Ergonomics action research II: a framework for integrating HF into work system design

This paper presents a conceptual framework that can support efforts to integrate human factors (HF) into the work system design process, where improved and cost-effective application of HF is possible. The framework advocates strategies of broad stakeholder participation, linking of performance and health goals, and process focussed change tools that can help practitioners engage in improvements to embed HF into a firm's work system design process. Recommended tools include business process mapping of the design process, implementing design criteria, using cognitive mapping to connect to managers’ strategic goals, tactical use of training and adopting virtual HF (VHF) tools to support the integration effort. Consistent with organisational change research, the framework provides guidance but does not suggest a strict set of steps. This allows more adaptability for the practitioner who must navigate within a particular organisational context to secure support for embedding HF into the design process for improved operator wellbeing and system performance.

Practitioner Summary: There has been little scientific literature about how a practitioner might integrate HF into a company's work system design process. This paper proposes a framework for this effort by presenting a coherent conceptual framework, process tools, design tools and procedural advice that can be adapted for a target organisation.     

STARS: a socio-technical framework for integrating design knowledgeover the Internet

Traditional design tools usually model collaborative work as a process of data access and sharing. In globally distributed environments, however, it becomes important to model the interdisciplinary perspectives that individual contributors bring to the data. We refer to the individuals involved in the design process as stakeholders. Each stakeholder comes to the project with a different perspective: that is, different preferences, environments, and knowledge. An information system that accounts for these social and technical factors would not only manipulate design data, but also facilitate the reconciliation of these design perspectives over the Internet. This article presents a conceptual framework for supporting knowledge integration by modeling stakeholders' design perspectives. We describe the Social-Technical Analysis Research System (STARS), a prototype implementation system that uses advanced networking techniques to support stakeholders' interaction in collaborative design     

Design for human factors (DfHF): a grounded theory for integrating human factors into production design processes

The ‘design for human factors’ grounded theory explains ‘how’ human factors (HF) went from a reactive, after-injury programme in safety, to being proactively integrated into each step of the production design process. In this longitudinal case study collaboration with engineers and HF Specialists in a large electronics manufacturer, qualitative data (e.g. meetings, interviews, observations and reflections) were analysed using a grounded theory methodology. The central tenet in the theory is that when HF Specialists acclimated to the engineering process, language and tools, and strategically aligned HF to the design and business goals of the organisation, HF became a means to improve business performance. This led to engineers ‘pulling’ HF Specialists onto their team. HF targets were adopted into engineering tools to communicate HF concerns quantitatively, drive continuous improvement, visibly demonstrate change and lead to benchmarking. Senior management held engineers accountable for HF as a key performance indicator, thus integrating HF into the production design process.

Practitioner Summary: Research and practice lack explanations about how HF can be integrated early in design of production systems. This three-year case study and the theory derived demonstrate how ergonomists changed their focus to align with design and business goals to integrate HF into the design process.     

An IKBS for integrating component design to tool engineering

Abstract: Component design and tool engineering functions are two sequentially related activities. Many additional benefits may arise if these activities can be effectively integrated together within a central environment. The principal aim of the research described in this paper is to develop a component design and tool engineering Intelligent Knowledge Based System (IKBS), called Holdex to demonstrate such a concept. It is an implementation designed to deduce the planning, design, tooling, procurement and scheduling information at the component design stage. It also assists the component designers in the operation of a Computer Aided Design (Cad) system and leads them towards the rationalisation of resources by encouraging standardisation of designs. A major benefit to arise from the provision of such assistance is to facilitate the tasks of executing the production engineering functions. The range of functions performed by Holdex includes the specification of a set of cutting tools; planning a set of pre-machining requirements; recommendation of the appropriate machine tool and manning level; and the automated design of fixtures. Towards this end, this research aims to provide a foundation for enabling industry to manufacture with the least amount of manual interpretation.     

Extensions to the design of sampled integrating regulators

The stability properties and design rules for a class of robust integrating regulators are considered. Passivity arguments are employed to define bounds on the parameters of an extended PID regulator and to establish the robustness of the closed-loop stability properties in the presence of sector-bounded non-linear elements in the feedback loop. This approach allows linear and non-linear single-input/single-output and multi-input/multi-oulput systems to be considered in the same framework.     

Workshop-based methodology to understand the risks in grain export inspection and certification

Much of the human factors contribution in risk assessment and risk management has been focused on systems or product safety; the profession has a much smaller research base regarding risks to do with regulation, certification and public policy, for example. This paper discusses an explicitly human factors contribution to understanding and managing risk for the inspection and export certification of grain and plant products in Australia. Training and awareness workshops, incorporating elements of focus groups, were run for 12 groups of staff and managers from the government department concerned. As well as training in risk management the workshops were used to come to an understanding of the work of the inspectors and other staff, to identify the sources of risk to the successful completion of their work and to develop the basis for a risk assessment framework and tool. The paper is methodological in focus and describes the development and running of the workshops and explains how a human factors oriented risk register was developed on the basis of identification of potential threats and errors in the system. Whilst the contribution of ergonomics is increasingly important as regards safety risk assessment, professionals have been less active as regards business, public policy and even engineering risk. This paper describes an approach within which a new domain was studied and the risks of all kinds identified, preparatory to development of a risk assessment tool.     

