1,719 research outputs found
The use of heart rate indices and subjective questionnaires in the determination of fatigue in motor-manual tree felling and delimbing operations in New Zealand exotic plantation forests : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Ergonomics at Massey University
This study assessed the use of heart rate indices and subjective questionnaires in the determination of fatigue in motor-manual tree felling operations in New Zealand exotic plantation forests. The research design consisted of a causal study utilising an amalgamation of both observational and ex post facto data collection techniques employing a cross sectional case study approach within a field study research environment. Findings from the research indicate that motor-manual tree felling and delimbing are tasks not necessarily analogous with excessively high levels of fatigue, even though the physiological measures categorised motor-manual felling and delimbing as being moderate to heavy workload tasks. Chronic fatigue was avoided, and acute fatigue mitigated by the effective use of the fallers self-pacing mechanism, combined with both structured and spontaneous rest breaks analogous with the work method adopted by motor-manual fallers. Consequently, production was not negatively affected by the progression of the working day. Poor work postures commonly adopted by the fallers encourage the progressive development musculo-skeletal damage. Hazards encountered by the subjects followed national trends for felling and trimming. Significant decreases in thermal comfort and sensation ratings occurred, accompanied by an increase in the skin wettedness rating and higher thermal regulation ratings for the majority of the fallers. No discernible increase in mental fatigue could be identified during the study. The ambient thermal environment and work site terrain had minimal effect on the subjects performance levels or physiological and psycho-physiological loadings
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Entanglement dynamics at flat surfaces: investigations using multi-chain molecular dynamics and a single-chain slip-spring model
The dynamics of an entangled polymer melt confined in a channel by parallel plates is investigated by Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of a detailed, multi-chain model. A Primitive Path Analysis predicts that the density of entanglements remains approximately constant throughout the gap and drops to lower values only in the immediate vicinity of the surface. Based on these observations, we propose a coarse-grained, single-chain slip-spring model with a uniform density of slip-spring anchors and slip-links. The slip-spring model is compared to the Kremer-Grest MD bead-spring model via equilibrium correlation functions of chain orientations. Reasonably good agreement between the single-chain model and the detailed multi-chain model is obtained for chain relaxation dynamics, both away from the surface and for chains whose center of mass positions are at a distance from the surface that is less than the bulk chain radius of gyration, without introducing any additional model parameters. Our results suggest that there is no considerable drop in topological interactions for chains in the vicinity of a single flat surface. We infer from the slip-spring model that the experimental plateau modulus of a confined polymer melt may be different to a corresponding unconfined system even if there is no drop in topological interactions for the confined case
Pandemic in the Flint Hills
In 1918 during the last months of the First World War, Spanish influenza progressed from a relatively mild flu into a deadly, worldwide epidemic - a pandemic
Giving order to image queries
Users of image retrieval systems often find it frustrating that the image they are looking for is not ranked near the top of the results they are presented. This paper presents a computational approach for ranking keyworded images in order of relevance to a given keyword. Our approach uses machine learning to attempt to learn what visual features within an image are most related to the keywords, and then provide ranking based on similarity to a visual aggregate. To evaluate the technique, a Web 2.0 application has been developed to obtain a corpus of user-generated ranking information for a given image collection that can be used to evaluate the performance of the ranking algorithm
Migration to the US among rural Puerto Ricans who inject drugs: influential factors, sources of support, and challenges for harm reduction interventions
Background: While PWID of Puerto Rican origin have been migrating to the US for decades, the range of factors influencing their migration to the US and the resources they draw on to do so are not well understood. This is particularly true for rural Puerto Rican PWID, and the present study is the first empirical research to document migration patterns among this population. The specificities of their migration raise important challenges that need to be documented in order to implement more effective harm reduction policies at home (Puerto Rico) and abroad (US).
Methods: This paper draws from data obtained employing a modified NHBS survey which was administered to (N =296) PWID in four rural municipalities of Puerto Rico with participants 18 years or older. The primary dependent variables for this paper are the number of times a person has lived in the continental US, and if they are planning on moving to the continental US in the future.
Results: Findings suggest that 65% of the sample reported ever lived in the US and that 49% are planning on moving in the future. The number of times living in the US is associated with higher education and older age, but not with self-reported positive HIV or HCV statuses. Planning to move to the US is associated with knowing PWID who have moved or plan to move, negatively associated with age, and is not associated with HIV or HCV status. Around one-third of those that lived in the US reported having some sort of support, with the majority receiving support from family sources. No participant received help to enter HIV/HCV treatment.
Conclusions: A multi-region approach to prevention is required to make a dent in curbing HIV/HCV transmission in this population. Understanding PWID migration patterns, risk behaviors, and health care needs in the US is now more important than ever as natural disasters prompted by human-made climate change will only increase in the future, raising demands not only for service providers but also harm reduction policies to cope with an increasing influx of “climate refugees” as PWID move across national borders
Semantic Web Integration of Cultural Heritage Sources
In this paper, we describe research into the use of ontologies to integrate access to cultural heritage and photographic archives. The use of the CIDOC CRM and CRM Core ontologies are described together with the metadata mapping methodology. A system integrating data from four content providers will be demonstrated
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Chain dynamics in polymer melts at flat surfaces
We investigate, by extensive molecular dynamics simulations as well as a simplified single-chain model, the influence of steric hindrance on the dynamic properties of nonentangled chains in polymer melt due to confining surfaces. We extend the Rouse model to also include wall effects, using an additional potential that results from the assumption that chain conformations have reflected random-walk statistics, as first advocated by Silberberg. Results for end-to-end vector and Rouse mode correlation functions of chains end-tethered to the surface compare well with those obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of a multichain system using the Kremer–Grest bead–spring model (KG MD). Even though the additional single-chain potential is parameter-free, we show that the accuracy of the model for surface chains is comparable to that of the Rouse model for bulk chains. An analytic dumbbell model accurately describes the longest Rouse mode correlation function of surface-tethered “mushroom” chains immersed in a polymer melt at low grafting density. In addition, we find that a perfectly smooth surface enhances the influence of hydrodynamic viscoelastic coupling on the center-of-mass motion near the surface
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