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Purpose: To investigate the effect of a newly developed hand rim in wheelchair tennis players from a lab and field perspective. Methods: Nine wheelchair tennis players performed a set of field and lab tests with the new rim (NR) and regular rim on the racket side. Each player had a 60- to 120-minute regular training session with the NR. Three wheelchair tennis field tests (20-m sprint, Illinois, spider) were completed on a hard court using inertial measurement units. The inertial measurement units enabled analysis of linear/rotational velocity and acceleration. In the lab, two 4-minute submaximal tests (at 1.5 and 2 m/s, 0.2 W/kg), followed directly by a 5-second sprint, on a wheelchair ergometer were completed. Force and velocity were measured continuously throughout all tests. Mixed linear models investigated the effect between the 2 hand rims. Results: During the spider test, mean rotational velocity to the racket side (−2%, P =.005) was lower in the NR, and end times were similar between hand-rim conditions. No differences were observed in the 20-m sprint and Illinois field tests. In the lab, contact angle (+6%, P =.04), cycle time (+12%, P =.007), and work per push (+13%, P =.005) were higher in the NR during submaximal propulsion. Work per push (+13%, P =.007), peak velocity (+3%, P <.001), and distance covered (+4%, P =.02) were higher with the NR during the 5-second sprint test. Conclusions: The NR seems slightly favorable compared with the regular rim during performance testing on a wheelchair ergometer in wheelchair tennis players. A longer practice time might show more insights between the hand-rim types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a manufacturing power in the era of Industry 4.0, the Chinese traditional manufacturing industry urgently needs innovation and upgrading. In this process, the pressure on the traditional manufacturing industry is mainly financial shortages. The government can act as a Booster to add power to the upgrading by providing financial support. We build a three-tier game model consisting of Raw Material Suppliers, a Traditional Manufacturer, and an Original Equipment Manufacturer to explore the upgrading conditions and construct three settings: Agency, Consignment, and Design. We find that the government subsidy can serve as an effective way to ease enterprises' financial burden and improve the innovation level, which is more evident when the traditional manufacturer innovates. In addition, when the market competition and the government subsidy are both at a moderate level, the combined effect of the two factors is positive, and the condition is the best to upgrade. Encouragingly, the social welfare under Design will be the highest when the government subsidy is slightly great. Finally, excessive subsidy hinders upgrading and aggravates market competition, even if the traditional manufacturer enjoys exorbitant profits. HIGHLIGHTS The upgrading on the manufacturing industry in the era of Industry 4.0 The right of product design in supply chain models The cross-influence of the government subsidy and market competition on industrial upgrading is introduced The conditions to help upgrade the manufacturing industry are given in the era of Industry 4.0 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern era of running shoes began in the 1960s with the introduction of simple polymer midsole foams, and it ended in the late 2010s with the introduction of advanced footwear technology (AFT). AFT is characterized by highly compliant, resilient, and lightweight foams with embedded, rigid, longitudinal architecture. This footwear complex improves a runner's efficiency, and it introduced a step change in running performance. Purpose: This review serves to examine the current state of knowledge around AFT—what it is and what we know about its ingredients, what benefits it confers to runners, and what may or may not mediate that benefit. We also discuss the emerging science around AFT being introduced to track-racing spikes and how it is currently regulated in sporting contexts. Conclusions: AFT has changed running as a sport. The construction of AFT is grossly understood, but the nature of the interacting elements is not. The magnitude of the enhancement of a runner's economy and performance has been characterized and modeled, but the nuanced factors that mediate those responses have not. With these knowns and unknowns, we conclude the review by providing a collection of best practices for footwear researchers, advice for runners interested in AFT, and a list of pertinent items for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the sourcing decisions of two competing firms with a potential responsibility violation risk from a supplier. There are two consumer segments in the market: socially and nonsocially conscious consumers. When a responsibility violation occurs, the socially conscious consumers will not purchase from any firm who sources from the risky supplier. To avoid this potential demand loss, the two firms can consider sourcing from a responsible but more expensive supplier. We develop game theoretical models to investigate the firms' optimal sourcing strategies and examine the effects of product line design and sourcing diversification on firms' incentives to source responsibly. Our study shows that when each firm adopts a single sourcing strategy, as the suppliers' cost difference increases, both of their sourcing choices deviate from the responsible supplier to the risky supplier. Moreover, we find that when the firm sourcing responsibly can determine whether to extend the product line to offer responsible and conventional products, product line design improves both firms' profits and induces them to source responsibly. Finally, we find that when each firm can choose between a single and a dual sourcing strategy, sourcing diversification can be potentially detrimental for both firms and prevent them from sourcing responsibly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many theoretical methods have been applied to research user behaviour and requirements. However, the uncertainty associated with customer characteristics often biases the conclusions drawn from customer research and affects the effectiveness of product design. In this paper, Bayesian networks (BN) are introduced into the research on customer behaviour analysis based upon theory of planned behaviour (TPB), and an analysis model driven by customer research data is established from the perspective of user behaviour intention to guide design optimisation. Combining the User background Factor with the TPB Factor, the model analyses the uncertainty of the association between the two, and corrects the errors in the designer's prior knowledge through structural learning. By a case study the paper finds that the evaluations that enhance customers' subjective norms and perceived behavioural control lead to a greater probability of purchase or use. In addition, customers with specific characteristics are more inclined to generate behaviour intention. The paper finally provides a design optimisation plan based upon the result of the research and discusses about the advantages of the research approaches and the directions of future researches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Determine the effects of advanced footwear technology (AFT) in track spikes and road-racing shoes on running economy (RE). Methods: Four racing shoes (3 AFT and 1 control) and 3 track spikes (2 AFT and 1 control) were tested in 9 male distance runners on 2 visits. Shoes were tested in a random sequence over 5-minute trials on visit 1 (7 trials at 16 km·h−1; 5-min rest between trials) and in the reverse/mirrored order on visit 2. Metabolic data were collected and averaged across visits. Results: There were significant differences across footwear conditions for oxygen consumption (F = 13.046; P <.001) and energy expenditure (F = 14.710; P <.001). Oxygen consumption (in milliliters per kilogram per minute) in both the first AFT spike (49.1 [1.7]; P <.001; dz = 2.1) and the other AFT spike (49.3 [1.7]; P <.001; dz = 1.7) was significantly lower than the control spike (50.2 [1.6]), which represented a 2.1% (1.0%) and 1.8% (1.0%) improvement in RE, respectively, for the AFT spikes. When comparing the subjects' most economic shoe by oxygen consumption (49.0 [1.5]) against