Reconstruction of historical pollination rates reveals linked declines of pollinators and plants

Widespread reports of low pollination rates suggest a recent anthropogenic decline in pollination that could threaten natural and agricultural ecosystems. Nevertheless, unequivocal evidence for a decline in pollination over time has remained elusive because it was not possible to determine historical pollination rates. Here we demonstrate a widely applicable method for reconstructing historical pollination rates, thus allowing comparison with contemporary rates from the same sites. We focused on the relationship between the oil-collecting bee Rediviva peringueyi (Melittidae) and the guild of oil-secreting orchid species (Coryciinae) that depends on it for pollination. The guild is distributed across the highly transformed and fragmented lowlands of the Cape Region of South Africa. We show that rehydrated herbarium specimens of Pterygodium catholicum, the most abundant member of the guild, contain a record of past pollinator activity in the form of pollinarium removal rates. Analysis of a pollination time series showed a recent decline in pollination on Signal Hill, a small urban conservation area. The same herbaria contain historical species occurrence data. We analyzed this data and found that there has been a contemporaneous shift in orchid guild composition in urban areas due to the local extirpation of the non-clonal species, consistent with their greater dependence on seeds and pollination for population persistence.

Historical and idealized climate model experiments: an intercomparison of Earth system models of intermediate complexity

Both historical and idealized climate model experiments are performed with a variety of Earth system models of intermediate complexity (EMICs) as part of a community contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report. Historical simulations start at 850 CE and continue through to 2005. The standard simulations include changes in forcing from solar luminosity, Earth's orbital configuration, CO2, additional greenhouse gases, land use, and sulphate and volcanic aerosols. In spite of very different modelled pre-industrial global surface air temperatures, overall 20th century trends in surface air temperature and carbon uptake are reasonably well simulated when compared to observed trends. Land carbon fluxes show much more variation between models than ocean carbon fluxes, and recent land fluxes appear to be slightly underestimated. It is possible that recent modelled climate trends or climate–carbon feedbacks are overestimated resulting in too much land carbon loss or that carbon uptake due to CO2 and/or nitrogen fertilization is underestimated. Several one thousand year long, idealized, 2 × and 4 × CO2 experiments are used to quantify standard model characteristics, including transient and equilibrium climate sensitivities, and climate–carbon feedbacks. The values from EMICs generally fall within the range given by general circulation models. Seven additional historical simulations, each including a single specified forcing, are used to assess the contributions of different climate forcings to the overall climate and carbon cycle response. The response of surface air temperature is the linear sum of the individual forcings, while the carbon cycle response shows a non-linear interaction between land-use change and CO2 forcings for some models. Finally, the preindustrial portions of the last millennium simulations are used to assess historical model carbon-climate feedbacks. Given the specified forcing, there is a tendency for the EMICs to underestimate the drop in surface air temperature and CO2 between the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age estimated from palaeoclimate reconstructions. This in turn could be a result of unforced variability within the climate system, uncertainty in the reconstructions of temperature and CO2, errors in the reconstructions of forcing used to drive the models, or the incomplete representation of certain processes within the models. Given the forcing datasets used in this study, the models calculate significant land-use emissions over the pre-industrial period. This implies that land-use emissions might need to be taken into account, when making estimates of climate–carbon feedbacks from palaeoclimate reconstructions.

Adaptive communication: languages with more non-native speakers tend to have fewer word forms

Explaining the diversity of languages across the world is one of the central aims of typological, historical, and evolutionary linguistics. We consider the effect of language contact-the number of non-native speakers a language has-on the way languages change and evolve. By analysing hundreds of languages within and across language families, regions, and text types, we show that languages with greater levels of contact typically employ fewer word forms to encode the same information content (a property we refer to as lexical diversity). Based on three types of statistical analyses, we demonstrate that this variance can in part be explained by the impact of non-native speakers on information encoding strategies. Finally, we argue that languages are information encoding systems shaped by the varying needs of their speakers. Language evolution and change should be modeled as the co-evolution of multiple intertwined adaptive systems: On one hand, the structure of human societies and human learning capabilities, and on the other, the structure of language.

