Both associative activation and thematic extraction count, but thematic false memories are more easily rejected

The main aim of this study was to analyse the roles played by associative activation and thematic extraction in the explanation of false memories using the Deese, Roediger, McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Associative lists with two different types of critical items (CIs) were used: one, the associative CI, corresponded to the word most strongly primed by the associates in the list and another, the thematic CI, was the word that best described the theme of the list. Following three different types of encoding instructions (standard, warning or strategic), false recognition for these two types of CIs was analysed in either self-paced or speeded response recognition tests. The results showed considerable levels of false memories for both types of CIs. Even without the quality of being “good themes”, associative CIs produced high levels of false recognition, which suggests that associative activation plays a prominent role in false memory formation. More interestingly, thematic CIs were more prone to be edited out, reinforcing the argument that thematic identifiability has a major role in the rejection of false memories

From Photonic Crystals to Photonic Glasses through disorder

Tesis doctoral inédita. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física de Materiales. Fecha de lectura: 27-03-200

Optical binding-driven micropatterning and photosculpting with silver nanorods

Controlling the nano- and micropatterning of metal structures is an important requirement for various technological applications in photonics and biosensing. This work presents a method for controllably creating silver micropatterns by laser-induced photosculpting. Photosculpting is driven by plasmonic interactions between pulsed laser radiation and silver nanorods (AgNRs) in aqueous suspension; this process leads to optical binding forces transporting the AgNRs in the surroundings, while electronic thermalization results in photooxidation, melting, and ripening of the AgNRs into well-defined 3D structures. This work call these structures Airy castles due to their structural similarity with a diffraction-limited Airy disk. The photosculpted Airy castles contain emissive Ag nanoclusters, allowing for the visualization and examination of the aggregation process using luminescence microscopy. This work comprehensively examines the factors that define the photosculpting process, namely, the concentration and shape of the AgNRs, as well as the energy, power, and repetition rate of the laser. Finally, this work investigates the potential applications by measuring the metal-enhanced luminescence of a europium-based luminophore using Airy castles

El Acercamiento de la normativa contable europea a las normas del IASB: un reto para 2005

Actualmente es de aceptación generalizada la necesidad de un lenguaje contable común. La creciente e imparable globalización de las relaciones económicas y financieras exige disponer de una información comparable, objetiva, transparente y fiable, lo cual se consigue mediante la armonización internacional. Ésta no constituye una novedad, sino que es un camino en el cual se han ido dando pasos firmes durante los últimos treinta años y la experiencia acumulada permite afirmar que es un proceso largo, no exento de dificultades e intereses encontrados, en el que la eficiencia que genera para el sistema económico en su conjunto es su principal impulsor. En Europa se han dado importantes pasos para la integración económica regional, con el objetivo inicial de crear un mercado común; desde el comienzo se puso de manifiesto la necesidad de disponer de una información contable equivalente, lo cual pasaba por emprender la tarea de su armonización, que se inició en los años setenta, fundamentalmente a través de las directivas de Derecho de Sociedades. Paralelamente en el tiempo, aunque en otro contexto, en este caso en el ámbito mundial, empezó su andadura el International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), organismo independiente de carácter privado, emitiendo Normas Internacionales de Contabilidad (NIC, o, en su acrónimo inglés, IAS —International Accounting Standards—), que en 2001, año en que fue sustituido por el actual International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), ascendían a 41. La insuficiencia del modelo armonizador europeo provocó que a mediados de los años noventa se produjera lo que cabría llamar la primera aproximación seria de la Unión Europea al IASC, al adoptar una nueva estrategia para la armonización contable tomando como referencia la labor del IASC. Esta actitud, lógicamente, fue muy bien acogida por este organismo, pues suponía un importante reconocimiento a su trabajo, que le permitiría jugar un papel mucho más relevante en el marco de la contabilidad mundial, máxime cuando por esas mismas fechas adquirió el compromiso de colaborar con los mercados de valores de todo el mundo. Diez años más tarde, en 2005, se prevé que tenga lugar un hito sin precedentes: la implantación de las NIC como obligatorias para la información consolidada de las sociedades cotizadas en la Unión Europea, lo cual constituye todo un reto en cuya consecución participan hoy en día activamente las autoridades europeas, los organismos reguladores nacionales, los profesionales y las empresas. Precisamente, el presente artículo tiene por objetivo analizar las consecuencias de este acercamiento y cómo se ha llegado a esta situación, hasta hace no demasiado tiempo impensable, que sin duda va a tener repercusiones trascendentales en el devenir futuro de cara a conseguir una información financiera comparable a nivel mundial, con la consiguiente mejora en la eficiencia de los mercados

