El estudio funcional lítico en la Early Stone Age (ESA) africana. Aplicación analítica, metodológica y experimental en los yacimientos arqueológicos del Lecho II de la Garganta de Olduvai, Tanzania

Los análisis funcionales de las industrias líticas arqueológicas son una pieza clave a la hora de interpretar las actividades llevadas a cabo por los individuos que las fabricaron. Estos análisis parten de la premisa de que las acciones acometidas con las herramientas líticas pueden dejar unas huellas impresas que pueden ser observadas e interpretadas, llegando a determinar si han sido o no utilizadas, la acción llevada a cabo y, en el mejor de los casos, la materia trabajada. Los análisis funcionales de las industrias líticas arqueológicas son una pieza clave a la hora de interpretar las actividades llevadas a cabo por los individuos que las fabricaron. Estos análisis parten de la premisa de que las acciones acometidas con las herramientas líticas pueden dejar unas huellas impresas que pueden ser observadas e interpretadas, llegando a determinar si han sido o no utilizadas, la acción llevada a cabo y, en el mejor de los casos, la materia trabajada. Desde su desarrollo en la década de 1960, gracias a los estudios de Sergei Semenov (1964), los estudios de huellas de uso se han utilizado para llevar a cabo los análisis funcionales de la industria lítica de muchos yacimientos arqueológicos. Sin embargo, cuando revisamos los estudios funcionales sobre colecciones arqueológicas de cronologías antiguas, nos encontramos con un gran vacío apenas cubierto con algunos estudios parciales y en ocasiones anticuados. Esta tesis doctoral pretende en cierto sentido contribuir a llenar ese vacío mediante el estudio funcional de dos yacimientos africanos de la Early Stone Age (ESA en adelante), la etapa más antigua desde el punto de vista del desarrollo tecnológico de la Prehistoria. Los materiales líticos de cronologías antiguas plantean muchos interrogantes relacionados con su conservación, las especies de homininos implicadas en su manufactura o los comportamientos paleo-económicos relacionados con ellos. Desde el punto de vista traceológico, semejantes dudas están relacionadas con la viabilidad de este tipo de estudios en series con fechas tan altas. El objetivo principal de esta tesis es el de aportar nuevas evidencias que permitan contribuir al estudio de los modos de vida de los primeros homininos y sus dinámicas adaptativas en la Garganta de Olduvai durante el Lecho II (1,78-1,33 Ma). Esta tarea se ha llevado a cabo mediante el estudio funcional de las herramientas líticas de dos de los yacimientos arqueológicos localizados en este enclave y cronología: Frida Leakey Korongo West (FLKW) y Sam Howard Korongo (SHK) (Diez Martín et al., 2014c; 2015; 2017c; Sánchez Yustos et al., 2017b; 2018). Se ha realizado un estudio traceológico de las herramientas líticas de pequeño y mediano formato para continuar con la determinación de sus implicaciones en el comportamiento tecnológico de estos grupos humanos.Departamento de Prehistoria, Arqueología, Antropología Social y Ciencias y Técnicas HistoriográficasDoctorado en Patrimonio Cultural y Natural. Historia. Arte y Territori

Arqueología tridimensional: las técnicas 3D aplicadas al registro paleolítico

3D techniques are nowadays widely used in a variety of heritage studies. The so-called "virtual archaeology” constitutes a good example of the growing strength accomplished by these techniques. Paleolithic studies have incorporated an increasing number of 3D routines in fieldwork, lithic, fossil bone and rock art studies, in order to enhance their analytical and interpretative tools. In this paper we present an updated review of the current uses and future possibilities of 3D techniques applied to Archaeology, particularly focusing on the Paleolithic record. In order to show the way in which the array of 3D techniques can be applied in Lower Palaeolithic contexts, two ease studies are presented here. Through the digitalization of Acheulean lithic artefacts, the first example shows to what extent both formal representation and technological interpretation can benefit from 3D representation. Secondly, by comparing more traditional drawing procedures and photogrammetry we aim to stress how the later constitutes a much more efficient tool for data recovery and management in on-site archaeological fieldwork. In sum, this paper underlines how a wide range of archaeological procedures and studies can benefit from 3D technologies.La introducción de las técnicas 3D en el contexto patrimonial es una realidad plenamente consumada tal y como lo demuestra la aparición de la denominada “arqueología virtual”. Siguiendo esta tendencia, los estudios centrados en el Paleolítico han sufrido una verdadera revolución en sus trabajos de investigación y documentación de restos óseos, manifestaciones artísticas, colecciones líticas y trabajo de campo al poder mejorar y ampliar sus estudios hacia múltiples direcciones. Así pues, tras la presentación de un amplio estado de la cuestión sobre la utilización y las posibilidades de los métodos y herramientas tridimensionales tanto en la arqueología en general como en el mundo del Paleolítico en particular, se exponen dos ejemplos concretos de aplicación de tales técnicas a un conjunto de materiales y yacimientos adscritos al Paleolítico inferior africano. Por un lado, se describe la digitalización de artefactos líticos achelenses como medio de estudio y representación de los mismos; y por otro, se analiza la documentación del proceso de excavación mediante fotogrametría, como medio alternativo al levantamiento de plantas y secciones de manera manual. De este modo, la utilización y el empleo de las tecnologías 3D se muestra como un mecanismo viable que favorece y facilita el estudio del registro arqueológico

