Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Heuristic principles'

As the use of mobile devices is increasing and the use of laptops and computers is decreasing it is becoming more important to design for better web usability across platforms. The established design principles for web design provide guidelines when designing and testing web usability. The principles, however, are not commonly used to evaluate and test the usability of mobile websites. This study seeks to examine how the usability of mobile and desktop websites is affected based on the adaption of established web design principles. The study is built upon an analytical framework where common keywords have been selected from a selection of established web design principles. This study takes on a qualitative approach with experimental features, using a heuristic evaluation, a usability study and an eye-tracking experiment. The study indicates that there is a connection between low adaption of certain keywords of web design principles and the usability of mobile and desktop websites, contributing to a deeper understanding of how adaption of design principles affect web usability across platforms.<br>Användningen av mobila enheter har på senare tid ökat och användningen av bärbara datorer och stationära datorer har minskat. Det blir därför allt viktigare att designa mer användarvänliga hemsidor på olika plattformar. Etablerade design principer för webbdesign anger riktlinjer för design och test av webbanvändbarhet. Design principer används inte i en större utsträckning för att utvärdera användbarheten på mobila hemsidor, därför syftar denna studie till att undersöka hur användbarheten för mobilhemsidor påverkas utifrån att tillämpningen av design principer för webbdesign. Studien bygger på ett analytiskt ramverk där nyckelord har valts ut från ett antal etablerade webbdesign principer. Studien har ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt, med experimentella inslag. Studien har genomförts genom heuristik utvärdering, användbarhets studier och eye-tracking experiment. Studien indikerar att det finns en koppling mellan lägre nivåer av tillämpning av webbdesign principer och användbarheten på mobil- och datorsanpassade hemsidor. Denna studie bidrar till en djupare förståelse om hur anpassningen av design principer och dess påverkan av användbarheten på hemsidor över olika plattformar.

Objectives. In this thesis I have, together with game developer and publisher Paradox Interactive, designed and implemented a level editor tool for use in their game Magicka 2. With this tool users can create, edit and share custom Challenge levels in the game. I have also done a more in-depth scientific study of usability in such level editor tools, especially pertaining to the disparity between various controller input schemes and platforms. Methods. I have performed a literary study of articles and books relevant to the field of game design, user interface design, general usability, controller input schemes and any other topic I found relevant. I have paired this with a study of similar level editor tools and their user interfaces and features in other console and PC games. This knowledge, together with feedback from both expert and non-expert testing, has then been analyzed and used to design and implement both the user interface and the features of the level editor. Results. Results of the literary study, level editor tool study and testing are presented together with their impact on the design of the user interface and all implemented features. The results of each iteration of the Challenge Creator are presented as well. Lastly, all results are analyzed and a set of design heuristics for creating a similar level editor tool is presented. Conclusions. I conclude that creating a platform independent level editor tool with high usability is very much possible, but that designing such a tool becomes far more difficult with each new platform and controller input scheme supported. I also conclude that additional features and further increase in tool complexity loses significant impact if the core user interface is lacking in usability. I also conclude that more time and testing will be needed to further empirically validate the design heuristics. Lastly, I conclude that additional iterations will be required upon the Challenge Creator to improve its usability in light of already known and established design flaws.

