An Evaluation Methodology for Design Concept Communication Using Digital Prototypes

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soheil Arastehfar ◽  
Ying Liu ◽  
Wen Feng Lu
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Methods ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Physical Characteristics ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Evaluation Methodology ◽  
Input Device ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Input Devices ◽  
Design Concepts

Digital prototypes (DPs) allow designers to communicate design concepts to users by rendering physical characteristics of the concepts. To enhance user understanding of the concepts, it is important that the users be able to make better estimates of the values of the characteristics. Correctness of the estimates can depend on two crucial factors: the ability of DPs to render the physical characteristics and the way the DPs are used to communicate the physical characteristics. However, little attention has been paid to the latter. A DP can be used in different ways, e.g., it can be projected on different backgrounds, or be manipulated using different input/output devices. Hence, it is important to identify an effective way of using DPs, via an assessment of the effectiveness of various ways. This paper introduces a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of communication of physical characteristics to users using DPs. The methodology is used to assess the degree to which users can correctly and quickly estimate the values of the characteristics through interactions with DPs. Such assessments are then analyzed with statistical methods and hypothesis tests to reveal the effectiveness. To validate the proposed methodology, the size of hand-held electronic consumer products, such as smartphones, is considered in a case study. In the study, the effectiveness of two communication setups is evaluated. The same DP is used in both setups, while the environments and input devices are different. The experimental results show that the evaluated effectiveness can reflect how successful the setups are, and can help select the best way of using the DP, i.e., by providing a better environment, a better input device, or a combination of both.

A User-Oriented Approach to Designing a Neck Support

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-27
Author(s):  
A. Shekar ◽  
R. J. Billington ◽  
T. Joe
Keyword(s):  
Idea Generation ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
User Testing ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Early Design ◽  
Testing Procedures ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Oriented Approach

AT A GLANCE: In this article, we explore the development of a neck support for clients in salons and discuss the user-oriented approach and testing procedures. The current U-shaped neck supports in hair salons are too small to fit larger necks, do not provide cushioning, and exert uncomfortable pressure on the neck. We examined existing design problems, then created and evaluated new design concepts. This process involved the application of idea generation techniques, screening, evaluation, testing, and further design modifications. The key message from this case study is that user testing provides valuable information and confidence in the early design decisions that need to be made for successful consumer products.

An Evaluation of the Fun Factor for the Microsoft Easyball Mouse

1995 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 311-315
Author(s):  
Edie Adams ◽  
M.E. Des ◽  
Elizabeth B-N Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Input Device ◽  
Emotional Needs ◽  
Skill Levels ◽  
Input Devices ◽  
Test Methodology ◽  
Pointing Device ◽  
Patterns Of Behavior

Microsoft was interested in measuring the “fun” value of a new input device, the Microsoft® EasyBall™ mouse (designed specifically for two to six year olds), relative to three other input devices available in the marketplace. An evaluation was conducted as a means of ensuring that the ergonomic considerations incorporated into the design of a new child's pointing device addressed the emotional needs, as well as the physical and cognitive needs, of the intended users. A research and test methodology was established to look at this issue from multiple simultaneous perspectives, using both behavioral and verbal measures. Forty four children (half boys and half girls, mixed across the age levels) and their parents were included in the study. The children varied in their level of expertise with computer and/or video games. The same basic procedure was used for all the children, with adaptations made to accommodate the attention spans and skill levels of the youngest. The children indicated through a variety of converging measures that the Microsoft EasyBall mouse was their input device of choice. The patterns of behavior varied across the age groups, but the choices of the children were clearly in favor of the Microsoft EasyBall mouse. The parents were quite accurate at predicting which input device their child would pick. A detailed examination of the videotaped sessions provided cues that caused a rethinking of the initial question “How fun is the Microsoft EasyBall mouse relative to the other input devices?”. The fun factor may have been more accurately described as a “feel good” factor. Results are discussed in terms of implications for expanding the typical physical and cognitive-based ergonomics analyses for consumer products to include emotional considerations as well.

