Smart device interest, perceived usefulness, and preferences in rural Alabama seniors.

Limited data exist on the preferences for smart home devices in rural Americans. We examined the interest, usefulness, and pleasantness of various smart home interfaces and determined whether they differed by ethnicity, rurality, age, and gender. A total of 118 older adults living in the rural Deep South completed a survey instrument that assessed interest in various smart home applications and was queried about the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of screen, voice, and robot interfaces in 7 distinct scenarios. Personality data was collected via the Big Five Inventory. Technology readiness was measured using a technological readiness instrument. Participants were primarily female (81%), rural (76%), African American (69%), and aged 65-74 years old (51%). Participants were recruited from a total of 5 cities in West Alabama within the Black Belt. Data was collected before COVID-19 (July 2018 through July 2019).

How different text display patterns affect cybersickness in augmented reality.

Cybersickness remains a pivotal factor that impacts user experience in Augmented Reality (AR). Research probing into the relationship between AR reading tasks and cybersickness, particularly focusing on text display patterns and user characteristics, has been scant. Moreover, the influence of cybersickness on searching ability and the broader spectrum of user experience has not been rigorously tested. Recent investigations have aimed to pinpoint the variables that contribute to cybersickness during AR reading sessions. In one such study, 40 participants underwent a series of controlled experiments with randomized text display patterns, including variations in text speed and text movement modes. Post-experiment, participants completed a questionnaire that helped quantify their experiences and the degree of cybersickness encountered. The data highlighted that satiety, text speed, and text movement mode are significant contributors to cybersickness. When participants experienced higher levels of cybersickness, font color stood out as a particularly influential factor, whereas gender differences seemed to affect the onset of cybersickness more noticeably at lower levels. This study also drew attention to the impact of cybersickness on search ability within AR environments. It was noted that as cybersickness intensity increased, search ability was markedly compromised. In sum, the research underscores the importance of text display patterns and user characteristics, such as past AR experience, in understanding cybersickness and its detrimental effects on user experience and search ability, particularly under conditions of intense cybersickness.

Instant interaction driven adaptive gaze control interface.

Gaze estimation is long been recognised as having potential as the basis for human-computer interaction (HCI) systems, but usability and robustness of performance remain challenging . This work focuses on systems in which there is a live video stream showing enough of the subjects face to track eye movements and some means to infer gaze location from detected eye features. Currently, systems generally require some form of calibration or set-up procedure at the start of each user session. Here we explore some simple strategies for enabling gaze based HCI to operate immediately and robustly without any explicit set-up tasks. We explore different choices of coordinate origin for combining extracted features from multiple subjects and the replacement of subject specific calibration by system initiation based on prior models. Results show that referencing all extracted features to local coordinate origins determined by subject start position enables robust immediate operation. Combining this approach with an adaptive gaze estimation model using an interactive user interface enables continuous operation with the 75th percentile gaze errors of 0.7 ∘ , and maximum gaze errors of 1.7 ∘ during prospective testing. There constitute state-of-the-art results and have the potential to enable a new generation of reliable gaze based HCI systems.

Evaluation of the Parkinson's Remote Interactive Monitoring System in a Clinical Setting: Usability Study.

