Exploring design trade-offs for achieving social inclusion in multi-tiered design problems

ABSTRACT

The digital age of the future is ‘not out there to be discovered’, but it needs to be ‘designed’. The design challenge has to address questions about how we want to live, work, and learn (as individuals and as communities) and what we value and appreciate, e.g.: reflecting on quality of life and creating inclusive societies. An overriding design trade-off for the digital age is whether new developments will increase the digital divide or will create more inclusive societies. Sustaining inclusive societies means allowing people of all ages and all abilities to exploit information technologies for personally meaningful activities. Meta-design fosters the design of socio-technical environments that end-user developers can modify and evolve at use time to improve their quality of life and favour their inclusion in the society. This paper describes three case studies in the domain of assistive technologies in which end users themselves cannot act as end-user developers, but someone else (e.g.: a caregiver or a clinician) must accept this role requiring multi-tiered architectures. The design trade-offs and requirements for meta-design identified in the context of the case studies and other researchers’ projects are described to inform the development of future socio-technical environments focused on social inclusion.     

土石坝工程运行期BIM与GIS融合管控平台研发

针对土石坝工程运行期海量监测数据异构、数据整合分析困难、管理效率低下等问题,提出以BIM与GIS融合应用为核心的解决方法,同时搭建运行期物联网感知体系,利用Socket技术,实现监测数据的实时传输。基于此,研发了土石坝工程运行期BIM与GIS融合管控平台,打通了多维业务数据与BIM模型的数据壁垒,实现了数据的对象级管理和整合分析,同时针对数字化移交、监测信息管理、安全分析预警等进行全方位三维可视化管控,促进了土石坝工程运行期的精益管理。实例应用结果表明,BIM与GIS融合管控平台解决了土石坝工程运行期管理过程中可视化程度低、数据信息整合困难的问题,为土石坝工程运行管控提供了一种新方法。     

ADSA Foundation Scholar Award: New frontiers in calf and heifer nutrition—From conception to puberty

Dairy calf nutrition is traditionally one of the most overlooked aspects of dairy management, despite its large effect on the efficiency and profitability of dairy operations. Unfortunately, among all animals on the dairy farm, calves suffer from the highest rates of morbidity and mortality. These challenges have catalyzed calf nutrition research over the past decade to mitigate high incidences of disease and death, and improve animal health, growth, welfare, and industry sustainability. However, major knowledge gaps remain in several crucial stages of development. The purpose of this review is to summarize the key concepts of nutritional physiology and programming from conception to puberty and their subsequent effects on development of the calf, and ultimately, future performance. During fetal development, developmental plasticity is highest. At this time, maternal energy and protein consumption can influence fetal development, likely playing a critical role in calf and heifer development and, importantly, future production. After birth, the calf's first meal of colostrum is crucial for the transfer of immunoglobulin to support calf health and survival. However, colostrum also contains numerous bioactive proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates that may play key roles in calf growth and health. Extending the delivery of these bioactive compounds to the calf through a gradual transition from colostrum to milk (i.e., extended colostrum or transition milk feeding) may confer benefits in the first days and weeks of life to prepare the calf for the preweaning period. Similarly, optimal nutrition during the preweaning period is vital. Preweaning calves are highly susceptible to health challenges, and improved calf growth and health can positively influence future milk production. Throughout the world, the majority of dairy calves rely on milk replacer to supply adequate nutrition. Recent research has started to re-evaluate traditional formulations of milk replacers, which can differ significantly in composition compared with whole milk. Transitioning from a milk-based diet to solid feed is critical in the development of mature ruminants. Delaying weaning age and providing long and gradual step-down protocols have become common to avoid production and health challenges. Yet, determining how to appropriately balance the amount of energy and protein supplied in both liquid and solid feeds based on preweaning milk allowances, and further acknowledging their interactions, shows great promise in improving growth and health during weaning. After weaning and during the onset of puberty, heifers are traditionally offered high-forage diets. However, recent work suggests that an early switch to a high-forage diet will depress intake and development during the time when solid feed efficiency is greatest. It has become increasingly clear that there are great opportunities to advance our knowledge of calf nutrition; yet, a more concentrated and rigorous approach to research that encompasses the long-term consequences of nutritional regimens at each stage of life is required to ensure the sustainability and efficiency of the global dairy industry.     

Core dimensions of food-related lifestyle: A new instrument for measuring food involvement,innovativeness and responsibility

Segmentation is crucial for targeting product development initiatives and marketing communication nationally as well as internationally. In this paper we use the Food Related Lifestyle instrument that has been applied in the food arena for many years as a ‘stepping stone’ to develop a contemporary, targeted and smaller version of the Food Related Lifestyle instrument, still following the original theoretical framework. In particular we focus on three dimensions that have proven to be of core value in segmentation: food involvement; food innovativeness; and, food responsibility. Based on data collection in six countries (DK, AU, HU, UK, USA and NZ) across two rounds from 2017 to 2019 (total N = 3396), we propose a new core instrument consisting of 15 items that have been tested for cross-cultural validity. Next, we used these three dimensions for segmentation across the six countries by applying multi-level latent class analysis. A solution leading to five different segments could be identified; the foodies, the moderates, the adventurous, the uninvolved and the conservatives. The segments were profiled by means of Schwartz’s ten value domains and measures of self-reported food-related behaviour to check for nomonological validity. We conclude that the 15 items were cross-culturally valid, could be used for segmentation across six countries, and that segment profiling by means of Schwartz values and behavioural items were in line with the theoretical background.     

