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Objective. To establish a rapid objective method for detection fatigue of air traffic controllers (ATCs) to meet fatigue management requirements. Methods—A fatigue detection method established by combining a modified psychomotor vigilance test scene with the test of the percentage of eyelid closure over the pupil over time (PERCLOS). The subjects’ PERCLOS value, reaction time and error rate during detection were simultaneously obtained and integrated into the fatigue value. The detection time was compressed to 5 min and the result obtained just completed detection. The established method was applied to a field test at one area control unit in China. 19 ATC volunteers were recruited and divided into two groups as a test group before duty and a fatigue control group after duty. The detection results indicated that the method was valid to detect out ATCs’ fatigue from work and was suitable to control work environment. Conclusions—The rapid method of fatigue detection for air traffic controllers before duty was successfully developed, which would serve as an effective tool for air traffic controller fatigue management.

Air traffic controllers’ fatigue on duty affect their performance and even threaten aviation safety. But the design and promotion of air traffic management systems seldom consider dynamic changes of fatigue for controllers on duty. The aim of this study was to detect changes of fatigue for controllers on duty along with different task loads and working schedules. Fatigue influence sleep, mood and perception of controllers, and the three kinds of index employed to characterize their fatigue. A field investigation with 3 × 4 levels of two factors including task load and working schedule was carried out at one busy area control unit in China. 156 effective questionnaires (52 person times) were collected and analyzed with statistical methods. Primary results of repeated measure variance analysis showed that the accumulation of task load resulted in their sleep subscale scores increased very significantly, mood subscale scores and perception subscale scores decreased very significantly. Results of independent measure variance analysis showed that the influence of working schedule was also very significant to their sleep subscale, mood subscale and perception subscale scores. And the results of multiple factors covariance analysis showed that the interaction of task load and working schedule was significant. These primary results need to verify with large number of samples. These results clearly indicated that air traffic controllers’ fatigue dynamically changed on duty. And the results will promote the design of new smart and adaptive air traffic management system which should take the dynamical change of controllers' fatigue and even capacity in to account.

Air traffic controllers’ fatigue seriously threatens aviation safety. Fatigue is able to impair the mood and perception of people and influence their performance. In order to learn the correlation between fatigue, concomitant mood and perception of air traffic controllers, a scale was developed and tested in a sample of 76 air traffic controllers on duty in a field study. The scale consisting of 7 items related to fatigue, mood, and perception, had simple instructions, and was completed with minimal time and effort adapted to field test. The fatigue, mood, and perception of air traffic controllers demonstrated very significant differences between their pre-work and post-work scores on the scale. The consistency reliabilities of the subjective scale were strong, and its validity and sensitivity compared favorably with the Stanford Sleepiness Scale. The subjective scale shall be very useful for air traffic controllers’ fatigue management and benefit to aviation safety.

Objective To establish a measurement method of the percentage of eyelid closure over the pupil over time (PERCLOS) to finely characterize behaviour circadian rhythm. Methods A computer program was designed based on multitask convolutional neural network for the treatment of videos to get PERCLOS quantitative values. 7 volunteers were recruited in this research. The volunteers were asked to face the personal computers and play a simple game for 5 min, doing the test 4 times a day that was just after getting up in the morning, at noon, in the evening and just before going to bed. Their videos were recorded and treated with the computer program to obtain PERCLOS results. The results showed that the PERCLOS values of 6 young persons increased from morning to night in accordance with the circadian rhythm of youth, while an elder female volunteer showed a different circadian rhythm from that of the youth. Conclusions The PERCLOS method for characterization of behaviour circadian rhythm was successfully developed, which would serve as effective tool for circadian rhythm related studies.

Objective To investigate interaction effect of workload and circadian rhythm in air traffic controllers’ fatigue. Methods At one busy international airport, air traffic controllers for the terminal area were recruited in this study. The volunteers were asked to fill out the questionnaire of the Stanford Sleepiness Scale about their fatigue feelings before, in the middle, and after their work. The questionnaire survey followed up with four-period groups including morning, afternoon, the first half of the night, and the second half of the night. The statistical results of the questionnaires showed that the fatigue levels of air traffic controllers increased very significantly during work periods; the levels were also influenced by circadian rhythm. The covariance analysis results showed that there was a very significant interaction effect of workload and circadian rhythm. Conclusions There existed a very significant interaction effect of workload and circadian rhythm in air traffic controllers’ fatigue. These results require more objective data to verify and will prompt to consider the effect in the assignment of workload and human resource for fatigue management.

This study was conducted to study the growth process of silkworm eggs in a silkworm research center under the condition of no electromagnetic radiation and strong electromagnetic radiation. In the course of the study, the silkworm seeds were randomly divided into two groups. All the mulberry leaves were used to observe and record the time of molting dormancy growth and the related physiological parameters were recorded and recorded. The effect of mobile phone radiation on the growth process of silkworm larvae was analyzed. Based on the experimental results, the microcosmic mechanism of the effects of mobile radiation on organisms and adolescents was analyzed and the preventive measures were put forward. First, for young people as much as possible to reduce the frequency of mobile phone use, thereby reducing the adverse effects of electromagnetic radiation on the growth and development of young people, to develop good habits. Second, the social and electromagnetic wave management departments attach importance to strengthen the rational use of electromagnetic waves.