Academic design research often fails to contribute to design practice. This dissertation explores how design research collaborations can provide knowledge that design professionals will use in practice. The research shows that design professionals are not addressed as an important audience between the many audiences of collaborative research projects. The research provides insight in the learning process by design professionals in design research collaborations and it identifies opportunities for even more learning. It shows that design professionals can learn about more than designing, but also about application domains or project organization.
Studenten opleiden tot professionals die kunnen leven en werken in de huidige complexe en diverse samenleving. Kunnen acteren met mensen van verschillende achtergronden en de verhoudingen in de wereld kennen. Wereldburgers opleiden die zelfbewust zijn en met een kritische en empathische blik naar de wereld om hen heen kijken. Zodat ze na hun opleiding professionals zijn die begrijpen dat onderwerpen door henzelf en anderen vanuit verschillende invalshoeken kunnen worden aangevlogen. En in staat zijn om oplossingen te vinden voor ingewikkelde vraagstukken. Dat is een leven lang leren! Aan die ontwikkeling draag jij als onderwijsprofessional, op jouw manier, bij. Maar, dat vraagt ook van jou om steeds meer te acteren op het snijvlak van de interne leeromgeving van school en een externe (leer)omgeving, waarbij het cocreëren met verschillende stakeholders steeds belangrijker wordt voor het slim vormgeven van leerprocessen. De afgelopen periode onderschrijft des te meer dat we in een sneltreinvaart toe bewegen naar het ‘nieuwe normaal’, waarbij van ons wordt verwacht om anders te werken én te denken. Ingesleten denk- en werkpatronen volstaan niet meer in onze internationale samenleving die steeds complexer en onvoorspelbaarder wordt. Je ontkomt pas aan die patronen door opnieuw te gaan denken, te leren afstand nemen van vooropgestelde ideeën over wat er zou moeten zijn en ontstane situaties als kansen voor ontwikkeling te zien. Juist in deze tijd is flexibilisering van het onderwijs en cocreatie hard nodig om bij te dragen aan het ‘nieuwe normaal’. Design Thinking is een gedachtegoed, aanpak en onderwijsmethodiek die hierbij kan helpen. Het is een manier om vanuit een mens-perspectief te kunnen vernieuwen. In deze Design Thinking ‘proeverij’ hebben we gepoogd onze ervaringen met Design Thinking in living labs voor business en management studenten te bundelen met ervaringen van anderen en theorie. Daarvoor hebben we ervaringen van andere hogeschooldocenten die Design Thinking reeds toepas sen in hun onderwijsomgevingen en een praktische vertaling van de theorie over Design Thinking & Doing gebruikt. Met als doel dat jij voor jezelf kunt gaan ontdekken of Design Thinking (& Doing) iets is voor jou, en voor jouw studenten. Wie weet, misschien ontdek je zelfs dat je al een onbewust, bekwame Design Thinker bent.
Introduction: Illness Perceptions (IPs) may play a role in the management of persistent low back pain. The mediation and/or moderation effect of IPs on primary outcomes in physiotherapy treatment is unknown. Methods: A multiple single-case experimental design, using a matched care physiotherapy intervention, with three phases (phases A-B-A’) was used including a 3 month follow up (phase A’). Primary outcomes: pain intensity, physical functioning and pain interference in daily life. Analyzes: linear mixed models, adjusted for fear of movement, catastrophizing, avoidance, sombreness and sleep. Results: Nine patients were included by six different primary care physiotherapists. Repeated measures on 196 data points showed that IPs Consequences, Personal control, Identity, Concern and Emotional response had a mediation effect on all three primary outcomes. The IP Personal control acted as a moderator for all primary outcomes, with clinically relevant improvements at 3 month follow up. Conclusion: Our study might indicate that some IPs have a mediating or a moderating effect on the outcome of a matched care physiotherapy treatment. Assessing Personal control at baseline, as a relevant moderator for the outcome prognosis of successful physiotherapy management of persistent low back pain, should be further eplored.
Size measurement plays an essential role for micro-/nanoparticle characterization and property evaluation. Due to high costs, complex operation or resolution limit, conventional characterization techniques cannot satisfy the growing demand of routine size measurements in various industry sectors and research departments, e.g., pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials and food industry etc. Together with start-up SeeNano and other partners, we will develop a portable compact device to measure particle size based on particle-impact electrochemical sensing technology. The main task in this project is to extend the measurement range for particles with diameters ranging from 20 nm to 20 um and to validate this technology with realistic samples from various application areas. In this project a new electrode chip will be designed and fabricated. It will result in a workable prototype including new UMEs (ultra-micro electrode), showing that particle sizing can be achieved on a compact portable device with full measuring range. Following experimental testing with calibrated particles, a reliable calibration model will be built up for full range measurement. In a further step, samples from partners or potential customers will be tested on the device to evaluate the application feasibility. The results will be validated by high-resolution and mainstream sizing techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Coulter counter.
Currently, many novel innovative materials and manufacturing methods are developed in order to help businesses for improving their performance, developing new products, and also implement more sustainability into their current processes. For this purpose, additive manufacturing (AM) technology has been very successful in the fabrication of complex shape products, that cannot be manufactured by conventional approaches, and also using novel high-performance materials with more sustainable aspects. The application of bioplastics and biopolymers is growing fast in the 3D printing industry. Since they are good alternatives to petrochemical products that have negative impacts on environments, therefore, many research studies have been exploring and developing new biopolymers and 3D printing techniques for the fabrication of fully biobased products. In particular, 3D printing of smart biopolymers has attracted much attention due to the specific functionalities of the fabricated products. They have a unique ability to recover their original shape from a significant plastic deformation when a particular stimulus, like temperature, is applied. Therefore, the application of smart biopolymers in the 3D printing process gives an additional dimension (time) to this technology, called four-dimensional (4D) printing, and it highlights the promise for further development of 4D printing in the design and fabrication of smart structures and products. This performance in combination with specific complex designs, such as sandwich structures, allows the production of for example impact-resistant, stress-absorber panels, lightweight products for sporting goods, automotive, or many other applications. In this study, an experimental approach will be applied to fabricate a suitable biopolymer with a shape memory behavior and also investigate the impact of design and operational parameters on the functionality of 4D printed sandwich structures, especially, stress absorption rate and shape recovery behavior.
An important line of research within the Center of Expertise HAN BioCentre is the development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as an animal testing replacement organism. In the context of this, us and our partners in the research line Elegant! (project number. 2014-01-07PRO) developed reliable test protocols, data analysis strategies and new technology, to determine the expected effects of exposure to specific substances using C. elegans. Two types of effects to be investigated were envisaged, namely: i) testing of possible toxicity of substances to humans; and ii) testing for potential health promotion of substances for humans. An important deliverable was to show that the observed effects in the nematode can indeed be translated into effects in humans. With regard to this aspect, partner Preventimed has conducted research in obesity patients during the past year into the effect of a specific cherry extract that was selected as promising on the basis of the study with C. elegans. This research is currently being completed and a scientific publication will have to be written. The Top Up grant is intended to support the publication of the findings from Elegant! and also to help design experimental protocols that enable students to become acquainted with alternative medical testing systems to reduce the use of laboratory animals during laboratory training.
