Impact Of Software Research Articles

Assessing CellaVision peripheral blood and advanced RBC application software's impact on hematologic morphology reporting: Real-world implementation experience in a large Veterans Affairs hospital.

This quality improvement study, conducted at the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri, examined the change in patient reporting after transitioning from manual to CellaVision software-guided differentials and slide reviews. The primary focus was blasts and schistocytes, given their clinical significance. Three months of manual and CellaVision patient data were examined between May 2022 and February 2023. Blast and schistocyte patients were standardized to the total specimens performed and compared using 2-sample proportion testing. Other red blood cell (RBC) morphologies were also compared using this statistical analysis. Blast and schistocyte reporting after technologist review statistically increased after implementing the CellaVision software. This finding was most prevalent for low-percentage blasts. In addition, both morphologies experienced varying degrees of false-positive reporting, with 33% for low-percentage blasts and 91.7% for schistocytes. Other RBC morphologies displayed different levels of change, which could be clinically significant. The CellaVision software's increased sensitivity to blasts and schistocytes may benefit patient care, especially those with hematologic disorders. The software's high false-positive rate can be reduced by implementing quality metrics that prioritize clinically significant cells. This can be accomplished by implementing a CellaVision Champion to monitor reporting changes, perform patient lookbacks through the software, and provide technologist education. In addition, adopting a more stringent grading scale for schistocytes could also improve the high false-positive rate. Overall, CellaVision provides the ability to enhance hematology quality metrics by providing access to how patient cells are categorized and offering prompt education.

Best practices to evaluate the impact of biomedical research software-metric collection beyond citations.

Software is vital for the advancement of biology and medicine. Impact evaluations of scientific software have primarily emphasized traditional citation metrics of associated papers, despite these metrics inadequately capturing the dynamic picture of impact and despite challenges with improper citation. To understand how software developers evaluate their tools, we conducted a survey of participants in the Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) program funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). We found that although developers realize the value of more extensive metric collection, they find a lack of funding and time hindering. We also investigated software among this community for how often infrastructure that supports more nontraditional metrics were implemented and how this impacted rates of papers describing usage of the software. We found that infrastructure such as social media presence, more in-depth documentation, the presence of software health metrics, and clear information on how to contact developers seemed to be associated with increased mention rates. Analysing more diverse metrics can enable developers to better understand user engagement, justify continued funding, identify novel use cases, pinpoint improvement areas, and ultimately amplify their software's impact. Challenges are associated, including distorted or misleading metrics, as well as ethical and security concerns. More attention to nuances involved in capturing impact across the spectrum of biomedical software is needed. For funders and developers, we outline guidance based on experience from our community. By considering how we evaluate software, we can empower developers to create tools that more effectively accelerate biological and medical research progress. More information about the analysis, as well as access to data and code is available at https://github.com/fhdsl/ITCR_Metrics_manuscript_website.

ABO Blood Group and Rhesus Profiling Software as a Learning Tool

The study examined the ABO and Rh Profiling (ARGOS) software's impact on learning Fundamental of Transfusion Practice at UiTM. ARGOS, a new software, complements traditional blood typing. The survey questionnaires were employed to evaluate the effect of the use of the ARGOS in students’ learning. ARGOS minimized errors and facilitated ABO grouping accurately. It simplified Rh system understanding, including Fisher-Race, Weiner, Rosenfield, and Tippet’s nomenclature. ARGOS enhanced student engagement, offering immediate feedback, and verifying comprehension. Overall, the software improved learning outcomes by aiding in result accuracy, reducing errors, and simplifying complex concepts, fostering a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

Design and Effect of Neurosurgical Educational Software Using Gamification on Students' Learning and Motivation.

Gamification is an innovative learning approach that, when combined with technology, aligns well with students' preferences. Recognizing the necessity of employing effective educational methods in surgical team training, this study aims to examine the impact of gamification-based educational software on students' learning and motivation in the surgical technology field. This study was conducted as a quasi-experimental single-group pre-and post-test design in Iran in 2023. The study sample comprised 40 undergraduate students majoring in surgical technology, selected through a census method. The educational software is designed according to the nine principles of the model of Karl Kapp and Sharon Buller, using the mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics (MDA) framework. After implementation, the software's impact on students' learning and motivation was assessed. The students' learning levels before and after using the educational software were evaluated using a multiple-choice test. To measure students' motivation, a researcher-developed questionnaire was utilized. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to check the normality of the distribution of the studied variables. Through SPSS version 26, descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were analyzed along with inferential statistics, including paired t-tests. Among the participants, 55% were female, and the sample had a mean age of 22.30±0.99 years. A significant difference was observed between the mean learning scores before and after using the educational software (10.43±4.38 vs. 21±4.11, p < 0.001). The motivation level of the students showed a significant increase. Based on the results of this study, gamification-based software has led to improved learning and increased motivation among students in surgical technology.

