• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.511-516
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• 2018

This study examined the effectiveness of a short thumb splint and a glove type splint which combined features of a fitness glove in order to improve hand function and performance of functional task after traumatic brain injury. One subject with traumatic brain injury participated in this study and wore a short thumb splint and customized glove type splint. His hand function was significantly improved when comparing to that of not using those splints. In addition, using the glove type splint was more significant to perform functional tasks than using the short thumb splint. The findings of this study identified that hand function of people with traumatic brain injury was improved by using those splints as an occupational therapy service and it is necessary to adapt the customized splints according to the personal characteristics.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.157-168
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• 2013

This study is for finding out Career-barrier of the disabled, and for analyzing the effect of Career-barrier on the dysfunctional career-thought. For this study, 180 disabled people were surveyed. The results are as follows; First, the career-barriers that the disabled people perceive are in order; lack of occupational information, lack of social support, low self-concept clarity, low self-efficiency, and conflict with significant-others. Secondly, difference of career-barrier, caused by the traits of the disabled, has influenced the lack of self clarity and occupational information. In addition, among the types of the disabilities, it is proven that the psychological disability highly correlated to the social support, unlikely to gender difference and job experience. Thirdly, the most influential reason on the decision-making confusion for finding job among the sub-variables of dysfunctional career-thought were; low self-concept clarity, conflict with significant-others, and low self-efficiency. While it turned out that the most influential career-barrier on the performance anxiety for disabled people were low self-efficiency and conflict with significant-others.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.78-82
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• 2016

Background: Little is known about the effects of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) on work-related quality of life in nurses. We aimed to investigate the effect of PMS on work-related quality of life in Turkish nurses. Methods: A total of 134 volunteer nurses were included in this cross-sectional study between January 2015 and March 2015. One hundred and thirty-four nurses completed a questionnaire regarding demographic data, the Premenstrual Syndrome Scale (PMSS), and the Work-Related Quality of Life Scale (WRQoL). The nurses were classified as having or not having premenstrual syndrome according to the PMSS. Results: The average age was $29.5{\pm}7.1years$ and the prevalence of PMS was 38.1%. The total score of PMSS was significantly negatively correlated with the overall score (r = -0.341; p < 0.001) and all subscale scores of the WRQoL and ranged from -0.207 to -0.402 (p < 0.05 for all). All of the WRQoL subscale scores except stress at work (p = 0.179) in nurses with PMS were significantly lower than those of nurses without PMS (p < 0.05). The age (${\beta}=-0.258$; p = 0.021) and PMSS total score (${\beta}=-0.314$; p < 0.001) increment negatively; however, optimistic thinking (${\beta}=0.228$; p = 0.008) positively affected overall WRQoL score. Conclusion: Nurses with PMS have decreased levels of work-related quality of life in their professional lives. Methods to help cope with cyclic premenstrual symptoms may be used, and as a result, productivity and work-related quality of life may increase.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2018

Background: A detailed evaluation of the underground mine climate requires extensive measurements to be performed coupled to climatic modeling work. This can be labor-intensive and time-consuming, and consequently impractical for daily work comfort assessments. Therefore, a simple indicator like a heat stress index is needed to enable a quick, valid, and acceptable evaluation of underground climatic conditions on a regular basis. This can be explained by the unending quest to develop a "universal index," which has led to the proliferation of many proposed heat stress indices. Methods: The aim of this research study is to discuss the challenges in identifying and selecting an appropriate heat stress index for thermal planning and management purposes in underground mines. A method is proposed coupled to a defined strategy for selecting and recommending heat stress indices to be used in underground metal mines in the United States and worldwide based on a thermal comfort model. Results: The performance of current heat stress indices used in underground mines varies based on the climatic conditions and the level of activities. Therefore, carefully selecting or establishing an appropriate heat stress index is of paramount importance to ensure the safety, health, and increasing productivity of the underground workers. Conclusion: This method presents an important tool to assess and select the most appropriate index for certain climatic conditions to protect the underground workers from heat-related illnesses. Although complex, the method presents results that are easy to interpret and understand than any of the currently available evaluation methods.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 2018

