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Books > Professional & Technical > Technology: general issues > Technical design > Ergonomics
Until quite recently conditions in industry were often rough. Long hours were worked in insanitary and murky workshops, often with little regard to the effects upon the workpeople who were considered to be expendable. Now, however, these adverse conditions have been recognized and so remedied that there remains little in industrial conditions to disturb the public conscience. This does not mean that conditions of work in office or factory are perfect. The obvious and dramatic abuses of the human frame may have gone, but in their place have arisen stresses and strains which, taking effect only in the long term, are generally undramatic and often unrecognized. They exist none the less. No organized effort to study the effect of working conditions on man's performance was made until the end of World War I, when the Industrial Fatigue Research Board was set up. For the first time, men trained in the human sciences entered industry to study men at work. They made con tributions which set a new standard of scientific investigation into human performance and allowed executive action on the basis of evidence rather than of hunch. The Board's work differed from the contribution of Gilbreth in America in that the principles of Motion Study which he developed were, to a large extent, based on intelligent observation rather than controlled experiment. During the 1920S the National Institute of Industrial Psychology was founded and there was close collaboration between it and the I.F.R.B."
Presents Current Principles and Applications Biomedical engineering is considered to be the most expansive of all the engineering sciences. Its function involves the direct combination of core engineering sciences as well as knowledge of nonengineering disciplines such as biology and medicine. Drawing on material from the biomechanics section of The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Fourth Edition and utilizing the expert knowledge of respected published scientists in the application and research of biomechanics, Biomechanics: Principles and Practices discusses the latest principles and applications of biomechanics and outlines major research topics in the field. This book contains a total of 20 chapters. The first group of chapters explores musculoskeletal mechanics and includes hard and soft-tissue mechanics, joint mechanics, and applications related to human function. The next group of chapters covers biofluid mechanics and includes a wide range of circulatory dynamics, such as blood vessel and blood cell mechanics and transport. The following group of chapters introduces the mechanical functions and significance of the human ear, including information on inner ear hair cell mechanics. The remaining chapters introduce performance characteristics of the human body system during exercise and exertion. Introduces modern viewpoints and developments Highlights cellular mechanics Presents material in a systematic manner Contains over 100 figures, tables, and equations Biomechanics: Principles and Practices functions as a reference for the practicing professional as well as an introduction for the bioengineering graduate student with a focus in biomechanics, biodynamics, human performance engineering, and human factors.
Following on from 2015's Healthcare Reform, Quality and Safety: Perspectives, Participants, Partnerships and Prospects in 30 Countries, this book encompasses a global perspective on healthcare while shifting the focus from reform to showcasing success stories of healthcare systems worldwide. It provides explanations of why various facets of healthcare systems work well in different contexts and offers the reader alternative models for consideration. The book features contributions from 60 countries, going much further than the common practice of focusing on affluent Western nations, to provide a comprehensive exploration of the success of healthcare systems globally. The majority of literature on health-sector improvement attempts to address the problems within systems, relating the errors that can and do occur, for example, and offering solutions and preventative strategies. This book of country case studies will approach the enhancement of health systems, patient safety and the quality of care in a new and innovative way, comprehensively surveying and synthesizing the success stories of healthcare systems around the world, utilizing Hollnagel's Safety-II approach to acknowledge the importance of exploring what goes right, what works well, and why it works. These success stories may include reference to macro, meso or micro levels of healthcare systems, various sectors (e.g., aged care, acute care or primary care), or specific programs or projects. Health System Improvement Across the Globe: Success Stories from 60 Countries is unprecedented in terms of both reach and positive emphasis, and as such will be instrumental in changing ways of thinking about and guiding health-sector improvement.
