Apuntes para una lectura bakhtiniana de Changing Places y Small World de David Lodge

This paper presents an interpretation of David Lodge’s Changing Places and Small World from the perspective of Bakhtin’s theory. The analysis of the two novels revolves around such concepts as grotesque realism, dialogism, and the chronotope. I suggest that the use of these concepts in Changing Places and Small World illustrates some of the controversial points in Bakhtin’s theory

Un viaje al "corazón de las tinieblas": asimilación, reescritura y transculturalismo en The Intended, de David Dabydeen

Este ensayo pretende analizar The Intended, de David Dabydeen, examinando el modo en que la novela reacciona frente al imperialismo cultural británico. El ensayo muestra cómo los esfuerzos del protagonista por asimilar los valores propios de la clase media blanca son saboteados por el discurso narrativo. De este modo, la novela propugna la formación de una identidad cultural híbrida, despliega una crítica de la ideología colonialista, y deconstruye las tesis y estereotipos eurocéntricos. El ensayo presta especial atención a la relación irónica que Dabydeen establece entre The Intended y Heart of Darkness, de Joseph Conrad.This essay attempts an evaluation of David Dabydeen’s The Intended by examining the way in which the novel reacts towards British cultural imperialism. The essay shows how the protagonist’s endeavour to assimilate white, middle-class values is put into question by the narrative discourse. Thus, the novel advocates the formation of a hybrid cultural identity, deploys a critique of colonialist ideology, and deconstructs Eurocentric assumptions and stereotypes. The essay pays special attention to the ironic relationship that Dabydeen establishes between The Intended and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

The interaction between rational arguments and emotional appeals in the entrepreneurial pitch

Purpose. This study is concerned with the perlocutionary force of emotional strategies in entrepreneurship discourse. The purpose of this paper is to determine to what extent, and under what circumstances, emotional appeals may be effective to convince the conversational partner in entrepreneurship discourse. Design/methodology/approach ? To examine the interaction between rational and emotional appeals this paper analyses a corpus formed by several examples of the ?elevator pitch? genre, which have been taken from a TV programme called Tu Oportunidad (Your Chance), the Spanish counterpart of the British Dragon?s Den and the American Shark Tank. Using the information gathered in the discursive analysis of the corpus, the paper establishes a template that identifies the main rational and emotional aspects that characterize the entrepreneurial pitch. In a second stage of the research, the template is used to conduct a quantitative analysis of the persuasive influence of rational and emotional aspects. Findings ? The results of the qualitative and quantitative research show that there is a clear correlation between the propensity to finance entrepreneurial ventures and the presence of rational aspects in the entrepreneurial pitch. The lack of rational arguments determines the failure of the entrepreneur?s efforts to be persuasive, regardless of the emotional appeals that are introduced into the pitch. Emotional appeals prove to be useful to reinforce rational arguments but they are not sufficiently persuasive on their own. Originality/value ? The paper offers insight into the criteria that investors take into account in order to evaluate entrepreneurial projects, as well as on the strategies that entrepreneurs should develop to build a successful business pitch.Ministerio de Economía y Competitivida

Persuasive strategies in the SME entrepreneurial pitch: Functional and discursive considerations

This paper aims to determine the efficacy of persuasive strategies in the SME pitch by examining the discursive interaction that takes place in a televised corpus, taken from the Spanish TV programme “Tu Oportunidad” (“Your Chance”), the counterpart of the British Dragon’s Den and the American Shark Tank. Using the information gathered in the discursive analysis of the corpus, we address how the use of rational and emotional factors may influence the decisions taken by the investors and how the entrepreneurs may achieve credibility. The results show the importance of rational argumentation in entrepreneurial and SME pitches, relegating emotional aspects to a secondary role from the persuasive point of view, which should, however, not be disregarded. Entrepreneurs should anchor their discourse firmly in a rational cognitive framework, but without discarding those emotional appeals which may be naturally connected to rational arguments, reinforcing their validity

