Glasgow School of Art

In mountainous regions, climate warming is expected to shift species' ranges to higher altitudes. Evidence for such shifts is still mostly from revisitations of historical sites. We present recent (2001 to 2008) changes in vascular plant species richness observed in a standardized monitoring network across Europe's major mountain ranges. Species have moved upslope on average. However, these shifts had opposite effects on the summit floras' species richness in boreal-temperate mountain regions (+3.9 species on average) and Mediterranean mountain regions (-1.4 species), probably because recent climatic trends have decreased the availability of water in the European south. Because Mediterranean mountains are particularly rich in endemic species, a continuation of these trends might shrink the European mountain flora, despite an average increase in summit species richness across the region.

Environment-health research has shown significant relationships between the quantity of green space in deprived urban neighbourhoods and people's stress levels. The focus of this paper is the nature of access to green space (i.e., its quantity or use) necessary before any health benefit is found. It draws on a cross-sectional survey of 406 adults in four communities of high urban deprivation in Scotland, United Kingdom. Self-reported measures of stress and general health were primary outcomes; physical activity and social wellbeing were also measured. A comprehensive, objective measure of green space quantity around each participant's home was also used, alongside self-report measures of use of local green space. Correlated Component Regression identified the optimal predictors for primary outcome variables in the different communities surveyed. Social isolation and place belonging were the strongest predictors of stress in three out of four communities sampled, and of poor general health in the fourth, least healthy, community. The amount of green space in the neighbourhood, and in particular access to a garden or allotment, were significant predictors of stress. Physical activity, frequency of visits to green space in winter months, and views from the home were predictors of general health. The findings have implications for public health and for planning of green infrastructure, gardens and public open space in urban environments.

The recycling of demolished masonry rubble as coarse aggregate in new concrete represents an interesting possibility at a time when the cost of dumping such material is on the increase. With the number of readily accessible disposal sites around major cities in the world decreasing in recent years and disposal volume and maximum sizes of waste being restricted, the cost of dumping construction and demolition debris has increased substantially over recent years. This cost increase has been further fueled in the United Kingdom and other countries by the introduction of a landfill tax by governments and local authorities for the dumping of such waste. Due to the growing concerns over the environmental impact of aggregate extraction and the continued rise in aggregate demand, it is clear that the building and construction industry is ready to accept recycled and secondary aggregates. This paper provides a review of previous work covering the use of demolished waste, especially crushed brick, as the coarse aggregate in new concrete.

Recent advances in 3D bioprinting allow for generating intricate structures with dimensions relevant for human tissue, but suitable bioinks for producing translationally relevant tissue with complex geometries remain unidentified. Here, a tissue-specific hybrid bioink is described, composed of a natural polymer, alginate, reinforced with extracellular matrix derived from decellularized tissue (rECM). rECM has rheological and gelation properties beneficial for 3D bioprinting while retaining biologically inductive properties supporting tissue maturation ex vivo and in vivo. These bioinks are shear thinning, resist cell sedimentation, improve viability of multiple cell types, and enhance mechanical stability in hydrogels derived from them. 3D printed constructs generated from rECM bioinks suppress the foreign body response, are pro-angiogenic and support recipient-derived de novo blood vessel formation across the entire graft thickness in a murine model of transplant immunosuppression. Their proof-of-principle for generating human tissue is demonstrated by 3D bioprinting human airways composed of regionally specified primary human airway epithelial progenitor and smooth muscle cells. Airway lumens remained patent with viable cells for one month in vitro with evidence of differentiation into mature epithelial cell types found in native human airways. rECM bioinks are a promising new approach for generating functional human tissue using 3D bioprinting.

ions from aqueous solution. Kinetic and thermodynamic models were used to describe and understand the adsorption process of the ions onto the nanomaterials. The interactions between the ions and the biopolymer-based composites are reversible, which means that the nanoparticles can be regenerated in weakly acidic or EDTA containing solution without losing their activity and stability for water cleanup applications.

BACKGROUND: Integrating stakeholder involvement in complex health intervention design maximizes acceptability and potential effectiveness. However, there is little methodological guidance about how to integrate evidence systematically from various sources in this process. Scientific evidence derived from different approaches can be difficult to integrate and the problem is compounded when attempting to include diverse, subjective input from stakeholders. OBJECTIVE: The intent of the study was to describe and appraise a systematic, sequential approach to integrate scientific evidence, expert knowledge and experience, and stakeholder involvement in the co-design and development of a complex health intervention. The development of a Web-based lifestyle intervention for people in retirement is used as an example. METHODS: Evidence from three systematic reviews, qualitative research findings, and expert knowledge was compiled to produce evidence statements (stage 1). Face validity of these statements was assessed by key stakeholders in a co-design workshop resulting in a set of intervention principles (stage 2). These principles were assessed for face validity in a second workshop, resulting in core intervention concepts and hand-drawn prototypes (stage 3). The outputs from stages 1-3 were translated into a design brief and specification (stage 4), which guided the building of a functioning prototype, Web-based intervention (stage 5). This prototype was de-risked resulting in an optimized functioning prototype (stage 6), which was subject to iterative testing and optimization (stage 7), prior to formal pilot evaluation. RESULTS: The evidence statements (stage 1) highlighted the effectiveness of physical activity, dietary and social role interventions in retirement; the idiosyncratic nature of retirement and well-being; the value of using specific behavior change techniques including those derived from the Health Action Process Approach; and the need for signposting to local resources. The intervention principles (stage 2) included the need to facilitate self-reflection on available resources, personalization, and promotion of links between key lifestyle behaviors. The core concepts and hand-drawn prototypes (stage 3) had embedded in them the importance of time use and work exit planning, personalized goal setting, and acceptance of a Web-based intervention. The design brief detailed the features and modules required (stage 4), guiding the development of wireframes, module content and functionality, virtual mentors, and intervention branding (stage 5). Following an iterative process of intervention testing and optimization (stage 6), the final Web-based intervention prototype of LEAP (Living, Eating, Activity, and Planning in retirement) was produced (stage 7). The approach was resource intensive and required a multidisciplinary team. The design expert made an invaluable contribution throughout the process. CONCLUSIONS: Our sequential approach fills an important methodological gap in the literature, describing the stages and techniques useful in developing an evidence-based complex health intervention. The systematic and rigorous integration of scientific evidence, expert knowledge and experience, and stakeholder input has resulted in an intervention likely to be acceptable and feasible.

Abstract Although recent progress in metasurfaces has shown great promise for applications, optical properties in metasurfaces are typically fixed by their structural geometry and dimensions. Here, an electrically controllable amplitude of anomalously‐refracted waves in a hybrid graphene/metasurface system are experimentally demonstrated, which consists of an artificially constructed two‐dimensional metallic apertures array and naturally occurring two‐dimensional carbon atoms (graphene) in the subwavelength‐scale (< λ/10). Based on Pancharatnam–Berry phase and by careful design of a spatially linear phase profile, it is shown that the amplitude of anomalously refracted circularly cross‐polarized terahertz waves can be effectively modulated by an applied gate voltage. The developed electrically tunable graphene metasurfaces may lead to various advanced applications that require dynamical control over electromagnetic waves, such as amplitude tunable active focusing lenses, vortex phase plates and dynamic holography.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of elastomeric type and stainless steel (SS) ligation on frictional resistance using a validated method. To assess the validity of the new test system to measure mean frictional forces, SS and TMA wires, each with dimensions of 0.017 x 0.025 and 0.019 x 0.025 inches, were used in combination with a self-ligating Damon II bracket or a conventional preadjusted edgewise premolar SS bracket without ligation. Four types of elastomeric module, purple, grey, Alastik or SuperSlick, and a pre-formed 0.09 inch SS ligature were then assessed as methods of ligation using preadjusted edgewise premolar SS brackets. The specimens were tested on a Nene M3000 testing machine, with a crosshead speed of 5 mm/minute and each test run lasted for 4 minutes. Each bracket/wire combination with each method of ligation was tested 10 times in the presence of human saliva and the mean frictional force was recorded. The mean frictional forces were compared using three-way analysis of variance. The Damon II self-ligating bracket and unligated conventional SS bracket produced negligible mean frictional forces with any of the wires tested. For the 0.017 x 0.025 SS, 0.019 x 0.025 SS or 0.019 x 0.025 inch TMA wires, SS ligatures produced the lowest mean frictional forces. With the 0.017 x 0.025 TMA wire, purple modules produced the lowest mean frictional force. There was no consistent pattern in the mean frictional forces across the various combinations of wire type, size and ligation method. Under the conditions of this experiment, the use of passive self-ligating brackets is the only method of almost eliminating friction.

