Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Driving pleasure


Driving pleasure is a feeling of enjoyment derived from operating a motor vehicle. Factors known to contribute to driving pleasure include responsiveness of the vehicle to driver manipulation of the controls, which means that the vehicle obeys and executes driver's commands faithfully.

In the vehicle development process, driving pleasure is "the driver's feel for vehicle manipulation under various road conditions.” When designing a car, features that increase driving pleasure and safety may work in opposition, forcing engineers to make choices between the two or find a new solution that accomplishes both.

Forces are due to acceleration, linear and angular. Longitudinal forces are due to acceleration and deceleration, and lateral forces occur while turning act on the driver. These forces can not be easily simulated anywhere other than a vehicle. Lateral force is available only in a four wheeled vehicle, and can be up to 5g in F1 racing. In motorcycles lateral force on the driver is zero even when cornering, due to leaning the bike into a corner to nullify lateral force.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Back Seat Driver

A back seat driver is a passenger in a vehicle who is not in control of the vehicle and appears to be uncomfortable with the skills of the current driver and/or feels the need to tutor said driver.

Some backseat drivers exhibit this type of behavior simply because they feel unsafe or out of control since they are not driving the vehicle and therefore are nervous and jumpy and overly anxious to give suggestions and criticisms regarding the current driver's actions. The Maine Department of Transportation has a web poster "Are you a Good Back Seat Driver?" asking "True or False: Being a Backseat Driver means it is okay to be noisy or distracting to the driver as long as you are giving them safety tips." The Inland Register produced by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane makes use of it in a sermon: "Even our phrase “back-seat driver” reflects this new-found freedom. Which of us who has graduated to the status of driver enjoys a passenger, especially one out of reach in the back seat, which seems to know how to drive better than we do?

A famous example of a back seat driver is Hyacinth Bucket on the British sitcom keeping up Appearances. The term is also used in Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars, an episode of Invader Zim A poem "The Backseat Driver" by Parick G Hughes appears in the Northern Ireland BBC Writer's Showcase.

It is even used as a deliberate game. In All things Considered on NPR for July 19, 2006, there is an account of a "Back Seat Driver competition in Forest City, Iowa. ... The event -- in which a driver races backward while blindfolded and instructed by the voice of a companion over an intercom -- is in its eighth year." It has even been noticed by People's Daily.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Aggressive Driving

Aggressive driving is a form of automobile operation in which an operator will deliberately behave with contempt towards other drivers and drive in such a manner as to increase the risk of an automobile accident.

Unlike drunk driving, aggressive driving is not usually the result of a drug or chemical, but rather the personality of the person operating the automobile. An aggressive driver may adopt a "King of the Road" attitude and become offended when other drivers engage in such activities as passing or "cutting off" the driver. The aggressive driver will then take the actions of the other driver personally, and seek to retaliate. This normally leads to unsafe driving acts such as reckless speeding or attempting to run someone off a highway.

Aggressive driving can also lead to much more serious crimes, such as manslaughter or murder. An aggressive driver may drive so recklessly as to injure or kill another driver or, in extreme cases, will "hunt another driver down" and then deliberately attempt to harm the person. This is often known as "road rage".

Aggressive driving may, in rare cases, be caused by mental illness. Persons with mental diseases, who are driving, may become confused about where they are and who the drivers around them are. This could lead to fear, panic or other emotions causing the person to start driving aggressively.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Automotive vehicle design

Automotive design is the profession involved in the development of the appearance, and to some extent the ergonomics, of motor vehicles or more specifically road vehicles. This most commonly refers to automobiles but also refers to motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans. The functional design and development of a modern motor vehicle is typically done by a large team from many different disciplines included in automotive engineers.

Automotive design in this context is primarily concerned with developing the visual appearance or aesthetics of the vehicle, though it is also involved in the creation of the product concept. Automotive design is practiced by designers who usually have an art background and a degree in industrial design or transportation design.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Delivery of power to the wheels and brakes

The coefficient of friction of rubber on the road limits the magnitude of the vector sum of the transverse and longitudinal force. So the driven wheels or those supplying the most braking tend to slip sideways. This phenomenon is often explained by use of the circle of forces model.

