• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.183-196
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• 2017

Objective: The purpose of this research was to assess the agreement between job physical risk factor analysis by ergonomists using ergonomic methods and physical examinations made by occupational physicians on the presence of musculoskeletal disorders of the upper extremities. Background: Ergonomics is the systematic application of principles concerned with the design of devices and working conditions for enhancing human capabilities and optimizing working and living conditions. Proper ergonomic design is necessary to prevent injuries and physical and emotional stress. The major types of ergonomic injuries and incidents are cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs), acute strains, sprains, and system failures. Minimization of use of excessive force and awkward postures can help to prevent such injuries Method: Initial data were collected as part of a larger study by the University of Utah Ergonomics and Safety program field data collection teams and medical data collection teams from the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (RMCOEH). Subjects included 173 male and female workers, 83 at Beehive Clothing (a clothing plant), 74 at Autoliv (a plant making air bags for vehicles), and 16 at Deseret Meat (a meat-processing plant). Posture and effort levels were analyzed using a software program developed at the University of Utah (Utah Ergonomic Analysis Tool). The Ergonomic Epicondylitis Model (EEM) was developed to assess the risk of epicondylitis from observable job physical factors. The model considers five job risk factors: (1) intensity of exertion, (2) forearm rotation, (3) wrist posture, (4) elbow compression, and (5) speed of work. Qualitative ratings of these physical factors were determined during video analysis. Personal variables were also investigated to study their relationship with epicondylitis. Logistic regression models were used to determine the association between risk factors and symptoms of epicondyle pain. Results: Results of this study indicate that gender, smoking status, and BMI do have an effect on the risk of epicondylitis but there is not a statistically significant relationship between EEM and epicondylitis. Conclusion: This research studied the relationship between an Ergonomic Epicondylitis Model (EEM) and the occurrence of epicondylitis. The model was not predictive for epicondylitis. However, it is clear that epicondylitis was associated with some individual risk factors such as smoking status, gender, and BMI. Based on the results, future research may discover risk factors that seem to increase the risk of epicondylitis. Application: Although this research used a combination of questionnaire, ergonomic job analysis, and medical job analysis to specifically verify risk factors related to epicondylitis, there are limitations. This research did not have a very large sample size because only 173 subjects were available for this study. Also, it was conducted in only 3 facilities, a plant making air bags for vehicles, a meat-processing plant, and a clothing plant in Utah. If working conditions in other kinds of facilities are considered, results may improve. Therefore, future research should perform analysis with additional subjects in different kinds of facilities. Repetition and duration of a task were not considered as risk factors in this research. These two factors could be associated with epicondylitis so it could be important to include these factors in future research. Psychosocial data and workplace conditions (e.g., low temperature) were also noted during data collection, and could be used to further study the prevalence of epicondylitis. Univariate analysis methods could be used for each variable of EEM. This research was performed using multivariate analysis. Therefore, it was difficult to recognize the different effect of each variable. Basically, the difference between univariate and multivariate analysis is that univariate analysis deals with one predictor variable at a time, whereas multivariate analysis deals with multiple predictor variables combined in a predetermined manner. The univariate analysis could show how each variable is associated with epicondyle pain. This may allow more appropriate weighting factors to be determined and therefore improve the performance of the EEM.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.123-137
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to suggest sleeve cap height with a satisfying wearing sensation and appearance on jackets for women in their twenties so that high-consumer demand jackets can be produced. Five experimental jackets with sleeve cap heights of [(AH/3)-1cm], [(AH/3)-0.5cm], [AH/3], [(AH/3)+0.5cm] and [(AH/3)+0.8cm] were made for 30 subjects to try on after which the subjects were then surveyed for their assessment of appearance, wearing sensation and preference. On the basis of the results, the optimum height of the sleeve cap has been proposed along with the following contents and results of this research. 1. [AH/3] [(AH/3)+0.8cm] of sleeve cap height was assessed to beof desirable appearance. 2. [AH/3] of sleeve cap height garnered a high opinion in terms of intuitive wearing sensation, while [(AH/3)-1cm] [AH/3] were the heights with overall satisfaction of intuitive and movement wearing sensations. If discomfort in the upper sleeve at 'straight arm' posture can be tolerated, the sleeve cap height can be set to [(AH/3)-1cm]~[(AH/3)+0.5cm]. 3. [AH/3] and [(AH/3)+0.5cm] were found to have a high preference among wearers, which indicated that the women in their twenties prefer a slim type of sleeve, putting appearance above wearing sensation. Consequently, [AH/3] is desirable when appearance, wearing sensation and preference are considered, [(AH/3)+0.5cm] is fit for business uniform for static duties or formal dress focused on aesthetic impression and [(AH/3)-1cm]~[AH/3] are desirable for work clothes when considering active duties.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.16 no.4 s.44
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• pp.357-369
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• 1992

The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between the Ideal Beauty of Body and the Form of Dress, and to analyze its historical perspectives. First of all, the concept of the Ideal Beauty of Body, the definition of Dress Form, and the method and system to clarify Dress Form were depicted. Based on this frame work, the Form of Dress related to the Ideal Beauty of Body was described historically. For this purpose, documentary research were conducted and representative photography and paintings were used. The analysis was limited to the female one-Piece dress from Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Naoclassicism, and to Romanticism. The results were as follows: 1. The Ideal Beauty of Body was found to be different throughout history and to be intimate- ly linked with fashionable dress. 2. The Form of Dress consisted of four basic components: The form of body itself, the form of clothing itself, the method of wearing, and the relationship between body and clothing. 3. The standards for classification of body form were body structure, body type, body proportion, posture, and movement. Clothing form was generally classified into flat type (unstructured type) and three dementional type (structured type); flat type was subclassified into draped type and tunic type. The method of wearing was classified into attached type, tying-up type, wrap·around type, pull-over type, open type and plastistic type. The relationship between body and clothing after wearing was generally classified into body priority type and clothing priority type. The clothing priority type was further divided into body exaggeration type and body concealment type; Body exaggeration type was further divided into upward type, downward type, forward type, backward type, right type and constriction type. 4. The pursuit of venus coelestis, metaphysical body part, ectomorphic body type, flat type clothing, body priority type; the pursuit of Venus Naturalis, physical body part, endomorphic body type, three dementional type clothing, clothing priority type proved to be closely related respectively by the historical study on the Ideal Beauty of Body and the Form of Dress.

• 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 Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.665-676
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to analyze the association between indirect vision skills and neck, shoulder, and back pain in dental hygienists. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 85 dental hygienists working full-time at dental clinics. A survey was performed for musculoskeletal symptoms in the neck, shoulders, and back of the subjects. The O'Connor tweezer dexterity test was performed using a mirror to evaluate their indirect vision skills. For statistical analyses, the t-test and one-way analysis of variance were performed. Results: The neck was the most common region of musculoskeletal pain (89.4%). The most intense pain was experienced in the neck (70.6%) and right shoulder (60.0%). Neck pain (20.0%) caused the most interference with clinical practice. Indirect vision skills were lower in the group with severe pain in the left shoulder or with high interference in work due to the left shoulder pain (p=0.026 and p= 0.017, respectively) or right shoulder pain (p=0.004). Conclusions: In this study, neck pain was a major musculoskeletal symptom among dental hygienists, and poor indirect vision skills were associated with the development of shoulder pain. Therefore, to prevent such musculoskeletal symptoms, dental hygienists should become proficient in indirect visualization, which enables a balanced and neutral posture.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.145-159
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• 1999

