Knife Handle Research Articles

Mechanical Pain Thresholds and the Rubber Hand Illusion.

We manipulated the sense of body ownership with the rubber hand illusion (RHI) to determine if perception of a potentially painful threat to the rubber hand can modify the mechanical pain threshold (MPT). Simultaneous tactile stimulation of the subject’s concealed hand and the appropriately positioned visible rubber hand generated the illusion of false body ownership. The MPT was recorded on the left hand of the subjects before and after induction of the RHI, as well as during the phase in which the model hand was pricked with a sharp knife or touched by the blunt knife handle. The results indicate that the RHI could be successfully generated with our set-up. Mechanical stimuli were perceived as more painful in the condition where the rubber hand was simultaneously pricked with a knife. Our findings suggest that the illusion of body ownership gates nociceptive processing of potentially painful stimuli.

Innovation in bone technology and artefact types in the late Upper Palaeolithic of China: Insights from Shuidonggou Locality 12

Information on Palaeolithic bone technology from China is sparse. Here we present the results of a techno-functional analysis of a bone tool assemblage recovered from Shuidonggou Locality 12 (SDG12), layer 11, Northern China, dated to c. 12-11 cal ka BP. Six bone tool artefact types are identified: wedges, awls, spear points, a knife handle, a possible sewing implement, and a notched carpal. Two other artefacts could not be attributed to a specific type. The artefacts are made of Procapra przewalsikii, Lepus sp., Sus sp., Equus przewalskii, and unidentifiable bone fragments from medium/large size mammals. At least three methods are used to extract blanks: percussion of altered limb bones, longitudinal splitting of Sus sp. canine and large rib, and probably, the groove-and-splinter technique. Grinding and scraping are the dominant shaping techniques together with grooving, notching, polishing, drilling, flaking, and retouching. Tool type variability and function fit the hypothesis according to which the SDG12 and similar sites would be residential camps in which hunter-gatherers produced artefacts enabling them to cope with cold environmental conditions. Our results, however, indicate that not all bone tools match the expectations associated with a serial specialist production. Expedient wedges and awls may have been produced by any member of the group, and whenever the need arose. The SDG12 bone tool assemblage provides a significant contribution to our knowledge about hunter-gatherer adaptations to the Tardiglacial environments of Northern China.

Transfer of picked-up DNA to cotton plates

DNA is readily transferred to a knife handle by hands during a stabbing action and DNA existing on the handled knife-handle is readily picked-up during the action and transferred to a subsequently handled object. We repeated a part of an earlier study where instead of placing a handprint on five DNA-free glass plates post handling of a knife-handle, participants placed handprints on five consecutive cotton plates. Less DNA was collected from the cotton plates than from the glass plates. This appears to be due to less efficient recovery from cotton plates. DNA from the previous handler(s) of the knife was observable on some subsequently touched cotton plates. Sometimes not on the initially touched plates but on those touched later in the sequence, pointing to potential impacts of different manners of contact. The proportion of this relative to the depositor’s DNA was on average <10%. Where there were multiple previous handlers of the knife, DNA of the most recent handler(s) tended to be more prominent than earlier handlers, within the profiles derived from the cotton plates. As per prints left on glass plates, the total and transferred amounts of DNA tended to decrease as more cotton plates were touched subsequent to picking-up foreign DNA from previously touched knife handles. The substrate of the item contacted impacts on the yield and detectability of transferred DNA. More studies are required to increase our understanding of the impacts different substrates have on DNA transfer, persistence, prevalence and recovery.

Collaboration between the surgeon, assistants and nurses in robotic-assisted thoracic surgery

Routine surgical instruments: #7 knife handles, surgical scissors, forceps, needle holders, clamps (Snap, Kelly, Allis), Langenbeck, retractors, sponge-holding forceps, disinfection plates, and medicine bowls.

The origin of unknown source DNA from touched objects

The presence of DNA in a criminal investigation often requires scrutiny in relation to how it came to be where it was found. There is a paucity of data with respect to the extent to which one can assume that the last person handling an object, which has previously been touched by others, will contribute to the DNA profile generated from it. There are limited data in detailing the extent to which any foreign DNA is picked-up from a previously touched object and transferred to subsequently touched objects. This study focuses on DNA transfer and persistence on a knife handle after multiple handlings with the knife by different individuals soon after each other, as well as handprints left on flat DNA-free surfaces immediately after touching a knife handle with a known history of prior handling.The profiles of later handlers of a knife are more prominent than earlier handlers; however, the last handler is not always the major contributor to the profile. Proportional contributions to the profiles retrieved from knife handles vary depending on the individuals touching the knife handle. They can also vary when knife handles have been handled in the same manner by the same individuals in the same sequence on different occasions. Hands readily pickup DNA left on objects by others and transfer it to subsequently touched objects. The quantity of foreign DNA picked up by a hand and deposited on subsequently touched objects diminishes as more DNA-free objects are handled soon after each other.Caution is advised when considering how DNA from different individuals may have been transferred to the object from which it was collected.

