Sustainable design education: learning strategies for multidisciplinary education of undergraduates and professionals.

The concept of sustainable design as a specialism within design, business and manufacture is not a new one. Writers and educators such as Victor Papanek (Papanek 1971) and Buckminster Fuller (Fuller and Snyder 1969) were advocating a change in the way we taught students how to design and look at the world in which they live. In parallel with this, many other experts (Carson 1962; Lovelock 1979) were highlighting the difficulties being caused by industrialisation and global trade in the natural environment. Issues such as the dramatic impact of the global population on ecosystems; the strains on the global and local economic systems and the challenges meted by social inequity were starting to be raised by scientists, economists and even designers as early as the 1960s. These are now finally accepted as real problems for today's students and professionals and for the world as a whole. They now provide clear opportunity both to graduates and to businesses as fields in which they can provide and develop expertise with a view to mitigating past and future problems. This research grew out of an opportunity to examine how students and professionals learn to contextualise their design training through a sustainable design lens. Over a five year period from 2004-09 the research sought to evaluate how the learner understands and· applies their knowledge and skills and to begin the process of developing a sustainable design mindset. Through the development of a series of case studies the research goes on to develop learning strategies that can assist the learner to work in a multidisciplinary environment and to develop a sustainable literacy with their colleagues from non design disciplines. The work outlined here deals with how undergraduate students learn about sustainable design in a studio based environment over an extended period. It looks at the use of elearning, multidisciplinary project work, live projects and the mixing students with professionals all through the vehicle of sustainable design. The research also develops a number of strategies for assisting both SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) and practicing design professionals to learn about sustainable design. These strategies encourage the professionals to look at sustainability in a holistic manner and to develop a personal understanding about how it can influence their business and their design practice. The principal research question is: How can the third level effectively educate students, SMEs and professionals in sustainable design so as to be able to apply their knowledge, skills and competencies to design and industry practice in an effective manner within a complex and rapidly changing world paradigm? This body of research is a first comprehensive comparison of how undergraduate students, SME professionals and design professionals learn about sustainable design. It develops a number of learning strategies and proposes a sustainable design learning model based on the findings of the applied research

Assessing usability of a prototype soft exoskeleton by involving people with gait impairments

Background: Gait impairment is prevalent among many growing clinical populations e.g. people with stroke, incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI), older adults etc. Such populations may benefit from assistive devices such as exoskeletons to improve their walking ability. XoSoft (www.xosoft.eu) is a soft exoskeleton that is being developed for people with mild to moderate gait impairments to support their mobility by providing physical actuation across joints of the lower extremities. During the design and development of a device like XoSoft, it is crucial that Primary Users (PUs, e.g. patients) are involved and provide insight into their experiences and expectations regarding device usability. However, it is still not standard practice to include PUs in rigorous testing of highly technical exoskeletons. The XoSoft consortium took an iterative design approach to the development of the XoSoft prototypes. Data from usability testing with PUs are informing next iterations of the XoSoft concepts. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the PU experiences of the usability of a XoSoft prototype. This study should also highlight the importance of including PUs during the development of assistive devices. Methods: Eleven participants were recruited (mean age: 73 years, mean height: 166 cm, mean mass: 65 kg). There were three categories of PUs: frail (n=5), stroke (n=1), iSCI (n=5). Participants had no cognitive impairment (Mini Mental State Examination score > 24). The prototype consisted of a leggings-style garment with Velcro straps as anchor points for actuators across the relevant joints (hip, knee, ankle). Actuation and control was provided by a modular pneumatic/sensor controlled system, which was added to the garment in modular fashion based on the PU needs. After independent donning and doffing by the participant, the garment was donned and the Velcro straps placed and secured by a researcher to ensure proper placement. Participants then performed walking tasks with active actuation followed by completion of the System Usability Scale (SUS, Brooke 1996, maximum score = 100). Results: The scores for the SUS ranged from zero to 95 with a median rating of 52.5. The median rating corresponds to an “okay” score. According to the acceptability ranges by Bangor et al. (2008), 3 participants rated the prototype as acceptable, 3 as marginal, and 5 as not acceptable. Conclusions: The scores indicate the need for improvement in the design of future XoSoft prototypes. The large variability in SUS scores indicated that the same device may be rated considerably differently by different users. This highlights the importance of including a variety of potential users of assistive devices during development. Implications: Secondary Users (SUs) such as physical therapists are also involved in the development of XoSoft, providing insight into their own needs and the needs of their patients. The therapists also play a key role in motivating their patients to participate in research and development projects. To ensure that such assistive devices can be integrated into users’ lives and practices, it is essential to have both PUs and SUs actively involved in the technical development

