Time and the Clocks Essay Example for Free

Time and the Clocks Essay Introduction It is well known that technology is very important aspect in human life and Critical Engagement with Technology class held lot of concepts and theories with regard to how to look at and understand technology that helped in changing some of the previous understandings. The class helped in developing the skills to be able to evaluate different approaches and ways of thinking in regards to understanding technology. Also to know the issues that impact the management of technology and how the technology influenced managers’ abilities to provide better management of both resources and people. The class also examined the drivers and factors that impacted technology implementation such as social, political, economic, among others. The new way of thinking about the technology and how it is driven was presented in class through several topics that was introduced such as: â€Å"Nothing New Under the Sun†, Historical Perspective on Technology The Industrial Revolution Technology as the Context for and Product of Human Endeavour Technological Determinism Social Shaping of Technology Management, Power and Technology The course further gave us the opportunity to pick a technology and ably what we learned in the class. Our case study that we picked talked about the clocks and how the society shaped the way of measuring time throughout history. The clock nowadays are technology that has been taken for granted. The focus of this case study is to show the importance of time measurement and how our life nowadays revolves around it. By going through history all the way from using the sun and stars to the development of clocks that neither lose nor gain one second in 200 million years to show how humanity searches for more accuracy by developing the tools to measure the time. Literature Review As mentioned earlier, the course provided us with lot of concepts and theories with regards to technology that in turns helped in understanding and facilitating of our case study. Concepts such as Technological Determinism and Social Shaping of Technology helped in carrying out our research and that is why it is important to define them. The idea of that technology development affect and shape the society is called Technological Determinism and it implies that the technology changes by following its own logic and come from outside society. Hard technological determinism which lays on simple cause-and-effect and not considering other factors such as economic, political, cultural, among others is considered as an oversimplified theory for the technological change. This was the common way of thinking that encourage the passive attitude toward technology change. It is worth mentioning that new technology are developed from an existing technology or a combinations of several existing technologies through a gradual change. Therefore, the social shaping of technology theory critique the technological determinism theory and suggests that society has more active attitude toward technology development in the since that society decides what and how to use it. Also the social shaping of technology theory consider other factors mentioned previously that affect the technology wheel of development (Mackenzie and Wajcman, 1999). Having said that, the distinguish between the two theories among the other topics learned in this course open our minds as well as provided us with better understanding of technology development. The Beginnings of the Clocks The movement of earth and its moon gave the indications for the year, month, and day. Human invented the hours, minutes and seconds as smaller units for the time. Middle East ancient civilization divided the day into 24 hours with 60 minutes an hour and 60 seconds a minutes. At the beginning there were the sundials and the water clocks that didn’t give exact time but rather represent the flow of time (Franz, 1978) (Dale, 1992). Before the mechanical clocks, people had many attempts to find a tool to measure time more accurately. The candle clock which was basically a candle with the hours marked on it was one device. Another device was the hourglass or sandglass that was used at sea and it required someone to stay next to it to flip it because each flip was counted as half an hour or an hour. Although both devices were used at night and that helped in solving the problem of the sundial that depends on the sun, another problem came to realization which was that these devices didn’t give the time of the day rather they only measured periods of time (Dale, 1992). People of ancient China, Babylon, and Egypt discovered the link between timekeeping and the positions of stars due to the fact that stars changes position in a regular pattern. This link motivated people to find new ways to measure time more accurately especially at sea (Dale, 1992). Pope Sylvester II invented the first mechanical clock in year 1000 and they spread among European cathedrals by 1300. They were used to inform people about the time they should go to church and that was the early use for them. Some of these clocks gave astronomical information and others had bells to call people (Sherman, 2005). It is interesting that an old mechanical clock that was built in 1386 is still working in England in Salisbury Cathedral. The small clocks didn’t come along until after the invention of mainspring and those clocks were built for wealthy people where they were considered as valuable possessions that they show off with. Marine Navigation When the magnetic compass were invented, it was used by sailors to steer the ships in an accurate direction, but compasses weren’t steady enough in rough weather and hence deciding the direction based on them was difficult. The Sextant was the next invention and it was the instrument used to measure the heights of the sun in order to calculate the ship’s latitude (May, 1973) (Cotter, 1977). All these instruments solve part of the problem because there were no means to measure the longitude and the position of the ships on the latitude was purely based on the sailors’ guess (Cotter, 1977). The speed of ships is measured by knots and it is based on an old method called the ‘Dead Reckoning’. After plotting the course using the compass, a rope with several knots on it with a log at the end of that rope were thrown overboard. Then a sandglass was used to measure the period. When it was time the rope was pulled and the knots were counted. Using this method sailors were able to calculate the distance they sailed (May, 1973) (Gould and Dyson, 1976). The compass, astrolabe and the dead reckoning were the only methods used by the great explorers like Ferdinand Magellan and Christopher Columbus and what is more