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Ferguson, Dorothy Helen. "Channelling discomfort in learning." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.443129.
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Varikooty, Jalaiah. "Ocular Discomfort Upon Tear Drying." Thesis, University of Waterloo, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/1239.
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Purpose: Assess the relationship between tear film drying and sensation between blinks. Methods: MATLAB sampled a slitlamp video camera, a potentiometer and a microphone while subjects kept one eye open for as long as possible. 23 subjects rated the intensity of the ocular sensation while video and voice data were collected simultaneously. The tear drying on the cornea was measured. Results: The sensation was triphasic. Two linear functions described the latter 2 parts of the data (r ≥ 0. 95). The correlation between TBUT and the elbow in the time-discomfort function was 0. 72. Extent of tear film drying was linearly correlated to time (median correlation = 0. 88). The correlation between the discomfort elbow and image elbow was 0. 93 with single data pair for each subject. Analysis of sensation characteristics showed significant differences between itching and burning for both intensity and time (p = 0. 03 and p = 0. 02 respectively). Conclusions: Simultaneous recording of ocular surface appearance, discomfort intensity and attributes of sensation provide novel information about the development of discomfort during ocular surface drying. The rapid increase in discomfort proceeding blinking has been quantified and the relationship between the time course of drying and discomfort is elucidated.
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Haigh, Sarah. "Visual discomfort and cortical hyperexcitability." Thesis, University of Essex, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.573696.
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Natural images contain statistical regularities that the human visual system is adapted to. Images that contain excess contrast energy at mid-range spatial frequencies are particularly aversive and can cause a variety of adverse effects including seizures, headaches and illusions. Some individuals experience more pattern-induced discomfort and illusions than others. However, the physiological mechanisms associated with the discomfort are unknown. Several well-known visual illusions appear to be caused by weak accommodation to the target. Individuals who experience pattern-induced discomfort and illusions show a weaker accommodative response suggesting that there may be a relationship between accommodation and discomfort. The aversion to chromatic and achromatic grating patterns that were either static or moving was investigated. Both sets of patterns varied in how epileptogenic they were. It was found that discomfort was not dependent on the epileptogenic properties of the pattern. Ocular accommodation to the patterns was then measured to see if the parameters of the patterns that induced discomfort produced a weaker accommodative response. There was no effect of the pattern on accommodation, suggesting that the discomfort is not caused by problems in accommodating to the pattern., Migraineurs and patients with photosensitive epilepsy show a heightened cortical response to uncomfortable grating patterns, suggesting that the discomfort might be cortical in origin. The haemodynamic and electrophysiological responses to the grating patterns were measured. The uncomfortable patterns produced a large change in the haemodynamic response, and a larger decrease in alpha power than the less uncomfortable patterns, both of which suggest that the discomfort is associated with an increase in cortical excitability I Page 1 Abstract Natural images contain statistical regularities that the human visual system is adapted to. Images that contain excess contrast energy at mid-range spatial frequencies are particularly aversive and can cause a variety of adverse effects including seizures, headaches and illusions. Some individuals experience more pattern-induced discomfort and illusions than others. However, the physiological mechanisms associated with the discomfort are unknown. Several well-known visual illusions appear to be caused by weak accommodation to the target. Individuals who experience pattern-induced discomfort and illusions show a weaker accommodative response suggesting that there may be a relationship between accommodation and discomfort. The aversion to chromatic and achromatic grating patterns that were either static or moving was investigated. Both sets of patterns varied in how epileptogenic they were. It was found that discomfort was not dependent on the epileptogenic properties of the pattern. Ocular accommodation to the patterns was then measured to see if the parameters of the patterns that induced discomfort produced a weaker accommodative response. There was no effect of the pattern on accommodation, suggesting that the discomfort is not caused by problems in accommodating to the pattern., Migraineurs and patients with photosensitive epilepsy show a heightened cortical response to uncomfortable grating patterns, suggesting that the discomfort might be cortical in origin. The haemodynamic and electrophysiological responses to the grating patterns were measured. The uncomfortable patterns produced a large change in the haemodynamic response, and a larger decrease in alpha power than the less uncomfortable patterns, both of which suggest that the discomfort is associated with an increase in cortical excitability. The discomfort may be a homeostatic warning that the cortex is showing a heightened response to the images. Increased neural firing comes at a metabolic cost, and so the discomfort may signal that prolonged exposure to the stimulus will produce a greater demand on the body's food and oxygen.
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O'Hare, Louise. "Some aspects of visual discomfort." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3551.
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Visual discomfort is the adverse sensations, such as headaches and eyestrain, encountered on viewing certain stimuli. These sensations can arise under certain viewing conditions, such as stereoscopic viewing and prolonged reading of text patterns. Also, discomfort can occur as a result of viewing stimuli with certain spatial properties, including stripes and filtered noise patterns of particular spatial frequency. This thesis is an exploration of the stimulus properties causing discomfort, within the framework of two theoretical explanations. Both of the explanations relate to the stimuli being difficult for the visual system to process. The first is concerned with discomfort being the result of inefficient neural processing. Neural activity requires energy to process information, and stimuli that demand a lot of energy to be processed might be uncomfortable. The second explanation revolves around uncomfortable stimuli not being effective in driving the accommodative (focussing) response. Accommodation relies on the stimulus as a cue to drive the response effectively - an uninformative cue might result in discomfort from an uncertain accommodative response. The following research investigates both these possibilities using a combination of psychophysical experimentation, questionnaire-based surveys on non-clinical populations, and computational modelling. The implications of the work for clinical populations are also discussed.
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Shen, Wenqi. "Surface pressure and seated discomfort." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1994. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/11126.
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This thesis presents experimental studies on the relationship between external surface pressure and the perceived discomfort in seated body areas, in particular those under the ischial tuberosity and the mid-thigh. It consists of three parts. Part one provides a comprehensive review of the existing knowledge concerning seated discomfort. The current assessment methods of seated discomfort are summarised, with the emphasis on the validity and reliability of the rating scale methods. The implications of surface pressure to seated people are outlined from the perspective of clinical, sensory and perceptual, and ergonomics domains. A brief review of current technologies for pressure measurement is also provided. Part two presents the experimental work. It starts with an exploratory assessment model of seated discomfort, based on pressure measures. Two preliminary experiments were conducted to test the feasibility of the model. Three further psychophysical experiments were carried out to test the validity and reliability of the selected six rating scales, and to investigate the effects of surface pressure levels on perceived pressure intensity and discomfort in the seated mid-thigh and ischial tuberosity areas. Surface pressure stimuli were applied to a seated body area of 3,318 mm2• Subjects judged three items of sensations: pressure intensity, local discomfort, and the overall discomfort. The main results are: I) A 50-point category partitioning scale was identified to be most sensitive and reliable for scaling pressure intensity and discomfort; 2) Sensations of pressure intensity and discomfort linearly increase with the logarithm of the pressure stimulus level; 3) Thresholds for pressure intensity and discomfort in the seated ischium and thigh areas were derived; 4) The sensitivity of intensity and discomfort to the stimuli differs between the locations .The mid-thigh is more sensitive to surface pressure than the ischium. It is considered that this is due to differences in load adaptation, body tissue composition and deformation; 5) Local pressure discomfort dominates the overall discomfort, and ratings of the local discomfort are higher than those of overall discomfort. Part three discusses the findings from this research. Four integration models of the overall discomfort from local discomfort components were proposed. The Weighted Average model asserts that the overall discomfort is a linear combination of local discomfort components, and that the weight of each local discomfort is the proportion of this component out of the arithmetic sum of all local discomfort components. The mechanisms of discomfort were analysed. The fundamental research presented herein uniquely contributes to the knowledge on the human perception of seated pressure discomfort. Although this is not application based, the findings contribute to the methods of seating comfort evaluation as well as provide criteria by which seat designers may formulate design requirements.
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GRACA, RODRIGO ORDINE. "AMONG MEMORIES, THE MEMORY OF DISCOMFORT." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2011. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=34462@1.
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CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOEsta tese propõe-se a desenvolver o conceito de memória do desconforto como um articulador de sentido em obras literárias contemporâneas em contraposição à noção de memória apaziguada, buscando apontar que o primeiro conceito enfatiza o caráter disruptivo da memória, demonstrando que muitas lembranças numa narrativa de uma história de vida servem justamente à incompreensão, insatisfação e desconforto, enquanto a outra enfoca uma postura de apaziguar as lacunas da memória forjando um conceito ilusório de segurança e paz. Para tanto, foram analisadas e comparadas obras literárias de José Saramago (As pequenas memórias), Pedro Nava (em especial Baú de Ossos e Beira-Mar), Amadou Hampâté Bâ (Amkoullel: o menino fula) e Antônio Lobo Antunes (A morte de Carlos Gardel e O manual dos inquisidores), tendo como pano de fundo proposições teóricas da Sociologia do Conhecimento, dos Estudos Culturais e dos Estudos de Memória.
This thesis proposes to develop the concept of memory of discomfort as an articulatory tool of meaning in contemporary literary works as opposed to the notion of pacified memory, pointing that the first concept emphasizes the disruptive nature of memory, showing that many memories in a narrative of a life story serve better to misunderstanding, dissatisfaction and discomfort, while the other focuses on an attitude of pacifying the gaps of memory forging an elusive concept of security and peace. Thus, this thesis analyzes and compares some literary works namely José Saramago (As pequenas memórias), Pedro Nava (especially Baú de ossos and Beira-Mar), Amadou Hampâté Bâ (Amkoullel: o menino fula) and António Lobo Antunes (A morte de Carlos Gardel and O manual dos inquisidores), with the backdrop of theoretical propositions of Sociology of Knowledge, Cultural Studies and Memory Studies.
