Joint mobility and inclusive design challenges

The aim of this research study was to understand and evaluate the effect of different factors including age, gender, disabilities and medical conditions on joint mobility. Joint mobility data from a group of 66 people from a previously existing database has been re-analysed. Twenty four participants had disabilities and 42 participants were considered to be ‘able bodied’ with no recognised disability. For each individual, 18 joint range of motion values were measured and an ANOVA test was employed to demonstrate the influence of the selected factors on joint range of motion. Post Hoc (Tukey) tests were also performed to gain deeper insight into significance levels and correlations between the factors. The results clearly indicate that joint ROM significantly decreases (p < 0.05) with increasing age for arm abduction, arm medial and lateral rotation, wrist flexion and wrist adduction. Moreover, people with disabilities (wheelchair users and arthritis sufferers) showed a considerable decrease in joint mobility for arm flexion, arm abduction, arm lateral rotation, elbow flexion, elbow supination, wrist extension and wrist flexion. The results also highlight that designing products, equipment, services or workplaces against 5th and 95th percentile criteria is unable to provide appropriate and necessary support for achieving the objective of design inclusiveness. Rather designers should have a deep insight of the data variations at a predesign phase so that more appropriate and informed design decisions can be made that are more likely to be acceptable for a broad range of the population.     

Expanding awareness by inclusive communication design

In this paper, we report the case of an Inclusive Design workshop. Inclusive Design is a design method that includes elderly and disabled people not only in interviews, but also in the upstream design process such as basic design and survey analysis. In the workshop, participants designed scientific educational materials that visually impaired and sighted people can use together. To work together regardless of visual disability, participants used the image-processing system and the stereo copying machine to make images tactile. We think that collaborative work with elderly and disabled people in Inclusive Design can teach participants different perspectives and help to correct their biased view of each other. In fact, participants of the workshop noticed several facts that they were not aware of before. That is, the Inclusive Design workshop can improve social awareness.     

Needs identification methodology for inclusive design

Identification of user needs is an essential phase in the early stages of every design project. Many needs identification methodologies are described in the literature. When targeting users with special needs, the task becomes more challenging for different reasons (difficulty of retrieving information, performing prototype testing, etc.). This article presents a novel methodology, Needs Identification Methodology for Inclusive Design (NIMID), that guides the process of needs identification in the inclusive design scenario considering users’ physical, sensorial and cognitive capabilities. NIMID is grounded in Abowd and Beale's human–computer interaction framework and uses WHO's International Classification of Functionalities as the taxonomy that provides a common language. We exemplify the application of the methodology in the design of a smart oven for elderly people. We also compare NIMID with other methodologies evidencing its strong points: universality (common international classification of functioning language), systematicity (clearly defined phases and outcomes) and rationality (grounded in well-established interaction theory).     

Responsive inclusive design (RiD): a new model for inclusive software development

The design and development of technological solutions based on software for all types of people, including people with disabilities, is still a pending issue in most software application development projects today. Situations like the 2020 pandemic drastically reflect how people with disabilities tend to be left outside the application design and construction guidelines. There are multiple initiatives and previous works that advocate user involvement from the beginning of the project; however, in this work, we go a step further by presenting a model for designing and constructing software applications (RiD—Responsive inclusive Design) defined for inclusive software. RiD extends the involvement of the user with disabilities to the entire software life cycle, in different roles, and taking into account the changing nature of the user profile in the evolution of the product. This article also presents the EDICO case study, an accessible and inclusive scientific editor for the Spanish National Organization of the Blind (ONCE), which was successfully implemented applying the RiD principles.

     

Characterising user capabilities to support inclusive design evaluation

Designers require knowledge and data about users to effectively evaluate product accessibility during the early stages of design. This paper addresses this problem by setting out the sensory, cognitive and motor dimensions of user capability that are important for product interaction. The relationship between user capability and product demand is used as the underlying conceptual model for product design evaluations and for estimating the number of people potentially excluded from using a given product.     

