La onomástica de nombres erróneos en la construcción de andinidad fallida y débil andeancia: el imperativo de microrefugios bioculturales en los Andes

We seek to (re)construct a geocritical narrative for the essence of place, by (re)writing mountain specificities that imprint cultural traits on tropical and temperate Andean landscapes, creating a unique identity trilemma for the people of highland South America. We use onomastics as a study of mistaken individuality, with a poststructuralism approach to define ‘the Andean’ within humanistic geoecology; thus, we incorporate notions related to common phenotypic traits of ‘Andeanity’, together with cryptic, emergent properties of ‘Andeaness’ and mystic conditions of spirituality of ‘Andeanitude’, to produce a new trifecta of ecoregional building, with a challenging epistemology for ‘Andean’ as a biocultural heritage landscape informed from traditional knowledge, dialectically appropriated from the old and the young, the foreign and the native, and the original and the composed. Hence, the imagined, heterogeneous, and dynamic identity of Andean people is characterized as dynamic and evolving flow of the mountainscape. We argue that it is still adapting to frameworks of global environment change; hence, it is subjected to withering if not for certain biocultural microrefugia that keep Andean landscape memory alive. With a review of the hermeneutics of Andes, because of orthographic variants (c.f.: graphiosis) that incorporated Kichwa-based, Kañary-based or Mapudungun-based words in the hegemonic lexicon of colonial expansionism of Castilian terms, we argue for the inclusion of vernacular descriptors instead of Roman Sanctorum or Patriotic ephemerides utilized to name geographical features in Andean South America. A plea to restore vernacular descriptors with the original peoples’ language uses, toponymy and onomatopoeia, brings political recognition and invigorates original communities’ pride of their ancestral heritage to reinforce their wellbeing in biodiversity microrefugia. Switching from imperial, imposed names of colonialist geographies to vernacular words or other non-hegemonic locatives of (de) colonial scholarship will help find a better “sense of place” in the Andes and will increase the likelihood of survival and (re)generation of ancestral socio-ecological production Andean mountainscapes.Buscamos (re)construir una narrativa geocrítica para la esencia del paisaje al (re)escribir las especificidades de montaña que impriman atributos culturales en los paisajes andinos tropicales y templados, creando un trilema de identidad único para la gente de las tierras altas de América del Sur. Usamos la onomástica como un estudio de la individualidad errada con un enfoque post-estructuralista para definir “lo andino” dentro de la geoecología humanística; por lo tanto, incorporamos nociones relacionadas con los atributos fenotípicos de Andeanidad, junto con las propiedades crípticas emergentes de Andeancia y las condiciones místicas de espiritualidad de Andeanitud, para producir una nueva trifecta de construcción ecoregional, con una epistemología desafiante para el paisaje patrimonial biocultural basado en el conocimiento tradicional, apropiado dialécticamente de lo viejo a lo nuevo, de lo foráneo a lo nativo y de lo original a lo copiado. Por lo tanto, la dinámica identidad heterogénea imaginada de la gente andina está caracterizada por un flujo dinámico y evolutivo del paisaje montano. Argumentamos que la nomenclatura aún se adapta a marcos de cambio ambiental global; así, está aún sujeta a deterioro a no ser que ciertos microrefugios bioculturales puedan mantener la memoria del paisaje andino vivo. Con una revisión de la hermenéutica de Andes, debido a las variantes (c.f. grafiosis) que incorporaron palabras basadas en Kichwa, Kañary o Mapudungun en el léxico hegemónico del expansionismo colonial de los términos castellanos, apelamos a la inclusión de los descriptores vernáculos en vez del santoral romano y la efemérides patriótica utilizada para nombrar los atributos geográficos en la Sudamérica andina. Pedimos restaurar los descriptores vernáculos con el lenguaje usado por los pueblos originarios, su toponimia y onomatopeya, para atraer el reconocimiento político y para vigorizar el orgullo del patrimonio ancestral de las comunidades de montaña para refuerzo de su bienestar en los microrefugios bioculturales. Al cambiar los nombres impuestos por la geografía imperial colonial a las palabras vernáculas u otros locativos no hegemónicos de escolaridad decolonial, se ayudará a obtener un mejor ‘sentido del lugar’ en los Andes e incrementará la posibilidad de (super)vivencia y (re)generación de los paisajes productivos socioecológicos ancestrales andinos

