The objective of this study is to identify the effects of material position and physical fatigue on postural stability. Ten male subjects participated in this study. After bicycling exercises, their centers of pressure (COPs) were measured under four material handling positions and four excercise levels. The measured COPs were then utilized to calculate postural sway length in each experimental condition. Subjects' postural stability was quantified using the sway length. Results showed that the effect of different material handling position was significant on the postural sway length in both the posterior-anterior axis and the medio-lateral axis. Results also showed that the postural sway length was increased as physical fatigue accumulated, significantly in subject's posterior-anterior axis. The results imply that bearing a material on the back or front with both hands appeared to cause least sway length and instability.

As menu structure of household appliance is complicated, user's cognitive workload frequently occurs errors. In existing studies, errors didn't present that interpretation for cognitive factors and alternatives, but are only considered as statistical frequency. Therefore, error classification and analysis in tasks is inevitable in usability evaluation. This study classified human error throughout information process model and navigation behavior. Human error is defined as incorrect decision and behavior reducing performance. And navigation is defined as unrelated behavior with target item searching. We searched and analyzed human errors and its causes as a case study, using mobile phone which could control appliances in near future. In this study, semantic problems in menu structure were elicited by SAT. Scenarios were constructed by those. Error analysis tests were performed twice to search and analyze errors. In 1st prototype test, we searched errors occurred in process of each scenario. Menu structure was revised to be based on results of error analysis. Henceforth, 2nd Prototype test was performed to compare with 1st. Error analysis method could detect not only mistakes, problems occurred by semantic structure, but also slips by physical structure. These results can be applied to analyze cognitive causes of human errors and to solve their problems in menu structure of electronic products.

The importance of the industrial safety has been growing gradually as well as the prevention activities on industrial accidents. Industrial accident rates have been decreasing by the prevention activities. However, the fatal industrial accidents such as the death tend to increase and risk per accident has increased. The previous studies on the industrial accidents focus on the entire accidents. However, these studies are lacking for the fatal industrial accidents such as the death. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the characteristics and trend of death which occurred by industrial accident, based on the real data of deaths collected last 5 years from 1999 to 2003 in korea. This paper suggests a analysis method using MDS(MultiDimensional Scaling) that considers accidents variables and properties simultaneously. We evaluate MDPREF (Multidimensional Analysis of Preference Data), one of the MDS analysis, to know the relations between the type of industry and region as well as the type of industry and occupation. This paper finds the type of industry which has high possibilities of death by regional groups. In addition, we find the type of occupation which has high possibilities of death by the type of industry. These findings indicate that industrial classification should be differently controled according to type of occupation and region.

The purpose of this study is to redesign a letter sorting station and to present the optimal work-space through the ergonomic analysis of the sorting station for reducing the 'Work-Related MusculoSkeletal Disorders(WMSDs)'. We surveyed the work environment in terms of the reason causing WMSDs. According to the survey results, Deltoid on the arm, Trapezius on the shoulder and Erector Spinae on the waist are most frequent attacking parts. Accordingly, We classified sorting stations by the horizontal work-space(Level 1, Level 2, Level 3) and the vertical work space(Level 1, Level 2) based on the criteria of ergonomic optimal work-space. In addition we improved the sorting station through investigation and analysis of the work-load regard the each defined work-space. In order to analyze the effect of the horizontal and vertical work-space, subjects carried out simulated sorting tasks. Each level(Level 1, Level 2, Level3) of the horizontal work-space is significant regarding each muscles(the shoulder, arm and waist), and each level(Level 1, Level 2) of the vertical work-space is significant regarding the arm and waist, but not shoulder. Finally, we founded the difference of work-load according to the work-spaces. Then, it is necessary to improve the work-space causing the high work-load(Level 3 of the horizontal work-space). Then, this study presented the specification of a sorting station which is suitable to the korean body size, and constructed the 3D shaped model of the stations by the ergonomic analysis.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate perceived discomfort of working postures in terms of upper body (back, shoulder, and elbow) flexions when an external load varies. Eighteen subjects participated in an experiment of appraising perceived discomfort of varying upper body postures with three levels of external loads given. The ANOVA results showed that the perceived discomfort of upper body postures was significantly affected by the external load. It was also apparent that the interactions between external load and upper body posture were significant (p< 0.001). The result implies that a new posture classification scheme for workload assessment methods may be in need to reflect such interactions between external load and upper body posture. In order to support the statement, a regression model of perceived discomfort of upper body postures obtained from the experiment was developed and compared to that of perceived discomfort of seven work-related postures found in automobile assembly operations. The correlation coefficient between predicted and actual values of perceived discomfort was about 0.96. It is expected that the result help to properly estimate the body stress resluting from worker's postures and external loads and can be used as a valuable design guideline on preventing work-related musculoskeletal diseases in industry.

EEG(Electroencephalogram) provides a possibility of communicating between a human and a computer, called BCI(brain computer interface). EEG evoked by a movement has been often used as a control command of a computer. This study is to predict human movements by EEG parameters showed significant consistency. Three undergraduate students were asked to move both hands and foots thirty times respectively. Each movement consisted of single and three consecutive movements. Their EEG signals were analyzed to obtained ERD(Event Related Desynchronization) and ERS(Event Related Synchronization). The results showed that ERD and ERS could be used as a significant classifier identifying either single movement or repetitive movement of human limbs. The number of repetition of movement could be used to various control commands of a computer.