De la creatividad

El hombre llegó a crear todo un instrumental artificial a medida que iba comprendiendo e infiriendo lo que ocurría en su alrededor. Si primero supo observar que un guijarro desportillado podía servirle para cortar aquello que sus uñas y sus dientes no lograban rasgar, luego acertó en reproducir y perfeccionar ese canto cortante hasta crear el filo. Siguiendo este proceso llegó a desarrollar, en pocos siglos, un amplio surtido de elementales herramientas y, a su vez, un modo de organizar su propia mente. Crear supone, en efecto, una «gimnasia intelectual» que exige observar, inferir e imaginar. Los antropólogos se interrogan hasta qué punto la habilidad manual ha ayudado a la mente a racionalizarse o ha sido la razón la que ha dotado a esa mano de habilidad.Facultad de Bellas Arte

De la creatividad

El hombre llegó a crear todo un instrumental artificial a medida que iba comprendiendo e infiriendo lo que ocurría en su alrededor. Si primero supo observar que un guijarro desportillado podía servirle para cortar aquello que sus uñas y sus dientes no lograban rasgar, luego acertó en reproducir y perfeccionar ese canto cortante hasta crear el filo. Siguiendo este proceso llegó a desarrollar, en pocos siglos, un amplio surtido de elementales herramientas y, a su vez, un modo de organizar su propia mente. Crear supone, en efecto, una «gimnasia intelectual» que exige observar, inferir e imaginar. Los antropólogos se interrogan hasta qué punto la habilidad manual ha ayudado a la mente a racionalizarse o ha sido la razón la que ha dotado a esa mano de habilidad.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Active species in N2 and N2-O2 afterglows for surface treatments

Production of active species is studied in N2 and in N2-O2 afterglows of electrical discharges at low and atmospheric gas pressures. They are produced in microwave discharges in a large range of gas pressures from a few Torr to 100 Torr and in corona discharges at atmospheric gas pressure. The active species in N2 afterglows are the N-atoms which are in the range of a few percents in the afterglows. The effect of O2 molecules in low percentages in low pressure N2 microwave plasmas and as impurity in corona N2 discharges is specially analysed. The interaction of N and O-atoms with surfaces is studied for bacteria decontamination and for transmission of N-atoms though porous membranes. The processes of bacteria decontamination in N2-O2 afterglows are described for low pressure microwave and atmospheric pressure corona discharges. Transmission of N-atoms through porous membranes is studied at medium pressure (10100 Torr) microwave afterglows.Postprint (published version

Dualities of Latin America

Determining whether the current situation of Latin America is better described as "post-neoliberalism" or as "commodities consensus" requires an analysis of recent changes in the region. Capitalism has expanded in agriculture and mining, accentuating the preeminence of basic exports. Traditional industry is declining, and remittances and tourism have increased in importance. Local capitalists associated with foreign corporations have replaced the national bourgeoisie, while the exodus of peasants consolidates labor precariousness, poverty, and inequality. At the same time, the United States is deploying troops to reorganize its domination. The South American rebellions have limited neoliberal aggression and achieved unusual victories in other parts of the world. The concept of post-neoliberalism emphasizes the region's political turn toward autonomy but overlooks the persistence of the economic model generated during the previous phase. The opposing concept, commodities consensus, highlights the extractivism prevailing throughout the region but plays down the extreme divergences among right-wing, center-left, and radical governments in all other areas. Both concepts contain part of the truth, but neither fully explains the regional scenario.Para determinar si la situación actual de Latinoamérica es mejor descrita como “postneoliberalismo” o como un “consenso de los commodities” hay que hacer un análisis de los cambios recientes en la región. El capitalismo se ha expandido en la agricultura y la minería, acrecentando la preeminencia de las exportaciones básicas. La industria tradicional ha disminuido, y la importancia del turismo y las remesas ha aumentado. Los capitalistas locales asociados con empresas extranjeras han reemplazado a la burguesía nacional, mientras que el éxodo de los campesinos ha consolidado la precariedad laboral, la pobreza y la desigualdad. Al mismo tiempo, Estados Unidos despliega tropas para reorganizar su dominio. Las rebeliones en América del Sur han puesto barreras a la agresión neoliberal y logrado victorias inusuales en otras partes del mundo. El concepto del postneoliberalismo destaca el giro político de la región hacia la autonomía pero con una tendencia a la persistencia del modelo económico generado durante la fase anterior. El otro concepto, el consenso de las commodities, destaca el extractivismo que prevalece en toda la región pero minoriza las divergencias entre los gobiernos de derecha, centro-izquierda y radicales en todas las demás áreas. Ambos conceptos son parcialmente ciertos, pero no explican totalmente el escenario regional.Fil: Katz, Claudio Isaac. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Dynamics of growth factor production in monolayers of cancer cells and evolution of resistance to anticancer therapies

