«Social policing strategies» and «social security practices»: a look at the metamorphosis of the repressive mechanisms in neo-colonial contexts

En el contexto de las sociedades latinoamericanas contemporáneas, la continuidad productiva y reproductiva del capital ha requerido una profunda metamorfosis en los dispositivos de regulación represiva. Este proceso se fundamenta en la importancia de regular las expresiones conflictuales de los sectores expulsados. Con el propósito de profundizar sobre este fenómeno, proponemos abordar dos caras de las modalidades de represión, las estrategias de policiación de la sociedad y las prácticas de securitización ciudadana, considerando como caso paradigmático su expresión concreta en la ciudad de San Luis, Argentina. En función de este objetivo, en primer lugar marcamos las conexiones teóricas entre situaciones de expulsión y modernización de la maquinaria estatal represiva en la región; luego reconstruimos algunas de las transformaciones en política de seguridad en la ciudad de San Luis, enfatizando el proceso creciente de policiación de la sociedad; finalmente, exploramos la cotidianeidad de las estrategias de securitización en tanto prácticas extendidas entre la ciudadanía. El análisis propuesto se basa en la revisión de datos secundarios (bibliografía especializada, estadísticas, informes y documentos oficiales) y su cruce con la descripción de entrevistas realizadas a residentes locales. De aquí surgen vínculos interpretativos entre los actuales cambios en el contexto social y la presencia de los ciudadanos como actores que gestionan la seguridad, llevando adelante modalidades de provisión y previsión de riesgos basados en la privatización de la represión.In the current context of Latin American societies, the production and reproduction of capitalism has required a metamorphosis in repressive control devices. This process seeks to regulate conflicting expressions of the sectors that have been expelled. In order to study this phenomenon, we propose to investigate two contemporary forms of repression strategies: «social policing strategies» and «social security practices», considering its paradigmatic expression in the city of San Luis, Argentina. First, we will see the theoretical connections between situations of expulsion and modernization of the state machinery of repression in the region; then we will explain some of the changes in security policy in the city of San Luis, emphasizing the growing process of «social policing strategies». And finally, we will explore the «social security practices» among citizens. The proposed analysis is based on a review of secondary data (literature, statistics, reports and official documents) in an intersection with interviews with local residents. Through this process, we will establish an interpretive link between changes in the social context and the presence of citizens as actors who manage security, carrying out modalities of provision against risks based on the privatization of repression.Fil: Seveso Zanin, Emilio José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudio Sobre Cultura y Sociedad; ArgentinaFil: Lisdero, Pedro Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudio Sobre Cultura y Sociedad; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentin

Information content: assessing meso-scale structures in complex networks

We propose a novel measure to assess the presence of meso-scale structures in complex networks. This measure is based on the identification of regular patterns in the adjacency matrix of the network, and on the calculation of the quantity of information lost when pairs of nodes are iteratively merged. We show how this measure is able to quantify several meso-scale structures, like the presence of modularity, bipartite and core-periphery configurations, or motifs. Results corresponding to a large set of real networks are used to validate its ability to detect non-trivial topological patterns.Comment: Published as: M. Zanin, P. A. Sousa and E. Menasalvas, Information content: assessing meso-scale structures in complex networks EPL 106 (3), (2014) 3000

Permutation entropy applied to the characterization of the clinical evolution of epileptic patients under pharmacological treatment

Different techniques originated in information theory and tools from nonlinear systems theory have been applied to the analysis of electro-physiological time series. Several clinically relevant results have emerged from the use of concepts, such as entropy, chaos and complexity, in analyzing electrocardiograms and electroencephalographic (EEG) records. In this work, we develop a method based on permutation entropy (PE) to characterize EEG records from different stages in the treatment of a chronic epileptic patient. Our results show that the PE is useful for clearly quantifying the evolution of the patient along a certain lapse of time and allows visualizing in a very convenient way the effects of the pharmacotherapy.publishedVersionFil: Mateos, Diego. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina.Fil: Díaz, Juan Manuel. Instituto Privado de Neurociencias; Argentina.Fil: Lamberti, Pedro Walter. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina.Fil: Lamberti, Pedro Walter. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaOtras Ciencias Física

