Assessing the impact of typeface design in a text-rich automotive user interface

Text-rich driver–vehicle interfaces are increasingly common in new vehicles, yet the effects of different typeface characteristics on task performance in this brief off-road based glance context remains sparsely examined. Subjects completed menu selection tasks while in a driving simulator. Menu text was set either in a ‘humanist’ or ‘square grotesque’ typeface. Among men, use of the humanist typeface resulted in a 10.6% reduction in total glance time as compared to the square grotesque typeface. Total response time and number of glances showed similar reductions. The impact of typeface was either more modest or not apparent for women. Error rates for both males and females were 3.1% lower for the humanist typeface. This research suggests that optimised typefaces may mitigate some interface demands. Future work will need to assess whether other typeface characteristics can be optimised to further reduce demand, improve legibility, increase usability and help meet new governmental distraction guidelines.

Practitioner Summary: Text-rich in-vehicle interfaces are increasingly common, but the effects of typeface on task performance remain sparsely studied. We show that among male drivers, menu selection tasks are completed with 10.6% less visual glance time when text is displayed in a ‘humanist’ typeface, as compared to a ‘square grotesque’.     

The spatial dependency of shoulder muscular demands during upward and downward exertions

Lifting and lowering are common occupational tasks contributing to shoulder injury risk. Quantifying task interaction with physical demand can precipitate better workstation designs. Nineteen university-aged males performed one-handed, submaximal upward/downward manual force exertions at 70 hand locations; unilateral electromyography (EMG) of 14 muscles was recorded. EMG across planes was evaluated with ANOVA. Predictive equations for muscle activity throughout the reach envelope were developed with stepwise regression. Total muscle activity (sum of individual muscle activity) was most sensitive to vertical hand location for upward exertions, where activation at superior locations was 192% of values for inferior locations. For upward exertions, activation differences for hand location occurred along all anatomical axes, and along anterior/posterior and superior/inferior axes for downward exertions. Predictive equations were non-linear, reflecting complex muscular demand with three-dimensional hand location. This work details foundational exposure data for lifting/lowering exertions. Results are applicable to workstation design to minimise occupational shoulder muscular demands.

Practitioner Summary: Lifting and lowering in the workplace contribute to shoulder injury risk. Shoulder muscle activity magnitudes revealed a dependence on three-dimensional hand location in the reach envelope for a defined hand force. This information can inform evidence-based workstation designs that reduce shoulder muscular demands for numerous materials handling scenarios.     

Fighter pilots’ heart rate,heart rate variation and performance during instrument approaches

Fighter pilots’ heart rate (HR), heart rate variation (HRV) and performance during instrument approaches were examined. The subjects were required to fly instrument approaches in a high-fidelity simulator under various levels of task demand. The task demand was manipulated by increasing the load on the subjects by reducing the range at which they commenced the approach. HR and the time domain components of HRV were used as measures of pilot mental workload (PMWL). The findings of this study indicate that HR and HRV are sensitive to varying task demands. HR and HRV were able to distinguish the level of PMWL after which the subjects were no longer able to cope with the increasing task demands and their instrument landing system performance fell to a sub-standard level. The major finding was the HR/HRV’s ability to differentiate the sub-standard performance approaches from the high-performance approaches.

Practitioner Summary:

This paper examined if HR and HRV were sensitive to varying task demands in a fighter aviation environment and if these measures were related to variations in pilot’s performance.     

Driving comfort,enjoyment and acceptance of automated driving – effects of drivers’ age and driving style familiarity

Automated driving has the potential to improve the safety and efficiency of future traffic and to extend elderly peoples’ driving life, provided it is perceived as comfortable and joyful and is accepted by drivers. Driving comfort could be enhanced by familiar automated driving styles based on drivers’ manual driving styles. In a two-stage driving simulator study, effects of driving automation and driving style familiarity on driving comfort, enjoyment and system acceptance were examined. Twenty younger and 20 older drivers performed a manual and four automated drives of different driving style familiarity. Acceptance, comfort and enjoyment were assessed after driving with standardised questionnaires, discomfort during driving via handset control. Automation increased both age groups’ comfort, but decreased younger drivers’ enjoyment. Younger drivers showed higher comfort, enjoyment and acceptance with familiar automated driving styles, whereas older drivers preferred unfamiliar, automated driving styles tending to be faster than their age-affected manual driving styles.