BACKGROUND: High intrapatient tacrolimus variability has been associated with worse clinical outcomes postrenal transplantation. Theoretically, tacrolimus levels consistently outside the target therapeutic window may result in allograft dysfunction as subtherapeutic tacrolimus levels predispose to episodes of acute rejection, whereas supratherapeutic levels may cause nephrotoxicity. METHODS: We investigated the effect of tacrolimus variability in a "Symphony" style low-dose tacrolimus based regime, by collecting data from 432 patients over a 4-year period.Three hundred seventy-six patients were included, with a mean follow-up of 1495 days. Tacrolimus variability 6 to 12 months after renal transplantation was calculated, and outcomes were compared in low (n = 186) and high variability (n = 190) groups. RESULTS: High variability patients were found to be at increased risk of rejection during the first posttransplant year (P = 0.0054) and to have reduced rejection-free survival (hazard ratio, 1.953; 95% confidence interval, 1.234-3.093; P = 0.0054). High variability patients had significantly worse (P < 0.0001) glomerular filtration rates at 1, 2, 3, and 4 years posttransplant. High variability patients were at increased risk of allograft loss (hazard ratio, 4.928; 95% confidence interval, 2.050-11.85; P = 0.0004). CONCLUSIONS: This suggests that highly variable tacrolimus levels predict worse outcomes postrenal transplantation, although the causal nature of this relationship remains unclear. High tacrolimus variability may identify a subset of patients who warrant increased surveillance and patient education regarding dietary and medication compliance.

Western developed health and care policy is shifting from a patriarchal medical model to a co-managed and integrated approach. Meanwhile, the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is transforming manufacturing in line with the digital consumer revolution. Digital health and care initiatives are beginning to use some of the same capabilities to optimize healthcare provision. However, this is usually limited to self-management as part of an organization-centric delivery model. True co-management and integration with other organizations and people is difficult because it requires formal care organizations to share control and extend trust. Through a co-design lens, this paper discusses a more person-centered application of Industry 4.0 capabilities for care. It introduces ‘Care 4.0’, a new paradigm that could change the way people develop digital health and care services, focusing on trusted, integrated networks of organizations, people and technologies. These networks and tools would help people co-manage and use their own assets, in the context of their own care circle and community. It would enable personalized services that are more responsive to care needs and aspirations, offering preventative approaches that ultimately create a more flexible and sustainable set of integrated health and social care services that support meaningful engagement and interactions.

This article documents experiences of Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra’s virtual, synchronous improvisation sessions during COVID-19 pandemic via interviews with 29 participants. Sessions included an international, gender balanced, and cross generational group of over 70 musicians all of whom were living under conditions of social distancing. All sessions were recorded using Zoom software. After 3 months of twice weekly improvisation sessions, 29 interviews with participants were undertaken, recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Key themes include how the sessions provided opportunities for artistic development, enhanced mood, reduced feelings of isolation, and sustained and developed community. Particular attention is placed upon how improvisation as a universal, real time, social, and collaborative process facilitates interaction, allowing the technological affordances of software (latencies, sound quality, and gallery/speaker view) and hardware (laptop, tablet, instruments, microphones, headphones, and objects in room) to become emergent properties of artistic collaborations. The extent to which this process affects new perceptual and conceptual breakthroughs for practitioners is discussed as is the crucial and innovative relationship between audio and visual elements. Analysis of edited films of the sessions highlight artistic and theoretical and conceptual issues discussed. Emphasis is given to how the domestic environment merges with technologies to create The Theatre of Home .