interesting is that they didn’t have a particular destination when they discovered the new lands. These discoveries provided the opportunity of trading but another problem of navigation came up. No one was able to know how long the trip going to take or how much food they should take with them to feed the crew of the ship. Fresh food rotted before they reach their destination along with other problems caused by the poor navigation at that time. Knowing the longitude and better timekeeping was the answer. Cotter (1977) stated that the difference between the time readings in two different places will help in calculating the longitude. For this calculation to be possible a standard time was needed. Since Britain was the leading seafaring nation in the 17th century it decided to take the Royal Observatory at Greenwich as the standard time and the longitude passing through Greenwich became 0 degrees. At that time other countries took different places as mark 0 degrees. When the radio were used as the mean of communication between ships, Greenwich system was used internationally in 1884. Mechanical clocks provided more accurate measurement of time than candles or sandglasses, but still they were not accurate enough because the swinging of the pendulum was upset by the motion of the ships. The early mechanical clocks needed to be checked against other clocks or against the sun on a frequent bases. Sailors knew that they needed a clock that keep the accurate standard time even under that challenging conditions of the sea. According to Gould and Dyson (1976) the British government was alarmed by the fact that lots of ships both merchant and naval were lost due to the hazardous conditions of the Atlantic Ocean. And that is why the government announced a competition in 1714 with a prize of ? 20,000 for a chronometer with specific criteria. The British government wanted an accurate chronometer that gives the correct longitude reading within 55 kilometres after six weeks of sailing. In order to be that precise, the new chronometer must not loss nor gain more than three seconds per day also it should be able to cope with the conditions of the sea such as the salty sea air and the temperature and humidity changes. At that time no clock was able to achieve that accuracy and it was a big technical challenge. In 1759, John Harrison, who was a clockmaker, succeeded after three previous attempts in inventing the perfect chronometer. The chronometer was tested by Harrison’s son William when he sailed to Jamaica two years after the invention came to light. Harrison’s chronometer passed the test. It only lost an average of 2. 7 second a day and it was able to give an accurate longitude reading within 30 kilometres. It is worth mentioning that chronometers were not used generally until 1800 and this is because it was very expensive to build one. Navigation problems were solved by using the clocks and the seas became busy highways at that time (Gould and Dyson, 1976). Railways Time The industrial revolution was powered by the steam power as well as the revolution in transport where the railways spread quickly at that time. The main purpose of the railways was to transport coal although it was used to transport passengers too. By making the transport easier people’s lives has changed. In the early days of railways public clocks weren’t synchronized and there wasn’t a single standard time. The trains were separated and spread along the tracks using time intervals system and that caused problems for travellers as well as posed a safety hazard. With the introduction of railways time that used Greenwich Mean Time the public timekeeping has changed and that solved the problems of railways. Moreover, the demand for more accuracy in daily tasks were influenced by railway time. It is worth mentioning that it took the government 40 years since the introduction of railways time to legislate the standard time for Great Britain and that was in 1880 (Schivelbusch, 1986). The Industrial Revolution Commodities and industries were made in a different way in Europe after 1780 and that is why historians gave the name the industrial revolution. In this revolution, cheaper and faster machines replaced the costly and slow manual crafts. For example, cotton industry changed a lot, at first cotton was woven manually and it was considered as luxury but with the industrial revolution and the introduction of the new cotton mills, the production become faster and that caused the price to drop drastically for the product. Moreover, this movement puts lot of people out of work and the only thing that they could do at that time is to work in the mills. This movement also introduced many people to the important of time. Factories’ machines were kept running for long time during the day for the investors to gain the best return and it was important that workers arrive on time. Workers who came late were usually punished with a fine deducted from their weekly payments. At that time only few people had clocks to tell them the time other used the ‘knocker-up’ who was someone walking around and waking people to go to work (Cardwell and Cardwell, 2001). The method of workers payments changed due to this movement too. Before works used to earn fixed payments for a day of work but when the factories started to use the shift system workers started to be paid using hourly rate. This was possible with the invention of a machine that kept record of how many hours the worker actually worked. The worker had to stamp a card using that machine that showed the time of start and end. That process was called ‘clocking on-clocking off’ (Cardwell and Cardwell, 2001). Time Control Reeves and Duncan et al. (2001), Webster and Davies et al. (2011), and Borst (1993) agreed upon that ‘Time and motion study’ which was developed by Frederick Taylor in 1880 helped in studying different factories operations to speed them up by identifying what is really needed and that in return helped manufacturers to use their workers and machinery more efficiently. The concept of saving the time became an important one when the awareness of time increased. That concept pushed lot of technologies to be invented especially after the invention of electricity to replace the boring and routine tasks such as cleaning, washing clothes, among others. Another form of time control was the use of time switches which were basically a clock combined with a switch that enabled automatic turning on and off for the devices. More accurate clocks Wagner (2008) said that the work of most specialists such as engineers, physicists, among others depends heavily on precise time measurements. Nowadays, 300 atomic clocks at different laboratories are used to calculate global time. But researchers