Symplectic resolutions, Lefschetz property and formality

We introduce a method to resolve a symplectic orbifold into a smooth symplectic manifold. Then we study how the formality and the Lefschetz property of the symplectic resolution are compared with that of the symplectic orbifold. We also study the formality of the symplectic blow-up of a symplectic orbifold along symplectic submanifolds disjoint from the orbifold singularities. This allows us to construct the first example of a simply connected compact symplectic manifold of dimension 8 which satisfies the Lefschetz property but is not formal, therefore giving a counter-example to a conjecture of Babenko and Taimanov.Comment: 21 pages, no figure

Comparative analysis of two genomic regions among four strains of Buchnera aphidicola, primary endosymbiont of aphids.

Preliminary analysis of two selected genomic regions of Buchnera aphidicola BCc, the primary endosymbiont of the cedar aphid Cinara cedri, has revealed a number of interesting features when compared with the corresponding homologous regions of the three B. aphidicola genomes previously sequenced, that are associated with different aphid species. Both regions exhibit a significant reduction in length and gene number in B. aphidicola BCc, as it could be expected since it possess the smallest bacterial genome. However, the observed genome reduction is not even in both regions, as it appears to be dependent on the nature of their gene content. The region fpr-trxA, that contains mainly metabolic genes, has lost almost half of its genes (45.6%) and has reduced 52.9% its length. The reductive process in the region rrl-aroK, that contains mainly ribosomal protein genes, is less dramatic, since it has lost 9.3% of genes and has reduced 15.5% of its length. Length reduction is mainly due to the loss of protein-coding genes, not to the shortening of ORFs or intergenic regions. In both regions, G+C content is about 4% lower in BCc than in the other B. aphidicola strains. However, when only conserved genes and intergenic regions of the four B. aphidicola strains are compared, the G+C reduction is higher in the fpr-trxA region

La pràctica artística com a eina de creació de coneixement en alumnat amb necessitats educatives

Treball final de Grau en Mestre o Mestra de Educació Primària. Codi: MP1040. Curs acadèmic 2016-2017Es evident, que l’Educació Artística té cada vegada menys presència a les aules i als programes curriculars. Aquesta situació es veu que s’agreuxa a mesura que avancem en el temps. Considerem que aquesta situació és fruit del fet d’infravalorar les capacitats d’aquesta àrea de coneixement per a generar una estructura intel·lectual pròpia i col·lectiva en el context educatiu. L’objectiu d’aquest treball és demostrar a través d’una experiència pràctica, que l’Educació Plàstica és una ferramenta amb moltes capacitats per a treballar les necessitats d’anàlisi i crítica de l’alumnat en la seua vida quotidiana i que a més a més és l’única que abasta el fet visual com a llenguatge. Per tal de dur a terme el raonament que plantegem, primer presentem un anàlisi crític de les metodologies actuals dintre de l’aula, concretament l’ús del mètode CLIL com un dels recursos que més s’empren en l’actualitat; en segon lloc enraonem al voltant de la necessitat de renovar l’Educació Plàstica per complet, des del currículum fins la metodologia tradicional de producció i repetició, la qual podem identificar com a pedagogia tòxica; i en tercer lloc, i per concloure, presentem una proposta didàctica que integra el posicionament discursiu cap a la cultura visual que hauria d’estar present en la vida docent d’aquesta àrea de coneixement

Cooperative R&D with Endogenous Technology Differentiation

The choice of a particular technology when there is a set of them available to firms has not appeared in the R&D literature yet. We show some examples and present a model in which firms choose their technologies from a continuum of available profiles and the resulting spillovers depend on the compatibility among firms' R&D technologies. Our results indicate that non-cooperating firms are interested in using the same or very similar technologies. Therefore firms seek to establish coordination mechanisms such as patent pools or Research Joint Ventures. A RJV leads to higher levels of social welfare than patent pools or the non-cooperative case.r&d rjv patent pools cooperation

Primer hilo musical después de la guerra: el circuito perifónico de José Val del Omar en Valencia

