Conducting usability testing in agile software development environment

Abstract. This Master’s thesis conducted a qualitative approached case study with triangulation to action research for usability testing in Agile software development. First, there was done literature review to create theoretical basis for research. After literature review, the research method was constructed from usability testing methods and qualitative research tools. When research method was explained, the implementation of the research method was opened to tell how the created research method was used. Explained implementation was followed by presenting the findings. Then discussion conducted cohesion between literature, research method, implementation, and findings. Finally, conclusions summarized the main points of the thesis. Literature review brought up several usability testing methods. Research method formed to use UCD, interview, SUS, and TAP from the usability testing methods that were found. Implementation conducted eight questions for semi structured interview, five tasks for second sprint’s TAP and four tasks for third sprint’s SUS. It was identified that TAP and SUS can be used in the same usability testing session. Moreover, there were found nine hypotheses to be tested. Eight of those hypotheses were successfully tested. It was also found that action research requires adaption during the research and Agile generates changes in the plans successfully. Usability testing should be done by using at least one usability testing method and taking end user into test sessions as soon as possible. Semi structured interview’s benefit is to have more open conversation type moment with the test user. TAP achieves descriptive analysis considering how test user experiences usability of the application. SUS offers general usability level of the application in the numeric scale. Improving steps for usability testing can be seen from type of the need for the different usability responses. Another way to identify improvement is to test a new usability testing method. One way to bring usability testing in Agile software development is to conduct usability testing at the end of every sprint

Toward a script theory of guidance in computer-supported collaborative learning

This article presents an outline of a script theory of guidance for computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). With its four types of components of internal and external scripts (play, scene, role, and scriptlet) and seven principles, this theory addresses the question how CSCL practices are shaped by dynamically re-configured internal collaboration scripts of the participating learners. Furthermore, it explains how internal collaboration scripts develop through participation in CSCL practices. It emphasizes the importance of active application of subject matter knowledge in CSCL practices, and it prioritizes transactive over non-transactive forms of knowledge application in order to facilitate learning. Further, the theory explains how external collaboration scripts modify CSCL practices and how they influence the development of internal collaboration scripts. The principles specify an optimal scaffolding level for external collaboration scripts and allow for the formulation of hypotheses about the fading of external collaboration scripts. Finally, the article points towards conceptual challenges and future research questions

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes after gestational diabetes : a 23 year cohort study

Aims/hypothesis The aim of this work was to examine the progression to type 1 and type 2 diabetes after gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in a 23 year follow-up study. Methods We carried out a cohort study of 391 women with GDM diagnosed by an OGTT or the use of insulin treatment during pregnancy, and 391 age- and parity-matched control participants, who delivered in 1984-1994 at the Oulu University Hospital, Finland. Diagnostic cut-off levels for glucose were as follows: fasting, >= 4.8 mmol/l; 1 h, >= 10.0 mmol/l; and 2 h, >= 8.7 mmol/l. Two follow-up questionnaires were sent (in 1995-1996 and 2012-2013) to assess the progression to type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Mean follow-up time was 23.1 (range 18.7-28.8) years. Results Type 1 diabetes developed (5.7%) during the first 7 years after GDM pregnancy and was predictable at a 2 h OGTT value of 11.9 mmol/l during pregnancy (receiver operating characteristic analysis: AUC 0.91, sensitivity 76.5%, specificity 96.0%). Type 2 diabetes increased linearly to 50.4% by the end of the follow-up period and was moderately predictable with fasting glucose (AUC 0.69, sensitivity 63.5%, specificity 68.2%) at a level of 5.1 mmol/l (identical to the fasting glucose cut-off recommended by the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups [IADPSG) and WHO]). Conclusions/interpretation All women with GDM should be intensively monitored for a decade, after which the risk for type 1 diabetes is minimal. However, the incidence of type 2 diabetes remains linear, and therefore individualised lifelong follow-up is recommended.Peer reviewe

37 GHz observations of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies

Observations at 37 GHz, performed at Mets\"ahovi Radio Observatory, are presented for a sample of 78 radio-loud and radio-quiet narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies, together with additional lower and higher frequency radio data from RATAN-600, Owens Valley Radio Observatory, and the Planck satellite. Most of the data have been gathered between February 2012 and April 2015 but for some sources even longer lightcurves exist. The detection rate at 37 GHz is around 19%, comparable to other populations of active galactic nuclei presumed to be faint at radio frequencies, such as BL Lac objects. Variability and spectral indices are determined for sources with enough detections. Based on the radio data, many NLS1 galaxies show a blazar-like radio spectra exhibiting significant variability. The spectra at a given time are often inverted or convex. The source of the high-frequency radio emission in NLS1 galaxies, detected at 37 GHz, is most probably a relativistic jet rather than star formation. Jets in NLS1 galaxies are therefore expected to be a much more common phenomenon than earlier assumed.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. Table of 37 GHz data will be available at the CDS soo

