Search results for "ergonomics"
showing 10 items of 626 documents
Age-related operator deficits in a realistic instrument-control task: Assessment of possssible motor, cognitive and mental causes
2017
Abstract With advancing age, motor and mental functions gradually change. As these changes have been revealed by standardized laboratory tests, it remains unclear how much they affect older persons' performance in industrial workplace tasks. The present study therefore compared young and older participants in a task modeled after a complex, realistic industrial workplace scenario, and additionally assessed motor, cognitive and mental variables that might have an impact on overall task efficiency. 25 participants (13 young, mean age 25 years; 12 older participants, mean age 65 years) sat in front of a panel with multiple displays - indicating the momentary state of a simulated nuclear power …
New paradigm of ICT productivity – Increasing role of un-captured GDP and growing anger of consumers
2015
Abstract The dramatic advancement of the Internet has led all nations to an information communication technology (ICT) driven development trajectory. This trajectory has resulted in bi-polarization between ICT growing economies and ICT advanced economies. While the former enjoys a virtuous cycle between ICT advancement and productivity increase, the later has fallen into a trap of a vicious cycle between ICT advancement and productivity decrease. This paper identifies that this trap can be attributed to the two-faced nature of ICT in which advancement of ICT contributes to price increases due to functionality development while dramatic advancement of the Internet has resulted in price decre…
ICT-driven disruptive innovation nurtures un-captured GDP : Harnessing women's potential as untapped resources
2017
The harnessing of untapped resources has become essential for inclusive growth in digital economies particularly as developed economies continue to age demographically. The harnessing of women's potential is an urgent subject in this context, and successive initiatives have been flourishing in many countries. However, given the institutional complexity of the issue, as well as considerable variety across nations, uniformed non-systematic approaches are hardly satisfactory in achieving a timely solution. Against this back drop, this paper analyzed a new information communication technology (ICT)-driven disruptive innovation that may nurture un-captured GDP by harnessing untapped resources su…
Cognitive performance and emotion are indifferent to ambient color
2017
Folklore has it that ambient color has the power to relax or arouse the observer and enhance performance when executing cognitive tasks. We picked a number of commercially available colors that allegedly have the power to alter cognitive performance and the emotional state, and exposed subjects to them while solving a battery of cognitive tasks. The colors were “Cool Down Pink”, which is said to produce relaxing effects and reduce effort, “Energy Red”, allegedly enhancing performance via increased arousal, “Relaxing Blue”, which is said to enhance attention and concentration, as well as white as a control. In a between-subjects design, a total of 170 high school students carried out five ta…
Surviving task interruptions: Investigating the implications of long-term working memory theory
2006
Typically, we have several tasks at hand, some of which are in interrupted state while others are being carried out. Most of the time, such interruptions are not disruptive to task performance. Based on the theory of Long-Term Working Memory (LTWM; Ericsson, K.A., Kintsch, W., 1995. Long-term working memory. Psychological Review, 102, 211-245), we posit that unless there are enough mental skills and resources to encode task representations to retrieval structures in long-term memory, the resulting memory traces will not enable reinstating the information, which can lead to memory losses. However, once encoded to LTWM, they are virtually safeguarded. Implications of the theory were tested in…
How communities' perceptions of disasters influence disaster response: managing landslides on Mount Elgon, Uganda
2014
The aim of this paper is to assess the role of people's perception in disaster management. It is based on a study carried out along the slopes of Mount Elgon in Eastern Uganda. People living in the study area have experienced a number of landslides, but the landslide in 2010 had the most far-reaching effects on community livelihoods and resulted in a major setback to development efforts in the area. Experiences of landslides have enabled the local people to develop a number of interpretations of the causes and effects of the phenomena. The study revealed that community members did not share uniform perceptions. Whereas some members advanced technical or physical explanations for the 2010 di…
Exploring the role of the sharing economy in disasters management
2020
Abstract Improvements in information and communications technologies (ICTs) have facilitated the inclusion of the sharing economy (SE) in societies more than ever. In the aftermath of recent disasters, the SE played significant roles to help the affected people and support official responders. However, the literature has not effectively explored these roles, and thus, no framework can support the systematic inclusion of the SE in disasters management. This paper aims to address the gap through a two-stage exploratory research approach. First, we conduct a systematic literature review to identify the extent to which the SE is taken into consideration in disasters. After that, we investigate …
Experimental analysis of occupational whole-body vibration exposure of agricultural tractor with large square baler
2015
Abstract This study investigates longitudinal whole-body vibration in agricultural tractors powering a large square baler. The aim is to test the hypothesis that four-wheel drive has an influence on the longitudinal dynamic response. A number of experimental measurements are carried out on a specific vehicle combination driving uphill and downhill. The whole-body vibration exposure is measured at the operator seat under different conditions. The statistic results show a significant difference on the whole-body vibration exposure depending on operating conditions. Driving uphill and downhill with four-wheel drive activated showed the highest difference with increased vibration level at downh…
Is naturalistic driving research possible with highly instrumented cars? Lessons learnt in three research centres.
2011
This paper provides an overview of the experiences using Highly Instrumented Cars (HICs) in three research Centres across Europe; Spain, the UK and Greece. The data collection capability of each car is described and an overview presented relating to the relationship between the level of instrumentation and the research possible. A discussion then follows which considers the advantages and disadvantages of using HICs for ND research. This includes the obtrusive nature of the data collection equipment, the cost of equipping the vehicles with sophisticated Data Acquisition Systems (DAS) and the challenges for data storage and analysis particularly with respect to video data. It is concluded th…
Ergonomic Risks in the Printing Company and Workers’ Wellbeing
2014
The aim of the study was to analyze the ergonomic risks in the printing company and to study the impact of ergonomics risks on employees’ wellbeing. The study involved 67 company workers aged 18 to 67 years. In the study, physical load evaluation methods and questionnaire on welfare and psychoemotional risks at work, adopted by Swedish Environmental Research Institute, were used. It was proved that production workers were subjected to increased physical workload. At work they are exposed to physical pressure on hands, shoulders and back. The workload is more affected by the increase in work tension due to limited time of order execution. It was concluded that ergonomic risks partly affect e…