In recent decades, many manufacturing industries have globalized their operations and the Canadian manufacturing sector has experienced dramatic downsizing. For a manufacturing company to succeed therefore, it is necessary for them to operate with a global perspective. In the area of fire safety, this requires understanding of, and compliance with, global regulatory requirements. This research develops a systematic approach that can be utilized to analyze and compare the complex fire safety regulatory requirements that are stipulated for a selected topic in various countries. The approach developed is sufficiently general that it can be leveraged to compare and contrast global standards in any field or discipline. The methodology outlines six aspects of the regulatory environment that must be considered in sorting standards and then uses spreadsheets and a mind mapping program to elucidate the many relationships that exist amongst the current standards. In this work, flammability test requirements for public transportation seating are studied, with a major emphasis on seating for railway applications. Requirements for seating in aviation, automotive (both cars and buses) and military vehicles are included in the discussion for comparative purposes. Fire is a complex phenomenon that is difficult to characterize. The legislated testing protocols reflect this complexity with some geographic jurisdictions mandating as many as six different types of fire testing for rail seating. This work looks in depth at two of the main types of fire testing: flame spread testing and toxic effluent testing. Flame spread testing was chosen because it is widely required, and toxic effluent testing was chosen because of the many complexities and ambiguities present amongst these standards. Eleven flame-spread tests are compared on a semi-quantitative basis, and eight fire effluent toxicity tests are discussed on a qualitative basis. The technique developed was useful to elucidate the relationships, similarities and differences amongst the fire safety requirements for transportation seating. There are large differences in requirements among transportation sectors as well as on a geographical basis. Using this technique, it was possible to categorize the flame spread tests into two groups and to compare the relative intensity of the tests within each of these subsets. The fire effluent toxicity tests varied so much in approach that only qualitative comparisons were possible.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Den gemensamma utemiljön är viktig för de boende i flerbostadshus, framförallt för de som inte har egna privata uteplatser i bostaden. Utemiljön måste dock utformas så att den ger så många önskvärda funktioner som möjligt till den stora heterogena skaran boende som kommer att bo här under husets livstid. Speciellt då olika åldersgrupper kan ha varierande krav och önskemål gällande vad som önskas och prioriteras på den gemensamma bostadsgården. Brister i den gemensamma utemiljön kan ha stora konsekvenser för de boendes trivsel, men också för hur bostadsområdet uppfattas, och hur lätt det är att hyra ut bostäderna och vad hyresgästerna är villiga att betala. Då få bostadsområden planeras strängt med endast en samhälls- eller åldersgrupp i åtanke genom byggnadernas långa livslängd så blev det en fråga om att prioritera. Vilka funktioner ansågs viktigast och vilka var önskvärda? därefter kunde platstillgång och kostnader bedömas och slutligen val göras. Arbetet ämnade granska hur den gemensamma bostadsgården upplevdes och användes i tre stycken flerbostadshus fastigheter i de östra stadsdelarna av Västerås. Granskningen omfattade också vilka funktioner som hade prioriterats och vilka som var de mest brukade. Därmed så hade också eventuella förslag till ändringar skapats, vilka av dessa som kunde tänkas vara överförbara och applicerbara till liknande objekt undersöktes. Som en grund utfördes en litteraturstudie för att skapa grund i redan gjorda undersökningar gällande utemiljön inom olika områden och för olika grupper. Arbetet genomfördes sedan som fallstudier av de olika områdena. Områdena undersöktes med ett stort antal platsbesök och observationer där utemiljön i områdena dokumenterades noggrant. Anteckningar fördes över vilka funktioner som brukades vid olika tidpunkter, både i fråga om veckodag och klockslag. Vidare så granskades de olika områdenas arkivmaterial för att ge en tydligare och mer komplett bild över grundläggande fakta som till exempel: byggår, hur många lägenheter och omfattning av lägenheterna som har privat uteplats i form av antingen balkong eller uteplats i markplan. En grundläggande skillnad när det gällde önskemål och användande av bostadsgården var individens ålder. Barn ville ha en utemiljö där de kunde springa runt, leka, cykla och klättra, deras föräldrar ville ha en trygg närmiljö där de inte behövde oroa sig för att barnen skulle behöva utsättas för farlig trafik och oönskade människor. Vuxna ville dessutom ha en utemiljö som fungerade genom att det gick att komma fram till porten med bil efter större inköp, och där räddningstjänsten kunde komma till ifall något hände. Det var också önskvärt med en vacker och trivsam närmiljö att betrakta från fönster och uteplatser. Tryggheten var viktig också för de vuxna, här handlade det framförallt om att bostadsgården skulle vara väl upplyst på kvällen och att den var lätt att