Modeling Occupational Fingernail Onycholysis Disorders in the Population of US Astronauts Who Have Engaged in Extravehicular Activity

Author(s):  
Christopher R. Reid ◽  
Jacqueline M. Charvat ◽  
Shane M. Mcfarland ◽  
Jason R. Norcross ◽  
Elizabeth Benson ◽  
...  

Objectives Spacesuits are designed to be reliable personal spacecraft that preserve the life and well-being of the astronaut from the extremes of space. However, materials, operating pressures, and suit design requirements often result in a risk of musculoskeletal discomfort and injury to various areas of the body. In particular, this investigation looked at fingernails and their risk of developing onycholysis. Methods An onycholysis literature review was followed by a retrospective analysis of injury characteristics, astronaut suited training and spaceflight events, hand anthropometry, glove sizing, and astronaut demographics. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the likelihood of onycholysis occurrence by testing potential risk variables against the dataset compiled from the retrospective data mining. Results The duration of event exposure, type of glove used, distance (delta) between the fingertip and the tip of the glove, sex, and age were found to be significantly related to occurrence of onycholysis (whether protective or injurious). Conclusion An initial risk formula (model) for onycholysis was developed as a result of this investigation. In addition to validation through a future study, further improvement to this onycholysis equation and spacesuit discomfort and injury in general can be aided by future investigations that lead to better definition of the threshold between safe and risky exposure for each type of risk factor. Application This work described a potential method that can be used for EVA spacesuit glove onycholysis injury risk analysis for either iterative glove design or between glove comparisons, such as during a product downselect process.

Author(s):  
Linh Q. Vu ◽  
Han Kim ◽  
Lawrence J. H. Schulze ◽  
Sudhakar L. Rajulu

Objective To better study human motion inside the space suit and suit-related contact, a multifactor statistical model was developed to predict torso body shape changes and lumbar motion during suited movement by using fabric strain sensors that are placed on the body. Background Physical interactions within pressurized space suits can pose an injury risk for astronauts during extravehicular activity (EVA). In particular, poor suit fit can result in an injury due to reduced performance capabilities and excessive body contact within the suit during movement. A wearable solution is needed to measure body motion inside the space suit. Methods An array of flexible strain sensors was attached to the body of 12 male study participants. The participants performed specific static lumbar postures while 3D body scans and sensor measurements were collected. A model was created to predict the body shape as a function of sensor signal and the accuracy was evaluated using holdout cross-validation. Results Predictions from the torso shape model had an average root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.02 cm. Subtle soft tissue deformations such as skin folding and bulges were accurately replicated in the shape prediction. Differences in posture type did not affect the prediction error. Conclusion This method provides a useful tool for suited testing and the information gained will drive the development of injury countermeasures and improve suit fit assessments. Application In addition to space suit design applications, this technique can provide a lightweight and wearable system to perform ergonomic evaluations in field assessments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 1015-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chihling Liu

Purpose This study aims to offer insights into the embodied concerns that underpin men’s personal grooming practices through which they experience their body as the “existential ground of culture and self” and manage their everyday bodily presentation. Design/methodology/approach This study analyses 16 interviews with male consumers of age between 20 and 76. The interpretative analysis is informed by both Merleau-Ponty’s concept of the body-subject and the sociology of the body as discursively constituted. Findings This study proposes four bodily identity positions that link individual personal grooming practices to specific embodied concerns. These bodily identity positions underline the different ways the male body is called upon to carve out a meaningful existence. Research limitations/implications The research findings are not intended to generalise or to be exhaustive. Rather, it is hoped that they may stimulate readers to think more deeply about the role of the body in aiding male consumers to seek maximum grip on their life-world. Practical implications The study findings provide marketers with rich narratives for brand positioning and image development beyond the traditional sexual and/or alpha male-themed marketing and advertising. They also offer preliminary insights for mental health practitioners into how the male body shapes men’s identity development and experiences of well-being. Originality/value The study identifies the different ways personal grooming can become assimilated into an individual’s system of beliefs and practices. It also offers empirical support for a definition of the body as active and acted upon, especially with respect to male grooming.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-67
Author(s):  
Rui Pereira

