• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• 제21권8호
• /
• pp.164-170
• /
• 2004

The skin movement artifacts are referred to as the relative motion of skin with respect to the motion of underlying bones. This is of great importance in joint biomechanics or internal kinematics of human body. This paper describes a novel experiment that measures the skin movement of a hand based on MR(magnetic resonance) images in conjunction with surface modeling techniques. The proposed approach consists of 3 phases: (1) MR scanning of a hand with surface makers, (2) 3D reconstruction from the MR images, and (3) registration of the 3D models. The MR images of the hand are captured by 3 different postures. And the surface makers which are attached to the skin are employed to trace the skin motion. After reconstruction of 3D models from the scanned MR images, the global registration is applied to the 3D models based on the particular bone shape of different postures. The results of registration are then used to trace the skin movement by measuring the positions of the surface markers.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• 제22권2호
• /
• pp.253-259
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study was to determine how smartphone use posture affects biomechanical variables and muscle activities. Eleven university students(age: $22.2{\pm}2.6$ yrs, height: $176.6{\pm}4.7$ cm, weight: $69.5{\pm}7.5$ kg) who have no musculoskeletal disorder were recruited as the subject according to having experience in using the smartphone for more than one year. Angular velocity, muscle activity, and thumb finger pressure were determined for each trial. For each dependent variable, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was performed to test if significant difference existed among different three conditions (p<.05). The result showed that rotational angular velocity of the first metacarpal were increased in DESK posture compared with STAND posture during SU phase. The average nEMG values of FDI(First dorsal interosseous) were less in SIT and DESK posture compared with STAND posture during SR phase. These indicated that smartphone postures may effect the thumb ROM(Range of motion) and muscle activity. This has led to suggestions of the need for further kinetic and EMG analyses to evaluate best assess and characterize with smartphone use.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• 제58권3호
• /
• pp.131-136
• /
• 2018

Blood pressure (BP) measurement plays a pivotal role in veterinary medicine for diagnosing cardiovascular disorders and monitoring anesthesia of animals. Although indirect BP measurement has been widely applied to monitor BP because of its convenience and non-invasiveness, it is still unclear whether indirect BP measurement is compatible with direct BP measurement in minipigs. In addition, the effect of animal posture during BP measurement is not well understood in minipigs despite its importance to cardiovascular performance. Therefore, both systolic and diastolic arterial BPs in minipigs were measured via femoral artery catheterization for direct BP measurement and using a compressive cuff as an indirect BP measurement under the dorsal or right lateral recumbent postures. Numerical values were processed by the Bland-Altman method to calculate the bias ${\pm}$ SD and the limits of agreement (LOA). In accordance with the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine guidelines, the results between direct and indirect BP measurements were determined as apparent disagreements in both systolic and diastolic arterial BPs under all postures because of large bias ${\pm}$ SD and wide LOA. The results of the present will help prevent misinterpretation of the anesthetized patient's condition during monitoring of BP by indirect measurement.

• International Journal of Vascular Biomedical Engineering
• /
• 제3권2호
• /
• pp.17-24
• /
• 2005

The main purpose of our study is to propose a new methodology to develop the multi-parametric measure including linear and nonlinear measures of heart rate variability diagnosing cardiovascular disease. We recorded electrocardiogram for three recumbent postures; the supine, left lateral, and right lateral postures. Twenty control subjects (age: $56.70{\pm}9.23$ years), 51 patients with angina pectoris (age: $59.98{\pm}8.41$ years) and 13 patients with acute coronary syndrome (age: $59.08{\pm}9.86$ years) participated in this study. To develop the multi-parametric measure of HRV, we used the multiple discriminant analysis method among statistical techniques. As a result, the multiple discriminant analysis gave 75.0% of goodness of fit. When the linear and nonlinear measures of HRV are individually used as a clinical tool to diagnose cardiac autonomic function, there is quite a possibility that the wrong results will be obtained due to each measure has different characteristics. Although our study is a preliminary one, we suggest that the multi-parametric measure, which takes into consideration the whole possible linear and nonlinear measures of HRV, may be helpful to diagnose the cardiovascular disease as a diagnostic supplementary tool.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• 제16권3호
• /
• pp.49-60
• /
• 1997

Although the tasks are being mechanized or automated today, many tasks are still performed manually in several industrial settings. Manual materials handling and improper sorking postures are known to be a major cause of low back injuries, which are one of the major problems in the economic and public health aspects. In this study, two machine repair shops of a manufacturing company in Pohang were recommended by the company health care center to investigate the potential risk factors that may cause low back injuries. Five machine repair tasks were selected from each machine repair shop, which are accountable for relatively high complaints of low back pain. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively evaluate the hazards of the tasks, and finally to recommend the improved methods and guidelines for safe work practices. In order to accomplish this goal, the questionnaire study and ergonomic evaluations were carried out and the results were analyzed. For most of the tasks under study, workers were found to be exposed to relatively high biomechanical stresses in low back, mainly due to the heaby objects handled and the improper working postures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• 제20권2호
• /
• pp.127-132
• /
• 2005

