Development of a New Instrument for Measuring the Musculoskeletal Load and Physical Health of Professional Orchestral Musicians

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 95-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bronwen Ackermann ◽  
Tim Driscoll
Keyword(s):  
Physical Examination ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Baseline Assessment ◽  
Professional Musicians ◽  
Examination Protocol ◽  
Comparison Results ◽  
New Instrument ◽  
Orchestral Musicians ◽  
Areas Of Interest ◽  
Short Time

To develop questionnaire and physical examination instruments that could be used by researchers and clinicians to undertake a detailed baseline assessment of professional orchestral musicians. METHODS: The final instruments were based on a combination of areas of interest to the musicians, areas of interest to the investigators, evidence-based approaches, and approaches in common use and so likely to have standardised results that can be used for comparison. RESULTS: The questionnaire content and length were found to be acceptable to the subjects. There did not appear to be any major problems with the subjects' interpretation of the questions. Most subjects found the physical examination protocol of suitable length, although some found it physically demanding. The multiple assessors were able to apply the protocol in a suitably standardised fashion and within an acceptably short time for use in large-scale studies. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire and physical examination protocol should prove useful to researchers working with professional musicians and provide a sound basis for the development of similar instruments by other researchers.

Areas of endemism and recent speciation in the Southern Cone of South America, using Senecio (Asteraceae) as a proxy

2019 ◽  
Vol 128 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Del Valle Elías ◽  
Lone Aagesen
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Optimality Criterion ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Southern Cone ◽  
Patagonian Steppe ◽  
Areas Of Endemism ◽  
Areas Of Interest ◽  
Short Time

Abstract We set out to identify areas of endemism (AEs) among vascular plants in the Southern Cone of South America, using the genus Senecio (Asteraceae) as proxy. The use of a proxy allows a large-scale study to be carried out in a relatively short time and is suitable for pinpointing areas of interest for further investigation. Senecio is the most obvious choice for a proxy in the Southern Cone, because it is the most diverse genus in the region. We analysed the distribution of 200 endemic species using an optimality criterion (VNDM program). In general, endemism of Senecio in the Southern Cone forms 16 AEs that coincide with previously defined AEs and/or with distribution patterns also supported in phylogeographical studies. As such, Senecio appears to be a suitable proxy in endemicity studies, bearing in mind that these species are of young ages and therefore identify neoendemic AEs. Senecio distribution patterns in the Southern Cone corroborate that high Andean environments are prime sites for endemism, which peaks in the Cuyan High Andean AE, an AE that was not identified in previous endemism studies. Nevertheless, towards the south, the ecotone between the Patagonian Steppe and the Southern Andean forest becomes equally important for speciation.

Towards Control of an Estuary

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 155-174
Author(s):  
Henk L. F. Saeijs
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Storm Surge ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Oxygen Depletion ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Intertidal Flats ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Short Time

The Delta Project is in its final stage. In 1974 it was subjected to political reconsideration, but it is scheduled now for completion in 1987. The final touches are being put to the storm-surge barrier and two compartment dams that divide the Oosterschelde into three areas: one tidal, one with reduced tide, and one a freshwater lake. Compartmentalization will result in 13% of channels, 45% of intertidal flats and 59% of salt marshes being lost. There is a net gain of 7% of shallow-water areas. Human interventions with large scale impacts are not new in the Oosterschelde but the large scale and short time in which these interventions are taking place are, as is the creation of a controlled tidal system. This article focusses on the area with reduced tide and compares resent day and expected characteristics. In this reduced tidal part salt marshes will extend by 30–70%; intertidal flats will erode to a lower level and at their edges, and the area of shallow water will increase by 47%. Biomass production on the intertidal flats will decrease, with consequences for crustaceans, fishes and birds. The maximum number of waders counted on one day and the number of ‘bird-days' will decrease drastically, with negative effects for the wader populations of western Europe. The net area with a hard substratum in the reduced tidal part has more than doubled. Channels will become shallower. Detritus import will not change significantly. Stratification and oxygen depletion will be rare and local. The operation of the storm-surge barrier and the closure strategy chosen are very important for the ecosystem. Two optional closure strategies can be followed without any additional environmental consequences. It was essential to determine a clearly defined plan of action for the whole area, and to make land-use choices from the outset. How this was done is briefly described.

