Human Factors and Systems Interaction

AHFE International

Accelerating Open Access Science in Human Factors Engineering and Human-Centered Computing

Human Factors and Systems Interaction

book-cover

Editors: Isabel L. Nunes

Topics: Human Systems Interaction

Publication Date: 2022

ISBN: 978-1-958651-28-5

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1002131

Articles

Decision-making in disaster operations - Intuition vs Intelligent System support

The paper presents a study where human decision-making is benchmarked against IS recommendations in a disaster management context. Data collection was done in tabletop exercise sessions where the participants played the role of disaster managers, engaged on decisions scenarios of increasing complexity. Initially, participants were asked to make assignment decisions without any IS advice. Later they were exposed to the advice of the an IS to assess if participants accepted the solutions proposed by the IS as satisficing, considering the explanations provided by the IS. Results suggest that decision-makers tend to rely increasingly in intuition as complexity increases, and welcome the recommendations of IS as satisficing, considering the decision-making process easier with this type of support.

Mario Simões-Marques, M Filomena Teodoro, Isabel L. Nunes

Conference Proceedings

Exploring trust in unmanned systems with the Maritime Unmanned System Trust Game

The use of Maritime Unmanned Systems (MUS) is a quickly maturing technology, but for some security and defence operations we are still lacking the required doctrinal development, moreover trust in MUS has been identified as one of the main pillars (more like road-block or mitigation) of the adoption of such technology in the short term. Trust in automation and autonomy is an important and complex mental construct, which has been demonstrated to be based on several underpinning factors (e.g., attention capacity, user workload, prior experience, user situational awareness, system behaviour, dependability, reliability, predictability, level of automation, failure rate, false alarms and transparency). With the goal of increasing the understanding of the operational tasks in future environments and steering future scientific developments, we designed the Maritime Unmanned Systems Trust (MUST) Game. The MUST Game is an analytical game which goal is to capture beliefs, attitude and perspectives of the participants with respect to the employment of MUS in maritime applications. This game aims at better understanding the relation between trust factors and MUS in missions. This paper presents the results of the analysis of the data collected through the deployment of the MUST Game in three distributed exercises, where the term distributed refers both to time and location. The game explored how players make decisions with respect to MUS deployments as the scenario threat level increases. This allows to capture important information on the trade-offs related to MUS use having an impact on mission planning activities (e.g., endurance, logistics, maintenance, cost, number of assets, security and type of assets). Additionally to the relative importance of the decision factors, important observations emerged during gameplay relating to: (i) the unique considerations of the use of MUS in maritime operations compared to other domains, (ii) potential barriers and the political component of the use of MUS, (iii) the importance of the human component, (iv) the legal and ethical dimensions (i.e., interaction with commercial shipping), (v) the tendency towards employing mixed (manned and unmanned) forces and (vi) the need for decision support systems. The outcomes of this analysis are expected to contribute to the development of effective decision support systems and to further research efforts conducted in the field.

Francesca De_Rosa, Christopher Strode

Conference Proceedings

Education as a maritime safety improvement factor

The prevention of accidents at sea requires appropriate education and technical training that gives professionals suitable competences and skills for the specific conditions of life on board ships and other maritime facilities. The sea is a hostile environment to humans which requires some specific skills to perform and live on board.Traditionally, the education and training of seamen were done on board ships, where competences and skills were developed in work context, within a master-apprentice relationship. With the evolution of education, in response to more demanding social and technical requirements, a substantial part of this teaching was moved into the classroom context. Such evolution may have brought advantages in the amount of scientific knowledge transmitted, but somehow limited the ability to develop specific skills. To create a balance in the education of seaman, and in order to respond to the current and future needs of the related industries, education should be tailored to combine the traditional expository method with more challenging educational methods and techniques. New technologies in the field of ICT, graphical visualization, computer based simulation or artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance students' learning capabilities. Education should provide students with competences and skills fundamental for problem solving such as critical thinking, the ability to analyze different situations, system thinking, leadership and decision-making in crisis situations, autonomous work or as part of a team, while integrating social, ethical and environmental values.Among the educational techniques that can foster the needed competences, the following can be referred: (1) carrying out experiential learning, individually and as part of a group, requiring activity planning, critical analysis, synthesis, public speaking and feedback through the evaluation of the achieved results; (2) case study method; (3) role-plays, which imitates situations close to reality within a safe context; (4) computer simulation or; (5) gamification. All these techniques can benefit from the technological evolution, such as wide graphic interactions, virtual reality or augmented reality to create more realistic environments that may increase the motivation of students. Another relevant benefit is related to the place where they are made available, a critical factor in the maritime context, as it will make it easier to overcome the distance, making learning available on-board for students.The present work intends to contribute to the discussion around the reformulation of the teaching of management, logistics and engineering in the maritime related industries, by identifying methodologies, techniques and technologies which are optimally adapted to the specificities and the needs of the field. It is intended that the achieved results will be integrated in the structuring of the Master’s Degree Program in Maritime Logistics, to be made available in September 2022 at the Portuguese Naval Academy. The security, safety and performance of the activities carried out in the maritime environment are directly related to the competencies and skills that the education system can foster in the future professionals of the sector. Therefore, there are teaching methodologies more suitable than others in order to enhance such competences development.

Armindo Frias, Pedro Água, Mario Simões-Marques

Conference Proceedings

Ontologies for emergency management

In emergency management (EM), different domain vocabularies are used by distinct specialized actors involved in catastrophes’ response. Ontologies enables information sharing among them. This review of ontologies is an exploratory work aimed at collecting references of already proposed ontologies for the realm of EM; a first step for the proposal of a coherent and integrated architecture for EM ontologies. This work conforms to the PRISMA method and was performed by systematically searching several electronic databases for identifying proposed EM ontologies, published between the period of 1970 to 2021. From a total of 1885 articles identified, 104 articles met the full inclusion criteria for the systematic review. The articles found were classified according to (among other categories) the type of addressed disaster by the ontology, the main focus of the proposed approach, and the methods and techniques adopted. Despite the exploratory nature of this work, the review highlighted underexplored topics, and research gaps, due to the lack of integration of the ontological proposals, which hampers their semantic alignment in a modular architecture of ontologies, amenable of an infrastructure for distributed data sources of the Linked Open Data initiative.

Anacleto Correia, Mario Simões-Marques, Pedro Água

Conference Proceedings

High Reliability Organizing, Resiliency and Safety Culture

Complex safety-critical technological system breakdowns could pose serious threats for workers and the surrounding communities. These organizations are inherently complex and depend on the latest technologies to survive and function properly. Failures in these systems are rare but highly visible, making the consequence of such failures disastrous. To survive, a technological system must have the ability to respond to operational anomalies before any undesirable consequences, which the system seeks to avoid, can occur. As task uncertainty increases in complex systems (typical in ‘non-normal’ or emergency situations), the number of exceptions to routine operations increases, overloading the organizational hierarchy. To meet the new challenges, the organization must use another mechanism to sustain itself. The Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 21, defines resilience as the ability to “prepare for and adapt to changing conditions and withstand and recover rapidly from disruptions”. Without understanding the vital role of human and organizational factors in technological systems and proactively addressing/facilitating their interactions during unexpected events, recovery will be a sweet dream, and resiliency will only be an unattainable mirage. A High Reliability Organization (HRO)is a resilient organization. These Organizations are a subset of high-risk organizations designed and managed to avoid such accidents. In this paper, we study the influence of HRO characteristics on safety culture, resiliency, and the organizations' ability to respond to unforeseen events.

Yalda Khashe, Najm Meshkati

Conference Proceedings

Envisioning 21st Century Mixed-Initiative Operations for Energy Systems

Despite a slow pace, Nuclear Power is undergoing a global renaissance. Small modular reactors (SMR) and microreactors are in various design and commissioning phases. These are designed to be built in factories and installed onsite, providing a means to rapidly deploy nuclear power while controlling for uncertain capital expenditures and cost overruns. The OECD (2016) is projecting that by 2035 we could have 21 GWe of new nuclear electricity capacity installed globally with 3.5 GWe in the United States.Simultaneously, renewables such as wind and solar are growing exponentially and battery electric vehicles are gaining traction in the energy sector. If vehicles transition to battery electric vehicles (BEV) our electricity consumption would roughly double. The energy grid as a whole is evolving as numerous point source generators come online and smarter grids enable better resource management and dynamic pricing. The result will be a distributed energy market where individuals and utilities both buy and sell resources in a fast-paced, brokered market. Or perhaps more accurately, autonomous agents will buy and sell resources on behalf of utilities, individuals, and intermediaries.The pertinent question then becomes how do we have human oversight of resources to maintain safe, secure, and reliable operation?A reasonable approach is to examine assets as three general classes. The first class comprises commodity consumer-oriented devices such as home solar, battery storage, and BEVs represented distributed nano-scale devices. The capital expenditures of any single device or installation are relatively small, and the potential consequences of a single installation failing are relatively small. Minimal regulatory oversight is required for individual installations. The second class comprises distributed micro-scale devices like nuclear micro-reactors and small modular reactors. These will have substantial automation compared to existing Generation II reactors. They could incorporate remote operations and monitoring at the fleet scale, with the ability to shut down systems locally. Disruptions would have costly impacts to an organization or municipality.Lastly, at the other end of the spectrum are high-value assets with the potential for low-probability high consequence events. These would include gigawatt-scale nuclear/solar/hydro plants that might also have flexible operations to support onsite data centers, hydrogen production, or cryptomining. These assets would be high-value targets and distruptions would have the potential for severe economic, environmental, and functional consequences at large geographic scales. When we start thinking about human oversight, participation, and decision making, the first class is consumer-oriented. Consumers will be enabled to become prosumers (producers and consumers) sell excess or optimize energy usage and storage based on dynamic rates.The third class of high-value assets resembles how critical infrastructure is managed today. These high-value assets are conservative and slow to evolve through the adoption of automation and operational changes. They would still need to maintain high degrees of human vigilance compared to the other systems for regulatory adherence and maintaining cyber-physical security and reliability.The second class still has high regulatory requirements. However, it is a bit of a clean slate to conceptualize operations and monitoring from first principles with high levels of automation and mixed-initiative monitoring and control (AI/human teaming). In this paper we explore those possibilities.New SMR and microreactors incorporate passive safety and modern engineering modeling and analysis that wasn't available during the design and commisioning of Generation II reactors. The result is reactors that have significantly reduced risks of catastrophic melt-down events like Fukishima. This dramatically expands the possibilities for how they can be monitored and controlled. When we ponder what modern nuclear control rooms should look like we envision multiple operators monitoring dozens of screens to maintain situational awareness and readiness to respond at a moments notice. However, this is unlikely and perhaps even undersired. Once reactors, in particular microreactors, have the demonstrated capability of operating hands-free with minimal oversight it becomes misguided to install humans to maintain constant vigilance (e.g. Level 4 to 5 self-driving). The key performance indicator should be system performance not situational awareness. Having "operators" permanently installed in a control room when no action is required 99.9% of the time becomes a superficial level of vigilance. Take system administration as a corollary. System administrator's primary responsibility is to maintain the availability of infrastructure, but their primary tasking is not to sit idly by and actively monitor.