La obra del granadino José Val del Omar (1904-1982), cineasta e inventor entre un largo etcétera de ocupaciones, fue tan genial y visionaria como sistemáticamente desatendida durante su vida. En los últimos años ha sido objeto de un proceso de investigación y recuperación que ha culminado con una importante exposición en el Centro José Guerrero de Granada y el Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía entre 2010 y 2011. Aprovechando la actualidad de su figura, este artículo se ocupa de un proyecto desarrollado por Val del Omar en Valencia en la inmediata posguerra civil: el Circuito Perifónico. Un circuito urbano de altavoces, pionero en España, que llevaba a los puntos más importantes de la ciudad emisiones musicales con las que entretener a las gentes además de una divertida publicidad que ayudó a animar la vida económica de la ciudad. El texto se justifica también como recuperación de una parte perdida de la historia de la ciudad y de un posible precedente del moderno arte sonoro. Se trabaja especialmente la génesis, desarrollo y funcionamiento del proyecto a la luz de nuevos documentos hallados en el archivo familiar del hijo de un colaborador de Val del Omar.The work of Granada-born José Val del Omar (1904-1982), filmmaker and inventor among a long list of other occupations, was as great and visionary as it was systematically neglected during his lifetime. In recent years he has been the subject of investigation and a recovery process that has culminated in a major exhibition at Centro José Guerrero in Granada and Museo Nacional Centro de arte Reina Sofía between 2010 and 2011. Taking advantage of the topicality of his figure, this article is about a project undertaken by Val del Omar in Valencia in the immediate post Civil War period: the Circuito Perifónico. It was a pioneer speakers street circuit in Spain that broadcast music, with which to entertain people, and funny ads that helped to encourage the city’s economy. Also, the text is justified by the recovery of part of the city’s lost history and as a possible forerunner of modern sound art. The article specifically deals with the genesis, development and operation of the project arising from new documents found in the family archives of the son of one of Val del Omar’s collaborator

On non-formality of a simply-connected symplectic 8-manifold

We show an alternative construction of the first example of a simply-connected compact symplectic non-formal 8-manifold given in arXiv:math/0506449. We also give an alternative proof of its non-formality using higher order Massey products.Comment: 10 pages; to appear in American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings. Proceedings of the XVI International Fall Workshop on Geometry and Physics, Lisboa 200

Plasmids in the aphid endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola with the smallest genomes. A puzzling evolutionary story.

Buchnera aphidicola, the primary endosymbiont of aphids, has undergone important genomic and biochemical changes as an adaptation to intracellular life. The most important structural changes include a drastic genome reduction and the amplification of genes encoding key enzymes for the biosynthesis of amino acids by their translocation to plasmids. Molecular characterization through different aphid subfamilies has revealed that the genes involved in leucine and tryptophan biosynthesis show a variable fate, since they can be located on plasmids or on the chromosome in different lineages. This versatility contrasts with the genomic stasis found in three distantly related B. aphidicola strains already sequenced. We present the analysis of three B. aphidicola strains (BTg, BCt and BCc) belonging to aphids from different tribes of the subfamily Lachninae, that was estimated to harbour the bacteria with the smallest genomes. The presence of both leucine and tryptophan plasmids in BTg, a chimerical leucine-tryptophan plasmid in BCt, and only a leucine plasmid in BCc, indicates the existence of many recombination events in a recA minus bacterium. In addition, these B. aphidicola plasmids are the simplest described in this species, indicating that plasmids are also involved in the genome shrinkage process

An overview of the role of cytochrome P450 enzyme system in food-drug interactions and possible applications in veterinary medicine

Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina VeterináriaCytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP) are hemoproteins belonging to the group of monooxygenases and one of the main enzymatic systems responsible for drug metabolism. In the present study, in vitro approach was applied to evaluate the relation of CYP-catalyzed activities between human, rabbit, minipig and mouse, using single substrate assays (MultiCYP 7-ethoxycoumarin 0-deethylase (ECOD), CYP1A1/2 7-ethoxyresorufin 0- deethylase (EROD), CYP2A6 coumarin 7-hydroxylase (COH), CYP3A4 midazolam 1- hydroxylase (OH-MDZ), and CYP2E1 chlorzoxazone 6-hydroxylase (OH-CLZ)). It was also studied plant extracts (Pinus sylvestris, Angelica archangelica, Mentha sp., Citrus grandis) and phytochemicals (8-Hydroxybergapten, 5,6-dihydroxyangelicin, α, β-Thujone, α-Thujone, angelicin, bergamottin, bergapten, bergaptol, cnidilin, imperatorin, isobergapten, isopimpinellin, lanatin, phellopterin, psoralen, sphondin, xanthotoxin) as potential inhibitors in CYP-related activities of hepatic human microsomes (CYP1A1/2 (EROD), CYP2A6 (COH), CYP3A4 (OH-MDZ)). This study showed that the lowest ECOD activity was detected in humans and there was no similarity between other species. CYP1A1/2 showed equivalent activities. The highest CYP activities in humans were found for CYP2A6 and CYP3A4. In CYP2E1 activity, two similar groups were recognized: human and mouse versus rabbit and minipig. EROD reaction was the most inhibited CYP-mediated reaction. COH reaction was inhibited by few compounds. The highest inhibition was detected among angular furocoumarins. Linear furocoumarins group had the lower inhibitory concentration of CYP3A4. Thujone showed weak inhibition of CYP activities.RESUMO - As enzimas do sistema citocromo P450 (CYP) são hemoproteinas pertencentes ao grupo das monoxigenases e um dos principais sistemas enzimáticos responsáveis pela metabolização de fármacos. Neste estudo foi avaliada a relação da actividade catalítica de diferentes CYPs entre humanos, coelhos, minipig e murganhos, recorrendo a substratos como sondas individuais in vitro para mensurar reacções especificas (MultiCYP 7-etoxicumarina 0-deetilase (ECOD), CYP1A1/2 7-etoxiresorufina 0-deetilase (EROD), CYP2A6 cumarina 7-hidroxilase (COH), CYP3A4 midazolam 1-hidroxilase (OH-MDZ), e CYP2E1 clorozoxazona 6-hidroxilase (OH-CLZ)). Também foram estudados extractos de plantas (Pinus sylvestris, Angelica archangelica, Mentha sp., Citrus grandis) e fitoquímicos (8-hidroxibergaptem, 5,6-dihidroxiangelicina, α, β-tujona, α-tujona, angelicina, bergamottin, bergapteno, bergaptol, cnidilina, imperatorina, isobergapteno, isopimpinelina, lanatin, felopterina, psoraleno, sphondin, xantotoxina) como potenciais inibidores da actividade catalítica dos CYPs microssomais hepáticos humanos (CYP1A1/2 (EROD), CYP2A6 (COH), CYP3A4 (OH-MDZ)). Neste estudo não foram detectadas actividades similires entre espécies na reacção ECOD e a actividade mais baixa foi detectada nos humanos. A reacção EROD dos CYP1A1/2 demonstrou actividades similares entre as diferentes espécies. As maiores actividades cataliticas verificadas nos humanos correspondem aos CYP2A6 e CYP3A4. No estudo da reacção do CYP2E1 foram determinados dois grupos distintos com actividades cataliticas similares: 1) humanos e murganhos, 2) coelhos e minipigs. No estudo de potenciais inibidores dos CYPs, a reacção EROD foi a mais inibida. Pelo contrário, a reacção COH foi inibida por poucos compostos. A maioria das inibições ocorreu por exposição a furocumarinas angulares. O grupo de furocumarinas lineares teve a menor concentração inibitória da reacção OH-MDZ do CYP3A4. Os fitoquímicos α, β-tujona e α- tujona demonstraram ter um fraco poder inibitório na actividade dos CYPs analisados

An experiment on subjective game valuations

We report experimental results on a prisoners' dilemma implemented in a way which allows us to elicit incentive-compatible valuations of the game. We test the hypothesis that players'' valuations coincide with their Nash equilibrium earnings. Our results offer significantly less support for this hypothesis than for the prediction of Dominant Strategy (DS) play.