Understanding the Diversity of User Requirements for Interactive Online Health Services

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Direction giving: an attempt to increase user engagement

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The credibility of simulation-based environments : user judgments of verisimilitude

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Investigation into a best practice model for providing an integrated user experience with mobile cloud applications

Mobile Cloud Computing promises to overcome the physical limitations of mobile devices by executing demanding mobile applications on cloud infrastructure. In practice, implementing this paradigm is difficult; network disconnection often occurs, bandwidth may be limited, and a large power draw is required from the battery, resulting in a poor user experience. This thesis presents a mobile cloud middleware solution, Context Aware Mobile Cloud Services (CAMCS), which provides cloudbased services to mobile devices, in a disconnected fashion. An integrated user experience is delivered by designing for anticipated network disconnection, and low data transfer requirements. CAMCS achieves this by means of the Cloud Personal Assistant (CPA); each user of CAMCS is assigned their own CPA, which can complete user-assigned tasks, received as descriptions from the mobile device, by using existing cloud services. Service execution is personalised to the user's situation with contextual data, and task execution results are stored with the CPA until the user can connect with his/her mobile device to obtain the results. Requirements for an integrated user experience are outlined, along with the design and implementation of CAMCS. The operation of CAMCS and CPAs with cloud-based services is presented, specifically in terms of service description, discovery, and task execution. The use of contextual awareness to personalise service discovery and service consumption to the user's situation is also presented. Resource management by CAMCS is also studied, and compared with existing solutions. Additional application models that can be provided by CAMCS are also presented. Evaluation is performed with CAMCS deployed on the Amazon EC2 cloud. The resource usage of the CAMCS Client, running on Android-based mobile devices, is also evaluated. A user study with volunteers using CAMCS on their own mobile devices is also presented. Results show that CAMCS meets the requirements outlined for an integrated user experience.

The impact of user charges on patient choice of healthcare services in Ireland

This research assesses the impact of user charges in the context of consumer choice to ascertain how user charges in healthcare impact on patient behaviour in Ireland. Quantitative data is collected from a subset of the population in walk-in Urgent Care Clinics and General Practitioner surgeries to assess their responses to user charges and whether user charges are a viable source of part-funding healthcare in Ireland. Examining the economic theories of Becker (1965) and Grossman (1972), the research has assessed the impact of user charges on patient choice in terms of affordability and accessibility in healthcare. The research examined a number of private, public and part-publicly funded healthcare services in Ireland for which varying levels of user charges exist depending on patients’ healthcare cover. Firstly, the study identifies the factors affecting patient choice of privately funded walk-in Urgent Care Clinics in Ireland given user charges. Secondly, the study assesses patient response to user charges for a mainly public or part-publicly provided service; prescription drugs. Finally, the study examines patients’ attitudes towards the potential application of user charges for both public and private healthcare services when patient choice is part of a time-money trade-off, convenience choice or preference choice. These services are valued in the context of user charges becoming more prevalent in healthcare systems over time. The results indicate that the impact of user charges on healthcare services vary according to socio-economic status. The study shows that user charges can disproportionately affect lower income groups and consequently lead to affordability and accessibility issues. However, when valuing the potential application of user charges for three healthcare services (MRI scans, blood tests and a branded over a generic prescription drug), this research indicates that lower income individuals are willing to pay for healthcare services, albeit at a lower user charge than higher income earners. Consequently, this study suggests that user charges may be a feasible source of part-financing Irish healthcare, once the user charge is determined from the patients’ perspective, taking into account their ability to pay.

