• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.333-342
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• 2010

This paper describes a novel quantitative discomfort evaluation method based on motion data and its application to discomfort analysis of ingress/egress motions for cars. To develop the discomfort evaluation model, we introduced the discomfort regression curve and the range of motion for each degree-of-freedom of the joints of a whole human body. The maximum discomfort value for the joints at a specific time is selected to represent the discomfort value of the whole body at the time. The results of the experiments and questionnaires support the claim that our discomfort measure matches experimental subjective discomfort levels.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.184-196
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• 2012

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the degree of discomfort and to identify factors related with discomfort in patients wearing thigh-length compression stockings after orthopedic surgery. Methods: The participants were 105 patients wearing thigh-length compression stockings after orthopedic surgery at two hospitals in B city. Data were collected by the scale of discomfort in wearing compression stockings from July 5 to October 20, 2011. Results: Mean score of discomfort on wearing compression stockings was significantly higher at post-op. day 3 than day 1 (t=-2.30, p=.004). Discomfort scores for 'itching skin' and 'tightened leg' items were higher than others. There was significant difference in discomfort at post-op. day 1 according to surgical regions. The total score of discomfort at post-op. day 3 was positively related with the body mass index (r=.20, p=.041). Conclusion: Wearing thigh-length compression stockings to prevent deep vein thrombosis may cause physical and psychological discomfort for orthopedic surgical patients. To reduce discomfort in wearing compression stockings, nurses need to intervene discomfort and problems related to the stockings post-operatively.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.53-65
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the intensity and types of discomfort caused by an endotracheal tube in patients during ventilator therapy after cardiac surgery, and to analyze the differences in the intensity and types of discomfort by sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and characteristics related to endotracheal tubes. Methods: The intensity of discomfort was measured using an 11-point numeric rating scale and the types of discomfort were measured using a 4-point numeric rating scale. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and characteristics related to endotracheal tube were collected by observation and the electronic medical chart using a structured questionnaire. Results: The mean intensity of discomfort in patients due to endotracheal tubes was 6,91 points, 84% of patients reported discomfort over 5 points, The most severe discomfort was pain during endotracheal suctioning, and dry mouth and breathing difficulties were also found to induce discomfort. Patients who had more severe surgical site pain, longer duration of intubation and higher cuff pressure demonstrated more severe discomfort due to the endotracheal tube. Conclusion: These results can be used as basic data for developing nursing intervention to relieve the discomfort caused by endotracheal tubes in patients during ventilator therapy.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.821-831
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• 1998

Management of perimenstrual discomfort could be an effective strategy for women's health promotion. This study was designed to develop and test the nursing intervention program for the reduction of the perimenstrual discomfort. The data were collected from a group of 76 female university students (34 in the intervention group, 42 in the control group) during November 20, 1997 and March 10, 1998. Measurements were taken concerning perimenstrual discomfort, self care behavior, and perimenstrual discomfort from both groups, at pre and post intervention. Intervention program involved education, support, counseling, and relaxation training, via individual and group levels over a twelve-week period. Listed are the summarized results : 1. The intervention group had more knowledge con corning perimenstrual discomfort(t=2.290, p=.025), self care behavior(t=3.198, p=.000), and lower perimenstrual discomfort score (t=-4.446, p=.000) than the control group at post intervention. 2. The intervention group showed an enhancement on the knowledge on perimenstrual discomport (t=2.35, p=.025), and decreased the perimenstrual discomfort score(t=-7.36, p=.000). However change of self care behavior was not significant during the intervention. According to this study a developed nursing intervention program is effective for reduction of the perimenstrual discomfort. For a future research, it is necessary that experiments concerning menstruation, and a correlational study of perimenstrual discomfort and stress ill be performed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.27-40
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• 1991

Perineal discomfort from episiotomy continues to be a problem for many postpartum women. The purposes of this study were to compare the effect of ice bag and heat lamp for the relief of perineal discomfort and to identify the sustaining time of each effect. Forty women took ice bag and heat lamp with random assignment of initial therapy. Women rated the degree of perineal discomfort before and after each therapy and at half-hour, tow-hour and four-hour intervals after each therapy. A discomfort scale, 18cm graphic rating scale, was used. The results of the study were as follows ; 1. The ice bag group showed significantly lower discomfort score than the heat lamp group at the half- hour and two - hour intervals after therapy. 2. The ice bag group showed significantly lower discomfort score for 4hrs after than before therapy, but the heat lamp group did not show significantly lower discomfort score. 3. Neither the type of episiotomy nor the previous experience of heat therapy influenced on the effect of ice bag relieving the perineal discomfort. Therefore ice bag was significantly mere effective in relieving perineal discomfort than heat lamp. Subjective responeses of patients who took both therapy were very favorable toward ice bag. I suggested that nurses should provide women with adequate information about the use of ice bag and encourage to apply ice bag instead of heat lamp after episiotomy in order to promote the relief of perineal discomfort and the healing of perineal wound.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.426-432
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• 2022

HVAC systems play a critical role in reducing energy consumption in buildings. Integrating occupants' thermal comfort evaluation into HVAC control strategies is believed to reduce building energy consumption while minimizing their thermal discomfort. Advanced technologies, such as visual sensors and deep learning, enable the recognition of occupants' discomfort-related actions, thus making it possible to estimate their thermal discomfort. Unfortunately, it remains unclear how accurate a deep learning-based classifier is to recognize occupants' discomfort-related actions in a working environment. Therefore, this research evaluates the classification performance of occupants' discomfort-related actions while sitting at a computer desk. To achieve this objective, this study collected RGB video data on nine college students' cold discomfort-related actions and then trained a deep learning-based classifier using the collected data. The classification results are threefold. First, the trained classifier has an average accuracy of 93.9% for classifying six cold discomfort-related actions. Second, each discomfort-related action is recognized with more than 85% accuracy. Third, classification errors are mostly observed among similar discomfort-related actions. These results indicate that using human action data will enable facility managers to estimate occupants' thermal discomfort and, in turn, adjust the operational settings of HVAC systems to improve the energy efficiency of buildings in conjunction with their thermal comfort levels.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.146-153
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• 2012