Broad-band properties of flat-spectrum radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies

We report about recent updates of broad-band properties of radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, no figures. Proceedings 28th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, Geneva (Switzerland), 13-18 December 201

Long-term Swift and Mets\"ahovi monitoring of SDSS J164100.10+345452.7 reveals multi-wavelength correlated variability

We report on the first multi-wavelength Swift monitoring campaign performed on SDSS J164100.10+345452.7, a nearby narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy formerly known as radio quiet which was recently detected both in the radio (at 37 GHz) and in the $\gamma$-rays, which hints at the presence of a relativistic jet. During our 20-month Swift campaign, while pursuing the primary goal of assessing the baseline optical/UV and X-ray properties of J1641, we caught two radio flaring episodes, one each year. Our strictly simultaneous multi-wavelength data closely match the radio flare and allow us to unambiguously link the jetted radio emission of J1641. Indeed, for the X-ray spectra preceding and following the radio flare a simple absorbed power-law model is not an adequate description, and an extra absorption component is required. The average spectrum of J1641 can be best described by an absorbed power law model with a photon index $\Gamma=1.93\pm0.12$, modified by a partially covering neutral absorber with a covering fraction $f=0.91_{-0.03}^{+0.02}$. On the contrary, the X-ray spectrum closest to the radio flare does not require such extra absorber and is much harder ($\Gamma_{\rm flare} \sim 0.7\pm0.4$), thus implying the emergence of a further, harder spectral component. We interpret this as the jet emission emerging from a gap in the absorber. The fractional variability we derive in the optical/UV and X-ray bands are found to be lower than the typical values reported in the literature, since our observations of J1641 are dominated by the source being in a low state. Under the assumption that the origin of the 37 GHz radio flare is the emergence of a jet from an obscuring screen also observed in the X-rays, the derived total jet power is $P^{\rm tot}_{\rm jet}=3.5\times10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$, comparable to the lowest measured in the literature. [Abridged]Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics (13 pages, 4 figures, 8 tables

Preoperative and perioperative use of levosimendan in cardiac surgery: European expert opinion

In cardiac surgery, postoperative low cardiac output has been shown to correlate with increased rates of organ failure and mortality. Catecholamines have been the standard therapy for many years, although they carry substantial risk for adverse cardiac and systemic effects, and have been reported to be associated with increased mortality. On the other hand, the calcium sensitiser and potassium channel opener levosimendan has been shown to improve cardiac function with no imbalance in oxygen consumption, and to have protective effects in other organs. Numerous clinical trials have indicated favourable cardiac and non-cardiac effects of preoperative and perioperative administration of levosimendan. A panel of 27 experts from 18 countries has now reviewed the literature on the use of levosimendan in on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting and in heart valve surgery. This panel discussed the published evidence in these various settings, and agreed to vote on a set of questions related to the cardioprotective effects of levosimendan when administered preoperatively, with the purpose of reaching a consensus on which patients could benefit from the preoperative use of levosimendan and in which kind of procedures, and at which doses and timing should levosimendan be administered. Here, we present a systematic review of the literature to report on the completed and ongoing studies on levosimendan, including the newly commenced LEVO-CTS phase III study (NCT02025621), and on the consensus reached on the recommendations proposed for the use of preoperative levosimendan

The mediating effect of task presentation on collaboration and children's acquisition of scientific reasoning

There has been considerable research concerning peer interaction and the acquisition of children's scientific reasoning. This study investigated differences in collaborative activity between pairs of children working around a computer with pairs of children working with physical apparatus and related any differences to the development of children's scientific reasoning. Children aged between 9 and 10 years old (48 boys and 48 girls) were placed into either same ability or mixed ability pairs according to their individual, pre-test performance on a scientific reasoning task. These pairs then worked on either a computer version or a physical version of Inhelder and Piaget's (1958) chemical combination task. Type of presentation was found to mediate the nature and type of collaborative activity. The mixed-ability pairs working around the computer talked proportionally more about the task and management of the task; had proportionally more transactive discussions and used the record more productively than children working with the physical apparatus. Type of presentation was also found to mediated children's learning. Children in same ability pairs who worked with the physical apparatus improved significantly more than same ability pairs who worked around the computer. These findings were partially predicted from a socio-cultural theory and show the importance of tools for mediating collaborative activity and collaborative learning