Community perceptions of four protected areas in the Northern portion of the Cerrado hotspot, Brazil

Establishing effective networks of protected areas (PAS) is one of the major goals of conservation strategies worldwide. However, the success of PAS in promoting biodiversity conservation depends on their integration to local and regional contexts, reducing and mitigating human impacts originating from buffer zones. Community perceptions affect interactions between residents and PAS, and thereby conservation effectiveness. Research at Tocantins state (northern Brazilian Cerrado), aimed to analyse local community perceptions of four PAs, discussing how different factors may influence these. Perceptions were assessed through standardized interviews applied to PA employees and 275 local inhabitants. There was modest community participation in PA establishment and management. Residents were aware of the PAS` existence, but were unfamiliar with their goals. Length of residency and occupation of inhabitants influenced their PA perceptions, shaping different people-park relations in each of the four studied PAs. Involvement of local residents in PA planning and management represents a central strategy to strengthen local support for PAS over the long term. In those areas that still have settlements inside their boundaries, community relocation should follow a careful participatory process to avoid significant changes in local perceptions and attitudes towards these PAS, crucial for conserving Brazilian biodiversity.

Science Teacher Education in Brazil: 1950-2000

This paper analyzes the most significant events occurring in Brazil`s educational, social and political areas over the last half century, viewed against a background of relevant worldwide events. The hypothesis presented here is that the relations between the country`s educational policies, the demands of the various segments of academia, and the public school system have always been strained. This strain has contributed positively to the evolution of academic knowledge and production, to the design of more modern curricular projects by institutional authorities, and to the initial recognition of the specific construction of school knowledge by the school system itself. However, the interaction of these major institutions lacks a crucial element-one that would lead to an effective change in the education of science teachers and produce a positive impact on Brazil`s schools-namely, the wholehearted participation of science teachers themselves. With this analysis, we intend to contribute by offering some perspectives and proposals for science teacher education in Brazil.

UV optical absorption spectra analysis of beryl crystals from Brazil

The spectral decomposition analysis was applied to the optical absorption spectra of green and colorless beryl crystals from the Brazilian Eastern Pegmatitic province in the natural state, Submitted to heat treatment and irradiated with UV light The attributions of the lines were made taking into account highly accurate quantum mechanical calculations The deconvolution of the green beryl spectra revealed four lines, two of them around 12,000 cm(-1) (1 5eV) and two of them around 34,000 cm(-1) (4.2 eV) attributed to Fe(2+) and Fe(3+), respectively The deconvolution of the colorless beryl spectra without any treatment, after heating and for the same heat treatment followed by UV light irradiation revealed five lines The analysis of ratio relations showed that the lines at 36,400 cm(-1) (4.5 eV) and 41,400 cm(-1) (5 1 eV) belongs to a single defect attributed to a silicon dangling bond defect (=Si). Discussions and comparison with reported defects in quartz have supported the allocation of the lines at 61,000 cm(-1) (7.6 eV) and 43,800 cm(-1) (5 4 eV) to diamagnetic oxygen vacancy defect ( Si-Si ) and unrelaxed ( Si Si ) defect, respectively Finally, the line at 39.100 cm(-1) (4.8 eV), quite polarized along the c-axis, was attributed to a (Fe(2+) OH(-)) defect in the structural channels (C) 2009 Elsevier B V All rights reserved

Mineralogy and trace-element geochemistry of the high-grade iron ores of the Aguas Claras Mine and comparison with the Capao Xavier and Tamandua iron ore deposits, Quadrilahero Ferrifero, Brazil

Several major iron deposits occur in the Quadrilatero Ferrifero (QF), southeastern region of Brazil, where metamorphosed and heterogeneously deformed banded iron formation (BIF) of the Caue Formation, regionally called itabirite, was transformed into high- (Fe >64%) and lowgrade (30%relations at the Aguas Claras and Capao Xavier deposits suggest that it is not possible to form huge soft high-grade supergene deposits from siliceous itabirite, unless another control, such as impermeable barriers, had played an important role. The occurrence in the Tamandua Mine of a large, soft, high-grade orebody formed from siliceous itabirite and closely associated with hypogene hard ore suggests that large, soft, high-grade orebodies of the Quadrilatero Ferrifero, which occur within siliceous itabirite, have a hypogene contribution in their formation.