överblicka. Många önskade sig gemensamma uteplatser även ifall de hade egen balkong, det kunde till exempel handla om grillning som inte var tillåten på de egna balkongerna eller att kunna vistas i solen när denna stod i ett annat väderstreck än vad balkongen gjorde. De äldre som frågades i litteraturstudiens undersökningar uppgav att viktiga faktorer var jämna och lättframkomliga vägar, samt möjlighet att själva kunna vara med och sköta planteringarna. De äldre tillsammans med föräldralediga vuxna var också de mest flitiga brukarna av de gemensamma uteplatserna. Avgörande för hur flitigt dessa brukades var faktorer som: tillgång av sol och skugga, betraktningsvärd utsikt och möjlighet till samtal och umgänge. En ytterligare faktor gällande gemensamma uteplatsers nyttjande som nämndes i litteraturstudien och observerades vid besöken var huruvida uteplatsen låg i andra grannars synfält. Det upplevdes svårt att slappna av när vi kände oss betraktade av människor som vi kände delvis, inte helt främmande men inte heller familj eller nära vänner. Område 1 Timmerkojan hade en stor och öppen bostadsgård som var väl överblickbar men tom och dåligt utnyttjad. Gården erbjöd flera uppskattade funktioner som: två lekplatser, en grillplats, en boulebana, paviljong och ett antal utspridda fasta bänkar. De flesta av dessa funktioner var väl använda och fungerande, undantaget var vissa av de fasta parkbänkarna som låg i väl många synfält eller saknade något ytterligare som motiverade valet av just dessa. Det skulle kunna varit något att se på eller tillgången till ett bord och kanske fler bänkar i grupp för lättare umgänge. Bostadsgården saknade också karaktär eller utmärkande drag, förslag för detta var att till exempel låta fastighetsnamnet Timmerkojan vara inspiration för en större lekplats utformad för att ha något att erbjuda barn i alla åldrar. Denna borde i så fall också utformas så att den utgör ett spännande blickfång. Gården saknade bommar till en del av infarterna, detta bidrog till att minska trafiksäkerheten på bostadsgården. Vissa andra funktioner från de andra studerade områdena skulle också kunna brukas här: den öppna dagvattenleden och dammen från område 2A kombinerat med lite större höjdskillnader och mer skyddade uteplatser med bersåer skulle göra den här gården mer egen. Område 2A hade en bra storlek samt också ett bra förhållande för gårdens format. Bostadsgården lyckades väl med att skilja den halvprivata gårdsytan från den allmänna. Tillträde till gården skede via tre avstickare från omgivande cykelvägar eller områdets parkeringsområde. Gården karaktäriserades av den öppna dagvattenkanalen och dammen samt tre stycken stora ekar som tillsammans med gårdsmarkens kupering hade sparats från det ursprungliga naturliga. Denna gård erbjöd följande funktioner: lekplats, grillplats och bänkar grupperade i en halvcirkel för umgänge. Av dessa var det huvudsakligen grillplatsen som behövde förbättras med lite häckplantering som ökar avskildhet och vindskydd. Område 2B hade en långsmal form centrerad runt en central väg, gårdsytan blev mer spridd i form av ett antal mindre gårdsytor som skapades i anknytning till denna. Det fanns dock vissa mindre grönytor mellan de olika avgreningarna som skulle kunna nyttjas bättre, förslag på användning av dessa är mindre bersåer, planer för mindre utrymmeskrävande bollspel och liknande. Det fanns här ett antal fasta bänkar med omotiverad placering och som därmed användes dåligt, även dessa ytor skulle kunna planeras om enligt föregående förslag. Området hade två lekplatser med ett tydligt fokus på de yngre barnen, de äldre barnen erbjöds andra funktioner i direkt närhet till bostadsgården, dessa var: grönområde med skog och bollplaner samt skolgård med lekplatser. / The outdoor environment of multifamily dwellings should be carefully planned to accommodate the large number of different dwellers, that are to live there through the lifetime of the building. Different groups of residents have different needs and wishes, and all these must be considered. Failure to achieve a working courtyard where all these needs was met would result in low usage of shared outdoor spaces, and discontentment among the residents. This thesis has strived to catalogue the courtyards of three multifamily housing estates in the Swedish city of Västerås. It has also compared the shared features among the three case studies, according to where the single feature was best implemented and why it worked better there. That comparison gave an indication to what could be considered best practice for similar projects. The initial literature study gave good insight on what matters including: children’s play areas, public seating, different age group’s views and wants. Of universal importance was also the significance of feeling secure in the courtyard. One major difficulty was getting the residents to use the public seating in their area. Studies have suggested that the problem is that they feel observed by their neighbours. This could be solved by providing optional seating out of sight, the compromise with this solution became in making sure that these secluded seating areas was not thought of as possible places for hiding miscreants. Another solution was to make use of non-stationary furniture, which introduces the possibility of the furniture being stolen. Lockable storage for the resident’s private outdoor utensils was then a good suggestion.

