Human Interface System Research Articles

Finding a Place for Systems-Based, Collaborative Research in Emerging Disease Research in Asia.

The need to adequately predict, prevent and respond to infectious diseases emerging unexpectedly from human-animal-environmental systems has driven interest in multisectoral, socio-economic, systems-based, collaborative (MSC) research approaches such as EcoHealth and One Health. Our goals were to document how MSC research has been used to address EIDs in Asia, and to explore how MSC approaches align with current priorities for EID research in Asia. We gathered priorities for EID research from the peer-reviewed and grey literature, documented organizational descriptions of MCS research approaches, and analysed a series of EID MSC projects. We found that priority areas for EID research in Asia included (1) understanding host-pathogen-environment interactions; (2) improving tools and technologies; (3) changing people's behaviour; and (4) evaluating the effectiveness of interventions. We found that the unifying characteristics of MSC research were that it was action-oriented and sought to inspire change under real-world conditions at the complex interface of human and natural systems. We suggest that MSC research can be considered a type of 'pragmatic research' and might be most useful in describing change in complex human-animal-environmental systems, accelerating research-to-action, and evaluating effectiveness of interventions in 'real world' settings.

A Method to Select Human–System Interfaces for Nuclear Power Plants

Abstract The new generation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) will likely make use of state-of-the-art technologies in many areas of the plant. The analysis, design, and selection of advanced human–system interfaces (HSIs) constitute an important part of power plant engineering. Designers need to consider the new capabilities afforded by these technologies in the context of current regulations and new operational concepts, which is why they need a more rigorous method by which to plan the introduction of advanced HSIs in NPP work areas. Much of current human factors research stops at the user interface and fails to provide a definitive process for integration of end user devices with instrumentation and control and operational concepts. The current lack of a clear definition of HSI technology, including the process for integration, makes characterization and implementation of new and advanced HSIs difficult. This paper describes how new design concepts in the nuclear industry can be analyzed and how HSI technologies associated with new industrial processes might be considered. It also describes a basis for an understanding of human as well as technology characteristics that could be incorporated into a prioritization scheme for technology selection and deployment plans.

Human error and the associated recovery probabilities for soft control being used in the advanced MCRs of NPPs

Since the Three Mile Island (TMI)-2 accident, human error has been recognized as one of the main causes of Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accidents, and numerous studies related to Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) have been carried out. Most of these studies were focused on considering the conventional Main Control Room (MCR) environment. However, the operating environment of MCRs in NPPs has changed with the adoption of new human-system interfaces (HSI) largely based on up-to-date digital technologies. The MCRs that include these digital and computer technologies, such as large display panels, computerized procedures, and soft controls, are called advanced MCRs. Among the many features of advanced MCRs, soft controls are a particularly important because operating actions in advanced MCRs are performed by soft control. Due to the difference in interfaces between soft control and hardwired conventional controls, different HEP should be used in the HRA for advanced MCRs. Unfortunately, most current HRA databases deal with operations in conventional MCRs and are not explicitly designed to deal with digital Human System Interface (HSI). For this reason, empirical human error and the associated error recovery probabilities were collected from the mockup of an advanced MCR equipped with soft controls. To this end, small-scaled experiments are conducted with 48 graduated students in the department of nuclear engineering in Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) are participated, and accident scenarios are designed with respect to the typical Design Basis Accidents (DBAs) in NPPs, such as Steam Generator Tube Rupture (SGTR), Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) and Excess Steam Demand Event (ESDE). After that, the Bayesian update is conducted in order to extract the 5% and 95% quantiles of empirical human error and the associated recovery failure probabilities.