To explore or to exploit? Learning humans' behaviour to maximize interactions with them

Assume a robot operating in a public space (e.g., a library, a museum) and serving visitors as a companion, a guide or an information stand. To do that, the robot has to interact with humans, which presumes that it actively searches for humans in order to interact with them. This paper addresses the problem how to plan robot's actions in order to maximize the number of such interactions in the case human behavior is not known in advance. We formulate this problem as the exploration/exploitation problem and design several strategies for the robot. The main contribution of the paper than lies in evaluation and comparison of the designed strategies on two datasets. The evaluation shows interesting properties of the strategies, which are discussed

Design and construction of tank-chassis and lifting structure for centrifugal pump HL260 M powered by a Diesel Engine

This article deals with the design, simulation and construction of a fuel storage tank-chassis and a lifting system coupled as a single unit to a Cummins QSK19 engine driven HL260m pump that can guarantee an operating autonomy of up to 12 continuous hours and can be transported to different locations by means of lifting systems. For the mechanical design the recommendations of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the application of the failure criteria for Von Mises ductile materials or Maximum Energy Distortion were used. For the dimensioning of the storage tank, the average consumption stipulated by the manufacturer was used and the simulations were performed with SolidWorks®. A functional and safe system that can be used in on-site applications was achieved

Characterization and analysis of metropolitan freight patterns in Medellin, Colombia

This paper seeks to pilot test a novel way to collect freight and service activity data and analyze the collected data in the metropolitan area of Medellin, Colombia. This research collects data using a multi-layer and multi-actor approach that includes surveys to receivers, suppliers, carriers, and truck drivers. The data are used by the authors to describe the overall freight patterns in the area of study and to show lessons learned. The data collection resulted in 2947 establishments (4.4% of the total establishments in the city), a cordon survey of 2950 commercial vehicles (17% of the total vehicle volume) accessing the urban area, and carrier interviews to ten companies and 130 truck drivers. The results indicate that a total of 33,274 metric tons/day enter the study area, 35,240 tons/day leave the area; while 7000 tons/day are distributed in the study area. In terms of freight trips, 6600 trips/day enter the study zone and 6600 trips/day leave it. The data collection effort enabled the analyses of freight generation patterns. The freight surveys used in the study complement each other, and provided a good depiction of the freight movements in urban areas. It was found that in the Medellin Metropolitan Area, freight-intensive sector establishments generates, on average, significantly more cargo (freight attraction plus production) than the service-intensive sectors. The analyses of the surveys allow the decision makers to understand the nature of the cargo and the generation patterns in different type of establishments. This characterization of the freight patterns is vital for the forecasting of the behavior of the cargo and it is the main input to perform freight demand modeling for city planning, especially for developing countries, where there are too many budget constraints

The highly prevalent BRCA2 mutation c.2808_2811del (3036delACAA) is located in a mutational hotspot and has multiple origins

BRCA2-c.2808_2811del (3036delACAA) is one of the most reported germ line mutations in non-Ashkenazi breast cancer patients. We investigated its genetic origin in 51 Spanish carrier families that were genotyped with 11 13q polymorphic markers. Three independent associated haplotypes were clearly distinguished accounting for 23 [west Castilla y León (WCL)], 20 [east Castilla y León (ECL)] and 6 (South of Spain) families. Mutation age was estimated with the Disequilibrium Mapping using Likelihood Estimation software in a range of 45–68 and 45–71 generations for WCL and ECL haplotypes, respectively. The most prevalent variants, c.2808_2811del and c.2803G > A, were located in a double-hairpin loop structure (c.2794–c.2825) predicted by Quikfold that was proposed as a mutational hotspot. To check this hypothesis, random mutagenesis was performed over a 923 bp fragment of BRCA2, and 86 DNA variants were characterized. Interestingly, three mutations reported in the mutation databases (c.2680G > A, c.2944del and c.2957dup) were replicated and 20 affected the same position with different nucleotide changes. Moreover, five variants were placed in the same hairpin loop of c.2808_2811del, and one affected the same position (c.2808A > G). In conclusion, our results support that at least three different mutational events occurred to generate c.2808_2811del. Other highly prevalent DNA variants, such as BRCA1-c.68_69delAG, BRCA2- c.5946delT and c.8537delAG, are concentrated in hairpin loops, suggesting that these structures may represent mutational hotspots

