Road safety: implications for sustainable development in Latin America

Road accidents cause more deaths than homicides in Latin America, nevertheless it is not highlighted as a major concern by media and society. World Health Organization put this issue in high priority by releasing the Decade of Action in Road Safety that establishes five pillars to guide national road safety plans and activities. This paper addresses the drawbacks in the implementation of these actions in Latin American countries and its implications to achieve a sustainable development. The main concerns are: lack of empowerment of the road safety management organisations; lower vehicular standards; corruption related to the enforcement of traffic safety laws to and to the construction of safer roads; absence of safety vehicular inspections; vehicle fleet increase, decrease of public transportation demand; and the absence of a safety culture. Without facing these problems, sustainable development in Latin America will be impaired, once road safety is a fundamental link to achieve sustainability.

Combining ALOS/PALSAR derived vegetation structure and inundation patterns to characterize major vegetation types in the Mamiraua Sustainable Development Reserve, Central Amazon floodplain, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Managing organizations for sustainable development in emerging countries: an introduction

This introduction article is for the special issue Managing organizations for sustainable development in emerging countries: natural resources, biodiversity, and climate change' in the International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology and presents an introduction to the topics and summarizes accepted contributions in the special issue. The accepted works may contribute with organizational management in the search for more sustainable organizations. The works focus on the challenges of managing organizations in a context of degradation of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Accepted papers discuss these issues, based on the reality of emerging economies (e.g. Brazil, India, and China).

Sustainable development in the BRICS countries: an efficiency analysis by data envelopment

There is much concern about the social and environmental impacts caused by the economic growth of nations. Thus, to evaluate the socio-economic performance of nations, economists have increasingly addressed matters related to social welfare and the environment. It is within the scope of this context that this work discusses the performance of countries in the BRICS group regarding sustainable development. The objective of this study regards evaluating the efficiency of these countries in transforming productive resources and technological innovation into sustainable development. The proposed objective was achieved by using econometric tools as well as the data envelopment analysis method to then create economic, environmental, and social efficiency rankings for the BRICS countries, which enabled to carry out comparative analyses on the sustainable development of those countries. The results of such assessments can be of interest for more specific scientific explorations.

Agricultural production and sustainable development in a Brazilian region (Southwest, Sao Paulo State): motivations and barriers to adopting sustainable and ecologically friendly practices

The objective of this study is to identify the adoption level of practices associated with more sustainable agriculture and environmentally friendly practices. Additionally, the motivations for and barriers to the adoption of these practices by farmers are investigated. Data were collected through closed questionnaires taken by a random sample of farmers in the Southwest, Sao Paulo, Brazil, during the second half of 2013. Overall, sustainable agricultural practices recommended in the literature and analysed in this study are being not fully adopted by farmers of the studied area. The results showed that financial motivation is associated with farmers adopting new, more sustainable technology, whereas the lack of information on and lack of technical support for these technologies are significant barriers. Other results, research implications, limitations and suggestions for future research are presented.

Sustainable worm control practices in South America

A high prevalence of nematodes, especially Haemonchus contortus and Trichostrongylus colubriformis, that exhibit multiple anthelmintics resistance has been reported in sheep in several South American countries. For this reason, the development of strategies that are less dependent on anthelmintic treatments is imperative for the prophylaxis of gastrointestinal nematode infections in small ruminants. Integrated grazing using cattle and sheep can be used for pasture decontamination with considerable reduction of H. contortus and T. colubnformis infective larvae after cattle grazing. Several breeds of sheep exhibit genetically related resistance against nematode infections, as is the case of crioulo, native or naturalised breeds of sheep. These breeds descend from livestock introduced by Portuguese and Spanish settlers and have been submitted to a long process of natural selection in various environmental conditions. In the South, the Crioula Lanada breed is more resistant to H. contortus than are Corriedale sheep. In tropical areas, where the minimum temperatures are usually higher than 20 degrees C, hair sheep flourish, especially the Santa Ines breed, which also display a higher level of resistance to nematode infections compared with certain breeds of European origin. However, Santa Ines sheep have inferior carcass quality compared with other commercial breeds. Recent studies showed that the crossbreeding of Santa Ines ewes with sires of breeds with high potential for growth and meat production, results in crossbred animals with high productivity and a satisfactory degree of resistance against nematode infections. Several studies have indicated that improvement in nutrition has a beneficial effect on the development of resistance in lambs that were naturally or artificially infected with nematodes. Therefore, supplementary feeding and breeding strategies to improve resistance to nematodes are feasible options in the effort to reduce dependence on anthelmintic drugs to control worm infections in sheep. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ecology and morphological characterization of gametophyte and 'Chantransia' stages of Sirodotia huillensis (Batrachospermales, Rhodophyta) from a stream in central Mexico

