bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Knowledge of Lateral G Performance on Driving through Curves
Authors: Ritchie Malcolm L. , Howard John M. 
Published: January 2012

9 students in a course on driving behavior drove an instrumented auto through a 110 mile course through Ohio rural roads. They had studied reports of previous experiments on this course involving measures of forward velocity and lateral acceleration. They knew previous performance data and breakaway limits for the vehicle. During the experimental session each student was informed of his lateral G performance for each curve. When compared with previous experiments using the same course and car, these subjects produced much higher lateral accelerations.
An Investigation of the Effects of Reinforced Stimuli on Driver Brake Reaction
Authors: Plummer Ralph W. , Armstrong Wayne D. , King Ellis L. 
Published: January 2012

The purpose of this research was to investigate what effect added light and sound stimuli, placed inside an automobile, would have on a driver's braking performance. The research was designed to determine whether a driver's brake reaction time could be decreased by reinforced stimuli and, if so, which type of the stimuli tested would be most significant in improving a driver's reactions. The research was conducted on an open section of interstate highway under normal driving conditions. Two vehicles were used in the tests. The subjects' test vehicle was equipped with a light and sound stimulus attached to the dashboard. The subjects in this second vehicle were instructed to respond immediately to the activation of the lead vehicle's brake lights by depressing the brake pedal of their vehicle. In addition, the subjects were instructed to immediately respond to the activation of the light and/or sound stimulus by depressing the brake pedal. Each time the brake lights of the lead car were activated one of three conditions would occur: 1) neither the sound nor light stimulus in the subject's vehicle would activate, 2) either the light or sound stimulus would activate, or 3) both the light and sound stimulus would activate, in addition to the brake lights of the lead car. The reinforced stimuli inside the subject's vehicle could only be activated by the activation of the lead car's brake lights. The reaction times needed for the subject to respond to these stimuli were recorded. The test subjects were separated into two age groups: under thirtyfive years old and over thirty-five years old. An analysis of variance showed that the age of the subject, the difference between subjects, and the type of stimulus were significant in influencing the brake reaction times. The sound stimulus caused the most significant decrease in brake reaction times.
Techniques for Reviewing Military Standards/Specifications
Authors: Moroney William F. , Bittner Alvah C. , Holshouser Edward L. 
Published: January 2012

An effort was undertaken to assess the validity of the design criteria currently specified in selected standards. The effort was concentrated on the criteria contained in the Human Engineering Design Criteria for Military Systems Equipment and Facilities (MIL-STD 1472), which is mandatory for use by all Departments and agencies of the Department of Defense. Both psychologists and engineers reviewed individual statements on several levels including: 1) Intelligibility, 2) Consistency with other statements contained within the standard, 3) Consistency with a referenced specification, standard, or other design references, 4) Quality of the statement – Can the statement be attributed to a reference document? If so, does that source agree with that particular statement or has the statement been cited inappropriately or out of context? The quality of the statement was determined by comparing the statement with data contained in a wide variety of handbooks and design guides including: Human Factors Engineering Guide to Equipment Design, Bioastronautics Data Book, NASA NSFC-STD 267A, etc. Also, selected sections were compared with current research as well as reviews of the literature. A record was kept of those statements which could be attributed to a source; those which could not and those which, while they could be attributed to a source, were suspect. Where it was possible to present the data in a tabular or graphic form, the data were reformated. When suspect or apparently data-less areas were uncovered, a three pronged literature review was undertaken. The three prongs included: 1) Determining what was available in the literature. 2) Presenting literature findings in a report format and if possible in a graphic format (matrix, figure, nomograph) emphasizing trade-off possibilities. 3) Identifying what was missing, what needed to be done, and how it should be done. The study described above is part of an on-going effort sponsored by the Naval Air Systems Command. It is expected that both in-house and contractor efforts in this area will be continued and will ultimately result in improved design criteria.
Force Exertion during Lifting with Light Loads
Authors: Perkins Ronald , Konz Stephan 
Published: January 2012

