• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.223-234
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• 2015

Objective:This study aims to investigate the correlation between office environment satisfaction levels and workers' subjective symptoms by conducting surveys asking office workers to state their subjective symptoms and office satisfaction levels. Background: The increased number of office workers and their work hours have led to new understandings of the importance of office environments including its temperature, humidity, noise levels, lighting, space arrangements, and quality of air. Method: Specific details on office work, office environment, office space satisfaction levels, workplace related symptoms, absence from work, due to workplace-related symptoms, were analyzed based on the survey answers given by 451 office workers who were the subjects of this research. Results: Office workers showed different characteristics of subjective symptoms depending on their gender, age, work experience, and time spent resting and on computers. Also, differences in symptoms were found for workers with different satisfaction levels for office environment (temperature, humidity, noise levels, quality of air, lighting) and office space arrangements (location of monitors, area and display of office space, chairs and desks). Conclusion and Application: Relationship between workers' satisfaction levels with the office environment and their subjective symptoms is expected to be serve as essential data for systematic management of the workplace.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.167-177
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• 2015

Objective: The objective of this research is to develop evaluation checklist for personal office furniture and apparatus to shape comfortable and efficient worksite for workers' welfare improvement, productivity enhancement and labor force preservation, and to identify office work environment by applying the checklist. Background: Because most office workers work using computers in a sitting posture, the ratio of office workers among total musculoskeletal disorders patients is forecast to increase. In this regard, an effort to prevent and manage such musculoskeletal disorders is required. Method: This research developed evaluation checklist for personal office furniture and apparatus by examining 25 domestic and international ergonomic literature and anthropometric data. This research carried out a fact-finding survey targeting the A Office and B Office of one public agency using the checklist. Results: Although, the checklist items on desks, chairs, computers and other goods conformed to the checklist standards, the following items did not conformed: desk height adjustment, seat board depth adjustment, lumbar support depth, foot rest, wrist rest, mouse tray, headset, speaker phone and Bluetooth. Conclusion: The evaluation checklist for personal office furniture and apparatus and fact-finding survey results are considered to be used as basic data for office work environment and workers' welfare improvement. Application: The information drawn from this research can be helpful to manufacturers' design and manufacture of ergonomic furniture and apparatus.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.27 no.1B
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• pp.114-124
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• 2002

In this paper, we proposed the image-based 3D ray tracing indoor propagation model using a patch scattering model for fading analysis of indoor propagation environments. An image-based 3D ray tracing technique is mainly used, which allows the rapid generation of the complex channel impulse response for any given location and polarization of transmitter and receiver. Due to the site specific nature of indoor environment, we took into account the location and the electrical properties of individual walls and objects such as windows, doors and plaster board in our propagation model. Besides, the 3D radiation beam-patterns and polarizations of arbitrary antennas were considered, and using patch scattering model we can consider the change of the polarization due to the scattering from the various indoor objects, like desks, chairs and etc. the are almost impossible to be modeled with the basic image-based ray tracing method. The model will predict the impulse response, the rms delay spread, the fading characteristics of the channel and performances of the polarization diversity schemes.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.198-206
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• 2020

This study aimed to identify needed improvements to current evaluation methods in medical school computer-based test (CBT) programs and test environments. To that end, an analysis of the importance and satisfaction was conducted through a survey of 3rd and 4th year medical students who had sufficient experience with CBT programs. Importance performance analysis methodology using the correlation coefficient was applied to assess average satisfaction and importance. The first quadrant (keep up the good work) was a factor of review and time management and test facilities among the conveniences of the CBT program. The second quadrant (concentrate here) was a factor of the convenience of the CBT program and computer monitor and chair factor within the test facilities. The third quadrant (low priority) was a factor of cheating and computer failure. The fourth quadrant (possible overkill) was the location, spacing, and temperature factors of the test facilities. Improvements are needed to reduce 'eye fatigue' and help students focus and understand the questions in the CBT programs. It is necessary to improve computer monitors, desks and chairs, and consider the subject's body type and manager in order to cope with computer breakdown and peripheral failures. Spare computers are needed. These findings are meaningful in that they have been able to identify factors that require improvement in the CBT program and test environment resulting from changes in assessment tools.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.193-211
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• 1997

