Design Changes Research Articles

Britain’s Policy of Socio-Cultural Influence: the Current State and Recent Developments

The paper deals with the latest developments in Britain’s socio-cultural influence on the world stage, including changes in institutional design of governance as well as sources and volume of financing. Primary funding source as well as official conceptual framework for the development of British foreign policy influence programs is provided by the development assistance policy. The author looks into the structure and dynamics of expenditures and draws a comparison with other leading Western powers. The research shows no significant transformations of approaches over the last decade as far as general logic and influence mechanisms are concerned. However, the paper identifies trends towards growing politicisation and weaponisation of sociocultural influence. The conclusion is made that Britain’s foreign influence policies are in the process of the biggest upheaval over the last 25 years amidst funding cuts and more strict subordination to short-term national interests and political priorities. These changes are not unprecedented in terms of British foreign policy history, including the Thatcher era. Socio-cultural influence remains significant, and frequently essential London’s foreign policy tool. The British establishment makes attempts to readjust and sharpen the existing influence toolkit according to the logic of interstate rivalry. London effectively tries to return to previous historical epochs in the new international setting and altered global balance of power. These decisions appear to a great extent opportunistic and do not promise consistence and soundness to the chosen political course although they contribute to its growing unpredictability.

The Application of Augmented Reality in Simulation-Based Design Evaluations of Trauma Rooms.

This study examined the augmented reality (AR) application in design evaluations through an immersive experience of medical task simulations in combination with a full-scale physical mock-up of a trauma room. Augmented reality technology is emerging in various fields including architectural design. Traditionally, building physical mock-ups has been the most effective tool to involve end-users in design evaluations. However, AR can eliminate cost- and labor-intensive components of a physical mock-up by replacing them with holograms. Two simulation sessions with emergency department clinicians were conducted using AR. The research team collected user feedback through simulations and interviews. Clinicians' feedback was systematically categorized and summarized according to various design elements. The integration of mock-up and AR simulations enabled the evaluation of design elements that were previously unattainable. Examples include simulating color-coded floor boundaries and adjusting door widths, which enhanced clinicians' immersion and involvement in design changes. Interviews and analyses of video recordings captured from the clinicians' perspectives supported the design evaluations during simulations. Augmented reality has great potential to be used widely in the evaluation of healthcare environment design. Augmented reality is an innovative approach that can benefit end-users in interacting with a mix of real spaces and virtual components. It also introduces new ways of data collection and analysis to architectural design evaluation methods.

The birth of fashion as complex phenomenon: Eesthetic rereading of Frederick Charles Worth's practice

Frederick Charles Worth (1825–1895) is consensually regarded as a founder of haute couture. His business was accompanied by unprecedented marketing strategies. These strategies included also the person of dressmaker in order to change his social status. In accordance with this, dressmaking is no longer just a craft; it has begun to aspire to the position of art. This article wants to show that the process of establishing “the field of haute couture” (Bourdieu) cannot be described only in sociological terms but contains a substantial esthetic dimension. Our analysis of Worth's social practices reveals a series of dialectical relations that constitute objects of fashion as such. The new institutional framework of haute couture inevitably accelerates changes in the material design of garments, which at the same time supports their moral obsolescence. In the second step, we discuss Charles Baudelaire's attempt to characterize the nature of specifically modern art. Baudelaire's formulations emphasize a very similar dialectical structure of modern beauty, which is constituted by its inclination to transience and decay. In this sense, Worth's innovative practice itself produces the esthetic quality of a single apparel. So, we can read Worth's haute couture as an instance of Baudelairian modern art.

Optimizing stope design in a deeper mining zone at the Musselwhite Mine

ABSTRACT The PQ Deeps (PQD) is a production zone located at Newmont’s Musselwhite Mine in northern Ontario, Canada. Development started for PQD in late 2017, and the first stopes were mined starting in early 2021. Unlike most historical longitudinal stoping of narrower orebodies at Musselwhite, the PQD is a wider orebody following the plunge of a fold hinge and is extracted primarily by transverse stoping. Some geotechnical challenges were experienced during early stoping efforts, necessitating design changes throughout late 2021 and early 2022 to optimize the stope design. This work describes the mining methods and design changes to transverse PQD stoping based on geotechnical lessons learned during early stoping efforts.

