Integrating Entrepreneurship into the Design Classroom: Case Studies from the Developing World

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Developing countries are more and more committed to building a knowledge-based economy as a means to diversify from their current resource-based economy. The current focus of many governments is on technology with real insights on creative economy and arts. In this context, universities are seen as a key partner of the government. This article presents the results of two innovative case studies of professors working in the College of Art and Design collaborating with a professor in the College of Business to integrate the concepts of entrepreneurship into their interior design courses. This was done through designing space for entrepreneurial projects and by the students acting as entrepreneurs themselves with an external client. This dual model of training combines (1) learning processes about the habits and the needs of entrepreneurs and (2) learning by acting as an entrepreneur. Such methods demonstrate the role of universities to provide a proper theoretical background for students and to foster entrepreneurial behaviors through arts entrepreneurship education. Furthermore, the central role of professors to introduce innovative teaching methods to combine entrepreneurship and the creative economy into non-business courses is an important finding in these case studies

PM10 size distribution of metals and environmental-sanitary risk analysis in the city of Torino

The mechanisms responsible for negative biological effects due to airborne particulate matter (PM) exposure are still being studied, however the interactions between metals and biologic systems seem to be of primary importance. The aim of the study was to estimate a healthy risk linked to exposure to airborne PM10 metals by means of an environmental-sanitary risk assessment. Metals PM10 size distribution analysis was carried out in a central site of Torino city – Italy, then the Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) and the Cancer Risk (CR) were applied, according to standard EPA methods. All sampled metals were present on the different PM10 fractions, however some metals were distributed in some specific fractions: ANOVA test shows Cr, Cu, Mo and Pb as differently distributed among the eight fractions, rising the hypothesis of potential effects in specific tracts of respiratory system. Regarding the risk assessment, in general the CR was higher for an adult than for a child, conversely the THQ resulted higher for a child. While the concentrations of all the sampled metals appeared to be under control, their presence in the different PM10 fractions and their THQ and CR provided indications related to the body districts potentially in contact with these substances

The study of electrochemically active planktonic microbes in microbial fuel cells in relation to different carbon-based anode materials

MFCs (Microbial fuel cells) are bio-electrochemical systems that convert chemical energy into electrical energy by utilizing electrochemically active bacteria.rt-qPCR (Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction) assays were used to identify the planktonic bacteria present in the production of electricity in MFCs. The relationship between the bacterial communities with different carbon-based anode materials, such as C-FELT (carbon felt), carbon felt with C-PANI (polyaniline) and C-SADDLES (carbon-coated Berl saddles), were investigated.The distribution of bacteria among the three different MFC anode materials was evaluated. Significant differences were observed for total bacteria (p < 0.01), Geobacter (p < 0.05) and Shewanella (p < 0.05). These differences were generally due to higher bacterial counts in the C-FELT anode MFC. Significant differences in maximum power density (p < 0.001) were also observed; the C-PANI MFC showed the highest maximum power density of 28.5 W/m3 when compared with the C-FELT (4.7 W/m3) and C-SADDLES (4.6 W/m3) MFCs. The greatest number of electrochemically active planktonic microbes was observed in the C-FELT MFC, whereas the C-PANI MFC had the optimum carbon-based anode material