Consideration Of Usability Research Articles

The relationship between perceptions of electronic health record usability and clinical importance of social and environmental determinants of health on provider documentation.

Social and environmental determinants of health (SEDH) data in the electronic health record (EHR) can be inaccurate and incomplete. Providers are in a unique position to impact this issue as they both obtain and enter this data, however, the variability in screening and documentation practices currently limits the ability to mobilize SEDH data for secondary uses. This study explores whether providers' perceptions of clinical importance of SEDH or EHR usability influenced data entry by analyzing two relationships: (1) provider charting behavior and clinical consideration of SEDH and (2) provider charting behavior and ease of EHR use in charting. We performed a cross-sectional study using an 11-question electronic survey to assess self-reported practices related to clinical consideration of SEDH elements, EHR usability and SEDH documentation of all staff physicians, identified using administrative listserves, at Penn State Health Hershey Medical Center during September to October 2021. A total of 201 physicians responded to and completed the survey out of a possible 2,478 identified staff physicians (8.1% response rate). A five-point Likert scale from "never" to "always" assessed charting behavior and clinical consideration. Responses were dichotomized as consistent/inconsistent and vital/not vital respectively. EHR usability was assessed as "yes" or "no" responses. Fisher's exact tests assessed the relationship between charting behavior and clinical consideration and to compare charting practices between different SEDHs. Cumulative measures were constructed for consistent charting and ease of charting. A generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) compared SDH and EDH with respect to each cumulative measure and was quantified using odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Our results show that provider documentation frequency of an SEDH is associated with perceived clinical utility as well as ease of charting and that providers were more likely to consistently chart on SDH versus EDH. Nuances in these relationships did exist with one notable example comparing the results of smoking (SDH) to infectious disease outbreaks (EDH). Despite similar percentages of physicians reporting that both smoking and infectious disease outbreaks are vital to care, differences in charting consistency and ease of charting between these two were seen. Taken as a whole, our results suggest that SEDH quality optimization efforts cannot consider physician perceptions and EHR usability as siloed entities and that EHR design should not be the only target for intervention. The associations found in this study provide a starting point to understand the complexity in how clinical utility and EHR usability influence charting consistency of each SEDH element, however, further research is needed to understand how these relationships intersect at various levels in the SEDH data optimization process.

User-centered design in mobile human-robot cooperation: consideration of usability and situation awareness in GUI design for mobile robots at assembly workplaces

Abstract Mobile cobots can increase the potential for assembly work in industry. For human-friendly automation of cooperative assembly work, user-centered interfaces are necessary. The design process regarding user interfaces for mobile human-robot cooperation (HRC) shows large research gaps. In this article an exemplary approach is shown to design a graphical user interface (GUI) for mobile HRC at assembly workplaces. The design is based on a wireframe developed to support situation awareness. An interactive mockup is designed and evaluated. This is done in two iterations. In the first iteration, a user analysis is carried out using a quantitative survey with n = 31 participants to identify preferred input modalities and a qualitative survey with n = 11 participants that addresses touch interfaces. The interactive mockup is developed by implementing design recommendations of the usability standards ISO 9241 – 110, 112 and 13. A heuristic evaluation is conducted with n = 5 usability experts and the measurement of situation awareness with n = 30 end users. In the second iteration, findings from the preceding iteration are implemented in the GUI and a usability test with n = 20 end users is conducted. The process demonstrates a combination of methods that leads to high usability and situation awareness in mobile HRC.

Research Issues in the Generative Design of Cyber-Physical-Human Systems

Abstract Cyber-physical-human systems (CPHS) are smart products and systems that offer services to their customers, supported by back-end systems (e.g., information, finance) and other infrastructure. In this paper, initial concepts and research issues are presented regarding the generative design of CPHS and CPHS families. Significant research gaps are identified that should drive future research directions. The approach proposed here is a novel combination of generative and configuration design methods with product family design methodology and an explicit consideration of usability across all human stakeholders. The need for a new CPHS transdiscipline is identified. With the proposed approach, a wide variety of CPHS, including customized CPHS, can be developed quickly by sharing technologies and modules across CPHS family members, while ensuring user acceptance. The domain of assistive technology is used in this paper to provide an example field of practice that could benefit from a systematic design methodology and opportunities to leverage technology solutions.

Fabrication of practical deformable displays: advances and challenges

Display form factors such as size and shape have been conventionally determined in consideration of usability and portability. The recent trends requiring wearability and convergence of various smart devices demand innovations in display form factors to realize deformability and large screens. Expandable displays that are foldable, multi-foldable, slidable, or rollable have been commercialized or on the edge of product launches. Beyond such two-dimensional (2D) expansion of displays, efforts have been made to develop three dimensional (3D) free-form displays that can be stretched and crumpled for use in realistic tactile sensation, artificial skin for robots, and on-skin or implantable displays. This review article analyzes the current state of the 2D and 3D deformable displays and discusses the technological challenges to be achieved for industrial commercialization.

