Positive Design: A Positive Psychology Workout for Design Thinkers

Design Thinking is a creative process of innovation which is motivated by the empathic understanding of the person for whom the innovation is it intended to serve (i.e., the user). While the intention is to enhance the wellbeing of the user, it is likely that the process improves the wellbeing of those doing the innovating (i.e., the designer). While empirical research has yet to statistically test this hypothesis, evidence from positive psychology, the science of human thriving, provides insights into how this is possible. With the primary emphasis on the designer’s wellbeing, greater flourishing occurs within the design thinking process through the experience of positive emotions, deep engagement and opportunities for flow, rich relationships through radical collaboration, meaningful work by focusing on those whom are served (the user), and unique creative outcomes throughout the innovation process. By understanding these connections between wellbeing and design thinking, this paper also includes a Positive Psychology Workout Guide which outlines research-informed methods for achieving even greater human flourishing for those engaged in the design thinking process

Interplay between physical cleaning, membrane pore size and fluid rheology during the evolution of fouling in membrane bioreactors

[EN] Fouling is one of the most pressing limitations during operation of membrane bioreactors, as it increases operating costs and is the cause of short membrane lifespans. Conducting effective physical cleanings is thus essential for keeping membrane operation above viable performance limits. The nature of organic foulants present in the sludge and the membrane properties are among the most influential factors determining fouling development and thus, efficiency of fouling mitigation approaches. The role of other factors like sludge viscosity on fouling is still unclear, given that contradictory effects have been reported in the literature. In the present study we use a new research approach by which the complex interplay between fouling type, levels of permeate flux, membrane material and feed properties is analyzed, and the influence of these factors on critical flux and membrane permeability is evaluated. A variety of systems including activated sludge and model solutions with distinct rheological behavior has been investigated for two membranes differing in pore size distribution. We present a novel method for assessing the efficiency of fouling removal by backwash and compare it with the efficiency achieved by means of relaxation. Results obtained have proven that backwash delays development of critical fouling as compared with relaxation and reduces fouling irreversibility regardless of fluid rheology. It was shown that backwash is especially effective for membranes for which internal fouling is the main cause of loss in permeability. Nonetheless, we found out that for membranes with tight pores, both relaxation and backwash are equally effective. The critical flux decreases significantly for high-viscosity fluids, such as activated sludge. This effect is mainly caused by an intensified concentration polarization at the feed side rather than by internal fouling events. However, membrane permeability has been proven to rely more on the permeate viscosity than on the feed viscosity: poor rejection of organic fractions showcasing high viscosity causes an acute decline in membrane permeability as a consequence of increased shear stress inside the membrane pores. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.M.W. acknowledges the support through an Alexander-von-Humboldt Professorship. M.C. Marti-Calatayud acknowledges the support to Generalitat Valenciana through the funding APOSTD2017. M.C. Marti-Calatayud thanks the contributions of Sybille Hanisch, Sanchita Khandelwal and Sara Vivanco. This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the project BRAMAR (02WCL1334A). We thank Synder Filtration for the supplied membranesMartí Calatayud, MC.; Schneider, S.; Yüce, S.; Wessling, M. (2018). Interplay between physical cleaning, membrane pore size and fluid rheology during the evolution of fouling in membrane bioreactors. Water Research. 147:393-402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2018.10.017S39340214

On the rejection and reversibility of fouling in ultrafiltration as assessed by hydraulic impedance spectroscopy