Practitioner Summary: Automated driving needs to be comfortable and enjoyable to be accepted by drivers, which could be enhanced by driving style individualisation. This approach was evaluated in a two-stage driving simulator study for different age groups. Younger drivers preferred familiar driving styles, whereas older drivers preferred driving styles unaffected by age.     

Psychophysiological responses in experienced firefighters undertaking repeated self-contained breathing apparatus tasks

In order to safely and effectively extinguish fires and rescue life, firefighters are required to routinely wear self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), yet little is known about the specific physiological and psychological demands associated with repeated exposure to tasks that require SCBA. A total of 12 experienced firefighters took part in a series of commonly encountered SCBA activities: free search, guideline search and live firefighting tasks under room temperature (～20°C) and extreme heat (～180°C) conditions to assess changes in heart rate, blood pressure, mood, perceived workload and air usage. Findings demonstrate that live firefighting is associated with greater perceived exhaustion than free search or guideline exercises; however, all tasks lead to high cardiovascular demand regardless of the presence of heat. No significant impact of task upon mood and no significant differences between the perceived demands of guideline, free search and live firefighting exercises were found.

Practitioner Summary: This study considered the physiological and psychological responses of firefighters undertaking SCBA exercises. Although live firefighting is associated with greater perceived exertion, the absence of differences in psychological domains between exercises demonstrates that task demands are not always dependent upon the presence of fire and that all tasks are mentally challenging.     

In-car usage-based insurance feedback strategies. A comparative driving simulator study

Usage-Based Insurances (UBI) enable policyholders to actively reduce the impact of vehicle insurance costs by adopting a safer and more eco-friendly driving style. UBI is especially relevant for younger drivers, who are a high-risk population. The effectiveness of UBI should be enhanced by providing in-car feedback optimised for individual drivers. Thirty young novice drivers were therefore invited to complete six experimental drives with an in-car interface that provided real-time information on rewards gained, their driving behaviour and the speed limit. Reward size was either displayed directly in euro, indirectly as a relatively large amount of credits, or as a percentage of the maximum available bonus. Also, interfaces were investigated that provided partial information to reduce the potential for driver distraction. Compared to a control no-UBI condition, behaviour improved similarly across interfaces, suggesting that interface personalisation after an initial familiarisation period could be feasible without compromising feedback effectiveness.

Practitioner Summary: User experiences and effects on driving behaviour of six in-car interfaces were compared. The interface provided information on driving behaviour and rewards in a UBI setting. Results suggest that some personalisation of interfaces may be an option after an initial familiarisation period as driving behaviour improved similarly across interfaces.     

Push Notifications in Diet Apps: Influencing Engagement Times and Tasks

Background: Smartphones have reached levels of popularity and penetration where they are now suitable for use in population health interventions. A key feature of smartphones is push notification or in app messaging service, which can be used to alert users to messages or instructions pertaining to an installed app. Little evidence exists as to the persuasive power of these messages.

Method: We conducted a 24-week live user evaluation of push notifications used in a behavior-based mobile app for a meal replacement program to understand the role of push notifications in persuading users to engage with self-monitoring tasks.

Results: User perception of the prompts were verified through questionnaires, which in conjunction with the interaction logs show that users were tolerant of multiple daily prompts. The decline in compliance to the tasks set, however, shows that while the participants did not object to receiving prompts, they were less likely to respond to them as the study progressed.

Conclusions: Push notifications and user tasks are appropriate mechanisms to engage users with mobile technology in the short term.     

DISCRETE EVENT-DYNAMIC SYSTEMS FOR MODELING DYNAMIC VALUED NETS

The last few years have seen the development of Discrete Event-Dynamic Net Systems^1,2 as instruments for modeling complex systems. They are able to achieve the following objectives:

—formality of the modeling methodology

—ability to model static and dynamic aspects

—ability to pass between levels of differently rich structures by morphisms

—uniform representation of the communication process as

—an information process

—a decision process and

—a control process

—homogeneity of the representation and modeling methods

—ability to derive qualitative and quantitative statements.

The foundation is provided by a Discrete Event-Dynamic Net System which includes the axiomatic declaration of general Petri nets. In order to calculate the structural and dynamic aspects, so-called Petri net machines are developed. It is shown that this approach can even be used to treat the following aspects:

—use of time during the process

—increase of costs during the generation and transportation of information

—augmentation, evaluation and transformation of information objects.

