Rightful Resistance in the Colombian conflict. A theoretical reflection based on a Peace Community

This article considers the opportunities of civilians to peacefully resist violent conflicts or civil wars. The argument developed here is based on a field-based research on the peace community San José de Apartadó in Colombia. The analytical and theoretical framework, which delimits the use of the term ‘resistance’ in this article, builds on the conceptual considerations of Hollander and Einwohner (2004) and on the theoretical concept of ‘rightful resistance’ developed by O’Brien (1996). Beginning with a conflict-analytical classification of the case study, we will describe the long-term socio-historical processes and the organizational experiences of the civilian population, which favoured the emergence of this resistance initiative. The analytical approach to the dimensions and aims of the resistance of this peace community leads to the differentiation of O`Brian’s concept of ‘rightful resistance’.

Effects of the frequency and satisfaction with leisure profile ondementia caregivers distress

El modelo PEAR (“Actividades Agradables Restricción Conductual”) ha sido propuesto como una manera de entender los efectos del ocio sobre el malestar de cuidadores de personas con demencia. En base al modelo PEAR y al de estrés y afrontamiento, el objetivo de este estudio fue analizar de forma conjunta el papel de la frecuencia y la satisfacción con la activación conductual en la explicación del malestar del cuidador (depresión, ansiedad, salud percibida), el riesgo de institucionalización de la persona cuidada, los estresores y recursos del cuidador (rumiación y reevaluación cognitiva) en una muestra de 275 cuidadores. Se dividió a la muestra en cuatro grupos en función de sus niveles en la frecuencia y la satisfacción con la activación conductual: BFBS = Baja frecuencia + baja satisfacción; BFAS = Baja frecuencia + alta satisfacción; AFBS = Alta frecuencia + baja satisfacción; y AFAS = Alta frecuencia + alta satisfacción. Mientras que los cuidadores del grupo AFAS mostraron un perfil más positivo en variables relacionadas con los recursos y de salud, y menores puntuaciones en riesgo de institucionalización en comparación con el resto de los grupos, los cuidadores del grupo BFBS utilizaron en mayor medida estrategias de regulación emocional desadaptativas y mostraron peores consecuencias sobre variables de resultado de salud. Los resultados sugieren la importancia de considerar el perfil de frecuencia y satisfacción con el ocio a la hora de entender el malestar del cuidador.

A transcriptome approach towards understanding the development of ripening capacity in 'Bartlett' pears (Pyrus communis L.)

Background: The capacity of European pear fruit (Pyrus communis L.) to ripen after harvest develops during the final stages of growth on the tree. The objective of this study was to characterize changes in 'Bartlett' pear fruit physico-chemical properties and transcription profiles during fruit maturation leading to attainment of ripening capacity. Results: The softening response of pear fruit held for 14days at 20°C after harvest depended on their maturity. We identified four maturity stages: S1-failed to soften and S2- displayed partial softening (with or without ET-ethylene treatment); S3 - able to soften following ET; and S4 - able to soften without ET. Illumina sequencing and Trinity assembly generated 68,010 unigenes (mean length of 911bp), of which 32.8% were annotated to the RefSeq plant database. Higher numbers of differentially expressed transcripts were recorded in the S3-S4 and S1-S2 transitions (2805 and 2505 unigenes, respectively) than in the S2-S3 transition (2037 unigenes). High expression of genes putatively encoding pectin degradation enzymes in the S1-S2 transition suggests pectic oligomers may be involved as early signals triggering the transition to responsiveness to ethylene in pear fruit. Moreover, the co-expression of these genes with Exps (Expansins) suggests their collaboration in modifying cell wall polysaccharide networks that are required for fruit growth. K-means cluster analysis revealed that auxin signaling associated transcripts were enriched in cluster K6 that showed the highest gene expression at S3. AP2/EREBP (APETALA 2/ethylene response element binding protein) and bHLH (basic helix-loop-helix) transcripts were enriched in all three transition S1-S2, S2-S3, and S3-S4. Several members of Aux/IAA (Auxin/indole-3-acetic acid), ARF (Auxin response factors), and WRKY appeared to play an important role in orchestrating the S2-S3 transition. Conclusions: We identified maturity stages associated with the development of ripening capacity in 'Bartlett' pear, and described the transcription profile of fruit at these stages. Our findings suggest that auxin is essential in regulating the transition of pear fruit from being ethylene-unresponsive (S2) to ethylene-responsive (S3), resulting in fruit softening. The transcriptome will be helpful for future studies about specific developmental pathways regulating the transition to ripening. © 2015 Nham et al.

Integrated pest management and the (un)sustainable use of pesticides

Doutoramento em Engenharia Agronómica - Instituto Superior de Agronomia - UL

Gastrodiplomacia como herramienta de política exterior. estudio de caso: Perú

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la manera mediante la cual Perú ha incor- porado la gastrodiplomacia a su estrategia de diplomacia cultural como componente de su política exterior. Con el fin de cumplir este propósito, se va a defender que desde el 2008 el país Inca ha incorporado la gastrodiplomacia a su estrategia de diplomacia cultural em- pleando dos herramientas. Primero, a través de su Plan de Política Exterior Cultural, en donde se señalan objetivos claros en temas de gastronomía. En segundo lugar, con el uso de su marca país mediante la cual se promociona al Perú como un país atractivo gracias a su amplia oferta gastronómica. El trabajo es de carácter analítico y descriptivo ya que pretende entender la manera en la que Perú incorporó la gastrodiplomacia en su política exterior y describir esos objetivos y características de su Plan de Política Exterior Cultural y de su estrategia de marca país.

