bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A scarab beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) causes tree mortality, delayed growth, and yield reduction in cacao with genotype‐specific susceptibility to herbivory
Authors: Porcel Mario , Miranda Tatiana C. , Pisco‐Ortiz Carolina , Camargo Hebert , Moreno Jessica , Gutiérrez Yeisson
Published: December 2023

BACKGROUND

This study explored the impact ofLeucothyreus femoratus, a previously unreported folivorous pest in cacao cultivation, on cacao tree survival, development, and yield. The study was conducted in an experimental cacao plot in the Colombian plains, it featured 20 cacao genotypes in an agroforestry system, with plantain and Mexican sunflower providing temporary shade, and yopo offering permanent shade.

RESULTS

We found an infestation rate of 2.9 ± 0.3 adult beetles per cacao tree.L. femoratuslarvae were discovered in association with the roots of all plants within the agroforestry arrangement; however, yopo and plantain exhibited the highest incidence of root‐feeding larvae among these associated plants. Interestingly, male and femaleL. femoratusdisplayed distinct leaf consumption patterns in the laboratory, with females consuming more foliage relative to their body weight. Moreover, field observations highlighted the detrimental impact ofL. femoratusherbivory on cacao tree survival and growth, leading to leaf skeletonization, reduced plant height, and stem diameter. Trees with over 50% leaf consumption suffered more than 20% mortality. Additionally, herbivory negatively affected cacao yield, correlating higher leaf surface damage with a decrease in harvested pods. The study also identified varying antixenotic resistance in different cacao genotypes, with some consistently displaying resistance while others showed variable levels during tree establishment and production stages.

CONCLUSION

This research underscores the significant role ofL. femoratusas a cacao pest, emphasizing its adverse effects on cacao tree survival, development, and yield. Consequently, implementing effective control measures is vital for ensuring sustainable cacao cultivation. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.
Assisted reproductive technology in Japan: A summary report for 2021 by the Ethics Committee of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Authors: Katagiri Yukiko , Jwa Seung Chik , Kuwahara Akira , Iwasa Takeshi , On Masanori , Kato Keiichi , Kishi Hiroshi , Kuwabara Yoshimitsu , Taniguchi Fuminori , Harada Miyuki , Iwase Akira , Osuga Yutaka
Published: December 2023

Purpose

The Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) registry gathers comprehensive data from registered assisted reproductive technology (ART) facilities in Japan. Herein, we report 2021 ART cycle characteristics and outcomes.

Methods

Descriptive statistics were used to summarize and analyze 2021 data.

Results

In 2021, 625 ART facilities participated in the registry; 27 facilities did not conduct ART cycles and 598 registered treatment cycles. In total, 498 140 cycles were registered, and there were 69 797 neonates (increases of 10.7% and 15.5%, respectively, from the previous year). The number of freeze‐all in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles decreased in 2021; the number of neonates born was 2268 for IVF‐embryo transfer (ET) cycles and 2850 for ICSI cycles. Frozen–thawed ET (FET) cycles increased markedly from 2020 (11.2% increase). In 2021, 239 428 FET cycles were conducted, resulting in 87 174 pregnancies and 64 679 neonates. For fresh transfers, the total single ET, singleton pregnancy rate, and singleton live birth rates were 82.7%, 97.0%, and 97.3%; for FET, these rates were 84.9%, 96.9%, and 97.1%.

Conclusions

The 2021 Japanese ART registry analysis showed marked increases in both total treatment cycles and live births from the previous year.
Investigation on the influence of fiber fraction and orientation on the mechanical properties of fiber‐reinforced concrete slabs
Authors: Khan M. S. , Ibrahim S. M. , Shariq M.
Published: December 2023

The current work examines an experimental and numerical investigation into how steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) slab failure behavior is influenced by fiber orientation by pouring concrete in slab elements. Double‐ended hooked steel fibers with an aspect ratio of 50 were used in varying percentages by volume. Fresh and hardened properties of SFRC were determined based on slump flow, V‐funnel, L‐box, J‐ring test, compression, and flexure tests. The effects of different pouring/casting locations (center and corner), fiber orientation, and fiber content (0, 0.5%, and 1.0%) on the crack pattern of the SFRC slab were observed. While casting, the concrete was allowed to flow through a 30° chute angle to enhance the flowability of concrete. The SFRC slabs without fiber reinforcement undergo brittle failure without forming any prior micro cracks. Slabs with fibers experience ductile failure and show significant post‐cracking strength. The concrete's pouring position only affects the failure crack's inclination for the given workability. In the case of the corner cast slab, the crack was propagated from one edge to the opposite edge of the slab in a straight line and split into two halves. This crack pattern suggested that the fiber distribution was concentrated in half of the slab part in which the pouring corner was located. Adding 0.5% and 1.0% fiber content increased the load‐carrying capacity of slabs by 1.31 and 2.15 times, respectively. In addition to fiber content, the pouring position of concrete also made a difference in the load‐carrying capacity of slabs. The concrete pouring in the slab from the center position with 0.5% and 1.0% fiber content has 17.2% and 40% more load‐carrying capacity compared to the concrete poured in the slab from the corner position with the same fiber content. The deflection and load‐carrying capacity obtained through finite element modeling (FEM) fit the experimental results well.
Rapidly achieving clinical remission in ulcerative colitis indicates better endoscopic and histological outcomes
Authors: Chen Rirong , Tie Yizhe , Huang Yongle , Zhang Xi , Zeng Zhirong , Chen Minhu , Li Li , Zhang Shenghong
Published: December 2023