One reason that sports cars are usually rear wheel drive is that power induced oversteer is useful, to a skilled driver, for tight curves. The weight transfer under acceleration has the opposite effect and either may dominate, depending on the conditions. Inducing understeer by applying power in a front wheel drive car is useful via proper use of "Left-foot braking." In any case, this is not an important safety issue, because power is not normally used in emergency situations. Using low gears down steep hills may cause some oversteer.

The effect of braking on handling is complicated by load transfer, which is proportional to the (negative) acceleration times the ratio of the center of gravity height to the wheelbase. The difficulty is that the acceleration at the limit of adhesion depends on the road surface, so with the same ratio of front to back braking force, a car will understeer under braking on slick surfaces and oversteer under hard braking on solid surfaces. Most modern cars combat this by varying the distribution of braking in some way. This is important with a high center of gravity, but it is also done on low center of gravity cars, from which a higher level of performance is expected.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Development of the pallet

The pallet was developed in stages. Spacers were used between loads to allow fork entry, progressing to the placement of boards atop stringers to make skids. Eventually boards were fastened to the bottom to create the pallet. The addition of bottom boards on the skid, which appeared by 1925, resulted in the modern form of the pallet. With the bottom deck, several problems common to the single faced skid were addressed. For example, the bottom boards provided better weight distribution and reduced product damage; they also provided better stacking strength and rigidity. Lift truck manufacturers promoted the idea of using more vertical area of a plant for stock storage.

In size, skids started narrow in order to pass through ordinary doors. As facilities were rebuilt, many organizations optimized their buildings for larger pallets in order to reduce labor costs.

The earliest referenced U.S. patent on a skid is Hallowell's 1924 "Lift Truck Platform."[1] In 1939, Carl Clark patented a recognizably modern pallet, although with steel stringers.In World War II, palleted material handling was rapidly perfected in order to transfer Allied war materials. The patent activity picked up again after the war, as inventors claimed items they improvised for the war effort. The first four direction pallet was claimed in 1945 by Robert Braun.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Driving laws

Vehicle inspection:
Vehicle inspection is a procedure mandated by national or subnational governments in many countries, in which a vehicle is inspected to ensure that it conforms to regulations governing safety, emissions, or both. Inspection can be required at various times, e.g., periodically or on transfer of title to a vehicle. If required periodically, it is often termed periodic motor vehicle inspection; typical intervals are every two years and every year.

In some jurisdictions, proof of inspection is required before a vehicle licence or license plate can be issued or renewed. In others, once a vehicle passes inspection, a decal is attached to the windshield, and police can enforce the inspection law by seeing whether the vehicle displays an up-to-date decal. In the case of a vehicle lacking a windshield (e.g., a trailer or motorcycle), the decal is typically attached to the vehicle body.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Driving as a mental skill

Driver error is an important factor in driving accident, a primary factor in the deaths of over a million populace every year. Avoiding such error involves more than just next the rules of the road factually; defensive driving also involves the farming of good habits, maintaining notice and a thoughtful, cooperative approach.

Avoiding or successfully handling a crisis driving situation can involve the next skills:

* Making good decisions based on factors such as road and traffic circumstances

* Evasive choreography

* Proper hand placement and seating place

* Skid manage

* Steering and braking technique

* Understanding motor vehicle dynamics

Distractions can cooperation a driver's mental skills. One study on the topic of mobile phones and driving safety finished that, after controlling for driving complexity and time on task, drivers talking on a phone exhibit greater impairment than drivers who were pain from alcohol intoxication.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Driving as a physical skill

In terms of the basic physical tasks necessary, a driver must be able to control course, acceleration, and deceleration. For motor vehicles, the full tasks include:

* Starting the vehicle's engine with the initial system

* Setting the transmission to the accurate gear

* Depressing the pedals with one's feet to go faster, slow, and stop the vehicle, and if the vehicle is equipped with a manual transmission, to adapt the clutch

* Steering the vehicle's track with the steering wheel

* Operating other significant auxiliary devices such as the indicators, headlights, and windshield wipers

Monday, September 22, 2008

Driveability

Driveability of a vehicle means the smooth release of power, as demand by the driver. Typical causes of driveability poverty are rough idling, misfiring, surging, indecision, or insufficient power .