Understanding EFL Teachers’ Occupational Anxiety under Double Reduction Policy

This study investigates the impact of China’s Double Reduction policy on the occupational anxiety (OA) and well-being of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in secondary schools in Shenzhen. Through interviews with six EFL teachers, the research identifies three main sources of increased workload: the introduction of after-school services, changes in homework design, and the expansion of teaching content. The findings reveal that these changes have led to significant stress, role ambiguity, and pressure from both parents and educational institutions. Despite the policy’s intent to reduce student workload, teachers reported an increase in their responsibilities, resulting in heightened OA and job dissatisfaction. The study also explores coping strategies, such as rest, relaxation, and institutional support like collective lesson planning and flexible work arrangements. However, it underscores the importance of systemic interventions, including professional development and clear policy implementation, to alleviate teacher stress. The research highlights the critical need for comprehensive support systems to safeguard teacher well-being and ensure the effective implementation of educational reforms.

Effects of Lane Imbalance on Capacity Drop and Emission in Expressway Merging Areas: A Simulation Analysis

Lane imbalance does not provide sufficient space for merging vehicles to adjust their speed and change lanes smoothly. This leads to improper driving behavior that disrupts mainline traffic flow stability, resulting in capacity drops and increased vehicle emissions. However, quantitative analyses, specifically the effects of lane imbalance on capacity and emissions, remain limited. Existing traffic simulation platforms struggle to capture the effects of geometric design changes on capacity. To address these gaps, we developed a simulation method incorporating interactions between geometric design and traffic flow demand into an XGBoost model, enhancing the predictive accuracy for driving behavior parameters. Implemented within the TESS NG platform, this model enables real-time adjustments in driving behavior parameters as traffic demand varies under different lane balance conditions. The simulation results indicated a 42.4% capacity drop and a 34.9% increase in CO2 emissions when the balanced merging area was shifted to lane imbalance. Conversely, shifting to lane balance increases capacity by 8.2% and reduces CO2 emissions by 39.8% under severe congestion conditions. Under lane imbalance, vehicle speeds are lower across all traffic demand levels. When the demand exceeds 1300 pcu/h/ln, lane changes occur closer to the end of the acceleration lane, with higher speed differentials. These insights underscore the potential of lane balance optimization to mitigate capacity drops and emissions, providing a valuable simulation approach for the design and evaluation of merging areas.

A multi-objective optimization model for cropland design considering profit, biodiversity, and ecosystem services

More sustainable agricultural methods are needed to alleviate the decreases in biodiversity and ecosystem services that have occurred because of industrial agriculture. One such method is the inclusion of alternative crops into croplands that can support biodiversity, reduce erosion and chemical runoff, and sequester carbon in the soil. However, the question of where such crops should be planted to balance competing economic and environmental objectives remains open. To this end, we develop a mixed-integer quadratically constrained program to optimize the layout of a cropland considering economic, biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, and water quality objectives. We include spatially varying fertilization as a decision variable in addition to crop establishment location. We further include the effect of core area and edges between different crops on biodiversity. To demonstrate the applicability of the model, we apply it to an example field, showing how the optimal cropland design changes as a decision-maker prioritizes different objectives and as edges have different impacts on biodiversity.

Climate Adaptation of Roads to Flooding Hazards—A Review

Flooding hazards due to climate change are increasingly becoming a frequent global occurrence. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive review of the various structural mitigation and adaptation strategies available to engineers and designers at various stages of road construction and rehabilitation to increase the resilience of roads to flooding damage. The criteria for categorising the various strategies available were the time of intervention with respect to the occurrence of the hazard. Thus, all studied strategies were separated into pre-construction design changes, post-construction mitigation and adaptation options like Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS). The main findings were that changing the specifications of commonly used materials can provide increased flood resilience, and a preliminary design for flooding can reduce post-flooding rehabilitation. The study can be used as a guide for the different options available to deliver a design that takes flooding into consideration.

