Universal Product Design Involving Elderly Users: A Participatory Design Model

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Recent studies have shown that people prefer to age in their familiar environments, thus guiding designers to provide a safe and functionally appropriate environment for ageing people, regardless of their physical conditions or limitations. Therefore, a participatory design model is proposed where human beings can improve their quality of life by promoting independence, as well as safety, useability and attractiveness of the residence. Brainstorming, scenario building, unstructured interviews, sketching and videotaping are used as techniques in the participatory design sessions. Quality deployment matrices are employed to find the relationships between the elderly user's requirements and design specifications. A case study was devised to apply and test the conceptual model phase of the proposed model. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Involving the elderly in the design process

Based on the concept of 'aging in place', a prescriptive model is proposed, aiming at the creation of a usable, safe and attractive built environment where the elderly residents are actively involved in the design process through collaboration sessions. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) has been adapted to develop an evaluation and translation method for the collected data of the elderly end-users

Universal product design involving elderly users: A participatory design model

Recent studies have shown that people prefer to age in their familiar environments, thus guiding designers to provide a safe and functionally appropriate environment for ageing people, regardless of their physical conditions or limitations. Therefore, a participatory design model is proposed where human beings can improve their quality of life by promoting independence, as well as safety, useability and attractiveness of the residence. Brainstorming, scenario building, unstructured interviews, sketching and videotaping are used as techniques in the participatory design sessions. Quality deployment matrices are employed to find the relationships between the elderly user's requirements and design specifications. A case study was devised to apply and test the conceptual model phase of the proposed model. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Pancreatic endocrine and exocrine function in children following near-total pancreatectomy for diffuse congenital hyperinsulinism.

Published onlineJournal ArticleCONTEXT: Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI), the commonest cause of persistent hypoglycaemia, has two main histological subtypes: diffuse and focal. Diffuse CHI, if medically unresponsive, is managed with near-total pancreatectomy. Post-pancreatectomy, in addition to persistent hypoglycaemia, there is a very high risk of diabetes mellitus and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency. SETTING: International referral centre for the management of CHI. PATIENTS: Medically unresponsive diffuse CHI patients managed with near-total pancreatectomy between 1994 and 2012. INTERVENTION: Near-total pancreatectomy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Persistent hypoglycaemia post near-total pancreatectomy, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, clinical and biochemical (faecal elastase 1) pancreatic exocrine insufficiency. RESULTS: Of more than 300 patients with CHI managed during this time period, 45 children had medically unresponsive diffuse disease and were managed with near-total pancreatectomy. After near-total pancreatectomy, 60% of children had persistent hypoglycaemia requiring medical interventions. The incidence of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus was 96% at 11 years after surgery. Thirty-two patients (72%) had biochemical evidence of severe pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (Faecal elastase 1<100 µg/g). Clinical exocrine insufficiency was observed in 22 (49%) patients. No statistically significant difference in weight and height standard deviation score (SDS) was found between untreated subclinical pancreatic exocrine insufficiency patients and treated clinical pancreatic exocrine insufficiency patients. CONCLUSIONS: The outcome of diffuse CHI patients after near-total pancreatectomy is very unsatisfactory. The incidence of persistent hypoglycaemia and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is very high. The presence of clinical rather than biochemical pancreatic exocrine insufficiency should inform decisions about pancreatic enzyme supplementation

Effect of Hydrodynamics on Sediment Transport near a Coastal Inlet

River, Estuarine and Coastal Dynamic

Turner syndrome and associated problems in turkish children: A multicenter study

Objective: Turner syndrome (TS) is a chromosomal disorder caused by complete or partial X chromosome monosomy that manifests various clinical features depending on the karyotype and on the genetic background of affected girls. This study aimed to systematically investigate the key clinical features of TS in relationship to karyotype in a large pediatric Turkish patient population. Methods: Our retrospective study included 842 karyotype-proven TS patients aged 0-18 years who were evaluated in 35 different centers in Turkey in the years 2013-2014. Results: The most common karyotype was 45,X (50.7%), followed by 45,X/46,XX (10.8%), 46,X,i(Xq) (10.1%) and 45,X/46,X,i(Xq) (9.5%). Mean age at diagnosis was 10.2±4.4 years. The most common presenting complaints were short stature and delayed puberty. Among patients diagnosed before age one year, the ratio of karyotype 45,X was significantly higher than that of other karyotype groups. Cardiac defects (bicuspid aortic valve, coarctation of the aorta and aortic stenosi) were the most common congenital anomalies, occurring in 25% of the TS cases. This was followed by urinary system anomalies (horseshoe kidney, double collector duct system and renal rotation) detected in 16.3%. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis was found in 11.1% of patients, gastrointestinal abnormalities in 8.9%, ear nose and throat problems in 22.6%, dermatologic problems in 21.8% and osteoporosis in 15.3%. Learning difficulties and/or psychosocial problems were encountered in 39.1%. Insulin resistance and impaired fasting glucose were detected in 3.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Dyslipidemia prevalence was 11.4%. Conclusion: This comprehensive study systematically evaluated the largest group of karyotype-proven TS girls to date. The karyotype distribution, congenital anomaly and comorbidity profile closely parallel that from other countries and support the need for close medical surveillance of these complex patients throughout their lifespan. © Journal of Clinical Research in Pediatric Endocrinology

