Regional scale analysis of landform configuration with base-level (isobase) maps

Base-level maps (or ""isobase maps"", as originally defined by Filosofov, 1960), express a relationship between valley order and topography. The base-level map can be seen as a ""simplified"" version of the original topographic surface, from which the ""noise"" of the low-order stream erosion was removed. This method is able to identify areas with possible tectonic influence even within lithologically uniform domains. Base-level maps have been recently applied in semi-detail scale (e.g., 1:50 000 or larger) morphotectonic analysis. In this paper, we present an evaluation of the method's applicability in regional-scale analysis (e.g., 1:250 000 or smaller). A test area was selected in northern Brazil, at the lower course of the Araguaia and Tocantins rivers. The drainage network extracted from SRTM30_PLUS DEMs with spatial resolution of approximately 900 m was visually compared with available topographic maps and considered to be compatible with a 1:1,000 000 scale. Regarding the interpretation of regional-scale morphostructures, the map constructed with 2nd and 3rd-order valleys was considered to present the best results. Some of the interpreted base-level anomalies correspond to important shear zones and geological contacts present in the 1:5 000 000 Geological Map of South America. Others have no correspondence with mapped Precambrian structures and are considered to represent younger, probably neotectonic, features. A strong E-W orientation of the base-level lines over the inflexion of the Araguaia and Tocantins rivers, suggest a major drainage capture. A N-S topographic swath profile over the Tocantins and Araguaia rivers reveals a topographic pattern which, allied with seismic data showing a roughly N-S direction of extension in the area, lead us to interpret this lineament as an E-W, southward-dipping normal fault. There is also a good visual correspondence between the base-level lineaments and geophysical anomalies. A NW-SE lineament in the southeast of the study area partially corresponds to the northern border of the Mosquito lava field, of Jurassic age, and a NW-SE lineament traced in the northeastern sector of the study area can be interpreted as the Picos-Santa Ines lineament, identifiable in geophysical maps but with little expression in hypsometric or topographic maps.

The Influence of Different Land Uses on the Structure of Archaeal Communities in Amazonian Anthrosols Based on 16S rRNA and amoA Genes

Soil from the Amazonian region is usually regarded as unsuitable for agriculture because of its low organic matter content and low pH; however, this region also contains extremely rich soil, the Terra Preta Anthrosol. A diverse archaeal community usually inhabits acidic soils, such as those found in the Amazon. Therefore, we hypothesized that this community should be sensitive to changes in the environment. Here, the archaeal community composition of Terra Preta and adjacent soil was examined in four different sites in the Brazilian Amazon under different anthropic activities. The canonical correspondence analysis of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms has shown that the archaeal community structure was mostly influenced by soil attributes that differentiate the Terra Preta from the adjacent soil (i.e., pH, sulfur, and organic matter). Archaeal 16S rRNA gene clone libraries indicated that the two most abundant genera in both soils were Candidatus nitrosphaera and Canditatus nitrosocaldus. An ammonia monoxygenase gene (amoA) clone library analysis indicated that, within each site, there was no significant difference between the clone libraries of Terra Preta and adjacent soils. However, these clone libraries indicated there were significant differences between sites. Quantitative PCR has shown that Terra Preta soils subjected to agriculture displayed a higher number of amoA gene copy numbers than in adjacent soils. On the other hand, soils that were not subjected to agriculture did not display significant differences on amoA gene copy numbers between Terra Preta and adjacent soils. Taken together, our findings indicate that the overall archaeal community structure in these Amazonian soils is determined by the soil type and the current land use.

DOES THE CHRONOTYPE CLASSIFICATION NEED TO BE UPDATED? PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

Traditionally, chronotype classification is based on the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). It is implicit in the classification that intermediate individuals get intermediate scores to most of the MEQ questions. However, a small group of individuals has a different pattern of answers. In some questions, they answer as ""morning-types"" and in some others they answer as ""evening-types,"" resulting in an intermediate total score. ""Evening-type"" and ""Morning-type"" answers were set as A(1) and A(4), respectively. Intermediate answers were set as A(2) and A(3). The following algorithm was applied: Bimodality Index = (Sigma A(1) x Sigma A(4))(2) - (Sigma A(2) x Sigma A(3))(2). Neither-types that had positive bimodality scores were classified as bimodal. If our hypothesis is validated by objective data, an update of chronotype classification will be required. (Author correspondence: brunojm@ymail.com)

Gravitational quasinormal modes of AdS black branes in d spacetime dimensions

The AdS/CFT duality has established a mapping between quantities in the bulk AdS black-hole physics and observables in a boundary finite-temperature field theory. Such a relationship appears to be valid for an arbitrary number of spacetime dimensions, extrapolating the original formulations of Maldacena`s correspondence. In the same sense properties like the hydrodynamic behavior of AdS black-hole fluctuations have been proved to be universal. We investigate in this work the complete quasinormal spectra of gravitational perturbations of d-dimensional plane-symmetric AdS black holes (black branes). Holographically the frequencies of the quasinormal modes correspond to the poles of two-point correlation functions of the field-theory stress-energy tensor. The important issue of the correct boundary condition to be imposed on the gauge-invariant perturbation fields at the AdS boundary is studied and elucidated in a fully d-dimensional context. We obtain the dispersion relations of the first few modes in the low-, intermediate- and high-wavenumber regimes. The sound-wave (shear-mode) behavior of scalar (vector)-type low- frequency quasinormal mode is analytically and numerically confirmed. These results are found employing both a power series method and a direct numerical integration scheme.

Catalogue of manuscripts from the Hayes Collection in the University of Queensland Library

Index to correspondence and manuscript material on literary and historical matters, mostly in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia held in the Fryer Library, University of Queensland - UQFL2. Authors and subjects include J.H.M. Abbott, Archer Family, E. Armitage, R. Bedford, H.S. Bloxome, E.J. Brady, 'Broadside', F. Broomfield, A.H. Chisholm, C.B. Christesen, R.H. Croll, Z. Cross, F.W.S. Cumbrae-Stewart, E. Dark, D. Deamer, C.J. Dennis, J. Devaney, E.M. England, P. Fitzgerald, R.D. Fitzgerald, Dame Mary Gilmore, C. Gittins, A.L. Gordon (criticism), P. Grano, M. Haley, W.A. Horn, R.G. Howarth, J. Howlett Ross, E.H. Lane, H. Lane, F.J. McAuley, D. McConnel, G. McCrae, K. (S) Mackenzie, P. Miles, J.K. Moir, C.P. Mountford, A. Muir, D.A. O'Brien, J.H. O'Dwyer, W.H. Ogilvie, M. Potter, T. Playford, H. Power, Queensland Authors' and Artists' Association, I. Southall, W. Sowden, A.G. Stephens, P.R. Stephensen, H. Tyron, A.J. Vogan, B. Vrepont, T. Welsby, H.R. White and Duke of Windsor. Also personal papers of Father Hayes, relating to his activities as parish priest.

On the threshold of forgetting: Amnesiac identities and the Brazilian capital

Centuries after Locke asserted the importance of memory to identity, Freudian psychology argued that what was forgotten was of equal importance as to what was remembered. The closing decades of the nineteenth century saw a rising interest in the nature of forgetting, resulting in a reassessment and newfound distrust of the long revered faculty of memory. The relationship between memory and identity was inverted, seeing forgetting also become a means for forging identity. This newfound distrust of memory manifested in the writings of Nietzsche who in 1874 called for society to learn to feel unhistorically and distance itself from the past - in what was essentially tantamount to a cultural forgetting. Following the Nietzschean call, the architecture of Modernism was also compelled by the need to 'overcome' the limits imposed by history. This paper examines notions of identity through the shifting boundaries of remembering and forgetting, with particular reference to the construction of Brazilian identity through the ‘repression’ of history and memory in the design of the Brazilian capital. Designed as a forward-looking modernist utopia, transcending the limits imposed by the country's colonial heritage, the design for Brasilia exploited the anti-historicist agenda of modernism to emancipate the country from cultural and political associations with the Portuguese Empire. This paper examines the relationship between place, memory and forgetting through a discussion of the design for Brasilia.

Embedded Voxel Colouring

The reconstruction of a complex scene from multiple images is a fundamental problem in the field of computer vision. Volumetric methods have proven to be a strong alternative to traditional correspondence-based methods due to their flexible visibility models. In this paper we analyse existing methods for volumetric reconstruction and identify three key properties of voxel colouring algorithms: a water-tight surface model, a monotonic carving order, and causality. We present a new Voxel Colouring algorithm which embeds all reconstructions of a scene into a single output. While modelling exact visibility for arbitrary camera locations, Embedded Voxel Colouring removes the need for a priori threshold selection present in previous work. An efficient implementation is given along with results demonstrating the advantages of posteriori threshold selection.

The myth of the nation: Historiography of New Zealand architecture since 1907

This paper considers the relationship between the recent historiography (of the last quarter century) of “New Zealand architecture” and the historical notion of “New Zealand-ness” invoked in contemporary architecture. It argues that a more recent programmatic uptake of post-War discussions on national identity and regional specificity has fed the tendencies of practicing architects to defer to history in rhetorical defences of their work: the beach-side mansion as a contemporary expression of the 1950s bach; a formal modernism divorced from the social discourse adherent to the historical moment that it “restates”; and so on. The paper will consider instances in the historiography of New Zealand architecture where historians have compounded, consciously or accidentally, a problem that is systemic to the uses made by architects of historical knowledge (in the most general examples), identifying the difficulties of relying upon the tentative conclusions of an under-studied field in developing principles of contemporary architectural practice under the banners of New Zealand-ness, regionalism, or localism, or with reference to icons of New Zealand architectural history. At the heart of this paper is a reflection on historiographical responsibility in presenting knowledge of a national past to an audience that is eager to transform that knowledge into principles of contemporary production. What, the paper asks, is the historical basis for speaking of a New Zealand architecture? Can we speak of a national history of architecture distinct from a regional history, or from an international history of architecture?

