Search results

This paper aims at showing that the finite element method is the most important numerical tool to analyse bio‐solids or bio‐fluids because of the constitutive complexity and unusual clinical input data and requirements involved. These features are absolutely mandatory and modify the mentality of an expert of FEM when he wants to contribute really to the progress of medical practice in their several forms, from biological basis to the surgical assistance. In this context, a clear view of the hierarchic importance of the phenomena involved is necessary to reply correctly to medical operators and to choose the right level of scale. While a scholarly culture of FEM and relative developments have to appeal the attention of biomedical engineers, at the same time their attention mainly is focused on the problem to solve, which must be validated clinically and experimentally. So while convergence remain a typical goal of the analyst, accuracy must be compared with the medical sensitivity. To do this, some physical conditions, less important in other application fields, as the boundary conditions, must be modelled in order to avoid that any model refinement gives unappreciable precision while tends to disregard what a clinician or a surgeon is able to understand and to use in the context of his professional practice. Setting up correct boundary conditions is an emblematic topic because it concerns a typical approach of computational methods applied to biomedical engineering which must consider two separate scale into analysis or a design approach. When a district of the body is to be analysed, the main goal should be to define correctly the subdomain that the district represents with respect to the whole and then to analyse other subdomains inside, at a level more and more micro, as into a system of Chinese boxes. When a medical device is to be designed a systemic view must be acquired. In this paper, we will start from this underlying feature concerning just FEM applications of a knee design carried out by the research staff of the Laboratory of Biological Structure Mechanics. Then other uses of FEM will be described as analysis fragments through problems studied by the authors and referenced in bibliography.

The purpose of this study is to examine the interplay between integrated reporting quality (IRQ) and capital markets. More specifically, the authors test the impact of IRQ on stock liquidity, cost of capital and analyst forecast accuracy.

The sample consists of listed firms on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa, covering the period from 2012 to 2020. The IRQ measure used in this study is based on data from Ernst and Young. To test the proposed hypotheses, the authors conducted a generalized least squares regression analysis.

The empirical results evince a positive relationship between IRQ and stock liquidity. However, the authors did not find a significant effect of IRQ on the cost of capital and financial analysts’ forecast accuracy. In robustness tests, it was shown that firms with a higher IRQ score exhibit higher liquidity and improved analyst forecast accuracy. Additional analysis indicates a negative association between IRQ and the cost of capital, as well as a positive association between IRQ and financial analyst forecast accuracy for firms with higher IRQ scores (TOP ten, Excellent, Good).

The study stands as one of the initial endeavors to investigate the impact of IRQ on the capital market. It provides valuable insights for managers and policymakers who are interested in enhancing disclosure practices within the financial market. Furthermore, these findings are significant for investors as they make informed investment decisions.

A comprehensive field study of atmosphere coarse and fine particulate concentration was conducted in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia from September 1998 to April 2000. Coarse and fine particulate concentrations were investigated at five stations. The means coarse particulate concentration for 1998, 1999 and 2000 were 66mg/m³, 348mg/m³ and 192mg/m³ respectively. The corresponding means for fine particulate concentration for 1998, 1999, and 2000 were 10mg/m³, 69mg/m³ and 51mg/m³. Data reported in this paper provide emphasis with regard to the environmental and health impacts of inhalable coarse and fine particulates in the zone investigated.

The purpose of this study is to examine cross-sectional associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mental health among police officers.

The sample was from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress study data (132 male and 51 female officers). Standardized surveys were administered to participants. Regression coefficients were obtained from models adjusted for age, sex, race and alcohol intake. All statistical tests were performed using a statistical significance level at p < 0.05.

Regression analyses showed significant positive associations between ACEs and mental health (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]: β = 1.70, p < 0.001 and depressive symptoms: β = 1.29, p < 0.001). Resiliency significantly modified the association between ACEs and PTSD. A positive and significant association was observed among officers with lower resiliency (β = 2.65, p < 0.001). The association between ACEs and PTSD was stronger among male officers compared to females (β = 2.66, p < 0.001 vs. β = 0.59, p ≤ 0.248, respectively).

Child abuse and development of PTSD or depression could not be traced through time as this was a cross-sectional study. Recall bias may affect results.

PTSD and depression associated with ACEs can affect the interpretation of threat and can exacerbate emotional regulation in officers. An inquiry should be expanded regarding work assignments of victimized officers, such as child exploitation and pornography investigation.

There are few studies on ACEs and the mental health of police officers. The present study is among the first to associate multiple police mental health issues with ACEs.

Chronic exposure to occupational stress may lead to depressive symptoms in police officers. The association between police stress and depressive symptoms and the potential influences of coping and hardiness were evaluated. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Stress level was assessed in the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress Study (2004–2009) with the Spielberger Police Stress Survey. The frequency and severity of events at work were used to calculate stress indices for the past year. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale was used to measure depressive symptoms during the past week. Linear regression was used to evaluate the association between the stress indices and depressive symptom scores. Models were adjusted for age, sex, race, smoking status and alcohol intake, and stratified by median values for coping (passive, active and support seeking) and hardiness (control, commitment and challenge) to assess effect modification.

Among the 388 officers (73.2 percent men), a significant positive association was observed between total stress and the CES-D score (β=1.98 (SE=0.36); p<0.001). Lower CES-D scores were observed for officers who reported lower passive coping (β=0.94 (SE=0.45); p=0.038) and higher active coping (β=1.41 (SE=0.44); p=0.002), compared with their counterparts. Officers higher in hardiness had lower CES-D scores, particularly for commitment (β=0.86 (SE=0.35); p=0.016) and control (β=1.58 (SE=0.34); p<0.001).

