Showing 324 results for Type of Study: Research
Saeed Ilbeigi, Mohsen Ebrahimi, Mohammad Esmaeil Afzalpour, Hadi Moazeni,
Volume 9, Issue 2 (10-2021)
Abstract
Background & Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the ergonomics of armpits and aviators outdoor (park) based on anthropometry parameters of male users.
Methods: Among male users of these outdoor park equipment, 120 people from Tehran and in the age range over 20 years (48.38±16.27) were selected as a sample. The research variables were the dimensions of the devices and the anthropometry of the male users. The plumb line, engineering meter, ruler, goniometer and static anthropometer kit (caliper) were used to measure the dimensions of the devices and the anthropometry of the users (according to Pheasant instructions). Then, according to the standards of ergonomics and bodybuilding, the science of motor biomechanics and the way of installation on the devices, the fit of the devices was evaluated. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data and single-group t-test (parametric statistics) and binomial statistics (non-parametric statistics) were used to test the hypotheses.
Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between most of the desired dimensions of the devices with the relevant and optimal dimensions of users (P value<0.05). Therefore, from the anthropometric point of view, these devices are not ergonomic for male users, and it is necessary to adopt a method for the standardization of these devices.
Conclusion: Most dimensions of underarms and outdoor aviators are not ergonomic from the anthropometric point of view of male users. This mismatch can lead to complications and physical injuries to users. Therefore, users should be careful when using these devices and avoid working with devices that do not fit their physical dimensions.
Samira Barakat, Habibollah Dehghan, Hossein Ebrahimi, Behnam Moradi,
Volume 9, Issue 2 (10-2021)
Abstract
Background & Objectives: Thermal sensation is not a direct sense of air temperature but is related to people's feelings, sensory experience and psychological phenomenon, which can affect their performance, productivity, attitude and sense of satisfaction. The aim of this study was to determine the subjective thermal sensation and its relationship with stress, anxiety, depression and students' cognitive function.
Methods: This study was descriptive-analytical and was performed on 167 male students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Students' subjective thermal sensation was measured on a seven-point scale and ambient temperature and humidity were measured in each student's room. The DASS-42 questionnaire was used to measure stress and anxiety and the "Reaction Timer" device was used to measure the cognitive function. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software version 20.
Results: Students' stress, anxiety and depression were 40%, 47.3% and 41.3%, respectively. The mean temperature of the dormitory was 20.326 ° C, the mean relative humidity was 56.78% and the subjective thermal sensation of 29.9% of the students were neutral from the ambient temperature. There was a significant relationship between students' subjective thermal sensation and stress, anxiety and mean diagnostic reaction time, color selection, sound selection, number of errors in the diagnostic section and sound selection.
Conclusion: Students' subjective sensation of ambient temperature was obtained as a very important and influential factor because in addition to affecting stress and anxiety, it also had a significant effect on their time of diagnostic reaction and selective.
Mrs. Ramesh Taherian Ojaroud, Dr. Ali Faraji,
Volume 9, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The jewelry industry accounts for a large share of the income of the people and the government. Workbench and chair are the main tool for manufacturers, designers, art students and repairmen in this field as a group of users for the efficiency of making jewelry. This research seeks to design a workbench and chair for making jewelry that, in addition to being modular, is also interactive and ergonomic.
Methods: This research is practical as well as qualitative-descriptive in nature. It has used a survey method to collect data in which its most important tools in the practical were verbal-visual (questionnaire, interview) and non-verbal (observation). Its design method was the so-call Design up (Tarrahi Nameh in Persian) which has based on interaction design and a user-centered approach. One of the most useful techniques called the hierarchical analysis process (AHP) has been employed to prioritize users and selected designs.
Results: The result of this research is a modular, interactive and ergonomic workbench and chair under the Mosavvab brand. Their users have the advantage of an independent design resulting from its modularity, benefit from usability as well as engagement user experience due to its interactivity and finally, they satisfy from its safety and comfort due to its ergonomics.
Conclusion: This achievement eliminates tangible and intangible problems and not only provides users with personal satisfaction but also reduces the need for many medical treatments. Six elements of usability such as effectiveness, efficiency, safety/comfort, utility, easy to learn and ease to memory, on the one hand, would be brought. The goals of interaction design as visibility, feedback, constraints, consistency, affordance and engaging user experience, on the other hand, would be illustrated.
