Engineering Commons^™

Avataraudiometer: An Online Simulation Platform For Pure-Tone Audiometry, Daniel Weidman, Lauren Calandruccio

Intersections Fall 2020

Simulation education for medical and health professional training bridges classroom learning and training in a clinical environment. Its use has been increasing over the past two decades. Guidance to avoid in-person contact due to SARS-CoV-2 has further increased demand. Pure-tone audiometry is part of an audiometric test battery used to evaluate the auditory system. At Case Western Reserve University, students typically learn to conduct audiometry in COSI 370: Introduction to Audiology. Under current pandemic circumstances, students are unable to gain in-person experience using standard hardware (an audiometer and calibrated headphones). AvatarAudiometer solves this problem via an interactive online tool that …

A Hybrid Brain-Computer Interface Based On Motor Intention And Visual Working Memory, Ching-Chang Kuo

Doctoral Dissertations

Non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) based brain-computer interface (BCI) is able to provide alternative means for people with disabilities to communicate with and control over external assistive devices. A hybrid BCI is designed and developed for following two types of system (control and monitor).

Our first goal is to create a signal decoding strategy that allows people with limited motor control to have more command over potential prosthetic devices. Eight healthy subjects were recruited to perform visual cues directed reaching tasks. Eye and motion artifacts were identified and removed to ensure that the subjects' visual fixation to the target locations would have …

Alternative Energy Proposal, Marcus Allen

Marcus Allen

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Oxygen Deprivation On Pilot Performance And Cognitive Processing Skills: A Pilot Study, David Francis Shideler

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, pilots flying above 14,000 ft. are required to use supplemental oxygen. The purpose of this study was to examine how oxygen deprivation below 14,000 ft. affects pilot performance using the Frasca Mentor Advanced Aviation Training Device (AATD), and cognitive processing skills using the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM(TM)) cognitive test. The study was conducted in a Normobaric High Altitude Laboratory at simulated altitudes of 5,000 ft. and 14,000 ft. In this pilot study, only five participants were tested; non-significant results of the analysis were anticipated; however, as oxygen levels decreased and time of …

The Effects Of Familiarity And Persuasion On Risk Assessment, Casey L. Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Cognitive biases influence decisions and the analyses of risk. They are often derived from two separate processes: bias based on familiarity (familiarity bias) and bias as the result of influences from outside sources (persuasion bias). Research suggests that familiarity-based bias may lead to acceptance of an activity's drawbacks and a leniency of its risks.

In addition, research has tried to measure and analyze different types of biases individually, but few have compared the interactions of more than one bias at once. Because different biases may derive from different mental phenomena it is important to tease out the distinctions, and observe …

The Effects Of Expertise And Information Location On Change Blindness Detection Within An Aviation Domain, Dinorah Zárate

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Change blindness is a phenomenon where the viewer fails to detect change in an object or scene during a visual disturbance. During a flight, a pilot samples multiple displays for information about the task at hand. It is imperative that the changes in the displays are being correctly viewed by pilots to ensure a safe flight. However, it is unknown how much change blindness affects pilots or if pilot expertise plays a role in change detection.

A change blindness experiment was performed with twenty four participants divided into two groups based on expertise. Expert pilots were defined as instructor pilots …

The Effect Of Control And Display Lag On Uas Internal Pilot Manual Landing Performance, Marshall Everett Lloyd

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

An important characteristic of UASs is lag because it can become a considerable challenge to successful human-in-the-loop control. As such, UASs are designed and configured to minimize system lag, though this can increase acquisition and operation costs considerably. In an effort to cut costs, an organization may choose to accept greater risk and deploy a UAS with high system lag. Before this risk can be responsibly accepted, it must be quantified.

