Design bugs out: a real world investigation of hospital bedside chairs and commodes

This paper was presented at the the 17th World Congress on Ergonomics (IEA’09) in August 2009, Beijing, China.Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAIs) can affect both patients and healthcare workers. They are difficult to treat, and can complicate illnesses, cause distress, and even lead to death. HCAIs are also a huge financial burden on the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). Aiming to identify and fast-track the implementation of new technologies and design-led innovations to combat HCAIs, the UK’s Department of Health (DH), in partnership with the Purchasing and Supply Agency of the NHS and the Design Council, launched the Challenge ‘Design Bugs Out’ in September 2008. The design challenge invited teams of designers and manufacturers to redesign hospital furniture and equipment to make them easier to keep clean, and so help reduce patients’ exposure to HCAIs and improve their hospital experience. As a research partner of a winning team PearsonLloyd Design Consultancy and Kirton Healthcare Manufacturing) selected to answer this Challenge, the Human-Centred Design Institute (HCDI) at Brunel University conducted intensive design research focusing on bedside chairs and on-ward commodes. The research findings were used to inform the design process of the ward objects, towards the delivery of working prototypes in April 2009, to be displayed in a public exhibition and then taken on a national tour of selected hospitals for trial. This paper reports on the research process, aiming to extract useful information on a human-centred approach to healthcare design innovation.The Design Council, Department of Healt

Designing ergonomics data tools for designers

Copyright © 2002-2010 The Design Society. All rights reserved.Ergonomics provides important user data for design. However, when interviewing designers about their use of data in the design process, we found that experienced designers' use of ergonomics data were very limited. Being "out of date", "irrelevant" and "hard to understand and work with" were the main comments on existing ergonomics datasets, especially anthropometrics. The eleven designers interviewed all tend to adopt more experimental approaches to data capture, for example, through building ergonomics rigs and conducting user tests. They prefer designer-friendly user data tools, e.g. relevant, intuitive, highly visual tools which are fast and easy to learn and to work with; and prefer tools that are compatible with other design tools they typically use. Based on the designers' preferences and suggestions, we have prototyped a number of new tools for communicating user data to industrial designers. Two workshops were organized to evaluate the effectiveness of these tools with novice and professional designers. The feedback from the workshop participants was used for further development of these user data tools.EPSR

Servotronics, Inc. v. Rolls-Royce PLC and The Boeing Company: Brief of Professor Yanbai Andrea Wang as \u3ci\u3eAmicus Curiae\u3c/i\u3e in Support of Neither Party

Rather than expressing a view on the issues raised and ably briefed by the parties, amicus submits this brief to inform the Court of the scholarly research she has conducted regarding Section 1782 proceedings since this Court’s seminal decision in Intel. As Section 1782 applications have proliferated, the lower courts have struggled to apply the Intel factors as this Court had envisioned. Especially in the context of Section 1782 applications submitted by parties to an international proceeding (as opposed to those made by the international tribunal itself), lower courts have frequently found themselves unable to analyze and apply the Intel factors. Because applicants often do not notify the international tribunals or the other parties to the international proceedings of their application, the federal courts tasked with adjudicating those applications are unable to conduct an informed assessment of the critical Intel factors addressing whether the international tribunal is receptive to discovery assistance from U.S. courts or whether the request is an effort to circumvent discovery restrictions in the international proceeding. That lack of information is exacerbated by many courts’ practice of placing the burden of proof on the Section 1782 target who is resisting discovery, rather than the applicant. Typically, the discovery target is a nonparty to the international proceeding and is thus poorly positioned or completely unable to provide the information necessary for the lower court’s assessment of the Intel factors. These practical problems can be solved by two simple clarifications from this Court. First, the Court should clarify that Section 1782 applicants must notify in advance the discovery target, all parties, and all tribunals involved in the international proceedings in which the requested evidence is to be used. Second, the Court should clarify that the Section 1782 applicant bears the burden of proof to establish that the request should be granted under the Intel factors. Both of these requirements are clearly within the Court’s authority, and both are fully consistent with the Federal Rules’ approach to domestic discovery. Moreover, those two clarifications would resolve many of the policy concerns that appear to animate lower court decisions that have excluded international commercial arbitrations from Section 1782’s reach. By ensuring that discovery targets, the opposing parties, and the international tribunals are notified in advance and have an opportunity to express their views on a Section 1782 application, district courts will be able to deny those applications where the international tribunal itself is not receptive to U.S. discovery. And by placing the burden on the party requesting the discovery, the analysis would weed out weak or abusive applications that might currently be granted simply because some lower courts currently place the burden on a nonparty from whom discovery is sought—who is in a particularly weak position to provide the information required to conduct the Intel analysis. Ultimately, this approach—of clarifying the Intel factors to require notice and properly placing the burden on the applicant—is a far preferable way to prevent misuse of Section 1782 than drawing an artificial and ill-defined line between “public” and “private” arbitrations. Indeed, that line does not stand up to the reality of modern international arbitration. On the contrary, because virtually all international arbitration is conducted within the framework of international treaties or other intergovernmental agreements, the line between “public” and “private” arbitral proceedings is an illusory one. Any effort to articulate such a line would illogically exclude many commercial arbitrations from Section 1782’s reach while leaving materially indistinguishable proceedings—such as investor-state arbitrations—within the statute’s bounds. The more logical and practical approach, in light of the years of experience since Intel, is to clarify and strengthen the Intel analysis for all Section 1782 proceedings

