Craft connexity: developing a sustainable model for future craft education.

Craft is an anachronism “ discuss ¦ Some twenty-five years ago, on applying for a place at a college of art to study ceramics, Julian was asked to write an essay on the above topic. Naturally he was keen to impress so he responded to the question by declaring his enthusiasm for the craft of the potter. As far as he can remember, he expounded on the importance of striving for standards of fitness and beauty derived from tradition, quoting Bernard Leach. All his essay did was confirm his lack of contemporary knowledge and his anachronistic view of what ceramics could be. In the intervening years, critics of the crafts might well have responded to the question in the following terms ¦ Todays craft represents an unsustainable model of practice. Craft workers survive on poverty wages and indulge in unsafe working practices “ often ecologically unsound, using potentially toxic materials and procedures, fundamentally inefficient, relying on extremely limited levels of output, unwilling to adopt new ways of working. Their designs are often lacking, using the excuse of a rustic aesthetic to justify poor levels of functionality. Modern craft workers are predominantly middle class individuals indulging in an expensive pastime producing vast amounts of unwanted objects dart ¦ This paper attempts to address the potentially damning criticism of contemporary craft expressed in the previous paragraph. If this criticism were correct it would be hard to justify continuing to educate new craft makers. The recent decline in single subject specialist craft courses in the UK may be explained if the perception of contemporary craft matches the criticism above. The paper defines craft connexity in terms of a networking of socially engaged contemporary craft practice. The concept of intelligent making is examined. It will propose new models of craft practice, operating through sustainable environmentally sensitive working methods and materials. The model describes craft makers who are aesthetically aware, IT literate, sometimes acting as social critics and capable of developing new design concepts. The paper sets out the essential ingredients for a modern craft curriculum, which includes research skills, sustainable design practice, collaborative design practice, critical awareness, IT skills and business management. The practice of craft has moved on since Julians first attempt to respond to the question of whether or not craft is an anachronism. It is now time to re-examine and challenge the value of craft education. The authors propose a more sustainable model of craft education and practice

Evaluating GraysNet: an online PDP tool for use in an art and design context.

Personal development planning (PDP) is a phrase that encompasses a number of activities including reflecting on learning, recording of achievement and career planning. Embedding these activities is a goal widely shared across HE, but strategies for achieving it vary widely. This paper provides an overview of some of these strategies including online web-based tools developed to facilitate the PDP process. The paper describes an ADC-LTSN funded research project which evaluated a PDP system embedded within a managed learning environment specifically developed to support teaching and learning in an art and design context. The evaluation has resulted in a reappraisal of the way in which PDP can be supported online and makes recommendations for future developments in this rapidly developing field

The virtual design studio: developing new tools for learning, practice and research in design.

The emergence of new networked technologies such as virtual learning environments (VLEs) and digital libraries are providing opportunities for the development of new virtual tools to assist the design researcher in exploring ideas with the aid of visualising and mapping tools and to provide interfaces that support interdisciplinary collaboration between design teams. In 1998 a research project was initiated to evaluate the potential of computer assisted learning within Art and Design. This resulted in the development of a virtual learning environment designed to support Art and Design students and staff (www.studio-space.net). This paper describes the design process used to develop this VLE and the underlying principles based on a constructivist approach to experiential learning. The on-going research uses the metaphor of the design studio to explore a range of technologies that provide generative tools for the representation of design practice and related research, including the development and evaluation of an online Personal Development Planning tool (PDP) and other information management systems. The paper explores some of the ways in which tools such as; information retrieval applications, white-boards, visual mapping and digital archives can be combined to provide a virtual online design research studio. A further extension to the metaphor provides opportunities for developing new facilities, for example the portfolio, drawing board, bookcase, modelmaking area. The virtual design studio has two potential uses: first, to provide a tool box for the design researcher/educator to undertake collaborative design practice using CAD/CAM applications; second, to provide systems that help to externalise design methodologies, thus making it possible to gain an insight into the design process itself. This latter outcome can be achieved through the use of meta data (such as author, date/time created, version number - i.e. design iteration, note pad) and the representation of critical decision paths and reflection points

Deoxyamphimedine, a Pyridoacridine Alkaloid, Damages DNA via the Production of Reactive Oxygen Species

