Philosophy in cinema: The chameleon, Alice and the skeleton

From the analogy between a movie theater and the myth of the cave by Plato, we analyzed some films that allowed to establish a relationship between cinema and philosophy. In this way, movies appear as a plausible means to understand reality, especially the being of humankind, the decisions he should take in life and the knowledge he could possibly reach.A partir de la analogía entre la sala cinematográfica y el mito de la caverna de Platón se analizaron algunos filmes que permitieron establecer una relación entre el séptimo arte y la filosofía. De este modo, las películas aparecen como un medio plausible para comprender la realidad, en particular el ser del hombre, las decisiones a las que se enfrenta en la vida y el conocimiento que puede alcanzar.

PVF1/PVR signaling and apoptosis promotes the rotation and dorsal closure of the Drosophila male terminalia

The Drosophila adult male terminalia originate from the genital disc. During the pupal stages, the external parts of terminalia evert from two ventral stalks; the everted left and right dorsal halves fuse at the dorsal midline. At the same time the male terminalia perform a 360 clockwise rotation. Several mutations are known to affect the rotation of the male terminalia, while none is known to affect dorsal closure. We show here that the Pvf1 gene, encoding one of the three Drosophila homologues of the mammalian VEGF/PDGF growth factors, is required for both processes. Males either mutant for Pvf1 or bearing a dominant negative form of Pvr or stasis (stai), the unique PVF receptor, do not complete either rotation or dorsal closure. Pvf1 expression in the genital disc is restricted to the A8 cells. However, PVF1/PVR signaling influences A8, A9 and A10 cells, suggesting that the PVF1 protein diffuses from its source. Flies hemizygous for the apoptotic genes hid, reaper and grim, or mutant for puckered which encodes a phosphatase that down-regulates the n-Jun-N terminal kinase pathway, lead to the same phenotypes as mutations in PVF1/PVR. Our results indicate that PVF1/PVR signaling functions not only in apoptotic phenomena but are also required during rotation and dorsal closure of the Drosophila male genital disc.Fil: Macias, Ana Maria. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Nuria Magdalena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigación Médica Mercedes y Martín Ferreyra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigación Médica Mercedes y Martín Ferreyra; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Martín, Francisco. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; EspañaFil: Suárez, Leonardo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Rosa, Alberto Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigación Médica Mercedes y Martín Ferreyra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigación Médica Mercedes y Martín Ferreyra; ArgentinaFil: Morata, Ginés. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Españ

Filosofía en el cine: el camaleón, Alicia y el esqueleto

From the analogy between a movie theater and the myth of the cave by Plato, we analyzed some films that allowed to establish a relationship between cinema and philosophy. In this way, movies appear as a plausible means to understand reality, especially the being of humankind, the decisions he should take in life and the knowledge he could possibly reach.A partir de la analogía entre la sala cinematográfica y el mito de la caverna de Platón se analizaron algunos filmes que permitieron establecer una relación entre el séptimo arte y la filosofía. De este modo, las películas aparecen como un medio plausible para comprender la realidad, en particular el ser del hombre, las decisiones a las que se enfrenta en la vida y el conocimiento que puede alcanzar.&nbsp

The Ranger Station

ARCE 415 Senior Project. The Ranger Station is a conceptual project inspired by Mies Van der Rohe\u27s 50x50 House. The first part of the project is a fire lookout located in Big Sur, California. The Ranger Station brings together form and function, creating an architecturally unique structure that fulfills the requirements of a fire lookout. Once completed, the lookout structure was reimagined in a dystopic future

Morphological convergence in a Mexican garter snake associated with the ingestion of a novel prey

Morphological convergence is expected when organisms which differ in phenotype experience similar functional demands, which lead to similar associations between resource utilization and performance. To consume prey with hard exoskeletons, snakes require either specialized head morphology, or to deal with them when they are vulnerable, for example, during molting. Such attributes may in turn reduce the efficiency with which they prey on soft-bodied, slippery animals such as fish. Snakes which consume a range of prey may present intermediate morphology, such as that of Thamnophiine (Natricinae), which may be classified morphometrically across the soft–hard prey dietary boundary. In this study, we compared the dentition and head structure of populations of Thamnophis melanogaster that have entered the arthropod–crustacean (crayfish)-eating niche and those that have not, and tested for convergence between the former and two distantly related crayfish specialists of the genus Regina (R. septemvittata and R. grahamii). As a control, we included the congener T. eques. Multivariate analysis of jaw length, head length, head width, and number of maxillary teeth yielded three significant canonical variables that together explained 98.8% of the variance in the size-corrected morphological data. The first canonical variable significantly discriminated between the three species. The results show that head dimensions and number of teeth of the two Regina species are more similar to those of crayfish-eating T. melanogaster than to non-crayfish- eating snakes or of T. eques. It is unclear how particular head proportions or teeth number facilitates capture of crayfish, but our results and the rarity of soft crayfish ingestion by T. melanogaster may reflect the novelty of this niche expansion, and are consistent with the hypothesis that some populations of T. melanogaster have converged in their head morphology with the two soft crayfish-eating Regina species, although we cannot rule out the possibility of a morphological pre-adaptation to ingest crayfish.Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México: 2865/2010 and 2663/201

