Breakdown and asymptotic properties of resampled estimates

In this paper we study the breakdown and asymptotic properties of resampled t-estimates. We find that they retain the finite breakdown point of the exact estimator. We also study their consistency and their order of convergence under nonstandard assumptions on the loss functions

The Effect of Pre and Peri-Natal Exposure to Arsenic on Gene Expression in Fetal Rat Lung

Arsenic is an element found naturally in ground water. Arsenic is detrimental to health and has been linked to various diseases including, skin lesions, Blackfoot disease, and cancer of the bladder, kidney, lungs, skin, and prostate. Areas with high levels arsenic exposure through drinking water have been seen to have an increase in the aforementioned diseases. Previous studies have shown arsenic to be a promoter of carcinogenesis. Rats exposed to arsenic have had a 50% accumulation of inorganic arsenic in the lungs within one hour of exposure. Other studies have also shown that arsenic crosses the placenta and affects the developing embryo. This work will show whether certain genes linked to carcinogenesis are affected in fetal rats that have been pre- and peri-Nataly exposed to arsenic. The hypothesis of this study is that pre- and peri-natal exposure to arsenic will alter gene expression in genes involved in carcinogenesis. The purpose of this study is to find the changes in gene expression after exposure to arsenic that may lead to tumors and cancer development. 1 2 Timed pregnant female rats were exposed to 200 ppm sodium arsenate via drinking water during the embryonic period (gestational day 7 through gestational day 21). Control animals received untreated water for the same duration. One experimental group, mother and pups, was sacrificed immediately after dams gave birth and the lungs retrieved. A second experimental group was further exposed to 200 ppm sodium arsenate for 10 days post-Nataly, mothers via drinking water, and pups via breast milk. The lungs were retrieved after the 10 day period. Harvested adult and fetal lung tissues were frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at - 40°C. Messenger RNA isolation was completed and analysis of genes related to cell proliferation, PCNA and Cyclin Dl, apoptosis, BAX and BCL-2, and oxidative stress, MnSOD, were performed using Real Time Reverse Transcriptase PCR. Gene expression related to cell proliferation (Cyclin D1 and PCNA) was reduced in the dams in response to direct Arsenic exposure. Arsenic exposure in the pups seems to increase expression of cell proliferation genes. This could be related to the level of exposure that the dams received versus the pups. Reduction of Reactive Oxygen Species associated with oxidative stress resulting from Arsenic exposure appears to be effective since there were higher levels of expression of - - Manganese Superoxide Dismutase (MnSOD) in the group exposed pre-Nataly versus the group exposed for a longer period. MnSOD was expressed at higher levels in the dams than in the pups. A similar trend of down-regulation in cell proliferation genes was seen in the group exposed for a longer period as seen in the pre-Nataly exposed group. The amount of exposure to the dams could have been great enough to be toxic to the cells thus explaining this reduction. In the pups, the amount of Arsenic could have been reduced, but enough to cause genotoxic effect

Without Essentialisms and without Philosophies of History. How to Escape from Dominant Discursive Logics without Using the same Language as the Dominators

En el presente trabajo intentaremos abordar una problemática crucial para todos aquellos pensamientos latinoamericanos que han pretendido escapar de las lógicas discursivas coloniales y eurocéntricas. Tomando como base las tesis del filósofo colombiano Santiago Castro-Gómez, trazadas en su obra Crítica de la razón latinoamericana, argumentaremos que no se puede combatir la colonialidad eurocéntrica que todavía subyuga a América Latina empleando el mismo lenguaje y las mismas construcciones discursivas a través de las cuales se articuló y materializó ese dominio. Porque, utilizando estos elementos, permaneceríamos anclados o encerrados en la narrativa hegemónica (en la episteme) que Occidente utilizó, precisamente, para dominar a otros pueblosIn this paper, we will attempt to address a problematic which is crucial for all those Latin American modes of thinking that have sought to escape from colonial and Eurocentric discursive logics. Using the Colombian philosopher Santiago Castro-Gómez’s ideas - outlined in his Critique of Latin American Reason - as our starting point, we will argue that one cannot combat the Eurocentric coloniality which still subjugates Latin America using the same language and the same discursive constructions through which this dominance is articulated and takes shape. This is because by using these components, we would remain bound to or enclosed within the very hegemonic narrative (the episteme) the West used to dominate other peoples

Notas en torno a la Ética de Spinoza

This paper attempts to show some of the most outstanding traits of Spinoza's "Ethics", traits which, to some extent, anticipate many of the philosophical arguments outlined later by Feuerbach, Nietzsche and the "philosophy of suspicion". The importance and fertility of Spinoza's work should be calibrated in this sense.En este trabajo pretendemos mostrar algunos de los rasgos más sobresalientes de la "Ética" de Spinoza, rasgos que, en alguna medida, anticiparon muchos de los motivos filosóficos esbozados ulteriormente por Feuerbach, Nietzsche o la "filosofía de la sospecha". En ese sentido hemos de calibrar la importancia y la fecundidad de la obra spinozista

Decolonising Marxism. Some critical observations concerning a school of thought that could scarcely avoid being Eurocentric

