New Deal Art: California

Traditionally, the years of the New Deal projects have been treated as a part of the Depression experience with an emphasis on their economic and social dimensions. Until recently, sporadic interest in the art of the period has usually focused on individual artists, not general movements in the art of the time. This has been particularly true in the western states. The purpose of the New Deal Art: California exhibition was to create an overview of the New Deal art projects by bringing together examples of art from the federal art programs in California. New Deal Art: California came about as the result of a chance remark made, by Dr. Francis V. O\u27Connor, Art Historical Consultant, on his first trip to the de Saisset Art Gallery and Museum in 1971. The original exploratory research he did revealed a wealth of information about California\u27s contribution to the Works Progress Administration\u27s Federal Art Project and the Treasury Programs. Dr. O\u27Connor\u27s initial work helped provide the foundation for two years of subsequent research into the historical and aesthetic climate that gave birth to New ,Deal Art in California. The results of our explorations, in both quantity and quality of resources, has far exceeded our original expectations.https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/faculty_books/1367/thumbnail.jp

Flicker Sensitivity in Normal Aging-Monocular Tests of Retinal Function at Photopic and Mesopic Light Levels

Purpose: Aging can affect many aspects of visual performance. In general, the effects become more significant in those older than 40 to 50 years, with increased intersubject variability and stronger dependence on ambient illumination. This study aimed to establish how healthy aging of the retina affects the detection of 15-Hz flicker under photopic and mesopic lighting. Methods: We investigated 71 participants aged 20 to 75 years. Thresholds were measured for detection of 15-Hz flicker at the fovea (0°) and at an eccentricity of 4° in each of the four quadrants. The background luminance ranged from 0.6 to 60 cd/m2 and pupil size was measured continuously. Participants were excluded if they had signs/history of ocular disease, substantial interocular differences in flicker thresholds, or were unable to detect 100% flicker modulation in the high mesopic range. Results: Mesopic and photopic flicker thresholds were used to calculate an index, the health of the retina index, to determine the limits of flicker sensitivity in healthy aging. Log flicker thresholds changed bilinearly with age; they remained stable until 40 to 50 years, with a linear decline with increasing age. This bilinear pattern of the change in flicker thresholds with age is consistent across photopic and mesopic light levels. Conclusions: The health of the retina index captures the lowest threshold, usually obtained under photopic conditions, as well as the loss of flicker sensitivity with decreasing light level. The established limits of healthy aging may benefit from future studies in patients with ocular hypertension and/or glaucoma that are known to experience loss of flicker sensitivity

The Order of Things: A series of examinations, through exhibition and publication, of contemporary interpretations of Systems in relation to legacies of Concrete and Abstract Art

The Order of Things was a survey exhibition, publication and seminar. The project explored how contemporary artists have built upon, questioned and expanded legacies of abstraction, in particular through uses of systems. The project demonstrated how artists interrogate experience, social convention, the gallery as cultural site in order to explore broader ideas of how individuals and groups perceive and interpret the nature of human reality through forms of visualisation. It examined how a human desire for aesthetic experience can be a means of mediating social and political positions. The title, The Order of Things, is taken from Michel Foucault’s 1966 book, Les Mots et les Choses. Underpinning Foucault’s discussion is the anthropological argument that human categorisation strategy –how we label things –is limited. In parallel to this canonical philosophical reference point, 1977 print portfolio Rational Concepts, a copy of which Bick was gifted by artist Jeffrey Steele, was included in the exhibition to locate archivally the visual reference to the original Systems art movement. The exhibition uses this source to examine the proposition that visual systemization within art practice is an ongoing and divergent process. The collaborative curatorial methodology generated a deliberately varied set of responses to the key questions of the exhibition ranging through painting, video, sculpture, drawing, documented performance and other media and material combinations. Though predominantly non-representational, many works included offset their physical characteristics with a figurative title, deliberately mismatches language and image. Here the question is that of how a characteristic can be transformed, through repetition and variation, from a squiggle to something legible and comprehensible. Conversely, other works position their approach to systems around the extent to which a symbol can degenerate before it becomes indecipherable. Here the key methodology is one of disruption within a system, proposing that the true legacy of systems in contemporary art practice is as a locator of the unpredictable and un-nameable within perception and human behavior

The Long-Term Effects of Prematurity and Intrauterine Growth Restriction on Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolic Function