scholarly journals Environmental Engineering Techniques to Restore Degraded Posidonia oceanica Meadows

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 661
Author(s):  
Luigi Piazzi ◽  
Stefano Acunto ◽  
Francesca Frau ◽  
Fabrizio Atzori ◽  
Maria Francesca Cinti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Posidonia Oceanica ◽  
Environmental Engineering ◽  
Bottom Surface ◽  
Sessile Invertebrates ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Short Time

Seagrass planting techniques have shown to be an effective tool for restoring degraded meadows and ecosystem function. In the Mediterranean Sea, most restoration efforts have been addressed to the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica, but cost-benefit analyses have shown unpromising results. This study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of environmental engineering techniques generally employed in terrestrial systems to restore the P. oceanica meadows: two different restoration efforts were considered, either exploring non-degradable mats or, for the first time, degradable mats. Both of them provided encouraging results, as the loss of transplanting plots was null or very low and the survival of cuttings stabilized to about 50%. Data collected are to be considered positive as the survived cuttings are enough to allow the future spread of the patches. The utilized techniques provided a cost-effective restoration tool likely affordable for large-scale projects, as the methods allowed to set up a wide bottom surface to restore in a relatively short time without any particular expensive device. Moreover, the mats, comparing with other anchoring methods, enhanced the colonization of other organisms such as macroalgae and sessile invertebrates, contributing to generate a natural habitat.

scholarly journals Synthesis of Metal Organic Frameworks by Ball-Milling

Crystals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Cheng-An Tao ◽  
Jian-Fang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Ball Milling ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Metal Organic Frameworks ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
Mass Ratio ◽  
Time Consumption ◽  
Metal Organic ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Made In

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been used in adsorption, separation, catalysis, sensing, photo/electro/magnetics, and biomedical fields because of their unique periodic pore structure and excellent properties and have become a hot research topic in recent years. Ball milling is a method of small pollution, short time-consumption, and large-scale synthesis of MOFs. In recent years, many important advances have been made. In this paper, the influencing factors of MOFs synthesized by grinding were reviewed systematically from four aspects: auxiliary additives, metal sources, organic linkers, and reaction specific conditions (such as frequency, reaction time, and mass ratio of ball and raw materials). The prospect for the future development of the synthesis of MOFs by grinding was proposed.

Open Source Software Implementation of Anatomical Segmentation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Hess
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Focused Ultrasound ◽  
Region Growing ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Clot Lysis ◽  
Focused Ultrasound Surgery ◽  
Manual Methods ◽  
Areas Of Interest ◽  
Seed Points ◽  
Viable Method

Purpose: Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) affects nearly 15% of preterm infants. It can lead to ventricular dilation and cognitive impairment. To ablate IVH clots, MR-guided focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) is investigated. This procedure requires accurate, fast and consistent quantification of ventricle and clot volumes. Methods: We developed a semi-autonomous segmentation (SAS) algorithm for measuring changes in the ventricle and clot volumes. Images are normalized, and then ventricle and clot masks are registered to the images. Voxels of the registered masks and voxels obtained by thresholding the normalized images are used as seed points for competitive region growing, which provides the final segmentation. The user selects the areas of interest for correspondence after thresholding and these selections are the final seeds for region growing. SAS was evaluated on an IVH porcine model.  Results: SAS was compared to ground truth manual segmentation (MS) for accuracy, efficiency, and consistency. Accuracy was determined by comparing clot and ventricle volumes produced by SAS and MS. In Two-One-Sided Test, SAS and MS were found to be significantly equivalent (p < 0.01). SAS on average was found to be 15 times faster than MS (p < 0.01). Consistency was determined by repeated segmentation of the same image by both SAS and manual methods, SAS being significantly more consistent than MS (p < 0.05).  Conclusion: SAS is a viable method to quantify the IVH clot and the lateral brain ventricles and it is serving in a large- scale porcine study of MRgFUS treatment of IVH clot lysis.