Abstract. Measurements of temporal and spatial changes to indoor contaminant concentrations are vital to understanding pollution characteristics. Whilst scientific instruments provide high temporal resolution of indoor pollutants, their cost and complexity make them unfeasible for large-scale projects. Low-cost monitors offer an opportunity to collect high-density temporal and spatial data in a broader range of households. This paper presents a user study to assess the precision, accuracy, and usability of a low-cost indoor air quality monitor in a residential environment to collect data about the indoor pollution. Temperature, relative humidity, total volatile organic compounds (tVOC), carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) data were measured with five low-cost (“Foobot”) monitors and were compared with data from other monitors reported to be scientifically validated. The study found a significant agreement between the instruments with regard to temperature, relative humidity, total volatile organic compounds, and fine particulate matter data. Foobot CO2 equivalent was found to provide misleading CO2 levels as indicators of ventilation. Calibration equations were derived for tVOC, CO2, and PM2.5 to improve sensors' accuracy. The data were analysed based on the percentage of time pollutant levels that exceeded WHO thresholds. The performance of low-cost monitors to measure total volatile organic compounds and particulate matter 2.5 µm has not been properly addressed. The findings suggest that Foobot is sufficiently accurate for identifying high pollutant exposures with potential health risks and for providing data at high granularity and good potential for user or scientific applications due to remote data retrieval. It may also be well suited to remote and larger-scale studies in quantifying exposure to pollutants.

The aim of the study was to compare the incidence of sella turcica bridging and sella turcica dimensions in 150 Caucasian subjects who had combined surgical-orthodontic correction of their malocclusion with a randomly selected group of 150 Caucasian subjects who were treated contemporaneously by orthodontic means only. Pretreatment lateral cephalometric radiographs were scanned and analyzed. A sella turcica bridge was identified as a continuous band of bony tissue extending from the anterior cranial fossa to the posterior cranial fossa. The dimensions of the sella turcica were measured. In the group treated by combined surgical-orthodontic means, the incidence of bridging was 16.7%, whereas it was 7.3% in the orthodontics-only group (P = .012). Significant increases in the mean surface area (P = .02) and mean perimeter of the sella turcica (P = .01) were found for the combined surgical-orthodontic group compared with the orthodontics-only group. The mean interclinoid distance was significantly smaller in the surgical-orthodontic group (P = .02). These findings appear to indicate the greater likelihood of sella turcica bridging and abnormal sella turcica dimensions in subjects treated by combined surgical-orthodontic means rather than by orthodontics only.

SUMMARY An isogeometric solid‐like shell formulation is proposed in which B‐spline basis functions are used to construct the mid‐surface of the shell. In combination with a linear Lagrange shape function in the thickness direction, this yields a complete three‐dimensional representation of the shell. The proposed shell element is implemented in a standard finite element code using Bézier extraction. The formulation is verified using different benchmark tests. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

The testing described in this paper was performed to establish the physical and mechanical properties of new and recycled crushed clay brick aggregates for use in portland cement concrete (PCC). Various physical and mechanical properties of eight different types of aggregates were determined and compared with the limits set out in the British Standards for aggregate from natural sources used in concrete. The results were also compared with granite aggregate that has been proved to be a good natural aggregate for producing PCC. The results showed that most of the crushed clay-brick aggregates tested can be used in producing PCC for low-level civil engineering applications and that some kinds of brick aggregate possess good physical and mechanical properties that qualify them for producing high-quality concrete.

Quantitative forecasting techniques see their greatest application as part of production and inventory systems. Perhaps unfortunately, the problem has been left to systems analysts while the professional societies have contented themselves with exhortations to improve forecasting, neglecting recent developments from forecasting research. However, improvements in accuracy have a direct and often substantial financial impact. This article shows how the production and inventory control forecasting problem differs from other forecasting applications in its use of information and goes on to consider the characteristics of inventory type data. No single forecasting method is suited to all data series and the article then discusses how recent developments in forecasting methodology can improve accuracy. Considers approaches to extending the database beyond just the time‐series history of the data series. Concludes with a discussion of an “ideal” forecasting system and how far removed many popular programs used in production and inventory control are from this ideal.

