Design of general-purpose sampling strategies for geometric shape measurement

Quality inspection is a preliminary step for different further analyses (process monitoring, control and optimisation) and requires one to select a measuring strategy, i.e., number and location of measurement points. This phase of data gathering usually impacts on inspection times and costs (via sample size) but it also affects the performance of the following tasks (process monitoring, control and optimisation). While most of the approaches for sampling design are specifically presented with reference to a target application (namely, monitoring, control or optimisation), this paper presents a general-purpose procedure, where the number and location of measurement points are selected in order to retain most of the information related to the feature under study. The procedure is based on principal component analysis and its application is shown with reference to a real case study concerning the left front window of a car. A different approach based on multidimensional scaling is further applied as validation tool, in order to show the effectiveness of the PCA solution

Towards a tool for the subjective assessment of speech system interfaces (SASSI)

Applications of speech recognition are now widespread, but user-centred evaluation methods are necessary to ensure their success. Objective evaluation techniques are fairly well established, but previous subjective techniques have been unstructured and unproven. This paper reports on the first stage of the development of a questionnaire measure for the Subjective Assessment of Speech System Interfaces (SASSI). The aim of the research programme is to produce a valid, reliable and sensitive measure of users' subjective experiences with speech recognition systems. Such a technique could make an important contribution to theory and practice in the design and evaluation of speech recognition systems according to best human factors practice. A prototype questionnaire was designed, based on established measures for evaluating the usability of other kinds of user interface, and on a review of the research literature into speech system design. This consisted of 50 statements with which respondents rated their level of agreement. The questionnaire was given to users of four different speech applications, and Exploratory Factor Analysis of 214 completed questionnaires was conducted. This suggested the presence of six main factors in users' perceptions of speech systems: System Response Accuracy, Likeability, Cognitive Demand, Annoyance, Habitability and Speed. The six factors have face validity, and a reasonable level of statistical reliability. The findings form a userful theoretical and practical basis for the subjective evaluation of any speech recognition interface. However, further work is recommended, to establish the validity and sensitivity of the approach, before a final tool can be produced which warrants general use

A review on the influence of drinking water quality towards human health

An adequate supply of safe drinking water is one of the major prerequisites for a healthy life. Inadequate of safe drinking water produce waterborne disease and a major cause of death in many parts of the world, particularly in children. Therefore, it must be treated properly before it can be used and consumed. This chapter provides the guidelines of important parameters for drinking water standard in order to ensure the safeness of drinking water. All the selected parameters were elaborated on the effect of high concentration if human consume the drinking water directly

Development of the Integrated Model of the Automotive Product Quality Assessment

Issues on building an integrated model of the automotive product quality assessment are studied herein basing on widely applicable methods and models of the quality assessment. A conceptual model of the automotive product quality system meeting customer requirements has been developed. Typical characteristics of modern industrial production are an increase in the production dynamism that determines the product properties; a continuous increase in the volume of information required for decision-making, an increased role of knowledge and high technologies implementing absolutely new scientific and technical ideas. To solve the problem of increasing the automotive product quality, a conceptual structural and hierarchical model is offered to ensure its quality as a closed system with feedback between the regulatory, manufacturing, and information modules, responsible for formation of the product quality at all stages of its life cycle. The three module model of the system of the industrial product quality assurance is considered to be universal and to give the opportunity to explore processes of any complexity while solving theoretical and practical problems of the quality assessment and prediction for products for various purposes, including automotive

Understanding customers' holistic perception of switches in automotive human–machine interfaces

For successful new product development, it is necessary to understand the customers' holistic experience of the product beyond traditional task completion, and acceptance measures. This paper describes research in which ninety-eight UK owners of luxury saloons assessed the feel of push-switches in five luxury saloon cars both in context (in-car) and out of context (on a bench). A combination of hedonic data (i.e. a measure of ‘liking’), qualitative data and semantic differential data was collected. It was found that customers are clearly able to differentiate between switches based on the degree of liking for the samples' perceived haptic qualities, and that the assessment environment had a statistically significant effect, but that it was not universal. A factor analysis has shown that perceived characteristics of switch haptics can be explained by three independent factors defined as ‘Image’, ‘Build Quality’, and ‘Clickiness’. Preliminary steps have also been taken towards identifying whether existing theoretical frameworks for user experience may be applicable to automotive human–machine interfaces

Dynamics of collaborative work in global software development environment.

This study aims to explore the dynamics of collaborative work in global software development projects. The study explored the nature of collaboration, the patterns of collaborative behaviors in different tasks in computer science, and the impact of the tasks to the collaboration among students. Four different collaborative software development tasks were assigned to the globally distributes teams. The study used data from 230 students from five universities, namely Atilim University (Turkey), Middle East Technical University (Turkey), Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá (Panama), University of North Texas (US), and Middlesex University (UK). The findings involve the recommendations for building effective collaborative working environments and guidelines for building collaborative virtual communities

Investigating Perceptual Congruence Between Data and Display Dimensions in Sonification

The relationships between sounds and their perceived meaning and connotations are complex, making auditory perception an important factor to consider when designing sonification systems. Listeners often have a mental model of how a data variable should sound during sonification and this model is not considered in most data:sound mappings. This can lead to mappings that are difficult to use and can cause confusion. To investigate this issue, we conducted a magnitude estimation experiment to map how roughness, noise and pitch relate to the perceived magnitude of stress, error and danger. These parameters were chosen due to previous findings which suggest perceptual congruency between these auditory sensations and conceptual variables. Results from this experiment show that polarity and scaling preference are dependent on the data:sound mapping. This work provides polarity and scaling values that may be directly utilised by sonification designers to improve auditory displays in areas such as accessible and mobile computing, process-monitoring and biofeedback

Selecting the primary endpoint in a randomized clinical trial: the ARE method

The decision on the primary endpoint in a randomized clinical trial is of paramount importance and the combination of several endpoints might be a reasonable choice. Gómez and Lagakos (2013) have developed a method that quantifies how much more efficient it could be to use a composite instead of an individual relevant endpoint. From the information provided by the frequencies of observing the component endpoints in the control group and by the relative treatment effects on each individual endpoint, the asymptotic relative efficiency (ARE) can be computed. This article presents the applicability of the ARE method as a practical and objective tool to evaluate which components, among the plausible ones, are more efficient in the construction of the primary endpoint. The method is illustrated with two real cardiovascular clinical trials and is extended to allow for different dependence structures between the times to the individual endpoints. The influence of this choice on the recommendation on whether or not to use the composite endpoint as the primary endpoint for the investigation is studied. We conclude that the recommendation between using the composite or the relevant endpoint only depends on the frequencies of the endpoints and the relative effects of the treatment.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft