Being bad to do good: using reverse psychology to embed Life Cycle Thinking and knowledge of Sustainable Development Goals in design and engineering curricula

Designers and engineers have developed many products, systems and services that have been socially, economically and environmentally beneficial; however, they have also been initiators of and contributors to the linear economy, which has created many negative impacts and is proving unsustainable (1). Either way, the power and influence of the design and engineering professions is indisputable and therefore the role of educators as arbiters of good practice is critically important. Consequently, it is surprising that some courses still fail to include sustainability as a core subject and/or that sustainability is seen as a ‘tick box’ criterion that is ignored or forgotten once covered in an assignment. In the latter case this could be due to: students feeling over-whelmed by the breadth of criteria they need to address in their assignments; the way in which assignment briefs are presented and marks allocated; ‘eco- fatigue’ (e.g. in response negatives such as green washing) and/or eco-anxiety. This and similar phenomena such as climate-depression are increasing among people who work in sustainability-related professions and young people who feel as though they have no control over their future or are powerless to initiate positive change (2). It is important for educators to develop pedagogic strategies to simultaneously mitigate these issues and ensure that sustainability remains core to design and engineering courses; it is equally important to help students to deal with their negative feelings. Education for Sustainable Development involves developing positive solutions to problems. However, this paper proposes that reverse psychology (3) can be used to create enjoyable and educationally memorable experiences that highlight the need for good practice. In simple terms, reverse psychology encourages someone to do something by suggesting that he/she does the opposite (4). This paper describes a case study where first year engineering and design students were asked to develop the most unsustainable concept and to negate as many SDGs possible in response to subjects such as food / water supply and resource consumption. Once the students realised that ‘bad was good’ in this context the level of creativity and innovation rose and the end-of-project presentations were high spirited and humorous. This controversial approach has proved successful so far and the response to subsequent assignments asking for sustainable design proposals have been of a higher standard than those from other year groups and each has included evidence of Life Cycle Thinking and intrinsic links to Sustainable Development Goals with limited prompting. 1. Andrews, D., The circular economy, design thinking and education for sustainability. Local Economy; Article first published online: March 19, 2015; Issue published: May 1, 2015 Volume: 30 issue: 3, page(s): 305-315. 2. Clayton, S., Manning, C. M., Krygsman, K., & Speiser, M. (2017). Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica. 3. Pennebaker, J. W. and Sanders, D. Y. (1976) American graffiti: Effects of authority and reactance arousal. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2, 264-267 4. MaDonald, G., Nail, P.R and Harper, J.R. Do people use reverse psychology? An exploration of strategic self-anti-conformity. January 2011; Social Influence 6(1): 1-14 DOI: 10.1080/15534510.2010.51728

Design and Engineering Pedagogies as Agents for Disruption, Innovation and Transformation and the Transfer and Application of Reverse Psychology Across the Disciplines

Design and engineering have individually and collectively disrupted and transformed societies, economies and the environment through innovative and regenerative practice and activities. Design and engineering education have also been transformative especially the former to which experiential, active, problem and project-based learning has always been central. This paper considers an innovative and particular teaching method – reverse psychology – that employs disruptive thinking and is being used to teach design and engineering students about sustainability. The project, results and impact are discussed in detail and were presented at EPDE21 [1]. The method proved highly successful and feedback suggested that it could be applicable to participants other than university students. This paper describes the subsequent research and its relevance to design and engineering education. The theory was tested in a workshop at an academic staff conference. Feedback was again very positive and a further workshop for academics from different disciplines was organised to develop subject–specific material and assess whether the method was transferable across disciplines. The experience proved highly beneficial to all parties who learnt from each other; the bespoke materials developed during the session were subsequently tested with students who again responded very positively, which soundly endorsed transferability. These various results show that design education remains innovative and is leading and supporting development of pioneering educational practices. Furthermore the design and engineering academics involved in the research learned from colleagues in other disciplines which supports and illustrates the benefit of transdisciplinary collaboration

Casein Kinase 1α—A Target for Prostate Cancer Therapy?

