Development of a stakeholder identification and analysis method for human factors integration in work system design interventions – Change Agent Infrastructure

In any work system design intervention—for example, a physical workplace re-design, a work process change, or an equipment upgrade—it is often emphasized how important it is to involve stakeholders in the process of analysis and design, to gain their perspectives as input to the development, and ensure their future acceptance of the solution. While the users of an artifact or workplace are most often regarded as being the most important stakeholders in a design intervention, in a work-system context there may be additional influential stakeholders who influence and negotiate the design intervention's outcomes, resource allocation, requirements, and implementation. Literature shows that it is uncommon for empirical ergonomics and human factors (EHF) research to apply and report the use of any structured stakeholder identification method at all, leading to ad-hoc selections of whom to consider important. Conversely, other research fields offer a plethora of stakeholder identification and analysis methods, few of which seem to have been adopted in the EHF context. This article presents the development of a structured method for identification, classification, and qualitative analysis of stakeholders in EHF-related work system design intervention. It describes the method's EHF-related theoretical underpinnings, lessons learned from four use cases, and the incremental development of the method that has resulted in the current method procedure and visualization aids. The method, called Change Agent Infrastructure (abbreviated CHAI), has a mainly macroergonomic purpose, set on increasing the understanding of sociotechnical interactions that create the conditions for work system design intervention, and facilitating participative efforts.     

大管径供水管线的安装与腐蚀防护分析

在近些年的发展中,我国经济水平得到了一个显著的增长,经济的增长推动了城市化的发展进程,进入21世纪,城市绿化工程建设规模呈一个稳定上升的趋势,在这种大的社会环境形势下,如何做好绿化大管径供水管线的安装与腐蚀防护工作成为了行业关注的焦点。大管径供水管线的稳定性关系着城市发展的可持续性,要从多方面做好大管径供水管线的安装工作,采取有效的措施应对管线腐蚀问题。     

Smart work packaging-enabled constraint-free path re-planning for tower crane in prefabricated products assembly process

Lack of constraint-free crane path planning is one of the critical concerns in the dynamic on-site assembly process of prefabrication housing production (PHP). For decades, researchers and practitioners have endeavored to improve both the efficiency and safety of crane path planning from either static environment or re-planning the path when colliding with constraints or periodically updating the path in the dynamic environment. However, there is a lack of approach related to the in-depth exploration of the nature of dynamic constraints so as to assist the crane operators in making adaptive path re-planning decisions by categorizing and prioritizing constraints. To address this issue, this study develops the smart work packaging (SWP)-enabled constraints optimization service. This service embraces the core characteristics of SWP, including adaptivity, sociability, and autonomy to achieve autonomous initial path planning, networked constraints classification, and adaptive decisions on path re-planning. This service is simulated and verified in the BIM environment, and it is found that SWP-enabled constraints optimization service can generate the constraint-free path when it is necessary.     

Outcome‐based ventilation: A framework for assessing performance,health, and energy impacts to inform office building ventilation decisions

This article presents an outcome‐based ventilation (OBV) framework, which combines competing ventilation impacts into a monetized loss function ($/occ/h) used to inform ventilation rate decisions. The OBV framework, developed for U.S. offices, considers six outcomes of increasing ventilation: profitable outcomes realized from improvements in occupant work performance and sick leave absenteeism; health outcomes from occupant exposure to outdoor fine particles and ozone; and energy outcomes from electricity and natural gas usage. We used the literature to set low, medium, and high reference values for OBV loss function parameters, and evaluated the framework and outcome‐based ventilation rates using a simulated U.S. office stock dataset and a case study in New York City. With parameters for all outcomes set at medium values derived from literature‐based central estimates, higher ventilation rates’ profitable benefits dominated negative health and energy impacts, and the OBV framework suggested ventilation should be ≥45 L/s/occ, much higher than the baseline ~8.5 L/s/occ rate prescribed by ASHRAE 62.1. Only when combining very low parameter estimates for profitable impacts with very high ones for health and energy impacts were all outcomes on the same order. Even then, however, outcome‐based ventilation rates were often twice the baseline rate or more.     

