Evaluation of presentation of information for process control operations

In an experimental process control simulation study two operators performed monitoring and control operations including safety critical tasks that required parallel processing of information distributed over different functional mimic displays. The assignment of mimic displays to Visual Display Units (VDUs) was experimentally varied by allowing one or two VDUs for mimic presentation. The study revealed no evidence for differences in task performance during normal process control operations. During abnormal operations, however, detrimental effects both on performance and work load were observed. Having only one VDU available for mimic display revealed either a lower level of performance (time for fault management) and/or a higher level of emotional work strain. It is concluded that decisions on the number of VDUs necessary for effective and efficient process control must refer to the tasks to be performed and the presentation of information necessary for a safe, effective and efficient task performance under critical, but not only normal conditions.     

Low‐temperature amorphous‐silicon backplane technology development for flexible displays in a manufacturing pilot‐line environment

Abstract— A low‐temperature amorphous‐silicon (a‐Si:H) thin‐film‐transistor (TFT) backplane technology for high‐information‐content flexible displays has been developed. Backplanes were integrated with frontplane technologies to produce high‐performance active‐matrix reflective electrophoretic ink, reflective cholesteric liquid crystal and emissive OLED flexible‐display technology demonstrators (TDs). Backplanes up to 4 in. on the diagonal have been fabricated on a 6‐in. wafer‐scale pilot line. The critical steps in the evolution of backplane technology, from qualification of baseline low‐temperature (180°C) a‐Si:H process on the 6‐in. line with rigid substrates, to transferring the process to flexible plastic and flexible stainless‐steel substrates, to form factor scale‐up of the TFT arrays, and finally manufacturing scale‐up to a Gen 2 (370 × 470 mm) display‐scale pilot line, will be reviewed.     

Coping with information in social media: The effects of network structure and knowledge on perception of information value

The explosive growth of social media has intrigued many scholars to inquire into why people willingly share information with others. However, relatively little attention has been devoted to how people determine which information they share in the networked environment. In this study, a 2 (network density – dense vs. sparse) × 2 (knowledge – expert vs. novice) × 3 (information valence – negative vs. neutral vs. positive) online experiment was performed to examine how the three factors interact and cross over in shaping individuals’ perceptions of the value of information for themselves and for others in the network. Results show that individuals’ perceptions of information value are influenced not just by their level of knowledge, but also by how the network environment is structured. Implications for the findings are discussed.     

An evaluation of a "time tunnel" display format for the presentation of temporal information

The time tunnel display design technique combines the benefits of configural displays (salient visual properties corresponding to critical domain semantics) with the benefits of temporal information (i.e., the value of variables and properties over time). In Experiment 1 a baseline configural display and a time tunnel display were evaluated using real-time measures of system control, fault detection, and state estimation in a simulated process control task. The results provided little evidence in support of the time tunnel format. In Experiment 2 access to the temporal context was limited: Participants performed the detection and estimation tasks with static "snapshots" of system states that had been generated in Experiment 1. The overall pattern of results indicates that the time tunnel display was more effective for state estimation tasks than was the baseline configural display and or a trend display. Issues in the design of temporal displays are discussed, including representational formats and the choice of temporal time frames. Issues in the evaluation of temporal displays are also discussed, including the role of temporal information and the critical nature of participants' access to this information. Actual or potential applications of this research include design techniques for improving graphical displays and methodological insights to guide future evaluations.     

Impact of information display on worker performance for wood frame wall assembly using AR HMD under different task conditions

Augmented Reality (AR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) provide users with an immersive virtual experience in the real world. The portability of this technology affords various information display options for construction workers that are not possible otherwise. However, the impact of these different information presentation options on human performance should be carefully evaluated before such technology is deployed in the jobsite. In this paper, we describe a research effort examining how different information displays presented via AR HMD influence task performance when assembling three sized wooden wall frame assembly tasks. We asked 18 construction engineering students with framing experience to finish three wood frame assembly tasks (large, medium, and small) using one of the three information displays (AR 3D conformal, AR 2D tag-along, and paper blueprints). The task performance was measured by time of completion and framing errors, which were analyzed and compared among each factor.     

