Optimal Human Performance Research Articles

Design of Human Surrogates for the Study of Biomechanical Injury: A Review

Human surrogates are representations of living human structures employed to replicate "real-life" injurious scenarios in artificial environments. They are used primarily to evaluate personal protective equipment (PPE) or integrated safety systems (e.g., seat belts) in a wide range of industry sectors (e.g., automotive, military, security service, and sports equipment). Surrogates are commonly considered in five major categories relative to their form and functionality: human volunteers, postmortem human surrogates, animal surrogates, anthropomorphic test devices, and computational models. Each surrogate has its relative merits. Surrogates have been extensively employed in scenarios concerning "life-threatening" impacts (e.g., penetrating bullets or automotive accidents). However, more frequently occurring nonlethal injuries (e.g., fractures, tears, lacerations, contusions) often result in full or partial debilitation in contexts where optimal human performance is crucial (e.g., military, sports). Detailed study of these injuries requires human surrogates with superior biofidelity to those currently available if PPE designs are to improve. The opportunities afforded by new technologies, materials, instrumentation, and processing capabilities should be exploited to develop a new generation of more sophisticated human surrogates. This paper presents a review of the current state of the art in human surrogate construction, highlighting weaknesses and opportunities, to promote research into improved surrogates for PPE development.

A novel human body exergy consumption formula to determine indoor thermal conditions for optimal human performance in office buildings

In this paper, a novel human body exergy consumption formula was derived strictly according to Gagge's two-node thermal transfer model. The human body exergy consumption calculated by the formula was compared with values calculated using Shukuya's formula for a typical office environment. The results show that human body exergy consumption calculated by either of these formulas reaches a minimum under the same thermal condition. It is shown that this is in accordance with expectation. The relation between human performance and human body exergy consumption was studied by analyzing the data obtained in simulated office environments in winter. The results show that human body exergy consumption and human performance are inversely as operative temperature changes from 17 to 28°C or human thermal sensation changes from −1.0 to +1.4, and that optimum thermal comfort cannot be expected to lead to optimal human performance, as has so often been assumed. According to the second law of thermodynamics, it makes sense that optimal human performance coincides with minimum human body exergy consumption and that this should occur under thermal conditions in which human thermal sensation is close to “slightly cool”.

Multimodal sensory information requirements for enhancing situation awareness and training effectiveness

Virtual training systems use multimodal technology to provide realistic training scenarios. To determine the benefits of adopting multimodal training strategies, it is essential to identify the critical knowledge, skills and attitudes that are being targeted in training and relate these to the multimodal human sensory systems that should be stimulated to support this acquisition. This paper focuses on trainee situation awareness and develops a multimodal optimisation of situation awareness conceptual model that outlines how multimodality may be used to optimise perception, comprehension and prediction of object recognition, spatial and temporal components of awareness. Specific multimodal design techniques are presented, which map desired training outcomes and supporting sensory requirements to training system design guidelines for optimal trainee situation awareness and human performance.

Integrating Naval Aviation Maintenance Training with Sailors' Proficiency Qualification and Its Correlation with Improved Weapon System Readiness

AbstractA core role for human systems integration is providing support of weapon systems operational effectiveness with optimal human performance (HP). When applied to the readiness of an aviation squadron, this focus on enhanced operational HP translates into ensuring that highly trained and proficient maintenance technicians are resident in these warfighting units. A key objective of the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) Total Force Readiness program is to bridge Core Capabilities to Missions. This is accomplished through the linking of Navy Mission Essential Task Lists (NMETLs) to Skill Sets and Performance Standards for its future workforce. These goals can be accomplished from Initial Development to Deployment of a weapons system through its operational and support phases of the Department of Defense acquisition process using a mission/task‐centric approach to Manpower, Personnel, and Training (MPT) requirements, with NMETLs as the operational thread. This paper will describe a life‐cycle MPT analytic environment with its task‐level links to systems and human engineering disciplines. A systematic approach to accessing and training a proficient maintenance workforce is presented, focusing on task‐based maintenance training solutions for optimal unit readiness and mission capabilities. An innovative analytic framework from various skills‐based manpower analysis studies will be cited as a means to transform system and unit MPT performance for Total Force Readiness. Enhanced by a Qualified and Proficient Technician methodology, a capability (missions) and competency (proficient) future workforce with skills‐efficient maintainers will be best suited to achieving optimal readiness of weapons systems within the NAE.

