Development of a Multi-Joint Postural Exposure Assessment Tool for Job Rotation

Author(s):  
Kermit Davis ◽  
Susan Kotowski ◽  
Michael Jorgensen

With practitioners more often adopting job rotation practices in their facilities, there is an increased necessity for effective methods to measure the complex exposures in the diverse jobs that may be selected for a particular job rotation scheme. Potential methods need to be both versatile and simple, ensuring easy application and low cost. The current study developed and evaluated the potential of a video-based analysis method that combines the exposure measure of four body regions: neck, shoulder, low back, and hand/wrist. Three experienced analysts assessed the postural load for all jobs within fifteen different job rotation schemes at a manufacturing facility. Several potential indices were developed, computed and discussed. Overall, the video-based analyses evaluated in the current study provide an easy and cost effective method that allows a practitioner to compare multiple stressors at one time. Future work will evaluate the effectiveness of the method in actually controlling musculoskeletal disorders as well as incorporate other risk factor exposures such as forces, repetition and motion.

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (06) ◽  
pp. 795-802 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL LIM ◽  
ERNA GONDO SANTOSO ◽  
KIM MING TEH ◽  
STEPHEN WAN ◽  
H. Y. ZHENG

Silicon has been widely used to fabricate microfluidic devices due to the dominance of silicon microfabrication technologies available. In this paper, theoretical analyses are carried out to suggest suitable laser machining parameters to achieve required channel geometries. Based on the analyses, a low-power CO 2 laser was employed to create microchannels in Acrylic substrate for the use of manufacturing an optical bubble switch. The developed equations are found useful for selecting appropriate machining parameters. The ability to use a low-cost CO 2 laser to fabricate microchannels provides an alternative and cost-effective method for prototyping fluid flow channels, chambers and cavities in microfluidic lab chips.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 181359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samah Abo El Abass ◽  
Heba Elmansi

A green, sensitive and cost-effective method is introduced in this research for the determination of bambuterol and its main degradation product, terbutaline, simultaneously, relying on the synchronous spectrofluorimetric technique. First derivative synchronous spectrofluorimetric amplitude is measured at Δ λ = 20 nm, so bambuterol can be quantitated at 260 nm, and terbutaline can be measured at 290 nm, each at the zero crossing point of the other. The amplitude–concentration plots were linear over the concentration ranges of 0.2–6.0 µg ml −1 and 0.2–4.0 µg ml −1 for both bambuterol and terbutaline, respectively. Official guidelines were followed to calculate the validation parameters of the proposed method. The low values of limits of detection of 0.023, 0.056 µg ml −1 and limits of quantitation of 0.071, 0.169 µg ml −1 for bambuterol and terbutaline, respectively, point to the sensitivity of the method. Bambuterol is a prodrug for terbutaline, and the latter is considered its degradation product so the established method could be regarded as a stability-indicating one. Moreover, the proposed method was used for the analysis of bambuterol and terbutaline in their single ingredient preparations and the results revealed statistical agreement with the reference method. The suggested method, being a simple and low-cost procedure, is superior to the previously published methods which need more sophisticated techniques, longer analysis time and highly toxic solvents and reagents. It could be considered as an eco-friendly analytical procedure.


Author(s):  
Piyush Upadhyay ◽  
Yuri Hovanski ◽  
Saumyadeep Jana ◽  
Leonard S. Fifield

Development of a robust and cost-effective method of joining dissimilar materials could provide a critical pathway to enable widespread use of multimaterial designs and components in mainstream industrial applications. The use of multimaterial components such as steel-aluminum and aluminum-polymer would allow design engineers to optimize material utilization based on service requirements and could often lead to weight and cost reductions. However, producing an effective joint between materials with vastly different thermal, microstructural, and deformation responses is highly problematic using conventional joining and/or fastening methods. This is especially challenging in cost sensitive, high volume markets that largely rely on low cost joining solutions. Friction stir scribe (FSS) technology was developed to meet the demands of joining materials with drastically different properties and melting regimes. The process enables joining of light metals like magnesium and aluminum to high temperature materials like steel and titanium. Viable joints between polymer composites and metal can also be made using this method. This paper will present the state of the art, progress made, and challenges associated with this innovative derivative of friction stir welding (FSW) in reference to joining dissimilar metals and polymer/metal combinations.


Author(s):  
Sean Gallagher ◽  
Mark C. Schall ◽  
Richard F. Sesek ◽  
Rong Huangfu

Job rotation is a common method employed by industry to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). However, the efficacy of this technique has been open to question and methods of quantifying job rotation strategies have been scarce. The current analysis uses the LiFFT low back risk assessment tool to assess cumulative loading for a job rotation scheme. Results of this analysis suggest that attempting to “balance” a high risk, medium risk, and low risk lifting job ends up creating three jobs that are all high risk.


