Usability Attributes Research Articles

The Relationship between Social Media Usage and Mental Well-Being among Young Adults

Background: The use of social media has grown rapidly over the past decennium and a half, however, not much research is conducted on it to identify its correlation with mental well-being and its effects. Aim: To determine the correlation between social media usage and mental well-being in young adults. Study design: Cross Sectional study. Methodology: Data was collected using convenient sampling. This study includes a sample size of 215 young adults, 108 men, and 107 women, from two universities in Lahore, Pakistan, aged between 18 -25 years. Two instruments were used in this study to measure the variables, the Social Networking Usage questionnaire, and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. Data was evaluated by using SPSS version 24. Pearson’s correlation and independent sample t-test were applied with p-value < 0.05 as significant. Results: Findings indicated a significant positive relationship between all dimensions of social media usage including academic, socialization, entertainment, and information. High mean scores indicated that research participants mostly use social media for academic purposes. There was not a statistically significant relationship that could be seen between social media usage and mental well-being. Gender differences were found only related to mental well-being where men scored high as compared to women with a significance of 0.01 level. Practical Implication: Present study results raised the idea of examining other mediating or moderating factors between the connection between social media platforms usage and mental well-being. Not only the time but the content and purpose of social media should also be considered while establishing the direction of the relationship. Conclusion: It was concluded that young adults’ use of social media has not an inverse connection with mental health, and they mostly use it for academic purposes. However, men and women are different on the mental well-being scale, and men with high well-being reported for the present sample. Key words: Social Media, Correlation, Mental Well-Being, Depression and Self-Esteem.

Measurement of Financial Inclusion in India: An Integrated Approach with TOPSIS and EWM

The extent of financial inclusion among Indian states for the period has been measured and compared by constructing a composite index using an integrated methodology of TOPSIS (Technique of order preference by similarity to ideal solution) with EWM (Entropy Weighting Method). The proposed index has three broad dimensions of banking penetration, availability, and usage of banking services with an extended variable. Data for the study include: state wide bank data, demographic, geographic, and economic data, and are taken from Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) publications. There is a general improvement in financial inclusion in India, while UT of Chandigarh and Delhi top the index, and Manipur and Nagaland bottom of the index. The southern region tops India on financial inclusion in terms of average rank. The methodology adopted in this study is not widely adopted in IFI literature. Moreover, the index has been constructed with statically assigned weight by using EWM.

Examination of the relationship between the attitudes of teacher candidates towards technology and their opinions of distance education

The study aims to determine possible relationships between the opinions of teacher candidates regarding distance education, and their attitudes toward the technology used in distance education courses. A quantitative research approach structured in a descriptive and relational survey model was used in the research. 81 teacher candidates studying in three different departments participated in the study. Non-parametric statistics were used to analyze the data, and Descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman-Brown correlation analysis were employed. The results revealed that there is a positive and moderately significant relationship between the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards technology and their opinions of the distance education process. It has also been determined that there is a positive and moderate relationship between the opinions of teacher candidates in regard to the sub-dimensions of the scale of the distance education process evaluation (levels of accessibility, usability, attitude, technological facilities, and self-efficacy) and their attitudes towards technology. These findings implicate that educators teaching online learners should consider the characteristics of their learners and make decisions regarding the teaching and learning process to create the optimal learning environment.

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Long-term use of an ankle-foot orthosis intervention in patients with peripheral artery disease using the integrated promoting action on research implementation in health services (i-PARIHS) framework

BackgroundPeripheral artery disease (PAD) is a cardiovascular disease that limits patients' walking ability. Persistent ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) use may increase the distance patients can walk as well as physical activity. PurposeThe purpose of the study was to determine the implementation and patients' perspectives related to the use or disuse of the AFO intervention six months post-intervention. This study was guided by a semi-structured interview and survey based on the integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (i-PARIHS) constructs. DesignA convergent mixed methods design was used to evaluate participants' perceptions six months following a three-month AFO intervention. A survey and semi-structured questionnaire based on the i-PARIHS constructs were administered and analyzed. SettingVascular surgery clinic and biomechanics research laboratory. ParticipantsPatients (N = 7; male, 100%; age, 71.9 ± 0.6.7y; body mass index, 29.0 ± 0.5.5; ankle brachial index 0.50 ± 0.17) with claudication completed the study. InterventionsA certified orthotist fit participants with an AFO that was worn for 3 months. Main outcome measuresQualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews and quantitative analysis of the survey. ResultsThe highest positive ratings were seen in the dimensions of usability and cost-effectiveness. The patients found the AFO device and instructions to wear, easy when starting the intervention and there were no out-of-pocket costs. The lower scores and challenges faced with observability and relative advantage domains indicated issues related to motivation for sustained use of the AFO. ConclusionsBarriers associated with AFO function that prevent common activities and poor health seem to be the biggest issue for not wanting to wear the AFO after the 3-month intervention. Addressing patients' perceptions and challenges to wearing the AFO is essential to increasing compliance and physical activity. Future research should concentrate on understanding the compatibility of orthotic device interventions with the subject's lifestyle.Clinical Trial Registration No.: NCT02902211.

