Difference between revisions of "Team:Shanghai United/Integrated Human Practice"

IHP (Integrated Human Practice)

Overview

The concept of “Human Practice” indicates the application of the designed product in society, which entails the practical value of the product and the public’s acceptance of it. Human Practice is foremost for all products, including our biosensors which intend to protect people from arsenic intoxication since the essence of a product is to cater to the demand of this world. Therefore, to figure out the feasible market for our arsenic sensor, we collect many opinions from both experts and the public, then process ethical analysis to the data. Through a multitude of responses, we could enhance the functions of biosensors and pinpoint potential customers. In the following sections, we will exhibit the information from our investigation with different social groups with mathematical.

 

Stakeholders

Background information

Arsenic is a metallic trace element that is present in the environment where we live. However, suppose the arsenic level in the environment is too high, and organisms consume excessive arsenic. In that case, it can directly lead to several diseases and damages to nature. For humans, when arsenic concentrations are greater than 50 µg/L, the function of major human systems will be disrupted, and the risk of cancer will be elevated. Although the world's arsenic consumption is relatively small, several actions, such as mining, and the use and production of pesticide and insecticide, release an excess amount of arsenic into the natural environment (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019). In 1990, excess arsenic was found in Bangladesh, and it was estimated that between 20 and 45 million people were exposed to arsenic levels that far exceed the national and WHO standard of 10 µg/L (WHO, 2018b). Statistically, arsenic levels in the oceans have been even one hundred times higher than normal, leading to arsenic poisoning and contamination in the entire biosphere. As highest-level consumers of the food chain, we consume much more arsenic from our food than how much our bodies can metabolize. Therefore, we must find a solution to reduce workers' exposure in the factory and family members to arsenic and protect the environment.

1. Questionnaire

Firstly, the most direct question is “How broad is your understanding of Arsenic?”. We applied 0-10 for the lowest and the highest degree. The mean answer value we got from this question is 2.39, which indicated an intense left-skewed distribution. In other words, the average understanding level of Arsenic in public is pretty low. This number made us realize that this potential severe hazard to the human body was far less popular among society than it should be.

 

Furthermore, if people don’t have the required understanding of Arsenic, they will not have a clear view of its harmfulness. According to the data, only nine on 374 people answered “Yes” to this question, which is merely 2% in total. On the other hand, 35% of people chose “Have some understanding,” and the majority, 63% of them, chose “Not at all.” From this proportion, it is evident that only a few people know the harm Arsenic can cause, and most people lack knowledge in this field, which is far not enough. Besides, there is a question asking if the answerers know any cases of Arsenic poisoning around them. The positive answer went fewer: only 1% of people chose “Yes.” The people who chose “No” account for 44%, and most people belong to “No idea,” which accounts for 55% in total. This indicates that the more significant problem is that the public does not know Arsenic and its harmfulness. In this case, we need to enlarge the scale of publicity both online and offline, to reach the goal of spreading the required knowledge of Arsenic to ordinary people.

 

Moreover, our teams prepared questions like “If you have ever used Arsenic detective equipment?” and asked the people about the main disadvantage of that equipment. There were only six people who had ever used detective equipment, which account for about 2% in total. The next question should also be that most people (71%) did not know any disadvantages because they do not use detective equipment to test Arsenic. This indicates that it is still rare for ordinary people to operate Arsenic-detective equipment in their daily lives.

However, despite the fourth choice that got most people, the high price and inconvenience of the existing Arsenic-detecting equipment are also factors that hinder this kind of technology from reaching people in each working area and social layer professionals and upper-class only.

 

On the other hand, our team asked if people would like to use Arsenic-detecting equipment that is attractive in price and efficiency. More than half of people chose “Perhaps” even under this assumption; this can also indicate that low price is an essential precondition of people purchasing detective equipment when be combined with the question above. However, there were still 128 people, about 34% in total, who chose “Yes” for their answer, which means that many people are inclined to consider their well-being and family. According to the previous questions, the proportion of these answers might also be caused by the lack of understanding of Arsenic and its harmfulness.