The purpose of this study was to attempt to enhance performance in the Australian Mathematics Competition of a group of Western Australian Year 9 students, to a level beyond that which they might have been expected to attain, through the use of a heuristic-based intervention technique using Vygotsky's zone of proximal development principle.Since 1978, students of mathematics in Australian high schools have been meeting the challenge of the Australian Mathematics Competition. This national competition aims to provide students with a sense of achievement in mathematics and to emphasise the importance of this subject in the high school curriculum.Vygotsky's zone of proximal development refers to the difference between a student's actual developmental level and the student's potential developmental level given adult assistance. In effect, this means that while students may achieve to a plane commensurate with their actual developmental level, they will progress into their zone of proximal development with assistance and their level of achievement will rise. Vygotsky's concept of Intervention coupled with Siegler's concept of heuristic-based strategy learning provided a methodology suitable for enhancing and maximising developmental effects in this study.The study involved three distinct stages: the preparatory phase, the treatment phase and the concluding phase.In the preparatory phase, student's actual developmental levels were determined based on their performance in the 1979 Junior level Australian Mathematics Competition paper. This data facilitated identifying the paths that learning should follow in order that students' problem solving skills should improve. During this phase, students also attempted an Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) test entitled 'Test's of Reasoning in Mathematics' (TRIM). This measure was used to monitor expected development ++<br>in mathematics reasoning ability for students over the period of the study.The treatment phase involved the students in over 35 hours of instruction which exposed them to a heuristic-based intervention technique designed to enhance their performance in problem solving. Students practised various problem solving techniques and the Australian Mathematics Competition ittself became the focus for improved performance.An index of improvement was provided in the concluding phase of the study by scores obtained from the treatment group on the 1982 Intermediate level Australian Mathematics Competition paper. Scores were significantly higher than the national average of either the Year 9 or Year 10 groups. The second ACER 'TRIM' test verified that the students achieved their expected development in mathematics reasoning ability during the study.The implication of this result is that the practice of restricting students to year groups or courses on the basis of age should be examined in the light of the Vygotskian principle.

This paper accounts for the work with a website for a company whose real name will not be disclosed in the text of this paper. Instead, they have been assigned the fictitious name Larmbolaget, which can be translated as ‘The Alarm Company’. During our work with Larmbolaget’s website, we consulted a selection of accessibility guidelines from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, developed by a working group within the World Wide Web Consortium, as well as a number of design principles and heuristics outlined in this paper. We also conducted several usability tests on users from our intended target group. All the measures taken were an effort to ensure that Larmbolaget’s website be as accessible and usable as possible. Our conclusion is that the resulting website does comply with the accessibility guidelines and design principles described in this paper, and thus we consider it to be accessible and usable to a wide range of users, including those with disabilities.<br>Den här rapporten redogör för arbetet med en webbplats åt ett företag vars riktiga namn inte avslöjas i texten i denna rapport. Istället har de tilldeltas det påhittade namnet Larmbolaget. Under arbetet med Larmbolagets webbplats har vi tagit hänsyn till en utvald del av tillgänglighetsriktlinjerna i Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, utvecklade av en arbetsgrupp inom World Wide Web Consortium, samt ett antal designprinciper och heuristiker som vi sammanfattar i den här rapporten. Vi utförde även ett flertal användartester på användare inom vår tänkta målgrupp. Alla dessa åtgärder var ett försök att göra Larmbolagets webbplats så tillgänglig och användbar som möjligt. Vår slutsats är att den resulterande webbplatsen följer de tillgänglighetsriktlinjer och designprinciper som beskrivs i den här rapporten, och således anser vi den vara tillgänglig och användbar för en stor mängd användare, inklusive dem med funktionshinder.

The master thesis deals with the joint EEG-fMRI analysis based on a heuristic model that describes the relationship between changes in blood flow in active brain areas and in the electrical activity of neurons. This work also discusses various methods of extracting of useful information from the EEG and their influence on the final result of joined analysis. There were tested averaging methods of electrodes interest, decomposition by principal components analysis and decomposition by independent component analysis. Methods of averaging and decomposition by PCA give similar results, but information about a stimulus vector can not be extracted. Using ICA decomposition, we are able to obtain information relating to the certain stimulation, but there is the problem in the final interpretation and selection of the right components in a blind search for variability coupled with the experiment. It was found out that although components calculated from the time sequence EEG are independent for each to other, their spectrum shifts are correlated. This spectral dependence was eliminated by PCA / ICA decomposition from vectors of spectrum shifts. For this method, each component brings new information about brain activity. The results of the heuristic approach were compared with the results of the joined analysis based on the relative and absolute power approach from frequency bands of interest. And the similarity between activation maps was founded, especially for the heuristic model and the relative power from the gamma band (20-40Hz).