are pursuing more accuracy in time measurement and the results will replace the process of averaging the data from the atomic clocks. Researchers developed optical clocks that capture and measure the frequencies of strontium atoms (a chemical element with atomic number 38) by using the lasers. With the ability of the new clocks to measure the oscillation at higher frequency ranges, the results are clocks that measure time more accurately. Also these new clocks are expected to measure time in intervals much smaller than what the atomic clock that will help in giving the clock that ability to neither lose nor gain one second in a period of 200 million years (Wagner, 2008). Methodology Before us as a group decided on the topic in hand we had lot of discussions with lot of topics to talk about. After we reached an agreement we distributed the work and each of the members had to research a specific period in time to find out more about time and clocks. It was an interesting task that expanded my knowledge about the subject. After each member focused on the topic assigned our group met to share the findings. Comments were exchanged to further address the subject from different angles. The researches were done using books, online articles, and journals. The group met for the second time with the new findings and slides for the presentation. The presentation was put together and rehearsed. We didn’t have to meet as much because we used methods such as blogs and dropbox to share our work and discuss further. I was assigned with the topic regarding the marine navigation and the early problems and I found out that different resources agreed and have the same facts about the subject. Also I was able to dig deeper and find interesting facts with regards to other topics in this document that in turn helped me gain immense knowledge about the theories proposed as well as provided me with the comprehensive understanding I was seeking. Findings and Discussion I was able to carry out this case study and research with most open mind and with referring to the theories and topics learned in class. I found out that the clocks is considered as one of the oldest inventions in history and also how humanity is continuously seeking for more accuracy in regards to time measurement even nowadays. Also I found out how the concept of time measurement affect and pushed other technologies to emerge and how it was used in the industrial revolution era. It is clear that throughout history human had the same idea which was the important of measuring time. What differs was the development of the devices that measure the time in a more accurate manner. It is also observed that the development of the device depends on the same concepts of the previous ones but with better ways of doing it. Early sailors used land marks and stayed close to the land in order to find their way and to know their position. Then sailors become more adventurist over time and started to find new ways to help them navigate in the open sea. Methods such as astronomy observation helped in calculating the ships’ locations to work out the directions and set the course of the ship by using an instrument called the astrolabe. The astrolabe was the tool used by the ancient Greeks, but the biggest default was it needed a clear sky and it was only used at night. With the invention of the chronometer that solved the marine problems I felt that it was one of the breakthroughs in the world of clocks that help in measuring the time more precisely. It showed that the need of the accuracy in the time measurement was a social need to solve the problems rather than resulting from technological determinism. It is hard nowadays to find someone who doesn’t care about time. This is showed by the fact that everything in the modern life had something to do with time and clocks. For example, the personal computers where the clock is installed as a ship in the heart of the device to regulate the electrical signals (Borst, 1993), the use of the timer in the microwave, setting the alarm to go to work or school, transportation timetable, among other examples. Clocks is everywhere but as mentioned before, it is a technology taken for granted. Conclusion. The clocks development throughout history showed a true evident of the society shaping the technology changes with the need of finding ways to measure time more accurately. Also the history showed that the clocks came a long way and the development and researches for more accurate clocks is still going on. The clocks began with using the sun and the stars. Then they were used to count periods using water clocks, candle clocks, and sandglass clocks. After that mechanical clocks came to light with the use of gears and motion. And with the need for a clock to per the sea conditions and to give accurate longitude readings, the chronometer came about. Finally, reaching to the atomic clocks that we use nowadays to measure time and for the future the use of optical clocks that measure time with smaller intervals than ever. With the development of the clocks we can observe how people lives changed. Not forgetting about the disadvantages where some people suffer from something called ‘time stress’ and this is because we want to do lots of things and the clashes among them caused by the time constrains lead to stress. References Borst, A. 1993. The ordering of time. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cardwell, D. and Cardwell, D. 2001. Wheels, clocks, and rockets. New York: W. W. Norton. Cotter, C. 1977. The elements of navigation and nautical astronomy. Glasgow: Brown and Ferguson. Dale, R. 1992. Timekeeping. New York: Oxford University Press. Franz, M. 1978. Time. New York: Thames and Hudson. Gould, R. and Dyson, F. 1976. The marine chronometer. London: The Holland Press. Mackenzie, D. and Wajcman, J. 1999. Introductory essay: the social shaping of technology. The social shaping of technology, pp. 327. May, W. 1973. A history of marine navigation. New York: Norton. Reeves, T. C. , Duncan, W. J. Ginter, P.M. 2001, Motion study in management and the arts: A historical example, Journal of Management Inquiry, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 137-149. Schivelbusch, W. 1986. Railway journey. Berkeley: University presses of California. Top of Form Bottom of Form Sherman, J. 2005. How do we know the nature of time. New York: Rosen Pub. Group. Wagner, C. G. 2008, New Clocks: Its About Time, The Futurist, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 10. Webster, J. , Davies, H. , Stankiewicz, M. Fleming, L. C. 2011, Estimating the Time Involved in Managing the Unoccupied Bed: A Time and Motion Study, Nursing Economics, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 317-22.