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Gyi, Diane E. "Driver discomfort : prevalence, prediction and prevention." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1996. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/25294.
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This research is concerned with exploring the relationship between car driving and musculoskeletal troubles and following on from this investigating methods which could aid the automotive industry in the design and evaluation of car seats. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part I describes the development and results of an epidemiological survey undertaken with data obtained from two sample groups. Study 1 was an interview survey (based on the Nordic Questionnaire) of 600 members of the British public, randomly selected within the strata of age and gender. Study 2 used the same interview, but with two carefully chosen groups of police officers (n=200). The results indicated that car drivers (especially those who drove as part of their job) appeared to be at risk in terms of reported discomfort and sickness absence due to low back trouble. Evidence from this and other studies has also indicated that drivers with the most adjustable driving packages may benefit in terms of both reduced discomfort and reduced sickness absence. This provided the background for the subsequent research in Part II and some impetus for car manufacturers to consider health issues in the design of car workstations. Part II involved a series of three experiments designed to investigate methodologies which could be used by manufacturers to predict car seat discomfort The literature was reviewed to identify suitable predictive techniques which would be robust enough to provide information to the automotive industry in 'real world' situations. The technique of interface pressure measurement had already generated interest in some seat manufacturers and was therefore selected for investigation. As a result of the findings in experiment 1, established guidelines for a comfortable driving posture may need to be modified. The other two experiments were designed to create discomfort in subjects firstly by varying foam hardness and secondly by varying posture. A clear, simple and consistent relationship between interface pressure and discomfort in realistic driving situations was not identified. Future studies using this technique should provide information regarding such factors as gender, the body mass index, anthropometric data, posture and foam hardness due to the confounding nature of these variables.
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Karpicka, Edyta. "Visual discomfort whilst viewing 3D stereoscopic stimuli." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2015. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/20417.
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3D stereoscopic technology intensifies and heightens the viewer s experience by adding an extra dimension to the viewing of visual content. However, with expansion of this technology to the commercial market concerns have been expressed about the potential negative effects on the visual system, producing viewer discomfort. The visual stimulus provided by a 3D stereoscopic display differs from that of the real world, and so it is important to understand whether these differences may pose a health hazard. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the effect of 3D stereoscopic stimulation on visual discomfort. To that end, four experimental studies were conducted. In the first study two hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis was that the viewing of 3D stereoscopic stimuli, which are located geometrically beyond the screen on which the images are displayed, would induce adaptation changes in the resting position of the eyes (exophoric heterophoria changes). The second hypothesis was that participants whose heterophoria changed as a consequence of adaptation during the viewing of the stereoscopic stimuli would experience less visual discomfort than those people whose heterophoria did not adapt. In the experiment an increase of visual discomfort change in the 3D condition in comparison with the 2D condition was found. Also, there were statistically significant changes in heterophoria under 3D conditions as compared with 2D conditions. However, there was appreciable variability in the magnitude of this adaptation among individuals, and no correlation between the amount of heterophoria change and visual discomfort change was observed. In the second experiment the two hypotheses tested were based on the vergence-accommodation mismatch theory, and the visual-vestibular mismatch theory. The vergence-accommodation mismatch theory predicts that a greater mismatch between the stimuli to accommodation and to vergence would produce greater symptoms in visual discomfort when viewing in 3D conditions than when viewing in 2D conditions. An increase of visual discomfort change in the 3D condition in comparison with the 2D condition was indeed found; however the magnitude of visual discomfort reported did not correlate with the mismatch present during the watching of 3D stereoscopic stimuli. The visual-vestibular mismatch theory predicts that viewing a stimulus stereoscopically will produce a greater sense of vection than viewing it in 2D. This will increase the conflict between the signals from the visual and vestibular systems, producing greater VIMS (Visually- Induced Motion Sickness) symptoms. Participants did indeed report an increase in motion sickness symptoms in the 3D condition. Furthermore, participants with closer seating positions reported more VIMS than participants sitting farther away whilst viewing 3D stimuli. This suggests that the amount of visual field stimulated during 3D presentation affects VIMS, and is an important factor in terms of viewing comfort. In the study more younger viewers (21 to 39 years old) than older viewers (40 years old and older) reported a greater change in visual discomfort during the 3D condition than the 2D condition. This suggests that the visual system s response to a stimulus, rather than the stimulus itself, is a reason for discomfort. No influence of gender on viewing comfort was found. In the next experiment participants fusion capability, as measured by their fusional reserves, was examined to determine whether this component has an impact on reported discomfort during the watching of movies in the 3D condition versus the 2D condition. It was hypothesised that participants with limited fusional range would experience more visual discomfort than participants with a wide fusion range. The hypothesis was confirmed but only in the case of convergent and not divergent eye movement. This observation illustrates that participants capability to convergence has a significant impact on visual comfort. The aim of the last experiment was to examine responses of the accommodation system to changes in 3D stimulus position and to determine whether discrepancies in these responses (i.e. accommodation overshoot, accommodation undershoot) could account for visual discomfort experienced during 3D stereoscopic viewing. It was found that accommodation discrepancy was larger for perceived forwards movement than for perceived backwards movement. The discrepancy was slightly higher in the group susceptible to visual discomfort than in the group not susceptible to visual discomfort, but this difference was not statistically significant. When considering the research findings as a whole it was apparent that not all participants experienced more discomfort whilst watching 3D stereoscopic stimuli than whilst watching 2D stimuli. More visual discomfort in the 3D condition than in the 2D condition was reported by 35% of the participants, whilst 24% of the participants reported more headaches and 17% of the participants reported more VIMS. The research indicates that multiple causative factors have an impact on reported symptoms. The analysis of the data suggests that discomfort experienced by people during 3D stereoscopic stimulation may reveal binocular vision problems. This observation suggests that 3D technology could be used as a screening method to diagnose un-treated binocular vision disorder. Additionally, this work shows that 3D stereoscopic technology can be easily adopted to binocular vision measurement. The conclusion of this thesis is that many people do not suffer adverse symptoms when viewing 3D stereoscopic displays, but that if adverse symptoms are present they can be caused either by the conflict in the stimulus, or by the heightened experience of self-motion which leads to Visually-Induced Motion Sickness (VIMS).
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Jia, Y. "A study of mechanisms for discomfort glare." Thesis, City, University of London, 2014. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/15721/.
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The presence of a bright light source in the visual field, particularly when viewed against a dark background, can generate a form of discomfort, which is often described as ‘discomfort glare’. The mechanisms for discomfort glare remain poorly understood, even after 50 years of multidisciplinary research in this field. The aim of this investigation was to investigate a number of relevant parameters that can affect discomfort glare in order to gain insights into the corresponding mechanisms. We measured retinal illuminance levels for discomfort glare at threshold as a function of source size, eccentricity and surrounding background luminance. In addition, the pupil size was measured throughout and related to the measured thresholds for discomfort glare. A group of 50 subjects with normal visual acuity and no clinical signs of eye disease took part in the primary study that measured discomfort glare thresholds as a function of source size. A light ‘homogenizer’ was used to integrate the concentrated light output from a quad LED light source. Pulse frequency modulation was used to control the intensity of the source and continuous pupil size measurements made it possible to calculate retinal illuminance. Discomfort glare thresholds were estimated by measuring the retinal illuminance of the glare source at threshold using a staircase procedure. Discomfort glare thresholds were measured as a function of glare source area, eccentricity and background luminance. The amplitude of pupil constriction was also measured both below and above the discomfort glare threshold. A model of contrast vision with the filtering of a photoreceptor signal through centre-surround ganglion cells was developed to account for the small size dependence of discomfort glare thresholds that was observed experimentally. Another model for scattered light was applied to compute the corresponding pupil constriction amplitude caused by the integrated photoreceptor signals generated by the glare source both within and outside the stimulus area. The threshold for discomfort glare decreased gradually with glare source size and increased with background luminance and showed little dependence on glare source eccentricity. The effect of forward light scatter in the eye was also investigated and a model was developed to account for the continued increase in pupil response amplitude well above the discomfort glare threshold. The effect of glare source size on discomfort glare thresholds could be predicted by a model involving photoreceptor saturation and edge response. When the scattered light outside the stimulus area was also taken into account, the pupil constriction amplitude increased log-linearly with stimulus retinal illuminance both below and above discomfort glare thresholds. These findings suggest that discomfort glare depended largely on the localised retinal illuminance and could be accounted for by the saturation of photoreceptor signals in the retina. The results and the pupil modeling work also suggest that the pupil response to light flux increments continued well above the discomfort glare threshold, largely as a result of light scattered outside the area of the glare source.
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Cascioli, Vincenzo. "Objective assessment of sitting comfort and discomfort." Thesis, University of South Wales, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.575496.
