Usability Attributes Research Articles

Hot press machine user interface design based on usability evaluation

The success of a tool depends on user satisfaction, and users will feel satisfied if they can do their work effectively and efficiently. The Hotpress machine has been developed for the 3rd generation and is currently a tool for processing plastic waste into a substitute for plywood. This research aims to evaluate the usability level of the Hotpress G3 machine and design a user interface based on the evaluation results to make it easier for users to operate the machine. The Nielsen Attributes of Usability (NAU) Questionnaire is used to evaluate a machine's usability level, and Retrospective Think Aloud (RTA) is used to identify problems in user interaction with a product or system. The results obtained from this research are that based on the five attributes used, the Hotpress G3 machine has a low rating in four usability aspects based on the Nielsen model. Based on the results of the usability evaluation, a recommended user interface was designed, namely adding information to each control button according to its function, adding a sensor to determine whether the heating switch is on or not and providing information about the maximum temperature by adding an alarm to the engine box.

Predicting the usability of mobile applications using AI tools: the rise of large user interface models, opportunities, and challenges

This article proposes the so-called large user interface models (LUIMs) to enable the generation of user interfaces and prediction of usability using artificial intelligence in the context of mobile applications. To this end, we synergized an integrated framework for the effective testing of the usability of mobile applications following a selective review of the most influential models of mobile usability testing. Next, we identified and analysed 13 recent AI tools that generate user interfaces for mobile apps, and systematically tested these tools to identify their AI capabilities. Our striking findings demonstrate that current generative UI tools fail to address mobile usability attributes, such as efficiency, learnability, effectiveness, satisfaction, and memorability. Our large UI models’ architecture proposes to leverage the capabilities of large language models, large vision models, and large code models to overcome the challenges of AI-driven UI/UX design and front-end implementations. This fascinating UI eco-system must be augmented with sufficient UI data and multi-sensory input regarding user behaviour to train the models. We anticipate LUIMs to create ample opportunities, like expedited frontend software development, enhanced personalised user experience, and wider accessibility of smart technologies. However, the research challenges hindering the UI generation and usability prediction of mobile apps include the seamless integration of complex generative AI models, semantic understanding of non-uniform visual designs, scarcity of UX datasets, and modelling of realistic user interactions.

Evaluation of Physicochemical and Usable Properties of Hair Shampoos Containing Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Strawberry Seed Extract

Evaluation of Physicochemical and Usable Properties of Hair Shampoos Containing Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Strawberry Seed Extract

Development of an Assessment Scale for Measurement of Usability and User Experience Characteristics of Bing Chat Conversational AI

After the introduction of the ChatGPT conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) tool in November 2022, there has been a rapidly growing interest in the use of such tools in higher education. While the educational uses of some other information technology (IT) tools (including collaboration and communication tools, learning management systems, chatbots, and videoconferencing tools) have been frequently evaluated regarding technology acceptance and usability attributes of those technologies, similar evaluations of CAI tools and services like ChatGPT, Bing Chat, and Bard have only recently started to appear in the scholarly literature. In our study, we present a newly developed set of assessment scales that are related to the usability and user experiences of CAI tools when used by university students, as well as the results of evaluation of these assessment scales specifically regarding the CAI Bing Chat tool (i.e., Microsoft Copilot). The following scales were developed and evaluated using a convenience sample (N = 126) of higher education students: Perceived Usefulness, General Usability, Learnability, System Reliability, Visual Design and Navigation, Information Quality, Information Display, Cognitive Involvement, Design Appeal, Trust, Personification, Risk Perception, and Intention to Use. For most of the aforementioned scales, internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) was in the range from satisfactory to good, which implies their potential usefulness for further studies of related attributes of CAI tools. A stepwise linear regression revealed that the most influential predictors of Intention to Use Bing Chat (or ChatGPT) in the future were the usability variable Perceived Usefulness and two user experience variables—Trust and Design Appeal. Also, our study revealed that students’ perceptions of various specific usability and user experience characteristics of Bing Chat were predominantly positive. The evaluated assessment scales could be beneficial in further research that would include other CAI tools like ChatGPT/GPT-4 and Bard.

