Digital Commons Network^™

Playful Speculative Design: Crafting Preposterous Futures Through Playful Tension, Sofie Kinch, Jess Uhre Rahbek, Stine Behrendtzen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper explores the imaginative borderland of speculative design, often re-ferred to as 'preposterous futures,' and presents a framework for playful specula-tive design building upon carnivalesque play theory. To operationalize the framework, the concept of ‘playful tensions’ employs three continuums of rele-vance: Firstly, designers should address the ‘purpose’ by navigating the interplay between 'concern and provocation.’ Secondly, the ‘concept’ should be crafted to straddle the boundary between the 'serious and ridiculous,' and thirdly, integrat-ing both 'believable and absurd' elements to scaffold the ‘formgiving’ process. To demonstrate the practical efficacy of the framework, three projects by estab-lished artists and designers are …

Preferable, Contextual And Sustainable… Climate Futures For Ecological Citizens., Robert Phillips, Sharon Baurley, Emily Boxall, Luke Gooding, Daniel Knox, Charlotte Nordmoen, Alec Shepley, Tom Simmons, Sarah West, Joanna Wright

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The responsibility for sustainable futures extends beyond individual disciplines, necessitating the adoption of diverse approaches across various fields. Water pollution is at epidemic levels, valuable materials go to landfill, ocean detritus grows, many people are disconnected from green space, and biodiversity is plummeting. We need new modes of climate futures, championing citizen agency. Societies require cross-collaborative, inclusive approaches to navigate climate future challenges. We seek to foresee ‘climate futures’ that signpost challenges, unpicking (appropriate) opportunities, benefits, and pitfalls. Through an Ecological Citizenship lens, the authors traverse situations, through preferable futures. It is an entry point for transition design, creating climate …

Show Me What You Mean: The Case For Easy-To-Use 3d Visualizations Of The Built Environment, Noelyn Stephens, Juan Salamanca

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Visual communication, particularly realistic visualization, has been found to be effective for facilitating constructive discussion on issues related to the built environment. Here, we make the case that a browser-based, intuitively designed 3D visualization interface could widen access to such approaches increasing opportunities for co-creation. Using this type of easy-to-access tool could allow community members to own the process of creating a shared vision for their city.

Expanding Participatory Design: Reflections On Current Epistemological Framework In Dark Time, Zi Yang, Kin Wai Michael Siu, Xinzhe Zhao

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Participatory design is a quintessential representation of human-centeredness. The recent climate crisis and threats to survival have pushed designers to consider the well-being of non-human entities. Many designers have already attempted to incorporate non-human entities (including animals, forests, and rivers) into the design process. They have strived to refine and readjust design thinking and practice within the participatory design framework. However, most practices resemble the 'pseudo-participation' of human subjective imagination. This study raises ethical and ontological epistemological issues based on Latour's profound philosophical insights. Specifically, in the case of non-human entities participating in our future becoming, how will the role …

Cultural Product Design Concept Generation With Symbolic Semantic Information Expression Using Gpt, Yang Yin, Shiying Ding, Xiyuan Zhang, Chenan Wang, Xinyu Li, Ruiyi Cai, Yuancong Shou, Yiwu Qiu, Chunlei Chai

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Products imbued with traditional cultural semantic information hold significance in commerce, culture, and the dissemination of information. However, the integration of implicit cultural semantics into the design process of cultural products poses a significant challenge. Key issues include the inaccurate expression of implicit semantics and the inadequacy of semantic information retrieval and inspi-ration. Therefore, we adopt a datadriven approach to achieve symbolic semantic expression in generating and inspiring design concepts for cultural products. In this paper, we utilize the generative pretrained transformer (GPT-3.5) as the base language model (PLM). By analyzing semantic information features in layers and mapping, we identify …

Co-Design Of A Loneliness Monitoring System With Older People And Stakeholders, Freya Probst, Wei Liu