En el presente trabajo intentaremos esbozar una crítica de la tradición marxista, con el objeto de mostrar algunos de sus elementos teóricos más descarnadamente eurocéntricos. Desde una perspectiva decolonial, observaremos que buena parte de dicha tradición seguía manejando esquemas, concepciones y presupuestos que la incapacitaban para comprender la especificidad de la situación histórica de los pueblos colonizados. Es más, en muchos casos la filosofía de la historia marxista desembocó en una justificación explícita de la violencia colonial, concebida ésta como un mal doloroso pero necesario para alumbrar una posterior transición al socialismo. El marxismo eurocentrado, por todo ello, apenas pudo calibrar en su íntima especificidad la verdadera índole de algunas luchas anti-coloniales.In this paper, we will attempt to outline a critique of the Marxist tradition, with the aim of showing some of its more crudely Eurocentric theoretical elements. From a decolonial perspective, we will observe that a large part of this tradition continued to use ways of thinking, conceptions and presuppositions that rendered it unfit in order to understand the specific nature of the historical situation of the colonised peoples. Moreover, in many cases the Marxist philosophy of history led to an explicit justification of colonial violence, viewed as a painful but necessary evil in order to give rise to a subsequent transition to socialism. Eurocentric Marxism, therefore, could scarcely assess in its intimate specificity the true nature of some antic-olonial struggles

Autopistas y patrón de movilidad : los autos locos

Fil: Blanco, Jorge. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Geografía; Argentina.Las noticias traen a un primer plano, recurrentemente, conflictos y problemas relacionados con la\nmovilidad en el ámbito de la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires. El incremento del número de\nvehículos que circulan por la ciudad, la enorme cantidad de accidentes de tránsito, los problemas\nhabituales de los usuarios de trenes y subterráneos son algunos de los temas de referencia que esas\nnoticias destacan. En el marco de esas urgencias el autor presenta algunas reflexiones de más largo plazo\nen relación con las autopistas y con los esquemas de movilidad basados en el uso del automóvil particular

Hacia la redefinición de una profesión ligada al ser nacional : el afecto por los animales en la construcción de la argentinidad

Fil: Blanco, Carlos Jorge. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; Argentina.La profesión veterinaria ya no puede cubrir las actuales demandas sólo con su formación científica y tecnológica: la visión completa de ?lo social? y ?lo humano? se vuelven fundamentales. El accionar desde una perspectiva social, ecológica e inclusiva es básico para lograr resultados clínica y tecnológicamente satisfactorios que, a su vez, garanticen un efecto significativo sobre el desarrollo social de los destinatarios. El ser argentino es ahora mucho más completo: ha mostrado su fuerte relación con los animales, relación que es afectiva, tradicional y comercial. En este nuevo contexto, el veterinario ya no es sólo un médico de animales sino que es médico de una gran parte de los argentinos

Soil erosion fragility assessment using an impact model and geographic information system

A study was taken in a 1566 ha watershed situated in the Capivara River basin, municipality of Botucatu, São Paulo State, Brazil. This environment is fragile and can be subjected to different forms of negative impacts, among them soil erosion by water. The main objective of the research was to develop a methodology for the assessment of soil erosion fragility at the various different watershed positions, using the geographic information system ILWIS version 3.3 for Windows. An impact model was created to generate the soil's erosion fragility plan, based on four indicators of fragility to water erosion: land use and cover, slope, percentage of soil fine sand and accumulated water flow. Thematic plans were generated in a geographic information system (GIS) environment. First, all the variables, except land use and cover, were described by continuous numerical plans in a raster structure.The land use and cover plan was also represented by numerical values associated with the weights attributed to each class, starting from a pairwise comparison matrix and using the analytical hierarchy process. A final field check was done to record evidence of erosive processes in the areas indicated as presenting the highest levels of fragility, i.e., sites with steep slopes, high percentage of soil fine sand, tendency to accumulate surface water flow, and sites of pastureland. The methodology used in the environmental problems diagnosis of the study area can be employed at places with similar relief, soil and climatic conditions.A área de estudo, com 1566 ha, abrange uma microbacia hidrográfica, posicionada em local de relevo em contato reverso-frente de cuesta-depressão periférica paulista, inclusa na Bacia do Rio Capivara, no município de Botucatu, Estado de São Paulo. Esse ambiente é frágil, podendo sofrer diferentes formas de impactos negativos, dentre as quais a erosão hídrica do solo. O objetivo principal foi desenvolver uma metodologia, com auxílio do sistema de informações geográficas ILWIS v. 3.3 para Windows, para avaliar a fragilidade à erosão do solo em diferentes posições na microbacia. Um modelo de impacto foi criado para gerar o plano de fragilidade à erosão do solo, com base em quatro planos temáticos relacionados com indicadores de fragilidade a erosão hídrica: uso e cobertura do solo, declividade, percentagem de areia fina e acúmulo de fluxo de água. Em um primeiro passo, excetuando-se o uso e cobertura do solo, as outras três variáveis foram descritas por planos numéricos contínuos em estrutura raster. O plano de uso e cobertura do solo pôde ser representado também por valores numéricos, associados a pesos atribuídos a cada classe, a partir de uma matriz de comparação por pares, considerando-se o método de hierarquia analítica. Realizou-se uma checagem de campo final, em que foram registradas evidências de processos erosivos, naquelas áreas apontadas como apresentando maiores níveis de fragilidade, ou seja, locais com declividade acentuada, solo com alta percentagem de areia fina, tendência de acúmulo de fluxo superficial de água e ocupadas por pastagem. A metodologia desenvolvida pode ser usada no diagnóstico de problemas ambientais em locais com condições similares às da área de estudo