Recent developments in ergonomics in China

Ergonomic thought and practice were introduced in ancient China in relation to modern developments in Chinese ergonomics. Despite the ten-year interruption of the 'cultural revolution’ in the late 1960s and 1970s, ergonomics has made great progress in China in the last decade. In this paper some general developments in recent ergonomics’ teaching and in professional organizations are described. Four major areas of ergonomics research are illustrated: (1) Visual displays and signal design; (2) Human-computer interface with Chinese computers; (3) Cognitive strategies and decision support; (4) Mental workload and occupational stress. The main characteristics of Chinese ergonomics are discussed and new directions are highlighted, based on recent developments and progress.     

Aliasing Errors in Signature in Analysis Registers

The authors discuss aliasing errors in signature analysis registers for self-testing networks and review analytical results. The results show that when p, the probability that an error will occur at a network output, is close to 1/2, there is a bound of the aliasing error. The analysis uses a graph to represent the probability of transition, the Markov process, and z-transforms to analyze the behavior of the signature analysis register. For very small p(p?0) and very large p(p?1), the aliasing error solution for primitive polynomials is a series of terms (1-?)n in magnitude (where n is the number of random patterns being applied to the network or the length of the network output sequence). As compared with nonprimitive polynomials, whose solution is n(1-?)n or n2(1-?)n, in general primitive polynomials are much better with respect to aliasing. Simulation results are shown for aliasing errors for these polynomials, which give insight as to how aliasing occurs.     

Workload assessment in building construction related activities in India

A field study was conducted to highlight the occupational risk factors related to building construction activities in India among female workers. These workers were engaged in eight different types of activities and related work parameters were studied in detail. From field environmental parameters, the calculated WBGT was obtained as 30.26+/-1.52 degrees C, indicated that these workers worked under a positive heat load condition. Whole day work study was conducted on 11 adult female workers performing concreting operation. They were having age of 28-32 years with 5-7 years of work experience. These workers were mainly performing two types of operations in the field: (A) asymmetric lifting during concreting a boundary wall formwork of a lift unit and (B) carrying the concrete mixture. During asymmetric lifting, the average field working heart rate (HR) was calculated as 124.1+/-12.5 beats min(-1), equivalent to 45.03+/-6.93% of VO(2) max level. These working heart rates (HRs) were significantly (p相似文献   

Detection of artifacts in monitored trends in intensive care

In intensive care, decision-making is often based on trend analysis of physiological parameters. Artifact detection is a pre-requisite for interpretation of trends both for clinical and research purposes. In this study, we developed and tested three methods of artifact detection in physiological data (systolic, mean and diastolic artery and pulmonary artery pressures, central venous pressure, and peripheral temperature) using pre-filtered physiological signals (2-min median filtering) from 41 patients after cardiac surgery. These methods were: (1) the Rosner statistic; (2) slope detection with rules; and (3) comparison with a running median (median detection). After tuning the methods using data from 20 randomly chosen patients, the methods were tested using the data from the remaining patients. The results were compared with those obtained by manual identification of artifacts by three senior intensive care unit physicians. Out of an average of 22,480 data points for each variable, the three observers labelled 0.98% (220 data points) as artifacts. The inter-observer agreement was good. The average (range) sensitivity for artifact detection in all variables in the test database was 66% (33-92%) for the Rosner statistic, 64% (24-98%) for slope detection and 72% (41-98%) for median detection. All methods had a high specificity (> or = 94%). Slope detection had the highest mean positive prediction rate (53%; 21-85%). When the performance was measured by the cost function, slope detection and running median performed equally well and were superior to Rosner statistics for systemic arterial and central venous pressure and peripheral temperature. None of the methods produced acceptable results for pulmonary artery pressures. We conclude that median filtering of physiological variables is effective in removing artifacts. In post-operative cardiac surgery patients, the remaining artifacts are difficult to detect among physiological and pathophysiological changes. This makes large databases for tuning artifact algorithms mandatory. Despite these limitations, the performance of running median and slope detection were good in selected physiological variables.     

