Using mobile RE tools to give end-users their own voice

Researchers highlight end-user involvement in system design as an important concept for developing useful and usable solutions. However, end-user involvement in software engineering is still an open-ended topic. Novel paradigms such as service-oriented computing strengthen the need for more active end-user involvement in order to provide systems that are tailored to individual end-user needs. Our work is based on the fact that the majority of end-users are familiar with mobile devices and use an increasing number of mobile applications. A mobile tool enabling end-user led requirements elicitation could be just one of many applications installed on end-users' mobile devices. In this paper, we present a framework of end-user involvement in requirements elicitation which motivates our research. The main contribution of our research is a tool-supported requirements elicitation approach allowing end-users to document needs in situ. Furthermore, we present first evaluation results to highlight the feasibility of on-site end-user led requirements elicitation

Assessing the effect of a single dose florfenicol treatment in feedlot cattle on the antimicrobial resistance patterns in faecal Escherichia coli

The objective of this clinical trial was to examine the effect of a single dose of florfenicol on antimicrobial resistance patterns in faecal E. coli of feedlot steers. Steers (n = 370), were purchased from two sources and housed in outdoor concrete floored pens. Two cattle from each pen (n = 42 pens, 84 cattle) were randomly selected for faecal sampling at study day 1, 14, 28, and 42. One sampled animal from each of 21 pens was randomly selected to receive a single 39.6 mg/kg dose of florfenicol subcutaneously at study day 11. Ten lactose positive colonies were isolated from faecal swabs and tested for antimicrobial resistance to 11 antimicrobials using the disk diffusion method. Zones of inhibition were grouped using cluster analysis and clusters were ordered by increasing multiple resistance. A cumulative logistic regression model using generalized estimating equations was used to assess factors associated with increasing levels of multiple resistance. Immediately post-treatment, all isolates obtained from treated cattle belonged to multiple resistant clusters containing chloramphenicol resistance. Though less pronounced in later sampling, resistance to chloramphenicol and other antimicrobials persisted. Antimicrobial treatment, sampling time and animal source, as well as interactions between these variables, were important predictors of the odds of E. coli belonging to a more resistant cluster. A very clear but transitory shift to increasingly multiple resistant faecal E. coli in response to florfenicol treatment was observed. There was no indication of horizontal transfer of resistant E. coli between steers. Level of resistance was influenced by complex interaction of animal source and previous managemen

Many-body Theory at Extreme Isospin

The structure of nuclei far off beta-stability is investigated by nuclear many-body theory. In-medium interactions for asymmetric nuclear matter are obtained by (Dirac-) Brueckner theory thus establishing the link of nuclear forces to free space interactions. HFB and RPA theory is used to describe ground and excited states of nuclei from light to heavy masses. In extreme dripline systems pairing and core polarization are found to be most important for the binding, especially of halo nuclei. The calculations show that far off stability mean-field dynamics is gradually replaced by dynamical correlations, giving rise to the dissolution of shell structures.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of Nuclear Physics at the Borderline, NPBL2001, Lipari, Sicily, Italy, May 2001 (World Scientific

Evaluating the development of wearable devices, personal data assistants and the use of other mobile devices in further and higher education institutions

This report presents technical evaluation and case studies of the use of wearable and mobile computing mobile devices in further and higher education. The first section provides technical evaluation of the current state of the art in wearable and mobile technologies and reviews several innovative wearable products that have been developed in recent years. The second section examines three scenarios for further and higher education where wearable and mobile devices are currently being used. The three scenarios include: (i) the delivery of lectures over mobile devices, (ii) the augmentation of the physical campus with a virtual and mobile component, and (iii) the use of PDAs and mobile devices in field studies. The first scenario explores the use of web lectures including an evaluation of IBM's Web Lecture Services and 3Com's learning assistant. The second scenario explores models for a campus without walls evaluating the Handsprings to Learning projects at East Carolina University and ActiveCampus at the University of California San Diego . The third scenario explores the use of wearable and mobile devices for field trips examining San Francisco Exploratorium's tool for capturing museum visits and the Cybertracker field computer. The third section of the report explores the uses and purposes for wearable and mobile devices in tertiary education, identifying key trends and issues to be considered when piloting the use of these devices in educational contexts

