Basic Commerce and Industries (United States)

There are several different technical disciplines focused on improving the systems that humans use, creating an ‘alphabet soup’ of acronyms to stay abreast of. While they all build upon a common emphasis of developing systems around their users, there are differences (both perceived and real) across disciplines such as Human Factors Engineering (HFE), Human Systems Integration (HSI), Human Computer Interaction (HCI), User Experience (UX), and Design Thinking (DT). A panel discussed what each of these disciplines are (and what they are not), when and how they get involved in system development, their philosophies and methods for system development, and where they share common interests. Panelists were asked philosophical, practical, and scenario-based questions, before opening the floor to the audience.

Industry 4.0 is influencing the mining industry segment; from this influence, digital transformation projects arise by implementing new technologies to optimize production and maintenance processes. In the mining industry, the conveyor belt is one of the primary means of conveying large quantities of bulk material, capable of moving any solid volume over long distances at high production rates. Rollers are part of this process, and due to their massive use in conveyors, rollers' failures may cause unexpected recurrent stops in operation and, consequently, impact negatively on operational effectiveness. Although several initiatives have been aimed at detecting, predicting, or preventing these failures, there are still no definitive solutions to prevent roller failures. This study has proposed and evaluated, in a case study, an embedded monitoring solution based on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and LoRaWAN technologies to keep track of the rollers' service life. Finds show that embedded solutions may improve the fail detection capability and prevent damage, reducing unexpected plant shutdowns and production losses.

<p>Comprised of a broad range of primary activities, Hawke’s Bay is one of New Zealand’s foremost agricultural provinces. Consequently, the province provides an excellent template by which to assess New Zealand agriculture and test differing perspectives of staples-led development. Importantly, the province provides a positive example of staples-led growth and this thesis argues that adjustment within, rather than abandonment of, existing primary production structures has been a rational response to changed economic, social and political circumstances since 1945. Most particularly, two essential adjustment mechanisms existed. First, a dynamic process of land use inter-changeability provided the flexibility required for diversification and delivered strong relative investment returns. Second, levels of corporatisation and internationalisation increased significantly as participants sought productivity enhancements, greater scale and additional capital. Crucially, although aspects of classical staples theory are evident in Hawke’s Bay after 1945, the development of the province’s primary sector does not support interpretations of classical theory as a ‘staples trap.’ Therefore, Hawke’s Bay’s multi-polar model of staples-led economic development challenges the notion, typified by Sutch, that primary sector led economic development is undesirable. It is similarly significant that scholars have not previously considered staples theory within a dynamic system of land use change. The history of the Hawke’s Bay primary sector since 1945 enables the consideration of broader issues in New Zealand’s economic history. Tariffs, regulation, deregulation and agricultural subsidies played a prominent role in the province after World War Two, the impact of which permits one to locate the Hawke’s Bay story in the wider history of the New Zealand economy. But most importantly, Hawke’s Bay illustrates the distortions of productivism, a concept backed in the first instance by New Zealand farmers and later pursued by the New Zealand government as a remedy for declining agricultural commodity prices and farm profitability. Historical evidence from Hawke’s Bay suggests that productivism and its policy offspring, most notably Supplementary Minimum Prices, rendered the task of structural adjustment to declining commodity prices and changed market conditions substantially more difficult.</p>

After receiving feedback that a specific military Quick Reference Guide (QRG) was not helping the target user group perform their job, a human factors effort was undertaken to improve the general usability of the document. In researching the best path forward for enacting usability improvements, the authors found no shortage of literature on the subject of website “help” sections or general instructional documentation, but discovered an unfortunate dearth of materials pertaining to the human factors of QRGs. A novel method was therefore established, consisting of three-steps: (1) physical structure assessment, (2) a re-organization of contents to better match user mental models, and (3) comparison against a tailored human factors checklist. While the human factors effort described in this paper is ongoing, preliminary changes have been well-received by the targeted user group, and future work has been identified.

With the advent of increasing advances in visual display technology, MIL-STD-1472F, Design Criteria Standard for Human Engineering, was designated for an upgrade to capture how new technologies may have impacted its display standards. Large-Screen Displays (LSDs) were subject to review and, henceforth, the following study emerged. Six variables were chosen for inclusion in the present experiment: display type (monitor v. projector), ambient lighting (light v. dark), viewing distance (8 ft, 16 ft, 32 ft), viewing offset (0°, 25°), object type (letter, number, symbol), and object size (in terms of visual angle, i.e., 6 min, 8 min, 10 min). The variables chosen were expected to impact operator performance in terms of response time and accuracy based on stimulus legibility. The results did not support any reductions in current minimum text size, but new recommendations for preferred text size, symbol size, viewing distance, and viewing offset were established.

The US Navy is currently implementing “optimal manning” approaches to the design of future warships. Simply put, this emphasis takes the form of designing and deploying ships whose blend of human and mechanical/computer-based systems reduces the need for traditionally large crews while improving overall system performance and safety. Reflecting this emphasis, a Future Surface Combatant program currently in the design stage is the first Navy procurement in which the principles of user-centered design (UCD) and human-systems integration (HSI) are key design drivers. The integration of UCD and HSI methods has never been attempted in a design effort of this magnitude, and has inevitably led to illuminating insights on the part of human factors, system engineering, and other disciplines engaged in the effort. This paper provides an overview of “lessons learned,” and is intended to assist the future integration of UCD and HSI principles into the design of similarly complex systems.

Celebrations provide a conclusion to what has gone before while preparing us for what is yet to come. They are an interruption of our routines, and they make us aware of the ways in which, most of the time, our lifeworld is strictly limited to what we expect and anticipate. Year is an attempt to explore and experience those things that we do not normally notice because we are too busy. Because abstraction simply is, it has the potential to make us see differently. Year makes use of both digital artifacts and analog processing effects to create its abstract imagery (Color Plate A No. 1). The movie explores our ability to visualize space and movement through color. Compression artifacts present us with a readymade image of interpretation and memory made visible by the technical properties of our technology. Digital signal decay is an almost inevitable consequence of working with compressed video, and the presence of these artifacts is magnified by successive generations of processing. Portions of Year were also processed with analog machinery during my residency at the Experimental Television Center in Owego, New York, allowing me to draw together more than a decade of studio experiments with color, space, motion and perception [1]. The movie can be seen in two variations, which differ in how color acts to create space: a stereoscopic version and a flat version. Which version we see

Abstract Biological assays using aquatic invertebrates and fish do not necessarily predict protection levels for primary producers such as algae and aquatic macrophytes. State regulatory programs may not be protecting the environment from many phytotoxic compounds. Recent modifications of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's algal test were evaluated for their potential use as a regulatory assay. Primary goals of this investigation were to downsize the algal assay and to evaluate various methods of automation. Disposable microplates with 2-ml sample wells were evaluated as an alternative testing chamber for the 96-h growth inhibition test with Raphidocelis subcapitata (formerly known as Selenastrum capricornutum). We compared the standardized Erlenmeyer® flask test to the microplate test using CuCl2, NaCl, phenol, ZnCl2, and a surfactant. We noted improved control performance with the microplate test, whereas median inhibitory concentration values were similar for both methods. Other procedures we addressed included the use of EDTA, filtration of samples, and the effect of colored samples on algal growth. We also evaluated growth estimates by comparing manual cell counting to more automated growth estimates using fluorescence and ab-sorbance endpoints. The use of fluorescence and absorbance measurements demonstrated reductions in replicate variability over manual counting and may offer time-saving alternatives for laboratory analysts.