Search Results (203)

In recent years, an increasing number of studies have begun to use conversational data in spontaneous speech to estimate cognitive function in older people. The providers of spontaneous speech with older people used to be physicians and licensed psychologists, but it is now possible to have conversations with fully automatic AI agents. However, it has not yet been clarified what differences exist in conversational communication with older people when the examiner is either a human or an AI agent. In this study, elderly people living in the community and attending a silver human resource center and a day service center were the subjects. Dialogues were conducted using generic interview items for estimating cognitive function through daily conversation, which were developed through research on estimation methods for cognitive function. From the data obtained from the dialogues, we compared the effects of human–AI interaction on the number of utterances, speaking time, and silence time. This study was conducted at a facility in Japan and included 32 subjects (12 males and 20 females). The results showed significant differences between human and AI dialogue in the number of utterances and silent time. This study suggests the effectiveness of AI in communication with older people and explores the possibility of using AI in social welfare. Full article

This study investigates user experience (UX) sharing behaviors in the context of smartphone user interface (UI) design, emphasizing their significance for UI enhancement and effective marketing strategies. Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) framework, we examine how design perception attributes—perceived usability, novelty, enjoyment, and brand image—influence UX sharing, with a spotlight on the mediating role of individual motivation. A quantitative analysis (N = 472), Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), and mediation analysis were conducted. Our findings confirm that these components can positively impact UX sharing by bolstering personal expectations and self-efficacy in knowledge sharing, with perceived usability being an exception as it unexpectedly showed a negative association with sharing frequency. Moreover, perceived brand image and individual self-expectancy and self-efficacy enhance sharing outcomes. This research enriches our understanding of the strategic importance of user interface (UI) design in the context of smartphones, furnishing empirical grounding for devising sustainable UI design strategies and productive marketing tactics. Consequently, it bears considerable relevance to both theoretical insights and practical applications. Full article

The recent advancements in mobile technologies have enabled the widespread adoption of augmented reality (AR) to enrich cultural heritage (CH) digital experiences. Mobile AR leverages visual recognition capabilities and sensor data to superimpose digital elements into the user’s view of their surroundings. The pervasive nature of AR serves several purposes in CH: visitor guidance, 3D reconstruction, educational experiences, and mobile location-based games. While most literature reviews on AR in CH focus on technological aspects such as tracking algorithms and software frameworks, there has been little exploration of the expressive affordances of AR for the delivery of meaningful interactions. This paper (based on the PRISMA guidelines) considers 64 selected publications, published from 2016 to 2023, that present mobile AR applications in CH, with the aim of identifying and analyzing the (mobile) AR (interaction) design patterns that have so far been discussed sporadically in the literature. We identify sixteen (16) main UX design patterns, as well as eight (8) patterns with a single occurrence in the paper corpus, that have been employed—sometimes in combination—to address recurring design problems or contexts, e.g., user navigation, representing the past, uncovering hidden elements, etc. We analyze each AR design pattern by providing a title, a working definition, principal use cases, and abstract illustrations that indicate the main concept and its workings (where applicable) and explanation with respect to examples from the paper corpus. We discuss the AR design patterns in terms of a few broader design and development concerns, including the AR recognition approach, content production and development requirements, and affordances for storytelling, as well as possible contexts and experiences, including indoor/outdoor settings, location-based experiences, mobile guides, and mobile games. We envisage that this work will thoroughly inform AR designers and developers abot the current state of the art and the possibilities and affordances of mobile AR design patterns with respect to particular CH contexts. Full article

