Naturalistic observations of multiteam interaction networks: Implications for cognition in crisis management teams.

Interaction has been recognised as an essential lens to understand how cognition is formed in a complex adaptive team such as a multidisciplinary crisis management team (CMT). However, little is known about how interactions within and across CMTs give rise to the multi-team system's overall cognitive functioning, which is essential to avoid breakdowns in coordination. To address this gap, we characterise and compare the component CMTs' role-as-intended (RAI) and role-as-observed (RAO) in adapting to the complexity of managing informational needs. To characterise RAI, we conducted semi-structured interviews with subject matter experts and then made a qualitative synthesis using a thematic analysis method. To characterise RAO, we observed multiteam interaction networks in real-time at a simulated training environment and then analysed the component CMTs' relative importance using node centrality measures. The resulting inconsistencies between RAI and RAO imply the need to investigate cognition in multiple CMTs through the lens of interaction.Practitioner summary: When a disaster occurs, multidisciplinary CMTs are expected to serve their roles as described in written or verbal guidelines. However, according to our naturalistic observations of multiteam interaction networks, such descriptions may be (necessary but) insufficient for designing, training, and evaluating CMTs in the complexity of managing informational needs together.

An Experimental Investigation of Hazard Statement Compliance in Procedures Using Eye Tracking Technology: Should Task be Included in the C-HIP Model?

OBJECTIVE: Using eye tracking technology, this study sought to determine if differences in hazard statement (HS) compliance based on design elements are attributable to attention maintenance (AM). BACKGROUND: Recent empirical work has demonstrated counter-intuitive findings for HS designs embedded in procedures. Specifically, prevalent HS designs in procedures were associated with lower compliance. METHOD: The current study utilized eye tracking technology to determine whether participants are attending to HSs differently based on the inclusion or absence of visually distinct HS design elements typically used for consumer products. We used two different designs that previously yielded the largest gap in HS compliance. In a fully-crossed design, 33 participants completed four rounds of tasks using four procedures with embedded HSs. To assess AM, eye tracking was used to measure gaze and fixation duration. RESULTS: The results indicated there are differences in AM between the two designs. The HSs that included elements traditionally considered effective in the consumer products literature elicited lower fixation duration times, and were associated with lower compliance. However, AM did not mediate the design effect on compliance. CONCLUSIONS: The study results suggest the design of HSs are impacting individuals as early as the AM stage of the C-HIP model. The absence of HS design-AM-compliance mediation suggests other C-HIP elements more directly explain the HS design-compliance effects. APPLICATION: These results provide more evidence that the communication of Health, Environment, and Safety information in procedures may need to be different from those on consumer products, suggesting design efficacy may be task dependent.

Workers' Acceptance of Digital Procedures: An Application of the Technology Acceptance Model.

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONSThere are increasing numbers of organizations that are implementing digital procedures (e.g., standard operating procedures). These efforts are often assumed to be a positive development but can be quite costly-both in terms of money and training for a digital rollout. As a result, organizations and practitioners may find themselves at risk for failure when implementing digital procedures. The results of the current study suggest that if workers perceive digital procedures as useful and easy to use, this perception translates into positive attitudes, which subsequently result in fewer deviations. Since acceptance is relatively easy to assess, practitioners can benefit from using these assessments prior to a digital transition/roll-out to both compare competing hardware and software applications, and to initiate and continuously monitor the development of digital procedures. We consider this approach as advantageous to having management develop a system and fully deploying digital procedures without any consideration of worker acceptance.

Background: There is increasing prevalence of digital procedures being introduced in the process safety industries. Presumably, this increase is due to a desire to take advantage of the technology afforded to workers that otherwise is not inherent to traditional paper-based procedures. A critical question that has not been addressed, though, is to what extent do workers accept this new technology in a new digital procedure rollout? Furthermore, does acceptance lead to procedure-related behavior, such as procedure deviations?Purpose: We used the technology acceptance model (TAM), which includes two dimensions of technology acceptance­perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU)­as the focal antecedent constructs. We hypothesized that these constructs would predict more proximal attitudes toward procedures, which in turn predict procedure deviations.Method: We used path analyses to test six study hypotheses developed from the TAM. Data were collected from 16 workers at a large, international chemical corporation that worked in logistics. Specific measures obtained were from multi-item, Likert-scale measures of the TAM-PU and PEU dimensions, utility and compliance attitudes toward procedures, and procedure deviation frequency.Results: Four of the six study hypotheses were supported. TAM-PU and TAM-PEU both significantly predicted (positively) utility attitudes toward procedures (71% variance explained), whereas only TAM-PU significantly predicted (positively) compliance attitudes toward procedures (63% variance explained). In turn, only compliance attitudes significantly predicted (negatively) how frequently workers deviated from procedures (27% variance explained).Conclusions: These results suggest that workers were generally accepting of the digital procedures and that worker perceptions of perceived usefulness perceptions likely have an indirect effect on procedure deviation frequency. We see this study as a novel contribution to the process safety and procedures research domain. Limitations and future research directions will be discussed.

