Search

The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) has accelerated technology advancement across the manufacturing sector. The technologies of Industry 4.0 make it possible for manufacturing processes to be more efficient while also bringing about changes in human work that may pose new risks to employee wellbeing and test their current abilities. Technologies, such as virtual reality and augmented reality have a significant impact to revise the position and responsibilities of human in the manufacturing environment. Thus, ergonomic perspectives have evolved from focusing solely on adjusting the human to the other components of the work system physically and psychosocially into upgrading cognitive skills to process more information. There are very few ergonomics-related studies in the literature with reference to Industry 4.0 emerging technologies. Especially, research on emphasizing the importance of the concurrent development of technical and ergonomic skills in the industrial setting is a necessity in this modern era. This research aims to explain the modified manufacturing environment, define the role of the human in this new production settings and describe the cognitive modifications required to fit into the Industry 4.0 habitat.

Recently, many postural analysis techniques have been developed in order to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal problems. Methods such as rapid entire body assessment are capable of analyzing the most constant or awkward positions, but the selection of these postures is subjective. To make an objective postural analysis, devices such as electromagnetic trackers can be used continuously during the job task, but utilizing such devices is costly. Therefore, in this study a cost-effective marker-based video processing algorithm is developed for measuring three-dimensional (3D) information regarding both the location and the orientation of human posture. To investigate the precision of the measurements, an experiment was designed. With the average of 2.88 mm and 1.34° for location and orientation, respectively, the algorithm was able to measure six degrees of freedom information regarding 3D space. Furthermore, the precision of the algorithm is found to be significantly affected by the marker pattern.

The intensive and repetitive use of touch-screens may pose significant problems, such as ergonomic pain or musculoskeletal disorders. This research aims to study the effect of using mobile touch-screen devices on the human musculoskeletal system during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and to develop a model for classifying the effects of musculoskeletal stress (pain and discomfort) on the performance of educational activities. The Cornell musculoskeletal discomfort questionnaire was given to 544 participants (71% males and 29% females). An Association Rule Mining approach was applied to illustrate the correlation, and multiple machine-learning models - used to predict the impact of pain and discomfort on different body regions - were applied to determine risk levels that might interfere with the ability to perform daily activities. Most musculoskeletal disorders were reported in the neck region and lower back (64.33% and 55.33% respectively), followed by upper back (44.30%) and the right shoulder (38%). Analysis of association rules showed high positive correlation between the lower back and the neck (support = 43%, confidence = 77%). Additionally, it was found that the radial basis function network has the highest accuracy in prediction (84%). The results of the radial basis function model showed that interference in educational activities can be predicted by using pain indicators in body parts resulting from touchscreen device usage. Die intensiewe en herhalende gebruik van raakskerms kan hewige probleme veroorsaak soos ergonomiese pyn of muskuloskeletale afwykings. Hierdie navorsing se doel is om die effek van die gebruik van mobiele raakskermtoestelle op die menslike muskuloskeletale stelsel tydens die COVID-19 pandemie inperking te bestudeer en om 'n model te ontwikkel vir die klassifikasie van die invloed van muskuloskeletale stres (pyn en ongemak) op opvoedkundige aktiwiteite. Die Cornell muskuloskeletale ongemakvraelys is aan 544 deelnemers gegee (71% mans en 29% vroue). Assosiasie Reel Ontginning benadering is toegepas om die korrelasie te illustreer en veelvuldige masjienleermodelle - wat gebruik word om die impak van pyn en ongemak op verskillende liggaamstreke te voorspel - is toegepas om risiko-vlakke te bepaal wat kan inmeng met die vermoe van daaglikse aktiwiteite uitvoer. Die meeste muskuloskeletale afwykings is in die nekstreek en laerug (64.33% en 55.33% onderskeidelik) aangemeld, gevolg deur bo-rug (44.30%) en die regterskouer (38%). Ontleding van assosiasie reels het hoe positiewe korrelasie tussen die lae rug en die nek getoon (ondersteuning = 43%, selfvertroue = 77%). Daar is ook gevind dat die radiale basisfunksienetwerk die hoogste akkuraatheid in voorspelling het (84%). Die resultate van die radiale basis funksie model het getoon dat inmenging in opvoedkundige aktiwiteite voorspel kan word deur pynaanwysers in liggaamsdele te gebruik wat ontstaan uit die gebruik van aanraakskermtoestelle.

