bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Fatal Skiing Accidents in Austria—Epidemiology and Analysis
Authors: Berghold F 
Published: December 2008

This study analyzes the circumstances and influences that led to fatal skiing incidents in Austria between 1983 and 1986 (268 cases). Seventy-four skiers died by injuries during on-piste skiing, 17 died during off-piste skiing, and 99 died in avalanches. So called nontraumatic fatalities, mostly cardiac arrests, have been reported in 51 cases on piste, 11 cases off piste, and 34 during cross-country skiing.
The results show that more than two thirds of all deaths caused by injuries in on-piste skiing do not actually occur on the piste itself, but suddenly after the marked paths have been left. About half of all the fatal collisions occur by crashing into trees; fatal collisions between two skiers are very rare. Fatal accidents off piste are caused by falls over rocky areas and by avalanches. Although off-piste skiers starting from cable-car stations definitely outweigh the number of ski mountaineers, mountaineers suffer avalanche deaths much more frequently than the others. Contrary to common belief, incidents caused by cardiac arrest are extremely rare for both alpine and cross-country skiing.
These results may be useful in developing detailed safety precautions for skiers.
Eyewear-Related Eye Injuries in Snow Skiing
Authors: Piziali RL 
Published: December 2008

Eye injuries have historically represented a small percentage of skiing injuries. With the passage of ASTM Specification for Eye Protective Devices (F 659) in 1980 it was anticipated that broken glass-related injuries would decrease. This paper examines the history of eyewear-related eye injuries in skiing by pursuing several approaches: (1) a review of the literature, (2) a review of the injuries reported to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, (3) a review of the National Ski Areas Association/ASTM 3-year study, (4) a review of the 11-year Sugarbush North study, and (5) a telephone survey of 29 ski area medical facilities and nearby hospitals.
The following observations are made: (1) eye injuries in skiing where eyewear is mentioned are generally minor and infrequent, approximately 18 per year in the United States and (2) injuries as a result of broken lens glass are extremely rare and appear to be almost nonexistent since the passage of the eyewear standards.
Elevated Racer Binding Settings and Inadvertent Releases
Authors: Young LR 
Published: December 2008

Alpine ski racers generally set their ski bindings higher than binding manufacturers and ASTM/IAS (International Association for Safety and Skiing) recommendations for expert skiers. Racer binding settings among two groups of recreational racers were investigated and correlated with incidences of inadvertent binding releases during racing. Preliminary findings confirmed higher settings among both 13-year-old children racers (median 1 scale indicator above S recommendation) and among adult Masters recreational skiers (median 2 scale settings above recommendation for the toe and 2.5 above recommendation for the heel).
Reliable reports of inadvertent release incidents during races were investigated. In addition to the lateral release at the toe, which constituted almost all slalom inadvertent releases, associated with rapid onset of torque at a gate, the common giant slalom inadvertent heel release was documented. This latter event can occur when the ski is pressed down into a trough well below a giant slalom gate, with skier weight far forward and deceleration of the weighted ski, and is not prevented by high heel release settings. This common heel “prerelease” corresponds to the new inadvertent heel release mechanism (“Brown's Bow”) identified by Brown and Ettlinger (ASTM STP 860, 1985, pp. 224–237). A related heel inadvertent release upon sudden unweighting is also suspected.
Ratios of Ideals—A New Twist to an Old Idea
Authors: Cooper HR , Earle MD , Triggs CM 
Published: December 2008

Consumer estimations of “ideal” product attributes have been used for many years to guide product development. Massey University work has studied consumer ideals calculated as absolute, interval and ratio scores. Ideal absolute and ideal interval scores, because of context effects, have proved of limited value in long-term projects. Ideal ratio scores indicating percentage change needed to make an attribute “ideal” have proved more useful.
Both “fixed” and “floating” ideals are useful in product development; “floating” ideals in the early stages of product concept development and the later stages of product testing; “fixed” ideals in the laboratory development of the product. Multivariate analysis of data containing ideals is useful in understanding the “ideal” in terms of other products and their attributes. Ideal ratio scores are needed to give specific information to guide product development. It is recommended that both ideal ratio scores and multivariate analysis of data be used.
A Simplified System for Doing ICP Analysis on Radioactive Samples
Authors: McCown JJ 
Published: December 2008