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Loneliness in later life has been associated with frailty and earlier mortality. Sensor-based monitoring systems aim to help identify and prevent more severe forms of social isolation and loneliness at old age. The technological development requires an understanding how to reach acceptance and usefulness of the proposed technology in the wider system by involving those it affects. In this co-design study, we engage people that experienced loneliness after the age of 65 and stakeholders to collaboratively design a loneliness monitoring system that is embedded in wearables and smart home furniture. Such involvement will help inform the technology design at early …

Generosity In More-Than-Human Design, Karey Helms

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Generosity in more-than-human design suggests an openness to change in grappling with human exceptionalism and nonhuman entanglements. Yet the risks of generosity in design practice are largely unarticulated, and it is unclear how designers might practically encounter and navigate them. In response, I first position generosity within feminist theory as an open dispossession and material exchange that is pre-reflective and asymmetrical. This articulation accounts for nonhuman organisms, objects, and agencies as inseparable from what it means to be a person. I then present three design cases that situate generosity in design practice. This includes specifying the relations explored, presence of …

Transitions To Multispecies Futures In The Design Classroom, İdil Gaziulusoy, Eeva Berglund

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Sustainability Transitions and Futures is a mandatory course of the Creative Sus-tainability master’s program in the Department of Design of Aalto University de-livered jointly by the co-authors. It aims to provide a basic understanding of how sustainability transitions projects unfold in practice and the ways through which designers can contribute to these projects as part of interdisciplinary teams. For two consecutive years, we focused on multispecies sustainability. We have pro-vided the students with the necessary theoretical and critical lenses through a curated selection of guest lectures from fields including law, philosophy, urban ecology and planning. For the practical part, the …

‘Does Phosphorus Want To Sound Like That?’: Experiencing More-Than-Human Futures, Anton Poikolainen Rosén, Camillo Sanchez, Felix Anand Epp

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The paper explores the learning possible from including the public in explora-tions of more-than-human future visions. We presented an installation at a de-sign festival of a speculative scenario that emerged from ethnographic research with urban permaculture farmers, using sounds to represent concentrations of nutrients in soil. We studied how visitors wearing a sensor ring experienced the playing of these sounds upon insertion of a finger in the installation’s soil. Re-sponses underscore the importance of cultivating the skill of noticing through deep listening, alongside the profound connection thus established between humans and the more-than-human world. In a further contribution to more-than-human …

Relational Workshopping: Co-Designing A Placemaking Approach To Urban Governance, Milagros Hurtig, Brita Fladvad Nielsen

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Participatory Placemaking is increasingly implemented by European cities as a methodological framework to achieve more sustainable ways for urban development. However, there is a clash between the flexible, dynamic, and communicative nature of participatory placemaking and the static, slow, and bureaucratic nature of the implementing institutions. The starting point of this study where two research questions: What communicational challenges arise when participatory placemaking is implemented by city officials in specific urban contexts? And how can design tools play a role contributing to the relational dynamics of placemaking? This article explores these, while simultaneously discussing the role design tools can play …

Indicators For Evaluating Service Design Inclusivity In The Healthcare Sector: A Review Of The Literature, Marco Petazzoni, Sabrina Bresciani

DRS Biennial Conference Series

To foster a culture of inclusive care and patients-centred solutions in the healthcare sector, being able to assess the inclusivity of services is an essential step for enhancing the design and improvement of services. What are the key indicators of inclusive service design in the healthcare sector? Based on insights from the field of the built environment, a thematic analysis of the literature on service design in the context of healthcare, psychology, and public service design is conducted. Indicators extracted from the literature are structured into four categories: physical, sensorial, cognitive, and psycho-social, and according to two phases: service design …

Story Seeds: Creating Interactive Narratives For Visitors Of Outdoor Heritage Sites, Saad Ahmed Maqbool, Debbie Maxwell

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The lack of interpretation when considering the outdoor cultural heritage sites has the potential to limit the engagement and educational potential of these sites, as well as presenting a missed opportunity for visitor engagement. We pre-sent an approach that explores the development of interactive stories specific to users that documents their journey through a physical site via a tangible artefact – The Abbot’s Book. We describe the Research through Design process, which in-cluded interviews with Museum and Heritage experts, and the creation of two design prototypes that acted as probes to explore the potential to provoke emo-tional, empathetic relationships with …

