Three experiments to support the design of lightweight comfortable vehicle seats.

Seats need to be more lightweight for airplanes, cars, busses and even trains to contribute to a better environment and to reduce energy consumption. However, a reduction in comfort due to weight reduction is not preferable, which opens a new area of research: improving comfort with a minimum of material or with lightweight materials and systems. In this paper three experiments are performed to test the effects of light weight seats and parts of a seat on comfort.

Comfort effects of a new car headrest with neck support.

This paper describes the design of a neck-/headrest to increase car comfort. Two studies were undertaken to create a new comfortable headrest with neck support. In experiment one, neck- and headrest data were gathered using 35 test subjects.

Technical note: spine loading in automotive seating.

For car manufacturers, seat comfort is becoming more important in distinguishing themselves from their competitors. Therefore, many studies on participative seat comfort are carried out. In this paper, an objective assessment approach is reported which evaluates the concept of "optimal load distribution", based on the identification of a close relationship between the pressure on the seat and the discomfort felt by the person sitting.

The effect of a lightweight massage system in a car seat on comfort and electromyogram.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of a lightweight low-intensity massage system (LWMAS) in a car seat on the electromyogram (EMG) of the neck and shoulder muscles and on the comfort experience during driving.

Methods: Two experiments were performed during driving with and without the active LWMAS in the seat. Subjective measurements were taken, in which the comfort experience was recorded for 20 participants driving a prescribed path around Munich for 120 minutes.

Syntheses of polymeric vesicles containing partial structures of N-acetyl-muramyl-dipeptide (MDP).

The syntheses of 11-methacroylaminoundecanoyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine (3) and 2-[2-(11-methacroylaminoundecanoyl)aminoethoxy]propanoyl-L- alanyl-D-isoglutamine (13) are described. Each of these monomers has been copolymerized with 11-methacroyloxyundecyltrimethylammonium bromide (16), yielding polymeric vesicles that contain partial structures of N-acetyl muramyl dipeptide (MDP). All products have been characterized by 1H- and 13C-NMR spectroscopy and the polymeric vesicles have been studied by electron microscopy.