Monica G Lichty

Ergonomic evaluation of ten single-channel pipettes.

UNLABELLED Repetitive pipetting is a task that is associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the hand and arm. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability and ergonomic performance of commercially available pipettes as determined by user ratings and objective measurements. PARTICIPANTS Participants were laboratory technicians and scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with experience performing pipetting tasks. METHODS Twenty-one experienced pipette users completed a standardized pipetting task with 5 manual and 5 electronic pipettes. After using each pipette, the user rated it for attributes of comfort and usability. RESULTS Although no single pipette was rated significantly better than all of the others for every attribute tested, some significant differences were found between pipettes. The Rainin Pipet-Lite received the highest overall quality score among manual pipettes, while the Thermo Scientific Finnpipette Novus was the top-ranked electronic pipette. Features correlated with greater hand and arm comfort were lower tip ejection force, lower blowout force, and pipette balance in the hand. CONCLUSIONS The findings, when considered with participant comments, provide insights into desirable pipette features and emphasize the value of user testing and the importance of the interactions between task, workplace layout, and pipette design.

Investigating Speeding Behavior with Naturalistic Approaches

Although speeding is a significant contributor to traffic fatalities, attempts to address this problem have not led to a significant reduction in speed-related fatalities. There are a number of inherent shortcomings in using primarily self-report surveys and crash data to learn more about why drivers speed and in selecting countermeasures that will most effectively address speeding behaviors. An emerging empirical approach is to study the speeding choices that drivers make under everyday driving conditions by using naturalistic driving methods. Such an approach has the potential to yield highly informative data about speeding. These data, however, are complicated and prone to analytical confusion and uncertain interpretation if some key conceptual and methodological issues are not addressed. In this paper, an overview is provided of a naturalistic driving study that was intended to (a) identify the reasons why drivers speed; (b) model the relative roles of situational, demographic, and personality factors in predicting travel speeds; (c) classify speeders; and (d) identify interventions, countermeasures, and strategies for reducing speeding behaviors. The focus here is on discussing lessons learned associated with three methodological issues in particular (defining speeding, identifying a way to measure exposure, and obtaining accurate posted speeds) that were crucial to successfully analyzing the data that this study provided and for generating useful results and conclusions. It is believed that careful consideration of these issues will greatly benefit the traffic safety community, especially as future analyses of naturalistic driving data are considered.

A task-analytic approach for estimating driver task demands on specific roadway sections

Incorporating driver capabilities and information needs into roadway designs can be challenging because there is limited information available about the driving task in typical engineering design references. Task analyses of driving are one way to assist design and help consider driver needs. This article presents a new task-analytic method for estimating driver task demands along existing or planned roadway sections. A top-down approach was used to decompose driving maneuvers on a particular roadway section into segments, driving tasks, and information processing subtasks. Milestones were used to constrain task placement in space and time. Overlap between tasks over the same roadway section was used to identify regions of potentially heightened workload. Overall, this approach outlines a simple and structured method for accommodating driver tasks and information needs into the roadway design decision-making process.

Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems: Collection C: Chapters 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22 (Tutorials 4, 5, 6), 23 (Updated), 24, 25, 26 (Updated)

This report contains guidelines that provide human factors principles and findings for consideration by highway designers and traffic engineers. The guidelines allow the non-expert in human factors to more effectively consider the roadway users capabilities and limitations in the design and operation of highway facilities. The following chapters are included in collection C: (16) Special Considerations for Rural Environments; (17) Speed Perception, Speed Choice, and Speed Control; (18) Signing; (19) Changeable Message Signs; (20) Markings; (22) Tutorials (Tutorials 4, 5, 6); (23) References (Updated); (24) Glossary; (25) Index; and (26) Abbreviations (Updated).