Extending Cognitive Work Analysis and Engaging Nanotechnology: Embodied, Embedded and Socially Situated Processes

With current advances in material science and the growth of novel technologies, the nature of human technology interaction is changing. Specifically, the growth and convergence of Nano-, Bio-, Info- and Cognitive Science (NBIC) related technologies has resulted in the emergence of new systems, which requires considerations of the embodied, embedded and socially situated aspects of the human behavior for advanced interaction with intelligent and responsive environments. Currently, Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) and the associated Ecological Interface Design (EID) are well positioned to draw requirements from these future smart environments; however, the role of the body in human knowing and acting as currently conceptualized in CWA requires further development. This thesis extends CWA by addressing the role of the body in human knowing and acting. Further, it also extends CWA by making the link between interpretive social approaches to human knowing and acting (specifically, symbolic interactionism) and CWA. Thus, this thesis supports the conception of the human in advanced technological environments as an embodied, embedded and socially situated construct. In this thesis, CWA was extended at a fundamental level. This strategy required returning to the basic assumptions of CWA derived from Rasmussen’s approach. A considerable portion of this thesis scrutinizes the fundamental assumptions of CWA by revisiting Rasmussen’s papers and highlighting the engineering dimension of his approach. CWA is then extended via consideration of Rasmussen’s approach along with other theoretical approaches from ecological psychology, action theory and symbolic interactionism, in order to produce a framework for gathering requirements for interface design. In this extended CWA, the first step allows for an interpretative understanding of the user’s traditional ways of knowing and acting. Whereas the second step consists of an analysis amenable for eliciting the design requirements. To show the applicability of the new extended framework, the work domain of nanotechnology is chosen. A field study was conducted in the area of nanotechnology that comprised of three subdomains pertaining to devices, robotics and materials. The requirements derived from these three areas were compared between the standard CWA and the extended CWA. In all the three cases the extended CWA supported the traditional CWA, as well as provided a greater number of requirements pertaining to the role of the body and the social dimension of activity in human knowing and acting. Therefore, this shows that the theoretical extensions have a practical feasibility in terms of using the extended CWA

Acceleration of Interfaced Distributed Generation Power System through Reactive Power Compensation

A distributed generation (DG) is of similarity to a traditional power generation station. It utilizes renewable energy sources (like wind, solar, hydropower generation etc.). Present study is an approach to handle the reactive power imbalances in the power system for the DG integration. The method deals with the finding of optimal location for connecting a compensating device and obtained the results of simulation with an interfacing of DG under normal operating condition of power system. The results were tested as per the IEEE-14 bus standards with the network parameters set

2-(2-Chloro­phen­yl)acetic acid

In the title compound, C8H7ClO2, the carboxyl group forms a dihedral angle of 74.83 (9)° with the benzene ring plane. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked into inversion dimers by pairs of O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The dimers are linked into layers parallel to the bc plane by weak C—H⋯O inter­actions

Bis(μ-N-benzyl-N-furfuryldithio­carbamato)-1:2κ3 S,S′:S′;2:1κ3 S,S′:S′-bis­[(N-benzyl-N-furfuryldithio­carbamato-κ2 S,S′)cadmium]

In the centrosymmetric title compound, [Cd2(C13H12NOS2)4], pairs of dithio­carbamate ligands exhibit different structural functions. Each of the terminal ligands is bidentately coordinated to one CdII atom and forms a planar four-membered CS2Cd chelate ring, whereas pairs of the tridentate bridging ligands link two neighbouring CdII atoms, forming extended eight-membered C2S4Cd2 tricyclic units whose geometry can be approximated by a chair conformation. The coordination polyhedron of the CdII atoms is a distorted square-pyramid. The five-membered furan ring and the benzene ring are disordered over two sets of sites with an occupancy ratio of 0.62 (8):0.38 (8)

Trimeth­yl(triphenyl­meth­oxy)silane

In the title mol­ecule, C22H24OSi, the Si—O—C angle is 139.79 (11)°, the O—C—C angles of the triphenyl­meth­oxy group are in the range 106.13 (13)–109.22 (14)° and the O—Si—C angles of the trimethyl­sil­yloxy group are in the range 103.08 (10)–113.53 (10)°. In the crystal, face-to-face π–π interactions are observed between the phenyl rings [centroid separation = 4.194 (1) Å, interplanar spacing = 3.474 Å and centroid shift = 2.35 Å]. The three phenyl groups of the triphenyl­methyl substituent are mutually nearly perpendicular, with dihedral angles in the range 80.49 (8)–81.53 (8)°. There are only weak inter­molecular van der Waals inter­actions in the crystal

1-[(6-Chloro­pyridin-3-yl)meth­yl]­imidazolidin-2-one

In the title mol­ecule, C9H10ClN3O, the dihedral angle between the pyridine ring and imidazoline ring mean plane [maximum deviation = 0.031–(3) Å] is 76.2 (1)°. In the crystal, N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link pairs of mol­ecules to form inversion dimers. In addition, weak C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds and π–π stacking inter­actions between pyridine rings [centroid–centroid distance = 3.977 (2) Å] are observed

3-(4-Chloro­anilino)-5,5-dimethyl­cyclo­hex-2-en-1-one

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C14H16ClNO, contains two independent mol­ecules, both with the cyclo­hexene ring in a sofa conformation. In the crystal, N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules related by translation along the a axis into two crystallographically independent chains. Weak C—H⋯π inter­actions are also observed

Ethyl 2-{3-[(6-chloro­pyridin-3-yl)meth­yl]-2-(nitro­imino)­imidazolidin-1-yl}acetate

In the title compound, C13H16ClN5O4, the imidazole ring is in a slight envelope conformation. The dihedral angle between the pyridine ring and the four essentially planar atoms [maximum deviation 0.015 (2) Å] of the imidazole ring is 80.8 (1)°. In, the crystal, weak C—H⋯O and C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds are present. In addition, there are weak π–π stacking inter­actions between symmetry-related pyridine rings with a centroid–centroid distance of 3.807 (1) Å

Bis(O-ethyl dithio­carbonato-κ2 S,S′)bis­(pyridine-3-carbonitrile-κN 1)nickel(II)

The Ni2+ ion in the title complex, [Ni(C3H5OS2)2(C6H4N2)2], is in a strongly distorted octa­hedral coordination environment formed by an N2S4 donor set, with the Ni2+ ion located on a centre of inversion. In the crystal, weak C—H⋯S and C—H⋯N inter­actions are observed

Ethyl 3-[(6-chloro­pyridin-3-yl)meth­yl]-2-oxoimidazolidine-1-carboxyl­ate

In the title compound, C12H14ClN3O3, the imidazole ring adopts a half-chair conformation. The dihedral angle between the pyridine and imidazole rings is 70.0 (1)°. In the crystal, the molecules are linked by C—H⋯O inter­actions, forming chains parallel to the c axis