A method for postural critical factors checking: The case of library chairs

Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (s1) ◽  
pp. S87-S100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iolanda Fiorillo ◽  
Federico Jacopo Anzisi ◽  
Alfonso Carbone ◽  
Rosaria Califano ◽  
Alessandro Naddeo
Keyword(s):  
Lumbar Pain ◽  
Objective Data ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Sitting Posture ◽  
Prolonged Sitting ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
Study Activity ◽  
Lumbar Area ◽  
The University ◽  
Chair Design

BACKGROUND: According to ergonomic researches regarding a good sitting posture, it is essential to ensure a natural back-curve in order to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. A brief observation among the Scientific Technology Library inside the University of Salerno showed that students used to complain about neck and lumbar pain, especially after a study day. OBJECTIVE: On the light of this background, a sitting posture comfort analysis had been performed on chairs inside the library to check the critical factors that influence the postural comfort and, consequently, the learning. METHODS: A prolonged sitting posture, that is common during the daily study activity, had been simulated with fifteen volunteer students performing 1-hour tests (divided into four 15-minutes tasks). Subjective perceptions had been gathered through questionnaires rating on a 5-point Comfort scale, both the expected comfort at the beginning of the experiment and the Localized Postural Comfort at the end of each task have been investigated. Then, postural angles had been gathered through photographic acquisition and Kinovea®. CaMAN software had been used to calculate the objective (dis)comfort indexes. Finally, subjective and objective data had been statistically processed and compared. RESULTS: Lumbar area scored the lowest perceived comfort while the perceived comfort was independent of participants and tasks, but dependent on time. CONCLUSIONS: After this comfort-driven analysis, critical factors of the chair-design were checked, and a proposal for a future re-design was hypothesized.

scholarly journals Comfort Driven Redesign: The Case of Library Chairs

2021 ◽  
pp. 155-161
Author(s):  
Rosaria Califano ◽  
Iolanda Fiorillo ◽  
Giovanni Baglivo ◽  
Claudia Chirico ◽  
Antonietta Dello Russo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
Sitting Position ◽  
Prolonged Sitting ◽  
Lumbar Area ◽  
Statistical Sample ◽  
The University

AbstractUniversity students spend most of their time in a sitting position. Prolonged sitting on ill-fitted furniture and the resulting lousy posture is making students having different musculoskeletal disorders and is strictly related to students learning outcomes. This study aims to improve postural comfort of chairs placed inside the Science & Technology Library at the University of Salerno. A previous study about these library chairs showed that the lumbar area was the most suffering part while perceived (dis)comfort was dependent on time. Based on this, an ergonomic redesign and, consequently, manufacturing of the chair has been done. A perceived-comfort comparison between the library chair and the redesigned one has been performed. A statistical sample of 28 healthy students performed a 20-min experiment two times, alternatively on the library chair and the redesigned one. The 20-min experiment was divided into two 10-min tasks (“Reading & Writing” and “Laptop use”) to simulate a study day. The participants’ postures were acquired non-invasively using cameras and processed by Kinovea; questionnaires were used to rate the perceived subjective (dis)comfort. A procedure for improving an existing product through a comfort-driven redesign is proposed. Results showed the redesigned library chair lead on increasing postural comfort (particularly in the lumbar area) thanks to the new design and modifications.

Diagnostics of professional competence of IT students based on digital footprint data

2020 ◽  
pp. 4-11
Author(s):  
I. G. Zakharova ◽  
Yu. V. Boganyuk ◽  
M. S. Vorobyova ◽  
E. A. Pavlova
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Educational Program ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Objective Data ◽  
Text Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Job Requirements ◽  
Digital Footprint ◽  
Graduate Employment ◽  
The University

The article goal is to demonstrate the possibilities of the approach to diagnosing the level of IT graduates’ professional competence, based on the analysis of the student’s digital footprint and the content of the corresponding educational program. We describe methods for extracting student professional level indicators from digital footprint text data — courses’ descriptions and graduation qualification works. We show methods of comparing these indicators with the formalized requirements of employers, reflected in the texts of vacancies in the field of information technology. The proposed approach was applied at the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of Tyumen. We performed diagnostics using a data set that included texts of courses’ descriptions for IT areas of undergraduate studies, 542 graduation qualification works in these areas, 879 descriptions of job requirements and information on graduate employment. The presented approach allows us to evaluate the relevance of the educational program as a whole and the level of professional competence of each student based on objective data. The results were used to update the content of some major courses and to include new elective courses in the curriculum.

scholarly journals Methodology of Integration for Competitive Technical Intelligence with Blue Ocean Strategy: Application to an exotic fruit

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisela Rodríguez Salvador ◽  
Manuel Alejandro Bautista Reyes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The State ◽  
Anacardium Occidentale ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
The South ◽  
Strategic Development ◽  
Technical Intelligence ◽  
New Business ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
The University

This article presents a new methodology that integrates Competitive Technical Intelligence with Blue Ocean Strategy. We explore new business niches taking advantage of the synergy that both areas offer, developing a model based on cyclic interactions through a process developed in two stages: Understanding opportunity that arise from idea formulation to decision making and strategic development. The validity of our approach (first stage) was observed in the evaluation of an exotic fruit, Anacardium Occidentale, in the South of the State of Veracruz, Mexico with the support of the university ITESM, Campus Monterrey. We identified critical factors for success, opportunities and threats. Results confirm the attractiveness of this crop.

