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In this research, we develop a group decision support system to deal with multiple attribute group decision-making problems, which involve getting incomplete judgements of individual preference and aggregating the judgements by means of the additive preference model. Dominance-based decision-making rules are built in and applied to obtain a group's preferred alternative. The proposed system, above all, allows for more various forms of incomplete judgements than prior systems that were designed to handle group decision problems. A user-friendly graphical interface enables users to easily encode their incomplete judgements. Further, the system helps individuals revise their preference judgements by referring them to their own decision results in comparison with the group's aggregated decision result. The system is a web-based application system, which enables bidirectional communications between individuals and the system. Any individual who is involved in a group decision-making problem is able to participate in the decision-making process from a remote site. Furthermore, we present a real-life case study on the selection of a branch office server that has been carried out using the proposed system. doi: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602578 Published online 5 March 2008 Keywords: group decision support system; multiple attribute decision making; incomplete preference judgement

The purpose of this study was to investigate mapping of user interfaces on consumer electronic appliances. A digital clock with five different interface modes was chosen for the experiment. Forty elderly subjects (above 65 years) and 40 middle-aged subjects (45-64 years) participated in the study. Every subject had to complete three different tasks, namely time setting, alarm time setting and date setting. The researchers investigated what problems were encountered when performing these tasks and collected data such as operational time, the number of total inputs, subjective estimation and interview information. The findings of this study indicated that the interface modes had significant effects on operational time, the number of total inputs and subjective estimation. Finally, the study confirms that when the spatial relationship between buttons and display contents are clearly indicated, the operation is easier to complete. Keywords: The elderly; User interface; Mapping: Electronic appliance; Digital clock

The proper use of iconic interfaces reduces system complexity and helps users interact with systems more easily. However, due to carelessness, inadequate research, and the web's relatively short history, the icons used on web sites often are ambiguous. Because non-identifiable icons may convey meanings other than those intended, designers must consider whether icons are easily identifiable when creating web sites. In this study, visual icons used on e-business web sites were examined by population stereotypy and categorized into three groups: identifiable, medium, and vague. Representative icons from each group were tested by comparing selection performance in groups of student volunteers, with identifiable and medium icons improving performance. We found that only easily identifiable icons can reduce complexity and increase system usability.

This paper describes VISUAL, a graphical icon-based query language with a user-friendly graphical user interface for scientific databases and its query processing techniques. VISUAL is suitable for domains where visualization of the relationships is important for the domain scientist to express queries. In VISUAL, graphical objects are not tied to the underlying formalism; instead, they represent the relationships of the application domain. VISUAL supports relational, nested, and object-oriented models naturally and has formal basis. For ease of understanding and for efficiency reasons, two VISUAL semantics are introduced, namely, the interpretation and execution semantics. Translations from VISUAL to the Object Query Language (for portability considerations) and to an object algebra (for query processing purposes) are presented. Concepts of external and internal queries are developed as modularization tools. Index Terms--Database query languages, query processing, scientific databases, object algebra.

A method based on the use of computers to guide and supervise the practical work performed by the students in a basic hardware laboratory is described. The bench computer adds real-time monitoring of the work done by the student, so that most mistakes, improper measurement settings, etc., are detected and immediately fed back. This environment reinforces student motivation. The networked architecture of the laboratory permits the centralized supervision and tracking of the work done at each bench. The use of standard communication protocols allows the extension of the approach to remotely located benches under the supervision of the central server. Internet-based tools are also included in the method to complement the learning process. Index Terms--Engineering education, graphical user interfaces, laboratories, teaching.

The program COUPLE combines simulators for optical performance, mechanical reliability, and production cost under a graphical-user interface to design, simulate, and evaluate micro-optomechanical structures. The thermal simulator predicts the package temperature distribution on the basis of the materials and the geometry as well as on heat sources, sinks, and boundary conditions. The thermal distribution is input to the mechanical simulator, which calculates the stresses or strains and displacements caused by differential thermal expansion. The optical simulator predicts the impact on the optical efficiency and the cross talk of mechanical and optical parameter variations such as solder heights, misalignments, and wavelength distributions. The cost simulator represents the manufacturing process flow and calculates the final cost and the cost sensitivity on basis of the cost and the yield of each process step. By means of balancing detector and coupling yield, cosimulation from optical to cost domains determines the optimum detector size to produce the lowest-cost transceiver module.

