Phylogenetic relationships of rock-wallabies, Petrogale (Marsupialia: Macropodidae) and their biogeographic history within Australia

The rock-wallaby genus Petrogale comprises a group of habitat-specialist macropodids endemic to Australia. Their restriction to rocky outcrops, with infrequent interpopulation dispersal, has been suggested as the cause of their recent and rapid diversification. Molecular phylogenetic relationships within and among species of Petrogale were analysed using mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase c subunit 1, cytochrome b. NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2) and nuclear (omega-globin intron, breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene) sequence data with representatives that encompassed the morphological and chromosomal variation within the genus, including for the first time both Petrogale concinna and Petrogale purpureicollis. Four distinct lineages were identified, (1) the brachyotis group, (2) Petrogale persephone, (3) Petrogale xanthopus and (4) the lateralis-penicillata group. Three of these lineages include taxa with the ancestral karyotype (2n = 22). Paraphyletic relationships within the brachyotis group indicate the need for a focused phylogeographic study. There was support for P. purpureicollis being reinstated as a full species and P. concinna being placed within Petrogale rather than in the monotypic genus Peradorcas. Bayesian analyses of divergence times suggest that episodes of diversification commenced in the late Miocene-Pliocene and continued throughout the Pleistocene. Ancestral state reconstructions suggest that Petrogale originated in a mesic environment and dispersed into more arid environments, events that correlate with the timing of radiations in other arid zone vertebrate taxa across Australia. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Food and Nutrition Security - meanings and appropriations from the civil society segment of the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security

The huge transformations that occurred in the last two decades had impacts on the standards of food production and consumption, and determined a wider discussion in Brazil about the theme of food and nutrition security. It has also expanded the scope of it, which now considers nourishing aspects regarding the entire population and not only its most vulnerable segments. This research identified different meanings present in the speech about food and nutrition security, terms incorporated by movements and civil society organizations that were represented at the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security (administration 2004-2007). Thematic appropriation could be observed in the following directions: a) privileging the interaction between thematic fields from both production and consumption spheres; b) strengthening the idea of nutrition as a human right; c) including an ethical goal to the country's development; d) development of an intra and intersectorial perspective; e) identifying the need of dialogic and freeing educational processes.

Astrobiology in Brazil: early history and perspectives

This review reports the Brazilian history in astrobiology, as well as the first delineation of a vision of the future development of the field in the country, exploring its abundant biodiversity, highly capable human resources and state-of-the-art facilities, reflecting the last few years of stable governmental investments in science, technology and education, all conditions providing good perspectives on continued and steadily growing funding for astrobiology-related research. Brazil is growing steadily and fast in terms of its worldwide economic power, an effect being reflected in different areas of the Brazilian society, including industry, technology, education, social care and scientific production. In the field of astrobiology, the country has had some important landmarks, more intensely after the First Brazilian Workshop on Astrobiology in 2006. The history of astrobiology in Brazil, however, is not so recent and had its first occurrence in 1958. Since then, researchers carried out many individual initiatives across the country in astrobiology-related fields, resulting in an ever growing and expressive scientific production. The number of publications, including articles and theses, has particularly increased in the last decade, but still counting with the effort of researchers working individually. That scenario started to change in 2009, when a formal group of Brazilian researchers working with astrobiology was organized, aiming at congregating the scientific community interested in the subject and to promote the necessary interactions to achieve a multidisciplinary work, receiving facilities and funding from the University de Sao Paulo and other funding agencies. Received 29 February 2012, accepted 17 May 2012, first published online 18 July 2012

A educação na mudança social: lugar central, lugar secundário e lugar nenhum

Este artigo traz exemplos que sustentam a hipótese de que há uma discrepância entre o sentido geral atribuído à educação pelos enfoques sociológicos e aquele que é conferido por autoridades públicas e profissionais de organizações escolares. O sentido que tais autoridades e profissionais atribuem à educação coincide consideravelmente com as noções mais recorrentes na opinião pública, que frequentemente localiza a educação em posição central como fator de mudança social. O argumento foi elaborado para situar uma pesquisa sobre mudança educacional no Brasil, apoiada pela Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) em 2004-2005. A pesquisa dedicou-se a reportar as características das ações de reforma educacional nos anos 1990, confrontando-as com iniciativas circunscritas, abarcadas pela denominação de inovação educacional.