One mode of creative design is for designers to draw analogies that connect the design domain (e.g., a mechanical device) to some other domain from which inspiration is drawn (e.g., a biological system). The identification and application of analogies can be supported by software tools that store, structure, present, or propose source domain stimuli from which such analogies might be constructed. For these tools to be effective and not impact the design process in negative ways, they must fit well with the information and interaction needs of their users. However, the user requirements for these tools are seldom explicitly discussed. Furthermore, the literature that supports the identification of such requirements is distributed across a number of different domains, including those that address analogical design (especially biomimetics), creativity support tools, and human–computer interaction. The requirements that these literatures propose can be divided into those that relate to the information content that the tools provide (e.g., level of abstraction or mode of representation) and those that relate to the interaction qualities that the tools support (e.g., accessibility or shareability). Examining the relationships between these requirements suggests that tool developers should focus on satisfying the key requirements of open-endedness and accessibility while managing the conflicts between the other requirements. Attention to these requirements and the relationships between them promises to yield analogical design support tools that better permit designers to identify and apply source information in their creative work.

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Dogs are one of the key animal species in investigating the biological mechanisms of behavioral laterality. Cerebral asymmetries are assumed to be influenced by stress, but this subject has not yet been studied in dogs. This study aims to investigate the effect of stress on laterality in dogs by using two different motor laterality tests: the Kong™ Test and a Food-Reaching Test (FRT). Motor laterality of chronically stressed (n = 28) and emotionally/physically healthy dogs (n = 32) were determined in two different environments, i.e., a home environment and a stressful open field test (OFT) environment. Physiological parameters including salivary cortisol, respiratory rate, and heart rate were measured for each dog, under both conditions. Cortisol results showed that acute stress induction by OFT was successful. A shift towards ambilaterality was detected in dogs after acute stress. Results also showed a significantly lower absolute laterality index in the chronically stressed dogs. Moreover, the direction of the first paw used in FRT was a good predictor of the general paw preference of an animal. Overall, these results provide evidence that both acute and chronic stress exposure can change behavioral asymmetries in dogs.

AN INTERACTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEM TO ASSIST DESIGN DECISIONSMETU JFA 2017/2 13 INTRODUCTIONUser-research outcomes can help designers overcome communication barriers in design process. In some cases, designers are not able to participate in user research activity, especially when there is an outside firm or institute, which remotely or asynchronously conduct user research as in the case that is introduced in this paper. When designers are unable to get involved in the user-research process, data is communicated to them through research deliverables. In this regard, how this data is delivered is as critical as how it is collected, since the latter would be pointless if the former is not achieved. In this paper, the aim is to present a framework that involves requirements for effective delivery of user research findings to designers. To exemplify how the framework is operationalised in practice, we present an interactive information system for delivery of user research findings to assist in formulation of design decisions by providing inspiration and guidance for designers and maintaining data to justify design decisions in preliminary stages of the design process.The information system is developed by METU/BILTIR UTEST Product Usability Unit (1) for communicating the results of a user research case, which is conducted for an automotive manufacturer firm. The case involves asynchronous collaboration between the two partners. During the collaboration process, designers were occasionally able to visit the unit to see the ongoing research process and provisional results.In the following sections, we begin by introducing the communication barriers that designers experience during the design process, after which we discuss the expectations of designers from user research outcomes to overcome these barriers. The study continues with presentation of an information systems framework for sharing user research results. This is followed by introduction of the user research case, in which we used the framework in the form of an information system as a deliverable to communicate the results of the research case. GÜLŞEN TÖRE YARGIN and ÇİĞDEM ERBUĞ 14 METU JFA 2017/2 system is used in practice, and how it met expectations by highlighting the comments of a designer working in the project. The final section contains discussions and conclusions. COMMUNICATIVE ISSUES IN DESIGN PROCESS: BARRIERS BETWEEN STAKEHOLDERSDuring a design process, designers engage in communications with different stakeholders of the product development team from different backgrounds. Such communications among different disciplines in the design team can be often difficult (Maier et al., 2006), and having different mental models affects this situation (Badke-Schaub et al., 2007). In design process, designers face many obstacles in both receiving of information and in communicating their ideas to other stakeholders. In this study, we focus particularly on communication of user research findings and how these findings can be helpful for designers in collaborat...