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"Designers Middle East"
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Research on key factors influencing Chinese designers’ use of AIGC: An extension based on TAM and TRI
With the rapid development of AI intelligent technology, AIGC can bring an innovative revolution to art creation, providing designers with unlimited possibilities but also challenges. These challenges affect the willingness to adopt and constrain the sustainable development of AIGC. The purpose of this study is to analyse the factors of designers’ adoption intention behaviours. This study reconstructed the research model by combining the factors of AIGC technology characteristics and interactivity, technology acceptance model, technology readiness model, etc. The empirical study was conducted from the dual perspectives of AIGC application characteristics and designers’ psychology, in order to predict the factors that predict designers’ behavioural intentions to use AIGC. In this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted among designers in China and 462 valuable responses were received. Through structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis, the study found that: (1) AIGC’s technical features and interactivity positively affect perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness, but the interactive features do not directly affect perceived usefulness; perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness positively affect designers’ intention to adopt AIGC applications; (2) optimism and innovation positively affect technical features and designers’ intention to adopt; Insecurity negatively affects designers’ willingness to adopt, and insecurity does not affect technical features; discomfort does not affect designers’ technical features and willingness to adopt. This study further extends the theoretical models of TAM(Technology Acceptance Model) and TRI(Technology Readiness Model), provides a theoretical basis for studying designers’ adoption behaviour of AIGC, and enriches the application groups and domains of the theoretical models of TAM and TRI. The results of this study provide inspiration for the development, design, and marketing of AIGC applications, contributing to the realisation and further adoption of AIGC applications, as well as to the professional development of designers.
Journal Article
Chinese Immigrant Caregivers: Understanding Their Unmet Needs and the Co-Design of an mHealth App
Immigrant caregivers support the aging population, yet their own needs are often neglected. Mobile technology-facilitated interventions can promote caregiver health by providing easy access to self-care materials.
This study employed a design thinking framework to examine Chinese immigrant caregivers' (CICs) unmet self-care needs and co-design an app for promoting self-care with CICs.
Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in conceptual design and prototype co-design phases.
Participants reported unmet self-care needs influenced by psychological and social barriers, immigrant status, and caregiving tasks. They expressed the need to learn to keep healthy boundaries with the care recipient and respond to emergencies. Gaining knowledge was the main benefit that drew CICs' interest in using the self-care app. However, potential barriers to use included issues of curriculum design, technology anxiety, limited free time, and caregiving burdens.
The co-design process appears to be beneficial in having participants voice both barriers and preferences.
Journal Article
Crafting a Postcolonial (Inter)national Identity: Malaysian Pewter Company Royal Selangor’s Branding Strategies (1970–1992)
Conventional viewpoints on global branding for design-focused consumer goods presuppose national identities as a given and prerequisite to market expansion, the key examples being Danish design furniture, Swiss watches, and Parisian fashion. Through the case study of Royal Selangor—a Malaysian family firm specializing in manufacturing pewter tableware and gifts—this study analyzes how businesses in former colonies adapt their branding strategies to transitioning ideas on national identities and economic development in the postcolonial era by drawing upon cosmopolitan worldviews of malleable identities and utilizing ties with former colonizers to gain cultural capital domestically and abroad. This study engages with theoretical frameworks of business history, organizational studies, and nationalism to explore how companies in developing countries in Southeast Asia that are also former colonies interact with colonial histories and participate in postcolonial nation-building through branding and entrepreneurship.
Journal Article
The Formation of a Technology-Based Fashion System, 1945–1990: The Sources of the Lost Competitiveness of Japanese Apparel Companies
Over the past two decades, the Japanese apparel industry has lost its competitiveness after experiencing a period of fast growth from the postwar years to the early 1990s. In international literature in social sciences, most scholars offer ethnic-based explanations of fashion in Japan, stressing some specificities such as street fashion or star designers in Paris. This article, however, argues that such views are biased and cannot explain the current lack of competitiveness of the Japanese apparel industry. Using the concept of the “fashion system” and following a business history-oriented approach, we offer a new interpretation of the emergence of Western clothing and fashion in Japan during the second part of the twentieth century. This interpretation demonstrates that the characteristics of the Japanese fashion system lie in a focus on the issues of production and technology, both of which led both to an extreme segmentation of the domestic market and to weaker brands.
Journal Article
Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) with synthetic/designer unnatural nucleoside analogs: an in silico study
Context
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in December 2019, it developed into a pandemic affecting all the countries and millions of people around the globe. Until now, there is no medicine available to contain the spread of the virus. As an aid to drug discovery, the molecular docking and molecular dynamic tools were applied extensively. In silico studies made it possible for rapid screening of potential molecules as possible inhibitors/drugs against the targeted proteins. As a continuation of our drug discovery research, we have carried out molecular docking studies of our 12 reported unnatural nucleosides and 14 designer Avigan analogs with SARS-CoV-2, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), which we want to report herein. The same calculation was also carried out, taking 11 known/under trail/commercial nucleoside drug molecules for a comparison of the binding interactions in the catalytic site of RdRp. The docking results and binding efficiencies of our reported nucleosides and designer nucleosidic were compared with the binding energy of commercially available drugs such as remdesevir and favipiravir. Furthermore, we evaluated the protein-drug binding efficiency and stability of the best docked molecules by molecular dynamic studies (MD). From our study, we have found that few of our proposed drugs show promising binding efficiency at the catalytic pocket of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp and can be a promising RdRp inhibitor drug candidate. Hence, this study will be of importance to make progress toward developing successful nucleoside-based drugs and conduct the antiviral test in the wet lab to understand their efficacy against COVID-19.
