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Wheelchair users face great difficulty in transferring themselves from one surface to another, for example from wheelchair to a toilet commode. In such cases, mostly a caregiver’s assistance may be required, but it affects one’s dignity. The purpose of this paper is to develop a robotic self-transfer device, which is aimed at offering privacy and independence to people with lower limb disabilities in performing daily activities.

The device, attached to a powered wheelchair, is useful in transferring a user from a wheelchair to a toilet commode or any other surface following simple and natural transfer procedure without the need of any caregiver. The user can achieve transfer by operating joysticks. The device employs two linear actuators and a motor to accomplish the transfer. Trials were carried out to test the performance of the device by involving potential beneficiaries.

The device could successfully transfer the participants from a wheelchair to a chair with less effort in less than a minute. The results of the trials show that the participants felt comfortable in using the device. It was also found that the device is superior to other existing transfer systems in terms of comfort and operation.

The existing self-transfer systems are alternative solutions that serve the purpose of mobility coupled with self-transfer. Instead of developing an alternative mobility solution, this paper proposes a novel design of a self-transfer device that can be used as an attachment to wheelchair.

Although mobile devices are ubiquitous among employees, their awareness and readiness to use mobile technologies for competence development is still not widespread and therefore requires further exploration. The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual model based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to explain the determinants that affect employees’ intention to use mobile devices and software for knowledge transfer during the process of knowledge management.

A conceptual model based on the UTAUT with new variables concerning relative usability (RU) and user autonomy (UA) and new connections between the determinants was developed as a result of a subject matter literature review. A structural equation modelling approach was used to validate the model on the basis of data collected via a survey collected from 371 employees from 21 sectors, both public and private.

The UTAUT model extended by new variables like RU and UA explains employee acceptance of mobile technologies for knowledge transfer reasonably well. New proposed variables highlighted that the usability of technology compared to other solutions and user autonomy in the selection and the use of applications have the strongest impact on the employees’ intention to use mobile devices and software for knowledge transfer.

This model explains the 55 per cent behavioral intention of employees to use mobile technologies for knowledge transfer. Even though it is quite high in terms of acceptance theories, some new variables should be explored. Furthermore, study does not verify whether m-learning acceptance for knowledge transfer is sector-specific.

Mobile technologies used for knowledge transfer by employees should allow for high UA through their ability to select solutions that they find convenient, use of preferred platforms, personalize applications and utilize devices and software in various environments. They should not be simplified and should have the same functionality and efficiency of use as alternative solutions like web and desktop applications, even if additional effort to learn them would be required. Mobile technologies that take into account UA and RU support the process of employees capturing, distributing and effectively using knowledge.

The elaborated model provides a valuable solution with practical implications for increasing mobile technologies acceptance for knowledge transfer. The study results contribute both to knowledge management and technology acceptance research fields by introducing two new determinants for the acceptance of technologies in knowledge transfer, such as UA and RU with several additional connections between existing UTAUT variables.

Although conformable devices are commonly designed to couple with the human body for personalized and localized medicine, their applications are expanding rapidly. This paper aims to delineate this expansion and predict greater implications in diverse fields.

Today’s device technologies continue to face fundamental obstacles preventing their seamless integration with target objects to effectively access, evaluate and alter self-specific physical patterns, while still providing physical comfort and enabling continuous data collection. Due to their extreme mechanical compliance, conformable devices permit the query of signals occurring at interfaces so as to decode and encode biological, chemical and mechanical patterns with high resolution, precision and accuracy. These unique and versatile capabilities allow for a marked change in the approach to tackling scientific questions, with the ability to address societal challenges at large.

Here, this study highlights the current state of these devices in a wide range of fields, such as interactive teaching, textiles, robotics, buildings and infrastructure, agriculture, climate and space, and further forecasts essential features of these devices in the near future.

This study justifies conformable devices’ growing utility through a novel quantitative analysis methodology that indexes peer-reviewed journal articles based on specific keywords, whereby this study tracks keyword frequency over time across specific fields in conjunction with conformability-like topics. The resulting trends’ trajectories provide the foundation for this study’s future projections. This study concludes with a perspective on the possible challenges concomitant with a ubiquitous presence of these technologies, including manufacturing, wireless communication, storage, compression, privacy and sharing of data, environmental sustainability, avoidance of inequality and bias and collaboration between stakeholders at all levels of impact.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the validation of the usefulness of cooling systems containing Peltier modules for cooling power devices based on measurements of the influence of selected factors on the value of thermal resistance of such a cooling system.