Satellite and ground-based monitoring of smoke in the atmosphere during the summer wildfires in European Russia in 2010 and Siberia in 2012

Using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (Aqua and Terra satellites) and in situ observations, a comparative analysis of two large-scale smoke events caused by the summer wildfires in European Russia (ER) in 2010 and Western Siberia (WS) in 2012 was carried out. In the 5-day periods of the extreme smoke pollution (5–9 August 2010 in ER and 27–31 July 2012 in WS), the number of active fires in the equal territories, confined by the coordinates 47°–65° N, 25°–55° E and 51°–70° N, 71°–104° E, was found to be 4754 for ER and 3823 for WS. With this, the regional mean aerosol optical depths (AODs) were found to be (1.02 ± 0.02) and (1.00 ± 0.04), not much differing for both the events. The regional mean aerosol radiative forcing effects at the top (R₁) and the bottom (R₂) of the atmosphere over ER/WS according to MODIS observations were estimated to be (?61 ± 1) and (?54 ± 2) W m^?2, and (?107 ± 2) and (?96 ± 3) W m^?2, respectively. At the same time, the local values of AOD and the local absolute values of R₁ and R₂ over WS were considerably higher than those over ER. MODIS AOD (L3) data during the wildfires of 2010 were validated by AOD data obtained by the sun-sky photometer CIMEL, operating at the AERONET station Zvenigorod. The rates of radiative heating of the smoky atmosphere over ER and WS were also estimated and compared with the existed temperature anomalies, obtained using National Centers for Environmental Prediction National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data. Optical and microphysical properties of smoke aerosols during the wildfires in ER and WS also revealed some similar characteristics. The aerosols were mostly found in the submicron-size fraction and characterized by very high single-scattering albedos (0.95–0.98). In the dense smoke conditions, the degree of linear polarization at the scattering angle 90° during both the events decreased to negative values ranging between ?0.1 and ?0.15. The optical properties of smoke aerosols were mainly conditioned by unusually narrow particle size distribution.     

Fluctuations in Economic and Activity and Stabilization Policies in the CIS

In this study, a highly flexible form of nonlinear time series models called artificial neural networks (ANNs) are employed to predict fluctuations in economic activity in selected members (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan) of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) using macroeconomic time series [treasury bill rate (T-bill), long term bond rate (BondLT), money supply (MS), industrial production (IP), spread (10-year treasury bond rate less 3-month treasury bill rate), BRTB (bank rate less 3-month treasury bill rate), and GDP growth rate]. Forecasting recessions being very important though challenging, recessions in the selected countries are modeled recursively 1–10 quarters ahead out-of-sample using ANNs in conjunction with macroeconomic time series for all the countries. The out-of-sample forecast results show that in general no single macroeconomic variable employed appears to be useful for predicting recessions in any of the series. However, for Armenia, the treasury bill rate, industrial production, money supply, and the spread (the yield curve) are candidate variables for predicting recessions 1–10 quarters ahead. For Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, the treasury bill rate and money supply series are candidate variables for predicting recessions 1–10 quarters ahead.     

Satellite-derived multi-year trend in primary production in the Arctic Ocean

Spaceborne one month averaged data, predominantly from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and partly from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), were used to investigate changes in primary production (PP) by phytoplankton in the Arctic Ocean from 1998 to 2010. Several PP retrieval algorithms were tested against the collected in situ data, and it was shown that the algorithm by Behrenfeld and Falkowski gave the best results (with the coefficient of correlation, r, equal to 0.8 and 0.75, respectively, for the pelagic and shelf zones). Based on the performed test, the Behrenfeld and Falkowski algorithm was further applied for determining both the annual PP in the Arctic and the PP trend over the above-mentioned time period. Results of our analysis indicate that PP in the Arctic has increased by ?15.9% over 13 years (1998–2010). This finding, as well as the absolute annual values of PP remotely quantified in the present study, is at odds with analogous numerical assessments by other workers. These disagreements are thought to be due to differences in the applied methodologies of satellite data processing such as cloud masking and determination of phytoplankton concentration within (1) overcast areas and (2) areas of massive growth of coccolithophores as well as (3) in the shelf zone prone to a significant influence of land and river run-off.     

