One year older, but not necessarily wiser: an evaluation of homepage accessibility problems over time

A large number of users with disabilities use assistive technology devices to browse the web. However, the use of assistive technologies can only be successful when the web sites are developed in such a way that they are compatible with such devices. Guidelines exist for creating accessible web sites. However, they are seldom followed, and current levels of web accessibility are low. Therefore, the question arises as to which is the major cause of inaccessibility, and how accessibility features of web sites evolve over time. A set of 50 web sites has been studied over time to determine if accessibility improves or declines. This research-in-progress paper presents a comparison of the results obtained in 2002 and 2003. Such a comparison leads to the conclusion that, in the time period of 1 year, the 50 web sites have actually become more inaccessible. Implications for developers, webmasters, and educators are also discussed in the paper.

A centralized system for monitoring clozapine use in British Columbia

We describe a patient with Primary Antiphospholipid Syndrome (PAPS) and severe thrombocytopenia with bleeding, in whom treatment with high dose steroids failed to maintain a sustained level of platelets following an initial short lived response. After several unsuccessful attempts with Danazol and aspirin combined with low dose steroids, the platelets count rose following the administration of chloroquine and low dose steroids and remained in the normal range even when steroids were tapered.     

Using deep learning and social network analysis to understand and manage extreme flooding

Combining machine learning with social network analysis (SNA) can leverage vast amounts of social media data to better respond to crises. We present a case study using Twitter data from the March 2019 Nebraska floods in the United States, which caused over $1 billion in damage in the state and widespread evacuations of residents. We use a subset of machine learning, deep learning (DL), to classify text content of 11,982 tweets, and we integrate that with SNA to understand the structure of tweet interactions. Our DL approach pre‐trains our model with a DL language technique, BERT, and then trains the model using the standard training dataset to sort a dataset of tweets into classes tailored to crisis events. Several performance measures demonstrate that our two‐tiered trained model improves domain adaptation and generalization across different extreme weather event types. This approach identifies the role of Twitter during the damage containment stage of the flood. Our SNA identifies accounts that function as primary sources of information on Twitter. Together, these two approaches help crisis managers filter large volumes of data and overcome challenges faced by simple statistical models and other computational techniques to provide useful information during crises like flooding.     

Web accessibility in the Mid-Atlantic United States: a study of 50 homepages

This paper reports on a study of 50 homepages in the Mid-Atlantic United States to determine what accessibility problems exist. The 50 homepages were evaluated using both the U.S. governments Section 508 guidelines as well as the Web Accessibility Initiatives (WAI) Priority Level 1 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). According to both sets of guidelines, 49 out of 50 sites were found to have accessibility problems, although some of the accessibility problems were minor and easy to fix. There are two troubling findings from this study. The Web sites that had the most accessibility problems were organizations in the Web development and information technology field, which ideally should be the leaders in making the Web more accessible. The Web accessibility software testing tools, which are available to assist people in making their Web sites more accessible, are flawed and inconsistent and require large numbers of manual checks, which many developers may not be able to do. More people need to become aware of the topic of Web accessibility, and the testing tools need to be improved so that once people are aware, it is easier for them to move their sites toward full accessibility.