Awareness, requirements and barriers to use of Assistive Technology designed to enable independence of people suffering from Dementia (ATD)

This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ 2012 IOS PressThis study investigated the awareness and use of assistive technology for people with dementia. The aim of the study was to explore barriers to the uptake of, and the unmet needs for, assistive technology for dementia (ATD) The work was carried out with family carers of people with dementia because carers are often the purchasers, end users and main beneficiaries of this type of technology. Focus groups were used to explore carers’ views on ATD use, and the problems that might be addressed by ATD, in order to develop a questionnaire for dementia carers. The questionnaire was administered at Alzheimer’s Society carer support groups in South Bucks and in Hillingdon Borough (UK). None of the 16 focus group participants or the 42 respondents to the questionnaire had any personal experience of ATD. The dementia carers reported a number of concerns, problems and unmet needs that could be addressed by existing, commercially available ATD products. Some needs for new technology development were identified in the study, but the lack of awareness of ATD appears to be the most important barrier to technology adoption

Urinary incontinence: A vibration alert system for detecting pad overflow

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2011 RESNA.A sensor and electronics system is described that monitors the leakage of urine from continence pads into surrounding underwear. Urinary incontinence is involuntary loss of urine and occurs when the bladder muscles contract without warning or the sphincter muscles surrounding the urethra are too weak to prevent leakage. The system comprises a wetness sensor and electronics unit. The sensor is stitched into the underwear and detects overspills of urine from the pad. The electronics unit is attached to the underwear and responds by vibrating, signaling to the wearer that pad has failed. This system has application for individuals who use continence pads in the community, but it could also be used in care homes

Adsorption and binding dynamics of graphene-supported phospholipid membranes using the QCM-D technique

We report on the adsorption dynamics of phospholipid membranes on graphene-coated substrates using the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) technique. We compare the lipid vescle interaction and membranne formation on gold and silicon dioxide QCM crystal surfaces with their graphene oxide (GO) and reduced (r)GO coated counterparts, and report on the different lipid structures obtained. We establish graphene derivative coatings as support surfaces with tuneable hydrophobicity for the formation of controllable lipid structures. One structure of interest formed are lipid monolayer membrannes which were formed on rGO, which are otherwise challenging to produce. We also demonstrate and monitor biotin-avidin binding on such a membranne, which will then serve as a platform for a wide range of biosensing applications. The QCM-D technique could be extended to both fundamental studies and applications of other covalent and non-covalent interactions in 2-dimensional materials

Tackling ageing continence through theory, tools & technology (TACT3)

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2012 Common Ground.After dementia, nothing is more feared by older people than the loss of continence. It is often the reason many people enter care facilities and can contribute to the breakdown of caring relationships. This paper reports on a three-year research project funded by the UK New Dynamics of Aging programme, which has explored three key issues in the predicament of maintaining continence from the “user’s” perspective. Firstly, understanding how continence services operated by the UK National Health Service can be improved to offer cost effective benefits that encourage people to report this sometimes embarrassing condition with confidence. Secondly, working directly with the US Simon Foundation, the project has developed user-requested, assistive devices that target the most embarrassing aspects of the condition, namely issues of personal odor control and urine leakage from continence pads. Lastly, understanding the challenges of managing continence in daily living outside of the home, with particular reference to accessing publicly accessible toilet facilities. The paper will highlight the research that has provided the basis for innovative design solutions.ESRC, EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC, and AHRC

