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| | <h1 class="Up">Integrated Human Practices</h1> | | <h1 class="Up">Integrated Human Practices</h1> |
| − | <p class="Up">Gold Medal requirement</p> | + | <p class="Up">= Area of Human Practices</p> |
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| − | <p class="lead Up">We realised from the outset that this summer would only be the beginning for our ambitious and important project. The design, creation and implementation of our bioreactor pods was only ever going to be a drawn-out process, which could take years, and we knew that. We therefore started looking far ahead early on, undertaking in-depth and forward-thinking integrated human practices work. This took two forms... | + | <p class="lead Up">We realised from the outset that this summer would only be the beginning for our ambitious project. We knew that the design, creation and implementation of our bioreactor pods could take years, and so we started looking far ahead early on, undertaking in-depth and forward-thinking integrated human practices work. This took two forms... |
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| − | <p class="lead Up">The first was a project design and implementation plan for our project moving forwards. This was based on a structured analysis of four possible future scenarios, constructed from detailed research and meetings with stakeholders, to ensure the plan’s real-world utility and flexibility. The plan identifies different directions and strategies for research, design and implementation to take depending on which future circumstances materialise. Please have a look at our Future Scenarios Analysis and our design and implementation plan below, or <a target="_blank"href="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/2/21/T--Bristol--ScenarioAnalysis.pdf">download it as a PDF</a>. | + | <p class="lead Up">The first was a project design and implementation plan for our project moving forwards. This was based on a structured analysis of four possible future scenarios, constructed from detailed research and meetings with stakeholders, to ensure the plan’s |
| | + | real-world utility and flexibility. The plan identifies different directions and strategies for research, design and implementation to take depending on which future circumstances materialise. Please have a look at our Future Scenarios Analysis |
| | + | and our design and implementation plan below, or <a target="_blank" href="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/2/21/T--Bristol--ScenarioAnalysis.pdf">download it as a PDF</a>. |
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| − | Our second integrated human practices approach was to develop a design plan for creating a fuel cell to be incorporated into our bioreactor pod. This was inspired by air pollution expert Dr Chatterton’s concerns regarding the potential release of NOx back into the environment, for example if our pods’ ammonia byproduct is used in fertilisers. The fuel cell will avoid this by converting the ammonia at source into the harmless products of electricity, nitrogen gas and water. Our idea to design a fuel cell was also inspired by the emphasis placed by politicians such as Councillor Fi Hance on the improved public acceptance that would result from the pods being interactive and providing a useful public service. Using the electricity generated from a built-in fuel cell, our pods could offer free mobile charging points or help to light streets at night. Alternatively, the electricity generated could be used to improve our bioreactors’ efficiencies. | + | Our second integrated human practices approach was to develop a design plan for creating a fuel cell to be incorporated into our bioreactor pod. This was inspired by air pollution expert Dr Chatterton’s concerns regarding the potential release of NOx |
| | + | back into the environment, for example if our pods’ ammonia byproduct is used in fertilisers. The fuel cell will avoid this by converting the ammonia at source into the harmless products of electricity, nitrogen gas and water. Our idea to design |
| | + | a fuel cell was also inspired by the emphasis placed by politicians such as Councillor Fi Hance on the improved public acceptance that would result from the pods being interactive and providing a useful public service. Using the electricity generated |
| | + | from a built-in fuel cell, our pods could offer free mobile charging points or help to light streets at night. Alternatively, the electricity generated could be used to improve our bioreactors’ efficiencies. |
| | </p> | | </p> |
| | <p class="lead Up"> | | <p class="lead Up"> |
| − | Read more about plans for our microbial bioreactor on our <a target="_blank"href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:Bristol/ Description# mfc"> Description</a> and <a target="_blank"href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:Bristol/ Design# fuelcelldesign"> Design</a> pages. | + | Read more about plans for our microbial bioreactor on our <a target="_blank" href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:Bristol/ Design# fuelcelldesign"> Design</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:Bristol/ Description# mfc"> Description</a> pages. |
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| − | <h2 class="featurette-heading Up">Project plans - informed by scenario analysis and stakeholder consultations</h2>
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| − | <h3 class="featurette-subheading Up">Design:</h3>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • Our analysis has shown that three main types of pods would be useful in our scenarios - industrial-scale pods, pods to be placed on street level, and personal pods to be placed in people’s homes. Hence, we will lay an emphasis on adaptability
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| − | and reflexiveness in our design efforts. In addition, we would consider, in future, perhaps having a different sub-team working on designing each of the three above types of pod, to ensure greater efficiency. Having laid the basic preparations
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| − | for all eventualities, we would be able to focus more of our efforts on the types of pod which look to be more useful, depending on which scenario materialises.
