First record of Mylodontinae (Tardigrada, Mylodontidae) from the Huayquerian (Late Miocene) of Buenos Aires province, Argentina

Los Mylodontinae (Xenarthra, Mylodontidae) están bien representados en el Mioceno tardío (Chasiquense-Huayqueriense) y Plioceno (Montehermosense-Chapadmalalense) de Sudamérica (con más de una docena de géneros reconocidos). Para el Piso/Edad Huayqueriense de Argentina la diversidad es alta (casi diez especies documentadas). Sin embargo, no hay registros certeros de la subfamilia en la provincia de Buenos Aires durante el Huayqueriense. En este trabajo son descriptos nuevos restos de un Mylodontinae asignables a cf. Simomylodon Saint-André, Pujos, Cartelle, De Iuliis, Gaudin, McDonald & Mamani Quispe, los cuales provienen del Huayqueriense temprano de la localidad de Arenas Blancas (curso inferior del arroyo Chasicó, provincia de Buenos Aires) y constituyen el primer registro cierto de un Mylodontidae Mylodontinae para el Huayqueriense en esta provincia. Simomylodon ha sido registrado en el Neógeno de Bolivia, por lo que la probable presencia de este género en la provincia de Buenos Aires incrementa notablemente su distribución geográfica.The Mylodontinae (Xenarthra, Mylodontidae) are well represented in the late Miocene (Chasicoan-Huayquerian) and Pliocene (Montehermosan-Chapadmalalan) of South America (with more of a dozen of genera recognized). For the Huayquerian Stage/Age of Argentina the diversity is high (about ten species documented). However, there are not certain records of the subfamily in the Buenos Aires province during the Huayquerian. In this work are described new remains of a Mylodontinae assignable to cf. Simomylodon Saint-André, Pujos, Cartelle, De Iuliis, Gaudin, McDonald & Mamani Quispe, which come from the early Huayquerian of the locality of Arenas Blancas (lower course of Chasicó creek, Buenos Aires province) and constitute the first certain record of a Mylodontidae Mylodontinae for the Huayquerian in this province. Simomylodon was recorded in the Neogene of Bolivia, so the probable presence of this genus in the Buenos Aires province increases notably their geographic distribution.Fil: Oliva, Cristian. Museo Municipal de Ciencias Naturales Carlos Darwin; ArgentinaFil: Brandoni, Diego. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; Argentin

Entre olhos eletrônicos e olhares humanos

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Angelo José da SilvaDissertaçao (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Humanas, Letras e Artes, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia. Defesa: Curitiba, 06/03/2013Bibliografia : fls. 141-147Resumo: Essa dissertação de mestrado em Sociologia é fruto da pesquisa realizada entre os anos de 2011 e 2012 junto aos operadores do Centro Integrado de Monitoramento Eletrônico de Curitiba, responsáveis pela operação do sistema de videomonitoramento urbano da região central da capital paranaense, analisando a própria forma como a vigilância é exercida na cidade. Mais do que fazer críticas ou apologias à implantação da vigilância eletrônica em espaços públicos, o objetivo desta pesquisa, é analisar qualitativamente as condições em que o poder do olhar é exercido e diferenciar o potencial de controle e efetividade do videomonitoramento urbano com a realidade de seu exercício cotidiano. Para isso foram empreendidas diferentes técnicas de coleta e análise de dados, apoiadas sobre um referencial teórico que permitiu a interpretação dos discursos e das relações de poder envolvidos nessa questão, permitindo assim que importantes articulações entre vigilância e segregação social fossem levantadas, que o determinismo tecnológico dos sistemas eletrônicos de segurança fosse questionado e que fossem apontadas novas perspectivas sobre a posição ambígua dos operadores do sistema, ao mesmo tempo empoderados e oprimidos pelo controle do mesmo.Abstract: This dissertation in Sociology is the result of the research conducted between the years 2011 and 2012 with the operators of the Centro Integrado de Monitoramento Eletrônico de Curitiba, responsible for the operation of the video surveillance system in downtown Curitiba, analyzing the way surveillance is carried out in the city. Rather than make an apology or critics to the deployment of electronic surveillance in public spaces, the goal of this research is to analyze qualitatively the conditions under which the power of the gaze is exercised and differentiate the potential and effectiveness of control of urban video surveillance with the reality of its daily exercise. For that different techniques data collect and analysis were used, supported on a theoretical framework that allowed the interpretation of discourses and power relations involved in this issue, thus allowing important links between surveillance and social segregation to be raised, technological determinism of electronic security systems to be questioned and pointing to new insights into the ambiguous position of the operators of the system, at the same time empowered and oppressed by its control

Se eu grito e o governo não escuta, vamos quebrar : a instrumentalização política da violência a partir da atuação da tática Black Bloc no Brasil pós junho de 2013

