A Structured Intervention for Medical Students Significantly Improves Awareness for Stigmatisation in Visible Chronic Skin Diseases: A Randomised Controlled Trial

People with skin diseases suffer from stigmatisation. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an intervention against stigmatisation of people affected for medical students. The new intervention was evaluated using a randomised controlled design. Effectiveness was assessed at three time points. Data from 127 participants were analysed. Regarding the outcome ‘social distance’, a significant difference between the measurement-points was observed for the intervention group (χ2(2) = 54.32, p < 0.001) which also showed a significant effect on the agreement to negative stereotypes (F(1.67, 118.67) = 23.83, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.25). Regarding the outcome ‘agreement to disease-related misconceptions’, a significant difference between the measurement-points was observed for the intervention group (χ2(2) = 46.33, p < 0.001); similar results were found for the outcome ‘stigmatising behaviour’ (F(1.86, 131.89) = 6.16, p = 0.003, partial η² = 0.08). Results should encourage medical faculties to invest in such courses to prevent stigmatisation.

A DT-RSDM Model

With rapid development of Digital Twin (DT), it seems that DT is vital to realize Cyber-Physical System (CPS) with the aid of dynamic interaction between digital twin and physical counterpart. In radar applications, digital twin can solve inherent shortfalls in radar structure design including ideal design description, poor dynamic interaction and limited implementation extension. Thus, a new DT-driven 5S Radar Structure Design Model (DT-RSDM) is proposed in this paper, focusing on improving radar structure design effectiveness and efficiency by employing iterative design optimization, design knowledge management.

Transient elastography in patients at risk of liver fibrosis in primary care: a follow-up study over 54 months

BackgroundLiver fibrosis assessment services using transient elastography are growing in primary care. These services identify patients requiring specialist referral for liver fibrosis, and provide an opportunity for recommending lifestyle change. However, there are uncertainties regarding service design, effectiveness of advice given, and frequency of follow-up.AimsTo assess: a) effectiveness of standard care lifestyle advice for weight management and alcohol consumption; b) uptake for liver rescan; c) usefulness of a 4.5-year time interval of rescanning in monitoring progression of liver fibrosis.Design & settingAnalysis of patient outcomes 4.5 years after first ‘liver service’ attendance that included transient elastography in five GP practices in Southampton, UK.MethodOutcomes included weight, alcohol consumption, rescan uptake, time interval between scans and change in liver fibrosis stage.Results401 participants were re-contacted. Mean ± SD wt loss was 1.2 kg ±8.4 kg (P=0.005), alcohol AUDIT grade increased by 7.8% (P=<0.001). 116/401 participants were eligible for liver rescanning. 59/116 (50.9%) agreed to undergo rescanning. Mean ± SD time interval between scans was 53.6±3.4 months. Liver fibrosis progressed from mild (≥6.0 kPa-8.1kPa) to significant fibrosis (8.2 kPa-9.6kPa) in 3.4% of patients; from mild to advanced fibrosis (9.7 kPa-13.5kPa)/cirrhosis (≥13.6 kPa) in 15.3% of patients, and did not progress in 81.3%. No baseline factors were independently associated with liver fibrosis progression at follow-up.ConclusionRescan recall attendance and adherence to lifestyle changes needs improving. Optimum time interval between scans remains uncertain. After a mean interval of 53.6 months between scans, and with no specific predictors indicated, a substantial minority (18.7%) experienced a deterioration in fibrosis grade.

Addressing Challenges to Problem Complexity: Effectiveness of AI Assistance During the Design Process

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistance tools become more ubiquitous in engineering design, it becomes increasingly necessary to understand the influence of AI assistance on the design process and design effectiveness. Previous work has shown the advantages of incorporating AI design agents to assist human designers. However, the influence of AI assistance on the behavior of designers during the design process is still unknown. This study examines the differences in participants’ design process and effectiveness with and without AI assistance during a complex drone design task using the HyForm design research platform. Data collected from this study is analyzed to assess the design process and effectiveness using quantitative methods, such as Hidden Markov Models and network analysis. The results indicate that AI assistance is most beneficial when addressing moderately complex objectives but exhibits a reduced advantage in addressing highly complex objectives. During the design process, the individual designers working with AI assistance employ a relatively explorative search strategy, while the individual designers working without AI assistance devote more effort to parameter design.

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY: TEXTUAL INFORMATION DRIVEN SPATIAL UNDERSTANDING AND REPRESENTATION FOR USER INTERFACE DESIGN OF 3D MODELING TOOLS

The same information has different cognitive difficulty in different representation forms, especially in the field of interaction design. Thus, Scientists pay attention to the design effectiveness based on visual perception. This study focuses on two problems: 1) The relationship between textual comprehension, spatial understanding and cognitive accuracy of text information; 2) The transformation differences of cognitive elements from text information to 3D image information. First, we conduct an experiment to show the cognitive transformation difference of text elements and 3D image elements. Then, we take the design of "Logoup" 3D modeling software (This is programming driven 3D modeling software) as an example, and applies the experimental results in this study to the interface design of the software. By setting up horizontal and vertical reference planes in the real-time rendering area of the software, we can improve the cognitive efficiency and user experience of users and provide non-professional 3D modeling skill of users with an entrance to create 3D shapes.