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • Owing to the variety of different scales of pod that would be required across a number of our different scenarios, we would consider designing our bioreactors so that they could be slotted together into an array, making the scale and NOx.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • We would lay a great emphasis on increasing the sensitivity of our NOx-metabolising technology, as this would make personal pods more viable, and this type of pod would be versatile and have a place, somewhere, in any future scenario. High sensitivities
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| − | would also enable us to make smaller, more discreet street-level pods, should these be desired by local members of the public in consultations - meeting with members of the public at outreach events has indicated that some would prefer this.
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| − | • To help make it self-sustaining and potentially add features to make more attractive part of environment, we will try to develop a fuel cell compartment, linked to the bacterial compartment of our pod, which will use the ammonia produced by our
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| − | ammonia to create electricity. This could help give the pod the energy it needs to be self-sustaining (there is more on this in the Fuel Cell Design section of our wiki).
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • To prepare for the ultra-low airborne NOx scenario in which our pods would still be useful, but less so than in other scenarios, we would look into preparing an alternative design which would enable our pods to combat the eutrophication of water
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| − | supplies.
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| − | <h3 class="featurette-subheading Up">Environmental:</h3>
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| − | • Particularly in preparation for scenarios in which large industrial-scale pods, using greater volumes of materials, would be most useful, we would look to design our pod using as many materials which are recyclable as possible, to minimise wastage.
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| − | To achieve this, we would look to the latest biomaterials research, to seek out low-wastage, durable and relatively inexpensive materials.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • Dr Tim Chatterton, Senior Research Fellow at the University of the West of England and Air Pollution expert, alerted us to the potential issues of producing ammonia from our pods - particularly with regards to the potential release of NOx gases
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| − | back into the environment further along the life cycle, for example if the ammonia we produced is used as fertiliser. To prevent any risk of our pods’ ammonia ultimately releasing NOx back into the environment, we aim to convert this ammonia into
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| − | electricity using a fuel cell attached to our bacterial chamber - as mentioned above. This will release the harmless products of nitrogen and oxygen. See more on our <a target="_blank" href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:Bristol/Design">Design</a> page.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <h3 class="featurette-subheading Up">Safety:</h3>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • Particularly in street or home pods, to minimise the chances of environmental release of any of our pods’ contents, we would ensure to build our pods from a robust material. We would test our pods to breaking point in a controlled environment
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| − | to ensure that everyday vandalism will not lead to any fundamental dangerous or wasteful damage.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • We would, in addition, of course, remove the possibility of released bacteria causing any significant harm by using a disabled, lab strain of E. coli which will immediately die outside of pod conditions.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • To help to preclude the theft and/ or general misuse of our pods or any of their components implemented on street level, we would ensure that they were robustly secured to the ground or whichever surface to which they were attached. We would test
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| − | the strength of our connection to breaking point before implementing it to ensure that it would survive well under real world conditions.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • Should our pods be implemented in public spaces such as on street corners, to minimise the likelihood that members of the public attempt to vandalise our pods, we will design a public educational campaign to accompany their implementation. An
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| − | aspect of this campaign will caution people not to touch the pods, as this could impair their functioning or lead to personal harm (although both possibilities would be unlikely). If necessary, each pod would have inscribed on it a warning that
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| − | it should not be tampered with.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p><br></p>
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| − | <h3 class="featurette-subheading Up">Public relations:</h3>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • Professor James Ladyman, Philosopher of Science and former co-editor of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, stressed to us the vital importance of being transparent with members of the public about scientific advances which will
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| − | affect their daily lives, from an early stage in the process. This is important to ensure our work is ethically sound but also to win public trust. Therefore, as, in certain scenarios, our pods would be useful on street-level, and would affect
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| − | the aesthetics of areas of cities used by thousands of people, extended public consultations about what the pods should look like and where they should be would be essential. We have already set out to do this at public events such as the Big
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| − | Bang Fair and Avonmouth’s Summerfest, and through our conversations with a diverse range of members of the community, it was clear that the aesthetics of this pod and people’s urban environment is something many feel strongly about. Therefore,
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| − | we would continue to consult members of the public at every stage of the process as our project moved forward.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • Our conversations with members of the public from different areas of the city showed us that people’s tastes where it comes to the style of pod to be implemented at street level vary greatly. Therefore, we would try to ensure that each area to
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| − | receive a pod had its own set of consultations with locals, to ensure the aesthetics and location of our pod suited each community’s needs as well as possible.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • We spoke to a local clay artist among others at Avonmouth’s Summerfest, who suggested that we collaborate with local artists in helping to design pods which are attractive and locally relevant. As well as improving our pods’ aesthetics and the
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| − | likelihood that the public will accept them, this would potentially give us the opportunity to foster local creativity by using some of the investment capital we would have accumulated to pay local artists a small amount to collaborate with us.