Roger Lew, Ronald Boring, Thomas Ulrich

Conference Proceedings

RehbBrain: A serious gaming platform for perceptual and cognitive rehabilitation

Stroke sequelae significantly affect the individual's functionality, namely at the level of their perceptive and cognitive skills. Consequently, these patients require rehabilitation therapies that are adapted to their dysfunctions. Conventional approaches (traditional board and paper games) have the disadvantage of not being suited to the dysfunctions of some patients, making the rehabilitation process unstimulating and demotivating. RehbBrain is a serious gaming platform, adapted for all patients whose rehabilitation process focuses on stimulating, visually, perceptual and cognitive skills. It simulates the individual’s daily activities, in various environments, and with progressive levels of difficulty. The platform aims to help therapists monitor their patients by promoting a systematized and standardized assessment. The games on the platform are intended to complement conventional rehabilitation methods, and render therapy sessions more dynamic, leading to a faster and more patient-oriented stimulation process.RehbBrain’s usability was tested by 5 specialists and 33 subjects with no associated pathologies. They completed separate System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire to assess the platform, but reached and combined average score of 88.4, classifying RehbBrain as "Excellent".

Sandrina Rodrigues, Cláudia Quaresma, Krupa Hansraj, Patricia Santos, Nidia Grazina, Ana Antunes, Bruno Mendes, Carla Quintão, Ricardo Vigário

Conference Proceedings

Lower limb exoskeletons some examples of application

Lower limb exoskeletons are wearable mechanical or mechatronic equipment developed as augmentative devices that work in concert with the user's movements to provide physical assistance through torques or structural support. The exoskeleton moves with the user and can act actively or passively, adding strength to the wearer. In addition, they allow maintaining human dexterity, agility, and adaptability (Bär et al., 2021). Depending on the field of application, these devices can be separated into two main categories: assistive and augmentation exoskeletons. Thus, assistive exoskeletons are designed to assist/replace the impaired parts of the users, restore physical movements, increase independence, and improve patients quality of life. Alternatively, augmentation exoskeletons can be found in industries to improve ergonomics, reduce the risk of exposure to demanding working conditions, prevent work accidents, reduce users’ acute physical stress and strain and increase the operator's efficiency. As well as in military tasks to allow soldiers to carry heavy equipment while walking. Due to its wide use in various applications and the exponentially growing number of research studies in this area, the primary purpose of this article is to provide state of the art regarding lower limb exoskeletons, giving some examples of their general present-day use.Keywords: lower limb exoskeletons; assistive exoskeletons; augmentation exoskeletonsBär, M., Steinhilber, B., Rieger, M. A., & Luger, T. (2021). The influence of using exoskeletons during occupational tasks on acute physical stress and strain compared to no exoskeleton – A systematic review and meta-analysis. Applied Ergonomics, 94. http://10.0.3.248/j.apergo.2021.103385

Catarina Santos, Ana Teresa Videira Gabriel, Cláudia Quaresma, Isabel L. Nunes

Conference Proceedings

Ergonomic Assessment of Warehouse Activities in an Electric Utilities Company

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) constitute a significant problem in modern societies since they are responsible for occupational injury and disability. As a result, financial losses affect people, organizations, and society.Manual materials handling (MMH) activities are performed in many workplaces in several sectors of economic activity. They are one of the leading causes of disorders in the lumbar region. One concern of Ergonomics is to reduce the risk of MMH activities and preserve the safety and health of workers. Several assessment methods have been developed to guide MMH risk assessment.The present study aims to analyze the risk of three MMH activities daily performed by warehouse workers. It was developed at a Portuguese Electric Utilities Company. Six assessment methodologies - Revised NIOSH'91 Equation, Hidalgo Model, Shoaf Model, Mital Guide, KIM, and RAMP I – were applied to quantify the risk. A comparative analysis was carried out based on the results obtained by each methodology. After that, ergonomic intervention measures were suggested to eliminate, or at least reduce, the risk.

Ana Teresa Videira Gabriel, Maria Mendes, Isabel L. Nunes

Conference Proceedings

Formative Evaluation of Virtual Reality Materials for Inducing Cultural Awareness

As Japan moves toward a multiculturally convivial society, nurses are required to have intercultural competence to recognize the diverse characteristics of their patients and to practice nursing. In order to acquire intercultural competence, it is important to take an attitudinal approach that encourages cultural awareness, which is to recognize and acknowledge differences between oneself and others. Therefore, we developed a VR teaching material that allows Japanese people to experience first-person the anxiety and difficulty that foreigners feel when they visit a Japanese hospital. As the first step from the experience, we extracted gaps between foreign patients and Japanese medical staffs by reviewing the literature; the gaps were due to lack of communication, preconceptions, and bitterness. As a second step, we set four learning objectives and created an ICE rubric. The learning objectives were as follows: 1) to try to get involved actively without feeling uncomfortable, 2) to accept others as they are, 3) to think about the reasons for their words and actions by considering their culture and customs, and 4) to be able to recognize one's own prejudices, discrimination, and assumptions. As the third step, we created a prototype of the content. We shot a 360° video of three scenes in a hospital. We embedded a video of a French actors playing a medical staff and talking to the patient. In this way, we recreated the situation of a Japanese patient visiting a hospital in a foreign country. The fourth step was to conduct alpha testing among the developers to complete the content. Four developers watched the prototype and evaluated the usability and the learning outcomes using the ICE rubric. As a result, it was pointed out that although they could experience the sense of difficulty and anxiety of not understanding the language, they could not understand the situation of what was happening, nor could they think about the other person's culture or their own preconceptions. Therefore, we completed the contents by adding guidance, explaining the situation, presenting a summary of what was said, and setting up a quiz for reflection.

Manami Nozaki, Kazumi Watanabe, Hiromi Ogasawara, Taeko Fukuda

Conference Proceedings

Leveraging the Kinect Sensor to Correct Improper Bowling Form

When we go to bowling alleys, more often than not, we are often mesmerized by the one person who seems to get astrike with every swing. Is it the way they swing the ball? Or is it due to their feet placement? However, the answeris more straightforward than one might think; the form we use to bowl can make a massive difference betweengetting a strike and getting a gutter ball. Having poor performance at this sport can make playing it frustrating andembarrassing due to the constant gutter balls and inconsistent swings. To increase the chance of getting a strike,proper form is needed to do so. In this paper, we propose an application, Bowler Correcter, that will correct the formof a bowler in real-time. To improve the form of a poor bowler, the Xbox Kinect sensor V2 was used to provide thenecessary adjustments to correct a bowler's form. To train the sensor with proper form, proficient bowlers providedtraining data to the sensor. When selecting bowlers with poor form, the following was observed in non-proficientbowlers during a screening: tensed shoulders, an improper swing of the ball, not crouching in the follow-throughstage, and skipping the stance stage. We capture the skeleton of the bowler instead of the movement, which allowsus to assess the form of the bowler more clearly and accurately. Since this is a complex gesture, it had to be split upinto three gestures that would be later stored in the bowling database - Follow Through, Stance, and Swing ArmBack; breaking this gesture into parts makes it easier for the sensor to detect and to provide better feedback. TheKinect SDK, along with the Kinect library, was used to provide the necessary drivers for the Kinect sensor andprovide the needed libraries for creating the application. When gathering training data for the sensor, the applicationKinect Studio was used; this application and the Visual Gesture Builder can be found in the Kinect SDK. To trainthe Kinect sensor, clips recorded in the Visual Gesture Builder are loaded into Kinect Studio, where each clip istagged where the stance is present. To test the effectiveness of the application, Sports Champion 2 for PlayStation 3using the PlayStation Eye and Move controller was used as the increase in popularity in AR and VR allowedparticipants to experience bowling without needing to travel to a bowling alley. Additionally, with Covid concerns,this provided a way of ensuring cleanliness, comfort, and the safety of our participants as they bowled. The bowlerswith poor form were asked to play two games of bowling, one game without the corrector and the other with thecorrector, with the difficulty level set to championship; this increased the sensitivity of the Move controller andremoved all aides that prevented the ball from going into the gutter. It was found that this application provided thenecessary feedback needed for poor bowlers to correct their form and improve their performance.

Brisaac Johnson, Chris Crawford

Conference Proceedings

Psychophysics and user experience: Perceptual differences in the effort required to operate virtual push-buttons

Perceptual physical aspects of controls, such as interaction forces during operation, are important for ergonomic design. However, controls with equivalent physical properties may be perceived as functioning differently depending on their visual or acoustic appearance. To address this issue, the present study investigated how the size, brightness and loudness of pushbutton switches affect the perceived operating force. Two simple pushbuttons (standard and test) were presented side by side in a virtual environment and actuated with a 3D haptic device. The simulated mechanical properties of the pushbuttons (force-displacement characteristics) corresponded to those of real switch buttons. Three experiments were conducted with different groups of subjects. Physical characteristics of the standard button were kept constant and physical size, brightness and loudness of the test button were systematically varied respectively in all 3 experiments. Participants were instructed to press the standard and the test push-button one by one and to judge the perceived force for test push-button compared to the standard one in a 2-alternative-forced-choice task. Based on these judgments, the required operating force of the test key was adjusted using a simplified adaptive staircase procedure until the force of the test key varied by the point of subjective equality. Based on the subjective equality, the perceived operating force for the experimental condition was calculated. The results showed main effects of key size, brightness and loudness on perceived operating force. Consistent with findings from basic research (size-weight illusion), perceived operating force was higher for smaller keys. Additionally, perceived operating force was reported higher for higher brightness or higher loudness. Overall, the results suggest that psychophysical methods are suitable for objectively measuring the user experience of interacting with controls in application contexts.

Gerhard Rinkenauer, Jai Prakash Kushvah, Marc Grosjean

Conference Proceedings

A Micro-moment recommendation framework in industrial environments

Today, a large part of the labor policies in the EU aim at extending the active participation of older (i.e. 50+) employees in the workforce in order to avoid the respective pressure on the national economies and health systems as well as potential shortcomings in qualified personnel due to demographical changes in the entire population. Preventing involuntary early retirement goes hand in hand with supporting self-sufficient and healthy living. The present work considers the use and exploitation of modern technological advancements to support the achievement of the above goal. Specifically, we propose a new approach to developing complex recommendation systems, which are capable of monitoring and supporting the daily activities of employees in a personalized manner, both at work and during their broader daily activities. The proposed approach is based on the new Micro-Moments (MiMos) concept for critical event recognition, incorporating multiple streams of complementary information from a distributed sensor network that is flowing into the system based on IoT technologies. The recommendation system follows a user-centered approach for providing (personalized) suggestions that support the occupational safety of users, improve their health and enhance their productivity, in a personalized way. This paper summarizes the concept of Micro-Moments (MiMos) and how it contributes to issuing recommendations based on specific user needs. We also present the current version and implementation of the system in the field of port logistics, where it is observed that recommendations delivered at the right time to the right person can help improve the efficiency of the workforce and extend its working capacity.