scholarly journals Shift Scheduling of Short Time Workers in Large-Scale Home Improvement Center by using Cooperative Evolution

MENDEL ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-28
Author(s):  
Makoto Ohki
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Shift Scheduling ◽  
Time Zone ◽  
Cooperative Evolution ◽  
Shift Schedule ◽  
Home Improvement ◽  
Mutation Operators ◽  
Break Time ◽  
Working Day ◽  
Short Time

There are a lot of large-scale Home Improvement Center (HIC) in Japan. In the large-scale HIC,about hundred short time workers are registered. And about forty workers are working every day. A managercreates a monthly shift schedule. The manager selects the workers required for each working day, assigns theworking time and break time for each worker and also work placement. Because there are many requirementsfor the scheduling, the scheduling consumes time costs and efforts. Therefore, we propose the technique to createand optimize the schedule of the short time workers in order to reduce the burden of the manager. A cooperativeevolution is applied for generating and optimizing the shift schedule of short time worker. Several problems hasbeen found in carrying out this research. This paper proposes techniques to automatically create and optimize theshift schedule of workers in large-scale HIC by using a Cooperative Evolution (CE), to solve the situation thatmany workers concentrate in a speci c time zone, and to solve the situation where many breaks are concentratedin a speci c break time zone, and an effective mutation operators.

scholarly journals Improving the economic efficiency of oil productionat the “Gazpromneft-Khantos” fields

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 136-143
Author(s):  
Rustam N. Asmandiyarov ◽  
Stanislav Yu. Barkalov ◽  
Rail R. Galeev ◽  
Rustam R. Gumerov ◽  
Yuri A. Katkov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Technical And Economic Analysis ◽  
Production Technologies ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Functional Teams ◽  
Short Time

Aim. As part of a large-scale business transformation, Gazprom Neft is implementing new approaches to improving economic efficiency. One of such approaches is the launch of the “Renovation” project program, the purpose of which is to achieve maximum profitability of the basic well stock. The article describes the results of the study and formation of a set of measures to improve the economic efficiency of oil production at the fields of Gazpromneft-Khantos. Materials and methods. The key feature of “Renovation” is that the goal setting and the formation of key performance indicators of project teams are made not from the previously achieved result, but from the potential. To do this, a detailed technical and economic analysis of the factors affecting the profitability of oil production is first carried out, and the potential for increasing profitability is determined. After that, hypotheses are worked out to increase the economic efficiency of production and a set of measures is formed to realize the identified potential. The cross-functional teams of the “Renovation” program projects are formed around the core-team that includes specialists in geology, development, production, engineering, energy management, economics and IT. This allows teams to solve non-standard tasks in a short time, in a complex way, without attracting external leverage, which is an absolute competitive advantage. Results. The program of optimization measures developed by the cross-functional team of the Renovation project will provide the potential for the growth of the profitability of Gazpromneft-Khantos in the period from 2021 to 2030. Conclusions. The article presents the developed and implemented cases on reducing operating costs in various areas — geology and reservoir engineering, energy efficiency, oil production technologies, downhole operations and hydraulic fracturing, oilfield chemistry.

scholarly journals Study on the Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Homocysteine in the Physical Examination Population

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Bao ◽  
Ming Cui ◽  
Xiuying Shi ◽  
Shaoqing Ju ◽  
Hui Cong
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Physical Examination ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Kidney Injury ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Cerebrovascular Diseases ◽  
Health Examination ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Difference

