RESUMO
The structure of eukaryotic genes is generally a combination of exons interrupted by intragenic non-coding DNA regions (introns) removed by RNA splicing to generate the mature mRNA. A fraction of genes, however, comprise a single coding exon with introns in their untranslated regions or are intronless genes (IGs), lacking introns entirely. The latter code for essential proteins involved in development, growth, and cell proliferation and their expression has been proposed to be highly specialized for neuro-specific functions and linked to cancer, neuropathies, and developmental disorders. The abundant presence of introns in eukaryotic genomes is pivotal for the precise control of gene expression. Notwithstanding, IGs exempting splicing events entail a higher transcriptional fidelity, making them even more valuable for regulatory roles. This work aimed to infer the functional role and evolutionary history of IGs centered on the mouse genome. IGs consist of a subgroup of genes with one exon including coding genes, non-coding genes, and pseudogenes, which conform approximately 6% of a total of 21,527 genes. To understand their prevalence, biological relevance, and evolution, we identified and studied 1,116 IG functional proteins validating their differential expression in transcriptomic data of embryonic mouse telencephalon. Our results showed that overall expression levels of IGs are lower than those of MEGs. However, strongly up-regulated IGs include transcription factors (TFs) such as the class 3 of POU (HMG Box), Neurog1, Olig1, and BHLHe22, BHLHe23, among other essential genes including the ß-cluster of protocadherins. Most striking was the finding that IG-encoded BHLH TFs fit the criteria to be classified as microproteins. Finally, predicted protein orthologs in other six genomes confirmed high conservation of IGs associated with regulating neural processes and with chromatin organization and epigenetic regulation in Vertebrata. Moreover, this study highlights that IGs are essential modulators of regulatory processes, such as the Wnt signaling pathway and biological processes as pivotal as sensory organ developing at a transcriptional and post-translational level. Overall, our results suggest that IG proteins have specialized, prevalent, and unique biological roles and that functional divergence between IGs and MEGs is likely to be the result of specific evolutionary constraints.
RESUMO
Blob detection is a common task in vision-based applications. Most existing algorithms are aimed at execution on general purpose computers; while very few can be adapted to the computing restrictions present in embedded platforms. This paper focuses on the design of an algorithm capable of real-time blob detection that minimizes system memory consumption. The proposed algorithm detects objects in one image scan; it is based on a linked-list data structure tree used to label blobs depending on their shape and node information. An example application showing the results of a blob detection co-processor has been built on a low-powered field programmable gate array hardware as a step towards developing a smart video surveillance system. The detection method is intended for general purpose application. As such, several test cases focused on character recognition are also examined. The results obtained present a fair trade-off between accuracy and memory requirements; and prove the validity of the proposed approach for real-time implementation on resource-constrained computing platforms.
RESUMO
Psychology students from National University of Distance Education in Spain (UNED) were presented with a modification of the standardized scale by Thiriat (1981) that has been used (with some changes) in almost all studies of this type. The survey explored authors, publications and phenomena that students considered to be the most outstanding in psychology. Students were also asked to choose among some definitions of psychology and of different important concepts as thought, intelligence and mind. Finally, students were required an evaluation of different aspects of psychology and their own views on psychology in comparison with other fields of knowledge. The results of this work were compared to the results of previous studies.
Se aplicó a los estudiantes de Psicología de la Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia en España (UNED) una modificación de la escala estandarizada por Thiriat (1981) y que ha sido utilizada (con más o menos cambios) en casi la totalidad de los trabajos de este tipo. En la encuesta se indaga sobre el autor, la obra y el fenómeno que considerasen como los más destacados de nuestra disciplina. También se les pedía que eligiesen entre varias definiciones de psicología y de diferentes conceptos relevantes como el pensamiento, la inteligencia o la mente. Por último, se les requería una valoración de diferentes aspectos de la psicología y de la propia psicología en su conjunto en comparación con otros campos del saber. Se concluye comparando los resultados obtenidos en este trabajo con otros similares realizados con otras poblaciones.
RESUMO
Se llevaron a cabo tres experimentos destinados a estudiar la posible existencia de competencia entre criterios utilizando el paradigma de equivalencia-equivalencia. Los criterios que manejaron fueron, por una parte, responder con base en una relación de pertenencia a una clase de equivalencia (criterio de equivalencia-equivalencia) y, por otra, compartir un elemento entre la muestra y la comparación (criterio de semejanza). Los procedimientos utilizados fueron la competencia entre criterios, el ensombrecimiento y el bloqueo. Los sujetos utilizados fueron estudiantes universitarios. Los resultados del primer experimento (competencia) indicaron que la semejanza era elegida con más facilidad y por un mayor número de sujetos que la equivalencia-equivalencia, y asimismo la relación de semejanza interfería en el aprendizaje de la relación de equivalencia-equivalencia si estos dos criterios se presentan simultáneamente desde el principio. En el segundo experimento (ensombrecimiento) se comprobó que cuando ambos criterios aparecen disponibles al mismo tiempo., la semejanza ensombrece a la equivalencia equivalencia. Por último, en el experimento de bloqueo, encontramos que mientras la semejanza bloquea a la equivalencia- equivalencia, el efecto contrario es mucho menor.
Three experiments were carried out in order to study the possible existence of competition among different criteria using the equivalence-equivalence paradigm. The criteria we managed were, on one hand, responding based on the criterion of belonging to an equivalence class and, for other, to share an element between the sample and the comparison (similarity). The procedures used were the competition among criteria, overshadowing and blocking. The subjects used were undergraduate students. The results of the procedure of competition indicated that similarity could interfere in the learning of the equivalence-equivalence relationship if these two criteria were presented simultaneously...
Assuntos
Condicionamento Psicológico , Comportamento , Razão de Chances , Terapia Cognitivo-ComportamentalRESUMO
Se llevó a cabo un experimento con objeto de estudiar la posible existencia de competencia entre criterios de respuesta, utilizados en el paradigma de equivalencia-equivalencia. Los criterios manejados fueron, por una parte, responder en base ala pertinencia a una clase de equivalencia y, por otra, compartir un elemento entre la muestra y la comparación (semejanza). El procedimiento utilizado fue el del ensombrecimiento. Los sujetos fueron estudiantes universitarios. Los resultados de nuestro experimento muestran que cuando equivalencia equivalencia y semejanza compiten (ambos pueden servir como guía para la elección de los sujetos) la segunda ensombrece a la primera. No obstante, como suele ser habitual, se obtiene mejores resultados cuando aparecen por separado que cuando comparten una misma situación.
An experiment was carried out in order to study the possible competition between criteria of responses using the equivalence equivalence paradigm. The managed approaches were, on one hand, to respond based on the membership to an equivalence class and, for other, to share an element between the sample and the comparison (similarity). The procedure used was overshadow. The subjects were university students. The results of our experiment show that when equivalence equivalence and similarity compete (both can serve as a guide for the subjects choice) the second overshadowed to the first one, Nevertheless, as is usual, better results are obtained when they appear for separate that when they share oneself situation.