People using mobile touch screen devices (MTSDs) have been exposed to the musculoskeletal disorder because of physical risk factors. As being lightweight; the latest generations of MTSDs are preferred for personal and work purposes as they are comfortable to operate and easy to carry. Furthermore, they have many advantageous facilities compared to conventional devices. This study aims to survey previous researches on the effects of MTSDs use on the musculoskeletal disorder. In this scope; published researches on musculoskeletal disorders, postural problems, and kinematic activities at upper extremities among people who use mobile phones or tablets for daily use are investigated. The articles reviewed were cited based on the research made from Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, Elsevier Science Direct, and Google Scholar. The method selected in this study was to review published studies from January 2010 to December 2019 on occurrence of discomfort symptoms in different positions of the body parts and muscular activities in upper extremities among people who use MTSDs.

The dependency of the society on the hydrocarbon as an energy source has increased tremendously, leading to the rapid development of this process industry. A fire accident that occurred on the 6th of July 2016 at a petrochemical complex plant in the southern part of Iran, Mahshahr petrochemical zone, has called for a more robust and all-inclusive efforts toward ameliorating and forestalling future occurrence. The on-site investigations concluded that the fire was triggered by the leakages through the ruptured blind flange gasket in the pipeline. Thus, certain inquiries on the development of robust process safety technologies gave useful insight into those capable enough to identify and handle various uncertainties in the short and long time basis, to forestall catastrophic accidents. Therefore, it is worthy and pertinent to ascertain whether process safety technology is developing correspondingly at the same pace with the process industry. Are the correct things done in the right way? If yes, then why do these catastrophic accidents keep happening? If no, how can these uncertainties in the process be properly and adequately handled, contained and managed? Failure to provide adequate and incontrovertible answers to these questions toward taking uncompromising safety actions is an invitation to more accidents in the near future. In this study, explanation on how to identify and cope with various uncertainties in process safety science is provided through learning from a real case study of a fire accident that occurred in the aforementioned petrochemical plant.

Recently, with the emergence of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), smart systems, machine learning (ML) within artificial intelligence (AI), predictive maintenance (PdM) approaches have been extensively applied in industries for handling the health status of industrial equipment. Due to digital transformation towards I4.0, information techniques, computerized control, and communication networks, it is possible to collect massive amounts of operational and processes conditions data generated form several pieces of equipment and harvest data for making an automated fault detection and diagnosis with the aim to minimize downtime and increase utilization rate of the components and increase their remaining useful lives. PdM is inevitable for sustainable smart manufacturing in I4.0. Machine learning (ML) techniques have emerged as a promising tool in PdM applications for smart manufacturing in I4.0, thus it has increased attraction of authors during recent years. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the recent advancements of ML techniques widely applied to PdM for smart manufacturing in I4.0 by classifying the research according to the ML algorithms, ML category, machinery, and equipment used, device used in data acquisition, classification of data, size and type, and highlight the key contributions of the researchers, and thus offers guidelines and foundation for further research.

Computer-based models and simulations are critical to the design, development, and optimization of smart manufacturing systems required for Industry 4.0. Modeling and Simulation technologies are essential to address the challenges in the adoption of Industry 4.0 today, such as the creation of smart manufacturing systems. Recently many researchers have contributed to modeling and simulation of smart factories in Industry 4.0, also known as Factory 4.0. This paper presents a systematic literature review of recent developments in modeling, simulation, and optimization of Smart Factories. It indicates the most frequent contexts, problems, methods, tools, related to simulation and optimization of smart factories. This paper fills this gap by identifying and analyzing research on simulation of smart factories.

Industry 4.0 requires a paradigm shift from the traditional manufacturing practices and work environment to a dynamic workplace where humans and machines must work together as a human cyber-physical system for increased productivity and flexibility. It necessitates novel interactions between operators and machines, consequently leading to the transformation of a traditional operator to Operator 4.0 or Smart Operator. Improvement in operators and engineers’ cognitive skills is imminent to adapt to Industry 4.0 working environment. Wearable technology, sensors, or virtual reality equipment enhances cognitive capabilities of the Operator 4.0. Thus cognitive skills of the smart operators are required more rather than the physical strength. This paper presents a review of the recent developments in cognitive ergonomics of Smart Operator or Operator 4.0 in the context of Industry 4.0.

