Basic User Research Articles

CEFR-based Front-desk Staff’s English Skills: A Case in Indonesian Hotels

This article analyses the English skills of front-desk staff on the accommodation business, particularly Listening, Spoken Interaction and Spoken Production skills. It is based on a qualitative descriptive research conducted in a medium-sized city in Central Java, Indonesia. The data are collected using self-assessment based on CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) Can-do statements, and crossed-checked in interviews and focus-group discussions. The research found diverse levels of Listening, Spoken Interaction and Spoken Production skills of front-desk staff, mostly A2 (Waystage Basic User), B1 (Threshold Independent User), and C2 (Mastery Proficient User). Besides, the results show that respondents are split in terms of consistency in perceiving their listening and spoken skills. It is also found that both hotel guests and front-desk staff use mobile translating applications to assist spoken communication, encouraging further studies to explore the role of mobile translating application in promoting the success of communication in accommodation business.

An Opinion Survey on User Interface Design of Web Learning System

The aim of this research paper is to study the user interface design of web learning system. This paper also analyzes the opinion of the users to improve the current web learning system. There are many web learning portals are available to the learners with and without pay and learn option. But the user interface design of the web learning system has no specific standards. There are many possibilities to improve the current system. User generated content is a new area to explore and study. The users of the system can give an opinion and also able to modify some design aspects according to their preferences and likes. In this research paper, we have studied two different web learning systems and its design aspects. Cognitive aspects and the flexibility of the design plays a very important role in learning. Cloud sharing and downloading time play a very vital role in learners’ preferences. Many free course learners withdraw learning modules due to the pure connectivity from the cloud learning environment. Web design principles, color principles, basic design principles and user interface design considerations should be studied and applied to create a well-constructed user-friendly environment.User generated and user participated design plays a very important role in the effectiveness of learning.

The use of e-commerce in the promotion and sale of hand made products

The use of e-commerce in the promotion and sale of hand made products On one hand, virtually regardless of the industry, with the development of e-commerce today traders are becoming better opportunity to present as well as sell their products. On the other hand, steadily increases a group of people who more often and more willingly decide to buy custom and unique products, which are being mostly made by hand by small companies or by individuals. It should not surprise anyone, that the market of hand made products offered via the Internet is growing at a rapid pace. For this reason, the article presents and systematizes basic usability of e-commerce by the makers of hand made products.

Minimal implications base for social network analysis

PurposeCurrently, social network (SN) analysis is focused on the discovery of activity and social relationship patterns. Usually, these relationships are not easily and completely observed. Therefore, it is relevant to discover substructures and potential behavior patterns in SN. Recently, formal concept analysis (FCA) has been applied for this purpose. FCA is a concept analysis theory that identifies concept structures within a data set. The representation of SN patterns through implication rules based on FCA enables the identification of relevant substructures that cannot be easily identified. The authors’ approach considers a minimum and irreducible set of implication rules (stem base) to represent the complete set of data (activity in the network). Applying this to an SN is of interest because it can represent all the relationships using a reduced form. So, the purpose of this paper is to represent social networks through the steam base.Design/methodology/approachThe authors’ approach permits to analyze two-mode networks by transforming access activities of SN into a formal context. From this context, it can be extracted to a minimal set of implications applying the NextClosure algorithm, which is based on the closed sets theory that provides to extract a complete, minimal and non-redundant set of implications. Based on the minimal set, the authors analyzed the relationships between premises and their respective conclusions to find basic user behaviors.FindingsThe experiments pointed out that implications, represented as a complex network, enable the identification and visualization of minimal substructures, which could not be found in two-mode network representation. The results also indicated that relations among premises and conclusions represent navigation behavior of SN functionalities. This approach enables to analyze the following behaviors: conservative, transitive, main functionalities and access time. The results also demonstrated that the relations between premises and conclusions represented the navigation behavior based on the functionalities of SN. The authors applied their approach for an SN for a relationship to explore the minimal access patterns of navigation.Originality/valueThe authors present an FCA-based approach to obtain the minimal set of implications capable of representing the minimum structure of the users’ behavior in an SN. The paper defines and analyzes three types of rules that form the sets of implications. These types of rules define substructures of the network, the capacity of generation users’ behaviors, transitive behavior and conservative capacity when the temporal aspect is considered.

