31 male and female air-traffic controllers (ATCs) were investigated during their work shift (24 hours continuously). The index of heart rate mathematical analysis, blood pressure, simple reaction time and CFF test during working shift were measured. Some questionnaires were given to subjects as well. The obtained results (systolic blood pressure, CFF,  and strain index, simple reaction time) showed changes in comparison with that before work. The rate of some subjective symptoms such as eye irritation, headache, dry and sore throat, whole body fatigue, pain in shoulders and low back, etc were rather high. Specific work conditions and working duration were the main reasons of work strain in ATCs.
Workload ; diseases

Gymnastics ; physiology ; Humans ; Workload

OBJECTIVE: Exploring the effectiveness of using EEG linear and nonlinear features for accessing mental workload in different tasks. METHODS: Working memory tasks with different information types and various mental loads were designed based on N-Back paradigm. EEG signals from 18 normal adults were acquired when tasks were being performed. Linear and nonlinear features of EEGs were then extracted. Indices that can effectively reflect mental workload levels were selected by using multivariate analysis of variance statistical approach. RESULTS: With the increment of task load, power of frontal Theta, Theta/Alpha ratio, and sample entropies (scales>10) in parietal regions increased significantly first and decreased slightly then, while the power of central-parietal Alpha decreased significantly first and increased slightly then. No difference in power of frontal Theta, central-parietal Alpha, and sample entropies (scales>10) of parietal regions were found between verbal and object tasks, as well as between two spatial tasks. No difference of frontal Theta/Alpha ratio was found in all the four tasks. CONCLUSIONS The results can provide evidence for the mental workload evaluation in tasks with different information types.
Electroencephalography ; Memory, Short-Term ; Workload

OBJECTIVETo investigate the use of surface electromyography (sEMG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) in evaluation of dynamic workload.

METHODSThrough controlling the speed and gradient, 8 subjects ran on the treadmill power machine to simulate the dynamic work. The sEMG signal of anterior tibial muscle (AT) and gastrocnemius muscle (GC) of right lower limb and ECG signal were recorded. The root mean square value (RMS), median frequency (MF), mean power frequency (MPF), heart rate (HR), standard deviation of all normal to normal intervals (SDNN) and Borg scores were analyzed.

RESULTSIn the five sports, with the speed increasing, all the values of RMS increased in the AT and GC (P < 0.01). With the gradient increasing, the values of RMS increased in the GC (P < 0.01) while the values of RMS of AT had a trend of decrease (P > 0.05). In all five sports, both the values of MF and MPF in AT and GC were lowest in B sports. Compared to A sport, most of the values of MF and MPF increased in C, D, E sports (P < 0.01), with a highest value in the D sport. Compared with A sport, the HR of B, C, D, E sports significantly increased (P < 0.01), and the highest heart rate was found in B sport, however, the values of SDNN significantly decreased. With the increased speed and gradient, the scores of Borg scale significantly increased.

CONCLUSIONIn the evaluation of dynamic workload, RMS and HR appear to be good indexes. However, in terms of stress reaction to dynamic workload, MF and MPF are more sensitive.

Objective: To explore the characteristics and rules of blood pressure changes in oceanauts during simulated operation of manipulator and troubleshooting tasks with different difficulty. Methods: In July 2020, 8 deep-sea manned submersible oceanauts, 6 males and 2 females, were selected as objects. In the 1∶1 model of Jiaolong deep-sea manned submersible, the oceanauts performed manipulator operation tasks and troubleshooting tasks with different difficulties, measured the continuous blood pressure of the oceanauts, filled in the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX scale) after the completion of a single mission, and the changes of systolic pressure (SBP), diastolic pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and mental workload were analyzed. Results: In a single task, the SBP, DBP and MAP of the oceanauts increased first and then decreased. The blood pressure values at the third minute were significantly lower than those at the first minute (P<0.01), and those at the fifth minute were significantly higher than those at the third minute (P<0.01). When performing the same task, compared with the quiet state, SBP, DBP and MAP increased when the oceanauts performed low difficulty, high difficulty, high difficulty+2-back manipulator operation task and troubleshooting task (P<0.05). When the task difficulty was the same, the SBP and MAP of oceanauts performing manipulator operation tasks were higher than those of oceanauts performing troubleshooting tasks (P<0.05). Compared with low difficulty tasks, the scores of NASA-TLX scale for oceanauts performing high difficulty manipulator operationtasks were significantly higher (P<0.05). Compared with the low difficulty task and high difficulty task, the scale score of the high difficulty+2-back troubleshooting task was significantly higher (P<0.05). When the task difficulty was the same, the scale scores of low difficulty and high difficulty manipulator operation tasks were significantly higher than those of troubleshooting tasks (P<0.05). SBP, DBP, MAP of No. 1, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 7 oceanauts (all of whom had 6 years of diving) were positively correlated with NASA-TLX scale scores (r>0.8, P<0.05) . Conclusion: In the process of manned deep-sea diving, when the oceanauts perform manipulator operation tasks and troubleshooting tasks, with the increase of task difficulty, the mental load of oceanauts increases, and the blood pressure index increases significantly in a short time. At the same time, improving the proficiency of operation can reduce the variation range of blood pressure indexes. Blood pressure can be used as an effective reference to evaluate the difficulty of operation and guide scientific training.
Female ; Male ; Humans ; Blood Pressure ; Diving ; Workload

