abstract: Driving a vehicle is a complex task that typically requires several physical interactions and mental tasks. Inattentive driving takes a driver’s attention away from the primary task of driving, which can endanger the safety of driver, passenger(s), as well as pedestrians. According to several traffic safety administration organizations, distracted and inattentive driving are the primary causes of vehicle crashes or near crashes. In this research, a novel approach to detect and mitigate various levels of driving distractions is proposed. This novel approach consists of two main phases: i.) Proposing a system to detect various levels of driver distractions (low, medium, and high) using a machine learning techniques. ii.) Mitigating the effects of driver distractions through the integration of the distracted driving detection algorithm and the existing vehicle safety systems. In phase- 1, vehicle data were collected from an advanced driving simulator and a visual based sensor (webcam) for face monitoring. In addition, data were processed using a machine learning algorithm and a head pose analysis package in MATLAB. Then the model was trained and validated to detect different human operator distraction levels. In phase 2, the detected level of distraction, time to collision (TTC), lane position (LP), and steering entropy (SE) were used as an input to feed the vehicle safety controller that provides an appropriate action to maintain and/or mitigate vehicle safety status. The integrated detection algorithm and vehicle safety controller were then prototyped using MATLAB/SIMULINK for validation. A complete vehicle power train model including the driver’s interaction was replicated, and the outcome from the detection algorithm was fed into the vehicle safety controller. The results show that the vehicle safety system controller reacted and mitigated the vehicle safety status-in closed loop real-time fashion. The simulation results show that the proposed approach is efficient, accurate, and adaptable to dynamic changes resulting from the driver, as well as the vehicle system. This novel approach was applied in order to mitigate the impact of visual and cognitive distractions on the driver performance. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Applied Psychology 2017

No description available.

The dynamic behavior of a vehicle is predominantly controlled by the forces and moments generated at the contact patch between the tire and the road surface. As a result, tire characteristics can dramatically change vehicle response, especially during maneuvers that yields the tires to reach to the limits of its adhesion capacity. To assist the driver in such cases and to prevent other possible instability scenarios, various vehicle control systems e.g. anti-lock brakes (ABS), stability controllers (ESP, ESC) or rollover mitigation schemes are introduced, which are generally known as active vehicle safety systems. Based on the above facts, one can easily come to the conclusion that to improve upon the current control algorithms developed for the technology in use; a vehicle control system design requires accurate knowledge of the tire states. This study proposes the use of a smart tire system that can provide information on momentary variation of tire features through the sensor units attached directly on the tire and develops control algorithms based on this information to assure the match-up between tire and controller dynamics. A prototype smart tire system was developed for field testing and for detailed analysis of its potential. Based on the collected prototype data, novel observer and controller schemes were developed to obtain dynamic tire state information and to improve vehicle handling performance. The proposed algorithms were implemented and evaluated using numerical analysis in Matlab/SimulinkR environment. For a more realistic simulation environment, vehicle models were integrated from Mechanical Simulations CarSimR® software suite. / Ph. D.

