Integrating Repair into Product Design Education: Insights on Repair, Design and Sustainability

With the pressure of growing environmental problems, the world is changing, and so is the paradigm of design. Accordingly, the calls for change in design education are increasing throughout the literature day by day. As the designers of the future, students must be prepared for alternative scenarios. This paper provides insights into students’ learning outcomes and competencies related to repair and sustainability in the context of an assignment that integrates repair into design education. This assignment has been part of the master’s degree design course at Linköping University for the last 3 years. During these 3 years, 52 repair projects, including a diverse range of products, were developed. Aiming to find out the insights of this process, focus group sessions were conducted. As a result of these focus group sessions, 12 insights were developed, such as the concepts of brokenness, designed repair, and repair-worthy objects. Findings show that practices of repair constitute complex sites of learning, technical skill and knowledge which could enable novice designers to become competent in circular design. This paper is of value for design educators and researchers, especially those concerned with the repair and circular economy, as it can facilitate future attempts to further integrate circular strategies into design education

Sürdürülebilir tasarım için mutfakta kullanılan elektrikli küçük ev aletlerinin ürün ömrünün uzatılması : Ankara'daki teknik servislerle ürün bakımı ve onarımı üzerine bir araştırma

Growing environmental issues from global climate change, contamination and depletion of renewable and non-renewable resources to waste disposal have been resulted from unsustainable production and consumption patterns. Most of the mass-produced products are designed and produced for short lifespans without considering environmental and social effects. Since small kitchen appliances are lower priced compared to other household appliances, when a part of the product is broken, the whole product is disposed of even if most of the product parts still function well. Various strategies have been taken into account in the process of product design to incorporate sustainability criteria for product longevity such as design solutions tailored to local needs and preferences, product maintenance and repair, and product part replacement and reuse, etc. This thesis presented here introduces outcomes of a research and provides new insights into maintenance and repair of small kitchen appliances. To explore that interviews were conducted with authorized technical services and repairmen in Ankara. The conclusions from this research provide a substantial basis to better understand the problem areas for extending product lifespan such as product breakdown reasons, permanently attached product parts, planned obsolescence and technical obsolescence etc. The results suggest that maintenance and repair should be considered at the early stages of the design process.M.S. - Master of Scienc

Selection and framing of briefs for educational circular design projects

© 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.Purpose: This paper aims to present key characteristics of educational design briefs for the circular economy (CE) through the analysis of 11 design briefs focussing on real-life challenges related to sustainability and the CE, developed with collaborating industry partners for four consecutive circular design internships conducted in Ireland, Catalunya, The Netherlands and Sweden. Design/methodology/approach: These four internships were conducted between September 2017 and June 2019 and each internship lasted three to four months. The supervisors for each internship collaborated with local industry partners genuinely interested in adopting sustainable business practices to develop design briefs focussing on real-life challenges they face. The briefs for each internship were developed further according to the feedback of the interns, industry partners and supervisors of previous internships. Findings: Five steps of brief making for circular design were identified as reviewing the existing resources, emphasizing the importance of systems thinking, emphasizing the importance of collaboration for the CE, focussing on circularity and communicating expectations. The paper outlines how design briefs changed throughout the consecutive internships according to the different curricula and the characteristics of an educational circular design brief. Originality/value: For design educators and researchers, the value of this paper lies in presenting the steps for the brief making of educational circular design projects. Additionally, the characteristics of circular design briefs are outlined, discussing their focus and content to act as a guide for design educators

Selection and framing of briefs for educational circular design projects

Purpose: This paper aims to present key characteristics of educational design briefs for the circular economy (CE) through the analysis of 11 design briefs focussing on real-life challenges related to sustainability and the CE, developed with collaborating industry partners for four consecutive circular design internships conducted in Ireland, Catalunya, The Netherlands and Sweden. Design/methodology/approach: These four internships were conducted between September 2017 and June 2019 and each internship lasted three to four months. The supervisors for each internship collaborated with local industry partners genuinely interested in adopting sustainable business practices to develop design briefs focussing on real-life challenges they face. The briefs for each internship were developed further according to the feedback of the interns, industry partners and supervisors of previous internships. Findings: Five steps of brief making for circular design were identified as reviewing the existing resources, emphasizing the importance of systems thinking, emphasizing the importance of collaboration for the CE, focussing on circularity and communicating expectations. The paper outlines how design briefs changed throughout the consecutive internships according to the different curricula and the characteristics of an educational circular design brief. Originality/value: For design educators and researchers, the value of this paper lies in presenting the steps for the brief making of educational circular design projects. Additionally, the characteristics of circular design briefs are outlined, discussing their focus and content to act as a guide for design educators

Re-examining the characteristics of pediatric multiple sclerosis in the era of antibody-associated demyelinating syndromes.

Background: The discovery of anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-IgG and anti-aquaporin 4 (AQP4)-IgG and the observation on certain patients previously diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) actually have an antibody-mediated disease mandated re-evaluation of pediatric MS series. Aim: To describe the characteristics of recent pediatric MS cases by age groups and compare with the cohort established before 2015. Method: Data of pediatric MS patients diagnosed between 2015 and 2021 were collected from 44 pediatric neurology centers across Turkiye. Clinical and paraclinical features were compared between patients with dis-ease onset before 12 years (earlier onset) and >= 12 years (later onset) as well as between our current (2015-2021) and previous (< 2015) cohorts. Results: A total of 634 children (456 girls) were enrolled, 89 (14%) were of earlier onset. The earlier-onset group had lower female/male ratio, more frequent initial diagnosis of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), more frequent brainstem symptoms, longer interval between the first two attacks, less frequent spinal cord involvement on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and lower prevalence of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-restricted oligoclonal bands (OCBs). The earlier-onset group was less likely to respond to initial disease-modifying treatments. Compared to our previous cohort, the current series had fewer patients with onset < 12 years, initial presentation with ADEM-like features, brainstem or cerebellar symptoms, seizures, and spinal lesions on MRI. The female/male ratio, the frequency of sensorial symptoms, and CSF-restricted OCBs were higher than reported in our previous cohort. Conclusion: Pediatric MS starting before 12 years was less common than reported previously, likely due to exclusion of patients with antibody-mediated diseases. The results underline the importance of antibody testing and indicate pediatric MS may be a more homogeneous disorder and more similar to adult-onset MS than previously thought