South Asian Rituals of Self-torture

The expression “South Asian rituals of self-torture,” chosen as the all-encompassing title of this bibliographic article, indicates a complex of inherently painful, injurious, hazardous, or, in any event, trying religious practices falling either within the domain of the mystic-ecstatic experience or within that of possession in both theistic (i.e., Hindu) and shamanistic (i.e., tribal) cult traditions of South Asia. Such practices, generally not observed within Brahmanical contexts, are also commonly termed “religious ordeals.” The English-language term ordeal is a modern reflex of Proto-Germanic *uz-dailjam, lit. “that which is dealt out (by the gods),” namely, “God’s judgment,” and it etymologically denotes an ancient mode of trial by divine judgment consisting of an arduous physical test a person charged with guilt could be occasionally forced to undergo; the result of the test was believed to determine that person’s guilt or innocence by immediate judgment of the deity. By introducing a shift in meaning that excludes from the definition of ordeal such judicial concepts as “guilt,” “trial,” “test,” and “judgment,” a number of historians of religion have used this term to designate self-torture rituals as a whole within diverse religious traditions. In the South Asian context, Hindu votive (or devotional) ordeals aim at purifying or healing the bodies and souls of devotees keeping a religious vow who have resolved to practice self-torture in order to enter into a spiritual communion with their own elected deity (by whom they are often considered to be possessed during their performance of the ordeal) so as to be temporarily identified with him/her. Whereas in theistic Hindu cults religious ordeals are performed in fulfilment of a vow and out of devotion to acquire the favor and power of a personal deity and, in certain cases, to become his/her oracles, in shamanistic tribal cults they are undertaken as rites of passage performed to authenticate a change of state in both the body and the soul of a sacred specialist (who can be variously a shamanistic figure, a medium, a diviner, or a traditional healer); the goal of the ordeal is, in this case also, the transcending of the profane human condition. In either case undergoing an extreme physical experience is equated with being initiated into a new and closer relationship with the divine, which is reflected in a person’s manifest ability to bear the physical discomfort caused by acts of self-torture while in a self-transcending or in a possession/trance state that is interpreted by both the actors and the audience as a radically transforming experience. Thus, the aim of both votive/devotional and shamanistic ordeals is achieved only when the vow-keeper’s or the shamanistic specialist’s indifference to self-torture is exhibited before an audience of devotees, and this substantial fact marks the difference between them and the individualistic, private penances involving self-torture carried out by Hindu ascetics. In this article, sections dealing with the diverse South Asian rituals of self-torture are organized in terms of both phenomenal typology and geographical area (the most parsimonious method for classifying them).

Hydrodynamic Modelling of Wave Overtopping over a Block-Covered Flood Defence

Wave overtopping can cause erosion on the landward slope due to high flow velocities and turbulence that cause high stresses on the cover. Innovative block revetments such as Grassblocks protect the subsoil of the dike against erosion. The blocks are permeable, which reduces the flow velocity and the pressures along the landward slope. The performance of these blocks is assessed in physical tests, which provides insights into the stability of the blocks. However, such experiments are expensive and accurate measurements are difficult due to highly turbulent conditions. Therefore, the goal of this study is to determine the hydrodynamic conditions at the dike cover caused by the wave run-up on the seaward slope and by the overtopping flow over the crest and landward slope. The geometry and wave conditions from the physical test at the Deltares Delta flume are implemented in an OpenFOAM® numerical model. Using the porousWaveFoam solver, a porous layer on the crest and landward slope is implemented, where the flow resistance of this porous layer largely depends on the resistance coefficients α [-] and β [-]. The numerical model is calibrated based on resistance coefficients as introduced earlier in the literature, which showed that the resistance coefficients of α=500 and β=2.0 performed best for the peak flow velocities and the peak pressures. The numerical model is evaluated by using these resistance coefficients in other time series of the physical tests. The evaluated model is then used to determine the hydrodynamic conditions on the landward slope, which showed that the pressure was the most influential hydrodynamic condition at the time of failure. Finally, the model showed that a porosity of n=0.6 and the porous layer thickness η=36mm reduced the peak pressure the most.

Comparison of the Cardiovascular Effects of Extreme Psychological and Physical Stress Tests in Male Soccer Players

Background: The purpose of our study was to compare the physiological effects of extreme physical and psychological stress tests in male soccer players, since these two types of stress apply to athletes with high performance requirements. Methods: A total of 63 healthy male soccer players participated in this study, all of whom underwent both of the tests. A physical stress test was carried out in an exercise physiology laboratory, where subjects completed an incremental treadmill running test to full exhaustion, and a psychological test was performed in a military tactical room, where subjects met a street offence situation. Heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure (BP) were recorded directly before, immediately after, and 30 min after the stress tests. Results: The majority of HRV indices changed significantly in both stress protocols. Inverse, significant changes (positive for the physical test, negative for the psychological test, p < 0.001) were found when comparing the alterations of HRV indices between the tests. Significant differences were found in the changes in systolic (p = 0.003) and diastolic (p < 0.001) BP between the test protocols, and also between the baseline and post-test measurements (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Both HRV and BP are sensitive physiological parameters to measure the impact of extreme physical and/or psychological stress

