Design Of Use Cases Research Articles

Use case generation, variation, and anticipation in innovation projects: Analysis of current industry practices based on interviews with international innovation experts

Use case scenarios play an essential role in innovation projects and influence the design of technologies. In this research article, I examine how use cases are generated, varied, and anticipated. To do so, I analyze interviews with international innovation experts (N = 14), e.g., Chief Technology Officer, Innovation Director, or User Experience Researcher. A heterogeneity of practices for the design of use cases, the creation of use case variants, and the anticipation of a possible extension of use cases can be identified. Anti-personas and worst-case scenarios are tools specifically aimed at identifying malicious use cases. A surprising result is the absence of special AI‑based procedures for use case generation, variation, and anticipation, indicating untapped potential for innovation projects.

The Town Crier: A Use-Case Design and Implementation for a Socially Assistive Robot in Retirement Homes

The use of new assistive technologies in general, and Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) in particular, is becoming increasingly common for supporting people’s health and well-being. However, it still faces many issues regarding long-term adherence, acceptability and utility. Most of these issues are due to design processes that insufficiently take into account the needs, preferences and values of intended users. Other issues are related to the currently very limited amount of long-term evaluations, performed in real-world settings, for SARs. This study presents the results of two regional projects that consider as a starting hypothesis that the assessment in controlled environments and/or with short exposures may not be enough in the design of an SAR deployed in a retirement home and the necessity of designing for and with users. Thus, the proposed methodology has focused on use-cases definitions that follow a human-centred and participatory design approach. The main goals have been facilitating system acceptance and attachment by involving stakeholders in the robots design and evaluation, overcoming usage barriers and considering user’s needs integration. The implementation of the first use-case deployed and the two-phase pilot test performed in a retirement home are presented. In particular, a detailed description of the interface redesign process based on improving a basic prototype with users’ feedback and recommendations is presented, together with the main results of a formal evaluation that has highlighted the impact of changes and improvements addressed in the first redesign loop of the system.

Extending reference architecture of big data systems towards machine learning in edge computing environments

BackgroundAugmented reality, computer vision and other (e.g. network functions, Internet-of-Things (IoT)) use cases can be realised in edge computing environments with machine learning (ML) techniques. For realisation of the use cases, it has to be understood how data is collected, stored, processed, analysed, and visualised in big data systems. In order to provide services with low latency for end users, often utilisation of ML techniques has to be optimized. Also, software/service developers have to understand, how to develop and deploy ML models in edge computing environments. Therefore, architecture design of big data systems to edge computing environments may be challenging.FindingsThe contribution of this paper is reference architecture (RA) design of a big data system utilising ML techniques in edge computing environments. An earlier version of the RA has been extended based on 16 realised implementation architectures, which have been developed to edge/distributed computing environments. Also, deployment of architectural elements in different environments is described. Finally, a system view is provided of the software engineering aspects of ML model development and deployment.ConclusionsThe presented RA may facilitate concrete architecture design of use cases in edge computing environments. The value of RAs is reduction of development and maintenance costs of systems, reduction of risks, and facilitation of communication between different stakeholders.

Utilization of online focus groups to include mothers: A use-case design, reflection, and recommendations.

Advances in technology over the past decade have allowed unique methodologies to emerge, enabling the engagement of hard-to-reach populations on sensitive topics in a way that was before thought not possible with traditional face-to-face modalities. This study aimed to use online focus group discussions (FGDs) to explore breastfeeding mothers’ use of social media. Results indicate participants had a positive experience with online FGDs, and almost all preferred this method to traditional face-to-face focus groups. We discuss reflections of the online FGD experience, including best practices and recommendations for innovative ways to include time-constrained or hard-to-reach participants, for yielding rich qualitative data.

English

This paper proposes new object oriented design of use cases and state transition models to effectively guard Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Privacy-An important factor need to be considered while we publishing the microdata. Usually government agencies and other organization used to publish the microdata. On releasing the microdata, the sensitive information of the individuals are being disclosed. This constitutes a major problem in the government and organizational sector for releasing the microdata. In order to sector or to prevent the sensitive information, we are going to implement certain algorithms and methods. Normally there two types of information disclosures they are: Identity disclosure and Attribute disclosure. Identity disclosure occurs when an individual's linked to a particular record in the released Attribute disclosure occurs when new information about some individuals are revealed. This paper aims to discuss the existing techniques present in literature for preserving, incremental development, use cases and state transition models of the system proposed.

A novel approach for supporting the development cycle of automation systems

The growing complexity of current automation applications demand clear methodologies and procedures in order to assure that the system under design meets the requirements. Within the industrial automation field there are several methods, techniques, tools and standards that have captured the experience of designers through years of practice. On the other hand, the software engineering discipline offers different methodologies covering the different phases of the life cycle (analysis, design, test and maintenance). This work pretends to take advantage of both: the maturity of the software engineering discipline and the well-spread methods and standards of the industrial automation field. In particular, the proposed methodological approach uses model based engineering principles for developing automation control systems combining modeling methods of automation field. Specifically, it combines GEMMA (Guide d'Etude des Modes de Marches et d'Arrets), UML (Unified Modeling Language) use case diagrams and GRAFCET (GRAphe Fonctionnel de Commande, Etapes, Transitions) for assisting the designer during the analysis, design and coding phases. Using GEMMA, the states of the automated process are identified. Use case diagrams allow identifying the actors that participate in the operation modes. Finally, a set of GRAFCET templates assists in the design of use cases. Thus, the user is guided through the development phases in which the concepts used are familiar to him/her. The final step includes the automatic generation of the Program Organization Units (POUs) in PLCopen XML interface. The proposed methodology is illustrated by means of a simple but illustrative mechatronic case study.