Recently, researchers have proposed various maturity models (MMs) for assessing Industry 4.0 (I4.0) adoption, however, few have proposed a readiness framework (F/W) integrated with technology forecasting (TF) to evaluate the growth of I4.0 adoption and consequently provide a roadmap for the implementation of I4.0 for smart manufacturing enterprises. The aims of this study were (1) to review the research related to existing I4.0 MMs and F/Ws, (2) to propose a modular MM with four dimensions, five levels, 60 second-level dimensions, and 246 sub-dimensions, and a generic F/W with four layers and seven hierarchy levels, and (3) to conduct a survey-based case study of an automobile parts manufacturing enterprise by applying the MM and F/W to assess the I4.0 adoption level and TF model to anticipate the growth of I4.0. MM and F/W integrated with TF provides insight into the current situation and growth of the enterprise regarding I4.0 adoption, by identifying the gap areas, and provide a foundation for I4.0 integration. Case study findings show that the enterprise’s overall maturity score is 2.73 out of 5.00, and the forecasted year of full integration of I4.0 is between 2031 and 2034 depending upon the policy decisions.

The number of people who use computers for business and personal purposes increases as technology grows. The application of ergonomic practices on computer workstations reduces the musculoskeletal discomfort experienced and increases the overall satisfaction of the users. Keyboards are available in various systems, from computers to mobile devices, and have difference shapes and sizes. The keyboard size and shape is known to influence the user’s upper extremities. Alternative keyboard designs help diminish the pain in the arms that occurs due to awkward arm postures. Most previous studies tried to optimize the keyboard layout based on ergonomic typing and the frequency of letters’ co-occurrence. This research considers the frequency of the appearance of the most used 3,000 words in the English language. First, the frequency of each letter pair is calculated by the Text Analyzer. Then, a genetic algorithm is applied to design an ergonomically optimized keyboard to minimize the total distance of finger travel among the selected alphanumeric characters. The results showed that the distance travelled obtained by the proposed keyboard layout is less than that for the QWERTY keyboard in all different types of texts, in which an average of 6.04% improvement was achieved. Therefore, the proposed design can be used for keyboards to reduce time and fatigue.

This study aimed at establishing fault tree analysis (FTA) using expert opinion to compute the probability of an event. To find the probability of the top event (TE), all probabilities of the basic events (BEs) should be available when the FTA is drawn. In this case, employing expert judgment can be used as an alternative to failure data in an awkward situation. The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process as a standard technique is used to give a specific weight to each expert, and fuzzy set theory is engaged for aggregating expert opinion. In this regard, the probability of BEs will be computed and, consequently, the probability of the TE obtained using Boolean algebra. Additionally, to reduce the probability of the TE in terms of three parameters (safety consequences, cost and benefit), the importance measurement technique and modified TOPSIS was employed. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated with a real-life case study.

Background. Heavy truck drivers are exposed to various psychological, psychosocial and physiological factors, some of which can cause musculoskeletal discomfort in different body regions. Purpose. ...

The risk of development of musculoskeletal discomfort problems among children and adolescents is high as the development of their musculoskeletal system is still continuing. Therefore, it is very important to learn the habits and attitudes of children and adolescents, the location and duration of the use of these technologies, and the relationship between musculoskeletal discomforts. This study aims to investigate the relationship between duration of daily exposure of children and adolescents to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices and the musculoskeletal discomfort experienced. A two-part questionnaire, which are adopted by Dutch Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (DMQ) and the Student Specific Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (SS-CMDQ), was used to gather data from children and adolescents in public and private secondary and high schools in Northern Cyprus. The survey findings showed that the participants experienced discomfort mostly in the neck, upper back, lower back, and shoulders. The correlation analysis indicated that there is a relationship between prolonged use of ICT devices for many hours and musculoskeletal discomfort. Also, it was found that there is a significant relationship between daily use of desktop, laptop, or tablet computers for different purposes (activities) and musculoskeletal discomfort. The musculoskeletal discomfort was observed to occur mostly due to the use of ICT devices for communication, surfing the Internet, reading, and writing. The results of the analysis showed that shoulder, upper back, upper arm, forearm, and hand muscles are affected by the use of ICT devices.

Numerous office employees who work with computer workstations endure various musculoskeletal discomforts every day. This study intends to reduce musculoskeletal discomfort caused by desktop compute...

