Montaigne i la «filosofia cristiana» : anàlisi d'una pàgina del capítol «Des prières» dels Assaigs

L'aportació d'una dada fins ara desconeguda pot millorar la comprensió d'una pàgina decisiva del capítol «Des prières» dels Assaigs: Montaigne parteix en ella d'una declaració que l'humanista flamenc Justus Lipsius havia formulat en el prefaci de la segona edició del seu aclamat diàleg De constantia, per respondre a les crítiques rebudes per la natura profana del llibre. Els punts de vista adoptats per tots dos autors són, però, diferents. Mentre que Lipsius subratlla el caràcter cristià de la seva filosofia, Montaigne prefereix negar que la filosofia pugui ser útil a la religió i separar netament el domini de la raó i el de la fe.The discovery of a hitherto unknown fact can improve the understanding of a crucial page in the chapter «Des prières» of the Essays: Montaigne is based on a statement that the Flemish humanist Justus Lipsius had made in the preface of the second edition of his acclaimed dialogue De constantia, to respond to criticism by the secular nature of the book. The views adopted by both authors, however, are different. While Lipsius emphasizes the Christian character of his philosophy, Montaigne prefers to deny that philosophy can be useful to religion and to separate clearly the domains of reason and of faith

«La forme entière de l’humaine condition». Lectures humanistes de Montaigne

Following a brief review of several interpretations of Montaigne that have raised the issue of his possible humanism, this article examines three particularly relevant passages on the subject from his Essays: the quotation of the famous dictum «Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto», the statement that «Chaque homme porte la forme entiere de l’humaine condition» and, finally, the consideration that «il y a plus de distance de tel à tel homme qu’il n’y a de tel homme à telle beste». The analysis of these three passages highlights the problematic nature of Montaigne’s alleged humanism

Mircostructure and rheological properties of concentrated tomato suspensions during processing

Food processing comprises operations such as dilution (changing the concentration), homogenisation (changing the particle size), and subsequent pumping (shearing), among others. It is thus of great interest to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms governing the creation and disruption of structures during these engineering operations, and the way in which they are related to the textural and rheological properties of the material. The influence of processing on the microstructure and the rheological properties of tomato paste suspensions has been studied. The microstructure was characterised using light microscopy and particle size distribution analysis. The way in which particles of varying size are packed in a specified volume at different concentrations was estimated in terms of the compressive volume fraction. The rheological properties were studied using small-amplitude oscillatory tests, giving the elastic (G') and viscous (G'') moduli, as well as steady shear measurements, giving the viscosity (etha). In the latter case both a rotational and a tube viscometer were used. The results indicate that tomato suspensions consist of a collection of whole cells and cell wall material forming a network (G'>G''). During the process of homogenisation, the particles are broken down, resulting in a smoother and more evenly distributed network of finer particles. The effectiveness of homogenisation in decreasing particle size seemed to be governed by the inherent susceptibility of the particles to breakage (i.e. the type of paste), the viscosity of the suspending medium, and the concentration of particles. Higher viscosities and concentrations were found to prevent breakage to some extent. The presence of larger amounts of fine particles in the homogenised suspensions had a considerable effect on the rheological properties. The yield stress was found to increase, and time-dependent effects became more apparent. At low deformations (gamma G''. However, the dynamic and steady shear data obtained for tomato suspensions coincided when using a shifting factor of about 0.1 on the frequency , which was fairly constant for a large range of tomato paste concentrations (from 100 to 30%, all with G'>G'')

