User Control Research Articles

Novelty detection for election fraud: A case study with agent‐based simulation data

AbstractIn this paper, we propose a robust election simulation model and independently developed election anomaly detection algorithm that demonstrates the simulation's utility. The simulation generates artificial elections with similar properties and trends as elections from the real world, while giving users control and knowledge over all the important components of the elections. We generate a clean election results dataset without fraud as well as datasets with varying degrees of fraud. We then measure how well the algorithm is able to successfully detect the level of fraud present. The algorithm determines how similar actual election results are as compared to the predicted results from polling and a regression model of other regions that have similar demographics. We use k‐means to partition electoral regions into clusters such that demographic homogeneity is maximized among clusters. We then use a novelty detection algorithm implemented as a one‐class support vector machine where the clean data is provided in the form of polling predictions and regression predictions. The regression predictions are built from the actual data in such a way that the data supervises itself. We show both the effectiveness of the simulation technique and the machine learning model in its success in identifying fraudulent regions.

The Co-Design of an Embodied Conversational Agent to Help Stroke Survivors Manage Their Recovery

Whilst the use of digital interventions to assist patients with self-management involving embodied conversational agents (ECA) is emerging, the use of such agents to support stroke rehabilitation and recovery is rare. This iTakeCharge project takes inspiration from the evidence-based narrative style self-management intervention for stroke recovery, the ‘Take Charge’ intervention, which has been shown to contribute to significant improvements in disability and quality of life after stroke. We worked with the developers and deliverers of the ‘Take Charge’ intervention tool, clinical stroke researchers and stroke survivors, to adapt the ‘Take Charge’ intervention tool to be delivered by an ECA (i.e., the Taking Charge Intelligent Agent (TaCIA)). TaCIA was co-designed using a three-phased approach: Stage 1: Phase I with the developers and Phase II with people who delivered the original Take Charge intervention to stroke survivors (i.e., facilitators); and Stage 2: Phase III with stroke survivors. This paper reports the results from each of these phases including an evaluation of the resulting ECA. Stage 1: Phase I, where TaCIA V.1 was evaluated by the Take Charge developers, did not build a good working alliance, provide adequate options, or deliver the intended Take Charge outcomes. In particular, the use of answer options and the coaching aspects of TaCIA V.1 were felt to conflict with the intention that Take Charge facilitators would not influence the responses of the patient. In response, in Stage 1: Phase II, TaCIA V.2 incorporated an experiment to determine the value of providing answer options versus free text responses. Take Charge facilitators agreed that allowing an open response concurrently with providing answer options was optimal and determined that working alliance and usability were satisfactory. Finally, in Stage 2: Phase III, TaCIA V.3 was evaluated with eight stroke survivors and was generally well accepted and considered useful. Increased user control, clarification of TaCIA’s role, and other improvements to improve accessibility were suggested. The article concludes with limitations and recommendations for future changes based on stroke survivor feedback.

Performing Relations

This article investigates the role of corporeal habits in the creation and maintenance of a relational layer among humans and robots in a performance context. Drawing on Gregory Bateson's work, this article analyses how habits shape this relational bond in two robotic artworks: Ruairi Glynn's Performative Ecologies and Paula Gaetano Adi's Anima. These case studies illustrate how the performance space provides an ideal ground to experiment with habit formation at the interface of humans and robots. Moreover, this article offers an embodied and relational perspective to human–machinic interaction that embraces ways of relating to highly different nonhuman corporealities.

