title: Usable-by-Construction a formal framework

authors: Reeves, Steve

subjects: software engineering

abstract: We propose here to look at how abstract a model of a usable system can be, but still say something useful and interesting, so this paper is an exercise in abstraction and formalisation, with usability-of-design as an example target use.
We take the view that when we claim to be designing a usable system we have, at the very least, to give assurances about its usability properties. This is a very abstract notion, but provides the basis for future work, and shows, even at this level that there are things to say about the (very concrete) business of designing and building usable, interactive systems.
Various forms of verification and validation can provide a high level of assurance but it can be very costly, and there is clearly a lot of resistance to doing things this way.
In this paper, we introduce the idea of usable-by-construction, which adopts and applies the ideas of correct-by-construction to (very abstractly) thinking about usable systems.
We give a set of construction rules or tactics to develop designs of usable systems, and we also formalize them into a state suitable for, for example, a proof assistant to check claims made for the system as designed.
In the future, these tactics would allow us to create systems that have the required usability properties and thus provide a basis to a usable-by-construction system. Also, we should then go on to show that the tactics preserve properties by using an example system with industrial strength requirements. And we might also consider future research directions.

text: Usable-by-Construction a formal framework We propose here to look at how abstract a model of a usable system can be, but still say something useful and interesting, so this paper is an exercise in abstraction and formalisation, with usability-of-design as an example target use.
We take the view that when we claim to be designing a usable system we have, at the very least, to give assurances about its usability properties. This is a very abstract notion, but provides the basis for future work, and shows, even at this level that there are things to say about the (very concrete) business of designing and building usable, interactive systems.
Various forms of verification and validation can provide a high level of assurance but it can be very costly, and there is clearly a lot of resistance to doing things this way.
In this paper, we introduce the idea of usable-by-construction, which adopts and applies the ideas of correct-by-construction to (very abstractly) thinking about usable systems.
We give a set of construction rules or tactics to develop designs of usable systems, and we also formalize them into a state suitable for, for example, a proof assistant to check claims made for the system as designed.
In the future, these tactics would allow us to create systems that have the required usability properties and thus provide a basis to a usable-by-construction system. Also, we should then go on to show that the tactics preserve properties by using an example system with industrial strength requirements. And we might also consider future research directions.

year: 2021

title: Sleep-hygiene education improves sleep indices in elite female athletes.

authors: O'Donnell, Shannon Lea

abstract: The importance of sleep in providing psychophysiological recovery in elite athletes is often overlooked. In other populations (eg shift workers and adolescent students), sleep hygiene education may serve to acutely improve sleep indices. However, this is yet to be examined in an elite athlete setting. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of a sleep hygiene education session on sleep indices in elite athletes. The study involved 26 elite female netball athletes performing one week of baseline sleep monitoring (PRE), followed by a sleep hygiene education session and a further week of sleep monitoring (POST) in a single group, pre- post design. The sleep hygiene education session focused on providing information on the importance of sleep for athletes and practical tips to improve sleep quality and quantity. Sleep monitoring was performed using wrist actigraphy to assess total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE%), total time in bed (TTB), sleep latency (SL), wake episodes per night (WE), sleep onset variance (SOV), wake variance (WV) wake episode duration (WED), sleep onset time (SOT), and wake time (WT). There was a significant improvement in TST (mean ± SD; 22.3 ± 39.9 minutes, p=0.01) PRE to POST sleep hygiene education session, the difference associated with a small effect (ES: 0.39). A significant improvement PRE to POST was found for WV (p=0.03), and for WED (p=0.03). There were no significant differences for SE%, SL, TTB, WE, SOV, SOT, WT. The current study reports that a sleep hygiene education session is effective in improving sleep quantity in elite female athletes in an acute setting.

text: Sleep-hygiene education improves sleep indices in elite female athletes. The importance of sleep in providing psychophysiological recovery in elite athletes is often overlooked. In other populations (eg shift workers and adolescent students), sleep hygiene education may serve to acutely improve sleep indices. However, this is yet to be examined in an elite athlete setting. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of a sleep hygiene education session on sleep indices in elite athletes. The study involved 26 elite female netball athletes performing one week of baseline sleep monitoring (PRE), followed by a sleep hygiene education session and a further week of sleep monitoring (POST) in a single group, pre- post design. The sleep hygiene education session focused on providing information on the importance of sleep for athletes and practical tips to improve sleep quality and quantity. Sleep monitoring was performed using wrist actigraphy to assess total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE%), total time in bed (TTB), sleep latency (SL), wake episodes per night (WE), sleep onset variance (SOV), wake variance (WV) wake episode duration (WED), sleep onset time (SOT), and wake time (WT). There was a significant improvement in TST (mean ± SD; 22.3 ± 39.9 minutes, p=0.01) PRE to POST sleep hygiene education session, the difference associated with a small effect (ES: 0.39). A significant improvement PRE to POST was found for WV (p=0.03), and for WED (p=0.03). There were no significant differences for SE%, SL, TTB, WE, SOV, SOT, WT. The current study reports that a sleep hygiene education session is effective in improving sleep quantity in elite female athletes in an acute setting.

year: 2017

title: Re-creating legal space for the first law of Aotearoa-New Zealand

authors: Joseph, Robert

subjects: law

abstract: Some of the historic and contemporary statutory and case law examples of a hybrid Maori-British common law legal system in Aotearoa-New Zealand are discussed. The importance and role performed by the First Law, the tikanga Maori customary law is highlighted.

text: Re-creating legal space for the first law of Aotearoa-New Zealand Some of the historic and contemporary statutory and case law examples of a hybrid Maori-British common law legal system in Aotearoa-New Zealand are discussed. The importance and role performed by the First Law, the tikanga Maori customary law is highlighted.

year: 2009