Principium incipiendi: towards a cognitive motivation for ingressive ?haptic? verbs

Numerosos verbos que expresan el comienzo de un evento se retrotraen a raíces cuyo significado original es «agarrar». Aunque existen otros patrones recurrentes, lo que llamaremos raíces «hápticas» parecen ser la fuente metafórica más común para codificar este concepto secuencial-temporal en las lenguas indoeuropeas. Esto sienta las bases para el establecimiento de una correspondiente trayectoria de gramaticalización. Este artículo presenta datos de más de 20 lenguas que apoyan la no arbitrariedad de esta evolución semántica, y ofrece un modelo teórico sobre los principios cognitivos que la sustentan

Enzymatic hydrolysis of brewer’s spent grain to obtain fermentable sugars

Lignocellulosic biomass is a feedstock with the potential to be converted into value-added bioproducts. The use of enzymatic hydrolysis allows the cleavage of lignocellulose into their monomeric units, but there are some drawbacks that make its use in industrial biocatalysis unfeasible. In the present study, we describe the hydrolysis of brewer’s spent grain (BSG) with an enzymatic cocktail produced by Aspergillus niger CECT 2700 and its comparison with commercial enzymes. In addition, it was determined whether pretreating the BSG (non-pressurized alkaline hydrolysis or treatment with cholinium glycinate ionic liquid) is necessary. Results show that both pretreatments enhanced xylose release (10.55±0.07g/L and 8.14±0.13g/L respectively), meanwhile the hydrolysis of raw BSG with the enzymatic cocktail produced solutions containing high levels of glucose (18.45±1.66g/L) and xylose (6.38±0.26g/L).Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. CTQ2015-71436-C2-1-

Stimulus-Specific Adaptation in the Inferior Colliculus of the Anesthetized Rat

[EN]To identify sounds as novel, there must be some neural representation of commonly occurring sounds. Stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) is a reduction in neural response to a repeated sound. Previous studies using an oddball stimulus paradigm have shown that SSA occurs at the cortex, but this study demonstrates that neurons in the inferior colliculus (IC) also show strong SSA using this paradigm. The majority (66%) of IC neurons showed some degree of SSA. Approximately 18% of neurons showed near-complete SSA. Neurons with SSA were found throughout the IC. Responses of IC neurons were reduced mainly during the onset component of the response, and latency was shorter in response to the oddball stimulus than to the standard. Neurons with near-complete SSA were broadly tuned to frequency, suggesting a high degree of convergence. Thus, some of the mechanisms that may underlie novelty detection and behavioral habituation to common sounds are already well developed at the midbrain

Sports of freedom. Sports and social adjustment of inmates in Andalusian prisons

El presente artículo analiza la influencia del deporte en la reinserción social de la población reclusa, centrándose en los resultados obtenidos a través de un estudio realizado por la Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO) mediante una ayuda concedida por el Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD) (Ref. 38/UPB20/10). Para su desarrollo, se llevó a cabo un conjunto de entrevistas individuales en profundidad a informantes cualificados y microrrelatos de vida entre reclusos de los centros penitenciarios de Andalucía. Los resultados confirman la importancia del deporte en la rehabilitación social de la población reclusa, así como su influencia sobre la salud física, psíquica y emocional.This paper is an analysis of the influence of sports on the social integration of inmates in Andalusian prisons, focusing on results obtained from a study carried on by the University Pablo de Olavide, through a grant awarded by the Consejo Superior de Deportes (High Council of Sports). It was made through a series of in-depth individual interviews with qualified informants and microstories of inmates in such prisons. The results confirm the importance of sports in socialization and social rehabilitation of inmates, as well as its influence on the physical health, psychic and emotional changes in attitudes and values for the social integration of this population

Prediction error signaling explains neuronal mismatch responses in the medial prefrontal cortex

The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a key biomarker of automatic deviance detection thought to emerge from 2 cortical sources. First, the auditory cortex (AC) encodes spectral regularities and reports frequency-specific deviances. Then, more abstract representations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) allow to detect contextual changes of potential behavioral relevance. However, the precise location and time asynchronies between neuronal correlates underlying this frontotemporal network remain unclear and elusive. Our study presented auditory oddball paradigms along with “no-repetition” controls to record mismatch responses in neuronal spiking activity and local field potentials at the rat medial PFC. Whereas mismatch responses in the auditory system are mainly induced by stimulus-dependent effects, we found that auditory responsiveness in the PFC was driven by unpredictability, yielding context-dependent, comparatively delayed, more robust and longer-lasting mismatch responses mostly comprised of prediction error signaling activity. This characteristically different composition discarded that mismatch responses in the PFC could be simply inherited or amplified downstream from the auditory system. Conversely, it is more plausible for the PFC to exert top-down influences on the AC, since the PFC exhibited flexible and potent predictive processing, capable of suppressing redundant input more efficiently than the AC. Remarkably, the time course of the mismatch responses we observed in the spiking activity and local field potentials of the AC and the PFC combined coincided with the time course of the large-scale MMN-like signals reported in the rat brain, thereby linking the microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic levels of automatic deviance detectio

Prediction error signaling explains neuronal mismatch responses in the medial prefrontal cortex

The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a key biomarker of automatic deviance detection thought to emerge from 2 cortical sources. First, the auditory cortex (AC) encodes spectral regulari- ties and reports frequency-specific deviances. Then, more abstract representations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) allow to detect contextual changes of potential behavioral relevance. However, the precise location and time asynchronies between neuronal correlates underly- ing this frontotemporal network remain unclear and elusive. Our study presented auditory oddball paradigms along with “no-repetition” controls to record mismatch responses in neu- ronal spiking activity and local field potentials at the rat medial PFC. Whereas mismatch responses in the auditory system are mainly induced by stimulus-dependent effects, we found that auditory responsiveness in the PFC was driven by unpredictability, yielding con- text-dependent, comparatively delayed, more robust and longer-lasting mismatch responses mostly comprised of prediction error signaling activity. This characteristically dif- ferent composition discarded that mismatch responses in the PFC could be simply inherited or amplified downstream from the auditory system. Conversely, it is more plausible for the PFC to exert top-down influences on the AC, since the PFC exhibited flexible and potent predictive processing, capable of suppressing redundant input more efficiently than the AC. Remarkably, the time course of the mismatch responses we observed in the spiking activity and local field potentials of the AC and the PFC combined coincided with the time course of the large-scale MMN-like signals reported in the rat brain, thereby linking the microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic levels of automatic deviance detection

RECLAMO: virtual and collaborative honeynets based on trust management and autonomous systems applied to intrusion management

Security intrusions in large systems is a problem due to its lack of scalability with the current IDS-based approaches. This paper describes the RECLAMO project, where an architecture for an Automated Intrusion Response System (AIRS) is being proposed. This system will infer the most appropriate response for a given attack, taking into account the attack type, context information, and the trust and reputation of the reporting IDSs. RECLAMO is proposing a novel approach: diverting the attack to a specific honeynet that has been dynamically built based on the attack information. Among all components forming the RECLAMO's architecture, this paper is mainly focused on defining a trust and reputation management model, essential to recognize if IDSs are exposing an honest behavior in order to accept their alerts as true. Experimental results confirm that our model helps to encourage or discourage the launch of the automatic reaction process

Frequency discrimination and stimulus deviance in the inferior colliculus and cochlear nucleus

[EN] Auditory neurons that exhibit stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) decrease their response to common tones while retaining responsiveness to rare ones. We recorded single-unit responses from the inferior colliculus (IC) where SSA is known to occur and we explored for the first time SSA in the cochlear nucleus (CN) of rats. We assessed an important functional outcome of SSA, the extent to which frequency discriminability depends on sensory context. For this purpose, pure tones were presented in an oddball sequence as standard (high probability of occurrence) or deviant (low probability of occurrence) stimuli. To study frequency discriminability under different probability contexts, we varied the probability of occurrence and the frequency separation between tones. The neuronal sensitivity was estimated in terms of spike-count probability using signal detection theory. We reproduced the finding that many neurons in the IC exhibited SSA, but we did not observe significant SSA in our CN sample. We concluded that strong SSA is not a ubiquitous phenomenon in the CN. As predicted, frequency discriminability was enhanced in IC when stimuli were presented in an oddball context, and this enhancement was correlated with the degree of SSA shown by the neurons. In contrast, frequency discrimination by CN neurons was independent of stimulus context. Our results demonstrated that SSA is not widespread along the entire auditory pathway, and suggest that SSA increases frequency discriminability of single neurons beyond that expected from their tuning curves

Unraveling the Seed Dispersal System of an Insular “Ghost” Dragon Tree (Dracaena draco) in the Wild

Despite being abundant in urban gardens, the Canary Islands dragon tree Dracaena draco is close to extinction in the wild. It tends to produce relatively large fruits, which limits the pool of vertebrates that might disperse its seeds. We aimed to shed light on the seed dispersal system of this plant by studying its fruit size in relation to the feeding behavior of its present dispersers, and to discuss on possible differences with the past dispersal system, when large-sized dispersers were abundant. Besides fruit and seed characterization, we performed experiments on seedling emergence (using the characterized seeds), and field observations of the fruit handling behavior of frugivorous birds. Seed removal by granivores beneath and outside the dragon tree canopies was assessed through a field experiment. An additional seedling emergence experiment tested the effect of pulp removal from around the seed (using seeds contained within the fruits and manually depulped seeds). A feeding experiment was carried out with captive individuals of the Canary endemic white-tailed pigeon Columba junoniae—a large frugivore that occasionally consumes D. draco fruits—to test if its gut treatment influences seed viability. Small fruits produced seeds unable to germinate, while most seedling emergence was recorded only for seeds from large fruits. Our observations suggest that the only passerine species able to swallow large fruits is the medium-size passerine Turdus merula, whereas small passerines tended to pluck the pulp without aiding seed dispersal. Nonetheless, Sylvia atricapilla—the largest among the group of small passerines—occasionally transported fruits away from parent plants to consume the pulp, resulting in seed dispersal without any digestive treatment. This behavior indicates S. atricapilla might be occasionally a legitimate disperser of D. draco, since our experiments suggest that seed transport away from parent trees and pulp removal enhance both post-dispersal seed survival and seedling emergence. Lastly, the pigeons used in the experiment regurgitated mostly viable seeds, suggesting the legitimacy of C. junoniae as seed disperser for D. draco. Therefore, although D. draco likely had more seed dispersers in the past, we identified at least two bird species that can still disperse its seeds nowadays

A voice-based annotation system for collaborative computer-aided design

In this paper, we describe a voice-based interaction mechanism to annotate 3D models directly from a computer-aided design (CAD) modeling environment. The audio signal is captured and automatically transcribed to a textual 3D note, which is attached to the geometry and made available to other product information and business processes across the enterprise via a product data management system. Our approach provides a more natural and intuitive method to capture design and engineering knowledge that is particularly effective when large amounts of information need to be communicated. We discuss the rationale of the software architecture and the value of this modality for capturing knowledge in a collaborative engineering context. Finally, we examine the results of an experiment to validate our proposal. Our results show that 3D annotations are an effective mechanism to communicate design knowledge, which suggests the need for further developments in the areas of multimodal interaction methods and interfaces for CAD and collaborative tools