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Designing for timber circularity: Potential challenges and approaches from the lens of two educational design/build projects
No full textTo transition to a Circular Economy, architecture schools are incorporating Design for Circularity (DfC) into their curricula. Integrating circularity into full-scale Design/Build prototypes helps students connect sustainable design theory with practice and application of concepts. This paper examines the gap between circular design intentions and real-world barriers, focusing on DfC with wood in two educational projects. The first, in Belgium, follows a “design from reuse” approach using short-length reclaimed sawn-timber to create a small-scale canopy structure. The second, in the USA, adopts a “design for reuse” approach, using plywood to develop a reusable kit-of-parts. In the analyzed cases, the non-standard nature of DfC requires a holistic life-cycle perspective, presenting challenges in material sourcing and quality assessment, significant variability in sizes and condition, and uncertainty regarding mechanical properties. Furthermore, utilizing frequently smaller reclaimed timber elements increases the number of connections, requiring original solutions. These issues complicate architectural design, structural calculation, and permitting and influenced the design and construction in both cases. An analysis of successful DfC cases shows parallels with lessons learned, identifying common barriers and suggesting solutions. Using reclaimed wood for structural purposes requires thorough planning for transportation, storage, regrading, and reprocessing. Design flexibility is critical to accommodate dimensional variability and mechanical downgrading. When designing for reuse, adequate fabrication tolerances and well-designed connections are key to ensuring structural integrity and easy disassembly. Increased educational projects can build a robust knowledge base, leading to currently lacking standardized procedures and streamlining DfC practices in architecture, engineering, and construction industries. This paper enhances understanding of DfC with wood and Design/Build education by identifying barriers, opportunities, and methods to improve education and training, aiming for a more sustainable built environment.This study was funded by VLAIO, the Flemish Agency for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship, NextGenerationEU fund of the
European Commission, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural
Research Service (USDA-ARS, N. 58-0204-2-143), and by the 2023
UO Sustainable City Year Program.
R. Passarelli, P. Winkels and E. Knapen would
like to acknowledge the students of the 23-24 Postgraduate certificate
Building Beyond Borders of Hasselt University and the others members
of the staff team, Nicolas Coeckelberghs, Liesbeth Huybrechts,
John Silvertand, and Jasper Van der Linden. The project was supported
by the Municipality Houthalen-Helchteren, De Werkvennootschap,
Friends of the Pastorie and Deholi and funded by Faculty of Architecture
and Arts of Hasselt University and The Living Lab Circular
Economy “Application of Earth Blocks in Practice” (http:// www. livin
glabe arthb locks. be), funded by VLAIO, the Flemish Agency for Innovation
and Entrepreneurship, and the NextGenerationEU fund of the
European Commission.
M. Riggio and N. Cheng would like to acknowledge all the students
of the Fall 2023 Timber Tectonics in the Digital Age class and teaching
assistants, Alireza Yari and Grayson Wright. Their effort was partially
supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural
Research Service (USDA-ARS), Agreement N. 58-0204-2-
143, and by the 2023 UO Sustainable City Year Program. Roseburg
Forest Products donated materials to build the demonstration project.
TallWood Design Institute and Tom Coates assisted with the CNC
fabrication and installation
Challenges and opportunities for falls prevention: an online survey across European healthcare professionals
No full textPurposeTo explore the challenges and opportunities for the implementation of falls preventive services across Europe.MethodsAn online cross-sectional survey among healthcare professionals was initiated by the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) Special Interest Group on Falls and Fractures containing a Likert scale and multiple-choice questions on education and knowledge, current practices, barriers, and facilitators for falls prevention. Survey participation for healthcare professionals was encouraged by the EuGMS through an email invitation, website banner, and social media. National representatives from 24 countries further promoted it via societies, local networks, and hospital channels.ResultsA total of 1669 multidisciplinary healthcare professionals participated from 34 European countries (median 47 years; 75% female; 40.6% physicians (73.3% geriatricians/trainees), 36% physiotherapists, 23.4% other healthcare professionals). Only 26.9% believed their undergraduate education adequately prepared them for clinical practice in this area. A total of 75.8% of respondents reported opportunistically screening older adults for fall risk often or always during consultations. Gait and balance assessment was considered the most important and was the most frequently performed component of the multifactorial fall risk assessment. The top-five barriers were staffing issues, lack of time, older adults' non-adherence to recommended strategies, workload related to falls prevention, and prioritizing other tasks. The top-five facilitators were more time, easy-to-use guidelines, sufficient resources, increased education and training on falls prevention, and increased collaboration. We observed regional and country-level variation in these top barriers and facilitators.ConclusionThis survey highlights the need for improved undergraduate education in falls prevention across Europe. It is essential to educate and engage governmental bodies and insurers to secure their support and prioritization of falls prevention initiatives. Furthermore, enhancing education, addressing older adults' nonadherence, interdisciplinary collaboration and providing easy-to-use guidelines seem crucial for effective implementation. The falls prevention strategy should be tailored to the local context.European Union Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS
CORE+: A Complex Event Recognition Engine in C++
No full textComplex Event Recognition (CER) refers to the activity of analyzing streams of continuously arriving event data, to recognize collections of events that satisfy user-defined patterns. CER is known to be computationally challenging, since it requires maintaining a set of partial matches, and this set quickly grows super-linearly
in the number of processed events. In this paper we demonstrate CORE+, a mature COmplex event Recognition Engine that circumvents the super-linear partial match problem. CORE+ is based on a research prototype named CORE; we demonstrate the new features and capabilities that make CORE+ a release version of CORE
Community guidelines to increase the reusability of marine microfossil assemblage data
No full textData on marine microfossil assemblage composition have multiple applications. Initially, they were primarily used for (chrono)stratigraphy and palaeoecology, but these data are now also widely used to study evolutionary and ecological processes, such as past biodiversity and its links with environmental dynamics, or to provide a basis for conservation efforts and biomonitoring. The large range of potential applications renders microfossil abundance data ideal for reuse. However, the complexity inherent in taxonomic data, which encompass extant and extinct species, coupled with the inherent intricacies of information on biological communities extracted from sedimentary archives, poses considerable hurdles in reusing marine microfossil data, even when they are publicly available. Here, we present guidelines derived from an online survey conducted within the marine micropalaeontological community, aimed at improving the reusability of microfossil assemblage data. These guidelines advocate for clarity and transparency in the documentation of the methods and the outcome, and we outline the data attributes required for effective reuse of micropalaeontological data. These guidelines are intended for researchers who generate microfossil abundance datasets and for reviewers, editors, and data curators at repositories.A total of 113 researchers evaluated the relevance of about 50 data attributes that might be needed to enable and maximise the reuse of marine microfossil abundance datasets. Each property is ranked based on the survey results. All information is, in principle, considered "desired". Information that improves the reusability is ranked as "recommended", and information that is required for reuse is ranked as "essential". Analysis of a selection of datasets available online reveals a rather large gap between data properties deemed essential by survey participants and what is actually contained in publicly available microfossil assemblage datasets. While the survey indicates that the micropalaeontological community values good data stewardship, improving data reusability still requires new efforts to incorporate all the essential information. The guidelines presented here are intended as a step in that direction. Determining the optimal forms and formats for data sharing are obvious next steps the community needs to take.Financial support.
This work has been funded by the German Research Foundation (NFDI4Earth 1st Cohort of Pilots, DFG project no. 460036893, https://www.nfdi4earth.de/, last access: 14 May 2025) within the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI; https://www.nfdi.de/, last access: 14 May 2025).
We are indebted to the researchers who helped design the survey questions and to the people who helped with the dissemination of the survey. Furthermore, we are grateful
for the participation of all scientists who took the time to fill out the survey
Accès direct à la kinésithérapie pour la lombalgie aiguë en Belgique : protocole et résultats préliminaire.
No full textN° JFK25-542 Accès direct à la kinésithérapie pour la lombalgie aiguë en Belgique : protocole et résultats préliminaire
Stygobitic Candonidae (Crustacea, Ostracoda) Are Potential Environmental Indicators of Groundwater Quality in Tropical West Africa
No full textOstracods are important components of groundwater communities that are influenced by abiotic environmental conditions and biotic interactions. We aimed to identify the factors associated with ostracod assemblages inhabiting groundwaters accessed through dug wells in several regions of Benin in West Africa, exposed to chronic influences of anthropogenic disturbances such as nutrient enrichment from infiltration of sewage or fertilisers from the surface. Ostracods were collected from 219 wells in seven catchment areas using two complementary methods: active sampling with a phreatobiological net and passive trapping with a baited trap. Associations with 31 statistical predictor variables (a range of abiotic descriptors of water, hydrology, protection, usage and the type of well) and ostracod occurrence was evaluated using distance-based linear models and redundancy analysis. We identified 60 ostracod species representing two ecological groups: 36 species of stygobites of the family Candonidae, an endemic species flock of a vast evolutionary radiation, and 24 species of non-stygobites, mostly of the family Cyprididae. This is the first large groundwater ostracod species flock reported from the entire African continent. A number of variables associated with the structure of ostracod assemblages were identified. Except for the descriptors of wells, these included well-known chemical and physical properties (electrical conductivity, pH, temperature or bicarbonate concentration), but also the concentration of NO2-. Although NO2- has not yet been demonstrated to be important for ostracod assemblages, stygobites occurred significantly less frequently in higher concentrations of NO2- than most non-stygobites. We determined that stygobitic (candonid) ostracod species and genera may be a good potential environmental indicator of groundwater quality especially nitrite pollution of groundwater in tropical West Africa. In tropical West Africa, many human populations rely on groundwater for domestic use and agricultural irrigation, while these aquatic resources are also often affected by anthropogenic disturbances. The use of stygobitic ostracods as potential indicators of groundwater quality offers a valuable tool for environmental monitoring and protection in tropical regions in West Africa, and may be also globally.Funding:
This study was supported by Global Taxonomy Initiative, Programme “Capacities for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development” (CEBioS),Hasselt University and Université d'Abomey- Calavi.
This work was supported by the Belgian national Focal Point of GTI (Global Taxonomy Initiative), through various Programme “Capacities for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development” (CEBioS) GTI Projects (Refs.: 2459LJB2_SO1-SBES-2.1_Martin_2015; 2459LJB2 SO1-SBES-2.1_ Martin_2016; 2459LJB2_SO1-SBES-2.1_Martin_2017; 2018/SO1-
SBES-2.1/183; 1.1-2/2019/008; R1.1-2/2020/072; Ref.: R.1.1-2/2022/137) for fieldwork in Benin. These projects also funded the first research stay of SJH at the RBINS and the provision of microscope equipment for work in Benin. Hasselt University (UHasselt) supported the work of SJH through the “Bijzonder Onderzoeks Fonds” (Ref: BOF22BL07/R—12889) and the Global Minds program and attributed the Special Research Fund (BOF24kV06) to a research visit of TN, which facilitated SJH's joint PhD research conducted at the UHasselt (Belgium) and the Université d'Abomey - Calavi (Benin). We also thank the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Benin for their support via the “Appui aux Doctorant” Program and the Laboratory of Water Analysis at the Regional Water Service of Borgou, where physical and chemical analyses of water samples were conducted. We are particularly grateful to Dr. Luc Janssens, Anne-Julie Rochette, and the CEBioS team for their support, to Dr. Yves Samyn for his help with collections, to Jeroen Venderickx and the RBINS Freshwater Biology team for logistical help, to Mr. Jean-Pierre Montcho, Mr. Farouk Mazou to the authorities of the Université d'Abomey-Calavi
(Benin) for facilitating various field trips and laboratory work in Benin, to Dr. Darius Tossavi, Dr. Onzo and the UAC/Department of Zoology team, as well as to Mr. Wahabou Yarsekou, Mr. Orou Goura Doussi, the local authorities and people from the villages in the different localities where we conducted fieldwork. We thank two anonymous referees for their important input
Augmenting the reality of decision-making: Comparing and combining product experiences' influence on choice difficulty and mental imagery
No full textCompanies are increasingly adopting augmented reality (AR) to provide new virtual product experiences for consumers. Despite practical and academic interest, AR's potential to reduce the negative effects of choice overload remains largely unexplored. Drawing on cognitive load theory, this article compares and combines AR with a more indirect product experience (i.e., physical product swatches) to examine the relationships between mental imagery, choice difficulty, choice confidence, and purchase intention while considering decision-making style as a moderator. The results show that AR, especially static AR, enhances mental imagery and that this imagery is key in influencing choice difficulty and confidence. However, difficulty can also be reduced by combining AR with a more traditional indirect product experience. Furthermore, mental imagery and choice difficulty influence choice confidence, subsequently affecting purchase intentions. Only for people with a maximizing decision-making style was a direct effect of choice difficulty on purchase intention found. The results contribute to choice overload and AR literature by demonstrating how AR's virtual experience affects decision-making and, more specifically, choice difficulty.Acknowledgements
The authors like to thank Robbe De Cuyper for his help with the data collection.
Funding
This research was funded by the Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds grant (BOF2023 KP02 R-13796) of Hasselt University
Towards Multi-Faceted Visual Process Analytics
No full textBoth the fields of Process Mining (PM) and Visual Analytics (VA) aim to make complex phenomena understandable. In PM, the goal is to gain insights into the execution of complex processes by analyzing the event data that is captured in event logs. This data is inherently multi-faceted, meaning that it covers various data facets, including spatial and temporal dependencies, relations between data entities (such as cases/events), and multivariate data attributes per entity. However, the multi-faceted nature of the data has not received much attention in PM. Conversely, VA research has investigated interactive visual methods for making multi-faceted data understandable for about two decades. In this study, we bring together PM and VA with the goal of advancing towards Visual Process Analytics (VPA) of multi-faceted processes. To this end, we present a systematic view of relevant (VA) data facets in the context of PM and assess to what extent existing PM visualizations address the data facets' characteristics, making use of VA guidelines. In addition to visualizations, we look at how PM can benefit from analytical abstraction and interaction techniques known in the VA realm. Based on this, we discuss open challenges and opportunities for future research towards multi-faceted VPA