Combined Effects of Long-Term Sitting and Whole-Body Vibration on Discomfort Onset for Vehicle Occupants

Occupants of automobiles experience discomfort after long drives, irrespective of how well designed a seat might be. Previous studies of discomfort during driving have focused either on the seat shape and materials (“static” properties), long-term discomfort (“fatigue” properties), or dynamics (“vibration” properties). These factors have previously not been considered together. This paper reports three studies with objectives to define and test a model for describing long-term discomfort from vibration. Study 1 was an independent measures laboratory trial using an automobile seat, which lasted 80 minutes; Study 2 was a repeated measures laboratory trial using a rail passenger seat, which lasted 60 minutes; Study 3 was a repeated measures field trial in a people carrier automobile, which involved 70 minutes of travelling. The findings showed that discomfort accrues with time but that more discomfort is experienced when subjects are also exposed to whole-body vibration. Exposure to whole-body vibration accelerates development of discomfort. The relationship between the reported discomfort, the vibration magnitude, and the exposure time can be described using a multifactorial linear model. It is concluded that ignoring parts of the multi-factorial model (i.e., static, dynamic, or temporal factors) will compromise understanding of discomfort in context

Energy absorbing characteristics of crushable aluminum structures in a space environment final engineering report, sep. 30, 1963 - jul. 24, 1965

Energy absorbing characteristics of crushable aluminum honeycomb structure

Calcium signaling in oomycetes: an evolutionary perspective

Oomycetes are a family of eukaryotic microbes that superficially resemble fungi, but which are phylogenetically distinct from them. These organisms cause major global economic losses to agriculture and fisheries, with representative pathogens being Phytophthora infestans, the cause of late potato blight and Saprolegnia diclina, the instigator of “cotton molds” in fish. As in all eukaryotes, cytoplasmic Ca2+ is a key second messenger in oomycetes, regulating life-cycle transitions, controlling motility and chemotaxis and, in excess, leading to cell-death. Despite this, little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentrations in these organisms. Consequently, this review analyzed the presence of candidate calcium channels encoded within the nine oomycete genomes that are currently available. This revealed key differences between oomycetes and other eukaryotes, in particular the expansion and loss of different channel families, and the presence of a phylum-specific group of proteins, termed the polycystic kidney disease tandem ryanodine receptor domain (PKDRR) channels

Understanding and improving the perception of a hospital ward soundscape

The various aspects of hospital environments have been shown to affect individuals psychologically and physiologically. One aspect of this, sound, has been thoroughly documented through acoustic measurements along with the potential adverse effects high sound level has on patients and nurses. Yet within hospitals, the character of the sound – the soundscape or the auditory landscape – is often overlooked in favour of this focus on sound level. This project has led to an improved understanding of the character and perception of hospital sounds using a triangulation of methods, with the intention of contributing to knowledge on how to improving the soundscape. Firstly, an interview study with patients and nurses within a cardiothoracic (CT) ward at a UK hospital was carried out to understand perceptions of, and thoughts towards, the soundscape. This led to the development of a conceptual model linking the relationships between various concepts and components of perception thereby mapping the perception of the soundscape and the feelings it evoked. A key aspect to perception – the notion of coping through habituating to sounds, became the foundation for subsequent work testing positive interventions. These complex feelings elicited by the soundscape were then reduced into a twodimensional perceptual space, extracted from a listening evaluation using Principal Component Analysis. Labelled ‘Relaxation’ and ‘Interest & Understanding’, these axies can represent the emotional-cognitive response stimulated by the CT ward sounds. Finally, potentially positive interventions were assessed using listening evaluations with participants rating additional natural and steady state sounds, along with a cognitive intervention of sound source information (SSI). It was found that the interventions resulted in a small (ƞ2=0.05) but significant effect (p=.001) on the ‘Relaxation’ response. Natural sounds were most effective, with a less conclusive but still significant effect present for steady state sounds and SSI. The ‘Interest & Understanding’ dimension was non-significantly affected. Exploring this further, a between groups in-situ study assessed the benefit of SSI. The first group received SSI, the second received none. It was found that SSI had a small to medium significant effect (r=0.26-0.31, p=<.05) on ‘Interest & Understanding’ but not ‘Relaxation’. The project successfully developed a new way of assessing the perception of hospital sounds in a perceptual space. Using this approach it was concluded that natural sounds (here, the sounds of birdsong and a stream) provide a consistent way to improve the soundscape. However, a new approach of using SSI was successfully tested and was supported by a theoretical underpinning of cognitive reappraisal. Importantly, this offers an easier way to manipulate perception through potentially a reappraisal of the soundscape. Therefore, it was also concluded from the new findings and new theory that SSI could be used to create a positive response from people within hospital ward environments

Exploring a cardio-thoracic hospital ward soundscape in relation to restoration

Hospitals can provide stressful experiences for both patients and medical staff. A well-designed hospital soundscape should avoid adding to negative emotional states (e.g. stress), limit any detrimental cognitive effects (e.g. attentional fatigue), and enable restoration. Experiences of the cardio-thoracic ward soundscape, in a UK public University hospital, were explored via semi-structured interviews with 11 patients and 16 nurses. Thematic coding analysis resulted in 11 key themes including notions of restoration and emotional responses. The themes were used to develop a conceptual model to describe the processes involved in the perception and evaluation of the soundscape. The language used by patients and nurses indicated the emotional response to the soundscape was at times stressful and at others potentially restorative. Coping methods of accepting and habituating to individual sounds were noted. The impact of the patients' and nurses' ability to maintain these coping strategies are discussed in relation to restoration and the temporal variation of the soundscape. A period of 'quiet time' was in operation at the hospital and the importance of this was noted through various responses relating to emotion and restoration. The results suggest the soundscape has potentially, a beneficial role in facilitating restoration thus helping patients' recovery and medical staff's ability to remain productive. This research supports the need to study hospital soundscapes further so that design implications can be considered for the production of a more restorative environment, possibly through the masking/removal of unwanted sounds and optimising positive sounds

Digital Crowdsourcing in Healthcare Environment Co-design

Improving user experiences of healthcare environments via their participation has become a central theme in healthcare studies and strategic agendas. The co-design approach is often utilized to take into account opinions from different stakeholders including hospital staff. However, there are a number of competing stimuli and demands on staff at any point in time potentially making it difficult for them to participate in the co-design processes. Digital crowdsourcing may engage staff in participating in the design and appraisal of hospital environments when they have a spare moment by collecting small amounts of relevant data. In order to explore this, we have implemented a digital crowdsourcing co-design prototype. As users’ perceived acceptance of technologies is among the determining factors for a successful digital approach, in this paper, we report on participants’ acceptance of the prototype, aiming to reflect if and to what extend they accept this prototype to aid further development

FKBP12 associates tightly with the skeletal muscle type 1 ryanodine receptor, but not with other intracellular calcium release channels

AbstractThis study compared the relative levels of ryanodine receptor (RyR) isoforms, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP3R) isoforms, and calcineurin, plus their association with FKBP12 in brain, skeletal and cardiac tissue. FKBP12 demonstrated a very tight, high affinity association with skeletal muscle microsomes, which was displaced by FK506. In contrast, FKBP12 was not tightly associated with brain or cardiac microsomes and did not require FK506 for removal from these organelles. Furthermore, of the proteins solubilised from skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle and brain microsomes, only skeletal muscle RyR1 bound to an FKBP12–glutathione-S-transferase fusion protein, in a high affinity FK506 displaceable manner. These results suggest that RyR1 has distinctive FKBP12 binding properties when compared to RyR2, RyR3, all IP3R isoforms and calcineurin