Using the SWAT+ model to assess the conditions of water inflow to a reservoir in an uncontrolled agricultural catchment. Case Study of the Nanan Reservoir in the Lake Taabo catchment (Côte d'Ivoire)

In this study, the agro-hydrological model Soil and Water Assessment Tool + (SWAT+) is used to simulate runoff in an uncontrolled agricultural catchment with paddy fields irrigated by plots submersion. The objectives are to evaluate the ability of this new, improved version of the SWAT model to reproduce the flows in a complex catchment and to analyse the evolution of these flows over the historical period 1986-2020 (35 years). Sensitivity analysis, calibration and validation were carried out with monthly flow data. The decision tables for irrigation operations and reservoir water release were filled in the SWAT+ Editor to establish the reservoir water balance. The Mann-Kendall trend test with the threshold of the standard normal statistic = 1.96, was applied to the time series of flows to the Nanan Reservoir. The results reveal that SWAT+ is more sensitive to eight parameters, including the new CN3_SWF parameter (-0.04329), which gave the user control of the soil saturation level. Good performances were obtained during calibration and validation, respectively: NSE (0.78; 0.69); R² (0.81; 0.70); PBIAS (-18.58; -23.9) and RSR (0.47; 0.56), with a tendency to slightly overestimate flows. The analysis shows that flows to the Nanan Reservoir are highly variable yearly, with a non-significant upward trend (|Z|=1.3<1.96) from 1986 to 2020. The water balance reveals that the runoff inflow generated will compensate for water withdrawals for irrigation of the Nanan paddy scheme during this period. Furthermore, this study provides a methodological framework for SWAT+ reservoir model calibration in an uncontrolled catchment.

MEASURING UX USING USABILITY AND HEURISTIC METHODS IN JKN MOBILE APPLICATION

The JKN Mobile Application is an application to provide services for BPJS Health participants that can access anywhere and anytime. Systems that many people use need to be evaluated. User satisfaction is one factor that can determine a system's success. This study measures the usability level of the JKN Mobile Application using the usability evaluation and Heuristic Evaluation methods. Usability can be identified based on four parameters: learning ability, efficiency, memory, and satisfaction. The Heuristic Evaluation method by Nielsen has ten principles: Visibility of system status, Match between the system and the real world, User control and freedom, Consistency and standards, Error prevention, Recognition than recall, Flexibility and Efficiency of Use, Aesthetic and Minimalist Design, Help user Recognize, Diagnose and Recover from Errors, Help, and Documentation. This study aims to evaluate the application design and determine which parts need improvement. The results of the usability test obtained a percentage of 62.25%, which means that this application is still feasible to use. However, in the heuristic testing, it was found that there were several inefficient tasks, and there needed to be more help &amp; documentation.

Emergency departments as under-utilized venues to provide HIV prevention services to female sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya

BackgroundFemale sex workers (FSW) in sub-Saharan Africa are disproportionately affected by HIV and remain a key target population for efforts to reduce transmission. While HIV prevention tools such as PEP and PrEP are available through outpatient FSW clinics, these services are underused. Emergency medicine is a rapidly expanding field in Kenya and may provide a novel venue for initiating or optimizing HIV prevention services. This study examined the characteristics of FSW from Nairobi, Kenya, who had utilized an emergency department (ED) during the past year to broaden our understanding of the patient factors related to usage.MethodsAn anonymous questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample of 220 Nairobi FSW attending dedicated clinics from June to July 2019. The participants were categorized into those who attended an ED over the past year (acute care users) and clinic-only users (control). A modified version of the WHO Violence Against Women Instrument assessed gender-based violence. Multivariable negative binomial logistic regressions evaluated predictors of health care use among these populations.ResultsOf the total 220 women (median [IQR] age 32 [27–39]), 101 and 116 were acute care and control populations, respectively. Acute care users had 12.7 ± 8.5 healthcare visits over a 12-month period, and the control population had 9.1 ± 7.0 (p < 0.05). ED attendance did not improve the PrEP usage, with 48.5%, and 51% of acute care and clinic users indicated appropriate PrEP use. Patient factors that correlated with health care utilization among acute care users included client sexual violence (OR 2.2 [1.64–2.94], p < 0.01), PrEP use (OR 1.54 (1.25–1.91), < 0.01), and client HIV status (OR 1.35 (1.02–1.69), p < 0.01).ConclusionsMany FSW at high risk for HIV were not accessing HIV prevention tools despite attending a dedicated FSW clinic offering such services. FSW who had attended an ED over the past year had a higher prevalence of HIV risk factors, demonstrating that emergency departments may be important acute intervention venues to prevent HIV transmission in this population. These results can guide policy design, health care provider training, and facility preparedness to support strategies aimed at improving HIV prevention strategies for FSW in Kenyan ED’s.

