A study of the user experience when interacting with applications that work with sports armbands to monitor human activity

This paper concerns the study of user experience and focuses on two aspects i.e. usability and user satisfaction. Two mobile applications for monitoring human activity, Mi Fit and Google Fit, were tested. Both applications work with sports armbands. Two methods were used for the study: a questionnaire and eye tracking. The comparison of the applications was made on the basis of the collected results from questionnaires, measurements of task completion times and the number and type of errors detected. Nine respondents participated in the study. The Google Fit application received a higher average score for user satisfaction, fewer errors and shorter task completion times.

Compliance and resistance: How performance measures make and unmake universities

How individuals comply with, and resist performance measures and metrics can be seen as a key concern in management and organization. Recent literature has advanced our understanding of compliance as a social practice which is often related to resistance. Yet, compliance is seen as something we equate with simply yielding to power without any agency. We address this theme with a study of the effects of managerialism on academic work. More specifically, we investigate the introduction of measures and controls to improve PhD completion times in a research-intensive UK university. Our findings show that despite most of our respondents voicing concerns about the reductionist nature of the target and the consequences for quality, the large majority of academics we talked to complied with the measure. We identify three compliance types that demonstrate compliance is an interpretative process. We make two principal contributions with this paper. First, we offer insights into why compliance deserves analytic attention as a social practice in its own right, as something that goes beyond mere consent. Second, we analyze the impact of managerialism on higher education through the lens of compliance. We use these insights to reflect on how compliance was linked to resistance and the effects of different compliance practices on academic work which ranged from shifting responsibilities to challenging academic integrity.

Development of a Simulation Surgical Cricothyroidotomy Curriculum for Novice Providers: A Learning Curve Study

ABSTRACT Introduction Airway obstruction is the third most common cause of preventable death on the battlefield, accounting for 1%–2% of total combat fatalities. No previous surgical cricothyroidotomy (SC) studies have analyzed the learning curve required to obtain proficiency despite being studied in numerous other surgical technique training experiments. The aims of this study were to establish expert SC performance criteria, develop a novel standardized SC curriculum, and determine the necessary number of practice iterations required by a novice to reach this pre-determined performance goal. Materials and Methods A standardized checklist and SC performance standards were established based on the performance of 12 board certified Military Health System surgeons with prior experience on performing a SC using a simulated trauma mannequin. Expert-level criteria were defined as a SC time to completion of 40 s or less and checklist score of at least 9/10, including all critical steps. Study subjects included 89 novice providers (54 active-duty first- and second-year medical students and 35 Navy corpsmen). Subjects received instruction on performing a SC using the principles of mastery learning and performed a final test of SC proficiency on a trauma mannequin within a realistic simulated MEDEVAC helicopter. The total number of subject practice attempts, checklist scores, and time to completion were measured and/or blindly scored. Learning curve and exponential plateau equations were used to characterize their improvement in mean time to SC completion and checklist scores. Results Mean pre-test knowledge scores for the entire group were 11.8 ± 3.1 out of 24 points. Total mean practice learning plateaued at checklist scores of 9.9/10 after 7 iterations and at a mean completion time of 30.4 s after 10 iterations. During the final test performance in the helicopter, 67.4% of subjects achieved expert-level performance on the first attempt. All subjects achieved expert-level performance by the end of two additional attempts. While a significantly larger proportion of medical students (79.9%) successfully completed the helicopter test on the first attempt compared to corpsmen (54.3%), there were no statistically significant differences in mean SC completion times and checklist scores between both groups (P > 0.05). Medical students performed a SC only 1.3 s faster and scored only 0.16 points higher than corpsmen. The effect size for differences were small to negligible (Cohen’s d range 0.18–0.33 for SC completion time; Cohen’s d range 0.45–0.46 for checklist scores). Conclusion This study successfully defined SC checklist scores and completion times based on the performance of experienced surgeons on a simulator. Using these criteria and the principles of mastery learning, novices with little knowledge and experience in SC were successfully trained to the level of experienced providers. All subjects met performance targets after training and overall performance plateaued after approximately seven iterations. Over two-thirds of subjects achieved the performance target on the first testing attempt in a simulated helicopter environment. Performance was comparable between medical student and corpsmen subgroups. Further research will assess the durability of maintaining SC skills and the timing for introducing refresher courses after initial skill acquisition.

The Clinical Nursing and Midwifery Dashboard (CNMD): A State-Wide Implementation

The clinical nursing and midwifery dashboard (CNMD) was built to provide a near real-time information and data visualisations for nurse unit managers (NUMs) and maternity unit managers (MUMs) within only a 5-15 minutes delay from when they enter data to the integrated electronic medical records (ieMR) system. The dashboard displays metrics and information about current adult inpatients in overnight wards. The aim is to support NUMs and MUMs to manage their daily workload and have continuous visibility of patients nursing risk and safety assessment documentation. A quantitative evaluation approach was conducted to measure the impact of the dashboard on key performance indicators. Statistical analysis was completed to compare risk assessment average completion times prior to and post CNMD implementation. The results of the evaluation were positive, and the statistical analysis shows significant reduction in the average time to complete different risk assessments with p-value<0.01.

