Sleep quality and comfort in fully automated vehicles: A comparison of two seat configurations
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 14;114:104137. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104137. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTAs autonomous driving technology advances, the possibility of using vehicles as sleeping environments becomes increasingly relevant. To investigate the feasibility of this concept, a sleep study was conducted with twelve participants who were given a 4-h opportunity window to sleep in both reclined and flat seat configurations. The evaluation involved both objective measures, including polysomnographic (PSG) data analysis, and subjective measures through questionnaires, assessing sleep quality and comfort. While the sleep q...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 16, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Irene Caballero-Bruno Katharina Lingelbach Thomas Wohllebe Michael Weng Daniela Piechnik Nektaria Tagalidou Mathias Vukeli ć Pedro M Hern ández-Castellano Source Type: research

Assessing the impact of industrial glove use on perceived hand dexterity, function, and strength
This study quantifies the impact of three styles of industrial metacarpal gloves on dexterity, gripping, pinching, and torquing tasks. Results indicated that wearing metacarpal gloves duplicated the time to complete a dexterity task from an average of 57 s for bare hands to 127 s for gloved hands. The highest drop in gripping force occurred while wearing a thicker glove, while gloves with thinner palmar sides produced smaller but similar force reductions of around 6%. The highest pinching force was obtained while wearing the thinnest glove, with a rise of 15%. Self-perception of exertion while wearing gloves varied between...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 16, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Eduardo M Sosa SueAnn Woods B Seth Powers Madison Bailey Taryn Benedict Emily O'Brien Aaron Smith Source Type: research

Identifying firefighters' situation awareness requirements for fire and non-fire emergencies using a goal-directed task analysis
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 14;114:104136. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104136. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTA firefighter's situation awareness (SA) is considered crucial to making effective tactical decisions and actions at the scene. Despite the importance of the firefighter's SA, there have been limited research efforts to understand what cues and information firefighters use to assess ongoing situations and predict future conditions. In addition to fire events, contemporary firefighters respond to an increasing volume of non-fire incidents. Thus, this study aims to identify firefighters' SA during three fire incidents (single...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 16, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Viviana Dos Santos Changwon Son Source Type: research

Sleep quality and comfort in fully automated vehicles: A comparison of two seat configurations
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 14;114:104137. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104137. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTAs autonomous driving technology advances, the possibility of using vehicles as sleeping environments becomes increasingly relevant. To investigate the feasibility of this concept, a sleep study was conducted with twelve participants who were given a 4-h opportunity window to sleep in both reclined and flat seat configurations. The evaluation involved both objective measures, including polysomnographic (PSG) data analysis, and subjective measures through questionnaires, assessing sleep quality and comfort. While the sleep q...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 16, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Irene Caballero-Bruno Katharina Lingelbach Thomas Wohllebe Michael Weng Daniela Piechnik Nektaria Tagalidou Mathias Vukeli ć Pedro M Hern ández-Castellano Source Type: research

Assessing the impact of industrial glove use on perceived hand dexterity, function, and strength
This study quantifies the impact of three styles of industrial metacarpal gloves on dexterity, gripping, pinching, and torquing tasks. Results indicated that wearing metacarpal gloves duplicated the time to complete a dexterity task from an average of 57 s for bare hands to 127 s for gloved hands. The highest drop in gripping force occurred while wearing a thicker glove, while gloves with thinner palmar sides produced smaller but similar force reductions of around 6%. The highest pinching force was obtained while wearing the thinnest glove, with a rise of 15%. Self-perception of exertion while wearing gloves varied between...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 16, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Eduardo M Sosa SueAnn Woods B Seth Powers Madison Bailey Taryn Benedict Emily O'Brien Aaron Smith Source Type: research

Overcoming recruitment hurdles in clinical trials: An investigation of remote consenting modalities and their impact on workload, workflow, and usability
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 13;114:104135. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104135. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTTravel constraints can hinder the recruitment of eligible research participants in clinical trials, causing research timeline extensions, added costs, underpowered results, and early termination. Remote consenting can help solve these issues by allowing researchers and potential participants to connect remotely. This controlled experimental study investigates the effect of remote consenting on workload, workflow, usability, and barriers and facilitators to its implementation. Using a mixed experimental design, simulated con...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 15, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Sarvesh Sawant Kapil Chalil Madathil Maria Molloseau Jihad Obeid Source Type: research

A design evaluation tool for older adults using domestic information processing appliances
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 13;114:104106. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104106. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTDomestic information processing appliances include embedded digital technologies with which users interact. The designs of such appliances tend to be technology oriented and not well-suited to the needs of older adults. This is problematic because these appliances are essential in many activities of daily living and so affect the ability of people to live independently. This paper introduces a coding scheme for the analysis of users' interactions with such appliances and uses it to inform recommendations for the design of o...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 15, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Lisa-Dionne Morris Alison McKay Thomas Cassidy Source Type: research