Risk Factors for Musculoskeletal Symptoms in Sewing Tasks

Risk Factors for Musculoskeletal Symptoms in Sewing Tasks Title: Work-related psychosocial, physical and sociodemographic risk factors for musculoskeletal symptoms of the neck, shoulders and low back among workers engaged in sewing tasks Abstract Background: Neck/shoulder and back pain are highly prevalent among workers engaged in sewing activities, but their risk factors are controversial or not well-established. Methods: Data on sociodemographic and work-related factors and musculoskeletal pain (MSP) were based on questionnaire surveys of Iranian sewing workers (n = 632) (i.e. carpet weavers, shoe workers and sewing machine operators). Results: The prevalence of neck, shoulder and low back pain was 57.9%, 40.5% and 51.6%, respectively. The prevalence of neck/shoulder pain was higher among females and with increasing age. Working posture and fast working were independently associated with neck, shoulder and low back pain. Number of years worked as a sewing worker was associated with neck and low back pain. Long duration of continuous sitting work without a break was only associated with neck pain. Conclusions: The findings emphasise the importance of individual, physical and psychosocial aspects of sewing tasks in association with MSP and highlight the role of prevention in the workplace in order to reduce MSP. Keywords: hand-sewn; shoemaking; carpet weaving; sewing machine; MSDs Introduction Musculoskeletal pain (MSP) in the low back and neck/shoulders is a common cause of reduced quality of life, sick leave, and work disability in both industrialized and industrially developing countries (van der Windt et al. 2000; Picavet and Schouten 2003; McBeth and Jones 2007; Dianat and Salimi 2014). The risk and protective factors of these pains among different occupational groups, particularly in those involved in sedentary and repetitive activities, can be divided into physical, psychosocial, organizational and sociodemographic factors (Arià «ns et al. 2000; van der Windt et al. 2000; Linton 2001; Cà ´tà © et al. 2008; Dianat and Salimi 2014). Evidence suggests that neck/shoulder and back pain are highly prevalent among workers engaged in sewing activities. Previous epidemiological studies have shown a high prevalence of neck/shoulder and back pain among sewing machine operators (Serratos-Perez and Mendiola-Anda 1993; Roquelaure et al., 2002; Ãâ€"ztà ¼rk and Esin 2011), hand-woven carpet weavers (Motamedzade and Moghimbeigi 2012; Nazari et al. 2012) and hand-sewn shoe workers (Dianat and Salimi 2014). Such tasks are typically highly repetitive, which are performed in a seated working posture for a long period of time. The operations usually require the operator to lean forward (with a forward inclined posture of both head and trunk) to see the point of operation and have better visual control of the task. Such a working condition can impose excessive physical load on the musculoskeletal system, and may eventually lead to the development of MSP in the neck/shoulder and back area. Several previous studies have assessed MSP among occupations involving sewing operations such as shoe sewing machine operators (Serratos-Perez and Mendiola-Anda 1993; Roquelaure et al. 2002), garment sewing machine operators (Westgaard and Jansen 1992; Kaergaard and Andersen 2000; Ãâ€"ztà ¼rk and Esin 2011; Wang et al. 2007; Dianat et al. 2015), hand-woven carpet weavers (Motamedzade and Moghimbeigi 2012; Nazari et al. 2012) and hand-sewn shoe workers (Dianat and Salimi 2014), although the effects of risk factors are not consistent and conclusive. There are, for example, very few studies which have examined the association between working postures and MSP among sewing machine operators with some studies showing positive association (Dianat et al. 2015), while others show no association (Ãâ€"ztà ¼rk and Esin 2011). This also seems to be the case for other relatively similar occupations (i.e. carpet weaving and shoemaking) and their contributing risk factors. Therefore, to reduce m usculoskeletal pain, there is a need to improve the understanding of the risk factors associated with such complaints among this working population. Further research in this area will help to better understand the nature of those jobs involving sewing operation and to develop corrective measures and intervention strategies for this population. It also contributes more evidence to the debate and has the potential to inform work practises in other developing societies with similar occupational groups. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the occurrence of neck, shoulder and low back pain and their contributing sociodemographic and work-related (psychosocial and physical) risk factors among workers involved in different sewing activities. The intention was to place the discussion in a wider occupational context and use the findings to highlight areas that need more attention and to assist in introducing preventative measures and developing guidelines regarding safe working practices for those jobs involving sewing operation. Methods Study design and sample This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted in three provinces (East Azerbaijan, Kermanshah and Kordestan) in the western part of Iran. The study population consisted of those workers engaged in different sewing activities including hand-woven carpet weavers, hand-sewn shoe workers and sewing machine operators. Data on the number of workers and workshops in the study area was obtained from the Iranian Ministry of Industries and Mines. There were about 14,000 hand-woven carpet weavers, 7,000 hand-sewn shoe workers and 5,000 sewing machine operators in the study area who worked at approximately 1800, 1700 and 500 different workshops, respectively. Sampling was done using a multi-stage random selection process. In the first stage, the required numbers of workshops, which included 60 workshops from each of the three different occupational groups, were selected randomly (using probability proportion to size sampling method). Using the same procedure, participants were then selected from these workshops. The participants were familiarised with the study procedure and their questions were answered by the investigators. They each signed a written informed consent form before participation in the study. The study protocol was approved by the ethical review committee of the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Measures and data collection The data were collected using both questionnaire and direct observation of the participants during their work. Arrangements were made and then investigators visited the selected workshops for data collection. The questionnaire, administered by interviewing the participants, was composed of items on sociodemographic characteristics, work-related psychosocial and physical risk factors and musculoskeletal pain in the last month. Working postures were assessed through direct observation of participants’ postures at their workstations using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) method (McAtamney and Corlett 1993). Musculoskeletal pain The questions on MSP were adapted from the standardised Nordic Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire (Kuorinka et al. 1987). This questionnaire has been translated and revised into Persian language and has an established validity and reliability (Dianat et al. 2014; Dianat and Karimi, 2014). The participants were asked whether they had experienced pain in the neck, shoulders or low back lasting for more than 1 day during the previous month. The location of these anatomic areas was also demonstrated by a drawing in the questionnaire. The response alternatives were: No/Yes. Those participants who reported MSP in any of these body areas were asked to rate its severity using a scale of 1 – very low pain to 5 – very high pain. Disruption of normal activities due to MSP (No/Yes) was also included. Sociodemographic and work-related factors The sociodemographic details included age, gender, height, weight, body mass index (BMI as weight/height2), educational level (Illiterate, Primary school, Secondary school, and Diploma), marital status (Single, Married), being involved in regular sport and physical activities each week (for at least 30 min) (No/Yes) and smoking habits (No/Yes). The questions regarding the work-related psychosocial and physical factors were based on prior knowledge and a literature review (Westgaard and Jansen 1992; Kaergaard and Andersen 2000; Wang et al. 2007; Ãâ€"ztà ¼rk and Esin 2011; Dianat and Salimi 2014) and included daily working hours, number of years worked as a sewing worker, having a second job (No/Yes), perceived speed of work (asking ‘Does your work require you to work very fast? No/Yes), duration of continuous work without a break (> 10 min) (asking ‘How many hours do you usually work without breaks (breaks > 10 min)?’), perceived pressure due to work (asking ‘Do you feel pressure due to work? No/Yes’) and job satisfaction based on the question: ‘How much are you satisfied with your job? Low, Moderate, High’. The questionnaire was tested in a pilot study on a sample of 65 participants in order to obtain feedback on the content, clarity and wording of the items of the questionnair e. The test-retest reliability (stability) of the items of the questionnaire was also good (Kappa coefficients ranged from 0.80 to 0.98). Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) (McAtamney and Corlett 1993) was used to assess the working postures of operators at their workstations. The RULA is a reliable and validated observational method for assessing biomechanical and postural loading on the musculoskeletal system of operators which is known to contribute to MSP. This method gives a score for each body part, where combinations of individual scores for upper arm, lower arm and wrist are called score â€Å"A†, those for neck, trunk and leg give score â€Å"B†, and the final score is called â€Å"grand score† which indicates the musculoskeletal loading associated with the operator’s posture. The original version of RULA checklist has been translated and revised into the Persian language and has shown to be valid and reliable (Dianat and Salimi 2014). The observations and recordings of working postures were performed by two trained observers. The inter-rater reliability of the RULA scores was also found to be good (Kappa coefficients ranging from 0.82 to 0.99). Statistical analysis The analysis of the data was performed using SPSS software (version 17.0; SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Sociodemographic data and work-related characteristics of the study participants were tabulated. Logistic regression models with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were developed to estimate the effects. The relationship between prevalence rates and study variables (sociodemographic and work-related characteristics) was initially assessed using univariate binary logistic regression analysis. The variables in the logistic regression analyses included sociodemographic (age, gender, BMI, educational level, marital status, smoking and being involved in regular sport/physical activities each week) and work-related characteristics (daily working hours, number of years worked as a sewing worker, having a second job, perceived speed of work, duration of continuous work without a break, perceived pressure due to work and job satisfaction) as well as three RULA scores including RULA score A (arm/wrist score), RULA score B (neck/trunk/leg score) and final RULA grand score. Multiple logistic regression analysis (using backward stepwise procedure) was also performed to estimate the association between independent variables and the reported neck, shoulder and low back pain in the multivariate context. The study variables were theoretically of equal importance, and therefore an equal role was assigned for all of them in the regression models without any adjustment. The assumptions of the models (including the presence of outliers and collinearity) were checked and the fit of the models was confirmed by the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test. P Discussion The aim of the present study was to evaluate the occurrence of MSP and their contributing risk factors among sewing workers in a wider occupational context. One of the main findings of the study was that the prevalence of MSP was considerably high among the study population with 76.2% of the sample reporting this, and of these 68% had more than one site of discomfort or pain. This finding provides further evidence that musculoskeletal pain and discomfort is a major problem in this group of workers. More than one-third of the respondents reported disruption of normal activities due to MSP. Individual factors including gender (being female), age (> 30 years old) and lower educational level were independently associated with the occurrence of MSP. Work-related variables such as the number of years worked as a sewing worker (> 20 years for the neck and > 10 years for the low back pain), duration of continuous sitting work (> 2 h) without a break, fast working and working postures were al so found to be independently associated with the occurrence of MSP among sewing workers. There were several notable findings regarding the relation of individual factors to MSP. The results of the present study indicated that gender was a significant factor for neck and shoulder complaints, so that females experienced such complaints more frequently than males. This is similar to the findings of Wang et al. (2007), who reported a higher prevalence of neck/shoulder pain in female sewing machine operators than in males. It was also shown that age was significantly positively associated with neck and shoulder pain. It has been acknowledged that better understanding of the task characteristics may provide an insight into the job (re)design to support the user needs of older working population in future (Stedmon et al. 2012). Moreover, the findings indicated that workers with a higher educational level were less likely to report shoulder and low back pain than other workers. This supports the finding of a study conducted among hand-sewn shoe workers (Dianat and Salimi 2014). As shown in this study, working posture was an important risk factor for the neck, shoulders and low back pain among sewing workers. This finding provide further evidence that the sewing operations