Over the past decade, Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) has been one of the popular human factors approaches for complex systems evaluation and design applications. This is reflected by a diverse range of applications across safety critical domains. The book brings together a series of CWA applications and discussions from world-leading human factors researchers and practitioners. It begins with an overview of the CWA framework, including its theoretical underpinnings, the methodological approaches involved (including practical guidance on each phase), and previous applications of the framework. The core of the book is a series of CWA applications, undertaken in a wide range of safety critical domains for a range of purposes. These serve to demonstrate the contribution that CWA can make to real-world projects and provide readers with inspiration for how such analyses can be practically carried out. Following this, a series of applications in which new approaches or adaptations have been added to the framework are presented. These show how practical applications feedback into the theories/approaches underpinning CWA. The closing chapter then speculates on future applications of the framework and on a series of new research directions required in order to enhance its utility. In emphasising the practical realities of performing CWA, and the real-world impacts it can provide, the book tackles several common misconceptions in a constructive and persuasive way. It provides a welcome demonstration of how CWA can be a powerful ally in tackling complexity-related problems that afflict systems in all areas.
This book will provide a quick reference on Work Measurement. While the nature of the work may differ, measuring work is fundamental to any industrial or service activity. It's needed to determine such things as the amount a person should be paid, how much time should it take to perform an activity, what is an acceptable days' work, or how any two or more methods or designs compare. This book provides non-industrial engineers with the why and the how work is measured in order to perform their jobs.
Incorporating Compass Computer Access Assessment software, Computer Access for People with Disabilities: A Human Factors Approach provides the information clinicians need to know in order to provide effective alternative computer access solutions to individuals with disabilities. Originally developed for a masters-level course on computer access for rehabilitation engineers and rehabilitation counselors, it provides practical guidance on how to provide computer access services and sufficient background knowledge to allow the reader to interpret the research literature. Presents technology for individuals with physical, cognitive, and sensory impairments, and for older adults Covers text entry devices, pointing devices, switch access, automatic speech recognition, and web accessibility Emphasizes fundamental concepts and principles that remain true regardless of which specific operating system or product is being used Draws on research from the fields of rehabilitation engineering, occupational therapy, and human-computer interaction (HCI)
There are unique greening solutions and practices that help create a lifestyle shift, improving the health of living and working spaces for its occupants from a personal, business, environmental, and profitable perspective. Short-term and long-term considerations are important elements when moving forward towards healthy practices in lifestyles, choices, and site designs. This book addresses a myriad of greening practices that can be applied to structures in our urban, suburban, and rural cultures. From the loft to the neighborhood, the office spaces to the public spaces, and the schools to the communities, this book outlines how business owners and residents can integrate scale appropriate green solutions into their lifestyles. Green Up!: Sustainable Design Solutions for Healthier Work and Living Environments includes detailed illustrations and photographs to help you understand design opportunities for your space. Stevie Famulari provides unique insights and inspires business owners, residents, and planners to develop their own green understanding and design solutions. Illustrations and photographs of applied greening are included throughout the book to help inspire your own goals and design, and then transform them to reality. The author breaks down the misconceptions of the complexity of sustainability and green practices. Greening is a lifestyle change, and this step-by-step instruction guide lets you know how easy it is to transition to the green side!
Ergonomics is concerned with the 'fit' between people and their work. With an increasing number of people becoming conscious about their health and participating in sport or physical activity, ergonomics has become an increasingly prominent concern within the sport and exercise sciences. From the design of footwear and artificial playing surfaces, to studies of proprioception by obese children , the way in which people interact with their environment - designed and natural - has important implications for performance sport and for the design of safe and beneficial forms of physical activity. The Routledge Handbook of Ergonomics in Sport and Exercise is the first book to offer a comprehensive and in-depth survey of cutting-edge scientific research into ergonomics in sport and exercise. Written by world-leading international scientists and researchers, the book explores key topics such as: Musculoskeletal adaptation to sports and exercise Environmental factors of injury and fatigue Load weight and performance Ergonomics in adapted sports and exercise Measurement in sports and exercise Modeling and simulation in ergonomics design Influence of playing surface, footwear and equipment design Bridging the gap between fundamental scientific research in sport and exercise and applications in sport and exercise contexts, this is an important reference for all advanced students, researchers and professionals working in sport and exercise science, kinesiology, sports technology, sports engineering, ergonomics, and product design.