A single male subject lifted a tote box 12 times at each of 24 conditions while standing on a force platform. The 24 conditions were 6 combinations of initial and final position (floor to 12,24 and 36 in. shelf, floor plus 12 in. to 24 and 36 in. shelf, and floor plus 24 in. to 36 in. shelf) x 2 box weights (11 and 22 lbs.) and 2 distances of the box from the body center of gravity (16 and 20 in.). Averaged over all 24 conditions, peak vertical force was 46 lbs., frontal force was 6 lbs., lateral force was 2 lbs., somersault torque was 417 in.-lbs., cartwheel torque was 75 in.-lbs., twist torque was 59 in.-lbs. and peak box acceleration was .3 g. For lifting with light loads, object weight has much less effect on stress than might be expected. Peak forces occurred in the .5 sec. before and after grasping the box. In fact, peak stress occurred before the box was grasped in 66% of the lifts.
Human Factors in Agricultural Tractor Safety
Authors: Adams S. Keith , Boyd Morton M. , Buchele Wesley F. 
Published: January 2012

Agriculture is the third most hazardous industry, following mining and construction. Some reasons for this relate to the nature of agricultural machines and the conditions under which they are operated. Only 5% of all U.S. workers were engaged in agriculture in 1973, but these accounted for 17% of all work related injuries. Farm machinery was involved in the greatest number of these accidents. The economic cost of farm accidents is rising rapidly. Human factors engineering can be applied in the analysis of man/machine/environment/task relationships in agriculture. However, most conditions or assumptions applicable to industrial safety engineering do not apply in agricultural operations where variability, self-reliance, and self-management are the rule. This paper presents a survey of the current state of the art in applying human factors to agricultural tractors and explores some current research frontiers as well as some possibilities for future research.
An Investigation of Effects of Contrast, and Linear Velocity upon Dynamic Visual Acuity
Authors: Reddy Malireddy R. 
Published: January 2012

Variables affecting Dynamic Visual Acuity are important in the design of industrial inspection tasks. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of target-background contrast, target size, and linear velocity upon DVA. Photographed block landolt rings were placed on white and grey backgrounds to produce ten uniformly graded contrast levels between target and background. These were then mounted on standard 35 mm photographic slide frames (2 in. x 2 in.). Gaps in the rings were oriented toward the corners of the frames. For a given viewing time, an increase in linear velocity resulted in a marked decrease in DVA ability. Also, for a given linear velocity, an increase in viewing time resulted in an increase in DVA ability. Contrast levels and display width also affected performance.
The Effects of Chronic, Low Level Baygon Exposure on Deep Brain Structures of Rhesus Monkeys
Authors: Rosenstein Laurence , Elfring Gary 
Published: January 2012

This study concerned itself with the development and application of a non invasive screening procedure to detect pesticide exposure in deep Brain structures Before onset of overt clinical symptoms. This system used the electroencephalogram (EEG) as an indication of pesticide exposure. Sections of the EEG were first converted to the frequency domain. The energy content of each frequency band was then reduced by an amount determined by an energy template which best described the power spectra of a control group. The selection of a proper template was based upon the shape of the input EEG's power spectrum. By reducing the amount of energy in the input spectrum, a new spectrum was effectively generated which was then converted back to the time domain. The resulting time domain signal was the filtered EEG. This process emphasized the differences between controls and animals exposed to pesticides. These differences, usually appearing as spikes, were used as an indication of pesticide exposure. This procedure was then used to detect long term, low level exposure to the pesticide Baygon. The study involved 20 female Rhesus monkeys and three different exposure levels (0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 mg/kg body weight/day). The frequency and duration of spiking that was present in the filtered EEG was used as an indication of alteration in deep brain structure electrical activity. A total of 40 minutes of EEG data was analyzed and statistical analysis of the results demonstrated that there was a statistical difference both in the frequency and duration of spiking between exposed monkeys and controls (P < 0.05).
The Effects of Headlight Intensity and Ambient Illumination on Two-Lane Passing Behaviour
Authors: Attwood Dennis A. 
Published: January 2012

The experiment investigated the ability of subject drivers to perform a two-lane passing task, with oncoming traffic, as a function of the level of ambient illumination and the headlight intensity of the oncoming vehicle. Eight experienced drivers performed both passing trials and gap-estimation trials, under closed-course conditions, during dawn and dusk hours. Levels of ambient illumination varied from approximately .02 to 200 foot candles during the experiments. Headlight conditions included no lights, normal low-beam headlights and low-beams with filters which reduced their intensity to about 1/3 of normal. Results indicated that the gaps accepted by drivers in a two-lane passing situation increased with an increase in the intensity of the headlight of the oncoming vehicle. The range of gaps accepted across headlight conditions was smaller, however, at higher levels of ambient illumination than at lower levels. Best results in terms of mean gaps accepted and minimum variability in performance was achieved with the reduced intensity low-beams. Results are discussed in terms of the optimum intensities of daytime running-lights. Suggestions for future research are presented.
Vehicle Control and Driving Experience a Psychophysiological Approach
Authors: Helander Martin 
Published: January 2012