To find the association, between vinyl house work and the prevalence of low back pain, a questionnaire survey was made toward 215 vinyl house farmers and 228 general farmers without vinyl house who are cared by Jungjung Community health Practioners at Soobuk Myun, Damyang-gun, Chollanamdo. 1. Vinyl house farmers were significantly younger in age, higher in educational status higher survival rate of spouse, higher economic state and less cared by medical aid than general farmers. 2. Vinyl house farmers showed shorter career for agricultural work, used modern farming instrument more frequently and worked with sitting position. 3. During unbusy season in general agriculture, vinyl house farmers consumed significantly more time in agricultural work and general activity, but no significant difference of time of the above activity among busy season. 4. During the last spring season when most vinyl house work was performed, vinyl house farmers showed significantly higher prevalence of low back pain than general farmers, but no significant difference of prevalence among the two groups for the last one week. 5. By the simple analysis statistical significant related variables with low back pain was found to be sex(p<0.001), educational status(p<0.05), work posture(p<0.001) and use of modern agricultural machine(p<0.05). 6. By the multiple logistic regression the odds ratio for low back pain among vinyl house farmers were 2.08(95% confidence interval 1.31-3.00) compared to general farmers, the odds ratio among female was 2.35(95% confidence interval 1.24-4.47) to male, the odds ratio among illiterate persons were 2.60(95% confidence interval 1.24-4.47) to high school graduate, and the odds ration among primary school graduate was 2.19(95% confidence interval 1.04-4.47) to high school graduate. In conclusion because vinyl house farmers showed significantly higher rates of low back pain compared to farmers without vinyl house, continuous study to find the true cause of low back pain among vinyl-house farmers and active effort to prevent low back pain are necessary.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.445-453
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• 2012

The aim of this paper was to prove that if the risk level in combined tasks was improved through evaluation of postural load of liquid weight measurement process, the workload level and ratio of exposure time would be changed, and the time of process would be seen concurrently. Background: According to results of epidemiological studies conducted by Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency, 122 musculoskeletal disorders occurred during 1992 to 2008, in which manufacturing industry covers 96(78.7%) of total. However, this is an insufficient level and only occupies 39% based on the South Korea's manufacturing standard industrial classification(246 industries). Method: Firstly, the number of batches weighed on one day(460min) was investigated based on the work performed and Weight measured weekly. VCR recording was taken based on the level of liquid ingredients prescribed for 1batch using the Camcorder. After dividing a 356 sec video into 1 sec using the screen capture function in Gom player, the job classification was performed by analyzing the change of working postures, which revealed 148 working postures. Time measurement was decided by time of the postures was being maintained. Then, the REBA analysis was performed for the working postures. The ratio of Exposure time was calculated based on the measurement time and REBA Score. In addition, the recommendations were designed and implementation was carried out for the working postures with REBA Score higher than 3. Finally, after the intervention, REBA measurement, time measurement, and ratio of exposure time were calculated for the comparison of works before and after improvement. Results: The number of work elements was decreased by 30.4% from 148 to 103 after improvement. The results of time measurement showed that the time was reduced by 46.3% from 356 sec to 191 sec. And the ratio of exposure time was also improved by 52.1% from 0% to 52.1% after improvement. Conclusion: The reduction of time was found to improve the productivity of management. Furthermore, because the reduction of ratio of exposure time and the improvement of workload level are the improvement of discomfort, it would contribute to the improvement of the worker's psychological working posture. Application: These results would contribute to musculoskeletal disease prevention and management performance. Further studies for other industries would be needed based on this case study.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.155-168
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• 1982

