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The human-computer interface (HCI) -- the point at which a human and computer (or other intelligent device) meet -- can be rife with misunderstandings. Computer jargon, even when written in English, can seem to be a foreign language. A human user, on typing a query, may not understand the computer response "error 404", which loosely translated means users cannot find what you are looking for. For the computer, a key stroke, mouse click, screen tap, or voice command from the human may suffice. Increasingly, natural user interfaces that respond to human gestures and speech may eventually replace the currently standard graphical user interface, which revolutionized human-computer usability by allowing a user to interact with the computer via images such as pointers, icons, and folders, instead of command line text. Human factors engineering, a highly interdisciplinary and systems science, has contributed greatly to our understanding of how humans not only interact with machines in general but with computers and embedded devices in particular.