Computer-based task representation: a methodology for improving system design

Task analysis procedures can be used in all stages of system development to examine the nature and severity of performance demands placed upon human operators. Task analyses involve considerable effort in obtaining a detailed set of measurements that represent the behavioural and cognitive tasks performed by the operators; these measures are referred to as task representation. The present article describes a flexible method for incorporating task representation data into an electronic spreadsheet. Such a computer-based procedure has many advantages over the more traditional paper and pencil approaches to task representation and analysis, including greater flexibility in data analysis and the inclusion of both objective and subjective measures of workload. Portions of an illustrative task representation and task analysis are presented along with a discussion of the strengths of computer-based task representation and analysis.     

An approach to the design of wheelchairs for young users

Sixty six physically handicapped children between the ages of 5 and 16 took part in an anthropometric study of young wheelchair users. All those involved had at one time used a wheelchair regularly, and only 9 in the study habitually walked. Using a standard body measuring instrument, 13 measurements of bodily dimensions were taken with the children sitting in their usual chairs. An assessment was also made of the degree of support afforded by the backrest. Five dimensions normally used in prescribing wheelchairs to patients were used as a basis for working out the sizes of the various sections of a wheelchair, such as seat, backrest, armrest and frame size. The raw data indicated that appreciable inconsistencies in body shape existed which were not allowed for in present wheelchair design. A new approach is proposed in which wheelchairs would be assembled from interlocking sections of variable size . This arrangement would allow wheelchairs to be fitted more completely to the individual.     

Universal product design involving elderly users: a participatory design model

Recent studies have shown that people prefer to age in their familiar environments, thus guiding designers to provide a safe and functionally appropriate environment for ageing people, regardless of their physical conditions or limitations. Therefore, a participatory design model is proposed where human beings can improve their quality of life by promoting independence, as well as safety, useability and attractiveness of the residence. Brainstorming, scenario building, unstructured interviews, sketching and videotaping are used as techniques in the participatory design sessions. Quality deployment matrices are employed to find the relationships between the elderly user's requirements and design specifications. A case study was devised to apply and test the conceptual model phase of the proposed model.     

SafeNet: A methodology for integrating general-purpose unsafe devices in safe-robot rehabilitation systems

Robot-assisted neurorehabilitation often involves networked systems of sensors (“sensory rooms”) and powerful devices in physical interaction with weak users. Safety is unquestionably a primary concern. Some lightweight robot platforms and devices designed on purpose include safety properties using redundant sensors or intrinsic safety design (e.g. compliance and backdrivability, limited exchange of energy). Nonetheless, the entire “sensory room” shall be required to be fail-safe and safely monitored as a system at large. Yet, sensor capabilities and control algorithms used in functional therapies require, in general, frequent updates or re-configurations, making a safety-grade release of such devices hardly sustainable in cost-effectiveness and development time. As such, promising integrated platforms for human-in-the-loop therapies could not find clinical application and manufacturing support because of lacking in the maintenance of global fail-safe properties.     

Unseen users, unknown systems: Computer design for a scholar's dictionary

The Dictionary of Old English computing systems have provided access since the 1970s to a database of approximately three million running words. These systems, designed for a variety of machines and written in a variety of languages, have until recently been planned with computing center billing algorithms in mind. With personal workstations emphasis has shifted to building more elegant user interfaces and to providing the entire DOE database to editors around the world. While the shift from sequential files to random access files and the provision of extensive development tools have changed some of the design process, error checking and protection of the database against accidental intrusion have remained as central issues.Richard L. Venezky is Unidel Professor of Educational Studies and professor of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Delaware. He was formerly professor and chair of Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin. His research interests include writing systems, literacy, knowledge representation, and computer-assisted instruction. Among his recent publications are The Subtle Danger: Reflections on the Literacy Abilities of America's Young Adults (Princeton, NJ: ETS, 1987), and Steps Towards a Modern History of American Reading Instruction (Review of Research in Education, 1986, vol. 13, 129–70).     

An approach to integrating educational software into the curriculum

Abstract  A scheme for teacher involvement in exploring the use of mathematical software was designed to meet practical needs of effective implementation. The scheme consists of observation of students at work, followed by didactical and cognitive workshops, in which teachers reflect on the implications of their observations for further classroom activities. The details of the scheme are described via an actual algebra software implementation in Grade 8. Observation of students working on the software and an informal evaluation of their achievement as related to the learning goals, led to professional teacher development toward adaptive implementation of the software for individual students.     

