2008 ASEM Conference Announcement

Abstract:

This article describes the development of a new, integrated approach to system safety engineering. The approach is illustrated in a case study involving the design of a high-pressure experimental research facility. The system safety engineering framework incorporates five main groups of activities, including system design visualization, failure modes and effects analysis, multidisciplinary teaming, benchmarking, and enterprise management. Coupling a systems engineering approach with the recognized principals of failure mode avoidance was found to significantly enhance the engineering design process.     

Workware decision support systems: A comprehensive methodological approach to work-scheduling problems

Around-the-clock continuous operations are expanding as global business activity, government de-regulation, flexible manufacturing and lean operation become more common. These developments often require night work, long work hours and/or irregular work schedules. As a result of these requirements, decisions about work schedule assignments are frequently made with little knowledge, information and/or warning. Some of the resulting work-scheduling practices undoubtedly increase operation and worker exposure to health and safety risks. To counter these work-scheduling problems, a comprehensive work schedules knowledge information system is outlined. Within this model, a Workware Warehouse is proposed as an Internet gateway where decision support systems are readily and freely available. This model suggests a new paradigm for work-scheduling ergonomics, one where designing, filling and maintaining a Workware Warehouse is the primary focus of the human factors professional.     

Individual latent error detection: is there a time and a place for the recall of past errors?

A task carried out in error creates a latent condition that can result in a future undesirable outcome if the error is not detected later. The paper presents a study of the relatively under-researched phenomenon of post-task latent error detection. Focusing on UK naval aircraft maintenance, it was hypothesised that time, location and systems cues influence individual latent error detection amongst naval air engineers who experience the phenomenon. The systems view of human error is combined with a multi-process approach to post-task latent error research, for which findings suggest that distributed cognition across the entire socio-technical system may be influential in post-task latent error detection. Directions for future research will be of benefit to those interested in furthering safety resilience using a systems approach to minimise the consequences arising from latent error.

Relevance to human factors/ergonomics theoryThe nature and extent of post-task latent error detection is explored using a systems approach, for which distributed cognition across the entire socio-technical system appears influential. The aim of current research is to develop interventions to further mitigate for latent errors and thus advance the systems application of ergonomics theory.     

Grasping the world from a cockpit: perspectives on embodied neural mechanisms underlying human performance and ergonomics in aviation context

ABSTRACT

A great challenge for cognitive neuroscience is studying human behavior in its complexity as it manifests in the real world. The field of aviation provides a unique opportunity to investigate how perception, action and cognition interact in complex yet controlled ecologically valid environments. We suggest a novel cross-domain approach that combines insights from ecological psychology and embodied cognition with a neurophysiological framework to explain patterns of human performance across a variety of aviation contexts. Specifically, we argue that studying the interaction between an agent and the environment, as manifest in the Mirror Neuron system as a neural correlate, is key to understanding complex behavior. We can describe the experience and skills involved with task-relevant actions – like flying an airplane – using brain mechanisms of motor simulation of the observed action. With this direct coupling between perception and action, the automatic implicit nature of the Mirror Neuron system can be harnessed to improve human factor and ergonomics. This analysis offers three areas for future study and application: (1) enhancing flight training by isolating specific agent-environment relations; (2) tracking training progression based on brain signatures of flight expertise; and (3) neuroscientific-inspired ecological design of next-generation human–machine interfaces in flight decks.     

Theoretical issues in general and developmental ergonomics

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a number of critical theoretical issues which revolve around the relationship of the human with technology. This has two aspects: (1) the human response to already developed technology (general ergonomics); and (2) the application of ergonomics principles and data to system design (developmental ergonomics). Ergonomics research which does not focus on the human/technology relationship has little to offer ergonomics. That research must also be directed to the problem of transforming behavioural principles into their physical equivalents.     