Exploring the importance of a usable and emotional product design from the user’s perspective

Usability and emotionality are important components of user experience. However, an equal consideration of both constructs in product design is not always possible due to sometimes competitive objectives. In order to foster a user-oriented design decision in such conflicting situations, this paper examines the general importance of both constructs and their dimensions from the user’s perspective while taking into account socio-demographic variables. Examination was realised by conducting a product independent anonymous online survey (n = 130). The findings confirm that both constructs are important, yet in a direct comparison, usability is perceived as more important than emotionality. Taking selected dimensions of both constructs into account, an intuitive, easy and learnable usage, suitability for the user's task and freedom from impairment are particularly important in terms of usability. An aesthetic and pleasurable product design as well as originality is essential in terms of emotionality. Practitioner summary: This paper aims for supporting user-oriented design decisions in the context of conflicting objectives occurring in the consideration of usability and emotionality in product design. The conducted survey (n = 130) revealed usability as perceived more important than emotionality. Usability may thus be prioritised within conflicting design decisions. Abbreviations: DFG: German Research Foundation; e.g.: for example; GESIS: Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences; m: metric; M: Mean; n: number of participants; n: nominal; o: ordinal; p level: level of statistical significance; RQ: Research question; r: correlation coefficient; V: Cramer’s V; χ2: Chi-square

A Systematic Mapping Study on Integration Proposals of the Personas Technique in Agile Methodologies.

Agile development processes are increasing their consideration of usability by integrating various user-centered design techniques throughout development. One such technique is Personas, which proposes the creation of fictitious users with real preferences to drive application design. Since applying this technique conflicts with the time constraints of agile development, Personas has been adapted over the years. Our objective is to determine the adoption level and type of integration, as well as to propose improvements to the Personas technique for agile development. A systematic mapping study was performed, retrieving 28 articles grouped by agile methodology type. We found some common integration strategies regardless of the specific agile approach, along with some frequent problems, mainly related to Persona modelling and context representation. Based on these limitations, we propose an adaptation to the technique in order to reduce the creation time for a preliminary persona. The number of publications dealing with Personas and agile development is increasing, which reveals a growing interest in the application of this technique to develop usable agile software.

Development and validation of a patient-report measure of safety climate for general practice.

Patients remain an under-utilized source of information on patient safety, as reflected by the dearth of patient-report measures of safety climate, particularly for use in general practice settings. Extant measures are marked by poor coverage of safety climate domains, inadequate psychometric properties and/or lack of consideration of usability. To develop a novel patient-report measure of safety climate specifically for completion by general practice patients, and to establish the validity, reliability and usability of this measure. An iterative process was used to develop the safety climate measure, with patient and general practitioner input. A cross-sectional design was employed to examine the validity (content, construct and convergent), reliability (internal consistency), and usability (readability and burden) of the measure. A total of 584 general practice patients completed the measure. The exploratory factor analysis identified five factors pertaining to safety climate in general practice: Feeling of Safety with GP; Practice Staff Efficiency and Teamwork; Staff Stress and Workload; Patient Knowledge and Accountability, and; Safety Systems and Behaviours. These factors strongly correlated with two global safety measures, demonstrating convergent validity. The measure showed strong internal consistency, and was considered usable for patients as indicated by readability and duration of completion. Our novel measure of safety climate for use in general practice demonstrates favourable markers of validity, reliability and usability. This measure will provide a mechanism for the patient voice to be heard in patient safety measurement, and to be used to improve patient safety in general practice.

Robust evaluation of superabsorbent polymers as an internal curing agent in cementitious composites

The internal curing of cementitious composites (CCs) has been a subject of supreme importance for the past few years. Although superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) have been utilized in several industries like sanitary, agriculture, and medical, their usability as an internal curing agent to counteract self-desiccation of CC is quite new. In consideration of ongoing demand and usability of SAP, this review article comprehensively discusses the properties and performance of SAP in internally cured CC such as cement paste, mortar, and concrete. The properties of SAP documented include absorption, swelling, and desorption. In addition, the effect of SAP on shrinkage (chemical, plastic, autogenous and drying), rheological (workability, slump, and viscosity), mechanical (compressive, tensile, and flexural strength), and durability (permeability and frost resistance) properties has been extensively discussed. Furthermore, after an in-depth analysis of the mentioned topics, this article gives critical note toward the effective use of SAP in CC.

