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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis--The Transit IDEA Program. IDEA 105. Mechanotherapetic Cushion for Customers and Operators in Public Transit</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2572332</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Professional drivers experience high rates of health-related issues in performing their job. In fact, bus drivers have been reported to have the 8th highest rate of days missed due to pain and soreness. This not only impacts the health, safety, and satisfaction of the bus operators and passengers, it also affects the profitability of the transit entities.

To alleviate this problem experienced by the bus drivers and passengers, this project will develop a pneumatically powered mechano-therapeutic cushion with embedded fluidic logic. The lightweight cushion, made of low-cost durable and washable textile, will be retrofittable and will be powered solely by an on-board pressure supply to provide oscillatory mechanotherapy without needing any electronics. Leveraging fluidic logic (rather than electronics) to create a periodic output from a constant input, the fluidic actuation and control will enable higher forces, more comfortable use, and simplified and more robust architectures compared to electronic actuation. The control and actuators are intertwined and embedded directly into the textile, creating a metamaterial system. Made entirely of textiles and air, the cushion will be comfortable and is expected to reduce fatigue and injuries in transit. 

The research will involve developing an analytical model governing the oscillatory behavior. A prototype oscillator will be created  and scaled for larger volumes and forces required for cushion-based mechanotherapy.  The design, fabrication, and performance of oscillator embedded in the seat cushion will be optimized for small-scale testing. The cushion will then be integrated into the bus to verify its function and record quantitative data to ensure consistency and agreement with benchtop experiments. A pilot study in coordination with Houston Metro will be conducted to obtain qualitative feedback from the users.

The developed cushion system will be a “plug and play” system That is, the monolithic system will only require placing on the seat and plugging into the on-board pressure supply (if the system is not already installed). The periodic actuation inducing mechanotherapy is automatically initiated with the introduction of a pressurized supply. Made entirely of textiles and air, the cushion will be comfortable and will reduce fatigue and injuries in transit. It will be lightweight, low-cost, durable, and washable. It will also be retrofittable into current infrastructure, and the cost of replacing it will be almost negligible.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 08 Jul 2025 17:07:55 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Nanomodified Cementitious Composites Incorporating Waste Polymer Microfibers for Durable and Environmentally Friendly Infrastructure </title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2023816</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Used face masks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic are forming a new waste stream that poses a considerable environmental risk to the ecosystem if not properly disposed of. Typically, single-use medical masks are made of polypropylene (PP) or polyester fabric, and they are extremely difficult to be naturally degraded. Another similar waste stream is induced by the vast quantity of waste textiles (e.g., waste clothes), which also mainly contain polypropylene or polyester products. Based on the published research of PP fiber-reinforced cementitious composites, the research team proposes to convert the waste medical masks/textiles into cost-effective PP microfibers that can replace the more expensive commercial PP microfibers used by the concrete industry. To this end, this proposed project will build on the team’s previous research experience, which relates to fiber-reinforced cementitious composites and nanotechnology for concrete, and then develop nanomodified microfiber-reinforced cementitious composites (nm-FRCCs) featuring comparable engineering performance with cementitious composites reinforced by commercial polymer microfibers. At the first stage of this work, the laboratory study aims to do the following: (1) Convert waste masks/textiles to microfibers that feature comparable diameter with commercial concrete industry-adoptive PP fibers, and (2) Fabricate nmFRCCs that feature promising mechanical properties and durability performance. Specifically, nanomaterials (graphene oxide and nanoclay) will be introduced to modify the waste mask/textile fibers (WM/TFs) and thus enhance the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the fibers and the cementitious matrix. To further investigate the influence of nanomaterials on the engineering performance of nmFRCCs, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) will be employed to illustrate the hydration mechanisms (especially the interfacial hydration process) of nmFRCCs and to shed light on how the constituent materials affect the mechanical strengths and durability performance of the nmFRCCs.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 16 Sep 2022 11:11:51 GMT</pubDate>
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