scholarly journals Design of mechanical devices for the elderly to move and live alone

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Л. Чен
Keyword(s):  
The Elderly ◽  
Maintenance Cost ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Support Mechanism ◽  
Overall Design ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Adjustment Mechanism ◽  
Design Plan ◽  
Mechanical Devices

With the increasing aging of the population, the demand for elderly assistance machinery is increasing. By comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the existing elderly assistance devices and analyzing the daily activities and care needs of the elderly, this paper determines the main functions of the mechanical devices for the elderly to move around alone and proposes a general design scheme. Based on the overall design plan, the main mechanisms such as axillary support mechanism, sitting mechanism, posture adjustment mechanism and wheel mechanism were designed, and the operability and stability of the device were improved through the linkage of the variable cell mechanism. Virtual prototype modeling was carried out by solidworks to verify the rationality of the structure. The device not only has better function, but also has simpler structure and lower maintenance cost, which is more suitable for market demand.

scholarly journals System models for resilience in gerontology: application to the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Klasa ◽  
Stephanie Galaitsi ◽  
Andrew Wister ◽  
Igor Linkov
Keyword(s):  
The Elderly ◽  
System Level ◽  
Improve Quality ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Chronic Stressors ◽  
The World ◽  
Aging Adults ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThe care needs for aging adults are increasing burdens on health systems around the world. Efforts minimizing risk to improve quality of life and aging have proven moderately successful, but acute shocks and chronic stressors to an individual’s systemic physical and cognitive functions may accelerate their inevitable degradations. A framework for resilience to the challenges associated with aging is required to complement on-going risk reduction policies, programs and interventions. Studies measuring resilience among the elderly at the individual level have not produced a standard methodology. Moreover, resilience measurements need to incorporate external structural and system-level factors that determine the resources that adults can access while recovering from aging-related adversities. We use the National Academies of Science conceptualization of resilience for natural disasters to frame resilience for aging adults. This enables development of a generalized theory of resilience for different individual and structural contexts and populations, including a specific application to the COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Registered nurses’ role experiences of caring for older stroke patients: a qualitative study

BMC Nursing ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Cheng ◽  
Jiong Tu ◽  
Xiaoyan Shen
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Education ◽  
Older People ◽  
Registered Nurses ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Nursing Clinical Practice

Abstract Background With China’s population ageing rapidly, stroke is becoming one of the major public health problems. Nurses are indispensable for caring for older patients with acute and convalescent stroke, and their working experiences are directly linked to the quality of care provided. The study aims to investigate registered nurses’ experiences of caring for older stroke patients. Methods A qualitative descriptive design was adopted. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 26 registered nurses about their lived experiences of caring for older stroke patients. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results Two main themes were identified. First, the nurses identified an obvious gap between their ideal role in elderly care and their actual practice. The unsatisfactory reality was linked to the practical difficulties they encountered in their working environment. Second, the nurses expressed conflicting feelings about caring for older stroke patients, displaying a sense of accomplishment, indifference, annoyance, and sympathy. Caring for older stroke patients also affects nurses psychologically and physically. The nurses were clear about their own roles and tried their best to meet the elderly people’s needs, yet they lack time and knowledge about caring for older stroke patients. The factors influencing their working experiences extend beyond the personal domain and are linked to the wider working environment. Conclusions Sustaining the nursing workforce and improving their working experiences are essential to meet the care needs of older people. Understanding nurses’ lived working experiences is the first step. At the individual level, nurse mangers should promote empathy, relieve anxiety about aging, and improve the job satisfaction and morale of nurses. At the institutional level, policymakers should make efforts to improve the nursing clinical practice environment, increase the geriatric nursing education and training, achieve a proper skill mix of the health workforce, and overall attract, prepare and sustain nurses regarding caring for older people in a rapidly aging society.

Options for the Removal of Contaminated Concrete From the Bore of the Windscale Pile Chimney

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Campbell ◽  
Stephen Hepworth ◽  
Jeremy Hunt
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Internal Surface ◽  
Secondary Effluent ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Pressure Water ◽  
Reaction Forces ◽  
Future Strategy ◽  
Inherent Problem ◽  
Mechanical Devices ◽  
Effluent Waste

A legacy of the 1957 Windscale Pile reactor fire is the penetration of radioactive contamination into the internal surface concrete of the chimney bore. Gamma imaging of Cs-137 has shown that the contamination is widespread throughout the chimney, and core samples have shown that the contamination has penetrated to depths of around 5–25mm. The Pile chimney is 100m tall and has an internal bore diameter of 15m. It is constructed of a hard concrete comprised of Whinstone aggregate. The baseline decommissioning scheme is to remove approximately 5–25mm of the surface concrete from the entire bore of the chimney. The technology baseline in 2006 was to remove layers of contaminated concrete by mechanical means using shavers or scabblers. However, risks associated with mechanical technologies that may preclude their use include: the ability of mechanical devices to remove the hard concrete; clogging of the devices due to wet concrete; and deployment of the delivery systems. This paper discusses the options under consideration to reduce the risks associated with the removal of the contaminated concrete through application of alternative techniques. The present baseline technology is high pressure water jetting technique. Demonstrations have shown that this technology can successfully remove concrete without significant reaction forces. However, an inherent problem with this technology is the production of secondary liquid effluent waste, which would need to be treated by an appropriate conditioning process. To address the secondary effluent waste issue, technologies that produce little or no secondary waste have been considered. The technologies that have been considered are laser scabbling, microwave scabbling and nitrogen jet blasting. The paper discusses each technique in turn, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. The results of an in-active laser scabbling and high pressure liquid nitrogen jetting trial are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of the merits of each technology in support of the future strategy for concrete removal.