BACKGROUND: The fastest-growing neurological disorder is Parkinson disease (PD), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects 10 million people worldwide. PD is typically treated with levodopa, an oral pill taken to increase dopamine levels, and other dopaminergic agonists. As the disease advances, the efficacy of the drug diminishes, necessitating adjustments in treatment dosage according to the patient's symptoms and disease progression. Therefore, remote monitoring systems that can provide more detailed and accurate information on a patient's condition regularly are a valuable tool for clinicians and patients to manage their medication. The Parkinson's Remote Interactive Monitoring System (PRIMS), developed by PragmaClin Research Inc, was designed on the premise that it will be an easy-to-use digital system that can accurately capture motor and nonmotor symptoms of PD remotely. OBJECTIVE: We performed a usability evaluation in a simulated clinical environment to assess the ease of use of the PRIMS and determine whether the product offers suitable functionality for users in a clinical setting. METHODS: Participants were recruited from a user sign-up web-based database owned by PragmaClin Research Inc. A total of 11 participants were included in the study based on the following criteria: (1) being diagnosed with PD and (2) not being diagnosed with dementia or any other comorbidities that would make it difficult to complete the PRIMS assessment safely and independently. Patient users completed a questionnaire that is based on the Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. Interviews and field notes were analyzed for underlying themes and topics. RESULTS: In total, 11 people with PD participated in the study (female individuals: n=5, 45%; male individuals: n=6, 55%; age: mean 66.7, SD 7.77 years). Thematic analysis of the observer's notes revealed 6 central usability issues associated with the PRIMS. These were the following: (1) the automated voice prompts are confusing, (2) the small camera is problematic, (3) the motor test exhibits excessive sensitivity to the participant's orientation and position in relation to the cameras, (4) the system poses mobility challenges, (5) navigating the system is difficult, and (6) the motor test exhibits inconsistencies and technical issues. Thematic analysis of qualitative interview responses revealed four central themes associated with participants' perspectives and opinions on the PRIMS, which were (1) admiration of purpose, (2) excessive system sensitivity, (3) video instructions preferred, and (4) written instructions disliked. The average system usability score was calculated to be 69.2 (SD 4.92), which failed to meet the acceptable system usability score of 70. CONCLUSIONS: Although multiple areas of improvement were identified, most of the participants showed an affinity for the overarching objective of the PRIMS. This feedback is being used to upgrade the current PRIMS so that it aligns more with patients' needs.

Comparative evaluation of the web-based contiguous cartogram generation tool go-cart.io.

Area cartograms are map-based data visualizations in which the area of each map region is proportional to the data value it represents. Long utilized in print media, area cartograms have also become increasingly popular online, often accompanying news articles and blog posts. Despite their popularity, there is a dearth of cartogram generation tools accessible to non-technical users unfamiliar with Geographic Information Systems software. Few tools support the generation of contiguous cartograms (i.e., area cartograms that faithfully represent the spatial adjacency of neighboring regions). We thus reviewed existing contiguous cartogram software and compared two web-based cartogram tools: fBlog and go-cart.io. We experimentally evaluated their usability through a user study comprising cartogram generation and analysis tasks. The System Usability Scale was adopted to quantify how participants perceived the usability of both tools. We also collected written feedback from participants to determine the main challenges faced while using the software. Participants generally rated go-cart.io as being more usable than fBlog. Compared to fBlog, go-cart.io offers a greater variety of built-in maps and allows importing data values by file upload. Still, our results suggest that even go-cart.io suffers from poor usability because the graphical user interface is complex and data can only be imported as a comma-separated-values file. We also propose changes to go-cart.io and make general recommendations for web-based cartogram tools to address these concerns.

Implementation and Evaluation of Walk-in-Place Using a Low-Cost Motion-Capture Device for Virtual Reality Applications.

Virtual reality (VR) is used in many fields, including entertainment, education, training, and healthcare, because it allows users to experience challenging and dangerous situations that may be impossible in real life. Advances in head-mounted display technology have enhanced visual immersion, offering content that closely resembles reality. However, several factors can reduce VR immersion, particularly issues with the interactions in the virtual world, such as locomotion. Additionally, the development of locomotion technology is occurring at a moderate pace. Continuous research is being conducted using hardware such as treadmills, and motion tracking using depth cameras, but they are costly and space-intensive. This paper presents a walk-in-place (WIP) algorithm that uses Mocopi, a low-cost motion-capture device, to track user movements in real time. Additionally, its feasibility for VR applications was evaluated by comparing its performance with that of a treadmill using the absolute trajectory error metric and survey data collected from human participants. The proposed WIP algorithm with low-cost Mocopi exhibited performance similar to that of the high-cost treadmill, with significantly positive results for spatial awareness. This study is expected to contribute to solving the issue of spatial constraints when experiencing infinite virtual spaces.

An Augmented Reality Visualization System for Simulated Multirotor Aerial Vehicles.

