41 research outputs found

    In-site: A New Realism - WWU Art Studio 2020 Catalog

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    In-site: A New Realism is the 2020 Western Washington University Art Studio BFA Exhibition Catalog. It features the work of 10 artists, their artist statements, and responses by art historians.https://cedar.wwu.edu/bfa_catalogs/1001/thumbnail.jp

    Unearthing the Infrastructure: Humans and Sensors in Field-Based Scientific Research

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    Distributed sensing systems for studying scientific phenomena are critical applications of information technologies. By embedding computational intelligence in the environment of study, sensing systems allow researchers to study phenomena at spatial and temporal scales that were previously impossible to achieve. We present an ethnographic study of field research practices among researchers in the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), a National Science Foundation Science & Technology Center devoted to developing wireless sensing systems for scientific and social applications. Using the concepts of boundary objects and trading zones, we trace the processes of collaborative research around sensor technology development and adoption within CENS. Over the 10-year lifespan of CENS, sensor technologies, sensor data, field research methods, and statistical expertise each emerged as boundary objects that were understood differently by the science and technology partners. We illustrate how sensing technologies were incompatible with field-based environmental research until researchers “unearthed” their infrastructures, explicitly reintroducing human skill and expertise into the data collection process and developing new collaborative languages that emphasized building dynamic sensing systems that addressed human needs. In collaborating around a dynamic sensing model, the sensing systems became embedded not in the environment of study, but in the practices of the scientists. Status and citation: This is the revised and accepted version, prior to publisher’s copy editing. Please quote the final version: Mayernik, Matthew S., Wallis, Jillian C., & Borgman, Christine L. (In press). Unearthing the infrastructure: Humans and sensors in field-based scientific research. Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work. doi: 10.1007/s10606-012-9178-

    Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

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    BACKGROUND: Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. METHODS: We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0·5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. FINDINGS: Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86·9 years (95% UI 86·7-87·2), and for men in Singapore, at 81·3 years (78·8-83·7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, an

    Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

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    Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation

    Ultimate Burger Fantasy

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    Borne out of middle-class suburbia and the predictable experiences of young adult life, my animations and sculpture are about the average Jane. Ordinary or monotonous events set the stage for comfortable narratives. With the viewer seduced and entertained, the scenes begin to change, as grotesque and disgusting possibilities unfold. Ultimate Burger Fantasy is a rotoscope study of Carl’s Junior advertisements that aired on television throughout the 2000s to present day. I combine the images of women and food visually to create a single entity, exploring the complex correlation between extreme consumerism and over-sexualization of the female body in media. I play on the irony of the glamor of beautiful women juxtaposed with meat sandwiches in the advertisements. I do so by constructing a space for the consumption of sexual images and greasy burgers, which takes the shape of a disgusting bedroom hovel. The room is dark, the only light comes from the television and the distorted shapes of the animated food-women dancing across the soiled bed. These vignettes are based on my own experiences with food service. As a waitress at a drive-in I found myself feeling trapped in a relationship of servitude to my customers. It was necessary to appear welcoming and physically attractive to the male gaze. The nauseating mixture of sex appeal and comfort food stayed with me, a repetitive, never-ending experience of becoming objectified in order to make a living. The use of the sexualized body to manipulate desire is everywhere and as unrelenting as the greasy underbelly of our society.https://cedar.wwu.edu/bfa_images_2020/1008/thumbnail.jp

    Ultimate Burger Fantasy: Tomato Taking Bite

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    Borne out of middle-class suburbia and the predictable experiences of young adult life, my animations and sculpture are about the average Jane. Ordinary or monotonous events set the stage for comfortable narratives. With the viewer seduced and entertained, the scenes begin to change, as grotesque and disgusting possibilities unfold. Ultimate Burger Fantasy is a rotoscope study of Carl’s Junior advertisements that aired on television throughout the 2000s to present day. I combine the images of women and food visually to create a single entity, exploring the complex correlation between extreme consumerism and over-sexualization of the female body in media. I play on the irony of the glamor of beautiful women juxtaposed with meat sandwiches in the advertisements. I do so by constructing a space for the consumption of sexual images and greasy burgers, which takes the shape of a disgusting bedroom hovel. The room is dark, the only light comes from the television and the distorted shapes of the animated food-women dancing across the soiled bed. These vignettes are based on my own experiences with food service. As a waitress at a drive-in I found myself feeling trapped in a relationship of servitude to my customers. It was necessary to appear welcoming and physically attractive to the male gaze. The nauseating mixture of sex appeal and comfort food stayed with me, a repetitive, never-ending experience of becoming objectified in order to make a living. The use of the sexualized body to manipulate desire is everywhere and as unrelenting as the greasy underbelly of our society.https://cedar.wwu.edu/bfa_images_2020/1010/thumbnail.jp