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Which Is the Most Convincing of Them All? Exploring Anti-Domestic Violence Posters.

Although domestic abuse of women by men has received significant media, police, and research attention, domestic violence directed toward men has been marginalized across the board and is still rarely treated seriously. The purpose of this research, then, is to examine and compare different anti-domestic violence messages in which the abuser's gender is not always clear. In Study 1, 200 U.K. participants (100 females and 100 males, aged 18-67, M = 28.98, SD = 9.613) evaluated posters that varied across three levels; in that the subject (male or female) was depicted as being silenced, bruised, or experiencing live abuse. The results showed that the posters featuring female victims were all rated as more effective than posters showing male victims. In Study 2, 140 different U.K. participants (95 females; 45 males) aged 18 to 59 (M = 27.27, SD = 10.662) evaluated the cartoon facial images of Disney characters who had been altered to look like victims of violence and real-life corresponding photos of human models. The results showed that the realistic posters were found to be more believable, emotional, and effective than the cartoons. The implications of such perceptions are discussed

Solitary and cnoidal wave scattering by a submerged horizontal plate in shallow water

Solitary and cnoidal wave transformation over a submerged, fixed, horizontal rigid plate is studied by use of the nonlinear, shallow-water Level I Green-Naghdi (GN) equations. Reflection and transmission coefficients are defined for cnoidal and solitary waves to quantify the nonlinear wave scattering. Results of the GN equations are compared with the laboratory experiments and other theoretical solutions for linear and nonlinear waves in intermediate and deep waters. The GN equations are then used to study the nonlinear wave scattering by a plate in shallow water. It is shown that in deep and intermediate depths, the wave-scattering varies nonlinearly by both the wavelength over the plate length ratio, and the submergence depth. In shallow water, however, and for long-waves, only the submergence depth appear to play a significant role on wave scattering. It is possible to define the plate submergence depth and length such that certain wave conditions are optimized above, below, or downwave of the plate for different applications. A submerged plate in shallow water can be used as a means to attenuate energy, such as in wave breakers, or used for energy focusing, and in wave energy devices

Longitudinal Auxological recovery in a cohort of children with Hyperinsulinaemic Hypoglycaemia

Background: Hypoglycaemia due to hyperinsulinism (HI) is the commonest cause of severe, recurrent hypoglycaemia in childhood. Cohort outcomes of HI remain to be described and whilst previous follow up studies have focused on neurodevelopmental outcomes, there is no information available on feeding and auxology. Aim: We aimed to describe HI outcomes for auxology, medications, feeding and neurodevelopmental in a cohort up to age 5 years. Method: We reviewed medical records for all patients with confirmed HI over a three-year period in a single centre to derive a longitudinal dataset. Results: Seventy patients were recruited to the study. Mean weight at birth was - 1.0 standard deviation scores (SDS) for age and sex, while mean height at 3 months was - 1.5 SDS. Both weight and height trended to the population median over the follow up period. Feeding difficulties were noted in 17% of patients at 3 months and this reduced to 3% by 5 years. At age 5 years, 11 patients (15%) had neurodevelopmental delay and of these only one was severe. Resolution of disease was predicted by lower maximum early diazoxide dose (p = 0.007) and being born SGA (p = 0.009). Conclusion: In a three-year cohort of HI patients followed up for 5 years, in spite of feeding difficulties and carbohydrate loading in early life, auxology parameters are normal in follow up. A lower than expected rate of neurodevelopmental delay could be attributed to prompt early treatment.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access it via the publisher's site.The study was supported by the Northern Congenital Hyperinsulinism (NORCHI) charitable fund, by the Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre and by The University of Manchester MRC Confidence in Concept (CiC) Award (MC_PC_18056). KEC was funded by a Research Councils UK Academic Fellowship (https://www.ukri.org/). SEF has a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (105636/Z/14/Z).published version, accepted versio