The study was designed to gain necessary basic data in order to grasp the health knowledge, attitude, and practice level of students and teachers of elementary, middle and high schools. This study was conducted through interviews of 3,400 students and 1,022 teachers attending 14 different schools large, middle and small cities and rural towns during a period of nine months (from Oct. 2 1995 to Jun. 30 1996). By the results of this study, the recommendations can be summarized as follows: 1. A school health development committee should be established of 10 members: school health related teachers (physical trainers, nurses, and teachers in charge of health), parents, persons related to health administration, local medical doctors, and student reprensentatives in order to support and immplement school health development plans. 2. Like advanced countries, a health class of 2~4 hours should beplaced in middle and high schools. A nurse majoring in health from a university should be the teacher. 3. A curriculum of health should contain the following: education on health, sex, alcohol, tabacco, the misuse of the drugs, the structure and function of human body, the growth of the body, mental health, safety and emergency care, the prevention of disease, proper eating habits and nutrition, daily health life, family health education, society health, community health, environmental pollution and individual responsibility. 4. Create a school health promotion center, with a nurse's office, and a sports center which has health machines (bars, aerobics, training, twist machine, belt massage, running machine, bench press, chest waist, hack hip extension machine) as well as a physical strength measuring machine (muscular strength, alertness, flexibility, endurance, lung functions and so on), so that the teaching staff and students can use them and train their bodies. 5. Through a refresher education program, urge teachers to understand school health promotion services. 6. Regulate a standard and establish a system of monitoring the physical enviroment of the school (the height of desks and chairs, illumination facilities, ventilation facilities, safe drinking water). 7. Create a check list of health to evaluate improvement.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.16 no.2 s.30
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• pp.59-65
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• 2005

As physical condition of students improves, there is a need to develop human body-friendly desk and chair for students. In this study, desks and chairs were manufactured with curved veneer lamination under high frequency heating and pressing, using ten wood species such as Japanese red pine, Korean pine, pitch pine, Japanese larch, yellow poplar, black locust, oak, radiata pine, beech, and birch. The performance of these products were evaluated. The results obtained were summarized as follows; With high frequency heating, the turned lamination of veneers with full size sheet ($3{\times}6\;feet$) prepared by rotary lathe peeling was successfully applied for making the members of desk top, leg frames of desk and chair. Bending strengths of desk tops were relatively greater for yellow poplar, black locust and red pine, which were similar to those of beech and birch. Bending strengths of desk legs were classified into greater species group (red pine, yellow poplar, larch) and lower species group (radiata pine, Korean pine, pitch pine). Compressive strengths of chair legs in parallel direction to the lamination were greater in black locust and larch. On the other hand, differences between outer and inner gap at the top and drawer bottom of desk top were rather larger for the laminations of birch and beech, and less for those of yellow poplar and pitch pine, showing greater stability of open drawer space. In results, yellow poplar, larch, pitch pine and red pine showed good appearance and strength properties at the curved veneer lamination. Accordingly, it was believed that these domestic woods were able to substitute for birch which was being imported for the use of veneer-laminates type furniture.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.139-142
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• 2013

Pinworm infection can occur through contact with contaminated surfaces followed by ingestion or even through inhalation of infective eggs. We have limited information regarding environmental contamination by eggs of Enterobius vermicularis. In order to determine environmental risk factors associated with the rate of E. vermicularis infection, we investigated possible environmental risk factors using a questionnaire from 46 kindergartens in 3 different cities of the southeast area of Korea. In total, using the cellotape anal swab technique, 3,422 children were examined for E. vermicularis infection. We evaluated E. vermicularis egg of books, educational materials, toys, room door handles, dusts of window edges, desks, chairs, tables, and dusts of classrooms. The overall egg-positive rate for E. vermicularis was 6.0%, and the prevalence of enterobiasis in each kindergarten ranged between 0% and 16.9%. We found that 78.9% of egg positive kindergartens were managed by private foundations, which was significantly higher, compared with kindergartens managed by public foundations or the nation. Compared with public or national kindergartens, most private kindergartens were located in residential areas and the number of children in these areas was significantly higher. In conclusion, numbers of children in kindergartens was found to be an environmental risk factor associated with transmission of enterobiasis in Korea.

• Journal of the HCI Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2008

The major users of children's library are children and housewives. Recent increasing frequency of their visit to the library expands the function of it from the place where they borrow and read books further to the cultural space where each family unit can enjoy leisure activities. Though the children's library basically is a quiet place for reading books, peers' establishing friendship and emotional bond with the parents, and such plays as small scale muscular movements take place in addition to reading activities because the major users are infants under six or children in the lower grades in elementary school. Thus, in order to study the features and requirements that are inherent in the various behaviors of the children who use furniture, understanding of the particular factors in the physical environment of the children's library and the user context must precede. In reality, though the fixed form of the desks and chairs in the library was made by a small number of designers, a large number of children are using them in tremendously various ways beyond the ways that the designers had intended, adapting themselves to the environmental context. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find out the children's using way of seats when they do reading and playing activities based on the way of interaction between children and parents, and, after modeling of the children's behavior data, to understand the demands inherent inside the various behaviors of children who use furniture.