The Impact of Hazard Statement Design Elements in Procedures: Counterintuitive Findings and Implications for Standards.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of these studies was to identify hazard statement (HS) design elements in procedures that affected whether both workers and lab participants performed the associated hazard mitigation. BACKGROUND: Many of the incidents in high-risk industries are the result of issues with procedures (e.g., standard operating procedures; SOPs) workers use to support their performance. HSs in these procedures are meant to communicate potential work hazards and methods of mitigating those hazards. However, there is little empirical research regarding whether current hazard design guidelines for consumer products translate to procedures. METHOD: Two experimental studies-(1) a laboratory study and (2) a high-fidelity simulation-manipulated the HS design elements present in procedures participants used while performing tasks. Participants' adherence to the mitigation of the hazard was compared for the HS designs. RESULTS: The guidelines for HSs from consumer products did not translate to procedures. Specifically, the presence of an alert icon, a box around the statement, and highlighting the statement did not improve adherence to HSs. Indeed, the only consistent finding was for the Icon, with its presence reliably predicting nonadherence in both studies. Additionally, the total number of design elements did not have a positive effect on adherence. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that more fundamental procedure HSs research is needed to identify effective designs as well as to understand the potential attentional mechanisms associated with these findings. APPLICATION: The findings from these studies indicate that current regulations and guidelines should be revisited regarding hazard presentation in procedures.

Predicting Procedure Step Performance From Operator and Text Features: A Critical First Step Toward Machine Learning-Driven Procedure Design.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study is to assess machine learning for predicting procedure performance from operator and procedure characteristics. BACKGROUND: Procedures are vital for the performance and safety of high-risk industries. Current procedure design guidelines are insufficient because they rely on subjective assessments and qualitative analyses that struggle to integrate and quantify the diversity of factors that influence procedure performance. METHOD: We used data from a 25-participant study with four procedures, conducted on a high-fidelity oil extraction simulation to develop logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and decision tree (DT) algorithms that predict procedure step performance from operator, step, readability, and natural language processing-based features. Features were filtered using the Boruta approach. The algorithms were trained and optimized with a repeated 10-fold cross-validation. After training, inference was performed using variable importance and partial dependence plots. RESULTS: The RF, DT, and LR algorithms with all features had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.78, 0.77, and 0.75, respectively, and significantly outperformed the LR with only operator features (LROP), with an AUC of 0.61. The most important features were experience, familiarity, total words, and character-based metrics. The partial dependence plots showed that steps with fewer words, abbreviations, and characters were correlated with correct step performance. CONCLUSION: Machine learning algorithms are a promising approach for predicting step-level procedure performance, with acknowledged limitations on interpolating to nonobserved data, and may help guide procedure design after validation with additional data on further tasks. APPLICATION: After validation, the inferences from these models can be used to generate procedure design alternatives.

Health-related consequences of the type and utilization rates of electronic devices by college students.

BACKGROUND: College students are leading an evolution of device use both in the type of device and the frequency of use. They have transitioned from desktop stations to laptops, tablets, and especially smartphones and use them throughout the day and into the night. METHODS: Using a 35-min online survey, we sought to understand how technology daily usage patterns, device types, and postures affect pain and discomfort to understand how knowledge of that pain might help students avoid it. Data were analyzed from 515 students (69.5% male) who completed an internet-delivered survey (81.3% response rate). RESULTS: Participants ranked smartphones as their most frequently used technology (64.0%), followed by laptops and tablets (both 53.2%), and desktop computers (46.4%). Time spent using smartphones averaged over 4.4 h per day. When using their devices, students were more likely to adopt non-traditional workplace postures as they used these devices primarily on the couch or at a chair with no desk. CONCLUSION: Recent trends in wireless academic access points along with the portability of small handheld devices, have made smartphones the most common link to educational materials despite having the least favorable control and display scenario from an ergonomic perspective. Further, the potential impact of transitions in work environments due to COVID-19 may further exacerbate ergonomic issues among millions highlighting the need for such work to be carried out.