Enhancing adult hippocampal neurogenesis with lysophosphatidic acid: a proposal for erasing cocaine contextual memory

Stimulating adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN) has been uncovered as a promising approach in the manipulation of retrograde memories. This work aims to study whether increasing AHN with lysophosphatidic acid (LPA, an endogenous lysophospholipid with proneurogenic actions) promotes the forgetting of previously established cocaine-contextual associations. C57BL/6J mice previously trained in a cocaine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm were submitted to 23 days of withdrawal, during which they received repeated intracerebroventricular infusions of LPA, ki16425 (a selective LPA1/3 receptors antagonist), or vehicle solution. Then, CPP maintenance was assessed, and the causal role of AHN in this process was evaluated using a mediation analysis. In a complementary experiment, wild-type and LPA1-null mice were acutely infused with LPA or ki16425 to determine the involvement of the LPA1 receptor in the in vivo proneurogenic actions of LPA. The chronic LPA treatment significantly weakened the long-term retention of a previously acquired cocaine-CPP memory, an effect clearly mediated by a LPA-induced increase in the number of adult-born dentate granule cells. In contrast, the ki16425-treated mice displayed aberrant responses of initially decreased CPP retention that progressively increased CPP across the extinction sessions, in absence of effects on AHN. The histological studies suggested that the proneurogenic actions of LPA were related to the enhancement of cell proliferation and critically depended on the LPA1 receptor function. Our results suggest that the LPA/LPA1-pathway acts as a potent in vivo modulator of AHN, and highlight the usefulness of a post-learning increase of adult-born hippocampal neurons as a strategy to promote the forgetting of cocaine-context associations.Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Agencia Estatal de Investigación), co‐funded by the European Research Development Fund (AEI/FEDER, UE) (PSI2013‐44901‐P and PSI2017‐82604‐R to L.J.S. and PSI2015‐73156‐JIN to E.C.O.); by the National System of Health‐Instituto de Salud Carlos III, which is co‐funded by AEI/FEDER, UE (Red de Trastornos Adictivos; RD16/0017/0001 to F.R.d.F.); and by the Andalusian R&D&I Programme, Regional Ministry of Economy and Knowledge (PAIDI CTS643 to G.E.T.). D.L.G.M. hold a FPU grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (FPU13/04819 ). F.R.d.F. and G.E.T. are supported by Nicolas Monardes Programme, from the Andalusian Regional Ministry of Health. E.C.O. holds a ‘Jóvenes Investigadores’ grant (code: PSI2015‐73156‐JIN) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Agencia Estatal de Investigación), which is co‐funded by the AEI/FEDER, UE

Mathematical model for dynamic case-based planning

This paper presents a case-based planning and beliefs, desires, intentions (CBP–BDI) planning model which incorporates a novel artificial neural network. The CBP–BDI model, which is integrated within an agent, is the core of a multi-agent system that allows managing the security in industrial environments. The BDI model integrates within a CBP engine of reasoning that incorporates artificial neural network-based techniques, and in this way it is possible to adapt past experiences to generate new plans. The proposed model uses self-organized maps to calculate optimum routes for the security guards. Besides, some technologies of ambient intelligence such as radio-frequency identification and Wi-Fi are used to develop the intelligent environment that has been tested and analysed in this paper

Risk of Myocardial Infarction among new users of calcium supplements alone or combined with vitamin D: a population-based case-control study

A population-based case-control study was conducted to evaluate the risk of acute myocardial infarction among new users of calcium supplements either in monotherapy (CaM) or in combination with vitamin D (CaD). A total of 23,025 cases and 114,851 controls randomly sampled from the underlying cohort and matched with cases by age, sex, and index date were included. New users of CaM and CaD were categorized as current users, recent users, past users, and nonusers. We computed adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) among current users as compared with nonusers through a conditional logistic regression. No increased risk was associated with CaM overall (59 cases (0.26%) and 273 controls (0.24%); AOR = 0.80; 95% CI 0.59?1.09), nor was it found in any of the conditions examined. Instead, the use of CaD was associated with a decreased risk (275 cases (1.19%) and 1,160 controls (1.45%); AOR = 0.78; 95% CI 0.67?0.90), dose and duration-dependent, and particularly evident in patients with a high cardiovascular risk (AOR = 0.59; 95% CI 0.43?0.81).Instituto de Salud Carlos IIIMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovació

Interest rate sensitivity of spanish companies. An extension of the Fama-French five-factor model

This paper studies the sensitivity of share prices of Spanish companies included in the IBEX-35 to changes in different explanatory variables, such as market returns, interest rates and factors proposed by Fama and French (1993, 2015) between 2000 and 2016. In addition, for robustness, this paper analyses whether the sensitivity of stock returns is different between two periods: precrisis and recent financial crisis. The results confirm that, in general, all the considered factors are relevant. Furthermore, “market return” and “size” factors show greater explanatory power, together with the “value” factor in the crisis period. Regarding the analysis at sector level, “Oil and Energy”, “Basic Materials, Industry and Construction” and “Financial and Real Estate Services” sectors appear to be highly sensitive to changes in the risk factors included in the asset pricing factor model

An execution time neural-CBR guidance assistant

This paper presents a novel Ambient Intelligence based solution for shopping assistance. The core of the proposal is a CBR system developed for guiding and advising users in shopping areas. The CBR incorporates a neural based planner that identifies the most adequate plan for a given user based on user profile and interests. The RTPW neural network is based on the Kohonen one, and incorporates an interesting modification that allows a solution or a plan to be reached much more rapidly. Furthermore, once an initial plan has been reached, it is possible to identify alternatives by taking restrictions into account. The CBR system has been embedded within a deliberative agent and interacts with interface and commercial agents, which facilitate the construction of intelligent environments. This hybrid application, which works on execution time, has been tested and the results of the investigation and its evaluation in a shopping mall are presented within this paper

CBR System with Reinforce in the Revision Phase for the Classification of CLL Leukemia

Microarray technology allows measuring the expression levels of thousands of genes providing huge quantities of data to be analyzed. This fact makes fundamental the use of computational methods as well as new intelligent algorithms. This paper presents a Case-based reasoning (CBR) system for automatic classification of microarray data. The CBR system incorporates novel algorithms for data classification and knowledge discovery. The system has been tested in a case study and the results obtained are presented

Computational Intelligence Techniques for Classification in Microarray Analysis

During the last few years there has been a growing need for using computational intelligence techniques to analyze microarray data. The aim of the system presented in this study is to provide innovative decision support techniques for classifying data from microarrays and for extracting knowledge about the classification process. The computational intelligence techniques used in this chapter follow the case-based reasoning paradigm to emulate the steps followed in expression analysis. This work presents a novel filtering technique based on statistical methods, a new clustering technique that uses ESOINN (Enhanced Self-Organizing Incremental Neuronal Network), and a knowledge extraction technique based on the RIPPER algorithm. The system presented within this chapter has been applied to classify CLL patients and extract knowledge about the classification process. The results obtained permit us to conclude that the system provides a notable reduction of the dimensionality of the data obtained from microarrays. Moreover, the classification process takes the detection of relevant and irrelevant probes into account, which is fundamental for subsequent classification and an extraction of knowledge tool with a graphical interface to explain the classification process, and has been much appreciated by the human experts. Finally, the philosophy of the CBR systems facilitates the resolution of new problems using past experiences, which is very appropriate regarding the classification of leukemia

Applying CBR Systems to Micro Array Data Classification

Microarray technology allows to measureing the expression levels of thousands of genes in an experiment. This technology required requires computational solutions capable of dealing with great amounts of data and as well as techniques to explore the data and extract knowledge which allow patients classification. This paper presents a systems based on Case-based reasoning (CBR) for automatic classification of leukemia patients from microarray data. The system incorporates novel algorithms for data mining that allow to filter and classify as well as extraction of knowledge. The system has been tested and the results obtained are presented in this paper