What does a motorcyclist look at while driving at urban arterials?

To design adequate measures for enhancing riders' safety, a necessary first step is to understand the riders' visual scanning strategies under different traffic conditions. This paper presents the preliminary analysis of eye tracking data collected by three riders in the Athens metropolitan area, riding along urban arterial motorways and along an undivided urban road. Apart from the fixation duration and location, the fixated road elements and specific objects were annotated and analysed. The mean duration of fixations was found to be higher on urban roads than on motorways for all traffic densities. Riding in the condition of restricted flow seems to be more demanding for the riders, since the mean duration of fixations was higher in restricted flow than in free or congested flow on motorway and also higher than in free flow on urban road. The riders' fixation locations differed between motorway and urban road, especially in the vertical plane. The analysis of fixated road elements and specific objects indicates the specific points of interest of riders in each case. Although results should be validated with data from more riders, they provide hints on direction of future research efforts to enhance riders' safety in urban environments.     

Naturalistic observation of drivers' interactions while overtaking on an undivided road

Current models of driving behavior and designs of driver support systems are not taking adequately into account the interactions between drivers. Although a driver's intended maneuver may not be physically possible at a specific time point, it may still be safely executed if the driver's intention is successfully communicated to and interpreted by another driver, who alters the own future trajectory so as to enable the maneuver execution. This paper presents some empirical findings relevant to communicative and cooperative interactions between drivers along naturalistic overtaking maneuvers on an undivided road. The cues used by drivers to interpret other drivers' intention and the drivers' interactions were extracted through video observations of the maneuvers together with the frequency of such interactions per level of traffic risk. The findings show that drivers use formal and informal cues to anticipate other drivers' intention. A significant percentage of maneuvers were performed after facilitation by other drivers. Future studies should focus on this phenomenon while future models of driving behavior should incorporate communicative and cooperative interactions among drivers, so as to design adequate cooperative support systems to enhance road safety.     

Acessibility in collective housing for the elderly: a case study in Portugal

Physical spaces need to be adjusted to suit the changes of a physical, cognitive and emotional order occasioned by the natural aging of people. Ergonomics of the built environment contributes to improving the interaction of the user and physical environment, with a view to their comfort and safety. By thinking through the influence that environments have on the quality of life of the elderly, this article presents an assessment of accessibility in private units--bedrooms and bathrooms--of a Long-Stay Institution for the Elderly (ILPI in Portuguese) in Portugal. The analysis of the physical and spatial conditioning factors by means of the Ergonomics Methodology for the Built Environment (EMBE), proposed by VILLAROUCO (2008), gave evidence of the need for interventions to suitably adapt physical infrastructure, with the objective of promoting the physical well-being of the elderly, and thus, enhancing the autonomy and independence of a wider range of users.     

Casting an ergonomic eye on university libraries

Research in the field of Ergonomics of the Built Environment has been developed with a view to consolidating studies in this area, the objective of which is to provide evidence that the joint participation of users and designers on drawing up projects is important. In this context, the theme of this study is to investigate the interactions between users and the environment in a university library. To do so, well-established techniques from Ergonomics, Architecture and Environmental Psychology were used to make a functional and behavioral evaluation to identify the level of user satisfaction in six libraries in the various study centers of the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife, northeast Brazil, so as to identify the strengths and also weaknesses in these spatial structures.     

Biomechanics-based active control of bedding support properties and its influence on sleep

Proper body support plays an import role in the recuperation of our body during sleep. Therefore, this study uses an automatically adapting bedding system that optimises spinal alignment throughout the night by altering the stiffness of eight comfort zones. The aim is to investigate the influence of such a dynamic sleep environment on objective and subjective sleep parameters. The bedding system contains 165 sensors that measure mattress indentation. It also includes eight actuators that control the comfort zones. Based on the measured mattress indentation, body movements and posture changes are detected. Control of spinal alignment is established by fitting personalized human models in the measured indentation. A total of 11 normal sleepers participated in this study. Sleep experiments were performed in a sleep laboratory where subjects slept three nights: a first night for adaptation, a reference night and an active support night (in counterbalanced order). Polysomnographic measurements were recorded during the nights, combined with questionnaires aiming at assessing subjective information. Subjective information on sleep quality, daytime quality and perceived number of awakenings shows significant improvements during the active support (ACS) night. Objective results showed a trend towards increased slow wave sleep. On the other hand, it was noticed that % N1-sleep was significantly increased during ACS night, while % N2-sleep was significantly decreased. No prolonged N1 periods were found during or immediately after steering.     

A low cost technique to evaluate usable product for small manufacturing companies: a case study on Garcia robot

A usability evaluation technique to evaluate user interfaces is introduces. The technique is effective and affordable for small manufacturing companies. By using this technique, an integration of users' feedbacks and some usability concepts, a product can be 3 times easier to use among potential users and more than 5 times easier to use among motivated users. In addition, the technique can be implemented with the company's employees as participants.     

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.     

阿根廷“疯人电台”感动世界

每个周六下午两点钟,全世界一亿多粉丝打开收音机,等待从阿根廷波尔多精神病院传来的电波。电台所有的声音都来自精神病院的病人,有上百家电台转播他们的节目。在全世界最大的脸谱网站上,他们有着近五百万的粉丝,这是全世界唯一一个由精神病患者所主持的谈话性节目。当精神病患者对生命、宗教、体育、八卦……侃侃而谈时,你是不是感到匪夷所思?然而,无数听众却在这里得到了人生启迪,消除了偏见,这到底是家什么样的电台?为什么要用精神病患者做主播?     

Dissemination to research subjects: operationalizing investigator accountability

Recent articles have argued from principles of bioethics for the right of research subjects to receive the results of the studies in which they have participated. We argue that accountability is a powerful tool of meso-level analysis appropriate to reasoning about answerability in research ethics, and that it captures the responsibility of researchers to disseminate study results to research subjects. We offer the following features of the research situation as relevant to the manner of dissemination to study subject, in addition to factors already proposed in the literature (risk and impact on health outcome): (a) features of the research subject in relation to identity, personal investment, disease, and community; (b) characteristics of the research study and field of inquiry in relation to certainty and significance; and (c) relationships among the research subjects and the healthcare workers involved in their care and in the research.     

A.奥斯特洛夫斯基历史剧中的人物

在俄国剧作家A.H.奥斯特洛夫斯基(1823—1886)的作品中,历史题材占有特殊的地位.在创作的早期阶段,奥斯特洛夫斯基对历史就有浓厚的兴趣.他认为,创作历史剧是剧作家最好的写作功底之一,历史剧能启发人们的自我认识和培养人们自觉地热爱祖国.奥斯特洛夫斯基在历史剧中所塑造的一个个独特的人物,反映出他对历史题材和人民题材的观点.历史剧中体现人民优秀品质的主人公在历史上全都确有其人.舞台艺术的特点和表现手段都具有古代的特征,各种与民间习俗和民间文化有关的历史生活的渊源通过戏剧形象生动地表现出来.这些方面首先取决于奥斯特洛夫斯基对表现人民道德价值和审美价值主题的追求.