一种新型回路电阻测试仪的研究与设计

针对传统低压回路电阻测试仪只能在被测设备停电时使用的一大限制,本文提出并设计了一种新型低压回路电阻测试仪。该仪器可在低压设备运行状态下对其回路电阻进行测量,在保证测量精度的前提下减少了设备停电率,大大提高了工作效率。     

基于趋势分析的舰载机预防性维修工作优化技术研究

针对缩减舰上保障规模和提高舰载机的完好率的需求，提出舰载机预防性维修工作优化方法。分析了如何选取优化项目和参数，对比分析了各种趋势分析方法的适用性，采用基于飞参数据的趋势分析方法，刻画系统或部件的性能变化趋势，提供适合单机的舰载机预防性维修工作优化决策支撑，并以典型系统进行了案例应用，形成了一种新的舰载机提高保障效能、提升系统安全性水平的技术途径。     

区分站点状态的两级轮询控制系统

针对提高轮询控制模型工作效率和区分网络优先级的问题，提出了区分站点忙闲状态的完全-门限两级轮询控制模型（ETTPSS）。模型以两级优先级为基础，依据站点的忙闲状态采用并行处理方式只对忙站点进行信息分组发送服务。模型既能区分传输服务优先级又能避开对无信息分组的空闲站点的查询，从而提高了模型资源利用率和工作效率。运用概率母函数与马尔可夫链相结合的方法对该模型进行理论分析研究，精确解析了模型各个重要性能参数。仿真实验结果表明，仿真值与理论值近似相等，说明理论分析正确合理。与普通轮询模型相比，该模型性能大幅度提高。     

A comparison of manual handling risks in different domestic waste collection systems using three separate evaluation methods

Arising out of the challenge for Local Authorities (LAs) to operate sustainable systems of work, is to avoid the creation of ill-health including the most significant causes of physical absence, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).The study's aim was to compare the reliability of the manual handling element of the Health and Safety Executives (HSEs) risk comparator tool for different domestic waste collection methods with self-reported pain via body-mapping and MSD ill health absence rates. Participatory body-mapping exercises were carried out in five LAs with one LA resurveyed, six months after the move from 35 and 50 L containers to a wheeled bin recycling service.The lowest levels of self-reported pain were for services designed with 240l wheeled bins excluding glass; the highest levels were for services that included 100l of garden waste sacks and recycling boxes. Industry data supports previous laboratory studies showing wheeled bins to be associated with less MSD outcomes than boxes, baskets and sacks.Triangulation of data established a statistically significant correlation of 0.85 (Pearson) between average pain-count (APC) and the mean MSD absence rates, with a strong correlation of 0.77 (Spearman) between APC and risk rating. The correlation is moderate, 0.49 (Spearman) between MSD absence and risk rating, reflecting possible intervening variables and a low participation rate by LAs.The contribution of this study is to improve the design of sustainable waste collection strategies to minimise MSD associated absence. In the absence of reliable absence data, body mapping should be used as a proxy method of assessing MSD risk.     

Dependence of grip strength on shoulder position and its implications for ergonomics practice

Grip strength (GS) variability due to positional changes in the upper extremity joints is of importance while designing workstations and work methods. This study was conducted to analyze the GS variations due to positional changes at shoulder joint when some important variables were under control. The GSs of dominant and nondominant hands were measured in eight shoulder (0°, 45°, 90°, and 135° of flexion and abduction) and standard test positions (STP). One hundred and thirteen subjects 20–30 years old completed the study. At the dominant side, no significant difference was observed in the pairwise comparisons between STP and the others. Maximum and minimum GSs were obtained in 0° abduction and 45° flexion and abduction, respectively. At the nondominant side, GSs were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the corresponding test positions and demonstrated more variability. The findings of this study can contribute to the available knowledge to guide occupational ergonomists in their practices.