This article examines the question of authenticity in relation to 3D visualisation of historic objects and monuments. Much of the literature locates their authenticity in the accuracy of the data and/or the realism of the resulting models. Yet critics argue that 3D visualisations undermine the experience of authenticity, disrupting people’s access to the materiality, biography and aura of their historic counterparts. The ACCORD project takes questions of authenticity and 3D visualisation into a new arena – that of community heritage practice – and uses rapid ethnographic methods to examine whether and how such visualisations acquire authenticity. The results demonstrate that subtle forms of migration and borrowing occur between the original and the digital, creating new forms of authenticity associated with the digital object. Likewise, the creation of digital models mediates the authenticity and status of their original counterparts through the networks of relations in which they are embedded. The current pre-occupation with the binary question of whether 3D digital models are authentic or not obscures the wider work that such objects do in respect to the cultural politics of ownership, attachment, place-making and regeneration. The article both advances theoretical debates and has important implications for heritage visualisation practice.

Abstract In this paper I will pose a challenge to digital heritage visualisation that takes as its starting point the weirdness of the digital world in comparison to everyday experience. Related to this is the apparent inability for digital objects to benefit from or acquire aura from their originals. I contend that, unless mitigated, these properties will cause a continuing lack of engagement with digital heritage visualisation beyond the professional and academic circles in which they are created. Contrary to expectations, I will argue digital objects can indeed manifest an auratic quality and that this is in fact fundamental to how they are received by various audiences. I contend that both aura and the intimate relationship between digital representation, aesthetics and the creative imagination need to be understood and embraced in practice. Finally, I will suggest some ways of addressing the challenge by looking at modes of co-production, physical replication and aesthetic quality.

The potential health benefits of participation in the arts to the person and to the community have received widespread attention in recent years. The arts have been used as a medium for health promotion, as therapeutic interventions, and, in the case of the UK, health action zones and social inclusion partnerships’ arts projects have been specifically used to tackle social exclusion. As with other health care and social interventions, the arts may have the potential to have an impact on health, but these impacts need to be demonstrated, whether the outcomes are improvements in specific health outcomes, or increases in levels of social participation. The evidence that art promotes public health and enhances social inclusion remains elusive. The most comprehensive recent review of arts participation projects in the UK was undertaken between September 1995 and March 1997.1 This was the first large scale attempt to come to grips with the issue of the social impact of the arts, in contrast with previous research that largely focused on the economic benefits.2 The review concluded that participation can have a positive impact on how people feel, can be an effective means of health education, can contribute to a more relaxed atmosphere in health centres, and can help improve the quality of life of people with poor health, but none of the existing studies seemed to include formal outcome evaluations. Similarly, the UK Health Development Agency’s report Art for health found that while there were many examples of good practice, actual evaluation was rare.3 Similarly, we recently carried out a scoping review to identify published examples of formal outcome evaluations of the role of arts in social inclusion and health, and found very few. This does not reflect the number of projects that actually exist, including some projects that are …

We present carbon nanotube (CNT)-reinforced polypropylene random copolymer (PPR) nanocomposites for the additive manufacturing of self-sensing piezoresistive materials via fused filament fabrication. The PPR/CNT feedstock filaments were synthesized through high shear-induced melt blending with controlled CNT loading up to 8 wt % to enable three-dimensional (3D) printing of nanoengineered PPR/CNT composites. The CNTs were found to enhance crystallinity (up to 6%) in PPR-printed parts, contributing to the overall CNT-reinforcement effect that increases both stiffness and strength (increases of 56% in modulus and 40% in strength at 8 wt % CNT loading). Due to electrical conductivity (∼10–4–10–1 S/cm with CNT loading) imparted to the PPR by the CNT network, multifunctional in situ strain and damage sensing in 3D-printed CNT/PPR bulk composites and lattice structures are revealed. A useful range of gauge factors (k) is identified for strain sensing (ks = 10.1–17.4) and damage sensing (kd = 20–410) across the range of CNT loadings for the 0° print direction. Novel auxetic re-entrant and S-unit cell lattices are printed, with multifunctionality demonstrated as strain- and damage-sensing in tension. The PPR/CNT multifunctional nanocomposite lattices demonstrated here exhibit tunable strain and damage sensitivity and have application in biomedical engineering for the creation of self-sensing patient-specific devices such as orthopedic braces, where the ability to sense strain (and stress) can provide direct information for optimization of brace design/fit over the course of treatment.