Evaluation the Usability of Hamava System Using Heuristic Evaluation

Introduction: As university systems are dealing with a wide range of users, including students, managers, and university employees, these systems can likely satisfy the needs and activities of various users with maximum quality in the shortest possible time. Consequently, it is very essential to observe usability features in the design of such systems. The current study aimed to evaluate the usability of the Hamava system to recognize and resolve its problems and weaknesses.Material and Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive study that was done in the second half of 2022 on the Hamava system of students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences. Nielsen's Heuristics (ten principles) were used to check the compliance of this system with the usability principles. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the overall severity of the identified usability factors collected using the checklist.Results: In the present evaluation, 176 problems were recognized, with the highest number of problems related to the violation of the two principles of aesthetic and minimalist design (n=58), user control and freedom (n=31), and the least problem related to the recognition rather than recall principle (n=4).Conclusion: The results of the current study revealed that though a large number of users of the Hamava system are students and it is expected that this system will be designed based on the latest standards and the needs of its users, this system also faces usability problems that if not resolved, it can cause an increase in errors, dissatisfaction of users, decrease in the quality of information, waste of users' time, and lack of effective user interaction with the educational system.

Large-scale Terrain Authoring through Interactive Erosion Simulation

Large-scale terrains are essential in the definition of virtual worlds. Given the diversity of landforms and the geomorphological complexity, there is a need for authoring techniques offering hydrological consistency without sacrificing user control. In this article, we bridge the gap between large-scale erosion simulation and authoring into an efficient framework. We set aside modeling in the elevation domain in favour of the uplift domain and compute emerging reliefs by simulating the stream power erosion. Our simulation relies on a fast yet accurate approximation of drainage area and flow routing to compute the erosion interactively, which allows for incremental authoring. Our model provides landscape artists with tools for shaping mountain ranges and valleys, such as copy-and-paste operations; warping for imitating folds and faults; and point and curve elevation constraints to precisely sculpt ridges or carve river networks. It also lends itself to inverse procedural modeling by reconstructing the uplift from an input digital elevation model and allows hydrologically consistent blending between terrain patches.

Enhancing Website Usability by Utilizing Heuristic Evaluation and User Feedback for Better User Experience

This research focuses on improving the usability of the Portal KUKERTA website used by Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengabdian pada Masyarakat Universitas Riau (LPPM UNRI) for the Kuliah Kerja Nyata (KKN) program. Based on direct observations of the Portal KUKERTA website, several usability issues related to the system were identified. Combining heuristic evaluation and user feedback, the study aims to enhance the user experience and ensure a user-friendly interface. Analysis of feedback from 98 users revealed the highest severity ratings in Flexibility and Efficiency of Use, Error Prevention, and User Control and Freedom. Recommendations were developed to address these issues and improve the user experience. The integration of heuristic evaluation and user feedback provides valuable insights for enhancing the usability of the Portal KUKERTA website, serving the needs of students and lecturers. Additionally, the research results showed scores for various usability principles, including visibility of system status (1.838), match between system and real world (2.264), user control and freedom (3.786), consistency and standards (2.325), error prevention (4.062), recognition rather than recall (2.250), flexibility and efficiency of use (4.075), aesthetic and minimalist design (2.713), and help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors (2.843). These findings further guide the improvement of specific areas to enhance the overall usability of the Portal KUKERTA website.