their most economic spike (49.0 [1.8]), there were no statistical differences (P =.82). Similar statistical conclusions were made when comparing energy expenditure (in watts per kilogram). Conclusions: AFT track spikes improved RE ∼2% relative to a traditional spike. Despite their heavier mass, AFT shoes resulted in similar RE as AFT spikes. This could make the AFT shoe an attractive option for longer track races, particularly in National Collegiate Athletic Association and high school athletics, where there are no stack-height rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disability is a basic human condition that affects a significant proportion of the world's population, yet many disability- and accessibility-relevant issues remain pressing and insufficiently addressed. With three experiments, the current research investigates potential reasons for why marketplace disability accessibility has not been universally accepted. Potential barriers to greater accessibility in marketplaces may arise because such efforts appear at odds with other salient priorities, at micro (i.e. consumer) and macro (i.e. firm, policy, or societal) levels. In the proposed framework and resulting experiments, micro-level trade-offs prompt perceptions of personal cost and macro-level trade-offs prompt perceptions of firm morality. In turn, these perceptions mediate firm evaluations, showing that consumers at baseline respond negatively to accessibility. Critically, however, several practical interventions emerge from these processes. Marketers can mitigate consumers' negative responses to accessibility by employing simple framing choices such as emphasizing who benefits or noting what the purpose of the offering is. By demonstrating one way to better understand perceptions of the full spectrum of the consumer population, this research provides pathways for consumer researchers to further delve into disability-related research in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have found that allowing customers to self-design products using customization configurators generates high value for customers. However, in practice, high abandonment rates cast doubt on these findings. In the present article, this contradiction is resolved by analyzing consumers' experiences during the creative process. Six studies provide converging evidence that consumers abandon customization because their valence during the process is U-shaped: initial high expectations prompt consumers to start self-designing in the first place, but they quickly find, to their frustration, that their (interim) design solutions are less attractive and the self-designing process is less enjoyable than they originally anticipated. Unaware that their enjoyment of the process would ultimately increase if they persisted through this phase, they abandon the self-design process altogether. It is only if the consumer overcomes the minimum of the U of valence that they harness the potential value from self-designing. This problematic pattern can be managed by providing social feedback during the self-design process. These findings contribute not only to the customization literature but also more generally to the understanding of consumers' goal pursuit by enhancing its scope to creative tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under servitization (one paradigm of non-ownership-transfer) business model such as sharing, a manufacturer is responsible not only for product design but also for maintenance. This paper deals with joint decision of product quality and maintenance under servitization. A model minimising total cost is formulated to obtain the optimal product quality, maintenance effort and maintenance times. We find that the total cost first decreases then increases with product quality, maintenance effort and maintenance times. Moderate quality and maintenance effort level are the best for the manufacturer, because too high or too low quality and effort cause too high total cost. However, preventive maintenance should be implemented as many times as possible until the failure cost is reduced to zero as long as each maintenance can save cost. Moreover, in the optimal joint decision, the product quality, maintenance effort and maintenance times are negatively correlated in pairs. In addition, we explore the impact of unit failure cost, product lifecycle, production cost, maintenance cost, and failure intensity on the manufacturer's optimal decisions. In extensions, we further take penalty cost, exponential failure distribution, discount rate, and customer usage into account. This paper provides insight for the manufacturer to jointly consider product design and maintenance under servitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driving posture can lead to musculoskeletal pain. Most work focuses on the lower back; therefore, we know little about automobile seat design and neck posture. This study evaluated an automobile driver seat that individualized upper back support to improve head and neck posture. Specifically, we examined the system's impact on anterior head translation with secondary outcomes of spine posture and perceptions of comfort/well-being compared with a control. Forty participants were block randomized to experience either the activated or deactivated version of the same seating system first. Participants completed two 30-minute simulated driving trials, separated by washout, with continuous measures of anterior head translation, spine posture, and pelvis orientation. Perceptions of comfort/well-being were assessed by survey and open-ended questions immediately following each condition. Small, but statistically significant decreases in anterior head translation and posterior pelvic tilt occurred with the activated seat system. Participants reported lower satisfaction with the activated seat system. Order of the 2 seat conditions affected differences in pelvis orientation and participant perceptions of comfort/well-being. An anthropometric-based seat system targeting upper back support can significantly affect head and pelvic posture but not satisfaction during simulated driving. Future work should examine long-term impacts of these posture changes on health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two organizations that focus on tech-based health innovation have partnered to improve the mental health of young adults. In this "tech for good" project, Hopelab and Grit Digital Health worked together to create an app using human-centered product design. With the core needs of users at the forefront, the team developed an app both with and for college students to combat loneliness, a prevalent issue that can lead to other problems such as depression, anxiety, and even dropping out of college. The team also applied systems thinking to address the root causes of this "wicked problem," resulting in their Nod app, which has improved outcomes for college students. This article is based on the author's award-winning case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research integrates marketing literature, design theory, interviews with world-renowned designers, and established scale development procedures to develop a reliable and valid instrument that measures the effectiveness of design communication (i.e., the information about product designs conveyed through the product, packaging, or advertisements) via consumer evaluations. The theoretical underpinnings and face validity engaged in the development of the Design Communication Assessment Scale (DCAS) progresses the field's understanding as to what constitutes the seven evaluative dimensions of design (form, function, solidity, usefulness, style, eco-consciousness, and uniqueness). Practically, DCAS's versatility provides managers with the ability to gauge consumer evaluations of design communications while enabling better communications with designers. In addition, the authors validate a shortened form of the DCAS for resource-constrained firms. Support for DCAS's generalizability is provided across laboratory and field studies in which ecological validity is established. Together, these studies demonstrate that using DCAS leads to improved performance across a wide array of metrics, including click-through rates, email signups, and retail sales for a diverse set of products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product configuration design combines the existing