‘She is not alone!’ Afrofuturist Wearable Devices for Speculative PTSD Treatment in Kenya

This research explores speculative wearable technology to reimagine Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment for female-identifying domestic abuse survivors in Kenya. The speculative wearable devices are envisioned to aid in continuous monitoring of PTSD associated with domestic abuse as well as aid in self-directed PTSD treatment. The development of the wearable devices employs mixed methodologies that combines Health Design Thinking, Design for Wearability, Speculative Design, and Modular Design to imagine the form, functions, wearability, and design of the wearable prototypes. Drawing design inspiration from Kenyan culture situated within Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism frameworks, aims to convey symbolism of empowerment for female-identifying domestic abuse survivors and in a much larger context highlight the importance of raising awareness of domestic abuse in Kenya

Interdisciplinary Insights for Digital Touch Communication

Communication is increasingly moving beyond ‘ways of seeing’ to ‘ways of feeling’. This Open Access book provides social design insights and implications for HCI research and design exploring digitally mediated touch communication. It offers a socially orientated map to help navigate the complex social landscape of digitally mediated touch for communication: from everyday touch-screens, tangibles, wearables, haptics for virtual reality, to the tactile internet of skin. Drawing on literature reviews, new case-study vignettes, and exemplars of digital touch, the book examines the major social debates provoked by digital touch, and investigates social themes central to the communicative potential and societal consequences of digital touch: · Communication environments, capacities and practices · Norms associations and expectations · Presence, absence and connection · Social imaginaries of digital touch · Digital touch ethics and values The book concludes with a discussion of the significance of social understanding and methods in the context of Interdisciplinary collaborations to explore touch, towards the design of digital touch communication, ‘ways of feeling’, that are useable, appropriate, ethical and socially aware

Changing the ligand-binding specificity of E. coli periplasmic binding protein RbsB by rational design and screening