The application of digital technologies in the agricultural sector is increasing. One of the new key technologies is the Internet of Things (IoT), which can facilitate the everyday work of farmers. For the successful adoption of IoT-enabled digital products and to ensure improved workflows, the usability of human–machine interfaces is highly important. Various design approaches of human–machine interfaces (HMIs) can currently be found in the monitoring of agricultural machinery. In this work, the most well-known HMIs are considered. Based on a usability test (participants n = 9), the user interface (UI) of a novel mobile application (NEVONEX Cockpit App) was chosen as an example of a design approach of an IoT ecosystem that is oriented towards the UI design of mobile applications. This work aims to identify the weak points of this UI. Conclusions about the needs, and thus an improvement of the user experience, are based on the suggestions for improvement and the information about the general requirements of farmers for a UI for agricultural machinery. Here, it was found that most farmers are satisfied with the UI design of their familiar tractor monitors. According to the survey, the three most important points to be considered in the UI design are intuitive operation and menu navigation, easy access to the essential functions and buttons, and sufficiently large control panels. The conducted usability tests can be considered a basis for developing HMIs for agriculture machinery. Through repeated execution of comparable usability tests, there is the possibility of developing future HMI guidelines for agriculture to improve the user experience (UX). For the NEVONEX ecosystem, feedback from the user interface testing was incorporated in a major revision of the Cockpit App’s design, where a lot more display space was given to the agronomic digital services by smartly arranging infrastructure functions in tiles. Full article

This article presents a comprehensive and multistage approach to the development of the user experience (UX) for an mHealth application targeting older adult patients with chronic diseases, specifically chronic heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The study adopts a mixed methods approach, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative components. The underlying hypothesis posits that baseline medicine adherence knowledge (measured by the MARS questionnaire), beliefs about medicines (measured by the BMQ questionnaire), and level of user experience (measured by the SUS and UEQ questionnaires) act as predictors of adherence change after a period of usage of the mHealth application. However, contrary to our expectations, the results did not demonstrate the anticipated relationship between the variables examined. Nevertheless, the qualitative component of the research revealed that patients, in general, expressed satisfaction with the application. It is important to note that the pilot testing phase revealed a notable prevalence of technical issues, which may have influenced participants’ perception of the overall UX. These findings contribute to the understanding of UX development in the context of mHealth applications for older adults with chronic diseases and emphasise the importance of addressing technical challenges to enhance user satisfaction and engagement. Full article

Following a series of legislative changes around privacy over the past 25 years, this study highlights data protection regulations and the complexities of applying these frameworks. To address this, we created a privacy framework to guide organisations in what steps they need to undertake to achieve compliance with the UK GDPR, highlighting the existing privacy frameworks for best practice and the requirements from the Information Commissioners Office. We applied our framework to a UK charity sector; to account for the specific nuances that working in a charity brings, we worked closely with local charities to understand their requirements, and interviewed privacy experts to develop a framework that is readily accessible and provides genuine value. Feeding the results into our privacy framework, a decision tree artefact has been developed for compliance. The artefact has been tested against black-box tests, System Usability Tests and UX Honeycomb tests. Results show that Privacy Essentials! provides the foundation of a data protection management framework and offers organisations the catalyst to start, enhance, or even validate a solid and effective data privacy programme. Full article

Traditional usability testing methods often lack the ability to fully capture different aspects of the user experience (UX). The focus of this research work is to propose a framework and develop its comprehensive prototype to improve usability testing and UX analysis by integrating session recording, interaction logging, and emotion recognition methods. A trained emotion recognition model based on MobileNetV2 architecture in conjunction with Hotjar and Google Analytics is proposed to add more context to the user experience during usability testing. The results obtained during the testing of a developed framework prototype showed that UI testing based on UX principles and integration of emotion recognition can be a powerful tool for improving the UI of web applications. It is recommended to improve UI testing processes by incorporating these aspects and data analysis methods. This would provide a more complete and more objective picture of the usability of the interface. Full article

The use of autonomous and unmanned systems continues to increase, with uses spanning from package delivery to simple automation of tasks and from factory usage to defense industries and agricultural applications. With the proliferation of unmanned systems comes the question of how to secure the command-and-control communication links among such devices and their operators. In this work, we look at the use of the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol, designed to support long-lived continuous sessions and group communication with a high degree of security. We build out MAUI—an MLS API for UxS Integration that provides an interface for the secure exchange of data between a ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) in a multi-domain ad-hoc network configuration, and experiment on system limits such as the ciphersuite set-up time and message handling rates. The experiments in this work were conducted in virtual and physical environments between the UAV, USV, and a controller device (all of different platforms). Our results demonstrate the viability of capitalizing on MLS’s capabilities to securely and efficiently transmit data for distributed communication among various unmanned system platforms. Full article

