A Spatial Analysis and Modeling System (SAMS) for environment management

This is a proposal to develop a uniform global environmental data gathering and distribution system to support the calibration and validation of remotely sensed data. SAMS is based on an enhanced version of FE MA's Integrated Emergency Management Information Systems and the Department of Defense's Air Land Battlefield Environment Software Systems. This system consists of state-of-the-art graphics and visualization techniques, simulation models, database management and expert systems for conducting environmental and disaster preparedness studies. This software package will be integrated into various Landsat and UNEP-GRID stations which are planned to become direct readout stations during the EOS timeframe. This system would be implemented as a pilot program to support the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). This will be a joint NASA-FEMA-University-Industry project

Measuring usability for application software using the quality in use integration measurement model

User interfaces of application software are designed to make user interaction as efficient and as simple as possible. Market accessibility of any application software is determined by the usability of its user interfaces. A poorly designed user interface will have little value no matter how powerful the program is. Thus, it is significantly important to measure usability during the system development lifecycle in order to avoid user disappointment. Various methods and standards that help measure usability have been developed. However, these methods define usability inconsistently, which makes software engineers hesitant in implementing these methods or standards. The Quality in Use Integrated Measurement (QUIM) model is a consolidated approach for measuring usability through 10 factors, 26 criteria, and 127 metrics. It decomposes usability into factors, criteria, and metrics, and it is a hierarchical model that helps developers with no or little background of usability metrics. Among 127 metrics of QUIM, essential efficiency (EE) is the most specific metric used to measure the usability of user interfaces through an equation. This study involves a comparative analysis between three case studies that use the QUIM model to measure usability in terms of EE for three case studies: (1) Public University Registration System, (2) Restaurant Menu Ordering System, and (3) ATM system. A comparison is made based on the percentage of EE for each element of the use cases in each use case diagram. The results obtained revealed that the user interface design for Restaurant Menu Ordering System scored the highest percentage of EE, thus proving to be the most user-friendly application software among its counterparts

Evaluation of Dynamic Cell Processes and Behavior Using Video Bioinformatics Tools

Just as body language can reveal a person’s state of well-being, dynamic changes in cell behavior and morphology can be used to monitor processes in cultured cells. This chapter discusses how CL-Quant software, a commercially available video bioinformatics tool, can be used to extract quantitative data on: (1) growth/proliferation, (2) cell and colony migration, (3) reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and (4) neural differentiation. Protocols created using CL-Quant were used to analyze both single cells and colonies. Time-lapse experiments in which different cell types were subjected to various chemical exposures were done using Nikon BioStations. Proliferation rate was measured in human embryonic stem cell colonies by quantifying colony area (pixels) and in single cells by measuring confluency (pixels). Colony and single cell migration were studied by measuring total displacement (distance between the starting and ending points) and total distance traveled by the colonies/cells. To quantify ROS production, cells were pre-loaded with MitoSOX Red™, a mitochondrial ROS (superoxide) indicator, treated with various chemicals, then total intensity of the red fluorescence was measured in each frame. Lastly, neural stem cells were incubated in differentiation medium for 12 days, and time lapse images were collected daily. Differentiation of neural stem cells was quantified using a protocol that detects young neurons. CLQuant software can be used to evaluate biological processes in living cells, and the protocols developed in this project can be applied to basic research and toxicological studies, or to monitor quality control in culture facilities

The empirical study: encouraging students’ interest in software development using test-driven development

The supply is not matching the demand on the market for software developers. While the enrolment in undergraduate computer science courses is increasing, few students are interested in and committed to becoming software developers. It could be that students are overwhelmed by the software development methodology that they are taught. We are consequently looking for a constructivist approach to software engineering able to effectively engage learners. We empirically evaluated whether test-driven development (TDD) is able to improve the quality of both learning and of software development in the classroom. Although numerous studies have outlined the benefits and effects of TDD in the classroom, none of those studies have focused on measuring students\u27 interest in and attitudes toward using TDD in the classroom. We present a study evaluating the impact of TDD on the engagement and focus of learners of software development in the classroom. The results illustrate that the use of TDD in the classroom encourages learners to engage and focus

