bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
How Can Personnel and Training Requirements Have an Influence on Design of Systems?
Authors: Graine George N. , Baker James D. , Malehorn Merlin K. , Richardson John M. , White Lawrence M. , Meister David 
Published: January 2012

During the next decade and beyond, the ability to maintain a meaningful level of military readiness will be severely tested. Simply increasing the Defense budget is not sufficient. Modern weapon and support systems are increasing in sophistication and user-system interface complexity, while the human resources pool to operate and maintain these systems is decreasing in terms of both numbers of individuals and the aptitudes, abilities, and skills these individuals bring into a military organization. This situation leads to the necessity of considering human resources as a parameter of system design, but such an effort is severely handicapped by a lack of efficient and reliable techniques that can be used by designers to estimate the human resource implications of their designs. The complexity of the systems on the drawing boards means that their contribution to the military capability and readiness will be critically influenced by (1) the extent to which new system designs are sensitized to the militaries available human and training resources and (2) the military ability to synchronize the planning, programming, and budgeting of these resources with systems development. Acquisition of new systems is a multi-billion dollar process, that is, the Weapon System Acquisition Process or WSAP. Determination of personnel and training requirements are usually considered so far downstream in the WSAP that the human resource requirements have been totally reactive to the fixed system design rather than being interactive with design engineering to influence the design for people. The results of this way of integrating people into a system means that hardware design has driven personnel and training requirements, rather than being a part of a procedure in which these requirements are used to influence equipment design or choices. Cost of personnel and training, low human reliability and increased human error in system failures are also valid reasons for now considering the topic question. The result is often predictable, that is, a large requirement for extremely limited technical personnel, inadequate training and, in many cases, degradation in operational effectiveness and personnel readiness. The four panelists take different and interesting approaches to the topic question. A case study; the utilization of a computer (for greater efficiency) during the development of a human aptitude/assessment technique; a discussion and update of the HARDMAN (hardware acquisition/manpower integration) project; and a response to the topic question from a policy point of view and asks another question, Why should personnel and training requirements have an influence on design?
The Interpretation of Human Factors Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plant Control Room Reviews
Authors: Maddox Michael E. 
Published: January 2012

As a result of the Three Mile Island-Unit 2 (TMI) accident and subsequent investigations, all U.S. nuclear utilities are being required to review the control rooms in their nuclear generating plants for human factors design adequacy. Before TMI, human factors considerations were not an integral part of the design process in the nuclear industry. The utilities were not well equipped to handle the requirement for control room design reviews (CRDR), so, in an attempt to provide useable guidance for CRDR's, the NRC issued several documents that were based on military design standards and commonly-used equipment design guides. A fundamental problem with the guidance issued by the NRC and others is that much of the design guidance is not directly applicable to a review and backfit process such as the CRDR. This paper presents a description of the ongoing process of applying human factors design criteria from the military and aerospace arena to the review and backfit activities in the nuclear utility industry. This process has, and is, taking place in a broad-based utility working group to which the author acts as a consultant. The work includes a large educational segment in which techniques, such as task analysis, are made explicity applicable to the CRDR. So far, this activity has resulted in four guidelines that have been reviewed by the nuclear utilities.
Aircraft and Background Noise Annoyance Effects
Authors: Willshire Kelli F. 
Published: January 2012