Brief for Council of Islamic Schools in North America, Partnership for Inner-City Education, and Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners

DAVID AND AMY CARSON, as Parents and next Friends of O.C., and TROY AND ANGELA NELSON, as Parents and next Friends of A.N. and R.N., Petitioners v. A. PENDER MAKIN, in Her Official Capacity as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Education, Respondent. On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit BRIEF FOR COUNCIL OF ISLAMIC SCHOOLS IN NORTH AMERICA, PARTNERSHIP FOR INNER-CITY EDUCATION, AND UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONERS No. 20-1088 March 11, 2021 Amici curiae operate, represent, and support elementary and secondary schools in three faith traditions: Catholic (Partnership for Inner-City Education), Islamic (Council of Islamic Schools in North America), and Jewish (Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America). Students attending many of the schools that are operated or supported by amici participate in publicly-funded private-school-choice programs. Central to these schools’ religious and educational missions is the integration of faith throughout all aspects of their educational programs, making the status/use distinction employed by the court below both unworkable and discriminatory

Measurements of Unsteady Wake Interference Between Tandem Cylinders

A multi-phase, experimental study in the Basic Aerodynamics Research Tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center has provided new insight into the unsteady flow interaction around cylinders in tandem arrangement. Phase 1 of the study characterized the mean and unsteady near-field flow around two cylinders of equal diameter using 2-D Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and hot-wire anemometry. These measurements were performed at a Reynolds number of 1.66 x 10(exp 5), based on cylinder diameter, and spacing-to-diameter ratios, L/D, of 1.435 and 3.7. The current phase, Phase 2, augments this dataset by characterizing the surface flow on the same configurations using steady and unsteady pressure measurements and surface flow visualization. Transition strips were applied to the front cylinder during both phases to produce a turbulent boundary layer upstream of the flow separation. For these flow conditions and L/D ratios, surface pressures on both the front and rear cylinders show the effects of L/D on flow symmetry, pressure recovery, and the location of flow separation and attachment. Mean streamlines and instantaneous vorticity obtained from the PIV data are used to explain the flow structure in the gap and near-wake regions and its relationship to the unsteady surface pressures. The combination of off-body and surface measurements provides a comprehensive dataset to develop and validate computational techniques for predicting the unsteady flow field at higher Reynolds numbers