GOSSEC: Goal Oriented Software Sustainability Evaluation Criteria

The concepts of sustainability is now aware among the software engineering researchers.  It has direct and indirect impacts on three dimensions which are environment, economic and social that results from the development and implementation of the software. Although there are studies on software sustainability evaluation that defines the software sustainability criteria unfortunately, most of the studies are focusing on single criterion rather than come out with holistic criteria of software sustainability. Additionally, the studies also focused on what need to be measured instead of how to perform the evaluation systematically. This limitation was occurred due to lack of defining the measurement goal of each criteria of software sustainability dimensions. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a Goal Oriented Software Sustainability Evaluation Criteria and organize the sustainability criteria using Quality Function Deployment. On top of that, the Goal Oriented Software Sustainability Evaluation Criteria has been constructed using Goal Oriented Measurement approach by adapting the Goal Question Metric method to assist in defining the goal that clearly defined the purposes, perspectives, and point of views of measurement of software sustainability. Hence, the Goal Oriented Software Sustainability Evaluation Criteria provides nine (9) goals and thirty four (34) sub goals for measuring the software sustainability criteria and sub criteria. The findings from the study present a set of criteria and measurement goals which can be used for evaluating software sustainability. The criteria were organized into three dimensions which are environment, economic and social.   &nbsp

Mental State EEG Testing during Mental Relaxation Exercises

Import 03/11/2016Tato práce se zabývá porovnáváním mozkových hladin pomocí zjednodušeného elektroencefalografu při činnostech, jako je střelba, relaxace, hra na kytaru a učení. První část je zaměřena na elektroencefalografii, mozkové hladiny, epilepsii a zpracování EEG signálů. Dále jsou uvedeny studie, které se zaměřovaly na měření mozkové aktivity při souboru výše popsaných činností. Následně jsou popsány použitá zařízení pro měření, vytvořený software pro analýzu signálu v časové a frekvenční oblasti. Poslední část práce je zaměřena na testování a měření elektroencefalografického signálu při různých úkonech a jejich následné vyhodnocení.This thesis deals with comparing brain levels using a simplified electroencephalograph in activities such as shooting, relaxation, play the guitar and learning. The first part is focused on electroencephalography, brain levels, epilepsy and processing of EEG signals. Next there are studies that are focused on measuring brain activity during above mentioned activities. Subsequently there are described devices used for measuring, software created for signal analysis in the time and frequency domains. The last part is focused on testing and measuring of electroencephalographic signal during various activities and evaluation of the measured signals.450 - Katedra kybernetiky a biomedicínského inženýrstvívelmi dobř

EDAMUX : A method for measuring User Experience

Background: User experience (UX) is seen as an important quality of a successful product and software companies are becoming increasingly interested in the field of UX. As UX has the goal to improve the experience of users, there is a need for better methods in measuring the actual experience. One aspect of UX is to understand the emotional aspect of experience. Psychophysiology studies the relations between emotions and physiology and electrodermal activity (EDA) has been found to be a physiological measurement of emotional arousal. Aims: The aim of this thesis is researching the utility of measuring EDA to identify moments of emotional arousal during human-computer interaction. By studying peaks in EDA during software interaction we expect to find issues in the software that work as triggers or stimuli for the peaks. Method: We used the design science methodology to develop EDAMUX. EDAMUX is a method to unobtrusively observe users, while gathering significant interaction moments through self reporting and EDA. A qualitative single-case study was conducted to evaluate the utility of EDAMUX. Results: We found that we can discover causes of bad user experience with EDAMUX. Moments of emotional arousal, derived from EDA, was found in conjunction with performance issues, usability issues and bugs. Emotional arousal was also observed during software interaction where the user was blaming themself. Conclusions: EDAMUX shows potential in discovering issues in software that are difficult to find with methods that rely on subjective self-reporting. Having the potential to objectively study emotional reactions is seen as valuable in complementing existing methods of measuring user experience