configurable components of enterprises to quickly form a new product that meets customised requirements. However, the representation, maintenance, and update of the configuration knowledge, and the mismatch problem restrict the rationality and efficiency of existing configuration design methods. In this paper, a recommendation model is developed for customised product configuration design, which takes personalised customer requirements and product component information as input and outputs a ranked list of component instances. It consists of two sub-models: a retrieval sub-model and a ranking sub-model. The retrieval sub-model selects a set of component instance candidates from all possible candidates, and then the ranking sub-model ranks them and selects the best possible candidate. To boost the ranking sub-model performance, we propose a novel interacting network, DualAdap, to extract meaningful low-order, high-order, and adaptive-order cross features. Based on learned cross features, the ranking sub-model computes the adoption scores of all candidates and then selects the best possible candidate according to adoption scores. The configuration design of the elevator traction machine is taken as a case study. Results verify that our recommendation model can identify similar component instances and then accurately pick out the best possible candidate that meets customer requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual marketing communications consist of two components: (1) semantic content (e.g., headings, images, copy) that communicates a brand's positioning, benefits, and personality and (2) visual design (e.g., font selection, image size, the organization of the content) that encourages inferences about brand claims. The authors investigate how visual design can be used to encourage inferences that support brand claims and improve brand performance. They find that brands with a utilitarian positioning perform better when the visual design of their marketing communications encourages structured perceptions, whereas brands with a hedonic positioning perform better when the visual design of their marketing communications encourages unstructured perceptions. In both cases, (un)structured perceptions encourage inferences that reinforce brand claims and, consequently, improve brand performance. This research offers actionable insights into how marketing communication specialists can coordinate logo design, product design, package design, visual merchandising, and retail environments to reinforce brand claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptual design is a pivotal stage of new product development. The function-behaviour-structure framework is adopted in this stage to help designers search design space and generate conceptual solutions iteratively. Computer-aided methods developed within this framework will yield significant insight into facilitating the cognitive activities of designers. In order to solve the mapping process from behaviours to structures which is a typical constraint satisfaction problem, a cerebellar operant conditioning-inspired constraint satisfaction approach is proposed in this paper. The design constraints-driven operant conditioning and its regulation mechanism by the cerebellum are analysed for the first time. Proposition logic is applied to transfer the constraint satisfaction problem into a propositional satisfiability problem while an undirected graph is utilised to model design space. Inspired by the modularised cerebellar structure, a modularised constraint satisfaction neural network is constructed to determine the satisfiability of design problems. Conceptual solutions can be generated by clustering the embedding of nodes in this network. The proposed approach imitates the design constraint-driven operant conditioning to narrow down design space without assigning specific values to design components. It reduces design iterations and avoids combinatorial explosions during conceptual design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3D printing has revolutionized product design and manufacturing across various industries by enabling the creation of complex geometries with minimal waste. Despite its advancements, 3D printing still faces significant challenges, including spatial constraints and process control limitations. This paper introduces novel approaches to improve the functionality and precision of material extrusion 3D printers for the fused deposition modeling method, particularly for additional printing tasks such as printing on existing objects or continuing a print on a relocated object without prior knowledge of its position or even the environment is changed. We introduce a compensation system integrating a high-speed vision system for robot arms to address these challenges. Our system employs a three-step pose estimation process—fast point feature histograms (FPFH)-based, corner-based, and sub-pixel edge-based methods—to ensure high accuracy in restoring the position of printed pieces for additional printing tasks on a given object. Experimental results demonstrate substantial improvements in printing precision, with the system achieving sub-millimeter and sub-pixel accuracy. These advancements not only eliminate work area constraints but also enhance the adaptability and reliability of 3D printing processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a wide set of technologies that can be used for many different scopes. AM is now a well-integrated prototyping and development tool in most industrial endeavours, while proper end-product manufacturing has only seen very specific niche successes. Given the complexity of AM's matrix, which is full of discontinuities and non-trivial intercorrelations that play a relevant role in product design and development, it should not come as a surprise that not many end-product applications have succeeded in making use of it. This paper argues that understanding AM's complex matrix and correctly identifying suitable production niches for it are key elements of this issue, a topic for which existing literature and tools are scarce. The analysis of AM's status quo for end-product manufacturing and the review of existing approaches to integrate these technologies with product development are the basis used in this paper to propose a suitability assessment tool to fill this knowledge gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzymatic hydrolysis is an efficient processing method for valorizing chicken rest raw material by generating new food- or feed ingredients. This paper characterizes two types of chicken rest raw material: viscera and a mixture of bones, skin and remaining meat, and evaluates how industrially relevant hydrolysis process designs affect overall yield of all products, including hydrolysate, sediment, lipid, and emulsion. Eleven hydrolyses were performed using viscera and bone materials, endogenous and commercial enzymes, pre-treatments, variations in water addition and hydrolysis times. Compared to bone materials, viscera had higher proteolytic activity, more readily water-soluble components, and lower effect of adding commercial enzymes on product yields. The process of heating the raw material to hydrolysis temperature greatly impacted product yields, representing about 50 % of the overall hydrolysate production from viscera during hydrolysis. Pre-inactivation of endogenous enzymes reduced initial, but not final, hydrolysate yields. Adding commercial enzymes to pre-inactivated viscera had no effect on yields compared to not adding enzymes. Reducing water addition lowered initial hydrolysate yield from bone material. Lipid yield reflected lipid content in the raw material, and thermal pre-separation of lipids did not increase the total lipid recovery. In general, hydrolysis of viscera generated more emulsion than the bone material. [Display omitted] • Composition and proteolytic activity vary between chicken rest raw material fractions. • Hydrolysate represents 10–25 % of total dry yield of hydrolysis products. • Heating raw material before hydrolysis contributes to the overall hydrolysate yield. • Industrially relevant process design affect product yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research is to understand how different representations of requirements influence idea generation in terms of quantity, addressment, novelty, and variety of conceptual sketches. Requirements