Office ergonomics training and a sit-stand workstation: Effects on musculoskeletal and visual symptoms and performance of office workers

Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) among office workers with intensive computer use is widespread and the prevalence of symptoms is growing. This randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of an office ergonomics training combined with a sit-stand workstation on musculoskeletal and visual discomfort, behaviors and performance. Participants performed a lab-based customer service job for 8?h per day, over 15 days and were assigned to: Ergonomics Trained (n?=?11) or Minimally Trained (n?=?11). The training consisted of: a 1.5-h interactive instruction, a sit/stand practice period, and ergonomic reminders. Ergonomics Trained participants experienced minimal musculoskeletal and visual discomfort across the 15 days, varied their postures, with significantly higher performance compared to the Minimally Trained group who had a significantly higher number of symptoms, suggesting that training plays a critical role. The ability to mitigate symptoms, change behaviors and enhance performance through training combined with a sit-stand workstation has implications for preventing discomforts in office workers.     

Compartmented mode workstation: prototype highlights

The primary goal of the MITRE compartmented mode workstation (CMW) project was to articulate the security requirements that workstations must meet to process highly classified intelligence data. As a basis for the validity of the requirements developed, a prototype was implemented which demonstrated that workstations could meet the requirements in an operationally useful manner while still remaining binary compatible with off-the-shelf software. The security requirements not only addressed traditional security concerns but also introduced concepts in areas such as labeling and the use of a trusted window management system. The CMW labeling paradigm is based on associating two types of security labels with objects: sensitivity levels and information labels. Sensitivity levels describe the levels at which objects must be protected. Information labels are used to prevent data overclassification and also provide a mechanism for associating with data those markings that are required for accurate data labeling, but which play no role in access control decisions. The use of a trusted window manager allows users to easily operate at multiple sensitivity levels and provides a convenient mechanism for communicating security information to users in a relatively unobtrusive manner     

Inparcom-16: An intelligent workstation

The conception of MIMD computers is considered from the viewpoint of automatic analysis of characteristics of engineering and scientific problems with approximate initial data, development of parallel computational algorithms and programs, solution of problems, and estimation of the reliability of computer solutions. The conception was experimentally tested on the Inparcom-16 workstation. This workstation consists of a host system (two host computers) and 16 processing nodes that use Xeon (3.2 GHz, 64 bit), a communication environment that consists of Gigabit Ethernet, Infiniband, and a hypercube. Programming languages are C, C++, and Fortran. The tests proved the reliability and implementability of the conception of creating an intelligent computer. __________ Translated from Kibernetika i Sistemnyi Analiz, No. 3, pp. 151–155, May–June 2007.     

Assessing the contributions of climate change and human activities to cropland productivity by means of remote sensing

ABSTRACT

It is essential for quantitatively assessing the influences of climate change (CC) and human activities (HA) on cropland productivity to clarify the associated drive mechanisms. However, few studies have quantitatively evaluated their relative contributions to cropland productivity in China. In this study, net primary productivity (NPP) was chosen as an indicator of cropland productivity. The actual NPP (ANPP) represents the combined effects of CC and HA on cropland productivity, and the potential NPP (PNPP) represents the effect of CC on cropland productivity. The difference between the actual and the potential NPP (HNPP) represents the effect of HA on cropland productivity. Meanwhile, we designed six scenarios to quantify the contributions of CC and HA to the inter-annual variation in ANPP. Our results showed that cropland ANPP in China as a whole increased at a rate of 3.68 g C m^?2 year^?1 (p < 0.01) between 2000 and 2015. The contributions of CC and HA to the variations in cropland ANPP were 3.23 g C m^?2 year^?1 (p < 0.01) and 0.45 g C m^?2 year^?1 (p > 0.1), respectively. Furthermore, we found that 79.43% of total cropland area showed an inter-annual increase in ANPP, in which 56.22% of cropland area with increase in ANPP was predominantly influenced by CC, compared to 43.78% predominantly influenced by HA. Conversely, 20.57% of total cropland area showed an inter-annual decrease in ANPP, with 70.62% of cropland area with decrease in ANPP being predominantly influenced by HA compared with only 29.38% predominantly influenced by CC. Overall, CC was the dominant factor affecting increase in cropland ANPP, whereas HA was the dominant factor affecting decrease in cropland ANPP. We conclude that effective measures for protecting cropland resources need to be further strengthened, despite CC primarily promoting cropland ANPP.     

The first moves of the AFMASTER workstation

Experiments show that robotized workstations are excellent tools to allow severely disabled people to get back to work. Fifteen years after the first drafts of the CEA's MASTER workstation, AFMA Robots, a French robot manufacturer has sold 10 AFMASTER industrial workstations to the French rehabilitation association APPROCHE. This paper presents this new workstation.     

Andra: The document preparation system of the personal workstation Lilith

Andra is a modern text editor and formatter designed for the personal computer Lilith. Lilith was developed at the ETH by Prof. N. Wirth. The interactive part of Andra makes extensive use of Lilith's characteristic features, namely its high-resolution raster scan display and the mouse. The printer component of Andra allows the creation of high-quality hardcopies on a laser printer. The Andra program is written in the language Modula-2.     

