Bringing Ergonomics to the Design of a Behavioural Care Unit

2000 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 8-11
Author(s):  
Jacqueline B. Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Iterative Process ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Early Design ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
Final Design ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Cost

The application of ergonomics is important when considering the built environment. In order to create an environment where form follows function, a detailed understanding of the tasks performed by the individuals who will live and work in the facility is required. Early involvement in the project is key to maximizing the benefit of ergonomics. At Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Canada, this early intervention was embraced during the design process of a behavioural care unit for aggressive patients. The ergonomist was involved in three phases of design; user needs analysis, block schematics and detailed design. The user needs and characteristics were established using a combination of focus groups, interviews, direct observation, task analysis and critique of current working environments. The challenge was to present the information to the design team in a useful manner. The format chosen was a modification of Userfit (Poulson 1996) that outlined the various characteristics of the patient group and the design consequences with “what does this mean for me” statements. During the block schematics phase an iterative design process was used to ensure that the ergonomic principles and the user needs were incorporated into the design. Ergonomic input was used in determining the room sizes and layout and to ensure work processes were considered. Simple mock-ups and anthropometric data assisted in illustrating the need for design changes. Examples that highlight the areas of greatest impact of ergonomic intervention include the patient bathrooms, showers and tub room. Significant changes were made to the design to improve the safety of the work and living space of the end users. One of the greatest challenges was having an appreciation for the individual goals of the team members. Ensuring there was adequate space for equipment and staff often resulted in recommendations for increased space. This in turn would increase the cost of the project. The architect and, later in the project, the engineer had goals of bringing the project in on budget. The final design was very much a team effort and truly die result of an iterative process. The sum of the individual contributions could not match the combined efforts. It was only through the ergonomic contributions in this early design phase that the needs of the staff, patients and families could be so well represented. The success of the iterative process provides the foundation for bringing ergonomics considerations into the early design stages of future projects.

How Uncertain Is Too Uncertain? Validity Tests for Early Resilient and Risk-Based Design Processes

2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Hulse ◽  
Christopher Hoyle ◽  
Irem Y. Tumer ◽  
Kai Goebel
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Epistemic Uncertainty ◽  
Expected Value ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Early Design ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Early Design Phase

Abstract A number of risk and resilience-based design methods have been put forward over the years that seek to provide designers the tools to reduce the effects of potential hazards in the early design phase. However, because of the associated high level of uncertainty and low-fidelity design representations, one might justifiably wonder if using a resilient design process in the early design phase will reliably produce useful results that would improve the realized design. This paper provides a testing framework for design processes that determines the validity of the process by quantifying the epistemic uncertainty in the assumptions used to make decisions. This framework uses this quantified uncertainty to test whether three metrics are within desirable bounds: the change in the design when uncertainty is considered, the increase in the expected value of the design, and the cost of choice-related uncertainty. This approach is illustrated using two examples to demonstrate how both discrete and continuous parametric uncertainty can be considered in the testing procedure. These examples show that early design process validity is sensitive to the level of uncertainty and magnitude of design changes, suggesting that while there is a justifiable decision-theoretic case to consider high-level, high-impact design changes during the early design phase, there is less of a case to choose between relatively similar design options because the cost of making the choice under high uncertainty is greater than the expected value improvement from choosing the better design.

Exploring Empathy in Student Design Teams

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith Apfelbaum ◽  
Kendra Sharp ◽  
Andy Dong
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Reactivity Index ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Applied Psychology ◽  
Student Groups ◽  
Technical Requirements ◽  
Trait Empathy ◽  
Final Design ◽  
Empathy Scale ◽  
Design Theories

Abstract The objective of this paper is to develop a methodology to better understand behavioral empathy in the design process for the purpose of addressing user needs. To accomplish this, content analysis was conducted on undergraduate student assignments that documented group projects designing a consumer product. Using qualitative data analysis, the assignments and presentations were coded for their levels of behavioral empathy, using a scale that applied psychology and design theories. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index was administered to the students to assess their trait empathy. Results from these two analyses showed little connection between levels of behavioral empathy and self-assessed trait empathy of the student groups. The student assignments did reveal empathic waves that demonstrated comprehension and application of expressed user needs, evidenced by ascending and descending the empathy scale. These results indicate that is it not trait empathy that leads to empathic design, but rather applied empathy in the design process; developing internal empathy is not sufficient if it does not effectively translate user needs to technical requirements in the final design.