Periplasmic binding proteins (PBPs) form a superfamily of bacterial proteins with a conserved bilobal structure, which are involved in substrate scavenging for bacterial cells. A wide variety of natural ligand-binding domains has evolved. PBPs are composed of two domains connected by a hinge region, which form a binding pocket between the two domains. They can be found in two stable conformations; in absence of ligand the PBP adopts an open conformation, where the binding pocket is exposed. In presence of the ligand, the protein changes to the closed conformation where the ligand is buried in the middle of the protein. This project focused on the ribose-binding protein of Escherichia coli (RbsB). Ribose binding to RbsB stabilizes the closed state. RbsB-bound ribose is presented to a cytoplasmic transport channels (RbsAC), from where it is imported into the cell, or interacts to membrane receptors (i.e., Trg) and can elicit a chemotactic signal. Due to their unique ligand-binding characteristics and wide variety of natural binding pockets PBPs have been of interest for the development of biosensors and bioreporter systems. PBP bioreporters were initiated over 20 years ago by a development in the group of Hazelbauer, who fused the C-terminal part of the E. coli EnvZ osmoregulation histidine kinase to the N-terminal part of the Trg methyl-accepting chemotaxis receptor protein, creating a hybrid receptor Trz1. Ligand bound galactose-binding protein (GBP) and ribose-bound RbsB interact with Trz1, which eventually leads to phosphorylation of the response regulator OmpR, activating transcription from the ompC promotor (and any reporter gene fused to this). In 2003, Hellinga’s group proposed that based on crystal structure information of ligand-bound PBPs variants with new ligand recognition specificities could be designed by computational approaches. Notably, they claimed the design of a RbsB-variant with nM affinity for recognition of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). This idea inspired the scientific community, because it could easily extend PBP-binding to a tremendous variety of compounds, including non- natural molecules, and would thus permit a wide variety of biosensor and bioreporter systems based on RbsB/GBP and Trz1. Unfortunately, independent engineering of some of the most promising published mutants failed to reproduce the reported in vivo and in vitro results. These studies further concluded that the published variants were actually misfolded proteins and/or impaired in stability as result of the introduced ligand-pocket mutations. This fact was largely ignored by Hellinga’s publications. Still inspired by the concept and trying to understand the reason of such limited success, our group raised the hypothesis that changing from ribose to TNT in a single step was likely unfeasible, but given the wide range of naturally evolved PBP ligand binding pockets, a step by step change of ribose binding to a non-natural analogue should be possible. To test this, we selected compounds with distinct differences but still chemically similar to ribose: 1,3-cyclohexanediol (13CHD) and cyclohexanol (CH). Mutant ligand binding pockets that might accommodate 13CHD and/or CH were computationally simulated and calculated using Rosetta, from which a list of critical amino acid residues to mutate in RbsB was selected. These were then synthesized and cloned into E. coli; a resulting set of 2 million mutants containing one of five possible substitutions at each of 9 selected critical amino acid positions. The library was introduced into an E. coli bioreporter strain, which carries the Trz1 hybrid signaling pathway coupled to GFP production when the (new) ligand would bind the (mutant) RbsB. The main goals of this work were to screen and characterize mutants from this first library, and potentially improve mutants for the new ligand binding in further rounds of mutagenesis. In the first part of this work a precise and user-friendly high-throughput strategy to screen the mutant library was developed. Clones were grown as individual microcolonies in alginate beads, to reduce single cell GFP expression variability, which were screened by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) for gain-of-function GFP expression in presence of 13CHD. Six mutants with modest (1.5- fold) but consistent induction with 1 mM 13CHD were isolated. Moreover, these mutants completely lost the capacity to react to ribose. The RbsB mutants were characterized in terms of periplasmic space abundance, stability, secondary structure and ligand affinity. Isothermal microcalorimetry confirmed 13CHD binding, although only two mutants were sufficiently stable upon purification. Circular dichroism and quantification of periplasmic space abundance suggested the mutants to be prone to misfolding and/or defects in translocation. In the second part of this work, we used random and semi-random mutagenesis to improve the affinity and/or stability of the six isolated mutants with 13CHD binding capacity. Several mutant libraries were produced and screened with the previous described strategy. Variants displaying higher expression levels of GFP in presence of 13CHD were collected by FACS, and were used as starting point for the next round of evolution. This mutagenesis and rigorous screening strategy allowed us to isolate 7 mutants with improved (3.2-fold) GFP induction in presence of 13CHD and in a concentration- dependent manner. Several variants were observed that displayed open and closed conformations