There is an ancient view according to which the great meaning of life is to live it in Well-Being, also considered here as an educated life. The task proposed here is to contribute to clarifying the role of sport for this purpose, which is to live a good life. Fundamentally, it seeks to argue that well-being is linked to an ethics that transcends the mere discussion of good and evil and that such is the profound expression of the natural longings of the human soul that in essence is mirrored in the act of love as a disinterested giving. First, there is a parallel between art and sport as large areas of human action that can better reveal such fundamental disinterest, leading us to the friendship associated with the concept of “Fair Play”. From here follows the proposal for a definition of sport that best serves such friendship for well-being. Thus, a vision of well-being is introduced as the absence of seven forms of disorder. Then, as an example of a form of disorder that can easily arise in sport, we analyse the phenomenon of “racism”, here called phenocism after the concept of phenotype. This is carried under the light of an ethics for absence of disorder. Such analysis leads us, finally, to the trilogy freedom-equality-fraternity and there is an insistence on the urgency of sport to fulfil its mission by assuming itself as the massifier of techniques for promoting the performances of the mind, alongside those of the body, for the well-being of the individual. Thus, fulfilling the revolution of the "healthy mind in a healthy body".


Derrida Today ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Morris

Over the past thirty years, academic debate over pornography in the discourses of feminism and cultural studies has foundered on questions of the performative and of the word's definition. In the polylogue of Droit de regards, pornography is defined as la mise en vente that is taking place in the act of exegesis in progress. (Wills's idiomatic English translation includes an ‘it’ that is absent in the French original). The definition in Droit de regards alludes to the word's etymology (writing by or about prostitutes) but leaves the referent of the ‘sale’ suspended. Pornography as la mise en vente boldly restates the necessary iterability of the sign and anticipates two of Derrida's late arguments: that there is no ‘the’ body and that performatives may be powerless. Deriving a definition of pornography from a truncated etymology exemplifies the prosthesis of origin and challenges other critical discourses to explain how pornography can be understood as anything more than ‘putting (it) up for sale’.


Author(s):  
Evi Zohar

Continuing the workshop I've given in the WPC Paris (2017), this article elaborates my discussion of the way I interlace Focusing with Differentiation Based Couples Therapy (Megged, 2017) under the systemic view, in order to facilitate processes of change and healing in working with intimate couples. This article presents the theory and rationale of integrating Differentiation (Bowen, 1978; Schnarch, 2009; Megged, 2017) and Focusing (Gendlin, 1981) approaches, and its therapeutic potential in couple's therapy. It is written from the point of view of a practicing professional in order to illustrate the experiential nature and dynamics of the suggested therapeutic path. Differentiation is a key to mutuality. It offers a solution to the central struggle of any long term intimate relationship: balancing two basic life forces - the drive for individuality and the drive for togetherness (Schnarch, 2009). Focusing is a body-oriented process of self-awareness and emotional healing, in which one learns to pay attention to the body and the ‘Felt Sense’, in order to unfold the implicit, keep it in motion at the precise pace it needs for carrying the next step forward (Gendlin, 1996). Combining Focusing and Differentiation perspectives can cultivate the kind of relationship where a conflict can be constructively and successfully held in the inner world of each partner, while taking into consideration the others' well-being. This creates the possibility for two people to build a mutual emotional field, open to changes, permeable and resilient.


2020 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 60-73
Author(s):  
E. B. Veprikova ◽  
◽  
A. A. Kislenok ◽  

Reducing the level of interregional differentiation is one of the problems in spatial development management according to the Spatial Development Strategy of the Russian Federation. Presence of significant regional imbalances hampers formation of a common economic, social, cultural, and institutional space and lead to a creation of backward territories which lag behind in the development. The focus of public policy measures on the centers of economic growth, with the concentration of financial and labor resources, without solving the problems of backward territories does not bring the expected effect – overall development and well-being. Local effects in the absence of positive changes in other territories result in the increase in imbalances, which limit the overall effectiveness of the public policy. At the same time, a steadily increasing lag may cause a loss of potential of economic growth and thus forms backward territories. The creation of territorial backwardness is a gradual process. Therefore, diagnosing the state of the territory and identifying the signs of increasing depression is an essential issue of public administration. The article presents the main approaches to the definition of territorial backwardness used in the Russia and overseas, it also reviews the determinants of backward territories. Different methods for identification of backwardness in the territorial development have been tested on the basis of the regions of the Russian Far East.