Michail Maniadakis, Iraklis Varlamis, Georgios Athanassiou

Conference Proceedings

Automatic assessment of posture deviations in assembly tasks

The aim of this study is to investigate the development and the evaluation of a computer vision-based framework to aid the automatic assessment of posture deviations in assembly tasks in realistic work environments. A posture deviation refers to a time-varying working posture performed by the worker, that deviates from ergonomically safe body postures expected in the context of particular work tasks and is known to impose increased physical strain. The estimation of their occurrences can serve as indicators, known as risk factors, for the assessment of physical ergonomics towards the prevention of physical strain and in the-long-term of work-related musculo-skeletal disorders (WMSD). Using visual information acquired by camera sensors, our goal is to estimate the full body motion of a line worker in 3D space, unobtrusively, and to perform classification of four types of posture deviations, also noted as ergonomically sub-optimal working postures that were employed by the MURI risk analysis tool. We formulate a learning-based action classification task using Deep Graph-based Neural Networks and differential temporal alignment cost as a classification measure to estimate the type and risk level of the observed posture deviation during work activities. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed approach, a new video dataset was captured in the context of the sustAGE project, that demonstrate two different workers during car door assembly actions in a simulated production line in an actual workplace. Rich annotation data were provided by experts in manufacturing and ergonomics. Both quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the proposed framework provide evidence for its efficiency and reliability in supporting ergonomic risk assessment and preventive actions for WMSD in real working environments.

Konstantinos Papoutsakis, Manolis Lourakis, Maria Pateraki

Conference Proceedings

Computer vision for increasing safety in container handling operations

Workers in ports work with and in close proximity of heavy machinery. Quay cranes used for moving containers between ships and the dockside yard are one of the most accident-prone equipment types. For picking up containers, these cranes are equipped with spreaders, i.e. lifting devices which are lowered down on top of containers and lock on to them mechanically. We are concerned here with monitoring a moving quay crane spreader so as to make sure that safe clearance distances are maintained from the locations of dock workers in a port container cargo handling environment. The paper describes the application of computer vision techniques to develop a model-based, monocular spreader tracker. By tracking in three dimensions the position and orientation of the spreader during loading and unloading operations, a threat volume enclosing it can be defined. Constantly monitoring the distance of dock workers from this threat volume can improve the operator’s situational awareness and increase safety in the work environment. Quantitative experimental evaluation is also reported.

Manolis Lourakis, Maria Pateraki

Conference Proceedings

Time Series Representation using TS2Vec on Smartwatch Sensor Data for Fatigue Estimation

This work investigates the use of TS2Vec time series representations in an end-to-end approach to detect the fatigue levels perceived by workers of the transportation and logistics industry from the analysis of the accelerometer and the heart rate measurements sensed using a Garmin Vivoactive 3 device. The experiments are conducted using the dataset collected during a pre-pilot study with a total of 1 h 22 min 20 sec of data available. The results obtained support the use of TS2Vec representations for the task at hand, as the binary model trained using this approach and exploiting the heart rate modality obtains the best performance with an Unweighted Average Recall of 67.1 %.

Adria Mallol - Ragolta, Michail Maniadakis, George Papadopoulos, Bjoern Schuller

Conference Proceedings

Instrumenting the Human into Safety 4.0

Managing the workers’ health and safety faces many challenges due to the dependency on human interactions especially when it comes to human monitoring and detecting nonconformance. Conventionally, the input to HSE making decisions is collected from the worker himself or by an HSE officer making it mostly biased and hard to communicate. The team proposes a constant and continuous approach to objectively monitor the workers using machine vision capabilities along with smart decision-making tools to detect, recognize and classify human behaviors. The input of the system is coherent and effective while the output is unbiased, quantifiable, and communicable, the needed ingredients to integrate the human worker into Industry 4.0. The scope of this work focuses on the worker’s health and safety setting another building block in the Safety 4.0 vision. The proposed system consists of multiple integrated components including continuous video streaming devices, Machine vision components, computer logic for decision making, communication schemes, and locally implemented effectors. The system was tested on a simulated environment using a human factors simulation platform then was validated with actual environments with workers acting with HSE nonconformance while performing different tasks. The results show the system’s ability to recognize the human posture, speed, and throughput then compare it to the HSE guidelines. The results also show that the system was able to provide fast responses by giving warnings, reporting an incident to the management, or shutting the process down if an injury is recognized. Finally, the system generates data and reports that are ready to be transmitted onto the Internet of Things.

Saed Amer, Dana Alhashmi, Ravindra Goonetilleke, Ahmad Mayyas

Conference Proceedings

Identification of Potential Warning Signals for a Smartphone-based Bicyclist Assistant System

Bicycle-vehicle crashes are common and often result in severe outcomes for bicyclists. Assistive technologies may help mitigate bicycle-vehicle crashes; however, these technologies applied to bicycles are understudied. This paper summarizes a preliminary study to identify effective warning signals for a smartphone-based application. This application alerts bicyclists to an imminent collision with a vehicle using a warning signal and gives them additional time to avoid the collision. The signal, however, must be designed to be informative and not otherwise distracting. This work analyzes discussions from experts and stakeholders on the modality and design of warning signals, as well as the efficacy of the mobile application. The experts were presented with visual, audible, and haptic signal options. Text analysis of the focus group transcript shows that flashing visual signals, high pitch auditory tones, and speech messages were most favored by participants.

Anika Rimu, Rachael Panik, Srinivasan Murali, Kari Watkins, Ming Li, Shuchisnigdha Deb

Conference Proceedings

A Virtual Reality Program to Improve Child Pedestrians’ Safety at Street-Crossing Scenarios

A training program was designed and developed for school-going children of 7-12 years old in order to help them improve their understanding of safety rules at critical street-crossing scenarios. The training is constructed of two modules that take place on two different platforms. The first one is a bilingual instruction-based video presentation that demonstrates street crossing safety rules and is viewed on a digital display. The second one (virtual "game" ) takes place in a virtual environment (VE), and the trainee wears a virtual reality (VR) head-mounted device (Oculus Quest) to physically walk on 30-ft long marked and unmarked crosswalks to put the lesson into practice. Eight types of scenarios called "levels" were developed to test and improve the player's decision-making ability. In addition, an experiment was designed to test the efficacy of the program. Trials were run, where a participant watched the video presentation between the two times they were allowed to play the game. The process required an average of 40 minutes per participant to complete. No participants went through simulation sickness according to the Simulation Sickness Questionnaire provided, and an experience survey conducted at the end of the trials showed that all participants found the training program natural and informative.

Taufiq Rahman, Bryan De Santiago, Anika Rimu, Shuchisnigdha Deb, Anurag Pande, Mouyid Islam

Conference Proceedings

How to Design Traffic Infrastructure to Support Cyclists’ Interaction with Autonomous Vehicles: Teenage Cyclists’ Perceptions

Cycling is a popular transportation mode for teenagers; however, statistics show that bicyclist fatalities on minor roads are higher for teenagers (44%) as compared to older bicyclists (28%). The implementation of automated vehicles (AVs) is expected to make roads safer. Nevertheless, very few studies have focused on cyclist-AV interaction, especially on teenage cyclist population. This study examines teenagers’ perceptions on infrastructures necessary to share roads with AVs. A virtual focus group study with twenty four participants evaluated six potential traffic infrastructure designs using discussion and survey questions. Participants’ data on demographics, generic cycling behavior, and personal innovativeness were collected. Results show that participants showing risky cycling behaviors on roads were more flexible in design guidelines compared to teenagers exhibiting positive cycling behaviors. Teenagers mentioned coherent, direct, safe, and comfortable being the most important factors to design supporting infrastructures for AVs. They preferred spacious bike lanes, clear markings, clearance between cyclist and vehicle lanes, and physical barriers separating AVs and cyclists.

Obiageli Lawrentia Ngwu, Anika Rimu, Shuchisnigdha Deb

Conference Proceedings

Vibration Perception Thresholds on the five fingers of the Human Right Hand among an adult population

The goal of the present study was to assess vibration perception thresholds (VPT) for frequencies of 65, 300, and 500 Hz, at the finger pads of the five fingers of the human right hand, while also assessing potential differences between the fingers, and potential effects of the use of two similar psychophysical methods to measure VPT. A novel instrument, the Hand Vibration Threshold Mapper, was used in this study. 13 participants took part on this experiment. Significant differences were found between VPT scores obtained using the two methods. No significant differences were found between VPT scores obtained on the five fingers, when grouped by method. Significant differences were found between VPT scores obtained on the 3 frequencies, grouped by method. Design guideline recommendations aimed at haptic feedback developers were elaborated based on these results.

Emanuel Silva, Rosane Sampaio, Lisandra Teixeira, Nelson Costa

Conference Proceedings

Minimum hand haptic perception thresholds

This paper is a short review of the recent state of the art relating to the study of vibration perception thresholds (VPT), sensed by the fingertip(s) of the human hand. To this end, papers regarding the topic of assessing VPT, released between 2011 and 2021, were collected and reviewed. Focus was given regarding the experimental set-ups, particularly the choice of algorithms and instruments used, the choice of body locations and frequencies to study, characteristics of the recruited subjects, and experimental duration. The main results each study reported were also analyzed. From this work, it became clear that although the choice of instruments and the characteristics of the studied populations tended to vary somewhat between studies, the reviewed studies had other aspects in common, such as the prevalent use of the von Békésy algorithm, the assessment of VPT on the finger pad of the index finger on all but one of the studies, and some overlap regarding the choice of analyzed frequencies

Emanuel Silva, José Grilo, Tiago Matias, Rui Gomes, Adriano Carvalho, Paulo Cardoso, Nelson Costa

Conference Proceedings

PowerMount: A Proposed Design for Motorcycle Phone Holder to Ensure Style, Safety, Security, and Sustainability

In a no-touch economy brought about by the COVID 19 pandemic, courier services became one of the robust businesses (Dones & Young, 2020) wherein delivery companies offer package pick up, delivery, and monitoring services. This business is powered by people's heavy reliance on online shopping during the quarantine period. On a survey conducted in the Philippines with 120 participants, it was found that 93.3% of the participants are now using courier services from an initial record of 76.6% before the pandemic. It was also revealed that Lalamove and Grab express were preferred courier service providers who utilize their mobile phones to receive transactions, receive order details, communicate with their customers, and navigate efficiently. Phone mounts provide various benefits, including navigation, message tracking, and overall convenience, allowing you to use your phone while driving.Furthermore, this is especially relevant for delivery and courier riders, who may need to change routes, navigate detours, or know where they are going. The use of a phone mount enables convenient, hands-free route monitoring. Most phone mounts allow users to connect their phones to the side mirror's handlebar or the motorcycle's dashboard. The PowerMount addresses the problems identified by the motorcycle riders in Region IV-A CALABARZON and NCR. Furthermore, this study is solely focused on the development of PowerMount, which addresses the issues in security, convenience, durability, design, and sustainability. However, this research will not address additional concerns about the motorbike, other motorcycle equipment, the technicalities of the proposed added feature (power bank), and the rider itself.

