Emotions as an Intervening Variable in the Creative Process

This thesis explored the impact that emotionally laden stimuli had on individuals’ creative process and creative products as assessed by independent domain experts. Sixtyfive undergraduate students were randomly separated into three treatment conditions and instructed to create an artistic collage composition on the theme of New Year’s Eve. Two of the treatment groups received, in addition to the general instructions set, a text based priming stimulus that was either an emotionally laden narrative or factual narrative about New Year’s Eve. All participants were asked to complete a task reflection questionnaire and the FourSight cognitive style measure. Using the Consensual Assessment Technique framework, six independent domain experts rated each collage in 18 distinct dimensions including Creativity. Although there was no significant difference in the Creativity Scale score between the three treatments groups (the group that received the emotional narrative was hypothesized to outperform the other two groups), an interaction effect emerged between the presence of the emotionally laden narrative and two of FourSight’s cognitive style preferences, which modulated creative performance. Implications of these findings are discussed as well as limitations and recommendations for future research efforts in the topic of emotion and creative cognition

Self-Repairable Smart Grids Via Online Coordination of Smart Transformers

The introduction of active devices in Smart Grids, such as smart transformers, powered by intelligent software and networking capabilities, brings paramount opportunities for online automated control and regulation. However, online mitigation of disruptive events, such as cascading failures, is challenging. Local intelligence by itself cannot tackle such complex collective phenomena with domino effects. Collective intelligence coordinating rapid mitigation actions is required. This paper introduces analytical results from which two optimization strategies for self-repairable Smart Grids are derived. These strategies build a coordination mechanism for smart transformers that runs in three healing modes and performs collective decision-making of the phase angles in the lines of a transmission system to improve reliability under disruptive events, i.e., line failures causing cascading failures. Experimental evaluation using self-repairability envelopes in different case networks, ac power flows, and varying number of smart transformers confirms that the higher the number of smart transformers participating in the coordination, the higher the reliability and the capability of a network to self-repair

Deslizamiento de cobertura en el Sinclinorio Mesocenozoico de Sevaruyo-Rio Mulato (Altiplano central de Bolivia)

Una cuenca cenozoica muy subsidente caracteriza al sector septentrional del Altiplano de Bolivia, mientras que otras con menor subsidencia, ocupan el sector meridional. En la region central del Altiplano, un potente conjunto de capas meso-cenozoicas era considerado como el relleno de la "Cuenca de Sevaruyo-Rio Mulato", deformado en un amplio sinclinorio al oeste de la Cordillera Oriental. Interpretamos este conjunt plegado como el resultado de un deslizamiento plurikilometrico de la cobertura de Cretacico superior-Paleogeno, la cual resbala desde el margen occidental de la Cordillera Oriental (collapse). El deslizamiento y el plegamiento de esta cobertura se realizan mediante un despegue en la capas saliferas de Turoniano (Fm. Aroifilla). El transporte, hacia el oeste, es sincronico de la sedimentacion de las capas continentales del Paleogeno y pp Mioceno. A fines del Oligoceno, las discordancias angulares y las intercalaciones de conglomerados con clastos de Cretacico y de Palezoico marcan una etapa dentro de un proceso continuo de deformacion, erosion y sedimentacion durante el cual un hundimiento progresivo, al oeste, esta acompa¤ado de un levantamiento al este. El basculamiento de un bloque plurikilometrico de la corteza puede explicar, a la vez: 1) el deslizamiento hacia el oeste de la cobertura de un dominio positovo oriental, 2) la fuerte disimetria de la "Cuenca" cenozoica occidental, y 3) el relleno progresivo de dicho dominio subsidente porlos productos de la erosion de los sectores elevados. El proceso esta marcado por la sucesiva erosion y resedimentacion de las capas rojas del Paleoceno-Eoceno, luego del Cretacico y, despues, del Paleozoico. La deformacion gravitacional, la erosion y la subsidencia disimetrica resultarian de la evolucion geodinamica del antepais de un importante cabalgamiento del "Macizo Precambrico de Arequipa". Progresando del oeste hacia el este durante el Paleogeno, el bloque Precambrico de Arequipa se superpone y sobrecarga al margen occidental de un bloque de Precambrico y Hercinico mas oriental, el cual esta, a su vez, empujado, flexurado y basculado. Dicho bloque oriental, en relevo (piggyback sequence), forma otro gran cabalgamiento cortical hacia el este. El basculamiento de este bloque constituye el origen del despegue y del deslizamiento de la cobertura de Cretacico terminal-Paleogeno, que preceden la erosion del sustrato Paleozoico-Cretacico inferior en el sector oriental elevado, fuente principal de los aportes en la potente sedimentacion observada en el dominio occidental en proceso de hundimiento. (Résumé d'auteur)

