DroneSim: a VR-based flight training simulator for drone-mediated building inspections

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilles Albeaino ◽  
Ricardo Eiris ◽  
Masoud Gheisari ◽  
Raja Raymond Issa
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Flight Training ◽  
Training Simulator ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Construction Education ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Flight Operations ◽  
Inspection Tasks ◽  
Management Students ◽  
Nasa Task Load Index

Purpose This study aims to explore DroneSim, a virtual reality (VR)-based flight training simulator, as an alternative for real-world drone-mediated building inspection training. Design/methodology/approach Construction, engineering and management students were asked to pilot drones in the VR-based DroneSim space and perform common flight operations and inspection tasks within the spatiotemporal context of a building construction project. Another student group was also recruited and asked to perform a similar building inspection task in real world. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)–Task Load Index (TLX) survey was used to assess students’ inflight workload demand under both Real and DroneSim conditions. Post-assessment questionnaires were also used to analyze students’ feedback regarding the usability and presence of DroneSim for drone building inspection training. Findings None of the NASA–TLX task load levels under real and DroneSim conditions were highly rated by students, and both groups experienced comparable drone-building inspection training. Students perceived DroneSim positively and found the VR experience stimulating. Originality/value This study’s contribution is twofold: to better understand the development stages involved in the design of a VR-based drone flight training simulator, specifically for building inspection tasks; and to improve construction students’ drone operational and flight training skills by offering them the opportunity to enhance their drone navigation skills in a risk-free, repeatable yet realistic environment. Such contributions ultimately pave the way for better integration of drone-mediated building inspection training in construction education while meeting industry needs.

scholarly journals WAUC: A Multi-Modal Database for Mental Workload Assessment Under Physical Activity

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabela Albuquerque ◽  
Abhishek Tiwari ◽  
Mark Parent ◽  
Raymundo Cassani ◽  
Jean-François Gagnon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Real World ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Mental Workload ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Skin Response ◽  
Nasa Task Load Index ◽  
Blood Volume Pulse

Assessment of mental workload is crucial for applications that require sustained attention and where conditions such as mental fatigue and drowsiness must be avoided. Previous work that attempted to devise objective methods to model mental workload were mainly based on neurological or physiological data collected when the participants performed tasks that did not involve physical activity. While such models may be useful for scenarios that involve static operators, they may not apply in real-world situations where operators are performing tasks under varying levels of physical activity, such as those faced by first responders, firefighters, and police officers. Here, we describe WAUC, a multimodal database of mental Workload Assessment Under physical aCtivity. The study involved 48 participants who performed the NASA Revised Multi-Attribute Task Battery II under three different activity level conditions. Physical activity was manipulated by changing the speed of a stationary bike or a treadmill. During data collection, six neural and physiological modalities were recorded, namely: electroencephalography, electrocardiography, breathing rate, skin temperature, galvanic skin response, and blood volume pulse, in addition to 3-axis accelerometry. Moreover, participants were asked to answer the NASA Task Load Index questionnaire after each experimental section, as well as rate their physical fatigue level on the Borg fatigue scale. In order to bring our experimental setup closer to real-world situations, all signals were monitored using wearable, off-the-shelf devices. In this paper, we describe the adopted experimental protocol, as well as validate the subjective, neural, and physiological data collected. The WAUC database, including the raw data and features, subjective ratings, and scripts to reproduce the experiments reported herein will be made available at: http://musaelab.ca/resources/.

scholarly journals Desktop lighting for comfortable use of a computer screen

Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (s1) ◽  
pp. S209-S221
Author(s):  
Lu Han ◽  
Hechen Zhang ◽  
Zhongxia Xiang ◽  
Jinze Shang ◽  
Shabila Anjani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Intensity ◽  
Motion Tracking ◽  
Tracking System ◽  
Computer User ◽  
Eye Tracker ◽  
Computer Screen ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Trunk Movements ◽  
Motion Tracking System ◽  
Nasa Task Load Index