User authentication and access control to blockchain-based forensic log data

For dispute resolution in daily life, tamper-proof data storage and retrieval of log data are important with the incorporation of trustworthy access control for the related users and devices, while giving access to confidential data to the relevant users and maintaining data persistency are two major challenges in information security. This research uses blockchain data structure to maintain data persistency. On the other hand, we propose protocols for the authentication of users (persons and devices) to edge server and edge server to main server. Our proposed framework also provides access to forensic users according to their relevant roles and privilege attributes. For the access control of forensic users, a hybrid attribute and role-based access control (ARBAC) module added with the framework. The proposed framework is composed of an immutable blockchain-based data storage with endpoint authentication and attribute role-based user access control system. We simulate authentication protocols of the framework in AVISPA. Our result analysis shows that several security issues can efficiently be dealt with by the proposed framework.

Don't touch that dial: Psychological reactance, transparency, and user acceptance of smart thermostat setting changes.

Automation inherently removes a certain amount of user control. If perceived as a loss of freedom, users may experience psychological reactance, which is a motivational state that can lead a person to engage in behaviors to reassert their freedom. In an online experiment, participants set up and communicated with a hypothetical smart thermostat. Participants read notifications about a change in the thermostat's setting. Phrasing of notifications was altered across three dimensions: strength of authoritative language, deviation of temperature change from preferences, and whether or not the reason for the change was transparent. Authoritative language, temperatures outside the user's preferences, and lack of transparency induced significantly higher levels of reactance. However, when the system presented a temperature change outside of the user's preferences, reactance was mitigated and user acceptance was higher if the thermostat's operations were transparent. Providing justification may be less likely to induce psychological reactance and increase user acceptance. This supports efforts to use behavioral approaches, such as demand response, to increase sustainability and limit the impacts of climate change.

Ethical Challenges in the Development of Virtual Assistants Powered by Large Language Models

Virtual assistants (VAs) have gained widespread popularity across a wide range of applications, and the integration of Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, has opened up new possibilities for developing even more sophisticated VAs. However, this integration poses new ethical issues and challenges that must be carefully considered, particularly as these systems are increasingly used in public services: transfer of personal data, decision-making transparency, potential biases, and privacy risks. This paper, an extension of the work presented at IberSPEECH 2022, analyzes the current regulatory framework for AI-based VAs in Europe and delves into ethical issues in depth, examining potential benefits and drawbacks of integrating LLMs with VAs. Based on the analysis, this paper argues that the development and use of VAs powered by LLMs should be guided by a set of ethical principles that prioritize transparency, fairness, and harm prevention. The paper presents specific guidelines for the ethical use and development of this technology, including recommendations for data privacy, bias mitigation, and user control. By implementing these guidelines, the potential benefits of VAs powered by LLMs can be fully realized while minimizing the risks of harm and ensuring that ethical considerations are at the forefront of the development process.

Design and Development of Automated Indoor Farming with Alert System

Indoor farming is becoming an addition to conventional farming practices. This project focused on designing a new, multilevel automated aeroponics system. This newly designed prototype includes an alert system that can alert the user at low water tank levels. The proposed multilevel aeroponic was tested for suitability for maximum plant growth configurations. The prototype development consists of several phases: primary structure, plastic container, water piping, and system setup. Various experiments were conducted within five weeks. The configurations involve changing lighting hours and irrigation patterns. The project's outcome shows the configuration with 12 hours of lighting and a 20-minute misting cycle provides maximum growth. A few recommendations such as lightning setup, user control and misting cycle were also discussed.