The impact of socioeconomic variables on financial inclusion in Asian countries: A comparative study, 2010–2022

The financial inclusion program in Asia has begun to be carried out intensively, focusing on increasing public access, especially for people who have yet to enjoy banking services. This makes financial inclusion one of the development focuses in the financial sector in various countries, especially in the Asian region. This study compares the financial inclusion level and socioeconomic variables’ influence on financial inclusion in Asian countries in 2010–2022. To compare the level of financial inclusion in several Asian countries, the Index of Financial Inclusion (IFI) analysis method was used, while to examine the relationship between socioeconomic variables on financial inclusion, the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method was used with an estimation technique, in the Fixed Effects Model approach. The results of this study indicate that, in general, financial inclusion in several Asian countries is mainly influenced by the usability dimension. In addition, only the variable GDP per capita is partially influential. While other variables, namely, the unemployment rate and population in rural areas, significantly influence the financial inclusion index.

Investigation of students’ intent to use the online learning platform with usability dimensions

When we look at today’s technological developments, we see that the concepts of education and training experience diversity in parallel with Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Thanks to developments in technology, an increasing number of people are able to access more information day by day. The use of the Internet and the educational environments to which it is connected is increasing rapidly in Türkiye as well as around the world. With the integration of technology in education, the aim is to acquire the best and highest quality efficiency from education by striving to remain current and by being open to change, innovation, and development at all times. In this context, within the scope of the ‘FATİH (Movement to Increase Opportunities and Improve Technology) Project’ developed in 2010, to increase the quality and efficiency of education through the integration of technology, a digital education platform, the EBA (Educational Information Network), was established by the Ministry of National Education to communicate between teachers and students and to provide materials that they can use throughout their educational life. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of the usability of the EBA, which is a contributing factor in increasing the quality and efficiency of education, on the intentions of high school students to use it within the scope of Human-Computer Interaction. For this purpose, the ‘Scale of the Usability of Online Learning Platform’ was developed, and using this scale, the usability of the EBA was evaluated with the sub-dimensions of Content Design, General Design Considerations, and Learnability, and its effects on the Intentions to Use of high school students were measured.

The outdoor office: a pilot study of environmental qualities, experiences of office workers, and work-related well-being.

Outdoor office work is an emerging aspect of the concept of 'new ways of working', but only sparse data are available about the environmental qualities of the outdoor office space, experiences of office workers, and work-related well-being of outdoor office work. Here, we present an exploratory pilot study on well-being and outdoor office work in a public urban space. An outdoor office was set up in the courtyard of a university campus, and the participants (n = 16) conducted office work outdoors for 30 min and thereafter participated in an eye-tracking session for 11-15 min (n = 8) and subsequently filled out surveys (n = 16). The eye tracker allowed the discovery of natural and built elements in the outdoor environment that caught the participants' visual attention, whereas the surveys assessed aspects of their subjective experiences of the outdoor office space (its visual and spatial qualities) and the work there. The results are presented as network graphs where correlations are shown regarding different aspects of office work outdoors. The results indicate that outdoor office work in a public urban space may promote work-related well-being in terms of positive outdoor office space experiences. Based on the findings, a preliminary set of outdoor office qualities is proposed. Those qualities relate to the legibility and imageability of the outdoor office space, its focal points, and depth/spaciousness, in addition to attributes of usability and environmental richness, including if the outdoor office space affords natural contact and supports activities, in addition to social and individual interactions and relations.

Von toxischen Substanzen und toxischer Männlichkeit. Eine korpuspragmatische Studie zur Erschließung eines Gegenwartsphänomens

Abstract This article deals with the phenomenon of labeling something as toxic. In social media, one often reads about toxic masculinity or toxic relationships and the like. Therefore, the question is addressed whether this is a singular phenomenon for social media or whether labeling something as toxic also affects other domains. First, the historical development since the 19th century is outlined. Then, the DWDS newspaper and reference corpus is evaluated based on a corpus-pragmatic methodology to break down the dimensions of meaning and usage in the context of different usage domains. The end result is thus a comprehensive analysis of writing about toxicity and its metaphorizations, which is finally interpreted and understood as a contemporary phenomenon.

Usability enhancement model for unstructured text in big data

The task of insights extraction from unstructured text poses significant challenges for big data analytics because it contains subjective intentions, different contextual perspectives, and information about the surrounding real world. The technical and conceptual complexities of unstructured text degrade its usability for analytics. Unlike structured data, the existing literature lacks solutions to address the usability of unstructured text big data. A usability enhancement model has been developed to address this research gap, incorporating various usability dimensions, determinants, and rules as key components. This paper adopted Delphi technique to validate the usability enhancement model to ensure its correctness, confidentiality, and reliability. The primary goal of model validation is to assess the external validity and suitability of the model through domain experts and professionals. Therefore, the subject matter experts of industry and academia from different countries were invited to this Delphi, which provides more reliable and extensive opinions. A multistep iterative process of Knowledge Resource Nomination Worksheet (KRNW) has been adopted for expert identification and selection. Average Percent of Majority Opinions (APMO) method has been used to produce the cut-off rate to determine the consensus achievement. The consensus was not achieved after the first round of Delphi, whereas APMO cut-off rate was 70.9%. The model has been improved based on the opinions of 10 subject matter experts. After second round, the analysis has shown majority agreement for the revised model and consensus achievement for all improvements that validate the improved usability enhancement model. The final proposed model provides a systematic and structured approach to enhance the usability of unstructured text big data. The outcome of the research is significant for researchers and data analysts.

