failing to see bicycles. In sum, the study recommends that bicyclists install white stripes overlaid on red, in order to increase visibility and conspicuity and signal the presence of their bicycles, thereby reducing the likelihood of cyclist-vehicle collisions.     

Course Tracking Control Algorithm Using Visual Information

Automatic steering control algorithm has been proposed, which uses the motion of objects in a visual image (Optical Flow) obtained from an ITV camera looking ahead in the situation without forward vehicles. This algorithm is improved to be applicable to the situation in which the forward tracking course is invisible owing to the interfarence of the forward vehicles. The adjustment of the control parameters against the change in vehicle speed is confirmed by the computer simulation experiments.     

Recognising customers' patterns of bus service patronage using a loyalty framework

With the aim of identifying typical characteristics of travellers, traditional segmentation approaches were based on socio-demographic variables. However, the approaches could not reveal the factors motivating individual behaviour. This result led to an emerging interest in psychological research models that are adhered to the decision-making process. Among various related theories, the concept of loyalty was attractive because the major purpose of establishing a loyalty concept is to recognise a customer's pattern towards a given service. However, there were few efforts aimed at determining market segments based on a loyalty framework. In addition, there was no consensus achieved on theoretical loyalty typology due to different empirical findings in different market contexts. This study aims to be the first loyalty-based attempt to provide an operational method of segmenting bus service market. Seeking practical implementation, another focus of this study is to determine typical characteristics of the market segments. Analyses that included cluster techniques were conducted on questionnaire data collected from 333 respondents in Hidaka city, Japan. A cross-classification between relative attitude and service patronage was successfully established, dividing the market into four segments. Segments of loyalty and no-loyalty were observed to be dominant over the remaining market. In contrast, the spurious loyalty segment was small and insignificant. An expansion of the latent loyalty segment was also observed when moving from the intention phase to the actual behaviour phase. Notably, not only demographic factors but also social awareness variables including environmental concern and elderly support were observed to be significant in distinguishing customer segments from one another.