Integration of Cognitive Task Analysis and Design Thinking for Autonomous Helicopter Displays

Ensuring that unmanned aerial systems’ (UAS) control stations include a tight coupling of systems engineering with human factors, cognitive analysis, and design is key to their success. We describe a combined cognitive task analysis (CTA) and design thinking effort to develop interfaces for an operator controlling an autonomous helicopter, a prototype system that the Office of Naval Research is developing. We first conducted CTA interviews with subject-matter experts having expertise in UAS flight operations, helicopter resupply, military ground forces, and marine airspace control. Data informed the development of analysis products, including human–system interface requirements, which drove the creation of design concepts through ideation sessions using design thinking methods. We validated and refined the design concepts with UAS pilots. We provide an overview of our process, illustrated by details of a timeline display development. Significant aspects of our work include close integration of CTA and design thinking efforts, designing for an “envisioned world” of interaction with highly autonomous helicopter systems, and the importance of knowledge elicitation early in system design. This effort represents a successful demonstration of an innovative design process in developing UAS interfaces.

A study on human interface system using the direction of eyes and face

Establishing an efficient alternative channel for communication without overt speech and hand movements is important for increasing the quality of life for patients lacking correct limb and facial muscular responses. This paper presents the eye movement tracking system using cross-channel electrooculogram signals. In addition, we used Kinect sensor (RGB-D sensor) for face tracking. Thus, gaze estimation system can be established by both eye movement and face tracking. Simulation experiments were designed in order to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed system. As a result of simulation experiments, gaze position estimation is recognized under high accuracy in our system.

A high-accuracy photovoltaic emulator system using ARM processors

In this paper, an embedded design for implementing a real-time photovoltaic (PV) system emulator with user-defined environmental conditions is proposed. The design implemented on a Sitara Cortex 9 ARM processor allows the evaluation of PV cells in a low-cost, portable and affordable system. This embedded PV emulation system uses an LCD screen to establish a human-system interface (HSI), and it contains an extensible database of commercial PV cells with their manufacturer’s datasheet parameters. Based on the accurate two-diode model, the proposed design allows the generation of high precision I–V,P–V characteristic curves with the embedded ARM, which represents an affordable and simple solution. Experimental results demonstrate the accuracy of the real-time embedded system for different solar cells and environmental conditions.

VERONA V6.22 – An enhanced reactor analysis tool applied for continuous core parameter monitoring at Paks NPP

Between 2003 and 2007 the Hungarian Paks NPP performed a large modernization project to upgrade its VERONA core monitoring system. The modernization work resulted in a state-of-the-art system that was able to support the reactor thermal power increase to 108% by more accurate and more frequent core analysis. Details of the new system are given in Végh et al. (2008), the most important improvements were as follows: complete replacement of the hardware and the local area network; application of a new operating system and porting a large fraction of the original application software to the new environment; implementation of a new human-system interface; and last but not least, introduction of new reactor physics calculations. Basic novelty of the modernized core analysis was the introduction of an on-line core-follow module based on the standard Paks NPP core design code HELIOS/C-PORCA. New calculations also provided much finer spatial resolution, both in terms of axial node numbers and within the fuel assemblies. The new system was able to calculate the fuel applied during the first phase of power increase accurately, but it was not tailored to determine the effects of burnable absorbers as gadolinium. However, in the second phase of the power increase process the application of fuel assemblies containing three fuel rods with gadolinium content was intended (in order to optimize fuel economy), therefore off-line and on-line VERONA reactor physics models had to be further modified, to be able to handle the new fuel according to the accuracy requirements. In the present paper first a brief overview of the system version (V6.0) commissioned after the first modernization step is outlined; then details of the modified off-line and on-line reactor physics calculations are described. Validation results for new modules are treated extensively, in order to illustrate the extent and complexity of the V&V procedure associated with the development and licensing of the new calculations running in version V6.22 of VERONA. Some details on the experience collected during the operation of the new reactor physics calculations are also discussed. Finally conceptual plans for the next system modification phase are outlined briefly; these changes are induced by the forthcoming introduction of 15 month long fuel cycles (instead of the present 12 month long cycles).

