Distinciones y Comunicaciones

Los últimos años han sido testigos del desarrollo de una nueva reflexión epistemológica proveniente esta vez de la biología, y que ha vuelto a sugerir algunas nociones respecto del estatuto de la realidad que ya se hallaban esbozadas en los filósofos escépticos presocráticos: se trata, por supuesto, de la denominada biología del conocimiento o de la percepción, en la cual han destacado por sus aportes von Foerster, von Glasersfled, Bateson y Maturana, entre otros. En este ensayo me interesa explorar algunas de sus posibles contribuciones a la Teoría Social

Exploring the local and regional effects of plant diversity on plant herbivore interactions

The study of biological diversity and its effects on ecosystem functioning and species interactions has always been a fundamental part of biology. The accelerating loss of species in conjunction with an increasing change in the natural environment has underlined the importance of the role that biodiversity has on the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of natural systems. In this dissertation I explore the effect of local and regional patterns of plant diversity in plant-herbivore interactions. Furthermore, this work goes beyond the classical concepts of taxonomical diversity and investigates the role of phylogenetic and chemical diversity on plant-herbivore interactions. In chapter one I explore the patters of herbivore diversity along latitudinal gradient by following to widely distributed Piper species from Mexico to Bolivia. Here I show how that changes in herbivore diversity along this latitudinal gradient are likely changing the nature and intensity of the evolutionary herbivore pressures experienced by plants. In chapter two I examine how non-random patterns of seed dispersal by bats are increasing local understory Piper diversity. Furthermore, I show how these changes in local diversity are also reducing Piper herbivore damage due to possible resource dilution effects. This represents the first evidence of a direct link between seed dispersal and plant herbivore interactions. In chapter three I explore the relationship between inter-specific chemical diversity and intra-specific chemical variation. Here I put forward the potential association between the number of dominant secondary compounds present in a particular Piper species and the relative ecological value that said compounds have. Finally, in chapters four and five I use a metabolomic approach to investigate the role that Piper chemical diversity at the community has on species coexistence and community assembly. Here I show how natural Piper communities are more chemically diverse than expected by chance. This section also shows that Piper communities with higher chemical diversity have less herbivore damage. As a unit, this work provides strong evidence of the importance of taxonomical and chemical diversity for plant herbivore interaction

PBW bases of irreducible Ising modules

To every $h + \mathbb{N}$-graded module $M$ over an $\mathbb{N}$-graded conformal vertex algebra $V$, we associate an increasing filtration $(G^pM)_{p \in \mathbb{Z}}$ which is compatible with the filtrations introduced by Haisheng Li. The associated graded vector space $\mathrm{gr}^G(M)$ is naturally a module over the vertex Poisson algebra $\mathrm{gr}^G(V)$. We study $\mathrm{gr}^G(M)$ for the three irreducible modules of the Ising model $\mathrm{Vir}_{3, 4}$, namely $\mathrm{Vir}_{3,4} = L(1/2, 0)$, $L(1/2, 1/2)$ and $L(1/2, 1/16)$. We obtain an explicit monomial basis of each of these modules and a formula for their refined characters which are related to Nahm sums for the matrix $\left(\begin{smallmatrix} 8 & 3 \\ 3 & 2 \end{smallmatrix}\right)$.Comment: 17 pages. Minor typographical errors were corrected and explanations were improved in the version published in the journa

Efecto de las condiciones de esterilización sobre la consistencia y el contenido de vitamina C en un puré de zanahoria blanca (Arracacha xantorriza Bancroft)

Parnish is a native root from the Andes, which due to its nutritional properties is ideal for making food for babies and small children. In this study a puree ready-to-use was elaborated under six conditions of sterilization (Time (minutes) vs Temperature (Celsius)), which were calculated using Ball´s Method. After preparing puree, microbial analysis was made to all treatments to proof the efficiency of the sterilization process. Variables measured were Vitamin C, Vitamin A by HPLC method and consistency by Bostwick´s consistometer. All treatments were successfully sterilized. However, and in despite the fact that there was no statistical difference between treatments for vitamin C and consistence, treatment 116,1°C and 41,3 minutes was chosen as the best because it took the less time to be processed. On this treatment, vitamin A presented a loss of 82,5% out of its original content after thermal processing.La zanahoria blanca, una raíz nativa de los Andes, debido a sus propiedades nutricionales es ideal para elaborar alimentos para bebes y niños pequeños. En este estudio se hizo un puré listo para consumir y se estudiaron seis condiciones de esterilización (tiempo (minutos) vs Temperatura (°C)) calculadas con el método de Ball. Posteriormente y una vez obtenido el producto, se realizó un recuento microbiológico para verificar la eficacia del tratamiento térmico. De igual manera se cuantificó en el proceso la variación en el contenido de Vitamina C y Vitamina A medidas con HPLC y consistencia medida con un consistómetro de Bostwick. Los resultados mostraron que todos los tratamientos fueron correctamente esterilizados. No se encontró diferencia significativa en la cantidad residual de vitamina C, ni en la consistencia final del producto obtenido por los seis tratamientos empleados, pese a ello se escogió al tratamiento a 116,1 °C por 41,3 minutos como el mejor, pues este fue realizado en menor tiempo. La cantidad de vitamina A, medida en el tratamiento ganador, presento una reducción del 82,5% luego de aplicado el tratamiento térmico

One dimensional 4-component alkali fermions

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Perspectivas teóricas para una Arqueología Interpretativa de la muerte

Frente a la paulatina secularización de la experiencia de la muerte en las sociedades tecnológicas contemporáneas, los autores proponen, desde la ciencia arqueológica, las bases teóricas de un modelo interpretativo derivado de la Historia de las Religiones, la Etnohistoria y la Etnografía, como herramienta analítica para estudiar y valorar el sentido ritual y sagrado que las sociedades tradicionales le confieren a este fenómeno, pues consideramos que ésta es la vía más adecuada para acercarnos a su verdadera comprensión. En este sentido, el interés del presente trabajo será el de reflexionar acerca del fenómeno mortuorio en el contexto del pensamiento mítico que caracteriza a las sociedades tradicionales, con el objeto de derivar algunas implicaciones arqueológicas que demuestren la posibilidad de orientar investigaciones sobre la dimensión ideacional de la cultura en el pasado.  

