scholarly journals Unique Methods of Visual Presentation With Respect to Accident Reconstruction

1986 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank H. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Aerial Photography ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Accident Reconstruction ◽  
Engineering Communication ◽  
Automobile Accident ◽  
Direct Form ◽  
Forensic Engineering

Obviously, communication is one of the most important aspects of forensic engineering. Communication is certainly important between both the engineer and the lawyer as well as the engineer and the jury. Of course, communication involves not only sending a message to someone but also making sure that the message is understood by the person receiving it. Speaking and sending letters are two methods of sending a message. However, perhaps a more direct form of communication is visual. The old adage 'a picture is worth a thousand words' has been proven many, many times. Therefore, this discussion deals with two very specific methods of achieving communication through visual presentation. First of all, understand that these two methods are directed primarily toward accident reconstruction. For purposes of illustration, an automobile accident will be used as an example; however, these methods can be applied to other types of accidents as well. The first method, one involving aerial photography, is currently under development. The other method, which is primarily graphic, is already developed and available through several graphic companies or individuals.

scholarly journals Forensic Engineering Analysis Of Pedestrian Vision Ambulation And Vigilance

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mervyn F. Strauss ◽  
Lee William E.
Keyword(s):  
Good Health ◽  
The Other ◽  
Accident Reconstruction ◽  
Engineering Analysis ◽  
Injured Person ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
Human Skills ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Good Vision

The Accident Reconstruction Engineer Is Frequently Called Upon To Analyze And Provide An Opinion On The Probable Cause Of Same Level Trips And Falls. The Incident Usually Involves A Raised Object Or Stub Toe In All Types Of Environments, Both Indoors And Outdoors. The Person May Be Walking Or Even Running Along, Going About Their Own Business, When They Trip And Fall Over Some Type Of Object Raised Above A Walking Surface. The Individual Many Times Is In Good Health, Without Any Apparent Impediment To Their Ability To Walk Or Ambulate And With Good Vision. A Question Asked By One Side Or The Other In This Type Of Litigation Is, Why Did You Trip Over That Object, Post, Walk Joint, Or Whatever, That Was In Front Of You? The Object That You Tripped Over Was Obvious. If You Had Just Kept A Proper Lookout, You Could Have Avoided It. In Some Cases, It Is Not Unusual To Discover That The Injured Person Had Walked Through The Area Sometime Before The Incident. Furthermore, The Person May Actually Be Relatively Familiar With The Locale, Having Walked Across The Spot On Many Occasions. This Paper Addresses The Complex Set Of Events And Human Skills Involving Pedestrian Tripping And Falling Over Raised Objects On A Foreseeable Pedestrian1 Walking Surface. In Addition To Raised Objects, Depressions Or Holes In The Walking Surface May Trigger A Fall Event.

scholarly journals Forensic Engineering For Automobile Accident Reconstruction

1984 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Chi
Keyword(s):  
Product Liability ◽  
Accident Reconstruction ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Automobile Accident ◽  
Multidisciplinary Practice ◽  
Car Crash ◽  
Car Accidents ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
The One

Passenger car accidents alone rank among the top five causes of death for the general population and in particular constitute the leading cause of death for the one to twenty-four year old age group. Personal and product liability analysis requires an interdisciplinary research between pathologists and forensic engineers through mathematical modeling and laboratory tests. Similarly, in accident reconstruction a forensic engineer teamed in a multidisciplinary practice with pathologists and attorneys can produce a vivid scenario of the accident using a limited input obtained through diverse sources of information. In this article, various simulation programs relevant to accident investigation are briefly discussed. Dynamics of a simplified two-car crash is heuristically presented and finally the role of the experience forensic engineer and his collaborative effort with pathologists and attorneys in reconstructing a disputed accident are emphasized.

scholarly journals Forensic Engineering Critique Of Alleged Need Of A Protected Left Turn Lane

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Computer Program ◽  
First Principles ◽  
The State ◽  
Left Turn ◽  
Automobile Accident ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
Highway Patrol ◽  
Driver Error

