Residential waste collection with side loaders requires double traversal because vehicles service only one kerbside per pass. Consequently, routes optimised for efficiency often result in fragmented service of areas, long time intervals between visiting opposite kerbsides, and complex route shapes that are unintuitive to execute. Therefore, study developed a single-route optimisation framework that balances travel time efficiency with visual attractiveness under side loader operating constraints, including traffic directions, double traversal, and U-turn restrictions. The problem was formulated as an asymmetric travelling salesman problem (ATSP) on a directed network, where nodes represent directed kerbside street segments and travel times are computed as the fastest paths on the underlying road network. Visual attractiveness was quantified using complementary metrics for regional compactness, local compactness, and route complexity. These metrics were defined on an abstract network using straight-line connections to maintain computational tractability. They were combined with travel time in a weighted sum objective and optimised using simulated annealing. This enables a configurable trade-off between visual attractiveness and efficiency. The framework was evaluated on 12 municipal case studies provided by AMCS. Compared to the travel-time-optimal routes generated by AMCS, the framework consistently reduced neighbourhood fragmentation, revisit spans between opposite kerbsides, and intra-route crossings, while moderately increasing total travel time and directed Euclidean distance. A sensitivity analysis showed that uniformly scaling the visual attractiveness weights controls the trade-off between visual attractiveness and efficiency. However, very small scaling factors produced less consistent improvements in visual attractiveness, whereas larger factors yielded diminishing improvements while travel time increased substantially. Overall, the results suggest that visual attractiveness can be formalised on an abstract network and integrated into a configurable optimisation framework to produce visually attractive side loader routes on the road network.

Global food systems face mounting pressure as livestock production contributes disproportionately to greenhouse gas emissions (Aiking et al., 2018). Airports, as high-volume food consumption environments, represent both a source of this impact and an opportunity for change. Royal Schiphol Group has committed to a 50% reduction in Food & Beverage-related CO₂ emissions by 2030, with a key strategy of shifting its food assortment to 60% plant-based ingredients (Royal Schiphol Group, 2024).

Despite this ambition, plant-based sandwiches account for only 5% of total sandwich sales at Loaf, one of Schiphol’s main F&B outlets. At the same time, Schiphol’s passenger satisfaction scores rank below those of comparable international hubs, with the F&B experience scoring particularly low (Schiphol data, 2024–2025). Plant-based options introduced so far have been largely rejected by passengers, putting both sustainability targets and commercial viability at risk (RSG Sustainable Food Route, 2024). This project therefore addressed the question: “How can a design intervention at Schiphol Airport nudge passengers towards sustainable food options?”

A Human-Centered Design approach, structured around the Double Diamond framework, guided the project. Research combined desk research on the protein transition, consumer behaviour theory (including the COM-B model and nudging theory), and airport F&B trends with qualitative user research through travel diaries (n=5), semi-structured interviews (n=14), and terminal interviews (n=6). Insights were synthesised into an empathy map and a choosing mechanism model, and validated through a co-creation session with passengers (Sanders & Stappers, 2012).

The research showed that passengers rely on familiar food as a coping strategy to make a confident choice during a stressful and uncertain travel day. Three must-have design criteria were identified: familiar positioning, guidance, and enabling imagination of taste (Papies et al., 2020; Farrar et al., 2024). This led to the design challenge:
“Design a guiding intervention that enables imagination of taste and builds familiarity around a plant-based sandwich at Loaf.”

Four concept directions were developed and evaluated through co-creation sessions, stakeholder discussions, an experiment with Schiphol employees (n=9), and a between-subjects survey with passengers (n=27). This process resulted in the final concept: Your Schiphol Mix.

The intervention combines three elements. First, Schiphol acts as a guiding selector, presenting a curated set of sandwiches as reliable travel-day options without emphasizing their plant-based nature. Second, a Mix & Match format allows passengers to combine two half sandwiches at no extra cost, lowering perceived risk and enabling imagination of taste. Third, a personalized hospitality interaction, where the employee writes the passenger’s name on the plate and wishes them a good flight, adds a meaningful human gesture to an otherwise anonymous environment (ACI, 2025).

