User's Conceptual Model Research Articles

A Human Operator Model for Medical Device Interaction Using Behavior-Based Hybrid Automata

This paper describes the design and implementation of a control-theoretic model that can be used to model both the discrete and continuous behavior of a human operator. The human operator model can be used to compare different device user interfaces in terms of human performance. The implemented human operator model combines an ON-OFF control model and a behavior-based hybrid automaton with three controllers. The controllers, defined as continuous, discrete, and fine-tuning behavior, simulate the user's conceptual model of the user interface. The device model used is that of a commercial syringe pump with chevron keys, described as a formal specification. Results of the human operator model simulation were generated for 20 different numbers obtained from syringe pump log files. The simulation results were compared over 33 trials to a lab study employing a device based on the formal specification. The result of the simulation shows a significant similarity to the result of the lab study for all the numbers used.

Simulation of hierarchical manufacturing control

This paper addresses a new unified framework for simulation that includes both physical and decision making processes of manufacturing systems. The developed methodology uses a state-space representation based simulation-modeling formalism along with object oriented software design. The modularity of user's conceptual model in terms of physical and decision making entities with their programmed and non-programmed decisions and the capability of modeling these entities and processes at different hierarchical levels can vastly improves simulation's role as a decision making tool.

An experiment to test user validation of requirements: data-flow diagrams vs task-oriented menus

A major concern for systems developers is the problem of user validation of system requirements. To the extent that the requirements representation elicits important feedback from the user, the representation technique can be said to be appropriate for user validation. Moran suggests that users develop a conceptual model of a system defined as the “knowledge that organizes how the system works and how it can be used to accomplish) tasks”. An experiment is conducted to determine whether a task-oriented, downward-cascading menu representation (similar to what the user would find in a prototyping environment), which closely corresponds to Moran's idea of a user's conceptual model, permits better comprehension and therefore better validation than data-flow diagrams, which have been strongly advocated as facilitating user validation. A within-group, counterbalancing technique to mitigate subject variability was used to test subjects' comprehension of data-flow diagrams vs the task-oriented menu representations of requirements. Subjects scored significantly higher on the test using the menu representation, indicating that task-oriented menus may be more effective in user validation of requirements than data-flow diagrams.

Seeheim Workshop on User Interface Management Systems Report of the Working Group on the User's Conceptual Model*

Computer Graphics ForumVolume 4, Issue 1 p. 63-69 Seeheim Workshop on User Interface Management Systems Report of the Working Group on the User's Conceptual Model* M. Mac an Airchinnigh, M. Mac an AirchinnighSearch for more papers by this author M. Mac an Airchinnigh, M. Mac an AirchinnighSearch for more papers by this author First published: March 1985 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8659.1985.tb00188.x † *This is the fourth Report on the Seeheim UIMS Workshop. The other three working group reports have been published in previous issues of Computer Graphics Forum. All reports and all papers presented have been published in the Eurographics Seminar series AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume4, Issue1March 1985Pages 63-69 RelatedInformation

Some notes on the representation of the user's conceptual model

"There seems to be no reason to believe that we are ever acquainted with other people's minds, seeing that these are not directly perceived." - Bertrand Russell (1956) p.42

Ada packages and the user's conceptual model

The private type mechanism of Ada is used to hide the details of the structure of the type from the user (as programmer). Thus, it is possible to build Ada packages that are correct implementations of abstract data types whereby the only operations available on the data type are precisely those made externally available to the user in the visible part of the package specification. To be able to use such a package, the semantics of the operations in the visible part must be unambiguously conveyed to the user. I propose a formal specification and classification of the user of such Ada packages. Associated with each user is an appropriate UCM (user's conceptual model) of the application domain corresponding to which there exists the respective Ada package(s). Such a UCM would incorporate the necessary set of semantics for understanding the visible part of the package(s). In an APSE (Ada programming support environment) it is envisaged that one of the key tools will be an Ada-oriented UIMS (user interface management system) which will perform a function for Ada programmers much like that which a DBMS (data base management system) currently performs for users of a data base. The specification and implementation of the (abstract) data type "complex number" as an Ada package is used as an example.

The Σ- concept

The "User's Conceptual Model" (UCM) plays an important role in determining the behaviour of a user at the user-computer interface. In this paper I consider a small well-defined group of users of computer systems - those who know some general-purpose programming language. Such users have a conceptual model of their own (favourite) "programming language as a problem-solving tool". Using the problem to compute the inner product of two vectors in E n as a starting point, I develop that which I have called the Σ- concept and show how it fits into a formal model of the UCM of the "programming language as a problem-solving tool".

A Very High-Level Interactive Graphical Trace for the Pascal Heap

A very high-level trace for data structures is one which displays a data structure in the shape in which the user conceptualizes it, be it a tree, an array, or a graph. GRAPHTRACE is a system that facilitates the very high-level graphic display of interrelationships among dynamically allocated Pascal records. It offers the user a wide range of options to enable him to see the data structures on a graphics screen in a format as close as possible to that in which he visualizes it, thereby providing a useful display capability when the user's conceptual model is a directed graph or tree.

Classifying the user

One of the most active areas of current research in computer science is directly related to the actual and supposed behaviour of the so-called user. A measure of the importance of the user in the computer system may be estimated by the growth of the disciplines of 'Software Psychology' and 'Human Factors' (or 'Ergonomics'). It is customary to speak about <u>the</u> user, often with qualifications such as casual, naive, expert, etc. Such a generic term covers users from the systems programmer on the one hand to the casual SPSS user on the other. Hansen's famous principle "Know the User" [HANS71] seems, at first glance, to be an obvious piece of advice to the interactive systems designer. But when we realize that the user is human and we want to build a formal model of the user, then the aforementioned advice is very difficult to follow.In the Department of Computer Science we are engaged in research related to the user-computer interface with specific applications in the areas of OSCRLs (Operating System Command and Response Languages) and interactive computer graphics. One of the key ideas, around which a formal model of the user is being constructed, is that of the so-called <u>user's conceptual model</u>. The development of the formal model of the user is intended to provide knowledge base support for research in the domain of user-computer interaction. Because of its richness and inherently interactive nature, the INTERLISP programming enviroment was chosen to provide the necessary computer support for the research.The structure of the knowledge base is built on Minsky's concept of a <u>frame</u> [MINS75], which encapsulates the notion of a 'chunk' of knowledge. The frame also provides a convenient (and readable) semi-formalism in which to communicate the formal model of the user. Since any discussion of the user is bound to use a lot of 'vague' ideas and concepts, it seemed appropriate to rely on Fuzzy Set theory for some of the necessary mathematical support.