This book offers analytical methods for studying human work in ergonomics and psychology that are similar to ones utilized by the engineering sciences. SSAT offers not only new qualitative but also formalized and quantitative methods of analysis. This book will describe quantitative methods of task complexity and reliability assessment, application of queuing theory, etc. The book will also present new data in the area of efficiency of labor force and its evaluation.

This is the fifth book published within the Ashgate Studies in Resilience Engineering series. The first volume introduced resilience engineering broadly. The second and third volumes established the research foundation for the real-world applications that then were described in the fourth volume: Resilience Engineering in Practice. The current volume continues this development by focusing on the role of resilience in the development of solutions. Since its inception, the development of resilience engineering as a concept and a field of practice has insisted on expanding the scope from a preoccupation with failure to include also the acceptable everyday functioning of a system or an organisation. The preoccupation with failures and adverse outcomes focuses on situations where something goes wrong and the tries to keep the number of such events and their (adverse) outcomes as low as possible. The aim of resilience engineering and of this volume is to describe how safety can change from being protective to become productive and increase the number of things that go right by improving the resilience of the system.

Organizational Cognition is a collection of chapters written by scholars from around the world. The editors outline the history of two approaches to the study of cognition in organizations, the computational approach and the interpretive approach. The chapters represent some of the most cutting-edge research on organizational cognition, covering research that spans many levels of analysis. Much of the work in the book demonstrates how computational and interpretive approaches can be combined in a way that provides greater insight into cognitive processes in and among organizations. The editors conclude by elaborating the likely boundary conditions of each approach and how they can be combined for a more complete understanding of cognition in organizations.

Cognitive systems engineering has been widely and successfully applied in the design of safety critical systems such as nuclear power, aviation, and military command-and-control. More recently, these methods are being applied to the design of health and medical systems in order to improve health care quality, reduce errors and adverse events, and improve efficiencies. Cognitive Systems Engineering in Health Care provides an overview of cognitive systems engineering principles in the context of health care. It contains state-of-the-art examples of cognitive systems applications that can be adapted by health care practitioners interested in systematic engineering approaches to systems improvement. The book highlights current cognitive engineering-oriented research, analyses, and applications in settings such as cardiac surgery, obstetrics, and emergency medicine. It focuses on the impact cognitive engineering analyses can have in supporting communication and coordination with health care teams. The text then demonstrates the use of cognitive engineering methods to inform the design of information technology. It then details the systematic adaptation and application of specific cognitive engineering methods in the medical domain. The book concludes with examples of how in-depth cognitive engineering analyses can lead to demonstrated improvements in health care environments. Through a series of sample studies, the book gives you a deeper understanding of how cognitive engineering approaches might be applied in the health care domain. You'll see common themes that underline the complexity of the health care domain and this insight can build a deep respect for the expertise of the practitioners who work in it. By identifying the abstractions that hold constant in this domain, you can build solutions for that will evolve to handle new applications, challenges, and approaches.

The goal for ergonomics has always been to adapt work, work environments, and machines to humans. But is this goal still sufficient? Does it satisfy the needs of the individual or of societies and organizations as they operate now? Constructive Ergonomics provides an answer to these questions. Rooted both in the academic world and in the world of practitioners of the domain, it details a constructive, developmental view where ergonomics seeks to eliminate the factors and conditions that impede performance and development. This book advocates that ergonomics cannot remain content with a limited and static view of adaptation, a view that would restrict its goal to designing systems that are suited to work as it is defined at a certain point in time, to workers as they are at a particular moment, and to organizations as they operate here and now. Author Pierre Falzon argues that the objective of ergonomics must be the development of individuals, based on setting up situations of action that lead to increased success and to the acquisition or construction of know-how, knowledge, and skills. The global framework presented in this book revises profoundly the goals of the discipline, elucidating a novel approach to work, health, and performance shored up by integration models from economics and management theory. An exploration of an innovative, developmental view of ergonomics, the book redefines the ambition of the discipline and describes the elements of its scope. It provides a solid and new conceptual background and methodological tools for intervening in real-life contexts.

