Safety belt effectiveness versus crash types

Park, S.G. Ergonomics Society of Korea 1994 大韓人間工學會誌 Vol.13 No.1

Based on Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) data, safety belt effect- tiveness in preventing fatalities is investigated for the following five types of crashes: frontal, left, rear, right, and rollover. Passenger cars containing two occupants, a driver and a right front passenger, are included in this analysis. For each crash type, these cars containing the two occupants are classified into four categories according to the safety belt usage categories for the two front seat occupants, namely, both belted, both unbelted, and either one was belted but not both. Relative risks of driver and right front passenger fatalities are compared among these four cases. For each crash type, two independent estimates of safety belt effectiveness are obtained for drivers and for right front passengers. The weighted average of the two estimates is calculated for drivers and for right front passengers for the five crash types. Using FARS data starting 1978 throught 1983, safety belts are more effective in rollover accidents than in frontal collisions. In rollover accidents, safety belt effectiveness estimate for drivers is $68%{\pm} 6% $ and that for right front passengers is $71%{\pm}6% $ , in which the error limits indicate one standard error. Sfety belt effectiveness estimates for drivers and right front passengers involved in frontal collisions are $41%{\pm} 9% $ and $37%{\pm} 10% $ , respectively. For left and right sided collisions and for both drivers and right-front-passengers, none of the four estimates are significantly different from 0%, statistically : however, when left and right sided collisions are combined with far sided occupants(drivers involved in right sided collisions and right front passengers involved in left sided collisions) safety belt effectiveness is significant, $38%{\pm} 12% $ . For rear collisions, the estimate for drivers shows statistically significant positive effect, $60%{\pm}23% $ . while for right-front-passengers the estimate is not significantly different from 0%. These results show that a safety belt is an effective restraint system not only in frontal crashes but also in a variety of crashes.

Survey of Visual Search Performance Models to Evaluate Accuracy and Speed of Visual Search Tasks

Kee, Dohyung Ergonomics Society of Korea 2017 大韓人間工學會誌 Vol.36 No.3

Objective: This study aims to survey visual search performance models to assess and predict individual's visual tasks in everyday life and industrial sites. Background: Visual search is one of the most frequently performed and critical activities in everyday life and works. Visual search performance models are needed when designing or assessing the visual tasks. Method: This study was mainly based on survey of literatures related to ergonomics relevant journals and web surfing. In the survey, the keywords of visual search, visual search performance, visual search model, etc. were used. Results: On the basis of the purposes, developing methods and results of the models, this study categorized visual search performance models into six groups: probability-based models, SATO models, visual lobe-based models, computer vision models, neutral network-based models and detection time models. Major models by the categories were presented with their advantages and disadvantages. More models adopted the accuracy among two factors of accuracy and speed characterizing visual tasks as dependent variables. Conclusion: This study reviewed and summarized various visual search performance models. Application: The results would be used as a reference or tool when assessing the visual tasks.

Biomechanical model of pushing and pulling

Lee, K.S. Ergonomics Society of Korea 1982 大韓人間工學會誌 Vol.1 No.2

This study demonstrates that certain personal and task factors can be modelled to predict slip potential as well as back loadings durings dynamic pushing and pulling tasks. Such tasks are com- mon to many manual material handling jobs in industry and the results of this work will hopefully be of use in improved job design. The objective of this research is to formulate and validate a dynamic biomechanical model of pushing and pulling a cart. For pushing and pulling tasks, the model can : (1) estimate foot forces for given hand forces, and (2) estimate tors muscle and vertabral column loadings. In order to formulate and validate the model, experiments involving pushing and pulling of a cart were performed. These experiments produced data of the following type : (1) dynamic forces on the feet, (2) hand forces required to move the cart, (3) body motions as functions of various cart motion and (4) back muscle actions. The model was validated using three different methods; precision was tested using correlation between predicted and measured results, accuracy using standard error between of predicted and measured results, and intuitive comparison of predicted results using sensitivity analyses.

Comparison of the revised NIOSH equation and different ergonomic approaches to determine the maximum weight of lift

Kim, H.K. Ergonomics Society of Korea 1995 大韓人間工學會誌 Vol.14 No.1

The purpose of this study was two-fold : (1) to investigate the difference between the lifting capacities based on three different ergonomic approaches; a) the biomechanical, b) the physiological, and c) the phsychophysicalo approach, and the 1991 revised NIOSH Equation, and (2) to develop a comprehensive model for deter- mining maximum weight of lift.