A identificação do paciente tem sido reconhecida como um componente essencial e crucial na segurança do paciente e a ausência de processo padronizado de identificação nos serviços de saúde pode contribuir para a ocorrência de falhas. O estudo teve como objetivo investigar a temática de identificação dos pacientes em serviços de saúde. Para alcançar os objetivos propostos, a pesquisa foi conduzida em três fases: a elaboração da revisão integrativa (RI) e a condução de dois estudos descritivos. A busca dos estudos primários para inclusão na RI foi realizada nas bases de dados: PubMed, CINHAL, LILACS, SciELO, Scopus e Embase. A amostra da revisão integrativa foi composta por 17 estudos primários, agrupados em seis categorias temáticas. A estratégia do uso da pulseira de identificação de forma individualizada e que atenda às necessidades tanto das instituições quanto dos pacientes têm sido apontada pelos autores. O estudo descritivo da fase dois foi conduzido em 17 instituições de saúde sendo 12 hospitais e 5 unidades de pronto atendimento selecionados com a participação dos 17 enfermeiros responsáveis técnicos (RT). Para coleta de dados foi elaborado um instrumento submetido à validação aparente e de conteúdo por cinco juízes. Os enfermeiros RT responderam sobre as estratégias utilizadas pelos serviços de saúde para identificação dos pacientes.Todos os hospitais (100%) identificam seus pacientes internados, destacando-se o uso de pulseira e nenhum pronto atendimento independente utiliza essa estratégia. A admissão do paciente representa a etapa do atendimento em que as pulseiras de identificação são colocadas. Em 75% das instituições pesquisadas foi apontado como problema a falta de padronização na utilização das pulseiras, assim como a adoção de modelos não padronizados, destacada a variedade de cores, para identificar determinadas informações sobre o paciente. Em 33,3% dos hospitais mais de uma pulseira é colocada no mesmo paciente. Para a identificação de alergias, 50% dos hospitais usam pulseira vermelha. O nome completo, sobrenome, registro hospitalar e data de nascimento são dados que devem constar na pulseira de identificação do paciente. A pulseira de identificação tem sido reconhecida como a melhor forma de identificação do paciente nas instituições de saúde, mas além do uso desta metodologia é importante que todos, ao prestar um cuidado realizem a checagem da identificação confirmando neste momento os identificadores preconizados. O estudo descritivo da fase três foi conduzido em uma instituição hospitalar selecionada com vistas a analisar a influência da identificação do paciente na ocorrência de eventos adversos (EA) quanto às causas, locais das ocorrências, frequência, se a identificação foi uma barreira, danos causados, consequências, medidas corretivas e preventivas. No período analisado, de agosto de 2012 a agosto de 2014, foi notificado um total de 1673 ocorrências no sistema de notificação, sendo que dessas, 38 estavam relacionadas à identificação do paciente, representando 2,3% do total das ocorrências. A identificação do paciente atuou como barreira para identificar uma falha no processo relacionada ao EA em 45% das notificações. A quebra de protocolo foi responsável por 86% das causas que levou a ocorrência de EA, relacionadas à identificação do paciente. A existência de protocolos e procedimentos escritos por si só não garantem que falhas aconteçam, principalmente em relaçao à identificação do paciente, sendo necessário a implementação de medidas de avaliação do cumprimento dos mesmos. Isso possibilitará o aprimoramento desse processo e, com isso, garantirá qualidade e segurança / Patient identification has been acknowledged