Empirical knowledge is lacking on reclined seating postures. To unify such data, a biomechanical model is needed that accurately predicts posture, the relative position of the pelvis, the point of load transfer to the seat, internal and external forces, and the motion paths of the support surfaces. The overall aim of this investigation was, therefore, to create and validate a biomechanical model of reclined seating postures, and to evaluate in vivo measured and predicted data. A two-dimensional biomechanical model was developed, validated and applied. A comprehensive set of biomechanical data was collected from fifteen gender and age diverse subjects to examine the foundational principles for reclined seating ergonomics. The model agreed with 98.8% of measured data on posture across the seated test conditions. There was a significant relationship between modelled and measured force (p < .001, r = .92), which improved after normalisation (p < .001, r = .97) with an 8% full scale error. The model was robust across height and gender. Significant differences in interface pressure (peak pressure, average pressure and area), stature, back muscle activity and spinal curvature were found between all of the seated test postures. Significant relationships were found between the model predictions and all of the experimental data. This research is unique in creating a framework around reclined seating postures which connects previously disparate areas of seating research. The biomechanical model, experimental results, and theories developed from this research have potential implications in research, and design, for applications including backcare chairs, seating for long-term care and patients with neuromotor deficits, wheelchairs and airline seating. Furthermore, this study exists at the interface of anthropometric and biomechanical modelling, and therefore may have cross over potential to digital humans, where their integration with biomechanical models is at the cutting edge of the field.

The overall purpose of the investigation was to determine the existence and extent of several relationships regarding the college student's seating position in the classroom.The design also included provisions for determining the relationships between the student's choice of seat and their academic achievement, academic ability, self-concept, self-acceptance, self-actual1zlng values, self regard, self-acceptance, initial expression of interest in the course, initial estimate of difficulty expected in the course, and initial estimate of his final grade in the course.

This thesis is focused on two aspects related to wheeled mobility: 1) Evaluating the impact of a new tire design on powered mobility, and 2) Instrumentation that permits better monitoring and assessment of wheeled mobility in everyday use. The Tweel technology tires developed by Michelin USA are comprised of an outer polyurethane ring supported by polyurethane fins instead of metal spokes, which allow the tire to deflect under pressure. As a wheelchair tire they offer a potential breakthrough as they have deflection properties similar to a pneumatic tire while maintaining the low maintenance of a solid foam-core tire. A study was conducted to compare the Tweel technology tires to standard solid foam-core tires for vibration transmission, traction and overall life span. The Tweel technology tires failed produce any significant difference in vibration transmitted to the user compared to solid foam-core tires. Additionally, the Tweel technology tires showed significant signs of deterioration after a month long field trial, thus indicating a short life span. However, Tweel technology tires provided better traction on both dry and wet concrete. Overall, Tweel technology tires have to be re-engineered to provide better damping properties, leading to lower vibrational levels transmitted to the user. The second section this thesis addressed the need to develop a methodology of measuring mobility in everyday usage. This section is part of a greater ongoing research project at CATEA (Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access) aimed at understanding everyday wheelchair usage. Methodology was developed to measure bouts of mobility that characterize wheelchair usage; which includes the number of starts, stops, turns and distance traveled through the day. Three different technologies which included, Accelerometer unit on the rim of the drive wheel, Gyro-Accelerometer unit on the frame of the chair and Reed switches, were tested. Testing included various criteria for accuracy, durability and compatibility for measuring bouts of everyday wheeled mobility. Although a single technology could not be used to measure all aspects of mobility, the Accelerometer unit on the rim met the design criteria for measuring starts stops and distance, while the Gyro-Accelerometer unit met the requirements for measuring turns.