simultaneously, suggesting they were impaired in transition dynamics. Moreover, our screening strategy largely ignores potential variants with improved binding and closed conformation stability, but that are unable to interact with Trz1 receptor (e.i., trigger the signaling cascade). Finally in the third part of this work, we developed and tested an in vivo system to characterize the quality of the translocation process and receptor interactions. Wild-type- and mutant-RbsB proteins were fused to mCherry reporter protein to study protein abundance and subcellular localization. Whereas RbsB-mCherry proteins clearly localized to the periplasmic space and centered in polar regions depending on chemoreceptor availability, mutant-RbsB-mCherry expression resulted in high proportions of cells devoid of clear foci and low proportions of cells with multiple fluorescent foci, suggesting poorer translocation and mislocalisation. In addition, polar foci of mutants were less fluorescent, suggesting poorer chemoreceptor binding. By spiking further derivative mutant libraries generated by error-prone PCR without or with different proportions of E. coli expressing wild-type RbsB-mCherry we could estimate the potential improvement and deterioration of mutants with wild- type-like periplasmic localisation. The in vivo translocation system may thus be used to detect mutants with better signal transduction capacity. In conclusion, we firmly showed that design of PBP receptor proteins with new binding capacities for non-natural compounds is feasible, but still largely a matter of trial and error. The combination of computational simulations, random mutagenesis and rigorous screening allowed us to isolate variants with new recognition for 13CHD and loss of ribose binding. However, our results also showed that most predicted ligand-binding pocket mutations lead to poorly folding and functioning proteins, and it is likely that the dynamic transition needed between open and closed conformations of (here) RbsB is insufficiently understood and currently predictable to allow rational expansion to a wide range of new ligands. -- Les protéines de liaison périplasmiques (PLP) constituent une superfamille de protéines bactériennes avec une structure bilobée. Elles sont impliquées dans la captation de substrats pour les cellules bactériennes, et montrent grande diversité de domaines de liaison à des composés naturels. Les PLP sont composées de deux domaines connectés par une région charnière, ce qui forme une poche de liaison au substrat entre les deux domaines. Les PLP montrent deux états stables : ouverte en l’absence de ligand, conformation dans laquelle la poche de liaison est exposée, et fermée quand le ligand est séquestré dans la poche de liaison. Ce projet a porté sur l’étude de la PLP RbsB liant le ribose chez Escherichia coli. La liaison du ribose stabilise l’état fermé de RbsB et permet l’interaction avec le transporteur cytoplasmique RbsAC et son passage dans le cytoplasme de la cellule, ou son interaction avec des récepteurs membranaires tels que Trg permettant en une réponse chimiotactique. Étant données leurs caractéristiques uniques de liaison aux ligands et la grande variété de poches de liaison naturellement observée chez les PLP, elles présentent un grand intérêt pour le développement de biosenseurs et de systèmes biorapporteurs. Les premiers biorapporteurs basés sur des PLP ont été développés 20 ans auparavant par le groupe de Hazelbauer. Cette équipe a fusionné la partie C-terminale de la protéine kinase à histidine impliquée dans l’osmorégulation (EnvZ) et l’extrémité N-terminale du récepteur chimiotactique accepteur de groupement méthyle (Trg), pour créer le récepteur hybride Trz1. Les PLP liant le galactose (GBP) et le ribose (RbsB) interagissent avec Trz1, ce qui entraine la phosphorylation du régulateur réponse OmpR qui lui-même va activer la transcription à partir du promoteur du gène ompC (ou n’importe quel système rapporteur placé en aval de ce promoteur). En 2003, le groupe de Hellinga proposait que, sur la base de la structure cristallographique de différents PLP liées à leur ligand, des variants reconnaissant de nouveaux ligands pourraient être générés sur la base d’une approche informatique. En particulier, cette équipe se targue d’avoir générer un variant de RbsB permettant de lier le 2,4,6-trinitrotoluène (TNT) avec une affinité de l’ordre du nanomolaire. Cette idée a inspiré la communauté scientifique car cette approche pourrait s’étendre à une diversité incroyable de composés naturels ou non, ce qui permettrait le développement de biosenseurs et biorapporteurs variés basés sur ce système. Malheureusement, la construction des mutants les plus prometteurs par des équipes indépendantes n’ont pas permis de rapporter de l’activité in vivo et/ou in vitro. Cela a été ignoré dans les publications du groupe Hellinga. Inspirés par ce concept et voulant savoir quelles étaient les raisons de ce succès quelque peu limité, notre groupe a émis l’hypothèse que le changement de spécificité de RbsB du ribose au TNT en une étape était probablement infaisable mais, étant donnée la grande diversité de poches de liaisons naturellement observées chez les LPL, un changement pas à pas du ribose vers un composé analogue non naturel devrait être possible. Pour tester cela, nous avons sélectionné des composés distincts du ribose mais présentant tout de même des similarités : 1,3-cyclohexanediol (13CHD) and cyclohexanol (CH). Des mutants qui pourraient accueillir le 13CHD et/ou CH ont été générés par simulation