The use and usability of accessibility standardization

This paper discusses recent research carried out with British Standardizers working in the area of systems and products with user interfaces to identify when and where they considered the needs of older people and people with disabilities. The research was carried out in support of the ISO JTAG TAG activity on the revision of ISO/IEC Guide 71 and was designed to assist the writers of the re-written guide to enable them to target the Guide effectively. The document ISO/IEC Guide 71:2001, Guidelines for standards developers is designed to address the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities and to ensure that standards which affect the design of user interfaces do not discriminate in their design. It is currently being updated. The work was carried out by a series of online and face to face interviews during Winter 2012/2013. The results indicated that a majority of the standardizers did not routinely consider the needs of older and disabled people. In conclusion it is important for those in the accessibility field to identify effective promotion methods as well as work to create useful, usable, quality standards

The use of standards for identifying, codifying and transmitting expert ergonomic knowledge

Formal technical standards based on ergonomic principles can ensure that products, systems and services are fit for purpose, accessible and useable. The application of these standards should be used to ensure that items of technology meet political requirements for equality by enabling the full range of end users to participate in the digital society. Ergonomists and representatives of consumers participate in the specification and creation of these standards to ensure that their content is relevant, correct and up-to-date. They work to ensure that the standards accurately represent the needs and requirements of end users including amongst others people with disabilities, older people and people with different language and cultural backgrounds. A number of these standards are referenced in law and in procurement contracts. They are not often not used in higher education resulting in knowledge deficit for young technical professionals. The paper is based on the authors experience including working in the area of accessibility standardization and at a University which prides itself on the diversity of its staff and has students from more than 150 nations. The paper ends with a consideration of the way in which more effective use can be made of these standards

Working internationally to meet the academic needs of accessibility professionals

Middlesex University has recently launched a new qualification, the Post Graduate Certificate, Professional Practice in Design for Diversity in Information and Communication Technology. This programme replaces the MSc Digital Inclusion which was launched four years ago and has been withdrawn due to lack of interest from potential students. The aim of this paper is to address the design and management decisions which went into the creation of this new programme and the way in which the academic community can support students who wish to learn about accessibility whilst holding down difficult jobs and working as figureheads in the accessibility field. Both the MSc Digital Inclusion and the Post Graduate Certificate Professional Practice in Design for Diversity in Information and Communication Technology were based on content created from within the EDeAN: European Design for all eAccessibility Network. This on-going collaboration should enable the material to be of a suitable quality, suitable depth and fit for purpose to enable the graduates to practice as accessibility professionals in both Europe and the USA. It will enable the students to understand both the technical and user benefits of solutions such as ambient assisted living as well as the relevant ethical and business case

Effects of Aluminum Foil Mulch on Parasitism and Fecundity of Apterous \u3ci\u3eMyzus Persicae\u3c/i\u3e (Homoptera: Aphididae)

Chinese cabbage plants grown in flats containing either aluminum foil mulch or no mulch cover were uniformly infested with a single apterous adult Myzus persicae (Sulzer) and exposed in a greenhouse to a free-flying population of the parasite Aphidius ervi (Haliday). Aphid fecundity. plant growth, and temperature were greater in reflective mulch plots. Aphid pardSitism was lower over mulched plots until foliage growth obscured the mulch. Later. parasitism was more frequent in mulched plots. The effects upon parasitism, fecundity. and microclimate may explain instances where aluminum mulches have not reduced aphid populations

The effectiveness of a double-stem injection valve in controlling combustion in a compression-ignition engine

An investigation was made to determine to what extent the rates of combustion in a compression-ignition engine can be controlled by varying the rates of fuel injection. The tests showed that the double-stem valve operated satisfactorily under all normal injection conditions; the rate of injection has a definite effect on the rate of combustion; the engine performance with the double-stem valve was inferior to that obtained with a single-stem valve; and the control of injection rates permitted by an injection valve of two stages of discharge is not sufficient to effect the desired rates of combustion