Identification of an hepatitis delta virus-like ribozyme at the mRNA 5′-end of the L1Tc retrotransposon from Trypanosoma cruzi

L1Tc is a non-LTR LINE element from Trypanosoma cruzi that encodes its transposition machinery and bears an internal promoter. Herewith, we report the identification of an in vitro active hepatitis delta virus-like ribozyme located in the first 77 nt at the 5′-end of the L1Tc mRNA (L1TcRz). The data presented show that L1TcRz has a co-transcriptional function. Using gel-purified uncleaved RNA transcripts, the data presented indicate that the kinetics of the self-cleaving, in a magnesium-dependent reaction, fits to a two-phase decay curve. The cleavage point identified by primer extension takes place at +1 position of the element. The hydroxyl nature of the 5′-end of the 3′-fragment generated by the cleavage activity of L1TcRz was confirmed. Since we have previously described that the 77-nt long fragment located at the 5′-end of L1Tc has promoter activity, the existence of a ribozyme in L1Tc makes this element to be the first described non-LTR retroelement that has an internal promoter–ribozyme dual function. The L1Tc nucleotides located downstream of the ribozyme catalytic motif appear to inhibit its activity. This inhibition may be influenced by the existence of a specific L1Tc RNA conformation that is recognized by RNase P

Substancia Bazo - Constrictora extraída de las semillas del género citrus

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Las TIC en el proceso de evaluación/calificación

Este trabajo de innovación educativa consiste en la inserción de las TIC en el proceso de evaluación/calificación del alumno, más concretamente en una programación didáctica trimestral de un curso de 2º de Bachillerato del centro al que asistí en mi periodo de prácticas. Se ha escogido este curso por su estrecha relación con la prueba de selectividad, la cual a día de hoy no deja de ser una calificación pura y dura. Al alumno se le debe evaluar con más asiduidad durante el año escolar para que vaya lo mejor preparado posible a este tipo de prueba clasificatoria. Mediante la herramienta informática Flubaroo, este proceso de evaluación/calificación será más llevadero. En cuanto a esta memoria; tras la correspondiente introducción, pasaré a exponer y reflexionar sobre los referentes teóricos sobre los que se sustenta esta propuesta, para proseguir presentando la consiguiente programación didáctica mejorada y terminar con una conclusión y una valoración crítica de esta nueva metodología.This work of educational innovation involves the insertion of ICT in the evaluation/qualification process of the student, specifically in a quarterly syllabus of an A levels 2nd course of the high school I attended in my internship. This course has been chosen due to its close relationship with the University Entrance Exams, which nowadays are pure rating tests. The student should be evaluated more frequently during the school year in order to go as best prepared as possible to selectivity. This process of evaluation/qualification will be more bearable using Flubaroo software. In this report; after appropriate introduction, I will expose and reflect on the theoretical framework upon which this proposal is based, to continue presenting the resulting improved course syllabus and end with a conclusion and a critical assessment of this new methodology

Pr77 and L1TcRz: A dual system within the 5′-end of L1Tc retrotransposon, internal promoter and HDV-like ribozyme

The sequence corresponding to the first 77 nucleotides of the L1Tc and NARTc non-LTR retrotransposons from Trypanosoma cruzi is an internal promoter (Pr77) that generates abundant, although poorly translatable, un-spliced transcripts. It has been recently described that L1TcRz, an HDV-like ribozyme, resides within the 5′-end of the RNA from the L1Tc and NARTc retrotransposons. Remarkably, the same first 77 nucleotides of L1Tc/NARTc elements comprise both the Pr77 internal promoter and the HDV-like L1TcRz. The L1TcRz cleaves on the 5′-side of the +1 nucleotide of the L1Tc element insuring that the promoter and the ribozyme functions travel with the transposon during retrotransposition. The ribozyme activity would prevent the mobilization of upstream sequences and insure the individuality of the L1Tc/NARTc copies transcribed from associated tandems. The Pr77/L1TcRz sequence is also found in other trypanosomatid’s non-LTR retrotransposons and degenerated retroposons. The possible conservation of the ribozyme activity in a widely degenerated retrotransposon, as the Leishmania SIDERs, could indicate that the presence of this element and the catalytic activity could play some favorable genetic regulation. The functional implications of the Pr77/L1TcRz dual system in the regulation of the L1Tc/NARTc retrotransposons and in the gene expression of trypanosomatids are also discussed in this paper