The morphology and phenology of Sirodotia huillensis was evaluated seasonally in a central Mexican first-order calcareous stream. Water temperature was constant (24-25°C) and pH circumneutral to alkaline (6.7-7.9), and calcium and sulfates were the dominant ions. The gametophyte stages were characterized by the presence of a distinctive mucilaginous layer, a marked difference in phycocyanin to phycoerythrin ratio between female and male plants, and the presence of a carpogonia with a large trichogyne (>60 μm). Occasionally three capogonia were observed on a single basal cell. The 'Chantransia' stages were morphologically similar to those described for the other members of Batrachospermales. A remarkable observation was the formation of dome-shaped structures, consisting of prostrate filaments that are related with the development of new gametophytes. Chromosome numbers were n = 4 for fascicle cells, cortical filament cells and dome-shaped cells, and 2n = 8 for gonimoblast filament cells and 'Chantransia' stage filaments. Gametophytes and 'Chantransia' stages occurred in fast current velocities (60-170 cm/s) and shaded (33.1-121 μmol photons/m2/s) stream segments. The population fluctuated throughout the study period in terms of percentage cover and frequency: the 'Chantransia' stages were most abundant in the rainy season, whereas gametophytic plants had the highest frequency values during the dry season. These results were most likely a result of fluctuations in rainfall and related changes in current velocity. Some characteristics of this population can be viewed as probable adaptations to high current velocities: the mucilaginous layer around plants that reduces drag; potential increase in fertilization by the elongate and plentiful trichogynes and abundant dome-shaped structures producing several gametophytes.

Efficiency in Brazil's industrial sectors in terms of energy and sustainable development

This article evaluates the efficiency of Brazil's industrial sectors from 1996 to 2009, taking into account energy consumption and respective contributions to the country's economic and social aspects. This analysis used a mathematical programming method called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which enabled, from the SBM model and the window analysis, to evaluate the ability of industries to reduce energy consumption and fossil-fuel CO2 emissions (inputs), as well as to increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by sectors, the persons employed and personnel expenses (outputs). The results of this study indicated that the Textile sector is the most efficient industrial sector in Brazil, according to the variables used, followed by these sectors: Foods and Beverages, Chemical, Mining, Paper and Pulp, Nonmetallic and Metallurgical.

Effect of density on population development in the Amazon River prawn Macrobrachium amazonicum

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Strategies to promote farm animal welfare in Latin America and their effects on carcass and meat quality traits

Several initiatives, including research and development, increasing stakeholders' awareness and application of legislation and recommendation, have been carried out in Latin America to promote animal welfare and meat quality. Most activities focused on the impact of pre-slaughter conditions (facilities, equipment and handling procedures) on animal welfare and meat quality. The results are encouraging; data from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay showed that the application of the improved pre-slaughter handling practices reduced aggressive handling and the incidence of bruised carcasses at slaughter in cattle and pigs. These outcomes stimulated some to apply animal welfare concepts in livestock handling within the meat production chain as shown by the increasing demand for personnel training on the best. To attend this demand is important to expand local studies on farm animal welfare and to set up (or maintain) an efficient system for knowledge transfer to all stakeholders in the Latin America meat production chains. However, it is clear that to promote the long-term progress in this field is important to deliver practical solutions, assuring that they match the technical and financial conditions of those who are the target of training programs. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of isoflavone-supplemented soy yogurt on lipid parameters and atherosclerosis development in hypercholesterolemic rabbits: a randomized double-blind study

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Interspecific fish hybrids in Brazil: management of genetic resources for sustainable use

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Ecology of microfungal communities in gardens of fungus-growing ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): a year-long survey of three species of attine ants in Central Texas

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)National Science Foundation (NSF)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

SYSTEMATICS OF FRESH-WATER AUDOUINELLA (ACROCHAETIACEAE, RHODOPHYTA) IN NORTH-AMERICA .1. THE REDDISH SPECIES

Multivariate morphometrics and image analysis were used to determine the number of well-distinguished infrageneric taxa of reddish freshwater Audouinella in North America. Three distinct groupings were differentiated from 83 populations collected from Alaska and Labrador in the north to central Mexico and Jamaica in the south. These groupings were statistically related to seven type specimens. The following species were recognized: A. eugenea (SKUJA) JAO, A. hermannii (ROTH) DUBY [syn.: A. violacea (KUTZ.) HAMEL and its varieties, alpina (KUTZ.) RAB., dalmatica (KUTZ.) RAB., expansa (WOOD) SMITH, and hercynica (KUTZ.) KUTZ.] and A. tenella (SKUJA) PAPENFUSS. These species are separated based on dimensions of vegetative cells and monosporangia. A. tenella is found only in California, A. eugenea in warm, alkaline and high-ion waters of the tropical rainforest and desert-chaparral, while A. hermannii occurs widely from the boreal to south temperate and in waters with relatively low temperatures and ion content.