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

Virtual Exploration of Underwater Archaeological Sites : Visualization and Interaction in Mixed Reality Environments

This paper describes the ongoing developments in Photogrammetry and Mixed Reality for the Venus European project (Virtual ExploratioN of Underwater Sites, http://www.venus-project.eu). The main goal of the project is to provide archaeologists and the general public with virtual and augmented reality tools for exploring and studying deep underwater archaeological sites out of reach of divers. These sites have to be reconstructed in terms of environment (seabed) and content (artifacts) by performing bathymetric and photogrammetric surveys on the real site and matching points between geolocalized pictures. The base idea behind using Mixed Reality techniques is to offer archaeologists and general public new insights on the reconstructed archaeological sites allowing archaeologists to study directly from within the virtual site and allowing the general public to immersively explore a realistic reconstruction of the sites. Both activities are based on the same VR engine but drastically differ in the way they present information. General public activities emphasize the visually and auditory realistic aspect of the reconstruction while archaeologists activities emphasize functional aspects focused on the cargo study rather than realism which leads to the development of two parallel VR demonstrators. This paper will focus on several key points developed for the reconstruction process as well as both VR demonstrators (archaeological and general public) issues. The ?rst developed key point concerns the densi?cation of seabed points obtained through photogrammetry in order to obtain high quality terrain reproduction. The second point concerns the development of the Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) demonstrators for archaeologists designed to exploit the results of the photogrammetric reconstruction. And the third point concerns the development of the VR demonstrator for general public aimed at creating awareness of both the artifacts that were found and of the process with which they were discovered by recreating the dive process from ship to seabed

Cost-benefit analysis of multisystemic therapy for serious and violent juvenile offenders and their siblings

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on November 2, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Charles BorduinIncludes bibliographical references.M. A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."July 2012"This study investigated the economic benefits of an intensive family-based treatment (multisystemic therapy, MST) versus individual therapy (IT) using arrest data from 25-year follow-ups of referred serious and violent juvenile offenders (n = 176) and their closest-in-age siblings (n = 110). Three categories of benefits were evaluated: (1) taxpayer benefits (i.e., avoided criminal justice system costs), (2) tangible benefits to crime victims (i.e., avoided tangible losses), and (3) intangible benefits to crime victims (i.e., avoided pain and suffering). Results indicated that reductions in criminality for juvenile offenders and siblings in the MST versus IT conditions were associated with substantial benefits to both taxpayers and crime victims. Cumulative benefits of MST over IT ranged up to $34,955 per referred youth and up to$37,433 per family (i.e., when siblings were included). Overall, it was estimated that every dollar spent on MST recovered up to $4.98 in the years ahead by preventing future crimes. Sensitivity analyses also indicated that estimates of savings were robust to variations in crime victim intangible benefits, sibling juvenile arrest rates, and discount rates. The economic benefits of MST are important for administrators and policymakers to consider when allocating scarce financial resources to interventions for serious juvenile offenders

Georgia's Taxes: A Summary of Major State and Local Government Taxes, 15th Edition

A handbook on taxation that provides a quick overview of all state and local taxes in Georgia. FRC Annual Publication A(15