Fertilidade e densidade de raízes de um Latossolo sob cana-de-açúcar e de área de empréstimo em Itumbiara, Goiás.

O presente estudo objetivou avaliar a fertilidade, a densidade de raízes e a mineralogia de um Latossolo sob cultivo de cana, comparativamente a uma área de empréstimo, com potencial também para uso agrícola, em Itumbiara-GO. Os solos foram amostrados e caracterizados quanto à fertilidade (pH, K e P disponíveis, Ca+Mg e Al trocáveis, T e V), densidade de raízes (g cm-3) e atributos associados à mineralogia. Ambas as áreas apresentam potencial de uso agrícola, sendo que a denominada de Vermelhão, supostamente menos fértil e de menor qualidade, demonstrou características compatíveis com áreas que tenham recebido corretivos no passado. O fósforo foi o nutriente mais limitante ao desenvolvimento de plantas em ambas as áreas. O uso com essências florestais é recomendado, dado as características de algumas espécies e o baixo investimento inicial com adubos.

DINÂMICAS ESPACIAIS DO SAGRADO DE MATRIZ AFRICANA NA REGIÃO METROPOLITANA DE GOIÂNIA/GO

Território, cultura e política: Dinâmicas Espaciais do Sagrado de Matriz Africana na Região Metropolitana de Goiânia/GO é o eixo norteador do texto a ser desenvolvido. As questões que permeiam essa problemática primam por questionar: como as disputas espaciais produzem o território, a partir da lógica da espacialização que constitui os ilês e as práticas políticas dos praticantes dos candomblés nessa região? Como as casas/terreiros se inserem no contexto de expansão urbano-metropolitano de Goiânia? Diante do exposto outros questionamentos surgem: como esses ilês se organizam a partir da discussão teórica do processo de produção do espaço urbano, no binômio: valorização do solo e encobrimento de identidades? Essa lógica parte da dialética do uso do espaço, uma vez que, as casas de candomblés são espaços sagrados e a territorialização deles obedece a uma ótica de subalternização, encobrimento e invisibilidade diretamente relacionada à intolerância religiosa, preconceitos culturais e ausência de ações do poder público. No campo simbólico em Goiás, o fato de um indivíduo assumir-se como praticante de religiões de matriz africana, ainda no século XXI, concorre para sua inscrição em um loci social permeado pelo preconceito e promove o enfretamento de grupos religiosos de hegemonia ascendente, como é o caso da comunidade evangélica e de outros segmentos tradicionais cristãos. Estudar as formas de construção de uma geograficidade histórica encoberta, transposta de uma comunidade imaginada, de matriz africana – que passa a ser instrumentalizada e renovada na forma de comunidades religiosas em espaços pós-coloniais – constitui um campo epistemológico válido para conhecimento de comunidades herdeiras de uma situação diaspórica.

ANÁLISE MICROCLIMÁTICA DA RESERVA PARTICULAR DO PATRIMÔNIO NATURAL POUSADA DAS ARARAS SERRANÓPOLIS-GO

Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo analisar o perfil topoclimático considerando a variação da temperatura do ar com a altitude em pontos distribuídos na trilha da Reserva Particular de Patrimônio Natural (RPPN) Pousada das Araras. Os dados de temperatura do ar foram coletados dos termohigrometros instalados, em cotas altimétricas distintas e com características diferentes de paisagem, (nascente, vegetação arbórea e campo aberto), na estação de inverno de 2010. O estudo do perfil topoclimático na RPPN nos permite inferir que há uma significativa correlação da temperatura com a topografia local e com a presença ou ausência de cobertura vegetal do solo. Embora a área de estudo apresenta uma amplitude altimétrica em torno de apenas 76 m, verificou-se, às 15h, um gradiente térmico de -0,08 a -0,11ºC/m, ou seja uma redução na temperatura com o aumento da altitude. Também foi observado que a cobertura vegetal afeta o gradiente térmico.

ANÁLISE DAS CARACTERISTICAS FÍSICAS E QUIMICAS DA ÁGUA DO RIO DOCE A MONTANTE DA PEQUENA CENTRAL HIDROELÉCTRICA DE IRARA – GO

O presente trabalho objetivou avaliar as características físicas e químicas das águas do rio Doce (GO), a montante da PCH Irara. Foram realizadas seis amostragens bimestrais em cinco pontos de coleta, no período de julho/09 a junho/10 para variáveis: pH, temperatura, condutividade elétrica, salinidade, turbidez e total de sólido dissolvido. As características físicas e químicas observadas evidenciaram uma boa qualidade da água do rio Doce, considerando-se os padrões Resolução CONAMA N0 357, de 17 de março de 2005.

