VKhUTEMAS pedagogy: Composition and the new language of form

This article explores the application of a modernist educational practice into a contemporary studio environment. The aim is to investigate the impact that modernist design pedagogy has on visual perception and abstract thinking. The analysis examines the replication of two design exercises created by Alexander Rodchenko and Nikolai Ladovsky at VKhUTEMAS. The outcome suggests that a self-directed vocabulary of thoughts developed as a result of students engaging with these exercises. This could potentially help novice architecture students to perceive different capacities of form and composition, and to broaden ways in which architectural design is conceived in the studio

Self-Shading Façade Geometries to Control Summer Overheating in UK Passivhaus Dwellings for Current and Future Climate Scenarios

The German Passivhaus building standard, with its emphasis on airtightness and very high levels of insulation, has become well known. It is widely applied to produce buildings that have a very low heating energy demand in winter whilst providing thermal comfort. However, there have been, over the last decade, instances of summertime overheating in Passivhaus buildings. Research has shown that the high internal air temperatures during summer in Passivhaus dwellings are mainly due to excessive solar gain through large south-facing glazing and a lack of natural ventilation. A number of well-established passive adaptation measures have received a great deal of research attention, and several have been implemented in to Passivhaus designs to reduce summer discomfort. Some of these approaches, such as window opening and blinds, are user-dependent, while other interventions, such as overhangs, are truly passive and do not require the occupants’ attention. Although thermal mass is not a user-dependent intervention, it typically works in conjunction with night purge ventilation, which is controlled by building users. The research presented here investigated a less examined passive approach to reducing overheating - the potential implementation of the envelope shape as an environmental design strategy to self-shade. This approach is architectural in nature, and so could have both aesthetic and environmental consequences. The research tested if altering the geometric form of a UK Passivhaus (by tilting the south facade to give self-shading) might be capable of passively protecting the house from the excessive solar gain in summer, both for current and future climate scenarios. This study used probabilistic climate change scenarios from the UK Climate Change Projections to determine the overheating risk in an existing Passivhaus dwelling under a high emission 50-percentile scenario in London. Dynamic thermal simulation modelling software (DesignBuilder) was used to examine the impact of various inclinations of the south façade of the Passivhaus dwelling to make use of the self-shading that this form created. A sensitivity analysis of internal temperatures and thermal comfort conditions in the dwelling as a function of building facade inclination and prevailing climatic conditions was undertaken. The research found that implementing an optimum angle tilted façade would moderate indoor temperature variations between day and night in summer and could potentially act as an effective shading device and reduce overheating by a significant amount while still being practical for collecting solar gains in winter. The proposed inclined façade could eliminate the risk of overheating for current climates; however, it was found that using only the geometric considerations would not solely be fully capable of eradicating the risk of future thermal discomfort overheating, particularly for UK climate scenarios of the 2080s. The suggested tilted façade was then analysed alongside other conventional approaches, such as overhangs and reduced window to wall ratios, to compare their relative effectiveness in reducing overheating risk. Manipulating the tilt of the south facing façade will clearly have other impacts on, for instance, winter heating demand, daylighting and natural ventilation air flows, and these parameters have also been examined using the lighting and computational fluid dynamics CFD algorithms in DesignBuilder. The consequences of a slight tilt of the south façade on daylight levels and airflows through the dwelling were apparent but not overly large. The research noted a concurrent increase in the heating demand and artificial lighting, but it was concluded that this increase was an acceptable trade-off compared to the reduced summer overheating risk

In Vitro Effects of Four Porcelain Surface Treatment Methods on Adhesion of Lactobacilli Acidophilus

Objective: Adhesion of Lactobacillus acidophilus (L. acidophilus) to dental porcelain surface may lead to gingival inflammation and secondary caries. Surface roughness is among the factors affecting this adhesion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of four different  surface treatment methods on adhesion of L. acidophilus to dental porcelain.Methods: Sixty specimens (3x10mm) were fabricated of Noritake porcelain and divided into 4 groups (n=15) treated with one of the following four surface finishing techniques:    1. Auto-glazing;2. Over-glazing; 3. Polishing with Kenda kit and 4. No surface treatment (non-glazed specimens). Specimens were inoculated with bacterial suspension containing 1x106colony forming units per milliliter (CFU/mL) and L. acidophilus adhesion to the surfaces was evaluated using a spectrophotometer. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD test.Results: The mean bacterial adhesion was 0.1440 (0.00429) to auto-glazed specimens, 0.0750 (0.00256) to over-glazed specimens, 0.1800 (0.00325) to polished specimens and 0.7064 (0.00408) to the non-glazed specimens. The differences in this regard among groups were statistically significant (p<0.001).Conclusion: Over-glazed specimens caused the lowest and non-glazed specimens caused the highest bacterial adhesion. The glazed surfaces caused less adhesion than the polished surface

Current Management of Advanced Resectable Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma

The oral cavity is the most common site of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, a disease which results in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Though the primary modality of treatment for patients with oral cavity cancer remains surgical resection, many patients present with advanced disease and are thus treated using a multi-disciplinary approach. Patients with extracapsular spread of lymphatic metastasis and surgical margins that remain positive have been found to be at high risk for local-regional recurrence and death from disease, and are most often recommended to receive both post-operative radiation as well as systemic chemotherapy. The basis for this approach, as well as scientific developments that underly future trials of novels treatments for patients with high-risk oral cavity cancer are reviewed

Using tilted facade to reduce thermal discomfort in a UK Passivhaus dwelling for a warming climate

This study investigated the potential negative impacts of future UK climate change on dwellings. In particular, the risk of overheating was considered for a Passivhaus dwelling in London. The study used dynamic simulation modelling software to investigate the potential use of building geometry to control current and future overheating risks in the dwelling for London climate. Specifically, the focus was on the optimum inclination of a south façade to make use of the building’s shape to self-protect itself. A range of different inclined façades were examined to test their effectiveness in reducing the overheating risk. The research found that implementing a 115° tilted façade could completely eliminate the risk of overheating in current climate, but with some consequence for natural ventilation and daylighting. Future overheating was significantly reduced by the tilted façade. However, geometric considerations could not eradicate completely the risk of overheating particularly by the 2080s. The study also used CFD modelling and sensitivity analysis to investigate the effect of the façade geometry on the wind pressure distributions on and around the building surface. This was done to assess natural ventilation flows for alternative façade inclinations

Investigating the relation between removable denture prosthesis and sublingual varices

Objective: In this research, the scientific and practical question, whether or not people with sublingual varices were more exposed to dental prosthesis than those who did not have sublingual varices, was answered. Materials and Methods: The case-control study was done by referring to the Kahrizak Alborz charity sanatorium. A list of seniors over 60 years were prepared and referred to each of them after justifying the plan and obtaining their consent were analyzed, sampled. The case group was those who suffered from sublingual varices and the control group were those who did not have sublingual varices and in terms of age, sex, smoking, high blood pressure and leg varice were similar to those of the case. Varices detection was evaluated by clinical examination and according to the standard method. Sublingual varices were examined and recorded based on age, sex, dental prosthesis, smoking, leg varices, blood pressure, literacy level. Exposure level of two groups with denture prosthetics were Judged by the statistics with chi-square test, Fisher exact, and odds ratio. Results: A total of 141 patients with sublingual varices and 141 controls were studied. The subjects were two groups. Exposure to denture in the control group was 65 (46%) and in the case group 100 (71%). Conclusion: It seems that having removable denture prosthesis increases the chance of developing sublingual varices.       &nbsp