Rethinking the path to usability: how to design what users really want

As the software market grows more competitive, companies with difficult-to-use products face higher customer support costs as they attempt to rework user interfaces to fix usability problems. It is time that software designers tried reversing the direction - get user requirements, design the user interaction with the product's features, and then code the features - to produce software from the user's perspective and logic.     

DAISY: a decision support design methodology for complex,experience-centered domains

Users at different levels of domain experience have very different needs. For example, a system designed to assist domain novices may frustrate experts and vice-versa. This is one of several challenges specific to building decision support systems for experience-centered domains. A second challenge in working with complex experience-centered domains is that it is hard for non-experts to understand the domain in order to model it. In this paper we present DAISY, the design aid for intelligent support systems. It is a software design methodology for constructing decision support systems in complex, experience-based domains. DAISY address the specialized challenges of these domains by augmenting existing cognitive engineering methodologies. In particular, DAISY provides a method for identifying the specialized needs of users within a specific range of domain experience. Thus, it can help software designers to understand "What does the domain expert need?" or "What does a trained novice need?" To help system designers manage the complexity of modeling unfamiliar experience-centered domains, it provides a tool called a time/activity matrix. To illustrate each of DAISY's steps, we used the development of a decision support system called Fox. Fox assists expert military planners by rapidly generating alternative plans. This is a cognitively difficult, time critical task with life and death consequences     

A systematic methodology for privacy impact assessments: a design science approach

For companies that develop and operate IT applications that process the personal data of customers and employees, a major problem is protecting these data and preventing privacy breaches. Failure to adequately address this problem can result in considerable damage to the company’s reputation and finances, as well as negative effects for customers or employees (data subjects). To address this problem, we propose a methodology that systematically considers privacy issues by using a step-by-step privacy impact assessment (PIA). Existing PIA approaches cannot be applied easily because they are improperly structured or imprecise and lengthy. We argue that companies that employ our PIA can achieve ‘privacy-by-design’, which is widely heralded by data protection authorities. In fact, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) ratified the approach we present in this article for the technical field of RFID and published it as a guideline in November 2011. The contribution of the artefacts we created is twofold: First, we provide a formal problem representation structure for the analysis of privacy requirements. Second, we reduce the complexity of the privacy regulation landscape for practitioners who need to make privacy management decisions for their IT applications.     

A methodology for a Very Small Data Base design

This paper proposes a design methodology for very small databases for the purpose of being hosted by portable devices. Three main differences w.r.t. the traditional design methodologies are introduced: first, the main mobility issues are considered along with data distribution; second, context awareness is included in the data design issues to allow full exploitation of context-sensitive application functionalities; and third, the peculiarities of the storage device  (s$s$) are taken into account by introducing a logistic phase after the usual conceptual and logical phases. The three aspects together determine the VSDB ambient which is the set of personal and environmental characteristics determining the portion of data that must be stored on the portable device. This paper details the design methodology in its conceptual, logical and logistic phases.     

Geometric and form feature recognition tools applied to a design for assembly methodology

The paper presents geometric tools for an automated Design for Assembly (DFA) assessment system. For each component in an assembly a two step features search is performed: firstly (using the minimal bounding box) mass, dimensions and symmetries are identified allowing the part to be classified, according to DFA convention, as either rotational or prismatic; secondly form features are extracted allowing an effective method of mechanised orientation to be determined. Together these algorithms support the fuzzy decision support system, of an assembly-orientated CAD system known as FuzzyDFA.     

Application of a transformational software development methodology to VLSI design

Like software development, VLSI design can be modeled as a series of transformations leading from a high-level formal specification to a concrete implementation. Automating such transformations offers a way to improve the correctness of the design process while reducing its cost. This paper addresses the portion of the design process that converts abstract algorithms into functional-level circuits (collections of primitive computational elements and their interconnections). By defining an isomorphism between such circuits and a restricted subset of programs, we can use source-to-source program transformations to map algorithms into circuits. The paper presents example transformations for allocating operations to components, making communication paths explicit, and designing sequential control mechanisms. A prototype implementation has successfully rederived much of the design of a published VLSI graphics display processor.     

Resource monitors: A design methodology for operating systems

Resource manager objects are the operating system entities that manage computer system resources. In this paper we extend Hoare's and Brinch Hansen's monitor concept, and introduce a resource monitor language construct that represents a resource manager object. Resource monitors provide requesting processes with implicit synchronization, and do not require separate processes to perform the resource access operations. The resource monitor construct is compared to current language constructs used to structure operating system software. For this purpose we use an evaluation methodology that combines software complexity measurements with program performance measurements. The evaluation itself is carried out in a Concurrent Pascal-like programming environment. The current language constructs have a software complexity that is larger by 37 to 219 per cent over the resource monitor's complexity. The run-time synchronization overhead of programs that use current language constructs is 1.43 to 2.75 times higher than the overhead of programs that use a resource monitor.