Recursive formulas are derived and some examples calculated.     

The Proactive and Preventive Privacy (3P) Framework for IoT Privacy by Design

The Problem

Internet of Things (IoT) is providing new services and insights by sensing contextual data but there are growing concerns of privacy risks from users that need immediate attention.

The Reason

The IoT devices and smart services can capture Personally Identifiable Information (PII) without user knowledge or consent. The IoT technology has not reached the desired level of maturity to standardize security and privacy requirements.

The Solution

IoT Privacy by Design is a user-centric approach for enabling privacy with security and safety as a ‘win-win’ positive outcome of IoT offerings, irrespective of business domain. The Proactive and Preventive Privacy (3P) Framework proposed in this paper should be adopted by the IoT stakeholders for building trust and confidence in end users about IoT devices and smart services.     

Evaluation of Three Tablet Computers at Two Levels of Ambient Illumination

Background: Tablet computers are increasingly widespread in this digital era. During tablet computer use, two important factors are display quality and ambient illumination. The purpose of this experiment was to understand the effects of the display quality of tablet computers (a Sony, a Samsung, and an iPad) and ambient illumination levels (200 lx, 500 lx) on visual fatigue, comfort perception, and task performance.

Methods: Thirty-five university students (17 males and 18 females) were recruited for this experiment. They performed six 40-min trials of playing computer games in all experimental conditions. Visual fatigue, comfort perception, and task performance were collected at the end of each trial.

Results and Discussion: There were no interactions between display model and ambient illumination. Display model had a significant effect on visual fatigue and visual performance, and the best display quality caused less visual fatigue during long periods of viewing. We found no significant effect between 200 lx and 500 lx of ambient illumination on visual fatigue or visual performance; therefore, further research should be conducted to determine what levels of ambient illumination, both high and low, can affect visual fatigue and task performance.     

Measuring mental workload with the NASA-TLX needs to examine each dimension rather than relying on the global score: an example with driving

The distinction between several components of mental workload is often made in the ergonomics literature. However, measurements used are often established from a global score, notably with several questionnaires that originally reflect several dimensions. The present study tested the effect of driving situation complexity, experience and subjective levels of tension and alertness on each dimension of the NASA-TLX questionnaire of workload, in order to highlight the potential influence of intrinsic, extraneous and germane load factors. The results showed that, in complex situation, mental, temporal and physical demand (load dimensions) increased, and that novice drivers presented high physical demand when subjective tension was low on performance. Moreover, increase of mental and physical demand increased effort. It thus, appears essential to distinguish the different components of mental workload used in the NASA-TLX questionnaire.

Practitioner Summary: Currently, global score of NASA-TLX questionnaire is used to measure mental workload. Here, we considered independently each dimension of NASA-TLX, and results showed that mental load factors (driving situation complexity, experience, subjective tension and alertness) had a different effect on dimensions, questioning global score use to evaluate workload.     

Mobile touch screen device use and associations with musculoskeletal symptoms and visual health in a nationally representative sample of Singaporean adolescents

This study aimed to describe contemporary technology use, especially smartphones and tablets (mobile touch screen devices), and examine associations with musculoskeletal symptoms and visual health among adolescents in Singapore. A representative sample of 1884 adolescents (50.4% girls) from grades primary 5 to post-secondary (10–18?years old), recruited from 13 schools, completed an online questionnaire in class. Total technology use was high, with smartphone duration being highest (mean?=?264 [SD?=?243] min/day). Patterns of use, including multitasking and bout length, were influenced by gender, school level, type of device and activities. Musculoskeletal discomfort and visual symptoms were commonly reported. After adjusting for potential confounders, more hours/day of smartphone use was associated with increased risk of neck/shoulders, upper back, arms and wrist/hand discomfort (OR?=?1.04[95%CI?=?1.01–1.07] to 1.07[1.03–1.10]) and visual symptoms (OR?=?1.05[1.02–1.08]), but was associated with decreased odds of myopia (OR?=?0.97[0.94–0.99]). No significant associations were found for tablet use.

Practitioner Summary: 1884 adolescents in Singapore completed an in-depth questionnaire regarding their use of technology. The smartphone was the device with the highest usage, and greater smartphone use was associated with increased odds of musculoskeletal and visual symptoms. High use of smartphones has physical health implications for adolescents.     

