Visual and textual representations of childhood by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 1999 to 2003

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-96).The objective of this paper is to investigate how UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund) represents the notion of childhood. A content analysis of 690 photographs as well as an in-depth textual analysis of the most authoritative publications is conducted to decode childhood representations. The methodological approaches are both quantitative (content analysis) and qualitative (textual analysis). The photographic and publications data are obtained from the UNICEF website for the period 1999 to 2003. Inscribed in the visual images are historical western notions of childhood as a blissful stage of life in which passivity and vulnerability are featured. These inscriptions are rooted in technologies of scientific knowledge and myths, which explains therefore their persuasiveness. As regards arguments that development institutions export ideal notions of childhood specific only to western societies, the paper finds that while such ideals certainly are present in the representations, the proper ideal is by no means the sole embodiment of exported notions. Over the last five years, UNICEF has begun to incorporate new views of children as socially competent, valuable social actors in their own right (a school of thought that has begun to be theorised, most notably, by the 'New Sociology of Childhood'). However, the ideas of children as social actors attains a particular meaning in UNICEF texts. Many instances of children's strength and resiliency in third worlds are not represented as constitutive of what the idea of child agency means

TGF-β Signaling Regulates Neuronal C1q Expression and Developmental Synaptic Refinement

Immune molecules, including complement proteins C1q and C3, have emerged as critical mediators of synaptic refinement and plasticity. Complement localizes to synapses and refines the developing visual system via C3-dependent microglial phagocytosis of synapses. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) express C1q, the initiating protein of the classical complement cascade, during retinogeniculate refinement; however, the signals controlling C1q expression and function remain elusive. Previous work implicated an astrocyte-derived factor in regulating neuronal C1q expression. Here we identify retinal TGF-β as a key regulator of neuronal C1q expression and synaptic pruning in the developing visual system. Mice lacking TGF-β receptor II (TGFβRII) in retinal neurons have reduced C1q expression in RGCs, reduced synaptic localization of complement, and phenocopy refinement defects observed in complement-deficient mice, including reduced eye specific segregation and microglial engulfment of RGC inputs. These data implicate TGF-β in regulating neuronal C1q expression to initiate complement- and microglia-mediated synaptic pruning

Can Frames Make Change? Using Communications Science to Translate the Science of Child Mental Health

Mental illness in children is on the rise in the United States, but research shows that the American public does not understand the science of child mental health—what it is and what supports and disrupts it. To build public understanding of child mental health and support for the systemic solutions needed to promote it, the FrameWorks Institute developed a “core story”—a master narrative—that advocates and experts in the field can use to communicate about the issue more effectively. This research is built on interviews with experts and members of the public, cognitive analyses of frames commonly used in media stories about the issue, and surveys of frame elements such as values and metaphors. Findings show that two values—Prosperity and Ingenuity—lifted support for policies related to child mental health. The Levelness Explanatory Metaphor, which compares child mental health to the levelness of a table, is also effective

Best Practices to Promote Breastfeeding in Home Visiting Programs

This project was conducted in Chicago for the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC). Of particular interest to CLOCC, not breastfeeding is associated with a 32% excess risk of childhood obesity. For this project, CLOCC partnered with Children's Home + Aid - a child and family service agency in Chicago that provides home visiting services - to further CLOCC's obesity reduction goals. This partnership is mutually beneficial for Children's Home + Aid. As the Illinois state Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) coordinating agency, Children's Home + Aid will be required to spend the majority of its funds on approved home visiting models that do not emphasize breastfeeding. Thus, the agency identified a need for additional support in incorporating more breastfeeding education and support into its curriculums. In May 2014, the researcher, as a part of CLOCC's Early Childhood Division, stepped forward to fill this knowledge gap by developing a breastfeeding training presentation and toolkit for home visitors. The products of this project are threefold: 1) a training presentation for home visitors that educates them about how to incorporate breastfeeding education into their curriculums, 2) a supplementary toolkit for home visitors that includes information and resources about breastfeeding, and 3) a paper that outlines the need for this project, the methodology of the project, the literature review and mini-focus group findings used to develop the training presentation and toolkit, and a discussion of how the key findings were incorporated into the training presentation and toolkit.Master of Public Healt

