Visualising Plastic Ocean Pollution: Designing Waste Ontologies

It is challenging to comprehend the extent of oceanic plastic pollution because of the sea depth and currents. This PhD by practice in design uses marine scientific findings and data on plastic waste recycling extrapolation to support an argument that the oceans are the world's largest mismanaged landfill. As the sea's landfill is not visible, the research applied various approaches to making invisible plastic waste present. Through Higher Education (HE) action-based workshops, research participants were invited to experience ocean plastics in ways designed to challenge perceptions. The HE action-based research co-created an aesthetically positive waste response and new experiential values that re-shaped the thinking of participants. Through a co-design approach with design students, research created meaningful connections with long-lasting plastic resources and re-imagined plastic pollution as oceanic species. This PhD thesis research comprises a series of three practice-based projects. First, HE-based waste symposium engagements facilitate landfill dialogue and promote plastic reuse. Second, HE participatory workshops enabled the visualisation of oceanic plastic pollution through making installations. Third, the research explored plastic pollution using craft expositions and participated in a sailing expedition. The PhD interventions promoted positive change through hands-on reuse tactics with plastic packaging, raising environmental and oceanic landfill awareness, and acknowledging that this may not lead to changes in stakeholders' behaviour. Through the design agency-praxis, the research draws on recent works in speculative design formulating experiential design futures and design fictions. These PhD thesis contributions funnelled visual strategy insights from three practice-based interventions into two experiential scenarios - future-based climate fiction narratives. The first future scenario unpacked the responses of HE design workshop stakeholders and proposed informal global services and design-led packaging solutions. The second fiction scenario is a visionary post-anthropocentric future that visually re-imagined the planetary plastic pollution changes through intersections of research and praxis. This participatory research re-imagining with plastic waste and visualising the complexity of plastic pollution contributes further to knowledge relating to design research in three clustered domains. First, various HE learning tools for oceanic environmental awareness and waste reuse were developed. Second, the research designed an innovative methodology that expands praxis vocabulary and forms a new eco-centric compendium through workshop interventions and waste aesthetic approaches. Lastly, through practice-based participatory action and speculative agency, the research uniquely constructs a socio-material narrative with plastic things making new interdisciplinary connections and design relations to nature. The PhD promoted hands-on plastic reuse and new perceptions of plastic waste in HE design education, connecting to discard study, marine science and feminist thinking. A co-creation design approach raised transformative environmental awareness and promoted novel waste aesthetic and design language towards engaged relationships with plastic pollution

Transgressing plastic waste: designed disposal strategic scenarios

This research based paper proposes that London's current urban entanglement presents a unique opportunity to design collectively with plastic waste, co-creating new opportunities through the Designedisposal activist platform. As the strategic global node for organization of production, London's rubbish poses a particular challenge in managing 20 million tons per year. Although top-down Municipal Waste Management Strategies (MWMS) are gathering a momentum, only 48.5% of London's plastic ottle trash is recycled, and this proudly delivered statistic is a devastating reflection of Western Society's present and future landfill contribution. Over one million tons of mixed household plastic packaging is disposed of in the UK per annum, so the drive to develop socially sustainable options for mature waste management service is gaining a momentum. KraalD is a design and social narrative that revolves around the Designedisposal manifesto and promotes minimisation of London's future landfill. The Designedisposal asterism strives to incorporate design activism, craft making, exposition, co-workshop engagement and trash aesthetics; To facilitate rather than dictate, using the exhibition and installation as the platform. It argues that a changing relation to disposal is a changing relation to oneself. The aim is to co-design new values and induce social-emotional relations towards urban plastic waste, promoting discard ethos and ocean pollution awareness. Further, this ongoing practice led research is to re-perceive the Transformation by Designedisposal MRes Design theses, Goldsmiths, 2013; beyond the product design vocabulary, exploding the design advocacy framework within socio-cultural, environmental, ethical and critical discard practices and theories. This research paper suggests the notion of transgression, initially formulated by George Batteille as a flip- flop approach, continually crossing of boundaries for formulating everyday alternatives to socially normative notions of devalued waste. Therefore, a central question will explore: How can design practice advocacy lead to social partnership opportunities, reconnecting London's presently fragmented waste management services with local community of users and citizens