On Two Old Russian Inscriptions from Belarus and Poland

Two Old Russian graffiti inscriptions are examined in the present paper. The first one, dating back to the late 13th–early 14th centuries, is located on one of the walls of the Savior Transfiguration Church in the St. Euphrosyne convent in Polotsk, Belarus. It reads Marъkova žana dobra ‘Mark’s wife is good.’ The second graffito was inscribed on a knife handle excavated in Drohiczyn, Eastern Poland (Old Russian Dorogyčinъ), and dates to the end of the 11th through the 12th centuries. The inscription reads Ežьkovъ nožь a iže i ukradetь proklętъ . . . ‘Ezhko’s knife. Whoever steals it, be cursed . . .’ Although both inscriptions have been published, the present study adds more in-depth paleographic and linguistic commentary and suggests corrected readings. The laudatory inscription from Polotsk is particularly interesting because it contains an early example of a spelling reflecting yakanye, a trait of Belarusian phonetics, whereas the interest of the Drohiczyn inscription lies in its unusual paleographic features.

Mechanisms of the abnormal first weighting in 'knife handle shaped face' with 7.0 m high supports

During the mining process of the 'knife handle shaped face' (KHSF) No. 52304-1 with 7.0 m high supports in Daliuta coal mine, the first weighting intensity was extraordinarily weak although the mining distance reached 171 m. This was quite different from the current experience. In this research work, field measurements and theoretical analysis were conducted to study the mechanisms of this uncommon phenomenon. The results showed that, the sub key stratum 1 (SKS 1), which commonly played a major role in mining face strata behaviour, had broken before the first weighting. And because of its high horizontal distance above the coal seam, its long breakage interval, as well as the large bulking factor of the immediate roof, its breakage did not have influence on the mining face. Therefore, the reason for the unusual weighting intensity of first weighting was not because of the breakage of SKS 1 but due to the fracturing of the upper primary key strata (PKS). Also, as PKS was far away from the coal seam, its breakage had only little influence on mining face so that the weighting intensity was quite weak. [Received: April 19, 2013; Accepted: November 7, 2013]

Penetrating knife injury to infratemporal region: case report and review of literature

Infra Temporal Fossa (ITF) injuries with retained knife handle are quite uncommon. ITF has a complex anatomy and is divided into prestyloid and post styloid compartments. We reviewed the literature and found one reported case. We are presenting another such rare case. A 22-year-old male presented in emergency room with a retained knife injury to the left face in front of left tragus. Clinically the patient was stable haemodynamically. CT showed the knife lying in left extra cranial infratemporal region, and the tip dangerously close to carotid canal, foramen ovale, and foramen spinosum and lateral orbital wall. After careful assessment it was decided to take the patient for simple extraction of knife in OT and prepare neck for ligation of external carotid if required. The knife was successfully removed and the patient has been followed up for 1 year with no residual problems. ITF injuries are uncommon and dangerous particularly ones which go into retrostyloid region and penetrate cranial cavity. If patient is stable clinically and imaging suggests pre styloid ITF injury, then after consulting a multidisciplinary team these may be treated by simple knife extraction in operation theatre with good outcome.

Hope’s Purgatory, and: One White Flatfish Lying on a White Dish, and: Translucent Opacity, and: Dream of Someone Free, and: Plum Blossom Is Mighty, and: Sisyphus’s Stake, and: An Island Called “In Spite of All”, and: Inside of Hope Is God’s Drop of Water, and: Seoul Melancholy 1, and: Seoul Melancholy 2