An Automobile Accident Is Reconstructed From Photographs Taken At The Scene By The California Highway Patrol. The Plaintiff Attorney Claimed That There Should Have Been A Protected Left Turn Lane. The State Claimed That The Accident Was Not Caused By The Absence Of A Left Turn Pocket And Was The Result Of Driver Error. This Paper Describes How The Accident Was Reconstructed By The Author Using Only Photo-Graphs Taken By The Chp And First Principles Of Physics. This Reconstruction Is Compared To That Of The Plaintiff Expert Who Used The Commercial Computer Program Pc-Crash.

Indirect inputs to ventral temporal cortex of monkey: the influence of unit activity of alerting auditory input, interhemispheric subcortical visual input, reward, and the behavioral response

1993 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 2215-2225 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Ringo ◽  
S. G. O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
Unit Activity ◽  
Behavioral Response ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Warning Signal ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
The Other ◽  
Similar Response ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Split Brain

1. This study examined nonvisual and indirect inputs to 1,021 single units recorded in inferotemporal and parahippocampal cortex of behaving macaques. 2. To better isolate these influences, a fully split-brain, split-chiasm preparation was used. Extracellular single-unit activity was recorded while the ipsilateral eye was covered. During the recordings the monkeys worked on a visual discrimination task that consisted of a series of presentations of single images. 3. When the interval between presentations was varied randomly (usually between 4 and 15 s) about one-quarter of these cells responded to an alerting tone sounded 500 ms before the onset of the visual image. That this response is due to the warning value of the tone was shown by finding that an identical tone sounded at the end of each trial produced no response from these cells. Use of an exchange between pairs of light-emitting diodes as a warning signal (one turned on as the other was turned off, also 500 ms before the visual stimulus onset) produced a similar response in many units. This indicates a subcortical route for the alerting signal. In most cases, warning responses were inhibitory, often delayed with respect to the warning signal occurrence to more nearly match the image arrival time. 4. Surprisingly, and despite the monkeys' confirmed split-brain status, occasional cells (approximately 2%) showed a response from a visual presentation limited to the other hemisphere. Although this subcortical visual input was far weaker than direct visual input, it was nonetheless statistically reliable. Importantly, the indirect input was stimulus specific and could form the neural basis for a limited interhemispheric visual transfer of the sort seen in human split-brain patients. 5. Also rarely, cells showed activity time locked to the animal's behavioral response.

Modality-specific auditory and visual temporal processing deficits

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvador Soto-Faraco ◽  
Charles Spence
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Blink ◽  
Temporal Processing ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
The Other ◽  
Repetition Blindness ◽  
Presentation Procedure ◽  
Selection Stage ◽  
Lag 1 Sparing

We studied the attentional blink (AB) and the repetition blindness (RB) effects using an audio-visual presentation procedure designed to overcome several potential methodological confounds in previous cross-modal research. In Experiment 1, two target digits were embedded amongst letter distractors in two concurrent streams (one visual and the other auditory) presented from the same spatial location. Targets appeared in either modality unpredictably at different temporal lags, and the participants’ task was to recall the digits at the end of the trial. We evaluated both AB and RB for pairs of targets presented in either the same or different modalities. Under these conditions both AB and RB were observed in vision, AB but not RB was observed in audition, and there was no evidence of AB or RB cross-modally from audition to vision or vice versa. In Experiment 2, we further investigated the AB by including Lag 1 items and observed Lag 1 sparing, thus ruling out the possibility that the observed effects were due to perceptual and/or conceptual masking. Our results support a distinction between a modality-specific interference at the attentional selection stage and a modality-independent interference at later processing stages. They also provide a new dissociation between the AB and RB.

