A NEURO-FUZZY SYSTEM TO SUPPORT THE ATTENTION DIRECTION OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT OPERATORS

Accident diagnosis in nuclear power plants (NPPs) is a very hard task for plant operators due the number of variables they have to deal simultaneously when facing accident situations. The previous identification of possible accident situations is an essential issue for safe operation in NPPs. Artificial intelligence techniques and tools are suitable to identify complex systems accident situations because the system faults and anomalies lead to different pattern evolution in the correlated processes variables, Such patterns can be identified by Artificial Neuron Networks (ANNs). The system developed in this work aims to support operators’ attention direction during accidents in NPPs using a Neuro-Fuzzy approach for event's identification forecast. ANNs are used to perform this task. After the NN has done the event type identification, a fuzzy-logic system analyzes the results giving a reliability level of that. The results have shown the system is capable to help the operators to direct their attention and narrow their information search field in the noisy background of the operation during accident situations in nuclear power plants

Review of human-machine interaction towards industry 5.0: human-centric smart manufacturing

Human-centric smart manufacturing (HCSM) is one of the essential pillars in Industry 5.0. Hence, human-machine interaction (HMI), as the centre of the research agenda for the advances of smart manufacturing, has also become the focus of Industry 5.0. As Industry 5.0 proposed three core concepts of human-centric, sustainable and resilient, the design orientation of HMI needs to change accordingly. Through understanding the state-of-the-art of HMI research, the technology roadmap of HMI development in the smart manufacturing paradigm can be shaped. In this paper, the focus is to review how HMI has been applied in smart manufacturing and predict future opportunities and challenges when applying HMI to HCSM. In this paper, we provide an HMI framework based on the interaction process and analyse the existing research on HMI across four key aspects: 1) Sensor and Hardware, 2) Data Processing, 3) Transmission Mechanism, and 4) Interaction and Collaboration. We intend to analyse the current development and technologies of each aspect and their possible application in HCSM. Finally, potential challenges and opportunities in future research and applications of HMI are discussed and evaluated, especially considering that the focus of design in HCSM shifts from improving productivity to the well-being of workers and sustainability

History and future of human-automation interaction

We review the history of human-automation interaction research, assess its current status and identify future directions. We start by reviewing articles that were published on this topic in the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies during the last 50 years. We find that over the years, automated systems have been used more frequently (1) in time-sensitive or safety-critical settings, (2) in embodied and situated systems, and (3) by non-professional users. Looking to the future, there is a need for human-automation interaction research to focus on (1) issues of function and task allocation between humans and machines, (2) issues of trust, incorrect use, and confusion, (3) the balance between focus, divided attention and attention management, (4) the need for interdisciplinary approaches to cover breadth and depth, (5) regulation and explainability, (6) ethical and social dilemmas, (7) allowing a human and humane experience, and (8) radically different human-automation interaction

Visual Sensitivity of Dynamic Graphical Displays

Advanced display design, such as Ecological Interface Design (EID), makes extensive use of complex graphical objects. Research has shown that by following EID methodologies, supervisory operators have better performance with the EID displays (Pawlak and Vicente, 1996). However, past research does not consider the visual aspects of the graphical objects used in EID. Of particular interest is how different design decisions of graphical objects affect the performance of the objects used within that design. This thesis examines the visual sensitivity of dynamic graphical objects by examining features that make certain graphical objects visually superior for certain monitoring tasks. Previous research into the visual aspects of supervisory control with respect to emergent features, psychophysics and attention were considered in the investigation of the visual sensitivities of the dynamic graphical objects used. Research into static graphical objects, combined with prior work on emergent features has been merged to find emergent features that best show changes in dynamic graphical objects for the monitoring tasks investigated. It was found that for simple dynamic objects such as bars and polygon objects, a line changing in angle was the most noticeable emergent feature to show a departure from ?normal? state. For complex graphical objects, those target-indicator displays that mimic a ?bull?s eye? when at the target value should be used for displays that show observers when a target value has been reached. Abrupt changes in shape should be used in trend meters to show when variables or processes have changed direction. Finally, ?solid objects? that make use of vertical lines and shading should be used for comparison meters that compare two values and keep them in a particular ratio. These findings provide guidance for designers of dynamic advanced graphical displays by encouraging the consideration of visual aspects of graphical objects, as well as prescribing graphical objects that should be used in the types of tasks investigated