Salim Balouch, Mohammad Razzaghi, Alireza Ghalaee,
Volume 9, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Nurses are one of the most important forces in a hospital. Therefore, their socialization is important to act as social capital for the hospital through sociability and to increase their responsibility as well as work ethic. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of organizational socialization and social capital on responsibility with the mediating role of the organizational work ethic of Nurses at Iran Hospital, Iranshahr in Sistan & Balouchestan Province, Iran.
Methods: This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive correlation in terms of data collection based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population included all Nurses of Iran Hospital (550 subjects). The sample size was 218 according to the statistical population and using stratified random sampling method and Krejcie & Morgan table. Standard questionnaires of organizational socialization, social capital, responsibility and work ethics were used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 25 and LISREL 8.8 software.
Results: There was a positive and significant relationship between organizational socialization and social capital with work ethics. Also, the correlation coefficient between the variables of work ethics and responsibility (r = 0.39) is positive and significant. At the same time, with the mediation of work ethics, the variables of organizational socialization and social capital can predict responsibility.
Conclusion: Socialization allows nurses to gain more knowledge and skills in their work. Through socialization, nurses become a social capital for the hospital, and socialization and social capital increase work ethic, which in turn increases their responsibility.
Nooshin Atashfeshan, Prof Mohammad Saidi-Mehrabad, Hamideh Razavi,
Volume 9, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Despite contribution to catastrophic accidents, human errors have been generally ignored in the design of human-machine (HM) systems and the determination of the level of automation (LOA). This paper aims to develop a method to estimate the level of automation in the early stage of the design phase considering both human and machine performance.
Methods: A quantitative method is used to evaluate the performance of the whole human-machine system by the human-in-the-loop fault tree analysis while a qualitative and cross-sectional method is used to estimate human errors using the CREAM technique. The data are collected from real cases that happened in the control room of the Ferdowsi power plant.
Results: Full automatic option with an average error of 0.013 had the lowest error rate, i.e. 1/8 of the error rate of the manual design. In addition, the CREAM analysis showed that the control room operators were not satisfied with the availability of procedures and Man-Machine Interface and operational support in general. Thus, on average, the reliability of the manual design is less than the reliability of the automatic setting.
Conclusion: High machine reliability has led to the fact that the fully automatic design would be one of the best design choices for human-machine systems. However, based on the previous studies, high automation may have some human-out-of-the-loop shortcomings. Thus, this study proposed solutions to overcome these disadvantages based on the importance of the control parameters or the essence of human involvement in some decision-making and execution tasks.
Fakhradin Ghasemi, Rashid Heidarimoghadam, Payam Khanlari,
Volume 9, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Hospital and medical staff use medical gloves to protect themselves and their patients from infectious agents. Wearing gloves may reduce manual dexterity and grip strength and interfere with work performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of wearing medical gloves on grip strength, manual dexterity, and perceived comfort.
Methods: 20 people (10 women, 10 men) participated in this study. Participants were tested in three gloveless modes, with latex gloves and with nitrile gloves with two tests, a 9-hole pegboard and a modified pegboard. Perceived comfort in working with gloves, wearing and removing gloves was also assessed using a subjective scale.
Results: The age range of participants was 20 to 40 years with an average of 29.45 years. There was a significant difference in manual dexterity between gloveless hands and nitrile gloves in the 9-hole pegboard test. In the modified pegboard test, gloveless hand manual dexterity was significantly different from both latex and nitrile gloves. The results also showed that wearing any type of glove significantly reduced the grip strength of individuals. The worst comfort rating was given to wearing gloves.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that wearing gloves reduces manual dexterity and grip strength. A modified pegboard test is also recommended to assess the manual dexterity of medical gloves. Latex and Nitrile gloves are difficult to wear and should be considered in designs.
Seyed Abolfazl Zakerian, - Bahram Kouhnavard,
Volume 9, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Electroencephalography is one of the non-invasive and relatively inexpensive methods that can be used to evaluate neurophysiology and cognitive functions. This systematic review study was performed with the aim of using electroencephalography (EEG) in ergonomics.
Methods: In this review study, all articles published in Persian and English on the application of electroencephalography (EEG) in ergonomics from March 20, 2010 to March 21, 2021 were reviewed. For this purpose, a systematic search of articles was performed using the keywords cognitive ergonomics, mental fatigue, electroencephalography, EEG and brain waves in the databases of PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of science, SID, Scopus, Magiran Iran Medex.
