Risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders in loading and unloading tasks of couriers.

BACKGROUND: The use of home delivery services has expanded due to coronavirus disease - 2019, and couriers' high level of work intensity has become a severe social issue in various nations. OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) caused by frequent loading and unloading actions, known to be the most demanding tasks for couriers. METHODS: A self-report survey and post-hoc interview were employed to collect personal information, task frequency, and the incidence of MSDs. Frequent actions during loading and unloading packages were identified, and the Rapid Entry Body Assessment (REBA) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) lifting equations were assessed. RESULTS: Approximately 29.5% of the 44 subjects suffered from MSDs, and identify the types of actions that frequently occur during loading and unloading packages. According to the REBA survey, 60% of the responses for both loading and unloading are distributed within the risk range of 8-13 points, suggesting a high risk (mean REBA score: 8.8 (loading), 8.5 (unloading)). In every case, NIOSH determined that the lifting index (LI) was harmful (mean LI: 1.62). Thereby, the bending or twisting posture of the hands and neck, long horizontal distance between the packages and the body, and high lifting frequency were identified as major problems. CONCLUSION: The study identified a very high level of musculoskeletal risk for couriers, and the detailed working methods and body parts vulnerable to MSDs.

Identification of Gait and Personal Factors Associated with Shoe Abrasion Patterns.

Shoe abrasion data can be used as major evidence to distinguish suspects, but their actual application in the field is limited due to a lack of associated empirical studies. This study analyzed the significant factors of shoe abrasion by identifying significant differences between gait, personal characteristics, and shoe abrasion patterns. Experiments were conducted on 291 Korean subjects, and data were analyzed using cluster analysis and cross-tabulation analysis with data collected to identify significant factors. As a result, overall, medial abrasion was very rare and would be useful for human identification. The greater the gait characteristics of the knee valgus, the greater the inner abrasion characteristics shown. In the case of knee varus, outer abrasion characteristics occurred more often. Additionally, in the double support phase while walking, the greater the tilt to the left or right, the more the outer parts of the shoes tend to wear out. Men have the characteristic of wearing out the outer side of their shoes more compared to women. Regarding human body dimensions, there were significant differences between the abrasion patterns of the shoes with some body dimensions. The results of this study could be used effectively in the identification of suspects using shoe abrasion patterns.

A Study on the Effectiveness of IT Application Education for Older Adults by Interaction Method of Humanoid Robots.

Education using humanoid robots can have a positive impact in many fields, including in medical or physical training. This study investigated the effects of robot interactions with respect to facial expressions, gestures, voices and their combinations on the education of the elderly regarding information and communications technology (ICT) from functional and emotional perspectives. In this study, the robot's interaction methods were divided into four categories: (1) voice, (2) voice and expression, (3) voice and gesture, and (4) voice and expression and gesture. An experiment involving an educational application with a humanoid robot was conducted with a total of 15 elderly people over the age of 60. The effect of the humanoid robot's interaction method on education was identified by means of subjective survey evaluation and practice performance data analysis, including error rate, task success rate, and number of retrainings. Through the experiment, functional and emotional aspects of effects were measured. The results showed that performance and perceived effectiveness were not significantly affected by the type of robot interaction, but the degree to which the robot felt like it had emotions, the degree to which the robot felt like a human, and the degree to which the robot was friendly were significantly different according to the interaction type employed by the humanoid robot. The best effect was achieved when voice and gesture were used together during tutoring. Recognizing that ICT education using humanoid robots increases interest and participation in education, such robots are concluded to be a suitable method for performing ICT education. In addition, when designing robotic interactions, the use of the robot's voice and gestures together is expected to lead to greater anthropomorphism, resulting in a stronger relationship with humanoid robots.

A study on the changes in life habits, mental health, and sleep quality of college students due to COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: In early 2020, the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic necessitated changes in social behavior to prevent its spread, including holding online classes, implementing social distancing, and allowing employees to telecommute. However, these changes have had a negative impact on people's sleep patterns and mental health, particularly for college students. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the relationship between mental health and sleep quality according to the changes in lifestyle of college students in the periods before and after COVID-19. METHODS: The study subjects were 164 college students from Korea who had both face-to-face and non-face-to-face college experiences before and after COVID-19. The experiment was conducted using a Google survey, and the participants were recruited from the college community. The general features and lifestyle habits for the individuals were assessed using the AUDIT-K, Delphi method, KGHQ (General Mental Health Scale), and PSQI-K (Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index). RESULTS: The KGHQ and PSQI scores increased with the spread of COVID-19, which means that the mental health and sleep quality of college students deteriorated. 11 categories of variables were further investigated to evaluate changes in lifestyle, and the results indicate significant changes in the number of private meetings per week, monthly drinking, outdoor activity time, electronic device usage time, weekly food delivery, weekly late-night snacks, daily snacks, and daily coffee intake and no significant changes in exercise, smoking, and fast food intake. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 caused many changes in the lifestyle of college students, which adversely affected mental health and sleep.

Identification of the Visually Prominent Gait Parameters for Forensic Gait Analysis.

Walking patterns can be used as a key parameter in identifying individuals, as it varies visually depending on one's body size as well as their habits, gender, and age group. In this study, we measure the gait characteristics of a large number of subjects using 34 visual parameters to identify significant parameters that can be used to distinguish individual walking features. We recorded 291 subjects' walking on a constructed footpath using four video cameras, and data on parameters was calculated at the points of double support, toe-off, and heel-strike. K-means Clustering Analysis and ANOVA were conducted to determine the difference between age, gender, and BMI. As a result, we confirm that parameters related to the spine, neck, and feet are useful for identifying individuals. In the comparative analysis between age groups, the older the age, the more significant variables appeared in the upper body. The difference between genders showed significant parameters in both the upper and lower bodies of males. Similarly, among the large BMI groups, we also derived significant results in the upper and lower bodies. The key parameters derived from this study can be used more effectively in the real-world visual analysis of gait, as the walking characteristics of a large number of subjects have been measured with a similar view as real-world CCTV. This study will be effectively utilized as a foundation for future research attempting to identify people through their gait by distinguishing major gait characteristic differences.

Investigation of usability problems of electronic medical record systems in the emergency department.

BACKGROUND: Despite the benefits of using electronic medical record (EMR) systems, existing studies show that many healthcare providers are uncertain regarding their usability. The usability issues of these systems decrease their efficiency, discourage clinicians, and cause dissatisfaction among patients, which may result in safety risks and harm. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to collect and analyze EMR system usability problems from actual users. Practical user interface guidelines were presented based on the medical practices of these users. METHODS: Employing an online questionnaire with a seven-point Likert scale, usability issues of EMR systems were collected from 200 emergency department healthcare providers (103 physicians (medical doctors) and 97 nurses) from South Korea. RESULTS: The most common usability problem among the physicians and nurses was generating in-patient selection. This pertained to the difficulty in finding the required information on-screen because of poor visibility and a lack of distinctiveness. CONCLUSIONS: The major problems of EMR systems and their causes were identified. It is recommended that intensive visual enhancement of EMR system interfaces should be implemented to support user tasks. By providing a better understanding of the current usability problems among medical practitioners, the results of this study can be useful for developing EMR systems with increased effectiveness and efficiency.

Development of safety and usability guideline for clinical information system.

ABSTRACT: Clinical information systems (CISs) that do not consider usability and safety could lead to harmful events. Therefore, we aimed to develop a safety and usability guideline of CISs that is comprehensive for both users and developers. And the guideline was categorized to apply actual clinical workflow and work environment.The guideline components were extracted through a systematic review of the articles published between 2000 and 2015, and existing CIS safety and/or usability design guidelines. The guideline components were categorized according to clinical workflow and types of user interface (UI). The contents of the guideline were evaluated and validated by experts with 3 specialties: medical informatics, patient safety, and human engineering.Total 1276 guideline components were extracted through article and guideline review. Of these, 464 guideline components were categorized according to 5 divisions of the clinical workflow: "Data identification and selection," "Document entry," "Order entry," "Clinical decision support and alert," and "Management". While 521 guideline components were categorized according to 4 divisions of UI: UIs related to information process steps, "Perception," "Recognition," "Control," and "Feedback". We developed a guideline draft with 219 detailed guidance for clinical task and 70 for UI. Overall appropriateness and comprehensiveness were proven to achieve more than 90% in experts' survey. However, there were significant differences among the groups of specialties in the judgment of appropriateness (P < .001) and comprehensiveness (P = .038).We developed and verified a safety and usability guideline for CIS that qualifies the requirements of both clinical workflows and usability issues. The developed guideline can be a practical tool to enhance the usability and safety of CISs. Further validation is required by applying the guideline for designing the actual CIS.

A Survey of Koreans on Sleep Habits and Sleeping Symptoms Relating to Pillow Comfort and Support.

The number of people who complain of sleep disturbances is steadily increasing. An understanding of sleep-related factors is required to address sleep problems. This survey study investigated the sleep habits and sleeping symptoms relating to the comfort and support characteristics of pillows and the relationship between sleep quality and pillow design factors. The study utilized data from 332 participating Korean adults aged 20-76 years (mean age ± SD: males, 40.4 ± 15.2; females, 42.9 ± 15.4). We developed a questionnaire that evaluated sleep habits (sleep duration, bedtime, wake-up time and sleeping position); sleeping symptoms (snoring or coughing, breathing and sleepiness during waking hours) based on the Korean version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI-K) questionnaire; and pillow-related factors (support, comfort, fatigue, height and shape) from existing pillow studies. The average sleep duration was 6.8 h, with more than half (52%) of participants sleeping in the supine position. The overall score for sleep quality was considered poor (4.84 points on a seven-point Likert scale), with some degree of sleepiness during waking hours (4.4 points on a seven-point Likert scale). Females went to bed earlier than males and were more likely to sleep in the lateral position compared to males. The number of toss and turn or waking events during sleep increased with age, and older individuals went to sleep earlier and woke up earlier. Among the symptoms of fatigue, pain, discomfort with changing position, snoring, coughing and breathing discomfort, participants reported their highest levels of discomfort due to sleepiness after waking, and they experienced the least head pain. Participants who used a regular-type pillow had poorer satisfaction on multiple comfort and support factors (support, comfort, height suitability, shape suitability) compared with those who used a functional-type pillow. Less head fatigue, less neck fatigue and less shoulder pain had significant effects on sleep quality. To reduce neck fatigue and shoulder pain, designers should consider the height for neck support in the lateral position. To reduce neck fatigue, it is desirable to use materials like latex or memory foam that provide neck support, which can improve sleep quality. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of sleep habits and characteristics of pillow comfort and provide practical guidelines for better pillow designs.

Safety and Usability Guidelines of Clinical Information Systems Integrating Clinical Workflow: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVES: The usability of clinical information systems (CISs) is known to be an essential consideration in ensuring patient safety as well as integrating clinical flow. This study aimed to determine how usability and safety guidelines of CIS consider clinical workflow through a systematic review in terms of the target systems, methodology, and guideline components of relevant articles. METHODS: A literature search was conducted for articles published from 2000 to 2015 in PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE, Web of Science, and CINAHL. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement method was employed. Articles containing recommendations, principles, and evaluation items for CIS usability and safety were included. The selected articles were classified according to article type, methodology, and target systems. Taking clinical workflow into consideration, the components of guidelines were extracted and classified. RESULTS: A total of 7,401 articles were identified by keyword search. From the 76 articles remaining after abstract screening, 15 were selected through full-text review. Literature review (n = 7) was the most common methodology, followed by expert opinions (n = 6). Computerized physician order entry (n = 6) was the most frequent system. Four articles considered the entire process of clinical tasks, and two articles considered the principles of the entire process of user interface affecting clinical workflow. Only two articles performed heuristic evaluations of CISs. CONCLUSIONS: The usability and safety guidelines of CISs need improvement in guideline development methodology and with consideration of clinical workflow.

The effects of physical and psychosocial factors and ergonomic conditions on the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among dentists in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) have been recognized as one of the main occupational health problems for dentists. Many studies have suggested that dentists experience work-related pain or discomfort in the neck, shoulder, and back, as well as in other parts of the body. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the relationship between specific physical and psychosocial factors and/or ergonomic conditions on MSD symptoms among dentists in Malaysia. METHODS: A group of 85 dentists was asked to complete a questionnaire to determine whether their complaints were related to physical and psychosocial factors and/or ergonomic conditions in their practices. RESULTS: Among the nine reviewed body areas, the shoulders were most often affected by symptoms of MSDs (92.7%). Moreover, MSDs of the neck and upper back were most likely to prevent these practitioners from engaging in normal activities (32.9%). In general, no significant differences were found in the prevalence of MSD symptoms in relation to gender, age, body mass index, years in practice, number of patients, and frequency of breaks. CONCLUSIONS: Our results were consistent with those reported in other studies that focused on MSD problems among dentists in other countries. To reduce the prevalence of MSDs, more attention should be paid to instituting ergonomically sensible approaches in the dental practice setting.

Development of Safety and Usability Guideline for Hospital Information System.

Hospital Information systems (HIS) provide efficiency in clinical practice, and give users the chances of systemic feedback, recommendations based on evidences. However, HIS without consideration of usability or patient safety could make adverse events. In this study, we suggest safety/usability guideline of HIS, extracted via systemic review of related articles. We categorized the guidelines and recommendations by clinical workflow.

The effect of psychosocial stress on muscle activity during computer work: Comparative study between desktop computer and mobile computing products.

