This paper concerns the theme of the universal accessibility to urban spaces, proposing the contribution of configurational approach to their inclusive design. Born in the first Nineties on the roots of the efforts an...This paper concerns the theme of the universal accessibility to urban spaces, proposing the contribution of configurational approach to their inclusive design. Born in the first Nineties on the roots of the efforts and the studies for reducing material and architectural barriers for disabled people, such discipline extends its sphere and purposes so as to mitigate the effects of spatial exclusion of a wider and wider variety of human categories, up to virtually include any potential urban user. Several questions persuade that a merely functional approach, essentially based on the position of the located activities, cannot be said satisfying： only a configurational approach can account for the effects of the grid configuration on the actual accessibility of its spaces. Our research focuses on Italian urban settlements, which appear as ideal case studies, due to the typical consistency of their urban spaces, which, especially in the inner historical cores, are densely build, geometrically irregular and hence generally far from actually providing a universal material accessibility. Here the impedance of space is much more than a theoretical hypothesis and concrete interventions are generally requested to eliminate or reduce its barriers and to make space actually and safely usable. Rather than at indicating the technical solution of single urban problems, which of course are strongly different each other, the research aims at defining a method suitable for any local context. Such method, integrating into a reliable tool the configurational vision with the functional and interactional approach, will provide a hierarchy of urban spaces with reference to the necessity of their universal accessibility.展开更多
Under the background of accelerating urbanization, increasing aging population and decreasing fertility rate in China, all sectors of society eager for an elderly-and-children friendly environment. As public transport...Under the background of accelerating urbanization, increasing aging population and decreasing fertility rate in China, all sectors of society eager for an elderly-and-children friendly environment. As public transportation, the metro is at the frontline. This article takes promoting the inclusive design of the <span style="font-family:Verdana;">metro environment as the research goal, inclusive design as the research</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> perspective and progressive research as the research method. It analyzes the significance of the inclusive design of metro through pyramid theory, employs personas classification to define the inclusive group, and includes user journey to explore the touch-point of metro ride experience so as to propose a metro inclusiveness evaluation kit. With the help of the toolkit, six metro lines and 42 stations in Hangzhou were evaluated and analyzed by using the </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">method of mobile ethnography. Based on the macro and micro analysis of </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">horizontal comparison, it offers solutions to Hangzhou Metro’s existing problems and optimizes the inclusive performance, which can provide direction for the evaluation and optimization of the inclusive design of domestic metro construction.</span>展开更多
Autonomous vehicles (AVs) hold immense promises in revolutionizing transportation, and their potential benefits extend to individuals with impairments, particularly those with vision and hearing impairments. However, ...Autonomous vehicles (AVs) hold immense promises in revolutionizing transportation, and their potential benefits extend to individuals with impairments, particularly those with vision and hearing impairments. However, the accommodation of these individuals in AVs requires developing advanced user interfaces. This paper describes an explorative study of a multimodal user interface for autonomous vehicles, specifically developed for passengers with sensory (vision and/or hearing) impairments. In a driving simulator, 32 volunteers with simulated sensory impairments, were exposed to multiple drives in an autonomous vehicle while freely interacting with standard and inclusive variants of the infotainment and navigation system interface. The two user interfaces differed in graphical layout and voice messages, which adopted inclusive design principles for the inclusive variant. Questionnaires and structured interviews were conducted to collect participants’ impressions. The data analysis reports positive user experiences, but also identifies technical challenges. Verified guidelines are provided for further development of inclusive user interface solutions.展开更多
