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Human Fatigue in Prolonged Mentally Demanding Work-Tasks: an Observational Study in the Field

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Human Fatigue in Prolonged Mentally Demanding Work-Tasks: an Observational Study in the Field Mississippi State University Scholars Junction Theses and Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1-1-2013 Human Fatigue in Prolonged Mentally Demanding Work-Tasks: An Observational Study in the Field Shaheen Ahmed Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td Recommended Citation Ahmed, Shaheen, "Human Fatigue in Prolonged Mentally Demanding Work-Tasks: An Observational Study in the Field" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 2513. https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/2513 This Dissertation - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Scholars Junction. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholars Junction. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Automated Template C: Created by James Nail 2011V2.02 Human fatigue in prolonged mentally demanding work-tasks: an observational study in the field By Shaheen Ahmed A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial and Systems Engineering in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Mississippi State, Mississippi August 2013 Copyright by Shaheen Ahmed 2013 Human fatigue in prolonged mentally demanding work-tasks: an observational study in the field By Shaheen Ahmed Approved: _________________________________ _________________________________ Kari Babski-Reeves Janice DuBien Associate Professor and Graduate Associate Professor Coordinator Mathematics and Statistics Industrial and Systems Engineering (Minor Professor) (Director of Dissertation) _________________________________ _________________________________ Burak Eksioglu Adam C. Knight Associate Professor Assistant Professor Industrial and Systems Engineering Kinesiology (Committee Member) (Committee Member) _________________________________ _________________________________ Lesley Strawderman Heather E. Webb Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Industrial and Systems Engineering Kinesiology (Committee Member) (Committee Member) _________________________________ Royce O. Bowden Interim Dean of the Bagley College of Engineering Name: Shaheen Ahmed Date of Degree: August 17, 2013 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: Industrial and Systems Engineering Major Professor: Kari Babski-Reeves, Ph.D. Title of Study: Human fatigue in prolonged mentally demanding work-tasks: an observational study in the field Pages in Study: 171 Candidate for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Worker fatigue has been the focus of research for many years. However, there is limited research available on the evaluation and measurement of fatigue for prolonged mentally demanding activities. The objectives of the study are (1 )to evaluate fatigue for prolonged, mentally demanding work-tasks by considering task-dependent, task-independent and personal factors, (2) to identify effective subjective and objective fatigue measures, (3) to establish a relationship between time and factors that affect fatigue (4) to develop models to predict fatigue. A total of 16 participants, eight participants with western cultural backgrounds and eight participants with eastern cultural backgrounds, currently employed in mentally demanding work-tasks (e.g., programmers, computer simulation experts, etc.) completed the study protocols. Each participant was evaluated during normal working hours in their workplace for a 4-hour test session, with a 15-minute break provided after two hours. Fatigue was evaluated using subjective questionnaires (Borg Perceived Level of Fatigue Scale and the Swedish Occupational Fatigue Index (SOFI)); and objective measures (change in resting heart rate and salivary cortisol excretion). Workload was also assessed using the NASA-TLX. Fatigue and workload scales were collected every 30 minutes, cortisol at the start and finish of each 2-hour work block, and heart rate throughout the test session. Fatigue significantly increased over time (p-value <0.0001). All measures, except cortisol hormone, returned to near baseline level following the 15-minute break (p-value <0.0001). Ethnicity was found to have limited effects on fatigue development. Poor to moderate (Rho = 0.35 to 0.75) significant correlations were observed between the subjective and objective measures. Time and fatigue load (a factor that impacts fatigue development) significantly interact to explain fatigue represented by a hyperbolic relationship. Predictive models explained a maximum of 87% of the variation in the fatigue measures. As expected, fatigue develops over time, especially when considering other factors that can impact fatigue (e.g. hours slept, hours of work), providing further evidence of the complex nature of fatigue. As the 15-minute break was found to reduce all measures of fatigue, the development of appropriate rest breaks may mitigate some of the negative consequences of fatigue. DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my mother, my sister, and my wife. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank and acknowledge many people for their splendid support, outstanding advice, and great inspiration until the successful end. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Kari Babski-Reeves. She has been advising me since 2007 right after my admission at MSU. From that day, she never told me what to do and how to do it. Most of the time, we were barely able to agree on anything that I remember. Dr. Babski’s Socrates method of mentoring always has given me opportunities to think differently and to discover my own path. During graduate school, she has been an extraordinary mentor, an exceptional parent and a good friend. Dr. DuBien is one of the most influential teachers in my life who has helped me to understand the beauty of statistics. She has given selflessly of her time anytime I have visited her. Her experience, expertise and enthusiasm on design of experiments guided me to accomplish an excellent dissertation. She has given a tremendous input into my dissertation, which I will never be able to repay by just saying, “Thank you”! I was so motivated by her that I have selected design of experiments in human factors and ergonomics as one of my future research interests. Dr. Eksioglu was the first person I met at MSU. He was extremely friendly and approachable during the conversion. I did not even realize that he was an associate professor at the end of the conversation when I asked him "How should I address professors here at MSU?" He replied, "You can call me Dr. Eksioglu!" From that day, he iii has been extremely supportive and an excellent mentor. He has been a great motivation for me to pursue my PhD and academia as my career. I would like to thank him for his tremendous support during my graduate school. Dr. Knight is another extremely friendly committee member. When I was in the deep sea of my dissertation proposal, I could not figure out that it was too ambitious to accomplish. Dr. Knight is the first committee member who was very conscious about the scope of the dissertation. He advised me to narrow down focus to a particular area. That great piece of advice has helped to accomplish my dissertation within a reasonable period of time and effort. Dr. Strawderman is one of the most organized and highly professional people I know. We have worked on a couple of projects together which I have enjoyed a lot. I have learned many great things from her. For example, she taught me to write my first peer reviewed article. She has been so supportive since then, during my MS thesis, finally during my dissertation. She has also promptly edited my CV during my job applications. I would like to thank her for the great advice during my graduate study at MSU. Dr. Heather Webb has contributed a lot to my dissertation, especially the design and analysis of my dissertation experiment regarding cortisol, which has been proven to be a measure of human fatigue. She has spent hours in the lab to help me analyze the saliva cortisol concentration. She has also spent many hours to help me interpret the results from the saliva cortisol analysis. In addition to the cortisol hormone research, I have gotten a lot of great advice from her. Dr. Farhana Tasmin, my wife, a great medical doctor has provided me wonderful support during my graduate study. As a doctor, she has demonstrated many basics about iv the functions of our body and mind. For example, she has explained the function of autonomic nervous system and endocrine system and their effect on the human body and mind, particularly when they become imbalanced. I have gotten many great suggestions, especially regarding the design and analysis of experiments, data analysis and the interpretation of results. Her splendid support at home has helped me to handle stress during my dissertation. Thank you so much for everything! I acknowledge my study participants who volunteered their time without any sort of compensation. I could not complete my dissertation without their generosity. They were exceptionally motivated and actually helped me find more participants. Within a short period of time, I did find all my study participants. I would especially thank Dr. Domenico "Mimmo" Parisi, the Director of the National Strategic Planning & Analysis Research Center. He provided permission to collect data from his center. Dr. David Thomson, Professor of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at MSU, who has been significantly cooperative and promptly
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