scholarly journals Improving Ruby on Rails-Based Web Application Performance

Information ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 319
Author(s):  
Denys Klochkov ◽  
Jan Mulawka

The evolution of web development and web applications has resulted in creation of numerous tools and frameworks that facilitate the development process. Even though those frameworks make web development faster and more efficient, there are certain downsides to using them. A decrease in application performance when using an “off the shelf” framework might be a crucial disadvantage, especially given the vital role web application response time plays in user experience. This contribution focuses on a particular framework—Ruby on Rails. Once the most popular framework, it has now lost its leading position, partially due to slow performance metrics and response times, especially in larger applications. Improving and expanding upon the previous work in this field, an attempt to improve the response time of a specially developed benchmark application is made. This is achieved by performing optimizations that can be roughly divided into two groups. The first group concerns the frontend improvements, which include: adopting the client-side rendering, JavaScript Document Object Model (DOM) manipulation and asynchronous requests. Another group can be described as the backend improvements, which include implementing intelligent, granular caching, disabling redundant modules, as well as profiling and optimizing database requests and reducing database access inefficiencies. Those improvements resulted in overall up to 74% decreased page loading times, with perceived application performance being improved above this mark due to the adoption of a client-side rendering strategy. Using the different metrics of application performance measurements, each of the improvement steps is evaluated with regards to its effect on different aspects of overall performance. In conclusion, this work presents a way to significantly decrease the response time of a particular Ruby on Rails application and simultaneously provide a better user experience. Even though the majority of this process is specific to Rails, similar steps can be taken to improve applications implemented with the use of other similar frameworks. As the result of the work, a groundwork is laid for the development of the tool that could assist the developers in improving their applications as well.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 1353-1382
Author(s):  
Mengli Yu ◽  
Ronggang Zhou ◽  
Zhao Cai ◽  
Chee-Wee Tan ◽  
Huiwen Wang

PurposeThis study examines the impact of response time on user experience for mobile applications and considers the moderating influence of gender and network environment on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachAn experiment was conducted with 50 young adults to evaluate their user experience of a mobile application that simulates variations in network environment and response time. User experience was evaluated based on the three constituent dimensions of tolerance, acceptance, and satisfaction.FindingsAnalytical results demonstrate that response time not only adversely affects user experience of mobile applications, but that this effect is not homogeneous across the three dimensions of tolerance, acceptance and satisfaction. The findings also illustrate that gender moderates the effect of response time on user experience, however, the negative influence is more salient for males than females, which is opposite to our hypothesis. The joint moderating influence of gender and network environment turned out to be partly significant.Practical implicationsBy illuminating users' tolerance, acceptance, and satisfaction with varied response times, findings from this study can inform the design of mobile applications such that desired levels of user experience can be assured with minimum resources.Originality/valueAlthough response time has been hailed as a key determinant of user experience for desktop applications, there is a paucity of studies that have investigated the impact of response time on user experience for mobile applications. Furthermore, prior research on response time neglects the multi-dimensional nature of user experience. This study bridges the above mentioned knowledge gaps by delineating user experience into its constituent dimensions and clarifying the effects of response time on each of these dimensions.



2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 6458-6464

The purpose of this research work is to find out whether one of visual response time or auditory response time is faster than another on web based environment. Simple reaction time can be strong when an individual is asked to press a button as soon as a light or sound appears. A tool for capturing response times is created. This tool is a web application www.responsetime.muhammadsuhaib.com that runs on server and can be accessed through internet. R is commonly used in countless scientific disciplines for statistical analysis. Collected data will be analyzed by using R. it is concluded that on web based environment visual response times are not different than auditory response time. The data are also classified by gender to compare male response time and female response time, data analyzed based on gender, on visual stimuli, male react faster than female. However, on auditory stimuli, there is no different between male and female



2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 50403-1-50403-15
Author(s):  
Edward T.-H. Chu ◽  
Heng-Chih Hsieh

Abstract Smartphones are playing an increasingly important role in helping people share information and communicate with each other, as evidenced by an increasing number of applications (or apps), including news, search engine, mailbox, and social networking apps. The more heavily people rely on their phones, the more they begin to take the term “user experience” into consideration when buying a smartphone. Obviously, the key to providing a good user experience is to minimize the response time of each graphical user interface (GUI) operation, such as a touch, slide, or flick. Thus, it is crucial for smartphone manufacturers and mobile app developers to measure the response times to enhance the performance of the device or application. In this article, the authors present the SMArtphone Response Time measuring platform (SMART), a novel and low-cost platform for measuring the response time of a smartphone. SMART consists of a normal 30-fps (frame per second) webcam and a mirror. The proposed platform first simultaneously records the changes on a smartphone screen and the GUI operation shown in the mirror. It then adopts image processing techniques to analyze the latency of the GUI operation. The authors’ validation results show that the measurement error of SMART is less than 1/30 s, which means that SMART is a practical solution for measuring the latency of GUI operations. In addition, they adopted SMART for the measurements and analysis of six different commercial smartphones to further demonstrate its applicability.



