Investigation of complexity of the instruction manuals for electrical coffeepots.

BACKGROUND: Electrical coffeepots are commonly used in professional and residential environments. Their instruction manuals are related to issues that involve the user's safety and ability to operate the machine correctly. To provide the best product performance to the user, one must indicate or inform the correct usability, to turn the interaction easier. OBJECTIVE: This research proposes to investigate the instruction manuals of the electrical coffeepots. METHODS: Four coffee pot instruction manuals were analyzed in relation to the complexity through the heuristic evaluation. For that, eight experts of the Graphic Design were chosen to answer twenty four questions with the aim of analyzing: images; texts; layout development; information and warnings. RESULTS: This study shows the results of the 04 (four) items analyzed: a) images; b) texts; c) layout development; d) information and warnings, together with the suggestions of improvements for each manual. CONCLUSIONS: It is believed that the methodological procedures for the application of the heuristic evaluation have facilitated the diagnosis of fragilities and barriers that the users find during the interaction with electrical coffeepot manuals.

Diversity of containers and buildings infested with Aedes aegypti in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina.

Aedes aegypti is the main domestic vector of the dengue virus. Control measures to prevent dengue transmission focus on the treatment and elimination of this vector's oviposition sites. There is limited biological information on Ae. aegypti in Argentina. The aim of this study was to characterize Ae. aegypti oviposition sites in the city of Puerto Iguazú, Argentina. We surveyed an area covering nine neighborhoods in 2005. We identified 191 premises as positive for Ae. aegypti, giving a general house index of 9.6%. Premises classified as residential and vacant lots presented the highest number of infested premises, with 9% and 22% respectively. The total number of surveyed containers was 29,600. The overall container index (CI) was 1.1. The most frequently infested containers were water tanks (CI = 37). These preliminary results suggest that vacant lots and water tanks provide suitable breeding areas and environmental conditions, improving the chances of Ae. aegypti survival in Puerto Iguazú.