Stellar Transfigurations of Disabled Bodies : Wangechi Mutu and Afrofuturism

Stellar Transformations of Disabled Bodies: Wangechi Mutu and Afrofuturism will examine how Kenyan-born artist Wangechi Mutu (b. 1972) depicts futuristic black bodies. Utilizing three of her collages, Untitled (Leopard woman reclining) (2010), My Strength Lies (2006), and Homeward Bound (2010), I will analyze Mutu’s themes of Afrofuturistic alienation and the grotesque. I will use Afrofuturism and Mutu’s renderings to reveal a future visibility for the black female body. Mutu collages images from fashion magazines, car manuals, National Geographic , and catalogs to construct bodies with missing limbs and severed appendages. Critics have called these bodies “grotesque”, whereas Mutu has called her bodies “disabled”. I will be using both terms “grotesque” and “disabled” in conjunction with black grotesquerie to examine Mutu’s vision of a black female body in the future. With black grotesquerie, I will explore the connection between Mutu’s own labor as a collagist, her Africanness, and the construction of her composite female bodies. The theme of Afrofuturistic alienation will be examined by analyzing the backdrops of each collage as they relate to the black female body’s historical and future sites of habitation. My analysis of each backdrop will highlight questions of ecocriticism and body/land politics pervasive in all of Mutu’s collages. Afrofuturistic alienation will be cyborged out of “homelessness” and into an abducted alienation as a way to create a site of habitation for the self-curated black body. Cyborged will refer to the physical manipulation required by Mutu to create black female bodies in the future, both theoretically and materially. With her use of popular magazines and her own physical dissection of popular culture, Mutu offers us a self-curated black body living and being in the future

Use of habitat suitability modeling in the integrated urban water system modeling of the Drava River (Varazdin, Croatia)

The development of practical tools for providing accurate ecological assessment of rivers and species conditions is necessary to preserve habitats and species, stop degradation and restore water quality. An understanding of the causal mechanisms and processes that affect the ecological water quality and shape macroinvertebrate communities at a local scale has important implications for conservation management and river restoration. This study used the integration of wastewater treatment, river water quality and ecological assessment models to study the effect of upgrading a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and their ecological effects for the receiving river. The WWTP and the water quality and quantity of the Drava river in Croatia were modelled in the software WEST. For the ecological modeling, the approach followed was to build habitat suitability and ecological assessment models based on classification trees. This technique allows predicting the biological water quality in terms of the occurrence of macroinvertebrates and the river status according to ecological water quality indices. The ecological models developed were satisfactory, and showed a good predictive performance and good discrimination capacity. Using the integrated ecological model for the Drava river, three scenarios were run and evaluated. The scenario assessment showed that it is necessary an integrated approach for the water management of the Drava river, which considers an upgrading of the WWTP with Nitrogen and Phosphorous removal and the treatment of other diffuse pollution and point sources (including the overflow of the WWTP). Additionally, if an increase in the minimum instream flow after the dams is considered, a higher dilution capacity and a higher self-cleaning capability could be obtained. The results proved that integrated models like the one presented here have an added value for decision support in water management. This kind of integrated approach is useful to get insight in aquatic ecosystems, for assessing investments in sanitation infrastructure of urban wastewater systems considering both, the fulfilling of legal physical chemical emission limits and the ecological state of the receiving waters

Econometric Evidence Regarding Education and Border Income Performance

This study examines the relationship between education and income in Texas counties that are located along the border with Mexico. Estimation results confirm ealrier research results for this region. Parameter heterogeneity underscores the increased importance of education in the service-oriented labor market that has emerged in recent years in the United States. Simulation results quantify the income gains that could potentially be realized if drop out rates were lowered in the border counties included in the sample.Education; Texas border incomes; applied econometrics

Numerical study of barriers and valleys in the free-energy landscape of spin glasses

We study the problem of glassy relaxations in the presence of an external field in the highly controlled context of a spin-glass simulation. We consider a small spin glass in three dimensions (specifically, a lattice of size L=8, small enough to be equilibrated through a Parallel Tempering simulations at low temperatures, deep in the spin glass phase). After equilibrating the sample, an external field is switched on, and the subsequent dynamics is studied. The field turns out to reduce the relaxation time, but huge statistical fluctuations are found when different samples are compared. After taking care of these fluctuations we find that the expected linear regime is very narrow. Nevertheless, when regarded as a purely numerical method, we find that the external field is extremely effective in reducing the relaxation times.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures; Published versio

Correction of D-Loop, D-Transposition of the Great Arteries and Sub-Pulmonary Stenosis with a Dacron Conduit and Stented Porcine Xenograft Valve

Total correction of transposition of the great arteries and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction has become feasible in recent years. Certain modifications are needed, however, to improve the long term function of the valved conduit required in the procedure. A stented porcine xenograft valve, sutured into a woven Dacron tubular graft, was used successfully in the total correction of such a malfunction. The patient described is the first so treated at the Henry Ford Hospital. The main advantage of this technique is its practicality. Both Dacron tubular grafts and stented porcine xenograft valves are commercially available. This approach is applicable also in the repair of congenital cardiac malformations which have discontinuity between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery

The Plan for Energy Saving and Efficiency as an Example of the University of Valladolid's Commitment to Sustainability

This paper presents the University of Valladolid's Plan for Energy Saving and Efficiency (February 2023) and focuses on the keys developed in relation to the sustainable design and use of university buildings and the promotion of sustainable mobility, as well as on the objectives pursued by the Plan: to reduce the environmental impact and the associated energy costs, eliminate fossil fuels and seek self-consumption. The University of Valladolid has been working for years to improve its energy and environmental performance, using biomass as the main energy resource for heating and sanitary hot water systems in most of its facilities, for the construction of sustainable and efficient buildings, for carrying out energy renovations and continuous actions to improve energy efficiency in existing buildings, and for promoting sustainable mobility models among the university community. With these actions, the University of Valladolid has managed to reduce emissions of thousands of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year, improving conditions in university spaces and keeping energy consumption stable. This reduction in energy consumption has made it possible to contain energy costs in global scenarios of rising prices, as well as to minimize the application of harsh measures to reduce energy consumption (closing buildings, turning off air conditioning, etc.) that most higher education institutions in our country have been forced to apply

Los paisajes del sueño americano: escenografía de "Mad Men"

Este artículo analiza el reflejo del sueño americano en los escenarios, iconología y modelos de belleza usados por Matt Weiner en su exitosa serie Mad Men (AMC, 2007). Esta serie de se ha convertido en obra de ficción audiovisual mundialmente aclamada y premiada repetidamente en todo el mundo, sobre todo por su autenticidad histórica y su estilo visual. La serie se convierte en un perfecto retrato de un mundo gris de hombres ejecutivos, en el que la única nota de color la ponen las mujeres. Se trata de una mujer bella, elegante, guapa, moderna, coqueta, femenina que tiene ante sí el nuevo reto de ocupar puestos de responsabilidad en el mundo laboral y al mismo tiempo de llevar una familia hacia delante como ama de casa y esposa. Paradójicamente, ese realismo y verosimilitud despiertan el interés por una realidad intangible y tan difícil de concretar como es el sueño americano.This article analyses the reflex of the American dream in the sets, iconology and beauty models used by Matt Weiner in his successful TV series drama Mad Men (AMC, 2007-Hoy). This TV drama has turned into an audio-visual fiction master piece that the world has acclaimed and internationally rewarded in the whole world, especially for his historical genuineness and his visual style. It turns into a perfect portrait of a grey world of executive men, where the women put the only and unique note of colour. These women are beautiful, elegant, handsome, modern, flirtatious and feminine and have the new challenge of occupying positions of responsibility in the labour world. Paradoxically, this realism and verisimilitude wake the interest up for a reality intangible and so difficult to make concrete since it is the American dream