Cultivating sportswear innovation: A mixed approach combining the lead user method and participatory design

This thesis aims to study how could the mixed approach combining the lead user method and participatory design cultivate sportswear innovation in local sports culture. The research consists of an exploratory literature review and an empirical case study. Since sportswear has exceeded its primary function purpose toward fashion, culture, and wearable technology, customers’ needs have become more diverse and heterogeneous. Even though designers in major sportswear firms have involved users during the product development process, most of the involved users are sports hobbyists who work in the firms. Besides, both centralization of the organizational design process and lack of cross-department collaboration in sportswear firms are the additional barriers to translate the actual customers’ needs into the desired products. To explore a new perspective to solve the described problems, the thesis will review user-driven innovation and participatory design, which both have a reputation in “democratizing innovation” (Bjögvinsson et al., 2010). The lead user method in user-driven innovation theory and the conceptualization of design “Things” (Ehn, 2008) in participatory design studies are underlined. The literature review concludes by demonstrating the complementary characteristics of the lead user method and participatory design. Based on that, a framework that combines the two areas for sportswear innovation is proposed. The empirical case study examines the mixed approach in practice based on one experimental project, “The future of flying Finns,” which consists of two collaborative workshops. In both of the collaborative workshops, identified lead users and industry experts together co-identify innovation opportunities and generate solution ideas from the exploration of the Finnish trail running culture. The research collects the data from two focus group interviews, observation, and self-reflection. Two within-case analyses conducted to examine the collected data provide the insights into the research, which leads to the final cross-case analysis that focuses on investigating the similarities and differences between the two. The research results are the basis for three guidelines for practicing the mixed approach: planning a collaborative workshop in an innovation project, designing a co-creative toolkit, and mapping innovation context with collective knowledge. First, findings of planning a collaborative workshop are enhancing the effectiveness of participatory design, recognizing the requirement of abstract thinking for lead users, and catalyzing the process with well-prepared workshop materials. Second, findings of designing a co-creative toolkit for collaborative innovation sessions include a clear toolkit structure for communication and vision, inspiring visual aids, and playfulness with a shared interface. Finally, the findings demonstrate the roles and contributions of lead users, industry experts, and facilitator in the innovation context mapping process. In conclusion, this research implies that the mixed approach is capable of co-identifying innovation opportunities and creating new values and meanings to local runners by switching the focus from performance-driven innovation to social innovation. Moreover, it is flexible in team formation through selecting lead users and industry experts with different knowledge backgrounds to explore new innovation opportunities

Effects of Wnt and different TLR stimulations on microglia-induced invasion of breast cancer cells

Seit einigen Jahren steht die Rolle der benignen Zellen eines Primärtumors im Fokus der Forschung. In diesem Zusammenhang konnte bereits gezeigt werden, dass vor allem aus dem Blut eingewanderte Makrophagen die Tumorprogression fördern können. Die Rolle der residenten Makrophagen während der Metastasierung von Tumorzellen, insbesondere der zerebralen Metastasierung, wurde jedoch erst wenig untersucht. Aufgrund der stark eingeschränkten Therapiemöglichkeiten zerebraler Metastasierung, analysierten wir die Rolle der Mikroglia in diesem Prozess. Um die direkte Interaktion zwischen Karzinomzellen und dem lebenden Hirngewebe besser untersuchen zu können, etablierten wir ein neuartiges Ko-Kulturmodell, das einen murinen organotypischen Hirnschnitt und einen angrenzenden Tumorplug umfasste. Wir zeigten, dass Mikroglia die Invasion und Kolonisation von Mammakarzinomzellen fördern indem sie als aktive Transporter dienen. Proinvasive Mikroglia zeigten eine veränderte Morphologie jedoch keine gesteigerte Expression von Cytokinen des M2-Phänotyps noch eine veränderte Genexpression. Die Aktivierung des Toll-like Rezeptor (TLR) 4 Signalwegs durch bakterielles Lipopolysaccharid (LPS) induzierte einen klassischen M1-Phänotyp in Mikroglia, die durch Tumorzellen beeinflusst wurden, und auf diese Weise eine Hemmung der proinvasiven Funktion. Ein ähnlicher Effekt auf die Invasion der Tumorzellen wurde durch die Hemmung der Mikroglia mittels Clodronat oder die Inaktivierung des WNT Signalwegs durch Hemmung des Rezeptors oder des WNT Zielgens CXCR4 erreicht. Eine wesentliche Erkenntnis war, dass TLR (4) sowie Stickstoffoxid (NO) eine vielseitige Funktion aufwiesen, die über die Adaptorproteine MyD88 und TRIF des TLR Signalwegs vermittelt wurde. Während der Signalweg über MyD88 in Mikroglia für die Tumor fördernden Effekte erforderlich war, konnte die (zusätzliche) Aktivierung des Signalwegs über TRIF das Resultat umkehren. Zusammenfassend zeigten unsere Daten, dass Mikroglia eine Schlüsselfunktion in der Tumorprogression aufweisen, wobei sowohl der WNT Signalweg als auch der TLR Signalweg aber auch bestimmte gemeinsame Ziele entscheidende Funktionen in diesem Prozess vermitteln

Longitudinal investigation of the curricular effect: An analysis of student learning outcomes from the LieCal Project in the United States

In this article, we present the results from a longitudinal examination of the impact of a Standards-based or reform mathematics curriculum (called CMP) and traditional mathematics curricula (called non-CMP) on students’ learning of algebra using various outcome measures. Findings include the following: (1) students did not sacrifice basic mathematical skills if they are taught using a Standards-based or reform mathematics curriculum like CMP; (2) African American students experienced greater gain in symbol manipulation when they used a traditional curriculum; (3) the use of either the CMP or a non-CMP curriculum improved the mathematics achievement of all students, including students of color; (4) the use of CMP contributed to significantly higher problem-solving growth for all ethnic groups; and (5) a high level of conceptual emphasis in a classroom improved the students’ ability to represent problem situations. (However, the level of conceptual emphasis bears no relation to students’ problem solving or symbol manipulation skills.

Loss of vesicular dopamine release precedes tauopathy in degenerative dopaminergic neurons in a Drosophila model expressing human tau.

While a number of genome-wide association studies have identified microtubule-associated protein tau as a strong risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD), little is known about the mechanism through which human tau can predispose an individual to this disease. Here, we demonstrate that expression of human wild-type tau is sufficient to disrupt the survival of dopaminergic neurons in a Drosophila model. Tau triggers a synaptic pathology visualized by vesicular monoamine transporter-pHGFP that precedes both the age-dependent formation of tau-containing neurofibrillary tangle-like pathology and the progressive loss of DA neurons, thereby recapitulating the pathological hallmarks of PD. Flies overexpressing tau also exhibit progressive impairments of both motor and learning behaviors. Surprisingly, contrary to common belief that hyperphosphorylated tau could aggravate toxicity, DA neuron degeneration is alleviated by expressing the modified, hyperphosphorylated tau(E14). Together, these results show that impairment of VMAT-containing synaptic vesicle, released to synapses before overt tauopathy may be the underlying mechanism of tau-associated PD and suggest that correction or prevention of this deficit may be appropriate targets for early therapeutic intervention

Enhanced Low-Latency Detection of Motor Intention From EEG for Closed-Loop Brain-Computer Interface Applications

n/

Multiobjective Optimization Based Vessel Collision Avoidance Strategy Optimization

The vessel collision accidents cause a great loss of lives and property. In order to reduce the human fault and greatly improve the safety of marine traffic, collision avoidance strategy optimization is proposed to achieve this. In the paper, a multiobjective optimization algorithm NSGA-II is adopted to search for the optimal collision avoidance strategy considering the safety as well as economy elements of collision avoidance. Ship domain and Arena are used to evaluate the collision risk in the simulation. Based on the optimization, an optimal rudder angle is recommended to navigator for collision avoidance. In the simulation example, a crossing encounter situation is simulated, and the NSGA-II searches for the optimal collision avoidance operation under the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS). The simulation studies exhibit the validity of the method

Data-driven design of fault diagnosis for three-phase PWM rectifier using random forests technique with transient synthetic features

A three-phase pulse-width modulation (PWM) rectifier can usually maintain operation when open-circuit faults occur in insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), which will lead the system to be unstable and unsafe. Aiming at this problem, based on random forests with transient synthetic features, a data-driven online fault diagnosis method is proposed to locate the open-circuit faults of IGBTs timely and effectively in this study. Firstly, by analysing the open-circuit fault features of IGBTs in the three-phase PWM rectifier, it is found that the occurrence of the fault features is related to the fault location and time, and the fault features do not always appear immediately with the occurrence of the fault. Secondly, different data-driven fault diagnosis methods are compared and evaluated, the performance of random forests algorithm is better than that of support vector machine or artificial neural networks. Meanwhile, the accuracy of fault diagnosis classifier trained by transient synthetic features is higher than that trained by original features. Also, the random forests fault diagnosis classifier trained by multiplicative features is the best with fault diagnosis accuracy can reach 98.32%. Finally, the online fault diagnosis experiments are carried out and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, which can accurately locate the open-circuit faults in IGBTs while ensuring system safety.Comment: IET Power Electronic

Fully Differential Cross Sections for Electron-Impact Excitation-Ionization of Aligned D₂

We examine fully differential cross sections for 176 eV electron-impact dissociative excitation-ionization of orientated D2 for transitions to final ion states 2sσg, 2pσu, and 2pπu. In previous work [Phys. Rev. A 88, 062705 (2013)PLRAAN1050-294710.1103/PhysRevA.88.062705], we calculated these cross sections using the molecular four-body distorted wave (M4DW) method with the ground-state D2 wave function being approximated by a product of two Dyson 1s-type orbitals. The theoretical results were compared with experimental measurements for five different orientations of the target molecule (four in the scattering plane and one perpendicular to the scattering plane). For the unresolved 2sσg + 2pπu final states, good agreement with experiment was found for two of the five measured orientations, and for the 2pσu final state, good agreement was found for three of the five orientations. However, theory was a factor of 200 smaller than experiment for the 2pσu state. In this paper, we investigate the importance of the approximation for the molecular ground-state wave function by repeating the M4DW calculation using a better variational wave function for the ground state

Modulatory Function of Invariant Natural Killer T Cells in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease with complex immunological and clinical manifestations. Multiple organ failure in SLE can be caused by immune dysfunction and deposition of autoantibodies. Studies of SLE-susceptible loci and the cellular and humoral immune responses reveal variable aberrations associated with this systemic disease. Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are a unique subset of lymphocytes that control peripheral tolerance. Mounting evidence showing reductions in the proportion and activity of iNKT cells in SLE patients suggests the suppressive role of iNKT cells. Studies using murine lupus models demonstrate that iNKT cells participate in SLE progression by sensing apoptotic cells, regulating immunoglobulin production, and altering the cytokine profile upon activation. However, the dichotomy of iNKT cell actions in murine models implies complicated interactions within the body's milieu. Therefore, application of potential therapy for SLE using glycolipids to regulate iNKT cells should be undertaken cautiously