An instrumented vehicle was used for real-time recording of drivers physiological characteristics (galvanic skin response, heart rate and muscle activity), steering and braking behavior and vehicle response (speed, distance travelled and triaxial accelerations). Thirtythree drivers performed test-drives along a 25 km stretch of rural road. Seventeen of the drivers were inexperienced and the rest experienced. Response values of vehicle control variables were similar in both groups, whereas physiological responses displayed large differences. Using multiple regression techniques it is shown that for the inexperienced group, road-traffic situations involving the use of the brake explain most of the variance in the physiological measures. Similarly, the steering response was the most important variable for the experienced group. GSR seems to be an efficient indicator of the mental effort involved in driving. Control skills develop rapidly whereas the discrepancies in physiological responses indicate the relatively slow development of skills necessary for collecting the relevant information.
Picture Recognition: A Human Factors Study of Four Illustration Types
Authors: Flamm Lois E. , Marshall Catherine R. 
Published: January 2012

Documentation and job aids for the installation and assembly of mechanical apparatus have traditionally made extensive use of figures and illustrations. Evidence suggests that using illustrations to supplement text instructions will be effective only if the illustrations they contain can be quickly and accurately understood. Surprisingly, there has been little research on what makes a good technical illustration. The present study was designed to see what effect illustration type has on performance in a task which primarily involves recognition. Twenty individuals with education or work experience in mechanical drawing and twenty individuals without such experience took part in the study. Each group consisted of equal numbers of male and female participants. Stimulus materials for the experiment were 16 geometric objects of uniformly high colorfulness assembled from two or more Playskool® Bristle Blocks in various combinations and four 35-mm slides depicting four illustration types for each of the 16 stimulus objects. The slides showed the four types of illustration of each stimulus object: a color photograph, a black and white photograph, an isometric line drawing, and a perspective line drawing. Objects were evenly divided among four complexity levels according to a pilot scaling study. Sixteen blocks of slides were presented tachistoscopically on a back projection screen. They appeared in the same orientation and subtended approximately the same visual angle as the objects. In each block, half of the slides showed one of the four illustration types, a target item, and half depicted a non-target item. Before each block, the participant studied one object for 10 seconds. After each slide, the participant was asked to judge from memory whether or not the slide depicted an object just seen. Response time to each slide as well as ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses were recorded. Results showed that all the interesting effects occur for target items. Of greatest interest is the significant effect of illustration type on recognition time. Photographs resulted in faster recognition than line drawings and color photographs were faster than black and white photographs. We also found that increasing object complexity increased the time to recognize illustrations of that object.
Driver Skills, Field Dependence, Susceptibility to Illusions, and Self-Perception
Authors: Bergum Judith E. , Bergum Bruce O. 
Published: January 2012

A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that quality of individual driving skills is related to certain self-perceptual characteristics of the individual as well as to field dependence/independence and susceptibility to basic geometric illusions. 117 undergraduate males and females responded to a 17-item driving skills questionnaire (BDS) and a 20-item biographical inventory (BBI). All subjects were also tested on the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) in addition to a five item paired-comparison test of the Muller-Lyer (arrowhead) geometric illusion (MLT). Subjects were categorized on the basis of driving skills scores and these scores were then related to the separate items of the BBI and the individual scores of the GEFT and MLT. The results indicated that one third of the respondents scored, by their own evaluations, as relatively poor drivers and that this group differed significantly from the larger group of relatively good drivers in terms of all three dependent measures. To a significant degree, the poor drivers tended to see themselves as generally less constrained by conventionality in several areas (i.e., parental influence, organizational ambition, and verbal behavior). They also displayed a significantly greater degree of field independence than did the good drivers, and much less susceptibility to geometric illusion effects. Of the two latter measures, the illusions appeared to be the more powerful discriminator among drivers, although as expected, they are strongly negatively correlated ( r = − .80). The results suggest that it is possible to identify driving skills by means of simple test instruments requiring not more than a few minutes to administer, and with significant reliability. Such information could be very useful in driver training contexts as a pre-training screening device for use in tailoring programs to individual student needs.
Design and Evaluation Aids for Interactive Video Disc Systems
Authors: Kornfeld J. R. 
Published: January 2012