    Ultimate Burger Fantasy: Licky Licky

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    Borne out of middle-class suburbia and the predictable experiences of young adult life, my animations and sculpture are about the average Jane. Ordinary or monotonous events set the stage for comfortable narratives. With the viewer seduced and entertained, the scenes begin to change, as grotesque and disgusting possibilities unfold. Ultimate Burger Fantasy is a rotoscope study of Carl’s Junior advertisements that aired on television throughout the 2000s to present day. I combine the images of women and food visually to create a single entity, exploring the complex correlation between extreme consumerism and over-sexualization of the female body in media. I play on the irony of the glamor of beautiful women juxtaposed with meat sandwiches in the advertisements. I do so by constructing a space for the consumption of sexual images and greasy burgers, which takes the shape of a disgusting bedroom hovel. The room is dark, the only light comes from the television and the distorted shapes of the animated food-women dancing across the soiled bed. These vignettes are based on my own experiences with food service. As a waitress at a drive-in I found myself feeling trapped in a relationship of servitude to my customers. It was necessary to appear welcoming and physically attractive to the male gaze. The nauseating mixture of sex appeal and comfort food stayed with me, a repetitive, never-ending experience of becoming objectified in order to make a living. The use of the sexualized body to manipulate desire is everywhere and as unrelenting as the greasy underbelly of our society.https://cedar.wwu.edu/bfa_images_2020/1011/thumbnail.jp

    Ultimate Burger Fantasy

    No full text
    Borne out of middle-class suburbia and the predictable experiences of young adult life, my animations and sculpture are about the average Jane. Ordinary or monotonous events set the stage for comfortable narratives. With the viewer seduced and entertained, the scenes begin to change, as grotesque and disgusting possibilities unfold. Ultimate Burger Fantasy is a rotoscope study of Carl’s Junior advertisements that aired on television throughout the 2000s to present day. I combine the images of women and food visually to create a single entity, exploring the complex correlation between extreme consumerism and over-sexualization of the female body in media. I play on the irony of the glamor of beautiful women juxtaposed with meat sandwiches in the advertisements. I do so by constructing a space for the consumption of sexual images and greasy burgers, which takes the shape of a disgusting bedroom hovel. The room is dark, the only light comes from the television and the distorted shapes of the animated food-women dancing across the soiled bed. These vignettes are based on my own experiences with food service. As a waitress at a drive-in I found myself feeling trapped in a relationship of servitude to my customers. It was necessary to appear welcoming and physically attractive to the male gaze. The nauseating mixture of sex appeal and comfort food stayed with me, a repetitive, never-ending experience of becoming objectified in order to make a living. The use of the sexualized body to manipulate desire is everywhere and as unrelenting as the greasy underbelly of our society.https://cedar.wwu.edu/bfa_images_2020/1009/thumbnail.jp

    Data from: Isotopic turnover rates and diet-tissue discrimination depend on feeding habits of freshwater snails

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    Estimates of animal diets and trophic structure using stable isotope analysis are strongly affected by diet-tissue discrimination and tissue turnover rates, yet these factors are often unknown for consumers because they must be measured using controlled-feeding studies. Furthermore, these parameters may be influenced by diet quality, growth, and other factors. We measured the effect of dietary protein content on diet-tissue discrimination and tissue turnover in three freshwater snail species. We fed lettuce to individually housed snails (n = 450 per species) for ten weeks, then half were switched to a high-protein diet. Isotopic values of muscle and gonad tissue were assessed at 48 and 80 days post-diet change. Snail discrimination factors varied by diet (low-protein > high-protein) and usually differed among species for both N and C, although species had similar carbon discrimination when fed the low-protein diet. Carbon turnover rates were similar among species for a given tissue type, but nitrogen turnover varied more among species. In addition, diet affected growth of species differently; some species grew larger on high-protein (H. trivolvis) while others grew larger on low-protein diet (Lymnaea spp.). These differences among species in growth influenced turnover rates, which were faster in the species with the highest growth rate following the diet switch from low to high-protein. Thus, growth is one of the main processes that affects tissue turnover, but growth and feeding preference did not affect diet-tissue discrimination, which was greater on low-protein than high-protein diets for all species regardless of growth performance. These results suggest that diet might influence two key parameters of stable isotope analysis differently
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