The Value of Prototyping: An Investigation of the Relationship Between the Costs of Prototyping, Perceived Value, and Design Outcome

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Nelson ◽  
Jessica Menold
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Design Knowledge ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Final Design ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Prototyping is an important part of the design process and has repeatedly been identified in prior work as an important tool for designers to test assumptions, communicate ideas, and develop design knowledge. Researchers, however, currently have a limited understanding of how the resources invested in a prototype influence designers’ decision-making and their perceptions of a prototype’s value. Prior work has shown that significant investment of time or money in a prototype can lead to undesirable effects such as design fixation, but the full impact of these factors on designers’ perceived value of the prototypes remains unclear. Likewise, it is unclear how prototype usage impacts the evolution of designer knowledge. To explore these relationships, a study was performed in a 16 week-long design project involving 32 teams of mechanical engineering students. Results suggest that effective prototyping uncovered new design knowledge and limited uncertainty early in the design process, allowing teams to spend more time testing and iterating later in the design process. High-performing teams also reported final prototypes as less valuable for gathering new knowledge than their peers. Importantly, the study did not find any significant relationships between the cost of a prototype in terms of money and time, and the perceived value of that prototype. Nor were any significant relationships found between costs and final design outcomes. This work underscores the need for better methods to evaluate the value of prototyping efforts.

scholarly journals Non-linear Impact of the Short Circuit Impedance Selection on the Cost Optimized Power Transformer Design

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-228
Author(s):  
Tamás Orosz ◽  
Zoltán Ádám Tamus
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Power Transformer ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Design Rule ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Electrical Machine ◽  
Preliminary Design ◽  
Large Power ◽  
Final Design ◽  
The Cost

Since the electrical machine design is a complex task it can be divided into sub-problems, e.g. preliminary and final design processes and checking of the final design. This paper deals with the preliminary design process, which provides the key-design parameters of the electrical machine. Traditionally, these electrical machine models in preliminary design phase neglect or use oversimplified insulation system models and the tap changing selection is not involved during the calculation of key-design parameters. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of the insulation distance minimization and tap-changing on the key design parameters of a cost-optimized large power transformer. For this purpose, the paper shows some examples, where the cost optimal design — in contrast to the classical insulation design rule — contains larger insulation distances than the possible minimum values. The effect of tap-changing methods are also investigated. These cost optimization made by a verified, metaheuristic method-based transformer optimization algorithm. The results show involving the insulation design and tap-changing selection into the preliminary design process can provide more economical designs.

Michelangelo's Laurentian Library: Drawings and Design Process

2011 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 49-90
Author(s):  
James G. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Third Space ◽  
Early Design ◽  
The Third ◽  
Major Revision ◽  
Final Design ◽  
Rare Books ◽  
Design Ideas ◽  
Important Design

Re-examination of a key group of Michelangelo's sketches for the Laurentian Library, located in the monastic complex of Florence's S. Lorenzo, offers a new understanding of his design process and the project as it was built. While drawings by Michelangelo survive for all three of the library's intended spaces, this study concentrates on a number of drawings on four sheets for the entrance vestibule, or ricetto, and the two drawings for what would have constituted the third space, the unbuilt rare books room. It offers a major revision of Rudolf Wittkower's pioneering study of the library's design stages, and will also allow for the identification and discussion of key precedents and their role in the development of Michelangelo's design. These included ancient Roman and Renaissance sources, as well as his own designs both for the unbuilt façade of S. Lorenzo, and for the Medici Chapel attached to the same church (Fig. 1). Consideration of the drawings for the Laurentian Library ricetto in conjunction with letters written to Michelangelo from his Roman agent, Giovanni Francesco Fattucci, and the papal secretary Pier Paolo Marzi, recording Pope Clement VII's responses to a number of important design ideas, allows for a reliable reconstruction of Michelangelo's penultimate scheme for the ricetto, which enables the recognition of a key ancient precedent that inspired Michelangelo, and throws new light on the genesis of the final design. It becomes clear, too, that Michelangelo would later rework certain design ideas that he developed in these Laurentian Library sketches for subsequent projects in Rome, including an early design for the Palazzo dei Conservatori, and also the final form of both this palace and the Palazzo Senatorio.

