Re-Encountering Climate Change: Indigenous Peoples and the Quest for Epistemic Diversity in Global Climate Change Governance

Climate change assessment reports and intergovernmental agreements are increasingly recognizing the importance of other “knowledge systems” (traditional, local, or indigenous) for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The empirical point of departure of this dissertation is the recognition of other culturally specific ways of knowing, or what I call epistemic diversity, in the field of global climate change governance. I conceive this as a process of diversification of the knowledge basis of global climate policy. This dissertation accounts for this large process by addressing the questions of why and how epistemic diversity gains visibility and recognition in a field of governance, as well as how these translate into changes in the configuration of science-policy relations. By advancing an analytical approach to epistemic diversity, the research extends and challenges prevalent theories of epistemic authority in global or transnational spheres of politics. Based on a multi-site process tracing, the dissertation traces this large process by following three trajectories of change. The global trajectory, on the one hand, looks into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change against the backdrop of the historical recognition of epistemic diversity in the wider field of environmental governance. The Arctic and Amazon trajectories, on the other hand, follow these developments in the mobilization of indigenous peoples and the deployment of climate science and policy in specific socio-cultural regions. Specifically, the analysis zooms in on local sites of governance, namely, community-based adaptation in the Swedish side of Sápmi and forest-based mitigation in the indigenous territories of the Ecuadorian Amazon. The study finds that the recognition of indigenous knowledge (holders) is reconfiguring epistemic authority – albeit partially – by introducing criteria of epistemic diversity to guide social and political judgements about what counts as valuable knowledge to address the climate crisis.1 Introduction: Knowledge, governance and diversity 1.1 Epistemic diversity as a research problem 1.2 The diversity gap: reviewing the literature 1.2.1 Science matters 1.2.2 Science, expertise and contestation 1.2.3 Dismantling the “great divide” 1.3 Toward the study of epistemic diversity in global governance 1.4 Ordering epistemic diversity: boundary work and categorization struggles 1.5 Reconfiguring knowledge-policy relations through heterarchies 1.6 Trajectories of change and polycentric sites of governance 1.7 A word on terminology 2 Research design, methods and data 2.1 Research design 2.2 Multi-site process tracing 2.3 Case selection 2.4 Data collection and analysis 2.4.1 Analyzing documents 2.4.2 Analyzing interviews 2.4.3 Analyzing observations 3 The coming of age of epistemic diversity 3.1 The “ethno” and the science 3.2 Oscillations between visibility and invisibility 3.2.1 Postwar precursors: on “backward people” and the facts of nature 3.2.2 The Stockholm conference or the conspicuous absence of indigenous knowledge 3.3 Global recognition and the advent of the knowledge holders 3.3.1 Paving the way for Rio: sustainable development encounters traditional knowledge 3.3.2 The Earth Summit and the global recognition of epistemic diversity 3.4 Ordering epistemic diversity 4 Diversifying global climate science and policy 4.1 Climate exceptionalism 4.2 The IPCC: diversifying global climate science 4.2.1 An overview of diverse knowledges in IPCC assessment reports 4.2.2 Climate adaptation as purposeful adjustment 4.2.3 Re-thinking adaptation: from adaptive capacity to traditional knowledge 4.2.4 The rediscovery of community in adaptation research 4.2.5 Co-production or the “best available knowledge” 4.2.6 The knowers and the known 4.3 The UNFCCC: diversifying global climate policy 4.3.1 The UNFCCC as a forum for indigenous peoples (and local communities) 4.3.2 Adaptation and diverse ways of knowing 4.3.3 Mitigation and diverse ways of knowing 4.3.4 The Paris Agreement: back to Rio and beyond 4.4 Re-ordering epistemic diversity 5 Arctic knowledge 5.1 Diversifying Arctic science through Sami knowledge 5.1.1 The Sami voice: Saami Council and Sami Parliaments 5.1.2 Becoming Arctic peoples and knowledge holders 5.1.3 The Arctic Council and the invention of Arctic knowledge 5.1.4 Sami knowledge: adaptation, co-production and resistance 5.2 Arctic knowledge in the Swedish side of Sápmi 5.2.1 Sweden in the Arctic: re-encountering the Sami 5.2.2 The Swedish side of Sápmi 5.2.3 The adaptive knowledge of Sami reindeer herders 5.2.4 Co-producing adaptive knowledge 5.3 Reconfiguring Arctic knowledge 6 Amazon knowledge 6.1 The diversification of Amazon knowledge 6.1.1 Amazonia: biocultural diversity and epistemic diversity 6.1.2 COICA and Amazon knowledge 6.1.3 Amazon Indigenous REDD+ 6.2 The genesis and development of “indigenous carbon” 6.2.1 A generative question 6.2.2 Indigenous carbon as a hard fact 6.2.3 Scientific indigenous knowledge 6.3 Downscaling indigenous carbon: REDD+ and RIA in Ecuador 6.3.1 Ecuador in Amazonia: petroleum, native forests and indigenous territories 6.3.2 REDD+ in Ecuador 6.3.3 RIA in Ecuador 6.3.4 Money for nothing 6.3.5 Life Plans 6.3.6 The defense of life 6.4 Reconfiguring Amazon knowledge 7 A global platform for indigenous and local knowledge 7.1 Imagining a global platform for indigenous knowledge 7.1.1 Indigenous peoples’ organizational templates 7.1.2 Bolivia, Mother Earth and the “diplomacy of the peoples” 7.1.3 A platform: translating through ambiguity 7.1.4 Setting the pace of the negotiations 7.2 Operationalizing the Platform 7.2.1 The Platform after Paris: an array of alternatives in disarray 7.2.2 Design by bricolage: the Facilitative Working Group 7.2.3 Lost in translation: the local communities affair 7.3 The LCIPP as a knowledge-policy interface 7.3.1 The onion 7.3.2 Knowledge holders 7.3.3 Capacity for engagement 7.3.4 Climate policies and actions 7.4 Global institutional change towards epistemic diversity 8 Conclusion 8.1 Ordering and re-ordering epistemic diversity 8.2 Undone or incipient hierarchies: reconfiguring knowledge-policy relations 8.3 Entangled trajectories 8.4 Theoretical and methodological contributions 8.5 Avenues for future research 9 Reference