- the book can be used by beginners in the field, tracking from basic principles to how to bend the rules, in reader-friendly language throughout - the book is based on a popular blog which dovetails as a fantastic companion website: https://questionsindataviz.com/ - the author is a very experienced and well-respected practitioner in the field, with a good-size following on social media: https://twitter.com/theneilrichards

The extent of mental illness concerns in the workforce is becoming increasingly apparent. Stress, depression, anxiety, workplace bullying and other issues are costing businesses billions every year in lost productivity, poor treatments and employee retention. Unless appropriately addressed, issues related to mental illness difficulties will result in stiff financial, organizational, and human costs for organizations. Drawing on empirical evidence from North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, the book provides a practical guide to identifying, understanding, treating and preventing individual and organizational mental health issues. The authors illustrate how organizations can save money and improve the health and wellbeing of their employees by using a psychological disability management approach in the treatment and accommodation of mental illness issues. This book will meet the needs of human resources professionals, administrators of employee assistance programs, industrial and organizational psychologists, mental health practitioners, those teaching or studying psychology and disability management, and more generally will serve to enlighten students of business management and practicing managers regarding a major workforce risk factor.

The computer revolution is upon us. The future of books and of reading are debated. Will there be books in the next millennium? Will we still be reading? As uncertain as the answers to these questions might be, as clear is the message about the value of the book expressed by medieval writers. The contributors to the volume The Book and the Magic of Reading in the Middle Ages explore the significance of the written document as the key icon of a whole era. Both philosophers and artists, both poets and clerics wholeheartedly subscribed to the notion that reading and writing represented essential epistemological tools for spiritual, political, religious, and philosophical quests. To gain a deeper understanding of the cultural significance of the medieval book, the contributors to this volume examine pertinent statements by medieval philosophers and French, German, English, Spanish, and Italian poets.

Knowledge management goes beyond data and information capture in computerized health records and ordering systems; it seeks to leverage the experiences of all who interact in healthcare to enhance care delivery, teamwork, and organizational learning. Knowledge management - if envisioned thoughtfully - takes a systemic approach to implementation that includes the embodiment of a learning culture. Knowledge is then used to support that culture and the knowledge workers within it to encourage them to share what they know, thusly enabling their peers, their organizations and ultimately their patients to benefit from their experience to proactively dismantle hierarchy and encourage sharing about what works, and what doesn't to focus efforts on improvement. Knowledge Management in Healthcare draws on relevant business, clinical and health administration literature plus the analysis of discussions with a variety of clinical, administrative, leadership, patient and information experts. The result is a book that will inform thinking on knowledge access needs to mitigate potential failures, design lasting improvements and support the sharing of what is known to enable work towards attaining high reliability. It can be used as a general tool for leaders and individuals wishing to devise and implement a knowledge-sharing culture in their institution, design innovative activities supporting transparency and communication to strengthen existing programs intended to enhance knowledge sharing behaviours and contribute to high quality, safe care.

Packed with illustrations and practical examples, Guide to Methodology in Ergonomics: Designing for Human Use, Second Edition provides a concise introduction to ergonomics methods in a straightforward manner that helps you conduct an ergonomics analysis of a product in development. It details the execution of 12 ergonomics methods that can be applied to the design of any type of product or interface. The authors stress the role of ergonomics in reducing device interaction time and user error while improving user satisfaction and device usability. See What's in the New Edition: Four case studies Addition of another co-author Examples that reflect current technology Information on Critical Path Analysis (CPA) The authors highlight where ergonomics methods fit in the design process and how to select a method appropriate for your purpose. They describe each method, supplying an overview, instructions on how to carry out an analysis, a mini bibliography, pros and cons, one or more examples, and a flow chart. They then rate each method for reliability/validity, resources, usability, and efficacy. The book then examines data from studies on training, reliability, and validity, and presents an equation that enables you to calculate approximately the financial benefits of using each method. Based on research and expertise, the book gives you the freedom to be adventurous when choosing methods and the foundation to choose the method that fits the task at hand. Written by experts, it also helps you hone your skills and put the craft of ergonomics into practice.