Molecular mechanisms of hyperinsulinemia in obesity

Treballs Finals de Grau de Nutrició Humana i Dietètica, Facultat de Farmàcia i Ciències de l'Alimentació, Campus de l'Alimentació de Torribera, Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2022-2023. Tutor: Carme Caelles Franch[eng] Obesity-associated insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia are two interrelated health conditions that have become increasingly prevalent in recent years. For many years, it has been thought that hyperinsulinemia comes after insulin resistance. The truth is that recent data suggests that insulin resistance can follow hyperinsulinemia and vice versa. Obesity is commonly associated with insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, but although some molecular mechanisms have been proposed, there is no clear evidence as to which condition occur before in humans. Despite much controversy over the timing of the onset of hyperinsulinemia in obesity, it is well established that the presence of insulin is necessary for obesity to occur and that chronically elevated insulin levels enhance diet-induced obesity. Therefore, the aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive up-to-date on the molecular mechanisms underlying hyperinsulinemia and the relationship between hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance in obesity. In addition, we will examine the role hyperinsulinemia plays in cellular senescence, cancer and in dysregulating the insulin/IGF-1/GH axis. Finally, we will discuss possible current therapeutic strategies targeting hyperinsulinemia that are being used to treat obesity-associated insulin resistance, including current pharmacological therapies, the effects of multiple dietary interventions, physical exercise, and surgery. We conclude that hyperinsulinemia is a prevalent condition in obesity, but its time of occurrence and relationship with obesity are still under investigation. Dietary interventions, particularly low glycemic load diets and low carbohydrate diets, as well as regular exercise have shown promise in reducing hyperinsulinemia, while the long-term efficacy and potential side effects of pharmacological interventions require further study.[cat] L'obesitat associada a la resistència a la insulina i la hiperinsulinemia són dues condicions de salut interrelacionades que han esdevingut cada vegada més prevalents en els últims anys. Durant molts anys, s'ha pensat que la hiperinsulinèmia ve després de la resistència a la insulina. La veritat és que les dades recents suggereixen que la resistència a la insulina pot seguir la hiperinsulinèmia i viceversa. L'obesitat s'associa comunament amb la resistència a la insulina i la hiperinsulinèmia, però tot i que s'han proposat alguns mecanismes moleculars, no hi ha evidència clara de quina condició ocorre abans en els éssers humans. Malgrat molta controvèrsia sobre el moment de l'aparició de la hiperinsulinèmia en l'obesitat, està ben establert que la presència d'insulina és necessària perquè es produeixi l'obesitat i que els nivells d'insulina crònicament elevats promouen l'obesitat induïda per la dieta. Per tant, l'objectiu d'aquesta revisió és proporcionar una actualització completa dels mecanismes moleculars subjacents a la hiperinsulinèmia i la relació entre la hiperinsulinèmia i la resistència a la insulina en l’obesitat. A més a més, examinarem el paper de la hiperinsulinèmia en la senescència cel·lular, el càncer i en la desregulació de l'eix insulina/IGF-1/GH. Finalment, es discutiran possibles estratègies terapèutiques actuals dirigides a la hiperinsulinemia que s'estan utilitzant per tractar l'obesitat associada a la resistència a la insulina, incloent les teràpies farmacològiques actuals, els efectes de múltiples intervencions dietètiques, l'exercici físic i la cirurgia. Concloem que la hiperinsulinèmia és una condició prevalent en l'obesitat, però el seu inici i relació amb l'obesitat encara estan en investigació. Les intervencions dietètiques, en particular les dietes de baixa càrrega glucèmica i dietes baixes en carbohidrats, a més de l'exercici regular, han demostrat ser prometedores per reduir la hiperinsulinèmia, mentre que l'eficàcia a llarg termini i els possibles efectes secundaris de les intervencions farmacològiques requereixen un estudi addicional

Study and design of the attitude control of a cubesat 1U based on reaction wheels

On this thesis, the study and design of the attitude control of a cubesat 1U is performed.The mechanical model definition and the space environment description are used to develop a Simulink model where reaction wheels are used as actuators for the Attitude Control.Once the model is defined, a control algorithm taking into account external disturbances has been defined and simulated for different actuator configurations

Nuclear Receptors and c-JUN NH2-Terminal Kinase: Crosstalk and Actions

[eng] The nuclear receptors (NR) modulate gene transcription in a ligand-dependent manner throughout different mechanisms. A set of NR, including PPARγ and LXR, are important regulators of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism as well as the immune system. In this regard, both PPARγ and LXR agonists ameliorate obesity-associated insulin resistance and show anti- inflammatory activity. The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), is also involved in the metabolic and immune system regulation but in contrast to PPARγ and LXR, JNK activation promotes insulin resistance and triggers the inflammatory response. Due to theses opposite actions, an intense and negative crosstalk exists between these NR and the JNK pathway. In this regard, the PPARγ ligands TZDs perform their insulin sensitizing action through the inhibition of obesity-induced JNK activation. Therefore, in this study we aimed to develop an in vivo model for specific activation of JNK in myelod cells to study PPARγ and LXR on the JNK-induced inflammatory response. These mouse model was obtained by crossing mice from a transgenic strain generated in our group, which is able to induce the expression of a JNK activator in a Cre recombinase-dependent manner, with the LysMCre mice. In addition, since PPARγ and LXR interaction with the JNK pathway seems to require transcription, we have tested several PPARγ and LXR target genes as candidate mediators in this crosstalk

Chebyshev coefficients for L1-preduals and for spaces with the extension property

We apply the Chebyshev coefficients λf and λb, recently introduced by the authors, to obtain some results related to certain geometric properties of Banach spaces. We prove that a real normed space E is an L1 predual if and only if λf (E) = 1/2, and that if a (real or complex) normed space E is a P1 space, then λb(E) equals λb(K), where K is the ground field of E

Variability of Wind and Wind Power

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A coordinated control hybrid MPPT algorithm for a grid-tied PV system considering a VDCIQ control structure

In this paper, a new coordinated maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm has been developed for a grid-tied PV system, whose inverter follows a VDCIQ control scheme. The control objectives of this system are shared between 2 converters: a DC boost converter which performs MPPT of the PV plant, and an inverter which is responsible for DC voltage setpoint control, specific reactive current injection under request and reduced harmonic content of AC grid currents. The proposed algorithm operates upon a proper switching amongst conventional MPPT algorithms, namely perturb and observe (P&O) and incremental conductance (IC) algorithms, to take advantage of the best characteristics of each MPPT method with a different step size and considering the influence of the inverter control constants. Two coordination schemes are proposed for this algorithm to prioritise the improvement of different performance aspects over others. The impact of the proposed algorithm according to the 2 coordination schemes is evaluated and compared with the impact of conventional MPPT algorithms according to the trackability of power, the impact on DC voltage and on the AC grid side. The results are analysed by simulations conducted in MATLAB-Simulink