End-user Perspective Research Articles

Empirical Decision Rules for Improving the Uncertainty Reporting of Small Sample System Usability Scale Scores

ABSTRACT The System Usability Scale (SUS) is a short, survey-based approach used to determine the usability of a system from an end-user perspective once a prototype is available for assessment. Individual scores are gathered using a ten-question survey with the survey results reported in terms of central tendency (sample mean) as an estimate of the system’s usability (the SUS study score), and confidence intervals (CIs) on the sample mean are used to communicate uncertainty levels associated with this point estimate. When the number of individuals surveyed is large, the SUS study scores and accompanying confidence intervals relying upon the central limit theorem for support are appropriate. However, when only a small number of users are surveyed, reliance on the central limit theorem falls short, resulting in CIs that suffer from parameter bound violations and interval widths that confound mappings to adjective and other constructed scales. These shortcomings are especially pronounced when the underlying SUS score data is skewed, as it is in many instances. This paper introduces an empirically based remedy for such small-sample circumstances, proposing a set of decision rules that leverage either an extended bias-corrected accelerated (BCa) bootstrap confidence interval (Cl) or an empirical Bayesian credibility interval about the sample mean to restore and bolster subsequent Cl accuracy. Data from historical SUS assessments are used to highlight shortfalls in current practices and to demonstrate the improvements these alternate approaches offer while remaining statistically defensible. A freely available, online application is introduced and discussed that automates SUS analysis under these decision rules, thereby assisting usability practitioners in adopting the advocated approaches.

End-user perspectives on the development of an online intervention for parents of children on the autism spectrum.

Strong evidence suggests that parents of children on the autism spectrum face increased stressors to their physical and mental wellbeing due to the demands of caregiving and paucity of support. The disparity between the services currently offered and unmet needs indicates that accessible and flexible support through online delivery is needed for parents. This study presents the ideas and perspectives collected from five focus groups of 17 parents of autistic children, on the optimal content and implementation strategy of an online intervention. Using thematic framework analysis, we derived themes under the categories: the need for online interventions; content and design; and implementation. Parents supported the development of a multicomponent online intervention which combines psychoeducation with peer-support and access to healthcare professionals.Lay abstractParent caregivers play an essential role in the lives of individuals on the autism spectrum. The demands of caregiving can have negative effects on the mental and physical wellbeing of parents. Different types of formal support have been developed to help parents to cope with caregiving; however, many parents struggle to access services due to limited availability and busy schedules. The Internet could offer parents more accessible and flexible support. We asked 17 parents what content they would like to include in an online resource. Parents told us about their experiences trying to access and use existing formal support and websites. They overwhelmingly supported the development of an online resource informed by their suggestions. Parents emphasised the need for easier access to information through educational components and direct access to healthcare professionals online. Parents also wanted help with finding existing services and reliable, locally relevant information. Parents stressed the need for a safe environment to meet and chat with other parents online. This research forms the first stage in the development process of an online health resource for parents.

Market Analysis of MEC-Assisted Beyond 5G Ecosystem

The quality-of-service (QoS)/quality-of-experience (QoE) demands of mobile services are soaring and have overwhelmed the obsolescent capability of 3G and 4G cellular networks. The emerging 5G networks will bring an unprecedented promotion in transmission data rates. However, the satisfaction of some service requirements is still in dilemma, especially the end-to-end (E2E) latency which varies in different applications. Multi-access edge computing (MEC), a promising technology in 5G cellular networks, can provide ultra-low E2E latency and reduce traffic load on mobile backhaul networks. The potential benefits of MEC for 5G and beyond services have been explored by preliminary studies. What remains is the uncertainty of revenue from the investment of MEC which will shake operators' decisions about whether and how to deploy MEC in cellular networks. In this light, this paper designs a MEC-assisted 5G and beyond ecosystem inclusive of three players: private (local) telecom operators, backhaul, and cloud service owners. We propose a revenue maximization model for private (local) telecom operators and cloud service owners to minimize the cost from the end-user perspective while satisfying the latency requirement. The derived model indicates that two players' revenues can be maximized by optimizing MEC resources and backhaul capacity. The game-theoretic analyses also reveal the optimized hybrid strategy of MEC and cloud for efficient mobile traffic management.