A comparison of methods currently used in inclusive design

Inclusive design has unique challenges because it aims to improve usability for a wide range of users. This typically includes people with lower levels of ability, as well as mainstream users. This paper examines the effectiveness of two methods that are used in inclusive design: user trials and exclusion calculations (an inclusive design inspection method). A study examined three autoinjectors using both methods (n = 30 for the user trials). The usability issues identified by each method are compared and the effectiveness of the methods is discussed. The study found that each method identified different kinds of issues, all of which are important for inclusive design. We therefore conclude that a combination of methods should be used in inclusive design rather than relying on a single method. Recommendations are also given for how the individual methods can be used more effectively in this context.     

Moving towards inclusive design guidelines for socially and ethically aware HCI

Most people acknowledge that personal computers have enormously enhanced the autonomy and communication capacity of people with special needs. The key factor for accessibility to these opportunities is the adequate design of the user interface which, consequently, has a high impact on the social lives of users with disabilities.The design of universally accessible interfaces has a positive effect over the socialisation of people with disabilities. People with sensory disabilities can profit from computers as a way of personal direct and remote communication. Personal computers can also assist people with severe motor impairments to manipulate their environment and to enhance their mobility by means of, for example, smart wheelchairs. In this way they can become more socially active and productive. Accessible interfaces have become so indispensable for personal autonomy and social inclusion that in several countries special legislation protects people from ‘digital exclusion’.To apply this legislation, inexperienced HCI designers can experience difficulties. They would greatly benefit from inclusive design guidelines in order to be able to implement the ‘design for all’ philosophy. In addition, they need clear criteria to avoid negative social and ethical impact on users. This paper analyses the benefits of the use of inclusive design guidelines in order to facilitate a universal design focus so that social exclusion is avoided. In addition, the need for ethical and social guidelines in order to avoid undesirable side effects for users is discussed. Finally, some preliminary examples of socially and ethically aware guidelines are proposed.     

The effects of prior experience on the use of consumer products

Many products today are laden with a host of features which, for the majority of users, remain unused and often obscure the use of the simple features of use for which the product was devised (Norman in The design of everyday things. Basic Books, 2002; Keates and Clarkson in Countering design exclusion—an introduction to inclusive design. Springer, 2004). Since the cognitive capabilities of the marketed target group are largely not affected by age-related impairment, the intellectual demands of such products are frequently high (Rabbitt in Quart J Exp Psychol 46A(3):385–434, 1993). In addition, the age and technology generation of a product user will colour their expectations of the product interface and affect the range of skills they have available (Docampo in Technology generations handling complex User Interfaces. Ph. D. thesis, 2001). This paper addresses the issue of what features of products make them easy or difficult to learn to use, for the wider population as well as the older user, and whether and in what way individual prior experience affect the learning and use of a product design. To achieve the above, the interactions of users of varying ages and capabilities with two different everyday products were recorded in detail as they performed set tasks. Retrospective verbal protocols were then analysed using a category scheme based on an analysis of types of learning and cognition errors. This data was then compared with users’ performance on individual detailed experience questionnaires and a number of tests of general and specific cognitive capabilities. The principal finding was that similarity of prior experience to the usage situation was the main determinant of performance, although there was also some evidence for a gradual, age-related capability decline. Users of all ages adopted a means-end or trial and error interaction when faced with unfamiliar elements of the interaction. There was a strong technology generation effect such that older users were reluctant or unable to complete the required tasks for a digital camera.     

Plus size and obese workers: anthropometry estimates to promote inclusive design

Abstract

A significant proportion of the adult population globally is overweight, obese or classed as ‘plus size’. This has led to variability in size and shape across the working population and exclusion in the workplace. A new dataset of the anthropometry of plus size people has been created. Length dimensions were similar to other data, but breadth, circumference, and depth measurements were substantially larger. The hip breadth and abdominal depth were important for predicting largeness in this population. These data help explain the high exclusion rates from design and the number of fit, reach, posture and clearance issues reported by participants with a high BMI: generally, the higher the BMI the greater prevalence of problems. It is hoped that a better understanding of the anthropometric characteristics of the plus size worker will inform the design of safe, productive work environments to promote inclusion for a wider range of people.

Practitioner Summary: A new anthropometry dataset of plus size people has been created. The higher the BMI the greater the problems with design in the workplace for fit, reach, posture and clearance. To ensure inclusion and reduce stigma it is important to understand more about the size and shape of this population.     

