Application of the predicted biomechanics approach in assessing work-related musculoskeletal discomfort among female brickfield workers in West Bengal, India.

Background: Manual brick manufacturing units in West Bengal, India are mostly unorganized sectors employing many migrant female workers in manual material handling tasks as brick moulders and brick carriers.

Objective: The study estimated the biomechanical postural stress developed due to manual load handling, carriage and brick transportation.

Methods: Body Part Discomfort Scale was used to assess the subjective pain felt by 18 adult female brick moulders and 12 brick carriers during work.

Soldiers' load carriage performance in high mountains: a physiological study.

Background: The present study was designed to evaluate load carriage performance at extremely high altitudes with different loads and walking speeds in terms of physiological evaluation. The degree of maximum oxygen consumption changes at high altitudes was also examined.

Methods: Twelve Indian Army soldiers were acclimatized at altitudes of 3,505 m and 4,300 m.

Kinetic changes in gait during low magnitude military load carriage.

Indian infantry soldiers carry smaller magnitudes of loads for operational requirements. The ground reaction forces (GRFs) and impulse responses of 10 healthy male Indian infantry soldiers were collected while they walked carrying operational loads between 4.2 and 17.

Application of digital human modeling and simulation for vision analysis of pilots in a jet aircraft: a case study.

Ergonomic evaluation of visual demands becomes crucial for the operators/users when rapid decision making is needed under extreme time constraint like navigation task of jet aircraft. Research reported here comprises ergonomic evaluation of pilot's vision in a jet aircraft in virtual environment to demonstrate how vision analysis tools of digital human modeling software can be used effectively for such study. Three (03) dynamic digital pilot models, representative of smallest, average and largest Indian pilot population were generated from anthropometric database and interfaced with digital prototype of the cockpit in Jack software for analysis of vision within and outside the cockpit.

An eye movement study for identification of suitable font characters for presentation on a computer screen.

We are experiencing a shifting of media: from the printed paper to the computer screen. This transition is modifying the process of how we read and understand a text. It is very difficult to conclude on suitability of font characters based upon subjective evaluation method only.

Effects of military load carriage on kinematics of gait.

Manual load carriage is a universal activity and an inevitable part of the daily schedule of a soldier. Indian Infantry soldiers carry loads on the waist, back, shoulders and in the hands for a marching order. There is no reported study on the effects of load on gait in this population.

Temporal spatial parameters of gait with barefoot, bathroom slippers and military boots.

Nine temporal spatial parameters of gait were evaluated on 8 normal healthy able-bodied soldiers while walking barefoot, with bathroom slippers and military boots on, respectively. Subjects used their regular bathroom slippers and military boots for the study. A 5 camera based Expert Vision 3-D motion analysis system (M/s Motion Analysis Corporation, USA) was used while the subjects walked 10 meters along a straight and level walkway at a comfortable speed.