Uses and gratifications theory (U&G) is a media use paradigm from mass communications research that guides the assessment of consumer motivation for media usage and access. Recent adaptations of U&G research to the internet are incomplete and Internet specific gratifications, and have not identified new Inter-net specific gratifications. The development of social networking sites (SNS) is one of the key phrases when next generation of Internet is concerned. The purpose of this research is to present an analytical framework for explaining uses and gratification for SNS applications. Therefore, this paper investigates in detail how and why people use SNS applications, and what factors make SNS applications particularly appealing, through uses and gratifications perspectives. Our findings show that most of the usability and functionality factors are positively correlated. Except for the Skype application, all usability and functionality factors were identified to contribute significantly to select the SNS application. WhatsApp (total weighted average = 4.13/5.0) is the application which dominates the other applications from the usability and functionality perspectives. Even though Facebook in the most downloaded and mostly used application, our findings provides that the performance of the application in terms of usability and functionality is not satisfactory. This study also showed that, younger and older generations have different taste of SNS application use and different preference for the functionality and usability factors. Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the publisher version (published version) of this article is only available via subscription. You may click URI (with DOI: 10.1007/s11135-015-0236-7) and have access to the Publisher Version of this article through the publisher web site or online databases, if your Library or institution has subscription to the related journal or publication.

With the recent technological advances, there is a shift from traditional education to tablet-assisted learning environment. This study compares the problems experienced by students in traditional education and tablet-assisted educational activities. The impact of traditional education on students has been discussed by a comprehensive analysis of the literature. The findings showed that the physical discomforts due to tablet-use are intensively experienced at neck, upper back, lower back, and shoulder regions, which are very similar to those experienced in traditional education. Reading and writing activities have impact on the shoulders, upper back, and the left upper arm. The developed risk assessment model has shown that both educational and extra-curricular activities result in significant risk factors of physical discomfort. Analysis of the muscular activity data implied that there were significant differences among muscle groups for each respondent, which validates and verifies our risk assessment model.

Amaç: Diş hekimliğimesleği, uzun süreli statik kas yüklemesi, yüksek oranda tekrarlanan ve monotonçalışma, dokuların kuvvetle zorlanması veya mekanik olarak sıkıştırılması vetitreşimli araçların kullanılmasını içerir. Bu nedenle diş hekimlerinin, maruzkaldıkları mesleki kas-iskelet rahatsızlıkları (MKİSR) yüzünden maliyetlisağlık sorunları yaşayarak erken emekli olmaları söz konusudur. Bu çalışmanınamacı dişhekimlerinin yaşamakta olduğu kas iskelet sistemi rahatsızlıklarınınrisk faktörlerini tanımlamak ve bölgesel olarak tespit edip, etki dereceleriniincelemektir. Gereçler: Buçalışma kapsamında bir anket hazırlanmış olup, çeşitli üniversitelerin,hastahanelerin ve diş kliniklerinde görev yapan 67 dişhekimi tarafındandoldurulmuştur. Diş hekimlerinin altı vücut bölgesine en yaygın tedaviyöntemleri esnasında EMG ölçümleri yapılmıştır. İstatistiksel olarak anlamlı veMKİSR’nın oluşmasına sebep olan faktörleri belirlemek amacıyla DiskriminantAnaliz yöntemi kullanılmıştır. EMG deneyinden elde edilen sonuçları ise ANOVAkullanılarak belirlenen MKİSR faktörleri teyit edilmiştir.Bulgular: Diş hekimlerinintedavi esnasında en sık rastlanan pozisyon statik ve uzun süreli oturma / durmapozisyonda oldukları tespit edilmiştir. Son 12 ayda yaşanan kas iskelet sistemirahatsızlıklarının en çok görülmekte olduğu bölgeler boyun, el/bilek, üst sırt,ve omuzlar olarak saptanmıştır. Son 7 günde ise en çok dirsek, ayaklar, kalça,ve bilek/el bölgelerinde rahatsızlık yaşandığı tespit edilmiştir. Sonuçlar: Dişhekimlerinin uygulamakta olduğu endodonti, dolgu, diş çekimi, muayene, veçıkarılabilir protez tedavilerinin, vücut bölgeleriyle etkileşerek kas-iskeletsistemi rahatsızlıklarına yol açtığı ortaya çıkmıştır. Ancak, vücut bölgesi dişçekimi, endodonti ve diş muayenesi esneasında oluşabilecek tek anlamlı riskfaktörü olarak bulunmuştur., Objectives: Dentistryprofession involves in prolonged static muscle loads, highly repetitive andmonotonous work, high force exertion or mechanical compression of tissues, andusing vibrated tools. Therefore dentists are exposed to work-relatedmusculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs), which results in costly health problems andearly retirements. This research aims to determine the risk factors ofmusculoskeletal discomforts among dentists, and to identify the impact of thedental tasks on the body regions during particular treatments.Materialsand Methods: Aquestionnaire is created and fulfilled by 67 dentists from universities,hospitals, and dental offices. Electromyography studies were applied on sixbody regions of randomly selected three dentists during most common dentaltreatments. Discriminant Analysis was applied to determine whether a set ofvariables is effective in predicting category membership, and to identifystatistically significant factor(s) which contribute(s) formation of theWRMSDs. ANOVA was utilized to analyze the results which were obtained from sEMGexperiment and to determine the risk factors of work related musculoskeletaldisorders. Results: The most common positionof the dentists while performing their profession was static and prolongedsitting / standing position. Musculoskeletal discomforts were experiencedduring the past 12 months in neck, hand / wrist, upper back, and shoulderregions; and during the past 7 days in elbows, feet, hip, and wrist / handregions.Conclusions: There is no significantfactor on dental filling therapy, tooth cleaning, fixed prosthodontics, andremovable prosthodontics treatments. However, body region is the onlysignificant factor on tooth extraction, endodontic and dental examinationtreatments.

