Anirban Chowdhury

Muscle Computer Interface: A Review

A new kind of human computer interface using electrical activity of muscles, known as Muscle computer Interface (muCI) has been developed by researchers. With an intention of unfolding current status of muCIs, original research articles, review articles, reports, books, news etc. from authentic printed and online sources involving different search engines and libraries have been searched and critically studied by authors of present paper. This review has successfully highlighted developments of different sEMG based interfaces such as hand movement/gesture recognition interfaces, facial gesture recognition interfaces, myoelectric prosthetic arms, muscle fatigue analysis and other sort of interfaces. It has also covered the comparison between muCI and BCI, methodologies used for signal classification for muCI and the various shortcomings of the current muCIs. As muCI is still at its initial stages of development, it has been envisaged by the authors that present paper would help researchers to explore new ideas in emerging areas of muCI’s.

Nanomaterials in the field of design ergonomics: present status

Application of nanotechnology and nanomaterials is not new in the field of design, but a recent trend of extensive use of nanomaterials in product and/or workplace design is drawing attention of design researchers all over the world. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to describe the diverse use of nanomaterials in product and workplace design with special emphasis on ergonomics (occupational health and safety; thermo-regulation and work efficiency, cognitive interface design; maintenance of workplace, etc.) to popularise the new discipline ‘nanoergonomics’ among designers, design users and design researchers. Nanoergonomics for sustainable product and workplace design by minimising occupational health risks has been felt by the authors to be an emerging research area in coming years. Practitioner Summary: Use of nanomaterials in the field of design ergonomics is less explored till date. In the present review, an attempt has been made to extend general awareness among ergonomists/designers about applications of nanomaterials/nanotechnology in the field of design ergonomics and about health implications of nanomaterials during their use.

Towards virtual ergonomics: aviation and aerospace

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight state-of-the-art digital human modeling applications in aviation and aerospace industry, generate research interest and promote application of digital human modeling technology among audience of diverse background including researchers, students, trainees, etc. in academia and industry; designers; engineers; and ergonomists associated with aviation and aerospace sectors. Design/methodology/approach – Comprehensive literature search was performed and, subsequently, all publications identified were studied thoroughly at least by abstracts. Available information has been segregated under different headings and depicted systematically for easy understanding by readers. Findings – Virtual human modeling technology has been used in assessing reach and accessibility in aircraft cockpits, creating accurate posture libraries, performing vision analysis for pilots, determining design modifications to accommodate female users, predicting probable pilot behavior in ...

Appearance of Fröhlich-like phonon mode and defect dynamics in La3+-doped ceria

The underlying physics which explains the role of cationic and anionic defect dynamics in determining the catalytic activity and ionic conductivity of aliovalent ion-doped ceria is complex and not yet fully understood. To address this issue, we have investigated the structural evolution of LaxCe1-xO2–δ, where x  = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5. Rietveld refinements of the X-ray diffraction patterns reveal that the crystal structure belongs to a disordered fluorite phase for all samples. We find a systematic increase in the lattice parameter along with a gradual decrease in oxygen site occupancy with the increase in La3+ doping concentration. In Raman spectra of doped compounds, other than well-known crystalline F2g and defect related modes, we observe the presence of an additional Raman mode. The Raman line-shape analysis indicates the non-resonant Frohlich character of this mode. Temperature dependent Raman measurements demonstrate unique characteristics of this Raman peak. In addition, from the change in ...

Cognitive Theories of Product Emotion and Their Applications in Emotional Product Design

Product attributes which can elicit positive or negative emotions among users, determine product acceptance in market. Different cognitive theories of emotion are found in literature for emotional product design. These theories explain the various aspects of underlying phenomena of emotion generation based on product attributes and their impact on product choice. In present paper, six popular cognitive theories of emotion (viz. ‘Kansei Engineering’, ‘Theories of product personality’, ‘Pleasure model’, ‘Product Appraisal Model’, ‘Emotional Design Model’, and, ‘Technology as Experience Framework’) have been reviewed, stating their potential benefits and limitations. An integrated theoretical framework of emotional product design has been proposed by incorporating different potential approaches of earlier mentioned cognitive theories of emotion. It is expected that developed framework would be helpful to industrial designers, ergonomist, product innovation managers and cognitive scientists towards better emotional product design.