Clinical Effectiveness of an Aquatic Exercise Program on Those with Visual Impairments: A Protocol Study

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Living with visual impairment can greatly affect one’s ability to exercise and maintain an active lifestyle. People with low vision or parents of children with low vision are often fearful of aerobic exercise because of the possibility of harm that could occur from the inability to see. Little research has been done on using aquatic therapy as a form of exercise in people with low vision. The purpose of this study is to see if aquatic exercise is well tolerated within this population. Additionally, this study serves to determine the effect of aquatic exercise on cardiovascular fitness, functional strength, and overall quality of life. METHOD(S): This is a quasi-experimental study with participants who have a visual impairment and are aged 30-85 from Northeast Sight Services located in Exeter, PA. Up to 25 participants will be guided by physical therapy students through an eight-week aquatic therapy program at the Misericordia University Anderson Center Pool. It is a pre-test and post-test design with the outcome measures being performed at the beginning of week one and at the end of week eight. The outcome measures selected to assess lower extremity strength and endurance, cardiopulmonary fitness and endurance, and quality of life include the 30 Second Chair Stand Test, Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE), the Modified Borg Dyspnea Scale, and the SF-36. DISCUSSION: If aquatic exercise shows to be effective in improving lower extremity strength and endurance, cardiopulmonary fitness and endurance, and quality of life for those with visual impairments, it will show that this is a viable treatment method for physical therapists to use with this population. It will also give physical therapists the opportunity to promote health and wellness in community members that have visual impairments.https://digitalcommons.misericordia.edu/research_posters2020/1071/thumbnail.jp

The distribution and properties of DLAs at z ≤\leq 2 in the EAGLE simulations

Determining the spatial distribution and intrinsic physical properties of neutral hydrogen on cosmological scales is one of the key goals of next-generation radio surveys. We use the EAGLE galaxy formation simulations to assess the properties of damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (DLAs) that are associated with galaxies and their underlying dark matter haloes between 0 $\leq$ z $\leq$ 2. We find that the covering fraction of DLAs increases at higher redshift; a significant fraction of neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) resides in the outskirts of galaxies with stellar mass greater than or equal to 10$^{10}$ M$_\odot$; and the covering fraction of DLAs in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) is enhanced relative to that of the interstellar medium (ISM) with increasing halo mass. Moreover, we find that the mean density of the HI in galaxies increases with increasing stellar mass, while the DLAs in high- and low-halo-mass systems have higher column densities than those in galaxies with intermediate halo masses (~ 10$^{12}$ M$_\odot$ at z = 0). These high-impact CGM DLAs in high-stellar-mass systems tend to be metal-poor, likely tracing smooth accretion. Overall, our results point to the CGM playing an important role in DLA studies at high redshift (z $\geq$ 1). However, their properties are impacted both by numerical resolution and the detailed feedback prescriptions employed in cosmological simulations, particularly that of AGN.Comment: 25 pages. Accepted for publication in MNRA

High-velocity OH megamasers in IRAS 20100-4156: Evidence for a Supermassive Black Hole

We report the discovery of new, high-velocity narrow-line components of the OH megamaser in IRAS 20100-4156. Results from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP)'s Boolardy Engineering Test Array (BETA) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) provide two independent measurements of the OH megamaser spectrum. We found evidence for OH megamaser clumps at $-$409 and $-$562 km/s (blue-shifted) from the systemic velocity of the galaxy, in addition to the lines previously known. The presence of such high velocities in the molecular emission from IRAS 20100$-$4156 could be explained by a ~50 pc molecular ring enclosing an approximately 3.8 billion solar mass black hole. We also discuss two alternatives, i.e. that the narrow-line masers are dynamically coupled to the wind driven by the active galactic nucleus or they are associated with two separate galactic nuclei. The comparison between the BETA and ATCA spectra provides another scientific verification of ASKAP's BETA. Our data, combined with previous measurements of the source enabled us to study the variability of the source over a twenty-six year period. The flux density of the brightest OH maser components has reduced by more than a factor of two between 1988 and 2015, whereas a secondary narrow-line component has more than doubled in the same time. Plans for high-resolution VLBI follow-up of this source are discussed, as are prospects for discovering new OH megamasers during the ASKAP early science program.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS. Seven pages, three figure

