300 research outputs found
Developing the formal structures of artistic practice-as-research
No full textIn this article I discuss a topic that is emerging as a valuable paradigm for creative practitioners - practice-as-research. There is some controversy over this term that, I believe, goes to the heart of our understanding of the nature of knowledge. The controversy relates to the idea that practice and research are two inherently different types of activity and therefore that it impossible to engage in one ‘as’ the other. Tim Ingold’s (2011) work on the anthropology of knowledge and skill alongside a broader stream of work on cognition and perception (see for example Lakoff & Johnson 2003 and Gibson 1979) suggests that both artistic practice and academic research involve ‘puzzle-solving… carried on within the context of involvement in a real world of persons, objects and relations.’ (Ingold 2011, p.419). The argument revolves around the notion that there is no such thing as disembodied or abstract knowledge and that all knowledge is both embodied and personally related to the world one inhabits. As such, the written word provides a schematic system for representing the much richer communication processes of speech and bodily experience. The written word, however, can only be understood through reference to our lived experience. Lave (1990, p.310) has termed this ‘understanding in practice’ as a knowledge ‘based on rich expectations generated over time about its shape’ (Lave 1990, p.323). Scholarly research outputs and their modes of publication are still firmly entrenched in the printed word. I will explore strategies for communicating the non-verbal knowledge that forms the basis of much practice-as-research
Hundreds of variants clustered in genomic loci and biological pathways affect human height
No full textMost common human traits and diseases have a polygenic pattern of inheritance: DNA sequence variants at many genetic loci influence the phenotype. Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified more than 600 variants associated with human traits(1), but these typically explain small fractions of phenotypic variation, raising questions about the use of further studies. Here, using 183,727 individuals, we show that hundreds of genetic variants, in at least 180 loci, influence adult height, a highly heritable and classic polygenic trait(2,3). The large number of loci reveals patterns with important implications for genetic studies of common human diseases and traits. First, the 180 loci are not random, but instead are enriched for genes that are connected in biological pathways (P = 0.016) and that underlie skeletal growth defects (P<0.001). Second, the likely causal gene is often located near the most strongly associated variant: in 13 of 21 loci containing a known skeletal growth gene, that gene was closest to the associated variant. Third, at least 19 loci have multiple independently associated variants, suggesting that allelic heterogeneity is a frequent feature of polygenic traits, that comprehensive explorations of already-discovered loci should discover additional variants and that an appreciable fraction of associated loci may have been identified. Fourth, associated variants are enriched for likely functional effects on genes, being over-represented among variants that alter amino-acid structure of proteins and expression levels of nearby genes. Our data explain approximately 10% of the phenotypic variation in height, and we estimate that unidentified common variants of similar effect sizes would increase this figure to approximately 16% of phenotypic variation (approximately 20% of heritable variation). Although additional approaches are needed to dissect the genetic architecture of polygenic human traits fully, our findings indicate that GWA studies can identify large numbers of loci that implicate biologically relevant genes and pathways
A discrete continuity
No full text'A discrete continuity: On the relation between research and art practice' was published by The Journal of Research Practice, a peer-reviewed journal at Athabasca University Press. This article reflects on the nature of research and art practice, which makes a case for the necessary intermingling of these activities. Research is seen as an operating structure for the process and production of, among other things, art; it is regarded as integral to the processes of thinking and making, as are curiosity, creative enquiry and critical reflection. O’Riley asserts that these processes are not necessarily discipline-specific – although particular disciplines have specific procedures and goals – and it is argued that provisionality is central to what art can offer other disciplines; it can make a virtue of incompleteness. Discussing Flusser, Deutsch and Varto among others, the article posits an expanded notion of the artwork that is essentially conditional and reliant on spectatorial involvement
Adiposity-Related Heterogeneity in Patterns of Type 2 Diabetes Susceptibility Observed in Genome-Wide Association Data
No full textOBJECTIVE-This study examined how differences in the BMI distribution of type 2 diabetic case subjects affected genome-wide patterns of type 2 diabetes, association mid considered the implications for the etiological heterogeneity of type 2 diabetes.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-We reanalyzed data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium genome-wide association scan (1,924 case subjects, 2,938 control Subjects: 393,453 single-nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs]) after stratifying case subjects (into "obese" and "nonobese") according to median BMI (30.2 kg/m(2)). Replication. of signals in which alternative case-ascertainment strategies generated marked effect size heterogeneity in type 2 diabetes association signal was sought in additional samples.RESULTS-In the "obese-type 2 diabetes" scan, FTO variants had the strongest type 2 diabetes effect, (rs8050136: relative risk [RR] 1.49 [95% CI 1.34-1.66], P = 1.3 X 10(-13)), with only weak evidence for TCF7L2 (rs7901695 RR 1.21 [1.09-1.35], P = 0.001). reversed in the "nonobese" scan, with FTO This situation was association undetectable (RR 1.07 [0.97-1.19], P = 0.19) and TCF7L2 predominant (RR 1.53 [1.37-1.71], P = 1.3 X 10(-14)). These patterns, confirmed by replication, generated strong combined evidence for between-stratum effect size heterogeneity (FTO: P-DIFF = 1.4 X 10(-7); TCF7L2: P-DIFF = 4.0 X 10(-6)). Other signals displaying evidence of effect size heterogeneity in the gencome-wide analyses (on chromosomes 3, 12, 15, and 18) did not, replicate. Analysis of the current list of type 2 diabetes susceptibility variants revealed nominal evidence for effect size heterogeneity for the SLC30A8 locus alone (RRobese 1.08 [1.01-1.15]; RRnonobese 1.18 [1.10-1.27]: P-DIFF = 0.04).CONCLUSIONs-This study demonstrates the impact of differences in case ascertainment on the power to detect and replicate genetic associations in genome-wide association studies. These data reinforce the notion that there is substantial etiological heterogeneity within type 2 diabetes. Diabetes 58:505-510, 2009</p