Alma Maria Jenifer Gutierrez

Conference Proceedings

Students Quality Assessment of the Interactivenesses of Virtual Teaching and Learning Platforms

This research provides insights on students’ perspectives on the functional interactivenesses of the virtual platforms that serve as online digitized classrooms used for teaching and learning in tertiary academic institutions, and which usage has gained global significance since the advent of COVID-19 pandemic. In this vein, there has been a significant global systemic and structural shift towards virtual education among tertiary institutions, with the requisite restructuring of the face-to-face teaching-learning mechanisms into new online delivery systems. Considering the fact that such new online systems, which are digitized educational instruction media, are mostly designed by third parties who are not the direct users, there is a need to provide users, namely teachers and students, the space to share their evaluative perspectives on the effectiveness of the current approaches to such instructional design, in terms of the quality of interactivenesses they provide users. This is because, systemic interaction in virtual education, as it is with all distance education systems, includes the way the user, especially the student, interact with the online platform, fellow students, lecturers, and the educational contents of programme. In this respect, systemic interaction is recognized as a key factor in determining the quality of the online platform’s functionality and effectiveness, and by implication, the reputation of its delivery. Thus, taking cognizance of argument in the extant literature that in distance education, as it is with virtual education, the transactional distance between students and teachers is not determined by their respective geographical locations, but by the quality of the interactive relationship and the balance between dialogue and other instructional events. As such, it important for designers of virtual teaching-learning platforms to understand the implication of such transactional distance, especially from the students perspectives, that should be effectively managed to engage the students to enable quality interactive teaching-learning. In this research, therefore, a model reflective of this dynamic interaction was firstly developed to provide a conceptual framework. Guided by this framework, a study was conducted among six hundred and eighty-seven graduate students in a Ghanaian university, a structured questionnaire was used to ask the students to assess the quality of their interaction with the virtual platform used in teaching them throughout the semester, from the perspectives of its enablement of connectivity with colleagues, derivation of sense of community and personalization, ease of communication and contents following, and how all these factors inform the quality of teaching-learning outcome, in terms of the effectiveness of systemic interaction and delivery reputation. The conceptual framework was tested using the Using the AMOS-based structural equation modelling approach. In the systemic analysis, the students evaluation of connectivity with colleagues, derivation of sense of community and personalization, ease of communication and contents following as quality enhancing derivatives, and their implications on the systemic interaction and delivery reputation of the quality of teaching-learning media is determined. The findings will provide additional insight in the design of virtual platforms serving as online classrooms for teaching-learning.

Mohammed Aminu Sanda

Conference Proceedings

A functional support system in a bustling 24/7 economy: Perspectives on slum dwellers in Ashaiman, Ghana

Slums are often associated with negativities in society including social vices, thievery and arm robbery due to the unsightly nature of the settlements, characterized with filth and insanitary conditions. However, slums provide accommodation for rural-urban migrants who are unable to afford the high cost of rent due to several factors including poor housing policy by government, high rental cost, financial difficulties, unemployment and poverty. This study aims at ascertaining the functional activities and survival strategies of slum dwellers in Ashaiman Municipality in Ghana. Ashaiman is a sprawling urban settlement, parts of which exhibit characteristics of a slum. It is a home to people from many ethnic groups within and outside Ghana who are all there to eke out a living. It also provides space for well organised and recognised professional, trade, ethnic, welfare and youth associations with formal structures and support systems to ensure good governance, compliance and reward systems. This study deployed a mixed method approach to collect quantitative and qualitative data from 490 respondents and 13 key informants in two slum communities; namely; Manmomo and Tulaku within Ashaiman Municipality. Interview schedule, interview guides and focus group discussion guides were used to collect data. Appropriate techniques were used to process and analyse the data. The results showed that the slum dwellers presented varied economic potentials as they contributed to the bustling 24/7 economy. The local economy was characterised by small and micro-scale activities in the informal sector. The municipal authority generated revenue through taxation in whatever form while the slum dwellers provided a strong voting block for politicians. However, the slums also provided the opacity needed for illegal activities. The slum residents operated in an under-served location with deficits in security, infrastructure, health and environmental sanitation. The survival strategies included social safety in terms of perception of historical and traditional ties, social acceptability, social network, security and business opportunities. The diverse characteristics, capacities, tenacity arising from survival experiences, adaptability, social capital, political clout in numbers, and youthful population contribute to make the slum communities in Ashaiman a place of survival. The main argument of the study is that slum dwellers demonstrate resourcefulness, thereby debunking their association with low levels of access to productive sources. It is therefore, recommended that the central government, local government, technocrats, the private sector and civil society groups should collaborate to enhance the potentials of the slum dwellers for local level development.

Erika Mamley Osae, John Victor Mensah, David Wellington Essaw, Rufai Kilu

Conference Proceedings

The dysfunctional systems of creative entrepreneurship in Ghana

This paper aim at generating knowledge on creative industries in a Ghanaian context, which drive understanding of creative entrepreneurship forward and shape theorization on dysfunctional systems of the creative entrepreneurship. Ghana’s Creative Arts Industry is perhaps the oldest industry: our forefathers danced, had theatre, played music, made amazing crafts and artifacts and created fine garments. Ghana’s Creative Arts span from smock weaving, xylophone and calabash making centers in Savanah and Northern Ghana to kente weavers of Bonwire and Agbozome; and from wood carving at Ahwia and Aburi to the bead makers at Ada and Somanya. However, little is known about the dysfunctional systems of the creative industry in Ghana. It is against this backdrop that this study seeks to explore the dysfunctional systems of creative entrepreneurship in Ghana. An empirical research design with qualitative approach was used. Interviews, Focus Group Discussions and Workshops were used for the data collection. The results showed the creative industry is a functional engine for sustainable and inclusive economic growth, it creates decent jobs and lead to sustainable development. The results however showed a system of dysfunctions among the creative entrepreneurs in a form of government and investor support related challenges, a lack of creative capacity building and research, unfavorable policies to regulate creative activities and the lack of appreciation for Ghanaian culture. The current study generated novel empirical and theoretical knowledge on both functional and dysfunctional systems of creative entrepreneurship in Ghanaian context. It is intimated that; periods of economic challenges are characterized with creative entrepreneurship playing key survival roles. This implies industry wide partnerships is key to have a salient role in driving innovation, economic growth, and welfare, in addition to their effect on job creation. Therefore, innovative and creative entrepreneurship is considered key factor in modern Ghanaian economic development.

Rufai Kilu, Mohammed-Aminu Sanda, Lilian Ama Afun, Anna Alacovska

Conference Proceedings

Beyond Fashion Consumption: mapping the functional systems of the psychologists in socio-environmental issues of the fashion industry

Fashion generates billions of money and employs a huge number of people from different contexts including arts, marketing, advertising, engineering, law, and psychology. However, the urge for new trends, chic and distinct clothing resulted in a constant cycle of excess supply over demand, contributing to a high volume of waste. Environmental concerns of such mass production have increased significantly over time resulting in tons of waste worldwide from non-use of materials, causing environmental degradation and spill of hazardous chemicals. Consumer’s linear system of buy-use-or not use-dispose creates large negative effects on the environment and economic losses to entrepreneurs within this field. Similarly, there is no time to keep up with consumer demands, as entrepreneurs struggle with unstable, unrealistic, and competitive market conditions. These socio-environmental issues are a huge part of the fashion industry, and such concerns have reached new heights due to the rate of fashion devolution and inhumane practices that have gained traction in the industry. This comes as no surprise as calls for social and environmentally conscious fashion production have emerged. Behavioral change is urgently needed now more than ever in the industry. One such promising avenue to resolve the tension between fashion and socio-environmental issues in the industry is to apply psychological principles to this context. This sparks feelings of anxiety, losses, insecurity, and inadequacies among the entrepreneurs. Despite these challenges workers in this industry work to meet the increasing needs of consumers. Whilst this has contributed greatly to the success of many fashion houses, modern trends in organizational sustainability require psychologists to offer insights into how the fashion industry can manage social and environmental challenges in a manner that is deemed to be socially responsible by society. In light of this, the current work aim at exploring the functional systems of industrial psychologists and the role they play in enabling fashion businesses to adopt sustainable business practices. Deploying a systematic literature review approach, the results showed that fashion and psychology are both disciplines essentially about humans. That functionally, the psychologists seek to understand how individual fashion designers think, feel and behave. Since they can understand behavior, psychologists are better able to design programs that can lead to long-term behavior change at different levels in the industry. Psychologists play a crucial role in the fashion industry such as offering counseling and insights into consumer behavior, consumer preferences, and product designs that work to stimulate sales and after-sales services that are environmentally sustainable.

Lilian Ama Afun

Conference Proceedings

Application of the “Resource-Based Theory of the Firm” and its Relevance in the Creative Industries: A Developing Country Perspective

This study, by way of contributing to contemporary understanding of the heterogeneity and immobility arguments of the resource-based view, offers insights into how the resources of creative industries present a nuanced but relevant ground for exploring the theory of the firm. In its discussion, this paper highlights the idiosyncratic characteristics of the creative industry and through the lens of intellectual capital and entrepreneurship, identifies the valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN) resources that underlie the creation of heterogeneous cultural and economically viable creative works by actors in the industry. The paper finally discusses resources that explain the state of the creative industry in developing contexts. In terms of theoretical contribution, this study leads and contributes immensely to understanding how the resource-based theory of the firm could be relevant in unleashing the economic potentials of the creative industry.

Reginald Arthur, Olivia Anku-Tsede, Mohammed-Aminu Sanda, Eleonora Belfiore

Conference Proceedings

The systemic transitioning strategy of Re-orienting “Head-portering” task from an objectively “bad” job to a subjectively “good” job.

This study examined the systemic re-orientation of the “Head portering” task from being an objectively “bad” job to a subjectively “good” job. The purpose was to understand whether such systemic transitioning manifests a business that could be deemed a blessing or otherwise to the socioeconomic development of Ghana. Using a semi-structured interview approach, data was collected from forty head porters and analysed qualitatively. Most of the head porters were found to view the head portering activity as a business which could be deemed a blessing due to its non-stringent requirements as an employment subsector. Most of them were also found to classify their tasks as a job with enhanced job security due to its non-seasonal and non-capital-intensive characteristics, and also, its non-academic certification requirement. It was concluded that the head portering task serves as a subjectively “good” job-engagement pathway for the less-educated youths and thus, serves as a business that helps alleviate unemployment in Ghana.

Majoreen Osafroadu Amankwah

Conference Proceedings

Serbian and Libyan Anthropometric Measurements Data in Contemporary Systems’ Design

It is known that the study of the interactions of a person and a machine in a system, in terms of its improvement and further adjustments in order to improve the efficiency of functioning, reduce fatigue, preserve human health and ensure optimum working environment, is still a challenge for constructors as well as other experts who deal with this problem. In contemporary contexts it is even more important is to provide equal consideration of the human along with the hardware and software in the technical and technical management processes for developing systems that will optimize total system performance and minimize total ownership costs. The aim of this paper is to compare Serbian and Libyan anthropometric measurements, such as foot length, standing height, sitting height, lower leg length, upper leg length, shoulder width, hip breadth, arm length and body weight, on the basis of samples of 1197 Serbians and 400 Libyans which have been collected. Further statistical analysis have been conducted to explore the effect of large mixed data on the anthropometric measurements, and their patterns, which facilitates the interior space design of vehicles and cabins used by both males and females, in order to establish a model that could be fit to multi-users. Descriptive statistics includes sample sizes, means, medians, minimal and maximal values with their ranges, coefficient of variation and Kolmogorov test for normality. Since all measurements were parametric, this enabled conducting the linear regression and correlation analysis, which include coefficient of correlations, coefficients of determination, as well as significance of regression and correlations. In order to compare anthropometric measurements between different nationalities, for all examined groups of participants, the Z tests for difference of means were conducted between Serbian and Libyan samples. The correlation results show that the measurements of the sample for the Serbian population have more statistically significant correlations than the Libyan sample has. Serbian sample have significant differences only in three measurements while there were reverse results for the Libyan sample. The arm length and lower leg length have no significant differences in either samples, and the standing height in both samples have an absolute difference (p value =0). Absolute, significant differences were found between all compared anthropometric measurements at a significance level of p<0.001. Body weight showed a strong significance difference at level of p<0.01 (p-value=0.0052) while shoulder width had no significant difference (p-value=0.3132). The mean and median values and z test results show that the Serbian sample has higher values than the Libyan sample, excluding for shoulder width which has very close values. Since the compatibility of the anthropometric characteristics of the driver/operator of the vehicle and/or machinery with other space dimensions, as well as the dimensions and position of the equipment in the cabin, directly affects the user from the aspect of comfort, health and working ability, results of this study could be useful for its designers in aim to influence the performance, productivity and financial losses as well as safety performance, in a very broad scope.