[EN] The manifestation of critical fluxes in membrane filtration has typically served to set an upper value above which detrimental fouling events and a substantial increase of membrane resistance occurs. Despite the usefulness of critical flux concepts for conducting sustainable membrane processes, the specific phenomena causing them cannot be easily identified via conventional membrane filtration modes. Usually arbitrary fouling rates are selected to delimit the boundary between under- and over-critical flux operation. Timescales respective for colloidal matter accumulation are overlooked. Frequency response analysis of transmembrane pressures has been recently presented as a highly-sensitive method to track fouling in ultrafiltration. This hydraulic impedance spectroscopy method allows not only measuring membrane resistances but also corresponding time constants related to colloidal matter accumulation. In this work, hydraulic impedance spectra are gained for the ultrafiltration of different model foulants to assess the origin of critical fluxes for two different membranes. A correlation among characteristic impedance features and the type of fouling could be established: the evolution of phase shift between flux and pressure at increasing fluxes allows identifying the formation of external fouling layers, while registering of hysteresis loops at reversed frequency sequences signals the development of irreversible internal fouling. The hydraulic impedance method emerges as a precise and more sensitive monitoring tool to diagnose the beginning and nature of critical fouling.M.W. acknowledges the support through an Alexander-von-Humboldt Professorship. M.C. Marti-Calatayud is grateful for the funding received from the Generalitat Valenciana (APOSTD/2017/059). M.C. Marti-Calatayud also appreciates the helpful suggestions received by Tao Luo and Georg Linz, as well as the fruitful discussions with Sarah Armbruster. This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the project BRAMAR (02WCL1334A). We thank Synder Filtration for the supplied membranes.Martí Calatayud, MC.; Schneider, S.; Wessling, M. (2018). On the rejection and reversibility of fouling in ultrafiltration as assessed by hydraulic impedance spectroscopy. Journal of Membrane Science. 564:532-542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2018.07.021S53254256

ASTRO-2 Spacelab Instrument Pointing System mission performance

This paper reports the performance of the Instrument Pointing System (IPS) that flew on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ASTRO-2 Spacelab mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in March 1995. The IPS provides a stabilizing platform for the ASTRO-2 instrument payload complement that consists of three main experiments (telescopes). The telescopes observe stellar targets in the universe within the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that must be observed from beyond the earth's atmospheric filtering effects. The three main experiments for observation are the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), and the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimetry Experiment (WUPPE). The HUT uses spectroscopy to obtain the structure and chemical makeup of ultraviolet targets. UIT is responsible for wide field photographing to capture the hidden view of the ultraviolet universe. The WUPPE gathers data on the polarization of the ultraviolet electromagnetic energy coming from the astronomical targets. The capability of IPS enables the experiments to 'see' faint celestial objects. A brief explanation of the IPS is given followed by a review of engineering efforts to improve IPS performance over the ASTRO-1 mission. The main focus of improvements was on enhancing the star acquisition capability through improved guide star selection, lab simulations, computer upgrades, data display systems improvements, and software modifications. A star simulator was developed in the lab to enable IPS to be simulated on the ground pre-mission with flight hardware and software in the loop. The paper concludes with results from the ASTRO-2 mission. The number of targets acquired and the IPS pointing accuracy/stability is reported along with recommendations for the future use of the Instrument Pointing System

Repairing Family Law

Scholars in the burgeoning field of law and emotion have paid surprisingly little attention to family law. This gap is unfortunate because law and emotion has the potential to bring great insights to family law. This Article begins to fill this void, and inaugurate a larger debate about the central role of emotion in family law, by exploring the intriguing and significant consequences for the regulation of families that flow from a theory of intimacy first articulated by psychoanalytic theorist Melanie Klein. According to Klein, individuals love others, inevitably transgress against those they love out of hate and aggression, feel guilt about the transgression, and then seek to repair the damage. This Article argues that the legal process embodied in the substance, procedure, and practice of traditional family law is at odds with the human process of love, hate, guilt, and reparation. In contexts as far ranging as divorce, child welfare, and adoption, family law is predicated on a binary model of love and hate, with no accounting for guilt and the drive to reparation. This Love-Hate Model actively thwarts the cycle of intimacy, greatly diminishing the opportunity for repair in familial relationships. In short, reparation as a normative goal receives far too little attention in family law. Although several important reforms have begun to move family law away from the Love-Hate Model, these reforms are undertheorized and incomplete and sometimes actively challenged. An overarching theory is needed both to undergird current reforms and to encourage others, thus moving family law more fully in a reparative direction. To replace the prevailing Love-Hate Model, this Article proposes a Reparative Model of family law that would recognize the full cycle of emotions and facilitate the reparative drive. A Reparative Model would modify the substance of family law to recognize the ongoing relationships that often persist even after legal relationships are altered. It would reform the process of family law by de-emphasizing adversarial decisionmaking. And it would change the practice of family law by reconceiving the role of the family law attorney. Ultimately, the Reparative Model yields new perspectives on a range of theoretical and practical problems in contemporary family law, providing a framework for the law to account for the full, and complex, emotional reality of familial relationships