Electrical Detection of Vibrations of Electrospun PVDF Membranes.

We prepared electroactive PVDF membranes, which were subjected to mechanical as well as dual electro-mechanical signals and their responses were detected by the evoked electrical pulses. The aim was to obtain primarily electric energy that could be used for light signalling, sensing of the membrane properties and membrane motion detection. The obtained data showed the unique as well as usable properties of PVDF membranes. From this point of view, the gain and analysis of the electrical responses to combined electro-mechanical loads of PVDF membranes have been important in terms of identifying the mechanism. The detected electrical response of the PVDF membrane to their electro-mechanical pulses also indicated the possibility of using this phenomenon. Among others, it suggests monitoring of membrane fouling and use for a self-cleaning mechanism.

TPEIP: Thumbnail preserving encryption based on sum preserving for image privacy

Image privacy technology is a growing important topic in cloud storage services. User can use the cloud services to browse or manage their own images, however, the user will face the problem of image privacy. Accordingly, the traditional image encryption scheme is a way to ensure the safety of images. However, encrypted images will lose their image usable property when users want to search and browse their own images online without downloading and decrypting them. Marohn et al. designed two thumbnail-preserving-encryption (TPE) methods to balance the image privacy and usability. In this paper, a novel TPEIP method based on sum-preserving-encryption (SPE) is proposed for enhancing the image privacy. SPE can avoid the statement of fail encryption using the approximate TPE method. We also applied formulas to present the correctness of the proposed scheme. The combination of thumbnail and encryption approach allows the user to quickly compare encrypted images using thumbnail. Experimental results show that our proposed method not only retained the same thumbnail appearance before and after encryption but also held the image encryption with sufficiently confidential.

An explorative study of salient usability attributes affecting m-commerce consumer behaviour in a Nordic context

M-commerce, or mobile commerce, refers to smartphone shopping and plays an increasingly large role within e-commerce. Past research in the field of information systems (IS) success has primarily consisted of quantitative studies. Little research has been conducted in an m-commerce context. Furthermore, few qualitative works on the intersection of success factors from firms' perspective and m-commerce exist. In fact, there is a knowledge gap regarding how business practitioners can increase their website usability in an m-commerce setting. Based on the mapping of usability attributes by Kuan et al., which elaborates on DeLone and McLean's IS Success Model, this paper aims to identify the most important website usability attributes by generating new insights about mobile consumers' behaviour. This is obtained via a qualitative approach, using data about consumer behaviour on four Nordic m-commerce webshops within the baby products industry. Eight respondents completed a smartphone task while verbalising their thoughts. This data was supplemented with eye-tracking information. The theoretical model was operationalised via creating 19 codes corresponding to 19 usability attributes. As such, this paper took a deductive approach, coding the data in NVivo by tagging labels to categorical labels. Based on the number of references for each categorical label, three salient attributes were identified to increase m-commerce website usability: ‘ease of navigation’, ‘relevance’ and ‘effectiveness of product search and comparison’. The managerial implications include recommendations for these three attributes, including the use of categorisation and filtering systems, avoiding uncertainty and minimising the potential negative consequences related to the purchase intention and enabling on-page product and consumer product experience comparisons. While this study is based on a small data sample, and represents a minor exploration into a niche market, it nonetheless provides a starting point for business practitioners who have the goal of increasing usability in an m-commerce context.

Constructing a financial inclusion index for Mexican municipalities

Access to financial services varies sharply around the world among countries but also within regions and municipalities in the same country. To identify this important variation multivariate indices have been considered previously but they should have an adequate formulation that results in relevant information for policy proposals. Many Financial Inclusion (FI) Indices have been constructed using methodologies that do not allow identifying subdimensions within the broad dimensions of access and usage in which the entity (country or municipality) could be lagging. In this respect our contribution is to construct a novel FI index that encompass different subdimensions of access and usage which are determined previously by exploratory factor analysis. The aggregation of our index is as a weighted geometric mean with the weights derived from DEA Benefit of the Doubt (BoD). In other formulations the weights imposed in multivariate indices have been a source of criticism when determined by the researcher discretionally or derived by factor or principal component analysis which have some shortcomings. We construct a Geometric BoD index for Mexican municipalities in 2020 considering that our FI index formulation is also appropriate to use for any other country or region. Our results show that the importance of each dimension is different for each municipality in Mexico which in turn indicates that each of them can suffer of low levels of FI for a variety of reasons.

