Anthropometry of male agricultural workers of western India for the design of tools and equipments

Agricultural workers and farmers in India perform most of the agricultural operations manually. Hence, for the design of farm equipments, hand tools and machinery involving human efforts, region specific anthropometric data is needed. A survey was conducted to collect anthropometric dimensions of male agricultural workers in the state of Maharashtra in India in the age group of 18–60 years. Almost 59 body dimensions were selected for the measurement from the recommendations by All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Human Engineering and Safety in Agriculture (HESA) and requisite by digital human manikin modeling. Total 303 male agricultural workers were selected from 23 districts of Maharashtra by convenience sampling. Repeatability of the measurements was checked by paired samples t test. From the measured dimensions, the values of minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation (SD), standard error of mean (SEM), coefficient of variation (CV), 5th and 95th percentile values were determined. The results of the survey were compared with results of other regions of India and other countries.Relevance to industryThe anthropometric data of user population is very utile for the design/improvement of farm equipments/implements for agricultural workers in order to reduce drudgery, increase efficiency, safety and comfort.     

Malaysian sitting anthropometry for seat fit parameters

This article presents sitting anthropometry data for Malaysians focusing on seat fit parameters. It offers additional data regarding seat design requirements as there have been only a few efforts made to establish anthropometry data in Malaysia. An analysis using a measurement composed of 16 common and important dimensions in seat design was done with 216 subjects. Data collection was done by using direct measuring methods with standard equipment. Malaysian automobile seat fit parameters, namely backrest width, backrest height, cushion width, and cushion length were established from collected anthropometric dimensions: interscye breadth (5th percentile female and 95th percentile male), sitting shoulder height (5th percentile female), hip breadth (95th percentile female), and buttock–popliteal length (5th percentile female), respectively. From the data collected, this study finds that the fit parameter dimensions are bigger than other Asians' 95th percentile values but smaller than the Filipino and the Thai data being compared in this study. The female 5th percentile values for cushion length and cushion width are the smallest. In addition, two local automobile seats were measured and compared with the data. It was observed that the cushion lengths of both seats were too long for the 5th percentile female of the current data. This study provides seat fit parameters–the most fundamental part of automotive seat design, especially for the Malaysian population. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Statistical prediction of eye locations for drivers of military ground vehicles

In this paper, a statistical model is developed to predict the driver eye locations in military ground vehicles. The data were taken from a study on soldier driving postures and seating positions. The distribution of eye locations is represented by an “eyellipse”, a geometric construction that approximates the distribution of the eye locations using an ellipse. Eyellipses have been widely used for the design of passenger cars and commercial trucks. The location and dimensions of the soldier eyellipse were developed based on the data from 145 male and female soldiers who selected their preferred driving postures in a range of vehicle layouts presented in a vehicle mockup. Driver eye locations were modeled using regression analysis. The model predicts the distribution of eye locations as a function of vehicle interior layout for a soldier population defined by the gender ratio (fraction male) and the distribution of body dimensions within each gender. This is the first eyellipse model taking into account the effects of protective equipment and body-borne gear. The model has broad applicability to the design of tactical, truck-like vehicles with fixed accelerator heel points.     

Static anthropometry of civilian Chinese in Taiwan using computer-analyzed photography

The purpose of this study was to establish a static anthropometric data bank for Chinese civilians in Taiwan using a computer-analyzed photographic method. Stratified random sampling was applied to decide the sampling site; sample size was established by considering standard errors in a pilot study. Then a photographic method was employed in addition to direct measurement of selected body dimensions. In all, 933 subjects were measured. The data were entered via a digitizer into a microcomputer for processing. The resulting anthropometric data bank was organized by age, sex, and occupational groupings. Comparisons with data from previous studies were made, and recommendations for further research presented.     

Anthropometric survey for agricultural machinery design: an Indian case study

In Indian agriculture, hand tools, animal-drawn equipment and tractor/power operated machinery are extensively used for various operations. These equipments are either operated or controlled by human workers. Use of anthropometric data can help in the proper design of equipment for better efficiency and more human comfort. Earlier anthropometric surveys carried out in the country were very few and inadequate for use in farm machinery design. Therefore, 52 body dimensions necessary for the design of these equipments were identified and a sample study was conducted on 39 farm workers. The collected anthropometric data were analysed to calculate mean, range, standard deviation and 5th, 50th and 95th percentile values. Through some examples, an effort is made here to illustrate the use of the data in the design of farm equipment. It has now been proposed that extensive surveys should be carried out in different regions of the country to generate the necessary data useful in farm machinery design.     

