The Identity Survey: Side Notes on a Holistic Model of Knowledge of Urban Contexts

Towards cultural sustainability: The potency of 'The Thousand and One Nights' in reviving the imageability of Baghdad city

Abstract. The digital documentation of heritage places produces accurate 3D restitution of their geometry in a virtual environment and can be related to multiple semantic layers to archive, represent, preserve and transmit the knowledge gathered along their lifecycle. The combination of high-density point clouds with other sources of information advises virtual reconstitutions of historical states of a place’s physical realm. The cultural significance of the built heritage lies in the values associated with its tangible and intangible dimensions. Apart from aspects of values related to historical sites’ physical attributes, 3D models can support the representation of intangible elements influencing visitors’ perception of their Genius Loci and supporting new interpretations about their cultural significance. In this framework, 3D animation, rendering, and simulation technologies allow recreating aspects of a place’s atmosphere, like the simulation of lighting conditions and the user’s immersive experience of a heritage site into a virtual environment. This paper focuses on the light perception recreated in a funeral chapel of the Theban Tomb environment by considering the strong spiritual dimension in the conception of funeral sites in ancient Egypt during the New Kingdom period (1550–1069 BC). We investigate the potential of 3D simulation and animation technologies to represent hypotheses about original lighting conditions in such sites. The proposed research is based on the case study of Sennefer’s tomb chapel, also referred to as TT96A, located on the western bank of the Nile, opposite modern Luxor.

Architecture is gradually changing along with the development of society, its changing perceptions of beauty, strength, usefulness, as well as the growing need for comfort, aesthetics, the ideal environment. For a long time, the architecture of health care facilities was perceived and, accordingly, mechanically designed exclusively as a kind of technically necessary shell to ensure the treatment of the impersonal mass of the population. This approach was due to the acute and rapid need for a quantitative supply of medical institutions to a large number of people in large areas. This is what happened in the last century in the post-Soviet countries - standard projects of medical institutions were "cloned" everywhere, which were integrated into the urban environment by huge industrial-panel arrays without regional, cultural and aesthetic connection with "genius loci" and urban context. Do we have the right to condemn this large-scale approach that prevailed in the twentieth century? No. At one time, he made it possible to resolve the important issues of providing medical care to the majority of the population of the Soviet Union. Thanks to the massive and economic industrial design and construction approach, Ukraine has received an extensive urban network of various health care facilities, which continue to perform their functions, accepting the harsh challenges and trials of global pandemics and epidemics. The main problem is that with the acquisition of sovereignty in Ukraine began protracted political-oligarchic clan "internecine wars", which for decades froze attention to improving, modernizing, updating and developing the architecture of health care facilities. A significant part of Ukrainian hospitals is in a condition that not only does not meet sanitary and other requirements, but even threatens the health and lives of patients and staff. But it is not customary to talk about it. The Soviet mentality, enshrined in our subconscious, forces everyone in their place to report on the order, on compliance, on the implementation of plans. Despite the long-standing disregard for the problems and issues of compliance of domestic medical architecture with world standards, the powerful and once the world's best "machine" continued to perform its functions, inertially moving down from its pedestal. But today, in 2021, we are frantically approaching the foot of the new "rock", which embodies all the latest advances in health care and which the world's leading countries have gradually, step by step, overcome with long-term state plan for the development of medicine and with periodic reforms in the medical field.

The article raises topical issues of anesthetization and harmonization of domestic healthcare institutions with the architectural, urban planning and natural environment. The main emphasis in the article is made on the regional and contextual design approach to the urban planning of hospitals, associated with the natural landscape and terrain, and also emphasizes the need and appropriateness of the use of individualization of design decisions, the rejection of the traditional typical industrial design of hospitals. In the Soviet period of statehood of Ukraine the formation of a city-planning network of health care institutions was formed, which still functions today without significant changes and necessary modernization. The main feature of the period of formation of the national network of medical institutions is the typical industrial approach to design and construction, which was connected with the need for accelerated pace of providing the population with medical care. Unfortunately, along with the positive effect obtained in the form of a powerful urban network of medical and preventive care facilities, the typical design approach led to the architectural "personification" of the artistic and aesthetic image of numerous medical buildings, which in their essence represented only a "mechanical and functional machine for treatment" of the population. Hospitals, by size of the total area of the premises and the size of the placement area, were mostly concrete anti-human "boxes", which were mechanically placed in an urban environment without taking into account the regional context and understanding of "genius loci". In spite of the general situation in the country, exceptions were made in the design of health care facilities in 1950-1980 − individually designed hospitals, inscribed in an urban context, natural relief and which, with their special architecture, deserve attention. It should be noted that today in the world leading countries in the level of health care development have abandoned the typical design of medical institutions, as evidenced by the numerous design and implemented decisions of medical buildings.