Dynamics of the spontaneous breakdown of superhydrophobicity

Drops deposited on rough and hydrophobic surfaces can stay suspended with gas pockets underneath the liquid, then showing very low hydrodynamic resistance. When this superhydrophobic state breaks down, the subsequent wetting process can show different dynamical properties. A suitable choice of the geometry can make the wetting front propagate in a stepwise manner leading to {\it square-shaped} wetted area: the front propagation is slow and the patterned surface fills by rows through a {\it zipping} mechanism. The multiple time scale scenario of this wetting process is experimentally characterized and compared to numerical simulations.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Bonobos and chimpanzees remember familiar conspecifics for decades

Funding: We are grateful to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) for core financial support to the RZSS Edinburgh Zoo’s Budongo Research Unit where this project was carried out.Recognition and memory of familiar conspecifics provides the foundation for complex sociality and is vital to navigating an unpredictable social world [Tibbetts and Dale, Trends Ecol. Evol. 22 , 529–537 (2007)]. Human social memory incorporates content about interactions and relationships and can last for decades [Sherry and Schacter, Psychol. Rev. 94 , 439–454 (1987)]. Long-term social memory likely played a key role throughout human evolution, as our ancestors increasingly built relationships that operated across distant space and time [Malone et al., Int. J. Primatol. 33 , 1251–1277 (2012)]. Although individual recognition is widespread among animals and sometimes lasts for years, little is known about social memory in nonhuman apes and the shared evolutionary foundations of human social memory. In a preferential-looking eye-tracking task, we presented chimpanzees and bonobos (N = 26) with side-by-side images of a previous groupmate and a conspecific stranger of the same sex. Apes’ attention was biased toward former groupmates, indicating long-term memory for past social partners. The strength of biases toward former groupmates was not impacted by the duration apart, and our results suggest that recognition may persist for at least 26 y beyond separation. We also found significant but weak evidence that, like humans, apes may remember the quality or content of these past relationships: apes’ looking biases were stronger for individuals with whom they had more positive histories of social interaction. Long-lasting social memory likely provided key foundations for the evolution of human culture and sociality as they extended across time, space, and group boundaries.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Use of the Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) Method as an Initial Estimator of Liquefaction Susceptibility in Greymouth, New Zealand

Combined analysis of the geomorphic evolution of Greymouth with Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) provides new insight into the geotechnical implications of reclamation work. The MASW method utilises the frequency dependent velocity (dispersion) of planar Rayleigh waves created by a seismic source as a way of assessing the stiffness of the subsurface material. The surface wave is inverted to calculate a shear wave velocity (Park et al., 1999). Once corrected, these shear-wave (Vs) velocities can be used to obtain a factor of safety for liquefaction susceptibility based on a design earthquake. The primary study site was the township of Greymouth, on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Greymouth is built on geologically young (Holocene-age) deposits of beach and river sands and gravels, and estuarine and lagoonal silts (Dowrick et al., 2004). Greymouth is also in a tectonically active region, with the high seismic hazard imposed by the Alpine Fault and other nearby faults, along with the age and type of sediment, mean the probability of liquefaction occurring is high particularly for the low-lying areas around the estuary and coastline. Repeated mapping over 150 years shows that the geomorphology of the Greymouth Township has been heavily modified during that timeframe, with both anthropogenic and natural processes developing the land into its current form. Identification of changes in the landscape was based on historical maps for the area and interpreting them to be either anthropogenic or natural changes, such as reclamation work or removal of material through natural events. This study focuses on the effect that anthropogenic and natural geomorphic processes have on the stiffness of subsurface material and its liquefaction susceptibility for three different design earthquake events. Areas of natural ground and areas of reclaimed land, with differing ages, were investigated through the use of the MASW method, allowing an initial estimation of the relationship between landscape modification and liquefaction susceptibility. The susceptibility to liquefaction of these different materials is important to critical infrastructure, such as the St. John Ambulance Building and Greymouth Aerodrome, which must remain functional following an earthquake. Areas of early reclamation at the Greymouth Aerodrome site have factors of safety less than 1 and will liquefy in most plausible earthquake scenarios, although the majority of the runway has a high factor of safety and should resist liquefaction. The land west of the St. John’s building has slightly to moderately positive factors of safety. Other areas have factors of safety that reflect the different geology and reclamation history