Abandoned or Degraded Areas in Historic Cities: The Importance of Multifunctional Reuse for Development through the Example of the Historic Commercial Triangle (Emporiko Trigono) of Athens

This article investigates the problem of changing land uses in historical city centers, a problem which often leads to the alteration of their historical, architectural and functional physiognomy, as well as the loss of their inhabitants. It also discusses the importance of land management and proposes a multifunctional reuse model for sustainable development in abandoned or degraded areas in historic cities. This problem is found in historical centers nowadays, especially in the European South, and many theoretical texts and urban studies deal with the issue. Taking under consideration the case of the Historical “Commercial Triangle” of Athens, this article presents the results of an extensive field work, which led to the mapping and analysis of the neighborhood’s special identity. Subsequently, these results lead to the presentation of the problems caused by the dominating uses of recreation and tourism, which suppress the traditional existing commercial uses and the residency. It concludes by proposing preservation strategies for the reuse and development of the area and emphasizes the importance of a management plan aiming towards the preservation of the historical character of the commercial center and its sustainable development. The work presented in this paper is based on an assignment produced in 2020 for the purposes of the post-graduate course “Protection and Preservation of a historical urban center or settlement”, which is part of the post-graduate program “Protection of Monuments” in the School of Architecture, NTUA.

Using the Design Thinking Process to Co-create a New, Interdisciplinary Design Thinking Course to Train 21st Century Graduate Students

Background: Our instructional team at the The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill led an innovative project that used IDEO.org's design thinking process to create a brand-new interdisciplinary graduate course, housed in the school of public health, titled Design Thinking for the Public Good. We offer our course design process as a case study of the use of design thinking for course design.Methods: We collected data and generated insights through a variety of inspiration, ideation, and implementation design thinking methods alongside members of our three stakeholder groups: (2) faculty who teach or have taught courses related to design thinking at our higher education institution; (2) design thinking experts at ours and other institutions and outside of higher education; and (3) graduate students at our institution.Results: We learned that interdisciplinary design thinking courses should include growth-oriented reflection, explicit group work skills, and content with a real-world application.Conclusions: Our course design process and findings can be replicated to design courses regardless of area of study, level, or format.

Using Text via Dialectical Journals to Nurture Liminal Spaces in Teacher Education

This article shares the findings of a study examining the use of dialectical journals as liminal spaces for the development of critical reflection in practicing teachers. In an online graduate course on critical teacher inquiry designed to foster teachers as antiracist multicultural educators, teachers engaged in dialogue with themselves as they responded to self-selected text segments in assigned readings throughout the course. Using Mezirow’s theory of transformation and specifically the typology of critical reflection of assumptions and critical self-reflection of assumptions, we analyzed the online dialectical journals of 23 teachers to better understand how their engagement with key texts both represented and influenced their reflective development and engagement in transformational learning. We conclude the journals to be powerful liminal spaces for teachers to engage in reframing of their assumptions.

From pharmaceutical standardizing to clinical research: 20 years of experience with fifty-millesimal potencies

Background: 20 years ago we began to standardize the procedures of preparation and use of fifty-millesimal dilutions (LM or Q) according to indications in the 6th edition of Hahnemann’s Organon. Aim: to describe the main stages in standardization as well as our teaching and research experience on Organon 6th edition. Results: with the use of standardized LM dilutions we observed a lower incidence of homeopathic aggravation than with our earlier experience with non standardized preparations. Organon.modus, a clinical-pharmaceutical protocol derived from the standardization was adequate for the teaching of homeopathy at Faculty of Medicine of Jundiai (São Paulo), the first Brazilian medical school with a graduate course on homeopathy. A randomized double-blind trial comparing individualized homeopathic medicines prescribed in LM dilutions and fluoxetine showed the former not be inferior to the latter in the treatment of moderate-to-severe depression. Conclusion: protocol Organon.modus showed to be adequate to graduate-level teaching of homeopathy and efficient in a controlled clinical trials, favoring its use as common denominator between the art of healing and medical science.

Sidney Coleman's Lectures on Relativity

Sidney Coleman (1937–2007) earned his doctorate at Caltech under Murray Gell-Mann. Before completing his thesis, he was hired by Harvard and remained there his entire career. A celebrated particle theorist, he is perhaps best known for his brilliant lectures, given at Harvard and in a series of summer school courses at Erice, Sicily. Three times in the 1960s he taught a graduate course on Special and General Relativity; this book is based on lecture notes taken by three of his students and compiled by the Editors.

Advanced Geodynamics

David Sandwell developed this advanced textbook over a period of nearly 30 years for his graduate course at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The book augments the classic textbook Geodynamics by Don Turcotte and Jerry Schubert, presenting more complex and foundational mathematical methods and approaches to geodynamics. The main new tool developed in the book is the multi-dimensional Fourier transform for solving linear partial differential equations. The book comprises nineteen chapters, including: the latest global data sets; quantitative plate tectonics; plate driving forces associated with lithospheric heat transfer and subduction; the physics of the earthquake cycle; postglacial rebound; and six chapters on gravity field development and interpretation. Each chapter has a set of student exercises that make use of the higher-level mathematical and numerical methods developed in the book. Solutions to the exercises are available online for course instructors, on request.

Older Adults as Virtual Subject Matter Experts in COVID Graduate Education

COVID-19 has further illuminated the need for educational approaches in gerontology that are person-centered and experiential. Ideally, this includes in-person experiences with students and older adults. Through their classroom participation as subject matter experts in aging, older adults share their personal experiences, and react to gerontological theories and ideas. Shared learning offers a platform for exploration of shared humanity, so that older adults are not seen as the “other”, but “us”. This prepares a generation of gerontologists to identify and reject ongoing ageism, again highlighted by the pandemic. COVID-19 has also challenged educators to offer these experiential opportunities. In this presentation we will outline how older adults from a Continuing Care Retirement Community participated virtually in a graduate course. We will discuss how their virtual involvement was structured, how their real-time COVID experiences were integrated, and share feedback from older adult participants and students on their shared learning experiences.