An Analysis on the Standard of Language Competence between 2015 Revised English Curriculum and CEFR Basic User Level

An Analysis on the Standard of Language Competence between 2015 Revised English Curriculum and CEFR Basic User Level

Persepsi Kualitas dan Performa Sistem Aplikasi Akuntansi MYOB pada Pengguna Level Dasar

The purpose of this study want to examine the effect of System Quality on Service Quality, System Quality to Work Performance, and Service Quality to Work Performance. The object in this research is MYOB accounting software. The data gathered from questionnaires in 2 types, physicals (paper) and online (using Google form). From 315 questionnaires distributed consisted of 194 respondents through online, and 116 respondents through the paper form. All the questionnaires are returned. The obtained data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The result of data analysis showed that the System Quality has positive significant effect on the Service Quality, Service Quality has positive significant effect on Work Performance, and System Quality has positive significant effect on Work Performance. The overall result indicates that MYOB has a good quality and related to user performance. Specifically, the user refers to the basic user, which is a university student.

A Recommendation System for Shared-Use Mobility Service through Data Extracted from Online Social Networks

In recent years, the shared mobility service has increased in many countries across the world because its low cost and several shared-use mobility applications on mobile devices. Commonly, if a ride is shared between people with similar preferences, users likely feel both more comfortable and safer. In this context, the main goal of this article is to classify users with similar preferences, in automatic manner, to improve user’s quality of experience in ridesharing service. To obtain initial data, subjective tests are carried out using questionnaires and their results are used to determine ridesharing profiles. Then, some basic user profile information is extracted from Online Social Networks (OSN) to determine an user profile based on preferences in ridesharing service. The user profile classification is performed through different machine learning algorithms, which use as input the data extracted from OSN. Two case studies of shared-mobility are treated, (i) sharing a ride with a passenger with a similar hobby [2], and (ii) sharing a ride with people that support an opposite football teams. In this work, a novel contribution is the use of Hybrid Discriminative Restricted Boltzmann Machines (HDRBM) technique for classification, which results overcomes other algorithms, such as Random Forest, SVM and DRBM. The experimental results presented a correctly classified instance of 96:9% and 97:3% for the cases of sharing a ride with people with similar hobby and support different football team, respectively. Finally, a Recommendation System (RS) is proposed, which efficiency is compared with a basic RS, obtaining a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0:97 and 0:79, respectively.

Development of Survey to Inquire Learners’ Awareness of Language Competence Based on CEFR Basic User Level

Development of Survey to Inquire Learners’ Awareness of Language Competence Based on CEFR Basic User Level

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES AND PROFICIENCY LEVEL OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITAS NEGERI MAKASSAR (UNM)

Abstract This research was conducted to: (1) identify the frequently language learning strategies used by English department students in UNM, (2) identify proficiency level of English department students in UNM based on TOEFL score, (3) investigate the correlation between language learning strategies and proficiency level of English department students in UNM. The research applied correlational research. The sample of this research was the fourth semester students in academic year 2013/2014. They were from three majors of study program at English department in UNM. Those were English education, English literature and business EnglishThe data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistic through SPSS 21.0 version. The research result showed that (1) metacognitive and social strategies were the most frequently language learning strategies used by the English department students in UNM. This was proven by mean score 3.75 and 3.65 respectively. It was classified as high category of usage, range from 3.5-5.0 score, (2) based on TOEFL score, the proficiency level achieved by the English department students was classified into waystage level (basic user). It was showed by mean score 445.81, range from score interval 337-459, and (3) there was correlation between language learning strategies and proficiency level based on TOEFL score with F = 2.288. It showed that the value of F count = 2.288was greater than F table = 2.23 (F count > F table ), or p= 0.045 was lower than α= 0.05 (p Ftabel), atau p = 0,045 lebih rendah dari α = 0,05 (p <α). Oleh karena itu, hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa strategi pembelajaran bahasa siswa jurusan bahasa Inggris memiliki korelasi dengan tingkat kemahiran.

The CEFR Rating Scale Functioning: An Empirical Study on Self- and Peer Assessments

One of the criticisms on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) rating scales pertains to the lack of reference to the performance of learners in the construction process of the scales. Therefore, this study attempted to delve into rating scale functioning by English as a Second Language (ESL) learners during self-assessment and peer assessment of their oral proficiency practice. Two objectives guided the study: 1) to gauge the overall rating scale functioning and 2) to measure each criterion scaling structure. Three self- and peer assessments’ cycles were conducted in three months. In each cycle, eleven learners recorded their own speech, uploaded their video clips to a private YouTube channel and assessed their own videos as well as selected peers based on five CEFR oral assessment criteria with six levels of ratings (A1-C2). Findings revealed that four of the CEFR levels were utilised (B1-C2). Categories A1 and A2 (basic user level) however, were not observed during the practice. Analysis from the Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (MFRM) indicated that utilised categories seemed to function usefully since each category observed was advancing by more than 1.4 logits. Category B2 dominated four criteria of ratings awarded while B1 dominated the rating distribution for fluency. The implications of this study will be discussed in relation to rating scale development, specifically on matching learners’ proficiency to the psychometrically developed rating criteria as well as illustrating assessment as learning approach in the ESL classroom where learners become the key assessors for their own performance.

