Once is not enough: repeated exposure to and aesthetic evaluation of an automobile design prototype

In industry, design selection and refinement decisions are frequently based on consumers' one-time aesthetic impressions of a proposed design. This paper reports on a study in which the same group of people were asked to evaluate a design prototype on two separate occasions at a 3-month interval. The results reveal that their perceptions of a design concept appear to change with repeated exposure. This finding suggests that design evaluation protocols which rely on a one-time evaluation may provide misleading information to designers and design decision-makers about consumer enthusiasm for a given design over its production lifetime.     

Human behaviour with automated driving systems: a quantitative framework for meaningful human control

Abstract

Automated driving systems (ADS) with partial automation are currently available for the consumer. They are potentially beneficial to traffic flow, fuel consumption, and safety, but human behaviour whilst driving with ADS is poorly understood. Human behaviour is currently expected to lead to dangerous circumstances as ADS could place human drivers ‘out-of-the-loop’ or cause other types of adverse behavioural adaptation. This article introduces the concept of ‘meaningful human control’ to better address the challenges raised by ADS, and presents a new framework of human control over ADS by means of literature-based categorisation. Using standards set by European authorities for driver skills and road rules, this framework offers a unique, quantified perspective into the effects of ADS on human behaviour. One main result is a rapid and inconsistent decrease in required skill- and rule-based behaviour mismatching with the increasing amount of required knowledge-based behaviour. Furthermore, the development of higher levels of automation currently requires different human behaviour than feasible, as a mismatch between supply and demand in terms of behaviour arises. Implications, discrepancies and emerging mismatches this framework elicits are discussed, and recommendations towards future design strategies and research opportunities are made to provide a meaningful transition of human control over ADS.     

交互设计方法的分类研究及其可视化

目的从交互设计方法的分类及可视化视角出发,探索交互设计方法在设计流程、研究范式与概念关注点上的态势,探讨未来交互设计方法可能的发展趋势。方法通过梳理交互设计的发展脉络与技术、行为、社会三种定义视角,以交互设计经典定义的概念关注点比较分析作为研究基点,选取九十三种交互设计常用方法作为研究样本,利用分类可视化方法,从“双钻设计程序模型”设计流程、“量化-质化”研究范式和交互设计UACM(用户-行为-语境-媒介)概念要素三个维度进行单维度分析、双维度比较与多维度综合。结果探讨交互设计方法可能的发展趋势。结论根据研究结果得出三个结论,即交互设计的概念要素将逐渐完善;交互方式的创造方法将逐渐多元;交互设计方法更适用于用户体验。     

Models for automated storage and retrieval systems: a literature review

Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) are warehousing systems that use mechanised devices to accomplish the repetitive tasks of storing and retrieving parts in racks. Since these systems represent a significant investment and considerable operating costs, their use must be as efficient as possible. AS/RS performance is the result of the interaction of many complex and stochastic subsystems. This reality creates a need for robust and efficient evaluation models. This article complements previous surveys on AS/RS by focusing on the particular research question addressed by each work and the associated assumptions used for the various models designed for evaluating AS/RS. Dynamic models based on simulation dominate the most recent literature; however, static approaches based on travel-time modelling have strongly contributed to the study of AS/RS. This review includes dynamic – simulation-based – models, but considers also steady-state (travel-time-based) models. We believe that this review may be of great help to researchers and industrial users in their search for the best modelling approach for a specific problem.     

Dynamic design of automotive systems: Engine mounts and structural joints

Dynamic design and vibro-acoustic modelling issues for automotive structures are illustrated via two case studies. The first case examines the role and performance of passive and adaptive hydraulic engine mounts. In the second, the importance of welded joints and adhesives in vehicle bodies and chassis structures is highlighted via generic ‘T’ and ‘L’ beam assemblies. In each case, analytical and experimental results are presented. Unresolved research issues are briefly discussed.     

