Nature as paradigm for sustainability in the textile and apparel industry

Imagine if clothing of the future would adapt, grow, self repair and change appearance. The relationship between wearer and garment would be that of symbiosis enabled by developments in material science that produce textiles able to imitate functionalities of living organisms rather than just the properties of natural fibres. We can expect clothing of the future to host an array of new properties that may interact or integrate with the body, self maintain, reproduce and self assemble to accommodate changes in our activity and environment. Materials and structures in nature already demonstrate these functions and can indicate ways of transferring the technology into clothing. Biomimetics can operate as a platform to accommodate these future requirements and provide a new perspective in the design and assembly of clothing systems

D-STEM: a Design led approach to STEM innovation

Advances in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) disciplines offer opportunities for designers to propose and make products with advanced, enhanced and engineered properties and functionalities. In turn, these advanced characteristics are becoming increasingly necessary as resources become ever more strained through 21st century demands, such as ageing populations, connected communities, depleting raw materials, waste management and energy supply. We need to make things that are smarter, make our lives easier, better and simpler. The products of tomorrow need to do more with less. The issue is how to maximize the potential for exploiting opportunities offered by STEM developments and how best to enable designers to strengthen their position within the innovation ecosystem. As a society, we need designers able to navigate emerging developments from the STEM community to a level that enables understanding and knowledge of the new material properties, the skill set to facilitate absorption into the design ‘toolbox’ and the agility to identify, manage and contextualise innovation opportunities emerging from STEM developments. This paper proposes the blueprint for a new design led approach to STEM innovation that begins to redefine studio culture for the 21st Century

Biomimetics and the design of outdoor clothing.

Biomimetics is the transfer of technology from biology into the man-made world; this chapter focuses on applications specific to outdoor clothing. An introduction to the discipline along with some key developments is followed by an outline of the requirements of clothing performance specifically designed for protection in cold outdoor conditions and examples of biomimetic technology that offers such functionality

Active Fibre

An active fibre comprising material activated by an external stimulus, wherein the fibre has a first configuration in an unactivated state, and in response to activation by the external stimulus the fibre adopts a second, increased twist, configuration, relative to the first configuration, and wherein the fibre can reversibly move between the active state and the unactivated state

Two Middle Bronze Age Pottery Kilns at Plasi, Marathon

This paper publishes two pottery kilns excavated at Plasi in Marathon (Attica) in 2016-17 as part of the excavations of the Department of History and Archaeology, of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The morphological and technological traits of these structures are discussed in detail and their relative dating is considered. A comparative examination of kiln construction technology is included with the aim of placing the kilns within the broader context of the late Middle Bronze Age. Special emphasis is given on the study of ‘technological choices’. Integrated in their archaeological context, these choices are then discussed within the framework of broader societal changes, particularly in relation to the introduction and spread of new know-how at Plasi. It is argued that certain technological choices associated with one of the two kilns may relate to the interest of certain individuals in the Middle Bronze Age to produce and make use of distinctive pottery, at a time when material culture appears to become an increasingly important element of social discourse

Body-mind unity and the spiritual dimension of Modern Postural Yoga

This article is concerned with the connection between body and mind that the practice of yoga is expected to develop and it aims specifically to examine the relationship between this body–mind connection and the spiritual dimension of yoga practice. The article particularly focuses on contemporary forms of yoga. Since these forms feature predominantly the practice of yoga postures or asanas, the term Modern Postural Yoga is employed.The phenomenological approach renders yoga ahistorical and ostensibly concentrates on the individual and her experience. The cultural materialist viewpoint cannot account for the ways in which yoga can act as a technique for empowerment and spiritual cultivation. More importantly, both currents seem to exist as possibilities within the same class,even within the same body