Iterative Lambert's Trajectory Optimization for Extrasolar Bodies Interception

[EN] Interception of extrasolar objects is one of the major current astrophysical objectives since it allows gathering information on the formation and composition of other planetary systems. This paper develops a tool to design optimal orbits for the interception of these bodies considering the effects of different perturbation sources. The optimal trajectory is obtained by solving a Lambert's problem that gives the required initial impulse. A numerical integration of a perturbed orbital model is calculated. This model considers the perturbations of the joint action of the gravitational potentials of the Solar System planets and the solar radiation pressure. These effects cause a deviation in the orbit that prevents the interception from taking place, so an iterative correction scheme of the initial estimated impulse is presented, capable of modifying the orbit and achieving a successful interception in a more realistic environment.This research has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, Project PID2019-109753GB-C22.Herrero Debón, A.; Moll López, SE.; Moraño Fernández, JA.; Vázquez, D.; Vega, E. (2021). Iterative Lambert's Trajectory Optimization for Extrasolar Bodies Interception. Aerospace. 8(12):1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace812036611681

Brain atrophy and clinical characterization of adults with mild cognitive impairment and different cerebrospinal fluid biomarker profiles according to the AT(N) research framework of Alzheimer’s disease

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate, in adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the brain atrophy that may distinguish between three AT(N) biomarker-based profiles, and to determine its clinical value. Methods: Structural MRI (sMRI) was employed to evaluate the volume and cortical thickness differences in MCI patients with different AT(N) profiles, namely, A−T−(N)−: normal AD biomarkers; A+T−(N)−: AD pathologic change; and A+T+(N)+: prodromal AD. Sensitivity and specificity of these changes were also estimated. Results: An initial atrophy in medial temporal lobe (MTL) areas was found in the A+T−(N)− and A+T+(N)+ groups, spreading toward the parietal and frontal regions in A+T+(N)+ patients. These structural changes allowed distinguishing AT(N) profiles within the AD continuum; however, the profiles and their pattern of neurodegeneration were unsuccessful to determine the current clinical status. Conclusion: sMRI is useful in the determination of the specific brain structural changes of AT(N) profiles along the AD continuum, allowing differentiation between MCI adults with or without pathological AD biomarkersThis study was supported by grants from the Spanish Government, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PSI2017- 89389-C2-R and PID2020-114521RB-C21/C22); the Galician Government, Axudas para a Consolidación e Estruturación de Unidades de Investigación Competitivas do Sistema Universitario de Galicia: GRC (GI-1807- USC); Refs: ED431-2017/27 and ED431C-2021/04; all with ERDF/FEDER fundsS

Coding Prony's method in MATLAB and applying it to biomedical signal filtering

Background:The response of many biomedical systems can be modelled using a linear combination of damped exponential functions. The approximation parameters, based on equally spaced samples, can be obtained using Prony's method and its variants (e.g. the matrix pencil method). This paper provides a tutorial on the main polynomial Prony and matrix pencil methods and their implementation in MATLAB and analyses how they perform with synthetic and multifocal visual-evoked potential (mfVEP) signals. This paper briefly describes the theoretical basis of four polynomial Prony approximation methods: classic, least squares (LS), total least squares (TLS) and matrix pencil method (MPM). In each of these cases, implementation uses general MATLAB functions. The features of the various options are tested by approximating a set of synthetic mathematical functions and evaluating filtering performance in the Prony domain when applied to mfVEP signals to improve diagnosis of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Results:The code implemented does not achieve 100%-correct signal approximation and, of the methods tested, LS and MPM perform best. When filtering mfVEP records in the Prony domain, the value of the area under the receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) curve is 0.7055 compared with 0.6538 obtained with the usual filtering method used for this type of signal (discrete Fourier transform low-pass filter with a cut-off frequency of 35 Hz). Conclusions:This paper reviews Prony's method in relation to signal filtering and approximation, provides the MATLAB code needed to implement the classic, LS, TLS and MPM methods, and tests their performance in biomedical signal filtering and function approximation. It emphasizes the importance of improving the computational methods used to implement the various methods described above.Universidad de AlcaláSecretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovació

Rapid evolutionary change of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) plastome, and the genomic diversification of legume chloroplasts

