Product-service-system design thinking for port healthcare: a case study with container lashers in the port of Antwerp

The port of Antwerp executes its container lashing with specialized dockworker crews called container lashers. These container lashers train in the port training center, OCHA, in order to execute container lashing safely and efficiently. Container lashing is considered labor intensive. Due to the future trends within maritime transportation, the interest in optimized ergonomic training provided for dockworkers rises. A User-Centered Design approach is implemented to gather insights to build a Product-service-system (PSS) solution in a multidisciplinary research context. In order to develop a meaningful PSS, clinical and cultural insights are required. This paper presents the research framework of Design Inclusive Research (DIR) to collect cultural insights from container lashers. Subsequentially, it elaborates on the different stages of DIR to the extent of defining and executing the design tools. For this study, Cultural Probes and user journey maps, in combination with in-depth interviews, are applied to gather, synthesize, and present the information to stakeholders in a validation workshop. The proposed design tools and framework delivered an array of contextual information, leading to a broader understanding of the container lashers’ culture and generating impactful solutions

Novel Crohn Disease Locus Identified by Genome-Wide Association Maps to a Gene Desert on 5p13.1 and Modulates Expression of PTGER4

To identify novel susceptibility loci for Crohn disease (CD), we undertook a genome-wide association study with more than 300,000 SNPs characterized in 547 patients and 928 controls. We found three chromosome regions that provided evidence of disease association with p-values between 10(−6) and 10(−9). Two of these (IL23R on Chromosome 1 and CARD15 on Chromosome 16) correspond to genes previously reported to be associated with CD. In addition, a 250-kb region of Chromosome 5p13.1 was found to contain multiple markers with strongly suggestive evidence of disease association (including four markers with p < 10(−7)). We replicated the results for 5p13.1 by studying 1,266 additional CD patients, 559 additional controls, and 428 trios. Significant evidence of association (p < 4 × 10(−4)) was found in case/control comparisons with the replication data, while associated alleles were over-transmitted to affected offspring (p < 0.05), thus confirming that the 5p13.1 locus contributes to CD susceptibility. The CD-associated 250-kb region was saturated with 111 SNP markers. Haplotype analysis supports a complex locus architecture with multiple variants contributing to disease susceptibility. The novel 5p13.1 CD locus is contained within a 1.25-Mb gene desert. We present evidence that disease-associated alleles correlate with quantitative expression levels of the prostaglandin receptor EP4, PTGER4, the gene that resides closest to the associated region. Our results identify a major new susceptibility locus for CD, and suggest that genetic variants associated with disease risk at this locus could modulate cis-acting regulatory elements of PTGER4

Front-end conditions for product-service system design

AbstractThis research shows the preliminary results of ongoing research in the understanding of front-end conditions that lever the organization's general disposition toward creating new product-service systems. Semi-structured expert interviews served to build empirical data to exemplify these conditions. We follow a synthesis approach that provides knowledge for manufacturing as well as service providers. We highlight twenty conditions that enable a synergy between products and services when thinking about innovation strategies. More specifically, it aims to ensure both product and service components and their characteristics are continuously discussed in three consecutive front-end of innovation levels; exploration, ideation and definition

How can comparative judgement become an effective means toward providing clear formative feedback to students to improve their learning process during their product-service-system design project?

This study responds to calls to further investigate ways to make feedback more effective for students in the context of higher education. More specifically it scrutinizes the feedback practice, adapted to the exceptional reality of a partly on Campus, partly online semester–long Product-Service System (PSS) design project for first Master students of X at the University of Y. To do so, an established model of feedback (Hattie &amp; Timperley, 2007) is used as a framework to seek answers to the research question: which types (and levels) of feedback are generated when applying Comparative Judgement (CJ) to guide the students’ and teachers’ feedback formulation? Following the model, first three types of feedback: feeding up; feeding back; and feeding forward and second, four levels of feedback are discerned: task; process; self-regulatory and self. The current study describes how first year Master students (n=72) and lecturers (n=4) apply CJ to formulate feedback. We evaluate which types and levels of feedback are formulated and received by the students, both towards and from their peers and teachers. Additionally, based on a post hoc survey and reflection paper, we list the strengths and weaknesses of CJ as a method to help students to formulate, interpret and receive feedback. Finally, we identify various opportunities to improve CJ based feedback during product development cycles and its impact on learning and self–assessment of the own project process and (intermediate) results quality, and metacognitive strategies for learning