Two Middle Bronze Age Pottery Kilns at Plasi, Marathon

This paper publishes two pottery kilns excavated at Plasi in Marathon (Attica) in 2016-17 as part of the excavations of the Department of History and Archaeology, of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The morphological and technological traits of these structures are discussed in detail and their relative dating is considered. A comparative examination of kiln construction technology is included with the aim of placing the kilns within the broader context of the late Middle Bronze Age. Special emphasis is given on the study of ‘technological choices’. Integrated in their archaeological context, these choices are then discussed within the framework of broader societal changes, particularly in relation to the introduction and spread of new know-how at Plasi. It is argued that certain technological choices associated with one of the two kilns may relate to the interest of certain individuals in the Middle Bronze Age to produce and make use of distinctive pottery, at a time when material culture appears to become an increasingly important element of social discourse

D‐STEM: a Design led approach to STEM innovation

Abstract: Advances in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) disciplines offer opportunities for designers to propose and make products with advanced, enhanced and engineered properties and functionalities. In turn, these advanced characteristics are becoming increasingly necessary as resources become ever more strained through 21st century demands, such as ageing populations, connected communities, depleting raw materials, waste management and energy supply. We need to make things that are smarter, make our lives easier, better and simpler. The products of tomorrow need to do more with less. The issue is how to maximize the potential for exploiting opportunities offered by STEM developments and how best to enable designers to strengthen their position within the innovation ecosystem. As a society, we need designers able to navigate emerging developments from the STEM community to a level that enables understanding and knowledge of the new material properties, the skill set to facilitate absorption into the design ‘toolbox’ and the agility to identify, manage and contextualise innovation opportunities emerging from STEM developments. This paper proposes the blueprint for a new design led approach to STEM innovation that begins to redefine studio culture for the 21st Century

Equals in solidarity: Orfanotrofio’s housing squat as a site for political subjectification across differences amid the “Greek crisis”

This article engages with the political struggles staged by illegalised migrants and activists in solidarity amid the long summer of migration and the “Greek crisis”. Grounding its analysis on Orfanotrofio’s housing squat in Thessaloniki, it narrates how such struggles are articulated to politicise migration and stage the equality of newcomers—migrants and refugees—and locals. Drawing on Jacques Rancière’s political writings and contemporary geographical work on solidarity, the article argues that such struggles not only disrupt the exclusionary ordering of our cities but also construct political spaces and infrastructures of dissensus wherein equals in solidarity discuss common political problems and devise common political strategies. Through the notion of equals in solidarity, the article investigates how the performative enactment of equality can form the basis for solidarities across differences and analyses how some of the tensions that emerge around collective political subjectification are negotiated. Building on this, it explores some of the challenges and limitations that these struggles face in their efforts to transform the existing order of the city

Seasonal Changes in Leaf Tissue Rehydration of One Annual and Two Perennial Grass Forage Species Induced by Bioclimate

Bioclimate signifies the continuous interplay between plants and climate factors (primarily drought) and has a direct impact on the water relations and the duration of the rehydration process in water stressed plants. To explore the association between bioclimate and water physiology of forage species in semi-arid Mediterranean grasslands, we determined the seasonal variation in leaf water potential, turgid weight and relative water content in wild growing Dactylis glomerata L., Bromus inermis Leyss (perennial) and Bromus sterilis L. (annual) during the growing season. The study was conducted at the farm of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The results of the current study reveal that B. sterilis maintained high levels of water potential most probably by accelerating its biological cycle and decreasing water content because it fails to sustain turgidity. Dactylis glomerata and B. inermis presented even higher water contents than B. sterilis for the same water potential. Dactylis glomerata exhibited substantially higher water potential and content than B. inermis by keeping the rehydration duration stable. The extensive creeping rhizome seems to allow B. inermis to sustain high values of water potential and content possibly ensuring turgidity. Regardless of the grass species the duration of rehydration ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 hours throughout the growing season. Our findings demonstrate that (a) D. glomerata and B. inermis are better adapted to Mediterranean semiarid conditions than B. sterilis and (b) turgid weight in Mediterranean forage species can safely be determined after a rehydration period of 3.5 hours