Indicators for managing human centred manufacturing

Establishing indicators for managing human factors (HF) aspects in the design of production systems remains a challenge. We address the problem in two dimensions – firstly, what aspects of HF are to be considered, and secondly, where in the development process HF is to be measured. In these dimensions a large number of HF metrics are possible in the perceptual, cognitive, physical and psychosocial domains of HF. The relevance of these measures to injury, productivity, quality and organizational strategy continue to be poorly understood. From this perspective we make propositions on the need for: 1) strategic HF metrics selection, 2) metrics application throughout the development process, 3) predictive ‘virtual’ HF metrics approaches, 4) metrics based design guidelines, 5) connecting metrics with design choices and strategies, 6) integrating HF metrics within existing approaches, 7) continuous improvement of the metrics system, and 8) the need to evaluate metrics system quality

An evaluation of asymmetric interfaces for bimanual virtual assembly with haptics

Immersive computing technology provides a human–computer interface to support natural human interaction with digital data and models. One application for this technology is product assembly methods planning and validation. This paper presents the results of a user study which explores the effectiveness of various bimanual interaction device configurations for virtual assembly tasks. Participants completed two assembly tasks with two device configurations in five randomized bimanual treatment conditions (within subjects). A Phantom Omni® with and without haptics enabled and a 5DT Data Glove were used. Participant performance, as measured by time to assemble, was the evaluation metric. The results revealed that there was no significant difference in performance between the five treatment conditions. However, half of the participants chose the 5DT Data Glove and the haptic-enabled Phantom Omni® as their preferred device configuration. In addition, qualitative comments support both the preference of haptics during the assembly process and comments confirming Guiard’s kinematic chain model

The Challenges Faced by Older, Incarcerated Adults: How Age Impacts the Prison Experience

The number of aging prisoners in North America has increased substantially in recent years. This group of inmates often experiences challenges that their younger counterparts do not, such as health issues, difficulty accessing health care, a lack of programming, navigating an environment that is not designed for aging individuals, and challenges related to post-release, such as securing adequate housing.  In this paper, we discuss the aforementioned challenges, as well as address implications from a health care perspective

Influence of Age and Education Level on the Choice of Higher Tourism Education at Moi University, Kenya

The purpose of the study was to determine how age and education level influenced the choice of higher education in tourism by students of Moi University, Eldoret. Kenya.  The objectives were: i) To determine how age affects the choice of higher education in tourism by students of Moi University and ii) to establish how education level affects the choice of higher education in tourism by students. Stratified sampling technique was used to sample 142 respondents for the study who were the students. Descriptive statistic was used to address the research objectives. From the study results on age, a majority of the respondents (95.1%) were of age bracket 18-25 years and this varied between the respondents (χ2 =243.817, df=2, p<0.001). On education level, 73.2% of the respondents had bachelors level of education and this varied between the respondents (χ2 =111.268, df=2, p<0.001). On choosing higher tourism education, 84.5% of the respondents said that they choose higher tourism education, while 15.5% would not (χ2 = 67.634, df=1, p<0.001). On whether gender influenced the choice of education, 51.4% said it did not (χ2 = 113, d = 1, p<0.737). 59.2% of the respondents mentioned that age influenced the choice of education and this varied between the respondents (χ2 = 4.761, d = 1, p<0.029). On whether education level influenced the choice of tourism education, 83.8% of the respondents mentioned that education level influenced the choice of tourism education and and this varied between the respondents (χ2 = 64.901, d = 1, p<0.001).  The first hypothesis that stated that ‘Age of the students does not influence the choice of higher tourism education’ was accepted (F=0.045, p< 0.832). The second hypothesis that stated that ‘Education level of the students does not influence the choice of higher tourism education’ was accepted (F=0.649, p< 0.007). Keywords: Age, education level, tourism education, choice

Mothers Wishing to Relocate with Children: Actual and Perceived Reasons

Thirty-eight mothers in Australia who wanted to move with their children were interviewed about their reasons for wanting to relocate. Forty men, all of whom opposed the mother\u27s move, were also interviewed about what they perceived the mother\u27s reasons were. There were nine former couples in the study. Most women had more than one reason for wanting to relocate, and there were quite often disparate reasons. Women\u27s reasons mainly focused on relationships with family or potential new partners. Conversely, men were more likely to perceive the real reasons as being related to financial issues, jobs, and lifestyle. The article explores the possible explanations for these gender differences, including poor communication between the parents, strategic explanations of reasons in the context of litigation, and differences between what women say and what men hear. In the light of this evidence, the article considers the role of the court in examining the ostensible reasons for relocation

Comparison of Single-Wall Versus Multi-Wall Immersive Environments to Support a Virtual Shopping Experience

With the proliferation of large screen stereo display systems, major consumer product manufacturers are using this technology to test marketing ideas on consumers. One of the performance factors that is of interest to retailers or manufacturers of retail products is the ability of consumers to quickly and easily locate their products within a retail store. Virtual reality technology can be used to create a virtual store that is easily reconfigurable as a test environment for consumer feedback. The research presented in this paper involves a study that compares the use of a multi-wall immersive environment to a single-wall immersive environment. Users were given a list of products to find in the virtual store. A physical mockup of a shopping cart was created and instrumented in order to be used to navigate throughout the virtual store. The findings indicate that participants in the five-wall immersive environment were significantly faster in locating the objects than the participants using the one-wall immersive environment. In addition, participants in the five-wall condition reported that the shopping cart was easier to use than in the one-wall condition. This study indicates that the use of multiple walls to provide an increased sense of immersion improves the ability of consumers to locate items within a virtual shopping experience

Unskilled labour before the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution is seen as a major turning point in the management of labour, bringing about employment practices that gave structure and stability to the workforce. This paper provides evidence that employers were using hiring and retention strategies to stabilize the unskilled workforce at least a century before industrialization. We exploit the comprehensive employment records that survive from the rebuilding of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London (1672–1748) to reconstruct and analyse the employment history of over one thousand general building labourers, the benchmark category of unskilled workers for economic historians. We show that St. Paul’s was able to stabilize its workforce by establishing a core group of long-standing workers. Tenure was incentivized with more days of work each month on the site, priority in the queue for retention and rehiring in periods of low labour demand, and the opportunity to earn additional income as watchmen. These strategies reduced turnover and may have allowed the Cathedral to retain the most productive workers, reshaping our understanding of when modern employment practices emerged

Propagation of Cycad Collections from Seed

Propagation of cycads from seed can aid their conservation as it helps reduce the demand for wildcollected plants. Seed-produced plants can be used for reintroduction programmes if the parent plants are from known provenance and care is taken to avoid hybridisation. This paper discusses the techniques required for successful seed propagation of cycads, including pollen collection, storage, viability testing, manual pollination, seed collection, storage and germination