 

According to the question “How did you get to know Arsenic?”, the majority (52%) chose “Internet”. As a result, our team can choose the Internet as the main publicity channel and support it by holding offline lectures and activities simultaneously. In case to increase the awareness of defending Arsenic and the inclination of purchasing detective equipment of the public.

 

2. Filed trips (Street Interview)

We collected opinions from people of different ages and specialized areas randomly on the streets to comprehend people's understanding of arsenic and their acceptance of arsenic testing products. In this part of the interview, we were divided into two groups to expand the interview scope.

According to our survey results, we divided the interviewers into two types: whether they have the purchasing intention for our team's future product or not.

 

First of all, the number of people who tended to buy accounts for 68% of the survey. Among them, young people own a heavy proportion of the interviewees willing to purchase this product. , The elderly the second and the middle-aged the third. To explore the reason for this answer, we analyzed people's feedback on the questionnaire interview questions. More than 90% of the young people who we interviewed knew about arsenic and arsenic compounds.

 

Further investigation shows that most young people had learned from toxic substance publicity and in chemistry classes. Therefore, we can draw a preliminary conclusion: people's attention to arsenic depends on popular science education. In addition, by analyzing people's answers, we found that the interviewees thought that only if science popularization publicity was in place and the instrument was efficient would they consider it. Therefore, we infer that promoting our products is to hold more popular science lectures or publish relevant reports of arsenic poisoning in some famous journals on several social media.

Secondly, for the other portion of those who have no intention to buy, it might be most of them due to their insufficient understanding of arsenic. Its harmfulness caused their unwillingness to purchase detective equipment harm of arsenic. For a simple example, some of the middle-aged people that we interviewed did not know the damage of arsenic to our human body in daily life., Some felt that it had nothing to do with themselves and thought they lived the same life condition no matter with or without before they bought the product arsenic detective devices.; Others believe that the water sources in our daily lives are measured, filtered, and purified, which does not affect our daily lives. They thought that professional medical institutions and Bioscience logical institutions might already have used these instruments more frequently. Our everyday lives feel that they are not close to their own lives and are not preventing arsenic poisoning became unnecessary for our daily lives. For many older people, because they are cheated because they buy health care products, they will be wary of fleece related to unfamiliar products. They presented spectacle and were resistant to our future development even if they were notified of the harmfulness of arsenic. Therefore, many older people now know deeply about the harm of arsenic and heavy metals, but they don't want to buy them. They feel that arsenic has not affected their daily lives, but they are unlikely to buy it.

Finally, according to the analyses above, people should develop their understanding of arsenic, such as how to reasonably sophisticatedly identify places where arsenic may exceed the standard, such as (e.g., heavily polluted areas). Also, it is essential for the public to accurately recognize the harmfulness of arsenic poisoning and accept the arsenic detective equipment in their daily life.

 

3. Experts interview

Synthetic Biology Expert Interview

Q&A

Q1: from the perspective of synthetic biology experts, which scenarios are biosensors suitable for?

A: it is widely used in production; In some products, we use modified microorganisms, such as amino acids or organic acids. These microorganisms need to detect the yield and rate, and usually this detection requires some expensive instruments. Biosensors can reduce cost and save time.

Another area is in life, such as arsenic detection, pesticide detection and heavy metal detection, which are very promising.

 

Q2: can you analyze the advantages and disadvantages of our biosensors?

A: I think your design is still very good, because most people don't know enough about arsenic. Because the conversion signal you detect is a fluorescent signal, you should consider how to effectively identify the fluorescent signal in household equipment. Generally speaking, to read the fluorescence signal, we need another device. You need excitation light, and then it can give you an emission light, which is difficult to detect by the naked eye. So if you put it at home, you need to consider whether you need auxiliary equipment. Or in future design, you can change fluorescence signal into visible light signal.

