Sexual practices and the duration of last heterosexual encounter: findings from the Australian longitudinal study of health and relationships

This study investigated the association between sexual practices and duration of a sexual encounter. Using data from a population-based computer-assisted telephone survey of 8,656 Australians aged 16 to 64 years, four distinct patterns of sexual practices among respondents were found: "basic sexual encounter" (involving mainly kissing, cuddling, stroking one's partner and being stroked, and vaginal intercourse), "basic sexual encounter plus oral sex," "all assessed sexual practices" (all sexual behaviors included in the survey), and "mainly vaginal intercourse" (characterized by lower levels of kissing, cuddling, and stroking). For both men and women, respondents classified in the basic sexual encounter plus oral sex, and all assessed sexual practices clusters reported significantly longer durations than those in the basic sexual encounter group, whereas respondents in the mainly vaginal intercourse cluster reported shorter durations. These differences were found even after allowing for demographic differences in sexual duration-specifically, age and partner type of the most recent opposite-sex partner. These findings add to the understanding of what typically happens in a sexual encounter. Overall, longer sexual encounters appear to be associated with the inclusion of the least common sexual practices-namely, oral sex and self-stimulation.     

The Efron dice voting system

About 50?years ago, Efron noted some counterintuitive properties of the long-term behavior of contests involving dice. For instance, consider the 6-sided dice whose sides are labeled (4,4,4,4,0,0), (3,3,3,3,3,3), (6,6,2,2,2,2), and (5,5,5,1,1,1). Each die has a 2/3 probability of rolling a higher number than the next one in the list and the last has the same 2/3 probability of rolling a higher number than the first. The non-transitivity of games involving non-identical dice was popularized by Gardner (Sci Am, 223:110–114, 1970). Although Gardner and other authors have observed that non-transitive dice serve to illustrate the complexities of the theory of voting, it does not seem that much attention has been paid to the corresponding voting system. Our purpose in this article is to present this voting system and compare its properties with those of other voting systems. One of the most interesting properties is the fact that cancellation with respect to the Efron dice voting system can replace cancellation with respect to pairwise preferences in Young’s characterization of the social choice function associated with the Borda Count.     

A comprehensive literature review of the pelvis and the lower extremity FE human models under quasi-static conditions

Finite Element Modeling (FEM) has become a vital tool in the automotive design and development processes. FEM of the human body is a technique capable of estimating parameters that are difficult to measure in experimental studies with the human body segments being modeled as complex and dynamic entities. Several studies have been dedicated to attain close-to-real FEMs of the human body (Pankoke and Siefert 2007; Amann, Huschenbeth et al. 2009; ESI 2010). The aim of this paper is to identify and appraise the state-of-the art models of the human body which incorporate detailed pelvis and/or lower extremity models. Six databases and search engines were used to obtain literature, and the search was limited to studies published in English since 2000. The initial search results identified 636 pelvis-related papers, 834 buttocks-related papers, 505 thigh-related papers, 927 femur-related papers, 2039 knee-related papers, 655 shank-related papers, 292 tibia-related papers, 110 fibula-related papers, 644 ankle-related papers, and 5660 foot-related papers. A refined search returned 100 pelvis-related papers, 45 buttocks-related papers, 65 thigh-related papers, 162 femur-related papers, 195 knee-related papers, 37 shank-related papers, 80 tibia-related papers, 30 fibula-related papers and 102 ankle-related papers and 246 foot-related papers. The refined literature list was further restricted by appraisal against a modified LOW appraisal criteria. Studies with unclear methodologies, with a focus on populations with pathology or with sport related dynamic motion modeling were excluded. The final literature list included fifteen models and each was assessed against the percentile the model represents, the gender the model was based on, the human body segment/segments included in the model, the sample size used to develop the model, the source of geometric/anthropometric values used to develop the model, the posture the model represents and the finite element solver used for the model. The results of this literature review provide indication of bias in the available models towards 50th percentile male modeling with a notable concentration on the pelvis, femur and buttocks segments.     

Burnout syndrome, working conditions, and health: a reality among public high school teachers in Brazil

The objective of the study was to evaluate the occurrence of Burnout Syndrome in 100 teachers of six public high schools and its correlation with working conditions in a southeast city of Brazil. Characterization of the sample occurred after application of a socio-demographic questionnaire. Evaluation of the working conditions was done by means of an Ergonomic Working Analysis. The presence of Burnout Syndrome was evaluated by means of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The sample presented the predominance of women, with an average age of 40.4 and the majority married with children. Roughly 50% had less than 10 years of service, and more than half of the teachers taught more than 18 classes per week. Hoarseness after work was principally reported among women, which required many days off for health treatment. Environmental conditions reflect inadequacy in relation to noise, light, humidity and temperature. Presence of pain in the upper limbs was especially high among women. Risk of musculoskeletal disorders in the upper limbs predominated as moderately important to significant. We also identified an average distance walked by teachers of 1.5 Km and an average of 4.2 Kg of school supplies carried between classes. The Burnout Syndrome presented a high score for depersonalization principally among men, but it has association with both sexes. Emotional exhaustion correlates with noise, depersonalization, and personal fulfillment, in addition to the high number of weekly lessons. It can be concluded that Burnout syndrome is present among teachers, principally in terms of depersonalization, deserving the attention of government officials and the schools, as well as the teachers themselves.     