Between Worlds: Exploring the Links Between the Tangible and Intangible Costs of Prototypes

2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Nelson ◽  
Jessica Menold
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
In Situ Study ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Final Design ◽  
Intangible Costs ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Effective Design

Abstract Prototyping is an important part of the design process, but researchers currently have a limited understanding of how the resources invested in a prototype or designer teams’ intent for a prototype influence decision-making and perceptions of a prototype’s value. Prior work has shown that significant investment of time or money in design tasks can lead to design fixation, but little work has explored how these factors might impact design teams’ perceived value of prototypes with respect to the design process. Likewise, it is unclear how resource allocation and prototype intention effects the evolution of design team knowledge and subsequent design actions. To explore these relationships, an in situ study of prototyping tendencies was performed across two mechanical engineering design courses. Results suggest that effective design teams leveraged prototypes to uncover new design knowledge and limit uncertainty early in the design process. Importantly, this study did not find any significant relationships between the cost of a prototype in terms of money and time, and the perceived value of that prototype. Nor were any significant relationships found between costs and final design outcomes. Findings suggest that the true cost and value of a prototype with respect to design outcomes are challenging to explicitly quantify.

Development of a German-Language Questionnaire to Measure Collective Orientation as an Individual Attitude

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Hagemann
Keyword(s):  
Team Performance ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
German Language ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Collective Orientation ◽  
Team Research ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Individual Variables ◽  
The Individual

Abstract. The individual attitudes of every single team member are important for team performance. Studies show that each team member’s collective orientation – that is, propensity to work in a collective manner in team settings – enhances the team’s interdependent teamwork. In the German-speaking countries, there was previously no instrument to measure collective orientation. So, I developed and validated a German-language instrument to measure collective orientation. In three studies (N = 1028), I tested the validity of the instrument in terms of its internal structure and relationships with other variables. The results confirm the reliability and validity of the instrument. The instrument also predicts team performance in terms of interdependent teamwork. I discuss differences in established individual variables in team research and the role of collective orientation in teams. In future research, the instrument can be applied to diagnose teamwork deficiencies and evaluate interventions for developing team members’ collective orientation.

THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES OF FORECASTING THE COST OF A SOFTWARE PRODUCT

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavlo Rodionov ◽  
◽  
Anna Ploskonos ◽  
Lesya Gavrutenko ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Selection Process ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Software Product ◽  
Continue Research ◽  
Cocomo Model ◽  
Factors Of Influence ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Cost

The paper analyzes the factors that affect the amount of effort required to create a mobile application and its cost. It is established that the main factors of influence are the design of the application, its functionality, the type of mobile platform, the availability and level of testing and support, as well as the individual characteristics of the developer. Based on the analysis of information sources, the main methods and approaches to forecasting the cost of software products are identified, which include the COCOMO model, Price-to-win method, expert evaluation, algorithmic methods and the method of analogies. It is proposed to consider the method of analogies as a tool that allows you to make predictions about the cost of resources required for the successful implementation of IT projects based on the experience of similar projects. It is proved that the advantages of this method are the simplicity of its implementation and the clarity of the results obtained, which follows from the practical orientation of this tool. Among the limitations of the method of analogy is the mandatory need for reliable data relating to similar projects, as well as the difficulty of taking into account unspecified indicators. Taking into account the mentioned limitations of the method of analogies and on the basis of the analysis of scientific sources the possible directions of its optimization are determined. Thus, among the ways to improve the effectiveness of this method are those aimed at optimizing the project selection process, the data for which are used as a basis for forecasting. Attempts to improve the method of analogies by including parameters that were previously ignored by this technique seem promising. This in turn can lead to an expansion of the scope of the method of analogies and increase the accuracy of forecasts. As prospects for further research, the need to continue research in the field of optimization of the method of analogies with the subsequent practical verification of theoretical positions on the data of real projects.

