The Design and evaluation of the specification framework for user interface design

This thesis presentsthe design and evaluation of an interface specification meta-language(ISML) that has been developed to explicitly support metaphor abstractions in a model-based, user interface design framework. The application of metaphor to user interface design is widely accepted within the HCI community, yet despite this, there exists relatively little formal support for user interface design practitioners. With the increasing range and power of user interface technologies made widely available comes the opportunity for the designof sophisticated, new forms of interactive environments. The inter-disciplinary nature of HCI offers many approaches to user interface design that include views on tasks, presentationand dialogue architectures and various domain models. Notations and tools that support these views vary equally, ranging from craft-based approachesthrough to computational or tool- based support and formal methods. Work in these areas depicts gradual cohesion of a number of these design views, but do not currently explicitly specify the application of metaphorical concepts in graphical user interface design. Towards addressing this omission, ISML was developed based on (and extending) some existing model- based user interface design concepts. Abstractions of metaphor and other interface design views are captured in the ISML framework using the extensible mark-up language(XML). A six-month case study, developing the `Urban Shout Cast' application is used to evaluate ISML. Two groups of four software engineers developed a networked, multi-user, virtual radio-broadcasting environment. A qualitative analysis examines both how each group developed metaphor designs within the ISML framework and also their perceptions of its utility and practicality. Subsequent analysis on the specification data from both groups reveals aspects of the project's design that ISML captured and those that were missed. Finally, the extent to which ISML can currently abstract the metaphors used in the case study is assessed through the development of a unified `meta-object' model. The results of the case study show that ISML is capable of expressing many of the features of each group's metaphor design, as well as highlighting important design considerations during development. Furthermore, it has been shown, in principle, how an underlying metaphor abstraction can be mapped to two different implementations. Evaluation of the case study also includes important design lessons: ISML metaphor models can be both very large and difficult to separate from other design views, some of which are either weakly expressed or unsupported. This suggests that the appropriate mappings between design abstractions cannot always be easily anticipated, and that understanding the use of model-based specifications in user interface design projects remains a challenge to the HCI community

The design and evaluation of the specification framework for user interface design

This thesis presentsthe design and evaluation of an interface specification meta-language(ISML) that has been developed to explicitly support metaphor abstractions in a model-based, user interface design framework. The application of metaphor to user interface design is widely accepted within the HCI community, yet despite this, there exists relatively little formal support for user interface design practitioners. With the increasing range and power of user interface technologies made widely available comes the opportunity for the designof sophisticated, new forms of interactive environments. The inter-disciplinary nature of HCI offers many approaches to user interface design that include views on tasks, presentationand dialogue architectures and various domain models. Notations and tools that support these views vary equally, ranging from craft-based approachesthrough to computational or tool- based support and formal methods. Work in these areas depicts gradual cohesion of a number of these design views, but do not currently explicitly specify the application of metaphorical concepts in graphical user interface design. Towards addressing this omission, ISML was developed based on (and extending) some existing model- based user interface design concepts. Abstractions of metaphor and other interface design views are captured in the ISML framework using the extensible mark-up language(XML). A six-month case study, developing the `Urban Shout Cast' application is used to evaluate ISML. Two groups of four software engineers developed a networked, multi-user, virtual radio-broadcasting environment. A qualitative analysis examines both how each group developed metaphor designs within the ISML framework and also their perceptions of its utility and practicality. Subsequent analysis on the specification data from both groups reveals aspects of the project's design that ISML captured and those that were missed. Finally, the extent to which ISML can currently abstract the metaphors used in the case study is assessed through the development of a unified `meta-object' model. The results of the case study show that ISML is capable of expressing many of the features of each group's metaphor design, as well as highlighting important design considerations during development. Furthermore, it has been shown, in principle, how an underlying metaphor abstraction can be mapped to two different implementations. Evaluation of the case study also includes important design lessons: ISML metaphor models can be both very large and difficult to separate from other design views, some of which are either weakly expressed or unsupported. This suggests that the appropriate mappings between design abstractions cannot always be easily anticipated, and that understanding the use of model-based specifications in user interface design projects remains a challenge to the HCI community.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Declarative Support for Prototyping Interactive Systems

The development of complex, multi-user, interactive systems is a difficult process that requires both a rapid iterative approach, and the ability to reason carefully about system designs. This thesis argues that a combination of declarative prototyping and formal specification provides a suitable way of satisfying these requirements. The focus of this thesis is on the development of software tools for prototyping interactive systems. In particular, it uses a declarative approach, based on the functional programming paradigm. This thesis makes two contributions. The most significant contribution is the presentation of FranTk, a new Graphical User Interface language, embedded in the functional language Haskell. It is suitable for prototyping complex, concurrent, multi-user systems. It allows systems to be built in a high level, structured manner. In particular, it provides good support for specifying real-time properties of such systems. The second contribution is a mechanism that allows a formal specification to be derived from a high level FranTk prototype. The approach allows this to be done automatically. This specification can then be checked, with tool support, to verify some safety properties about a system. To avoid the state space explosion problem that would be faced when verifying an entire system, we focus on partial verification. This concentrates on key areas of a design: in particular this means that we only derive a specification from parts of a prototype. To demonstrate the scalability of both the prototyping and verification approaches, this thesis uses a series of case studies including a multi-user design rationale editor and a prototype data-link Air Traffic Control system

