Projects on the geometry of perception and cognition

Thesis (S.M. in Art, Culture and Technology)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2012.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. [98]-[102]).The projects presented in this thesis, which include performance, photography, and sculpture, investigate perception and cognition through the study and reconfiguration of content drawn from philosophy, cognitive science, and linguistics. I suspect that the language that we use to communicate about perception may be faulty. Within this critical perspective, the projects are propositions in response to the question: What is the form of perception/cognition? Underlying the projects is a fundamental philosophical question: Why do we have conscious experience? In philosophy these are referred to, respectively, as the hard and easy problems of consciousness. I investigate the linguistic structures of 'language' and 'parole' in a related attempt to understand the function of language, first independently, and then within a cognitive framework. The experiments begin with words such as 'definition', 'vision', 'perception' and represent systems defined by these signifies using objects, actions, and images. Reconfiguring the words into tangible experiments allows the nature of the phenomenon to be examined outside of the limitations of linguistic description. Ideally, the incongruity that might exist between the words and the experiences of perception and cognition can be uncovered through this process.by Sofia Rebeca Berinstein.S.M.in Art, Culture and Technolog

Living with Precarious Legal Status in Canada: Implications for the Well-Being of Children and Families

This study focused on the effects of precarious status on the well-being of fifteen participants with particular attention to their attempts to claim services, their feelings of belonging and sense of social support, and the effects of parents’ status on children. It investigates ways in which the status of one family member can affect the well-being of the entire family. Those who had children reported that the family’s status disadvantaged their children, whether they were Canadian or foreign-born, as parents’ status was used to justify denying children rights to which they are entitled by international, national, and provincial laws. The paper challenges approaches to citizenship and immigration status that fail to consider the implications of legal status for a person’s primary social units and networks.Cette étude examine les conséquences du statut précaire sur le bien-être de 15 participants, en se penchant tout particulièrement sur leurs efforts pour revendiquer l’accès aux services, leurs sentiments d’appartenance et de soutien social, ainsi que les répercussions du statut des parents sur leurs enfants. Elle examine les différentes façons par lesquelles le statut d’un membre de la famille peut affecter le bien-être de la famille toute entière. Ceux ayant des enfants ont rapporté que ces derniers, qu’ils soient nés au Canada ou à l’étranger, avaient été défavorisés par le statut de la famille, étant donné que le statut des parents était employé pour justifier le déni aux enfants de droits qui étaient les leurs en droit international et selon les lois nationales et provinciales. L’article remet en question les façons d’aborder la question de statut de citoyenneté et d’immigrant qui ne prennent pas en ligne de compte les conséquences du statut juridique sur les unités sociales de base et les réseaux sociaux pour chaque personne

Propuesta de aplicación de la Teoría del Cambio al Proceso de Gestión “Evaluación de Procedimientos” que realiza el Comité Institucional para el Cuidado y Uso de Animales de Experimentación (CICUAE) INTA CNIA.

Este trabajo se focaliza en la evaluación del proceso de gestión de procedimientos experimentales/educativos/de servicio que involucran el uso de animales que los agentes de INTA deben presentar ante el Comité Institucional para el Cuidado y Uso de Animales de Experimentación (CICUAE). El objetivo de esta evaluación es comparar una propuesta alternativa con la actualmente en vigencia y definir si se logra una mejora en su dinámica y se facilita el seguimiento de la documentación. Dentro de INTA existen ocho CICUAEs distribuidos regionalmente. Este trabajo toma como protagonista al CICUAE INTA CNIA.CICVYAFil: Berinstein, Analia. . Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas; ArgentinaFil: Montanari, Ana Luisa . Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas; ArgentinaFil: Calamante, Gabriela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentin

Comparative studies of the preparation of immunoliposomes with the use of two bifunctional coupling agents and investigation of in vitro immunoliposome-target cell binding by cytofluorometry and electron microscopy

