Human Factors Issues of Glare
The problem of glare affects all individuals. Although it is usually only a fleeting annoyance, glare can have grave consequences. For instance, problems caused by glare from computer screens account for 10 million optometrist examinations per year (Berman, 1998). There are two types of glare: discomfort glare and disability glare. The types of glare are distinguished by their origin. Discomfort glare comes from an external source; it is the physical sensation one experiences in the presence of a light source that is too bright. An example of discomfort glare is the experience of stepping outside on a bright day just after leaving a dark movie theater. Surfaces such as snow and sidewalks can cause discomfort glare (Ludt, 1997). Discomfort glare affects everyone. Disability glare, however, has an internal source. It is intrinsic to the individual due to aging or disease. Disability glare refers to intraocular scattering of light that interferes with normal visual functioning by decreasing image contrast on the retina. These individuals have a debilitating sensitivity to high levels of illumination. Streetlamps, floodlights, and the sun are examples of everyday encounters that can induce, and require recovery time from, disability glare. The pervasive and insidious nature of glare demands additional research. This paper examines discomfort glare, disability glare, the reasons why they warrant further research, and the direction of this research.
Because discomfort glare refers to reflection sources in the field of vision, the most simple way to guard against discomfort glare is to modify the environment. Some of the sources of discomfort glare are the sun, unshielded streetlamps, floodlights, computer screens, and parabolic luminaires. When the sun is low on the horizon, early in the morning and at dusk, discomfort glare peaks because the sunís illumination is much brighter than other objects and these objects become difficult to see. (Ludt, 1997). Protective gear may be sufficient to counteract the overhead rays of the sun in between dusk and dawn. A remedy for discomfort glare caused by the sun is simply to wear a visor while outdoors. A brim that extends 3 inches forward should block light from entering the pupil. Sunglasses with yellow, orange, or red tinted lenses may decrease discomfort glare (Ludt, 1997).
Unshielded streetlamps, or semi-cutoff luminaires, fail to make streets safer because their high-wattage bulbs shine light throughout the entire surrounding area. Full cutoff optics are a less bright and ultimately safer alternative.
Filming such a location at night provides the director with the opportunity to use chiaroscuro (a technique of strong contrast) to further convey the dominance of technology over humanity. For example in outdoor scenes the garish flickering neons are obtrusively visible but they fail to illuminate the obscure, dark, fogged surroundings, including the multitudes of faceless people. The prominent visibility of artificial things over human presence together with the qualities of the location indicates the degradation of human life under the rule of science.
Optometrists have accepted vision therapy, which is a medical treatment for optical muscle disabilities, as a feasible treatment used for eye related problems; claiming the treatment can strengthen vision and give the patient the opportunity to understand visuals quicker and clearer (Press). Vision therapy originated in the 1950s and over the past 25 years, has gained popularity, mainly because of new technological innovations in the field of treatment. Generally, vision therapy is prescribed as a measure mainly for people between the ages of 3 and 18. With the results from a comprehensive series of eye tests, the optometrist can work with the patient using special instruments—prisms, filters, occluders, and eye lenses—and strengthen the eye muscles, thus improving sight. According to optometrists in favor of vision therapy, these methods of treatment using these instruments function as safer routes to repair eye disabilities. Although vision therapy can yield favorable results, the practice as a treatment for innate eye disabilities has been in hot debate lately; as it can exceed $8000 and insurance companies do not cover the treatment. For decades, insurance companies have refused to accept vision therapy as a legitimate method for repairing eyesight (Boink). Concomitant with lack of insurance, the cost for a full treatment can exceed $8000, and doctors cannot guarantee a successful outcome. Recently, parents of children with eye related disabilities, such as amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (cross-eye), and doctors have attempted to cooperate with public schools to allow families access to school-funded doctors to practice vision therapy. With a tight budget, most schools cannot afford to supply vision therapy, and a...
My interest in the career of optometry stems from my first experience in the optometry office to receive my first pair of glasses when I was in middle school. I distinctly remember the moment when my optometrist slipped my new glasses over my eyes for the first time. Suddenly, everything in the room came into sharp, clear focus. I knew that the glasses would help me see the board in school, but I was astonished to find that I could see small details about the room, as it had never before occurred to me that I should have been able to see these details. I was also surprised that I was even able to see the expressions on the faces of people who were standing far away from me. It was one of the most incredible, freeing, and empowering moments of my life. As I walked out of the optometry office, I felt
I fancy the doors to society guarded by grooms of the chamber with flaming silver forks with which they prong all those who have not the right of the entrée...the honest newspaper fellow....dies after a little time. He can't survive the glare of fashion long. It scorches him up, as the presence of Jupiter in full dress wasted that poor imprudent Semele&emdash;a giddy moth of a creature who ruined herself by venturing out of her natural atmosphere. (657)
amount of UV exposure absorbed by a person is a direct result of the intensity of the light absorbed, the length of time of the exposure, and whether or not the skin was protected by clothing or sunscreen. Skin damage can be prevented by limiting when and how long one is exposed to sunlight, and by wearing protective clothing and sunscreen. Avoid exposure to sunlight during mid-day hours, when it is most intense. Tight weave clothing, and hats, protect against the sun's rays. Tanning beds, while popular, are also ...
...s they are in actuality. Part of the committed action of ACT is for clients to define goals in specific areas along their valued life path, and then act on the goals while anticipating psychological barriers (Hayes, 2004). Clients are encouraged to take responsibility for the patterns of actions that result from their committed action goals. Sartre states that we have total and deep responsibility in every decision that we make, such that if we decide to commit ourselves to “truthfulness”, we will impose a truthful standard on ourselves and have to take responsibility for this standard. Finally, the idea that we can only rely on ourselves and must accept our cognitions to increase our psychological flexibility in ACT, is similar to Sartre’s idea that we only have responsibility to ourselves and must guide ourselves through our ability to make decisions and choices.
