Interface Enhancements Research Articles

Citizen TV’s Viusasa: A Tool for Encouraging Local Content Creators

Video-on-Demand (VoD) platforms have revolutionized media consumption globally, offering personalized content experiences and challenging traditional broadcasting norms. This paper investigates the role of Citizen TV’s Viusasa in promoting local content within Kenya’s dynamic media landscape and evaluates the effectiveness of its personalized content delivery. Through a comprehensive analysis of user feedback, scholarly perspectives, and industry insights, the study examines how Viusasa leverages VoD technology and personalized recommendation algorithms to enhance user engagement and satisfaction. The Mediamorphosis Theory provides a conceptual framework, illustrating Viusasa’s adaptation to technological advancements while supporting local content creators amidst competition from global streaming giants. This research highlights Viusasa’s strategic initiatives in content diversification, user interface enhancements, and market positioning, underscoring its impact on Kenya’s media industry. By fostering a platform that accommodates indigenous storytelling and cultural expression, Viusasa bridges the gap between traditional broadcast media and modern digital platforms. The findings suggest that Viusasa’s success hinges on its ability to sustainably meet the evolving preferences of Kenyan audiences while navigating challenges such as financial sustainability and content diversity. Looking forward, Viusasa’s strategic growth initiatives and partnerships with local stakeholders are crucial for its continued relevance and influence in Kenya’s media ecosystem.

Directly Integrating Health Information Exchange (HIE) Data with the Electronic Health Record Increases HIE Use by Emergency Department Clinicians

Abstract Objectives This article (1) develops a Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources app, Health Dart, that integrates information from Indiana's community health information exchange (HIE), the Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC), directly with Cerner, an electronic health record (EHR), and (2) evaluates the effect of Health Dart's implementation on HIE use. Methods Health Dart was implemented in 14 Indiana University Health emergency departments (EDs) using a stepped-wedge study design. We analyzed rates of INPC use in 286,175 ED encounters between October 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020. Logistic regression was used to model the probability of INPC use given the implementation context, such as user interface (UI) enhancements and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Results INPC use increased by 131% across all encounters (from 3.6 to 8.3%; p < 0.001) after Health Dart implementation. INPC use increased by 144% (from 3.6 to 8.8%; p < 0.001) more than 2 months postimplementation. After UI enhancements, postimplementation INPC use increased by 123% (from 3.5 to 7.8%) compared to 181% (from 3.6 to 10.1%; p < 0.001) in postimplementation encounters that occurred before UI enhancements. During the pandemic, postimplementation INPC use increased by 135% (from 3.4 to 8.0%; p < 0.001) compared to 178% (from 3.6 to 10%; p < 0.001) in postimplementation encounters that occurred before the pandemic. Statistical significance was determined using 95% confidence intervals (α = 0.05). Conclusion Direct integration of HIE information into an EHR substantially increased frequency of HIE use, but the effect was weakened by the UI enhancements and pandemic. HIE information integrated into EHRs in the form of problem-oriented dashboards can potentially make information retrieval more efficient and effective for clinicians.

Overview of the CEAMMC PureData distribution and library


 
 
 This text is a report about the CEAMMC PureData distribution - also known as “Pd-ceammc” - and the CEAMMC external library for the official Pure Data distribution by Miller Puckette - also known as “Pd Vanilla”. The CEAMMC Pure Data repository is available at https://github.com/uliss/pure-data. This distribution is a software package that comprises the original Pure Data distribution with several user interface enhancements and the CEAMMC object library plus yet other external libraries. The CEAMMC library itself is also available via the Deken package manager so it can be installed in Pd Vanilla. This paper focuses on our main concepts for this work, current features and future plan.
 
 

CAFE 5 models variation in evolutionary rates among gene families.

Genome sequencing projects have revealed frequent gains and losses of genes between species. Previous versions of our software, Computational Analysis of gene Family Evolution (CAFE), have allowed researchers to estimate parameters of gene gain and loss across a phylogenetic tree. However, the underlying model assumed that all gene families had the same rate of evolution, despite evidence suggesting a large amount of variation in rates among families. Here, we present CAFE 5, a completely re-written software package with numerous performance and user-interface enhancements over previous versions. These include improved support for multithreading, the explicit modeling of rate variation among families using gamma-distributed rate categories, and command-line arguments that preclude the use of accessory scripts. CAFE 5 source code, documentation, test data and a detailed manual with examples are freely available at https://github.com/hahnlab/CAFE5/releases. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Referee report. For: COINSTAC: Decentralizing the future of brain imaging analysis [version 1; referees: 1 approved

