Publications

Notes: All files on Google Docs are shared with the Goole Group chang-liu-updates@googlegroups.com. Join this list to gain access.

Chang Liu, Qing Zhu, Kenneth Holroyd, Betsy Seng, "Status and Trends of Mobile-Health Applications for iOS Devices: a Developer’s Perspective," submitted to the Journal of Systems and Software. (Draft PDF)

Abstract: Modern smart mobile devices offer media-rich and context-aware features that are highly useful for electronic-health (e-health) applications. It is therefore not surprising that these devices have gained acceptance as target devices for e-health applications, turning them into m-health (mobile-health) apps. In particular, many e-health application developers have chosen Apple’s iOS mobile devices such as iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch as the target device to provide richer user experience, as evidenced by the rapidly increasing number of m-health apps in Apple’s App Store. In this paper, top two hundred of such apps from the App Store were examined from a developer’s perspective to provide a focused overview of the status and trends of iOS m-health apps and an analysis of related technology, architecture, and user interface design issues. It was shown that mobile users disproportionally favored tracking tools. It was clear that m-health apps still had plenty of room to grow to take full advantages of unique mobile platform features and truly fulfill their potential. In particular, introduction of two- or three-dimensional visualization and context-awareness would further enhance m-health app’s usability and utility. This paper aims to serve as a reference point and guide for developers and practitioners when choosing iOS as a platform for m-health applications.

William A. Young II, Ying Zhong, Sertac Ozercan, Stephen P. Carroll, Qing Zhu, and Chang Liu, “A Case Study of Using a Virtual World Application for Learning,” The 2010 World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications (ED-MEDIA 2010), Toronto, Canada; June 29-July 2, 2010. (Abstract, DOCX)

Yanhui Fang, Tiao J. Chang, Ying Zhong, En Ye, and Chang Liu, “Improving Public Awareness of Everyday Chemical Pollutants Utilizing a 3-D Immersive Game,” The 2010 World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications (ED-MEDIA 2010), Toronto, Canada; June 29-July 2, 2010. (DOC)

Chang Liu, Kenneth A Holroyd, Qing Zhu, Kaiyu Shen, and Wenqi Zhou, "Design and Implementation of a Behavioral Migraine Management iPhone App for Adolescents with Migraine," Second IEEE Workshop on Interdisciplinary Research on E-health Services and Systems (IREHSS 2010), June 14, 2010, Montreal, QC, Canada. (Acceptance rate: 10 accepted out of 26 submitted.) (PDF in Google Docs)

En Ye, Lev A Neiman, Hiep Q Dinh and Chang Liu. "SecondWATCH: a Workspace Awareness Tool based on a 3-D Virtual World". In ICSE '09: Proceedings of the 31th International Conference on Software Engineering, New Ideas and Emerging Results, Vancouver, Canada, May 2009. (PDF, Poster, Poster on Dropbox, YouTube Video, Vimeo hi-res video draft, Vimeo hi-res version, Video on Dropbox (54MB))

Chang Liu, En Ye, and Debra J. Richardson. "Software Library Usage Pattern Extraction Using a Software Model Checker". International Journal of Computers and Applications, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2009. (PDF)

Scott Nykl, Chad Mourning, Mitchell Leitch, David Chelberg, Teresa Franklin, and Chang Liu, “The STEAMiE Educational Engine,” FIE (Frontiers in Education) 2008.

Joshua Schendel, Chang Liu, David Chelberg, and Teresa Franklin, “Virtual Gallery Walk, an Innovative Outlet for Sharing Student Research Work in K-12 Classrooms,” FIE (Frontiers in Education) 2008.

Chang Liu and Robert Houdek, "Teaching Computer Science Graduate Students Scholarly Literature Review Techniques," Frontiers In Education (FIE'2006), San Diego, California, October 28-31, 2006.

Chang Liu and Valerie Young, "Student Self-Reported Usage of Wireless Tablet PCs in Classrooms," Frontiers In Education (FIE'2006), San Diego, California, October 28-31, 2006.

Chang Liu, En Ye, and Debra J. Richardson, "LtRules: an Automated Software Library Usage Rule Extraction Tool," (research demonstration) the 2006 International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2006), Shanghai, China, May 20-28, 2006. (PDF)

Tips on technical writing in English

• Read the short, classic book titled The Elements of Style. (This book comes as a free sample with the free iPad app inkling.)
• Add a space after comma. Example: For example, there is a space after the comma in this sentence.
• Add a space before "(" and after ")".
• Know the difference between "that" and "which". (Just google "difference between that and which".)
• VITAL in "the VITAL Lab" is an acronym. So it should not appear as "Vital Lab".
• Never use "I" or "me," use "we" or "us" instead. Use "we" only when absolutely necessary when it is important to stress that. Use "the authors" to replace that if possible. Use "the authors" only when necessary. If experiments are repeatable by others, then it is not important who do it. Therefore, it should not be emphasized that "the authors" did this, "the authors" did that.
• Never use "can't". Use "cannot" instead.
• Never use "doesn't". Use "does not" instead.
• Every sentence, every word should be meaningful and add value to the technical paper that it belongs to. If a paragraph, a sentence, a phrase, or a word can be removed without reducing the amount of information delivered through the paper, then remove it. Here's an example: "Researchers and developers all over the world explored providing m-health service through mobile devices." Earlier in the paper, it was already explained that m-health stands for mobile-health and refers to electronic health applications on mobile devices. This sentence does not add any concrete technical value to a technical discussion and should be removed or replaced by another one with more concrete information.
• Never use a sentence or a unique phrase from a reference without adding the quotation marks, even if the reference is properly cited.

VITAL Lab location, space, and directions

VITAL Lab Rooms and Phone numbers

• BR 207 - 740.593.1237 (Ph.D. student Ying Zhong's office)
• BR 206 - 740.593.1236 (Ph.D. student Qing Zhu's office)
• BR 202 - 740.593.0801 (VITAL Lab Conference Room)
• BR 201 - 740.593.1594 (Master's student office)
• BR 208 - 740.593.0865 (Ph.D. student office)
• BR 209 - 740.593.0803 (Undergraduate student office)
• VITAL Lab Fax number: 740-593-0803 (The Fax machine is physically located in BR 209.)
• Stocker Center 321C - 740.593.1249 (Dr. Chang Liu's office)
• BR 104 - Server Room

Driving directions

Botanical Research is building 75 on campus map. The closest parking lot to BR is Lot 90, the parking lot next to Morton Hall. A parking pass is required for this lot, although there are a few coin-operated parking meters near-by.

Parking Pass

Contact us in advance of meetings to obtain a campus parking pass, or use one of the metered spaces in Lot 90.

Mailing address

329 Stocker Center, Athens, Ohio 45701, USA

Links

• Traveling to Ohio University's Athens Campus
• Ohio University Campus on Google Maps

iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7

Clearly iOS and Android are getting the most attention in the mobile OS arena, but Windows Phone 7, surprisingly, is providing unique features that improve user experience in some areas. I actually bought a Windows Phone 7 device instead when I visited an AT&T store to purchase an iPhone 4. I have been an iPhone users for about three years. I was attracted to the content-rich system interface and non-discriminative integration of non-Microsoft services such as Google and Facebook contacts.