This paper explains the development of a culturally inclusive ubiquitous M-Learning platform(“Mobile Academy”)with an AI-based adaptive user interface.The rationale and need for this research and development are jus...This paper explains the development of a culturally inclusive ubiquitous M-Learning platform(“Mobile Academy”)with an AI-based adaptive user interface.The rationale and need for this research and development are justified by the continuing widespread adoption of the Internet and Internet enabled devices,especially smartphones.The M-learning platform was designed from the onset for the global traveller.The characteristics and limitations of the application are also discussed.The Mobile Academy,proof of concept prototype,was created to facilitate teaching and learning on the move or in environments where the use of a desktop computer is inconvenient or simply impossible.The platform’s primary objective was cross-cultural usability through the use of a combination of AI and plasticity of user interface design techniques.The usability evaluation plan was comprehensive and the results obtained were studied in detail.This also included consideration of the results of the SVM(Support Vector Machine)classifiers’performance and cross-device evaluation.The AI-based adaptive interface prototype has been tested and evaluated to show its merits and capabilities in terms of its usability,inclusivity and effectiveness of the interface.From the results,it was concluded that such a culture independent application was also affordable.展开更多
3D printing technology is an innovative manufacturing technology used in several disciplines, whose number and diversity are growing day by day. The development of devices to improve the accessibility of buildings an...3D printing technology is an innovative manufacturing technology used in several disciplines, whose number and diversity are growing day by day. The development of devices to improve the accessibility of buildings and urban spaces for people with disabilities through 3D priming technology is still not broadly explored. The present study is focused on filling this gap, with the realization of a tactile map of the MTE （Museum of Electrical Technology） of the University of Pavia （Italy） for blind and visually impaired people. The tactile map represents the building plan with all the information to guide the visit. The device is the result of a research process which is made by several steps and experimental tests, aimed at setting the best 3D priming profiles to meet all the requirements of the end-users. This paper describes methods and strategies applied to reach these goals： it underlines the social and technical approaches, the experimental phases and its possible future developments.展开更多
The demanding market shows that the need for the disabled vehicles have been increasing over the recent years.However,these factory setting cars are pricey,and its buy-sell process is time-consuming.These cars also ar...The demanding market shows that the need for the disabled vehicles have been increasing over the recent years.However,these factory setting cars are pricey,and its buy-sell process is time-consuming.These cars also are not meant as a universal design or inclusion design type of car,so that when it is designed for the disabled,it can be beneficial for all.With the motivation to include limbs disabled drivers in designing a universally designed car,this study aims to determine the preferred ergonomics interior of the car which can improve features needed to meet the mobility of impaired individuals in most scenarios.5 simulations were carried out to simulate these conditions using the RULA analysis,in order to simulate the ergonomics impact on the manikin.In the final analysis,the simulations showed a virtuous score,which was between 1 and 2 for the newly redesigned interior,compared to the score of 3 to 6 for current cars.Another verification made,post questionnaire delineates positive responses upon the redesigned parts scoring 70%~90% level of ergonomics rated.Therefore,this research has set forth the necessity of redesigning a car interior and improved its ergonomic features extensively,specifically for lower limb and combined limb disabled drivers.展开更多
Designing low melting point and low basicity refining slag suitable for Fe-based amorphous alloys and understanding the inclusions’formation,removal,influencing mechanisms are quite vital in the fields of metallurgy ...Designing low melting point and low basicity refining slag suitable for Fe-based amorphous alloys and understanding the inclusions’formation,removal,influencing mechanisms are quite vital in the fields of metallurgy and materials.In this study,a novel 13%SiO_(2)-32%CaO-30%Al_(2)O_(3)-25%B_(2)O_(3)(wt.%)refining slag was designed after careful calculations of the liquid phase region,slag-metal equilibrium,surface tension,viscosity,deoxidation capability and sulfur distribution ratio.After refining with our designed slag,the content of impurities and the number density of inclusions in a representative Fe_(83)Si_(2)B_(15)(at.