Concurrent training remodels the subcutaneous adipose tissue extracellular matrix of people living with HIV: a non-randomized clinical trial.

Evaluate the effect of 12 wks of concurrent training (CT) in the extracellular matrix (ECM) of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). In the non-randomized clinical trial, 19 participants, 11 healthy (HIV-) and 18 PLWHA under the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for at least 1 year (HIV+). All participants engaged in a moderate-intensity CT program for 12 weeks, 3 times a week. Before and after CT, aerobic and strength performance were assessed, as well as anthropometric and biochemical blood profiles. In addition, SAT biopsies were performed for histologic and morphometric analyses. Statistical analysis was carried out with R Studio, using descriptive and inferential analysis, ANOVA test, and mixed-effect model (P < 0.05). HIV+ showed higher levels of very-low-density lipoproteins and triglycerides and lower levels of high-density lipoproteins at baseline than HIV- (P < 0.05). All groups showed improved aerobic and strength performances (P < 0.05). Both groups showed reduced adipocyte sizes after CT (P < 0.05). Lastly, HIV+ presented smaller adipocytes and higher elastic fiber deposition at baseline and decreased after training only in HIV+, similar to the HIV group. Thus, CT in PLWHA promoted a decrease in the size heterogeneity of adipocytes and elastic fiber deposition, remodeling the ECM, and improving the SAT fibrosis profile. Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (ensaiosclinicos.gov.br - UTN: U1111-1214-3022). Novelty: Adipose tissue fibrosis is improved by training in people living with HIV. Concurrent training remodels adipose tissue extracellular matrix.

Factors that predict a change in quality of life among Parkinson's disease patients participating in a patient education program.

BACKGROUND: Patient education is essential in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, it is not known which aspects of patient education are associated with an improvement in quality of life (QoL). OBJECTIVE: To identify factors that predicted an improvement in QoL in PD patients that participate in an education program. METHODS: EduPark is a community-hospital patient education program. PD Patients that had participated in the program between September 2013 and March 2017 were retrospectively included. QoL was prospectively evaluated (using the PDQ-8 questionnaire) before and after the patient's participation. We used mixed linear models (adjusted for the initial value of the PDQ-8) to determine socio-demographic and clinical variables that predicted the change in the PDQ-8 score. RESULTS: A total of 181 patients were included (mean±standard deviation age: 62.9±8.2 years; disease duration: 9.1±5.3 years). 76.7% of the 103 patients having undergone a cognitive evaluation did not display cognitive impairment. We did not identify any factors that predicted the program's impact on the patient's QoL. Participation in the program was associated with a significant decrease (improvement) in the PDQ-8 score (39.4±17.81 before and 35.6±15.9 afterwards, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: We did not identify any factors that were predictive of the patient education program's impact on QoL in patients with PD. Participation in the program was associated with a significant improvement in QoL. Our results suggest that Patient Education Programs should be more widely prescribed and developed in the management of PD.

Field Methods to Quantify Emergency Responder Fatigue: Lessons Learned from sUAS Deployment at the 2018 Kilauea Volcano Eruption.

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS There has been increasing use of small unmanned aerial systems in disaster and incident response. We evaluated sUAS pilot states during the tactical response to the 2018 Kilauea Volcano Lower East Rift Zone event, using a 3-minute psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) and wrist worn heart rate sensor. The field data, collected over four days, indicated that the sUAS pilots did not recover to baseline vigilance and physiological levels. Some pilots stopped participating over time, owing to logistical constraints of performing the 3-minute PVT test. Additionally, all pilots refrained from rating their perceived workload levels. We summarize the utility of and challenges associated with collecting performance, physiological, and subjective measures of pilot fatigue during real disaster response.

Disaster Ergonomics: Human Factors in COVID-19 Pandemic Emergency Management.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to identify opportunities for application of human factors knowledge base to mitigate disaster management (DM) challenges associated with the unique characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic. BACKGROUND: The role of DM is to minimize and prevent further spread of the contagion over an extended period of time. This requires addressing large-scale logistics, coordination, and specialized training needs. However, DM-related challenges during the pandemic response and recovery are significantly different than with other kinds of disasters. METHOD: An expert review was conducted to document issues relevant to human factors and ergonomics (HFE) in DM. RESULTS: The response to the COVID-19 crisis has presented complex and unique challenges to DM and public health practitioners. Compared to other disasters and previous pandemics, the COVID-19 outbreak has had an unprecedented scale, magnitude, and propagation rate. The high technical complexity of response and DM coupled with lack of mental model and expertise to respond to such a unique disaster has seriously challenged the response work systems. Recent research has investigated the role of HFE in modeling DM systems' characteristics to improve resilience, accelerating emergency management expertise, developing agile training methods to facilitate dynamically changing response, improving communication and coordination among system elements, mitigating occupational hazards including guidelines for the design of personal protective equipment, and improving procedures to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of response efforts. CONCLUSION: This short review highlights the potential for the field's contribution to proactive and resilient DM for the ongoing and future pandemics.