Objective. To determine relative influences of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and preterm birth on risks of cardiovascular, renal, or metabolic dysfunction in adolescent children. Study Design. Retrospective cohort study. 71 periadolescent children were classified into four groups: premature small for gestational age (SGA), premature appropriate for gestational age (AGA), term SGA, and term AGA. Outcome Measures. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), augmentation index (Al), glomerular filtration rate (GFR) following protein load; plasma glucose and serum insulin levels. Results. SGA had higher SBP (average 4.6 mmHg) and lower GFR following protein load (average 28.5 mL/min/1.73 m2) than AGA. There was no effect of prematurity on SBP (P = .4) or GFR (P = .9). Both prematurity and SGA were associated with higher AI (average 9.7%) and higher serum insulin levels 2 hr after glucose load (average 15.5 mIU/L) than all other groups. Conclusion. IUGR is a more significant risk factor than preterm birth for later systolic hypertension and renal dysfunction. Among children born preterm, those who are also SGA are at increased risk of arterial stiffness and metabolic dysfunction

Flight testing of a luminescent surface pressure sensor

NASA ARC has conducted flight tests of a new type of aerodynamic pressure sensor based on a luminescent surface coating. Flights were conducted at the NASA ARC-Dryden Flight Research Facility. The luminescent pressure sensor is based on a surface coating which, when illuminated with ultraviolet light, emits visible light with an intensity dependent on the local air pressure on the surface. This technique makes it possible to obtain pressure data over the entire surface of an aircraft, as opposed to conventional instrumentation, which can only make measurements at pre-selected points. The objective of the flight tests was to evaluate the effectiveness and practicality of a luminescent pressure sensor in the actual flight environment. A luminescent pressure sensor was installed on a fin, the Flight Test Fixture (FTF), that is attached to the underside of an F-104 aircraft. The response of one particular surface coating was evaluated at low supersonic Mach numbers (M = 1.0-1.6) in order to provide an initial estimate of the sensor's capabilities. This memo describes the test approach, the techniques used, and the pressure sensor's behavior under flight conditions. A direct comparison between data provided by the luminescent pressure sensor and that produced by conventional pressure instrumentation shows that the luminescent sensor can provide quantitative data under flight conditions. However, the test results also show that the sensor has a number of limitations which must be addressed if this technique is to prove useful in the flight environment

Homeostatic Response to Three Years of Experimental Warming Suggests High Intrinsic Natural Resistance in the Páramos to Warming in the Short Term

Páramos, tropical alpine ecosystems, host one of the world s most diverse alpine floras, account for the largest water reservoirs in the Andes, and some of the largest soil carbon pools worldwide. It is of global importance to understand the future of this extremely carbon-rich ecosystem in a warmer world and its role on global climate feedbacks. This study presents the result of the first in situ warming experiment in two Colombian páramos using Open-Top Chambers. We evaluated the response to warming of several ecosystem carbon balance-related processes, including decomposition, soil respiration, photosynthesis, plant productivity, and vegetation structure after 3 years of warming. We found that OTCs are an efficient warming method in the páramo, increasing mean air temperature by 1.7°C and mean daytime temperature by 3.4°C. The maximum air temperature differences between OTC and control was 23.1°C. Soil temperature increased only by 0.1°C. After 3 years of warming using 20 OTC (10 per páramo) in a randomized block design, we found no evidence that warming increased CO2 emissions from soil respiration, nor did it increase decomposition rate, photosynthesis or productivity in the two páramos studied. However, total C and N in the soil and vegetation structure are slowly changing as result of warming and changes are site dependent. In Sumapaz, shrubs, and graminoids cover increased in response to warming while in Matarredonda we observed an increase in lichen cover. Whether this change in vegetation might influence the carbon sequestration potential of the páramo needs to be further evaluated. Our results suggest that páramos ecosystems can resist an increase in temperature with no significant alteration of ecosystem carbon balance related processes in the short term. However, the long-term effect of warming could depend on the vegetation changes and how these changes alter the microbial soil composition and soil processes. The differential response among páramos suggest that the response to warming could be highly dependent on the initial conditions and therefore we urgently need more warming experiments in páramos to understand how specific site characteristics will affect their response to warming and their role in global climate feedbacks. © Copyright © 2021 Lasso, Matheus-Arbeláez, Gallery, Garzón-López, Cruz, Leon-Garcia, Aragón, Ayarza-Páez and Curiel Yuste.Special thanks to David Campos, Fabian Salgado, Luis Fernando Rojas, Ewen Dano, Jorge Acosta, Juliana Portilla, and Michelle Guevara that helped with field and lab work. We would like to thank the Sabogal family for allowing the establishment of the OTC and collection of samples in the p?ramo ?Parque Ecol?gico Matarredonda? and to the Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Riveira, Commander of the High Mountain Battalion No. 1 in Sumapaz and all the commanders that follow him and who provided us with accommodation and food in the battalion as well as logistic support in all our field campaigns. Thanks to all the soldiers who always enthusiastically helped us in the field work in Sumapaz. This research was also supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2018?2021 program, and by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the BC3 Mar?a de Maeztu excellence accreditation (MDM-2017-0714). Funding. Funding for this research comes from the ?Patrimonio Aut?nomo Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento para la Ciencia, la Tecnolog?a y la Innovaci?n Francisco Jos? de Caldas?Colciencias,? grant number 120471451294, granted by Colciencias (today?s Colombian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation), from Eloisa Lasso?s FAPA (Fondo de Apoyo para Profesores Asistentes) grant number P12.160422.001 from the Universidad de los Andes, and from the Research Fund to support faculty programs at the Faculty of Sciences at the Universidad de los Andes grant number INV-2019-84-1805

