KID smART & Any Given Child – New Orleans

This internship report is an overview of KID smART and the fiduciary responsibility it provides to the citywide arts education initiative Any Given Child - New Orleans (AGCNO). I began my 480-hour internship with KID smART in February 2015 to work on getting AGCNO off the ground. The following report combines on-site observational research, expertise I developed from my educational training, and independent research to provide an analysis of KID smART and AGCNO’s current position, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Additionally, this report provides recommendations on how to address specific issues with operational management in order for AGCNO to establish independence and sustainability

Cluster Algorithm Renormalization Group Study of Universal Fluctuations in the 2D Ising Model

In this paper we propose a novel method to study critical systems numerically by a combined collective-mode algorithm and Renormalization Group on the lattice. This method is an improved version of MCRG in the sense that it has all the advantages of cluster algorithms. As an application we considered the 2D Ising model and studied wether scale invariance or universality are possible underlying mechanisms responsible for the approximate "universal fluctuations" close to a so-called bulk temperature $T^*(L)$. "Universal fluctuations" was first proposed in [1] and stated that the probability density function of a global quantity for very dissimilar systems, like a confined turbulent flow and a 2D magnetic system, properly normalized to the first two moments, becomes similar to the "universal distribution", originally obtained for the magnetization in the 2D XY model in the low temperature region. The results for the critical exponents and the renormalization group flow of the probability density function are very accurate and show no evidence to support that the approximate common shape of the PDF should be related to both scale invariance or universal behavior.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures and 3 table

Impacts of land grabbing and agribusiness on peasant family farming in the province of Los Ríos – Ecuador

Land grabbing and agribusiness have generated serious implications for the sustainability of peasant communities in the global south. This paper analyzes perceptions of the impact of land grabbing and agribusiness on peasant family farming in three cantons of Los Ríos Province in Ecuador, using focus groups in 2020. The sustainable development framework and content analysis using NVIVO12 software were used. In the territories, negative impacts were mostly identified that seriously compromise their sustainable development, given that monocultures and the agribusiness production system have had strong implications in deforestation, loss of biodiversity, contamination of natural resources, modification of the agricultural landscape, and farmers’ health. Keywords: land grabbing, peasants, agribusiness. Resumen El acaparamiento de tierras y los agronegocios han generado serias implicaciones en la sostenibilidad de comunidades campesinas del sur global. En este artículo se analizan las percepciones del impacto del acaparamiento de tierras y los agronegocios en la agricultura familiar campesina en tres cantones de la Provincia de Los Ríos en Ecuador, aplicando grupos focales en el 2020. Se empleó el marco del desarrollo sostenible y el análisis de contenidos mediante el software NVIVO12. En los territorios se identificaron mayoritariamente impactos negativos que comprometen seriamente su desarrollo sostenible, dado que los monocultivos, sistema de producción de los agronegocios, han tenido fuertes implicaciones en la deforestación, pérdida de biodiversidad, contaminación de recursos naturales, modificación paisaje agrícola y salud de los agricultores. Palabras Clave: acaparamiento de tierras, campesinos, agronegocios

Resilience and Personal Improvement of Students with Motor Disabilities

The condition of disability causes multiple changes in the life of a person, putting into play different mechanisms that allow him to adapt to the new situation and learn to live with important restrictions that require an effort to realize a normalized life, in a society where there is no shortage discriminatory and differentiating attitudes, which make the process of adaptation to society more difficult, all this influences the efforts to achieve the personal improvement of the disabled and the strengthening of their resilient posture. The objective of the research is to establish the resilience and personal improvement of students with disabilities in the Universidad Técnica de Manabí. The research shows an analysis of the functional and conceptual background of the phenomenon related to motor disability and the rights of people who suffer from it to develop their social skills to obtain a profession. It addresses the concept of resilience and what is related to the ability of people with disabilities to overcome. The results obtained in the application of the SV-RES test prepared by the researchers (Saavedra & Villalta, 2008a), to the students who suffer motor disability and who are enrolled in different careers of the technical university of Manabí, are offered. Offer in tables and an analysis related to the resilience and personal improvement of said students is presented

La Unión Europea ante la emergencia climática

 From its origins, the Member States of the Euro­pean Union (EU) have demonstrated the need for strate­gic energy measures. As it did with the 1952 Coal and Steel Treaty and the 1957 Euratom Treaty, designing a strong economic area, although it was based on the promotion of a decadent and unsustainable energy. Today, we are facing an EU, which climate policy is far from the original one, with a plausible objective: to give priority to energy efficiency while making its own path through the inter­national community, designing key, competitive and sus­tainable measures, contributing significantly to the new international climate regime under the Paris Agreement. However the adoption of the European Green Deal, will change the EU energy approach once again. Desde sus orígenes, los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea (UE) han demostrado la necesidad de adoptar medidas energéticas estratégicas. Así lo hicieron con el Tratado del Carbón y del Acero de 1952 y el Tra­tado Euratom de 1957, diseñando un espacio económico sólido, aunque basado en la promoción de una energía decadente e insostenible. Hoy por hoy, nos encontramos ante una UE, cuya política climática dista mucho de la originaria, con un objetivo plausible: dar prioridad a la efi­ciencia energética mientras se abre paso entre la comuni­dad internacional diseñando medidas claves, competitivas y sostenibles, contribuyendo significativamente al nuevo régimen climático internacional del Acuerdo de París, si bien con la adopción del Pacto Verde Europeo, la UE cam­bia el enfoque energético

Roles of Cholesterol and Lipids in the Etiopathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease is the principal cause of dementia throughout the world and the fourth cause of death in developed economies.This brain disorder is characterized by the formation of brain protein aggregates, namely, the paired helical filaments and senile plaques. Oxidative stress during life, neuroinflamamtion, and alterations in neuron-glia interaction patterns have been also involved in the etiopathogenesis of this disease. In recent years, cumulative evidence has been gained on the involvement of alteration in neuronal lipoproteins activity, as well as on the role of cholesterol and other lipids in the pathogenesis of this neurodegenerative disorder. In this review, we analyze the links between changes in cholesterol homeostasis, and the changes of lipids of major importance for neuronal activity and Alheimer's disease. The investigation on the fine molecular mechanisms underlying the lipids influence in the etiopathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease may shed light into its treatment and medical management

Path Integral Quantization of Generalized Quantum Electrodynamics

In this paper, a complete covariant quantization of generalized electrodynamics is shown through the path integral approach. To this goal, we first studied the hamiltonian structure of system following Dirac's methodology and, then, we followed the Faddeev-Senjanovic procedure to obtain the transition amplitude. The complete propagators (Schwinger-Dyson-Fradkin equations) of the correct gauge fixation and the generalized Ward-Fradkin-Takahashi identities are also obtained. Afterwards, an explicit calculation of one-loop approximation of all Green's functions and a discussion about the obtained results are presented.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure

Estimation of Resilience in University Students

The objective of the work is to estimate the resilience level of university students for future resilience interventions. The paper presents a conceptual analysis of the term resilience, based on the criteria of contemporary authors framed in two generations. The methods and techniques used in the work are exposed, where two tools for measuring resilience are highlighted. The importance of the study of resilience in the university environment is discussed and the statistical and graphical results related to the application of the aforementioned instruments are shown in terms of measuring the resilience level in the university students of seven faculties of the Technical University of Manabí