Investigating resilience in emergency management: An integrative review of literature.

There is a growing need for resilience in dealing with unexpected events during disasters. The purpose of this review was to summarize and synthesize the literature that examined resilience in the context of emergency management (EM). Four groups of findings were synthesized: definitions, key dimensions, technical tools, and research settings employed in the research. First, definitions of resilience, improvisation, and adaptation were summarized and critically evaluated. Second, four key dimensions of EM resilience were identified: collective sensemaking, team decision making, harmonizing work-as-imagined and work-as-done, and interaction and coordination. Third, this review identified five prevalent technical tools used to enhance resilience in EM: mapmaking, event history logging, mobile communication applications, integrated information management system, and decision support tools. Fourth, two major design features of emergency simulations, incident scenarios and participant roles, are evaluated. For each finding, directions for future research efforts to improve resilience in EM are proposed.

Cognition in crisis management teams: an integrative analysis of definitions.

In large-scale extreme events, multidisciplinary crisis management teams (CMTs) are required to function together cognitively. Despite theoretical maturity in team cognition and recurrent emphasis on cognition in the crisis management practices, no synthesis of theoretical and practical discourses is currently available, limiting empirical investigations of cognition in CMTs. To address this gap, this paper aims to review the definitions of cognition in CMTs, with a particular focus on examining if and to what extent they are diversified. Through a systematic process to search peer-reviewed journal articles published in English from 1990 to 2019, 59 articles were selected with 62 coded definitions of 11 different constructs. The similarities and variabilities of the definitions were examined in terms of their theoretical and practical emphases and then synthesised into an integrative definition expected to serve as a general guide of reference for future researchers seeking an operational definition of cognition in CMTs. Practitioner summary: Understanding of cognition in CMTs is grounded in various theories and models with varying assumptions. An integrative conceptualisation of such cognition as interaction within and across CMTs to perceive, diagnose, and adapt to the crisis may facilitate the accumulation of knowledge and future operationalisations. Abbreviations: CMT(s): crisis management team(s); SMM: shared mental model; TMM: team mental model; COP: common operating picture; SSA: shared situation awareness; TSA: team situation awareness; DC: distributed cognition; ITC: interactive team cognition; TMS: transitive memory system(s); DSA: distributed situation awareness.

Muddling through troubled water: resilient performance of incident management teams during Hurricane Harvey.

Modern communities face escalating threats from natural disasters. Thus, the resilience of incident management teams (IMTs) during adverse events becomes crucial to protect lives and physical systems. However, prior studies have only partially highlighted factors related to IMT resilience. To provide a holistic understanding of the resilience of the IMTs, this study conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 experienced IMT personnel during Hurricane Harvey. Thematic analysis revealed six characteristics of resilient IMTs during a hurricane event: (i) establishing a common operating picture, (ii) adopting and adapting plans and protocols, (iii) proactive, re-prioritizing, and unconventional decision-making, (iv) enhancing resourcefulness and redundancy, (v) learning for improved anticipation and response readiness, and (vi) inter-organisational relationship to promote IMT functions. As an empirical investigation of the resilience of the IMTs, the findings inform future endeavours for developing incident information technologies and strategies to harmonise pre-established plans with adaptive actions in the field and fostering capabilities to learn from incidents. Practitioner summary: Resilient incident management teams establish a common operating picture; effectively adopt and adapt plans and protocols; make decisions in an unconventional and anticipatory fashion; constantly re-prioritize goals and tasks; enhance resourcefulness and redundancy; continuously learn skills for improved anticipation and response readiness; and exhibit good inter-organisational coordination and planning skills.

Evaluation of work-as-done in information management of multidisciplinary incident management teams via Interaction Episode Analysis.

