Método para el proyecto de diseño industrial

En nuestro medio el uso indiscriminado de la palabra metodología ha generado confusiones que entorpecen el entendimiento de dicha disciplina. En primer lugar, constantemente son confundidos método con metodología; esto es, se dice "las metodologías" (en plural), para designar diversos métodos, cuando en realidad existe una sola metodología (en singular) y no varias, entendiendo a ésta como el estudio de los métodos (en plural). Una confusión parecida suscita los términos técnica, estrategia, modelo, teoría, procedimiento y fase. Es común oír decir a los diseñadores que "llevaron a cabo un método", cuando, en realidad, lo que hicieron fue aplicar una técnica en cierta fase del proceso de diseño. La técnica del brainstorming o "lluvia de ideas", muy popular en una época, es catalogada frecuentemente como método de diseño, aun en escritos respetables acerca de la metodología de diseño.1 Cuando autores como Nigel Cross (1999) hablan sobre "métodos de diseño" lo hacen para describir las técnicas y estrategias más comunes utilizadas en el diseño, en las cuales, obviamente, está el dibujo. Algo semejante sucede cuando alguien dice que "ha aplicado una metodología", cuando lo que hizo fue seguir los pasos e indicaciones de un método en particular, sin que exista un estudio de la estructura general de los métodos de diseño. Es común, asimismo, la confusión que produce la palabra proceso cuando se relaciona con el método del diseño. A primera vista hablar de método implica siempre un determinado proceso

Earliest Olduvai hominins exploited unstable environments ~ 2 million years ago

Rapid environmental change is a catalyst for human evolution, driving dietary innovations, habitat diversification, and dispersal. However, there is a dearth of information to assess hominin adaptions to changing physiography during key evolutionary stages such as the early Pleistocene. Here we report a multiproxy dataset from Ewass Oldupa, in the Western Plio-Pleistocene rift basin of Olduvai Gorge (now Oldupai), Tanzania, to address this lacuna and offer an ecological perspective on human adaptability two million years ago. Oldupai’s earliest hominins sequentially inhabited the floodplains of sinuous channels, then river-influenced contexts, which now comprises the oldest palaeolake setting documented regionally. Early Oldowan tools reveal a homogenous technology to utilise diverse, rapidly changing environments that ranged from fern meadows to woodland mosaics, naturally burned landscapes, to lakeside woodland/palm groves as well as hyper-xeric steppes. Hominins periodically used emerging landscapes and disturbance biomes multiple times over 235,000 years, thus predating by more than 180,000 years the earliest known hominins and Oldowan industries from the Eastern side of the basin.Introduction Results - Stratigraphy and archaeology - Early Oldowan ecology at ~ 2 Ma Discussion Methods - Biomarkers - Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence - Excavation - Fauna - Mineral geochemistry - Phytolith analysis - Pollen and microcharcoal - Stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of faunal dental enamel - Stone tool

Measurement of the Crab Nebula Spectrum Past 100 TeV with HAWC

We present TeV gamma-ray observations of the Crab Nebula, the standard reference source in ground-based gamma-ray astronomy, using data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-Ray Observatory. In this analysis we use two independent energy-estimation methods that utilize extensive air shower variables such as the core position, shower angle, and shower lateral energy distribution. In contrast, the previously published HAWC energy spectrum roughly estimated the shower energy with only the number of photomultipliers triggered. This new methodology yields a much improved energy resolution over the previous analysis and extends HAWC's ability to accurately measure gamma-ray energies well beyond 100 TeV. The energy spectrum of the Crab Nebula is well fit to a log parabola shape $\left(\frac{dN}{dE} = \phi_0 \left(E/\textrm{7 TeV}\right)^{-\alpha-\beta\ln\left(E/\textrm{7 TeV}\right)}\right)$ with emission up to at least 100 TeV. For the first estimator, a ground parameter that utilizes fits to the lateral distribution function to measure the charge density 40 meters from the shower axis, the best-fit values are $\phi_o$=(2.35$\pm$0.04$^{+0.20}_{-0.21}$)$\times$10$^{-13}$ (TeV cm$^2$ s)$^{-1}$, $\alpha$=2.79$\pm$0.02$^{+0.01}_{-0.03}$, and $\beta$=0.10$\pm$0.01$^{+0.01}_{-0.03}$. For the second estimator, a neural network which uses the charge distribution in annuli around the core and other variables, these values are $\phi_o$=(2.31$\pm$0.02$^{+0.32}_{-0.17}$)$\times$10$^{-13}$ (TeV cm$^2$ s)$^{-1}$, $\alpha$=2.73$\pm$0.02$^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$, and $\beta$=0.06$\pm$0.01$\pm$0.02. The first set of uncertainties are statistical; the second set are systematic. Both methods yield compatible results. These measurements are the highest-energy observation of a gamma-ray source to date.Comment: published in Ap

