Child road trauma poses a preventable public health burden to the community. This PhD research aimed to: 1) quantify the magnitude of child passenger injuries in New South Wales (NSW), Australia; 2) evaluate the effectiveness of different restraint use to prevent fatalities among child passengers; and 3) estimate the benefit in the general child population from different intervention targets relating to restraint use. It comprised two studies to validate methodology and four independent epidemiological studies. The first study to validate methodology assessed the data item availability and categorization across different road traffic injury surveillance data collections in NSW in relation to World Health Organization recommended data item lists and necessary data item lists for road traffic injury research. Exclusion of, or insufficient categorization of, crucial data items such as restraint use and injurious outcome existed for each data collection. The other study to validate methodology assessed the performance (in terms of incidence estimates, sensitivity, and specificity) of several methods for removing multiple counting when conducting analyses on hospital separation data for child passenger injuries under either primary-diagnosis or all-diagnoses based injury definition, using linkage methods as a comparison. The "readmission"-based criterion consistently best approximated the linkage-method-derived incidence rate. Two epidemiological studies used NSW hospital separation datasets and quantified the magnitude of child road trauma in NSW in terms of hospitalisation rates. One study examined the trend in hospitalised injury incidence rates during the period of July 1998 to June 2005 using a non-parametric estimation method, and reported a non-significant decline of hospitalised injuries to child passengers over time. The second study used Poisson regression to demonstrate that rural NSW children were two times more likely to suffer hospitalised injuries compared with their urban counterparts. The third epidemiological study used the Fatality Analysis Reporting Systems (FARS) from the United States (US) and estimated the association between different restraint uses and child passenger fatality using a matched cohort method. Improperly using restraints significantly elevated the risk of death for child passengers involved in a crash compared to any other restraint use. The advantage of child restraints over seat belts in terms of fatality reduction was not statistically significant, although previous studies have shown an advantage for serious injury reduction. The last study was performed to quantify the relative public health benefit in terms of reduction in child passenger deaths and injuries for different interventions relating to restraint use in the general population using a case-based population attributable risk fraction method. Results support the ongoing child restraint legislation change in Australia to require compulsory child restraint uses for children up to their 7th birthday, and an increasing proper use of age-appropriate restraints would provide the greatest reduction in fatalities and injuries among child passengers assuming equal population uptake for all interventions. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates that child road trauma remains a public health burden to the Australian community; and highlights the importance of properly using age-appropriate restraints in preventing injuries to child passengers.

Issued also as Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University.

Thesis (M.A.)--Wayne University, 1949. / Typescript (photocopy). eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-105).

Issued also as Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009. / Prepared for: Dept. of Public Policy and Administration. Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 128-141.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-74)

Τα τελευταία χρόνια υπάρχει μεγάλο ενδιαφέρον προς την κατεύθυνση της αναγνώρισης αυτοκινήτου με χρήση διαφορετικών μεθόδων. Η ανάπτυξη ενός κατάλληλου συστήματος υποβοήθησης της οδήγησης είναι εξαιρετικής σημασίας και απαιτεί τη δέουσα προσοχή και έρευνα. Σκοπός της παρούσης διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η μελέτη, η ανάπτυξη καθώς και η εφαρμογή των πλέον αξιόπιστων μεθόδων αναγνώρισης αυτοκινήτου. Προς αυτήν την κατεύθυνση, μελετώνται λεπτομερώς οι αντίστοιχες μέθοδοι και παρουσιάζονται εκτενώς, τόσο με χρήση πραγματικών (real-time) βίντεο όσο και με την επεξεργασία διαφορετικών συνθηκών. Δίνεται ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στην ανάλυση της οπτικής ροής, η οποία κρίνεται βασική συγκριτικά με τις υπόλοιπες μεθόδους. Τέλος, παρουσιάζονται τα χαρακτηριστικά των πιο αντιπροσωπευτικών μεθόδων και παρατίθενται σχετικές προτάσεις για βελτίωση. / In recent years there has been great interest towards car identification using different methods. The development of an appropriate system of driver assistance is of paramount importance and requires proper attention and investigation. The purpose of this thesis is to study, develop and implement the most reliable methods of car detection. To this direction, the corresponding methods are studied in detail and are presented extensively, using both the actual (real-time) video and the treatment of different conditions. Particular emphasis is given to the analysis of optical flow, which is basic compared to other methods. Finally, the characteristics of the most representative methods are presented along with proposals for improvement.

