43569 research outputs found
Sort by
A transient contractile seam promotes epithelial sealing and sequential assembly of body segments
No full textIn embryos, epithelial sealing proceeds with progressive zipping eventually leading to a scar-free epithelium and ensuring the assembly of body segments in insects and neural tube in mammals. How zipping is mechanically controlled to promote tissue fusion on long distances, remains unclear. Combining physical modeling with genetic and mechanical perturbations, we reveal the existence of a transient contractile seam that generates forces to reduce the zipping angle by force balance, consequently promoting epidermal sealing during Drosophila embryogenesis. The seam is formed by the adhesion of two tissues, the epidermis and amnioserosa, and is stabilized by the tensions generated by the segment boundaries. Once a segment is zipped, the seam disassembles concurrently with the inactivation of the Jun kinase pathway. Thus, we show that epithelial sealing is promoted by a transient actomyosin contractile seam allowing sequential segment assembly.The research leading to these results has received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Plan Nacional, BFU2015-68754, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Plan National, PID2019-109117GB-100, funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and PID2022-142779NB-100, funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF, EU, “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa” and to the EMBL partnership. S.R. acknowledges the support by a fellowship from International Human Frontier Science Program, LT0007/2022-L. E.T. acknowledges the support by a fellowship by the UPV/EHU, PIF20/193. L.B. acknowledges the support received from the IKUR Strategy of the Basque Government. This study is part of the PIBA_2023_1_0033 project, funded by the Basque Government under the grant PIBA - PUE 2022. We acknowledge the support of the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya. This work was supported in part by the Fundaciòn Biofisika Bizkaia and the Basque Excellent Research Centre (BERC) program of the Basque Government
Beyond clinical risk: tackling loneliness through a population health lens
No full textLoneliness is a distressing emotional state that arises from unmet social needs, particularly the quality—rather than merely the quantity—of social connections. While it serves an adaptive function by signaling social disconnection and motivating reconnection, chronic loneliness is a well-established risk factor for adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Recognizing its growing prevalence and health burden, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified loneliness as a public health priority. To date, most research and interventions have focused on high-risk individuals, mainly within clinical populations, often addressing loneliness only after it becomes severe and entrenched. This paper argues for a paradigm shift toward population-level interventions that targets the broader social and environmental determinants of loneliness. Specifically, we propose a loneliness spectrum model and a systemic intervention framework that targets structural determinants, positioning loneliness prevention as a fundamental public health strategy through nature-based and community-driven interventions
Almazuela, una revista cultural de La Rioja
No full textTreball de fi de màster Estudis Internacionals sobre Mitjans, Poder i DiversitatSupervisora: Ruth Rodríguez-MartínezAlmazuela es un proyecto práctico, una revista cultural de la comunidad de La Rioja. El presente documento es el trabajo teórico que precede al producto creativo f inal. Aquí se recogen las teorías utilizadas para su desarrollo, así como los referentes, las motivaciones de la autora y un estudio previo de la situación mediática de la zona. Se hace una definición de cultura utilizada para la realización del primer número de Almazuela, así como del tipo de periodismo del que se ha servido la estudiante, constructivo, local y cultural
The Drama of the Political: The Political Ontology of Merleau-Ponty
No full textThe study aims at perceiving the political ontology of Merleau-Ponty through the metaphor of drama that he used in various ways throughout his writings. Through attempting to read Merleau-Ponty through an interpretive framework constructed from Merleau-Ponty's notions, the study seeks to sketch out the political ontology of Merleau-Ponty, and to approach the question of political ontology from a differet angle. The study also aims at showing the importance of Merleau-Ponty’s latent political thinking that conceives both the political and ontology to be in a reversible relation towards each other.El estudio tiene como objetivo percibir la ontología política de Merleau-Ponty a través de la metáfora del drama que utilizó de diversas formas a lo largo de sus escritos. Al intentar leer a Merleau-Ponty a través de un marco interpretativo construido a partir de las nociones de Merleau-Ponty, el estudio busca esbozar la ontología política de Merleau-Ponty,
