• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.317-323
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• 2021

Background: The surface mining industry has one of the highest fatality rates among private industries in the United States. Despite recent decreases in the fatality rates of comparable industries, the fatality rate in the surface mining industry has increased. Meanwhile, a lack of safety research in surface mining has hindered efforts to improve safety strategies in the surface mining workplace. Method: This study examined quarry workers' hazard identification skills by conducting a case study of a surface mining facility in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Semistructured interviews were conducted with eight quarry workers who were employed at the mine facility. In addition to the interviews, data were collected through field notes, notes from an expert meeting with safety managers, and site photographs to explore quarry workers' safety behaviors in the workplace. Results: The results showed that quarry workers identified hazards and improved their safety performance by translating safety knowledge learned from training into practice, acquiring hands-on work experience, learning from coworkers, and sharing responsibilities among team members. Conclusion: This study contributes to understanding quarry workers' safe performance beyond what they have learned in safety training to include their interaction with other workers and hand-on experience in the workplace. This study informs practitioners in the surface mining industry to build a safe work environment as they design effective safety programs for employees.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.83-97
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• 2019

This study aims to analyze the elements to enhance and activate the quality of life by establishment of family-friendly environment through face-to-face interviews in family-friendly certified firms in UIsan. As a result, its activation is possible when each party of companies- employees-government tries to change, and its main elements and outcomes are as follows. First, 'management philosophy of the company representative' showed to directly affect development of flat organization culture and system activation, with respect to the companies. Second for employees, 'value changes to prioritize work-life balance' demonstrated to affect the utilizations and establishment of family-friendly systems within the organization as the critical element. Lastly, it is considered for government to be able to activate this if 'delivery system with professionality' is secured to help 'legalization of policy,' company productivity, and work-life balance of employees. On the other hand, further studies on the elements to be able to activate family-friendly certifications and analysis on its justification are required by expanding the number of companied in Ulsan.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.321-350
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• 2024

When a competent employee leaves an organization, the technical skills and know-how possessed by that employee also disappear, which may lead to various problems, such as a decrease in organizational morale and technology leakage. To address such problems, it is important to increase employees' job satisfaction. Due to the advancement of both information and communication technology and social media, many former and current employees share information regarding companies in which they have worked or for which they currently work via job portal websites. In this study, a web crawl was used to collect reviews and job satisfaction ratings written by all and incumbent employees working in nine industries from Job Planet, a Korean job portal site. According to this analysis, regardless of the industry in question, organizational culture, welfare support, work system, growth capability and relationships had significant positive effects on job satisfaction, while time and attendance management, performance management, and organizational flexibility had significant negative effects on job satisfaction. With respect to the path difference between former and current employees, time and attendance management and organizational flexibility have greater negative effects on job satisfaction for current employees than for former employees. On the other hand, organizational culture, work system, and relationships had greater positive effects for current employees than for former employees.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.45-51
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• 2008

Purpose: We evaluated the physical stress and pain to the musculoskeletal system of a dental practitioner when engaging in a dental scaling training exercise to prevent the development of musculoskeletal injuries. Methods: The 18 female (average age: 21$\pm$1 years) subjects were voluntarily picked from a group of juniors who have completed a one-and-a-half year training course that includes training exercises on the dentiform and on live subjects (other trainees). The test is done by measuring pain, activity, grip strength, and finger dexterity for each subject's hand and wrist. Before the test all subjects were confirmed to be right-handed and were informed of the study and its objective. Measuring was done before and after each subject performed dental scaling for one hour using the scaler and the curet. Results: Pain levels increased for both hand and shoulders, but hand pain was often greater than shoulder pain. Grip strength significantly declined in the right hand but not the left. For joint mobility, the flexion and the extension for the shoulder joint did not change; but the range of motion for both wrist joints significantly increased. For the dexterity test, both hands showed increased dexterity after the exercise. Conclusion: Dental scaling can affect the shoulders and wrists/hands. Therefore, a musculoskeletal injury prevention program for dental practitioners, which may include encouraging them to assume correct body posture when at work, must be sought. This study evaluated only the shoulders, wrists, and hands; but future studies should include areas such as the cervical area, the back, and the lower limbs.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.21-33
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• 2016

Purpose: In order to ensure that vegetable seedlings (with a soil block around their roots) are planted in an upright orientation after metering in a vegetable transplanter, they need to be dropped freely from a certain height. The walk-behind hand-tractor-powered machines do not have sufficient space to drop the seedlings from that height. In the present work, a hopper-type planting device was developed for the walk-behind hand-tractor-powered vegetable transplanter to ensure that the soil block seedlings are planted in an upright orientation. Methods: Various dimensionless terms were developed based on the dimensional analysis approach, and their effect on the planting of soil block seedlings in an upright orientation (planting efficiency) was studied. The optimum design dimensions of the hopper-type planting device were identified by the Taguchi method of optimization. Results: The ratio of the height of free fall to the sliding distance of the seedling on the surface of the hopper had the highest influence on planting efficiency. The planting efficiency was highest for plants with a height $15{\pm}2cm$. The plant handling Froude number, in interaction with the design of the hopper-type planting device, also significantly affected the planting efficiency. Of the hopper design factors, the length of the slide of the seedlings on the surface of the hopper was most important, and induced sufficient velocity and rotation to cause the seedling to fall in an upright orientation. An evaluation of the performance of the planting device under actual field conditions revealed that the planting efficiency of the developed planting device was more than 97.5%. Conclusions: As the seedlings were fed to the metering device manually, an increase in planting rate increased missed plantings. The planting device can be adopted for any vegetable transplanter in which the seedlings are allowed to drop freely from the metering device.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-32
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• 2020