A human-system interface risk assessment method based on mental models

In many safety–critical systems, it is necessary to maintain operators’ situation awareness at a high level to ensure the safety of operations. Today, in many such systems, operators have to rely on the principles and design of human-system interfaces (HSIs) to observe and comprehend the overwhelming amount of process data. Thus, poor HSIs may cause serious consequences, such as occupational accidents and diseases including stress, and they have therefore been considered an emerging risk. Despite the importance of this, very few methods have as yet been developed to assess the risk of HSIs. This paper presents a new risk assessment method that relies upon operators’ mental models, human reliability analysis (HRA) event tree, and the situation awareness global assessment technique (SAGAT) to produce a risk profile for the intended HSI. In the proposed method, the operator’s understanding (i.e. mental models) about possible abnormal situations in the intended plant is modeled on the basis of the capabilities of Bayesian networks. The situation models are combined with the HRA event tree, which paves the way for the incorporation of operator responses in the assessment method. Probe questions in line with the SAGAT through simulated scenarios in a virtual environment are then administrated to gather operator responses. Finally, the proposed method determines a risk level for the HSI by assigning the operator responses to the developed situational networks. The performance of the proposed method is investigated through a case study at a chemical plant.

Human Factors in Control Room Modernisation

In view of the benefits of human factors engineering for nuclear power plants, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission published a series of Nuclear Regulatory documents to describe the systematic methodologies and processes of human factors engineering on functional requirements analysis and function allocation, task analysis, human–system interface design, training program development, and so forth of the main control room of the nuclear power plant. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the application of human factors engineering to evaluate the usability and safety of the hybrid human–system interfaces developed for the conventional main control room during the process of modernisation. A comprehensive checklist with human factors guidelines was adopted to evaluate the usability of the hybrid human–system interfaces. Expert interview was adopted to collect data on task performance, workload, situation awareness, communication, and coordination based on operators’ experiences. The results provide guidance and a technical basis that should help plant staff with planning changes to the human–system interfaces of main control rooms that address issues that arise during control room modernisation.

Systematic layout planning in human–system interface: An evaluation of alarm displays with spatial proximity for accidents diagnosis of advanced boiling water reactor

To ensure safety in nuclear power plants, this study investigated the interface design of a digital alarm system by analyzing the diagnosing process of operating information. This study focused on the layout planning of alarm windows and followed proximity compatibility principle and nuclear human–system interface design review guidelines to improve the human–system interface. This study adopt systematic layout planning to modify the design of alarm windows. The time of alarm handling, and accuracy, as well as human reliability were evaluated to compare the original layout with the improved one. In the end, according to the results of the comparison, an alternative alarm window layout human–system interface, which fits diagnosing process, is suggested. Relevance to industryThe similar layout planning process could be applied to design control centers in high reliability organizations, in particular which need decision-making by person.

Towards Knowledge Capturing and Innovative Human-system Interface in an Open-source Factory Modelling and Simulation Environment

The capital value of knowledge is fundamental in modern cyber-physical systems. The user is provided with information from multiple and sometimes conflicting sources. This large amount of information must then be analyzed and interpreted by the human brain. Information must be used in a profitable way, and transformed into useable knowledge, which can then be effectively used in decision making activities. It is therefore critical to provide the required information and knowledge in order to support digital factory activities such as modelling and simulation of manufacturing systems. The advent and implementation of Industry 4.0 will make it a requirement for virtual planning and real systems within smart factories, to interact and share large quantities of information with each other. In this respect, one of the major challenges is making sure that the right people have the right information, at the right time to make the right decisions. The aim of this research is to provide a multi-level just-in-time simulation tool to support decision making in digital factory planning. The tool makes use of a suitable means for the capturing and representation of manufacturing system knowledge in several types of industrial sectors and types of companies (large, SME). Furthermore, to support the modelling activity, the human-system interface of the simulation tool makes use of just-in-time information retrieval (JITIR). The aim of JITIR is to proactively yet non-intrusively provide the required information at the right time based on the users’ context during the modeling and simulation activity.