Quick draw of the original handwriting base on quadratic Bezier curve

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (04) ◽  
pp. 1650025
Author(s):  
Shengan Zhou ◽  
Dongfa Gao ◽  
Dehua Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Normal Mouse ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Bézier Curve ◽  
Bezier Curve ◽  
Input Device ◽  
Input Devices ◽  
Quadratic Bézier Curve ◽  
Direction Information ◽  
Quick Draw ◽  
Moving Speed

According to the use of normal mouse as an input device to achieve the quick draw of the original handwriting, this paper proposed a quick draw Method of original handwriting based on quadratic Bezier curve. Firstly, the method obtained moving speed and the direction information of the mouse and the information helped to obtain the periphery polygon vertex of the original handwriting drawing. Then Corresponding vertices of a polygon was used to structure the Bezier curve on both sides of the original handwriting to generate the peripheral curve polygon of the original handwriting. Finally, it was input by filling the curve polygon to simulate the user’s handwriting. The experimental results show that the algorithm interacts smoothly and has good simulation effect. Compared with other original handwriting drawing methods with the help of the related electronic input devices, this method only needs the normal mouse instead of stylus and multi touch device to achieve the smooth drawing of original handwriting. Therefore it has wide application value.

Prayer Bead Gestures and Television: A Case Study on Cultural Inspirations for Interaction Art Education

Leonardo ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 428-432
Author(s):  
Oguzhan Özcan ◽  
Emre Akdemir ◽  
Mary Lou O'Neil ◽  
A. Ayça Ünlüer
Keyword(s):  
Art Education ◽  
Interactive Design ◽  
Input Device ◽  
Experience Design ◽  
Innovative Design ◽  
Art Educators ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Design Ideas

The authors, interactive design-art educators, recount their experience in using cultural inspirations as part of student exercises. The authors found that, although students proposed various design concepts drawing from the surrounding culture, very few moved beyond experience design art. In order to remedy this situation without giving explicit direction, the authors encouraged students to examine cultural habits and/or artifacts from their past or their current lives in the hope that this could generate innovative design ideas. One such project is the Prayer Bead Gesture Based TV Input Device.

scholarly journals Telemanipulation of an Articulated Robotic Arm using a Commercial Virtual Reality Controller

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-130
Author(s):  
Max B. Schäfer ◽  
Kent W. Stewart ◽  
Nico Lösch ◽  
Peter P. Pott
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Input Device ◽  
Robot Assisted ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Input Devices ◽  
Current Input ◽  
Current Systems ◽  
Robot Assisted Surgery

AbstractAccess to systems for robot-assisted surgery is limited due to high costs. To enable widespread use, numerous issues have to be addressed to improve and/or simplify their components. Current systems commonly use universal linkage-based input devices, and only a few applicationoriented and specialized designs are used. A versatile virtual reality controller is proposed as an alternative input device for the control of a seven degree of freedom articulated robotic arm. The real-time capabilities of the setup, replicating a system for robot-assisted teleoperated surgery, are investigated to assess suitability. Image-based assessment showed a considerable system latency of 81.7 ± 27.7 ms. However, due to its versatility, the virtual reality controller is a promising alternative to current input devices for research around medical telemanipulation systems.

scholarly journals Analyzing free variation with harmony – A case study of verb-cluster serialization

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-437
Author(s):  
Markus Bader
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Weighted Constraints ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Frequency Relationship ◽  
Zero Frequency ◽  
Free Variation

Abstract In German, a verb selected by another verb normally precedes the selecting verb. Modal verbs in the perfect tense provide an exception to this generalization because they require the perfective auxiliary to occur in cluster-initial position according to prescriptive grammars. Bader and Schmid (2009b) have shown, however, that native speakers accept the auxiliary in all positions except the cluster-final one. Experimental results as well as corpus data indicate that verb cluster serialization is a case of free variation. I discuss how this variation can be accounted for, focusing on two mismatches between acceptability and frequency: First, slight acceptability advantages can turn into strong frequency advantages. Second, syntactic variants with basically zero frequency can still vary substantially in acceptability. These mismatches remain unaccounted for if acceptability is related to frequency on the level of whole sentence structures, as in Stochastic OT (Boersma and Hayes2001). However, when the acceptability-frequency relationship is modeled on the level of individual weighted constraints, using harmony as link (see Pater2009, for different harmony based frameworks), the two mismatches follow given appropriate linking assumptions.

scholarly journals Lightweight Blockchain Processing. Case Study: Scanned Document Tracking on Tezos Blockchain

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 7169
Author(s):  
Mohamed Allouche ◽  
Tarek Frikha ◽  
Mihai Mitrea ◽  
Gérard Memmi ◽  
Faten Chaabane
Keyword(s):  
Load Balancing ◽  
Relative Error ◽  
Execution Time ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Raspberry Pi ◽  
Embedded Platform ◽  
Memory Resources ◽  
Processing Solution