Using video disc storage technology and alternative input devices, system designers can give end-users of interactive systems more flexible access to information. But improving accessibility does not automatically improve usability of the information provided by such systems. To insure that users not only understand but make efficient use of information, human factors engineers need to develop new styles of structuring the information that must eventually be presented to end-users. New types of user-interface functions must be designed for giving end-users better control over the means by which they can access and use the information presented by these systems. This paper summarizes the experience gained in improving the user-interface to an interactive video disc system, installed as a network of touch-sensitive terminals in a large public area. Questions are proposed to aid the human performance engineer in defining functional requirements, and methods are outlined for structuring the information content. Finally, step-by-step guidelines are offered for conducting structured walkthroughs of the user-interface design, and matrix formats are presented for documenting the results of these procedures.
Design and Specification Issues for Flat Panel and Overlay Switch Person-Computer Interfaces
Authors: Pohlmann Lawrence D. 
Published: January 2012

Maturing flat panel display and membrane switch technologies permit increased capability and flexibility for person-computer interfaces. A recently established Boeing product line labeled the Universal Display and Control System (UDACS) effectively exploits these increases by including as one component a large LED display that is overlayed by a transparent membrane switch. This approach provides programmable switch legends as well as a capability to display textual, tabular or limited resolution graphic data either as a complement to, or substitute for CRT displayed data. Development of the LED panel and switch overlay from a laboratory proof of concept breadboard into a production system for a military airborne application necessitated that a variety of human engineering design and specification issues be addressed. This paper discussed selected issues in each of three categories: image quality, switch characteristics, and software considerations. The LED display is built up of individual modules, each module being a 48 × 96 array of LEDs. The area of image quality for which quantitative guidance is notably lacking in the literature concerns the various types of uniformity-including small and large area luminance uniformity, color uniformity, and alignment within and across module boundaries. Each of these was discussed in relation to use requirements, measured uniformity, and subjective impressions. Transparent membrane switches differ somewhat radically from more traditional switches in a number of ways. Unlike traditional switches, the optical, tactile and electrical properties are so inextricably interrelated that they cannot be considered and designed separately. For example, inclusion of a tactile positioning cue typically requires compromises in optical quality. Similarly, since there is little or no physical movement on activation, routine activation feedback must be presented in a different manner. Some of the derived switch requirements in each of the above dimensions together with their rationale were presented. The third category addressed was software issues. Among these are operator feedback, function hierarchy and accessing schemes, and display formatting. For example, what tradeoffs must be considered in determining the utility of and necessity for labels and boundaries for groups of related switches, characteristics that are included routinely in more traditional switch panels. The paper concluded with an attempt to delineate those issues for which reasonable design guidance is available and suggested specific research needs in some of the areas where design guidance is lacking.
Development and Validation of a Performance Measurement System for Air-to-Air Combat
Authors: Ciavarelli Anthony P. , Breidenbach Steven T. 
Published: January 2012

This paper describes the background, research strategy, and empirical results related to a research program which was aimed at developing operational training performance criteria. Measures of operational performance are desired by military training personnel to objectively evaluate the progress of training, aircrew proficiency, and combat readiness. The research community also has an interest in obtaining objective aircrew performance measures to validate ongoing laboratory research related to aviator selection, training methods, and environmental physiology. Performance measures, collected on the Navy's Tactical Aircrew Combat Training System (TACTS), were initially selected on the basis of aircrew task analysis data. These candidate measures were subsequently validated against statistical criteria. An air-to-air combat engagement outcome scoring metric was derived and used as a dependent variable measure in multiple correlation analysis. The scoring metric, Air Combat Engagement (ACE) score, is described in a companion paper presentation (see Breidenbach and Ciavarelli). Multiple regression methods were useful in selecting and weighting task-based measures of air combat success. The stability of performance measures selected was assessed through use of a double, cross-validation procedure. Results of this study, with some qualification, show that the measures selected can be used as viable air-to-air combat performance criteria for both operational training and research applications.
An RSM Investigation of Defect Rate and Other Variables Which Influence Inspection
Authors: Ainsworth Les 
Published: January 2012

The main experiment reported in this paper investigates the effects of changes in defect rate, the number of different types of fault present, the complexity of items, inspection rate, and the horizontal velocity of items upon inspection performance. An analysis of d' revealed that discriminability significantly decreased as the number of fault types, or the number of subassemblies increased, and there was also a significant interaction between complexity and defect rate. The only other significant effects were due to complexity influencing caution, and response latency. A second experiment is also briefly described, which illustrates the use of response latencies to obtain TSD data from inspection tasks.