Development of an ontology-based semantic building post-occupancy evaluation framework

Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is a systematic method to evaluate the actual building performance against the theoretical design intents after the building has been occupied for some time, to understand how the building is performing and to capture lessons learned. The POE offers an opportunity to investigate the buildings' actual performance based upon the occupants' satisfaction levels in the aspects of building overall design, indoor environmental quality, thermal comfort, etc. However, as the key part of POE, occupant satisfaction assessment (OSA) is a missing link in the building performance evaluation (BPE) domain, and there is not a systematic evaluation method for the OSA. Moreover, it is time-consuming and error-prone to conduct the OSA manually. This paper presents from the end-user's satisfaction perspective a semantic post-occupancy evaluation ontology (POEontology) to facilitate the occupant satisfaction assessment of buildings, with the ultimate aim of optimizing building operation guidelines, and improving occupants' use experience quality and well-being. An ontology-based knowledge model has been developed to capture the fragmented knowledge of building use satisfaction assessment in the POE domain, with the benchmarking evaluation rules encoded in Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) to enable automatic rule-based rating and reasoning. This ontology model also enables the effective OSA-related knowledge retrieving and sharing, and promotes its implementation in the POE domain. A field study has been conducted based upon the Building Use Study (BUS) methodology to validate the proposed ontology framework.

Deep Neural Network-based Relationship Identification Framework to Discriminate Fake Profile Over Social Media

Involvement of social media like personal, business and political propaganda activities, attracts anti-social activities and has also increased. Anti-social elements get a wider platform to spread negativity after hiding their identity behind fake and false profiles. In this paper, an analytical and methodological user identification framework is developed to significantly binds implicit and explicit link relationship over the end-users graphical perspective. Identify malicious user, its communal information and sockpuppet node. Apart from that, this work provides the concept of the deep neural network approach over the graphical and linguistic perspective of end-user to classify as malicious, fake and genuine. This concept also helps identify the trade-off between the similarity of nodes attributes and the density of connections to classifying identical profile as sockpuppet over social media.

Prominence of Improved Cook Stove (ICS) in Rural Area: End-Users Perspective

Improved cook stove (ICS) indicates improved form of traditional cook stove. It is more effective, efficient and safer to use. ICS is popular in rural villages of Nepal as a new innovation of clean cooking mechanism. To explore the end users views about the prominence of ICS in rural settings of urban areas, this study is conducted as the title of prominence of improved cook stove in rural areas: end-users perspectives. It is based on the theoretical assumption of cultural feminism. It employs exploratory research design and is based on both primary and secondary sources of data. The study revealed that there is high prominence of ICS in rural farm based society in Nepal. Women are end-users of ICS. Through women perspectives, health and sanitation; easy operation; time and resource saver; low maintenance are its major prominence. ICS helps to reduce the untiring busy schedule of women in household activities. It suggests that concerned authorities should make effective institutional frameworks to empower women in their homeland by optimum utilization of leisure time made possible by the use of ICS.

Experience-Based Co-Design to Develop an Injury Prevention Intervention in Skilled Nursing Facilities

Experience-based co-design (EBCD) improves clinical effectiveness and safety by incorporating end-user perspectives in the design of clinical interventions. To refine a centralized, multi-component fall-related injury prevention service (IPS) to be tested in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in a pragmatic trial, we employed a modified EBCD process. We first conducted in-depth interviews with SNF residents, family members, and staff (n = 28; three facilities in two states) regarding their experiences in falls prevention. We then engaged these and other stakeholders from multiple institutions (n=4) in a day-long co-design workshop with our interdisciplinary research team. Building upon themes drawn from the analysis of interviews, we targeted three intervention components that were refined during the workshop: de-prescribing process, osteoporosis treatment, and educational videoconferences. Key outcomes from the ECBD process included development of strategies to ensure that: (1) residents, families, and SNF staff are involved in communication about residents identified as high risk for fall-related injury, and in related treatment decisions; (2) approaches to monitoring for unintended consequences from the injury prevention plan are clearly understood by direct care staff and are compatible with existing workflow; (3) treatment plan risks and benefits are presented in a manner easily understood by stakeholders; and (4) staff education conferences build trust with the IPS nurse and provide direct care staff with support and advice about challenging cases. EBCD is a feasible approach to strengthen intervention development in SNFs and can lead to testable new ideas for protocol refinement to address diverse stakeholder perspectives.