 

Q3: Thank you, professor. We know that arsenic actually plays a positive role. How can we combine arsenic and biosensors to make life more convenient?

A: as you said, some arsenic compounds are actually harmless, so you can apply some arsenic compounds to some medical preparations, so you can see if this biological detector can also be used in your medical preparations for arsenic.

 

Synthetic Biology Expert Second interview

Q1: In terms of geographical location, which areas of the China currently have more serious arsenic pollution problems?

A: As for the soil on the surface, the Arsenic content in the soil will goes up as the altitude goes up. At the same time, the Arsenic content goes down from Qinghai Tibet Plateau, Southwest China, South China to Northeast China.

 

Q2: In terms of specific sites, which places have relatively prominent arsenic contamination problems? (Our guess is that these sites are concentrated in factories that process arsenic and in certain remote mountain village areas.)

A: The pollution degree of Arsenic is more serious in field and mine than that in the farm. Since there might be some harmful wastes pile up in the field, soil will be seriously polluted by those wastes. At the same time, because people exploit mineral in the mine, there will be more Arsenic goes into the soil.

 

Q3: What are the general sources of arsenic contamination in soils?

A: The first source is the exploiting of Arsenic in the mine. The second source is the pile up of wastes in the field. As for the farm, the main source is chemical fertilizer and pesticides.

 

Q4: What is the difference compared to other soil contaminants? What is the biggest difference?

A: As for organic contaminants, they can be degraded and used as a source of carbon my microorganisms. But Arsenic is a kind of element which likes heavy metals in chemical characteristics, it cannot be degraded by microorganisms. Arsenic can only be transferred by organisms from one place to another place. At the same time, because Arsenic has many valence states, which are trivalent arsenic and pentavalent arsenic. Between them, the one that will harm human body is trivalent Arsenic (The toxicity is 60 times that of pentavalent arsenic). So, we should focus on trivalent arsenic.

 

Q5: What is the general form of arsenic in soil?

A: You should look at the redox localization of the environment. When Arsenic is in the environments like drainage channels which are reductive, Arsenic will present in the form of trivalent Arsenic. But, if Arsenic is in the environment which is oxidative, it will mainly present in the form of pentavalent Arsenic. At the same time, Arsenic could react with other matters to form some kind of complex compound.

 

Q6: What are the natural ways of excretion of arsenic from soil? How does arsenic in the soil transformed into the atmosphere and water sources?

A: Arsenic might turn into some kind of soluble compound after a series chemically and physically effect, then it will easier for Arsenic to be washed by water when it’s raining or when farmers are irrigating the farm and pollutes the water. So, there will be less Arsenic in the soil. But if Arsenic forms some kind of insoluble compound after a series of effect, the it will present in the soil for a long time and aggravates arsenic pollution in soil. There is another possibility that Arsenic might be adsorbed by the soil, but it depends on the PH and the redox potential of the soil. The concertation of soluble compound pf Arsenic in the soil goes up while the PH of the soil goes up and the redox potential of the soil goes down. It’s also possible for Arsenic to be transferred into the air by Weathering.

 

Q7: What are the effects and risks of arsenic contamination in the soil for both local wildlife and humans?

A: Since Arsenic cam not be degraded, so it can only be transferred in different environments. So, it’s quite easy for Arsenic to accumulate in the body of animals. If people eat those animals, the level of Arsenic in human body will gradually goes high.

 

Q8: What is the most important problem that need to be solved in order to reduce the Arsenic contamination in soil?

A: The first problem is the monitor of Arsenic. Since Arsenic is a multivalent states element and the trivalent Arsenic affects human body mostly but the monitor of trivalent Arsenic still has lots of limitations. Also, the instruments that are used to detect the trivalent Arsenic are very expensive, so it will be a big problem. It’s very hard for us the assesses how harmful the trivalent Arsenic in soil can be.

 

Q9: What tools and measures are currently available to prevent and treat arsenic contamination in soil?