Multirotors Aerial Vehicles are special class of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with many practical applications. The growing demand for this class of aircraft requires tools that speed up their development. Simulated environments have gained increasing importance, as they facilitate testing and prototyping solutions, where virtual environments allow real-time interaction with simulated models, with similar behavior to real systems. More recently, the use of Augmented Reality has allowed an increasing experience of immersion and integration between the virtual world and a real scenario. This work proposes the use of Augmented Reality technology and a simulated model of a multirotor to create an interactive flight environment, aiming to improve the user experience in the analysis of simulated models. For this purpose, a smartphone was adopted as a hardware platform, a game engine is used as a basis for the development of the Augmented Reality application, that represents a numerical simulation of the flight dynamics and the control system of a multirotor, and a game controller is adopted for user interaction. The resulting system demonstrates that Augmented Reality is a viable technology that can be used to increase the possibilities of evaluating simulated systems.

The proteus effect on human pain perception through avatar muscularity and gender factors.

The Proteus effect, which occurs when using an avatar in virtual reality, influences user behavior, changes attitudes, and improves physical performance. Here, we show that human pain perception can be alleviated by the Proteus effect. To investigate the pain alleviation effect of using an avatar in a virtual environment, we conducted two experiments using a head-mounted display and a thermal pain stimulator to induce acute pain. The first experiment involved 20 adult participants, while the second experiment involved 44 adult participants. Experimental results show that participants reported significantly lower pain scores (15.982% reduction), as measured by the Pain Assessment Scale (PAS), when using a muscular avatar than when using a normal avatar. The experiments also revealed several significant gender factors. For example, participants reported significantly lower pain scores when using a gender-congruent avatar. In addition, the use of a muscular avatar was particularly effective for male participants. In contrast, female participants consistently reported lower pain scores when using the avatar regardless of its body type (muscular/normal). To further our understanding, we also measured participants' gender-related pain stereotypes using the Gender Role Expectations of Pain (GREP) questionnaire, as well as participants' sense of embodiment. The results of these questionnaires are consistent with the results of the PAS, suggesting possible relationships between stereotypes and the Proteus effect on pain perception, and between the degree of immersion in an avatar and the user's perception of pain.

A new ring fixator system for automated bone fixation.

BACKGROUND: In the field of orthopaedics, external fixators are commonly employed for treating extremity fractures and deformities. Computer-assisted systems offer a promising and less error-prone treatment alternative to manual fixation by utilising a software to plan treatments based on radiological and clinical data. Nevertheless, existing computer-assisted systems have limitations and constraints. METHODS: This work represents the culmination of a project aimed at developing a new automatised fixation system and a corresponding software to minimise human intervention and associated errors, and the developed system incorporates enhanced functionalities and has fewer constraints compared to existing systems. RESULTS: The automatised fixation system and its graphical user interface (GUI) demonstrate promising results in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and reliability. CONCLUSION: The developed fixation system and its accompanying GUI represent an improvement in computer-assisted fixation systems. Future research may focus on further refining the system and conducting clinical trials.

Empathetic and Emotive Design Heuristics: Preliminary Results of Their Application to Evaluating Survey User Interfaces.

Empathetic and emotive design is becoming increasingly important in the digital age. In this research we describe the results of a combined cognitive walkthrough and heuristic evaluation using newly developed, empirically derived empathy or emotive design heuristics. We applied the heuristics to the evaluation of four commonly used survey platforms. Our preliminary findings revealed that the heuristics performed effectively in scoring survey platforms on their level of empathy. Survey platforms that are highly empathetic were scored highest.

Empathetic and Emotive Design Heuristics.

The design of user interfaces and systems that promote positive emotional interaction and reaction from end users is becoming a critical area in the design of applications and systems for use by the general population. In this paper we describe our work in the creation of a set of empathetic design heuristics that were developed from examination of the literature in this area within the context of healthcare user interface design. The heuristics and their potential application are explored.

Evaluation of usability and user feedback to guide telepharmacy application development in Indonesia: a mixed-methods study.

