Passenger-centric factors influencing the experience of aircraft comfort

Enhancing passenger comfort in an air cabin environment is uniquely challenging. Air travel offers a restrictive passenger experience in terms of available space and the ability to change one’s position or journey. The first step to designing experiences for comfort is to take a broader view of the factors which influence in-flight comfort. While many studies have considered the design and services of aircrafts and airlines, this review focuses on the passenger and the internal and external factors which can affect their comfort. We present a descriptive model of comfort that comprises factors such as individual characteristics, personal travel context and interaction with others. This model could be used to develop an improved aircraft passenger experience

What makes a space invader?: passenger perceptions of personal space invasion in aircraft travel

The invasion of personal space is often a contributory factor to the experience of discomfort in aircraft passengers. This paper presents a questionnaire study which investigated how air travellers are affected by invasions of personal space and how they attempt to adapt to, or counter, these invasions. In support of recent findings on the factors influencing air passenger comfort, the results of this study indicate that the invasion of personal space is not only caused by physical factors (e.g. physical contact with humans or objects), but also other sensory factors such as noise, smells or unwanted eye contact. The findings of this study have implications for the design of shared spaces

A solution for actors' viewpoints representation with collaborative product development

As product complexity and marketing competition increase, a collaborative product development is necessary for companies which develop high quality products in short lead-times. To support product actors from different fields, disciplines, and locations, wishing to exchange and share information, the representation of the actors' viewpoints is the underlying requirement of the collaborative product development. The actors' viewpoints approach was designed to provide an organisational framework following the actors' perspectives in the collaboration, and their relationships, could be explicitly gathered and formatted. The approach acknowledges the inevitability of multiple integration of product information as different views, promotes gathering of actors' interests, and encourages retrieved adequate information while providing support for integration through PLM and/or SCM collaboration. In this paper, a solution for neutral viewpoints representation is proposed. The product, process, and organisation information models are seriatim discussed. A series of issues referring to the viewpoints representation are discussed in detail. Based on XML standard, taking cyclone vessel as an example, an application case of part of product information modelling is stated.Comment: ISBN: 2-287-48363-

Cognitive Ergonomics in Virtual Environments: Development of an Intuitive and Appropriate Input Device for Navigating in a Virtual Maze

For patients suffering from mild cognitive impairments, the navigation through a virtual maze should be as intuitive and efficient as possible in order to minimize cognitive and physical strain. This paper discusses the appropriateness of interaction devices for being used for easy navigation tasks. Information gained from human centered evaluation was used to develop an intuitive and ergonomic interaction device. Two experiments examined the usability of tracked interaction devices. Usability problems with the devices are discussed. The findings from the experiments were translated into general design guidance, in addition to specific recommendations. A new device was designed on the basis of these recommendations and its usability was evaluated in a second experiment. The results were used to develop a lightweight interaction device for navigation in the virtual maz

Formulation and Development of Transdermal Patches of Glibenclamide and Comparative Effect of Various Herbal Extracts on Ex Vivo Release

  In the pursuit of crafting and assessing transdermal patches containing Glibenclamide, this investigation was chiefly orchestrated. Diverse polymers were harnessed in this endeavour, and a pivotal exploration into the influence of extracts derived from Capsicum Fruit extract on the bioavailability of Glibenclamide was conducted. The congruence between the physical and chemical attributes of the medication and the foundation of the patches underwent scrupulous scrutiny via Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The findings yielded no discordance in physical and chemical properties between the medication and the patch base. A comprehensive evaluation of the formulated transdermal patches ensued, encompassing assessments of weight variance, plumpness, folding endurance, humidity levels, moisture retention, ex-vivo drug release, and ex-vivo drug absorption. The discerning diffusion analyses were executed through the utilization of the Franz Diffusion cell and Everted gut Sac method. The most optimal formulation, denoted as F15, exhibited the following characteristics: a thickness of 0.247±0.005mm, uniform weight distribution at 0.170±0.102gm, moisture uptake of 7.312±1.12%, moisture content at 5.045±0.214%, and drug content measuring 80.80±0.91%. Furthermore, it demonstrated an impressive folding endurance of 25±3.33. The pinnacle of its performance manifested in a cumulative drug release percentage of 70.74±1.15 within an 8-hour timeframe and an absorption rate of 4.341±0.34% in a span of 120 minutes

Play&Tune: user-feedback in the development of a serious game for optimising hearing aid orientation

Many hearing aid (HA) users are dissatisfied with HA performance in social situations. One way to improve HA outcomes is training users to understand how HAs work. Play&Tune was designed to provide this training, and to foster autonomy in hearing rehabilitation. We carried out two prototype evaluations and a pre-release evaluation of Play&Tune with 71 HA users, using an interview or online survey. Users gave detailed feedback on their experiences with the app. Most participants enjoyed learning about HAs and expressed a desire for autonomy over their HA settings. Our case study reinforces the importance of user-feedback during app development

Dartanan: Prototype evaluations of a serious game to engage children in the calibration of their hearing aid functionalities

Introduction: It is notoriously difficult to obtain a perfect fitting of hearing aids (HAs) for children as they often struggle to understand their hearing loss well enough to discuss the fitting adequately with their audiologist. Dartanan is an ‘edutainment’ game developed to help children understand the functions of their HA in different sound contexts. Dartanan also had elements of a leisure game for all children, in order to create an inclusive activity. Methods: Game prototypes were evaluated during two formative evaluations and a summative evaluation. In total 106 children with and without hearing loss in Italy, Spain and the UK played Dartanan. A built-in virtual HA enabled children with hearing loss to use headphones to play. Results and conclusions: During the formative stages, feedback was discussed during focus groups on factors such as the audiological aspects, the extent to which children learned about HA functions, accessibility and usability, and this feedback was presented to the developers. After redevelopment, a summative evaluation was performed using an online survey. It was concluded that the game had met the goals of helping children understand their HA functionalities and providing an inclusive activity. User-evaluations were crucial in the development of the app into a useful and useable service

Distracting people from sources of discomfort in a simulated aircraft environment

BACKGROUND: Comfort is an important factor in the acceptance of transport systems. In 2010 and 2011, the European Commission (EC) put forward its vision for air travel in the year 2050 which envisaged the use of in-flight virtual reality. This paper addressed the EC vision by investigating the effect of virtual environments on comfort. Research has shown that virtual environments can provide entertaining experiences and can be effective distracters from painful experiences. OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent to which a virtual environment could distract people from sources of discomfort. METHODS: Experiments which involved inducing discomfort commonly experienced in-flight (e.g. limited space, noise) in order to determine the extent to which viewing a virtual environment could distract people from discomfort. RESULTS: Virtual environments can fully or partially distract people from sources of discomfort, becoming more effective when they are interesting. They are also more effective at distracting people from discomfort caused by restricted space than noise disturbances. CONCLUSIONS: Virtual environments have the potential to enhance passenger comfort by providing positive distractions from sources of discomfort. Further research is required to understand more fully the reasons why the effect was stronger for one source of discomfort than the other