Vibration from Electric Hand-Held Harvesters for Olives
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In this manuscript, the authors worked on the vibration of the hand-arm system for the olives harvesters and presented the vibration evaluation for the worker’s health.
1. In the first page, line 8, there should be hand-arm
2. Please provide the spectrum of x,y and z direction acceleration, to compare H1-H3 and H4-H6 to investigate the mechanics of the harvester head type in the consideration of the frequency weight.
3. As Figure 1 and Figure 2, is there any trend on the orientation of the worker palm referring to the harvester heads (direction of the head oscillations)? Both the acceleration components of x-axis and z-axis in Figure 6 are dependent on the orientation of the palm and harvester head.
Author Response
The authors are grateful to the reviewer that with his/her comments, helped to improve the manuscript.
Below we evidence our modifications in the manuscript to consider the notes of the reviewer.
- In the first page, line 8, there should be hand-arm
done.
- Please provide the spectrum of x, y and z direction acceleration, to compare H1-H3 and H4-H6 to investigate the mechanics of the harvester head type in the consideration of the frequency weight.
We added a figure with FFT spectra for the two groups of harvester heads in section 3.3.
- As Figure 1 and Figure 2, is there any trend on the orientation of the worker palm referring to the harvester heads (direction of the head oscillations)? Both the acceleration components of x-axis and z-axis in Figure 6 are dependent on the orientation of the palm and harvester head.
To consider this aspect, in the two measuring points the accelerometers were arranged respecting the different orientation of the operator’s palm under static conditions. However, during harvesting, the operator continuously changes the position of the hand and the orientation of the harvester, so x- and z-axes could not respect the basicentric coordinate system. In addition, the most stressed acceleration components are conditioned by the oscillating plane of the arms carrying the sticks, which is different in the harvesting heads analyzed, so we did not find any trend. Comments on this aspect were added in 2.3 section.
Reviewer 2 Report
Review of the manuscript "Vibration from electric hand-held harvesters for olives" written by Emanuele Cerruto and Giuseppe Manetto. In my opinion, a very interesting and really applied research. Moreover, this study with a high degree of probability can facilitate the work of people involved in harvesting. I believe that the study should be published urgently and with minimal changes. Suggestions for improving the article for authors: 1. I think that the authors should mention vibration technologies are used not only in the collection of olives, but also other fruit crops, such as black currants, gooseberries, etc. That is, potentially the knowledge obtained by the authors can be extended to a greater number of objects. 2. I think that the harm of vibration for a person is presented in the manuscript in an extremely mechanistic way. As was recently established, vibration leads to the production of reactive oxygen species (10.3390/ijms21218033, 10.3103/S1541308X21020060). Reactive oxygen species, in turn, can cause damage to biomolecules, including DNA. DNA damage is known to lead to carcinogenesis, teratogenesis and premature aging.
Author Response
The authors are grateful to the reviewer that with his/her comments, helped to improve the manuscript.
Below we evidence our modifications in the manuscript to consider the notes of the reviewer.
- I think that the authors should mention vibration technologies are used not only in the collection of olives, but also other fruit crops, such as black currants, gooseberries, etc. That is, potentially the knowledge obtained by the authors can be extended to a greater number of objects.
Thanks. In the introduction section we added a comment specifying that the use of vibrating equipment is very common in agriculture for harvesting a wide range of products.
- I think that the harm of vibration for a person is presented in the manuscript in an extremely mechanistic way. As was recently established, vibration leads to the production of reactive oxygen species (10.3390/ijms21218033, 10.3103/S1541308X21020060). Reactive oxygen species, in turn, can cause damage to biomolecules, including DNA. DNA damage is known to lead to carcinogenesis, teratogenesis and premature aging.
The aspects suggested have been included in the introduction.
Reviewer 3 Report
The article is presented in a very high quality form. The authors in an understandable form reported the main points of the topic, mentioned out the key points, as well as ergonomics and safety aspects.
To complete the study it is recommended:
Increasing the size of the conclusion and implementing more contributions. (The conclusion is too short for such a serious study).
Author Response
The authors are grateful to the reviewer that with his/her comments, helped to improve the manuscript.
Below we evidence our modifications in the manuscript to consider the notes of the reviewer.
- Increasing the size of the conclusion and implementing more contributions. (The conclusion is too short for such a serious study).
The conclusions have been implemented and other analyses have been carried out also to take into account the suggestions of the other reviewers.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
All my questions have been answered.
