在複雜的控制環境中，良好的人機介面設計可以增進運轉員作業的效率與維持系統的安全。然而，設計者在進行介面開發與設計時，通常會以程式執行的效率為主，忽略了提高程式效率時有可能導致使用者操作上的困擾，進而影響了系統的安全，因此控制系統的介面設計是必須持續地進行研究與改善。在核電廠中，運轉員主要的工作是透過VDU監控系統的狀態並維持運轉的穩定與安全，即使VDU的設計上已經遵循及符合相關設計規範，設計者與使用者之間仍然存在認知上的差距。因此，本研究目的主要是透過兩個實驗來評估主控制室中VDU的介面，第一個實驗應用生態式介面（Ecological interface design, EID）來針對龍門電廠中VDU介面進行改善，而第二個實驗則是以訊息理論（Information theory）來評估電腦化程序書的控制介面中，所呈現資訊量的多寡。
第一部分的實驗將EID應用於改善核電廠中，三個不同的介面呈現方式，企圖證明EID能夠讓運轉員在不同的操作環境之下，例如不同程度的自動化與緊急事故，可以維持良好的操作績效。本研究透過NASA-TLX與SART問卷來評估受試者在不同條件實驗下的工作負荷與情境知覺。另一方面，第二部分的實驗以電腦化程序書上不同的資訊呈現量來評估受試者在進行作業時的表現，實驗以操作時間與NASA-TLX作為評估受試者績效的指標，且透過記錄次作業績效來評估受試者心智容量的剩餘程度，作為評估受試者在不同資訊量下，作業績效的參考指標。
第一部分的實驗結果顯示，EID在不同的操作環境下，能顯著提升受試者的操作時間與資訊判斷的正確率，且沒有因為操作速度變快而影響到判斷的準確率。第二部分的實驗結果顯示，受試者在中等資訊量的電腦化程序書中，心智的剩餘量明顯優於低資訊量與高資訊量的電腦化程序書，而工作負荷也明顯低於兩者。而本研究更進一步探究在設計電腦化程序書時的最佳資訊量範圍，結果顯示在介面上出現5~8件個事件時，為最佳的資訊量範圍。
依據本研究提出之結果，除了可以作為核電廠系統改善的參考，也可以應用於其他具有高度複雜的控制系統的產業中，例如石油產業與化學化工產業等。另一方面也可以提供介面設計者作為參考，減少設計者與使用者在認知上的差異，提升系統操作的安全。

A well-designed human-computer interface for the visual display unit (VDU) in the control room of a complex environment can enhance operator efficiency and, thus, environmental safety. In fact, a cognitive gap often exists between an interface designer and an interface user. Therefore, the issue of the cognitive gap of interface design needs more improvement and investigation. The main tasks of the operators in the MCR are to constantly monitor the VDU and to ensure the system is stable and functioning normally. While the VDU interface may follow the design guidelines, a cognitive gap may still emerge between designers and users. Hence, the purpose of this research is to evaluate the VDU interface by two experiments. The ecological interface design (EID) framework was utilized in experiment 1 to improve the VDU interface of nuclear power plant (NPP). Experiment 2 is to examine operator performance while using computerized procedures from the perception of the different quantification of information.
Experiment 1 presents an application of ecological interface design (EID) into three different cases, demonstrating that EID based framework can support operators in any situations, such as different levels of automation (LOA) and emergency situation in a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Taiwan. A simulated feed-water system was developed to present two different interfaces styles. This study applied the NASA-TLX instrument to evaluate mental workload and also applied the situational awareness rating technique (SART) for assessing situation awareness. With regard to the experiment 2, simulated computer-based procedures (CBPs) were developed to present three information quantity styles. Operation time results were recorded to evaluate operator performance. A secondary task performance was incorporated to measure the redundancy of an operator faced with multiple tasks. NASA-TLX was also applied to evaluate the operators’ mental workload.
The results of experiment 1 suggest that EID-based interface has a remarkable advantage in supporting operator performance in terms of response time and accuracy rate under both normal and emergent situation. The results of experiment 2 suggested that medium information quantity of five to eight events has a remarkable advantage in supporting operator performance under both simple and complex task.
The results of this study could be a reference and might be applicable to other NPPs in Taiwan, or other complex control systems such as thermal power plant, chemical plants, oil refinery, and air traffic control to improve system reliability as well as life safety in Taiwan.

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