Integrating ergonomics in design processes: a case study within an engineering consultancy firm

This paper reports on a case study within an engineering consultancy firm, where engineering designers and ergonomists were working together on the design of a new hospital sterile processing plant. The objective of the paper is to gain a better understanding of the premises for integrating ergonomics into engineering design processes and how different factors either promote or limit the integration. Based on a grounded theory approach a model illustrating these factors is developed and different hypotheses about how these factors either promote and/or limit the integration of ergonomics into design processes is presented along with the model.     

Universal design and accessibility: an approach of the influence of muscle strength loss in the risk of falls in the elderly

This study was conducted with older adults living in a long-stay institution in the city of Foz do Iguacu, Parana, Brazil with the objective of assessing the influence of muscle strength loss in the risk of falls. The sample consisted of 65 elderly who walk without the aid of support for locomotion, 37 women and 28 men, aged between 67 and 80 years. The risk of falls was assessed through the TUG test. To determine the handgrip strength, a hand dynamometer model Jamar ( was used, which provides the result in kg / force (kgf), being held only with the dominant hand. The results showed that in the last 12 months, only 32% of the elderly surveyed had no fall and the average handgrip strength was 24.32 ( 11.22 kgf; 40% had one fall and the average handgrip strength was 23.82 ( 10.18 kgf; 8% had two falls and the average handgrip strength was 19.48 ( 8.21 kgf and 20% had more than one fall and the average handgrip strength of 18.13 ( 7.33 Kgf., indicating that the force levels are statistically lower among elderly at high risk of falls (p> 0.05). It was concluded that the lower the force level, the greater the likelihood of falls. Thus, it is important to stress that due to the loss of muscle strength, all ergonomic hazards and architectural barriers must be removed so that older adults can perform their tasks more easily, with comfort and safety.     

Intermediary objects in the workspace design process: means of experience transfer in the offshore sector

The aim of this paper is to discuss the use of intermediary objects in the workspace design process of offshore accommodations module. The integration of ergonomics in the design process can lead to better work conditions, more effectiveness in the work process and less health and safety issues. Moreover, it is more efficient in terms of cost if ergonomics is considered from the initial phases of the project, as the potential costs of the redesign, the possible losses and the down-time in the operation of the platform would be more increased. The goal, then, is to discuss the integration of ergonomics and users involvement in the design process of accommodations modules, focusing on the transfer of information from reference situations by the use of intermediary objects during the process. In this paper we will present two tools developed to be used as intermediary object(s) aiming at transferring the experience from the use to the design in the specific field of offshore accommodations module.     

Aging and sexuality: how much do gynecologists know and care?

Enhanced knowledge and healthy attitudes toward aging sexuality can help promote the perception that full sexual expression is part of the entire extent of adulthood. We sought to determine gynecologists' knowledge and attitude regarding sexuality in older women. A total of 141 gynecologists in five hospitals responded to the survey: Aging Sexual Attitude and Knowledge Scale (ASKAS). No correlation was found between respondents' knowledge and attitude (r = .06, p = .54); no correlation found between respondents' age and knowledge (r = .20, p = .02), but 20% of the variance in attitude could be explained by age (beta 0.20, p = .02). Neither gender, ethnicity, level of training, nor hospital location demonstrated a significant correlation to either knowledge or attitude scores.     

Youth Substance Use in a Context of Family Homelessness

Objective

This study examines the relationship between family processes and youth substance use debuts among a sample of youth residing in urban family homeless shelters.

Method

Data regarding shelter experiences, youth and family characteristics, and the use of three substances (i.e., cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana) were gathered from a sample of youth (11-14 years) and their respective parents residing in an urban family homeless shelter system. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to examine the influences on youth substance use.

Results

Of the 198 youth included in the statistical analysis, 72% (n = 143) reported no substance use debuts, while 18% (n = 35) indicated one and 10% (n = 20) indicated two to three substance use debuts. Within the final model, greater substance use debut was associated with being older (13-14 vs. 11-12; OR = 7.5; 95% CI = 1.8-30.9) and stressors exposure (OR = 4.8; 95% CI = 1.5-14.7). Furthermore, youth of adult caretakers that reported low levels of the three family processes considered were almost four and a half more likely (OR = 4.4; 95% CI = 1.2-16.5) to have made two to three substance use debuts.

