• International Journal of Safety
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.39-43
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• 2008

With ever increasing number of citizen using subway stations everyday, safety, health and comfort of passengers and occupants (mostly metro personnel) have become important social issues. Considering the fact that various physical variables and pollutants such as particulate, VOCs and biological agents are closely related to indoor air quality (IAQ) which may cause health problems, a method of quantitative assessment using information-theoretic measure on such variables needs to be devised and implemented for comfort, health and safety of passengers and occupants in the subway station. A basic framework for assessing indoor air quality (for comfort and health) and safety in subway station is suggested. In particular, application of information-theoretic measure for the assessment of indoor air quality, comfort and safety in subway station is discussed. Some examples are presented as well.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.214-222
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• 2017

Objectives: A hospital is a complex building that serves many different purposes. The indoor environment in a hospital plays a major role in patient well-being and the work efficiency of the hospital staff. This study was conducted to evaluate overall comfort in two major hospitals over the course of one year. Methods: Various indoor environmental conditions were measured in two general hospitals for one year (April 2014 to April 2015). Monitoring alternated between the hospitals at one month per respective monitoring session. The indoor air temperature, relative humidity (RH), mean radiant temperature and air velocity were measured in order to calculate the predicted mean vote (PMV). Carbon dioxide concentration, noise level and illumination level were concurrently measured and applied to the overall IEQ acceptance model for the hospitals (IEQh). Results: The IEQh at the two general hospitals was different at five spaces within a building. The IEQh for summer and winter were significantly different. Real-time IEQh demonstrated that indoor comfort was affected by the hospital's operating hours due to operation of the HVAC system. The percentage of indoor comfort in the hospitals was higher using PMV than IEQh. Conclusion: IEQh in the hospitals was different at locations with different purposes. Indoor comfort assessment using IEQh was stricter than with PMV. Additional research is needed in order to optimize the IEQh model.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.389-396
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• 2015

Objectives: A hospital is a complex building that serves many different purposes. It has a major impact on patient's well-being as well as on the work efficiency of the hospital staff. Thermal comfort is one of the major factors in indoor comfort. The purpose of this study was to determine thermal comfort in various locations in a hospital. Methods: Various indoor environmental conditions in a general hospital were measured in February 2014. The predicted mean vote (PMV) and carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) concentration were measured simultaneously in the lobby, office, restaurant, and ward. Results: The ward was the most thermally comfortable location (PMV=0.44) and the lobby was the most uncomfortable (PMV = -1.39). However, the $CO_2$ concentration was the highest in the ward (896 ppm) and the lowest in the lobby (572 ppm). The average PMV value was the most comfortable in the ward and the lowest in the lobby. In contrast, for concentration of carbon dioxide, the highest average was in the ward and the lowest in the lobby. Due to air conditioner operation, during operating hours the PMV showed values close to 0 compared to the non-operating time. Correlation between PMV and $CO_2$ differed by location. Conclusion: The PMV and concentration of carbon dioxide of the hospital lobby, office, restaurant and ward varied. The relationship between PMV and carbon dioxide differed by location. Consideration of how to apply PMV and carbon dioxide is needed when evaluating indoor comfort.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.149-158
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• 2018

Background: Work comfort studies have been extensively conducted, especially in the underground and meteorological fields resulting in an avalanche of recommendations for their evaluation. Nevertheless, no known or universally accepted model for comprehensively assessing the thermal work condition of the underground mine environment is currently available. Current literature presents several methods and techniques, but none of these can expansively assess the underground mine environment since most methods consider only one or a few defined factors and neglect others. Some are specifically formulated for the built and meteorological climates, thus making them unsuitable to accurately assess the climatic conditions in underground development and production workings. Methods: This paper presents a series of sensitivity analyses to assess the impact of environmental parameters and metabolic rate on the thermal comfort for underground mining applications. An approach was developed in the form of a "comfort model" which applied comfort parameters to extensively assess the climatic conditions in the deep, hot, and humid underground mines. Results: Simulation analysis predicted comfort limits in the form of required sweat rate and maximum skin wettedness. Tolerable worker exposure times to minimize thermal strain due to dehydration are predicted. Conclusion: The analysis determined the optimal air velocity for thermal comfort to be 1.5 m/s. The results also identified humidity to contribute more to deviations from thermal comfort than other comfort parameters. It is expected that this new approach will significantly help in managing heat stress issues in underground mines and thus improve productivity, safety, and health.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.2 s.57
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• pp.413-427
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• 1997

