Blending scenarios of use and informal argumentation to facilitate universal access: experience with the Universal Access Assessment Workshop method

The accessibility of interactive computer-based products and services has long been an issue of concern to the Assistive Technology (AT) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) communities. In recent years, there have been several efforts aiming to document the consolidated wisdom in the form of general guidelines and examples of best practice. Despite their sound human factors content, these guidelines require substantial interpretation by designers, before they can generate practically useful and context-specific recommendations. In this paper, we examine how this task can be aided by blending scenarios of use and informal argumentation in the context of a structured technique referred to as Universal Access Assessment Workshop (UA²W). The paper provides a review of the technique and proposes two instruments, namely scenario screening and growth scenarios, which can be used to structure the conduct of UA²Ws. Finally, the paper summarises recent experiences in the use of these techniques in the context of a case study, which seeks to provide universal access insight to the design of a ward-based service to patient medical data.     

Universal web accessibility and the challenge to integrate informal Arabic users: a case study

Universal Access in the Information Society - Most Arabs can read text written in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). However, to easily express themselves, they may find it easier to switch to informal...     

Universal access to communication and learning: the role of automatic speech recognition

This communication discusses how automatic speech recognition (ASR) can support universal access to communication and learning through the cost-effective production of text synchronised with speech and describes achievements and planned developments of the Liberated Learning Consortium to: support preferred learning and teaching styles; assist those who for cognitive, physical or sensory reasons find notetaking difficult; assist learners to manage and search online digital multimedia resources; provide automatic captioning of speech for deaf learners or when speech is not available or suitable; assist blind, visually impaired or dyslexic people to read and search material; and, assist speakers to improve their communication skills.     

A Semantic Web-based authoring tool to facilitate the planning of collaborative learning scenarios compliant with learning theories

When the goal of group activities is to support long-term learning, the task of designing well-thought-out collaborative learning (CL) scenarios is an important key to success. To help students adequately acquire and develop their knowledge and skills, a teacher can plan a scenario that increases the probability for learning to occur. Such a scenario defines pedagogically sound structures that prevent off-task behavior and engage students in more meaningful interactions. The main difficulty in designing effective CL scenarios is transforming the teacher's intentions into elements that constitute the learning scenario. This problem is frequently observed when novice teachers attempt to improve the quality of learning and instruction by blending collaborative activities with individual activities without careful planning. With the goal of helping teachers in planning collaborative scenarios, we have developed an intelligent authoring tool referred to as CHOCOLATO using Semantic Web technologies (e.g. ontologies) in order to represent knowledge about different pedagogies and practices related to collaboration. Through the use of this knowledge, CHOCOLATO can provide intelligent guidance that helps teachers to create theory-based CL scenarios which has proven to be effective in a variety of situations. We evaluated it by conducting two experiments. We were interested in verifying whether the recommendations given by CHOCOLATO help novice teachers to design pedagogically sound CL activities, and if these activities help students to learn collaboratively in real classroom settings. The first experiment had the participation of 58 pre-service teachers that created CL scenarios with and without our authoring tool and the second experiment was carried out in a Brazilian public school together with 218 students. The results suggest that the guidance provided by CHOCOLATO do help novice teachers plan, understand and share CL scenarios more easily. They also suggest that the continuous utilization of well-designed theory-based CL activities create favorable conditions for students (particularly less knowledgeable ones) to improve their overall performance throughout the school year.     

基于COM+技术的空间属性数据一体化存取的DGIS

利用微软的COM+技术能够使DGIS提高数据更新的实时性和数据传输的实时性,提供数据对象化存取与传输的框架,增强数据的安全性,同时也符合OpenGIS标准。特别是与UDA数据库技术相结合,基于COM+技术的DGIS系统可解决GIS中的空间数据与属性数据的一体化存取的问题,并使用Visual Basic 6及UDA体系下的数据访问组件ADO进行了COM+组件的开发,对整个框架体系进行了实验。     

Universal life: the use of virtual worlds among people with disabilities

With their emphasis on 3D graphics and complex interface controls, it would appear that virtual worlds have little to offer to people with disabilities. On the contrary, multi-user virtual environments, such as Linden Lab’s Second Life platform, serve as a form of augmented reality where users transcend physiological or cognitive challenges to great social and therapeutic benefit. A number of intriguing developments exist within the accessibility sector, making barrier-free access an important aspect of the interaction experience. Examples include haptic input devices for the blind, virtual regions developed according to Universal Design principles, communities dedicated to people with cognitive disorders, the use of the avatar as counselor, and customizable personae that either transcend or represent a disabled person’s self-identity. This paper investigates research methods and case studies affiliated with virtual environments, as well as the ways inclusive design removes barriers to access for users with disabilities.     