Modelling of Learning Styles in Relation to University- level Lectures

Throughout this paper we seek to demonstrate the practicality of obtaining an approximate model of the relationship between a score that determines the learning styles of a student and the results obtained in a specific University-level lecture. The study considered the voluntary participation of over six hundred students from “Escuela Politécnica Nacional” of Ecuador (EPN). The Index of Learning Styles model was used to establish the various learning styles of the students. The analysis of the results considers the linear correlation and the correlation distance

Comparar el uso sistemático de piperacilina tazobactam versus cefepime para el manejo empírico de infecciones asociadas al cuidado de la salud, en relación a aislamientos de microorganismos AmpC en la unidad de cuidado intensivo pediátrico del Hospital Universitario Clínica San Rafael desde el año 2007 a 2011

Este estudio pretende evaluar los aislamientos microbiológicos de bacilos gram negativos con resistencia a cefoxitin (marcador diagnostico de AmpC inducible) en infecciones relacionadas al cuidado de la salud en los últimos 5 años en pacientes hospitalizados en cuidado intensivo pediátrico, comparar periodos anuales del 2007 y 2008 con el uso de piperacilina-tazobactam con los años 2009- 2010-2011 cuando se utilizo cefepime, los resultados obtenidos sustentarían la continuidad del manejo empírico actual de tales infecciones o nos orientaría hacia probables cambios de tratamiento en beneficio de nuestros pacientes

Novel brown adipose tissue candidate genes predicted by the human gene connectome

We would like to thank M. Thomas and R. de Casas for their helpful comments, and C. Osuna, F. Perfectti (CGL2013-47558-P), and the Scientific Supercomputing Center of the Universidad de Granada for sharing computational resources. We are also grateful to Ms. Carmen Sainz-Quinn for assistance with the English language. The study was supported by a Marie S. Curie Global Fellowship within the European Union research and innovation framework programme (2014-2020; ClimAHealth: 101030971). It was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI13/01393), Fondos Estructurales de la Union Europea (FEDER), by the Fundacion Iberoamericana de Nutricion (FINUT), by the Redes tematicas de investigacion cooperativa RETIC (Red SAMID RD16/0022), by AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, by the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigacion (Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health [UCEES]), and by the Junta de Andalucia, Consejeria de Economia, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad (ref. P18-624 RT-4455).Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a promising therapeutic target against obesity. Therefore, research on the genetic architecture of BAT could be key for the development of successful therapies against this complex phenotype. Hypothesis-driven candidate gene association studies are useful for studying genetic determinants of complex traits, but they are dependent upon the previous knowledge to select candidate genes. Here, we predicted 107 novel-BAT candidate genes in silico using the uncoupling protein one (UCP1) as the hallmark of BAT activity. We first identified the top 1% of human genes predicted by the human gene connectome to be biologically closest to the UCP1, estimating 167 additional pathway genes (BAT connectome). We validated this prediction by showing that 60 genes already associated with BAT were included in the connectome and they were biologically closer to each other than expected by chance (p < 2.2 × 10− 16). The rest of genes (107) are potential candidates for BAT, being also closer to known BAT genes and more expressed in BAT biopsies than expected by chance (p < 2.2 × 10− 16; p = 4.39 × 10– 02). The resulting new list of predicted human BAT genes should be useful for the discovery of novel BAT genes and metabolic pathways.Marie S. Curie Global Fellowship within the European Union research and innovation framework programme ClimAHealth: 101030971Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria del Instituto de Salud Carlos III PI13/01393Fondos Estructurales de la Union Europea (FEDER)Fundacion Iberoamericana de Nutricion (FINUT)Redes tematicas de investigacion cooperativa RETIC Red SAMID RD16/0022AstraZenecaUniversity of Granada Plan Propio de InvestigacionJunta de Andalucia P18-624 RT-4455 CGL2013-47558-

Aumento de la participación femenina en Colombia : ¿Fecundidad, estado civil o educación?

La participación laboral femenina en las zonas urbanas ha aumentado de manera sustancial en Colombia, y ha pasado de cerca del 47% en 1984 al 65% en 2006. Descomponemos el aumento en la participación en lo que corresponde a aumentos en la tasa de participación de los diferentes subgrupos (que se definen según las variables más relevantes, que son en este caso logro educativo, estado civil y fecundidad) y cambios en la composición de la población. El aumento en la participación está jalonado por el aumento en las tasas de participación de las mujeres que están casadas o en unión libre, y de mujeres de bajo nivel educativo. La fecundidad contribuye menos a explicar el fenómeno. Los cambios en la composición de la población por niveles educativos también explican una porción sustancial, mientras que el efecto de los cambios en la composición de la población en términos de estado civil o fecundidad es muy pequeño.Colombia has experienced a secular increase in the labor participation of urban women, going from nearly 47% in 1984 to 65% in 2006. We decompose the evolution of participation into changes in the composition of the population and changes in the participation rates by groups (defined according to the variables that appear most relevant: educational attainment, fertility and marital status). The increase in participation is driven by the increase in the participation rate of married or cohabiting women and women with low educational attainment. Fertility status appears to be less important. Changes in the population composition by educational attainment are also relevant in explaining the increase in participation. However, changes in composition by marital status or fertility are second order effects