The broad and developing scope of human factors and ergonomics - the application of scientific knowledge to improve people's interaction with products, systems and environments - has been illustrated for 28 years by the books which make up the Contemporary Ergonomics series. This book presents the proceedings of the international conference - Ergonomics and Human Factors 2014. In addition to being the leading event in the UK that features ergonomics and human factors across all sectors, this is also the annual meeting of the Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors. Individual papers provide insight into current practice, present new research findings and form an invaluable reference source. The volumes provide a fast track for the publication of suitable papers from international contributors, with papers being subject to peer review since 2009 and selected by the conference programme committee. A wide range of topics are covered in these proceedings including workload, human capability, systems, product design, manufacturing systems, behaviour change, health and wellbeing, organisational culture, smart environments and sustainability, transport and musculoskeletal disorders. As well as being of interest to mainstream ergonomists and human factors specialists, Contemporary Ergonomics and Human Factors will appeal to all those who are concerned with people's interactions with their working and leisure environment including designers, manufacturing and production engineers, health and safety specialists, occupational, applied and industrial psychologists, and applied physiologists.

After a quick survey of the famous pioneers of human movement analysis and the actual needs in different domains, this book presents the main types of systems available on the market (with the pros and cons), and then details the most widely used: the optoelectronic systems using passive markers. The theoretical background for joint kinematics calculation is explained, specifying the international standardization for parameters reports. One chapter is dedicated to measurement errors and their management, followed by several applications, mostly in the clinical field.

First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Rapid advancements in train control and in-cab technologies provide significant opportunities for rail operators to improve efficiency and enhance their operations. New technologies often provide elegant solutions to existing problems or new capabilities for the operator. However, new technologies may also represent a significant form of risk. Thus, it is important to balance the potential for significant improvement with justifiable concern about how the technology may unpredictably change the nature of the work. If a technology is designed and implemented without considering the substantive human factors concerns, that technology may lead to unintended consequences that can introduce safety issues and disrupt network performance. It is important to note that even a well-designed and beneficial technology may be rejected by the users who see it as a threat to their jobs, status or working conditions. This book discusses the issues surrounding rail technology and introduces a 'toolkit' of human factors evaluation methods. The toolkit provides a practical and operationally focused set of methods that can be used by managers considering investing in technology, staff charged with implementing a technology, and consultants engaged to assist with the design and evaluation process. This toolkit can help to ensure that new rail technologies are thoughtfully designed, effectively implemented, and well received by users so that the significant investment associated with developing rail technologies is not wasted.

Critically deploying the idea of uneven and combined development this book provides a novel non-Eurocentric account of Iran s experience of modernity and revolution. "Recasting Iranian Modernity "presents the argument that Eurocentrism can be decisively overcome through a social theory that has international relations at its ontological core. This will enable a conception of history in which there is an intrinsic international dimension to social change that prevents historical repetition.

This hitherto under-theorized international dimension is, the book argues, manifest in combined patterns of development, which incorporate both foreign and native forms. It is the tension-prone and unstable nature of these hybrid developmental patterns that mark Iranian modernity, and fuelled the socio-political dynamics of the 1979 revolution and the rise of political Islam.

Challenging solely comparative approaches to the Iranian Revolution that explain it away as either a deviation from, or a reaction to, modernity on the grounds of its religious form, this book will be valuable to those interested in an alternative theoretical approach to the Iranian Revolution, modern Iran and political Islam, working in the fields of International Relations, Middle East and Islamic Studies, History, Political Science, Political Sociology, Postcolonialism, and Comparative Politics.

Aeromedical psychology is that branch of psychology pertaining to the assessment, selection and evaluation of aviation personnel. This book, Aeromedical Psychology, is designed to provide the means for a variety of clinicians to carry out sound assessment and selection procedures, perform informed evaluations and make subsequent recommendations regarding flight status and treatment strategies geared to the aviation environment. To facilitate a dynamic understanding of the field, the book emphasizes an integration of applications and theory, case examples and research. The book is divided into three parts. The first presents assessment and selection procedures for aviation personnel (i.e. air traffic controllers, flight officers and pilots) and astronauts and the many ways in which both psychologists and psychiatrists are involved in these roles. In the second part, the waiver standards put forth by both the FAA and the various branches of the military are presented, as well as the waiver decision process. Clinical issues unique to aviation - notably fear of flying, motivation to fly and airsickness - are addressed, as well as possible courses of intervention, treatment and disposition. In the final part, more specialized issues pertaining to aeromedical psychology are dealt with, namely the psychopharmacological research and regulations applicable to recreational pilots and aviation personnel, managing the aftermath of aviation mishaps and the psychologist's role in accident investigations.