Marine pyridoacridines are a class of aromatic chemicals that share an 11H-pyrido[4,3,2-mn]acridine skeleton. Pyridoacridine alkaloids display diverse biological activities including cytotoxicity, fungicidal and bactericidal properties, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and topoisomerase inhibition. These activities are often dependent on slight modifications to the pyridoacridine skeleton. Here we demonstrate that while structurally similar to neoamphimedine and amphimedine, the biological activity of deoxyamphimedine differs greatly. Deoxyamphimedine damages DNA in vitro independent of topoisomerase enzymes through the generation of reactive oxygen species. Its activity was decreased in low oxygen, with the removal of a reducing agent and in the presence of anti-oxidants. Deoxyamphimedine also showed enhanced toxicity in cells sensitive to single or double strand DNA breaks, consistent with the in vitro activity

Clinical Perspectives on Using Remote Measurement Technology in Assessing Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, and Depression: Delphi Study

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS), epilepsy, and depression are chronic central nervous system conditions in which remote measurement technology (RMT) may offer benefits compared with usual assessment. We previously worked with clinicians, patients, and researchers to develop 13 use cases for RMT: 5 in epilepsy (seizure alert, seizure counting, risk scoring, triage support, and trend analysis), 3 in MS (detecting silent progression, detecting depression in MS, and donating data to a biobank), and 5 in depression (detecting trends, reviewing treatment, self-management, comorbid monitoring, and carer alert). Objective: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the use cases and related implementation issues with an expert panel of clinicians external to our project consortium. Methods: We used a Delphi exercise to validate the use cases and suggest a prioritization among them and to ascertain the importance of a variety of implementation issues related to RMT. The expert panel included clinicians from across Europe who were external to the project consortium. The study had 2 survey rounds (n=23 and n=17) and a follow-up interview round (n=9). Data were analyzed for consensus between participants and for stability between survey rounds. The interviews explored the reasons for answers given in the survey. Results: The findings showed high stability between rounds on questions related to specific use cases but lower stability on questions relating to wider issues around the implementation of RMT. Overall, questions on wider issues also had less consensus. All 5 use cases for epilepsy (seizure alert, seizure counting, risk scoring, triage support, and trend analysis) were considered beneficial, with consensus among participants above the a priori threshold for most questions, although use case 3 (risk scoring) was considered less likely to facilitate or catalyze care. There was very little consensus on the benefits of the use cases in MS, although this may have resulted from a higher dropout rate of MS clinicians (50%). Participants agreed that there would be benefits for all 5 of the depression use cases, although fewer questions on use case 4 (triage support) reached consensus agreement than for depression use cases 1 (detecting trends), 2 (reviewing treatment), 3 (self-management), and 5 (carer alert). The qualitative analysis revealed further insights into each use case and generated 8 themes on practical issues related to implementation. Conclusions: Overall, these findings inform the prioritization of use cases for RMT that could be developed in future work, which may include clinical trials, cost-effectiveness studies, and the commercial development of RMT products and services. Priorities for further development include the use of RMT to provide more accurate records of symptoms and treatment response than is currently possible and to provide data that could help inform patient triage and generate timely alerts for patients and carers

Denial of long-term issues with agriculture on tropical peatlands will have devastating consequences

Non peer reviewe

On the propagation and leakage of solar acoustic p modes into the solar atmosphere

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

How robust are reductions in modeled estimates from GTAP-BIO of the indirect land use change induced by conventional biofuels?

Evidence from modeling studies shows that Indirect land use change (ILUC) emissions associated with biofuel policies play an important role in determining the climate performance of those policies, but the magnitude of these emissions for any given biofuel is contentious and subject to uncertainty. In this study, we examine the development since 2008 of the computable general equilibrium model of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP-BIO) as an ILUC modeling tool. While developments to this model over the past decade have resulted in much lower ILUC values being proposed for U.S. corn ethanol and soy biodiesel by the most recent papers than in earlier work, we find that these developments have been adopted based on limited or flawed evidence. Adjustments to the model and changes to input parameters have strengthened the role in the model of productivity increases as compared to land use changes in meeting feedstock demand without compelling justification, while new emission factors developed for use with the GTAP-BIO results are seriously flawed in a way that underestimates ILUC emissions. We argue that the combination of these effects has introduced a significant optimism bias into the ILUC emissions results reported in more recent studies using the GTAP-BIO framework.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable