El lenguaje gráfico de Eduardo Chillida como aportación conceptual para la identidad tipográfica de la Universidad del País Vasco —UPV/EHU—

Este proyecto de investigación financiado por la Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea —UPV/EHU-PES 11/31—, a través de su programa de investigación estratégica, tiene como objetivo la creación de la tipografía de identidad visual corporativa de la Universidad del País Vasco —UPV/EHU—, cuyo inicio conceptual para dotar de unas características de identidad visual corporativa a la UPV/EHU, ha sido planteado desde las especulaciones estéticas sobre la forma, materializadas por Eduardo Chillida. En la producción gráfica de este artista encontramos una sutil coincidencia con principios vitales para la creación tipográfica, en cuanto al planteamiento de formas dinámicas y constructivas, en las que el rigor geométrico es vencido por una suerte de organicidad que parte del núcleo mismo de la estructura —«cursus»—, por: la fuerza vital que imprime la acción modulada del gesto —«ductus»—; por la dialéctica entre lo lleno y lo vacío —forma/contraforma—, por el impulso y la espontaneidad — carácter—, o por la afirmación de un lenguaje plástico en la cultura diferenciada del medio en el que se vive —identidad—.

A study of 2D features for 3D visual SLAM

Paper submitted to the 43rd International Symposium on Robotics (ISR), Taipei, Taiwan, August 29-31, 2012.

Sighted volunteers’ motivations to assist people with visual impairments in freetime sport activities

Since the changing of the political and economic system in 1989-1990 in Hungary, volunteer movements have appeared all over the country. Volunteers of different ages and socioeconomic backgrounds are engaged in a wide range of activities, wishing to add values to the lives of others in need, hoping to improve their micro or/and macro environment. Volunteering has also appeared in the field of sport, and the work of a large number of nongovernmental sport organisations is strongly dependent on volunteers’ participation. In the socialist era disability sports were neglected by the state. The new democratic state has been paying increasing attention to disability sports and volunteers have been a great asset in improving the accessibility of spare time sport activities. The present empirical research investigates which factors motivate sighted volunteers to join Hungarian Sports and Leisure Association for the Visually Impaired (Látássérültek Szabadidős Sportegyesülete, LÁSS). Results confirm that joining LÁSS was in few cases (N=3) attributed to having parental or other family relations with blind or partially sighted people. Respondents unanimously admit to have a wish to share the joy of physical activity with their visually impaired peers.

Characterization of a new murine retinal cell line (MU-PH1) with glial, progenitor and photoreceptor characteristics

Unlike fish and amphibians, mammals do not regenerate retinal neurons throughout life. However, neurogenic potential may be conserved in adult mammal retina and it is necessary to identify the factors that regulate retinal progenitor cells (RPC) proliferative capacity to scope their therapeutic potential. Müller cells can be progenitors for retinal neuronal cells and can play an essential role in the restoration of visual function after retinal injury. Some members of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) family, TLR2, TLR3 and TLR4, are related to progenitor cells proliferation. Müller cells are important in retinal regeneration and stable cell lines are useful for the study of retinal stem cell biology. Our purpose was to obtain a Müller-derived cell line with progenitor characteristics and potential interest in regeneration processes. We obtained and characterized a murine Müller-derived cell line (MU-PH1), which proliferates indefinitely in vitro. Our results show that (i) MU-PH1 cells expresses the Müller cell markers Vimentin, S-100, glutamine synthetase and the progenitor and stem cell markers Nestin, Abcg2, Ascl1, α-tubulin and β-III-tubulin, whereas lacks the expression of CRALBP, GFAP, Chx10, Pax6 and Notch1 markers; (ii) MU-PH1 cell line stably express the photoreceptor markers recoverin, transducin, rhodopsin, blue and red/green opsins and also melanopsin; (iii) the presence of opsins was confirmed by the recording of intracellular free calcium levels during light stimulation; (iv) MU-PH1 cell line also expresses the melatonin MT1 and MT2 receptors; (v) MU-PH1 cells express TLR1, 2, 4 and 6 mRNA; (vi) MU-PH1 express TLR2 at cell surface level; (vii) Candida albicans increases TLR2 and TLR6 mRNA expression; (viii) C. albicans or TLR selective agonists (Pam(3)CysSK(4), LPS) did not elicit morphological changes nor TNF-α secretion; (ix) C. albicans and Pam(3)CysSK(4) augmented MU-PH1 neurospheres formation in a statistically significant manner. Our results indicate that MU-PH1 cell line could be of great interest both as a photoreceptor model and in retinal regeneration approaches and that TLR2 may also play a role in retinal cell proliferation.