Abstract Background: Homocysteine (Hcy) is considered to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. No study has evaluated the distribution of Hcy on a large-scale health examination. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the level and distribution of Hcy in the healthy physical examination population and the correlation with other biomarkers, and analyzed for cardiovascular and other diseases. The prevention provides an important scientific basis.Methods: From February 2017 to April 2020, 8063 medical examination populations were selected for analysis. Determination of serum Hcy, TC, TG, LDL-c, HDL-c, ALT, ALP, γ-GT, TBIL, GLU, urea, Cr, UA and related metabolic risk factors. According to the multivariate regression model of age, gender, smoking, drinking, body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), the relationship between Hcy and other biochemical indicators was evaluated. Results: Among 8063 cases, the age, BMI, SBP and DBP of the high-Hcy group were higher than those of the low-Hcy group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05), and the proportion of males, smoking and drinking were higher than the low In the Hcy group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05); the ALT, ALP, γ-GT, TBIL, Urea, Cr, UA, and TG in the high Hcy group were higher than those in the low Hcy group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05 ); HDL-c in the high-Hcy group was lower than that in the low-Hcy group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in TC, LDL-c, and GLU between the high- and low-Hcy groups (P>0.05). In multivariate analysis, lnHDL-C was negatively correlated with lnHcy (β=-0.038, SE=0.016, P<0.05), lnCr was positively correlated with lnHcy (β=0.055, SE=0.016, P<0.05), lnUA and lnHcy were positive correlation (β=0.043, SE=0.019, P<0.05). Conclusion: Hcy is closely related to HDL-c, Cr and UA, which indicates that Hcy may affect the metabolism of HDL-c and UA, and can also be used as an auxiliary diagnostic index for kidney injury.

Deep Learning Based Active Monitoring for Anti-collision between Vessels and Bridges

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Limu Chen ◽  
Ye Xia ◽  
Dexiong Pan ◽  
Chengbin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
Object Detection ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Data Augmentation ◽  
Information Support ◽  
Single Shot ◽  
Active Monitoring ◽  
Detection Model ◽  
Comparison Results

<p>Deep-learning based navigational object detection is discussed with respect to active monitoring system for anti-collision between vessel and bridge. Motion based object detection method widely used in existing anti-collision monitoring systems is incompetent in dealing with complicated and changeable waterway for its limitations in accuracy, robustness and efficiency. The video surveillance system proposed contains six modules, including image acquisition, detection, tracking, prediction, risk evaluation and decision-making, and the detection module is discussed in detail. A vessel-exclusive dataset with tons of image samples is established for neural network training and a SSD (Single Shot MultiBox Detector) based object detection model with both universality and pertinence is generated attributing to tactics of sample filtering, data augmentation and large-scale optimization, which make it capable of stable and intelligent vessel detection. Comparison results with conventional methods indicate that the proposed deep-learning method shows remarkable advantages in robustness, accuracy, efficiency and intelligence. In-situ test is carried out at Songpu Bridge in Shanghai, and the results illustrate that the method is qualified for long-term monitoring and providing information support for further analysis and decision making.</p>

Pain Among Professional Orchestral Musicians: A Case Study in Body Culture and Health Psychology

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 124-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotte Nygaard Andersen ◽  
Kirsten K Roessler ◽  
Henning Eichberg
Keyword(s):  
Elite Athletes ◽  
Professional Musicians ◽  
Body Culture ◽  
Configurational Analysis ◽  
Culture And Health ◽  
Potential Damage ◽  
Orchestral Musicians ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Experience Pain

BACKGROUND: Professional musicians experience high rates of musculoskeletal pain, but only few studies have investigated how this pain is accepted by musicians. AIM: To investigate the culture of pain and to explore how professional musicians experience and cope with pain. METHODS: Ten semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted; 8 with musicians and 2 with professional elite athletes. In addition, a concert and two rehearsals were observed. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim. Configurational analysis was used to interpret the material as a whole. RESULTS: Musicians often experience pain as a consequence of prolonged repetitive work early in their career. Such pain is compounded by the lack of breaks during concerts and rehearsals. Orchestras seldom give opportunities for adjustments required for individual instruments, breaks, or action to prevent pain. Musicians' strong sense of coherence and the experience of pain as integral to their identity have encouraged musicians to develop flexible coping strategies. Ignoring pain and potential damage is an accepted concomitant to striving for perfection. A musician does not focus on pain but on the music. CONCLUSION: For the musician, pain has a significance beyond being something that can simply be removed by a practitioner. Pain tells both an individual story and a cultural story that is crying out to be heard.

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