Musculoskeletal symptoms among female garment factory workers in Sri Lanka.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and their association with sociodemographic risk factors among female garment factory workers in Sri Lanka. METHODS: 1058 randomly selected female garment factory workers employed in the free trade zone of Kogalla, Sri Lanka were recruited to complete two interviewer-administered questionnaires assessing musculoskeletal symptoms and health behaviors. DISCUSSION: Musculoskeletal complaints among female garment workers in the FTZ of Kogalla are less common than expected. Sociocultural factors may have resulted in underreporting and similarly contribute to the low rates of healthcare utilization by these women. RESULTS: 164 (15.5%) of workers reported musculoskeletal symptoms occurring more than 3 times or lasting a week or more during the previous 12-month period. Back (57.3%) and knee (31.7%) were the most common sites of pain. Although most symptomatic women reported that their problems interfered with work and leisure activities, very few missed work as a result of their pain. Prevalence correlated positively with increased age and industry tenure of less than 12 months. Job type, body mass index, and education were not significant predictors of musculoskeletal symptoms.

Four-decade responses of soil trace elements to an aggrading old-field forest: B, Mn, Zn, Cu, and Fe.

In the ancient and acidic Ultisol soils of the Southern Piedmont, USA, we studied changes in trace element biogeochemistry over four decades, a period during which formerly cultivated cotton fields were planted with pine seedlings that grew into mature forest stands. In 16 permanent plots, we estimated 40-year accumulations of trace elements in forest biomass and O horizons (between 1957 and 1997), and changes in bioavailable soil fractions indexed by extractions of 0.05 mol/L HCl and 0.2 mol/L acid ammonium oxalate (AAO). Element accumulations in 40-year tree biomass plus O horizons totaled 0.9, 2.9, 4.8, 49.6, and 501.3 kg/ha for Cu, B, Zn, Mn, and Fe, respectively. In response to this forest development, samples of the upper 0.6-m of mineral soil archived in 1962 and 1997 followed one of three patterns. (1) Extractable B and Mn were significantly depleted, by -4.1 and -57.7 kg/ha with AAO, depletions comparable to accumulations in biomass plus O horizons, 2.9 and 49.6 kg/ha, respectively. Tree uptake of B and Mn from mineral soil greatly outpaced resupplies from atmospheric deposition, mineral weathering, and deep-root uptake. (2) Extractable Zn and Cu changed little during forest growth, indicating that nutrient resupplies kept pace with accumulations by the aggrading forest. (3) Oxalate-extractable Fe increased substantially during forest growth, by 275.8 kg/ha, about 10-fold more than accumulations in tree biomass (28.7 kg/ha). The large increases in AAO-extractable Fe in surficial 0.35-m mineral soils were accompanied by substantial accretions of Fe in the forest's O horizon, by 473 kg/ha, amounts that dwarfed inputs via litterfall and canopy throughfall, indicating that forest Fe cycling is qualitatively different from that of other macro- and micronutrients. Bioturbation of surficial forest soil layers cannot account for these fractions and transformations of Fe, and we hypothesize that the secondary forest's large inputs of organic additions over four decades has fundamentally altered soil Fe oxides, potentially altering the bioavailability and retention of macro- and micronutrients, contaminants, and organic matter itself. The wide range of responses among the ecosystem's trace elements illustrates the great dynamics of the soil system over time scales of decades.

Dynamic neural networks supporting memory retrieval.

How do separate neural networks interact to support complex cognitive processes such as remembrance of the personal past? Autobiographical memory (AM) retrieval recruits a consistent pattern of activation that potentially comprises multiple neural networks. However, it is unclear how such large-scale neural networks interact and are modulated by properties of the memory retrieval process. In the present functional MRI (fMRI) study, we combined independent component analysis (ICA) and dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to understand the neural networks supporting AM retrieval. ICA revealed four task-related components consistent with the previous literature: 1) medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) network, associated with self-referential processes, 2) medial temporal lobe (MTL) network, associated with memory, 3) frontoparietal network, associated with strategic search, and 4) cingulooperculum network, associated with goal maintenance. DCM analysis revealed that the medial PFC network drove activation within the system, consistent with the importance of this network to AM retrieval. Additionally, memory accessibility and recollection uniquely altered connectivity between these neural networks. Recollection modulated the influence of the medial PFC on the MTL network during elaboration, suggesting that greater connectivity among subsystems of the default network supports greater re-experience. In contrast, memory accessibility modulated the influence of frontoparietal and MTL networks on the medial PFC network, suggesting that ease of retrieval involves greater fluency among the multiple networks contributing to AM. These results show the integration between neural networks supporting AM retrieval and the modulation of network connectivity by behavior.