Vesna Spasojevic Brkic, Zorica Veljkovic, Martina Perisic, Ahmed Essdai

Conference Proceedings

An exploration into the dependency of speed and distraction of vehicle drivers on a Handling Course at Bosch Boxberg Proving Ground

Driving a car is a complex activity. In addition to physical abilities, cognitive and perceptive abilities play a major role. Investigating this is already the subject of a large number of studies. In addition to the typical safety-relevant aspects and human behaviour in critical situations, distraction in particular is becoming more important in recent studies. Distractions that affect the driver from the outside should also be considered. This study, in cooperation with the Bosch company, looks at how a distraction on a handling course track affects the speed of the drivers at the proving ground. The Bosch company operates a proving ground in Boxberg, Germany, for testing active driving safety. The focus of this study is a handling course, for tests in dynamic and curvy situations.2 Objectives In the regular course scenario, energy absorber mats have been installed for safety reasons. During a reconstruction phase, the mats were temporarily deinstalled. After that, an increased number of accidents was noticed. It is assumed, that the mats’ absence may have had an influence on the speed and the behaviour of the drivers.The following research questions are raised on the basis of these aspects: 1. Do the mats have an influence on the occurrence of accidents?2. Do the absence of the mats distract the driver while driving? 3. Do the absence of the mats has an influence on the speed driven in this area?In order to answer these research questions, the following hypotheses need to be investigated: H1: The mats help to focus the driver's attention.H2: The driver is consciously aware of the mats.H3: The speed in this area is higher in the absence of mats.H4: There is a difference in the driving speed between drivers who fixate the mats and those who do not register them. 3 Methods and experimental design A case-control study is developed as the study design so the effects can be revealed by comparison. In order to avoid bias, such as selection effects or similar, the group allocation of the drivers is randomised.The experiment thus consists of two different groups (15 test persons per group) who each drive the route individually; group 1 with mats installed; group 2 without mats. The car is equipped with a velocity tracking, so that the speed is recorded at any time. During the drive, each test person in both groups wears eye-tracking glasses with a recorder. The whole tracked data is synchronized with GPS and time stamp. Each test person drives the route 2 times. 4 Results The research questions are answered by the research methods adapted to the hypotheses. A moderately strong distraction and speed increasing was detected in the absence of the energy absorber mats. This leads to the conclusion that the energy absorber mats have an influence on the accident occurrence in a positive way. The statistical analyses are presented in the full paper.

Sumona Sen, Sarah Kunz, Tobias Rusch, Hans Juergen Buxbaum

Conference Proceedings

Design and evaluation methodology for cockpit lighting system in civil transport aircraft

The cockpit lighting system of civil transport aircraft can create a good visual environment for the flight crew to ensure that the flight crew can accurately and clearly interpret all displayed information under various brightness environments. Reasonable cockpit lighting design needs to follow the necessary design principles to improve the friendliness of the human-machine environment in the cockpit. Simultaneously, the cockpit lighting evaluation is an effective supplementary means for discovering design defects. It can reduce the possibility of the existence or continuation of the development of potential accidents during the flight, and reduce the occurrence of human errors. From the perspective of an engineering designer, this paper puts forward the principles and evaluation methods to be followed in the cockpit lighting design of civil transport aircraft, which can provide certain guidance in the field of civil transport cockpit lighting design.

Yi Zeng

Conference Proceedings

Should I stay or Should I go? Using a Cooperative Sneak Peek Interface in Highly Automated Vehicles

In the future, highly automated vehicles (HAVs) will be capable of performing aspects of driving safely and without human assistance. However, even HAVs may occasionally reach a system boundary and not perform efficiently, especially in complex traffic situations. A human driver could outperform the HAV in such situations, given that human eyes and cognitive processes are likely to be more capable in certain tasks than advanced sensors. Therefore, allowing the human driver to cooperate with an automated system may improve driving efficiency and safety. Implementing the driver-vehicle cooperation approach, the HAV could suggest a manoeuvre that can either be accepted or ignored by the driver. To ensure the driver has enough information prior to making the decision, we proposed a “Sneak Peek” function. This cooperative feature allows drivers to adjust the lateral position of the HAV prior to accepting the manoeuvre request. This study aims to explore how drivers use the Sneak Peek in scenarios when an overtake manoeuvre is requested, but the view from the ego vehicle is obstructed by a lead vehicle. Method. We conducted a driving simulator study with 27 participants (15 female, age M = 25.0, SD = 3.2). The ego vehicle drove in a highly automated mode (SAE level 4) with a velocity of 100 km/h. Participants experienced nine scenarios in which they approached a slow-moving lead vehicle (LV) driving at 70 km/h. The position of the LV was either right, the centre, or left of the lane, which changed how obstructed the view from the ego-vehicle was. At a distance of 45 meters from the LV, the HAV suggested an overtaking manoeuvre. Participants could (a) approve the overtake request straight away, (b) adjust their lateral position using the Sneak Peek function prior to deciding whether to accept the requested manoeuvre, (c) continue slowly following the LV. Results. In total, participants accepted 97.7 % of overtake requests. The Sneak Peek function was used in 83.1 % of trials. We found a significant association between the LV lateral position and the Sneak Peek usage (X2 (2, 486) = 65.69, p <.01). Participants used the Sneak Peek significantly less when the LV was positioned on the left of the lane (63.6 %) than when it was in the center (93.8 %) or right (92.0 %) of the lane. Moreover, the duration of the Sneak Peek was longer when the LV was positioned to the left side of the lane (M = 9.6, SD = 10.0) than when on the right of the lane (M = 6.0, SD = 6.4), (F(2, 399) = 5.21, p < .05). Furthermore, higher visual obstruction caused by the LV on the left lane lead to a greater lateral position adjustment (F(2, 444) = 19.044, p <.01), which implies that when the LV was positioned to the left of the lane, participants moved the lateral distance of EV further to the left. All participants confirmed that the Sneak Peek was useful in helping them decide whether to overtake.Conclusion. The Sneak Peek function helps drivers to decide whether to overtake or not and is a feasible cooperative interaction concept.

Jürgen Pichen, Nikol Figalová, Martin Baumann

Conference Proceedings

A Taxonomy of Level of Automation in Intelligent Operational Supervisory Task

With the application of automation technology, Human operators rely on automation functions or intelligent agents to conduct complex cognitive tasks, but this also leads to a series of human factor risks such as out-of-the-loop and first failure problems. An appropriate level of automation (LOA) design will help to alleviate the above human factors risks and improve the performance of human-machine cooperation, but the traditional LOA taxonomy is difficult to directly guide the human-machine function allocation of operational supervisory tasks. To characterize current LOA design practices, a literature review was conducted to review the LOA taxonomy of supervision and control tasks in related fields. This research summarizes the taxonomy dimensions of LOA. The intelligent operational supervisory task requires the operators to maintain a high degree of interaction and cooperation with the automation system. Therefore, we must shift the focus of LOA design to cognitive interaction tasks and takeover tasks. This research analyzes the characteristics of different dimensions of LOA taxonomy in the literature, and summarizes the LOA granularity of system task, cognitive interaction task and takeover task. On this basis, from the perspective of human-machine interaction, the LOA taxonomy of intelligent operational supervisory tasks is proposed. This research provides an important theoretical basis for human-machine function allocation scheme and system LOA design, and has important theoretical and practical significance for improving the human-machine interaction efficiency.

Aobo Wang, Beiyuan Guo, Shuqi Xue, Ting Jiang, Haifeng Bao

Conference Proceedings

Analysis of user interaction on web pages in organizations located on the border between Ecuador and Colombia

Communication through web pages has created a change in the interaction with users. This change in the financial institutions of a region and those located on the border between Ecuador and Colombia, arouses the interest of this study, since it was hypothesized that the best-known institutions in the city of Tulcán do not have significant differences in their web pages. A survey was carried out with clients of the two institutions that have used the website, organizing the survey in four aspects: personalization flow, participation functionality, Prediction feedback and Peer to Peer loyalty. The results using the student's t test show that the two institutions analyzed do not present significant differences in their Web pages.

Hugo Arias-Flores, Freddy Quinde-Sari, Janio Jadán-Guerrero, Mireya Zapata

Conference Proceedings

The Internet of Things as an extension and augmentation of the user

In recent decades, the world of objects and tools has altered markedly. New devices, which communicate with other devices via digital protocols, have emerged. Digital creations, including programs, applications, websites, and bots have also become widespread. These can be considered tools, but are simultaneously immaterial. As a raft of Internet of Things (IoT) products enter the market, a new stage of development can be seen on the horizon: IoT will be superseded by the Internet of Everything, which enables communication between material objects and data, programs, processes, and people. In this new world, technology will become active in new ways and gain new types of agency. Newly created technologies enter into a specific type of relationship with their users and exercise significant impacts upon them.This article presents the results of a qualitative study (28 individual in-depth interviews) conducted on users of different types of digital device, including wearable technologies, smart-home devices, digital applications, and voice assistants. It shows by example the various psychological and social consequences that users of these technologies experience and how those users view the technologies. IoT products can be treated as tools that empower their users. The notion of technology as an extension of the human body and mind was introduced by Marshall McLuhan and developed further by Andy Clark. They highlighted that technological solutions have assisted humanity by “moving” cognitive processes and agency beyond humans themselves. Clark offers examples of such derivation: paper, arithmetic, and writing are external extensions of the human mind. The emergence of the IoT trend introduces a new dynamic to this process: digital devices that have the ability to complement and extend human capabilities. This article proposes that these enhancements be categorised into two distinct groups: extensions (the strengthening of existing properties) and augmentations (the equipping of properties that humans did not previously possess). Through technology, users have access to the equivalent of new senses, such as instant remote knowledge of who is inside their homes, which doors are locked, and the exact location of the bus they intend to catch. These might also incorporate new skills—such as the ability to solve mathematical equations with a single click, or to cook a previously unknown dish—or character traits, such as perseverance or self-motivation. This article also intends to demonstrate that such dependencies can be two-sided. As well as the natural senses, users feel the need to employ technologically generated ones—for example, some users feel the need to “check” the condition of their empty homes, the status of their household appliances, or how much electricity their solar panels have produced. The wide selection of extensions and augmentations that cause users to function in a relational space of human and nonhuman actors have enabled new technologies that make claims on the human psyche. The qualitative method of this article allows it to describe the relationship between humans and 'technological artefacts', and to include the experiences of users described using their own conceptual grids.

