• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.541-550
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• 2011

Objective: The objective of this study is to present varying cases of ergonomic improvements in equipments for agricultural work. Background: In Korean agricultural sector, many older people and females, who may be more vulnerable to musculoskeletal diseases than young males, are doing high stressful tasks such as manual materials tasks, harvesting, etc. For reducing the work stress of the farmers, the Korean government has been performing support projects to provide the farmers with agricultural implements specified for their crops. In the projects, ergonomics experts have participated and helped modify the equipments. Method: Fifty cases of equipment improvements, which were carried out in 33 farming organizations cultivating 13 different crops, were reviewed and presented by equipments and their parts. Results: In total, 283 cases of improvements for 12 equipments including 4-wheel, 1-wheel, and 3-wheel powered carts, grass cutter, conveyer, pest control machine, and so on, were presented. The improvements were also classified according to the ergonomic principles like compatibility, ease of use, safety and fitting to the anthropometry, etc. Frequencies of improvements by equipment and its part were the highest in carts and controls, respectively. Principles of safety and ease of use were adopted more frequently in improving equipments than others. Conclusion: The tables of examples of improvements of agricultural implements are main results of this study and the systematical summaries are expected to be widely used in the development of more improved agricultural implements. Application: The results could be used as practical guidelines in ergonomically developing and modifying agricultural implements by both the experts and non-experts in ergonomics. The improvements would contribute to reduction of stress in farm work, which result in increasing the level of safety and health of Korean agricultural society.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2005

This paper describes a practical ergonomic approach for the shipbuilding industry that occupies the highest rate of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) in Korea. Typical work processes within a shipbuilding operation were surveyed to determine the presence of risk factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders. We used interviews, document analysis, video analysis, and OWAS postural analysis to identify and quantify ergonomic risk factors that workers may be exposed to in the course of their normal work duties. Some ergonomics actions were performed to solve the problems identified in the risk factor analysis. The practical ergonomic approach has resulted in decreases in workers' accident, and increases in productivity. The ergonomic solutions developed in this study could be applied to other sectors of industry that share common features of work with shipbuilding industry.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.443-450
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• 2011

Objective: The aim of this paper is to introduce ergonomic guidelines and intervention procedures for farm workers. Background: It is necessary to ameliorate the conditions of risky and hazardous work for farm workers. Method: Various references and books have been reviewed to assess ergonomic guidelines and intervention procedures for farm workers. Results: Human centered intervention has become an important approach not only to prevent musculoskeletal disorders but also to enhance the efficiency of work for farm workers. Conclusion: Farm work should be improved by active cooperation with researchers in field of ergonomics. Application: These results can be used to provide baseline information for more effective improvements of farm work.

• Archives of design research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.253-260
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• 2000

Writing instruments or pens have many features not commonly found in other products in terms of their structure and characteristics of use. That is, different pens are usually composed of almost identical parts and/or structure. The fact they work always grabbed in hands considered, the ergonomic design of pens is essential. Reports indicate consumers evaluate pens in writing comfort above all other factors when they select pens. Among various factors related to writing comfort, it shouldspecifically be the ergonomic improvements that design can effectively contribute to. Studies on the pen-grabbing comfort or on approaches based on the understanding of human-work relationships generally lack when compared with fashion-conscious aesthetic approaches to pen design. This paper, therefore, aims to reestablish the ergonomic design criteria including the necessities of specifications required to provide indispensable data for the pen design processes. Consequently, it should produce basic set of information for systematic approach to pen design and development, which is commonly called'concurrent engineering'. Also a cost-effective solution for product diversification strategy could be attributed to a modular system database based on the result of this attempt.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.307-317
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• 2016

Objective: This study looks into biomechanical variables occurring when one moves in a sitting posture, and presents objective references to make improvements in work environments of farm workers. Background: The farmers have more common musculoskeletal disorders compared to other professions, because they are much more exposed to biomechanical risk factors. The sitting posture that is the representative form of the squatted, can cause typical knee joint diseases, such as osteoarthritis or patellofemoral pain syndrome of the knee joint. Therefore, a quantitative study of knee load upon the movement in a squatting posture is required. Method: In order to proceed with its investigation, the study examined movements in a sitting posture with and without a lower body supporter through a threedimensional image analysis and by using Surface EMG. The study compared and analyzed the average muscle activity and the maximum muscle activity as well. Results: Every movement in a sitting posture is related to loads onto the knee joints and, when the farm workers move to sides, the study observed a high level of bowlegged moment. The study also noticed differences in muscle activity of medial gastrocnemius with and without the lower body supporter. Conclusion and Application: The study argues that what has been discussed so far is evidence to prove how the farm working environments should be improved in consideration of these movements observed when the farm workers move in a sitting posture.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.23-32
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• 2008