In many urban heritage contexts, adaptive reuse often prioritizes physical and economic transformation while neglecting the intangible dimensions that shape a site’s identity. The former campus of the Indonesian Academy of Fine Arts (ASRI) in Yogyakarta, that now revitalized as the Jogja National Museum (JNM) and JNM Bloc, is a compelling case to examine how the spirit of place (genius loci) evolves in response to cultural, spatial, and functional shifts. This study aims to analyze the historical transformation and adaptive reuse of the ASRI campus and to explore the persistence or redefinition of its genius loci through the dimensions of image, space, and character. Employing a qualitative case study design, data were collected through field observations, semi-structured interviews with stakeholders (including alumni, artists, and museum managers), and archival documentation. Data were analyzed using phenomenological interpretation, focusing on the relationships between tangible heritage, community memory, and symbolic meaning. The results show that despite commercial insertions and spatial reprogramming, the site retains its identity as an arts and cultural landmark. Key findings include the role of community actors in preserving memory, the hybridization of academic and public spaces, and the use of symbolic anchors (e.g., banyan tree, monuments) to sustain continuity. This study contributes conceptually to adaptive reuse discourse by proposing an integrated framework that links spatial adaptation with cultural memory. However, the study is limited by its single-site focus and scope of informants. Future studies are encouraged to explore comparative analyses of other culturally transformed heritage sites to gain deeper insights into experiential authenticity and the construction of place identity.

The biomechanics of the patellofemoral (PF) joint is complex in nature, and the aetiology of such manifestations of PF instability as patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is still unclear. At this point, the particular factors affecting PFPS have not yet been determined. This study has two objectives: (1) The first is to develop an alternative geometric method using a three-dimensional (3D) registration technique and linear mapping to investigate the PF joint contact stress using an indirect measure: the depth of virtual penetration (PD) of the patellar cartilage surface into the femoral cartilage surface. (2) The second is to develop 3D PF joint models using the finite element analysis (FEA) to quantify in vivo cartilage contact stress and to compare the peak contact stress location obtained from the FE models with the location of the maximum PD. Magnetic resonance images of healthy and PFPS subjects at knee flexion angles of 15°, 30° and 45° during isometric loading have been used to develop the geometric models. The results obtained from both approaches demonstrated that the subjects with PFPS show higher PD and contact stresses than the normal subjects. Maximum stress and PD increase with flexion angle, and occur on the lateral side in healthy and on the medial side in PFPS subjects. It has been concluded that the alternative geometric method is reliable in addition to being computationally efficient compared with FEA, and has the potential to assess the mechanics of PFPS with an accuracy similar to the FEA.

Most teacher development initiatives focus on enhancing knowledge of teaching (pedagogy), whilst largely ignoring other important features of teacher knowledge such as subject matter knowledge and awareness of the learning context. Furthermore, teachers' ability to learn from faculty development interventions is limited by their existing (often implicit) pedagogical knowledge and beliefs. Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) represents a model of teacher knowledge incorporating what they know about subject matter, pedagogy and context. PCK can be used to explore teachers' prior knowledge and to structure faculty development programmes so that they take account of a broader range of teachers' knowledge. We set out to examine the application of a PCK model in a general practice education setting. This study is part of a larger study that employed a mixed method approach (concept mapping, phenomenological interviews and video-stimulated recall) to explore features of GP teachers' subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of the learning environment in the context of a general practice tutorial. This paper presents data on GP teachers' pedagogical and context knowledge. There was considerable overlap between different GP teachers' knowledge and beliefs about learners and the clinical learning environment (i.e. knowledge of context). The teachers' beliefs about learners were largely based on assumptions derived from their own student experiences. There were stark differences, however, between teachers in terms of pedagogical knowledge, particularly in terms of their teaching orientations (i.e. transmission or facilitation orientation) and this was manifest in their teaching behaviours. PCK represents a useful model for conceptualising clinical teacher prior knowledge in three domains, namely subject matter, learning context and pedagogy. It can and should be used as a simple guiding framework by faculty developers to inform the design and delivery of their faculty development programmes.