While many studies have examined system lag, very few have been able to quantify the risk that various levels of lag pose to an internally piloted, manually landed UAS. …

Establishing Relationships Between Risk Management And Knowledge Transfer, Garrett S. Haltiwanger

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Risk management (RM) and Knowledge management (KM) have mostly been treated as separate management philosophies. Risk management is a widely taught topic in academia and is practiced in industry. Knowledge management is being taught at increasingly more colleges and many companies are discovering a need for managing knowledge. This dissertation shows that some research has been conducted to apply the principles of knowledge management in establishing risk management plans. To a lesser extent there has been research conducted to apply the philosophies of risk management to identifying knowledge gaps and maintaining corporate knowledge. Both risk management and knowledge management are …

Even Moderate Visual Impairments Degrade Drivers' Ability To See Pedestrians At Night, Joanne M. Wood, Richard A. Tyrell, Alex Chaparro, Ralph P. Marszalek, Trent P. Carberry, Byoung Sun Chu

Publications

PURPOSE. To determine the effect of moderate levels of refractive blur and simulated cataracts on nighttime pedestrian conspicuity in the presence and absence of headlamp glare.

METHODS. The ability to recognize pedestrians at night was measured in 28 young adults (M ¼ 27.6 years) under three visual conditions: normal vision, refractive blur, and simulated cataracts; mean acuity was 20/40 or better in all conditions. Pedestrian recognition distances were recorded while participants drove an instrumented vehicle along a closed road course at night. Pedestrians wore one of three clothing conditions and oncoming headlamps were present for 16 participants and absent for …

Cogtool-Helper: Leveraging Gui Functional Testing Tools To Generate Predictive Human Performance Models, Amanda Swearngin

Department of Computer Science and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Numerous tools and techniques for human performance modeling have been introduced in the field of human-computer interaction. With such tools comes the ability to model legacy applications. Models can be used to compare design ideas to existing applications, or to evaluate products against those of competitors. One such mod- eling tool, CogTool, allows user interface designers and analysts to mock up design ideas, demonstrate tasks, and obtain human performance predictions for those tasks. This is one step towards a simple and complete analysis process, but it still requires a large amount of manual work. Graphical user interface (GUI) testing tools …

An Evaluation Of Rta Symbols To Improve Pilot Situation Awareness, Erik D. Schmidt

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate different types of temporal guidance symbol sets in 4]Dimensional displays. Different displays were evaluated using situation awareness (SA) as a dependent measure. Participants were a mixture of non]pilots and pilots with an average flight time of 155 hours. All 24 participants were randomly assigned to their experimental condition. Objective SA data was collected during the experiment. After the experiment, each participant completed a subjective questionnaire. No significance was found between the pilots and non-pilots. No significance was found between types of displays. And, no interaction was found between groups.

Analysis Of The Effects Of Hypoxia On Cognitive Processing Ability, Meaghan Catherine Hart

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This one way repeated measures analysis with five levels of oxygen saturation used the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Normobaric High Altitude Lab (HAL) to determine the cognitive reduction in spatial orientation and mental math ability experienced by individuals at progressively increasing levels of hypoxia, measured in blood oxygen saturation, when exposed to the FAA legal altitude of 15,000 feet. Each of the eleven participants in the study ( N = 11) were exposed to both a normoxic normobaric (nominal PO2 = 21%) environment in a conference room and hypoxic normobaric environment (PO2 = 12.21%) in the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University …

Determining Kanban Size Using Mathematical Programming And Discrete Event Simulation For A Manufacturing System With Large Production Variability, Abigail Michele Gaston

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In order to become more competitive and aggressive in the market place it is imperative for manufacturers to reduce cycle time, limit work-in-process, and improve productivity, responsiveness, capacities, and quality. One manner in which supply chains can be improved is via the use of kanbans in a pull production system. Kanbans refer to a card or signal for productions scheduling within just-in-time (JIT) production systems to signal where and what to produce, when to produce it, and how much. A Kanban based JIT production system has been shown to be beneficial to supply chains for they reduce work-in-process, provide real …

Naturalistic Study Examining The Data/Frame Model Of Sensemaking By Assessing Experts In Complex, Time-Pressured Aviation Domains, Katherine P. Kaste

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Research on expert chess players, radiologists and landmine detection personnel suggests a use of cognitive frameworks, alternatively referred to as schemas, templates, scripts, frames and models, to effectively perceive, interpret, understand, recall, and anticipate information. These experts may use cognitive frameworks to capture past experience in ways that support rapid pattern recognition, adaptive responses and proactivity. The proposed research approach assumes that experienced pilots will similarly rely on cognitive frameworks to handle information and make sense of complex, fast-moving situations experienced in their information-dense environments. Predictions from Klein et al.'s (2006) Data/Frame Model of Sensemaking were used to evaluate event-based …