O DISTANCIAMENTO ENTRE O DISCURSO E A REALIDADE: O CASO DA AVALIAÇÃO DA APRENDIZAGEM NOS PROJETOS POLÍTICOS PEDAGÓGICOS E NA CONCEPÇÃO DE PROFESSORES DA REDE MUNICIPAL E ESTADUAL DE GOIÂNIA-GO

A avaliação da aprendizagem está sendo assunto de debates, pesquisas, palestras, livros etc. Está presente no cotidiano e na imaginação de todos os envolvidos na prática escolar. Para alguns ela é penosa, causa medo e aflição, para outros ela é uma “arma” de controle da disciplina e interesse, para outros ainda ela é momento de verificar a aprendizagem e refletir sobre os resultados para assim criar situações que atendam às necessidades dos estudantes e professores. Diante do atual quadro das diferentes concepções do ato de avaliar e ser avaliado, torna-se fundamental prosseguir com os debates e discussões sobre a prática avaliativa, pois acredito que a avaliação escolar é um processo pelo qual se observa, se verifica, se analisa e se interpreta o processo de construção do conhecimento, dando atenção aos dados relevantes, e com o objetivo de tomar decisões em busca de uma aprendizagem efetiva. Essa discussão deve se dar também no âmbito da Geografia escolar. Este artigo refere-se a algumas inquietações advindas de minha dissertação de mestrado. Pois durante as análises de documentos e as entrevistas realizadas como parte da metodologia proposta, percebi que nos Projetos Políticos Pedagógicos das escolas estavam presentes indicações coerentes de como deveria ocorrer à avaliação da aprendizagem, no entanto, quando indagado aos professores sobre essas indicações, a maioria não tinha conhecimento sobre elas. Sendo assim, considero que há uma incoerência, pois eles são um dos responsáveis pela construção do PPP de sua escola e consequentemente deviam saber o que o orientava, ou seja, o que deveria estar nesse projeto são as suas concepções. Nesse sentido, percebeu-se que ainda há uma grande distância entre o que é pensado como sendo ideal, para o que ocorre na realidade dentro das salas de aula.

Geek goddesses go to school : A study of female pre-service teachers in information technology courses

Various reasons have been proffered for female under-representation in tertiary information technology (IT) courses and the IT industry with most relating to cultural moirés. The 2006 Geek Goddess calendar was designed to alter IT’s “geeky image” and the term is used here to represent young women enrolled in pre-service IT teaching courses. Their special mix of IT and teaching draws on conflicting stereotypes and represents a micro-climate which is typically lost in studies of IT occupations because of the aggregation of all IT roles. This paper will report on a small-scale investigation of female students (N=25) at a university in Queensland (Australia) studying to become teachers of secondary IT subjects. They are entering the IT industry, gendered as a “male” occupation, through the safe space of teaching a discipline allied to feminine qualities of nurturing. They are “geek goddesses” who – perhaps to balance the masculine and feminine of these occupations - have decided to go to school rather than into corporations or government.

Wrong way, go back! Negotiating success in industry-based research

Literature addressing methodological issues in organisational research is extensive and multidisciplinary, encompassing debates about methodological choices, data-collection techniques, epistemological approaches and statistical procedures. However, little scholarship has tackled an important aspect of organisational research that precedes decisions about data collection and analysis – access to the organisations themselves, including the people, processes and documents within them. This chapter looks at organisational access through the experiences of three research fellows in the course of their work with their respective industry partners. In doing so, it reveals many of the challenges and changing opportunities associated with access to organisations, which are rarely explicitly addressed, but often assumed, in traditional methods texts and journal publications. Although the level of access granted varied somewhat across the projects at different points in time and according to different organisational contexts, we shared a number of core and consistent experiences in attempting to collect data and implement strategies.

Letting go of Neo-Liberalism (with some help from Michel Foucault)

Neo-liberalism has become one of the boom concepts of our time. From its original reference point as a descriptor of the economics of the “Chicago School” such as Milton Friedman, or authors such as Friedrich von Hayek, neo-liberalism has become an all-purpose descriptor and explanatory device for phenomena as diverse as Bollywood weddings, standardized testing in schools, violence in Australian cinema, and the digitization of content in public libraries. Moreover, it has become an entirely pejorative term: no-one refers to their own views as “neo-liberal”, but it rather refers to the erroneous views held by others, whether they acknowledge this or not. Neo-liberalism as it has come to be used, then, bears many of the hallmarks of a dominant ideology theory in the classical Marxist sense, even if it is often not explored in these terms. This presentation will take the opportunity provided by the English language publication of Michel Foucault’s 1978-79 lectures, under the title of The Birth of Biopolitics, to consider how he used the term neo-liberalism, and how this equates with its current uses in critical social and cultural theory. It will be argued that Foucault did not understand neo-liberalism as a dominant ideology in these lectures, but rather as marking a point of inflection in the historical evolution of liberal political philosophies of government. It will also be argued that his interpretation of neo-liberalism was more nuanced and more comparative than the more recent uses of Foucault in the literature on neo-liberalism. It will also look at how Foucault develops comparative historical models of liberal capitalism in The Birth of Biopolitics, arguing that this dimension of his work has been lost in more recent interpretations, which tend to retro-fit Foucault to contemporary critiques of either U.S. neo-conservatism or the “Third Way” of Tony Blair’s New Labour in the UK.

