Information is an important part of the manual assembly process. Information provides the user with the means to fulfil assembly tasks so that the right quality as well as high productivity are accomplished. This thesis addresses issues connected to information and information use in a modern manual assembly environment, and how these issues affect human operators, quality and productivity. The overall objectives of the research were to gain further knowledge on how attention affects the internal reject rate, to investigate these phenomena in industrial and laboratory environments and finally to propose a suitable evaluation method to be utilised at the design stage of an information system. Studies were performed with the purpose of investigating how the assembly personnel were affected by the information and how it affected quality and productivity. The studies were performed in an assembly plant and in the laboratory. Quantitative data collection included 10 days and nights of production where the information impact on quality was investigated. Connected to this study was a qualitative survey performed among 171 persons from the assembly personnel. The laboratory study took place during three days, approximately eight hours each day. It involved 30 persons, all experienced assembly workers from the reference assembly plant. The focus of this study was how information affected the personnel and thereby the productivity. The findings revealed that information affected the quality rates and productivity and that this can be linked to how the information is presented as well as when the information is presented. It was possible to link these findings to the outcome of a successful information search process, and to conclude that a use of an evaluation method or work process during the product lifecycle could have made it possible to avoid some of the problems connected to the information presentation. This is the basis for a proposed pragmatic evaluation method. The method was tested as a support system during the design of a prototype user interface to be used at the pilot plant. The major contribution of this research is the connection between attention and quality as well as the connection between attention and productivity. Knowledge regarding the importance of presenting the information at the right time must also be regarded as an important and proven contribution.

Wayfinding is the process of using one or more tools to move from one location to another in order to accomplish a task or to achieve a goal. This qualitative study explores the process of wayfinding as it applies to locating information in a public library. A group of volunteers were asked to find a selection of items in three types of libraries-traditional, contemporary, and modern. The retrieval process was timed and the reactions of the volunteers were recorded, documented, and analyzed. The impact of various wayfinding tools-architecture, layout, color, signage, computer support, collection organization-on the retrieval process was also identified. The study revealed that many of the wayfinding tools currently available in libraries do not facilitate item retrieval. Inconsistencies, ambiguities, obstructions, disparities, and operational deficiencies all contributed to end-user frustration and retrieval failure. The study suggests that failing to address these issues may prompt library patrons-end users who are increasingly interested in finding information with minimal expenditures of time and effort-may turn to other information-retrieval strategies and abandon a system that they find confusing and frustrating.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a healthcare-associated infection (HAI), or more specifically, a healthcare-associated pneumonia (HAP) that can lead to significant morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients that are being mechanically ventilated. There are established evidence-based guidelines in existence designed to reduce or eliminate VAP from occurring and when properly maintained have been shown to reduce the incidence of VAP. Nurses are at the frontline adhering to the VAP protocol through its integration into their workflow. It is yet unknown what elements of the protocol and workflow contribute to a successful VAP reduction in occurrence and increased patient safety. This program evaluation project, guided by an adapted Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model, takes a human-factors approach towards answering these questions. It specifically examines the VAP protocol in a large urban southwestern teaching hospital to evaluate program effectiveness using a human factors approach. Building on the work of Carayon, et al. (2006) and Jansson et al. (2013), I present the findings from this program evaluation project using an adapted SEIPS model that sought to evaluate the VAP prevention program from a human factors perspective addressing the following aims: Aim 1. Determine the effectiveness of using the adapted SEIPS model to evaluate a VAP quality improvement (QI) project; Aim 2. Evaluate a VAP QI program taking a human factors approach; and Aim 3. Using the adapted SEIPS model, identify elements of the VAP bundle that nurses perceive as strength and weaknesses. The project was completed with the following findings: Based on this work the adapted SEIPS model demonstrates usefulness for evaluating QI projects. It would be interesting to continue this work with QI projects to see how well it performs.

This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Master of Architecture [Professional] at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2013. / In the Centre for Animal Assisted Therapy, animals act as a therapeutic intervention to improve the well-being of therapy patients. The main medical success of this mode of therapy lies within the tactile experience of touch. This thesis is about discovering an architecture that acts as a platform for interaction between humans and domesticated animals. The human-animal relationship and the architectural spaces it would require to enhance the gathering, are investigated. It explores an architectural language that is inclusive, involved and focused on a worthy spatial perception based on enhanced tactile experiences.