Strategies of accommodation: Development of a coding system for conversational interaction

This study describes a coding system developed to operationalize the sociolinguistic strategies proposed by communication accommodation theory (CAT) in an academic context. Fifty interactions between two students (of Australian or Chinese ethnic background) or a student and faculty member were videotaped. A turn- and episode-based coding system was developed, focusing on verbal and nonverbal behavior. The development of this system is described in detail, before results are presented. Results indicated that status was the main influence on choice of strategies, particularly the extent and type of discourse management and interpersonal control. Participants' sew and ethnicity also played a role: Male participants made more use of interpretability (largely questions), whereas female participants used discourse management to develop a shared perspective. The results make clear that there is no automatic correspondence between behaviors and the strategies they constitute, and they point to the appropriateness of conceptualizing behavior and strategies separately in CAT.

Qualitative assessment of stock prices listed on the Sao Paulo stock exchange: An approach from the perspective of homogeneity analysis

The stock market suffers uncertain relations throughout the entire negotiation process, with different variables exerting direct and indirect influence on stock prices. This study focuses on the analysis of certain aspects that may influence these values offered by the capital market, based on the Brazil Index of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa), which selects 100 stocks among the most traded on Bovespa in terms of number of trades and financial volume. The selected variables are characterized by the companies` activity area and the business volume in the month of data collection, i.e. April/2007. This article proposes an analysis that joins the accounting view of the stock price variables that can be influenced with the use of multivariate qualitative data analysis. Data were explored through Correspondence Analysis (Anacor) and Homogeneity Analysis (Homals). According to the research, the selected variables are associated with the values presented by the stocks, which become an internal control instrument and a decision-making tool when it comes to choosing investments.

Pricing corporate bonds in Brazil: 2000 to 2004

This paper analyzes the factors that influence the issuing price of debentures in Brazil in the period from year 2000 to 2004, applying a factor model, in which exogenous variables explain return and price behavior. The variables in this study include: rating, choice of index, maturity, country risk, basic interest rate, long-term and short-term rate spread, the stock market index, and the foreign exchange rate. Results indicate that the index variable, probability of default and bond`s maturity influence pricing and points out associations of long-term bonds with better rating issues. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characterization of pore wall heterogeneity in nanoporous carbons using adsorption: the slit pore model revisited

In this paper, we propose a new nonlocal density functional theory characterization procedure, the finite wall thickness model, for nanoporous carbons, whereby heterogeneity of pore size and pore walls in the carbon is probed simultaneously. We determine the pore size distributions and pore wall thickness distributions of several commercial activated carbons and coal chars, with good correspondence with X-ray diffraction. It is shown that the conventional infinite wall thickness approach overestimates the pore size slightly. Pore-pore correlation has been shown to have a negligible effect on prediction of pore size and pore wall thickness distributions for small molecules such as argon used in characterization. By utilizing the structural parameters (pore size and pore wall thickness distribution) in the generalized adsorption isotherm (GAI) we are able to predict adsorption uptake of supercritical gases in BPL and Norit RI Extra carbons, in excellent agreement with experimental adsorption uptake data up to 60 MPa. The method offers a useful technique for probing features of the solid skeleton, hitherto studied by crystallographic methods.

HISTORIOGRAPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY IN BRAZIL: Pioneer Works, Recent Developments

The evolution of the historiography of psychology in Brazil is surveyed, to describe how the field has evolved from the seminal works of the pioneer, mostly self-taught, psychologists, to the now professional historians working from a variety of theoretical models and methods of inquiry. The first accounts of the history of psychology written by Brazilians and by foreigners are surveyed, as well as the recent works made by researchers linked to the Work Group on the History of Psychology of the Brazilian Association of Research and Graduate Education in Psychology and published in periodicals such as Memorandum and Mnemosine. The present historiography focuses mainly the relationship of psychological knowledge to specific social and cultural conditions, emphasizing themes such as women`s participation in the construction of the field, the development of psychology as a science and as a profession in education and health, and the development of psychology as an expression of Brazilian culture and of the experience of resistance of local communities to domination. To reveal this process of identity construction, a cultural historiography is an important tool, coupled with methodological pluralism.

Education and the historiography of Ibero-American independence: elusive presences, many absences

This contribution analyses recent historiographical tendencies in research in the field of education at the time of the political emancipation of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Latin America. The article briefly presents the complex educational scene in Latin America on the eve of the movements for independence. Due to the revolutionary character of the process of independence, it identifies educational history as one of the most significant absences in the historiography of independence. Notwithstanding, education has certainly been addressed by historians of education, mostly focusing on the colonial or postcolonial period, while largely neglecting the two decades after 1808. This indicates both the divide prevalent between historians of education and historians of independence and the rather nationalistic conceptual frame of existing scholarship.

The historiographic Hispano-Americanism: Spain and America in the perspective of Ricardo Levene and Rafael Altamira

This article analyzes how Latin American history was interpreted by two eminent historians, the Argentine Ricardo Levene and the Spaniard Rafael Altamira. It discusses how their paths crossed in the advocacy of Hispano-Americanism as a political project and interpretive horizon of Iberian and American history.