Making Stores Age-Friendly: Modifications for Reduced Mobility Capability and Visual Capability of Older Adults

The ability to shop for everyday products is an important instrumental activity for daily living (IADL) that contributes to successful independent living. As individuals age, the prevalence of osteoarthritis (Woolf, Erwin, & March, 2012) and issues with vision (West et al., 2002) increase, affecting the performance of IADLs. The current retail environment is not ready for the older population. Store merchandising such as shelf arrangements and reading materials are often not suitable for older consumers (Yin, Pei, & Ranchhod, 2013), increasing the gap between shopping task demands and consumers' performance abilities. Because the older population in the U.S. is projected to grow substantially in the next few years, retailers face the challenge and an opportunity of making their stores age-friendly.A laboratory experiment using performance-based and perceived self-efficacy measures examined the influence of reduced mobility capability and visual capability of older adults on shopping tasks in grocery stores. Older adults with OA and good vision (N=10), older adults with OA and not so good vision (N=10), older adults without OA and good vision (N=10), older adults without OA and not so good vision (N=10) and young adults without OA and good vision (N=20) formed the sample. The findings indicate that older adults with OA took a longer time to walk and also had walking scores indicating risk of future fall. To accommodate for this, products like dairy products, produce, breakfast, and lunch items should be kept within closer proximity to the door. The results also indicate that shelf heights 29.5 to 42.5 inches from the floor were the most comfortable for older adults to reach. Shelf heights in the stores should be adjusted to have daily use products only in these height ranges. The highest and lowest shelves were very hard to reach. Helvetica and Century Gothic fonts in a 14 point size were found to be most readable while fonts in 6 point size, a standard size for many product labels, were difficult or impossible to read. Overall, these findings indicate a need for action on the part of store designers to accommodate the needs of the growing older population

Quad-band FSS for Electromagnetic Shielding

In this paper, a novel method to design Quad-band stop frequency selective surface (FSS) is proposed to shield medical/non-medical devices from electromagnetic radiation of wifi/Bluetooth, GPS,1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G frequencies. The proposed device can also be used in security and surveillance devices to protect them from electromagnetic attack. The FSS unit cell consists of convoluted structures on FR4 substrate. The study was performed by designing individual frequency selective surfaces for 1G, 2G, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, GPS, 4G and 5G, then combining it to form a single Quad-band FSS unit

Study of Soft Set and Common Soft Point With Complete Metric Space

In this paper firstly we study systematic and critical study of the fundamentals of soft set theory, which include operations on soft sets and their properties. We define equality of two soft sets, subset and super set of a soft set, complement of a soft set, null soft set, and absolute soft set .The purpose of this paper is to prove the existence of fixed point on a soft metric space. Keyword: Soft Set , Soft Complement function ,Null soft set, Absolute soft set, Soft Subset, Soft super set ,Fixed point, Complete Metric Space.

Prevalence of different components of the metabolic syndrome in type 2 diabetics attending tertiary care hospital in Himalayan region

Background: There are enormous studies on various aspect of Diabetes and Metabolic syndrome, majority of studies are on urban population, few in rural area but very few for the population living in far flung hilly region of Himalaya. The aim was to find the prevalence of different components of metabolic syndrome in Type 2 diabetics living in the hills of Himalaya and to find correlation with obesity.Methods: All the Type 2 Diabetic patients age 35 years and above attending the inpatients and out patient’s department of V. C. S. G. G. M. C and RI Srinagar, Uttarakhand from October 2012 to March 2013 were enrolled and were evaluated for metabolic syndrome by IDF (International Diabetes Federation) criteria.Results: 128 diabetics were enrolled (76 males and 52 females), the prevalence of obesity in patients of type 2 diabetics was 45.3%. There was poor correlation between obesity and type 2 diabetes (correlation coefficient 0.08) The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 40.6 % and high percentage (62%) had all five components of the syndrome.Conclusions: The prevalence of obesity and Metabolic syndrome is relatively lower in Type 2 Diabetics of Shivalik range of Himalaya (Uttarakhand)

Solvent Evaporation Technique Of Microencapsulation: A Systemic Review

Solvent evaporation is one of the most widely employed and investigated technique in pharmaceutical industries and research area for microencapsulation process.Microspheres are particles coated with a continuous film of polymeric material, having a diameter in range of 1 to 1000 ?m and are widely used as drug carriers. This technique provides a controlled drug release, having various clinical benefits. While initial lab scale experiments are carried out in simple beaker, stirrer setups, clinical trials and market introduction needs more sophisticated technologies, permitting economic robust, well-controllable and aseptic production of microspheres. In this review article our aim is to review and compile recent research work on solvent evaporation technique while focusing on different methods of above said technique and various factors affecting microencapsulation prepared by solvent evaporation technique