A new class of auditory warning signals for complex systems: auditory icons

This simulator-based study examined conventional auditory warnings (tonal, nonverbal sounds) and auditory icons (representational, nonverbal sounds), alone and in combination with a dash-mounted visual display, to present information about impending collision situations to commercial motor vehicle operators. Brake response times were measured for impending front-to-rear collision scenarios under 6 display configurations, 2 vehicle speeds, and 2 levels of headway. Accident occurrence was measured for impending side collision scenarios under 2 vehicle speeds, 2 levels of visual workload, 2 auditory displays, absence/presence of mirrors, and absence/presence of a dash-mounted iconic visual display. For both front-to-rear and side collision scenarios, auditory icons elicited significantly improved driver performance over conventional auditory warnings. Driver performance improved when collision warning information was presented through multiple modalities. Brake response times were significantly faster for impending front-to-rear collision scenarios using the longer headway condition. The presence of mirrors significantly reduced the number of accidents for impending side collision scenarios. Subjective preference data indicated that participants preferred multimodal displays over single-modality displays. Actual or potential applications for this research include auditory displays and warnings, information presentation, and the development of alternative user interfaces.     

Display techniques for integrated data sets

At Los Alamos National Laboratory, geoscientists have assembled and integrated 30 geological, geophysical, and geochemical data sets with four Landsat bands for the Montrose 1° × 2° quadrangle, Colorado. Three graphical displays were developed to determine if visual analysis of the data facilitated interpretation. Two displays project the data spatially: gray-level maps project values of a single data set, and three-color overlays project the values of three data sets simultaneously. The third display, a three-dimensional plot, graphs three data sets and allows examination of relationships in parameter space. Two examples illustrate the potential applications of the display techniques. Uranium in sediments, uranium in waters, and equivalent uranium each provide unique information about uranium distribution in the quadrangle. However, the combined data convey more information than each data set separately. Copper, lead, and zinc displays allow identification of all the basemetal districts and convey information about the geochemical character of the deposits. Visual displays greatly increase efficiency of analysis and interpretability of diverse geologic data sets.     

Sharpness and noise characteristics of a half‐mirror stereoscopic display

Stereoscopic displays are becoming popular in entertainment and industrial applications. We characterize the spatial resolution and noise properties of a stereoscopic display with a half‐mirror and passive polarizing glasses. The upper display images reflected off the mirror have slightly degraded sharpness and reduced high spatial‐frequency noise resulting in modulation transfer functions (MTFs) of 0.59 and 0.50 at the Nyquist frequency with corresponding noise power spectra (NPS) values of 4.79 × 10^?6 and 5.17 × 10^?6 mm² at 10 mm^?1 in the horizontal and vertical directions. These results are compared to the characteristics of the individual displays with MTF values of 0.64 and 0.53 and NPS values of 6.24 × 10^?6 and 5.87 × 10^?6 mm². The polarizing glasses cause minimal reduction in sharpness and high‐frequency noise. The MTFs in the upper images observed with glasses are decreased to 0.54 and 0.47, while the NPS are decreased to 2.86 × 10^?6 and 2.01 × 10^?6 mm². When both displays are turned on and using the mirror and glasses, the observed luminance for each eye is increased from the luminance of the individual displays owing to crosstalk. We find that sharpness and noise are not affected by the interaction between the displays at the particular geometry tested in this study.     

Experiment to select a suitable visual display and evaluate its washout characteristics

Two separate experiments were carried out on a display for a portable microprocessor. Of three phosphorescent displays available for installation, readability times, error rates and subjective preferences were recorded and compared using fifteen subjects. On these measures recorded, the small dot-matrix display (3.5 mm × 5.0 mm) performed better than the large dot-matrix display (5 mm × 8 mm) and considerably better than the segmented display (5 mm × 8 mm). The second experiment set out to quantify the effects of a range of three ambient illuminance levels on the readability of the small dot-matrix display, using the same criteria. Results suggested that for ambient illuminance levels between 0 lux and 15000 lux, a single display intensity was feasible, this being about 40 cdm^?2.     

Information integration and the object display An interaction of task demands and display superiority

Two tasks, varying in their demands to integrate multiple information sources, were used in a comparison of two graphical display formats. One display technique, an ‘object display’, utilized different dimensions of a single perceptual object to display task-relevant information. A contrasting graphical technique, a ‘bar graph’, used the same dimension of several separate objects to present identical information. In one experiment, 24 subjects used both displays to perform a simulated process control task in which integration of information from several time-varying sources was required. In a second experiment, 20 additional subjects used both displays in a non-integration task that required monitoring for particular values of six independent system outputs. Results of the integration experiment revealed that performance was superior when the object display was used. However, when the non-integration task was studied, the bar graphs provided more efficient performance. Thus, the requirement to integrate information from several sources may prove to be a predictor of when object displays may be most effectively used.     

