Recent genomic heritage in Scotland

BACKGROUND: The Generation Scotland Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS) includes 23,960 participants from across Scotland with records for many health-related traits and environmental covariates. Genotypes at ~700 K SNPs are currently available for 10,000 participants. The cohort was designed as a resource for genetic and health related research and the study of complex traits. In this study we developed a suite of analyses to disentangle the genomic differentiation within GS:SFHS individuals to describe and optimise the sample and methods for future analyses. RESULTS: We combined the genotypic information of GS:SFHS with 1092 individuals from the 1000 Genomes project and estimated their genomic relationships. Then, we performed Principal Component Analyses of the resulting relationships to investigate the genomic origin of different groups. We characterised two groups of individuals: those with a few sparse rare markers in the genome, and those with several large rare haplotypes which might represent relatively recent exogenous ancestors. We identified some individuals with likely Italian ancestry and a group with some potential African/Asian ancestry. An analysis of homozygosity in the GS:SFHS sample revealed a very similar pattern to other European populations. We also identified an individual carrying a chromosome 1 uniparental disomy. We found evidence of local geographic stratification within the population having impact on the genomic structure. CONCLUSIONS: These findings illuminate the history of the Scottish population and have implications for further analyses such as the study of the contributions of common and rare variants to trait heritabilities and the evaluation of genomic and phenotypic prediction of disease. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1605-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Increasing frailty is associated with higher prevalence and reduced recognition of delirium in older hospitalised inpatients: results of a multi-centre study

Purpose: Delirium is a neuropsychiatric disorder delineated by an acute change in cognition, attention, and consciousness. It is common, particularly in older adults, but poorly recognised. Frailty is the accumulation of deficits conferring an increased risk of adverse outcomes. We set out to determine how severity of frailty, as measured using the CFS, affected delirium rates, and recognition in hospitalised older people in the United Kingdom. Methods: Adults over 65 years were included in an observational multi-centre audit across UK hospitals, two prospective rounds, and one retrospective note review. Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), delirium status, and 30-day outcomes were recorded. Results: The overall prevalence of delirium was 16.3% (483). Patients with delirium were more frail than patients without delirium (median CFS 6 vs 4). The risk of delirium was greater with increasing frailty [OR 2.9 (1.8–4.6) in CFS 4 vs 1–3; OR 12.4 (6.2–24.5) in CFS 8 vs 1–3]. Higher CFS was associated with reduced recognition of delirium (OR of 0.7 (0.3–1.9) in CFS 4 compared to 0.2 (0.1–0.7) in CFS 8). These risks were both independent of age and dementia. Conclusion: We have demonstrated an incremental increase in risk of delirium with increasing frailty. This has important clinical implications, suggesting that frailty may provide a more nuanced measure of vulnerability to delirium and poor outcomes. However, the most frail patients are least likely to have their delirium diagnosed and there is a significant lack of research into the underlying pathophysiology of both of these common geriatric syndromes

Zero Waste Design Thinking

The fashion system is contributing to the environmental and social crises on an ever increasing scale. The industry must transform in order to situate itself within the environmental and social limits proposed by economist Kate Raworth, and the 17 sustainable development goals set out by the United Nations. This research explored methods of eliminating textile waste through utilising zero waste pattern cutting to expand the outcomes possible within industrial contexts and speculates as to the implications for the wider industry and society. Employing an experimental and phenomenological approach, this thesis outlines the testing of known strategies in the context of industry and responds with new emergent strategies to the challenges that arose. A series of interviews were conducted with designers who have applied zero-waste fashion design in an industry context – both large and small scale – to unpack the strategies used and contextualise the difficulties faced. The findings that emerged from the iterative design practice and the experience of working within the field tests inform the surrounding discussions and reflections. This reflection brings into sharp relief the inherent conflicts that exist within the fashion system and has led to the development of a series of theoretical models.The implications for design and industry are broad. Firstly that while this thesis outlines garment design strategies, and broader – company-wide – approaches that can work to reduce waste in a given context, this research finds that a holistic transformation of the internal design and management processes of the industry is required for them to be successful. In response, theoretical models have been developed which seek to articulate the constraints, roles and actions of design within broader company practices, while contextualising these within the economic system it operates. It is clear that reducing waste will only have a minor positive effect on the environmental outcomes unless we also reduce consumption of raw materials through reducing yield or reducing consumption – ideally both. These findings and models point towards a necessary recalibration of the industry as a whole – small changes are not enough as the existing methods, processes and ethos are deeply embedded, and its agents are resistant to change. The results concur with previous research and conclude that a fundamental shift in thinking is required – one that prioritises a different set of constraints to those the industry and society currently focus on – in order to make the rapid and meaningful change necessary

MakeUse V2: digital textile technology for user modifiable zero waste fashion

The evolving discourse on zero waste fashion design addresses justifications and approaches for designing and making these garments in ways that attempt to fit within the existing structure of fashion education and industry. However, little has been explored about the relationship between the outcomes of zero waste fashion design and the potentially elevated fashion user experience it might enable. This paper and associated creative works explore the emerging field of enriching the fashion user experience: the post-production and post-retail environment; an area that historically the fashion industry has given little attention to. MakeUse builds on Kate Fletcher’s work within Local Wisdom, specifically in the context of what she terms the Craft of Use of clothing, and the application of knowledge and skill which enables us to “mitigate … intensify, and adapt” clothing to suit our lives. MakeUse places zero waste fashion practice in the context of user practice, where the user becomes an agent in both the design and ongoing use and modification of the garment. Through actions and opportunities facilitated by the designer, an enriched designer/maker/user relationship is possible. Using methods such as digital textile print and embroidery, embedded instructional material, online support and distributed production, MakeUse provides user modifiable zero waste fashion products and an associated product use experience that acknowledges both the opportunities and limitations each user brings, while intensifying their skills, knowledge, needs and desires

