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 16.3% of body weight from a seat pan. The characteristics of stabilometric dimensions evaluated the influence of seat components and sitting behaviour on postural balance. The study attempted to evaluate stability and its application in human-seat interface design.     

大兴安岭地区中小学生人体数据调查与分析

通过对大兴安岭地区中小学生身高调查发现,该地区中小学学生的平均身高要高于《中国卫生统计年鉴》（2008）中同龄青少年的身高平均值,学生视力随年龄增长而下降。因此有必要为学生配备与其身高相匹配的课桌椅。     

Sitting Comfort of Ergonomic Office Chairs—Developed Versus Intuitive Evaluation

The sitting comfort of office chairs with different ergonomic layouts (inferior, superior) was examined. Fifty participants were randomly assigned to a 2 × 5 factorial experimental design with 2 different conditions of ergonomic chair layout (inferior or superior) and 5 different conditions of instruction to explore the chair. Four conditions were created to differentiate between various levels of perceptual awareness and processing of chair-related information (guided exploration and developed evaluation). In a 5th condition, participants remained uninstructed (free exploration and intuitive exploration). Under guided exploration, the participants’ perception of sitting comfort was in line with objective differences in the chair layout. Different conditions of guided exploration, however, did not influence the evaluations. Under free exploration, the participants’ perceptions did not match the ergonomic chair layout. In contrast to participants under guided exploration, they even rated the ergonomically inferior office chair more favourably than the ergonomically superior chair.     

深圳世界大学生夏季运动会体育场馆观众座椅火灾试验研究

根据深圳世界大学生夏季运动会体育场馆内座椅实际情况,对5种典型座椅材料进行了小型锥形量热计试验,并按座椅的布置形式开展了全尺寸火灾试验.通过实体试验,得到座椅燃烧时的火灾热释放速率、烟气生成率、点燃时间、CO/CO2生成率和平均比消光面积等燃烧特性参数,为科学分析大运会体育场馆座椅的火灾危险性提供科学的基础数据支持和理论依据,进而提出消除、预防或降低座椅火灾风险、提高场馆消防安全等级的对策措施.     

Saddle seat reduces musculoskeletal discomfort in microsurgery surgeons

Background. Microsurgery is a surgical procedure requiring a high degree of precision and is commonly facilitated through the use of an intraoperative microscope. When operating the microscope system, the long-term posture leads to musculoskeletal disorders in surgeons, and seats are commonly employed to diminish these problems. The present study was conducted to evaluate musculoskeletal discomfort during work with a saddle seat in comparison with conventional seats for microscopic work. Methods. Two types of seats, a saddle and a conventional one, were evaluated for 73 microsurgical surgeons in terms of musculoskeletal discomfort. Corlett and Bishop's body part discomfort scale was used to assess musculoskeletal discomfort before and after working with the seats. Results. The highest amount of discomfort that microsurgical surgeons acquire in the workplace was focused on their neck, shoulders, arms and back. During work with a saddle seat, a significant reduction was found for discomfort values in the neck, shoulder, arm, back, elbow and forearm, as well as the whole body (p?<?0.05). Conclusion. This study showed that the use of saddle seats provides a more appropriate physical posture at work, and can decrease musculoskeletal discomfort in different parts of the body of microsurgical surgeons.