To bridge the current gap between the Blockchain expectancies and their intensive computation constraints, the present paper advances a lightweight processing solution, based on a load-balancing architecture, compatible with the lightweight/embedding processing paradigms. In this way, the execution of complex operations is securely delegated to an off-chain general-purpose computing machine while the intimate Blockchain operations are kept on-chain. The illustrations correspond to an on-chain Tezos configuration and to a multiprocessor ARM embedded platform (integrated into a Raspberry Pi). The performances are assessed in terms of security, execution time, and CPU consumption when achieving a visual document fingerprint task. It is thus demonstrated that the advanced solution makes it possible for a computing intensive application to be deployed under severely constrained computation and memory resources, as set by a Raspberry Pi 3. The experimental results show that up to nine Tezos nodes can be deployed on a single Raspberry Pi 3 and that the limitation is not derived from the memory but from the computation resources. The execution time with a limited number of fingerprints is 40% higher than using a classical PC solution (value computed with 95% relative error lower than 5%).

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment and Judgement

NanoEthics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-283
Author(s):  
Christopher Nathan ◽  
Stuart Coles
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Free Inquiry ◽  
Technology Project ◽  
Lively Debate ◽  
Technology Product

AbstractIt has become a standard for researchers carrying out biotechnology projects to do a life cycle assessment (LCA). This is a process for assessing the environmental impact of a technology, product or policy. Doing so is no simple matter, and in the last decades, a rich set of methodologies has developed around LCA. However, the proper methods and meanings of the process remain contested. Preceding the development of the international standard that now governs LCA, there was a lively debate in the academic community about the inclusion of ‘values’ within the process. We revisit this debate and reconsider the way forward for LCA. We set out ways in which those outside of science can provide input into LCAs by informing the value assumptions at stake. At the same time, we will emphasize that the role of those within the scientific community need not (and sometimes, will inevitably not) involve value-free inquiry. We carry out this exploration through a case study of a particular technology project that sought ways to produce industrial and consumer products from algal oils.

scholarly journals Horizontal Movement of Fast Ice in the North Water Area

1977 ◽  
Vol 19 (81) ◽  
pp. 547-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajime Ito ◽  
Fritz Müller
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Water Area ◽  
Physical Characteristics ◽  
Stress Strain ◽  
Horizontal Movement ◽  
The North ◽  
North Water ◽  
Fast Ice ◽  
External Forces

AbstractThe understanding of the horizontal movement of fast ice is important for applied sea-ice mechanics. A case study, carried out in conjunction with a polynya known as North Water, is presented in this paper. The displacements of the fast-ire arches which separate the polynya from the surrounding ice-covered sea, were measured and found to be small. It is, therefore, confirmed that these arches prevent the influx of large quantities of sea ice into the polynya. The results are then explained in terms of the external forces (wind and current), the stress- strain situations and some physical characteristics (temperature and thickness) which were measured simultaneously.

scholarly journals An Input–Output Ex Ante Regional Model to Assess the Short-Term Net Effects of the 16 April 2016 Earthquake in Ecuador

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Salgado ◽  
José Ramírez-Álvarez ◽  
Diego Mancheno
Keyword(s):  
Natural Hazard ◽  
National Accounts ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Ex Ante ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Consumption Demand ◽  
Two Sectors ◽  
Positive Effect

AbstractThe 16 April 2016 earthquake in Ecuador exposed the significant weaknesses concerning the methodological designs to compute—from an economic standpoint—the consequences of a natural hazard-related disaster for productive exchanges and the accumulation of capital in Ecuador. This study addressed one of these challenges with an innovative ex ante model to measure the partial and net short-term effects of a natural hazard-related catastrophe from an interregional perspective, with the 16 April 2016 earthquake serving as a case study. In general, the specified and estimated model follows the approach of the extended Miyazawa model, which endogenizes consumption demand in a standard input–output model with the subnational interrelations and resulting multipliers. Due to the country’s limitations in its regional account records the input–output matrices for each province of Ecuador had to be estimated, which then allowed transactions carried out between any two sectors within or outside a given province to be identified by means of the RAS method. The estimations provide evidence that the net short-term impact on the national accounts was not significant, and under some of the simulated scenarios, based on the official information with respect to earthquake management, the impact may even have had a positive effect on the growth of the national product during 2016.

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