A sequential inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) was procured in 1983 for use on solutions from leach tests of fully loaded spent fuel and glass. The instrument was set up by Westinghouse Hanford Co. in a 3 by 6-m (10 by 20-ft) laboratory room in a radiochemistry building at the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory.
The installation was designed to be as simple as possible, making full use of the building's exhaust and filtration capabilities. Previous experience in using a standard flame photometer and an atomic absorption spectrometer had shown that total enclosure of the plasma section should not be required.
This rather simple installation has been used for over two years without contamination of the ICP-AES or the laboratory work areas. Details of the installation, operation, and types of materials analyzed are presented.
Adaptation of a Beckman Spectraspan VI Spectrometer to a Plutonium Glove Box
Authors: Lovell AP , Glenn GE , Marshall TK , Hahn TR 
Published: December 2008

The analytical chemistry group of the Los Alamos National Laboratory has modified a Spectraspan VI D-C plasma emission spectrometer for the analysis of nuclear material by adapting it to a plutonium glove box. The plasma source compartment of the spectrometer was enclosed in a specially designed glove box end plate on the end of a two-station containment box assembly.
Very little modification of the spectrometer was necessary to mount the torch on the glove box wall. A quartz window was inserted in the glove box wall to provide an optical interface between the spectrometer and the source. There was no further modification of the optical path. To maintain optimum instrument performance, the distance between the plasma and the entrance slit was designed to remain the same as it was originally.
The engineering changes to the jet assembly and glove box, the health and safety issues considered, and air flows through critical areas of the glove box are described.
Comparison of Two Falling Weight Deflectometer Devices, Dynatest 8000 and KUAB 2M-FWD
Authors: Crovetti JA , Shahin MY , Touma BE 
Published: December 2008

This paper presents the results of a detailed comparison conducted by the authors between two falling weight deflectometers, the Dynatest Model 8000 and the KUAB two-mass falling weight deflectometer (2M-FWD). The Dynatest Model FWD has been operating in the United States for several years. It is based upon the principal of dropping a mass on a single buffer system connected to a rigid plate resting on the pavement surface. The 2M-FWD is a newly improved version of the KUAB falling weight deflectometer which recently has been introduced into the United States. It is based upon the principal of dropping a mass on a double buffer system separated by a second mass which is connected to a segmented plate resting on the pavement surface. The addition of the second mass and buffer results in a consistent half sine curve shaped load pulse with a longer duration of loading. The two devices also differ in the type of sensor used to measure the surface deflection during loading. The Dynatest device uses geophones which measure deflection up to 2 mm, while the 2M-FWD uses LVDTs which are capable of measuring surface deflections up to 5 mm. Other hardware differences between the two devices also are discussed in the paper.
A testing program was initiated to obtain comparative deflection data from a variety of pavement types including flexible and rigid pavements over weak and strong foundations. In addition to the comparison of actual deflection data, layer moduli are computed and compared for each device. Cores from representative test locations were obtained to verify in-field pavement thicknesses.
USAF Wave Propagation NDT Method
Authors: Wang MC , Schauz W , Amend J , Greene JL 
Published: December 2008

This paper reviews U.S. Air Force efforts to find a nondestructive testing (NDT) method for evaluating airfield pavement load-carrying capabilities. The paper concentrates its discussion on the wave propagation nondestructive testing method for evaluation of airfield pavements. The method was used by the Air Force from 1983 to 1985. The information given for the wave propagation method includes the theoretical background, test equipment and procedures, methods of test data analysis, and pavement analysis procedures. Also presented are: comparisons of results between the wave propagation NDT and destructive evaluation methods; reasons for the Air Force moving away from the wave propagation method; ongoing research; and possible future use of the wave propagation method.
The wave propagation method used by the Air Force was composed of: a hardware for field testing, data reduction, and analysis; and software for evaluation of allowable gross loads (AGL) through a computer analysis. The test equipment was composed of an impact loader and a data acquisition system, both housed in a self-propelled van.
The impact loader could be operated both by program control and manually. The pavement response to the impact loading was monitored with accelerometers which were mounted on the pavement surface at various distances from the loading plate. A computer was used to perform fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the test data. From the results of the FFT analysis, graphs relating phase angle with frequency, and wave velocity with wave length (dispersion curves), were obtained. From these graphs, appropriate wave velocity values were selected for determination of the elastic modulus of each pavement constituent layer. These elastic modulus values were then used to analyze the critical pavement response to a desired aircraft loading by means of a computer program named AIRPAVE. Based on these critical response data, together with the evaluation criteria, the number of aircraft operations that could be supported by the pavement were determined.
Using the wave propagation NDT method, a number of airfield pavements were evaluated between 1983 and 1985. Results of the NDT evaluations were compared and correlated with the results of destructive testing methods. A good correlation, with a small percent of difference in AGLs between the two methods, was shown. However, because of a number of advantages associated with the falling weight deflectometer (FWD) over the wave propagation method, the Air Force has adopted the FWD as its primary evaluation method.
Back-Analyzed Elastic Stiffnesses: Comparison Between Different Evaluation Procedures
Authors: Tam WS , Brown SF 
Published: December 2008

The PADAL computer program was developed to back-analyze deflection bowls from pavement testing with the falling weight deflectometer. A validation exercise was carried out to check the prediction accuracy of the PADAL computer program in practical applications. The study compared laboratory elastic stiffnesses with the back-analyzed values from PADAL and showed that the best correlation was found for the asphaltic material, with an accuracy of around 20% above measured values. The correlation for granular subbases and clay subgrades was less good. Previous studies comparing in situ stresses and strains confirmed that the nonlinear elastic characterization in the subgrade layer gave significant improvement in the accuracy of prediction compared with a linear representation.
Comparison of dynamic analysis taking account of inertia effects with the static PADAL analysis showed the latter to be quite adequate for use with the falling weight deflectometer.
A simplified back-analysis procedure using the ELMOD computer program was extensively evaluated. It was concluded that this program is best used in predicting stiffnesses of two layered structures consisting of bound asphaltic material overlying the subgrade. In cases of three-layered structures, the prediction of stiffnesses for granular layers was found to be unrealistically large.
A Data Base Method for Backcalculation of Composite Pavement Layer Moduli
Authors: Anderson M 
Published: December 2008

A program called COMDEF has been written for use in nondestructive evaluation of composite pavements. The program uses a new data base technique to speed program execution. COMDEF, like most backcalculation algorithms, compares measured deflections with theoretical solutions. However, the COMDEF approach applies interpolating functions to a data base of precalculated solutions, so that the comparison basins are calculated quickly with reasonable accuracy. A description and flowchart of the method used by COMDEF is included.
This paper discusses the role of nondestructive testing in pavement evaluation and the particular problems in evaluating composite pavements. Lack of knowledge about the degree of cracking in the rigid layer is a major problem, and backcalculated modulus is presented as a way to assess the degree of cracking in the rigid layer. The use of a representative basin is discussed, and data are presented which indicate that this approach should not be used for composite pavements. A sensitivity study is presented which includes solutions using COMDEF and a general purpose backcalculation program. COMDEF consistently outperformed the general purpose program in both speed and accuracy. Laboratory modulus tests were performed on samples taken from three verification sites. Agreement between laboratory modulus tests on field samples and backcalculated moduli from COMDEF was excellent.
General Procedure for Backcalculating Layer Moduli
Authors: Uzan J , Lytton RL , Germann FP 
Published: December 2008

An efficient microcomputer program for backcalculating moduli from nondestructive testing results is described. Its use is illustrated by analyzing a typical section where several deflection bowls were measured at the same location.
Sources of errors in the testing and backcalculating are presented and discussed. The error source is taken into consideration in the formulation of the objective function, the relative squared error between measured and computed deflections.
The Hooke-Jeeves' pattern search algorithm was selected for minimizing the objective function. The direct computation of the deflection at each move of the pattern search was replaced by the three-point Lagrange interpolation, using a data base generated ahead of time. The pattern search and interpolation were included in a microcomputer program named MODULUS, capable of performing and backcalculation in 1 to 2 min per deflection bowl. It is highly efficient where several deflection bowls are measured along the pavement section or at the same location.
The analysis of the typical section shows clearly that the measurement errors can be quite large. Averaging deflection measurements at each sensor cancels out some of the random errors and generally leads to acceptable values of the backcalculated moduli. The program MODULUS is especially suited toward these cases where multiple deflection basins are available for the same pavement geometry.
In Situ Material Properties from Dynamic Deflection Equipment
Authors: Uddin W , McCullough BF 
Published: December 2008

