El model de propaganda com a arma: Estudi de la creació i direcció de la opinió pública en la guerra d’Iraq del 2003

Scientia Potentia est, que traduït, vindria a significar “la informació és poder”.Aquest tòpic que, de ben segur, hem escoltat un miler de vegades és una expressió que hem acabat assimilant.De fet, ens trobem en una època que, el sociòleg Manuel Castells, defineix com l’era de la informació. Una època marcada per les noves tecnologies i el seu augment desfermat, tant quantitatiu com qualitatiu, que permet, o provoca, un ritme de transmissió, i de vida, molt més elevat.És una època en la que els constants fluxos d’informació, han comportat que la globalització, és a dir, l’increment de la interconnexió entre diferents societats, hagi assolit quotes extraordinàries.Estem saturats d’informació i, tot i així, desinformats, ja que és pot convertir en una tasca àrdua destriar allò que ens pot valer o interessar.

El "teenage consumer" a la Gran Bretanya de postguerra.

El final de la segona guerra mundial va marcar el principi d’un nou context internacional on els Estats Units i la URSS, cada un amb el seu sistema econòmic, es varen convertir en les dues potències mundials en lluita per l’hegemonia mundial. Al bloc occidental els Estats Units varen començar a exercir la seva influència per a estendre un model de societat basat en el consum que es convertirà en el model predominant durant tot el segle XX. Fora dels Estats Units el primer en començar a adoptar aquest mode de vida basat principalment en el consum va ser el teenage consumer britànic. Aquest tipus d’individu altament americanitzat que va sorgir al Regne Unit de postguerra es convertiria en un signe dels canvis que encara havien de venir. Aquest treball pretén definir la figura del teenage consumer, analitzar les causes del seu sorgiment, les seves característiques, els seus hàbits de consum i com va contribuir a la creació de la societat de consum.

Estimating water application efficiency for drip irrigation emitter patterns on banana

The objective of this work was to evaluate root and water distribution in irrigated banana (Musa sp.), in order to determine the water application efficiency for different drip irrigation emitter patterns. Three drip emitter patterns were studied: two 4-L h-1 emitters per plant (T1), four 4-L h-1 emitters per plant (T2), and five 4-L h-1 emitters per plant (T3). The emitters were placed in a lateral line. In the treatment T3, the emitters formed a continuous strip. The cultivated area used was planted with banana cultivar BRS Tropical, with a 3-m spacing between rows and a 2.5-m spacing between plants. Soil moisture and root length data were collected during the first production cycle at five radial distances and depths, in a 0.20x0.20 m vertical grid. The experiment was carried out in a sandy clay loam Xanthic Hapludox. Soil moisture data were collected every 10 min for a period of five days using TDR probes. Water application efficiency was of 83, 88 and 92% for the systems with two, four and five emitters per plant, respectively. It was verified that an increase in the number of emitters in the lateral line promoted better root distribution, higher water extraction, and less deep percolation losses.

Body mass index and risk of head and neck cancer in a pooled analysis of case-control studies in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) Consortium.

BACKGROUND: Head and neck cancer (HNC) risk is elevated among lean people and reduced among overweight or obese people in some studies; however, it is unknown whether these associations differ for certain subgroups or are influenced by residual confounding from the effects of alcohol and tobacco use or by other sources of biases. METHODS: We pooled data from 17 case-control studies including 12 716 cases and the 17 438 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for associations between body mass index (BMI) at different ages and HNC risk, adjusted for age, sex, centre, race, education, tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Adjusted ORs (95% CIs) were elevated for people with BMI at reference (date of diagnosis for cases and date of selection for controls) 25.0-30.0 kg/m(2) (0.52, 0.44-0.60) and BMI >/=30 kg/m(2) (0.43, 0.33-0.57), compared with BMI >18.5-25.0 kg/m(2). These associations did not differ by age, sex, tumour site or control source. Although the increased risk among people with BMI 25 kg/m(2) was present only in smokers and drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: In our large pooled analysis, leanness was associated with increased HNC risk regardless of smoking and drinking status, although reverse causality cannot be excluded. The reduced risk among overweight or obese people may indicate body size is a modifier of the risk associated with smoking and drinking. Further clarification may be provided by analyses of prospective cohort and mechanistic studies.

