Search results
1 – 10 of 107Martin Langner and David Sanders
Simple and affordable systems are described to assist wheelchair users in steering their wheelchairs across sloping ground. The systems can be attached to many standard powered…
Abstract
Simple and affordable systems are described to assist wheelchair users in steering their wheelchairs across sloping ground. The systems can be attached to many standard powered wheelchairs. Wheelchairs often steer by having two swivelling caster wheels but problems with this configuration occur when a wheelchair is driven along sloping ground because the casters can swivel in the direction of the slope. Gravity then causes the wheelchair to start an unwanted turn or ‘veer’ and the chair goes in an unintended direction. This situation is exacerbated for switch users, as switches cannot provide fine control to trim and compensate. Early experiments demonstrated that calibrating wheelchair controllers for straight‐line balance and optimising motor‐compensation did not solve this problem. Caster angle was selected to provide feedback to the wheelchair controllers. At the point when veer is first detected, a wheelchair has already begun to alter course and the job of the correction system is to minimise this drift from the desired course. A rolling road was created as an assessment tool and trials with both the test bed and in real situations were conducted to evaluate the new systems. The small swivel detector that was created could be successfully attached to caster swivel bearings. The new system was successful, robust and was not affected by changeable parameters. Although primarily intended for switch users, the methods can be applied to users with proportional controls.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to develop an electronic solution to effectively lock swivelling wheel steering positions to driver‐control. Simple and affordable systems are…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an electronic solution to effectively lock swivelling wheel steering positions to driver‐control. Simple and affordable systems are described to assist forklift users in steering their walkie type forklifts or pallet jacks across sloping ground.
Design/methodology/approach
A rolling road was created as an assessment tool and trials with both the test bed and in real situations were conducted to evaluate the new systems. The small swivel detector that was created could be successfully attached to swivelling wheel swivel bearings.
Findings
The new system was successful, robust and was not affected by changeable parameters. The simple systems assisted hand truck operators in steering their forklifts across sloping ground without veering off course. The systems overcame the problems associated with forklifts that steer using two swivelling wheels and meant that less work was required from hand truck operators as their forklifts tended to travel in the desired direction
Research limitations/implications
Experiments demonstrated that calibrating forklift controllers for straight‐line balance and optimizing motor‐compensation did not solve this problem. Instead, swivelling wheel angle was selected to provide feedback. At the point when veer is first detected, a forklift has already begun to alter course and the job of the correction system is to minimize this drift from the desired course.
Practical implications
The forklifts and pallet jacks often steer by having swivelling wheels but problems with this configuration occur when a forklift is driven along sloping ground because they can swivel in the direction of the slope. Gravity then causes the forklift or pallet jack to start an unwanted turn or “veer” and the vehicle goes in an unintended direction. This situation is exacerbated for vehicles with switch controls, as switches cannot provide fine control to trim and compensate.
Originality/value
Each year in the United States, over 100 employees are killed and 36,000 are seriously injured in accidents involving forklift trucks and pallet carriers. This is the second leading cause of occupational fatalities in “industrial” type workplaces. The research aims to make the use of this type of equipment safer and the systems can be attached to many standard forklifts and pallet jacks.
Details
Keywords
David A. Sanders, Martin Langner and Giles E. Tewkesbury
The purpose of this paper is to present powered‐wheelchair transducers and systems that provide more control, reduced veer on slopes, and improved energy conservation, while…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present powered‐wheelchair transducers and systems that provide more control, reduced veer on slopes, and improved energy conservation, while reducing effort. They are especially significant for people with movement disorders who lack sufficient hand‐grasp and release ability or sufficient targeting skill to use joysticks.
Design/methodology/approach
Laboratory test rigs are created to test proportional switches and teach potential users. Then, trials are conducted with a rolling road and in real situations. Caster angle‐measurement is selected to provide feedback to minimize drift away from a chosen course and an electronic solution was created to match driver control to caster‐steering‐position. A case study is described as an example.
