This paper mainly investigates the thermal comfort of the kitchen in pantry cars on Indian railways in two seasons (summer and winter) and two climatic zones (humid and subtropical climate zone and tropical wet and dry climate zone). A questionnaire survey on subjective feelings of thermal comfort was conducted among 69 chefs working in 14 kitchens of pantry cars on Indian railways. Their physical parameters of thermal comfort were also measured. Based on the survey results and measured data, the authors analyzed the comfort perception and thermal responses of the chefs in the kitchens, with the aid of indices like predicted mean vote (PMV) and predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD). The results show that outdoor environmental parameters have an effect on indoor environmental parameters during the cooking; the maximum range of thermal comfort parameters was found at lunch and snack preparations, while the minimum was observed at breakfast; the PMV/PPD index method does not apply directly to the evaluation of thermal comfort in the kitchen in pantry cars on railways; the neutral temperature of chefs in summer and winter was 23°C and 21.62°C, respectively. These findings help to improve the indoor working environment of chefs on Indian railways.

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This study details the consequences of a thermal comfort survey conducted in N-AC "Non-Airconditioned" and AC "Airconditioned" pantry car kitchens in Indian Railways. The research was carried out on 6 railway pantry car kitchens in which 29 chefs participated. Field measurement and subjective evaluation techniques performed in this study during the working period of chefs. The aim of the present research to compare N-AC and AC railway pantry car kitchen. While the objective of the study was to determine the thermal comfort parameters "air temperature, mean radiant temperature, relative humidity and air velocity" of both pantry car kitchens and examine the subjective responses; and to evaluate the thermal comfort of both pantry car kitchens using the PMV "Predicted Mean Vote" and PPD "Predicted Percent Dissatisfied" indices and compare them with actual sensation votes. A result of this study revealed that all thermal comfort parameters do not comply with the recommended ASHRAE 55 Standard in both pantry car kitchens. There is no considerable difference between both pantry car kitchen based on the subjective assessment during the working period and all the chefs' votes were found to be outside the range of the ASHRAE 55 central three categories (-1, 0, +1) votes. Which indicates that the chefs are not satisfied with the current environment. While for N-AC pantry car, PMV and PPD value estimated were 3.10 and 99% respectively, with "hot" thermal sensation. Similarly, for AC pantry car, PMV and PPD value estimated were 2.21 and 85% respectively, with "warm" thermal sensation. The estimated values of PMV and PPD do not follow the ASHRAE-55 2017 and ISO 7730 standard. Therefore, PMV indices are not directly applicable for thermal comfort application in a pantry car kitchen environment due to high temperature. In both the pantry car kitchen, there is no difference between predicted and actual sensation votes. In further establish the other method and technique to identify the comfort temperature for better workmanship of chefs in a pantry car kitchen.

Plenty of research studies in thermal comfort have been conducted in varied areas viz. schoolrooms and houses, industrial workplaces. However, limited studies have been witnessed in areas of commercial kitchens such as hotels, restaurants, and hostel mess kitchen. Current studies pertaining to thermal comfort have been organized into two different types of railway pantry cars kitchen available in India, between August and September 2018. The chef's activities are almost identical in these two pantry cars, but the insulation value of the clothing is slightly different, then it is a curiosity to know that their comfort temperature is the same or different. A little different sum of chefs (respondents) comfort in the research of each pantry car kitchens. In both pantry car kitchen, similar monitoring equipment was used. An implication of this study demonstrates that chef's comfort temperatures and comfort range of temperature were found to be similar in both the pantry car kitchen. While it has also been found that the comfort temperature value of both types of pantry car kitchen chef's is slightly less than the value of the comfort temperature on the comfort study in different areas.

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Out of many plausible causative factors for the spike in accidents, lack of riding skills is reported to be a significant reason for motorcycle mishaps. The riding skills can be improved through better availability of training facilities (simulator). Non-availability of the dimensional database (of different types of motorcycles), which are essential for simulator design, makes it difficult for the designers/ engineers to build the commercially available cheaper motorcycle-simulators. Moreover, the available measuring techniques and devices are costly and unable to satisfy motorcycle measurement's diverse requirements. Thus, the present research aimed to prepare the dimensional database of motorcycles using an in-house fabricated measuring instrument. Following the adaptive design method, the alpha prototype of a laser-pointer-based measuring instrument was developed. The calibrated device was used for measuring the dimensions associated with the handlebar, seat, and footrest of the 23 different motorcycles under study. Detailed (linear, angular, and circumferential) dimensions of the handlebar, seat, and footrest were measured using sliding calipers and protractors. Generated dimensional databases of 18 critical dimensions from the handlebar, seat, and footrest of the 23 different standard-motorcycles would be useful for deciding the motorcycle simulator's dimensions.

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In recent years, there has been a keen interest in the design improvisation of motorcycles. However, the theoretical model of association between motorcycle design attributes (like frame size/riding position) and rider’s physical attributes (like anthropometry, range of motion (ROM), and comfort joint angles) are not well established. This study aims to estimate the relationship between rider’s physical attributes and motorcycle design attributes. During this experimental study, the data was collected from 120 motorcyclists (aged between 19 and 44 years) belonging to 20 major states of India. A test-rig was fabricated to obtain the perceived comfort posture and position data using image processing technique. The anthropometry and ROM were manually measured and verified by reliability testing. The principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression were used to reduce the set of variables and estimate the relationship between 10 comfortable riding position and joint angles (as dependent variables), and the reduced set of 29 anthropometry and 20 ROM measurements (as the independent variables). These results indicate that the comfort joint angles and riding position were significantly associated with the anthropometrics and ROM of the riders. Highly significant regression models were formulated to examine the relationship between the comfort joint angles/riding position and the anthropometrics and ROM of the riders. The findings may support the motorcycle designers to design a comfortable motorcycle complying with Indian anthropometry and ROM.