The Saxion University of Applied Sciences recently started its “Safety at Work” project. Its objective is to increase safety in the workplace by combining and applying state-of-the-art factors from Ambient Intelligence, Industrial & Product Design and Smart Materials [1].The human factor plays a significant role in safety. Safety is related to incidents happening to people who get injured or even die. 97% of the cases in which an injury occurs [2] concerns something that happens is within someone’s control. Many incidents at work are often the result of human behavior: how people interact with each other, and how people cope with risks and guidelines. Industrial environmentsneed to be organized in such a way that people behave safely in an automatic way and that safety becomes a habit. Encouraging safe behavior starts with safe products.However, in many cases this is not sufficient, and incidents still occur. Therefore, communication is often an effective medium that target people’s conscious mind. One cost-effective, asynchronous, and persistent way of communicating with people is through ICT. The approach to changing behavior through ICT is termed PersuasiveTechnology. We focus on ambient aspects of safety: influencing people in an invisible (unconscious) way so as to make industrial environments safer.Literature distinguishes between individual aspects of safety (attitudes, individual differences) on one end, and environmental aspects of safety (safety climate, supervision, work design) on the other end [3, 4]. Depending on several factors, like the safety culture of a company, type of workers, and management involvement, theseaspects contribute to safe behavior. Looking at these factors, we argue that a right mix of them contributes to improving safe behavior. Hence, our main research question is: In which ways can people in work environments be influenced to behave more safe, with the use of technology? This paper was written for and presented on the International Conference on Persuasive Technology in Sydney Australia, 3-5 April 2013.
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The Saxion University of Applied Sciences recently started the project “Safety atWork”. The objective of the project is to increase safety at the workplace by applyingand combining state of the art artifacts Ambient Intelligence, Industrial & ProductDesign and Smart Functional Materials [1].There is a human factor involved as well. Preliminary, safety is related to incidentshappening to persons who get injured or even die. In 97% of the cases where an injuryoccurs [2] that what happens is within someone’s control. Many incidents at work areoften the result of human behavior, how people interact with each other and howpeople cope with risks and guidelines. Industrial environments need to be organizedin such a way that people behave safely in an automatic way and that safety becomesa habit. Forcing safe behavior starts with safe products. However, in many cases thisis not sufficient, and incidents still occur. Therefore communication is often a moreeffective medium. One cost effective, asynchronous, and persisting way ofcommunicating to people is through ICT. The effort of changing behavior throughICT is called Persuasive Technology. In this paper we focus on ambient aspects ofsafety: influencing people in an invisible way to make industrial environments safer.Based on literature we work towards a model to systematically select measures toinfluence behavior to enhance safety. The model is a rudimentary framework still tobe filled out, which is the subject of our current research projects.
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Symbiotic Urban Agriculture Networks (SUANs) are a specific class of symbiotic networks that intend to close material and energy loops from cities and urban agriculture. Private and public stakeholders in SUANs face difficulties in the implementation of technological and organisational design interventions due to the complex nature of the agricultural and urban environment. Current research on the dynamics of symbiotic networks, especially Industrial Symbiosis (IS), is based on historical data from practice, and provides only partly for an understanding of symbiotic networks as a sociotechnical complex adaptive system. By adding theory and methodology from Design Science, participatory methods, and by using agent-based modelling as a tool, prescriptive knowledge is developed in the form of grounded and tested design rules for SUANs. In this paper, we propose a conceptual Design Science method with the aim to develop an empirically validated participatory agent-based modelling strategy that guides sociotechnical design interventions in SUANs. In addition, we present a research agenda for further strategy, design intervention, and model development through case studies regarding SUANs. The research agenda complements the existing analytical work by adding a necessary Design Science approach, which contributes to bridging the gap between IS dynamics theory and practical complex design issues.
Paper sludge contains papermaking mineral additives and fibers, which could be reused or recycled, thus enhancing the circularity. One of the promising technologies is the fast pyrolysis of paper sludge, which is capable of recovering > 99 wt.% of the fine minerals in the paper sludge and also affording a bio-liquid. The fine minerals (e.g., ‘circular’ CaCO3) can be reused as filler in consumer products thereby reducing the required primary resources. However, the bio-liquid has a lower quality compared to fossil fuels, and only a limited application, e.g., for heat generation, has been applied. This could be significantly improved by catalytic upgrading of the fast pyrolysis vapor, known as an ex-situ catalytic pyrolysis approach. We have recently found that a high-quality bio-oil (mainly ‘bio-based’ paraffins and low-molecular-weight aromatics, carbon yield of 21%, and HHV of 41.1 MJ kg-1) was produced (Chem. Eng. J., 420 (2021), 129714). Nevertheless, catalyst deactivation occurred after a few hours’ of reaction. As such, catalyst stability and regenerability are of research interest and also of high relevance for industrial implementation. This project aims to study the potential of the add-on catalytic upgrading step to the industrial fast pyrolysis of paper sludge process. One important performance metric for sustainable catalysis in the industry is the level of catalyst consumption (kgcat tprod-1) for catalytic pyrolysis of paper sludge. Another important research topic is to establish the correlation between yield and selectivity of the bio-chemicals and the catalyst characteristics. For this, different types of catalysts (e.g., FCC-type E-Cat) will be tested and several reaction-regeneration cycles will be performed. These studies will determine under which conditions catalytic fast pyrolysis of paper sludge is technically and economically viable.
