El biomorfismo en la pintura abstracta contemporánea

En la pintura abstracta contemporánea es notoria la presencia de algunos artistas que utilizan formas que evocan los contornos, las estructuras y los procesos del mundo natural en sus obras. Estas formas, tienen su razón de ser en las configuraciones visibles e invisibles, cercanas o lejanas, microscópicas y macroscópicas del cuerpo humano, las plantas, los animales o el universo. En esta investigación se analiza la premisa según la cual el arte y la ciencia han mantenido una larga relación histórica, que podría interpretarse bajo dos vertientes: el primer camino es el trazado por la idea de visualización y divulgación de la ciencia, la cual se refiere a la traducción en imágenes de teorías científicas; imágenes que en muchos casos han sido realizadas mediante las habilidades plásticas de los artistas; la segunda vía de interpretación puede ser abierta a través del valor estético de la propia imagen científica, que como elemento visual, de gran valor comunicativo, ha inspirado a la propia disciplina artística en diferentes momentos de la historia. La investigación se fundamenta en la propuesta teórica de los autores: Oliver Botar, Isabel Wunsche y Lynn Gamwell, quienes han postulado que el origen de la abstracción pictórica está vinculado a las corrientes de pensamiento biocentristas y la divulgación científica. Se entiende por biocentrismo aquellas ideas que sitúan a la naturaleza y sus procesos como eje principal y fuente de inspiración en la producción artística. De acuerdo con ello, se examina el concepto de forma orgánica difundido por el organicismo y la crítica literaria de mediados del siglo XVIII..

Membrana pupilar persistente

La persistencia de la membrana pupilar es una de las alteraciones congénitas oculares más frecuente en los pequeños animales. En este artículo se hace una revisión de las manifestaciones clínicas más frecuentes de esta patología.The persistence of the pupillary membrane is one of the most common congenital ocular anomalies in small animals. In this article a review of the principal clinical signs of this alteration is made

Los modelos DSGE: una respuesta de la discusión macroeconómica.

Los modelos de Equilibrio General Dinámico Estocástico (DSGE), parten de la teoría de equilibrio general aplicado que tiene influencia en la macroeconomía contemporánea. Su metodología explica los fenómenos económicos agregados, derivados de los principios microeconómicos y, como elemento especial se tiene que no son vulnerables a la crítica de Lucas. Además, toman en cuenta que la economía se ve afectada por perturbaciones aleatorias. En esta dirección, su análisis de tipo empírico apunta hacia la búsqueda de los elementos generadores de las fluctuaciones económicas. En este trabajo se presenta una revisión de literatura sobre la discusión teórica de las fluctuaciones económicas, con el fin de reflexionar acerca del desarrollo de la macroeconomía moderna, culminando dicha reflexión con un una reseña de los DSGE.Models of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) are based on the theory of general equilibrium that influences contemporary macroeconomics. This instrument explains the aggregate economic phenomena derived from microeconomic principles, and, as a special characteristic, the DSGE models are not vulnerable to the Lucas critique. Also, those consider that the economy is affected by random shocks. In this sense, empirical analysis seeks for the sources of economic fluctuations. This paper presents an overview of the theoretical literature on economic fluctuations in order to reflect on the development of modern macroeconomics, the reflection culminating with an overview of the DSG

Maggie: A Social Robot as a Gaming Platform

Edutainment robots are robots designed to participate in people's education and in their entertainment. One of the tasks of edutainment robots is to play with their human partners, but most of them offer a limited pool of games. Moreover, it is difficult to add new games to them. This lack of flexibility could shorten their life cycle. This paper presents a social robot on which several robotic games have been developed. Our robot uses a flexible and modular architecture that allows the creation of new skills by the composition of existing and simpler skills. With this architecture, the development of a new game mainly consists in the composition of the skills that are needed for this specific game. In this paper, we present the robot, its hardware and its software architecture, including its interaction capabilities. We also provide a detailed description of the development of five of the games the robot can play.The authors gratefully acknowledge the funds provided by the Spanish MICINN (Ministry of Science and Innovation) through the project "A new Approach to Social Robotics (AROS)". The research leading to these results has also received funding from the RoboCity2030-II-CM project(S2009/DPI-1559), funded by Programas de Actividades I+D en la Comunidad de Madrid and cofunded by Structural Funds ofthe EU

Dynamic media stream mobility with TURN

Multi party videoconference systems use MCU (Multipoint Control Unit) devices to forward media streams. In this paper we describe a mechanism that allows the mobility of such streams between MCU devices. This mobility is especially useful when redistribution of streams is needed due to scalability requirements. These requirements are mandatory in Cloud scenarios to adapt the number of MCUs and their capabilities to variations in the user demand. Our mechanism is based on TURN (Traversal Using Relay around NAT) standard and adapts MICE (Mobility with ICE) specification to the requirements of this kind of scenarios. We conclude that this mechanism achieves the stream mobility in a transparent way for client nodes and without interruptions for the users

dOTM: a mechanism for distributing centralized multi-party video conferencing in the cloud

One of the key factors for a given application to take advantage of cloud computing is the ability to scale in an efficient, fast and reliable way. In centralized multi-party video conferencing, dynamically scaling a running conversation is a complex problem. In this paper we propose a methodology to divide the Multipoint Control Unit (the video conferencing server) into more simple units, broadcasters. Each broadcaster receives the media from a participant, processes it and forwards it to the rest. These broadcasters can be distributed among a group of CPUs. By using this methodology, video conferencing systems can scale in a more granular way, improving the deployment

Can the life-history strategy explain the success of the exotic trees Ailanthus altissima and Robinia pseudoacacia in Iberian floodplain forests?

