Human engineering

The major classes of organic compounds common to living systems are lipids pro terns nucleic acids and carbohydrates Carbohydrates are very familiar to us— we call many of them sugars They make up a substantial portion of the food we eat and provide most of the energy that keeps the human engine running Carbohy drates are structural components of the walls of plant cells and the wood of trees Genetic information is stored and transferred by way of nucleic acids specialized derivatives of carbohydrates which we 11 examine m more detail m Chapter 28... 

ISA RP 60.3. 1985. Recommended Practice for Human Engineering for Control Centers. Instrument Society of America, Research Triangle Park, N.C. 

Van Cott, H. P., Kinkade, R. G. (1972). Human Engineering to Equipment Design. New York McGraw-Hill. 

The bicycle s advantages as the world s most mechanically efficient means of transportation are clouded by the limitations of the human engine. To put it in power output terms, the human body can produce sustained power only at modest levels. For most people, 100 watts would be too much, and for an elite athlete, 400 watts is the approximate ceiling. (The athlete may manage a brief burst of 1.1 kilowatts.)... 

The human engine cannot match this power output, yet the mechanical efficiency of the bicycle helps tremendously because a vei y small amount of horsepower can generate great speed. For example, 0.4 horsepower (298 watts) of output can result in 25 niph (40 kph) speeds or better. One set of calculations shows that if a cyclist rode on level ground, with no rolling resistance, and aided by a 25 mph tailwind, it would require only around 0.2 horsepower (150 watts) to sustain a 25 mph pace. 

The ID function involves a great deal more than appearance design. The designer is often called on to create the very concept of the product. In doing so, they will consider the utility, cost, innovation and human engineering aspects of the proposed product that relates to its basic appeal to the end-user. 

Human engineering. While the designer usually regards the problems of space limitations as being appearance related, they are most often the outcome of the ID s concern for human engineering, or the proper relationship of the product to the human body. For example, personal computers should be small enough to be carried by many people, coffee-cup handles should be comfortable to the hand, eyeglass frames should be easy on the ears, etc. 

Human engineering requirements often dictate the size, weight, and form of a product. This translates to smaller, lighter and contoured products as the ID works from the outside to its interior. Often this results in conflict with the company s engineering designer, who works basically from the interior to its outside. Compromise becomes an important factor as they all bring their require-... 

An office of Research and Development, was established on the staff of AMC having control over such Laboratories as Diamond Ordnance Fuze, Ballistics Research, Environmental Research, Materials Research, and Human Engineering (Ref 3)... 

P. S., "Evaluation of Indirect Fire Munitions for Use in Built-up Areas," Technical Memorandum 15-82, U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD., Dec 1982. 

American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM), F 1166. Standard Practice for Human Engineering Design for Marine Systems. Equipment and Facilities. ASTM, Philadelphia, PA, 1988. 

Miller, G. E., "The Omission of Human Engineering in the Design of Offshore Equipment and Facilities, How Come ", OTC 6481, 22nd Annual Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, TX, 1990. 

In the case of the hsh kill incident, the hrst of the questions, shown in Eigure 9-33, is answered YES because the contract operator was considered to be both fatigued and bored. This indicates that the cause may be related to Human Engineering and/or Work Direction. 

Figure 9-34 illustrates one of these branches. Human Engineering, showing three levels of the tree, designated as basic cause, near-root cause, and root cause. (Note that other trees may use different terminology for these levels, although root cause is a common term.)... 

In the Fish Kill example, the completed analysis of the Human Engineering branch is shown in Figure 9-35. Under the Human-Machine Interface sub-branch, monitoring alertness needs improvement is selected as a valid root cause, and the remaining subcategories have all been discarded. 

Thomas Moore of Arizona State University began by discussing how nature has adapted for 3.4 billion years through fierce evolutionary competition. He said that researchers need to follow nature s example, but accept the fact that in meeting human energy needs there may be ways to improve on nature. He defined the purpose of the workshop as a way to explore how to improve the natural process of photosynthesis and incorporate the kinetically and thermodynamically successful features in human-engineered constructs. 

Moore compared the technological branch of solar energy conversion, essentially photovoltaics, with the biological branch. He explained how a standard fuel cell that operates on oxygen and hydrogen produces water and electromotive force. A typical human-engineered fuel cell operates at 50-60 percent power conversion efficiency and uses platinum or other noble metals as catalysts. 

The authors wish to thank The Human Engineering Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., and the National Science Foundation for support through Contract No. DAAD05-72-C-0175 and Grant No. GH-40645, respectively. 

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