A Comparison of Motor-Manual Cleaning Methods on the Norwegian West Coast

Time consumption, heart rate, sagittal load moments for the low back, perceived exertion, and tool preferences were measured during motor-manual cleaning with chain saws and cleaning saws in western Norway. While no difference was found in heart rate or perceived cardiovascular exertion, the chain saw was observed to have the lowest time consumption per ha of the two tools. Calculated sagittal load moments and local feeling of strain in the low back were significantly higher for the chain saw than the cleaning saw. The difference in time consumption between the two tools was greatest for the least experienced personnel in steep terrain. However, because of the higher risk for low back pain, the chain saw could only be recommended on relatively steep slopes. The cleaning saw was preferred most often by the most experienced forestry workers in stands of high removal density

Amulets as Infrastructure

This article explores the use of amulets on children’s bodies, drawing on empirical examples from Mugum in western Nepal and theoretical insights from anthropology of personhood, kinship and infrastructure. Taking four-year old Tashi and his family in Mugum as a starting point, we show how the status of toddlers and small children is “extraordinary”; they are physically fragile, emotionally uncontrolled, and weakly connected, and in need of special protection. In the complex transition to ordinary personhood, amulets serve as one of many “technologies of protection” for children (Garrett 2013, 189). We suggest that amulets act as a stable infrastructure that enables a hope for children to live ordinary lives, and argue that the significance of these means of protection intersects closely with notions of marginality. Note: To have Tibetan script correctly displayed, please download the PDF file and open it in a desktop application.&nbsp

Demonstration of RedirectedDoors: Manipulating User\u27s Orientation while Opening Doors in Virtual Reality

We present an installation demonstrating the applicability of RedirectedDoors, a redirection technique that occasionally manipulates the user\u27s orientation during door-opening motions. In this demo, the player explores an indoor virtual environment containing doors while wearing a head-mounted display (HMD), and their orientation in reality is manipulated as a function of the door\u27s opening angle. In addition, when the player opens the door by pushing or pulling the doorknob in virtual reality, the corresponding passive haptic feedback is provided by the self-actuated doorknob-type prop. When reaching the goal, they can see the manipulation results by comparing their virtual position with a real landmark position. Consequently, this demo both makes the player\u27s experience more realistic and presents the virtual environment in a comparatively small physical space

WristOrigami: Exploring foldable design for multi-display smartwatch

We present WristOrigami, an origami-inspired design concept and system extending the interaction with smartwatches through a foldable structure with multiple on-wrist displays. The current design provides extra affordances via folding, flipping, and elastic pulling actions on a multidisplay smartwatch. To motivate the design of WristOrigami, we developed a taxonomy that could be useful for analyzing and characterizing the origami-inspired multi-display smartwatch interaction. Through a participatory-design study with a set of prototypes with different levels of fidelity, we investigated users\u27 perception of WristOrigami in a wide range of applications with the presented features, and summarized a list of common shape configurations. We summarized our findings into seven design recommendations, to inform the future design of foldable smartwatch interactions. We further developed a set of application demonstrations as proofs-of-concept

Variation in the achievement of HbA1c, blood pressure and LDL cholesterol targets in type 2 diabetes in general practice and characteristics associated with risk factor control.

Aims To identify population, general practitioner, and practice characteristics associated with the achievement of HbA1c, blood pressure and LDL cholesterol targets, and to describe variation in the achievement of risk factor control. Methods We conducted a cross‐sectional survey of 9342 people with type 2 diabetes, 281 general practitioners and 77 general practices in Norway. Missing values (7.4%) were imputed using multiple imputation by chained equations. We used three‐level logistic regression with the achievement of HbA1c, blood pressure and LDL cholesterol targets as dependent variables, and factors related to population, general practitioners, and practices as independent variables. Results Treatment targets were achieved for HbA1c in 64%, blood pressure in 50%, and LDL cholesterol in 52% of people with type 2 diabetes, and 17% met all three targets. There was substantial heterogeneity in target achievement among general practitioners and among practices; the estimated proportion of a GPs diabetes population at target was 55–73% (10–90 percentiles) for HbA1c, 36–63% for blood pressure, and 47–57% for LDL cholesterol targets. The models explained 11%, 5% and 14%, respectively, of the total variation in the achievement of HbA1c, blood pressure and LDL cholesterol targets. Use among general practitioners of a structured diabetes form was associated with 23% higher odds of achieving the HbA1c target (odds ratio 1.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.47) and 17% higher odds of achieving the LDL cholesterol target (odds ratio 1.17, 95% CI 1.01–1.35). Conclusions Clinical diabetes management is difficult, and few people meet all three risk factor control targets. The proportion of people reaching target varied among general practitioners and practices. Several population, general practitioner and practice characteristics only explained a small part of the total variation. The use of a structured diabetes form is recommended.publishedVersio

Direct conversion of methane to aromatics in a catalytic co-ionic membrane reactor

[EN] Nonoxidative methane dehydroaromatization (MDA: 6CH(4) C6H6 + 9H(2)) using shape-selective Mo/zeolite catalysts is a key technology for exploitation of stranded natural gas reserves by direct conversion into transportable liquids. However, this reaction faces two major issues: The one-pass conversion is limited by thermodynamics, and the catalyst deactivates quickly through kinetically favored formation of coke. We show that integration of an electrochemical BaZrO3-based membrane exhibiting both proton and oxide ion conductivity into an MDA reactor gives rise to high aromatic yields and improved catalyst stability. These effects originate from the simultaneous extraction of hydrogen and distributed injection of oxide ions along the reactor length. Further, we demonstrate that the electrochemical co-ionic membrane reactor enables high carbon efficiencies (up to 80%) that improve the technoeconomic process viability.This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway (grants 195912, 210418, 210765, and 219194) and the Spanish government (grants SEV-2012-0267 and ENE2014-57651). We thank the ALBA Synchrotron Light Laboratory for beam time provision. C.K. and P.K.V. have applied for a patent based on this work (PCT/EP2014/071697). Experimental data are available online at ftp://itqrepositorio.itq.upv.es/pub/.Hernández Morejudo, S.; Zanón González, R.; Escolástico Rozalén, S.; Yuste Tirados, I.; Malerod Fjeld, H.; Vestre, PK.; Coors, WG.... (2016). Direct conversion of methane to aromatics in a catalytic co-ionic membrane reactor. Science. 353(6299):563-566. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aag0274S563566353629