Of Parasites, Mutations and Plagues. Notes on the Art of the Novel

Se maneja una concepción cientifista de la novela y acerca el proceder del creador de ficciones al del investigador y la novela es interpretada como si de un ser vivo se tratase para ser descrita con los ojos de un darvinista La novela es una especie que lucha por su supervivencia, aunque no hay peligro de extinción porque su capacidad de mutación es constante, y en la línea de su progreso evolutivo señala el último estado: la novela que une la ficción con el ensayo (Sebald, Marías, Magris, Coetzee, Del Paso, Vila-Matas, Pitol). La reflexión puede entenderse como un manifiesto.A scientific conception of the novel allows for an approximation of the procedures of creators of fiction and scientific researchers. The novel is interpreted as though it were a live being to be described with the eyes of a Darwinist. The novel is a species struggling to survive, although there is no risk of extinction due to its ability for constant mutation. In the most recent phase of its evolutionary progress, the novel unites fiction and essay (Sebald, Marías, Magris, Coetzee, Del Paso, Vila-Matas, Pitol). The reflections can be understood as a manifesto

Carlos Fuentes or the Defiance of Time

En este artículo se sitúan La Celestina y el Quijote como los dos pilares sobre los que se asienta la monumental Terra Nostra de Carlos Fuentes. La novela va en este caso mucho más allá del mero entretenimiento o de la adaptación al medio que la permita sobrevivir, se vuelve exigente y se erige en arquitectura verbal que trata de levantar toda una idea de la realidad y la ficción. Se revisa la magna novela del mexicano Carlos Fuentes. La primera parte refleja la corte imperial española y a sus artistas: el Greco, Velázquez, Zurbarán, los personajes imaginarios como el Lazarillo de Tormes. La segunda relata la creación del nuevo mundo. La tercera parte es interpretada en el artículo como la creación de un nuevo orden resultante de la fusión entre los dos mundos precedentes.According to this article, La Celestina and Don Quixote are the two columns which sustain Carlos Fuentes' monumental Terra Nostra. The novel goes far beyond mere entertainment or adaptation to the environment that allows it to survive; it becomes demanding and creates a verbal architecture which aims to offer an allencompassing idea of reality and fiction. This rereading of the Mexican's vast novel studies the way the first part reflects the Spanish imperial court and its artists: El Greco, Velázquez, Zurbarán, as well as imaginary characters such as Lazarillo de Tormes. The second part of the novel focuses on the new world. The third part is interpreted as the creation of a new order, which arises from the fusion of the two earlier worlds

Placing objects in context via inpainting for out-of-distribution segmentation

When deploying a semantic segmentation model into the real world, it will inevitably be confronted with semantic classes unseen during training. Thus, to safely deploy such systems, it is crucial to accurately evaluate and improve their anomaly segmentation capabilities. However, acquiring and labelling semantic segmentation data is expensive and unanticipated conditions are long-tail and potentially hazardous. Indeed, existing anomaly segmentation datasets capture a limited number of anomalies, lack realism or have strong domain shifts. In this paper, we propose the Placing Objects in Context (POC) pipeline to realistically add any object into any image via diffusion models. POC can be used to easily extend any dataset with an arbitrary number of objects. In our experiments, we present different anomaly segmentation datasets based on POC-generated data and show that POC can improve the performance of recent state-of-the-art anomaly fine-tuning methods in several standardized benchmarks. POC is also effective to learn new classes. For example, we use it to edit Cityscapes samples by adding a subset of Pascal classes and show that models trained on such data achieve comparable performance to the Pascal-trained baseline. This corroborates the low sim-to-real gap of models trained on POC-generated images

Virtual reality and behaviour management in paediatric dentistry: a systematic review

