Cognitive implications of nominalizations in the advancement of scientific discourse

Nominalizations are well-known features of scientific writing. Scholars have been intrigued by their form and by their functions. While these features have been widely studied, the cognitive side of nominalizations in scientific texts still needs further attention. Nominalizations contribute to the advancement of discourse and at the same time add abstraction to the processes they convey and make them become more reified in the eyes of the reader. They are not mere verbal transformations as they change completely the cognitive configuration of the process they express. With examples retrieved from the astronomy subcorpus (CETA, 2012) of the Coruña Corpus the aim is to study nominalizations in the interface between cognition and language. The ultimate goal is to complement all the theoretical-descriptive studies on the topic by approaching the cognitive dimension and build a bridge for studies on the production and understanding of English scientific register

Physical Connectivity Between the NE Atlantic Seamounts

Within the Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone, the Great Meteor and Madeira-Tore complexes are highly productive areas, which are likely to be classified as marine protected areas (MPAs) due to their ecological vulnerability. This was the main focus of the BIOMETORE project and, framed on it, the aim of the present study was to investigate the physical connectivity between both seamount complexes. Using the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model coupled with the Connectivity Modeling System (CMS) (a Lagrangian tool), a series of experiments was conducted in order to determine the influence of the main oceanographic phenomena governing the area in: (i) the origin of the particles that reach each complex, (ii) their capacity to capture and retain incoming particles, and (iii) the physical connectivity between them as well as the intra-connectivity within each seamount system. Due to the geographical location of both groups of seamounts, the Azores Current (AzC) and its associated eddies were identified as the main transport pathways, its influence being stronger at intermediate waters and decreasing with depth. Notwithstanding, the Great Meteor and the MadeiraTore were mainly affected by the AzC southward and eastward branches, respectively, resulting in a non-significant connectivity between the two groups. Meanwhile, the inter-connectivity between seamounts slightly varied with depth at the Great Meteor complex while increasing at Madeira-Tore. In addition, the Plateau, Irving, and Cruiser (PIC) seamounts from the Great Meteor complex and Gorringe and Coral from the Madeira-Tore complex proved to incorporate the regional connectivity routes. Although containing the three smallest seamounts, Madeira-Tore showed the higher capturing capacity per square kilometer, highlighting the influence of the "sticky water effect." In the Great Meteor complex, the "seamount effect" seems to be the main phenomenon responsible for the greater retention and self-recruitment abilities of these seamounts. The presented results provide valuable information for the design of a MPA to preserve these vulnerable habitat

Liability for AI Decision-Making: Some Legal and Ethical Considerations

The creation and commercialization of these systems raise the question of how liability risks will play out in real life. However, as technical advancements have outpaced legal actions, it is unclear how the law will treat AI systems. This Article briefly addresses the legal ramifications and liability risks associated with reliance on—or delegation to—AI systems, and it sketches a framework suggesting how we can address the question of whether AI merits a new approach to deal with the liability challenges it raises when humans remain “in” or “on” the loop

Smart Cities and Sustainability: A New Challenge to Accountability?

From 1800 to today, the global population has shifted from only three percent living in an urban environment to well over fifty percent in 2020. As a result of urbanization, cities around the world struggle to manage traffic and waste, efficiently distribute utilities, and lower pollution to slow the progression of global warming. Smart city technologies have emerged as a tool to process cities’ various forms of data collected through networks of precisely placed sensors and map solutions to many of the environmental and social issues created by urbanization. For swelling metropolitan areas in the United States, China, and Europe as well as in developing countries like Kenya and India, the allocation of control over smart city technologies in private hands provides the necessary technical expertise and funding to make cities smarter and, therefore, more sustainable. However, smart cities gain insight of smart technologies at a cost. The question is whether this cost is clearly understood. An obvious cost is the loss of privacy, which is receiving much attention at academic as well as political levels. Another less obvious, but not less important, cost is the challenge to establish clear lines of accountability for decisions based on smart city technologies. Public mistrust in ubiquitous technology capable of surveillance is inextricably linked to transparency, critical in democratic systems. The question is whether these risks are necessary to achieve greater sustainability. This Article reviews the sustainability claims that smart cities promise while highlighting the issues raised by the privatization of large data collection, the exposure of personal data, and the datafication of citizens from the perspective of accountability. The Article will conclude with some observations on the challenge of establishing accountability in the context of smart cities governance