%)amor-phous alloy were significantly reduced.Moreover,the glass-forming ability(GFA)of the alloy was also enhanced,enabling the preparation of amorphous ribbons with a lower cooling rate.Based on the impu-rities in Fe-based amorphous alloys as well as the calculated oxide and sulfide free energy diagrams,CaO,SiO_(2),Al_(2)O_(3) oxides and CaS,TiS,MnS sulfides will form in the master alloy.The high melting point in-clusions in the melt are generally removed via a floatation-separation-absorption process and the Mn,Ti,S impurities are removed via slag-metal interface reactions during refining.As for the detrimental effect of inclusions on glass formation,the small lattice disregistry between Ti,Mn-containing inclusions and primaryα-Fe gains reveal that these inclusions are effective in promoting the heterogeneous nucleation,and therefore greatly deteriorate the GFA.These findings are important and provide an ideal solution to purifying the Fe-based amorphous alloys by refining and enhancing the GFA for industrial production.展开更多
文摘This paper concerns the theme of the universal accessibility to urban spaces, proposing the contribution of configurational approach to their inclusive design. Born in the first Nineties on the roots of the efforts and the studies for reducing material and architectural barriers for disabled people, such discipline extends its sphere and purposes so as to mitigate the effects of spatial exclusion of a wider and wider variety of human categories, up to virtually include any potential urban user. Several questions persuade that a merely functional approach, essentially based on the position of the located activities, cannot be said satisfying： only a configurational approach can account for the effects of the grid configuration on the actual accessibility of its spaces. Our research focuses on Italian urban settlements, which appear as ideal case studies, due to the typical consistency of their urban spaces, which, especially in the inner historical cores, are densely build, geometrically irregular and hence generally far from actually providing a universal material accessibility. Here the impedance of space is much more than a theoretical hypothesis and concrete interventions are generally requested to eliminate or reduce its barriers and to make space actually and safely usable. Rather than at indicating the technical solution of single urban problems, which of course are strongly different each other, the research aims at defining a method suitable for any local context. Such method, integrating into a reliable tool the configurational vision with the functional and interactional approach, will provide a hierarchy of urban spaces with reference to the necessity of their universal accessibility.
文摘Under the background of accelerating urbanization, increasing aging population and decreasing fertility rate in China, all sectors of society eager for an elderly-and-children friendly environment. As public transportation, the metro is at the frontline. This article takes promoting the inclusive design of the <span style="font-family:Verdana;">metro environment as the research goal, inclusive design as the research</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> perspective and progressive research as the research method. It analyzes the significance of the inclusive design of metro through pyramid theory, employs personas classification to define the inclusive group, and includes user journey to explore the touch-point of metro ride experience so as to propose a metro inclusiveness evaluation kit. With the help of the toolkit, six metro lines and 42 stations in Hangzhou were evaluated and analyzed by using the </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">method of mobile ethnography. Based on the macro and micro analysis of </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">horizontal comparison, it offers solutions to Hangzhou Metro’s existing problems and optimizes the inclusive performance, which can provide direction for the evaluation and optimization of the inclusive design of domestic metro construction.</span>
文摘Autonomous vehicles (AVs) hold immense promises in revolutionizing transportation, and their potential benefits extend to individuals with impairments, particularly those with vision and hearing impairments. However, the accommodation of these individuals in AVs requires developing advanced user interfaces. This paper describes an explorative study of a multimodal user interface for autonomous vehicles, specifically developed for passengers with sensory (vision and/or hearing) impairments. In a driving simulator, 32 volunteers with simulated sensory impairments, were exposed to multiple drives in an autonomous vehicle while freely interacting with standard and inclusive variants of the infotainment and navigation system interface. The two user interfaces differed in graphical layout and voice messages, which adopted inclusive design principles for the inclusive variant. Questionnaires and structured interviews were conducted to collect participants’ impressions. The data analysis reports positive user experiences, but also identifies technical challenges. Verified guidelines are provided for further development of inclusive user interface solutions.
基金supported by the fund of Xiamen University Malaysia.
文摘This paper explains the development of a culturally inclusive ubiquitous M-Learning platform(“Mobile Academy”)with an AI-based adaptive user interface.The rationale and need for this research and development are justified by the continuing widespread adoption of the Internet and Internet enabled devices,especially smartphones.The M-learning platform was designed from the onset for the global traveller.The characteristics and limitations of the application are also discussed.The Mobile Academy,proof of concept prototype,was created to facilitate teaching and learning on the move or in environments where the use of a desktop computer is inconvenient or simply impossible.The platform’s primary objective was cross-cultural usability through the use of a combination of AI and plasticity of user interface design techniques.The usability evaluation plan was comprehensive and the results obtained were studied in detail.This also included consideration of the results of the SVM(Support Vector Machine)classifiers’performance and cross-device evaluation.The AI-based adaptive interface prototype has been tested and evaluated to show its merits and capabilities in terms of its usability,inclusivity and effectiveness of the interface.From the results,it was concluded that such a culture independent application was also affordable.
文摘3D printing technology is an innovative manufacturing technology used in several disciplines, whose number and diversity are growing day by day. The development of devices to improve the accessibility of buildings and urban spaces for people with disabilities through 3D priming technology is still not broadly explored. The present study is focused on filling this gap, with the realization of a tactile map of the MTE （Museum of Electrical Technology） of the University of Pavia （Italy） for blind and visually impaired people. The tactile map represents the building plan with all the information to guide the visit. The device is the result of a research process which is made by several steps and experimental tests, aimed at setting the best 3D priming profiles to meet all the requirements of the end-users. This paper describes methods and strategies applied to reach these goals： it underlines the social and technical approaches, the experimental phases and its possible future developments.
文摘The demanding market shows that the need for the disabled vehicles have been increasing over the recent years.However,these factory setting cars are pricey,and its buy-sell process is time-consuming.These cars also are not meant as a universal design or inclusion design type of car,so that when it is designed for the disabled,it can be beneficial for all.With the motivation to include limbs disabled drivers in designing a universally designed car,this study aims to determine the preferred ergonomics interior of the car which can improve features needed to meet the mobility of impaired individuals in most scenarios.5 simulations were carried out to simulate these conditions using the RULA analysis,in order to simulate the ergonomics impact on the manikin.In the final analysis,the simulations showed a virtuous score,which was between 1 and 2 for the newly redesigned interior,compared to the score of 3 to 6 for current cars.Another verification made,post questionnaire delineates positive responses upon the redesigned parts scoring 70%~90% level of ergonomics rated.Therefore,this research has set forth the necessity of redesigning a car interior and improved its ergonomic features extensively,specifically for lower limb and combined limb disabled drivers.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foun-dation of China (No.52174217)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No.2020M682495).
文摘Designing low melting point and low basicity refining slag suitable for Fe-based amorphous alloys and understanding the inclusions’formation,removal,influencing mechanisms are quite vital in the fields of metallurgy and materials.In this study,a novel 13%SiO_(2)-32%CaO-30%Al_(2)O_(3)-25%B_(2)O_(3)(wt.%)refining slag was designed after careful calculations of the liquid phase region,slag-metal equilibrium,surface tension,viscosity,deoxidation capability and sulfur distribution ratio.After refining with our designed slag,the content of impurities and the number density of inclusions in a representative Fe_(83)Si_(2)B_(15)(at.%)amor-phous alloy were significantly reduced.Moreover,the glass-forming ability(GFA)of the alloy was also enhanced,enabling the preparation of amorphous ribbons with a lower cooling rate.Based on the impu-rities in Fe-based amorphous alloys as well as the calculated oxide and sulfide free energy diagrams,CaO,SiO_(2),Al_(2)O_(3) oxides and CaS,TiS,MnS sulfides will form in the master alloy.The high melting point in-clusions in the melt are generally removed via a floatation-separation-absorption process and the Mn,Ti,S impurities are removed via slag-metal interface reactions during refining.As for the detrimental effect of inclusions on glass formation,the small lattice disregistry between Ti,Mn-containing inclusions and primaryα-Fe gains reveal that these inclusions are effective in promoting the heterogeneous nucleation,and therefore greatly deteriorate the GFA.These findings are important and provide an ideal solution to purifying the Fe-based amorphous alloys by refining and enhancing the GFA for industrial production.
