A large proportion of today’s software development is unsuccessful. One reason for this is thought to be lack of attention to the user. Maintaining a user-centred focus during software production is regarded as a major problem. Introducing an HCI designer role into the software team (they usually function as external advisors) is thought to be a means of addressing this problem. Issues surrounding the introduction of an HCI designer role into software teams were explored by a qualitative investigation. Participant-observation studies were carried out on two year-long software projects, with the researcher performing the role of HCI designer within the software teams. Aspects of comprehension within the team were found to be fundamental to successful collaboration. Prototypes were found to be an effective means of facilitating team members' comprehension of HCI design intent, and of maintaining conceptual integrity. However, this use of prototypes was flawed because they introduced the potential for ambiguity and they were inaccessible. Focusing on the collaboration of the HCI designer and programmers, requirements for a prototype-centred explanation tool were specified to exploit the potential of prototyping to facilitate comprehension, by addressing the flaws discovered. Such a tool, called ‘ProtoTour’, was designed and implemented, based on the requirements specified. An experiment was conducted with 22 commercial programmers to ascertain whether a ProtoTour representation of an existing, commercially developed prototype, facilitated comprehension more effectively and was more accessible than a conventional prototype. Results of the experiment found that programmers using ProtoTour gained a significantly better understanding of HCI design intent, than programmers using a conventional prototype. Those using ProtoTour also asked the HCI designer significantly fewer questions about the HCI design intent. Results suggest that prototype-centred explanation tools have the potential to improve programmers’ comprehension of HCI design intent. Introducing an HCI designer into a software team was found to be an effective way of improving the user-centred focus of software during production. A prototype-centred explanation tool appears to have potential as a means of helping programmers comprehend HCI design intent.

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The 7th German-Japanese Bridge Symposium, July 30-August 1, 2007 Osaka, JAPAN (GJBS07), full paper + extended abstract (p.142-143)

A large proportion of today’s software development is unsuccessful. One reason for this is thought to be lack of attention to the user. Maintaining a user-centred focus during software production is regarded as a major problem. Introducing an HCI designer role into the software team (they usually function as external advisors) is thought to be a means of addressing this problem. Issues surrounding the introduction of an HCI designer role into software teams were explored by a qualitative investigation. Participant-observation studies were carried out on two year-long software projects, with the researcher performing the role of HCI designer within the software teams. Aspects of comprehension within the team were found to be fundamental to successful collaboration. Prototypes were found to be an effective means of facilitating team members' comprehension of HCI design intent, and of maintaining conceptual integrity. However, this use of prototypes was flawed because they introduced the potential for ambiguity and they were inaccessible. Focusing on the collaboration of the HCI designer and programmers, requirements for a prototype-centred explanation tool were specified to exploit the potential of prototyping to facilitate comprehension, by addressing the flaws discovered. Such a tool, called ‘ProtoTour’, was designed and implemented, based on the requirements specified. An experiment was conducted with 22 commercial programmers to ascertain whether a ProtoTour representation of an existing, commercially developed prototype, facilitated comprehension more effectively and was more accessible than a conventional prototype. Results of the experiment found that programmers using ProtoTour gained a significantly better understanding of HCI design intent, than programmers using a conventional prototype. Those using ProtoTour also asked the HCI designer significantly fewer questions about the HCI design intent. Results suggest that prototype-centred explanation tools have the potential to improve programmers’ comprehension of HCI design intent. Introducing an HCI designer into a software team was found to be an effective way of improving the user-centred focus of software during production. A prototype-centred explanation tool appears to have potential as a means of helping programmers comprehend HCI design intent.

No description available.

No description available.

Owner groups and Facility Managers of health care facilities interested in reducing operation and maintenance (O&M) expenses for new facilities have often been placed in the difficult position of making cost-benefit assessments without a complete understanding of the cumulative impact of building systems selection on their internal rate of return. This is particularly true when owners are evaluating the initial cost and operational benefit (if any) of obtaining various levels of "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" (LEED) certifications for their buildings. Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning, and Lighting (HVAC&L) loads comprise 51% of the total energy demand in the typical outpatient facility; however, in order to estimate the likelihood of achieving a particular LEED rating for a new building, a "Whole Building Energy Simulation" is necessary to evaluate HVAC&L system performance. The conventional of requiring a design upon which to base an analysis presents owner operators attempting to perform a Lifecycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) early in the concept phase with two unique problems - how to estimate energy use without an actual "design" to model, and how to estimate a system's first cost without knowing its performance requirements. This study outlines a process by which existing energy metrics from the Department of Energy (DOE), Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), and Energy Star, can be made early during the developer's pro forma phase - without the need for a building design. Furthermore, preliminary business decisions targeted at determining the likelihood of obtaining a particular LEED rating, and specifying the corresponding building systems, can be estimated without the cost required to employ an Architect and Engineer (A&E) team, or the time necessary to develop a design. This paper concludes that regional factors can dramatically affect a building's required level of energy performance, and that the highest performing HVAC&L system, irrespective of cost, will not always provide the best return on investment. Accordingly, the national averages utilized to establish LEED EA1 thresholds do not reflect the cost particularities owners may encounter when developing in various climate zones, and therefor may be less relevant to lifecycle considerations that previously believed.

