• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.422-428
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• 2012

Thirteen taxi drivers as the subject in the experiment were exposed to vertical vibration which is controlled on a rigid seat reflecting vibration on passenger vehicle. They were employed not only to get human response of objective measurement but also to make subjective evaluation of the vibration. The subjective evaluation was estimated using the absolute discomfort threshold of the controlled vibration, which was achieved with the three-down one-up method that is widely used in the field of psychophysics. As the result, apparent mass and apparent eccentric mass as objective human response tend to gradually decrease when frequency of the vibration increases. The absolute discomfort threshold was increased in case of increasing the frequency. Concludingly, the subjective discomfort evaluation is highly correlated with the objective human responses at the range of idle vibration on passenger vehicle.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.435-448
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• 2022

Objectives: As the time spent wearing masks has increased with spread of COVID-19, various research related to masks have been reported. However, there are still few experiments on the physiological response of the body to wearing industrial dust masks in South Korea. Considering the actual working hours at the work site, it is necessary to investigate the comfort of industrial dust masks. Therefore, this study aims to confirm the change in subjective discomfort level according to the wearing time for industrial dust masks in South Korea that have been certified for safety by KCS. Methods: This study evaluated subjective discomfort level over four hours. The experimental conditions were five types: not worn (control group), special grade, first grade, second grade (with valve), and second grade (without valve). The subjective discomfort levels were classified for breathing, warmth (body and face) and wetness (body and face). Subjects recorded their discomfort level on a checklist every one hour. Results: In special grade and second grade (without valve), the discomfort level in terms of breathing, warmth (face), and wetness (face) was significantly higher than that of the control group. However, the effects of all kinds of industrial dust masks on the discomfort level in the body were low. Conclusions: Since this study was conducted on subjects working in an office with a comfortable working environment, it is difficult to apply it to workers at actual industrial sites. However, it is considered meaningful as the first clinical study to evaluate the subjective level of discomfort over a long time for domestic industrial dust masks that have been certified for safety by KCS.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.371-378
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• 2014

Manual materials handling tasks are the main risk factors for the work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Many assistant tools for manual materials handling are being used in various kind of industries. One of them is a 4-wheeled cart which is widely used in manufacturing factories, hospitals, etc. The major force required to control the 4-wheeled cart is pushing and pulling. There are two types of handles being used for the 4-wheeled cart : vertical type (two vertical handles), and horizontal type (one horizontal handle). This study tried to investigate the pushing forces and subjective discomforts (hand/writst, shoulder, low back, and overall) of the two handle types with different handle height and distance conditions. Twelve healthy male students (mean age = 23.4 years) participated in the experiment. The independent variables were handle angle (horizontal, vertical), handle height (low, medium, high), and handle distance (narrow, medium, wide). The full factorial design was used for the experiment and the maximum pushing forces were measured in 18 different conditions ($2{\times}3{\times}3$). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure was conducted to test the effects of the independent variables on the pushing force and discomfort levels. Handle height and angle were found to be the critical design factors that affect the maximal pushing forces and subjective discomfort. In the middle height, subjects exerted higher pushing forces, and experience lower discomfort levels compared to the high, and low height. There was no statistical influence of the handle distance to the pushing forces and subjective discomfort levels. It was found out that the effects of the handle angle (horizontal and vertical) on both pushing force and subjective discomfort were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The vertical handle revealed higher pushing force and lower discomfort level than the horizontal handle. The reason for that was thought to be the different postures of the hand when grasping the handles. The horizontal handle induced pronaton of the hand and made hand posture more deviated from the neutral position.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.9-19
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• 2009

Repetitive movement, inadequate working posture, overuse of force, physical contact with sharp edge, vibration and temperature were well known risk factors of WMSDs (Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders). Many researchers have investigated the relationship between inadequate working postures and incidences of WMSDs of the upper extremities, whereas relatively few researchers have tried to evaluate workload associated with the lower-body postures. The effects of lower-limb postures including various knee flexion angles on the subjective discomfort, heart rate and EMG of lower-limb muscles were investigated in this study. Thirty graduate students were asked to maintain thirteen different body postures, and heart rate and EMG data of five muscle groups (electro spine, biceps femoris, vastus medialis, gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior) from each posture were collected during fifteen minutes sustaining tasks. All participants were also asked to report their discomfort ratings of body parts. Results showed that high subjective discomfort ratings and heart rates were reported at the postures of knee angles of $60^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$, whereas low discomfort ratings were founded at the postures of chair heights with 20cm, 40cm, and sitting with crossed legged. The change of median frequency for each muscle group during fifteen minutes tasks was investigated for each body posture to evaluate the relationship between muscle fatigue and body posture. It was found that the trends of changes of median frequency were different based on muscle group as well as lower-limb body posture from this study.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.379-389
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• 2019

Purpose: This study examined the effects of wheelchair handle directions on the trunk muscle activity of adult males when climbing ramps. It also evaluated the wheelchair attendant's physical discomfort during tasks. Methods: Healthy males aged over 20 years were chosen and the direction of wheelchair handle grip was randomly selected. The grips included a general grip with ulnar deviation, a medial grip with wrist pronation, and a neutral grip with a neutral wrist. The trunk muscle activity was measured using surface electromyography. Furthermore, the physical discomfort of wheelchair attendants was subjectively evaluated using the Borg CR-10 Scale, which rates the perceived exertion. In addition, the SPSS 18.0 program was used perform repeated measure ANOVA to compare muscle activity and subjective discomfort during the interventions. The contrast test was also conducted with a significance level (α) of 0.05. Results: There was significant difference between the general grip and the medial grip in the rhomboid major muscle and the lumbar erector spinae muscle (p<0.05). In addition, there was significant difference between the general grip and the neutral grip in the rhomboid major muscle and the lumbar erector spinae muscle (p<0.05). Further, there was significant difference between the general grip and the neutral grip in subjective discomfort (p<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, adult male trunk muscle activity and subjective discomfort were lowest when using the neutral grip while climbing ramps. Accordingly, we suggest that neutral grips will help improve the function of the musculoskeletal system and reduce the subjective discomfort by putting less strain on the trunk muscles and maximizing efficiency with less force.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.293-303
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• 2017