BACKGROUND: The popularity of mobile computing products is well known. Thus, it is crucial to evaluate their contribution to musculoskeletal disorders during computer usage under both comfortable and stressful environments. OBJECTIVE: This study explores the effect of different computer products' usages with different tasks used to induce psychosocial stress on muscle activity. METHODS: Fourteen male subjects performed computer tasks: sixteen combinations of four different computer products with four different tasks used to induce stress. Electromyography for four muscles on the forearm, shoulder and neck regions and task performances were recorded. RESULTS: The increment of trapezius muscle activity was dependent on the task used to induce the stress where a higher level of stress made a greater increment. However, this relationship was not found in the other three muscles. Besides that, compared to desktop and laptop use, the lowest activity for all muscles was obtained during the use of a tablet or smart phone. The best net performance was obtained in a comfortable environment. However, during stressful conditions, the best performance can be obtained using the device that a user is most comfortable with or has the most experience with. CONCLUSIONS: Different computer products and different levels of stress play a big role in muscle activity during computer work. Both of these factors must be taken into account in order to reduce the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders or problems.

Determination of sex from various hand dimensions of Koreans.

In the case of disasters or crime scenes, forensic anthropometric methods have been utilized as a reliable way to quickly confirm the identification of victims using only a few parts of the body. A total of 321 measurement data (from 167 males and 154 females) were analyzed to investigate the suitability of detailed hand dimensions as discriminators of sex. A total of 29 variables including length, breadth, thickness, and circumference of fingers, palm, and wrist were measured. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test. The accuracy of sex indication from the hand dimensions data was found using discriminant analysis. The age effect and interaction effect according to age and sex on hand dimensions were analyzed by ANOVA. The prediction accuracy on a wide age range was also compared. According to the results, the maximum hand circumference showed the highest accuracy of 88.6% for predicting sex for males and 89.6% for females. Although the breadth, circumference, and thickness of hand parts generally showed higher accuracy than the lengths of hand parts in predicting the sex of the participant, the breadth and circumference of some finger joints showed a significant difference according to age and gender. Thus, the dimensions of hand parts which are not affected by age or gender, such as hand length, palm length, hand breadth, and maximum hand thickness, are recommended to be used first in sex determination for a wide age range group. The results suggest that the detailed hand dimensions can also be used to identify sex for better accuracy; however, the aging effects need to be considered in estimating aged suspects.

Development of a job rotation scheduling algorithm for minimizing accumulated work load per body parts.

BACKGROUND: For the successful implementation of job rotation, jobs should be scheduled systematically so that physical workload is evenly distributed with the use of various body parts. However, while the potential benefits are widely recognized by research and industry, there is still a need for a more effective and efficient algorithm that considers multiple work-related factors in job rotation scheduling. OBJECTIVE: This study suggests a type of job rotation algorithm that aims to minimize musculoskeletal disorders with the approach of decreasing the overall workload. METHODS: Multiple work characteristics are evaluated as inputs to the proposed algorithm. Important factors, such as physical workload on specific body parts, working height, involvement of heavy lifting, and worker characteristics such as physical disorders, are included in the algorithm. For evaluation of the overall workload in a given workplace, an objective function was defined to aggregate the scores from the individual factors. A case study, where the algorithm was applied at a workplace, is presented with an examination on its applicability and effectiveness. RESULTS: With the application of the suggested algorithm in case study, the value of the final objective function, which is the weighted sum of the workload in various body parts, decreased by 71.7% when compared to a typical sequential assignment and by 84.9% when compared to a single job assignment, which is doing one job all day. CONCLUSIONS: An algorithm was developed using the data from the ergonomic evaluation tool used in the plant and from the known factors related to workload. The algorithm was developed so that it can be efficiently applied with a small amount of required inputs, while covering a wide range of work-related factors. A case study showed that the algorithm was beneficial in determining a job rotation schedule aimed at minimizing workload across body parts.

Severe motor disability affects functional cortical integration in the context of brain-computer interface (BCI) use.

The purpose of this study was to investigate cortical interaction between brain regions in people with and without severe motor disability during brain-computer interface (BCI) operation through coherence analysis. Eighteen subjects, including six patients with cerebral palsy (CP) and three patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), participated. The results showed (1) the existence of BCI performance difference caused by severe motor disability; (2) different coherence patterns between participants with and without severe motor disability during BCI operation and (3) effects of motor disability on cortical connections varying in the brain regions for the different frequency bands, indicating reduced cortical differentiation and specialisation. Participants with severe neuromuscular impairments, as compared with the able-bodied group, recruited more cortical regions to compensate for the difficulties caused by their motor disability, reflecting a less efficient operating strategy for the BCI task. This study demonstrated that coherence analysis can be applied to examine the ways cortical networks cooperate with each other during BCI tasks. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: Few studies have investigated the electrophysiological underpinnings of differences in BCI performance. This study contributes by assessing neuronal synchrony among brain regions. Our findings revealed that severe motor disability causes more cortical areas to be recruited to perform the BCI task, indicating reduced cortical differentiation and specialisation.