Change Passport and Passport Application Electronics for Security and Convenience Service Immigration

Immigration is related to the traffic of people entering or leaving Indonesian territory and its supervision to maintain state sovereignty. Immigration functions include providing immigration services, law enforcement, and maintaining the security and comfort of the country, while contributing to the development of community welfare. With the increase in crimes involving fake identities or misuse of other people's identities, immigration must be stricter in checking travel documents used by Indonesian citizens and foreign nationals when entering and leaving Indonesian territory. Therefore, immigration introduced a new passport design and implemented the use of electronic passports. The research method used in this research is a descriptive qualitative method. The research results show that changes in passport design can increase state sovereignty and security, because the new design is difficult to imitate. This can be seen from the materials used in making the new passports as well as the designs that highlight elements of Indonesian culture. Applying for an electronic passport does require higher costs than a regular passport, but offers advantages that conventional passports do not have, including a better level of security. Using an electronic passport also makes it easier for the holder to undergo immigration service administration because this passport uses a biometric system that only needs to be scanned.

Research on optimizing the propagation path search of individualized products with multi-source design changes

Abstract The individualization and diversification of customer requirements are gradually affecting the product design and manufacturing process, and the production mode of enterprises is evolving towards customer-oriented mass individualized customization. The change in customer requirements is inevitable in the process of individualized product design, which is the key factor leading to the change in product design. This paper establishes the standard of individualized product parts and components association relationship through correlation analysis, and constructs the individualized product parts and components association network model based on the complex network theory; on this basis, comprehensively considering the influence of parts nodes and association relationship in the complex network, it calculates the intensity of change propagation through the node importance degree and the probability of change propagation, and carries out the search for multi-source design change propagation paths through the improved ant colony algorithm, and evaluates the influence of the change of customer requirement by taking the change rate of the network as the evaluation index, to help enterprises to decide the request.

INVESTIGATING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN INVESTMENT INTENTIONS AND LAND STATUS

The subject of investigating the connection between investment intentions and land status is analyzing the main procedures for preparation, approval and implementation of development plans with the objective of changing the purpose designation of agricultural land into urbanized territory. By using a project for a Detailed Development Plans – Plan for Regulation and Construction, an examination is performed of the processes related to the preparation and coordination of the plan, including the change of purpose designation of the agricultural land into land for non-agricultural uses, in accordance with the legislation.

Barriers and enablers to shared decision-making in assessment and management of risk: A qualitative interview study with people using mental health services

The assessment and management of risk are fundamental to mental health care provision and are considered high-priority tasks by professionals worldwide. Clinical guidance recommends for risk to be identified and managed collaboratively with the individual, but studies indicate that this may not be happening in practice. The aim of this study was to identify the barriers and enablers to collaborative risk assessment and management based on shared decision-making from service users’ perspectives. A qualitative approach using semi‐structured interviews was employed. The Theoretical Domains Framework for behaviour change, which consists of fourteen theoretical domains that have been found to influence behaviour, informed data collection and analysis. Thirteen service users living with severe mental illness took part in an interview. The majority of participants reported not having been involved in the identification of their risk and most were unaware of the information included in their risk management plan. Perceived barriers to involvement were power dynamics between professionals and service users, difficulty talking about sensitive risk topics, and the emotional impact of engaging in these discussions. Perceived enabling factors for involvement included the possibility of gaining a better understanding of risk issues, and discussion about risk enhancing the individual’s ability to maintain their own well-being and safety. Most participants expressed a willingness to be involved in shared decision-making and believed that their friends and family would enable them to be involved. The findings of this study offer valuable insights for targeting behaviour change in future intervention design that seeks to increase shared decision-making in risk assessment and management with individuals with severe mental illness.

Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) outcomes of unibody and single/double docking limb endografts in Medicare beneficiaries between 2012 and 2018.