The credibility of simulation-based environments : user judgments of verisimilitude

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

The user's view level of the GOQL graphical query language

The paper addresses issues related to the design of a graphical query mechanism that can act as an interface to any object-oriented database system (OODBS), in general, and the object model of ODMG 2.0, in particular. In the paper a brief literature survey of related work is given, and an analysis methodology that allows the evaluation of such languages is proposed. Moreover, the user's view level of a new graphical query language, namely GOQL (Graphical Object Query Language), for ODMG 2.0 is presented. The user's view level provides a graphical schema that does not contain any of the perplexing details of an object-oriented database schema, and it also provides a foundation for a graphical interface that can support ad-hoc queries for object-oriented database applications. We illustrate, using an example, the user's view level of GOQL

Crowdsourcing User-Contributed Solutions to Aerospace Product Development Issues through Micro-Blogging

Revenue and production output of the United Kingdom’s Aerospace Industry (AI) is growing year on year and the need to develop new products and innovative enhancements to existing ranges is creating a critical need for the increased utilisation and sharing of employee knowledge. The capture of employee knowledge within the UK’s AI is vital if it is to retain its pre-eminent position in the global marketplace. Crowdsourcing, as a collaborative problem solving activity, allows employees to capture explicit knowledge from colleagues and teams and also offers the potential to extract previously unknown tacit knowledge in a less formal virtual environment. By using micro-blogging as a mechanism, a conceptual framework is proposed to illustrate how companies operating in the AI may improve the capture of employee knowledge to address production-related problems through the use of crowdsourcing. Subsequently, the framework has been set against the background of the product development process proposed by Maylor in 1996 and illustrates how micro-blogging may be used to crowdsource ideas and solutions during product development. Initial validation of the proposed framework is reported, using a focus group of 10 key actors from the collaborating organisation, identifying the perceived advantages, disadvantages and concerns of the framework; results indicate that the activity of micro-blogging for crowdsourcing knowledge relating to product development issues would be most beneficial during product conceptualisation due to the requirement for successful innovation.

Integrating Scientific Publication into an Applied Gaming Ecosystem

Salman, M. et al. (2016). Integrating Scientific Publication into an Applied Gaming Ecosystem. GSTF Journal on Computing (JoC), Volume 5 (Issue 1), pp. 45-51.

Origin authentication of distillers' dried grains and solubles (DDGS) - Application and comparison of different analytical strategies

In the context of products from certain regions or countries being banned because of an identified or non-identified hazard, proof of geographical origin is essential with regard to feed and food safety issues. Usually, the product labeling of an affected feed lot shows origin, and the paper documentation shows traceability. Incorrect product labeling is common in embargo situations, however, and alternative analytical strategies for controlling feed authenticity are therefore needed. In this study, distillers' dried grains and solubles (DDGS) were chosen as the product on which to base a comparison of analytical strategies aimed at identifying the most appropriate one. Various analytical techniques were investigated for their ability to authenticate DDGS, including spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques combined with multivariate data analysis, as well as proven techniques for authenticating food, such as DNA analysis and stable isotope ratio analysis. An external validation procedure (called the system challenge) was used to analyze sample sets blind and to compare analytical techniques. All the techniques were adapted so as to be applicable to the DDGS matrix. They produced positive results in determining the botanical origin of DDGS (corn vs. wheat), and several of them were able to determine the geographical origin of the DDGS in the sample set. The maintenance and extension of the databanks generated in this study through the analysis of new authentic samples from a single location are essential in order to monitor developments and processing that could affect authentication.

A secure authentication and key management scheme for Wireless Sensors Network

In recent years, the adaptation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to application areas requiring mobility increased the security threats against confidentiality, integrity and privacy of the information as well as against their connectivity. Since, key management plays an important role in securing both information and connectivity, a proper authentication and key management scheme is required in mobility enabled applications where the authentication of a node with the network is a critical issue. In this paper, we present an authentication and key management scheme supporting node mobility in a heterogeneous WSN that consists of several low capabilities sensor nodes and few high capabilities sensor nodes. We analyze our proposed solution by using MATLAB (analytically) and by simulation (OMNET++ simulator) to show that it has less memory requirement and has good network connectivity and resilience against attacks compared to some existing schemes. We also propose two levels of secure authentication methods for the mobile sensor nodes for secure authentication and key establishment.