Written Instructions vs. Audiology Service for PSAP Use

Written Instructions vs. Audiology Service for PSAP Use

Evaluating the Internal and External Usability Attributes of E-Learning Websites in Saudi Arabia

Web usability is important for users who depend on the websites they use, such as online distance education students. Accordingly, universities and educational websites need to determine the types of usability problems that occur on their websites. However, far too little attention has been paid to providing detailed information regarding the types of specific usability problems that occur on e-learning websites in general and on those in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in particular. The aim of this paper was to study and analyse the internal and external usability attributes of university websites that offer distance education courses in Saudi Arabia. Twelve universities in Saudi Arabia were considered — 11 government-affiliated universities and one private university. The analysis of the data indicates the level of usability of distance education websites. Results reveal that in Saudi Arabia, distance education websites are reliable but violate basic usability guidelines. Furthermore, Saudi e-learning websites need to focus on the utility of their home page search engines, provide more advanced search functionality, and provide sitemaps linked to every page on the websites.

Assessment of Common and Emerging Bioinformatics Pipelines for Targeted Metagenomics.

Targeted metagenomics, also known as metagenetics, is a high-throughput sequencing application focusing on a nucleotide target in a microbiome to describe its taxonomic content. A wide range of bioinformatics pipelines are available to analyze sequencing outputs, and the choice of an appropriate tool is crucial and not trivial. No standard evaluation method exists for estimating the accuracy of a pipeline for targeted metagenomics analyses. This article proposes an evaluation protocol containing real and simulated targeted metagenomics datasets, and adequate metrics allowing us to study the impact of different variables on the biological interpretation of results. This protocol was used to compare six different bioinformatics pipelines in the basic user context: Three common ones (mothur, QIIME and BMP) based on a clustering-first approach and three emerging ones (Kraken, CLARK and One Codex) using an assignment-first approach. This study surprisingly reveals that the effect of sequencing errors has a bigger impact on the results that choosing different amplified regions. Moreover, increasing sequencing throughput increases richness overestimation, even more so for microbiota of high complexity. Finally, the choice of the reference database has a bigger impact on richness estimation for clustering-first pipelines, and on correct taxa identification for assignment-first pipelines. Using emerging assignment-first pipelines is a valid approach for targeted metagenomics analyses, with a quality of results comparable to popular clustering-first pipelines, even with an error-prone sequencing technology like Ion Torrent. However, those pipelines are highly sensitive to the quality of databases and their annotations, which makes clustering-first pipelines still the only reliable approach for studying microbiomes that are not well described.

Readiness and utilization of computer-assisted learning among dental students and faculty

Introduction: An assessment of computer literacy and readiness is required for successful implementation of a structured computer-assisted learning (CAL). The present study was aimed to assess and compare computer literacy, attitude toward implementation of a structured CAL, and the current level of use of computer/laptop for academic purposes by students and faculty. In addition, the difference in attitude toward structured CAL and the current level of use of computer/laptop, based on computer literacy were evaluated. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study 316 undergraduate students and 57 faculties of a dental school in India. Computer literacy, the current level of use, and attitudes toward a structured CAL were assessed using a questionnaire. Participants were divided into basic user, intermediate user, and advanced user based on computer literacy. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test. Results: Most of the students and faculty were intermediate users. Faculty used the internet for academic purposes at a significantly higher frequency and accessed a wide variety of internet sites and material as compared to students. Most of the students and faculty favored introducing a structured CAL. The favorable attitude toward structured CAL and the better utilization of laptops for academic purposes were associated with the level of computer literacy among students. Conclusions: Both faculty and students favor the use of structured CAL. Higher computer literacy results in more use and favorable attitude toward structured CAL among students. Further training of faculty and students is needed to improve the readiness and utilization of CAL.

Introducing the Pedestrian Accessibility Tool: Walkability Analysis for a Geographic Information System

The indexes for walkability proposed so far refer generally to the closest amenities and public transport stops and the existing network structure. The weights of the attributes do not reflect the independently measured preferences of the users and residents. Design attributes such as the location and type of crossings and walkway design features are usually surveyed in walkability audits. However, such attributes are usually not considered when pedestrian walksheds or other accessibility-based walkability indexes are calculated. Nevertheless, these design attributes are very relevant for actual planning decisions. The proposed walkability index can be behaviorally calibrated, has been implemented as a geographic information system tool, and is published as open source software. The pedestrian accessibility tool allows the evaluation of existing and future urban plans with regards to walkability. The tool calculates Hansen-based accessibility indicators with the use of a customizable specification of the generalized walking costs, and it incorporates user-defined weights of destination attractiveness. The basic user workflow of the tool is summarized. Three case studies show real-world applications of the tool to support the planning of pedestrian infrastructure in an urban context. With indications of potential areas of improvement that have been reported by pilot users working in an urban planning department, hints are also given for future research.