Findings
Results and advantages are presented from changing from using a set of digital‐switches to a set of new variable‐switches and then adding a sensor system to prevent veer on slopes. Systems have been tested for nearly two years and shown to assist powered‐wheelchair‐users with poor targeting skills.
Research limitations/implications
The research used wheelchairs with caster‐wheels but the systems could easily be used on other wheelchairs.
Practical implications
Simple input‐devices are presented that isolate gross motor function and are tolerant to involuntary movements (proportional‐switches). A sensor system is presented that assists users in steering across sloping or uneven ground.
Originality/value
Proportional‐switches and sensors are shown to reduce veer and provide more control over turn and forward speed and turn radius while reducing frustration and improving energy conservation. The simple and affordable systems could be created and attached to many standard powered‐wheelchairs in many organisations.
Details
Keywords
O. van der Veer and J.P. Kooger
For seventy‐five literature searches on food science recorded, in forty or more sources consulted (primarily abstract journals and documentation centres) the references were…
Abstract
For seventy‐five literature searches on food science recorded, in forty or more sources consulted (primarily abstract journals and documentation centres) the references were found. The searches were done between 1969 and 1975 and comprised 10,764 references. A breakdown was made for six arbitrarily chosen areas of food science: agriculture, microbiology, chemistry, engineering, processing and products. With the aid of discrimination analysis we determined which of the sources need to be consulted in each area if a reasonable degree of exhaustiveness of coverage is to be achieved (∼ 95 per cent of that achieved in our searches). Precious studies indicate the inadequacy of individual sources in food science. Our quantitative study confirms these findings. Of the 10,764 references, as many as 8,737 (81 per cent) were unique to one source. Non‐unique references were seldom cited in more than two or three sources. In all, thirty of the forty‐odd sources are ‘indispensable’ for at least one of the six areas. Although the results are influenced to some extent by the field of interest of our laboratory, it was concluded that reliance on just one or two key sources in the food area is unjustified, irrespective of the search topic. The results may help in the development of future search strategies and in the choice of abstract journals for special libraries.
The paper aims to understand and assess architecture students' experiences of online teaching during the initial lockdown caused by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to understand and assess architecture students' experiences of online teaching during the initial lockdown caused by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic between March–June 2020. The exploratory study was conducted across two architectural engineering departments of two separate campuses of the same not-for-profit, non-governmental higher education institution in Cairo, Egypt, focusing on two course streams within their architectural curriculum; design-studio-based courses (DC) and technology courses (TC).
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods approach was used, where a questionnaire-based survey was developed to gather qualitative and quantitative data based on perceptions of a sample of 245 students. The survey quantitatively queried five dimensions related to students' learning experiences and qualitatively sought to evaluate both the positive experiences and challenges the students experienced.
Findings
Findings outline that students' experiences were neutral but veered toward the positive end of the scale. Three factors appear to have affected students' learning experiences; students' reliance on educational technologies, the stage of architectural education students were enrolled in when they went into lockdown, and finally, quality and timing of feedback received. While challenges were faced during transition to the digital realm, these may have compelled students to take ownership of the students' own knowledge construction.
Originality/value
Results provide a nuanced understanding of how students dealt with this critical transformation in architectural pedagogy at a unique moment in history, highlighting merits that could have an everlasting impact on design education during and after times of pandemic.
Details
Keywords
Bharati Mohapatra, Sanjana Mohapatra and Sanjay Mohapatra
This chapter presents a cultural re-interpretation of race/ethnicity and sexuality in the American academy from the perspective of a gay man originally from India settled in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter presents a cultural re-interpretation of race/ethnicity and sexuality in the American academy from the perspective of a gay man originally from India settled in the United States for more than 22 years. The reflection is based on experiences in graduate education in the United States during the closing decade of the 20th century.