Does social media usage contribute to cross-border social commerce? An empirical evidence from SEM and fsQCA analysis

Drawing from the S-O-R perspective, this paper proposes a theoretical model explicating the mechanism whereby social media usage functions on customers' engagement in cross-cultural social commerce by employing a mixed-method approach including SEM and fsQCA analysis technique. Analysis of the data collected from 135 countries' 2058 international students indicates that social media usage, either for information or socializing purpose, exerts positive effects on international customers' engagement in social commerce through the conduit of cultural identity change, and social support positively moderates the relationships between two dimensions of social media usage and cultural identity change. The analysis of fsQCA further augmented the robust results reached from SEM and identified four types of configurations that trigger customers' engagement in cross-border social commerce. Research implications and limitations are also discussed.

Circular Economy Insights on the Suitability of New Tri-Layer Compostable Packaging Films after Degradation in Storage Conditions.

The environmental degradation of the films used in packaging is a key factor in their commercial use. Industrial and academic research is aimed at obtaining materials that have degradation features that ensure their eco-sustainability but, at the same time, preserve their use properties during storage and distribution periods. This study analyzes the degradability behavior over time of commercial packaging that meets the requirements of the UNE 13432 standard and the prEN 17427 (2020) home composting certification requirements under standard storage conditions. The study attempts to provide insight into the durability of the films under standard storage conditions, verifying that this type of packaging has a useful life of more than 12 months and that after this storage period it still retains the usability properties for which it was conceived. The analyzed sample has been manufactured using a three-layer technology under some commercial formulations based on PBAT + STARCH + PLA and has been analyzed monthly for 12 consecutive months. The macroscopic monitoring of the degradation of the sample has been carried out through the evolution of the mechanical properties and the quantification of the color changes (very important in films) via colorimetry. The nature of the observed variations has been justified at the microstructural level from the data obtained in calorimetric analysis (DSC) and from the characterization using FTIR. The results indicate a loss of properties in the tensile, elongation and impact tests and a behavior of stability or improvement in the tear properties of the film. Analyzing the microstructural changes, it is observed that the degradation of a hydrolytic and thermo-oxidative type occurs in the amorphous part of the film. The conclusion of this study is that the proposed packaging, focused on domestic composting and stored under standard conditions, has a useful life of more than 12 months. This period should be sufficient to cover the stages of production, storage and final use.

Cerner Millennium's Care Pathways for Specialty Care Referrals: Provider and Nurse Experiences, Perceptions, and Recommendations for Improvements.

Using structured templates to guide providers in communicating key information in electronic referrals is an evidence-based practice for improving care quality. To facilitate referrals in Veterans Health Administration's (VA) Cerner Millennium electronic health record, VA and Cerner have created "Care Pathways"-templated electronic forms, capturing needed information and prompting ordering of appropriate pre-referral tests. To inform their iterative improvement, we sought to elicit experiences, perceptions, and recommendations regarding Care Pathways from frontline clinicians and staff in the first VA site to deploy Cerner Millennium. Qualitative interviews, conducted 12-20months after Cerner Millennium deployment. We conducted interviews with primary care providers, primary care registered nurses, and specialty providers requesting and/or receiving referrals. We used rapid qualitative analysis. Two researchers independently summarized interview transcripts with bullet points; summaries were merged by consensus. Constant comparison was used to sort bullet points into themes. A matrix was used to view bullet points by theme and participant. Some interviewees liked aspects of the Care Pathways, expressing appreciation of their premise and logic. However, interviewees commonly expressed frustration with their poor usability across multiple attributes. Care Pathways were reported as being inefficient; lacking simplicity, naturalness, consistency, and effective use of language; imposing an unacceptable cognitive load; and not employing forgiveness and feedback for errors. Specialists reported not receiving the information needed for referral triaging. Cerner Millennium's Care Pathways, and their associated organizational policies and processes, need substantial revision across several usability attributes. Problems with design and technical limitations are compounding challenges in using standardized templates nationally, across VA sites having diverse organizational and contextual characteristics. VA is actively working to make improvements; however, significant additional investments are needed for Care Pathways to achieve their intended purpose of optimizing specialty care referrals for Veterans.