Maternal vaccination against COVID-19 and neonatal outcomes during Omicron: INTERCOVID-2022 study

Background: In early 2023, when Omicron was the variant of concern, we showed that vaccinating pregnant women decreased the risk for severe COVID-19-related complications and maternal morbidity and mortality. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the impact of COVID-19 during pregnancy on newborns and the effects of maternal COVID-19 vaccination on neonatal outcomes when Omicron was the variant of concern. Study design: INTERCOVID-2022 was a large, prospective, observational study, conducted in 40 hospitals across 18 countries, from November 27, 2021 (the day after the World Health Organization declared Omicron the variant of concern) to June 30, 2022, to assess the effect of COVID-19 in pregnancy on maternal and neonatal outcomes and to assess vaccine effectiveness. Women diagnosed with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 during pregnancy were compared with 2 nondiagnosed, unmatched women recruited concomitantly and consecutively during pregnancy or at delivery. Mother-newborn dyads were followed until hospital discharge. The primary outcomes were a neonatal positive test for COVID-19, severe neonatal morbidity index, severe perinatal morbidity and mortality index, preterm birth, neonatal death, referral to neonatal intensive care unit, and diseases during the neonatal period. Vaccine effectiveness was estimated with adjustment for maternal risk profile. Results: We enrolled 4707 neonates born to 1577 (33.5%) mothers diagnosed with COVID-19 and 3130 (66.5%) nondiagnosed mothers. Among the diagnosed mothers, 642 (40.7%) were not vaccinated, 147 (9.3%) were partially vaccinated, 551 (34.9%) were completely vaccinated, and 237 (15.0%) also had a booster vaccine. Neonates of booster-vaccinated mothers had less than half (relative risk, 0.46; 95% confidence interval, 0.23-0.91) the risk of being diagnosed with COVID-19 when compared with those of unvaccinated mothers; they also had the lowest rates of preterm birth, medically indicated preterm birth, respiratory distress syndrome, and number of days in the neonatal intensive care unit. Newborns of unvaccinated mothers had double the risk for neonatal death (relative risk, 2.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-4.00) when compared with those of nondiagnosed mothers. Vaccination was not associated with any congenital malformations. Although all vaccines provided protection against neonatal test positivity, newborns of booster-vaccinated mothers had the highest vaccine effectiveness (64%; 95% confidence interval, 10%-86%). Vaccine effectiveness was not as high for messenger RNA vaccines only. Vaccine effectiveness against moderate or severe neonatal outcomes was much lower, namely 13% in the booster-vaccinated group (all vaccines) and 25% and 28% in the completely and booster-vaccinated groups, respectively (messenger RNA vaccines only). Vaccines were fairly effective in protecting neonates when given to pregnant women ≤100 days (14 weeks) before birth; thereafter, the risk increased and was much higher after 200 days (29 weeks). Finally, none of the neonatal practices studied, including skin-to-skin contact and direct breastfeeding, increased the risk for infecting newborns. Conclusion: When Omicron was the variant of concern, newborns of unvaccinated mothers had an increased risk for neonatal death. Neonates of vaccinated mothers had a decreased risk for preterm birth and adverse neonatal outcomes. Because the protective effect of COVID-19 vaccination decreases with time, to ensure that newborns are maximally protected against COVID-19, mothers should receive a vaccine or booster dose no more than 14 weeks before the expected date of delivery

EuroPineDB: a high-coverage web database for maritime pine transcriptome

Pinus pinaster is an economically and ecologically important species that is becoming a woody gymnosperm model. Its enormous genome size makes whole-genome sequencing approaches are hard to apply. Therefore, the expressed portion of the genome has to be characterised and the results and annotations have to be stored in dedicated databases