Methodology/approach
The author employs a personal critical narrative, gaining insights and developing an alternative “voice” of race/ethnicity and sexuality other than what gets reported in the mainstream media and contrary to stereotyped representations. It involved resisting real and/or imagined lapses emerging in Asian-Indian contexts in areas such as ethnic gender role differentiation, heterosexism, improper academic practices, and unethical intellectual property infringement, while at the same time questioning the limitations of American gay white hegemonic dictates in a journey of self-discovery and self-growth.
Findings
The chapter identifies select strategies in the provision of information services that, had they been available during the author’s graduate education, would have better addressed (and supported) efforts to deconstruct and understand perceptions of unjust/prejudiced behaviors. The insights are meant to provide future directions to both individuals and institutions that are coping with similar needs, situations, and perceptions of people who are stuck between a rock and hard place owing to intersections in their multiple (and seemingly conflicting) identities (e.g., based on race/ethnicity and sexuality). The chapter calls for a more inclusive understanding of diversity-information-leadership intersections to better respond to the needs of such marginalized individuals and communities.
Details
Keywords
Nimesh P. Bhojak, Suresh N. Patel and Mohammadali K. Momin
Digital healthcare once again emerges due to pandemic (Covid-19). Digital healthcare can be minimising the issue of accessibility, availability, accuracy and affordability of…
Abstract
Digital healthcare once again emerges due to pandemic (Covid-19). Digital healthcare can be minimising the issue of accessibility, availability, accuracy and affordability of healthcare service during a pandemic. Digital healthcare playsa significant role to provide healthcare equity during the pandemic. This article presents the current trends and scenario of digital healthcare with a focus on health equity. The main objective of this chapter is to review the four aces of health equity in the digital healthcare literature. The scope and challenges faced by the policymakers to implementation of digital healthcare to improve health equity. This chapter considers the hybrid literature review based on the bibliometric and the systematic literature based on the various theme, sub-theme, concept and context-related health equity through digital healthcare. This study provides the previous and current research trends and preposition for the future researcher, healthcare professional, policymakers and digital healthcare innovators to invent the tool which leads the health equity through the digital healthcare in the healthcare.
Details
Keywords
Deepayan Gope, Prakash Chandra Gope and Aruna Thakur
This paper aims to deal with the study of interaction between multiple cracks in an aluminum alloy under static loading. Self-similar as well as non-self-similar crack growth has…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to deal with the study of interaction between multiple cracks in an aluminum alloy under static loading. Self-similar as well as non-self-similar crack growth has been observed which depends on the relative crack positions defined by crack offset distance and crack tip distance. On the basis of experimental observations, the conditions for crack coalescence, crack shielding, crack interaction, crack initiation, etc. are discussed with respect to crack position parameters. Considering crack tip distance, crack offset distance, crack size and crack inclination with loading axis as input parameter and crack initiation direction as output parameter, an artificial neural network (ANN) model is developed. The model results were then compared with the experimental results. It was observed that the model predicts the crack initiation direction under monotonic loading within a scatter band of ±0.5°.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on the experimental observations. Growth studies are made from the growth initiation from two cracks in a rectangular aluminium plate under static loading. The present study is focused on the influence of crack position defined by crack offset distance and crack tip distance on growth direction. In addition to this, ANN has been used to predict crack growth direction in multiple crack geometry under static loading. The predicted results have been compared with the experimental data.
Findings
The influence of the interaction between multiple cracks on crack extension angle greatly depends on the relative position of cracks defined by crack tip distance S, crack offset distance H and crack inclinations with respect to loading direction. The intensity of the crack interaction can be described according to degree of crack extension angle and relative crack position factors. It is also observed that the progress of the outer and inner crack tip direction is different which mainly depends on the relative crack position.
Research limitations/implications
It is limited to static loading only. Under fatigue loading findings may differ.
Practical implications
It is important to investigate the growth behaviour under multiple cracks and also to know the effect of crack statistics on the growth behaviour to estimate the component life. The study also focused on the development of a high quality predictive method.
Originality/value
The results show trends that vary with crack geometry condition and the ANN and empirical solution provides a possible solution to assess crack initiation angle under multiple crack geometry.
Details