From go to woe : how a not-for-profit managed the change to accrual accounting

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the process of change in an Australian not-for-profit organization, from a cash-based to an accrual-based accounting system. Its particular focus is the relationship between the image portrayed by accrual accounting adoption and the technical realities of the new system. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered from interviews, documents and meetings, and were contextualized and interpreted using institutional theory. Findings – The decision to change to accrual accounting was made at the top of the organizational hierarchy in response to institutional pressure to present a corporate image. The implementation of the new system was poorly conceived, inadequately resourced, and hampered by an authoritarian structure that effectively ignored the technical incompetence and training needs of many accounting staff. This resulted in an accounting system half way between cash and accrual, and very different from the system as it had been promoted. The process caused conflict at all levels of the organizational hierarchy. Research limitations/implications – Accounting in not-for-profit organizations is an under-researched area offering potential for fruitful research in a changing institutional landscape. This institutional approach, while offering just one interpretation of the qualitative data gathered in this project, provides valuable insights about the process of change. Practical implications – Not-for-profit organizations play a vital economic and social role, and need carefully to assess their responses to ongoing institutional pressures. In implementing change, they face the challenge of balancing the promotion of an institutionally acceptable image and the need for technical efficiencies. Originality/value – The examination of change in an organization provides a rich context for the exploration of the dynamic, problematic process by which a new accounting practice is embedded and institutionalized. Keywords Institutional theory, Not-for-profit organizations, Accrual accounting, Change process, Qualitative research, Change management, Decision making, Training needs, Australia Paper type Research paper

A Fair Go Beyond the School Gate? Systemic factors affecting participation and attainment in tertiary education by Queensland students from LSES backgrounds

The purpose of this project was to conduct an empirical study that would result in findings that inform systemic policy development aimed at improving tertiary participation and attainment by students from low socioeconomic status (LSES) backgrounds in Queensland. The project focuses on systemic policy, initiatives and programs that encourage tertiary education participation and attainment by individuals from LSES backgrounds, rather than on institution-specific initiatives or programs. While the broad remit was to consider tertiary education participation, the study particularly highlights issues pertaining to LSES student participation and attainment in the higher education sector, given the notable under representation of this demographic subgroup in Australian universities. This study supports the strategic priority of addressing professional skills shortages and innovations aiming to improve human and social capital in the state of Queensland. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the enhancement of Queensland’s education and training system by maximising participation and attainment by people from LSES backgrounds in higher education, thereby improving their quality of life and future life choices and opportunities. The study addressed the following five research questions: 1. What are the major factors that promote or inhibit participation and attainment in tertiary education by LSES students in Queensland? 2. To what extent do systemic policies or practices(systemic factors) of Queensland’s tertiary education system promote or inhibit participation and attainment by LSES students? That is, what features of Queensland’s tertiary education system have a significant effect on participation and attainment by LSES students? 3. What system policies or practices are found to boost participation and attainment by LSES students in other jurisdictions? 4. What evidence is there to suggest that policies or practices that have boosted participation and attainment by LSES students in other jurisdictions would be successful if implemented in Queensland? 5. What are the implications of the research findings for Queensland’s tertiary education system to improve participation and attainment by LSES students? The project adopted a mixed methods approach to data collection. A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted to identify relevant state, national and international literature. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used to collect data from a range of key stakeholders.

Challenges to environmental toxicology and epidemiology : where do we stand and which way do we go?

Modern toxicology investigates a wide array of both old and new health hazards. Priority setting is needed to select agents for research from the plethora of exposure circumstances. The changing societies and a growing fraction of the aged have to be taken into consideration. A precise exposure assessment is of importance for risk estimation and regulation. Toxicology contributes to the exploration of pathomechanisms to specify the exposure metrics for risk estimation. Combined effects of co-existing agents are not yet sufficiently understood. Animal experiments allow a separate administration of agents which can not be disentangled by epidemiological means, but their value is limited for low exposure levels in many of today’s settings. As an experimental science, toxicology has to keep pace with the rapidly growing knowledge about the language of the genome and the changing paradigms in cancer development. During the pioneer era of assembling a working draft of the human genome, toxicogenomics has been developed. Gene and pathway complexity have to be considered when investigating gene–environment interactions. For a best conduct of studies, modern toxicology needs a close liaison with many other disciplines like epidemiology and bioinformatics.