BACKGROUND: The contrast between a bright computer screen and a dark ambient environment may influence comfort of the users, especially on their eyes. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to identify the optimal desktop lighting for the comfortable use of the computer screen in a dark environment. METHODS: An experiment was designed where seven illumination setups were introduced for the users to perform their leisure tasks on a computer screen. Fifteen healthy subjects participated in the experiments. During each session, durations of the eye blinks, fixations and saccades of the user were recorded by an eye tracker. His/her neck and trunk movements were recorded by a motion tracking system as well. The comfort/discomfort questionnaire, localized postural discomfort questionnaire, NASA task load index and computer user questionnaire were used to record the overall comfort/discomfort, the local perceived physical discomfort, the cognitive workload, and general/eye health problems, respectively. RESULTS: Subjective and objective measurement results indicated that users felt more comfortable with high intensity warm lights using a computer screen. We also identified that the eye fixation durations, as well as the scores of two questions in the computer user questionnaire, have significant negative correlations with comfort. On the other side, the durations of blinks and the scores of three questions in the computer user questionnaire, were significantly correlated with discomfort. CONCLUSION: The warm (3000K) and high intensity (1500 lux) light reduced the visual and cognitive fatigue of the user and therefore improve the comfort of the user during the use of a computer screen.

Influence of Task and Situational Variables on the Applicability of Vigilance Data to Physical Security

1980 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 606-607
Author(s):  
Ben B. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Clear Trend ◽  
General Belief ◽  
Situational Variables ◽  
Performance Requirements ◽  
Limited Applicability ◽  
Machine Systems ◽  
Inspection Tasks ◽  
The Many

Vigilance is one of the most thoroughly researched areas of human performance. Volumes have been written concerning vigilance performance in both laboratory and real-world settings, and there is a clear trend in the literature toward an increasing emphasis on the study of operational task behavior under environmental conditions that are common to real world jobs. Although a great deal of this research has been designed to test various aspects of the many theories of vigilance, there is a general belief that vigilance research is relevant and applicable to the performances required in real-world monitoring and inspection tasks. Indeed, many of the reported studies are justified on the basis of their apparent relevance to vigilance requirements in modern man-machine systems, industrial inspection tasks, and military jobs. There is a growing body of literature, however, which suggests that many vigilance studies are of limited applicability to operational task performance. For example, Kibler (1965) has argued that technological changes have altered job performance requirements to the extent that laboratory vigilance studies are no longer applicable to real-world jobs. Many others have simply been unable to reproduce the typical “vigilance decrement” in field situations. This has led Teichner (1974) to conclude that “the decremental function itself is more presumed than established.”

Improving recommender systems’ performance on cold-start users and controversial items by a new similarity model

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masoud Mansoury ◽  
Mehdi Shajari
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Cold Start ◽  
Selection Function ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Real World Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
User Similarity ◽  
Active User ◽  
Similarity Model

Purpose This paper aims to improve the recommendations performance for cold-start users and controversial items. Collaborative filtering (CF) generates recommendations on the basis of similarity between users. It uses the opinions of similar users to generate the recommendation for an active user. As a similarity model or a neighbor selection function is the key element for effectiveness of CF, many variations of CF are proposed. However, these methods are not very effective, especially for users who provide few ratings (i.e. cold-start users). Design/methodology/approach A new user similarity model is proposed that focuses on improving recommendations performance for cold-start users and controversial items. To show the validity of the authors’ similarity model, they conducted some experiments and showed the effectiveness of this model in calculating similarity values between users even when only few ratings are available. In addition, the authors applied their user similarity model to a recommender system and analyzed its results. Findings Experiments on two real-world data sets are implemented and compared with some other CF techniques. The results show that the authors’ approach outperforms previous CF techniques in coverage metric while preserves accuracy for cold-start users and controversial items. Originality/value In the proposed approach, the conditions in which CF is unable to generate accurate recommendations are addressed. These conditions affect CF performance adversely, especially in the cold-start users’ condition. The authors show that their similarity model overcomes CF weaknesses effectively and improve its performance even in the cold users’ condition.

scholarly journals How to evaluate sustainability of supply chains? A dynamic network DEA approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (9) ◽  
pp. 1866-1889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vahid Shokri Kahi ◽  
Saeed Yousefi ◽  
Hadi Shabanpour ◽  
Reza Farzipoor Saen
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Real World ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Network Dynamic ◽  
Network Dea ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Dea Model ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
First Time

