We Shape Our Tools, Then They Shape Us

The artifact is a set of ten cards entitled TED’s TEN, developed by the research group Textiles Environment Design (Chelsea College of Art and Design, UAL), a group of education and practice based design academics investigating sustainability in the textile and fashion industries. When used together, the cards can serve as practical guidelines to examine, survey and highlight the problem of sustainability and the role of designers in change and innovation. They present visual evidence of strategic thinking. Each card identifies a significant, critical area for attention in the lifecycle of the product and suggests a strategy for analysis and change; approach and resolution; consideration and action, acting as a tool to overcome the barriers to improvement. Developed with a focus on textiles and fashion, they have a potential role in generating strategic concepts for the design process generally. They offer a persuasive prototype from design research and are a research tool in themselves, whose relevance becomes clear when used to facilitate design workshops. The cards promote group workshop discussions in game-play and role-play formats. They are offered as a range of entry points for positive research-led engagement from the practical to the idealistic

Efficiency of encounter-controlled reaction between diffusing reactants in a finite lattice: topology and boundary effects

The role of dimensionality (Euclidean versus fractal), spatial extent, boundary effects and system topology on the efficiency of diffusion-reaction processes involving two simultaneously-diffusing reactants is analyzed. We present numerically-exact values for the mean time to reaction, as gauged by the mean walklength before reactive encounter, obtained via application of the theory of finite Markov processes, and via Monte Carlo simulation. As a general rule, we conclude that for sufficiently large systems, the efficiency of diffusion-reaction processes involving two synchronously diffusing reactants (two-walker case) relative to processes in which one reactant of a pair is anchored at some point in the reaction space (one walker plus trap case) is higher, and is enhanced the lower the dimensionality of the system. This differential efficiency becomes larger with increasing system size and, for periodic systems, its asymptotic value may depend on the parity of the lattice. Imposing confining boundaries on the system enhances the differential efficiency relative to the periodic case, while decreasing the absolute efficiencies of both two-walker and one walker plus trap processes. Analytic arguments are presented to provide a rationale for the results obtained. The insights afforded by the analysis to the design of heterogeneous catalyst systems are also discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, uses revtex4, accepted for publication in Physica

Design Lifetimes - A Manifesto for Strategic Change

This keynote presents a view of the current position of textile design from the perspective of the Textiles Environment Design (TED) research group, now part of the University's Textiles Futures Research Centre. Today’s textile design graduates are entering a professional landscape largely unchanged in structure since the middle of last century. The familiar systems for design creation, presentation and production have continued, although transformed by new technologies at almost every stage. However, in recent years, there has been a huge growth in awareness of the environmental, economic and social implications of production. What, how, where and why things are made is gradually becoming central in the minds of designers, manufacturers and citizens. Practical action that will bring about systemic change or in the interim, effect even ‘marginal gains’, is urgently needed. Therefore designers must devise prototypes, which not only continue to solve problems but confront the issues surrounding the lifecycle of products, new ecological thinking and developments in consumption. Over a period of fifteen years, researchers, practitioners and teachers at Chelsea have collaborated with the aim of developing sustainable textiles. Strategies for identifying innovative ways of designing more sustainable products enable designers to take on a dynamic role, which includes facilitation, activism and social engagement. THE TEN strategies are being used as a kind of infrastructure for us to reflect on the evolution of our research, on its potential impact in industry and on the education of designers. The dominance of consumerism and industrial profit must be challenged by innovation to overcome the ever-increasing ecological imperatives

A New Vegetarian Restaurant in Detroit, Michigan: A Site-Suitability Analysis

This research presents the utility of a Site Suitability Analysis to help determine the viability of a business venture in a particular location. Specifically, we present the results of a case study that focuses on the area immediately around Detroit, Michigan as providing a sufficient number of customers to warrant a new and sustainable vegetarian restaurant. Site Suitability Analysis provides a variety of statistical and analytical methods of analysis, which is commonly used in market research. This research presents the results of some of these methods, as applied to commonly-used datasets, and concludes that Site Suitability Analysis can provide valuable insight to consumer trends and potential spending patterns in a given area

Visual Attention in Remote Vehicle Supervision: Examining the Effects of Mental Models and Information Bandwidth

Advances in automation and aviation technologies have been catalysts for the emerging market of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), an ecosystem of novel aircraft concepts including package delivery drones and passenger carrying air-taxis. Future aircraft operators in this environment will be tasked with remotely supervising multiple highly automated aircraft on a visual interface while receiving less training than traditional pilots. More research should explore how an operator’s potentially limited understanding of an automated system affects visual performance and interactions between human operators and AAM technologies. This study examined the influence of mental models of an autopilot system on visual attention allocation for participants managing multiple vehicles in a low-fidelity AAM simulation environment. Fifty-five participants completed a series of multi-aircraft control scenarios after reading training slides with or without explicit information on the underlying functionality of an autopilot system (Advanced Mental Model or Basic Mental Model groups, respectively) with their eye movements recorded. The results indicated that the Advanced Mental Model group allocated significantly more visual attention to a supplemental data display than the Basic Mental Model group. Surprisingly, participants allocated more visual attention to the supplemental data display with low than high information bandwidth, which was opposite of the predicted effect. The results also indicated a significant interaction between expectancy and value parameters in the SEEV model, providing additional evidence in support of this theoretical debate. In practice, results from this study show that refining mental models through a simple training program could be an effective approach to alter AAM operators’ visual scan behaviors

Diversity of Squash Plant Floral Volatiles Mediating Beetle Attraction

Why do beetles like some squash flowers more than others? Flowers emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are integral for defensive and communicative plant abilities. Certain floral volatiles of squash plants have been known to attract pests like cucumber beetles, while others appear more immune. This study expands on the observation that some squash plants are more infested with pests than others. It aims to decipher which specific floral volatiles are influential in this phenomenon and reveal which squash varieties of Cucurbita maxima have higher/lower levels of these important floral volatiles

Safety through Permissibility: Shield Construction for Fast and Safe Reinforcement Learning

Designing Reinforcement Learning (RL) solutions for real-life problems remains a significant challenge. A major area of concern is safety. "Shielding" is a popular technique to enforce safety in RL by turning user-defined safety specifications into safe agent behavior. However, these methods either suffer from extreme learning delays, demand extensive human effort in designing models and safe domains in the problem, or require pre-computation. In this paper, we propose a new permissibility-based framework to deal with safety and shield construction. Permissibility was originally designed for eliminating (non-permissible) actions that will not lead to an optimal solution to improve RL training efficiency. This paper shows that safety can be naturally incorporated into this framework, i.e. extending permissibility to include safety, and thereby we can achieve both safety and improved efficiency. Experimental evaluation using three standard RL applications shows the effectiveness of the approach.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Fast-Forward: Proposals for a Light and Restorative Fashion Alternative

Futurescan 4: Valuing Practice, Post-conference proceedings. The increasing dominance of ‘fast fashion’ in the current commercial context, has resulted in a market full of products designed to be economically efficient in production. Clothing sales are increasing in volume and their lifespan is reducing (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017). The prevailing, and rightly accepted response to this issue is to focus on ‘slowing down the fashion system’. However, researchers here acknowledge that there may need to be an alternative for parts of the clothing market. Not all garment archetypes are suitable for long-life. The recent emergence of ‘fibre to fibre’ recycling technologies allows us to think of longevity in a different way; from a ‘material recovery’ perspective and not only through extending product life. The question becomes; can we make fast-fashion better, with lighter impacts on the environment? Can fast-recovery become a viable circular strategy for at least part of the fashion and clothing market? Can we achieve an overall reduction in ‘environmental cost per wear’, with new material and production models? This paper reflects on a practice-led and multidisciplinary project, within the Mistra Future Fashion programme (2011-2019), which tested new proposals for systemic change in the fashion market (Goldsworthy and Earley 2019). The design research task was both to challenge established understanding of best practice in sustainability and also to present alternative visions for consideration. Through the design of the project, the aim was to develop new ways to foster the deep collaboration needed to solve the complex problem of making fashion circular. A new wearable 'paper' was developed and other commercially available nonwoven materials reworked, as inexpensive twenty-first century fabrics with intentionally short lifespans, that can be effectively recycled or industrially composted. The materials were transformed through innovative finishing techniques and tested with scientific partners for strength, recyclability, compostability, environmental impacts and importantly, user acceptance

The TEN: A Tool for Narrative Prototypes

Contemporary textile production employs systems for design creation and consumption that were established early in the early 20th Century, while being transformed by new technologies at almost every stage. However, in recent years, there has been a huge growth in worldwide demand for fast fashion, which has had an ecological, economic and social impact upon production. What, how, where and why things are made is gradually becoming central in the minds of designers, manufacturers and citizens, as images of pollution, waste, worker exploitation and landfill are widely available. If the dominance of consumerism and industrial profit is to be challenged, design innovation needs to be employed to overcome the ever-increasing imperatives. Since ‘80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined at the design stage’,20 urgent practical action is needed to bring about systemic change, or to achieve even marginal gains. Practice-led research is confronting issues related to the whole lifecycle of textile products, including the non-traditional design areas of consumer use and disposal. The TED group of practice-based researchers has developed a set of TEN strategies for the design of more sustainable textiles, collectively known as he TEN: A Tool for Narrative Prototypes. These employ tactics that enable us to take on a dynamic design role, which includes facilitation, activism and social engagement. The strategies act as a practical map for designers to act in collaboration with industry, to navigate obstacles to the sustainable production, consumption and regeneration of textiles. Strategies one to five propose radical design ideas for the reduction of materials, energy, water and chemicals in both the production and use phase of the product lifecycle. his requires a change in manufacturing processes, to enable cyclability without compromising the aesthetic value or functional sophistication of textile structures. Technological innovations, systems of distributed or additive manufacture, co-design and consumer engagement are explored for their sustainable credentials. Strategies six and seven take models from natural and historical systems in a bid to facilitate enterprise within social groups. Strategies eight to ten reduce consumption through a design approach to dematerialisation, through services and systems of sharing or leasing

Circular Speeds: towards a new understanding of designing for fashion textile rhythms

During the first phase of the Mistra Future Fashion project researchers from the University of the Arts London identified a gap in knowledge. Although ‘lifecycle thinking’ has become a widely adopted and tested approach in academic and industry contexts, the dimension of ‘time’ or ‘speed’ was not fully resolved as a factor within existing guidelines for design. Thus ‘speed of cycle’ became the focus of the research as it moved into phase two. This paper represents the results of an academic review of the literature conducted during 2015-2016 in order to better understand the challenges this may bring to design and to prepare for an action research phase, including workshops held with participants in the UK, Sweden and USA, as well as the development of design research prototypes