Compression principle and Zipf’s Law of brevity in infochemical communication

Compression has been presented as a general principle of animal communication. Zipf’s Law of brevity is a manifestation of this postulate and can be generalized as the tendency of more frequent communicative elements to be shorter. Previous works supported this claim, showing evidence of Zipf’s Law of brevity in animal acoustical communication and human language. However, a significant part of the communicative effort in biological systems is carried out in other transmission channels, such as those based on infochemicals. To fill this gap, we seek, for the first time, evidence of this principle in infochemical communication by analysing the statistical tendency of more frequent infochemicals to be chemically shorter and lighter. We analyse data from the largest and most comprehensive open-access infochemical database known as Pherobase, recovering Zipf’s Law of brevity in interspecific communication (allelochemicals) but not in intraspecific communication (pheromones). Moreover, these results are robust even when addressing different magnitudes of study or mathematical approaches. Therefore, different dynamics from the compression principle would dominate intraspecific chemical communication, defying the universality of Zipf’s Law of brevity. To conclude, we discuss the exception found for pheromones in the light of other potential communicative paradigms such as pressures on successful communication or the Handicap principle.Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::14 - Vida SubmarinaObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::15 - Vida d'Ecosistemes TerrestresPostprint (author's final draft

Estandarizacion del metodo de Western blot para la determinacion de proteina kinasa C (PKC) en plaquetas

64 p.El desarrollo de este trabajo estará basado en la estandarización del método de western blot para determinar la participación que involucra la proteína kinasa C (PKC) dentro de procesos como activación y señalización intracelular que presenta la plaqueta cuando se encuentra implicada en estados patológicos que pueda sufrir el organismo. En los objetivos se plantea establecer un método que permita obtener un mayor rendimiento de la proteína kinasa C y con ello se determinará de manera más certera los protocolos desarrollados para su obtención en cuanto al lavado plaquetario y a lo que confiere al western blot y específicamente en la etapa de transferencia. Dentro de los objetivos específicos se plantea la identificación, la utilización de anticuerpos específicos, todo ello llevado a cabo mediante metodologías específicas y protocolos que se desarrollarán a lo largo de toda la estandarización donde se probarán diferentes variables indicadas y obteniendo resultados de acorde al trabajo establecido paso a paso. En el desarrollo de la identificación de PKC se utilizará la separación denaturante con geles de poliacrilamida en una corrida electroforética con una posterior transferencia a una membrana de nitrocelulosa que proporciona condiciones más estables para poder adicionar los anticuerpos específicos. Estas condiciones serán estables en un principio ya que se comenzará siguiendo un protocolo de lavado de plaquetas desarrollado y establecido anteriormente donde a partir de él se generarán variables de acuerdo a los resultados de proteínas plaquetarias que se irán obteniendo y por otra variaciones en la corrida electroforética de la proteína en cuestión, obteniendo, inicialmente, resultados poco certeros en cada modificación de los protocolos que se van desarrollando. Finalmente se obtienen resultados esperados de la estandarización para la PKC dejando muy en claro cada modificación que conllevó a nuestro resultado, viéndose reflejado en el revelado del western blot realizado con las muestras mediante la utilización de anticuerpos primarios específicos y secundarios revelado por quimioluminiscencia

BENFEP, a quantitative database of BENthic Foraminifera from surface sediments of the Eastern Pacific

Foraminifera are important components of the ocean benthos and play a major role in ocean biogeochemistry and ecosystems functioning. Generating ecological baselines for ocean monitoring or biogeographical distributions requires a reference dataset of recent census data. Besides, the information from their modern biogeography can be used to interpret past environmental changes on the sea-floor. In this study, we provide the first comprehensive quantitative BENthic Foraminifera database from surface sediments of the Eastern Pacific (BENFEP). Through the collation of archival census data and its homogenization according to the most recent taxonomic standards, we are able to provide a database with 3093 sediment samples, corresponding to 2572 georeferenced stations of wide geographical coverage (60&ordm; N and 54&ordm; S) and water depths (0&ndash;7642 m). The quantitative data includes living, dead, and living and dead assemblages obtained from 47 published and unpublished documents. As well as describing the data collection and subsequent harmonization steps, we provide summarized information of metadata variables, examples of species distribution, potential applications of the database and recommendations for data archiving and publication of benthic foraminiferal data. The database is enriched with meaningful metadata for accessible data management and exploration with R and geospatial software. BENFEP will be upgraded with new records. We complement BENFEP with an additional database integrating metadata and stations geolocation of benthic foraminiferal studies dearth of quantitative data (BENFEPqual).</p

Desvelando los misterios de las feromonas

Aunque a los humanos nos llame más la atención todo lo audiovisual, la mayor parte de la comunicación que se da en los seres vivos se realiza mediante señales químicas. La vida es química, más que cualquier otra cosa. La comunicación entre cada célula en el interior de los organismos es fundamentalmente química, como también la que realizan las bacterias entre sí, las plantas para crecer y multiplicarse, o los insectos. Las leyes que rigen estos canales químicos de comunicación siguen siendo, en gran medida, un misterio. En este artículo se resumen las principales leyes lingüísticas que se han encontrado en la comunicación química, tras el análisis de la base de datos Pherobase.Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::15 - Vida d'Ecosistemes TerrestresObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::14 - Vida SubmarinaPostprint (published version