Seasonal and inter-seasonal RSV activity in the European Region during the COVID-19 pandemic from autumn 2020 to summer 2022

© 2023 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Background: The emergence of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in early 2020 and subsequent implementation of public health and social measures (PHSM) disrupted the epidemiology of respiratory viruses. This work describes the epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) observed during two winter seasons (weeks 40–20) and inter-seasonal periods (weeks 21–39) during the pandemic between October 2020 and September 2022. Methods: Using data submitted to The European Surveillance System (TESSy) by countries or territories in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region between weeks 40/2020 and 39/2022, we aggregated country-specific weekly RSV counts of sentinel, non-sentinel and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) surveillance specimens and calculated percentage positivity. Results for both 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons and inter-seasons were compared with pre-pandemic 2016/17 to 2019/20 seasons and inter-seasons. Results: Although more specimens were tested than in pre-COVID-19 pandemic seasons, very few RSV detections were reported during the 2020/21 season in all surveillance systems. During the 2021 inter-season, a gradual increase in detections was observed in all systems. In 2021/22, all systems saw early peaks of RSV infection, and during the 2022 inter-seasonal period, patterns of detections were closer to those seen before the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: RSV surveillance continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with an initial reduction in transmission, followed by very high and out-of-season RSV circulation (summer 2021) and then an early start of the 2021/22 season. As of the 2022/23 season, RSV circulation had not yet normalised.Peer reviewe

Design transposal workshop: visualising through the gyre

The workshop's primary objective is to visualize the future possibilities for ocean plastic de-pollution, using plastic disposal to co-create a 3D gyre installation. It will incorporate joyful activism, trash aesthetics and craft making.The workshop will be a participatory platform, facilitating rather than dictating. It proposes that a changing relation to disposal is a changing relation to oneself. The future aim of this ongoing design research is to co-create new discard values and induce community relation towards urban-ocean plastic waste on a small everyday scale. The process of making and visualizing will be initiated from the lantern fish's point of view and their mundane entanglement with gyre. Thus this workshop will attempt to socially narrate the quality of everyday life and global progress in more holistic terms than only the economic indicator of GDP or scientific marine data. When we transgress the surplus-driven consumer culture, taking the seemingly useless discarded plastic and transforming it into designed objects and 3D installations, we reveal how disposed materiality can contain a dimension for spaces of possibility, creating new values and even hope for global de-pollution

Street synergy: African re-tale in a global narrative

The narrative of retail design is a complex interweaving plot between place, consumer and product, which ultimately culminates in an entire fusion of experience, lifestyle and culture. In the South African context the Township Mall presents as a new symbol of aspiration in keeping with a growing middleclass. However globally there appears to be new trends to create multi sensorial and experiential retail spaces. The question is how this trend is manifesting in the Global and South African context? What design strategies are being explored that represent community and lifestyle? We propose that the answer to these questions lies in the fusion and incorporation of street culture within the more formal retail environments. The street represents an informal, liminal and to some extent marginalized retail space that is paradoxically the pivotal axis from which new and dynamic design can be re- invested into formal retail spaces. Inherent in African street culture is the concept of ubuntu or sense of community, which has implications for future design both locally and globally. This paper will therefore investigate these issues by examining both global and local examples and will also present student work that has a direct correlation to the issues discussed

Township metropolis: design for disposal

From an African perspective, this paper attempts to overview various socioeconomic survey data, which is used as an empirical tool for retail design process. With this in mind, the author's intention is to explore, from macro to micro level, the various examples of multilayered weave of the urban environment and tribal influence within the local township community. A socially conscious design approach was the primary focus, which can inspire and empower local individuals towards small scale co-production. The design motto was to integrate Nampak products in interior presenting innovative re-use of materials. This creates a dynamic interaction between retail space vs. rural/urbanized consumers and the enviro-social impact of products sold directly to public. The case study will be examined, focusing within the South African context on local trends which are emerging, influenced by growing middle class consumers. Is something dematerialized in this transition from informal street trade to formal retail space? Is this new mall in effect a true reflection of the cultural and lifestyle needs of the consumer, or is it merely a replication of global malls trends, satisfying only developers' needs as the final outcome? This paper serves to not only attempt to answer these questions, but to provide a platform for clarity in understanding the design process and their final outcomes, when focus is on a sense of community engagement, recycling and a prescribed low budget