are testable statements of need, desires, and wishes of the stakeholders that are used by engineers to frame the problem. Project success is highly dependent on well-defined requirements documents. An experimental study was conducted with 52 fourth-year mechanical engineering undergraduate students. Two design problems are used with three different representations: a problem statement with embedded requirements, a problem statement and a traditional requirement list, and a problem statement with contextualized scrum stories. Each student addressed both design problems with two different representations of requirements. It was found that the use of contextualized scrum story representations significantly affected the novelty of solution fragments and addressment of requirements, while no significant change in variety and quantity was seen. Finally, it was found that quantity is not directly related to the number of requirements addressed in the sketches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptual design is a pivotal phase of product design and development, encompassing user requirement exploration and informed solution generation. Recent generative models with their powerful content generation capabilities have been applied to conceptual design to support designers' ideation. However, the lack of transparency in their generation process and the shallow nature of their generated solutions constrain their performance in complex conceptual design tasks. In this study, we first introduce a conceptual design generation approach that combines generative models with classic design theory. This approach decomposes the conceptual design task based on design process and design attributes, and uses the who, what, where, when, why, how (5W1H) method, function-behavior-structure model, and Kansei Engineering to guide generative models to generate conceptual design solutions through multi-step reasoning. Then we present an interactive system using a mind-map layout to visualize multi-step reasoning, called DesignFusion. This empowers designers to track the generation process and control inputs/outputs at each reasoning step. Two user studies show that our approach significantly enhances the quality of generated design solutions and enriches designer experience in human-artificial intelligence co-creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sketching is an important tool for engineers during concept generation. Sketch quantity during this early stage of design has been linked with eventual design outcomes and sketch quality has been linked with design perceptions. As such, both are important metrics to track. Prior work has also found gender differences in some of these sketch attributes, and considering gender imbalances in the field, it is important to assess whether there are differences in performance by gender during concept generation and if the use of digital tools exacerbate or mitigate any of these potential differences in performance by gender. Given the increase in use of digital tablets for sketching, it is important to assess how tablet use affects early stage engineering design sketches. This is especially important as tablets can automatically smooth lines and help perfect sketch features, but these features may also take longer to use and may result in fewer sketches produced. This study investigates differences in sketch quality, quantity, and understandability (the effectiveness of the sketch as a communication tool) between sketching on a tablet and sketching with pen on paper during an engineering design concept generation exercise. Results indicate that there is no difference in sketch quantity or understandability between the two tools. However, sketch quality, smoothness, and proportion/accuracy are all higher for the pen and paper condition than for the tablet condition. Finally, no gender differences in performance for either sketch quantity or quality were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality by design (QbD) is a systematic method for the development of product and process design to ensure quality and efficacy. In the fragrance and flavour industry, the design of delivery systems plays a crucial role in the overall product quality and consumer acceptance. This article analyses the current state‐of‐the‐art and future explorations from QbD perspective for designing appropriate delivery systems for flavour and fragrance applications. The QbD approach for delivery system design involves classifying critical quality attributes of the product and process, defining the critical process parameters and developing a design space to ensure product quality within the specified range. In addition, risk assessment and mitigation strategies are also a component of the QbD techniques, which ensure the robustness of the delivery system. Various delivery systems such as microencapsulation, nanoencapsulation, solid lipid nanoparticles and liposomes have been explored in the flavour and fragrance industry. These delivery systems provide controlled release, protection, and enhanced stability of the active ingredients. However, challenges such as scale‐up, reproducibility, and cost‐effectiveness need to be addressed to ensure their commercial viability. In conclusion, the QbD outlook provides a comprehensive framework for the design of carrier system for fragrance and flavour applications. The incorporation of risk assessment and mitigation strategies ensures the robustness of the delivery system, and the future exploration of advanced technologies may further enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the QbD approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Our retrospective study aimed at assessing safety of vascular closure devices (VCDs) used in a large single-centre Interventional Radiology (IR) department. Complication and deployment failure rates using collagen-based (Angio-seal) and suture-based (ProGlide) devices for common femoral artery haemostasis were compared. Materials and Methods: Data from VCDs deployed over a 6-year period were retrospectively analysed for patient age, procedure indication, puncture mode (antegrade/retrograde), sheath size, deployment failure and complications (haematoma, pseudoaneurysm formation, limb occlusion). Numerical and statistical analysis was undertaken. Results: Overall, 1321 common femoral artery punctures in 1217 patients were closed using VCDs. Failure rate using ProGlide was significantly higher when compared with Angio-seal (P =<0.001) in sheath sizes ≤8 Fr. Heparin was not administered in embolisation procedures compared with angioplasty with or without stenting. Therefore, haematoma tended to occur more frequently following angioplasty without stenting (P = 0.003) and angioplasty with stenting (P = 0.001), when compared with embolisation. Deployment failure occurred more frequently when heparin was used during the procedure (P = 0.005). Conclusion: Although complications relating to sheath size are well established in the literature, there remains a paucity of data assessing the impact of procedure specific factors when comparing VCDs. Our study challenges that size is the sole determinant of VCD success and invites a more holistic view of VCD deployment strategies. This study advocates continued research into the nuances of other potential confounding variables to optimise patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen a growth in customized products and services. As a prerequisite for customization, private information on individual customers' quality preferences needs to be uncovered. Sellers can listen to customers about their stated or self-reported preferences through direct communication (e.g., conversation, survey). Alternatively, customer preferences can be inferred from their behavior when they are given the rights to self-design the quality. In this research we endogenize the viability of customization by investigating whether and when customers may reveal their stated/inferred preferences truthfully. We find that, for either preference-learning approach, customers would voice their preferences faithfully if and only if they are sufficiently heterogenous. Equilibrium preference revelation, and hence endogenous customization, tend to be sustained by intermediate seller bargaining power or nonextreme production/selling costs. We examine how the preference-learning approaches may differ in the endogenous feasibility of customization, equilibrium qualities, and the parties' expected payoffs. We show that giving up the design right need not always be harmful for the seller, and gaining it can make the buyers worse off, especially when fixed costs of customization are considered. This paper was accepted by Eric Anderson, marketing. Funding: This work was supported by a DAG grant offered by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The dimensional seat design process should consider both the users' tasks and their physical characteristics. OBJECTIVE: To use an approach for the design and evaluation of seat dimensions based on the anthropometric characteristics of the Iranian population and the requirements of tractor operators. METHODS: Some existing equations relating the seat dimensions to anthropometric characteristics were modified according to logical justifications and international standards. A new mathematical-statistical method was used to extract the equations estimating the constant seat dimensions based on the theoretical maximizing of the accommodation level. In addition, an Overall Seat Accommodation Score (OSAS) was developed to represent the mean of seat dimensions accommodation level and dimensional accommodation equality, simultaneously. RESULTS: The dimensional seat design can be affected under different conditions of adjustability, esthetic, and space limitations. However, it was shown that it is possible to improve the design of tractor seats without any significant increase in the final cost and complexity. CONCLUSION: A new approach was used for tractor seats for a sample of Iranian operators and can be used for the design and evaluation of tractor seats for other target populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation and optimization of product design schemes are complex multi-criteria decision-making problems characterized by their interdisciplinary nature and strong practicality. The evaluation of product design schemes is an important part of the product development process. Whether the optimization results are reasonable is key to subsequent product developments, and can even determine their success or failure. When optimizing product design schemes, to ensure rational decision-making, and reduce subjectivity and uncertainty in the design process, in this paper, a product design scheme evaluation and optimization method that uses DEMATEL_ANP_VIKOR is proposed. First, the influence relationships among indices are determined by a policy test and experimental evaluation (DEMATEL) method. Then, the network structure is constructed by using the analytic network process (ANP), and the weight of each index is calculated. Finally, the multicriteria compromise solution ranking method (VIKOR) is used to obtain the best ranking of candidate schemes, and the best product design scheme is identified. By using this method to prioritize the four design schemes of the pantilt camera, it is determined that V3 > V1 > V4 > V2, where V3 is the optimal solution. The entropy-weighted TOPSIS method is used to verify the design scheme, and V3 > V1 > V2 > V4, where V3 is the optimal solution. The Shenzhen Xiechuang Data Group began product development on the final selected design Solution 3. The physical pantilt camera products have been sold on the market and have achieved good sales results. A consumer satisfaction survey of the product showed that consumer satisfaction increased by 12.3% compared to that of previous products, and 7.8% compared to that of similar products. These optimal design scheme market achievements have demonstrated the scientific and objective nature of using DEMATEL_ANP_VIKOR for evaluations and optimizations of product design schemes, and it has useful auxiliary functions for product development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the potential of inclusively designed adaptive apparel discovered within a historic costume and textile collection to inspire contemporary inclusive and adaptive apparel design in a product development course. This study employed object-based learning as the theoretical framework, focusing on the tangible examination and analysis of historical garments as educational tools. A descriptive analysis qualitative methodology was used to identify the key inclusive adaptive apparel design features that could potentially inform inclusively designed adaptive apparel in the present day. By examining a diverse range of historical garments, this study aimed to uncover design elements that transcend time and cultural contexts, providing valuable insights for contemporary product development students seeking to create inclusively designed adaptive apparel collections. The findings from this study suggest that historic costume and textile collections are a compatible and significant source for integrating inclusive design features into the apparel design classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motion is one of the most basic forms of mechanical products, which directly determines the performance stability and function realization of products. In this paper, a reliability allocation method for mechanical products is proposed, which takes the meta‐action with motion characteristics as the allocation granularity unit, and fully considers the performance factors and failure correlation of the meta‐action. Firstly, the function‐motion‐action (FMA) decomposition method is used to establish the decomposition model of mechanical products to determine all the meta‐actions that realize the function of products. Secondly, four factors that affect the reliability of the meta‐action are introduced, namely sensitivity, severity, potential improvement, and dynamic performance, and the comprehensive allocation weight model of meta‐actions is established. Furthermore, to solve the deficiency of the traditional failure independence hypothesis, Copula theory is used to establish the reliability allocation model of the meta‐action system. Finally, a numerical control turntable is taken as an example to illustrate the applicability of the method. The results show that the reliability allocation value of the proposed method is significantly lower than that of the traditional method when the reliability index of the product is guaranteed, which provides theoretical guidance for the reliability design of mechanical products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the interval‐grey quality function deployment (QFD) has been widely used to address a vague information at the early stage of product design. However, the existing interval‐grey QFD method suffers from a problem that it is incapable of comparing specific values from any two intervals within overlapping segments associated with the importance of engineering characteristics (ECs) during the process of prioritizing their importance. This problem consequently impedes the effective prioritization of their magnitudes, thus hindering the prioritization of the importance of ECs. Aiming at addressing the problem, an improved interval‐grey‐probability QFD method is proposed. The proposed method integrates interval grey numbers, grey relational analysis (GRA), and interval‐probability ranking method into the interval‐grey QFD framework to prioritize the importance of ECs under a vague environment. Specifically, the interval grey numbers are used to assess the importance of customer requirements (CRs) and the GRA method is adopted to construct the relationship matrix of CRs‐ECs, respectively. Based on the importance of CRs and the relationship matrix of CRs‐ECs, the interval‐probability ranking method is introduced to measure the prioritization of the importance of ECs. The proposed method is validated by a multi‐function flash drive. Results show that the proposed method is more accurate than existing methods in terms of the deviation degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the levels of functional impairments, discomfort and satisfaction experienced by those treated with full-mouth customized lingual appliances (Lingual appliances), full-mouth self-ligating bracket (Labial appliances), or upper lingual and lower labial appliances (Mixed appliances) using questionnaires. Materials and methods: Patients within one year of the end of treatment were included in the survey and given a questionnaire concerning different kinds of discomfort and difficulties during the treatment process. The questionnaires focused on the following aspects including speech difficulty, pain (lip, cheek or tongue), difficulty in chewing, difficulty in tooth brushing and overall aesthetics and comfortability. Ordinary one-way ANOVA Tukey's multiple comparison tests and Kruskal–Wallis tests were employed to analyze the data. Results: A total of 115 patients participated in the study. In terms of functional impairments and discomfort, the rate and degree of speech difficulty was significantly higher in the Lingual appliances Group than that in the Labial appliances Group. But there was no difference among the three groups for difficulty in chewing and tooth brushing. Both lingual and labial appliances caused a similar level of overall pain, however, those treated with lingual appliances experienced more tongue pain, and those treated with labial appliances experienced more cheek and lip pain. The most common sites of irritation were the tongue lateral and tongue tip in the Lingual appliances Group, tongue lateral and cheek in the Mixed appliances Group, and cheek and lower lip in the Labial appliances Group. In total, patients gave highest scores to mixed appliances for comfortability and lowest scores to labial appliances for aesthetics when it came to satisfaction. Conclusions: Lingual and labial appliances caused similar level of overall pain. Taking into account the overall comfortability, aesthetics and cost, the mixed appliances may be suitable for some patients who have aesthetic and comfort pursuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sentinel-3 synergy (SYN) VEGETATION (VGT) products were designed to provide continuity to the SPOT/VEGETATION (SPOT VGT) base products archive. Since the PROBA-V mission acted as a gap filler between SPOT VGT and Sentinel-3, and in principle, a continuous series of data products from the combined data archives of SPOT VGT (1998–2014), PROBA-V (2013–2020) and Sentinel-3 SYN VGT (from 2018 onwards) are available to users, the consistency of Sentinel-3 SYN VGT with both the latest SPOT VGT (VGT-C3) and PROBA-V (PV-C2) archives is highly relevant. In past years, important changes have been implemented in the SYN VGT processing baseline. The archive of SYN VGT products is therefore intrinsically inconsistent, leading to different consistency levels with SPOT VGT and PROBA-V throughout the years. A spatio-temporal intercomparison of the combined time series of VGT-C3, PV-C2 and Sentinel-3 SYN VGT 10-day NDVI composite products with an external reference from LSA-SAF, and an intercomparison of Sentinel-3 SYN V10 products with a climatology of VGT-C3 resp. PV-C2 for three distinct periods with different levels of product quality have shown that the subsequent processing baseline updates have indeed resulted in better-quality products. It is therefore essential to reprocess the entire Sentinel-3 SYN VGT archive; a uniform data record of standard SPOT VGT, PROBA-V and Sentinel-3 SYN VGT products, spanning over 25 years, would provide valuable input for a wide range of applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address current product styling design issues, such as ignoring the joint effects of multiple styling elements when constructing perceptual imagery fitting models and thus failing to effectively identify the relationships between styling elements, a product styling design method based on fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is proposed. This method first uses semantic differential and statistical methods to obtain users' evaluative vocabulary for the product's perceptual imagery. Then, morphological analysis and cluster analysis are employed to establish typical product samples and extract styling elements to create a styling feature library. Perceptual imagery ratings of these styling features are obtained through expert evaluation. fsQCA is then used to analyze the different grouping relationships between styling elements and their influence on product styling imagery, aiming to match user intentions through different element combination paths. The results show that this method achieves a consistency value of 0.9 for the most optimal styling configurations, demonstrating that fsQCA can effectively identify the multiple paths of product styling elements that meet users' needs. The contributions of this study to the related fields are: (1) providing a new perspective on the relationship between user perceptual imagery and predicted product styling elements, and (2) advancing the theoretical basis for studying multiple paths of product styling elements. The research results demonstrate that using the fsQCA-based product styling design method can accurately portray the multiple paths of product styling elements that meet users' needs, thereby effectively improving design efficiency. Finally, a teapot styling design study is used as an example to further verify the method's feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the traditional decision-making process for product form design, designers and experts often prioritize schemes based on their own knowledge and experience. This approach can lead to an oversight of user preferences, ultimately affecting decision outcomes. In contrast, crowd-intelligence-driven, multi-attribute decision-making for product form design in the cloud environment builds upon traditional approaches by leveraging the vast and diverse expertise of individuals on cloud platforms, engaging participants from various fields and roles in the decision-making process to enhance comprehensiveness and accuracy. To address the issue of a single decision-maker and limited user participation in the decision-making process for product form design schemes in the cloud environment, a multi-attribute decision-making method integrating expert knowledge and user preferences is proposed. This method aims to select a product form design scheme that optimally balances expert and user satisfaction. Initially, the Pythagorean Hesitant Fuzzy Set (PHFS) is used to quantify qualitative product attributes and to establish a comprehensive multi-attribute evaluation system. In the aspect of expert decision-making, a gray correlation coefficient decision matrix based on expert knowledge is established and the overall score of the base alternative is calculated by the ViseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method and the Improved Osculating Value method. In terms of user decision-making, weights are determined by calculating the similarity between user evaluation matrices, and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is used to calculate scores for product form designs based on user preferences. Ultimately, optimal selection is achieved by aggregating the aforementioned expert evaluation values and user preference values. The method's effectiveness and feasibility are confirmed through a case study of coffee machine product form design schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: An immobile patient cannot be weighed on a stand-on weighing machine, i.e., a bathroom scale. They have to get weighed while lying, which is not easy. The main objective of this research is to design a medical apparatus that measures the patient's weight in a lying condition. To achieve this the apparatus is designed as a stretcher to carry the patient in and around the hospital. Methods: The stretcher has four load cells to measure the patient's weight; it can bear a weight of 500 kg and has a self-weight of 20 kg. A Microcontroller unit (MCU) is embedded into the apparatus to weigh the patient lying on it. The stretcher comprises the top frame, middle frame, and base frame. The top frame can be detached and mounted back to the middle frame; this will help the medical personnel shift the patients from a medical bed. The middle frame is a plate structure where the four load cells are mounted at the corners of the lower plate. The upper plate functions as a pressure plate on the load cell. The base plate has four heavy-duty wheels that can bear the load. The middle frame and base frame, together, form a single structure, giving mobility to the structure. A control panel is employed with reset, tare, and on-off buttons to control the embedded platform. The LCD panel on the side of the apparatus shows the weight when the patient is placed on top of the apparatus. Results and discussion: A prototype trolley equipped with a wireless