A cooling system containing a heat-sink, a Peltier module and a fan was built by the authors and the measurements of temperatures and thermal resistance in various supply conditions of the Peltier module and the fan were carried out and discussed.

Conclusions from the research carried out answer the question if the use of Peltier modules in active cooling systems provides any benefits comparing with cooling systems containing just passive heat-sinks or conventional active heat-sinks constructed of a heat-sink and a fan.

The research carried out is the preliminary stage to asses if a compact thermal model of the investigated cooling system can be formulated.

In the paper, the original results of measurements and calculations of parameters of a cooling system containing a Peltier module and an active heat-sink are presented and discussed. An influence of power dissipated in the components of the cooling system on its efficiency is investigated.

At present, China’s industrial spatial layout faces the predicament of over-agglomeration of Eastern China industries and the near disintegration of industrial structure in the central and western regions. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Based on the perspective of differentiated inter-regional labor mobility, this paper constructed a model framework of quadratic sub-utility quasi-linear preference utility function, and conducted model deduction and numerical simulation on causal factors of this spatial imbalance along the two dimensions of individual and regional welfare.

The study finds that in the long run, industrial spatial layout imposes a certain threshold limit on the portfolio proportion of differentiated labor. The dilemma of China’s industrial spatial layout is attributable to the deviation of the market’s optimal agglomeration from the social optimal agglomeration, and to the disfunction of Eastern China’s role as an intermediary between the global and the domestic value chain.

To resolve this predicament of industrial layout, the unitary welfare compensation based on fiscal transfer payment has to be switched to a more comprehensive approach giving consideration to industrial rebalancing.

This paper provides an overview of five types of assembly equipment and indicates where each type is typically suited to small parts assembly operations

ONE of the reasons why the aircraft industry has made prodigious achievements during the last years is because it has always been quick to realise the potential of a new design concept or production technique.

The use of standard modules is often suggested as one means of increasing the flexibility and lowering the cost of programmable handling systems. However at present there is a lack of modules available to the industrial user. In an attempt to overcome this lack IPA — Stuttgart have developed two new modular systems.

The mechanical facilities of large-scale buildings have many complexities, so facility management (FM) encounters a massive amount of information during the operation, and inspection is not implemented efficiently. This study aims to integrate building information modeling (BIM), augmented reality (AR) and sensors to mitigate the operation and maintenance (O&M) problems of mechanical facilities by establishing intelligent management.

The component-level data of an under-construction commercial complex were implemented in a 3D model in Autodesk Revit and Navisworks. Then, sensors were installed in mechanical facilities to provide vital online information for the model. Moreover, Unity was used on Vuforia for the AR visualization of the devices.

It was found that FM not only could obtain building information but can also visualize the functioning of mechanical facilities online through a 3D model in BIM. Thus, in the case of a failure, the AR platform is used on tablets, smartphones and smart glasses to show the technician how mechanical facilities can be repaired and maintained.

Previous studies focused on some factors and processes to improve mechanical FM and did not cover the entire aspect. However, this method reduces the average maintenance time, extends the lives of mechanical devices and prevents unpredicted failures.

This paper aims to discuss the privacy and security concerns that have risen from the permissions model in the Android operating system, along with two shortcomings that have not been adequately addressed.

The impact of the applications’ evolutionary increment of permission requests from both the user’s and the developer’s point of view is studied, and finally, a series of remedies against the erosion of users’ privacy is proposed.

The results of this work indicate that, even though providing access to personal data of smartphone users is by definition neither problematic nor unlawful, today’s smartphone operating systems do not provide an adequate level of protection for the user’s personal data. However, there are several ideas that can significantly improve the situation and mitigate privacy concerns of users of smart devices.

The proposed approach was evaluated through an examination of the Android’s permission model, although issues arise in other operating systems. The authors’ future intention is to conduct a user study to measure the user’s awareness and concepts surrounding privacy concerns to empirically investigate the above-mentioned suggestions.

The proposed suggestions in this paper, if adopted in practice, could significantly improve the situation and mitigate privacy concerns of users of smart devices.

The recommendations proposed in this paper would strongly enhance the control of users over their personal data and improve their ability to distinguish legitimate apps from malware or grayware.

This paper emphasises two shortcomings of the permissions models of mobile operating systems which, in authors’ view, have not been adequately addressed to date and propose an inherent way for apps and other entities of the mobile computing ecosystem to commit to responsible and transparent practices on mobile users’ privacy.