COMBINING DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS AND ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS FOR EFFICIENT INLAND PORT SERVICES: CASE STUDY OF THE PORT DUNAV PANCEVO

This paper shows the process of decision making in order to choose the most efficient technology for dry bulk cargo handling at an inland port. The port operator's objective is to maximize the efficiency of cargo handling services, in order to primarily minimize total vessel time in the port. Proposed combinations of major and auxiliary handling equipment, vehicles, and corresponding labour, together with dry bulk cargo packing options are systematized into 16 variants defined by a survey from experts in the field. We proposed a three-step approach to select the most efficient among them. In the first step we used simulation to obtain performance indicators for each variant. In the second step, AHP is used to quantify qualitative data. Finally, the CCR DEA model and super-efficiency DEA modelare used to identify the most efficient variant(s)

Everolimus in Combination with Pemetrexed in Patients with Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Previously Treated with Chemotherapy A Phase I Study Using a Novel, Adaptive Bayesian Dose-Escalation Model

Introduction: Pemetrexed is an established second-line therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Everolimus has previously been shown to have some clinical activity when used as a single agent in NSCLC. The aim of this phase I study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of combining pemetrexed with everolimus in patients with NSCLC who had disease progression after one previous treatment. Methods: Patients with stage IIIb/IV NSCLC and one previous chemotherapy regimen were enrolled. A Bayesian dose-escalation model was used to determine the feasible doses of daily or weekly everolimus combined with pemetrexed (500 mg/m(2) q3w). The primary end point was rate of cycle 1 dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs). Secondary end points included safety, relative dose intensity of pemetrexed, pharmacokinetics, and tumor response. Results: Twenty-four patients received daily everolimus (2.5, 5, 7.5, or 10 mg) and 19 received weekly everolimus (30 or 50 mg) with pemetrexed. Cycle 1 DLTs in the daily regimen included febrile neutropenia, neutropenia, rash/pruritus, and thrombocytopenia; in the weekly regimen, DLTs included neutropenia and stomatitis. The most frequent grade 3/4 adverse events were neutropenia, dyspnea, and thrombocytopenia. Three partial responses were observed with everolimus 5 mg/d and two with 50 mg/wk. Pharmacokinetics did not suggest an influence of everolimus on pemetrexed parameters; pemetrexed resulted in a minor decrease in everolimus exposure with both daily and weekly regimens. Conclusions: Everolimus 5 mg/d or 50 mg/wk with the standard regimen of pemetrexed are feasible dosages in patients with stage IIIb/IV NSCLC

Attitudes and Opinions of Biomedical Students: Digital Education Questionnaire

(1) Background: the purpose of this study was a preliminary analysis of current methods of online teaching at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Republic of Serbia, in order to define the attitudes of biomedical students about education during the COVID-19 pandemic and to validate of the education medical questionnaire (eMedQ), a new tool for the assessment of the students’ perceptions about digital education. (2) Methods: this was a qualitative cross-sectional observational study that used the originally developed 45-item questionnaire (eMedQ) as an assessment instrument conducted on biomedical students (n = 209) of all study years at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac (Republic of Serbia), during winter semester or between September 2021 and January 2022. (3) Results: In this study, a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.904 was obtained, which indicated good internal consistency; the correlation matrix revealed many coefficients greater than 0.3, denoting high correlations between the items. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.866 and Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant (p < 0.001). The PCA revealed the presence of seven components with characteristic values over one, while three factors explained the highest percentage of variance. (4) Conclusions: this research developed and validated a new tool for evaluation of biomedical student perceptions about digital education