The evaluation of perioperative and long term outcomes for endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) using anatomic (unibody) and proximal neck fixated (docking limbs) endografts across consecutive time cohorts. This study compares the outcomes of EVAR in Medicare patients stratified by mode of fixation. All patients who underwent EVAR between 2012 and 2018 were identified in the Medicare database. Anatomic fixation (AF) and proximal fixation (PF) grafts were differentiated using Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. The AF population was divided into three-time cohorts based on iterative changes in graft design: Cohort 1: (01/01/2012-20/07/2014); Cohort 2: (21/07/2014-09/05/2016); and Cohort 3: (10/05/2016-31/12/2017). The PF cohort was similarly divided into these three periods. Outcomes were evaluated through 31/12/2020 and included all-cause mortality, aortic rupture, and aortic-related reintervention. 32,031 patients underwent EVAR during the study period; 4729 were AF and 27,302 were PF. There were more women (p < .001) and patients with peripheral vascular disease (PVD) (p < .001) in the AF group. There were no group differences in perioperative outcomes. In Cohort 1, there was a higher rate of reintervention (11.9% vs 7.6%; p < .001) and aortic rupture (5.3% vs 4.0%; p = .019) in the AF group compared to the PF group. In Cohort 2, reintervention, aortic rupture, and reintervention rates were similar between the two groups (p = NS). In Cohort 3, the reintervention and aortic rupture rates were similar between the two groups (p = NS). The higher rates of aortic rupture and reintervention seen in the AF group in Cohort 1 when compared with the PF group did not persist in Cohorts 2 and 3. This suggests that improvements in graft design may have led to durability which is similar to that of PF grafts. However, late aneurysm related complications are inherent risks after EVAR and long-term surveillance remains necessary.

Research on the Application of Smart Home in Interior Design

Abstract: With the rapid development of science and technology, the smart home in the field of interior design came to prominence. This paper discusses the application of smart home in interior design in the current environment. Smart home integration of advanced technology, covering intelligent lighting, home appliances, security, and environmental control systems. It provides designers with new creative ideas, challenges the traditional design mode, and promotes the perfect combination of technology, and art to meet people's pursuit of a high quality of life. For the residents, a smart home brings a new life experience, providing a comfortable, convenient, safe and personalized living environment. Therefore, this paper combines the new concepts, methods, and elements brought by smart home to interior design, analyses how smart home injects new vitality and innovative elements into interior design, and finds that the smart home opens up new dimensions, enriches the functional connotation, provides aesthetic inspiration, and changes the design process and method for interior design, that smart home is of great significance in promoting interior design innovation and change.

"A Lot of Moving Parts": A Case Study of Open-Source Hardware Design Collaboration in the Thingiverse Community

Open-source is a decentralized and collaborative method of development that encourages open contribution from an extensive and undefined network of individuals. Although commonly associated with software development (OSS), the open-source model extends to hardware development, forming the basis of open-source hardware development (OSH). Compared to OSS, OSH is relatively nascent, lacking adequate tooling support from existing platforms and best practices for efficient collaboration. Taking a necessary step towards improving OSH collaboration, we conduct a detailed case study of DrawBot, a successful OSH project that remarkably fostered a long-term collaboration on Thingiverse - a platform not explicitly intended for complex collaborative design. Through analyzing comment threads and design changes over the course of the project, we found how collaboration occurred, the challenges faced, and how the DrawBot community managed to overcome these obstacles. Beyond offering a detailed account of collaboration practices and challenges, our work contributes best practices, design implications, and practical implications for OSH project maintainers, platform builders, and researchers, respectively. With these insights and our publicly available dataset, we aim to foster more effective and efficient collaborative design in OSH projects.

