Effects of three‐dimensional virtual reality and traditional training methods on mental workload and training performance

Industries will implement effective training programs to improve training performance, and an ideal training performance occurs under proper mental workload (MWL). Virtual reality (VR) has recently been widely utilized in training; however, only a few studies have investigated its effects on MWL and training performance simultaneously. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of VR training and traditional training methods, such as technical manuals (TM) and multimedia films (MF), on training performance and MWL. The results of the performance measurement show that VR training is considered the best training method compared to TM and MF, particularly in the case of complex tasks. The results of physiological measurements (GSR [galvanic skin response], LF% [low frequency], and LF/HF [high frequency] ratio) show a significant difference between reading TM and using computer (MF and VR), wherein the latter has a lower MWL. However, no significant difference in subjective MWL assessment (NASA‐TLX [task load index]) and HF% measurement is found.     

Dynamic behaviour of a magnetically actuated floating liquid marble

This paper reports the dynamic behaviour of a magnetically actuated floating liquid marble by analysing the oscillation of the marble. A liquid marble is a liquid droplet coated with hydrophobic powder. Magnetite particles inside the marble make it magnetic. The marble floats on a carrier liquid that contains aqueous glycerol of various concentrations. A permanent magnet located under the carrier liquid drives the floating marble with the initial velocity. Stopping the magnet abruptly causes the marble to oscillate around its final position for a few seconds. The oscillation was recorded and analysed using customised image processing and evaluation software. The damped harmonic motion model was then applied to the data and tested. Subsequently, critical parameters of the system such as the initial displacement, friction correction factor, the apparent frequency and the spring constant were determined and discussed. The simple experimental set-up and convenient theoretical approach allow us to characterise the marble motion under the influence of a magnet with good accuracy.     

Development of a web-based insulin decision aid for the elderly: usability barriers and guidelines

Universal Access in the Information Society - In recent years, researchers have attempted to shift patient decision aids (PDAs) from paper-based to web-based to increase its accessibility. Insulin...     

Articulating collaboration in a learning community

A common computer-based collaborative learning approach is to simply introduce contemporary computermediated communication technology into the classroom to support prescribed learning activities. This approach assumes that all students collaborate in similar ways and that presentday technology is sufficient to accommodate all collaboration forms. This view is superficial and limiting. Students collaborate in different ways at different levels on different learning activities. A more detailed articulation of collaboration in learning is crucial to understanding and extending the pedagogical capabilities and usefulness of collaborative technologies. A model is presented for a more finely articulated form of analysis that enumerates types of collaborative learning activities and evaluates how these activities may be supported through different design options. The analysis is based on actual classroom scenarios and the collaboration requirements that emerge from them. The authors have successfully applied this analysis model in the design of a computer-based collaborative learning environment for science education.     

Strategies for Expressing Concise, Helpful Answers

An intelligent help system needs to take into account the user's knowledgewhen formulating answers. This allows the system to provide more conciseanswers, because it can avoid telling users things that they already know.Since these concise answers concentrate exclusively on pertinent newinformation, they are also easier to understand. Information about theuser's knowledge also allows the system to take advantage of the user'sprior knowledge in formulating explanations. The system can provide betteranswers by referring to the user's prior knowledge in the explanation(e.g., through use of similes). This process of refining answers is calledanswer expression.The process of answer expression has been implemented in the UCExpresscomponent of UC (UNIX Consultant), a natural language system that helps theuser solve problems in using the UNIX operating system. UCExpress separatesanswer expression into two phases: pruning and formatting.In the pruning phase, subconcepts of the answer are pruned by being markedas already known by the user (and hence do not need to be generated), ormarked as candidates for generating anaphora or ellipsis (since they arepart of the conversational context). In the formatting phase, UCExpressuses information about the user's prior domain knowledge to select amongspecialized expository formats,such as similes and examples, for expressing information to the user. Theseformats allow UCExpress to present different types of information to theuser in a clear, concise manner. The result of UCExpress' answer expressionprocess is an internal form that a tactical level generator can easily useto produce good English.     