• The Journal of Sustainable Design and Educational Environment Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.66-90
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to measure and analyze primary causes of indoor air pollution, including carbon dioxide, minute dust, and total volatile organic compounds, for each room before the beginning of a class through the time of discharge after the end of the class in general classrooms, computer rooms, and science rooms of three newly-established schools that opened in 2006, examine properties of indoor air environment in each room by educational activities at school, and determine effective management schemes; the results of this study can be summarized as follows: 1) As for implications for each item found in the mean for each place, since minute dust (PM10) was more likely to occur in time slots full of students' activities, such as a traveling class and a recess, than in the middle of a class and could be expected fully, it is necessary to make a scheme for cleaning in order to reduce minute dust within a room, for example, by usually using a vacuum cleaner indoors. 2) While carbon dioxide was expected to vary with the differences in the amount of breath between higher-graders and lower-graders in a general classroom but showed insignificant difference by grades, showing differences in pollution by four times at a maximum according to the opening of a window as expected, it is necessary to implement artificial or natural ventilation and take a positive measure, for example, by presenting a concrete ventilation scheme, in order to improve indoor air pollution at a room practice. 3) Total volatile organic compounds were found to exceed the standard by more than twice in general classrooms, science rooms, and computer rooms of the schools because of building materials, furnitures including desks and chairs, panels and boards for environment beautification, and items which could be detected even from students' clothes; while a field directly-reading tool was used, obtaining high reliability for the results, it is necessary to apply an analytical method based on process test separately for actual correct measurement if a significantly great amount of total volatile organic compounds appear as compared with other schools due to measuring expenses and consecutive measurements. 4) Since formaldehyde (HCHO) was generally found to exceed the standard in general classrooms, science rooms, and computer rooms, it is necessary to establish and operate a ventilator during a class in a computer room which requires airtightness and a science room in which an organic compound should be used for a class.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.595-609
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• 2016

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the guidelines for Medic Work Table (MWT) based on the anthropometric data of medical technologists. Background: Users' anthropometric data such as sitting height, sitting elbow height, knee height, and so on are significant factors for designing comfortable and useful furniture. Thus, many guidelines for different types of desks and chairs based on the users' anthropometric data have been suggested to many researchers. However, few researches have been conducted to provide design guidelines for MWT for blood collecting task. Medical technologists often use their upper extremities to perform blood collecting task with high repetitions. These repeated motions could be a critical factor in the prevalence rate of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs). Therefore, a study on ergonomic design of MWT would be essential in preventing the WMSDs and improving the quality of the working environment of medical technologists. Method: This study suggested design guidelines for ergonomic MWT by focusing on the heights of the upper side and underside, depths of the inside and outside, and width of MWT through anthropometric studies and literature reviews. Afterwards, a new MWT was made using the suggested design guidelines for this study. Five healthy medical technologists participated to evaluate the original MWT and new MWT. All participants took part in the range of motion (ROM) test, electromyography (EMG) muscle activity test, and usability test to validate the suggested guidelines in this study. EMG signals of related muscles (Flexor Carpi Ulnaris, Extensor Carpi Ulnaris, Deltoid Anterior, and Biceps Branchii) were recorded through the surface electromyography system from both the original MWT and the new MWT. The ROM test of the shoulder and elbow flexion was also assessed using motion sensors. Results: The newly designed MWT showed decreased ROMs of the shoulder and elbow up to 22% and 18% compared to the original MWT. The muscle activities in the new MWT also showed a decrease of 13% in Anterior Deltoid, 6% in Biceps Brachii, 5% in Flexor Carpi Ulnaris, and 8% in Extensor Carpi Ulnaris muscle groups, compared to the original MWT. In the usability test, the satisfaction score of the new MWT was also 56.1% higher than that of the original MWT. Conclusion: This study suggested guidelines for designing MWT and validating the guidelines through qualitative and quantitative analyses. The results of motion analysis, muscle activity, and usability tests demonstrated that the newly designed MWT may lead to less physical stress, less awkward posture, and better physical user interface. Application: The recommended guidelines of the MWT would be helpful information for designing an ergonomic MWT that reduces physical loads and improves the performance of many medical technologists.