Ergonomics in sickle operation

Sickle operation in harvesting has been analysed with reference to design features of nine different types of sickles, and field and laboratory based investigations on biomechanical stresses and physiological valuation on six farmers. It has been indicated that the blade geometry contributes significantly to human performance and there is ample scope for further design optimisation. The suggested modifications are: (i) sickle weight - 200 g; (ii) total length of sickle - 33 cm; (iii) handle length - 11 cm; (iv) handle diameter - 3 c cm; (v) radius of blade curvature - 15 cm; (vi) blade concavity - 5 cm; (vii) serrated sickle: tooth pitch - 0.20 cm and tooth angle - 60 degrees; (viii) ratio of the length of cutting surface to chord length - 1.20.     

Modularity in Coalgebra

This paper gives an overview of recent results concerning the modular derivation of (i) modal specification logics, (ii) notions of simulation together with logical characterisations, and (iii) sound and complete axiomatisations, for systems modelled as coalgebras of functors on Set. Our approach applies directly to an inductively-defined class of coalgebraic types, which subsumes several types of discrete state-based systems, including (probabilistic) transition systems, probabilistic automata and spatial transition systems.     

Experiences in the Application of Software Process Improvement in SMES

During the last few years, many Software Process Improvement methods (SPI) have been presented to increase the quality of products and services provided by a software organization. Current Software Process Improvement (SPI) methods (i.e. ISO 15504, CBA-IPI,...), are difficult to apply to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMES) due to the costs (financial, time, and resource) associated with their application. Also, these methods are principally focused on the assessment stage. This paper presents a new SPI method, called MESOPYME, which main focus is to reduce effort and time on the SPI implementation. This method focuses on the improvement implementation stage, which is based on a concept called Action Package, whose components are described (in Section 2.1.). The results obtained in the application of a Requirements Engineering Action Package in three organizations are also presented.     

Detection of Rossby waves in multi-parameters in multi-mission satellite observations and HYCOM simulations in the Indian Ocean

Rossby waves are difficult to detect with in situ methods. However, as we show in this paper, they can be clearly identified in multi-parameters in multi-mission satellite observations of sea surface height (SSH), sea surface temperature (SST) and ocean color observations of chlorophyll-a (chl-a), as well as 1/12° global HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) simulations of SSH, SST and sea surface salinity (SSS) in the Indian Ocean. While the surface structure of Rossby waves can be elucidated from comparisons of the signal in different sea surface parameters, models are needed to gain direct information about how these waves affect the ocean at depth. The first three baroclinic modes of the Rossby waves are inferred from the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), and two-dimensional Radon Transform (2D RT). At many latitudes the first and second baroclinic mode Rossby wave phase speeds from satellite observations and model parameters are identified. Wavelet transforms of these multi-parameters from satellite observations and model simulations help to discriminate between the annual and semi-annual signal of these Rossby waves. This comprehensive study reveals that the surface signature of Rossby waves in SSS anomalies is likely to be between 0.05 and 0.3 psu in the South Indian Ocean.     

Vibration in operating heavy haul trucks in overburden mining

The objective of this study was to determine if the vibration in sagittal (x), coronal (y) and vertical (z) axes of the seat pan of the heavy haul trucks used in overburden mining, and the vibration experienced by the drivers at the third lumbar and seventh cervical vertebral levels in operating these trucks exceeded the ISO standards, thereby posing threat to safety. A new and an old truck of two different makes and different carrying capacities (200 and 300 series) were instrumented with a triaxial accelerometer on the seat pan. Fourteen drivers (8 male and 6 female) were instrumented with a triaxial accelerometer at C7 and L3 spinous processes. The vibration at the seat pan, C7, and L3 levels were recorded using an onboard computer with PCMCIA card and, compared against the ISO standards. The vertical vibration of the seat pan in the entire sample ranged from a low of .37 m/s² to a high of 11.73 m/s². The vibration at the lumbar level in the sample ranged between .34 and 2.72 m/s². The values for cervical level vertical vibration in the sample ranged between .2 and 2.22 m/s². The gender of the driver, truck make, and it's carrying capacity did not have a significant effect on the vibration. However, the body weight of the driver, the segment of the truck and the site of measurement revealed significant differences in vibration (p<0.001). Out of a total 36 combinations (4 trucks×9 recording locations) the seat pan vertical vibration exceeded the ISO standards 8 times for males and 9 times for females. The lumbar vertebral vertical vibration in males exceeded ISO standards 12 times and in females 11 times. The cervical vertebral vertical vibration exceeded ISO standards once in females only. However, in sagittal and coronal planes the whole body vibration exceeded the ISO standards many times. Heavy haul trucks (240 and 320 ton capacity) frequently generated vibrations in excess of ISO standards in overburden mining operation representing a health hazard.     