Civilian casualties – do we really care? The failure of the revolution in military affairs of non-lethal weapons in the U.S., Russia and Israel

Causing civilian casualties during military operations has become a much politicised topic in international relations since the Second World War. Since the last decade of the 20th century, different scholars and political analysts have claimed that human life is valued more and more among the general international community. This argument has led many researchers to assume that democratic culture and traditions, modern ethical and moral issues have created a desire for a world without war or, at least, a demand that contemporary armed conflicts, if unavoidable, at least have to be far less lethal forcing the military to seek new technologies that can minimise civilian casualties and collateral damage. Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW) – weapons that are intended to minimise civilian casualties and collateral damage – are based on the technology that, during the 1990s, was expected to revolutionise the conduct of warfare making it significantly less deadly. The rapid rise of interest in NLW, ignited by the American military twenty five years ago, sparked off an entirely new military, as well as an academic, discourse concerning their potential contribution to military success on the 21st century battlefields. It seems, however, that except for this debate, very little has been done within the military forces themselves. This research suggests that the roots of this situation are much deeper than the simple professional misconduct of the military establishment, or the poor political behaviour of political leaders, who had sent them to fight. Following the story of NLW in the U.S., Russia and Israel this research focuses on the political and cultural aspects that have been supposed to force the military organisations of these countries to adopt new technologies and operational and organisational concepts regarding NLW in an attempt to minimise enemy civilian casualties during their military operations. This research finds that while American, Russian and Israeli national characters are, undoubtedly, products of the unique historical experience of each one of these nations, all of three pay very little regard to foreigners’ lives. Moreover, while it is generally argued that the international political pressure is a crucial factor that leads to the significant reduction of harmed civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure, the findings of this research suggest that the American, Russian and Israeli governments are well prepared and politically equipped to fend off international criticism. As the analyses of the American, Russian and Israeli cases reveal, the political-military leaderships of these countries have very little external or domestic reasons to minimise enemy civilian casualties through fundamental-revolutionary change in their conduct of war. In other words, this research finds that employment of NLW have failed because the political leadership asks the militaries to reduce the enemy civilian casualties to a politically acceptable level, rather than to the technologically possible minimum; as in the socio-cultural-political context of each country, support for the former appears to be significantly higher than for the latter.

A concepção de paisagem de professores de geografia em escolas do município de Parnamirim (RN)

This work is an exploratory study based on the principles of qualitative research aiming at the conception of landscape by Geography teachers in the city of Parnamirim (RN), as well as the pedagogical implications originated from such conceptions on the formation of students. In order to start our investigative process, we used, as theoretical and methodological reference, some principles of historical and dialectical materialism by Triviños (2007) and historical cultural approach of education by Freire (1987; 1996) e Vygotsky (1993; 2001; 2007), as well as the meaning of conception by Morin (1996) and Ferreira (2007) and the critical approach of geography by Moraes (2005), Santos (1988; 2004; 2006) and Silva (1989; 2010). Also, we used oral history as a research technique such as Moraes (2004), Bertaux (2010), Ferraroti (2010) and Nóvoa (2010) and semi-structured interviews as data collection tools. Our empirical reference is made of four teachers working in four different public schools in the city mentioned above, providing the needed data to start our research. The objective of such interviews is not the verification of the teachers‟ practice in class or outside them, but it highlights the transitoriness of the evidences mentioned in the research. Thus, we conclude that the conception of landscape mostly accepted by the teachers, once it is a process built along their lives and surrounded by their pedagogical practice, prioritizes the visual and morphological aspects and the sentimental livings related to the conception which is situated in a descriptive level of conception. Effectively, the pedagogical implications of these conceptions at school point to a materialization of geography teaching centered on the non-critical reproduction of school subjects which very little instigate the learners to process, via dialogicity, the re-significations of their essential and multiple attributes despite the several attempts and possibilities of some theoretical and methodological renovations on the application of geographical knowledge about landscape, expressed on the report of the interviewees

The use of the challenge test to analyse preservative efficiency in non-sterile cosmetic and health products: applications and critical points

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Historical and recent biological markers of exposure to fluoride

