Sustainability in design: now! Challenges and opportunities for design research, education and practice in the XXI century

Copyright @ 2010 Greenleaf PublicationsLeNS project funded by the Asia Link Programme, EuropeAid, European Commission

La (r)evolució dels electrodomèstics, un cas pràctic de com incloure la justícia global en una seqüència didàctica STEM a secundària

L'aprenentatge de qualsevol contingut STEM també pot incloure la mirada de la justícia global per tal de promoure el pensament crític entre l'alumnat convidant-lo a ser protagonista d'una acció de transformació social. En aquest sentit, la (r)evolució dels electrodomèstics és una seqüència didàctica que fou concebuda dins del grup de treball EduglobalSTEM per a treballar l'electricitat i els estereotips de gènere a les matèries de tecnologia i tecnologia industrial I de segon d'ESO i primer de batxillerat respectivament.Learning about any STEM content can also include the view of global justice in order to promote critical thinking among students by inviting them to be the protagonists of an action of social transformation. In this sense, the (r)evolution of home appliances is a didactic sequence that was conceived within the EduglobalSTEM working group to work on electricity and gender stereotypes in Technology and Insdustrial Technology subjects in 2nd of ESO and 1st of Batxillerat respectively

Examining the customer journey of solar home system users in Rwanda and forecasting their future electricity demand

Globally, 771 million people lack access to electricity, out of which 75% live in Sub-Saharan Africa (IEA, 2020b). Electricity grid expansion can be costly in rural areas, which often have low population densities. Solar home systems (SHS) have provided people worldwide an alternative option to gain electricity access. A SHS consists of a solar panel, battery and accompanying appliances. This research aims to advance the understanding of the SHS customer journey using a case study of SHS customers in Rwanda. This study developed a framework outlining households’ pre- to post-purchase experiences, which included awareness and purchase, both current and future SHS usage and finally customers’ upgrade, switching and retention preferences. A mixed methods approach was utilised to examine these steps, including structured interviews with the SHS providers’ customers (n=100) and staff (n=19), two focus groups with customers (n=24), as well as a time series analysis and descriptive statistics of database customers (n=63,299). A convolutional neural network (CNN) was created to forecast individual SHS users’ future electricity consumption in the next week, month and three months based on their previous hourly usage. Despite the volatility of SHS usage data, the CNN was able to forecast individual users’ future electricity more accurately than the naïve baseline, which assumes a continuation of previous usage. The time series analysis revealed an evening usage peak for non-television users, whilst customers with a television experienced an additional peak around midday. SHS recommendations prior and post-purchase were common, highlighting the circular nature of the customer journey. The main purchase reason and usage activity were having a clean energy source and phone charging respectively. A better understanding of the SHS customer journey may increase the number of households with electricity access, as companies can better address the purchase barriers and tap into the power of customer recommendations

Hands-on science. Rethinking STEAM education in times of uncertainty

After over two years of major constraints imposed by the COVID pandemic, the education world is still trying to find ways to adapt in order to keep providing, in an effective way, its crucial contribution to the world’ development our societies need and expect

Student Research Colloquium Proceedings 2013

2013 Student Research Colloquium proceedings include the following: a schedule of the day\u27s events, acknowledgement of research sponsors, conference presentation abstracts, formal paper competition participants; poster presentation competition participants; student presenter index, research sponsor index, poster and paper presentation judges, sponsors, and donors, map of Atwood Memorial Center

An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?

Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction

University of Maine Undergraduate Catalog, 2020-2021, part 2

The second part (of two) of the undergraduate catalog for the 2020-2021 academic year includes an introduction, the academic calendars, general information about the university, and sections on attending, facilities and centers, and colleges and academic programs including the Colleges of Business, Public Policy and Health, Education and Development, Engineering, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture

Strata Managers and Educational Mishaps

In Australia, educational qualifications are a prescribed requirement for licensing within various occupations and professions, and each state and territory has varying degrees of educational aims and objectives. This research paper examines the minimum standards of education and knowledge, which are imposed as a pre-requisite for the licensing of a Strata Manager. The paper traces the historical progression which occurred during the last century to the current decade, and includes an assessment of societies changing needs of the role within the profession. In this regard, it is argued that the educational requirements during the mid 1990s to the early 2000s best served the needs of the consumer in comparison to these last 10 years. The discussion is complemented with data from New South Wales, mapping the educational knowledge fields and comparing this information to the duties and responsibilities of a Strata Manager