BACKGROUND: In Indonesia, the adoption of telepharmacy was propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting the need for a user-friendly application to support both the general population and pharmacists in accessing healthcare services. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate usability and user feedback of a pioneering telepharmacy application known as Tanya Obat (translating to "Ask about Medications") in Indonesia, from the perspectives of the general population and pharmacists. METHODS: A mixed-methods sequential study was conducted with the early-stage Tanya Obat application in Bandung City. Participants, including the general population and pharmacists, were instructed to use the application for a week. Questionnaires for the general population and pharmacists were distributed from March to May and February to June 2023, respectively. The System Usability Scale questionnaire was adopted to describe usability of the developed application. Further exploration of the quantitative results required collecting open-ended feedback to assess the impressions of the participants, difficulties encountered, and desired features for enhanced user-friendliness. The collected statements were summarized and clustered using thematic analysis. Subsequently, the association between the characteristics of participants and perceived usability was determined with the Chi-square test. RESULT: A total of 176 participants, comprising 100 individuals from the general population and 76 pharmacists, engaged in this study. In terms of usability, the questionnaire showed that Tanya Obat application was on the borderline of acceptability, with mean scores of 63.4 and 64.1 from the general population and pharmacists, respectively. Additionally, open-ended feedback targeted at achieving a more compelling user experience was categorized into two themes, including concerns regarding the functionality of certain features and recommendations for improved visual aesthetics and bug fixes. No significant associations were observed between the characteristics of participants and perceived usability (p-value > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results showed that the perceived usability of Tanya Obat developed for telepharmacy was below average. Therefore, feature optimizations should be performed to facilitate usability of this application in Indonesia.

A novel method for developing contrast-detail curves from clinical patient images based on statistical low-contrast detectability.

Purpose. To develop a method to extract statistical low-contrast detectability (LCD) and contrast-detail (C-D) curves from clinical patient images.Method. We used the region of air surrounding the patient as an alternative for a homogeneous region within a patient. A simple graphical user interface (GUI) was created to set the initial configuration for region of interest (ROI), ROI size, and minimum detectable contrast (MDC). The process was started by segmenting the air surrounding the patient with a threshold between -980 HU (Hounsfield units) and -1024 HU to get an air mask. The mask was trimmed using the patient center coordinates to avoid distortion from the patient table. It was used to automatically place square ROIs of a predetermined size. The mean pixel values in HU within each ROI were calculated, and the standard deviation (SD) from all the means was obtained. The MDC for a particular target size was generated by multiplying the SD by 3.29. A C-D curve was obtained by iterating this process for the other ROI sizes. This method was applied to the homogeneous area from the uniformity module of an ACR CT phantom to find the correlation between the parameters inside and outside the phantom, for 30 thoracic, 26 abdominal, and 23 head images.Results. The phantom images showed a significant linear correlation between the LCDs obtained from outside and inside the phantom, with R2values of 0.67 and 0.99 for variations in tube currents and tube voltages. This indicated that the air region outside the phantom can act as a surrogate for the homogenous region inside the phantom to obtain the LCD and C-D curves.Conclusion. The C-D curves obtained from outside the ACR CT phantom show a strong linear correlation with those from inside the phantom. The proposed method can also be used to extract the LCD from patient images by using the region of air outside as a surrogate for a region inside the patient.

Voxeloc: A time-saving graphical user interface for localizing and visualizing stereo-EEG electrodes.