Hope’s Purgatory, and: One White Flatfish Lying on a White Dish, and: Translucent Opacity, and: Dream of Someone Free, and: Plum Blossom Is Mighty, and: Sisyphus’s Stake, and: An Island Called “In Spite of All”, and: Inside of Hope Is God’s Drop of Water, and: Seoul Melancholy 1, and: Seoul Melancholy 2 Kim Seung-hee Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé (bio) and Chung Eun-Gwi (bio) hope’s purgatory [The world] is always in disrepair. But we . . . have a little chance, an opportunity. If we try very, very hard, we can imagine goodness. We can think of ways to repair the damage, piece by piece. Jay Parini, Benjamin’s Crossing So after crossing the Pyrenees and reaching safety in a tiny Spanish village, he committed suicide. This world is always full of such endings. Beyond ways of repairing the damage autumn comes. Such cliffs lie somewhere far away, behind green vineyards and orchards. Where has the owner of the vineyard gone? You cross the Pyrenees one hundred times, crossing, crossing, autumn landscape full of ruins and cliffs. Give an arm, you’ll not be butchered. Give an eye, you’ll not be butchered . . . Prisons beyond prisons, cliffs beyond cliffs, endings beyond endings, passing mountains, beyond, still mountains, mountains beyond mountains, cliffs beyond cliffs, endings beyond endings. [End Page 66] one white flatfish lying on a white dish I think we must forget words such as I or myself, must give up words like my and mine. Before a small wooden table covered with a sea-blue tablecloth, I see the remains of one white flatfish on a white dish and the thought suddenly strikes me. This meal—delicate, proud, shining—is whispering to me: this white-fleshed flatfish, its skin and fins, guts removed, brothers, sisters, parents, home, can you restore all those? The way I cannot become a subject, the way my possessives are all as meaningless as foam on a wave, does that mean the meal is the subject here, that the blue knife handle, the sandbank are subjects? The flatfish with both eyes turned to the right, stripped of its skin, lies on the dish as mere bits of white flesh. Is there really no realistic grounds for hope? Isn’t that basically what hope is? A heart that has gone as far as it can . . . Frustration and agony overcome me, and does anyone write complete novels or sagas these days? Everything is montage, fragments of an ideology. This proud, delicate brilliance, this one meal may be equivalent to the whole world. The most unlovely wreckage on this dish, the outside ever pulls us in with its destructive power. The knife and fork placed before this white dish, prior neurosis. In that way, the day’s star slipped slyly into my slashed breast. [End Page 67] translucent opacity Is that it? Is it invisible? Is that it? Is it inaudible? Is that it? Is it unknowable? Is that it? Is it useless? Is that it? Is it the sun setting again? Is that it? Is it being told to live thus and then go? Is that it? Every day the present is a string of troubles. Is that it? Days flooding and surging without a break. Is that it? Is it saying that tomorrow is the same as today? dream of someone free Someone free . . . That’s a misunderstanding. The sea at the land’s end, the sky at the sea’s end, I say I erased all that from the drawing paper. I say I am gazing as though for the first time at blue waves, white clouds, seagulls. That’s a misunderstanding. Clouds, birds, waves, moving alone, cannot equal freedom. Freedom never goes there. Carrying a can of sin, begging for blood to eat. After fighting all the fights at the marketplace, bright sunlight hemmed in by eyes, as I lay down a bleeding heart in the middle of the market square, a jing booms out, the curtain falls, only by enduring such defeats can you be someone free. Piercing salt, a dream, like the flower perched on a crazy woman’s head. We call such things prisons, hope’s purgatory...

Gothic ivory carvings at the British Museum

The project to catalogue the British Museum's ivory carvings for the Courtauld Institute of Art's Gothic Ivories Project was a timely opportunity to begin a reappraisal of this excellent collection. This process took place over a two-year period from 2009, during which 187 Gothic ivories from the late medieval collection were catalogued, providing a springboard for renewed research into the collection. New photography of the pieces was commissioned, resulting in high-resolution images of the carvings being made available on the museum's online catalogue in addition to the Gothic Ivories Project. The ivories were measured and weighed, their bibliographies updated and their iconography classified to fit the terminology of the project database. Certain areas of the collection have also received increased study, particularly secular carvings, nineteenth-century objects (both emulations and forgeries) and the collecting history of medieval ivories at the museum. The success of this partnership has led to an Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative Doctoral Award between the British Museum and the Courtauld Institute of Art specifically to work on the corpus.This investigation into the museum's ivories focuses primarily on three key areas: provenance and collecting history; forgeries; and the review of the dates and locations of manufacture. Since the work of O.M. Dalton in 1909, there has not been a complete study of the British Museum's ivory carvings, and many pieces continue to be catalogued internally with Dalton's conclusion that they were French and fourteenth century.1 On the subject of Paris, Dalton wrote 'the majority of the ivories produced in the 14th century may have been assigned to the source'.2 Over a century later it is clear that a review of this scholarship is long overdue.Publishing the carvings through the Gothic Ivories Project has brought new insights into the collection, particularly by drawing parallels with pieces in other institutions. Current research on knife handles has revealed two pieces which correspond with the youth holding a falcon type identified by Mogens Bencard in his study of 24 such carvings in bone and ivory.3 We can add to Bencard's corpus two examples from the British Museum (inv. nos. 1867,0320.17 and 1856,0701.1507) along with two others brought to light through the Gothic Ivories Project: one from the Historisches Museum, Basel (inv. no. 1928,837) and another from the Skulpturensammlung und Museum fur Byzantinische Kunst, Berlin (inv. no. 06/58). Drawing together these ivory and bone pieces in English, Swiss and German collections with those Bencard had catalogued, which were predominantly from Danish archaeo- logical origins, provides valuable insight into the use and manufacture of these carvings. This enlarged corpus of the youth-with-falcon type also suggests the relatively widespread distribution of this knife handle motif, predominantly within northern Europe, as no examples are currently known to originate from Italy or Spain.The period from 1831 to 1871 was the most active for the purchase of ivory carvings at the British Museum, and studying the motivations behind these purchases has already yielded some interesting findings. During those four decades, around half of the present collection was acquired. Of particular importance was the collection of William Maskell (1814-90), a liturgical scholar from whom the museum purchased 170 ivories, nearly half of which are Gothic in style.4 The provenance of these pieces remains a mystery, and very little is known about their origins other than their date of formal acquisition into the institution on 23 June 1856. The museum's archive, which includes Maskell's own notes on his collection, has provided the starting point for an investigation into the provenance of these pieces, and has yielded important new information. One recent discovery is Maskell's purchase of a number of ivories from the Amiens collector M. …

