Usability in product design--the importance and need for systematic assessment models in product development--Usa-Design Model (U-D) ©

In product design, human factors are considered as an element of differentiation given that today's consumer demands are increasing. Safety, wellbeing, satisfaction, health, effectiveness, efficiency, and other aspects must be effectively incorporated into the product development process. This work proposes a usability assessment model that can be incorporated as an assessment tool. The methodological approach is settled in two stages. First a literature review focus specifically on usability and developing user-centred products. After this, a model of usability named Usa-Design (U-D?) is presented. Consisted of four phases: understanding the use context, pre-preliminary usability assessment (efficiency/effectiveness/satisfaction); assessment of usability principles and results, U-D? features are modular and flexible, allowing principles used in Phase 3 to be changed according to the needs and scenario of each situation. With qualitative/quantitative measurement scales of easy understanding and application, the model results are viable and applicable throughout all the product development process.     

The reality of the women who make our lives easier: experience in a company that assemblies electric motors in Venezuela

Objective: intervene a workline throughout ergonomic approach to diminish incidence of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). Methods and Materials: an ergonomic intervention study was developed in workstations with highest index of musculoskeletal disorder (MED) associated to cumulative trauma. The Deparis method, Reba and Ocra check list methods were used, also morbility reviewes. National and international ethics criteria were carried out. Results: workers identified 3 fundamental issues using the Deparis method: repetitive activities, postures adopted and uncomfortable furniture. The analysis of the workstation with Reba and Ocra methods before the changes, evidenciated that 56% of postures adopted were high risk postures, the 44% remaining were medium and low-risk. Following the active pause program (APP), furniture changes and work rhythm decrease, was noted that the risk of suffering MED decreased. The morbility review, drop in consults of musculoskeletal system (MES) related to CTS observed. The APP was well accepted by women, but not initially men. Discussion: the research show that when the work rhythm decreases, the symptom of MES related to CTS have a remarkable decrease, also that changes in the furniture, generate great ergonomic differences and changes in the work environment are not possible if workers don't empower the tools to make-it.     

Managing unforeseen events in anesthesia: collective trade-off between "understanding" and "doing"

This study aims to describe how anesthesia teams handle unforeseen events that may affect the patients' health. More precisely, it investigates the mechanisms of decisions made by anesthesia teams to manage unthought-of situations, i.e. situations that have not been foreseen as "possible" ones before their occurrence. An empirical study, based on the analysis of simulated situations, was conducted in a pediatric anesthesia service of a university hospital in France. The results highlighted three ways of managing unthought-of situations (determined management, cautious management and overwhelmed management). They support the hypothesis of a collective cognitive trade-off, whereby teams would behave as virtual operators, with their own collective trade-off between "understanding" and "doing". The discussion of the results questions the assessment criteria, the safety perspectives we adopt and the possible ways to improve the management of unforeseen situations.     

Ergonomic and individual risk evaluation

The ergonomic risks constitute a vital aspect of study and prevention for the worker's health, especially for people with different capacities. Very job has and implies certain type of risk for the worker's health, depending on the conditions it is done with the use of tools or without them. Aplicated techniques: posturogram, baropodometry, Schober test, biocinemátic chain test, Fukuda test, propioceptiva plataform in personnel with special capabilities.     

New procedures of ergonomics design in a large oil company

This study presents the challenge involved in the negotiation and construction of a standard process in a major petroleum company that has the purpose of guiding the implementation of ergonomic studies in the development of projects, systemising the implementation of ergonomics design. The standard was created by a multi-disciplinary working group consisting of specialists in ergonomics, who work in a number of different areas of the company. The objective was to guide "how to" undertake ergonomics in all projects, taking into consideration the development of the ergonomic appraisals of work. It also established that all the process, in each project phase, should be accompanied by a specialist in ergonomics. This process as an innovation in the conception of projects in this company, signals a change of culture, and, for this reason requires broad dissemination throughout the several company leadership levels, and training of professionals in projects of ergonomics design. An implementation plan was also prepared and approved by the corporate governance, complementing the proposed challenge. In this way, this major oil company will implement new procedures of ergonomics design to promote health, safety, and wellbeing of the workforce, besides improving the performance and reliability of its systems and processes.     