Effects of the weight configuration of hand load on trunk musculature during static weight holding

The performance of manual material handling tasks is one major cause of lower back injuries. In the current study, we investigated the influence of the weight configuration of hand loads on trunk muscle activities and the associated spinal stability. Thirteen volunteers each performed static weight-holding tasks using two different 9 kg weight bars (with medial and lateral weight configurations) at two levels of height (low and high) and one fixed horizontal distance (which resulted in constant spinal joint moment across conditions). Results of the current study demonstrated that holding the laterally distributed load significantly reduced activation levels of lumbar and abdominal muscles by 9–13% as compared with holding the medially distributed load. We believe such an effect is due to an elevated rotational moment of inertia when the weight of the load is laterally distributed. These findings suggest that during the design and assessment of manual material handling tasks, such as lifting and carrying, the weight configuration of the hand load should be considered.

Practitioner summary: Elevated trunk muscle activities were found when holding a medially distributed load vs. a laterally distributed load (with an equivalent external moment to the spine), indicating a reduced spinal stability due to the reduced rotational moment of inertia. The configuration of the hand load should be considered when evaluating manual material handling tasks.     

Improving visual search in instruction manuals using pictograms*

Instruction manuals provide important messages about the proper use of a product. They should communicate in such a way that they facilitate users’ searches for specific information. Despite the increasing research interest in visual search, there is a lack of empirical knowledge concerning the role of pictograms in search performance during the browsing of a manual’s pages. This study investigates how the inclusion of pictograms improves the search for the target information. Furthermore, it examines whether this search process is influenced by the visual similarity between the pictograms and the searched for information. On the basis of eye-tracking measurements, as objective indicators of the participants’ visual attention, it was found that pictograms can be a useful element of search strategy. Another interesting finding was that boldface highlighting is a more effective method for improving user experience in information seeking, rather than the similarity between the pictorial and adjacent textual information. Implications for designing effective user manuals are discussed.

Practitioner Summary: Users often view instruction manuals with the aim of finding specific information. We used eye-tracking technology to examine different manual pages in order to improve the user’s visual search for target information. The results indicate that the use of pictograms and bold highlighting of relevant information facilitate the search process.     

Driving in an urban environment,the stress response and effects of exercise

Driving may be detrimental to health, with one hypothesis suggesting that driving may elicit an acute stress response and, with repeated exposures, may become a chronic stressor. The present study examined the stress response to driving and the effectiveness of a prior exercise bout in dampening this response. Twenty healthy adults performed three tasks: control, driving and exercise plus driving. Heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure (BP) and cortisol were measured to quantify the acute stress response to each condition. Data indicated a stress response to driving: HR was elevated and HRV was reduced during the driving task compared with control. HR was elevated and HRV was reduced comparing the exercise plus driving with the driving condition. BP and cortisol were not different among conditions. The potential of interventions, such as exercise, to counter daily stressors should be evaluated to safeguard long-term health.

Practitioner Summary: this study confirms that driving induces a stress response, with the exercise intervention providing mixed results (an increase in cardiovascular measures and a decrease in cortisol measure trending significance). Given the known consequences of stress and evidence that exercise can mitigate acute stress, further evaluation of exercise interventions is recommended.     

An improved model to predict performance under mental fatigue

Fatigue has become an increasing problem in our modern society. Using MATLAB as a generic modelling tool, a fatigue model was developed based on an existing one and compared with a commercial fatigue software for prediction of cognitive performance under total and partial sleep deprivation. The flexibility of our fatigue model allowed additions of new algorithms and mechanisms for non-sleep factors and countermeasures and thus improved model predictions and usability for both civilian and military applications. This was demonstrated by model simulations of various scenarios and comparison with experimental studies. Our future work will be focused on model validation and integration with other modelling tools.

Practitioner Summary: Mental fatigue affects health, safety and quality of life in our modern society. In this paper, we reported a cognitive fatigue model based on existing models with newly incorporated components taking both the operator’s state of alertness and task demand into account. The model provided the additional capability for prediction of cognitive performance in scenarios involving pharmaceutical countermeasures, different task demands and shift work.     