This research is based on the Consumption Values Theory proposed by Sheth(1991). The purpose of this research is finding the factors related to the process of hospital choice. The expectation of six hospital outpatients 600 was analyzed by six consumption values categories: functional value, social value, emotional value, rarity value, condition value, health related values. The main results of this research is as following; 1. In the result of factor analysis 22 consumption value factors which affect the hospital preference were extracted; kindness/clearness, service speed, comfort of space, technical competence in functional values, high income/active social life, low income/blue collar unmarried/man, middle aged/big family, woman/married, introvert in social values, high-class, comfort, reliability in emotional value, newness, classiness in rarity value, social relationship, close to residence, social reputation in conditional values, priority on health, health behavior, active sense of value on health in health related values. 2. The difference of consumption values among hospital types were analyzed. The critical factors in reference for corporate hospitals newly established were kindness/clearness, service speed, convenience, classiness, comfort, and newness. University hospitals were preferred by the factors of reliability, and social reputation. In general hospital, convenience and close to residence were critical factor. 3. In logistic regression, age, marital status, education level and income as socio-demographic variables were significantly related to general hospital choice. Also service speed and close to residence were positively and high income/active social life and high class value were negatively related to general hospital choice. On university hospital choice, age and marital status, education show posive relationship whereas income showing negative relationship. Kindness/clearness, service speed, comfort of space, unmarried/man, comfortable feeling, newness and close to residence showed negative relationship with university hospital selection whereas technical competence, reliability in emotional value, classiness in rarity value, social relationship in functional values showed positive relationship. Lastly kindness/clearness, comfort of space, high income/active social life, unmarried/man, high-class, comfort and newness were positively related to corporate hospitals newly established choice in contrast to negative relationship in reliability in emotional value and classiness. In summary, we found that hospital user also choose to hospital in base of various consumption value. Further studies to investigate the hospital consumer behavior will be needed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.217-220
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world and by far the most frequent cancer among women. Objective: This study was conducted to observe the effect of progressive relaxation exercises on anxiety and comfort level of breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: A control group pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental model was applied with experimental (30) and control (30) groups, who agreed to participate in this study. Data collection was with the "Personnel Information Form, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and General Comfort Scale". Results: The average age of the patients that participated in the study was $49.1{\pm}7.96$ years. Eighty-three point three percent (n=25) of the patients in the experiment group and 86.7 (n=26) percent of patients in control group were married. Patient state of anxiety post-test mean scores were $36.2{\pm}8.21$ in the experimental group and $43.4{\pm}7.96$ in the control group, the difference being statistically significant (p<0.05). The general comfort scale post-test mean scores were $149.5{\pm}13.9$ in the experimental group and $137.7{\pm}15.0$ in the control group, again statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusions: Progressive relaxation exercises positively affect patient comfort and anxiety levels in Turkey.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.129-134
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• 2005

Purpose: This study was purposed to survey pain, efficacy, and comfort during the first stage of labor and to identify correlations among them. Method: The subjects were 116 laboring women who were admitted to a baby-friendly hospital recommended by UNICEF for breast feeding. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire composed of labor pain, labor efficacy, and labor comfort with 10 cm visual analog scale respectively. The data were analyzed by frequency, Pearson's correlation, and ANOVA. Result: Labor pain, labor efficacy, and labor comfort in latent phase were positive correlation with them in active phase. The more pain, the less labor efficacy and the less comfort in latent phase. and the more pain, the less comfort in active phase. Labor efficacy was positively correlated with labor comfort in both phase. Lastly, women supported by their husbands had significantly higher labor pain than women supported by their mothers. Conclusion: The results suggest that nurses develop a labor efficacy program for pregnant women and their mothers or spouses.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.75-80
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• 2024