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How do you know if the chair you are sitting on is comfortable or not?", is a question I asked my young son ol)e day, to which he replied, "just sit on it and see if it's comfortable!" Counting on his fingers, he ended with "Seriously, Dad, I could have done your PhD in 9 words!" Although measuring sitting comfort using subjective measures (comfort rating questionnaires) appears to be an intuitive, practical and cost effective method, it does have some limitations. For example, with purely subjective feedback it is difficult to reliably distinguish and rank well designed chairs with subtle design differences in terms of their comfort rating. From a chair designer or user perspective, if an objective, valid, sensitive and reliable method was available to assist in the design of the most comfortable seat, it would allow for better informed decisions to-be made about chair design factors that may in turn impact on innovation and ultimately user health. In terms of possible objective measures that warranted further investigation, in-chair movement (or lack thereof), temperature and humidity appeared to show most potential due to their roles within the current models of comfort and discomfort. For example, in-chair movements are understood to be a subconscious action performed to prevent or minimize the perception of discomfort. A lack of in- chair movements in a healthy unrestrained person may therefore be consistent with the existence of comfort. The studies presented in Chapters 2, 3, 4 focuses on the effects of specific chair design factors (legroom, cushion firmness, cushion contour) on in-chair movement and the subjective appreciation of comfort and discomfort. A high temperature or humidity at the user seat interface may result in the softening of the tissues in contact with the seat with the potential for macerative damage, skin or deeper tissue nociceptor stimulation and discomfort. In order to study the possible relationships between such physical modalities and the subjective domains of comfort and discomfort, it is therefore important to determine the number of sensors needed and the location for their placement in order to accurately measure these variables at the user-seat interface. The studies presented in Chapters 5 and 6 focus on the minimum number of sensors required and their placement, in orderto accurately assess temperature and humidity at the user-seat interface.
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Chronicle, Edward Peter. "Visual discomfort and visual dysfunction in migraine." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.283940.
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Gallais, Cedric. "Effect of vibration exposure duration on discomfort." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2008. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/72157/.
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The comfort of a seated person exposed to vibration is known to depend on the magnitude, frequency content, and direction of the excitation. A review of the literature showed that very little is known about the effects of the duration of exposure to vibration on comfort. This thesis investigates the effects of body support, frequency, waveform, and direction of excitation on the Subjective Discomfort Time-Dependency (SDTD) during vibration so as to improve understanding of the mechanisms involved (e.g. the biodynamic responses of the body and muscle activity) and elaborate a model predicting how discomfort evolves with exposure duration. To achieve these objectives, a new method of measuring the discomfort time-dependency was developed and tested. The Subjective Discomfort Time-Dependency has been investigated in 27 experimental sessions, each with twelve subjects seated on a conventional car seat. In each session, subjects were exposed to one stimulus. The new developed method requires the subjects to adjust the magnitude of the vibration in order to keep constant their discomfort. The SDTD was obtained by measuring the platform acceleration over the exposure duration. At specific time-intervals, subjects were also asked to indicate the locations of their discomfort and provide discomfort ratings for these locations. Results showed that the amount of vibration to achieve a constant level of discomfort decreased over time (mainly during the first 15 minutes of exposure). This implies that the sensitivity of vibration increases with duration. Fore-and-aft excitations generated a greater SDTD for most stimuli. For 1-Hz lateral sinusoidal motion, the sensitivity of vibration increased at a greater rate with a harness than without. Stimuli at 1 Hz produced SDTD that were less dependent on the duration of exposure than stimuli at higher frequencies. The waveforms of the vibration had little effect on the SDTD. The discomfort rating showed that prolonged exposure to vibration produced discomfort mainly at the neck. Because discomfort was mainly felt at the neck and that the SDTD depended on the frequency, it was hypothesised that the type of neck muscle activity produced during exposure to vibration depends on the frequency. Neck muscle activity was measured with 12 seated subjects during 10 minutes of fore-and-aft sinusoidal vibration. The r.m.s. magnitudes of the raw EMG and of the phasic and tonic components of the EMG were calculated (it was assumed that phasic muscle activity arose from the periodic vibration whereas the tonic muscle activity was needed to respond to a static load). Results showed that the frequency of vibration had no effect on the EMG r.m.s values but affected the phasic and tonic components of the EMG. Phasic activity was greatest at 1 Hz and decreased as the frequency increased. Tonic activity showed the opposite tendency. As for the SDTD studies, the frequency of excitation seems to have an effect on the phasic and tonic components of the neck muscle activity. Phasic and tonic neck muscle activities represent different types of head motions. Because the content of phasic and tonic activities of the EMG signal seems to be linked with the effects of vibration exposure duration on discomfort, it was hypothesised that predicting the head motions may help estimating the comfort timedependency. A three degree-of-freedom lumped parameter model was developed to predict floor-to-head transmissibility. The model was then calibrated to estimate the head motions using the floor-to-head, seat-tohead, and seat transmissibility measured with 12 subjects, exposed to fore-and-aft sinusoidal, narrow-band random, and broad-band random vibration. Results showed that the model can estimate the head motions around the frequencies of resonances (mode shapes), but requires improvement to be accurate at the other frequencies. The estimated mode shapes showed three types of head motions: at 1.4 Hz the head and neck moved in phase; at 3.5 Hz, there was a resonance of the backrest and the head and neck moved in phase, but with a greater head motion than neck motion; and at 6.9 Hz the head and neck moved out of phase. The subjective, physiological, and biodynamic studies suggest that the SDTD increases when the neck muscles attempt to control head motions by producing greater tonic, and less phasic, activity. The lumped parameter model identified through the mode shapes three types of head motions corresponding to different comfort time-dependencies. It was hypothesized that the phase and modulus of the seat-to-head transmissibility may indicate the amount of phasic and tonic activity produced. Through neck muscle activity, a model predicting seat-to-head transmissibility may also predict the time-dependency of discomfort. This thesis proposes a new method for determining the time-dependency of discomfort caused by whole-body vibration. Discomfort time-dependencies have been shown to depend on the frequency of vibration, direction of excitation, and body support. Mechanisms responsible for the discomfort time-dependency have been proposed.
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Perry, Michael John. "Discomfort glare, light scatter, and scene structure." Thesis, Open University, 1995. http://oro.open.ac.uk/57561/.
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Since the start of the Industrial Revolution there has been a general improvement in working conditions. As part of this process, light in the work place was recognised as an important environmental factor. In the early years of the 20th century it was also recognised that in providing adequate lighting for a particular working environment, there was a need to avoid the potential negative effects of too much, or inappropriately distributed, light. One of the negative effects of light in the work place was glare. Holladay (Holladay, (1926)) attributed the negative effects of glare to impairment of vision caused by light scatter. Stiles (Stiles, (1929)) refuted Holladay's case by arguing that only a small proportion of the reduction in task visibility could be attributed to light scatter effects (where task visibility is a measure of how far above the visual threshold a task's contrast is). Stiles distinguished disability glare, a light scatter effect, from discomfort glare which was glare that could not be attributed to light scatter. The distinction made by Stiles resulted in the separate development of discomfort and disability glare models. Very few, if any, studies since Stiles have re-evaluated the potential association between subjectively rated discomfort glare, and physically based disability glare. In the study reported here, subjects were asked to set the appearance of a 2° glare source so that it appeared at the Borderline between Comfort and Discomfort, or BCD (Guth, (1963)). Each subject's visual threshold for a 4 cycle per degree spatial grating was measured under BCD and control conditions, and a comparison made to assess if light scatter effects from the glare source influenced threshold contrast, Cth. The results of the study indicate that Cth, can be lower in the presence of the glare source set to BCD. This anomaly may be explained by improvement in image quality caused by the glare source driving the pupil to a smaller diameter. More significantly, there was found to be a strong correlation between subjective BCD settings and age, and also between BCD settings and control condition Cth. Both of these results suggest an influence of light scatter on BCD settings of discomfort glare. This conclusion was further supported by the fitting to the data of the independently reported stray light function of Ijspeert et al (Ijspeert et al, (1990)). Thus the results strongly suggest a correlation between subjective BCD settings of a glare source and light scatter function. A conclusion that substantially weakens Stiles' argument that discomfort glare is not dependent on light scatter effects. Using the results of the study, a new threshold type model for assessing discomfort glare is proposed, which explicitly includes age as a parameter. However, much variance remains to be explained in the glare data. Therefore, a second theme investigated in the dissertation is the possible association between scene visual structure and visual discomfort. The results of this study indicate that there is a small but significant difference in the image structure of natural and man made environments. This difference may contribute to visual discomfort, but will require further investigation.
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Clarke, Zara J. "Pain and discomfort in people with learning disabilities." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.412747.
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LoFrisco, Barbara. "Counselor Discomfort with Sexual Issues and Supervisory Role." Scholar Commons, 2013. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/4823.
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ABSTRACT
Sexual issues are common among the general population; therefore it is likely that clients suffer with them whether or not they are presenting issues. Because unresolved sexual issues may contribute to harm, counselors have an ethical obligation to ensure these issues are addressed during therapy. Yet, many fail to do so for a variety of reasons. Because clinical supervisors are in a unique position to nurture and mentor novice counselors, their influence is salient to this issue.
Although some research has been done to address this issue, results are inconclusive and somewhat contradictory. This study attempts to fill in the missing data and to address some of the discrepancies by exploring how counselors perceive addressing sexual issues, identifying some of the influencing factors that allow this issue to persist, and exploring how clinical supervisors can be supportive.
Sixty-three mental health professionals from the state of Florida participated in a survey where they were asked about both their experiences as clinicians and as interns under supervision. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, and descriptive statistics, as well as chi-square test of independence were calculated. The degree to which counselors reported being very comfortable with addressing clients' sexual issues did not align with the reported frequency of initiation of the topic nor the reported levels of discomfort on specific sexual topics. Comfort levels related to discussing sexual issues were found to be positively associated with frequency of
initiation, and in couples cases, female counselors raised the topic significantly more often than male counselors. Other findings are analyzed and discussed, conclusions are drawn, and recommendations for future study and implications for the field are included.
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Singh, Amitkumar Surendra. "Attitudinal Ambivalence: How Consumers Manage the Associated Discomfort?" The Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1531848965390879.
