1,721,053 research outputs found
The comparative study of thermal comfort and sleep quality for innovative designed mattress in hot weather
No full textWhat type of mattress could improve human thermal comfort and sleep quality in hot/cold weather is open questions. In this study, using four different mattresses (temperature-controlled mattress with built-in circulating water pipes, temperature-controlled mattress with built-in integral water cushion, 3D air mesh fabric mattress, and latex foam mattress), a series of sleep experiments were conducted to establish the appropriate thermal comfort zone within bed microclimate for optimal sleep quality. The results showed that, compared with a common latex foam mattress, all temperature-controlled mattresses have excellent cooling performance. Different temperature-controlled devices generated different thermal responses. The mattress with built-in circulating water pipes offered subjects the best thermal comfort during sleep, while the mattress with an integral water cushion resulted in slightly cool and slightly humid states. As the application of innovative mattresses in hot weather, subjects experienced better sleep quality by using a mattress with built-in circulating water pipes and 3D air mesh fabric mattress. Moreover, the comfortable temperature ranges of the human-mattress interface and bed microclimate were 32.3-33.8 degrees C and 32.8-33.6 degrees C, respectively. These findings are helpful to better understand the effect of innovative designed mattresses on human thermal comfort, in order to obtain the optimal sleep quality
Shed Light on the Path of Human-Machine Interaction in Autonomous Vehicles: Where Did We Come from? Part II, Search Strategy, Findings and Perspectives
No full textAs vehicles have become more complicated, Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) is becoming crucial. Nowadays, HMI is a substantial element in autonomous vehicles (AVs). Numerous studies are lately being published regarding significant parameters of AVs which can affect HMI. Hence, it is imperative to have a comprehensive prospect, to improve people's acceptance of AVs. In AVs, the driver's role will change to a passenger, however, it can be switched in some special situations. This work is divided in two parts: the first study has mapped from 299 papers in this area and found the most impressive concerns of people in using AVs. Various researchers’ approach has shown a dramatic shift from physical parameters to psycho-emotional ones; as results, trust and comfort are ranked first and second in the reviewed articles, respectively. The second part is dedicated to the explanation of methodology, the synthesis of findings and the perspectives about the future scenarios. Key findings and some insightful observations on the future of this approach are discussed in this section of the article. As a conclusion, we developed a novel model named 3p consisting of personal, psycho-emotional, and physical parameters, which states the current trend of momentous features affecting HMI in AVs
Identifying factors that influenced wellbeing and learning effectiveness during the sudden transition into eLearning due to the COVID-19 lockdown
No full textBACKGROUND: The sanitary emergency due to COVID-19 virus obliged people to face up several changes in their everyday life becauseWorld Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and countries' Health Systems imposed lockdown of activities and social distancing to flatten the infection curve. One of these rapid changes involved students and professors that had to turn the traditional 'in presence' classes into online courses facing several problems for educational delivery. OBJECTIVES: This work aimed to investigate the factors that affected both teaching/learning effectiveness and general human comfort and wellbeing after the sudden transition from classrooms to eLearning platforms due to COVID-19 in Italy. METHODS: A workshop, involving students and experts of Human Factors and Ergonomics, has been performed to identify aspects/factors that could influence online learning. Then, from workshop output and literature studies, a survey composed of two questionnaires (one for students and one for teachers) has been developed and spread out among Italian universities students and professors. RESULTS: 700 people answered the questionnaires. Data have been analysed and discussed to define the most important changes due to the new eLearning approach. Absence of interactions with colleagues and the necessity to use several devices were some of the aspects coming out from questionnaires. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows an overview of factors influencing both teaching/learning effectiveness and general human comfort and wellbeing. Results could be considered as a basis for future investigation and optimization about the dependencies and correlations among identified factors and the characteristics of the products/interaction/environment during eLearning courses
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Ergonomic Risk and Discomfort Assessment of Hairdressers’ Tasks: The Case of Shampoo Assistant Job
No full textHairdressers are exposed to various work-related risk factors due to prolonged awkward postures with repetitive movements. Although this problem is well documented in scientific literature, not much has been done to reduce and/or contain this problem. Therefore, the aim of this study is to contribute for this gap through the suggestion of guidelines or workplace modifications, to reduce MSD for hairdressers, during the shampoo task. The job-tasks of 25 shampoo assistants have been analysed regarding ergonomic risks and perceived discomfort. Shampoo assistants’ postures were recorded and processed using Kinovea® software. To evaluate the ergonomic risk level, the RULA method was used, and an ad-hoc questionnaire was created to acquire Perceived Discomfort data. The analysis was supported by DELMIA® V5R16 software. Results showed that the neck and the back were the most critical body parts in terms of discomfort and ergonomic risk. Statistical analysis demonstrated a strong correlation between the body-size percentile and discomfort. As the percentile increased, the perceived overall discomfort increased. Based on the results, a virtual ergonomic-driven redesign was carried out. The solution was tested in DELMIA® and the recalculated RULA scores showed a decrease, highlighting a good improvement
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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