Developing Expertise and Connoisseurship Through Handling Objects of Good Design: Example of the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection

This article takes an existing collection of design objects, the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection, to discuss issues of expertise, connoisseurship, and taste-formation. The article examines how the discipline of design history provides appropriate methodologies which explain expertise and connoisseurship in design with reference to the taste agenda informing the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection. The investigation focuses on disentangling and appraising the collection’s dual identity: as the repository of a historically contained notion of taste and as an active educational agent, being currently utilized in the University of the Arts London as a learning resource. The article proposes “handling” as a relevant research perspective. Handling’s particular advantages in investigating material culture are presented with reference to the increased importance of object-based learning and the need to extend the dominance of vision and language as the main learning modalities. The conclusion argues that while taste-formation on the principles of “good design” proved a flawed project, the practice of handling objects is of unique pedagogical value and fosters the development of expertise and connoisseurship in design

Pedagogies of ‘Good Design’ and Handling in Relation to the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection

The present thesis investigates educational aspects of material culture, examining the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection as a case study for the teaching of ‘good design’ in post-war Britain from 1951 to 1977. The methodological approaches used are drawn from the disciplines of design history, material culture studies, educational theory,museology and sociology. The main objectives of the thesis aim to examine ‘good design’ as an educational project, to establish the socio-cultural contexts that produced the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection, to relate these contexts to the premise of ‘good design’, and to assess the Collection’s educational affordances, both historical and contemporary. In order to illuminate how the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection represented the didacticism of ‘good design’, the investigation locates the historical and educational roots of ‘good design’ in relation to specific time-frames and practices, especially with regards to initiatives driven by government. The thesis examines good design’s alignment to the terms ‘modern’/‘modernism’/ ‘modernity’ as these have been used within design history, and it demonstrates how signifieds pertaining to ‘good design’ change over time. I have used Bourdieu’s theory of taste-formation to investigate the extent to which the formation of taste, as identified in the project of ‘good design’, had been implemented with regards to the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection in order to influence social positioning and consumer choices. However, the thesis argues that the modalities of language and vision,which Bourdieusian analysis relies on, need to be extended. I have therefore considered the contribution of ‘handling’ and I have argued its importance as an educational method. The thesis shows that as education in Britain evolved from didactic models to learner-centred, coconstructiveones, the Collection’s educational pertinence shifted from the aesthetic exemplar to the handling resource. The investigation demonstrates the significance of the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection as a resource in itself and as paradigmatic of object-based-learning. In addition, the thesis presents a methodological example of how a poorly-documented collection may be examined, thus adding new approaches to the repository of design historical research

The digital student experience at UAL

This report presents an investigation into the student experience in digital contexts at UAL. It provides insights into areas of practice and communication that are high in students’ minds, and explores how we can make better use of technology to manage and meet students’ expectations. The research is based on a University-wide survey, which received 433 responses across all colleges and a wide range of disciplines. The survey design was informed by the opinions expressed in a series of small-scale focus groups. Conducting the survey at this later stage enabled us to elicit more detailed data about the themes that emerged during the focus groups. Moodle was a focal point of the work as it is the most frequently used and well-known element of the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) services provided by UAL. However findings were also made about Myblog.arts and Workflow, UAL’s blogging and e-portfolio platforms

Chronic Osteomyelitis With Proliferative Periostitis of the Mandible in a Child Report of a Case Managed by Immunosuppressive Treatment:Report of a Case Managed by Immunosuppressive Treatment