Universal access through accessible computer educational programs to develop the reading skills of children with autistic spectrum disorders

Finding the right research design, method and methodology for research in universal access can be a daunting process, as there are often no clearly laid down procedures on how to go about such work (Adams and Langdon, Universal access in HCI inclusive design in the information society. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, 2003). Researchers in the past have looked to other disciplines for guidance, or have followed the examples of other leading researchers. This problem is particularly acute when considering groups of individuals with very demanding and complex requirements. This paper evaluates research aimed at enabling children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and severe learning difficulties to acquire early reading skills. In order to carry out research in this area, which contributes to a better understanding of the issues and to provide practical benefits, new methods are required to be developed on top of existing approaches.

The effect of soil salinity on the use of the universal triangle method to estimate saline soil moisture from Landsat data: application to the SMAPEx-2 and SMAPEx-3 campaigns

In this article, a method based on UTM called salinity-based soil moisture content (S_SMC) is developed. Since the soil moisture depends on the soil salinity (SS) in semi-arid regions, the S_SMC method employs the SS as an effective and augmented variable in conventional UTM to estimate SMC in these areas. In calibration step, initially, a linear regression model between the land surface temperature (LST), the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the SS is applied using in situ measurements to assess the influence of the SS in SMC estimation. Then, a non-linearity model is conducted through insertion of more terms in the linear equation and an optimal model of S_SMC is yielded. Moreover, the SS is obtained using a linear model from two selected salinity indices derived from Landsat images and in situ measurements. In estimation step, the LST, NDVI, and the SS are obtained using Landsat data. The S_SMC method is evaluated in the Soil Moisture Active Passive Experiment (SMAPEx)-2 and SMAPEx-3 campaigns in wet and dry conditions, respectively, over two scenes of Landsat images. The results demonstrated that the S_SMC method is appropriate in non-irrigated areas. In these areas, the S_SMC method improves R² (coefficient of determination) from 22% to 65% in SMAPEx-2 and from 24% to 50% in SMAPEx-3. Moreover, the results have shown that the SMC can be estimated at satellite level with a root mean square error of 0.06 and 0.02 (m³ m^?3) in wet and dry condition, respectively. Therefore, the SS is a key parameter to adjust conventional UTM to improve the SMC estimation by the S_SMC method.     

Computer use and the gender gap: The issue of access, use, motivation, and performance

Since the beginning of computerization, it has been of interest whether there are differential effects on computer behavior, in particular in terms of computer access, computer use, and motivational variables, such as computer self-efficacy. The current research addresses the questions if the gender-related differences in this respect persist to the present day and if there is also a difference in actual performance characteristics. A sample of 48 university students (23 male) was administered a technology self-efficacy questionnaire, a survey on computer access, recorded a user diary, and turned in a computer task. Results show that the gender gap is closing as far as computer access and self-efficacy are concerned. Also, female and male students report comparable amounts of computer usage for their studies. User behavior appears to be gender-specific as males spend more time at the computer for personal purposes. There is also some evidence that male students outperform female students at a computer task (remastering of Power-Point slides). Conclusions for creating computer-based learning environments are discussed.     

Formal analysis of the Shlaer-Mellor method: Towards a toolkit of formal and informal requirements specification techniques

In this paper, we define a number of tools that we think belong to the core of any toolkit for requirements engineers. The tools are conceptual and hence, they need precise definitions that lay down as exactly as possible what their meaning and possible use is. We argue that this definition can best be achieved by a formal specification of the tool. This means that for each semi-formal requirements engineering tool we should provide a formal specification that precisely specifies its meaning. We argue that this mutually enhances the formal and semi-formal technique: it makes formal techniques more usable and, as we will argue, at the same time simplifies the diagram-based notations.At the same time, we believe that the tools of the requirements engineer should, where possible, resemble the familiar semi-formal specification techniques used in practice today. In order to achieve this, we should search existing requirements specification techniques to look for a common kernel of familiar semi-formal techniques and try to provide a formalisation for these.In this paper we illustrate this approach by a formal analysis of the Shlaer-Mellor method for object-oriented requirements specification. The formal specification language used in this analysis is LCM, a language based on dynamic logic, but similar results would have been achieved by means of another language. We analyse the techniques used in the information model, state model, process model and communication model of the Shlaer-Mellor method, identify ambiguities and redundancies, indicate how these can be eliminated and propose a formalisation of the result. We conclude with a listing of the tools extracted from the Shlaer-Mellor method that we can add to a toolkit that in addition contains LCM as formal specification technique.     

利用访问列表技术对中小企业网络安全的研究

随着网络科技的进步的发展,企业在应用电子商务进行业务发展的同时,更加要重视网络安全的建设,维护企业的互联网信息安全,这些是目前我国中小企业首要加强管理的薄弱环节。本文基于对访问列表技术的研究,讨论了访问列表在维护系统安全方面的作用和应用范围,并给出了基本的配置过程以及防范策略,以满足中小企业在网络安全方面的管理要求,最大化的维护好商务贸易环境,这对于企业在未来展开更广泛的业务奠定了稳健的基石。     

Evidence-based guidelines for the informal use of computers by children to promote the development of academic,cognitive and social skills

The use of computers in the home has become very common among young children. This paper reviews research on the effects of informal computer use and identifies potential pathways through which computers may impact children's development. Based on the evidence reviewed, we present the following guidelines to arrange informal computer experiences that will promote the development of children's academic, cognitive and social skills: (1) children should be encouraged to use computers for moderate amounts of time (2–3 days a week for an hour or two per day) and (2) children's use of computers should (a) include non-violent action-based computer games as well as educational games, (b) not displace social activities but should instead be arranged to provide opportunities for social engagement with peers and family members and (c) involve content with pro-social and non-violent themes. We conclude the paper with questions that must be addressed in future research.