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fabaceae (legumes) is one of the largest families of flowering plants, and some members are important crops. In contrast to what we know about their great diversity or economic importance, our knowledge at the genomic level of chloroplast genomes (cpDNAs or plastomes) for these crops is limited.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We sequenced the complete genome of the common bean (<it>Phaseolus vulgari</it>s cv. Negro Jamapa) chloroplast. The plastome of <it>P. vulgaris </it>is a 150,285 bp circular molecule. It has gene content similar to that of other legume plastomes, but contains two pseudogenes, <it>rpl</it>33 and <it>rps</it>16. A distinct inversion occurred at the junction points of <it>trn</it>H-GUG/<it>rpl</it>14 and <it>rps</it>19/<it>rps</it>8, as in adzuki bean <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp>. These two pseudogenes and the inversion were confirmed in 10 varieties representing the two domestication centers of the bean. Genomic comparative analysis indicated that inversions generally occur in legume plastomes and the magnitude and localization of insertions/deletions (indels) also vary. The analysis of repeat sequences demonstrated that patterns and sequences of tandem repeats had an important impact on sequence diversification between legume plastomes and tandem repeats did not belong to dispersed repeats. Interestingly, <it>P. vulgaris </it>plastome had higher evolutionary rates of change on both genomic and gene levels than <it>G. max</it>, which could be the consequence of pressure from both mutation and natural selection.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Legume chloroplast genomes are widely diversified in gene content, gene order, indel structure, abundance and localization of repetitive sequences, intracellular sequence exchange and evolutionary rates. The <it>P. vulgaris </it>plastome is a rapidly evolving genome.</p

Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from immune tissues of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) challenged with pathogens

Background: The turbot (Scophthalmus maximus; Scophthalmidae; Pleuronectiformes) is a flatfish species of great relevance for marine aquaculture in Europe. In contrast to other cultured flatfish, very few genomic resources are available in this species. Aeromonas salmonicida and Philasterides dicentrarchi are two pathogens that affect turbot culture causing serious economic losses to the turbot industry. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms for disease resistance and hostpathogen interactions in this species. In this work, thousands of ESTs for functional genomic studies and potential markers linked to ESTs for mapping (microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)) are provided. This information enabled us to obtain a preliminary view of regulated genes in response to these pathogens and it constitutes the basis for subsequent and more accurate microarray analysis. Results: A total of 12584 cDNAs partially sequenced from three different cDNA libraries of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) infected with Aeromonas salmonicida, Philasterides dicentrarchi and from healthy fish were analyzed. Three immune-relevant tissues (liver, spleen and head kidney) were sampled at several time points in the infection process for library construction. The sequences were processed into 9256 high-quality sequences, which constituted the source for the turbot EST database. Clustering and assembly of these sequences, revealed 3482 different putative transcripts, 1073 contigs and 2409 singletons. BLAST searches with public databases detected significant similarity (e-value ≤ 1e-5) in 1766 (50.7%) sequences and 816 of them (23.4%) could be functionally annotated. Two hundred three of these genes (24.9%), encoding for defence/immunerelated proteins, were mostly identified for the first time in turbot. Some ESTs showed significant differences in the number of transcripts when comparing the three libraries, suggesting regulation in response to these pathogens. A total of 191 microsatellites, with 104 having sufficient flanking sequences for primer design, and 1158 putative SNPs were identified from these EST resources in turbot. Conclusion: A collection of 9256 high-quality ESTs was generated representing 3482 unique turbot sequences. A large proportion of defence/immune-related genes were identified, many of them regulated in response to specific pathogens. Putative microsatellites and SNPs were identified. These genome resources constitute the basis to develop a microarray for functional genomics studies and marker validation for genetic linkage and QTL analysis in turbot.This study was supported by a Consellería de Pesca e Asuntos Marítimos and the Dirección Xeral de I+D – Xunta de Galicia project (2004/CP480)S

La percepción de la Unión Europea en la elite parlamentaria española: una primera aproximación

En este trabajo se ofrece un avance de los resultados de la encuesta a elites políticas españolas realizadaen el marco del proyecto IntUne. Tras una sucinta descripción de los objetivos y organizacióngeneral del proyecto, en la que se presta especial atención a la parte dedicada al estudio de las elitesnacionales europeas, se exponen los detalles relativos a la metodología seguida en la elaboraciónde la encuesta en la que se basa este trabajo. A continuación, en lo que constituye la parte principalde esta nota, se realiza una breve exposición de los resultados preliminares de la encuesta en relacióncon las principales percepciones que los miembros de la cámara baja española tienen sobreEuropa y/o sobre el proceso de integración europeo.Proyecto integrado financiado por la Unión Europea a través del Sexto Programa Marco de Investigación (Prioridad 7: Citizens and governance in a knowledge based society) [contrato nº: CIT3-CT-20005-513421]