Os modelos para melhoria da qualidade de software são fundamentados na tríade processo-pessoas-tecnologia. Este trabalho busca a relação entre dois destes pilares da qualidade de software: o processo de desenvolvimento e o ser humano. Este trabalho avalia como os modelos de qualidade de software consideram o ser humano e caracteriza a inserção de defeitos no software por seus desenvolvedores como erros humanos cometidos no processo de desenvolvimento. Fatores humanos condicionantes do desempenho são identificados e, através de pesquisa de campo cujo objetivo é explorar a realidade do processo de desenvolvimento de software, analisam-se os fatores humanos que podem afetar a qualidade de software, principalmente no que diz respeito às características de funcionalidade e confiabilidade. / Software quality improvement models are based on the triplet process-people-technology. This research works on the relationship between two of these fundamental structures of software quality: human beings and the development process. This work evaluates how software quality models consider human beings and characterizes defect insertion in software products by developers as human errors throughout the development process. Some human factors are identified as performance-shaping and, by the means of a field study intended to explore the reality of software development, they are analyzed as influences on software quality, mainly respective to functionality and reliability characteristics.

The provision of ultra-safe healthcare relies upon investment in robust systems of work. The transition of care between healthcare providers has been shown to contribute significant risk to patients, so much so that the improvement in handover was listed as one of the top five priorities for the World Health Organisation in 2014. Current handover practices have been evaluated in medicine using numerous techniques on the qualitative – quantitative continuum. The systematic evaluation of published literature revealed a paucity of evidence in relation to the optimal transfer of patient care. As a consequence, the post-operative handover was evaluated by first undertaking semi-structured interviews of anaesthetic, recovery and surgical staff. Differences of opinion were discovered between professional groups involved in the post-operative handover. These differences have the potential to fuel inter-professional conflict. The handover process was seen as being vulnerable to the effects of outside agencies, with time pressure being most to blame. The post-operative handover was observed and a novel handover intervention was introduced, with the primary objective of reducing multi-tasking and improving information accuracy. The intervention combined education of handover error alongside standardisation of the process. The introduction of a bed-side aide memoire to separate the transfer of equipment from standardised information transfer was introduced with staff involvement. Prior to the introduction of the handover intervention, core information points such as the patient’s name and allergies were frequently omitted and the process was often beset with distraction from concomitant activities. Both of these factors improved following the introduction of the intervention. These findings support previous revelations in handover that transitions are frequently not optimised to reduce risk in the patient pathway. However, it is feasible to ameliorate this risk by introducing a low cost quality improvement intervention which aims to standardise what can otherwise be haphazard working practice.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: p. 108-113. / Architecture is not just flashy design, nor is its sole aim to determine what dispositions of form are appropriate for all people for all time. Sometimes the architect must take a more humble, less visible role. Participation of the people who inhabit a place is key to maintaining the environment. For such participation to occur, an architect must enable inhabitants to exercise a wide play of choice in the use of a built environment and of change in the adaptation of its physical structure. Such characteristics of a place contribute to its tractability. The objective of this thesis is to outline design characteristics which contribute to the tractability of housing, using the rowhouse type as a spring point. This study is grounded in a behavioral perspective. Dimensional criteria are generated using behavior patterns, in an attempt to avoid stereotypes inherent in defining household activities by rooms. Activity settings and use scenarios are vehicles for examining two instructive examples of housing. Relevant characteristics are summarized and employed in the design of rowhouses for a Cambridge site, to simulate future conditions as scarcity of natural resources brings about concern for intensification of urban land use. / by Charles Allen Craig. / M.Arch.

Thesis. 1979. M.Arch--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: p. 104-107. / by Karen Barned, Mary Griffin. / M.Arch

Thesis. 1979. M.Arch--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: p. 255-260. / M.Arch

Os modelos para melhoria da qualidade de software são fundamentados na tríade processo-pessoas-tecnologia. Este trabalho busca a relação entre dois destes pilares da qualidade de software: o processo de desenvolvimento e o ser humano. Este trabalho avalia como os modelos de qualidade de software consideram o ser humano e caracteriza a inserção de defeitos no software por seus desenvolvedores como erros humanos cometidos no processo de desenvolvimento. Fatores humanos condicionantes do desempenho são identificados e, através de pesquisa de campo cujo objetivo é explorar a realidade do processo de desenvolvimento de software, analisam-se os fatores humanos que podem afetar a qualidade de software, principalmente no que diz respeito às características de funcionalidade e confiabilidade. / Software quality improvement models are based on the triplet process-people-technology. This research works on the relationship between two of these fundamental structures of software quality: human beings and the development process. This work evaluates how software quality models consider human beings and characterizes defect insertion in software products by developers as human errors throughout the development process. Some human factors are identified as performance-shaping and, by the means of a field study intended to explore the reality of software development, they are analyzed as influences on software quality, mainly respective to functionality and reliability characteristics.