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel network and dynamic data envelopment analysis (DEA) model for evaluating sustainability of supply chains. In the proposed model, all links can be considered in calculation of efficiency score. Design/methodology/approach A dynamic DEA model to evaluate sustainable supply chains in which networks have series structure is proposed. Nature of free links is defined and subsequently applied in calculating relative efficiency of supply chains. An additive network DEA model is developed to evaluate sustainability of supply chains in several periods. A case study demonstrates applicability of proposed approach. Findings This paper assists managers to identify inefficient supply chains and take proper remedial actions for performance optimization. Besides, overall efficiency scores of supply chains have less fluctuation. By utilizing the proposed model and determining dual-role factors, managers can plan their supply chains properly and more accurately. Research limitations/implications In real world, managers face with big data. Therefore, we need to develop an approach to deal with big data. Practical implications The proposed model offers useful managerial implications along with means for managers to monitor and measure efficiency of their production processes. The proposed model can be applied in real world problems in which decision makers are faced with multi-stage processes such as supply chains, production systems, etc. Originality/value For the first time, the authors present additive model of network-dynamic DEA. For the first time, the authors outline the links in a way that carry-overs of networks are connected in different periods and not in different stages.

Neural Correspondence to Human Cognition from Analysis to Intuition – Implications of Display Design for Cognition

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph K. Nuamah ◽  
Younho Seong
Keyword(s):  
Objective Measure ◽  
Mental Effort ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Display Design ◽  
Percent Correct ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Frontal Midline Theta ◽  
General Difference ◽  
Nasa Task Load Index

Psychophysiological measures can be used to determine whether a particular display produces a general difference in brain function. Such information might be valuable in efforts to improve usability in display design. In this preliminary study, we aimed to use the electroencephalography (EEG) task load index (TLI), given by the ratio of mean frontal midline theta energy to mean parietal alpha energy, to provide insight into the mental effort required by participants performing intuition-inducing and analysis-inducing tasks. We employed behavioral measures (reaction time and percent correct), and a subjective measure (NASA-Task Load Index) to validate the objective measure (TLI). The results we obtained were consistent with our hypothesis that mental effort required for analysis-inducing tasks would be different from that required for intuition-inducing tasks. Although our sample size was small, we were able to obtain a significant positive correlation between NASA-Task Load Index and TLI.

The effect of novelty in in-game advertising: examining the moderating role of interactivity and congruency

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Devika Vashisht
Keyword(s):  
Brand Attitude ◽  
Interactive Marketing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Recall ◽  
Engagement Theory ◽  
Transportation Theory ◽  
Management Students ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThe motivation behind the study is to look at the impact of novelty in games on brand recall and attitude, and to dissect the directing job of game interactivity from the points of view of “contrast effect,” “engagement theory” and “transportation theory”.Design/methodology/approachA 2 (novelty: congruent or incongruent) × 2 (game interactivity: high or low) between-subject measures design was used. In total, 172 management students participated in the study. A 2 × 2 between-subjects measure multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was utilized to test the hypotheses.FindingsIncongruent novelty results in higher brand recall but less favorable brand attitude than congruent novelty. Interactivity moderates the relationship between novelty congruence and brand recall such that in a high-interactivity condition, incongruent novelty results in higher brand recall than that in the low-interactivity condition. But, in case of the high-interactivity condition, congruent novelty results in more favorable brand attitude than that in the low-interactivity condition.Practical implicationsDeveloping high brand recall rates and attitudes are the prime objectives of the marketers for choosing a medium to advertise their brands. This investigation adds knowledge to the area of interactive marketing, particularly in-game advertising as a media technique to promote brands taking novelty and game interactivity factors into thought.Originality/valueFrom the perspectives of interactive marketing, psychological elaboration, mind-engagement and transportation of experience, this investigation adds to the literature of advanced media advertising, explicitly to in-game advertising by looking at the effect of novelty and game interactivity.

