Introduction to Humans in Engineered Systems

Fully up-to-date coverage of human factors engineering-plus online access to interactive demonstrations and exercises Engineering accomplishments can be as spectacular as a moon landing or as mundane as an uneventful drive to the local grocery store. Their failures can be as devastating as a plane crash or a massive oil spill. Over the past decade, psychologists and engineers have made great strides in understanding how humans interact with complex engineered systems-human engineering. Introduction to Humans in Engineered Systems provides historical context for the discipline and an overview of some of the real-world settings in which human engineering has been successfully applied, including aviation, medicine, computer science, and ground transportation. It presents findings on the nature and variety of human-engineering environments, human capabilities and limitations, and how these factors influence system performance. Important features include: Contents organized around the interaction of the human operator with the larger environment to guide the analysis of real-world situations A web-based archive of interactive demonstrations, exercises, and links to additional readings and tools applicable to a range of application domains Web content customizable for focus on particular areas of study or research