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Pedro Rodolfo Bodê de MoraesAutor não autorizou a divulgação do arquivo digitalTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Humanas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia. Defesa: Curitiba, 10/04/2017Inclui referências : f. 156-61Área de conhecimento : SociologiaResumo: Ao observar as manifestações e protestos iniciados com as chamadas Jornadas de Junho de 2013 e nos anos que se seguiram, nesta tese busco enfatizar a atuação da tática black bloc e suas relações com a repressão policial, o sistema de justiça e a representação midiática, para compreender o recurso à instrumentalização da violência como uma forma legítima de ação politicamente orientada, ao mesmo tempo questionando o monopólio do uso legítimo da força pelo Estado. Para isso foram empreendidas diversas técnicas de coleta de dados empíricos, da observação de campo e etnografia virtual a questionários e entrevistas com os sujeitos envolvidos. Nesse sentido, compreendo que as ações ditas "violentas" empreendidas pelos adeptos da tática black bloc possuem sentido e linguagem próprias, entendidas na chave da ação performática como uma forma simbólica de atacar e questionar o sistema político e econômico vigente e a violência estatal, bem como de atrair a atenção do público e da mídia para a agenda das manifestações populares. Palavras-chave: Violência política. Protestos. Black bloc. Repressão. Criminalização.Abstratct: In observing the demonstrations and protests that began with the so-called Jornadas de Junho de 2013 and in the years that followed, in this thesis I try to emphasize the performance of the black bloc tactic and its relations with police repression, the justice system and media representation, seeking to understand the instrumentalization of violence as a legitimate form of politically oriented action, at the same time questioning the monopoly of the legitimate use of force by the State. For this, several techniques of empirical data collection, from field observation and virtual ethnography to questionnaires and interviews with the subjects involved, were undertaken. In this sense, I understand that the so-called "violent" actions undertaken by adepts of the black bloc tactic have their own sense and language, understood in the key of performance action as a symbolic way of attacking and questioning the current political and economic system and state violence, as well as drawing the attention of the public and the media to the agenda of popular demonstrations. Keywords: Political violence. Protests. Black bloc. Repression. Criminalization

Engineering applications of metaheuristics: an introduction

Metaheuristic algorithms are important tools that in recent years have been used extensively in several fields. In engineering, there is a big amount of problems that can be solved from an optimization point of view. This paper is an introduction of how metaheuristics can be used to solve complex problems of engineering. Their use produces accurate results in problems that are computationally expensive. Experimental results support the performance obtained by the selected algorithms in such specific problems as digital filter design, image processing and solar cells design

Stylized Facts of the Ecuadorian Economy: The Economic Chicle 1965-2008

This paper presents some short-term and long term stylized facts of the Ecuadorian economy, and gives a brief explanation of the circumstances under which these empirical regularities developed. To do so, we analyze macroeconomic aggregates from the real and fiscal sectors, and examine price variables in relation to the economic cycle. It is difficult have a high quality quarterly series in real terms for all variables so we use both quarterly and monthly time series. In the case of monthly data, we make use of the Index of Economic Activity (IDEAC, Spanish acronym) as a proxy for the GDP. The ultimate goal of this paper is to identify the interrelation of key macroeconomic variables and to lay down the empirical basis for the development of dynamic models consistent with the behavior of the Ecuadorian economy.Hechos Estilizados, Ciclos Económicos, Filtro Hodrick y Prescott, Ecuador

A community-based resource for automatic exome variant-calling and annotation in Mendelian disorders

BACKGROUND: Mendelian disorders are mostly caused by single mutations in the DNA sequence of a gene, leading to a phenotype with pathologic consequences. Whole Exome Sequencing of patients can be a cost-effective alternative to standard genetic screenings to find causative mutations of genetic diseases, especially when the number of cases is limited. Analyzing exome sequencing data requires specific expertise, high computational resources and a reference variant database to identify pathogenic variants. RESULTS: We developed a database of variations collected from patients with Mendelian disorders, which is automatically populated thanks to an associated exome-sequencing pipeline. The pipeline is able to automatically identify, annotate and store insertions, deletions and mutations in the database. The resource is freely available online http://exome.tigem.it. The exome sequencing pipeline automates the analysis workflow (quality control and read trimming, mapping on reference genome, post-alignment processing, variation calling and annotation) using state-of-the-art software tools. The exome-sequencing pipeline has been designed to run on a computing cluster in order to analyse several samples simultaneously. The detected variants are annotated by the pipeline not only with the standard variant annotations (e.g. allele frequency in the general population, the predicted effect on gene product activity, etc.) but, more importantly, with allele frequencies across samples progressively collected in the database itself, stratified by Mendelian disorder. CONCLUSIONS: We aim at providing a resource for the genetic disease community to automatically analyse whole exome-sequencing samples with a standard and uniform analysis pipeline, thus collecting variant allele frequencies by disorder. This resource may become a valuable tool to help dissecting the genotype underlying the disease phenotype through an improved selection of putative patient-specific causative or phenotype-associated variations

Large-scale interactive retrieval in art collections using multi-style feature aggregation

Finding objects and motifs across artworks is of great importance for art history as it helps to understand individual works and analyze relations between them. The advent of digitization has produced extensive digital art collections with many research opportunities. However, manual approaches are inadequate to handle this amount of data, and it requires appropriate computer-based methods to analyze them. This article presents a visual search algorithm and user interface to support art historians to find objects and motifs in extensive datasets. Artistic image collections are subject to significant domain shifts induced by large variations in styles, artistic media, and materials. This poses new challenges to most computer vision models which are trained on photographs. To alleviate this problem, we introduce a multi-style feature aggregation that projects images into the same distribution, leading to more accurate and style-invariant search results. Our retrieval system is based on a voting procedure combined with fast nearest-neighbor search and enables finding and localizing motifs within an extensive image collection in seconds. The presented approach significantly improves the state-of-the-art in terms of accuracy and search time on various datasets and applies to large and inhomogeneous collections. In addition to the search algorithm, we introduce a user interface that allows art historians to apply our algorithm in practice. The interface enables users to search for single regions, multiple regions regarding different connection types and holds an interactive feedback system to improve retrieval results further. With our methodological contribution and easy-to-use user interface, this work manifests further progress towards a computer-based analysis of visual art