Human sensory feedback research in the armstrong laboratory

Weisenberger, Janet M. Ergonomics Society of Korea 1997 大韓人間工學會誌 Vol.16 No.2

The Human Sensory Feedback Laboratory, park of the Armstrong Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is involved in the development and evaluation of systems that provide sensory feedback to the human operator in telerobotic and virtual environment applications. Specific projects underway in the laboratory are primarily concerned with the information provided by force and vibrotactile feedback to the operator in dextrous manipulation tasks. Four specific research projects are described in the present report. These include : 1) experiments evaluating a 30-element fingertip display, which employs a titanium-nickel shape memory alloy actuator design to provide vibrotactile feedback about object shape and surface texture ; 2) of a fingertip force-feedback display for 3-dimensional information about object shape and suface texture ; 3) use of a force- feedback joystic to provide "force tunnel" information in pilot pursuit tracking tasks ; and 4) evaluations of a 7 degree-of-freedom exoskeleton used to control a robotic arm. Both basic and applied research questions are discussed.

An analysis of pinch strength and EMG parameters for CTS group

Lee, H.I.,Lee, D.C.,Lee, S.D. Ergonomics Society of Korea 1996 大韓人間工學會誌 Vol.15 No.2

It is known fact that the CTS patients have lower pinch strength than the normal people. And we can assume that the sensory nerve action potential(SNAP) and the nerve conduction velocity(NCV) of the CTS group are lower or slower than the normal subjects. This paper analysed the grip strength and performed EMG experiment for the group Norm, G1 and G2. The results are as follows: 1) CTS patients have lower pinch strength than normal people. 2) There was no significant difference on SNAP between the CTS group and the normal group. 3) There was significant difference on NCV among Norm, G1, and G2 group. Especially, significant level was higher in the evening after the continuous use of wrist.

The study on microslip using a signal detection theory

Son, D.H.,Li, K.W. Ergonomics Society of Korea 1991 大韓人間工學會誌 Vol.10 No.2

Since slipping has been identified as a major hazard, it is important to understand the mechanism of a slip. Many researches, based on biomechanical studies, had been attempted to do that. Thowever, the correlation between the mechanism of a slip and psychophysical behaviors of people had rarely been verified. For example, the existence of small slips in a forward direction, which do not normally perceived by human subjects, has been established by several experimenters. However, the term "microslips are not perceived by the walkers[4]." has not been examined precisely by any experiments. The objective of this study is, using a Signal Detection Theory (SDT), to define a microslip and slip more quqntitatively with the biomechanical measurement of slip distance. The results showed that, the slip distance around the 3 centimeters, there was a obvious change in the accident detectability of the subject. The conclusion is that it is possible to identify the boundary of a microslip and slip around the 3 centermeters of slip distance.

The effect of driver's sex and age on human responsible involvement in two-car crashes

Park, S.G. Ergonomics Society of Korea 1992 大韓人間工學會誌 Vol.11 No.1

Assuming the majority of car accidents are due to driver errors, we due rear-end collisions which occurred in the State of Washington, USA, in 1982, 1983, and 1984, to study human responsible involvement associated with the sex and age of drivers. Rear-end collisions involving two passenger cars are included in this study. The driver of a car which struck the rear end of another car is considered responsible for the accident, and the driver of a car which was struck in the rear end is not considered responsible for the accident. In addition to male and female drivers, we used three different age groups: 16 to 24 years old, 25 to 34 years old, and 35 years or older. Hence, six diferent groups of drivers are considered in this study.

Analysis of somatotype using korean elderly women's anthropometric measurement

Yoo, B.C.,Park, I.S.,Kim, Y.S. Ergonomics Society of Korea 1996 大韓人間工學會誌 Vol.15 No.2

The purpose of this study is to provide basic information for elderly women's clothing design and to develop dress forms that can reflect the characteristics of their bodies. Three hundered twenty subjects, between the ages of 60 .approx. 85, were chosen and the data were collected from anthropometric data. Principal component analysis which is one of the basic methods in factor analysis was applied to the interpretation of anthropometric data. As a result of analysis, the data are able to be decided into appropriate group.

Acceptable work limits for the upper extremities with the psychophysical approach

Kim, Chol-Hong,Marley, Robert J.,Fernandez, Jeffrey E.,Klein, Mary G. Ergonomics Society of Korea 1994 大韓人間工學會誌 Vol.13 No.2

This paper summarizes recent research in the use of the psychophysical method of adjustment to establish acceptable parameters for upper extremity work activities. Results from these studies show that this psychophysical approach can provide reliable guidelines based upon realistic job conditions which involve one or more risk factors for cumulative trauma. It is also shown that this method provides advantages over other psychophysical methods as well as current biomechanical and physioligical criteria.