Social Acceptability in Context: Stereotypical Perception of Shape, Body Location, and Usage of Wearable Devices

Assessing social acceptability is vital when designing body-worn mobile devices. Previous research found evidence that using stereotyping content model (SCM) mobile devices can systematically predict ratings of the warmth and competence of their wearers. However, it is currently unknown if other contextual dimensions of mobile device usage can also systematically affect those ratings. In two studies, we investigate if and how shape and body location of a body-worn mobile device as well as the activity in which the device is being used can systematically influence stereotypical ratings. Our results suggest that this is evident in some but not all cases. We conclude that people further differentiate between the placement of the device, particularly devices in the user’s hand, and during an activity in which the device can contextually be misused. This indicates that users further differentiate the context and that more contexual information is helpful while operationalizing the SCM as a measure for social acceptability.

Broadband infrastructure and digital financial inclusion in rural China

This paper examines the relationship between the large-scale construction of broadband infrastructure and digital financial inclusion in rural China. To make causal inferences, we exploit a quasi-natural experiment and use a difference-in-differences identification strategy with a panel dataset of Chinese counties from 2014 to 2018. The results show that broadband infrastructure significantly contributes to digital financial inclusion. Furthermore, we distinguish between two dimensions of digital inclusion, namely, coverage and usage. We find that while broadband infrastructure promotes the coverage dimension, its effect on the usage dimension is limited. In addition, the effect of broadband infrastructure on digital financial inclusion in the usage dimension is larger in areas with higher levels of human capital, higher levels of social capital, and higher penetrations of bank branches. Accounting for these moderators is important to fully harness the potential of broadband infrastructure for financial inclusion.

Multiscale analysis, mechanical properties and strength of hydrophobic paper sludge

In order to combat the damaging environmental effects of cement production and the depletion of natural resources, a sustainable concrete company must develop alternative binders. This study investigates the use of hydrophobic paper sludge ash as a partial cement substitute in new concrete. The primary chemical components of the hydrophobic paper sludge ash were determined using energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis and Fourier transforms infrared. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry are used to analyse the hydration and pozzolanic reaction in concrete in relation to the amount of hydrophobic paper sludge ash substituted for cement. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques were used to examine the microstructures of concrete mixtures. There is also discussion of how the properties of hydrophobic paper sludge ash concrete affect its usability, mechanical strength, sorptivity, and water absorption.

Using a Modified Technology Acceptance Model for a Learning Management System Platform: A Questionnaire Design for Evaluating the Blackboard Learning Management System

Educational approaches have advanced and changed tremendously in recent years. The evolution of communication technologies has been important, particularly since many educational activities have been moved to an e-learning format. This has introduced innovative teaching methods and educational management techniques. Learning management systems (LMS) such as Web-based course development tools (WebCT), Blackboard, and learning spaces are currently widely accessible. Most higher education institutions use Blackboard as their primary LMS platform, making it one of the most frequently used LMS platforms. Blackboard technology is a widely used online program for educational institutions that makes it easier to distribute crucial items from teachers to students, such as papers, student reports, projects, and other publications. Consequently, the main objective of this paper is to design a technology acceptance model to investigate user acceptance of a Blackboard learning management system. In addition, we aim to create a quantitative strategy using a technology acceptance model (TAM) questionnaire as the major investigation tool. The Blackboard learning management system is evaluated using a quantitative approach based on the TAM. We use perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, user satisfaction and attributes of usability as the associated constructs for evaluation. All of these structures were altered to fit the study's needs. Furthermore, in this paper, we examin the specifics of each concept, and how they relate to the research problem. The study's findings indicate a set of methodologies that can be used to evaluate the benefits of using the Blackboard system for online learning.

