The purpose of this thesis work was to carry out initial studies on Scania’s possibility to have plastic rearview mirror glasses as that for example may reduce costs and problems for Scania’s customers and enable another design of the mirror assembly. It was performed by studying the legislative and Scania demands regarding rearview mirrors to write a test program, find and order plastic mirrors, and then perform the tests and evaluate the mirrors to see if they seem good enough for Scania’s trucks. A Scania technical regulation for rearview mirror glass was also written.   The tested mirrors were a Scania glass mirror as reference, a PC mirror from Sabic, a PC and a PMMA mirror from Specchidea, a mirror from SMR automotive, an ABS mirror from Ficocipa/Renault, an ABS mirror from Ford and a PC plastic from Bayer and they were tested for scratch resistance, temperature variations, impact resistance, corrosion and chemical resistance in that order. If a sample did not pass a certain test, it was not subjected to the next one.   Of all samples it was only the SMR mirror and the reference glass mirror that passed the first test (scratch resistance). The others became too scratched and were not tested further. The SMR and the glass mirror also withstood all the following tests very good, the SMR mirror was the best one of the tested mirrors. Probably the SMR mirror was the best one because many of the other mirrors did not seem to have been made for outdoor conditions and because it seemed to be the most modern mirror with a good abrasion resistant coating.   It was concluded that there is a future for plastic mirror glasses, that it would be interesting to do more tests on the mirrors, for example a UV test and a distortion test, and to test more mirrors as a new generation of plastic mirror glass seem to be underway. It would also be interesting to know how much cheaper and lighter the whole mirror assembly can become by changing to plastic mirror glass, which weighs 68% less than a glass mirror.

Thesis (M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Full-body powered exoskeletons for industrial workers have the potential to reduce the incidence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders while increasing strength beyond human capabilities. However, operating current full-body powered exoskeletons imposes different loading, motion, and balance requirements on users compared to unaided task performance, potentially resulting in additional mental workload on the user which may reduce situation awareness (SA) and increase risk of collision with pedestrians, negating the health and safety benefits of exoskeletons. Exoskeletons could be equipped with visual aids to improve SA, like rearview cameras or radar displays. However, research on design and evaluation of such displays for exoskeleton users are absent in the literature. This empirical study compared several augmented reality (AR) head-up displays (HUDs) in providing SA to minimize pedestrian collisions while completing common warehouse tasks. Specifically, the study consisted of an experimental factor of display abstraction including four levels, from low to high abstraction: rearview camera, overhead radar, ring radar, and no visual aid (as control). The second factor was elevation angle that was analyzed with the overhead and ring radar displays at 15°, 45°, and 90°. A 1x4 repeated measures ANOVA on all four display abstraction levels at 90° revealed that every display condition performed better than the no visual aid condition, the Bonferroni post-hoc test revealed that overhead and ring radars (medium and high abstraction respectively) received higher usability ratings than the rearview camera (low abstraction). A 2x3 repeated measures ANOVA on the two radar displays at all three display angles found that the overhead radar yielded better transport time and situation awareness ratings than the ring radar. Further, the two-way ANOVA found that 45° angles yielded the best transport collision times. Thus, AR displays presents promise in augment SA to minimize collision risk to collision and injury in warehouse settings. / Master of Science / Exoskeletons can increase the strength capabilities of industrial workers while reducing the likelihood of injury from heavy lifting and materials handling. However, full-body powered exoskeletons are currently very unwieldy, demanding users to focus their attention on controlling the exoskeleton that may cause a loss awareness of their surroundings. This may increase the likelihood of collisions with pedestrians, presenting a significant safety concern that could negate the benefits of exoskeletons. Rearview cameras and radar displays of nearby pedestrians could improve situation awareness for the exoskeleton user; however, these methods are not well-tested in settings where exoskeletons would be used. This study compared a rearview camera, a conventional radar, and a ring-shaped radar at display angles of 15°, 45°, and 90° using an augmented reality headset and simulated warehouse task to determine the combination of display type and angle that would maximize situation awareness and minimize collisions with pedestrians. The study revealed that all displays performed better than no display support and the latest evidence from this study and the literature suggests that a conventional overhead radar at 45° performed best.

Analysis of the field of view from commercial vehicles is very important issue. Because driver’s field of view is main part of active safety. When some traffic accident happens, it must be investigated. The question is, was the driver able to see that object? It’s very different and important if driver didn’t see that object or couldn’t see it. In the thesis are described norms which contains information about driver’s position on driving seat and position his eyes, information about differences between binocular and ambinocular field of view. In the thesis are regulations about rearview and rearview mirrors. The thesis contains elements of vehicle equipment for improvement field of view. The thesis is about possibilities, how measure the field of view from commercial vehicles. The thesis contains few methods for measurements driver’s field of view and theirs results. Objective of the thesis is to take experiences from measured tests and use them for invention and description own method of measuring driver’s field of view from commercial vehicles, which leads to improvement. Then use the method for measurements and comparations few commercial vehicles. Which are dimensionally more bigger and have bigger blind spots than personal vehicles.

The diploma thesis deals with the issue of controlling the situation behind the vehicle. The first part of the thesis summarizes the knowledge about drivers, their reaction time and vehicle response, the construction characteristics of vehicles designed to control what is happening behind the vehicle, and the possibilities of measuring the duration of glances in the form of eye tracking. The analytical part contains an analysis of the duration of glances in the rear view mirrors depending on the mirror, the situation and also the driving manoeuvre during the day time. The data was obtained from video recordings of 12 drivers in normal traffic conditions. The duration of the saccades and fixations of glances was evaluated depending on the mirror used, in individual situations and also for selected driving manoeuvres. The conclusion of the analytical part is devoted to the comparison of the duration of glances during selected driving manoeuvres when exposed to stimuli as well as to the comparison of the differences in individual age groups of tested drivers.

Dans « La littérature franco-ontarienne à la recherche d’une nouvelle voie : enjeux du particularisme et de l’universalisme » (2002), Lucie Hotte signale que les artistes francophones minoritaires, ayant longtemps puisé dans l’esthétique particulariste, optent maintenant pour une esthétique de l’univeralisme. Jane Moss confirme l’hypothèse de Hotte dans son article, « Francophone Theatre in Western Canada : Dramatic Tales of Disappearing Francophones » (2009). Moss observe qu’au sein du théâtre francophone dans l’Ouest canadien s’opère une transition quant à la représentation de l’identité francophone minoritaire vers un courant postmoderne où les dramaturges, mettant de côté les récits mémoriels nostalgiques, se penchent plutôt sur des thématiques plus universelles. Tout de même, le questionnement identitaire demeure latent à travers ces pièces. Par ailleurs, dans La distance habitée (2003) François Paré remarque que les énonciateurs minoritaires retiennent souvent une mémoire de migration et d’itinérance; que cette distance métaphorique les « habite »; et qu’ils se voient constamment forcés de négocier cette « distance » entre eux et la communauté majoritaire où ils vivent. Partant du constat du Moss, ce mémoire analyse l’énonciation de trois personnages/énonciateurs dans trois monologues fransaskois contemporains, soit Il était une fois Delmas, Sask... mais pas deux fois! d’André Roy, Elephant Wake de Joey Tremblay et Rearview de Gilles Poulin-Denis. Nous examinerons leur identité complexe, riche et problématique. Pour analyser l’énonciation de chacun des personnages, nous nous appuyons sur l’analyse de discours telle que développée par Dominique Maingueneau. Ce faisant, nous visons à combler une lacune importante dans la recherche sur le théâtre fransaskois.