Circular Design Project – Open knowledge co-creation for circular economy education

Design has a key role to play in developing innovative solutions to current local and global challenges – approaches that must consider the needs of end users and integrate sustainability criteria in processes and strategies for creating products and services. The Circular Design – Learning for Innovative Design for Sustainability (L4IDS) project is a three years Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance financed project, within the social business and the educational innovation field. The project’s goal is to support the development of skills necessary to promote sustainable production and consumption of products and services in Europe. This is achieved through a knowledge co-creation process and a collaborative action research framework, which led to the development of training materials in order to teach and train students, academics and enterprise staff in Innovative Design for Sustainability (IDfS) strategies. The project is aligned with European Circular Economy policies and contributes to the realization of a more sustainable society. The project has four objectives: (1) to increase and improve the learning strategies of Design for Sustainability; (2) to gather and cluster open educational resources and training courses for industry staff and academics in Innovative Design for Sustainability; (3) to train up innovative and entrepreneurial students designers who are capable of dealing with a transition towards Design for Sustainability as a mainstream design approach, and (4) to establish a basis for a permanent and active European Network of Design for Sustainability. The project was formed by 12 partners who are organised around four country hubs in Ireland, The Netherlands, Catalonia and Sweden. Each country hub consists of one university with education and research in Sustainable Design, one design company with expertise in sustainable design and one national design association. The researchers and professionals involved with the project demonstrate how an interdisciplinary co-design approach tackling wicked design problems can develop viable sustainable and product service systems in partnership with SMEs and students. Following this line of thought, this paper will introduce an internship programme that builds a collaboration among institutions and businesses, while enabling novice designers to experience real-life challenges and developing sustainable design solutions that can transform business practices to address issues of sustainability. Therefore, a total of 11 projects were performed by 48 interns and 16 industry partners. Addressing environmental problems 7 of them were focused on sustainable product solutions and 4 of them offered solutions to enhance the implementation of circular processes in the urban environment. As a reinforcement for the project’s mission, it was recognized as a best practice under the umbrella of the World Environment Day, promoted by the Barcelona City Council.Postprint (published version

Basic functionality of a prototype wearable assistive soft exoskeleton for people with gait impairments : a case study

XoSoft is a soft modular wearable assistive exoskeleton for peo- ple with mild to moderate gait impairments. It is currently being developed by a European Consortium (www.xosoft.eu) and aims to provide tailored and active lower limb support during ambu- lation. During development, user-centered design principles were followed in parallel with the aim of providing functional support during gait. A prototype was developed and was tested for practi- cability, usability, comfort and assistive function (summarized as basic functionality) with a potential end user. The prototype con- sisted of a garment, electromagnetic clutch-controlled elastic bands supporting knee- and hip flexion and a backpack containing the sensor and actuator control of the system. The participant had ex- perienced a stroke and presented with unilateral impairment of the lower and upper extremities. In testing, he donned and doffed the prototype independently as far as possible, and performed walk- ing trials with the system in both active (powered on) and pas- sive (powered off) modes. Afterwards, the participant rated the perceived pressure and various elements of usability. Results high- lighted aspects of the system for improvement during future phases of XoSoft development, and also identified useful aspects of proto- type design to be maintained. The basic functionality of XoSoft could be assumed as satisfactory given that it was the first version of a working prototype. The study highlights the benefits of this participatory evaluation design approach in assistive soft robotics development

<b>Message Journal, Issue 4</b>: DESIGN POLITICS What are the politics of your design and what is the design of your politics?