Shareability: novel perspective on human-media interaction

Interpersonal communication in the twenty-first century is increasingly taking place within digital media. This poses the problem of understanding the factors that may facilitate or hinder communication processes in virtual contexts. Digital media require a human-machine interface, and the analysis of human-machine interfaces traditionally focuses on the dimension of usability. However, interface usability pertains to the interaction of users with digital devices, not to the interaction of users with other users. Here we argue that there is another dimension of human-media interaction that has remained largely unexplored, but plays a key role in interpersonal communication within digital media: shareability. We define shareability as the resultant of a set of interface features that: (i) make sharing of materials with fellow users easy, efficient, and timely (sharing-related usability); (ii) include features that intuitively invite users to share materials (sharing-related affordances); and (iii) provide a sensorimotor environment that includes perceptual information about both presented materials and the behavior of other users that are experiencing these materials through the medium at hand (support to shared availability). Capitalizing on concepts from semiotics, proxemics, and perceptual and cognItive neuroscience, we explore potential criteria to asses shareability in human-machine interfaces. Finally, we show how these notions may be applied in the analysis of three prototypical cases: online gaming, visual communication on social media, and online distance teaching.

Impact of Financial Inclusion on Economic Growth and Unemployment

In the past decade, Southeast Asia has seen the development of financial inclusion, as evidenced by the growth of the penetration, availability, and usage dimensions of financial inclusion. This study analyses the impact financial inclusion has on economic growth, represented by GDP per capita growth, and unemployment using data from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Cambodia. The authors employed panel data regression with fixed effect and random effect models to analyse the data. The results show that the number of commercial bank branches and outstanding loans statistically significantly affect GDP per capita growth, while the number of saving/deposit accounts does not. All three variables are shown to have a statistically significant impact on unemployment.

Przegląd wybranych portali mapowych prezentujących szlaki rowerowe

This article evaluates map websites that present bicycle routes. Due to the large number of such websites and their highly dynamic development, the analysis was limited to the content presented for the area of Poland. An attempt was made to assess properties like the quality and form of the cartographic message, the legibility of the presented content, the quantity and quality of the accompanying data, and the usability properties. Data from global, national and local portals developed for the voivodship, and even for the city or county, were analysed. The analysis showed that Goole Maps currently offers the best usable properties.

Usability Evaluation of a Community Pharmacy Health Information Exchange Interface Prototype.

Few community pharmacies have access to health information exchange (HIE) data. We conducted a first-of-its-kind usability evaluation of an HIE interface prototype (referred to throughout as the "HIE-Pioneer mock-up") developed with pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to aid future implementation in community pharmacies. Community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians were recruited to complete usability evaluations with the HIE-Pioneer mock-up. Each usability evaluation lasted up to 60 minutes. System usability scale (SUS) scores were collected from each participant following each usability evaluation session and summarized with descriptive statistics. Usability evaluation videos were reviewed for common usability attributes, such as the impact of identified usability problems, learnability, and efficiency. Time on task, task success rates, and prototype utilization were also recorded. Sixteen total participants completed usability testing across three community pharmacies. The average SUS score was 69.7 (scale 0-100, where 100 is the best), with pharmacists on average reporting higher satisfaction than technicians (74.1 vs. 65.3, respectively). Altogether, we identified 23 distinct usability problems. Key problems identified included needed clarification in tool label names and accessibility of HIE links within the existing workflow. Overall, the usability of the HIE-Pioneer mock-up generally fostered pharmacy professionals' ease of learning and efficiency. Our study identified key areas, and potential solutions, to improve the usability of the HIE-Pioneer mock-up. Overall, pharmacy professionals viewed the HIE-Pioneer mock-up positively, with good satisfaction ratings. The HIE-Pioneer mock-up provides a blueprint for future HIE implementation in community pharmacy settings, which would increase community pharmacy teams' access to HIE data nationwide. Community pharmacy access to bi-directional HIE is expected to improve communication among more health care professionals involved in patient care and equip pharmacy professionals with needed information for improved clinical decision-making.