scholarly journals Nurses and care delivery to elderly women: a social phenomenological approach

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 888-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastião Caldeira ◽  
Miriam Aparecida Barbosa Merighi ◽  
Luz Angelica Muñoz ◽  
Maria Cristina Pinto de Jesus ◽  
Selisvane Ribeiro da Fonseca Domingos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Training ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Elderly Women ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Action Strategies

OBJECTIVE: To understand how nurses see care delivery to elderly women. METHODS: In this phenomenological study, ten nurses working at Primary Health Care Units were interviewed between September 2010 and January 2011. RESULTS: In care delivery, nurses consider the elderly women's knowledge background and biographical situation, and also value the family's participation as a care mediator. These professionals have the acuity to capture these women's specific demands, but face difficulties to deliver care to these clients. Nurses expect to deliver qualified care to these women. CONCLUSION: The theoretical and methodological approach of social phenomenology permitted revealing that the nurse designs qualified care to elderly women, considering the possibilities in the context. This includes the participation of different social actors and health sectors, assuming collective efforts in action strategies and professional training, in line with the particularities and care needs of elderly women nurses identify.

scholarly journals Efficient General Reflectarray Design and Direct Layout Optimization with a Simple and Accurate Database Using Multilinear Interpolation

Electronics ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 191
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Prado ◽  
Jesús A. López-Fernández ◽  
Manuel Arrebola
Keyword(s):  
Linear Interpolation ◽  
Layout Optimization ◽  
Lookup Table ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Space Applications ◽  
Overall Design ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Full Wave ◽  
Vector Machines ◽  
Wave Technique

In this work, a simple, efficient and accurate database in the form of a lookup table to use in reflectarray design and direct layout optimization is presented. The database uses N-linear interpolation internally to estimate the reflection coefficients at coordinates that are not stored within it. The speed and accuracy of this approach were measured against the use of the full-wave technique based on local periodicity to populate the database. In addition, it was also compared with a machine learning technique, namely, support vector machines applied to regression in the same conditions, to elucidate the advantages and disadvantages of each one of these techniques. The results obtained from the application to the layout design, analysis and crosspolar optimization of a very large reflectarray for space applications show that, despite using a simple N-linear interpolation, the database offers sufficient accuracy, while considerably accelerating the overall design process as long as it is conveniently populated.

Problem-Based Collaborative Projects In and Between Freshman and Sophomore Engineering Courses

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asad Azemi ◽  
Ivan Esparragoza
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Computer Programming ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Learning By Doing ◽  
Final Project ◽  
Overall Design ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Analytical Skills ◽  
Penn State

This work describes our effort at the Delaware County Campus of Penn State to enhance the freshman engineering design and graphics and sophomore engineering computer programming courses by incorporating problem-based collaborative robotics projects in and between these courses. The robotics project in the engineering design and graphics course, ED&G 100, focuses on the mechanical and overall design aspect of a robot, and the projects in the engineering computer programming course, CMPSC 201, focus on the programming aspects. Lego Mindstorms and Handy Board controller have been chosen for building the robots and programming them, respectively. The collaborative projects have been designed with the intention of increasing learning, through collaboration among students and faculty. The projects also encourage teamwork by working with students from different disciplines, promote analytical skills by working to solve an open-ended problem, and provide practical experience and learning by doing through working with robots. To emphasize the importance of communication skills, at the end of the semester each team is also expected to present a report for the final project using PowerPoint. A detailed discussion of this collaborative work and the advantages and disadvantages of such an approach is discussed.

scholarly journals An ecological study on the relationship between supply of beds in long-term care institutions in Italy and potential care needs for the elderly

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianfranco Damiani ◽  
Simona C Colosimo ◽  
Lorella Sicuro ◽  
Alessandra Burgio ◽  
Alessandra Battisti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Study ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Term Care ◽  
The Relationship

Teaching Design Methodology to Undergraduates Through Multi-Year Projects

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asad Azemi ◽  
Ivan Esparragoza
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Honors Students ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Overall Design ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Honor Students ◽  
To Come

This paper presents a new approach for teaching engineering design methodology that consists of covering different steps of the design process in four semesters focusing on a specific problem. During the first semester students are introduced to the overall design methodology and are asked to identify the needs, tasks and outputs, based on a given problem statement. During the second semester students are asked to come up with a conceptual design and modify the inputs, tasks and outputs. During the third semester students are asked to come up with a working preliminary design solution and obtain some output data. And during the fourth semester students are asked to modify their design, based on their results from the previous semesters and the problem requirements, and come up with the final detailed design. Each part requires a separate report, with the results from the first three being referenced in the final report. At this time due to several considerations, including limited resources, we are only targeting engineering honors students and using robotics related problems for the multi-year design projects. The four-semester long project will be the "honors option" for the courses that engineering honor students must take during the first two years at our campus. A detailed description of this approach, including advantages and disadvantages, future directions and recommendations, are included.

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