This new edition serves both as a reference guide for the experienced professional and as a preparation source for those desiring certifications. It's an invaluable resource and a must-have addition to every safety professional's library. Safety Professional's Reference and Study Guide, Third Edition, is written to serve as a useful reference tool for the experienced practicing safety professional, as well as a study guide for university students and those preparing for the Certified Safety Professional examination. It addresses major topics of the safety and health profession and includes the latest version of the Board of Certified Safety Professional (BCSP) reference sheet, a directory of resources and associations, as well as state and federal agency contact information. Additionally, this new edition offers new chapters and resources that will delight every reader. This book aids the prospective examination candidate and the practicing safety professional, by showing them, step-by-step, how to solve each question/formula listed on the BCSP examination and provide examples on how and when to utilize them.
Organizational change is often insider-led and supported by internal consultants and change agents. Most of what is written about change comes from the perspective of external consultants or from academics researching the activities of those with insider change roles. Changing Organizations from Within is unusual in providing a range of authentic insider accounts. The editors define 'insiders' as employees who lead and support change efforts within their own organizations, and those psychoanalytically aware external consultants - external 'insiders' - who work closely with organizations and use the dynamics of transference and projection in their relationships with clients to illuminate organizational issues. Each chapter is written by an author with experience of different kinds of insider relationships with their client organizations. Some work 'inside' as employees. Some are external consultants whose work involves developing insightful insider perspectives. The book's editors and several of the authors are graduates, or have been faculty members, of London's Tavistock Institute Advanced Organizational Consultation programme, with experience of running development programmes for consultants and of coaching insiders. Changing Organizations from Within examines the pulls on role and identity that can easily undermine competence and practice. Understanding the system psycho-dynamics present in organizations helps consultants and change agents to make use of an insider perspective without becoming enmeshed in the client organization's regressive and inertial dynamics. The authors provide practical advice to help insiders navigate organizational space, make sense of tricky situations, and work more mindfully to help organizations change.
The Social Psychology of Expertise offers an integrative perspective to the analysis of experts and expertise in organizations, social roles, management, etc. It is the first book to link the psychology of expertise to sociology, particularly the sociology of professions. By examining the converging elements of both approaches and investigating the conditions of interactions with all types of experts, The Social Psychology of Expertise makes it possible to understand the market form of expert services. This book: *introduces the expert role approach--a new and encompassing view on the role of experts and how to use the experts' expertise in organizations, financial markets, and environmental issues; *enhances a mutual understanding between the psychology of expertise and the sociology of professions (for students, as well as scholars); *provides a helpful understanding of dealing with experts in the context of organizational behavior; *shows how we can make proper use of the experts' expertise in management and planning; *demonstrates how the role of experts influences volatility in financial markets; and *defines the limits of human expertise in predicting climate change.
For Resilience Engineering, 'failure' is the result of the adaptations necessary to cope with the complexity of the real world, rather than a breakdown or malfunction. The performance of individuals and organizations must continually adjust to current conditions and, because resources and time are finite, such adjustments are always approximate. This definitive new book explores this groundbreaking new development in safety and risk management, where 'success' is based on the ability of organizations, groups and individuals to anticipate the changing shape of risk before failures and harm occur. Featuring contributions from many of the worlds leading figures in the fields of human factors and safety, Resilience Engineering provides thought-provoking insights into system safety as an aggregate of its various components, subsystems, software, organizations, human behaviours, and the way in which they interact. The book provides an introduction to Resilience Engineering of systems, covering both the theoretical and practical aspects. It is written for those responsible for system safety on managerial or operational levels alike, including safety managers and engineers (line and maintenance), security experts, risk and safety consultants, human factors professionals and accident investigators.