Dynamic deflection equipment presents a very practical and cost-effective approach for nondestructive testing and evaluation of pavement-subgrade systems. The in situ Young's moduli are calculated by the inverse application of layered elastic theory to the measured dynamic deflection data. This paper discusses some of the fallacies associated with this iterative approach. The calculated moduli are user dependent and nonunique if the user inputs the initial set of moduli to start iteratives. A proven methodology to ensure uniqueness of the moduli is the generation of seed moduli as the function of measured deflections and radial distances of the sensors. The FPEDD1 (for pavements with asphalt concrete surfacings) and RPEDD1 (for rigid pavements) computer programs incorporate this methodology. The predictive equations used to generate seed moduli are based on numerous layered theory solutions and are therefore applicable to any region and soil condition.
This paper describes the approaches used in these programs to estimate nonlinear moduli for granular layers and subgrade soil, and considers rock layers. Examples are presented for in situ material properties from dynamic deflection data measured on a variety of pavementsubgrade systems. It is shown that an appropriate analysis technique yields comparable pavement moduli from the dynamic deflection data measured by vibratory or impulse loading equipment.
A Mechanistic Method for Evaluation of Layer Moduli and Overlay Design
Authors: Khosla NP , Ali NA 
Published: December 2008

Nondestructive testing (NDT) has long been used to evaluate flexible pavement structures. The increasing popularity of nondestructive pavement evaluation methods, based on interpretation of surface deflection, has promoted the development of several types of NDT devices. One such device is the falling weight deflectometer (FWD), which is used for the purpose of pavement evaluation in North Carolina. This paper presents a methodology for the testing, evaluation, and determination of overlay thickness required for a given pavement section and subgrade condition. The overlay design procedure presented makes use of some of the recent developments for analysis and design of asphaltic concrete overlays. The evaluation of in-service pavements includes the use of the deflection parameters developed by testing of the existing pavements with known geometry for determining the moduli of various pavement layers and the required overlay thickness. The method utilizes empirical values and the VESYS structural subsystem as an integral approach complementary to each other.
Six pavement sections across the state of North Carolina were selected for deflection testing. Deflection parameters were developed to characterize the deflection data from these pavement sections. In addition, the VESYS structural system was used to develop nomographs for the interpretation of the measured deflection basin parameters. These nomographs were used to backcalculate layer moduli from deflection parameters and known layer thicknesses using iterative solutions. The backcalculated layer moduli from these nomographs correspond to the climate conditions that happen to exist during the time of testing and must therefore be adjusted to other climatic conditions. A procedure for such an adjustment is also included in the design procedure.
The Use of Falling Weight Deflectometer Data in Monitoring Flexible Pavement Systems
Authors: Newcomb DE , Lee SW , Mahoney JP , Jackson NC 
Published: December 2008

Pavement performance studies are being conducted in the states of Nevada and Washington for the purpose of developing mechanistically based pavement design procedures for highways. A critical element of each of these studies is the statewide characterization of the pavement materials. The materials characterization process has included laboratory and field testing for 16 sites in Washington and 27 sites in Nevada.
This paper presents the general approach used by these states in the development of mechanistic design methods and how resilient moduli inferred from falling weight deflectometer (FWD) data have been used in the process. The FWD has been used to monitor the variability of roadway materials and to ascertain the seasonal changes in material properties. Comparisons of laboratory-determined and field-estimated resilient moduli are discussed. It was found that there is generally excellent agreement between the laboratory and field results on subgrade modulus. The accuracy of granular base course modulus estimates primarily depends upon the thickness of the base course and the thickness of the asphalt concrete surface. Backcalculated asphalt concrete modulus values can differ significantly from laboratory values. However, if care is taken to account for the effects of temperature and rate of loading, the agreement for uncracked asphalt concrete can be good.
One of the important assets of the FWD is that it allows the evaluation of in-place materials variations. Thus, it is possible to realistically sample and test materials for design purposes. This, in turn, means that material properties can be treated more realistically than they have been in the past.
In the development of a mechanistically based pavement design procedure, it is necessary to account for seasonal variations in material properties. The FWD can be used for the purpose of monitoring how materials change with the environment. This information can be used to develop algorithms which describe these changes. Washington State has accumulated over two years of data regarding seasonal changes, and Nevada has just begun to gather these data.
This paper presents the approaches used by these two states in the development of pavement design procedures. It is hoped that the information contained herein will be of use to others considering similar efforts.