Computer simulation as a method of tactics training has recently piqued the interest of law enforcement communities. This paper describes an experiment designed to evaluate the relative effectiveness of three input devices (keyboard + mouse combination, joystick, and gamepad) as control mechanisms for a desktop computer-based first person shooter program currently in use at several U.S. law enforcement training agencies. Participants completed three abbreviated tasks representative of the three most fundamental skills necessary to successfully navigate real scenarios within the program. Differences were found in task completion times and participants' subjective preferences between the three devices that indicate the inherent suitability of the keyboard + mouse combination as the device of choice for this type of simulation.

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The Intelligent MCM Analyser (IMCMA) is a software tool which allows the designer to concurrently assess the reliability of an MCM design based on operational parameters. Traditionally, this type of assessment takes days to accomplish and is performed after the design phase. The Intelligent MCM Analyser does not require the designer to be a thermal/reliability expert and gives an assessment in minutes depending on the complexity of the design and the speed of the computer. IMCMA assists and designer in achieving a robust design which will improve both quality and reliability. The software uses object‐oriented data representation, a blackboard architecture and heuristic expertise to perform lower level reasoning associated with finite element thermal analysis techniques that are normally very tedious and labour intensive. A test case is presented comparing results from IMCMA with the results from a general purpose finite element code. The ultimate pay‐off will be the manufacturer's ability to build higher quality, higher reliability MCMs at a lower cost.

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