Background: Since the Republic of Korea became a labor-force-importing country, the number of foreign workers has increased gradually, especially in the construction industry. The main objective of this study was to examine the differences in safety perception between domestic and foreign workers at Korean construction sites. Methods: A total of 891 Korean and foreign workers were surveyed: 140 foreign and 751 Korean workers. The general characteristics and 25 factors influencing safety perception were considered in the questionnaire. Regression and correlation analyses were conducted to examine the variables of workers' safety perception. Results: Differences of nationality (F = 7.379, p < 0.001) and workplace accidents were statistically significant for both domestic (F = 1.503, p < 0.05) and foreign workers (F = 7.868, p < 0.05). In contrast, age, education, and Korean language level were significant variables only for foreign workers. Correlation coefficients of $0.428^{**}$ for Korean and 0.148 for foreign workers between two items - namely, "management's commitment to safety" and "blaming staff when they make mistakes" - support the conclusion that foreign workers do not trust management's commitment to safety, while Korean workers have confidence in these commitments. Conclusion: Foreign workers' level of safety perception should rise to the same level as Korean workers, especially in terms of obeying safety rules, safety education performance, and safety beliefs. Therefore, an improvement plan for the Korean construction industry is suggested in order to have a better safety level at construction sites with foreign workers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.257-264
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• 2018

Background: This paper presents the findings of a pilot research survey which assessed the degree of balance between safety and productivity, and its relationship with awareness and communication of human factors and safety rules in the aircraft manufacturing environment. Methods: The study was carried out at two Australian aircraft manufacturing facilities where a Likert-scale questionnaire was administered to a representative sample. The research instrument included topics relevant to the safety and human factors training provided to the target workforce. The answers were processed in overall, and against demographic characteristics of the sample population. Results: The workers were sufficiently aware of how human factors and safety rules influence their performance and acknowledged that supervisors had adequately communicated such topics. Safety and productivity seemed equally balanced across the sample. A preference for the former over the latter was associated with a higher awareness about human factors and safety rules, but not linked with safety communication. The size of the facility and the length and type of employment were occasionally correlated with responses to some communication and human factors topics and the equilibrium between productivity and safety. Conclusion: Although human factors training had been provided and sufficient bidirectional communication was present across the sample, it seems that quality and complexity factors might have influenced the effects of those safety related practices on the safety-productivity balance for specific parts of the population studied. Customization of safety training and communication to specific characteristics of employees may be necessary to achieve the desired outcomes.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.235-243
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• 2012

Objectives: Nail has been a substitute DNA source for genotyping. To investigate the integrity and consistency of nail DNA amplification for biomarker study, nail clippings from 12 subjects were collected at monthly intervals. The possibility of longer amplification and existence of GAPDH RNA/protein, were also investigated with three nail samples. Methods: Three primer sets were designed for quantitative amplification of nuclear and mitochondrial genes and analysis of their consistency. The mean threshold cycles in amplification of the target genes were compared to test the consistency of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) performance among individual factors including age groups, sex, family, the nail source, and by the size of the amplification segments. Results: The amplification of the target genes from nail DNA showed similar integrity and consistency between the nail sources, and among the serial collections. However, nail DNA from those in their forties showed earlier threshold cycles in amplification than those in their teens or seventies. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) showed better DNA integrity and consistency in amplification of all three targets than did nuclear DNA (nucDNA). Over 9 kb of mtDNA was successfully amplified, and nested quantitative PCR showed reliable copy numbers (%) between the two loci. Reverse transcription PCR for mRNA and immunoblotting for GAPDH protein successfully reflected their corresponding amounts. Regarding the existence of RNA and protein in nails, more effective extraction and detection methods need to be set up to validate the feasibility in biomarker study. Conclusions: Nail DNA might be a feasible intra-individual monitoring biomarker. Considering integrity and consistency in target amplification, mtDNA would be a better target for biomarker research than nucDNA.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.124-129
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• 2016

Background: Work-related fatigue has a strong impact on performance and safety but so far, no agreed upon method exists to detect and quantify it. It has been suggested that work-related fatigue cannot be quantified with just one test alone, possibly because fatigue is not a uniform construct. The purpose of this study is therefore to measure work-related fatigue with multiple tests and then to determine the underlying factorial structure. Methods: Twenty-eight employees (mean: 36.11; standard deviation 13.17) participated in five common fatigue tests, namely, posturography, heart rate variability, distributed attention, simple reaction time, and subjective fatigue before and after work. To evaluate changes from morning to afternoon, t tests were conducted. For further data analysis, the differences between afternoon and morning scores for each outcome measure and participant (${\Delta}$ scores) were submitted to factor analysis with varimax rotation and each factor with the highest-loading outcome measure was selected. The ${\Delta}$ scores from tests with single and multiple outcome measures were submitted for a further factor analysis with varimax rotation. Results: The statistical analysis of the multiple tests determine a factorial structure with three factors: The first factor is best represented by center of pressure (COP) path length, COP confidence area, and simple reaction time. The second factor is associated with root mean square of successive difference and useful field of view (UFOV). The third factor is represented by the single ${\Delta}$ score of subjective fatigue. Conclusion: Work-related fatigue is a multidimensional phenomenon that should be assessed by multiple tests. Based on data structure and practicability, we recommend carrying out further studies to assess work-related fatigue with manual reaction time and UFOV Subtest 2.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.397-408
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• 2021

The construction industry has the highest occupational accidents/injuries and has experienced the most fatalities among entire industries. Korean government installed surveillance camera systems at construction sites to reduce occupational accident rates. Construction safety managers are monitoring potential hazards at the sites through surveillance system; however, the human capability of monitoring surveillance system with their own eyes has critical issues. A long-time monitoring surveillance system causes high physical fatigue and has limitations in grasping all accidents in real-time. Therefore, this study aims to build a deep learning-based safety monitoring system that can obtain information on the recognition, location, identification of workers and heavy equipment in the construction sites by applying multiple object tracking with instance segmentation. To evaluate the system's performance, we utilized the Microsoft common objects in context and the multiple object tracking challenge metrics. These results prove that it is optimal for efficiently automating monitoring surveillance system task at construction sites.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.51-59
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• 2019

Purpose : To evaluate the effect of comprehensive art therapy on physical function and activities of daily living in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Methods : Ten ambulant children with diplegic (n=8) or hemiplegic (n=2) CP participated in this study. All were randomly assigned to either the art therapy group (n=5) or the control group (n=5). Both groups received physical therapy based on neurodevelopmental techniques for 20 minutes a day, 1 day a week, for a period of 12 weeks. Children in the art therapy group received additional comprehensive art therapy for 70 minutes once a week for 3 months. Tests for various measurements-Motricity Index (MI) for strength, Trunk Control Test (TCT) for trunk ability, Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) and Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) for gross motor function, Denver Developmental Screening Test-II (DDST-II) for developmental milestones, Functional Independence Measure of Children (WeeFIM) for abilities to complete daily activities, Leg and Hand Ability Test (LHAT) for limb function-were performed before and after treatments. Results : The upper extremity and whole extremity strengths of MI, self-care and total scores of WeeFIM, and leg and arm functions of LHAT improved significantly only for individuals in the art therapy group after the art therapy (p<.05). The value of MI after treatment was at the upper extremity and whole extremity strengths the leg function of LHAT was also significantly improved compared to the control group (p<.05). Conclusion : This study revealed that comprehensive art therapy along with physiotherapy was effective in increasing upper extremity strength and leg ability in children with CP. This suggests that comprehensive art therapy may be a useful adjunctive therapy for children with CP.