Results: Most studies were conducted between 2015 and 2020 (41 papers) and most of the subjects were car drivers. Selected articles were reviewed in seven areas of mental fatigue, mental workload, mental effort, visual fatigue, working memory load, emotions, stress, and error diagnosis. The journal Perceptual and Motor Skills, followed by Applied Ergonomics, published the largest number of related articles.
Conclusion: In the reviewed articles, the assessment of a person's mental states, especially when driving a vehicle, has been further studied and through it, tracking, monitoring and various tasks of working memory have been followed. Future research should focus on the use of computational methods that take into account the dynamic and unstable nature of EEG data. Such an approach could facilitate the development of fatigue detection systems and automated adaptive systems.
Mohsen Aliabadi, Ramin Rahmani, Ebrahim Darvishi, Maryam Farhadian, Masoud Shafiee Motlagh, Neda Mahdavi,
Volume 9, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract
Background: Exposure to vibration is one of the occupational agents that causes a variety of health effects. The aim of this study was to determine the association between exposure to human vibration and the physical performance of mining drivers.
Methods: In the present study, 65 drivers working in one of the Iron Ore mines, were asked to complete the standard questionnaire for assessing the level of disability of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH). Exposure to human vibration was measured using Svantek 106 vibrometer. Drivers' physical performance was assessed based on grip strength, Pegboard dexterity, and monofilament finger sensory tests. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software.
Results: The average vibration acceleration whole body (WBV) and hand-arm (HAV) were 1.00±0.23 and 2.46±0.68 m/s2 respectively. There was a significant relationship between exposure to HAV and grip strength and hand dexterity (p <0.05). According to the DASH score, 56.9% of drivers had mild and 43.1% had moderate upper limb disability. The results of the multiple regression model with a coefficient of determination of 0.207 showed that the WBV in the presence of other predictor variables had a significant effect on DASH score (p<0.05).
Conclusion: In mining truck drivers, WBV exposure was higher and HAV exposure was lower than the national exposure limits. The results confirmed that WBV caused by mining trucks is the most important risk factor affecting the level of drivers' disability.
Mohammad Sadegh Ghasemi, Ehsan Garosi, Naser Dehghan, Maryam Kaboli,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: A high workload is a major challenge to health care workers, especially first- line supporters, like nurse assistants, and this has many negative consequences. This study aimed to identify the factors affecting the workload of nurse assistants in one of Tehran hospitals.
Methods: The research is descriptive- qualitative using qualitative content analysis, with the participation of 13 nurse assistants selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi- structured interviews and after each interview, the data were loaded and analyzed in MAX QDA software and this process continued until data saturation. Please match the last sentence with the farsi version.
Results: In the findings of continuous data analysis, a total of 473 codes were found in the factors affecting workload in the process of nurse assistants' work system. Finally, they were classified into five categories of Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety model (person, task, organization, tools, equipment and environment).
Conclusion: Most factors affecting workload are obtained in the organizational component and the least in the environmental component of the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety model, which indicates the significant role played by interpersonal relationships in the workplace and hospital rules on the workload of nurse assistants.
Seyed Najmoddin Mousavi, Fariborz Fathi Chegeni,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The widespread and contagious nature of the covid-19 virus with it's daunting number of hospital admissions has had ill effects on the psychological well-being of nurses as front line workers. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of fear of COVID-19 on psychological well- being in nurses with the moderating role of resilience, in Khorramabad Shohadaye Ashayer Hospital.
Methods: The present research is a descriptive study in the branch of field studies in terms of applied purpose and data collection, using survey. The statistical population of the study included 230 nurses working in Khorramabad Shohadaye Ashayer Hospital. Based on Krejcie and Morgan's table, a sample size of 140 people was selected via stratified random sampling method. To measure the variables of the research, a questionnaire was used which included three sections of Fear of COVID-19, psychological well- being and resilience. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha method and its validity was confirmed using convergent validity. For data analysis, structural equation modeling and PLS software have been used.
Results: The results show that at the 95% confidence level, Fear of COVID-19 has a negative and significant effect on nurses' psychological well- being (P < 0.05; β = -0.509) and resilience has a moderating role in relation to Fear of COVID- 19 and psychological well- being (P < 0.05; β = -0.225).
Conclusion: According to the findings, it can be said that fear of Covid- 19 played a significant role in reducing the psychological well- being of nurses and, nurses with higher resilience showed less psychological well- being than nurses with lower resilience.
