Analyzing Procedure Performance using Abstraction Hierarchy: Implications of Designing Procedures for High-risk Process Operations

PresentationStandard operating procedures (SOPs) are a vital element of everyday operations in chemical process industries. Incident investigations also indicate that a majority of adverse events in the processing operations are ascribed to issues associated with SOPs. Although there have been continuous efforts to improve informational and perceptual aspects of SOPs, assessing them from a systems perspective remains a persistent gap. As one novel way to address such gap, this study employs an ecological approach to understand the functional structure of the work domain, that is, abstraction hierarchy (AH) and its relations to SOPs and operator performance. First, this study models a 3-phase separation system, a common gas-oil-water separation process, using an abstraction-decomposition space as a work domain of the system. Second, we assess the AH level, one dimension of the abstraction-decomposition space, of the SOPs developed for three tasks in the 3-phase separation system. In order to consider operators’ knowledge about the tasks, experience-task familiarity (E-TF) level is also assessed as a combinatory factor. To this end, a two-way analysis of variance is conducted to find out the effect of E-TF level (high vs. low) and AH level of the SOPs (physical vs. functional) on the operator’s performance. Results show significant main effects of the E-TF level and AH level on the successful performance of the SOPs. The interaction effect of the two variables is considered marginally significant. Based on the results, several implications for the design of SOPs in relation to the AH of the chemical processing domain are discussed

Ecological Interface Design in Variable Workload Multitasking

This study was undertaken to examine the question of how well Ecological Interface Design (EID) would support operators of a multitasking work domains. Previous research has shown that EID can support better operator performance while controlling a simulated process. Recently, there has been some interest in applying EID to automobiles, planes, and other multitasking domains. This research aimed to answer a more basic question: whether or not people could detect errors using EID while trying to do well on a visual psychomotor task. The experiment used two tasks. The first task involved monitoring errors in a simulated process control plant, using an EID interface or a non-EID interface. The second task was the ball task. The ball task had participants try to catch virtual balls on screen by moving a block on the screen. The ball task had two levels, fast and slow. It was predicted that the participants in the EID condition would perform better at error monitoring than participants in the non-EID interface condition. It was further predicted that error monitoring in the EID condition would be less negatively affected by the increase in workload than in the non-EID condition. The results did not support the predicted superiority for EID. Although these findings are inconclusive, they suggest potential problems in using EID in multitasking environments

Embodying Design

Rethinking design through the lens of embodied cognition provides a novel way of understanding human interaction with technology. In this book, Christopher Baber uses embodied cognition as a lens through which to view both how designers engage in creative practices and how people use designed artifacts. This view of cognition as enactive, embedded, situated, or distributed, without recourse to internal representations, provides a theoretical grounding that makes possible a richer account of human interaction with technology. This understanding of everyday interactions with things in the world reveals opportunities for design to intervene. Moreover, Baber argues, design is an embodied activity in which the continual engagement between designers and their materials is at the heart of design practice. Baber proposes that design and creativity should be considered in dynamic, rather than discrete, terms and explores “task ecologies”—the concept of environment as it relates to embodied cognition. He uses a theory of affordance as an essential premise for design practice, arguing that affordances are neither form nor function but arise from the dynamics within the human-artifact-environment system. Baber explores agency and intent of smart devices and implications of tangible user interfaces and activity recognition for human-computer interaction. He proposes a systems view of human-artifact-environment interactions—to focus on any one component or pairing misses the subtleties of these interactions. The boundaries between components remain, but the borders that allow exchange of information and action are permeable, which gives rise to synergies and interactions

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

User Interface Design for Supervisory Control of Multiple Manned and Unmanned Air Vehicles

This dissertation research will cover lessons learned from the three-year, iterative design and evaluation of TECUMSA (Tasking and Execution of Collaborative Unmanned and Manned Systems with Autonomy). TECUMSA is a graphical user interface and autonomous tool suite that enables a single operator (e.g., an Air Mission Commander) to team with autonomous capabilities (e.g., route planning, aircraft task allocation) to effectively command and control multiple manned and unmanned aircraft in a contested battlespace. The user/AMC was responsible for accomplishing a series of reconnaissance, surveillance, and threat neutralization tasks in a hostile and dynamic simulated battlespace. The main challenges in this problem space are cognitive bandwidth of operators (e.g., maintaining situation awareness, allocating attention flexibly across multiple aircraft), and their ability to coordinate and collaborate with subordinate autonomous agents. The main objective of this research was therefore determining what control mechanisms offered the TECUMSA operator stability and reliability of control. Two formal system evaluations will be discussed, where a total of 15 Army aviators used TECUMSA to complete multiple hours of simulated air assault operations in a synthetic task environment. This research explored distributed supervisory control, where the operator distributed authority to automation for continuous manual control tasks using Play Calling (i.e., directability). The following research will also cover observations from the system evaluations highlighting interface features that afforded the user the ability to observe, perceive, and understand the state of the world relative to their goals and intentions (i.e., observability). One of the major themes in this dissertation is the importance of observability and directability as design principles, and the implications they have for both user interface design and human-autonomy teaming

The role of visual analogy in information visualisation

This thesis is inspired by the growing domain of information visualisation, and the potentially open-ended choice of visual representations which can be used to represent any given abstract concept. Such a potentially unlimited choice means that the question of choosing an appropriate visual form is not insubstantial. This thesis therefore attempts to explore how to usefully inform such a choice through the concept of visual analogy. To this end a series of multidimensional icons are developed which differ in terms of level of analogy for a given concept. The practical studies outlined then set out first to confirm this difference in practical terms and then explore the implications of using different levels of explicit visual analogy in tasks appropriate to the use of multidimensional icons. The results reveal that a continuum of 'degree' of analogy can be practically established which increasingly constrains the interpretation users assign to representations as the level of analogy increases. [Continues.