Evaluating and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of design process communication

Project information management research enables the efficient exchange of information, but does not effectively communicate process. Design process management research effectively communicates processes, but with methods too inefficient to be adopted in practice. The lack of methods for effective and efficient design process communication manifests as a struggle for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry professionals to: (1) collaborate within projects, (2) share processes between projects, and (3) understand processes across projects to strategically invest in improvement. These struggles motivate the paper’s first contribution: a research method for evaluating a design management methodology’s ability to effectively and efficiently communicate design processes. As a second contribution, this paper validates the Design Process Communication Methodology (DPCM). DPCM specifies elements and methods for exchanging and organizing digital information to support knowledge-intensive design processes. Cloud computing enables the operationalization of DPCM as a tool that enables interaction with a project’s information. Results from this operationalization demonstrate that designers employing DPCM accurately capture processes with little effort. When collaborating, improved process clarity and information consistency result in less rework, and positive iteration enables increased consideration of multi-disciplinary design trends. Designers share processes between project teams with fewer process mistakes. DPCM enables the understanding of processes providing more insights into the relationships between design integration and project performance; and more opportunities for strategic investment in improved processes.     

Facets of Website Content

Content is of primary importance in the World Wide Web. In particular, subjective perceptions of content are known to influence a variety of user evaluations, thereby altering attitudes and behavioral outcomes. Thus, it is essential that individually experienced facets of content can be adequately assessed. In a series of seven studies, we create, validate, and benchmark a measure for users’ subjective view on web content. In the first six studies, a total of 3106 participants evaluated a sum of 60 websites. The resulting Web-CLIC questionnaire is a 12-item measure based on prior research on web content. It encloses four main facets of users’ content experience: clarity, likeability, informativeness, and credibility – jointly representing a general factor subjective content perception. Very high internal consistencies and high short- to medium-term retest reliabilities are demonstrated. Strong evidence for construct validity in terms of factorial, convergent, divergent, discriminative, concurrent, experimental, and predictive validity is found. In a seventh study, encompassing 7379 ratings on 120 websites, benchmarks for 10 different content domains and optimal cut points are provided. Overall, the present research suggests that the Web-CLIC is a sound measure of subjective content perception of both practical and theoretical benefit.     

Facets of visual aesthetics

Visual aesthetics has been shown to critically affect a variety of constructs such as perceived usability, satisfaction, and pleasure. Given the importance of visual aesthetics in human–computer interaction, it is vital that it is adequately assessed. The present research aimed at providing a precise operational definition and to develop a new measure of perceived visual aesthetics of websites. Construction of the Visual Aesthetics of Website Inventory (VisAWI) was based on a comprehensive and broad definition of visual aesthetics so that the resulting instrument would completely describe the domain of interest. Four interrelated facets of perceived visual aesthetics of websites were identified and validated in a series of seven studies. Simplicity and Diversity have repeatedly been treated as formal parameters of aesthetic objects throughout the history of empirical aesthetics, Colors are a critical property of aesthetic objects, and Craftsmanship addresses the skillful and coherent integration of the relevant design dimensions. These four facets jointly represent perceived visual aesthetics, but are still distinguishable from each other and carry unique meaning. The subscales contained in the VisAWI demonstrate good internal consistencies. Evidence for the convergent, divergent, discriminative, and concurrent validity of the VisAWI is provided. Overall, the present research suggests that the VisAWI appears to be a sound measure of visual aesthetics of websites comprising facets of both practical and theoretical interest.     

Facets of Software Development Computer Science ＆ Programming,Engineering ＆ Management In fond Memory of Professor Wu Yunzeng,Peking University,China

Professor Wu Yunzeng epitomiazed ancient and nodern Chinese culture,Professor Wu Yunzeng was an eminent computer scientist.logician and philosopher,professor Wu Yunzeng won innumerable friends for China.We are many,in the West,who were very fond of him.his visit to Denmark made positive,and lasting impressions,we found,also ,that professor Wu Yunzeng introduced into chinese scholarly life very commendable features,The wqay he guided his students and colleagues was an example to be followed by us all.Professor Wu Yunzeng was profoundly engaged in the mathematical (logic and other)foundations of the computation sciences,in the didactics of that field,and in the broader,philosophical issues at stake when pursuing scientific and engineering work in computation.In this testimonial allow me to speculate on a context in which our many,individual contributions to the computation sciences may fit into practical life.     