involve frequent head and trunk bending movements over the duration of the task, and therefore imposes unacceptable postural loading on the upper body and limbs. Our findings indicated that the RULA scores for the workers’ upper and lower arm/wrist scores (score A), neck/trunk/legs scores (score B), and the grand scores were relatively high. The relatively high RULA scores in this study highlights that the working postures of the workers were constrained by both the visual and the manual aspects of the sewing tasks, and that the design of the sewing workstations had a significant influence on the postures adopted. This emphasises that in most cases the workers’ postures at their workstations need to be investigated and some changes are required immediately. These findings are in part consistent with several previous reports of poor working postures (assessed by the RULA method) among workers involved in sewing machine operating (Ãâ€"ztà ¼rk and Esin 2011; Teodoroski et al. 2012; Dianat et al. 2015) or hand-sewn shoemaking tasks (Dianat and Salimi 2014). The results also suggest that there is a need to consider other work-related physical and psychosocial aspects of sewing tasks. Interestingly, our findings indicated that perceived speed of work (i.e. fast working) was another independent factor that was positively associated with the occurrence of MSP in all studied body regions (i.e. neck, shoulder and low back areas) among sewing workers. This finding may be attributed to the fact that these workers were paid based on the number of items they completed and this provided an incentive to work at high speed without adequate rest breaks. Moreover, the finding indicated that years of employment as a sewing worker was positively associated with the presence of symptoms in the neck and low back areas, which is in agreement with several previous observations (Kaergaard and Andersen 2000; Wang et al. 2007; Dianat and Salimi 2014). It is also interesting to note that the sewing workers in this study had frequent periods of long duration of sewing work without breaks (i.e. sitting in one place in a static or non-moving position for more than 2 hours), but this was only associated with the occurrence of neck complaints. The results from some previous studies suggest that the long duration of sitting work without a break may increase the risk for neck/shoulder pain among different occupational groups (Wang et al. 2007; Johnston et al. 2008; Dianat and Salimi 2014), and that regular rest breaks may reduce the risk for such complaints (McLean et al. 2001). Therefore, sewing workers should be advised to take regular rest breaks in order to minimise exposure and to help recovery from static and awkward postures. The present study has an advantage that the observer error was controlled by using two trained interviewers in comparison to studies in which there were separate observer for each case. However, the findings presented should be interpreted in the context of the cross-sectional study design. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of both individual and work-related aspects of sewing tasks in association with MSP. Thus, in addition to the work-related factors, it might be useful to consider individual factors (such as age, gender and education) as potential confounders in future analysis of MSP among this working group. Conclusions In conclusion, the main finding of the study was that neck, shoulder and low back pain are frequent in workers involved in different sewing activities. The findings highlight the importance of both individual and work-related (psychosocial and physical) aspects of sewing tasks in association with MSP and emphasis the need for ergonomic interventions for improving the working conditions of this working group. Working posture and fast working were found to be as important predictors of MSP in all studied body regions. Number of years worked as a sewing worker was also shown to increase the risk for neck and low back pain among sewing workers. However, long duration of continuous sitting work without a break was only associated with the occurrence of neck pain. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that working postures of sewing workers should be improved through workstation design for sewing tasks (i.e. based on workers’ anthropometry). Moreover, workers involv ed in these tasks should also be advised to take regular rest breaks in order to alleviate exposure and also to aid recovery from unhealthy working postures. These findings highlight the role of prevention in the workplace in order to reduce MSP.

Essays --

Economics is an integral part of society whether this involves governments allocating scarce resources or individuals deciding on how to spend their limited income; utilizing limited resources is such a pervasive part of everyday life. Pondering upon this it is easy to sort out how everything is related to economics. Every shop we pass by, every argument we hear, our precedence; everything is linked with economics. It is this omnipresent nature of economics that captured my interest. My interest in economics came forth when I first studied it at my GCE O Levels. I was astounded by how accurately economic theories describe what happens around us in our everyday lives and how even the most minor decisions that we make are governed by economics. Every time I pick up a newspaper or watch the news, economics is there. The opportunity to study this diverse and dynamic subject is a huge desire and ambition of mine, as it plays such a big role in the world we live in and impacts upon everyon e and everything. My passion for Economics was dampened when I discovered that Mathematics, my least favorite subject, was going to be an essential part of further studies in economics. I used to detest Mathematics and never practiced it, but a few months before my GCE O level exam I realized that I had to do achieve a good grade in Mathematics to realize my dream of a degree in economics. My passion for economics compelled me to focus on Mathematics and my efforts were rewarded with an A star in my GCE O Level result. I, grudgingly, took Mathematics as an A level subject, but my new teacher encouraged me and coaxed out my innate potential, I discovered that I had a flare for Pure Mathematics and since then i have not achieved a grade lower than an A... ...lization at work. This experience also enhanced my management and communication skills. I spend my leisure time in playing football, reading books, swimming, watching movies and playing games. I have a secret passion for acting and am very impressed by Hollywood. I once participated in a play and earned an honorable mention. I have never before considered acting seriously but now I feel that if I focus on honing my acting ability I can become a good actor. Today I stand as a vigilant student looking forward to a deserved, a chance to contribute to Economic progress and to deliver my knowledge to others to the fullest extent possible. I really look forward to exploring Economics at university level and using my talent talents in Economics to flourish my career. It would be highly inspirational to get recruited as a student of Economics in your prestigious institute.