informatique en utilisant le programme Rosetta, lequel a fourni une liste d’acides aminés critiques à muter. Une librairie de mutant a été synthétisée, celle-ci contenant 2 millions de variants de RbsB avec 1 substition parmi 5 possibles à 9 positions sélectionnées pour leur aspect critique dans la reconnaissance du substrat. La librairie a été introduite et criblée chez une souche reportrice d’E. coli contenant la chaine de signalisation hybride Trz1 couplée à la production de la protéine fluorescente verte (GFP) lorsque le (nouveau) ligand se liera à la protéine RbsB (sauvage ou mutante). Le but principal de ce travail était de caractériser cette librairie de mutants, et éventuellement d’améliorer la capacité de ces mutants à lier un autre composant par des cycles de mutagénèses additionnels. Dans la première partie de ce travail, une stratégie simple et efficace pour cribler la librairie de mutant a été développée. Les différents clones/variants ont été cultivés individuellement en microcolonies dans des billes d’alginate afin de réduire la variabilité du signal GFP observé au niveau de la cellule unique. Les billes ont été analysées par trieur de cellules reposant sur la fluorescence (FACS) afin de détecter des mutants présentant une activité GFP accrue en présence de 13CHD. Six mutants ont été isolés pour leur modeste mais significative induction (1,5 fois) en présence de 1 mM de 13CHD. De plus, ces mutants avaient totalement perdu leur capacité à réagir au ribose. Les mutants RbsB ont été caractérisés plus en détails pour leur localisation dans périplasme, leur stabilité, leur abondance et leur affinité pour le ligand. La technique de microcalorimétrie isotherme a confirmé que ces mutants lient le 13CHD, bien que seulement 2 de ces protéines mutantes se soient révélées suffisamment stables après purification. L’analyse par dichroïsme circulaire et la quantification de l’abondance des protéines dans l’espace périplasmique suggèrent que les protéines mutantes sont sujettes à un mauvais repliement et/ou un problème dans la translocation du cytoplasme au périplasme. Dans une seconde partie, nous avons muté les six mutants isolés précédemment de façon aléatoire ou semi-aléatoire afin d’améliorer leur affinité pour le 13CHD et/ou leur stabilité. Plusieurs librairies de mutants ont été produites et analysées selon la méthode décrite plus tôt. Les variants montrant une plus forte expression du système rapporteur GFP en présence de 13CHD ont été isolés par FACS, et utilisés comme point de départ pour la prochaine étape d’évolution. Cette mutagénèse et l’analyse rigoureuse des librairies nous ont permis d’isoler 7 mutants avec une augmentation de 3,2 fois du signal GFP en présence de 13CHD, et d’une façon dose-dépendante. Plusieurs variants ont montré qu’ils adoptaient la conformation ouverte et fermées au sein de la population bactérienne. Cette dernière observation suggère que ces mutants sont affectés dans leur capacité à passer d’une conformation à l’autre. De plus, notre stratégie de crible ne tient pas compte les variants qui montreraient une liaison accrue et une bonne stabilité de la conformation fermée, mais qui seraient incapables d’interagir avec le récepteur Trz1 (et donc de déclencher la cascade de signalisation du rapporteur). Finalement, dans la troisième partie de ce travail, nous avons développé et testé un système in vivo permettant de caractériser la qualité du processus de translocation dans l’espace périplasmique et l’interaction avec les récepteurs. Les protéines RbsB sauvage et mutantes ont été fusionnées à la protéine fluorescente rouge mCherry afin de visualiser l’abondance et la localisation sub-cellulaire des protéines au niveau de la cellule unique en utilisant la microscopy à épifluorescence et le traitement des images obtenues. Alors que la protéine de fusion RbsB sauvage montre une localisation périplasmique centrées au niveau des pôles de la cellule dépendamment de la disponibilité des chimiorécepteurs, les fusions avec les variants de RbsB montraient une forte proportion de cellules dépourvues de foci, et une faible proportion de cellules avec de multiples foci, suggérant une plus faible liaison aux chimiorécepteurs. En analysant plus en détails des librairies de mutants générées par PCR mutagène, en mélangeant ou non avec des cellules contenant la protéine de fusion RbsB sauvage, nous avons pu estimer l’amélioration potentielle ou la détérioration des qualités des mutants RbsB par rapport au sauvage en terme de localisation périplasmique. Ce système de translocation in vivo pourrait être utilisé afin de détecter des mutants permettant une meilleure transduction du signal. En conclusion, nous avons montré que la conception de protéines réceptrices PLP présentant de nouvelles capacités de liaison pour des composés non naturels est bien faisable, mais repose encore sur une stratégie d’essais et erreurs. La combinaison de simulations informatiques, de mutagénèses aléatoires et de crible rigoureux nous a permis d’isoler des variants de RbsB avec une capacité à reconnaitre le 13CHD, tout en ne liant plus le ribose. Néanmoins, nos résultats ont également montré que la plupart des prédictions de mutations au niveau de la poche de liaison ont mené à un mauvais repliement ou fonctionnement des protéines. Il est très probable que la dynamique de transition entre la conformation ouverte et fermée (de RbsB pour cette étude) ne soit pas encore assez bien comprise, et donc actuellement non prédictable pour permettre le test d’une grande variété de nouveaux ligands