Leadership is demanding and challenging. How do leaders cope? How do they remain fit and strong, and thrive? The authors of Leadership Resilience, a business school academic and a police officer, suggest that many challenges faced by leaders are similar to the challenges experienced by police officers. The isolation; the pressure not to show personal emotions; the expectation that they will deal effectively with confused, frustrated and angry people; and that they can deal with delivering bad news; all contribute to the pressures bearing on leaders and police officers everywhere. The authors argue that these challenges are more pronounced in policing and so more readily identifiable than in other leadership situations. They explore challenges experienced by police officers, look at how they cope with them, and draw lessons for those undertaking leadership roles more generally. Leadership Resilience provides accounts from police officers, in their own words, of difficult experiences they encounter. They describe their feelings about what was important and how they coped with it. Each account is followed by an analysis highlighting what is discussed, and not discussed, in the accounts and identifying lessons that can be drawn by leaders in other situations. All is presented so that it is relevant to different cultures demanding different styles of leadership. Analysis of the engaging experiences featured will help leaders struggling with the gap between leadership education and capability and the demands made of them to survive and thrive, while maintaining their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

The British Prime Minister has avowed to 'kill off the health and safety culture' which he described as 'a monster'. Nonetheless, industries face ever increasing public expectation and legislative pressure to improve safety when, actually, rates of safety improvement have slowed to a standstill. In Safety Can't Be Measured, Andrew Townsend suggests the main reason for the stagnation of safety improvement is the failure to recognise the evolution in accident causation and to evolve with it. He severely criticises some aspects of current day management of occupational safety and contends that everyone is trying to continuously improve something in which improvement cannot be measured, so the received wisdom underpinning safety management and regulation is not evidence-based and much of it is misguided. What is measured is the absence of safety - through incidents, injuries and the occurrence of ill health. We cannot continue to justify these ways of doing things, and claiming success by association, without admitting there might be other explanations. In this series of short chapters, occupational health and safety is put in context by demystifying the research, regulation and management of health and safety. Using evidence, Townsend challenges orthodox dogma by demonstrating that currently unused data could help deduce how safety really works, and thus support alternative thought processes from which new approaches to risk reduction and safety management could emerge.

Effective radio communication between ATC and pilots has long been recognized as an important element of aviation safety. In recognition of the role miscommunications play in aviation incidents and accidents, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recently introduced language proficiency requirements for all flight personnel in all ICAO member states. Using an effective and economical experimental paradigm, the research described here teases apart the complex combination of factors (e.g. speech rate, controller message length, English language proficiency, cognitive workload) believed to contribute to miscommunications between controllers and pilots. Misunderstandings in ATC Communication offers an in-depth report of a seminal study in aviation communication, which until now has only been available in the form of an unpublished dissertation. In addition, it offers a recent extension of that work, the authors' reflections on the research process, and a thorough review of the aviation communication literature. Graduate students and researchers who wish to address real-world problems will appreciate the simple elegance of the experimental paradigm that has been used to address a wide range of theoretical and applied interdisciplinary research questions. The book will appeal to scholars in the fields of human factors, linguistics, cognitive psychology, applied linguistics and second-language education and assessment. It is also of direct relevance to government and industry decision-makers and operators as they strive to implement the ICAO requirements, and to improve aviation safety.

Contemporary urban studies engages a wide range of approaches in the analysis of the processes at work in urban areas. These approaches derive from anthropology, economics, geography, history, politics and sociology as well as from the professional experience of town planning and architecture. Social process and the city reflects this growing cross-disciplinary engagement. This shows the important, problematic, role which cities in particular, and urban change in general have played in the growth of Australia. The overriding concern of each essay in this collection is to develop an understanding of the ways urban areas function and an awareness of how differing interpretations of 'urban phenomena' might be applied. This attention to the nature of the forces at work, and the processes these forces manifest themselves in, is extended both empirically and conceptually. This book was first published in 1983.

