Hypertrophic phytoplankton: an overview

An overview is provided of studies on hypertrophic phytoplankton in order to explore the subject and to suggest uncovered areas of research in this increasingly important theme. The authors restrict themselves to stagnant environments, using a community criterion to define hypertrophic environments. They are defined as those whose yearly average of phytoplankton chlorophyll is equal to or higher than 100 mg per cubic metre of water. The paper deals with species composition, diversity, biomass, primary production, losses and seasonal succession of hypertrophic phytoplankton. Other topics, such as population dynamics and ecophysiological issues, either lack enough information to be considered or are well known, e.g. Microcystis and Oscillatoria ecophysiology.

Information processing and higher psychological functions in the disconnected hemispheres of human commissurotomy patients

Several patients of P. J. Vogel who had undergone cerebral commissurotomy for the control of intractable epilepsy were tested on a variety of tasks to measure aspects of cerebral organization concerned with lateralization in hemispheric function. From tests involving identification of shapes it was inferred that in the absence of the neocortical commissures, the left hemisphere still has access to certain types of information from the ipsilateral field. The major hemisphere can still make crude differentiations between various left-field stimuli, but is unable to specify exact stimulus properties. Most of the time the major hemisphere, having access to some ipsilateral stimuli, dominated the minor hemisphere in control of the body.

Competition for control of the body between the hemispheres is seen most clearly in tests of minor hemisphere language competency, in which it was determined that though the minor hemisphere does possess some minimal ability to express language, the major hemisphere prevented its expression much of the time. The right hemisphere was superior to the left in tests of perceptual visualization, and the two hemispheres appeared to use different strategies in attempting to solve the problems, namely, analysis for the left hemisphere and synthesis for the right hemisphere.

Analysis of the patients' verbal and performance I.Q.'s, as well as observations made throughout testing, suggest that the corpus callosum plays a critical role in activities that involve functions in which the minor hemisphere normally excels, that the motor expression of these functions may normally come through the major hemisphere by way of the corpus callosum.

Lateral specialization is thought to be an evolutionary adaptation which overcame problems of a functional antagonism between the abilities normally associated with the two hemispheres. The tests of perception suggested that this function lateralized into the mute hemisphere because of an active counteraction by language. This latter idea was confirmed by the finding that left-handers, in whom there is likely to be bilateral language centers, are greatly deficient on tests of perception.

The Spanish Pension System: Overview and Long-Term Projections

In the middle of the so-called pension crisis, the ageing of population and the sharp decrease in affiliations to Social Security are threatening the well-functioning of the Spanish public pension system. The purpose of this paper is to present the main challenges to be faced by the Spanish pension system, as well as to shed light on the main determinants that will condition the evolution of pension expenditure over GDP along the following decades. This quantitative analysis, which considers the 2011 and 2013 pension reforms, uses the latest data on the Spanish demographic, labor market and institutional factors in order to project the evolution of the system from the expenditure side up to 2060. For the purpose of analyzing the dynamics and the underlying drivers of pension expenditure, the so-called aggregate accounting approach will be utilized. The alternative scenarios proposed allow for exploring the robustness of the results within the baseline scenario, which constitutes the reference point of projections in the exercise. The analysis concludes that, by the end of the projected period, Spain will count on a similar public pension expenditure ratio as the current one.

Há vida em meio aos escombros: algumas práticas e efeitos da psicologia no Morro do Bumba

Tendo como panorama um bairro destruído pelas chuvas em 2010 na cidade de Niterói/RJ (Morro do Bumba) e um questionamento sobre uma tendência individualizante nas práticas psicológicas, esta pesquisa objetiva pensar práticas e efeitos da psicologia em situações de emergências e desastres. Utilizando falas de especialistas neste tema, acompanhando uma certa reivindicação de que a Psicologia das Emergências e dos Desastres seja um novo campo, uma nova disciplina, trazemos um tensionamento entre planejamentos de atuação, falas oficiais e experiências do que foi possível fazer concretamente no Morro do Bumba, pelos profissionais surpreendidos em meio ao caos daqueles dias. Assim, o presente trabalho se propõe a passear por práticas sorrateiras, intervenções subversivas, transdisciplinares, positivando que nenhuma experiência em psicologia é neutra ou objetiva na medida em que o campo de atuação provoca deslocamentos em nossos sistemas de pensamento. Neste movimento de trazer as possíveis atuações psi em resposta aos desastres ocorridos em Niterói/RJ, ante a falta de políticas públicas necessárias à assistência da população desabrigada, pensando historicamente a própria ocupação dos morros no Rio de Janeiro.

From Gods to men: A historical overview of the discovery of the chemical elements

To achieve the apparently simple Periodic Table of the Elements has implied tremendous efforts over thousands of years. In this paper we present a brief history of the discovery of the chemical elements from prehistory to the present day, revealing the controversies that arose on the way and claiming the important work performed by alchemists in the advancement of knowledge. This is especially important if we consider that alchemy had a period of existence of many thousands of years, while the "Chemistry", officially established as a science in the eighteenth century, has operated as such for only a few hundred years. Even so, if we consider the progress of discovery and isolation of chemical elements throughout history, it can be observed that the number of elements identified is achieved mainly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, reflecting the development of instrumental techniques, that facilitated this task.

An overview of goby-fry fisheries

A number of diadromous gobies, notably Sicydium spp. and Sicyopterus spp., support fisheries based on return migrations of postlarvae (fry) to rivers. Most species are tropical, although close relatives occur in Japan. The life history of this group has often been incorrectly described as catadromous (spawning in the sea or estuary), whereas anadromous (spawning in rivers) would be more accurate.