1995 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
Richard B. Cooper ◽  
Terry J. Reelr

Education and Training Panel SP-9's 1991 report, "Recommendations on the Use of Interactive Instruction for Training Shipyard Trade Skills," indicates that although very few American shipyards have used it or are familiar with it, interactive multimedia has great potential as a low-cost, effective method for the training of skilled trade tasks. These findings led SP-9 to develop an interactive lesson that demonstrates how interactive multimedia can be integrated into shipyard training programs to reduce training costs, increase productivity, promote quality awareness, and improve worker competence. The demonstration combines computer graphics, animation, still and motion video, sound, and touchscreen interaction to demonstrate the broad spectrum of the interactive multimedia technology. This paper describes the project as an example of how shipyard training departments can develop their own interactive multimedia courseware by determining appropriate applications of the technology; selecting the most suitable hardware and authoring system for delivering the instruction; researching, planning and designing the lessons; and shooting the video, authoring the courseware, and integrating them into an effective interactive multimedia course.


Author(s):  
Leah Greden Mathews ◽  
Art Rex ◽  
Anne Lancaster

Community land use decisions benefit from spatially explicit community preferences; yet, the methods for incorporating the preferences for intangible values are challenging to represent spatially. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an introduction to the Total Value Assessment Tool for Farmland (TVAL-Farm), a tool that incorporates scenic quality and cultural heritage elements to create an enhanced Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) model. The chapter describes the development of TVAL-Farm and its implications for farmland preservation in Western North Carolina. The enhancement of the LESA model created by TVAL-Farm provides insight and a framework on how to collect and incorporate qualitative public values within the quantitative environment of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Inclusion of these public values is essential for holistically valuing land parcels and understanding community land use preferences. Increased use of modern technologies in the data collection process will promote a cost-effective method of community participation and engagement.


Author(s):  
Susan Kotowski ◽  
Kermit Davis ◽  
Michael Jorgensen

As job rotation has become a widely used intervention strategy for the prevention of a wide variety of musculoskeletal disorders, there is a need for the development of assessment techniques that take into account the complexities of multiple body region stressors. The current study investigates the repeatability of a video-based analysis method that combines the exposure measure of four body regions: neck, shoulder, low back, and hand/wrist. Twelve analysts completed the assessment twice for 15 different job rotation schemes. The repeatability was found to be strong (ICC > 0.53) in many of the body regions when individual jobs were evaluated with minimal decrease in repeatability when the entire rotation scheme was considered. Overall, the video-based method provides a potential quick and easy method that will allow for the versatile evaluation needed for practitioners when quantifying exposure for job rotation schemes.


Fabrication based on the vapour-phase reaction technique has proven to be the most cost-effective method for producing low-loss optical fibres. This is particularly true for silica-based materials and is now being investigated for fluoride-based glasses. The advantages accrue not only from the purity possible but from the flexibility of the process. This enables complex refractive-index structures to be fabricated that allow enhanced system performance. Advances toward low-cost fabrication have been made in all major processing techniques during the past few years. A review of the current status is presented.


2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (8) ◽  
pp. 1919-1925 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Amritha ◽  
B. Manu

The present study aims to establish the use of iron (Fe) from larerite in the case of Fenton's oxidation process which is a simple and cost-effective method for degradation of nitro compounds in effluents and in surface or ground water. 4-nitroaniline (4-NA) degradation by Fenton's oxidation method is the subject of the present study so as to optimize pH, hydrogen peroxide/iron (H/F) ratio at different initial concentrations of 4-NA. The optimum pH obtained was 3. The present study has also established optimum H/F ratio for the different initial concentrations of 4-NA for both conventional and use of Fe from laterite. The maximum removal efficiency of 99.84% was obtained for an H/F ratio of 100 for 0.5 mM initial concentration of 4-NA. The study establishes the use of Fe extracted from locally available laterite soil (LS) as a replacement of Fe salts so as to reduce the cost of the process.


2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 276-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Della Mea

In prerecorded telemedicine (also known as asynchronous or store-and-forward), the person sending the information and the person receiving it do not need to do so simultaneously; thus, viewing the information can be done at some later time. Prerecorded telemedicine is therefore not appropriate for emergency consultations. In prerecorded telemedicine systems, the following steps can be distinguished: (1) the acquisition of diagnostic information at the remote site; (2) its storage, which can be at either site, or at both; (3) its delivery to the expert site through an appropriate connection; and (4) its display at the expert site. The types of information transferred include audio, data and text, still images and moving images (i.e. video). An increasingly common way of doing prerecorded telemedicine is by email sent via the Internet. Although there are some problems associated with the Internet, its wide availability and low cost have encouraged its use. Examples where email has been used successfully include teleradiology, telecardiology, teledermatology and telepathology. In some situations prerecorded telemedicine is the only way to provide remote medical services, or the most cost-effective method. Clearly, there are also situations when prerecorded telemedicine is not an appropriate way to deliver health services, for example whenever the sender of the information is not qualified to sample the information acquired or the specialist receiving the information must manipulate it, during acquisition, in some way.


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