In her article "The body as attire," Dorothy Ko (1997) reviewed the history about foot binding in seventeenth-century China, and expressed a creative viewpoint. Foot binding began in Song Dynasty, and was just popular in upper social society. With the gradually popularization of foot binding, in the end of Song Dynasty, it became generally popular. In Qing Dynasty, foot binding was endowed deeper meaning that was termed into a tool to against Manchu rule. The author, Dorothy Ko, studied from another aspect which was women themselves to understand and explained her shifting meaning of foot binding. Dorothy Ko contends that “Chinese Elite males in the seventeenth century regarded foot binding in three ways: as an expression of Chinese wen civility,
Man goes through life, waking each day and participating in his own existence without truly existing. He is always in search of a greater meaning, and in the process fails to find one as he is on a constant search for something that cannot be grasped by the normality that is the human psyche. A similar example can be found in the capitalistic work force of modern day. Man works the majority of his life, always training and aiming for more, only to retire and live on a portion of what he was making. During his time working he lost out on his family, his sleep, often times his own enjoyment, for an ideal that often times is never achieved. This is a trivial situation, yet it is painted in a rather angelic light in our society. Why is it, then, that Sartre can be dismissed as trivial when trivialities exist in nearly every day to day life? Quite likely, this is because Existentialism is an “on-paper theory” so to speak, and in theory is looks quite differently than in reality. Man, as in this case, does not realise that he often follows the rules which he opposes. In addition, much of today’s society exists under a form of organized religion, a society with which Existentialism exists in
He basically calls the people of Argos fools for following Zeus and repenting their sins. Here he is removing the people of free will, making them blindly follow this religion. I do think free will is often restricted, but by the person themselves, because they feel like they need to conform and follow this power. Sartre, through Orestes, makes it seem like you can only be free when you are free from power over you, therefore free from religion. I think this is a skewed view of life. Sartre generalizes followers of religion, specifically Catholicism, so much that they all seem like mindless clones. I am not religious, but I think people who follow religion don’t give it all the power. Rather than letting it have a hold over them, they work with it to make their decisions. Here is where I think Sartre fails. He is hypocritical. Sartre makes it seem like searching for answers or validation through religion is foolish, so instead, he gives us the answers he thinks are correct, he gives himself the power over the reader. He essentially makes himself into a god and existentialism into a religion, completely counteracting his previous points. Sartre is telling the reader that they are stupid, and existentialism is the right way, but since according to existentialism there is no right way, it all just becomes a never-ending, pointless
Thus, the idea of ‘God’, a being whose existence entails purpose, seems absurd to Sartre. The one being that satisfies the first principle of existentialism is man: “Man first exists: he materializes in the world, encounters himself, and only afterward defines himself” (22). This simply implies that a human being is thrown into this world without any essence, meaning, or characteristics. For example, if someone is to be deemed truthful, he or she is truthful not because he or she told the truth once or twice, but he or she is defined as truthful because he or she habitually tells the truth and lives in such a way that is deemed to be truthful. Hence, this person has been created to be truthful as he has defined his essence by living as a truthful individual. This idea also links back to the concept of abandonment; humans have no intrinsic nature and is left alone in this world to define his or her own nature and
Levy, Howard S. Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom. 1923, Neville Spearman Ltd., London.
Sartre is one of the constructors of the philosophy of existence that is existentialism. Humans must first be born and exist before they are able to define their essence. He states that there is no universal statement about what humans are. But, there is one overall statement about the circumstances that make us human, which is that we are free. He believes that when we have to make decisions nothing is forcing us to do what we are doing. Which leads to the idea that humans have to take full responsibility for our actions, beliefs and emotions. By being aware that we are free, the responsibility of this can cause “anguish” according to Sartre. One of the most painful thoughts can be that we alone are totally responsible for what happens to us. To avoid the pain of some of the bad decisions we make people can act as if they had no choice and may pretend that they are not free which would make them not responsible. When you act like you were not free and are not responsible is known as having bad faith. That is humans try to convince themselves that outside forces, forces that are beyond control or our conscious mental state helped determine the decisions we made.
Sartre based his philosophy first and foremost on mankind's innate free will, and declared that it is a by-product of the interaction between being and nothing. According to Sartre, individuals are free from the moment of their birth and they continue on throughout life to define their essence. The nature of an individual is what we have done in the past and wha...
Throughout history women have had to endure horrible things to be deemed beautiful. The ancient tradition of foot binding in China, however, takes the “beauty is pain” concept to a whole new level. Foot binding, also known as lotus feet, is the Chinese custom of applying painfully tight binding to the feet of a young girl to break all of the bones in both feet and to also prevent further growth in order to keep the feet three inches long. Although one may feel that this was completely ridiculous, having this procedure done meant that a girl will be able to get married to a wealthy man and will be referred to as attractive. The cost of beauty comes with a massive price as well. The loss of the ability to walk is the biggest price a Chinese girl had to pay in order to be accepted in the Chinese culture. During the Sung Dynasty period, women have mutilated, bound, deformed, permanently damaged and altered their bodies not only to be accepted in society, but also to satisfy men erotically and sexually as well as weaken themselves to make men feel more powerful.
Meece, Mickey. "Lenses to ease the strain from staring at screens." New York Times 15 Mar. 2012: B9(L). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.