Usage Of Models Research Articles

A general modal-based numerical simulation of transient heat conduction in a one-dimensional homogeneous slab

We present an analytical general solution of the well-known heat conduction problem in a one-dimensional homogeneous slab by using an expansion of the only delayed part of the temperature field function on an infinite eigen functions set. We propose to split the searched solution of the general problem in an instantaneous part and a delayed one which, with whatever boundary conditions combination, verifies Dirichlet conditions and then avoids the Gibbs problem. A space sampling and a reduction of the eigen basis produce a useful and usable numerical model which may be as accurate as required. The results we present may be used directly to numerically calculate solutions to a given problem and may be reused as a basis for more complex problems as multilayer walls or whole thermal systems studies.

A Model of System Re-Configurability and Pedagogical Usability in an E-Learning Context

Course management systems (CMSs) enable institutions to engage users efficiently, increase enrollment without major facilities investments, and serve geographically dispersed student markets on an ongoing basis. The full benefits of technology cannot be realized if faculty do not adopt the new technology and use it to achieve their instructional design objectives. From a faculty perspective, pedagogical usability of the software is an important factor affecting technology adoption and effective implementation. Pedagogical usability is measured using Chickering and Gamson’s seven principles of good educational practice. In a distance learning context, this paper provides an initial exploratory study of how faculty perceptions of CMS software characteristics like content re-configurability, interaction re-configurability, and modularity design help faculty implement good pedagogical principles. Additionally, a model is presented that links CMS software design characteristics like content re-configurability, interaction re-configurability, and modularity design with the pedagogical usability assessments of faculty. This model is tested using a sample of 56 faculty members using WebCT at a mid-western university.

Memory, an elusive abstraction

Multiprocessors are now ubiquitous. They provide an abstraction of shared memory, accessible by concurrently executing threads, which supports a wide range of software. However, exactly what this key abstraction is -- what the hardware designers implement, and what programmers can depend on -- is surprisingly elusive. In 1979, when articulating the notion of sequential consistency (SC), Lamport wrote "For some applications, achieving sequential consistency may not be worth the price of slowing down the processors." [7], and indeed most major multiprocessor families, including Alpha, ARM, Itanium, Power, Sparc, and x86, do not provide the abstraction of SC memory. Internally, they incorporate a range of sophisticated optimisations which have various programmer-visible effects. For some (such as Sparc) these effects are captured in a well-defined relaxed memory model, making it possible (if challenging) to reason with confidence about the behaviour of concurrent programs. For others, however, it has been very unclear what a reasonable model is, despite extensive research over the last three decades. In this talk, I will reflect on the experience of my colleagues and I in trying to establish usable models for x86 multiprocessors, where it appears that our x86-TSO model suffices for common-case code [1-4], and for Power and ARM multiprocessors, where we have models that capture some but not all aspects of their behaviour [5,6]. The underlying causes of these difficulties are complex, including: The programmer-observable relaxed-memory behaviour of a multiprocessor is a whole-system property that arises from the interaction between many complex aspects of the processor implementation: speculative execution, store buffering, cache protocol, and so forth. Programs are executed (and tested) on specific multiprocessor implementations, but processor vendors attempt to document loose specifications to cover a range of possible (past and future) implementations Multiprocessor implementation details are typically confidential and may change radically from one implementation to another Vendor specifications suffer from the tension between the need for loose specification, to preserve freedom for such changes, and the need for tight specification, to give strong properties to properties All too often, loose specification has been achieved by vague specification, using informal prose. When it comes to subtle concurrent properties this is almost inevitably ambiguous; it also makes it impossible (even in principle) to test conformance between a processor implementation and such a specification, let alone to verify such a correspondence or to reason about concurrent programs.

