ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7
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- Creators: Cooke, Nancy J.
Description
When discussing human factors and performance, researchers recognize stress as a factor, but overlook mood as contributing factor. To explore the relationship between mood, stress and cognitive performance, a field study was conducted involving fire fighters engaged in a fire response simulation. Firefighter participants completed a stress questionnaire, an emotional state questionnaire, and a cognitive task. Stress and cognitive task performance scores were examined before and after the firefighting simulation for individual cognitive performance depreciation caused by stress or mood. They study revealed that existing stress was a reliable predictor of the pre-simulation cognitive task score, that, as mood becomes more positive, perceived stress scores decrease, and that negative mood and pre-simulation stress are also positively and significantly correlated.
ContributorsGomez-Herbert, Maria Elena (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Becker, Vaughn (Committee member) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Hyunjin, Song (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Although there are many forms of organization on the Web, one of the most prominent ways to organize web content and websites are tags. Tags are keywords or terms that are assigned to a specific piece of content in order to help users understand the common relationships between pieces of content. Tags can either be assigned by an algorithm, the author, or the community. These tags can also be organized into tag clouds, which are visual representations of the structure and organization contained implicitly within these tags. Importantly, little is known on how we use these different tagging structures to understand the content and structure of a given site. This project examines 2 different characteristics of tagging structures: font size and spatial orientation. In order to examine how these different characteristics might interact with individual differences in attentional control, a measure of working memory capacity (WMC) was included. The results showed that spatial relationships affect how well users understand the structure of a website. WMC was not shown to have any significant effect; neither was varying the font size. These results should better inform how tags and tag clouds are used on the Web, and also provide an estimation of what properties to include when designing and implementing a tag cloud on a website.
ContributorsBanas, Steven (Author) / Sanchez, Christopher A (Thesis advisor) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The International Standards Organization (ISO) documentation utilizes Fitts’ law to determine the usability of traditional input devices like mouse and touchscreens for one- or two-dimensional operations. To test the hypothesis that Fitts’ Law can be applied to hand/air gesture based computing inputs, Fitts’ multi-directional target acquisition task is applied to three gesture based input devices that utilize different technologies and two baseline devices, mouse and touchscreen. Three target distances and three target sizes were tested six times in a randomized order with a randomized order of the five input technologies. A total of 81 participants’ data were collected for the within subjects design study. Participants were instructed to perform the task as quickly and accurately as possible according to traditional Fitts’ testing procedures. Movement time, error rate, and throughput for each input technology were calculated.
Additionally, no standards exist for equating user experience with Fitts’ measures such as movement time, throughput, and error count. To test the hypothesis that a user’s experience can be predicted using Fitts’ measures of movement time, throughput and error count, an ease of use rating using a 5-point scale for each input type was collected from each participant. The calculated Mean Opinion Scores (MOS) were regressed on Fitts’ measures of movement time, throughput, and error count to understand the extent to which they can predict a user’s subjective rating.
Additionally, no standards exist for equating user experience with Fitts’ measures such as movement time, throughput, and error count. To test the hypothesis that a user’s experience can be predicted using Fitts’ measures of movement time, throughput and error count, an ease of use rating using a 5-point scale for each input type was collected from each participant. The calculated Mean Opinion Scores (MOS) were regressed on Fitts’ measures of movement time, throughput, and error count to understand the extent to which they can predict a user’s subjective rating.
ContributorsBurno, Rachael A (Author) / Wu, Bing (Thesis advisor) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Committee member) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This research evaluates a cyber test-bed, DEXTAR (Defense Exercises for Team Awareness Research), and examines the relationship between good and bad team performance in increasingly difficult scenarios. Twenty-one computer science graduate students (seven three-person teams), with experience in cybersecurity, participated in a team-based cyber defense exercise in the context of DEXTAR, a high fidelity cybersecurity testbed. Performance measures were analyzed in addition to team process, team behavior, and workload to examine the relationship between good and bad teams. Lessons learned are reported that will inform the next generation of DEXTAR.
ContributorsBradbury, Aaron (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Roscoe, Rod (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
We experience spatial separation and temporal asynchrony between visual and
haptic information in many virtual-reality, augmented-reality, or teleoperation systems.
Three studies were conducted to examine the spatial and temporal characteristic of
multisensory integration. Participants interacted with virtual springs using both visual and
haptic senses, and their perception of stiffness and ability to differentiate stiffness were
measured. The results revealed that a constant visual delay increased the perceived stiffness,
while a variable visual delay made participants depend more on the haptic sensations in
stiffness perception. We also found that participants judged stiffness stiffer when they
interact with virtual springs at faster speeds, and interaction speed was positively correlated
with stiffness overestimation. In addition, it has been found that participants could learn an
association between visual and haptic inputs despite the fact that they were spatially
separated, resulting in the improvement of typing performance. These results show the
limitations of Maximum-Likelihood Estimation model, suggesting that a Bayesian
inference model should be used.
haptic information in many virtual-reality, augmented-reality, or teleoperation systems.
Three studies were conducted to examine the spatial and temporal characteristic of
multisensory integration. Participants interacted with virtual springs using both visual and
haptic senses, and their perception of stiffness and ability to differentiate stiffness were
measured. The results revealed that a constant visual delay increased the perceived stiffness,
while a variable visual delay made participants depend more on the haptic sensations in
stiffness perception. We also found that participants judged stiffness stiffer when they
interact with virtual springs at faster speeds, and interaction speed was positively correlated
with stiffness overestimation. In addition, it has been found that participants could learn an
association between visual and haptic inputs despite the fact that they were spatially
separated, resulting in the improvement of typing performance. These results show the
limitations of Maximum-Likelihood Estimation model, suggesting that a Bayesian
inference model should be used.
ContributorsSim, Sung Hun (Author) / Wu, Bing (Thesis advisor) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Committee member) / Gray, Robert (Committee member) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Interface design has a large impact on the usability of a system, and the addition of multitasking only makes these systems more difficult to use. Information processing, mental workload, and interface design are determining factors that impact the performance of usability, and therefore interface design needs to be more adapted to users undergoing a high mental workload. This study examines how a primary task, visual tracking, is affected by a secondary task, memory. Findings show that a high mental workload effects reaction time and memory performance on layouts with a high index of difficulty. Further research should analyze the effects of manipulating target size and distance apart independently from manipulating the index of difficulty on performance.
ContributorsSrikantha, Sainjeev (Author) / Gray, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Committee member) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The study at hand investigated the effects of guidance and type of occlusion on the prediction of shot direction during a soccer penalty kick. Seventy participants took an online survey where they had to guess the direction of a penalty kick from the perspective of a goalkeeper. Half the participants were placed in a group where they had access to tips on what to look for, while the other group had no tips provided. Participants were shown videos in which the penalty shooter had their upper body covered or their lower body covered. Participants had 30 seconds to decide what side the ball was going to, right or left. Results showed that there is no significant between the two groups in terms of judgment accuracy. The group that received no guidance and had the kicker's lower body covered was the group with the highest average score, 50.44%. The findings may help future studies that focus on what material is taught to goalkeepers in a classroom setting and the role of occlusion during free kicks outside the 18-yard box.
ContributorsCervantes, Ian (Author) / Gray, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Committee member) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019