User experience study of an affordable manual standing wheelchair.

PURPOSE: The manual user-operated Arise Standing Wheelchair (SWC) is the end-result of multiple design iterations based on comments from user trials. The Arise SWC provides standing functionality, outdoor mobility, affordability, and customizability. This paper describes a user experience study of the Arise SWC's pre-commercial version. METHODS: Thirty participants (N = 30, 25 Male, 5 Female) were recruited for the study. All the participants were people with spinal cord injury. The study was conducted over a period of six weeks (five participants per week) within the hospital premises under the supervision of clinical personnel. A 30 min interactive training session involved thirteen activities. During the trial period, the participants were trained to perform twenty-two activities to familiarize themselves with the SWC. The participants were also trained to perform four functional usage activities with the SWC. At the end of the study, participant responses to ten outcome measures were captured using a smiley-based Likert-scale questionnaire. RESULTS: A majority of the participants (93.3%) felt happy when they stood in the SWC. The majority participants (83.3%) preferred the Arise SWC over their current wheelchair. Also, 80% participants anticipated that they could get more work done at home using the standing function of the wheelchair. CONCLUSIONS: A one-time fitting and training ensured optimal effort for the SWC operation, correct posture, and comfortable user experience. With proper dissemination and awareness, it is believed that the Arise SWC will benefit eligible users and improve their quality of life.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONThe Arise wheelchair provides standing functionality, outdoor mobility, affordability, and customizability.Study confirms that incorporating standing functionality can improve the quality of life for wheelchair users.The majority of users were happy, felt safe and expected to do more with the standing functionality.Study results support further testing in real world conditions beyond the hospital setting.

Effect of Oxygen Sputter Pressure on the Structural, Morphological and Optical Properties of ZnO Thin Films for Gas Sensing Application.

ZnO thin films were prepared on glass substrates at low (5 × 10-4 mbar) and high (3 × 10-3 mbar) sputter pressure using dc reactive magnetron sputtering. The structural, morphological, compositional and optical properties of the thin films were investigated. XRD patterns of both films confirmed the polycrystalline nature of the films with hexagonal Wurtzite structure. SEM study indicates that the surface of the film formed at high sputter pressure was more uniform, compact and porous in nature. From the EDAX analysis, no other characteristic peaks of other impurities were observed and the formation of single phase of ZnO was confirmed. From the study of photoluminescence, three peaks were observed, one strong near band-edge emission at 390 nm followed by weak and broad visible emissions around 420-480 nm. Room temperature ammonia sensing characteristics of ZnO nanothin films formed at higher sputter pressure were studied for different ammonia vapour concentration levels. The response of the Ammonia sensor at room temperature (30 °C) operation was observed to be of high sensitivity with quick response and recovery times.

Ventral Midline Preputial Approach to the Caudal Abdomen in Male Dogs.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a ventral midline preputial approach to the caudal abdominal cavity of male dogs. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective clinical study. SAMPLE POPULATION: Client-owned dogs (n=12). METHOD: Medical records of dogs which underwent a ventral midline preputial approach to the caudal abdominal cavity were reviewed. The procedure, outcome, and complication were recorded. RESULTS: Dogs underwent the preputial approach to the caudal abdominal cavity for various conditions. All dogs had an uneventful postoperative recovery and no major complications were recorded until suture removal at 10-14 days postoperative. Two dogs had minor complications treated conservatively which resolved. CONCLUSION: The use of ventral midline preputial approach is an option for access to the caudal abdomen. The approach preserves the protractor preputii muscles, obviates ligation of the branches of the caudal superficial epigastric vessels and eliminates the need for extensive subcutaneous dissection.

Mobile phone-based infectious disease surveillance system, Sri Lanka.

Because many infectious diseases are emerging in animals in low-income and middle-income countries, surveillance of animal health in these areas may be needed for forecasting disease risks to humans. We present an overview of a mobile phone-based frontline surveillance system developed and implemented in Sri Lanka. Field veterinarians reported animal health information by using mobile phones. Submissions increased steadily over 9 months, with ≈4,000 interactions between field veterinarians and reports on the animal population received by the system. Development of human resources and increased communication between local stakeholders (groups and persons whose actions are affected by emerging infectious diseases and animal health) were instrumental for successful implementation. The primary lesson learned was that mobile phone-based surveillance of animal populations is acceptable and feasible in lower-resource settings. However, any system implementation plan must consider the time needed to garner support for novel surveillance methods among users and stakeholders.