Tackling Ageing Continence through Theory, Tools & Technology

Originally presented at ‘Aging and Society: An Interdisciplinary Conference’, University of California, Berkeley (2011), this article was double-blind peer reviewed, receiving scores of 96% and 73%. It outlines the interdisciplinary research of the cross-Research-Council-funded New Dynamics of Ageing Tackling Ageing Continence through Theory Tools & Technology (TACT3) project (2008–12), which brought together designers, social scientists, bio-engineers, chemists and care-management services to understand the challenges faced by an ageing population in the management of continence. Bichard’s Work Package, ‘Challenging Environmental Barriers to Continence’, explored the need for public toilet provision as essential for quality of life, health and well-being. It developed a life-course methodology that considered ageing from birth through to advanced age (0–101 years), and involved inclusive design research with members of the public and providers of facilities to assess public expectations and provider limitations in service provision. As co-investigator on TACT3, this research built on Bichard’s previous work for the VivaCity2020 consortium (Bichard REF Output 2). Whereas the VivaCity2020 work focused on architectural barriers in toilet provision, the TACT3 project examined the problem in service provision, and how, through inclusive design research, service-design solutions might be explored and implemented. Bichard’s contribution to the TACT3 project produced The Great British Public Toilet Map (http://greatbritishpublictoiletmap.rca.ac.uk/), a public participation website that provides information and locations of public toilets, encouraging members of the public to contact relevant local authorities that have not released information in the format of Open Data. Secondary analysis of TACT3 data for references to issues of personal safety and community initiative in toilet provision was used for the ESRC-funded Robust Accessible Toilets (RATs) project (2011) and produced Publicly Accessible Toilets: An Inclusive Design Guide (2011). Related published conference papers include those in ‘Cumulus 2010’ (China) and ‘Include 2011’ (UK)

Books

ABC series from the BMJABC of Monitoring Drug Therapy. By ]. K. Aronson, M. Hardman and D. J. M. Reynolds. Pp. ix + 38. Illustrated. £9. BM]. 1993. (ABC books are available through the Book Division, MASA Publications, tel. (021) 531-3081.) ISBN 0-7279-0791-3.ABC of AIDS. 3rd ed. Ed. by Michael Wadler. Pp. 86. Illustrated. £15. BM]. 1993. ISB T 0-7279-0761-1.ABC of Dermatology. 2nd ed. By P. K. Buxton. Pp. 98. Illustrated. £15. BM]. 1993. ISBN 0-7279-0777-8.ABC of Healthy Travel 4th ed. By Eric Walker, Glyn Williams and Fiona Raeside. Pp. 49. Illustrated. £12. BM]. 1993. ISBN 0-7279-0762-X.ABC of Otolaryngology. 3rd ed. By Harold Ludman. Pp. 58. Illustrated. £11. BM]. 1993. ISH- T 0-7279-0765-4.ABC of Colorectal Diseases. Ed. by D. ]. Jones and M. H. Irving. Pp. 103. Illustrated. £15. BM]. 1993. ISBN 07279- 9755-7.Tissue bankingMusculoskeletal Tissue Banking. By William W. Tornford (with contributions by James H. Forsell, Allen P. MacKenzie and D. Michael Stron). Pp. xiii + 240. Illustrated.94,50. Raven Press. 1993. ISBN 0-88167-995-X.Tobacco smokingLegislative Action to COIIlbat the World Tobacco Epidemic. 2nd ed. R. Roemer. pp. xiii + 297. SFr.59. in developing counrries: SFr.41,30. WHO. 1993. ISBN 92-4156157-2.There's Sunlight in My Leaf. Biography of Nicotiana tabacum. By Johan Fourie. Pp. 69. Marius du Plooy Communications. 1992. ISBN 0-620-17064-6.NutritionFood, Facts and Figures. The Complete South African Guide. Pp. 135. Illustrated. RI9,99. Oxford University Press (In collaboration with the Medical Research Council). 1992. ISBN 0-19-570736-2.OrthopeadicsOrthopaedic Diagnosis and ManagelDent: A Guide to the Care of Orthopaedic Patients. By Boyd S. Goldie. Pp. xviii + 247. £17,95. Blackwell Scientific Publications.1992. ISBN 0-632-03043-7.Biliary stonesBailliere's Clinical Gastroenterology. International Practice and Research. Diagnosis and Management of Biliary Stones. Ed. by M. Sackmann. Pp. x + 200. lllustrated. £27,50. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1992. ISBN 0-7020-1 625-X.Molecular and cell biologyBasic Molecular and Cell Biology. 2nd ed. Pp. vii + 209. illustrated. BM}. 1993. ISBN 0-7279-0772-7.Nutritional anaemiasNutritional Anaemias. Nestle Nutritional Workshop Series. Vol. 30. Ed by Samuel }. Fomon and Stanley Zlotkin. Pp. xii + 220. 75. New York: Raven Press. 1992