Without any more delay, individuals are urged to adopt more sustainable behaviors to fight climate change. New digital systems mixed with engaging and gamification mechanisms could play an important role in achieving such an objective. In particular, Conversational Agents, like Smart Home Assistants, are a promising tool that encourage sustainable behaviors within household settings. In recent years, large language models (LLMs) have shown great potential in enhancing the capabilities of such assistants, making them more effective in interacting with users. We present the design and implementation of GreenIFTTT, an application empowered by GPT4 to create and control home automation routines. The agent helps users understand which energy consumption optimization routines could be created and applied to make their home appliances more environmentally sustainable. We performed an exploratory study (Italy, December 2023) with N = 13 participants to test our application’s usability and UX. The results suggest that GreenIFTTT is a usable, engaging, easy, and supportive tool, providing insight into new perspectives and usage of LLMs to create more environmentally sustainable home automation. Full article

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) image tools hold the promise of revolutionizing a designer’s creative process. The increasing supply of this type of tool leads us to consider whether they suit future design professionals. This study aims to unveil if three GenAI image tools—Midjourney 5.2, DreamStudio beta, and Adobe Firefly 2—meet future designers’ expectations. Do these tools have good Usability, show sufficient User Experience (UX), induce positive emotions, and provide satisfactory results? A literature review was performed, and a quantitative empirical study based on a multidimensional analysis was executed to answer the research questions. Sixty users used the GenAI image tools and then responded to a holistic evaluation framework. The results showed that while the GenAI image tools received favorable ratings for Usability, they fell short in achieving high scores, indicating room for improvement. None of the platforms received a positive evaluation in all UX scales, highlighting areas for enhancement. The benchmark comparison revealed that all platforms, except for Adobe Firefly’s Efficiency scale, require enhancements in pragmatic and hedonic qualities. Despite inducing neutral to above-average positive emotions and minimal negative emotions, the overall satisfaction was moderate, with Midjourney aligning more closely with user expectations. This study emphasizes the need for significant improvements in Usability, positive emotional resonance, and result satisfaction, even more so in UX, so that GenAI image tools can meet future designers’ expectations. Full article

This paper introduces a new routing and touring service both for outdoor and indoor places of touristic and cultural interest designed to be used in the wider area of Attica, Greece. This service is the result of the work performed in OPTORER (OPTORER: OPtimal rouTing and explOration of touRistic and cultural arEas of interest within Attica given personalized adaptive preferences, promoted underlying purpose, and interactive experience), project, and it aspires to offer a range of innovative and thematic routes to several specified points of interest in the selected area of Attica, encouraging the combination of indoor and outdoor routes in a single tour. The aim is to optimize the user experience while promoting specific, user-centric features, with safety and social welfare being a priority for every designed tour, resulting in enhancing the touristic experience in the area. Using a common smartphone device, as well as common wearable devices (i.e., smartwatches), the OPTORER service will provide an end-to-end solution by developing the algorithms and end-user applications, together with an orchestration platform responsible for managing, operating, and executing the service that produces and presents to the end user results derived from solving dynamically complex optimization problems. Full article

Advances in Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have had a profound impact on the experiential tasks of the smart home, particularly automated tasks supported by sensors, embedded systems, and communication devices that are capable of autonomously performing a range of tasks previously performed by humans. However, the improvement in the level of smart home automation has not necessarily promoted more meaningful, relaxing, and positive experiences for users. This is largely due to the fact that it often overlooks the meaningful involvement of humans in the process. This paper proposes a conceptual design model for a smart home through two studies that aim to maintain the benefits of automation while ensuring positive experiences with user engagement tasks. Study 1 involved qualitative data using semi-structured interviews to understand what tasks lead to positive user experiences (P-UX) during the use of the smart home and what kind of factors influence these positive experiences. Study 2, using an online questionnaire, quantitatively investigated the varying impact of these factors on positive experiences in both automation and human–machine interactions. The results of both studies show that there are nine factors that influence positive user experience in the smart home, with instrumentality, convenience, and flexibility playing an important role in the positive experience of automation, aesthetics, immersion, association, and memory, having a greater effect on the positive experience of user engagement in interactions, and customization and emotion contributing to both paradigms. In future smart home design, this model will help designers rationally allocate tasks between automation and human–machine interaction as a way to enhance the overall positive user experience. Full article