Un langage de modélisation de domaines de travail quantitatifs pour la conception d'interfaces écologiques

La modélisation -- Les interfaces écologiques -- La hiérarchie d'abstraction et de décomposition -- Description du langage de modélisation proposé -- Évaluation du langage de modélisation proposé

Ecological Interface Design for Turbine Secondary Systems in a Nuclear Power Plant: Effects on Operator Situation Awareness

Investigations into past accidents at nuclear power generating facilities such as that of Three Mile Island have identified human factors as one of the foremost critical aspects in plant safety. Errors resulting from limitations in human information processing are of particular concern for human-machine interfaces (HMI) in plant control rooms. This project examines the application of Ecological Interface Design (EID) in HMI information displays and the effects on operator situation awareness (SA) for turbine secondary systems based on the Swedish Forsmark 3 boiling-water reactor nuclear power plant. A work domain analysis was performed on the turbine secondary systems yielding part-whole decomposition and abstraction hierarchy models. Information display requirements were subsequently extracted from the models. The resulting EID information displays were implemented in a full-scope simulator and evaluated with six licensed operating crews from the Forsmark 3 plant. Three measures were used to examine SA: self-rated bias, Halden Open Probe Elicitation (HOPE), and Situation Awareness Control Room Inventory (SACRI). The data analysis revealed that operators achieved moderate to good SA; operators unfamiliar with EID information displays were able to develop and maintain comparable levels of SA to operators using traditional forms of single sensor-single indicator (SS-SI) information displays. With sufficient training and experience, operator SA is expected to benefit from the knowledge-based visual elements in the EID information displays. This project was researched in conjunction with the Cognitive Engineering Laboratory at the University of Toronto and the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) in Halden, Norway

Introduction de critères ergonomiques dans un système de génération automatique d’interfaces de supervision

The ecological interface design is composed of two steps, a work domain analysis and a transcription of the information of the work domain into ecological representation (Naikar, 2010). This kind of design showed his effectiveness for the supervision of complex system (Burns, 2008). Nevertheless, Vicente (2002) highlighted two issues, the long design time and the difficulties to translate with a formal way a work domain into ecological representation. Moreover, he doesn’t exist a formal tool of validation for a work domain. Several tools and works allow to be comfortable in the possibility to find some solution (Functional methodology (Liu et al, 2002), TMTA (Morineau, 2010) and Anaxagore (Bignon, 2012). We propose several answers at the issue: how formalize the design of an ecological interface in order to reduce the time and effort linked to the design? The first proposition is a tool of verification of model of work domain based on a simulation by TMTA. The second bring thanks to a second version of the Anaxagore flow, an integration of the works of Liu et al (2002) with the principle of the ecological library of ecological widget linked to a scheme of input of high level. Based on the work domain of a fresh water system in a ship, an ecological interface has been implemented and validated experimentally. This interface has been compared with a conventional interface also generated by Anaxagore. The results show that the ecological interface promotes a biggest numbers of coherent ways in the work domain. This kind of interface also promotes a better accuracy of the diagnostic for the operators using the ecological interface.La conception d’interface écologique se décompose en deux étapes, une analyse du domaine de travail et une retranscription des informations du domaine en des représentations écologiques (Naikar, 2010). Ce type de conception a montré son efficacité pour la supervision de système complexe (Burns, 2008). Cependant, Vicente (2002) a pointé deux lacunes le temps de conceptions très long et la difficulté à transcrire de manière formalisée un domaine de travail en des représentations écologiques. De même, il n’existe pas d’outil formel de validation de domaine de travail. Dans ce manuscrit, nous proposons plusieurs réponses à la question : comment formaliser la conception d’une interface écologique, afin de réduire le temps et les efforts liés à la conception ? La première proposition est un outil de vérification de modèle de domaine de travail basé sur la méthode TMTA (Morineau, 2010). La seconde apporte, au travers d’une deuxième version du flot Anaxagore (Bignon, 2012), une intégration des travaux de Liu et al (2002) avec le principe d’une bibliothèque de widgets écologiques associée à un schéma d’entrées de haut niveau. Sur la base du domaine de travail d’un système d’eau douce sanitaire à bord d’un navire, une interface écologique a été implémentée et validée expérimentalement. Cette interface a été comparée à une interface conventionnelle générée également par le flot Anaxagore. Les résultats montrent que les interfaces écologiques favorisent un plus grand nombre de parcours cohérents dans un domaine de travail. Elles favorisent également une meilleure précision du diagnostic pour les opérateurs utilisant les interfaces écologiques