Usability of a point-of-care diagnostic to identify glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency: a multi-country assessment of test label comprehension and results interpretation

Background Point-of-care glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) testing has the potential to make the use of radical treatment for vivax malaria safer and more effective. Widespread use of G6PD tests as part of malaria case management has been limited, in part due to due concerns regarding product usability, user training, and supervision. This study seeks to assess how well end users can understand the Standard™ G6PD Test (SD Biosensor, Suwon, South Korea) workflow, result output, and label after training. This will ultimately help inform test registration and introduction. Methods Potential G6PD test users who provide malaria case management at three sites in Brazil, Ethiopia, and India were trained on the use of the SD Biosensor Standard G6PD Test and assessed based on their ability to understand the test workflow and interpret results. The assessment was done through a questionnaire, designed to assess product usability against key technical product specifications and fulfill regulatory evidence requirements. Any participant who obtained 85% or above correct responses to the questionnaire was considered to adequately comprehend how to use and interpret the test. Results Forty-five participants, including malaria microscopists, laboratory staff, nurses, and community health workers took part in the study. Seventy-eight percent of all participants in the study (35/45) obtained passing scores on the assessment with minimal training. Responses to the multiple-choice questions indicate that most participants understood well the test intended use, safety claims, and warnings. The greatest source of error regarding the test was around the correct operating temperature. Most test results were also read and interpreted correctly, with the haemoglobin measurement being a more problematic output to interpret than the G6PD measurement. Conclusions These data results show how a standardized tool can be used to assess a user’s ability to run a point-of-care diagnostic and interpret results. When applied to the SD Biosensor Standard G6PD Test, this tool demonstrates that a range of users across multiple contexts can use the test and suggests improvements to the test instructions and training that can improve product usability, increase user comprehension, and ultimately contribute to more widespread effective use of point-of-care G6PD tests. Trial registration: NCT04033640

Mobile application for the purpose of marketing, product distribution and location-based logistics for elderly farmers

This research has developed a one-stop service supply chain mobile application for the purpose of marketing, product distribution and location-based logistics for elderly farmers and consumers in accordance with the Thailand 4.0 economic model. This is an investigation into the agricultural product distribution supply chain which focuses on marketing, distribution and logistics using the Dijkstra’s and Ant Colony Algorithms to respectively explore the major and minor product transport routes. The accuracy rate was determined to be 97%. The application is congruent with the product distribution, supply chain, in a value-based economy. The effectiveness of the mobile application was indicated to be at the highest level of results of learning outcomes, user comprehension and user experience of users. That is, the developed mobile application could be effectively used as a tool to support elderly farmers to distribute their agricultural products in the one-stop service supply chain which emphasizes marketing, distribution and location-based logistics for elderly farmers and consumers with respect to Thailand 4.0.

Event Study Estimations Using Stata: The Estudy Command

In this article, we introduce the community-contributed command estudy and illustrate how it can be used to perform an event study customizing the statistical framework, from the estimates of abnormal returns to the tests for their statistical significance. Our command significantly improves the existing commands in terms of both completeness and user comprehension.

Exploring Genetic Data Across Individuals Using Novel Comparative Report Tools (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The growth in the availability of personal genomic data to non-experts poses multiple challenges to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research: data are highly sensitive, complex, and have health implications for individuals and families. However, there has been little research on how non-expert users explore genomic data. Studies that investigated the information practices of personal genomic data users found that non-experts seek to contextualize and compare their personal data to others. The family-relevant nature of genetic data highlights the need for tools to enable non-experts to explore not only their own data, but to compare and contrast it with the data of others. OBJECTIVE We designed CrossGenomics, a novel tool for comparing personal genetic reports, which enables exploration of shared and unshared genetic variants among individuals. Focusing on communicating comparative impact, rarity, and certainty, we evaluated alternative novel interactive prototypes of this tool. In particular, we sought to: 1. asses to what extent are users able to comprehend both intra-individual and inter-individual information, and whether there are gaps between subjective and objective comprehension; 2. understand how people engage with a comparison tool for personal genomics, and what visualization type and features are most helpful for comprehension; 3. identify the needs of early adopters, people who share their genetic reports publicly, for comparing their genetic reports to others’. METHODS We conducted three online user studies. The first two studies employed a controlled experimental design to examine the effectiveness of different design interventions on user comprehension. In both studies, we applied between-subjects design with alternative views for comparing the personal genomic information of fictional family members. Participants were Amazon Mechanical Turk workers. Building on the two initial studies, the third user study evaluated a redesigned version of CrossGenomics 2.0, which combines multiple views. We recruited 49 participants, who are members of Open Humans and shared their genomic information publicly. Participants used the tool to compare their own personal genomic report to the report of four famous people. RESULTS Results from the first two studies highlight strengths of two visualization types and of particular features in enabling user comprehension of genomic data, and demonstrate the value of affording users the flexibility to examine the same report using multiple perspectives. Results from the third study emphasize users’ motivation and needs in comparison of genomic data. CONCLUSIONS The familial nature of personal genomic data highlights the need for tools to enable non-experts to explore not only their own data, but to compare and contrast their data with data of other biological family members, who share common genetic characteristics. The design and evaluation of CrossGenomics offer important insights into the design of future tools for personal genomics exploration and comparison.

Factors in an end user security expertise instrument

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify factors that determine computer and security expertise in end users. They can be significant determinants of human behaviour and interactions in the security and privacy context. Standardized, externally valid instruments for measuring end-user security expertise are non-existent. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire encompassing skills and knowledge-based questions was developed to identify critical factors that constitute expertise in end users. Exploratory factor analysis was applied on the results from 898 participants from a wide range of populations. Cluster analysis was applied to characterize the relationship between computer and security expertise. Ordered logistic regression models were applied to measure efficacy of the proposed security and computing factors in predicting user comprehension of security concepts: phishing and certificates. Findings There are levels to peoples’ computer and security expertise that could be reasonably measured and operationalized. Four factors that constitute computer security-related skills and knowledge are, namely, basic computer skills, advanced computer skills, security knowledge and advanced security skills, and these are identified as determinants of computer expertise. Practical implications Findings from this work can be used to guide the design of security interfaces such that it caters to people with different expertise levels and does not force users to exercise more cognitive processes than required. Originality/value This work identified four factors that constitute security expertise in end users. Findings from this work were integrated to propose a framework called Security SRK for guiding further research on security expertise. This work posits that security expertise instrument for end user should measure three cognitive dimensions: security skills, rules and knowledge.