A note on the validity and reliability of ergonomics methods

The view that, by analogy, ergonomics methods should be subject to the same requirements of validity and reliability as are demanded of psychometric tests is shown to be an oversimplification. Two broad classes of method are distinguished. Analytic methods aim to produce a better understanding of the processes affecting complex human-machine systems, whilst evaluative methods are limited to the measurement of specific variables. The analogy with psychometrics applies to the latter type but is less appropriate to the former. Analytic methods depend heavily on the application of currently accepted theories of performance. Empirical data may be variable, but the expertise of the analyst may be more to blame than the method as such.     

Challenges and new methods for designing reliability experiments

Abstract

Engineers use reliability experiments to determine the factors that drive product reliability, build robust products, and predict reliability under use conditions. This article uses recent testing of a howitzer to illustrate the challenges in designing reliability experiments for complex, repairable systems. We review research in complex system reliability models, failure-time experiments, and experimental design principles. We highlight the need for reliability experiments that account for various intended uses and environments. We leverage lessons learned from current research and propose methods for designing an experiment for a complex, repairable system.     

Cognitive processes in system design

Design has a major function in the ergonomics study of the human/technology relationship. It contains all of the psychological elements found in other behavioural phenomena, but has, in addition, an unique attribute, which is the need to transform principles and data from the behavioural domain to physical mechanisms which serve as behavioural surrogates. This requirement has both theoretical and practical consequences for human factors ergonomics (HFE).     

Managing object schemas in a distributed database architecture for concurrent engineering

Abstract

In recent years, object database systems have emerged as a new technology, integrating object‐oriented paradigms with transaction and query capabilities of conventional database systems. The strength of distributed object database systems is further enhanced by new generations of powerful workstations. The synergy between object databases and the networked workstation environment, however, brings forth a new set of challenges. In this paper, we address the issues of managing object schemas in a cooperative network environment. After reviewing existing solutions, we present a more dynamic approach to the problem of distributed schema management. We also show how this approach can serve as a general framework for supporting various schema management policies.     

Toward Jeffersonian research programmes in ergonomics science

Thomas Jefferson believed that scientific research could lead to a fuller understanding of nature, while simultaneously addressing a persistent social problem of national or global interest. The two-fold ideals of this 'Jeffersonian research programme' fit well with the inherently practical aims of ergonomics science. However, in the past, basic and applied concerns have not always been well integrated in the discipline. This article makes a contribution, by proposing a novel metascientific framework consisting of a two-dimensional research space that addresses this problem. One dimension is methodological, representing the trade-off between experimental control and representativeness, while the other dimension is intentional, representing the trade-off between knowledge- and market-oriented purposes. The framework helps explain why it has frequently been difficult to integrate basic and applied concerns, and, at the same time, it shows that a Jeffersonian research programme for ergonomics science can be achieved by opening up degrees of freedom for research that have been comparatively unexplored. The importance of demonstrating contributions to fundamental understanding and to applied practice within the same research programme may be essential for survival and success in a climate of restricted research funding.     

Ergonomics and praxiology

This paper presents the conceptual foundations of ergonomics and praxiology and the relations between the two disciplines. The influence of the systemic formulation on the change of approach in ergonomics from the earlier mechanistic approach to work and mutual relations between a working human and a machine is pointed out. Also characterized is praxiological analysis and its consequences for ergonomic design. The last part of the paper raises the issue of the importance of design in a praxiological approach and the role of ergonomics and praxiology in developing modern design culture.     

Human work in call centres: A challenge for cognitive ergonomics

Many people are currently working in call centres and much more are expected to work in them in the near future. Call centres are, in a sense, 'modern factories' where services are delivered through information and communication technologies. The human activity within the dynamic and articulated reality of such work settings offers new challenges for cognitive ergonomics. Indeed, work in call centres has to be conceptualized in terms of distributed knowledge. This means that only part of the knowledge needed to carry out any transaction is (or rather has to be) in the mind of the operator; relevant knowledge may be distributed among colleagues in the organization, available and accessible cognitive artefacts in the work environment, and clients. This paper discusses the potential contribution that human factors and cognitive ergonomics can provide in tackling the new and old problems that emerge in organizations where knowledge is an asset.     