This thesis aims at investigating the challenges and barriers of reducing car dependency culture to achieve urban sustainability in Egypt. This is operationalised by identifying different policy options and theoretically examining a nested-case study empirically. A more important purpose behind this academic enterprise was to find more robust and nuanced explanations of the constant failure of the transport planning system in Egyptian cities. The adoption of a cultural-oriented analytical framework to examine decision-making processes demonstrated a way forward in the re-evaluation of current transport policy directions in Egypt. The research applies qualitative methods to a nested case study in Alexandria through the Sustainable Urban Transport Project, 2032. The rigorous data-collection methods included extensive documentary analysis, elite interviews, semi-structured interviews and non-participant observations. The results obtained from applying these unconventional methods of social and political sciences in transport planning studies show the richness of these research methods in providing comprehensive explanations. This research illustrates the value of placing policy and transport-planning-related studies into the centre of different research positions. The main contributions of this research are grounded on a number of key research findings. First, the development of a cultural-oriented analytical framework based on the central thesis of polyrationality. Second, the research pioneers the approach of identifying the relevant stakeholders and contexts in transport decision-making processes in Egypt which serves as a basis for other future transport-related research for Egypt. This research builds the foundation for conducting multidisciplinary research for transport planning studies. The final contribution of this research suggests the need for mediators or policy analysts who have relevant education and knowledge in the transport planning sector to influence the decision-making processes.

Research suggests that infants with poor neck and upper torso muscle tone experience lateral slouching and a compromised airway when placed in the semi-upright seating position. Studies reveal that 4-60% of premature infants (born at less than 3-7 weeks gestation) may experience oxygen desaturation events when in their child safety seats (CSS), potentially resulting in adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. Therefore, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that premature infants be tested in their CSS prior to hospital discharge. However, neonatal healthcare providers are concerned that this method of testing might not be reliable. No formal studies have investigated the outcomes of repeat testing of premature infants, and little is known about the risk factors for oxygen desaturation events. Therefore, the purpose of this descriptive, non-experimental, observational study was to explore the stability of the one-point Infant Car Seat Challenge (ICSC) and risk factors that may be associated with oxygen desaturation events. A sample of 49 premature infants was used to explore the following variables: 1) pass/fail rates following two (ICSC) observation points, 2) oxygen saturation and desaturation patterns, sleep/wake activity, and a measure of head lag (using the pull-to-sit maneuver) during two ICSCs, and 3) the association between head lag, chronological age, time spent sleeping in the CSS and oxygen desaturation events. Data were analyzed by descriptive and nonparametric statistical tests. This study's findings indicated that 86% of premature infants had stable results, 8% passed rcsc 1 but not ICSC 2, and 6% failed ICSC l and passed ICSC 2. In addition the odds for oxygen desaturation events increased in infants that are born at a gestational age ≤ 34 weeks, were discharged home at a chronological age of > 7 days and had a corrected gestational age of ≤ 37 weeks. Neither head lag or sleep time influenced the ICSC outcomes. Furthermore the ICSC success rate for identifying at risk infants was equal to or better than that of other screening tests for newborn medical conditions. These findings will assist neonatal healthcare providers in making appropriate recommendations for safe travel.

The current field of cancer treatment is undergoing a revolution. The influx of novel therapies derived from basic research on the immune system has shifted the landscape of modern medicine. Immunotherapy seeks to use the body’s own immune system as a medium to terminate neoplastic cells. This is performed by manipulating the immune system into either targeting cancer antigens or breaking down barriers towards T cell infiltration. The former mechanism uses CAR-T cells as an instrument to target specific cancer neo-antigens. CAR-T cells begin as T cells derived from a patient’s immune system. These cells are removed from the body and engineered to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) through a process of viral transduction. This CAR allows the T cell to recognize and bind to a specific antigen of interest. In most cases, the antigen is present on cancer cells. The T cells, now expressing the CAR receptor, are transplanted back into the body of the patient and proceed to target cancer cells. This therapy has been used in hematological malignancies to great effect. Applying CAR-T cells to solid tumors is an ongoing process, but has been difficult to establish due to the immunosuppressive aspects of the tumor microenvironment. As such, combining CAR-T cells with traditional anti-cancer therapies has been proven to be efficacious in treating patients with solid tumors. In general, immunosuppression is a large problem in the treatment of cancer. Cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment express receptors that downregulate tumor-targeting actions of the immune system. The discovery of the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) allowed researchers to create novel antibodies that inhibit immunosuppression. PD1 located on T cells, binds to PDL1 on cancer and stromal cells. This interaction induces exhaustion and anergy in infiltrating T cells, thereby prevent T cells from targeting cancer cells. As such, the newly approved checkpoint blockade antibodies, Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab, block this interaction and allow T cells to carry out their targeting function. CAR-T cells and checkpoint blockade have both seen immense success in clinical trials and are currently being used the clinic. Nonetheless, development of these therapies for different types of cancers is an ongoing process and one that will require immense effort on behalf of the medical and pharmaceutical establishment