分形维数作为高光谱遥感数据波段选择的一个指标

在分析最大值、最小值、标准差等传统统计量作为高光谱遥感数据波段选择方法的优缺点后，将分形维数作为波段选择的一个指标，弥补了传统统计量不能获取图像空间结构信息及其变化规律的缺点。在研究中采用分线法和三角棱柱法两种方法计算了研究地区OMIS-Ⅰ成像光谱仪各波段沙地、植被的分形维数。分析表明，第Ⅰ、Ⅴ两个光谱波段区各波段分形维数变化相对平缓，图像质量及空间结构较好，是研究中重点考虑的波段；而Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ各区分形维数较高，且波动性大，图像质量和空间结构差。另外，高光谱数据分形维数计算结果表明，分形维数的变化反映了高光谱数据各波段空间结构信息变化，定量地表示了不同波段间的差异，因此，传统统计方法结合分形维数将为高光谱遥感应用研究中选择最佳波段提供新的技术支持。     

Child body shape measurement using depth cameras and a statistical body shape model

We present a new method for rapidly measuring child body shapes from noisy, incomplete data captured from low-cost depth cameras. This method fits the data using a statistical body shape model (SBSM) to find a complete avatar in the realistic body shape space. The method also predicts a set of standard anthropometric data for a specific subject without measuring dimensions directly from the fitted model. Since the SBSM was developed using principal component (PC) analysis, we formulate an optimisation problem to fit the model in which the degrees of freedom are defined in PC-score space. The mean unsigned distance between the fitted-model based on depth-camera data and the high-resolution laser scan data was 9.4 mm with a standard deviation (SD) of 5.1 mm. For the torso, the mean distance was 2.9 mm (SD 1.4 mm). The correlations between standard anthropometric dimensions predicted by the SBSM and manually measured dimensions exceeded 0.9.     

Array-index: a plug&search K nearest neighbors method for high-dimensional data

Previous algorithms of data partitioning methods (DPMs) to find the exact K-nearest neighbors (KNN) at high dimensions are outperformed by a linear scan method [J.M. Kleinberg, Two algorithms for nearest neighbor search in high dimensions, 29th ACM Symposium on Theory of computing, 1997; R. Weber, H.-J. Schek, S. Blott. A quantitative analysis and performance study for similarity-search methods in high-dimensional spaces. in: Proc. of the 24th VLDB, USA, 1998]. In this paper, we present a “plug&search” method to greatly speed up the exact KNN search of existing DPMs. The idea is to linearize the data partitions produced by a DPM, rather than the points themselves, into a one-dimensional array-index, that is simple, compact and fast. Unlike most DPMs that support KNN search, which require storage space linear, or exponential [J.M. Kleinberg, Two algorithms for nearest neighbor search in high dimensions, 29th ACM Symposium on Theory of computing, 1997; M. Hagedoom, Nearest neighbors can be found efficiently if the dimension is small relative to the input size, ICDT 2003], in dimensions, the array-index requires a storage space that is linear in the number of mapped partitions.     

Surveying the dimensions and characteristics of Korean ears for the ergonomic design of ear-related products

Six hundred male and female Korean subjects aged 17–89 were selected for this study. Four different points of the outer ear—the lengths of the pinna, the ear connection point, the earhole and the lobule thickness—were measured and analyzed along with demographic data, including age, stature and weight. The results showed that age, sex and different ethnic populations were determinants of ear dimensions as exemplified by the length of the pinna which increases as age increases (r=0.689). The primary objective of this study was to provide product designers with the anthropometric dimensions of Korean ears and recommend appropriate solutions for the ergonomic design of ear-related products. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that the change in body parts due to aging be considered in the application of anthropometric data when designing such products.

Relevance to Industry

Limited research has been done on the dimensions of ears although an extensive amount of research has been conducted on other parts of the human body. The findings of this study, therefore, can be used as a basis for researching and producing ergonomically designed ear-related products.     

Research on lower body shape of late pregnant women in Shanghai area of China

Anthropometric data, especially the data of lower body of late-pregnant women, has become an immediate need for ergonomic design of maternity products, such as clothing, related motherhood supplies, maternity support products, and so on. So 55 late pregnant women in Shanghai area of China were randomly selected for this lower body shape research. By anthropometric measurement method 18 dimensions were measured to characterize lower body shape of late pregnant women. Mean values, standard deviations (SD), coefficients of variation, and percentiles for each variable were estimated. It was found that the morphology of hip and abdomen mostly influenced the lower body shape. Then according to the characters of hip and abdomen, the late pregnant women's lower body shapes were divided into two types. Moreover this paper also analyzed the change trend of lower body shape along late pregnancy months (7 to 9th months). As a result of this research, the late pregnant women's lower body shapes were described from different aspects which were thought to provide a guide for the maternity products design.Relevance to industryThe anthropometric data is essential to design reasonable and professional maternity products for late pregnant women, such as maternity support products, maternity clothing and so on. Especially this study can benefit the maternity garment industry. Moreover utilization of the anthropometric data, product designers would be able to outfit to a wider range of target users.     