Effects of age and body mass index on breast characteristics: a cluster analysis

Limited research has quantified variation in the characteristics of the breasts among women and determined how these breast characteristics are influenced by age and body mass. The aim of this study was to classify the breasts of women in the community into different categories based on comprehensive and objective measurements of the characteristics of their breasts and torsos, and to determine the effect of age and body mass index on the prevalence of these breast categories. Four breast characteristic clusters were identified (X-Large, Very-ptotic & Splayed; Large, Ptotic & Splayed; Medium & Mildly-ptotic; and Small & Non-ptotic), with age and BMI shown to significantly affect the breast characteristic clusters. These results highlight the difference in breast characteristics exhibited among women and how these clusters are affected by age and BMI. The breast characteristic clusters identified in this study could be used as a basis for future bra designs and sizing systems in order to improve bra fit for women.

Practitioner summary: This original research provides evidence for bra designers and manufacturers on the diverse breast characteristics exhibited by women within the population and the significant effect that both body mass index and age have on the breast characteristic clusters. Future bra designs should consider the variation in breast characteristics among women.

Abbreviations: BMI: Body Mass Index; UBCC: Under-bust chest circumference     

Precision markedly attenuates repetitive lift capacity

This study investigated the effect of precision on time to task failure in a repetitive whole-body manual handling task. Twelve participants were required to repetitively lift a box weighing 65% of their single repetition maximum to shoulder height using either precise or unconstrained box placement. Muscle activity, forces exerted at the ground, 2D body kinematics, box acceleration and psychophysical measures of performance were recorded until task failure was reached. With precision, time to task failure for repetitive lifting was reduced by 72%, whereas the duration taken to complete a single lift and anterior deltoid muscle activation increased by 39% and 25%, respectively. Yet, no significant difference was observed in ratings of perceived exertion or heart rate at task failure. In conclusion, our results suggest that when accuracy is a characteristic of a repetitive manual handling task, physical work capacity will decline markedly.

Practitioner Summary: The capacity to lift repetitively to shoulder height was reduced by 72% when increased accuracy was required to place a box upon a shelf. Lifting strategy and muscle activity were also modified, confirming practitioners should take into consideration movement precision when evaluating the demands of repetitive manual handling tasks.     

THEORY OF CYBERNETIC AND INTELLIGENT MACHINE BASED ON LIE COMMUTATORS

Many attempts^{1, 7, 8, 35} have been made to overcome the limit imposed by the Turing Machine³⁴ to realise general mathematical functions and models of (physical) phenomena.

They center around the notion of computability.

In this paper we propose a new definition of computability which lays the foundations for a theory of cybernetic and intelligent machines in which the classical limits imposed by discrete algorithmic procedures are offset by the use of continuous operators on unlimited data. This data is supplied to the machine in a totally parallel mode, as a field or wave.

This theory of machines draws its concepts from category theory, Lie algebras, and general systems theory. It permits the incorporation of intelligent control into the design of the machine as a virtual element. The incorporated control can be realized in many (machine) configurations of which we give three:

a) a quantum mechanical realization appropriate to a possible understanding of the quantum computer and other models of the physical microworld,

b) a stochastic realization based on Kolmogorov-Gabor theory leading to a possible understanding of generalised models of the physical or thermodynamic macroworld, and lastly

c) a classical mechanical realization appropriate lo the study of a new class of robots.

Particular applications at a fundamental level are cited in geometry, mathematics, biology, acoustics, aeronautics, quantum mechanics, general relativity and. Markov chains. The proposed theory therefore opens a new way towards understanding the processes that underlie intelligence.     

The Observer-Generated Information Process: Composite Stages,Cooperative “Logical” Structure,and Self-Organization

Conventional information science generally considers an information process, but traditionally uses the probability measure for random events, and Shannon’s entropy measure as an uncertainty function of the states. The cutting process on separated states decreases quantity information concealed in the states correlation, holding hidden process information.

Up to now, “information process” has not had a scientifically conclusive definition nor its implicit structure.

The presenting information process performs logical operations with discrete information units (Bits) to achieve a goal, integrating the discrete mutually connected sequence of symbols and the extracting process’ hidden information in the structure of an information Observer. The probing time-space observation develops the unit of space-time geometry-memorizing logic.

The defined information process starts generating observations of a random process via the logic of probing impulses, sequentially cutting the process entropy measure and creating the discrete information units whose integration enfolds the information geometrical structure of an Observer. Found composite stages of the information process and the synthesized optimal process trajectory minimize observation time in an artificially designed information Observer with intellectual searching logic. The analytical modeling, computer simulations, and experimental applications validate the results.