Understanding Online Discussion Across Difference: Insights from Gun Discourse on Reddit

When discussing difficult topics online, is it common to meaningfully engage with people from diverse perspectives? Why or why not? Could features of the online environment be redesigned to encourage civil conversation across difference? To investigate these questions, we need to explore them in a particular context. In this paper, we study discussions of gun policy on Reddit, with the overarching goal of developing insights into the potential of the internet to support understanding across difference. We use two methods: a clustering analysis of Reddit posts to contribute insights about what people discuss, and an interview study of twenty Reddit users to help us understand why certain kinds of conversation take place and others don't. We find that the discussion of gun politics falls into three groups: conservative pro-gun, liberal pro-gun, and liberal anti-gun. Each type of group has its own characteristic topics. While our subjects state that they would be willing to engage with others across the ideological divide, in practice they rarely do. Subjects are siloed into like-minded subreddits through a two-pronged effect, where they are simultaneously pushed away from opposing-view communities while actively seeking belonging in like-minded ones. Another contributing factor is Reddit's "karma" mechanism: fear of being downvoted and losing karma points and social approval of peers causes our subjects to hesitate to say anything in conflict with group norms. The pseudonymous nature of discussion on Reddit plays a complex role, with some subjects finding it freeing and others fearing reprisal from others not bound by face-to-face norms of politeness. Our subjects believe that content moderation can help ameliorate these issues; however, our findings suggest that moderators need different tools to do so effectively. We conclude by suggesting platform design changes that might increase discussion across difference.

Computer simulation of the truck cabin tests to find ways to meet the requirements of the UNECE Regulation 29

BACKGROUND: Ensuring the required level of passive safety of trucks is a relevant task. To solve this problem, it is necessary to use computer simulation methods. AIM: Search for the ways to ensure the passive safety of trucks by choosing the appropriate cabin design. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During the study, the method of virtual simulation of the truck cabin tests was used in accordance with the requirements of the UNECE Regulation 29. RESULTS: A simulation model of a truck cabin has been developed, which makes it possible to conduct the computer simulation of the tests according to the UNECE Regulation 29. The main requirement of the UNECE Regulation 29 is retaining sufficient space in the cabin to accommodate the driver’s dummy inside it after its testing. As a part of the study, the properties of the material (steel) used for manufacturing of prototype cabins of the truck under development were determined, and the tested specimens were obtained by dissecting the prototype of the cabin, so the obtained results take into account the technological history of the material. The obtained data on the properties of the materials were used in the development of the simulation model of the cabin. The developed and used simulation model takes into account all the design features of the cabin under study, including the location and properties of welding points. Various options of cabin design changes and their impact on the ability to meet the requirements of the UNECE Regulations 29 are investigated. It has been found that it is not possible to fully comply with the requirements of the UNECE Regulation 29 only by increasing (within reasonable limits) the thickness of individual elements of the cabin frame and/or using high-strength steel for their manufacturing. Based on the analysis of the deformation of the prototype cabin frame during the Test C according to the UNECE Regulation 29 Revision 2, proposals for changes to the cabin design to meet the requirement of the UNECE Regulation 29 are formulated. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate the prospects of the proposed changes to the cabin design.

Is MAGEC X better than earlier designs of magnetically controlled growing rod: an explant study.

Determine the performance of MAGEC X rods through retrieval analysis and comparison with clinical data. A multicentre explant database was searched to identify cases using MAGEC X device. Clinical and surgical data was gathered prospectively. Prior to rod disassembly, rods underwent testing with an external remote controller to measure the force output. Eleven cases from 6 centres were identified. Implantation occurred at mean age 6.9years with mean duration of implantation 42months. Dual rod constructs were used in all but one case, providing 21 MAGEC X rods for explant analysis. Tissue metallosis was identified at revision surgery in 8/11 cases (73%). Of the 21 rods, 13/21 (62%) produced no force while 8/21 (38%) produced the force stated by the manufacturer. Endcap separation was seen in 5/21 (24%) rods. Where full disassembly was possible, 13/14 (93%) rods had an intact locking pin. Average rod growth was 18mm (range 2-45mm), equivalent to 5.1mm per year. Wear debris was found within 20/21 (95%) MAGEC X rods. Despite the substantial design changes with MAGEC X tissue metallosis was seen in most cases; most explanted MAGEC X rods had lengthened only partially and produced no force output. While the previous issue of locking pin fracture appears to have been mitigated with MAGEC X, there are multiple other and new failure modes, such as endcap separation. Overall MAGEC X appears to give little improvement over earlier iterations of the rod.