The physical dimensions of a population change in the course of time. On the other hand, the physical dissimilarities among different population are much more significant and remarkable than time-dependent natural evolution process that affects all populations in the world. In this study, passenger seats of intercity coaches that are important industrial products for Turkey in terms of usage frequency and their prevalence were investigated from an ergonomic viewpoint. To achieve this aim, eight seat parts and their equivalent anthropometric variables were specified to gather their measures from four different intercity coaches: These coaches represent the normal and top segment in Turkish intercity coaches market in addition to being imported or not. After that, these seat measures are compared with two anthropometric studies in terms of the sufficient sample size to reflect the anthropometric data related to Turkish population and the inclusion of the specified variables that correspond to these parts. Finally, alternative dimensions were recommended for each seat part to be used in the design process of passenger seats. In conclusion, it was found that dimensions of all seats demonstrated no significant differences among each other in terms of belonging to middle or luxury segment coaches. Only for seat pan widths, all seats had higher values than the hip breadths of both anthropometric studies. Conversely, for other seat parts, the dimensions of almost all seats had lower values. All backrest heights were the lowest among the other parts based on the studies of Hertzberg et al and KayiS. It was observed that although all seats showed approximate values with specified seat parts of the directive of European Commission- 2001/85/EC- generally, all seat brands except Grammer had a lower value than the seat pan width mentioned in this regulation. It was also found important differences between the outcomes of two Turkish studies and the regulation of EC.

Orientador: João Guarnetti dos Santos / Banca: Luis Carlos Paschoarelli / Banca: Eduardo de Souza Meirelles / Resumo: Em função da restrição da mobilidade, as operações de costura podem facilmente provocar problemas de dores na coluna ou dores musculares, sendo que, em virtude do longo período em que se permanece na posição sentada, pode ocorrer uma tensão na parte mais baixa das costas. Tem-se que a lombalgia é uma patologia frequente na sociedade atual, representando 70% a 80% de afastamentos do trabalho em países industrializados. Entre os fatores de risco para este acometimento estão as posturas fixas, movimentos frequentes de rotação e flexão de tronco, e sobrecarga física excessiva. Este trabalho estuda o caso de costureiras que exercem suas atividades na posição sentada, tendo por principal objetivo verificar a qualidade de vida de costureiras que trabalham na indústria da confecção do vestuário, e, por objetivos específicos: avaliar a real severidade e o nível de incapacidade física causada pela lombalgia; e, identificar o impacto causado pela lombalgia na qualidade de vida desta população. Conclui-se que, em relação à qualidade de vida das costureiras participantes, a lombalgia causa maior impacto nos parâmetros capacidade funcional, aspectos sociais, estado geral de saúde, dor e aspectos emocionais. Os parâmetros aspectos físicos, vitalidade e saúde mental não apresentaram impacto significativo na qualidade de vida das costureiras. Verificou-se que o impacto da lombalgia na qualidade de vida de costureiras com a referida patologia, quando correlacionados com o parâmetro dor, demonstraram maior correlação com os parâmetros aspecto geral de saúde e vitalidade. / Abstract: Because of mobility restrictions, sewing movements can easily cause back or muscular pain, and because of the long period in a seated position, a tension in the lower part of the back may occur. Back pain is a frquent pathology nowadays, representing 70% to 80% of sickness leaving in industrialized countrie. Among the risk factors are the standstill postures, frequent movements of rotation and the upper part of the body bending, and over weight. The present work studies the dressmakers who work in the seating position. The main objective is to verify the dressmakers' quality of life working in the clothing industry; and for the specific objectives: to evaluate the real severity and the level of physical impairment caused by back pain, and to identify the impact caused by back pain in the life quality of this population. In conclusion, it was understood that regarding to the dressmakers' quality of life, the back pain causes larger impact in the parameters of functional capacity, social aspects, overall health, pain and emotional aspects. The paremeters of physical aspects, mental health and vitality didn't represent significant impact in their life quality. It was noted that the impact of the back pain in the dressmakers' quality of life bearing the pathology, when correlated with the parameter of pain, demonstrated larger correlation with the parameters of overall aspects of health and vitality. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:25:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006-07-27Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:53:14Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 prado_rr_me_bauru.pdf: 943467 bytes, checksum: 0c21ba52a43a0fc1e8e5ef2932faab2a (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Em função da restrição da mobilidade, as operações de costura podem facilmente provocar problemas de dores na coluna ou dores musculares, sendo que, em virtude do longo período em que se permanece na posição sentada, pode ocorrer uma tensão na parte mais baixa das costas. Tem-se que a lombalgia é uma patologia frequente na sociedade atual, representando 70% a 80% de afastamentos do trabalho em países industrializados. Entre os fatores de risco para este acometimento estão as posturas fixas, movimentos frequentes de rotação e flexão de tronco, e sobrecarga física excessiva. Este trabalho estuda o caso de costureiras que exercem suas atividades na posição sentada, tendo por principal objetivo verificar a qualidade de vida de costureiras que trabalham na indústria da confecção do vestuário, e, por objetivos específicos: avaliar a real severidade e o nível de incapacidade física causada pela lombalgia; e, identificar o impacto causado pela lombalgia na qualidade de vida desta população. Conclui-se que, em relação à qualidade de vida das costureiras participantes, a lombalgia causa maior impacto nos parâmetros capacidade funcional, aspectos sociais, estado geral de saúde, dor e aspectos emocionais. Os parâmetros aspectos físicos, vitalidade e saúde mental não apresentaram impacto significativo na qualidade de vida das costureiras. Verificou-se que o impacto da lombalgia na qualidade de vida de costureiras com a referida patologia, quando correlacionados com o parâmetro dor, demonstraram maior correlação com os parâmetros aspecto geral de saúde e vitalidade. / Because of mobility restrictions, sewing movements can easily cause back or muscular pain, and because of the long period in a seated position, a tension in the lower part of the back may occur. Back pain is a frquent pathology nowadays, representing 70% to 80% of sickness leaving in industrialized countrie. Among the risk factors are the standstill postures, frequent movements of rotation and the upper part of the body bending, and over weight. The present work studies the dressmakers who work in the seating position. The main objective is to verify the dressmakers' quality of life working in the clothing industry; and for the specific objectives: to evaluate the real severity and the level of physical impairment caused by back pain, and to identify the impact caused by back pain in the life quality of this population. In conclusion, it was understood that regarding to the dressmakers' quality of life, the back pain causes larger impact in the parameters of functional capacity, social aspects, overall health, pain and emotional aspects. The paremeters of physical aspects, mental health and vitality didn't represent significant impact in their life quality. It was noted that the impact of the back pain in the dressmakers' quality of life bearing the pathology, when correlated with the parameter of pain, demonstrated larger correlation with the parameters of overall aspects of health and vitality.

This report covers the examination of course Degree of Bachelor of Science in Innovation and Design MSGC12. The course is given on the Innovation and Design Program at the Faculty of Health, Science and Technology at Karlstad University. The course corresponds to 22.5 credits and extends over the spring semester in 2017. Examiner is Leo de Vin and supervisor is Kristina Gullander. The project is carried out on behalf of Support Design AB, which manufactures and distributes handmade ergonomic chairs. The company is aiming primarily at the dental and medical industry, where they have discovered a great interest in flexible and ergonomic chairs. There are today competing brands that manufacture chairs whose seats are similar to Support Designs. The company now wishes to expand its range of seating in order to differ from market competitors. Need for a more concrete foundation in research on sitting in the dental sector is also something they are looking for. The assignment therefore consists of developing an ergonomically designed seat for dental operator chairs, which has a strong foundation in research on sitting in the dental industry and has got a unique design. The project's pre-study starts with a literature study, with a large emphasis on trying to define what a good and ergonomic sitting posture is. This is done to provide a basis for a subsequent analysis of interviews and observations by dental staff. To survey the needs of the users, 15 interviews are performed with dental staff to gain an insight into their views of the workplaces and existing operator chairs. Structured observations are carried out at 11 patient visits in connection with the interviews to find motion patterns and review their work positions. The result of the preliminary study shows that many in dental care experience or has experienced work-related pain, especially shoulders, neck and back. A wide legged and relatively ergonomic working position is commonly observed in narrow operating rooms.   The project results in 15 different concepts where four qualify for prototype manufacturing and testing. One concept is perceived to be the most comfortable while another is perceived to be the most unique. One concept meets ergonomic criteria best and another does not meet all the important requirements that the pre-study generated.