Exploring the Influence of Xiaohongshu Application on Student Academic Performance and Technology Acceptance in Design Sketch Course: A Case Study at Sichuan Vocational College of Arts

Background and Aim: This study aims to explore the application of the Xiaohongshu mobile application in creating electronic portfolios, as well as editing, storing, and displaying students' electronic works in design sketch classes. The use of electronic portfolios can encourage students to constantly reflect on their artistic creations and improve their level of artistic performance. The objective of this research is to utilize the Xiaohongshu software as a platform for teaching technology and investigate the integration of electronic portfolios into design sketch classes, to enhance students' performance in design sketch works. Materials and Methods: The research utilized pre-tests and post-tests are conducted to evaluate students' performance in four areas of their design sketches: composition, space, details of objects and environment, and line quality. The questionnaire was used to measure students' PU and PEOU during the process of creating an electronic portfolio using Xiaohongshu software. Data were collected through test scoring and questionnaires, and statistical analysis and path hypothesis tests were conducted by Jamovi software. Results: The integration of the Xiaohongshu application software into the design sketch course exhibited positive outcomes. Analysis of pre-and post-test data revealed significant improvements in students' design sketch proficiency across various dimensions: composition, space representation, detailing of objects and environments, and line quality. Questionnaire survey results demonstrated favorable perceptions among students regarding the perceived usefulness and ease of utilizing the app for electronic portfolio creation. The study's findings suggest that the app contributes effectively to enhancing students' artistic capabilities. Conclusion: This study introduced the Xiaohongshu application software as an innovative e-learning tool for documenting painting processes and fostering curriculum exchange. Through a quasi-experimental approach, it assessed the software's impact on students' design sketch proficiency by creating electronic portfolios. The study also surveyed students' perceptions of its usefulness and ease of use. Findings demonstrated that integrating Xiaohongshu positively affected students' design skills, particularly in composition, spatial representation, detailing, and line quality. Students' positive feedback further validated the software's effectiveness. Additionally, the study highlighted the emergence of live online courses as a potential teaching mode. Future research could expand its scope by investigating diverse painting techniques and longer timeframes. In essence, this study underscores technology's transformative potential in traditional artistic education, paving the way for innovative pedagogical approaches and enhancing students' artistic growth.

Farm Owners and Workers as Key Informants in User-Centered Occupational Health Prototype Development: A Stakeholder-Engaged Project.

BackgroundThe cost of workplace injuries and illnesses significantly impacts the overall cost of health care and is a significant annual economic burden in the United States. Many dairy and pork farm owners in the Upper Midwest have expanded operations and taken on the role of manager and employer yet receive little training in injury prevention, farm safety, or workers’ compensation programs and processes. Clinicians play a key role in the return to work of injured and ill farmers and farmworkers to their jobs, though little to no formal training is offered by medical schools.ObjectiveThis stakeholder-engaged project aimed to develop a prototype application designed to assist clinicians in returning injured farmworkers to light-duty job assignments with their current employers and to assess farm owners’ and managers’ attitudes toward and barriers to adopting mobile health tools for themselves or their employees.MethodsWe conducted 12 semistructured interviews with English-speaking farm owners and farmworkers from the Upper Midwest: 5 English-speaking and Spanish-speaking farmworker focus groups and 8 postproject interviews with farm owners that focused on attitudes and barriers to adoption of the developed software. Interviews and focus groups were audio recorded, and data were analyzed and thematically coded using audio coding.ResultsInterviews and worker focus groups guided an iterative design and development cycle, which informed workflow design, button placement, and output sheets that offer specific light-duty farm work recommendations for the injured worker to discuss with his or her employer.ConclusionsThe development of a complex prototype intended to impact patient care is a significant undertaking. Reinventing a paper-based process that can eventually integrate with an electronic health record or a private company’s human resources system requires substantial stakeholder input from each facet including patients, employers, and clinical care teams. The prototype is available for testing, but further research is needed in the form of clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of the process and the software’s impact on patients and employers.

Managing Software's Impact

As a review of past articles in IEEE Software's Impact department shows, software economics largely determines a software product's success, and volume plays a key role.

Quantifying Software's Impact

Software's impact on various industries is the topic of 15 columns published in IEEE Software since 2010. This article describes how to quantify software's impact using metrics such as compound average growth rate and software mileage.

A little knowledge about software

Software engineering is still a young discipline. Software development group managers must keep their groups current with this dynamic body of knowledge as it evolves. There are two basic approaches: require staff to have both application expertise and software expertise, or create a software cell. The latter approach runs the risk of two communities not communicating well, although it might make staying abreast of changes in software engineering easier. The first approach should work better than it does today if some new educational patterns are put in place. For example, we could start treating software more like mathematics, introducing more software courses into undergraduate programs in other disciplines. Managers must also focus on the best way to develop software expertise for existing staff. Staff returning to school for a master's in software engineering can acquire a broad understanding of the field, but at a substantial cost in both time and effort. Short courses call help to fill this gap, but most short courses are skill based, whereas a deeper kind of learning is needed. As the first step, however, managers must assess software's impact on their bottom line deliverables. It might surprise them how much they depend on software expertise to deliver their products.

Secure software's impact on reliability

Reliability of software is directly impacted by additional code, complex design, and other measures to inhibit unauthorized use of software systems. This paper examines the problem of maintaining software reliability in computer security systems and suggests an approach to design in the reliability by making objective measures over the life cycle. The author presents some new concepts which will enable the software developers to measure not only the degree of security being built into the software, but also its direct impact on reliability.