When faced with increasing complexity: The effectiveness of AI assistance for drone design

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistance tools become more ubiquitous in engineering design, it becomes increasingly necessary to understand the influence of AI assistance on the design process and design effectiveness. Previous work has shown the advantages of incorporating AI design agents to assist human designers. However, the influence of AI assistance on the behavior of designers during the design process is still unknown. This study examines the differences in participants' design process and effectiveness with and without AI assistance during a complex drone design task using the HyForm design research platform. Data collected from this study is analyzed to assess the design process and effectiveness using quantitative methods, such as Hidden Markov Models and network analysis. The results indicate that AI assistance is most beneficial when addressing moderately complex objectives but exhibits a reduced advantage in addressing highly complex objectives. During the design process, the individual designers working with AI assistance employ a relatively explorative search strategy, while the individual designers working without AI assistance devote more effort to parameter design.

Experimental CanSat Platform for Functional Verification of Burn Wire Triggering-Based Holding and Release Mechanisms

In this study, we present the Diverse Holding and Release Mechanism Can Satellite (DHRM CanSat) platform developed by the Space Technology Synthesis Laboratory (STSL) at Chosun University, South Korea. This platform focuses on several types of holding and release mechanisms (HRMs) for application in deployable appendages of nanosatellites. The objectives of the DHRM CanSat mission are to demonstrate the design effectiveness and functionality of the three newly proposed HRMs based on the burn wire triggering method, i.e., the pogo pin-type HRM, separation nut-type HRM, and Velcro tape-type HRM, which were implemented on deployable dummy solar panels of the CanSat. The proposed mechanisms have many advantages, including a high holding capability, simultaneous constraints in multi-plane directions, and simplicity of handling. Additionally, each mechanism has distinctive features, such as spring-loaded pins to initiate deployment, a plate with a thread as a nut for a high holding capability, and a hook and loop fastener for easy access to subsystems of the satellite without releasing the holding constraint. The design effectiveness and functional performance of the proposed mechanisms were demonstrated through an actual flight test of the DHRM CanSat launched by a model rocket.

The importance of policy design fit for effectiveness: a qualitative comparative analysis of policy integration in regional transport planning

Policy design has returned as a central topic in public policy research. An important area of policy design study deals with effectively attaining desired policy outcomes by aligning goals and means to achieve policy design fit. So far, only a few empirical studies have explored the relationship between policy design fit and effectiveness. In this paper, we adopt the multilevel framework for policy design to determine which conditions of policy design fit—i.e., goal coherence, means consistency, and congruence of goals and means across policy levels—are necessary and/or sufficient for policy design effectiveness in the context of policy integration. To this end, we performed a qualitative comparative analysis of Dutch regional transport planning including all twelve provinces. Outcomes show no condition is necessary and two combinations of conditions are sufficient for effectiveness. The first sufficient combination confirms what the literature suggests, namely that policy design fit results in policy design effectiveness. The second indicates that the combination goal incoherence and incongruence of goals and means is sufficient for policy design effectiveness. An in-depth interpretation of this counterintuitive result leads to the conclusion that for achieving policy integration the supportive relationship between policy design fit and policy design effectiveness is less straightforward as theory suggests. Instead, results indicate there are varying degrees of coherence, consistency, and congruence that affect effectiveness in different ways. Furthermore, outcomes reveal that under specific circumstances a policy design may be effective in promoting desired policy integration even if it is incoherent, inconsistent, and/or incongruent.

Operads for complex system design specification, analysis and synthesis

As the complexity and heterogeneity of a system grows, the challenge of specifying, documenting and synthesizing correct, machine-readable designs increases dramatically. Separation of the system into manageable parts is needed to support analysis at various levels of granularity so that the system is maintainable and adaptable over its life cycle. In this paper, we argue that operads provide an effective knowledge representation to address these challenges. Formal documentation of a syntactically correct design is built up during design synthesis, guided by semantic reasoning about design effectiveness. Throughout, the ability to decompose the system into parts and reconstitute the whole is maintained. We describe recent progress in effective modelling under this paradigm and directions for future work to systematically address scalability challenges for complex system design.

Tooth Root Bending Strength of Gears: Dimensional Effect for Small Gears Having a Module below 5 mm

Downsizing is a more and more widespread trend in many industrial sectors, and, among the others, the automotive industry is pushing the design of its components towards increasingly compact, lightweight, efficient, and reliable solutions. In the past, the drivetrains for automotive were designed and manufactured with gears having modules in the range 3 to 10. In this respect, the main actual European standards for gear design such as ISO 6336:2019 (based on the DIN 3990:1987) are validated in the 3 to 10 mm range only. Moreover, it is well known that, by increasing the gear size, the gear size factor for tooth bending YX reduces. However, nowadays the advances in terms of materials and design knowledge have made possible the realization of miniaturized gearboxes with gears having normal modules below 3 mm with comparable (or better) reliability. In this scenario, understanding how the size affects (positively) the load-carrying capacity for tooth root bending for small modules below 5 mm is fundamental to maximize the design effectiveness in case of downsizing of the drivetrains. In this paper an experimental study was performed on small gears made of 39NiCrMo3 having a normal module of 2 mm to verify the load-carrying capacity for tooth root bending. Based on the experimental evidences and additional data from literature and past studies by the author, an extended formula for the size factor YX (according to ISO 6336) is proposed.