A Single Nucleotide Polymorphism in the RASGRF2 Gene Is Associated with Alcoholic Liver Cirrhosis in Men

Background Genetic polymorphisms in the RAS gene family are associated with different diseases, which may include alcohol-related disorders. Previous studies showed an association of the allelic variant rs26907 in RASGRF2 gene with higher alcohol intake. Additionally, the rs61764370 polymorphism in the KRAS gene is located in a binding site for the let-7 micro-RNA family, which is potentially involved in alcohol-induced inflammation. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the association between these two polymorphisms and susceptibility to alcoholism or alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Methods We enrolled 301 male alcoholic patients and 156 healthy male volunteers in this study. Polymorphisms were genotyped by using TaqMan® PCR assays for allelic discrimination. Allelic and genotypic frequencies were compared between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the inheritance model. Results The A allele of the RASGRF2 polymorphism (rs26907) was significantly more prevalent among alcoholic patients with cirrhosis (23.2%) compared to alcoholic patients without ALD (14.2%). This difference remained significant in the group of patients with alcohol dependence (28.8% vs. 14.3%) but not in those with alcohol abuse (15.1% vs. 14.4%). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the A allele of this polymorphism (AA or GA genotype) was associated with alcoholic cirrhosis both in the total group of alcoholics (odds ratio [OR]: 2.33, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.32–4.11; P = 0.002) and in the group of patients with alcohol dependence (OR: 3.1, 95% CI: 1.50–6.20; P = 0.001). Allelic distributions of the KRAS polymorphism (rs61764370) did not differ between the groups. Conclusions To our knowledge, this genetic association study represents the first to show an association of the RASGRF2 G>A (rs26907) polymorphism with ALD in men, particularly in the subgroup of patients with AD. The findings suggest the potential relevance of the RAS gene family in alcoholism and ALD

Applicability of the national policy of environmental education in educational institutions

La educación ambiental es un proceso que incentiva el desarrollo de capacidades para compatibilizar las actividades del hombre sobre el medio ambiente, a razón de esto, Colombia adoptó la Política Nacional de Educación Ambiental que orienta a la implementación de Proyectos Ambientales Escolares-PRAE. Esta investigación buscó analizar la aplicabilidad de esta Política mediante un comparativo entre los lineamientos de la política de educación ambiental y el estado actual de las actividades de las instituciones educativas (IE) enmarcadas en la educación ambiental. Esto se realizó mediante la utilización de la herramienta “talleres aplicados” cuya finalidad fue la recolección primaria del grupo de estudio, entre los resultados encontrados se evidenció un desconocimiento en las instituciones educativas sobre los ejes temáticos y líneas de trabajos de los PRAE, dificultades en la divulgación del PRAE en toda la institución y poco apoyo administrativo para la implementación respectivamente. En general los resultados indican que las actividades relacionadas a la temática ambiental están rezagadas a las áreas de conocimiento de ciencias naturales y estos a su vez no son coherentes con los PRA

Comparison of health examination survey methods in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, England, Scotland and the USA

Comparability of population surveys across countries is key to appraising trends in population health. Achieving this requires deep understanding of the methods used in these surveys to examine the extent to which the measurements are comparable. In this study, we obtained detailed protocols of 8 nationally representative surveys from 2007–2013 from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, the United Kingdom (England and Scotland), and the United States—countries that that differ in economic and inequity indicators. Data were collected on sampling frame, sample selection procedures, recruitment, data collection methods, content of interview and examination modules, and measurement protocols. We also assessed their adherence to the World Health Organization's “STEPwise Approach to Surveillance” framework for population health surveys. The surveys, which included half a million participants, were highly comparable on sampling methodology, survey questions, and anthropometric measurements. Heterogeneity was found for physical activity questionnaires and biological samples collection. The common age range included by the surveys was adults aged 18–64 years. The methods used in these surveys were similar enough to enable comparative analyses of the data across the 7 countries. This comparability is crucial in assessing and comparing national and subgroup population health, and to assisting the transfer of research and policy knowledge across countries

Application of HPM to Solve Unsteady Squeezing Flow of a Second-Grade Fluid between Circular Plates

In this article, Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) is used to provide two approximate solutions to the nonlinear differential equation that describes the behaviour for the unsteady squeezing flow of a second grade fluid between circular plates. Comparing results between approximate and numerical solutions shows that our results are capable to provide an accurate solution and are extremely efficient