Conclusions

Family processes may be a particularly important intervention target toward reducing the rate of substance use among youth residing in urban family homeless shelters.     

Educational reversals and first-birth timing in sub-saharan africa: A dynamic multilevel approach

In many areas throughout sub-Saharan Africa, young adult cohorts are less educated than their predecessors because of declines in school enrollments during the 1980s and 1990s. Because a woman with little education typically becomes a mother earlier and has more children than one with better education, and because of a similar well-established relationship between current education and current fertility at the societal level, one might expect such education reversals to raise fertility. However, if there is an additional negative effect of low educational level among currently young women compared with that in the past, which would accord with ideas about the impact of relative deprivation, the total effect of an education reversal may run in either direction. This possibility has not been explored in earlier studies, which have taken a more static approach. We focus on the initiation of childbearing. Using Demographic and Health Survey data from 16 sub-Saharan African countries with multiple surveys, we estimate a fixed-effects multilevel model for first births that includes the woman's own education, community education, and community education relative to the past. There are negative effects of individual and community education, but no effect of relative education. Thus we conclude that education reversals do seem to speed up entry into parenthood.     

意识形态与预测

人们的生活不仅取决于过去(经验、遗产、传统)和现在(发展的水平、条件、需要),而且也取决于将来。所谓将来,指的是理想、志向和目的。因此。哲学家、经济学家、史学家对近期的和遥远的未来的兴趣经久不衰。马克思主义学者的许多著作对预测的认识论机制、个别社会生活领域和过程的预测(特别是有关科学技术和经济的预测)以及预测学的迫切问题进行过专门研究。可是与预测社会现象     

论第二次世界大战的根本转折

飘扬在柏林国会大厦屋顶上的那面红旗,标志着国际帝国主义反动势力在世界历史上的惨重失败,而希特勒德国就是这种反动势力的集中的突击部队。法西斯侵略者发动第二次世界大战妄想奴役人民,建立自已的世界霸权。他们认为摧毁苏联是达到这个目的基本条件。同时,反映最反动那一部分垄断资产阶级利益的德国法西斯主义,在反苏战争中追求阶级目的,妄图消灭世界上第一个社会主义国家。苏联伟大卫国战争是第二次世界大战中起决定作用的重要部分。这一时期,解决了历史发展的根本问题:必须实现社会主义,否则法西斯就要阻止进步和文明向前发展;人民和国家是要保持自己的独立,还是要处     

UNIVERSAL VERSUS ECONOMICALLY POLARIZED CHANGE IN AGE AT FIRST BIRTH: A FRENCH-BRITISH COMPARISON

France and the United Kingdom represent two contrasting institutional models for the integration of employment and motherhood, respectively the 'universalistic' regime type that offers subsidized child-care and maternity-leave benefits to women at all income levels, and the 'means-testing' regime type that mainly offers income-tested benefits for single mothers. Using the two countries as comparative case studies, we develop and test the hypothesis that the socio-economic gradient of fertility timing has become increasingly mediated by family policy. We hypothesize and find increasing polarization in age at first birth by pre-childbearing occupation between the 1980s and 1990s in the U.K. but not in France. Early first childbearing persisted in the U.K. only among women in low-skill occupations, while shifts towards increasingly late first births occurred in clerical/secretarial occupations and above. Increases in age at first birth occurred across all occupations in France, but this was still much earlier on average than for all but low-skill British mothers.     

Well-being of mid- and later-life mothers of children with developmental disabilities

This study examined the well-being of mid- and later-life mothers of developmentally disabled (DD) children. Mothers of DD children (n = 33) and mothers in a comparison group (n = 27) responded to a series of quantitative measures of well-being and open-ended questions. In general, quantitative results indicated lower levels of well-being for mothers of DD children. However, we examined these results within the contexts of educational and financial realities and access to adequate social support. Analysis of the qualitative data resulted in the themes of enhancements to well-being, challenges to well-being and normative experiences of being a parent. Results point to the need to further understand reciprocity in the mother-child relationships and the influence of severity of the developmental disability on mother's well-being.