Planning Intelligent Responses in a Natural Language System

Intelligent help systems cannot merely respond passively to the user'scommands and queries. They need to be able to volunteer information,correct user misconceptions, and reject unethical requests when appropriate.In order to do these things, a system must be designed as an intelligentagent. That is, a system needs to have its own goals and then plan forthese goals. A system which did not have its own goals would never refuseto help users perform unethical actions.Such an intelligent agent has been implemented in the UCEgo component of UC(Wilensky et al. 1984; Wilensky et al. 1988) (UNIX Consultant), a natural languagesystem that helps the user solve problems in using the UNIX operatingsystem. UCEgo provides UC with its own goals and plans. By adoptingdifferent goals in different situations, UCEgo creates and executesdifferent plans, enabling it to interact appropriately with the user.UCEgo adopts goals when it notices that the user either lacks necessaryknowledge, or has incorrect beliefs. In these cases, UCEgo plans tovolunteer information or correct the user's misconception as appropriate.These plans are pre-stored skeletal plans that are indexed under the types ofsituations in which they are typically useful. Plan suggestion situationsinclude the goal which the plan is used to achieve, the preconditions of theplan, and appropriateness conditions for the plan. Indexing plans bysituations improves efficiency and allows UC to respond appropriately to theuser in real time.Detecting situations in which a plan should be suggested or a goal adoptedis implemented using if-detected daemons. These daemons provide asingle mechanism which can be used both for detecting goals and suggestingplans. Different methodologies for the efficient implementation ofif-detected daemons are discussed.     

Medical displays by using plasma‐beam‐alignment technology

Abstract— Novel anode layer plasma within minimum chamber space was developed for non‐contact alignment process. The plasma‐treated polyimide (PI) surface showed no particle contamination and no micro‐scratches. Surface morphology was investigated by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), an atomic force microscope (AFM), and X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy. The different oxygen‐to‐carbon ratio ([O]/[C] ratio) for XPS spectra indicated a composition change after plasma treatment. Surface pretilt angles were varied from 0 to 2.1° under different plasma exposure times. Finally, a prototype 20.8‐in. QXGA IPS‐mode gray‐scale medical liquid‐crystal display was successfully demonstrated with high contrast ratio, excellent uniformity, and wide viewing angle using this new plasma‐beam‐alignment technique.     

Empirical Evaluation of User Models and User-Adapted Systems

Empirical evaluations are needed to determine which users are helped or hindered by user-adapted interaction in user modeling systems. A review of past UMUAI articles reveals insufficient empirical evaluations, but an encouraging upward trend. Rules of thumb for experimental design, useful tests for covariates, and common threats to experimental validity are presented. Reporting standards including effect size and power are proposed.     

Analysis of factors contributing to success in a program of micromanipulation-assisted fertilization

OBJECTIVE: To determine factors important to clinical success in micromanipulation-assisted in vitro fertilization (IVF). DESIGN: Procedures invoked in two separate series of micromanipulation-assisted IVF cycles, one unsuccessful (series I) and the other successful (series II), were compared in an effort to identify changes that led to clinical success. SETTING: University-based IVF clinic. PATIENTS: In both IVF series involving micromanipulation, patients consisted of infertile couples who fit any of five categories of male-factor related infertility. The female patients underwent controlled hyperstimulation for oocyte retrieval and the oocytes were inseminated normally or were subjected either to partial zona dissection or subzonal sperm insertion to assist fertilization. Results in all groups were compared between the two patient series. RESULTS: In the successful series II, a noticeable improvement in fertilization rate and embryo quality was observed compared with series I. A significant increase in the percentage of patients reaching embryo transfer, the pregnancy rate per transfer, and the pregnancy rate per retrieval were noted in series II; a 25% ongoing pregnancy rate per retrieval was observed overall in this successful group, with "ongoing" defined as manifestation of at least a fetal sac on ultrasound with no detectable problems. Patients with a mixed transfer of embryos derived from manipulated and normally inseminated oocytes had a 75% rate of pregnancy per transfer in series II. Differences between the two series could not be attributed to patient selection or biases in selection of oocytes relegated to micromanipulation. However, oocyte handling, micromanipulation, and culture protocols differed significantly between the two series in that temperature and pH of oocytes was better controlled, and micromanipulation time was minimized in series II. CONCLUSION: Success in micromanipulation depends on maintenance of the oocyte in a stable and supportive environment throughout the micromanipulation procedure. It is also important to minimize trauma to the eggs by performing micromanipulation rapidly and with minimal distortion of the egg. Patients with a poor fertilization rate in standard IVF may experience a substantial increase in the likelihood of pregnancy when micromanipulation-assisted fertilization is performed on some eggs.     

Exploiting spatial indexes for semijoin-based join processing indistributed spatial databases

In a distributed spatial database system, a user may issue a query that relates two spatial relations not stored at the same site. Because of the sheer volume and complexity of spatial data, spatial joins between two spatial relations at different sites are expensive in terms of computational and transmission costs. In this paper, we address the problems of processing spatial joins in a distributed environment. We propose a semijoin-like operator, called the spatial semijoin, to prune away objects that do not contribute to the join result. This operator also reduces both the transmission and local processing costs for a later join operation. However, the cost of the elimination process must be taken into account, and we consider approaches to minimize these overheads. We also study and compare two families of distributed join algorithms that are based on the spatial semijoin operator. The first is based on multi-dimensional approximations obtained from an index such as the R-tree, and the second is based on single-dimensional approximations obtained from object mapping. We have conducted experiments on real data sets and report the results in this paper