demi: linking design with sustainability

This paper describes an educational framework offering one possible approach to linking sustainability and design. This framework, developed as part of the demi project, provides links to information new to designers thereby challenging the design status quo. For example, it incorporates the integration of different communities within designing - often from outside traditional boundaries - and an appreciation of environmental and social impacts as designs are conceived, produced, used and then discarded. The paper discusses the demi framework, its content and its educational potential. Further, it explores the possible transferability of the framework to other disciplines, promoting practical and widespread action in education for sustainability

Court of Appeal found no love for Topshop tank: the image right that dare not speak its name

This article contains an analysis of the first instance and appeal decisions of the "Rihanna" case. In particular, the authors consider the substantive law of passing off in the context of the unauthorised use of a celebrity’s image on a Topshop tank vest top. This is followed by a discussion of the consequences of the case for celebrities, consumers and stakeholders in the entertainment and fashion industries

Defining the effects of bisphosphonate drugs on tissue-resident macrophages

Nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate drugs (N-BPs) are a front-line treatment for osteoporosis and other common skeletal disorders. Due to their high affinity for calcium, N-BPs are considered to act only in the skeleton. However, epidemiological studies suggest that N-BP therapy is also associated with a reduced risk of infection and mortality from pneumonia. This thesis sought to explore how N-BPs may have beneficial effects in the lung. After a single intravenous injection of fluorescently-tagged N-BP (AF647-ZOL), flow cytometric analysis of lung tissue digests and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells revealed drug uptake by >97% of alveolar macrophages (ALMs; CD11chi, Siglec-Fhi CD11blo/-, CD64+). Intracellular accumulation of unprenylated small GTPase proteins and the metabolite isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) are hallmarks of N-BP’s pharmacologic effect on the mevalonate pathway. Mass spectrometry and a customised prenylation assay revealed a clear build-up of IPP and unprenylated Rab GTPases in ALMs in BAL, 48 hours after a single intravenous dose of the N-BP zoledronate (ZOL). In mice, intravenous ZOL treatment enhanced the release of pro-inflammatory mediators in BAL fluid after acute intranasal LPS-challenge, as well as immune cell infiltration in the lung exclusively during early C. muridarum infection (3 days post-infection). Metabolomics analysis and flow cytometry revealed that in vitro ZOL treatment increased macrophage production of nitric oxide and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species in J774.2 macrophages in response to LPS stimulation. scRNA-seq analysis of mouse ALMs revealed that intravenous ZOL treatment elevated pro-inflammatory HIF1a transcription factor activity and enriched a Type I Interferon gene expression signature after subsequent acute intranasal LPS-challenge. The data presented in this thesis dispel the long-held view that N-BP drugs act only in bone, clearly demonstrating an additional effect on ALMs. Collectively, these studies suggest that N-BPs enhance the early pro-inflammatory activation of ALMs in response to immune challenge, a plausible mechanism of conferring protection against pneumonia

Developing a theory-based toolkit (the ‘STAR’ tool) to support supervised toothbrushing in the home in Scotland: a mixed-methods feasibility study

