End-user Perspective Research Articles

Perceptions of the "Fabric" - An exploratory study of a novel multi-purpose technology among women in Sub Saharan Africa.

BackgroundHIV and pregnancy prevention are dual health priorities for women, and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Drug-eluting fibers offer a dosage form that combines HIV prevention and contraception, but early understanding of end-user perspectives is critical to avoid misalignment between products being developed and preferred product attributes.MethodsFocus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted in South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, among 55 women who had used vaginal products in previous trials. Participants were given the opportunity to feel a sample of electrospun nanofiber (the fabric), see how it dissolves, and give feedback on shape, size and other attributes. Women were also asked to compare the fabric to vaginal gel and film.ResultsThree key themes regarding the acceptability of the fabric emerged: 1) look and feel of the product undissolved vs. undissolved, 2) expected effect on sex, and 3) convenience and ease of use. Upon being presented with the fabric, women were initially distrustful, seeing it as undesirable for vaginal insertion. Women generally approved of the product once they saw it dissolve. However, they stressed the importance of the product not interfering with sex by altering the vaginal environment. Women also reacted favorably to the perceived convenience of the fabric, particularly with regards to storage and transport, perceived ease of insertion and use, and dosing regimen.ConclusionMultipurpose prevention technologies, and nanofibers in particular, should be developed with an eye to minimizing impact on sex while maximizing convenience, and presented in such a way as to emphasize non-abrasiveness and ease of dissolution.

OneUp: Supporting Practical and Experimental Gamification of Learning

Gamification of education is still evolving. It lacks systematic studies assessing its effect in different learning contexts. Creating gamified courses is still difficult, since there is a lack of sufficient understanding of how to gamify learning and appropriate software support is missing. As a response to these challenges, we developed OneUp ̶ a customizable platform aimed at facilitating the process of gamifying academic courses and enabling contextual studies on educational gamification. In this paper we rationalize our approach to building OneUp and present the underlying principles and motivations guiding its design. We also describe the platform functionality which includes support for integrating game design elements in learning activities, creating dynamic problems, and visualizing student performance and progress. At the end, we present a usability study of the platform and the assessment results from an end user perspective.

Modelling the dynamic interactions between London’s water and energy systems from an end-use perspective

Cities are concentrations of demand to water and energy systems that rely on resources under increasing pressure from scarcity and climate change mitigation targets. They are linked in many ways across their different components, the collection of which is termed a nexus. In industrialised countries, the residential end-use component of the urban water-energy nexus has been identified as significant. However, the effect of the end-use water and energy interdependence on urban dynamics had not been studied. In this work, a novel system dynamics model is developed with an explicit representation of the water-energy interactions at the residential end use and their influence on the demand for resources. The model includes an endogenous carbon tax based climate change mitigation policy which aims to meet carbon targets by reducing consumer demand through price. It also encompasses water resources planning with respect to system capacity and supply augmentation. Using London as a case study, we show that the inclusion of end-use interactions has a major impact on the projections of water sector requirements. In particular, future water demand per capita is lower, and less supply augmentation is needed than would be planned for without considering the interactions. We find that deep decarbonisation of electricity is necessary to maintain an acceptable quality of life while remaining within water and greenhouse gas emissions constraints. The model results show a clear need for consideration of the end-use level water-energy interactions in policy analysis. The modelling tool provides a base for this that can be adapted to the context of any industrialised country.

End-users’ perspectives on safety risks in different high-hazard industries

Despite many improvements over the last century, serious injuries and work-related fatalities remain a significant global challenge in different high-hazard industries. Further reductions in incidents should happen with improved risk identification and control which relies on human perception and decision making. It is important to understand end-user perspectives in order to identify and design effective risk management artefacts. This paper discusses four studies of different high-hazard industry worker populations (agriculture, oil and gas, boardroom and industrial contracting) that were conducted to understand risk management practices and opportunities in different environments. The work demonstrates that it is possible to identify novel insights directly from end-users that can assist in prioritizing and clarifying further risk improvement opportunities and research needs.

A Mobile App-Based Intervention for Depression: End-User and Expert Usability Testing Study.