Mind over Matter: Exploring Job Stress among Female Blue-Collar Workers

Although overall health has been defined holistically as the integration of a person's optimal mental, physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual well-being, a mental health focus remains on the fringe of many public health efforts. This report describes recent efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to explore job stress among female blue-collar workers. Using a more holistic approach to understand its impact on blue-collar women's overall health, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) was used to assess optimal human performance. Attempting to encapsulate how overall health affects one's ability to participate and fulfill daily personal/professional tasks, HRQOL yields a broader understanding of the interaction between psychological well-being (mind) and physical functioning (matter). Embedding CDC HRQOL-4 measures into a questionnaire used as part of a larger mixed methods project, blue-collar women responded to questions about their health, including both mental and physical. For these female workers, mental health appeared to be of greater consequence, which could be interpreted as mind being more significant than matter. This paper highlights the findings related to HRQOL issues experienced by these female blue-collar workers and summarizes recommendations for effective individual and organizational approaches to address job stress.

Experimental Design Interrogation of Network Simulation Models of U.S. Army Command and Control Centers

Using a task network computer simulation previously developed by the U.S. Army to investigate workload conditions in a command and control center, this project developed new methodologies to use computer simulations to predict conditions for optimal human performance. By using an experimental design to interrogate the model to see what the decision makers in the work team deemed to be important, predictions were made about how the work domain could be optimized for the most efficient human performance. An augmented fractional-factorial design was developed that allowed an analysis of the main effect for each independent variable along with predictions of higher order components that might exist in each main effect. A major study finding was the extent to which battalion commanders focused their attention on establishing and maintaining situational awareness during combat operations and the need to present information to the commander in a way that supported rather than detracted from situation understanding.

Sleep and Vestibular Adaptation: Implications for Function in Microgravity

Optimal human performance depends upon integrated sensorimotor and cognitive functions, both of which are known to be exquisitely sensitive to loss of sleep. Under the microgravity conditions of space flight, adaptation of both sensorimotor (especially vestibular) and cognitive functions (especially orientation) must occur quickly--and be maintained--despite any concurrent disruptions of sleep that may be caused by microgravity itself, or by the uncomfortable sleeping conditions of the spacecraft. It is the three-way interaction between sleep quality, general work efficiency, and sensorimotor integration that is the subject of this paper and the focus of new work in our laboratory. To record sleep under field conditions including microgravity, we utilize a novel system called the Nightcap that we have developed and extensively tested on normal and sleep-disordered subjects. To perturb the vestibular system in ground-based studies, we utilize a variety of experimental conditions including optokinetic stimulation and both minifying and reversing goggle paradigms that have been extensively studied in relation to plasticity of the vestibulo-ocular reflex. Using these techniques we will test the hypothesis that vestibular adaptation both provokes and is enhanced by REM sleep under both ground-based and space conditions. In this paper we describe preliminary results of some of our studies.

Human Performance Evaluation of Alternative Graphic Display Symbologies

Nonmilitary subjects learned each of two types of foreground symbol sets (conventional symbols and iconic symbols) and were then shown a series of computer displays containing various symbol configurations. Each subject was required to search for specified foreground symbols under the conditions of high and low density of symbols, restricted and nonrestricted search, and pictorial versus nonpictorial target-symbol presentation. Iconic symbols yielded faster search times than conventional symbols under the condition of nonrestricted search and under the condition of nonpictorial target symbol presentation. These results suggest that iconic symbols are both easier to locate and easier to recall from memory. In addition, regardless of the type of symbology, high-density display increased search times. It was concluded that a system that incorporates both iconic symbols and selective call-up on foreground information would likely result in optimal human performance on search-related tasks.