IntroductionWhether a result of the financial crisis, the public perception of massive overconsumption, or global climate change, designers are increasingly motivated "to do good for society." This interest seems to manifest itself primarily in two ways. First, designers and design companies are behaving in more socially responsible ways in their product development. A focus on the use of recyclable materials, the rejection of child labor, and the use of sheltered workshops are possible consequences of such an attitude. Second, designers are using their design skills to tackle social problems. In these cases, designers apply design thinking and design methodologies to social issues to create innovative solutions. With this interest, education, safety, and health care have become domains for designers.

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IntroductionAuditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are prevalent experiences that can induce distress and impede social functioning. While most voice hearers benefit from antipsychotic medication or cognitive–behavioural therapy, additional effective interventions are needed to reduce the burden of experiencing AVH. ‘Temstem’ is an easily accessible and useable smartphone application that was developed by designers in close cooperation with voice hearers and experts. By using language games, Temstem aims to reduce distress and improve social functioning.MethodsThis is a single-blind multicentre randomised controlled trial with two arms: ‘Temstem+AVH monitoring’ versus ‘AVH monitoring’ (total n=100). Participants are adult patients who suffer daily from AVH and will be recruited in outpatient units. Primary assessment in daily life is made by the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and daily monitoring with the PsyMate app. During an ESM period of 6 days, participants assess their mental state (including AVH and context) several times a day by filling in short questionnaires. There are three 6-day ESM periods: at baseline (week 0–1), post-treatment (weeks 5–6) and follow-up (weeks 9–10). In addition, during the entire 10-week study period, all participants monitor their AVH two times a day with a short assessment via the PsyMate app. Participants in the Temstem+AVH monitoring condition are provided with the Temstem app from week 1 to 6. Other assessments made at baseline, post-treatment and follow-up are based on questionnaires and a clinical interview.Ethics and disseminationThe results from this study will provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of Temstem, a non-invasive and easily accessible app for voice hearers, and insight into the determinants of optimal use. Results will be disseminated unreservedly, irrespective of the magnitude or direction of the effects. This study protocol was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the VU University Medical Centre (METC number: 2015.435/NL53684.029.15).Trial registration numberISRCTN75717636; Pre-results.

This paper reports on a study concerning the comprehension of an experimental hand motion language in shape conceptualization. Hand motion is regarded as a prospective input mechanism for computer aided conceptual design systems for initial shape design of consumer durables. Our hand motion language has been developed based on the analysis of the (a) information necessary to describe shape concepts, (b) descriptive and indicative capabilities of human hands, and (c) cognitive and perceptive aspects of processing hand motions. This language was used in designed experiments to describe simple, compound and hybrid shapes for designers and tested with respect to comprehensibility. The subjects were asked to reconstruct the presented shapes by sketching on paper. Comprehension of the hand motion language has been evaluated in terms of fidelity and efficiency. Fidelity was expressed in terms of the number of deviations of the sketches of the test shapes from the existing CAD models. Efficiency was expressed as the proportion of the time needed to understand the test shapes communicated by hand motions and the time needed for the presentation. The results clearly indicate the potentials of a HML in shape conceptualization. In addition, the experiments revealed several new issues related to the application of the hand motion language in a multi-modal interface. The most important one is the need of chunking of the hand motion sequences in a way that enables the computer system to reliably reconstruct shapes and the designers to understand the formation of shapes on a higher semantic level. These issues will be addressed in our future research.

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Our globalized world is encountering problems on an unprecedented scale. Many of the issues we face as societies extend beyond the borders of our nations. Phenomena such as terrorism, climate change, immigration, cybercrime and poverty can no longer be understood without considering the complex socio-technical systems that support our way of living. It is widely acknowledged that to contend with any of the pressing issues of our time, we have to substantially adapt our lifestyles. To adequately counteract the problems of our time, we need interventions that help us actually adopt the behaviours that lead us toward a more sustainable and ethically just future. In Designing for Society, Paul Hekkert and Nynke Tromp provide a hands-on tool for design professionals and students who wish to use design to counteract social issues. Viewing the artefact as a unique means of facilitating behavioural change to realise social impact, this book goes beyond the current trend of applying design thinking to enhancing public services, and beyond the idea of the designer as a facilitator of localized social change.

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Heavy metal tungsten alloys (HMTAs) have been found to be safer alternatives for making military munitions. Recently, some studies demonstrating the toxic potential of HMTAs have raised concern over the safety issues, and further propose that HMTAs exposure may lead to physiological disturbances as well. To look for the systemic effect of acute toxicity of HMTA based metals salt, (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR) spectroscopic profiling of rat urine was carried out. Male Sprague Dawley rats were administered (intraperitoneal) low and high dose of mixture of HMTA based metals salt and NMR spectroscopy was carried out in urine samples collected at 8, 24, 72 and 120 h post dosing (p.d.). Serum biochemical parameters and liver histopathology were also conducted. The (1)H NMR spectra were analysed using multivariate analysis techniques to show the time- and dose-dependent biochemical variations in post HMTA based metals salt exposure. Urine metabolomic analysis showed changes associated with energy metabolism, amino acids, N-methyl nicotinamide, membrane and gut flora metabolites. Multivariate analysis showed maximum variation with best classification of control and treated groups at 24h p.d. At the end of the study, for the low dose group most of the changes at metabolite level reverted to control except for the energy metabolites; whereas, in the high dose group some of the changes still persisted. The observations were well correlated with histopathological and serum biochemical parameters. Further, metabolic pathway analysis clarified that amongst all the metabolic pathways analysed, tricarboxylic acid cycle was most affected at all the time points indicating a switchover in energy metabolism from aerobic to anaerobic. These results suggest that exposure of rats to acute doses of HMTA based metals salt disrupts physiological metabolism with moderate injury to the liver, which might indirectly result from heavy metals induced oxidative stress.