In the Message journal issue 4 we wanted to create an arena where our discipline could discuss the nature and context of its role from an overtly political perspective. Whilst we felt in our bones there was an appetite for this, we were far from certain about its nature, scope and size. Consequently, the call for Message 4 was, to say the least, somewhat of a gamble. Thankfully, our hunches and speculations seem to have been close to the mark. We received more submissions for this call than the previous three issues combined. There was also an anticipation (albeit in hindsight a rather naive one) that some submissions might be positioned around conventional left, right and/or sustainable ecological perspectives. This did not really transpire. Nonetheless, we are very happy to say that the creative, eclectic and diverse nature of the responses has resulted in a range of exemplars that reflect the varied nature, concerns and foci of our vibrant discipline. These extend from John Calvelli’s philosophical dialectic on the fundamental nature and origin of images, their use and effects, to Elizabeth Herrmann’s self-initiated craft-based approach, to do good locally and make a social contribution. Both of these papers are also examples of the higher than usual number of submissions from North America, a substantial proportion of which relate to the politics of cultural and/or racial identity, such as Omari Souza’s, ‘Racist Motifs in Everyday Branding’. Message is dedicated to the development of Graphic Communication Design research. Particularly (although not exclusively) through authors’ analysis of and reflection on their own practice-based research. Through peer reviewed submissions and occasional commissioned essays, Message explores, discusses and challenges the boundaries, roles, practices and outputs of Graphic Communication Design. Past, present and future.Introduction – Peter Jones Rethinking Graphic Design and the Design of Historical Arguments– Camila Afanador-Llach The Intersection of Electoral Politics and Design Education - Anne Berry & Sarah Rutherford Ecological Mourning and the Work of Graphic Communication Design – John Calvelli From High to Low and High Again – Kristen Coogan Speculative Graphic Design: The Idiot’s-Eye-View – James Dyer Free!* Reclaiming ‘freedom’ from the neoliberal lexicon - Cathy Gale Countering ‘Fake News’ in the Design Classroom - Anne M. Giangiulio Cards for Humanity: Constructing Meaningful Communities Through Unsolicited Do-Good Design - Elizabeth Herrmann Political Awareness and Engagement Through Banknote Design - Chae Ho Lee Personal value thinking in graphic communication design education – The introduction of a clarification tool for students - Gwen Lettis, Pamela Napier, Adam de Eyto & Muireann McMahon Passive, Brutish, or Civil? Racist Motifs in Everyday Branding - Omari Souza Countering the Othering of Others: Illustration Facilitating Empathy - Dave Wood Re-contextualising Illustration to Inform Sexual Consent – #JustSoYouKnow - Dave Woo

Baseline study of Essential Ocean Variable monitoring in Irish waters; current measurement programmes & data quality

This report provides an initial assessment of Ireland’s current measurement programmes and capacity for Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) data collection. These are typically programmes that involve physical sampling of the marine environment, using a combination of ship-based measurements, fixed platforms e.g. tide and wave gauges, offshore buoys, autonomous platforms e.g. underwater gliders, and conventional collection of physical samples that are analysed on board ships or in shore-based laboratories. Systematic measurement of essential ocean variables underpins the delivery of services to government and the public in terms of real-time decision support, assessments of ocean health e.g. Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Oslo & Paris Conventions (OSPAR), International Council on the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and long-term observations to inform policy on marine climate change and provide climate information to guide related adaptation measures required under climate change sectoral adaptation plans e.g. seafood sector, transport, biodiversity, and built heritage

Global Patterns and Controls of Nutrient Immobilization On Decomposing Cellulose In Riverine Ecosystems

Microbes play a critical role in plant litter decomposition and influence the fate of carbon in rivers and riparian zones. When decomposing low-nutrient plant litter, microbes acquire nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from the environment (i.e., nutrient immobilization), and this process is potentially sensitive to nutrient loading and changing climate. Nonetheless, environmental controls on immobilization are poorly understood because rates are also influenced by plant litter chemistry, which is coupled to the same environmental factors. Here we used a standardized, low-nutrient organic matter substrate (cotton strips) to quantify nutrient immobilization at 100 paired stream and riparian sites representing 11 biomes worldwide. Immobilization rates varied by three orders of magnitude, were greater in rivers than riparian zones, and were strongly correlated to decomposition rates. In rivers, P immobilization rates were controlled by surface water phosphate concentrations, but N immobilization rates were not related to inorganic N. The N:P of immobilized nutrients was tightly constrained to a molar ratio of 10:1 despite wide variation in surface water N:P. Immobilization rates were temperature-dependent in riparian zones but not related to temperature in rivers. However, in rivers nutrient supply ultimately controlled whether microbes could achieve the maximum expected decomposition rate at a given temperature

