Detta är ett examensarbete inom textdesign, som har undersökt hur användarinformationen för två specifika datorprogram bör utformas. Slutsatserna har dragits utifrån vilka problem användarna stöter på i programmen, riktlinjer för informationsdesign och teknikinformation, samt användartester. En slutsats blev att behovet av teknikinformation för det ena programmet, EDI-systemet Edionet, redan var tillfredsställt. En lämplig lösning för det andra programmet, publiceringssystemet Readyonet, var att skapa en kort lathund vid sidan av den utförliga handledning som finns integrerad i programmet. Ett utkast av lathunden utformades utifrån insamlad empiri, och testades och reviderades.

Redundancy and variation are characteristics of humans. Many muscles contribute to producing a movement at a joint, allowing different strategies for task performance. Further, the shoulders and back are involved in many tasks, including manual materials handling, but flexibility as to their relative roles in performing a task exists. In nursing, where manual patient handling (MPH) occurs daily, a risk of injury exists resulting from interactions with patients that may require awkward postures or sudden shifts in hand forces. Although some recommended MPH techniques have been advocated, many focus on lowering the risk of low back injury, without considering the effect of these techniques on other body regions. This study aimed to identify differences in shoulder and back physical exposures between performing self-selected and recommended patient handling techniques designed to reduce low back exposures. Twenty female participants performed three repetitions of five manual patient handling tasks using a self selected technique, followed by three repetitions of the same tasks using techniques learned in an interposed training session. Peak, mean and cumulative muscle activity, peak resultant moment, and ratings of perceived exertion were compared for each of the tasks before and after training, as well as identifying meaningful changes between the joints in mean population strength using a static strength prediction program. Significant decreases occurred at both the left and right shoulders and the low back for most measures, generally supporting the recommended techniques. Important exceptions existed, however, for the Sit-to-Chair tasks and Turn Toward tasks, where increases in several individual shoulder muscle activities, along with peak resultant moment, existed. Future recommendations for patient handling techniques should take into account potential negative exposures at the shoulders that may result from a back-centric injury avoidance paradigm.

No description available.

The wheelchair is an auxiliary tool for people who have defective legs. In comparison with the power wheelchair, the manual wheelchair has the advantage of low price and easy carrying. The regular, standard manual wheelchair is only suitable for residential environment and short-distance movement, and it¡¦s unsuitable for outdoor recreation and long-distance movement. The purpose of this study is to develop the manual wheelchair for outdoor recreation and long-distance movement, so that the users can expand their living space beyond the residential areas. In order to enhance the efficiency of propulsion for manual wheelchairs, a systematic designing method for propulsive mechanisms is proposed in this study in which the propulsive way of the traditional manual wheelchair is replaced by propelling the propulsive mechanism. In order to let the wheelchair be adapted to all kinds of environments, the multi-speed drive hub is applied to the manual wheelchair to enhance the users¡¦ force with more flexibility. In addition, this study also designs and manufactures a wheelchair to test the functions. The results of the test are then recorded and examined to provide the references for the future design.

DEA ?? 63, Floating Vessel Blowout Control is a blowout containment study which was completed in 1990, and it did not include discussions about operations in the water depths we currently operate in. As offshore drilling is continuously moving into deeper and deeper waters, a need to further investigate well control and blowout containment in ultradeep water has arisen. This project describes the development and assessment of an electronic cross-reference tool for well control and blowout containment, with added focus on ultradeep water operations. The approach of this manual is fully electronic, thus being able to serve the needs of the engineer/driller with greater ease in both pre-planning and in a stressful onthe- job setting. The cross-reference is a manual for the state of the art in well control and blowout containment methodology. It provides easy-to-use topical organization by categories and subcategories, and aims at providing clear links between symptoms, causes, and solutions. Clear explanations to complicated issues are provided, and confirmation of applicable blowout intervention procedures, be it conventional or unconventional, are discussed. Human error and equipment failure are the causes of blowouts, and they are bound to happen in an ultradeep water environment. Well control events are harder to detect andhandle in ultradeep water, and quick reaction time is essential. After detection and shutin, the Driller??s method is the preferred circulation method in ultradeep water, due to its responsiveness and simplicity. In case kick handling is unsuccessful, contingency plans should be in place to handle a potential blowout. If a blowout does occur, and the blowing well does not self-kill through bridging, a dynamic kill through relief well intervention is likely to be necessary, as underwater intervention is difficult in ultradeep water. With new ultradeep water drilling technologies providing potential for increased performance, alternative well control methods might be necessary. Along with these new technologies follow new unfamiliar procedures, and proper education and training is essential.