Materialising data experience through textile thinking

In our digitally enabled lives, we are constantly entering into relationships and interacting with data. With little regard for their technical ability, consumers are obliged to accept and live with data experience. Digital literacy and information technology skills help to navigate these technologies, but little is known about the intimate practices of interacting with data from digital systems. The aim of this practice-based research is to identify how knowledge and experience of physical materials can offer novel processes and value to progress communications regarding digital use. This study draws on theory and practice from textile design and sets out to position textiles as a research discipline. Embodied methods are used to explore human relationships with textiles and materials to create physical representations which can be used to generate and share insights from people’s varied engagements with technology and data. Findings are presented which are valuable to the fields of both textile design and the field of data physicalisation. The methods employed engage the human body as a research tool using the senses to explore and create meaningful experiences with technology. Material handling, modelmaking, workshops and sensory ethnography, all captured on film, facilitate an embodied approach to explore the experience of data. Through this approach, alternative readings of everyday technology emerge. The theoretical contribution of this thesis is the paradigm of textile thinking as a research methodology. Textile thinking refers to the actions and mindset of textile designers. In this study the tacit knowledge employed by textile designers is presented as a challenge for reporting on design activity and is responded to through the use of embodied methods for engaging materials in research. Textile thinking approaches are embodied in practical experiments which invited people to express how they engage emotionally in relationships with technology and data. The field of textile design is interrogated to identify the unique characteristics of the discipline which are valuable research tools. Practical research shows that physical data representations enhanced through material choice can be used as opportunities for engagement to examine how people connect emotionally with information. The findings showed that this methodology increased the likelihood of sharing insights into the use of digital products and could be used to elicit emotional responses to technology and data experience. The types of responses included childhood memories, sensations, individual insights into the comfort of technology and engagement with information. This broader understanding shows how this approach can be used by designers, to stimulate an interest in using data and to improve engagement with the digital world through design. The outcomes offer new references and broader perspectives for textile design as a research discipline, supporting a paradigm shift to explore and accept new ways of approaching research and developing design theory

Utilizing the Organizational Power of DNA Scaffolds for New Nanophotonic Applications

AbstractRapid development of DNA technology has provided a feasible route to creating nanoscale materials. DNA acts as a self‐assembled nanoscaffold capable of assuming any three‐dimensional shape. The ability to integrate dyes and new optical materials such as quantum dots and plasmonic nanoparticles precisely onto these architectures provides new ways to exploit their near‐ and far‐field interactions. A fundamental understanding of these optical processes will help drive development of next‐generation photonic nanomaterials. This review is focused on latest progress in DNA‐based photonic materials and highlights DNA scaffolds for rapidly assembling and prototyping nanoscale optical devices. Three areas are discussed including intrinsically active DNA structures displaying chiral properties, DNA scaffolds hosting plasmonic nanomaterials, and fluorophore‐labeled DNAs that engage in Förster resonance energy transfer and give rise to complex molecular photonic wires. An explanation of what is desired from these optical processes when harnessed sets the tone for what DNA scaffolds are providing toward each focus. Examples from the literature illustrate current progress along with a discussion of challenges to overcome for further improvements. Opportunities to integrate diverse classes of optically active molecules including light‐generating enzymes, fluorescent proteins, nanoclusters, and metal–chelates in new structural combinations on DNA scaffolds are also highlighted