Environmental effects on polymeric matrix composites

Current epoxy resins utilized in high performance structural composites absorb moisture from high humidity environments. Such moisture absorption causes plasticization of the resin to occur with concurrent swelling and lowering of the glass transition temperature. Similar effects are observed in composites. Data are presented showing the effects of absorbed moisture on Hercules AS/3501-5 graphite/epoxy composites. Prediction of moisture content and distribution in composites, along with reduction in mechanical properties, are discussed

Bulk Comptonization spectra in blazars

We study the time dependent spectra produced via the bulk Compton process by a cold, relativistic shell of plasma moving (and accelerating) along the jet of a blazar, scattering on external photons emitted by the accretion disc and reprocessed in the broad line region. Bulk Comptonization of disc photons is shown to yield a spectral component contributing in the far UV band, and would then be currently unobservable. On the contrary, the bulk Comptonization of broad line photons may yield a significant feature in the soft X-ray band. Such a feature is time-dependent and transient, and dominates over the non thermal continuum only when: a) the dissipation occurs close to, but within, the broad line region; b) other competing processes, like the synchrotron self-Compton emission, yield a negligible flux in the X-ray band. The presence of a bulk Compton component may account for the X-ray properties of high redshift blazars that show a flattening (and possibly a hump) in the soft X-rays, previously interpreted as due to intrinsic absorption. We discuss why the conditions leading to a detectable bulk Compton feature might be met only occasionally in high redshift blazars, concluding that the absence of such a feature in the spectra of most blazars should not be taken as evidence against matter--dominated relativistic jets. The detection of such a component carries key information on the bulk Lorentz factor and kinetic energy associated to (cold) leptons.Comment: 8 pages; 4 figures; MNRAS, accepte

Improving ICT accessibility using standards and legislation.

The aim of this presentation is to look at the role that standardisation has to play in ensuring that ICT equipment and services are designed in an accessible way and are accessible in use. There has previously been a significant amount of research aimed at removing barriers to participation in the Information Society by disabled and older people. Knowledge gained from this research has been codified into accessibility standards. The standardisation process can promote accessibility in three ways; • As a way of codifying existing best practise to enable non experts to follow. • As a way of setting the level of accessibility for legislation. • As a method for making the most effective use of the limited resources within the accessibility field. Objectives of presentation and benefits for the audience The creation and implementation of accessible ICT depends on the involvement of ICT professionals who; • Understand user requirements for the complete range of users. • Know and are able to use solutions that meet user needs. • Develop new accessibility solutions where required. • Make a commitment to the use of accessibility solutions. The paper will discuss how codifying best practise knowledge into standards can be used to assist the ICT professionals by focusing on the following points; • The potential benefits of accessibility standardisation. • The use of standards to support accessibility legislation. • The use of standards as a way of sharing best practise. • The problems which must be overcome to maximise the effect of relevant standards and legislation

Osteocytes and mechanical loading: The Wnt connection

Bone adapts to the mechanical forces that it experiences. Orthodontic tooth movement harnesses the cell‐ and tissue‐level properties of mechanotransduction to achieve alignment and reorganization of the dentition. However, the mechanisms of action that permit bone resorption and formation in response to loads placed on the teeth are incompletely elucidated, though several mechanisms have been identified. Wnt/Lrp5 signalling in osteocytes is a key pathway that modulates bone tissue's response to load. Numerous mouse models that harbour knock‐in, knockout and transgenic/overexpression alleles targeting genes related to Wnt signalling point to the necessity of Wnt/Lrp5, and its localization to osteocytes, for proper mechanotransduction in bone. Alveolar bone is rich in osteocytes and is a highly mechanoresponsive tissue in which components of the canonical Wnt signalling cascade have been identified. As Wnt‐based agents become clinically available in the next several years, the major challenge that lies ahead will be to gain a more complete understanding of Wnt biology in alveolar bone so that improved/expedited tooth movement becomes a possibility