Background Despite improvements over the last several years, dental caries in children in Scotland is still high and large socioeconomic inequalities persist. These improvements (observed in the first year of school) are thought to be as a result of the universal supervised toothbrushing programme in nursery schools, which is part of Childsmile, Scotland’s national child oral health improvement programme. Many children, however, experience tooth decay before reaching nursery age (2- 3 years), prior to receiving the benefit of the nursery supervised toothbrushing programme - with the greatest burden of disease being experienced by children from the most socio-economically disadvantaged areas. Childsmile’s Dental Health Support Workers (DHSWs) provide tailored support to targeted families in the home setting, including the promotion of supervised toothbrushing in the early years. It is widely recognised that there are numerous social, environmental and family level barriers to positive toothbrushing behaviours but to date there have been no theory-based interventions targeted to more socio-economically disadvantaged families of very young children in the home setting. An existing behaviour change intervention to support parental supervised toothbrushing, called Uitblinkers, is in place in dental practices in The Netherlands delivered by dental therapists to families with children aged 2 to 10 years who attend practice, that has shown some promising results. This thesis describes the process of the development and feasibility testing of a new home-based toothbrushing tool, STAR, based on the Uitblinkers tool, delivered by Childsmile’s DHSWs to targeted families in Scotland. Methods The research process is underpinned by the use of a pragmatic approach and informed by elements from implementation science. The project is comprised of three studies. For the first study, an initial review of the literature was carried out to identify reported barriers to home toothbrushing for parents/carers with young children to inform the first round of a Delphi study. The aim of the Delphi was to reach consensus amongst experts on the most important barriers to parent/carer supervised toothbrushing and appropriate behaviour change techniques to address them. Purposive and snowball sampling identified an expert panel who completed a modified Delphi exercise consisting of two rounds. In the first Delphi round, an expert panel prioritised the most important barriers to include in the new tool, while in the second round the panel validated the most appropriate strategies to address these barriers. The second study utilised 12 qualitative in-depth interviews with DHSWs to seek feedback and insight into the potential barriers and facilitators to the use of the new toothbrushing tool. Interviews were analysed using framework analysis and mapped to the modified Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Development of the content and resources for the new tool was undertaken and co-produced with DHSWs. Prototype cards and illustrations were designed alongside a graphic designer. This then resulted in the production of a prototype complete set of cards being produced to be tested out as part of the next study. As part of the third study, a two-day simulation workshop with four DHSWs and two parents tested the acceptability and feasibility of the tool. The simulated interactions between DHSWs and parents were video recorded and the conversational process was analysed and visually represented using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) - a novel approach in this area. Six exit interviews with six participants were also conducted and again analysed using framework analysis and CFIR. Results The literature review identified 18 relevant papers from which parent/carer home supervised toothbrushing barriers were collected. Twenty one experts ranked 11 out of 13 barriers as being important with ‘difficult child behaviour’ and ‘structures and routines’ being the most important. Twenty one experts ranked the strategies operant conditioning, stimulus-control, and goal-setting, as being appropriate approaches to tackle the barriers. DHSWs were positive about the use of the STAR tool, feeling it would be a useful addition to their current practice. The barriers included in the tool were relevant and reflected what they saw during home visits and strategies were thought to be helpful and would fit in with support they currently provide. Working alongside DHSWs, the STAR toothbrushing tool was then simulated with parents and DHSWs to investigate it feasibility and acceptability. DHSWs and parents responded positively to the use of the STAR tool and reported it was easy to use and adaptable to families with different barriers to toothbrushing. Six weeks follow-up found that parents had been able to use the strategies given to them to make beneficial changes to their toothbrushing routines. FRAM analysis showed that there was variation between DHSWs in how the STAR tool was used in action, in terms of both identifying toothbrushing barriers and delivering appropriate strategies. Each DHSW was able to complete each stage of the STAR process while still being able to incorporate their current Childsmile support. The STAR tool was able to be used flexibly by DHSWs to provide tailored toothbrushing advice to families. Conclusions This theory-based toolkit (The STAR tool) was developed to assist Childsmile DHSWs deliver tailored toothbrushing support to (targeted) parents/carers of young children in the home setting. The toolkit was feasible and acceptable to end users (both those delivering and those in receipt) and offered a flexible means of delivery dependent on the parents/carers level of need. A number of potential barriers to full scale roll out were identified during the process which may require additional considerations including DHSWs who only visit a family once, DHSWs who only carry out home visits when the child is very young and before toothbrushing has started, children with additional support needs and families in which English is not their first language. The STAR is currently being rolled out for use by DHSWs in the home setting and outcome and process evaluation is underway

P1_7 Row, Let's Row Away

This paper investigates the potential, energy difference between flying to a destination, compared to rowing to it. i.e. the energy burned per passenger on an airplane, compared to a passenger rowing across the sea to the destination. The destinations we consider are from London Heathrow to New York JFK airport, and we found that for a Boeing 747 and an Airbus A380, the energy used is 6069.1 MJ and 5677.8 MJ respectively. The amount of energy to row the distance in a single lightweight scull was found to be 128.67 MJ; in comparison to the Airbus the rower uses approximately 98% less energy

P1_10 Fus Ro Dah

The power of the “Thu’um†is unquestionable within the video game, Skyrim [1]. This paper investigates the possibility of knocking down an opponent using only their voice. It was calculated that the minimum amount of force required to do so is 121.2N, and that an average person can only produce 3.74N

P1_4 Liberating Venus' Atmosphere

Venus could quite possibly be habitable if the atmosphere was similar to that of the Earth. In this journal we investigated the implication of removing a portion of Venus' atmosphere, and how much energy it would require to do so. From some general assumptions and calculations, we found that the energy required to liberate enough atmosphere to make it similar to that of Earth's to be 2.5 x1028J

P1_6 Geothermal Power

Geothermal power is a green power source that could provide substantial renewable power. This paper looks at the approximate energy that the planet could provide using the stored thermal energy beneath the surface of the Earth. It was calculated that the energy that could be used was 3.9x1030J. However, actually extracting this energy is unrealistic with today’s technology, as well as hazardous to the planet

P1_2 Melting Mirrors

High powered lasers have been portrayed as being able to cut through almost anything, but a simple mirror seems to easily reflect them. The purpose of a mirror is to reflect optical light but surely there is a limit to the energy it can do so before it begins to deform and melt. Thorough research into this showed us that if we consider a mirror with an optical coating of silver and a 500 nm laser was applied to it, it would take 11.65 J to destroy the illuminated area, if conductivity and scattering were not considered