as a crucial an essential component in patients\' safety and the absence of a standard identification process in healthcare services can contribute to failures. This study aimed to investigate the theme around patient identification in healthcare services. To reach such objectives, research was conducted in three phases: elaboration of an integrative review and the conduction of two descriptive studies. Search for primary studies to be included in the integrative review was done on the following databases: PubMed, CINHAL, LILACS, SciELO, Scopus and Embase. The integrative review\'s sample concerned of 17 primary studies in six categories: identification in the healthcare teams\' and patients\' (or the patients\' tutors\') perspective (eis); identification in newborn and pediatric patients; identification in administration of chemotherapy and medication; identification in blood transfusion and sample collecting; identification in surgical patients and implementation of patient identification policies. The identification wristband strategy in an individualized manner with regards to both the patients\' and the institutions\' needs has been acclaimed by authors. Phase 2\'s descriptive study was conducted in 17 healthcare institutions, 12 hospitals and 5 emergency care units, selected with participation of 17 tech-nurses in charge. For data collection, an instrument that underwent apparent and content validation by five judges was created. Nurses answered about strategies used by healthcare services for patient identification. Every hospital reported having identification protocols; and while wristbands usage stands out in hospitals, no independent emergency care unit uses that strategy. Patient admission represents the stage during which wristbands are placed. In 75% of the researched institutions, lack of standardization in wristband use was pointed out as an issue as well as adoption of non-standardized methods; variety in color for the sake of categorization of patients sticks out in this matter. In 33% of the hospitals, more than one wristband is placed on a single patient. For identification of allergies, 50% of the hospitals use red wristbands. A patient wristband must contain a patient\'s full name, hospital record and date of birth. The identification wristband has been acknowledged as the best form of identification for patients in healthcare facilities, but apart from this method, it is important that all who are carrying out patient care check the identification, confirming the preconized identification. Phase 3\'s descriptive study was conducted in a selected hospital facility for this investigation aimed to analyze the influence of patient identification on adverse events (EA) as to causes, locale, frequency, if identification was a barrier, damage caused, consequences, and corrective and preventive measures. In the time period from August 2012 and August 2014, a total of 1673 occurrences in the institution\'s identification system was notified; among those, 38 concerned patient identification, representing 2,3% of the total. Patient identification acted as a barrier to identify a failure in an EA-related process in 45% of institutions. Protocol breach was behind 86% of the cause of EA occurrences that were connected to patient identification. Existence of protocols and procedures written alone does not guarantee failures occur, especially when it comes down to patient identification; which brings out the need for implementation of measures of evaluation that assure that these protocols are being followed by the staff. This will allow the enhancement of this process and with it a betterment in quality and safety in patient care