BACKGROUND: Thanks to its unrivalled spatial and temporal resolutions and signal-to-noise ratio, intracranial EEG (iEEG) is becoming a valuable tool in neuroscience research. To attribute functional properties to cortical tissue, it is paramount to be able to determine precisely the localization of each electrode with respect to a patient's brain anatomy. Several software packages or pipelines offer the possibility to localize manually or semi-automatically iEEG electrodes. However, their reliability and ease of use may leave to be desired. NEW METHOD: Voxeloc (voxel electrode locator) is a Matlab-based graphical user interface to localize and visualize stereo-EEG electrodes. Voxeloc adopts a semi-automated approach to determine the coordinates of each electrode contact, the user only needing to indicate the deep-most contact of each electrode shaft and another point more proximally. RESULTS: With a deliberately streamlined functionality and intuitive graphical user interface, the main advantages of Voxeloc are ease of use and inter-user reliability. Additionally, oblique slices along the shaft of each electrode can be generated to facilitate the precise localization of each contact. Voxeloc is open-source software and is compatible with the open iEEG-BIDS (Brain Imaging Data Structure) format. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: Localizing full patients' iEEG implants was faster using Voxeloc than two comparable software packages, and the inter-user agreement was better. CONCLUSIONS: Voxeloc offers an easy-to-use and reliable tool to localize and visualize stereo-EEG electrodes. This will contribute to democratizing neuroscience research using iEEG.

Intelligent wearable olfactory interface for latency-free mixed reality and fast olfactory enhancement.

Olfaction feedback systems could be utilized to stimulate human emotion, increase alertness, provide clinical therapy, and establish immersive virtual environments. Currently, the reported olfaction feedback technologies still face a host of formidable challenges, including human perceivable delay in odor manipulation, unwieldy dimensions, and limited number of odor supplies. Herein, we report a general strategy to solve these problems, which associates with a wearable, high-performance olfactory interface based on miniaturized odor generators (OGs) with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. The OGs serve as the core technology of the intelligent olfactory interface, which exhibit milestone advances in millisecond-level response time, milliwatt-scale power consumption, and the miniaturized size. Empowered by robust AI algorithms, the olfactory interface shows its great potentials in latency-free mixed reality (MR) and fast olfaction enhancement, thereby establishing a bridge between electronics and users for broad applications ranging from entertainment, to education, to medical treatment, and to human machine interfaces.

K-Track-Covid: interactive web-based dashboard for analyzing geographical and temporal spread of COVID-19 in South Korea.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the development of robust tools for tracking and modeling the spread of the virus. We present 'K-Track-Covid,' an interactive web-based dashboard developed using the R Shiny framework, to offer users an intuitive dashboard for analyzing the geographical and temporal spread of COVID-19 in South Korea. Our dashboard employs dynamic user interface elements, employs validated epidemiological models, and integrates regional data to offer tailored visual displays. The dashboard allows users to customize their data views by selecting specific time frames, geographic regions, and demographic groups. This customization enables the generation of charts and statistical summaries pertinent to both daily fluctuations and cumulative counts of COVID-19 cases, as well as mortality statistics. Additionally, the dashboard offers a simulation model based on mathematical models, enabling users to make predictions under various parameter settings. The dashboard is designed to assist researchers, policymakers, and the public in understanding the spread and impact of COVID-19, thereby facilitating informed decision-making. All data and resources related to this study are publicly available to ensure transparency and facilitate further research.

Virtual communities of practice for novice occupational therapists: a vehicle for learning, support and professional identity strengthening?

INTRODUCTION: Healthcare practitioners delivering services in rural and underserved areas need timely access to appropriate knowledge to optimise the care they deliver. Novice generalist occupational therapists in South Africa experience this need as they respond to a high demand for hand therapy. Embedded within a study aimed at identifying their support and development needs, this article describes participants' experience of a virtual community of practice. METHODS: A qualitative case study design was employed. Nine occupational therapists participated in a virtual community of practice that met fortnightly for meetings and interacted on WhatsApp. Data were collected through photo elicitation, facilitated reflection, and case discussions. An online survey questionnaire was used to evaluate participants' experience of this virtual community. Thematic analysis was applied to the anonymous responses submitted by participants (n=7). A number of strategies were employed to ensure the trustworthiness of results including prolonged engagement, member checking, peer examination, reflexive reading and writing, triangulation, and a dense description of participants to enable readers to evaluate the transferability of results. RESULTS: Three themes were generated from analysis. The first theme, versatile support, describes participants' experience of being helped and supported, appreciating the immediacy of support, and being able to share resources. A vehicle for learning captures participants' experience of mutual learning, opportunity to reflect, to acquire knowledge and skills, and develop their clinical reasoning. Finally, the community of practice was grounding: learning opportunities were contextually relevant and participants were able to consolidate their professional values and identity. Participants raised the importance of using online platforms that were accessible, recommended a group size of 5-10 members, and proposed 60-90-minute meetings held weekly or fortnightly. CONCLUSION: A virtual community of practice provided both support and professional development opportunities for therapists delivering hand therapy. Careful planning and implementation to upscale this intervention are recommended for rehabilitation personnel delivering care to underserved communities in South Africa. The logistics of virtual communities need to mitigate for connectivity difficulties, and online platforms should enable real-time support. Participant satisfaction and the evaluation of implementation outcomes should be considered in the design of virtual communities of practice.