Propionyl-CoA Synthase: Characterization, Engineering and Physiological Role of a Trifunctional Fusion Enzyme

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions cause an imbalance in the global carbon cycle that consequently leads to global warming. Besides the indisputable role of CO2 as harmful greenhouse gas, this small molecule harbors great potential as a simple and accessible carbon source. To exploit this potential, biotechnological strategies need to be established to convert CO2 into value-added products, like fuels or antibiotics. It is therefore indispensable to identify and characterize efficient carboxylases. To date, the members of the enoyl-CoA carboxylase/reductase (Ecr) family account for the most efficient carboxylases found in nature. Their efficiency partly depends on the effective stabilization of the CO2 molecule within the active site. The conserved CO2-binding motif is characteristic for Ecrs. This work deals with the thorough study of the three-domain fusion enzyme propionyl-CoA synthase (Pcs) of Erythrobacter sp. NAP1. This complex enzyme comprises the Ecr family CO2-binding motif in its reductase domain, suggesting a potential carboxylase activity and therefore deserves detailed investigation. The first part sets a focus on the biochemical features of Pcs. Combined kinetic and structural analysis proposed that Pcs uses a highly synchronized catalytic mechanism to sequester its reactive intermediate acrylyl-CoA. X-ray crystallography revealed an enclosed reaction chamber that features all three active sites of the fusion enzyme. This allows for the catalysis of the three subsequent reactions within the chamber. Kinetic data supported the idea that conformational changes in the Pcs ligase domain regulate the opening and closing of the catalytic compartment. Additional structural elements in Pcs either mimic domains of neighboring protomers in standalone homologues that contribute essential residues for catalysis or seal the reaction chamber. The presumed carboxylation potential of the reductase domain was demonstrated albeit at a very low efficiency in Pcs wildtype. Rational design was used to implement the two principles of efficient carboxylation known from Ecrs into the Pcs reductase domain. Improved CO2-binding and shielding of the active site from water converted the reductase domain into a carboxylase domain. The engineered trifunctional, substrate-channeling carboxylase could prove advantageous in synthetic CO2-fixation pathways. In the second part of this work, light is shed on the physiological and ecological role of Pcs. While well described in the context of the autotrophic 3-hydroxypropionate bi-cycle in Chloroflexus aurantiacus, the presence of Pcs in the genome of several (potential photo-) heterotrophic microorganisms suggests an alternative function. The genome of the aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium Erythrobacter sp. NAP1 encodes homologous enzymes of a partial 3-hydroxypropionate bi-cycle able to convert acetyl-CoA and two bicarbonate molecules into succinyl-CoA. The two key enzymes, Pcs and malonyl-CoA reductase (Mcr), were shown to be upregulated when the cells were grown in the light. Hence, it was suggested that this pathway might be involved in the adjustment of photosynthesis-induced redox imbalance

Determinación da morfoloxía do pé no embarazo

Traballo fin de grao (UDC.FEP). Podoloxía. Curso 2013/201

La titina en el diagnóstico genético de cardiopatías familiares

Traballo fin de mestrado (UDC.CIE). Biotecnoloxía avanzada. Curso 2012/201

Gamma-ray absorption in the binary system LS I +61 303

Treballs Finals de Grau de Física, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2017, Tutor: Marc Ribó GomisLS I +61 303 is a gamma-ray binary, composed of a compact object of unknow nature and a massive star, which has been detected in the range of very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays. These gamma-rays can interact with the optical photons coming from the star. In each interaction, they are absorbed through pair creation [gamma gamma gives] e-e+. This absorption depends strongly on the possible geometries of the system and on the energy of the emitted gamma-ray photon. Therefore, we can study the modulation of the transmission with the orbital phase and with the photon energy. In this work we have made a Fortran code to calculate the transmission of LS I +61 303 system assuming that VHE gamma-rays are produced at the position of the compact object and that we have a pointlike massive star. We have done this study for two inclinations, one corresponding to a neutron star compact object and the other to a black hole. We have observed that the maximum absorption occurs slightly before periastron and it is more intense for large inclinations. The energy range with more absorption is between 100 GeV and 10 TeV. We have compared our results with Dubus (2006) and we have observed a signifcant difference on the absorption for energies above 10 TeV. We have studied the orbital phase of the maximum absorption as a function of the inclination. We have concluded that, if the observed light curve only depended on the transmission, we could know, through this dependence, the nature of the compact objec