＂Universal Design＂ Approach for the Participation of the Disabled in Urban Life

Disability can occur to anyone and anyone can have difficulties in fulfilling daily activities in a certain part of their lives. Accessibility is a crucial matter and a basic human right for the disabled people in order to join the urban life. For this reason, the physical environment must be set, starting with the planning and design stage, in a form that can satisfy the utility and accessibility requirements of disabled people. One of the most important recent concepts to enable accessible and useful spaces for the disabled is the ＂universal design＂. Nowadays, even though there is an increase in the number of scientific publications, meetings and decisions taken, the regulatory process on our current living environment is developing slowly regarding the physical accessibility. At this point, the most important role regarding the handling of social and political paradigms of disability, addressing different users, application of the principals of universal design and creating knowledge in order to increase social awareness belongs to the departments of universities that offer design courses. The subject of the study in this context is to determine the contents and the proportion of the courses （compulsory and elective） related to ＂universal design and ＂disability design＂, which will ensure our living environment to be accessible and independently utilized for everyone, in the course plan of the architecture, interior architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture departments in Turkey.

Physiological Analysis for Universal Design of Public Seat Under Diverse Conditions

Public vehicle seats are used under diverse conditions, therefore, the design of these seats is desired to be universal design. In the past study, seat swing function used in public vehicle seats, and it was optimized from the mechanical aspect under diverse conditions. Seat swing function is the function to prevent hip-sliding force, which causes sitting uncomfortable feeling. Recent study clarified that the reduction of blood flow in the legs causes physiological dysfunction, which is one of the causes of Long Flight Thrombosis, and the social issue. Thus, in the design of seat swing function, it is necessary to consider not only mechanical aspects but also physiological aspects. For the universal design of seat swing function considering the physiological aspect （blood flow）, the influence of blood flow on seat swing function in diverse conditions was analyzed. The method of this study was measuring blood flow and body pressure distribution on seat cushion of seat swing function under diverse conditions. From the analysis, it was indicated that it was necessary to reduce the compressive force behind the knees of the user conditions; the short physique and the high weight physique in standard sitting posture, for the universal design of seat swing function to prevent reduction of blood flow in the legs.

Integrating Universal Design Standards and Building Information Modeling at the Conceptual Design Stage of Buildings

A projection of the Canadian population shows that in 2024 one in five Canadians will be over 65 years old. This shift forces designers to consider the entire lifetime of occupants during the design of new buildings. Universal Design (UD), which is a design that accommodates all people to the greatest extent possible and aging in place design that is deeply rooted in the principles of UD, aim to house people irrespective of their age, ability, and chronic health conditions. Building Information Modeling (BIM) significantly helps advance the development of the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry in a more collaborative and automated way. Integrating BIM and UD allows designers to incorporate UD standards easily and efficiently at the conceptual design stage of buildings by using the functionalities and capabilities of BIM tools. Therefore, this study presents the development of an automated computer model to facilitate the adoption of UD standards and processes. The novelty highlighted in this model resides in the creation of an automated method that employs a newly created plug-in and databases to assist designers to incorporate UD standards at the conceptual stage in a timely and cost-effective manner. Furthermore, the study introduces the methodology consisting of collecting, categorizing, and storing data from various universal design and accessible design guidelines in the developed databases and developing new plug-ins in BIM tool to link the developed databases in order to automate the process of retrieving necessary information and components to help designers and owners select optimal design alternatives based on their predefined criteria.

Certificateless universal designated verifier signature schemes

Universal designated verifier signature schemes allows a signature holder to designate the signature to a desire designated verifier, in such a way that only designated verifier can verify this signature, but is unable to convince anyone else of this fact. The previous constructions of universal designated verifier signature rely on the underlying public key infrastructure, that needs both signers and verifiers to verify the authenticity of the public keys, and hence, the certificates are required. This article presents the first model and construction of the certificateless universal designated verifier signature scheme, in which the certificates are not needed. The proposed scheme satisfies all the requirements of the universal designated verifier signature in the certificateless system. Security proofs are provided for the scheme based on the random oracle model, assuming that the Bilinear diffie-hellman （BDH） problem is hard to solve.

Universal Designated Multi Verifier Signature Scheme without Random Oracles

In this paper, we re-formalize the security notions of universal designated multi verifier signature （UDMVS） schemes. Then the first UDMVS scheme is presented in the standard model （i.e. without random oracles） based on Waters＇ signature scheme. In this setting, a signature holder can to designate the signature to multi verifiers. Moreover, the security of our proposed scheme is based on the Gap Bilinear Difffie-Hellman assumption.

Teaching Today＇s Students to Build Tomorrow＇s Universally Designed Society

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities defines the term universal design as the design of products, environments, programs and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. This paper attempts to highlight the importance of universal design as a core element in the training of architects and engineers. It emphasizes the need for students to take an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, and analytic approach to universal design through degree courses in these fields. An interdisciplinary teaching program for universal design as part of an introductory course for first-year students at Bergen University College in Norway, illustrates one possible strategy for raising awareness of universal design and for improving interaction across disciplines. In this context, the paper discusses the relevance of the seven principles of universal design as guidelines for the built environment. It also emphasizes why universal design should be an integral part of established subjects rather than be classified as a separate subject in a bachelor＇s or master＇s degree program.