This research investigates the influence of chair tilt functionality on biometric signals and user comfort, addressing the ergonomic challenges posed by modern sedentary lifestyles. Through an experimental study involving eight male participants, the impact of chair tilt on electromyography (EMG), heart rate, metabolic rate, pressure distribution, and distance between the lumbar spine and the lumbar support part of the chair was measured across different seating postures. The study utilized chairs with both synchronous and non-synchronous tilt mechanisms to explore how adjustments in chair design affect user comfort and physiological responses during prolonged sitting. Key findings suggest that chair tilt functionality can significantly reduce muscle activity and energy expenditure, enhancing user comfort and potentially mitigating health risks associated with prolonged sedentary behavior. Notably, the study revealed a preference among participants for chairs that aligned the rotational center of the tilt with the hip joint, highlighting the importance of this ergonomic feature in enhancing user comfort. Additionally, the research proposes a novel methodology for assessing seating comfort through the analysis of both biometric and physical signals, providing valuable insights for the development of ergonomic chair designs focused on user health and comfort.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.811-821
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• 2014

The purposes of this study were to investigate difference on recognition, preference, satisfaction and possession of functional textile clothing in psychological comfort groups according to gender and age of the elderly and suggest optimal physical, mental and healthy functional textiles for the elderly. The data was collected from 262 respondents in their age of over 55, who lived in Busan. SPSS 21.0 was used and t-test, cross tabulation analysis, frequency analysis, and descriptive analysis were performed for analysis. The results are as follows. First, high groups of psychological comfort for both gender and age of the elderly showed higher recognition and preference of functional textiles, especially in the high groups of the new silver generation and women. Second, the high groups of psychological comfort for both gender and age of the elderly showed higher satisfaction of functional textiles. However, it was lower than preference of functional textiles. Last, the possession of major clothing function over all the elderly was comfort, fitting motion adaptability, and health safety function in order. Low groups of psychological comfort possessed fitting motion adaptability textile clothing more than the high groups, and the high groups of psychological comfort possessed comfort and health safety textile clothing more than low groups. In conclusion, this research showed the importance of functional textiles for the elderly in terms of psychological comfort as well as the need for healthy comfort textiles for the advanced activities of daily life.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.190-204
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• 2010

Understanding awareness and wearing behavior of functional textiles for silver generation is expected to contribute to clothing products development to improve and maintain their health and marketing strategy fit for user characteristics. For empirical research, a survey was developed and the aged 50 and above were 332 respondents. The results of the study are as follows. First, the level of awareness for both comfort-oriented and health/safetyoriented functional fabrics in high health-conscious group was much higher than that in low health-conscious group. In number of wearing times, health body and high-conscious group wear comfort-oriented fabrics more frequently, while weak body group wear health/safety-oriented fabrics more often. The health-consciousness significantly influenced the possession of active sportswear with various functions. Second, the awareness of functional fabrics in exercise activities groups was much higher than that in exercise-conscious groups. High exercise activities group know more about the wet sensation-related fabrics and clothing materials for outdoor activities. Low exercise-conscious group put on health/comfort-oriented fabrics for casuals more frequent than functional fabrics for sportswear. High exercise activities group preferred to wear sportswear suitable for outdoor activities. The aged people have a lot of health/comfort-oriented functional casual wear appropriate for indoor activities regardless of exercise-consciousness. However, the more they enjoy exercise activities the more they are interested in functional sportswear. Even though they were unconcerned with exercise, older people are interested in functional casual clothes. As a conclusion, the high interest in health and exuberant activities in silver generation arose the necessity of new multi-functional clothing products.