Sensory Evaluation of Lighting: A Methodological Pilot

ABSTRACT Current standards for light environments are based on technical requirements, e.g. luminance, uniformity, and illuminance, and do not necessarily describe all parts of the light experience to ensure visual comfort from a user perspective. Including experience-related requirements would most likely yield better lighting comfort. To do that, new methods for specifying and measuring the user experience are needed. This paper describes a pilot study exploring a new method to analytically assess perceived lighting properties by using a trained human panel and thus make human assessments more objective. The methodology is built on established sensory methods, where the human senses are used in product assessments, traditionally applied within e.g. the food, packaging, and car industries. An analytical panel comprising eight persons fulfilling specific selection criteria were recruited and trained to assess lighting products in a multi-sensory laboratory. The results show that the panelists were able to assess lighting by distinguishing between attributes and products. Significant differences were identified between the different luminaires, both in terms of sensory and physical properties, e.g. readability and glare. Conclusively, analytical sensory methods can be applied to lighting to assess luminaires in a non-subjective way. Physical and sensory attributes do not, however, always co-vary, which shows that data from physical and sensory measuring methods provide complementary information about light quality. This knowledge may in turn be applied in tools supporting the communication between different professions in lighting design and procurement to promote light environments that are both energy efficient and desirable from an end-user perspective.

Challenges in Using Earth Observation (EO) Data to Support Environmental Management in Brazil

This paper presents the results of research designed to explore the challenges involved in the use of Earth Observation (EO) data to support environmental management Brazil. While much has been written about the technology and applications of EO, the perspective of end-users of EO data and their needs has been under-explored in the literature. A total of 53 key informants in Brasilia and the cities of Rio Branco and Cuiaba were interviewed regarding their current use and experience of EO data and the expressed challenges that they face. The research builds upon a conceptual model which illustrates the main steps and limitations in the flow of EO data and information for use in the management of land use and land cover (LULC) in Brazil. The current paper analyzes and ranks, by relative importance, the factors that users identify as limiting their use of EO. The most important limiting factor for the end-user was the lack of personnel, followed by political and economic context, data management, innovation, infrastructure and IT, technical capacity to use and process EO data, bureaucracy, limitations associated with access to high-resolution data, and access to ready-to-use product. In general, users expect to access a ready-to-use product, transformed from the raw EO data into usable information. Related to this is the question of whether this processing is best done within an organization or sourced from outside. Our results suggest that, despite the potential of EO data for informing environmental management in Brazil, its use remains constrained by its lack of suitably trained personnel and financial resources, as well as the poor communication between institutions.

A hitchhiker's guide to working with large, open-source neuroimaging datasets.

Large datasets that enable researchers to perform investigations with unprecedented rigor are growing increasingly common in neuroimaging. Due to the simultaneous increasing popularity of open science, these state-of-the-art datasets are more accessible than ever to researchers around the world. While analysis of these samples has pushed the field forward, they pose a new set of challenges that might cause difficulties for novice users. Here we offer practical tips for working with large datasets from the end-user's perspective. We cover all aspects of the data lifecycle: from what to consider when downloading and storing the data to tips on how to become acquainted with a dataset one did not collect and what to share when communicating results. This manuscript serves as a practical guide one can use when working with large neuroimaging datasets, thus dissolving barriers to scientific discovery.

Organ‐on‐a‐Chip: A Preclinical Microfluidic Platform for the Progress of Nanomedicine

Despite the progress achieved in nanomedicine during the last decade, the translation of new nanotechnology-based therapeutic systems into clinical applications has been slow, especially due to the lack of robust preclinical tissue culture platforms able to mimic the in vivo conditions found in the human body and to predict the performance and biotoxicity of the developed nanomaterials. Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) platforms are novel microfluidic tools that mimic complex human organ functions at the microscale level. These integrated microfluidic networks, with 3D tissue engineered models, have been shown high potential to reduce the discrepancies between the results derived from preclinical and clinical trials. However, there are many challenges that still need to be addressed, such as the integration of biosensor modules for long-time monitoring of different physicochemical and biochemical parameters. In this review, recent advances on OoC platforms, particularly on the preclinical validation of nanomaterials designed for cancer, as well as the current challenges and possible future directions for an end-use perspective are discussed.

