a b s t r a c tProgressive and irreversible cognitive impairments affect the ability of people with dementia to communicate and interact with caregivers. This places a burden on caregivers to initiate and manage interactions to the extent that they may avoid all but essential communication. CIRCA is an interactive, multimedia touch screen system that contains a wide range of stimuli to prompt reminiscing. The intention is that people with dementia and caregivers will explore CIRCA together, using the recollections sparked by the media as the basis for conversations. This paper reports an evaluation of the utility of CIRCA looking particularly at whether CIRCA can meet the needs of both people with dementia and caregivers to engage in mutually satisfying interactions. The findings confirm that people with dementia can use the touch screen system and that the contents prompt them to reminisce. The system also supports caregivers to interact with people with dementia as more equal participants in the conversation. The results suggest that interacting with the touch screen system is engaging and enjoyable for people with dementia and caregivers alike and provides a supportive interaction environment that positively benefits their relationships.

More and more cities are being encouraged to subsidize sports stadiums as an economic development tool. In this paper regression analysis using census data on nine different metropolitan areas is employed to evaluate the impact of stadiums and professional sports teams on areadevelopment. Previous attempts to estimate the effectiveness of sports-based development have used assumption-driven trade multiplier models. The evidence presented here is that the presence of a new or renovated stadium has an uncertain impact on the levels of personal income and possibly a negative impact on local development relative to the region. These results should serve as a caution to those who assume or assert a large positive stadium impact. tadium mania is sweeping the United States. City officials from Tampa Bay S to San Francisco have embraced the idea that stadiums and commercial sport are essential in projecting a "world-class'' image. Furthermore, it is widely held that the image of respectability imparted by sport is fortified by economic substance. Simply put, the argument is that stadiums and sports provide tangible economic benefits for the local economy and the resulting prosperity further enhances the city's reputation. Does the image of what stadiums and sports contribute to a municipality's economy conform to reality? The purpose of this paper is to examine two questions bearing on this issue. First, does the construction or renovation of a stadium or the adoption of a professional sports franchise correlate with an increase in a city's economic activity? Second, does a new or refurbished stadium or a professional football or baseball team increase the municipality's share of regional economic activity?Before describing the empirical approach and evidence appropriate for addressing these two questions, it is logical to describe first the economic benefits claimed by stadium proponents, and the municipal response to that economic promise. As more cities build stadiums in response to the economic promise described by advocates, it becomes less likely that stadiums will deliver the economic goods to the individual cities that build them. These issues are the subject of the first section of the paper. Since the argument for public subsidization of stadiums ultimately depends on their ability to spawn positive economic externalities in excess of external costs, the next section of the paper discusses and critiques the theory underRobert A. Baade is Vail Professor in economics at Lake Forest College. Richard F. Dye is an associate professor in the same department.

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Older people with dementia are a particularly challenging user group to involve in the process of designing interactive systems that could assist them. It may also be difficult to involve family caregivers of people with dementia, as they are most likely to be older themselves and uncertain about technology. Paid care staff, whilst younger, may be unclear about the benefits of technology and lack confidence in their ability to incorporate it into their work. Over the past 7 years, the authors of this paper have worked closely with people with dementia, their families and professional care staff to develop and evaluate a multimedia computer system to support communication between people with dementia and caregivers. To achieve this, a number of user involvement issues were addressed, ranging from legal and ethical considerations of working with people with dementia to the reluctance of hard-pressed staff to add to their workload for a research project. In addition, developing and conducting evaluations and eliciting the views of people with dementia who have working memory impairment plus additional cognitive and social difficulties emerged as a central issue. A variety of approaches were explored within this project, which are described in this paper, including familiarizing the whole team with the unique difficulties posed by dementia, continuous confirmation of participants' consent, and ways to measure enjoyment, engagement, and joint interaction using observation.

As world populations grow older the incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementia related illnesses increases (approximately 18 million sufferers worldwide). One particularly devastating effect of AD is the loss of short-term memory, which radically impairs the sufferer's ability to communicate. People with dementia, however, often retain a facility for long-term memory that can function strongly given appropriate stimulation.Project CIRCA (Computer Interactive Reminiscence and Conversation Aid), utilizes interactive multimedia (including audio, video, animation and QuickTime VR environments) to stimulate long-term memory to prompt verbal and non-verbal communication. We will demonstrate how -through good design practice, interdisciplinary collaboration and a user-centred approach to design -we can invest reminiscence therapy with technology-led solutions to assist our participating test groups (30+ people with dementia and 40 carers) in conversational settings. We will demonstrate how this adaptable, expansive, immediate and engaging tool can contribute significantly to 'quality of life' in dementia care environments.

Proposals to provide public subsidy to sports stadiums are being debated in many locales.

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