Social software and interactions in Web design: an in situ exploration of tools & methods to support designer-client communication

This paper outlines the scope, approach and current progress of a thesis which is investigating the role that Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) plays in supporting the design process within the web design industry. Specifically, the thesis investigates designer-client communication, and explores the issues with technologies to support this communication. This research is situated within the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). Web design businesses use a variety of CMC tools to support communication with their clients; however they must rely on general purpose tools which the client has prior knowledge of. Social Software solutions which can better support these processes have yet to become adopted within the industry. The research question for this work is how can Social Software be better designed to support designer-client communication within web design businesses? A platform that facilitates the creation of Social Software will be designed, deployed and evaluated in situ to investigate the problems and opportunities for Social Software within this space. An iterative design process will be used to develop and evaluate the platform through the use of ethnographic action research and design thinking methods. The aim of the platform is to reduce the challenges of introducing new software into web design businesses, and evaluate the platform through participatory design studies of developing new tools which better support the design process. The results of the platform will be used to inform a design framework for Social Software designers wanting to develop tools to support communication in this context

Social software and interactions in Web design: a contextual interview study of communication tool use in web design businesses

This paper outlines an interview study that was conducted to assist in understanding the role that computer mediated communication tools play in supporting designer-client interaction within web design businesses, in particular the limitations with existing tools used to support these processes. Web designers require continual and rich communications with their clients to inform and develop products which best represent their clients and clients’ target market. The interviews also examine the potential of social software for supporting designer-client communication. There are a number of findings identified by this interview study, in particular the importance of email for designer-client communication, and the reliance on tools that are common between both parties. This results in a reliance on general-purpose tools such as email,which do not effectively support the sharing and discussion around design artifacts. While social software has potential to be a solution to these issues, the dependence on direct client participation limits its potential. In our findings we identify the importance of email within this context, and suggest that social software to support designer-client communication should augment existing methods of communication rather than attempt to replace them

Exploring virtual representations of physical artefacts on collaboration in the clothing industry

This paper explores the issues and potential future directions of remote collaboration within the field of clothing design and manufacturing. We examine the potential of developing a computer system that supports multiple levels of virtual representation (textual, visual and tangible). We first identified the methods and processes of collaboration within the manufacturing and design industries, and evaluate current methods of remote collaboration designed for these environments. From this we conducted an ethnographic study with fashion design students, to examine what forms of collaboration are important when discussing design and manufacturing techniques. From these findings, we have designed, developed and performed a pilot study with a multi-touch interface, utilizing a gestural interface (rather than a traditional GUI), to explore whether collocated natural interactions can be extended remotely via technology

Budd-Chiari syndrome recurring in a transplanted liver

A patient with Budd-Chiari syndrome who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation and developed recurrent disease is described. The immediate postoperative period was complicated by multiple thrombotic episodes, followed by a period of apparent remission associated with the initiation of coumadin and persantine therapy. After discontinuation of such antithrombotic therapy in order to biopsy the liver, the patient experienced another series of clinically overt vascular thromboses and ultimately died of sepsis 15 mo posttransplantation after a prolonged and complicated terminal hospital course. At autopsy, recurrent Budd-Chiari syndrome as well as thromboses in numerous other organs was demonstrated. © 1983

Fine-needle aspiration biopsy: its Use in orbital tumors

Fifteen orbital tumors have been evaluated with the fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) technique. The best indication for FNAB is supposed malignant orbital disease. The technique has not been helpful in tumors or inflammatory disease with a high fibrous content. Lesions that are suspected of being pseudotumors are not recommended for FNAB since, even in histologic sections, they are notoriously difficult to distinguish from well-differentiated lymphocytic malignant lymphoma. Benign encapsulated tumors should not be subjected to FNAB

Day case orthopaedic trauma surgery effectiveness: a systematic review

Day case surgery facilitates effective orthopaedic care for ambulatory trauma cases and can act as an effective pathway in times of reduced resource availability within acute hospitals. A systematic review of the available literature was performed using a narrative synthesis to look for themes underpinning day case trauma practice. A 25 papers were selected from a total of 9956 papers screened to identify those papers that considered day case trauma surgery and its impact on clinical outcome, patient satisfaction and feasibility of delivery within the UK. 9014 patients had day case trauma operations within the 25 papers identified, 86% had general anaesthesia and 14% either regional or local anaesthesia. The mean reported age was 37.5 years with a wide age range (2-83) years treating roughly similar proportions of men and women with a high satisfaction rate when recorded. All areas of the upper limb were operated on apart from the scapula the commonest being the wrist. In the lower limb surgery was undertaken in the knee, ankle or foot with removal of foreign body or ankle fixation being the commonest procedures undertaken. Prevalence of complications at 0.0156% of cases undergoing day case surgery was seen to be lower than in a similar group of inpatient cases. resources are stretched. Day case surgery for trauma procedures within orthopaedics is safe, cost effective and well tolerated by patients. It frees up resources to facilitate treatment and should be utilised within each hospital to enable timely care

Structural analysis of hyperperiodic DNA from Caenorhabditis elegans

Several bioinformatics studies have identified an unexpected but remarkably prevalent ∼10 bp periodicity of AA/TT dinucleotides (hyperperiodicity) in certain regions of the Caenorhabditis elegans genome. Although the relevant C.elegans DNA segments share certain sequence characteristics with bent DNAs from other sources (e.g. trypanosome mitochondria), the nematode sequences exhibit a much more extensive and defined hyperperiodicity. Given the presence of hyperperiodic structures in a number of critical C.elegans genes, the physical characteristics of hyperperiodic DNA are of considerable interest. In this work, we demonstrate that several hyperperiodic DNA segments from C.elegans exhibit structural anomalies using high-resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM) and gel electrophoresis. Our quantitative analysis of AFM images reveals that hyperperiodic DNA adopts a significantly smaller mean square end-to-end distance, hence a more compact coil structure, compared with non-periodic DNA of similar length. While molecules remain capable of adopting both bent and straight (rod-like) configurations, indicating that their flexibility is still retained, examination of the local curvatures along the DNA contour length reveals that the decreased mean square end-to-end distance can be attributed to the presence of long-scale intrinsic bending in hyperperiodic DNA. Such bending is not detected in non-periodic DNA. Similar studies of shorter, nucleosome-length DNAs that survived micrococcal nuclease digestion show that sequence hyperperiodicity in short segments can likewise induce strong intrinsic bending. It appears, therefore, that regions of the C.elegans genome display a significant correlation between DNA sequence and unusual mechanical properties