Cognitive work analysis to comprehend operations and organizations in the mining industry

Complex industrial systems, including mining, have a prominent challenge in understanding the interrelationship among the cognitive processes, working environment and available equipment. The concept of cognitive work analysis(CWA) transcends the traditional analytic methods of evaluating human tasks solely based on perceptual and physical traits, and rather implements the notions of behavioral and cognitive awareness indispensable for the intricacy of modern technology. In the last few decades, academic and industrial settings employ this type of analysis to set a suitable standard for a system's safety feasibility, and as a result reduce human-based errors. This research paper analyzes current CWA methods and proposes a five-level quantification model portraying the overall cognitive quality of a mining operation.     

Scanning electron microscopy of nerve fibers in human fetal cochlea

The cochleas of four human fetuses ranging 22–25 weeks gestation were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for the purpose of obtaining a better understanding of the nerve fiber arrangement in the human ear. After critical point drying, the specimens were dissected and the floor of the tunnel of Corti and the outer wall of Nuel's space were exposed for observation. Upper cochlear turns, especially the apical turn, seemed to be still immature. Observed nerve fibers were classified into three types:

• 1 Spiral fibers: Fibers traveling basalward and following the shape of the cochlea were found in both the tunnel of Corti and Nuel's space and believed to be the afferent nerves responsible for innervating the outer hair cells
• 2 Radial fibers: radiating outward from the osseous spiral lamina—one such radial fiber transversing high in the tunnel space (supposedly the efferent nerve servicing the outer hair cells), and another sort of radial fiber (found crossing the tunnel floor), the nature of which was uncertain.
• 3 Irregular fibers: Consisting of thin, randomly running fibers within the cochlea. The destination of these fibers was not determined, but possibly they represent transitory nerve branchings of afferent or more probably efferent nerves, which would later regress during maturation.

     

火电厂工程项目管理创新模式及基建实践探讨

由于火电厂建设具备"投资大、专业性强、工期长、占地面积大、交叉作业多、施工工序复杂、危险系数大"等特点,基建管理难度大,为此强化项目管理创新显得尤为重要。"六精"管理模式是华电六安电厂在基建期间为实现"精品创优"目标不断总结、提炼而成的项目管理创新成果,并在实践中取得了良好的综合效益,具有实践效果佳、操作性好、可参考性强等特点。     

基于模糊识别的驾驶员疲劳检测

汽车驾驶员疲劳驾驶是导致交通事故的重要原因之一,通过监测驾驶员的眼睛可以判别驾驶员的疲劳程度。对驾驶员眼睛的张开程度、眨眼频率、闭眼持续时间占空比等状态量进行检测和运算分析,提出利用模糊识别算法判别驾驶员眼睛疲劳状态。实验结果表明,该方法能有效识别驾驶员的疲劳状态,实时性好,准确率高。     

基于B/S模式的人力资源管理信息系统设计——以某高职院校为例

针对某高职院校人力资源管理信息系统现状,提出了基于B/S结构的系统架构设计和实施计划;分析了使用VS.NET和SQL Server的系统设计及实现方法。     

Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A longitudinal study on intrinsic motivation,social comparison,satisfaction, effort,and academic performance

Gamification, the application of game elements to non-game settings, continues to grow in popularity as a method to increase student engagement in the classroom. We tested students across two courses, measuring their motivation, social comparison, effort, satisfaction, learner empowerment, and academic performance at four points during a 16-week semester. One course received a gamified curriculum, featuring a leaderboard and badges, whereas the other course received the same curriculum without the gamified elements. Our results found that students in the gamified course showed less motivation, satisfaction, and empowerment over time than those in the non-gamified class. The effect of course type on students' final exam scores was mediated by students' levels of intrinsic motivation, with students in the gamified course showing less motivation and lower final exam scores than the non-gamified class. This suggests that some care should be taken when applying certain gamification mechanics to educational settings.     

Empathy and Modern Technology: A Neuroergonomics Perspective

The primary purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of empathy in the design of advanced systems in manufacturing and service industries in order to ensure suitable working conditions for employees from the social and technological point of view. The origins and components of empathy are briefly reviewed. The neural underpinnings of three components of empathy, including cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects, are considered in the context of human–human and human–machine interactions, as well as design of working environments. Finally, the potential advantages of applying empathy‐related knowledge to the design and development of human‐centered technology are discussed.     

Maintenance Scheduling Optimization in a Multiple Production Line Considering Human Error

An analytical multiobjective maintenance planning model that maximizes reliability while minimizing cost and human error is proposed. In order to incorporate human error, the model minimizes the maximum human error over the planning horizon. Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART) is used to quantify the human error. Maintenance activities include adjustment and replacement activities, in which each of them consumes a certain amount of human resource, spare parts, and budget and brings about a specified level of reliability and human error. Economic dependence is also considered, in which grouping maintenance activities reduces total cost. However, this may increase human error probability due to operator fatigue or time pressure. The main purpose is to investigate the relationship between human factors and maintenance activities to find the preferred maintenance plan. A multiple production line is considered as a case study. A sensitivity analysis is performed, and the effects of grouping and human factors on the preferred maintenance plan are discussed. It is shown how human proficiency may affect reliability and cost.     

Exploring and modeling unimanual object manipulation on multi-touch displays

Touch-sensitive devices are becoming increasingly wide-spread, and consequently gestural interfaces have become familiar to the public. Despite the fact that many gestures require frequently dragging, pinching, spreading, and rotating the finger-tips, there currently does not exist a human performance model describing this interaction. In this paper, a novel user performance model is derived for virtual object manipulation on touch-sensitive displays, which involves simultaneous translation, rotation, and scaling of the object. Two controlled experiments with dual-finger unimanual manipulations were conducted to validate the new model. The results indicate that the model fits the experimental data well (with R² and R values above 0.9), and performs the best among several alternative models. Moreover, based on the analysis of the empirical data, the simultaneity nature of manipulation in the task is explored and several design implications are provided.     

An Experimental Study on Three General Interface Layout Designs for Chemical Process Plants

The human‐machine interface design is not a new problem; however, existing knowledge appears to be focused either on interface conceptual design, which determines what information at what time needs to be displayed, or on interface detailed design, which determines the form of display elements. This article presents a study on interface layout design. Three interface layout designs were proposed based on the proximity compatibility priniciple, which were on the same interface conceptual design. In particular, the first interface layout design is with the highest degree of proximity cognition and the second and third with a reduced degree of proximity cognition. They are called sophisticated, semisophisticated, and nonsophisticated interfaces, respectively. An experiment with a simple process plant was conducted to understand user behaviors on the three interfaces. It is noted that in order to provide an unbiased comparative evaluation of these interfaces the same application problem and similar look‐and‐feel forms of interfaces were designed. In the experiment, three general classes of tasks were considered, namely, normal control operation, fault detection (or monitoring), and fault diagnosis. Two categories of measures were used: the performance measure and the subjective measure. The major results obtained from the experiment are 1) the nonsophisticated interface is the best for fault detections in terms of performance measure; besides, this interface has the lowest mental workload for fault detection; 2) the sophisticated interface is the best for normal operation in terms of performance measure; 3) there appears no significant difference for fault diagnosis in terms of performance measures for all these three interfaces; 4) for normal operation and fault diagnosis, the mental workloads for the three interfaces have no significant difference. Overall, the experiment suggests that the nonsophisticated interface be used in practice with additional two reasons: 1) most of time in the chemical process plant today is the fault detection or operation monitoring task, and 2) it is relatively easier for the nonsophisticated interface to adapt to changes in the chemical process plant design, which are common in today's manufacturing environments.