Muscular loads associated with floor vacuuming with cordless stick cleaners

The muscular loads of the upper extremity and chest muscles were assessed during floor vacuuming with stick vacuum cleaners. Ten participants conducted vacuuming with two stick cleaners (weight: 3.03 kg, 3.56 kg) on tiled and carpeted floors while the myoelectric activity of the upper extremity and chest muscles were collected. The mean muscle activation levels ranged from 15.5% to 45.7% of the maximum voluntary capacity. Greater muscular loads were observed on the forearm and shoulder muscles when vacuuming with repeated curved strokes (vs. straight storkes), and on the chest muscle when vacuuming the carpeted floor. The range of muscular loads were higher than that of occupational tasks such as house painting and dental drilling, which have been known as intensive activities for upper extremities. The results suggest that floor vacuuming with stick vacuum cleaners is physically demanding for household consumers. Ergonomic interventions such as more user-friendly design should be considered.

Asser Saint-Val: Artist Statement and Artwork

Featured artwork and accompanying Artist's Statement by Asser Saint-Val described as "A Function for alpha-MSH in fetal development and the presence of an Alpha-MSH-like compound in nervous tissue", a mixed media on Masonite: using coffee, chocolate, acrylic, watercolor, house painting, and color pencils: 2013.

On some variants of compositions of Altai house paintings

В статье рассматриваются различные типы композиций, применявшиеся валтайской домовой росписи (круговые композиции, цветочные деревья, зооморфные композиции) в сравнении с другими художественными традициями. Так, например, важными источниками сравнений становятся росписи Урала и Русского Севера. Кроме того, в статье освещается вопрос изучения алтайских росписей. Сравнительнотипологический метод позволяет достичь понимания места алтайских домовых росписей в общерусском контексте и сделать предположение о возможных путях культурных влияний. The article discusses various types of compositions used in Altai house painting (circular compositions, flower trees, zoomorphic compositions) in comparison with other artistic traditions. For example, the murals of the Urals and the Russian North become important sources of comparisons. In addition, the article addresses the issue of studying Altai paintings. A comparative typological method allows us to reach an understanding of the place of Altai house paintings in the general Russian context and to make an assumption about possible ways of cultural influences.

Form and Meaning of Rostam and Esfandiy?r Battle in a Coffee House Painting by Mohammad Modabber

Coffee house painting was a new phenomenon in the history of Persian painting, which, along with the preservation of all rational religious and traditional art values, was born to the need of the people and to respect people’s beliefs. Shahnameh stories were a proper field for creation of epic images of chivalric men who always stood up heroically to the honor and dignity of their mother land at any time, like RostamDastan.In this regard, a coffee house painting of “The battle of Rostam and Esfandiy?r” by Mohammad Modabber from Shahnameh epic text is examined to understand the meaning of the image by analyzing its lines and patterns. Opening this path and through the way passed to understand the meaning, recognizing the special contracts used by Mohammad Modabber in the coffee house painting of “The battle of Rostam and Esfandiy?r” and its various implications sound highly necessary.

Paint Boldly!: Dubuffet's DIY Manual

In 1948, Jean Dubuffet wrote a thirty-one-page pamphlet entitled Peinturez hardi (Paint boldly!) for his unrealized Almanach de l'art brut. Divided into twelve monthly installments, this “treatise on the techniques of painting” reads like a how-to manual, presenting concise, straightforward guidelines for what materials to use and how to use them. As a practical guide for the amateur, it inventories and evaluates products on the market (much like an issue of Consumer Reports) and then offers more economical, do-it-yourself recipes for the “common man.” Drawing largely from the techniques and materials of house painting, Dubuffet aligns himself with the worker as opposed to the professional artist and insists upon art as labor. As yet unpublished, Peinturez hardi underscores materiality as absolutely central to Dubuffet's understanding of what art brut is and how it differentiates itself from arts culturels.