This article empirically explores the nature of the role of design in the new product development process. The investigation adopts a multiple case study methodology. Data were collected through a six-month interview program carried out with mid-size to large U.K. manufacturing companies. The researchers articulate the scope and detailed nature of actions undertaken by design across all phases of the new product development process. Design functional, integration, and leadership actions are unraveled from the data. A taxonomy characterizing three roles for design in new product development is developed and explained. In the first role, design is explored as a functional specialism.The second categorization develops the role of design as part of a multifunctional team. The third role depicts the designer as process leader. Detailed actions and skills associated with each role are discussed and illustrated. Contextual factors explaining and influencing each design role are unraveled. These are articulated as speed of development process, innovativeness of the product development effort, and use of external design agencies. The implications of these findings for the development of design skills and capabilities are discussed in terms of recruitment, training, and educational policies.

Effective and affordable treatment of waste solids is a key sustainability challenge for the aquaculture industry. Here, we investigated the potential for a deposit-feeding sea cucumber, Holothuria scabra, to provide a remediation service whilst concurrently yielding a high-value secondary product in a land-based recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). The effect of sediment depth, particle size and redox regime were examined in relation to changes in the behaviour, growth and biochemical composition of juvenile sea cucumbers cultured for 81 d in manipulated sediment systems, describing either fully oxic or stratified (oxic−anoxic) redox regimes. The redox regime was the principal factor affecting growth, biochemical composition and behaviour, while substrate depth and particle size did not significantly affect growth rate or biomass production. Animals cultured under fully oxic conditions exhibited negative growth and had higher lipid and carbohydrate contents, potentially due to compensatory feeding in response to higher microphyto benthic production. In contrast, animals in the stratified treatments spent more time feeding, generated faster growth and produced significantly higher biomass yields (626.89 ± 35.44 g m ; mean ± SE). Further, unlike in oxic treatments, growth in the stratified treatments did not reach maximum biomass carrying capacity, indicating that stratified sediment is more suitable for culturing sea cucumbers. However, the stratified sediments may exhibit reduced bioremediation ability relative to the oxic sediment, signifying a trade-off between remediation efficiency and exploitable biomass yield.

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Formulated abalone feeds used by the culture industry are believed to be unsuitable for use at elevated water temperatures (420 1C).The aim of this study was to develop a feed that could safely be fed to abalone cultured at elevated water temperatures by optimizing dietary protein/energy levels. Abalone (54.90 AE 0.08 mm; 28.99 AE 0.16 g) were cultured at either 18, 22 or 24 1C, and fed diets containing graded levels of protein (18^26%) and energy (11.6^16.2 MJ kg À 1 ). Abalone growth was temperature dependent, declining from 4.33 g month À 1 at 18 1C to 0.77 g month À 1 at 24 1C. Shell length and weight gain were independent of dietary protein, provided that the digestible energy content of the diet was not lower than 13.5 MJ kg À 1 . Dietary energy levels below 13.5MJ kg -1 resulted in signi¢cant reductions in shell growth, weight gain and increased mortality from 5% to 27%. Feed consumption of the 22% and 26% protein diets with 11.6 MJ kg À 1 was signi¢cantly higher (0.53 AE 0.04 and 0.55 AE 0.04% bd. wt. day À 1 respectively) compared with abalone fed the 16.2 MJ kg À 1 diets at the same protein levels (combined mean of 0.45 AE 0.04% bd. wt. day À 1 ) indicating that consumption was linked to energy requirement. The growth and mortality results suggest that abalone cultured at these temperatures have a dietary digestible energy requirement of at least 13.5 MJ kg À 1 .

Deposit-feeding invertebrates are proposed bioremediators in microbial-driven sediment-based aquaculture effluent treatment systems. We elucidate the role of the sediment reduction-oxidation (redox) regime in structuring benthic bacterial communities, having direct implications for bioremediation potential and deposit-feeder nutrition. The sea cucumber Holothuria scabra was cultured on sediments under contrasting redox regimes; fully oxygenated (oxic) and redox stratified (oxic-anoxic). Taxonomically, metabolically and functionally distinct bacterial communities developed between the redox treatments with the oxic treatment supporting the greater diversity; redox regime and dissolved oxygen levels were the main environmental drivers. Oxic sediments were colonised by nitrifying bacteria with the potential to remediate nitrogenous wastes. Percolation of oxygenated water prevented the proliferation of anaerobic sulphate-reducing bacteria, which were prevalent in the oxic-anoxic sediments. At the predictive functional level, bacteria within the oxic treatment were enriched with genes associated with xenobiotics metabolism. Oxic sediments showed the greater bioremediation potential; however, the oxic-anoxic sediments supported a greater sea cucumber biomass. Overall, the results indicate that bacterial communities present in fully oxic sediments may enhance the metabolic capacity and bioremediation potential of deposit-feeder microbial systems. This study highlights the benefits of incorporating deposit-feeding invertebrates into effluent treatment systems, particularly when the sediment is oxygenated.