My IoT Puzzle: Debugging IF-THEN Rules Through the Jigsaw Metaphor

End users can nowadays define applications in the format of IF-THEN rules to personalize their IoT devices and online services. Along with the possibility to compose such applications, however, comes the need to debug them, e.g., to avoid unpredictable and dangerous behaviors. In this context, different questions are still unexplored: which visual languages are more appropriate for debugging IF-THEN rules? Which information do end users need to understand, identify, and correct errors? To answer these questions, we first conducted a literature analysis by reviewing previous works on end-user debugging, with the aim of extracting design guidelines. Then, we developed My IoT Puzzle, a tool to compose and debug IF-THEN rules based on the Jigsaw metaphor. My IoT Puzzle interactively assists users in the debugging process with different real-time feedback, and it allows the resolution of conflicts by providing textual and graphical explanations. An exploratory study with 6 participants preliminary confirms the effectiveness of our approach, showing that the usage of the Jigsaw metaphor, along with real-time feedback and explanations, helps users understand and fix conflicts among IF-THEN rules

Modelling of Polymorphic User Interfaces at the Appropriate Level of Abstraction

Polymorphic user interfaces (UIs) can offer different modes of display and interaction for different devices, situations and user needs. This increased variety adds complexity to UI development, which is often addressed by model-based UI development approaches. However, existing approaches do not offer an attractive balance of required abstraction and a graphical and vivid representation for developers. In this paper, we present the Model-with-Example approach that combines abstract interaction modelling with a wireflow-like concrete visualization. The results of a user study with industrial front-end developers show that this concrete visualization can improve development efficiency

A Usability Study of an Enterprise Resource Planning System: A Case Study on SAP Business One

© 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The importance of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in modern business has created a demand for ERP consultants with the appropriate competencies to implement, maintain and support these systems such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics. However, users of these systems encounter usability issues whilst learning to use the systems. Several studies have shown that the assessed user interface of these ERP systems resulted to poor usability and user dissatisfaction. Empirical studies on the usability of ERP systems, particularly for SAP B1 are limited on determining the critical success factors. This paper reports on the usability assessment of SAP B1 which investigates on the effects of the external dependent variables such as buttons, labels or terminologies, navigation, layout colors, user help and logical process. The experiment results provide considerable insights into the usability design issues of the SAP B1 Sales Module. Results were assessed by measuring the efficiency effectiveness and satisfaction followed by computing for their corresponding Single Usability Metric (SUM) for benchmarking. Thus, from the usability results of the redesigned user interface, there was a significant improvement on the sigma level

Vitronectin dictates intraglomerular fibrinolysis in immune-mediated glomerulonephritis

During human glomerulonephritis, the severity of injuries correlates with glomerular fibrin deposits, which are tightly regulated by the intraglomerular fibrinolytic system. Here, we evaluated the role of vitronectin (VTN; also known as complement S protein), the principal cofactor of the plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), in a mouse model of acute glomerulonephritis. We found that in mice subjected to nephrotoxic serum, the absence of VTN resulted in a lower glomerular PAI-1 activity and a higher glomerular fibrinolytic activity. Challenged VTN-/- mice displayed significantly less fibrin deposits, proteinuria, and renal failure than their wild-type counterparts. Notably, this protective effect afforded by VTN deficiency was still observed after a C3 depletion. Finally, the injection of VTN+/+ serum in VTN-/- mice induced the glomerular deposition of VTN, increased PAI-1 deposition, decreased glomerular fibrinolytic activity, and aggravated glomerular injury. As in mice, abundant glomerular VTN deposits were also observed in patients with severe glomerulonephritis. Here, we show that plasma-exchange therapy, admittedly beneficial in this clinical context, induces a significant depletion in circulating VTN, which might modulate PAI-1 activity locally and accelerate the clearance of fibrin deposits in the glomeruli. Collectively, these results demonstrate that VTN exerts a deleterious role independently from complement, by directing PAI-dependent fibrinolysis in the glomerular compartment.-Mesnard, L., Rafat, C., Vandermeersch, S., Hertig, A., Cathelina, D., Xu-Dubois, Y. -C., Jouanneau, C., Castro Keller, A., Ribeil, J. -A., Leite-de-Moraes, M. C., Rondeau, E. Vitronectin dictates intraglomerular fibrinolysis in immune-mediated glomerulonephritis. FASEB J. 25, 3543-3553 (2011). www.fasebj.orgInstitut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM)Faculte de Medecine Pierre et Marie CurieAcademie de MedecineEuropean Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Univ Paris 06, INSERM, UMR S702, Hop Tenon, F-75020 Paris, FranceUniv Paris 06, Hop Tenon, APHP, F-75020 Paris, FranceHop Necker Enfants Malad, CNRS, UMR 8147, Paris, FranceHop Necker Enfants Malad, APHP, Fac Med Rene Descartes, Dept Biotherapie, Paris, FranceUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Div Nephrol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Div Nephrol, São Paulo, BrazilFAPESP: 2007/07120-0CNPq: 501848/2009-6Web of Scienc