In complex sociotechnical systems such as military, health care, and nuclear power systems, poor performance or errors resulting from inadequate designs can have catastrophic consequences. Although considered challenging to learn and execute well, work domain analysis can be used as a framework to assist in the design of these systems. Work Domain Analysis: Concepts, Guidelines, and Cases helps you develop a deep understanding of this framework-not by oversimplifying the principles but by explaining its concepts and methodology in considerable depth. Building on the foundational concepts of cognitive work analysis by providing the first comprehensive treatment of work domain analysis, the book begins with fundamental topics such as abstraction, decomposition, and structural means-ends and part-whole relations, clearly outlining the basic characteristics of a work domain model. It then explores more advanced topics such as the development of multiple models of a system and the distinction between causal and intentional systems and illustrates them with numerous examples across a range of systems including warships, libraries, and petrochemical plants. It also provides comprehensive guidelines for performing work domain analysis. The author provides three detailed case studies that examine the impact, unique contribution, and feasibility of applying work domain analysis in industrial settings. These case studies demonstrate that work domain analysis can be used to address a range of problems beyond interface design, such as team design, training, and the evaluation of system design concepts. They also provide concrete illustrations of the guidelines for work domain analysis. Without an appreciation of the variety of applications of work domain analysis, and its suitability for implementation in industrial settings, the benefits of this approach may not be fully realized. This book supplies the deep knowledge of this tool that will lead both to more powerful and innovative applications of the approach and to designs that support flexibility or adaptation in the workplace, making systems safer, healthier, and more productive for workers.

Professor Bird presents a synthesis of the many approaches to the study of a central featuer of modern life - the city, including its distant past and its future. He sees centrality as a mental projection on to space, and discusses the concept in relation to three types of its manifestation in spatial terms: the city as centre of a tributary region; the centres and central areas of cities themselves; and the city considered as a centre or gateway for other distant regions, often overseas. This book should do much to unravel the funamental similarities between cities of the world while recognizing the myriad variations upon a common theme. This book was first published in 1977.

Experience is currently a hot theme in decision making. For a long time, decision research was almost exclusively focused on new decisions and neglected the importance of experience. It took the field until the 1990s for a new direction in research and theorizing to become visible in the literature. There are parallel movements happening in sociology, political science, social psychology, and business. The purpose of this edited book is to provide a balanced and representative overview of what is currently known about the dynamics of experienced-based decision making. The chapters are written by renowned experts in the field and provide the latest theoretical developments, integrative frameworks, and state-of-the-art reviews of research in the laboratory and in the field.

This study examines the relationship between social inequality and change in the newly democratic South Africa through the lens of paid domestic labour. The interviews with workers, employers, politicians and activists, offer diverse perspectives on the race, glass and gender divides within South Africa.

The broad and developing scope of ergonomics - the application of scientific knowledge to improve people's interaction with products, systems and environments - has been illustrated for 27 years by the books which make up the Contemporary Ergonomics series. This book presents the proceedings of the international conference on Contemporary Ergonomics and Human Factors 2013. In addition to being the leading event in the UK that features ergonomics and human factors across all sectors, this is also the annual conference of the Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors. Individual papers provide insight into current practice, present new research findings and form an invaluable reference source. The volumes provide a fast track for the publication of suitable papers from international contributors, with papers being subject to peer review since 2009. A wide range of topics are covered in these proceedings including human computer interaction, standards, accessibility, work & wellbeing, design, transport, safety culture, green ergonomics, healthcare, human cognition, biomechanics, crowd behaviour and the systems approach. As well as being of interest to mainstream ergonomists and human factors specialists, Contemporary Ergonomics and Human Factors will appeal to all those who are concerned with people's interactions with their working and leisure environment including designers, manufacturing and production engineers, health and safety specialists, occupational, applied and industrial psychologists, and applied physiologists.