BackgroundDespite the growing number of mental health apps available for smartphones, the perceived usability of these apps from the perspectives of end users or health care experts has rarely been reported. This information is vital, particularly for self-guided mHealth interventions, as perceptions of navigability and quality of content are likely to impact participant engagement and treatment compliance.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to conduct a usability evaluation of a personalized, self-guided, app-based intervention for depression.MethodsParticipants were administered the System Usability Scale and open-ended questions as part of a semistructured interview. There were 15 participants equally divided into 3 groups: (1) individuals with clinical depression who were the target audience for the app, (2) mental health professionals, and (3) researchers who specialize in the area of eHealth interventions and/or depression research.ResultsThe end-user group rated the app highly, both in quantitative and qualitative assessments. The 2 expert groups highlighted the self-monitoring features and range of established psychological treatment options (such as behavioral activation and cognitive restructuring) but had concerns that the amount and layout of content may be difficult for end users to navigate in a self-directed fashion. The end-user data did not confirm these concerns.ConclusionsEncouraging participant engagement via self-monitoring and feedback, as well as personalized messaging, may be a viable way to maintain participation in self-guided interventions. Further evaluation is necessary to determine whether levels of engagement with these features enhance treatment effects.

Co-located augmented play-spaces: past, present, and perspectives

In recent years, many different studies regarding Co-located Augmented Play-spaces (CAPs) have been published in a wide variety of conferences and journals. We present an overview. The work presented in these papers includes end user’s perspectives as well as researcher’s perspective. We place these within four aspects in this review: (1) Argumentation, the underlying reasons or the higher end goals to investigate interactive play from a user’s perspective, (2) Systems, the kind of systems that are created, this includes their intended use which fits the end user’s perspective, (3) Evaluation, the way in which the researchers evaluate the system, (4) Contribution, the goal of the studies from the researcher’s perspective; what does the study contribute to the research community. CAPs are often multimodal in nature; this survey pays attention to the multimodal characteristics in relation to all four aspects. This overview contributes a clearer view on the current literature, points out where new opportunities lie, and hands us the tools for what we think is important: bringing the end-user and research perspective together in intervention based evaluations. In short, this paper discusses CAPs: their past, the present, and the perspectives.

Assessing enterprise wiki success from the perspective of end-users: an empirical approach

ABSTRACTThe success of wikis on the Internet has led organisations to introduce wikis within corporate settings for multiple purposes. However, despite the popularity of wikis in the public and subsequently in the corporate environment, an empirical investigation of their benefits for individual performance in organisations is still lacking. This study performs an empirical investigation of 177 corporate wiki end-users to evaluate their perceived performance after wiki use. Enterprise wikis’ perceived end-user performance is evaluated by measuring users’ perceived efficiency, effectiveness and capacity development. The findings suggest that the collaboration quality, information quality and system quality of enterprise wikis help their users in terms of increased efficiency, effectiveness and capacity development.

Analysis of human factors in a building environmental assessment system in Korea: Resident perception and the G-SEED for MF scores

This study investigates the relationships between the scores of the Green Standard for Energy and Environmental Design for Multi-Family Housing (G-SEED for MF) and resident perception ratings in Korea. Various sets of data were collected and analyzed, including the G-SEED for MF scorecards, resident surveys, and focus group interviews with professionals and residents. Results show that residents in the certified apartments have low awareness of the system. There are differences between the presence of G-SEED for MF features and the occupants' perception of those features. Additional differences are found between the expectations of professionals and resident ratings on the system's features. Its higher scores do not necessarily mean higher resident perception ratings of such features. The studied residents' perceptions often differ from those of professionals. The professionals are inclined to give more focus on construction costs of projects rather than living environments for occupants. The G-SEED for MF is currently evaluated on its economic benefits and energy consumption disregarding residents' opinions on the actual performance of green buildings. Suggestions for future development imply that perspectives of different end users need to be examined from varied research angles and methodologies to make the G-SEED for MF a comprehensive set of evaluation including significant human factors: building users' experience and perception.

