Radio continuum and near-ingrared study of the MGRO J2019+37 region

Context. MGRO J2019+37 is an unidentified extended source of very high energy gamma-rays originally reported by the Milagro Collaboration as the brightest TeV source in the Cygnus region. Its extended emission could be powered by either a single or several sources. The GeV pulsar AGL J2020.5+3653, discovered by AGILE and associated with PSR J2021+3651, could contribute to the emission from MGRO J2019+37. Our aim is to identify radio and near-infrared sources in the field of the extended TeV source MGRO J2019+37, and study potential counterparts to explain its emission. Methods: We surveyed a region of about 6 square degrees with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at the frequency 610 MHz. We also observed the central square degree of this survey in the near-infrared Ks-band using the 3.5 m telescope in Calar Alto. Archival X-ray observations of some specific fields are included. VLBI observations of an interesting radio source were performed. We explored possible scenarios to produce the multi-TeV emission from MGRO J2019+37 and studied which of the sources could be the main particle accelerator. Results: We present a catalogue of 362 radio sources detected with the GMRT in the field of MGRO J2019+37, and the results of a cross-correlation of this catalog with one obtained at near-infrared wavelengths, which contains ∼3 × 105 sources, as well as with available X-ray observations of the region. Some peculiar sources inside the ∼1◦ uncertainty region of the TeV emission from MGRO J2019+37 are discussed in detail, including the pulsar PSR J2021+3651 and its pulsar wind nebula PWN G75.2+0.1, two new radio-jet sources, the Hii region Sh 2-104 containing two star clusters, and the radio source NVSS J202032+363158. We also find that the hadronic scenario is the most likely in case of a single accelerator, and discuss the possible contribution from the sources mentioned above. Conclusions: Although the radio and GeV pulsar PSR J2021+3651 / AGL J2020.5+3653 and its associated pulsar wind nebula PWN G75.2+0.1 can contribute to the emission from MGRO J2019+37, extrapolation of the GeV spectrum does not explain the detected multi-TeV flux. Other sources discussed here could contribute to the emission of the Milagro source

Experimental Identification of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae Strains L20 and JL03 Heptosyltransferases, Evidence for a New Heptosyltransferase Signature Sequence.

We experimentally identified the activities of six predicted heptosyltransferases in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae genome serotype 5b strain L20 and serotype 3 strain JL03. The initial identification was based on a bioinformatic analysis of the amino acid similarity between these putative heptosyltrasferases with others of known function from enteric bacteria and Aeromonas. The putative functions of all the Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae heptosyltrasferases were determined by using surrogate LPS acceptor molecules from well-defined A. hydrophyla AH-3 and A. salmonicida A450 mutants. Our results show that heptosyltransferases APL_0981 and APJL_1001 are responsible for the transfer of the terminal outer core D-glycero-D-manno-heptose (D,D-Hep) residue although they are not currently included in the CAZY glycosyltransferase 9 family. The WahF heptosyltransferase group signature sequence [S(T/S)(GA)XXH] differs from the heptosyltransferases consensus signature sequence [D(TS)(GA)XXH], because of the substitution of D(261) for S(261), being unique.

Theta EEG oscillatory activity and auditory change detection

The mismatch negativity is an electrophysiological marker of auditory change detection in the event-related brain potential and has been proposed to reflect an automatic comparison process between an incoming stimulus and the representation of prior items in a sequence. There is evidence for two main functional subcomponents comprising the MMN, generated by temporal and frontal brain areas, respectively. Using data obtained in an MMN paradigm, we performed time-frequency analysis to reveal the changes in oscillatory neural activity in the theta band. The results suggest that the frontal component of the MMN is brought about by an increase in theta power for the deviant trials and, possibly, by an additional contribution of theta phase alignment. By contrast, the temporal component of the MMN, best seen in recordings from mastoid electrodes, is generated by phase resetting of theta rhythm with no concomitant power modulation. Thus, frontal and temporal MMN components do not only differ with regard to their functional significance but also appear to be generated by distinct neurophysiological mechanisms.