Background: Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as an innovative tool in medicine and dentistry, improving anxiety and pain management in children. The immersive and interactive environments of VR technology facilitate positive engagement of young patients during dental procedures via distraction, potentially reducing anxiety levels and improving treatment experience. The aim of this review was to provide current evidence-based guidance on the usage of VR in the clinical practice of paediatric dentistry. Methods: A systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines with the following research question using the PICO format: Does VR (I) effectively manage anxiety and pain (O) during a paediatric dental consultation (P) compared to alternative behavioural control techniques (C)? PubMed/Medline®, SCOPUS and Web of Science databases were searched and analysed. Results: A total of 22 randomised control trials were included in this review. These studies have shown that VR is a highly effective method of behaviour management, successfully alleviating pain and anxiety in children during dental treatment, surpassing traditional tools. Selected studies included participants with a large age range and dental procedures varied greatly, from first consultations to infiltration of local anaesthetic and other invasive procedures. VR was mostly used during treatment delivery and different immersive VR techniques were considered. Behaviour, anxiety and pain scales were used to determine efficacy and patient satisfaction. Conclusions: VR offers an engaging and immersive experience, effectively diverting patients' attention away from the clinical environment, fostering a positive and enjoyable treatment experience. However, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of existing studies and the need for further research to enhance the understanding of VR's full potential in paediatric dentistry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Oral health strategies: surveying the present to plan the future of community-based learning

Introduction: Oral health literacy relates to the capacity of individuals to acquire, understand and to act upon oral health information to make appropriate health decisions. This scientific review’s main goal is to analyze the strategies that improve oral health literacy within the community, specifically oriented to a community-based learning model focused on the most vulnerable risk groups in society. Materials and Methods: The current review is based on the literature on oral health literacy within community-based learning strategies. The present review selected scientific studies by searching MEDLINE and related databases, such as Web of Science and PUBMED, and by consulting existing bibliographies. Results: Based on the application of the inclusion criteria to the abstracts, 45 publications were retrieved which explicitly dealt with the definitions of oral health literacy, community-based learning, and service learning. Several studies have demonstrated that health consumers with low health literacy fail to understand the available health information. Therefore, innovative oral health literacy strategies should be undertaken. Service learning is an example of an educational approach where the student learns specific soft skills in the classroom and collaborates directly with an agency or institution and engages in reflection activities to deepen their understanding of what is being taught. Conclusions: One of the main strategies used to incorporate the oral health professional in social responsibility and direct contact in the community is through experiencing community-based learning projects. The future graduate must be an educator capable of educating patients in order to themselves acquire high-level skills in oral health literacy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Desempenho operacional e energético de um trator agrícola durante operação de gradagem

Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a capacidade de campo efetiva e o consumo operacional de combustível de um trator agrícola, utilizando diferentes tamanhos de grades niveladoras e velocidades de trabalho, durante a operação de gradagem. O experimento foi conduzido sobre solo classificado como Argissolo Vermelho distrófico arênico, com delineamento experimental em blocos ao acaso e três repetições, totalizando 27 unidades experimentais. Utilizaram-se três grades niveladoras leves de 28, 32 e 36 discos acopladas, por meio da barra de tração, em um trator agrícola, com potência máxima no motor de 57,5 kW (78,2 cv). Os dados foram registrados por meio de instrumentação eletrônica instalada no trator. Nestas condições, os resultados indicam que, tecnicamente, a maior velocidade compensa a menor largura de trabalho, porém trabalhar com grade mais larga e com menor velocidade, proporciona economia de combustível, tornando a operação de gradagem mais eficiente economicamente

Desempenho operacional e energético de um trator agrícola durante operação de gradagem

Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a capacidade de campo efetiva e o consumo operacional de combustível de um trator agrícola, utilizando diferentes tamanhos de grades niveladoras e velocidades de trabalho, durante a operação de gradagem. O experimento foi conduzido sobre solo classificado como Argissolo Vermelho distrófico arênico, com delineamento experimental em blocos ao acaso e três repetições, totalizando 27 unidades experimentais. Utilizaram-se três grades niveladoras leves de 28, 32 e 36 discos acopladas, por meio da barra de tração, em um trator agrícola, com potência máxima no motor de 57,5 kW (78,2 cv). Os dados foram registrados por meio de instrumentação eletrônica instalada no trator. Nestas condições, os resultados indicam que, tecnicamente, a maior velocidade compensa a menor largura de trabalho, porém trabalhar com grade mais larga e com menor velocidade, proporciona economia de combustível, tornando a operação de gradagem mais eficiente economicamente

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration