Ergonomics最新文献

Touch-screen mobile devices (TSMDs) are digitally enhanced means of communication and information. This study aims to assess and identify the risks of musculoskeletal disorders. Cornell Musculoskeletal Disorder Questionnaire (CMDQ) was used with 340 university students (70% males and 30% females). Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), which uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), was applied to determine the potential musculoskeletal discomfort and its effects. The highest frequency of musculoskeletal discomfort symptoms was reported in the neck (73.53%) and lower back (67.94%), followed by the upper back (56.47%) and the right shoulder (46.18%). There was a positive correlation between the neck and musculoskeletal discomfort in; the right shoulder, upper back, right hand of base of thumb, and part of the wrist. It is essential to raise awareness among university students about the signs and risks of musculoskeletal disorder symptoms to help them prevent potential health issues in using TSMDs.

This study investigated whether bidirectional transparency, compared to agent-to-human transparency, improved human-agent collaboration. Additionally, we examined the optimal transparency levels for both humans and agents. We assessed the impact of transparency direction and level on various metrics of a human-agent team, including performance, trust, satisfaction, perceived agent's teaming skills, and mental workload. A total of 30 participants engaged in a human-agent collaborative game in a within-subject experiment with five conditions: a 2 (transparency directions: agent-to-human transparency vs. bidirectional transparency) × 2 (transparency levels: reasoning transparency vs. reasoning + projection transparency) factorial design, plus an additional action transparency condition as a control condition. The findings indicated that bidirectional transparency improved task performance without increasing the mental workload. This study recommends a bidirectional transparency mechanism, in which the agent provides transparency to humans regarding its reasoning and predictions, whereas humans offer transparency to the agent regarding their reasoning. Practitioner Summary: This study highlights the importance of bidirectional transparency in human-agent collaboration, demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing task performance without increasing mental workload. It recommends implementing a mechanism where both humans and agents share transparency information, optimising collaboration outcomes.

Age is associated with increased tissue stiffness and a higher risk of low back pain, particularly in older, sedentary workers who spend long periods sitting. This study explored how trunk stiffness changes with age and its relationship with posture during prolonged sitting in a sample of 37 women aged 20-65 years. Age was assessed as both Chronological Age and Fitness Age, with trunk stiffness measured using a passive trunk flexion apparatus. Participants sat at a computer workstation for 60 minutes, and spine posture was recorded every 10 minutes. The study found that trunk stiffness significantly increased with age, especially when considering Fitness Age (r = 0.517, p = 0.003). Additionally, trunk stiffness was negatively correlated with spine motion during sitting (r = -0.435, p = 0.023). These findings suggest that workers with poorer health move less while sitting and could be more susceptible to the deleterious effects of sedentary work.

Time spend using smartphones is constantly increasing. Portability leads to postures that expose them to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The aim was to study the effect of time of day (morning, afternoon, evening and night) on university students' postures when using their smartphones over the weekend and their link with MSD risk. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 277 university students (25.3% female, 74.7% male, 17-24 years). SmarTaxo with 41 postures (sitting, standing, lying, walking) and their relative RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) scores were considered. The overall distribution of postures was: 36.22% sitting, 17.53% standing, 37.67% lying down and 8.57% walking. Six lying and one standing posture observed in the evening and at night are at high MSD risk (RULA score = 6, 23% of total time). The survey highlighted that university students are exposed to MSDs during the weekend day due to awkward postures, especially when lying down at night.

In a novel, on-road study, using a 'Ghost Driver' to emulate an automated vehicle (AV), we captured over 10 hours of video (n = 520) and 64 survey responses documenting the behaviour and attitudes of pedestrians in response to the AV. Three prototype external human-machine interfaces (eHMIs) described the AV's behaviour, awareness and intention using elements of anthropomorphism: High (human face), Low (car motif), Abstract (partial representation of human features that lacked precise visual reference); these were evaluated against a (no eHMI) baseline. Despite many pedestrians reporting that they still relied on vehicular cues to negotiate their crossing, there was a desire/expectation expressed for explicit communication with future AVs. High and Low anthropomorphism eHMIs received the most positive responses for clarity, confidence and trust, with High also attracting significantly more/longer glances and the highest preference rating. In contrast, Abstract was considered least clear and subsequently invited the lowest confidence and trust ratings.

