What is fatigue?

Fatigue is the bodys response to continued physical

or mental activity or sleep loss, characterized by:

diminished ability to do work, loss of attention,
slower reactions, poor response, deterioration of
vigilance and alertness, impaired judgment, and
other problems;

subjective feelings of tiredness, loss of
motivation, desire for rest
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Causes of fatigue
Inadequate rest
Sleep loss and/or disrupted sleep
Displaced biological rhythms
Excessive mental or cognitive work
Excessive physical activity


1)general body fatigue (cardiovascular
system) (Physiological).
2) muscular fatigue (muscles) (physiological),
3) Mental fatigue (brain) (psychological).
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Fatigue can occur in different
parts of the body:
Mental fatigue
Feeling of tiredness after extended or
repeated performance, particularly of tasks
that are not predominantly physical
Feeling of monotony or boredom created by
lack of novel stimulation
Mental fatigue is more pronounced and our
alertness level decreases if we are tired and
drowsy due to loss of anticipated sleep.
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Factors affecting fatigue
Quality and quantity of prior rest
Individual physical fitness
Endurance, exposure to level of task demand
Number of sustained work episodes
Time of day
Type of task
Workload (mental or physical)
Motivation and other individual differences
Environmental conditions
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The purpose of rest is to minimize the health
effects of fatigue including musculoskeletal
discomfort and mood disturbances associated
with continuous work at computer workstation.


Rest can restore energy, but it cannot
substitute for sleep, nor can lack of sleep be
corrected simply by resting.
Rest is a break or even a simple change of
activity from a fatiguing task; we remain
awake.
Effect of rest breaks:

1)Spontaneous pauses: are the obvious
pauses for the rest that the workers take on
their own initiative. These are usually not very
long. Nevertheless, may be frequent if the job
is strenuous.

2)Disguised pauses: are times when worker
occupies himself or herself with some easier,
routine task in order to relax from
concentrating on the main job. Example:
cleaning some part of the machine.
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Types of rest pauses:

3)Work-conditioned pauses, i.e. pauses arising from
the nature of work are all those interruptions that
arise either from the operation of the machine, or
organization of the work; for example, waiting for the
machine to complete a phase of its operation, for a
tool to cool down.
4) Prescribed pause: are breaks in the work that are
laid down by the management, for example, the
midday break, and other pauses for snacks, e.g.
coffee break.


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METHODOLOGY
Apparatus: The instruments that will be
used to perform this project are:
electromyography (EMG), skin resistance
device, electrocardiography (EKG), micro-
computer, CRT display monitor, keyboard
as response station and four software
programs written in Microsoft Visual Basic
language.
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Twenty students will be served as subjects
in the four experiments tasks. All subjects
will be normal or fully corrected vision. In
addition, all will be right-handed.
Subjects:
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Experimental design and
procedures:
The four different groups of subjects will
perform four visual tasks. Each assigned of
subjects (e.g., at least five subjects) will
perform one task.
The first task is the data entry; the others two
are belong to cognitive tasks.
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the subject will be asked to enter the alphabetic
or numeral set that is showed up in the
middle of the monitor as soon as he
recognize the stimulus while keeping
accuracy of entering data as high as possible.
Subjects will be told to enter all digits in the
set, digit followed by digit, by pushing the
appropriate marked keys on the key board .
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1)The first task is the data entry :
2)Locate:
view and memorize all reference. View an
initial matrix cell and test symbol
correspondence to the reference. If a test
succeeds, visually find the row and column
identifiers and respond with those
identifiers; otherwise, visually move to the
next cell.
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Example:


Which cell contains LKJ:

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 BNL SNV FJS GJE KGW MGD
2 IDK HDL HJG YWI GHD LHD
3 SJH RYE JHK LKJ SMO QAJ
4 YUJ UYU SFD JHK HHF SJH
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3)Compare:
view the first reference symbol, then the
field symbol in the adjacent position for
a correspondence test. If the test fails,
response no; otherwise, moves the
sequential position and continues to the
last symbol test succeeds. Hence,
response yes.
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Example:

Are the strings identical?
Q R B N K J S D I P X Z M A
Q R B N K I S D I P X Z M A
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4)Concentration grid:
concentration grid exercise was used as a
training tool and as a measure of
Concentration.The concentration grid used in
this study consisted of a grid of 100 squares
(dimensions) arranged in a 10x10 square.
Two digit numbers (from 00 to 99) were
placed randomly in the centre of each of the
squares. The task of the participant was to
mark off as many consecutive numbers
(always starting from00) as possible within a
1-min period.
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FUTURE WORK PLAN
In this semester, the problem description,
literature review, and solution methodology
are defined in details and presented in this
report. Next semester, completing the
software, collecting data for the four
experiments, and analyzing the collected data
using SPSS software will be considered.
Finally, reporting the results and conclusions
will be written.
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