Thesis (M. Psych.Org.)--University of Queensland, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Subcontractors in the automotive industry, have a lot of pressure to bring down costs and to deliver products that are effective, optimized and qualitative. The main purpose of this study is to guide and conduct the first step in the project Standard Building Blocks with modular design, within the business area, manual shifter. The project is directly presented by Kongsberg Automotive, a well-known subcontractor of the automotive industry. The aim of the project is to develop a standard manual shifter with modular design containing standard building blocks. Five different components have been selected in the manual shifter for this study. In each component, there are several concepts on how to design that specific component. The target of the study is to evaluate and analyze the concepts and based on the results decide which of the concepts to be standard building blocks. The study identifies, evaluates and analyses the consequences of the project Standard Building Blocks for the chosen concepts. The results from the study show that some concepts have a greater tendency to form standard building blocks when compared to others. In the study it was proven that non-measurable values have the same significance as the measured values. The results also show that the most suitable concepts depends on the customers’ specifications. The consequence analysis presented many consequences of what an implementation of standard building blocks may imply, from the advantages to possible risk elements. Through the consequence analysis the studied company can become more prepared for the future. / Underleverantörerna inom fordonsindustrin har en stor press när det kommer till hålla nere kostnader och att leverera effektiva, optimerade och kvalitativa produkter. Huvudsyftet med studien är att guida och genomföra det första steget i projektet Standard Building Blocks med modulär design, inom affärsområdet, manuella växelreglage. Projektet är direkt framtaget av Kongsberg Automotive, en välkänd underleverantör inom fordonsindustrin. Målet med projektet är att utveckla en standard manuell växelreglage med modulär design innehållande standard building blocks. Fem olika komponenter har valts ut i den manuell växelreglaget för studien. För varje komponent finns det flera koncept hur den specifika komponenten kan designas. Målet med studien är att utvärdera och analysera koncepten och utifrån resultatet avgöra vilka av koncepten som kan bilda standard building blocks. Studien identifierar, utvärderar och analyserar konsekvenser av projektet Standard Building Blocks för de valda koncepten. Resultatet från studien visade att vissa koncept har en större tendens att bilda standard building blocks än andra. I studien blev det bevisat att icke-mätbara värden har lika stor betydelse som uppmätta värdena. Resultatet visade också att de mest lämpade koncepten beror på kundens specifikationer. Konsekvensen analysen presenter många konsekvenser av vad en implementation av standard building blocks kan innebära, från fördelar till eventuella riskfaktorer. Genom konsekvensanalysen kan det studerade företaget bli mer förberedda för framtiden.

Between 1899 and 1910 Sir William Macdonald, tobacco millionaire and educational philanthropist and James W. Robertson, agriculturalist and educator, conducted a seed grain competition across Canada to teach new agricultural practices, and founded manual training centres to teach physical skills and aid moral development. Through the Macdonald Rural School Fund, Macdonald and Robertson established school gardens and supported nature study in eastern Canada, combining with manual training to make a useful elementary curriculum for rural children. To support these pedagogical ideas they pressed, with limited success, for rural school consolidations. Finally, they established an agricultural and teacher training college in connection with McGill University. The Macdonald-Robertson movement drew on borrowed ideas, but also trained teachers, . persuaded school boards, managed costs, and held to a consistent pedagogy through specialized object lessons. Because it treats the Macdonald-Robertson reforms together, this thesis provides a viable explanation why these two men took up the cause of reform and why the various elements of the movement succeeded or failed. I claim the reforms grew up in the first place because the Macdonald-Robertson pedagogical ideas were in the wider interest of social reformers and of the two founders. The ease with which each reform could be controlled by central administrators and implemented in a standard way from one district to the next meant Robertson would achieve "success" on some publicly believable criterion, however variable in extent, yet maintain central control. Robertson found it necessary to dedicate time and energy in persuading local districts and teachers to take up the work. Yet were it not for local autonomy, schools would have been an even easier target for a parade of politically-motivated programmes. Macdonald and Robertson's experience shows that reform must be popular and workable at the local level. Administrative talent and sound pedagogy cannot overcome local resistance if school boards, parents or teachers do not value, or cannot afford, reform. The inherent paradox of standardization and autonomy deserves to remain a hypothesis in research on educational reform. My account shows how Macdonald and Robertson sought to standardize autonomous school districts and teachers, in order to preserve the rural lifestyle, in order to help Canada on her way to economic growth and social order in the face of immigration and urbanization, and the varying extent to which regions benefited economically from industrialization.