Background

Clinical remission (CR) is the principal short‐term treatment target in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). However, whether rapidly achieving CR indicates better outcomes remains unclear.

Objectives

We aimed to explore the associations between the timing of CR and therapeutic outcomes in UC.

Methods

This study included UC patients from the UNIFI trial. Week‐2 CR and time to CR were the major variables of interest. Endoscopic remission (ER) at week 52 was the primary outcome. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association between variables and outcomes.

Results

Week‐2 CR was associated with ER (aOR: 2.37 [95% CI: 1.28, 4.37], p = 0.006) and Histological remission (HR) (aOR: 2.87 [95% CI: 1.42, 5.72], p = 0.003) at week 52. Moreover, C‐reactive protein (CRP) remission could further stratify patients without CR and predict week‐52 outcomes. Patients with clinical activity + CRP remission (aOR: 0.49 [95% CI: 0.26, 0.93], p = 0.039) and clinical activity + CRP activity (aOR: 0.24 [95% CI: 0.11, 0.52], p < 0.001) had gradually decreased likelihood of achieving ER, when compared to those with CR. For time to CR, we found that the earlier to CR, the better endoscopic and histological outcomes patients would attain. Patients achieving CR at weeks 2, 4/8, 12/16 and >16 had gradually reduced proportions of ER (51.9% vs. 40.8% vs. 31.6% vs. 8.8%, p < 0.001) and HR (37.0% vs. 19.8% vs. 17.1% vs. 6.1%, p < 0.001) at week 52. Compared with week 2, achieving CR at weeks 4/8, 12/16 and >16 had 39%, 55% and 92% lower likelihoods of week‐52 ER, respectively.

Conclusions

Week‐2 CR indicates better outcomes in UC patients receiving ustekinumab. Moreover, achieving CR more rapidly is associated with higher probability of ER and HR.
Modeling dynamic stall of an airfoil with vortex generators using a double‐wake panel model with viscous–inviscid interaction
Authors: Yu Wei , Bajarūnas Lukas K. , Zanon Alessandro , Ferreira Carlos J. S.
Published: December 2023

Vortex generators (VGs) have been widely applied to wind turbines thanks to their potential to increase aerodynamic performance. Due to the complex inflow perceived by a rotor and the proneness to flow separation, VGs on wind turbines usually experience highly unsteady flow. While there are models that exist to simulate the steady effects of VGs, we lack a fast and efficient tool to model the unsteady performance of airfoils equipped with VGs. This paper adopts an unsteady double‐wake panel model with viscous–inviscid interaction developed to simulate a vertical axis turbine in dynamic stall, adding the capability of predicting the dynamic aerodynamic performance of VG‐equipped airfoils. The results of a series of steady and unsteady cases of an airfoil with different VG configurations in various pitch motions in free and forced transition are verified against experimental data. Results show that the double wake model offers results with sufficient accuracy compared with experimental data to claim the model's validity in a preliminary evaluation of an airfoil's capability to prevent stall with VGs. A few limitations, including the accuracy in prediction the transition location, separation, and reattachment, have been identified for future development.
Gender-Responsive Regional Fiscal Policies: The Labour Market
Authors: Culotta Fabrizio
Published: December 2023

The labour market allows individuals to earn a living throughout their lifetime. When it comes to gendered issues, the labour market is also an environment where different outcomes between female and male workers emerge. Differences between women and men naturally exist because of the biological characteristics related to sex differences. The possibilities of maternity and longevity are the most notable examples. Compared with men, women also have less physical power. In fact, the origin of the gender gap in the labour market goes back to the ‘male breadwinner’ model, typical of an industrial economy, in which women’s role was traditionally limited to homemaking activities (Fortin, 2005; Lewis et al., 2008). Physical skills are relevant to the labour supply for an industrial economy.
Reinstalling Thomas Hirschhorn’s Doppelgarage (2002): Bridging Gaps Between Theory, Practice and Emotion in the Preservation of Installation Artworks
Authors: Grün Maike
Published: December 2023