Simultaneous optimization scheduling with two agents on an unbounded serial-batching machine

This paper considers a class of simultaneous optimization scheduling with two competitive agents on an unbounded serial-batching machine. The cost function of each agent depends on the completion times of its jobs only. According to whether the jobs from different agents can be processed in a common batch, compatible model and incompatible model are investigated. For the incompatible model, we consider batch availability and item availability. For each problem, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm that can find all Pareto optimal schedules.

Comparison of Time Taken to Assess Cognitive Function Using a Fully Immersive and Automated Virtual Reality System vs. the Montreal Cognitive Assessment

Introduction: Dementia is increasingly prevalent globally. Existing questionnaire-based cognitive assessment tools may not comprehensively assess cognitive function and real-time task-performance across all cognitive domains. CAVIRE (Cognitive Assessment by VIrtual REality), a fully immersive virtual reality system incorporating automated audio-visual instructions and a scoring matrix was developed to assess the six cognitive domains, with potential to maintain consistency in execution of the testing environment and possibly time-saving in busy primary care practice.Aims: This is a feasibility study to compare the completion times of the questionnaire-based Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the CAVIRE in cognitively-healthy Asian adults aged between 35 and 74 years, overall, and in and across each 10-year age group (35–44; 45–54; 55–64; 65–74).Methods: A total of 100 participants with a MoCA score of 26 or more were recruited equally into the four 10-year age groups at a primary care clinic in Singapore. Completion time for the MoCA assessment for each participant was recorded. They were assessed using the CAVIRE, comprising 13 segments featuring common everyday activities assessing all six cognitive domains, and the completion time was also recorded through the embedded automated scoring and timing framework.Results: Completion time for CAVIRE as compared to MoCA was significantly (p &lt; 0.01) shorter, overall (mean difference: 74.9 (SD) seconds) and in each age group. Younger, vs. older, participants completed both the MoCA and CAVIRE tasks in a shorter time. There was a greater variability in the completion time for the MoCA, most markedly in the oldest group, whereas completion time was less variable for the CAVIRE tasks in all age groups, with most consistency in the 45–54 year-age group.Conclusion: We demonstrate almost equivalent completion times for a VR and a questionnaire-based cognition assessment, with inter-age group variation in VR completion time synonymous to that in conventional screening methods. The CAVIRE has the potential to be an alternative screening modality for cognition in the primary care setting.

Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles: An Innovative Business Model for Utility Firms

Problem definition: By providing an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional vehicles, electric vehicles will transform urban mobility, particularly in smart cities. In practice, after an electric vehicle is plugged in, the charging station completes charging as soon as possible. Given that the procurement cost of electricity and associated emissions vary significantly during a day, substantial savings can be achieved by smart charging—delaying charging until the cost is lower. In this paper, we study smart charging as an innovative business model for utility firms. Academic/practical relevance: Utility firms are already investing in charging stations, and they can achieve significant cost savings through smart charging. Methodology: We consider a mechanism design problem in which a utility firm first announces pairs of charging price and completion time. Then, each customer selects the pair that maximizes their utility. Given the selected completion times, the utility firm solves the optimal control problem of determining the charging schedule that minimizes the cost of charging under endogenous, time-varying electricity procurement cost. We assume that there are ample parking spots with chargers at the charging station. Results: We devise an intuitive and practically implementable policy for scheduling charging of electric vehicles under given completion times. We prove that this policy is optimal if all customers arrive at the station simultaneously. We also characterize the optimal pairs of charging price and completion time. By using real electricity demand and generation data from the largest electricity market in the United States, we find that cost and emissions savings from smart charging are approximately 20% and 15%, respectively, during a typical summer month. Managerial implications: In contrast to the current practice of charging vehicles without delay, we show that it is economically and environmentally beneficial to delay charging some vehicles and to set charging prices based on customers’ inconvenience cost of delays. We also find that most of the savings from implementing smart charging can be achieved during peak-demand days, highlighting the effectiveness of smart charging.

Effects of Using Vibrotactile Feedback on Sound Localization by Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People in Virtual Environments

Sound source localization is important for spatial awareness and immersive Virtual Reality (VR) experiences. Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) persons have limitations in completing sound-related VR tasks efficiently because they perceive audio information differently. This paper presents and evaluates a special haptic VR suit that helps DHH persons efficiently complete sound-related VR tasks. Our proposed VR suit receives sound information from the VR environment wirelessly and indicates the direction of the sound source to the DHH user by using vibrotactile feedback. Our study suggests that using different setups of the VR suit can significantly improve VR task completion times compared to not using a VR suit. Additionally, the results of mounting haptic devices on different positions of users’ bodies indicate that DHH users can complete a VR task significantly faster when two vibro-motors are mounted on their arms and ears compared to their thighs. Our quantitative and qualitative analysis demonstrates that DHH persons prefer using the system without the VR suit and prefer mounting vibro-motors in their ears. In an additional study, we did not find a significant difference in task completion time when using four vibro-motors with the VR suit compared to using only two vibro-motors in users’ ears without the VR suit.