Multidisciplinary incident management teams (IMTs) are required to operate in resilient ways as emergency situations unfold unexpectedly. Although resilience in emergency management has been widely studied in many emergency contexts, the development of a new method to investigate actual resilient performance of the IMTs under realistic settings has been limited. To address such gap, this paper first introduces Interaction Episode Analysis (IEA), a novel approach to capture and describe emergent team performance. As an exploratory observation study, we apply the IEA to an information management aspect of the IMTs in two emergency exercises carried out in a high-fidelity environment. As a result, the IEA provides comparable sets of episodes as instances of work-as-done, rendering opportunities to further analyze essential elements of interactions between team members as well as information management activities. Moreover, the IEA enables comparisons between the observations and identification of challenges faced by the team in managing incident information and adaptive behaviors used to address the challenges. By gathering more evidences as well as addressing limitations identified in this study, the IEA is expected to serve as a method that facilitates the analysis of work-as-done of complex team work and the reconciliation between work-as-done and work-as-imagined to promote resilience in emergency management.

Adverse effects of chronic treatment with the Main subclasses of highly active antiretroviral therapy: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the review was to elucidate the adverse effects of chronic treatment with the main subclasses of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). METHODS: A systematic review was carried out using the methods recommended in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P). Searches of articles in MEDLINE, SCIELO, Web of Science and LILACS were conducted from January to October 2018 based on the following descriptors and keywords: 'HIV' [AND]; 'AIDS' [OR]; 'HAART' [AND]; 'Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy' [OR]; 'Adverse Effects' [AND]. All articles selected described the biochemical changes produced by, and the main adverse effects of, using one or more of the following HAART subclasses: nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), protease inhibitors (PIs) and other new drugs. The selected articles included patients living with HIV (PLWH) initiating or continuing any type of HAART. The results are presented qualitatively and discussed. RESULTS: Twenty-one articles found in the searches were selected for the review, and they included a total of 5626 participants. Seven of the studies investigated mainly NRTIs, three studies mainly NNRTIs, eight studies predominantly PIs, and three studies other antiretroviral drugs as the main treatment. The most common adverse effects on biochemical parameters were the emergence of anaemia for NRTIs as well as NNRTIs and PIs, and plasma lipid alterations caused by their prolonged use. In general, it was found that biological differences among individuals can cause differences in adverse effects, such as virological and treatment failure. CONCLUSIONS: One or more occurrences of adverse effects of the chronic utilization of drugs were found for all subclasses of HAART, and certain combinations of drugs from different subclasses were also found to be associated with adverse events.

Development of the Fatigue Risk Assessment and Management in High-Risk Environments (FRAME) Survey: A Participatory Approach.

Existing risk assessment tools are not effective or sustainable in identifying Oil and Gas Extraction (OGE) workers at high risk of fatigue-related injuries or incidents. We developed a comprehensive Fatigue Risk Assessment and Management in high-risk Environments (FRAME) survey through an industry-academic participatory approach. The FRAME survey was developed through: (1) systematic gathering of existing fatigue scales; (2) refining the inventory using the Delphi Consensus technique; and (3) further refinement through employee/worker focus groups. The participatory approach resulted in a final FRAME survey across four fatigue dimensions-sleep, shiftwork, physical, and mental fatigue, and was composed of 26 items. The FRAME survey was founded on occupational fatigue science and refined and tailored to the OGE industry, through rigorous industry stakeholder input, for safer, effective, practical, and sustainable fatigue assessment and management efforts.

The Effects of Native Language and Gender on Procedure Performance.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of effects of native language-native (L1) versus nonnative (L2)-on procedure performance. BACKGROUND: Written procedures are used by global industries to facilitate accurate and safe performance of hazardous tasks. Often companies require that all employees be sufficiently literate in English and to use only English versions. METHOD: Industrial tasks were tested using a virtual reality industrial environment (Second Life®) to explore effects on procedural performance and safety statement adherence. Fifty-four engineering students (27 L2) participated in the study to explore the native language variable. The participants completed the procedures under time pressure and were scored according to procedure performance and hazard comprehension. RESULTS: Analysis of eight procedures showed significant differences between L1 and L2 for procedure performance (specifically for L2 females). There were no language fluency or hazard comprehension differences found between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that (a) the lower procedure performance of L2 readers was not due to English proficiency but more likely to time pressure; (b) implications regarding single language procedures are not fully understood, particularly with regard to gender differences. APPLICATION: This research is applicable to high-risk industries providing single language, time critical procedures to multilingual workforces.

Vertebral fractures cascade: potential causes and risk factors.