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Hamilton, Virginia. "Patient Discomfort in the ICU: ETT movement effects." VCU Scholars Compass, 2014. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3419.
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Critically ill patients who require MV are at risk for a number of complications, including the development of ventilator-associated events (VAE) and agitation that may require the use of sedation. Patients experience anxiety and discomfort during mechanical ventilation from a variety of sources including unfamiliar breathing assistance and an inability to communicate anxiety and pain verbally, but a primary cause of discomfort identified by these patients is the simply the presence of the endotracheal tube (ETT). Discomfort often leads to agitation and may be exacerbated by ETT movement. Management of agitation typically involves the use of sedative therapy and has been shown to increase the length of stay in the hospital. Additionally, when ETT cuff pressure is not adequately maintained, risk of microaspiration increases and these microaspirations increase the risk of ventilator-associated events. ETT movement may adversely affect the cuff seal against the tracheal mucosa, increasing leakage around the cuff and microaspiration. To date, no studies have described the effect of ETT movement on patient comfort and agitation. Noting the frequency of ETT movement during the provision of nursing care and plausible inadvertent consequences on discomfort and agitation, a research model was created and specific instruments selected in order to study this topic. This dissertation will provide a review of the literature regarding the role of the ETT in microaspiration, as well as detail a study that explores the frequency and amount of ETT movement and its potential effect on agitation.
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Gauthier, S. M. S. "Developing a method to monitor thermal discomfort response variability." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2015. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1468727/.
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The need to identify occupants behavioural-responses to thermal discomfort during the heating season has become one of the priorities in the quest to reduce energy demand. The current models have long been associated with peoples behaviour by predicting their state of thermal comfort or rather discomfort. These assume that occupants act upon their level of discomfort through two types of responses: involuntary mechanisms of thermoregulation, and behaviouralresponses. This research seeks to investigate the variability of occupant self-reported and observed behavioural-responses in residential buildings during the heating season. The first part of the research reviews the current standard models and reports on a global sensitivity analysis of the models as described in standards and guidelines. The predictive models appear to be most sensitive to the personal variables, metabolic rate and thermal insulation of clothing. In field studies these personal variables are often estimated with a significant degree of error, and in building simulation studies they are given constant values as a function of the season and the building or room types. To address these two issues, this research introduces a mixed-method framework drawn from psychological and physiological studies. Twenty residents living in nineteen dwellings were monitored over a period of ten consecutive days, in the South-East of England during the winters of 2012 and 2013. Results from this experimental investigation enabled probability distributions for the two personal variables to be drawn. When combining the estimated activity and clothing levels with the environmental monitoring results, the predicted mean votes are substantially below those assumed in standards. This suggests that occupants in this study may be engaging in other adaptive behaviours, not currently accounted for within the standard models. The second part of the research focuses on identifying these adaptive behaviours. One of the key issues is to gather accurate measurements while using discreet observatory methods to have minimum impact on peoples behaviour. Drawing methods from thermal comfort research and psychology, the empirical study undertaken also allows for the creation of a threetiered framework mapping behaviour-responses to cold sensations, consisting of (1) increasing clothing insulation level, (2) increasing operative temperature by turning the heating system on/up, and (3) increasing the frequency, duration and/or amplitude of localised behaviour responses, including for example warm food or drink intake, changing position, changing location within the same room or changing room. Using content analysis and automated segmentation, occupant-self-reported and observed diary responses to cold thermal discomfort were compared, with results showing a marked difference between them. Theoretically, this research introduces a framework to monitor thermal discomfort responses that incorporates a wider range of observed behaviours. Methodologically, this research demonstrates the efficacy of multi-method observational approaches for understanding discomfort responses. Substantively, this research highlights the need for researchers working in this field not to fall into the gap between what occupants say and what occupants do.
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Thuong, Olivier. "Predicting the vibration discomfort of standing passengers in transport." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2011. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/186249/.
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It has previously been assumed that the vibration discomfort of standing people can be estimated using the same procedures developed from for seated people. In this thesis, the discomfort of standing people exposed to vibration was investigated to improve understanding of the mechanisms responsible for discomfort and construct a model that may be used to predict the discomfort of standing railway passengers. The first of five experiments using the method of magnitude estimation and 6-s periods of vibration investigated how the discomfort of standing subjects exposed to fore-and-aft, lateral, and vertical sinusoidal vibration depends on the frequency of vibration. From the judgements of 12 subjects at each of the 16 preferred one-third octave centre frequencies from 0.5 to 16 Hz, frequency weightings were constructed for each direction. For vertical vibration, the weighting was similar to that recommended in standards, but the weightings for fore-and-aft and lateral vibration differed from that previously assumed. Horizontal vibration caused loss of balance at frequencies less than about 3 Hz, and it caused discomfort in the legs at higher frequencies. Vertical vibration caused discomfort in the upper body. To adjust the frequency weightings according to differences in sensitivity between directions, the second experiment with 12 subjects compared the discomfort caused by 4-Hz sinusoidal vibration in the fore-and-aft, lateral, the vertical directions. It was found that sensitivity was greater for fore-and-aft vibration than lateral vibration at frequencies less than 4 Hz and weightings were determined to assist the evaluation vibration in all three directions. The third experiment investigated the extent to which postural supports used by standing train passengers (vertical bar, shoulder support, and back support) affect discomfort caused by fore-and-aft and lateral vibration in the range 0.5 to 16 Hz. Supports that created a new path for the transmission of vibration to the upper-body increased discomfort over the range 4 to 16 Hz. The fourth experiment investigated how the root-mean-square method, the basic evaluation method in current standards but known to underestimate the discomfort caused by motions containing occasional peaks, could be modified for the evaluation of non-sinusoidal vibration. Using 1-Hz and 8-Hz random vibrations with a range of crest factors it was found that the discomfort of standing subjects was better predicted with an exponent around 3, rather than an exponent of 2 implicit in r.m.s. averaging. The final experiment determined a method for predicting the discomfort of tri-axial vibration. The cube root of the sum of the cubes of the discomfort caused by the single-axis components gave good estimates of the total discomfort for both 1-Hz and 4-Hz tri-axial vibration. Since it was found in the first experiment that the discomfort was generally proportional to the acceleration at the power 0.7. these results suggest that the root-sum-of-squares of the accelerations gives good estimates of the total discomfort for tri-axial vibration . The results of all experiments were combined in an empirical model for predicting the discomfort of standing people exposed to 6-s periods of vibration. It is concluded that there are two distinctly different mechanisms responsible for vibration discomfort when standing: postural instability and body vibration. Postural instability is dominant with horizontal vibration at frequencies less than about 3 Hz, whereas body vibration is dominant with vertical vibration and with horizontal vibration at frequencies greater than about 3 Hz. The discomfort of standing people is similar to the discomfort of seated people for vertical vibration, but fundamentally different with horizontal vibration due to postural instability at low frequencies and vibration attenuation in the legs at higher frequencies
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Jönsson, Peter. "Prediction of discomfort due to transient whole body vibrations." Licentiate thesis, Luleå tekniska universitet, 2002. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-17364.
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This Licentiate is about Whole Body Vibrations and focuses on transient vibrations with human's discomfort and motion assessment. Whole Body Vibrations occurs when a body is in contact with a vibrating surface. Whole Body Vibrations is a major problem in terrain vehicle, which affects both the physiological and psychological health and discomfort. The first study, Paper A, focus on the prediction of vibration discomfort based on r.m.s.-values in z-direction of seat. In the case of individual results, the correlation coefficient was 0.54. Based on averages for each test condition, the correlation coefficient was 0.93. Study in Paper B focus on the prediction of vibration discomfort and perceived motions. By analysis of vibration values in one-third octave bands of x-direction in the top of the seat backrest, pitch motion and vertical motions in seat, pitch alone with variable length was found to give best correlation with the vector sum of perceived motions (r=0.677). Surprisingly, one-third-octave band higher than 50Hz give a high contribution to the prediction of perceived motions. One of the background variables, "Length of driver", was found to have a statistically significant effect on perceived motions. Tall driver perceived less motion than short drivers. In Paper C, focus on evaluating the effect of two seat design (sliding and fixed) in minimizing the discomfort from transient vibrations. Results showed that sliding seat is superior in attenuating vibration that contains transient vibration in horizontal direction. Sliding seat was perceived to give less overall and low back discomfort compared to fixed seat.Godkänd; 2002; 20070224 (ysko)
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Butala, Shivani V. "Oral Discomfort And Quality Of Life In Postmenopausal Women." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1525124390513367.
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Beggiato, Matthias, Nadine Rauh, and Josef Krems. "Facial Expressions as Indicator for Discomfort in Automated Driving." Technische Universität Chemnitz, 2020. https://monarch.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A75776.
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Driving comfort is considered a key factor for broad public acceptance of automated driving. Based on continuous driver/passenger monitoring,
potential discomfort could be avoided by adapting automation features such as the driving style. The EU-project MEDIATOR (mediatorproject.eu) aims at developing a mediating system in automated vehicles by constantly evaluating the performance of driver and automation. As facial expressions could be an indicator of discomfort, a driving simulator study has been carried out to investigate this relationship. A total of 41 participants experienced three potentially uncomfortable automated approach situations to a truck driving ahead. The face video of four cameras was analyzed with the Visage facial feature detection and face analysis software, extracting 23 Action Units (AUs). Situation-specific effects showed that the eyes were kept open and eye blinks were reduced (AU43). Inner brows (AU1) as well as upper lids (AU5) raised, indicating surprise. Lips were pressed (AU24) and stretched (AU20) as sign for tension. Overall, facial expression analysis could contribute to detect discomfort in automated driving.