Fixed Point Result with Soft Cone Metric Space with Examples

In the present paper, some fixed point and communal fixed point theorems are established for new contractive mapping in soft cone metric spaces. The generalized many previous well known results. Keywords:soft cone metric space, communal fixed point theorem. DOI: 10.7176/MTM/9-4-07 Publication date: April 30th 2019

Study of inflammatory markers in idiopathic osteoarthritis of knee

Background: The aim of the present study was to analyse inflammatory markers in idiopathic osteoarthritis of knee and to formulate reliable disease markers in the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease.Methods: This prospective study was conducted for 2 years in a tertiary care center in 60 patients with idiopathic osteoarthritis of knee and compared them with 60 controls that had no signs of osteoarthritis.Results: The hematological markers to study inflammatory basis of idiopathic osteoarthritis of knee suggested that ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate) was more than 20 mm/hour in 83.3%. Serum rheumatoid factor (RF) and CRP (C-reactive protein) was positive in 8.3% and 13.3% patients respectively. Antinuclear antibody (ANA) was positive in 2 (3.3%) patients and negative in 58 (96.7%) patients. Synovial fluid analysis was done in 44 patients with RF positivity in only 1 patient. The control group has ESR less than 30 mm/hour and CRP was (<3 µg/ml). In the control group RF and ANA were similar to the normal population.Conclusions: Synovial fluid analysis is of value to rule out crystal arthropathies and pyogenic arthritis. The study indicates that ESR, CRP and RF collectively can serve as surrogate markers in idiopathic osteoarthritis of knee. Further studies need to be done to formulate reliable disease markers in idiopathic osteoarthritis of knee.

A descriptive analysis of patients admitted in short stay ward at psychiatric centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Background: The average length of stay (LOS) at psychiatric centre and the factors determining longer LOS in Psychiatry disorders remains largely unexplored. Longer LOS is associated with social isolation and maladaptive behaviours in patients thus warrants a shorter stay. The observed LOS and predicted LOS among different psychiatry hospitals in future may serve as an index of quality care and efficient management of meagre but available resources in our country. The aim was (1) To study the socio demographic and clinical factors of patients admitted at our hospital and (2) To ascertain the relationship between the socio demographic, clinical factors and LOS.Methods: A retrospective analysis of psychiatry inpatients admitted at Psychiatric Centre, Jaipur during July 2014 and June 2015. The data was analysed studying the 489 case records. The socio demographic characteristics and clinical factors were correlated with LOS in hospital.Results: Our study has shown the correlation of socio-demographic factors and clinical factors with LOS. Rural population, marital status, employment status, number of episodes and diagnosis itself has positive correlation with longer LOS.Conclusions: From present study it was shown the correlation of socio-demographic factors and clinical profile with LOS. Rural population, marital status, premorbid employment status, number of episodes and diagnosis itself has positive correlation with longer LOS. However, gender and substance abuse had no correlation with LOS. Short term and planned admissions along with individualized treatment plans fitting patient’s social background may be more beneficial as compared to long term admissions

FUZZY MULTI-OBJECTIVE LINEAR PROGRAMMING APPROACH FOR SOLVING PROBLEM OF FOOD INDUSTRY

Enterprises and industrial centers need current decision for making products in fast changing market. Uncertainty and yield defined goals make decision making more difficult. In this situation fuzzy logic is used for coping surrounding environment. This paper deals with a fuzzy linear programming model for a problem of food industry. The different types of achievement function such as compensatory and weighted compensatory form&nbsp

Disease activity and biologic use in patients with psoriatic arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.

To compare disease burden and biologic use among psoriatic arthritis (PsA) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients recruited to the Corrona registry. Retrospective study of patients with PsA or RA enrolled in Corrona between January 2002 and March 2013 and grouped in 2-year intervals. Clinical outcomes and biologic use were assessed. Biologic use increased over time in both cohorts, with 62 and 52% of patients with PsA and RA, respectively, receiving biologics by 2012-2013. However, 25 and 35% of patients with PsA and RA, respectively, continued to experience moderate/high disease activity. Overall, the progressive increase in biologic use accompanied progressive decreases in Clinical Disease Activity Index (from 14.2 to 10.4 for RA, and 12.4 to 8.1 for PsA) and mean Health Assessment Questionnaire score (from 0.36 to 0.34, and 0.3 to 0.24). Mean patient pain, the proportion of patients reporting morning stiffness, and the mean duration of morning stiffness remained similar for both cohorts. PsA and RA treated in the rheumatology setting had a comparable impact on patient quality of life and functional ability. Disease burden improved with increased biologic utilization in both groups; however, moderate/severe disease remains in a significant proportion of PsA and RA patients