Background Functional ankle instability is a clinical syndrome that may develop after acute lateral ankle sprain. Although several causes of this functional instability have been suggested, it is still unclear what the activation pattern of the peroneus longus muscle is in patients with functional ankle instability. Hypothesis Peroneus longus activation patterns differ in the injured side and the uninjured side in subjects with functional ankle instability. Study Design Descriptive laboratory study. Methods The authors examined 14 subjects with functional ankle instability by using surface electromyography during walking. Activation time of the peroneus longus muscle was expressed as a percentage of the stance phase of the gait cycle. Results A statistically significant decrease in peroneus longus muscle activity was found in the injured side compared with the uninjured side (22.8% ± 4.25% vs 37.6% ± 3.5%, respectively). Conclusions Results obtained in this study show a change in peroneus longus muscle activation time after injury. Independent of the origin of this change, which could only be surmised, the decrease in peroneus longus muscle activity may result in reduced protection against lateral sprains. Clinical Relevance The assessment of peroneus longus activation pattern during gait is useful to design an appropriate rehabilitation program in athletes suffering from functional ankle instability.

Urban resilience has evolved in the last time into a wider scope, related not only to facing major challenges or risks but to managing the complexity of urban systems and their “metabolism”, looking for more sustainable strategies. Consequently, it can be a very useful concept for both big and smaller cities, which are facing everyday urban life challenges. In a global context in which the urban phenomenon continues to spread, this paper aims to set a concept of “low regime”, “low intensity” or “daily” resilience as a specific and essential strategy for medium-sized cities in order to fulfil their role in the global concert of cities, through the historical analysis along the last five decades of three medium-sized inner Spanish cities: Vitoria, Zaragoza and Valladolid. These three cities, the most populated and complex among the medium-sized inner Spanish cities, are also capitals of their respective regions (the Basque Country, Aragon and Castile and Leon), and they represent the transition from an expansive model, in particular in their respective urban fringe, to the “urban resilience agenda”. In the sixties and seventies, they experienced an impressive growth, both physical and demographic. Later, in the eighties and nineties, the moderation in the population growth rates did not also moderate their physical expansion, which moved to the surroundings of the cities, until this growth came to an abrupt end in 2007 due to the economic crisis. Coming from a quite similar and homogenous cultural and urban context, Vitoria, Zaragoza and Valladolid have been developing undifferentiated peripheries, disrespectful with the conditions of the territory, until they started to adopt tailored strategies so as to guarantee a sustainable growth in the future and avoid eventual menaces for their urban territory. These new strategies aim to ensure the resilience of their respective urban fringe, because this is where the urban development tensions concentrate, and consist of composing an own profile of action, learning from the history of the city itself and from the natural values of their surrounding territory, and also keeping in mind the scarcity of economic resources in these medium-sized cities compared to bigger ones. Step by step, the singular history of each city, its “genius loci”, emerges as a solid foundation for these new strategies. This paper concludes that this idea of own identity seems to be resilient, and reveals that it can express itself through different tools (green infrastructure, urban regeneration and territorial planning) which in these three cities have found a useful topic to articulate a new integrated strategy for the “metabolism” of urban fringe in water systems: the Salburua wetlands and Zadorra river in Vitoria, protagonists of its greenbelt; the Ebro river in Zaragoza, recovered for the city after Expo 2008; and the network of rivers, canals and irrigation ditches in Valladolid, which stand as axes of a better relationship with the territory. All of them represent low cost smart and natural strategies that emerge as replicable examples of what “daily resilience” means and offers to these kind of medium-sized cities.

This paper proposes a journey of knowledge of the historical landscape of the fortified settlements in the territory of the Monti Iblei, a portion of south-eastern Sicily historically belonging to the larger area of the Val di Noto. Some of these settlements, although located in a context of complex landscape, environmental and cultural value, are characterised by phenomena of abandonment, degradation and present non-ordinary characteristics; in fact, they do not connote themselves as cities, nor as countryside, nor even less as archaeological sites. They live suspended, deprived of a well-defined role not recognised by the community, in a borderline condition, on the edge between the Hyblean plateau and the escarpment, marginalised by the urban context that is alien and lacking in connections. A historical investigation of some exemplary cases is therefore proposed, including the ruins of Noto Antica with the Royal Castle and its walls, culminating with the exploration of the remains of the medieval castle of Palazzolo Acreide. This investigation, developed as part of the thesis research path in urban and landscape design, is characterised by a multidisciplinary approach that analyses the theme of settlement typologies and genius loci, the treatment of ruins and their use, and the relationship with time. The research culminates with the definition of strategies for the reactivation and development of the site under study, thus proposing to give back to the city of Palazzolo Acreide a natural place for sharing beauty, crowning the Castle district and making it an element that generates new tension, capable of triggering a process of revitalisation of the entire village.