Practitioner Summary: This paper reviews research on the effects of informal computer use on children's academic, cognitive and social skills. Based on the evidence presented, we have presented guidelines to enable parents, teachers and other adults to arrange informal computer experiences so as to maximise their potential benefit for children's development.     

Identifying the relevance of quality dimensions contributing to universal access of social Web applications for collaborative writing on mobile devices: an empirical study

When used in a mobile ecosystem, social Web applications are commonly criticized due to their poor quality. We believe this is accounted for by the inadequacy of current approaches for their evaluation as well as the lack of suitable quality models. With an objective to address the aforementioned issues, this paper introduces a quality model that captures the particularities of social Web applications when used on mobile devices. Drawing on the comprehensive literature review, a finite set of performance variables (items, attributes, and categories) that contribute to the mobile quality of social Web applications was identified and subsequently employed for the purpose of designing a conceptual model in the form of a mobile quality requirements tree. An empirical study was then carried out to assess the reliability and validity of the conceptual model and pertaining measuring instrument. During the study, participants accomplished predefined scenarios of interaction with a representative sample of social Web applications for collaborative writing and evaluated their mobile quality by completing the post-use questionnaire. An analysis of data collected from end users uncovered a relevance of performance variables at different levels of granularity in a mobile quality requirements tree as well as pros and cons of evaluated collaborative editors.     

Towards the homogeneous access and use of PKI solutions: Design and implementation of a WS-XKMS server

Nowadays, there exists certain important scenarios where different WS-* security related protocols and technologies are being used, such as e-commerce, resource control, or secure access to grid nodes. Additionally, most of these scenarios require the interaction with a trust management infrastructure (such as a PKI -Public Key Infrastructure-), usually to validate the digital certificates provided by communication peers belonging, in most cases, to different administrative domains. For doing this with WS-enabled technologies the W3C proposed the XKMS (XML Key Management Specification) standard a few years ago. However, few implementations exist so far of this standard, and most of them with important limitations. This paper presents an open-source WS-enabled implementation of the XKMS standard named Open XKMS, certain key scenarios where it can be used and the details of how it has been designed and implemented. This paper tries to motivate and foster the use of the XKMS standard and describe a software solution that can help to designers and developers of WS-based security scenarios.     

Examining the ICT access effect on socioeconomic development: the moderating role of ICT use and skills

This paper examines the role that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play in the socioeconomic development of countries. The proposed model analyzes the relationship between ICT access (available ICT infrastructure and individual’s access to ICT), ICT use (ICT intensity and usage, and ICT skills), and socioeconomic development. The methodology employed consists of a Structural Equation Model (SEM). To achieve this goal, country-level data across 163 countries for the year 2013 is used from developing to developed countries. Results obtained indicate the moderating role of ICT use and skills in the relationship between ICT access and the socioeconomic development. The ICT usage and ICT skills enhance the effect of ICT access on the socioeconomic development. The model is robust with respect to the development level.     

一种新的海洛因毒源判别方法及其软件使用

应用气质联用(GC/MS)分析方法,获得云南省9个地区缴获的1148个海洛因毒品样品中海洛因、单乙酰吗啡和乙酰可待因3种组分(记为A、B、c)的含量.在对数据做了一维、三维分布情况观察之后,提出一种"等高图"毒源判别模式.建成以地区归属的毒品数据库,并绘制分别用组分A、B、C为Z轴表示的各地区等高图.选择有毒源代表性的5个边境地区的15个等高图基础模式,编制出判别未知样品的毒源鉴定程序软件.对软件的使用过程、判别能力、升级没想也作了说明.     

Care robots and the future of ICT-mediated elderly care: a response to doom scenarios

The discussion about robots in elderly care is populated by doom scenarios about a totally dehumanized care system in which elderly people are taken care of by machines. Such scenarios are helpful as they attend us to what we think is important with regard to the quality elderly care. However, this article argues that they are misleading in so far as they (1) assume that deception in care is always morally unacceptable, (2) suggest that robots and other information technologies necessarily deceive elderly people by creating a “virtual” world as opposed to a “real” world, (3) assume that elderly people of the future have similar ICT skills and interests as the elderly people of today, and (4) assume a simplistic view of technologies. The article suggests an approach to evaluating care robots and ICT in health care which acknowledges and addresses a number of ethical problems raised by robotic care—for instance disengagement problems—while taking into account that some elderly people may need care that does not treat them as (empirically) autonomous, that many the elderly of the future are likely to be digital natives, and that the task of evaluating technologies in care is more complicated than the discussion of deception suggests.