Biomolecular engineered sensors for diagnostic applications

Electrochemistry is a powerful technique that offers multiple possibilities and which is in constant evolution. Simple modifications of the electrode surface can result in an improvement of the selectivity and sensitivity of the method. However some situations require more complex modifications such as the incorporation of an external agent to the electrode surface, or within the actual electrode. This thesis describes the development and characterization of a range of novel electrochemical sensors for multiple applications covering agri-food, biomedical and environmental contexts. The foundations of the approach rest upon the development of carbon-loaded polycarbonate composite films. Their fabrication is described and the ease with which they can be modified and physically adapted is highlighted and critically evaluated. The response of the resulting sensors have been validated against conventional techniques. An overview of the technologies employing carbon electrodes is presented in Chapter 1 and serves to set the context of the subsequent research. The various methodologies employed are outlined in Chapter 2. Preliminary modifications of the analytical process has evolved from the ex situ functionalisation of the conventional carbon electrodes with copper (Chapter 3) through to the examination of the versatility and complexities of sample pre-treatment (Chapter 4). The pre-treatment of the sample using naphthoquinones as labeling agents has been developed and this work was extended to examine a wholly new derivatisation agent which could have analytical and clinical/veterinary diagnostic merit. A new direction was sought to overcome the limitations of the conventional analytical approach and composite systems were envisaged as providing an accessible yet flexible method of developing electrochemical sensors for discrete probe and flow systems. The basic procedure has been characterization and optimized for a range of analytes such as neurotransmitters (Chapter 5), anti-oxidants (Chapter 6), purine metabolites (Chapter 8) and phosphate (Chapter 9). Each chapter highlights a different aspect and applicability of the composite and go from simple physical surface modification (Chapter 5) to the incorporation of chemical agents (Chapter 6) and more complex systems such as enzymes (Chapters 8 and 9)

Interdisciplinary Insights for Digital Touch Communication

Communication is increasingly moving beyond ‘ways of seeing’ to ‘ways of feeling’. This Open Access book provides social design insights and implications for HCI research and design exploring digitally mediated touch communication. It offers a socially orientated map to help navigate the complex social landscape of digitally mediated touch for communication: from everyday touch-screens, tangibles, wearables, haptics for virtual reality, to the tactile internet of skin. Drawing on literature reviews, new case-study vignettes, and exemplars of digital touch, the book examines the major social debates provoked by digital touch, and investigates social themes central to the communicative potential and societal consequences of digital touch: · Communication environments, capacities and practices · Norms associations and expectations · Presence, absence and connection · Social imaginaries of digital touch · Digital touch ethics and values The book concludes with a discussion of the significance of social understanding and methods in the context of Interdisciplinary collaborations to explore touch, towards the design of digital touch communication, ‘ways of feeling’, that are useable, appropriate, ethical and socially aware

Unpacking Non-Dualistic Design: The Soma Design Case

We report on a somaesthetic design workshop and the subsequent analytical work aiming to demystify what is entailed in a non-dualistic design stance on embodied interaction and why a first-person engagement is crucial to its unfoldings. However, as we will uncover through a detailed account of our process, these first-person engagements are deeply entangled with second- and third-person perspectives, sometimes even overlapping. The analysis furthermore reveals some strategies for bridging the body-mind divide by attending to our inner universe and dissolving or traversing dichotomies between inside and outside; individual and social; body and technology. By detailing the creative process, we show how soma design becomes a process of designing with and through kinesthetic experience, in turn letting us confront several dualisms that run like fault lines through HCI's engagement with embodied interaction

Augmenting Appearance with Wearable Technology - Open-ended Practices-oriented Design for Adornment and Identity as Routes to Adoption