Impact of Drought on Chemical Composition and Sugar Yields From Dilute-Acid Pretreatment and Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Miscanthus, a Tall Fescue Mixture, and Switchgrass

Environmental factors like drought impact the quality of biomass entering a bioconversion process. Drought often reduces the sugar content in lignocellulosic biomass, which could have economic impacts, particularly when compounded with losses in dry biomass yield; however, the effects on conversion efficiency are not completely understood. This study investigated how drought may impact biomass composition and sugar yields from dilute-acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of Miscanthus, a tall fescue mixture, and switchgrass from Nebraska, Missouri, and Oklahoma, respectively, grown as part of Regional Feedstock Partnership field trials. Samples were grown and harvested in 2010 during non-drought conditions and in 2012 during extreme drought conditions. Non-structural glucose and proline were significantly greater in 2012 compared with 2010 for Miscanthus, which suggests drought stress occurred. Structural glucan and xylan were significantly decreased in 2012 for Miscanthus; however, reactivity and sugar yields from dilute-acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis were significantly greater in 2012 compared with 2010, suggesting that although structural sugars may decrease during drought conditions, sugar yields and reactivity may increase. For the tall fescue mixture, proline was greater, and structural sugars were lower in 2012, indicating drought stress, but minimal differences were observed in the conversion experiments. Few differences were observed for switchgrass composition and reactivity between years. The observed patterns are likely because of site-specific climatic conditions combined with the tolerance each speciesmay have to drought. As drought occurrence and severity have increased, it is necessary to understand drought impacts to mitigate risks to future bioenergy industry growth

Using 'Omic Approaches to Compare Temporal Bacterial Colonization of Lolium perenne, Lotus corniculatus and Trifolium pratense in the Rumen

Understanding rumen plant-microbe interactions is central for development of novel methodologies allowing improvements in ruminant nutrient use efficiency. This study investigated rumen bacterial colonization of fresh plant material and changes in plant chemistry over a period of 24 h period using three different fresh forages: Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass; PRG), Lotus corniculatus (bird's foot trefoil; BFT) and Trifolium pratense (red clover; RC). We show using 16S rRNA gene ion torrent sequencing that plant epiphytic populations present pre-incubation (0 h) were substantially different to those attached post incubations in the presence of rumen fluid on all forages. Thereafter primary and secondary colonization events were evident as defined by changes in relative abundances of attached bacteria and changes in plant chemistry, as assessed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. For PRG colonization, primary colonization occurred for up to 4 h and secondary colonization from 4 h onward. The changes from primary to secondary colonization occurred significantly later with BFT and RC, with primary colonization being up to 6 h and secondary colonization post 6 h of incubation. Across all 3 forages the main colonizing bacteria present at all time points post-incubation were Prevotella, Pseudobutyrivibrio, Ruminococcus, Olsenella, Butyrivibrio, and Anaeroplasma (14.2, 5.4, 1.9, 2.7, 1.8, and 2.0% on average respectively), with Pseudobutyrivibrio and Anaeroplasma having a higher relative abundance during secondary colonization. Using CowPI, we predict differences between bacterial metabolic function during primary and secondary colonization. Specifically, our results infer an increase in carbohydrate metabolism in the bacteria attached during secondary colonization, irrespective of forage type. The CowPI data coupled with the FTIR plant chemistry data suggest that attached bacterial function is similar irrespective of forage type, with the main changes occurring between primary and secondary colonization. These data suggest that the sward composition of pasture may have major implications for the temporal availability of nutrients for animal.</p

Algal Supply System Design - Harmonized Version

The objective of this design report is to provid