Effect of walking surface perturbation training on slip propensity and local dynamic stability

The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of walkway perturbation training on human dynamic walking stability and slip propensity. A new walkway perturbation training program was developed using an instrumented, split-belt treadmill. Walkway surface perturbation was composed of multiple, randomized perturbation pulses. Each pulse was created by sudden accelerating the treadmill belt underneath the dominant foot briefly. Five healthy older adults were involved in a laboratory study. An inertial measurement unit was attached to the subject's low back region to record 3D acceleration. Maximum Lyapunov exponent (maxLE) and transitional acceleration of whole body center of mass (TA_COM) were computed to quantify the local dynamic stability and slip propensity, respectively. The results indicated a significant training effect on both maxLE and TA_COM. It was concluded that the walkway perturbation training program significantly improved local dynamic stability and reduced slip propensity.     

The rhetoric of arrogance: the public relations response of the Standard Oil Trust

The dissolution of the Standard Oil Trust in 1911 was an early landmark in the development of corporate public relations. Faced with public criticism as a result of Ida Tarbell’s “History of the Standard Oil Company,” Standard Oil responded with aloofness and bolstering strategies that together created a “rhetoric of arrogance.” In later years, Standard’s founder seemed to recover from this public relations debacle, but the breakup of Standard Oil testifies to the hard lessons learned by his and other corporations in the early twentieth century: publics and their opinions matter and require candid responses. Corporations with positions of market leadership today might do well to revisit the lessons of Standard Oil.     

Factors influencing the slip index measurements with the Horizontal Pull Slipmeter

Several factors that might influence the outcomes of the slip index measurements with the Horizontal Pull Slipmeter were examined. These factors were either those not clearly specified in the operating guidelines of the device or those clearly specified but with a high variability in operator compliance. The results indicated that the shoe pad thickness, sanding, alignment between the string and the force gauge, and temperature were the factors that led to significant differences at the levels evaluated. The differences due to string stiffness, string length, duration from cleaning to friction measurement, dwell time, battery level and relative humidity did not reach a statistically significant level. Extra guidelines are needed for those factors that could result in significant variations in order to lead to more consistent results.     

Correspondence

How can teachers utilize video games in the classroom, harnessing a technology that is gaining “market share” in the lives of our students? This article will provide classroom teachers with a research-based rationale for using video games along with a viable, classroom-tested lesson to teach social studies content using a widely available commercial video game. Specifically, how to use the game Civilization IV in the classroom to allow world history high school students to explore the impact technology has on societal development and the human experience and their place in time. This correlates to NCSS Curriculum Standard II: time, continuity, and change and NCSS Curriculum Standard VIII: science, technology, and society.     

The relationship between unemployment and child maltreatment: A county-level perspective in California

The conventional logic supported by research and statistics suggests that there will be more child maltreatment as the economy becomes worse and less child maltreatment as the economy becomes better. However, in some local jurisdictions in California, statistics indicate the opposite. A closer examination of one county, San Mateo, suggests that this may be due to the fact that the County has a very high Self-Sufficiency Standard in which people get jobs with incomes that do not exceed the Standard, but in fact disqualifies them from the safety net of Federal benefits. Further, children born around the time of the last recession have a higher chance of adverse mental health issues and are now entering schools with issues that may reflect child abuse and neglect.     

With tact and measure? French doctors wrestling with the idea of assessing their medical practice

This article focuses on the impact of measuring quality in family medicine. Throwing the reforms that have affected private practice into temporal perspective shows that it has recently undergone a decisive “metric-oriented turn”. Effects of quantitative assessment on general practitioners are observed thanks to two original studies on preventive care. Professionals’ critiques and forms of resistance are examined before delving into the experiences and arguments of GPs who consent to the measurement of medical work, even agreeing to do it themselves. We end by evaluating the ongoing inflections of the professional model and the way the private medical sector in France is governed.     

The cost of disability advocacy: adjusting the self-sufficiency standard for children with disabilities

This article proposes a theoretical model for adapting, for families of children with disabilities, Brooks and Pearce's Self-Sufficiency Standard [(2000). “Meeting Needs, Measuring Outcomes: The Self-Sufficiency Standard as a Tool for Policy-Making, Evaluation, and Client Counseling.” The Clearinghouse Review 34 (2000–2001): 34]. With regard to such families, three additional components are considered: increased out-of-pocket expenditures, lost wages for caregiving, and cost of advocacy. Like the Self-Sufficiency Standard itself, this adaptation does not propose an extravagant or even comfortable lifestyle. Instead, this model extends Brooks and Pearce's advocacy agenda by estimating the relative costs of obtaining basic necessities and supports for families raising children with disabilities and by providing clear direction for community engagement in family economic policy.     

A basic model for multiple self

Standard economic theory represents the individual in a unique preferential order, which is complete and transitive. Such a vision of the person is extremely reductionist. The present paper is an attempt to explore possibilities of constructing a multi-dimensional representation of man. We shall define modes of identity so as to better understand human personality. The multiplicity of modes of identity gives way to tensions between various forms of identities, which the individual has to manage.     

When Opportunity is the Thing to be Equalised

This paper discusses the goal set out by the United Nations in its Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. The objective 'equalisation of opportunities' means both to render unlawful discrimination against persons with disabilities in every area of society, and to eliminate those very discriminatory conditions in society which render real participation impossible. The two conflicting approaches to handicap, the individual-centred and the person-environment approach, are both visible in the Standard Rules. This article suggests that the individual-centred approach is structurally related with the understanding of equal treatment as a relationship with formal characteristics, no matter what the setting in which it occurs, while the person-environment approach is related with an active social policy emerging from an understanding of equal treatment as a question of substantial right. There is thus a conflict inherent in the Standard Rules.     

The stochastic distribution of available coefficient of friction on quarry tiles for human locomotion

The available coefficient of friction (ACOF) for human locomotion is the maximum coefficient of friction that can be supported without a slip at the shoe and floor interface. A statistical model was introduced to estimate the probability of slip by comparing the ACOF with the required coefficient of friction, assuming that both coefficients have stochastic distributions. This paper presents an investigation of the stochastic distributions of the ACOF of quarry tiles under dry, water and glycerol conditions. One hundred friction measurements were performed on a walkway under the surface conditions of dry, water and 45% glycerol concentration. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness-of-fit test was used to determine if the distribution of the ACOF was a good fit with the normal, log-normal and Weibull distributions. The results indicated that the ACOF appears to fit the normal and log-normal distributions better than the Weibull distribution for the water and glycerol conditions. However, no match was found between the distribution of ACOF under the dry condition and any of the three continuous distributions evaluated. Based on limited data, a normal distribution might be more appropriate due to its simplicity, practicality and familiarity among the three distributions evaluated.     

The context of sexual violence: situational predictors of self-protective actions

While considerable research has examined the relative effectiveness of different types of self-protective actions in rape avoidance, little research has considered how the situational context of the assault affects women's choice of self-protective strategy. Through an examination of data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, this article examines the extent to which situational factors are independently related to the use of physical resistance, verbal resistance, as well as to lack of resistance. The results of the multinominal logistic regression analysis indicate that those who used verbal self-protective action were more likely to have been attacked at night, threatened with a weapon, and to be assaulted by a prior or current romantic partner than were those who chose physical resistance. Those attacked by a current or former intimate were also more likely to employ no resistance than they were physical resistance. Victims facing a substance-using assailant, however, were more likely to enact physical self-protection than to employ no resistance.     

Possible reasons for tax resistance in South Africa: A customised scale to measure and compare perceptions with previous research

Tax resistance takes two major forms, namely tax avoidance and tax evasion both of which diminish a government's tax receipts. Limited research on taxpayers’ perceptions has been conducted in South Africa. A study was undertaken in order to determine the perceptions of South African taxpayers about various aspects with regard to taxation. There are no standardised scales to measure taxpayers’ perceptions. The reasons for evading taxes, however, have been explored by both economists and psychologists. This article elaborates on the design of a measurement tool for determining taxpayers’ perceptions taking previous research into account. In addition, this article assesses whether findings from the current research substantiates earlier research. The results of the current study confirmed the majority of findings from past research. The significance of this study is emphasised, in that it builds on previous research, utilising insights from several disciplines and various theoretical perspectives.     

Mental illness as metaphor in Hua-ling Nieh and Li-hua Yu's Chinese-language American novels

Abstract

This article focuses on two fictional immigrant characters who appear in the Chinese-language American novels Sang Ching Yu Tau Hong (Mulberry and Peach) by Hua-ling Nieh and You Jian Zong Lu, You Jian Zong Lu (Palm Trees Again, Palm Trees Again) by Li-hua Yu respectively. Both protagonists suffer from identity crises that lead to mental disorders. These disorders, resulting partly from their immigrant experience, should be read as a metaphor for the damage that can be caused by discrimination and cultural dislocation, not as a statement that immigrants are somehow inherently unbalanced. A character's slip into mental illness may occur because of the character's mistreatment and subsequent inability to adjust, but the character's mental illness may also be seen as an active resistance to assimilation and as a reaffirmation of the character's 'Chineseness'.     

