Fatigue in Boat Operation: The Development of a Visual Alertness Stressor Test (VAST)

1975 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 494-497
Author(s):  
C. Christian Stiehl

The use of secondary task to measure degradations in the performance of a primary task is well documented in the human performance literature. This paper describes research in the design, construction, and development of the Visual Alertness Stressor Test (VAST) as a means of measuring the effects of stressors on a boat operator's performance. The VAST task required the subject to respond to particular patterns of lights displayed in a semi-circle around the cockpit of the boat while he maintained a specified course with the boat. The basic measures taken were the response times and the number of missed signals. A 2 − 2 factorial design was used where the factors were the type and amount of fatigue that the subject experienced. The results confirmed that the overall effect of “typical” exposure to the environmental stressors of boating was a significant degradation in performance. The main effect of type of fatigue was insignificant, as was the interaction of type of fatigue and amount of fatigue. Implications for boating safety as well as future research efforts and applications of VAST are discussed.

Author(s):  
Bradley Chase ◽  
Holly M. Irwin-Chase ◽  
Jaclyn T. Sonico

Individual differences in human performance is an issue that confounds many studies and has not been properly controlled in the ergonomics/human factors literature. This paper examines the concept of individual differences in performance primarily from the perspective of cognitive performance. A study was designed to test the effect of a secondary visual task on a primary visual task. In one condition, participants performed the dual task, while assigning no weight to the secondary task. In the second condition, the primary task was performed simultaneously with the secondary task. The effect of the added workload was measured via the effect on primary task performance. In the baseline portion of the task participants had their baseline (80–90% accuracy) of performance collected by adjusting the stimulus duration. The individual participant stimulus duration was then used as the experimental stimulus duration and the effect of secondary task performance on primary task performance was measured.


1984 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 539-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Gawron ◽  
Louis Knotts

The Malcolm Horizon, a Peripheral Vision Display (PVD), was installed in the NT-33A variable stability research aircraft to provide the evaluation pilot with a gyro-stabilized horizon line of red laser light. An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of the PVD on pilot workload. Workload was inferred from performance on a secondary task, in this case the Sternberg task, generated by the Workload Assessment Device (WAD). The primary task required the pilot to maintain airspeed, altitude, and angle of bank during instrument flight conditions. Nine NT-33A flights were flown by two evaluation pilots. Presence of the PVD reduced the WAD reaction times of one of the pilots; the reaction times of the other pilot showed mixed results. Recommendations for future research are presented.


2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrice D. Tremoulet ◽  
Kathleen M. Stibler ◽  
Patrick Craven ◽  
Joyce Barton ◽  
Adam Gifford ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Muhammad Yousaf ◽  
Petr Bris

A systematic literature review (SLR) from 1991 to 2019 is carried out about EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) excellence model in this paper. The aim of the paper is to present state of the art in quantitative research on the EFQM excellence model that will guide future research lines in this field. The articles were searched with the help of six strings and these six strings were executed in three popular databases i.e. Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct. Around 584 peer-reviewed articles examined, which are directly linked with the subject of quantitative research on the EFQM excellence model. About 108 papers were chosen finally, then the purpose, data collection, conclusion, contributions, and type of quantitative of the selected papers are discussed and analyzed briefly in this study. Thus, this study identifies the focus areas of the researchers and knowledge gaps in empirical quantitative literature on the EFQM excellence model. This article also presents the lines of future research.


2021 ◽  
pp. 028418512110198
Author(s):  
Frank Mosler ◽  
Johannes K Richter ◽  
Marc Schindewolf ◽  
Nando Mertineit ◽  
Hendrik von Tengg-Kobligk ◽  
...  

X-ray contrast media have been reported to have inhibitory effects on bacterial growth. Despite its potentially beneficial effect on patients, these features of contrast media have received relatively little attention in the medical literature in the past decades. The aim of this review is to evaluate the literature concerning the bactericidal and bacteriostatic effects of X-ray contrast media, specifically if there is a known difference concerning these effects between ionic and non-ionic contrast media. Systematic literature review was performed for the years of publication between 1911 and 2019. Since the publication of Grossich in 1911, the effect of iodine on the treatment of superficial infections in surgical procedures has been established clinical knowledge. Bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects of ionic X-ray contrast media are well established. However, non-ionic contrast agents have been the subject of little research in this respect. In past decades, the hypothesis emerged in the literature that mainly the concentration of free iodine might be responsible for any bacteriostatic or bactericidal effect of ionic X-ray contrast media. Nowadays, however, only non-ionic contrast media are used. The question regarding the mechanism and magnitude of bacteriostatic or bactericidal effects of these, non-ionic contrast media, could not be answered conclusively from this review. Non-ionic contrast media could be used intentionally when a local antibacterial effect is intended (e.g. in percutaneous abscess drainage), as well as to reduce the overall dose of antibiotics administered to a patient. Thus, this question remains relevant and might constitute the area of future research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 6222
Author(s):  
Kacper Szewczyk ◽  
Aleksandra Chojnacka ◽  
Magdalena Górnicka

Tocopherols and tocotrienols are natural compounds of plant origin, available in the nature. They are supplied in various amounts in a diet, mainly from vegetable oils, some oilseeds, and nuts. The main forms in the diet are α- and γ-tocopherol, due to the highest content in food products. Nevertheless, α-tocopherol is the main form of vitamin E with the highest tissue concentration. The α- forms of both tocopherols and tocotrienols are considered as the most metabolically active. Currently, research results indicate also a greater antioxidant potential of tocotrienols than tocopherols. Moreover, the biological role of vitamin E metabolites have received increasing interest. The aim of this review is to update the knowledge of tocopherol and tocotrienol bioactivity, with a particular focus on their bioavailability, distribution, and metabolism determinants in humans. Almost one hundred years after the start of research on α-tocopherol, its biological properties are still under investigation. For several decades, researchers’ interest in the biological importance of other forms of vitamin E has also been growing. Some of the functions, for instance the antioxidant functions of α- and γ-tocopherols, have been confirmed in humans, while others, such as the relationship with metabolic disorders, are still under investigation. Some studies, which analyzed the biological role and mechanisms of tocopherols and tocotrienols over the past few years described new and even unexpected cellular and molecular properties that will be the subject of future research.