The Objective and Subjective Economy and the Presidential Vote

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (04) ◽  
pp. 620-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Erikson ◽  
Christopher Wlezien
Keyword(s):  
Stock Prices ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
State Of The Economy ◽  
Leading Economic Indicators ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Incumbent Party ◽  
The University ◽  
Objective Indicators

The importance of the economy in US presidential elections is well established. Voters reward or punish incumbent party candidates based on the state of the economy. The electorate focuses particularly on economic change, not the level of the economy per se, and pays more attention to late-arriving change than earlier change. On these points there is a good amount of scholarly agreement (see e.g., Erikson and Wlezien 1996; Hibbs 1987). There is less agreement, however, on what specific indicators matter to voters. Some scholars rely on income growth, others on GDP growth, and yet others on subjective perceptions (see Abramowitz 2008; Campbell 2008; Holbrook 1996b; also see Campbell and Garand 2000). In our work, we have used the index of leading economic indicators, a composite of ten variables, including the University of Michigan's index of consumer expectations, stock prices, and eight other objective indicators.

scholarly journals Exploring student awareness on critical factors which shape community engagement in the health science disciplines at a South African higher education institution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angeni Bheekie ◽  
Mea van Huyssteen ◽  
Hester Julie
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Interprofessional Education ◽  
Health Science ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Health Science Students ◽  
The University

Abstract Background Community Engagement (CE) is cornerstone to South Africa’s higher education transformative agenda. Teaching disciplines across faculties have adopted varied CE implementation strategies, due to different theoretical interpretations. Undergraduate health science students are traditionally exposed to CE experiential learning programs, preparing them for professional practice. This study investigated final year students’ awareness of the critical factors which shape CE in the health science disciplines at a South African university.Method An exploratory descriptive qualitative study was conducted at an engaged university located in the Western Cape. Five discipline- specific focus group discussions were conducted with twenty seven final year students, purposively selected from five health sciences faculties, using an adaption of Furco’s self-assessment rubric. Thematic analysis was conducted on the transcribed data to identify the factors deemed critical for CE using Furco’s self-assessment tool as the coding framework. Trustworthiness of the data and findings were ensured. Ethics approval was obtained indicating that the research satisfied the ethics principles related to informed consent, respect for the participants ‘rights in terms of privacy, autonomy, beneficence and confidentiality.Results The a priori t hemes identified were the university’s philosophy and mission related to CE, student involvement, faculty involvement, community participation and partnerships and institutional support for CE. The cross-cutting themes that emerged across these critical factors of Furco’ included: siloism in the university, interprofessional education and monitoring and evaluation for impact. These health science students indicated that CE awareness was limited to discipline-based programs, indicative of a siloed approach. In addition, varied theoretical interpretations of CE emerged. Interprofessional education was lacking across the disciplines, even though it underpins professional practice. Participants reiterated that a central CE unit is required to co-ordinate and evaluate CE programs. Occupational therapy participants, however, reflected a critical consciousness that is congruent with an assets-based approach to CE.Conclusion The University of the Western Cape should facilitate stewardship in implementing Boyer’s 'scholarship of engagement' to ensure consistency in CE approach in the health science curriculum. Such an approach would deepen students understanding and application of CE.

scholarly journals Monitoring of sitting postures with sensor networks in controlled and free-living environments: A systematic review (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arpita Kappattanavar ◽  
Nico Steckhan ◽  
Jan Philipp Sachs ◽  
Bert Arnrich ◽  
Erwin Böttinger
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Sensors ◽  
Classification Problem ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Posture Analysis ◽  
Sitting Posture ◽  
Prolonged Sitting ◽  
Medium Quality

BACKGROUND Background: Prolonged sitting postures have been reported to increase the probability of developing low back pain. Moreover, the majority of employees in the industrial world work ninety percent of their time in a seated position. OBJECTIVE This review focuses on the technologies and algorithms that have been used to classify seating postures on a chair with respect to spine and limb movements. METHODS Three electronic literature databases have been surveyed to identify the studies classifying sitting posture in adults. Fourteen articles have been finally shortlisted. These articles were categorized into low, medium, and high quality. Most of the articles were categorized as medium quality (12/14). RESULTS The majority of the studies used pressure sensors (13/14) to classify sitting postures. Neural Networks were the most frequently (6/14) used approaches for classifying sitting postures. CONCLUSIONS Based on the current study the classification of sitting posture is still in the nascent stage and hence, we would suggest personalized sitting posture analysis. Furthermore, the review emphasizes identifying at least five basic postures along with different limb and spine movements in a free-living environment. It is essential to annotate the data set with ground truths for subsequent training of the classifier to solve the sitting posture classification problem.

