Using a drinking water treatment simulator for operator training: Accelerating the simulated process leads to an increase in learning

The drinking water treatment industry is becoming increasingly centralized and automated. This requires a different operator training approach then the traditional on the job training. To address this requirement a drinking water treatment plant simulator was developed. A major advantage of such a simulator might be that the normally very slow...

Application of mucoadhesive in a colon inspection device

Colonic cancer is the second leading cause of death among cancers in the Western world. Early detection greatly improves the chances of survival. Colonoscopy is a non-invasive detection method through natural access, making it possible to look inside the colon, take biopsies and remove small polyps that can develop into cancer. Colonoscopy is...

A method for modelling operator behaviour applied to the NewTranspall microworld

Violation of safety procedures by operators is an important cause of accidents. To prevent violations effectively a thorough understanding of the operators' decision making process is required. This research proposes a method to create a personal model that predicts the action the operator would take based on the state of the system. We strive...

Design of a single-piece compliant mechanism for an arthroscopic shaver

Patients with foot deformation, cartilage wear or a badly healed calcaneus fracture often suffer from severe pain in the foot. After fixation of the subtalar joint, which stabilizes motion, most patients can walk without pain again. Because the curtent operation is an open approach, it is difficult to reach the entire joint space and to remove...

Decision making based on proactively collected event data for operating room management

Surgical processes place a heavy burden upon the finance of hospitals and should therefor be utilized effectively. Effectively, means (economically) efficient, safe for patients and personnel, and reliable for any actors (normal practice can be assumed). Rapid organizational learning is required to identify system vulnerabilities quickly and to...

Theory and Design of Statically Balanced Tensegrity Mechanisms

The fields of static balancing and tensegrity structures are combined into statically balanced tensegrity mechanisms. This combination results in a new class of prestressed structures that behave like mechanisms: although member lengths and orientations change, they can be deformed into a wide range of positions, while continuously remaining in...

Modeling Human Decision Making: A Cost-Benefit Interpretation for the Deviation of Safety Procedures

Human operators tend to make trade-offs when they are controlling complex systems. When an operator has the perception that a large increase in productivity can be obtained by safely getting round a safety provision, he is likely to do so. These so-called violations have led to several accidents in the last decades. The goals of this research...

Methods to improve situation awareness of an operator

This paper describes a new method to identify information overload problems in an alarm system. This method can also be used to become aware of the performance of an alarm system and to present the effectiveness of alarm rationalisation. Furthermore we show that pattern detection can be used to find meaningful patterns. Furthermore this paper...

Exploring Philips Medical Systems: A tool for creative designers

Interface-Complexity: And its influence on performance and workload

This research project on the field of human machine systems, especially human control of complex systems has as objective to find a relation between interface complexity and workload and a relation between interface complexity and performance. Complexity is split into three parts: system complexity, task complexity and interface complexity. The...

A possible VTS-Operator Support System based on vessel traffic simulation

In this paper a possible Operator Support System (OSS) for vessel traffic management on the basis of vessel traffic simulation is presented. A proposal is made for a tool to give the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) operator a better understanding in the development of vessel traffic situations and in advance identification of unsafe situations. An...

Evaluatie van criteria voor het beoordelen van simulatieruns

Het doel van deze afstudeeropdracht was om de in theoretische voorstudies voorgestelde veiligheidsindicatoren voor het beoordelen van simulatieruns te valideren met behulp van expertmeningen. Na observatie van simulatieruns en interviews met experts is gekozen om de Closest point of Approach (CPA) indicator en de Reserved Control Indicator (RCI)...

Model voor het genereren van realistische sleepbootassistentie

This report summarizes the result of a graduation project on the behaviour of a harbour tugmaster and his tug. First, research is described which has been conducted into the behaviour of a tugmaster. Based on this study a model has been developped to generate realistic tracks of a tugboat. This can be used to generate automatic tugboat...

CAB-SIM: A cause based operator model for use in dynamic Probabilistic Safety Assessments for nuclear power plants

Today's technology enables people to build complex systems, such as nuclear power plants, that carry big hazards in them. Consequences of accidents that involve such plants can be severe. Hence, safety is an important issue in design and operation. The attention that has been given to system safety has resulted in an increase of component...