Impact of noise on a dynamical system: prediction and uncertainties from a swarm-optimized neural network

In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) was developed for the time series prediction. The hybrid ANN+PSO algorithm was applied on Mackey--Glass chaotic time series in the short-term $x(t+6)$. The performance prediction was evaluated and compared with another studies available in the literature. Also, we presented properties of the dynamical system via the study of chaotic behaviour obtained from the predicted time series. Next, the hybrid ANN+PSO algorithm was complemented with a Gaussian stochastic procedure (called {\it stochastic} hybrid ANN+PSO) in order to obtain a new estimator of the predictions, which also allowed us to compute uncertainties of predictions for noisy Mackey--Glass chaotic time series. Thus, we studied the impact of noise for several cases with a white noise level ($\sigma_{N}$) from 0.01 to 0.1.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Electronic damage in quartz (c-SiO2) by MeV ion irradiations: Potentiality for optical waveguiding applications

The damage induced on quartz (c-SiO2) by heavy ions (F, O, Br) at MeV energies, where electronic stopping is dominant, has been investigated by RBS/C and optical methods. The two techniques indicate the formation of amorphous layers with an isotropic refractive index (n = 1.475) at fluences around 1014 cm−2 that are associated to electronic mechanisms. The kinetics of the process can be described as the superposition of linear (possibly initial Poisson curve) and sigmoidal (Avrami-type) contributions. The coexistence of the two kinetic regimes may be associated to the differential roles of the amorphous track cores and preamorphous halos. By using ions and energies whose maximum stopping power lies inside the crystal (O at 13 MeV, F at 15 MeV and F at 30 MeV) buried amorphous layer are formed and optical waveguides at the sample surface have been generated

Sentinel-1 Satellite Data as a Tool for Monitoring Inundation Areas near Urban Areas in the Mexican Tropical Wet

This work shows advances in the field of water body monitoring with radar images. Particularly, a monitoring procedure is developed to define the extension and frequency of inundation for continental waters of the Grijalva-Usumacinta basin, in the state of Tabasco, Mexico. This is a region located in the Mexican tropical wet and under its meteorological conditions, radar technology can be used to characterize monthly inundation frequency. The identification of water bodies were obtained by processing images at a monthly intervals captured by Sentinel-1A during 2015 having kappa indices and overall accuracy higher than 0.9. The chapter describes the seasonal variability of these water bodies, and at the same time, the relationship with human settlements located in their neighborhood. To do this, a proximity analysis was carried out to emphasize the importance of spatial-temporal studies of superficial water bodies, linked to an urban and a rural area. This information is useful to investigate changes in the ecosystem, as well as risks to human settlements, and as a contribution for a comprehensive management of hydric resources

Effects of Combining Feed Grade Urea and a Slow-release Urea Product on Performance, Dietary Energetics and Carcass Characteristics of Feedlot Lambs Fed Finishing Diets with Different Starch to Acid Detergent Fiber Ratios.

