End Of Career Research Articles

Epidemiological investigations of aircrew: an occupational group with low-level cosmicradiation exposure

Aircrew and passengers are exposed to low-level cosmic ionising radiation. Annual effectivedoses for flight crew have been estimated to be in the order of 2–5 mSv and can attain75 mSv at career end. Epidemiological studies in this occupational group have beenconducted over the last 15–20 years, usually with a focus on radiation-associated cancer.These studies are summarised in this note. Overall cancer risk was not elevated in moststudies and subpopulations analysed, while malignant melanoma, other skin cancers andbreast cancer in female aircrew have shown elevated incidence, with lesser risk elevations interms of mortality. In some studies, including the large German cohort, brain cancerrisk appears elevated. Cardiovascular mortality risks were generally very low.Dose information for pilots was usually derived from calculation procedures based onroutine licence information, types of aircraft and routes/hours flown, but not on directmeasurements. However, dose estimates have shown high validity when compared withmeasured values. No clear-cut dose–response patterns pointing to a higher risk for thosewith higher cumulative doses were found.Studies on other health outcomes have shown mixed results. Overall, aircrew are a highlyselected group with many specific characteristics and exposures that might also influencecancers or other health outcomes. Radiation-associated health effects have not been clearlyestablished in the studies available so far.

Sophocles' Philoctetes and the great soul robbery

Norman Austin brings both keen insight and a life-long engagement with his subject to this study of late tragedy Philoctetes, a fifth-century BCE play adapted from an infamous incident during the Trojan War. In Sophocles and the Great Soul Robbery, Austin examines the rich layers of text as well as context, situating the play within the historical and political milieu of the eclipse of Athenian power. He presents a study at once of interest to the classical scholar and accessible to the general reader. Though the play, written near the end of career, is not as familiar to modern audiences as his Theban plays, Philoctetes grapples with issues social, psychological, and spiritual that remain as much a part of our lives today as they were for their original Athenian audience.

Latent dimensions of satisfaction with life and general life experience at former athletes (coaches) in Croatia

The goal of our study was to find the latent dimensions of the satisfaction with life and general life experience at former athletes (coaches), as well as to find correlations between those dimensions with sociodemographic and variables connected with coaching. We have examined a total of 132 coaches of various sports in Croatia. For measuring satisfaction with life and general life experience, we used Extended Satisfaction With Life Scale (ESWL) and General Life Experience Scale (GLES). We have found three latent dimensions of the satisfaction with life: business and social life, fitness and life achievement. Four latent dimensions of the general life experience were found: satisfaction and optimism, negative emotions and stress, life quality and daily fatigue. No significant correlations were found between sociodemographic variables two items that describe the coach as someone who could have to be elite former athlete or purposefully educated for coaching. Age and work experience are negatively correlated with business and social life and daily fatigue, but positive with general life achievement. Years in top sport and end of professional career are negatively correlated with business and social life, but positive with general life achievement and negative emotions and stress. We can cautiously say that period of engagement in top sport have more negative than positive implications on subjective well-being.

Inferior-based pharyngeal flap for correction of stress velopharyngeal incompetence in musicians: Case reports and review of the literature

Stress velopharyngeal incompetence (SVPI) is a special form of velopharyngeal incompetence observed in musicians who play wind and brass instruments. Due to high intraoral pressures generated while playing, the velopharyngeal structures fail to seal off the nasopharynx properly, resulting in unwanted nasal air leakage or noises. We present two young female professional clarinetists who experience symptoms of SVPI that preclude the development of their professional career. Both musicians underwent an inferior based pharyngeal flap, a well-known flap frequently used in cleft palate surgery. Both musicians were symptom-free after surgery and remain free of nasal noises while playing the clarinet after 2 and 4 years of follow-up. We present a review of literature of management of SVPI and show that the inferior-based pharyngeal flap is a feasible option for management of these potentially career ending symptoms.

‘My Brilliant Career’? New Organizational Forms and Changing Managerial Careers in Japan, the UK, and USA

abstractThe end of the traditional management career has been heralded with supporting, albeit largely anecdotal, data. The ‘old’ career was set within internal labour markets in large organizations and characterized by long‐term stability. The ‘new’ arrangements have apparently shifted responsibility from employer to employee, with careers being developed across organizations. Such change is premised on new organizational forms and is often associated with a growing sense of employee insecurity. We explore the reality of this ‘new’ scenario through interpretation of in‐depth semi‐structured interviews conducted with middle and senior human resources managers in large firms in Japan, the UK, and USA. The data indicate that most of our case study organizations had downsized and delayered, with hybrid structural forms emerging. Career prospects were diminished, with fewer vertical promotions and a greater emphasis on lateral ‘development’; middle managers were generally resentful of such factors and forces. Although not directly reflective of ‘Anglo‐American’ business practice, similar changes to career trajectories were witnessed in Japan as in the UK and USA.