The androgen receptor (AR) is a key driver of prostate cancer (PCa) and, as such, current mainstay treatments target this molecule. However, resistance commonly arises to these therapies and, therefore, additional targets must be evaluated to improve patient outcomes. Consequently, alternative approaches for indirectly targeting the AR are sought. AR crosstalk with other signalling pathways, including several protein kinase signalling cascades, has been identified as a potential route to combat therapy resistance. The casein kinase 1 (CK1) family of protein kinases phosphorylate a multitude of substrates, allowing them to regulate a diverse range of pathways from the cell cycle to DNA damage repair. As well as its role in several signalling pathways that are de-regulated in PCa, mutational data suggest its potential to promote prostate carcinogenesis. CK1α is one isoform predicted to regulate AR activity via phosphorylation and has been implicated in the progression of several other cancer types. In this review, we explore how the normal biological function of CK1 is de-regulated in cancer, the impact on signalling pathways and how this contributes towards prostate tumourigenesis, with a particular focus on the CK1α isoform as a novel therapeutic target for PCa

Ice properties in ISO 19906's second edition

The second edition of ISO 19906 Arctic Offshore structures was issued in 2019. In this paper, we describe the changes that were made to sections dealing with ice properties and discuss the relationship between them and ice actions. The changes can be divided into five groups: 1) Physical properties (temperature, density and porosity), 2) modulus of elasticity, 3) ice friction, 4) mechanical properties in level ice (uniaxial and multi-axial compressive strength, flexural strength and borehole jack strength), and 5) the keel properties of first-year ridge (Mohr-Coulomb, macro-porosity). The standard is written in such a way so that simple approaches in design guidelines complement more elaborate models. Both currently face at least three challenges, namely, the lack of full-scale data, a complicated physical environment, and a lack of understanding of the deformation mechanisms taking place in the ice

The impact of abuse experiences and coping responses on distress and mental health outcomes in sports officials

Sports officials (e.g., referees) experience multiple role-related stressors, including episodes of verbal, physical, and social media abuse. However, the impact of strategies employed to cope with abuse experiences is unknown. The aims of this study were to: (i) explore the prevalence and frequency of abuse experiences over a single season, (ii) determine the impact of abuse and other stressors on sports officials’ mental health, and (iii) understand the mental health impact of strategies utilised by sports officials to cope with abuse experiences. A total of 303 Gaelic games match officials completed an online survey measuring stressors (including abuse experiences), coping strategies, and mental health outcomes. Correlational and path analyses explored relationships between abuse experiences, coping strategies, distress, and subsequent mental health outcomes. In total, 88.11% of officials reported experiences of verbal abuse, 7.59% physical abuse, and 17.16% social media abuse during the previous season. Greater use of both avoidance-cognitive and approach-oriented coping was associated with higher distress and poorer mental health outcomes following verbal abuse. Moreso, greater use of avoidance-cognitive strategies to cope with verbal abuse from players predicted higher distress which, in turn, predicted higher anxiety, higher depression, and lower mental well-being. For social media abuse, self-blame, planning, and behavioural disengagement were associated with poorer mental health. The findings suggest that sports officials employ maladaptive coping for abuse experiences, negatively impacting on mental health outcomes. Developing alternative strategies, such as mastery-oriented coping, may help sports officials to deal with abuse experiences and better protect their mental health

Plasma luteinizing hormone levels in ewes failing to exhibit oestrus during lactation and in ewes isolated from rams

Daar was geen betekenisvolle verskil in die peil van luteiniserende hormoon in die plasma van ooie wat geen oestrus gedurende laktasie getoon het nie en die tussen-estrus peil van ooie wat gereeld bronstig was. Die LH peil was beduidend laer by ooie wat van ramme afgesonder was as by soortgelyke, maar anestrus, ooie wat voortdurend by ramme geloop het. Die basale LH peil by ooie wat gereeld bronstig was, het relatief min gevarieer van dag tot dag, terwyl merkwaardigde skommelinge in die daaglikse monsters van ooie wat enstrus was, verkry is.SUMMARYThc plasme Level of ewes which did not exhibit oestrus during lactation was not significantly different from the inter-oestrus level of ewes showing regular oestrus. The LH level in the plasma of ewes kept isolated from rams was significantly lower than amongst similar, but anoestrous ewes continuously associated with rams. In ewes which were cycling regularly the basal LH level remained relatively constant from day to day during inter-oestrus, whereas in anoestrous ewes the daily samples showed considerable fluctuation

