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The purpose of this paper is to present design research investigating the development of sensory textiles with embedded electronics to support the wellbeing of people with late stage dementia in residential care.

The research presented is qualitative and uses a mixed method approach informed by grounded practical theory and positive design methodologies. It uses an inclusive and participatory co-design process involving people with dementia and their families with an interdisciplinary team of experts.

Both the co-design process and the artefacts developed have been beneficial in supporting wellbeing. The textile artefacts have been found to soothe, distract and comfort people with dementia. They have also been shown to facilitate in the moment conversational bridges between family members and carers with persons with dementia.

The findings are based on a small cohort of participants, observational reports and descriptive accounts from family members and carers.

The paper proposes ways in which simple hand-crafted textiles can be used beneficially to support the wellbeing of people with late stage dementia. It provides examples of how technology can be used to personalise and extend the sensory properties of the artefacts created.

It promotes an inclusive co-design methodology involving care professionals, carers and people with dementia with designers and technologists.

The paper describes new ways of extending sensory properties of textiles through the integration of technology.

Examines a team system using a case study approach in a sewn products plant that transitioned to the team system almost ten years ago. The theoretical framework utilized in the analysis of data was participative management, wherein it has been found that there is a relationship between employee knowledge and performance. Specific themes that arose were successes in the transition to the new team system, including benefits to the plant, and ongoing challenges of the new team system. Data were based on 16 in‐depth personal interviews, observations, written documents, and informal conversations with plant employees. The key elements of success in the transition were commitment by upper level managers, education for all employees, and the establishment of open communication among employees and with management. The team system resulted in a number of benefits and challenges to the plant as a whole.

The purpose of this article is to help acquaint librarians with some of the major resources available regarding Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAS/FAE).

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.

Many manufacturers have implemented a participative, team‐based approach to remain competitive in this global arena. Numerous studies have extolled the competitive advantages of implementing this approach. Few studies, however, have examined employees’ perceptions of participative management. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine issues of culture change from the employees’ point of view by investigating the transition from piece rate to team‐based production in a sewn‐products plant. Using the case study approach, 16 in‐depth interviews were conducted, observations were made, and written documents were analyzed. Employees’ perceptions of their work environment prior to the transition, the transition itself, and the resulting new corporate culture are discussed. The new corporate culture is described as an open, participative environment built on trust where employees feel empowered to make decisions for the betterment of their team and the plant as a whole. Negative outcomes of the participative approach are also addressed.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of the novelist Charles Dickens.

Several biographies and articles about the life of Charles Dickens were examined, to see if there was evidence that he experienced mental health problems.

While Dickens has been acclaimed for his ability to authentically portray the living conditions of the poor in the nineteenth-century Britain, there is comparatively little historical record of the fact that he may have experienced bipolar disorder. This paper suggests that he displayed many of the characteristic symptoms of bipolar.

The story of Dickens’ own childhood is an amazing example of personal resilience. It no doubt enhanced the quality of his writing, but it may also have “sown the seeds” of a later mental illness.

So much attention has been focused on the colourful characters from Dickens’ novels, but little on the problems of the man himself.

The story of Charles Dickens is as fascinating as any of the fictional characters he created, if not even more intriguing. His story confirms the link between writers, creativity and mood disorders.

Given the huge attention and worldwide acclaim paid to the books of Charles Dickens, which have inspired numerous films as well as musicals, it is surprising how little attention has been paid to the author himself and his struggles with mental illness.

The ramifications of assistive technology for both current and future service provision are wide. In recent years, policy makers have become increasingly aware of the potential of these services to maintain older and disabled people in their own homes. The purpose of this paper is to report on a literature review and provide illustrations of how the evidence can be used to underpin the development of assistive technology services for older and disabled people and disabled children. The aim is to support the development of user‐focused, accessible services.