Author(s):  
Deborah Carr ◽  
Vera K. Tsenkova

The body weight of U.S. adults and children has risen markedly over the past three decades. The physical health consequences of obesity are widely documented, and emerging research from the Midlife in the United States study and other large-scale surveys reveals the harmful impact of obesity on adults’ psychosocial and interpersonal well-being. This chapter synthesizes recent research on the psychosocial implications of body weight, with attention to explanatory mechanisms and subgroup differences in these patterns. A brief statistical portrait of body weight is provided, documenting rates and correlates of obesity, with a focus on race, gender, and socioeconomic status disparities. The consequences of body weight for three main outcomes are described: institutional and everyday discrimination, interpersonal relationships, and psychological well-being. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the ways that recent integrative health research on the psychosocial consequences of overweight and obesity inform our understanding of population health.


2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-108
Author(s):  
A.F. Jităreanu ◽  
Elena Leonte ◽  
A. Chiran ◽  
Benedicta Drobotă

Abstract Advertising helps to establish a set of assumptions that the consumer will bring to all other aspects of their engagement with a given brand. Advertising provides tangible evidence of the financial credibility and competitive presence of an organization. Persuasion is becoming more important in advertising. In marketing, persuasive advertising acts to establish wants/motivations and beliefs/attitudes by helping to formulate a conception of the brand as being one which people like those in the target audience would or should prefer. Considering the changes in lifestyle and eating habits of a significant part of the population in urban areas in Romania, the paper aims to analyse how brands manage to differentiate themselves from competitors, to reposition themselves on the market and influence consumers, meeting their increasingly varied needs. Food brands on the Romanian market are trying, lately, to identify new methods of differentiation and new benefits for their buyers. Given that more and more consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about what they eat and the products’ health effects, brands struggle to highlight the fact that their products offer real benefits for the body. The advertisements have become more diversified and underline the positive effects, from the health and well - being point of view, that those foods offer (no additives and preservatives, use of natural ingredients, various vitamins and minerals or the fact that they are dietary). Advertising messages’ diversification is obvious on the Romanian market, in the context of an increasing concern of the population for the growing level of information of some major consumer segments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Malpass ◽  
Kate Binnie ◽  
Lauren Robson

Medical school can be a stressful experience for students, resulting in stress-related mental health problems. Policy recommendations from the General Medical Council (GMC), the body responsible for improving medical education in the UK, recommend the use of mindfulness training to increase well-being and resilience to stress. Students participating in an eight-week mindfulness training between Autumn 2011 and Spring 2015 were invited to complete a free text survey at the end of their mindfulness course. In addition, six qualitative interviews were conducted lasting between 60 and 90 minutes. Interviews used a topic guide and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. We used the framework approach to analyse the data. Students reported a new relationship to their thoughts and feelings which gave a greater sense of control and resiliency, an ability to manage their workload better, and more acceptance of their limitations as learners. The small group context was important. Students described improved empathy and communication skills through building inner awareness of thoughts and feelings, noticing judgments, and developing attentive observation. The findings show how resiliency and coping reserve can be developed within medical education and the role of mindfulness in this process. We present a conceptual model of a learnt cycle of specific vulnerability and describe how MBCT intercepts at various junctures in this self-reinforcing cycle through the development of new coping strategies that embrace an “allowed vulnerability.”


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. 1234-1246
Author(s):  
Lambert K. Engelbrecht ◽  
Abigail Ornellas

Purpose Within a neoliberal environment, financial vulnerability of households has become an increasing challenge and there is a requirement of financial literacy education, a necessary activity to facilitate sustainable development and well-being. However, this is seldom a mainstream discourse in social work deliberations. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach First, introducing the neoliberal impact on financial well-being and capability for vulnerable households, the authors’ postulation is substantiated on a seven-point argument. The contexts of financially vulnerable households are sketched. Second, a conceptualisation of financial literacy is offered, and third, perspectives on and approaches to financial literacy as a fundamental capability are presented. This is followed by a theoretical foundation of community education as a practice model in social work to develop financial capabilities. In the fifth place, prevailing practices of Financial Capabilities Development (FCD) programmes are offered. Subsequently, the implications of a neoliberal environment for social work practice are examined. Findings The revised global definition of social work encourages the profession to understand and address the structural causes of social problems through collective interventions. As a response, it is argued that community education towards FCD of vulnerable households within a neoliberal environment should be an essential discourse in social development. Originality/value The authors reflect on the significance of FCD, highlighting its contribution towards human security and sustainable development. Although this paper draws on Southern African contexts, the discourse finds resonance in other contexts across the world.


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