Editorial: comfort and discomfort studies demonstrate the need for a new model

The term comfort is often seen relating to the marketing of products like chairs, cars, clothing, hand tools and even airplane tickets, while in the scientific literature, the term discomfort shows up often, since it is used in research. Few papers explain the concept of a localized comfort experience in relation to product use, although people use these products daily. Therefore, in this special issue, the concept of product comfort is studied further. In this editorial an overview of comfort models has been made, evaluated with the papers from the special issue and a new comfort/discomfort model is proposed to increase our understanding of the factors influencing comfort and discomfort experiences.     

Cost efficiency comparison of four video-based techniques for assessing upper arm postures

Many video-based techniques for assessing postures at work have been developed. Choosing the most appropriate technique should be based on an evaluation of different alternatives in terms of their ability to produce posture information at low input costs, i.e. their cost efficiency. This study compared four video-based techniques for assessing upper arm postures, using cost and error data from an investigation on hairdressers. Labour costs associated with the posture assessments from the video recordings were the dominant factor in the cost efficiency comparison. Thus, a work sampling technique associated with relatively large errors appeared, in general, to be the most cost-efficient because it was labour-saving. Measurement bias and other costs than labour cost for posture assessment influenced the ranking and economic evaluation of techniques, as did the applied measurement strategy, i.e. the numbers of video recordings and repeated assessments of them. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: The cost efficiency of four video-based techniques for assessing upper arm postures was compared. Work sampling techniques were in general more cost efficient than continuous observations since they were labour-saving. Whilst a labour cost dominated the comparison, 'hidden costs', bias and measurement strategy also influenced this dominance.     

A covert attention P300-based brain-computer interface: Geospell

The Farwell and Donchin P300 speller interface is one of the most widely used brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigms for writing text. Recent studies have shown that the recognition accuracy of the P300 speller decreases significantly when eye movement is impaired. This report introduces the GeoSpell interface (Geometric Speller), which implements a stimulation framework for a P300-based BCI that has been optimised for operation in covert visual attention. We compared the Geospell with the P300 speller interface under overt attention conditions with regard to effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction. Ten healthy subjects participated in the study. The performance of the GeoSpell interface in covert attention was comparable with that of the P300 speller in overt attention. As expected, the effectiveness of the spelling decreased with the new interface in covert attention. The NASA task load index (TLX) for workload assessment did not differ significantly between the two modalities. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: This study introduces and evaluates a gaze-independent, P300-based brain-computer interface, the efficacy and user satisfaction of which were comparable with those off the classical P300 speller. Despite a decrease in effectiveness due to the use of covert attention, the performance of the GeoSpell far exceeded the threshold of accuracy with regard to effective spelling.     

Light on! Real world evaluation of a P300-based brain-computer interface (BCI) for environment control in a smart home

Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems aim to enable interaction with other people and the environment without muscular activation by the exploitation of changes in brain signals due to the execution of cognitive tasks. In this context, the visual P300 potential appears suited to control smart homes through BCI spellers. The aim of this work is to evaluate whether the widely used character-speller is more sustainable than an icon-based one, designed to operate smart home environment or to communicate moods and needs. Nine subjects with neurodegenerative diseases and no BCI experience used both speller types in a real smart home environment. User experience during BCI tasks was evaluated recording concurrent physiological signals. Usability was assessed for each speller type immediately after use. Classification accuracy was lower for the icon-speller, which was also more attention demanding. However, in subjective evaluations, the effect of a real feedback partially counterbalanced the difficulty in BCI use. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: Since inclusive BCIs require to consider interface sustainability, we evaluated different ergonomic aspects of the interaction of disabled users with a character-speller (goal: word spelling) and an icon-speller (goal: operating a real smart home). We found the first one as more sustainable in terms of accuracy and cognitive effort.     

社会责任标准引领组织去向正确的方向

2010年11月发布的国际标准ISO26000：2010骷会责任指南》可以帮助组织管理社会责任问题。该标准与我们所熟知的ISO9001和ISO14000的相似之处是它们都可以帮助管理环境问题;不同之处在于ISO26000是指导性标准,而不是像ISO9001和ISO14000一样的可用于认证的管理体系。ISO26000的起草者不是质量和环境管理专业人士,而是来自社会责任的7个核心领域的专家。这7个核心领域包括：治理、人权、劳工、环境、运营实践、消费者权益和社区权益。     

解决问题：从以人为中心转变为基于原则

在解决事件型问题时,应用不同的策略会得到不同的结果。遗憾的是,使用传统的问题解决策略,例如鱼刺图和五问法,所得到的结果有很大的偶然性,缺乏必然性,这主要是因为它们采用的是以人为中心的、主观的方式,而不是基于原则的、客观的方式。以人为中心的过程取决于个人的解释和视角。因此,通过这些策略得出的解决办法可能让人感觉满意,但却没有效果。     

统计工程和应用统计学的正确结合

自从我们提出了统计工程的观点和理论后（译者注：本文作者先后在2010年5月、6月和12月的《质量进展》杂志上发表了3篇关于统计工程的文章,译文分别刊登于《中国认证认可》杂志2011年第1期、第2期和第8期）,     

一种全局LBF主动轮廓模型

LBF模型的能量函数对于水平集函数是非凸的,从而导致应用LBF模型分割的最终结果对水平集函数的初始化非常敏感。通过凸化LBF模型的能量函数,提出一种全局的LBF模型(GLBF)。该模型针对水平集函数是凸的,从而可以通过任意初始化水平集函数得到全局最优解。此外,该模型不必重新初始化水平集函数为符号距离函数,从而极大地提高运算效率。对灰度不均匀医学图像的分割结果表明,GLBF模型对水平集函数的初始化不敏感,优于传统的LBF模型以及目前具有代表性的LIF模型。     

基于单片机的凝析油撬控制系统设计

提出了一种基于单片机的凝析油撬控制系统的设计方案,该系统能有效地控制凝析油撬塔顶的气体压力、稳定塔的液位,换热器的温度及凝析油输出的流量。保证凝析油撬的稳定可靠的工作。该系统具备安全保护、工艺自动报警及管理功能。     

维吾尔语广播新闻连续语音敏感词检索系统

首先介绍语音信号来源于新疆人民广播电台维吾尔语新闻的敏感词语音语料库的建设。然后用该语料库进行基于HMM的模型训练。模型训练中详细介绍识别基元端点检测、特征提取、矢量量化、码本构建、HMM模型训练过程和结果。最后用该语料库和HMM训练模型对维吾尔语广播新闻连续语音信号进行敏感词检索,并对检索结果进行分析。