Becoming Microbes: An Approach To Cultivating Microbial Sensibilities In Biodesign, Jiho Kim, Raphael Kim, Joana Martins, Elvin Karana

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Microbes assume an indispensable role in design, given their inherent adaptability, functional diversity, and abundance. Yet, designing with microbes presents notable challenges for biodesigners, stemming from, for example, the distinct temporalities and scales of microbes. Conversely, cultivating microbial sensibilities—reflecting human comprehension and alignment with the distinctive characteristics of microbes—stands out as a unique potential of biodesign for fostering a deep connection between humans and other living entities. In response, we present the concept of “becoming microbes”, a philosophically grounded approach advocating for a non-anthropocentric stance in biodesign, aiming at immersing biodesigners in the realms of microbes with a fresh perspective …

Power Signifiers: The Subtle Forms Of Power In Design Practice With Marginalized Craft Communities, Seher Tabasum Mirza

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper discusses how craft practice may offer empowerment strategies for critically reflective spaces, that allow for social transformation, using the case of traditional textile communities of women in rural Pakistan where development opportunities are limited. It uses the reflective practice of its design researcher, to explore established power relations, and search for new dialogues that build meaningful relationships for creating new forms of power in interrelated social, development and design contexts. This practice-based discussion contends with the embedded layers of power arising from social constructs and those extending beyond. A combined methodology, ‘Power Signifiers’ is presented as a critically …

Embodied Experience Of Exoskeletons, Emese Papp-Schmitt, Christian Wölfel, Jens Krzywinski

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The significance of occupational exoskeletons is increasing, offering relief and improving well-being for physically demanding tasks. Existing adoption frame-works reveal crucial factors for development (like wearing comfort and task fit) and implementation (such as familiarization time and organizational perspective). How-ever, physical aspects are addressed primarily through ergonomics. As exoskeleton technology inherently involves the body, the user's perception and experience are tied to bodily experiences. Further research is needed to understand the human-exo-skeleton interaction comprehensively and explore how the user experience unfolds and how the exoskeleton's and user's characteristics influence each other. Our con-tribution, a conceptual framework leveraging established frameworks of …

Designing Temporal Ecologies: Reframing Multispecies Temporalities Through Design, Larissa Pschetz, Maike Gebker, Susanne Wieland, Michelle Bastian

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In Western industrialised societies, the times of humans and of other species are often considered as belonging to different realms. While human life is regarded as progressive and accelerated, other species are seen as following cyclical, slow changing timescales. These narratives neglect the multiple interconnections between human and other-than-human times and contribute to increasing temporal mismatches across species, with consequences for environmental and biodiversity loss. In this paper, we use design examples generated through an interdisciplinary workshop to discuss opportunities for design to expand notions of time in more-than-human ecologies. Drawing from the Temporal Design framework and the notion of …

Mapping The Evolution Of Design Research: A Data-Driven Analysis Of Interdisciplinary Trends And Intellectual Landscape, Andrea Vian, Gianluca Carella, Daniele Pretolesi, Annalisa Barla, Francesco Zurlo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Due to its interdisciplinary nature, research in design, more so than other disciplines, has to develop self-awareness to adapt to the inherent complexity of the contemporary world. This requires the use of big data as comprehensive self-descriptors, along with tools borrowed from the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate knowledge that researchers in this field can integrate with their own expertise to guide their research activities. We consider a large-scale set of about 170000 design-related scientific publications and leverage natural language processing, machine learning, and data visualization to explore and capture the evolution of the design community. We identify …

Polymer-Based Terbium Complex As A Fluorescent Probe For Cancer Antigen 125 Detection: A Promising Tool For Early Diagnosis Of Ovarian Cancer, Ekram Hany Mohamed, Magda Mohamed, Esraa El Shahat, Mohamed Attia, Hisham Gamal, Akram Eldidamony