Ceramics ; Ergonomics ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Occupational Exposure ; Workload

Adult ; Computer Terminals ; Humans ; Male ; Paper ; Reading ; Students, Medical ; Workload

Heart rate is the most common index to directly monitor the level of physical stress by comparing the subject's heart rate with an appropriate "target heart rate" during exercise. However, heart rate only reveals the cardiac rhythm of the complex cardiovascular changes that take place during exercise. It is essential to get the dynamic response of the heart to exercise with various indices instead of only one single measurement. Based on the rest-workload alternating pattern, this paper screens the sensitive indices of exercise load from electrocardiogram (ECG) rhythm and waveform, including 4 time domain indices and 4 frequency domain indices of heart rate variability (HRV), 3 indices of waveform similarity and 2 indices of high frequency noise. In conclusion, RR interval (heart rate) is a reliable index for the realtime monitoring of exercise intensity, which has strong linear correlation with load intensity. The ECG waveform similarity and HRV indices are useful for the evaluation of exercise load.
Electrocardiography ; Exercise ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Monitoring, Physiologic ; Workload

Fatigue is an exhaustion state caused by prolonged physical work and mental work, which can reduce working efficiency and even cause industrial accidents. Fatigue is a complex concept involving both physiological and psychological factors. Fatigue can cause a decline of concentration and work performance and induce chronic diseases. Prolonged fatigue may endanger life safety. In most of the scenarios, physical and mental workloads co-lead operator into fatigue state. Thus, it is very important to study the interaction influence and its neural mechanisms between physical and mental fatigues. This paper introduces recent progresses on the interaction effects and discusses some research challenges and future development directions. It is believed that mutual influence between physical fatigue and mental fatigue may occur in the central nervous system. Revealing the basal ganglia function and dopamine release may be important to explore the neural mechanisms between physical fatigue and mental fatigue. Future effort is to optimize fatigue models, to evaluate parameters and to explore the neural mechanisms so as to provide scientific basis and theoretical guidance for complex task designs and fatigue monitoring.
Attention ; Brain ; physiology ; Fatigue ; Humans ; Mental Fatigue ; Workload

One of the greatest healthcare challenges for today's generation is the improvement of the nursing work environment. Despite the challenges brought by the unhealthy working environment and high workload demand, Filipino nurses stood up high in maintaining professionalism towards their work. The goal of this study is to determine the relationship between the work environment and the workload of staff nurses in level 2 hospitals in Cavite, Philippines. Quantitative non-experimental descriptive correlational design was used, and the standardized questionnaires namely: Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) and NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) were used to gather data from 70 respondents. Results showed that majority were female, belonging to Millennial age (23-38 years old), had baccalaureate degree in Nursing, with a gross monthly salary of Php 15,000.00- 19,999.00, being in the institution for more than 6 months to 5 years, and have an average nurse to patient ratio of 11.30. Their level of work environment was favorable in all subscales with a composite score of 3.13 (SD= 0.570). Their perceived workload was high, with a mean score of 71.24 (SD= 12.78). Likewise, nurse to patient ratio had a significant relationship with nurse manager ability, leadership, and support of nurses (X2= 94.26, p= <.001) and staffing and resource adequacy (X2= 75.06, p= 0.002). Moreover, significant relationships among the variables of age and physical demand (p= .004), length of institutional experience and physical demand (p <0.001), educational attainment and performance (p= .018), educational attainment and effort (p= .005), and length of institutional experience and effort (p= .001). Last, there is no statistically significant correlation between the overall work environment and the overall workload of nurses (r= -.084, p= .491). These findings underscore the importance of measures aimed at enhancing the work environment and workload of staff nurses to prevent further challenges among them.
Workload ; United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration ; Workplace