Bringing Action into View: Provocation and Ambiguity in Touch and Talk sessions

This paper presents a research approach to investigate the body styles, embodied engagements and physical activity that designers bring to their creative work. The approach utilizes a set of designed objects in the context of the study termed `Provocative artefacts'. These are under-determined three dimensional artefacts designed to elicit designerly ways of acting and moving in participatory research situations called Touch and talk sessions. This approach is grounded in shared knowledge of both the researcher and participants within the research sessions. The paper raises questions to be addressed by this approach in relation to a designer's embodied ways of knowing: What is the body style designers utilise when they engage in the interpretive work of design? And secondly, what is the significance of this body style to the iterative, projective and interpretive work of designing? The broader aim of the study is to extend understanding of design action as embodied ways of knowing that are distinctive to the creative work of design. By placing emphasis on what designers do, that is the physical interactions with designed objects and how they interact with other designers in naturalistic research situations, the research brings into focus the inseparability of bodily comportment, practical activity and emergent understanding within the iterative projection of design possibilities

Thematizing Change: Creativity, Dynamic Practices and Sustainability

Sustainable fashion seeks to bring about change in the way we carry out our practices. Such a change requires a reconsideration of what constitutes change. Creativity, as understood in the field of design, is commonly understood to be an object-focused activity with associations to innovation, aesthetic distinction and originality. Creative fashion is often viewed as the ability of fashion designers to produce fashion garments of distinction, originality and beauty. The extent to which those engaged in fashion design aspire to these forms of distinction means other possible courses of change-oriented action may remain unexamined. This paper brings into relief two contrasting notions of fashion creativity, one concerned primarily with the fashion garment, the other focussed on more exploratory and experimental fashion activity

Public Fitting

Collaborative project between Todd Robinson and Mark Titmarsh. Project featured live performance where paint was poured onto a series of garments worn by models. The outcomes of this art-fashion production-performance included a combination of garments, video, painting that combined to form a productive site specific infrastructure. The project undertook a practice based investigation into the intersections between art, fashion, painting and textiles within a performative context. The catalogue produced alongside the exhibition situated the project within a historical dialogue between between fields of fashion and art. In particular the project explored contemporary exchanges between fashion designers and visual artists through an innovative model of interdisciplinary art-fashion practice. This model of practice places significant emphasis on linking both the productive activity of painting/clothes making and its presentation as a performative activity

Material Thinking

In the field of fashion and textiles, frameworks tend to focus on fashion and dress as cultural or functional activity, media image or commodity. Alternatively, as a product of techniques, processes and materials. Less focus is dedicated to fashion and textile outcomes as part of embodied experience, the phenomenal and sensible. Material thinking reflects on how the tactile and material presence of fashion and textile products orient corporeal understanding in particular ways

Exponentially Increasing Incidences of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma in Europe Correlate with Low Personal Annual UV Doses and Suggests 2 Major Risk Factors

For several decades the incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) steadily increased in fair-skinned, indoor-working people around the world. Scientists think poor tanning ability resulting in sunburns initiate CMM, but they do not understand why the incidence continues to increase despite the increased use of sunscreens and formulations offering more protection. This paradox, along with lower incidences of CMM in outdoor workers, although they have significantly higher annual UV doses than indoor workers have, perplexes scientists. We found a temporal exponential increase in the CMM incidence indicating second-order reaction kinetics revealing the existence of 2 major risk factors. From epidemiology studies, we know one major risk factor for getting CMM is poor tanning ability and we now propose the other major risk factor may be the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) because clinicians find β HPVs in over half the biopsies. Moreover, we uncovered yet another paradox; the increasing CMM incidences significantly correlate with decreasing personal annual UV dose, a proxy for low vitamin D3 levels. We also discovered the incidence of CMM significantly increased with decreasing personal annual UV dose from 1960, when it was almost insignificant, to 2000. UV and other DNA-damaging agents can activate viruses, and UV-induced cytokines can hide HPV from immune surveillance, which may explain why CMM also occurs in anatomical locations where the sun does not shine. Thus, we propose the 2 major risk factors for getting CMM are intermittent UV exposures that result in low cutaneous levels of vitamin D3 and possibly viral infection

Low-dose computed tomography for lung cancer screening in high risk populations: a systematic review and economic evaluation