Recent and historical biomarkers assess chronic or subchronic exposure to fluoride. The most studied recent biomarkers are nails and hair. Both can be non-invasively obtained, although collection of nails is more accepted by the subjects. External contamination may be a problem for both biomarkers and still needs to be better evaluated. Nails have been more extensively studied. Although the available knowledge does not allow their use as predictors of dental fluorosis by individual subjects, since reference values of fluoride have not yet been established, they have a strong potential for use in epidemiological surveys. Toenails should be preferred instead of fingernails, and variables that are known to affect nail fluoride concentrations - such as age, gender and geographical area - should be considered. The main historical biomarkers that could indicate total fluoride body burden are bone and dentin. Of these, bone is more studied, but its fluoride concentrations vary according to the type of bone and subjects' age and gender. They are also influenced by genetic background, renal function and remodeling rate, variables that complicate the establishment of a normal range of fluoride levels in bone that could indicate 'desirable' exposure to fluoride. The main issue when attempting to use bone as biomarker of fluoride exposure is the difficulty and invasiveness of sample collection. In this aspect, collection of dentin, especially from 3rd molars that are commonly extracted, is advantageous. However, mean values also span a wide range and reference concentrations have not been published yet. © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Integração do ensino médio e técnico: percepções de alunos do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Pará – IFPA/Campus Castanhal

Esta dissertação intitulada “Integração do ensino médio e técnico: percepções de alunos do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia – IFPA/Campus Castanhal”, apresenta como questão norteadora: O que os estudantes percebem nas estratégias de ensino praticadas no curso, que os levam a tirar conclusões sobre realizações e limitações na operacionalização da integração do ensino? Seu objetivo geral é analisar a partir da percepção de alunos, do terceiro ano do curso Técnico em Agropecuária Integrado do IFPA/Castanhal se as estratégias de ensino praticadas pelos professores estão possibilitando operacionalizar a integração do ensino médio com a educação profissional. Para tal, sistematizamos os princípios e fundamentos norteadores da proposta de Ensino Médio Integrado que constam nos estudos dedicados ao assunto, bem como no Documento Base do MEC (2007). Verificamos as estratégias de ensino integrado anunciadas no Plano do Curso Técnico em Agropecuária Integrado do IFPA/Castanhal e Relatórios Pedagógicos (2006 e 2007), em seguida foram analisadas as percepções de estudantes quanto às práticas operacionalizadas no referido curso. No percurso teórico metodológico recorreu-se a referenciais que adotam o materialismo histórico-dialético como método de análise dos dados. A coleta de dados foi precedida de revisão bibliográfica, seguida da pesquisa de campo com a realização de entrevistas semi estruturadas com oito (08) estudantes oriundos de três (03) turmas do terceiro ano do curso. Os resultados revelam o terreno contraditório no qual o Ensino Médio Integrado foi implantado: O IFPA/Castanhal realizou algumas ações (palestras, debates e reflexões) mediante encontros pedagógicos no intuito de inserção da proposta de Ensino Médio Integrado no referido curso, porém muito longe do objetivo ao qual se destina; evidenciam-se iniciativas de alguns professores em vincular o ensino médio com o técnico mediante a estratégia da interdisciplinaridade. Observaram-se limites que dificultaram a efetivação do ensino integrado como: A justaposição de dois cursos realizados em dois turnos com uma carga horária excessiva; os recursos infra- estruturais disponíveis restringiram aulas práticas; escassa interação entre os professores na operacionalização das estratégias de integração do ensino e não inclusão do coletivo escolar na construção da proposta do curso. Como conclusão destaca-se a presença da dualidade educacional (educação geral e técnica) no curso e romper com esta realidade requer a superação de vários obstáculos, dentre eles: Os de natureza estrutural e material; modificações na estrutura organizacional da Instituição escolar; envolvimento, compromisso político e postura coerente dos docentes, técnicos educacionais, gestores e dirigentes das redes de ensino federal. O Instituto necessita pensar na proposta de formação continuada do corpo técnico e docente na perspectiva do ensino integrado, necessita consultar seus estudantes, ouvi-los em suas necessidades formativas, para tanto se faz necessário criar estratégias de integração da escola à comunidade para que possam discutir e organizar as ações escolares de forma coletiva e construir objetivos comuns fundamentais à operacionalização do Ensino Médio Integrado.