A terminal test validated the Mix & Match format: the plant-based share increased from 16% to 21%, a 31% relative increase, representing roughly a 5% shift from animal-based purchases without explicitly promoting sustainability. Lifecycle assessment estimates suggest that this shift could reduce emissions by approximately 44,500 kg CO₂eq annually at Loaf alone (RIVM, 2024; The Big Climate Database, 2024).

The concept fits within the existing Schiphol–HMSHost partnership and shows potential for scaling across the airport. The project demonstrates that encouraging plant-based choices in airports does not require sustainability messaging, but rather a choice environment that helps passengers make a confident decision before boarding.

This research investigated the relation of multiple factors on the chance for the successful implementation of systems that allow for the shared use of power transport capacity among multiple users. The shift from individually issued power transport capacity to a shared capacity allows for a more efficient usage of the existing power grid. This shared system has the potential to reduce the experienced grid congestion. Despite the benefits these systems can provide, they are implemented in only a few locations.

A scoping literature review was performed and 5 interviews with actors involved in shared power transport capacity pilot projects were conducted. The obtained data in combination with any sources regarding the implementation process of relevant pilot projects was used in a qualitative comparative analysis. The analysis showed four factors necessary for success in all situations as well as four different situations in which different combinations of other factors could result in success. While the sample size was too small to yield results that could be fully validated, a clear distinction between the various situations was identified and the required combination of factors could be explained based on the corresponding cases.

In dynamic sociotechnical contexts, values evolve over time and diverge across stakeholder groups, complicating the coordination of innovation processes through individual and collective commitments. This paper argues that sociotechnical agendas, which are structured sets of technology-related issues that shape attention and guide decision-making, can be a helpful framework for examining the interplay between personal and shared values. We demonstrate how three levels of agenda-setting contribute to the recognition and institutionalization of values: issue salience that determines what values matter, attribute framing that shapes how values are interpreted, and network interconnection that establishes how values relate to each other. We examine sociotechnical agenda-setting as a process through which personal and institutional values are negotiated, aligned, and contested, often under conditions of tension and uncertainty. While sociotechnical agendas can foster consensus and support responsible technological development, they also pose challenges, including power imbalances, selective framing, and psychological influence. The study calls for further research into how transparent and inclusive agenda-setting processes can promote responsible value sharing in ways that advance broader societal goals.

The mechanical and topographical properties of the cellular micro environment play a crucial role in regulating bone cell behavior through mechano transduction. In this thesis, the synergistic influence of 3D-printed meta-biomaterial scaffolds with controlled Poisson’s ratio, and cellulose nano crystals (CNCs) surface coating, on the proliferation, osteogenic differentiation, and mineralization of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts was investigated. Auxetic and non-auxetic micro-architectures were fabricated via two-photon polymerization (2-PP), expressing similar morphological and mechanical properties, except for the Poisson's ratio. Scaffold surfaces were further functionalized with CNCs coatings at different concentrations to assess the contribution of nano-topographical, biochemical and mechanical cues.
Morphological characterization confirmed fabrication of the scaffolds, with dimensions within the 15\% variation from the designed structures, and homogeneous coating deposition. Cellular responses were evaluated over time period of 19 days performing various cellular staining, fluorescence imaging and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The time steps considered were days 3, 7, 9 and 19. Results demonstrated that scaffold geometry alone significantly influenced cell organization and proliferation. Significant differences (p<0.05) were in the number of cells between the auxetic and non-auxetic structures at day 3, across all conditions. The introduction of CNCs coating enhanced cell adhesion and modulated osteogenic outcomes. Notably, coated auxetic scaffolds showed increased Alizarin red staining (ARS) expression compared to coated non-auxetic structures, indicating that auxetic mechanics combined with nano-topographical cues can enhance mineralization of pre-osteoblasts.
Overall, the findings reveal that osteogenic behavior is governed by a synergistic interaction between mechanical architecture and surface topography rather than by a single parameter. This work highlights the potential of mechanically tunable meta-biomaterials integrated with bioactive coatings to engineer microenvironments for bone tissue regeneration and advanced biomaterial design.