Online Communities - Chat Rooms and Discussion Boards Essay example --

Online Communities - Chat Rooms and Discussion Boards To those who have never experienced an online community they may seem pointless, a waste of time or simply childish. However, for those that have expanded beyond the traditional means of communication such as, talking on the telephone or conversing face-to-face, online communities offer a new and exciting means of communication. They offer a chance to meet others, gain advice, voice an opinion, defend an argument, or to simply relax and have a little fun. Acknowledging both points of view, I decided to explore the world of online communities for myself. For my online community I decided to enter a Yahoo, country music, chat room. Through Yahoo, there were many different chat rooms you could enter ranging from sports, to current events. However, I choose to enter the country music room because I have listened to country music all my life and I thought who I would best relate to those that would be in a country music room. Within the country music topic there were fourteen different rooms; I choose room four because it contained the most people: 44 active members. Therefore, I assumed that it would be the most active. Inside the chat room I was surprised at what I found. The first thing that I noticed was the names of the chatters. Each had some sort of country name such as, â€Å"rodeocowgirl† or â€Å"bullridingcowboy.† While looking through the conversations that were occurring I noticed that no one was discussing country music. In fact, the entire time I was in the chat room the topic rarely even appeared. I tried writing a post that said, â€Å"Does anyone know who sang the song ‘Thunder Rolls’?† About five minutes later, I received a response that said â€Å"Garth ... ...meone could become obsessed. Everyone seemed to know each other so well and it seemed as if chatting through this chat room was their way of socializing. Granted these individuals were not gaining an educational aspect from the chat room, however, they were gaining a sense of being part of something. They could express feeling, express viewpoints, vent anger or simply socialize with out being judged. No matter what was said within the chat room participants returned the next day eager to socialize. Chatting online is a huge part of these people’s lives; online communities are their source of interaction. Some people value face-to-face communication and some turn to more recent forms of technology. In my opinion your communication selection should fit your own personal needs. You should use whatever source you find most convenient, efficient, and comfortable.

Guilt In The Scarlet Letter And The Crucible Essay example -- Essay on

The presence of guilt has been felt by all human beings. As guilt grows in a person’s life it eventually begins to have a deteriorating effect on the individual. In both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible more than one of the characters are experiencing some form of guilt and the effects of the public’s opinion on their own personal sins. Each character’s guilt originates from a different personal problem and with each character’s guilt comes a different reaction. Miller and Hawthorne use the source of guilt, the actions resulting from it and the eventual consequences to portray the concept of a guilty conscience to the reader.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each character’s guilt originates from a different source. Through different characters, Hawthorne and Miller display guilt and it’s source to the reader. In both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible the use of relationships between a man and a woman are used as a primary source of guilt. Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale and Hester, and Miller uses Proctor and Elizabeth. The men in both cases are experiencing guilt involving mistakes made sexually. Dimmesdale, who is a highly respected priest has a sinful relationship with a married woman, and Proctor, a married man, falls for a young girl and commits adultery. With Dimmesdale, his guilt stems from the concealment of his sin. He watches Hester as she confesses and for seven years he agonizes over it, while he still remains innocent in the eyes of all. However with Proctor, he confesses to his wife right away. In an argument with his wife he says, â€Å"’ I should have roared you down when you first told me of your suspicion. But I wilted, and like a Christian, I confessed!†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢(55). The guilt that Proctor feels comes, not from a secret that he is keeping, but from â€Å"’The magistrate that sits in his heart†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢(55), as Elizabeth puts it. With the women in these relationships, their guilt has a less drastic origin. Elizabeth knows that she has not committed any sin that can compare to her husband’s, but she admits that â€Å"’it needs a cold wife to prompt lechery†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (137). Even though John has committed the ultimate sin against... ...t that he was experiencing can be seen in two different lights. It eventually brought him to confession in the court, and the tarnishing of his good name. However, his confession was strictly to protect his wife, so his guilt could be seen also as a final reconciliation between Proctor and Elizabeth. Guilt has the capability of doing permanent damage to a person, and in both novels, the authors use guilt as a very negative force in a person’s life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible, guilt is portrayed in similar ways. Both authors use the concept of guilt to imply the idea that guilt has the capabilities to produce reactions in people that in most situations aren’t the same. The result of a guilty conscience can be used as a positive or negative force in a person’s life and through the characters in both novels, this idea is made apparent. The cause of guilt, the reactions to the guilt, and the consequences resulting from the guilt are all used by Hawthorne and Miller to show the contrasting ways of handling personal guilt in a person’s life.

