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Article
Publication date: 8 February 2021

Ran-i Eom and Yejin Lee

The use of shoulder protectors is strongly recommended when carrying objects on the shoulder to ensure the health and safety of workers. Thus, this study aimed to develop and…

Abstract

Purpose

The use of shoulder protectors is strongly recommended when carrying objects on the shoulder to ensure the health and safety of workers. Thus, this study aimed to develop and verify an ergonomic shoulder protector that considers human body shape and carrying posture from an ergonomic perspective. Ultimately, this study will present a shoulder protector with enhanced fit and safety for carrying workers at construction sites.

Design/methodology/approach

The shoulder protector was designed and printed using three-dimensional printing technology with variable side neck points and shoulder point heights to reflect the human body's shoulder line shape and to position the carried object stably on the shoulder. The developed shoulder protectors were evaluated in terms of their fit according to the work posture of the carrier, adherence upon motion and durability through structural analysis.

Findings

The design of the shoulder protector for carrying workers followed the shoulder line. It is best placed above the side neck point by 1.0 cm and above the shoulder point by 2.0 cm. Its length is slightly shorter than the human shoulder for superior fit and safety.

Originality/value

The final shoulder protector (FSP) for carrying workers reflects the body curvature while enhancing fit and safety by considering activity and protective factors. As functional studies and evaluations on the need for protectors are scarce, this study provides fundamental data in the evaluation of protective gears.

Details

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-6222

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 September 2019

Kanika Jolly, Sybille Krzywinski, PVM Rao and Deepti Gupta

Whilst motorcycling is an activity of pleasure in most parts of the world, in India, it is a regular mode of commuting. The number of registered motorized two wheelers increased…

Abstract

Purpose

Whilst motorcycling is an activity of pleasure in most parts of the world, in India, it is a regular mode of commuting. The number of registered motorized two wheelers increased at the rate of 14.7 percent during the year 2016-2017 to reach the figure of 20.19m in 2018. But, with this increase, the number of motorcycle road accidents is also increasing. Uncomfortable riding clothing is one of the major factors for motorcycle rider’s muscular fatigue, which might at times lead to serious accidents. No kinematic human models have been, so far, used for the design of protective, functional and aesthetic looking products, and the result is, hence, a compromised fit that is not protective or comfortable. The purpose of this paper is to develop virtual 3D human body models for specific postures of a motorcycle rider.

Design/methodology/approach

Kinematic analysis of a motorcycle rider was conducted to identify typical body postures obtained by the motorcycle rider while mounting and riding a motorcycle. The identified body postures were mapped on a virtual parametric human model to obtain digital model of a motorcycle rider. 3D garment patterns for jacket and trouser were developed on all the four body postures. 3D patterns were flattened out to get 2D flat patterns that were compared and analyzed, and appropriate pattern shapes from each of the four postures were selected. Virtual fit analysis was conducted for the finally garment.

Findings

It is well established that a static 2D anthropometry fails to accurately capture the dimensions of complex 3D human form, yielding poor garment fit. Therefore, in this study, virtual, 3D human body models were developed in selected dynamic poses. Garment patterns developed in 3D have the typical movement inbuilt in them; hence, they offer more comfort and ease of motion to the wearer.

Originality/value

The identification of typical body postures of motorcycle rider has not been done before. The CAD models developed in the study can be used for the generation of ergonomic garment patterns for the motorcycle riders.

Details

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, vol. 31 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-6222

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 December 2020

Laura I. Sigad

The study aims to contribute an insider's view of how members of law enforcement and their families cope with life-threatening situations.

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to contribute an insider's view of how members of law enforcement and their families cope with life-threatening situations.

Design/methodology/approach

The study at hand is guided by a descriptive phenomenological perspective, which is utilized to describe and analyze the experiences of five police officers living under high levels of threat from criminals.

Findings

The analysis presents a multifaceted picture of the officers’ experience of threat. The findings suggest that life under extreme threat is experienced by the officers as an upheaval of identity and loss of the structure of self. Yet with the aid of various individual protective factors as well as community and systemic support, the officers are able to mentally reframe this experience of vulnerability as one of personal agency. They demonstrate acceptance of the threat as part and parcel of their professional roles, a praxis of responsibility that gives them a sense of control. Emotional strain is ever-present as the reality of the threat infiltrates their personal lives and those of their families, yet the return to their core identity as protectors rather than victims allows for a reintegration of the self and is the foundation of their emerging resilience.