Background: Osteomyelitis with proliferative periostitis is a relatively uncommon inflammatory condition of the jaws, mainly characterized by periosteal formation of reactive bone. It primarily affects children and adolescences, also referred to as Garre's osteomyelitis, more frequently involving the molar region of the mandible. Cases lacking an obvious source of infection may have an immunologically mediated etiopathogenesis, falling under the spectrum of primary chronic osteomyelitis or chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO). Case report: Herein, we present a case of chronic osteomyelitis in a 6.5-year-old girl, who suffered from recurrent painful episodes of swelling of the mandible for the last 2 years, previously requiring hospitalization and administration of intravenous (IV) antibiotics and NSAIDs with limited responsiveness. The biopsy showed features consistent with osteomyelitis with proliferative periostitis. The patient was initially managed with an IV combination antibiotic regimen with only partial improvement. The possibility of an autoimmune mechanism in the context of primary chronic osteomyelitis or CRMO was considered, and immunosuppressive therapy (TNF inhibitor etanercept along with corticosteroids and methotrexate) was administered, resulting in clinical resolution. Conclusions: Osteomyelitis and its childhood variants are relatively rare and their management presents several challenges. Although typically treated with administration of antibiotics, possibly along with surgical intervention, other treatment modalities may be necessary for resilient and persistent cases. In a subset of cases, especially in the absence of local infectious factors, immunologically mediated mechanisms may play an important role and appropriate immunosuppressive therapy may be effective

A randomized clinical trial of topical dexamethasone vs. cyclosporine treatment for oral lichen planus

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a common, frequently symptomatic, immune-mediated disease. Various treatments have been used for symptomatic OLP, including corticosteroids and immunosuppressants administered topically or systemically. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of topical dexamethasone vs. topical cyclosporine in treatment of symptomatic OLP. Thirty-two patients with biopsy-proven symptomatic OLP were randomly assigned to two therapeutic groups: dexamethasone 2mg/5ml or cyclosporine 100mg/ml, both administered topically in a swish and spit method three times a day for 4 weeks. The patients were followed up for a total of 6 months. Assessed parameters included clinical scoring (according to Thongprasom?s scale, 0-5), pain (VAS scale, 0-10), dysphagia and speech difficulties (none, mild or severe). Possible side effects, including fungal overgrowth, were also recorded. At the end of the 4-week treatment period, both dexamethasone and cyclosporine showed a statistically significant improvement in clinical scoring (p<0.025 and p=0.034, respectively), which was better with dexamethasone (p=0.001). In addition, both dexamethasone and cyclosporine induced statistical significant improvement in pain and dysphagia (and speech difficulties for dexamethasone), without significant differences between the two groups. Regarding side effects, patients in the dexamethasone group developed candidiasis more frequently compared to cyclosporine (p=0.031). At the end of the 6-month follow-up period, the difference in response between the two groups was not statistically significant. Interestingly, a trend for further improvement compared with the end of the 4-week treatment period was noticed only for patients treated with cyclosporine. Despite the small number of enrolled patients, topical cyclosporine treatment induces a significant clinical improvement in symptomatic OLP patients, which, compared to topical dexamethasone, appears to be less pronounced during initial administration, but capable to induce further improvement after discontinuation with a satisfactory long-term remission in the absence of significant side effects. This study may contribute to a better understanding of the differences in effectiveness of OLP topical treatments and guide future larger scale clinical trials