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| − | This would apply to street-level pods but also commercial personal pods, for which there could be a market in any of our future scenarios, and which would need to be aesthetically appealing for individuals to choose to purchase them.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • Bristol City Councillor Fi Hance and City Council Cabinet Member for Energy, Waste and Regulatory Services stressed to us the importance of designing our own public education campaign to help the wider public to understand what our plans are for
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| − | their city and keep them updated at every stage, should we wish to have our pods implemented in public spaces in a scenario in which this would be useful. This is to help reduce the likelihood of tabloid newspapers producing scare headlines about
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| − | our project, and of large swathes of the public being turned against our project because of this. Hence, we would design informative leaflets which could be widely distributed if we had sufficient funds, and we would use an up-to-date website
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| − | and social media to keep people informed. We would also correspond with the local press to help us to keep control of the public narrative about our project and ensure that papers give us a fair representation.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <h3 class="featurette-subheading Up">Distribution:</h3>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • For scenarios in which industrial-scale pods would be of use, we would lobby local and national government to introduce regulations, requiring companies wishing to build new NOx-emitting factories or power stations to help to offset their emissions
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| − | by installing our pods.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • For scenarios in which street-level pods would be of use, we would liaise with City Councils about which areas to place them in - regardless of the extend to which Councils decide to fund our pods. As our discussions with Councillor Fi Hance and
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| − | Avonmouth Councillor Jo Sergeant showed us, City Councils possess the necessary data and expertise to ensure the most effective and equitable distribution of public pods.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • In scenarios in which public pods would be useful, we would first seek funding for them from the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). As Councillor Fi Hance informed us, national government will be far more likely to possess
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| − | the necessary funds to support at least part of our project’s implementation.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • Should national government fail to fund public pods, we would seek funding or at least subsidies from local government.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • Should this fail, we would seek funding from private companies and individuals. This would be particularly likely to be necessary in one of the scenarios in which economic circumstances were poor and government finances would be particularly limited.
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| − | Here, we would attempt to market our pods to individuals via crowdfunding initiatives as a charitable initiative - something which would benefit many, particularly the more medically vulnerable. We would seek to market our pods to large companies
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| − | as means of improving their public image, by offering them sponsorship opportunities - their logos could be placed upon pods, which would be very much in the public eye. We would do all we could, here, to balance sponsorship requirements with
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| − | what public consultations show are the desired aesthetics for our pod.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • In all scenarios, there is a place for personal, home-use pods. We would likely sell these as a commercial product, and would seek private investment. However, to ensure that not only the wealthy would be able to benefit from our personal pods,
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| − | we would seek national and local government subsidies to help those economically more disadvantaged and living in areas of high NOx pollution to be able to purchase their own pod. We would try to ensure that costs are as low and pods are as affordable
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| − | as possible, to minimise the amount of subsidy money which would be required here.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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| − | • In scenarios in which street pods would be useful, we would liaise with city waste disposal organisations such as Bristol Waste, to see whether the most basic maintenance of our pods could be added to their portfolios of functions.
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| − | </p>
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| − | <p class="lead Up">
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