Meis3 is required for neural crest invasion of the gut during zebrafish enteric nervous system development

During development, vagal neural crest cells fated to contribute to the enteric nervous system migrate ventrally away from the neural tube toward and along the primitive gut. The molecular mechanisms that regulate their early migration en route to and entry into the gut remain elusive. Here, we show that the transcription factor meis3 is expressed along vagal neural crest pathways. Meis3 loss of function results in a reduction in migration efficiency, cell number and the mitotic activity of neural crest cells in the vicinity of the gut, while having no effect on neural crest or gut specification. Later, during enteric nervous system differentiation, Meis3 depleted embryos exhibit colonic aganglionosis, a disorder in which the hindgut is devoid of neurons. Accordingly, the expression of Shh pathway components, previously shown to have a role in the etiology of Hirschsprung's disease, was misregulated within the gut following loss of Meis3. Taken together, these findings support a model in which Meis3 is required for neural crest proliferation, migration into and colonization of the gut such that its loss leads to severe defects in enteric nervous system development

The complete mitogenome of the trilobite beetle, Platerodrilus sp. (Elateroidea: Lycidae)

The nucleotide sequence of the complete mitogenome of the trilobite beetle, Platerodrilus sp. was determined. This is the first complete mitogenome reported for the family Lycidae (Elateroidea: Coleoptera). The newly determined sequence is 16,394 bp long and shows a relatively high AT content (76.2%). The gene arrangement of the trilobite beetle mt genome is the same found in other related beetle mitogenomes. The reconstructed tree recovered Elateroidea as a strongly supported monophyletic group but could not resolve phylogenetic relationships among studied elateroid families, including Lycidae.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, 10.13039/501100004837 [CGL2013-45211-C2-2-P], [BES-2011-051469,CGL2013-45211-C2-2-P] and [CGL2015-66571-P MINECO/FEDER].Peer reviewe

Colombia y el dilema clásico del apoyo cinematográfico

El cine ha experimentado un crecimiento considerable en Colombia en los últimos 15 años, particularmente a partir de la Ley del Cine (Ley nº 814, 2003) que permitió y promovió el desarrollo de películas colombianas, a la vez que fomentó distintas etapas de creación y distribución audiovisual. No obstante, el incremento en producciones y algunos éxitos de taquilla no significan que el cine nacional haya devenido en una industria sólida, rentable y culturalmente consolidada. Por otra parte, más recientemente, una nueva política cultural, amparada en el interés económico de corto plazo, busca atraer inversión extranjera en el audiovisual a través de ventajas económicas y tributarias enmarcadas en la Ley Location Colombia (Ley nº1556, 2012). Está Ley ha sido considerada un éxito el Ministerio de Cultura, aunque sus réditos no se han probado como sostenibles más allá del beneficio temporal en términos de empleo y ocupación hotelera. El desarrollo del cine nacional y la ejecución de estas dos leyes evidencian el cambio de discurso entre la industria cultural y la industria creativa, con un énfasis marcado en el interés económico por encima del beneficio social y cultural

Beyond Conus: Phylogenetic relationships of Conidae based on complete mitochondrial genomes