Εύρεση Υπό-Γεγονότων Χρησιμοποιώντας Μέσα Κοινωνικής Δικτύωσης

Η παρούσα πτυχιακή εργασία είναι βασισμένη στη δημοσίευση (paper) “Automatic SubEvent Detection in Emergency Management using Social Media” και σκοπός της είναι να μελετήσει πειραματικά τα διάφορα στάδια υλοποίησης ενός μηχανισμού αυτόματης εύρεσης υπό-γεγονότων μέσα σε ένα αρχικό γεγονός, χρησιμοποιώντας μέσα κοινωνικά δικτύωσης όπως περιγράφονται στη δημοσίευση, κάνοντας ωστόσο ορισμένες διαφοροποιήσεις. Ο μηχανισμός αυτός αποτελείται από τα εξής στάδια: εύρεση δεδομένων, προ-επεξεργασία (pre-processing) δεδομένων, συσταδοποίηση (clustering) και ανάλυση των τελικών συστάδων (clusters)-αποτελεσμάτων. Τα δεδομένα που θα χρησιμοποιήσουμε, θα τα λάβουμε από τη μεγαλύτερη πλατφόρμα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης, το Twitter , τα οποία δεν θα είναι άλλα από τα λεγόμενα tweets που έχουν κάνει διάφοροι χρήστες σε ένα καθορισμένο χρονικό διάστημα. Στη συνέχεια, θα εισάγουμε τα δεδομένα αυτά στο εργαλείο (tool) WEKA και θα κάνουμε μια προ-επεξεργασία, εφαρμόζοντας μια σειρά ενεργειών, για να τα φέρουμε στη μορφή που θέλουμε. Έπειτα, θα προχωρήσουμε σε συσταδοποίηση των δεδομένων, χρησιμοποιώντας τον αλγόριθμο k-means και τέλος σε εξαγωγή των αποτελεσμάτων για ανάλυση. Θα υπάρχουν κάποιες μικρές διαφορές σε σχέση με τη δημοσίευση που αναφέρεται παραπάνω, οι οποίες αφορούν κυρίως την πηγή των δεδομένων και τον αλγόριθμο συσταδοποίησης. Συγκεκριμένα, στη δημοσίευση χρησιμοποιούνται δεδομένα από τις πλατφόρμες YouTube και Flickr σε αντίθεση με το Twitter που επιλέξαμε εμείς, ενώ ο αλγόριθμος συσταδοποίησης που χρησιμοποιούμε είναι ο k-means σε αντίθεση με τον SOM (Self Organizing Map). Παρά τις διαφοροποιήσεις αυτές, θα παρατηρήσουμε έπ(ειτα από πειραματική μελέτη, ότι τα αποτελέσματα που παράγονται, πλησιάζουν σε μεγάλο βαθμό εκείνα της δημοσίευσης, που σημαίνει ότι μέσα από κάποιο επείγον γεγονός, μπορούμε να χρησιμοποιήσουμε δεδομένα από μεγάλες πλατφόρμες προκειμένου να εντοπίσουμε μικρότερα σημαντικά γεγονότα και να αντιδράσουμε σε αυτά.This bachelor thesis is based on the “Automatic Sub-Event Detection in Emergency Management using Social Media” paper and its purpose is to conduct experimental studies on the various stages of a mechanism implementation that automatically detects sub-events when a large event occurs, using social media the way it is described on the paper, but with few alterations. This mechanism consists of the following stages: data collection, data preprocessing, clustering and analysis of the final clusters-results. The data that we will use, are collected by the biggest social media platform, Twitter, and consist of various tweets, generated by the users of the platform within a specific period of time. Next, we are going to import our data into the WEKA tool and preprocess it until we reach the appropriate data-form that we need. After the data preprocessing is completed, we will execute the K-means clustering algorithm and then export the clusters-results so we can later analyze them. There will be a few differences with the paper, mostly the way we collect the data and execute the clustering algorithm. Specifically, in the paper, data is collected from social media platforms like Flickr and YouTube and not from Twitter, while the clustering algorithm that is being used is the Self Organizing Map algorithm and not K-Means. Despite those differences, we will notice after experimental studies that our results are similar to the results that are presented in the paper, which means that when a big event occurs, we can use data from social media platforms to detect sub-events and react to them

Juvenile trabecular ossifying fibroma : immunohistochemical expression of MDM2, CDK4 and p53 compared to conventional ossifying fibroma

Juvenile ossifying fibroma (JOF) is an uncommon benign fibro-osseous lesion of the craniofacial skele- ton; compared to conventional ossifying fibroma (OF), JOF is characterized by local aggressiveness and propensity for recurrence. The bio

Canalicular adenoma with unicystic morphology. A rare entity

Canalicular adenoma (CA) is a benign salivary gland tumor (SGT) almost exclusively affecting the minor salivary glands, predominantly of the upper lip, and exhibiting characteristic histopathologic features. As observed in several other SGTs, a commonly