From remembering to envisioning product use: an informal design technique

To be able to get insight in potential use experiences of design proposals, designers would ideally have continuous access to a diverse group of end-users who could give feedback. Since in practice this is not possible designers often have to rely on other sources to be able to reflect on the use issues of their design proposals. Previous research has shown that designers often apply informal techniques to reflect on use issues, in which personal knowledge and experience of previous projects serve as a frame of reference.. However, this knowledge often remains implicit. In this study we explore a technique in which members of a design team make all personal knowledge and assumptions about use in a certain product domain explicit. In this technique we distinguish remembering, imagining, experiencing and envisioning use. The information that is gathered in this way is captured in a matrix which structures use situation aspects and corresponding use issues. These issues concern user experience, usability as well as performance. In three workshops with different designers we explored the benefits and limitations of such a technique. Particularly iterating between remembering, imagining and experiencing worked very well to evoke experiences of the designer

Investigative Designing: usage-oriented research in and through designing

In this paper, we discuss the practice of investigative designing. The notion is currently being used to denote a variety of ideas in design research, and we first seek to clarify some of them. We then present our own, specific take on this notion, while acknowledging that it is being used broadly. We adopted the notion as an umbrella term for our combined research and design activities: as investigative designers. We use it for the exploration of how designers can integrate designing and researching within a design process. The two main concerns we are pursuing within this are to clarify the role of a designer with research skills, and to explore the implications of a usage orientation in design. We present two studies in this paper in which we investigated how usage research for design can be specifically geared to the needs of design, and what helps designers (and what does not) in designing with usage information. In the first study, we ourselves conducted usage research, developed design ideas on the basis of that, and reflected on this process. In the second study, we observed how three other designers engaged with the same user data and developed design ideas. Our findings include that the designers tended to prefer to develop their own design ideas independently from the data, only checking or adapting the ideas to the data. Furthermore, the capacity of designers for dealing with data needs to be taken into consideration. Lastly, the form of data presentation influences how well designers can engage with it in designing. Keywords: Investigative Design; Designing; Designer; Product Usage; User Research</p

Discriminating Different Classes of Toxicants by Transcript Profiling

Male rats were treated with various model compounds or the appropriate vehicle controls. Most substances were either well-known hepatotoxicants or showed hepatotoxicity during preclinical testing. The aim of the present study was to determine if biological samples from rats treated with various compounds can be classified based on gene expression profiles. In addition to gene expression analysis using microarrays, a complete serum chemistry profile and liver and kidney histopathology were performed. We analyzed hepatic gene expression profiles using a supervised learning method (support vector machines; SVMs) to generate classification rules and combined this with recursive feature elimination to improve classification performance and to identify a compact subset of probe sets with potential use as biomarkers. Two different SVM algorithms were tested, and the models obtained were validated with a compound-based external cross-validation approach. Our predictive models were able to discriminate between hepatotoxic and nonhepatotoxic compounds. Furthermore, they predicted the correct class of hepatotoxicant in most cases. We provide an example showing that a predictive model built on transcript profiles from one rat strain can successfully classify profiles from another rat strain. In addition, we demonstrate that the predictive models identify nonresponders and are able to discriminate between gene changes related to pharmacology and toxicity. This work confirms the hypothesis that compound classification based on gene expression data is feasible

A shared vision on user experiences, on mics, merves, Madonna and more

This workshop introduces the Envisioning Use technique which is aimed at generating a shared vision on user experiences in product development teams. This shared vision could support decision making with regard to user experiences and inspire solution generation by making team members more dedicated to designing experiences

Approaches for improving cutting processes and machine too in re-contouring

Re-contouring in the repair process of aircraft engine blades and vanes is a crucial task. Highest demands are made on the geometrical accuracy as well as on the machined surface of the part. Complexity rises even more due to the unique part characteristic originating from the operation and repair history. This requires well-designed processes and machine tool technologies. In this paper, approaches for coping with these challenges and improving the re-contouring process are described and discussed. This includes an advanced process simulation with its capabilities to accurately depict different material areas and predict process forces. Beyond, experimental investigations on workpiece-tooldeflection are presented. Finally, a machine tool prototype with a novel electromagnetic guiding system is introduced and the benefits of this technology in the field of repair are outlined.DFG/CRC/87

A Prospective Observational Cohort Study

Introduction Uterine leiomyomas are the most common benign gynecologic tumors. To date laparoscopy myomectomy is the gold standard for treatment of symptomatic fibroids in reproductive-aged women. Detailed counseling about the effects of this procedure on postoperative sexuality and quality of life is important in these patients. However, available data on these subjects are limited and contradictory. The aim of this study was to assess sexual function and quality of life in premenopausal women undergoing laparoscopic myomectomy for symptomatic uterine fibroids. Material and Methods All premenopausal women who underwent laparoscopic myomectomy for symptomatic fibroids between April 2012 and August 2014 at a tertiary university center were enrolled in this prospective observational cohort study. Sexual function and quality of life were assessed for the pre- and postoperative (six months post-operatively) state using two validated questionnaires, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and the European Quality of Life Five-Dimension Scale (EQ-5D). Results Ninety-five of the 115 (83%) eligible patients completed the study. Overall a significant improvement in quality of life and sexual function was observed in the study cohort: Median FSFI (28 (18.7–35.2)) and EQ-5D scores (1 (0.61–1) after laparoscopic myomectomy were significantly higher than preoperative scores (21.2 (5.2–33.5); 0.9 (0.2–1); p ≤ 0.01). The number, position and localization of the largest fibroids were not correlated with pre- or postoperative sexual function or quality of life. Conclusion Laparoscopic myomectomy might have positive short-term effects on postoperative quality of life and sexual function in premenopausal women suffering from symptomatic fibroids