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Design thinking is a way of understanding and engaging with the world that has received much attention in academic and business circles in recent years. This article examines a hands-on learning model as a vehicle for developing design thinking capacity in students. An overview of design thinking grounds the discussion of the material-based specialized studio course, Felt Construction. The pedagogical context as well as the components and organization of the course are considered through case studies. The effectiveness of course design is analyzed, and the relevance to other disciplines is addressed, with the intention of providing some flexible strategies that may be used in course design where cultivating design thinking is an objective.

A decade has passed since participants in the World Education Forum committed themselves to achieve, by 2015, the six Education for All (EFA) goals under the Dakar Framework for Action. Despite significant progress, some of the goals are likely to be missed by a large margin. Besides the absence of a well co-ordinated multi-donor approach in education, another major problem is the lack of funds: the EFA financing gap in low-income countries is now estimated at around $16 billion annually. This article zooms in on debt swaps as one particular instrument of innovative financing. More specifically it assesses the macro-economic impacts of debt-for-education swaps and their relation to the aid approach now advocated by the donor community. It does so on the basis of theoretical insights from debt relief and case studies on recent swap initiatives between Germany and Indonesia and between Spain and El Salvador. Our conclusions are mixed. On the one hand, typical debt swaps suffer from macro-economic flaws and, in view of competition amongst sectors, have limited potential in narrowing the EFA deficit. On the other hand, our case studies suggest that debt-for-education swaps can be engineered to better comply with the needs of recipient ownership and could in the future address deserving niche problems. (Contains 15 notes.)

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A decade has passed since participants in the World Education Forum committed themselves to achieve, by 2015, the six Education for All (EFA) goals under the Dakar Framework for Action. Despite significant progress, some of the goals are likely to be missed by a large margin. Besides the absence of a well co-ordinated multi-donor approach in education, another major problem is the lack of funds: the EFA financing gap in low-income countries is now estimated at around $16 billion annually. This article zooms in on debt swaps as one particular instrument of innovative financing. More specifically it assesses the macro-economic impacts of debt-for-education swaps and their relation to the aid approach now advocated by the donor community. It does so on the basis of theoretical insights from debt relief and case studies on recent swap initiatives between Germany and Indonesia and between Spain and El Salvador. Our conclusions are mixed. On the one hand, typical debt swaps suffer from macro-economic flaws and, in view of competition amongst sectors, have limited potential in narrowing the EFA deficit. On the other hand, our case studies suggest that debt-for-education swaps can be engineered to better comply with the needs of recipient ownership and could in the future address deserving niche problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is a superconducting stellarator under construction at the Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany. The magnet system consists of 70 superconducting coils providing magnetic confinement-fields. Before assembly every coil had to pass an acceptance test at the French partner-institute CEA, Saclay, to examine its performance on leak tightness, high voltage strength, ampacity, and hydraulic flow at cryogenic conditions. The testing procedure was mandatory, as access for maintenance or repair after installation will not be viable. Testing followed a well specified routine including tests in warm conditions, during cool down, in cold conditions, during warm up and at last in warm conditions. Measurement was obtained firstly by the facility's instrumentation and secondly by the coil-casing's instrumentation. The received data was transmitted to different ASCII-files for each gauge. To record testing in detail, a meta-document was edited, which follows in its structure the routine mentioned above. Accordingly, the main distinctive functions of the coil during testing are recorded in so called test reports, while deviations from given thresholds and parameters are described in non conformity reports. During testing, organizational and technical challenges had to be mastered and the test program was regularly updated to meet technical improvements, manufacturing requirements and revised assembly schedules. This paper will present the acceptance test program, its development and the gained experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationnel: L’intérêt thérapeutique de la pompe implantable permettant une insulinothérapie intrapéritonéale, est démontré chez des patients diabétiques de type 1 en échec d’une insulinothérapie intensive bien conduite par voie sous-cutanée. La stabilité physicochimique de l’insuline utilisée est un élément déterminant du bon fonctionnement de la pompe implantée. L’insuline hémisynthétique humaine, utilisée jusqu’à présent, l’Insuplant®400IU/mL (Aventis pharma, Frankfurt, Germany) spécifiquement stabilisée par du Genapol®, avait montré ces qualités, mais n’est plus produite. Une nouvelle préparation d’insuline recombinante humaine la remplace, l’Insuman implantable® 400IU/mL (Sanofi-aventis, Deutschland GmbH, Germany). Le but de cette étude est de comparer ces deux préparations en utilisation clinique dans les pompes implantées. Patients et méthodes: Les patients déjà traités par pompe implantée (MIP 2007, Medtronic, USA) délivrant l’Insuplant 400IU/mL, ont été randomisés en deux groupes pour recevoir soit l’Insuman implantable soit l’Insuplant après avoir bénéficié d’un rinçage de la pompe qui a ensuite été remplie en insuline tous les 40±5 jours. L’étude a duré 160±20 jours soit 4 cycles de remplissage. Résultats: Au total, 169 patients ont été randomisés. Après 4 cycles de remplissage, la non infériorité de l’Insuman par rapport à l’Insuplant a été démontrée pour le pourcentage d’erreur de la pompe (rapport entre volume réel d’insuline délivré par la pompe et volume théorique programmé, en base – 0,98±6,4 vs 1,82±4,67 % (m±DS) : IC95 [–5,81 ;–0,50], la variation de l’HbA1c (en base 7,7±0,92 vs 7,7±1,1 %) : IC95 [–0,36 ; +0,11] en analyse PP, sans variation apparente de la dose quotidienne d’insuline. Au cours de l’étude, l’incidence des effets indésirables métaboliques et techniques n’a pas été différente selon le groupe. Conclusion: L’Insuman implantable peut être utilisée de façon efficace et sûre dans les pompes implantées. Ce résultat encourage la diffusion de cette modalité thérapeutique dans le respect des indications et conditions d’utilisation proposées par le groupe EVADIAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]