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Menzel, Nancy Nivison. "Manual Handling Workload and Musculoskeletal Discomfort in Nursing Personnel." [Tampa, Fla. : s.n.], 2001. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/SFE0000020.
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Fee, Margery. "From Discomfort to Enlightenment: An Interview with Lee Maracle." Essays on Canadian Writing, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/11672.
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Knox, Terrance N. "Manual handling workload and musculoskeletal discomfort among warehouse personnel." ScholarWorks, 2010. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/811.
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Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD), specifically physical and muscular discomfort in the upper arm, lower arm, thigh, lower leg, wrist, shoulders, back, or neck, are among the most frequently reported workplace injuries in the United States. The dearth of knowledge about the types of workloads that may contribute to the development of WRMSD was the impetus of this research. The study aimed to identify antecedents of WRMSD among warehouse workers in order to reduce WRMSDs and increase productivity as expressed in a systems perspective on industrial health. The research questions examined the prevalence of specific WRMSDs, the relationship of high-risk tasks of warehouse personnel with WRMSD incidence, and the relationship of job category and workload with WRMSD incidence. The sample included 82 warehouse workers, stockroom clerks, and forklift drivers. MANOVA was used as the data analysis technique. The results showed that WRMSD was the most prevalent in the upper back, lower back, knees, and lower legs. Various high-risk tasks were linked to WRMSD incidence including repeatedly bending to lift objects was associated with discomfort in the lower back, shoulders, and lower legs. Furthermore, the use of pallets led to reduced discomfort and work interference in the hips and buttocks, upper arms, and knees. Proper lifting form may reduce WRMSD in the shoulders, forearms, lower back, and wrists in particular. The social change implications of this study stem from the notion that increasing the employers' WRMSD prevention awareness will lead to an increase in safety attentiveness and decrease workers' injuries.
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Hamedani, Zahra. "Visual Discomfort Assessment in Office Environments: Light-induced Physiological Responses and Visual Performance." Thesis, Griffith University, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/392053.
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The benefits of exploiting natural light in office environments are numerous, ranging from enhancing human mood, satisfaction, productivity, health and wellbeing to reducing the energy consumption required for electric lighting. However, excessive sunlight remains problematic in terms of glare and undesirable visual discomfort. The existing discomfort glare predictive models are mainly derived from conventional subjective evaluations and photometric measurements and there is always a degree of uncertainty and bias associated with subjective measurements. For this reason, a more promising research method of pairing subjective assessments with objective measures was proposed as an alternative approach.
In this research, a comprehensive method is utilised to investigate a full range of potential objective measures of visual discomfort, including involuntary light-induced physiological responses, eye movements and visual performance. This method couples physiological measurements and visual performance assessments with conventional photometric measurements and subjective evaluations.
For this investigation, an experimental study was carried out for three different scenarios: low, medium, and high glare probability. Participants were required to perform simulated office tasks, while an eye-tracker recorded the pupil and ocular data. The ocular and pupillary metrics extracted from these data were: mean Pupil Diameter (PD), Pupillary Unrest Index (PUI), spontaneous Blink Rate (BR), Blink Amplitude (BA), number of fixational eye movements during reading (Fixation Rate (FR)), average Fixation Duration (FD), and Eye Convergence (EC). In addition, for each participant, the Combined Visual Performance (CVP) and Combined Reading Performance (CRP) were measured during the experiment.
Analyses of variance were undertaken to determine differences on all measures among three lighting conditions with low, medium and high levels of visual discomfort. The results show significant differences between the high and low discomfort groups across most of the dependent variables. In particular, participants in high discomfort conditions exhibited a higher FR, lower BR, higher BA, smaller mean PD and poorer CVP than participants in both the low and medium discomfort conditions. This indicates that the studied physiological measures can be used as an indicator of high levels of glare or visual discomfort. Nevertheless, EC and CRP were not affected by lighting conditions. The CRP was better when the FD and the PUI were lower. Correlation and multiple regression analyses suggest that PUI, BA, FR and mean PD could be used as an indicator of visual discomfort, however, PUI and BA was shown to be predicted better with contrast measures and FR and PD with luminance and illuminance levels in the visual field. In addition, investigation of subjective evaluations has shown that visual comfort ratings may be a more reliable metric in reflecting visual discomfort experienced by the occupants.
This holistic approach offers new insight into the application of objective measures in assessment and prediction of visual discomfort, by advancing knowledge on various physiological and ocular responses and identifying the most sensitive indicators and relating all of this to visual and reading performance at work stations.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Eng & Built Env
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology
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Nordkvist, Johannes. "Depth-Aware Preprocessing for Reducing Viewer Discomfort in DIBR Systems." Thesis, KTH, Ljud- och bildbehandling, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-55366.
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The advent of 3D-TV in homes has led the 3D-tv technology to develop rapidly even though voices have been raised that the technology is not mature enough to fully replace the current technology with 2D-displays. Viewers have experienced that viewing 3D-video for an extended period of time by using most of the com- mercially available techniques will cause the viewer to feel discomfort. Increasing comfort for the viewer is at the core of solving the problems with market penetration of 3D-TV. One reason for discomfort is inaccurate depth in a 3D video; another may be the technology in the display used to render the video. In this thesis the problems related to inaccurate depth information will be assessed. If there is a good way to measure whether depth is poorly recorded or estimated various methods can be applied to increase comfort at the cost of decreasing 3D- experience for the viewer. This can be done by smoothing poor depth such that it improves the comfort at the cost of reducing the 3D effects. In this report it is shown how the depth in a 3D-video for DIBR systems can be evaluated and in the case where the depth information is a poor estimation of the actual depth it is shown how discomfort can be decreased with simple methods. Suggestions for how to extend it to more fine-grained methods are also given. Objective results are used to estimate what the subjective experience would be like. Different aspects of the quality of the 3D movie are determined by assigning a score to each of them. These scores are multiplied with a set of weights which are attained from a subjective evaluation phase. This subjective evaluation phase gives reference values to the algorithm. The aspects examined are: Variance in color frames Movement in color frames Contour matching between color frames and depth maps.
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Sammonds, George M. "An objective measure to quantify discomfort in long duration driving." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2015. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/21186.
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In recent years increased emphasis has been placed on improving seat comfort in automobiles. This is partly due to research showing that prolonged driving is associated with increased risk of musculoskeletal disorders, but largely because driver comfort is now viewed as an increasingly important aspect of the competitive marketing of vehicles. Driving is firmly cemented as a major part of most people s daily life across the world and people are now spending more time in their vehicles than ever before. As urban congestion continues to rise, commuting distances and durations will progressively increase, subjecting drivers to the risks of long duration driving more often. Consequently the automotive industry has invested in designing seats that perform better under increased usage durations and ergonomics has played a vital role in the design of new seats. However, the ability to design a successful seat relies heavily on the capacity to accurately evaluate the comfort of a vehicle seat and one major issue that has been highlighted with the current state of automotive ergonomics research is the standardisation of comfort evaluation techniques. This research aimed to tackle these issues by investigating the effects of long duration driving on discomfort and the range factors associated with driver discomfort. Furthermore, the ultimate goal of this research was develop and evaluate a novel objective measure of driver discomfort that focused on driver seat fidgets and movements (SFMs) with the aim of standardising discomfort evaluation within the automotive industry. Three laboratory studies and one field observation were conducted to address these aims whereby subjective and objective evaluations of discomfort were conducted during long term driving (ranging from 60 - 140 minutes). The results determined that a measure of driver SFMs can be effectively implemented into long duration driving trials to evaluate the effects of long term driving and vibration exposure on driver discomfort and subsequently used to make accurate predictions of overall discomfort. Large positive correlations have been determined between measures of SFMs and subjective ratings of overall discomfort (r2 > 0.9, P < 0.05) and the SFM method has been successfully repeated under a range of driving conditions. Driver seat fidget and movement (SFM) frequency is shown to significantly increase congruently with subjective ratings over the duration of a long term drive as drivers seek to cope with increased discomfort. It is proposed that drivers will record movements in the vehicle seat when discomfort reaches a threshold that is consciously or unconsciously perceived and as the duration of driving accrues, drivers will reach this threshold with increased frequency. A measure of both SFM frequency and total accumulative SFMs have been shown to accurately predict discomfort ratings and provides the basis for discomfort evaluations to be made via remote monitoring, removing the need for subjective assessment. During a long term drive, there becomes a point upon which improvements in seat design become ineffective as extended duration driving will result in discomfort regardless of how well the seat has been designed. It was shown that drivers will move in the vehicle seat to cope with increased discomfort and in addition, another method of combatting the negative effects of long term driving was investigated. Subjective and objective evaluation determined that breaks from driving will reduce discomfort both immediately and upon completion of a long term drive. Furthermore, these benefits were increased when drivers left the vehicle seat as discomfort was reset when drivers took a 10 minute walk. Walking during a break from driving can be considered the ultimate SFM. Drivers are recommended to plan breaks from driving when conducting a long duration journey in order to minimise discomfort and when taking a break, drivers should take a walk rather than remain seated in the vehicle.
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Clemes, Stacy A. "The influence of the menstrual cycle on visually-induced discomfort." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2004. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/15131.
