Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:55:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:07:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Este trabalho tem como objetivo contribuir com o grupo de operadores do reator de pesquisa IEA-R1, localizado no IPEN CNEN/SP, com um estudo de fatores humanos, e possíveis causas que podem ocasionar falha humana propiciando a ocorrência de incidentes, acidentes e exposições de trabalhadores, aliado aos riscos inerentes à profissão. Acidentes no campo tecnológico, incluindo o setor nuclear, têm mostrado que a causa raiz está muito mais voltada à falha humana do que às falhas de sistemas e equipamentos, o que tem chamado a atenção de órgãos reguladores. A pesquisa proposta é quantitativa/qualitativa, e também, descritiva. Os dados foram coletados através da aplicação de dois questionários. O primeiro deles elaborado a partir dos atributos de cultura de segurança, descritos pela International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA. O segundo considerou fatores individuais e situacionais que compõem categorias classificadas como podendo afetar as pessoas no ambiente de trabalho. Utilizou-se também a transcrição, cuidadosamente selecionada, da fundamentação teórica, atendendo aos estudos de fatores humanos que podem desencadear acidentes. A metodologia demonstrou um bom grau de confiabilidade. O resultado deste trabalho indicou que fatores mediatos necessitam de atuação direta nas necessidades do grupo e do indivíduo. Esta pesquisa mostra que é necessário ter uma unidade de planejamento e organização, que seja realmente efetiva, tanto para questões da saúde, física e psicológica, como também, para a segurança no trabalho. / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:53:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:09:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dada a necessidade latente das organizações de obter e manter mecanismos que lhe assegurem vantagem competitiva justifica-se as investigações sobre o comprometimento. No que se refere a esse construto, ainda não definido claramente, seu estudo propiciará um entendimento mais claro sobre suas bases e sua operacionalização. Nesse sentido, mostra o presente trabalho através de um instrumento de mensuração do comprometimento em três dimensões: Afetiva, Instrumental e Normativa, que os pesquisadores do Instituto de Pesquisa Energéticas e Nucleares - IPEN, que vem se mantendo ao longo de 50 anos de maneira satisfatória em sua área de atuação, possuem comprometimento organizacional baseado em uma ligação afetiva e no sentimento de obrigação de permanecer com a instituição. Da mesma forma, foram encontrados comprometimento ocupacional Afetivo e comprometimento ocupacional baseado no conhecimento de custos associados em deixar a ocupação. Tais resultados apresentam relações significativas entre determinadas características pessoais, de trabalho e de desempenho desses pesquisadores e os comprometimentos obtidos. Essas descobertas corroboram os resultados verificados no suceder dos estudos sobre o tema. O presente estudo contribui para futuras pesquisas acadêmicas através da validação desse instrumento de mensuração, onde os coeficientes de confiabilidade extraídos indicam, segundo a literatura de Malhotra (2006), consistência satisfatória. Contribui também, no sentido de nortear ações a serem implementadas pelas organizações que optam pela adoção da estratégia de comprometimento, considerada tanto para estudiosos como para administradores como uma vantagem competitiva sobre as organizações que não seguem esta estratégia. / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Orientador: Saide Jorge Calil / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T21:41:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elias_GustavoAlcantara_D.pdf: 26448842 bytes, checksum: 85e5c1853bb94ccaf38f178301f3d1ea (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: O ambiente físico em hospitais deve oferecer condições adequadas em termos de iluminação, conforto térmico, qualidade do ar, nível de ruído e posto de trabalho. Se tais condições não são adequadas, os trabalhadores e os pacientes podem ser afetados negativamente. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é criar uma metodologia baseada fatores humanos e ergonomia para avaliar o ambiente físico em áreas de atendimento ao paciente. Para se realizar esta tarefa, a metodologia foi desenvolvida em seis passos. Primeiro, uma pesquisa na literatura foi realizada para determinar os parâmetros a serem avaliados, que foram, então, organizados em seis grupos: área de trabalho, ruído, iluminação, parâmetros ambientais, tomadas de energia, postos de gases medicinais. Segundo, foram definidos três métodos para avaliar os parâmetros selecionados: realização de medições, observações e pesquisa escrita. No terceiro passo, dois formulários foram criados para auxiliar na medição e observação dos parâmetros. A quarta etapa envolveu o desenvolvimento de uma pesquisa escrita sob a forma de um questionário a ser aplicado aos profissionais de saúde. O quinto passo consistiu na criação de um método para processar os dados coletados (medições, observações e pesquisa escrita). Finalmente, na sexta etapa, dashboards foram desenvolvidas para reportar os dados. A metodologia foi aplicada em salas de cirurgia, unidades de terapia intensiva e na sala de observação do departamento de emergência de um hospital público de Campinas, São Paulo, tendo gerado 11 relatórios. A análise destes relatórios mostrou que a temperatura, umidade relativa, concentração de Dióxido de Carbono e ruído em algumas áreas de cuidados de pacientes não estavam sempre em concordância com os limites estabelecidos. Pôde ser verificado por meio da análise das respostas da pesquisa, que alguns trabalhadores foram afetados negativamente por parâmetros como o ruído, iluminação e temperatura. Adicionalmente, houve queixas sobre as dimensões da área de trabalho, risco de escorregão, tropeço e queda; correntes de ar irritantes, odores desagradáveis e baixa qualidade do ar, bem como o número e posicionamento de tomadas e pontos de gases medicinais. A metodologia cumpriu os seus objetivos, tendo sido testada em diferentes áreas de cuidados ao paciente além de ter gerado resultados que permitiram o diagnóstico do efeito de parâmetros ambientais sobre os trabalhadores / Abstract: The physical environment in hospitals should provide adequate conditions in terms of lighting, thermal comfort, air quality, noise level, and workplace. If such conditions are not appropriate, both workers and patients may be negatively affected. The main objective of this work is to develop a human factors and ergonomics based methodology to enable the evaluation of the physical environment in patient care areas. In order to do so, the methodology was developed according to six steps. First, literature research was performed to determine the parameters to be evaluated, which were, then, organized in six groups: work area, noise, lighting, environmental parameters, power outlets, medical gas outlets. Second, three methods to evaluate the selected parameters were defined: measurement, observation, and written survey. In the third step two forms were created to aid in the parameters measurement and observations. The fourth step involved the development of a written survey in the form of a questionnaire to be applied to healthcare staff. The fifth step consisted of the creation of a method to process the collected data (measurements, observations, and written survey). Finally, in the sixth step, dashboards were developed to report the collected data. The methodology was applied in the operating rooms, intensive care units, and in the emergency department observation room of a public hospital in Campinas, São Paulo, having generated 11 reports. The analysis of these reports showed that the temperature, relative humidity, Carbon Dioxide concentration, and noise in some patient care areas were not always in accordance with the established limits. Moreover, the fact that some workers were negatively affected by physical environment parameters such as noise, lighting, and temperature could be verified through survey answers. In addition, there were complaints regarding work area dimensions; risk of slip, trip or fall; annoying drafts, unpleasant odors, and air quality; as well as the number and positioning of power outlets and medical gas outlets. The methodology met its targets, having been tested in different areas of health care facilities and having generated results that allowed the diagnosis of the effect of some environmental parameters on workers / Doutorado / Engenharia Biomedica / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