Mostafa Rahmiani Iranshahi, Masoud Shafiee Motlagh, Elahe Dortaj, Maryam Farhadian,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Visual comfort is an important and influential factor on safety, mental health, sleep quality, and musculoskeletal disorders of employees in the workplace. This study aimed to design and develop a questionnaire to assess the visual comfort of employees in the workplace.
Methods: The study was performed on 101 participants (88 men and13 women) in the food industry. First, the available lighting questionnaires in the field of lighting were reviewed, and a question bank was set up. Twenty questions were considered in two sections of natural and artificial lighting (10 questions in each section) based on the opinion of 10 experts in this field. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed using the content validity index (CVI) based on the comments of experts. To validate the questionnaire in the workplace, The lighting of employees' workstations was evaluated according to the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) standards and compared with the results of the questionnaire.
Results: The Cronbach's alpha of natural and artificial lighting visual comfort questionnaire was 0.858 and 0.922, respectively. The total CVI of the questionnaire was 1. There was a significant positive relationship between the score of the visual comfort questionnaire and the workstations' illumination (P = 0.001). More than 97% of employees who had workstations with the desired lighting reported excellent levels of visual comfort.
Conclusion: The visual comfort questionnaire had good and acceptable reliability and validity. This tool is recommended for the use of visual comfort asessments of employees in work environments given the fewer number of and simplicity of sentences.
Parichehr Rashidi-Molkesari, Mohsen Gorgani-Firoozjaei, Shahnaz Tabatabaei, Fatemeh Chaharaghran,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Musculoskeletal disorders and low quality of life are the most common problems among paddy farmers in the world. Paddy farmers are exposed to inappropriate postures, long working hours and stressful environmental conditions. The aim of this study was to compare different farming methods of rice cultivation (traditional and semi-modern) on the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and life quality of paddy farmers.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in rice fields with 150 paddy farmers as a sample group (100 traditional paddy farmers and 50 semi-modern paddy farmers). Musculoskeletal disorders and quality of life were assessed using the Nordic questionnaire and the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile, respectively.
Results: The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in the neck, lower back and shoulders is higher in traditional paddy farmers compared to farmers who work in semi-modern rice cultivation system. Present results demonstrated that there was no significant difference between various rice cultivation methods and musculoskeletal disorders on life quality. Furthermore, different farming methods of paddy cultivation have no significant effect on paddy farmers' life quality.
Conclusion: The prevalence of lower back musculoskeletal disorders among paddy farmers portrays the consequence from long-term exposure to inappropriate posture from strenous activity.
Mis Afrouz Rostampour, Mr Heidar Mohammadi, Mr Razzagh Rahimpour, Mis Fatemeh Sarvi, Mis Elahe Dortaj, Mr Mansour Ziaei, Mis Simin Safarpour, Mr Abdolrasoul Rahmani,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Mental and physical fatigue of airport staff reduces their job standards and productive concentration. The objective of this study was to examine the sleep quality and its effect on cognitive failure and job performance among airport staffs.
Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 200 staff of an airport were chosen by simple random sampling method. The data collecting tools were four questionnaires that comprised demographic characteristics, sleep quality, cognitive failures, and job performance. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and regression tests.
Results: Based on the findings, the mean total scores of the sleep quality, cognitive failures, and job performance were 6.78 ± 3.23, 65.22 ± 20.36 and 39.59 ± 5.59, respectively. The results showed that the mean score of sleep quality in the two areas of sleep latency (1.5 ± 0.82) and sleep duration (1.43 ± 1.05) was higher than other subscales. According to the findings, there was a significant inverse relationship between sleep quality score and cognitive failures score with job performance score (r = -0.195, P < 0.05), While the sleep quality score and cognitive failure score showed a positive and significant correlation (r = 0.389, P < 0.05).
Conclusion: The findings demonstrated a significant relationship between sleep quality and cognitive failure, so that with decreasing this factor, cognitive failure of airport staff also increased and the probability of the human error increased. Therefore, enhancing the sleep quality and comfort by providing ergonomic solutions the cognitive failure in staff and consequently job performance would be greatly prevented.
Solmaz Tabe-Afshar, Sahar Toofan, Arash Saghafi-Asl,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Workplace architecture is one of the most important factors influencing employees' health and wellbeing. Therefore, it is necessary to study the role of workplace design on the emergence of various types of health problems among employees. The present research aims to study the prevailing conditions at the case studied workplaces and to identify the role of factors influenced by interior layout (location-ergonomics, lighting, indoor air quality (IAQ), temperature, noise, design style, and cleaning) on the emergence of Sick Building Syndrome among employees.