This study aims to develop contemporary fashion designs from the unique Yao minority costumes and to explore the possibility of developing creative designs by using knitting materials. The research method is based on the cultural clothing and costumes of the Chinese ethnic minority, as well as literature concerning the Yao costumes and photo data to investigate the cultural background and characteristics apparent in Yao costumes. The overall design characteristics of Yao costumes are as follows. First, the shape of Yao costumes are divided into straight-lined short tops with pleated skirts or shorts, or cardigan tops with pants and aprons, or long shirts, pants, and a belt. Each variant of tribal clothing is different. Second, the colors used are mainly black or dark blue, and these are accented by other colors, such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and white. Third, the clothing patterns are mainly in plant, animal, natural, geometric, and human, etc. motifs. The most common patterns in daily life are the patterns using geometric shapes, plants, or animals. Using the background of the unique lifestyles of the Yao ethnic minority, this study applied hand knitting and jacquard techniques for a knit fashion design. In order to develop traditional patterns, Yao patterns were entered into an Illustrator and SDS-ONE APEX3-4 was used for simulation. Using wool fibers as the raw material; the knitting machine used a Bird's eye Jacquard technique-10GG. The results of this research and design work were as follows. First, the knitted clothing design using Yao clothing elements has significance for the development and flexible use of ethnic elements in contemporary creative design. Second, the straight cut design using hand-knitted and jacquard-knit fabrics can minimize waste materials and provide more possibilities for sustainable design development. Third, it provides additional methods for the combination of hand-knitting and jacquard knitting fashion design.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.241-250
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify influencing factors on the performance of healthcare-associated infection control and microbiological hand contamination among caregivers at a tertiary hospital. Methods: The participants of this study were 59 caregivers woring at a tertiary hospital. Data were collected from July 1 to 30, 2018. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson's correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression by SPSS 23.0 Win program. Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed that factors influencing performance of healthcare-associated infection control were awareness (β=.63, p<.001) and the experience of infection-related education (β=-3.40, p=.042). Regression equations describing the performance of healthcare-related infection control were found to be appropriate (F=27.29, p<.001) and accounted for 68% of variance. Factors affecting the degree of microbiological hand contamination were work experience (β=-0.28, p=.026) and healthcare-related infection performance (β=-0.28, p=.029). A regression equation describing the microbiological hand contamination was appropriate (F=6.10, p=.004) and accounted for 42% of variance. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that it is necessary to increase performance of healthcare-associated infection control by caregivers. Also, educations for preventing healthcare-associated infection and guidelines for increasing compliance with healthcare-associated infection control are recommended to improve performance of healthcare-associated infection control.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.131-135
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• 2014

Background: Cassava and corn milling is a growing small-scale enterprise in Africa. We aimed to determine the incidence of hand-arm musculoskeletal complaints among vibration-exposed Congolese cassava and corn millers in the previous 12 months. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, prior to a follow-up study, from March to May 2013 among cassava/corn millers in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, in which 365 millers age-matched to 365 civil workers anonymously answered a questionnaire. Results: Overall incidence of hand-arm musculoskeletal complaints was 25.8% in millers (vs. 5.2% in civil workers; p < 0.001). The risk of experiencing musculoskeletal symptoms was seven times higher in millers [vs. civil workers; odds ratio (OR) = 7.10; 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.03-12.50; p < 0.0001]; 2.4 times higher in smoking millers (vs. smoking civil office workers; OR = 2.36; 95% CI: 1.42-3.88; p < 0.001); 3.6 times higher in millers with longer daily exposure (> 8 hours; vs. those working ${\leq}8$ hours; OR = 3.56; 95% CI: 1.93-3.61; p = 0.026); and 7.4 times higher in young millers (vs. older millers, OR = 7.39; 95% CI: 1.29-75.52; p < 0.001). Smoking, number of cigarettes, and daily exposure duration were positively correlated with musculoskeletal complaints. Conclusion: This study revealed a relatively high incidence of musculoskeletal complaints among African cassava and corn millers. The use of anti-vibration protective equipment and the regulation of this hazardous occupation may reduce the burden of musculoskeletal disorders in millers.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.1741-1747
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• 2010

This work presents a study on the design of an economic service robot hand for tele-presence manipulators. The conceptual design of new robot hand is derived from biomimetics approach. Guided by the analysis of human arm' musculoskeletal structure, the fingers are actuated by cables and actuators in the forearm. High tension in the cables is achieved by screw-nut mechanism driven by DC motors. A set of combination springs is incorporated in each of the screw-nut mechanism for easy control of gripping force. The first prototype revealed difficulties with finger control and coupling problem between gripping force and wrist movement. The solutions to these problems have been derived from the contradiction analysis of TRIZ. The second design has been verified by tests on various objects with different weight and shape for full range of wrist motion.