ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF TRANSGENIC CROPS AND THE ESCAPE OF TRANSGENES INTO WILD POPULATIONS

Ecological risks associated with the release of transgenic crops include nontarget effects of the crop and the escape of transgenes into wild populations. Nontarget effects can be of two sorts: (a) unintended negative effects on species that do not reduce yield and (b) greater persistence of the crop in feral populations. Conventional agricultural methods, such as herbicide and pesticide application, have large and well- documented nontarget effects. To the extent that transgenes have more specific target effects, transgenic crops may have fewer nontarget effects. The escape of transgenes into wild populations, via hybridization and introgression, could lead to increased weediness or to the invasion of new habitats by the wild population. In addition, native species with which the wild plant interacts (including herbivores, pathogens, and other plant species in the community) could be negatively affected by “transgenic-wild” plants. Conventional crop alleles have facilitated the evolution of increased weediness in several wild populations. Thus, some transgenes that allow plants to tolerate biotic and abiotic stress (e.g., insect resistance, drought tolerance) could have similar effects

Human-centred design of products and services for the circular economy – A Review

This paper aims to broaden the circular economy discussion by emphasizing the role of people. The paper combines core circular economy literature and user-centred design seed literature with illustrative case studies, to consider the positioning of design within a circular economy. The article observes that design is considered predominantly in positivist terms within a field dominated by management, engineering, ecological and environmental science literature. Conceptualizing the designer’s opportunity within the circular economy would benefit from integration of knowledge from the social sciences (sociology of consumption, consumer psychology, cultural studies, inter alia). The current orientation overlooks design as a ‘radical humanist’ paradigm and this has implications for how people are considered (from ‘users-as-subjects’ to ‘peopleas-participants’) raising ethical questions about design practice within divergent circular economy framings. The article lays a basis for further research and theory-building for a fuller conceptualization of the designer’s opportunity within the circular economy

Design as an agent for public policy innovation

Described as units developing public policies in a design-oriented manner, Policy Labs are tasked to innovate to gain in policy effectiveness and efficiency. However, as public policymaking is a context-dependent activity, the way in which these novel organisations operate significantly differs. This study discusses the emergence of design approaches for policy innovation. The purpose is to map how Policy Labs in Europe introduce design approaches at distinct stages of the policymaking cycle. For this study, 30 organisations in Europe operating at various levels of government were surveyed. Based on the public policymaking process model, it investigates which design methods are Policy Labs deploying to innovate public policies. The study exposed a gap in the awareness of the utilised methods' nature. It also showed that the use of design methods is of less importance than the introduction of design mindsets for public policy innovation, namely ‘user-centredness’, ‘co-creation’, and ‘exploration’.</div

Competing futures, precarious community: realism in post-war Britain

Discusses visual art in postwar Britain, in relation to contrasting and conflicting ideas respecting collective life and prospects for the future of society and the nation: as between the collectivist policies of the Attlee government and the Conservative project of a 'property-owning democracy; between the critical values of John Berger and those of Lawrence Alloway. Considers work by the film-maker John Krish and the artists Derrick Greaves, William Coldstream, Nigel Henderson, Francis Bacon, Leon Kossoff and Joan Eardley

Service Blueprint for Sustainable Business Model Evaluation

The adverse societal impacts caused by sharing mobility - a form of service-based sustainable business model innovations, showed that operation activities and managerial practices impact heavily on the sustainable value of a service offering. To identify how new service development (NSD) activities can better support the proposed service offering for sustainability, evaluating sustainability of service operations is needed. This study draws learnings from service design, product-service system and sustainable innovation research streams, to build sustainability evaluation framework into service blueprint. Six expert-interviews and two mobility case studies were developed, to illustrate service blueprint's capability in mapping sustainability input and benefits created during NSD and service operation activities. Results revealed a) the shift from using sustainable ‘value’ to ‘benefits’ concept in service operation evaluation, b) the public-private collaboration dilemma and c) the agile NSD and sustainable innovation incompatibility. This paper aims to offer a springboard for practitioners and researchers to uncover compelling insights, discuss latest service design developments, and envision future directions for integrating sustainability into service-based business model innovation.<br