Despite the increasing number of individuals taking computer-based tests, little is known about how examinees perceive computer-based testing environments and the extent to which these testing environments are perceived to affect test performance. The purpose of the present study was to assess the testing environment as perceived by individuals taking the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE), a high-stakes licensure examination. Perceptions of the testing environments were assessed using an examinee self-report questionnaire. The questionnaire included items that measured individuals’ preference and perception of specific characteristics of the environment, along with demographic information and one open-ended item. Questionnaires were distributed by email to the 210 accredited physical therapy programs at the time, encouraging programs to forward the instrument by email to the most recent class of physical therapy graduates. Two hundred and sixteen respondents completed the study, representing 101 testing centers in 31 states. Data from these 216 examinees were used to answer four research questions. The first research question focused on the examinees’ environmental preferences for the NPTE testing environment and the relation between these preferences and examinees’ background characteristics (e.g., sex, program GPA, age, online experience, online testing experience, comfort level with online testing, and preferred testing time). A clear preference toward one end of the scale was observed for preferring a quiet room and a desktop area that had a great deal of adjustability. Examinees’ preferences and their demographic characteristics were not strongly related with the seven demographic variables accounting for < 7% of the variability in examinees’ environmental preferences. The second research question used the data from multiple examinees nested within the same testing center to examine the within- and between-center variability in examinees’ perceptions of the testing environment and their satisfaction with the environment. Results indicated that the majority of the variance in these variables was within testing centers with average between-center variability equal to .032 for the perception ratings and .078 for the satisfaction ratings. Research questions (RQ) three and four explored whether examinees’ background characteristics (RQ 3) and center characteristics (RQ 4) were significantly related to the 12 environmental perception ratings, 12 satisfaction ratings, and two items representing examinees’ perceptions of the effect of the testing environment on their performance and the likelihood they would choose the same center again. In terms of examinee characteristics, age, online testing experience, and comfort with online testing were the most consistent predictors of the various examinee ratings. The most consistent predictors for the satisfaction ratings were examinees’ online test comfort, online test experience, and age. For center characteristics, the newness of the center and the room density of the center were the most consistent predictors of examinee ratings. For satisfaction ratings, the most consistent predictor was the newness of the center. Center newness was significantly related to the outcome variables related to the size, lighting and sound of the center which may reflect changes in building standards and materials. The results of the study suggest the need for further exploration of the environmental and human factors that may impact individuals taking high stakes examinations in testing centers. Although there may not be an effect on all examinees, there may be subsets of individuals who are more sensitive to the effects of the testing environment on performance. Further exploration of the uniformity of testing environments is also needed to minimize error and maximize potential threats to test security.

