Lacome is a multi-user cross-platform system that supports collaboration in a shared large screen display environment. Lacome allows users to share their desktops or application windows using any standard VNC server. It supports multi-user concurrent interaction on the public shared display as well as input redirection so users can control each other's applications. La-come supports separate types of interaction through a Lacome client for window management tasks on the shared display(move, resize, iconify, de-iconify) and for application interactions through the VNC servers. The system architecture provides for Publishers that share information and Navigators that access information. A Lacome client can have either or both, and can initiate additional Publishers on other VNC servers that may not be Lacome clients. Explicit access control policies on both the server side the client side provide a flexible framework for sharing. The architecture builds on standard cross-platform components such as VNC and JRE. Interaction techniques used in the window manager ensure simple and transparent multi-user interactions for managing the shared display space. We illustrate the design and implementation of Lacome and provide insights from initial user experience with the system.

When it comes to simulator training, there are two main target groups, the student and the teacher/instructor. This thesis will cover usability aspects for both of these groups when it comes to tasks related to simulator training. For the student it will mainly be about how they can interact with the interface from the simulator and how results and feedback from exercises are presented to them. For the teacher/instructor on the other hand, usability aspects for managing the students and the exercises will be addressed, along with how results and progress shall be presented in a way that is easy to grasp and understand. A redesign of the current system used to manage these issues will be preformed. Some of the aspects that the redesign will cover are usability aspects, graphical design and workflow. One of the main outcomes from this thesis is a system that supports many different levels of engagement from the user, allowing users with different background and interest to interact with the system as effortless as possible/wanted.

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Individuals with severe impairments may use brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies in order to interact with their external environment. One non-invasive brain-monitoring technology which may be suitable for this purpose is transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD). Previous research has shown that TCD is useful in detecting changes in cerebral blood flow velocities after the performance of cognitive tasks which are often lateralized towards a specific hemisphere of the brain. However, to date, TCD has not been used in a BCI system. This thesis first explores TCD in an offline study, showing that on average, accuracies of 80.0% are attainable with user-specific training data and 74.6% with user-independent training data. Furthermore, consecutive sequential lateralizations do not decrease classification accuracies. In a subsequent online experiment, a TCD-BCI system yielded an average accuracy of 61.4%, but revealed key findings about the effects of user motivation and error streaks in an online system.

Individuals with severe impairments may use brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies in order to interact with their external environment. One non-invasive brain-monitoring technology which may be suitable for this purpose is transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD). Previous research has shown that TCD is useful in detecting changes in cerebral blood flow velocities after the performance of cognitive tasks which are often lateralized towards a specific hemisphere of the brain. However, to date, TCD has not been used in a BCI system. This thesis first explores TCD in an offline study, showing that on average, accuracies of 80.0% are attainable with user-specific training data and 74.6% with user-independent training data. Furthermore, consecutive sequential lateralizations do not decrease classification accuracies. In a subsequent online experiment, a TCD-BCI system yielded an average accuracy of 61.4%, but revealed key findings about the effects of user motivation and error streaks in an online system.

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Interaction design is about designing interactive things so that they become usable. An interaction designer’s goal is therefore to design things not only right but also to design the right things, this is called usability. In this thesis the aim is to examine how to best evaluate a user interface that is in the final design phase and that has not involved the end user in its development at all up to this stage. This thesis examined the graphical user interface of GACship III, a system used to accurately record, approve and request payment for all services/charges incurred during port/off-port calls. Three inspection methods and three test methods were investigated. This was done to determine which ones that is appropriate to use during an evaluation with little or no access to end users since this is one of the problem that GAC is facing and since this study only had access to two end users. The system, GACship III, is in the final development phase and so far the development has been made without involving the end users. A checklist for usability evaluations was developed through studying four renowned design principles in the form of Maeda’s, Raskin’s, Nielsen’s and Norman’s view of usability. The results showed that a heuristic evaluation identifies more usability problems than a digital questionnaire. Probably because the heuristic evaluation gave room for more reflections and comments and therefore turned out to be a more in depth evaluation technique. The digital questionnaire proved to be a weaker method under these conditions, but all in all, the two methods complemented each other. The results also indicated a number of usability problems in GACship III, which implied that the system is not fully efficient. The graphical user interface contained for example a severe mode error together with an unreliable drop down menu. The system consisted of parts where the usability was considered satisfactory. However, those findings will not be discussed in this thesis. In order to improve the systems usability GAC is encouraged to rectify the discrepancies. The result of the study is in addition a usability checklist that can be used during further and future graphical user interface development at GAC. Keywords: Usability, evaluation, interface, checklist, shipping.

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Geotextile and geomembrane sheets are typically used as a composite system rather than as a stand-alone solution because of their complementary properties of permeability and stiffness. Previous researchers have focused on the large-scale interaction of fiber-texture interfaces while the micromechanical behavior of the internal geotextile structure has received limited attention. Characterizing the variation in the arrangement and distribution of filaments/voids is essential to understanding the micro-scale mechanisms of nonwoven fabrics interacting with counterface materials. This presentation summarizes the results from a study that examined the micromechanical mechanisms involved at needle-punched nonwoven geotextile-textured HDPE geomembrane interfaces and relates the results to the observed macro-scale response. A large displacement direct interface shear device was developed and used in this study to reduce the system errors that often occur with conventional shear devices and to allow internal geotextile strains to occur during shear. Complimentary numerical modeling was undertaken to study interface response. An advanced image analysis technique was applied to allow the evolution of the filament microstructure under various boundary and load conditions to be quantified. The different phases within the geosynthetic interface zone were detected from images captured using high-resolution optical microscopy. The changes of geotextile inner structures were statistically quantified in terms of inter-filament distance changes as well as the local void ratio and inscribing void size distributions. The tensile response of single filaments was measured using a helium neon deflectometer and these measurements were used to evaluate the shear induced filament strain. The study provides insight into the combined role of geomembrane surface topography and geotextile filament structure on macro-scale geosynthetic interface response.

Digital Clay is a tactile array of linear fluidic actuators which provide distributed sensing and position control through the use of an embedded position sensor. The actuator implementation is achieved by two-way hydraulically-driven pistons which are integrated with computer controlled valves. Each actuator is connected to an underlying base plate which is in fluidic communication with high and low pressure reservoirs. The research focuses on the aspects of the fluidics necessary to operate the actuators and control actuation of Digital Clay. The main objectives of this work are the characterization of the fluid flow through the system and the design and implementation of an embedded inductance-based position sensor. Each actuator in Digital Clay is individually addressable and is controlled through the use of a closed-loop proportional integral controller with position feedback from the embedded inductance-based sensor. Also presented in this work is the characterization of an individual fluidic actuator and the realization of a 5x5 tactile array of actuators.