Ecological and Genomic Attributes of Novel Bacterial Taxa That Thrive in Subsurface Soil Horizons.

While most bacterial and archaeal taxa living in surface soils remain undescribed, this problem is exacerbated in deeper soils, owing to the unique oligotrophic conditions found in the subsurface. Additionally, previous studies of soil microbiomes have focused almost exclusively on surface soils, even though the microbes living in deeper soils also play critical roles in a wide range of biogeochemical processes. We examined soils collected from 20 distinct profiles across the United States to characterize the bacterial and archaeal communities that live in subsurface soils and to determine whether there are consistent changes in soil microbial communities with depth across a wide range of soil and environmental conditions. We found that bacterial and archaeal diversity generally decreased with depth, as did the degree of similarity of microbial communities to those found in surface horizons. We observed five phyla that consistently increased in relative abundance with depth across our soil profiles: Chloroflexi, Nitrospirae, Euryarchaeota, and candidate phyla GAL15 and Dormibacteraeota (formerly AD3). Leveraging the unusually high abundance of Dormibacteraeota at depth, we assembled genomes representative of this candidate phylum and identified traits that are likely to be beneficial in low-nutrient environments, including the synthesis and storage of carbohydrates, the potential to use carbon monoxide (CO) as a supplemental energy source, and the ability to form spores. Together these attributes likely allow members of the candidate phylum Dormibacteraeota to flourish in deeper soils and provide insight into the survival and growth strategies employed by the microbes that thrive in oligotrophic soil environments.IMPORTANCE Soil profiles are rarely homogeneous. Resource availability and microbial abundances typically decrease with soil depth, but microbes found in deeper horizons are still important components of terrestrial ecosystems. By studying 20 soil profiles across the United States, we documented consistent changes in soil bacterial and archaeal communities with depth. Deeper soils harbored communities distinct from those of the more commonly studied surface horizons. Most notably, we found that the candidate phylum Dormibacteraeota (formerly AD3) was often dominant in subsurface soils, and we used genomes from uncultivated members of this group to identify why these taxa are able to thrive in such resource-limited environments. Simply digging deeper into soil can reveal a surprising number of novel microbes with unique adaptations to oligotrophic subsurface conditions

The Order of Things: A series of examinations, through exhibition and publication, of contemporary interpretations of Systems in relation to legacies of Concrete and Abstract Art

The Order of Things was a survey exhibition, publication and seminar. The project explored how contemporary artists have built upon, questioned and expanded legacies of abstraction, in particular through uses of systems. The project demonstrated how artists interrogate experience, social convention, the gallery as cultural site in order to explore broader ideas of how individuals and groups perceive and interpret the nature of human reality through forms of visualisation. It examined how a human desire for aesthetic experience can be a means of mediating social and political positions. The title, The Order of Things, is taken from Michel Foucault’s 1966 book, Les Mots et les Choses. Underpinning Foucault’s discussion is the anthropological argument that human categorisation strategy –how we label things –is limited. In parallel to this canonical philosophical reference point, 1977 print portfolio Rational Concepts, a copy of which Bick was gifted by artist Jeffrey Steele, was included in the exhibition to locate archivally the visual reference to the original Systems art movement. The exhibition uses this source to examine the proposition that visual systemization within art practice is an ongoing and divergent process. The collaborative curatorial methodology generated a deliberately varied set of responses to the key questions of the exhibition ranging through painting, video, sculpture, drawing, documented performance and other media and material combinations. Though predominantly non-representational, many works included offset their physical characteristics with a figurative title, deliberately mismatches language and image. Here the question is that of how a characteristic can be transformed, through repetition and variation, from a squiggle to something legible and comprehensible. Conversely, other works position their approach to systems around the extent to which a symbol can degenerate before it becomes indecipherable. Here the key methodology is one of disruption within a system, proposing that the true legacy of systems in contemporary art practice is as a locator of the unpredictable and un-nameable within perception and human behavior