Relationship between construction workers' musculoskeletal disorders and occupational health service activities

Construction work consists of numerous factors that influence workers' occupational health and that load the musculoskeletal system in particular. Musculoskeletal disorders are responsible for over a third of all sick leaves lasting over nine days in the construction industry. Occupational health services (OHS) were organized for 85% of the construction workers in our study. The proportion of construction workers who had suffered from chronic or repetitive neck and shoulder, shoulder or arm, or low-back disorders was 55.6%, 44.8% and 42.1%, respectively. Those who felt that they had received enough information, advice or guidance from OHS concerning work posture, work performance or work tools were more often those who had not suffered from shoulder or arm disorders (60.9% vs. 39.1%, p=.024, respectively) or low-back disorders (63.6% vs. 36.4%, p=.034, respectively) during the last month than those who had. Those who had received enough support from OHS concerning maintenance of work ability were more often workers who had not suffered from low-back disorders during the last month than those who had (63.3% vs. 36.7%, p=.004, respectively). OHS should focus more on workers who would really benefit from their activities at a particular time and in a particular situation (primary, secondary or tertiary prevention) and who are themselves devoted to improving their health.     

The social construction of reality in the artifacts of numeracy for distribution and exchange in a Nepalese Bazaar

This study explores street mathematics as they are embedded in the context of a governmental reorganization of the Nepalese bazaar. The forced introduction of the metric system caused merchants to organize a practice of mathematical conversions whereby the old system of measurement could be coordinated with the new allowing the merchants to comply with government requirements while responding to the public's distrust of the new system. The author argues that the invention and social organization of new artifacts for conversionfrom the old to the new system permitted the authority of the old system of measurement to be reconstructed in the new metric system. The social organization of the new system was an ideological practice which eventually “reified” or made real the new cultural artifacts in actual contexts of the institutionalized practice of distribution and exchange.     

Genetic estimations for body size characters, development period and development rate in a coccinelid beetle,Harmonia axyridis

Heritabilities and genetic correlations for body size characters and development period in a coccinellid beetle,Harmonia axyridis were estimated by a sib-analysis experiment. Positive genetic correlations were detected between size characters and development rate. If this is upheld in the field, genetic variation would be eliminated, as the loci affecting the characters are supposed to be fixed. However, the results indicated moderate heritabilities for all characters. Possible explanations for the results are discussed.     

Avian Flu and Embodied Global Imagery: A Study of Pandemic Geopolitics in the Media

Avian influenza is caused by viruses adapted to birds. The causative agents can, in rare cases, spread to humans, although no human-to-human transmission has been demonstrated. However, the mere possibility of mutation into a human form allowed for media, states and international organizations to speculate about the meaning of the disease's movement across species and localities. The hypothetical scenarios focused on national preparedness and resilience. Such imageries of elastic and shock absorbing communities offer insights into how diseases are used to contain and border in an age of vanishing boundaries and interconnected global reaches. This study tracks the historical trajectory of public cognitions regarding avian flu as it turned from an ordinary livestock disease into a hyperbolic mutable ‘killer disease’. Excerpts from articles carried in The New York Times and Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish mainstream daily, are used to map how the disease turned into a register of the hostilities inherent in the world. In the American public cognition, the tangible disease threat was triggered when the dangers of mutation were associated with China. For the small peripheral Finland, the pandemic scare instigated public imaginaries of a resilient and efficient Nordic society.

La influenza aviar es causada por virus adaptados a los pájaros. En casos raros, los agentes causativos pueden propagarse a humanos, aunque no se ha demostrado ninguna transmisión entre humanos. Sin embargo, la simple posibilidad de mutación a una forma humana, permitió a los medios, estados y organizaciones internacionales especular sobre el sentido del movimiento de la enfermedad entre las especies y localidades. Los escenarios hipotéticos se enfocaron en la preparación y resistencia nacionales. Tales imágenes de comunidades elásticas y absorbentes de impactos ayudan a comprender mejor cómo se usan las enfermedades para contener y colindar fronteras en una época que están desapareciendo y de extensa interconexión global. Este estudio sigue la trayectoria histórica de conocimiento público respecto a la gripa aviar cuando pasó de una enfermedad ordinaria de ganado a una ‘enfermedad mortal’ hiperbólica mutable. Extractos de artículos publicados en el New York Times y el Helsinki Sanomat, un diario finlandés predominante, se usaron para representar cómo la enfermedad se convirtió en un registro de las hostilidades inherentes en el mundo. En el conocimiento americano, la amenaza tangible de la enfermedad se desencadenó cuando los peligros de la mutación fueron asociados con China. Para la pequeña Finlandia, el susto pandémico instigó la imaginación pública de una resistente y eficiente sociedad nórdica.