y abordar la cuestión de la ontología política desde un ángulo diferente. El estudio también pretende mostrar la importancia del pensamiento político latente de Merleau-Ponty, que concibe tanto lo político como la ontología en una relación reversible entre sí.Programa de Doctorat en Humanitat
Efficient reinforcement learning with transition-dependent LMDPs and entropy regularization
No full textDirectors: Anders Jonsson i Javier Segovia AguasTreball de fi de Grau en Enginyeria InformàticaReinforcement Learning provides a robust framework for sequential decisionmaking problems, where an agent learns to interact with an environment to maximize long-term reward. While traditional methods involving dynamic programming face performance challenges in large state spaces, the emergence of linearlysolvable Markov Decision Processes (LMDPs) offers a computationally efficient alternative by reformulating the control problem so that the Bellman equation becomes linear. This work explores a novel formulation of LMDPs in which the reward is defined as transition-dependent rather than the conventional statedependent form. This representation is more intuitive for humans who wish to define control problems similarly to how they are specified in the standard nonlinear MDPframework, whileretaining the computational advantages of the linear formulation. Building upon this foundation, we adapt Todorov’s embedding method to transform standard MDPs into this transition-dependent LMDP framework. We also establish a formal equivalence between the transition-dependent formulation and the conventional state-dependent LMDP, demonstrating that both approaches lead to the same optimal control strategies through well-defined transformations. To ensure a fair and consistent comparison between standard MDPs and their linearly solvable version, we integrate entropy regularization into the MDP framework and subsequently extend Todorov’s embedding to accommodate these entropy-regularized MDPs.L’Aprenentatge per Reforc¸ (RL) proporciona un marc teòric i pràctic robust per a problemes de decisió seqüencial, on un agent aprèn a interactuar amb l’entorn per matximitzar la recompensa a llarg termini. Mentre que els mètodes tradicionals que involucren programació dinàmica s’enfronten a reptes de rendiment en espais d’estat grans, l’aparició de Processos de Decisió de Markov amb resolució lineal (LMDPs) ofereixen una alternativa computacionalment eficient mitjançant la reformulació del problema de control de manera que l’equació de Bellman esdevé lineal. Aquest treball explora una nova formulació d’LMDPs en la qual la recompensa es defineix en funció de la transició d’un estat a un altre, en lloc de la forma convencional on la recompensa depèn només de l’estat. Aquesta representació es més intuïtiva per a les persones que volen definir problemes de control de manera similar a com s’especifiquen en el marc MDP no lineal, tot mantenint els avantatges computacionals de la formulació lineal. Apartir d’aquesta base, adaptam el mètode de Todorov per a transformar els MDPaaquest marc de LMDP amb la recompensa definida en funció de les transicions. També establim una equivalència formal entre aquesta formulació i la formulació de LMDPs convencional amb la recompensa depenent de l’estat, demostrant que ambdós enfocaments condueixen a les mateixes estratègies de control òptimes mitjançant unes transformacions ben definides. Per a garantir una comparació justa i coherent entre els MDPs estàndard i la seva versió LMDP, integram la regularització d’entropia en el marc dels MDP i posteriorment ampliem el mètode de Todorov per adaptar-lo a aquests MDPs regularizats per entropia.El Aprendizaje por Refuerzo (RL) proporciona un marco teórico y práctico robusto para problemas de decisión secuencial, donde un agente aprende a interactuar con el entorno para maximizar la recompensa a largo plazo. Mientras que los métodos tradicionales que involucran programación dinámica se enfrentan a retos de rendimiento en espacios de estado grandes, la aparición de Procesos de Decisión de Markov con resolución lineal (LMDPs) ofrecen una alternativa computacionalmente eficiente mediante la reformulación del problema de control de manera que la ecuación de Bellman se convierte en lineal. Este trabajo explora una nueva formulación de LMDPs en la que la recompensa se define en función de la transición de un estado a otro, en lugar de la forma convencional donde la recompensa depende únicamente del estado. Esta representación es más intuitiva para las personas que quieren definir problemas de control de forma similar a como se especifican en el marco MDPnolineal, manteniendolas ventajas computacionales de la formulación lineal. A partir de esta base, adaptamos el método de Todorov para transformar los MDPsaese marco de LMDPs con la recompensa definida en función de las transiciones. También establecemos una equivalencia formal entre esta formulación y la formulación de LMDP convencional con la recompensa dependiendo del estado, demostrando que ambos enfoques conducen a las mismas estrategias de control óptimas mendiante unas transformaciones bien definidas. Para garantizar una comparación justa y coherente entre los MDPs est´andar y su versión linealmente resoluble, integramos la regularización de entropía en el marco de los MDP y posteriormente ampliamos el método de Todorov para adaptarlo a estos MDPs regularizados por entropía