Assessing Color Discrimination, Joshua R. Maxwell

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate human color vision discriminability within individuals that have color normal vision and those that have color deficient vision. Combinations of 15 colors were used from a list of colors recommended for computer displays in Air Traffic Control settings, a population with some mildly color vision deficient individuals. After a match to sample test was designed to assess the limits of human color vision discrimination based on color saturation and hue, standard color diagnostic tests were used to categorize college students as having normal or deficient color vision. The results argue that color …

Useful Field Of View Predicts Driving In The Presence Of Distracters, Joanne M. Wood, Alex Chaparro, Philippe Lacherez, Louise Hickson

Publications

Purpose. The Useful Field of View (UFOV®) test has been shown to be highly effective in predicting crash risk among older adults. An important question which we examined in this study is whether this association is due to the ability of the UFOV to predict difficulties in attention-demanding driving situations that involve either visual or auditory distracters.

Methods. Participants included 92 community-living adults (mean age 73.6 +- 5.4 years; range 65– 88 years) who completed all three subtests of the UFOV involving assessment of visual processing speed (subtest 1), divided attention (subtest 2), and selective attention (subtest 3); driving safety …

An Investigation Into The Relationship Between An Engineering Manager's Purpose-Seeking Beliefs And Behaviors And The Engineering Manager's Perception Of Employee Creativity, Initiative And Purpose-Seeking Behavior, Charles Burton Daniels

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Organizations have placed an overwhelming emphasis on extrinsic motivation of its workforce, normally in the form of financial incentives, in an attempt to assure individual and organizational high performance. While a significant level of financial resources is expended in this attempt to predict and influence employee behavior, no objective evidence exists of a favorable return of investment. In fact, the primary impact of most extrinsic motivation might actually be demotivation – the opposite of the intended use.

In this research the prevailing literature was examined and a conclusion about the power of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation was synthesized to …

Su People, Yuhan Xu, Paula Meseroll, Kathleen Haley, Jay Cox, Jim Reilly, Carol L. Boll

Syracuse University Magazine

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Visual Interaction Methods On Simulated Unmanned Aircraft Operator Situational Awareness, Brent A. Terwilliger

Publications

The limited field of view of static egocentric visual displays employed in unmanned aircraft controls introduces the soda straw effect on operators, which significantly affects their ability to capture and maintain situational awareness by not depicting peripheral visual data. The problem with insufficient operator situational awareness is the resulting increased potential for error and oversight during operation of unmanned aircraft, leading to accidents and mishaps costing United States taxpayers between $4 million to $54 million per year. The purpose of this quantitative experimental completely randomized design study was to examine and compare use of dynamic eyepoint to static visual interaction …

The Psychological Wellbeing Of Women Operating Mining Machinery In A Fly-In Fly-Out Capacity, Anne Bailey-Kruger

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The present study aimed to address the gap in the current mining research by investigating women’s experiences of working in the mining industry in a “bluecollar” work role and the impact of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) mining on their wellbeing. An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach (IPA) was used as a framework to explore the experiences of 19 female machine operators through in-depth interviewing at one mineral mine site in Queensland, Australia. IPA analysis revealed three themes as identified by the participants. The first theme described how workplace barriers to job progression were salient issues for the women, particularly in respect to discrimination …

Safety Within The Vessel Traffic Service (Vts) Domain. Understanding The Role Of The Vts For Safety Within Maritime Traffic Management, Gesa Praetorius

Gesa Praetorius

Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) is a shore-sided service implemented to promote the safety of navigation, safety of life at sea, and the protection of the marine environment. Its purpose is to work for safe and fluent traffic movements within a determined area, a VTS area. VTS is provided by VTS operators, skilled experts that provide vessels with information and advice, and work for the overall traffic organisation. Although VTS is regulated on an international level there are differences in how the service is provided in between countries, and even VTS centres. This licentiate thesis focuses on understanding the role of …