Applications of DHM in Agricultural Engineering: A Review

Research towards developing user-compatible, ease in use and safe agricultural equipment with proper consideration of human factors using cutting edge technology like Digital Human Modeling (DHM) and simulation is very important in todays scenario. This technology offers new possibilities to integrate ergonomics principles into design process from the very beginning (conceptual phase) to solve complex problems in many engineering disciplines. However, its application is till very limited in agricultural sector. This paper provides overview of up-to-date research in virtual ergonomics evaluation technology (through DHM) and its applications in agriculture. Attempt has also been made to highlight future research direction in many areas of agricultural sectors where DHM might contribute potentially for ergonomic interventions to reduce drudgery and chances of errors and accidents. Authors have also identified reasons behind less adoption of this technology in agricultural sectors and tried to highlight strategies to be followed for wide adoption.

Determination of Most Preferred Mobile Phone Size Based on Hand Anthropometry and Mobile Handiness

Interaction with a smartphone occupies a large amount of time of day. Sometimes people are using mobile phone sizes which are either too large or too small. As per the different task is concern, users may find trouble with the mobile phones having extreme sizes. Hence, perceived handiness is very important factor which may be associated with satisfaction of mobile phone use. On the other side, hand anthropometry may be another determinant of mobile size preference. Hence, this study aims to relate hand anthropometry, smartphone handiness and mobile size preference and to determine the most preferred size of the mobile phone from a range of mobile phones. It was observed that there was a significant negative correlation exists between hand anthropometric dimensions and mobile handiness or size preference scores. This result indicated that users prefer a mobile phone which is comparatively bigger in size than the size of their hands. In addition, people perceived mobile phones as less handy those are either too small in size or too big in size. Smartphone with medium size (H: 138.0 mm, W: 70.0 mm, D: 8.0 mm, V: 77280.0 mm3) was most handy and preferred by the most users, among studied mobile phones.

Requirement of New Media Features for Enhancing Online Shopping Experience of Smartphone Users

Now-a-days consumers are using different social media (e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp etc.) to share the product quality information to take feedback about the product from their friends, family members, colleagues etc. The aim of this study was to found out the feasibility of implementation of different media features in e-retailing platform for taking feedback about the product to enhance the consumers’ experience of online purchase. With this intention, user survey was conducted using a standardized questionnaire which includes items about the users’ demographic information, likeliness to share product information for getting online feedback, probable acceptance of future online purchase system having new media features, willingness to use proposed online purchase system with new media features, priority to use specific media features for sharing product choice information through online. Results of the present study suggest that users would like to share product quality information with others through the proposed system which has product comparison screen share, personalized reviews and share and voice chat options in e-commerce app/ website. Therefore, these preferred media features may be integrated to create a better user experience in online purchase platform which in turn helps in quick product decisions during online purchase.

Role of Colour and Form in Product Choice and Variation of Preferences Across Product Categories: A Review

Among various physical attributes of a product colour and form capture maximum visual attention and thus play significant role in consumers’ product purchase decisions. Since consumers buy different products for different use, they perceive product’s physical attributes differently and their aesthetic appraisal differs depending on the product category. In present paper, following extensive literature review, it has been observed that there is rarely reported empirical evidences regarding how people make choice of colour and form for a particular product and how consumers’ preference of colour and form varies from one product category to another. Empirical research involving advanced techniques like eye-tracking to understand consumers’ visual behavior is urgently needed in this unexplored area to bring out quantitative data which can augment valid results. The upshot data produced regarding the preferences of colour and form among different categories would be useful to product designers and marketing managers to formulate design strategies.

Effect of Baby-Like Product Personality on Visually Perceived Pleasure: A Study on Coffeemakers

There is more chance of product acceptance if consumers perceived a product more pleasurable. It is evident that certain product personality can make product pleasurable. Therefore, present study aims to discover the effect of a baby-like personality of electronic product (coffeemaker) on user’s perceived pleasure. The current study employed two separate experiments to measure product personality and users’ perceived pleasure respectively. First experiment described about the personality evaluation of coffeemakers which had different appearances; whereas, in the second experiment, users’ perceived pleasure was evaluated. It was observed from the results of the first experiment that baby-like personality perceptions depend on appearances of coffeemakers. In addition, users perceived the coffeemaker more pleasurable due to higher degree of baby-like personality. Thus, it can be envisaged that baby schema effect may be used for enhancement of product choice as consumers felt pleasure due to baby-like product personality.