Human-Centered Design Components in Spiral Model to Improve Mobility of Older Adults

As humans grow older, their cognitive needs change more frequently due to distal and proximal life events. Designers and developers need to come up with better designs that integrate older users’ needs in a short period of time with more interaction with the users. Therefore, the positioning of human end users in the center of the design itself is not the key to the success of design artifacts while designing applications for older adults to use a smartphone as a promising tool for journey planner while using public transportation. This study analyzed the use of human-centered design (HCD) components, the spiral model, and the design for failure (DfF) approach to improve the interactions between older users and designers/developers in gathering usability needs in the concept stage and during the development of the app with short iterative cycles. To illustrate the importance of the applied approach, a case study with particular focus on older adults is presented.The results presented in this study are based on “Assistant” project funded by AAL JP, co-funded by the European Union. The authors would like to thank Dr. Stefan Carmien, my colleague in Assistant, for mentoring and for reading and making comments in the earlier versions of this chapter; participating research institutes; funding agencies; and companies from Finland, Spain, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom for their active support throughout the project

The Salmonella Mutagenicity Assay: The Stethoscope of Genetic Toxicology for the 21st Century

Objectives: According to the 2007 National Research Council report Toxicology for the Twenty-First Century, modern methods (e.g., "omics," in vitro assays, high-throughput testing, computational methods) will lead to the emergence of a new approach to toxicology. The Salmonella mammalian microsome mutagenicity assay has been central to the field of genetic toxicology since the 1970s. Here we document the paradigm shifts engendered by the assay, the validation and applications of the assay, and how the assay is a model for future in vitro toxicology assays. Data sources: We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Knowledge using key words relevant to the Salmonella assay and additional genotoxicity assays. Data extraction: We merged the citations, removing duplicates, and categorized the papers by year and topic. Data synthesis: The Salmonella assay led to two paradigm shifts: that some carcinogens were mutagens and that some environmental samples (e.g., air, water, soil, food, combustion emissions) were mutagenic. Although there are > 10,000 publications on the Salmonella assay, covering tens of thousands of agents, data on even more agents probably exist in unpublished form, largely as proprietary studies by industry. The Salmonella assay is a model for the development of 21st century in vitro toxicology assays in terms of the establishment of standard procedures, ability to test various agents, transferability across laboratories, validation and testing, and structure-activity analysis. Conclusions: Similar to a stethoscope as a first-line, inexpensive tool in medicine, the Salmonella assay can serve a similar, indispensable role in the foreseeable future of 21st century toxicology

It is time to talk about people: a human-centered healthcare system

Examining vulnerabilities within our current healthcare system we propose borrowing two tools from the fields of engineering and design: a) Reason's system approach [1] and b) User-centered design [2,3]. Both approaches are human-centered in that they consider common patterns of human behavior when analyzing systems to identify problems and generate solutions. This paper examines these two human-centered approaches in the context of healthcare. We argue that maintaining a human-centered orientation in clinical care, research, training, and governance is critical to the evolution of an effective and sustainable healthcare system

Spike-Based Bayesian-Hebbian Learning of Temporal Sequences

Many cognitive and motor functions are enabled by the temporal representation and processing of stimuli, but it remains an open issue how neocortical microcircuits can reliably encode and replay such sequences of information. To better understand this, a modular attractor memory network is proposed in which meta-stable sequential attractor transitions are learned through changes to synaptic weights and intrinsic excitabilities via the spike-based Bayesian Confidence Propagation Neural Network (BCPNN) learning rule. We find that the formation of distributed memories, embodied by increased periods of firing in pools of excitatory neurons, together with asymmetrical associations between these distinct network states, can be acquired through plasticity. The model's feasibility is demonstrated using simulations of adaptive exponential integrate-and-fire model neurons (AdEx). We show that the learning and speed of sequence replay depends on a confluence of biophysically relevant parameters including stimulus duration, level of background noise, ratio of synaptic currents, and strengths of short-term depression and adaptation. Moreover, sequence elements are shown to flexibly participate multiple times in the sequence, suggesting that spiking attractor networks of this type can support an efficient combinatorial code. The model provides a principled approach towards understanding how multiple interacting plasticity mechanisms can coordinate hetero-associative learning in unison