Understanding how the extraordinary taxonomic and ecological diversity of cone snails (Caenogastropoda: Conidae) evolved requires a statistically robust phylogenetic framework, which thus far is not available. While recent molecular phylogenies have been able to distinguish several deep lineages within the family Conidae, including the genera Profundiconus, Californiconus, Conasprella, and Conus (and within this one, several subgenera), phylogenetic relationships among these genera remain elusive. Moreover, the possibility that additional deep lineages may exist within the family is open. Here, we reconstructed with probabilistic methods a molecular phylogeny of Conidae using the newly sequenced complete or nearly complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes of the following nine species that represent all main Conidae lineages and potentially new ones: Profundiconus teramachii, Californiconus californicus, Conasprella wakayamaensis, Lilliconus sagei, Pseudolilliconus traillii, Conus (Kalloconus) venulatus, Conus (Lautoconus) ventricosus, Conus (Lautoconus) hybridus, and Conus (Eugeniconus) nobilis. To test the monophyly of the family, we also sequenced the nearly complete mt genomes of the following three species representing closely related conoidean families: Benthomangelia sp. (Mangeliidae), Tomopleura sp. (Borsoniidae), and Glyphostoma sp. (Clathurellidae). All newly sequenced conoidean mt genomes shared a relatively constant gene order with rearrangements limited to tRNA genes. The reconstructed phylogeny recovered with high statistical support the monophyly of Conidae and phylogenetic relationships within the family. The genus Profundiconus was placed as sister to the remaining genera. Within these, a clade including Californiconus and Lilliconus + Pseudolilliconus was the sister group of Conasprella to the exclusion of Conus. The phylogeny included a new lineage whose relative phylogenetic position was unknown (Lilliconus) and uncovered thus far hidden diversity within the family (Pseudolilliconus). Moreover, reconstructed phylogenetic relationships allowed inferring that the peculiar diet of Californiconus based on worms, mollusks, crustaceans and fish is derived, and reinforce the hypothesis that the ancestor of Conidae was a worm hunter. A chronogram was reconstructed under an uncorrelated relaxed molecular clock, which dated the origin of the family shortly after the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (about 59 million years ago) and the divergence among main lineages during the Paleocene and the Eocene (56–30 million years ago).This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation – Spain (CGL2010-18216 and CGL2013-45211-C2-2-P to RZ; BES-2011-051469 to JEU),Peer Reviewe

Quasinodal lines in rhombohedral magnetic materials

A well-established result in condensed matter physics states that materials crystallizing in symmetry groups containing glide reflection symmetries possess nodal lines on the energy bands. These nodal lines are topologically protected and appear on the fixed planes of the reflection in reciprocal space. In the presence of inversion symmetry, the energy bands are degenerate and the band crossings on the fixed plane may be one-dimensional, or may intersect in points, including the case of empty intersection. In the latter case, the crossing is partially or totally avoided, thus producing lines on reciprocal space where the energy gap may be small, and in the former, the nodal lines will endure, thus producing Dirac or double nodal lines. In addition, if the material crystallizes in a ferromagnetic phase where the glide reflection symmetry is broken, the nodal lines hybridize, thus defining lines in reciprocal space where the energy gap may be small. In this work, we concentrate our efforts on the study of nodal lines that hybridize due to magnetization; we have coined the term of quasinodal lines for those lines in reciprocal space where the energy gap is small (less than what can be detected experimentally ∼25 meV). We study magnetic trifluorides and trioxides which crystallize in magnetic space groups 167.107 and 161.71 and we show the existence of quasinodal lines on these materials. We furthermore show that whenever the quasinodal lines are located around the Fermi level then interesting charge and spin transport effects are induced and can be used to detect experimentally these lines. Of particular interest are the half-metallic ferromagnetic phases of PdF3 and LiCuF3 where the large signal of the anomalous Hall conductance is due to the presence of the quasinodal lines on the Fermi level

Topological electronic structure and Weyl points in nonsymmorphic hexagonal materials

Using topological band theory analysis we show that the nonsymmorphic symmetry operations in hexagonal lattices enforce Weyl points at the screw-invariant high-symmetry lines of the band structure. The corepresentation theory and connectivity group theory show that Weyl points are generated by band crossings in accordion-like and hourglass-like dispersion relations. These Weyl points are stable against weak perturbations and are protected by the screw rotation symmetry. Based on first-principles calculations we found a complete agreement between the topological predicted energy dispersion relations and real hexagonal materials. Topological charge (chirality) and Berry curvature calculations show the simultaneous formation of Weyl points and nodal-lines in 4d transition-metal trifluorides such as AgF3 and AuF3. Furthermore, a large intrinsic spin-Hall conductivity was found due to the combined strong spin-orbit coupling and multiple Weyl-point crossings in the electronic structure. These materials could be used to the spin/charge conversion in more energy-efficient spintronic devices