Notre thèse comprend deux parties : l’une méthodologique, l’autre appliquée.La partie méthodologique porte sur le Lasso et une variante de cet algorithme, le Lasso projeté, en vue de leur calibration par pente. Notre méthode tire parti des propriétés de parcimonie du Lasso, en envisageant le problème de sa calibration comme un problème de sélection de modèles, permettant l’emploi de critères pénalisés nécessitant le réglage d’une constante. Pour déterminer la forme de la pénalité et la valeur de la constante, nous adaptons les approches classiques de Birgé et Massart. Ceci permet de dégager la notion de pénalité canonique. Pente et validation croisée sont ensuite comparées. La proximité des résultats suggère qu’en pratique on utilise les deux conjointement, avec des corrections visuelles concernant la pente. Des améliorations sur le temps de calcul des pénalités canoniques sont ensuite proposées, mais sans succès patent. La partie appliquée analyse certaines questions métallurgiques en aéronautique. En fiabilité, le grand nombre de variables présentes, relativement au nombre limité de données, mène à une instabilité des solutions par modèles linéaires et à des temps de calculs trop élevés ; c’est pourquoi le Lasso constitue une solution intéressante. Notre méthode de réglage permet souvent de retenir les variables conformes à l’expérience métier. La question de la qualité du procédé de fabrication, par contre, ne peut se traiter au moyen du Lasso. Quatre aspects sont alors envisagés : la détermination des facteurs du procédé, la mise en évidence de recettes, l’étude de la stabilité du procédé dans le temps et la détection de pièces hors-normes. Un schéma général d’étude procédé est ainsi dégagé,en qualité comme en fiabilité<br>Our work contains a methodological and an applied part.In the methodological part we study Lasso and a variant of this algorithm : the projectedLasso. We develop slope heuristics to calibrate them.Our approach uses sparsity properties of the Lasso, showing how to remain to a modelselection framework. This both involves a penalized criterion and the tuning of a constant.To this aim, we adopt the classical approaches of Birgé and Massart about slope heuristics.This leads to the notion of canonical penalty.Slope and (tenfold) crossvalidation are then compared through simulations studies.Results suggest the user to consider both of them. In order to increase calculation speed,simplified penalties are (unsuccessfully) tried.The applied part is about aeronautics. The results of the methodological part doapply in reliability : in classical approaches (without Lasso) the large number of variables/number of data ratio leads to an instability of linear models, and to huge calculustimes. Lasso provides a helpful solution.In aeronautics, dealing with reliability questions first needs to study quality of theelaboration and forging processes. Four major axis have to be considered : analysing thefactor of the process, discrimining recipes, studying the impact of time on quality anddetecting outliers. This provides a global statistical strategy of impowerment for processes