禽流感是由鸟类携带的病毒引起的。尽管目前还未发现人到人传播的案例,但在某些罕见的情况下,这些病原体可以传染给人类。尽管如此,仅仅是能变异为人类病毒的可能性就足以让媒体、国家和国际组织思考这种跨物种和地域的病毒传播的后果。这种假想关注国家的准备情况和应变能力。这种关于具有弹性和能吸收震荡的社会的意象让我们能够洞察,在一个边界正在消失、各领域相互联系的时代中,疾病可以如何被用来阻止国家边界的消失并界定国家边界。禽流感已经从一种普通的家畜疾病变为一种夸张的可变异的致命疾病。本文追踪了这一公众认知变化的历史轨迹。通过刊登在《纽约时报》和芬兰主流日报《赫尔辛基新闻》上的文章节选,本文表明了禽流感是如何变为各国固有敌意的记录器的。在美国的公众认知中,禽流感在中国的变异危险导致了这场有形的疾病威胁。对于处于边缘的小国芬兰而言,这种禽流感大流行的恐慌驱使公众想象一个灵活高效的北欧社会。

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Strategic versus non-strategic voting power in the EU Council of Ministers: the consultation procedure

This article evaluates the distribution of power within the Council of the European Union from the a priori perspective of constitutional design using two distinct approaches: (1) applying traditional voting power indices; (2) carrying out strategic equilibrium analysis of the EU’s consultation procedure. It clarifies why both approaches lead to different power indications, and investigates the determinants of the differences’ magnitudes. Depending on one’s assumptions about behavior of the consultation procedure’s agenda setter, the European Commission, traditional indices turn out to deliver a good approximation also of relative strategic power in the Council.     

Returns to scale vs. damages to scale in data envelopment analysis: An impact of U.S. clean air act on coal-fired power plants

This study proposes a use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure Returns to Scale (RTS) of US coal-fired power plants. The power plants produce not only desirable outputs (e.g., electricity) but also undesirable outputs (e.g., CO₂ and NO_x) as a result of their plant operations. Therefore, the proposed use of DEA also measures a new concept, or “DTS: Damages to Scale” (corresponding to RTS for undesirable outputs). Both scale measures discussed in this study are a quick-and-easy approach for assessing RTS and DTS, but not an exact method, because it does not consider a direct linkage between the two measures. This study applies the proposed approach to examine the legal validity of U.S. Clean Air Act (CAA). We find that the CAA has been legally effective and influential on the operation of coal-fired power plants in the United States because their plant operations belong to increasing RTS on a desirable output and increasing DTS on three undesirable outputs. The increasing DTS indicates a need for managerial improvement and/or engineering innovation such as advanced clean coal technology. This empirical result implies that U.S. federal and state governments need to expand the legal scope of CAA to the emission control of CO₂ because the current CAA excludes the regulation on CO₂ emission that is now considered as a main source of the global warming and climate change.     

PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AVAILABILITY AND COPING BEHAVIORS AMONG GAY MEN WITH HIV

Analyzing face-to-face, semistructured interviews, we discuss how perceptions of social support availability are formed among gay men coping with HIV. Experiences of receiving support increased perceived availability for specific types of support from specific individuals, but receiving support also gave these men a general sense that someone would be available for assistance. Other aspects of social relationships, such as closeness and role expectations, contributed to gay men's perceptions of support availability. The results suggest that when people with common problems cope together, collective knowledge of support availability may emerge from observations of others' support exchanges as well as from discussions of support experiences. Individuals or groups of individuals may actively create and modify their perceptions of support availability when they cope with anticipated problems. Thus, the study provided an opportunity to integrate concepts of coping and social support into the collective action and social constructionist frameworks.     

Does shift work lead to poorer health habits? A comparison between women who had always done shift work with those who had never done shift work

Shift work has been reported to predict health problems, and a possible explanation is that shift work may lead to poorer health habits, thereby increasing a person's vulnerability to illness. This study examined the association between shift work and health habits, as indicated by smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity and by being overweight. A questionnaire was sent to all 2795 female nurses working in the 10 hospitals of two Finnish health care districts. From the 2299 respondents, we selected those 506 shift workers who reported having always done shift work and those 183 day workers who had never done shift work. Shift workers were found to smoke more and to be overweight more often than day workers. These differences gradually increased in each successive age group, being 1.94 pack-years in smoking and 0.9 kg m^-2 in body mass index among nurses over 45 years of age. Shift work was not associated with alcohol intake or sedentary lifestyle. This evidence is compatible with the possibility that shift work in nurses increases smoking and being overweight to a degree that contributes to health problems, including coronary heart disease.     

Scheduling algorithms for computer-aided line balancing in printed circuit board assembly

Generalized flexible flow line (GFFL) is a scheduling environment comprising several machine banks which the products visit in the same order but can skip some machine banks. The type of machines in a bank can differ but they are suitable for performing the same manufacturing tasks. To change one product to another demands a set-up operation of the machine. This paper describes several scheduling algorithms for the GFFL problem. The overall structure of these algorithms is similar, consisting of machine allocation and sequencing phases. The algorithms have been integrated into an interactive production scheduling system for electronics assembly. Sample cases are used to illustrate the operation of the system in practice.