The Impact of Internet Use on the Well-Being of Rural Residents

With the full penetration of the Internet, the Internet has had a great impact on the production and life of rural residents. The article takes a rural residents’ group as its research object to explore the impact mechanism. Leveraging data from the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2016, we employ a multivariate ordered logit model as an empirical approach to delve into the various dimensions of Internet usage. By examining different facets of Internet utilization, we aim to assess the effects of these distinct uses on the well-being of rural residents. Furthermore, we investigate the mediating role of social capital in understanding the collective well-being of this demographic. The findings of this study are as follows: (1) The utilization of the Internet yields a positive impact on the well-being of rural residents. (2) Social networks exhibit a significant positive influence on the well-being of rural residents; social solidarity demonstrates a significant negative impact on the well-being of rural residents. Additionally, social trust is found to have a significant negative effect on the well-being of rural residents. (3) Regarding mobile phone access, we identify a positive and significant effect on the well-being of rural residents when mediated by social networks and social trust. In contrast, social mutual aid does not exhibit a significant mediating effect. Among the patterns of mobile phone usage, social network and social mutual aid within the realm of social capital emerge as intermediate variables that affect the well-being of rural residents through Internet usage. However, it is worth noting that social trust does not have a significant effect in this regard. These results contribute to our understanding of how Internet usage and social capital interact to shape the well-being of rural communities.

Extension of value stream mapping 4.0 for comprehensive identification of data and information flows within the manufacturing domain

The main driver of industry 4.0 is data and information for realizing resilient manufacturing systems through data-based decision-making. This requires the data flow from different machinery and its processing. Therefore, a methodical survey on the logical and technical requirements for enabling an efficient data flow can be beneficial since it fastens the process of establishing the data flow and gives production and software engineers a common understanding of the data’s meaning. Hence, data, related metadata like the unit or the frequency of recordings, and technical information, e.g., the machine’s interface or the communication protocol, are necessary. Based on the classical value stream mapping (VSM) as a lean management tool, the first approach for a methodical gathering of data, value stream mapping 4.0, was established in 2016. Since VSM 4.0 provides technical properties for specifying the data flow, some shortcomings were identified, particularly related to technical information. This contribution introduces the VSM 4.0 plus that solved the identified shortcomings by adding new properties. Compared to VSM 4.0, VSM 4.0 plus offers detailed specifications of data points, includes technical information, e.g., used communication protocols, adds information regarding data processing, and enhances the storage and usage dimension by providing more details. Through the added properties, VSM 4.0 plus allows domain and software engineers more efficient collaboration since all required information for establishing the data flow and its processing are united in one methodology. To verify the practicability, the VSM 4.0 plus was applied within several manufacturing-related use cases.

Effect of Usefulness Dimensions on Agricultural Markets

With the largest population in Indonesia, Bogor Regency in West Java Province has agricultural potential. One of the prospective regions in Region V with agricultural populations that grow both fresh and processed agricultural products, from rural to urban. Problems in the promotion of agricultural products were discovered by the Government of Bogor Regency through the Agricultural Extension Center of Region V. To solve these issues, a platform called Kiosagri.com in the form of a marketplace has been introduced. It is required to quantify usability, which is influenced by the usability dimension, for this market to be useful. As a result, the purpose of this study is to examine the usability factors that influence the usability of the farmers that utilize the Kiosagri.com agricultural marketplace. This reserach employs a cross-sectional survey design and a quantitative methodology. Farmers who have been introduced to Kiosagri.com were the only respondents in the census. 32 respondents' data were analyzed using multiple linear regression tests and descriptive statistics. The findings demonstrated a substantial relationship between usability and the usability factors of learnability, efficiency, memorability, error, and satisfaction. Only efficiency, which has a substantial impact on usability, is the dimension that dominates this relationship.

Examining differences in perceived usability of Google Drive among public library users

PurposeThis study aims to explore differences in the usability of the Google Drive application based on demographic characteristics, computer skills and use frequency of Google Drive among public library users of Lahore.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a quantitative approach and survey-based research method to achieve the study's objectives. The cloud usability model (user perspective) has been used as a theoretical lens to guide the study objectives. It comprises five dimensions of usability – capable, personal, reliable, valuable and secure.FindingsThe findings of the study revealed that the usability of Google Drive varied statistically significantly on the basis of depending on the respondents gender, age, academic qualification, computer skills and Google Drive use frequency.Practical implicationsIt is a valuable study since it and adds knowledge to existing literature and has implications for practice.Originality/valueThe findings might be helpful for cloud support teams including Google Drive as they can notice the demographic and other differences among users' perceived usability of Google Drive and can enhance certain features of usability which leads attributes to increase its usage among users.