Qualità totale e mobilità totale

FIABA ONLUS (Italian Fund for Elimination of Architectural Barriers) was founded in 2000 with the aim of promoting a culture of equal opportunities and, above all, it has as its main goal to involve public and private institutions to create a really accessible and usable environment for everyone. Total accessibility, Total usability and Total mobility are key indicators to define quality of life within cities. A supportive environment that is free of architectural, cultural and psychological barriers allows everyone to live with ease and universality. In fact, people who access to goods and services in the urban context can use to their advantage time and space, so they can do their activities and can maintain relationships that are deemed significant for their social life. The main aim of urban accessibility is to raise the comfort of space for citizens, eliminating all barriers that discriminate people, and prevent from an equality of opportunity. “FIABA FUND - City of ... for the removal of architectural barriers” is an idea of FIABA that has already affected many regions of Italy as Lazio, Lombardy, Campania, Abruzzi and Calabria. It is a National project which provides for opening a bank account in the cities of referring, in which for the first time, all together, individuals and private and public institutions can make a donation to fund initiatives for the removal of architectural barriers within its own territory for a real and effective total accessibility. Last February the fund was launched in Rome with the aim of achieving a Capital without barriers and a Town European model of accessibility and usability. Urban mobility is a prerequisite to access to goods and services, and to organize activities related to daily life. FIABA promotes the concept of sustainable mobility for all, supported by the European Commission’s White Paper. We need a cultural change in management and organization of public means, which might focus on individual in its totality, with all its needs. For this reason it is necessary to focus on output of public and private transports which must be totally and globally accessible. Metropolitan and suburban transports need to have modern buses, and it has been calculated that it is possible to provide a total replacement of the fleet in a period from five to ten years. Total Quality must become the goal of every Local Government. FIABA suggests that a Total Quality Manager be always present in the institutional environment, as a guarantor of quality perceived by people living in their city for tourism, work, and leisure. It is essential to establish a favorable environment for all, to ensure the comfort of 100% of the population to give some definite and reliable answers.

Transformation of a thin-walled solid model into a surface model via solid deflation

A simplified geometric model with lower dimensionality, such as a mid-surface model, is often preferred over a detailed solid model for the analysis process, if the analysis results are not seriously impacted. In order to derive a mid-surface model from a thin-walled solid model, in this paper, we propose a novel approach called the solid deflation method. In this method, a solid model is assumed to be created by using air to inflate a shell that comprises the surface of the solid model. First, the model is simplified by the removal of any detailed features whose absence would not alter its overall shape. Next, the solid model itself can be converted into a degenerate solid model with zero thickness. Finally, a surface model is generated by splitting large faces paired in the thinned solid model, selecting one face per pair for creating a sheet model, and sewing the selected faces. Using this method, a more practical and usable mid-surface model can be very efficiently generated from a solid model because it can circumvent not only the tedious trimming and extension processes of the medial axis transformation method but also the time-consuming patch joining process of the mid-surface abstraction approach.

Utilizing Usability Model with Multi-agent Technology to Facilitate Knowledge Sharing of Software Maintenance Process Knowledge Environment

This paper described a system to manage knowledge generated during the software maintenance process (SMP). Knowledge Management System (KMS) is utilizing to help employees build a shared vision, since the same codification is used and misunderstanding in staff communications may be avoided. The architecture of the system is formed from a set of agent communities each community of practice (CoP). The agents can learn from previous experience and share their knowledge with other agents or communities in a group of multi-agent system (MAS). This paper also described on the theoretical concept and approach of (MAS) technology framework that could be implemented (SMP) in order to facilitate knowledge sharing among the maintainers as well as to demonstrate it into the system wise, on how the (MAS) technology could be utilized in (SMP) system model for serving the maintainer that is developed by using groupware such as Lotus Notes software. This paper applied the definition of (ISO 9241-11, 1998) that examines effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. The emphasis will be given to (SMP) activities that may concern with (MAS) technology that to help the maintainers in order to work collaboratively including critical success factor ensuring that SMP initiatives would be delivered competitive advantage for the (CoP) as well as users of the organization.