Methods: In the present study, three administration buildings (roads and urban development office, construction engineering organization, and airport) in Urmia, Tabriz are investigated as case studies and a total of 226 employees working in these buildings are selected as samples. Then, they are asked to fill out a questionnaire to collect the required data. The reliability of the questionnaire is confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient.
Results: The findings indicate that despite the advantages of open plan layout for the organization of work environments, it still has many negative consequences such as too much noise and distraction, lack of ergonomics, congestion, reduced privacy, and the lack of personal control of environmental conditions. In general, it is not considered an efficient layout design for the workplace.
Conclusion: The results indicate that to effectively deal with the emergence of sick building syndrome and provide a healthy work environment, it is necessary to establish a balance between various parts in the workplace layout design including private office space, shared workplace, and/or open plan according to the nature and type of work while taking into account the factors and parameters influenced by the layout design and environmental properties.
Abbasali Jafari-Nodoushan, Mohammad Reza Zare Banadkouki, Niloufar Naddafi,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: With the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, staff's job satisfaction and mental health potentially threatened especially in health care centers. The study aimed to investigate the effect of the COVID-19 virus on job satisfaction and mental health of staff health care centers of Yazd city in 2020.
Methods: The study is a descriptive-survey study and was conducted by selecting 265 stratified random samples among the staff of health care centers in Yazd city. Research tools include the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire, and the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale. Data analysis was performed by ANOVA, Chi-square independence, and Pearson correlation tests.
Results: The results showed that staff's job satisfaction and mental health were moderate and serious respectively, and COVID-19 anxiety has a significant correlation with staff's job satisfaction (r = -0.611, P = 0.009) and mental health (r = -0.826, P = 0.001). Age, gender, and marriage had a significant impact on job satisfaction, mental health, and COVID-19 anxiety (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: It is suggested that healthcare providers increase their financial and moral support to healthcare staff during conditions like the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, introducing rotational staff and hiring new staff is a considerate action that can be taken by the relevant managers to improve the staff's job satisfaction and mental health.
Ehsan Houshyar, Hadi Daneshmandi,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Among the various agricultural activities, working and driving with farm tractors in different weather conditions lead to fatigue and burnout. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sleep quality of farm tractors drivers in different weather conditions.
Methods: Amongst tractor drivers in Behbahan, Eqlid, and Kavar, 90 participants (Kavar: 27; Eqlid: 33; Behbahan: 30) were selected. The required data was gathered using the demographic characteristics questionnaire and standard questionnaire Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). We used Kruskal-Wallis and Post-hoc pairwise comparison tests to analyze the data (α = 0.05).
Results: The results showed that there were no significant differences in sleep quality and sleep quality parameters between different region tractors drivers (P > 0.05); but there were significant differences in mental sleep quality (P = 0.001), in terms of delays in falling asleep (P = 0.02), going to sleep duration (P = 0.04) and between Kavar and Behbehan tractor drivers, and also there are significant differences in going to sleep duration (P = 0.04) between Kavar and Eqlid tractor drivers.
Conclusion: Working in critical cold weather (like nights in Eqlid) or critical hot weather (like noon in Behbahan) should be strongly forbidden by providing with a suitable working schedule especially while tractor drivers without driver’s cabin. Drivers’ cabins safeguards drivers against temperature, wind and dust, and, therefore increase their comfort and sleep quality.
Hadi Miri, Seyed Sadraldin Shojaaldin, Amirhosein Barati, Maliheh Hadadnejad, Shahram Ahanjan,
Volume 10, Issue 1 (7-2022)
Abstract
Objectives: Ankle sprain leads to a decrease in proprioception and awareness of the sense of motion with motor consequences. On the other hand, damage to this joint is an important factor in affecting balance and consequently re-injury. Strengthening the factors that help maintain balance and posture, can be a basic strategy in the treatment of balance and postural problems, as well as injuries.
Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 30 patients with chronic ankle instability were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Both groups were pre-tested and the experimental group performed core stability exercises against gravity for six weeks. Post-test was taken again from both groups. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of covariance. Statistical operations were performed at a significant level of α ≤ 0.05.
Results: Postural control index in the experimental group was higher in the first position and lower than the other in the sixth position. The mean of the postural control index in the experimental group was significant compared to the control group (α ≤ 0.05).
