Ergonomics in control room design

Ergonomic contributions in early design phases of large-scale projects are not yet common practice. In this paper a description is given of a control room design project, in which ergonomists participated from the very beginning. First, the scope of the project and a methodical approach to the design are introduced. This is followed by an overview of the activities of ergonomists in this particular project. The second part of this paper concerns the experiences with this methodical approach and design practice. These are discussed by the former control room project manager, one of the ergonomists, the interior architect and a user representative. It is concluded that it is possible to include ergonomics as well as user participation in every design phase without getting behind on time schedules and keeping within available budgets. A lot of useful design and engineering data could be derived from the situation analysis in the existing situation and the full-scale mock-up evaluation that was carried out. Besides workplace design, job design (operator workload) and work organization design were essential to the success of the project

Experimental study of launched ion-acoustic waves in a plasma using continuous wave CO2 laser scattering

A study of coherent density fluctuations in a low density plasma using continuous wave CO/sub 2/ laser scattering diagnostics is reported. A simple and direct description of collective scattering theory from monochromatic electrostatic waves is presented. The diagnostic technique is described in detail and its performance is analyzed. Experimental results on externally launched ion-acoustic waves are presented and it is demonstrated that accurate measurements of certain plasma parameters are possibl

The returns to vocational education in Italy

Several studies promote vocational education as an effective solution to the school-to-work transition issues, which have become endemic for the most advanced economies. However, individuals choosing this track may face a trade-off among a labour-market advantage at early stage of their individual careers and quicker skills’ depreciation in the long-run, due to less adaptability and technological change, becoming less competitive than skills provided by academic-based education, in a lifelong learning perspective. Using microdata from the Survey of Household Income and Consumption (SHIW), we follow individuals over their life-cycle for at least 40 years, to investigate whether this view has empirical support in a borderline country-level labour market, stressing outcomes’ differences among school-based vocational education and a more traditional academic-based education at upper-secondary school level. We find strong and robust support to this trade-off, evidencing how a critical labour-market shock as the 2007–08 Financial Crisis has diluted the early advantage of vocational skills. We further address for selectivity in education investigating whether outcomes may vary between cohorts from different decades. Whilst differences in youth employment appears in contrast among birth cohorts, there are no significant results for wages, but it seems clear that vocational skills have weakened moving through years

Do norms unintentionally increase stereotypical expressions? A randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION: Implicit biases of health professionals could cause biased judgements. Many anti‐bias interventions seem to be ineffective, and some even counterproductive. People tend to be compliant to standards describing what the majority of people finds or does, and this could cause people to think in a stereotype‐consistent manner. This study examines whether descriptive social norms such as ‘the majority of people have stereotypes’ (majority message), as often stated in interventions, actually increase people's stereotypes. To examine the effect of descriptive social norms (Hypothesis 1) and the effect of individual perceptions and preferences (Hypothesis 2a and 2b) on stereotypical expressions towards medical students. METHODS: First, we determined which ethic stereotypes regarding medical students prevail in Dutch medical education (N = 52). Next, two similar randomised controlled trials, both with teachers and students, were carried out (N = 158 and N = 123, respectively), one with an East Asian student picture (ethnic minority) and one with a native Dutch student picture (ethnic majority). Participants were randomly assigned to either a majority‐message, minority‐message or no‐message condition, and rated the presented minority or majority picture on specific stereotypical features. Subsequently, participants described a typical day of that same student's life. These descriptions were rated for stereotypicality by two independent raters, who were blind for condition and stimulus. Inclusive work environment (IWC) and social dominance orientation (SDO) of participants were measured as indicators of individual perceptions and preferences. RESULTS: Stereotypes were expressed towards both picture stimuli, yet message condition did not affect stereotypical expressions. SDO positively related to stereotypical expressions towards the East Asian student, whereas IWC positively related to stereotypical expressions towards the native Dutch student. CONCLUSION: Interventions do not unintentionally increase stereotypes by communicating what the majority of people thinks or does. Individual perceptions and preferences are predictive of stereotypes, whereas descriptive social norms are not