Entertaining or functional:An analysis of visuals in Chinese and Western household appliance manuals

In today's global world, understanding local user preferences becomes an increasingly essential skill, especially for technical communicators who design products for people in other cultures. This study attempts to analyze and compare visuals in Chinese and Western manuals because visuals play an essential role in manuals. Based on a systematically designed coding scheme, we analyzed 50 Western and 50 Chinese household product manuals (1895 pages in total) designed in their own cultures and published after 2007. Results show many differences between Chinese and Western manuals with regard to visuals. All differences seem to point in the same direction; Chinese visuals appear to have an entertaining function while Western visuals are not meant to entertain the readers but have an informative or instructive function. This study aims to enhance the mutual understanding of information designers in cross-cultural manual design.</p

6-Month Change in Pain and Function by Pre-Operative Pain and Function among Patients Selected for Total Knee Replacement in the United States

Background/Purpose: The increase in total knee replacements (TKRs) between 1979 and 2006 is staggering. Debate is growing regarding the appropriate utilization of TKRs. We examined pain, function, quality of life (QOL), and satisfaction at 6-month post-surgery by pain and function at time of surgery. Methods: Data came from the nationally representative FORCE-TJR cohort of patients from 150 surgeons. Participants had primary, unilateral TKRs due to osteoarthritis between 2011 and 2014. Their knee pain (KOOS), physical functions (SF36), and QOL were measured at pre- and 6 months post-surgery. We classified patients as having high or low pre-operative pain (KOOS Pain \u3c 70 vs. ≥70), low or high pre-operative physical function (SF-36 PCS \u3c 40 vs. ≥40), and grouped as: 1) Low pain-High function (LP-HF), 2) Low pain-Low function (LP-LF), 3) High pain-High function (HP-HF), and 4) High pain-Low function (HP-LF). We compared pre- and post-operative changes in pain and function scores among the four groups. Results: Of 4,563 participants, 5% had pre-operative LP-HF and 75% HP-LF. By 6-month post-surgery, 85% of LP-HF patients reported no change and 4% reported worse symptoms; the HP-LF group had 18% no change and 52% with large improvement. For function in the LP-HF group, mean 6-month change (SD) was 2.6 (7.8), with post-operative mean of 50.0 (7.4). Mean change for the HP-LF group was 11.9 (9.0), with post-operative mean of 42.0 (9.5). For pain score in the LP-HF group, mean 6-month change was 8.3 (14.6), with post-operative mean (SD) of 88.9 (13.0). The HP-LF group had average improvement of 37.2 (19.7), and post-operative mean of 79.9 (17.3). QOL was better among the LP-HF than HP-LF groups; satisfaction was similar. Conclusion: The majority of patients had appropriate TKR utilization and achieved large improvement in pain and function. Patients with pre-operative LP-HF achieved the smaller mean change, but better absolute outcomes

Spillover of a tobamovirus from the Australian indigenous flora to invasive weeds

The tobamovirus yellow tailflower mild mottle virus (YTMMV) was previously reported in wild plants of Anthocercis species (family Solanaceae) and other solanaceous indigenous species growing in natural habitats in Western Australia. Here, we undertook a survey of two introduced solanaceous weeds, namely Solanum nigrum (black nightshade) and Physalis peruviana (cape gooseberry) in the Perth metropolitan area and surrounds to determine if YTMMV has spread naturally to these species. At a remnant natural bushland site where both solanaceous weeds and indigenous Anthocercis hosts grew adjacent to one another, a proportion of S. nigrum and P. peruviana plants were asymptomatically-infected with YTMMV, confirming spillover had occurred. Populations of S. nigrum also grow as weeds in parts of the city isolated from remnant bushland and indigenous sources of YTMMV, and some of these populations were also infected with YTMMV. Fruit was harvested from virus-infected wild S. nigrum plants and the seed germinated under controlled conditions. Up to 80% of resultant seedlings derived from infected parent plants were infected with YTMMV, confirming that the virus is vertically-transmitted in S. nigrum, and therefore infection appears to be self-sustaining in this species. This is the first report of spillover of YTMMV to exotic weeds, and of vertical transmission of this tobamovirus. We discuss the roles of vertical and horizontal transmission in this spillover event, and its implications for biosecurity

Calculus of Tangent Sets and Derivatives of Set Valued Maps under Metric Subregularity Conditions

In this paper we intend to give some calculus rules for tangent sets in the sense of Bouligand and Ursescu, as well as for corresponding derivatives of set-valued maps. Both first and second order objects are envisaged and the assumptions we impose in order to get the calculus are in terms of metric subregularity of the assembly of the initial data. This approach is different from those used in alternative recent papers in literature and allows us to avoid compactness conditions. A special attention is paid for the case of perturbation set-valued maps which appear naturally in optimization problems.Comment: 17 page

Higher-Order optimality conditions for set-valued optimization

2007-2008 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journa

A new method for the assessment of traction enhancers and the generation of organic layers in a twin-disc machine

Low adhesion presents a major concern for many rail operators. Railway vehicles under these circumstances can experience a serious loss of braking capability giving rise to dangerous situations such as platform overruns and signals passed at danger. One cause of adhesion loss is autumn leaf fall [1]. Leaves are run over by the wheels of a train and a chemical reaction occurs between the leaf and the rail steel [2]. This forms a black layer on the rail which when wet causes very low friction. These leaf layers have also been shown to be isolating and can interfere with railway signalling systems. Traction enhancers (also referred to in this paper as traction gels) have been developed as an alternative solution to using sand alone. They consist of sand particles suspended in a water based gel and are designed to be delivered to the rail by the trackside or via mobile application systems. The aim of this work was to develop a technique for generating a representative leaf layer on the surface of a twin-disc rail specimen and using this to develop a test methodology for assessing the performance of a traction gel in terms of adhesion recovery, wear and its effect on wheel/rail isolation