Contributions from the activity analysis to the products development project: case study based on a project of innovation and comfort in aircraft's cabins

Comfort is an issue that has gained relevance within the aeronautical industry due to the necessity of manufacturers and airline companies of differentiating themselves in a market that has become more and more competitive each day. This study's aim is to analyze the comfort/discomfort of passengers, based on the analysis of the activities performed in the aircrafts' cabin during real flights, in order to create ergonomics requirements and a methodology of comfort analysis. The study has been performed during domestic commercial flights, and the adopted data collection techniques have been: the application of 219 questionnaires to passengers, 44 registrations of postures and actions through filmings and 12 semistructured interviews. The method has made possible the reconstruction of the user's action course in performing activities in real flight situations, and the calculation of the area occupied by the passenger during his or her actions. The integrated analysis of the results corroborates data from previous studies in which both the space made available to each passenger and the activity performed interfere in their perception of comfort. From this study it has been concluded that the method constitutes itself as an innovative tool within the process of aircrafts' cabins project enabling the calculation of the action space based on the reconstructed course.     

Networking practitioner research: synthesising the state of the ‘art’

The aim of this paper is to examine what we know about the experience and outcomes of networked initiatives aimed at facilitating practitioner research. We outline the roles and significance of practitioner research within social work; review emerging understanding of practitioner research network initiatives; and draw conclusions from a comparative analysis of three such initiatives in Auckland, New Zealand, Arhus County, Denmark, and across Scotland. We consider the nature and challenges of practitioner research and a number of responses to how such work should be formulated and conducted. Central to our argument is an empirically informed consideration—from our separate and shared experiences—of how well networks enhance the process and consequences, and art and craft, of such research projects.     

Raccoon use of the urban matrix in the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, Maryland

The raccoon is often considered a synanthropic species; however, most urban research on this species has been restricted to urban parks or green spaces. Little is known about the persistence of synanthropic characteristics in the raccoon within the urban matrix. We examined density, den selection, home range size, habitat selection, and survival for adult raccoons (Procyon lotor) during summer (June?CAugust) and autumn (September?CNovember) in two residential neighborhoods, Linthicum located inland, and Riviera Beach on a peninsula in the Potomac river, in Southern Maryland. Den site selection varied by gender (P?=?0.0002) and study site (P?=?0.052), and study site interacted with gender (P?=?0.0063), with female raccoons denning preferentially on the ground and male raccoons in human structures in Riviera Beach while in Linthicum females denned preferentially in trees and males avoided human structures. Seasonal home range size was larger for males (P?<?0.0001) than females at both sites. Habitat selection varied at different hierarchical levels, and between gender, season and site. Intersite differences in habitat selection were apparent at the second order and third order scale. Aquatic and urban habitat was ranked high and woodland consistently lowest in second order scale at Riviera Beach while urban habitat was consistently ranked lowest at Linthicum where woodland ranked highest. Between the hierarchal scales (2nd and 3rd order) a difference in habitat selection occurred at Linthicum only where urban habitats ranked lowest at 3rd order. The differences in patterns of habitat selection we observed between two urban sites at different hierarchical scales suggest that resource selection is dependent upon the specific characteristics of the site and that raccoons exhibit variable responses to changes in landscape features. Finally, male survival tended to be lower (P?=?0.079) than female survival in both study sites. Our results reveal that raccoons can continue to exhibit synanthropic characteristics within the urban matrix even in areas with little natural habitat. This ability to adjust to different levels of development allows the raccoon to occur throughout most parts of the urban landscape, which has important management implications for human-raccoon conflicts and disease management.     

Disappearing Décalage: Object Search in Light and Dark at 6 Months

Infants search for an object hidden by an occluder in the light months later than one hidden by darkness. One explanation attributes this décalage to easier action demands in darkness versus occlusion, whereas another attributes it to easier representation demands in darkness versus occlusion. However, search tasks typically confound these two types of demands. This article presents a search task that unconfounds them to better address these two explanations of the “dark advantage.” Objects were hidden by submersion in liquid instead of occlusion with a screen, allowing infants to search with equally simple actions in light versus dark. In Experiment 1, 6‐month‐olds unexpectedly showed a dark disadvantage by discriminating when an object was hidden in the light but not the dark. Experiment 2 addressed the possibility that representation demands were higher in the dark than the light and showed that infants’ search in the dark increased to match that in the light, but not exceed it. Six‐month‐olds can thus search for a hidden object both when action demands are simplified and when a noncohesive substance rather than a cohesive occluder hides the object, supporting aspects of both action‐demand and representation‐demand explanations of décalage in search behavior.