Analysis awkward posture at food production activity using RULA assessment

If the workers continuously perform the activities throughout the working hours, they may experience prolonged standing which creates fatigue and causes an occupational hazard which includes slips and falls. The goal of this study was to identify awkward postures during food production activities. 40 workers with minimum of 1 year experience working in food production were involved. The comfort level was measured using Rapid Upper Limb Assessment and Computer-Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application software analysis, expressed in scoring level. Critical activities grilling meat, frying, dish cloth and wash utensil at food production contributed to high RULA score of 7. The specific working postures have to be identified among food production workers. This study can provide a preliminary data to determine the correct working postures for food production workers.Keywords: working position; food production; awkward posture; RULA score, fatigue and standin

A Study on Hand Grip Force for Push Activity at Aerospace Industry

Grip strength is the force applied by the hand to push objects and is a specific part of hand strength. It is generally considered that all aspects of the hand must be exercised to produce a healthy and strong grip. The purpose of this study is to analyze the hand grip force that causes discomfort for push activity among the workers in the aerospace industry while workers performing their task. Data were collected by using observation, interview, questionnaires, and Tekscan grip system tools were used to evaluate hand grip pressure force of the workers. Findings show that the individual factors such as age and body size have affected the hand pressure grip force. Besides, the study shows that the hand grip pressure forces when pushing the mold with the right hand are higher than left hand. At the end of this study, the authors concluded that high grip forces will lead to a risk factor for the development of MSDs

CDMS, Supersymmetry and Extra Dimensions

The CDMS experiment aims to directly detect massive, cold dark matter particles originating from the Milky Way halo. Charge and lattice excitations are detected after a particle scatters in a Ge or Si crystal kept at ~30 mK, allowing to separate nuclear recoils from the dominating electromagnetic background. The operation of 12 detectors in the Soudan mine for 75 live days in 2004 delivered no evidence for a signal, yielding stringent limits on dark matter candidates from supersymmetry and universal extra dimensions. Thirty Ge and Si detectors are presently installed in the Soudan cryostat, and operating at base temperature. The run scheduled to start in 2006 is expected to yield a one order of magnitude increase in dark matter sensitivity.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the 7th UCLA symposium on sources and detection of dark matter and dark energy in the universe, Marina del Rey, Feb 22-24, 200

Evolutionary origins of the estrogen signaling system : insights from amphioxus

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 127 (2011): 176–188, doi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2011.03.022.Classically, the estrogen signaling system has two core components: cytochrome P450 aromatase (CYP19), the enzyme complex that catalyzes the rate limiting step in estrogen biosynthesis; and estrogen receptors (ERs), ligand activated transcription factors that interact with the regulatory region of target genes to mediate the biological effects of estrogen. While the importance of estrogens for regulation of reproduction, development and physiology has been well-documented in gnathostome vertebrates, the evolutionary origins of estrogen as a hormone are still unclear. As invertebrates within the phylum Chordata, cephalochordates (e.g. the amphioxus of the genus Branchiostoma) are among the closest invertebrate relatives of the vertebrates and can provide critical insight into the evolution of vertebrate-specific molecules and pathways. To address this question, this paper briefly reviews relevant earlier studies that help to illuminate the history of the aromatase and ER genes, with a particular emphasis on insights from amphioxus and other invertebrates. We then present new analyses of amphioxus aromatase and ER sequence and function, including an in silico model of the amphioxus aromatase protein, and CYP19 gene analysis. CYP19 shares a conserved gene structure with vertebrates (9 coding exons) and moderate sequence conservation (40% amino acid identity with human CYP19). Modeling of the amphioxus aromatase substrate binding site and simulated docking of androstenedione in comparison to the human aromatase shows that the substrate binding site is conserved and predicts that androstenedione could be a substrate for amphioxus CYP19. The amphioxus ER is structurally similar to vertebrate ERs, but differs in sequence and key residues of the ligand binding domain. Consistent with results from other laboratories, amphioxus ER did not bind radiolabeled estradiol, nor did it modulate gene expression on an estrogen-responsive element (ERE) in the presence 59 of estradiol, 4-hydroxytamoxifen, diethylstilbestrol, bisphenol A or genistein. Interestingly, it has been shown that a related gene, the amphioxus “steroid receptor” (SR), can be activated by estrogens and that amphioxus ER can repress this activation. CYP19, ER and SR are all primarily expressed in gonadal tissue, suggesting an ancient paracrine/autocrinesignaling role, but it is not yet known how their expression is regulated and, if estrogen is actually synthesized in amphioxus, whether it has a role in mediating any biological effects . Functional studies are clearly needed to link emerging bioinformatics and in vitro molecular biology results with organismal physiology to develop an understanding of the evolution of estrogen signaling.Supported by grants from the NIEHS P42 ES07381 (GVC, SV) and EPA (STAR-RD831301) (GVC), a Ruth L Kirschstein National Research Service Award (AT, F32 ES013092-01), an NIH traineeship (SS, SG), a NATO Fellowship (AN) and the Boston University Undergraduate Research Program (LC)

THE IMPACT OF WORKER EXPERIENCE AND HEALTH LEVEL TO VIBRATION ABSORBED BY HAND

This study was set to identify how working environment affected workers’ stress level and to determine the differences of vibration absorbed by hand in both good and bad health conditions. To achieve the first aim, a survey method was employed to gather data from the workers who were involved in the composite cutting job. Meanwhile, to achieve the second aim, an experiment to investigate the effects of performing the cutting job using hand tools was conducted on five participants with different health conditions. The results of the study revealed that the workers felt that their working environment was stressful. The workers who had bad health condition as average would absorb 237.8% (for 5mm thickness) and 17.46% (for 3mm thickness) more vibration from the hand tools while performing the cutting job than the others. The paper discusses whether workplace stress and vibration absorption from using hand tools will finally lead or contribute to health problems especially the hand arm vibration disease

DEVELOPMENT OF A SIMPLE MOBILE ROBOT FOR HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION IN HEALTH CARE ENVIRONMENT

Human-robot interaction (HRI) field investigates how humans interact with robots. This project develops a simple robot with HRI features to solve the waiting problem of hospital patients and visitors to get attention from nurses. Interactive features of the robot include a LCD touchscreen mounted on a line-following mobile platform and a wireless remote call button. SolidWorks 2013 software was utilized to design the outlook of the HRI robot. The best conceptual design with safe and user-friendly features was fabricated. Using Proteus, the electrical circuit was simulated and the Nextion Editor created the Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the LCD display. Programming for Arduino Mega controller involved infrared sensor, DC motors, ultrasonic sensor and RF module. The completer robot has features including line following, obstacle avoidance, remote call button and carries bottled drinking water. Its LCD boost a GUI system and a cartoon game. Reliability tests were conducted to establish the robot’s viability and functionality. Usability test at the ward in UTeM Health Center showed that the patient volunteers could communicate with and able to request for services provided by the robot. This indicates that the simple robot with HRI features was able to interact with patients in real hospital environment