Gamma/Hadron Separation with the HAWC Observatory

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory observesatmospheric showers produced by incident gamma rays and cosmic rays with energyfrom 300 GeV to more than 100 TeV. A crucial phase in analyzing gamma-raysources using ground-based gamma-ray detectors like HAWC is to identify theshowers produced by gamma rays or hadrons. The HAWC observatory records roughly25,000 events per second, with hadrons representing the vast majority($>99.9\%$) of these events. The standard gamma/hadron separation technique inHAWC uses a simple rectangular cut involving only two parameters. This workdescribes the implementation of more sophisticated gamma/hadron separationtechniques, via machine learning methods (boosted decision trees and neuralnetworks), and summarizes the resulting improvements in gamma/hadron separationobtained in HAWC.<br

Weak Polygyny in California Sea Lions and the Potential for Alternative Mating Tactics

Female aggregation and male territoriality are considered to be hallmarks of polygynous mating systems. The development of genetic parentage assignment has called into question the accuracy of behavioral traits in predicting true mating systems. In this study we use 14 microsatellite markers to explore the mating system of one of the most behaviorally polygynous species, the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus). We sampled a total of 158 female-pup pairs and 99 territorial males across two breeding rookeries (San Jorge and Los Islotes) in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Fathers could be identified for 30% of pups sampled at San Jorge across three breeding seasons and 15% of sampled pups at Los Islotes across two breeding seasons. Analysis of paternal relatedness between the pups for which no fathers were identified (sampled over four breeding seasons at San Jorge and two at Los Islotes) revealed that few pups were likely to share a father. Thirty-one percent of the sampled males on San Jorge and 15% of the sampled males on Los Islotes were assigned at least one paternity. With one exception, no male was identified as the father of more than two pups. Furthermore, at Los Islotes rookery there were significantly fewer pups assigned paternity than expected given the pool of sampled males (p<0.0001). Overall, we found considerably lower variation in male reproductive success than expected in a species that exhibits behavior associated with strongly polygynous mating. Low variation in male reproductive success may result from heightened mobility among receptive females in the Gulf of California, which reduces the ability of males to monopolize groups of females. Our results raise important questions regarding the adaptive role of territoriality and the potential for alternative mating tactics in this species

Low back pain beliefs are associated to age, location of work, education and pain-related disability in Chinese healthcare, professionals working in China: a cross sectinal survey

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Evidence pointing towards a more efficacious model of care using a biopsychosocial approach for LBP management highlights the need to understand the pain-related beliefs of patients and those who treat them. The beliefs held by healthcare professionals (HCPs) are known to influence the treatment advice given to patients and consequently management outcomes. Back pain beliefs are known to be influenced by factors such as culture, education, health literacy, place of work, personal experience of LBP and the sequelae of LBP such as disability. There is currently a knowledge gap among these relationships in non-western countries. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between LBP-related beliefs among Chinese HCPs and characteristics of these HCPs. Methods: A convenience sample of 432 HCPs working in various health settings in Shanghai, China, completed a series of questionnaires assessing their demographic characteristics, LBP status, pain-related disability and their beliefs about their own LBP experience, using the Back beliefs Questionnaire (BBQ) and the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ).Results: Younger Chinese HCPs (20–29 years) held more negative beliefs and attitudes related to LBP compared to older HCPs (>40years; BBQ mean difference [95% CI]: 2.4 [0.9 - 3.9], p = 0.001). HCPs working outside tertiary hospitals had poorer beliefs concerning the inevitable consequences of LBP (BBQ mean difference [95% CI]: -2.4 [-3.8 - -1.0], p = 0.001). HCPs who experienced LBP had higher level of fear avoidance beliefs when experiencing high LBP-related disability (FABQ-physical mean difference [95% CI]: 2.8 [1.5 - 4.1], p < 0.001; FABQ-work mean difference [95% CI]: 6.2 [4.0 - 8.4], p < 0.001)) and had lower level of fear avoidance beliefs if they had completed postgraduate study(FABQ-physical mean difference [95% CI]: 2.9 [-5.8 - 0.0], p = 0.049).Conclusion: This study suggests that LBP-related beliefs and attitudes among Chinese HCPs are influenced by age, location of work, level of LBP-related disability and education level. Understanding back pain beliefs of Chinese HCPs forms an important foundation for future studies into the condition and its management in China