Industrial workstation design: a systematic ergonomics approach

For the design of an industrial workstation, ergonomics guidelines are presented in a systematic manner. The guidelines provide a conceptual basis for a good workstation design. In a real world design situation, the implementation of the recommendations or guidelines needs the matching of the population anthropometry with the various components of the workstation. Adequate posture, work height, normal and maximum working areas, lateral clearance and visual requirement are determined for the intended user population. The procedure for determining the workstation dimensions and layout has been explained. The importance of building a mock-up of the designed workstation and its evaluation with representative subjects is emphasized. A case problem (supermarket checkstand workstation) is discussed to illustrate the workstation design procedure.     

Mechanism synthesis using the workstation environment

Some capabilities of modern engineering workstations and their impact on the mechanism synthesis process are discussed. Specific examples of ongoing work at the University of Minnesota utilizing the Apollo color raster workstation to provide user-friendly general-purpose user-interface tools are presented. The application of these tools to the LINCAGES-4 four-bar linkage synthesis and analysis program and the Minn-Dwell dwell mechanism synthesis program is described. The impact that this environment can have on computer-aided design is assessed     

Remembering the Office of the Future: The Origins of Word Processing and Office Automation

Word processing entered the American office in 1970 as an idea about reorganizing typists, but its meaning soon shifted to describe computerized text editing. The designers of word processing systems combined existing technologies to exploit the falling costs of interactive computing, creating a new business quite separate from the emerging world of the personal computer.     

Ergonomic field analysis of the software design workstation

Abstract

This research has been carried out in order to verify in the field the exigencies yielded by a particular task and report indications for the ergonomic optimization of the relevant workstation. The task under examination was software design executed by 127 subjects in different environments. The steps in which this research was carried out were as follows: analysis of the task; analysis of subjects; analysis of the workstation and environment; and observations on 24 subjects representative of the population. The observations were in order to discover the level of posture variability and establish the physical parameters to be optimized. Results show that, for the activity examined, the heaviest restrictions imposed by the hardware refer to the eye-screen distance, head movement and curvature of the trunk. Therefore, the physical parameters to be optimized are height, width and depth of the table, and height and design of the chair.     

Advancements of the KUCIM automated flexible manufacturing workstation

Incremental automation, i.e. adding capabilities over time, is an alternative for small mannfacturers to large scale automation projects as a method of achieving automated manufacturing. As an example of incremental automation, the University of Kansas Computer Integrated Manufacturing (KUCIM) workstation has developed over time into an unmanned flexible machining workstation. Presently, the workstation contains a Hurco three-axis milling machine, an American Robot six-axis robot, a Sun 4/260, a versatile fixturing system, an IBM PC-AT compatible computer, and an interface between the milling machine and PC. The control architecture is based on the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Automated Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) manufacturing control hierarchy. The workstation controller employs three software modules: the Supervisor, the Robot Foreman, and the Fixture/Machine Tool Foreman. At the equipment level, two modules are used: the Robot Command Interpreter and the Fixture/Machine Tool Command Interpreter. The three functions that the KUCIM workstation performs to produce parts are: processing an input file, performing tool zeroing and performing machining cycles.     

Structures of an integrated document workstation

The user interface for a document workstation is developed. The station is used for the editing and preview of layout, text, graphics, images, tables, logos and patterns. It is part of a document processing system, including main processor, central document store and typesetting facilities. The main part of the article is concerned with the conversion of these requirements to the workstation's architecture.     

Design aspects of the Burroughs ET 1100 ergonomic workstation

Abstract

The Burroughs ET 1100 ergonomic workstation is a general purpose data communications system composed of a display unit and a cable-connected keyboard. It is intended for use in full-time work or continuous-use situations, therefore every effort was made to take ergonomic considerations into account. This paper describes the design process, the limitations provided to the design staff and the resulting product which was released in April 1983. A number of interacting variables needed to be balanced to ensure that one feature had not been optimized to the detriment of another. In addition to the manufacturers interest in the product it was important that it be installed properly, therefore additional measures were taken to educate users and managers about desirable environmental characteristics.     

Design aspects of the Burroughs ET 1100 ergonomic workstation

The Burroughs ET 1100 ergonomic workstation is a general purpose data communications system composed of a display unit and a cable-connected keyboard. It is intended for use in full-time work or continuous-use situations, therefore every effort was made to take ergonomic considerations into account. This paper describes the design process, the limitations provided to the design staff and the resulting product which was released in April 1983. A number of interacting variables needed to be balanced to ensure that one feature had not been optimized to the detriment of another. In addition to the manufacturers interest in the product it was important that it be installed properly, therefore additional measures were taken to educate users and managers about desirable environmental characteristics.     

Design of a bitmapped multilingual workstation

Previous work in multilingual support is reviewed. Research to date has involved four basic issues: character-set standardization, text input, internal storage and manipulation and display systems. Each of these areas is discussed. A workstation that supports many character sets in a windows environment and provides display and data manipulation of multiple character sets is also described     

Computer workstation adjustment: a novel process and large sample study

The use of computers in the US workforce is expected to grow throughout the 1990s. Prolonged computer use, repetitive keying, awkward postures and psychosocial issues have been associated with injuries described as cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs). The incidence and reporting of occupationally induced CTDs has increased dramatically since 1980. Proper adjustment of individual computer workstations requires time and technical knowledge. An automated process for computer workstation adjustment was developed using linked-segment anthropometry. Over 3300 employees in a large industrial complex voluntarily participated in this programme by completing a computer workstation questionnaire. Significant relationships were demonstrated comparing both hours and years of computer use with symptoms. A followup questionnaire was completed by 531 programme participants. Ninety percent indicated an improved understanding of proper computer adjustment. Eighty percent of those making recommended adjustments indicated benefits in reduced symptoms and greater work efficiency.