Human Systems Engineering and Design III

Misinformation or fake news may threaten our democracies, societies, and economies, even individual health and well-being. Humans are usually careful about the things they are being told. They check news or tweets against their knowledge or beliefs and estimate to what extent propositions contain information that is bogus. People have abstract representations of facts in mind. That help them to validate propositions and to search for information suitable for their validation. This paper presents design and prototypical implementation of the Contexter system that enables users to define and manage blueprints of facts or fake news. Contexter takes these blueprints as a schema to detect facts or fake news. It also starts to find variants of these blueprints to detect pieces of text that come semantically close to the propositions addressed by the original blueprint.

Car driver and occupants monitoring is important for safety and comfort. The systems using vision sensors for monitoring the line of sight can be integrated with pressure sensors embedded in the seats to identify critical Out of Position conditions. A new modular car seat is here proposed to monitor the pressure distribution on different significant regions. The solution improves the limitations of existing technologies embedded in seats. The proportional and fast measurement enables online complex evaluations, while the layout reduces the risk of errors. The experiments proved the effectiveness of the prototype.

Recent developments in additive manufacturing technology may initially appear as an emerging opportunity for multiple manufacturing sectors, but there are several serious challenges to the potential application of additive manufacturing with Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) to the yacht design and manufacturing industry. While several boat hulls have been produced using additive manufacturing technologies such as the 3Dirigo demonstration project built at the University of Maine [1], vessels of this type remain experimental prototypes that will require additional testing before the technology proves commercially viable as a construction method. The example of Thermwood’s Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) system to successfully produce a small yacht hull plug mold is a promising application for 3d printing in yacht manufacturing [2]. Other applications of additive manufacturing technology to yacht components have proven viable, especially for small-scale replacement parts and retrofit components [3]. These initial steps into additive manufacturing are promising advances for the yacht design and manufacturing sector, but serious technical challenges remain before FRP hulls can be produced using additive manufacturing technology.

Information in machine-readable form has to be entered by users of information systems in various situations. In the input process, forms with a number of individual fields are commonly used. For the creator, this input can be cumbersome and potentially counterintuitive. For this reason, free text components are becoming increasingly important. Information in the form of free text is not machine-readable as such, and extracting information is complex. The accuracy of existing approaches used to extract information from free text components depends directly on the quality of the used internal model. These models have to be created by experts or trained in advance using the appropriate machine learning methods. The main objective presented in this paper is extracting information as well as enhancing the underlying model on the fly. This implies that the information extraction algorithms apply directly to the user’s input and that the user is enabled to correct possible deficiencies in the model as they arise.

The main objective of this research is to understand the symbolic and cultural readings that the Cork-a-Tex yarn can have as a new fashion design textile. The methodology is divided into two parts: literary review and analysis. The literary review contextualizes the main themes of this paper and the analysis approaches both semiotic and trend methods, framing the case study as a ‘cool signal’ of socio-cultural trends. Both analyses contribute to a cultural reading of meanings behind the case study and promote a better perception of contexts and mindsets. Through this combination of methods, we understand the framework of meanings imprinted on the object. Understanding its cool nature and association with trends reinforces the need for developments of new materials from cork and stimulates research on socio-cultural trends.

This study is the continuation of our previous study and concerns the development of a system that simulates human behavior for use in the design process for an atypical space. This paper aims to identify the psychological causes of human social behavior in atypical architectural geometry, which are essential for the development of a human behavior simulation system. Users interact both individually with a building’s shape and socially with others within an atypical building, and it is necessary to grasp both the form of social action taking place in an atypical space and identify the cause of that form in order to lay the foundation for computerization. In order to analyze the causes of social behaviors of users in an atypical space, we first looked at the actual social behaviors. A representative case was drawn from the results of a survey. Then, a psychological interpretation was attempted based on the literature review. This paper’s primary concern is with the psychological interpretation, and the second half presents a proposal for applying the psychological interpretation to a social behavior simulation system. The results of this study can be used as a foundation for technology that can be integrated into the previously developed ActoViz system to realize a more appropriate simulation for user behavior.

Several first-person lifelog videos are lengthy in duration, and often include scenes that are not useful. This can be problematic for users as it requires a considerable amount of time to watch such a video. Therefore, in this study, we propose an automatic video summarization system for first-person-view videos by employing gaze tracking and object detection, based on human gaze time on an object. Because gaze is useful for capturing a user’s intention and interest, our approach summarily captures their interest and conscious focal points while watching videos. As a result of the experiment, the evaluation value of the summary video generated by the proposed system exceeded that of the summary video in which important scenes are randomly extracted. From these results, it can be said that our system is useful for rapidly watching videos, and summarizing them to reflect user interest. Our system is applicable in many fields, including behavior recognition, visual diary creation, and support for patients having memory impairment.