FUNCTIONING OF THE MENTAL DEFENSES IN THE CONDUCT OF INTERROGATION WITHIN THE CRIMINAL PROCESS

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 2161-2165
Author(s):  
Hristo Ivanov Popnikolov
Keyword(s):  
Objective Assessment ◽  
Critical Conditions ◽  
Criminal Process ◽  
External Influences ◽  
Administration Of Justice ◽  
Individual Protection ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Subjective Side

From the subject presented in the report it is evident that the pre-trial and the court bodies may, to some extent, be influenced both by the person of the accused and by his competence to participate in the criminal process. In this regard as an expert, the psychologist can offer invaluable assistance. Each expertise would assist all actors involved in the administration of justice on their objective assessment of the offenders, the understanding of their individual protection and the inherent self-justification during procedural actions. The involvement of psychologists in the criminal process is key to establishing the truth in the investigation, because every crime as an act has a subjective side, expressed in the psychic attitude of the perpetrator to the committed act. Establishing these psychological motives is a key point in the criminal process with a view to establishing the truth.Psychological protection stabilizes the personality in the critical conditions of counteraction, related to the elimination of the experiences of tension, anxiety, stress and frustration, leading to maximum mobilization of its resources and at the same time to their overpayment. Thus, the individual who is the subject of the process action is protected against the adverse external influences, but at the cost of a lot of effort and enormous loss of nervous-mental energy, which increases his own vulnerability instead of contributing to its reduction. The appearance and functioning of psychological protection can be significantly impeded by the interaction of the investigator with the accused. Even more complicated is the situation when it breaks the communication contact that may arise in the psychological alienation and self-isolation of the accused due to the desire to protect himself.Protective psychological dominance is a real psychic activity that investigators, investigators, investigators and judges need to take into account in order to effectively deal with their task and to overcome the resistance of the investigated persons and in a time to prove in a lawful and moral way their guilt and participation in the commitment of the crimes.

Automated Control of the Microclimate in the Premises of Pig-Breeding Complexes

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-108
Author(s):  
Viktoriya Yu. Ukhanova
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Feed Consumption ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Research Purpose ◽  
Energy Costs ◽  
Technical Equipment ◽  
Pig Farming ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Cost

In the pig breeding, a large share of the production cost is accounted for by the cost of electricity and heat. Reducing energy costs is one of the important tasks of the industry. It is important to identify and study modern technologies and equipment for pig farming due to the constant increase in electricity tariffs, significant energy costs for creating and maintaining a microclimate. (Research purpose) The research purpose is in an analysis of modern available technologies and equipment for agricultural production, including pig farming, allowing to reduce the cost of production. (Materials and methods) Authors used a method for determining the standard indicators of energy consumption of energy resources in the pig industry, based on the calculation and analytical method. The article presents an analyze of automated microclimate management systems in pig breeding complexes, taking into account the individual characteristics of farms produced by OWEN. (Results and discussion) Automated microclimate management systems can improve the productivity of pig farms; reduce the cost of electrical and thermal energy, reduce the number of diseases of animal from hypothermia, high humidity or temperature in the room, feed consumption; monitor the chemical composition of the air. The article considers three options for creating a microclimate in rooms with animals, taking into account the individual characteristics of enterprises. (Conclusions) The profitability of pig production depend on the level of technical equipment of farms, automation, and the use of energy-saving technologies and equipment. The use of innovations in agricultural production makes it possible to increase labor productivity up to three times, and savings due to reduced feed costs can reach several million rubles a year.

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