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<p> Four experiments were conducted to examine the visual regulation of manual aiming under visually displaced conditions. A secondary purpose of these studies was to examine potential gender differences in behaviour following prismatic displacement. The initial experiment was designed to test a monocular switch of vision as a method of presenting the visually displaced information. This experiment also provided an opportunity to explore manual and ocular asymmetries. The monocular switch had no major influence on the terminal accuracy of the movements. Therefore. the methodology was employed to present visually displaced information in the three subsequent experiments. The second experiment was designed to present visually displaced information at different times during the aiming movements. while the third experiment was designed to remove the displaced information during the movements. In a fourth experiment. a real time movement analysis procedure was used to introduce visual displacement at various kinematic markers. In Experiments 2, 3, and 4. the early presentation and removal of the visually displaced information had the most influence on terminal accuracy. However. these effects were not consistent across gender. Male participants executed their movements based on the information presented prior to the movements. In contrast. female participants were more influenced by the information received during the initial portions of the movements. The results support models of manual control that emphasize the importance of vision in the early portions of the movement for the correction of trajectory errors. The effects involving gender suggest that gender should be included as an independent variable in future research. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Roadway grades have a diverse effect on vehicle speeds, depending on vehicle and roadway characteristics. For example, passenger cars can generally negotiate grades of 5 percent or less without considerable reductions in vehicle speeds, while heavy-duty trucks are affected significantly by grades because of their inferior operating capability. Consequently, due to the potential significant speed differential between automobiles and heavy-duty trucks, these trucks can have a significant impact on the quality of flow, throughput, and safety of a traffic stream. Truck climbing lanes are typically constructed in an attempt to lessen this negative impact. Currently, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) represent the state-of-art and state-of-practice procedures for the design of truck climbing lanes. These procedures only consider the tangent vertical profile grades in the design of climbing lanes and do not capture the impact of vertical curvature on truck performance. The dissertation describes the TruckSIM framework for modeling vehicle motion along roadway sections by considering both the longitudinal and lateral forces acting on a vehicle. In doing so, the tool reflects the impact of horizontal and vertical alignment on a vehicle's longitudinal motion. The model is capable of reading Global Positioning System (GPS) (longitude, latitude, and altitude), roadway, and vehicle data. The dissertation demonstrates the validity of the software modeling procedures against field data and the HCM procedures. It is anticipated that by automating the design procedures and considering different vehicle and roadway characteristics on truck motion, the TruckSIM software will be of considerable assistance to traffic engineers in the design of roadways. The Global Positioning System (GPS) was originally built by the U.S. Department of Defense to provide the military with a super-precise form of worldwide positioning. With time, GPS units were introduced into the civilian domain and provided transportation professionals with an opportunity to capitalize on this unique instrumentation. With this GPS capability, this research investigates the feasibility of using inexpensive WAAS-capable units to estimate roadway vertical and horizontal profiles. The profiles that are generated by these inexpensive units (less than $500) are compared to the profiles generated by expensive carrier-phase DGPS units ($30,000 per unit including the base station). The results of this study demonstrate that the use of data smoothing and stacking techniques with the WAAS data provides grade estimates that are accurate within 10% of those generated by the carrier-phase DGPS units and thus offer a cost effective tool for providing input data to the TruckSIM software. Using the TruckSIM software, this research effort investigates truck performance reflective of various truck and road characteristics. These characteristics include vehicle engine power, weight-to-power ratio, pavement type, pavement condition, aerodynamic aid features, engine efficiency, tire type, and percentage mass on tractive axle. The study demonstrates that the vehicle weight-to-power ratio, vehicle engine power, pavement surface condition, tire type, aerodynamic aids, and engine efficiency are critical factors in the design of truck climbing lanes. / Ph. D.

This research demonstrates the feasibility of modifying a Predetermined Time Standard (PTS) to model a specific worker precisely and efficiently. The Worker Profile uses the results of a half hour of testing to algebraically modify each of the work elements in the PTS. The modified system can then be used with any job that has been described in the PTS. Specific performance times can be estimated for the modeled individual on each of the described jobs. The traditional functional assessment techniques developed by medical, psychological and social care providers lack the quantitative precision of industrial engineering work descriptors. In addition to providing the rehabilitation engineer a usable assessment of the client's abilities the Worker Profile should aid in the sharing of information among the specialists on the rehabilitation team. Unlike previous efforts directed at modeling disabled workers' abilities, this study individually modifies the elements used to describe unique, specific jobs. The element by element Worker Profile approach encourages proper job selection and work station modification. The model produces a Worker Profile which can be used to predict the worker's performance on any job for which an appropriate job standard has been written. The Worker Profile Model offers the employer of assembly workers an opportunity to predict the performance of disabled workers on specific jobs without the expense and time required to train and test them on each available job. The model has several additional qualities including reduced assessment costs and extremely flexible application both in the performance of existing jobs and to the modification of jobs to optimize them to the disabled workers’ abilities. In addition to extending the Worker Profile Model this study examined the effect of practice on the work behaviors of disabled workers. Practice has been observed to affect differentially the speed and accuracy of work elements among able-bodied workers. The effects of practice were previously undocumented for disabled workers. Examination of work element performance changes as learning occurred not only identified the locus of improvement in job performance, but also, illustrated a qualitative difference in learning patterns when a tactical improvement in work method occurred. / Ph. D.

