Software architectures can play a role in improving the testing process of complex systems. In particular, descriptions of the software architecture can be useful to drive integration testing, since they supply information about how the software is structured in parts and how those parts (are expected to) interact. We propose to use formal architectural descriptions to model the “interesting" b...

While mobile devices have experienced important accessibility advances in the past years, people with visual impairments still face important barriers, especially in specific contexts when both their hands are not free to hold the mobile device, like when walking outside. By resorting to a multimodal combination of body based gestures and voice, we aim to achieve full hands and vision free inte...

In this paper, we propose the application of standard decomposition approaches to find local correlations in multimodal data. In a test scenario, we apply these methods to correlate the local shape of turbine blades with their associated aerodynamic flow fields. We compare several decomposition algorithms with regards to their efficiency at finding local correlations and their ability to predic...

Making sense of complex objects is difficult, and typically requires the use of external representations to support cognitive demands while reasoning about the objects. Visualizations are one type of external representation that can be used to support sensemaking activities. In this paper, we investigate the role of two design strategies in making the interactive features of visualizations more...

Human interactions are characterized by explicit as well as implicit channels of communication. While the explicit channel transmits overt messages, the implicit ones transmit hidden messages about the communicator (e.g., his/her intentions and attitudes). There is a growing consensus that providing a computer with the ability to manipulate implicit affective cues should allow for a more meanin...

As an input device, fabric holds potential benefits for three dimensional (3D) interaction in the domain of surface design, which includes designing objects from clothing to metalwork. To investigate these benefits, we conducted an exploratory study of different users’ natural interactions with fabric. During this study, we instructed users to communicate various shapes and surfaces of varying ...

Usability has become one of the key ingredients in making virtual reality (VR) systems work, and a big part of a usable VR system is in the design of effective interface/interaction schemes. During the past few years, several empirical studies have been conducted to evaluate the usability of generic interaction techniques in the context of virtual environment design. As a continued effort in th...

In this paper, we describe the results of a usability study on user preferences for multimodal interaction in an instrumented environment. The study was conducted in a public setting, and provides insight into modality preferences among users, and specific to men and women. The returned results are also contrasted to the results of a former study based on the same evaluation procedures but cond...

Deriving event storylines is an effective summarization method to succinctly organize extensive information, which can significantly alleviate the pain of information overload. The critical challenge is the lack of widely recognized definition of storyline metric. Prior studies have developed various approaches based on different assumptions about users’ interests. These works can extract inter...

A principle of early design work is to generate and manage multiple ideas, as this fosters creative insight. As computer tools are being increasingly used for early design work, it is critical to understand how their interaction models affect idea management. This paper reports results of a user study comparing how the use of three interaction models – tab interfaces, layered canvases, and spat...