På rätt spår: återkoppling för lärande i kontrollrumsmiljö - En fallstudie på en svensk järnvägsoperatör

Organisational learning is assumed to be a part of creating improved work processes in an organisation. This type of learning can be difficult to achieve in operational and reactive work environments. Challenges in observable causality, time constraints and complex external conditions means that the operational control room is one of those reactive work environments. There is a need for a system that can improve organisational learning in the challenging environment of the operational control room. The system must create conditions for feedback and evaluation in the operational control room in order to succeed. In this study a manual is created and applied to generate a feedback system, which responds to the control room’s needs. The manual is designed to address the specific conditions that apply in a generic control room. The study was divided into two parts; the first part consisted of a literature review of organizational learning, evaluation and feedback. This was combined with a field study of various control rooms. Knowledge gained from the literature review and the field study was combined to create the manual. Part two of the study consisted of a evaluation of the developed manual on a case company in the Swedish railway industry. An analysis of the case study led to an improved version of the manual. This approach generated both tangible and academic results. The tangible result is a feedback system created using the manual on the case company. The academic results are a new combination the research topic organizational learning and the empirical field of operational control rooms. These have provided a greater understanding of the challenges related to learning that is in operational control room. The authors believe that the manual can be used to develop organisational learning in control rooms in the future.A long term solution to the Swedish railway problem A new learning tool for control room staff has been developed at Lund University. It was tested on a Swedish railway company and can provide a long term improvement of control rooms worldwide. It is well known that the Swedish railway is facing big challenges. The trains are often delayed due to different kinds of disturbances. The headline: “Train Chaos!” is often occurring in Swedish press. The problems arise due to the increased number of travellers and poor maintenance of the railroads and infrastructure. This, together with frequent winter storms that collapse the railroad system, has led to a decreased confidence in railway as mean for transportation. According to statistics gathered by one of the biggest train companies in Sweden, only 20 % of the delays are caused by train breakdowns and 75 % is caused by broken railway. Delays caused by weather can account for about 5 %. Nevertheless, it is the railway company’s responsibility to ensure that travellers reach their destinations and are taken care of when a delay occur. This can be a complex task, as passengers hop on and off on different stations. Moreover, some passengers may have connections to other destinations which can be easily broken with a delay. To be able to take care of the passengers of delayed trains the train companies set up so called control rooms. The employees of the control room keeps track of the different trains and their passengers. Similar kinds of unpredictable problems arise in other types of control rooms. These kinds of working environments can be found at airports, nuclear power plants and big process plants. All of them are monitoring an unpredictable system and try to minimize the damage if anything goes wrong. It is hard to prepare for and learn from this kind of reactive environment. The authors were surprised to discover that people working in control rooms rarely know when they have done a good job and handled the situation in a good way. In order to solve this problem a guide to creating a better learning environment in control rooms was made. The guide is based on current research on learning and feedback. The guide was successfully used by a Swedish railway company. The authors believe that the guide could, if used wisely, provide a long term improvement of control rooms worldwide

DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF OPERATING CREW IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS: AN OBJECT-BASED MODELING & SIMULATION APPROACH

