Hybridity, Mestizaje, and Montubios in Ecuador

The 'Montubio' ethnic identity has recently gained notoriety in Ecuador. This paper analyses how this identity emerges from and falls within Ecuador's construction of 'mestizaje' or mixture as a tool for national integration. Given the exclusionary and limited nature of mestizaje in Ecuador, it is argued that as far as Montubios are uncritically constructed in relation to such mestizaje, they cannot serve as a progressive hybrid identity able to overcome essentialisms and existent ethnic structures. This paper starts by briefly reviewing how mestizaje has been constructed in Ecuador and then examines how the Montubio identity emerges from this mestizaje. It then explores different ways in which mestizaje may be conceptualized, and examines how these different models disguise or address power dynamics within heterogeneous populations. It concludes by briefly noting how 'translocational positionality' might provide a way to conceptualize the most progressive promises of mestizaje that Montubios might access.

Conflict Analysis in Search Algorithms for Satisfiability

This paper introduces GRASP (Generic search Algorithm jr the Satisfiabili{y Problem), a new search algorithm jr Propositional Satisfiabili{y (SAT). GRASP incorporates several search-pruning techniques, some of which are specific to SAT, whereas others find equivalent in other fields of Artificial Intelligence. GRASP is premised on the inevitabili{y of conflicts during search and its most distinguishingjature is the augmentation of basic backtracking search with a powerful conflict analysis procedure. Analyzing conflicts to determine their causes enables GRASP to backtrack non-chronologically to earlier levels in the search tree, potentially pruning large portions of the search space. In addition, by 'gecording" the causes of conflicts, GRASP can recognize and preempt the occurrence of similar conflicts later on in the search. Finally, straigh&rward bookkeeping of the causali {y chains leading up to conflicts allows GRASP to identij) assignments that are necessary jr a solution to be jund. Experimental results obtained jom a large number of benchmarks indicate that application of the proposed conflict analysis techniques to SAT algorithms can be extremely efctive jr a large number of representative classes of SAT instances

Dynamic Search-Space Pruning Techniques in Path Sensitization

Abstract — A powerful combinational path sensitization engine is required for the efficient implementation of tools for test pattern generation, timing analysis, and delay fault testing. Path sensitization can be posed as a search, in the n-dimensional Boolean space, for a consistent assignment of logic values to the circuit nodes which also satisfies a given condition. In this paper we propose and demonstrate the effectiveness of several new techniques for search-space pruning for test pattern generation. In particular, we present linear-time algorithms for dynamically identifying unique sensitization points and for dynamically maintaining reduced head line sets. In addition, we present two powerful mechanisms that drastically reduce the number of backtracks: failure-driven assertions and dependency-directed backtracking. Both mechanisms can be viewed as a form of learning while searching and have analogs in other application domains. These search pruning methods have been implemented in a generic path sensitization engine called LEAP. A test pattern generator, TG-LEAP, that uses this engine was also developed. We present experimental results that compare the effectiveness of our proposed search pruning strategies to those of PODEM, FAN, and SOCRATES. In particular, we show that LEAP is very efficient in identifying undetectable faults and in generating tests for difficult faults. I

Graph Symmetry Detection and Canonical Labeling: Differences and Synergies

Symmetries of combinatorial objects are known to complicate search algorithms, but such obstacles can often be removed by detecting symmetries early and discarding symmetric subproblems. Canonical labeling of combinatorial objects facilitates easy equivalence checking through quick matching. All existing canonical labeling software also finds symmetries, but the fastest symmetry-finding software does not perform canonical labeling. In this work, we contrast the two problems and dissect typical algorithms to identify their similarities and differences. We then develop a novel approach to canonical labeling where symmetries are found first and then used to speed up the canonical labeling algorithms. Empirical results show that this approach outperforms state-of-the-art canonical labelers.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, Turing-10

Efecto de pastas dentales sobre la superficie del esmalte: Estudio in vitro

Efecto y perdida del esmalte dental al utilizar diferentes pastas dentales para blanqueamiento en un periodo de 6 meses.Objetivo: Evaluar in vitro, los efectos de seis dentífricos para aclaramiento dental sobre la morfología de la superficie del esmalte en órganos dentarios de ganado bovino. Material y Métodos: Un total de 12 dientes de ganado bovino fueron divididos aleatoriamente en 6 grupos (n = 2). Donde el Grupo I corresponde a Colgate Total 12 (Colgate-Palmolive, Guanajuato, México); Grupo II, Avance Whithe (Arm&Hammer & Co. Inc. Dwigt EE.UU.); Grupo III, Crest 3D Whithe Luxe (Procter & Gamble Manufacturing, Alemania); Grupo IV, Colgate Luminous White (Colgate-Palmolive, Guanajuato, México); Grupo V Sensodyne Whitening (SmithKline Beecham Limited, Reino Unido) y del Grupo VI, Opalescece Whitening (Ultradent Products, Inc. South Jordan, Utah, EE.UU.). Se procedió a cepillar la superficie labial con un cepillo dental eléctrico Oral-B Pro Salud durante 6 meses 3 veces al día. La superficie labial de cada muestra fue observada y analizada en Microscopio de Fuerza Atómica (AFM) NanosufrNaio antes y después del cepillado. Se realizó un dispositivo especial para la realización del cepillado (diseño original). Para determinar si existen diferencias entre el antes y después del cepillado se utilizó una prueba T Wicolxon, y para evaluar si existían diferencias en el desgaste de acuerdo a las pastas se usaron pruebas de Kruskal Wallis, Se consideró un nivel de significancia de p<0.05 para todas las pruebas. Resultados: Se encontraron que existe diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los valores promedios antes y después del cepillado (p<0.01) respecto a la rugosidad media (Sa). No se observaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas al comparar las pastas con la prueba de Kruskal Wallis. Conclusiones: Bajo las condiciones de este estudio, el uso de un cepillo dental eléctrico con diferentes tipos de pastas con agentes blanqueadores puede producir abrasión y contribuyen al desgaste del esmalte si se utiliza por un periodo de seis meses o más

Secondary Analysis of ChIP-SEQ Dataset and Genomic Interactions of ICER

The Inducible cyclic AMP (cAMP) Early Repressor (ICER) is an endogenous transcriptional repressor of the cAMP-mediated signaling gene transcription pathway and belongs to the CRE-binding protein (CREB)/CRE modulator (CREM) gene family. ICER is associated to many functions and biological processes in the immune system, brain, regulation of spermatogenesis, circadian control of transcription, apoptosis and metabolic functions, and of particular interest, has been shown to act like a tumor suppressor. Recent findings from our laboratory suggest that ICER might have a role in DNA repair, but further experiments need to be performed. In this research, we aimed to elucidate the function of ICER and its role in DNA repair, by first re-analyzing ICER’s DNA binding sites and genome interaction from a recently published Chromatin Immunoprecipitation - Seq dataset by Seidl et al, 2020. Then, using PCR and EMSA we empirically showed that ICER binds to some important genes thought to be involved in variety of DNA Repair pathways such as PARP1, RAD51C, XRCC6 and XRCC2, suggesting that ICER might play a role in DNA repair mechanisms. These results are important and will inform future experiments to understand ICER’s function in DNA repair