The focus of this chapter is the reinstallation of Thomas Hirschhorn’s room installation Doppelgarage (2002) in the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany, in 2016. Those responsible (curator and conservator) decided on a reconstruction using only conservation documentation—without the artist’s participation. This decision had several immediate consequences: the artist reacted adversely to it, while it also exposed an apparent contradiction in current conservation theory, including the risk of losing “knowing-how” (as distinct from “knowing-that”) about the reconstruction process, and led to unexpected changes in the roles of the actors involved. As the one who served as conservator managing the reconstruction in 2016, I use this opportunity to examine my actions and to embed them in the current theoretical discussion on conserving installation art. If the conservator’s feelings do not tend to be an object of professional contemplation, I explore and describe them here as indicators of potential problems in the reconstruction Hirschhorn’s work. Specifically, I argue that reflection on those issues contributes to bridging important gaps between theoretical frameworks of conservation and the methods selected for this project.
The Classical Liberal Ideas, Predicaments, and Potentials
Authors: Karlson Nils
Published: December 2023

In this chapter classical liberalism, and different liberal predicaments and potentials to fight back against populism, are explored. Liberals cannot resort to the same methods as the populists without abandoning liberalism itself. But the three dimensions of classical liberalism, about institutions, economics and society, and the liberal spirit reinforce each other and provide the potential for fighting back against populist threats.
Defend and Develop the Liberal Institutions
Authors: Karlson Nils
Published: December 2023

In this chapter a second group of counterstrategies against populism is presented. I argue that it is necessary to defend, develop and improve the liberal institutions and policies in today’s liberal democracies. These institutions need to be secured and given a better defense. The suggested counterstrategies include the improvement of liberal literacy; the securement of a strong, limited, and decent state; the support of federalism and decentralization; the stimulation of social mobility; the implementation of high-quality basic education; the strengthening of integration; and the restoration of public discourse.
Beyond the Beauty-Utility Diatribe
Authors: Di Stefano Elisabetta
Published: December 2023

The aesthetics of industrial objects has traditionally been framed by the diatribe opposing beauty and utility. Modernism has privileged a simple but functional aesthetic, following the motto “less is more”. In the second half of the twentieth century, new aesthetic categories emerged that enhanced playfulness, irony, and memory. At the turn of the century, industrial production faced the challenges of environmental sustainability: this is how ecodesign has come about. Originally quite a niche, this new trend is now practiced by many brands. Design today is geared towards natural fibres and recycled materials, reconciling beauty with the ethics of responsibility. Given these premises, this essay aims to outline a theoretical framework for the aesthetics of industrial objects, which goes beyond the useful Vs beautiful dialectics. In this regard, centre stage is taken by the notion of frugality. Already prominently featured by the sociological and anthropological debate, this notion is now also part of the architectural discourse (see the Manifesto for a Happy and Creative Frugality). As it combines beauty, health, and well-being, frugality provides an aesthetic-functional category, and it can notably provide a theoretical model for the production of sustainable objects and clothes. Nevertheless, the challenges faced by design in the ecological transition are broader. They concern in fact a different way of relating to the environment and designing lifestyles. In this regard, frugality can also become an ethical-aesthetic measure of life and a healthy way of inhabiting the world.
Telephones in Italy, the Italtel Study-Case
Authors: Chiesa Rosa
Published: December 2023

The primary objective of the narrative, which spans the 1960s and 1990s, is to verify the contribution of industrial design – through the objects it uses (telephone sets but also fittings) and in their implications of function, form and production [1] – as a lever both in the private market (which Italtel Telematica used) but also considering how, beyond the object, the investment was part of a broader strategy of expansion of the telecommunications sector in Italy. The telephone, an element of connection par excellence that accompanied the physical and immaterial transition from mechanical to electronic and digital technology, in its parallel evolution with the development of communications technology, turns out to be only a piece, albeit an emblematic one, an instrument of cultural and social representation that satisfies the functional, symbolic and communicative dictates of every era.

The essay therefore proposes a reinterpretation of the encounter between a fundamental player in Italy, Italtel – formerly Sit-Siemens (IRI) – with one of the nascent forces of the 1950s, industrial design, the new discipline that, in the years of the economic boom, promised through ‘good industrial product design’ the achievement of market success. The role of design as a catalyst for innovation and as one of the main drivers of Italian innovation in the Sit-Siemen and Italtel entrepreneurial venture is thus argued.
Design and Self-reproduction: A Theoretical-Political Perspective
Authors: Fransoni Alessio
Published: December 2023

Art, in the strictest sense, and industrial design, are associated with many other phenomena, activities, and objects in lists that constitute the field of visual studies. From this subsumption, the traditional hierarchical preeminence of pure or fine art over industrial design, and the corresponding disciplines that deal with them, seems to be reversed.

