An anthropometric database for sitting and standing dimensions for Malaysian operators was developed based on the measurements from 146 male and 168 female participants (18-45 years old). The anthropometric data were subsequently compared to those from three selected Asian countries, focussing on the sitting and standing posture dimensions. Thirty-six anthropometric dimensions were selected for comparison based on common availability among the four countries. The results indicated that the Indonesians were the tallest (male: 172 cm, female: 159 cm) among the four countries, whereas the Filipinos were the shortest for both male and female (male: 167 cm, female: 153.9 cm). Filipinos and Malaysian data were almost similar and appear to have the smallest values for eye height (male: 155 cm, female: 143 cm) and elbow height (male: 104 cm, female: 96 cm). The knowledge of variations in the population is useful in designing sound workstations and facilities for the betterment of the industrial environment.

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-A study is carried out to investigate the effects of driving environment on the mental workload of train drivers while driving. The driving task is performed under three environmental conditions, i.e. clear sunny day, rainy day and rainy night driving. Electroencephalography (EEG) measurements are recorded from the Fz and Pz channels of fifteen male subjects aged between 24 to 48 years old. The mean alpha power is monitored as a function of time as this signal reflects the variations in mental workload of the drivers. The results exhibit that the signal pattern for rainy night driving condition is significantly different compared to others. This finding indicates that the train drivers show an increase in mental workload after six minutes of driving under rainy night condition. The results demonstrate a percentage difference in mean alpha power of 37% between daytime and rainy night driving conditions during the early periods of driving. This indicates that the mental workload of train drivers tends to be low with an increased level of sleepiness under such conditions, which are signs of low vigilance.

The ageing drivers’ population is increasing rapidly, and they are exposed to disabilities due to degenerative processes, thus affecting their driving performance. The main objective of this study is to determine the mental workload of ageing drivers, while the second objective is to compare the mental workload between ageing drivers and control group. The methodology consisted of on-the-road experimental driving tasks that comprised three levels of situation complexity. The NASA-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and electroencephalogram (EEG) were measured on 30 drivers. The NASA-TLX scores revealed that the ageing drivers’ mean physical demand score was the highest compared to others in moderately complex situation and very complex situation, scoring 37.25 and 43.50, respectively. Meanwhile, for electroencephalogram signals’ fluctuation, results showed that situation complexity had significant effects on RPθ and RPα of channel locations FZPZ and O1O2. There was a significant difference in the weighted workload scores for the ageing drivers and control group in simple situation, while there was no significant difference found in RPθ and RPα bands at all channel locations. The findings would be beneficial as a guideline for designers, manufacturers, developers, and policy makers in designing better driving environment for ageing drivers.

This study describes the porosity and particle size effects of rice husk pore former on the diametral tensile strength of porous alumina (Al2O3) ceramics. Porous Al2O3 ceramics with high porosity and sufficient diametral tensile strength were successfully prepared by the pore-forming agent method using rice husk (RH) as the pore former according to the sample formulation Al2O3-xRHy (where ‘x’ denotes the particle size range in µm and ‘y’ denotes the percent weight content (wt%) of RH). The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) results revealed that silica was retained as rice husk ash in the developed porous Al2O3 after the decomposition of the starting rice husk pore former. Microstructures of the as-prepared porous Al2O3 ceramics having different RH additions exhibited hierarchical pore structures with increased particle size of the pore-forming agent. Porosity increased with larger particle size range of rice husk where the Al2O3-63RH5 demonstrated the least porosity (44.2 vol%), while the highest porosity (70.9 vol%) was demonstrated by the Al2O3-125–250RH20. The diametral tensile strength of the RH-shaped porous alumina ceramics declined from 16.97 to 0.65 MPa with increased particle size of the rice husk.

Exoskeleton has been proposed as a solution for musculoskeletal problems. Designed for physical attributes, it is crucial to determine the effect of its usage on cognitive aspects during task execution. This study aims to quantify cognitive ergonomic factors and task performance for the use of passive upper limb exoskeleton while performing overhead tasks. Ten male participants (mean age of 23.2 years (SD= 0.6)) took part in single and dual-task experiments. Subjective ratings using NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and Situation awareness rating technique (SART), physiological measure using Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and task performance (number of error) were measured. The dual-task setup reveals that there were strong positive correlations between the overall workload and number of errors percentage, which was statistically significant (r = 0.822, n = 10, p = 0.004). This finding is crucial as a reference for designers, developers, and policymakers in optimizing and sustaining task performance.

Service sector is a job that is considered exposed to high mental demand. There is lack of technique to measure issues related to the mental workload and mental fatigue levels among workers. Moreover, no studies have yet developed a model to predict mental fatigue especially for service sector workers. It is necessary to investigate mental workload and mental fatigue in real time working activities. The main purpose of this study was to identify the trends and relationship between mental workload and mental fatigue level among service sector workers. Ten participants with a mean age of 35.00±8.62 (SD) years took part in the study. Two experiments in Without Rest (WoR) and With Rest (WR) segments involving data entry and arithmetic tasks were conducted. Physiological measures using Electroencephalogram (EEG), Electrooculogram (EOG) and heart rate (HR) were assessed while participants were performing the tasks. The result shows that EEG alpha signal was significantly higher at the end of WR compared to WoR segment (p<0.05). Comparison between WoR and WR segments for each task show that HR of WR tasks were significantly lower in all tasks (p<0.05). This study developed seven mental workload and mental fatigue conceptual models with strong variables correlations (r>0.05) to evaluate the variability of both parts of two types of activities, namely, data entry and arithmetic tasks. The findings highlighted that validated parameters and methods for mental fatigue and mental workload measures are brain signals and heart rate monitoring, and task performance measure. Significant findings of the study could be as a reference for organizations to plan and manage resources by optimizing mental workload condition and minimizing mental fatigue occurrence