We performed a study to identify potential causes and risk factors of vertebral fracture cascade. Vertebral fracture cascade is a severe clinical event in patients with bone fragility. Only half of patients have an identified cause of secondary osteoporosis. INTRODUCTION: Vertebral fracture (VF) is the most common osteoporotic fracture, and a strong risk factor of subsequent VFs leading to VF cascade (VFC). We prompted a study to identify potential causes and risk factors of VFC. METHODS: VFC observations were collected retrospectively between January 2016 and April 2017. VFC was defined as an occurrence of at least three VFs within 1 year. RESULTS: We included in 10 centers a total of 113 patients with VFC (79.6% of women, median age 73, median number of VFs in the cascade, 5). We observed 40.5% and 30.9% of patients with previous major fractures and a previous VF, respectively, and 68.6% with densitometric osteoporosis; 18.9% of patients were currently receiving oral glucocorticoids and 37.1% in the past. VFC was attributed by the physician to postmenopausal osteoporosis in 54% of patients. A secondary osteoporosis associated with the VFC was diagnosed in 52 patients: glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (25.7%), non-malignant hemopathies (6.2%), alcoholism (4.4%), use of aromatase inhibitors (3.6%), primary hyperparathyroidism (2.7%), hypercorticism (2.7%), anorexia nervosa (2.7%), and pregnancy and lactation-associated osteoporosis (1.8%). A total of 11.8% of cases were reported following a vertebroplasty procedure. A total of 31.5% patients previously received an anti-osteoporotic treatment. In six patients, VFC occurred early after discontinuation of an anti-osteoporotic treatment, in the year after the last dose effect was depleted: five after denosumab and one after odanacatib. CONCLUSION: The results of this retrospective study showed that only half of VFC occurred in patients with a secondary cause of osteoporosis. Prospective studies are needed to further explore the determinants of this severe complication of osteoporosis.

Accessing physical activity among young adults attending a university: the role of sex, race/ethnicity, technology use, and sleep.

BACKGROUND: Identifying factors associated with recommended physical activity (PA) levels are critical in efforts to combat the obesity epidemic and related comorbidities. METHODS: We conducted cross-sectional analyses of college students (n = 490) enrolled in a large southern state university in October of 2014. Our aim was to identify sociodemographic characteristics, technology use, and sleep patterns among college students and their independent relationship to recommended PA. An online survey was sent to all enrolled students. Logistic regression predicted achieving recommended ≥150 min per week of moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) versus not (≤149 min MVPA). RESULTS: Approximately 69% of study participants were males, 18% were Hispanic, and more than half (60%) were within the normal body mass index (12% were obese). The average age of students was 21 years. On a daily average, individuals used smartphones most often (nearly 4.4 h), followed by laptops at 4.0 h, desktops at 1.2 h, and tablets at 0.6 h. The mean number of hours individuals reported sleeping was 6.7. Sociodemographic factors associated with reporting ≥150 min of MVPA included being male (OR = 4.0, 95% CI 2.2-7.1) versus female, being non-Hispanic White (OR = 1.8, CI 1.1-3.2) versus being a member of minority race group. Behavioral factors associated with reporting ≥150 min of MVPA included technology use (being moderate-heavy (OR = 2.3, CI 1.1-4.8) or heavy (OR = 3.4, CI 1.6-7.5) users of technology), and receiving low-moderate (OR = 1.9, 1.01-3.7) levels of sleep versus the lowest level of sleep. CONCLUSIONS: In the current study, minority status and being female were the strongest sociodemographic factors associated with inadequate PA levels, while high technology use (primarily driven by smartphone use) were associated with recommended PA levels. Identifying factors associated with being physically active will allow for targeted interventions to improve the health of young adults.

Assessing ergonomic risks of software: Development of the SEAT.

Software utilizing interaction designs that require extensive dragging or clicking of icons may increase users' risks for upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders. The purpose of this research is to develop a Self-report Ergonomic Assessment Tool (SEAT) for assessing the risks of software interaction designs and facilitate mitigation of those risks. A 28-item self-report measure was developed by combining and modifying items from existing industrial ergonomic tools. Data were collected from 166 participants after they completed four different tasks that varied by method of input (touch or keyboard and mouse) and type of task (selecting or typing). Principal component analysis found distinct factors associated with stress (i.e., demands) and strain (i.e., response). Repeated measures analyses of variance showed that participants could discriminate the different strain induced by the input methods and tasks. However, participants' ability to discriminate between the stressors associated with that strain was mixed. Further validation of the SEAT is necessary but these results indicate that the SEAT may be a viable method of assessing ergonomics risks presented by software design.