Jaroslaw Kowalski

Conference Proceedings

The impact of different interaction methods of virtual objects on mobile AR experience

Currently, immersive experience is the main highlight of mobile AR applications, but the impact of different interaction methods of virtual objects, which are the main experience content, is less studied.The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of different interaction methods of virtual objects on the immersive experience, usability and satisfaction of mobile AR applications.In this study, 30 users experienced two different AR model presentation methods by customizing the independent variables (two different model interaction viewing methods, steering viewing Demo1 and free viewing Demo2), using a one-way within-group experimental design, and the data were processed by repeated measures ANOVA.The experimental report showed that Demo1 outperformed Demo2 in terms of spatial sense of immersion experience and ease of learning in usability; Demo2 outperformed Demo1 in terms of realism of immersion experience and efficiency of interaction with virtual objects; and Demo1/2 differed less in terms of fluency of the experiment.Our conclusion is that the interaction method of turning to view Demo1 is more immersive and spatial, and can be used in exhibition AR applications, and the interaction method of free view Demo2 is more novel and efficient in operation, and can be used in new AR games to improve user satisfaction. In general, AR applications should consider the age range of audience users when designing the viewing method of virtual objects, and choose the operation method that is more suitable for most people, easier to learn and more convenient.

Ying Shu, Wenyu Yang, Xin He

Conference Proceedings

Interface Evaluation Method of Medical Equipment Based on Aesthetics Measures

The purpose of this paper is to provide an effective method to evaluate the interface design of medical equipment to improve user experience. Ngo proposed the calculation method of fourteen aesthetic indexes and tested the method in the layout design of the website. However, he counts the proportion of each index into the same value, which is obviously inconsistent with people's cognitive habits. This paper extends Ego’s research to the application level. We creatively introduce the analytic hierarchy process and redistribute the values to make it consistent with human cognitive habits. The method can help designers quickly pick up the optimal design scheme.In order to construct an effective evaluation system, five indexes that balance symmetry economy regularity and rhythm were selected from ego's 14 aesthetic measures for interface elements displays based on five basic interface design principles, user research and experiences of professional designers. AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) that has five steps: 1. Build a hierarchical structure model 2. Construct a judgment matrix 3. Hierarchical single sort 4. Hierarchical total order 5. Consistency check. was used to calculate the weight of each index. An expert was invited to value the indexes and the valued data successfully passed the consistency test.In order to quickly get the calculation results, we programmed all the calculation methods and processed the data of interface elements into matrices. The evaluation method is constructed through MATLAB programming to provide an objective evaluation method for the improvement of the user experience of the interface design of medical equipment.We assume that the model could benefit designers in selecting the optimal design plan and improving the efficiency of using the interface. Then we started empirical research to validate the method. The operating interface of a certain brand of medical pathology product freezing microtome was selected as a sample. For experimentation, we chose five different design schemes of the interface, and processed the interface elements into rectangles. We got the position and area data of the rectangle on the surface from adobe xd.The result is that the evaluation method can well reflect the aesthetics of the medical equipment interface design, play a guiding role in the interface design of the medical equipment, and can improve and enhance the user experience of the medical equipment interface. Due to time reasons, this article does not include more elements that affect the usability of the interface, such as the visual weight of the elements, the purity of the hue, and so on. All the interfaces used have been decolorized because color will affect human evaluation during the research. We will consider including color in the evaluation system in the future research.

Lele Duan, Xingsong Wang

Conference Proceedings

Challenges in achieving accessibility on official COVID-19 websites

During the COVID-19 pandemic, powerful health promotion messages and reliable communication from local, regional, or worldwide health authorities stumbled. The World Health Organization (WHO) pointed this problem out, issuing the message “health for all,” incentivizing health leaders to use ac-accessible and inclusive technologies, plain language, and diverse content to increase accessibility. This article presents the accessibility evaluation of a random sample of 21 websites from various health ministries and government agencies worldwide. We found that most of the websites tested did not meet the minimum AA accessibility level set by WCAG 2.1. Moreover, indicate that 29.9% violate the perceivable principle related to contrast errors. Our research reveals that web designers and developers should be aware of accessibility requirements and guidelines to comply with universal access during web designing.

Patricia Acosta-Vargas, Carlos Freire Vergara, Ricardo Plaza Mendizabal, Michelle Abigail Rodriguez, Manuel Calvopina, Nikolaos C Kyriakidis, Belén Salvador-Acosta, Esteban Ortiz Prado

Conference Proceedings

Optimal Interaction Design of Remote Operator Interfaces: A Case study of Patrol Separation Interfaces for Corridor Robots

Although the displayed interface has been emphasized in the study of robotic teleoperation systems, the role played by image information in it has not been fully elucidated. This study designed the Patrol-inspection Separation (PIS) interaction interface using the inspection robot of utility tunnel (IR-UT) as the experimental object. To verify the PIS interaction interface usability, we proposed the IR-UT displayed interface usability evaluation after summarizing the previous studies and assessing the interface combination's degree of excellence. Six different combinations of displayed interfaces were set up, and 17 subjects controlled the IRUT and completed the shooting tasks under the six interfaces. At the end of each interface shooting task, subjects filled out a cognitive load assessment scale and a usability evaluation questionnaire. The results are as follows: the PIS interface and the pan-tilt camera's live image can optimize the operational performance; the dual pan-tilt images can decrease the subjects' performance compared with the single pan-tilt image. The above findings are intended to provide meaningful references for optimizing the teleoperation interface.

Xiaoli Chen, Guoyan Wang, Yongheng Lu, Can Yao, Guocheng Hao

Conference Proceedings

Using Intelligent Personal Assistants for Teaching English

The lack of practice to develop language skills is the main problem in learning foreign languages. The aim of the research is to establish methodological strategies with virtual assistants, for elementary school students through innovative and interactive classes, to develop the macro skills of the English language. The methodological design of this study is based on a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach, with the participation of an expert on "Virtual assistants in the English language", five teachers from the English area and 57 elementary school students from a private school in Ecuador. The data collected from the teachers made it possible to identify the main problems that students have when it comes to developing macro skills in the English language. With the support of the education expert, a strategy was designed using virtual assistants. The personal assistant Alexa, with great programming flexibility, was selected, applying a strategy focused on four macro skills: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Each activity was aimed to reinforcing each skill according to students’ level at school. For example, for speech skills, students had to engage in a dialogue with Alexa through a game of questions and answers. For listening skills, Alexa would tell a story to determine the level of comprehension. For reading skills, the students were given a reading from which they were asked questions that Alexa could answer and through this the students developed writing skills according to the questions they answered. After the intervention, a post test was applied and it was shown that there was an improvement in the development of skills. It was concluded that the interactive classes motivated the participation of all students. For future work, we intend to carry out a longitudinal study with the use of virtual assistants and a comparison between other devices.

Alexandra Ávila-Fernandez, Janio Jadán-Guerrero, Johann Jadán-Altamirano, and Isabel L. Nunes

Conference Proceedings

Learning Based on Board Game to Inspire Mathematical Thinking

Math learning is, together with reading and writing, one of the fundamental learnings of elementary education, given the instrumental nature of these subjects. However, it has been identified the difficulty that students have when they need to solve addition and subtraction math problems with numbers of up to three digits, which is why it is necessary to find new ways to teach students to reason. This article proposes the design of a board game to strengthen logical reasoning. The methodology used in the research began with a diagnosis of 37 fourth grade students from a private school in Ecuador through a pre-test, later an interaction with the board game and finally a post-test. Two math teachers and two designers participated in the board game design. The information obtained from the experts helped with the design of the game, the data collected from teachers made it easier to identify the main problems that students present in terms of understanding mathematical problems. The design of the game was based on the narrative of superheroes such as: Spidermas, Superesta, Dividivertido, Centella, Sumager, among others, as well as in the most representative places at the Downtown of Quito. The game is designed for three or four students; the game’s mechanics consist in that the participants must solve math problems proposed in the board and if they can solve them properly, they advance in the game. Among the main results and conclusions of this research is that the students feel motivated to learn using the game; in addition, collaborative work is evidenced, and soft skills are enhanced such as teamwork, problem solving, analytical thinking and autonomy. For future work, the board game can be used in other topics where students face difficulties, such as: fractions, multiplication and division.

Diana Espinoza-Espinosa, Janio Jadán-Guerrero, Marco Santorum, and Isabel L. Nunes

Conference Proceedings

Digital Learning Experiences in virtual Museums

Due to the COVID-19 pandemics, the virtual space became relevant in teaching practice. It has been necessary to find new ideas to teach, being this the perfect setting where the virtual museum is seen as a space for teaching and learning. In today's digital ecosystem, there are many resources, so the educational application of these resources makes them interesting, exciting, and relevant. The research’s objective is to create a virtual museum articulated with the axes and areas of development and learning of the national curriculum of Ecuador for pre-school children and to analyze the effects on the teaching-learning process. With the opening and democratization of the knowledge of these cultural centers, it is possible to create synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences and explore fine arts world by selecting artworks, figures and objects that allow meaningful learning. The methodological design of this study is based on the qualitative-quantitative paradigm, with the participation of teachers and pre-school children, integrating collection, analysis and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data, as well as experts’ criteria about the subject, which allowed obtaining data concerning the use of virtual museums and the applicability of relevant interactive resources. With the focus group technique, 30 children aged 4 to 5 years old expressed their opinions, feelings, and experiences, generating an enriching debate about users’ experience in the virtual museum. The design of the museum was developed on a platform that allowed the creation of a guided visit circuit similar to that of a physical museum, where the teacher becomes a mediator and interpreter of this new virtual museology focused on the user. The results are encouraging with a pertinent design and according to the national curricular logic. Promoting the use of other non-formal spaces, highlighting the importance of cultural centers use such as physical or virtual museums and routes as well as city or world’s corners to develop learning sessions, and expanding the scope of visits to the physical and virtual museums in a kind of hybrid didactics will be the subjects of this research.

Janio Jadán-Guerrero, Mónica Mendoza, Patricia Acosta-Vargas, Isabel L. Nunes

Conference Proceedings

Using Comics in the English Language Classroom

English is a language which plays an important role in the Ecuadorian society because it is used on different fields such as business, tourism, entertainment, health. English is present in Education because it is taught in most educational institutions – at primary, secondary and higher levels – giving students the opportunity to gain competencies in a second language. Unfortunately, the lack of didactic resources to teach grammar makes the English learning process difficult and boring. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop a storytelling to learn English grammar through comics. The methodology used is the mixed method approach – qualitative and quantitative – for the data collection. The students who participated on this research took a pre-test and a post-test in order to know the perspective of comics as well as their grammar knowledge. The comics were designed in the software Paint 3D because it makes colorful presentations and it is possible to draw on the computer’s screen by using the optical pen. The comics present grammar structures in familiar contexts to motivate comics reading. After applying comics, the results showed that students improved their grammar grades and were motived to learn grammar. A secondary goal is to promote comics as an English resource to improve the learning of different English skills.

Janio Jadán-Guerrero, Juan Ramos, Hugo Arias-Flores, Isabel L. Nunes

Conference Proceedings

Helping kids and teens deal with Cyberbullying through informative learning capsules

Nowadays, communication through technological devices has become widespread, and thanks to it, in these times of pandemic, it has been possible to face labor, educational, social and recreational challenges, among others. Due to confinement, children and adolescents carry out many activities on the computer or mobile devices, including socialization, learning, entertainment. This activity, in some cases, has also led to negative behaviors, including cyberbullying among them, this being one of the main problems that affects their physical and mental health, generating episodes of anxiety and suffering. In this context, the article presents a methodology for the implementation and deployment of learning capsules with the purpose of preventing bullying and cyberbullying of children and adolescents. The study began with a systematic review of literature on Microlearning as well as existing practices and technologies on the market. The systematic review protocol considered the choice of four digital libraries for the search. The search method and selection of technological solutions was based on finding Apps and websites for parental control and early detection of cyberbullying. An evaluation of 16 technological solutions was carried out and some strategies were identified that will be useful to develop the learning capsules.