A identificação do paciente tem sido reconhecida como um componente essencial e crucial na segurança do paciente e a ausência de processo padronizado de identificação nos serviços de saúde pode contribuir para a ocorrência de falhas. O estudo teve como objetivo investigar a temática de identificação dos pacientes em serviços de saúde. Para alcançar os objetivos propostos, a pesquisa foi conduzida em três fases: a elaboração da revisão integrativa (RI) e a condução de dois estudos descritivos. A busca dos estudos primários para inclusão na RI foi realizada nas bases de dados: PubMed, CINHAL, LILACS, SciELO, Scopus e Embase. A amostra da revisão integrativa foi composta por 17 estudos primários, agrupados em seis categorias temáticas. A estratégia do uso da pulseira de identificação de forma individualizada e que atenda às necessidades tanto das instituições quanto dos pacientes têm sido apontada pelos autores. O estudo descritivo da fase dois foi conduzido em 17 instituições de saúde sendo 12 hospitais e 5 unidades de pronto atendimento selecionados com a participação dos 17 enfermeiros responsáveis técnicos (RT). Para coleta de dados foi elaborado um instrumento submetido à validação aparente e de conteúdo por cinco juízes. Os enfermeiros RT responderam sobre as estratégias utilizadas pelos serviços de saúde para identificação dos pacientes.Todos os hospitais (100%) identificam seus pacientes internados, destacando-se o uso de pulseira e nenhum pronto atendimento independente utiliza essa estratégia. A admissão do paciente representa a etapa do atendimento em que as pulseiras de identificação são colocadas. Em 75% das instituições pesquisadas foi apontado como problema a falta de padronização na utilização das pulseiras, assim como a adoção de modelos não padronizados, destacada a variedade de cores, para identificar determinadas informações sobre o paciente. Em 33,3% dos hospitais mais de uma pulseira é colocada no mesmo paciente. Para a identificação de alergias, 50% dos hospitais usam pulseira vermelha. O nome completo, sobrenome, registro hospitalar e data de nascimento são dados que devem constar na pulseira de identificação do paciente. A pulseira de identificação tem sido reconhecida como a melhor forma de identificação do paciente nas instituições de saúde, mas além do uso desta metodologia é importante que todos, ao prestar um cuidado realizem a checagem da identificação confirmando neste momento os identificadores preconizados. O estudo descritivo da fase três foi conduzido em uma instituição hospitalar selecionada com vistas a analisar a influência da identificação do paciente na ocorrência de eventos adversos (EA) quanto às causas, locais das ocorrências, frequência, se a identificação foi uma barreira, danos causados, consequências, medidas corretivas e preventivas. No período analisado, de agosto de 2012 a agosto de 2014, foi notificado um total de 1673 ocorrências no sistema de notificação, sendo que dessas, 38 estavam relacionadas à identificação do paciente, representando 2,3% do total das ocorrências. A identificação do paciente atuou como barreira para identificar uma falha no processo relacionada ao EA em 45% das notificações. A quebra de protocolo foi responsável por 86% das causas que levou a ocorrência de EA, relacionadas à identificação do paciente. A existência de protocolos e procedimentos escritos por si só não garantem que falhas aconteçam, principalmente em relaçao à identificação do paciente, sendo necessário a implementação de medidas de avaliação do cumprimento dos mesmos. Isso possibilitará o aprimoramento desse processo e, com isso, garantirá qualidade e segurança / Patient identification has been acknowledged as a crucial an essential component in patients\' safety and the absence of a standard identification process in healthcare services can contribute to failures. This study aimed to investigate the theme around patient identification in healthcare services. To reach such objectives, research was conducted in three phases: elaboration of an integrative review and the conduction of two descriptive studies. Search for primary studies to be included in the integrative review was done on the following databases: PubMed, CINHAL, LILACS, SciELO, Scopus and Embase. The integrative review\'s sample concerned of 17 primary studies in six categories: identification in the healthcare teams\' and patients\' (or the patients\' tutors\') perspective (eis); identification in newborn and pediatric patients; identification in administration of chemotherapy and medication; identification in blood transfusion and sample collecting; identification in surgical patients and implementation of patient identification policies. The identification wristband strategy in an individualized manner with regards to both the patients\' and the institutions\' needs has been acclaimed by authors. Phase 2\'s descriptive study was conducted in 17 healthcare institutions, 12 hospitals and 5 emergency care units, selected with participation of 17 tech-nurses in charge. For data collection, an instrument that underwent apparent and content validation by five judges was created. Nurses answered about strategies used by healthcare services for patient identification. Every hospital reported having identification protocols; and while wristbands usage stands out in hospitals, no independent emergency care unit uses that strategy. Patient admission represents the stage during which wristbands are placed. In 75% of the researched institutions, lack of standardization in wristband use was pointed out as an issue as well as adoption of non-standardized methods; variety in color for the sake of categorization of patients sticks out in this matter. In 33% of the hospitals, more than one wristband is placed on a single patient. For identification of allergies, 50% of the hospitals use red wristbands. A patient wristband must contain a patient\'s full name, hospital record and date of birth. The identification wristband has been acknowledged as the best form of identification for patients in healthcare facilities, but apart from this method, it is important that all who are carrying out patient care check the identification, confirming the preconized identification. Phase 3\'s descriptive study was conducted in a selected hospital facility for this investigation aimed to analyze the influence of patient identification on adverse events (EA) as to causes, locale, frequency, if identification was a barrier, damage caused, consequences, and corrective and preventive measures. In the time period from August 2012 and August 2014, a total of 1673 occurrences in the institution\'s identification system was notified; among those, 38 concerned patient identification, representing 2,3% of the total. Patient identification acted as a barrier to identify a failure in an EA-related process in 45% of institutions. Protocol breach was behind 86% of the cause of EA occurrences that were connected to patient identification. Existence of protocols and procedures written alone does not guarantee failures occur, especially when it comes down to patient identification; which brings out the need for implementation of measures of evaluation that assure that these protocols are being followed by the staff. This will allow the enhancement of this process and with it a betterment in quality and safety in patient care