Pharmacy

A novel photoprobe, Tb-acetylacetone (Tb-ACAC) doped within a modified epoxy cellulose polymer immobilized with CA-125 monoclonal antibody, offers an accurate and highly selective method for early ovarian cancer (OC) diagnosis by detecting cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) in serum samples. This approach leverages quenching of the Tb-ACAC luminescence upon binding to CA-125. Characterization of the photoprobe film through UV-vis and fluorescence measurements confirmed the presence of Tb-ACAC within the polymer matrix. In aqueous solution (pH 6.8, λex = 365 nm), the characteristic emission band of Tb-ACAC at λem = 546.2 nm exhibited significant quenching upon CA-125 binding. This quenching effect enabled …

Transformative Pathways: Implementing Intercultural Competence Development In Higher Education Using Kotter’S Change Model, Owura Kuffuor, Sakhi Aggrawal, Aparajita Jaiswal, Ronald J. Smith, Pamela V. Morris

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

This study explores the efficacy of Kotter’s eight-step change model in fostering intercultural competence among faculty and staff within a large Midwestern public university. Recognizing the need for intercultural development in higher education, this research applies a structured change framework coupled with the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) assessment tool to guide the change process. The development of intercultural competence among faculty and staff is crucial for creating inclusive learning environments, as they play a pivotal role in modeling intercultural competence and fostering students’ skills necessary to navigate an increasingly diverse and interconnected world. This study employs an instrumental case study …

Editorial: Microorganisms In Polar Regions: Understanding Their Survival Strategies For A Sustainable Future, Trista Vick-Majors, Shiv Mohan Singh, Prashant Kumar Singh

Michigan Tech Publications

No abstract provided.

In Their Own Words: Lgbtqia Plus Stigma In Secondary School, Erin Stevenson, Greg Sandman

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

LGBTQIA+ youth often face stigma from society as they develop their personal identities. In the United States, legislation has recently been focusing on reducing protections in schools for queer youth and limiting access to resources like gender affirming healthcare. Youth have increasingly been targeted for identifying as queer and have experienced verbal and physical violence for expressing their gender identities. Research links stigmatization with increased mental health and substance use problems. However, there is limited information on how stigma experienced during adolescence may continue to impact young adults over time. Using a qualitative retrospective framework, LGBTQIA+-identified undergraduates (N = 8) …

Board 125: Work In Progress: Faculty Experiences And Learning Through Oral-Assessment Implementation In Engineering Courses, Minju Kim, Carolyn L. Sandoval, Josephine Relaford-Doyle, Torus Washington Ii, Saharnaz Baghdadchi, Nathan Delson, Marko Lubarda, Alex M. Phan, Curt Schurgers, Huihui Qi

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

This WIP qualitative research paper explores faculty experiences with implementing oral exams in high-enrollment undergraduate engineering courses at a research university. With a primary goal to improve conceptual mastery, as well as a desire to ensure academic integrity in the sudden move to remote instruction at the height of the pandemic, a group of faculty in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering departments implemented oral assessments in their own engineering courses across several quarters. They formed a research group with educational developers in a teaching and learning center on campus, and investigated the impact of oral assessments …

Black Holes In Time: The Effect Of Grid Radiation On The Tumor Immune Microenvironment, Rebecca A. Bekker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tumor-immune interactions shape a developing tumor and its tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) resulting in either well-infiltrated, immunologically inflamed ‘hot’ tumor beds, or ‘cold’ immune deserts with low levels of infiltration. The pre-treatment immune state of the TIME is associated with treatment outcome; immunologically hot tumors generally exhibit better responses to radio- and immunotherapy than cold tumors. However, radiotherapy is known to induce opposing immunological consequences, resulting in both immunostimulatory and inhibitory responses. In fact, it is thought that the radiation induced tumoricidal immune response is curtailed by subsequent applications of radiation. Thus, I hypothesize that spatially fractionated radiotherapy (SFRT), administered …

Agenda (Pdf), Department Of Orthopaedic Surgery

Dept. of Orthopaedics: Robert D. D’Ambrosia Lectureship & Research Day

No abstract provided.