High-risk environments such as the control room of Nuclear Power Plants are extremely stressful for the front line operators; during accidents and under high task load situations, the operators are solely responsible for the ultimate decision-making and control of such complex systems. Individuals working as a team constantly interact with each other and therefore introduce team related issues such as coordination, supervision and conflict resolution. The aggregate impact of multiple human errors inside communication and coordination loops in a team context can give rise to complex human failure modes and failure mechanisms. This research offers a model of operating crew as an interactive social unit and investigates the dynamic behavior of the team under upset situations through a simulation method. The domain of interest in this work is the class of operating crew environments that are subject to structured and regulated guidelines with formal procedures providing the core of their response to accident conditions. In developing the cognitive models for the operators and teams of operators, their behavior and relations, this research integrates findings from multiple disciplines such as cognitive psychology, human factors, organizational factors, and human reliability. An object-based modeling methodology is applied to represent system elements and different roles and behaviors of the members of the operating team. The proposed team model is an extended version of an existing cognitive model of individual operator behavior known as IDAC (Information, Decision, and Action in Crew context). Scenario generation follows DPRA (Dynamic Probabilistic Risk Assessment) methodologies. The method capabilities are demonstrated through building and simulating a simplified model of a steam/power generating plant. Different configurations of team characteristics and influencing factors have been simulated and compared. The effects of team factors and crew dynamics on system risk with main focus on team errors, associated causes and error management processes and their impact on team performance have been studied through a large number of simulation runs. The results are also compared with several theoretical models and empirical studies

Interaction avec les interfaces visuelles dynamiques complexes des jeux vidéo (effet des arrière-plans sur la performance et le comportement du regard)

Les jeux vidéo occupent une place importante dans notre société. Cependant, leur conception ne prend aujourd'hui que peu en compte les spécificités de l'interaction joueur-jeu vidéo, qui sont déterminantes pour une expérience de jeu optimale. L'objectif de cette thèse était de comprendre l'influence de différents choix de conception des interfaces visuelles des jeux vidéo sur la performance et le comportement du regard des joueurs. Ces interfaces, généralement dynamiques et complexes, sont composées de trois sources d'information : les objets avec lesquels le joueur interagit et l'arrière-plan, qui composent la scène d'action principale, ainsi que les informations contextuelles superposées à la scène principale. Sept expériences ont été réalisées pour comprendre le partage attentionnel entre ces sources dans le cadre d'une activité de jeu vidéo. Les caractéristiques de l'arrière-plan, des informations contextuelles et de la tâche ont été manipulées. La performance et les mouvements du regard des joueurs ont été enregistrés. Les résultats ont montré que le partage attentionnel entre deux sources d'information (e.g., scène d'action et informations contextuelles) est facilité lorsqu'elles ne se chevauchent pas. Lorsque qu'elles se chevauchent nécessairement (e.g., objets et arrière-plan), les caractéristiques de mouvement et de complexité de l'arrière-plan et la difficulté de la tâche modulent très largement la dégradation de la performance. Un modèle théorique de partage attentionnel entre deux sources visuelles d'information superposées est proposé. Des recommandations sont établies pour la conception des jeux vidéo, mais aussi des environnements virtuels en général.Video games take an increasingly important place in our society. Nowadays, however, their design doesn't take enough into account the specificity of player-game interaction, which is essential for an optimal play experience. The thesis' goal was to understand the impact of different design choices for video games visual interfaces on players' performance and gaze behavior. These dynamic and complex interfaces include three information sources: the objects that the player interacts with and the background, which make up together the main action scene, and the contextual information superimposed on the main scene. Seven experiments were made to understand how attention is shared between these sources during video game activity. The characteristics of the background, of the contextual information and of the game task were manipulated. The performance was measured while participants' eye movements were recorded. The results showed that attention sharing between two sources (e.g., the action scene and contextual information) is optimal when the two sources do not overlap at all. When they necessarily overlap (e.g., objects superimposed on a background), the nature of background movement, the background visual complexity and the difficulty of the task can strongly modulate the performance decrease. A theoretical model of attention sharing between two superimposed sources of visual information is proposed. Practical recommendations are drawn up for video game design, but also for virtual environments design.POITIERS-SCD-Bib. électronique (861949901) / SudocSudocFranceF