Adornment, as a practice that expresses personality through appearance alterations based on clothing and other embellishments, is fundamental to all cultures. Hence, the social function of 'wearables' exemplifies a core application of technology. In the last two decades, advancements in wearable and ubiquitous computing have yielded novel forms of augmenting humans' appearance and face-to-face social interactions, ranging from smart clothing/accessories to bodily and augmented-reality-based modifications. Yet, notwithstanding its potential to drastically alter our social lives, the adoption of wearable technology has been limited to primarily health-related applications. Studies of 'social wearables' and expressive technologies have revealed barriers to adoption related to social acceptability and identity conflicts. Though recent efforts have led to guidelines and frameworks, the challenges of designing to overcome those hindrances remain. Conceptualising wearable technologies for appearance augmentation in terms of the social practice of augmented adornment, this doctoral research investigated how augmented adornment shapes social practices and identities. Utilising generative design research, it identified design guidelines that support the adoption of interactive expressive wearable technologies. Following an approach wherein the investigation and design process are centred on the practice, not the user, the work drew together ethnographic fieldwork, co-creative design, and open-ended technological interventions. The dissertation presents three case studies of employing practices-oriented design to investigate social practices of adornment in situ in Finland: an exploratory case study considering a zoomorphic accessory for eliciting social touch; an exploratory study examining opportunities for displaying personal sketches on one's clothing in urban public spaces; and an extensive investigation, conducted over a two-year span, of the striking tradition of Finnish university students wearing and adorning boiler suits. All three field studies revealed ways in which the meanings of a personal-identity-connected adornment practice form a crucial aspect of augmenting appearance, with the final study demonstrating an especially vivid interplay between embracing local traditions and standing out through individualistic adornments – the students linked their novel practices of augmented adorning to an existing digital practice, e.g. memeing. The findings exemplify an open-ended, dialogue-based perspective and a practices-oriented approach for generating further intermediate design knowledge. As a first milestone, the work presents a strong concept for design called Memetic Expression. By situating augmented adornment in context as a social practice, the results should assist designers in embedding social wearables in people's lives. The design approaches presented offer assistance in working through conflicts that might arise by merging digital practices with adornment and helping pinpoint routes to adoption

Design and Evaluation of Biofeedback:Interfaces for Awareness and Regulation of Affect

Biofeedback interfaces enable dynamic representations of bodily data using sensors and actuators to actively control complex physiological activities. These provide individuals with access to their psychophysiological processes, help regulate bodily responses, and have been shown to have positive effects on affective health and wellbeing. Traditionally biofeedback has been provided using audiovisual modality whose understanding usually required technical input from physicians. There are still a limited number of biofeedback interfaces that have been deployed from the lab settings to everyday lives. Specifically, there is a limited focus on low-cost, non-screen based, emerging alternative technologies that could support biosensory information in different ways so that users themselves can understand it. To address these challenges, this thesis engages in the design and evaluation of low-cost, wearable smart materials and actuators to support awareness and regulation of affect. The thesis presents six studies describing them. The first exploration of smart materials and actuators helped in unpacking their material qualities. These include responsiveness, duration, rhythm, aliveness, and range, which led to the design of six wearable visual and haptic interfaces representing physiological arousal. By evaluating the six interfaces in daily life settings, the thesis' findings have shown how the material-driven qualities of the interfaces shape people’s awareness of emotions in different ways starting with reflexivity, emotion identification, and finally, its attribution. This thesis then presents the design of the ThermoPixels toolkit containing digital and physical materials. The toolkit is evaluated by involving users in the design of affective displays for arousal. Findings reveal two distinct motivations for designing physiological arousal interfaces, i.e., awareness and regulation. Analysis of both types of representations helped study their qualities and the role of colors and shapes for personalizing interfaces for awareness and regulation of arousal, i.e., awareness of increased arousal can be supported by angular shapes, warm colors, and rich patterns and regulation of high arousal can be supported by round shapes, cool colors, and light patterns. Moving forward, the thesis engages in the exploration of heart rate variability to regulate affect. It introduces a mixed-methods approach to compare and evaluate wearable heart rate variability sensors in terms of data quality and user acceptance. Following heart rate variability exploration, the thesis involves users in the design of vibrotactile and temperature patterns for affect regulation and demonstrates the value of personalized haptic patterns in regulating affect as measured by self-reported forms and heart rate variability. Interviews with the haptic group help study haptic patterns' experiential qualities and participants' experiences. Between subjects analysis indicates that subjective and objective measures of anxiety and stress decreased under haptic patterns than without and that low frequency vibration was the most effective pattern for stress regulation. The contribution of this work includes unpacking experiential qualities of high - low frequency vibration and warm - cool thermal patterns for affect regulation by engaging users in their design and guidelines for designing these patterns. Finally, two visual and haptic wearable smartwatch apps i.e., Breathe and Heart are designed for affect regulation. These utilize slow bodily rhythms of breathing and heartbeat and are evaluated in daily life under everyday life situations of high arousal negative affect. Findings show the value of technology-delivered interventions in supporting affect regulation that can augment prior strategies being implemented by individuals in their daily lives. The thesis is concluded with a discussion of research contributions and future directions