The purpose of this study is to compare representative posture classification schemes of OWAS, RULA and REBA in terms of correctness for postural load. The comparison was based on the evaluation results by the three methods for 224 working postures sampled from steel, electronics, automotive, and chemical industries. The results showed that OWAS and REBA generally underestimated postural stress than RULA irrespective of industry type, work performed and whether or not leg posture is balanced. While about $71\%\;and\;73\%$ of the 224 posture were evaluated with the action category/level 1 or 2 by OWAS and REBA respectively, about $60\%$ of the postures were classified into the action level of 3 or 4 by RULA. The coincidence rate of postural stress category between OWAS and RULA was just $33.5\%$, while the rate between RULA and REBA was $46.0\%$. It is concluded from the findings of this study and the previous research that compared to OWAS and REBA, RULA more precisely evaluates postural stress.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
• /
• 제31권4호
• /
• pp.289-296
• /
• 2005

This study aims to measure maximum holding times(MHTs) of symmetric and asymmetric whole body postures, and to compare three representative observational methods including OWAS, RULA, REBA, based on the MHTs. An experiment was conducted for obtaining the MHTs, in which hand position was used as experimental variable, and the MHT and subjective discomfort rating as dependent variables. The hand position was defined by the percentage of the shoulder height(%SH), the percentage of the arm reach(%AR) and rotation angle(R). The results showed that three independent variables of %SH, %AR and R significantly affected on the MHTs at ${\alpha}$=0.01, and that the MHTs were negatively linearly related to the discomfort scores of Borg CR10. It was also revealed that OWAS and REBA were less sensitive to postural stress than RULA. In addition, OWAS and REBA underestimated postural load of given postures compared to RULA. Therefore, it is recommended that among the three observational methods investigated in this study, RULA be used for a more precise evaluation of postural load.

• IE interfaces
• /
• 제24권4호
• /
• pp.387-395
• /
• 2011

This study was aiming to examine work time, frequency, work environment, and postures of retail grocery store workers to evaluate the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. An ergonomic evaluation was conducted using job analysis and posture analysis. The four most time-consuming tasks were inspecting (27.4%), arranging (21.4%), cutting (17.6%), and displaying (15.6%). The height and length of the shelves evaluated in the field was inappropriate for workers. The most common posture was a standing posture with neutral back, and bent head, right upper arm, lower arms, and hands. Finally, this paper concluded that 'arranging,' 'cutting,' and 'displaying' seemed more stressful than other operations. The result of the ergonomic evaluation would contribute to design a better workspace in ergonomics.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• 제19권4호
• /
• pp.123-128
• /
• 2004

This study investigated effect of arm posture, repetition of wrist motion and external load on perceived discomfort. The arm postures were controlled by shoulder flexion, elbow flexion, and ist motions such as flexion, extension, radial deviation and ulnar deviation. An experiment was conducted to measure discomfort scores for experimental treatments using the magnitude estimation, in which the L16 orthogonal array was adopted for reducing the size of experiment. The results showed that while the effect of the shoulder flexion, repetition of wrist motion and external load was statistically significant at $\alpha=0.05$or 0.10, that of the elbow and wrist motions was not. Discomfor ratings increased linearly as levels of wrist repetition and external load increased. This implies that the existing posture classification schemes such as OWAS, RULA, which do not properly consider effect of motion repetition and external load, may underestimate postural load. Based on the regression equation for wrist repetition and external load, isocomfort region indicating the region within which discomfort scores were expected to be the same was proposed. It is recommended that when assessing risk of postures or developing new posture classification schemes, motion repetition and external load as well as posture itself be fully taken into consideration for precisely evaluating postural stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
• /
• 제15권2호
• /
• pp.11-21
• /
• 2020

PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of posture improvement exercise using virtual reality programs on the posture and balance of patients with forward head postures. METHODS: Thirty men and women in their 20 s, who had a forward head posture, were divided randomly into a group with posture correction exercise and a group with posture correction exercise combined with virtual reality programs. The posture correction exercise was composed of squats, XCO training, and chin-tuck exercise. In contrast, exercise with virtual reality games involved the Hot Squat, Climbey, and Baskhead programs while wearing a headset. Both groups performed the exercises 15 min a day, three times per week, for four weeks. The balance ability, distance between the acromion and earlobe, and neck joint range of motion were assessed before and after the exercises. RESULTS: Both groups showed significant reductions in the distance between the acromion and the earlobe, along with significant improvements in the range of joint motion. The group that performed the virtual reality exercises showed a significant increase in the limit of stability. Both groups showed a significant decrease in the sway length. In contrast, the group given the virtual reality exercises showed a significant reduction in the sway speed while standing with their eyes closed. CONCLUSION: Exercise applying virtual reality programs can be used in clinical and home programs to correct the postures of individuals with a forward head posture because they can trigger interest in inducing active participation.