Human-Machine Function Allocation In Information Systems: A Comprehensive Approach

In the past, information systems development methodologies primarily focus on whether the needs of an organization could be met. In recent years, several human-centered systems development methodologies are developed to emphasize both organizational and human needs. In addition to an information system being useful, its usability become a central concern, and user analysis and task analysis are important parts in these methodologies. Human-machine function allocation is an important aspect of task analysis. Yet, current research and practice in this area show a gap for systematic and consistent guidelines and approaches. To address this gap, this paper proposes three guidelines and a comprehensive approach for human-machine function allocation when designing organizational information systems. Built on Price’s decision matrix, Levels of Automation, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), our approach consists of four steps in determining human-machine function allocation. To illustrate this approach, an application example is provided

Effects of Symmetry Energy in the Reaction 40Ca+124Sn at 140 MeV/nucleon

The density-dependent symmetry energy is a hot topic in nuclear physics. Many laboratories over the world are planning to perform related experiments to probe the symmetry energy. Based on the semiclassical Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) transport model, we study the effects of nuclear symmetry energy in the central reaction 40Ca+124Sn at 140MeV/nucleon in the laboratory system. It is found that the rapidity distribution of free nucleon's neutron-to-proton ratio is sensitive to the symmetry energy, especially at large rapidities. The free neutron-to-proton ratios at small or large rapidities may reflect high or low density behavior of nuclear symmetry energy. To probe the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy, it is better to give the kinetic distribution and the rapidity distribution of emitted nucleons at the same time.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1204.085

A Typology Of Online Window Shopping Consumers

Consumer online shopping behaviors are well attended in the IS and marketing literature. Yet, there is another group of individuals who spend a lot of time online but do not purchase anything. This online window shopping phenomenon is intriguing to both scholars and marketers yet it is less studied and little understood. Questions such as what the online window shopping consumers do during their visits, how to differentiate their activities and how to design marketing strategies to stimulate them to buy are all essential and beg for investigation. To address this gap, we propose a typology of online window shopping consumers based on the Consumer Information Processing Model, then empirically validate and refine the typology using a set of clickstream data. The final typology contains four main types of online window shopper consumers: 1) promotion finders, 2) social & hedonic experience seekers, 3) information gatherers, and 4) learners & novices. This study extends consumer online behavior research in both e-commerce and social commerce by focusing on the specific group of consumers who only do online window shopping. Besides theoretical contributions, the findings also provide marketers and businesses with valuable references for designing targeted marketing strategies or promotional activities for online window shopping consumers