10.28945/3469 ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruti Gafni ◽  
Idan Nagar

[The final form of this paper was published in the journal Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology.] CAPTCHA - Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart - is a test with the aim to distinguish between malicious automatic software and real users in the era of Cyber security threats. Various types of CAPTCHA tests were developed, in order to address accessibility while implementing security. This research focuses on the users’ attitudes and experiences related to use of the different kinds of tests. A questionnaire accompanied by experiencing five different CAPTCHA tests was performed among 212 users. Response times for each test and rate of success were collected automatically. The findings demonstrate that none of the existing tests are ideal. Although the participants were familiar with the Text-based test, they found it the most frustrating and non-enjoyable. Half of the participants failed in the Arithmetic-based test. While most of the participants found the picture and game based test enjoyable, their response time for those tests was the largest. The age factor was encountered as influencing both the attitude of the user and the performance, while younger users are more tolerant, have a better success rate, and are faster, the elder users found the tests annoying and time-consuming.



Author(s):  
Emmanuel Yeboah ◽  
Isaac Sarfo ◽  
Edward Kweku Nunoo ◽  
Vanessa Kudoh ◽  
Nii Shang ◽  
...  

The study report assessed the geographic distribution of existing fire stations in the Accra Metropolitan Area (AMA). It further sought to evaluate the spatial coverage for each fire station under predefined sustainable response times. Information on fire stations and incidents, access to sources of water and settlements were purposively obtained and visualized in Arc Map 10.6 with the multiple buffer tools. GIS web application was developed to integrate reporters and fire stations within the AMA for an efficient and effective response to emergency cases related to fire outbreaks. Results suggest that GIS application is essential to fire management as it significantly improved response time to 15 minutes, reducing causalities as well as damaged properties if the strategy is adopted.  Results proved a response time of 15 minutes is feasible in the study area if the proposed strategy is adopted. The study presents this management system as one that could be easily be deployed to other stations across the country. The platform provides details on the location, the magnitude of the fire incident among other relevant details. This study would regulate and minimize risks associated with fire outbreaks which are often accompanied by both direct and indirect consequences and could facilitate early reporting using mobile collection devices.



10.28945/3468 ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 063-077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruti Gafni ◽  
Idan Nagar

CAPTCHA - Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart - is a test with the aim to distinguish between malicious automatic software and real users in the era of Cyber security threats. Various types of CAPTCHA tests were developed, in order to address accessibility while implementing security. This research focuses on the users’ attitudes and experiences related to use of the different kinds of tests. A questionnaire accompanied by experiencing five different CAPTCHA tests was performed among 212 users. Response times for each test and rate of success were collected automatically. The findings demonstrate that none of the existing tests are ideal. Although the participants were familiar with the Text-based test, they found it the most frustrating and non-enjoyable. Half of the participants failed in the Arithmetic-based test. While most of the participants found the picture and game based test enjoyable, their response time for those tests was the largest. The age factor was encountered as influencing both the attitude of the user and the performance, while younger users are more tolerant, have a better success rate, and are faster, the elder users found the tests annoying and time-consuming.



Author(s):  
Visalakshmi Suresh ◽  
Paul Ezhilchelvan ◽  
Paul Watson

Event processing involves continuous evaluation of queries over streams of events. Response-time optimization is traditionally done over a fixed set of nodes and/or by using metrics measured at query-operator levels. Cloud computing makes it easy to acquire and release computing nodes as required. Leveraging this flexibility, we propose a novel, queueing-theory-based approach for meeting specified response-time targets against fluctuating event arrival rates by drawing only the necessary amount of computing resources from a cloud platform. In the proposed approach, the entire processing engine of a distinct query is modelled as an atomic unit for predicting response times. Several such units hosted on a single node are modelled as a multiple class M/G/1 system. These aspects eliminate intrusive, low-level performance measurements at run-time, and also offer portability and scalability. Using model-based predictions, cloud resources are efficiently used to meet response-time targets. The efficacy of the approach is demonstrated through cloud-based experiments.



2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Kuckartz Pergher ◽  
Roberto Carlos Lyra da Silva

Observational, descriptive, exploratory, case study with the objective of measuring the stimulus-response time of the team to alarms monitoring invasive blood pressure (IBP) and analyzing the implications of this time for the safety of the patient. From January to March 2013, 60 hours of structured observation were conducted with registration of the alarms activated by IBP monitors in an adult ICU at a military hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro. 76 IBP alarms were recorded (1.26 alarms/hour), 21 of which (28%) were attended to and 55 (72%) considered as fatigued. The average response time to the alarms was 2 min. 45 sec. The deficit in human resource and physical layout were factors determining the delay in response to the alarms. The increase in response times to these alarms may compromise the safety of patients with hemodynamic instability, especially in situations such as shock and the use of vasoactive drugs.



2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Nicoladis ◽  
Chris Westbury ◽  
Cassandra Foursha-Stevenson

Second language (L2) learners often show influence from their first language (L1) in all domains of language. This cross-linguistic influence could, in some cases, be mediated by semantics. The purpose of the present study was to test whether implicit English gender connotations affect L1 English speakers’ judgments of the L2 French gender of objects. We hypothesized that gender estimates derived from word embedding models that measure similarity of word contexts in English would affect accuracy and response time on grammatical gender (GG) decision in L2 French. L2 French learners were asked to identify the GG of French words estimated to be either congruent or incongruent with the implicit gender in English. The results showed that they were more accurate with words that were congruent with English gender connotations than words that were incongruent, suggesting that English gender connotations can influence grammatical judgments in French. Response times showed the same pattern. The results are consistent with semantics-mediated cross-linguistic influence.



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