Wearable Robot Arm with Consideration of Weight Reduction and Practicality

In this paper, we propose a wearable robot arm with consideration of weight and usability. Based on the features of existing wearable robot arms, we focused on the issues of weight and usability. The behavior of human hands during physical work can be divided into two phases. In the first, the shoulder and the elbow joints move before commencing the task by using the hands. In the second, the wrist joints move during the actual work. We found that these features can be applied to wearable robot arms. Consequently, we proposed hybrid actuation system (HAS) with a combination of two types of joints. In this study, HAS is implemented into the prototype wearable robot arm, assist oriented arm (AOA). To verify the validity of the proposed system, we implemented three types of robot arms (PasAct, Act, 6DOF) using simulation to compare the weight, working efficiency, and usability. Furthermore, we compared these simulation models with AOA for evaluation.

Applying Heuristics Evaluation to Improve the Usability of Malaysia Accounting Training Management System

The website is a connection of communication between the organization and their customers. By using web applications customers can obtain information and deal with the organization. The user interface and the interface design of web-based application affect the interest and attention of the customers. The consideration of web navigation, web usability and web accessibility are compulsory to make a website was designed in a user-friendly format. This study aimed to evaluate system based on issues of interface design with focusing on human-computer interaction and user interface design which are error human handling and accessibility. The questionnaire based on questions from the User Interface Usability Evaluation (User Interface Usability Evaluation) was conducted to obtain feedback on the system developed. The findings and results of the questionnaire was used to assess whether the training management system design interface both in terms of handling and ease of access error information (error information handling and accessibility).

Developers’ Behavioral Characteristic and Its Impact On Performance: A Case Study Of Iot Development Product Design

The IoT industry is facing a significant demand to provide more efficient paths for developer communities. At the same time, products are often developed without consideration of usability or are limited to general usability heuristics. Moreover, there is not much research on developers’ behavioral characteristics and its impact on human performance. This paper attempts to show how understanding their skill-, rule-, and knowledge-based behaviors can benefit developer experience and performance efficiency. This study references recent developer products to highlight 1) characteristics of developer behavior and 2) key system design considerations that help improve developer performance. We also discuss gaps identified in industry practices and the opportunities towards more consideration of the cognitive aspects in developer product design processes.

WSRender: A Workspace Analysis and Visualization Toolbox for Robotic Manipulator Design and Verification

Workspace analysis is essential for robotic manipulators, which helps researchers study, evaluate, and optimize their designs based on specific criteria with due consideration of ergonomics and usability. Although workspace analysis is a common research topic, current solutions provide design-specific evaluation, and there is a lack of generic software tools for different hardware configurations. This letter presents WSRender, a versatile research-oriented framework for workspace analysis and visualization. It is based on the Orocos Kinematics and Dynamics Library and the Matlab Robotic Toolbox. The software architecture is presented using four use cases for demonstrating its practical use in single robot, dual-arm manipulator performance evaluation, multi-robot interaction analysis, and master–slave mapping. The source code of WSRender 1 is made publicly available for the benefit of the research community for the design or evaluation of robotic manipulators.

2G3-3 Consideration of usability of interactive system with diverse functions

2G3-3 Consideration of usability of interactive system with diverse functions

Adoption of usability in condition questionnaire development

Purpose This study was conducted to investigate the appropriateness of the concept of condition for athletes and to conceptualize condition in a way suitable for field and then to produce a tool to test condition that reflects usability. Methods 30 college athletes and national athletes with more than 5 years of experience were selected. In the conceptual review stage, the appropriateness of the concept of condition was verified. In the conditional element collection stage, the condition concept reflecting usability was extracted. In the development stage of the conditional questionnaire, a condition questionnaire was developed in consultation with the data provider to reflect usability. Results Previous studies on the condition of athletes were complicated and the necessity for consideration of usability was raised. As a result of conceptualization with consideration of the application to the sport scene, condition in a scene is summarized into both physical and psychological states. As a result of the appropriateness evaluation of the tool that produced the condition inspection tool reflecting the condition element based on universality and peculiarity of conditionality, the athletes evaluated that the condition inspection tool properly reflects condition, is easy to apply and can be used for condition control. Conclusion The development and application of psychological testing instruments reflecting usability will accelerate the application of sports psychology in the appropriate direction. The reflection of usability will contribute not only to the reliability and validity of the psychological testing tools used in the field of sports psychology, but also to the improvement of the possibility of intervention by leaders and athletes, the convenience of development procedures, and the utility of response results.