GACH: a grid-based algorithm for hierarchical clustering of high-dimensional data

This paper proposes a grid-based hierarchical clustering algorithm (GACH) as an efficient and robust method to explore clusters in high-dimensional data with no prior knowledge. It discovers the initial positions of the potential clusters automatically and then combines them hierarchically to obtain the final clusters. In this regard, GACH first projects the data patterns on a two-dimensional space (i.e., on a plane established by two features) to overcome the curse of dimensionality problem in high-dimensional data. To choose these two well-informed features, a simple and fast feature selection algorithm is proposed. Then, through meshing the plane with grid lines, GACH detects the crowded grid points. The nearest data patterns around these grid points are considered as initial members of some potential clusters. By returning the patterns back to their true dimensions, GACH refines these clusters. In the merging phase, GACH combines the closely adjacent clusters in a hierarchical bottom-up manner to construct the final clusters’ members. The main features of GACH are: (1) it automatically discovers the clusters, (2) the obtained clusters are stable, (3) it is efficient for data sets with high dimensions, and (4) its merging process involves a threshold which can be obtained in advance for well-clustered data. To assess our proposed algorithm, it is applied on some benchmark data sets and the validity of obtained clusters is compared with the results of some other clustering algorithms. This comparison shows that GACH is accurate, efficient and feasible to discover clusters in high-dimensional data.     

Determination of key dimensions for a glove sizing system by analyzing the relationships between hand dimensions

The present study identified key dimensions for the development of a glove sizing system by analyzing the relationships between hand dimensions and demonstrated the construction process of glove sizing systems based on the selected key dimensions. Three hand dimensions (HL: hand length; HC: hand circumference; HB: hand breadth) were selected as the candidates of glove key dimensions by surveying the literature and industry practices of glove sizing systems. Of the key dimension candidates, HL and HC were selected by examining the results of correlation and multiple regression analyses on the 1988 US Army hand anthropometric data. A cross-tabulation of HL and HC with an interval length of 1.3 cm was constructed for each gender and the corresponding lengths and circumferences of cells covering more than 2% of the population were used to provide glove sizing parameters. It was identified that the glove sizing system for males is different from that for females and has more size categories.     

Recommendations for the assessment and design of young children's bicycles on the basis of anthropometric data

Children's bicycles are the product most often involved in leisure accidents to children. One of the possible reasons for this might be a lack of fit between the dimensions of the bicycle and the dimensions of the child. In a project entitled KIMA-1, some 33 dimensions of 279 children (aged 2.5-5.5 years) were measured at seven infant welfare centres in the province of Zuid, Holland. These data were used to compare dimensions of children with dimensions of bicycles. Furthermore, the requirements regarding bicycle dimensions laid down in product safety acts of different countries were compared with both the results of KIMA-1 and some bicycles available in shops. It is concluded that maximum product safety and comfort of the bicycle are achieved when the bicycle is fitted to the dimensions of the child. Enhancement of this fitting process can be achieved by relating the dimensions of the bicycle to the stature rather than to the age of the child. The comparison of the KIMA-1 data to the dimensions laid down in product safety acts led to the conclusion that Dutch children are larger than the population on which the safety dimensions are based. Furthermore, secular changes in body dimensions call for a revision of the relevant safety dimensions in 10-15 years.     

Application of data mining techniques in customer relationship management: A literature review and classification

Despite the importance of data mining techniques to customer relationship management (CRM), there is a lack of a comprehensive literature review and a classification scheme for it. This is the first identifiable academic literature review of the application of data mining techniques to CRM. It provides an academic database of literature between the period of 2000–2006 covering 24 journals and proposes a classification scheme to classify the articles. Nine hundred articles were identified and reviewed for their direct relevance to applying data mining techniques to CRM. Eighty-seven articles were subsequently selected, reviewed and classified. Each of the 87 selected papers was categorized on four CRM dimensions (Customer Identification, Customer Attraction, Customer Retention and Customer Development) and seven data mining functions (Association, Classification, Clustering, Forecasting, Regression, Sequence Discovery and Visualization). Papers were further classified into nine sub-categories of CRM elements under different data mining techniques based on the major focus of each paper. The review and classification process was independently verified. Findings of this paper indicate that the research area of customer retention received most research attention. Of these, most are related to one-to-one marketing and loyalty programs respectively. On the other hand, classification and association models are the two commonly used models for data mining in CRM. Our analysis provides a roadmap to guide future research and facilitate knowledge accumulation and creation concerning the application of data mining techniques in CRM.     

