This paper describes an experiment we have conducted to explore the effectiveness of animation in improving indirect manipulation operations. Indirect manipulation operations are those initiated by command menus and buttons, to perform a transformation on a graphical object or set of graphical objects. The particular improvement is an operation’s ability to show both what would happen if the op...

Output-feedback control for trajectory tracking is an important research topic of various engineering systems. In this paper, a novel online hybrid direct/indirect adaptive Petri fuzzy neural network (PFNN) controller with stare observer for uncertain nonlinear multivariable dynamical systems using generalized projection-update laws is presented. This new approach consists of control objectives...

Multi-display environments (MDEs) connect several displays into a single digital workspace. One of the main problems to be solved in an MDE’s design is how to enable movement of objects from one display to another. When the real-world space between displays is modeled as part of the workspace (i.e., Mouse Ether), it becomes difficult for users to keep track of their cursors during a transition ...

In-vehicle information systems (IVIS) can be controlled by the user via direct or indirect input devices. In order to develop the next generation of usable IVIS, designers need to be able to evaluate and understand the usability issues associated with these two input types. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a set of empirical usability evaluation methods for identify...

In this paper, we introduce an indirect pushing based technique for automated micromanipulation of biological cells. Indirect pushing can be viewed as nonprehensile robotic manipulation. We propose a bead formation composed of two inert, optically-trapped glass beads, where one of the beads pushes the other freely diffusing intermediate bead to indirectly manipulate a given cell. Some cells can...

BACKGROUND Examination of mediating behavioral factors could explain how an intervention works and thus provide guidance to optimize behavioral weight-loss programs. This study examined the mediating role of adherence to self-monitoring of diet and physical activity on weight loss in a behavioral weight-loss trial testing the use of personal digital assistants (PDA) for self-monitoring. METHO...

This study aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a long-term workplace health promotion programme on physical activity (PA) and nutrition. In total, 924 participants enrolled in a 2-year cluster randomized controlled trial, with departments (n = 74) within companies (n = 6) as the unit of randomization. The intervention was compared with a standard programme consisting of a physical health...

This paper describes an experiment to explore the effectiveness of animation in improving indirect manipulation operations. Indirect manipulation operations are those initiated by command menus and buttons to perform a transformation on a graphical object or set of graphical objects. The particular improvement is an operation's ability to show both what would happen if the operation were commit...

Critical to low-vision navigation are the abilities to recover scale and update a 3-D representation of space. In order to investigate whether these abilities are present under low-vision conditions, we employed the triangulation task of eyes-closed indirect walking to previously viewed targets on the ground. This task requires that the observer continually update the location of the target wit...

The well known, indirect method of closed loop identification is difficult to apply for multivariable systems owing to its two step procedure of first identifying the loop sensitivities which are then used in the second step to estimate the plant dynamics. In this paper, we propose an improved indirect method of closed loop identification that exploits (i) simple proportional output feedback co...