As the means of recording and disseminating images of everyday life have further developed – and the visual domain of private and social spheres has been able to disproportionately expand its audiences – a self-reproductive function has gained space over the merely utilitarian, aesthetic, or symbolic function, meant in a traditional sense. It is precisely for self-reproductive purposes that the privileged ‘prop’ is not a work of art but a product intended for use.

On this basis a design theory which takes this function into account can adopt a decisive task: it can offer a contribution to the delineation of a general political theory of visuality, that is completely different from a theory of the social use of images.

Coherently with these aspirations, this essay puts four different objects through an ‘extended’ analysis: a type of 6th-century Attic kylix, the cradle of Napoleon’s son (1811), a cardboard cot of the 60s, and a ring light used for selfies and vlogging.

The perspective unbarred by these broadened analyses is different than that which can be delineated on the basis of traditional classifications and forces a different set of questions the object needs to be asked.
Digital Objects’ Aesthetic Features. Virtuality and Fluid Materiality in the Aesthetic Education
Authors: Manera Lorenzo
Published: December 2023

The growing and ubiquitous presence of digital objects raises issues of interest from the points of view of both Aesthetics and interaction design. In fact, such issues concern the perceptual dimension that defines our relationship with digital objects, the reconfiguration of the sensitive experience that their development implies, their hybrid ontological status, and their possible role in developing innovative forms of aesthetic education combined with design thinking.

In the contemporary debate, digital objects are intended – on the one hand – as designed objects that incorporate and employ digital technologies [1–3].

On the other hand, they are interpreted as virtual bodies, interactive digital images that become a phenomenon of the binary representation of an algorithm which interacts with a user [4]. Within the former perspectives, digital objects display a quality that broadly belongs to technical devices, meaning their openness to forms of interactivity, and their sensitivity to contingency. In the latter, the features of intermediacy and virtuality are considered the defining characteristics of digital objects. The growing complexity of digital objects is, in fact, re-defining the relationship between materiality and distance, provenance and pertinence, suggesting an interactive conception of agency that allows forms of aesthetic experience in which imagination, sensibility and intuitions can be displayed within relational structures. By showing the results of a research project focused on digital materials and their transformation, which involved children aged 8 to 11 years old, this contribution aims to discuss the possible role that such objects can play in developing new forms of aesthetic education.
Objects, Things, Hyperobjects. A Philosophical Gaze on Contemporary Design
Authors: Scarpitti Chiara
Published: December 2023

Through an applied research project in the field of contemporary design, the essay identifies and illustrates the passage of three philosophical transitions: the idea of the object as a design project (Flusser, Sottsass, Mendini) – first transition -, crosses over to the realm of the thing (Heidegger, Bodei, Rigotti) – second transition – until it reaches the notion of the hyperobject (Harman, Morton), – third transition – involving human and non-human entities.

Through reclaiming for design the possibility of becoming a trigger for divergent thinking, the object acquires new human and dialogic qualities. The transition from the object-function to the object-thought [1] transforms the meaning of the product to the extent that it is no longer a passive element of dialogical discourse but rather the triggering actor of that same process of confrontation. In this perspective, the object transforms from an exclusive commodity with normal function into a thing full of meaning and expressive possibility. Such objects are connected to the individual and the intellectual relationship they establish. From a posthuman perspective (Braidotti), they are narrative subjects of a reflection increasingly striving for a pluriverse coexistence beyond humankind itself. (Haraway, Caffo).

The last transition, to the hyperobject, is illustrated through a design experience at the boundary between these three value transitions. The final hyperobjects designed have their primary meaning to interrogate and raise awareness around diverse relationships – with ecosystems, beyond the human – unhinging an outdated idea that sees the object forcibly relegated to the world of practical and tangible consumer commodity.
Liberating the Imprisoned Soul of Dorian Gray: Cultural Affordance as Design Tool to Rediscover Cultural Values
Authors: Sicklinger Andreas , Ajdari Alireza
Published: December 2023

Design needs to recognize cultural content as embedded values to trigger meanings beyond functionality; these values can be discovered and reinterpreted for the contemporary society. In this context affordance will be declined into cultural affordance as a concept and framework within which meanings could be better detected, resonated and understood. Some examples from Iran and Egypt are given to explain the theoretical framwork, while in the continuum some tools for detecting those meanings are introduced as well: interactivism, storytelling and reflective translation as intrinsic memory keepers of tradition and culture of a given context. The article aims to conclude with some manifestations which could shape the direction and scope such a concept. The scope of discussion is to go beyond a naming of mere heritage and assigning artistic value to them.
The Extraordinary Everyday. The Post-Crafts in the Historical City
Authors: Trapani Viviana
Published: December 2023

