Assessment of Ventilated Athletic Uniforms for Improved Thermal Comfort and Human Performance

Football uniforms serve as the protective, portable clothing environment for the athlete against the elements of the external environment and physical impact. Each component of the uniform functions to protect, while also providing increased mobility, breathability, and flexibility. Therefore, it is important that ventilated clothing design features are incorporated into athletic uniform applications for successful sweat evaporation to occur. The purpose of this research was to assess material ventilation design techniques for their breathability and thermal comfort performance in football uniforms. The experimental design included a human wear trial to assess the subjective thermal comfort of football uniforms with various material ventilation designs. Results suggest the addition of the ventilated materials in the uniforms improved the subjective thermal comfort of the wearer. These findings provide justification for the adoption of laser perforated material technologies in multiple athletic uniform types. Future research should explore ventilation in protective and military garment applications

Teacher Perceptions Regarding Traditional Instruction and the Theory of Multiple Intelligences: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to investigate the lived experiences of 10 elementary teachers in Georgia classrooms who have implemented traditional instruction as well as the theory of multiple intelligences created by Gardner. The basic research question lies in teacher perspectives of teaching traditional instruction and then switching over to teach the theory of multiple intelligences. A qualitative approach was used with a transcendental phenomenological design to obtain data for this research study. This phenomenological study used interviews, focus groups, and journals to understand the thoughts and ideas from purposefully sampled, 10 full-time certified teachers from Myrtle Crisp Elementary on implementing both methods. The following research questions guided the study: How do teachers of elementary students describe their teaching experiences using the theory of MI after using traditional teaching experiences? How do teachers of elementary students decide whether or not to use the theory of MI? What benefits do participants identify regarding the use of the theory of MI in the classroom? The data analysis utilized Moustakas’ methodology in order to develop a thick description of the phenomena and the participants’ perceptions of the best teaching method

Parasites of the Deep-Sea Smelt Bathylagus euryops (Argentiniformes: Microstomatidae) from the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ)

The deep-sea smelt Bathylagus euryops, caught in July 2004 at the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ) of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (North Atlantic), was studied for metazoan parasites and diet composition. A total of 86 specimens with standard lengths between 6.4 and 22.1 cm (mean 13.6 cm) were examined. The parasite fauna consisted of five species: three Digenea, one Cestoda and one Nematoda. The predominant parasites were Lecithaster sp. (Digenea) and an unidentified bothriocephalidean cestode. The only nematode, Anisakis sp., occurred with a low prevalence. Bathylagus euryops at CGFZ serves as final host for the three digeneans, and as intermediate host for the cestodes and Anisakis sp. Stomach content analysis revealed a mesozooplankton crustacean diet, while 95.3% of the stomachs contained unidentified tissue

Drying time of tray adhesive for adequate tensile bond strength between polyvinylsiloxane impression and tray resin material

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Use of custom tray and tray adhesive is clinically recommended for elastomeric impression material. However there is not clear mention of drying time of tray adhesive in achieving appropriate bonding strength of tray material and impression material. PURPOSE: This study is to investigate an appropriate drying time of tray adhesives by evaluating tensile bonding strength between two types of polyvinylsiloxane impression materials and resin tray, according to various drying time intervals of tray adhesives, and with different manufacturing company combination of impression material and tray adhesive. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Adhesives used in this study were Silfix (Dentsply Caulk, Milford, Del, USA) and VPS Tray Adhesive (3M ESPE, Seefeld, Germany) and impression materials were Aquasil Ultra (monophase regular set, Dentsply Caulk, Milford, Del, USA) and Imprint II Garant (regular body, 3M ESPE, Seefeld, Germany). They were used combinations from the same manufacture and exchanged combinations of the two. The drying time was designed to air dry, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 25 minutes. Total 240 of test specimens were prepared by auto-polymerizing tray material (Instant Tray Mix, Lang, Wheeling, Il, USA) with 10 specimens in each group. The specimens were placed in the Universal Testing machine (Instron, model 3366, Instron Corp, University avenue, Nowood, MA, USA) to perform the tensile test (cross head speed 5 mm/min). The statistically efficient drying time was evaluated through ANOVA and Scheffe test. All the tests were performed at 95% confidence level. RESULTS: The results revealed that at least 10 minutes is needed for Silfix-Aquasil, and 15 minutes for VPS Tray Adhesive-Imprint II, to attain an appropriate tensile bonding strength. VPS Tray Adhesive-Imprint II had a superior tensile bonding strength when compared to Silfix-Aquasil over 15 minutes. Silfix-Aquasil had a superior bonding strength to VPS Tray Adhesive-Aquasil, and VPS Tray Adhesive-Imprint II had a superior tensile bonding strength to Silfix-Imprint II at all drying periods. CONCLUSION: Significant increase in tensile bonding strength with Silfix-Aquasil and VPS Tray adhesive-Imprint II combination until 10 and 15 minutes respectively. Tray adhesive-impression material combination from the same company presented higher tensile bonding strength at all drying time intervals than when using tray adhesive-impression material of different manufacturesope

Pain, comorbidities, and clinical decision-making: conceptualization, development, and pilot testing of the Pain in Aging, Educational Assessment of Need instrument

IntroductionPain is highly prevalent in older adults and often contextualized by multiple clinical conditions (pain comorbidities). Pain comorbidities increase with age and this makes clinical decisions more complex. To address gaps in clinical training and geriatric pain management, we established the Pain in Aging—Educational Assessment of Need (PAEAN) project to appraise the impacts of medical and mental health conditions on clinical decision-making regarding older adults with pain. We here report development and pilot testing of the PAEAN survey instrument to assess clinician perspectives.MethodsMixed-methods approaches were used. Scoping review methodology was applied to appraise both research literature and selected Medicare-based data. A geographically and professionally diverse interprofessional advisory panel of experts in pain research, medical education, and geriatrics was formed to advise development of the list of pain comorbidities potentially impacting healthcare professional clinical decision-making. A survey instrument was developed, and pilot tested by diverse licensed healthcare practitioners from 2 institutions. Respondents were asked to rate agreement regarding clinical decision-making impact using a 5-point Likert scale. Items were scored for percent agreement.ResultsScoping reviews indicated that pain conditions and comorbidities are prevalent in older adults but not universally recognized. We found no research literature directly guiding pain educators in designing pain education modules that mirror older adult clinical complexity. The interprofessional advisory panel identified 26 common clinical conditions for inclusion in the pilot PAEAN instrument. Conditions fell into three main categories: “major medical”, i.e., cardio-vascular-pulmonary; metabolic; and neuropsychiatric/age-related. The instrument was pilot tested by surveying clinically active healthcare providers, e.g., physicians, nurse practitioners, who all responded completely. Median survey completion time was less than 3 min.ConclusionThis study, developing and pilot testing our “Pain in Aging—Educational Assessment of Need” (PAEAN) instrument, suggests that 1) many clinical conditions impact pain clinical decision-making, and 2) surveying healthcare practitioners about the impact of pain comorbidities on clinical decision-making for older adults is highly feasible. Given the challenges intrinsic to safe and effective clinical care of older adults with pain, and attendant risks, together with the paucity of existing relevant work, much more education and research are needed