Janio Jadán-Guerrero, Alexandra Bermeo, Priscila Cedillo, Isabel L. Nunes

Conference Proceedings

Didactic Strategy with Mobile Devices: An Approach for the correct use of English Verb Tenses

In the teaching-learning process, didactic strategies have become a valuable methodological tool, which allows learning a difficult subject in a structured way. In English, the correct conjugation of verb tenses: simple and progressive in the elementary level, requires a structured and innovative methodology to motivate their learning. The main problem of this research consists of the increasing difficulty of the fifth-grade students from an institution located in the district 04 of Costa Rica, in correctly assimilating the conjugation of the simple and progressive verb tenses of the English language. For its solution, the design, implementation and validation of a didactic strategy was proposed as a way to support the teaching-learning process of the correct conjugation of the simple and progressive verb tenses, through the use of mobile devices. The methodology followed presented a mixed study (qualitative-quantitative) through the application of surveys, expert judgment and a case of execution, as sources to collect and validate the proposed didactic strategy, within the context of philosophy and methodology of action research. The results obtained from both, teachers and students, have been representative. The teachers have identified a great interest of the students in learning the subject, making use of the proposed strategy, causing this, motivation and openness. In fact, the students who used the strategy as a supportive tool for their evaluations, obtained better academic performance on average: 5C (74.28%) compared to those who did not use it as a supportive tool: 5A (44.76%) and 5B (64%).

Lorianie Moore-Stroble, Juan Murillo-Morera, and Janio Jadán-Guerrero

Conference Proceedings

Status quo and quo vadis: creativity techniques and innovation methods for generating extended innovation processes

The digital transformation of entire economic sectors and occupational profiles as well as the introduction of new forms of human-machine collaboration through the increased use of cognitive systems require completely new approaches. The key to success in coping with this change, which can be seen in all industries, is to break up old structures and venture something new. The ability to adapt and innovate is becoming a central success-critical factor in entrepreneurial activity. In order to continue to achieve market success and ensure sustainable growth in an extremely dynamic and disruptive environment, companies and organizations are called upon to proactively shape change. In addition to the establishment of flexible working models and agile processes, the increased generation and integration of knowledge into and around technical systems in the course of targeted competence development of employees is indispensable. The introduction and use of technical systems thus must go hand in hand with the flexibilization of innovation and collaboration processes as well as the development of employee skills in order to generate the currently missing socio-technological link – for companies´ added value and for the benefit of people. In this paper, the authors present an overview of currently used creativity techniques and innovation methods and work out the strengths and weaknesses of the respective tools. Furthermore, the resulting need for action for the optimization of innovation processes in the interaction of established techniques and possibilities of cognitive systems is presented.

Christian Vocke, Wilhelm Bauer

Conference Proceedings

Exploring User-Preferred Gestures for Interaction Tasks of Data Visualization on the Large Display

Interaction with graphical visualization is an important part of visual analytics. The purpose of this study is to explore how analysts will understand the using of gestures for interacting with data displayed on large screen. For this purpose, this study aims at investigating user-preferred interactions for the tasks of data visualization. To elicit gestures for 20 visualization tasks which cover all categories of interaction for visual analysis, the researcher designed a quick-response experiment based on the Wizard-of-Oz (WoZ) method. Finally, the gestures with high frequency were selected. Findings show the distance between user and the display has an impact on the elicited gestures for specific tasks. The consensus on users’ gesture proposals is also discussed. The conclusion of this research has some implications for natural interaction design for visualization.

Yiqi Xiao

Conference Proceedings

Garbage Sorting and Recycling System of the Master and Slave Stations in Commercial Blocks

Content From the perspective of the system, the problem is analyzed according to various elements such as the use environment of the trash can, user needs, mall resources, and stakeholders, and combined with AI intelligent visual recognition and voice-assisted recognition technology to assist design practices to explore new forms of waste classification and recycling. Methods Through field research and literature comparative analysis methods, the relevant advanced experience of domestic and foreign garbage classification and recycling is analyzed, and the relevant table method is used to focus the problems, and the current situation of classification and recycling in commercial blocks is analyzed according to my country's national conditions.Conclusion Design a garbage classification and recycling system for the master and slave stations in the commercial block, integrate the resources of the commercial zone, and achieve the purpose of overall garbage classification through the cooperation between the systems, and create a better commercial block environment. Only by solving the front-end treatment of garbage classification and coordinating the back-end garbage recycling can the purpose of harmless treatment of garbage be achieved. Taking the garbage classification in commercial blocks as the starting point, the purpose of efficient classification and recycling of garbage in commercial blocks is realized, and the garbage classification of the people is improved. consciousness.

Yaxi Wang, Ziyun Tong, Qiangsheng Yin, Xin Chen

Conference Proceedings

Generating a Gesture Set Using the User-defined Method in Smart Home Contexts

Gesture interaction is a natural interaction method and it has been widely applied in various smart contexts. Smart home system is a promising area to integrate gesture interaction. Under this background, it is necessary to generate a set of gestures that can support users’ intuitive interaction with smart home devices. Gesture elicitation study (GES) is an effective method used for generating gestures. In this study, by following GES, we develop a gesture set for controlling a smart TV via a smart speaker, which was common in smart home contexts. Two studies were conducted. In study 1, we conducted a diary study to generate target tasks, resulting in fifteen most frequent tasks in domestic contexts. In study 2, GES was conducted to generate gestures for each command by involving twelve participants. The generated gestures were analyzed by combining frequency, match, ease of use, learnability, memorability and preference, resulting in a set of gestures for smart home contexts.Keywords: Gesture Interaction, Smart Home System, Gesture Elicitation Study

Yanming He, Shumeng Hou, Peiyao Cheng

Conference Proceedings

Collaborative robotics: analysis of influence of the tool and the characteristics of the task on the upper limbs joint angles and task precision

Industrial challenges described in the Industry 4.0 projects are focused on the importance of the human in a collaboration with the system and particularly with a robot. In this case, the collaborative robotics situation is analysed. By understanding the constraints and the capabilities of workers, the robot-human collaboration can be designed in accordance with the companies need. Moreover, collaborative robotics, and in particular restrained free physical assistance robot (Cobot), is presented as a possible solution in order to reduce work related musculoskeletal disorders. Scientific literature on this field is very limited and in field solutions have not yet been deployed on a large scale. In this context, the aim of this contribution was to analyse joint angles of the upper limbs and the precision of the task with regard with the tool (traditional grinding tool or cobot) and different characteristics of the task (required force level and movement direction) during industrial grinding. Five professional grinders were asked to perform grinding tasks, on the horizontal plane and two levels of force (F1 = 35N, F2 = 70N). The height of the fixing device of the workpiece was adjustable (to take into account the anthropometry of the subject). The task was exerted at a given speed (10 mm/s). A force plate was used to collect the forces applied by the participants during the experiment and a real time visual feedback (led light) was given to the participant to inform him about the exerted force level. This experiment was carried out under two conditions: manually (traditional grinding using a manual grinding wheel) and assisted by a Cobot. The inter-segmental angles were estimated using a magneto-inertial sensors system. To identify links between the mean of each joint angle of the upper arm (8 degrees of freedom: flexion/extension, abduction/adduction and rotation of the shoulder, flexion/extension and rotation of the elbow, flexion/extension, abduction/adduction and rotation of the hand) and the level of the exerted force and the used tool (traditional grinding tool and cobot), a linear mixed model was performed. The results showed that the tool has a significant influence on the flexion/extension and the rotation of the left shoulder, the rotation of the left and right wrist, the flexion of the left wrist and the rotation of the left elbow. No significant influence of the exerted force was identified. Moreover, there was no interaction between the used tool and the exerted force. These results show that the analysis of the task is of greater importance in the design the tool, for instance the cobot. In conclusion, it is necessary to consider the role of humans as earlier as possible in the design of a tool in order to create the best functional devices.

Adriana Savescu, Isabelle Urmes, Gilles Reno, Olivier Remy, Olivier Morel, Kévin Desbrosses

Conference Proceedings

The influence of inherent interactivity on information recall in knowledge visualization design

The inherent interactivity in knowledge visualization design is considered to be able to help users better understand and recall information content. However, little is known about whether and how such interactivity would affect information recall. Therefore, this study designs an experiment for subjects with a single factor at two levels (high and low intrinsic interaction) to explore the influencing mechanism between inherent interactivity and information recall, while measuring the influence of such intermediary variables as cognitive involvement, perceived active control and cognitive load on this mechanism. The results show that participants in low inherent interactivity can recall more information than in high inherent interactivity. In the analysis of mediating variables, the relationship between inherent interactivity and information recall is significantly affected by the mediating variables, and the perceived active control delivers a significant positive impact on this relationship.

Wang Hairong, Lei Tian

Conference Proceedings

Digital Storytelling to Help Improve Reading comprehension

Information and communication technologies have transformed the world, especially if they are aimed at promoting reading in children in their first years of learning. The problems generated by deficiencies in reading comprehension in the student body affect their school performance and their progress in the upper years, creating demotivation and low levels in their school performance. The objective of the research proposal is to design a virtual classroom with digital narratives as support to improve reading comprehension in the student body. Digital narratives are a technological resource that can be applied pedagogically, combining content with visual and auditory material, taking advantage of the functionality of virtual classrooms such as Google Classroom, in which the proposal was designed. It is concluded that teachers must identify the problems that their students present in the reading process and implement new methodological strategies, so that learning is different, participatory and innovative, this is where narratives play an important role, such as resource that provides a change in the learning system and support for students with school behind, in addition to strengthening cognitive development with audiovisual stimuli.

Kelia Mayorga, Hugo Arias-Flores, Carlos Ramos-Galarza, Isabel L. Nunes

Conference Proceedings

An Overview of Spatial Stimulus-Response (S-R) Compatibility Studies for Further Human Machine Interface Studies

This paper provides an overview of a series of spatial stimulus–response (S-R) compatibility studies which involved various audio/visual signals and hand/foot controls. The experiments examined the performance of right-handed/right-footed participants for various spatial stimulus–response (S-R) mapping conditions with signals and controls configured in different orientations. The effects of various signal modalities and intra/crossed modalities, crossed/uncrossed hands, single/dual tasks, discrete and continual tracking tasks on S-R tasks were examined. Performance measures including response times (RT), error percentages (EP), root mean square errors for hand and foot tracking (RMSHTE and RMSFTE) for various configurations were analyzed, and the major findings are summarized. The studies had provided useful ergonomics guidelines for designing hand/foot controls and audio/visual displays which are valuable for improving efficiency and performance in human–machine systems. The review also reveals the knowledge gaps left unfilled from past studies and further research directions are then suggested to fill in the gaps of the spatial S-R compatibility studies.