Version control system is a repository of a source code that provides support in all stages of a software development lifecycle. Success of a version control system is affected by its acceptance by end-users. This paper deals with the adoption of the distributed version control system. With an aim to determine antecedents of satisfaction with as well as behavioral intention related to the reuse of the version control system, we proposed a research model composed of constructs that originate from several theories and models including technology acceptance model, theory of reasoned action, and expectation-confirmation theory. An empirical study was then carried out and was composed of two parts. First, study participants had to complete scenario-based interaction with GitHub as a representative sample of distributed version control systems. As a follow up, study respondents had to fill out the post-use questionnaire. Students from two higher education institutions were included in the study as a representative sample of users. The psychometric features of the research model were examined by means of the partial least squares structural equation modelling method. Study findings uncovered implications for both researchers and practitioners.

Gait analysis consists of evaluating the individual through kinematic analysis, while walking along a surface. Kinematic analysis relates the relative movement between rigid bodies and finds applications in gait analysis. The purpose of this paper is to find the applications of gait analysis, the methodologies used to perform it and conclude about the different methodologies’ uses. A literature search was performed using PRISMA Guidelines. Twenty-two documents fulfilled the inclusion criteria. A total of 15 different countries presented researches in this topic. The areas within which these papers are published include Sports Medicine (7), Pediatric Medicine (1), General Medicine (11), Occupational Medicine (1), Engineering (2). Gait analysis has many different areas of intervention. Some gait parameters are interrelated and there are a few different methodologies available to perform gait analysis. A comprehensive table of results has been developed, where results are presented.

Web-based coding tools are widely accepted in computer science education. The use of these tools allows us to improve learning, but the requirement is to understand the factors that affect their acceptance. Carefully selecting technology that best suits the needs of the task will allow the optimal use of these tools in education. The purpose of this study is to develop a model that incorporates constructs of the Task-technology fit (TTF) model and the Expectation-confirmation model of IT continuance (ECM) to better understand the impact of the tool’s suitability on the user’s behavioral intention. The analysis was performed using the partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling. The results show a significant impact of task-technology fit factor on student satisfaction and their continuance intention. Consequently, this demonstrates that the proposed model is appropriate for understanding the acceptance of web-based programming tools in an educational context.

The COVID’19 pandemic has led to drastic changes in people’s lifestyle around the world, incl. those related to the natural way in which individuals interact and communicate. In order to examine some of the effects of virtual communication during the social isolation, an academic research team from the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at The St. Kliment Ohridsky Sofia University of Bulgaria undertook a study in the declared two-month’s period (13.03.–13.05.2020) of the state of emergency in the country. The researchers conducted a three-folded study: on the sociological polls and the media coverage during the pandemics; on the impacts of virtual communication during the social isolation, using mixed methodology: quantitative and qualitative survey with three groups of respondents: media users, media professionals and media experts; and on the activities of the telecommunication industry. The results of the effects of virtual communication in social isolation were indicative.

Even though it is well-known that co-creation generates opportunities and benefits for organizations, there is still a void in literature concerning participation management practice. This generates mistrust and blurred understandings about it’s strategic relevance. This paper presents three models to manage participation through design principles to close the gap between participation as a mindset and participation as a practice of value co-creation. Participation is a scale and each level refers to the depth in which actors are involved in a certain process, initiative or project and, therefore, the level of engagement they reach. It must be strategically managed through time and with the full spectrum of actors that build a service-ecosystem so as to achieve collaboration and multidimensional value.

The aim of this interaction exhibition of mortise and tenon structure of Chinese traditional furniture is to display the exact and exquisite structure of mortise and tenon and increase the interaction between visitors and the exhibits. All the visitors have chances to participate in the fixing and unfixing process of real mortise and tenon directed by virtual installation instruction. The first plan is to project the installation instruction animation on the wall with the aid of sensor technology. However, the interaction animation can only be displayed on the wall. The second plan is mix real mortise and tenon structure and virtual installation instruction together, while participants would immerse in the real and virtual surroundings with the aid of MR glasses. The experience process is easy and interesting without pressure, although some mortise and tenon is complicated to a certain extent.

Collaboration among remotely distributed professionals is often required in a maintenance context. Professionals need mechanisms with adaptive capabilities to enable knowledge transfer, since the necessary experience and expertise are usually spread among different professionals. To provide a shared understanding, Augmented Reality (AR) has been explored. In this paper, which is part of ongoing research using a human-centered design approach with partners from the industry sector, we describe a framework using annotations to improve the shared perceived realities of different professionals. The framework allows manually freezing the on-site professional context and sharing it with a remote expert to create annotations. Then, the on-site professional can visualize instructions through aligned and anchored annotations, using a see-through Head Mounted Display (HMD). In addition, annotations based on real-time video stream from a remote expert are also available. Hand tracking is used to manipulate the annotations, enabling the adjustment of their position and scale in the real-world according to the context, thus enriching the on-site professional experience and improving visualization of information while conducting maintenance procedures suggested by a remote expert.

In recent years, people are increasingly concerned about the safety and health of their diet, which leads to more people preferring to cook for themselves. However, young people do not have complete cooking skills because of poor experience. This paper focuses on their cooking problems and applies user research approach to concluding the pain points of cooking behavior for this cohort of young-adult users. The purpose is to provide users with easy, intuitive, and interesting cooking instructions. Based on the interactive projection technology, we developed a cooking interactive projection system named “Homenu”, which has a lightweight and natural interaction.

