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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

The Effects Of A Reduced Force Aerial Bucket Control On Upper Extremity Muscular Demands As Assessed With Surface Electromyography, Casey D. Garces Oct 2017

The Effects Of A Reduced Force Aerial Bucket Control On Upper Extremity Muscular Demands As Assessed With Surface Electromyography, Casey D. Garces

Master's Theses (2009 -)

A common control for operating aerial bucket trucks for utility companies in North America is called a pistol grip control. Based upon many anecdotal reports of forearm muscle fatigue from workers using this control, Prof. Richard Marklin began an EPRI-sponsored study in 2016 using EMG to determine muscle fatigue of workers while they used the pistol grip. Muscle activity recorded by EMG is a measure of the magnitude of muscle force under controlled conditions. This study confirmed the reports of muscle fatigue in extensor digitorum communis (EDC) muscle in the right forearm. The next phase of the study was to …


Effect Of Keyswitch Design Of Desktop And Notebook Keyboards Related To Key Stiffness And Typing Force, Marcia J. Bufton, Richard W. Marklin, Mark L. Nagurka, Guy G. Simoneau Jan 2006

Effect Of Keyswitch Design Of Desktop And Notebook Keyboards Related To Key Stiffness And Typing Force, Marcia J. Bufton, Richard W. Marklin, Mark L. Nagurka, Guy G. Simoneau

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This study aimed to compare and analyse rubber-dome desktop, spring column desktop and notebook keyboards in terms of key stiffness and fingertip typing force. The spring-column keyboard resulted in the highest mean peak contact force (0.86N), followed by the rubber dome desktop (0.68N) and the notebook (0.59N). All these differences were statistically significant. Likewise, the spring-column keyboard registered the highest fingertip typing force and the notebook keyboard the lowest. A comparison of forces showed the notebook (rubber dome) keyboard had the highest fingertip-to-peak contact force ratio (overstrike force), and the spring-column generated the least excess force (as a ratio of …