Hybrid zero waste design practices. : Zero waste pattern for composite garment weaving and its implications

This practice-based design research explores methods of eliminating textile waste through utilising zero waste pattern cutting to expand the outcomes possible through composite garment weaving and speculates as to the implications for the wider industry and society. Employing a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, I tested known strategies in the context of industry and responded with new emergent strategies to the challenges that arose. The findings that emerged from the iterative design practice, and surrounding discussions and reflections, inform the experimental design work that follows. It is this experimental ‘future-making’ that is the focus of this paper, which outlines foundational pattern cutting theory and methods for an emerging field – composite garment weaving – as well as findings relating to the impact and use of technology in the fashion industry while bringing into sharp relief the inherent conflicts that exist within the fashion system

Waste, so What? : A reflection on waste and the role of designers in a circular economy.

This paper discusses research currently being undertaken which addresses the interrelated volume, value and cost of waste and the responsibility designers have in their creation. The paper beginning by outlining the contemporary waste problem (in the fashion industry). Then utilizing observations made during recent field tests - where waste reduction and elimination were applied to existing designs - the impact that explicit and implicit design hierarchies and complexity have on waste minimization attempts are discussed. Questions such as: is waste a problem in the context of proposed circular economy models? After all, if we have a circular economy, then any waste we make can be put back into the cycle. So, will the CE let designers (and industry) off the hook? Lastly, I speculate as to what a fashion industry without waste might look like, discussing my design response to the issues raised

First son : memory and myth-- an adjustment of faith : a written component presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Design in Fashion and Textile Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

First Son is an exploration of cultural change in New Zealand from the 1940s till the 1980s using textiles as medium for communication. Referencing personal memories, contemporary New Zealand mythology, art and design; my work places an ordinary mans life within the sweeping social revolution that occurred over this time. As personal vehicles for expression of both my dead father and the declining rural Pakeha culture he grew up in, the textile objects have become memorials, moving statues for a culture that has been forever changed by war, government, technology and time. My research contributes written and visual material to the fields of post-modern, historical, phenomenological research, within the context of memory, identity, textiles and memorial. Using the memories a group have of an ordinary man who most people have never heard of, I hope to touch a part of all of those who see my work. The specific memories are not common, but the sadness, joy and very act of remembering someone is universal, so I propose that this will speak to all those who view it. I have aimed to create a body of work that is a visual memoir or a memorial in the form of a series of textile based Memory Objects to remember my father and the time he was alive, before those who knew him well are gone. It has used the space we surround ourselves with, particularly dress, to explore the links between the past and the present. It aims to show the importance of remembering, of archiving and presenting the past in an accessible and meaningful way. First Son has also been designed using a method of garment production that has the potential to reduce waste in an otherwise wasteful industry. This further increases the impact of the work beyond historical, social and emotional frameworks and into the environmental context as well

Using design practice to negotiate the awkward space between sustainability and fashion consumption

No abstract availabl

Zero Waste Systems Thinking : Multimorphic Textile-Forms

Zero Waste System Thinking: Multimorphic Textile-Forms is situated in the context of the rapidly unfolding environmental crisis and the dominant response to this in the industry - the circular economy. It began by building on existing knowledge around sustainable fashion and textiles, and zero waste design practice. The research program is constructed from three interconnected theories: transition design; post-anthropocentric design; and design as future-making. It adopts a transition design “posture” of holistic zero waste system design to develop processes for garment design and manufacturing. Zero Waste Systems Thinking: Multimorphic Textile-Forms explores the theoretical, aesthetic and technical development of systems and methods for zero waste textile-forms. It presents a range of experimental field tests, as well as interviews and design experiments using a variety of prototyping methods to deepen understanding of the existing context, and to propose methods and theory for a new understanding of the relationship between designer and system, textile and form. Outside of fully fashioned or 3D knitting, methods for simultaneous textile-form design and construction are limited. Conventionally, weaving is a two-dimensional practice – which through cutting and sewing may become form. Cut-and-sew is the most common method of garment construction used in industry; however, it can also be exploitative, time-consuming and wasteful. The current shallow understanding of the relationship between woven textiles and form limits how designers could transform industries and the built environment. This research questions how technology can further shape form-making, and follows some of the lines of inquiry forged by the work of Issey Miyake and Dai Fujiwara in A-POC, and recent explorations on whole garment weaving by Anna Piper, Jacqueline Lefferts, and Claire Harvey. This research undertook a series of experiments which aimed to expand the form-design methods available for whole garment weaving in the context of zero waste system design. The multimorphic and analogue-digital craft practice develops new understandings of textile design and manufacturing elements, such as jacquard looms and weave structures, for use in micro-manufacturing contexts. Its holistic and disruptive reshaping of form-making has the potential to future-make the industry, our cities and our social fabric.Doctoral seminar will be held online at:https://hb-se.zoom.us/j/68071176889</p