Strategies for the development of animal models for bipolar disorder: new opportunities and new challenges.

The paucity of appropriate animal models for bipolar disorder is repeatedly mentioned as one of the critical factors hindering research into the pathophysiology of the disorder and the development of truly novel treatments. Recent advances in our understanding of the biological basis of bipolar disorder can be used to identify and develop better models. One possibility that is discussed in a separate chapter of this book is the use of molecular biology techniques to develop animals with targeted mutations related to genes implicated in the disorder. However, the development of such animals may not be enough for usable and helpful models. Additional strategies should, therefore, be combined with targeted mutation methodology to develop good model animals and good tests that will significantly impact our ability to further explore the underlying biology of bipolar disorder and to develop better drugs and treatments.The present chapter presents a short introduction related to commonly used models and discusses some of the possible strategies for advancement. These strategies include developing better tests, exploring separate tests for the different domains of the disease, creating test batteries, and developing models for endophenotypes. In addition, the chapter raises the possibility of identifying better model animals using comparative biology approaches. The chapter presents two different ways for identifying advantageous model animals using either specific strains of laboratory animals or using the natural diversity of nontraditional model animals.In summary, it is concluded that while each strategy offers significant contributions, it is important to combine the different approaches in order to be able to achieve novel, appropriate, and predictive models for bipolar disorder.

A Unified Human–Computer Interaction Requirements Analysis Framework for Complex Socio-technical Systems

Complex socio-technical systems (CSTS) play an important part in the operations of a wide range of large-scale, socially important infrastructure, such as power plants and railways systems. Such systems are highly automated but nonetheless still require substantial human operator involvement and oversight. However, the effectiveness of this operator oversight is often compromised by the fact that such systems are built by combining heterogeneous systems and user interfaces, which can lead to operators being asked to oversee systems that represent vital information using a plethora of incommensurable signals, presenting a very considerable threat not just to the usability of such systems but also to their safety. This article presents a Unified Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Requirements Analysis Framework (UHRAF) and a Safety and Usability Model (SUM) for analyzing the HCI requirements of a safety-related scenario in a railway system. UHRAF and SUM are used to identify requirement issues in HCI arising from the concurrent development of heterogeneous systems and aim to facilitate the development of relevant HCI design guidelines for CSTS.

Design and implementation of usable security model for operating system

A Usable Security Protected Model(USPM)for operating system was proposed and implemented.This model provided enough security for operating system with good compatibility and less special configuration.With this model,one can keep the secret of confidential documents and protect important files from being damaged even after a successful attack.The authors used a rule that limited the activities of processes who communicated with the remote system to ensure the security of the operating system and a number of exceptions that permitted particular activities of particular process to improve the usability of the system.A set of tests show that the model is easy to use,and it has good security,lower costs and good compatibility.

User-Centered Generation of New Product Concepts: A Case Study of Human Factors and Industrial Design Collaboration

This paper describes a non-traditional user-centered approach for developing the first concepts for a consumer product having a new technology not yet seen in the marketplace at the time of the study. The method facilitates significant user contributions to the generation of compelling concepts by engaging them in both graphically and physically visualizing and communicating their perceptions. A Human Factors Engineer and an Industrial Designer collaborated to apply the method for the purpose of ultimately developing usability and appearance models for the new product. Interviewing and real-time sketching were used to translate users' ideas to graphical form. In addition, the children's game, Mr. Potato Head, was adapted to allow users to physically build concepts. Twelve participants were engaged in the study and the result was a diverse set of candidate concepts for the product. Although the study met our objectives, learnings are discussed that could enhance future deployment of the method.