Laser therapy in the treatment of dentine hypersensitivity

Cervical dentine hypersensitivity is the most frequent complaint among reported odontalgias. Thus, this study evaluated the effectiveness of two types of lasers (660 nm wavelength red, and 830 nm wavelength infrared) as dentine desensitizers, as well as both the immediate and late therapeutic effects in individuals 25 to 45 years of age. A total of 40 teeth with cervical exposure were treated in 4 sessions. They were divided into 2 groups according to treatment. A 660 nm wavelength red diode laser and an 830 nm wavelength infrared diode laser were used. Dentine sensitivity to cold nociceptive stimulus was evaluated by means of a pain numeric scale from zero to 10 before each treatment session, at 15 and 30 min after irradiation, and in a follow-up period of 15, 30 and 60 days after the end of treatment. Significant levels of dentinal desensitization were only found in patients ranging in age from 25 to 35 years. The 660 nm red diode laser was more effective than the 830 nm infrared laser and a higher level of desensitization was observed at the 15 and 30 minute post-irradiation examinations. The immediate and late therapeutic effects of the 660 nm red diode laser were more evident in 25-35-year-old patients compared with those of the 830 nm infrared diode laser, in terms of the different age groups.A hipersensibilidade dentinária cervical é a queixa mais frequente entre os relatos de odontalgia. Este estudo avaliou a eficácia de dois tipos de lasers, vermelho com 660nm e infravermelho com 830nm de comprimento de onda, como dessensibilizadores dentinários, como também os efeitos terapêuticos imediato e tardio em indivíduos de 25 a 45 anos de idade. Um total de 40 dentes com exposição cervical foram tratados em 4 sessões, divididos em 2 grupos - laser vermelho e infravermelho. A sensibilidade dentinária ao estímulo nociceptivo frio foi avaliada por meio de uma escala numérica de dor, de 0 a 10, antes de cada sessão de tratamento, aos 15 e 30 minutos após a irradiação e num período de seguimento de 15, 30 e 60 dias após o término do tratamento. Níveis significantes de dessensibilização dentinária foram apenas encontrados em pacientes com idade entre 25 a 35 anos. O laser díodo vermelho de 660nm foi mais eficaz comparado com laser infravermelho de 830nm e foi observado um nível mais alto de dessensibilização nas mensurações realizadas aos 15 e 30 minutos após irradiação. O efeito terapêutico imediato e tardio do laser díodo vermelho de 660nm é maior quando comparado com o infravermelho de 830nm em ambas faixas etárias.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Federal University of São Paulo EPMFederal University of Bahia School of Dentistry Laser CenterCamilo Castelo Branco University Laser CenterUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

Knowledge Discovery in Spectral Data by Means of Complex Networks

In the last decade, complex networks have widely been applied to the study of many natural and man-made systems, and to the extraction of meaningful information from the interaction structures created by genes and proteins. Nevertheless, less attention has been devoted to metabonomics, due to the lack of a natural network representation of spectral data. Here we define a technique for reconstructing networks from spectral data sets, where nodes represent spectral bins, and pairs of them are connected when their intensities follow a pattern associated with a disease. The structural analysis of the resulting network can then be used to feed standard data-mining algorithms, for instance for the classification of new (unlabeled) subjects. Furthermore, we show how the structure of the network is resilient to the presence of external additive noise, and how it can be used to extract relevant knowledge about the development of the disease

Feature selection in the reconstruction of complex network representations of spectral data

Complex networks have been extensively used in the last decade to characterize and analyze complex systems, and they have been recently proposed as a novel instrument for the analysis of spectra extracted from biological samples. Yet, the high number of measurements composing spectra, and the consequent high computational cost, make a direct network analysis unfeasible. We here present a comparative analysis of three customary feature selection algorithms, including the binning of spectral data and the use of information theory metrics. Such algorithms are compared by assessing the score obtained in a classification task, where healthy subjects and people suffering from different types of cancers should be discriminated. Results indicate that a feature selection strategy based on Mutual Information outperforms the more classical data binning, while allowing a reduction of the dimensionality of the data set in two orders of magnitud

PROPOSTA DE GEL HIGIENIZANTE BUCAL PARA CÃES À BASE DE FITOTERÁPICOS COM POLÍMERO LIVRE DE BENZENO

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo realizar o estudo de possíveis bases para formulação de gel higienizante bucal de cães, prevenindo assim periodontite, gengivite e outros possíveis problemas bucais. A metodologia do trabalho foi por meio de revisão bibliográfica para verificar quais os principais tipos de Carbopol® utilizados no desenvolvimento de géis para a formulação, principais características físico-químicas do Carbopol® presença ou não de resíduos de benzeno na fabricação dos polímeros, preocupando-se e verificando os principais problemas de saúde do uso de produtos com presença de benzeno, independentemente da quantidade. Verificou-se os principais produtos em formulações de géis para limpeza, e por fim, após a análise dos dados obtidos realizou-se uma sugestão de uma formulação de gel para limpeza bucal de cães, com eficácia e sem riscos à saúde com o uso prolongado