Slow Archaeology

An article on Slow Archaeology for a volume of North Dakota Quarterly dedicated to Slow

Adult participation in children’s word searches: on the use of prompting, hinting, and supplying a model

Although word searching in children is very common, very little is known about how adults support children in the turns following the child’s search behaviours, an important topic because of the social, educational and clinical implications. This study characterises, in detail, teachers’ use of prompting, hinting and supplying a model. From a classroom dataset of 53 instances, several distinctive patterns emerged. A prompted completion sequence is initiated by a ‘word retrieval elicitor’ (‘fishing’) and is interpreted as a request to complete the phrase. Non-verbal prompting is accomplished through a combination of gaze and gesture and, also, as a series of prompts. Hinting supplies a verbal clue, typically via a wh-question, or by specifying the nature of the repairable. In contrast, the strategies that supply a linguistic model include both embedded and exposed corrections and offers of candidates. A sequential relationship was found between prompting, hinting and supplying a model which has implications for how clinicians and teachers can foster self-repair

From Oral Literature to Technauriture: What’s in a Name?

Russell H. Kaschula is Professor of African Language Studies and Head of the School of Languages at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. His doctoral research focussed on African literature, and his works of creative writing have received a number of prestigious literature and short story prizes. Professor Kaschula is an author of both English and isiXhosa academic and literary works, with novels including The Tsitsa River and Beyond and Mama, I Sing to You. In 2011, his short story Six Teaspoons of Sweetness was included in the International PEN-Studzinski award. Andre M. Mostert is a research associate at the School of Languages at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, where he recently completed a master’s thesis on the literary work of the poet Bongani Sitole. Mostert’s interests focus on entrepreneurship and enterprise in schools, the use of ICT in education and training, and the role of ICT in promoting the capture and dissemination of oral poetry. Mostert is the gaming scientist for the EU Player project to support young entrepreneurs and, together with Professor Kaschula, co-developed the ‘publish and thrive’ model of supporting the research records of emerging academics.Oral traditions and oral literature have long contributed to human communication, yet the advent of arguably the most influential technology—the written word—altered the course of creative ability. Despite its potential and scope, the development of the written word resulted in an insidious dichotomy. As the written word evolved, the oral word became devalued and pushed to the fringes of society. One of the unfortunate consequences of this transition to writing has been a focus on the systems and conventions of orality and oral tradition. Although of importance, a more appropriate focus would be on ways of supporting and maintaining the oral word, and its innate value to human society, in the face of rampant technological development. Yet it is ironic that technology is also helping to create a fecund environment for the rebirth of orality. This paper offers an overview of the debate about the relationship between oral literature, the written word and technology, and suggests that the term technauriture may offer a suitable encompassing paradigm for further engagement with the oral word and its application to modern society. We discuss the late Bongani Sitole, a poet whose oral works were transformed into public and educational resources through the application of technology, and we consider the utility of the term technauriture for describing the relationship between orality, literature and technology

Technology Culture of Mobile Maintenance Men

Technology plays a major role in our life and the role is increasing as a result of fast technological development occurring all the time. Technology’s impact on our everyday life sets new challenges also to designers. In order to design products which are usable. We need to understand technologies and devices we are developing, users of our designed products, and the relationships our users have with different kinds of technologies. User-centred design (UCD) has emerged as a counter part for traditional technology centred product development. UCD emphasizes the role of the users in every phase of product design and development. However, it seems that the users’ relationships with technologies is underestimated and sometimes even forgotten also in UCD. The users’ current tools and technological environment is seen as just surroundings and task related tools instead of as an important factor that affects to users’ actions and opinions. This article presents a case study where mobile IT maintenance men where studied with traditional UCD methods and in addition the user research was deepened with focusing on users’ relationships with technology. The results show that UCD’s methods can miss some critical phenomena relating to users’ relationships with technology and affecting to usability and quality of the developed products. Understanding how users comprehend the technologies they use, i.e. understanding what kind of technology culture the users are a part of, enables designers to better evaluate how well the developed product will fit in the lives of it’s users and what sorts of changes are possibly going to happen or required to happen in order the new product to be included in the users’ technology culture. These kinds of evaluations help the designers to design better products and the companies to better estimate business risks relating to for example technology acceptance. Keywords: Technology Culture, User-Centred Design, User Research, Distributed and Mobile Work</p