Emergence of linguistic laws in human voice

Linguistic laws constitute one of the quantitative cornerstones of modern cognitive sciences and have been routinely investigated in written corpora, or in the equivalent transcription of oral corpora. This means that inferences of statistical patterns of language in acoustics are biased by the arbitrary, language-dependent segmentation of the signal, and virtually precludes the possibility of making comparative studies between human voice and other animal communication systems. Here we bridge this gap by proposing a method that allows to measure such patterns in acoustic signals of arbitrary origin, without needs to have access to the language corpus underneath. The method has been applied to sixteen different human languages, recovering successfully some well-known laws of human communication at timescales even below the phoneme and finding yet another link between complexity and criticality in a biological system. These methods further pave the way for new comparative studies in animal communication or the analysis of signals of unknown code.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Diseño de puestos de trabajo en la empresa “Soluciones Agropecuarias La Granja S.A.S”

1 recurso en línea (115 páginas) : ilustraciones, tablas, gráficas.El trabajo presenta una propuesta de organigrama que abarca todas las áreas necesarias y que además le proporciona a la empresa una estructura organizacional más formal con puestos y funciones bien definidas y relaciones de autoridad bien claras.Bibliografía y webgrafía: páginas 112-115.PregradoAdministrador de Empresa

Key molecules of triglycerides pathway metabolism are disturbed in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Background: Elevated triglycerides or triglyceride-rich lipoproteins are an additional cause of cardiovascular (CV) disease. Given that patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have a high prevalence of premature CV disease and show an altered lipid profile, our objective was to study whether three molecules that play a central role in the triglyceride metabolism: apolipoprotein C-III (ApoC3), angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPLT4), and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) differ between SLE patients and controls, and how they are related to disease characteristics, including disease damage. Methods: Cross-sectional study that included 347 women, 185 of them diagnosed with SLE and 162 age-matched controls. ANGPTL4, ApoC3 and LPL, and standard lipid profiles were analyzed in SLE patients and controls. A multivariable analysis was performed to assess whether ANGPTL4, ApoC3 and LPL molecules differ between patients and controls and to study their relationship with SLE disease damage. Results: After fully multivariable analysis that included classic CV risk factors, and the modifications that the disease itself produces over the lipid profile, it was found that ApoC3 was significantly lower (beta coef. -1.2 [95%CI -1.6- -0.8) mg/dl, <0.001), and ANGPTL4 (beta coef. 63 [95%CI 35-90] ng/ml, <0.001) and LPL (beta coef. 79 [95%CI 30-128] ng/ml, p=0.002) significantly higher in patients with SLE compared to controls. Disease damage score was significantly and independently associated with higher serum levels of LPL (beta coef. 23 [95%CI 10-35] ng/ml, p=0.001). Mediation analysis suggested that the relationship between disease damage and LPL was direct and not mediated by ApoC3 or ANGPLT4. Conclusion: The ApoC3, ANGPLT4 and LPL axis is disrupted in patients with SLE. Disease damage explains this disturbance.Funding: This work was supported by a grant to IF-A from the Spanish Ministry of Health, Subdirección General de Evaluación y Fomento de la Investigación, Plan Estatal de Investigación Cientı́fica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016 and by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional - FEDER - (Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias, PI17/00083)

Methodology for the structural analysis of a main deck of FPSO vessel supporting an offshore crane

Offshore cranes placed on the surface of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels affect the structural response of their main decks, which can alter the safe operation of the FPSO vessels. Generally, classification societies rules are used to predict the structural strength of the main deck of FPSO vessels. However, these classification societies rules are limited to estimate the variation of the structural performance of the main deck caused by the operation of offshore cranes under different hydrodynamic conditions. Here, we present a methodology to determine the alteration of the structural behavior of a main deck of FPSO vessel due to different operation conditions of a board offshore crane. This methodology considers the hydrodynamic response for two ultimate limit states: operating and storm conditions from 1000 m water depth in Gulf of Mexico with a return period of 10 and 100 years, respectively. The methodology includes finite element method (FEM) models of the main deck supporting an offshore crane to predict its structural response. The maximum von Mises stress of the main deck does not overcome its maximum permissible stress, which allows a safe operation of the FPSO crane. The proposed methodology can be used to estimate the structural behavior of main decks of FPSO vessels that are modified for supporting offshore cranes, regarding the hydrodynamic response for each FPSO under the operation and extreme conditions in its location. Thus, naval designers could select the better structural modifications of the main decks that decrease their costs of construction and maintenance.

Viscosity and density measurements of aqueous amines at high pressures: MDEA-water and MEA-water mixtures for CO2 capture

Producción CientíficaViscosity and density are thermophysical properties crucial to characterizing any kind of fluid such as aqueous amines. These blends are becoming more and more relevant for their CO2 capture potential, such that having accurate viscosity and density measurements would prove useful. Densities and viscosities of these mixtures at atmospheric pressure may be found in the literature although it is more difficult to find values at high pressures, these potentially proving interesting when seeking to provide a full description of these fluids. Viscosity and density measurements at high pressures (up to 120 MPa) and at temperatures between 293.15 and 353.15 K of MDEA + water and MEA + water mixtures (both from 10 % to 40 % amine mass fraction) are presented in this work. Density measurements were performed with an Anton Paar DMA HPM densimeter with an expanded uncertainty (k = 2) less than ± 0.7 kg·m-3. A falling body technique was used to measure viscosities at high pressures due to its sturdiness in terms of corrosion. Details of this latter equipment are presented, including calibration using n-dodecane and uncertainty calculations, which give a relative expanded uncertainty (k = 2) of less than ± 2.4 % for the highest viscosity and ± 2.9 % for the lowest.2018-03-15Education Ministry (Spanish Government) through a FPU scholarshipProject for European Latin American Cooperation and Exchange (PEACE)Regional Government of Castilla y León through the Project VA295U1