Embodied energy is the energy consumed in all activities necessary to support a process in its entire lifecycle. For power generation systems, this includes the energy cost of raw material extraction and transportation, plant construction, energy generation and the recycling and disposal stages following actual use. Embodied energy analysis is a crude method of estimating the environmental impacts and depletion of natural resources consequent to a certain process. In effect, the higher the embodied energy of a process, the greater the green house gas emissions and the depletion of the natural resources. This thesis presents the embodied energy analysis carried out on some New Zealand power plants belonging to various methods of generation, namely, natural gas combined cycle (NGCC), natural gas open cycle (NGOC), wind, reservoir hydro and run of river hydro power plants. The analysis was carried out using a combination of process chain analysis and input output analysis, which are the two fundamental methodologies for embodied energy analysis. It follows the standards set out by the International Organisation for Standardisation 14040 series, and uses some guidelines given in the International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study workshop on energy analysis methodology and conventions. From the analysis, it was found that for renewable generation power plants, the exploration and plant construction phase of the lifecycle contributes the largest amount of embodied energy, while for the non renewable power plants, the largest amount of embodied energy is contributed by the plant operation and maintenance phase of the lifecycle. The lifecycle energy payback ratio, which corresponds to the ratio of electrical energy output over the total lifecycle energy input, of the power plants are 96.9, 62.8, 7.96, 0.487 and 0.354 for run of river hydro, reservoir hydro, wind, NGCC and NGOC, respectively. Therefore, the lifecycle performance of renewable electricity generation is superior to non renewable electricity generation. Hence, the environmental impacts and depletion of natural resources from non renewable electricity generation is higher than renewable electricity generation. From the generation methodologies, hydro power plants have exceptional performance characteristics.

Seit einiger Zeit hat die Industrie hier die enge Verzahnung ihrer Güterproduktion mit Dienstleistungen, auch oft als Services oder Lösungen bezeichnet, als strategische Option erkannt. Der Vorteil einer engen Verflechtung von Produkt und Dienstleistung ist, dass insbesondere im Pre- und Aftersales-Bereich neue Wertschöpfungsmöglichkeiten entstehen, die auf dem einzigartigen Know-How und dem Wissen der anbietenden Unternehmen basieren. Zunehmend wird über solche Lösungen sogar der größere Anteil der Wertschöpfung für das Unternehmen erzielt, so dass die Bedeutung solcher Angebote beständig zunimmt. Der vorliegenden Band dokumentiert die Arbeit des Verbundvorhabens „Produkt-Dienstleistung-Lifecycle-Management“, welches von 2011-2014 den Lehrstuhl für Betriebliche Informationssysteme an der Universität Leipzig zusammen mit Unternehmen ATB Arbeit, Technik und Bildung GmbH, CADsys GmbH, Amtech GmbH und SITEC GmbH aus Chemnnitz realisiert und mit Mitteln der Europäischen Union und des Freistaates Sachsen durch das Programm FuE-Projektförderung der SAB finanziert wurde. Erstmalig werden integrierte Konzepte und Werkzeuge für ein Lebenszyklusmanagement in der Verbindung von Produktion und begleitenden Dienstleistungen vorgestellt, die in entsprechenden Use-Cases in der Praxis zur Anwendung geführt werden konnten.

The goal of this thesis is to describe the Application lifecycle management (ALM), with a focus on two aspects of this system. The aspects are: the application for the administration of requirements JIRA and the application for the administration of the testing system Testlink. The basis for this endeavor was my practical experience with the implementation of the process ALM in the company LMC. Application lifecycle management is an essential part of companies focused on management processes for software development and it can thus improve their features, from the defining stage to the installation in the production sphere. In my thesis I focus on the application JIRA, as a replacement tool for the administration of requirements and the application Testlink, which is software for the administration and test management. The result aims to conclude whether these applications fulfilled the initial representations of the company and the requirements in the ALM framework. An evaluation of the positive and negative aspects during implementation is being carried, with a look at the effective implementation into practice. I shall try to define the general areas where eventual failures can be detected during the implementation process and that should be carried in mind during the process.