Violência sexual contra crianças e adolescentes: a participação das escolas públicas municipais da cidade de Imperatriz do Maranhão na rede de enfrentamento

A presente dissertação elegeu como objeto de estudo a análise da participação das escolas públicas de ensino fundamental do município de Imperatriz-MA na rede de enfrentamento da violência sexual contra crianças e adolescentes. A questão problema que moveu esta pesquisa foi: como vem ocorrendo a participação das escolas públicas municipais de ensino fundamental da cidade de Imperatriz-MA na rede de enfrentamento da violência sexual contra crianças e adolescentes? As categorias principais desta pesquisa foram: escola, enfrentamento da violência, abuso e exploração sexual, crianças e adolescentes, políticas públicas, currículo e formação de educadores. Objetivou-se analisar a participação das escolas públicas municipais de ensino fundamental da cidade de Imperatriz-MA na rede de enfrentamento da violência sexual contra crianças e adolescentes no período de 2006 a 2012. O tipo de estudo mais adequado encontrado foi o estudo de caso. A metodologia utilizada consistiu nas pesquisas bibliográfica, documental e empírica. Todas as seções iniciaram-se com a discussão teórica e encerram-se com a análise e interpretação dos dados empíricos. Foram utilizados como instrumento de coleta de dados questionários com questões fechadas e abertas, entrevistas abertas e semiestruturadas. De um universo de 119 escolas de ensino fundamental foram selecionadas três como escolas que fizeram a inclusão da temática da violência sexual nos seus respectivos currículos. A análise do material obtido nas entrevistas foi feita mediante o instrumental teórico-metodológico possibilitado pela análise de conteúdo tendo como fundamentação o materialismo histórico-dialético marxista dentro de uma vertente crítica que produz uma visão de mundo não determinista, permitindo chances de movimento e transformação, valorizando os fenômenos e os sujeitos neles envolvidos em sua totalidade. Os resultados permitiram concluir que os currículos das três escolas investigadas contemplam as temáticas do abuso e exploração sexual de forma disciplinar, por meio de projetos, planos de ensino e de aula, dentre outros. A formação dos educadores para o enfrentamento da violência sexual não chegou a todas as escolas. Considerou-se que os educadores, se tiverem condição de trabalho, tempo e espaço, apoio, orientações, formação continuada, terão possibilidades de aprender a lidar com as diversas situações da violência sexual. Nessa perspectiva, algumas escolas da rede municipal de Imperatriz são orientadas no sentido de trabalhar com a prevenção por intermédio dos encaminhamentos de dois projetos da Secretaria Municipal de Educação (SEMED).

A parceria público-privada do Instituto Ayrton Senna e a Prefeitura Municipal de Benevides - PA: entre os desafios (pro)postos e os limites da realidade

A tese intitulada “A parceria público-privada com o Instituto Ayrton Senna e a Prefeitura de Benevides/PA: entre os desafios (pro)postos e os limites da realidade”, cujo problema se refere à relação existente entre as orientações emanadas pela parceria entre o Instituto Ayrton Senna (IAS) e a Prefeitura Municipal de Benevides (PMB), executadas por meio dos Programas Acelera Brasil e Se Liga, e o processo de interferência na política de educação municipal e, consequentemente, no “fazer pedagógico” dos professores. Como questão central, definiu-se: Quais as implicações dos Programas Acelera Brasil e Se Liga (do IAS), no município de Benevides/PA no período de 2010-2012, no contexto de redefinição do papel do Estado, na gestão educacional municipal e na melhoria da qualidade do ensino? O estudo objetivou analisar a implantação e desenvolvimento dessa parceria entre o IAS e a PMB, com vistas a compreender a dinâmica vivenciada pelos diferentes sujeitos envolvidos no processo, as relações construídas, suas formas de atuação e significado da parceria para o Município. Com essa perspectiva analisa-se a crise estrutural do capital e a emergência do “terceiro setor”, como aspecto central para compreender as reformas que se seguiram, sobretudo, a partir dos anos de 1990. Trabalha-se a temática das parcerias público-privadas com o IAS a partir de três eixos de análise: gestão, autonomia e qualidade do ensino, abordados em suas particularidades ao longo do texto. A fundamentação teórico-metodológica pautou-se no materialismo histórico-dialético, assumindo os estudos e análises nessa perspectiva e defendeu-se a importância teórica e política de compreender esse fenômeno das parcerias público-privadas em sua totalidade, em sua materialidade no ensino público, principalmente as vivenciadas para a correção de fluxo em Benevides/PA. O estudo caracteriza-se por ser um estudo de caso, cujas fontes privilegiadas para a obtenção dos dados centraram-se em entrevistas semi-estruturadas com 18 (dezoito) profissionais da educação que atuaram no município durante a vigência dos programas (professores, supervisores, diretores de escola, ex-secretários de educação) e na observação não participante. Das análises realizadas constatou-se que a parceria entre Prefeitura Municipal de Benevides e Instituto Ayrton Senna atendeu as determinações do MEC, buscando alcançar os patamares requeridos no IDEB que, subjacente à política de enfrentamento do fracasso escolar, priorizaram orientações e propostas pautadas em critérios gerenciais para promover a concorrência entre as instituições públicas; a gestão democrática, embora constitua a retórica dos gestores, não é constatada em práticas empreendidas pelos sujeitos objetos da pesquisa, no Município, cujas ações estiveram mais próximas do modelo gerencial defendido pelo IAS e; que a busca pela propalada qualidade do ensino produziu a intensificação no trabalho dos professores, cujo nível de exigência por resultados e cumprimento de metas, por vezes, irreais, (pro)postos pela parceria provocou, nos profissionais da educação envolvidos, a impossibilidade de vivências de gestão democrática e de qualidade socialmente referenciada.