Fitness testing in tennis: Influence of anthropometric characteristics, physical performance, and functional test on serve velocity in professional players

The aims of this study were to examine the relationship between anthropometric variables, physical performance, and functional test with serve velocity regarding tennis players’ level and to design regression models that effectively predict serve velocity. A sample of sixteen male tennis players participated in this study (national level = 8, professional level = 7). Anthropometric measurements (body mass, height, body mass index and body segments) and physical test (hand strength, countermovement jump, jump on serve, and serve velocity) and functional test (medicine ball throw overhead and shot put) were performed. No differences in anthropometrics and physical test were found between national and professional levels. A significant positive correlation (p < 0.05, ranging for 0.603 to 0.932) was found between some anthropometrics measurements (body mass, height, arm, forearm, and leg segments), physical parameters (hand strength, countermovement jump) and functional test (medicine ball throw shot put and overhead) with serve velocity for all tennis players. Multiple regression analysis indicated that medicine ball throw shot put was the most important test to explain serve velocity (r2 = 0.869). The results showed how the combination of physical and anthropometric factors have an impact on serve velocity. In addition, a new functional fitness test (medicine ball throw shot put) is proposed as an alternative to traditional medicine ball throw overhead due to its high reproducibility (inter-trial reliability) and predictive validity values, as well as by multi-segmental coordination movement similar to tennis serve.

Basic Tools and Techniques for Assessing Strength and General Endurance

The desire of more and more segments of the population for self-improvement and self-expression through amateur sports has acquired a global scale. The evaluation and analysis of the amateur athletes’ achievements in the chosen physical activity become of practical importance for most amateur athletes and open up the possibility of developing innovative interventions to stimulate the engagement in physical activity of as much population as possible. For this purpose, we have developed an elementary methodology for monitoring the achieved level of strength and overall endurance of students, designed to monitor and motivate amateur athletes of various types of physical activity. The purpose of this research project was to conduct the targeted analysis of the array of physiological indicators of those engaged in physical activity, and also to justify and test technologies for collecting and interpreting objective indicators of performing elementary physical test exercises and calculating their dependence on objective indicators of the cardiovascular system. Subsequently, we planned to develop a simple methodology for collecting, evaluating, and interpreting test information. We suggest using this technique in the daily training sessions of amateur athletes of various qualifications.

SEQUENTIAL DESIGN PROCESS FOR SCREENING AND OPTIMIZATION OF ROBUSTNESS AND RELIABILITY BASED ON FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS AND META-MODELING

A new medical device can take years to develop from early concept to product launch. Three approaches are often combined to mitigate risks: Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), simulation and modeling, and physical test programs. Although widely used, all three approaches are generally time-consuming and have their shortcomings: The risk probabilities in FMEA's are often based on educated guesses, even in later development stages as data on the distribution of performance is not available. Thus, the traditional use of safety factors in structural analysis versus the probabilistic approach to risk management presents an obvious misfit. Therefore, the above three approaches are not ideal for addressing the design engineer's key question; how should the design be changed to improve robustness and failure rates. The present work builds upon the existing Robust and Reliability-Based Design Optimization (R2BDO) and adjusts it to address the key questions above using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The two main features of the presented framework are screening feasible design concepts early in the embodiment phase and subsequently optimizing the design's probabilistic performance (i.e., reduce failure rates) while using minimal computational resources. A case study in collaboration with a medical design and manufacturing company demonstrates the new framework. The optimization minimizes the failure rate (and improves design robustness) concerning three constraint functions (torque, strain, and contact pressure). Furthermore, the study finds that the new framework significantly improves the design's performance function (failure rate) with limited computational resources.

Designing and Testing a Closed-loop Magnetically Actuated Laser Scanning System for Tissue Ablation

Biomedical robotic systems continue to hold unlimited potential for surgical procedures. Robotized laser endoscopic tools provide surgeons with increased accuracy in the laser ablation of tissue and tumors. The research here catalogs the design and implementation of a new laser endoscopic tool for tissue ablation. A novel feature of this new device is the inclusion of a feedback loop that measures the position of the laser beam via a photo-detector sensor. The scale of this new device was governed by the dimensions of the photo-detector sensor. The tip of the laser's fiber optic cable is controlled by the torque interaction between permanent magnet rings surrounding the fiber optic and the custom designed solenoid coils. Prior to building the physical test-bed the system was modeled and simulated using COMSOL software. In pre-clinical trials, the physical experimental results showed that the designed prototype laser scanner system accurately track different ablation patterns and gives a consistent output position for the laser beam however, the heat diffusion into the tissue around the desired line of the geometric shape would give wider ablation margins than was desirable.