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Since the introduction of immersive virtual reality (VR) equipment, a number of studies have found that users can experience unpleasant side effects. A major focus of VR research and development has been on head-mounted display (HMD) based systems. Incorporation of an HMD provides the user with a sensation of immersion and presence in the virtual environment (VE), and it has been these systems that have attracted the most attention from both the media and human factors researchers over the last ten to fifteen years. Health and safety concerns associated with the use of this technology include symptoms experienced by users which resemble those of motion sickness (for example, disorientation, pallor, stomach awareness and nausea) and reports of visual discomfort, particularly eyestrain. The motion sickness-like symptoms have been referred to as virtual simulation sickness (VSS), and VSS is considered to be a form of visually-induced motion sickness. Susceptibility to motion sickness varies immensely, however females are generally regarded as being more susceptible than males to all forms of motion sickness, and it has been suggested that this heightened susceptibility in females could be attributed to the functioning of the female endocrine system. Changes to many of the body's systems have been reported to occur over the menstrual cycle, and it is reasonable to suggest that changes in susceptibility to nauseogenic visual stimuli may also occur. The first piece of research conducted in this thesis examined the influence of the menstrual cycle on susceptibility to VSS. 16 naturally cycling females were immersed in a nauseogenic YE on specific days (5, 12, 19 and 26) of their menstrual cycle, these days were chosen because they fall in line with peaks and troughs of ovarian hormone levels. The menstrual cycle phase of participants was confirmed by the measurement of salivary oestradiol and progesterone levels. The responses from the naturally cycling females (the experimental group) were compared to those from two control groups, consisting of 16 pre-menopausal females taking a combined monophasic oral contraceptive, and 16 men. Susceptibility to VSS did vary over the menstrual cycle, with susceptibility increasing on day 12, this was seen as both an increase in symptom severity and a decrease in symptom onset time. No consistent variation was seen in the females taking a combined monophasic oral contraceptive. In addition to susceptibility to VSS changing over the menstrual cycle, variations in reports of visual discomfort were also apparent, with visual discomfort also increasing on day 12. As no previous research has investigated the influence of the menstrual cycle on susceptibility to visual discomfort, two studies were conducted to determine whether such a relationship exists in other situations. The first was a laboratory based experiment whereby visual discomfort was induced by prolonged accommodative effort, and the second was a field study whereby reports of visual discomfort were examined in individuals performing intensive VDU work. Unlike the changes in visual discomfort seen over the menstrual cycle in females viewing a nauseogenic VE through an HMD, no changes in visual discomfort were found over the menstruaJ cycle when visual discomfort was induced by prolonged accommodative effort, or by intensive VDU work. It was concluded from this research that the previously seen changes in susceptibility to visual discomfort over the cycle, in females viewing a nauseogenic VE, were not a consequence of susceptibility to visual discomfort changing over the cycle. In the first experiment, susceptibility to VSS was seen to increase on day 12, as manifest by an increase in the severity of nausea reported on this day, and increases in general bodily discomfort. It is suggested that the change in visual discomfort reported over the cycle is a consequence of these general changes rather than having a specific ocular origin. This idea was supported in a fourth experiment which examined symptom reports collected from 88 participants immersed in a nauseogenic virtual environment at weekly intervals. A relationship was found between the severity of symptoms of VSS reported and the amount of visual discomfort reported.
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Patelli, Giulia. "Effects of vertical mechanical shocks and body posture on discomfort." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2016. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/397338/.
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The discomfort caused by vertical vibration depends on the magnitude and frequency of vibration, but little is known about how discomfort depends on the magnitude and frequency of mechanical shocks or on body posture. The main objectives of this thesis were to advance understanding: (i) of how the discomfort caused by a vertical mechanical shock depends on the nominal frequency, magnitude, and direction of the shock and seating dynamics, and (ii) of the effects of body posture on vibration comfort when sitting and standing. Three of the four experiments presented in this thesis investigate the discomfort caused by mechanical shocks in an upright sitting posture. The first experiment compared the frequency-dependence of discomfort caused by shocks and sinusoidal vibration in the range 0.5 to 16 Hz at vibration magnitudes less than ±9.4 ms-2. A different frequency-dependence was found for shocks and for vibration, with shocks being less uncomfortable than vibration at frequencies greater than 4 Hz. The difference is explained by shocks containing energy at frequencies other than their fundamental frequency. The rates of growth of discomfort depended on frequency, indicating an effect of magnitude on the frequency-dependence of discomfort caused by shocks and vibration. A second experiment investigated the effect of shock direction (i.e., up or down) on discomfort in the range 2 to 5 Hz with peak accelerations from 7 to 11 ms-2. Upward displacements at frequencies from 2 to 4 Hz were more uncomfortable than downward displacements when the peak acceleration approached or exceeded 1 g. This was explained by the human body leaving, and subsequently impacting with, the seat. A third experiment found that a three degree-of-freedom model is able to predict SEAT values of blocks of polyurethane foam when people are exposed to shocks in the range 1 to 16 Hz. Predicted and measured SEAT values were consistent with subjective responses at most frequencies and magnitudes investigated. A fourth experiment investigated how the discomfort caused by vertical vibration depends on the frequency and magnitude of vertical vibration (0.5 to 16 Hz at 0.3 to 3.2 ms-2 r.m.s.) in four postures. The frequency-dependence of discomfort was equivalent to the standardised frequency weighting Wb when sitting upright, sitting leaning forward, and standing with straight legs. When standing, bending the legs increased discomfort in the range 2 to 4 Hz but reduced discomfort at frequencies greater than 5 Hz, consistent with the effects of bending the legs on biodynamic responses. There are four main findings from the research reported in this thesis: (i) The same methods can be used to predict the discomfort caused by shocks and vibration but the optimum frequency weighting for evaluating shocks depends on the shock magnitude; (ii) Shocks with fundamental frequencies in the range 4 to 16 Hz cause less discomfort than vibration of the same frequency and magnitude; (iii)The SEAT value is a useful predictor of seat comfort and a three degree-of-freedom model can be used to predict SEAT values of occupied foam cushions during exposures to vertical shocks in the range 1 to 16 Hz with peak accelerations less than 1g; (iv) The frequency-dependence of discomfort caused by vertical vibration is similar in normal standing and when sitting upright or sitting leaning forward, but differs when standing with bent legs.
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Seagren, Kelly Elizabeth. "Investigation of Musculoskeletal Discomfort in Ohio Veterinarians and Veterinary Technicians." The Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1534524177634121.
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Tuaycharoen, Nuanwan. "The reduction of discomfort glare from windows by interesting views." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2006. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14497/.
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Discomfort glare is the annoyance, or temporary discomfort produced by luminance (brightness) within the visual field that is sufficiently greater than the luminance to which the eyes are adapted. Both small and large source glare formulae are often poor predictors of the subjective assessment of discomfort glare and, in particular, Hopkinson's daylight glare formula. This suggests that window glare depends on more factors than the four embodied in the glare calculation: source luminance, source size, surround luminance and a position index. Several studies have suggested that interest in the glare source may reduce discomfort glare in various cases. This thesis investigated a general hypothesis that an increase in interest in a glare source is associated with a decrease in discomfort glare. The investigations were performed in two main parts aiming to test the effect of interest in two cases of glare sources, a small projected screen image and a window. Indeed, a main focus of the thesis was to explore the effect of interest in the case of a window with a hypothesis that an increase in interest in a view is associated with a decrease in discomfort glare from windows. However, due to difficulty in settings and revealing the observed effect in real daylighting situations, this thesis began to see the effect of interest in the case of a small projected screen image under a highly controlled laboratory with a hypothesis that an increase in image interest is associated with a decrease in discomfort glare. The findings of this thesis tended to support the general hypothesis. It has been found that an increase in interest in a glare source is associated with a decrease in the glare discomfort, both for a small projected screen image and a window. In addition to the interest effects, significant effects of the glare source luminance variations (RML) and some characteristics and contents in a glare source were also found in both cases of glare sources.
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Dmitrieva, Natalia Ivanovna. "Mechanisms and modulation of visceral pain in an animal model of cystitis." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.265770.
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Rueff, Erin M. "Contact Lens Discomfort, Vision Correction Preferences, and Accommodative Treatment in Presbyopic and Non-Presbyopic Contact Lens Wearers." The Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1529583462118691.
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Susmann, Mark William. "The Mediating Role of Discomfort in the Continued Influence of Misinformation." The Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1524840908956566.
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Garcia, Mary K. Whitehead Lawrence W. "Energy expenditure, body-part discomfort and mental work load among nurses /." See options below, 1993. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=746814991&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=68716&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Ivits, Shantel. "Disturbing the comfortable : an ethical inquiry into pedagogies of discomfort and crisis." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7292.
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Educators are traditionally expected to provide safe, supportive and caring learning spaces for students. Yet some educational theorists suggest that, if educators seek to disrupt oppression, they must call on students to step outside of their comfort zones to acknowledge and question how one’s privilege implicates one in the oppression of others. Megan Boler and Kevin Kumashiro are two scholars who question the desirability of comfortable learning spaces. Both theorists build upon Shoshana Felman’s use of testimonies of trauma to invite or lead students into discomfort or crisis. But what are the ethical implications of this approach to education? The purpose of this study was to undertake an ethical inquiry into Boler’s pedagogy of discomfort and Kumashiro’s pedagogy of crisis.
This inquiry applied the conceptual framework of Judith Butler, particularly her conception of ethical violence, in order to critique these pedagogies. Butler suggests that subjects are required to appropriate certain discursive norms in order to be considered intelligible human beings. When a subject is unable to appropriate such a norm, that norm is said to be ethically violent. According to Butler, dominant ethical discourses require subjects to present an autonomous, coherent self in order to be considered intelligible. Butler argues that this norm is inappropriable, because subjects are constitutively dependent and incoherent, and thus inflicts ethical violence.