“I felt like a TRIO champion”: end-user perspectives on their role as co-designers of multi-purpose technologies

Background: The likelihood that research will be relevant to and accepted by end-users and their communities is enhanced when the perspectives of both the “researchers” and the “researched” are considered. The Tablets, Ring, Injections as Options (TRIO) Study, conducted with young women in Kenya and South Africa, assessed the acceptability and preferences of three placebo-only multi-purpose technology (MPT) forms for prevention of HIV and unintended pregnancy. The objective of this analysis was to assess whether, and if so how, the women participating in the TRIO Study perceived themselves as co-designers of the three MPT products. Methods: We conducted 55 in-depth interviews, 6 focus group discussions, and 5 dissemination workshops with TRIO Study participants. Woven throughout these activities were questions and opportunities for participants to reflect on their role in the study, and to what extent they identified with their role as a co-designer. Qualitative data from these activities were analyzed thematically. Results: The analysis revealed four key themes about what resulted in the women’s views as co-designers: altruism, respectful treatment, agency, and reciprocity. The women were aware of their role in determining what end-users would and would not prefer and were motivated by a desire to help themselves and others. They recognized their role as co-designers and cited being treated well by study staff, being given a chance to make choices during the study period, and being recognized as equal partners of the researchers as the main reasons. Conclusions: If prevention products are going to be successfully developed, end-users and researchers must work hand in hand. Engaging participants meaningfully as co-designers in product development research can be a powerful tool in the effort to ensure new prevention products brought to market are acceptable to the population of interest.

End-user perspectives of two mHealth decision support tools: Electronic Community Case Management in Northern Malawi

BackgroundThe introduction of a paper-based Community Case Management (CCM) in Malawi has contributed to a reduction of child morbidity and mortality rates. In addition, the introduction of electronic Community Case Management (eCCM) (smartphones with built in CCM apps) may help to reduce the under-five mortality rates even further. PurposeIt is not uncommon for Apps with a similar area of interest to develop different features to assist the end users. Such differences between Apps may have a significant role to play in its overall adoption and integration. The purpose of this research was to explore end users perspectives of two eCCM decision support tools developed and implemented by the Supporting LIFE project (SL eCCM App) and D-Tree International’s (Mangologic eCCM App)in Northern Malawi. MethodsA mixed methods approach was applied, involving a survey of 109 users (106 Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs), and 3 Integrated Management of Childhood Il6lnesses (IMCI) coordinators). This was followed up with semi-structured interviews with 34 respondents (31 HSAs, and 3 IMCI coordinators). Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 where descriptive statistics and Chi-Squared tests were generated. Qualitative data were analyzed based on thematic analysis. ResultsParticipants reported that both Apps could assist the HSAs in the management of childhood illnesses. However, usability differed between the two apps where the Supporting LIFE eCCM App was found to be easier to use (61%) compared to the Mangologic eCCM App (4%). Both Apps were perceived to provide credible and accurate information. ConclusionIt is essential that the quality of the data within Mobile Health (mHealth) Apps is high, however even Apps with excellent levels of data quality may not succeed if the overall usability of the App is low. Therefore it is essential that the Apps has high levels of data quality, usability and credibility. The results of this study will help inform mobile Health (mHealth) App designers in developing future eCCM Apps as well as researchers and policy makers when considering the adoption of mHealth solutions in the future in Malawi and other LMICs.