The advent of augmented reality technologies used to assist human operators in complex manipulative operations-has brought an urgency to research into the modeling and training of human skills in Virtual Environments. However, modeling a specific act still represents a challenge in cognitive science. The same applies for the control of humanoid robots and the replication of skilled behavior of avatars in Virtual Environments. Skill Training in Multimodal Virtual Environments presents the scientific background, research outcomes, engineering developments, and evaluation studies conducted during the five years (2006-2011) of the project SKILLS-Multimodal Interfaces for Capturing and Transfer of Skill, funded by the European Commission under its 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The SKILLS project evaluated how to exploit robotics and virtual environment technologies for the training of specific skills. This book details the novel approach used in the study to cope with skill acquisition, setting aside the mainstream assumptions of common computer-assisted training simulators. It explores how the SKILLS approach generated new training scenarios that allow users to practice new experiences in the performance of the devised task. Using a carefully designed approach that balances science with practicality, the book explores how virtual and augmented reality systems can be designed to address the skill transfer and training in different application contexts. The application of the same roadmap to skills originating from domains such as sports, rehabilitation, industrial environment, and surgery sets this book apart. It demonstrates how technology-oriented training conditions can yield better results than more traditional training conditions.
Technological development has changed the nature of industrial production so that it is no longer a question of humans working with a machine, but rather that a joint human machine system is performing the task. This development, which started in the 1940s, has become even more pronounced with the proliferation of computers and the invasion of digital technology in all wakes of working life. It may appear that the importance of human work has been reduced compared to what can be achieved by intelligent software systems, but in reality, the opposite is true: the more complex a system, the more vital the human operator's task. The conditions have changed, however, whereas people used to be in control of their own tasks, today they have become supervisors of tasks which are shared between humans and machines. A considerable effort has been devoted to the domain of administrative and clerical work and has led to the establishment of an internationally based human-computer interaction (HCI) community at research and application levels. The HCI community, however, has paid more attention to static environments where the human operator is in complete control of the situation, rather than to dynamic environments where changes may occur independent of human intervention and actions. This book's basic philosophy is the conviction that human operators remain the unchallenged experts even in the worst cases where their working conditions have been impoverished by senseless automation. They maintain this advantage due to their ability to learn and build up a high level of expertise -- a foundation of operational knowledge -- during their work. This expertise must be taken into account in the development of efficient human-machine systems, in the specification of training requirements, and in the identification of needs for specific computer support to human actions. Supporting this philosophy, this volume *deals with the main features of cognition in dynamic environments, combining issues coming from empirical approaches of human cognition and cognitive simulation, *addresses the question of the development of competence and expertise, and *proposes ways to take up the main challenge in this domain -- the design of an actual cooperation between human experts and computers of the next century.
This anthology brings together voices from industry and academia in a call for elevating the status, identity, value, and influence of technical communicators. Editors Barbara Mirel and Rachel Spilka assert that technical communicators must depart from their traditional roles, moving instead in a more influential and expansive direction. To help readers explore the possibilities, contributions from innovative thinkers and leaders in technical communication propose ways to redefine the field's identity and purposes and to expand the parameters of its work. The chapters included here all point toward new directions for greater growth and influence of the field. Contributors depart from traditional ideas and solutions and discuss new and in some cases radical points, provoking further thought and discussion. Its exploration of fresh territory uncovers new research topics and directions, and provides an examination of both internal, industry-academia relationships and external relationships between technical communicators and other professionals. In its entirety, this collection represents an inclusive vision for the future, targeting such wide-ranging issues as creating effective professional organizations, disseminating research to diverse audiences, transitioning to more influential job roles, exerting leadership in usability, and creating hybrid identities and collaborative programs between industry and academic to support them. The diverse voices from industry and academia will inspire readers to think differently about the discipline's identity and direction, and to build on the ideas they find herein to effect change within their own spheres. As required reading for academics and professionals in technical communication, this collection is a critical step in reshaping and reinvigorating the technical communication field to ensure its survival and growth in the 21st century.