The temporal dynamics of resource use by frugivorous birds: a network approach

Ecological network patterns are influenced by diverse processes that operate at different temporal rates. Here we analyzed whether the coupled effect of local abundance variation, seasonally phenotypic plastic responses, and species evolutionary adaptations might act in concert to shape network patterns. We studied the temporal variation in three interaction properties of bird species (number of interactions per species, interaction strength, and interaction asymmetry) in a temporal sequence of 28 plant frugivore interaction networks spanning two years in a Mediterranean shrubland community. Three main hypotheses dealing with the temporal variation of network properties were tested, examining the effects of abundance, switching behavior between alternative food resources, and morphological traits in determining consumer interaction patterns. Our results demonstrate that temporal variation in consumer interaction patterns is explained by short-term variation in resource and bird abundances and seasonal dietary switches between alternative resources (fleshy fruits and insects). Moreover, differences in beak morphology are associated with differences in switching behavior between resources, suggesting an important role of foraging adaptations in determining network patterns. We argue that beak shape adaptations might determine generalist and specialist feeding behaviors and thus the positions of consumer species within the network. Finally, we provide a preliminary framework to interpret phylogenetic signal in plant animal networks. Indeed, we show that the strength of the phylogenetic signal in networks depends on the relative importance of abundance, behavioral, and morphological variables. We show that these variables strongly differ in their phylogenetic signal. Consequently, we suggest that moderate and significant phylogenetic effects should be commonly observed in networks of species interactions. Read More: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/07-1939.1

Crassostrea patagonica (d'Orbigny, 1842) shell concentrations from the late Miocene Rio Negro province, NE Patagonia, Argentina

The Río Negro Formation (late Miocene-early Pliocene) mainly consists of continental deposits, but it contains a middle member of marine origin. It represents a transgressive-regressive sequence that can be seen at several outcrops along the N Patagonian coast. The taphonomical approach to the El Espigón marine deposits permits the identification of four main layers containing different kinds of skeletal accumulation, which mainly consist of oyster shells [Crassostrea patagonica (D'Orbigny, 1842)]. These concentrations display three different morphologies (pouches, pavements and bouquets) with a different taphonomic signature. These deposits were formed in shallow marine environments influenced by wave activity that produced valve concentrations of different entities. They contain several shell beds that represent event, composite, hiatal to lag skeletal concentrations. Traces of bioturbation in the sediment (Thalassinoides, Teichichnus) and bioerosion on the shells (Entobia, Gastrochaeonolites, Caulostrepsis), and encrusters (cirripeds, bryozoans), are also abundant in the outcrop and consititue common components of these Miocene materials. Layers 1 and 2 of the sequence were deposited in shoreface/foreshore environments at the beginning of a highstand systems tract, while layers 3 and 4 were deposited at the end, or at the beginning of a forced regression, in foreshore environments. A final erosional episode cut the top of the layer 4, which truncated the abundant bioturbaation developed there.

Consultoria del procés de logística interna del laboratori d'anàlisis clíniques a l'Hospital General de Vic

Com a resultat de les politiques i estratègies de col·laboració entre la universitat de Vic i de l’hospital i de la voluntat de realitzar activitats formatives conjuntes , s’estableix un línia de treball orientada a l’estudi i anàlisi de la situació logística interna actual del laboratori d’anàlisis clíniques de l’Hospital General de Vic. El treball es centra en el procés intern del laboratori i l’abast de l’estudi es troba limitat a les àrees especifiques d’hematologia i coagulació i bioquí… [+]mica. D’aquestes dues àrees el treball realitza un estudi exhaustiu del seu procés intern, identifica les seves activitats i la seva metodologia de treball amb l’objectiu d’elaborar el Value Stream Map de cadascuna de les àrees. Les àrees de Microbiologia, Banc de Sang i Urgències resten fora d’aquest estudi exhaustiu tot i que són presents en el treball per la inevitable interacció que tenen en la globalitat del procés. El treball es centra bàsicament en els processos automatitzats tot i que els processos que es duen a terme en el laboratori són tant automatitzats com manuals. També es limita al sistema productiu intern del laboratori tot i la interacció que té aquest sistema intern amb altres centres productius del sistema com ara són els centres d’atenció primària, els diversos hospitals i centres d’atenció sociosanitària. El laboratori es troba immers en el moment de l’elaboració d’aquest treball en un situació de canvi i millora del seus processos interns que consisteixen principalment en la substitució de part la maquinària actual que obliguen a la definició d’un nou layout i d’una nova distribució de la producció a cada màquina. A nivell extern també s’estan produint millores en el sistema informàtic de gestió que afecten a part del seu procés. L’objectiu del treball és donar visibilitat total al procés de logística interna actual del laboratori, identificant clarament com són i quina seqüència tenen els processos logístics interns i els mètodes de treball actuals, tant de recursos màquina com recursos persona, per poder identificar sota una perspectiva de generació de valor, aquells punts concrets de la logística interna que poden ser millorats en quant a eficiència i productivitat amb l’objectiu que un cop identificats es puguin emprendre accions i/o projectes de millora. El treball finalitza amb un anàlisis final del procés logística interna des d’una òptica Lean. Per fer-ho, identifica aquelles activitats que no aporten valor al procés o MUDA i les classifica en set categories i es realitzen diverses propostes de millora com són la implantació d’un flux continu , anivellat i basat en un concepte pull , identifica activitats que poden ser estandarditzades i/o simplificades i proposa modificacions en les infraestructures físiques per donar major visibilitat al procés. L’aspecte humà del procés es planteja des d’un punt de vist de metodologia, formació, comunicació i aplicació de les 5S.