Clinical and radiological results of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty with or without lateralization as revision procedure for failed arthroplasty

BackgroundAs reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA) becomes a common treatment option in the revision setting, common problems associated with Grammont’s design such as scapular notching, instability, and rotator cuff weakening occur. Design changes associated with superior outcomes in primary rTSA, such as glenoid or humeral lateralization have not yet been examined in the revision settings. The purpose of this consecutive series of revision rTSA is to evaluate the clinical and radiological short-term results after aseptic and septic revision rTSA and explore potential benefits of metallic glenoid and humerus lateralization. MethodsIn this study, patients treated with a rTSA between 2014 and 2020 after failed shoulder arthroplasty were included. Fifty-nine consecutive patients were divided into comparative groups using lateralized rTSA with metallic baseplate augmentation (latrTSA) and additional humeral lateralization using a 145° onlay curved stem (bi-latrTSA); or no baseplate offset with a Grammont-type 155° stem (non-latrTSA). Further, outcome of post-infection revision rTSAs was compared to aseptic loosening. Constant-Murley-Score (CS), Subjective-Shoulder-Value (SSV), shoulder range of motion (ROM) including Apley’s scratch test, abduction strength and pain levels were assessed. Radiographs were reviewed for implant loosening, scapular notching, fractures and osteolysis. Lateralization (LSA) and Distalization Shoulder Angle (DSA) were measured at final follow-up. ResultsThirty-eight patients showed significant improvement in all functional measurements at final two-year follow-up compared to baseline (p<0.01). There were no significant differences in favor of glenoid or bipolar lateralization. However, no scapular notching was seen in patients with both humeral and glenoid lateraliazion (non-latrTSA: 33%; latrTSA: 8%; bi-latrTSA: 0%; p=0.103), with no signs of implant loosening. Patients with bi-latrTSA showed significantly greater LSA (p=0.017); DSA was lower, but not significantly (p=0.230). Post-infectious rTSA (n=17; 45%) presented better internal rotation (p=0.036). The overall complication rate was 16% and 8% leading to revision. ConclusionRTSA is a viable option for revision cases and presents good results after failed shoulder arthroplasty, including the infected shoulder. The effect of metallic augmentation on clinical results is not comparable to those in literature in primary rTSA setting due to advanced preoperative medialization. However, scapular notching was prevented in all cases with bipolar lateralization.

Enhancing Bulb Turbine Performance Assessing Air Injection for Vibration Mitigation and Hydrofoil Cavitation

Small hydro technology is playing a crucial role in advancing sustainable, clean energy policies as part of the global hydro development strategy. Its contribution to social and economic development is becoming more prominent, particularly in ensuring electricity access for rural communities and supporting industrial expansion. The main causes of bulb turbine failures under high operating conditions are frequently attributed to variations in pressure in the draft tubes, which are aggravated when a spinning vortex rope is formed under load operation. Different fluid injection techniques, namely compressed air and water jet injection, address these issues and reduce the negative results of cavitation. The investigation covers the flow visualization on the suction side of a single hydrofoil utilizing a cavitation tunnel and a bulb turbine. This study assesses the effectiveness of compressed air injection in reducing vibration generated by cavitation in bulb turbines. Positive results of the experimental studies suggest a decrease in noise and vibration by air injection that prevents oscillations of the vortex rope. This research also considers how the hydrofoil design of bulb runner blades influences flow characteristics. Hence, it provides knowledge on cavitation structures in diverse cavitation numbers. Different studies that compare the original and modified hydrofoil designs reveal remarkable improvements that may be due to changes in the key parameters of the hydrofoil, such as later cavitation initiation and reduced intensity. To obtain the optimal output of a bulb turbine by considering air injection for vibration reduction and hydrofoil design changes to limit the negative effect of cavitation, the Reynolds number and cavitation number are to be defined. This multidisciplinary approach possesses enormous potential to increase the reliability and efficiency of bulb turbines in challenging operating conditions.