In 2022–23, the human monkeypox virus (MPXV) caused a global outbreak in several non-endemic countries. Here, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of four real-time qualitative PCR assays for the laboratory diagnosis of mpox (monkeypox) monkeypox disease. From July to August 2022, 27 positive and 10 negative specimens (lesion, crust and exudate swabs) were tested in the laboratory of the Hygiene Unit of the San Martino Hospital (Genoa, Italy) by using home-made real-time PCR to detect MPXV generic G2R_G DNA. According to the manufacturer’s instructions, we also retrospectively analyzed these specimens using RealCycler MONK-UX/-GX (Progenie Molecular), STANDARD M10 MPX/OPX (SD Biosensor), Novaplex MPXV (Seegene Inc.) and RealStar Orthopoxvirus PCR Kit 1.0 (Altona Diagnostics) assays, recognized as research-use-only tests. The diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity of these assays ranged from 97.3% (95% CI: 86.2–99.5%) to 100% (95% CI: 90.6–100%) and 96.3% (95% CI: 81.72–99.34%) to 100% (95% CI: 72.2–100%), respectively. The RealCycler MONK-UX and STANDARD M10 MPX/OPX did not detect one positive sample with a cycle threshold of 36. The overall specificity was 100% (95% CI: 72.2–100%), and Cohen’s Kappa values ranged from 1 (95% CI: 0.67–1) to 0.93 (95% CI: 0.61–1). As they are highly accurate, reliable and user-friendly, these tests should be recommended for the routine or rapid laboratory discrimination of mpox from other rash illnesses. Full article

The present study focuses on using qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate the functionality, user experience (UX), and aesthetic approach offered by an academic multi-site Web ecosystem consisting of multiple interconnected websites. Large entities in various industry fields often have the need for an elaborate Web presence. In an effort to address the challenges posed by this need specifically in the field of academia, the authors developed, over a period of many years, a multi-site ecosystem within the Ionian University, which focuses on interconnectivity and a collaborative approach to academic content management. This system, known as “Publish@Ionio”, uses a singular content management infrastructure to allow for the creation of content for different websites that share both information and resources while at the same time allowing for individual variations in both functionality and aesthetics. The ecosystem was evaluated through quantitative data from its operation and qualitative feedback from a focus-group interview with experts, including website editors and administrative staff. The collected data were used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the multi-site approach based on the actions and needs of the individuals in charge of generating content. The study led to conclusions on the advantages that interoperability offers in terms of digital and human resource management, the benefits of a unified aesthetic approach that allows for variability, and the necessity of collaborative content management tools that are tailored to the content’s nature. Full article

This research focuses on enhancing the user experience within a Mixed-Reality Situational Awareness System (MRSAS). The study employed the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) in order to gauge and quantify the user experience and to compare the effects of changes to the system. As the results of SSQ are very dependant on inherent motion sickness susceptibility, the Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire (MSQ) was used to normalize the results. The experimental conditions were tested on a simulated setup which was also compared to its real-life counterpart. This simulated setup was adjusted to best match the conditions found in the real system by using post-processing effects. The test subjects in this research primarily consisted of 17–28 years old university students representing both male and female genders as well as a secondary set with a larger age range but predominantly male. In total, there were 41 unique test subjects in this study. The parameters that were analyzed in this study were the Field of View (FoV) of the headset, the effects of peripheral and general blurring, camera distortions, camera white balance and users adaptability to VR over time. All of the results are presented as the average of multiple user results and as scaled by user MSQ. The findings suggest that SSQ scores increase rapidly in the first 10–20 min of testing and level off at around 40–50 min. Repeated exposure to VR reduces MS buildup, and a FoV of 49–54 is ideal for a MRSAS setup. Additionally camera based effects like lens distortion and automatic white balance had negligible effests on MS. In this study a new MSQ based SSQ normalization technique was also developed and utilized for comparison. While the experiments in this research were primarily conducted with the goal of improving the physical Vegvisir system, the results themselves may be applicable for a broader array of VR/MR awareness systems and can help improve the UX of future applications. Full article