Applied Ergonomics

OBJECTIVE: The objective of our work was to assess the impact of flight conditions by aircraft type on the workload estimated using NASA-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). BACKGROUND: Learning about subjective workload is important for assessing the impact of a pilot's work environment on their performance in the cockpit. This is an important element of flight safety and includes the prevention of aviation accidents. METHODS: The study included 146 military pilots that fly the following aircrafts: flying fast-jet (21), fixed-wing (24), and rotary-wing (101)...

Mobile robotic telepresence systems require that information about the environment, the task, and the robot be presented to a remotely located user (operator) who controls the robot for a specific task. In this study, two interaction modes, proactive and reactive, that differ in the way the user receives information from the robot, were compared in an experimental system simulating a healthcare setting. The users controlled a mobile telepresence robot that delivered and received items (medication, food, or drink), and also obtained metrics (vital signs) from a simulated patient while the users performed a secondary healthcare-related task (they compiled health records which were displayed to them on the screen and answered related questions)...

Resilient system performance in high-stakes settings, which includes the ability to monitor, respond, anticipate, and learn, can be enhanced for trainees through simulation of realistic scenarios enhanced by augmented reality. Active learning strategies can enhance simulation-based training, particularly the mental model articulation principle where students are prompted to anticipate what will happen next and the reflection principle where students self-assess their performance compared to a gold standard expert model...

The regulations on summative usability evaluations of medical devices (MDs) emphasize that the test environment must have sufficient ecological validity for generalization to real-life use. Here, we examined the influence of environmental fidelity (a component of ecological validity) on the detectability of MD use errors. A total of 140 participants participated in a summative usability evaluation of an anaphylactic shock auto-injector device under either a high-fidelity condition or a condition acceptable from the manufacturer's perspective, lower-fidelity condition...

Building maintenance encompasses multiple tightly inter-connected agents (e.g., technicians, occupants, supervisors, and equipment). Variable working conditions and limited resources may affect the safety and sustainability of the activities. Although recent studies have explored how complex systems can perform resilient behavior in facing the complexity of everyday activities, the factors that effectively contribute to resilient performance are still paired with limited empirical evidence. We studied the performance of the maintenance team during sudden breakdowns of air-conditioning devices in a large university campus, using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM)...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Industrial environments present unique challenges in ensuring worker safety and optimizing productivity. The emergence of smart wearable technologies such as smart insoles has provided new opportunities to address these challenges through accurate unobtrusive monitoring and analysis of workers' activities and physical parameters. This systematic review aims to analyze the utilization of smart wearable insoles in industrial environments, focusing on their applications, employed analysis methods, and potential future directions...

An air consumption test (ACT) is a physical ability test used in the fire service. The purpose of this study was to compare demographics and physiological differences between slow versus fast performers on an ACT. 160 career firefighters had air consumption, total task time, body mass index (BMI), peak heart rate (HRpeak ), body fat percentage (BF%), and oxygen consumption (VO2peak ) measured. K-means clustering was used to dichotomize between slow and fast groups during an ACT. Independent samples t-tests and Cohen's d measures of effect size were used to examine differences between groups...

Despite the growing interest in mirrorless vehicles equipped with a camera monitor system (CMS), the human factors research findings on CMS display layout design have not been synthesized yet, hindering the application of the knowledge and the identification of future research directions. In an effort to address the 'lack of integration of the existing knowledge', this literature review addresses the following research questions: 1) what CMS display layout designs have been considered/developed by academic researchers and by automakers, respectively?; 2) among possible CMS display layout design alternatives, which ones have not yet been examined through human factors evaluation studies?; and 3) how do the existing human factors studies on the evaluation of different CMS display layout designs vary in the specifics of research? This review provides significant implications for the ergonomic design of CMS display layouts, including some potential design opportunities and future research directions...

With the era of automated driving approaching, designing an effective auditory takeover request (TOR) is critical to ensure automated driving safety. The present study investigated the effects of speech-based (speech and spearcon) and non-speech-based (earcon and auditory icon) TORs on takeover performance and subjective preferences. The potential impact of the non-driving-related task (NDRT) modality on auditory TORs was considered. Thirty-two participants were recruited in the present study and assigned to two groups, with one group performing the visual N-back task and another performing the auditory N-back task during automated driving...

Decision aids are commonly used in tactical decision-making environments to help humans integrate base-rate and multi-cue information. However, it is important that users appropriately trust and rely on aids. Decision aids can be presented in many ways, but the literature lacks clarity over the conditions surrounding their effectiveness. This research aims to determine whether a numerical or graphical aid more effectively supports human performance, and explores the relationships between aid presentation, trust, and workload...