A Knife Handle from Caerwent (Venta Silurum) Depicting Gladiators

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Gold foil covering of the handle of an iron knife from burial 2 of the Hunnic Period cemetery at Mukhino, in the Upper Don area

The chemical composition of 7 fragments of the gold foil covering the wooden (?) handle attached to an iron knife from the burial of a noblewoman in the Upper Don area was investigated by two methods – XRF and X-ray electronic spectroscopy (XRS). All samples showed that the gold foil was produced from an Au-Ag-Cu alloy (type III), with a high degree of Ag concentration in the XRS samples. The data suggests that this is the result of the process of silver diffusion to the surface of the samples, but the reasons for this are not clear yet. The actual quality of the knife handle is low and, in comparison with other high-status objects, it cannot be included in the category of high-quality artefacts. Thus, we cannot exclude the possibility that the knife from burial 2 at Mukhino is a local copy, or an item produced in the ‘metropolis’ especially for export to the ‘barbarian’ world.

Retained intra cranial blade – medicolegal perspectives

A fatal case of a homicidal penetrating head injury by retained blade of knife is reported. The blade of knife penetrated the skull bone after breaking from a knife handle and remained lodged in the intracranial cavity for 5 days resulting in death from intracranial bleeding and brain oedema. The need of proper and complete examination of the head injury and its medico-legal importance is emphasized.

Assessment of knife sharpness by means of a cutting force measuring system

Following a brief description of the problem of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the meat industry and use of knives, this paper presents a study of the influence of the main intrinsic technical characteristics of a knife on its cutting performance. This study prompted design of a specific system for measuring initial cutting capacity and cutting edge retention. This design process preceded research into test conditions (cutting speed, sample nature and thickness, knife inclination angle, etc.) offering optimum test bench operation. This equipment was then used to study the influence of blade inclination angle, steel grade and sharpening angle on cutting performance. It has been shown that cutting force varies with blade inclination. Use of knives with curved blades and/or a blade inclined with respect to the knife handle is therefore preferred in relation to our cutting force reduction objective. It has also been shown that choices are in fact governed by compromises in relation to other parameters (steel grade and edge angle). These observations confirm the need to set up suitable training of knife users to achieve best possible cutting performance.

Influence on grip of knife handle surface characteristics and wearing protective gloves

Ten subjects were asked to apply maximum torques on knife handles with either their bare hand or their hand wearing a Kevlar fibre protective glove. Four knife handles (2 roughnesses, 2 hardnesses) were tested. Surface electromyograms of 6 upper limb and shoulder muscles were recorded and subject opinions on both knife handle hardness and friction in the hand were also assessed. The results revealed the significant influence of wearing gloves ( p<0.0001), knife type ( p<0.0005) and handle hardness ( p<0.005) on the applied torque. Wearing Kevlar fibre gloves greatly increased the torque independently of the other two parameters. Under the bare hand condition, a 90° ShA slightly rough handle provided the greatest torque. Subject opinion agreed with the observed effects on recorded torque values except for the hardness factor, for which a preference for the 70° ShA value over the 90° ShA value emerged.