<p>Provbanken är en del i ett nationellt provsystem som är tänkt att vara ett bedömningskomplement till existerande prov i gymnasieutbildningen. Växjö universitet har varit delaktig i utvecklingen av prov för de yrkesinriktade ämnena sedan 1997. Eftersom innehållet i dessa numera webbanpassade prov är det väsentliga, måste utformningen av provet göras lättförståelig. Användbarheten måste m a o vara självklar och inte ställa till problem för användaren. Som en av utvecklarna av dessa interaktiva prov, ville jag finna ett sätt att minimera problemen och öka användbarheten. I de bakgrundsstudier som gjordes, fann jag att en iterativ designprocess föreslogs vara den bästa metoden för att åstadkomma mitt mål. Med hjälp av användartest kopplade till teoretiska referensramar, utvärderades ett av proven som skapats vid Växjö universitet. Eftersom ett omvårdnadsprov valdes, blev målgruppen sex omvårdnadselever. Tre av dem deltog i det första användartestet. Datainsamlingen utfördes med hjälp av en kvalitativ metod, där både observationer och intervjuer användes som empiriska insamlingstekniker. I analysen som följdes upptäcktes sex höga eller medelhöga problem, varav tre av de mest akuta valdes att förändras. Dessa problem utvärderades och implementerades med hjälp av teoretiska riktlinjer i en prototyp som användartestades med de tre kvarvarande omvårdnadseleverna. I den analys som gjordes kunde de jämförda resultaten peka på en förbättring av användbarheten i det specifika prov som undersökts. Det kunde dock även konstateras att ett flertal problem återstod för att helt uppnå målet med en minimering av problem.</p><p>Denna uppsats visar på betydelsen av att göra iterativa designprocesser i interaktiva system för att öka dess användbarhet. Studien pekar tydligt på vikten av att göra användartest samt hur teori kan vara ett komplement till utformning av interaktiva gränssnitt.</p><br><p>Provbanken is part of a national examination system, which is meant to be a mark-setting complement to existing tests in the upper secondary school. Växjö University has been part of the development of tests regarding the vocational subjects since 1997. Because the content of these web-adapted tests is essential, the design of the tests must be made easy to understand. In other words, the usability has to be obvious and must not create trouble for the user. As one of the developers of these interactive tests, I wanted to find a way to minimize the problems and increase the usability. In the conducted background studies, I found that the iterative design process was suggested as the best method to achieve my goal. With the help of usability tests applied to theoretical frame of reference, one of the tests created at Växjö University was evaluated. Since a test regarding homecare was chosen, the target group became six homecare students. Three of them took part in the first usability test. The gathering of data was conducted with the help of a qualitative method, where observations and interviews were used as empirical techniques. In the following analysis six high or medium high problems were discovered, out of which three of the most urgent problems were solved. These problems were evaluated and implemented with help of theoretical guidelines into a prototype, which later became usability tested with the three remaining homecare students. In the analysis made, the compared results showed an improvement of the usability in the specific, investigated test. However, it could clearly be stated that several issues persisted until the goal of minimizing the problems could be achieved.</p><p>This thesis shows the importance of performing iterative design processes in interactive systems in order to increase the usability. The study clearly points out the importance of usability tests and how theory can be a complement in the design of interactive interfaces.</p>

S tím, jak se neustále vyvíjejí nové technologie pro energeticky náročná průmyslová odvětví, stávající zařízení postupně zaostávají v efektivitě a produktivitě. Tvrdá konkurence na trhu a legislativa v oblasti životního prostředí nutí tato tradiční zařízení k ukončení provozu a k odstavení. Zlepšování procesu a projekty modernizace jsou zásadní v udržování provozních výkonů těchto zařízení. Současné přístupy pro zlepšování procesů jsou hlavně: integrace procesů, optimalizace procesů a intenzifikace procesů. Obecně se v těchto oblastech využívá matematické optimalizace, zkušeností řešitele a provozní heuristiky. Tyto přístupy slouží jako základ pro zlepšování procesů. Avšak, jejich výkon lze dále zlepšit pomocí moderní výpočtové inteligence. Účelem této práce je tudíž aplikace pokročilých technik umělé inteligence a strojového učení za účelem zlepšování procesů v energeticky náročných průmyslových procesech. V této práci je využit přístup, který řeší tento problém simulací průmyslových systémů a přispívá následujícím: (i)Aplikace techniky strojového učení, která zahrnuje jednorázové učení a neuro-evoluci pro modelování a optimalizaci jednotlivých jednotek na základě dat. (ii) Aplikace redukce dimenze (např. Analýza hlavních komponent, autoendkodér) pro vícekriteriální optimalizaci procesu s více jednotkami. (iii) Návrh nového nástroje pro analýzu problematických částí systému za účelem jejich odstranění (bottleneck tree analysis – BOTA). Bylo také navrženo rozšíření nástroje, které umožňuje řešit vícerozměrné problémy pomocí přístupu založeného na datech. (iv) Prokázání účinnosti simulací Monte-Carlo, neuronové sítě a rozhodovacích stromů pro rozhodování při integraci nové technologie procesu do stávajících procesů. (v) Porovnání techniky HTM (Hierarchical Temporal Memory) a duální optimalizace s několika prediktivními nástroji pro podporu managementu provozu v reálném čase. (vi) Implementace umělé neuronové sítě v rámci rozhraní pro konvenční procesní graf (P-graf). (vii) Zdůraznění budoucnosti umělé inteligence a procesního inženýrství v biosystémech prostřednictvím komerčně založeného paradigmatu multi-omics.