End‐users’ requirements underpinned by IoT layered architecture to the development of smart sustainable cities

It has been claimed that the adoption of a smart and sustainable city concept is one of the most effective ways to eliminate the risk of unsustainable living. Since the sixties, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was transformed from a country of traditional settlements to a modern urban setting. However, this development has been based on conventional methods of city construction and building practices. Therefore, the main aim of this primary research is to establish the fundamental aspects of developing a sustainable and smart city framework that can be applied to most Saudi Arabian cities and societies. A qualitative research methodology is adopted to determine end-user requirements, with more than 500 well-informed participants from 17 different cities. Subsequently, the main contributions here can be summaries as follows: (a) evaluating public willingness regarding smart sustainable city movements, (b) establishing requirements for a sustainable and smart city framework based on end-user perspectives, (c) providing a decision makers with a robust generic framework of sustainable development across Saudi Arabian cites, and (d) an Internet of Thing (IoT) architecture for SSC Adoption and implementation along with an integrated socio-organizational, financial, and technical generic framework for smart sustainable city adoption in the Saudi Arabian context.

Prioritising Server Bugs via Inter-process Concolic Testing

Context: Most approaches to automated white-box testing consider the client side and the server side of a web application in isolation from each other. Such testers lack a whole-program perspective on the web application under test. Inquiry: We hypothesise that an additional whole-program perspective would enable the tester to discover which server side errors can be triggered by an actual end user accessing the application through the client, and which ones can only be triggered in hypothetical scenarios. Approach: In this paper, we explore the idea of employing such a whole-program perspective in testing. To this end, we develop , a novel concolic tester which operates on full-stack JavaScript web applications, where both the client and the server side are JavaScript processes communicating via asynchronous messages -- as enabled by the WebSocket or Socket.IO-libraries. Knowledge: We find that the whole-program perspective enables discerning high-priority errors, which are reachable from a particular client, from low-priority errors, which are not accessible through the tested client. Another benefit of the perspective is that it allows the automated tester to construct practical, step-by-step scenarios for triggering server side errors from the end user's perspective. Grounding: We apply on a collection of web applications to evaluate how effective testing is in distinguishing between high- and low-priority errors. The results show that correctly classifies the majority of server errors. Importance: This paper demonstrates the feasibility of testing as a novel approach for automatically testing web applications. Classifying errors as being of high or low importance aids developers in prioritising bugs that might be encountered by users, and postponing the diagnosis of bugs that are less easily reached.

Cognitive Enhancement Therapy in Early Schizophrenia: A Qualitative and Quantitative Case Series of Patients’ Experiences

Evidence shows that cognitive remediation therapy improves cognition in individuals with schizophrenia. However, its broader impact on patients’ lives remains unclear. Furthermore, little is known about the motivational factors influencing treatment engagement. This quantitative and qualitative case series study identified factors that influence patients’ experiences while receiving cognitive enhancement therapy (CET). Nine individuals with schizophrenia who received CET completed two questionnaires and participated in semi-structured focus groups or in an individual interview about their experience with CET. Four deductive themes were assessed when analyzing responses: (1) perceived impact, (2) motivational facilitators, (3) motivational barriers, and (4) suggestions to improve CET. All participants reported that CET was helpful, and the majority enjoyed participating in CET. Most participants reported high satisfaction with their work and school, but lower satisfaction with their social life. Results also indicated perceived improvements in negative symptoms, neurocognition, and confidence following CET. Participants identified extrinsic, intrinsic, and program-specific facilitators and barriers motivating their participation in the program. Suggestions to improve CET included changes to treatment design and content. Altogether, these results indicate that the perspective of CET end users can provide useful information on the factors influencing treatment engagement, satisfaction, and perceived impact.

"I felt like a TRIO champion": end-user perspectives on their role as co-designers of multi-purpose technologies.

Background: The likelihood that research will be relevant to and accepted by end-users and their communities is enhanced when the perspectives of both the "researchers" and the "researched" are considered. The Tablets, Ring, Injections as Options (TRIO) Study, conducted with young women in Kenya and South Africa, assessed the acceptability and preferences of three placebo-only multi-purpose technology (MPT) forms for prevention of HIV and unintended pregnancy. The objective of this analysis was to assess whether, and if so how, the women participating in the TRIO Study perceived themselves as co-designers of the three MPT products. Methods: We conducted 55 in-depth interviews, 6 focus group discussions, and 5 dissemination workshops with TRIO Study participants. Woven throughout these activities were questions and opportunities for participants to reflect on their role in the study, and to what extent they identified with their role as a co-designer. Qualitative data from these activities were analyzed thematically. Results: The analysis revealed four key themes about what resulted in the women's views as co-designers: altruism, respectful treatment, agency, and reciprocity. The women were aware of their role in determining what end-users would and would not prefer and were motivated by a desire to help themselves and others. They recognized their role as co-designers and cited being treated well by study staff, being given a chance to make choices during the study period, and being recognized as equal partners of the researchers as the main reasons. Conclusions: If prevention products are going to be successfully developed, end-users and researchers must work hand in hand. Engaging participants meaningfully as co-designers in product development research can be a powerful tool in the effort to ensure new prevention products brought to market are acceptable to the population of interest.