Human factors play a critical role in the design and interpretation of remotely sensed imagery for all Earth sciences. Remote Sensing and Cognition: Human Factors in Image Interpretation brings together current topics widely recognized and addressed regarding human cognition in geographic imagery, especially remote sensing imagery with complex data. It addresses themes around expertise including methods for knowledge elicitation and modeling of expertise, the effects of different aspects of realism on the interpretation of the environment, spatial learning using imagery, the effect of visual perspective on interpretation, and a variety of technologies and methods for utilizing knowledge in the analysis of remote sensing imagery. Written by leaders in the field, this book provides answers to the host of questions raised at the nexus of psychology and remote sensing. Academics and researchers with an interest in the human issues surrounding the use of remote sensing data will find this book to be an invaluable resource. The topics covered in this book are useful for both the scientific analysis of remote sensing imagery as well as the design and display of remote sensing imagery to facilitate a variety of other tasks including education and wayfinding. Features Brings together remote sensing, environmental, and computer scientists discussing their work from a psychological or human factors perspective Answers questions related to aesthetics of scientific visualization and mathematical analysis of perceptible objects Explains the perception and interpretation of realistic representations Provides illustrative real-world examples Shows how the features of display symbols, elements, and patterns have clear effects on processes of perception and visual search
In a clear and accessible presentation, Occupational Physiology focuses on important issues in the modern working world. Exploring major public health problems-such as musculoskeletal disorders and stress-this book explains connections between work, well-being, and health based on up-to-date research in the field. It provides useful methods for risk assessment and guidelines on arranging a good working life from the perspective of the working individual, the company, and society as a whole. The book focuses on common, stressful situations in different professions. Reviewing bodily demands and reactions in eight selected common, but contrasting job types, the book explains relevant physiology in a novel way. Rather than being structured according to organs in the body, the book accepts the complex physiology of typical jobs and uses this as an entry. In addition to physiological facts, the book discusses risk factors for disorders and gives ideas on how to organize and design work and tasks so as to optimize health, work ability, and productivity. Although many books cover physiology, they are based on a traditional anatomical structure (e.g., addressing the physiology of the cardiovascular system, the gastrointestinal system, and so forth) and require readers to synthesize this knowledge into real-life complex applications. Occupational Physiology is, instead, structured around a number of typical jobs and explains their physiologies, as complex as they may be. This approach, while still presenting the physiology needed to understand occupational life, demonstrates how to use this information in situations encountered in practice.
Brand risk is often narrowly defined as risk to reputation. Yet risk and uncertainty are evident in many aspects of brand performance and marketing operations. Considered and responsible risk-taking is central to effective brand management. Risk literacy is the marketer's third necessary competence, alongside strategic insight and financial understanding. In Brand Risk, a practical and accessible book for those who hold responsibilities in marketing or risk management, David Abrahams brings together relevant risk thinking and a range of techniques for the evaluation of brand exposures and opportunities - whether in response to the ambitions of a key business project, new market conditions or shareholder concern. A balanced review of the subject is enriched by reference to topics of current interest and is supported by illustrative examples throughout. Presenting the essentials of brand management and risk management side-by-side, Brand Risk offers graduated and complementary approaches to brand risk assessment, from the intuitive to the data-driven.
This book explores the interplay of farm mechanization, human factors and climatic and other environmental uncertainty in agriculture, using an ergonomics based approach to discuss solutions to the traditionally acknowledged vulnerability of the sector. It converges contemporary research documentation, case studies and international standards on agricultural ergonomics, engineering anthropometry, human factors, basic occupational health services, safety management, human performance and system sustainability to provide a handy reference to students and professionals working to optimize agricultural output while balancing the rational utilization of labour in agricultural practices and human well-being.