This study attempts to improve video viewing experiences by elucidating the mechanisms of evoking emotional responses focusing not on the video itself, but on the cognitive state of the viewers. The authors focused on empathy, which is considered to be the most important factor in evoking emotional responses, affected by the amount of both knowledge and engagement. The comparative experiment was conducted between two groups: one group was asked just to watch the video; the other group was asked the same but after experiencing a workshop where they were given an opportunity to acquire knowledge of and engage with the video subject matter. As a result, the participants with greater knowledge and engagement before viewing the video displayed a significantly higher level of emotional response on average. The knowledge obtained from this study will contribute to the improvement of the design process to evoke an emotional response in video viewing.

In the macrofield of human–computer interaction, human–robot interaction (HRI) is a relatively new and unexplored field of study. As several efforts have been made in robotics to expand the range of functionalities of hardware and software, perhaps the hardest challenge is to ensure good usability and fluid interaction for users. With regard to remote operated robots, these aspects are unrelated and the interaction features may be taken into account at an advanced design stage. Nevertheless, when it comes to humanoid robots, interaction features are the keypoint, therefore the design of the latter should be driven by UX and UCD practices. The actual fact is that too little attention is paid to these issues or, at best, the latter are approached by IT’s point of view, who are in charge of the software development. In conjunction, a team of engineers take care of the mechanical parts and, in the most highly developed project, the appearance is curated by industrial designers. Given the importance of the interaction features, the design process should be rearranged in favour of the last-mentioned phase. However, the team in charge of this task should be composed of industrial designers, that we can consider as UI designers, along with UX expert. This study applies UX practices to the design process of a humanoid robot, providing practical guidance and guidelines to put in place usability testing during the various stages of development. Regarding testing, only user satisfaction is often investigated. Instead, the present approach includes an adaptation of typical elements of the web design area, such as learnability, efficiency, memorability and errors.

Long distance romantic relationships are becoming more and more common nowadays. There can be various concrete reasons that are the causes for this occurrence, among the most common, the pursuit of career opportunities, educational goals, military service, and migratory issues. The aim of this study is answering the question: how is possible to maintain this kind of relationship? This is explained from two variables: the first one refers to the technology advances which help the communication and the second one studied from the psychological periscope, the romantic idealization. It is approach the perception of this new type of relationships in the general population. Understanding technology influences in human life could help to develop more technological advances to the people to feel closer and to keep healthy relationships with themselves and the others, as well, it could bring lights to counseling and psychological therapy.

In this project, a human machine interface (HMI) was developed for programming adjustable frequency drives (AFDs). Frequency drives have a wide range of industrial applications such as pumping systems, conveyor belts, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and, in general, applications that require motors with high torque. Constant pressure pumping systems with AFDs, for instance, allow working with a proportional integral derivative (PID) control, providing the system with precise response between the desired value and the process feedback. In this project, an HMI has been designed to effectively configure, test and calibrate AFDs for constant pressure pumping applications. Various alternatives of HMI screens were analyzed using the prioritization matrix method to determine the most suitable screen. The HMI interface was developed in the DOPsoft 4 software of DELTA Electronics, following the guidelines set forth by ANSI/ISA-101.01-2015, to generate a clear and easy to understand HMI.

A data analytics (DA) methodology allows a proper treatment to obtain the best benefit from the data with the aim of allowing supported business decisions to be made. However, a DA methodology needs to be continually reviewed and updated to incorporate standpoint from researchers, in order to become the most efficient version. Our paper carried out an analysis and evaluation of the first phase of a selected DA methodology called MIDANO applying qualitative techniques to reach an improved version. The analysis and evaluation process were applied through a focus group discussion from the results obtained during the implementation of a case study. The upgraded DA methodology, as a result of the qualitative analysis, was related to the nine attributes extracted, classified, and validated from a user-centered design process previously studied, and based on ISO 9241:2010 standard, in order to obtain a DA methodology participatory, adaptable, efficient, collaborative, and easy-to-apply.

Measurement is foundational to learn, research, and design an artificial system. Precisely measuring human factors especially human mind in systems is a common and important problem. Basically, the measurement methods are categorized as either objective or subjective measurement. Recently, tendency is emerging that objective measurement is preferred widely but subjective measurement is despised. To judge the tendency, this paper revisited the basic concept of measurement first, and re-declared the definition of objective and subjective measurement. Tools of measurement were also discussed generally. Second, four criterions were proposed to judge a measurement, and a review of the debate between the two measurements shows that subjective measurement is the counterparts of objective measurement. Choice of one from the two depends on specific applications. This paper further discussed the application of subjective measurement. Three challenges were proposed which are still open to address. In conclusion, further researches on subjective measurement is indispensable.

