AMJ

The first stages in assessing both the strengths and limitations of Shape Memory Alloy’s (SMA) towards resolving biomechanical problems and relieving disability have been undertaken. Experimental work to date has confirmed there is definite viability for the precise control of an SMA system based on electromyography data.

This paper reflects on the use of a systems design, a mainly engineering approach, to exploring the role of the pharmaceutical supply chain in medication error.  The approach provided an enhanced insight into the complex set of system factors and interactions involved in generating medication errors and therefore successful in highlighting opportunities for re-design to improve safety. 

Designers are increasingly becoming aware of the potential use and integration of smart materials and technologies within their designs. One of the critical steps towards building innovative surgical solutions will be to link physicians and product designers utilising the appropriate materials and technologies to provide tangible improvements in patient care and treatment.

The complexity of the concept of independent living in old age implies that solutions may occur at a systems level. Instead of dissecting the concept into isolated components, a systems approach allows the person and their environment to be viewed as a ‘system’, which accounts for inter-relationships between single components and their synergistic potential.

A mid-century modernist approach to graphics still has a stranglehold in those industries where its aseptic appearance seems to be appropriate: medicine, pharmaceuticals, chemistry. This paper explains some of the flaws in the modernist graphic approach, specifically in its rejection of illustration and humour, and argues for design based on psychology and emotion rather than flawed and outdated manifestos.

This study analyzed how techniques used in industry may contribute to the improvement of orthopaedic implants. A case involving a patient who needed facial bone reconstruction is reported.The technique resulted in the manufacture of customized craniofacial implants which are light weight and have great geometric complexity.