iCEED: Integrated customized extraction of enzyme data.

Enzymes catalyze diverse biochemical reactions and are building blocks of cellular and metabolic pathways. Data and metadata of enzymes are distributed across databases and are archived in various formats. The enzyme databases provide utilities for efficient searches and downloading enzyme records in batch mode but do not support organism-specific extraction of subsets of data. Users are required to write scripts for parsing entries for customized data extraction prior to downstream analysis. Integrated Customized Extraction of Enzyme Data (iCEED) has been developed to provide organism-specific customized data extraction utilities for seven commonly used enzyme databases and brings these resources under an integrated portal. iCEED provides dropdown menus and search boxes using typehead utility for submission of queries as well as enzyme class-based browsing utility. A utility to facilitate mapping and visualization of functionally important features on the three-dimensional (3D) structures of enzymes is integrated. The customized data extraction utilities provided in iCEED are expected to be useful for biochemists, biotechnologists, computational biologists, and life science researchers to build curated datasets of their choice through an easy to navigate web-based interface. The integrated feature visualization system is useful for a fine-grained understanding of the enzyme structure-function relationship. Desired subsets of data, extracted and curated using iCEED can be subsequently used for downstream processing, analyses, and knowledge discovery. iCEED can also be used for training and teaching purposes.

FragGrow: A Web Server for Structure-Based Drug Design by Fragment Growing within Constraints.

Fragment growing is an important ligand design strategy in drug discovery. In this study, we present FragGrow, a web server that facilitates structure-based drug design by fragment growing. FragGrow offers two working modes: one for growing molecules through the direct replacement of hydrogen atoms or substructures and the other for growing via virtual synthesis. FragGrow works by searching for suitable fragments that meet a set of constraints from an indexed 3D fragment database and using them to create new compounds in 3D space. The users can set a range of constraints when searching for their desired fragment, including the fragment's ability to interact with specific protein sites; its size, topology, and physicochemical properties; and the presence of particular heteroatoms and functional groups within the fragment. We hope that FragGrow will serve as a useful tool for medicinal chemists in ligand design. The FragGrow server is freely available to researchers and can be accessed at https://fraggrow.xundrug.cn.

User-centric design of a 3D search interface for protein-ligand complexes.

In this work, we present the frontend of GeoMine and showcase its application, focusing on the new features of its latest version. GeoMine is a search engine for ligand-bound and predicted empty binding sites in the Protein Data Bank. In addition to its basic text-based search functionalities, GeoMine offers a geometric query type for searching binding sites with a specific relative spatial arrangement of chemical features such as heavy atoms and intermolecular interactions. In contrast to a text search that requires simple and easy-to-formulate user input, a 3D input is more complex, and its specification can be challenging for users. GeoMine's new version aims to address this issue from the graphical user interface perspective by introducing an additional visualization concept and a new query template type. In its latest version, GeoMine extends its query-building capabilities primarily through input formulation in 2D. The 2D editor is fully synchronized with GeoMine's 3D editor and provides the same functionality. It enables template-free query generation and template-based query selection directly in 2D pose diagrams. In addition, the query generation with the 3D editor now supports predicted empty binding sites for AlphaFold structures as query templates. GeoMine is freely accessible on the ProteinsPlus web server ( https://proteins.plus ).