Cold Plasma Technology in Food Packaging

Cold plasma (CP) is an effective strategy to alter the limitations of biopolymer materials for food packaging applications. Biopolymers such as polysaccharides and proteins are known to be sustainable materials with excellent film-forming properties. Bio-based films can be used as an alternative to traditional plastic packaging. There are limitations to biopolymer packaging materials such as hydrophobicity, poor barrier, and thermos-mechanical properties. For this reason, biopolymers must be modified to create a packaging material with the desired applicability. CP is an effective method to enhance the functionality and interfacial features of biopolymers. It etches the film surface allowing for better adhesion between various polymer layers while also improving ink printability. CP facilitates adhesion between two or more hydrophobic materials, resulting in significantly better water vapour permeability (WVP) properties. The sputtering of ionic species by CP results in cross-linkage reactions which improve the mechanical properties of films (tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (EAB)). Cross-linkage reactions are reported to be responsible for the improved thermal stability of CP-treated biopolymers. CP treatment is known to decrease oxygen permeability (OP) in protein-based biopolymers. CP can also enable the blending of polymers with specific antimicrobial substances to develop active packaging materials. In this review article, we have presented an overview of the recent advancements of CP in the food packaging application. Furthermore, the influence of CP on the properties of packaging materials, and recent advancements in the modification of polymeric food packaging materials have been discussed

Using design thinking to improve strategic decisions during collaborative sensemaking

Human cognitive limitations affect strategic decision-making. One of such effects is emergence of cognitive biases, deviations from rationality in judgment. These biases can negatively influence an organisation's capability to capture and utilize new ideas, thus inhibiting innovation. Researchers have documented different strategies for mitigating cognitive biases – and many of them overlap with the ones emphasised in design thinking. However, research so far does not offer any specific “recipes” for mitigation of cognitive biases. This paper links together research on challenges of strategic decision-making, cognitive biases and design thinking. The paper investigates the effects of applying design-thinking tool in collaborative sense-making stage, within a small business team, aiming to mitigate confirmation bias. The study indicated that newly introduced design-thinking tools did not have the expected positive influence on decision-making. The research contributes to the field by developing a new framework on how to identify and mitigate confirmation bias in strategic decision-making

Exploring articulations of design activism

Discussions on design activism generously embrace the activist ethos of designers, but are inconsistent in articulating how design activism makes a difference in relation to the various socially engaged design approaches generated. Committed to critically and transformationally engage with progressive socio-economic and political problems, the activist designer creates forms and situations within social processes. By mapping the fields of knowledge and concepts on which design activism draws, the paper attempts to bring an understanding of what informs Design Activism actions beyond the neoliberal paradigm. Drawing on the emerging discussions on design activism, the paper brings together articulations of design activism from scholars and design collectives to foreground the foundation for a more coherent understanding of design activism and a constructive dialogue within its community

Creating sustainable value through remanufacturing: Three industry cases

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Remanufacturing is proposed as a strategy to develop circular business models to manage resource loops in the future circular economy (CE). If remanufacturing is to occupy a central role in the CE it needs to be considered from a series of complementary and synchronous business activities. Thus, the aim of this article is to investigate how such an integrated perspective can drive sustainable value creation within the context of remanufacturing business models. This is explored through three business cases: Philips Healthcare Refurbished Systems, Siemens Wind Power, and Orangebox. This ‘integrated view’ considers remanufacturing activities according to: product design and development; remanufacturing processes; value chain design and management; and marketing and consumer/user relationship. The research question asks, ‘Can an integrated perspective drive sustainable value creation in remanufacturing contexts?’ To answer this, the research maps a set of triple-bottom-line indicators across the chosen cases. The work contributes to the field by mapping a set of business mechanisms (e.g. warranties, service approaches, partnerships) that can be utilised to co-develop necessary activities in unison for a successful remanufacturing approach. In certain cases, remanufacturing has the potential to add to the triple-bottom-line through such an integrated approach. However, each of the firms are investing in remanufacturing predominantly for profitability and market protection measures and therefore environmental and social components of the triple-bottom-line must be proactively considered