Dark Chocolate Essay

Chemistry Central Journal brings even more good news for chocolate lovers, stating that dark chocolate contains more flavanols and polyphenols than fruit juice. â€Å"Cacao seeds are a ‘Super Fruit’ providing nutritive value beyond that of their macronutrient composition,† said Dr Debra Miller. Chocolate and Blood Pressure The important thing is that the antioxidants in dark chocolate can significantly reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension. According to researchers from the University of Adelaide, flavanols promote vasodilation, which may consequently lower blood pressure. â€Å"There have, however, been conflicting results as to the real-life effects of eating chocolate. We’ve found that consumption can significantly, albeit modestly, reduce blood pressure for people with high blood pressure but not for people with normal blood pressure.† added Dr Karin Ried, who is program manager and research fellow of the PHCRED (Primary Health Care Research Evaluation & Development) program at The University of Adelaide. The analysis concluded that the pressure reduction caused by chocolate consumption was comparable to the effects of 30 minutes of daily physical activity. Chocolate and Cirrhosis There are also potential benefits for liver disease patients. Spanish scientists found that eating dark chocolate lowers blood pressure in the liver and reduces damage to the blood vessels of patients with cirrhosis. A study which was presented at the International Liver Congress 2010 divided 21 cirrhotic patients with end stage liver disease into two groups. The first group received liquid meal containing dark chocolate, while the participants in the second group were getting liquid meal with white chocolate devoid of anti-oxidant properties. As a result, the patients receiving dark chocolate experienced a noticeable reduction of post-prandial increase in blood pressure in the liver. one Square Is Enough However, it is not necessary to eat huge quantities of chocolate in order to experience all the health benefits. In fact, just one small square a day may be enough to experience the health benefits chocolate is offering. A study performed in Germany that compared 19 357 individuals found that those who ate the most amount of chocolate (an average of 7.5 grams a day) were at a 39% lower risk of developing a heart attack than people with the lowest (1.7 grams) chocolate intakes. To put things into perspective, the six grams of difference are the equivalent of one small square of a typical 100g chocolate bar. â€Å"Our hypothesis was that because chocolate appears to have a pronounced effect on blood pressure, therefore chocolate consumption would lower the risk of strokes and heart attacks,† explains Dr Brian Buijsse from the German Institute of Human Nutrition, who led the research. â€Å"Small amounts of chocolate may help to prevent heart disease, but only if it replaces other energy-dense food, such as snacks, in order to keep body weight stable.†

A Brief History of Stephen Hawking

Today I will introduce a famous and outstanding scientist to you. A brief history of Stephen Hawking. The main contents include four aspects Stephen William Hawking is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity. Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 (300 years after the death of Galileo) in Oxford, England. His parents' house was in north London, but during the Second World War Oxford was considered a safer place to have babies. When he was eight, his family moved to St Albans, a town about 20 miles north of London. At 11 Stephen went to St Albans School, and when he was 17 he went on to University College, Oxford, his father's old college. Stephen wanted to do Mathematics, although his father would have preferred medicine. Mathematics was not available at University College, so he did Physics instead. After three years and not very much work he was awarded a first class honours degree in Natural Science. Stephen then went on to Cambridge to do research in Cosmology, there was no-one working in that area in Oxford at the time. His supervisor was Denis Sciama, although he had hoped to get Fred Hoyle who was working in Cambridge. After gaining his Ph. D. he became first a Research Fellow, and later on a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College. After leaving the Institute of Astronomy in 1973 Stephen came to the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, and from 1979 to 2009 he held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics for 30 years. The chair was founded in 1663 with money left in the will of the Honorable Henry Lucas, who had been the Member of Parliament for the University. It was first held by Isaac Barrow, and then in 1669 by Isaac Newton. Stephen Hawking has worked on the basic laws which govern the universe. He showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes. These results indicated it was necessary to unify General Relativity with Quantum Theory. One consequence of such a unification that he discovered was that black holes should not be completely black, but should emit radiation and eventually evaporate and disappear. Another conjecture is that the universe has no edge or boundary in imaginary time. This would imply that the way the universe began was completely determined by the laws of science. Stephen has many technical publications, such as The Large Scale Structure of Spacetime, 1973. This is a book written by Stephen Hawking and George Ellis. They attempt to describe the foundation of space itself and its nature of infinite expansion, mathematically as well as theoretically. The book is too hard to read, he derides it as â€Å"highly technical and quite unreadable† and advises readers to not seek it out. Information Loss in Black Holes is an article about the question of whether information is lost in black holes. He also has three popular books published. The first one is his best seller A Brief History of Time, which stayed on the British Sunday Times bestsellers list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. The book attempts to explain a range of subjects in cosmology, including the Big Bang, black holes and light cones, to the nonspecialist reader. Its main goal is to give an overview of the subject, but unusual for a popular science book, it also attempts to explain some complex mathematics. The second one is Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, It is a collection of both introductory and technical lectures on the thermodynamics of black holes, but it also includes descriptions on Special Relativity, General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. This collection of lectures also includes essays on Hawking's personal life when he was young and, most famously, his disease, motor neurone disease. The book also includes an interview of Stephen Hawking. The third one is The Universe in a Nutshell. The book explains to a general audience various matters relating to his work the part of superstring theory in quantum mechanics. It tells the history and principles of modern physics. It is generally considered to be a sequel to A Brief History of Time. Stephen has many interesting ideas. He is known for his three big ideas. Idea about Alien life, he suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms we can’t conceive. Just as a chimpanzee can’t understand quantum theory, it could be there are aspects of reality that are beyond the capacity of our brains. Idea about Time travel, he believes that we can start our time travel through wormholes. He thinks wormholes are all around us, only they're too small to see. They occur in nooks and crannies in space and time, nothing is flat or solid. If you look closely enough at anything you'll find holes and wrinkles in it. It's a basic physical principle, and it even applies to time. Idea about Leaving earth, He said if humanity is to survive long-term, we must find a way to get off planet Earth. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million; our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward-looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space. Professor Hawking is the recipient of many awards, medals and prizes, Known for Wolf Prize, Prince of Asturias Award, Copley Medal, and Presidential Medal of Freedom. And he is also a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences. This picture shows President Obama talks with Stephen Hawking before presenting him the Presidential Medal of Freedom on 12 August 2009. The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honour. Stephen Hawking continues to combine family life (he has three children and one grandchild), and his research into theoretical physics together with an extensive programme of travel and public lectures.