Browsing by Author "Kieliszewski, Cheryl A."
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- Relamping hotel guestrooms to decrease operating costsKieliszewski, Cheryl A. (Virginia Tech, 1996-04-05)The purpose of this study was to determine if the hotel industry could reduce a portion of its operating costs used for unnecessary lighting expenses. The study was conducted at the Donaldson Brown Center in Blacksburg, Virginia with 32 hotel guests participating. Data was collected to determine light fixture usage during periods of guestroom inactivity (inactive is defined as periods after the guest had checked-in but was out of the guestroom). Two treatment rooms and two control rooms were monitored to determine inactivity of the room, usage of light fixtures, and usage of daylight. Light levels and wattage readings were taken to determine consistency in light levels of the lamps and energy used by the different fixture/lamp combinations in each of the four rooms. One treatment room and one control room were on the east side of the building and the other treatment and control room were on the west side. The test rooms were evaluated to insure that all interior variables (i.e., structural configuration, size, materials and finishes, furnishings, light fixtures, and HV AC system) were controlled. The only features changed in the guest rooms were lamps housed in the fixtures of the two treatment rooms where the ceiling fixtures were relamped with two 16 watt compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and portable fixtures were relamped with one 18 watt CFL. Standard incandescent lamps were used in the control rooms. It was found that the time lights arc left on in inactive rooms can amount to a considerable portion of a hotels operating costs for energy usage. Results show a 64-71 % reduction in energy consumed by CFLs compared to incandescent lamps. Fixtures housed with incandescent lamps cost an average of $.008 per hour to run compared to those lamped with CFLs which cost $.003 per hour to run. Through total or strategic relamping of fixtures, operating costs for electric lighting can be cut by more than 50% and energy resources would be saved. Implemented environmental strategies could then be used as a marketing tool to attract environmentally conscious consumers.
- Twisted Metal: An Investigation into Observable Factors that Lead to Critical Traffic EventsKieliszewski, Cheryl A. (Virginia Tech, 2005-10-24)The purpose of this research was to explore traffic event severity relationships, evaluate the potentiality of a hazardous event, and develop a framework of observable event factors. Data was collected from three regions in Virginia, each assumed to exemplify a unique driving environment due to amount of traffic and infrastructure characteristics. In combination, a broad spectrum of site, traffic, and driver performance variables were accounted for. Observational techniques of surveillance, incident reporting, and inventorying were used to collect site, traffic, and driver data. This effort resulted in 368 observed traffic events that were evenly distributed among the three regions that represented metropolitan, mid-sized city, and town/rural driving environments. The 368 events were evaluated for severity and contributing variables where 1% of the events were non-injury crashes, 10% were serious, near-crashes, 24% were near-crashes, and the remaining 65% were serious errors with a hazard present. Exploratory analyses were performed to understand the general relationship between event severity levels. Binary logistic regression analyses (α = 0.05) were performed to further scope predictor variables to identify traffic event characteristics with respect to severity level, maneuver type, and conflict type. The results were that 69 of 162 observed predictor variables were valuable in characterizing traffic events based on severity. It was found that variables could be grouped to create event severity signatures for crashes, serious near-crashes, and near-crashes. Based on these signatures, it was found that there is a trend between severity levels that included a propensity for problems with straight path maneuvers, lateral and longitudinal vehicle control, and information density within the driving environment as contributing to driver error and hence crashes and near-crashes. There were also differences between the severity levels. These differences were evident in the degree of control the driver appeared to have of the vehicle, type of control regulating the driving environment, and type of road users present in the driving environment. Modifications to roadway evaluative techniques would increase awareness of additional variables that impact drivers to make more informed decisions for roadway enhancements.