Traceable sea water temperature measurements performed by optical fibers

This paper describes a technique to perform traceable temperature measurements of the seawater column andseawater surface, based on optical ¿ber Bragg gratings. The paper explains the di¿erent phases of the work done:design of the optical ¿bers, its optical and thermal calibration and onsite measurements of the seawater tem-perature. In the design of these thermometers, special attention was paid to the involved materials in order toprevent any damage of the ¿bers due to the exposure to such rugged environment.The ¿bers were subjected to optical and thermal calibration, with the aim to get traceable measurements andreliable uncertainty calculation of the seawater temperature. The ¿bers were deployed in the Mediterranean Seaand water temperatures were continuously monitored and compared with the most common used thermometerin this environment, CTD, located in the submarine observatory OBSEA.Postprint (author's final draft

Gestión organizacional y prácticas sociales colaborativas en la construcción de habitabilidad de la vivienda informal

En el presente texto, se analiza un conjunto de prácticas habitacionales del sector informal de vivienda en el afán de entender las disyuntivas a las que se enfrentan sectores poblacionales que, descobijados por el mercado formal de vivienda, ven necesario contar con alternativas constructivas relacionadas con el costo-eficiencia en materiales y procesos constructivos, las cuales pudieran dar lugar a mejores condiciones físico-espaciales de la vivienda autoconstruida y que, con las prácticas autogestionarias, la incentivación de la autonomía, el trabajo en equipo y la explotación de las capacidades individuales, se busque plantar a la vivienda los atributos psicosociales para que, en conjunto, busquen satisfacer las necesidades mínimas de habitabilidad interna para la promoción de un desarrollo integral del individuo, familia y/o sociedad. Para ello, se ha construido una metodología que divide en dos secciones el trabajo. La primera, referida a la exploración teórica de las prácticas habitacionales de la informalidad, la autogestión y la habitabilidad de la vivienda, y la segunda, referente a un trabajo de campo explorando el Barrio de San Isidro Patios, en Bogotá, Colombia, donde se identifica y extrae información relacionada con la autogestión y la habitabilidad de un tipo de vivienda, que no es sino producto de las prácticas habitacionales informales.In the present text, a set of housing practices of the informal housing sector is analized in the eagerness to understand the dilemmas faced by the population sectors that, uncovered by the formal housing market, need to have constructive alternatives related to cost-efficiency in material and construction processes, wich could lead to better physical-spatial conditions for self-built housing, and that, with self-management practices the incentivation of autonomy, teamwork and explotation of the individual capacities, seek to plant the psycho-social attributes to housing, so that together, seek to satisfy the minimum needs of internal habitability for the promotion of an integral development of the individual, family, and/or society. For this, a methodology has been constructed that divides the work into two sections. The first refers to the theoretical exploration of the housing practices of informality, self-management and habitability of housing, and the second, referring to a fieldwork exploring the San Isidro Patios neighborhood, in Bogotá, Colombia, where it is identified, and extracts information related to self-management and the habitability of a type of housing, which is nothing but the product of informal housing practices

Assessing the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in thyroglobulin gene with age of puberty in bulls