The virtual university education required by the global pandemic has promoted the use of virtual platforms such as moodle, which allows for permanent interaction with the student. The influence of the independent variable called “Emotional motivation” was measured, which has as a stimulus the application of a reading about all the biblical verses that mention wine, considering as a dependent variable “Empowerment of learning about wine technology” as well as in the levels of the variable: “Cognitive” and “Previous knowledge”. The objective was to determine if a relationship existed between both variables. In the results of the dependent variable, there was a decrease in the low and middle levels; and an increase in the high level. Applying results of the pre-test and post-test, the chi-square test determined that in the dependent variable, if there is significant difference so the alternative hypothesis is accepted and the null hypothesis is rejected.

This paper connects researchers from two different areas of expertise – Architecture/CIM (City Information Modeling) software and Design – by using the concept of the Trojan Horse to develop a common project. The concept is used experimentally to get a different insight on these two knowledge areas and as a method to research the impact of scientific knowledge on the two specific academic communities by intersecting very specific digital features from both knowledge areas. Computer analysis can help to stop or at least mitigate human failures as methods and analysis can be speeded up immensely. This research stems from a conversation between CIM and Design to improve the city analysis and modeling tools by looking into design thinking and design methods as a means for searching for better interfaces and human systems integration.

As massive changes in our lifestyle and society structure are coming, due to the contemporary pandemic situation, we face more than ever the challenge of employing non-human and teleassistance devices in many areas, especially those that require assisting and caring for weak users. Humanoid robots are proven to be a valuable asset in these situations but require to be carefully designed in their interaction features, in order to be accepted and valuably used by their users. In particular, this study is focused on robots that have a certain degree of human-likeness that allows to define them “humanoids”; for this kind of robots we can say that the area devoted to replicate human facial features is the most important interface for human–robot interaction. Actually, more than 60% of human–human interaction is conducted non-verbally, by using facial expressions and gestures. For a robot to be able to engage in this kind of interaction with a human and provide understandable feedbacks is a massive step towards acceptance and development of an affectional relationship by users. Being meant to reproduce human emotions, visual feedbacks are mostly developed referring to eminent researches in the psychological field: as Paul Ekman already observed in 1998, human faces have a universal coding for six basic expressions that represent as many basic emotions: fear, anger, disgust, happiness, sadness and surprise. Our research focuses on the design of an expression system to be implemented in a European-funded project for an assistive robot that will support weak users at home or in assistance facilities and their caregivers. Our main concern regarding this project are to design a dynamic, human-friendly system that is scalable and visually recalls real facial expressions without being too much human-like, in order to avoid the well-known uncanny effect described by Masairo Mori.

While usability heuristics are universal concepts, visual references for using them in an application are limited, contradictory, and sometimes confusing, especially for novice developers. The present work has linked Nielsen’s heuristics with Gestalt principles, which are the foundation of human perception, developed from psychology, and which have been used in art, design, and architecture, to understand how different visual stimulus can be interpreted by the human being. The heuristics, Match between system and the real world, Recognition rather than recall and Aesthetic and minimalistic design, have been linked with the Gestalt principles of Similarity, Proximity, Common direction, and Simplicity. This link is possible because Gestalt principles have certain conceptual similarities with usability heuristics, in addition to the fact that these fundamentals were identified in some mobile interfaces and are related to specific interactions. This work provides theoretical guidelines, visual references and practical examples on the use of some graphic components that are regularly used in mobile interfaces, such as buttons, menus, and sections; Besides, information is provided regarding how these visual components affect certain usability interactions such as learnability, efficiency, memorability, and usefulness.

The objective of this study is to demonstrate the innovation and design process of a birthing bed, designed specifically for young first mothers [1]. This problem was chosen due to the social and cultural conditions nowadays in Mexico, which, according to data from the INEGI, National Institute of Geography and Statistics, around 32 million women over 12 years old pursue their motherhood [2]. Not only are the numbers alarming, but it must be addressed the fact that a poorly attended delivery can be truly traumatic. The data collected by primary sources is a series of surveys sent to mothers, doctors and nurses, in which they are questioned about their experience before, during and after delivery. They were also questioned about recommendations regarding actual delivery beds. Data collection via internet focused mainly in complementing the formation obtained in the surveys. The data in this investigation includes the complete process of a delivery, the actual birthing beds and the role of each user within a delivery.

The objective of this document is to show the development of the design of a portable birthing stretcher that facilitates the process of birthing in the indigenous communities of Mexico, to both the midwives and the mothers since the current conditions of birthing in the aforementioned place is insufficient to make it a safe and a comfortable delivery, it is worth mentioning that the midwives travel distances to be able to assist the mothers. For the design, we sought to ensure that it would not complicate the midwife’s transportation, but that it would also be a tool to transport all the necessary utensils for safe and hygienic delivery, as well as a device that would help with the mother’s posture so that she would be more comfortable during the delivery and would also help with the midwife to make it safer [1, 2].

Labor is a complex process in which one of the main factors within the hospital’s context is the medical equipment that helps to carry out the work, such as the birthing bed. Is around it that the activities that allow an efficient labor are carry out. There are two main approaches when it comes to medical design, known as EBD (Evidence-Based Design) and UCD (User-Centered Design). Each one seeks to meet different expectations and functions with the design each supports. This article presents a comparative analysis on the design of a birthing bed using both approaches, aiming to know if an user-centered design methodology helps increase the satisfaction of the users, by improving the bed’s ease of use and understanding.