Self-counciousness competence as driver of innovation and environmental commitment in higher education students

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1507-1523
Author(s):  
Marian Buil Fabregá ◽  
Núria Masferrer ◽  
Josep Patau ◽  
Albert-P. Miró Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Environmental Commitment ◽  
Entrepreneurial Skills ◽  
Management Students

Purpose The purpose of this research is to analyse the relationship between entrepreneurial skills and innovation commitment and entrepreneurial skills and environmental commitment as drivers of awareness on sustainable development of higher education students. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 1,318 business and management students out of the 3,535 students of Tecnocampus Pompeu Fabra University in Spain during the 2017-2018 academic year was selected to conduct a survey regarding their entrepreneurial skills and sustainability commitment, resulting in a total number of responses of 515. A structural equation model is proposed to contrast the hypothesis. Findings The statistical analysis showed the existence of a positive relation between the entrepreneurial skill of self-consciousness, innovation and environmental commitment to foster sustainability and sustainable development. It is one of the few studies related to the self-conciousness competence of the entrepreneurial skills which found, as a novelty, that the entrepreneurial skill of self-consciousness is the skill with the greater impact on innovation and environmental commitment. Research limitations/implications The limitations of the study are that it is based on a sample of students taking entrepreneurship courses at a specific Spanish University that is not representative of all entrepreneurs in all universities. Practical implications The research proposes including entrepreneurial skills programmes in higher education and research programmes as a way to assure commitment to innovation and environmental sustainability. Originality/value Promoting entrepreneurial skills among higher education students could act as drivers for sustainable development.

Hybridization of training aircraft with real world flight profiles

2019 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Donateo ◽  
Roberto Totaro
Keyword(s):  
Power System ◽  
Electric Power ◽  
Real World ◽  
Weather Forecast ◽  
Forecast Model ◽  
Electric Power System ◽  
Power Demand ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hybrid Electric ◽  
Modeling Strategy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze real-world flight data of a piston engine training aircraft collected from an internet-based radar service, along with wind data provided by a weather forecast model, and to use such data to design a hybrid electric power system. Design/methodology/approach The modeling strategy starts from the power demand imposed by a real-world wind-corrected flight profile, where speed and altitude are provided as functions of time, and goes through the calculation of the efficiency of the powertrain components when they meet such demand. Each component of the power system and, in particular, the engine and the propeller, is simulated as a black box with an efficiency depending on the actual working conditions. In the case of hybrid electric power system, the battery charging and discharging processes are simulated with the Shepherd model. Findings The variability of power demand and fuel consumption for a training aircraft is analyzed by applying the proposed methodology to the Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee, a very popular aircraft used for flight training, air taxi and personal use. The potentiality of hybridization is assessed by analyzing the usage of the engine over more than 90 flights. A tentative sizing of a hybrid electric power system is also proposed. It guarantees a fuel saving of about 5%. Originality/value The scientific contribution and the novelty of the investigation are related to the modeling methodology, which takes into account real-world flight conditions, and the application of hybridization to a training aircraft.

Verbal Cues and Attentional Focus: A Simulated Target-Shooting Experiment

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louisa D. Raisbeck ◽  
Jed A. Diekfuss
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Verbal Cues ◽  
Task Load ◽  
External Focus ◽  
Gun Barrel ◽  
Internal Focus ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Nasa Task Load Index ◽  
Learning And Performance

Performance benefits exist for an external focus of attention compared with an internal focus of attention for performance and learning (Wulf, 2013). It is unknown, however, if varying the number of verbal cues affects learning and performance. Focus of attention and the number of verbal cues were manipulated during a simulated handgun-shooting task. For the internal focus conditions, participants were told to focus on their hand, arm, and wrist, whereas the external focus instructions were to focus on the gun, gun barrel, and gun stock. To manipulate the number of verbal cues, participants received instruction to focus on a single verbal cue or multiple verbal cues. Shooting performance was assessed at baseline, acquisition, and at two separate retention phases (immediate, delayed) that included transfer tests. Participants completed the NASA—Task Load Index to assess workload following all trials. Participants who received one verbal cue performed significantly better during immediate retention than those who received three verbal cues. Participants who used external focus of attention instructions had higher performance and reported less workload at delayed retention compared to those who used internal focus instructions. This research provides further support for the benefits of an external focus and highlights the importance of minimizing the number of verbal cues.

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