An economical tonal display for interactive graphics and image analysis data

The use of tonal displays in image analysis and interactive graphics has always dictated the use of expensive refresh memories for the display output device. This has involved the use of high speed digital drums, multiple head discs, and analog storage tubes. Recently, the introduction of very long shift registers has allowed the designer to consider their use for refresh memories. A prototype display using 1024 bit MOS static shift registers has been developed. It has been shown that a reasonable cost versus performance tradeoff can be obtained. The first efforts has resulted in a 128 × 128 × 4 bit (64k) memory; it is now in the process of being expanded to 256 × 256 × 8 bits (512k). This memory is cost competitive with digital disc memories and both cost and performance competitive with storage tube scan converters.     

Comparing speech versus text displays for alarm handling

The rise of computers in command and control domains has meant that control operations can be performed via desk-based visual display terminals. This trend has also produced the potential to display information to operators in a variety of formats. Of particular interest has been the use of text-based displays for alarm presentation. There are possible limitations to the use of text for alarm presentation, not least of which is the need for a dedicated alarms display screen (or, at least, a display page). Given the capability of computers to synthesize speech, it is possible that speech-based alarms could generate the same information as text-based displays without the need for dedicated screen space. In this paper an experimental comparison of speech-based and text-based displays for presentation of alarms is reported. The findings show that speech leads to longer response times than text displays, but that it has minimal effect on the efficacy of fault handling. The results are discussed within the alarm initiated activities framework and implications for alarm system design are outlined.     

Transfer technology using inorganic separation layer and apparatus for fabricating flexible OLED displays

We established a fabrication process of flexible displays, adopting a transfer technology using an inorganic tungsten‐separation‐layer. Our separation process requires physical force and water. Tungsten oxide over tungsten in the separation layer plays a key role in separation: water injection into the tungsten oxide reduces the force necessary for separation. In this study, we describe the apparatus we built for the fabrication process of flexible displays. This apparatus fabricated an 8k (7680 × 4320 effective pixels) flexible organic light‐emitting diode display.     

Do grables enable the extraction of quantitative information better than pure graphs or tables?

Previous research is equivocal regarding the most effective methods of presenting quantitative information displays. The differences in results may be due to numerous reasons including the display and inquiry type. This study examines several methods of displaying quantitative information (e.g., line graphs, line grables, bar charts, bar grables, tables, pie charts and pie grables) that were factorially crossed with different kinds of data extraction inquiries (i.e., questions about exact numerical quantities, comparisons, and trends). Grables are displays that combines features of graphs and tables including specific numerical information with each graphically presented category. Results showed that tables, bar grables and line grables produced the fewest errors, and line graphs and bar charts produced the fastest responses across question types. Error rates combining the accuracy and time (i.e., errors/s) were lowest for the three grables and table. Results are discussed with respect to prior theoretical work and the potential benefits of hybrid forms of quantitative displays for multiple kinds of data extraction inquiries.

Relevance to industry

Choosing the best method of displaying information is important for effective decision making. This study evaluates seven types of graphical displays to answer three types of inquiries. Results indicate that in general, the most efficient data extraction (fewest errors per unit time) were produced using grable or table displays across question types. The appropriate display fosters better communication of information.     

Investigation of perceived image quality and colourfulness in mobile displays for different cultures,ambient illumination,and resolution

This study explored the effects of culture, ambient illumination, and resolution on perceived image quality and colourfulness of mobile displays. Thirty Taiwanese and 30 American students participated in the experiment. Two types of culture (Taiwanese and American), two types of illumination level (1500 lux and 7000 lux), and five types of resolution level (320×240, 260×208, 200×160, 140×112, and 80×64) were investigated in the experiment. Interactions between culture and resolution, and between illumination and resolution, were found for both perceived image quality and colourfulness. The results indicated that subjects were able to detect smaller differences in perceived image quality but not for colourfulness, and Taiwanese subjects could detect smaller differences than could the American subjects for both perceived image quality and colourfulness. The results further indicated that Taiwanese subjects were able to detect smaller differences at most of the resolution levels for colourfulness in 1500 lux than were the American subjects.

Practitioner Summary: This study found, from culture differences and ergonomics considerations, that Taiwanese subjects could detect smaller differences than could American subjects when evaluating perceived image quality and colourfulness on mobile displays. Mobile display manufacturers can use the results of this study as a reference for future mobile display design.     