With proper compliance, safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) programs reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). To better understand individual, environmental, and organizational factors associated with both the adoption of SPHM and prevalence of MSDs, a nationwide online survey was administered. 973 healthcare workers (HCWs) completed the survey, for which 59.6% reported past work-related MSDs or pain. Among those with pain or injury, 33.3% changed roles, 79.7% worked while injured, and only 30.9% reported workers' compensation claims...

Slippery surfaces due to oil spills pose a significant risk in various environments, including industrial workplaces, kitchens, garages, and outdoor areas. These situations can lead to accidents and falls, resulting in injuries that range from minor bruises to severe fractures or head trauma. To mitigate such risks, the use of slip resistant footwear plays a crucial role. In this study, we aimed to develop an Artificial Intelligence model capable of classifying footwear as having either high or low slip resistance based on the geometric characteristics and material parameters of their outsoles...

This study assessed the effect of season on cognitive function and psycho-physiological responses during a 14-day swing in mine-service workers. Cognitive function, thermal sensation and comfort, rating of perceived exertion, fatigue, hydration, core temperature and heart rate were assessed throughout a shift, on three separate days over a swing. Working memory and processing efficiency did not differ between seasons (p > 0.05), however counting and recall latencies improved throughout the swing (p < 0...

Within the framework of Industry 5.0, human factors are essential for enhancing the work conditions and well-being of operators interacting with even more advanced and smart manufacturing systems and machines and increasing production performances. Nevertheless, cognitive ergonomics is often underestimated when implementing advanced industrial human-robot interaction. Thus, this work aims to systematically update, develop, and validate guidelines to assist non-experts in the early stages of the design of anthropocentric and collaborative assembly applications by focusing on the main features that have positively influenced workers' cognitive responses...

The road transport system is a complex sociotechnical system that relies on a number of formal and informal rules of the road to ensure safety and resilience. Interactions between vulnerable road users and drivers often includes informal communication channels that are tightly linked to social norms, user expectations and the environmental context. Automated vehicles have a challenge in being able to communicate and respond to these informal rules of the road, therefore additional technologies are required to better support vulnerable road users...

As autonomous mobile robots (AMR) are introduced into workspace environments shared with people, effective human-robot communication is critical to the prevention of injury while maintaining a high level of productivity. This research presents an empirical study that evaluates four alternative methods for communicating between an autonomous mobile robot and a human at a warehouse intersection. The results demonstrate that using an intent communication system for human-AMR interaction improves objective measures of productivity (task time) and subjective metrics of trust and comfort...

To investigate the impact of environmental noise on the cognitive abilities of drivers, this study, using in-vehicle voice interaction as an example, conducted laboratory experiments to assess the effects of road traffic noise, entertainment noise, and white noise stimuli on drivers' attention and short-term memory. The noise levels simulated to mimic acoustic conditions during car driving ranged from 35 dB(A) to 65 dB(A). The conclusions drawn were as follows: (1) Noise levels directly influenced subjective annoyance levels, with annoyance linearly increasing as noise levels escalated; (2) Both attention and short-term memory task reaction times of drivers were significantly influenced by noise types...

The cognitive load experienced by humans is an important factor affecting their performance. Cognitive overload or underload may result in suboptimal human performance and may compromise safety in emerging human-in-the-loop systems. In driving, cognitive overload, due to various secondary tasks, such as texting, results in driver distraction. On the other hand, cognitive underload may result in fatigue. In automated manufacturing systems, a distracted operator may be prone to muscle injuries. Similar outcomes are possible in many other fields of human performance such as aviation, healthcare, and learning environments...

There are concerns that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) could pose an existential threat to humanity; however, as AGI does not yet exist it is difficult to prospectively identify risks and develop requisite controls. We applied the Work Domain Analysis Broken Nodes (WDA-BN) and Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork-Broken Links (EAST-BL) methods to identify potential risks in a future 'envisioned world' AGI-based uncrewed combat aerial vehicle system. The findings suggest five main categories of risk in this context: sub-optimal performance risks, goal alignment risks, super-intelligence risks, over-control risks, and enfeeblement risks...

The purpose of this paper is to establish an easy-to-use questionnaire for subjective evaluations of visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) and visual fatigue caused by stereoscopic 3D (s3D) images. We reviewed previously used questionnaires and extracted 51 important subjective evaluation items from them. We then recruited 251 participants to observe 3D images designed to easily induce sickness or visual fatigue, and we asked them to respond to the 51 items. As a result of exploratory factor analysis, four factors were extracted according to their factor loadings, and the number of items was reduced to 21...