The transition of students with disabilities into adult life is an area of education which is receiving increasing emphasis. The importance of transition services was emphasized by the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. That statute requires a transition statement in the individualized education program of each student with disabilities by the age sixteen. The development of appropriate, practical service delivery models is quickly becoming a major concern of education agencies throughout the country. Developing Transition Service Delivery Models is a manual to facilitate the development of transition services delivery models designed specially to meet the needs of the individuals and local school districts. Research and development methods used in this study include: (l) initial product development based on review of current research literature and governmental regulations, (2) review by knowledgeable professionals in education and individuals with no prior knowledge of the subject, (3) case studies of applicability to two school districts - one small (fewer than 5000 students) and one large (10,000 or greater students), and (4) qualitative and descriptive analysis of data obtained in the case studies. Everyone makes transitions throughout their life. There are certain pervasive commonalities in the transition process. A simple quasi-formal procedure for the design and development of transition services delivery models can provide the tools necessary to identify and implement appropriate outcome oriented goals and objectives for students with disabilities. This should help them in this progress towards successful transition into adult life. / Ed. D.

This study is concerned with the desirability or undesirability of a well-planned training program which will improve the employee's over-all efficiency by improving his skill, knowledge and, attitude. A careful survey has been made of the material already published and available on the subject of training programs, consisting of a historical background of training, consideration of the placing of the responsibility to see that the employee is properly trained, and a detailed discussion on the different types of training programs. Case studies have been made of several selected industries and personal interviews made with management and training officials to determine their attitude toward training. An evaluation has been made as to the justification of training programs, pointing out some of their weaknesses and suggesting possible solutions. / Master of Science

Human motion collected in real-world environments without instruction from researchers - or natural motion - is an understudied area of the field of motion capture that could increase the efficacy of assistive devices such as exoskeletons, robotics, and prosthetics. With this goal in mind, a natural motion dataset is presented in this thesis alongside algorithms for analyzing human motion. The dataset contains more than 36 hours of inertial motion capture data collected while the 16 participants went about their lives. The participants were not instructed on what actions to perform and interacted freely with real-world environments such as a home improvement store and a college campus. We apply our dataset in two experiments. The first is a study into how manual material handlers lift and bend at work, and what postures they tend to use and why. Workers rarely used symmetric squats and infrequently used symmetric stoops typically studied in lab settings. Instead, they used a variety of different postures that have not been well-characterized such as one-legged lifting and split-legged lifting. The second experiment is a study of how to infer human motion using limited information. We present methods for inferring human motion from sparse sensors using Transformers and Seq2Seq models. We found that Transformers perform better than Seq2Seq models in producing upper-body and full-body motion, but that each model can accurately infer human motion for a variety of postures like sitting, standing, kneeling, and bending given sparse sensor data. / Master of Science / To better design technology that can assist people in their daily lives, it is necessary to better understand how people move and act in the real-world with little to no instruction from researchers. Personal assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant have benefited from what researchers call natural language processing. Similarly, natural motion processing will be useful for everyday assistive devices like prosthetics and exoskeletons. Unscripted human motion in real-world environments - or natural motion - has been made possible with recent advancements in motion capture technology. In this thesis, we present data from 16 participants who wore a suit that captures accurate human motion. The dataset contains more than 36 hours of unscripted human motion data in real-world environments that is usable by other researchers to develop technology and advance our understanding of human motion. In addition, we perform two experiments in this thesis. The first is a study into how manual material handlers lift and bend at work, and what postures they tend to use and why. The second is a study into how we can determine what a person's body is doing with a limited amount of information from only a few sensors. This study could be useful for making commercial devices like smartphones, smartwatches, and smartglasses more valuable and useful.

It is the purpose of the writer to attempt to trace the philosophy and principles of manual training from their origin, through their development in various European countries to show their influence on early manual training in the United States, and to point out the extent of those principles in industrial arts today.

Passenger car equivalents (PCEs) are used in highway capacity analysis to convert a mixed vehicle flow into an equivalent passenger car flow. This calculation is relevant to capacity and level of service determination, lane requirements, and determining the effect of traffic on highway operations. The most recent Highway Capacity Manual 2000 reports PCEs for basic freeway segments according to percent and length of grade and proportion of heavy vehicles. Heavy vehicles are considered to be either of two categories: trucks and buses or RVs. For trucks and buses, PCEs are reported for a typical truck with a weight to power ratio between 76.1 and 90.4 kg/kW (125 and 150 lb/hp). The weight to power ratio is an indicator of vehicle performance. Recent development of vehicle dynamics models make it possible to define PCEs for trucks with a wider variety of weight to power ratios. PCEs were calculated from the relative impact of trucks on traffic density using the simulation model INTEGRATION. The scope of this research was to evaluate PCEs for basic freeway segments for trucks with a broader range of weight to power ratios. Such results should make freeway capacity analysis more accurate for mixed vehicle flow with a non-typical truck population. In addition, the effect of high proportion of trucks, pavement type and condition, truck aerodynamic treatment, number of freeway lanes, truck speed limit, and level of congestion was considered. The calculation of PCEs for multiple truck weight to power ratio populations was not found to be different from single truck weight to power ratio populations. The PCE values were tabulated in a compatible format to that used in the Highway Capacity Manual 2000. / Master of Science

In my diploma thesis I'm dealing with questions of visual communication and corporate identity in connection with company's management. At first I briefly characterize termins connected with this topic such as communication, visual communication, corporate identity. In the second part of my thesis I made a set of advices and recommendations for management of small companies, which should help them to orient in the problematics of corporate identity and visual style. These recommendations are supported by practical example of graphical manual I made for that.