Single machine scheduling and due date assignment with positionally dependent processing times

We consider single machine scheduling and due date assignment problems in which the processing time of a job depends on its position in a processing sequence. The objective functions include the cost of changing the due dates, the total cost of discarded jobs that cannot be completed by their due dates and, possibly, the total earliness of the scheduled jobs. We present polynomial-time dynamic programming algorithms in the case of two popular due date assignment methods: CON and SLK. The considered problems are related to mathematical models of cooperation between the manufacturer and the customer in supply chain scheduling.

Spank performance tour [at Signals 07 arts festival]

Spank follows the journeys of two women as they reveal stories from private and public sources set apart by two centuries. It investigates notions of 'faction' and what is filtered out historically within a theme of female trauma and the body. [ABSTRACT BY THE AUTHOR]

Super-villains of the "real world": the political use of the characterization of villains in Chistopher Nolan's "Dark Knight Trilogy"

It is almost a tradition that celluloid (or digital) villains are represented with some characteristics that remind us the real political enemies of the producer country of the film, or even enemies within the country according to the particular ideology that sustains the film. The case of Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight trilogy, analyzed here, is representative of this trend for two reasons. First, because it gets marked by political radicalization conducted by the US government after the attack of September 11, 2001. Secondly, because it offers a profuse gallery of villains who are outside the circle of friends as the new doctrine “either with us or against us” opened by George Bush for the XXI century. This gallery includes from the very terrorists who justify the War on Terror (Ra's al Ghul, the Joker), to the “radical left” (Bane, Talia al Ghul) including liberal politicians (Harvey Dent), and corrupt that take advantage of the softness of the law to commit crimes with impunity (Dr. Crane, the Scarecrow).

Aplicación de modelos semióticos al análisis de poesía narrativa popular ecuatoriana difundida en audiovisuales

Se expone una fundamentación teórica, lógica y metodológica de tres modelos semióticos: los elementos y funciones de la comunicación de Jakobson; el modelo actancial de Greimas; y los mundos: real, referencia y posible de Eco, aplicados al análisis de poesía narrativa popular difundida en distintos formatos audiovisuales.

Predictors of therapy resistant asthma: outcome of a systematic evaluation protocol

Background: It has been suggested that asthmatic subjects with persisting symptoms despite adequate maintenance therapy should be systematically evaluated to identify factors contributing to poor control. The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence of these factors in a cohort of sequentially referred poorly controlled asthmatics, and to determine if any factor or combination of factors predicted true therapy resistant asthma (TRA).

Methods: Patients were evaluated using a systematic evaluation protocol including induced sputum analysis, psychiatric assessment, ear, nose and throat examination, pulmonary function testing, high resolution CT scan of the thorax, and 24 hour dual probe ambulatory oesophageal pH monitoring; any identified provoking factor was treated. Asthma was managed according to BTS guidelines.

Results: Of 73 subjects who completed the assessment, 39 responded to intervention and 34 had TRA. Subjects with TRA had a greater period of instability, a higher dose of inhaled steroids at referral, more rescue steroid use, and a lower best percentage forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1%). Oesophageal reflux, upper airway disease, and psychiatric morbidity were common (57%, 95%, 49%, respectively) but were not more prevalent in either group. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, inhaled steroid dose >2000 µg BDP, previous assessment by a respiratory specialist, and initial FEV1% of <70% at referral predicted a final diagnosis of TRA.

Conclusions: In poorly controlled asthmatics there is a high prevalence of co-morbidity, identified by detailed systematic assessment, but no difference in prevalence between those who respond to intervention and those with TRA. Targeted treatment of identified co-morbidities has minimal impact on asthma related quality of life in those with therapy resistant disease.

Adaptation to the Environment: Changes in Initial Projects in Ottoman Shephardic Press

The origins of Sephardic press date back to the mid-20th century, when the influence of the Western world spread across the Sephardim communities of the East. The content of these newspapers was diverse: pieces of general interest, but also scientific, literary and humorous works, with various political orientations. These papers were published in different languages, writing styles and alphabets. Those to be analysed here, however, were published in aljamiado Judeo-Spanish: three papers from Smyrna and one from Salonica. Throughout this work we will focus on the different obstacles and difficulties the editors and publishers of this Ottoman Sephardic press had to face to bring their publications to light.

The origins of the control of information in war coverage

The conflict’s coverage, since its inception, has been closely linked to the relationship that both the military and the media have. The freedom they maintained during their first conflicts, although not without problems, though they suffered strict censorship suffered during World War I, and lastly the straitjacket treatment that they have endured during recent wars. The Vietnam War marked a turning point in this relationship, and after the invasion of Grenada, the military would launch new information guidelines, called Department of Defense National Media Pool. The lack of clear guidance of both control and space, has made for a complicated relationship between media and military, so the rules have evolved after every conflict shaping the future of press coverage and thus, war reporting.