La construcción desplazada de los vinculos persona-lugar: una revisión teórica

One of the issues that environmental psychology has explored is the study of the meaningful bonds that people have with places. Previous studies have focused mainly on the relationship with socio-physical settings, both fixed and materially available for the person (dwelling, neighbourhood, city). However, the current possibilities of mobility, displacement and minimization of distances defining contemporary so cieties underpin particular situations that challenge this static and material conception of people-place bonds. This paper presents a theoretical overview of the approaches within the discipline that can contribute to the exploration of people-place bonding processes under conditions of displacement or dislocation. Studies concerned with cognitive generalization devices, symbolic ties and linguistic-discursive constructions appear to be useful approaches, and invite us to reflect on the contemporary role of place in the processes of the constitution of subjectivity. Key words: environmental psychology, displacement, place, appropriation, attachment

El espacio público en conflicto: coordenadas conceptuales y tensiones ideológicas

En este artículo aportamos herramientas conceptuales y argumentativas para pensar y problematizar la noción de "espacio público". Comenzamos esbozando los principales marcos discursivos desde los que se define "el espacio público" como objeto de reflexión en los estudios urbanos. Asumiendo la crítica neo-marxista al ideal normativo del espacio público como estándar ideológico mistificador de desigualdades sociales estructurales, subrayamos la inadecuación teórica y política resultante de ignorar la naturaleza contestada del espacio público como ámbito de territorialización de procesos y luchas sociales más amplios. Desarrollamos esta concepción crítica del espacio público como un lugar en el que se articula materialmente una disputa de orden ideológico en torno a la definición de los contornos de la publicidad legítima y la naturalización clasista del derecho a censurar y a excluir. Finalmente, señalamos algunas de las modalidades de conflicto urbano más prominentes que apuntalan esta visión desestabilizadora del espacio público normativo. In this article we provide conceptual and argumentative tools to think and to problematize the notion of "public space". We start outlining the main discursive frames that are usually used to define "the public space" as a research object in urban studies. Drawing on the neo-Marxist critique to the normative ideal of public space as an ideological standard that mystifies structural social inequalities, we underline the theoretical and political inadequacy that derives from ignoring the contested nature of public space as an arena for the territorialisation of broader social struggles. We develop this critical view of public space as a site in which an ideological dispute takes place, revolving around the definition of the boundaries of the legitimate publics and the classist naturalization of the right to exclude. Finally, we outline some of the most common modalities of urban conflict that underpin this destabilizing view of the normative public space

Evading the astrophysical limits on light pseudoscalars

We study the possibility of evading astrophysical bounds on light pseudoscalars. We argue that the solar bounds can be evaded if we have a sufficiently strong self coupling of the pseudoscalars. The required couplings do not conflict with any known experimental bounds. We show that it is possible to find a coupling range such that the results of the recent PVLAS experiment are not in conflict with any astrophysical bounds.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, minor change

Self Interacting Dark Matter in the Solar System

Weakly coupled, almost massless, spin 0 particles have been predicted by many extensions of the standard model of particle physics. Recently, the PVLAS group observed a rotation of polarization of electromagnetic waves in vacuum in the presence of transverse magnetic field. This phenomenon is best explained by the existence of a weakly coupled light pseudoscalar particle. However, the coupling required by this experiment is much larger than the conventional astrophysical limits. Here we consider a hypothetical self-interacting pseudoscalar particle which couples weakly with visible matter. Assuming that these pseudoscalars pervade the galaxy, we show that the solar limits on the pseudoscalar-photon coupling can be evaded.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure

Accurate and efficient gp120 V3 loop structure based models for the determination of HIV-1 co-receptor usage

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>HIV-1 targets human cells expressing both the CD4 receptor, which binds the viral envelope glycoprotein gp120, as well as either the CCR5 (R5) or CXCR4 (X4) co-receptors, which interact primarily with the third hypervariable loop (V3 loop) of gp120. Determination of HIV-1 affinity for either the R5 or X4 co-receptor on host cells facilitates the inclusion of co-receptor antagonists as a part of patient treatment strategies. A dataset of 1193 distinct gp120 V3 loop peptide sequences (989 R5-utilizing, 204 X4-capable) is utilized to train predictive classifiers based on implementations of random forest, support vector machine, boosted decision tree, and neural network machine learning algorithms. An <it>in silico </it>mutagenesis procedure employing multibody statistical potentials, computational geometry, and threading of variant V3 sequences onto an experimental structure, is used to generate a feature vector representation for each variant whose components measure environmental perturbations at corresponding structural positions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Classifier performance is evaluated based on stratified 10-fold cross-validation, stratified dataset splits (2/3 training, 1/3 validation), and leave-one-out cross-validation. Best reported values of sensitivity (85%), specificity (100%), and precision (98%) for predicting X4-capable HIV-1 virus, overall accuracy (97%), Matthew's correlation coefficient (89%), balanced error rate (0.08), and ROC area (0.97) all reach critical thresholds, suggesting that the models outperform six other state-of-the-art methods and come closer to competing with phenotype assays.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The trained classifiers provide instantaneous and reliable predictions regarding HIV-1 co-receptor usage, requiring only translated V3 loop genotypes as input. Furthermore, the novelty of these computational mutagenesis based predictor attributes distinguishes the models as orthogonal and complementary to previous methods that utilize sequence, structure, and/or evolutionary information. The classifiers are available online at <url>http://proteins.gmu.edu/automute</url>.</p

Neutrino Phenomenology, Dark Energy and Leptogenesis from pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone Bosons

We consider a model of dynamical neutrino masses via the see-saw mechanism. Nambu-Goldstone bosons (majorons) arise associated with the formation of the heavy right-handed majorana masses. These bosons then acquire naturally soft masses (become pNGB's) at loop level via the Higgs-Yukawa mass terms. These models, like the original neutrino pNGB quintessence schemes of the 1980's that proceed through the Dirac masses, are natural, have cosmological implications through mass varying neutrinos, long range forces, and provide a soft potential for dark energy. We further argue that these models can explain leptogenesis naturally through the decays of the right-handed neutrinos.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure

Hacia una metodología de seguimiento del Trabajo Final de Postgrado: Diseño, aplicación y evaluación

Se presenta la aplicación y evaluación de una metodología de tutorización de los Trabajos Finales de Postgrado cuya finalidad es contribuir a la emprendeduría y la ocupabilidad de los estudiantes. La metodología consistió en la compartimentación de tareas, calendarización y seguimiento continuo de los trabajos. Los resultados muestran una valoración positiva de la actividad por parte de la mayoría del estudiantado, señalando que el tipo de trabajo exigido se ajusta a las tareas profesionales

The two-way relationship between food systems and the COVID19 pandemic: causes and consequences

[EN] CONTEXT: The COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the most pressing challenges for humanity. The pandemic is affecting all aspects of human lives and livelihoods, including food. In this context, new research shows the nexus between agri-food systems and the spread of emergent infectious diseases (EID) such as the coronavirus disease while at the same time, shows how the COVID-19 pandemics has heavily impacted food systems. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work is to shed light and draw, through the case of COVID-19, the network of direct and indirect links and feedback loops between the globalised food system and pandemics. METHODS: We conducted a literature review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: As with climate change, food systems have a double relation with EID in general, and in particular with the present world health crisis linked to COVID-19. On the one hand, global agri-food systems, as currently organised, are a necessary step in the development of EID, through their impacts in land use changes, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity loss and climate change. On the other hand, COVID-19 has had and is having impacts on all food systems at all scales. The review shows that all activities of the food system (from production to consumption) as well as all pillars of food security (availability, access, use, stability) have been affected. The impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on food systems can be divided between direct impacts of the virus outbreak, and indirect impacts derived from the containment measures (e.g. lockdowns, mobility restrictions, shops closure) adopted at different levels (from local to global). While all food systems across the globe have been affected by the pandemic, it is argued that vulnerability is different for different types of food systems. Long food supply chains have been particularly affected by COVID-19 crisis, however, it is important to avoid universalization of impacts and responses as agri-food systems are characterised by a huge diversity and heterogeneity. The review concludes by pointing out that while the pandemic represents a challenge for the global food systems, this 'stress test' can be also seized as an opportunity to highlight vulnerabilities to be urgently addressed during the recovery period and speed up the transformation towards more sustainable and resilient food systems. SIGNIFICANCE: A food systems approach is essential to have a broader picture of the relationship of agri-food systems with zoonosis and their centrality in the pandemics and the derived socio-economic consequences.Elisa OterosRozas was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (IJCI201734334) . Marina di Masso was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (IJCI-2016-30769) Federica Ravera was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RYC2018025958I) .Rivera-Ferre, MG.; Lopez-I-Gelats, F.; Ravera, F.; Oteros-Rozas, E.; Di Masso, M.; Binimelis, R.; El Bilali, H. (2021). The two-way relationship between food systems and the COVID19 pandemic: causes and consequences. Agricultural Systems. 191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.10313419