Crop farm development in the Brazilian "Cerrado" region: an ex-ante evaluation

Natural resource use planning In an area such as the "Cerrado" region In the Midwest of BrazilIs a challenge. Any planning framework for analysing Investment opportunities in such a region must emphasize sustainable development. This implies a shift from the traditional single agricultural expansion objective approach, to a multiple objective approach such as that described in this thesis.The main objective of this study was to develop an appropriate planning framework for quantifying the effects of new crop farm development proposals for the "Cerrado" region, from a multiple objective perspective. Its practical Implementation depends on the following: the generation of specific experimental data on rice, maize, wheat and soybean crops and reliable climate and soils data to calibrate corresponding crop models that are incorporated Into a planning framework; the development of experiences concerning environmental quality and social Impact analysis by Brazilian researchers; and training of planning framework users for the enlightenment of policy makers.The study was carried out from the point of view of systems theory, and the chosen research approach integrates a set of different modelling techniques within the developed planning framework. The application of a such planning framework for the Paracatu "Planicie" area was orientated to the final selection (among nine alternatives) of the most appropriate farming system for adoption. However, by manipulating the models which were integrated into the planning framework, and parameters and data related to prices, crop yields, farm sizes, Interest rates, credit and others, a range of policy types can be represented and their effects assessed.The results presented illustrate the potential of the planning framework developed here, as a policy analysis tool for farm development. In the conclusions, some insight Is provided Into aspects concerning the incorporation of this planning framework Into a comprehensive decision support system

Towards an integrated proposal for Interactive Systems design based on TLIM and ICO

The importance of applying formal methods in the design and development process of Interactive Systems is increasingly recognised. However it is still an open issue the identification of systematic methods able to support designers and developers in specifying and demonstrating properties of user interfaces. TLIM and ICO are two formal methods which have been used for this purpose with interesting results. They address similar concepts but also have different features which allow us to consider useful their integrated use to obtain synergistic and complementary results. In this paper we show their application to some examples in order to discuss similarities and differences and we outline a proposal for their integrated use. 1. Introduction In the domain of interactive systems, there is a lack of structured methods which can drive the work of designers and developers especially for applications which require sophisticated interaction techniques. We think that a valid answer to these p..

Competition policy and institutional reform in Latin America: exploring the institutional foundations for economic growth in developing countries

Until recently, institutional reforms implemented under the so-called 'apertura' economic strategy has emphasized the correction of macroeconomic imbalances through specific policy measures (i.e. privatization, open trade, fiscal balance, stable exchange rates). As overall imbalances have been corrected, policy makers are considering the introduction of a second generation of 'institutional reforms'. Consequently, the focus of reform would shift into the promotion of productivity, competition and innovation at the entrepreneurial level. These institutional goals presuppose a new regulatory framework, amenable to market functioning. Antitrust policy is one example among many regulatory initiatives being advocated to support market reforms. This thesis shows how the broad misconceptions about the nature of markets still pervades policy-making throughout the region. Antitrust policies could threaten to reproduce, under powerful new forms, the former interventionism that characterised 'development' policies of the 1960s and 1970s. Paradoxically, this interventionism would be justified in the name of preserving market transparency. Advocate of antitrust policies often share a subtle anti-market bias: Markets are regarded structures, where density of concentration determines how competitive they are. Following the welfare implications drawn from the neoclassical models of equilibrium, economic exchange is examined under severely constrained conditions: individuals are assumed to possess complete information and transactions are 'timeless'. The aftermath of this perspective is that all business arrangements are regarded 'restrictions to competition', some of these suspected of sheltering monopolistic purposes. The effects of these policies in the region could be particularly harmful in Latin America, as business interacting in the domestic markets of the region have developed over time numerous forms of unofficial institutional devices, most of them addressed to complement the lack of transparency of the enforcement of the official legal framework. In the wake of apertura, these institutional devices, coupled with high levels of economic concentration, appear to favour monopolistic conducts, but in fact they attempt to correct the adverse effects of decades of dirigisme and uncertainly of a stable rule of law upon business activities. Latin markets are undergoing a fast transformation since aperture began. Due to the lifting of trade regulations, there is a significant wave of mergers and acquisitions, privatization processes, setting up joint ventures, selling undervalued assets, and proliferation of new corporate forms and other forms of efficient association reshaping old inefficient structures and replacing them with new ones. Young Latin American antitrust agencies have already challenged many of these udertakings as sheltering some form of monopolistic endeavor. Under a perspective emphasizing the evolutive nature of market interaction, these conducts appear simply as modalities by which the economic knowledge of each market participant is passed on to others in the system. These seemingly monopolistic attempts are in fact efficient arrangements allowing businesses to plan in advance their activities relating to conjectural future business scenarios. These arrangements sometime encourage mergers, vertical integration, and even collusion, but they are also responsible for new market discoveries, innovation and increased production. To support this conclusion, this theses is supported on the heuristic process view of markets initiated by the School of Subjectivism in economic science. To promote competition and innovation within Latin America's weak institutional setting, a strong policy of deregulation, and limitation to government intervention through political accountability and judicial review is advocated in place of conventional antitrust policy, which would retain a marginal role

1998-1999 Louisiana Tech University Catalog

The Louisiana Tech University Catalog includes announcements and course descriptions for courses offered at Louisiana Tech University for the academic year of 1998-1999.https://digitalcommons.latech.edu/university-catalogs/1016/thumbnail.jp

1995 BRAC Commission

Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Systems Design Center - Data Call 1994. Tabular data, memos, charts, graphs, documents. Box 144, L-072