A Windows based Graphical User Interface (GUI) software tool to facilitate the teaching and learning of sequence networks is described in this paper. This software is written in Microsoft Visual Basic. The software provides a friendly and easy to use tool to aid the students in better visualizing the effects of the sequence diagram and sequence current in the fault study. This tool has three main modules: 1. a user designed one-line diagram, 2. displaying the corresponding positive-, negative-, and zero-sequence diagrams, 3. displaying the path of the current in each sequence diagram, according to the type and the location of the fault. Keywords - Power System Fault Analysis, Sequence Diagrams, Sequence Currents, Windows, Graphical User Interface (GuI).

This paper describes an application-enhanced approach to teaching fundamental concepts in electromagnetics at the introductory undergraduate level. A numerical tool with interactive visualization is used to aid in the presentation of engineering applications that are used to motivate basic electromagnetic concepts. The goals are to exploit design automation tools as a supplementary instructional aid, and to illustrate to students the use of theory in practice. Index Terms - Electromagnetics, finite-difference method, visualization.

The study of queueing systems presents mathematical barriers to the novice, although the phenomena of queues can be readily observed in everyday life. In addition, English-speaking faculty have language barriers to surmount with Japanese students. This paper describes a graphical user interface to allow quick and easy comprehension of the dynamical behavior of queues. The interface is implemented using Tcl/Tk, a high-level window programming script language that allows for the rapid development of educational software. An outline is presented for a set of exercises for a lower division laboratory. This material is also appropriate for laboratories associated with courses in operating systems, queueing systems, and performance evaluation. Index Terms - Graphical user interface, queueing systems, simulation.

This paper reports the experience of solving the distribution problem for the biggest fuel company in Chile. A planning, execution and control system for fuel distribution was developed. It employs a knowledge-based approach that utilizes a graphical user interface which mimics the mental model of the user. An automatic scheduler solves the Capacity Vehicle Routing Problem. The solution can be manually modified so verifying system consistency. The system is running throughout the country, 13 sites, having a positive impact on the three types of player. Plant managers have increased fleet efficiency and customers receive a higher quality service. Finally, the central administration obtains a report once a month from each of the plants that allows the strong and weak aspects of each site to be analyzed. Key words - decision support system, fuel distribution, graphic user interface, Capacity Vehicle Routing Problem

A generic framework enabling reuse of scheduling algorithms and adaptation of scheduling knowledge provides cost-effective scheduling systems for dye production, pipeline-fittings production and heart surgery. The architecture for the Protos, Production Planning and Scheduling System, and Medical Resource Scheduling System comprises a graphical user interface, a knowledge base, an interface component and knowledge-based algorithms. Predictive, reactive and interactive scheduling features, and automatic and/or fully interactive user scheduling options further optimize production management.

A Microsoft[R] Windows[TM] graphical package to facilitate the teaching and learning of symmetrical component is described in this paper. This package is written in Microsoft Visual Basic 3.0. This software calculates and displays graphically, the ABC sequence and the corresponding symmetrical component phasors. Students can manipulate the graphical displays by keyboard input or by mouse operation. The objective of this package is to help the students to better understand the various aspects of symmetrical components' analysis through a user-friendly Graphical User Interface(GUI). KEYWORDS: WINDOWS, Symmetrical Components, Graphical User Interface(GUI).

A system has been developed for acquiring data from a multi-element gamma ray imaging device. Data is acquired and stored in a flexible list mode format, which allows all necessary analyses and hardware diagnostics to be performed in one application. This system is currently used with a Compton scatter camera for detector calibration, data collection, count rate display for individual elements, histogram display, and image reconstruction and display. The software is implemented on a personal computer with a 33 MHz 80486 processor and 8 Mb of RAM under Microsoft Windows[C] Version 3.1. The maximum acquisition rate of the system is 8000 counts per second. The system allows other applications to operate while it is acquiring data and has been written to easily accommodate additional analysis tools and different imaging systems.