Tele-rehabilitation has evolved significantly in recent years thanks to the latest advances and low cost of the 3D movement acquisition technologies. Autonomous physical rehabilitation from home through the use of serious games requires measuring angles of interest and compensatory angles of the patients when they perform the exercises. this work has been focused in creating a game with an architecture based on the Unity 3D engine to support rehabilitation activities. It encompasses the acquisition of an articulated skeleton, the customization of a character (avatar) in friendly scenes, and the compute of the required angles to evaluate a set of exercises.

The design process for a birthing bed in search of incrementing the satisfaction of every user involved during delivery. Our design proposal seeks adequate participation of them during the delivery. The users considered in this study are the mother, the companion, the gynecologist/obstetrician, the pediatrician, the anesthesiologist, the birth nurses, and the maintenance personnel. The design proposal was determined based on the following aspects: increasing comfort, safety, emotional state and effectiveness in the delivery process.

Nowadays, we are facing rapid educational and technological era, therefore there is increased need to highlight the connection for teachers to rediscover improved teaching-learning processes. The actual educative processes are being developed in virtual learning environments, offering flexible, far reaching distance learning, and better tools for teachers and students in the 2.0 web, this has allowed discovering countless opportunities to improve learning environments, offering students an education that responds to the reality where they can flourish, innovate and develop. The present research brings up as its objective the analysis of the implementation of virtual learning objects in learning math, and as a result, the creation of an innovator technological proposal in the process of teaching-learning.

Technological resources have as a goal to facilitate knowledge acquisition, storage, and use, to achieve the results proposed in the teaching-learning process and to obtain meaningful learning. The research proposed as following is based on a correlational methodology, which is oriented towards the improvement of the teaching-learning process and has as aim, to study the relationship between technological resources and meaningful learning of students belonging to high-school level. Results obtained are as following: (a) higher availability of technological resources produce an increase of knowledge acquisition (r = 0.42, p =< 0.001) and (b) while there is higher scientific literature available, students’ skills will be higher too (r = 0.53, p =< 0.001).

Nowadays, technological advances encompass realities that in the last century were possible just as fantasies. Society lives now in a technological era where education must look for the path and tools to get the benefits that these advances offer, as well as the technological innate abilities that have been developed in students of this generation, who have been nominated as digital natives. For 2017 the capacities and use of virtual assistants have been significantly expanded, new products are offered in the market, although, these assistants are sub-used with basic functions solely, not taking into account the offered benefits. The present work aims to describe the different virtual assistants that could be used as an educational tool contributing to the teaching-learning process.

The aim of this interaction exhibition of Chinese traditional furniture is to increase visitors’ experience of Chinese traditional furniture and its mortise and tenon structure. Cinemagraph effect, virtual reality and motion capture sensors technology are used. First, when visitors go across the virtual ancient painting “Western Garden” drew by Xie Huan from Ming dynasty on the wall, the cinemagraph effect used in the painting would attract more interest of visitors. Second, with more interest, some visitors can approach the real mortise and tenon structure of Chinese traditional furniture, and can fix or unfixed the structure directed by virtual installation instructions on the wall. Third, some volunteers would be chosen to participate the interaction activities wearing the motion and movement capture sensor system. The volunteers would be consistent with the virtual characters in ancient paintings, experiencing the ancient life scenario with ancient furniture and furnishings around.

Intelligent building is gaining access to the construction industry all over the world in recent times. Building functionality and the need for occupant comfort has been the major drive toward advent of intelligent Buildings. In the light of this, there is a need to carry out continuous evaluation of performance of the building to ensure value for money. In this study therefore, post-occupation building managers at different levels of types of buildings were censored within the scope of the following parameters; awareness on current state of practice in office intelligent building application, the level of satisfaction of managers and the users of intelligent buildings’ performance, effectiveness of the security system and access control in building and performance enhancement measures to be adopted and factors that influences effective performance of intelligent building accessories. Survey method was used with the aid of questionnaire the resultant data was analyse using relative agreement index (RAI), Mann-Whitney U-Test, Pearsons’s Chi-square test and Student’s T-test. The study presented factors that influences integration of automated accessory in building and their performance, effectiveness of security system and access control, conventional automation application in building products among others. The study recommend constructive innovative approach to intelligent building management, strategic plan should be instituted in maintenance operation, proactive management building accessory, and collaborative stake holder inclusive management, as panacea to forestalling negative attendant consequence of facility negligence in intelligent building.

Europe faces various challenges towards sustainable development. The influx of refugees, youth and gender unemployment, frequent global health threats, spiraling conflict, cultural intolerance, socially marginalized groups, and others are some of the diverse and large-scale social challenges that cannot be ignored. Such reality requires innovative and sustainable responses to address them and puts the economy, the design education sectors and, cultural and creative industries in the spotlight. This paper will reflect upon these ideas and present the CREATION PROJECT, the ReACt Model and the newly created Consortium of seven European organizations that joined to address these issues. It envisages to develop an entrepreneurial skills framework for adult education for the creative and cultural sectors across Europe. The main focus is on bridging the gender gap in entrepreneurship and promoting cultural dialogue. The project will promote the learning of entrepreneurial skills enabling the underrepresented groups to succeed in cultural and arts entrepreneurship. It aspires also contribute to their socioeconomic and cultural sustainability and wellbeing.

