The primary purposes of a vehicle driver's seat, is to allow them to complete the driving task comfortably and safely. Within each class of vehicle (e.g. passenger, commercial, industrial, agricultural), there is an expected driving position to which a vehicle cabin is designed. This paper reports a study that compares two driving positions, in relation to Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs), in terms of driver performance and driver discomfort. In the 'elevated' driving position, the seat is higher than usually used in road vehicles; this is compared to a standard driving position replicating the layout for a commercially available vehicle. It is shown that for a sample of 12 drivers, the elevated position did not, in general, show more discomfort than the standard position over a 60 minutes driving simulation, although discomfort increased with duration. There were no adverse effects shown for emergency stop reaction time or for driver headway for the elevated posture compared to the standard posture. The only body part that showed greater discomfort for the elevated posture compared to the standard posture was the right ankle. A second experiment confirmed that for 12 subjects, a higher pedal stiffness eliminated the ankle discomfort problem.

A key parameter in the calculation of accident dose-risks by the RADTRAN 4 code is the time assigned for evacuation of the affected area surrounding the accident. Currently, in the interest of assured conservatism, this time is set at 24 hrs. Casual anecdotal evidence has indicated that this value is overly conservative and results in assignment of overly conservative estimates of accident dose-risk. Therefore, a survey of recent truck accidents involving various hazardous materials which required evacuation of surrounding populations reported in various news media was undertaken. Accounts of pertinent scenarios were gleaned from databases citing newspapers and other periodicals, and the local authorities involved in each were contacted to get details of the evacuation including time required. This paper presents the data obtained in the study and the resultant mean evacuation time plus limits and factors influencing specific results together with conclusions regarding the appropriate value to be used in the RADTRAN 4 code.

Background: Hearing assistance dogs not only alert their hearing-impaired owners to environmental sounds but may also improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, audiologists rarely recommend this service, potentially due to a dearth of associated literature. This study explores the demographic and audiological characteristics, general health, socio-emotional functioning, and expectations of persons seeking a hearing dog. Material and methods:This prospective cohort study of 23 respondents from the 2019 Australian Lions hearing dog waitlist utilized a written survey method.Results: Respondents were predominately female (78%), financially stable (91%), had previous pet ownership experience (91%), a self-reported severe/profound sensorineural hearing loss (92%), and were regular hearing device users (87%). Respondents reported substantial social and emotional limitations. Overall, the health function of respondents was below that of the general population. Social function was also comparatively impaired. Most respondents strongly agreed that the hearing dog should be "a companion" and "a living thing to love. " Conclusions: Respondents were demographically varied but were regular hearing-device users, with significant social, emotional, and health limitations. In addition to being alerted to environmental sounds, respondents expected the hearing dog to serve a broad socio-emotional function.

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