The two coupling agents SPDP (N-succinimidyl-3-(2-pyridyldithio)propionate) and SATA (N-succinimidyl-S-acetylthioacetate) were compared in their efficiency and feasibility to couple monoclonal antibodies (Abs) via thioether linkage to liposomes functionalized by various lipophilic maleimide compounds like Full-size image methyl ester (MP-PL), N-(3-maleimidopropionyl)phosphatidylethanolamide (MP-PE), Full-size image methyl ester (EMC-PL), and N-(6-maleimidocaproyl)phosphatidylethanolamine (EMC-PE). The composition of the liposomes was soy phosphatidylcholine (SPC), cholesterol, maleimide compounds and -tocopherol (1:0.2:0.02:0.01, mol parts), plus N4-oleylcytosine arabinoside (NOAC) as cytostatic prodrug (0.2 mol parts) and a new, lipophilic and highly fluorescent dye N,N′-bis(1-hexylheptyl)-3,4:9,10-perylenebis(dicarboximide) (BHPD, 0.006 mol parts). From the maleimide derivatives MP-PL was the most effective in terms of preservation of the coupling activity in dependence of liposome storage. The coupling of the monoclonal A B8-24.3 (mouse IgG2b, MHC class I, anti H-2kb) and IB16-6 (rat IgG2a, anti B16 mouse melanoma) to the drug carrying liposomes was more effective and easier to accomplish with SATA as compared to SPDP. Coupling rates of 60–65% were obtained with SATA at molar ratios of 12 SATA:1 Ab:40 maleimide spacer groups on the surface of one liposome. The highest coupling rates with SPDP were obtained at the ratio of 24 SPDP:1 Ab:40 liposomal maleimide groups, with an Ab binding efficiency of only 20–25%. The optimal in vitro binding conditions to specific target cells (EL4 for B8-24.3-liposomes and B16-F10 for IB16-6-liposomes) were determined by cytofluorometric measurement of the liposomal BHPD fluorescence with SATA linked Abs. Optimal immunoliposome binding to specific epitopes on the target cells was achieved with 1–2 Ab molecules coupled to one liposome, with immunoliposome concentrations of 20–130 nM and with a small incubation volume of 0.3–0.4 ml. The specificity of the binding of B8-24.3-liposomes to EL4 target cells was visualized by scanning electron microscopy. Antibody mediated endocytic uptake of immunoliposomes could be demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy

Development of diagnostic tools for IBDV detection using plants as bioreactors

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is the etiological agent of an immunosuppressive and highly contagious disease that affects young birds, thus causing important economic losses in the poultry industry. Multimeric particles with different architectures based on the capsid protein VP2 have been widely produced for different purposes. We hereby show the production and easy recovery of IBDV subviral particles (SVP) from transiently transformed Nicotiana benthamiana. The SVP, which were observed by electronic microscopy, proved to be antigenically and immunogenically similar to the virion. Indeed, anti-IBDV antibodies from samples of infected birds recognized these SVP and, when injected intramuscularly, these subviral particles also evoked a humoral immune response in chickens. We developed an in-house ELISA using SVP as coating reagent that demonstrated to be highly accurate and in good agreement with a commercial ELISA. This study demonstrates that the recombinant antigen generated and the technology used to produce it are suitable for developing a diagnostic tool against Infectious bursal disease.Instituto de BiotecnologíaFil: Gomez, Evangelina Raquel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Cassani, María Florencia. Universidad Nacional de Luján; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Lucero, Maria Soledad. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Parreño, Viviana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Incuinta e Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Chimeno Zoth, Silvina Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Berinstein, Analia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; Argentin

Modulation of innate immunity in chickens induced by in vivo administration of baculovirus

