Mahmoud Shakouri

Effects of work zone configurations and traffic density on performance variables and subjective workload

This paper investigates the effect of changing work zone configurations and traffic density on performance variables and subjective workload. Data regarding travel time, average speed, maximum percent braking force and location of lane changes were collected by using a full size driving simulator. The NASA-TLX was used to measure self-reported workload ratings during the driving task. Conventional lane merge (CLM) and joint lane merge (JLM) were modeled in a driving simulator, and thirty participants (seven female and 23 male), navigated through the two configurations with two levels of traffic density. The mean maximum braking forces was 34% lower in the JLM configuration, and drivers going through the JLM configuration remained in the closed lane longer. However, no significant differences in speed were found between the two merge configurations. The analysis of self-reported workload ratings show that participants reported 15.3% lower total workload when driving through the JLM. In conclusion, the implemented changes in the JLM make it a more favorable merge configuration in both high and low traffic densities in terms of optimizing traffic flow by increasing the time and distance cars use both lanes, and in terms of improving safety due to lower braking forces and lower reported workload.

5S impact on safety climate of manufacturing workers

Purpose – 5S is a commonly used Lean tool that focusses on creating an organized work environment, but the effects of 5S on safety climate are not as well studied. The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of a 5S event on safety climate. Design/methodology/approach – This pre-test post-test study examines the effect of implementing 5S on safety climate of the packaging area of a manufacturing plant. Two groups of employees (case and control groups) completed a safety climate questionnaire (Safety Climate Assessment Toolkit) prior to the 5S event, one month after, and two months after. Findings – Total safety climate significantly improved for the case group but remained unchanged for the control group over the study period. Specifically, management commitment and involvement dimensions of safety climate improved for the case group. Practical implications – These results show that two important aspects of safety climate (management commitment and involvement) can be significantly, positively in...

Mean-variance portfolio analysis data for optimizing community-based photovoltaic investment.

The amount of electricity generated by Photovoltaic (PV) systems is affected by factors such as shading, building orientation and roof slope. To increase electricity generation and reduce volatility in generation of PV systems, a portfolio of PV systems can be made which takes advantages of the potential synergy among neighboring buildings. This paper contains data supporting the research article entitled: PACPIM: new decision-support model of optimized portfolio analysis for community-based photovoltaic investment [1]. We present a set of data relating to physical properties of 24 houses in Oregon, USA, along with simulated hourly electricity data for the installed PV systems. The developed Matlab code to construct optimized portfolios is also provided in Supplementary materials. The application of these files can be generalized to variety of communities interested in investing on PV systems.

Estimating the critical chloride threshold of reinforcing steel in concrete using a hierarchical Bayesian model

Abstract Significant research has been conducted to assess the amount of chlorides that results in corrosion initiation, C T , and propagation of the embedded reinforcing steel in concrete. However, the lack of a standard definition for corrosion initiation and the lack of a standard test and measurement criterion for determining corrosion initiation, all contribute to wide scatter in reported C T values in the literature. In this study, a hierarchical Bayesian approach is used to develop a predictive model for C T based on the reported C T values in the literature. The developed model accounts for the influence of cement type, supplementary cementitious materials, water-to-binder ratio, and the surface condition of the reinforcing steel on C T . The developed model can be used to streamline and standardize the process of selecting C T for service life modeling but to reduce the uncertainty in service-life predictions, it is essential to develop a standard test for determining C T .

Data in support of energy performance of double-glazed windows

This paper provides the data used in a research project to propose a new simplified windows rating system based on saved annual energy (“Developing an empirical predictive energy-rating model for windows by using Artificial Neural Network” (Shakouri Hassanabadi and Banihashemi Namini, 2012) [1], “Climatic, parametric and non-parametric analysis of energy performance of double-glazed windows in different climates” (Banihashemi et al., 2015) [2]). A full factorial simulation study was conducted to evaluate the performance of 26 different types of windows in a four-story residential building. In order to generalize the results, the selected windows were tested in four climates of cold, tropical, temperate, and hot and arid; and four different main orientations of North, West, South and East. The accompanied datasets include the annual saved cooling and heating energy in different climates and orientations by using the selected windows. Moreover, a complete dataset is provided that includes the specifications of 26 windows, climate data, month, and orientation of the window. This dataset can be used to make predictive models for energy efficiency assessment of double glazed windows.

Drivers׳ merging behavior data in highway work zones

There have been growing research interests in finding a suitable work zone layout to improve work zone safety and traffic efficiency. This paper contains data supporting the research article entitled: Effects of work zone configurations and traffic density on performance variables and subjective workload (Shakouri et al., 2014 [1]). A full factorial experiment was conducted to compare the efficiency of two work zone configurations by using a driving simulator with two levels of work zone configuration, two levels of traffic density and three levels of sign placement as fixed factors. Seven female and 23 male participants completed the experiment. In this paper we present the data relating to demographic information of participants, driving simulator data and subjective workload evaluation of participants for each work zone.