Valorization of wheat bran agro-industrial byproduct as an upgrading filler for mycelium-based composite materials

When considered by a biorefinery approach, an agroindustrial byproduct such as wheat bran can find a new standing in the field of fabrication of mycelium-based materials. The present work reports on a systematic study on the effect of wheat bran as an upgrading feedstock for the growth and development of fully biobased and biodegradable composites. Two families of materials based on bran/cotton and bran/hemp mixtures were fabricated on an industrial scale. The natural materials thus obtained were fully characterized and their end-life was assessed in composting conditions. The research focusses on two main aspects: the nutritional contribution of bran for the fungal growth and its effect on the mechanical properties as a filler in the final composites. It must be noted that the valorization and exploitation of a byproduct such as bran can have a considerable impact on the industrial production of mycelium-based composite materials, by reducing the time of production while increasing their mechanical performances

Classification of automorphisms on a deformation family of hyper-K\ue4hler four-folds by p-elementary lattices

We give a classification of all nonsymplectic automorphisms of prime order p acting on irreducible holomorphic symplectic four-folds deformation equivalent to the Hilbert scheme of two points on a K3 surface, for p = 2, 3, and 7 64 p 64 19. Our classification relates some invariants of the fixed locus to the isometry classes of two natural lattices associated to the action of the automorphism on the second cohomology group with integer coefficients. In several cases we provide explicit examples. As an application, we find new examples of nonnatural nonsymplectic automorphisms of order 3

When the Material Grows: A Case Study on Designing (with) Mycelium-based Materials

Diverse forms of material expressions can be achieved through practices that cross-fertilize biology and design. Growing Design is one such practice in which designers grow materials from living organisms, such as bacteria, algae or fungi. While this emerging practice may facilitate novel product ideas, the grown materials, to date, are often used in applications as surrogates for conventional materials. A recently introduced method, Material Driven Design (MDD) (Karana, Barati, Rognoli, &amp; Zeeuw van der Laan, 2015), can support designers in finding novel application ideas for a material in development, by providing the ways in which the unique technical and experiential qualities of the material are emphasized and bridged in an appropriate and creative manner. The present paper explores the journey of a product design master’s student, who followed the MDD method through a six-month graduation project, in search of a product application idea for a material that is intentionally grown for design purposes, namely, mycelium-based materials. We provide a practical understanding of how the material-driven design process evolves when the material grows, and elaborate on the product application concept through the lens of materials experience, which is the main motivation for the research and design activities throughout the project. We further speculate on the tools and activities that the student incorporated in the design process to tackle uncertainty as to the micro-organism’s agency, its unique temporality, and the acceptance of the material in society.</p

From Abstract to Tangible: Supporting the Materialization of Experiential Visions with the Experience Map

Designing for pleasurable and engaging product experiences requires an understanding of how users will experience the product, sometimes at a very abstract level. This focus on user experiences, rather than on the formal qualities of the product, might cause difficulties for designers in the materialization of design ideas. Designers need to navigate through several choices, shaping and refining the product qualities in order to elicit the intended experience. To support this process, we propose a tool, the Experience Map, guiding designers in the progressive transformation of an ‘experiential vision’ into tangible formal qualities, considering all the opportunities perceived by the different senses. The paper presents the results of two studies in which we verified the potential of the Experience Map, first in a workshop with design students and second in four design cases with professional designers. The results show that the Experience Map can provide a good structure to organize creative thoughts and progressively decrease the level of abstraction, particularly to support novice designers. It stimulates greater confidence and awareness of design decisions, while allowing the exploration of several design directions in parallel. These benefits, together with the visually stimulating layout and its ability to foster awareness on design decisions, make the Experience Map an effective tool to support experience-driven design practice, especially in the early phases of the creative process and in the educational context.Emerging MaterialsDesign Aesthetic

Isometries of Ideal Lattices and Hyperkahler Manifolds

We prove that there exists a holomorphic symplectic manifold deformation equivalent to the Hilbert scheme of two points on a K3 surface that admits a nonsymplectic automorphism of order 23, which is the maximal possible prime order in this deformation family. The proof uses the theory of ideal lattices in cyclomotic fields

The experience map. A tool to support experience-driven multisensory design

Product designers may struggle to materialize their initial, abstract idea into tangible sensory features forming a product. Being aware of the role of every sensory modality in conveying a specific experience, they are more likely to come up with original and meaningful solutions. However, it can be challenging to manage an experience-driven, multisensory approach. This paper investigates the variables that designers must consider, and how they can design for rich multisensory experiences. We introduce a tool, namely the Experience Map, to improve designers’ awareness of the process. The final aim is to support designers in their intuitive choices to design pleasurable products able to elicit meaningful and engaging multisensory experiences for people. We will discuss the possible benefits and applications of the tool, and the results of a small study conducted for educational purposes.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

When the Material Grows: A Case Study on Designing (with) Mycelium-based Materials

Diverse forms of material expressions can be achieved through practices that cross-fertilize biology and design. Growing Design is one such practice in which designers grow materials from living organisms, such as bacteria, algae or fungi. While this emerging practice may facilitate novel product ideas, the grown materials, to date, are often used in applications as surrogates for conventional materials. A recently introduced method, Material Driven Design (MDD) (Karana, Barati, Rognoli, &amp; Zeeuw van der Laan, 2015), can support designers in finding novel application ideas for a material in development, by providing the ways in which the unique technical and experiential qualities of the material are emphasized and bridged in an appropriate and creative manner. The present paper explores the journey of a product design master’s student, who followed the MDD method through a six-month graduation project, in search of a product application idea for a material that is intentionally grown for design purposes, namely, mycelium-based materials. We provide a practical understanding of how the material-driven design process evolves when the material grows, and elaborate on the product application concept through the lens of materials experience, which is the main motivation for the research and design activities throughout the project. We further speculate on the tools and activities that the student incorporated in the design process to tackle uncertainty as to the micro-organism’s agency, its unique temporality, and the acceptance of the material in society.Emerging MaterialsMarketing and Consumer Researc

Materializing experiential visions into sensory properties: The use of the experience map

Moving from conceptual design intentions to the materialization in product sensory qualities can be challenging. For Experience-driven designers this transition can be even more difficult, as they need to move from the abstract level of user experience to the concrete level of product features. In this paper, we suggest an approach to progressively deconstruct experiential visions and decrease the level of abstraction. We propose the use of a tool, namely the Experience Map, which describes five steps to develop a well-refined materialization and maintain a solid correlation with the initial intention. To investigate its value and challenge the approach in design practice, we set up four case studies. The analysis of designers’ attitudes towards the Experience Map gave insights on its ability to provide a structure for creative thoughts, while suiting different and subjective attitudes of designers. Moreover, the map supports the integration of several different elements and the exploration of alternative design directions to achieve the intended, holistic experience. Some limitations were also highlighted by the case studies, which are discussed in light of future work. </p