Method
All the docking studies were carried out with AutoDock 4.2, AutoDock Vina and Molegro Virtual Docker. Following the docking studies, the MD simulations were carried out following the standard protocol with the GROMACS
ver. 2019.6
. by applying the CHARMM36 all-atom biomolecular force field. The drug-protein interaction was studied using the Biovia Discovery Studio suite, Ligplot software, and Protein–Ligand Interaction Profiler (PLIP).
Graphical abstract
Journal Article
Optimal Decision Model for Sustainable Hospital Building Renovation—A Case Study of a Vacant School Building Converting into a Community Public Hospital
Much attention has been paid to hospitals environments since modern pandemics have emerged. The building sector is considered to be the largest world energy consumer, so many global organizations are attempting to create a sustainable environment in building construction by reducing energy consumption. Therefore, maintaining high standards of hygiene while reducing energy consumption has become a major task for hospitals. This study develops a decision model based on genetic algorithms and A* graph search algorithms to evaluate existing hospital environmental conditions and to recommend an optimal scheme of sustainable renovation strategies, considering trade-offs among minimal renovation cost, maximum quality improvement, and low environmental impact. Reusing vacant buildings is a global and sustainable trend. In Taiwan, for example, more and more school space will be unoccupied due to a rapidly declining birth rate. Integrating medical care with local community elder-care efforts becomes important because of the aging population. This research introduces a model that converts a simulated vacant school building into a community public hospital renovation project in order to validate the solutions made by hospital managers and suggested by the system. The result reveals that the system performs well and its solutions are more successful than the actions undertaken by decision-makers. This system can improve traditional hospital building condition assessment while making it more effective and efficient.
Journal Article
Are Construction Clients Ready to Lead the Lean Initiative?
Research Question: What are the current competencies of construction clients that can facilitate the implementation of lean projects? How evolved are these competencies for clients to assume their crucial role in such a process? Purpose: The client plays a vital role in driving and setting the project framework thus greatly influencing the successful implementation of lean. However, this issue has not been given due attention in the literature. This study aims at identifying the status of the characteristics, behaviors and practices of Middle Eastern construction clients. Research Method: A thorough literature review to identify the lean competencies of clients, the categorizing of the most relevant factors related to the role and impact of clients, and the analysis of the data collected through an online data collection survey. Findings: Results reveal that clients are regarded as knowledgeable and involved. However, they seem to persist in taking unilateral decisions, to focus on short-term financial goals while neglecting the importance of enforcing collaboration measures. Limitations: The assessment of construction client's competencies was done from the perspective of designers and contractors instead of that of clients. Implications: This study paves the road for future studies to further dwell into the critical role of construction clients in promoting the successful implementation of lean. Value for practitioners: Gives insight into the behavior and lean-enabling competencies of clients to designers and contractors desiring to work with clients in emerging countries.
Journal Article
Psychological and behavioural drivers of male fashion leadership
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors affecting male fashion leadership behaviour. The study examined the effect of fashion consciousness, fashion knowledge, mood enhancement, decision-making confidence and brand switching as the psychological factors. It also included the influence of behavioural factors such as the information sources, attributes of purchasing fashion clothing and type of retailers on male fashion leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
– The data were collected through a structured questionnaire distributed in the main shopping districts of Beirut, Lebanon, during March 2012.
Findings
– The study uncovered that fashion consciousness, fashion knowledge, confidence in decision making and mood enhancement are to be the most important psychological factors influencing male fashion leadership behaviour. The study also found that frequency of reading fashion magazines is negatively and significantly affecting fashion leadership. Male fashion leaders use colleagues and friends as the main information sources for fashion. The effect of attractiveness, brand name, store image and quality of clothing is positive and significant whilst value for money negatively and significantly influences male fashion leadership. Male fashion leaders mainly shop from specialty shops, chain stores, department stores and the internet.
Originality/value
– Although there are a handful of studies which examined female fashion leadership, the male fashion leadership concept has not been extensively addressed in the literature. In an attempt to at least partially address this, the study attempts to identify the factors affecting male fashion leadership behaviour in Lebanon.
Journal Article
Amazigh Arts in Morocco
In southeastern Morocco, around the oasis of Tafilalet, the Ait Khabbash people weave brightly colored carpets, embroider indigo head coverings, paint their faces with saffron, and wear ornate jewelry. Their extraordinarily detailed arts are rich in cultural symbolism; they are always breathtakingly beautiful—and they are typically made by women. Like other Amazigh (Berber) groups (but in contrast to the Arab societies of North Africa), the Ait Khabbash have entrusted their artistic responsibilities to women. Cynthia Becker spent years in Morocco living among these women and, through family connections and female fellowship, achieved unprecedented access to the artistic rituals of the Ait Khabbash. The result is more than a stunning examination of the arts themselves, it is also an illumination of women's roles in Islamic North Africa and the many ways in which women negotiate complex social and religious issues. One of the reasons Amazigh women are artists is that the arts are expressions of ethnic identity, and it follows that the guardians of Amazigh identity ought to be those who literally ensure its continuation from generation to generation, the Amazigh women. Not surprisingly, the arts are visual expressions of womanhood, and fertility symbols are prevalent. Controlling the visual symbols of Amazigh identity has given these women power and prestige. Their clothing, tattoos, and jewelry are public identity statements; such public artistic expressions contrast with the stereotype that women in the Islamic world are secluded and veiled. But their role as public identity symbols can also be restrictive, and history (French colonialism, the subsequent rise of an Arab-dominated government in Morocco, and the recent emergence of a transnational Berber movement) has forced Ait Khabbash women to adapt their arts as their people adapt to the contemporary world. By framing Amazigh arts with historical and cultural context, Cynthia Becker allows the reader to see the full measure of these fascinating artworks.
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