The Moving Mandala: exploring the pro-social effects of musical and non-musical synchrony in children in a virtual world
No full textSynchronous movement between individuals has been shown to increase pro-sociality, such as closeness and generosity. To date, synchrony research tests these effects using a variety of movement tasks, including musical and non-musical coordination. However, musical versus non-musical synchrony may have separable pro-social effects. To test this, we had 60 children immersed in an augmented reality space called the ‘Moving Mandala’ where they moved asynchronously with only visual cues, synchronously with only visual cues or synchronously with musical and visual cues. We then tested for differences in pro-social effects using sharing and proxemics tasks. Results showed that while the synchrony version of the mandala led to greater closeness in the proxemics task, the musical synchrony led to more pro-sociality on the sharing task. The implications of these findings are discussed
Antibiotic-loaded bone cement is associated with a reduction of the risk of revision of total knee arthroplasty: Analysis of the Catalan Arthroplasty Register
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this study was to analyse the impact on peri-prosthetic joint infection (PJI) rate and prosthetic survival using antibiotic-loaded bone cement (ALBC) versus plain cement during total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted. The main data source was the Catalan Arthroplasty Register (RACat). TKAs with surgery date between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2020 were analysed and followed up until 31 December 2023. The main variable of interest was the type of cement (ALBC vs. plain cement), and several endpoints (septic revision, aseptic revision, and all-cause revision) were considered. The analysed outcomes were revision rates, survival rates and risk factors' hazard ratios (HR). Results: A total of 22,781 TKAs were analysed, 13,125 (57.6%) of them with plain cement and 9656 (42.4%) with ALBC. The septic revision rate was lower in the ALBC group after 3 months of follow-up (0.52% vs. 0.78%, p value = 0.04). Prosthetic survival with respect to the aseptic revision endpoint was also higher for the ALBC group during the whole follow-up period (~158 months). Regarding risk factors for infection, ALBC showed a protective effect, HR: 0.53 (0.44, 0.63), while sex (being male) and the analysed comorbidities increased the risk. Conclusions: ALBC is associated with a reduction in both the septic revision and the aseptic revision rate after TKA, and thus with higher prosthetic survival. Level of evidence: Level III, Therapeutic, retrospective.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (projects PID2022-136787NB-I00 and PID2019-104156GB-I00), the European Commission H2020 program (grants 101060693, 101057693, 952026) and the Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (Award Number: 2020-18). None of the funding sources had a direct role in this work
Rescaling through projectification in the EU’s higher education regionalism
No full textThe political project of creating a European higher education (HE) space depends on the creation of interlinkages among HE policy stakeholders. Referred to as regionalization, in the European Union (EU) this process relies on the acquisition of EU funding, which traditionally is implemented through projects. While scholarship has tackled the reliance on projects to implement policy, the spatial implications of this projectification are underresearched. This is striking given that the implementation and development of project-based cooperation entails rescaling practices. Rescaling captures how economic, social and political interrelations are moved to new territorial levels above, below, and across the nation-state. This study focuses on rescaling in the EU HE regionalism and asks how projectified EU policies move interrelations of HE policy stakeholders to new territorial levels. A theoretical framework is developed that allows to capture how projectification leads to rescaling by allocating resources to a new scale and by establishing structures and cooperation activities at a new scale. To analyse the rescaling practices that result from the implementation of EU funded projects, this paper attends to the region-building strategies of HE actors and governments in border regions. The latter actors rely on the EU’s funding for cross-border cooperation, i.e. Interreg. The analysis provides that rescaling through projectification lets the institutional arrangements of the EU HE regionalism intertwine. With intergovernmental cooperation, community programmes and organizational cooperation becoming increasingly interdependent, the supranational HE space is fostered
