Open Access Journals at Aalborg University
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Provenance Visualization as an Entry Point to the History and Curation of Information Collections
Full text linkProvenance—the origin and production methods of an artifact or piece of information—is an essential part across allfields of knowledge production. Its disclosure ensures authenticity, reproducibility, and transparency. While digital tools can automate provenance tracking and disclosure, the amount and complexity of provenance information presents a challenge, particularly within the context of cultural collections, where physically-born artifacts are transformed into digital space. This process introduces a number of methodological and curatorial decisions that, in turn, can have a grave influence on how the—once physical—collection is represented and how it will be interpreted. In previous work, we have started to address this issue by introducing provenance-driven visualization as an approach to provenance disclosure that (1) traces and categorizes both the physical and digital provenance of information collections (e.g., transcriptions, modifications of content and structure, ex/inclusion of information items) and (2) utilizes visualization to disclose and make provenance explorable in interactive ways. While this approach has shown potential, there are challenges to designing provenance-driven visualizations which can be perceived as complex and abstract and, ultimately, a distraction from the information collections’ content. How can visualization design navigate tensions between making visible provenance information and underlying curatorial decisions in a holistic and compact way, while enabling easy entry points to and promoting the critical interpretation of the collection’s content? In this paper, we present a novel design approach to provenance-driven visualization that combines abstract visualization, textual descriptions, and representations of artifactual form with storytelling techniques to introduce provenance information. Our findings from a qualitative study demonstrate the success of this approach in (1) providing a visual entry point into the collection’s provenance, (2) promoting an in-depth understanding of the transitions and underlying curatorial decisions thecollection has gone through, all the while (3) positively influencing the collections’ content exploration and its critical interpretation. Our work contributes new perspectives on how visualization can be applied to add transparency and to raise awareness of the constructed and situated nature of data, in particular, in the context of cultural collections, but also beyond
Revising regulations unleashes engineered timber buildings potential for climate mitigation
Full text linkEngineered timber can substitute traditional carbon-intense building materials playing a critical role in climate action thanks to its capacity to store biogenic carbon removed from the atmosphere during forest growth. However, the existing regulations and standards developed in the past along with the development of traditional building practices based on concrete and steel, hinder the possibility to fully exploit the potential of engineered timber within the construction sector. Current standards impose 50 years as reference service life for buildings. While irrelevant for traditional materials, which are not carbon stocks, this imposition belittles this unique feature of timber-based materials. Furthermore, current standards for timber-based materials impose well-defined End-of-Life (EoL) scenarios, each culminating with the incineration of the timber – regardless of any cascading process. However, among the possible EoL scenarios, the possibility of reusing engineered timber materials maintaining the same function is not conceived, although technically feasible. Consequently, LCA of buildings following such standards are forced to neglect the potential positive impact of timber-based buildings possibly providing results that tend to favor traditional over timber-based materials. In this work, we show the potential of timber-based buildings to act as a mean of climate mitigation, calling for an urgent modification of the current standard and linked LCA practices. The case study of a timber-based multi-story building shows that RSL extension and reuse reduce the emission by 13% and 1-2% respectively compared to concrete, except for a RSL of 150 years for which the reduction is marginal
Assessing socio-economic impacts of Lithium-Ion Battery recycling through Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis
Full text linkThe expected rise in electromobility and the increasing use of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is generating new challenges and opportunities, particularly in the End-of-Life (EoL) management of batteries. One of these challenges are the socio-economic impacts associated with the EoL process steps on which this paper focuses on. With the method of Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) analysis, a selected recycling process route in Europe is assessed regarding socio-economic impacts, first at current demand (baseline scenario) and followed by an upscaled demand. The results provide insight into differences in some socio-economic impact categories, such as employment, vulnerable employment, and worker remuneration. The scale-up scenarios show, among other things, an increase in the workforce and remuneration (positive impact). However, with an increase in vulnerable employment, negative socio-economic impacts are also evident in Europe-centered recycling processes. The results furthermore show that changing recycling processes can lead to sustainability trade-offs. Due to the limited number of indicators in the selected method, it is not possible to provide an overall picture of social impacts. However, this research shows a clear change in the individual impacts, which underlines the need for proactive measures to overcome infrastructure problems, expand recycling capacities, and improve employment conditions in all sectors
Dealing with barriers to repair from the repairers’ perspective
Full text linkRepair is a key component of the circular economy paradigm and holds great environmental potential. Our current linear economies, which rely on constantly expanding markets, are not conceived to be restorative and hence create structural barriers to repair. Through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires we explore the commercial repairers’ perspective on barriers to repair, as well as their agency and the strategies they employ to overcome those barriers. Our research has shown that repairers tend to bypass barriers by means of specific repair techniques and cooperation networks. 
Environmental Impact factors for Apparel Products: Generalizing LCAs with Statistical “Market-mix” Modeling
Full text linkDesigning a collaborative ecosystem for sustainability transition in the furniture industry: The Opendesk case
Full text linkHumanity faces a period of changes, leading to a global transition with unpredictable outcomes. Design can play a key role in guiding society to face these challenges, helping the different socio-technical system stakeholders cope with the sustainable transition. The change towards more sustainable economic and social systems requires the design of products and services and new business models and integrated systems that deliver them. This implies shifting from individual company thinking towards coalitions and partnerships like collaborative ecosystems.
The furniture industry is facing a sustainable transition, therefore, companies and the market are experimenting with new approaches, including collaborative ecosystems. Because of this, it is important to understand how design can contribute to the definition, creation, and development of a collaborative ecosystem for sustainable transition in the furniture industry. The article adopts the single case study methodology, proposing the analysis of Opendesk, a furniture delocalised network.
The research shows how the design mindset has enabled Opendesk to create a collaborative, scalable, and resilient business that values stakeholders in the system and local production. It was possible to address the challenges of building and maintaining a community and network, creating engagement through design. Through the design mindset in the creation of a collaborative ecosystem, it was possible to help local manufacturers to be efficient and economically viable, allowing customers to contribute to the local economy and value. The case study shows the potential of design to catalyse relationships for fruitful collaborations between stakeholders with different goals and provide systemic innovations
Creativity in Higher Education: Finding the Problem in Problem-Based Learning
Full text linkThis article explores problem finding as a lens to highlight creativity in problem-based learning (PBL) in higher education. By discussing two empirical examples from two social science and humanities educational programs at Aalborg University, Denmark, a Deweyan, experiential learning approach is put into play with socio-cultural and socio-material learning perspectives to explore how materials may support students’ critical-creative problem inquiry.
The empirical analyses point to new insights for creativity in PBL as requiring students to build a certain basis of critical judgment to find problems, that is, competences to explore and question social and societal conventions, norms, and taken-for-granted worldviews, including those independent of the predefined objectives of their educational quests. The article points to the potentials of integrating materials and metaphors in PBL-project and group work to explore PBL and critical creativity as interconnected and, in some respects, mutual prerequisites for PBL in higher education
GIS-AHP for Optimal Solar Site Selection: A Case Study of Iraq and Its Implications for Climate Change
Full text linkInterest in renewable energy sources to meet the energy needs of tomorrow has sharply increased across the world. This applies particularly to wind power and solar power, forward-oriented industries which have both achieved rapid development in recent years. Large-scale solar photovoltaic (SPV) projects can be easily completed in just 10-15 years, depending on the timeline for government approval. On-site water storage, continuous access to transportation, the ability of the local workforce and availability of solar panels will influence total cost for a given configuration. Taking all of these factors into account helps make sure, that an currently illegal but possible proposal will become illegal in the future too. This study uses GIS (Geographic Information System) and MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision-Making) to give an initial evaluation of the best locations for large-scale SPV plants in Iraq. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was then applied to weight the individual criteria, and integrate them into final suitability mapping with ArcGIS 10.8 software. The results indicate that 27,614 km² (6.3% of Iraq's total area) is suitable for SPV installation, and that annual generation potential varies from 8,700 to 12,595 MWh / km². If 5-20% of these areas are used around the world, then a total of between 3.39 and 13.54 TWh could be provided by SPV installations each year on land. With an efficiency level 15%. As our climate models show average temperatures may reach 34-35°C by the year 2100, this could cause SPV efficiency to fal
Fornyelse og genanvendelse af forstærkere i dansk: Om hvorfor noget ikke bare kan være vildt spændende eller smaddergodt én gang for alle
Full text linkThis paper presents a study of two kinds of intensifiers in Danish, i.e., intensifying adverbs like rigtig (cf. rigtig glad ‘really happy’) and first compounding elements such as super- (cf. superglad ‘super happy’). For languages that make use of intensifiers it is often observed that there is a steady recruitment of new candidates and a revitalization of earlier candidates for this function, processes known as renewal and recycling. In this paper, these processes are explained as a cyclical reflex of two of Levinson’s Neogricean heuristics, namely the I-heuristic and the M-heuristic (Levinson 2000). Furthermore, it is shown that the literal semantics of elements recruited to the function of intensifier is of little, if any, importance; it is the mere fact that the recruits enter the morpho-syntactic matrix of intensifying constructions that prompts the function as intensifying element.This paper presents a study of two kinds of intensifiers in Danish, i.e., intensifying adverbs like rigtig (cf. rigtig glad ‘really happy’) and first compounding elements such as super- (cf. superglad ‘super happy’). For languages that make use of intensifiers it is often observed that there is a steady recruitment of new candidates and a revitalization of earlier candidates for this function, processes known as renewal and recycling. In this paper, these processes are explained as a cyclical reflex of two of Levinson’s Neogricean heuristics, namely the I-heuristic and the M-heuristic (Levinson 2000). Furthermore, it is shown that the literal semantics of elements recruited to the function of intensifier is of little, if any, importance; it is the mere fact that the recruits enter the morpho-syntactic matrix of intensifying constructions that prompts the function as intensifying element