Design analysis
Tue, Dec 15, 2026 · Week 17 · Genetics of Disease (Medical Interventions)
Today's goal: Analyze an emerging-intervention design and judge how well it restores the lost function.
What a finished product looks like
This is a model of the work you should turn in today. Use it to check your own: match the structure and the level of detail, do not copy it. Your data and wording should be your own.
Case: a bionic hand for a patient who lost a hand below the wrist.
Function it must restore: grip and basic object handling so the patient can hold a cup and a phone.
Criteria evaluation: The design must (1) close and open on the patient's intent, (2) grip firmly enough to hold a full cup, and (3) be light enough to wear all day. It meets criteria 1 and 3: it reads muscle signals from the forearm and weighs about 400 grams. It partly meets criterion 2: it grips a cup but slips on smooth glass.
Strength: it responds to the patient's own muscle signals, so control feels natural and needs little training (case data: 90 percent of intended grips succeeded).
Weakness: it gives no sense of touch, so the patient must watch the hand to judge grip force, which slows tasks and causes drops on slick objects.
Proposed improvement: add pressure sensors in the fingertips that buzz the forearm when grip is firm.
Trade-off: the sensors and feedback motor add weight and drain the battery faster, so all-day wear (criterion 3) gets harder.
(Tip: tie every strength and weakness to a specific criterion, not to a general 'it works well' claim.)
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: Analyze one assigned emerging-intervention design against the function it must restore, naming a strength, a weakness, and one improvement with its trade-off.
- Date and label the entry.
- Record the procedure, observation, or design decision clearly.
- End with what the evidence means and the next step.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: turn it in on the class site under today's design-analysis assignment.
Claim ceiling: The supplied lesson evidence can support an observation, pattern, classroom mechanism, or next-step decision about Design analysis. It cannot by itself prove causation, establish a real clinical diagnosis, or justify action outside this classroom task.
WebXam problem for today's skill
One exam-style question that uses exactly what you practiced today. Try it before you reveal the answer, then read why each choice is right or wrong.
Tap an answer to see the full explanation. Nothing is recorded or graded.
It builds this reusable test skill: Evaluating a design against function criteria.
- Name the concept or data pattern being tested.
- Cross out choices that violate that rule or the evidence.
- Justify the best remaining choice before checking the answer.