This study simulates the natural movement of plants in indoor environments to investigate whether these plants can effectively facilitate psychological, physiological, and emotional recovery from fatigue caused by short vigilance tasks. A total of 63 participants completed baseline assessments of emotional and physiological stress as well as attention and memory (including the POMS-SF, blood pressure, pulse, and Digit Span Backward). They then performed a vigilance task to induce fatigue, followed by a second measurement of stress and cognition. After random assignment to dynamic plant, static plant, or no-plant conditions for a rest intervention, participants underwent a final assessment. The results showed that all three conditions experienced significant fatigue induced by the vigilance task, with increases in stress and reductions in cognition. Following the intervention, those in the dynamic plant condition exhibited notably greater recovery across multiple indices-particularly in emotional stress and pulse-than those in the other conditions.

Ergonomics and Human Factors (E/HF) practitioners are increasingly engaged in projects meant to centre underserved communities and reduce inequities. The subdiscipline of E/HF that has emerged to explore the application of E/HF in this way is called community ergonomics. In this qualitative-descriptive study, we reflect on the progress made in the field of community ergonomics since its original conceptualisation in 1994. We present six E/HF case studies carried out in North America, South America, and Africa in a variety of community contexts to highlight the challenges of conducting community-based work. From those case studies, we synthesise six lessons learned that can be used to guide future community ergonomics projects. Finally, we provide methodological and epistemological recommendations for doing ethical community-based work, calling for E/HF practitioners to consider how their own ideologies are shaping their interactions with the communities they aim to serve.

Situation awareness (SA) is the ability to perceive, comprehend and project environmental information. Neural activity is closely associated with SA. However, it remains unclear how neural activity represents SA at different levels. Here, three tasks were used to assess SA at three levels, behavioural and electroencephalogram data were collected. Relationships between SA and neural activity were explored through comparisons of EEG power between high and low SA. For each SA level, EEG power significantly differed between high and low SA. Brain region-based analyses further revealed neural activities originating from distinct brain regions were recruited to represent SA at different levels. These EEG pattern features differed between high and low SA could be used to decode SA with the KNN (k-nearest neighbour) classifier. The present study marked a significant step in augmenting our understanding of the neural mechanism that characterise SA.

The use of exoskeletons is increasingly considered as a solution to reduce workers' exposure to physical risk factors, such as low-back disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the CORFOR^® occupational soft-back exoskeleton on trunk muscle activity and kinematics during an order picking manual task performed in the field. 10 workers, with at least 4 weeks' experience using the exoskeleton, performed a 1.5-hour order picking task with and without the exoskeleton. Trunk muscle activity, upper-body kinematics and the exoskeleton's acceptance were assessed. Erector spinae muscle activity was significantly reduced by 7.5% with the use of the exoskeleton. Moreover, trunk flexor muscles activity, trunk kinematics, or low-back pain were not affected. Further, the acceptance of the exoskeleton was rated as favourable. Thus, at least in the test company, the integration of the CORFOR^® exoskeleton for order picking tasks is promising.

A critical metaphor for the development, implementation and penetration of autonomous machine systems into the world of human work is presented. Most especially, the 'Isles of Autonomy' concept is articulated which argues that the expropriation of human pre-eminence will be marked by a series of threshold events, some of which are, even now becoming evident. In particular, it indicates that there will be a watershed event in which differing and distinct expressions of applied autonomous systems will spontaneously coalesce to produce an emergent, general artificial intelligence. The latter may well be unrelated to the original goals, aims and constraints of the disparate entities that have joined together. This threshold will be a harbinger of cascading unifications in which an unrestrained aggregate will assume de facto control over disparate work domains. The nature of such a development, most especially in light of associated human roles, is here evaluated. While emergent systems possess no necessary privilege, neither are their non-linear properties and behaviours directly inferable from their componential elements. The demi-sesquicentennial (75th) marking of the future of a science that is focused most especially on the predominance of human, work, is considered in light of these impending forces of change.