This study attempts to develop improved ingress and egress in vehicle for disabled wheelchair people who driving is available, after investigating the ingress and egress relation demand and the inconvenient factor in the vehicle. An experiment was performed for that disabled wheelchair people to analyze the characteristics of ingress and egress relation operation through the questionnaire survey and the camera photographing. The results suggest various improvements possibilities in inside handlebar as a main factor. Through analysis of disabled wheelchair person's ingress and egress tendency, the alternative shape and position of inside handlebar are suggested. Also, this paper aimed to draw ingress and egress improvement proposal by executing a verification experiment and collecting the preferences from disabled people.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.299-304
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• 2014

Objective : The present study was intended to develop a design ideation and evaluation process for the development of ecology-, ergonomics-, and economy-friendly ($E^3$-friendly) products. Background : Due to increasing social and legal requirements on global sustainability, manufacturing companies have made more efforts ever than before for the development of eco-friendly products. However, most eco-friendly products are often criticized due to lacking ergonomic and/or economic considerations. Method : An $E^3$-friendly product development process consisting of (1) survey of eco-friendly products, (2) characterization of eco-friendly products, (3) design ideation for $E^3$-friendly product, and (4) design idea evaluation for $E^3$-friendliness was established and applied to the development of a novel product which supports drinking of daily recommended amount of water. Results : Fifty-five design characteristics were identified by a survey of forty eco-friendly products and incorporated into the proposed ideation and evaluation process. New ideas and design changes were developed effectively using the proposed development process for a novel $E^3$-friendly bottle for support of water drinking. Conclusion : The proposed process was found effective for the development of eco-friendly design ideas and improvements. Application : The proposed system would be of use to develop better design ideas having market competitiveness.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.256-265
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• 2013

With economic development and ever-changing technology, human has entered the era of "Product-as-a-Service". At the same time, the update of the product gradually accelerated. The demand of consumers for products are slowly changed, they pay more attention to convenience, comfort and reliable quality and safety of the product. That is the humanized design problem that often mentioned in the product design. This also put forward new requirements for the design and development of product modeling. So how to reflect the humanized ideas in the product design has also become common focus of attention of product designers, users and producers of a new era. The paper is based on the principles of ergonomics to investigate and improve the daily life utensil - flashlight. Firstly, make a sample survey of the flashlight in Beijing market and analyze the characteristics and problems of flashlight products. Secondly, explore the use of the flashlight and proposed Flashlight curved grip design to reduce the occurrence of wrist discomfort and damage to the body caused by poor posture of the operation of users. Finally, determine the range of the length and width of the body of the flashlight according to the length and width measurement data of the Chinese palm. Wishing that the improvements of flashlight products in ergonomics can improve use of feelings of these products and give a theoretical guidance for solving similar problems.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.385-394
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• 2017

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate how to design effective virtual reality-based training (i.e., virtual training) in maritime safety and to present methods for enhancing interface fidelity by employing immersive interaction and 3D user interface (UI) design. Background: Emerging virtual reality technologies and hardware enable to provide immersive experiences to individuals. There is also a theory that the improvement of fidelity can improve the training efficiency. Such a sense of immersion can be utilized as an element for realizing effective training in the virtual space. Method: As an immersive interaction, we implemented gesture-based interaction using leap motion and Myo armband type sensors. Hand gestures captured from both sensors are used to interact with the virtual appliance in the scenario. The proposed 3D UI design is employed to visualize appropriate information for tasks in training. Results: A usability study to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method has been carried out. As a result, the usability test of satisfaction, intuitiveness of UI, ease of procedure learning, and equipment understanding showed that virtual training-based exercise was superior to existing training. These improvements were also independent of the type of input devices for virtual training. Conclusion: We have shown through experiments that the proposed interaction design results are more efficient interactions than the existing training method. The improvement of interface fidelity through intuitive and immediate feedback on the input device and the training information improve user satisfaction with the system, as well as training efficiency. Application: Design methods for an effective virtual training system can be applied to other areas by which trainees are required to do sophisticated job with their hands.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.771-782
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• 2010

Today, the number of elderly drivers who use navigation is increasing with the growing number of elderly drivers. The purpose of this study is to provide guidelines on the interface of car navigation for elderly users. To extract significant factors which were distinguished between young and elderly users, both young and elderly users executed the driving test by installing two car navigation alternatives. The analysis was conducted through t-test. The results show that significantly different factors were the number and the meaning of the menu items in the initial screen, the location and the meaning of the menu icons in the map screen, the ease of search of the menu and the text size in the menu screen. Improvements for the factors of the initial screen and map screen were made with reference to ergonomic guidelines, and suggested through experiments comparing design alternatives for the menu screen. Design alternatives were made through a combination of investigative variables, and the analysis was conducted through ANOVA. The results show that Alternative 7 (the location of the tab was placed at the bottom, menu representation was done with the text font size of 18pt and the location of menu navigation icons was shown at the upper left) was preferred in terms of user's preference and the execution time. So if the suggested menu for elderly users are added to the existing design, both users will satisfy their desires. The guidelines suggested in this study will help the designer of car navigation take elderly users into consideration.