What is attempted here is to find out an optimum method for the design of physical environments that could save human energy expenditures and safely perform household duties. There are, if any, very little amount of research done in this area. This is particulary so when the work relates to the designing of household storage facilities in the light of the energy metabolism of human body. The first step to this study, therefore, is to find out the ways by which we can determine the energy metabolism of human body accurately. To measure the volume and the concentration of human respiration continuously and automatically, a new apparatus is selected here. This includes the recording system with the Wright Respirometer and the Expired Gas Analyzer as well as the computer system to multiply volume by concentration of human respiration and to integrate them for a given time. Then, the author experimented on the reliability of this apparatus and came to the conclusion that this apparatus satisfied our need to research the energy metabolism of human body. Next, the general plan and procedures to experiment with this apparatus have been determined as follows: 1) subjects are three young and sound females. Their physical characteristics are shown in Table 1 and most approximates the standard characteristics of Japanese females, 2) height of open shelves is selected in such away as to correspond to the respective height of each subject(see Table 2), 3) utensils to be stored are box shaped object, which weight is 0.5kg, 1.0kg, 2.0kg or 3.0kg, 4) working motions are given while one or two hands as to place utensil on each shelf from the standard working board, 85 cm in height and then to place back it on the board from the shelf and repeated in constant velocity as 10 times per a minute, 5) each posture of motion is chosen by each subject in free, 6) procedures of measurement of human energy metabolism ard shown at(6), 1, Section 3 as specific methods for using this apparatus. Findings of this study are as follows: 1. Human energy expenditures for storing utensils on shelves by each subject are shown in quantity more accurately than in any other studies, under varying conditions about height of shelves, load of utensils and working motion with one hand and two hands (see Fig. 8~13 and Table 3). 2. Experimental formulae of human energy expenditure for that work are shown as formula (8), (9) and (10), to generalize results of 1. and to apply those for working motion under given conditions. 3. As results of analysis on gained data, we are able to show the standard model of human energy expenditures for storing untensils on shelves by the standard Japanese female (see Table 7 and Fig. 14).

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.328-335
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the height of workbench in dental lab for ergonomic body type which dental technicians are suitable and suggest to effective improvement of workspace. For this purpose, we measured the height, weight, body sizes of total 77 junior majoring in dental laboratory science where they study school located in Gyeonggi and Chungcheong area and we research uncomfortable body type when they had a clinical training. For comparative analysis we had visited 15 dental lab and 2 dental lab of general hospital and we had measured the height of workbench and desk including chair and then We had statistical analysis measured value. Especially we analyzed the important factor causing inconvenience for work environment. As a result, we had examined, we found following results The sand table was the most uncomfortable equipment, when they have clinical training. There is no correlation between sexual characteristics of junior in college and selection of uncomfortable equipment. It is reasonable to assume that sand table which is lower than recommended height brings out inconvenience. It is analyzed that the optimum height of sand table in dental lab for junior in college is lower than the recommended height. The optimum height of sand table in dental lab has deviation according to height of junior in college. The height of worktable in dental lab was lower than recommended height. The recommended range could not apply to posture of dental technician with different height uniformly.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.31-43
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• 2017

The article is devoted to the theoretical and practical analysis of Chinese global leadership. The concept of leadership is applied as a methodology, which involves identifying the main factors, such as strategic power, the attractiveness of political institutions, the ability to provide acceptable ideas and the presence of allies that contribute to a comprehensive analysis of the country's leadership potential. The authors also describe the relevance of Chinese global leadership and analyze its domestic, economic and international causes. Moreover, the ''Belt and Road'' initiative is defined as the main mechanism for providing the influence of China on the global level which is now being changed its quantitative component, namely the increasing attention to the security aspects of this initiative. In addition to that, it is important to note that China maintains its economic and political positions in Africa, Central Asia and South-East Asia. Africa has a special role in the Chinese ''Belt and Road'' initiative as a recipient of Chinese investments and a site for the deployment of China's naval facilities to protect the trade routes. On the regional level, China will strive to become a leader of the trade and economic processes in the Asia-Pacific region, the South China Sea and the North Korea nuclear program issues. The American factor in modern international relations, namely so-called "Trump factor", which means the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Agreement, will cause demand for Chinese leadership in the Asia-Pacific region and in the world as well. However, in this case a number of questions arise: is China prepared for this? Is Beijing able to bear greater responsibility? Does China have the potential for this? The article concludes that China will not become global leaders in the next 20-30 years, because of internal (political reforms) and foreign policy reasons (doctrinal formulation of foreign policy initiatives, military-political and economic power, international posture and relations with other states). The authors believe that the implementation of Chinese leadership is possible not on the condition of confrontation between China and the United States, but on the establishing of constructive relations between these countries. The last meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping showed a trend for creating channels for dialogue between Beijing and Washington, which can become the basis for interaction. An important place in the work is given to the analysis of development and forecasting the evolution of Russian-Chinese and U.S.-China relations. As for Russia, Moscow should conduct a policy that will not allow it to become a ''junior partner'' of China.