Enhanced uplink multi-users scheduling for future 802.11ax networks: wait-to-pick-as-available enhanced

One of the key enablers of the upcoming IEEE 802.11ax standard is the inclusion of uplink multi-users (UL MU) transmission model, which is performed using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and beamforming techniques. So far, UL MU-MIMO has not been standardized in any of IEEE 802.11 amendments, because of technical issues facing its definition. One of these significant issues is the scheduling of UL MU-MIMO transmissions, which refers to selection rules and resource allocation procedures performed before simultaneous data transmissions. Indeed, simultaneous transmitters and receiver should exchange some information to correctly transmit the parallel data frames. However, this information exchange adds overheads, leading to reduce network performance. In this regard, we have proposed, in a previous work, a novel 802.11ax medium access control protocol aiming at reducing elapsed time in managing the establishment of an UL -MU communication called Wait-to-Pick-As-Available (W2PAA). Our contribution in this paper is twofold. First, we introduce an analytical model based on semi-Markov Chains to evaluate the performance of W2PAA; taking into a detailed behavior of the backoff counter (i.e. freezing period). Second, we propose an enhanced version of W2PAA aiming at improving both system and user-oriented performances. Aiming at validating the analytical model and comparing the performance of both versions of W2PAA, we used computer simulation. Obtained results, validate the analytical model in one hand, and clearly indicated the gain of both W2PAA versions by report to the basic UL-Single User on the other hand. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The usability attributes and evaluation measurements of mobile media AR (augmented reality)

AbstractThis research aims to develop a tool for creating user-based design interfaces in mobile augmented reality (MAR) education. To develop a design interface evaluation tool, previous literature was examined for key design elements in the educational usage of MAR. The evaluation criteria identified were presence, affordance, and usability. The research used a focus group interview with 7 AR experts to develop a basic usability evaluation checklist, which was submitted to factor analysis for reliability by 122 experts in practice and academia. Based on this checklist, a MAR usability design interface test was conducted with seven fourth-grade elementary students. Then, it conducted follow-up structured interviews and questionnaires. This resulted in 29 questions being developed for the MAR interface design checklist.

LAND-SE: a software for statistically based landslide susceptibility zonation, version 1.0

Abstract. Landslide susceptibility (LS) assessment provides a relative estimate of landslide spatial occurrence based on local terrain conditions. A literature review revealed that LS evaluation has been performed in many study areas worldwide using different methods, model types, different partition of the territory (mapping units) and a large variety of geo-environmental data. Among the different methods, statistical models have been largely used to evaluate LS, but the minority of articles presents a complete and comprehensive LS assessment that includes model performance analysis, prediction skills evaluation, and estimation of the errors and uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to describe LAND-SE (LANDslide Susceptibility Evaluation) software that performs susceptibility modelling and zonation using statistical models, quantifies the model performances, and the associated uncertainty. The software is implemented in R, a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. This provides users with the possibility to implement and improve the code with additional models, evaluation tools, or output types. The paper describes the software structure, explains input and output, and illustrates specific applications with maps and graphs. The LAND-SE script is delivered with a basic user guide and three example data sets.

A Sight for Sore Eyes: The Return of True Color to Geostationary Satellites

Abstract In 1967, at the dawn of the satellite era, the Applications Technology Satellite 3 (ATS-3) provided the first full-disk “true color” images of Earth. With its depiction of blue oceans, golden deserts, and green forestlands beneath white clouds, the imagery captured the iconic Blue Marble in a way that resonates strongly with human perception. After ATS-3, the standard fare of geostationary satellites entailed a single visible band with additional infrared spectral channels. While single-band visible satisfied the basic user requirements of daytime imagery, the loss of true-color capability and its inherent capability to distinguish myriad atmospheric and surface features via coloration left a notable void. Nearly half a century later, with the launch of Japan’s Himawari-8 in October 2014, there is once again a geostationary sensor—the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI)—containing the multispectral visible bands required notionally for true color. However, it soon became apparent that AHI’s “green” band, centered at 0.51 μm, was not aligned with the chlorophyll reflectance signature near 0.55 μm. As a result, vegetation appears browner and deserts appear redder than legacy true-color imagery. Here, we describe a technique that attempts to mitigate these issues by blending information from a ref lective-infrared band at 0.86 μm to form a “hybrid” green band. When combining this method with Rayleigh corrections, AHI’s true-color performance is found to be consistent with that of the optimal 0.55-μm band, offering a stopgap solution adaptable to future satellites of similar design.

Focus on test, measurement, and analytical equipment

Focus on test, measurement, and analytical equipment