In the 1980s, Anna Maria Fundarò, founder of the Sicilian design school, carried out a study on the craft activities still active in Palermo’s historic centre, for reactivating a new and specialised material culture through design. Fundarò’s vision anticipated the concept of “design for the territory”, which is now widely applied in the design community, especially in relation to local contexts rich in traditional knowledge, non-formalised design. At the same time, since it is connected to new technical opportunities and sustainable strategies, artisanal and neo-artisanal production (newly supported by the digital manufacturing) is currently part of an innovative and evolutionary scenario regarding this discipline. Starting from a consideration about the renewed relationship between traditional productions and design, the paper focuses on the cultural and narrative processes of artefacts whose masters are craftsmen, still operating in certain urban historical environments; the paper emphasises the capacity for design to activate new and extraordinary meanings, through processes of deconstruction and re-contextualisation. In order to verify the relevance of Fundarò’s methodologies and lines of research, many work spaces, materials, techniques and products have been detected and surveyed; during this documentation process in the historic centre, today mainly devoted to tourism, many artisans have been interviewed, involving them and their artisan skills and know-how in the project itself. The experience was greatly affected by the outbreak of the pandemic and the heavy restrictions it entailed. Several of the on-going projects acquired a strong relational and storytelling connotation when exploring new domestic and autobiographical aspects.
Archives and Processes
Authors: Zanella Francesca
Published: December 2023

The discipline of design is today marked by a profound transformation of design processes and methods arising out of the comparison with scientific research methods (from biotechnologies to artificial intelligence), calling into question even the formal dimension of the object which has been the fundamental characteristic right from the origin of industrial product design. The conceptual and creative process benefits from this comparison, and also from an analysis of the system of objects and reference models. In this way, research, with the connection between different fields, and the relationship with the past, and therefore with the various repositories of artefacts and traces of experiences, represent two fundamental elements. As a result, it is important to enquire, both from a historical and operational perspective, into the role not only of collections but also of archives as tools, objects, spaces of collection, stratification and the exchange of traces, that is, of segments of the work of the designer, but also of the laboratory, and therefore closely connected with the process.

Within the conference processes section, therefore, it has been considered necessary to reflect on the role of the archive which, for the discipline of design, represents its origin, since, to different extents, it brings together and preserves the traces of processes and, thanks to the different structures and compositions of each archive, imposes a constant questioning of what is design; in this paper, such reflection will be made on a limited sample of specific ‘Personal Archives’ or ‘Personal Papers’, focusing on the 1970s, to highlight themes and methodological approaches.
Design Through Body Memory for the Regeneration of Urban Areas
Authors: Anzani Anna , Capitani Giulio , Guglielmi Eugenio
Published: December 2023

This contribution stems from a reflection developed in a field that lies between interior architecture and psychology and will touch on the relationship between memory on the one hand and perception, sensory experience, creativity, and the relationship between people and inhabited spaces on the other. Special attention will be devoted to the role of design in urban regeneration and its dialogue with the historic city. Lazzaretto Nuovo in Venice will be presented as a case study on which rearrangement concepts will be proposed, in the perspective of its possible reinterpretation through interior and spatial design.
How to Use Strategic Design Process to Address Complex Challenges
Authors: Carella Gianluca , Melazzini Michele , Zurlo Francesco
Published: December 2023

In recent years, new market rules have forced changes in how companies relate to their customers. It is necessary to create new solutions precisely adapted to customers’ needs. To do this, companies must expand their boundaries and adopt a transdisciplinary approach. In this panorama, the adoption of Strategic Designmeant as an approach to creating innovative product-service systems that characterize the company and its market positioning - appears fundamental and decisive. This paper deals with a practical case of application of the Strategic Design approach from a company operating in a non-traditional sector. The aim is to show the fundamental steps the company took in order to develop a new strategy thanks to the adoption of Strategic Design. As a result of adopting Strategic Design, the company created a new offer comprising a coherent and innovative product-system. This paper presents the positive implications emerged for the company from its adoption of Strategic Design.
Exhibiting Design as a Process
Authors: Bulegato Fiorella , Scotti Marco
Published: December 2023

This contribution explores the idea of exhibition formats, both physical and digital, dedicated to design and focused on narrating the experience of the design process. It begins in particular with the analysis of a selection of exhibition models to define the story of Italian industrial design – later simply “design” – as a process and not as an individual product, looking into museums such as the permanent collection of the ADI Design Museum in Milan, as well as opportunities for reconstructions or exhibitions beyond the confines of physical space which rely on the forms of digital archives. In this regard, the two selected case studies shed light on the possibilities offered by the combination of heritage digitisation and data interoperability technologies used to build archives. By making it possible to search a gigantic volume of information relative to materials that belong to different conservators – from institutions to individual users –, these solutions extend the possible construction of new and renewed storylines centred on reconstructing the design process. The cases studied here involve two recent research studies finalized towards two archives: the project to reconstitute the Ettore Sottsass Jr. Archive based on the materials conserved at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, conducted by the Università Iuav di Venezia in collaboration with Centro ARCHiVe, and the case dedicated to the Griffo typeface, which retrieves and expands the material preserved at the Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione.
Archival Projects. Tools and Methods for Promoting the Corporate Culture Starting from Historical Brand
Authors: Dellapiana Elena , Filippini Ali , Remondino Chiara L. , Tamborrini Paolo
Published: December 2023

In the contemporary informational/digital landscape, the attention dedicated to data analysis has necessarily place the accent on the impact they have on design process. We no longer speak only of formal design, but of its communication, or even more about the way in which this good will reach the final consumer. In this scenario, the need to manage the methodological/design process by virtuously involving both the material and immaterial aspects, connecting, evaluating and re-evaluating existing knowledge, research and business in the best possible way, is clearly evident.

The proposal intends to present and discuss the research “MaToSto - Communicating and promoting entrepreneurship starting from the historical brands of the territory” which has seen a precise methodological structure aimed at promoting and qualifying the heritage of the historic Turin brands, to define criteria, tools, and project outcomes aimed at their enhancement also from an entrepreneurial point of view.

From the set of 25.000 company trademarks, registered from 1927 to 1970 at the Turin Chamber of Commerce, the researchers started a project using the organizational, creative and visual tools typical of big data analysis, including: a quantitative research on defined product categories, the implementation of a processing method, data filtering and selection for visualization purposes, a taxonomic analysis on figurativity to hypothesize a classification based on tags useful for archival research, and – nevertheless – useful to drive impactful heritage marketing actions.
Imaginative Object and Mimetic Object
Authors: Mecacci Andrea
Published: December 2023

The mimetic and imaginative dimension of the object defines the very essence of objects and their use. Their interaction is seen in an exemplary way in that specific object with which every human being begins their relationship with reality: the toy. The aesthetics of the toy thus makes it possible to ascertain how mimesis and imagination cooperate and/or conflate in the constitution of the object. To investigate this dialectic, the essay examines Alma Siedhoff-Buscher’s toy Bauspiel: Ein Schiff in which imagination becomes the center of the child’s user experience. Leaning on a number of theoretical considerations on the toy, from Plato to Benjamin, the essay seeks to emphasize the aesthetics of toy as a space of creative freedom even in its opposition to the mimetic declination of the object understood as the adult’s ideological interference in the child’s world. Imagination, expressed in play, thus becomes the configuration of a possible world that, in Siedhoff-Buscher’s perspective, the mimetic object would seem, on the contrary, to deny.
Air as a Design Tool: Raw Material, Infra-material Space, and Transformative Matter
Authors: Ambrogio Francesca
Published: December 2023

The paper highlights some issues in relation to air and how it is used in different forms of project planning. Air, a protagonist to be explored in the multitude of possibilities it offers to design, is initially analysed as a primary element by determining its role within the strategic processes activated by nature. Secondly, defining it as a material having its own entities and specific autonomy capable of expanding and enriching contemporary design possibilities.

The goal is to define possibilities, potentialities and characteristics of air by investigating it through the use of three specific lenses: air as raw material; air as infra-material space –material among materials–; air as transformative matter –air that gives form–.

The methodology used presupposes a specific literature review and a critical analysis of case studies, in order to be able to cluster them into thematic areas useful for interpretive reconstruction.

From these premises, the interactions with air-related design are investigated through sensory perceptions. The path, steeped in suggestions, lays foundations for defining role and possibilities of air within design culture through the relationship between case studies, objectives, and the identified areas of intervention.
Evasion Design for the Novacene Era Design and Production of Cultural Imaginaries
Authors: Ciaramitaro Mario , Costa Pietro
Published: December 2023

In this paper we discuss the use of evasion design, an overlooked expression from Superstudio, as a tool for shaping the future and understanding the Novacene Era. We propose evasion design as a tool to orient RTD (Research Through Design) activities for future exploration in educational and business environments, where a team not only needs to understand what a future scenario might be, but also needs to create a public discussion around its inherent values. Evasion design is here presented and explained in its differences from speculative design, but also in its sharing qualities and purposes in expanding the design practice. The result is a framework that combines both the potential of an alternative visual-based imagery and a guiding conceptual approach in rethinking the narrative of the future. By hybridizing codified methodologies of speculative design and the approach of evasion design, the paper shows the results of several workshops, conducted at institutions and universities, where the hybrid process is implemented through a specific methodology.
Envisioning Technological Artefacts Through Anticipatory Scenarios and Diegetic Prototypes
Authors: Stepanovic Mila , Ferraro Venere
Published: December 2023

Facing global challenges and managing technological and scientific development require to imply critical reflection at all levels of transformation to create more thriving societies. This paper addresses the issues behind designing in complex societies. It introduces a novel approach to generate scenarios, envision, and contextualise the not-yet-existing technological artefacts through storytelling and prototyping, to anticipate the possible ethical and societal implications of technological development and mediations in social-human-environment-technology assemblages and interactions. The authors describe the critical approach with the Protocol for designing consciously and an Envisioning tool exploiting the Science Fiction (Sci-Fi) films as a trigger for critical discussion among the design researchers and practitioners. The Protocol and Envisioning tool aim at supporting the design researchers and practitioners adopt pluriversal perspectives and deal with the complexity, to deliver consciously designed artefacts. In this paper, authors show how the critical approach can be implemented in design and research projects and discuss the benefits and purposes of introducing such an approach in the current design research and practice.
Feeling Through Technology
Authors: Spence Jocelyn
Published: December 2023

This chapter aims to encapsulate the core elements of the keynote presentation on experience and interaction designs, primarily those using augmented reality, virtuality, or a mix of physical and digital elements. My interest is not in creating cutting-edge technology, but rather in seeing how people react, engage, think, move, and feel when they engage with designs by myself and colleagues.

The contribution I make is to use performance theories and practices in design, especially design for mixed reality experiences, so that I can bring specific tools to bear on the creation and analysis of those designs. ‘Performance’ can be the kind practiced by professionals. It can also be the behaviours of people who take on the role of audience member or bystander. It can also be ‘performance’ in the ways that people ‘perform’ their everyday lives.

Performance often aims to be thought-provoking, but (aside from Bertolt Brecht and those who use his politically minded Verfremdungseffekt) it virtually always aims for an emotional response through engagement with the aesthetic choices that have been made. This chapter provides a basic theoretical grounding and a specific example of how performance can lay out a richer design space for personally meaningful experiences.
Seaweed Fabrics for Fashion Design. A Field Research Experience
Authors: Franzo Paolo
Published: December 2023

The essay addresses the reasons why fashion design is manifesting an increasing interest in the marine environment as a context where to identify new materials for fashion, focusing on the particular case of seaweed. Through a field research, which involved MA fashion students at Università Iuav di Venezia, it is possible to demonstrate how an object such as seaweed fabric is not only a response to the need for new sustainable materials for fashion, but it is also interpretable through the framework of new materialism in a posthuman perspective. These fabrics, perceived as vibrant, represent a stimulus to redefine fashion design and its relations with environment, territories, people, and bodies. In the experimentation with seaweed, nature becomes raw material for constructing aesthetic and cultural imagery in a multispecies landscape.
Storytelling as a Tool to Design Museum Experiences: The Case of the Secret Marquise
Authors: Calvi Licia , Bargeman Bertine , Hover Moniek , van Waalwijk Juriaan , Strijbosch Wim , Mitas Ondrej
Published: December 2023

This article describes how the 4 period rooms of the city museum in the Dutch town of Bergen op Zoom were redesigned using storytelling and how this design has been received by visitors. For this redesign, rooms were reframed as sets of the story of Marie Anne van Arenberg, Marquise of Bergen op Zoom, and the objects as props to stage her story, which was full of secrets and of unexpected turning points. The visitor is enticed to discover cues to unlock these secrets in order to get a grip on her story while exploring the museum space. This is however not a treasure hunt, nor simply a game, but an exploration in which visitors are invited to discover and to create meaning and a journey into what matters to them. To this end, they have indeed to resort to their own frame of reference and to their personal life story in order to come to a narrative closure at the end of their visit. We used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to understand the visitors’ lived experience, both emotionally and sensorially at different moments and situations during the story-driven experience and to understand how the chosen design helps tell the story and how visitors use their personal context and frame of reference to make sense of it.
Open Communication Design A Teaching Experience Based on Anti-disciplinarity, Thinkering and Speculation
Authors: Guida Francesco E.
Published: December 2023

This paper aims to present and discuss how the teaching of visual identity and experience design in Communication Design education may be developed within a speculative design framework. By adopting this approach, students can experience the ethics of design practice and explore alternative design values, forms, and representations. They become familiar with design as a problem-seeking and problem-finding practice, which encourages the development of concepts, scenarios, and results without any predetermined function. Assuming an open approach to final results and learning more about a design field to be intended as an open context with blurred borders.

They base the project’s development on the principle of learning by doing, which consists of thinkering, making mistakes and repeatedly trying to improve the results and acquiring competencies and skills. This method pushes the students to experiment with visual expressions and user experiences between two and three dimensions. They could range among many techniques and technologies, from analog to digital ones. Consequently, each design had to be theoretically discussed and physically verified by making prototypes.

By defining a design process and discussing the implications of an anti-disciplinary approach, the aim is to inquire how such framing may destabilise conservative methods and consolidate new practices into Communication Design learning.
Accessible Experiences. Designing Synaesthetic Access to Culture
Authors: Riccò Dina
Published: December 2023

The experiences produced using environments, physical or cultural objects, change significantly in relation to the characteristics of the users, their skills and limits, as well as change in relation to the aesthetic preferences and the context of use, chosen according to the effectiveness and/or enjoyment of use.

This text intends to address the issue of accessibility to a cultural asset in a museum context [12, 13], to highlight how designing a variety of experiential ways, of experiences based on different sensory registers, leads to broadening its accessibility also to users who, by necessity or by choice, they require specific conditions of use.

The paper highlights and exemplifies – taking conventional cases and experiments conducted in the teaching of communication design – synaesthetic translations from the visual/figural to the auditory/verbal, and from the visual to the tactile applied to communicative artifacts, highlighting how the concept of translation – between sensory registers, between devices, between graphic formats – is the foundation of every experience that intends to be accessible.
Italian Cultural Institutions Across and Beyond Covid-19: Designing Digital Cultural Experiences in Extra-Ordinary Times
Authors: Bollati Ilaria , Morea Valeria , Antonucci Federica , Spanevello Marta
Published: December 2023

Covid-19 has accelerated the digital transformation of cultural institutions. They have tackled the temporary shutdowns of their spaces shaping digital cultural experiences, to go beyond their ‘walls’ and enter their audiences’ homes with the aim of fostering existing relationships or creating new ones. Focusing on Italy, this research poses the question: how has the pandemic changed the design of cultural experiences? The five case studies track the evolution of cultural experiences during the health emergency. The assumption is that the pandemic has shaped the supply side as much as the demand, generating possibilities and scenarios for cultural experiences that could coexist with traditional modes. The cases are selected and interpreted based on a survey conducted from July 2020 to January 2021. The results suggest that online and onsite cultural experiences are converging, with important implications for accessibility and inclusion.
Material Objects as Dispositive of Memory
Authors: Haidamous Toufic
Published: December 2023

This manuscript narrates a pedagogic experience in a Furniture Design course at the American University in the Emirates (AUE). Senior students enrolled in the Interior Design Program tackled a studio project which was about designing a piece of furniture inspired by a pavilion of their choice pertaining to Dubai World Expo 2020. The direct learning outcomes were assessed through technical drawings and three-dimensional printed physical models scaled one tenth proceeded by real scale prototypes of the chairs. The indirect outcomes are considering these material objects, the furniture items, as tools of memory, holding symbolic and cultural connotations. The design process would allow a space of reflection on contemporary practices and rethink prototypes as tools for analysis and research. Beyond functionality and aesthetics, objects become means of communicating personal findings, translating urban, architectural, cultural, and social attributes. This research will demonstrate through combined research strategies how products of the real and the imaginary give material form to memory.
Designer and AR Technology: The Relationships Between the User and Virtual
Authors: de Feo Antonio , Casarotto Luca
Published: December 2023

A good communication strategy of an artefact must connect a multitude of elements, both in terms of content and shape, and make them become a vehicle between the company and the consumer. The proposed contribution, resulting from the “Meta 4.0” research, suggests an exploration of innovative methodologies, tools and technologies to communicate and sell a product. In the context of the Industry 4.0 aims, the proposal is that technologies associated with the virtualisation of scenarios and products - augmented and virtual reality - can be useful tools and possibilities for achieving the required aim. In fact, the adoption of augmented and virtual reality technology in the context of communication would facilitate cognitive processing on the part of buyers, making them more interested in a product. The contribution explores the practice of vision through transformative technologies as a relational, cognitive and sensory expertise, attributing to the designer the role of interlocutor in the dimension of the visual imaginary in the duality between virtual and real. Therefore, designing the virtual in an incessant desire to find innovative experiential dimensions with the media, to make visible the centrality of the individual in the relationship between subject and transformative technology. The practice of vision refers to the actual conditions of viewing, including the social conditions of perception, which are the subject of anthropological research. The aim is to present the basis of a theorised language that defines possible intervention scenarios for the figure of the designer within the design of the intangible image.