State of the climate in 2018

In 2018, the dominant greenhouse gases released into Earth’s atmosphere—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—continued their increase. The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration at Earth’s surface was 407.4 ± 0.1 ppm, the highest in the modern instrumental record and in ice core records dating back 800 000 years. Combined, greenhouse gases and several halogenated gases contribute just over 3 W m−2 to radiative forcing and represent a nearly 43% increase since 1990. Carbon dioxide is responsible for about 65% of this radiative forcing. With a weak La Niña in early 2018 transitioning to a weak El Niño by the year’s end, the global surface (land and ocean) temperature was the fourth highest on record, with only 2015 through 2017 being warmer. Several European countries reported record high annual temperatures. There were also more high, and fewer low, temperature extremes than in nearly all of the 68-year extremes record. Madagascar recorded a record daily temperature of 40.5°C in Morondava in March, while South Korea set its record high of 41.0°C in August in Hongcheon. Nawabshah, Pakistan, recorded its highest temperature of 50.2°C, which may be a new daily world record for April. Globally, the annual lower troposphere temperature was third to seventh highest, depending on the dataset analyzed. The lower stratospheric temperature was approximately fifth lowest. The 2018 Arctic land surface temperature was 1.2°C above the 1981–2010 average, tying for third highest in the 118-year record, following 2016 and 2017. June’s Arctic snow cover extent was almost half of what it was 35 years ago. Across Greenland, however, regional summer temperatures were generally below or near average. Additionally, a satellite survey of 47 glaciers in Greenland indicated a net increase in area for the first time since records began in 1999. Increasing permafrost temperatures were reported at most observation sites in the Arctic, with the overall increase of 0.1°–0.2°C between 2017 and 2018 being comparable to the highest rate of warming ever observed in the region. On 17 March, Arctic sea ice extent marked the second smallest annual maximum in the 38-year record, larger than only 2017. The minimum extent in 2018 was reached on 19 September and again on 23 September, tying 2008 and 2010 for the sixth lowest extent on record. The 23 September date tied 1997 as the latest sea ice minimum date on record. First-year ice now dominates the ice cover, comprising 77% of the March 2018 ice pack compared to 55% during the 1980s. Because thinner, younger ice is more vulnerable to melting out in summer, this shift in sea ice age has contributed to the decreasing trend in minimum ice extent. Regionally, Bering Sea ice extent was at record lows for almost the entire 2017/18 ice season. For the Antarctic continent as a whole, 2018 was warmer than average. On the highest points of the Antarctic Plateau, the automatic weather station Relay (74°S) broke or tied six monthly temperature records throughout the year, with August breaking its record by nearly 8°C. However, cool conditions in the western Bellingshausen Sea and Amundsen Sea sector contributed to a low melt season overall for 2017/18. High SSTs contributed to low summer sea ice extent in the Ross and Weddell Seas in 2018, underpinning the second lowest Antarctic summer minimum sea ice extent on record. Despite conducive conditions for its formation, the ozone hole at its maximum extent in September was near the 2000–18 mean, likely due to an ongoing slow decline in stratospheric chlorine monoxide concentration. Across the oceans, globally averaged SST decreased slightly since the record El Niño year of 2016 but was still far above the climatological mean. On average, SST is increasing at a rate of 0.10° ± 0.01°C decade−1 since 1950. The warming appeared largest in the tropical Indian Ocean and smallest in the North Pacific. The deeper ocean continues to warm year after year. For the seventh consecutive year, global annual mean sea level became the highest in the 26-year record, rising to 81 mm above the 1993 average. As anticipated in a warming climate, the hydrological cycle over the ocean is accelerating: dry regions are becoming drier and wet regions rainier. Closer to the equator, 95 named tropical storms were observed during 2018, well above the 1981–2010 average of 82. Eleven tropical cyclones reached Saffir–Simpson scale Category 5 intensity. North Atlantic Major Hurricane Michael’s landfall intensity of 140 kt was the fourth strongest for any continental U.S. hurricane landfall in the 168-year record. Michael caused more than 30 fatalities and $25 billion (U.S. dollars) in damages. In the western North Pacific, Super Typhoon Mangkhut led to 160 fatalities and$6 billion (U.S. dollars) in damages across the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Tropical Storm Son-Tinh was responsible for 170 fatalities in Vietnam and Laos. Nearly all the islands of Micronesia experienced at least moderate impacts from various tropical cyclones. Across land, many areas around the globe received copious precipitation, notable at different time scales. Rodrigues and Réunion Island near southern Africa each reported their third wettest year on record. In Hawaii, 1262 mm precipitation at Waipā Gardens (Kauai) on 14–15 April set a new U.S. record for 24-h precipitation. In Brazil, the city of Belo Horizonte received nearly 75 mm of rain in just 20 minutes, nearly half its monthly average. Globally, fire activity during 2018 was the lowest since the start of the record in 1997, with a combined burned area of about 500 million hectares. This reinforced the long-term downward trend in fire emissions driven by changes in land use in frequently burning savannas. However, wildfires burned 3.5 million hectares across the United States, well above the 2000–10 average of 2.7 million hectares. Combined, U.S. wildfire damages for the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons exceeded $40 billion (U.S. dollars)