Executives are under enormous pressure to meet stakeholder expectations regarding the prevention of fraud and corruption. However, the drive to demonstrate that they are complying with legislative requirements and high principles has, in many cases, overshadowed the need to deal with the problem itself. As a result, fraud and corruption remain a significant unmanaged source of risk for many organizations. Drawing on experiences across Europe, America and Australia, Iyer and Samociuk give you the tools to establish an effective and far-reaching anti-fraud and corruption programme. Included is a compendium of techniques for assessing the true risk of fraud and corruption, reducing those risks and using health checks to provide early warnings. Also included is The Tightrope, A Story of Fraud and Corruption...which takes the reader from first suspicions through crisis and finally recovery in a vivid and instructive style, covering the lessons in the main text. This new book is a must-read for all those responsible for the prevention of fraud and corruption, risk management, corporate compliance, corporate responsibility and governance.
Two parallel investigations take place after every aviation accident: one technical, one judicial. The former must be conducted with the sole intention of making safety recommendations to prevent the recurrence of similar accidents. The judicial investigation, however, has the intention of identifying those parties that have been at fault and to apportion blameworthiness for criminal and civil liability. Consequently, this results in a predicament for those parties that have been identified as having played a role in the accident, a dilemma between not supplying information aimed at enhancing safety and preventing future accidents and, on the other hand, supplying such information which may possibly be used against them in subsequent criminal prosecution. The situation is compounded by inconsistent approaches between different legal systems; aviation professionals may find themselves faced with criminal charges in one country but not in another, and they may also be unsure as to whether statements given during the technical investigation could be used against them in a court of law. Aviation safety is, to a large extent, built upon the trust placed by pilots, ATCOs and other aviation professionals in the process of accident investigation. This book examines the growing trend to criminalize these same people following an accident investigation and considers the implications this has for aviation safety.
Pre-Accident Investigations: Better Questions - An Applied Approach to Operational Learning challenges safety and reliability professionals to get better answers by asking better questions. A provocative examination of human performance and safety management, the book delivers a thought-provoking discourse about how we work, and defines a new approach to operational learning. This is not a book about traditional safety. This is a book about creating "real" safety in your organization. In order to predict incidents before they happen, an organization should first understand how their processes can result in failure. Instead of managing the outcomes, they must learn to manage and understand the processes used to create them. Ideal for use in safety, human performance, psychology, cognitive and decision making, systems engineering, and risk assessment areas, this book equips the safety professional with the tools, steps, and models of success needed to create long-term value and change from safety programs.
Safety or comfort? Can you truly have one without the other? Is it feasible to have both? Although by no means the only factor, a deep understanding of biomechanics plays a leading role in the design of work and workplaces that are both pain and injury free. Standing firmly on the foundation built by the previous edition, the second edition of Biomechanics in Ergonomics establishes an understanding of gross biomechanical loads on the human system at the tissue level and then brings that understanding through to the whole body level. Applications for the Real World Produced under the aegis of editor Shrawan Kumar with contributors who are leading scholars in the field, the book contains unique chapters such as Exposure Assessment Tools and Techniques and Cumulative Load and Models. Also included is a chapter on hand tools, which have a real application to the field of ergonomics. New and significantly revamped chapters:
Create Safety Through Better Workplace Design The book dives deep into the biomechanics of the connective tissues before thoroughly covering upper and lower extremities, shoulder and neck, low back, and whole body mechanics. With chapters selected and designed to provide extensive coverage of ergonomically relevant biomechanics, this volume supplies an integrated understanding of the inseparable relationship between ergonomics and biomechanics that can be translated into better safety design and better workplaces.
This simple and manageable guide to user interface design is written for the professional in industry working on product development and the decision process. It is directed not only to the human factors specialists, but also to technicians, designers, marketing and product managers and students. The book presents guidelines for user interface design including a catalogue of input and output devices for electronic appliances, adding material on the design process, interaction design, advanced input, speech interfaces, evaluation, standards, the move from usability to pleasure and cultural differences. Each chapter stands alone, so the book can be used as a reference handbook. Contributions come from several human factors specialists working in industry and in academia. The text is extensively illustrated by product examples showing good user interface design. |
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