Errors in landmarking and the evaluation of the accuracy of traditional and 3D anthropometry

Body dimensions are based on landmarks of the body, but the magnitude of error in landmark determination is not well known. Therefore, a study was performed in which 40 subjects were marked five times in total by one highly skilled marker and a novice marker. Immediately after marking, a skilled measurer determined 34 body dimensions that were based on the mark locations. Intra- and inter-observer errors in landmarking of 35 landmarks, as well as those in 34 body dimensions were quantified. The error in landmarking was defined as the distance between two marks made on the same landmark by the same marker (intra-observer error) or by two different markers (inter-observer error). To make the first mark invisible when the second mark was made, the first mark was made using an invisible ink pen under black light. Landmarks with large intra-observer errors also had large inter-observer errors. Errors in body dimensions were smaller than landmarking errors in 23 measurements, which suggested that the magnitude of landmarking error would be underestimated from errors in body dimensions. In 15 body dimensions, measurements based on marks made by two different markers were not comparable according to the ISO 20685 criterion. Examination of body dimensions and landmarks with large inter-observer errors suggested that reducing inter-observer landmarking errors was necessary to reduce inter-observer measurement errors, and that a possible solution was to explicitly define landmarks with large errors in more detail so that anthropometrists can pinpoint them on the skin. Quantitative data on the intra- and inter-observer landmarking errors in the present study may be useful as a reference when evaluating and comparing the performance of software for calculating landmark locations for 3D anthropometry.     

Anthropometric study of Egyptian women

An anthropometric survey was carried out in Egypt in the period between June 1982 and March 1983. A set of 44 body dimensions were taken from a sample of 4960 Egyptian female subjects, age range 20-65 years. The subjects were selected randomly and covered all socio-economic, religious, and ethnic groups. A specially designed portable anthropometer and four other traditional instruments were used throughout the survey. Findings and data from the survey are presented in a format usable as a reference by designers and engineers. The results show that there are significant differences in the body build, dimensions and proportions between Egyptian women, and European and American women.     

A survey of anthropometry of rural agricultural workers in Enugu State,south-eastern Nigeria

In developed countries, large amount of anthropometric data are available for reference purposes; however, anthropometric data of Nigerian populace are lacking. As a result, most agricultural machines and equipment used are designed using anthropometric data from other populations of the world. A total of 377 rural agricultural workers within the age limit of 18–45 years, who are involved in different agricultural activities, were selected from six rural agriculture-based communities in Enugu state. Thirty-six anthropometric body dimensions were measured including age and body weight. A comparison between the male and female data indicated that data obtained from male agricultural workers were higher than that obtained from their female counterparts in all body dimensions except chest (bust) depth, abdominal breadth and hip breadth (sitting). In terms of design parameters, it was observed that the data from Nigerian agricultural workers were different from that obtained from agricultural workers in north-eastern India.

Practitioner Summary. Anthropometric data of Nigeria populace are lacking. As a result, most agricultural machines and equipment used are designed using anthropometric data from other populations of the world. It was observed that the data from Nigerian agricultural workers were different from that obtained from agricultural workers in north-eastern India.     

Comparison of Three‐Dimensional Korean Male Anthropometric Data with Modeling Data Generated by Digital Human Models

The purpose of this study was first to extract the anthropometric data of typical Korean male adults, based on the three‐dimensional anthropometric data measured through the Size Korea project. The data were then analyzed to identify the differences in the anthropometric characteristics between typical Koreans and 3D Korean mannequinmannequins generated by digital human models. Revision equations were then suggested to improve the inaccuracy of digital human models. Typical Korean adults subject to the 3D body scan data were selected by factor analysis with respect to the 5th, 50th, and 95th percentiles. Comparisons of anthropometric differences included the differences of the height and length variables in the vertical direction and the breadth, depth, and circumference variables in the horizontal direction. These comparisons demonstrated the differences in the anthropometric characteristics between typical Koreans and Korean mannequins based on differences in body shape and proportions between Korean and Western populations. Typical Koreans have shorter legs and longer torso than those of such mannequins generated from their own modeling algorithms, and the body shape of Koreans is more of an inverted triangular shape compared to the models. Although 3D digital human models are required to be modified to appropriately reflect the Asian body shape, modification of the modeling algoritms is not available to the public. The revision equations that convert the Korean modeling data of RAMSIS and Human in CATIA into typical Korean anthropometric data were instead suggested by regression analysis. It is expected that the proposed revision equations will help the designer evaluate design alternatives and improve the suitability of ergonomic evaluation for Korean customers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.