Yoshimi Yokomizo

Measurement of ability of older workers

As the birthrate declines and average lifespan lengthens, the ageing of society has become a serious problem in Japan. Today, people must work to a more advanced age than in the past. It is thus important to know the physical and mental abilities of older workers. Many of the current employment tests involve very difficult tasks or very fast motions designed to select excellent young workers. Such tasks and motions are rarely required in the actual work situation. Older workers are slower in movement than the young and they also differ in physical and mental abilities. The vocational evaluation test originally intended for disabled persons was used to investigate in detail the working ability of individual older workers.

Increasing Productivity in Computer Software Development by Environmental Modification

In this paper, we deal with the computer software development task which is completely new in the researches of human factors. In order to increase productivity in software development, environmental modification in a software office was carried out: At first, we proposed the procedure for environmental modification in software offices, by taking into consideration the processes involved in system design. An actual work environment was, then, modified by using this procedure. Finally, we obtained the guidelines on environmental modification in software offices.

METHODOLOGIES FOR VISUAL INSPECTION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF INSPECTION ROBOT.

The limit of human physiology and psychology in regarded as one of the important trade-off items concerning the mechanization of visual inspection. Of such trade-off items, the psychological characteristics of visual inspection shown by inspectors are of particular importance to Japanese inspectors. In this study, the methods of measuring them is investigated. The results of an experiment using the Semantic Differential method indicate that psychological characteristics are composed of 4 factors and that these factors are closely related to the mental abilities required in performing a task.