Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-146). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Owing to a recent online trend of web 2.0, societies have emerged not only culturally but also technologically/virtually. This coupled with semantic web and Web Services have provided end-users with more opportunities to contribute to the web and consequentially have also multiplied their digital needs. One such requirement of a modern-day end-user is to combine the data, view and/or process presented across the web to suit his/her ephemeral needs by developing a novel application known as a service mashup. The end user development of mashup poses significant challenges to the end users. First challenge addressed in this thesis is the scope vs complexity challenge which refers to the impossibility of fully eliminating the technical barrier between a tool and the end user due to the corresponding complexity creeping in while developing new features in tool and extending its scope to provide added functionality. The second challenge arises from the utility=value/effort equation which implies that effort required in developing a mashup decreases the value and hence neutralizes the utility. Given these challenges and the related issues, I made three contributions. The central theme of my proposed approach - for managing these inherent challenges - is that the end user must be integrated into the process of a service composition application. My approach - A Goal-Oriented Mashup Development (GO-MaDe) framework defines, organizes and addresses the problems faced by end-users while composing their applications by proposing a new style of development in the mashup area in a bid to render irrelevant the underlying inherent tensions of the paradigm. My first contribution in this regard is a classification model that takes into account end user centered usability criteria for calibrating mashup tools efforts. Secondly, this research is the pioneer study about the integration of an agile-style analysis-cum-design phase into the mashup development process. Hence, it presents a redefined process of service-based applications development by introducing a spiral process model that introduces a phased, incremental concept of mashup development lifecycle. Based on the spiral model, I have presented a method (KAReM) annotated with domain theory for better acquisition and representation of user requirements encompassed by the APIs or Web Services that are composed to develop a mashup by incorporating the dynamics of goal decompositions using goal based templates. It serves to enhance the end-user experience by facilitating them to explore the problem space and helping them derive the visual representations of their requirements which can then be translated into service compositions. To evaluate my contributions qualitatively and quantitatively I conducted literature reviews, and validated my framework by scenarios and a controlled experiment.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Pursuit of innovation projects with the absent of a methodology to follow hampers the development of the software product as its complexity grows since the freedom of its own advancement is confused with the lack of order on it. Traditional and agile methodologies do not adapt to this kind of projects therefore, in this paper we aim to design a model that incorporates characteristics of both of them to get a solution of a need found in society. In this study, we focus on the construction of a mobile application that answer to the lack of a system that integrates pharmaceutical products from different establishment through the appliance of usability concept with the UCD (User centered design) approach. In this case we only detail about four of the seven stages proposed in the model developed with its techniques, tools and activities conducted. Results obtained show that the model proposed achieve the expectative and its use is not limited to just mobile applications but to any kind of software project. / Revisión por pares

According to a study made at Linköping University, there are few options besides self-catered food and buying food at a restaurant. According to the same survey, a majority of the students seek further options in the market. A proposed solution, tested here, is to develop a platform for selling and buying homemade food through a web application. Development takes place in iterations where design and functionality are supported by scientific theory. Changes are based on qualitative opinions from user tests at the end of each iteration. The work is specifically aimed at creating a design with associated features that allow quick navigation to the desired transaction while the user experiences a good navigability. The balance between navigability and time aspects has been central to the report and influenced all aspects of the web application's design. The report shows that it is possible to develop a web application according to the above criteria and identify what is essential for the users. / Enligt en undersökning vid Linköpings universitet finns det få alternativ till egenlagad mat och att köpa mat på restaurang. Enligt samma undersökning eftersträvar en majoritet av studenterna ett ytterligare alternativ på marknaden. En föreslagen lösning, som testas här, är att genom utvecklingen av en webbapplikation skapa en plattform för försäljning och köp av hemlagad mat. Utveckling sker i iterationer där design och funktionalitet underbyggs med vetenskaplig teori. Förändringar baseras på kvalitativa åsikter från användartester i slutet av varje iteration. Arbetet är speciellt inriktat på att skapa en design med tillhörande funktioner som tillåter en snabb navigering till den önskade transaktionen samtidigt som användaren upplever en god navigerbarhet. Avvägningen mellan navigerbarhet och tidsaspekter har varit centralt i rapporten och påverkat samtliga delar av webbapplikationens utformning. Rapporten visar att det är möjligt att utveckla en webbapplikation efter ovan nämnda kriterier och identifierar vad som upplevs centralt för användarna.