Fortified-Chain 2.0: Intelligent Blockchain for Decentralized Smart Healthcare System

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) technology’s fast advancements aided smart healthcare systems to a larger extent. IoMT devices, on the other hand, rely on centralized processing and storage systems because of their limited computational and storage capacity. The reliance is susceptible to a single point of failure (SPoF) and erodes the user control over their medical data. In addition, Cloud models result in communication delays, which slow down the system’s overall reaction time. To overcome these issues a decentralized distributed smart healthcare system is proposed that eliminates the SPoF and third-party control over healthcare data. Additionally, the proposed Fortified-Chain 2.0 uses a blockchain-based selective sharing mechanism with a mutual authentication technique to solve the issues such as data privacy, security and trust management in decentralized peer-to-peer healthcare systems. Also, we suggested a hybrid computing paradigm to deal with latency, computational and storage constraints. A novel distributed Machine Learning (ML) module named Random Forest Support Vector Machine (RFSVM) also embedded into the Fortified-Chain 2.0 system to automate patient health monitoring. In the RFSVM module, Random Forest (RF) is used to select an optimal set of features from patients data in real time environment and also Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to perform the decision making tasks. The proposed Fortified-Chain 2.0 works on a private blockchain-based Distributed Data Storage System (DDSS) that improves the system-level transparency, integrity, and traceability. Fortified-Chain 2.0 outperformed the existing Fortified-Chain in terms of low latency, high throughput, and availability with the help of a mutual authentication method.

The role of user controls with respect to indoor environmental quality: From evidence to standards

There are important reasons to offer building users the possibility to adjust indoor-environmental conditions. For one thing, people sharing the same indoor environment, may have different needs, requirements, and preferences. The same set of conditions would thus not satisfy everyone. Moreover, even an individual user's preferences can change considerably, given fluctuations in the state of their disposition and health, as well as their physical and cognitive activities. After a brief discussion of available information and evidence concerning the importance of user controls in buildings, the present contribution focuses on the reflection of the user control topic in indoor-environmental quality standards. To this end, a selection of common indoor-environmental quality standards and guidelines is reviewed. The results suggest that, whereas some standards and guidelines refer to user control related issues in a general manner, there is a paucity of more specific guidance in methods and means for incorporation of user control considerations in the building design and operation process.

How to decentralize the internet: A focus on data consolidation and user privacy

Over the years, the Internet has become a field in which a small number of large Internet companies dominate most of the Internet services. As users get used to using their services, the users’ generated content and the data about their online behaviors are concentrated in such companies. This phenomenon, called “data consolidation”, has become a serious problem, which makes the Internet society seek to decentralize the current Internet. The decentralized Internet aims to (i) prevent the concentration of user data in a few giant companies like Google and Facebook, and (ii) give users full ownership and control of their data. Various technical solutions that address the data consolidation problem have been proposed; however, those solutions focus on somewhat different scopes of the problem often from their limited viewpoints. The main contributions in this paper are the following. First, we survey the solutions relevant to Internet decentralization based on the following criteria: data consolidation, data ownership, and the privacy of user data. Second, we suggest a holistic reference framework from a functional viewpoint, while the prior proposals in the literature handle a limited set of requirements. Last, we seek to identify remaining research issues, considering additional requirements that have not been addressed in the existing solutions.

Exploring User Experience and User Interface of Indonesian e-Health PeduliLindungi Mobile-Apps with MeCUE 2.0 Framework