Driving skills

Driving in traffic is more than just meaningful how to operate the mechanism which control the vehicle; it requires meaningful how to apply the rules of the road. An effectual driver also has an intuitive understanding of the essentials of vehicle handling.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Driving

Driving is the controlled process of a land vehicle, usually a motor vehicle such as a truck or a car. Although direct procedure of a bicycle, a mount animal or a motorcycle is normally called riding, such operator are usually legally measured to be drivers and are mandatory to obey those rules of the road which relate to all drivers.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Daily Steps to Health

Don't Smoke: If you do smoke, talk to your doctor about quit. Your doctor or nurse can aid you. And, you can also help manually. For instructions on how to quit, go to: You Can Quit Smoking Now. http://www.smokefree.gov. To talk to someone regarding how to quit, call the National Quitline: 1-800-QUITNOW. For more quit-smoking possessions, go to: http://www.healthfinder.gov/, and search for "smoking."

Be Physically Active: Walking smartly, mowing the lawn, dancing, swimming, and bicycling are just a few examples of moderate physical activity. If you are not previously physically active, start small and work up to 30 minutes or more of moderate physical action most days of the week.

Eat a Healthy Diet: Emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk goods; include lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts; and eat foods low in flooded fats, Trans fats, cholesterol, salt, and added sugars.

Stay at a Healthy Weight: Balance calories from foods and beverages with calories you burn off by your activities. To prevent gradual weight gain over time, make small decreases in food and beverage calories and increase physical activity.

Drink Alcohol Only in Moderation: If you drink alcohol, have no additional than two drinks a day.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Men, Women, and Heart Disease

Heart disease is the important cause of death in the United States for both men and women, according to the American Heart union. "But the normal heart is different in men and women," say Marianne J. Legato, M.D., a cardiologist and creator and director of Columbia University's Partnership for Gender-Specific Medicine. "Women's hearts beat faster, even all through sleep," she says. And women have dissimilar proteins in the heart cell.

"Some data suggest that the whole physiology of the coronary artery and what keeps them open and what cause them to go into spasm might be considerably different in men and women," says Legato, addition that some women have had heart attacks not including any of the fatty buildup of plaque seen in the coronary arteries in most public with heart attacks.

And the symptom of a heart attack may be dissimilar. "Twenty percent of women will not have the ‘typical symptoms' of chest pain burning down the left arm," says Legato, "but will instead explain nausea, profound sweating, and smallness of breath and pain in the higher abdomen."

Monday, August 11, 2008

Men's Health

While the life-expectancy gap stuck between men and women has decrease, it's no secret that men still need to pay more concentration to their bodies. Several stuff work against men. They tend to smoke and drink extra than women. They don't look for medical help as frequently as women. Some men identify themselves by their work, which can add to stress.

There are also health situation that only affect men, such as prostate cancer plus low testosterone. Many of the major healthiness risks that men face like colon cancer or heart disease - can be banned and treated with early analysis. Screening tests can locate diseases early, when they are easier to treat. It's vital to have usual checkups and screenings.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Animals

Animals are a main set of organisms, classified as the empire Metazoa. In general they are multi­cellular, receptive to their surroundings, and provide for by consuming other organisms or parts of them. Their body plan becomes fixed when they develop, generally early on in their growth as embryos, though some feel a process of metamorphosis later on.

The word "animal" comes from the Latin word animal, of which Metazoa is the plural, and is resulting from anima, sense vital breath or soul. In each day colloquial usage, the word regularly refers to non-human animals. The biological meaning of the word refers to all members of the empire Animalia. Therefore, as the word "animal" is used in a biological circumstance, humans are included.