SPRI participation in the Winter Weddell Gyre Study 1989

Polar Record ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 27 (160) ◽  
pp. 29-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Wadhams ◽  
D. R. Crane
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Aerial Photography ◽  
Ambient Noise ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sidescan Sonar ◽  
Ice Thickness ◽  
Research Groups ◽  
Weddell Gyre ◽  
International Group ◽  
Polar Research Institute

AbstractThe Winter Weddell Gyre Study was conducted by an international group of scientists, including members of the Scott Polar Research Institute, from FS Polarstern (FRG) in September and October 1989, in collaboration with RV Akademk Federov (USSR). This was a multi-disciplinary experiment involving biologists, chemists, oceanographers and meteorologists. The SPRI involvement centred on sea-ice research, involving both our own experiments and a programme carried out in collaboration with the other research groups on board. The SPRI programme involved measuring ice thickness; studying the under-ice topography with an upward looking sidescan sonar; investigating the acceleration, tilt and strain of the ice; deploying Argos buoys; aerial photography; iceberg tracking; and two acoustic experiments, one to record ambient noise and the other to acoustically measure the ice thickness.

scholarly journals Forensic Engineering Analysis Of Taillight Filaments By Digital Photomicroscopy

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Analysis ◽  
Automobile Accident ◽  
Forensic Engineering

During The Analysis And Reconstruction Of An Automobile Accident, It Is Often Necessary For The Forensic Engineer To Examine The Headlights Or Taillights Of A Vehicle In An Attempt To Find Evidence Which Will Allow For A Determination Of Whether Or Not The Lights Were On And Operating At The Time Of The Collision. This Paper Describes The Use Of Digital Photomicroscopy For The Evaluation And Documentation Of Such Evidence.

scholarly journals The G. Analyst Accelerometer as a Forensic Engineering Accident Investigation Device

1988 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald E. Hendry
Keyword(s):  
State Of The Art ◽  
Electrical Engineer ◽  
Accident Reconstruction ◽  
Performance Limits ◽  
Accident Investigation ◽  
The Road ◽  
Forensic Engineering

This discussion concerns an interesting new electronic accelerometer and its potential for use in vehicular accident reconstruction. This state of the art device is called a g.analyst. It simultaneously measures the installed vehicles longitude and lateral accelerations in the plane of the road for up to 2.54 gs of acceleration . The g-analyst with recommended accessory components is commercially available for less than $500.00. The g.analyst is manufactured by Valentine Research, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio. The founder of Valentine Research is Michael D. Valentine, an Electrical Engineer. Mr. Valentine was formerly a principal with Cincinnati Microwave. Reportedly, that company produced a very successful vehicle radar detector. The g-analyst was developed because Mr. Valentine wanted something to measure a cars performance limits and could find nothing satisfactory on the market. The g.analyst was developed with both the casual and serious user in mind. As such it can be succe

Forensic engineering Laboratory Preparation for Litigation

1990 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The Real ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
To Come

As forensic experts, we can come up with many reasons why or how a given event happened or didnt happen. Good reasons are sometimes used when they seem reasonable and support the hypothesis of the expert. However, they may lead to erroneous conclusions if insufficient investigation has been done. Real reasons, on the other hand, may be far more difficult to come up with and may require much more detailed investigation and, sometimes, may completely change previously held viewpoints or opinions. It is our responsibility as forensic engineers to always seek out the real reasons in providing unbiased opinions.

The Application of USDOT Based CRASH Computer Programs CRASH/TRAJECTORY in Forensic Engineering

1986 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel T. Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Computer Program ◽  
Computer Programs ◽  
Accident Reconstruction ◽  
Department Of Transportation ◽  
Federal Program ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
Data Tables ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Accident Scene ◽  
The U.S

Automotive accident reconstruction can be dramatically assisted and improved by the use of microcomputers which are programed to utilize the vehicle damage and accident scene data. CRASH / TRAJECTORY is such a program and is based upon a main-frame computer program developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The federal program has been personalized and improved for use by legal and engineering offices faced with the task of interpreting actual accident cases. Where the federal program did not allow the user full access to the internal data tables and the output of the programs equations, these new programs do, through the use of user friendly menus and tables.

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