The Value of Values: A critical assessmet of citizenship by investment programs in the European Union
No full textThe primary objective of this doctoral dissertation is to examine the
phenomenon of citizenship by investment programs (CIPs)
thoroughly by analyzing the existing programs within the European
Union (EU) as of 2018. Additionally, I aim to provide a critical
legal assessment of these programs, which can be instrumental in
evaluating potential future initiatives. To accomplish this, I will
present an overview of the phenomenon (Chapter Two), explore the
current state of the art (Chapter Three), and establish a
comprehensive analytical framework (Chapter Four). The analytical
framework consists of two key components. The first is an
exploration of the legal notion of arbitrariness and its detrimental
impact on the Rule of Law, a fundamental value of the EU. I will
argue that justification is the pivotal element required to prevent
discretionary legal decisions or laws from becoming arbitrary. The
second component is an examination of the legal notion of
citizenship qua personal legal status, highlighting the prima facie
impossibility of justifying the attribution of such a status on merely
economic grounds. If this characterization of status civitatis is
correct, then no substantive arguments can be put forth to justify its
attribution for money, rendering these programs arbitrary. However,
if the arguments supporting this characterization prove to be
unsound and citizenship can indeed be conferred based on
economic grounds, then it remains imperative to supply a
justification within the realm of political discourse. An analysis of
the political debates surrounding these programs (Chapter Five) will
confirm the absence of robust arguments, thereby rendering the programs legally unjustified, i.e., suffering from problems of
arbitrariness. Consequently, the arbitrary nature of these programs
and the resultant erosion of the Rule of Law represent substantial
legal grounds for EU intervention.En esta tesis, me propongo investigar el fenómeno de los programas
de ciudadanía por inversión (CIPs, por sus siglas en inglés)
analizando los programas existentes en la Union Europea (UE) en
2018, así como presentando una crítica jurídica que sea útil para
evaluar no solo dichos programas, sino también futuros programas
potenciales. Para ello, presentaré el fenómeno (capítulo dos), el
estado del arte (capítulo tres) y un marco para el análisis (capítulo
cuatro) que estará compuesto de dos herramientas. En primer lugar,
se llevará a cabo una exploración de la noción jurídica de
arbitrariedad y de sus efectos perjudiciales para la Rule of Law, un
valor fundamental de la UE. Se argumentará que la justificación es
un aspecto clave para evitar que decisiones y leyes fruto de la
discrecionalidad de los agentes jurídicos se conviertan en
arbitrarias. En segundo lugar, se realizará un análisis de la noción
legal de ciudadanía qua status legal personal que probará la
imposibilidad, prima facie, de justificar su concesión únicamente a
cambio de transacciones económicas. Si esta caracterización de
status civitatis es correcta, entonces no es posible presentar
argumentos sólidos que puedan justificar su concesión a cambio de
dinero, lo que haría los programas arbitrarios.
En el caso de que los argumentos defendiendo dicha caracterización
no fueran sólidos y se pueda defender que la ciudadanía sí puede
intercambiarse por dinero, aún quedaría por determinar si se ha
dado una justificación adecuada a través de la presentación de
razones en el debate político constitutivo de los programas. El
análisis de dichos debates (capítulo cinco) confirmará la falta de
argumentos robustos, lo que implica que los programas no han sido
justificados legalmente y, por lo tanto, sufren de problemas de
arbitrariedad. Así, la naturaleza arbitraria de los programas y el
daño que esta acarrea a la Rule of Law constituirán argumentos
sólidos para respaldar las acciones de la UE.En aquesta tesi, em proposo investigar el fenomen dels programes
de ciutadania per inversió (CIPs, per les sigles en anglès) mitjançant
l’anàlisi dels programes existents a la Unió Europea (UE) l’any
2018, així com presentant una crítica jurídica que sigui útil per
avaluar no només aquests programes sinó també d’altres futurs. Per
aquest propòsit, presentaré el fenomen (capítol dos), l'estat de l'art
(capítol tres) i un marc per a l'anàlisi (capítol quatre), que constarà
de dues eines. En primer lloc, realitzaré una exploració de la noció
jurídica d'arbitrarietat i dels seus efectes perjudicials per a la Rule of
Law, que és un valor fonamental de la UE. Argumentaré que la
justificació és un aspecte clau per evitar que decisions i lleis
derivades de la discrecionalitat dels agents jurídics es converteixin
en arbitràries.
