Most visual search studies have been restricted to alphanumeric stimulus materials. Research related to scanning patterns of Chinese characters is sparse. This study is an attempt to understand the differences and similarities in visual search of Chinese characters having a varying degree of complexity among Hong Kong Chinese, Mainland Chinese and Chinese reading non-Chinese people. Eighteen participants were tested on Chinese character screens with three layouts (row, column, and uniform separation) and two word complexities (high and low). The 18 participants comprised six Hong Kong Chinese, six Mainland Chinese and six non-native Chinese readers. Performance data and eye movement data were recorded. The percent correct and search time were the two performance measures. A new measure, called HV-ratio was developed to characterize eye movements. The results show that Hong Kong Chinese use predominantly horizontal search patterns while the Mainland Chinese change their search pattern depending on the layout presented. Non-native Chinese readers, on the other hand, do not seem to show any preference on scanning strategy for a given layout. Word complexity did not show any significant effect on search time. Potential reasons for these differences and design implications are discussed.

The present study investigated the effect of modality and language on icons’ appropriateness and meaningfulness for Chinese users. Based on the findings of the previous studies of computer icons, three hypothesis were developed: H1: Bimodal icons rate the highest; H2: Icons with Chinese characters rate higher than icons with English words; and H3: Pictorial icons rate higher than verbal icons. Fifty Hong Kong Chinese daily computer users participated in the experiments. The results suggested that H1 and H2 are partially supported and H3 is not supported. A significant interaction between the language and modality was observed. The best icon group for Chinese users is the bimodal Chinese group.

Icons are a very important component of graphical user interfaces. However, icon design is still predominantly artistic in nature and as a result icon selection is generally based on usability evaluations after a set of alternative icons are developed. This process tends to be time-consuming and costly. In this research, we address the issues ofwhat should be depicted in an icon, given the function it should represent, and how training affects the performance of novice users when using an iconic interface. A set of 36 concrete icons (12 functions) were selected and tested with a total of 30 participants. The experimental results indicate that complete representations are generally superior for both untrained and trained participants. Results also show that trained participants had shorter response times when compared to untrained participants. Further analysis suggests that ambiguity, uniqueness and dominance are three important aspects to consider when designing and developing icons. Applications of this research include the design of appropriate icons for graphical user interfaces prior to usability testing and the importance of a short training period to illustrate the composition of an icon in an effort to improve the mental model associated with each design.

With the rapid globalization of Information Technology, it is important not only to evaluate performance, but also to understand the underlying causes of performance differences among populations when using computer interfaces. In this study, the search strategy of three different groups of users (Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese and Nonnative Chinese readers) was assessed. A full screen search task was used to understand the search strategies and their relationship to cultural and linguistic aspects. The stimulus materials were high or low complexity Chinese words having one of three layouts: Row, Column or Uniform separation. The search patterns were recorded using an eye tracking system. To categorize these patterns, a new measure called HV-ratio was developed. Analysis of variance on HV-ratio showed that the search patterns between Hong Kong Chinese and Mainland Chinese are significantly different. The HK Chinese used predominantly horizontal search patterns in all three layouts. In contrast, Mainland Chinese changed their search pattern depending on the screen layout. HK Chinese used a more systematic horizontal search pattern. These strategies explain the overall performance findings in relation to search time.

This study reviews empirical studies of total quality management (TQM) and has identified four different approaches of examining TQM practices-performance relationships. It reveals that a consensus on how TQM practices affect quality performance has yet to emerge. Based on their findings, some researchers conclude that 'supportive' practices can bring quality improvement, while some indicate that 'core' practices do. To add to the complexity, some support both. The current study seeks to examine the relationship between supportive and core TQM practices and their direct and indirect effects on quality performance. A mediation model was hypothesized and tested by hierarchical multiple regression based on a sample of 25 electronics companies in Hong Kong. In general, the survey study gives further support for the interdependent nature of TQM practices. The results showed that the effect of training and employee relations on quality performance might be largely transmitted by certain core quality management practices. In particular, it suggests that core TQM practices mediate the effect of supportive TQM practices on quality performance when the practices are taken as two integrated factors. Both researchers and practitioners are advised to consider the interdependencies of supportive and core factors when assessing the impact of any new technology or new management technique on an organization.

Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service IndustriesVolume 10, Issue 1 p. 115-116 BOOK REVIEW The History of Human Factors and Ergonomics, by David Meister, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey, USA, 382 pp., 1999, ISBN 0-8058-2768-4 Heloisa Martins Shih, Heloisa Martins Shih Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, The Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologySearch for more papers by this author Heloisa Martins Shih, Heloisa Martins Shih Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, The Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologySearch for more papers by this author First published: 29 December 1999 https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6564(200024)10:1<115::AID-HFM7>3.0.CO;2-DAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume10, Issue1Winter 2000Pages 115-116 RelatedInformation

The objective of this research is to develop a conceptual model of total quality management (TQM) implementation and test it empirically. The main research problem of this study is to investigate the effect of adopting TQM principles on quality achievement in manufacturing. The hypotheses specifying relationships between the core parts of the model including quality management infrastructure, core quality management practices, quality performance, and customer satisfaction are tested using survey research method. Data were collected from 50 managers of 25 manufacturing companies in Hong Kong. Correlation analysis on the ratings given by two different respondents from the same company shows that employee relations strongly facilitates the use of quality data and reporting, while training supports the function of product design, supplier quality management, and quality data and reporting. The results also indicate that employee relations and training have direct effects on quality performance which, in turn, relates to customer satisfaction. Practitioners are advised to build a supportive environment with a strong emphasis on human and organizational aspects to promote effective TQM implementation. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service IndustriesVolume 9, Issue 1 p. 131-132 Book Review Human Factors in Systems Engineering Heloisa Martins Shih, Heloisa Martins Shih Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, The Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologySearch for more papers by this author Heloisa Martins Shih, Heloisa Martins Shih Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, The Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologySearch for more papers by this author First published: 28 January 1999 https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6564(199924)9:1<131::AID-HFM8>3.0.CO;2-VAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume9, Issue1Winter 1999Pages 131-132 RelatedInformation

Studies on short-term memory limitations of native Chinese speakers are few. Even though the trace decay theory has been shown to be applicable for graphical images and other items, the applicability and discrepancies for nonnative English speakers is poorly understood. The results of 2 experiments are reported. Experiment 1 was an attempt to compare the memory span of native Cantonese (Hong Kong) speakers when digits were heard in Cantonese and English using computer recordings. The results showed that the memory span with Cantonese digits is significantly higher than with English numbers even with computer recorded data. The calculation method can result in a significant difference (approximately 0.9 points) for memory span. Experiment 2 was designed to evaluate the advantage of seeing and listening to information. This experiment also showed a significantly higher memory span in Cantonese. A comparison between the 2 experiments showed a significant difference between pure listening and listening and seeing information thereby indicating a need to modify the trace decay theory. The lower bound for memory span in the audiovisual mode is approximately 8 digits for Cantonese speakers. This difference in memory span between Cantonese and English may be attributed to the faster pronunciation speed and the intonation built into the Cantonese language. The nonlinear probability of recall curves for nonnative English speakers is a key to understanding the differences in memory span and the applicability of short-term memory models.

This paper proposes a fuzzy inference-based scheduling decision for flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) with multiple objectives. The objectives have different and dynamic preference levels. It is inferred that the changes in the production environment may be sensed by environmental variables. The detected changes are input in a fuzzy inference mechanism, which outputs the current preference levels of all objectives. A multiple criteria scheduling decision is then made, using the partitioned combination of the preference levels. An example of application is presented. Simulation results show very good performance for the proposed system.

Graphical user interface guidelines have been developed predominantly in English-speaking countries, but aspects related to culture (e.g., local metaphors, symbols, color, and flow) are not universal and have received little or no attention. Even though the reading and writing flow of languages such as English, Japanese, and Chinese differ widely, most software interfaces do not take account of this. In this paper we investigate the effectiveness of menu flow or menu orientation in both the Chinese and English languages for Chinese users. The experimental results indicate that for the Chinese population, a horizontal menu in either language is more effective than the vertical orientation. Thus item differentiation in menus is best performed when the natural flow of the user's native language is broken through a transformation process similar to a matrix transpose. Even though we did not investigate search strategies explicitly, we hypothesize that the primary reason for the difference lies in the scanning patterns adopted by the Chinese population in search tasks so that there is no mismatch in the reading metaphors. Applications of this research include the design of culturally and linguistically adapted human-computer interfaces for Chinese users.

