Private Narratives and Infant Views: Iconizing 1970s Militancy in Contemporary Argentine Cinema

This is the author's accepted manuscript, made available with the permission of the publisher.This article analyses the connections between the subjective turn in the representation of militancy, iconicity, and historical examination in Infancia clandestina, a recent Argentine film that portrays the 1970s armed struggle through a child’s lens. Breaking with the leading interpretation that praises the movie because of its original exposition of left-leaning violence, I contend that this coming-of-age story fits within a version of militancy that originated in the mid-1990s and that has become quite common since the advent of the Kirchner administration in 2003. This particular version relies on a privatized and archaic image of activism that is at the core of the global iconization of 1970s militancy. An analysis of the filmic use of an infant perspective and of anime-style cartoons illuminates how contemporary Argentine cinema both registers and participates in this iconizing process

Biochemical Trade-Offs: Evidence for Ecologically Linked Secondary Metabolism of the Sponge Oscarella balibaloi

Secondary metabolite production is assumed to be costly and therefore the resource allocation to their production should be optimized with respect to primary biological functions such as growth or reproduction. Sponges are known to produce a great diversity of secondary metabolites with powerful biological activities that may explain their domination in some hard substrate communities both in terms of diversity and biomass. Oscarella balibaloi (Homoscleromorpha) is a recently described, highly dynamic species, which often overgrows other sessile marine invertebrates. Bioactivity measurements (standardized Microtox assay) and metabolic fingerprints were used as indicators of the baseline variations of the O. balibaloi secondary metabolism, and related to the sponge reproductive effort over two years. The bioactivity showed a significant seasonal variation with the lowest values at the end of spring and in early summer followed by the highest bioactivity in the late summer and autumn. An effect of the seawater temperature was detected, with a significantly higher bioactivity in warm conditions. There was also a tendency of a higher bioactivity when O. balibaloi was found overgrowing other sponge species. Metabolic fingerprints revealed the existence of three principal metabolic phenotypes: phenotype 1 exhibited by a majority of low bioactive, female individuals, whereas phenotypes 2 and 3 correspond to a majority of highly bioactive, non-reproductive individuals. The bioactivity was negatively correlated to the reproductive effort, minimal bioactivities coinciding with the period of embryogenesis and larval development. Our results fit the Optimal Defense Theory with an investment in the reproduction mainly shaping the secondary metabolism variability, and a less pronounced influence of other biotic (species interaction) and abiotic (temperature) factors

Functional annotation of the transcriptome of Sorghum bicolor in response to osmotic stress and abscisic acid

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Higher plants exhibit remarkable phenotypic plasticity allowing them to adapt to an extensive range of environmental conditions. Sorghum is a cereal crop that exhibits exceptional tolerance to adverse conditions, in particular, water-limiting environments. This study utilized next generation sequencing (NGS) technology to examine the transcriptome of sorghum plants challenged with osmotic stress and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) in order to elucidate genes and gene networks that contribute to sorghum's tolerance to water-limiting environments with a long-term aim of developing strategies to improve plant productivity under drought.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>RNA-Seq results revealed transcriptional activity of 28,335 unique genes from sorghum root and shoot tissues subjected to polyethylene glycol (PEG)-induced osmotic stress or exogenous ABA. Differential gene expression analyses in response to osmotic stress and ABA revealed a strong interplay among various metabolic pathways including abscisic acid and 13-lipoxygenase, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, and plant defense pathways. Transcription factor analysis indicated that groups of genes may be co-regulated by similar regulatory sequences to which the expressed transcription factors bind. We successfully exploited the data presented here in conjunction with published transcriptome analyses for rice, maize, and Arabidopsis to discover more than 50 differentially expressed, drought-responsive gene orthologs for which no function had been previously ascribed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study provides an initial assemblage of sorghum genes and gene networks regulated by osmotic stress and hormonal treatment. We are providing an RNA-Seq data set and an initial collection of transcription factors, which offer a preliminary look into the cascade of global gene expression patterns that arise in a drought tolerant crop subjected to abiotic stress. These resources will allow scientists to query gene expression and functional annotation in response to drought.</p

Identification of a Ni-vacancy defect in Ni-Mn- Z (Z = Ga, Sn, In): An experimental and DFT positron-annihilation study

By means of experimental positron-annihilation-lifetime measurements and theoretical density functional theory (DFT) positron-lifetime calculations, vacancy-type defects in Ni50Mn50-xSnx (x=25,20,15,13,10) and Ni50Mn50-xInx (x=25,20,16,13) systems are systematically studied. The study is extended to Ni-Mn-Ga systems as well. Experimental results are complemented with electron-positron DFT calculations carried out within the local density approximation and generalized gradient approximation, where five different parametrizations accounting for the γ(r) enhancement factor are analyzed. Theoretical results indicate that the Boronski-Nieminen parametrization of γ(r) is the one that best predicts the experimental results, which ultimately enables us to identify VNi as the vacancy present in the studied samples. The characteristic positron lifetime related to VNi ranges between 181 and 191 ps in Ni-Mn-Sn/In systems. Positron-annihilation-lifetime spectroscopy results in these two systems delimit the lower bound of the achievable vacancy concentration, which is much larger compared with the reported values in Ni-Mn-Ga systems. The present work, along with setting the basis for positron simulations in Ni-Mn based Heusler alloys, delimits the effect that the variation of vacancies has in the martensitic transformation in Ni-Mn-Sn systems.This work is supported by Eusko Jaurlaritza under Grants No. IT-1005-16 and No. IT-756-13 and by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Grant No. MAT2015-65165-C2-R (MINECO/FEDER). I. Unzueta also wants to acknowledge Eusko Jaurlaritza for Grant No. PRE-2014-214

Análisis del estilo de vida en niños y adolescentes con asma: Estudio Piloto

SIN FINANCIACIÓNNo data (2015)UE

Challenges for Rural Livelihoods, Participatory Agroforestry, and Biodiversity Conservation in a Neotropical Biosphere Reserve in Mexico

We report on 10 years of participatory research processes linking livelihoods, agroforestry, and conservation in the La Sepultura Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Reserve in Chiapas, Mexico. These processes entail both cooperation and conflict between farmers and external actors who try to create and/or prevent the collapse of “nature-friendly” land uses. We developed a multidimensional research agenda with the participation of 12 communities and many graduate students. This agenda began with the promotion and monitoring of experimental fodder-tree plantations to counter dry season livestock starvation and forest degradation. Poor adoption of fodder trees motivated us to explore the history, conditions, needs, and motivations of farmers in this territory, and how these play out in their interaction with other actors when implementing agroforestry projects linked explicitly with biodiversity conservation. We report an analysis of three processes: (1) efforts to promote fodder-tree plantations as a means to intensify and move livestock production away from forest browsing; (2) “conservation” shade-coffee production in which benefits for farmers and forests are dubious, which also might collapse due to recent rust epidemics; (3) Pinus oocarpa resin extraction in pine-grass rangelands, where cattle exclusion, fire use prohibition, and unfavorable market deals could render this activity unsustainable. We reflect on how silvopastoral and agroforestry projects constitute an unstable balancing act among actors in this MAB reserve (and probably in similar ones). We discuss what participatory processes seem promising and need to be developed for the sake of long-term decent rural livelihoods and high-quality conservation landscapes