Anabolic responses to resistance training in older men and women: a brief review

Resistance training has been shown to be the most effective exercise mode to induce anabolic adaptations in older men and women. Advances in imaging techniques and histochemistry have increased the ability to detect such changes, confirming the high level of adaptability that remains in aging skeletal muscle. This brief review presents a summary of the resistance-training studies that directly compare chronic anabolic responses to training in older (>60 years) men and women. Sixteen studies are summarized, most of which indicate similar relative anabolic responses between older men and women after resistance training. Relatively small sample sizes in most of the interventions limited their ability to detect significant sex differences and should be considered when interpreting these studies. Future research should incorporate larger sample sizes with multiple measurement time points for anabolic responses.     

日本青少年蛰居的现状与对策

蛰居是日本较为严重的青少年问题和社会问题之一，是一种丧失社会行为、自我封闭的消极生活状态。目前，日本青少年蛰居的现状十分严峻，已出现了数十万规模的蛰居者。蛰居的表征相似，诱因和程度却千差万剐，且长期化和高龄化趋势日益增强。随着蛰居人数的增多、时间的延长及蛰居者年龄的增长，如何援助蛰居者，帮助其回归学校或社会，成为日本面临的重要课题之一。为此，日本政府、NPO法人等民间团体积极采取针对蛰居者及其家人的援助对策。     

Patient Abuse and Trauma: A Policy Analysis of the Regulation of Seclusion and Restraint in Mental Health Care

Historically, justifications for the seclusion and physical restraint of hospital patients have stereotyped individuals with mental illness as “dangerous” to themselves and others (Huckshorn, 2004a). It can be argued, however, that it is the policies that regulate the use of seclusion and physical and chemical restraints that are dangerous. This article analyzes the Patients’ Rights section of the Hospital Conditions of Participation (CoPs), Part 482 of CFR 42, including sub-sections: e. Standard: Restraint or seclusion; f. Standard: Restraint or seclusion: Staff training requirements; and g. Standard: Death reporting requirements. The set of CoPs regarding Patients’ Rights are analyzed from a value-critical, process-oriented perspective. This article proposes the following six-point framework as uniquely suited to evaluating 42 CFR 428.13: 1) introduction to the background and historical significance of the problem; 2) evaluation of the clarity and measurability of the goals and objectives of the policy; 3) overview of the intended impact of the policy; 4) examination of the value criteria; 5) examination of existing power struggles for those impacted by the policy; and 6) examination of the actual impact of the policy. Results of the policy analysis suggest that the policy does not go far enough to reach its stated goals and objectives in full. In the conclusions, suggestions for further protection of patients’ rights are provided. Examples of alternatives to restraint and seclusion are discussed. Finally, the grave importance of reshaping the culture of mental health care, in terms of life-and-death consequences, is considered.     

Development and validation of the Perceived Investment Value (PIV) scale

This study aims to develop a complementary and more comprehensive measurement to assess the nature of investment value affecting consumers’ investment behavior. Recent research suggests that consumers may desire and obtain certain outcomes from investments that have not been anticipated in mainstream finance and economics literature. These benefits might be hedonistic or altruistic, self-expressive or emotional and experiential. Yet, while an increasing amount of attention has been paid to this topic, little effort has been made to develop an appropriate measurement scale for the subjective consumer perceptions of investments. To address this gap in the literature, this study introduces the concept of Perceived Investment Value (PIV), and develops and validates a measurement scale for the concept. The ultimate 18-item PIV scale parsimoniously represents six Perceived Investment Value dimensions: Economic value—Monetary savings; Economic value—Efficiency; Functional value—Convenience; Emotional value—Emotions and Experiences; Symbolic value—Altruism; and Symbolic value—Esteem. The final measurement scale demonstrates acceptable reliability and validity. Implications related to the developed scale are discussed in terms of their potential to inform a future research agenda.     

Joint commission evaluation of behavioral health care organizations

The joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has accredited behavioral health care organizations since 1957. Accredited behavioral health care organizations include organizations providing services to persons with psychiatric disorders, substance abuse disorders, or developmental disabilities/mental retardation; or, provide social services to other related populations. In the late 1980s, the Joint Commission initiated the redesign of accreditation to include performance measurement. Performance measurement initiatives include the IMSystem, Requests for Indicators, National Library of Healthcare Indicators, and a national Council on Performance Measurement. These initiatives are steps toward the integration of performance measurement data into the accreditation process.     

Language,culture and access to mathematics: a case of one remote Aboriginal community

For many students, coming to learn mathematics is as much about the pedagogical relay through which concepts are conveyed as it is about the mathematics per se. This relay comprises social, cultural and linguistic norms as well as the mathematical discourse. In this study, I outline the practices of one remote school and how the teaching practices scaffold Indigenous learners whose home language is different from the language of instruction (Standard Australian English) as they come to learn mathematics. Through various strategies, teachers have created positive learning environments that celebrate the home languages of the students while supporting the transition into Standard Australian English and the discourse of mathematics.