Calf massager: Intervention for body muscle discomfort during prolonged standing

Many occupations require workers to stand for long periods of time without proper interventions, which causes discomfort in the back and lower limbs. Therefore, this study aims to assess the effectiveness in alleviating body muscle discomfort during prolonged standing through the use of a calf massager. This study was conducted among male workers at a manufacturer with production line workers and the list was obtained from the HR Department and simple random sampling was done by number categorization. A total of 100 respondents (50 respondents for both the control and the experimental groups) participated in this study. The experiment took place in a room with a similar setup for the production line. Each respondent was requested to perform the simulated task for 2 hr. For the experimental group, the calf massager was turned on every 15 min. At every 15‐min interval after turning on the calf massager, respondents from both groups were required to evaluate their discomfort level on a Borg's scale CR‐10 questionnaire. The results showed that the level of body discomfort among respondents in the experimental group reduced (20–30%) compared with that of the control group. Multivariate analysis results revealed that the discomfort rating for the lower back, knees, thighs, calves, and feet was significantly lower (p < .05) among the experimental group compared with the control group. For lower body parts, the lower back region was statistically significant (p < .05) at the 90th, 105th, and 120th min; the thigh region was statistically significant (p < .05) at the 120th min; the knee region was statistically significant (p < .05) at the 105th and 120th min; the calf region was statistically significant (p < .05) at all minute intervals except the 15th and 45th min, while the feet region, was statistically significant at the 105th and 120th min. Therefore, this study indicates that calf massage treatment is capable of reducing body muscle discomfort during prolonged standing and highlights the significance of calf massage.     

Perspectives on Design and Innovation

A series of studies of top European and other firms has revealed patterns of design management associated with commercial success. Firms that invest resources and professional expertise in product and industrial design in traditional and new industries have been commercially more successful than firms that pay less attention to these aspects of design. As an industry matures there is a shift in emphasis from design associated with technological innovation, to designs supporting technical improvements, and then to supporting user needs, fashion and product variants. These issues are illustrated through the history of the evolution of the bicycle.     

Note: The intermodulation lockin analyzer

Nonlinear systems can be probed by driving them with two or more pure tones while measuring the intermodulation products of the drive tones in the response. We describe a digital lockin analyzer which is designed explicitly for this purpose. The analyzer is implemented on a field-programmable gate array, providing speed in analysis, real-time feedback, and stability in operation. The use of the analyzer is demonstrated for intermodulation atomic force microscopy. A generalization of the intermodulation spectral technique to arbitrary drive waveforms is discussed.     

Static Strategies for Worksharing with Unrecoverable Interruptions

One has a large workload that is “divisible”—its constituent work’s granularity can be adjusted arbitrarily—and one has access to p remote worker computers that can assist in computing the workload. How can one best utilize the workers? Complicating this question is the fact that each worker is subject to interruptions (of known likelihood) that kill all work in progress on it. One wishes to orchestrate sharing the workload with the workers in a way that maximizes the expected amount of work completed. Strategies are presented for achieving this goal, by balancing the desire to checkpoint often—thereby decreasing the amount of vulnerable work at any point—vs. the desire to avoid the context-switching required to checkpoint. Schedules must also temper the desire to replicate work, because such replication diminishes the effective remote workforce. The current study demonstrates the accessibility of strategies that provably maximize the expected amount of work when there is only one worker (the case p=1) and, at least in an asymptotic sense, when there are two workers (the case p=2); but the study strongly suggests the intractability of exact maximization for p≥2 computers, as work replication on multiple workers joins checkpointing as a vehicle for decreasing the impact of work-killing interruptions. We respond to that challenge by developing efficient heuristics that employ both checkpointing and work replication as mechanisms for decreasing the impact of work-killing interruptions. The quality of these heuristics, in expected amount of work completed, is assessed through exhaustive simulations that use both idealized models and actual trace data.     

Fracture resistance via topology optimization

The fracture resistance of structures is optimized using the level-set method. Fracture resistance is assumed to be related to the elastic energy released by a crack propagating in a normal direction from parts of the boundary that are in tension, and is calculated using the virtual crack extension technique. The shape derivative of the fracture-resistance objective function is derived. Two illustrative two-dimensional case studies are presented: a hole in a plate subjected to biaxial strain; and a bridge fixed at both ends subjected to a single load in which the compliance and fracture resistance are jointly optimized. The structures obtained have rounded corners and more material at places where they are in tension. Based on the results, we propose that fracture resistance may be modeled more easily but less directly by including a term proportional to surface area in the objective function, in conjunction with nonlinear elasticity where the Young’s modulus in tension is lower than in compression.     

Examining the relationships among e-government maturity,corruption, economic prosperity and environmental degradation: A cross-country analysis

There is growing interest in the role and contribution of e-government to the levels of corruption, economic prosperity and environmental degradation of nation states. In this paper, we use publicly available archival data to explore the relationships among them. Results substantiate a significant relationship between (1) e-government maturity and corruption; and (2) e-government maturity, economic prosperity and environmental degradation through the mediating effects of corruption. The findings suggest that while e-government maturity did not contribute to economic prosperity and environmental degradation, its value could be realized indirectly via its impacts on corruption. Our findings contribute to the theoretical discourse on e-government impact by identifying the role of e-government in a country and provide indications to practice on enhancing its economic prosperity and lowering its environmental degradation by managing the levels of e-government maturity and corruption.     

Extracellular Matrix Deposition and Remodeling after Corneal Alkali Burn in Mice

Corneal transparency relies on the precise arrangement and orientation of collagen fibrils, made of mostly Type I and V collagen fibrils and proteoglycans (PGs). PGs are essential for correct collagen fibrillogenesis and maintaining corneal homeostasis. We investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and PGs after a chemical injury. The chemical composition of chondroitin sulfate (CS)/dermatan sulfate (DS) and heparan sulfate (HS) were characterized in mouse corneas 5 and 14 days after alkali burn (AB), and compared to uninjured corneas. The expression profile and corneal distribution of CS/DSPGs and keratan sulfate (KS) PGs were also analyzed. We found a significant overall increase in CS after AB, with an increase in sulfated forms of CS and a decrease in lesser sulfated forms of CS. Expression of the CSPGs biglycan and versican was increased after AB, while decorin expression was decreased. We also found an increase in KS expression 14 days after AB, with an increase in lumican and mimecan expression, and a decrease in keratocan expression. No significant changes in HS composition were noted after AB. Taken together, our study reveals significant changes in the composition of the extracellular matrix following a corneal chemical injury.     

两节机械手臂控制系统的设计

对两节机械手臂按照预设轨迹移动的控制系统进行了数学建模,实现对机械手臂移动的控制,仿真表明,所设计的PID控制器能够准确控制机械手臂的移动。