Pooling job physical exposure data from multiple independent studies in a consortium study of carpal tunnel syndrome

Pooling data from different epidemiological studies of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) is necessary to improve statistical power and to more precisely quantify exposure–response relationships for MSDs. The pooling process is difficult and time-consuming, and small methodological differences could lead to different exposure–response relationships. A subcommittee of a six-study research consortium studying carpal tunnel syndrome: (i) visited each study site, (ii) documented methods used to collect physical exposure data and (iii) determined compatibility of exposure variables across studies. Certain measures of force, frequency of exertion and duty cycle were collected by all studies and were largely compatible. A portion of studies had detailed data to investigate simultaneous combinations of force, frequency and duration of exertions. Limited compatibility was found for hand/wrist posture. Only two studies could calculate compatible Strain Index scores, but Threshold Limit Value for Hand Activity Level could be determined for all studies. Challenges of pooling data, resources required and recommendations for future researchers are discussed

Impact of music type on motor coordination task performance among introverted and extroverted students

Purpose. People are interested in music. In this study, we assessed the impact of music type on objective performance.Materials and methods. We distributed 64 medical science students in Tehran into four groups: Iranian pop music, traditional music, Mozart's classical music and control groups. All participants performed the two-arm coordination test once without music and once with music (except for the control group), with an interval of 1 week. In the music groups, music was playing during the performance of the test. Participants were categorized as either introverted or extroverted and were distributed equally in the groups.Results. There was a significant decrease of test time in the second trial, observed in all music groups, and no significant difference identified in the control group. The traditional music group had less difference of mean time compared to the pop music group. The differences in the traditional and classical groups were not significantly different. In the music groups, both extroverted and introverted students decreased their test time significantly after music intervention, but extroverted students decreased more.Conclusion. Listening to music would enhance the speed of performance. Music with a higher tempo, such as pop music, increased the speed more

Safety Climate and Prediction of Ergonomic Behavior

One of the most important ways to prevent accidents is to consider safety climate or culture. Moreover, some studies suggest that behavior contributes to 86%–96% of all injuries. This cross-sectional study took place in an Iranian petrochemical company in 2010. Vinodkumar and Bhasi's safety climate questionnaire and an ergonomic behavior sampling checklist were the data collection tools. Cronbach’s α for questionnaire reliability was .928. With reference to the results of a pilot study, a sample of 1755 was determined for behavior sampling. We used principal component analysis (PCA) to derive the coefficient of paths in the path model and the Anderson–Rabin method to calculate factor scores. The results showed that safety climate was an effective predictor of ergonomic behavior (p < .01). They also showed the importance of decreasing the number of workers with negative safety climate. Moreover, it is necessary to promote workers’ ergonomic behaviors in the workplace

TO EVALUATE THE APPLICABILITY OF ALKOXIDE SOL-GEL METHOD IN SYNTHESIS OF YSZ NANOPOWDER THROUGH APPROPRIATE HYDROLYSIS ROUTE

Synthesis of YSZ nanopowder by alkoxide sol-gel method, through two different hydrolysis routes, one under careful control by using acetyacetone as ligand, and the other through basic hydrolysis, was investigated. The synthesized powders were characterized by various analytical techniques such as, XRD, STA, PSA, BET, SEM, and TEM. The results showed that, the YSZ powders prepared through the basic hydrolysis route consist of weakly agglomerated nanosized spherical particles whereas the products obtained through the controlled hydrolysis route, consist of hard irregular shaped agglomerates. Sinterability of these powders was examined at 1480 °C, which showed that the powder synthesized through the basic hydrolysis route attains a density of 94%, against 60% for the other case. It was therefore concluded that, alkoxide sol-gel method through basic hydrolysis route, can be more suitable for the synthesis of YSZ nanopowder and its subsequent sintering

Effect of microstructure refinement on performance of Ni/Ce0.8Gd0.2O1.9 anodes for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell

To clarify the role of milling process on polarization resistance of Ni/GDC cermet anodes for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LT-SOFC), an anode with the structure of NiO/Ce0.8Gd0.2O2-delta (NiO/GDC20) was prepared Via two different milling processes, including conventional ball-milling (CBM) and high energy ball-milling (HEBM). NiO/GDC20 anode composites were fabricated by screen-printing of the milled powders on the dense sintered GDC electrolyte substrate. By employing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis, the effect of the milling process intensity on the LT-SOFC anode performance was examined using a symmetric Ni-GDC20/GDC20/Pt electrolyte-supported cell at 400-600 degrees C. Microstructural studies of NiO/GDC composite powders showed effectiveness of HEBM method on disintegration of CBM aggregates. HEBM powder with much finer particle size showed smaller crystallites than the CBM powder, which led to a finer-grained uniformly-distributed Ni/GDC anode microstructure. In comparison with the anode prepared by CBM powder, the resulted cermet anode showed further GDC lattice expansion, lower anodic polarization resistance, and also decreased activation energy for hydrogen oxidation reaction. Detailed anode impedance analysis showed dominant role of the charge transfer process and rate determining step of dissociation/adsorption/diffusion in hydrogen-oxidation reaction of both Ni/GDC anodes. In addition, evaluation of activation energy showed enhancement of the charge transfer and dissociation/adsorption/diffusion steps with finer-grained microstructure. It is found that the refinement of microstructure has a significant role on the anode polarization resistance and related electrochemical processes. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.X111816sciescopu