The effect of knife handle shape on stabbing performance

A quantitative knowledge of stabbing ability is a pre-requisite to establishing protection standards for stab resistant body armour. In order to determine the validity of measurements it is necessary to understand all the mechanisms that determine performance. This paper describes a series of tests that were performed in order to determine the effect of handle size and shape on the forces and impact energy that could be produced during stabbing of an armoured target. It was found that the single largest variable was that of the test participants with all other variables such as handle size and shape having only slight effects on the magnitude of impact energy. The use of a finger guard or hilt was shown to increase the mean energy delivered to the target by approximately 5 J compared to a handle having no guard. It was also found that the characteristics of energy delivery were strongly influenced by the position of the grip relative to this guard. This reinforces the conclusions of previous work (Horsfall et al., 1999; Chadwick et al., 1999) on the serial nature of momentum transfer during a stabbing impact.

A seaman's wager

A seaman's wager

Context, Function and Program: Understanding Ceremonial Slate Palettes

The relatively large, sometimes elaborately decorated slate palettesconsidered for these reasons to be ceremonialproduced during the late prehistoric, and very early historic times in Egypt have been several times discussed at length in recent years.1 Thus, their long-recognized importance in terms of both early Egyptian culture or civilization, and the history of Egyptian art in general, has been once more highlighted. In reviewing both recent and earlier discussions of these palettes, I have been struck by two issues which are significantly related to each other. First, the palettes each individually display a program, a structured arrangement of pictorial elements carved in relief; and, as a whole, belong to a larger program in that a number of motifs and themes recur on several palettes, while other motifs and themes found on other decorated items of the time are largely, although not entirely, excluded. The latter include domesticated, as compared to wild animals, and items such as ships of different types, prominently featured for example on the Hierakonpolis wall painting, the Gebel el-Arak knife handle, and elsewhere.2 Naturally, much attention has been paid by scholars to deciphering the meaning of the programs, specific and general, associated with the palettes. Equally naturally, there is considerable disagreement about what that meaning, or meanings might be. These disagreements or, more accurately, alternative renderings of the programsinsofar as earlier commentators are concernedare well brought out by Cialowicz's survey of scholarly opinions vis a vis the frequent zoomorphic items on the palettes.3 Amongst more recent commentators, one can compare Tefnin's argument that the imagery on the palettes does not narrate (raconter) an event4 with Davis' claim that on the palettes the images seem to be organized as narratives to be 'read' in a specific way (1992, 21) and that, Irrespective of the . . . functions of the palettes they work as pictorial narratives.5 Cialowicz, like Davis, thinks narrative is an important feature of the palettes' imagery,6 although he disagrees with some of Davis' specific narrative reconstructionsindeed, one suspects that absent texts and with considerable pictorial ambiguity, a number of alternative narratives could be read into the same scene or assemblage of images.

The Influence of Knife Dullness on Poultry Processing Operator Exertions and the Effectiveness of Periodic Knife Steeling

A novel procedure is described to establish knife steeling schedules for poultry and meat- processing operations based on increased force due to knife dullness from repetitive use to minimize operator exertions and physical stress associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Knife dullness was quantified using a novel apparatus described in this article that measures the area cut by a knife into a carrageenan gel target for a controlled dynamic load at the knife handle. Two meat-cleaning jobs in a poultry-processing plant were studied. One job required significantly more force and a greater number of cuts than the other. Eight experienced operators participated in the study. Four freshly ground and honed knives were randomly used by each operator for 4, 45, 75, or 125 cutting cycles, measured for dullness and reconditioned by the operator using a steel sharpening rod. An empirical model for knife dulling and reconditioning was developed, and the corresponding increase in force was predicted for various cutting and reconditioning frequencies. The model showed that it took 57 and 125 cutting cycles for the high- and low-force jobs, respectively, to achieve a similar reduction in target surface area of 30%. This reduction in target surface area corresponded to a similar percentage increase in force needed for the same cut in carrageenan gel as compared to a freshly honed knife as measured using strain gages. This method may be used in meat processing plants for determining effective reconditioning schedules that reduce operator exertions with minimum effect on quality and productivity.

An Ivory Knife Handle from the High Street, Perth, Scotland: Consuming Ritual in a Medieval Burgh

This paper seeks to cast some light on a so-called Green Man ivory knife handle from Perth and on the cultural context from which it sprang. It was made and lost or disposed of during the 14th century and, although its full life-story includes its archaeological recovery and subsequent curation in Perth Museum, its main importance lies in what it can tell us of medieval people. Exploring its material and production, its function as a handle, its iconography and its cultural background reveals this importance. Bringing these strands together gives us a snapshot of medieval cognition, focusing, on the way elements of seasonal ritual were consumed in the medieval burgh of Perth.