English language readability task performance in a mobile setting - the effect of gender

Mobile computing has become very common in the present day fast changing technological development. It is expected that in future, people will be more mobile than today and all kinds of tasks that are performed in the stationary environment will be undertaken in a mobile environment also. As traffic on the road and also the population are increasing at a very fast pace, the future generation will spend a lot of time in a mobile environment. Therefore, assessment of operators’ performance in a mobile setting will become all the more important. Mobile environment is influenced by vehicular vibration for all kinds of tasks. The present study made an attempt to explore the English language readability performance of a target group. Fourteen subjects (seven males and seven females) from an English language teaching institute were selected for this study. The base line value of reading speed was obtained on the basis of stationary environment reading task performance. Reading speed was noted in the number of words read per minute (NWRPM). The same subjects were used for reading in the vibratory environment and difference in the performance was noticed. A stimulus was presented on a lap-top in both cases. Vibration was assessed on the basis of ISO 2631-1 (1997) guideline. ANOVA statistical tool was used to analyze the data. The result indicated that the performance of operators was significantly affected due to the presence of vibration and text/background color

Impact of Cycle Time on Potential CTS

Upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms and upper-limb musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) have been found to be common in the working population. Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most commonly studied entrapment neuropathy caused by compression of the median nerve as it passes through the carpal tunnel beneath the flexor retinaculum. The present study is conducted among person engaged in connecting rod manufacturing industry to check effect of cycle time of operation on potential CTS symptoms. The study sample consists of 103 workers for data collection. The study was conducted by questionnaire, physical examination, wrist angle evaluation and on job observation. Correlation analysis and Correlation analysis using IBM SPSS 20, it is revealed that Value of Pearson correlation coefficient is found to be -0.930 which is same as the value calculated manually. So analysis by SPSS 20 also confirms that there is very high negative correlation between cycle time and percentage of CTS sufferers

MOBILE COMPUTING WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO READABILITY TASK UNDER THE IMPACT OF VIBRATION, COLOUR COMBINATION AND GENDER

INTRODUCTION With the rapidly increasing pace of computerization in every aspect of life, the use of visual display units (VDUs) has been continually on the increase. The information technology (IT) explosion has created a new work concept. The use of computers in the mobile environment has become commonplace. Networking technologies such as Wide Area Networks (WAN), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Virtual Private Networks (VPN) have given new dimensions to the use of computers in the mobile environment. Literature survey results reveal that researchers have investigated the effect of various factors such as text/background colour combinations, screen resolution, effect of luminosity, subjects-toscreen distance, vibrations and gender. Choice of profession involving the use of soft computing technologies by female professionals is increasing rapidly as compared to their male counterparts. The use of computers for onscreen reading in the mobile environment is very much under-researched. Developments in information system design suggest that the use of VDUs will only increase as a medium for presentation of connected text as observed in videotext, electronic journals and similar applications. In addition the recently emerging WAP-based systems like laptop computers, etc. are expected to be commonplace entity in the HCI (human computer interaction) environments of tomorrow. Such systems are being widely used by executives while moving to their offices. MOBILE COMPUTING WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO READABILITY TASK UNDER THE IMPACT OF VIBRATION, COLOUR COMBINATION AND GENDE

Operational characteristics optimization of human-computer system

Computer operational parameters are having vital influence on the operators efficiency from readability viewpoint. Four parameters namely font, text/background color, viewing angle and viewing distance are analyzed. The text reading task, in the form of English text, was presented on the computer screen to the participating subjects and their performance, measured in terms of number of words read per minute (NWRPM), was recorded. For the purpose of optimization, the Taguchi method is used to find the optimal parameters to maximize operators’ efficiency for performing readability task. Two levels of each parameter have been considered in this study. An orthogonal array, the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) were employed to investigate the operators’ performance/efficiency. Results showed that Times Roman font, black text on white background, 40 degree viewing angle and 60 cm viewing distance, the subjects were quite comfortable, efficient and read maximum number of words per minute. Text/background color was dominant parameter with a percentage contribution of 76.18% towards the laid down objective followed by font type at 18.17%, viewing distance 7.04% and viewing angle 0.58%. Experimental results are provided to confirm the effectiveness of this approach