data logging system was tested on 10 healthy participants. The device accurately measured weight within ±50 g across a scale range of 2-140 kg, with data captured every 30 s over a 5-min testing period. Wireless communication was successfully demonstrated over a 100-m range. The important add-on feature of this work is the apparatus is connected to the internet, transforming it into an IoT-based medical device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Men frequently underestimate the significance of urinary incontinence and fail to disclose their condition owing to embarrassment and the associated social stigma. Therefore, successful incontinence management with absorbent products helps individuals cope with the emotional and social challenges arising from incontinence, including visible urine leakage, frequent urination, unpleasant odours, and isolation. Aim: To assess the most essential performance features of the newly developed MoliCare Premium Men Pad. Methods: Computer-assisted personal interviews were conducted to obtain the opinions and satisfaction levels of 69 male users with incontinence in Germany regarding different performance characteristics of the newly designed MoliCare Premium Men Pad after using the product. Findings: All performance characteristics of the new MoliCare Premium Men Pad design received positive ratings from all interviewees. Notably, 90% of participants were 'highly satisfied' and 'satisfied' with the new MoliCare design. Conclusions: The new MoliCare SkinGuard absorbent core technology, anti-leakage guards, and well-engineered product design provide protection, discretion, and comfort to individuals with incontinence. The newly developed MoliCare Premium Men Pad is specifically tailored to meet the primary needs of male pad users and help them maintain a normal lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ergonomics in product design enhance user comfort, correlating with increased efficiency and usability between the user and the product. Anthropometry is an important part of creating ergonomic design that correlates with human body size. By utilising anthropometry data, this research aims to analyse the cabin's comfort in drilling rig machine by creating 3D simulations for human-machine interaction. The comfort values will be assessed using Jack software. An experimental orthogonal design is applied to generate 81 optimal combination samples. The sample with the optimal comfort value can also be obtained. Following that, the extreme learning machine and mean impact value (ELM-MIV) algorithm is employed to evaluate the comfort weight analysis of each influencing factor. The accuracy value of the prediction model assessed using mean squared error (MSE) is 0.004, and the squared correlation coefficient (R2) value is 0.996. It can be inferred that the prediction error is apparently minimal, indicating the reliability of ELM implementation in data training. It will optimise the redesign of a drilling rig machine cabin to solve work-related health issues and improve operator comfort and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product aesthetics play a crucial role in user satisfaction and product success. However, the feasibility and accuracy of using electromyographic (EMG) data for product aesthetic quality evaluation are unknown. Here, we analysed the correlations and associations between EMG physiological data and product aesthetic quality of 60 subjects by SPSS software and designed a product aesthetic quality evaluation model based on the multivariate logistic (M) algorithm to answer this question. It was found that the EMG data of the zygomatic and buccal muscles did not have significant correlations with product aesthetic quality, whereas five indicators in the EMG data of the frowning muscles had significant correlations relationships with product aesthetic quality. We also found that the overall accuracy of the product aesthetic quality evaluation model was 72.3%, which was able to better distinguish product aesthetic quality. This study demonstrates that product aesthetic quality can be evaluated using EMG data and that the product aesthetic quality evaluation model can provide an objective and accurate decision-making reference to help engineers and designers in product aesthetic quality evaluation and product design. This study lays the foundation for the future integrated multimodal physiology to conduct aesthetics quality evaluations with a high degree of accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Extracting the premolars is an effective strategy for patients with bimaxillary dentoalveolar protrusion. Clear aligners (CAs) close the extraction spaces through shortening the length of aligners. The contraction force generated by the terminal of aligners makes the posterior teeth tip mesially, which is known as the roller coaster effect. This phenomenon is even worse in the 2nd premolar extraction cases. Posterior anchorage preparation is commonly used to protect the angulation of molars, taking the form of presetting distal tipping value. However, the distal tipping design aggravates the anchorage loss of anterior teeth simultaneously. This study aimed to explore the different anchorage loss of the posterior teeth when the 1st or 2nd premolars were extracted using CAs, respectively in maxillary and mandibular arches, further providing guidance for anchorage preparation design in clinical practice. Methods: Two bimaxillary finite element models with different extraction patterns were established to simulate the anterior en-masse retraction process of the CAs. In Model 1, the maxillary and mandibular 1st premolars were extracted, while in Model 2, the 2nd premolars were extracted. Finite element analysis methods were utilized to analyze the tipping angle of the anterior and posterior teeth. Results: Compared between two models, the anterior teeth exhibited a greater lingual inclination tendency and the posterior teeth exhibited a slighter mesial tipping tendency in Model 1 regarding individual tooth. The closer to the extraction spaces, the greater the tip, and the distal tipping tendency of the 1st premolars was more evident than the mesial tipping tendency of the 1st molars in Model 2. Compared between the maxillary and mandibular arches, the mesial tipping tendency of individual posterior tooth was more evident in the maxilla. In addition, the highest hydrostatic stress of the periodontal ligaments was concentrated on the cervical and apical parts directly adjacent to the extraction spaces, and it exhibited relatively uniform distribution in Model 1. Conclusions: The individual posterior tooth showed the same mesial tipping direction but to different degree when the 1st or the 2nd premolars were extracted during clear aligner treatment. Presetting anchorage preparation design for the posterior teeth is essential to alleviate the roller coaster effect, especially in the 2nd premolar extraction cases. Furthermore, larger anchorage preparation value should be proposed for the maxillary posterior teeth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fall risk and incidence increase with age, creating significant physical and mental burden for the individual and their care provider. Lift assistive devices are used in multiple healthcare facilities, but are generally not portable nor self-operational, limiting their use outside of medical supervision. The RaymexTM lift is a novel lift assistance device within a rollator to address these limitations. We aim to gather user-centered feedback on the RaymexTM lift, set up instructions, safety protocols to improve feasibility and usability, and explore the potential usability as a fall recovery or prevention device. Methods: Four older adults, two informal caregivers and 16 formal caregivers (clinicians and continuing care assistants) participated in a focus group. Participants provided feedback on the RaymexTM lift after viewing a demonstration and using the device. Qualitative and quantitative data were analysized using thematic and descriptive analysis respectively. Results: Participants highlighted three major themes: (1) Design features requiring improvement, (2) Positive feedback and suggestions to optimize the RaymexTM lift and (3) Pricing vs. social utility. Participants suggested widening the seat, changing the braking button layout, and lowering the device weight to improve usability. Participants