User Driven Innovation: Incorporating Disabled Lead Users in Early Phase Product Development

How can disabled non-designers play a leading role in product development? As part of early phase product ideation, designers often rely on methods (Pahl & Beitz, 1996, Chapter 4). These methods help designers develop appropriate solutions to design problems. However, ideation processes may also involve non-designers. These could be end-users, managers, domain experts or other stakeholders. A very specific form of user involvement is through lead users. Lead users can be identified as: 1) being at the leading edge of an important market trend, and experiencing needs that will later be experienced by many users in that market, and 2) anticipating relatively high benefits from obtaining a solution to their needs. This motivates them to participate. They are often a limited group of persons with specialized skills or experiences (Urban & von Hippel, 1988). In this paper discuss the involvement of disabled lead users in early product development. We will focus on generative methods used for the creation of a wearable mobility device. The device consists, in part, of a 3D, time-of-flight DepthSense camera by Softkinetic, combined with a wearable tactile display developed by Elitac, two technology manufacturers. In addition to reflecting on our approach, we also introduce relevant research themes involving disabled lead users

Boundary management practices in youth work relationships between young people and practitioners on online social network sites

A report published by the National Youth Agency (NYA) in England during 2008 found that the majority of social network site on-line interaction between youth work practitioners and young people took place 'under the radar'. 'Under the radar' or 'unsanctioned', in this context was defined as outside the relevant guidance and without the line manager's agreement. My research set out to find why and how this is taking place, and the meaning attached to this practice to the different role players. As part of my qualitative research I interviewed twenty-one youth work practitioners (paid and voluntary) from a variety of backgrounds and fourteen young people over the age of 16, who are accessing universal youth work. Youth work practitioners and young people differ in their reasons for wanting to 'friend' each other on social media and what this signifies; is it a professional or personal relationship or a hybrid of the two? Boundaries and expectations of the 'audience' become blurred and perforated. Combined with the ever-changing nature of the technology itself, maintaining or developing professional relationships through social network sites becomes challenging. This article explores the boundary management techniques used by young people and practitioners in online social network sites to maintain developed relationships. The study uncovered limited dissemination of existing policies which resulted in diverse practice. Most unsanctioned connections took place with the best intentions and in order to support rather than with malicious inten

What do we mean when we say casualisation of farm work is rising?: Evidence from fruit farms in the Western Cape

Du Toit & Ally's (2003) results on the casualisation of farm work in the Western Cape confirmed the worst fears of sociologists: Globalisation and/or labour laws increased casualisation in agriculture. New labour data and a study conducted in 1976 allow one to revisit the casualisation result for the table grape industry of the Hex River Valley. This paper resolves imprecise definitions of regular versus permanent status, and of casual versus seasonal status. It also examines casualisation and job shedding. Results show a decrease in the share of seasonal work and no change in the casual component of seasonal work. The job status of most farm women in the Valley improved as a result of legislative changes implemented since 1994. Outsourcing is present but insignificant at this point. On the whole data for the table grape industry of the Hex River Valley does not support the hypothesis that globalisation and labour market reform caused dramatic increases in casualisation.Farm labour markets, horticulture, Western Cape, Crop Production/Industries, Labor and Human Capital,

Wages and wage elasticities for wine and table grapes in South Africa

A survey of 190 wine and table grape farmers in the Western Cape puts the average wage for farm labour at R928 per month in 2003 and R1123 per month in 2004. Output per worker has doubled since 1983. On farms with grape harvesters, labour is 30 per cent more productive (48 ton/worker) than on farms where wine grapes are picked by hand (37 ton/worker). At 9.75 tons per worker, table grapes are four times as labour-intensive as wine grapes. Resident men dominate the workforce on wine farms, while the resident female workforce is 20 per cent larger than the resident male workforce on table grape farms. Seasonal workers contribute a third of labour in table grapes, and brokers less than ten per cent in either case. In a single-equation short-run Hicksian demand function, wage, output, capital levels and mechanisation intensities are highly significant determinants of employment. Higher wages decrease employment and larger output increases employment. More mechanisation, measured by the number of tractors used to produce a ton of fruit, raises labour intensity too. Grape harvesters could not be shown to reduce jobs. The ten per cent rise in the minimum wage planned for March 2005 could reduce employment by 3.3 per cent in the wine industry and 5.9 per cent in the table grape industry, but it is more likely that the wage increase will be offset against fewer benefits. The average expected impact is about the same as for all agriculture and manufacturing as a whole.Labor and Human Capital,

Wages and wage elasticities for wine and table grapes in South Africa

A survey of 190 wine and table grape farmers in the Western Cape puts the average wage for farm labour at R928 per month in 2003 and R1123 per month in 2004. Output per worker has doubled since 1983. On farms with grape harvesters, labour is 30 per cent more productive (48 ton/worker) than on farms where wine grapes are picked by hand (37 ton/worker). At 9.75 tons per worker, table grapes are four times as labour-intensive as wine grapes. Resident men dominate the workforce on wine farms, while the resident female workforce is 20 per cent larger than the resident male workforce on table grape farms. Seasonal workers contribute a third of labour in table grapes, and brokers less than ten per cent in either case. In a single-equation short-run Hicksian demand function, wage, output, capital levels and mechanisation intensities are highly significant determinants of employment. Higher wages decrease employment and larger output increases employment. More mechanisation, measured by the number of tractors used to produce a ton of fruit, raises labour intensity too. Grape harvesters could not be shown to reduce jobs. The ten per cent rise in the minimum wage planned for March 2005 could reduce employment by 3.3 per cent in the wine industry and 5.9 per cent in the table grape industry, but it is more likely that the wage increase will be offset against fewer benefits. The average expected impact is about the same as for all agriculture and manufacturing as a whole.

Methyl Iodide Oxidative Addition to Rhodium(I) Complexes: a DFT and NMR Study of [Rh(FcCOCHCOCF3)(CO)(PPh3)] and the Rhodium(III) Reaction Products

A theoretical (DFT) study of the equilibrium geometry of the possible reaction products of the oxidative addition reaction [Rh(FcCOCHCOCF3)(CO)(PPh3)] + CH3I (Fc = ferrocenyl), consistent with experimental observations, revealed that the first alkyl product results from trans addition to RhI. Isomerization via an acyl intermediate leads to a second octahedral alkyl product with the PPh3 group and the iodide above and below the square plane. Theoretical computations also revealed that the thermodynamic acyl product adopts a square-pyramidal geometry with the COCH3 group in the apical position.Keywords: DFT, computational, rhodium, β-diketone, NMRPDF and Supplementry file attache