Migration of dissolved organic carbon in biochars and biochar-mineral complexes

The objective of this work was to determine the contribution of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from a biochar mineral complex (BMC), so as to better understand the interactions between DOC, biochar, clay, and minerals during thermal treatment, and the effects of BMC on amended soils. The BMC was prepared by heating a mixture of a H3PO4-treated saligna biochar from Acacia saligna, clays, other minerals, and chicken manure. The BMC was applied to a sandy loam soil in Western Australia, where wheat was grown. Liquid chromatography-organic carbon detection (LC-OCD) tests were carried out on water extracts from the untreated biochar, the BMC, the BMC-amended soil, and on a control soil to measure the DOC concentration. LC-OCD tests provide a fingerprint of the DOC, which allows the fractions of DOC to be determined. Thermal processing enhanced the reaction of the A. saligna biochar with manure, clays and minerals, and affected the distribution of the DOC fractions. Notably, the process leads to immobilization of hydrophobic DOC and to an increase in the concentration of low-molecular-weight neutrals in the BMC. The application of the BMC to soil increases the DOC in the amended soil, especially the biopolymer fraction.

Maternal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and the secondary sex ratio: an occupational cohort study.

Background: Though commercial production of polychlorinated biphenyls was banned in the United States in 1977, exposure continues due to their environmental persistence. Several studies have examined the associationbetween environmental polychlorinated biphenyl exposure and modulations of the secondary sex ratio, with conflicting results.Objective: Our objective was to evaluate the association between maternal preconceptional occupational polychlorinated biphenyl exposure and the secondary sex ratio.Methods: We examined primipara singleton births of 2595 women, who worked in three capacitor plants at least one year during the period polychlorinated biphenyls were used. Cumulative estimated maternal occupationalpolychlorinated biphenyl exposure at the time of the infant's conception was calculated from plant-specific job exposure matrices. A logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between maternalpolychlorinated biphenyl exposure and male sex at birth (yes/no).Results: Maternal body mass index at age 20, smoking status, and race did not vary between those occupationally exposed and those unexposed before the child's conception. Polychlorinated biphenyl-exposed mothers were, however, more likely to have used oral contraceptives and to have been older at the birth of their first child than non-occupationally exposed women. Among 1506 infants liveborn to polychlorinated biphenyl-exposedprimiparous women, 49.8% were male; compared to 49.9% among those not exposed (n = 1089). Multivariate analyses controlling for mother's age and year of birth found no significant association between the odds of amale birth and mother's cumulative estimated polychlorinated biphenyl exposure to time of conception.Conclusions: Based on these data, we find no evidence of altered sex ratio among children born to primiparous polychlorinated biphenyl-exposed female workers.

Predicting chick body mass by artificial intelligence-based models

The objective of this work was to develop, validate, and compare 190 artificial intelligence-based models for predicting the body mass of chicks from 2 to 21 days of age subjected to different duration and intensities of thermal challenge. The experiment was conducted inside four climate-controlled wind tunnels using 210 chicks. A database containing 840 datasets (from 2 to 21-day-old chicks) - with the variables dry-bulb air temperature, duration of thermal stress (days), chick age (days), and the daily body mass of chicks - was used for network training, validation, and tests of models based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) and neuro-fuzzy networks (NFNs). The ANNs were most accurate in predicting the body mass of chicks from 2 to 21 days of age after they were subjected to the input variables, and they showed an R² of 0.9993 and a standard error of 4.62 g. The ANNs enable the simulation of different scenarios, which can assist in managerial decision-making, and they can be embedded in the heating control systems.

Signaling across the synapse: a role for Wnt and Dishevelled in presynaptic assembly and neurotransmitter release

Proper dialogue between presynaptic neurons and their targets is essential for correct synaptic assembly and function. At central synapses, Wnt proteins function as retrograde signals to regulate axon remodeling and the accumulation of presynaptic proteins. Loss of Wnt7a function leads to defects in the localization of presynaptic markers and in the morphology of the presynaptic axons. We show that loss of function of Dishevelled-1 (Dvl1) mimics and enhances the Wnt7a phenotype in the cerebellum. Although active zones appear normal, electrophysiological recordings in cerebellar slices from Wnt7a/Dvl1 double mutant mice reveal a defect in neurotransmitter release at mossy fi ber–granule cell synapses. Deficiency in Dvl1 decreases, whereas exposure to Wnt increases, synaptic vesicle recycling in mossy fi bers. Dvl increases the number of Bassoon clusters, and like other components of the Wnt pathway, it localizes to synaptic sites. These fi ndings demonstrate that Wnts signal across the synapse on Dvl-expressing presynaptic terminals to regulate synaptic assembly and suggest a potential novel function for Wnts in neurotransmitter release.