Alan Chan, Siu Shing Man, Tingru Zhang, Wilson W Chan, Saad A. Alabdulkarim

Conference Proceedings

Using Human factors approach to evaluate patient-centered cancer care

Patient-centered care (PCC) approaches are critical for the delivery of high-quality care in cancer care where the therapeutic alliance between patients and the oncologists is frequent over extended periods of time. The concept of patient-centered care has received increased attention since the publication of the 2001 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Crossing the Quality Chasm. In this study, we create and evaluate a new framework for patient-centered care in cancer using human factors approaches. Many initiatives focused on developing technologies that help foster PCC by increasing patients’ access to information and facilitating self-monitoring and patient convenience. This paper makes an important contribution to the literature by historically examining the evolution of the definitions of care approaches from disease-centered care focusing on curing the diseases to patient-centered care satisfying patients’ needs to person-centered care. Instead of treating people like victims of diseases, this model recognizes their need for more than one professional to support them emphasizing their capabilities and potential to improve their own health by themselves. It also provides a different and complementary way to the visit-oriented approach furnishing more accessible and continuous care over time, Our contribution also covers summarizing the existing measures adopted to measure its components and finally suggests a socio-technical framework based on the human factors approach to measuring PCC effectiveness. Our approach to measuring PCC is grounded in the conceptual framework we are suggesting that evaluates the effectiveness of patient-centered care based on a socio-technical perspective. We link the cognitive perception of patients towards PCC (Cognitive Sensory Input) to their exposure to external factors (Exposure) that may affect their (Cognition) behavior. A holistic approach recognizing health care as a dynamic socio-technical system in which sub-elements interact with each other remains necessary to better understand the system and its constraints in cancer care. We use a case study to emphasize the importance and need of such a human factors-based framework in providing a better quality of care and improving health outcomes. Achieving high-quality care is a complex pursuit in any setting especially for cancer care and improving the patient journey requires an integrated system of care and productive interactions among many system levels. By understanding the work system components, the design and integration of tasks, technology, and clinical processes can be reviewed to better support the respective needs of individuals while optimizing system performance. A supportive work environment and a highly engaged workforce are highly correlated with improved quality of patient-centered care and hospital performance. At the population level, case managers, navigators, quality officers, and administrators may track outcomes across patients.This framework can help organize clinical interventions that aim to control cancer patients’ behavior from a patient-centered perspective. It can also help technology designers by giving them insight into how patient-centeredness in the design of health informatics can impact cancer patients’ behavior. In addition, patient-centered designs can enhance technology acceptance among cancer patients making it easier to adopt technology for follow-up reasons by involving human factors and ergonomics principles in order to ensure successful results.

Safa Elkefi, Onur Asan, Tina W F Yen

Conference Proceedings

The Influence Factors of Standby Sign on User Shutdown Behavior

We observe that many users often don’t turn off their laptops after using it, so that the device stays in standby for a long time, which not only causes damage to the battery, but also causes energy waste. We tried to find a simple and effective way to prompt users to shut down timely. Therefore, we conducted following research:(1) Find the reasons why users don’t shut down timely; (2) Find cost-effective ways to let them to shut down in time. First, through a questionnaire survey of 50 users, we found that the main reasons for users not to shut down timely include forgetting to shut down, the second reason is unawareness of disadvantages of not shutting down, and the third reason is they think keeping laptop standby can improve work efficiency (return to work faster). Therefore, we suppose that a prominent standby sign may solve these problems.Then, we study the main factors of standby sign affecting user shutdown behavior through experiments, and then design standby sign according to experimental results to test its effect on user shutdown behavior. We first investigated about 50 college students through a hierarchical scale, analyzed the influence of sign shape, size, position, flashing and text prompt on users' shutdown behavior, and conducted data analysis, and came to the following conclusions:1. In terms of shape, triangle, ring, circle, diamond and square were taken as independent variables, and user awareness of signs was taken as dependent variables(p<0.05). Triangle has the highest awareness degree, followed by ring.2. In terms of size, we conducted a curve fitting between sign size and the user's awareness of sign, and found user's awareness of sign was the best when the proportion of the triangle sign size was 1/1200-1/600 of laptop screen size.3. In terms of position, when the sign is placed in different locations of the laptop computer, including the bottom center of the screen, the center of the keyboard and the left side of the keyboard, it is found that there is a significant difference in user awareness (p<0.05), the effect is best in the bottom center of the screen, and in the subjective question, most users suggest adding another sign on laptop’s back.4. We compared the user awareness of the flashing sign with a text prompt with that of the sign only(p<0.05), significant difference was found between two signs, and the flashing sign with text prompt had higher awareness.Finally, we designed according to these results the standby sign, and no standby sign laptop sample awareness of contrast experiment, found that 90% of users when there is the sign can be timely shutdown, far higher than situation without sign, prove the validity of results of the study, the standby sign, can effectively reduce users untimely shutdown behavior. The result of this experiment is beneficial to reduce the energy consumption and equipment damage caused by users' untimely shutdown behavior.

Weiyi Li, Sha Liu, Zichen Zhang

Conference Proceedings

User models for recommendation systems

Currently, a user model or a representation of the user is used to recommend, personalize, predict, and manage inference in different recommender systems. Now, all the necessary user information is scattered. This document presents a systematic study to identify all the user information that recommendation systems use, represented or not by means of a model. This searching is important because it identifies the different data sources where user models are analyzed, and attributes and forms of user interaction are identified. The results presented are very useful for structuring a generalized user model.

Maritzol Tenemaza

Conference Proceedings

The Design Method of Alarm Information Manifestation Based on Visual Attention

The alarm is a core function of security monitoring information systems. With the characteristics of high information density, strong timeliness, and visual environment interference, the effectiveness of alarm information design is a significant key affecting system performance. The purpose of this paper is to study the design method of alarm information to improve the capture efficiency of users’ visual attention in complex information interfaces. By sorting out related design standards and research literature, this paper identifies 7 current alarm information coding methods. The four most used visual coding methods are chosen for combination. By selecting any two or three of the four coding methods for combination, 10 combinations are finally obtained, and 10 visual solutions are designed for experimental comparison. The experiment took the mine safety monitoring system interface as the carrier and tested 10 visual solutions as stimuli. By recording the subject’s time to first fixation to the stimulus, we compared the differences in the efficiency of guiding user’s attention under different coding combinations, then sought a better coding method for alarm information. Experimental results demonstrate that different coding combinations have impacts on the efficiency of visual attention. Compared with other solutions, the solution with the combination of three coding methods of color, flashing, and shape(size) is more efficient and takes less time to notice the alarm information. Whilst the attention level is less affected by the number of coding methods and is more affected by the types of coding methods included in the solution. For example, when the coding method includes color or flashing coding, the subjects noticed the alarm information faster and more efficiently, and no experimental failure cases occurred during the experiment when using color and flash coding at the same time. The conclusion effectively provides a solution for the design of alarm information in monitoring systems.Keywords: Alarm Information, Visual Attention, Eye Movement Measurement, Multi-dimensional Coding

Xiaodong Gong, Yushun Liu, Qian Gong, Wenhan Liu

Conference Proceedings

Application of Functional Resonance Analysis Method and System-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes approaches combined with other methods

When dealing with risks associated with complex sociotechnical systems, one needs to employ approaches that will make it possible to better understand the systems' complexity and analyze them more efficiently. Several approaches have been proposed and in the recent literature, the System-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) and Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) stand out. These have been applied both separately and integrated with other methods for risk analysis. This study aims to provide an overview of the literature related to the application of FRAM and STAMP integrated with other methods. Papers from various scientific resources, including Scopus, IEEE, Compendex and INSPEC, Google Scholar, and Espace ÉTS from 2004 to 2021, in English, were consulted. The keywords used to narrow our search were FRAM, STAMP, STPA, and risk analysis. The results show that FRAM and STAMP have been used in combination with other methods such as fuzzy logic, Monte Carlo Simulation, bow tie, and model checking. Their combination with other methods has enhanced their efficiency and capability in risk analysis and provides better and more precise outcomes for some specific contexts of study. These combined proposed approaches have been applied and validated for specific contexts in specific studies. Therefore, the generalization and validation of the combined methods in different contexts could be an outlook for future studies.

Alimeh Mofidi Naeini, Sylvie Nadeau

Conference Proceedings

Evaluating the efficacy of a virtual reality infused child-pedestrian training

This research has developed a child pedestrian training module using Virtual Reality (VR) system. Children can have an immersive experience of walking on streets in different street-crossing scenarios. Past literature and crash data analysis revealed higher and more severe injury cases for child pedestrians in school zones serving low-income and underrepresented communities. This training was developed to fulfill the needs for a child-pedestrian, living in such communities, to understand basic pedestrian rules and develop safe walking behavior. The training module has been created as a VR "game" where the child played the game as a "player". Each child experienced eight critical street-crossing scenarios named "levels" and numbered from 1 through 8. These levels are designed and developed based on crash data analysis to test the player's decision-making ability. A head-mounted device (HMD) was used to play the game, where a right-hand game controller was used to change levels. As the game was developed, it had to go through a quality test of the developer. Players' experience survey responses were also recorded. These measures were collected to ensure the effectiveness and user-friendliness of the game. Results show that the game was effectively developed to perform it's defined task in the improvement of child-pedestrian behaviors. Future research can include objective measures to evaluate participants' improvement in walking behavior and make the training module more comprehensive with additional crossing scenarios.

Taufiq Rahman, Shuchisnigdha Deb, Anurag Pande, Mouyid Islam

Conference Proceedings

Investigation of the Riding Performance for an Isometric Steering System with Two Platform Concepts

In this paper, we used an isometric steering system on a motorcycle riding simulator. The investigation was done for a static and dynamic platform with an already known Motion Cueing Algorithm (MCA) from the literature. The aim was to determine whether the Standard Deviation of Lateral Position (SDLP) is suitable for evaluating ride quality. For this purpose, we implemented the already investigated MCA and compare whether the algorithm has a positive effect on the SDLP. When the MCA was used, the SDLP were reduced, but the mental workload and rider state remained the same. In addition, we used exploratory adjective pairs as a semantic differential. These also showed a positive tendency when using a dynamic platform with this MCA. This study thus showed that the SDLP is suitable as an objective criterion of riding quality in motorcycle riding simulation.

Arthur Werle, Frank Diermeyer

Conference Proceedings

Review of Existing Sensors for Tracking the Activities of Daily Living

Today, various sensor technologies have been introduced to help people keep track of their daily living activities. For example, a wide range of sensors were integrated in applications to develop a smart home, a mobile emergency response system and a fall detection system. Sensor technologies were also employed in clinical settings for monitoring an early sign or onset of Alzheimer’s diseases, dementia, abnormal sleep disorder, and heart rate problems. However, there has been a lack of attention paid to comprehensive reviews, valuable especially for young, early-career scholars who just developed research interests in this area. This paper reviewed the existing sensor technologies by considering various contexts such as sensor features, data of interests, locations of sensors, and the number of sensors. For instance, sensor technologies provided various features that enabled people to monitor biomechanics of human movement (e.g., walking speed), use of household goods (e.g., switch on/off of home appliances), sounds (e.g., sounds in a particular room), and surrounding environments (e.g., temperature and humidity). Sensor technologies were widely used to examine various data, such as biomarkers for health, dietary habits, leisure activities, and hygiene status. Sensors were installed in various locations to cover wide-open area (e.g., ceilings, wall, and hallway), specific area (e.g., a bedroom and a dining room), and specific objects (e.g., mattresses and windows). Different sets of sensors were employed to keep track of activities of daily living, which ranged from a single sensor to multiple sensors to cover throughout the home. This comprehensive reviews for sensor technology implementations are anticipated to help many researchers and professionals to design, develop, and use sensor technology applications adequately in the target user’s contexts by promoting safety, usability, and accessibility.

Hyung Nam Kim

Conference Proceedings