In the era of Big Data, sharing neuroimaging data across multiple sites has become increasingly important. However, researchers who want to engage in centralized, large-scale data sharing and analysis must often contend with problems such as high database cost, long data transfer time, extensive manual effort, and privacy issues for sensitive data. To remove these barriers to enable easier data sharing and analysis, we introduced a new, decentralized, privacy-enabled infrastructure model for brain imaging data called COINSTAC in 2016. We have continued development of COINSTAC since this model was first introduced. One of the challenges with such a model is adapting the required algorithms to function within a decentralized framework. In this paper, we report on how we are solving this problem, along with our progress on several fronts, including additional decentralized algorithms implementation, user interface enhancement, decentralized regression statistic calculation, and complete pipeline specifications.

COINSTAC: Decentralizing the future of brain imaging analysis.

In the era of Big Data, sharing neuroimaging data across multiple sites has become increasingly important. However, researchers who want to engage in centralized, large-scale data sharing and analysis must often contend with problems such as high database cost, long data transfer time, extensive manual effort, and privacy issues for sensitive data. To remove these barriers to enable easier data sharing and analysis, we introduced a new, decentralized, privacy-enabled infrastructure model for brain imaging data called COINSTAC in 2016. We have continued development of COINSTAC since this model was first introduced. One of the challenges with such a model is adapting the required algorithms to function within a decentralized framework. In this paper, we report on how we are solving this problem, along with our progress on several fronts, including additional decentralized algorithms implementation, user interface enhancement, decentralized regression statistic calculation, and complete pipeline specifications.

Expanded Chemical Reactivity Worksheet (CRW4) for determining chemical compatibility, past, present, and future

Chemical compatibility is a key consideration throughout the chemical industry wherever two or more chemicals have the potential to mix, either inadvertently or by design. One of the most comprehensive tools available for determining chemical compatibility, the NOAA Chemical Reactivity Worksheet (CRW), has gained significant traction since the release of the third version (CRW3) in 2012. In 3 years, this free software has been downloaded >200,000 times and has become the chemical compatibility tool of choice at many organizations. As a result of an ongoing partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), The Dow Chemical Company, The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS), Materials Technology Institute (MTI) and other industrial/academic/government volunteers, a fourth version of the CRW (CRW4) has been developed. The expanded capabilities of this new version include a materials of construction section, improved import/exporting/data sharing capabilities, additional reactive groups to aid in determining compatibility decisions, several user interface enhancements, along with the correction of minor issues found in the CRW3. This article will describe past development, the new features included in the CRW4, followed by a brief discussion of future development plans for the software tool. Such developments should solidify this tool's position as the gold standard within the chemical industry for determining chemical hazards. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 36: 24–29, 2017

Automated Sequence Selection and Cost Calculation for Maintenance and Rehabilitation in Highway Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA)

Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for highway projects is an analytical technique that uses economic principles to evaluate long-term alternative investment options, especially for comparing the values of alternative pavement design structures and construction strategies. Several approaches and software have been adopted to undertake LCCA by many transportation agencies in the United States over the last decade. In 2007, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) adopted RealCost, the LCCA software, developed by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The California implementation incorporates major user interface enhancements and customization. This paper introduces the Caltrans LCCA procedure and describes the functions and improvements of the enhanced California version of RealCost software (RealCost 2.5CA). Automated functions were developed to select efficient and adequate sequences for future maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) for comparing alternatives. The graphical user interface integrates service life, maintenance frequency, and agency cost of each maintenance activity with given project constraints, such as climate region, final pavement surface, and design life. The automated cost calculation modules estimate future M&R costs based on each construction scope and pavement type. The main focus of the California LCCA enhancement is to improve the efficiency of LCCA procedures with automatic data selection and computations. The RealCost 2.5CA program has been adopted as an official LCCA tool to comply with regulatory requirements for California state highway projects. Utilization of this California-customized LCCA software helps Caltrans to achieve substantial economic benefits (agency cost and road user cost savings) for highway projects.

