• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.279-291
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• 2015

Objective: The purpose of the study is to evaluate appropriate weight for aged farmers in manually handling livestock feed in bags using ergonomic methods. Background: In the livestock industry in South Korea, despite the trend of aging of labor manpower, heavy items are still manually handled in many farms. In particular, among stockbreeding works, the handling of feed in bags weighing 25~30kg is reported as a cause of frequent injuries and musculoskeletal system diseases. However, studies on the standard for recommended weight allowed considering the physical characteristics of aged farmers older than 60 years with greatly decreased physical strength and muscle strength are insufficient. Method: To evaluate appropriate weight for handling of heavy livestock feed in bags, physical techniques for measuring recognized levels of physical work loads, the NLE (NIOSH lifting equation) a method that is an observation type technique, and an ergonomic modeling technique to predict compressive force imposed on L5/S1 were used. Subjects who participated in the experiment were organized into two groups of males/females with mean age exceeding 60 years, and lifting tasks were evaluated for nine weight levels. Results: Based on the results of psychophysical measurement, females showed a tendency of more drastic increases compared to males when weight was over 19kg. The results of estimation of regression models for the weight, 18.0 kg ($r^2=0.97$) and 15.3kg ($r^2=0.97$) were evaluated as stable load for males and females, respectively. In addition, both the observation type evaluation and ergonomic model evaluation showed stable loads in a range of 15~18kg. Conclusion: Given the results of the study, the weight of the feed in bags currently distributed to farms can become a cause of not only overexertion but also farm work related disasters such as musculoskeletal disorders and safety accidents. Providing livestock feed in bags weighing not more than 19kg for aged farmers is judged desirable, and managerial improvement for this matter is considered necessary. Application: The results of the present study can be utilized as useful data for institutional improvement of the weight of livestock feed in bags.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2009

It is well-known that lifting capacity of a worker is influenced by body posture during the task. When a task analyst make use of RULA and REBA Trunk and upper arm angles are recorded in a separate item. It means that the interaction between the angles of two body segments may be ignored in a final score. The NLE(NIOSH Lifting Equation) has been used to supplement this problem. However, there is no study to validate the result of RWL (Recommended Workload Limit) under the existence of interactions between trunk and upper arm angles. The goal of this study was to assess the effect of the interaction between trunk and upper arm angles. Three responses, including NMVC(normalized maximum voluntary contraction), RWL(Recommended Weight Limit) and subjective judgment in psychophysical method (Borg's scale), were recorded according to the combinations of three trunk angles and nine upper arm angles. The results showed that lifting capacity is highly influenced by interaction of two body segments(trunk and upper arm). It means that the task workload has to be analyzed along with the interaction of trunk angles and upper arm angles when the task analyst assesses potential risk factors on the postures. This study may be able to be a fundamental study to develop an assessment method for lifting task analyses according to body postures.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.43-56
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• 2003

Observational methods such as OWAS, RULA, and REBA have been widely used to identify posture-related risks of musculoskeletal disorders in industry, since they are useful and efficient in evaluating postural stresses. However. there are few studies comparing the methods and providing guidelines for selecting and using the methods. They have been developed based on different backgrounds and with different application areas. Each method has its own characteristics. which must be considered in selecting and using them. In this study. 17 male subjects evaluated 42 different working postures that frequently assumed in the automobile assembly line using a psychophysical method. The postures were then evaluated by different observational methods. The results of the observational methods were compared with psychophysically evaluated stresses. The observational methods resulted in different values of stresses for certain postures. For some postures showing high values of perceived discomfort. the observational methods showed different values of stresses. These results showed that the observational methods should be used differently according to application area and they have some weak points to be improved.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.26-38
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• 1993

The purpose of this study was to suggest objective basic data for landscape research which cotained interdiciplinary approach between ecological and psychophysical method. For this, the naturalness and preference in greenary space, spatial image structure of physical elements have been analyzed by correlation coefficient and factor analysis algorithm. The results are as follows; 1. The relation between the estimation of naturalness and the preference in natural forest was deeply correlated. And the estimation of naturalness was higher than the estimation of DGN(Degree of Green Naturality). 2. The estimation of naturalnesss was decided by the physical features of forest and was different from the DGN. 3. Factors covering the spatial image of the forests have been found to be the 'overall evaluation', 'ability', 'naturalness' and 'idiosyncracy'. By using the control method for the number of factors, T.V. has been obtained as 61.68%. 4. The factors of the 'overall evauation', 'naturalness' were found to be the main factors determining the visual preference of greenary space.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.9-15
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to quantitatively investigate perceived discomfort of complex shoulder postures with external loads and to propose a preliminary evaluation scheme of shoulder postures. Twelve healthy male adults participated in an experiment to rate their perceived discomfort of shoulder postures. The independent variables were shoulder flexion angle(45, 90 and 150$^{\circ}$), adduction/abduction angle(-30, -10, 0, 30 and 60$^{\circ}$), and external load(0, 1.5 and 3.0kg). The results revealed that the flexion angle, external load and their interaction significantly affected the perceived discomfort(p$<$0.05) but the effect of adduction/abduction angle on the discomfort was not significant(p$>$0.05). The effect of external load was much larger than that of any other factor with explaining about 81% of the total variation of discomfort scores. Based on the experimental results a preliminary scheme was presented to evaluate the stress of shoulder postures with external loads.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1995.04a
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• pp.97-105
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• 1995