Educational ergonomics focuses on the interaction between educational performance and educational design. By improving the design or pointing out the possible problems, educational ergonomics can be utilized to have positive impacts on the student performance and thus on education process. Laptops and tablet computers are becoming widely used by school children and beginning to be used effectively for educational purposes. As the latest generation of laptops and tablet computers are mobile and lightweight compared to conventional personal computers, they support student-centred interaction-based learning. However, these technologies have been introduced into schools with minimal adaptations to furniture or attention to ergonomics. There are increasing reports of an association between increased musculoskeletal (MSK) problems in children and use of such technologies. Although children are among the users of laptops and tablet computers both in their everyday lives and at schools, the literature investigating MSK activities and possible MSK discomfort regarding children using portable technologies is limited. This study reviews the literature to identify published studies that investigated posture, MSK activities, and possible MSK discomfort among children using mobile technologies (laptops or tablet computers) for educational purposes. An electronic search of the literature published in English between January 1994 and January 2014 was performed in several databases. The literature search terms were identified and combined to search the databases. The search results that the resources investigating MSK outcomes of laptop or tablet use of children are very scarce. This review points out the research gaps in this field, and identifying areas for future studies. Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the publisher version (published version) of this article is only available via subscription. You may click URI and have access to the Publisher Version of this article through the publisher web site or online databases, if your Library or institution has subscription to the related journal or publication.

Occupational injuries pose a major problem in workplaces where computers are widely used. Intensive, repetitive and long period computer use results in costly health problems (direct cost), and lost productivity (indirect cost). Yet, the effect of musculoskeletal discomfort and their frequencies associated with the use of computers have not received considerable attention. This paper presents the findings of a risk assessment model through a scientific research to determine the effect of discomfort factors that contribute to musculoskeletal disorders resulting from intensive use of computers in the workplaces. In this context a questionnaire was given to 130 intensive computer users working in the university sector. A list of significant predictor variables for musculoskeletal disorders was developed to assess and analyze workplace ergonomics, worker attitudes and experiences on computer keyboard and mouse. The main focus of the current research is to seek and provide evidence that symptoms of musculoskeletal discomfort and the frequency of these symptoms are significant in the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs). This study provides the evidence that, ache and pain are the most common types of discomforts in all body regions. The discomforts were more pronounced at neck, shoulder, upper back, hand/wrist, and lower back regions. The risk factors determined by the risk assessment model were validated through ANOVA of the sEMG records for the control and test groups. The findings indicated that for each test group respondent, the mean musculoskeletal strain experienced differs in time, but the same is not true for the control group. Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the publisher version (published version) of this article is only available via subscription. You may click URI and have access to the Publisher Version of this article through the publisher web site or online databases, if your Library or institution has subscription to the related journal or publication.

