• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.76-83
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• 2004

This study aimed to empirically investigate perceived discomfort depending upon external load, upper limb postures and their holding time. Discomfort was obtained through an experiment, in which external load, wrist flexion/extension, elbow flexion, shoulder flexion and adduction/abduction were used as experimental variables. The subjects were instructed to hold given postures for 60s and to rate their subjective discomfort scores at 5s, 20s, 40s and 60s by using the free modulus method of magnitude estimation. The results showed that while only external load and elbow flexion were statistically significant at the holding time of 5s at ${\alpha}=0.05$ or 0.10, external load and upper limb postures excluding shoulder adduction/abduction significantly affected discomfort ratings at 20s, 40s and 60s at ${\alpha}=0.01$ or 0.05. Discomfort scores were also significantly different between four posture holding times at ${\alpha}=0.01$. The effects of external load and holding time were much larger than those of upper limb postures. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that external load and holding time as well as working postures betaken into consideration to precisely quantify postural load in industry.

• Journal of Korea Society of Digital Industry and Information Management
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.97-124
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• 2012

This paper analyzes qualitatively the stereo 3D content factors causing viewer's discomfort. For this, we perform a subjective test that each subject strokes a specific key whenever he (she) feels discomfort during watching a stereo 3D contents. Also we extract the data for the factors in the 3D contents to obtain their quantitative values and the amounts of the temporal changes. Those two sets of data are used to analyze the contents to find the factors which cause viewer's discomfort. The factors to be considered are the amount and the frequency of the disparity changes, story of the contents, situation or environments of a scene, movement and the position of the camera, color and luminance information as well as disparities themselves. We analyse the various strong and weak factors and their composites to find how much discomfort each factor or composite causes. We also show the situations and their related factors that causes less discomfort than the amount of their disparities.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Dental Administration
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to identify chronic diseases and oral health care behaviors in 65-year-old individuals and to determine the factors that influence masticatory mobility. The raw data from the 8th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2020 were utilized to analyze factors associated with chewing discomfort in 1,278 elderly Koreans. Using IBM SPSS Statistics 27.0, we conducted complex sample cross-analysis to examine the difference in chewing discomfort based on general characteristics, chronic diseases, and oral health care behaviors. Additionally, we performed complex sample multiple logistic regression analysis to identify the factors associated with chewing discomfort. As a factor influencing chewing discomfort, unmet dental care was 3.33 times higher (p<0.001), and subjective oral health was 0.18 times more likely to be moderate (p<0.001) and 0.48 times more likely to be good (p<0.001) lower. In the case of arthritis, the level of chewing discomfort was high (OR=1.08, p=0.694), but there was no significant difference. As a result of the aforementioned factors, it is believed that there is a need for policies and systems to provide dental care to the elderly before their oral health deteriorates. Additionally, tailored oral health promotion programs should be implemented.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.565-575
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• 2014

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of weight of load and time on the physical workload of repetitive upper-limb tasks with handling light weight loads using EMG and perceived discomfort, and to investigate the relationship between EMG and perceived discomfort for those repetitive tasks of moving light weight loads. Background: Repetitive upper-limb motion is known as one of the main risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders, and a lot of repetitive tasks are carried out while handling light weight loads in the industry. In evaluating the workload of repetitive tasks handling light weight loads, EMG and perceived discomfort can be used, though their relationship in those work conditions are not much investigated. Method: A laboratory experiment with 18 healthy males were conducted to record EMG signals from 5 muscle sites of the right arm and shoulder and rate perceived discomforts for the body parts and the whole body while carrying out repetitive materials-handling tasks for 52min. The subjects were divided into 3 groups which handled the loads of 1kg, 2kg and 3kg, respectively. ANOVAs were conducted to analyze the effects of the weight and time on RMS of EMG amplitude (normalized RMS: NRMS), median frequency of power spectrum of EMG (normalized MDF: NMDF) and perceived discomfort. The correlations between NRMS and NMDF and perceived discomfort were also analyzed. Results: Statistically significant muscular fatigue effects were not found from NRMS and NMDF in most muscles, while there were significant increases of discomfort as the task time elapsed. It was shown that there were an increasing trend of the muscular activity as the weight of load increased and a decreasing trend of median frequency of EMG of upper and lower arms as time elapsed. It was found that there were significant negative correlations between NMDFs from the lower arm and discomfort ratings, though the relationships were weak. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the working conditions adopted in this study were not enough to induce muscular fatigue, while there was significant increase in perceived discomfort. A further study is necessary to integrate the objective and subjective measures for more reliable and sensitive evaluation of workload of repetitive tasks of handling light weight loads. Application: This study can be used as a basic study for the evaluation of workload of repetitive tasks handling light weight loads.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.459-465
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• 1999