본 연구의 목적은 드는 작업에 있어서 한국 작업자의 적정하중을 구하여 중량물 안전기준을 정하는 것이다. 본 연구에서는 주어진 작업조건하에서 피실험자가 들어올릴 수 있는 적정하중을 결정하기 위 한 기준으로서 피실험자 자신에 의해서 인지되는 스트레스 정도를 이용하는 심리육체적 방법(Psychophysical method), 주어진 작업조건하에서 요추에 가해지는 압력을 이용하는 생체역학적 방법(Biomechanical method), 주어진 작업조건하에서 피실험자의 에너지 소모량을 이용하는 생리학적 접근법등이 이용되었다. 피실험자는 학생(n=3) 두개의 군으로 나뉘어진다. 실험에 들어가기 전에 피실험자에 대한 인체측정과 근력측정을 수행 하였다. 실험은 수직면에서 드는 빈도(1,2, 와 4회/분)와 드는 높이(0-8cm 와 47-102cm)를 조합한 6가지의 작업을 무작위로 선택하여 심리육체적 방법으로 각 작업에 대한 적정하중을 구하였다. 연구결과로서 피실험 자의 신체자료와 근력의 비교로부터 신체조건은 학생이 우수하였으나, 근력은 작업자가 우수하였다. 본 연구 에서 채택된 들기의 빈도가 변함에 따라 최대허용 하중은 변하였다. 작업자군에 대하여는 빈도가 증가할수록 최대허용 하중은 감소하였으며, 학생군에 대하여는 분당 1회와 분당 4회간의 유의한 차이가 있었다. 들기의 시작-종점의 변화에따른 최대허용 하중은 통계적으로 유의하지 않았다. 위의 두 결과는 들기의 빈도가 들기의 시작-종점보다 민감한 변수임을 가리키며 이는 미국 NIOSH의 결과와 일치한다. 심리육체적 방법을 사용하여 우리나라의 젊고 건강한 남성의 대부분(99%)을 고려하여 산출된 최대허용 하중은 미국 NIOSH 안전기준과 큰 차 이가 없음을 발견하였다. 또한 이 최대허용 하중은 인체역학적방법과 생리학적 방법을 사용하여 검토한 결과, 무리가 없는 수준임이 입증되었다. 본 연구의 결과를 토대로우리나라 젊고 건강한 남성에게 적합한 무게상수는 작업자군에 대하여 25.05kg, 학생군에 대하여 20.24kg 으로 나타나 이는 미국 NIOSH 안전기준과 대체로 일치함을 발견하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 1995.04a
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• pp.813-821
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• 1995

본 연구의 목적은 심리육체적 방법(Psychophysical method)을 이용하여 다양한 중량물운반 유형에서의 최대허용하중을 구하는 것이며 이의 타당성을 생리학적 방법(physiological method)을 이용하여 검토하는 것이다. 또한, 인체측정과 근력측정 자료를 이용하여 각 운반유형에서의 최대허용 하중을 예측하는 모형을 개발하고자 한다. 본 연구에서는 네 가지의 운반유형(Front carrying, One-hand side carrying, Two-hands side carrying 그리고 Back carrying)과 두가지의 보행 속도 (50.0 그리고 79.2 m/min)를 주요변수로 8가지의 작업에 대해 무작위로 선택하여 각 작업에 대한 최대허용 하중을 시간과 경비의 감소측면에서 폭넓게 사용되고 있는 심리육체적 방법으로 구하였다. 피실험자는 운반작업의 경력이 있는 실제 작업자군(n=7)과 그렇지 않은 학생군(n=10)으로 구분하여 건강한 남성 피실험자를 대상으로 연구를 실시하였다. 주실험전에 인체측정과 근력측정을 실시하였다. 이후에 심리육체적 방법과 생리학적 방법을 실시간(on-line)으로 실시하였다. 연구결과로 학생군과 작업자군간의 신체조건은 뚜렷한 차이를 보이지 않았으나 근력은 작업자가 우월하였다. 심리육체적 방법을 사용하여 도출된 최대허용 하중은 학생군, 작업자군 모두 운반유형의 변화에 따라 유의함을 보였다.(학생군:p=.0001 작업자군:p=.0001). 반면에 속도의 변화는 유의하지 않았다(학생군:p=.7954 작업자군:p=.9231). 또한 학생군과 작업자군 모두 Back carrying에서 가증 큰 하중을 운반하였다(학생군:8.16kg 작업자군:12.9kg). 심박수를 이용한 생리학적 연구에서는 평균 심박수가 거의 100 이하를 유지하므로써 피실험자들이 8시간 작업기준으로 보아 무리가 없는 최대허용 하중을 결정하였음을 보였다. 또한 각 운반작업에 대한 최대허용 하중을 예측하는 회귀모형을 제시하였다.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.213-219
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• 2017