Elastic moduli of sea ice and lake ice calculated from in-situ and laboratory experiments

The effective elastic modulus of ice is an important physical parameter for the calculation of ice stresses in different situations when ice deformations are small. In the present paper the review of methods used for the calculation of the elastic modulus of ice is performed, new tests for the calculation of the elastic modulus are described, and their results are discussed. Field experiments with floating vibrating ice beams with fixed ends were performed in March and November 2019 on sea ice of the Van Mijen Fjord and fresh-water ice of a lake near Longyearbyen. Laboratory experiments with vibrating cantilever beams were performed in the cold laboratory of UNIS in November 2019. The results are compared with the values of the effective elastic modulus obtained in quasi-static tests with floating cantilever beams, and with in-situ dynamic tests where the effective elastic modulus was measured by the speed of sound waves

Sea Ice Dynamics: The Role Of Broken Ice In Multi-scale Deformation

Realistic models of Arctic Ocean behaviour should capture the influence of broken ice acting as a fault gouge between sliding floes. We performed double-direct shear friction tests on floating saline ice floes in the HSVA ARCTECLAB, Large Model Basin, Hamburg. We have focused these experiments on angularity and size to determine fault gouge characteristics. In our experiments the displacements and deformation of ice gouge were characterized during on-going frictional slip for the first time. Both stable sliding and stickslip behaviour were displayed. It appears that there are controls on behaviour according to gouge angularity. By measuring local stress, strain and acoustic emissions along the sliding interfacial fault we have captured the mechanics of the propagation of slip from slip initiation to dynamic propagation for the first time in the presence of broken ice

Novel wireless sensors for in situ measurement of sub-ice hydrologic systems

Wireless sensors have the potential to provide significant insight into in situ physical and biogeochemical processes in sub-ice hydrologic systems. However, the nature of the glacial environment means that sensor deployment and data return is challenging. We describe two bespoke sensor platforms, electronic tracers or ‘ETracers’, and ‘cryoegg’, for untethered, wireless data collection from glacial hydrologic systems, including subglacial channels. Both employ radio frequencies for data transmission, are designed to endure harsh environmental conditions and can withstand low temperatures, high pressure, turbulence and abrasion. We discuss the design, optimization and field testing of the ETracers and cryoegg, culminating in test deployments beneath the Greenland ice sheet. The small, low-cost ETracers were able to travel through subglacial drainage channels, from where they returned water pressure measurements through 100m of ice, and could measure water depth in crevasses. The larger cryoegg was able to return multi-parameter data from moulins through 500m of wet ice to receivers up to 2km away, and from 12m depth in a proglacial lake to a receiver on the shore. The tests demonstrate that the cryoegg and ETracers are low-power, versatile, robust wireless sensor platforms suitable for glacial environments, which may be used with portable, low-cost receiving equipment

Influence of vibrations on indentation and compression strength of sea ice

Indentation and compression strengths of floating sea ice subjected to vibrations is discussed. The experiments were performed on the land fast ice of the Van-Mijen Fjord in March of 2018 and 2019. The ice thickness was around 70 cm, and the ice salinity was 4-5 ppt. Vibrations were introduced in the ice by the vibration plate with weight of 400 kg before the tests during 10-15 min. The vibration plate was standing and vibrating on the ice surface. The spectrum of vibrations was recorded with accelerometers. Analysis of thin sections of ice was performed on the place of the field works. Indentation tests were performed with the original hydraulic rig on natural ice and ice subjected to the action of vibrating plate. It was discovered that stroke rates tests were higher in the tests performed on the ice subjected to vibrations. Uniaxial compression tests were also performed on ice cores taken from the natural ice and from the ice subjected to the vibrations. Uniaxial compression strength of ice cores taken from the ice subjected to vibrations was higher than in the tests with natural ice