Fit for purpose? Pattern cutting and seams in wearables development

This paper describes how a group of practitioners and researchers are working across disciplines at Nottingham Trent University in the area of Technical Textiles. It introduces strands of ongoing enquiry centred around the development and application of stretch sensors on the body, focusing on how textile and fashion knowledge are being reflexively revealed in the collaborative development of seamful wearable concepts, and on the tensions between design philosophies as revealed by definitions of purpose. We discuss the current research direction of the Aeolia project, which seeks to exploit the literal gaps found in pattern cutting for fitted stretch garments towards experiential forms and potential interactions. Normative goals of fitness for purpose and seamlessness are interrogated and the potential for more integrated design processes, which may at first appear ‘upside down’, is discussed

Crafting the Composite Garment: The role of hand weaving in digital creation

There is a growing body of practice-led textile research, focused on how digital technologies can inform new design and production strategies that challenge and extend the field. To date, this research has emphasized a traditional linear transition between hand and digital production; with hand production preceding digital as a means of acquiring the material and process knowledge required to negotiate technologies and conceptualize designs. This paper focuses on current Doctoral research into the design and prototyping of 3D woven or 'composite' garments and how the re-learning, or reinterpreting, of hand weaving techniques in a digital Jacquard format relies heavily on experiential knowledge of craft weaving skills. Drawing parallels between hand weaving and computer programming, that extend beyond their shared binary (pixel-based) language, the paper discusses how the machine-mediated experience of hand weaving can prime the weaver to ‘think digitally’ and make the transition to digital production. In a process where the weaver acts simultaneously as designer, constructor and programmer, the research explores the inspiring, but often indefinable space between craft and digital technology by challenging the notion that 'the relationship between hand, eye and material’ naturally precedes the use of computing (Harris 2012: 93). This is achieved through the development of an iterative working methodology that encompasses a cycle of transitional development, where hand weaving and digital processes take place in tandem, and techniques and skills are reinterpreted to exploit the advantages and constraints of each construction method. It is argued that the approach challenges the codes and conventions of computer programming, weaving and fashion design to offer a more sustainable clothing solution

Novel systemic therapies in atopic dermatitis : what do we need to fulfil the promise of a treatment revolution?

Patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) who do not adequately respond to topical therapy and phototherapy often need systemic immunomodulatory treatment to control their symptoms. Conventional systemic agents, such as ciclosporin, azathioprine, and methotrexate, have been used for decades, but there are concerns about their safety profile. There are now many novel systemic agents emerging through clinical trials, which may have great potential in the treatment of AD. Despite this, there are very few data comparing the performance of these drugs against each other. The purpose of this article is to review the current systemic therapies in AD and present an indirect comparison of systemic AD treatments using effectiveness and safety data from published randomised controlled trials, highlighting important remaining gaps in knowledge. Although the latest developments in systemic AD treatments are exciting and dearly needed, further work is required before the promise of a therapeutic revolution becomes reality

The Maker and The Made

Marg: A Magazine of the Arts is an arts and culture magazine well renowned for the high quality of its textual and graphic content. The imagery that I created for this article was featured on the magazine’s front cover. I contributed a photographic essay on the textile practitioner, Susie Vickery. Vickery and I spoke at length for my photographic essay to engage and contextualise her work. Vickery divides her time between the UK and India and has worked on NGO projects with local crafts- and tradespersons in Mumbai’s slums. Vickery’s work interrogates the textile and performance traditions of India and the UK with a pronounced focus on tailoring in Mumbai and London. This photographic essay provides aesthetic and theoretical frames for analyses of internationalist textile art

Epimeric Face-Selective Oxidations and Diastereodivergent Transannular Oxonium Ion Formation Fragmentations: Computational Modeling and Total Syntheses of 12-Epoxyobtusallene IV, 12-Epoxyobtusallene II, Obtusallene X, Marilzabicycloallene C, and Marilzabicycloallene D

The total synthesis of 12-epoxyobtusallene IV, 12-epoxyobtusallene II, obtusallene X, marilzabicycloallene C and marilzabicycloallene D as halogenated C15-acetogenin twelve-membered bicyclic and tricyclic ether bromoallene-containing marine metabolites from Laurencia species are described. Two enantiomerically pure C4-epimeric dioxabicyclo[8.2.1]tridecenes were synthesised by E-selective ring-closing metathesis where their absolute stereochemistry was previously set via catalytic asymmetric homoallylic epoxidation and elaborated via regioselective epoxide-ring opening and diastereoselective bromoetherification. Epimeric face-selective oxidation of their Δ12,13 olefins followed by bromoallene installation allowed access to the oppositely configured 12,13-epoxides of 12-epoxyobtusallene II & 12-epoxyobtusallene IV. Subsequent exploration of their putative biomimetic oxonium ion formation-fragmentations reactions revealed diastereodivergent pathways giving marilzabicycloallene C and obtusallene X respectively. The original configurations of the substrates evidently control oxonium ion formation and their subsequent preferred mode of fragmentation by nucleophilic attack at C9 or C12. Quantum modelling of this stereoselectivity at the ωB97X-D/Def2-TZVPPD/SCRF=methanol level revealed that in addition to direction resulting from hydrogen bonding, the dipole moment of the ion-pair transition state is an important factor. Marilzabicycloallene D as a pentahalogenated twelve-membered bicyclic ether bromoallene was synthesised by a face-selective chloronium ion initiated oxonium ion formation-fragmentation process followed by subsequent bromoallene installation

