Direct Modelling CAD Technology Comparative Review in Efficiency and Productivity for Product Development Process

Direct modelling is a new CAD technology that enables model geometry construction by pushing, pulling or twisting which emphasis to solve the constraint issues made by the current technology. Ideally it is more efficient and productive in accomplishing a part of product design process. This study is about comparing productivity and efficiency of both modelling by mean of counting mouse button clicks as representing speed for accomplishing the task. Parametric modelling is set as the benchmark. The review also taking into account several qualitative aspects during the process. Accordingly, direct modelling is proven better from the parametric modelling for this scenario.

Research on Simulation of Maritime Macroscopic Traffic Safety

In order to evaluate the ship traffic safety about the large water area, the system of maritime macroscopic traffic safety was developed, which can give the simulation result under the setting conditions, using the electronic chart display and information system conform to S57 and S52. The simulation model of ship traffic flow is proposed, which play an important part in the system. The outcome can be provided according to the assessment method of maritime safety, and displayed on the ECDIS. With the clicking on the icons by the mouse button, the information about the simulation can be offered.

Investigating the Difficulty of One Degree of Freedom Positioning: Associating Movement Phases with Regions

Positioning an object within specified bounds is a common daily computer task, for example making selections using a touch screen or positioning icons relative to each other. This experiment measured times for participants ( n = 145) to position rectangular cursors with various widths, p, within rectangular targets with various tolerances, t, in one dimension. The analysis divides the total movement time into three parts, the time for the cursor to touch the target, the time to enter the target after touching, and the centering time, the remaining time for participants to indicate that the cursor is completely within the target by clicking on the mouse button. The time to touch the target was modeled well by the initial cursor-target separation, r2/sup> = 0.95. The entering time was modeled well by log2( p/t + 1), r2/sup> = 0.99, and the centering time was modeled well by r2/sup> = 0.94

Evaluation of Tooth-Click Triggering and Speech Recognition in Assistive Technology for Computer Access

Background. Computer access can play an important role in employment and leisure activities following spinal cord injury. The authors’ prior work has shown that a tooth-click detecting device, when paired with an optical head mouse, may be used by people with tetraplegia for controlling cursor movement and mouse button clicks. Objective. To compare the efficacy of tooth clicks to speech recognition and that of an optical head mouse to a gyrometer head mouse for cursor and mouse button control of a computer. Methods. Six able-bodied and 3 tetraplegic subjects used the devices listed above to produce cursor movements and mouse clicks in response to a series of prompts displayed on a computer. The time taken to move to and click on each target was recorded. Results. The use of tooth clicks in combination with either an optical head mouse or a gyrometer head mouse can provide hands-free cursor movement and mouse button control at a speed of up to 22% of that of a standard mouse. Tooth clicks were significantly faster at generating mouse button clicks than speech recognition when paired with either type of head mouse device. Conclusions. Tooth-click detection performed better than speech recognition when paired with both the optical head mouse and the gyrometer head mouse. Such a system may improve computer access for people with tetraplegia.

Color, Dispersion, and Exposure Time in Performance on Rotated Figure Recognition

This study investigated the effects of dispersion. color, and rotation of figures on recognition under varied exposure times. A total of 30 women and 15 men, Taiwanese college students ages 18 to 20 years ( M = 19.1, SD = 1.2), participated. Subjects were to recognize a target figure and respond with its location in each stimulus by pressing a mouse button. Analysis showed that the effect of rotation on accuracy was significant. Accuracy for the rotation of 180° was greater than those for 60° and 300°. Exposure time also significantly influenced accuracy. The accuracy was greater for 2 and 3 sec. than for 1 sec. No significant effects on accuracy were associated with dispersion and color, and neither had any interactive effect on accuracy. Dispersion significantly affected the response time as response time for dispersion under 0.4 and 0.5 conditions were shorter than those under 0.2 and 0.3 conditions. Significantly less response time was needed for rotation of 180° than for 60° and 300° conditions. Response time was longer for red figures than for blue, green, and yellow figures. No significant effect on response time was associated with duration of exposure. Two interactive two-way effects were found: dispersion × color of figure and dispersion × rotation. Implications for figure or icon design are discussed.

Comparison of Four Cursor Control Devices for Development of a Powered Laparoscopic Surgery Tool – Users' Opinions

Laparoscopic surgery greatly benefits the patient: it reduces recovery time, has a lower cost than other procedures, and has a greater cosmetic benefit. With every benefit, there is usually a cost. Laparoscopic surgery comes at the cost of the surgeons. Surgeons must cope with disadvantages caused from unergonomic handles. The current tools create awkward postures, pressure points and nerve legions. The purpose of the current study was to determine the best input device for a hot, powered, laparoscopic surgery tool. The current study tested four different input devices on a previously designed ergonomic laparoscopic tool handle using a target acquisition task. The input devices tested were the: Mouse Button Module, TouchPad, MiniJoystick Module, and MicroJoystick. Users' provided feedback via a questionnaire. Results show that the TouchPad and MicroJoystick are the best input devices for a powered tool with the MicroJoystick leading the pack.

Extending the Campus: Al-Musharaka and Technology-Assisted Collaboration

As a scholar of North Africa and the Middle East, I get very excited about the possibilities internet technologies open up for me and other scholars who are concerned with regions of the globe outside our national borders. The internet brings a wealth of information to my computer on a daily basis. It is true that in the early years of its development the overwhelming majority of content on the internet was American and in English, but as the rest of the world has come online in greater numbers, the internet has increasingly allowed us to transcend international borders. To cite just one example, for decades English was overwhelmingly the language of the internet. While English remains the most common language on the web, it is no longer the majority language. For several years now, there has been more non-English content on the internet than content in English. I can now read newspapers and listen to news broadcasts from North Africa at the click of a mouse button. I can even communicate easily with colleagues overseas via email, chat or, increasingly, voice over IP at very little cost.