Event Booklet (Pdf), Department Of Orthopaedic Surgery

Dept. of Orthopaedics: Robert D. D’Ambrosia Lectureship & Research Day

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Infant Exposure To Antidepressants Through Breastfeeding: A Literature Review Of Currently Available Approaches, Leah Arbitman, Shirley Chen, Brian Kim, Melinda Lee, Peng Zou, Bennett Doughty, Yanyan Li, Tao Zhang

Pharmacy Faculty Scholarship

Despite the prevalence of depression in lactating mothers, there is a lack of knowledge about the excretion of antidepressants into breast milk and its potential adverse effects on infants. This creates concern, making depressed lactating mothers more likely to avoid pharmacological treatment. Clinical lactation studies are the most accurate and direct method to predict and demonstrate the excretion of antidepressants into human breast milk, and results from clinical studies can be included in drug labels to help physicians and patients make decisions on antidepressant use during lactation. However, there are limited clinical trials and studies on the pharmacokinetics of antidepressants …

Age, Sex And Alzheimer's Disease: A Longitudinal Study Of 3xtg-Ad Mice Reveals Sex-Specific Disease Trajectories And Inflammatory Responses Mirrored In Postmortem Brains From Alzheimer's Patients., Alicia J Barber, Carmen L Del Genio, Anna Beth Swain, Elizabeth M Pizzi, Sarah C Watson, Vedant N Tapiavala, George J Zanazzi, Arti B Gaur

Faculty Research 2024

BACKGROUND: Aging and sex are major risk factors for developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Compared to men, women experience worse neuropathological burden and cognitive decline despite living longer with the disease. Similarly, male 3xTg-AD mice, developed to model Alzheimer's disease, no longer consistently exhibit standard Alzheimer's neuropathology yet experience higher rates of mortality - providing a unique opportunity to further elucidate this dichotomy. We hypothesized that sex differences in the biological aging process yield distinct pathological and molecular Alzheimer's disease signatures in males and females, which could be harnessed for therapeutic and biomarker development.

METHODS: We aged male and female, 3xTg-AD …

‘The Overheated World’: Crisis Politics And Neoliberal Inertia, Shomik Chakrabarti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers were forced to balance the maintenance of ongoing economic activity alongside the measures advised by epidemiologists and other public health officials to contain the viral spread. The magnitude of the pandemic forced major conduits of the global economy to come to a sudden halt through incidents such as border closures, supply chain disruptions, lockdowns and calls for individuals to distance themselves from one another. Like the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, COVID-19 was thought to signal an inflection point for neoliberal political economy where a possible post-neoliberal era would develop in the aftermath …

“So Much Happens Between Those Two Spaces ”: Focalization And Parent-Child Relationships In The Moth Keeper And The Magic Fish, Sarah Delmaramo

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis identifies and examines how parent-child relationships are established within contexts of power and visually depicted in graphic novels. Establishing parent-child relationships through mutually reciprocal care is significant as a phenomenon because of the difference between the way parent-child relationships operate between the beginnings and ends of texts. The relationship change implies a problem with the relationship in the beginning which is rectified through reciprocal care. Amy Mullin describes the change as an acknowledgment that the other person in the relationship is a whole and unique individual separate from an assumption of unconditional love. Rather than viewing parent-child relationships …

Market Virtues And Respect For Human Dignity, Luís C. Calderón Gómez, Robert Talisse, John A. Weymark

Book Chapters

Luigino Bruni and Robert Sugden have provided a normative defense of markets from a virtue ethics perspective. They interpret market exchange as being a practice in the sense of Alasdair MacIntyre. For Bruni and Sugden, the telos of a market is mutual benefit and a market virtue is a character trait or disposition that contributes to the realization of this benefit. They regard market virtues as embodying a moral attitude towards market interactions that is characterized by reciprocity. For MacIntyre, this is a partial account of a virtue. To qualify as a virtue, it is also necessary that it contributes …