believed the main device feature was fall recovery and had implications for social utility by reducing the need for ambulance visits to the home. Price point led to a concern on affordability for older adults. Conclusion: The feedback gained will advance the development of the RaymexTM lift and may highlight cost-effective design choices for other developers creating related aging assistive technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systematic approach specifies how the product design processes should be approached systematically and specifically aims to make the most appropriate conceptual design before the objective design. In line with this goal, the systematic approach explains step by step how the conceptual design process should be done. One of these steps is the evaluation of solution variations. The basis of this step; The suitability of the desired conditions, the weighting and point system according to this suitability, and the determination of the result numerically constitute. Unlike other methods, the VDI (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure) 2225 method provides a more understandable and transparent comparison of options by showing technical competence and cost status in a single diagram, S-Diagram. In this study, the step of evaluating and selecting all the options in the conceptual design before the objective design process with the VDI 2225 method was examined in detail. The elevator was used as an example. Elevators consist of two parts traction and hydraulic. Traction elevators are divided into gearless and gearbox, and hydraulic elevators are divided into direct acting and indirect acting. These elevator types have different advantages and disadvantages compared to each other. For this reason, 3 different situations were determined, and the performances of the elevators were tried to be evaluated more objectively in the study. Situations: Elevators used in residences, high-speed elevators used in business centres and freight elevators that lift heavy loads were selected. All the results are shown on one S-Diagram. In this way, both situations were compared and the differences between them were revealed. As a result, the economic and technical performance of each elevator in each case was determined using the VDI 2225 method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aesthetics is essential to the design of products. Nevertheless, aesthetic quality is often assessed with inaccurate, ad hoc scales. Therefore, we have developed the Product Aesthetics Inventory (PAI) and its short version, the PAI-S. A Pre-Study using face-to-face interviews (N = 6 design experts, N = 4 product users) served as basis for the development of test items. The resulting item battery was then used by N = 6,002 persons in an online survey to evaluate various types of household appliances. In Study 1, n = 3,000 of those participants' data were used to determine the number of product aesthetics factors and to select the optimal items by combining exploratory graph analysis (EGA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approaches. We found an eight-factor structure consisting of the dimensions Visual Aesthetics, Operating Elements, Logo, Feedback Sounds, Operating Sounds, Haptic, Interaction Aesthetics, and Impression. In Study 2, we confirmed this structure by a CFA with the remaining n = 3,002 participants, resulting in excellent model fit. Further, construct validity was confirmed by correlations with other established aesthetic scales, intentions, and general judgments. In both studies, strict measurement invariance was achieved across four household appliances, which further highlights the psychometric quality of the newly developed scales. In Study 3 (N = 1,028), we demonstrated that most of the PAI factors as well as reliability, validity, and measurement invariance findings generalized to power tools, office equipment, and home entertainment devices. Finally, we provide recommendations for the usage of the PAI and implications for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering companies face the challenge of optimising margins within product platforms while balancing individual product optimisation and maximising platform commonality. Key obstacles include organisational silos, diverse design variables, design space allocation, and varying time perspectives. This paper proposes a value-based modelling methodology that integrates both internal and external variety within the manufacturer. Using an automotive Head-Up Display (HUD) case study, we demonstrate how to effectively utilise platform margins to maximise technological variety and minimise internal variety, thereby enhancing long-term system value. This approach helps design teams understand the implications of their decisions, optimise platform margins to meet evolving technological demands, reduce costs, and maximise value. Our findings advance the understanding of margin optimisation in product platforms and support informed decision-making for engineering companies facing conflicting objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies with established product families can meet emerging market needs by extending their product families over time, that is, by introducing new product variants sequentially. Starting points for each new design can be generated by integrating design solutions from existing products in the same family. This article introduces an automated systematic approach to derive all possible ways of combining existing designs to produce a new variant with a desired new combination of functionality, based on algorithmic analysis of product models. The approach considers the functions in existing products and how they are realised in specific CAD parts and the geometric features defining them. By automatically generating and evaluating all the options, the new approach helps identify the most efficient way to combine existing parts and features from a product family to generate a new product variant with distinct functionality. The approach has been applied to product families of mechanical and mechatronic consumer products. It was evaluated by manually implementing the automatically-generated redesign instructions in CAD for several product variants, which built confidence in the approach's accuracy and performance. From the evaluation, opportunities for further work are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raising the user's self-confidence is a promising strategy to reduce product-related user stigma. In the context of product usage, the commonly used term self-confidence refers to the psychological construct of self-efficacy. To strengthen a user's self-efficacy through product design, providing both good usability and emotionality in a product seems to be a reasonable starting point. However, their suitability and validity for this purpose has not yet been sufficiently assessed. This paper examines whether self-efficacy would be associated with perceptions of a product's usability and emotionality. By conducting an online survey (n = 105; stigma-sensitive product demonstrator: walker), it was confirmed that the perception of good usability and emotionality of walkers were positively associated with the user's perceived self-efficacy. Moreover, a negative interaction effect was identified showing that the association between emotionality and self-efficacy increased with lower levels of perceived usability and vice versa. This may indicate that emotions can compensate the importance of usability at least to some extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This hypothesis introduces pump shoes as a method for the prevention and treatment of varicose veins. Method: An air pump is placed in the shoe, connected to an airbag wrapped around the leg through a hose. With each step, air is pumped into the foot airbag, applying pressure to the leg muscles and superficial veins. This action mimics muscle pumping, helping to push blood back towards the heart. Excess air is released through an outlet hose with an adjustable sphincter, allowing for increased pressure on the leg. Results & Conclusion: These shoes offer a simple mechanism to assist in returning blood from the feet to the heart. They can be beneficial in preventing varicose veins in at-risk individuals or treating those in the early stages of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]