Redundancy and variation are characteristics of humans. Many muscles contribute to producing a movement at a joint, allowing different strategies for task performance. Further, the shoulders and back are involved in many tasks, including manual materials handling, but flexibility as to their relative roles in performing a task exists. In nursing, where manual patient handling (MPH) occurs daily, a risk of injury exists resulting from interactions with patients that may require awkward postures or sudden shifts in hand forces. Although some recommended MPH techniques have been advocated, many focus on lowering the risk of low back injury, without considering the effect of these techniques on other body regions. This study aimed to identify differences in shoulder and back physical exposures between performing self-selected and recommended patient handling techniques designed to reduce low back exposures. Twenty female participants performed three repetitions of five manual patient handling tasks using a self selected technique, followed by three repetitions of the same tasks using techniques learned in an interposed training session. Peak, mean and cumulative muscle activity, peak resultant moment, and ratings of perceived exertion were compared for each of the tasks before and after training, as well as identifying meaningful changes between the joints in mean population strength using a static strength prediction program. Significant decreases occurred at both the left and right shoulders and the low back for most measures, generally supporting the recommended techniques. Important exceptions existed, however, for the Sit-to-Chair tasks and Turn Toward tasks, where increases in several individual shoulder muscle activities, along with peak resultant moment, existed. Future recommendations for patient handling techniques should take into account potential negative exposures at the shoulders that may result from a back-centric injury avoidance paradigm.

The purposes of the present work were: 1) to develop a computerized model that could predict the personal lift-assist device (PLAD) spring excursion and control spring stiffness for various individuals based on their anthropometry and working posture and 2) to test the PLAD’s (Version 6) effectiveness and user acceptability during static forward bending in an automotive assembly plant. Study 1 required 30 subjects to carry out a protocol that simulated unloaded stoop, squat, and freestyle lifting. Trunk inclination and knee angles were determined via 3 FastrakTM sensors, whereas a displacement transducer attached in-line with the PLAD determined excursion when the trunk or knees flexed. A model was created to determine spring excursion, and it was successfully validated with 10 additional subjects. A computerized model applying the excursion model and mathematical equations was also developed to calculate the required spring stiffness for offsetting a proportion of the L4/L5 bending moment for each individual in various postures. Study 2 investigated the effectiveness and user acceptability of the PLAD at an automotive manufacturing facility, using operators who performed an assembly process requiring forward bending and static holds. Surface EMG data were collected at six sites on the low back and abdomen, and a tri-axial accelerometer was mounted on each subject’s sternum to measure trunk inclination. A 20% reduction in the L4/L5 bending moment was provided to each wearer using the aforementioned computerized model. The PLAD was able to significantly reduce low back muscular activity, predicted-compression, and ratings of perceived exertion, without significantly changing abdominal activity or trunk inclination. Workers had positive opinions about the device, and 80% said they would wear the device everyday on-line. Additionally, the computerized model developed in Study 1 was effective, as worker low back muscular activity was reduced by approximately 20% when wearing the PLAD. With slight alterations, the PLAD appears to be beneficial in reducing low back forces and discomfort in many tasks that place excessive biomechanical loading on the low back. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-18 15:55:16.757