Detection of fruit and the selection of primate visual pigments for color vision

Primates have X chromosome genes for cone photopigments with sensitivity maxima from 535 to 562 nm. Old World monkeys and apes (catarrhines) and the New World ( platyrrhine) genus Alouatta have separate genes for 535-nm ( medium wavelength; M) and 562-nm ( long wavelength; L) pigments. These pigments, together with a 425-nm ( short wavelength) pigment, permit trichromatic color vision. Other platyrrhines and prosimians have a single X chromosome gene but often with alleles for two or three M/L photopigments. Consequently, heterozygote females are trichromats, but males and homozygote females are dichromats. The criteria that affect the evolution of M/L alleles and maintain genetic polymorphism remain a puzzle, but selection for finding food may be important. We compare different types of color vision for detecting more than 100 plant species consumed by tamarins ( Saguinus spp.) in Peru. There is evidence that both frequency-dependent selection on homozygotes and heterozygote advantage favor M/L polymorphism and that trichromatic color vision is most advantageous in dim light. Also, whereas the 562-nm allele is present in all species, the occurrence of 535- to 556-nm alleles varies between species. This variation probably arises because trichromatic color vision favors widely separated pigments and equal frequencies of 535/543- and 562-nm alleles, whereas in dichromats, long-wavelength pigment alleles are fitter.

How primatology can inform us about the evolution of the humand mind

Humans are primates. We have evolved from common ancestors and the evolution of the human body is becoming increasingly clear as the archeological record expands. But for most people the gap between humans and animals lies in the mind, not in the body. And minds do not fossilise. To reconstruct the evolution of mind, scholars have thus increasingly looked to our closest relatives for clues. Here I discuss four ways in which the study of primates may inform such reconstruction: fact-finding, phylogenetic reconstruction, analogy, and regression models. Knowledge about primates can help us bridge the gap. Extinction of our closest relatives, on the other hand, would not only deplete that source of information but also increase the apparent differences between animal and human minds. It is likely that we have a long history of displacing closely related species, including the other hominids, leading us to appear ever more unique.

Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and 2-year-old children (Homo sapiens) understand double invisible displacement?

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and young children (Homo sapiens) have difficulty with double invisible displacements in which an object is hidden in two nonadjacent boxes in a linear array. Experiment 1 eliminated the possibility that chimpanzees' previous poor performance was due to the hiding direction of the displacement device. As in Call (2001), subjects failed double nonadjacent displacements, showing a tendency to select adjacent boxes. In Experiments 2 and 3, chimpanzees and 24-month-old children were tested on a new adaptation of the task in which four hiding boxes were presented in a diamond-shaped array on a vertical plane. Both species performed above chance on double invisible displacements using this format, suggesting that previous poor performance was due to a response bias or inhibition problem rather than a fundamental limitation in representational capacity.

The two forms of visuo-spatial perspective taking are differently embodied and subserve different spatial prepositions

We set out to distinguish level 1 (VPT-1) and level 2 (VPT-2) perspective taking with respect to the embodied nature of the underlying processes as well as to investigate their dependence or independence of response modality (motor vs. verbal). While VPT-1 reflects understanding of what lies within someone else’s line of sight, VPT-2 involves mentally adopting someone else’s spatial point of view. Perspective taking is a high-level conscious and deliberate mental transformation that is crucially placed at the convergence of perception, mental imagery, communication, and even theory of mind in the case of VPT-2. The differences between VPT-1 and VPT-2 mark a qualitative boundary between humans and apes, with the latter being capable of VPT-1 but not of VPT-2. However, our recent data showed that VPT-2 is best conceptualized as the deliberate simulation or emulation of a movement, thus underpinning its embodied origins. In the work presented here we compared VPT-2 to VPT-1 and found that VPT-1 is not at all, or very differently embodied. In a second experiment we replicated the qualitatively different patterns for VPT-1 and VPT-2 with verbal responses that employed spatial prepositions. We conclude that VPT-1 is the cognitive process that subserves verbal localizations using “in front” and “behind,” while VPT-2 subserves “left” and “right” from a perspective other than the egocentric. We further conclude that both processes are grounded and situated, but only VPT-2 is embodied in the form of a deliberate movement simulation that increases in mental effort with distance and incongruent proprioception. The differences in cognitive effort predict differences in the use of the associated prepositions. Our findings, therefore, shed light on the situated, grounded and embodied basis of spatial localizations and on the psychology of their use.

Model simulation output data (CCSM3) related to uplift of Africa and Himalaya/Tibet Plateau and the influence on tropical African vegetation

Hominid evolution in the late Miocene has long been hypothesized to be linked to the retreat of the tropical rainforest in Africa. One cause for the climatic and vegetation change often considered was uplift of Africa, but also uplift of the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau was suggested to have impacted rainfall distribution over Africa. Recent proxy data suggest that in East Africa open grassland habitats were available to the common ancestors of hominins and apes long before their divergence and do not find evidence for a closed rainforest in the late Miocene. We used the coupled global general circulation model CCSM3 including an interactively coupled dynamic vegetation module to investigate the impact of topography on African hydro-climate and vegetation. We performed sensitivity experiments altering elevations of the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau as well as of East and Southern Africa. The simulations confirm the dominant impact of African topography for climate and vegetation development of the African tropics. Only a weak influence of prescribed Asian uplift on African climate could be detected. The model simulations show that rainforest coverage of Central Africa is strongly determined by the presence of elevated African topography. In East Africa, despite wetter conditions with lowered African topography, the conditions were not favorable enough to maintain a closed rainforest. A discussion of the results with respect to other model studies indicates a minor importance of vegetation-atmosphere or ocean-atmosphere feedbacks and a large dependence of the simulated vegetation response on the land surface/vegetation model.

Systematics of African Amphicyonidae, with descriptions of new material from Napak (Uganda) and Grillental (Namibia)

The Early Miocene Napak XV locality (ca 20.5 Ma), Uganda, has yielded an interesting assemblage of fossils, including the very well represented amphicyonid Hecubides euryodon. The remarkable find of a nearly complete mandible, unfortunately with poorly preserved dentition, together with new dental remains allow us to obtain a better idea about the morphology and variability of this species. Additionally, we describe a newly discovered mandible of Hecubides euryodon from the Grillental-VI locality (Sperrgebiet, Namibia), which is the most complete and diagnostic Amphicyonidae material found in this area. Comparisons with Cynelos lemanensis from Saint Gérand le Pouy (France), the type locality, and with an updated sample of the species of amphicyonids described in Africa leads us to validate the genus Hecubides. Hecubides would be phylogenetically related to the medium and large size species of Amphicyonidae from Africa, most of them now grouped into the genera Afrocyon and Myacyon, both endemic to this continent.

Digital Figurations : The Human Figure as Cinematic Concept

Mainstream cinema is to an ever-increasing degree deploying digital imaging technologies to work with the human form; expanding on it, morphing its features, or providing new ways of presenting it. This has prompted theories of simulation and virtualisation to explore the cultural and aesthetic implications, anxieties, and possibilities of a loss of the ‘real’ – in turn often defined in terms of the photographic trace. This thesis wants to provide another perspective. Following instead some recent imperatives in art-theory, this study looks to introduce and expand on the notion of the human figure, as pertaining to processes of figuration rather than (only) representation. The notion of the figure and figuration have an extended history in the fields of hermeneutics, aesthetics, and philosophy, through which they have come to stand for particular theories and methodologies with regards to images and their communication of meaning. This objective of this study is to appropriate these for film-theory, culminating in two case-studies to demonstrate how formal parameters present and organise ideas of the body and the human. The aim is to develop a material approach to contemporary digital practices, where bodies have not ceased to matter but are framed in new ways by new technologies.

Learning from Text: Examining Teacher Thinking and Practice in AP Environmental Science

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Análisis y aplicación del modelo coso de control interno en las áreas de recursos humanos de las organizaciones sanitarias públicas en Andalucía

La presente tesis analiza el control interno en las Áreas de Recursos Humanos de las Agencias Públicas Empresariales Sanitarias (APES), como Organizaciones Sanitarias Públicas pertenecientes al Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía (SSPA) y su adecuación a las recomendaciones establecidas en el Informe COSO. Para ello, el trabajo se ha dividido en ocho capítulos incluidos en tres grandes bloques. El primer bloque se dedica al análisis teórico en el que se revisan los modelos y sistemas sanitarios con especial referencia al Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía. Asimismo, se analizan los recursos humanos en la gestión pública, se define el marco conceptual del Control interno y se profundiza en el modelo COSO. Las tendencias recientes señalan que el control interno (CI) en las organizaciones públicas debe abarcar un campo más amplio que el propio control de legalidad, y que mediante la implantación de sistemas de CI basados en modelos internacionales del tipo COSO, se pueda asegurar el uso correcto de los recursos por parte de los gestores públicos, garantizándose la viabilidad y el futuro de las instituciones. Al igual que muchas organizaciones profesionales han asumido los planteamientos de ese modelo, la Organización Internacional de las Entidades Fiscalizadoras Superiores (INTOSAI) ha desarrollado una guía sobre normas de control interno para el sector público basada en él. En este sentido, los sistemas de control interno de las organizaciones empresariales y/o administraciones públicas españolas se están reformando siguiendo, en gran medida, los elementos de dicho modelo. El segundo bloque abarca, desde el punto de vista teórico, la figura del cuestionario como herramienta de autoevaluación del control interno. Este estudio pretende poner en valor la figura de la autoevaluación a realizar por los propios Directivos de las Organizaciones, mediante cuestionario/encuesta que les permita conocer y monitorizar el grado de adecuación de los sistemas de control interno a las recomendaciones del modelo COSO, obteniendo una visión independiente y anticipada de la valoración formal de las Unidades de Control y/o Auditoría. El tercer bloque aborda el trabajo empírico con la elaboración y aplicación de dos cuestionarios, finalizando con las principales conclusiones, limitaciones y futuras líneas de investigación propuestas. Dada la importancia de la Sanidad Pública en los Presupuestos Públicos de la Junta de Andalucía, y el papel estratégico de los Recursos Humanos en las Organizaciones Sanitarias Públicas, se propone una investigación cuyo objetivo general sea conocer cómo funciona el control interno en las Áreas de Recursos Humanos de las Agencias Públicas Empresariales Sanitarias (APES) del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía (SSPA) y su adecuación a las recomendaciones establecidas en el Informe COSO, como modelo de control interno más reconocido a nivel internacional. El campo de actuación de este trabajo son las APES por su doble vertiente: organización empresarial y su dimensión pública. Actualmente hay cinco Agencias de esta naturaleza en Andalucía, que gestionan más de veinticinco centros sanitarios entre hospitales, centros hospitalarios de alta resolución, centros de alta resolución, y servicios provinciales de emergencias sanitarias. El modelo de autoevaluación creado a través del segundo cuestionario ha sido cumplimentado, mediante entrevista personal, por los Directivos del Área de RRHH de las APES. Para la elaboración de dicho cuestionario se ha utilizado, principalmente, la parte cuarta del informe COSO denominada “Herramientas de evaluación”. Para dar respuesta a la pregunta de investigación de este trabajo, se ha llevado a cabo un estudio observacional, descriptivo, transversal y multicéntrico. Las principales conclusiones obtenidas: 1.- Destacar que en todas las APES analizadas, ninguna de las subhipótesis ha conseguido un valor (ponderación) inferior al 0,6 (60%), 2.- Ningún componente de control ha obtenido una valoración inferior al 60%. 3.- El componente de control mejor autoevaluado, en el conjunto de las APES, ha sido el de Actividades de Control, siendo el peor la Evaluación de Riesgos. 4.- El 80% de las APES han obtenido una valoración global superior al 80% (grado más alto: Adecuado) y sólo una de ellas ha quedado por debajo de dicho porcentaje, concretamente con un 75% (grado: Satisfactorio).5.- El conjunto de las APES obtienen una autoevaluación del 81.77% que la situaría en el grado más alto: Adecuado. No obstante, y dado que dicho grado no se cumple en todos y cada uno de los componentes, se concluye que su autoevaluación merece el grado: Satisfactorio con perspectiva a Adecuado. 6.- El diseño de autoevaluación a través del cuestionario permite que, mediante su evaluación continua, se puedan identificar áreas de mejora en relación con aquellos ítems(preguntas del cuestionario) que hayan obtenido menor valoración y sobre los que cada una de las APES podría actuar para ir subiendo la puntuación global del sistema (mejora continua), todo ello teniendo en cuenta la importancia que los expertos entrevistados, mediante el primer cuestionario, han dado tanto a los distintos componentes del control interno, como a las distintas parcelas dentro del Área de RRHH. 7.- Es obvio que la mejora continua del Modelo propuesto requeriría también que las propias Direcciones de RRHH llevasen a cabo la revisión continua de cada una de las preguntas de la autoevaluación, analizando sus categorías de respuestas y sus correspondientes valoraciones, a fin de que el propio modelo de autoevaluación pueda ir enriqueciéndose y se vaya adaptando a la propia evolución de los sistemas de control interno, a las prioridades que en materia de Recursos Humanos se vayan formulando y a las propias exigencias de los Órganos de Control internos y externos de las organizaciones. Definitivamente, el trabajo basado en modelos de autoevaluación como el propuesto, gracias a la imprescindible implicación de las Direcciones de las Organizaciones públicas, supone mejorar la imagen de éstas ante los Órganos encargados del Control Interno y Externo, los propios empleados y ante la Sociedad y la ciudadanía, al aportar mayores dosis de transparencia a la gestión pública.