A: Up to now, the standard method that is used to detect the presents of Arsenic in soil and air is the Microwave Digestion Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry. It can be used to detect heavy metal as well. The main theory behind this method is that: after samples are digested by microwave, they will form hydrogen arsenide under the reduction of potassium borohydride solution. Then, hydrogen arsenide will form ground-state atoms in Argon hydrogen flame. At last, we use an element lamp to shine laser on the ground-state atoms to make them produce atomic fluorescence. The intensity of atomic fluorescence is direct proportional to the amount of Arsenic presents in the samples, then we can get the amount of Arsenic presents in the sample.

 

Q10: What methods are currently available to detect arsenic in soil, and what equipment and instruments are used to detect arsenic in soil?

A: Fist of all, we should governance from the source. For example, we should prevent Arsenic from entering the soil when piling up wastes in the field. When Arsenic has already polluted the area, the more cutting-edge method is to grow microorganisms and centipede grass together. Since centipede grass has a role of super enrichment to Arsenic, so it can fix Arsenic into one place. The more traditional way is to use pollutant dilution, stable isolation or curing method such as earth carving method and soil turning method. Or we can use Biological, chemical and physical stabilization methods. There was one research which found a kind of bacteria that is highly tolerant to arsenic. We can stable the content of Arsenic in soil by put this kind of bacteria into soil. But we should be aware that this kind of bacteria may affect the local ecological environment, so we should use them carefully.

 

Q11: Finally, I would like to ask you what you think about our products? Or what are your comments on our products?

A: Since you said that you hope you can make your products have a wider application, so you should do more method validation. For example, you can try to find in which range is the concentration of arsenic in soil safe, then you should look at the limit of detection, upper and lower limits of determination of your method. This is the assessment of the feasibility of your method. You could also look at the effect that are brought by factors like PH, cell extract temperature, balance time to your method. Which means that you should assess the stability of your method in various conditions. So, if you want your products to have more practical applicability and replicability, you should assess the effect that are brought by those factors to your method.

 

 

Environmental Science Expert Interview

Summary:

Arsenic can impose a wide range of effects on objects, from industrial and agricultural production to drinking water and food. Arsenic is everywhere. Therefore, arsenic and people's lives closely link at one time. Because arsenic is harmful to the human body at a certain level, the public must prevent arsenic. But at the same time, we know from the interview that the current technology and facilities for detecting arsenic are very troublesome, so it is necessary to develop a research instrument that can see arsenic quickly. And, if we want to solve the problem of arsenic pollution at the root, we need to study the bacteria that can absorb arsenic elements to solve the problem of arsenic pollution more deeply.

Q&A

Hello Professor Wang, we are the iGEM ASeeker team of high school students. Our experimental topic is arsenic detection in the living environment. Our research method is to express an arsenic-induced response system in the cell or cell surface of engineered probiotic bacteria, which is used to monitor the content of arsenic in the environment and provide warnings to people to reduce the damage caused by arsenic to human function. 

 

Q1: What can you tell us about arsenic and arsenic compounds in general that are harmful? 

A: First of all, the source of arsenic is that arsenic compounds are used in both industrial and agricultural production, and there are residues after use - they accumulate in the environment, and in some places, the concentration is high - exceeding environmental standards - and if the human body comes into contact with or consumes food containing arsenic at a concentration exceeding the standard - the human body is affected.

 

Q2: What are the specific effects of arsenic on people?

A: As toxic heavy metal internal organs, the nervous system is affected. This depends on the amount of high and low, high will be acute poisoning, the amount of low will cause chronic poisoning, the human body has chronic damage to the liver damage, nerve damage is more common

 

Q3: Can you tell us about the necessity of testing for arsenic and arsenic compounds, both in the daily life of ordinary people and in the chemical industry? 

A: Detection is complicated. Although there are standardized methods in the country, the existing techniques are complex, so the society does not detect them in time, for example, in agricultural products, water quality, especially drinking water in rural areas, which may lead to arsenic poisoning because they are not detected in time.