The concept of granularity has been applied in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) for the purpose of diagnosis, plan recognition, reasoning and belief revision. These implementations have been related with the knowledge management within the system. This paper considers granularity from an interface design viewpoint. The learning tasks are decomposed into smaller components at varying levels of granularity with the perspective shift enabled through the user interface. They remove the need for the system to engage in complex inferencing about the user knowledge as the system can provide a status feedback (e.g. correct/incorrect) at a coarser grain size and require the student to use a fine grained interface for more detailed interaction. The students also find it easier to focus on and grasp these smaller components.

In this paper we propose Management Petri Nets (MPN), an extension of classical Petri nets for modelling management systems. MPN have three kinds of places: status places, resource places and information places, and two kinds of transitions: AND transitions and XOR transitions. A hierarchical approach is utilized in the modelling of management systems with MPN. The integration of MPN models with the Information Technology support of management tasks through a common database is also proposed.

In this paper the application of workflow technology to monitor, control and coordinate business processes and projects is proposed. The conceptual characteristics of processes and projects as well as their management needs in the functions of planning, execution, monitoring and control are compared. The general design of the proposed system is then developed, with an application example. The proposed monitoring and control system provides proactive tracking of the flow of work and information, and of the utilization and commitment of resources. The design supports hierarchical management of the project and/or business process, allowing concerned persons to visualize and to utilize it in different levels of abstraction, as necessary. The application of workflow technology also provides additional benefits in facilitating communication, documentation and re-utilization.

The authors propose an information system to support the building and implementation of house of quality in the companies. The system provides: (a) a general guide to build house of quality step by step; (b) a user friendly interface for each step; (c) a data storage and retrieval system throughout the process; (d) a data repository for future house of quality developments. The system contains also an analytic hierarchy process-based procedure to support the prioritization of customer attributes. The proposed features and a prototype of the system are presented.

In this paper we propose a heuristic procedure to solve the routing phase of delivery scheduling problem. Aiming at fast response, a beam search based decision procedure is utilized. In this research, a new evaluation rule named as “the most willing neighbor” is applied. The new rule retains the simplicity of the nearest neighbor rule, and overcomes its weak points. Three applications are presented and compared with the results obtained in 20 runs of the well-known 3-opt procedure. The proposed system offers flexibility and high quality solutions with very fast response.

The authors propose a heuristic procedure to solve the routing phase of the delivery scheduling problem. Aiming fast responses a beam search based decision procedure is utilized. Within the search procedure, a new evaluation rule called the `most willing neighbor' is applied. The new rule retains the simplicity of the nearest neighbor rule, overcoming the latter's weak points. Three applications are presented and compared with the results obtained in 20 runs of the well-known 3-opt procedure. The proposed system presented flexibility, high quality solutions with very fast responses

An on-line FMS scheduling system, which takes in consideration the routing flexibility is proposed in this paper. The FMS is modeled utilizing a Timed Petri net representation. This representation provides real time information about the production evolvement and the status of each machine and equipment. With this information the proposed system starts to search for the scheduling of the next orders to be assigned. The search is performed by a beam search based on-line decision method. The developed algorithm, integrating the Timed Petri net representation to the beam search, is described. To test the developed system Just-in-Time production objective was established. The performance of the system is evaluated through exhaustive simulations. The achieved results are very promising, as the proposed system leads not only to a better achievement of the production objective, but also to smaller variance under different scheduling conditions, suggesting greater reliability.

The authors propose an online FMS (flexible manufacturing system) scheduling system that takes into consideration the routing flexibility. A timed Petri net representation of the production system associated with a beam search based decision method is proposed to solve the scheduling conflicts. The system is presented and its performance is evaluated using an example of a FMS with three machines, manufacturing four products with routing flexibility. In addition to its very good results, the system was reliable, as the variance of the results of 50 different simulations was very small