La « naissance » du sabbat

The heretical elements in the Errores Gazariorum, a treatise written in the Savoyard Valley of Aosta in the second half of the 1430s, and containing one of the first descriptions of the new sect of male and female witches, bring us back to the Piedmont region of the 1380s. People say that a heretical «synagogue» showing almost all the features of what was to become the witches’ sabbath has taken place there. This narrative is the by-product of the «encounter» of a frustrated inquisitor and of a confused person whose mind had been broken by torture and who is at the end of an adventurous spiritual career.

Abstracts: ASUM Annual Scientific Congress 2011

Abstracts: ASUM Annual Scientific Congress 2011

The Effects of Platelet-Rich Plasma on Muscle: Basic Science and Clinical Application

Muscle injuries are the most common type of injuries in sports. The natural course in this repair process is often slow, incomplete, and unpredictable. For competitive or professional athletes, this delay or unpredictability in complete healing may be costly or career ending. With the introduction of the potential benefits of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) preparations, our treatment algorithm is changing. Our understanding of growth factors and their roles in the modulation and activation in soft-tissue healing is expanding at a rapid pace. This has led to its clinical use far outpacing clinical trials. Basic science has documented a potential for PRP to regenerate and modulate skeletal muscle and, thus, provides a foundation for clinical treatment and improved patient outcomes. Despite widespread anecdotal use in a variety of musculoskeletal injuries, research investigating its clinical efficacy is still in its infancy. This article addresses the biological effects of PRP on skeletal muscle myogenesis and its potential clinical applications.

90th Birthday Finds Pioneer Undertaking New Challenges

90th Birthday Finds Pioneer Undertaking New Challenges

Jocelyn Anne Rankin, PhD, FMLA, 1946–2010

Jocelyn Anne Rankin, PhD, FMLA, 1946–2010

The view from the bridge: Zola's L'Œuvre and its many composites

Emile Zola's 1886 novel of the art world, L'Œuvre, has for some time been understood as a fairly fractured account of one of the most famous historical narratives of Western art: the challenge pose...

ESWT in the management of patella tendinopathy

Lecture 21Patella tendinopathy is still a potentially career ending injury if not accurately diagnosed and actively managed. Prevalence has been reported to be in the range of 7–40% in the...

Management of Working Time for Career Extension in Belgium and Quebec

This article compares the evolution of employment policies pertaining to ageing population and workforce, and to management of career wind-down in Belgium and Quebec. The article focuses on a trend common to both societies: the promotion of measures aimed at managing working time arrangements toward career extension ("active ageing" in employment). Social transaction analysis applied to the situation under review reveals two distinct societal configurations and shows how structural factors (demographic evolution, retirement ratio and labour market) are not entirely adequate to explain such societal differences. Further explanation is reached when symbolic elements (the logical level) and a description of the actors' evolving positions are grafted to the pattern. The authors conclude that while there are different forms of working-time arrangements for the end of career or active life these relate to the same movement: enhancing individual accountability for extending their participation in the labour market.

Management of Working Time for Career Extension in Belgium and Quebec

This article compares the evolution of employment policies pertaining to population and workforce, and to management of career wind-down in Belgium and Quebec. The article focuses on a trend common to both societies: the promotion of measures aimed at managing working time arrangements toward career extension (active ageing in employment). Social transaction analysis applied to the situation under review reveals two distinct societal configurations and shows how structural factors (demographic evolution, retirement ratio and labour market) are not entirely adequate to explain such societal differences. Further explanation is reached when symbolic elements (the logical level) and a description of the actors' evolving positions are grafted to the pattern. The authors conclude that while there are different forms of working-time arrangements for the end of career or active life these relate to the same movement: enhancing individual accountability for extending their participation in the labour market.

Os Odontoideum: Rare Cervical Lesion

We report the case of a 22-year-old Marine who presented to the emergency department, after a martial arts exercise, with transient weakness and numbness in all extremities. Computed tomography cervical spine radiographs revealed os odontoideum. Lateral flexion–extension radiographs identified atlanto-axillary instability. This abnormality is rare and can be career ending for military members who do not undergo surgical fusion.

The influences on bridge employment decisions

PurposePopulation aging, and changes in labor force participation among older adults, will have tremendous impacts on the aging workforce. Thus it is imperative that the factors that influence whether older workers will continue in their career employment, engage in bridge employment, or fully retire, should be understood better. This paper aims to focus on these issues.Design/methodology/approachIn the present study longitudinal data for 2,869 older workers from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data set in the USA were used to examine the influence of demographic (e.g. income), nonwork related factors (e.g. marital satisfaction), and work related factors (e.g. job involvement) on late‐life employment decisions over a ten year period from 1992 to 2002.FindingsThe results indicate a wide variety of factors impact employment decisions later in life. Specifically, it was found that work related factors of job involvement and schedule flexibility, as well as the nonwork related factors of certainty of retirement plans, attitudes toward retirement, and job seeking self‐efficacy all distinguished the various employment statuses (e.g. completely retired, partly retirement, and not retired at all) of older workers over a ten year period.Originality/valueThis study shows that both individuals and organizations need to examine a wide variety of factors when examining bridge employment decisions at the end of workers' careers. While most studies of bridge employment use cross‐sectional data, this paper uses longitudinal data to examine actual bridge employment decisions, rather that prospective desires or potentially faulty after‐the‐fact retrospective accounts.

