Design for all as a research and education strategy

The biggest challenge for the education of designers lies in the fact that graduates will have to work in a context that is still ina process of definition. To meet this challenge, a collaborative and participatory strategy that develops two fundamental competencesfor the future is proposed: capacity to research and, therefore, to produce knowledge, and to meet needs other than thetraditional ones. This strategy gathers three areas: Research developed by professors; Interaction between theory and practice ofintegral design and universal design; Research and practice focused on the needs of people with disabilities. The specific objectivesof this proposal are: to educate designers based on the perspective of research-action; to pay attention to human rights; toconfront students with real situations; to encourage co-design between users and designers. Examples of designs developed bystudents in final projects are described.Keywords: design for all, strategy, design education

Natural frequency analysis of a human femur using finite elements method

Mechanical Engineering, especially at degree studies level, is basically focused on man-made components. Therefore, different mechanical components have been studied for the main engineering fields, such as energy or vehicle industries. All of those different components have been studied in detail, following their industrial process where their material and structural properties are modified to meet their specific requirements. However, to design and built all those components, human beings have always been firstly inspired by something that was already there. Therefore, a wide range of different nature features has been inspiring the different industrial inventions developed by humans. As an engineer, instead of continuing analysing any mechanical feature industrially designed, this project aim was to study a component created by nature, analysing it from an engineering point of view. And there is when human femur appears, being one essential part of our body which also allows connecting engineering with the medical field. Moreover, the complex structure and properties that femur present can bring many inspiring ideas that, again, Nature shows to Engineering.Ingeniería Mecánic

Impact of pulsed electric fields pre-treatments on the Isoflavone profile of soymilk

In this study, pulsed electric fields (PEFs) were evaluated as extraction-aiding technology during soymilk manufacturing to improve its isoflavone profile. Low-intensity PEFs were applied at different processing conditions in two stages of the soymilk extraction process, hydrated soybeans (HSB) and soybean slurry (SBS), with the soymilk extracted from the conventional process as control (CSM). Overall, resultant soymilk samples from PEF-HSB and PEF-SBS presented lower concentrations of glucosides isoflavones and greater aglycone content than those in CSM. In contrast to genistin (Gin) and daidzin (Din), which decreased around 18.5-52.6% and 10.9-54.6%, respectively, an increase in genistein (Ge, 12.3-64.4%) and daidzein (Da, 9-55.8%) was observed. The total isoflavone content (TIC) of most soymilk samples prepared from PEF-HSB was lower than that of the CSM. Conversely, when PEF-SBS was used, the TIC of resultant soymilk was not significantly affected or slightly decreased. However, PEF treated HSB at 10 kVcm−1/100 pulses and SBS at 6 kVcm−1/10 pulses led to a significant augment in TIC, of up to 109 ± 2.39 and 110 ± 1.26 μg/g, respectively, in the extracted soymilk samples. These results indicated that low-intensity PEF is a potential technology that could be implemented during soymilk manufacturing processing to modify the isoflavone profile and content of soymilk, mainly increasing its aglycone concentrationThis research was funded by Tecnologico de Monterrey and the University of Lleida with research funds of FUNFOODEMERTEC Project

Design for all as a research and education strategy

The biggest challenge for the education of designers lies in the fact that graduates will have to work in a context that is still ina process of definition. To meet this challenge, a collaborative and participatory strategy that develops two fundamental competencesfor the future is proposed: capacity to research and, therefore, to produce knowledge, and to meet needs other than thetraditional ones. This strategy gathers three areas: Research developed by professors; Interaction between theory and practice ofintegral design and universal design; Research and practice focused on the needs of people with disabilities. The specific objectivesof this proposal are: to educate designers based on the perspective of research-action; to pay attention to human rights; toconfront students with real situations; to encourage co-design between users and designers. Examples of designs developed bystudents in final projects are described.Keywords: design for all, strategy, design education

Métodos de caracterización cinética de biocatalizadores heterogéneos a nivel de partícula simple

En este trabajo se ha desarrollado un método de análisis de imagen de microscopía de fluorescencia que permite caracterizar cinéticamente el biocatalizador heterogéneo a nivel de partícula simple. Para ello, monitorizando la fluorescencia del interior de las micropartículas se han obtenido los cursos de reacción a nivel de partícula simple de las enzimas inmovilizadas en su interior. Esto ha sido posible debido al tipo de muestras analizadas, con enzimas dependientes de cofactores de nicotamida autofluorescentes en su forma reducida (NADH/NADPH), permitiendo asociar la fluorescencia con la concentración de cofactor, y por tanto con la actividad enzimática. Posteriormente, estos cursos de reacción enzimáticos han sido ajustados con una función Lambert W para calcular sus parámetros cinéticos. A lo largo de este trabajo se explican las diferentes fases llevadas a cabo para, partiendo de las imágenes iniciales de fluorescencia, obtener los parámetros cinéticos finales en las partículas del biocatalizador. Para este trabajo han sido analizadas muestras de diferentes sistemas enzimáticos donde las enzimas, co-inmovilizadas con los cofactores en micropartículas porosas, catalizaron distintas reacciones monitorizadas en el microscopio de fluorescencia.<br /