scholarly journals Bio Modelling For Comfort Aircraft Chair Design

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianzhi Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Distribution ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Model ◽  
Distribution Analysis ◽  
Body Type ◽  
Sitting Posture ◽  
Spine Curvature ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Chair Design

The work presented in this report is to help develop and complete the methodology that can quickly predict the pressure distribution and estimate the comfortability of the aircraft seat. For this thesis, the human back and spine are introduced and modelled as the focus is only on the backrest of the aircraft seat. The bio modelling of the back and spine consists of the geometry including the spine curvature and back shape at various conditions. The variables include the body type of the sitter, the sitting posture and the backrest recline angle. Multiple cases of the body condition combining the these mentioned variables were modelled, which generates a comparatively inclusive human model for the future work of pressure distribution analysis. The initial building of the spine curve is based on an existing spine data, and the back shape is captured by experiments using 3D scanning technology. Forces acting on the spine are also obtained as a part of the modelling. With this more complete the inclusive bio model of the body, the pattern of the contact and pressure can then determine a more efficient configuration of cushion or aircraft seat innovation and design to achieve a better comfort.

scholarly journals Spinal and Pelvic Alignment of Sitting Posture Associated with Smartphone Use in Adolescents with Low Back Pain

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8369
Author(s):  
Tae-sung In ◽  
Jin-hwa Jung ◽  
Kyoung-sim Jung ◽  
Hwi-young Cho
Keyword(s):  
Low Back Pain ◽  
Back Pain ◽  
Lumbar Lordosis ◽  
Sitting Time ◽  
Low Back ◽  
Thoracolumbar Kyphosis ◽  
Sitting Posture ◽  
Prolonged Sitting ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Smartphone Use

This study aimed to assess the association between smartphone use in the sitting posture and changes in thoracolumbar kyphosis, lumbar lordosis, and pelvic asymmetry in adolescents with low back pain (LBP). Twenty-five adolescents with LBP and 25 healthy adolescents participated in this study. They were instructed to sit on a height-adjustable chair with their hips and knees bent at 90° for 30 min in their usual sitting postures. Thoracolumbar kyphosis, lumbar lordosis, and pelvic asymmetry were measured using a three-dimensional motion capture system. Thoracolumbar kyphosis and lumbar lordosis increased after 30 min of sitting compared to the baseline. In both groups, thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis angle increased with increasing sitting time. Compared to healthy adolescents, adolescents with LBP presented greater thoracolumbar kyphosis and lumbar lordosis after prolonged sitting. Pelvic asymmetry showed no significant difference between the sitting time and groups. Using a smartphone during prolonged sitting may lead to a slumped posture; these associations were more pronounced in adolescents with LBP.

scholarly journals School Furniture Ergonomics in Prevention of Pupils’ Poor Sitting Posture

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-99
Author(s):  
Aldina Alibegović ◽  
Amra Mačak Hadžiomerović ◽  
Adisa Pašalić ◽  
Danijela Domljan
Keyword(s):  
Good Health ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Furniture Design ◽  
Professional Literature ◽  
Sitting Posture ◽  
New School ◽  
Prolonged Sitting ◽  
The Right ◽  
School Furniture ◽  
The Impact

Physical and psychological disorders in school-age children, as a consequence of prolonged sitting in class, denote one of the alarming issues of the today’s civilization. Scientific and professional literature pays great attention to the causes and phenomena of postural disorders caused by prolonged sitting, such as musculoskeletal disorders and back pain (MSD/BP). This phenomenon in children is increasingly correlated with school furniture design. School furniture, especially the chair and desk, are one of the most important factors to achieve the right body posture of pupils during school education. Despite this, not much attention is paid to the ergonomic requirements in furniture design, which are a prerequisite for good health, motivation improvement and learning of students. The objective of this paper is to show the impact of unmatched school furniture on the development of health problems and poor pupils’ posture through a review of scientific literature and previous studies concerning the issue. The results include a comparison of ten papers published in the period from 2004 to 2017 in Finland, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Nigeria, Brazil, Iran, Belgium, United Kingdom and India. Various databases have been used, including Pub Med, Google Scholar, Medline, Hrčak, Dabar, Science Direct and Science Citation Index. By reviewing the previous research of the selected authors dealing with sitting posture in school, an insight was gained into the effect of inadequate body postures on pupils’ health that could be used as guidance for new school furniture design.

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