A design evaluation tool for older adults using domestic information processing appliances
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 13;114:104106. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104106. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTDomestic information processing appliances include embedded digital technologies with which users interact. The designs of such appliances tend to be technology oriented and not well-suited to the needs of older adults. This is problematic because these appliances are essential in many activities of daily living and so affect the ability of people to live independently. This paper introduces a coding scheme for the analysis of users' interactions with such appliances and uses it to inform recommendations for the design of o...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 15, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Lisa-Dionne Morris Alison McKay Thomas Cassidy Source Type: research

Overcoming recruitment hurdles in clinical trials: An investigation of remote consenting modalities and their impact on workload, workflow, and usability
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 13;114:104135. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104135. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTTravel constraints can hinder the recruitment of eligible research participants in clinical trials, causing research timeline extensions, added costs, underpowered results, and early termination. Remote consenting can help solve these issues by allowing researchers and potential participants to connect remotely. This controlled experimental study investigates the effect of remote consenting on workload, workflow, usability, and barriers and facilitators to its implementation. Using a mixed experimental design, simulated con...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 15, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Sarvesh Sawant Kapil Chalil Madathil Maria Molloseau Jihad Obeid Source Type: research

Is it getting hot in here? The effects of VR headset microclimate temperature on perceived thermal discomfort, VR sickness, and skin temperature
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 12;114:104128. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104128. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThermal discomfort is a driver of negative user experiences with modern VR headsets since they are similar to head-worn gaming computers. Here, we examined the effect of microclimate temperature (MCT; i.e., the air between headset and user) and the effect of standing and seated use on thermal discomfort for a goggle style headset. Users played VR games across three 48-min sessions with different thermal profiles ranging between 28°-43 °C. Perceived thermal and weight discomfort were rated by participants every 12-min. The...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 14, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Michael A Rupp Source Type: research

The effect of handedness on upper extremity isometric strength symmetry
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 9;114:104133. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104133. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND: Understanding upper extremity strength symmetry can have important implications for ergonomics assessment and design. Few studies have examined isometric joint strength symmetry of left-handed individuals, or examined how handedness can influence strength. As such, the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of handedness on dominant/non-dominant (D/ND) strength ratio in several moment directions about the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand. It was hypothesized that the isometric strength symmetry of...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 11, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Michael W B Watterworth Fahima Wakeely Sarah A Fitzgerald Nicholas J La Delfa Source Type: research

The effect of handedness on upper extremity isometric strength symmetry
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 9;114:104133. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104133. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND: Understanding upper extremity strength symmetry can have important implications for ergonomics assessment and design. Few studies have examined isometric joint strength symmetry of left-handed individuals, or examined how handedness can influence strength. As such, the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of handedness on dominant/non-dominant (D/ND) strength ratio in several moment directions about the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand. It was hypothesized that the isometric strength symmetry of...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 11, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Michael W B Watterworth Fahima Wakeely Sarah A Fitzgerald Nicholas J La Delfa Source Type: research

The effect of handedness on upper extremity isometric strength symmetry
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 9;114:104133. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104133. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND: Understanding upper extremity strength symmetry can have important implications for ergonomics assessment and design. Few studies have examined isometric joint strength symmetry of left-handed individuals, or examined how handedness can influence strength. As such, the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of handedness on dominant/non-dominant (D/ND) strength ratio in several moment directions about the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand. It was hypothesized that the isometric strength symmetry of...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 11, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Michael W B Watterworth Fahima Wakeely Sarah A Fitzgerald Nicholas J La Delfa Source Type: research

The effect of handedness on upper extremity isometric strength symmetry
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 9;114:104133. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104133. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND: Understanding upper extremity strength symmetry can have important implications for ergonomics assessment and design. Few studies have examined isometric joint strength symmetry of left-handed individuals, or examined how handedness can influence strength. As such, the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of handedness on dominant/non-dominant (D/ND) strength ratio in several moment directions about the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand. It was hypothesized that the isometric strength symmetry of...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 11, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Michael W B Watterworth Fahima Wakeely Sarah A Fitzgerald Nicholas J La Delfa Source Type: research

Soft computing applications in the field of human factors and ergonomics: A review of the past decade of research
Appl Ergon. 2023 Sep 4;114:104132. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104132. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe main objectives of this study were to 1) review the literature on the applications of soft computing concepts to the field of human factors and ergonomics (HFE) between 2013 and 2022 and 2) highlight future developments and trends. Multiple soft computing methods and techniques have been investigated for their ability to address various applications in HFE effectively. These techniques include fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, and their combinations. Applications of these methods in HFE have be...
Source: Applied Ergonomics - September 6, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Erman Çakıt Waldemar Karwowski Source Type: research