Traditionally, community aircraft flyover annoyance has been studied in the absence of other noises. However, the importance of considering the flyovers along with other community noise sources is gaining increasing awareness. To investigate annoyance of multiple noise sources, two experiments were conducted. The first experiment used 48 subjects, and the second used 216 subjects. The first experiment was designed to establish annoyance-noise level functions for three community noise sources presented individually: jet aircraft flyovers, air conditioner, and traffic. This experiment provided baseline data for a second experiment which is currently being conducted to investigate (1) effects of background noise on aircraft annoyance as a function of noise level and spectrum shape; (2) the relative contributions of background noises and aircraft noise to overall annoyance; and (3) effect of type of annoyance rating: overall or source specific. In the second experiment, the subjects were required to make either overall or source specific annoyance ratings or a combination of the two. Both experiments used two dependent measures: rated annoyance and amount of subconscious body movement or fidgeting. Results of the first experiment indicated that the slope of the annoyance-noise level function for traffic was significantly different from the slopes corresponding to flyover and air conditioner noise. This added further justification to the need to determine the influence of different background noises on aircraft noise annoyance (e.g., experiment two). Preliminary body movement analysis indicated no relationship of body movements to source noise level. Results of the second experiment showing differential effects of signal-to-noise ratio and background source type across total noise level will be presented and discussed. Results will also be presented to illustrate the effects of all the sources (flyover, air conditiner, and traffic) on relative annoyance as a function of the type of annoyance questionnaire. Further data on the correlation of movement with source noise level will be discussed. However, based on the results of the first experiment, little relation to annoyance is expected. All results will be applied in an effort to develop an improved model of human response to community noise.
Color Matches and Discrimination Functions for Selected Hues
Authors: Ward Frank E. , Greene Fran , Martin Wayne 
Published: January 2012

The purpose of this research was to investigate color discrimination under conditions of ambient illumination that may reduce CRT display saturation and contrast. Our research measured both the variability of color matching and the offsets from a match necessary for a 100% discrimination difference. We did this for four dominant wavelengths each at five saturation levels. Our subjects were tested at low, medium, and high adaptation levels for both large and small test stimulus sizes. In general, our results for the low luminance color matching conditions are in agreement with the published literature. For the high luminance and small field conditions, our data suggest that color discrimination should not be predicted from the CIE Uniform Chromaticity Space data. Color discrimination varies dramatically with dominant wavelength; reds and greens are more difficult to discriminate than yellows and yellow-greens. Empirical relationships that describe the discrimination are presented.
Driver Task Load in Different Road Environments
Authors: Janssen Wiel H. 
Published: January 2012

The research to be reported deals with the driver-environment interaction in terms of driver task load. The potential significance of road environment in driver information processing follows from the fact that accident rates are different for different types of roads. Another relevant aspect is that task load experienced in a particular road environment appears to be a factor in driver route preference, a relationship of obvious relevance to traffic management. We have investigated several road environments in terms of task load as indicated by psychophysiological variables measured while subjects drove an instrumented vehicle. Experiment 1, employing 16 male Ss, concentrated on: (a) the .1 Hz component of the cardiac interval spectrum, and (b) the P300 cortical potential component evoked by subsidiary stimuli. It was found that the motorway trajectory was associated with more load than either a city or a rural interlocal trajectory. I.e., the amplitude of the .1 Hz cardiac spectral component was lowest on the motorway, and P300, was slower and its amplitude lower on the motorway. We replicated this study on different trajectories in Experiment II, again employing 16 male Ss, only to see the motorway section emerge as the outlier again. In Experiment III we returned to the motorway and rural interlocal trajectories of the first experiment. Catecholamine excretion rates over 1 hr driving periods were obtained for 8 male and 8 female Ss. The males showed the pattern of the first two experiments, their excretion rate being highest on the motorway, while the female Ss showed the opposite pattern. These results emphasize that driving is not an open-loop, paced task. A particular environment does not ‘emit’ some fixed amount of load, but it sets an upper and a lower limit to that variable. Thus, the driving task is essentially self-paced, though its possible rate of self-pacing is constrained to different degrees in different road environments. The male drivers in our experiments assumedly seized the opportunity presented to them on the motorway, while female drivers drove in a more passive manner in that condition. This interpretation will be supported by additional analysis of the data, in particular of the relationship between parameters describing driving performance on the one hand and measures of task load on the other. Implications for the problem fields indicated above follow from these results.
Use of a Secondary Task Methodology for Determining Acceptability of Flat-Panel Display Technologies in Consumer Environments
Authors: Hoffman Mark S. , Cramer Martin L. 
Published: January 2012