Geographic information systems (GIS) are tools used to facilitate locational decision making in interactive, graphic-based environments. GIS and interactive maps allow users to customize displays and manipulate data for accomplishing a variety of tasks, ranging from map interpretation to wayfinding and land use planning. Although originally adopted for professional use, GIS software is increasingly utilized by both expert and non-expert users. Despite the improved availability, training in cartographic design has not followed suit and studies claim that users often employ inefficient displays for task completion. Research on naïve realism indicates that people exhibit a bias for realistic depictions containing irrelevant, extraneous details, leading to increased cognitive load and decreased task performance. This dissertation explores how display realism affects decision making task performance when using a GIS. Prior studies examining naïve realism have primarily had users perform map reading and inference tasks with static displays. Natural resource management was selected as a test case because it often involves the use of geospatial tools and data and people with varying levels of GIS expertise. This research had expert and novice users utilize a GIS to perform site selection tasks for a natural resource management decision making scenario. The results indicate that increased display realism has a negative impact on task performance, especially with regards to task completion time. Individuals in both the expert and novice groups were influenced by naïve realism. It was observed that expert and novice users employed different strategies for task completion and the implications on task performance are discussed. Ultimately, the study results contribute to the theory of naïve realism and make recommendations that inform the use of task-appropriate graphic displays in an interactive mapping environment.

With more legislation being enforced to achieve a reduction in road transport CO2 emissions, automotive companies are having to research and develop technologies that deliver greener driving . Whilst emissions from passenger vehicles have dropped over recent years, there has been an increase in emissions from light commercial vehicles (LCVs). The nature of LCV delivery work is a routine of ingress/egress of the vehicle, changing from a standing to a seated posture repetitively throughout the day. One research focus is packaging occupants in to a smaller vehicle space, in order to reduce the amount of vehicle emissions over its lifecycle. For LCVs, benefits from space saving technology could be an increase in overall loading space (with the same vehicle length) or a reduction in the overall length/weight of the vehicle. Furthermore, an elevated seat posture could reduce the strain on drivers during ingress/egress, as it is closer than that of a conventional seat to a standing posture. Whilst space saving technology has obvious benefits, current driving conventions and standards are not inclusive of new and novel seated postures when packaging a driver in to a vehicle. The fundamental purpose of a vehicle driver s seat is to be comfortable and safe for the occupant and to facilitate driving. It has been shown that a seat needs both good static and dynamic factors to contribute to overall seat comfort. Additionally, comfortable body angles have been identified and ratified by studies investigating comfortable driving postures; however, this knowledge only applies to conventional driving postures. For an elevated posture , defined as having the driver s knee point below the hip point, there is little research or guidance. The overall aim of this thesis is to identify the ergonomic requirements of a wide anthropometric range of drivers in an elevated driving posture for LCVs, which was investigated using a series of laboratory based experiments. An iterative fitting trial was designed to identify key seat parameters for static comfort in an elevated posture seat. The results showed that in comparison with a conventional seat: Seat base length was preferred to be shorter (380mm compared with 460mm); Seat base width was preferred to be wider (560mm compared with 480mm); Backrest height was preferred to be longer (690mm compared with 650mm). These findings provided a basis for a seat design specification for an elevated posture concept seat, which was tested in two subsequent laboratory studies. A long-term discomfort evaluation was conducted, using a driving simulator and a motion platform replicating real road vibration. Discomfort scores were collected at 10-minute intervals (50-minutes overall) using a body map and rating scale combination. The results indicated that in comparison with the conventional posture, the elevated posture performed as well, or better (significantly lower discomfort for right shoulder and lower back; p<0.05, two-tailed), in terms of long-term discomfort. Furthermore, the onset of discomfort (i.e. the time taken for localised discomfort ratings to be significantly higher than the baseline ratings reported before the trial) occurred after as little as 10 minutes (conventional posture) and 20 minutes (elevated posture) respectively. A lateral stability evaluation was conducted using low-frequency lateral motion on a motion platform (platform left and right rolls of 14.5°). Stability scores were reported after each sequence of rolls, comparing scores on a newly developed lateral stability scale between three seats: Conventional posture seat; Elevated posture concept seat (EPS1); Elevated posture concept seat with modifications aimed at improving stability (EPS2). Participants reported being more unstable in EPS1, compared with the conventional posture seat (p<0.05, Wilcoxon). However, the EPS2 seat performed equally to the conventional posture seat. These findings suggest that the elevated posture seat developed in this research is a feasible and comfortable alternative to a conventional posture seat. Furthermore, the final elevated seating positions showed that real space saving can be achieved in this posture thus allowing for more compact and lighter vehicles and potentially reducing strain on drivers during ingress/egress.