En segon lloc, duré a terme una anàlisi de la noció legal de
ciutadania qua status personal legal, que provarà la impossibilitat,
prima facie, de justificar-ne l'atorgament només a canvi d'un
intercanvi econòmic. Si aquesta caracterització del status civitatis és
correcta, aleshores no serà possible presentar arguments que puguin
justificar el seu atorgament a canvi de diners, fet que faria que els
programes fossin arbitraris. En cas que els arguments defensant
aquesta caracterització no fossin sòlids, és a dir, que es pogués
caracteritzar la ciutadania com a susceptible de ser intercanviada per
diners, llavors encara caldria determinar si s'ha donat una
justificació adequada a través de la presentació de raons en el debat
polític constitutiu dels programes. L'anàlisi d'aquests debats (capítol
cinc) confirmarà que no s'han presentat arguments contundents, de
manera que els programes no han estat legalment justificats i, per
tant, pateixen problemes d'arbitrarietat. Així doncs, la naturalesa
arbitrària dels programes i l’afectació que això comporta al valor
fonamental que és la Rule of Law serviria com un poderós argument
per donar suport a les accions de la UE.I den här avhandlingen ämnar jag att undersöka medborgarskap
genom investeringsprogram (CIP), genom att analysera de
dåvarande programmen under 2018 inom Europeiska unionen (EU)
samt tillhandahålla ett rättsligt förhållningssätt till dessa som åsyftar
att möjliggöra bedömning av potentiella framtida program. För detta
ändamål kommer jag att presentera fenomenet (kapitel två), ge en
litteraturöversikt (kapitel tre), samt utveckla ett ramverk för
analysen (kapitel fyra). Analysens ramverk består av två verktyg.
Först utforskas den juridiska uppfattningen om godtycke och dess
skadliga effekter på rättsstatsprincipen, ett grundläggande värde för
EU. Jag hävdarr att motivering är nyckelkomponenten för att
undvika godtyckte i rättsliga beslut och lagar. För det andra,
analyseras det juridiska begreppet medborgarskap såsom en
personlig rättslig status. Syftet är att bevisa omöjligheten att vid
första anblick grunda naturalisation enbart på pengar. Om denna
karaktärisering av status civitatis stämmer kan inga argument ges
för att motivera att medborgarskap tillskrivs på rent ekonomiska
grunder. Det i sin tur orättfärdigar programmen: de framstår som
godtyckliga. Om mina argument rörande denna karaktärisering inte
skulle godtas, så att man skulle medge att tillskriva medborgarskap
enbart på ekonomiska grunder, borde ändå skäl ha angetts i den
parlamentariska debatten för föranledde lagstiftandet av reglerna i
fråga. Analysen av de politiska debatterna som föranledde
programmen (kapitel fem) bekräftar att starka argument inte gavs.
Det innebär att programmen inte var rättsligt motiverade. De var
med andra ord godtyckliga. Detta utgör ett starkt rättsligt argument
för EU:s agerande baserat på programmens godtyckliga karaktär
och den resulterande skadan på rättsstaten.Programa de Doctorat en Dre
Using i vs. you to refer to yourself in self-talk:exploring grammatical contextual variations in mandarin chinese
No full textTreball de fi de màster en Lingüística Teòrica i AplicadaDirectora: Dra. Martina Elisabeth WiltschkoThis study investigates how Mandarin Chinese speakers choose between first-person (“我”, wǒ) and second-person (“你”, nǐ) pronouns in self-talk across varying emotional and temporal contexts. Building on insights from both psychology and linguistics, the research explores how emotional valence (positive, neutral, negative), temporal orientation (retrospective, present-related, prospective), and the presence of a mirror (as a visual self-reflection cue) influence pronoun selection. It further examines whether pronoun choice in self-talk reflects categorical grammatical constraints or psychological tendencies. Fifty
native Mandarin speakers completed a choice task involving 54 illustrated scenarios. Each scenario included a pair of self-talk utterances that were semantically equivalent but differed in pronoun use. Results revealed that first-person forms were the dominant choice overall. However, second-person usage increased significantly in negative scenarios. In addition, the presence of a mirror led to a substantial rise in second-person choices across all contexts. Statistical analyses confirmed significant main effects of emotional valence, temporal orientation, and mirror presence, as well as an interaction between valence and temporal framing. The study deepens our understanding of how contextual variables shape the choice of personal pronouns in self-talk. It also extends previous findings from Indo-European
languages to Mandarin, thereby enriching cross-linguistic perspectives on self-talk. Keywords: self-talk, Mandarin Chinese, emotional valence, temporal perspective, mirror effect, first-person pronoun, second-person pronou