Effect of prior headlighting experience on ratings of discomfort glare

This study investigated the effects of prior headlighting experience on ratings of discomfort glare from headlamps in an actual driving situation. Specifically, discomfort glare ratings given by West Germans who had recently arrived in the United States and were, presumably, used to the relatively low levels of glare associated with headlamps in West Germany were compared with ratings given by U.S.-born subjects. The West German subjects reported significantly more discomfort than did the U.S. subjects. This finding is in agreement with the so-called range effect, in which subjective judgments are affected by the range of available stimuli. Consequently, the present findings support the hypothesis that discomfort glare ratings are affected by prior visual experience.     

Relative effectiveness of animated and static diagrams: An effect of learner prior knowledge

This paper investigates the relationship between instructional effectiveness of animated vs. static diagrams and levels of learner expertise in the task domain of transforming graphs of simple linear and quadratic functions. It was demonstrated on many occasions that instructional formats that are effective for low-knowledge learners could be ineffective, or even deleterious, for high-knowledge learners, and vice versa (the expertise reversal effect). The levels of learner (university students) expertise in this study were measured using an online rapid diagnostic method, a rapid verification technique, that involves presenting learners with a series of possible solution steps reflecting various stages of the solution procedure and asking them to rapidly verify the suggested steps. The results indicated a significant interaction between levels of learner expertise and instructional formats. Novice learners benefited more from static diagrams than from animated diagrams, while more knowledgeable learners benefited more from animated rather than static diagrams. A theoretical explanation of the effect is suggested within the framework of cognitive load theory.     

Facets of growth in the EDA market

According to Dataquest, in 1995, EDA software revenue (excluding that from platforms, service, and maintenance) grew by 17.2%. In contrast, semiconductor revenues grew by 36%. Hence, despite impressive growth last year, if we use semiconductors as a surrogate for EDA buyers, EDA software revenue grew at only half the growth rate of its buyers. This is not a revelation but a consistent trend through the last few years. It cannot represent a comforting situation for EDA vendors; When times are good, they can accept these numbers, which demonstrate growth in EDA to the financial markets. The author argues about what will happen at the next downturn in the semiconductor business?     

Cognitive effectiveness of visual instructional design languages

The introduction of learning technologies into education is making the design of courses and instructional materials an increasingly complex task. Instructional design languages are identified as conceptual tools for achieving more standardized and, at the same time, more creative design solutions, as well as enhancing communication and transparency in the design process. In this article we discuss differences in cognitive aspects of three visual instructional design languages (E²ML, PoEML, coUML), based on user evaluation. Cognitive aspects are of relevance for learning a design language, creating models with it, and understanding models created using it. The findings should enable language constructors to improve the usability of visual instructional design languages in the future. The paper concludes with directions with regard to how future research on visual instructional design languages could strengthen their value and enhance their actual use by educators and designers by synthesizing existing efforts into a unified modeling approach for VIDLs.     

基于先验知识的自适应检测波形设计

研究了基于先验知识的认知雷达自适应检测波形设计问题,推导了发射波形对于检测性能影响的闭式解并提出了一种基于交替投影法的波形优化算法。算法根据所推导出的检测概率与发射波形、接收机滤波器之间关系的闭式表达式,通过联合优化发射波形和接收机滤波器,达到提高接收机的检测概率和降低信号相关杂波负面影响的目的。分析仿真结果可知,所设计波形的检测性能优于传统的恒包络LFM波形。当采用多组初始波形进行迭代优化时,检测概率趋向于相同值,这表明该算法的收敛性良好。     

Translating user control availability into perception: the moderating role of prior experience

On a basic level, perception of user control over media content should be partially a function of control option availability. At the same time, prior user experience with control options should interact with control availability to produce joint effects on control perception. To assess these ideas, we present experimental data from 101 University students in the United States. Participants engaged a documentary in one of three ways: by simply watching the documentary, by watching the documentary with the option of using typical VCR-type controls (such as fast-forward or reverse), or by watching and having available both VCR-type controls and scene sequencing control. Data support our hypotheses. While there was a generally positive relationship between exposure to user control options and user control perception across all participants, those participants with relatively less prior experience with Internet-based applications demonstrated a somewhat different relationship between control availability and control perception.