40,309 research outputs found

    ALIGNING DESIGN AND THE SOCIAL INNOVATION APPROACH

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    Based upon the experience of research and applications in social innovation, this article seeks to present, relate, and discuss experiments carried out in conjunction with social entrepreneurs, traditional communities, and the mariculture sector in Santa Catarina, Brazil. This study was carried out at the Design Management Nucleus of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, integrated with the graduate program in Design. Based upon the phenomenological method, which concerns itself with direct descriptions of experiences, and support from the theoretical references within this theme, it was possible to better comprehend the contribution of design in social innovation through a qualitative approach, exemplified in the three cases described above. Complementary to this, the use of direct observation techniques, interviews, accompanying activities, as well as photographic and video registries permitted a detailed description of each situation considered, which was represented by an individual in the case of social entrepreneurs who presented the action of reutilizing vegetable oil as fuel for maritime vehicles, as soap, and organic fertilizer. The traditional communities were represented by the Taboa action, which reunites a group of women located in Guarda do Embaú, SC, Brazil. The mariculture sector was represented with an association of mariculturers from the south of “Santa Catarina Island” (Ilha de Santa Catarina) called Amprosul, composed of 27 members. Social innovation may be defined as changes in the manner in which individuals or a community act in order to resolve its problems or create new opportunities. In this sense, design presents itself with an important role with respect to sustainability with its ability to design alternative solutions to be applied to a sustainable future. This is fortified further with the consideration that one of the auxiliary principles of design is to improve the quality of life of people and to promote well-being. Others are to look at social innovation, identify promising cases, utilize sensibility, capacity, and the abilities of the designer in order to design various artifacts, and to indicate new directions in technical innovation. The results of this study permit us to visualize design’s contribution in social innovation, referring as much to social processes of innovation as social interest innovation

    DESIGN APPLIED TO FAMILY AGRICULTURE AND AQUACULTURE BASED ON SOCIAL INNOVATION

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    The design has gradually been considered by people as an important element for organizations, reinforcing their identities and consequently their image perceived by the society. The design assumes the compromise of intermediate the communication process producer-consumer, aggregating and highlighting the value of the products, in order to create a concept that reflects and increments their main characteristics. In this context, we listed and discussed the basic dimensions of the proposed model, identifying their influences and connections in the sector of agriculture and of aquaculture. In the case of the model of 7I’s, it is possible to identify in the same context the need of opting for actions aimed to the integration of the areas as a way to ensure more comprehensive solutions, thus bringing in it innovations at different levels (basic incremental and radical, as well as the social innovations). Additionally there is an intervention process with proactive characteristics (preferentially) which may similarly potentialize the interaction of all involved at all levels, in an intelligent and articulated form. Besides, it generates a feedback process in an integral form. All this leads to the shaping of a systemic approach of the situation. Social innovation and integration can be achieved through the implementation of actions of design. In this article we present cases occurring in sectors of agriculture and family aquaculture, in which, through of a suggestion of applied design management, it was possible to check positive results. The partnerships established between the government, university and other copartners, as well as with the producers themselves, have been resulting in concrete and evident actions of improvement on weaknesses detected in the sectors being studied. With systematic and planned procedures of management and design, it was possible to transform some actualities, by having them measured, quantitatively at points of sale, and qualitatively based on perception of consumers/users

    Theoretical Approaches to HERA Physics

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    A review is presented of the different theoretical models proposed to approach consistently the interplay between soft and hard physics, that can now be studied experimentally at HERA for the first time.Comment: 14 page

    Foreground detection enhancement using Pearson correlation filtering

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    Foreground detection algorithms are commonly employed as an initial module in video processing pipelines for automated surveillance. The resulting masks produced by these algorithms are usually postprocessed in order to improve their quality. In this work, a postprocessing filter based on the Pearson correlation among the pixels in a neighborhood of the pixel at hand is proposed. The flow of information among pixels is controlled by the correlation that exists among them. This way, the filtering performance is enhanced with respect to some state of the art proposals, as demonstrated with a selection of benchmark videos.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

    Rheological behaviour of fruit and milk-based smoothies

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    Two of the most important food attributes for today´s fast-moving lifestyle are convenience and healthiness [1-2]. Fast-moving lifestyle specifically affects to elderly people, who are prone to bad-nutrition due to their dental status reducing the consumption of fruits and vegetables [3]. Smoothies are blended beverages, and good examples of convenient and healthy foods for helping to reduce this problem. So, they are gaining increasing market leverage in the beverage sector. Texture and rheological behaviour of foods can determine their acceptability. Therefore, added to nutritious features, smoothies must also account with outstanding mechanical properties. Stability of the products is also a main quality, which can be gained adding a small amount of stabiliser to beverage formulations. But, to avoid opposite effects, stabilisers addition should ameliorate the product texture.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech
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