Autosomal Recessive Cutis Laxa 1C Mutations Disrupt the Structure and Interactions of Latent TGFβ Binding Protein-4

From Frontiers via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: collection 2021, received 2021-05-07, accepted 2021-07-23, epub 2021-09-03Publication status: PublishedLatent TGFβ binding protein-4 (LTBP4) is a multi-domain glycoprotein, essential for regulating the extracellular bioavailability of TGFβ and assembly of elastic fibre proteins, fibrillin-1 and tropoelastin. LTBP4 mutations are linked to autosomal recessive cutis laxa type 1C (ARCL1C), a rare congenital disease characterised by high mortality and severely disrupted connective tissues. Despite the importance of LTBP4, the structure and molecular consequences of disease mutations are unknown. Therefore, we analysed the structural and functional consequences of three ARCL1C causing point mutations which effect highly conserved cysteine residues. Our structural and biophysical data show that the LTBP4 N- and C-terminal regions are monomeric in solution and adopt extended conformations with the mutations resulting in subtle changes to their conformation. Similar to LTBP1, the N-terminal region is relatively inflexible, whereas the C-terminal region is flexible. Interaction studies show that one C-terminal mutation slightly decreases binding to fibrillin-1. We also found that the LTBP4 C-terminal region directly interacts with tropoelastin which is perturbed by both C-terminal ARCL1C mutations, whereas an N-terminal mutation increased binding to fibulin-4 but did not affect the interaction with heparan sulphate. Our results suggest that LTBP4 mutations contribute to ARCL1C by disrupting the structure and interactions of LTBP4 which are essential for elastogenesis in a range of mammalian connective tissues

