Eating breakfast provides crucial nutrition for brain function and helps promote overall health. It is especially critical in growing adolescents, as it is known to form good eating habits and better study habits. This study investigated the effects of skipping breakfast on nutritional state, fatigue level, and attention level. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2010 on total of 828 adolescents composed of 414 boys and 414 girls. Students who ate breakfast never to twice per week were placed in the breakfast-skipper group while students who ate breakfast more than five times per week were included in the breakfast-eater group. Students performed a self-reported questionnaire on food behaviors, amount of food consumption, fatigue level, attention deficient hyperactivity disease (ADHD) level by Conners-Wells’ Adolescent Self-Report Scales, depression scale, and self-esteem level. Statistical analysis was conducted using the SAS program (version 9.1). A total of 135 boys (32.6%) and 138 girls (33.3%) were included in the breakfast-skipper group, whereas 241 boys (58.2%) and 223 girls (53.9%) were included in the breakfast-eater group. The breakfast-skipper group showed irregular food behaviors and lacked nutrients. Specifically, energy (p< .001), protein (p< .001), dietary fiber (p< .001), calcium (p< .01), vitamin A (p< .01), thiamin (p< .05), niacin (p< .001) levels in boy breakfast-skippers were statistically lower compared to boy breakfast-eaters. Intakes of all nutrients except fat in girl breakfast-skippers were statistically lower than in girl breakfast-eaters. Girl breakfast-skippers (41.3%) showed significantly higher fatigue risks compared to girl breakfast-eaters (21.5%). Low attention level was also observed only in girls in the breakfast-skipping group. Moreover, students in the breakfast-skipper group showed higher scores for depression and low self-esteem (p< .001). In conclusion, skipping breakfast has effects on young adolescents’ nutrition, manifesting as high fatigue level and low attention level, especially in girls.

This study empirically examines how much effect levels of fatigue and stress of a construction worker have on disaster risks from the perspective of human factors concerning construction disaster risks. To achieve the purpose of this study, a survey was conducted with respect to construction workers working at large construction sites within the metropolitan area. The retrieved survey data were analyzed by using the statistical software programs, SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 8.0. The results of this study do not definitively lead to the conclusion that the level of fatigue or stress of construction workers result in disaster risks. However, it does show that the results vary depending upon the individual approach and treatment of stress and fatigue. In particular, this study revealed that disaster risk levels could increase through unsafe behavior intentions which were established as a mediator variable. Also, with respect to unsafe behavior intentions of construction workers leading to disaster risks, when examining the results that the level of mental fatigue, occupational stress and social-psychological stress of construction workers had a greater significant effect than the level of physical fatigue, this study demonstrates the importance of psychological and mental issues that could be easily overlooked with respect manual labor workers.

Purpose: The possibility of interaction between physical and mental fatigues was investigated in this study. Should any interaction between the physical and psychological fatigue takes place, it must accompany the changes in the brain. Therefore, the level of central activation ratio (central fatigue) has been measured as a function of monetary reward to elicit the extrinsic motivation. Methods: Twenty four healthy young male subjects performed quadriceps isotonic extensions until they experience the muscular fatigue. Then, the notification of the monetary reward depending on the level of extension force for the next 3 attempts were given to the experimental group, while no such information was given to the control group. During these post-fatigue isometric maximum voluntary contraction trials, the transcranial magnetic stimulation was delivered on the motor cortex to measure the central activation ratio. Two-way repeated ANOVA were performed. Results: Pre- vs. Post-fatigue comparisons confirmed that the subjects regardless of the group experienced the peripheral fatigue although the level of peripheral fatigue was less pronounced in the group with extrinsic motivation. On the other hand, the central activation ratio of the extrinsic motivation group did not displayed any decrease as the control group did. Conclusion: The results from this study provided an evidence showing the effects of motivation on the muscular fatigue. What’s intriguing is, however, the level of fatigue at the brain level showed no significant sign of fatigue when the monetary reward was suggested. It is presumable to suggest that the high motivation made our subjects prone to the central fatigue, and such effects might have decrease the peripheral muscle fatigue in turn.