Research Needs and Challenges in Application of Computer and Information Sciences for Industrial Engineering

By invitation from the Editor of IIE Transactions, a research forum was established in 1987 to develop and prepare this article. The objective: to write on the directions, needs and challenges for research by the IE com-munity in applying computer and information sciences. The motivation: realizing the major advancements in computer and information sciences in the recent decade and their significant impact on the IE profession, it is vital to examine how IE research activities can respond effectively to current and emerging needs. This article is viewed as a useful contribution to such an examination.

Forum members were invited from academia, government and industry based on their experience in and commitment to research in this area. The forum was chaired by Shimon Y. Nof and the members are the co-authors of this article.

Forum members communicated and deliberated throughout 1987 and met for a review and planning session dur-ing the IIE Conference in Washington, D.C. in May, 1987 (Forum, 1987). The following article summarizes the contributions and recommendations of the forum members, and was reviewed by four guest reviewers. The re-viewers, invited by the Editor, have provided comments that have been incorporated into this article     

Three-Dimensional Biomechanical Static Strength Prediction Model Sensitivity to Postural and Anthropometric Inaccuracies

This paper describes a detailed empirical comparison of a 3-D Static Strength Prediction Model with a set of strength performance data. The data were acquired from 29 male volunteers who performed four different static exertions (e.g., lift, push-down, pull-in, and push-out), with one hand and both hands using a force cell located at six different positions around the body. It is shown that the biomechanical static strength prediction logic is extremely sensitive to errors in postures and somewhat sensitive to errors in anthropometry used as inputs to the model. It does appear that with good postural data the model is capable of predicting a population's mean static strengths reasonably well.     

Automated tuning of an electronic circuit board using the artificial neural network approach

Manufacturing of electronic circuits for microwave communication boards often requires tuning of different circuit characteristics by manual adjustment of several trimmer components, including the trimmer's resistance and capacitance. This manual tuning process was automated by applying the artificial neural network modeling approach. In the considered tuning process, which required manual adjustment of a set of trimmers, multiple specification criteria had to be satisfied by several trimmer rotations. The tuning process was described in terms of three independent steps: the circuit output measurement, trimmer selection, and trimmer rotation. The trimmer selection was performed by a semi-supervised neural network, which learned the patterns of circuit characteristics and the deviations between the ideal and practical outputs. Another network was developed for determination of trimmer rotation rate. The results, based on computer simulation of the tuning process, showed that the developed system improved performance of the tuning process, allowing for automation of the microwave circuit board tuning task in a real manufacturing environment.     

Optimal Design of Multiserver Queueing Systems with Different Waiting Costs for Time in Queue and Time in Service

The optimal number of servers and service rate are characterized for multiserver systems in which waiting times in service and in queue have different costs. It is shown that the optimal choice of the service rate and the number of servers depends on the ratio of the in-service waiting cost coefficient to the in-queue waiting cost coefficient. For M/M/c systems, a single server is optimal if the cost-coefficient ratio exceeds a threshold value of one-half. For GI/M/c and M/G/c systems, the threshold ratio increases as the variation of the interarrival or service time increases.     

DS／FH／TH混合扩频系统抗干扰性能的计算机模拟

在扩频通信中,抗干扰性能是评价扩频通信体制优劣的重要指标。本文研究DS/FH/TH混合扩频系统的抗干扰性能,建立了系统模型及计算机模拟方案,通过计算机模拟获得了在连续波、脉冲波多音干扰、部分带宽干扰、脉冲噪声干扰情况下的系统误码率曲线,具有一定的实用价值。     

A proposed index of usability: a method for comparing the relative usability of different software systems

. Usability is becoming a more and more important software criterion, but the present usability measurement methods are either difficult to apply, or overly dependent upon evaluators' expertise. Based on human information processing theory, this study identified eight human factors considerations which are relevant to software usability. These considerations as well as the three stages of human information processing theory formed the framework from which our Purdue Usability Testing Questionnaire (PUTQ) is derived. An experiment was conducted to test the validity of PUTQ. The experiment result showed high correlation between PUTQ and the Questionnaire for User Interaction Satisfaction (QUIS version 5.5). In addition, PUTQ detected the differences in user performance between two experimental interface systems, but QUIS failed to do so.     

Human intelligence models and their implications for expert system structure and research

In order to determine the features which contribute to intelligent behaviour, several models of human intelligence were studied, This evaluation identified ten features present in human intelligent behaviour which may be relevant to expert systems design. These features were rated, by experts in the field of expert systems, on the extent of their presence in expert systems as compared with intelligent human behaviour. The four features receiving the lowest ratings were social competence, comprehension, automatization and memory management. The paper concludes with a discussion of these four features and outlines what needs to be done and why in order to incorporate them into the structure of expert systems.     

Handedness and Psychomotor Performance

The results of three independent experiments with five diversified tasks and a total of 106 naive nonindustrial subjects tend to support the hypothesis that right-handed subjects are more likely to have a higher performance and to improve more on psychomotor tasks than do left-handed subjects.