Older adult consumers need easy access to packaging contents through their closure mechanisms. We propose design requirements to make a product more inclusive of older adult users by providing useful packaging design guidelines for easier usage by senior citizens. We examined packaging-versus-consumer interaction in opening procedures for 50 varied consumer products in the Japanese market. The experiment comprised observational analysis and objective and subjective assessments of 48 young and older adult users of both genders. Senior users preferred firm, compact, familiar, and light packaging with intuitive closure and an uncomplicated grip. These results may aid manufacturers in producing more universally friendly closure mechanisms.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the pedestrian condition of walking with a walking stick on the evaluation of pedestrian pavement materials （pavement materials）, and to obtain basic data on pavement materials that are subjectively highly evaluated in terms of walkability when walking with a stick. The semantic differential method （SD method） and the selection method were used as subjective evaluation methods for pavement materials. Thirty-six undergraduate and graduate students responded with their impressions of five different pavement materials using six adjective pairs under imagery conditions of walking with and without a stick. A factor analysis of the six adjective pairs yielded three factors, Robustness, Preference, and Stability. The results of the SD method and the selection method suggest that the pedestrian condition of using or not using a walking stick influences the impression of the pavement material. In respect to the factors of the SD method indicated that asphalt, IL blocks, tiles and rubber chips, except for stone slabs, may have been relatively highly evaluated as pavement materials for walking with a walking stick. The results of the selection method indicated that asphalt and rubber chips were the pavement materials that were selected by large number of participants who thought it would be easy to walk on when using a walking stick.

Tightening regulation of operators’ performance by adding new operation procedures has been one of the typical countermeasures for enhancing the safety of complex industrial systems. However, some recent studies have pointed out that detailed procedures can hinder operators’ resilient performance in response to unexpected situations, which in turn can lead to the increase of safety risks. The purpose of this study is to experimentally examine the effects of regulations by operation procedures on resilient performance. An experimental task simulating fire-fighting command and control was used to compare the performance of two participant groups: “a reference group” provided with the goals to be achieved and action rules as a reference, and “a rule group” with the goals and action rules as a procedure to be followed. The results showed that the rule group demonstrated less resilient performances and had lower outcomes than the reference group in experimental scenarios involving situations in which goal-rules and action-rules were in conflict. The interview results also suggested the superiority of the reference group in terms of attentive monitoring of situations that do not fit the procedures.

Braille publications, such as Braille books and textbooks, utilize a combination of raised convex dots and lines, and indented concave dots and lines, to create diagrams and graphs. Extensive research has focused on the ease of identifying raised convex stimuli such as convex dots and lines, resulting in the establishment of standards such as the JIS. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the ease of distinguishing concave stimuli, such as concave dots and lines. Hence, quantitative guidelines to determine the most easily identifiable concave stimuli are warranted. Among these stimuli, ruled lines comprising concave lines, frequently used in braille publications for graphs, must be designed and produced considering the distance between concave and convex lines to ensure tactile readability when used as supplements. Therefore, this study specifically targeted ruled lines comprising common concave stimuli in braille publications and aimed to assess the influence of the distance between concave and convex lines on tactile readability. The results indicated that narrow distances, such as 2 mm or 3 mm, were more easily identifiable, while wide distances, particularly 5 mm or 6 mm, posed significant challenges for tactile recognition. These insights may aid in the proofreading process of braille publications.

It has been shown in previous study that we are able to pay attention to a wide range of surroundings and to think and act flexibly, in positive emotional states. Also, chocolate has a mood-modifying effect, and eating chocolate has been shown to evoke positive emotions. Considering from these previous studies, it is possible that eating chocolate has a positive psychological effect and expands the useful field of view （UFOV）. Therefore, the aim of this study is to clarify the relationship between eating chocolate and changes in emotions, as well as between eating chocolate and the useful field of view. In the experiment, emotions were evaluated using a Psychological Scale for Sweets and the useful field of view was measured using psychometric curves. As a result, it revealed the following two points:（1） It was found that usual eating one’s preferred chocolate leads to a psychologically positive effect. （2） It was found that usual eating one’s preferred chocolate leads to an expansion of the effective visual field, which represents the scope of visual attention.