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia Industrial<br>Este projeto de investigação visa analisar o atual desempenho da empresa em estudo relativo à sua gestão de transportes, bem como desenvolver e implementar ações de melhoria nesta área. A gestão de transportes na empresa inclui o planeamento de entregas, com a definição das rotas e horários de entrega, a gestão dos motoristas, a análise dos custos de transporte e a manutenções dos veículos. Através de recolha de informações e dados secundários, incluindo os registos da empresa, a opinião dos colaboradores e a revisão da literatura, e a partir de observações diretas, e com aplicação de ferramentas Lean e de heurísticas de definição de rotas, foi possível desenvolver este projeto de investigação. Os principais problemas identificados estão relacionados com as falhas de comunicação entre diferentes setores da empresa, elaboração de planos de entrega incoerentes (entre setores), falta de planeamento da manutenção dos veículos e imprevisibilidade das entregas do setor de produção. Em conjunto, estes problemas colocam em causa a eficiência da gestão, algo bem evidenciado com o fraco desempenho registado em algumas das medidas de desempe-nho estudadas. A definição de ações de melhoria, como a redução das horas extraordinárias, mecanismos que permitem tornar os processos de comunicação entre setores mais assertivos e fiáveis, a apli-cação de heurísticas para a definição de rotas mais eficientes, e a elaboração de verificações mensais aos veículos, para que a sua disponibilidade aumente, são soluções propostas no sen-tido de tentar solucionar os problemas identificados e assim melhorar a gestão da atividade de transportes. Parte das propostas apresentadas não foi possível implementar. No caso da redução das horas extraordinárias, parcialmente conseguida, as poupanças podem ascender os 6 930€ anuais. Em relação às restantes propostas implementadas, as poupanças só poderão ser calculadas ao fim de algum tempo, como é o caso da aplicação de heurísticas que permita a definição de rotas mais eficientes e do plano de verificação das viaturas.<br>This research project aims to analyze the current performance about transport management of the company in study, as well as to develop and implement improvement actions in this area. The transport management of this company includes delivery planning, route definition and delivery times, driver management, transport costs analysis, and vehicles maintenance. Through information collected and secondary data, including company records, employee opinion and literature review, from direct observations, and by applying Lean tools and route definition heurists, it was possible to develop this research project. The main problems identified are related to communication failures between different sectors of the company, incoherent delivery planning, lack of vehicle maintenance planning and un-predictable deliveries from the production sector. These problems influence the management efficiency, which is well evidenced by the weak key performance indicators studied. The definition of improvement actions, such as the overtime reduction, mechanisms that make the communication processes between sectors more assertive and reliable, the appli-cation of heuristics for more efficient route definition, and development of monthly check-lists for vehicles, to increase their availability, are solutions proposed to try to resolve the identified problems and, through this, improve the management of the transport activity. Some of the proposals presented couldn’t be implemented. In the case of overtime reduction, the savings can reach 6 930€, annually. For the remaining proposals implemented, savings can only be calculated over time, such as the application of the heuristics that allow the definition of more efficient routes and the vehicle verification plan.