Human Factors Design, Verification, and Validation for Two Types of Control Room Upgrades at a Nuclear Power Plant

This paper describes the NUREG-0711 based human factors engineering (HFE) phases and associated elements required to support design, verification and validation (V&V), and implementation of a new plant process computer (PPC) and turbine control system (TCS) at a representative nuclear power plant. This paper reviews ways to take a human-system interface (HSI) specification and use it when migrating legacy PPC displays or designing displays with new functionality. These displays undergo iterative usability testing during the design phase and then undergo an integrated system validation (ISV) in a full scope control room training simulator. Following the successful demonstration of operator performance with the systems during the ISV, the new system is implemented at the plant, first in the training simulator and then in the main control room.

Control Room Design Review Guidance

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) evaluates the human factors engineering (HFE) of nuclear power plant design and operations to protect public health and safety. The HFE safety reviews encompass both the design process and its products. Detailed guidance for these reviews is provided in two key documents: the HFE Program Review Model (NUREG-0711) and the Human-System Interface Design Review Guidelines (NUREG-0700). The NRC is committed to the periodic update and improvement of the guidance to ensure that they remain state-of-the-art design evaluation tools. In this paper we will describe the guidance development and update methodology and the topics being addressed for both key documents. The guidance update program will improve document usability as well.

Developing a Real Time Electrocardiogram System Using Virtual Bio-Instrumentation

Today bio-manufacturers propose various electrocardiogram (ECG) instruments that have addressed a wide variety of clinical issues. However, the discovery of new applications in ECG devices that provide doctors with the right information at the right time and in the right way will help them to provide a highest quality care possible. In this paper, we focus on the development of an accurate and robust virtual bio-instrument. The important goals of the described project is to provide online new diagnostic informations, an accurate analysis algorithm applied to the acquired signals, data capture from commercial monitors, fast real time ECG acquisition, real time data display and recording of real ECG signals which results in the improvement of data availability. The virtual bio-instrument is validated and tested on the level of robustness, diagnostic accuracy, diagnostic impact and Human - System Interface (HSI) functioning with collaboration of the cardiologists.

Estimation of expected human attention weights based on a decision field theory model

Modeling human decision making behavior is of great interest in understanding how a decision maker weights different decision attributes when making a decision. Such knowledge is critically important in helping predict future decisions, evaluating human decision performance, and improving the design of human and machine interface systems. Decision field theory (DFT) provides a psychological representation of the cognitive deliberation process, which is driven by the fluctuations of a person’s attention among decision attributes. In this research area, the most common use of a DFT model is to estimate or predict the human decisions by using a set of pre-specified expected attention weights (EAWs) in the DFT model. Unlike other research, this paper extends the capabilities of DFT in a complementary direction, showing how to fit or train a DFT model by estimating the EAW based on sequentially obtained samples of decision trials. Furthermore, the inherent connection between the EAW and the decision choice uncertainty is investigated. The proposed modeling method is discussed in detail for a two-alternative decision scenario based on two attributes. Both simulations and a case study are conducted in the paper to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modeling approach.

To Formulate a Selective Patient Safety-related Policy for a Tertiary Care Hospital

ABSTRACT Patient safety is the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of healthcare (WHO). Accuracy of patient identification remains a priority focus of healthcare organization. Identifying patients accurately presents many unique challenges in today's healthcare settings. We need to understand how human factors can be used to reduce adverse events. Using a human factor approach, the human system interface can be improved by providing better designed system and processes. This involves simplifying processes, standardizing procedures, providing back up when human fails, improving communication, redesigning equipment and engendering a consciousness of behavioral organization and technological limitation that lead to error. The above study was an initiative toward simplifying processes and standardizing procedures. It was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out between April to August 2013. The tool used was a check list made after an exhaustive review of literature and validated by experts in quality assurance from NABH accredited private hospitals. The study population of 100 people which included doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and quality managers of tertiary care public and private hospitals were approached for interaction against the back drop of the check list. Response rate was 61%. Policy was framed after incorporating inputs from responses received against the back drop of the check list. How to cite this article Singh S, Gupta SK, Arya S, Aggarwal V. To Formulate a Selective Patient Safety-related Policy for a Tertiary Care Hospital. Int J Res Foundation Hosp Healthc Adm 2014;2(2):94-102.