This dissertation presents a case study in user-centered design completed at the University of Central Florida. Leadership in the College of Graduate Studies at UCF realized the need for an advisement tool to assist advisors in the academic colleges to track the success of their students. After an advisement product was selected, the user-centered design approach started to be implemented. End-users were shown the basic functionality and known benefits of the product. Then they were asked how they could make it standardized across programs. The users selected the order in which information and degree requirements should display. The users asked for additional information to be shown on the new advising report called the Graduate Plan of Study (GPS). This information would assist them in advising students and certifying that the students' had met requirements to earn their degree. With the help of the end-users, a prototype was developed and delivered to computer services. End users assisted with the testing of current and additional functionality. After attending focus groups, the end-users had a better understanding of the need for testing. They assisted in providing ideas for training and a deployment plan to the university. The use of the user-centered design approach helped to keep our end-users engaged in the project. They were the central cause of the successful implementation of a new advisement module for graduate students at UCF.

With concerns for the environment becoming more prevalent in business and the government, it is increasingly important to re-evaluate and update processes to include sustainability considerations early in the design process. In response to this charge, this research effort was designed to integrate sustainability factors into the usercentered design process. The results of this research highlight the benefits of sustainability requirement planning, as well as those derived from integrating sustainability into the current user-centered design model

In the U.S., the majority of construction companies are small companies with 10 or fewer employees (BLS, 2004). The fatality rate in the construction industry is high, indicating a need for implementing safety training to a greater extent. This research addresses two main goals: to make recommendations and design a safety training system for small construction companies, and to use Contextual Design to design the training system. Contextual Design was developed by Holtzblatt (Beyer and Holtzblatt, 1998) in an effort to address the challenge of designing new systems. Ethnographic in nature, the Contextual Design methodology requires field data collection, requirements analysis, model building, visioning and story boarding, and prototyping. A sample of 12 participants consisting of 7 tradespersons, 3 forepersons, and 2 owners/ managers, was selected for data collection. The data was analyzed based on the Contextual Design approach and a training system prototype was designed. The results of this study are recommendations for safety in small construction companies, a low fidelity paper prototype of the training system, and recommendations on future use of Contextual Design for developing training systems. / Master of Science

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This thesis deals with the topic of website optimization and user testing, with focus on the user experience. The main objective of this thesis is to design a software tool for on-line testing of the user experience of web applications, which currently does not exist on the Czech Internet. The first part deals with the user experience in theoretical aspect. It contains a comparison of experts' opinions on the issue and deals with the definition of basic concepts. The theoretical part contains an analysis of research techniques used in designing the user experience, which is an important output for the second part. Practical part of thesis includes at the beginning a research of the availability of tools to support analyzed research techniques on Czech Internet and assess their suitability for implementation into the designed tool. Afterwards thesis follow up the main goal - the development of a software tool for usability testing of web applications and websites (incl. the proposed business model and potential areas for future development). This tool should among other things provide benefits in terms of speed up and simplification of usability testing, including reducing the costs of testing.

<p dir="ltr"><a href="" target="_blank">Almost every case of cervical cancer in the United States is medically preventable with vaccination and proper screening, yet many Americans are insufficiently screened. Over 12 thousand American women suffered from cervical cancer in 2018</a>¹ causing 4 thousand deaths, with over a third in women who had never received a routine screening test².</p><p dir="ltr">New, sensitive testing techniques for cervical cancer screening are facilitating HPV testing without evaluating the cells collected in the sample by eye. This opens the door to new, accessible methods of screening such as rapid testing in clinic and at home, self-sampling, and mail-in testing. As cervical cancer morbidity and mortality is largely a result of healthcare inequities, these methods may have a significant impact on cervical cancer outcomes.</p><p dir="ltr">The goal of this project is to create a proof-of-concept, sample-to-answer rapid test to be used for cervical cancer screening in Indiana outpatient clinics. We began the project by conducting interviews and a survey to explore Indiana clinician perspectives on cervical screening methods such as self-sampling, rapid testing, and home-based screening. Clinicians preferred in-clinic testing with same-visit results, in the hopes that face-to-face explanation of results and scheduling follow-up care in person would improve patient retention for these important follow-up tests. To create such a test, we augmented an isothermal nucleic acid amplification method that copies 13 of the 14 high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) types with an endogenous b-globin sample control and a simple colorimetric lateral flow strip (LFS) readout. When tested with HPV 16 the assay achieved a limit of detection of 1000 HPV copies per reaction, which would detect endocervical samples deemed ‘sufficient’ by clinical guidelines. It also performs in endocervical cells using methods and equipment that could be implemented in an outpatient clinic. The final test accepts swabs or brushes of endocervical cells, lyses them in 5 minutes, copies the target DNA and a sample adequacy control, and delivers the readout within 40 minutes on an LFS readout. Future directions for this assay include soliciting feedback from clinicians and other stakeholders about the prototype developed, adapting the assay to interferents of clinical endocervical samples, and adding probes for other HPV types, such as HPV 18 and eventually the other hrHPV types.</p>