(E-2-13C)-Non-2-enoic acid

<p>To a stirred solution of either (1-13C)-1-bromonona-1,2-diene [(1-13C)-4] (100 mg, 0.49 mmol) in acetone (2 mL) at -40 °C was added a 0.10 M solution of DMDO in acetone (3.20 mL, 0.320 mmol). The colourless solution was warmed to room temperature and stirred overnight. The solvent was removed in vacuo and the residue extracted with Et2O (3 × 2 mL) and petroleum ether (3 × 2 mL). The combined organics were evaporated to give a yellow oil (104 mg). Column chromatography (petroleum ether : EtOAc 4 : 1 to 1 : 2) gave (E-2-13C)-5 (10 mg, 0.064 mmol, 14%, 96% 13C-2, 4% 13C-1 atom) and (Z-2-13C)-5 10 mg, 0.064 mmol, 14%, 96% 13C-2, 4% 13C-1 atom) as colourless oils [the 13C content at the 1- and 2-positions were deduced by inspection of their 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra (see ESI p44-45)]. (E-2-13C)-5: Rf 0.14 (petroleum ether : EtOAc 6 : 1); IR (neat) 3300-2800, 1692, 1627 cm-1; 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ 7.06 (ddt, J = 15.6, 7.0, 1.8 Hz, 1H, β-H), 5.78 (ddt, 1JCH = 163, J = 15.6, 1.5 Hz, 1H, -H), 2.21 (ddq, J = 6.8, 6.0, 1.5 Hz, 2H, CH2CH=13CH), 1.48 – 1.40 (m, 2H, CH2), 1.32 – 1.22 (m, 6H, 3 × CH2), 0.87 (t, J = 7.0 Hz, 3H, CH3); 13C NMR (101 MHz, CDCl3) δ 170.8 (d, J = 74.2 Hz, CO2H), 152.4 (d, 1JCC = 69.7 Hz, β-C), 120.3 (-13C), 32.3 (CH2), 31.6 (CH2), 28.8 (CH2), 27.8 (CH2), 22.5 (CH2), 14.1 (CH3); MS (CI+, NH3) m/z 175 (M + NH4)+; HRMS (CI+, NH3) m/z calcd for C8(13C)H22NO2 (M + NH4)+ 175.1527, found 175.1527.</p

Epimeric Face-Selective Oxidations and Diastereodivergent Transannular Oxonium Ion Formation Fragmentations: Computational Modeling and Total Syntheses of 12-Epoxyobtusallene IV, 12-Epoxyobtusallene II, Obtusallene X, Marilzabicycloallene C, and Marilzabicycloallene D

The total syntheses of 12-epoxyobtusallene IV, 12-epoxyobtusallene II, obtusallene X, marilzabicycloallene C, and marilzabicycloallene D as halogenated C₁₅-acetogenin 12-membered bicyclic and tricyclic ether bromoallene-containing marine metabolites from <i>Laurencia</i> species are described. Two enantiomerically pure C₄-epimeric dioxabicyclo[8.2.1]­tridecenes were synthesized by <i>E</i>-selective ring-closing metathesis where their absolute stereochemistry was previously set via catalytic asymmetric homoallylic epoxidation and elaborated via regioselective epoxide-ring opening and diastereoselective bromoetherification. Epimeric face-selective oxidation of their Δ^12,13 olefins followed by bromoallene installation allowed access to the oppositely configured 12,13-epoxides of 12-epoxyobtusallene II and 12-epoxyobtusallene IV. Subsequent exploration of their putative biomimetic oxonium ion formation–fragmentations reactions revealed diastereodivergent pathways giving marilzabicycloallene C and obtusallene X, respectively. The original configurations of the substrates evidently control oxonium ion formation and their subsequent preferred mode of fragmentation by nucleophilic attack at C₉ or C₁₂. Quantum modeling of this stereoselectivity at the ωB97X-D/Def2-TZVPPD/SCRF = methanol level revealed that in addition to direction resulting from hydrogen bonding, the dipole moment of the ion-pair transition state is an important factor. Marilzabicycloallene D as a pentahalogenated 12-membered bicyclic ether bromoallene was synthesized by a face-selective chloronium ion initiated oxonium ion formation–fragmentation process followed by subsequent bromoallene installation