Effect on pulmonary functions of dust exposed rice mill workers in comparison to an unexposed population.

Background: Paddy milling is the oldest and largest agro-processing industry in India. A large number of workers are employed in the rice mills where they are potentially exposed to dust. It has been shown that exposure to dust results in a high prevalence of respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, extrinsic allergic alveoli ties, toxic syndrome, and interstitial lung disease.

Climate-induced thermoregulatory responses in a non-linear thermal environment: investigating the inter-dependencies using a facile artificial neural network-based predictive strategy.

. Given the burgeoning impacts of climatic variability on human health, suitable computational paradigms are used to explore the subsequent ergonomic repercussions. The artificial neural network (ANN), in particular, exhibits near-accurate input-output mapping.

Fermi-arc diversity on surface terminations of the magnetic Weyl semimetal CoSnS.

Bulk-surface correspondence in Weyl semimetals ensures the formation of topological "Fermi arc" surface bands whose existence is guaranteed by bulk Weyl nodes. By investigating three distinct surface terminations of the ferromagnetic semimetal CoSnS, we verify spectroscopically its classification as a time-reversal symmetry-broken Weyl semimetal. We show that the distinct surface potentials imposed by three different terminations modify the Fermi-arc contour and Weyl node connectivity.

Workplace Heat Exposure Management in Indian Construction Workers Using Cooling Garment.

Construction workers are at high risk of heat-related illnesses during summer months in India. The personal cooling garment (PCG) is a microclimate assistive device that provides protection from heat stress. The applicability and efficacy of wearing PCG for the physiological and subjective responses were tested on 29 healthy construction workers at actual field worksites.

Human susceptibility to outdoor hot environment.

A cross-sectional study examined the human susceptibility of a sample farmworker (N = 1144) in eastern India, who were exposed to the tropical hot outdoor environment during paddy and potato cropping activities (November to April). The study explored the efficacy of human thermal indices in human susceptibility categorization, based on analysis of indices, such as WBGT, HI, Humidex, UTCI, PET, SET*, PMV, and objective and subjective responses to heat-related symptoms and disorders. Analysis indicated dissimilarities in the estimated temperature levels of indices, attributed to different numerical weights of the meteorological and behavioural parameters.

Ergonomics evaluation of user-hand tool interaction.

Background: An in-depth evaluation of user hand tool interaction aids to derive strenuous areas for redesigning.

Objective: In this paper, we examined user perception about the hand tool features and derived features that exert an influence on human system. This nature of study aids to reduce the risk and enhance the comfort.

Occupational health scenario of Indian informal sector.

Workers in the Indian informal sector are engaged with different occupations. These occupations involve varied work related hazards. These occupational hazards are a consequent risk to health.

Postural stability of sitting women.

The study examined the utility of stabilometric dimensions and explored whether the changes in sitting postures were manifested in functional measures of postural control. Eleven women participated in the study, which used 11 chair sitting postures: arms on laps or arms right angled; armrest at a height of 17, 20 and 23 cm; with or without backrest; slouch or straight back; legs right angled at knees or crossed legs. The backrest and armrest shifted 16.

Disparity of a seat cushion and its influence on postural control.

Properties of supporting surfaces of a seat have an influence on postural control. Centre of pressure (COP) displacement parameters reflect both the balance controlling process and movements of the centre of a mass of entire body. The subjects of the study were 9 healthy men.

Occupation, participation, inclusion, work role postural control in different load handling tasks.

Background: Manual material handling has been attributed as a major risk to human musculoskeletal system. Workers postural stability in these tasks is influenced by holding method, time and weight being handled.

Objectives: The study attempts to investigate postural balance in five different commonly adopted load handling methods amongst female volunteers.

Risk factors and musculoskeletal disorders among women workers performing fish processing.

Background: The study examined the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and discomfort (MSD) among workers engaged in fish processing activities and identified the occupational, environmental, and psychosocial factors contributing to the MSDs.

Methods: An ergonomics checklist and questionnaire on general health and psycho-social issues were administered to women workers (N = 450). The relative risk for MSDs due to demographic factors, stress symptoms, and task variables were estimated.

Thermal limits of men in moderate to heavy work in tropical farming.

The farmers in tropical climate are exposed to high heat during the summer months. The study examined the physiological strains of farmers (N=26) to six combined exposures of work and high heat, with moderate and heavy work (26 to 50%, and 51 to 75% VO(2max)) and three ambient conditions, i.e.

Occupational injury proneness in Indian women: a survey in fish processing industries.

A cross sectional survey was initiated to understand the frequency of occupational injury occurrence and the associated factors in the fish processing industries of western India involving 185 randomly selected women subjects. All the subjects were interviewed with the help of an interviewer-administered questionnaire to collect information regarding their personal, occupational and work related morbidity details (including details of occupational injuries). Logistic regression method was used to analyze the data in order to obtain the contribution of individual factors on occupational injuries.

Drudgery, accidents and injuries in Indian agriculture.

The Indian farming employs 225 million workforce to cover 140 million hectares of total cultivated land. In spite of rapid farm mechanization (e.g.