This study considered if and how Boler’s pedagogy of discomfort and Kumashiro’s pedagogy of crisis risk inflicting ethical violence upon students. The principal conclusion was that, left unchecked, the use of testimony in pedagogies of discomfort and crisis risks inflicting ethical violence if students are required to give responses to testimonies of trauma that present an autonomous, coherent self. Narrative responses to testimonies of trauma also risk functioning as a mode for governing students’ subjectivities. Based on this finding, the author suggests ways that educators may minimize, if not eliminate, ethical violence in pedagogies of discomfort and crisis.
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Wyllie, Ian. "The discomfort arising from exposure to low frequency rotational and translational vibration." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.494538.
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Marine, Susan B. "Navigating Discourses of Discomfort: Women's College Student Affairs Administrators and Transgender Students." Thesis, Boston College, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/649.
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Thesis advisor: Ana M. Martínez AlemánThe contemporary American women's college boasts an illustrious history of providing superior education for women, one that leads to significantly more positive educational outcomes for women than a coeducation college experience (including graduate degree attainment, persistence in science and mathematics, and achievement of high-level positions in many career fields). Recently, a small but vocal group of students who identify as transgender and who are living as male, genderqueer, or transitioning to live as male have emerged as a visible sub-population in many highly selective women's colleges. In this qualitative, phenomenological study of the perceptions of student affairs administrators (n=31) regarding their perceptions of and experiences working with transgender students, these key facilitators of student growth and development expressed beliefs and actions that characterized them almost uniformly as supporters of transgender students. A smaller subset of participants (advocates) took decisive and change-oriented action on their campuses, resulting in a shift of policy and practice. The data indicated that there appeared to be coherence between these two identities and adherence to a philosophy of feminist and/or womanist identity and practices. By effectively navigating what one participant named `discourses of discomfort' about transgender students on campus, participants demonstrated professional identities typified by an ethics of care and social justice in their work, as well as demonstrating practices that were defined by normalizing belonging for transgender students. Implications for practice include continued attention to advancing social justice at women's colleges, enhancement of learning and teaching about transgender lives and identities at women's colleges, and increased commitment to trans-formation of coeducational college environments. Further research about transgender students' experiences at women's colleges, as alumni of women's colleges, and the effects of policy implementation regarding transgender students at women's colleges is warranted
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009
Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education
Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education
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PEARSON, SHERIDAN LEIGH. "SPEAKING DYSPNEA: EFFECT OF BREATHING DISCOMFORT ON SPEAKING IN PEOPLE WITH COPD." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/613387.
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Dyspnea (breathing discomfort) in people with COPD is an issue that impacts quality of life. Breathing discomfort can have negative emotional, physical, and mental effects due to chest/lung tightness, anxiety, and fear. By analyzing data of breathing perceptions and breathing patterns of participants, this study aims to determine the effects of breathing discomfort on speaking in people with COPD. The study also looks at which speaking tasks cause the most amount of breathing discomfort and why that may be.
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Beard, George. "Discomfort of seated persons exposed to low frequency lateral and roll motion." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2012. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/351344/.
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Passengers of land transport are exposed to horizontal and rotational oscillations at frequencies less than 1 Hz which may cause vibration discomfort and motion sickness. Previous knowledge of human responses to motion is insufficient for predicting the discomfort caused by low frequencies. The objective of this thesis is to improve understanding of subjective responses to lateral and roll oscillation (presented in isolation and in combination) at frequencies less than 1 Hz in order to establish a predictive model of comfort. The first of five experiments tested the predictions of a conceptual model of motion sickness. Illness ratings were obtained over a 30-minute exposure to 0.2 Hz fully roll-compensated lateral oscillation where the point of full roll-compensation was either at the seat surface (i.e. ‘seat compensation’) or at head height (i.e. ‘head compensation’). Median illness ratings were greater during ‘head compensation’, showing some support for the motion sickness model, but differences were not statistically significant. Age, stature and body weight had no effect on illness ratings, but Asians were more than three-times as likely to experience ‘mild nausea’ than Europeans. It is concluded that differences in the position of full roll-compensation in transport vehicles are less important for motion sickness than inherent differences in passenger populations. The next four experiments used the method of magnitude estimation to determine the vibration discomfort caused by lateral oscillation, roll oscillation, and fully roll-compensated lateral oscillation with a variety of seating configurations. In the second experiment, lateral acceleration between 0.2 and 1.0 Hz caused less discomfort when sitting with a backrest than when sitting without a backrest on both a rigid seat and on a cushioned train seat; contrary to the predictions of current standards. In the third experiment, 0.25 to 0.4 Hz lateral acceleration in the plane of the seat caused similar discomfort regardless of whether the acceleration was due to lateral oscillation or roll oscillation through the gravitational vector, but above 0.4 Hz, discomfort from the roll was far greater. At frequencies less than 0.5 Hz, fully compensating the lateral acceleration with roll improved comfort compared to uncompensated lateral acceleration, but at greater frequencies, roll-compensation worsened comfort and caused discomfort similar to pure roll oscillation at 1 Hz. The fourth and fifth experiments examined differences in discomfort caused by the rigidity of the seat pan and the height of the backrest. In the fourth experiment, discomfort was greater on a soft foam seat than on a rigid seat during lateral oscillation below 0.63 Hz, during roll oscillation below 0.5 Hz and during fully roll-compensated lateral oscillation between 0.315 and 0.5 Hz. In the fifth experiment, discomfort was greater without a backrest than with a short backrest for lateral oscillation between 0.315 and 0.5 Hz. Contrary to current standards, discomfort was also greater without a backrest than with a high backrest for lateral oscillation below 1 Hz and for roll oscillation below 0.5 Hz. In addition, sitting with a backrest was beneficial for comfort with fully roll-compensated lateral oscillation between 0.4 and 0.63 Hz. The results of the five experiments were collated to provide recommendations for the improvement of current vibration standards. On the basis of experiment 1, a new multiplying factor for the prediction of vomiting incidence in an unadapted group of male Asian adults is offered. On the basis of the four discomfort experiments, modifications to current frequency weightings for lateral acceleration and roll acceleration are offered so as to extend the prediction to frequencies less than 0.5 Hz. Guidance for the prediction of discomfort with fully roll-compensated lateral oscillation is also provided. The thesis is concluded with recommendations for future research.
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Ebe, Kazushige. "Predicting the overall discomfort of seats from their static and dynamic characteristics." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1998. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/171795/.
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Keester, Dana Lani. "Investigation of Musculoskeletal Discomfort and Ergonomic Risk Factors among Practicing Tattoo Artists." The Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1420285830.
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Petrovitch, Debra. "Discomfort of the flesh: Antonin Artaud’s Theatre realised with new media technologies." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/14178.
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When Antonin Artaud (1896-1948 France) called for a new ‘theatre’ he was asking for a rigorous engagement with the work that would challenge both the artist and the audience. The thesis charters Artaud from birth to death, examining his 'struggle', which ultimately defines his 'theatre'. More specifically what is his theatre in the ritual form and the visceral form? Artaud’s life cannot be separated from the work itself and hence a division also emerges in relation to the intent of an artwork and if it can construct and also deconstruct the problem as apposed to an abstract realisation that moves away from the personal and the internal. The ritual form serves to experience via cognitive responses, signs symbols gesture and metaphor. It is also a space of the unknown the ‘black space’ and the liminal. The internal form, which is visceral, reacts by externalising the problem, forcing to the surface emotions such as grief, anger, despair, laughter, hysteria etc. However the question remains as to what kind of artwork can fulfill Artaud’s demands for his ‘theatre’ and is it realisable? By exploring the life and work of Artaud it became obvious that only certain types of works can echo Artaud’s demands for a theatre. The word ‘theatre’ takes on new meaning as its extended definition moves into eruption, embodiment and transformation. There are a number of threads that run through the thesis, which searches for enlightenment and deliverance on the one hand, retribution and chaos on the other. Alchemical prescriptions are enforced throughout the thesis, via life, death, urine, sputum, faeces and bile. Language and its ability to convey the internal is questioned in relation to Artaud, who devised various systems in order to deconstruct or tear off the veneer of society and art creating the ultimate sparagmos. The ritual space, which is a necessary vehicle for Artaud, gives ground in which to unravel through catharsis and in some cases abreaction. Drawing from his maxims, plague, cruelty and the double, which disrupt through the body, the thesis tests the intersection of Artaud’s unrealised ‘theatre’ and its relationship to New Media Art and the ‘self’.
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DeShaw, Jonathan. "Effect of head-neck posture on human discomfort during whole-body vibration." Thesis, University of Iowa, 2010. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/487.
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It is well known that sitting posture is associated with discomfort and a number of musculoskeletal disorders. Seat manufacturers have made great strides toward developing seats for equipment which helped in alleviating the vibration transferring to the lower area of the spine; however, increased neck and head motion resulting from these seat designs may have been overlooked. Many cervical spine studies have been developed to estimate the response of the head and neck; however, these current studies do not take head and neck posture into account. The objective of this work was to study and demonstrate the difference in human biomechanical response to WBV when they use different neck postures. Four head and neck postures: up, down, to the side, and normal (straight forward) were investigated.
