Background: Fatigue can affect the behavior of drivers. While the driver must be able to respond and cope appropriately to the critical situations, which is known as the ability to cope with a crisis. It is likely that the fatigue can change the people's coping style and thereby increase the chance of the crashes. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of fatigue on the coping behavior of international truck drivers. Methods: This study was conducted on 239 of international truck drivers employed in Iran. The Endler and Parker coping strategies questionnaire (CISS) and Persian version of the Fatigue Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) were used to evaluate the coping styles of the drivers and the drivers' fatigue, respectively. Results: The mean values of the total fatigue before and after traveling were 36.77 and 76.13, respectively. The mean values of coping styles of the problem-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance before traveling were 53.66, 40.91, and 38.17, respectively, and those after traveling were 45.59, 51.18, and 36.45, respectively. The chisquare test demonstrated that there was a significant difference in the coping style of drivers before and after the trip (P < 0.001), and the percent of individuals with emotion-oriented increased. Conclusions: In general, the results showed that fatigue due to traveling could change the coping styles of subjects from problem-oriented to emotion-oriented and avoidance. This can increase the statistics of driving accidents.

BackgroundNoise pollution is one of the most important occupational pollutants in heavy-vehicle drivers. Therefore, this epidemiological research was conducted with the aim of determining the prevalence of hearing loss in heavy-vehicle drivers in Iran.MethodsThis cross-sectional research was conducted on 65,533 heavy-vehicle drivers including truck and intercity bus drivers from February 2006 to March 2016. The air and bone threshold of pure tone was measured for each ear at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 kHz by a skillful radiology expert. The obtained data from this research was analyzed in SPSS software using statistical tests such as descriptive analysis and paired t test.ResultsMean (standard deviation) of hearing loss in left and right ears of all people was 23.02 (8.25) and 22.48 (7.86), respectively. Paired t test showed that hearing loss difference in left and right ears was significant (P < 0.001). Mean and standard deviation of paired t test showed that hearing loss difference in left and right ears was significant in all frequencies except 1000 Hz (P < 0.001).ConclusionThe findings of this research generally showed that 26.8% of the studied drivers have hearing loss. Hearing loss in the left ear was more than right ear.

Background:This study aimed to assess driving behavior of Iranian drivers based on their coping styles (problem-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoiding).Methods:This study was conducted on 610 drivers divided into four different groups. The drivers’ behaviors and coping styles were evaluated using driver behavior questionnaire (DBQ) and coping inventory for stressful situations.Results:The results showed a significant difference among the three coping styles regarding the mean scores of DBQ dimensions (P < 0.001). In addition, the emotion-oriented drivers obtained higher mean scores compared to those with other coping styles.Conclusions:It can be concluded that emotion-oriented drivers were more susceptible to crashes compared to those with problem-solving and avoidance coping styles.

It is a well-observed phenomenon in developed societies that, in order to return to nature, a part of the society seeks to settle near forests or in the forest creating wildland – urban interface (WUI) areas. It has special features and generates significant risk of fire on the experts try to find responds. In the present study, the authors intend to explore the theoretical foundations of the application of the sprinkler system in forest protecting built environment from fires. Understanding and finding basic rules for the effective sprinkler system application can contribute to reduce the impacts caused by fire. Authors found geometry of circle overlapping generates always problems regarding the effectiveness of sprinkler systems. 50% overlapping in longitudinal axis seems to be acceptable solution. In this case overlapping rate is 78% per circle with 1.6 kg.m-2 water coverage levels and 22% of the circles have 0.8 kg.m-2 water coverage level. Sequentially used system seems good solution for replacing the evaporated water, where 75% of the coverage level is accepted as lowest threshold of the effective rate. As an example, 300 m long protection zone requires 120 sprinkler heads. Building up this zone it requires 1,920 kg of water for wetting up, and then keeping it in service, it requires 7,200 kg.h-1 water. 39% of the service water is lost because it is above the upper limit of effectiveness.

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