Virtual reality based therapy for post operative rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy

Virtual reality is the use of interactive replication created with computer hardware and software to impart users with opportunities to engage in environments that appear to feel similar to real world objects and events. The commonest rehabilitation program of cerebral palsy children involves stretching, strengthening, mobilization and various other activities, whereas the use of virtual reality based training (VRBT) for rehabilitation of cerebral palsy is not common. To understand the effect of VRBT a study was formulated. Twenty nine subjects participated (study group--14 and control group--15). Outcome measures were MACS, PBS, level of participation, motivation, cooperation and satisfaction of the child. Results revealed that balance and manual ability were significantly improved in both the groups (Balance: study: t-2.28, p<0.05; control: t-3.5, p<0.01; Manual ability: study: t-5.58, p<0.001; control: t-7.06, p<0.001). PBS had significantly greater improvement in the study group (t-t-2.02, p<0.05). Level of participation, motivation, cooperation and satisfaction of the child were also reported to be significantly higher among the study group as compared with control group. To the author's best knowledge, this is the first study on using the VR-based therapy for the postoperative rehabilitation of children with CP which need further elaboration with larger sample size.     

Design recommendations for the creation of icons for the elderly

During employment of icons in order to represent system functions, specific user requirements from elderly people have not been scientifically gathered and thus will merely be considered during the process of system design. The survey, with explicit consideration of technology acceptance and experience of 120 elderly probands, looked into the comprehension of four different classes of non-animated graphical representations. It was shown that among elderly, the use of photos compared to pictograms or clip art leads to a significantly higher recognition rate. The mapping of actions rather than objects leads to a further reduction of the error probability and is thus, especially in the context of telemedicine, preferable for the target group.     

Cognitively automated assembly processes: a simulation based evaluation of performance

The numerical control of an experimental assembly cell with two robots--termed a cognitive control unit (CCU)--is able to simulate human information processing at a rule-based level of cognitive control. To enable the CCU to work on a large range of assembly tasks expected of a human operator, the cognitive architecture SOAR is used. The CCU can plan assembly processes autonomously and react to ad-hoc changes in assembly sequences effectively. Extensive simulation studies have shown that cognitive automation based on SOAR is especially suitable for random parts supply, which reduces planning effort in logistics. Conversely, a disproportional increase in processing time was observed for deterministic parts supply, especially for assemblies containing large numbers of identical parts. In this contribution, the effect of phase-shifts in deterministic part supply is investigated for assemblies containing maximal different parts. It can be shown that the concept of cognitive automation is as well suitable for these planning problems.     

Cognitive structure of occupational risks represented by a perceptual map

The main focus of risk management is technical and rational analysis about the operational risks and by those imposed by the occupational environment. In this work one seeks to contribute to the risk perception study and to better comprehend how a group of occupational safety students assesses a set of activities and environmental agents. In this way it was used theory sustained by psychometric paradigm and multivariate analysis tools, mainly multidimensional scaling, generalized Procrustes analysis and facets theory, in order to construct the perceptual map of occupational risks. The results obtained showed that the essential characteristics of risks, which were initially splited in 4 facets were detected and maintained in the perceptual map. It was not possible to reveal the cognitive structure of the group, because the variability of the students was too high. Differences among the risks analyzed could not be detected as well in the perceptual map of the group.     

Supporting the scholar role in intensive care nursing

This study investigates how future informatics applications can support and challenge intensive care nurses (ICU nurses) to grow and learn continuously. To this end a research-and-design tool is introduced which is based on a model of the nursing process that starts from the idea that a nurse fulfills three different roles: the role of practitioner (using information immediately to base actions upon), the role of scholar (using information later on to learn from) and the role of human (coping with stress and dealing with emotions). In this paper the focus is on the scholar role. Twenty-eight intensive care staff members from six different hospitals were asked to recount an imposing experience from the perspective of each role. Regarding the scholar role, the participants mentioned 77 learning strategies they adopt for individual as well as organizational learning. Individual learning concerned reflection on former patient cases, reflection on current patient cases to anticipate a change in the patient's condition and reflection on personal behavior and decisions. Organizational learning concerned reflection on former patient cases. Examples of specific strategies were formal team evaluations focused on procedure and understanding the perspective of team members, being present at autopsies, and giving feedback on the nursing skills of colleagues. Based on these strategies design implications are defined for future nursing informatics applications, which will be presented.     

Participatory design in lean production: which contribution from employees? For what end?

The proponents of lean production have pointed to the positive effects of the work organization on employees in terms of autonomy, enhanced skills and empowerment mainly by their participation into the continuous improvement of work process. But studies that have examined this issue suggest that the increase in autonomy is not sufficient to compensate for increases work intensity. Participatory design has grown extensively in manufacturing since the 1980's under the impulsion of the Scandinavian socio-technical system approach and it's central in the model of lean production performance. Its main objectives are to improve quality, increase productivity and safety through employee's participation to the reduction of non-value added activities, such as defined by lean production. In the line of the studies on participatory design and continuous improvement the present study examines the functioning of work groups, based on the kaizen model, the aim of which was to improve the proportion of "value-added activities" and working conditions, essentially physical constraints. The main results are consistent with the literature and show that accelerated forms of re-conception activities give employees limited room for maneuver to elaborate solutions based on the analysis of the real activity. This study is part of a broader initiative that goes in the direction of continuous improvement of the design process itself so that it integrates the real constraints of work and propose changes bases on work as it actually takes place, beyond pre-established performance goals bases on the reduction of "non added value activities".