Kommunikative Anforderungen an Auszubildende in der Industrie

Apparently, German secondary schools (Hauptschulen, Realschulen) do not succeed sufficiently in providing their pupils with a basis for vocational training. Especially the linguistic competence at the end of a school career seems to be underdeveloped compared to the necessary communicative skills in vocational education. As the curricula (Bildungsstandards) explicitly admit the responsibility of the German lessons for preparing vocational training, this difference between actual competences and requirements is surprising. To make German lessons in secondary schools more effective in this regard, the real communicative requirements of (industrial) companies have to be analysed, first of all. Thereupon proposals for lessons (or a reorganised curriculum) in secondary schools, that might prepare a vocational training in a better way, can be made. This paper presents the results of such an empirical survey and analysis of communicative requirements in industry. The survey was conducted from May to July 2009 exemplarily at “Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG” (constructor and global market leader of printing units), within the vocational fields of industrial mechanics, mechatronics fitters, electronics technicians and design draughtsmen. The focus of the analysis will be on the prototypical types of text and of discourse, vocational trainees have to deal with regularly within their first two years of vocational training; then the necessary competences to master these requirements will be discussed. In conclusion, we will present possible didactical consequences of the analysis of the collected data in industry.

Bone Stress Injury in Division I Collegiate Long-Distance Runners: A Five Year Retrospective Analysis

Stress fractures continue to be a common source of injury in competitive athletes, especially those that participate in high impact exercise. These overuse injuries cause considerable loss of training time, inability to compete and in extreme cases can be career ending for the competitive athlete. Over the last decade much emphasis has been rightly placed on the female athlete triad and their risk of bone stress injury. Incidence rates of injury however, appear to be more closely distributed between males and females in the athletic population as demonstrated in studies by Nattiv et al and Bennell et al. PURPOSE: To study the incidence of bone stress injury over the course of five years in male and female Division I collegiate distance runners. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was undertaken to identify male and female long distance runners of the University of Colorado Cross Country and or Track and Field teams who were diagnosed with bony stress injuries during the time from August 1st 2004 to July 31st 2009. Our definition of distance runners were athletes that raced distances of at least 5000m, were not cut from the team during the academic year and competed and trained as active members of the team for at least six months of the academic year. RESULTS: 102 athletes met the criteria standard for inclusion into our analysis and were evenly split with 51 female and 51 male distance runners. There were a total of 56 stress fractures/stress reactions diagnosed by MRI and or bone scan during the 5 year interval with 31 occurring in female athletes and 25 in males. Annual incidence of bone stress injury ranged from 16.7% to 41.2% in females with an annual incidence rate of 28.1% averaged over 5 years, and ranged from 14.3% to 31.8% in the men with an annual incidence rate of 21.8% when averaged over 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: Bone stress injury rates in our study population of Division I collegiate distance runners remain persistently high, with elevated rates in both male and female runners alike.

Career Ending Dance Injury or Not

Career Ending Dance Injury or Not

Aging, Economic Insecurity, and Employment: Which Measures Would Encourage Older Workers to Stay Longer in the Labour Market?

In the present context of aging populations, the question of how to support older workers who want to stay in employment longer is of particular importance, especially from a social justice perspective with regards to income. The challenges faced by organizations and governments are unprecedented. Interesting conclusions can be drawn from our research with regard to these challenges. First of all, the perception of retirement appears more or less unchanged over the years and remains very positive. Consequently, one of the barriers to the employment of older workers may be the image of retirement itself, since it is still perceived as a gift or a right. Secondly, our results confirm that forcing people to stay longer in the labour market is a largely unpopular measure. Consequently, if public retirement plans offer limited income, governments and organizations should adopt a more voluntary approach to encourage older workers to stay in employment longer for a better income. Our results highlight the importance of the sector and type of job in the measures or incentives that could encourage older workers to stay in employment longer. Consequently, governments and organizations will probably have to adopt a contingent approach; i.e., all incentives do not necessarily fit all jobs or all sectors and social justice would require this be taken into account. We identified three sets of measures that could encourage older workers to stay in employment longer, and thus have access to better economic security: the reduction of working time, the flexibility of working time, and the individualization of retirement options and working time. The progressive reduction of their working time appears most interesting to our respondents. These measures appear to favour social justice in terms of income and right to employment at the end of active careers.