Does Training on Broad Band Tactile Stimulation Promote the Generalization of Perceptual Learning?

Given the clear role of sensory feedback in successful motor control, there is a growing interest in integrating substitutionary tactile feedback into robotic limb devices. To enhance the utility of such feedback, here we investigate how to best improve the limited generalization of tactile learning across body parts and stimulus properties. Specifically, we sought to understand how perceptual learning with different types of tactile stimuli may give rise to different patterns of learning generalization. To address this, we utilized vibro-tactile effectors to present patterns of stimulation in a match-to-sample paradigm. One group of participants trained on narrow-band stimulation consisting of simple sinusoidal vibrations, and the other on broad-band stimulation generated from music. We hypothesized that training on broad-band tactile stimulation would promote greater generalization of learning outcomes. We found training with broad-band stimuli generalized to underlying stimulus features of frequency discrimination but showed weaker generalization to un-trained digits. This study provides a first step towards devising perceptual learning paradigms that will generalize broadly to the untrained perceptual contexts

Sequential localization of a complex electron fluid

Complex and correlated quantum systems with promise for new functionality often involve entwined electronic degrees of freedom. In such materials, highly unusual properties emerge and could be the result of electron localization. Here, a cubic heavy fermion metal governed by spins and orbitals is chosen as a model system for this physics. Its properties are found to originate from surprisingly simple low-energy behavior, with two distinct localization transitions driven by a single degree of freedom at a time. This result is unexpected, but we are able to understand it by advancing the notion of sequential destruction of an SU(4) spin-orbital-coupled Kondo entanglement. Our results implicate electron localization as a unified framework for strongly correlated materials and suggest ways to exploit multiple degrees of freedom for quantum engineering.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures (preprint format

El Proyecto Manubuild: una propuesta de la aplicación de sistemas industrializados a la vivienda colectiva en España

In March 2006 the Madrid Municipal Housing and Property Corporation (Spanish initials, EMVS) announced a limited competition of architectural ideas as the first step in erecting a building designed to the strategy laid down in the Integrated Manubuild R&D+i Project, funded under the European Commission’s 6th Framework Programme. The purpose of this competition, in which a number of European teams participated, was to obtain high-calibre architectural proposals for new building types for the Mediterranean climate and culture, using open and sustainable industrialized construction systems. The ideas selected were to constitute a conceptual springboard for a building that the EMVS planned to erect in Madrid as the product of the research. The winning proposal, authored by Estudio RLA, aims to break the inertia that has traditionally weighed on Spanish construction, a model based on pseudo-craftsmanship and opportunistic property development that generated the least sustainable growth pattern in the European Union. The project strategy rules out closed industrialization or serial production, opting for an approach in which the advantages of industrialization are interpreted in the context of energy savings. The proposal would be for comprehensive design in line with new, flexible building types able to evolve and adapt to users’ changing needs while ensuring the geometric compatibility required by industrialized systems. The spatial flexibility required in the competition rules is, then, embodied in industrialized systems that generate the bearing structure, services, active and passive bio-climatic systems and the envelope. This provides for a wholly open solution in which building elements selected from a range of standardized products and suppliers can be combined.En marzo de 2006, fue convocado por la Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda y el Suelo de Madrid (EMVS) un concurso restringido de ideas arquitectónicas como primer paso para la construcción de un edificio, en el contexto de la estrategia marcada por el Proyecto Integrado I+D+i Manubuild, con financiación de la Comisión Europea a través del 6º Programa Marco. El objetivo de este concurso, en el que participaron diferentes equipos europeos, fue obtener propuestas de alto nivel arquitectónico sobre nuevos tipos edificatorios -en el ámbito de la climatología y la cultura mediterráneos-, con aplicación de sistemas constructivos industrializados, abiertos y sostenibles, de tal modo que las ideas seleccionadas constituyesen el punto de partida conceptual para el edificio que la EMVS tenía previsto realizar en Madrid como demostrador de la investigación. La propuesta ganadora –redactada por el Estudio RLA– pretende superar las inercias que tradicionalmente han lastrado a la construcción en España, un modelo pseudoartesanal fundado en la promoción inmobiliaria oportunista, con el resultado de que nuestro modo de crecer ha sido el más insostenible de la Unión Europea. La estrategia del proyecto rehúye asimismo cualquier industrialización o seriación cerrada, optando por un planteamiento intelectual que interpreta las ventajas de la industrialización en clave energética, proponiendo una respuesta integral que dé cuenta de nuevos tipos edificatorios flexibles y con capacidad para evolucionar, adaptándose a las necesidades cambiantes de los usuarios y asegurando la compatibilidad geométrica que los sistemas industrializados exigen. La flexibilidad espacial requerida por las bases del concurso se desarrolla, de este modo, con sistemas industrializados que generan la estructura portante, las instalaciones, los sistemas bioclimáticos pasivos y activos y el sistema de la envolvente, permitiendo el alcanzar una solución completamente abierta donde es posible combinar los elementos constructivos dentro de una gama estandarizada de productos y proveedores

Disrupted ADP-ribose metabolism with nuclear Poly (ADP-ribose) accumulation leads to different cell death pathways in presence of hydrogen peroxide in procyclic Trypanosoma brucei

TbPARG in Trypanosoma brucei. A) TbPARG localization in untreated (control) and in procyclic cultures exposed to 500 μM H2O2 for 10 min. IFI was carried out as reported in our previous work [33]. TbPARG was identified with our home-made antibody against TcPARG [33]; and PAR was identified with a commercial antibody against PAR (BD). White bar represents 50 μm. B) Western blot analysis of 40 μg protein per lane revealed with a commercial anti-PARG antibody (Antibody Verify) in T. brucei procyclic (PC) and bloodstream (BST) forms. The arrow indicates the band with the expected molecular weight (approximately 60 kDa). The membrane stained with Red Ponceau was used as a loading control. (TIF 4272 kb

Community building in the digital age: Dynamics of online sports discussion

Marca Community is arguably one of the most popular online sports communities in Spain with over 400,000 members. In its forum, users can comment on the news published by the sport-based newspapers Marca while interacting with other members. Drawing on the existing literature on virtual communities, this study empirically examines the engagement in online discussion in order to determine the degree of “community building” promoted by the members. We propose a methodological approach taking under consideration the singularities of the sports fans and of the online conversation. A structural analysis focusing on the user interaction was conducted over the members (N=4,967) who posted comments in 8 selected articles. The findings suggest that Marca Community is a non-hierarchical liquid network wherein members participate in an equal footing.RESUMEN: Con más de 400.000 miembros, la Comunidad Marca es posiblemente la comunidad deportiva online más popular en España. En sus foros de discusión los usuarios pueden comentar las noticias publicadas por el diario deportivo Marca e interactuar con otros usuarios. Este artículo analiza la involucración de los miembros en el diálogo con el fin de determinar el grado de construcción de comunidad que promueven. Hemos propuesto un acercamiento metodológico que tenga en consideración tanto las singularidades de los fans deportivos como del diálogo online. Llevamos a cabo un análisis estructural centrándonos en las interacciones de los usuarios (N=4.967) que comentaron en 8 noticias seleccionadas. Los resultados sugieren que la Comunidad Marca es un red no jerárquica en la cual los miembros participan en un plano de igualdad