Flat-panel displays are used in consumer environments for displaying information where limits on content, physical space, power, and cost constraints are critical. Applications have traditionally included Retail Point-of-Service (POS) terminals. Most common flat-panel display technologies found in the consumer markets are Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), Plasma, and Vacuum Fluorescent displays. Emitting displays, i.e., Vacuum Fluorescent, Plasma, and LEDs were introduced into the marketplace with few reservations as to their general acceptance since normal ambient lighting conditions other than direct sunlight had minimal impact on readability. However, reflective display technologies, i.e., LCDs have not been widely accepted in POS products because of slower response times and a more restrictive range of ambient light needed to achieve acceptable viewing conditions. Many techniques used for determining the acceptability of a display technology for the POS environment presently used in industry are solely based upon the physical and functional performance characteristics of the display itself. This approach is similar to those used for evaluating video displays in that the primary concern is the stability of the displayed output for the intended user environment. Often these evaluations are conducted in a laboratory and therefore do not compare display performances relative to the intended end user. Even though this approach is cost-effective because the physical attributes of the display can be tailored to maximize readability, it does not consider the effect of the displayed information beyond the properties of the human visual system. Therefore, it would be desirable to develop an experimental methodology for evaluating flat-panel display technologies based upon human information processing capabilities. This requires using the information in cognitive task loadings equivalent to those experienced in the user environment. Studies comparing LCDs and Plasma display technologies were designed to construct a cognitive-perceptual model for usability assessment in the retail POS environment. A secondary task methodology was used to predict mental workload associated with each display. A Choice Reaction Time (CRT) paradigm proved to be an effective method for exploring cognitive-behavioral problems associated with the displays beyond those considered in the traditional methods of display evaluation.
Hand Torque Strength with Cylindrical Handles
Authors: Replogle Joe O. 
Published: January 2012

The relationship between the diameter of a smooth cylindrical handle and the torque that can be applied by the human hand has been analyzed. An analytical model has been derived for the maximum torque that can be developed before the hand slips on the handle. The model has been tentatively verified by torque measurements on 20 subjects using a series of smooth phenolic fiber cylinders ranging in diameter from 0.95 to 8.89 cm. The results of the analysis are: (1) Torque increases as the square of the handle diameter up to the point where the fingers and palm just touch without overlapping. This “grip-span diameter” is approximately 2.5 centimeters. (2) For larger diameters the torque continues to increase, but at a decreasing rate and reaches a maximum when the diameter is approximately 5 centimeters. (3) The maximum torque is approximately one and one-half times the torque obtainable at the grip-span diameter. (4) Female torque capability is about 40 percent of that of males. (5) The grip-span and maximum-torque diameters do not vary greatly between males and females. The analytical model is derived and discussed.
Stress as a Function of the Rate at Which Information is Presented on a Video Display Terminal
Authors: Barfield Woodrow , West Bill , Robertson Mica , Taylor F. Lynne , Tamplin Nelson 
Published: January 2012

The increasing use of computers in the work environment has resulted in the need to develop human factors principles that improve human-computer interaction. Systems which are incompatible with the information processing capabilities of the user may lead to information overload or underload and to stress. The following experiment examines the relationship between stress and performance by varying rates of information and density levels on a VDT. Ten subjects (Ss) performed a visual search task on a VDT as information was “scrolled” across the screen. Ss stopped the scrolling mode by pushing the skip bar when they identified the target. This resulted either in a correct detection, Type I error (identifying the wrong target), or Type II error (missing the target). Results revealed that high rates of information presentation lead to increased errors as well as increased subjective reports of stress (Feeling Tone Checklist). Recommendations for system design are discussed.
Programming via Example-Solutions can Result in Fewer Errors
Authors: Connelly Edward M. 
Published: January 2012