Ailanthus altissima and Robina pseudoacacia are two successful invasive species of floodplains in central Spain. We aim to explain their success as invaders in this habitat by exploring their phenological pattern, vegetative and sexual reproductive growth, and allometric relations, comparing them with those of the dominant native tree Populus alba. During a full annual cycle we follow the timing of vegetative growth, flowering, fruit set, leaf abscission and fruit dispersal. Growth was assessed by harvesting two-year old branches at the peaks of vegetative, flower and fruit production and expressing the mass of\ud current-year leaves, stems, inflorescences and infrutescences per unit of previous-year stem mass. Secondary growth was\ud assessed as the increment of trunk basal area per previous-year basal area. A. altissima and R. pseudoacacia showed\ud reproductive traits (late flowering phenology, insect pollination, late and long fruit set period, larger seeds) different from P. alba and other native trees, which may help them to occupy an empty reproductive niche and benefit from a reduced competition for the resources required by reproductive growth. The larger seeds of the invaders may make them less dependent on gaps for seedling establishment. If so, these invaders may benefit from the reduced gap formation rate of flood-regulated rivers of the study region. The two invasive species showed higher gross production than the native, due to the higher size of pre-existing stems rather than to a faster relative growth rate. The latter was only higher in A. altissima for stems, and in R. pseudoacacia for reproductive organs. A. altissima and R. pseudoacacia showed the lowest and highest reproductive/vegetative mass ratio, respectively. Therefore, A. altissima may outcompete native P. alba trees thanks to a high potential to overtop coexisting plants whereas R. pseudoacacia may do so by means of a higher investment in sexual reproduction

Impacto de acciones de Educación Ambiental en la comunidad “Semilla” con apoyo de Metodología Mapa Verde

The concern for the environment has been present in humanity for generations. The effort to perceive and understand environmental problems becomes increasingly complex because it encompasses a greater degree of economic, ethical, political and social impact, depending on its solution, on human existence itself. The objective of this work is to expose the positive impacts that have made possible the mitigation of environmental problems in the "Semilla" community, based on the application of environmental education actions supported by the Green Map Methodology. Theoretical, empirical methods and tools were used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the information. The protagonism of the social actors in the management of the environmental education process supported by the Green Map methodology; It becomes an effective tool to promote environmental education actions, imposing new challenges in the formation of socially friendly citizens with the environment. The activities developed allowed raising the level of knowledge and commitment in the integration of the work of the community. The actions of environmental education constituted a powerful instrument, from the direction of promotion, training and participation, in a creative way, acting in a committed, conscious and critical way, to achieve the transformation of their environment according to their needs and aspirations through the protagonist participation of people. This practice favored a construction-reconstruction of power that benefits the organization and functioning of the communities in a fair and equal way from the daily practice in their know-how and know how to behave in society.La preocupación por el entorno ha estado presente en la humanidad por generaciones. El esfuerzo por percibir y entender los problemas ambientales se vuelve cada vez más compleja por abarcar un mayor grado de incidencia en lo económico, ético, político y social, dependiendo su solución, de la propia existencia humana. El trabajo tiene como objetivo exponer los impactos positivos que han posibilitado la mitigación de la problemática ambiental en la comunidad “Semilla”, a partir de la aplicación de acciones de educación ambiental apoyado en Metodología Mapa Verde. Se emplearon métodos teóricos, empíricos y herramientas para el análisis cualitativo y cuantitativo de la información. El protagonismo de los actores sociales en la gestión del proceso de la educación ambiental apoyada en la metodología de Mapa Verde; se convierte en herramienta eficaz para fomentar acciones de educación ambiental, imponiendo nuevos retos en la formación de ciudadanos socialmente amigables con el medio ambiente. Las actividades desarrolladas, permitieron elevar el nivel de conocimiento y compromiso en la integración del trabajo de la comunidad. Las acciones de educación ambiental constituyeron un poderoso instrumento, desde la dirección de promoción, capacitación y participación, de forma creadora, actuando de manera comprometida, consciente y crítica, para lograr la transformación de su entorno según sus necesidades y aspiraciones mediante la participación protagónica de las personas. Ésta práctica favoreció una construcción-reconstrucción de poder que beneficia la organización y funcionamiento de las comunidades de forma justa e igualitaria desde la práctica cotidiana en su saber hacer y saber comportarse en sociedad

Applications and Trends in Social Robotics

The study has received funding from two projects: Development of social robots to help seniors with cognitive impairment (ROBSEN), financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy; and RoboCity2030-IIICM, funded by the Comunidad de Madrid and co-financed by the European Union Structural Funds