Avaliação do efeito do corte horizontal da copa, com máquina de podar de discos, em pomares de pera “Rocha

Current pear pruning making use of pneumatic shears still is a very labour intensive operation. The Proder project “Avaliação da poda mecânica em pomares de pera” was designed to contribute to solutions that would reduce the present dependence in labour and therefore to promote a reduction in pruning costs. This paper shows the results of a trial made to evaluate the influence of mechanical topping in manual pruning complement field work and pear yield. Topping was performed using a Reynolds 6DT 3.0m cutting bar with six hydraulic-driven circular disc-saws mounted in the three point tractor linkage system. The field trial was performed in a commercial orchard with 20 years, planted in an array of 4m x 2m with tree lines oriented in North-South direction. Trees were trained as the central leader system. In this trial, in a randomised complete block design with four replications, two treatments are being compared leading to 8 plots with one line of 14 trees per plot. The treatments tests were: T1 - manual pruning performed by workers using pneumatic shears, in each year; T2 - Topping the canopy parallel to the ground, using a discs-saw pruning machine mounted in a front loader of an agricultural tractor, followed by manual pruning complement performed by workers with pneumatic shears. Tree height and width was measured, before and after pruning. Work was timed and pear yields evaluated. Mechanical topping seems to be effective in the control of tree height, which can contribute to increase 14% of work rates on manual pruning complement. No significant differences in pear yield were found between treatments.

Postharvest treatments to mitigate the internal browning in "Bartlett" pears.

Internal browning is an important disorder in pear fruit which can lead to economic losses. Pears (Pyrus communis L. cv. Bartlett) were harvested at early harvest maturity of 90 N from a commercial orchard in southern Brazil. Methyl jasmonate, ethanol, and 1-methylcyclopropene vapor treatments were carried out for 24 hours in order to mitigate the internal browning disorder. Fruit were stored for up to 150 days at 0 ± 1 °C and 90 ± 5 % RH. Pears exhibited internal browning in 37 % of the control samples after 90 days of cold storage. However, no internal browning symptoms were observed in the 1-MCP treatment. The first symptoms in 1-MCP samples were noticed after 120 days of cold storage (12 %) and reached 100 % in five days at room temperature. 1-MCP-treated pears showed flesh firmness values of 82 N after 90 days of cold storage and 18.7 N when they were removed from the cold storage and kept at 20 °C. The greatest acceptance index was attributed to 1- MCP pears after 90 days at 0 ± 1 °C followed by 5 days at 20 ± 1 °C (89.35). High acceptance indexes were attributed to MeJa (77.95) and control pears (76.40) after 30 days in cold storage followed by 5 days at room temperature. 1-MCP (0.3 µL L-1 , 24 hours at 0 ± 1 °C) treatment delays ripening and mitigates the internal browning in early harvested ?Bartlett? pears, that can be stored for up to 90 days at 0 ± 1 °C.

Sensory evaluation of 'Rocha' pears grown in Brazil.

2010

Preharvest factors affecting quality and antioxidant levels on Abate Fétel pears: study of superficial scald with a multivariate statistical approach and neural networks

There are only a few insights concerning the influence that agronomic and management variability may have on superficial scald (SS) in pears. Abate Fétel pears were picked during three seasons (2018, 2019 and 2020) from thirty commercial orchards in the Emilia Romagna region, Italy. Using a multivariate statistical approach, high heterogeneity between farms for SS development after cold storage with regular atmosphere was demonstrated. Indeed, some factors seem to affect SS in all growing seasons: high yields, soil texture, improper irrigation and Nitrogen management, use of plant growth regulators, late harvest, precipitations, Calcium and cow manure, presence of nets, orchard age, training system and rootstock. Afterwards, we explored the spatio/temporal variability of fruit attributes in two pear orchards. Environmental and physiological spatial variables were recorded by a portable RTK GPS. High spatial variability of the SS index was observed. Through a geostatistical approach, some characteristics, including soil electrical conductivity and fruit size, have been shown to be negatively correlated with SS. Moreover, regression tree analyses were applied suggesting the presence of threshold values of antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, and acidity against SS. High pulp firmness and IAD values before storage, denoting a more immature fruit, appeared to be correlated with low SS. Finally, a convolution neural networks (CNN) was tested to detect SS and the starch pattern index (SPI) in pears for portable device applications. Preliminary statistics showed that the model for SS had low accuracy but good precision, and the CNN for SPI denoted good performances compared to the Ctifl and Laimburg scales. The major conclusion is that Abate Fétel pears can potentially be stored in different cold rooms, according to their origin and quality features, ensuring the best fruit quality for the final consumers. These results might lead to a substantial improvement in the Italian pear industry.