風発生装置の送風に対する“爽快感”の測定

This study is designed to clarify sensation in Human Interface Systems based on sensory evaluation and measurement of physiological responses. This paper describes the measurement of the feeling of ‘invigoration’ under artificial ventilation. In addition, the relationship between sensory evaluation and physiological responses is investigated. (Physiological responses include facial skin temperature and sympathetic nerve activity index.) Experimental data shows that, under certain conditions, the sympathetic nerve activity index can be used as a quantitative measure of the feeling of ‘invigoration’ under artificial winds. As a result, under conditions that expose the whole body or the lower body to wind, the sympathetic nerve activity index corresponds with the feeling of ‘invigoration’ as evaluated by thermal and comfort sensory assessments. However, under conditions that expose only the upper body to wind, it is thought that negative feelings associated with wind on one’s face negatively influence the sensory evaluation index. Therefore, in these situations, sensory evaluation does not correspond with the sympathetic nerve activity index.

A development of a quantitative situation awareness measurement tool: Computational Representation of Situation Awareness with Graphical Expressions (CoRSAGE)

Operator performance measures are used for multiple purposes, such as control room design, human system interface (HSI) evaluation, training, and so on. Performance measures are often focused on results; however, especially for a training purpose – at least in a nuclear industry, more detailed descriptions about processes are required. Situation awareness (SA) measurements have directly/indirectly played as a complimentary measure and provided descriptive insights on how to improve performance of operators for the next training. Unfortunately, most of the well-developed SA measurement techniques, such as Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT) need an expert opinion which sometimes troubles easy spread of measurement’s application or usage. A quantitative SA measurement tool named Computational Representation of Situation Awareness with Graphical Expressions (CoRSAGE) is introduced to resolve some of these concerns. CoRSAGE is based on production rules to represent a human operator’s cognitive process of problem solving, and Bayesian inference to quantify it. Petri Net concept is also used for graphical expressions of SA flow. Three components – inference transition, volatile/non-volatile memory tokens – were newly developed to achieve required functions. Training data of a Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) scenario for an emergency condition and an earthquake scenario for an abnormal condition by real plant operators were used to validate the tool. The validation result showed that CoRSAGE performed a reasonable match to other performance results.

Data extraction and analysis for integrated system validation of a nuclear power plant

The design, construction, and operation of nuclear power plants require human factors engineering review to ensure the safety of the system. As one of the important part of the human factors engineering review, integrated system validation (ISV) is the integrated evaluation of the system under high fidelity simulation condition. It validates whether the design of the integrated system can support safe operations of the plant based on the performance of both the plant and operators in the test. This study demonstrates the data extraction and analysis for the ISV of the digital monitoring and control system of a nuclear power plant, with focuses on human–system interaction behaviors to reveal problems associated with interface design. Suggestions are provided for the design of human–system interface and also the measures, data collection, and data processing of validation test.

Comparing the Performance, Workload, and Usability of a Gamepad and Joystick in a Complex Task

Complex human system interface systems such as unmanned vehicles utilize controls that range from standard joystick and keyboard interfaces to Xbox controllers. However, few research studies have been conducted to compare Xbox controllers with other types of interfaces, showing mixed results between those controllers. The current study compared the performance of a joystick and keyboard interface with that of an Xbox controller in both a low and high difficulty task. The results indicate that the Xbox controller had lower tracking errors and trended to lower workload and a slightly higher usability score as measured by the system usability scale (SUS). An interaction between difficulty and controller was not found, however allowing for a longer practice time with the interfaces may have shown significant differences which are planned in a future study. Overall these results indicate favorable results that an Xbox controller may be a viable control interface for complex human system interaction tasks.