Providing practitioners with techniques for cognitive work analysis

Contributing to the advancement of cognitive ergonomics, both as a scientific discipline and as a field of professional activity, is a major challenge for the future of ergonomics. It is to advance this objective that I want to make my contribution: while cognitive ergonomics has undoubtedly become established as a scientific discipline, it is still only applied in an approximate fashion by consultant ergonomists in their day-to-day work of analysing and improving socio-technical systems. The cognitive analysis of work is still too close to a research activity rather than a practice. Beyond the protected frontiers of university laboratories and research departments of large corporations, cognitive engineering often draws more on intuition derived from operators' cognitive activities than from the results of rigorous methodological approaches. This hampers the expansion of cognitive ergonomics as a vehicle for transforming socio-technical systems. Developing practical means of applying cognitive ergonomics within the context of operation on the ground is, thus, a challenge to be met, if this scientific discipline is to contribute fully to the improvement of working systems on a daily basis.     

Integrated Approach for Field Reliability Prediction Based on Accelerated Life Testing

ABSTRACT

To predict field reliability using analytical modeling, several important reliability activities should be conducted, including failure mode and effect analysis, stress and usage condition analysis, physics of failure analysis, accelerated life testing and modeling, and cumulative damage modeling if needed. With all of the mentioned activities and results, the field reliability confidence limit can be predicted at a certain confidence level, if a modeling framework can be established. This article builds such an integrated process and comprehensive modeling framework, especially with cumulative damage rules when the certain field stresses are random processes. An engineering product is provided as an application to illustrate the effectiveness of proposed method.     

Improvement in Transdermal Bioavailability of Nitroglycerin by Formulation Design

Abstract

Controlled skin permeation kinetics of nitroglycerin delivered by the three once-a-day transdermal therapeutic systems was recently evaluated and compared using the freshly excised hairless mouse abdominal skin mounted in a finite-dosing Frantz diffusion cell assembly. The kinetics of skin permeation from the conventional ointment formulation was also studied using the same in vitro skin permeation system.

Six experimental formulations of nitroglycerin were developed, aiming to enhance the permeation rate of nitroglycerin through intact skin. The kinetics of skin permeation of nitroglycerin from these experimental formulations was also investigated, using the same in vitro skin permeation system, and compared to the conventional ointment formulation as well as the newly marketed once-a-day transdermal therapeutic systems. Results indicated that the rates of skin permeation can be greatly improved by proper formulation design.     

The 'ergonomics paradigm': Foundations,challenges and future directions

The challenges confronting the multi-disciplinary human factors and ergonomics profession are rapidly growing as the pace of technological change redefines the way in which people interact with each other at work and at play. Areas such as human-computer interaction, cognitive ergonomics and information technology management are booming. Calls for greater influence on designing for teams and other large groups of people, i.e. macroergonomics are growing rapidly. All the while, physical ergonomics (e.g. occupational biomechanics, manual materials handling) continues to be a strong focus in the US and around the world. To keep pace with these challenges, each human factors professional should understand the history of the field, remember the complexity of the 'user' and be able to see how their efforts unify and expand the ergonomics discipline. This paper reviews the development of the ergonomics paradigm, explores the challenges confronting the ergonomics discipline and presents ways in which those challenges may be addressed using methodologies familiar to human factors practitioners and researchers.     

Commentary

Mental workload measurement has been an important issue in human factors/ergonomics efforts over the last half century. Recent advances in technological capabilities, analytical techniques and the increasing availability of equipment for non-invasive, real-time assessment of human brain function have led to revolutionary advances in mental workload measurement. Research from several laboratories brought together in this special issue document the feasibility and potential application of these advances for enhancing human performance and safety in a variety of work and leisure environments. Measures of brain function have several advantages over alternative measurement techniques, so long as they are used appropriately and their limitations are understood. These advantages include increased sensitivity to both transient and continuous fluctuations in mental demand without the need to introduce an additional task as well as the ability to discern the relative contributions of various brain mechanisms as a result of task dynamics. Neurophysiological measures offer several advantages and, used in conjunction with behavioural indices, are providing converging and, in some cases, diverging evidence that enable the refinement of theoretical models of longstanding historical significance to the field of ergonomics.