The grass-free lawn: floral performance and management implications

Grass lawns are a ubiquitous feature of urban green-space throughout much of the temperate world. Species poor and intensively managed, lawns are ecologically impoverished, however environmentally aware lawn owners are reluctant to implement alternatives due to aesthetic concerns. Developing an alternative lawn format which is both biodiversity friendly and aesthetically pleasing is an imperative for urban greening. We suggest that such an alternative can be provided by replacing the grass lawn by a forb-based mix. To advance this, we tested the floral performance of three groups of clonal perennial forbs (native, non-native and mixed), each maintained using standard lawn management mowing regimes. Our findings show that both the frequency of mowing and the height at which mowing is applied influence floral performance and lawn aesthetics. Species origin was found to influence floral productivity, floral visibility and floral variety within grass-free lawns, with native species providing the greatest floral performance. The behaviour and management of grass lawns was not found to be a suitable analogue for the management of grass-free lawns and grass-free lawns are sufficiently different from grass lawns to require an entirely original management approach. We suggest that the grass-free lawn can provide an aesthetically and environmentally relevant replacement for the ubiquitous and ecologically-poor grass lawn.

Phytophagous insect fauna tracks host plant responses to exotic grass invasion

The high dependence of herbivorous insects on their host plants implies that plant invaders can affect these insects directly, by not providing a suitable habitat, or indirectly, by altering host plant availability. In this study, we sampled Asteraceae flower heads in cerrado remnants with varying levels of exotic grass invasion to evaluate whether invasive grasses have a direct effect on herbivore richness independent of the current disturbance level and host plant richness. By classifying herbivores according to the degree of host plant specialization, we also investigated whether invasive grasses reduce the uniqueness of the herbivorous assemblages. Herbivorous insect richness showed a unimodal relationship with invasive grass cover that was significantly explained only by way of the variation in host plant richness. The same result was found for polyphagous and oligophagous insects, but monophages showed a significant negative response to the intensity of the grass invasion that was independent of host plant richness. Our findings lend support to the hypothesis that the aggregate effect of invasive plants on herbivores tends to mirror the effects of invasive plants on host plants. In addition, exotic plants affect specialist insects differently from generalist insects; thus exotic plants affect not only the size but also the structural profile of herbivorous insect assemblages.

The interaction of an antiparasitic peptide active against African Sleeping Sickness with cell membrane models

Zwitterionic peptides with trypanocidal activity are promising lead compounds for the treatment of African Sleeping Sickness, and have motivated research into the design of compounds capable of disrupting the protozoan membrane. In this study, we use the Langmuir monolayer technique to investigate the surface properties of an antiparasitic peptide, namely S-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)glutathione di-2-propyl ester, and its interaction with a model membrane comprising a phospholipid monolayer. The drug formed stable Langmuir monolayers. whose main feature was a phase transition accompanied by a negative surface elasticity. This was attributed to aggregation upon compression due to intermolecular bond associations of the molecules, inferred from surface pressure and surface potential isotherms. Brewster angle microscopy (BAM) images, infrared spectroscopy and dynamic elasticity measurements. When co-spread with dipalmitoyl phosphatidyl choline (DPPC). the drug affected both the surface pressure and the monolayer morphology, even at high surface pressures and with low amounts of the drug. The results were interpreted by assuming a repulsive, cooperative interaction between the drug and DPPC molecules. Such repulsive interaction and the large changes in fluidity arising from drug aggregation may be related to the disruption of the membrane, which is key for the parasite killing property. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Wirklichkeit und Fiktion in Günter Grass Im Krebsgang : Eine erzähltheoretische Analyse

Die Novelle, Im Krebsgang, von Günter Grass ist eine Mischung aus Zeitgeschichte, persönlicher Biografie des Autors und lebhafter Fantasie. Diese Komponenten auseinanderzuhalten könnte die Verständigung der Novelle verbessern. Nach den Annahmen, dass der engste Personenkreis um die Familie Pokriefke Fiktion ist, und die Geschichten um den U-Boot-Kommandanten Marinesko, den Medizinstudenten Frankfurter, den Nationalsozialisten Gustloff und das KdF-Schiff Wilhelm Gustloff faktual sind, wurden sechs Textabschnitte ausgewählt. Durch eine literaturwissenschaftliche Analyse dieser Textabschnitte wurden sechs Punkte gefunden, die die Trennlinie zwischen den fiktionalen und faktualen Textabschnitten identifizieren. Gefunden wurde, dass in den faktualen Texten der Erzähler immer auktorial, aus großer Distanz berichtet, und immer von der Fokalisierung getrennt ist. In den fiktionalen Texten aber liegt immer die Fokalisierung beim Erzähler, der stets szenisch erzählt.

Poverty as an Abuse of Human Rights in Ghana. : A grass roots perspective on poverty and human rights.

The study aimed at getting a grass root opinion on poverty and why Ghana is still poor after 50 years of independence in spite of her richness in natural resources, second largest producer of cocoa in the word and appreciable stable political environment. The opinions of the ordinary people in the Bia district and their observed living conditions was analysed in line with theoretical basis of the study and previous studies to justify the stance that poverty should be considered as an abuse of human rights. It was concluded based on position of informants and previous data available that though many factors have been raised by previous scholars as the cause of poverty, the actions and inactions of both internal and external power-holders is the main source of poverty in Ghana. It was proposed that for poverty to be reduced in a sustainable way there should be strong civil society groups and active citizens through civic education to hold power-holders accountable. Until the actions and inactions of power-holders which have subjected many Ghanaians into intergenerational poverty are seen as human rights abuse, the rights of many Ghanaians would be constantly abused. This will eventually defeat the promotion of human rights culture in Ghana.

The influence of lifestyle and gender on sickness absence in brazilian workers

Background: Despite an increasing body of knowledge concerning gender and lifestyle factors as determinants of sickness absence in well-developed countries, the relationship between these variables has not been elucidated in emerging economic power countries, where the burden of non-communicable diseases is particularly high. This study aimed to analyze the relationships among lifestyle-related factors and sick leave and to examine whether gender differences in sickness absence can be explained by differences in socio-demographic, work and lifestyle-related factors among Brazilian workers. Methods: In this longitudinal study with a one year follow-up among 2.150 employees of a Brazilian airline company, sick leave was the primary outcome of interest. Independent variables collected by interview at enrolment in the study were gender, age, educational level, type of work, stress, and lifestyle-related factors (body mass index, physical activity and smoking). In addition, the risk for coronary heart disease was determined based on measurement of blood pressure, total cholesterol and glucose levels. The total number of days on sick leave during 12 months follow-up was available from the company register. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the influence of socio-demographic, type of work and lifestyle-related factors on sick leave. Results: Younger employees, those with lower educational level, those who worked as air crew members and those with higher levels of stress were more likely to have sick leave. Body mass index and level of physical activity were not associated with sick leave. After adjustment by socio-demographic variables, increased odds for 10 or more days of sick leave were found in smokers (OR = 1.51, CI = 1.05-2.17), and ex-smokers (OR = 1.45, CI = 1.01-2.10). Women were more likely to have 10 or more days of sick leave. Gender differences were reduced mainly when adjusted for type of work (15%) and educational level (7%). Conclusions: The higher occurrence of sick leave among women than among men was partly explained by type of work and educational level. Our results suggest that type of work, a stressful life, and smoking are important targets for health promotion in this study population

Aluminum tolerance on genotypes of signal grass

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)