Structural optimum design of bistable cylindrical shell for broadband energy harvesting application

The shallow cylindrical structure is suitable to develop broadband vibration energy harvesters due to the property of the inherent mechanical bistability. In this letter, the optimum design of the bistable cylindrical shell for broadband energy harvesting application is investigated from the structural point of view. The output power is evaluated by the concept of the harvestable power, which balances the frequency of snap through and the referred output energy associated with each snap through. The non- dimensional harvestable power is analytically expressed as the function of the non-dimensional curvature parameter and one constructed parameter. The universal dependence of the optimal curvature parameter and the associated optimal harvestable power on the constructed parameter is derived, which can be well aooroximated by the linear relation in double logarithmic coordinate.

Design for the Elderly： Housing and Re-arrangements-- Case Studies in Istanbul

As a consequence of developing technology, various medical developments and environmental factors, the population of elderly people has been rising. Future predictions show a rising trend for designing for the elderly and. In order for seniors to be able to appear in community life, to be self-sufficient and live their lives independently, supportive environments are required. Being able to sustain seniors＇ lives has to be seen as a civic right and architectural design should be considered as a tool to get these rights. As linked to everyday living, homes should be a starting point to get these rights. Being in the core of everyday activities, the spaces in dwellings should meet life-span design criteria. Fundamental principles lying under the aspects of design, dimensions, details, colors and symbols of supportive environments should not be affected from generation gap and senium and should rather aim at this user group. These fundamentals can briefly be listed as, change as less as possible, design for self-sufficiency, communication and socialization. In the paper, the focus is on these fundamental design principles for residential spaces, together with the research of reflections of factors, affecting health, security and mobility deriving from mobility disabilities, perception and memory weakening, specifically to bathroom design.

Residential Revitalization through the Universal Heuristic Evaluation Model （UHEM）

The study aims to propose using a universal heuristic evaluation model （UHEM） to improve the functional and physical performance of residential buildings. Since, ＂everyone should be able to enter and use any part of the built environment as independently and naturally as possible＂, the old buildings should be revitalized with respect to an inclusive approach. However, research on current design practice showed that there is a lack of systematic evaluation and revitalization methods. Hence, the main objective of the proposed UHEM model is to evaluate existing residential environments and requalify them with respect to an inclusive approach. The study concludes by highlighting the importance of UHEM from two points of view： （i） the importance of a systematic evaluation approach to effectively deal with the challenge of requalifying the residential environments and （ii） the designers＇ key role during the revitalization process.

Italian Case: The Role of Learning Processes in University Inclusion

This proposal is focused on the first outputs of the doctoral thesis“Universitabile”based,specifically,on the relationship between educational inclusion(Ainscow&Miles,2009)and ICT(Information and Communications Technology).Starting from a review of the literature on the role of universities as places of inclusion and confrontation with diversity(Bolt&Penketh,2016;Moriña&Gavira,2015),the proposal analyses the inclusion strategies by three main universities in Rome:La Sapienza,Tor Vergata and Roma Tre through a mixed method approach.We will show the answers to interviews administered to operators of dedicated services.In this context,ICT,during the Covid-19 emergency,acted as a facilitator allowing people with disabilities to benefit from distance learning,but also as a barrier,since the evidence shows that technology,if conceived as a facilitator but designed only on the basis of the characteristics of able-bodied users,can represent an obstacle factor.In this sense,as found by Tsatsou(2020),the inclusion of people with disabilities can be facilitated by the use of digital technologies.This view is also found in Valentini(2008),who emphasises how the use of digital technologies is a prerequisite for the development of concrete solutions.To conclude,it would be appropriate to rethink technology on the basis of Universal Design,i.e.“an approach to the design of technologies that pays more attention to the concept of universal usability:buildings and tools should be conceived,designed and constructed in a way to be usable by all”(Fiocco&Martinati,2002,p.232).

Universal usability evaluation by using an integrated fuzzy multi criteria decision making approach

Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated fuzzy approach to determine important universal usability problems(UUPs)by providing experts who behave like real users and to establish a work plan to correct the most important ones.Design/methodology/approach–In this study,a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approach with three stages is proposed for the evaluation of universal usability.At the first stage,UUPs are identified by performing modified heuristic evaluation,and severity rating of each problem is determined by experts.At the second stage,critical problems are specified by applying the fuzzy Delphi considering these severity ratings.At the third stage,Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory approach is applied to prioritize critical problems as sub and main criteria.An illustrative example related to emergency service is performed to apply the proposed approach.Findings–Results showed that the elevator button design,the elevator emergency button design and the position of the floor signboard are the first three problems that should be primarily improved as sub-criteria.In terms of maincriteria,equitableuse,simpleand intuitiveuse,andperceptible informationare the first three main criteria that should be improve in emergency service.Originality/value–This study is original in terms of methodology and providing a new perspective for building design evaluation.The results can help the designers to see the UUPs in buildings,to focus the most important UUPs and to establish improvement ranking.These advantages provide time and cost-effective design improvement actions.

SEVERAL CRYPTOGRAPHIC APPLICATIONS OF ∑-PROTOCOL

∑-protocol has been proved to be a very powerful cryptographic tool and widely used in nnmerous important cryptographic applications. In this paper, the authors make use of ∑-protocol as a main tool to resolve the following difficult problems 1-3 and to construct three ettlcient cryptographic protocols 4 6：1） How to construct a protocol for proving a secret integer to be a Blum integer with form PQ, where P, Q are two different primes and both -- 3（mod 4）;2） How to construct a protocol for proving a secret polynomial with exact degree t - 1 iil a （t, n）- threshold secret sharing scheme：3） How to construct witness indistinguishable and witness hiding protocol not from zero-knowledge proof;4） A publicly verifiable secret sharing scheme with information-theoretic security;5） A delegateable signature scheme under the existence of one-way permutations;6） Non-interactive universal designated verifier signature schemes.