Baculoviruses stimulate cytokine production in mammalian cells. They induce a strong innate immune response in animals and have adjuvant properties. The purpose of this work was to study the in vivo effect of baculovirus on chicken innate immune response. SPF chickens were inoculated intravenously with Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (BV). Three hours later, chickens were bled, euthanized and their spleen, duodenum and cecal tonsils were excised in order to take samples for RNA extraction and real time PCR, and to isolate lymphocytes, which were stained and analyzed by flow cytometry. The results obtained showed that baculovirus inoculation up-regulates the expression ofIFNg, IL-6 and LITAF in spleen cells. This result (IFNg) correlated with that obtained by ELISA which showed a very strong increase of IFNg in chicken plasma. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that BV inoculation induced in spleen an increase in the percentage of monocyte/macrophage population together with an increase in CD3+CD4+T lymphocytes. On the other hand, BV inoculation decreased the percentage of CD3+CD4+T lymphocytes and increased the percentage of NK cells in cecal tonsils. However, intraepithelial lymphocytes of the gut did not show differences between BV and control treated animals. Even though further studies in order to understand the mechanisms by which BVs affect the avian immune response are needed, results obtained in the present work demonstrate the ability of BVs to stimulate the innate immunity in chickens, modifying the expression pattern of related genes and the profile of the immune cells involved.Fil: Chimeno Zoth, Silvina Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Carballeda, Juan Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Gómez, Evangelina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Gravisaco, María José. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Carrillo, Elisa Cristina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Berinstein, Analía. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Development of diagnostic tools for IBDV detection using plants as bioreactors

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is the etiological agent of an immunosuppressive and highly contagious disease that affects young birds, thus causing important economic losses in the poultry industry. Multimeric particles with different architectures based on the capsid protein VP2 have been widely produced for different purposes. We hereby show the production and easy recovery of IBDV subviral particles (SVP) from transiently transformed Nicotiana benthamiana. The SVP, which were observed by electronic microscopy, proved to be antigenically and immunogenically similar to the virion. Indeed, anti-IBDV antibodies from samples of infected birds recognized these SVP and, when injected intramuscularly, these subviral particles also evoked a humoral immune response in chickens. We developed an in-house ELISA using SVP as coating reagent that demonstrated to be highly accurate and in good agreement with a commercial ELISA. This study demonstrates that the recombinant antigen generated and the technology used to produce it are suitable for developing a diagnostic tool against Infectious bursal disease.Fil: Gómez, Evangelina Raquel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Cassani, Maria Florencia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Lucero, María Soledad. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Parreño, Gladys Viviana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación En Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología E Innovaciones Tecnológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto de Virología E Innovaciones Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Chimeno Zoth, Silvina Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Berinstein, Analía. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; Argentin

Recombinant vaccines and infectious bursal disease virus

Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) is the etiological agent of Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD), an immunosuppressive and highly contagious disease that affects young birds causing important economic losses in the poultry industry worldwide. Currently, vaccination programmes with inactivated and live attenuated viruses have been used to prevent IBD. However, these vaccines present a number of disadvantages, mainly due to their viral nature. Consequently, in the last two decades, many studies have been conducted in order to replace conventional virus based vaccines by new, rationally designed vaccines that are safer as well as effective. In this review we will present a background on the disease and its causative agent, and focus on the development of new generation vaccines against this significant poultry disease.Fil: Lucero, María Soledad. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gómez, Evangelina Raquel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Carballeda, Juan Manuel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gravisaco, María José. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Chimeno Zoth, Silvina Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Berinstein, Analía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentin

Enhanced IRES activity by the 3′UTR element determines the virulence of FMDV isolates

AbstractA reverse genetics approach was used to identify viral genetic determinants of the differential virulence displayed by two field foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) strains (A/Arg/00 and A/Arg/01) isolated in Argentina during the 2000–2001 epidemics. A molecular clone of A/Arg/01 strain and viral chimeras containing the S-fragment or the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) of A/Arg/00 in the A/Arg/01 backbone were constructed and characterized. The IRES appeared as a determining factor of the lower level of A/Arg/00 replication in cell culture. High-throughput RNA probing revealed structural differences between both IRESs. Translation experiments using either synthetic viral RNAs (in vitro) or bicistronic plasmids (in vivo) showed that these IRESs' activities differ when the viral 3′ untranslated region (UTR) is present, suggesting that their function is differentially modulated by this region. This work provides experimental evidence supporting the role of the IRES-3′UTR modulation in determining the level of FMDV replication in field strains