The proliferation of the internet and associated online activities exposes users to numerous information security (InfoSec) threats. Such online activities attract a variety of online users who include novice computer users with no basic InfoSec awareness knowledge. Information systems that collect and use sensitive and confidential personal information of users need to provide reliable protection mechanisms to safeguard this information. Given the constant user involvement in these systems and the notion of users being the weakest link in the InfoSec chain, technical solutions alone are insufficient. The usability of online InfoSec systems can play an integral role in making sure that users use the applications effectively, thereby improving the overall security of the applications. The development of online InfoSec systems calls for addressing the InfoSec problem as a social problem, and such development must seek to find a balance between technical and social aspects. The research addressed the problem of usable security in online InfoSec applications by using an approach that enabled the consideration of both InfoSec and usability in viewing the system as a socio-technical system with technical and social sub-systems. Therefore, the research proposed a socio-technical framework that promotes the development of usable security for online information systems using online banking as a case study. Using a convergent mixed methods research (MMR) design, the research collected data from online banking users through a survey and obtained the views of online banking developers through unstructured interviews. The findings from the two research methods contributed to the selection of 12 usable security design principles proposed in the sociotechnical information security (STInfoSec) framework. The research contributed to online InfoSec systems theory by developing a validated STInfoSec framework that went through an evaluation process by seven field experts. Although intended for online banking, the framework can be applied to other similar online InfoSec applications, with minimum adaptation. The STInfoSec framework provides checklist items that allow for easy application during the development process. The checklist items can also be used to evaluate existing online banking websites to identify possible usable security problems.<br>Computer Science<br>D. Phil. (Computer Science)

The Digital Doorway (DD) is a non-standard computer system deployed to promote computer literacy amongst the underpriviledged communities in South Africa. Since its inception there has been no usability evaluation of the software installed on the DD. This study investigate the applicability of standard involved two cycles of design research phases to develop a set of multi-category heuristics for evaluating a selection of interfaces and applications installed on the DD. The heuristic evaluation method was found to be an appropriate method for the evaluating the usability of the software as well as the direct accessibility support provided on the DD. As a triangulation exercise the heuristic evaluation was complementary role of using a combination of evaluation methods.<br>Computing<br>M. Sc. (Information Systems)

This dissertation describes the credibility judgment process using social psychological theories of dual-processing, which state that information processing outcomes are the result of an interaction “between a fast, associative information- processing mode based on low-effort heuristics, and a slow, rule-based information processing mode based on high-effort systematic reasoning” (Chaiken & Trope, 1999, p. ix). Further, this interaction is illustrated by describing credibility judgments as a choice between examining easily identified peripheral cues (the messenger) and content (the message), leading to different evaluations in different settings. The focus here is on the domain of the Web, where ambiguous authorship, peer- produced content, and the lack of gatekeepers create an environment where credibility judgments are a necessary routine in triaging information. It reviews the relevant literature on existing credibility frameworks and the component factors that affect credibility judgments. The online encyclopedia (instantiated as Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica) is then proposed as a canonical form to examine the credibility judgment process. The two main claims advanced here are (1) that information sources are composed of both message (the content) and messenger (the way the message is delivered), and that the messenger impacts perceived credibility; and (2) that perceived credibility is tempered by information need (individual engagement). These claims were framed by the models proposed by Wathen & Burkell (2002) and Chaiken (1980) to forward a composite dual process theory of credibility judgments, which was tested by two experimental studies. The independent variables of interest were: media format (print or electronic); reputation of source (Wikipedia or Britannica); and the participant’s individual involvement in the research task (high or low). The results of these studies encourage a more nuanced understanding of the credibility judgment process by framing it as a dual-process model, and showing that certain mediating variables can affect the relative use of low-effort evaluation and high- effort reasoning when forming a perception of credibility. Finally, the results support the importance of messenger effects on perceived credibility, implying that credibility judgments, especially in the online environment, and especially in cases of low individual engagement, are based on peripheral cues rather than an informed evaluation of content.<br>text