Parametrització de contorns oberts

Un dels principals problemes quan es realitza un anàlisi de contorns és la gran quantitat de dades implicades en la descripció de la figura. Per resoldre aquesta problemàtica, s’aplica la parametrització que consisteix en obtenir d’un contorn unes dades representatives amb els mínims coeficients possibles, a partir dels quals es podrà reconstruir de nou sense pèrdues molt evidents d’informació. En figures de contorns tancats, la parametrització més estudiada és l’aplicació de la transformada discreta de Fourier (DFT). Aquesta s’aplica a la seqüència de valors que descriu el comportament de les coordenades x i y al llarg de tots els punts que formen el traç. A diferència, en els contorns oberts no es pot aplicar directament la DFT ja que per fer-ho es necessita que el valor de x i de y siguin iguals tan en el primer punt del contorn com en l’últim. Això és degut al fet que la DFT representa sense error senyals periòdics. Si els senyals no acaben en el mateix punt, representa que hi ha una discontinuïtat i apareixen oscil·lacions a la reconstrucció. L’objectiu d’aquest treball és parametritzar contorns oberts amb la mateixa eficiència que s’obté en la parametrització de contorns tancats. Per dur-ho a terme, s’ha dissenyat un programa que permet aplicar la DFT en contorns oberts mitjançant la modificació de les seqüencies de x i y. A més a més, també utilitzant el programari Matlab s’han desenvolupat altres aplicacions que han permès veure diferents aspectes sobre la parametrització i com es comporten els Descriptors El·líptics de Fourier (EFD). Els resultats obtinguts han demostrat que l’aplicació dissenyada permet la parametrització de contorns oberts amb compressions òptimes, fet que facilitarà l’anàlisi quantitatiu de formes en camps com l’ecologia, medicina, geografia, entre d’altres.

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...

Hipertextos fragmentados: Una propuesta para trabajar la competencia lectoliteraria en la formación inicial de docentes

El canon para la formación literaria y la educación literaria en primaria son algunos de los contenidos principales de la asignatura 'Didáctica de la literatura infantil y juvenil" que se imparte en el grado de Educación Primaria de la Universitat de Barcelona. La propuesta de innovación educativa que presentamos consiste en el diseño e implementación de una secuencia formativa dirigida a estos alumnos para ampliar el intertexto lector mediante la lectura y análisis de un corpus de minificciones hipertextuales (Zavala, 2007; Landow, 2009) relacionadas con la literatura de base folklórica y de autor del canon de educación primaria de primeras lenguas. El corpus elegido pertenece al libro Catàleg de monstres (2012) de Masó, minificciones que apelan a la intertextualidad mediante la combinación de múltiples recursos literarios. Palabras clave: Formación inicial de maestros, competencia lectoliteraria, minificción, literatura infantil y juvenil. ENGLISH SUMMARY Fragmented Hypertexts: a proposal to develop literacy competence in initial teacher training Literary canon for primary children and literature education are some of the main contents of the subject 'Teaching of Children's Literature' taught in the Primary Education degree at the University of Barcelona. The proposed educational innovation we present is the design of a teaching sequence targeted to these students to expand their reader intertextuality by reading and analysing hypertext mini fictions (Zavala, 2007; Landow, 2009) related to basic folk literature from the primary school literary canon. The corpus chosen is from the book Catàleg de monstres (2012), written by Masó, selected mini fictions constantly appealing to intertextuality through the combination of multiple literarcy resources. Key words: Folk literature, teacher training of primary education, hypertext mini fictions, literary competence.

Producció d'un disc de música electrònica

Aquest projecte final explica algunes tècniques de producció relacionades amb la música electrònica, que també són aplicables a la música pop en general. Es descriuen els processos realitzats en dues parts, que parteixen de la producció de dos singles, Stars i Never mind. En la descripció del primer single s'hi expliquen tots els processos relacionats amb la coproducció i mescla d'una cançó de música electrònica, explorant-ne les possibilitats tant a nivell tècnic com artístic. El segon single, de composició pròpia i dut a terme majoritàriament a l'estudi de gravació, comprèn processos compositius a partir d'instruments virtuals i la seva posterior re-interpretació amb instruments acústics en diferents sessions de gravació, així com les tècniques utilitzades per la seva postproducció. L'objectiu principal ha estat aprendre a definir un so propi com a productor a partir de la combinació d'elements acústics i electrònics, i també repassar algunes tècniques de producció apreses durant la meva estada a l'ESMUC. La feina com a sonòleg i compositor queda documentada amb la descripció de tots aquests processos, deixant-ne constància per a futurs treballs.