Minimally Invasive Electrochemical Patch-Based Sensor System for Monitoring Glucose and Lactate in the Human Body-A Survey-Based Analysis of the End-User's Perspective.

Background: Wearable electrochemical sensors that detect human biomarkers allow a comprehensive analysis of a person’s health condition. The “electronic smart patch system for wireless monitoring of molecular biomarkers for health care and well-being” (ELSAH) project aims to develop a minimally invasive sensor system that is capable of continuously monitoring glucose and lactate in the dermal interstitial fluid in real time. It is the objective of the present study to compare the intended ELSAH-patch specifications with the expectations and requirements of potential end-users at an early stage during the development phase. Methods: A questionnaire addressing different aspects of the ELSAH-patch was filled out by 383 respondents. Results: The participants stated a high general demand for such a system, and they would use the ELSAH-patch in different health care and physical fitness applications. The preferred terminal device for communication with the sensor would be the smartphone. An operating time of 24 hours would be sufficient for 55.8% of the users (95%-CI: 50.3–61.3%), while 43.5% of them (95%-CI: 38.0–48.9%) would prefer a lifetime of several days or more. The software should have a warning function, especially for critical health conditions. Since the measured personal data would be highly sensitive, the participants called for high standards for data security and privacy. Conclusion: In general, the participants’ responses on their expectations and requirements were well in line with the intended specifications of the ELSAH-patch system. However, certain technical aspects such as the lifetime, data security and accuracy require special attention during its development.

Composing high-level stream processing pipelines

The growing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices provide a massive pool of sensing data. However, turning data into actionable insights is not a trivial task, especially in the context of IoT, where application development itself is complex. The process entails working with heterogeneous devices via various communication protocols to co-ordinate and fetch datasets, followed by a series of data transformations. Graphical mashup tools, based on the principles of flow-based programming paradigm, operating at a higher-level of abstraction are in widespread use to support rapid prototyping of IoT applications. Nevertheless, the current state-of-the-art mashup tools suffer from several architectural limitations which prevent composing in-flow data analytics pipelines. In response to this, the paper contributes by (i) designing novel flow-based programming concepts based on the actor model to support data analytics pipelines in mashup tools, prototyping the ideas in a new mashup tool called aFlux and providing a detailed comparison with the existing state-of-the-art and (ii) enabling easy prototyping of streaming applications in mashup tools by abstracting the behavioural configurations of stream processing via graphical flows and validating the ease as well as the effectiveness of composing stream processing pipelines from an end-user perspective in a traffic simulation scenario.

Evidence-Based Research Series-Paper 2 : Using an Evidence-Based Research approach before a new study is conducted to ensure value

Background and ObjectivesThere is considerable actual and potential waste in research. The aim of this article is to describe how using an evidence-based research approach before conducting a study helps to ensure that the new study truly adds value. Study Design and SettingEvidence-based research is the use of prior research in a systematic and transparent way to inform a new study so that it is answering questions that matter in a valid, efficient, and accessible manner. In this second article of the evidence-based research series, we describe how to apply an evidence-based research approach before starting a new study. ResultsBefore a new study is performed, researchers need to provide a solid justification for it using the available scientific knowledge as well as the perspectives of end users. The key method for both is to conduct a systematic review of earlier relevant studies. ConclusionDescribing the ideal process illuminates the challenges and opportunities offered through the suggested evidence-based research approach. A systematic and transparent approach is needed to provide justification for and to optimally design a relevant and necessary new study.