EFFECT OF SEATING ON EXPOSURES TO WHOLE-BODY VIBRATION IN VEHICLES

The vibration isolation efficiency of seating has been evaluated in 100 work vehicles in 14 categories (cars, vans, lift trucks, lorries, tractors, buses, dumpers, excavators, helicopters, armoured vehicles, mobile cranes, grass rollers, mowers and milk floats). Seat isolation efficiency, expressed by the SEAT value, was determined for all seats (67 conventional seats and 33 suspension seats) from the vertical acceleration measured on the floors and on the seats of the vehicles.For most categories of vehicle, the average SEAT value was less than 100%, indicating that the average seat provided some attenuation of vibration. However, there were large variations in SEAT values between vehicles within categories. Two alternative vibration frequency weightings (W_b from BS 6841, 1987; W_k from ISO 2631, 1997) yielded SEAT values that differed by less than 6%. Overall, the SEAT values determined by two alternative methods (the ratio of r.m.s. values and the ratio of vibration dose values) differed by less than 4·5% when using weighting W_b, although larger differences may be expected in some situations. The median SEAT value for the suspension seats was 84·6%; the median SEAT value for the conventional seats was 86·9% (based on weighting W_b and the ratio of r.m.s. values).Predicted SEAT values were obtained assuming that each seat could be interchanged between vehicles without altering its transmissibility. The calculations suggest that 94% of the vehicles investigated might benefit from changing the current seat to a seat from one of the other vehicles investigated. Although the predictions are based on assumptions that will not always apply, it is concluded that the severity of whole-body vibration exposures in many work environments can be lessened by improvements to seating dynamics.     

Swelling of cross-linked polyelectrolyte gels

The European Physical Journal E - A model of a cross-linked polyelectrolyte gel has been examined using Monte Carlo simulations. The simple model contained a charged defect-free network represented...     

Polarization experiments with the SPIN setup at the ITEP synchrotron

New experimental data on the spin-rotation parameters A and R measured for elastic π ^± p scattering in the resonance region and on the asymmetry in pC scattering at primary momenta in the range 1.35–2.02 GeV/c, as well as in quasielastic proton scattering on nuclei in the same momentum range, are summarized. All these data were recently obtained by using the proton synchrotron installed at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP, Moscow). The spectrum and features of seven isospin-3/2 baryon resonances that form a peak in the total cross section at a c.m. energy of 1.9 GeV are analyzed on the basis of new data on the parameters A and R, and the results of this analysis are presented. The experiments surveyed in this article were performed by a collaboration of researchers from ITEP and the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI, Gatchina), the ITEP-PNPI collaboration.     

Elastic and Thermophysical Properties of Poly(Vinyl Chloride) and Chlorinated Polyethylene Blends

The results of experimental and theoretical investigations of elastic and thermophysical properties of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) blends are presented. Eight types of specimens with different ratios of weight contents of PVC and CPE (PVC/CPE = 100/0, 90/10, 80/20, 60/40, 40/60, 20/80, 10/90, and 0/100) were tested. The effect of blend composition on the elastic constants (tensile and shear modulus) is discussed. The data on the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and heat capacity of the blends investigated are also presented.     

Symmetric normal wave spectrum in an orthotropic layer

A solution is constructed for an orthotropic layer with free plane faces, that corresponds to the plane elastic waves symmetric over the thickness. The dynamical reconstruction of the normal wave spectrum during rotation of the wave vector from one to another elastically equivalent direction is investigated on the basis of a numerical analysis of the dispersion equation.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Prikladnaya Mekhanika, No. 19, pp. 116–121, 1988.     

An Alternative Approach to Obtain the Exact Wave Functions of Time-Dependent Hamiltonian Systems Involving Quadratic, Inverse Quadratic, and (1/x)p+p(1/x) Terms

By using the Lewis-Riesenfeld theory and algebraic method, we present an alternative approach to obtain the exact solution of time-dependent Hamiltonian systems involving quadratic, inverse quadratic and (1/x)p+p(1/x) terms. This solution is discussed and compared with that obtained by Choi, J. R. (2003). International Journal of Theoretical Physics 42, 853]. PACS: 03.65Ge; 03.65Fd; 03.65Bz     

Correlation corrections based on the Schrödinger equation with a local potential

A compromise version of calculation of the ground state electronic energy is proposed that combines both the density functional theory and the wave function formalism. Single-particle orbitals and energies are determined by solving the Kohn-Sham equations with a local effective potential, which depends on the parameters determined by the variational principle. Correlation corrections are calculated using the Rayleigh-Schrödinger perturbation theory in the zero-order approximation of the Möller-Plesset theory. The specific features of the expressions for the corrections to the wave function and the energy determined in terms of the Kohn-Sham orbitals are considered. This approach, in contrast to the well-known optimized effective potential method, can be applied with equal computational expenditures to both atoms and molecules. A comparative analysis for 20 helium-like atoms showed that the scheme proposed provides better agreement with the “exact” values of the energy in the second order of the perturbation theory in comparison with the results obtained using the conventional exchange-correlation potentials BLYP and PW91. A similar trend is also observed for diatomic hydrides (from LiH to FH), although, in contrast to the atoms, the deviations from the experimental estimates of the energy are less systematic.     

RNA self-splicing and energy localization

We establish a mechanism for energy localization in regions of the sugar-phosphate RNA backbone which leads to the formation of transesterification or hydrolysis hot spots. In particular, our results account for the site specificity of the covalent cyclization and cycle reopening in the catalytic intervening sequence (IVS) of a ribosomal RNA.     

Spectral hole burning of photosynthetic antenna of blue-green algae

Photosystem II core antenna of blue-green algae Synechococcus isolated in gel was studied by optical hole burning spectroscopy at 4·2 K. Persistent holes were burned into fluorescence spectra throughout the region 680–696 nm. The hole width extrapolated to zero burning fluence yielded a value 1·0±0·2 cm^–1. A theoretical interpretation of the hole profile in fluorescence is presented. The dependence of saturated hole depth on burning wavelength is related to inhomogeneous site distribution function.Authors would like to thank F. Vácha from the Dept. of Biochemistry, Faculty of Nature Sciences, Charles University, for the preparation of the samples.