Foot‐and‐mouth disease and the Mexican cattle industry

The objective of this article is to analyze the domestic and international effects of a hypothetical foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in the Mexican cattle industry. A discrete time dynamic optimization model of the Mexican cattle sector is specified, and linked to domestic and international markets. Economic consequences of FMD outbreaks are simulated over time and under different scenarios. Specific findings and general policy recommendations are provided. The study reports a range of outbreaks from localized to large scale and suggests that changes in economic surplus due to FMD range from a positive net gain of $0.89 to $1.6 billion to a net loss of about $67 billion, depending on the specific mitigation strategy and outbreak scenario.     

Bring in the Green Cat

The New York Times, November 15, 2006 I've been a regular visitor to China since 1990, and here's what strikes me most: Each year that I've come here, China's people seem to speak with greater ease and breathe with greater difficulty. Yes, you can now hav…     

The impact of the internet on students’ enhancement of cultural aspects in design projects: a case study on interior design graduation projects,University of Dammam,Saudi Arabia

The paper explores the impact of the internet on students and their enhancement of their Identity and culture in the world of globalization. It is based on two stages; a theoretical background in the literature that provides criteria for examining the issue of the study. Then, the analytical study is done to the collected data. The paper incorporates two methods of data collection; a questionnaire survey to measure the instructors’ perception of how students should reflect the identity and local culture in their projects in the internet era, and statistical analysis of students’ implementation of cultural knowledge and identity features in their graduation projects in the new millennium before the usage of internet in the design education in the interval of 2001–2007 and after the usage of internet the interval between 2008 and 2015. Consequently, the paper is designed to generate both statistical quantitative and qualitative data. Despite the apparent impact of Globalization and internet based education on abandoning individual identity, yet it might lead to opening new horizons in front of dealing with cultural identity and heritage with a contemporary vision that integrates with nowadays architecture and at the same time refer to the unique identity.     

Line by line,part by part: collaborative sketching for designing

While sketching has an established role in professional design, its benefits and role in design education are subjects that invite research and opinions. We investigated how undergraduates studying to become design educators and textile teachers used sketching to generate and develop design solutions in a collaborative setting. The students were given an authentic design assignment involving three detailed tasks, one of which was 2D visualisation by sketching. Adopting a micro-analytical approach, we analysed the video-recorded visualisation session to understand how teams used sketching to collaborate and to generate and develop design solutions. To that end, we set three research questions: (1) What ways of collaborative working are reflected in actions of sketching? (2) In what ways do sequences of collaborative sketching contribute to designing? (3) What kinds of collaborative sequences of sketching advance designing? Our analysis identified three collaborative ways of sketching (co-ordinated, collective and disclosed) and confirmed that sketching is an important facilitator of mutual appropriation, adaption and adoption. Next, we identified three ways of contributing to designing, as well as three functions and six capacities for advancing designing. Our analysis shows that sketching can lead to invaluable advances in designing, although each team had its own way of using and benefiting from sketching. We further consider that the teams’ diverse sketching processes and rich content owed, at least in part, to the task structure and imposed constraints. We continue to see sketching as an important design tool, one among many.     

Tracing design students’ affective journeys through reflective writing

Affection in learning embraces emotions, attitudes, values and beliefs that emerge during the learning process, and it is a vital and hidden element of learning. Studies focusing on affective, or emotional, aspects of design learning in the context of design education underscore the significance of the affective process and inform us of the connection between the creative dimension and emotions during a design activity. To this point, this paper addresses the following research question: to what extent does reflective writing disclose design students’ affective journeys throughout a semester? An empirical study is conducted to observe first-year industrial design students’ affective processes during a semester using their structured reflective diaries. The longitudinal study results show that the students exhibit certain tendencies in terms of the affective processes throughout a semester. The findings of this study are discussed in reference to peak points, anomalies and tendencies of the affective processes observed based on excerpts from the diaries. It is concluded that affective responses in design learning are multidimensional and wide-ranging.     

Navigating worlds of information: STEM literacy practices of experienced makers

Making as a design-centered learning activity has recently received significant attention in education. We use literacies—how individuals use representations to learn—to explore the STEM literacy practices of experienced designers and makers. Describing makers’ representational practices in STEM contexts can inform the design of literacy supports for young makers that can encourage their use of representations to connect STEM disciplines and design practices. We interviewed experienced makers to describe one literacy practice central to design: identifying, organizing, and integrating information. Makers enacted this practice within specific making processes—e.g., designing—with the purpose of sourcing and navigating information related to their chosen problems. The research supports efforts to bridge learning while making with learning in schools by positioning STEM literacies as central practices involved in the processes of designing and making.