Objective: Respirators are used to maintain work performance and protect against inhaled toxins. The study compared the effects of two commonly used respirator classes--dual cartridge half face mask (HFM) and filtering face piece (N95)--upon work productivity.
Methods: 107 volunteers performed eight simulated work tasks when using the HFM and N95 respirators. Tasks included several body positions, exertion levels, and concentration requirements. Objective measures of accuracy and speed were developed for each task. Scores for each task were based on the subject's rank among all subjects.
Results: All subjects were capable of performing the tasks. There were no statistically significant differences between respirator types in either task performance metric.
Conclusions: Productivity impact can be measured effectively and should be considered as part of respirator design testing and when selecting the optimal respirator for a worker.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0b013e3181febc75 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Comparing approaches for predicting behavioural speech-in-noise performance using cortical responses to unattended stimuli.
Hear Res
January 2025
Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
The cortical tracking of the acoustic envelope is a phenomenon where the brain's electrical activity, as recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) signals, fluctuates in accordance with changes in stimulus intensity (the acoustic envelope of the stimulus). Understanding speech in a noisy background is a key challenge for people with hearing impairments. Speech stimuli are therefore more ecologically valid than clicks, tone pips, or speech tokens (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnsupervised, piecewise linear decoding enables an accurate prediction of muscle activity in a multi-task brain computer interface.
J Neural Eng
January 2025
Department of Neuroscience, Northwestern University, 303 East Chicago Ave, Chicago, Illinois, 60611, UNITED STATES.
Objective: Creating an intracortical brain-computer interface (iBCI) capable of seamless transitions between tasks and contexts would greatly enhance user experience. However, the nonlinearity in neural activity presents challenges to computing a global iBCI decoder. We aimed to develop a method that differs from a globally optimized decoder to address this issue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEmotional distress and affective knowledge representation one year after the COVID-19 outbreak.
PLoS One
January 2025
Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy.
This study examines whether the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the affectivity of the population extend one year after the outbreak. In an online-mobile session, participants completed surveys (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe artificial intelligence-based agricultural field irrigation warning system using GA-BP neural network under smart agriculture.
PLoS One
January 2025
School of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Harbin University, Harbin, China.
This work explores an intelligent field irrigation warning system based on the Enhanced Genetic Algorithm-Backpropagation Neural Network (EGA-BPNN) model in the context of smart agriculture. To achieve this, irrigation flow prediction in agricultural fields is chosen as the research topic. Firstly, the BPNN principles are studied, revealing issues such as sensitivity to initial values, susceptibility to local optima, and sample dependency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!