Conclusion: Performing exercises for core stability or training on unstable surfaces deploying sensory receptors is likely to cause the muscles to be more actively involved and the central nervous system to receive more appropriate and effective stimuli from the nerves of different sensory receptors, and thus this exercises improve postural stability.
Mehdi Fadaei, Mahdi Homayounfar, Mansour Soufi, Amir Daneshvar,
Volume 10, Issue 1 (7-2022)
Abstract
Objectives: Considering the importance of employees' behavior in service organizations and its significant impact on their success and failure, the present study investigates the environmental and ergonomic factors affecting the mental health and behavior of employees in one of the branches of Islamic Azad University.
Methods: The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of data gathering and analysis. The statistical population of the study includes: 315 employees of Rasht Branch of Azad University, out of them 196 people were selected by random sampling method and the necessary data were collected using a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling and SMART PLS3 software were used to test the hypotheses.
Results: According to the findings, workplace layout affects on use of work equipment (0.389), use of office chair (0.252) and environmental conditions (0.538), but the effect of workplace layout on the posture of employees was not confirmed in 5 percent significance level. Also, the effect of posture (0.586), layout (0.440), work equipment (0.458), office chair (0.345) and environmental conditions (0.550) on public health and also the effect of general health (0.690) and environmental conditions (0.158) on employees’ behavior is significant. Examining the indirect relationships of the research model also shows that workplace layout affects employee behavior through the general health and environmental conditions. Workplace layout influences employees’ behavior through work equipment, office chair, environment conditions and general health.
Conclusion: The indirect effect of workplace layout on employees’ behavior through public health has the highest impact (0.304), therefore, making policies for the general health, can improve employees’ behavior.
Mahsa Heidari, Farshid Babapour Mofrad, Hamed Shah-Hosseini,
Volume 10, Issue 1 (7-2022)
Abstract
Objectives: Given the benefits of controlling Body mass index (BMI) on the quality of life, BMI classification based on facial features can be used for developing telemedicine systems and eliminate the limitations of existing measuring tools especially for paralyzed people, that enable physicians to help people online when faced with situations like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: In this study, new features and some previous-work features were extracted from face photos of white, black and Asian people, ages 18 to 81, with normal and overweight BMI. Faces were evaluated in three different steps. First, all faces were considered as one group. Second, they were divided into elliptical, round and square shape groups and third, they were separated based on gender. Then for each step, the performances of Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) were evaluated with all of the facial features and with selected features based on Pearson correlation coefficient. Matlab R2015b was used for implementation.
Results: The results revealed that features with higher correlation improved the accuracy of both algorithms. RF best performance using highly correlated features for 97 women and 92 men was in women and square-face groups (91.75% and 87.30% respectively), and SVM best performance was in women group (94.84%), square-face and round-face groups (84.12% and 84% respectively).
Conclusion: Accuracy of BMI classification based on facial features can be improved by categorizing faces into shapes and gender, and selecting appropriate features. The findings can be used for performance enhancement of telemedicine applications, especially for helping the differently-abled.
Azam Maleki-Ghahfarokhi, Iman Dianat, Mohammad Asghari Jafarabadi, Mohamad Parnianpour, Mahmood-Reza Azghani, Maryam Khosravifar, Sina Samadi,
Volume 10, Issue 1 (7-2022)
Abstract
Objectives: The comfort questionnaire for hand tools (CQH) is a subjective measure for exploring the starting points for improving hand tool design. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Farsi version of the CQH.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, which was conducted among 163 university students, the 17-question CQH was translated into Farsi with a translation back-translation procedure. Content validity was assessed by a panel of 10 experts. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was applied for determining construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) were used for assessing internal consistency and test-retest reliability, respectively. Ceiling and floor effects were also estimated for evaluating the feasibility of the measure.
Results: The CQH showed good content validity. Content validity index (CVI) ranged from 0.80 to 1.00 and Content Validity Ratio (CVR) ranged 0.62-1.00. EFA led to extraction of two factors from the data. The first one was mostly related to functionality and physical interaction and the second one, was generally about adverse body effects. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.74 and test-retest reliability was 0.74 (95% CI = 0.58 to 0.86) which both were satisfactory. There were no (0%) ceiling and floor effects.
Conclusion: The Farsi version of CQH is an acceptable and useful instrument for evaluating hand tools comfort.