Use of an inductive processor to convert example-solutions into implied logic resulted in errors of omission no different from that which occurs with use of program code; however, such a technique provided a significant reduction in errors of commission. Feedback-aids in conjunction with example-solutions enabled the programmer to engage in more complex problems with few errors of commission; those aids, to be most useful, need to include the implied logic explicity presented to the user. Two participant groups (programmers and bookkeepers/accountants) working with three levels of problem complexity and three levels of processor complexity were used. The experimental task employed in this study required specification of a logic for solution of a Navy task force problem. This task involved choosing ships from a ship list which identified the ship type, the transiting time (the time required for the ship to get from its present position to the desired site), and stationing time (the number of days the ship can remain on station with available provisions). In addition to this specification of ship combinations the participants had to specify by the example-solution the range of transiting and stationing times required. In another related experiment, participants developed FORTRAN IV code to solve the same problems. In the population of programmers who participated in these experiments (professional programmers), years of experience, years of higher education (in software), number of programs written and number of application areas experienced did not have as significant an effect on performance as did the number of programming languages known and the number of operating systems used. The number of programming languages and number of operating systems were found to explain essentially different variance and these are considered to be independent factors for performance prediction. The results suggest that the ability to consider a problem from multiple viewpoints is an important factor in producing error free software.
The Effect of Bicycle TOE Clips and Seat Modifications
Authors: Ramachandran Prabhakar , Konz Stephan , Marcello John , Reid Jack 
Published: January 2012

Two experiments were performed. Experiment 1 had 12 subjects pedal on a stationary bicycle vs a constant load for 12 min twice in each of three conditions: a) standard bicycle seat and no toe clips, b) experimental web seat and toe clips, and c) experimental web seat and no toe clips. The criteria were heart rate (12 min work + 18 min recovery), Borg vote, and a semantic-differential vote. Heart rate was 105.3 for condition a, 110.2 for condition b, and 110.5 for condition c. Condition a was significantly lower than b and c; b and c did not differ significantly. Borg vote and semantic-differential vote gave similar results. Experiment 2 had 10 subjects pedal for 10 min once in each of 12 conditions. The 12 conditions were all combinations of: a) toe clips vs no toe clips, b) seat horizontal vs seat tilted 7° down, and c) center of seat at a 19, 25, or 31° angle vs vertical and hub centerline. The criteria were heart rate, Borg vote, and a semantic-differential vote. Toe clips reduced heart rate by 3.5% during exercise. Seat location was better at 25° than 19°; the difference between 25° and 31° was non-significant. Although tilt did not affect heart rate, the subjects preferred no tilt.
Human-Computer Interaction in an Address-Indexed Information System
Authors: Hawkins Patricia R. 
Published: January 2012

This presentation will describe the process by which the interface was designed for an information system that's accessed by means of an address. An address-indexed system is used when service is being established for a specific address and there is no account number to use to access records associated with the address. It is necessary to verify that the address is accurate and to know what service or facilities already exist there. The system I'm going to describe is for the telephone company but it could as easily serve the needs of any company or organization which provides service and equipment at specific addresses such as the gas company, cable television company, or a municipal government. The design of this system posed some special human-computer interaction problems. Access to records by means of an address is not as straightforward as access by means of an account number or even a customer name. Addresses are highly variable. In some communities the same street may be known by more than one name and both may be acceptable to the Post Office. In rural areas there are frequently no house numbers and often there are not even street names. One approach to handling address variability is to provide prompting and to design a highly interactive system. Another approach is to create some type of standardization and attempt to impose it on your users. Our design provides both and both will be described. Naturally, the interface had to be designed within a set of constraints. The system was to be on a single centralized large mainframe computer. It would be used by service representatives who would be talking to customers on the telephone at the same time they were accessing the system. We needed fast response time. During busy hours during peak periods of the month there might be thousands of service representatives accessing the system at the same time. There are many components of end user response time. Transaction volume is one of them. This meant that in designing this interactive system we had to keep the number of transactions down, that is, minimize the number of interactions. This presentation will describe how these problems have been resolved in the five years that this system has been evolving. Examples of the challenges and oddities we've encountered will be drawn from our experiences in mechanizing rural addresses and multi-family residences. The process described includes some prototyping, experimentation where possible, and a lot of trial and error with frequent field evaluations. The process also includes a lot of teamwork between the software designers and the human factors designers.