Reliability and tolerance comparison in water supply networks

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11269-010-9753-2Urban water supply is a high priority service and so looped networks are extensively used in order to considerably reduce the number of consumers affected by a failure. Looped networks may be redundant in connectivity and capacity. The concept of reliability has been introduced in an attempt to quantitatively measure the possibility of maintaining an adequate service for a given period. Numerous researchers have considered reliability as a measure of redundancy. This concept is usually implicit, but some researchers have even stated it explicitly. This paper shows why reliability cannot be considered a measure of redundancy given that branched networks can achieve high values of reliability and this would deny the fact that a looped network is more reliable than a branched network with a similar layout and size. To this end the paper discusses two quantitative indices for measuring expected network behavior: reliability and tolerance. These indices are calculated and a comparison is made between looped, branched, and mixed networks. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.The authors wish to acknowledge the support received from project IDAWAS, DPI2009-11591, of the Directorate-General of Research at the Spanish Ministry of Education, the grant PAID-02-09 for a stay at the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia by the first author, and a grant MAEC-AECI 0000202066 awarded to the second author by the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y Cooperacion of Spain. The use of English in this paper was revised by John Rawlins; and the revision was funded by the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.Martínez-Rodríguez, JB.; Montalvo Arango, I.; Izquierdo Sebastián, J.; Pérez García, R. (2011). Reliability and tolerance comparison in water supply networks. Water Resources Management. 25(5):1437-1448. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-010-9753-2S14371448255Bao Y, Mays LW (1990) Model for water distribution system reliability. J Hydraul Eng ASCE 116(9):1119–1137Bouchart F, Goulter I (1991) Reliability improvements in design of water distribution networks recognizing valve location. Water Resour Res 27(12):3029–3040Carrión A, Solano H, Gamiz ML, Debón A (2010) Evaluation of the reliability of a water supply network from right-censored and left-truncated break data. Water Resour Manag, Springer Sci 24:2917–2935. Published online: 28 January 2010Chiong C (1985) Optimización de redes cerradas, Doctoral Thesis, CIH-CUJAE, Havana (in Spanish)Christodoulou SE (2010) Water network assessment and reliability analysis by use of survival analysis. Water Resour Manag, Springer Sci, Published online: 19 June 2010Cullinane MJ, Lansey KE, Mays LW (1992) Optimization-availability-based design of water distribution networks. J Hydraul Eng ASCE 118(3):420–441Duan N, Mays LW, Lansey KE (1990) Optimal reliability-based design of pumping and distribution systems. J Hydraul Eng ASCE 116(2):249–268Goulter I (1992) Systems analysis in water distribution network design: from theory to practice. J Water Resour Plan Manage ASCE 118(3):238–248Goulter I (1993) Modern concepts of a water distribution system. Policies for improvement of networks with shortcomings. In: Cabrera E, Martínez F (eds) Water supply systems: state of the art and future trends, Valencia (Spain). Comput Mech Publ, Southampton, pp 121–138Goulter I, Bouchart F (1990) Reliability-constrained pipe network model. J Hydraul Eng ASCE 116(2):211–229Gupta R, Bhave R (1994) Reliability analysis of water distribution systems. J Environ Eng ASCE 120(2):447–460Jacobs P, Goulter I (1991) Estimation of maximum cut-set size for water network failure. J Water Resour Plan Manage ASCE 117(5):588–605Jowitt P, Xu C (1993) Predicting pipe failure effects in water distribution networks. J Water Resour Plan Manage ASCE 119(l):18–31Kalungi P, Tanyimboh TT (2003) Redundancy model for water distribution systems. Rel Eng Syst Safety 82(3):275–286Khomsi D, Walters GA, Thorley ARD, Ouazar D (1996) Reliability tester for water-distribution networks. J Comput Civ Eng ASCE 10(l):10–9Lansey K, Duan N, Mays LW, Tung YK (1989) Water distribution system design under uncertainty. J Water Resour Plan Manage ASCE 115(5):630–645Loganathan GV, Shah MP, Sherali HP (1990) A two-phase network design heuristic for minimum cost water distribution systems under a reliability constraint. Eng Optim 15(4):311–336Martínez JB (2007) Quantifying the economy of water supply looped networks. J Hydraul Eng ASCE 133(1):88–97Martínez JB (2010) Cost and reliability comparison between branched and looped water supply networks. J Hydroinform IWA 12(2):150–160Morgan DR, Goulter IC (1985) Optimal urban water distribution design. Water Resour Res 21(5):642–652Park H, Leibman J (1993) Redundancy-constrained minimum-cost design of water distribution networks. J Water Resour Plan Manage ASCE 119(l):83–98Pinto J, Varum H, Bentes I, Agarwal J (2010) A theory of vulnerability of water pipe network. Water Resour Manag 24:4237–4254. Springer Science, Published online: 6 May 2010Quimpo R, Shamsi U (1991) Reliability-based distribution system maintenance. J Water Resour Plan Manage ASCE 117(3):321–339Su Y, Mays LW, Duan N, Lansey K (1987) Reliability based optimization model for water distribution systems. J Hydraul Eng ASCE 113(12):1539–1556Tanyimboh TT, Tabesh M, Burrows R (2001) Appraisal of source head methods for calculating reliability of water distribution networks. J Water Resour Plan Manage ASCE 127(4):206–213Walski TM, Weiler JS, Culver T (2006) Using criticality analysis to identify impact of valve location. In: Proc 8th annual water distrib systems analysis symposium, August 27–30, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA,Walters GA, Knezevic J (1989) Discussion of ‘Reliability based optimization model for water distribution systems’ by Su, Y., Mays, L. W. , Duan, N., and Lansey, K. J Hydraul Eng ASCE 115(8):1157–1158Xu C, Goulter I (1997) Simulation-based optimal design of reliable water distribution networks. In: Zayegh A (ed) Proc 3rd int conf on modeling and simulation. Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne, pp 107–112Xu C, Goulter I (1998) Probabilistic model for water distribution reliability. J Water Resour Plan Manage ASCE 124(4):218–228Xu C, Goulter I (1999) Reliability based optimal design of water distribution networks. J Water Resour Plan Manage ASCE 125(6):352–362Xu C, Goulter I (2000) A model for optimal design of reliable water distribution networks. In: Blain WR, Brebbia CA (eds) Hydraulic engineering software VIII. WIT, Southampton, pp 71–8