Paper persistence, workarounds, and communication breakdowns in computerized consultation management

Objective The consultation request process between primary care and specialty services often contains paper-based components that may be inefficient and difficult to track. Other barriers may include workarounds and communication breakdowns with the potential to adversely impact delivery of quality medical care. We investigated current challenges to the electronic outpatient consult management process in the United States Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Design We conducted ethnographic observation and semi-structured interviews in nine different specialty clinics and three primary care clinics in a large, tertiary Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). We also performed a national-level query of ‘electronic error and enhancement requests’ (E3Rs) related to the consult package in the VA's electronic health record (EHR) submitted over a 5-year period (2005–2009). Measurements Two researchers recorded the observable interactions and interview responses of 16 healthcare workers related to their work with consultations. Two separate coding schemes were applied to both the observational and the interview data. E3Rs from the national query were reviewed and categorized based on the nature of the enhancement requests. Results We identified several examples of paper persistence, as well as workarounds, communication breakdowns, and redundancies in computerized consult management. An analysis of enhancement requests for the consults also revealed three broad needs related to reporting, configuration or customization, and user interface enhancements. Conclusion Understanding these challenges to the current consult management process is important to help design enhanced informatics tools integrated into workflow to support coordination of care and tracking of consults requests.

Active participation of integrated development environments in the teaching of object-oriented programming

With the strong link between programming and the underlying technology, the incorporation of computer technology into the teaching of a programming language course should be a natural progression. However, the abstract nature of programming can make such integration a difficult prospect to achieve. As a result, the main development tool, the Integrated Development Environment, generally takes a passive role during the learning process. These software environments play a pivotal role in the development process and so should perform a more active role in the overall academic process. This paper describes the pronounced D-Chk system, which is an integrated development environment for the Java language. This system allows tighter integration between the theory and the practical aspects by incorporating several user interface and functionality enhancements.

Intelligent graphical user interface design utilizing multiple fuzzy agents

A novel approach for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of human–computer interactions through an intelligent graphical user interface (GUI) is presented in this paper. It is demonstrated that through monitoring the user's actions, the system can determine the intents of the user, transforming the deduced intentions into system actions. Understanding of the user's implicit actions can reduce the burden on the user in terms of required explicit commands. Hence, a human friendlier computer system is built. One method to assess the effectiveness of the user interface enhancements is by reduction in the number of operations performed by the user in achieving a specific goal while using the GUI. The enhanced graphical user interface described in this paper is a conventional GUI enhanced with an intelligent control module. The intelligent component is composed of a group of software agents that cooperate and compete to control the system. A computer mouse is used as the input device, through which the user performs a number of clicks and drag-and-drop tasks, while selecting and moving objects on the computer screen. The intelligent module monitors the movements and states of the mouse and the cursor, and aids the user based on the multiple agents’ determinations of the user's sub-goals. Experimental results are presented, where human subjects achieved specific goals using the GUI, with and without the intelligent control module. Initial experiments have confirmed that the novel technique is a feasible approach for designing an effective and efficient intelligent GUI, as it reduces the amount of work required from the human user who is interacting with the computer.

Advances in software engineering

Software is the key technology in applications as diverse as accounting, hospital management, aviation, and nuclear power. Application advances in different domains such as these-each with different requirements-have propelled software development from small batch programs to large, real-time programs with multimedia capabilities. To cope, software's enabling technologies have undergone tremendous improvement in hardware, communications, operating systems, compilers, databases, programming languages, and user interfaces, among others. In turn, those improvements have fueled even more advanced applications. Improvements in VLSI technology and multimedia, for example, have resulted in faster, more compact computers that significantly widened the range of software applications. Database and user interface enhancements, on the other hand, have spawned more interactive and collaborative development environments. Such changes have a ripple effect on software development processes as well as on software techniques and tools. In this article, we highlight software development's crucial methods and techniques of the past 30 years.

Performance characteristics of the Genus Inc. 1510 high energy ion implantation system

The use of high energy ion implantation in semiconductor production processes has expanded significantly in the past few years. In order to meet the requirements of these production users. Genus Inc. has developed the 1510 MeV ion implantation system. The 1510 is a second-generation high energy ion implanter and is an evolution of the market leader Genus 1500 system. In this work, a review of the key performance characteristics of the system are presented from a users point of view. Included are parameters such as beam current, beam stability, implant profiles, wafer throughput, particle performance, ease of operation, and serviceability. In particular, the following enhancements in the 1510 are highlighted: (1) ion source innovations, (2) control system and user interface enhancements, (3) automation capabilities, (4) uniformity enhancements, and (5) high tilt angle capabilities.