Originality/value

This novel identity-focused model can serve as the basis for a heuristic for interpreting responses to risk and fostering resilience and as the conceptual foundation for the development of practical interventions designed to foster resilience in those exposed to critical and traumatic circumstances both inside and outside the police community.

Details

Policing: An International Journal, vol. 44 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Abstract

Details

The Handbook of Road Safety Measures
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-250-0

Book part
Publication date: 13 December 2023

Francine Richer and Louis Jacques Filion

Shortly before the Second World War, a woman who had never accepted her orphan status, Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, nicknamed ‘Little Coco’ by her father and known as ‘Coco’ to her…

Abstract

Shortly before the Second World War, a woman who had never accepted her orphan status, Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, nicknamed ‘Little Coco’ by her father and known as ‘Coco’ to her relatives, became the first women in history to build a world-class industrial empire. By 1935, Coco, a fashion designer and industry captain, was employing more than 4,000 workers and had sold more than 28,000 dresses, tailored jackets and women's suits. Born into a poor family and raised in an orphanage, she enjoyed an intense social life in Paris in the 1920s, rubbing shoulders with artists, creators and the rising stars of her time.

Thanks to her entrepreneurial skills, she was able to innovate in her methods and in her trendsetting approach to fashion design and promotion. Coco Chanel was committed and creative, had the soul of an entrepreneur and went on to become a world leader in a brand new sector combining fashion, accessories and perfumes that she would help shape. By the end of her life, she had redefined French elegance and revolutionized the way people dressed.

Article
Publication date: 3 October 2016

Victor Zheng and Siu-lun Wong

The paper aims to explore the road to independence of the less-fortunate women in early Hong Kong society and their means in passing of wealth after death. In the 1970s, about 400…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to explore the road to independence of the less-fortunate women in early Hong Kong society and their means in passing of wealth after death. In the 1970s, about 400 Chinese wills from the 1840s to the 1940s were dug up on a construction site in Hong Kong. One-fourth of these were from women who had held a substantial amount of property. How they obtained this property intrigued us because, at that time, women were seen as subordinate to men and excluded from the labor market. Why they had wills led to further questions about Hong Kong society of that time and the role of women in it.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis of this paper is based on archival data gathered from the Hong Kong Public Records Office. These data include 98 women’s wills filed from the 1840s to the 1940s and a 500-page government investigation report on the prostitution industry released in 1879. The former recorded valuable information of brief testators’ family and personal life history, amount of assets, and profolio of investment, etc. The latter included testimonials of brothel keepers and prostitutes and their life stories and the background of legalizing prostitution in early Hong Kong. Apart from basic quantitative analysis on women’s marital status, number of properties, nature of wills and number of brothels, qualitative analysis is directed to review the testator’s life of self-reliance, wealth accumulation and reasons of using wills for arranging wealth transmission after death.

Findings

In this paper, the authors found that because the colonial government declared prostitution legal, and only women could obtain employment by becoming prostitutes or brothel keepers, they earned their own livelihood, saved money and finally became independent. However, because these professions were not seen as “decent”, and these women were excluded from the formal marriage system, intestacy could cause problems for them. Through their socio-business connections, they became familiar with the Western concept of testate inheritance. So, they tended to use wills – a legal document by which a person assigns someone to distribute his or her property according to his or her wishes after his or her death – to assign their property.

Research limitations/implications

Because only archival data are chosen for analysis, the research results may lack generalizability. Follow-up researches to examine whether the studied women acquired their wealth through their own work or simply as gifts from others are required.

Originality/value

This paper explores the understudied women’s life and method of estate passing after death in the early Hong Kong society. It fills the academic gap of women’s contribution to Hong Kong’s success and enriches our understanding on the important factors that could attribute women’s real independence.

Details

Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1871-2673

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2024

Rizwan Tahir

Utilizing boundary theory as a guiding framework, this study aims to explore facets of work–life balance (WLB) that women entrepreneurs experience in the context of the United…

Abstract

Purpose

Utilizing boundary theory as a guiding framework, this study aims to explore facets of work–life balance (WLB) that women entrepreneurs experience in the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It sheds light on strategies women entrepreneurs use to manage and shape boundaries between their personal and professional lives.

Design/methodology/approach

In this qualitative study, we conducted in-depth interviews with 50 women entrepreneurs to gain a deeper understanding of their WLB challenges.

Findings

Integration is a boundary management approach used by most women in our sample, facilitated by the thin work–life boundary inferable from their entrepreneurial careers. Integration has all the hallmarks of being imposed on women entrepreneurs because of family role challenges and societal expectations, on top of their entrepreneurial obligations. Women are reactors; they shoulder societal, family and entrepreneurial roles while having little control over events and circumstances.

Practical implications

Boundary theory suggests two roles must be interconnected to coexist successfully. Women entrepreneurs can benefit from the synergy between their personal and professional lives. As their roles tend to be more complex, it is essential to consider the consolidation of both spheres as an ongoing process to maximize their benefits.

Originality/value

Today’s independent forms of working are contingent on flexible work arrangements, work intensification and wireless communication. Understanding how women entrepreneurs find balance amid boundarylessness adds to our limited knowledge of people in comparable environments.

Details

Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5794

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 4 September 2023

Vasuki Shastry

Abstract

Details

The Notorious ESG
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-545-3

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1960

HAS the librarian responsibility for what is in the books he provides for the use of readers; if so, docs he, indeed can he, recognize it or do anything useful about it? We do not…

Abstract

HAS the librarian responsibility for what is in the books he provides for the use of readers; if so, docs he, indeed can he, recognize it or do anything useful about it? We do not mean, as the most important thing, his fear, reasonable or otherwise, of books which have too much sexuality. It is a major problem upon which no authoritative statement for our guidance has ever been made except perhaps the police inhibitions and the Roman Catholic indexes in the subject just mentioned. That we can dispose of in the favourite saying of Stanley Jast “The Bovril of today is the Mellin's Food of tomorrow”, and refer to the general shift of public opinion towards toleration, or a more easy regard for sex in literature. To deny sex is to deny life. The problem is one that does not affect any but public adult libraries, where the reader need not read any book which offends his code but is not privileged to interfere with the choice of others who alone can be responsible for their own reading. Thus the argument goes, but public men are concerned for the unlettered reader who chooses a book in innocence. These can cause much trouble. One of the annual reports before us puts another difficult angle of the question: the readers who invariably demand these books at the public expense and question the librarian's assumption that he can refuse to purchase them. The schoolgirl is also a great concern to many: she is likely to know as much, if she is damaged by any book, as does her gratuitous protector. It would have been unthinkable twenty years ago for a national newspaper to publish the substance of a recent teacher's assertion that after an address on the facts of life to a form of senior girls, one of the girls told her it was interesting but had come too late: all the girls in her form had experienced sex and “would be thought odd if they had not.” This seems an extreme case but it has a definite warning that the trouble does not originate in the library.

Details

New Library World, vol. 62 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 19 June 2019

Laurie Gazzale

The purpose of this paper is to explore the connection between motivation and the continued commitment of volunteer firefighters.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the connection between motivation and the continued commitment of volunteer firefighters.

Design/methodology/approach

This research using a phenomenological approach compares the lived experiences of 17 firefighters from five volunteer fire companies, seeking common themes leading to their longevity with the fire service.

Findings

There are commonalities in the reasons the participants joined and remained active in the fire service despite the many hours of ongoing training and commitment and disruptions to their personal lives.

Research limitations/implications

The study focused on firefighters in north central New Jersey and the results might not apply to volunteer firefighters in other regions. The rewards of being a firefighter need to be stressed. The importance of contribution to community early in the firefighter’s career and the evolution to the role of teacher, mentor and protector of other members over time are roles new recruits and existing members identify with that are the core to firefighter commitment.

Practical implications

The findings identify four themes: commitment and giving back to the community, comradery, altruism, and the relationships with family and friends that initially brought the volunteers to their fire company. The findings suggest the importance of these values and the potential to apply them in retaining firefighters.

Social implications

Evidence suggests that there are distinct reasons that individuals are attracted to the fire service and specific fire companies. Evidence also suggests that the role played by family members influences the level of activity of the volunteer firefighter.

Originality/value

This factor provides evidence behind the motivations of firefighters of diverse ages and backgrounds leading to their commitment to the fire service and their role as volunteer firefighters.

Details

International Journal of Emergency Services, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2047-0894

Keywords

1 – 10 of 159