Background: One of the most challenging tasks for forensic dentists and anthropologists has been identification and determination of sex of unknown human skeletal remains. Aim: To determine sexual dimorphism by CBCT (3-D) analysis of mental foramen among the south Indian population.Materials and Methods: Total of 116 CBCT images of subjects were analysed. Distance from the superior border of mental foramen to lower border of mandible (SLM) and the inferior border of mental foramen to lower border of mandible (ILM) were calculated by three examiners and recorded.Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics, paired t-test and independent sample t-test were used for statistical comparisons.Results: The mean distance of right SLM among male and female subjects were 17.07±1.64 and 14.92 ± 1.33 respectively. Similarly of the left side of male and female subjects were 13.30 ±1.52 and 11.73± 1. The mean distance of left ILM among male and female subjects were 13.44± 1.68 and 11.79 ± 1.21 respectively and on the left side of male and female subjects were 1.3 ± 1.52 and 11.73 ± 1.27. There was a statistically significant difference between sex and sides in terms of SLM and ILM (P = 0.0001).Conclusion: Distances from mental foramen to the lower border of mandible demonstrates sexual dimorphism.

The temporal lobe in schizophrenia from uni- and multiply affected families

BackgroundAn integrated sense of professionalism enables health professionals to draw on relevant knowledge in context and to apply a set of professional responsibilities and ethical principles in the midst of changing work environments [1,2]. Inculcating professionalism is therefore a critical goal of health professional education. Two multi-professional courses for first year Health Science students at the University of Cape Town, South Africa aim to lay the foundation for becoming an integrated health professional [3]. In these courses a diagram depicting the domains of the integrated health professional is used to focus the content of small group experiential exercises towards an appreciation of professionalism. The diagram serves as an organising framework for conceptualising an emerging professional identity and for directing learning towards the domains of 'self as professional' [4,5].ObjectiveThis paper describes how a diagrammatic representation of the core elements of an integrated health professional is used as a template for framing course content and for organising student learning. Based on the assumption that all health care professionals should be knowledgeable, empathic and reflective, the diagram provides students and educators with a visual tool for investigating the subjective and objective dimensions of professionalism. The use of the diagram as an integrating point of reference for individual and small group learning is described and substantiated with relevant literature.ConclusionThe authors have applied the diagram with positive impact for the past six years with students and educators reporting that "it just makes sense". The article includes plans for formal evaluation. Evaluation to date is based on preliminary, informal feedback on the value of the diagram as a tool for capturing the domains of professionalism at an early stage in the undergraduate education of health professional students.

In the multi-disciplinary design process of complex product, it is hard for designers to obtain designing knowledge timely and accurately which causes the low efficiency of product design. With consideration of the above problem, knowledge navigation method is proposed based on context navigation model (CNM) and knowledge model (KM). CNM describes the matching relationship between designing activity context (AC) and knowledge context (KC), and composes of AC, KC and knowledge context network (KCN). KM describes designing knowledge element (KE), and the matching relationship between KC and KE. Based on these models, procedure of multi-disciplinary knowledge navigation is introduced. Taking the design process of industrial steam turbine rotor flow division section as an instance, the result shows that this procedure, based on CNM and KM, is able to supply designers with proper product knowledge timely and promote the designing efficiency of complex product.

In the cultural heritage field, since twenty years, tools for 3D acquisition and diffusion devices of historical architecture are progressively developed. The association with traditional techniques of survey allows historians achieving a high level of knowledge of the monument. Several kinds of systems are developed to operate data and to share results of archaeological studies such as digital surveys, 3D reconstruction, photorealistic texturing, GIS, documentary database or 3D visit real-time. This paper presents especially the example of a cultural valorisation device called Genius Loci presented in 2011 in the charterhouse of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon (Gard, France). From the 3D digitization of the current church and the restitution proposal of its XVIII <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">th</sup> century state, three scientific and artistic teams have produced a spatial augmented reality performance based on the 3D digital model. Over the dialogue between virtual and real actors, the spirit of the place is progressively revealed. This project illustrates a new kind of heritage valorisation through an efficient collaboration between science, heritage and art.