Stratification by Smoking Status Reveals an Association of CHRNA5-A3-B4 Genotype with Body Mass Index in Never Smokers
No full textWe previously used a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the CHRNA5-A3-B4 gene cluster associated with heaviness of smoking within smokers to confirm the causal effect of smoking in reducing body mass index (BMI) in a Mendelian randomisation analysis. While seeking to extend these findings in a larger sample we found that this SNP is associated with 0.74% lower body mass index (BMI) per minor allele in current smokers (95% CI -0.97 to -0.51, P = 2.00×10-10), but also unexpectedly found that it was associated with 0.35% higher BMI in never smokers (95% CI +0.18 to +0.52, P = 6.38×10-5). An interaction test confirmed that these estimates differed from each other (P = 4.95×10-13). This difference in effects suggests the variant influences BMI both via pathways unrelated to smoking, and via the weight-reducing effects of smoking. It would therefore be essentially undetectable in an unstratified genome-wide association study of BMI, given the opposite association with BMI in never and current smokers. This demonstrates that novel associations may be obscured by hidden population sub-structure. Stratification on well-characterized environmental factors known to impact on health outcomes may therefore reveal novel genetic associations.</p
Association analyses of 249,796 individuals reveal 18 new loci associated with body mass index
No full textObesity is globally prevalent and highly heritable, but its underlying genetic factors remain largely elusive. To identify genetic loci for obesity susceptibility, we examined associations between body mass index and similar to 2.8 million SNPs in up to 123,865 individuals with targeted follow up of 42 SNPs in up to 125,931 additional individuals. We confirmed 14 known obesity susceptibility loci and identified 18 new loci associated with body mass index (P < 5 x 10(-8)), one of which includes a copy number variant near GPRC5B. Some loci (at MC4R, POMC, SH2B1 and BDNF) map near key hypothalamic regulators of energy balance, and one of these loci is near GIPR, an incretin receptor. Furthermore, genes in other newly associated loci may provide new insights into human body weight regulation
Dangerous Liaisons: Relationships between design, craft and art
No full textThe introductory essay [co-authored] examines the background and current interconnections between design, craft and the fine arts. This Special Issue was able to expand the debate by showing how attitudes to materials – from 19C sculpture to current fashion – appropriate craftsmanship to reinvigorate notions of handmaking
Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 11 new loci for anthropometric traits and provides insights into genetic architecture
No full textApproaches exploiting trait distribution extremes may be used to identify loci associated with common traits, but it is unknown whether these loci are generalizable to the broader population. In a genome-wide search for loci associated with the upper versus the lower 5th percentiles of body mass index, height and waist-to-hip ratio, as well as clinical classes of obesity, including up to 263,407 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 4 new loci (IGFBP4, H6PD, RSRC1 and PPP2R2A) influencing height detected in the distribution tails and 7 new loci (HNF4G, RPTOR, GNAT2, MRPS33P4, ADCY9, HS6ST3 and ZZZ3) for clinical classes of obesity. Further, we find a large overlap in genetic structure and the distribution of variants between traits based on extremes and the general population and little etiological heterogeneity between obesity subgroups
Methodological Innovation in Practice-Based Design Doctorates
No full textThis article presents a selective review of recent design PhDs that identify and analyse the methodological innovation that is occurring in the field, in order to inform future provision of research training. Six recently completed design PhDs are used to highlight possible philosophical and practical models that can be adopted by future PhD students in design. Four characteristics were found in design PhD methodology: innovations in the format and structure of the thesis, a pick-and-mix approach to research design, situating practice in the inquiry, and the validation of visual analysis. The article concludes by offering suggestions on how research training can be improved. By being aware of recent methodological innovations in the field, design educators will be better informed when developing resources for future design doctoral candidates and assisting supervision teams in developing a more informed and flexible approach to practice-based research
Co-creative publics and publication design practice
No full textThis study is situated in the practice of publication design. I characterise publication design as the act of bringing thoughts, opinions, information and stories into the public realm. A publication artefact in this study refers to the material and non-material form that the communication takes, such as print, web, audio, or discourse and event.Through this study I make the case that the professional, mainstream practice of publication design will change in relation to the way a public for it changes. In this, design practice is likely to be transformed in a way that is similar to the transformation in other related practices such as media and commerce.On completion of this study, I believe it can be argued that publication design is moving from a broadcast medium to a social and relational one, where the audience participates in the production of meaning (or sense-making) by attaining a closer relationship to the production of design. I use the term co-creative public to describe this audience. The characteristics of this public are that it is self-organised, freely associated and forms in response to attention (Warner 2002).As the relationship between designer and audience evolves reciprocally, it is possible to reinterpret the role of the professional designer and to identify the new opportunities presented
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