Numerical modeling of complex interactions between underwater shocks and composite structures

To study the complex interactions between underwater shocks and composite structures, a strongly coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian numerical solver is developed. The coupled numerical solver consists of an Eulerian fluid solver, a Lagrangian solid solver, a one-fluid cavitation model, and an interface capturing scheme. The interface capturing scheme features a fluid characteristics method and a modified ghost fluid method (MGFM). The MGFM is reformulated for fluid–solid coupling by treating simultaneously the fluid characteristics equation and the solid equation of motion to determine the interface variables, leading to a strongly coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian scheme. Various components of the numerical solver are first individually tested and validated. The strongly coupled solver is then applied to realistic shock-structure interaction problems involving composite structures. The accuracy of the coupled solver is demonstrated via comparison with numerical predictions and experimental observations available in literature. Finally, the validated coupled numerical solver is utilized to study the effectiveness of a proof-of-concept shock mitigation scheme.     

Sketching and context: Exploring creativity in idea generation groups

Studies of creativity have shown that idea generation within groups produces fewer novel ideas. To address this, we examine ways to stimulate the creative process in idea generation groups, and contribute the new technique of “brainsketching with context cues”, which purposefully adds contextual input into the sketching activity. We build on the existing brainsketching technique, which promotes idea sharing during sketching, by adding context cards into the process. To investigate if sketching with contextual input supports creativity in the design process, we analysed six design sessions with 15 young Interaction Designers. Our findings show that contextual input enhances both individual and group creativity by supporting idea and information exchange in the sketching activity, increasing diversity and novelty of design outcomes.     

A project scheduling approach to production planning with feeding precedence relations

In Manufacturing-to-Order or Engineering-to-Order systems producing complex and highly customised items, each item has its own characteristics that are often tailored for a specific customer. Project scheduling approaches are suitable for production planning in such environments. However, when we consider the production of complex items, the distinct production operations are often aggregated into activities representing whole production phases. In such cases, the planning and scheduling problem works on the aggregate activities, considering that, in most cases, such activities also have to be manually executed. Moreover, simple finish-to-start precedence relations no longer correctly represent the real production process, but overlapping among activities should be allowed. In this paper, a project scheduling approach is proposed for production planning in Manufacturing-to-Order systems. The Variable Intensity formulation is used to allow the effort committed to the execution of activities to vary over time. Feeding precedences are developed to model generalised precedence relations when the execution mode of activities is not known a priori. Two mathematical formulations of these precedence relations are proposed. The formulations are applied both to randomly generated instances and to an industrial system producing machining centres and are compared in terms of computational efficiency.     

Driver's visual attention as a function of driving experience and visibility. Using a driving simulator to explore drivers’ eye movements in day, night and rain driving

Road crashes are the main cause of death of young people in the developed world. The reasons that cause traffic crashes are numerous; however, most researchers agree that a lack of driving experience is one of the major contributing factors. In addition it has been demonstrated that environmental factors such as driving during night and rain increases the risk of a crash. Both of these factors may be related to drivers’ visual search strategies that become more efficient with increased experience.In the present study we recorded the eye movements of driving instructors and learner drivers while they drove three virtual routes that included day, night and rain routes in a driving simulator.The results showed that driving instructors had an increased sampling rate, shorter processing time and broader scanning of the road than learner drivers. This broader scanning of the road could be possibly explained by the mirror inspection pattern which revealed that driving instructors fixated more on the side mirrors than learner drivers. Also it was found that poor visibility conditions, especially rain, decrease the effectiveness of drivers’ visual search. The lack of interaction between driving experience and visibility suggests that some aspects of visual search are affected by general rather than situation specific driving experience.The present findings support the effect of driving experience in modifying eye movement strategies. The high accident risk of night and rain driving could be partly explained by the decrement in visual search strategies during these conditions. Finally it is argued that the use of driving simulators can provide valuable insights regarding driving safety.     