Designers are required to evaluate their designs against the needs and capabilities of their target user groups in order to achieve successful, inclusive products. This dissertation presents exploratory research into the specific problem of supporting analytical design evaluation for Inclusive Design. The analytical evaluation process involves evaluating products with user data rather than testing with actual users. The work focuses on the exploration of a capability-demand model of product interaction as the basis for analytical inclusive evaluation. This model suggests that by comparing the measured sensory, cognitive and motor capabilities of a user population to the corresponding product demands, the degree of fit between users and products can be assessed. The research problem was addressed by firstly examining theories of human function and performance together with existing sources of user capability data. It was found that user capability data was fragmented and lacking in terms of predicting design exclusion and difficulty at the population level. More fundamentally, however, it was found that the relationships between measured capability in populations with low functional capacity and real world task performance with products (such as errors, times and difficulty) were not well understood. Given that an understanding of these relationships are necessary to guide capability data collection and to drive valid and robust analytical evaluation methods, the research effort focused on exploring these relationships via empirical and analytical studies. The research process culminated in an experimental study with nineteen users of various functional capability profiles performing tasks with four consumer products (a clock radio, a mobile phone, a blender and a vacuum cleaner). Measures of user capability were related to corresponding product demands (on those capabilities) and task outcome measures. A complex picture emerged, where linear relationships did not generally account for significant variance in task outcome measures. Further, it appeared that multiple capabilities were possibly interacting in unknown ways to support real world interaction. These indicative results point to the further investigation of multivariate and non-linear models for describing capability-demand relationships, and also the replication of similar studies with larger sample sizes to confirm the relationships observed. The resulting overall recommendation, therefore, is that there is a need to direct research efforts in this critical but largely unexplored area of capability-demand model building for Inclusive Design evaluation.

Gottman identified the phenomenon accepting influence in couple relationships, defining it as the action of letting one’s partner influence their opinions, as well as the approach of being open-minded towards one’s partner. In this study, we examine accepting influence among a dyadic sample of military couples (N=242 couples). We first replicate Gottman’s findings which link accepting influence to couple satisfaction, and then expand this area of research by examining how accepting influence within the couple relationship relates to family-level outcomes based on theoretical underpinnings from systems theory and the spillover hypothesis. To model relationships within and between partners, we utilize an actor-partner interdependence model. Results demonstrate that accepting influence is related to both couple and family satisfaction in military families, although these were primarily actor effects (i.e., perceptions of accepting influence were primarily associated with personal reports of couple and family satisfaction). Implications for practice and research will be discussed.

abstract: Interpersonal communications during civil infrastructure systems operation and maintenance (CIS O&M) are processes for CIS O&M participants to exchange critical information. Poor communications that provide misleading information can jeopardize CIS O&M safety and efficiency. Previous studies suggest that communication contexts and features could be indicators of communication errors and relevant CIS O&M risks. However, challenges remain for reliable prediction of communication errors to ensure CIS O&M safety and efficiency. For example, existing studies lack a systematic summarization of risky contexts and features of communication processes for predicting communication errors. Limited studies examined quantitative methods for incorporating expert opinions as constraints for reliable communication error prediction. How to examine mitigation strategies (e.g., adjustments of communication protocols) for reducing communication-related CIS O&M risks is also challenging. The main reason is the lack of causal analysis about how various factors influence the occurrences and impacts of communication errors so that engineers lack the basis for intervention. This dissertation presents a method that integrates Bayesian Network (BN) modeling and simulation for communication-related risk prediction and mitigation. The proposed method aims at tackling the three challenges mentioned above for ensuring CIS O&M safety and efficiency. The proposed method contains three parts: 1) Communication Data Collection and Error Detection – designing lab experiments for collecting communication data in CIS O&M workflows and using the collected data for identifying risky communication contexts and features; 2) Communication Error Classification and Prediction – encoding expert knowledge as constraints through BN model updating to improve the accuracy of communication error prediction based on given communication contexts and features, and 3) Communication Risk Mitigation – carrying out simulations to adjust communication protocols for reducing communication-related CIS O&M risks. This dissertation uses two CIS O&M case studies (air traffic control and NPP outages) to validate the proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed method can 1) identify risky communication contexts and features, 2) predict communication errors and CIS O&M risks, and 3) reduce CIS O&M risks triggered by communication errors. The author envisions that the proposed method will shed light on achieving predictive control of interpersonal communications in dynamic and complex CIS O&M. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2020

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第22801号 / 情博第731号 / 新制||情||125(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科知能情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 熊田 孝恒, 教授 西田 眞也, 教授 中村 裕一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM