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Congenital heart diseases are the most common birth deformities requiring surgical intervention. Given the nature of infant patients, pediatric cardiac surgeons need to master their craft and psychomotor skills to save such delicate yet complex hearts. However, the current paradigm of surgical training programmes fails to provide trainee surgeons with adequate chances to develop those skills, as it is an opportunity-based field of education and practice. Furthermore, current training paradigms are not feasible to implement in politically and economically constrained areas, making it impossible to establish highly specialised and well-trained surgical teams in those settings.
This research goes through medical journals to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current surgical training programmes and later investigates emerging technologies in medicine that can accelerate the skills development of trainee surgeons. In addition, expert interviews were conducted to provide insight into Gaza's pediatric cardiac services and existing methods of training local staff. Gaza is the research’s case study and the proposed location for the design project’s implementation.
The interviews with relevant professionals and humanitarian agencies revealed the dismal situation of Gaza’s healthcare systems. Alarmingly, the lack of infrastructure, materials, and pediatric surgery staff makes it impossible to conduct pediatric cardiac surgeries locally. Therefore, all pediatric patients with heart diseases are referred to hospitals outside the region for medical treatment.
Whether in privileged or underprivileged areas akin to the Gaza strip, there is a grave lack of expertise development in pediatric cardiology programmes, hence the pressing need for a paradigm shift in hands-on surgical training. The thesis design project, ImPulse, aims to incorporate an easy-to-implement surgical training module into training programmes by utilising digital imaging and 3D printing technologies. ImPulse intends to produce a high-fidelity yet affordable simulation training module that can be customised and developed on-demand to enhance surgical trainees’ psychomotor skills in a safe and controlled environment. Thus, significantly reducing the reliance on low-risk patient cases for hands-on pediatric cardiac surgical training.
Masters Thesis
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This paper assesses the current state of prosthetic legs in general to identify opportunities for innovation from an industrial designer's perspective. By investigating the battery life issues found in microprocessor knees, this paper presents the possibility of integrating novel power management and generation solutions into prosthetics as a potential solution, with biomechanical energy harvesting as a prime method. Furthermore, by highlighting the critical limitations imposed by available prosthetic socket solutions, the author stresses the need for further research and development in that area, specifically using 3D scanners and printers to modify and test sockets created through CAD software. Finally, this paper acts as a brief primer for industrial designers who wish to address prevalent gaps in the prosthetic industry.
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This paper discusses some strategies that could help us reach the Paris Agreement goals and avert a climate change catastrophe. First, by presenting the current greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions of various food products and agricultural sectors, this paper showcases how a global push towards a plant-based diet could significantly reduce the carbon footprint of food supply chains. Furthermore, this paper explores some of the recent developments in biotechnology that could help transition global meat consumption to animal-free meat consumption and the challenges to overcome before this transition becomes a viable option. Finally, this paper explains how historical agricultural practices and minor changes in our modern food production and consumption methods could help us reduce the carbon footprint of whole industries and afford us the health benefits of commonly indigestible nutrients.
Masters Papers
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In a superconnected world, we face superconnected challenges. Climate change is ruining our vision of a consumerist future. A new virus is forcing us to act local, while the virus itself is global. Some business models fade away. Others will rise. As of the quick spread of the Virus COVID-19 we need to use all resources and abilities that we have in a new and efficient way. We need to adapt to a new situation and we need to make up for things that we took for given, but that become a privilege in the current situation. As designers, we are great at creating new things from precarious situations. Design methodology, traditionally understood as planning has dominated our perception of design until now. However, designers have always been great at Improvisation. They can use ‚what is around', they combine available subsystems towards something new. They are using given things, ideas and materials. Improvisation is in every Open Design Project, but it's also essential in Industrial design. Improvisation, in another understanding, can also be a daily solution to solve day-to-day problems using makeshift arrangements. The seminar will discuss different texts on improvisation from the design discourse as well as examples from Open Design, Exhibitions and industrial design processes. Improvisation is a way to participate, engage and open Design towards a multiplicity of actors and hybrid materials.
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The seminar ‚Introduction to Design Studies‘ at Muthesius Academy of the Arts, Kiel is drawing a line from modernist design ideas towards contemporary practices of digitality and openness. The following essays from design students at muthesius are an outcome of the seminar and highlight the relationship of examples from the design discourse to ideas of democracy. Knowing that design has never been and will never be a neutral discipline but always relate to politics and society, their essays refer to examples which directly let the user participate in an open design process with many actors, or they critically reflect on contemporary consumer electronics as well as furniture design.
Pre-Print Papers
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Above-the-knee amputations can result from diseases or trauma, forcing most patients to opt for an artificial limb in the hopes of regaining the life they once had.
Artificial limbs are split into two main categories; mechanical prosthetics and electronic prosthetics. The latter provides a more natural walking gait through motors operated by small computer chips. However, these electronics require and consume electric energy at a pace that can negatively affect the daily lives of the amputee wearing them. Those adverse effects range from minor inconveniences to serious safety hazards such as collapsing prostheses and "dead-leg" syndrome.
This study discusses the feasibility of harvesting biomechanical movement and converting it into an electric charge that can power prosthetic knees. However, such a solution would face pushback from prosthetic manufacturers, even with their knowledge of the problem.
Prosthetic manufacturers dedicate a considerable amount of resources to research and develop their current solutions. Furthermore, their business model is designed to maximize the revenue from the tiny target demographic by increasing the number of necessary accessories patients must buy with their prostheses.
This paper explores if an open-source solution can be a viable option to accelerate prosthetic innovation through data exchange between companies, patients, and professionals. As a result, patients can share their unique perspectives and detailed data, allowing them to participate in the development process of prosthetics and further allowing manufacturers and professionals to build upon existing solutions and avoid retreading old ground.
Living a regular life should not be a privilege but rather a right every amputee should have. Advanced prosthetics attempt to deliver on that promise but end up as short as the chargers they are tethered with.