It is significant and scientifically valuable to develop a rapid detection method for arsenic in a timely manner.

 

Q4: Is there a relatively effective and convenient method to test for arsenic?

A: Now arsenic detection, a class of water quality arsenic detection, a class of soil arsenic detection, whether water or soil national standards, these standards are generally through some chemical reactions, observe their chemical changes, color changes or even atomic fluorescence, etc.

 

Q5: For our design solution, what are our advantages compared to others' solutions, and what do we need to make up for?

A: Exposure to the different arsenic environments, engineering bacteria will change, through the changes in engineering bacteria to quantify the concentration of arsenic - an agile - do not pre-treat the treatment of concentrated acid and alkali - using engineering bacteria to detect arsenic is a good direction, and there is a successful experience - there are instruments, the instrument will be subject to arsenic stress will emit a different broad wave, in general, or more popular method, if you can find a method sensitive to arsenic, or find an indicator or physiological response to quantify arsenic, so it is very innovative

 

Q6: Our protocol uses engineered probiotics; how can we develop more derivatives based on this approach in the future? For example, to reduce the harm of arsenic and arsenic compounds to the human body and the environmental impact.

A: If we can cultivate arsenic absorbing microorganisms in the culture of engineering bacteria, because in the soil improvement, we also selected many plants that can adsorb arsenic in the soil, through the transfer of arsenic to the plant body and then metabolized out of the plant body, so that it can be used in the treatment of soil and water quality, the role of engineering bacteria in the environment is not blasphemous

 

Q7: Our topic is only a means of detection, so is there any solution to the problem?

A: The solution of arsenic can be divided into two aspects. The first is to pay attention to pollution prevention. Secondly, develop new processes, use fewer arsenic components, use environmentally friendly components, and do good management of pollutant emissions when you have to use them so that they are not discharged into the environment.

There are some arsenic compounds that have been released into the environment, such as ore mining, it will be accompanied by the loss of arsenic if the test exceeds the standard, treatment, for the soil also has treatment methods, and water bodies also have repair methods if it has entered the environment, treatment: soil restoration, water restoration.

 

Q8: Is there anything that we need to pay attention to during the development of our project?

A: Precautions: 1. The impact of a variety of factors on engineering bacteria - because in laboratory conditions can make the impact of engineering bacteria on arsenic, but in nature may not apply, because nature has a variety of heavy metals, a variety of factors will lead to the results will affect the experimental data, which is also a frequent problem in the experimental process, the effect is quite good under laboratory conditions, but the actual application of the effect is not good.

 

Q9: In the homes of the masses, there may not be professional arsenic testing instruments at present; how to simply self-test arsenic and avoid intake of arsenic compounds, for example, how to avoid drinking high arsenic water?

A: In China's tap water plants are tested for arsenic content. The real impact is on people in rural areas of China because many people are still drinking well water, well water is prone to receive agricultural pollution, such as rainwater fertilizer agricultural materials - the boss surname has not tested the qualified, which may be a major source of arsenic impact on the people. To really solve this problem, the state should organize a professional team to do a sample survey of each village and production team to ensure that there is no pollution. The people's homes will not need to do arsenic testing. If the things I mentioned before it does not matter, after all, the cost and difficulty of testing, if there is something like a ph test paper, then it will follow a convenient.

 

Q10: Based on the first question, from your perspective, what will be the future trend of arsenic and arsenic compounds, such as whether it will increase or decrease, and in what parts of the world will there be more impacts in the countries that we know are affected by arsenic? 

A: Environmentalists are aware of the problem, but arsenic cannot be completely eliminated. Just like paper, everyone uses email now, but the paper is also being used, so if there is a reduction in use or even an absolute reduction, there are norms in the production and use of the product, plus finding more environmentally friendly uses, fewer emissions into the environment. But best of all, it is better to reduce the amount of arsenic used and replace existing products with more environmentally friendly ones.