Practical benchmarking of statistical and machine learning models for predicting the condition of sewer pipes in Berlin, Germany

Abstract Deterioration models can be successfully deployed only if decision-makers trust the modelling outcomes and are aware of model uncertainties. Our study aims to address this issue by developing a set of clearly understandable metrics to assess the performance of sewer deterioration models from an end-user perspective. The developed metrics are used to benchmark the performance of a statistical model, namely, GompitZ based on survival analysis and Markov-chains, and a machine learning model, namely, Random Forest, an ensemble learning method based on decision trees. The models have been trained with the extensive CCTV dataset of the sewer network of Berlin, Germany (115,258 inspections). At network level, both models give satisfactory outcomes with deviations between predicted and inspected condition distributions below 5%. At pipe level, the statistical model does not perform better than a simple random model, which attributes randomly a condition class to each inspected pipe, whereas the machine learning model provides satisfying performance. 66.7% of the pipes inspected in bad condition have been predicted correctly. The machine learning approach shows a strong potential for supporting operators in the identification of pipes in critical condition for inspection programs whereas the statistical approach is more adapted to support strategic rehabilitation planning.

The Participatory Design of Tools: Foreseeing the Potential of Future Internet-enabled Farming

This paper describes the use of functional models in a participatory design process to facilitate user involvement in complex system design. The particular case study presented here is the design of Future Internet-enabled farming system to address the global food chain challenges. Taking an end-user perspective during the development of systems and infrastructures in order to assist people in their work and everyday lives sets new challenge for complex system design. In extending the use of functional models by adopting the human factors engineering perspective, we show how future practice was made tangible and subject to the value estimations of a variety of end-user groups. In the food chain related development project, functional models facilitated the creative agency of the food chain actors and enabled a participatory design process in which the agricultural engineers and the food chain actors collaborative worked on a vision of future farming.

The Crush the Crave Quit Smoking App and Young Adult Smokers: Qualitative Case Study of Affordances.

BackgroundMobile phone apps have emerged as a promising way to reach young adult smokers, given their high mobile phone ownership rates and openness to receiving cessation support via digital technologies. Although emerging evidence indicates that quit smoking apps are an effective way to reduce smoking among young adults, lacking is formative evaluative research that captures the perspectives of end-users.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to contribute insights toward understanding how young adults interact with the Crush the Crave (CTC) app, and how this interaction shapes young adults’ smoking cessation experiences and practices, with consideration of the influence of gender.MethodsSemistructured interviews were conducted with 31 young adult CTC end-users. Guided by sociomateriality theory and an affordances approach, data were inductively analyzed to derive thematic findings in relation to the impacts of CTC on quit efforts, and to expose the underlying affordances (mechanisms) that lend to these outcomes. Findings were grouped according to the 4 design components of CTC: credibility, social support, task support, and dialogue support.ResultsThe credibility component of CTC played an important role in harnessing the trust of young adults because it afforded them promise in relation to its potential effectiveness in assisting them with quitting smoking. The social support component lent to various end-user practices and experiences that rendered this aspect as the weakest component in supporting quit efforts. Although most functions situated in the task and dialogue support components were found to be helpful, there were a few affordances in CTC that resulted in negative experiences, notably weaning from smoking. Gender-related influences were also evident. For example, young men preferred to control and self-manage their quitting and, therefore, did not engage with functions that afforded journaling or reminding to stay on track. Women, in contrast, were more likely to benefit from these affordances.ConclusionsAn affordances approach is productive for gaining an in-depth understanding of how mobile apps interact with end-users to lend to particular outcomes. The study findings have implications for developing and improving apps for helping young adults quit smoking, as well as apps that target other health behaviors. Productive affordances may also serve as a framework for leveraging apps for smoking cessation.

Development of LCA Calculator to support community infrastructure co-design

PurposeLCA tools are increasingly used to support decision making. However, the current generation of tools is mainly targeted at users with significant background in industrial and environmental processes. This paper presents a novel process of developing the LCA Calculator with inputs from community members embedded in a co-design process. It demonstrates how engineering tools can be developed by considering end-user perspectives and used to communicate systems thinking in infrastructure co-design.MethodsThe process of the LCA Calculator development was informed by the outcomes of community engagement through the co-design process. The method consists of four parts including horizon scanning of suitable technology options, LCA modelling, development of the LCA Calculator and pilot testing of the Calculator with residents from the selected case study community. The case study community are residents of a social housing estate in central London. The estate has a total of 123 flats arranged in three low-rise blocks with shared gardens and courtyards. Three technology options—wormery composting, rainwater harvesting and urban food growing—were used to illustrate the LCA methods and test the Calculator development.Results and discussionThe Calculator developed in this project pushes the boundaries beyond expert users to develop a new generation of LCA tools for a wider range of decision makers. The LCA results were communicated using the LCA Calculator in a workshop as part of the co-design process. The communication process was supported by the visual language of the Calculator, information sheets of the technology options and community members’ involvement in the process of the Calculator development. The Calculator provided a solid base on which sustainable design discussions could happen. It provided to the participants valuable insights into the scale of material flow given different design choices—such as the amount of waste generated over a month or the irrigation requirements of a raised bed—and environmental impacts of these options.ConclusionsA prototype version of an LCA Calculator software tool has been developed to enable rapid assessment of conceptual design of engineering systems. The LCA Calculator was successfully tested at a community workshop, enabling clear engagement between engineering design choices and resource and environmental impacts. The Calculator facilitated a two-way exchange between community members and infrastructure designers that embeds end-user perspectives in the design and implementation of the infrastructure they use, taking into account lifecycle impacts of technology and material options.

Consensus paper on testing and evaluation of military exoskeletons for the dismounted combatant

Enhancing the capabilities of the dismounted combatant has been an enduring goal of international military research communities. Emerging developments in exoskeleton technology offers the potential to augment the dismounted combatant’s capabilities. However, the ability to determine the value proposition of an exoskeleton in a military context is difficult due to the variety of methods and metrics used to evaluate previous devices. The aim of this paper was to present a standard framework for the evaluation and assessment of exoskeletons for use in the military. A structured and systematic methodology was developed from the end-user perspective and progresses from controlled laboratory conditions (Stage A), to simulated movements specific to the dismounted combatant (Stage B), and real-world military specific tasks (Stage C). A standard set of objective and subjective metrics were described to ensure a holistic assessment on the human response to wearing the exoskeleton and the device’s mechanical performance during each stage. A standardised methodology will ensure further advancement of exoskeleton technology and support improved international collaboration across research and industry groups. In doing so, this better enables international military groups to evaluate a system’s potential, with the hope of accelerating the maturity and ultimately the fielding of devices to augment the dismounted close combatant and small team capability.

183 Beef Research Needs for the Future: End-User Perspective.

183 Beef Research Needs for the Future: End-User Perspective.

Healthcare service evolution towards the Internet of Things: An end-user perspective

For the last two decades the Internet of Things (IoT) has been a subject of growing global interest. Particularly dynamic industries such as the healthcare service sector have just begun to understand the benefits of the IoT for the provision of a new, more advanced type of services. However, whilst the healthcare service industry is yet to fully grasp the benefits of information systems for its practitioners and managers, and for patients and families, there is a need for a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated to IoT-based healthcare systems as another disruptive wave of technologies. In particular, research on the relevance of users' skills for adoption of IoT-based healthcare services has been limited. Using the current Internet-based healthcare service landscape as a platform for the formulation and testing of its hypotheses, this paper explores the relationship between patients' capabilities for effective use of information and communication technologies and the success of IoT-based healthcare services. The resulting theoretical model for effective use of information and communication technologies and the success of IoT-based healthcare services was then validated. The validation was based on data collected from a randomly selected sample of 256 users of Internet-based healthcare services provided by the public healthcare system of the Region of Murcia in Spain. The findings of this research inform future strategies for the implementation of new generations of health and well-being services based on IoT technologies.

What you pay is what you get?

Complementing the current paradigm change from QoS to QoE, we address fundamental QoE charging issues for Internet services from an end user perspective. Here, key issues arise from gaps of different information contexts involved, which have to be managed when introducing a QoE product. Hence, this paper analyzes the double role of prices for quality perception as well as the impact of QoE on user demand with the help of a fixed point model. Our model is consistent with real-world user behavior that we have observed during comprehensive user trials on quality perception for video on demand services. Based on these results, we propose a simple approach for convergence-based user classification, and discuss the complementarity of willingness-to-pay vs. subjective quality perception in service purchasing situations.