Objective: This study aims to evaluate visual discomfort and visual fatigue caused by watching HMD and smartphones by conducting both subjective and objective measure. Background: With the rapid development of mobile Head-Mounted Display (HMD), the problem of visual discomfort and visual fatigue caused by watching Virtual Reality (VR) contents became a crucial concern for consumers and manufacturers, especially given that the casing of mobile HMD keeps the phone at a specified distance from the lenses that is close to the eyes. Method: Two smartphones were chosen for a preliminary study: LG G5 and Galaxy S7. As for a main study, iPhone 6S and Galaxy S7 were used. After being exposed to the selected clips, participants were asked to answer Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and went through optometric tests that measure tear break-up time, spherical equivalent, and contrast sensitivity. Results: The subjective assessments indicate that HMD causes more visual discomfort compared to watching a smartphone. Furthermore, the experimental result confirms that watching a HMD causes more eye dryness compared to smartphones. Conclusion: The result of the study compared visual discomfort and visual fatigue of two different displays, HMD and smartphone, and confirmed that watching HMD causes more visual discomfort and visual fatigue. Application: Ultimately, this study could help manufacturers understand the strengths and weaknesses of different display forms, providing guidance for an effective application of HMD.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.16-26
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• 2012

This study conducted a subjective evaluation of brightness perception and visual discomfort according to dimming speeds and CCTs(Correlated Color Temperatures). Dimming speeds of two different CCT lights(2,700K, 6400K) were set to 1.7%/s, 3.3%/s, 5.0%/s, 6.7%/s, and 10.0%/s respectively. Subjects checked the time when they perceived the change of the brightness and visual discomfort. As a result, when dimming speeds were 1.7%/s, 3.3%/s, 5.0%/s, 6.7%/s, more than half of subjects responded the change of the brightness in 55.0~45.0% dimming ratios, and felt the visual discomfort in 35~25% dimming ratios. When the brightness was changed, dimming level responded to the brightness perception of hight CCT(6,400K) was higher about 8.0% then dimming level responded to the brightness perception of low CCT(2,700K). Dimming level responded to the visual discomfort of low CCT(2,700K) was higher about 5.0% then dimming level responded to the visual discomfort of hight CCT(6,400K).

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.215-227
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• 2014

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate Korea's Honam express train's first- and second-class seat discomfort by using pressure measurement, subjective discomfort rating, and physical compatibility. Background: Over the years, the demand for an express train service is continually increasing. A comfortable ride is important to achieving passenger satisfaction. A train seat plays a significant role in fulfilling passenger seating comfort. With this in view, a field survey and pressure measurements were performed on the selected train seat. Method: The pressure ratio at the body-seat interface (thigh and buttock regions) was measured by the pressure mat system. The interface pressure ratio was calculated and compared. The subjective discomfort rating scale was used to evaluate the subjects' overall feeling. The dimensions of train seats were analysed according to the anthropometric and demographic characteristics of the population data from Size Korea. Results: The results highlighted that the interface pressure ratio was greater while participants sat on the second-class seat than the first-class seat in the left- and right-side thigh regions. Also the pressure ratio was greater for the participants in the 1st~25th percentile height groups (149.8~160.8cm). The subjects rated higher discomfort for the second-class seat than the first-class seat. The physical compatibility results showed that the second-class seat's breadth was inadequate for the 95th and 99th percentile male. Conclusion: Overall, interface pressure measurement, subjective discomfort score and physical compatibility results showed that the second-class seat was more uncomfortable for the passengers than the first-class seat. Application: The adopted methodologies could be used to measure the seating comfort of the train seats.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.29-36
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• 2005

In oder to generate various shock signals in a field study, a passenger car was driven at several speeds over road profiles that included a number of half sine shaped bumps of various heights. A triaxial SAE pad sensor was mounted on the front passenger seat to measure the acceleration signals which might produce subjective discomfort. The measured accelerations were correlated with the subjective assessments of 14 subjects. The magnitude of subjective discomfort was found to be proportional to the VDV and also the peak to peak of the frequency weighted acceleration signal.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.246-251
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• 2014

The recent rise of the three-dimensional television (3DTV) industry has led to a wide exploitation of the dual-lens stereoscopic camera. However, when the zoom-in function is used, it is possible that a camera object is magnified only with a fixed convergence point, thereby leading to visual discomfort. In this paper, we propose several methods based on which a convergence point can be adjusted to prevent visual discomfort during zoom-in for a dual-lens stereoscopic camera. Further, we produce 3D contents by applying the proposed methods to certain cases and at certain distances and conduct a subjective evaluation. On the subjective evaluation, 48 subjects watch the 3D contents created by the proposed methods and score the stages of the visual comfort. The result of the subjective evaluation shows that some of the proposed methods are more efficient than the others. We hope that these proposed high-efficiency methods can be applied to produce a dual-lens stereoscopic camera that allows convenient stereoscopic photography.