No description available.

Effective construction management involves real-time decisions regarding the progress of specific activities, the location of materials and equipment, and the construction site safety. The decision making process can be improved using real-time positioning technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) systems, Global Positioning System (GPS), and Ultra Wide Band (UWB) sensors. While the GPS is not applicable to indoor positioning and RFID tags cannot provide a fully automated system for position location, the characteristics of UWB systems make this technology a strong candidate for a fully automated positioning system in an indoor construction environment. This thesis presents a comprehensive study of the performance of UWB systems in a controlled laboratory environment and in an institutional construction site in Waterloo, Canada as well as for a particular safety application. A primary objective of the research was to establish the accuracy of real-time position location under various conditions, including the effect of different construction materials (e.g., wood and metal), and to analyze changes in the accuracy of position location as construction progresses and the indoor environment physically evolves. Different challenges faced in implementing such a system in an active construction environment are addressed. Based on a statistical analysis of laboratory data, and considering the construction site experience, the reliability of the UWB positioning system for the aforementioned environments is discussed. Furthermore, an automated safety system is proposed using the real-time UWB positioning technology. Based on the error modeling of the UWB position location, an optimum alarming algorithm is designed for the proposed safety system and the reliability of such system is evaluated through a statistical analysis.

Active safety systems for road vehicles have been improved considerably in recent years along with technological advances and the increasing demand for road safety. In the development route of active safety systems which started with introduction of digital controlled ABS in the late seventies, vehicle stability control systems have been developed which today, with an integration approach, incorporate ABS and other previously developed active safety technologies. ABS, as a main part of this new structure, still maintains its importance. In this thesis, a design methodology of an antilock braking system controller for four wheeled road vehicles is presented with a detailed simulation work. In the study, it is intended to follow a flexible approach for integration with unified control structure of an integrated active safety system. The objective of the ABS controller, as in the previous designs in literature, is basically to provide retention of vehicle directional control capability and if possible shorter braking distances by controlling the wheel slip during braking. iv A hierarchical structure was adopted for the ABS controller design. A high-level controller, through vehicle longitudinal acceleration based estimation, determines reference slip values and a low-level controller attempts to track these reference slip signals by modulating braking torques. Two control alternatives were offered for the design of the low-level controller: Fuzzy Logic Control and PID Control. Performance of the ABS controller was analyzed through extensive simulations conducted in MATLAB/Simulink for different road conditions and steering maneuvers. For simulations, an 8 DOF vehicle model was constructed with nonlinear tires.

Active vehicle safety systems for road vehicles play an important role in accident prevention. In recent years, rapid developments have been observed in this area with advancing technology and electronic control systems. Active yaw control is one of these subjects, which aims to control the vehicle in case of any impending spinning or plowing during rapid and/or sharp maneuver. In addition to the development of these systems, integration and cooperation of these independent control mechanisms constitutes the current trend in active vehicle safety systems design. In this thesis, design methodology and simulation results of an active yaw control system for two axle road vehicles have been presented. Main objective of the yaw control system is to estimate the desired yaw behavior of the vehicle according to the demand of the driver and track this desired behavior accurately. The design procedure follows a progressive method, which first aims to design the yaw control scheme without regarding any other stability parameters, followed by the development of the designed control scheme via taking other stability parameters such vehicle sideslip angle into consideration. A two degree of freedom vehicle model (commonly known as &ldquo / Bicycle Model&rdquo / ) is employed to model the desired vehicle behavior. The design of the controller is based on Fuzzy Logic Control, which has proved itself useful for complex nonlinear design problems. Afterwards, the proposed yaw controller has been modified in order to limit the vehicle sideslip angle as well. Integration of the designed active yaw control system with other safety systems such as Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) and Traction Control System (TCS) is another subject of this study. A fuzzy logic based wheel slip controller has also been included in the study in order to integrate two different independent active systems to each other, which, in fact, is a general design approach for real life applications. This integration actually aims to initiate and develop the integration procedure of the active yaw control system with the (ABS). An eight degree of freedom detailed vehicle model with nonlinear tire model is utilized to represent the real vehicle in order to ensure the validity of the results. The simulation is held in MATLAB/Simulink environment, which has provided versatile design and simulation capabilities for this study. Wide-ranging simulations include various maneuvers with different road conditions have been performed in order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed controller.

Active safety systems for road vehicles make a crucial preventive contribution to road safety. In recent years, technological developments and the increasing demand for road safety have resulted in the integration and cooperation of these individual active safety systems. Traction control system (TCS) is one of these individual systems, which is capable of inhibiting wheel-spin during acceleration of the vehicle on slippery surfaces. In this thesis, design methodology and simulation results of a traction control system for four wheeled road vehicles are presented. The objective of the TCS controller is basically to improve directional stability, steer-ability and acceleration performance of vehicle by controlling the wheel slip during acceleration. In this study, the designed traction control system based on fuzzy logic is composed of an engine torque controller and a slip controller. Reference wheel slip values were estimated from the longitudinal acceleration data of the vehicle. Engine torque controller determines the throttle opening angle corresponding to the desired wheel torque, which is determined by a slip controller to track the reference slip signals. The wheel torques delivered by the engine are compensated by brake torques according to the desired wheel torque determined by the slip controller. Performance of the TCS controller was analyzed through several simulations held in MATLAB/Simulink for different road conditions during straight line acceleration and combined acceleration and steering. For simulations, an 8 DOF nonlinear vehicle model with nonlinear tires and a 2 DOF nonlinear engine model were built.