Puberty is a stage of sexual development determined by the interaction of many loci and environmental factors. Identification of genes contributing to genetic variation in this character can assist with selection for early pubertal bulls, improving genetic progress in livestock breeding. Thyroid hormones play an important role in sexual development and spermatogenic function. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in thyroglobulin(TG) gene with age of puberty in Angus bulls. Four SNPs were genotyped in 273 animals using SEQUENOM technology and the association between markers and puberty age was analyzed. Results showed a significant association (P < 0.05) between these markers and puberty age estimated at a sperm concentration of 50 million and a progressive motility of 10%. This is the first report of an association of TG polymorphisms with age of puberty in bulls, and results suggest the importance of thyroidal regulation in bovine sexual development and arrival to puberty.Fil: Fernandez, María Elena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "ingeniero Fernando Noel Dulout"; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Goszczynski, Daniel Estanislao. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "ingeniero Fernando Noel Dulout"; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Prando, Alberto José. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Peral Garcia, Pilar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "ingeniero Fernando Noel Dulout"; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Baldo, Andrés. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Giovambattista, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "ingeniero Fernando Noel Dulout"; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Liron, Juan Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "ingeniero Fernando Noel Dulout"; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; Argentin

Visibility Assessment of New Photovoltaic Power Plants in Areas with Special Landscape Value

Power plants based on renewable sources offer environmental, technical and economic advantages. Of particular importance is the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional power plants. Despite the advantages, people are often opposed to the construction of these facilities due to their high visual impact, particularly if they are close to places with a great cultural and/or landscape value. This paper proposes a new methodology for identifying the most suitable geographical areas for the construction of new photovoltaic (PV) power plants in zones of special scenic or cultural interest, helping to keep the environment free from the visual intrusions caused by these facilities. From several repeated analyses, the degree of visibility of the new PV plant, the potential observation time of passing visitors, considering the route they follow and their speed, and the increase in visibility of the plants when seen totally or partially with the sky as background, are determined. The result obtained is a map showing the ranking of the geographical areas based on a variable calculated in such analyses: the Global Accumulated Perception Time (GAPT). The application of this methodology can help the different agents involved in the decision-making process for the installation of new PV plant by providing them with an objective visibility criterion

Tuning lipase B from Candida antarctica C–C bond promiscuous activity by immobilization on poly-styrene-divinylbenzene beads

Lipase B from Candida antarctica (CALB) is able to catalyze C–C bond formation. After immobilization onto a hydrophobic PS-DVB support, the activity increases when compared to that of the soluble or tan – the commercially available Novozyme 435 (being up to 6 fold more active). Our results show that although this activity is not related to the catalytic group, the promiscuous activity of CALB may be tuned via immobilization. In addition, we have show that the secondary structure of both immobilized enzymes is quite different, using FT-ATR-IR spectroscopy

Reliability and reproductibility of skin temperature of overweight subjects by an infrared thermograpy software designed for human beings

The technical improvement and new applications of Infrared Thermography (IRT) with healthy subjects should be accompanied by results about the reproducibility of IRT measurements in different popula-tion groups. In addition, there is a remarkable necessity of a larger supply on software to analyze IRT images of human beings. Therefore, the objectives of this study were: firstly, to investigate the reproducibility of skin temperature (Tsk) on overweight and obese subjects using IRT in different Regions of Interest (ROI), moments and side-to-side differences (?T); and secondly, to check the reliability of a new software called Termotracker®, specialized on the analysis of IRT images of human beings. Methods: 22 overweight and obese males (11) and females (11) (age: 41,51±7,76 years; height: 1,65±0,09 m; weight: 82,41±11,81 Kg; BMI: 30,17±2,58 kg/m²) were assessed in two consecutive thermograms (5 seconds in-between) by the same observer, using an infrared camera (FLIR T335, Sweden) to get 4 IRT images from the whole body. 11 ROI were selected using Termotracker® to analyze its reproducibility and reliability through Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and Coefficient of Variation (CV) values. Results: The reproducibility of the side-to-side differences (?T) between two consecutive thermograms was very high in all ROIs (Mean ICC = 0,989), and excellent between two computers (Mean ICC = 0,998). The re-liability of the software was very high in all the ROIs (Mean ICC = 0,999). Intraexaminer reliability analysing the same subjects in two consecutive thermograms was also very high (Mean ICC = 0,997). CV values of the different ROIs were around 2%. Conclusions: Skin temperature on overweight subjects had an excellent reproducibility for consecutive ther-mograms. The reproducibility of thermal asymmetries (?T) was also good but it had the influence of several factors that should be further investigated. Termotracker® reached excellent reliability results and it is a relia-ble and objective software to analyse IRT images of humans beings