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In 2002 there were 19.8 million people in the United Kingdom over the age of 50 and it is estimated that by 2031 there will be close to 27 million (UK National Statistics Office, 2005). Predictions about the older population changes in the next twenty years indicate that although overall growth will be low, the numbers of ‘young old’ (65‐74) and ‘middle old’ (75‐84) remaining stable until 2011, the ‘old old’ (85+) will show a substantial increase (Grundy, 2004).Bowling et al (2002) stressed the importance of maintaining independence and control over one's life with ageing. This, together with having social roles and participating in social and voluntary activities/hobbies to include those performed alone, contributes to the foundation of good quality of life in old age. New European policies for older adults focus on the provision of equal opportunities, health promotion and stress their involvement in decision‐making (Fletcher, 2000). The increase in the ageing population is evident in the corresponding rise in the growth of nursing and residential homes, sheltered accommodation and home care support and it is anticipated that greater provision will be needed (Wittenberg et al, 1998), particularly if the aspirations of European policy are to be realised. However, some studies (eg, Sheppard, 2003) have documented the paucity of rehabilitation in residential and nursing homes and highlighted the disempowerment experienced by residents. The process of transition in the later stages of the life span from full independence in a familiar home environment to one of total care while providing security may engender feelings of helplessness with a decrease in psychological well‐being.This article outlines and discusses the findings of a study using narratives with older adults, undertaken to explore such effects of life changes, including transition, on their self‐concept.

The significant increase in the number of older adults in the UK population is expected to continue. Physical and psychological problems associated with ageing often require older adults to move into residential care where opportunities to participate in previously enjoyed occupations may be limited. Engagement in self‐selected purposeful activities is positively related to physical and psychological well‐being. This paper aims to focus on some of these issues.

An ethnographic approach, a single case study of one care home in a semi‐rural area of Wales was designed to investigate the balance of occupation of residents. Occupations were observed and recorded using a time‐sampling frame over 12 hours on three consecutive days. Field notes were used to contextualise the data in reflecting the home environment.

The majority spent their time in the lounges and remained passive, interacting infrequently with staff and one another. Little opportunity or intervention has been afforded to residents to encourage or support participation in occupation.

A single case study may not be representative of the experiences of residents in other care homes. Time limited observation over different locations may miss activities. Future research could extend the scope of the study.

Older adults in residential care should be supported to engage in occupations. Employment of occupational therapists could allow support to be individually and appropriately focussed. There are implications for health and social care course design and also for the training of care workers.

The paper illustrates observation of activities in a care home over an extended period.

The purpose of this paper is to design woven fabrics with desired quality and low manufacturing cost by optimizing the weave parameters such as count, crimp and thread spacing of warp and weft yarns.

To fulfill this goal, the authors endeavor to devise a searching mechanism based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) for efficiently finding the appropriate combination of weave parameters.

The experimental validation confirms that the proposed method has an excellent search capacity to obtain the best combinations of weave parameters for producing the fabrics with requisite quality at low cost.

The quick response capability of the system would benefit the fabric manufacturers for efficient determination of the required weaving parameters to produce the engineered fabrics.

This paper offers a maiden application of PSO technique to design engineered products in textiles. The method is easy to implement and it is computationally inexpensive as fewer parameters are involved.