2021 ◽  
pp. 097340822110125
Author(s):  
Cluny Mendez ◽  
Christopher L. Atkinson

The implementation of sustainability and green public procurement (GPP) initiatives in school districts has been the subject of some debate; questions over definitions and programme goals have led to inconsistency and concerns about programme achievements. The legitimacy of programmes rests not only with the announcement of policy by officials, but with adherence to policy and staff buy-in. This study examines barriers districts face, and makes recommendations based upon district experience on ways to successfully implement sustainability and GPP initiatives. A review of the literature on GPP and legitimacy in the execution of public functions within the education domain begins the study. Major components relative to best practices for GPP programmes are studied through the review of GPP-related documents from a school district in New Jersey considered as an exemplar of such programmes. Analysis of an interview with the district’s representatives suggests that, despite the normative approval such programmes receive, and widespread understanding of the rationale for pursuing such initiatives, there remain critical failings in implementation of these programmes, stemming from education, resourcing of initiatives and prioritization of green procurement in relation to other district priorities. The study concludes with lessons learned from this case, which is important given its positioning within New Jersey as an exemplar and recommendations for future research where work in this area is needed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 915
Author(s):  
Marianna Stella ◽  
Paul E. Engelhardt

In this study, we examined eye movements and comprehension in sentences containing a relative clause. To date, few studies have focused on syntactic processing in dyslexia and so one goal of the study is to contribute to this gap in the experimental literature. A second goal is to contribute to theoretical psycholinguistic debate concerning the cause and the location of the processing difficulty associated with object-relative clauses. We compared dyslexic readers (n = 50) to a group of non-dyslexic controls (n = 50). We also assessed two key individual differences variables (working memory and verbal intelligence), which have been theorised to impact reading times and comprehension of subject- and object-relative clauses. The results showed that dyslexics and controls had similar comprehension accuracy. However, reading times showed participants with dyslexia spent significantly longer reading the sentences compared to controls (i.e., a main effect of dyslexia). In general, sentence type did not interact with dyslexia status. With respect to individual differences and the theoretical debate, we found that processing difficulty between the subject and object relatives was no longer significant when individual differences in working memory were controlled. Thus, our findings support theories, which assume that working memory demands are responsible for the processing difficulty incurred by (1) individuals with dyslexia and (2) object-relative clauses as compared to subject relative clauses.


1959 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 1017-1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Bowsher

The study of the propagation of "plastic" waves in solids has reached a stage where it is necessary to consider which direction future research should take. In the past 90 or so years many experiments, mostly designed to elucidate certain points of engineering significance, and a few attempts at a theoretical study have cast some light on the subject and revealed it as one of formidable difficulty.Nearly all the experiments have of necessity relied on rather dubious theories for their interpretation, and part of the present paper will be devoted to a description of an apparatus which gives results capable of being interpreted with a very minimum of theory. The remainder of the paper is devoted to a short review of past work with particular emphasis on basic phenomena and to a brief discussion on the most pressing problems still remaining. The experiments described in the present paper bring to light a factor in the propagation of "plastic" waves that seems to have been overlooked in previous work.


2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 350-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tali Marcus ◽  
Snunith Shoham

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the factors related to the employee as an individual, that affect the quality and level of the individual’s assimilation of knowledge (AOK) which is transmitted by way of organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach – All subjects (317) of this research were employed at different positions in day camps of a social organization. The study examined the subjects’ AOK relating to the organization’s security and safety procedures. The variables examined in this study include: the employee’s organizational commitment; the employee’s perception of the organization’s culture; the employee’s perception of the advantage inherent in the security and safety information; the employee’s self-efficacy; and the employee’s motivation to assimilate the new knowledge. Findings – The research variables explained a significant part (37 per cent) of the variance obtained with respect to assimilation and learning in the organization. The most powerful explanation for the variance in degree of implementation was the perception of the organization’s security and safety culture and the subject’s self-efficacy. Subjects’ perceived advantage from the knowledge did not make a significant contribution and motivation serves as a mediator but it does not mediate directly between the variables and AOK. Research limitations/implications – The research was conducted in a single organization. We recommend conducting similar studies in other organizations, including other types of organizations, to strengthen the conclusions which derive from our research. We also recommend that future research should use alternative methodologies (e.g. qualitative research and review of the results by experts) since other methodologies might reveal new facts that may have been uncovered in the use of the quantitative method applied in our research. Practical implications – We recommend that an organization which strives to be a learning organization, should pay attention, inter alia, to factors relating to the employees themselves, and in particular: increasing the employees’ self-efficacy, clarifying the benefits to the employee of the transmitted knowledge; and bringing the organization’s values and culture into clearer focus for the employees. Originality/value – The unique nature of our research model is twofold: first, the variables on which we have chosen to focus are different from other studies, and to our knowledge, the combination of these variables and the examination of these variables in relation to learning in the context of organizations have not been examined in other studies. Second, our model gauges the effects of an employee’s subjective perception with relation to his organization’s culture, his perceived advantage with regard to the subject-matter which he is learning and his self-assessed existing knowledge.


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