Supertwisted nematic liquid crystal displays

The rapid development of supertwisted nematic liquid crystal displays since their invention in 1982 has opened up a wide range of potential applications for complex high-information-content liquid crystal displays. Monochrome, A4 sized, 640 × 400 pixel supertwisted nematic displays are now available commercially with a performance superior to twisted nematic displays. Development of the supertwisted nematic display is reviewd and the physical principles involved in its operation are described.     

Alarm-initiated activities: an analysis of alarm handlingby operators using text-based alarm systems in supervisory control systems

Alarms constitute a significant aspect of the operator-system interface in human supervisory control tasks: they have the potential to display information that is of critical importance to overall system safety and integrity. This paper considers the trend toward the use of visual display terminals for the presentation of alarms, specifically in the use of scrolling text displays. It is suggested that this form of information display may not best serve all aspects of alarm handling. To illustrate why this is so, an analysis of human alarm handling activities is presented. The focus on text-based displays and annunciators allows the authors to concentrate on a number of problems associated with the alarm design using a specific medium. From this discussion, the alarm initiated activities model is developed. By considering the activities that people engage in when dealing with alarms, an insight is offered into the information requirements that can be used to inform the design of alarm systems.     

A review of “Aspects of Human Efficiency: Diurnal Rhythm and Loss of Sleep”. Edited by W. P. COLQUHOUN. (London: English Universities Press, 1972.) [Pp. viii+344.] £6·00.

Abstract

There are considerable problems in displaying complex systems by means of computer technology. One of these is how to present large amounts of information in an intelligible manner. Advantages, on the other hand, may be found in the novel way that information can be presented. This paper is concerned with both of these issues in relation to fault-finding behaviour.

Performance using four types of display was compared for computer-generated network fault diagnosis tasks. One of these showed the network in its entirety. The others related to larger networks which could be seen through three restricted window displays. These were: a scrolling and two hierarchical displays. One of the hierarchical displays was enhanced by including, in an overview page, information concerning the lower levels. The results indicated the superiority of the enhanced display, especially for subjects of lower initial ability. Previous reports of a reduction in the variation between subjects' testing efficiency, when diagnosing faults via restricted windows, were not confirmed. Unlike previous research, a significant improvement in the mean level of quality of diagnosis was found when subjects used the restricted window displays for fault diagnosis.     

Optical response of helix‐free FLC: Continuous gray scale,fastest response,and lowest control voltage

Electro‐optical response of a display cells with novel helix‐free FLC (differently, compensated helix ferroelectric—CHF) is considered. Predominance of the shear viscosity in the soliton mode of FLC director reorientation leads to weakening the temperature dependence of the response time. Increasing the electric field frequency expands this temperature interval, and it is 15°C… 45°C for the frequency about 3 kHz at ±1.5 V in a display cell with FLC viscosity of 0.7 P. Increasing the rotational viscosity up to 1.0 P provides the increase of speed ability due to Maxwell's nature of energy dissipation. The optical response time of 24 µs and light modulation frequency of 7 kHz were achieved at the amplitude of control voltage pulses ±1.5 V. Thus, like NLC based cells, the experimental samples of CHF based display cells at the same (or even lower) value of voltage and electric field tension (1–2 V/µm) show the continuous gray scale and hysteresis‐free modulation characteristic (up to 5 kHz) but can provide 40–50 times (!) higher speed. These break‐through results characterize CHF as the most high‐speed materials for future 3D displays and displays using field sequential color technique, including FLCoS and TFT addressed, as well as displays with new functional properties.     

Relationship between phoria and visual fatigue in autostereoscopic 3D displays

Many people complain about visual fatigue arising from viewing three‐dimensional (3D) displays. This paper investigates relationship between visual fatigue and viewers' phoria for viewing autostereoscopic 3D displays. Visual fatigue is evaluated through subjective symptoms with a questionnaire and optometric indicators comprising fusion range as well as accommodation convergence/accommodation (AC/A) ratio to measure the variation in visual functions. A screening test is adopted to divide the subjects into two groups based on whether they suffer from phoria. Then a 2 × 2 × 2 mixed design experiment is conducted with display type, viewing stage, and visual state as factors to examine visual fatigue during viewing session. The results show that phoria subjects obtain more severe visual fatigue than normal on subjective evaluation. The normal subjects reveal a more marked difference with phoria in fusion range and AC/A ratio after viewing 3D video clip. Fusion range can significantly distinguish between the two‐dimensional (2D) and 3D condition as well as between the pre‐ and post‐viewing stages. The sensitivity and specificity of fusion range is higher than AC/A ratio with respect to viewing of 3D contents, so it is more appropriate as an optometric indicator of visual fatigue for autostereoscopic 3D displays.