Objective: The present study identified the minimum legible text size by an experiment for eight combinations of background and text colors, which will be used in designing visual information on group-view display (GVD). Background: Information on minimum legible text size is needed to design the visual information presented on GVD in a radioactive waste control room. Method: The experiment was conducted for 22 male participants (age: mean = 37, SD = 6.7; visual acuity: over 0.8) who were recruited by considering demographic characteristics of current control room operators. Eight combinations of background and text colors were considered and the minimum legible text size was determined for each combination by applying the method of limits, one of psychophysical methods. Results: The minimum legible text size was significantly different in accordance with the combination of background and text colors. Statistical analysis results showed that luminance contrast and color contrast between background and text influenced the minimum legible text sizes. Conclusion: This study concluded that the minimum legible text size is 8 minute of arc for various combinations of background and text colors. Application: The minimum legible text size identified in the present study can be utilized in designing visual information on GVD at the main control room in a radioactive waste facility.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.10-22
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• 2000

In this paper, we present a texture description method as a standardization of multimedia contents description. Like color, shape, object and camera motion information, texture is one of very important information in the visual part of international standard (MPEG-7) in multimedia contents description. Current MPEG-7 texture descriptor has been designed to fit human visual system. Many psychophysical experiments give evidence that the brain decomposes the spectra into perceptual channels that are bands in spatial frequency. The MPEG-7 texture description method has employed Radon transform that fits with HVS behavior. By taking average energy and energy deviation of HVS channels, the texture descriptor is generated. To test the performance of current texture descriptor, experiments with MPEG-7 Texture data sets of T1 to T7 are performed. Results show that the current MPEG-7 texture descriptor gives better retrieval rate and fast and fast extraction time for texture feature.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.281-289
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• 2012

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential risk of shoulder muscle at particular working postures in sitting. Background: The cause of shoulder pain needs to be specifically studied in relation with particular shoulder postures to prevent shoulder MSDs in workplace. Method: In this study MVC, fatigue and subjective workload were investigated depending on the change of shoulder posture. An experiment was designed to evaluate the six shoulder muscles at nine shoulder postures including the combination of 30(adduction), 0, 30(abduction) degrees and 60, 90, and 120 degrees of shoulder flexion. Surface electrodes were attached to the middle trapezius, inferior middle trapezius, anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid, serratus anterior and teres major. Thirteen subjects participated in the experiment. Dependent variables were RPE (rating of perceived exertion), MVC(maximum voluntary contraction) and MPF(mean power frequency) shift by EMG (electromyography). Results: The middle trapezius and inferior middle trapezius were not significantly fatigued at all postures. The decline of MPF slope was less than 10% at all postures. The anterior deltoid was significantly fatigued all postures. The decline of MPF slope was more than 10% at all postures. The posterior deltoid was significantly fatigued 30 degrees of adduction and 90 degrees of flexion. And, neutral and 30 degrees of abduction postures were fatigued more than 90 degrees of flexion. The serratus anterior was significantly fatigued except for 30 degrees of adduction and 60 degrees of flexion posture. The teres major was significantly fatigued except for neutral and 60 degrees of flexion, 30 degrees of abduction and 60 degrees of flexion posture. Conclusion: It was found that a certain muscle was fatigued fast at particular posture compared to other muscles, which would mean that a certain shoulder muscle at particular posture could be easily exposed to the risk of musculoskeletal disorders than other muscles. Application: It is expected that the result can be applied to design workplace using shoulder muscles.