Against Animats

Animats are artificial animals, a contraction of anima-materials. The term includes physical robots and virtual simulations. Animat research, a subset of Artificial Life studies, has become rather popular since Rodney Brooks' seminal paper "Intelligence without representation". The word was coined by S.W. Wilson in 1991, in the first proceedings of the Simulation of Adaptive Behaviour, which was also called From Animals to Animats

La investigación escolar en la construcción de explicaciones acerca de la transmisión de caracteres hereditarios. sistematización de la unidad didáctica ¡moscas!... a enseñar herencia

El presente trabajo expondrá el desarrollo significativo respecto a conceptos, procedimientos y actitudes referidos a la herencia de caracteres hereditarios, que alcanzaron los estudiantes del grado octavo del IEDIT Rodrigo de Triana, en un periodo de tres meses en el año 2008, durante el cual se ejecutó el diseño, aplicación y sistematización de la unidad didáctica ¡Moscas! a enseñar herencia. En esta experiencia educativa se adoptaron los postulados del Enfoque de Enseñanza por Investigación Dirigida y el instrumento metodológico de Investigación Acción, donde los estudiantes organizados en equipos de trabajo abordaron una pregunta problema para desarrollar una investigación escolar, bajo la atenta dirección de las docentes, quienes corroboraron un cambio procedimental, conceptual y actitudinal en los estudiantes del grado 803

The Ising model and planar N=4 Yang-Mills

The scattering-matrix for planar Yang-Mills with N=4 supersymmetry relies on the assumption that integrability holds to all orders in perturbation theory. In this note we define a map from the spectral variables x^{\pm}, parameterizing the long-range magnon momenta, to couplings in a two-dimensional Ising model. Under this map integrability of planar N=4 Yang-Mills becomes equivalent to the Yang-Baxter equation for the two-dimensional Ising model, and the long-range variables x^{\pm} translate into the entries of the Ising transfer matrices. We explore the Ising correlation length which equals the inverse magnon momentum in the small momentum limit. The critical regime is thus reached for vanishing magnon momentum. We also discuss the meaning of the Kramers-Wannier duality transformation on the gauge theory, together with that of the Ising model critical points.Comment: 24 pages. v2: References added and minor typos correcte

A revised distance to IRAS 16293−-2422 from VLBA astrometry of associated water masers

IRAS 16293-2422 is a very well studied young stellar system seen in projection towards the L1689N cloud in the Ophiuchus complex. However, its distance is still uncertain with a range of values from 120 pc to 180 pc. Our goal is to measure the trigonometric parallax of this young star by means of H$_2$O maser emission. We use archival data from 15 epochs of VLBA observations of the 22.2 GHz water maser line. By modeling the displacement on the sky of the H$_2$O maser spots, we derived a trigonometric parallax of $7.1\pm1.3$ mas, corresponding to a distance of $141_{-21}^{+30}$ pc. This new distance is in good agreement with recent values obtained for other magnetically active young stars in the L1689 cloud. We relate the kinematics of these masers with the outflows and the recent ejections powered by source A in the system.Comment: 14 pages, 6 tables, 8 figures. Accepted to be published in Astronomy \& Astrophysic

Water maser detections in southern candidates to post-AGB stars and Planetary Nebulae

We intended to study the incidence and characteristics of water masers in the envelopes of stars in the post-AGB and PN evolutionary stages. We have used the 64-m antenna in Parkes (Australia) to search for water maser emission at 22 GHz, towards a sample of 74 sources with IRAS colours characteristic of post-AGB stars and PNe, at declination $< -32 \deg$. In our sample, 39% of the sources are PNe or PNe candidates, and 50% are post-AGB stars or post-AGB candidates. We have detected four new water masers, all of them in optically obscured sources: three in PNe candidates (IRAS 12405-6219, IRAS 15103-5754, and IRAS 16333-4807); and one in a post-AGB candidate (IRAS 13500-6106). The PN candidate IRAS 15103-5754 has water fountain characteristics, and it could be the first PN of this class found. We confirm the tendency suggested in Paper I that the presence of water masers in the post-AGB phase is favoured in obscured sources with massive envelopes. We propose an evolutionary scenario for water masers in the post-AGB and PNe stages, in which ``water fountain'' masers could develop during post-AGB and early PN stages. Later PNe would show lower velocity maser emission, both along jets and close to the central objects, with only the central masers remaining in more evolved PNe.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic

Design and manufacture of a customised temporomandibular prosthesis

In this work, design, manufacture and surgical success of a personalised temporomandibular prosthesis is featured. A fused deposition modelling technique and Die forging process constitute the methodology used in a patient who had an amputation in the upper third branch of the mandible, without considering the joint capsule. The implant was designed using a processed resection image of a computational tomography and using the methodology of Özkaya and Nordin. The jaw operating conditions were simulated by the finite element method (FEM). The main considered factors were the morphological geometry of the patient, implant fixation in the first third of the branch, implant fixation on the chin, dental post for placement of the teeth, and the form of the sub-lingual fossa weight optimisation. Special consideration was to preserve the patients facial aesthetics.Peer Reviewe

Integration Host Factor (IHF) binds to the promoter region of the phtD operon involved in phaseolotoxin synthesis in P. syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Pseudomonas syringae </it>pv. phaseolicola, the causal agent of halo blight disease in beans, produces a toxin known as phaseolotoxin, in whose synthesis participate a group of genes organized within the genome in a region known as the "Pht cluster". This region, which is thought to have been acquired by horizontal gene transfer, includes 5 transcriptional units, two monocistronic (<it>argK, phtL</it>) and three polycistronic (<it>phtA, phtD, phtM</it>), whose expression is temperature dependent. So far, the regulatory mechanisms involved in phaseolotoxin synthesis have not been elucidated and the only well-established fact is the requirement of low temperatures for its synthesis. In this work, we searched for regulatory proteins that could be involved in phaseolotoxin synthesis, focusing on the regulation of the <it>phtD </it>operon.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study we identified the global regulator IHF (Integration Host Factor), which binds to the promoter region of the <it>phtD </it>operon, exerting a negative effect on the expression of this operon. This is the first regulatory protein identified as part of the phaseolotoxin synthesis system. Our findings suggest that the Pht cluster was similarly regulated in the ancestral cluster by IHF or similar protein, and integrated into the global regulatory mechanism of <it>P. syringae </it>pv. phaseolicola, after the horizontal gene transfer event by using the host IHF protein.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study identifies the IHF protein as one element involved in the regulation of phaseolotoxin synthesis in <it>P. syringae </it>pv. phaseolicola NPS3121 and provides new insights into the regulatory mechanisms involved in phaseolotoxin production.</p

Adding plant oils to dairy goat diets: Effect on fatty acid content of milk fat

[ES]: El objetivo del presente trabajo fue investigar el efecto de la adición de aceites vegetales de diferente grado de insaturación a la dieta de cabras lecheras sobre el perfil de ácidos grasos de la grasa láctea. Doce cabras de raza Malagueña fueron asignadas al azar a uno de cuatro tratamientos: dieta basal sin aceite añadido y la misma dieta basal adicionada con 48 g/d de aceite de girasol alto oleico, aceite de girasol normal o aceite de lino. La dieta estuvo compuesta por heno de alfalfa (30%) y un concentrado granulado (70%) en el que se incluyó el aceite correspondiente. Todos los aceites redujeron el contenido de ácidos grasos saturados de cadena media de la grasa láctea (P 0,05). El aceite de girasol normal incrementó el contenido de los ácidos C18:1t10, vaccénico y ruménico y aumentó el valor de la ratio linoleico/α-linolénico (P 0,05). Los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir que la adición de aceite de lino a la dieta de cabras en lactación, en comparación con la de los aceites de girasol alto oleico y normal, modifica el perfil de ácidos grasos de la grasa láctea en un sentido más favorable desde el punto de vista de la salud humana.[EN]: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of adding differently unsaturated vegetable oils to a dairy goat diet on fatty acid content of milk fat. Twelve Malagueña goats were randomly allocated to one of four treatments: no oil basal diet and the same basal diet supplemented with 48 g/d of high oleic sunflower oil, regular sunflower oil or linseed oil. The basal diet was made of alfalfa hay and a pelleted concentrate (30:70 w/w). The concentrate included the respective oils. Supplemented diets decreased medium chain saturated fatty acid content in milk fat (P 0.05). Regular sunflower oil increased C18:1t10, vaccenic and rumenic acid contents as well as linoleic to α-linolenic acid ratio (P 0.05). It was concluded that compared to high oleic o regular sunflower oils, adding linseed oil in dairy goat diets modifies milk fat fatty acid content more favourably from the point of view of human health.Peer Reviewe

La investigación escolar en la construcción de explicaciones acerca de la transmisión de caracteres hereditarios. sistematización de la unidad didáctica ¡moscas!... a enseñar herencia

El presente trabajo expondrá el desarrollo significativo respecto a conceptos, procedimientos y actitudes referidos a la herencia de caracteres hereditarios, que alcanzaron los estudiantes del grado octavo del IEDIT Rodrigo de Triana, en un periodo de tres meses en el año 2008, durante el cual se ejecutó el diseño, aplicación y sistematización de la unidad didáctica ¡Moscas! a enseñar herencia. En esta experiencia educativa se adoptaron los postulados del Enfoque de Enseñanza por Investigación Dirigida y el instrumento metodológico de Investigación Acción, donde los estudiantes organizados en equipos de trabajo abordaron una pregunta problema para desarrollar una investigación escolar, bajo la atenta dirección de las docentes, quienes corroboraron un cambio procedimental, conceptual y actitudinal en los estudiantes del grado 803