PeduliLindungi Mobile-Apps (PLMA) is a mobile-based e-Health application that was released by the Ministry of Communication and Information (KOMINFO) of the Republic of Indonesia in April 2020. Its goal is to help the government keep track of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia and stop it from spreading. PLMA is used to find Covid-19, keep track of it, warn people about it, and stop it from spreading. Reports say that more than 10,000,000 people have downloaded PLMA, and KOMINFO has told all citizens that they must use this app. But PLMA was criticized by people who used its apps because of problems like application errors, data leaks, and mistakes in user data. Also, as of September 29, 2021, 470,521 people had reviewed it on the Google Play Store, giving it an average score of 3.8. The score from the PLMA review shows that the application needs to be improved. PLMA also gets complaints about how hard it is to navigate, how features aren't clear, how there are problems with connection and performance, how personal data isn't safe, and how hard it is to get to. The purpose of the research is to investigate and evaluate PLMA which focuses on the user experience (UX) or user interface (UI) of application users. UI/UX in PLMA has been measured or evaluated in a few studies, but the numbers are still very small and limited. Minge (2020) came up with the meCUE 2.0 framework as a way to evaluate an application user experience service. It is a fairly new and comprehensive framework. The MeCUE 2.0 Framework has a questionnaire with 34 statement items. It is made up of 4 modules: Modules I and II (Perception of quality of instrumental and non-instrumental products), Module III (Emotions), Module IV (Consequences), and Module V (Overall Evaluation). In the first step of this study, the meCUE 2.0 questionnaire was translated and then given to 50 people. The results showed that the UI/UX ratings for PLMA were 3.17 for usefulness, 4 for usability, 3.33 for visual aesthetics, 3 for status, 3.67 for commitment, 3.67 for positive emotions, 2.67 for negative emotions, 3.67 for intention to use, 2.67 for product loyalty, and 3.67 for overall evaluation.(107.00). This research makes a contribution both in terms of ideas and in terms of how it can be used. For example, it tells UX designers and policymakers that they should pay attention to important factors while developing PLMAs.

Algebraic Signature-Based Public Data Integrity Batch Verification for Cloud-IoT

With the rapid development of Internet of Things, the related data are growing explosively. However, IoT devices have limited storage and computing capabilities so that they cannot deal with massive data storage and computing locally. The integration of IoT and cloud is regarded as an effective solution to the above issue, i.e., IoT devices outsource collected data to cloud to enjoy powerful storage and computing resources. Because the data stored in cloud are out of the control of IoT users, some security risks need to be addressed in advance. In this paper, we propose a public data integrity verification scheme, called AIVCI, to check the data integrity for Cloud-IoT scenarios. Firstly, based on algebraic signature and homomorphic hash function, AIVCI can efficiently complete data auditing. Secondly, AIVCI adopts blind technology to prevent the privacy leakage of IoT data and further protect the privacy of IoT users. Thirdly, batch auditing is implemented to improve auditing efficiency and meet realistic demands for Cloud-IoT scenarios. And a new data structure named Improved Divide and Conquer Table (ID&CT) is designed to realize efficient data dynamics. Finally, the security and performance analysis demonstrates that AIVCI is more secure and efficient.

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF CYBER SWACHHTA KENDRA - AN INITIATIVE BY GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.

Cyber Swachhta, is a very important initiative taken by the government of India after launching the digital India where the government has found various challenges related to cyber security, cleaning, and malware analysis. "Cyber Swachhta Kendra" (Center for Botnet Cleanup and Malware Analysis) is part of the Government of India's Digital India initiative under the Ministry of Electronics and Technology Information, which aims to create security by tracking and tracing botnet infections. Malware is a malicious software basically computer programs that are designed to damage the computer without the user's continent and control by cyber criminals. CERT-In (CSK) celebrating "Cyber Swachhta Pakhwada" during 01-15 February 2023. As a people of India, people should follow the guidelines related to Cyber Swachhta

Desentralisasi dalam Perspektif Technology Trend terhadap Blockchain dan Web3

This study explores the concept of decentralization in the context of emerging technologies, specifically Blockchain and Web3. These technologies offer an alternative to traditional centralized models by promoting systems that are more open, secure, and transparent. The study employs a qualitative approach using case studies to understand the practical applications and impacts of decentralization across various industries. Key findings highlight the significant benefits of decentralization, such as enhanced security and transparency, user control over data, and operational efficiency through smart contracts. However, challenges such as scalability, regulatory compliance, and security concerns remain. The study concludes that while there are considerable challenges, the benefits of decentralization make it a promising area for continued exploration and development. With sustained research and technological advancement, broader adoption and deeper integration into everyday life can be achieved, leading to a more decentralized and inclusive digital future.