Objectives: The introduction of computerized numeric control (CNC) technology in manufacturing industries has revolutionized the production process, but there are some health and safety problems associated with these machines. The present study aimed to investigate the extent of postural discomfort in CNC machine operators, and the relationship of this discomfort to the display and control panel height, with a view to validate the anthropometric recommendation for the location of the display and control panel in CNC machines. Methods: The postural discomforts associated with CNC machines were studied in 122 male operators using Corlett and Bishop's body part discomfort mapping, subject information, and discomfort level at various time intervals from starting to end of a shift. This information was collected using a questionnaire. Statistical analysis was carried out using ANOVA. Results: Neck discomfort due to the positioning of the machine displays, and shoulder and arm discomfort due to the positioning of controls were identified as common health issues in the operators of these machines. The study revealed that 45.9% of machine operators reported discomfort in the lower back, 41.8% in the neck, 22.1% in the upper-back, 53.3% in the shoulder and arm, and 21.3% of the operators reported discomfort in the leg. Conclusion: Discomfort increased with the progress of the day and was highest at the end of a shift; subject age had no effect on patient tendency to experience discomfort levels.

• IE interfaces
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.197-208
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• 1997

In workplace design, an ergonomic solution should ensure low postural stress in the operator during his/her work. Stress caused by awkward working postures of the trunk, shoulders and legs can result in fatigue, discomfort, musculo-skeletal disorders and nerve entrapment syndromes. Since discomfort and musculo-skeletal disorders are both related to exposure to biomechanical load on the musculo-skeletal system, minimization of discomfort will contribute to reduction of the risk for musculo-skeletal disorders as well. Therefore, in this study, perceived discomfort on the human body joints was measured in the standing postures using the magnitude estimation in order to have a standardized numerical scale for joint discomfort. Nine healthy graduate students participated voluntarily in the laboratory study. The results revealed that perceived discomfort of all the joints increased as the joints deviated from neutral position. Especially, it showed drastic increment on perceived discomfort when deviation from neutral position in each human body joint increased from 75% to 100%. in terms of relative range of motion(R0M). On the basis of these experimental results, a preliminary ranking for assessment of stressfulness of non-neutral postures around the human body joints was suggested.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.577-587
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• 1997

Purpose : To collect and interpret basic data involving the discomfort level of platelet donors and to see which nursing interventions would help make plateletpheresis more comfortable. Methods : Using "the Platelet Donor's Discomfort Scale" developed by the researcher herself and reviewed by an expert panel, the severity of discomfort as well as factors contributing to the development of this discomfort were analyzed. This scale contained 59 items and each item was scored by the 4-point Likert manner. Between March 1, 1996 and May 31, 1996, 500 platelet donors(16 years of age and older) were enrolled in this study. The Statistical methods used were factor analysis, t-test, and ANOVA. The results were as follows : 1. The mean of the platelet donor's discomfort scale was 130, range 69-207, possible score ranging from 59-236. 2. The platelet donor's discomfort scale had psychological, environmental, physical, and time-related factors. The time- related factor was the highest positive correlation with the development of the discomfort. 3. In looking at the psychological and environmental factors of the discomfort scores, the 16-20 age group had significantly higher ratings than those of the 26-30 age group. The students' group had higher scores than the soldier's group, and those who used the V-50, MCS -3P, or the PCS Plus machines had higher scores than those who used the COBE Spectra machine(P<.05, respectively), 4. In relation to the physical factor of the discomfort score, the youngest group felt significantly more discomfort, the student's group had a higher score than the soldier's group, and those who used the V-50, MCS-3P, or or the PCS Plus machines had higher scores than those who used the COBE Spectra machine(P<.05, respectively). 5. The time related factor of the discomfort score had the highest scores in every variable, however, statistically significant differences were not found between any of the variables(P>.05). Conclusion : Based on the above results, it can be oserved that the time-related factor was the most important factor influencing discomfort. The age and job of the donor, as well as the type of machine used, were significant variables in predicting the level of discomfort, regardless of psychological, environmental, and physical factors. This data could be used to determine nursing interventions that would relieve some of the discomfort of patients, as well as donors, undergoing plateletpheresis. Furthermore, consideration of the donor's time, introduction of a platelet donor pool system, publicity and education about platelet donation are required.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.302-312
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify associated factors of chewing discomfort among community-dwelling elderly. Methods: The study was cross-sectional design and secondary data analysis using the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Among the total of 7,550 participants, data was analyzed with 1,126 adults aged 65 years and over. Chewing discomfort was assessed by the perceived chewing discomfort. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to find the associated factors of chewing discomfort. Results: Along with 61.7% of the participants reported having chewing discomfort, 85.2% reported to perceive poor oral health and 35.0% had oral pain. In multivariate logistic regression, perceived oral health (OR 3.22, 95% CI 2.24~4.63), oral pain (OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.76~3.43), activity limitation (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.05~2.80), teeth requiring treatment (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.14~2.26), number of remaining teeth (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.22~2.10) and educational level (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.15~2.12) were the significant predictors of chewing discomfort. Conclusion: The prevalence in chewing discomfort was high in elderly Koreans and various factors were associated with chewing discomfort. To improve chewing ability, it is suggested that the national level of policies offer strategical oral health programs in this population.