Enhancing road safety of PLEVs by novel vehicle concepts: A comprehensive investigation on regulations, accident statistics, and perception of riders in Europe.

The rise of Personal Light Electric Vehicles (PLEVs), including electric bicycles and electric kick scooters, represents a relevant trend in current urban mobility. PLEVs offer economic, social, and environmental advantages, making them increasingly attractive for short-distance travel. Despite their benefits, concerns about the safety of PLEVs, particularly related to road accidents, have arisen due to their growing presence in urban areas.

Is All-on-four effective in case of partial mandibular resection? A 3D finite element study.

Introduction: The aim of the work is to analyze stress distribution on 3D Finite Element (FE) models at bone, implant, and framework level of different designs for fixed implant-supported prostheses in completely edentulous patients, comparing results on whole and partially resected mandibles.

Materials And Methods: 3D anisotropic FE models of a whole and of a partially resected mandible were created using a TC scan of a cadaver's totally edentulous mandible. Two types of totally implant-supported rehabilitation were simulated, with four implants: parallel fixtures on whole mandible and on resected mandible, All-on-four-configured fixtures on whole mandible and on partially resected mandible.

Non-contact ultrasonic inspection by Gas-Coupled Laser Acoustic Detection (GCLAD).

Gas-Coupled Laser Acoustic Detection (GCLAD) is an ultrasonic, non-contact detection technique that has been recently proven to be applicable to the inspection of mechanical components. GCLAD response raises as the intersection length between the probe laser beam and the acoustic wavefront propagating in the air increases; such feature differentiates the GCLAD device from other optical detection instruments, making it a line detection system rather than a point detector. During the inspection of structures mainly extending in two dimensions, the capability to evidence presence of defects in whichever point over a line would enable moving the emitter and the detector along a single direction: this translates in the possibility to decrease the overall required time for interrogation of components compared to point detectors, as well as generating simpler automated monitoring layouts.

Gas-Coupled Laser Acoustic Detection technique for NDT of mechanical components.

The use of non-contact ultrasonic detection techniques is essential to develop an apparatus capable of inspecting components in service, operating in adverse environmental conditions or whose surfaces are challenging to access. Among these techniques, Gas-Coupled Laser Acoustic Detection (GCLAD) is based on measuring the deviation that a laser beam sustains when intersecting an ultrasonic wavefront. The method has been recently developed, being hence unestablished in the non-destructive testing (NDT) field.

Injury risk assessment based on pre-crash variables: The role of closing velocity and impact eccentricity.

Thorough evaluations on injury risk (IR) are fundamental for guiding interventions toward the enhancement of both the road infrastructure and the active/passive safety of vehicles. Well-established estimates are currently based on IR functions modeled on post-crash variables, such as velocity change sustained by the vehicle (ΔV); thence, these analyses do not directly suggest how pre-crash conditions can be modified to allow for IR reduction. Nevertheless, ΔV can be disaggregated into two contributions which enable its apriori calculation, based only on the information available at the impact instant: the Crash Momentum Index (CMI), representing impact eccentricity at collision, and the closing velocity at collision (V).

Interference-based amplification for CW laser-induced photoacoustic signals.

Thanks to their low cost, compactness and suitability of use in industrial environments, CW lasers represent a viable alternative to more traditional pulsed lasers for non-contact inspection of structures, both under static and working conditions. However, the lower energy density typically reached by CW lasers requires adequate attention to obtain ultrasonic signals with sufficient amplitude. CW lasers can be modulated by TTL sequences with different duty cycles to constructively use the excitation of a double ultrasonic wave, occurring when the laser is both turned on and off.

Vehicle accident reconstruction by a reduced order impact model.

Road accident reconstruction by simulation represents an important step to determine what happened, as well as responsibilities of subjects involved in the event. To allow the reconstruction, a large variety of well-established simulative approaches are available on the market, e.g.

Coherence assessment of accident database kinematic data.

The analysis and research of accidents aimed at improving the safety of vehicles and infrastructures are typically based on the retrospective investigation of data that are collected in in-depth accident databases. In particular, kinematic data related to accidents (impact velocity, velocity change of the vehicles, etc.) make possible the identification of correlations between impact severity and injury risk (IR), as well as assessing the effectiveness of vehicle protection systems.