How do health service professionals consider human factors when purchasing interactive medical devices? A qualitative interview study

We present findings of a UK study into how those involved in purchasing interactive medical devices go about evaluating usability, the challenges that arise, and opportunities for improvement. The study focused on procurement of infusion devices because these are used by various professionals across healthcare. A semi-structured interview study was carried out involving a range of stakeholders (20 in total) involved in or impacted by medical device procurement. Data was analysed using thematic analysis, a qualitative method designed to support the identification, analysis and reporting of patterns. In principle, health service purchasing was found to accommodate consideration of equipment usability. In practice, the evaluation process was driven primarily by engineering standards; assessment of local needs did not accommodate substantive assessment of usability; and choice was limited by the availability of equipment on the marketplace. We discuss ways in which purchasing could be improved through techniques that account for social circumstances.

Usable Security – Results from a Field Study

Abstract Security has evolved into an essential quality factor of software systems. However, security features in software applications are often time-consuming, error-prone and too complicated for common users. This is mainly due to a limited consideration and integration of usability. As a consequence, users either circumvent security features or do not utilize them at all. Usable security is an advanced quality topic and an important research area of software systems. This area combines usability and security with the objective of making the use of security features in software effective, efficient and satisfying. In order to meet this challenge, the research project USecureD aims at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in facilitating the selection and incorporation of usable security by developing, evaluating and collecting principles, guidelines, patterns and tools for merging usability and security engineering. During the initiation phase of the USecureD project, an online study (N = 118) in conjunction with 10 interviews and 2 workshops have been conducted in order to identify the relevance and requirements of usability, security and usable security with a specific focus on SMEs. The obtained results are presented and derived implications are discussed in this paper.

Small Scale Map Projection and Coordinate System Improvement in Consideration of Usability and Compatibility

Small-scale maps currently used are made by scanning and editing printed maps and its shortcoming is accumulated errors at the time of editing and low accuracy. TM projection method is used but its accuracy varies. In addition, small-scale maps are made without consideration of usability and compatibility with other scale maps. Therefore, it is necessary to suggest projection and coordinates system improvement methods in consideration of usability and compatibility between data. The results of this study reveal that in order to make the optimum small-scale map, projection that fits the purpose of map usage in each scale, coordinate system and neat line composition should be selected in consideration of interrelation and compatibility with other maps. Conic projection should be used to accurately illustrate the entire country, but considering usability and compatibility with other maps, traversing cylindrical projection should be used instead of conic projection. For coordinates system of the small-scale map, Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM-K) based on the World Geodetic System should be used instead of conventional longitude and latitude coordinate system or Transverse Mercator.

Study on the Environment Information Providing Method based on Spatial Information Document

The purpose of this study is to present a method to provide environment information based on spatial information document. At present, a lot of spatial information, including environment information, is being produced, but separate software or system is required for the user to acquire the information. In particular, in the case of environment information, various types of information are being produced, such as ecology, vegetation and measurement network data. Therefore, it is necessary to present the form and the making method of spatial information document that allows using environment information as spatial information without separate software or system. To provide spatial information document-based environment information, types and forms of environment information, data format and offering methods produced by the government, in particular, the Ministry of Environment and the local governments, are analyzed. 12 fields are classified and the form of produced data is GIS DB, measurement network data, text data and so on. With decrease of paper maps, spatial information document that offers display by layer, coordinate data, attribute data, distance and area measurement, location search by coordinates, GPS location linkage and location display on the map is presented to increase utilization of geo-environment information maps. Finally, the standard document specification based on spatial information document is presented in consideration of usability and readability in order to provide a variety of environment information without separate software or system.

907 Research and development of the city commuter with the ICT function in consideration of usability

907 Research and development of the city commuter with the ICT function in consideration of usability

IPhysioMeter: a smartphone photoplethysmograph for measuring various physiological indices.

iPhysioMeter is a new smartphone application ("App") for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch that allows photoplethysmography (PPG) to be implemented without the need for any additional devices. The resulting signal, the photoplethysmogram, allows the calculation of basic but valuable and frequently used physiological indices such as heart rate (HR) and pulse volume (PV). The design of iPhysioMeter has very much been influenced by a consideration of usability, as is immediately evident from ones first experience with it. However, its apparent simplicity in use should not disguise the need for correct operation, which otherwise might lead to collection of invalid or inaccurate data. There are several unexpected pitfalls that might not only produce inaccurate values, but, under some circumstances, could also damage the device or present a hazard to the user or subject. We therefore describe here, firstly, the core technology that makes it possible to perform PPG and to calculate HR and normalized PV (NPV) from the photoplethysmogram using only a smartphone, secondly, the correct and optimum methods and procedures for using iPhysioMeter that will help to ensure safety and the derivation of valid data under real operational conditions. We hope that these descriptions will help facilitate any activities related to physiological measurement when using only a smartphone.