Using naturalistic driving data to explore the association between traffic safety-related events and crash risk at driver level

There has been considerable research conducted over the last 40 years using traffic safety-related events to support road safety analyses. Dating back to traffic conflict studies from the 1960s these observational studies of driver behavior have been criticized due to: poor quality data; lack of available and useful exposure measures linked to the observations; the incomparability of self-reported safety-related events; and, the difficulty in assessing culpability for safety-related events. This study seeks to explore the relationships between driver characteristics and traffic safety-related events, and between traffic safety-related events and crash involvement while mitigating some of those limitations. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study dataset, in which the participants’ vehicles were instrumented with various cameras and sensors during the study period, was used for this study. The study data set includes 90 drivers observed for 12–13 months driving. This study focuses on single vehicle run-off-road safety-related events only, including 14 crashes and 182 safety-related events (30 near crashes, and 152 crash-relevant incidents). Among the findings are: (1) drivers under age 25 are significantly more likely to be involved in safety-related events and crashes; and (2) significantly positive correlations exist between crashes, near crashes, and crash-relevant incidents. Although there is still much to learn about the factors affecting the positive correlation between safety-related events and crashes, a Bayesian multivariate Poisson log-normal model is shown to be useful to quantify the associations between safety-related events and crash risk while controlling for driver characteristics.     

Multiway methods to explore and model NIR data from a batch process

Multiway methods are tested for their ability to explore and model near-infrared (NIR) spectra from a pharmaceutical batch process. The study reveals that blocking of data having a nonlinear behaviour into higher-order array can improve the predictive ability. The variation in each control point is independently modelled and N-way techniques overcome the nonlinearity problem. Important issues as variable selection and how to fill in for missing values have been discussed. Variable selection was shown to be essential to be able to perform multiway modelling. For spectra not yet monitored, use of mean spectra from calibration set gave close to the best results. Decomposing the spectra by N-way techniques gave additional information about the chemical system. To support the results simulated data sets were used.     

Two-step approach to robust deadlock control in automated manufacturing systems with multiple resource failures

ABSTRACT

In an automated manufacturing system (AMS), resource failures are inevitable, which renders the existing deadlock control policies for AMSs without considering resource failures ineffective. For the AMSs with multiple unreliable resources, in this paper, a method is developed for robust deadlock resolution using the framework of Petri nets (PNs). The considered AMSs are modeled with PN models called system of simple sequential process with resources (S³PR). An unreliable S³PR (U-S³PR) is obtained by adding recovery subnets that model the resource failures and recovery procedures of the places where resource failures may happen. Based on the model, a two-step approach is developed to design a robust controller. At Step 1, we use a siphon-based deadlock control method to analyze the behavior with resource failures and propose an incomplete robust deadlock controller for a U-S³PR. At Step 2, a reachability-graph-analysis-based method is utilized to consummate the robust deadlock controller. Then, a robust liveness-enforcing supervisor is derived to make an unreliable S³PR live even if multiple types of resources break down. Finally, the proposed method is illustrated by using an example.     

The elementary flux modes of a manufacturing system: a novel approach to explore the relationship of network structure and function

Elementary flux modes (EFMs) are a concept from Systems Biology, where they serve as an indicator of component relevance in metabolic networks. An elementary flux mode is a functionally relevant, non-decomposable path through a given network. In this paper, we apply elementary flux mode analysis to manufacturing systems, with the aim of using the number of EFMs as a predictor for resource significance in the manufacturing system. For this, we formulate a network representation of a manufacturing process, which allows us to define the manufacturing equivalent of a stoichiometric matrix to draw an analogy between metabolic and manufacturing systems. This, in turn, allows the computation of EFMs, which we conduct in a case-study for a real manufacturing system. We further show that the change of EFMs under resource breakdown is a good indicator of the average order lateness in the manufacturing system. In this way, EFMs provide insight into the relationship of network structure and function in manufacturing.     

基于车联网的HMI交互体验流程与方法探究

目的探索交互设计的方法与流程在基于车联网的HMI交互体验设计过程中的应用方式,推进车联网技术在HMI交互产品中的应用。方法以交互设计方法与流程为基础,分析和对比不同课题中交互设计的方法和流程的应用方式,利用策略性设计成果检验方法的有效性。探讨了交互设计方法与流程在HMI交互体验研究和设计中的有效应用方式。结论结合案例表明了交互设计方法与流程在HMI交互体验设计过程中的重要指导作用,时刻基于用户中心理念对具体方法进行灵活组合运用是必要的。