People with disabilities and special needs are very important part of the society, their needs have not been covered over time. Globalization and technological development helped identify the importance of various groups with disabilities. In Ecuador, this identification allows this social group to be visible and particularly people with visual disabilities, who represent approximately 11% of the population with disabilities. The objective of this research is to identify Ecuador’s cities that maintain a higher prevalence of people with disabilities. To comply with the study, a descriptive analysis was conducted from public information about people registered by the authorized government control body. Obtaining this information makes it possible to establish a baseline of attention with real data, which allows getting a greater focus on the development of this social group and the attention they should receive.

This article deals with community management applied to water resources, from the urban planning and public-community model to mitigate the effects of water mismanagement in Vinces canton. The objective is to propose a community management model of water resources to mitigate the negative effects of the current management system in the Vinces canton through the use of public-community models and guidelines of the 2030 Agenda. A descriptive methodology of model studies is used management system with its success models and objective six of the 2030 Agenda. Using the qualitative method, the current conditions of Vinces’ water management are analyzed using surveys and interviews with public actors and focus groups. It is concluded that the model acts according to the needs of a satisfactory water management for the users of Vinces canton.

The objective of this work is to propose a comprehensive waste management plan at the Simón Bolívar air base under ecological criteria. An exploratory research methodology is used through the review of scientific articles, the adequate management of waste considering ecological corridors as a reference to improve the criticism of these guidelines and establish a comprehensive ecological environmental management. In the research carried out, the conditions of the existing and endemic vegetation are analyzed, and new proposals are made. The workshops carried out were developed with focus groups using the participatory method to propose the intelligent waste system. It is concluded that the application of intelligent systems in waste management obtains economic and environmental benefits and that the designs of ecological corridors improve the urban image of the Simón Bolívar air base.

This project investigates the measurement of resilience engineering. A growing body of peer-reviewed studies continues to be published on resilience engineering, demonstrates its recognition and importance to safety across a range of industrial contexts. However, little attention has focused on developing an understanding of how it has been conceptualized and measured. This is a significant gap which can limit its operationalization, benchmarking and evaluation n for research and practice. This paper presents an integrative review project currently underway which seeks to address this gap. After completing a systematic search and selection strategy seventeen articles were selected for analysis. Initial findings suggest fifteen survey instruments have been used in these studies.

In the safety-critical process industry, safety competence is emphasized. It is essential to ensure that process operator students adopt good safety competence during their studies. Due to Finnish vocational education and training (VET) reform, on-the-job learning has increased, inducing a need for new methods. In this study, an operational model for developing process operator students’ safety competence in on-the-job learning was constructed and evaluated. The model was compiled in cooperation with six process industry companies, five VET organizations, and eight expert organizations. The main data collection methods were interviews and workshops. The model consists of eight phases and provides instructions, tools, and good practices for implementing on-the-job learning. Companies and VET organizations considered the model useful and identified several purposes of use for the model.

Safety training has been identified as one of the most important safety management practices. Previous research has suggested several models for evaluating the effectiveness of safety training. Evaluation is crucial to implement evidence-based training interventions. However, the outcomes of safety training are difficult to demonstrate. Studies better specifying and measuring the outcomes of training are needed. The aim of this study was to design and test a model for evaluating the outcomes of safety training. The model addressed 1) safety knowledge, 2) safety attitudes, beliefs and motivation, 3) safety behavior and 4) safety performance. A survey (n = 25) was used to measure the employees’ perceptions after the safety training. Based on the results, some improvements in safety knowledge, attitudes, behavior and safety performance can be found. The model was found as suitable for its purpose. The results can be utilized in identifying factors related to the effectiveness of safety training.

Inspection of complex mechanical systems can be costly and require expert inspectors to perform the work. These systems include bridges, power plants, aircraft, and even factories. In many cases, these systems are in remote places globally and are difficult for qualified inspectors to visit. Inspections can be done remotely using sophisticated cameras, set up to take three-dimensional images. We showed that LIDAR and a three-dimensional, immersive environment could be used successfully for these types of inspections. However, there are human factors issues and risks associated with remote inspections. This brief paper discusses aircraft damage, inspection techniques, and the benefits, human factors issues, and risks of remote inspection.

In this paper, it is proposed that new tools and techniques for speculative design practice are needed to guarantee the biodiversity of global systems, and that they can be based in the non-normative strategies of futuring that exist within culturally diverse and ecologically-engaged communities. Furthermore, these tools and techniques can be used to build an ecology-centred practice of speculative design for community action. Taking a research through design approach that draws on critical theories of ecosophy, queer ecology and queer futures, the presented research, as a part of an ongoing doctoral work, aims to characterise the futuring strategies of such communities through participant and desk-based qualitative research. Preliminary reflections are that the communitarian and ecological future-making strategies described in theory are present in material and imaginative practices. Such strategies are multi-faceted and richly contextual and resonate across theoretical, practical and speculative domains. Moreover, these approaches possess common and recurring aspects of care-taking, non-linear temporality, relationality, storytelling, and playfulness.

