Browsing by Author "Porta, Micaela"
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Older workers spend less time in extreme trunk and upper-arm postures during order-picking tasks: Results from field testingPorta, Micaela; Casu, Giulia; Fastame, Maria Chiara; Nussbaum, Maury A.; Pau, Massimiliano (Elsevier, 2025-05)Order picking tasks require repetitive trunk and upper arms movements that may increase the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders, particularly among older workers due to the decline of their physical capabilities with aging. We proposed an approach based on a limited number of wearable inertial sensors to assessed exposures to non-neutral trunk and upper arms postures among both older and young workers during their regular work-shifts. The obtained data were processed accordingly to international standards (ISO 11226 and EN 1005-4) to detect the existence of possible differences associated with age-specific working strategies. While the results indicate similar trunk and upper arms movement frequencies in both groups, older workers spend a significantly smaller percentage of time in the most demanding (>60°) postures for both districts. Such findings suggest the adoption of specific strategies to reduce the biomechanical risk which might be originated by a combination of awareness of physical limits and superior working experience. In this context, the instrumental monitoring of upper body in the logistic sector may result useful to highlight critical conditions potentially able to promote the onset of musculoskeletal disorders, thus supporting the decision processes pertaining to workers’ health management and aging worker retainment.
- Origin of magnetic and magnetoelastic tweedlike precursor modulations in ferroic materialsSaxena, A.; Castan, T.; Planes, A.; Porta, Micaela; Kishi, Y.; Lograsso, Thomas A.; Viehland, Dwight D.; Wuttig, Manfred; De Graef, M. (American Physical Society, 2004-05-14)Based on experimental observations of modulated magnetic patterns in a Co(0.5)Ni(0.205)Ga(0.295) alloy, we propose a model to describe a ( purely) magnetic tweed and a magnetoelastic tweed. The former arises above the Curie (or Neel) temperature due to magnetic disorder. The latter results from compositional fluctuations coupling to strain and then to magnetism through the magnetoelastic interaction above the structural transition temperature. We discuss the origin of purely magnetic and magnetoelastic precursor modulations and their experimental thermodynamic signatures.
- Trunk Flexion Monitoring among Warehouse Workers Using a Single Inertial Sensor and the Influence of Different Sampling DurationsPorta, Micaela; Pau, Massimiliano; Orrù, Pier Francesco; Nussbaum, Maury A. (MDPI, 2020-09-28)Trunk flexion represents a risk factor for the onset of low-back disorders, yet limited quantitative data exist regarding flexion exposures in actual working conditions. In this study, we evaluated the potential of using a single inertial measurement unit (IMU) to classify trunk flexion, in terms of amplitude, frequency, and duration, and assessed the influence of alternative time durations on exposure results. Twelve warehouse workers were monitored during two hours of an actual shift while wearing a single IMU on their low back. Trunk flexion data were reduced using exposure variation analysis integrated with recommended exposure thresholds. Workers spent 5.1% of their working time with trunk flexion of 30–60° and 2.3% with flexion of 60–90°. Depending on the level of acceptable error, relatively shorter monitoring periods (up to 50 min) might be sufficient to characterize trunk flexion exposures. Future work is needed, however, to determine if these results generalize to other postural exposures and tasks.