我国聚丁二烯橡胶生产技术进展及市场分析

从生产工艺、新产品开发以及装置设备等方面概述了我国聚丁二烯橡胶生产技术的研究进展,并分析了我国聚丁二烯橡胶的市场情况。2019年我国聚丁二烯橡胶的生产能力为161.5万t/a,消费量为121.0万t,预计2024年消费量将达到约135.0万t。指出了我国聚丁二烯橡胶行业今后的发展趋势。     

铝型材挤压模具设计二次开发系统及模具优化发展

挤压成形是铝型材生产过程中的核心环节及主导技术，其模具结构和生产工艺在一定程度上都会影响铝型材的产品质量，本文主要介绍铝型材在挤压模具设计二次开发系统及利用数值模拟优化模具的技术发展，为铝型材挤压模具结构设计及优化提供参考。     

提高产品质量水平 推动企业转型升级

本文介绍了如何适应新形势下的国际国内环境,转变原有的发展模式,提高工业企业产品质量水平,增强竞争力。     

Urban livability in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods: The experience of the German program “socially integrative city”

This paper asks how the livability of socially disadvantaged urban neighborhoods can be improved with the help of publicly funded area-based urban regeneration. It builds on the history of area-based regeneration policies in Germany aiming at upgrading and resolving urban problems at the neighborhood level. Its main argument is as follows. First, the fate of conventional physical upgrading policies focusing on the livability of deprived urban areas depends on the development environment. While successful upgrading sometimes makes inner-city neighborhoods so attractive that they run into a trend towards gentrification and displacement of the urban poor, the stabilization of less privileged areas cannot always be guaranteed. Second, alternative approaches are needed, linking limited physical upgrading with socially oriented policies, building on strategies like neighborhood management and empowerment. Third, they can make a substantial contribution to stabilizing deprived neighborhoods, thereby improving the general living conditions and the opportunities of the urban poor. However, they require at least some permanent intervention. Thus, they transcend the logic of area-based regeneration normally limited to restoring faith into the private real estate market and thereby directing inward investment into them that improves the quality of the physical environment. Fourth, they are hardly able to overcome significant negative stigmatization in cities that are severely hit by economic downturn and population decline. This is especially true when they act as arrival areas for consecutive waves of migrants, making it necessary to redefine the role of those areas in cities and accepting their high concentration of urban problems as a starting point for different area-based policies dealing with them. The key empirical background of the paper is the German system of urban development grants and an evaluation of the so-called program of “socially integrative city”.     

Impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy on postnatal brain development: The potential role of glial cells

Glial cells are crucial for maintaining central nervous system (CNS) homeostasis. They actively participate in immune responses, as well as form functional barriers, such as blood-brain barrier (BBB), which restrict the entry of pathogens and inflammatory mediators into the CNS. In general, viral infections during the gestational period can alter the embryonic and fetal environment, and the related inflammatory response may affect neurodevelopment and lead to behavioral dysfunction during later stage of life, as highlighted by our group for Zika virus infection. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) induces a cytokine storm and, during pregnancy, may be related to a more severe form of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and also to higher preterm birth rates. SARS-CoV-2 can also affect the CNS by inducing neurochemical remodeling in neural cells, which can compromise neuronal plasticity and synaptic function. However, the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy on postnatal CNS, including brain development during childhood and adulthood, remains undetermined. Our group has recently highlighted the impact of COVID-19 on the expression of molecular markers associated with neuropsychiatric disorders, which are strongly related to the inflammatory response. Thus, based on these relationships, we discussed the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection either during pregnancy or in critical periods of neurodevelopment as a risk factor for neurological consequences in the offspring later in life, focusing on the potential role of glial cells. Thus, it is important to consider future and long-term public health concerns associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy.     

From organ-on-a-chip towards body-on-a-chip

Organ-on-a-chip technology aims to reproduce the key physiological features of human organs and tissues, even complex actions of multi-organ interaction. While organ-on-a-chips at single-organ level has made notable achievement during the last decade, multi-organ-on-a-chips, which manifests unique advantages, has started gathering attention only recently. In this viewpoint, we discuss the current status of organ-on-a-chip technology, with a specific emphasis on multi-organ-on-a-chip. Key technological advances contributing to the maturation of the field, and challenges that need to be addressed before wider adoption in relevant fields are discussed. We will share our perspectives on how the multi-organ-on-a-chip can improve the drug development process.