This project investigates the measurement of high reliability organisations for improving health care safety. A growing body of peer-reviewed studies continues to be published on high reliability organisations, demonstrates its recognition and importance for improving safety across high risk contexts such as health care. However, little attention has focused on developing an understanding of how it has conceptualized, and factors that have been used in its measurement. This is a significant gap which can limit its operationalization for research and practice. This paper presents a systematic review project currently underway which seeks to address this gap. After completing a systematic search and selection strategy twenty-one articles were selected for analysis. Results indicate fourteen survey instruments have been used in these studies. Seventeen different definitions of HRO were identified. Nine studies used surveys for data collection. Both independent and outcomes variables were reported, these can be used to inform an initial theoretical framework and a survey instrument.

This paper reports on an investigation of resilience engineering as a construction safety strategy through safe work method statements. Safe work method statements are a regulated strategy for controlling health and safety risks in Australia. However, there is little research published on safe work method statements, so the specific role they play in construction are unknown. Previous studies have suggested similar approaches, such as safety rules and/procedures were not followed to the latter but adapted to suit the local context of work and environment, creating gaps between the two. Such gaps are also important in Resilience engineering, a new paradigm for safety management. While RE is attention in construction safety, the specific links between safe work method statements and resilience engineering have not been investigated, so it is not clear whether safe work method statements enhance or hinder resilience engineering. This study seeks to address this through a case study in a residential construction project.

Emulation of large scale neural networks is a growing research field that tries to understand how the brain works. Different approaches based on hardware and software have been developed for this purpose. However, in this paper, we focus on dedicated parallel hardware implemented with FPGA. In this context, brain connectivity is one of the biggest challenges to overcome for neuromorphic circuits. To establish an efficient communication link in multi-FPGA architectures, high-speed serial transceivers GTX are an excellent alternative. Through hardware tests with Kintex 7 and Zynq ZC706 platforms, we compare eye pattern, and BER results, in order to obtain the optimal line rate to establish communication between both boards. The maximum transmission speed achieved without signal degradation was 5 Gpbs.

Firefighting is considered one of the most challenging professions. Personal protective equipment plays a crucial role in protecting firefighters against numerous occupational hazards. Despite the advances in materials technology, current firefighting personal protective clothing is considered heavy, bulk, stiff, and thick. Many studies evaluated firefighters’ perceptions of current equipment. Fit and sizing are frequently reported as issues in firefighting protective clothing. This paper provides a literature review with the objective of offering a better understanding of how fit and sizing of firefighting protective clothing have been addressed by researchers. A review of the main issues faced by firefighters as well as a synthesis of suggestions for improved design and better purchasing as reported in the literature are provided.

The article deals with the general social and economic features of the formation of the state of Ukraine comparing with similar indicators characterizing the Republic of Poland. The indicators of the dynamics of a gross domestic product; generalized indicators of economic efficiency; and the geographical structure of indicators of foreign trade relations of Ukraine and Poland have been analyzed. Studying the issues of intensification of Ukrainian-Polish cooperation, as well as the study of different socio-economic indicators of these countries in all dimensions, is one of the most pressing scientific problems from establishing effective mechanisms for bringing Ukraine closer to the European Union, as well as forming the appropriate basis and tools for mutual relations.

While the human psyche is not a machine, during said Pandemic, undeniable considerations for human nature is pertinent to all studies. Tesla [1], emphasizes human as “mass moved by a force”. Perceiving Mass as thought then moves force to either deplete or break through friction. James [2] identifies habits as “fundamental properties of matter”; plasticity “structure weak enough to yield an influence, but strong enough not to yield all at once”. “All at once” is this pandemic influence. Bringing Maslow’s Motivational Hierarchy [3] from optimizing potential to basic sustenance and safety needs. The very foundation that enhances self-actualization progression while climbing Social Belongingness and Self-Esteem hierarchy. Creative redesign may optimize a paradigm shift from Pandemic influence via efficient-solution-optimizing Breakthrough, efficient-non-optimizing Heuristic, non-efficient- optimizing Algorithm and non-efficient-optimizing Brainstorming. If removing friction accelerates momentum, habitual routines maintain constancy for new accelerated mass and humans grow mentally stronger. Deepening common-sense-reasoning, psychosocial-etiquette, and conscientious-awareness is discussed.

Individualized manufacturing is becoming an important approach to fulfill increasingly diverse consumer expectations. While there are various solutions for the manufacturing process, such as additive manufacturing, the subsequent automated assembly remains a challenging task. As an approach to this problem, we aim to teach a collaborative robot to successfully perform pick and place tasks by implementing reinforcement learning. For the assembly of an individualized product in a constantly changing manufacturing environment, the simulated geometric and dynamic parameters will be varied. Using reinforcement learning algorithms capable of meta-learning, the tasks will first be trained in simulation, and then performed in a real-world environment where new factors are introduced that were not simulated in training to confirm the robustness of the algorithms. A concept comprised of selected machine learning algorithms, hardware components as well as further research questions to realize the outlined production scenario are the results of the presented work.