Using computers for long durations and repetitively lead to costly health problems and reduced productivity among computer users. One of the best preventive actions is proved to be ergonomic interventions. However consulting ergonomics experts would be very expensive especially due to the fact that such interventions should be repeated periodically. Expert systems (ES) can be the solution for dealing with these problems. A rule-based expert system to analyze and evaluate the working conditions of computer users by ergonomics standards was designed. The knowledge base of this expert system was acquired from OSHA’s and Washington state ergonomic standards. Knowledge base is the source of information used to build an expert system. CLIPS was used to construct this ES. Risk factors which lead to formation of WRMSDs were identified; the computer user was aimed to be notified about the existence of WRMSDs hazards in the workplace, and was guided to avoid WRMSDs risk factors. After having this ES available to 100 computer users and analyzing the results, the effectiveness of the constructed ES was validated through comparing the ES outcome with OSHA standards. The significance of this study is to help the organizations to overcome costly health damages and productivity-reduction and making expert instructions available to everyone. Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the publisher version (published version) of this article is only available via subscription. You may click URI and have access to the Publisher Version of this article through the publisher web site or online databases, if your Library or institution has subscription to the related journal or publication.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, 1997) in the USA defines Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) as a disorder that affects a part of the body’s musculoskeletal system, which includes bones, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage, blood vessels and spinal discs. These are the injuries that result from repeated motions, vibrations and forces placed on human bodies while performing various job actions. The individual factors that can contribute to musculoskeletal symptoms include heredity, physical condition, previous injury, pregnancy, poor diet, and lifestyle. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders occur when there is a mismatch between the physical requirements of the job and the physical capacity of the human body (Korhan, 2010). Musculoskeletal disorders are work-related when the work activities and work conditions significantly contribute to their occurrence, but not necessarily the sole or significant determinant of causation. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) describe a wide range of inflammatory and degenerative conditions affecting the muscles, tendons, ligaments, joint, peripheral nerves, and supporting blood vessels. These conditions result in pain and functional impairment and may affect especially the shoulder (Westgaard, 2000). The file in this item is the publisher version (published version) of the article.

Occupational injuries pose a major problem in workplaces where computers are widely used. Intensive, repetitive and long period computer use results in costly health problems (direct cost), and lost productivity (indirect cost). This paper presents the findings from a scientific research to determine the effect of musculoskeletal discomfort factors that contribute to musculoskeletal disorders resulting from intensive use of computers in the workplaces. In this context, a questionnaire was given to 84 intensive computer users working for the university sector in North Cyprus. The present article aims at investigating the factors that contribute to such disorders using a questionnaire and a mathematical model, which is developed by assessing and analyzing workplace ergonomics, worker attitudes and experiences on computer use. The findings from this study shows that the gender (OR=3.37, CI: 2.38-4.77), psychosocial factors (like working with computers, OR=0.050, CI: 0.001-0.623), office ergonomics qualities such as availability of foot support [OR= 0.295, CI: 0.092-0.041] and availability of sufficient lightening [OR=3.477, CI:1.232-9.810] were significant factors of the formation of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs). Additionally, it was shown that physical exposures are associated with increased risk of upper extremity disorders. The current research also provides an evidence that the symptoms of musculoskeletal discomfort (such as pain), and the frequency of these symptoms were also significant in the development of WRMSDs. The file in this item is the publisher version (published version) of the article.

This paper mainly examines anthropometric data, data regarding the habits, experiences and attitudes of the students about their tablet/laptop/desktop computer use, in addition to self-reported musculoskeletal discomfort levels and frequencies of students participating in a tablet-assisted interactive education programme. A two-part questionnaire was used to collect data. Results revealed that students are experiencing musculoskeletal discomforts highly at the neck, lower back and upper back regions.. The survey results are of critical importance because making reasonable recommendations to the new generations for healthy use of desktop/laptop/tablet computers is only possible if we can understand the relationships and risk factors involved in and eliminate the risks to prevent musculoskeletal discomfort.

This article investigates whether the use of Activity Based Costing (ABC), Just-in-Time (JIT), and Total Quality Management (TQM) as strategic initiatives lead to improved financial performance in the Turkish textile industry. Strong evidence emerged that there is a strong positive association between using ABC, JIT or TQM and improvement in financial performance. This result confirms the previous results in terms of the relationship between the using of strategic initiatives and improvement in financial performance. Keywords : Activity Based Costing (ABC), Just-in-Time (JIT), Total Quality Management (TQM) IFE PsychologIA Vol. 13(2) 2005: 1-8

This study applies Brown-Gibson model of weighted evaluation of both objective and subjective parameters for automobile selection. In addition to the input from the NPV calculations, we set 15 subjective attributes and estimate the best investment strategy based on the objective and subjective factors. Results obtained from NPV and Brown-Gibson model are inconsistent. Further evidence suggests that mileage is the most sensitive influencing factor while making the investment decision and even a small change in this factor changes the decision completely from one alternative to another. Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the publisher version (published version) of this article is only available via subscription. You may click URI and have access to the Publisher Version of this article through the publisher web site or online databases, if your Library or institution has subscription to the related journal or publication.