This is the final version. Available from NIHR Journals Library via the DOI in this record.The dataset associated with this article is located in ORE at: https://doi.org/10.24378/exe.564Background Diagnosis of lung cancer frequently occurs in its later stages. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) could detect lung cancer early. Objectives To estimate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of LDCT lung cancer screening in high risk populations. Methods Clinical effectiveness A systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing LDCT screening programmes with usual care (no screening) or other imaging screening programme (such as chest X-ray (CXR)) was conducted. Bibliographic sources included MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library. Meta-analyses, including network meta-analyses, were performed. Cost-effectiveness An independent economic model employing discrete event simulation and using a natural history model calibrated to results from a large RCT was developed. There were twelve different population eligibility criteria and four intervention frequencies (single screen, triple screen, annual screening and biennial screening) and a no screening control arm. Results Clinical effectiveness Twelve RCTs were included, four of which currently contribute evidence on mortality. Meta-analysis of these demonstrated that LDCT with up to 9.80 years of follow-up was associated with a non-statistically significant decrease in lung cancer mortality (pooled RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.74 to 1.19). The findings also showed that LDCT screening demonstrated a non-statistically significant increasein all-cause mortality. Given the considerable heterogeneity detected between studies for both outcomes, the results should be treated with caution. Network meta-analysis including six RCTs was performed to assess the relative effectiveness of LDCT, CXR and usual care. The results showed that LDCT was ranked as the best screening strategy in terms of lung cancer mortality reduction. CXR had a 99.7% probability of being the worst intervention with usual care intermediate. Cost-effectiveness Screening programmes are predicted to be more effective than no screening, reduce lung cancer mortality and result in more lung cancer diagnoses. Screening programmes also increase costs. Screening for lung cancer is unlikely to be cost-effective at a threshold of £20,000/QALY, but may be cost-effective at a threshold of £30,000/QALY. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for a single screen in smokers aged 60–75 years with at least a 3% risk of lung cancer is £28,169 per QALY. Sensitivity and scenario analyses were conducted. Screening was only cost-effective at a threshold of £20,000/QALY in a minority of analyses. Limitations Clinical effectiveness The largest of the included RCTs compared LDCT with CXR screening rather than no screening. Cost-effectiveness A representative cost to the NHS of lung cancer has not been recently estimated according to key variables such as stage at diagnosis. Certain costs associated with running a screening programme have not been included. Conclusions LDCT screening may be clinically effective in reducing lung cancer mortality but there is considerable uncertainty. There is evidence that a single round of screening could be considered cost-effective at conventional thresholds, but there is significant uncertainty about the effect on costs and the magnitude of benefits. Future work Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness estimates should be updated with the anticipated results from several ongoing RCTs (particularly NELSON).This report was commissioned by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme as project number 14/151/0

Liquid Polymorphism and Double Criticality in a Lattice Gas Model

We analyze the possible phase diagrams of a simple model for an associating liquid proposed previously. Our two-dimensional lattice model combines oreintati onal ice-like interactions and \"{}Van der Waals\"{} interactions which may be repulsive, and in this case represent a penalty for distortion of hydrogen bonds in the presence of extra molecules. These interactions can be interpreted in terms of two competing distances, but not necessarily soft-core. We present mean -field calculations and an exhaustive simulation study for different parameters which represent relative strength of the bonding interaction to the energy penalty for its distortion. As this ratio decreases, a smooth disappearance of the doubl e criticality occurs. Possible connections to liquid-liquid transitions of molecul ar liquids are suggested

Winter wheat roots grow twice as deep as spring wheat roots, is this important for N uptake and N leaching losses?

Cropping systems comprising winter catch crops followed by spring wheat could reduce N leaching risks compared to traditional winter wheat systems in humid climates. We studied the soil mineral N (Ninorg) and root growth of winter- and spring wheat to 2.5 m depth during three years. Root depth of winter wheat (2.2 m) was twice that of spring wheat, and this was related to much lower amounts of Ninorg in the 1 to 2.5 m layer after winter wheat (81 kg Ninorg ha-1 less). When growing winter catch crops before spring wheat, N content in the 1 to 2.5 m layer after spring wheat was not different from that after winter wheat. The results suggest that by virtue of its deep rooting, winter wheat may not lead to high levels of leaching as it is often assumed in humid climates. Deep soil and root measurements (below 1 m) in this experiment were essential to answer the questions we posed

Caring About the Shape of Mental Health Nursing: A survey investigating practitioner’s perceptions towards potential changes to undergraduate education

While there is a growing disquiet about the future of mental health nursing, there is little in the way of an organised, unified response from mental health nurses. The Health and Social Care Information Centre report a fall in the number of mental health nurses of more than 10% over the past five years. A survey was launched to explore stakeholders perspectives on the future of mental health nursing. The interest in and the analysis of this survey indicates that we are at the start of a key discussion rather than at the end point of consensus. It is vital that mental health nurses have opportunities to consider and test their opinions on these issues and the confidence to speak up and be hear