Despite the perceived importance of grab bars to facilitate aging-in-place and healthy aging, many community-dwelling older adults do not have them installed. The aim of this study was to investigate predictors of grab bar installation among well-educated community dwelling seniors. Data was collected quantitatively through an electronic survey of Oregon residents 50 years of age and older. The research analysis was completed using logistic regression with SPSS and qualitative analysis for the open questions. / Graduation date: 2012

As betoneiras, embora sejam equipamentos aparentemente inofensivos e que não trazem muitos riscos aos trabalhadores, esconde um problema muito grave associado à sua operação, que são os altos níveis de ruído produzido. Normalmente os operadores de betoneiras são aqueles que ficam mais expostos a estes elevados níveis de ruído e, também há os demais operadores e a vizinhança. Esta pesquisa, além de quantificar tais impactos, sugere formas para amenizar os níveis de ruído assimilados por estes operadores de betoneiras e que são provenientes deste equipamento, atuando na fonte geradora. Para minimização do nível de ruído, foi desenvolvida tampa de proteção para ser utilizada na boca do tambor, de modo que não interferisse no modo de operação da betoneira e que também servisse para atenuar o ruído durante a mistura do agregado. Foi objeto de estudo a análise e aplicação de dois materiais, sendo eles placas de EVA e borracha líquida, para revestimento do tambor da betoneira, que contribuísse para a redução do nível de ruído. Os níveis de pressão sonora equivalente foram coletados na frente, atrás e nas laterais da betoneira a distâncias de 1 a 8 metros. Os resultados demonstraram que é possível minimizar o ruído garantindo um conforto acústico durante o uso da betoneira em um canteiro de obras. Os ensaios comprovaram que, dentre as opções analisadas, o melhor revestimento é a borracha líquida que pode ser utilizada externamente ao tambor da betoneira reduzindo o ruído em 13 dB(A), chegando a 17 dB(A), com o uso da tampa de proteção. / The concrete mixers, although seemingly harmless and equipment that do not bring many risks to workers, hides a very serious problem associated with their operation, which are the high levels of noise produced. Usually the mixers operators are those that are more exposed to these high levels of noise and there are also other operators and the neighborhood. This research and to quantify these impacts, suggests ways to mitigate the noise levels assimilated by these mixers operators and discharged from this equipment, acting at the source. To minimize the noise level cap has been developed for use in the mouth of the barrel, so it does not interfere with the mixer operating mode and also serve to reduce the noise when mixing the aggregate. Object of study was the analysis and application of two materials, namely plates EVA and liquid rubber, to drum coating the mixer, which would help reduce the noise level. The equivalent sound pressure levels were collected in front, behind and on the sides of the mixer at distances 1-8 meters. The results showed that it is possible to minimize noise ensuring acoustic comfort while using the mixer on a construction site. Tests have shown that among the options considered, is the best coating liquid rubber which may be used externally to the mixer drum 13 reducing the noise in dB (A), reaching 17 dB (A) with the use of lid protection.

As betoneiras, embora sejam equipamentos aparentemente inofensivos e que não trazem muitos riscos aos trabalhadores, esconde um problema muito grave associado à sua operação, que são os altos níveis de ruído produzido. Normalmente os operadores de betoneiras são aqueles que ficam mais expostos a estes elevados níveis de ruído e, também há os demais operadores e a vizinhança. Esta pesquisa, além de quantificar tais impactos, sugere formas para amenizar os níveis de ruído assimilados por estes operadores de betoneiras e que são provenientes deste equipamento, atuando na fonte geradora. Para minimização do nível de ruído, foi desenvolvida tampa de proteção para ser utilizada na boca do tambor, de modo que não interferisse no modo de operação da betoneira e que também servisse para atenuar o ruído durante a mistura do agregado. Foi objeto de estudo a análise e aplicação de dois materiais, sendo eles placas de EVA e borracha líquida, para revestimento do tambor da betoneira, que contribuísse para a redução do nível de ruído. Os níveis de pressão sonora equivalente foram coletados na frente, atrás e nas laterais da betoneira a distâncias de 1 a 8 metros. Os resultados demonstraram que é possível minimizar o ruído garantindo um conforto acústico durante o uso da betoneira em um canteiro de obras. Os ensaios comprovaram que, dentre as opções analisadas, o melhor revestimento é a borracha líquida que pode ser utilizada externamente ao tambor da betoneira reduzindo o ruído em 13 dB(A), chegando a 17 dB(A), com o uso da tampa de proteção. / The concrete mixers, although seemingly harmless and equipment that do not bring many risks to workers, hides a very serious problem associated with their operation, which are the high levels of noise produced. Usually the mixers operators are those that are more exposed to these high levels of noise and there are also other operators and the neighborhood. This research and to quantify these impacts, suggests ways to mitigate the noise levels assimilated by these mixers operators and discharged from this equipment, acting at the source. To minimize the noise level cap has been developed for use in the mouth of the barrel, so it does not interfere with the mixer operating mode and also serve to reduce the noise when mixing the aggregate. Object of study was the analysis and application of two materials, namely plates EVA and liquid rubber, to drum coating the mixer, which would help reduce the noise level. The equivalent sound pressure levels were collected in front, behind and on the sides of the mixer at distances 1-8 meters. The results showed that it is possible to minimize noise ensuring acoustic comfort while using the mixer on a construction site. Tests have shown that among the options considered, is the best coating liquid rubber which may be used externally to the mixer drum 13 reducing the noise in dB (A), reaching 17 dB (A) with the use of lid protection.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking (PAEB) system for avoiding/mitigating pedestrian crashes have been equipped on some passenger vehicles. At present, there are many e orts for the development of common standard for the performance evaluation of PAEB. The Transportation Active Safety Institute (TASI) at Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis has been studying the problems and ad- dressing the concerns related to the establishment of such a standard with support from Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC). One of the important components in the PAEB evaluation is the development of standard testing facili- ties at night, in which 70% pedestrian crash social costs occurs [1]. The test facility should include representative low-illuminance environment to enable the examination of sensing and control functions of di erent PAEB systems. This thesis work focuses on modeling low-illuminance driving environment and describes an approach to recon- struct the lighting conditions. The goal of this research is to characterize and model light sources at a potential collision case at low-illuminance environment and deter- mine possible recreation of such environment for PAEB evaluation. This research is conducted in ve steps. The rst step is to identify lighting components that ap- pear frequently on a low-illuminance environment that a ect the performance of the PAEB. The identi ed lighting components include ambient light, same side/opposite side light poles, opposite side car headlight. Next step is to collect all potential pedes- trian collision cases at night with GPS coordinate information from TASI 110 CAR naturalistic driving study video database. Thirdly, since ambient lighting is relatively random and lack of a certain pattern, ambient light intensity for each potential col- lision case is de ned and processed as the average value of a region of interest on all video frames in this case. Fourth step is to classify interested light sources from the selected videos. The temporal pro le method, which compressing region of interest in video data (x,y,t) to image data (x,y), is introduced to scan certain prede ned region on the video. Due to the fact that light sources (except ambient light) impose distinct light patterns on the road, image patterns corresponding to speci c light sources can be recognized and classi ed. All light sources obtained are stamped with GPS coordinates and time information which are provided in corresponding data les along with the video. Lastly, by grouping all light source information of each repre- sentative street category, representative light description of each street category can be generated. Such light description can be used for lighting construction of PAEB test facility.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Crashworthiness design is gaining more importance in the automotive industry due to high competition and tight safety norms. Further there is a need for light weight structures in the automotive design. Structural optimization in last two decades have been widely explored to improve existing designs or conceive new designs with better crashworthiness and reduced mass. Although many gradient based and heuristic methods for topology and topometry based crashworthiness design are available these days, most of them result in stiff structures that are suitable only for a set of vehicle components in which maximizing the energy absorption or minimizing the intrusion is the main concern. However, there are some other components in a vehicle structure that should have characteristics of both stiffness and flexibility. Moreover, the load paths within the structure and potential buckle modes also play an important role in efficient functioning of such components. For example, the front bumper, side frame rails, steering column, and occupant protection devices like the knee bolster should all exhibit controlled deformation and collapse behavior. This investigation introduces a methodology to design dynamically crushed thin-walled tubular structures for crashworthiness applications. Due to their low cost, high energy absorption efficiency, and capacity to withstand long strokes, thin-walled tubular structures are extensively used in the automotive industry. Tubular structures subjected to impact loading may undergo three modes of deformation: progressive crushing/buckling, dynamic plastic buckling, and global bending or Euler-type buckling. Of these, progressive buckling is the most desirable mode of collapse because it leads to a desirable deformation characteristic, low peak reaction force, and higher energy absorption efficiency. Progressive buckling is generally observed under pure axial loading; however, during an actual crash event, tubular structures are often subjected to oblique impact loads in which Euler-type buckling is the dominating mode of deformation. This undesired behavior severely reduces the energy absorption capability of the tubular structure. The design methodology presented in this paper relies on the ability of a compliant mechanism to transfer displacement and/or force from an input to desired output port locations. The suitable output port locations are utilized to enforce desired buckle zones, mitigating the natural Euler-type buckling effect. The problem addressed in this investigation is to find the thickness distribution of a thin-walled structure and the output port locations that maximizes the energy absorption while maintaining the peak reaction force at a prescribed limit. The underlying design for thickness distribution follows a uniform mutual potential energy density under a dynamic impact event. Nonlinear explicit finite element code LS-DYNA is used to simulate tubular structures under crash loading. Biologically inspired hybrid cellular automaton (HCA) method is used to drive the design process. Results are demonstrated on long straight and S-rail tubes subject to oblique loading, achieving progressive crushing in most cases.