Tumor heterogeneity is well documented for many characters, including the production of growth factors, which improve tumor proliferation and promote resistance against apoptosis and against immune reaction. What maintains heterogeneity remains an open question that has implications for diagnosis and treatment. While it has been suggested that therapies targeting growth factors are robust against evolved resistance, current therapies against growth factors, like antiangiogenic drugs, are not effective in the long term, as resistant mutants can evolve and lead to relapse. We use evolutionary game theory to study the dynamics of the production of growth factors by monolayers of cancer cells and to understand the effect of therapies that target growth factors. The dynamics depend on the production cost of the growth factor, on its diffusion range and on the type of benefit it confers to the cells. Stable heterogeneity is a typical outcome of the dynamics, while a pure equilibrium of nonproducer cells is possible under certain conditions. Such pure equilibrium can be the goal of new anticancer therapies. We show that current therapies, instead, can be effective only if growth factors are almost completely eliminated and if the reduction is almost immediate

remote speech technology for speech professionals the cloudcast initiative

Clinical applications of speech technology face two challenges. The first is data sparsity. There is little data available to underpin techniques which are based on machine learning and, because it is difficult to collect disordered speech corpora, the only way to address this problem is by pooling what is produced from systems which are already in use. The second is personalisation. This field demands individual solutions, technology which adapts to its user rather than demanding that the user adapt to it. Here we introduce a project, CloudCAST, which addresses these two problems by making remote, adaptive technology available to professionals who work with speech: therapists, educators and clinicians. Index Terms: assistive technology, clinical applications of speech technolog

Elucidating historical fisheries’ networks in the Iberian Peninsula using stable isotopes

[EN] Processed fish is known to have been systematically traded in Europe since the Early Middle Ages to meet increasing demand of incipient markets and religious precepts, yet specific details regarding the supply of different fish in Southern Europe is often missing. Here, we address this gap through an integrated approach involving bone metrics and stable isotopic analysis of archaeological European hake (Merluccius merluccius, Merluccidae) from the Iberian Peninsula. The results offer new insights regarding historical fisheries production systems, including the regions exploited and commercial routes, whilst also revealing biological differences between archaeological and present-day hake populations in the North-east Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. This research highlights the fruitful result of combining ichthyoarchaeological and historical data for tracking down the origin and development of historical fisheries in south-western Europe and their bearing on modern fisheries.SIThis research was mainly supported by the European Commission through the FISHARC-IF 658022 Marie-Curie-Sklodowska-IF fellowship for Career development. Additional support was received by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [HAR 2014-55722-P (Ictioarqueologia de la Prehistoria cantábrica: Modelos para la caracterización de las primeras pesquerías europeas), HAR 2017-88325-P (Historical archaeobiology of the European hake (Merluccius merluccius, L.1758) in the NE Atlantic: The Iberian evidence (AD 10th–18th)), and the European Molecular Biology Organization (ASTF 354-2016). The research is also under the framework of the the Leidse Universiteit Fonds-Bakels 2021 fund, the PID-118662GB-100 (FISHCIIS - Fishing Isotopes) project from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the Research Group of Cultural Landscapes and Heritage of the University of the Basque Country. We finally want to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions that have improved the quality of this paper. This work contributes to the “María de Maeztu” Programme for Units of Excellence of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CEX2019-000940-M)