Trends in finger pinch strength in children, adults, and the elderly

This study explores empirical relationships among different types of pinches in three age groups. Peak maximum voluntary forces of several pinches--lateral, chuck, and pulp pinches with digits 2, 3, 4, and 5-were tested in 182 subjects comprising 62 children (5-12 years), 70 adults (18-40 years), and 50 elderly (60-89 years). Analysis of the forces indicated four groups of strength magnitude: (1) lateral and chuck, (2) pulp 2 and 3, (3) pulp 4, and (4) pulp 5, in that order; the strength of each type of pinch bears a definite quantitative relationship to every other type, regardless of age group or gender. The female-to-male strength ratio was greatest in children (89%) and least in adults (69%). Comparison with other pinch strength studies established that although force magnitudes may be strongly influenced by specific experimental conditions, empirical relationships among different pinch forces are fairly stable and predictable.     

Sharpness in Interval Computations

Let f(x) be a rational function and let F(X) be an interval extension of f(x). When we evaluate F(X) using interval arithmetic, we obtain an interval which bounds the range of f(x) for all x in the interval X. In some cases, the lower or upper bound (or both) may be sharp. We show that we can determine whether an endpoint is sharp or not merely by keeping track of which endpoints of X are used in each step of the evaluation of F(X). We show that in certain cases, this procedure can prove that f(x) is monotonic in the interval X.     

知识发现中的可继承性问题研究

提出知识发现中的可继承性问题，通过对知识发现过程和挖掘算法形式化描述和分析，抽象出各个阶段的形式联系及其约束条件，在此基础上提出初等知识的概念．在引入初等知识后，对传统的挖掘算法、增量式挖掘算法、可继承性挖掘算法进行形式化描述和比较，得出如下结论：可继承性挖掘算法能够有效的提高数据集变化、参数变化情况下的数据挖掘效率．     

Neighbor-layer updating in MBDS for the recall of pure bipolarpatterns in gray-scale noise

To improve bidirectional associative memory (BAM), a modified bidirectional decoding strategy (MBDS) network has been proposed. The former is a two-layer structure in which stored associations are recalled by directionally updating the neuron state through the connecting weights M and M(T). The latter is an extension of the former in which two hidden layers are augmented and the corresponding extra connection weights-M(x), M(y), Tx, and T(y)-are encoded. The authors introduce a new updating rule for MBDS networks, called neighbor-layer updating (NLU), which gathers all weighted activations of all neighbor layers. The neighbor layers are defined as the layers in which there are direct synaptic weights connected to each other. Because of modification of the connection weights-M(x), M(y), Tx, and T(y)-and the constant bias inputs of MBDS, all stored associations are guaranteed to be recalled using NLU. Furthermore, with the aid of the Cohen-Grossberg theorem, all discrete MBDS results can be extended to continuous MBDS (CMBDS). The authors also give stability proofs of both discrete MBDS and CMBDS, Computer simulations demonstrate that the proposed CMBDS can be applied to recall pure bipolar patterns in the presence of gray-scale noise. The authors show that by removing BAM connections (matrix M) from the MBDS structure, a bidirectional holographic memory (BHM) is obtained. Both derivation and simulation indicate that one can remove the matrix M from the MBDS structure if the dimension of the training associations is larger than 16.     

Formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere during summer weather extremes and wildfires in European Russia in 2010 and Western Siberia in 2012

Based on the data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI; Aura) satellite instrument, an analysis of changes in total formaldehyde (CH₂O) column and tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) column, associated with the extreme summer weather regimes and wildfires in European Russia (ER) in 2010 and Western Siberia (WS) in 2012, was carried out. In both territories, over the clusters of intense fires, an approximately two-fold increase in CH₂O content and a 20% increase in NO₂ content were observed. Unlike NO₂, the changes in the CH₂O content over ER and WS also reveal positive correlation with the regional surface temperature.     

Cooling of motorcyclists in various clothing during winter in Britain

Abstract

Skin and ear-canal temperatures of seven volunteer motorcyclists have been measured during control periods and during rides of up to 161km at air temperatures below 10°C. While wearing their own clothing in air temperatures between 2·6 and 10 C the riders showed changes in heat storage of - 438 to - 1611 Wm^?2. The average of the three lowest temperatures (°C) recorded from selected sites from different subjects (and the means of the laboratory control values from all seven subjects + standard errors) were: foot, 14·7 (30·6 ± 0·93); shin, 21·4 (32·2± 0·40); thigh, 17·8 (31·8± 0·36); abdomen and chest, 25·3(34·7 ± 0·26); forearm, 28·8 (33·8±0·19; hand, 15·5 (30·8±0·58); ear canal, 36·1 (37·2 ± 0·7). The rate at which riders' feet cooled was not closely related to the rates their bodies cooled. Even when there was no body cooling, their feet cooled by at least 3°C hour^?1, while riding. The thickness of motorcycle clothing and its wind-proofing are both important in preventing cooling. Zip fasteners need special protection beyond that needed merely to keep out rain.     

Northward drift of suspended sediments in the Yangtze estuary in spring

The spatial distribution of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in spring (February–April) from 2007 to 2013 in the Yangtze (Changjiang) estuary and coastal seas was analysed using remote-sensing data. The results indicated that areas of high SSC drifted northwards along the coast about 100 km away from the Yangtze estuary. SSC increased considerably in both mass and area in 2013. The first principal component analysis (PCA) pattern explained the dominant spatial distribution pattern of SSC in the study area. This highly clustered controlling pattern may have been caused by the joint effects of Yangtze diluted water (YDW), the Taiwan Warm Current (TWC), coastal currents, northeasterly winds, and the shallow coastal shelf. The SSC dispersed and extended into a wide area, and the main range of sediment concentration was located in an area the shape of a trapezium (31.9° N–33.8° N, 122° E–125.5° E, 30.7° N–32.6° N). YDW and the TWC could be the main reason for this northward drift of SSC. The long-term sinking of suspended sediment in clustered areas may have contributed considerably to the formation of the shallow coastal shelf above the 60 m isobath.     

Cardiorespiratory and thermoregulatory response of working in fire-fighter protective clothing in a temperate environment

The cardiorespiratory and thermal responses of two intensities of treadmill exercise were compared for brief periods (12 min) in fire ensemble (FE) but without self contained breathing apparatus, and sports ensemble (SE), in a temperature environment. A further experiment explored the responses of subjects exercising in FE over a prolonged period (60 min). Eighteen male fire-fighters wearing either FE or SE walked on a level treadmill for 6 min at 5 km x h(-1) increasing to 7 km x h(-1) for 6 min. Following a recovery interval of 1 h, the exercise protocol was repeated in the second ensemble; the order of ensemble was balanced. Heart rate (HR), rectal temperature (Tre), VO2 max and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were monitored continuously under both ensembles. At 7 km x h(-1), VO2 was significantly higher (p<0.05) in FE (36.1 and 39.9 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)) than in SE and represented 74% VO2 max. There were no changes Tre. In experiment 2, following a rest interval of at least 36 h, eight subjects in FE walked on the treadmill at 6 km x h (gradient 10%) for 60 min also in temperate conditions, where HR, Tre and RPE were recorded at 10-min intervals. During the 60-min exercise in FE, HR reached 161 beats x min(-1) and Tre increased to 38.3 degrees C. Despite considerable subject discomfort, Tre remained below dangerous levels (38.4 degrees C). When RPE were compared with a physiological strain index (PSI) calculated from Tre and HR data over 60 min, there was no significant difference (p<0.05) with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.98. The results suggest that RPE and PSI are closely related when exercise is sufficiently prolonged or intense to elevate Tre and HR in fire-fighters wearing FE in temperate conditions. If further investigation confirms this relationship for hot humid conditions in which fire-fighters operate, then with training, it may provide individuals with a valid measure of dangerous levels of perceived heat strain.