Managing high-performance computing applications as an on-demand service on federated clouds

There are several challenges (e.g., imbalance between supply and demand of hardware resources and software licenses, and usability) under modern High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment. As a means of providing an on-demand service for end users, we propose a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) approach for managing commercial HPC applications as a Web-based service deployed on top of federated clouds. Some inter-trusted private or public clouds are federated to create a unified service platform with a large amount of hardware resources. In addition, an on-demand, pay-per-use model for Web-service-enabled HPC applications is proposed. Further, we provide an economic analysis of the proposed approach from the perspective of end users, cloud service providers, and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). We conduct a simulation using two HPC application services on three federated clouds. A combined Quality of Service (QoS) and economic evaluation demonstrates a better effect of the proposed approach comparing with existing HPC platforms.

Gym-based exoskeleton walking: A preliminary exploration of non-ambulatory end-user perspectives

BackgroundRobotic walking devices (RWD) have shown many physical benefits in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) rehabilitation. No study to date has explored end-user perceptions of these devices or gained insight into the use of these devices in a gym-based setting. ObjectiveThis preliminary study explores the perspectives of four non-ambulatory individuals with SCI on using an exoskeleton walking device in a gym-based community setting. MethodsIn-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with four SCI individuals living in the community. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Inductive thematic analysis established common overarching themes and subthemes. ResultsFour primary themes emerged addressing “The Psychological Adjustments Around Using RWDs with Respect to Disability”, “Perceived Physical, Social and Psychological Benefits of Using an Exoskeleton”, “The Role of External Influences”, and “A Wellness Model to Health”. A fully integrated gym setting was found to provide a positive and encouraging space to utilise the device. In addition, both the ability to set training goals and the positive attitude of robotic trainers were deemed to be important factors. ConclusionsThis preliminary study provides detailed perspectives of four non-ambulatory individuals with SCI on utilising an exoskeleton walking device in a community setting. It suggests that gym-based RWDs impact positively on the users' lives and enhance their perceived wellbeing and sense of community integration. Enabling access to similar, community-based facilities should be prioritised for those with longstanding SCI disability.

Confirmatory factor analysis of Post-Occupancy Evaluation Model (POEM) for sustainable neighborhood development

The sustainable urban development growth in the ASEAN region has accelerated tremendously. More demand on the sustainable development has led to bigger market driven certified green neighborhood and buildings. However, there is a lack of post-occupancy evaluation study conducted in assessing the end-users perspective on the certified sustainable neighborhood development. This paper aims to investigate the end-users point of view on sustainable dimension pillar (SDP) adaptation based on environment dimension, social dimension and economic dimension using Post-Occupancy Evaluation Model (POEM) framework. The research methodology employed stakeholders-Inclusion Approach survey questionnaires in order to obtained the sustainable dimensional adaptation score. The results show that there is sustainable dimension gap in POEM evaluation, hence, suggested the pre- occupancy criteria did not fulfill the SDP adaptation and pre-occupancy criteria and variables if differ from post-occupancy criteria and variables.

Simulator for modeling, analysis, and visualizations of thermal status in data centers

Data centers (DC) are richly instrumented systems consists of highly coupled elements that store and process a large amount of data. To perform large computation and storage, a DC is equipped with more than thousands of servers or even more. Due to a large number of these computational devices put in use at DC, produces a large amount of heat. Therefore the cost to maintain the thermal balance in a DC has increased significantly and has become almost equal to the cost of operating these systems. The main problem in heat management is ‘Hot spots creation’ which can cause hardware inefficiencies, and operational disruptions and in turn have a negative impact on overall functionality.To address these issues this paper aims at decreasing energy consumption of DC by allowing administrators, designers, and planners to model, visualize and analyze the thermal status of various configurations and solutions. A major difficulty in the thermal analysis of DC is the lack of simulation tool, where the impact of design (layout) and workload on thermal status can be tested. Therefore there is a need for a simulator that approaches the problem from an end-user perspective and takes into account all the factors that are critical to analyzing thermal balance in DC. A simulator is developed that takes DC computational devices as input and provide models that allow designers to analyze and visualize DC thermal conditions. The simulator allows the user to apply different job allocation strategies and can analyze thermal status for each; that help them choose the best strategy for job allocation. It enables DC administrator to organize servers and racks before their actual implementation. Moreover, servers can be relocated to analyze and maintain thermal balance. The user will also able to predict thermal condition after a specific time period. The simulator enables a DC user/administrator to maintain thermal balance in DC by detecting the root cause of hot spots under different workload; which will help them make better workload balancing decisions.