Energy Expenditure Estimation for Forestry Workers Moving on Flat and Inclined Ground

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

General comments:

Forestry work performed at a low level of technology requires a great deal of muscular effort and results in a large expenditure of energy, which can be further increased by the need to move on sloping terrain. The authors attempted to select a device that would be most suitable for assessing energy expenditure under such conditions, although it would be more appropriate to refer to the parameter (e.g. physiological etc.) under study.

Specific Comments:

Key words – I suggests rephrasing the key words - it is worth adding a reference to forestry

L. 39 – Workload in forestry has been the subject of many studies. Energy expenditure in forestry work has been determined by indirect calorimetry as well as using heart rate, including HR index method Many papers are available, including those published in recent years. I encourage the authors to review the literature more thoroughly, not only on Japan.

L. 41 – This correlation is widely known, but it should be supported with the appropriate quotation.

L. 94 - … (expressed as beats/min)

L. 111 – Was the weight a global navigation satellite system (0.85 kg) included of the weight of the frame pack of 20 kg as well as an indirect calorimeter?

L. 263 – In the case of a HR monitor device, it is difficult to talk about any burden, possibly the inconvenience of wearing a chest strap.

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This manuscript is a pilot study work that includes 6 participants by using multiple assessments. 

1. Introduction - what is current state of research/studies related to forestry task? Should write more in introduction part. What is the gap or unknown info from past studies? What motivates you to do this study? why?

2. Methodology 2.1- Why select only six adults?   is there any past studies to support this adequacy of samples to prove your pilot study? How about the age factor? is it the age did not affect the performance (i.e: 37-67 years - wide range)? What is their weight, height, BMI? These factors also may affect your findings. Justify your selection with the support from past studies.

3. Methodology 2.1- Why start experiments after 2 hours take the meals? why need to rest 30 minutes? is it enough to stabilise the HR? Why choose these assessments only? Provide the reason. it is good to provide illustration on how the participants  do the task. suggest to add explanation about the cloth /attire & shoe during conducting this task.

 

4. Results - why did the experiment at different time phases (i.e: morning vs acternoon) with different samples? Should ensure all particpants do the experiment at both phases to have clear comparison.

4. result Fig 1 - only refer to one subject? how about another subject?

5. Conclusion is too short. Should provide details comparison with all the assessmnets.

 

 

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript has been sufficiently improved, all my comments have been taken into account. I have no further comments.