Nicole Hättenschwiler

• Doctor of Philosophy
• People and Organizational Development at PricewaterhouseCoopers AG Switzerland

The act of looking for targets amongst an array of distractors is a cognitive task that has been studied extensively over many decades and has many real-world applications. Research shows that specific visual-cognitive abilities are needed to efficiently and effectively locate a target among distractors. It is, however, not always clear whether the...

Objective: This study compared the visual inspection performance of airport security officers (screeners) when screening hold baggage with state-of-the-art 3D versus older 2D imaging. Background: 3D imaging based on computer tomography features better automated detection of explosives and higher baggage throughput than older 2D X-ray imaging tec...

Kurzfassung: Für die Sicherheitskontrolle von registriertem Gepäck ver-wenden Flughäfen 2D multi-view Röntgentechnologie. Neue Technologien basieren auf 3D CT und ermöglichen eine 360 Grad Ansicht des Gepäck-stücks. Für den Wechsel von 2D auf 3D Screening stellt sich die Frage, ob Screener für diese Technologien dieselben visuell-kognitiven Fähigke...

2D Röntgensysteme mit multi-view Technologie werden an Flughäfen zur Erkennung von Sprengstoff bei registriertem Gepäck verwendet. Neuere Röntgensysteme basieren auf Computer Tomographie (CT), wobei Gepäckstücke als 3D-rotierbare Bilder dargestellt werden. Es steht zur Diskussion, ob Screener mit 2D Erfahrung spezifisches Training benötigen, bevor...

In visual inspection tasks, such as airport security and medical screening, researchers often use the detection measures d' or A' to analyze detection performance independent of response tendency. However, recent studies that manipulated the frequency of targets (target prevalence) indicate that da with a slope parameter of 0.6 is more valid for su...

In airport security screening, passenger baggage that is transported in the hold of an aircraft (hold baggage) is screened using X-ray machines with explosive detection technology. Older systems are based on 2D multi-view imaging whereas newer systems are based on computer tomography (CT) that features 3D rotatable images (3D imaging). Regulators,...

2D multi-view X-ray imaging technology is widely used for security screening of hold baggage at airports. Newer technology is based on 3D CT imaging. Such systems offer the possibility to rotate a bag around 360 degrees. With the transition from 2D multi-view to advanced CT imaging, the question arises whether airport security officers (screeners)...

Bomb attacks on civil aviation make detecting improvised explosive devices and explosive material in passenger baggage a major concern. In the last few years, explosive detection systems for cabin baggage screening (EDSCB) have become available. Although used by a number of airports, most countries have not yet implemented these systems on a wide s...

This study investigated the effectiveness of e-learning and blended learning for airport security officers (screeners) aimed at increasing their detection of novel prohibited items in X-ray images of passenger bags. 80 screeners from a large European airport conducted a simulated X-ray baggage screening task (SXBST). Based on hit-and false alarm ra...

The screening of passenger bags at airports can be understood as a visual inspection task that consists of visual search and decision. Security officers (screeners) visually search for prohibited items in X-ray images and decide whether secondary search (e.g. using manual search or explosive trace detection) is needed. A screener's decision ca...

Die Analyse von Gepäckstücken durch Luftsicherheits-beauftragte (Screener) wird als visuelle Inspektionsaufgabe verstanden, bei der verbotene Gegenstände in Röntgenbildern von Gepäckstücken detektiert werden müssen. In mehreren Studien konnte gezeigt werden, dass Wissen über das Aussehen verbotener Gegenstände in Röntgen-bildern wichtig für ein erf...

Kurzfassung: Es wird angenommen, dass das Wissen über das Aussehen von Alltagsgegenständen Luftsicherheitsassistenten helfen könnte, effizienter zu arbeiten, indem weniger Fehlalarme generiert werden. Im ersten Experiment wurde der Zusammenhang zwischen dem Wissen über Alltagsgegenstände und der Fehlalarmrate mit 15 Screenern untersucht, wobei sich...

Secure air transportation is vital for economy and society and it relies heavily on airport security screening. Passenger bags and other belongings are screened using X-ray machines to ensure that they do not contain prohibited items. Human operators (X-ray screeners) visually inspect X-ray images to decide whether they are harmless or whether they...

Die Hauptaufgabe des Luftsicherheitskontrollpersonals besteht aus der visuellen Inspektion und Beurteilung von Gepäckstücken in Hinblick auf verbotene Gegenstände mit Hilfe von Röntgenbildern. Mit dieser Studie wurde untersucht, welche situativen Faktoren sich auf diese Hauptaufgabe auswirken und welche Relevanz diese Faktoren aufweisen. Dazu wurde...

Adults and adolescents are characterised as having different perspectives on their personal or autobiographical memories. Adults are recognised as having vivid recollections of past events and as appreciating the meaning and significance of their autobiographical memories. In development, these qualities are noted as absent as late as adolescence....

In the last decade, large investments have been made to improve airport security for safeguarding air transportation. X-ray screening of passenger bags is a key component of airport security procedures. State-of-the art X-ray screening systems provide high quality images, yet the decision whether a passenger bag has to be further investigated (e.g....