Biology Teachers'Conceptions of the Diversity of Life and the Historical Development of Evolutionary Concepts

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

Hormonal contraceptive use before hCG remission does not increase the risk of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia following complete hydatidiform mole: a historical database review

To re-evaluate the safety of hormonal contraceptives (HC) after uterine evacuation of complete hydatidiform mole (CHM). Historical database review. Charing Cross Hospital Gestational Trophoblastic Disease Centre, London, United Kingdom. Two thousand four hundred and twenty-three women with CHM of whom 154 commenced HC while their human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) was still elevated, followed between 2003 and 2012. We compared time to hCG remission between HC users and nonusers. The relationship between HC use and gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) development was assessed. The relationship between HC use and a high International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) risk score was determined. Time to hCG remission, risk of developing postmolar GTN and proportion of women with high FIGO risk score. No relationship was observed between HC use with mean time to hCG remission (HC users versus non-users: 12 weeks in both, P = 0.19), GTN development (HC users versus non-users: 20.1 and 16.7%, P = 0.26) or high-risk FIGO score (HC users versus nonusers: 0% and 8%, P = 0.15). Moreover, no association between HC and GTN development was found, even when an age-adjusted model was used (OR = 1.37, 95% CI 0.91-2.08, P = 0.13). The use of current HC is not associated with development of postmolar GTN or delayed time to hCG remission. Therefore, HC can be safely used to prevent a new conception following CHM regardless of hCG level. Non-concurrent cohort study to re-evaluate the safety of low dose HCs after uterine evacuation of CHM.

Processos educativos e emancipação: a visão dos educadores sociais sobre suas práticas

Pós-graduação em Educação - IBRC

Crítica ao conceito de Necessidades Básicas de Aprendizagem (NEBA) a partir da categoria marxiana de necessidades humanas

Pós-graduação em Educação Escolar - FCLAR

Non-classical HLA-E gene variability in Brazilians: a nearly invariable locus surrounded by the most variable genes in the human genome

The non-classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I genes present a very low rate of variation. So far, only 10 HLA-E alleles encoding three proteins have been described, but only two are frequently found in worldwide populations. Because of its historical background, Brazilians are very suitable for population genetic studies. Therefore, 104 bone marrow donors from Brazil were evaluated for HLA-E exons 14. Seven variation sites were found, including two known single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at positions +424 and +756 and five new SNPs at positions +170 (intron 1), +1294 (intron 3), +1625, +1645 and +1857 (exon 4). Haplotyping analysis did show eight haplotypes, three of them known as E*01:01:01, E*01:03:01 and E*01:03:02:01 and five HLA-E new alleles that carry the new variation sites. The HLA-E*01:01:01 allele was the predominant haplotype (62.50%), followed by E*01:03:02:01 (24.52%). Selective neutrality tests have disclosed an interesting pattern of selective pressures in which balancing selection is probably shaping allele frequency distributions at an SNP at exon 3 (codon 107), sequence diversity at exon 4 and the non-coding regions is facing significant purifying pressure. Even in an admixed population such as the Brazilian one, the HLA-E locus is very conserved, presenting few polymorphic SNPs in the coding region.