 

Q11: We have a lot of presentations and interviews coming up, and you're the first person we're going to interview. For example, the choice of venue for the presentation, the content of the interview, the choice of presentation method.

A: The topic of arsenic pollution is very sensitive. It involves various environmental media such as drinking water and soil, so the audience is sensitive, the propaganda words on the one hand to emphasize the harm, so that we pay more attention to, more appeal. If the actual publicity for a certain product or a certain place or for space pollution, it may encounter some obstacles, and in China, publicity should pay attention to the sense of proportion, do not create too much panic and negative impact.

 

Market Expert Interview

Summary:

For product marketing, the idea is to go from general to specific and verify the market demand before thinking about the rest.

First, it is important to combine the background to the current situation of our products to do a good analysis of our consumers. There are the following points worth paying attention to.

         Clarify the harm of arsenic elements, according to the harm it brings to determine our target audience.

         Analyze the current environmental issues, such as how much economic loss has caused and how many people have been affected.

         Analyze the situation of the market: Expensive testing machines, low awareness of people's protection, etc., and find out the advantages and significance of the product. And do promotions as well. 

         Analyze competitors and find out the advantages and disadvantages of competitors' products. According to the competitors in the market, we can determine whether we want to do products of low, medium, and high quality, or just cheap products.

         Look at the market from the perspective of the context of national policies and macroeconomics. Pay attention to economic elements, social elements, national development, individual development, consumer trends.

 

For consumers, we can analyze the affected people and classify them to achieve meticulousness. We can develop different products for different people affected by this environmental issue and optimize our products to solve the problem. We can look for companies that need arsenic in their production process or pharmaceutical companies that use arsenic to analyze the upstream and downstream of the product and expand our use. At the same time, we will consider the market value, and if the market value is not high, we will not consider it. Thus, our plan will be based, reliable and convincing. As for the form of investment, there is no need to worry; if it is very attractive and the scale is large, don't worry about investment. The investment can be talked about later. Investors look at the future earnings, not only the stock market. There is an incremental market.

*We can refer to the case of formaldehyde—pre-sales, after-sales, etc.

 

Hazards of arsenic.

1. skin toxicity: darkening of skin color, thickening of the stratum corneum, skin cancer.

2. respiratory toxicity: inflammation of respiratory mucosa, ulcers, and even nasal septum perforation, increase the probability of lung cancer.

3. Hematological toxicity: Bone marrow suppression but a decrease in the number of whole blood cells.

4. Reproductive hazards: It can lead to miscarriage and congenital malformation in women; it can lead to a decrease in sperm quality in men, leading to infertility.

5. Carcinogenicity: skin cancer, lung cancer.

 

Q&A

Q1: After we have planned out our core product, we need to consider the actual product and the Augmented product. How should we design the latter two? And who are our target customers? 

A: The first step is to analyze society's demand, after which the population is then carefully and separated explicitly according to the hazards of arsenic elements, such as the pregnant group and the elderly group. After this classification of the population, the products can then be planned out and divided according to the classified population. 

 

Q2: In terms of price, we want to keep the cost as low as possible while maintaining biosafety to meet our objectives. What steps should we take to achieve this? 

A: the means of price control is determined according to the competitors and market needs. If there is not so much competition in the market, we can set products of different qualities. However, if there are already many detecting instruments on the market, while the price is relatively high, we can only produce cheap products. 

 

Q3: The third point, and we are more concerned at this stage, is what kind of distribution means we should take. The best result is that the consumer can get the instrument easily and quickly. At the same time, a safe means of transportation is a must. What are some suggestions on this? 

A: Again, it is important to understand the market demand and changes and decide according to the consumer needs. Because only by determining the consumer group can we know their preferences. For example, pregnant women may prefer e-commerce; the elderly may prefer their children to buy on their behalf.

 

Q4&Q5: The fourth thing is the one we are most concerned about. Where? When? And by what means should we advertise our products? How do we engage the emotions of our target customers, how do we levitate their interests in our products?

