Human performance in adverse environments

Human performance testing of astronaut capabilities during prolonged space fligh

Strategies for Improving Visual Inspection Performance

This paper summarizes recent results obtained in inspection studies including several studies performed by the authors. Both static and dynamic visual inspection tasks are included. Based on these results, a proposed new integrated design procedure for inspection tasks that will approach the optimal design has been formulated. The review of recent research results includes the following primary variables: the speed of the item passing the inspector, the spacing of items, the percentage of defective items, the illumination level, the contrast between the item being inspected and the background, and the effectiveness of individual versus group inspection. The authors have used their research results in combination with the results in the literature to formulate new integrated procedures for designing inspection stations and job procedures. The authors have also analyzed the effects of inspector performance on the overall quality control plans already in use in industry. The economic effects of changes in inspector performance which result from redesign of the inspection task are then demonstrated as a part of the overall design procedure.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Algebraic Properties of Qualitative Spatio-Temporal Calculi

Qualitative spatial and temporal reasoning is based on so-called qualitative calculi. Algebraic properties of these calculi have several implications on reasoning algorithms. But what exactly is a qualitative calculus? And to which extent do the qualitative calculi proposed meet these demands? The literature provides various answers to the first question but only few facts about the second. In this paper we identify the minimal requirements to binary spatio-temporal calculi and we discuss the relevance of the according axioms for representation and reasoning. We also analyze existing qualitative calculi and provide a classification involving different notions of a relation algebra.Comment: COSIT 2013 paper including supplementary materia

Using Variable-Rate Alerting to Counter Boredom in Human Supervisory Control

A low task load, long duration experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of cyclical attention switching strategies on operator performance in supervisory domains. The impetus for such a study stems from the lack of prior work to improve human-system performance in low task load supervisory domains through the use of design interventions. In this study, a design intervention in the form of auditory alerts is introduced and the effects of the alerts are examined. The test bed consists of a video game-like simulation environment, which allows a single operator the ability to supervise multiple unmanned vehicles. Each participant in the study completed two different four hour sessions, with and without the alerts. The results suggest that the alerts can be useful for operators who are distracted for a considerable amount of time, but that the alerts may not be appropriate for operators who are able to sustain directed attention for prolonged periods.United States. Office of Naval Researc

Remote data collection for public health research in a COVID-19 era: ethical implications, challenges and opportunities.

Physical distancing measures have lead many public health researchers to transition to remote data collection, via mobile phones, online or other virtual platforms. These methods pose a number of challenges related to obtaining informed consent

Blink and shrink: The effect of the attentional blink on spatial processing.

The detection or discrimination of the second of 2 targets in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task is often temporarily impaired - a phenomenon termed the attentional blink. This study demonstrated that the attentional blink also affects localization performance. Spatial cues pointed out the possible target positions in a subsequent visual search display. When cues were presented inside an attentional blink (as induced by an RSVP task), the observers' capacity to use them was reduced. This effect was not due to attention being highly focused, to general task switching costs, or to complete unawareness of the cues. Instead, the blink induced a systematic localization bias toward the fovea, reflecting what appears to be spatial compression

NightSplitter: a scheduling tool to optimize (sub)group activities

International audienceHumans are social animals and usually organize activities in groups. However, they are often willing to split temporarily a bigger group in subgroups to enhance their preferences. In this work we present NightSplitter, an on-line tool that is able to plan movie and dinner activities for a group of users, possibly splitting them in subgroups to optimally satisfy their preferences. We first model and prove that this problem is NP-complete. We then use Constraint Programming (CP) or alternatively Simulated Annealing (SA) to solve it. Empirical results show the feasibility of the approach even for big cities where hundreds of users can select among hundreds of movies and thousand of restaurants

Constraint solving in uncertain and dynamic environments - a survey

International audienceThis article follows a tutorial, given by the authors on dynamic constraint solving at CP 2003 (Ninth International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming) in Kinsale, Ireland. It aims at offering an overview of the main approaches and techniques that have been proposed in the domain of constraint satisfaction to deal with uncertain and dynamic environments