Simulations of Bluff Body Flow Interaction for Noise Source Modeling

The current study is a continuation of our effort to characterize the details of flow interaction between two cylinders in a tandem configuration. This configuration is viewed to possess many of the pertinent flow features of the highly interactive unsteady flow field associated with the main landing gear of large civil transports. The present effort extends our previous two-dimensional, unsteady, Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes computations to three dimensions using a quasilaminar, zonal approach, in conjunction with a two-equation turbulence model. Two distinct separation length-to-diameter ratios of L/D = 3.7 and 1.435, representing intermediate and short separation distances between the two cylinders, are simulated. The Mach 0.166 simulations are performed at a Reynolds number of Re = 1.66 105 to match the companion experiments at NASA Langley Research Center. Extensive comparisons with the measured steady and unsteady surface pressure and off-surface particle image velocimetry data show encouraging agreement. Both prominent and some of the more subtle trends in the mean and fluctuating flow fields are correctly predicted. Both computations and the measured data reveal a more robust and energetic shedding process at L/D = 3.7 in comparison with the weaker shedding in the shorter separation case of L/D = 1.435. The vortex shedding frequency based on the computed surface pressure spectra is in reasonable agreement with the measured Strouhal frequency

Motivação autodeterminada, composição corporal e satisfação com a vida dos idosos, para a prática de atividade física supervisionada: relação e diferenças entre frequência de prática, sexo, composição corporal e contexto institucional