Results indicate that high active coping and hardiness modify the effect of work stress in law enforcement, acting to reduce depressive symptoms.

This paper aims to present a method of reproducing multi-object structures from materials of diverse physical properties with the use of models fabricated by means of rapid prototyping (RP) techniques.

A process of modelling complex anatomical structures of soft tissues and bones using mandible models as examples was described. The study is based on data acquired through standard computed tomography. Physical models of examined objects were fabricated with RP technology from a 3D-CAD virtual model.

In the analysis of complex medical issues, beside numerical methods, one can simultaneously make use of experimental tests to verify obtained results. In the case of experimental tests, it is necessary to fabricate physical models with appropriate material properties. RP techniques used in the method ensure accurate reproduction of the external shape of the fabricated model, whereas consecutive stages allow us to construct moulds and create internal structures within a finished model by wax cast models.

The application of a physical RP model makes the identification of medical problem more efficient and the reconstruction of pathological alterations for experimental tests clearer. It prevents the simplification of assumptions to experimental analysis. The approach may reduce costs of fabricating models for experimental studies and offers the possibility of using materials of desired properties.

The approach developed by the authors and presented in this paper was submitted for patent protection as “A Method of Reconstructing Medical Models with Internal Structure and the Use of Materials of Diverse properties” – patent application no. P.398644.

Job resources are positively related to work engagement within the motivational process of the job demands–resources model (JD–R). Little is known about mediating mechanisms within that process. The purpose of this paper is to examine self-efficacy and work–privacy conflict as mediators of the relationship between social support and work engagement in a sample of police officers.

In total, 811 German police officers completed a cross-sectional online survey that assessed social support by supervisors and co-workers, work–privacy conflict, self-efficacy and work engagement. Structural equation modeling was conducted.

Self-efficacy and work–privacy conflict partially mediated the relationship between social support and work engagement. The direct effect of social support and work engagement was confirmed, too.

Health promotion approaches in police work should foster social support by supervisors and co-workers. Social support eases challenges of work–life balance and self-efficacy and promotes police officers’ work engagement.

The findings validate the motivational process of the JD-R model in a sample of police officers. Job resources and personal resources are interrelated in the prediction of work engagement. Moreover, job resources facilitate dealing with specific job demands, which promotes work engagement, too.

The purpose of this research is to initiate the development of a police-specific measure of work–family conflict (WFC) to assess spouse and/or partner perceptions of the impact of WFC on them, their family and/or their personal lives by tapping existing dimensions of WFC and proposing three dimensions that may be specific to the policing profession. This developmental and exploratory work will serve as the basis for sample data collection with spouses of police.

For over five decades, researchers have examined the construct of WFC, a phenomenon that refers to the impact of work-related issues on the family of the worker. Despite the fact that policing is a high-stress profession, now under considerable scrutiny and increasing public pressure, much less is known about WFC in police families and the perceptions of spouses and/or partners of police officers regarding WFC. The methodology for developing this scale follows that recommended by psychometricians in the construction of reliable and valid scales for use in both descriptive and predictive research.

The data reported were generated from an initial content validity study relying on 14 subject matter experts with backgrounds in policing, police research and/or psychometrics and approximately 20 spouses/partners (significant others of police officers). The findings provide preliminary evidence for six potential dimensions of WFC totaling 34 items.

While some researchers have assessed the extent to which certain work-related factors impact police officers' family members, none have tapped additional domain-specific items for police while also surveying spouses and/or partners of officers.

This study aims to look at the prevalence of obesity and its association with sleep problems among police officers.

The authors conducted a cross‐sectional study of the relationship between obesity and sleep disorders among 110 randomly selected police officers from the Buffalo, New York, Police Department in 1999. Participants, who ranged in age from 26 to 61 years (mean±SD=39.5±7.5), responded to sleep related questions and had anthropometric measurements taken.

Results show that several measures of obesity were significantly associated with sleep‐disordered breathing in police officers, but not with other sleep problems.

A major strength of the study was that it was conducted in a cooperative and motivated study population. It was possible to assess a wide range of anthropometric measurements, including many that are important but are rarely used to measure obesity in epidemiologic studies such as abdominal height, neck circumference, and neck‐to‐height ratio. In addition, the assessment of the anthropometric indices was performed by trained clinic staff using standardized procedures.

The purpose of the present study is to examine associations between post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and salivary cortisol parameters.

PTSD symptoms and cortisol responses were measured in a random sample of 100 police officers. The impact of event scale (IES) categorized into subclinical, mild, moderate and severe levels was employed to measure PTSD symptoms. Cortisol was analyzed from saliva samples over a period of three days and included an awakening response, high protein lunch challenge, whole day (diurnal), and a dexamethasone suppression test (DST).

Officers in moderate and severe PTSD symptom categories had higher mean awakening cortisol values. A significant sample‐time by PTSD interaction (p=0.008) was found for awakening cortisol responses. Officers in the severe PTSD symptom category showed a blunted response to the cortisol protein meal challenge compared to those in lower PTSD categories. Diurnal cortisol levels suggested an increasing trend across subclinical to severe PTSD categories respectively (p=0.15 test for trend). DST ratios were lower in moderate and severe PTSD symptom categories (6.86 and 8.03 respectively) than in the subclinical and mild categories (9.32 and 10.43 respectively).

The sample was not representative of all police in the USA. These results suggest that associations between psychological trauma symptoms and dysregulation of cortisol patterns may exist and could possibly affect future health outcomes in police officers.

Exposure to trauma and disaster events emphasizes the need to further investigate the health impact of PTSD on police personnel as well as other first responder groups.

This article will not only be of interest to those in the police service but to the general public. The present study may serve to provide a guide for larger police population investigations on PTSD and physiological impact.