A Highly Accurate Pull-in Voltage Model for an Atomic Force Microscope Probe

A readily usable closed-form model has been developed to determine the pull-in voltage of an atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever probe under electrostatic actuation. The analytical model is derived based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, Taylor series expansion of the nonlinear electrostatic force, and deflection function of the first natural mode of a cantilever beam. The model takes account of the electrostatic force associated with the fringing field capacitances between the cantilever probe and the substrate to predict a more accurate pull-in voltage. The developed closed-form model has been verified by comparing the model predicted values with published experimental results with a maximum deviation of 3.36%. The model has also been compared with a published closed-form model and 3-D electromechanical finite element analysis (FEA) carried out by the authors. The results are found to be in excellent agreement.

From Prediction to Emergence

This paper aims to discuss the position of the traditional usability model in the context of current technical interaction, and in particular in internet interaction. The traditional usability model was developed in the context of software development. Yet it is relevant to information architecture for two reasons: firstly, on the internet information design and retrieval (IR) benefits from its application just as much as software development did, due its vast user base. Secondly, large parts of the internet are application or software driven by now. At the same time, the interplay of information and applications on the internet has produced new ways of interaction, and new demands towards the quality of interaction.Consequently, the traditional usability model needs to be expanded beyond an entirely functional focus, to accommodate the richer notion of the user experience. This article then inquires how an expanded understanding of emotions can support such an enriched usability model

Preference-Weighted Health Status of PTSD Among Veterans: An Outcome for Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Using Clinical Data

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a highly prevalent, chronic, disabling but treatable condition. Preference-based measures (for example, health utilities) are recommended for and useful in cost-effectiveness analyses and for policy decisions because they reflect a population's valuation of the desirability of disease states. However, no such measures exist for PTSD. This study aimed to estimate preference-weighted health status associated with PTSD and common co-occurring mental disorders in a sample of veterans by transforming health-related quality-of-life data into preference-weighted health status scores (PWHS scores), develop a usable regression model to predict PWHS scores from other data sets, and compare preference-weighted health status of PTSD with that of another chronic disorder, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A secondary analysis was performed on data from a random sample of 808 veterans (79% male; 12% met criteria for PTSD) in four primary care clinics. Veterans responded to the PTSD Checklist (PCL), Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale, Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, and Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-36. PWHS scores were .029 lower among veterans with PTSD compared with veterans without PTSD, all else being equal. However, scores depended on PTSD severity, when the analysis controlled for other model variables. Specifically, PWHS scores dropped by .004 with a 1-unit increase in PCL scores among veterans without PTSD. Among veterans with PTSD, the reduction was .002. PTSD was associated with lower preference-weighted health status than COPD. This is the first study to estimate preference-weighted health status of persons with PTSD. These PWHS scores can be helpful in cost-effectiveness studies of PTSD treatments.

Knowledge Management and Usability Model for Knowledge Management System

Many studies and works have been done to produce a Knowledge Management System (KMS) in which employees of any organization can access the organization’s sources of information and solutions. However, there is still no standard knowledge measurement and usability model that can assist KMS user to select or evaluate the appropriate KMS. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the ISO Consolidated Usability Model suggested by Abran, Khelifi, Suryn and Seffah can be used in measuring knowledge and evaluating usability for any Knowledge Management System. The methodology used is a user-satisfaction questionnaire developed based on the ISO Consolidated Usability Model.

Learning curve of vitrification assessed by cumulative summation test for learning curve (LC-CUSUM)

We used the cumulative summation test for learning curve (LC-CUSUM), a specifically designed statistical tool, to evaluate the first 50 procedures performed by a trainee in vitrification and to provide a usable model for monitoring the learning process of this technique. Given the lack of models to evaluate IVF technologies, the CUSUM methodology could prove useful for quality control in laboratories.

A neural network forecasting model for consumable parts in semiconductor manufacturing

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to create a usable life forecast model for consumable parts using neural network approach. It focuses on a consumable probe card used in the semiconductor wafer testing operation. Referring to the relevant resources and the semiconductor testing operation, a fundamental concept is built to develop a probe card management system.Design/methodology/approachA neural network analysis software package, Q‐net2000, is applied in this study. In this case, there is one hidden layer and the neural network learning rates and momentum are set to 0.1 and 0.7. Forecast the usable life by inputting the initial values of the neural network variables into a back‐propagation neural network.FindingsIn this system, the first thing is to collect the production, maintenance and repair data, and then analyze those data by using a neural network methodology to effectively forecast a probe card's usable life. Those data are integrated to derive an optimum timing of placing a probe card order using an inventory control technique. Finally, the actual production data of a company are used to verify the feasibility of this research.Research limitations/implicationsThe results presented are based on a representative expendable probe card manufacturing process in the Taiwan industry, a range of alternative scenarios and changes to the process design can be investigated using the simulation model.Practical implicationsFor the semiconductor industry, the research supports the introduction on lifecycle forecast technology for expendable probe card manufacturing process.Originality/valueThe paper proposes a neural network forecast analysis to solve the case company's current management problem of determining the life cycle of probe cards in an earlier time.

ENSEMBLING REGRESSION MODELS TO IMPROVE THEIR PREDICTIVITY: A CASE STUDY IN QSAR (QUANTITATIVE STRUCTURE ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIPS) WITH COMPUTATIONAL CHEMOMETRICS

The last several years have seen an increasing emphasis on mathematical models, both based on statistics and on machine-learning. Today Bayesian nets, neural nets, support vector machines (SVM), and induction trees, are commonly used in the analysis of scientific data. Moreover, a recent emphasis in the modelling community is on improving the performance of classifiers through ensembling more different and accurate models in order to reduce the prediction error. Ensembling in fact is a way of taking advantage of good models that make errors in different parts of the data space. We will outline the developments in model construction and evaluation through those techniques justify their use and propose some quantitative structure activity relationships (QSAR) and models based on ensembling. The models presented here are in the area of predicting acute toxicity for the purpose of regulatory systems. The emphasis is on the better performances of ensembles, since the general goal of delivering usable QSAR models requires others that are out of the scope of this article.

Designing usable online stores: A landscape preference perspective

Developing an explanatory theoretical model of website usability is pivotal for understanding usable website design. Such a model would explain and help predict the effects of website usability on online purchases, but few studies have been devoted to such model development. As an exploratory effort, we adopted and extended Kaplan's landscape preference model by including factors of legibility, coherence, variety, and mystery, and examined their effect on cognitive and affective appraisals and their impact on purchase intention. A field survey with 495 online customers using two different categories of websites was conducted to validate the research model. A multi-group analysis with gender and age was performed to cross-validate it. Our findings demonstrated that the proposed model explained a large amount of the variance of purchase intention, invariant across different subgroups. Key implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Practical Poissonian-Gaussian Noise Modeling and Fitting for Single-Image Raw-Data

We present a simple and usable noise model for the raw-data of digital imaging sensors. This signal-dependent noise model, which gives the pointwise standard-deviation of the noise as a function of the expectation of the pixel raw-data output, is composed of a Poissonian part, modeling the photon sensing, and Gaussian part, for the remaining stationary disturbances in the output data. We further explicitly take into account the clipping of the data (over- and under-exposure), faithfully reproducing the nonlinear response of the sensor. We propose an algorithm for the fully automatic estimation of the model parameters given a single noisy image. Experiments with synthetic images and with real raw-data from various sensors prove the practical applicability of the method and the accuracy of the proposed model.

Survivability of components assembly in architecture

Based on the in-depth analysis of the interaction patterns between the components of software system in architecture, this paper illustrates that the association among them is complex and usually changeable during the running period. So we assume the interactions between two adjacency components are grouped into a single connector, which can be used to analyze the influence of components assembly on the survivability for software architecture. The survivability of the components assembly is mapped into the connectivity of graph model. We also bring forward a simplicity method to calculate and quantify the survivability of architecture that could provide a more usable model for designers to evaluate the architecture.