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Atividade Física.É indispensável, para todos, a prática de atividade física e, segundo Fischer (2005), de todos os grupos etários, os idosos são os que mais beneficiam com a prática de exercício. O risco de muitas doenças e problemas de saúde habituais na velhice, diminui com a prática de atividade física regular. Neste sentido, este estudo tem como principal objetivo identificar as motivações, necessidades psicológicas básicas, composição corporal e satisfação com a vida dos idosos para a prática de Atividade Física supervisionada, analisar as relações e comparações entre níveis de prática, sexo e contexto institucional. Estudo transversal com amostra constituída por 62 idosos voluntários, de ambos os sexos (15 do sexo masculino e 47 do sexo feminino), institucionalizados e não institucionalizados, pertencentes ao Concelho de Castelo Branco, com uma média de idades de 79.613±9.34 anos. Após a seleção da amostra os indivíduos foram divididos em dois grupos distintos, o primeiro grupo “Grupo1-2”: constituído por idosos que praticam AF supervisionada, 1 ou 2 vezes por semana; e o segundo grupo “Grupo3+”: constituído por idosos que praticam AF supervisionada, 3 vezes ou mais por semana. Avaliou-se a motivação (versão portuguesa do Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire (Monteiro, Moutão, Baptista & Cid, 2014)), as Necessidades Psicológicas Básicas (versão Portuguesa da Basic Psychological Needs Exercise Scale (Pires, Cid, Borrego, Alves & Silva, 2010)), a Satisfação com a Vida (versão portuguesa da Escala de Satisfação com a Vida (Neto, 1993)) e os Afetos Positivos e Negativos (versão portuguesa da Escala de Afetos Positivos e Negativos (Simões, 1993)). Foram ainda avaliados os valores de composição corporal (IMC, Perímetro Cintura (PC), Perímetro Anca (PA), Massa Muscular (MM), Mineral Ósseo (MO) e % Massa Gorda (MG)), recorrendo aos respetivos protocolos de avaliação. Os dados obtidos foram tratados no S.P.S.S. 21.0 recorrendo numa primeira fase à estatística descritiva. Posteriormente procedeu-se ao cálculo do alfa de Cronbach’s para avaliar a consistência interna dos questionários. De seguida procedeu-se à verificação do suposto de normalidade dos dados na amostra através do Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Como os dados evidenciaram uma distribuição normal aplicou-se a prova t para amostras independentes e a Anova unifatorial, exceção feita nas variáveis IMC e relação social que evidenciaram uma distribuição não normal, às quais se procedeu à utilização do teste U de Mann-Whitney e Kruskal Wallis. Adotou-se um nível de significância com uma margem de erro de 5% para um grau de probabilidade de pelo menos 95%. Os resultados obtidos demonstram que, aparentemente, a motivação que mantém a prática constante de AF supervisionada por parte dos idosos centra-se na motivação autónoma. Também se pode constatar que, { exceç~o da “Amotivaç~o”, onde as mulheres apresentam maiores níveis de amotivação para a pratica de AF Supervisionada que os homens, ou seja, podendo estar mais expostas a uma ausência de orientação motivacional, não existem diferenças ao nível das restantes variáveis da motivação bem como das necessidades psicológicas básicas e satisfação com a vida entre o sexo masculino e o feminino. Os resultados foram abonatórios de que, nos idosos praticantes de AF supervisionada, a satisfação das necessidades psicológicas básicas leva a comportamentos motivados autonomamente, promovendo estes, níveis elevados de satisfação com a vida. Ao compararmos os sujeitos dos dois grupos de prática não encontrámos diferenças aceitáveis ao nível da composição corporal. Encontrámos correlações aceitáveis (positivas), entre a idade cronológica e a composição corporal (IMC, PC, PA). Podemos concluir que a motivação autónoma e a perceção de satisfação das necessidades psicológicas base são exteriorizadas como fatores de grande importância, pelo facto de aparentarem ser um catalisador para que esta populaç~o se possa manter ativa e, de certo modo, se possa “comprometer” com este estilo de vida.The practice of physical activity is indispensable for all, and according to Fischer (2005), of all age groups, the elderly benefit most from exercise. The risk of many diseases and common health problems in old age decreases with the practice of regular physical activity. In this sense, this study has as main objective to identify the motivations, basic psychological needs, body composition and satisfaction with the life of the elderly for the practice of supervised Physical Activity, to analyze the relations and comparisons between levels of practice, sex and institutional context. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 62 elderly volunteers of both sexes (15 males and 47 females), institutionalized and non-institutionalized, belonging to the Municipality of Castelo Branco, with a mean age of 79,613 ± 9,34 years. After the sample selection the subjects were divided into two distinct groups, the first group "Group 1-2": consisting of elderly people who practice supervised AF, 1 or 2 times a week; And the second group "Group 3+": consisting of seniors who practice supervised AF, 3 times or more per week. The Basic Psychological Needs Exercise (Portuguese version of the Basic Psychological Needs Exercise Scale (Pires, Cid, Borrego, Alves & Silva) was used to evaluate the motivation (Portuguese version of the Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire (Monteiro, Moutão, Baptista & Cid, 2014)), Satisfaction with Life (Portuguese version of the Life Satisfaction Scale (Neto, 1993)) and Positive and Negative Affects (Portuguese version of the Positive and Negative Factors Scale (Simões, 1993)). The values of body composition (BMI, Waist Perimeter (WP), Perimeter Hip (PH), Muscle Mass (MM), Bone Mineral (MM) and % Fat Mass (FM) were also evaluated, using the respective evaluation protocols. The data obtained were treated in S.P.S.S. 21.0 using descriptive statistics as a first step. Subsequently, the Cronbach's alpha was calculated to evaluate the internal consistency of the questionnaires. Next, we verified the normality of the data in the sample through the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. As the data showed a normal distribution, the t-test for independent samples and the Anova unifatorial were applied, except for the BMI and social variables, which showed a non-normal distribution, using the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis. A level of significance was adopted with a margin of error of 5% for a probability of at least 95%. The results show that, apparently, the motivation that maintains the constant practice of PA supervised by the elderly focuses on the autonomous motivation. It can also be observed that, except for the "Amotivation", where women have higher levels of amotivation for the practice of Supervised FH than men, that is, they may be more exposed to an absence of motivational orientation, there are no differences at the level Of the remaining motivational variables as well as the basic psychological needs and life satisfaction between the male and the female. The results showed that, in the supervised elderly, the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs leads to autonomously motivated behaviors, promoting high levels of satisfaction with life. When comparing the subjects of the two practice groups, we did not find acceptable differences in body composition. We found acceptable (positive) correlations between chronological age and body composition (BMI, WP, PH). We can conclude that autonomous motivation and the satisfaction perception of basic psychological needs are externalized as factors of great importance, because they appear to be a catalyst for this population to remain active and, in a way, to "compromise" with This lifestyle