Ten male subjects with ages ranging from 19 to 28 years were used to test each of the four postures, using the discrete sinusoidal frequencies of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Hz at constant amplitudes of 0.8 m/s^2 RMS and 1.15 m/s^2 RMS in the x-direction (fore-and-aft). Subjects were seated in a rigid seat rigidly mounted to a vibration platform and vibration was generated using a six-degree-of-freedom man-rated shaker table. Subjects were tightly coupled to the seat back, using a neoprene vest and 5 straps, in an effort to reduce any relative motion between the seat and the subject. Subjects reported their head and neck discomfort using the Borg CR-10 scale with each of the postures, and then gave a second discomfort rating for the normal posture for each combination. Motion capture and accelerometer data were used to acquire the motion of the seat, C7 vertebrae, and center-of-head motion. The 3D motion of selected points on the heads and necks of the subjects were acquired using a twelve-camera Vicon motion capture system. Accelerometer data at the head, C7, and seat was used to verify the motion capture data.
For the head-down posture, the magnitude of the discomfort function was higher than the normal posture. The head-to-side and head-up postures have shown less discomfort have shown less discomfort in the critical resonance area; however, these postures show roughly the same discomfort as the normal posture in other frequency ranges. In these postures, the subjects are using major neck-back muscles which create a stiffer system and may explain why there is a shift in the second peak in the head-to-side and head-up postures. Interestingly, the head-to-side and head-up postures show a similar trend as the normal posture, however, the peak transmissibility is attenuated. In addition, the subject's average discomfort was lower in this range compared to the normal posture. The head-down posture had the highest transmissibility and discomfort overall and suggests that workers in vibration environments should reduce any head-down postures to avoid unwanted head accelerations and discomfort. This work has demonstrated the importance of considering the head-neck posture in future seat-design studies.
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Openshaw, Scott David. "Predicting and quantifying seated comfort and discomfort using objective and subjective measures." Diss., University of Iowa, 2011. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/1049.
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Comfort is a sensation and state of being that many people seek when they are working in the office, driving in a car, flying on an airplane, or laying in a hospital bed. The literature identifies many definitions and interpretations for comfort and discomfort, and many different ways that researchers have tried to measure comfort and discomfort. de Looze proposed a model to explain the relationship between comfort and discomfort using three key components: (a) the human, (b) the product, and (c) the environment. This dissertation added a measurement component to the model.
In a repeated measures design, subjects (n=35) sat in three different office chairs for 60 minutes each on two different dates. Researchers collected subjective survey data and objective electronic data related to perceived sitting comfort and discomfort while participants completed office computer tasks. Data were analyzed to predict and quantify office worker seated comfort and discomfort using linear modeling and neural network modeling.
Correlation values from the linear regression model developed in this experiment were R2 < 0.70, while the single hidden-layer neural network model predicted the comfort/discomfort responses with a higher correlation (R2=0.997). The 35 subjects in the study perceived measurable comfort differences between the three chairs tested. Subjective questions that treated comfort and discomfort in a non-linear relationship discriminated chair differences better than questions using a linear relationship. There was no significant difference between male and female comfort/discomfort responses. Comfort ratings decreased over time, while discomfort increased over time; at least 45-minute comfort testing is needed to understand subjects' comfort/discomfort in a particular office chair.
Five common factors that were important to the model included: (a) fit of the product to the person, (b) the features of the product itself, (c) the time spent with the product, (d) the subjective questions, and (e) the objective pressure measurements.
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Hager, Kristopher Ming-Ren. "Reliability of Fatigue Measures in an Overhead Work Task: A Study of Shoulder Muscle Electromyography and Perceived Discomfort." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/9681.
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This study was conducted to measure the reliability of fatigue measures in an intermittent overhead work task. Fatigue measures included several EMG based parameters and subjective discomfort ratings through use of the Borg CR-10 scale. This study was part of a larger existing study that simulates overhead work in an automobile manufacturing plant. Ten participants used a drill tool to perform an overhead tapping task for one hour at a height relative to individual anthropometry.
Reliability indexes, including Intraclass Correlation Coefficients, Standard Errors of Measurement, and Coefficients of Variation were determined for each fatigue measure for each of three shoulder muscles (anterior deltoid, middle deltoid, and trapezius). High reliability implies repeatable results, and precise and credible methods. Conversely, measurement error and subject variability can lead to low reliability of measures.
The results indicated that ratings of perceived discomfort (RPD) parameters (slope and final rating) showed relatively high reliability. Intercepts for mean power frequency (MnPF), median power frequency (MdPF), and root means square (RMS) also showed very high reliability. Actual slopes for MnPF, MdPF, and RMS showed low reliability overall, and normalizing slopes did not necessarily improve reliability. Taking the absolute value of slopes led to a noticeable increase in reliability. RPD slope did not correlate with any of the EMG slopes.
The high reliability of RPD parameters allows for its inexpensive application to the industrial setting for similar overhead tasks. The reliability of EMG intercepts implies consistent methods; however the reliability of overall EMG trends is suspect if the slope is not reliable. Some EMG slope parameters show promise; however, more research is needed to determine if these parameters are reliable for complex tasks.Master of Science
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Papagna, Alessandra. "Misura di segnali elettrofisiologici in ambiente indoor su soggetti in stato di discomfort." Master's thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2017. http://amslaurea.unibo.it/14232/.
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L'elaborato utilizza un protocollo di apprendimento alla paura sviluppato in collaborazione con il Centro Studi e di Ricerca in Neuroscienze Cognitive , Università di Bologna (sede di Cesena) al fine di analizzare e verificare se e in quali circostanze si verifica l'alterazione di segnali fisiologici, distinguendo una fase di stress da una di rilassamento. I metodi fisiologici utilizzati sono il segnale elettroencefalografico (EEG), il segnale eletrocardiografico (ECG), e la risposta di conduttanza cutanea (SCR). I risultati evidenziano una diminuzione del ritmo alfa (nelle derivazioni occipitali dell'EEG) un aumento dell'attività simpatica (nello spettro di variabilità cardiaca) e un aumento della conduttanza cutanea passando da uno stato di rilassamento a uno di stress.
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Manseck, Andreas, Karsten Guhr, Michael Fröhner, Oliver W. Hakenberg, and Manfred P. Wirth. "Morbidity and Discomfort of Ten-Core Biopsy of the Prostate Evaluated by Questionnaire." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2014. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-133871.
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Transition zone biopsies have been found to increase the detection rates of cancer of the prostate in patients with negative digital rectal examination. There are however no data available whether the higher biopsy rate is associated with greater morbidity. The present study was therefore designed to evaluate the complication rate of extended sextant biopsy. In this prospective study, 162 consecutive patients who presented for prostatic evaluation were included. After starting prophylactic antibiotic treatment 48 h prior to the procedure, transrectal ultrasound-guided core biopsies were obtained from each lobe: three each from the peripheral zone (apex, mid-zone and base) and two from the transition zone of each prostatic lobe. In all patients a questionnaire was obtained 10–12 days after the procedure. Major complications occurred in 3 patients. In 2 of the 3 cases major macroscopic hematuria was treated by an indwelling catheter for 1 or 2 days and 1 patient developed fever >38.5°C for 1 day. Minor macroscopic hematuria was present in 68.5% of the patients. In 17.9% of these cases, the hematuria lasted for more than 3 days. Hematospermia was observed in 19.8% and minor rectal bleeding occurred in 4.9%. Ten-core biopsies did not lead to an increase in adverse effects or complications when compared to the results of sextant biopsies reported in the literatureDieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich
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Ibicek, T. "Development of a model to predict discomfort in a vehicle due to vibration." Thesis, Oxford Brookes University, 2012. https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/1364b1e0-ecb2-9af7-adaf-18e92586f1d1/1/.
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Human exposure to vehicular vibration can cause sensations (e.g. physical discomfort or annoyance), health issues and safety problems. In industry, several measurement methods have been proposed to improve ride quality and increase the drivers’ or passengers’ expectations in terms of comfort. The measurement and evaluation methods of quantifying whole-body vibration exposure in relation to human comfort and vibration perception are defined by the International Standard ISO 2631-1. This is the most used standard which provides Health guidance caution zones for risk assessment. The human discomfort threshold limits are not given in this standard. Human discomfort, in general, is defined by measurements based on a shaker table and seat combination. These results when used for “in vehicle situations” may not accurately indicate the level of human discomfort in a vehicle. In this thesis, a seated human’s discomfort is quantified in heave, pitch and roll motions using a four-post rig simulator in order to determine a comfort metric. The quantifying and assessment of discomfort are studied in two categories, which are vehicle dynamics with road inputs, and the human response with human perception to vibration. Comfort/discomfort is a subjective variable; therefore the in-situ experiments were performed based on an objective measurement method with a subjective judgement method. The main novel contribution of this thesis is that subjective and dynamic responses of twenty four seated subjects, in a car on the four post rig excitation, exposed to vertical sinusoidal vibration at five magnitudes in heave, pitch and roll motions were taken at Oxford Brookes University. The physical properties of participants such as age, height, and weight were recorded because human sensitivity, perception and threshold levels may be person dependent. The subjective assessment data was developed based on the response of twenty-four seated subjects to vibration in a car on the four post rig which makes this thesis unique in terms of quantifying of human feeling. From the experimental data (RMS acceleration and subjective assessment), a discomfort metric was developed in terms of the cause-effect relations between the road and the human body. Based on the analysis and results, it was observed that the sensitivity to acceleration decreased with decreasing amplitude and increasing frequency. This discomfort metric was applied to a developed analytical model to predict the vibration response. A predictive integrated vehicle-seat-human model was developed to characterize the biodynamic response behaviour of a seated human subject and analyse the influence of vibration transmitted on the human body segments. The transmissibility results from an integrated model and in-situ discomfort curve measurements were combined to develop a human body discomfort model in a car. The discomfort index curves were predicted by combining the modelling study and the experimental results for heave, pitch and roll modes.