In automated driving scenarios with semi-autonomous vehicles of today and the near future, a request for taking-over control may at any time be communicated to a human driver. Empirical studies exist of, e.g., the effects of different modalities used in this human-machine interaction, and of drowsiness of drivers involved, depending on manual or automated driving. However, there is no model available yet of how the decision-making time in the course of taking-over control from the automated vehicle depends on the driver’s drowsiness. Hence, we present a probabilistic model of the decision-making time as influenced by certain properties characterizing the driver’s drowsiness according to previous work.

It is generally accepted that one need to select the correct tool for a given task. The same holds for eating utensils. A cake eating experiment was designed to determine if the visual appearance of cakes with different associated hardness would affect the choice of eating utensil. A total of 25 participants was recruited. The results did not reveal any effect of cake type, or presentation layout on the choice of eating utensil. It therefore seems that other factors, such as, for instance, customs and/or habits, are more influential in the choice of cake eating tool choice.

This research developed a measurement instrument to assess user satisfaction and impact of digital competence system in primary and secondary schools. The testing platform was a prototype of a digital competence certification system that has been developed and piloted during 2019 in primary and secondary schools in six European countries involving more than 800 teachers and 6.000 students. In the process of evaluation, 298 teachers’ responses were analysed, and the measurement instrument was evaluated for validity and reliability. Results revealed a strong positive relationship between user satisfaction and impacts the DC system has on teachers and their work. Such a relationship is expected to engage teachers to use the system as well as their students to acquire new competences. Moreover, it is concluded that satisfaction contributes to motivation, user experience and performance within the system.

Quality control procedures are extremely important among industrial applications. Generally, these tasks include many repetitive tasks that require manual intervention. Given their complexity, quality control tests are often detailed in video recordings, paper instructions, photos or diagrams to guide workers throughout the process. Augmented Reality (AR) has been making significant progress in the last decades, becoming mature enough to be used in industrial scenarios. While some AR systems have been proposed to support quality control procedures, most of them only present information to workers but do not track or validate the process in real-time being used only to guide it. Another limitation of existing systems is the generation of virtual instructions used by AR systems to guide the operator. In this work, we propose an AR-based tool to guide users by overlaying information in a video stream while performing real-time validation during the execution of quality control procedures. The main objective is to provide dynamic support and decrease the mental workload needed to complete the procedure as well as the number of errors, facilitating the procedure execution by untrained workers. Besides this, the tool allows to create virtual content that can be used to generate step-by-step instructions automatically based on human demonstrations. By making the virtual instruction creation effortlessly it is possible to eliminate the user’s need for memorizing new instructions with each change of the product lines. While presenting task relevant information the system uses computer vision techniques to keep track of the procedure stage, verifying its completion and switching automatically to the next step without requiring any interaction from the user. A comparison between the time taken to perform the procedure with and without validation was made. The results show that the validation process would confer the process a significant efficiency boost, while avoiding possible human errors.

This study set out to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of three common potato peeler designs, and whether there were any differences related to gender in terms of use. An experiment was designed involving a timed potato-peeling task using three different potato peeler designs. A balanced group of N = 20 males and females was recruited. The results showed that the vertical peeler with flexible blade resulted in the shortest peeling times. This peeler also produced least waste although these differences were not statistically significant. The results did not reveal any statistically significant gender differences.

The use of inappropriate wheelchairs is believed to limit mobility and reduce the freedom and quality of living for the user. This study therefore set out to investigate the influences of wheelchair design on the performance in a wheelchair agility test. Ten participants performed an agility test involving operating three manual wheelchairs with different designs as fast as possible. The wheelchair designs (independent variable) included a lightweight rigid frame, foldable frame and hospital model. The wheelchairs order was randomized for the agility tests. The time to complete an agility test (dependent variable) was measured with a chronometer. The results show that the use of the rigid frame wheelchair yielded the fastest performance during the agility tests, while the hospital model resulted in longer task-completion times. The findings support the view that active users should be provided with lightweight wheelchairs, as heavy hospital wheelchairs limit mobility.

This paper presents the conceptual development of a technological application for the treatment of children with attention deficit disorder (ADD). This technological application will consist on serious-gaming to stimulate the different levels of attention. The first level is focused in attention and stimulates it by identifying stimuli through tactile interaction with the user. The second level is selective attention, for which, the child must select a stimulus leaving the irrelevant stimuli aside. The third level will work on sustained attention, where the child must fulfill a game with a longer duration. The next level will contain an activity to stimulate alternating attention, where the child must solve two tasks by alternating the focus of attention. Finally, for the divided attention, it must be resolved two tasks at the same time. With this application it is expected to improve the child’s motivation in the treatment and provide an intervention tool for the clinician.