ANALISIS PENGARUH KUALITAS WEBSITE TERHADAP KEPUTUSAN PEMBELIAN TIKET PADA FAST BOAT BLUEWATER EXPRESS SERANGAN, BALI

This research aims to find out the website quality of BlueWater Express e-commerce website through several stages, namely: identification of dimensions Usability, Information Quality, and Sevice Interaction Quality. Further reviewed how the influence of Website Quality from e-commerce website BlueWater Express can affect the decision to purchase BlueWater Express fast boat tickets. Data collection techniques using observations, interviews, questionnaires, literature studies, and documentation. Data collection techniques use non-probability sampling with accidental sampling procedure. Analysis techniques using qualitative descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression analysis.
 The results of this study showed that the Usability dimension (x1) had a positive and significant effect of 0.000 on the purchase decision (y), the Information Quality dimension (x2) had a positive and significant effect of 0.000 on the purchase decision (y), the dimension of Sevice Interaction Quality (x3) has a positive and significant effect of 0.000 on purchasing decisions (y), and the three dimensions of Usability (x1), Information Quality (x2), and Sevice Interaction Quality (x3) simultaneously positively affect purchasing decisions (y). From the Website Quality, information quality is the biggest factor influencing the decision of tourists to buy BlueWater Express fast boat tickets directly on the BlueWater Express e-commerce website itself. This is because the information presented on the BlueWater Express website is always up to date and can be accounted for.

Exploration of the usability quality attributes of mobile government services: a literature review.

This article investigates and analyzes the usability quality attributes of mobile government services. The lack of previous research in the area of mobile government service quality encourages the researchers of the current work to select the usability quality dimension, which is considered one of the most significant parts of the mobile government service quality framework. Using the systematic literature reviews in the area of usability in human-computer interaction and software design, the main attributes are extracted and analyzed to fit into the context of mobile government services. Five quality attributes of the usability dimensions are identified for evaluation of the quality of services of mobile government. These attributes are efficiency, satisfaction, memorability, error and compatibility. The present research proposes a model that can be used to evaluate the usability of mobile government services. The attributes were extracted according to the mobility features with consideration of the service category (Government-To-Citizens). By measuring the usability quality of the mGovernment portal by the electronic government agencies, it leads to understanding the degree of usability of the provided services from the public’s perspective.

Reaching and engaging people: Analyzing tweeting practices of large U.S. police departments pre- and post- the killing of George Floyd.

Finding ways to improve police legitimacy and police-community relations has for long been an important social issue in the United States. It becomes particularly urgent following the murder of George Floyd on May 25th, 2020. An emerging area that holds potential in remediating police-community relations pertains to the use of social media by police. Yet, this body of research stays highly exploratory (e.g., case studies based on a small sample of agencies) and different viewpoints exist regarding the objectives of police social media usage. The current study identified 115 large police departments in the U.S. and collected their tweets over a 4-month period between 4/1/2020 and 7/31/2020. We investigated how police agencies (both individually and as an aggregate) leveraged social media to respond to the nationwide protests directed at the police and community reactions to such responses. We found that police agencies tweeted more frequently in the immediate aftermath of the murder and posted an increased number of civil-unrest related tweets. The public showed a greater interest in engaging with law enforcement agencies (i.e., average favorite and retweet counts) following the murder. A great variability emerged across agencies in their responses on social media, suggesting that examining only a handful of agencies or a particular dimension of social media usage would limit our understanding of police behaviors and citizen interactions on social media. In conclusion, we suggested a few avenues for future research (and practices) on responsible and effective use of social media by police, while pointing out the challenges associated with such inquiries.

ANALISIS KUALITAS WEBSITE DENGAN METODE WEBQUAL 4.0 DAN IMPORTANCE PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

<em><span lang="EN">This study aims to analyze the quality of the Tokopedia website based on user perceptions using the WebQual 4.0 method. It is also meant to find out the gap between the level of performance and the level of user interest and indicators that are the main priority for improvement based on Importance Performance Analysis (IPA). The dimensions used in WebQual 4.0 consist of usability, information quality, and interaction quality. The sample in this study was 100 respondents using the Tokopedia website. Based on the results of research using WebQual 4.0, the website's quality has a WebQual Index score 0.85, which was good because it is close to 1,00. While based on Importance Performance Analysis, in quadrant one, four indicators need to improve their performance. The average value of the gap for each dimension is 0.24 gap for the usability dimension, -0.32 for the information quality dimension, and -0.32 for the interaction quality. The value of the most significant gap lies in the indicator that the Tokopedia Website guarantees the security of users' personal data information of -0.72, which means more attention and improvement should be given to the indicators with the most significant gap.</span></em>

Usability Methods and Attributes Reported in Usability Studies of Mobile Apps for Health Care Education: Scoping Review.