A: Again, it is heavily dependent on the consumers. 

 

Q6: Do you think we have planned enough? What are some other factors do you think we should take into consideration? 

A: Not enough. There is still a lot of analysis not to, such as competitors, target groups, market issues, etc. 

 

Thank you very much. The first part is over and let's move to the second part of the question. 

 

Q7、Q8、Q9: We want to ensure the program is running, so how should we set up a monitoring and evaluation program to prevent accidents? What should remedy problems that continue to occur, such as when a customer believes that the product does not meet expectations? 

A: You can look at Taobao and study how other producers handle this problem. The first step is to appeal to the consumers and then see what we can do about the after-sale part. We have to understand why consumers are angry and what problems we should address. Suppose it is the case that consumers are not satisfied with the product and very likely that they cannot distinguish the colorimetric card or what kind. In that case, it is a problem that occurred in the monitoring part, for example. These are very specific problems, and we can ponder them later.

The more significant part is about safety. If it is related to health problems, we should first focus on national approval and quality control. Be sure to do much testing as possible before the product leaves the factory. You might also refer to the case of formaldehyde and summarize what it does well and what it does not.

 

Q9: About the investment part, how do we attract investors? How to ensure sufficient funding? 

A: Don't worry too much about this one. For start-up funds, we are looking at BC for help, so you do not have to spend much time thinking about it. If the analysis is particularly good and very attractive, then it can be successfully invested in whatever way. And there are so many ways to venture capital in the market. Thus this is not something that needs to be considered now.

 

Q10、Q11、Q12: Since our product uses a relatively new synthetic biology, how should we dispel our customers' doubts? We would like to ask some questions about future development. How should we plan for the next 3-5 years? How do you feel about the market prospects of our products?

A: If the problem we are addressing is that severe, then I am optimistic. China is developing into a developed country in the past few years, people are more and more concerned about their health, and the policy direction is the same. China is developing into a developed country in the past few years, people are more and more concerned about their health, and the policy direction is the same. We should look at the big macroeconomy picture, and consider the social element, the economic element; also focus on national development, individual development, consumer trends.

 

4. Meetups

At the beginning of the dry team’s social research, the potential audience was set to common people and families. The survey and interview that we did were all under this precondition. However, to determine a standard written form of purpose, audience, and product based on the existing approximate concept, the dry team booked a time to hold a meeting with the team leaders of the wet team at 7.31 night. After listening to our current points, the leaders of the wet team gave their advice that was mainly about potential clients. Because the operation of the Arsenic-detecting bacteria is not easy to operate for common people, the potential audience should be altered to factories and environmental monitoring departments. However, considering that the environmental monitoring departments might have already developed their detective equipment, our team finalized the audience to factories.

 

Besides this, in 8.1, the wet team spent two hours explaining their experiment content for the dry team. They clarified the Arsenic-detecting theory of the engineering bacteria and the relations between Arsenic density and the florescent level of colon bacillus. The dry team now acquired a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the wet team’s work. Consequently, the two parts of ASeeker can now coordinate better when transporting the biological research to social implications.

 

Identify Stakeholders

Based on interviews with environmental science experts, marketing experts, and meetups with wet teams, we decided to select factories and organizations that involved the production and emission of arsenic as our stakeholders. In an interview with an environmental science expert, the expert mentioned that machines in the market can accurately measure arsenic levels. Still, each test is very troublesome and will take a pretty long time, so a sensor that can quickly detect arsenic is what the market needs.

Identify Extra Potential Users

Based on street interviews and surveys, we decided that in addition to making organizations and factories as our stakeholders, households with high income will also be a potential user group for us to focus on, since families with relatively high-income people are more concerned about their health. Therefore, we will focus on two social groups simultaneously and help the two main audience groups in the arsenic poisoning problem to reduce their exposure to arsenic and live a better and healthier lifestyle.