Promotion of faster weight gain in infants born small for gestational age - Is there an adverse effect on later blood pressure?

Background - Being born small for gestational age is associated with later risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure. Promotion of postnatal growth has been proposed to ameliorate these effects. There is evidence in animals and infants born prematurely, however, that promotion of growth by increased postnatal nutrition increases rather than decreases later cardiovascular risk. We report the long-term impact of growth promotion in term infants born small for gestational age ( birth weight < 10th percentile).Methods and Results - Blood pressure was measured at 6 to 8 years in 153 of 299 ( 51%) of a cohort of children born small for gestational age and randomly assigned at birth to receive either a standard or a nutrient-enriched formula. The enriched formula contained 28% more protein than standard formula and promoted weight gain. Diastolic and mean ( but not systolic) blood pressure was significantly lower in children assigned to standard compared with nutrient-enriched formula ( unadjusted mean difference for diastolic blood pressure, - 3.2 mm Hg; 95% CI, - 5.8 to - 0.5; P = 0.02) independent of potential confounding factors ( adjusted difference, - 3.5 mm Hg; P = 0.01). In observational analyses, faster weight gain in infancy was associated with higher later blood pressure.Conclusions - In the present randomized study targeted to investigate the effect of early nutrition on long-term cardiovascular health, we found that a nutrient-enriched diet increased later blood pressure. These findings support an adverse effect of relative "overnutrition" in infancy on long-term cardiovascular disease risk, have implications for the early origins of cardiovascular disease hypothesis, and do not support the promotion of faster weight gain in infants born small for gestational age

Synthesis of Satellite Microwave Observations for Monitoring Global Land-Atmosphere CO2 Exchange

This dissertation describes the estimation, error quantification, and incorporation of land surface information from microwave satellite remote sensing for modeling global ecosystem land-atmosphere net CO2 exchange. Retrieval algorithms were developed for estimating soil moisture, surface water, surface temperature, and vegetation phenology from microwave imagery timeseries. Soil moisture retrievals were merged with model-based soil moisture estimates and incorporated into a light-use efficiency model for vegetation productivity coupled to a soil decomposition model. Results, including state and uncertainty estimates, were evaluated with a global eddy covariance flux tower network and other independent global model- and remote-sensing based products

(Mis)representation at the movies: film, pedagogy, and postcolonial theory in the secondary English classroom

This thesis examines the potential role of film study in the secondary English and Language Arts classroom. Highlighting the frustrated current pedagogical relationship between most secondary instructors and film, it seeks to provide educators with resources to assist them in weaving motion pictures into their classrooms. Specifically, it describes using film to teach secondary students fundamental concepts of postcolonial critical theory. As a result, the thesis addresses three overarching questions: 1) To what extent can the study of film serve as a pedagogical tool in the secondary English classroom? 2) What strategies and concepts can instructors use to make the study of film in their classrooms a reality? 3) How can the study of film be used as a means of postcolonial theory? Three films comprise the thesis’s central focus: Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). By focusing on the medium’s ability to develop visual literacy skills—stressed by both NCTE and IRA as vital for students in the twenty-first century—the thesis provides ways that film can serve as a rich topic of analysis that both challenges and engages students. In addition, it focuses specific attention on using films to help students visualize and connect with postcolonial critical theory. The three films selected for examination in both the critical essays and the corresponding curricular design, in particular, embody and represent several areas of focus common to postcolonial analysis. A comprehensive literature review of film pedagogy and two critical essays on the selected films are paired with a curricular design consisting of ten lesson plans, complete with handouts, assessments, and instructional notes for educators to use in their own classrooms. Combined, these artifacts provide cogent arguments that film both can and should be included in the secondary curriculum as it links students’ inherent interest in multimedia content with the essential analytical and critical thinking skills that make up the heart of every English classroom

Satellite Microwave Remote Sensing of Boreal-Arctic Land Surface State and Meteorology from AMSR-E

High latitude regions are undergoing significant climate-related change and represent an integral component of the Earth’s climate system. Near-surface vapor pressure deficit, soil temperature, and soil moisture are essential state variables for monitoring high latitude climate and estimating the response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change. Methods are developed and evaluated to retrieve surface soil temperature, daily maximum/minimum air temperature, and land surface wetness information from the EOS Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite for eight Boreal forest and Arctic tundra biophysical monitoring sites across Alaska and northern Canada. Daily vapor pressure deficit is determined by employing AMSR-E daily maximum/minimum air temperature retrievals. The seasonal pattern of microwave emission and relative accuracy of the estimated land surface state are influenced strongly by landscape properties including the presence of open water, vegetation type and seasonal phenology, snow cover and freeze-thaw transitions. Daily maximum/minimum air temperature is retrieved with RMSEs of 2.88 K and 2.31 K, respectively. Soil temperature is retrieved with RMSE of 3.1 K. Vapor pressure deficit (VPD) is retrieved to within 427.9 Pa using thermal information from AMSR-E. AMSR-E thermal information imparted 27% of the overall error in VPD estimation with the remaining error attributable to underlying algorithm assumptions. Land surface wetness information derived from AMSR-E corresponded with soil moisture observations and simple soil moisture models at locations with tundra, grassland, and mixed -forest/cropland land covers (r = 0.49 to r = 0.76). AMSR-E 6.9 GHz land surface wetness showed little correspondence to soil moisture observation or model estimates at locations with \u3e 20% open water and \u3e 5 m2 m-2 Leaf Area Index, despite efforts to remove the impact of open water and vegetation biomass. Additional information on open water fraction and vegetation phenology derived from AMSR-E 6.9 GHz corresponds well with independent satellite observations from MODIS, Sea-Winds, and JERS-1. The techniques and interpretations of high-latitude terrestrial brightness temperature signatures presented in this investigation will likely prove useful for future passive microwave missions and ecosystem modeling

Alan Berliner, documentalista

El director de cinema Alan Berliner és un dels documentalistes nordamericans més destacats de l'actualitat. Especialista del muntatge i de l'ús de material d'arxiu (a The Family Album, va utilitzar exclusivament fragments de pel·lícules casolanes alienes), s'ha destacat indagant la naturalesa de les relacions familiars i, als seus últims films, ha desenvolupat un innovador cinema en primera persona on ell mateix i la seva família tenen el protagonisme. Ha rebut premis i distincions arreu del món i la seva obra ha estat revisada en diverses retrospectives al Museu d'Art Modern de Nova York (MOMA) i a diferents festivals internacionals. Berliner va presentar la seva última pel·lícula, Wide Awake, a la sala de cinema de la Plaça Cívica, i va impartir una classe magistral en el marc de la tercera edició del Premi de Cinema Assaig de la UAB.El director de cine Alan Berliner es uno de los documentalistas norteamericanos más destacados de la actualidad. Especialista del montaje y el uso de material de archivo (en The Family Album, utilizó exclusivamente fragmentos de películas caseras ajenas), se ha destacado indagando la naturaleza de las relaciones familiares y, en sus últimas películas, ha desarrollado un innovador cine en primera persona donde él mismo y su familia toman el protagonismo. Ha recibido premios y distinciones alrededor del mundo y su obra ha sido revisada en diferentes retrospectivas en el Museo de Arte moderno de Nueva York (MOMA) y en varios festivales internacionales. Berliner presentó su última película, Wide Awake, en la sala de cine de la Plaza Cívica, e impartió una clase magistral, en el marco de la tercera edición del Premio de Cine Ensayo de la UAB

The Object/The Body/The Ritual: An Affectual Dissection of Plastic Bags Through Performance Design

Roland Barthes has famously noted plastics as miraculous substances of infinite transformations and transmutations, yet we are in the midst of a paradigm shift in which the material plays an increasingly destructive role in our society and environment. The thesis addresses the question of how meaning is made and transformed by theoretically and practically dissecting plastic through three distinct research areas: object, body, and ritual. Most prominently, my thesis demonstrates how situating the plastic bag in a funeral can forge human to non-human reverence and reformulate affectual associations. Through creative investigation and extensive multidisciplinary research in visual arts, film, and queer theory, I aim to provide a deeper understanding of how plastics can obscure and entangle the boundaries between theatre and performance art

Ecoengineering with Ecohydrology: Successes and failures in estuarine restoration

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. Ecological Engineering (or Ecoengineering) is increasingly used in estuaries to re-create and restore ecosystems degraded by human activities, including reduced water flow or land poldered for agricultural use. Here we focus on ecosystem recolonization by the biota and their functioning and we separate Type A Ecoengineering where the physico-chemical structure is modified on the basis that ecological structure and functioning will then follow, and Type B Ecoengineering where the biota are engineered directly such as through restocking or replanting. Modifying the physical system to create and restore natural processes and habitats relies on successfully applying Ecohydrology, where suitable physical conditions, especially hydrography and sedimentology, are created to recover estuarine ecology by natural or human-mediated colonisation of primary producers and consumers, or habitat creation. This successional process then allows wading birds and fish to reoccupy the rehabilitated areas, thus restoring the natural food web and recreating nursery areas for aquatic biota. We describe Ecohydrology principles applied during Ecoengineering restoration projects in Europe, Australia, Asia, South Africa and North America. These show some successful and sustainable approaches but also others that were less than successful and not sustainable despite the best of intentions (and which may even have harmed the ecology). Some schemes may be 'good for the ecologists', as conservationists consider it successful that at least some habitat was created, albeit in the short-term, but arguably did little for the overall ecology of the area in space or time. We indicate the trade-offs between the short- and long-term value of restored and created ecosystems, the success at developing natural structure and functioning in disturbed estuaries, the role of this in estuarine and wetland management, and the costs and benefits of Ecoengineering to the socio-ecological system. These global case studies provide important lessons for both the science and management of estuaries, including that successful estuarine restoration is a complex and often difficult process, and that Ecoengineering with Ecohydrology aims to control and/or simulate natural ecosystem processes

A-2000: Close air support aircraft design team

The US Air Force is currently faced with the problem of providing adequate close air support for ground forces. Air response to troops engaged in combat must be rapid and devastating due to the highly fluid battle lines of the future. The A-2000 is the result of a study to design an aircraft to deliver massive fire power accurately. The low cost A-2000 incorporates: large weapons payload; excellent maneuverability; all weather and terrain following capacity; redundant systems; and high survivability