BackgroundMobile devices can provide extendable learning environments in higher education and motivate students to engage in adaptive and collaborative learning. Developers must design mobile apps that are practical, effective, and easy to use, and usability testing is essential for understanding how mobile apps meet users’ needs. No previous reviews have investigated the usability of mobile apps developed for health care education.ObjectiveThe aim of this scoping review is to identify usability methods and attributes in usability studies of mobile apps for health care education.MethodsA comprehensive search was carried out in 10 databases, reference lists, and gray literature. Studies were included if they dealt with health care students and usability of mobile apps for learning. Frequencies and percentages were used to present the nominal data, together with tables and graphical illustrations. Examples include a figure of the study selection process, an illustration of the frequency of inquiry usability evaluation and data collection methods, and an overview of the distribution of the identified usability attributes. We followed the Arksey and O’Malley framework for scoping reviews.ResultsOur scoping review collated 88 articles involving 98 studies, mainly related to medical and nursing students. The studies were conducted from 22 countries and were published between 2008 and 2021. Field testing was the main usability experiment used, and the usability evaluation methods were either inquiry-based or based on user testing. Inquiry methods were predominantly used: 1-group design (46/98, 47%), control group design (12/98, 12%), randomized controlled trials (12/98, 12%), mixed methods (12/98, 12%), and qualitative methods (11/98, 11%). User testing methods applied were all think aloud (5/98, 5%). A total of 17 usability attributes were identified; of these, satisfaction, usefulness, ease of use, learning performance, and learnability were reported most frequently. The most frequently used data collection method was questionnaires (83/98, 85%), but only 19% (19/98) of studies used a psychometrically tested usability questionnaire. Other data collection methods included focus group interviews, knowledge and task performance testing, and user data collected from apps, interviews, written qualitative reflections, and observations. Most of the included studies used more than one data collection method.ConclusionsExperimental designs were the most commonly used methods for evaluating usability, and most studies used field testing. Questionnaires were frequently used for data collection, although few studies used psychometrically tested questionnaires. The usability attributes identified most often were satisfaction, usefulness, and ease of use. The results indicate that combining different usability evaluation methods, incorporating both subjective and objective usability measures, and specifying which usability attributes to test seem advantageous. The results can support the planning and conduct of future usability studies for the advancement of mobile learning apps in health care education.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)RR2-10.2196/19072

Comparison of usability evaluation methods for a health information system: heuristic evaluation versus cognitive walkthrough method

BackgroundThere are differences of opinion regarding the selection of the most practical usability evaluation method among different methods. The present study aimed to compare two expert-based evaluation methods in order to assess a nursing module as the most widely used module of a Hospital Information System (HIS).MethodsFive independent evaluators used the Heuristic Evaluation (HE) and Cognitive Walkthrough (CW) methods to evaluate the nursing module of Shafa HIS. In this regard, the number and severity of the recognized problems according to the usability attributes were compared using two evaluation methods.ResultsThe HE and CW evaluation methods resulted in the identification of 104 and 24 unique problems, respectively, of which 33.3% of recognized problems in the CW evaluation method overlapped with the HE method. The average severity of the recognized problems was considered to be minor (2.34) in the HE method and major (2.77) in the CW evaluation method. There was a significant difference in terms of the total number and average severity of the recognized problems by these methods (P < 0.001). Based on the usability attribute, the HE method identified a larger number of problems concerning all usability attributes, and a significant difference was observed in terms of the number of recognized problems in both methods for all attributes except ‘memorability’. Also, there was a significant difference between the two methods based on the average severity of recognized problems only in terms of ‘learnability’.ConclusionThe HE method identified more problems with lower average severity while the CW was able to recognize fewer problems with higher average severity. Regarding the evaluation goal, the HE method was able to be used to improve the effectiveness and satisfaction of the HIS. Furthermore, the CW evaluation method is recommended to identify usability problems with the highest average severity, especially in terms of ‘learnability’.

An Empirical Study of Mobile Application Usability: A Unified Hierarchical Approach

Mobile app usability has been attracting the attention of academics and practitioners for sometime because well-designed mobile apps can build a close link between businesses and users in addition to enhancing user experiences. To better understand mobile app usability, this study develops a unified hierarchical approach that characterizes mobile app usability from the high level of “usability principles” to the intermediary level of “usability attributes” to the detailed level of “usability features” to assess the usability of current mobile apps from different categories. Using an online survey, we identified a set of usability design features that are common to all categories of apps. Furthermore, the study identifies a set of important and less important usability features within specific mobile app categories. In addition to the practical implications consisting of insights for mobile app design, the study found important relationships among usability principles, attributes, and features.