A new-concept VDT workstation chair with adjustable keyboard/mouse support was proposed to minimize physical discomfort and the risk of cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) at work sites in this study. First, a three-dimensional human modeling tool $(SAFEWORK^{(R)})$ was used to design the new chair satisfying the anthropometric specifications of Korean population. Second, based upon the result of 3-D graphical simulation, a mock-up chair was constructed with an adjustable keyboard/mouse support directly attached to the chair body. Third, muscle fatigue and subjective discomfort were measured to evaluate the newly developed chair. An experiment was conducted to compare the new workstation chair to the traditional computer chair without keyboard/mouse support. Six volunteer subjects participated in six one-hour word-processing sessions with two different chairs and three different postures. Statistical results indicate that the new-concept VDT chair generally improved subjective comfort level and reduced fatigue in finger flexor/extensor and low back muscle. In conclusion, this new VDT workstation chair is expected to reduce physical discomfort and prevent occupational CTD problems in the long run. Implications of the new design and suggestions for the further development are also addressed.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.153-162
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was assessed to investigate the change of subjective and/or objective symptoms and the light transmittance of lens caused by the use longer than recommended wearing time of daily disposable circle contact lenses (circle lens) in dry eyes. Methods: Three daily disposable circle lenses made of etafilcon A, hilafilcon B, and nelfilcon A were applied on 30 dry eyes with smaller tear volume than normal eyes in their twenties free from any eye diseases by when subjects complained any kind of discomfort. On the first and the last days of lens wearing, subjective discomfort, blinking rate, lens centration on corneal surface and visible light transmittance of lens were recorded at every case and compared. Results: The circle lens wearers complained subjective discomfort and quit the lens wearing when they wore the circle lens longer than 10 hours even though there were some difference according to the lens materials of daily disposable circle lens. However, around 20% of dry eyes could wear the circle lens made of non-ionic materials longer than 40 hours. Dry eyes showed most sensitive feeling of subjective discomfort against the circle lens made of etafilcon A among three different lens materials. On the last day of lens wearing, the representative subjective discomforts were irritation, stiffness, dryness and tiredness. When the subjects wore circle lens more than the recommended time, blinking rate was significantly increased about 20~30% regardless of lens materials when it compared with the values right after lens wearing. On the last day of lens wearing, the vertical direction of lens centration was shifted to pupil center however, its distribution in horizontal direction was wide compared with the distribution right after lens wearing. Especially, the centration of etafilcon A lens was unstable. Furthermore, the visible light transmittance of 3 different circle lenses in dry eyes has significantly been reduced around 15% averaged. Conclusions: From these results, it was known that the increase of dryness and stiffness caused by overusage of daily disposable circle lens induced excess irritation and decreased visible light transmittance and caused significant more blinking, which provoked lens decentration. It was also revealed that dry eyes showed sensitive reaction subjectively and objectively against the overusage of circle lens made of high water content/ionic lens material even there were some difference of the degree depending on the individual and the lens material. Thus, this research can be suggested as the basic reference for the education about some unexpected problems and the side effect caused by the wearing of circle lens in dry eyes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1048-1052
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• 2003

This study aims to derive frequency weighting curves for the estimation of driver's discomfort by steering wheel vibration in the vertical and rotational direction with respect to a steering column. Subjective tests for the determination of equal sensation curves, inverse of frequency weighting curves, for the two kinds of vibrations were performed using the sinusoidal signals with reference amplitudes from 0.2m/s$^2$ to 0.4 m/s$^2$ in the frequency range from 5㎐ to 100㎐. Twelve subjects joined at the tests, and median values of the twelve judgments were used to determine the frequency weighting curves. Second experiment was followed to determine relative magnitude between the two frequency weighting curves by direct comparison of discomfort due to the two kinds of vibrations at 50㎐, which showed discomfort by the rotational vibration was 1.5 times of that by the vertical vibration.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.73-82
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• 2004

Objectives : In order to develop the measuring tool of visual display terminal (VDT) syndrome and investigate the variables affecting the development of VDT syndrome. Methods : A questionnaire study accompanied with the evaluation of working environment was performed with 42 VDT users from banking operations. Results : As a results of analysis with data colleted by newly developed questionnaire, VDT syndrome included five factors named as eye-related component, and psychological component. general body discomfort component. musculoskeletal component, and skin-related component. The scores of eye-related symptoms was 15.17, scores of psychological symptoms was 7.36, scores of general body discomfort symptoms was 10.52, scores of musculoskeletal symptoms was 9.38, scores of skin-related symptoms was 3.67, and total scores was 46.10. Scores of 2.05 eye fatigue in the level of eye-related symptoms were higher significantly. Scores 50.52 of female was statistically higher than scores 41.67 of male. Conclusions : The subjective symptoms of VDT syndrome scores was significantly associated with gender and age.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 2012

This paper proposes a novel discomfort assessment method for truck ingress and egress motions based on the maximum-voluntary-contraction (MVC) ratios of muscles obtained by biomechanical analysis of human musculoskeletal models. In this study, a human motion to enter and exit a truck cabin with different types and heights of footsteps is first measured using an optical motion capture system and load sensors. Next, in a biomechanical analysis system, a human musculoskeletal model with contacting conditions on footsteps and handles is modeled, and then joint torques and muscles forces are calculated by inverse dynamics of the musculoskeletal model with the motion data. Finally, the MVC ratios for the muscles are calculated and their statistical values are used as the measure of discomfort. To ensure the feasibility of our method, subjective discomfort levels have been investigated through the participants' experiments and questionnaires and compared to the results of our method. Comparing to the existing methods based on joint angles or torques, our approach provide a more essential criterion for discomfort because it is based on the muscle contraction by which an active human motion is basically generated.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.67-77
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• 2003

Purpose: This study was to examine the effects of music therapy on the levels of anxiety and discomfort in patients undergoing gastrofibroscopy. Method: This study was equivalent control group pre-post test design. The subjects were 61 patients who visited H hospital internal medicine department for gastrofibroscopy ; 31 were randomly selected for the control group and the remaining 30, for the experimental group. Result: 1. The experimental group who used music therapy showed a significantly lower level of anxiety during gastrofibroscopy than the control group. 2. The experimental group revealed a lesser change in pulse rate between pre and post gastrofibroscopy than the control group. 3. There was a significant difference in the levels of subjective and objective discomfort during gastrofibroscopy between the two groups. Conclusion: The results suggested that music therapy may help relieve anxiety and discomfort for patients undergoing gastrofibroscopy. These results showed that the use of music aided in the reduction of anxiety and discomfort during the unpleasant diagnostic procedure and, testing the effectiveness of music therapy deserves further study in other hospital settings.