Recent findings have shown that microbial nitrogen flow and digestible energy of diets are increased when urea is combined with a slow-release urea (SRU) in diets with a starch to acid detergent fibre ratio (S:F) 4:1. This affect is attributable to enhanced synchrony between ruminal N availability for microbial growth and carbohydrate degradation. To verify the magnitude of this effects on lamb performance, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of combining urea and a SRU in diets containing S:F ratios of 3:1, 4:1, or 5:1 on performance, dietary energetics and carcass characteristics of finishing lambs. For that, 40 Pelibuey×Katahdin lambs (36.65±3 kg) were assigned to one of five weight groupings in 20 pens (5 repetition/treatments). The S:F ratio in the diet was manipulated by partially replacing the corn grain and dried distiller's grain with solubles by forage (wheat straw) and soybean meal to reach S:F ratios of 3:1, 4:1 or 5:1. An additional treatment of 4:1 S:F ratio with 0.8% urea as the sole source of non-protein nitrogen was used as a reference for comparing the effect of urea combination vs. conventional urea at the same S:F ratio. There were no treatment effects on dry matter intake (DMI). Compared the urea combination vs urea at the same S:F ratio, urea combination increased (p<0.01) average daily gain (ADG, 18.3%), gain for feed (G:F, 9.5%), and apparent energy retention per unit DMI (8.2%). Irrespective of the S:F ratio, the urea combination improved the observed-to-expected dietary ratio and apparent retention per unit DMI was maximal (quadratic effect, p≤0.03) at an S:F ratio of 4:1, while the conventional urea treatment did not modify the observed-to-expected net energy ratio nor the apparent retention per unit DMI at 4:1 S:F ratio. Urea combination group tended (3.8%, p = 0.08) to have heavier carcasses with no effects on the rest of carcass characteristics. As S:F ratio increased, ADG, G:F, dietary net energy, carcass weight, dressing percentage and longissimus thoracis (LM) area increased linearly (p≤0.02). Combining urea and a slow-release urea product results in positive effects on growth performance and dietary energetics, but the best responses are apparently observed when there is a certain proportion (S:F ratio = 4:1) of starch to acid detergent fibre in the diet

Ingested insecticide to control Aedes aegypti: developing a novel dried attractive toxic sugar bait device for intra-domiciliary control

© 2020 The Author(s). Background: Illnesses transmitted by Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika comprise a considerable global burden; mosquito control is the primary public health tool to reduce disease transmission. Current interventions are inadequate and insecticide resistance threatens the effectiveness of these options. Dried attractive bait stations (DABS) are a novel mechanism to deliver insecticide to Ae. aegypti. The DABS are a high-contrast 28 inch2 surface coated with dried sugar-boric acid solution. Aedes aegypti are attracted to DABS by visual cues only, and the dried sugar solution elicits an ingestion response from Ae. aegypti landing on the surface. The study presents the development of the DABS and tests of their impact on Ae. aegypti mortality in the laboratory and a series of semi-field trials. Methods: We conducted multiple series of laboratory and semi-field trials to assess the survivability of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes exposed to the DABS. In the laboratory experiments, we assessed the lethality, the killing mechanism, and the shelf life of the device through controlled experiments. In the semi-field trials, we released laboratory-reared female Ae. aegypti into experimental houses typical of peri-urban tropical communities in South America in three trial series with six replicates each. Laboratory experiments were conducted in Quito, Ecuador, and semi-field experiments were conducted in Machala, Ecuador, an area with abundant wild populations of Ae. aegypti and endemic arboviral transmission. Results: In the laboratory, complete lethality was observed after 48 hours regardless of physiological status of the mosquito. The killing mechanism was determined to be through ingestion, as the boric acid disrupted the gut of the mosquito. In experimental houses, total mosquito mortality was greater in the treatment house for all series of experiments (P \u3c 0.0001). Conclusions: The DABS devices were effective at killing female Ae. aegypti under a variety of laboratory and semi-field conditions. DABS are a promising intervention for interdomiciliary control of Ae. aegypti and arboviral disease prevention.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

Assessment of pollen dimorphism in populations of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. sylvestris (Gmelin) Hegi in Spain

A comparative scanning electron microscopy study and biometric analysis of pollen of 14 Spanish Vitis vinifera L. subsp. sylvestris (Gmelin) Hegi populations was performed. In all the investigated populations pollen grains show a marked degree of dimorphism. Pollen grains from male flowers are prolate spheroidal and tricolporate in shape, while the pollen grains from female flowers are spheroidal to oval, unaperturate, with no colpi.

COMPARACIÓN DE LA EFECTIVIDAD DEL TEST FARNSWORTH MUNSELL 100 HUE COMPUTARIZADO FRENTE A SU VERSIÓN MANUAL ESTÁNDAR

Dentro de la atención optométrica se aplican exámenes visuales que evalúan la sensibilidad del color, cuyo propósito se basa en detectar anormalidades en la percepción del color y la discriminación de su diagnóstico. Una de las pruebas más utilizadas en la clínica es el Test de Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue de aplicación manual, y se le conoce como el estándar de oro desde los años 50. El sitio web Colblindor en el 2006 propone la versión computarizada de este mismo test que tiende a ser menos costosa y más rápida que el test manual, lo que sería una ventaja en el análisis primario de la percepción cromática. Ante lo expuesto el grupo de investigadores de la carrera de Optometría Médica de la UNAN-Managua, se plantearon verificar la efectividad del test computarizado y su respuesta frente al estándar de oro, con el fin de ver la posibilidad de implementarlo en la clínica optométrica que brinda servicios dentro de la facultad. Para cumplir este propósito se realizaron las dos versiones del test a 105 estudiantes. Los objetivos planteado guiaron a un estudio observacional descriptivo, correlacional, cuantitativo de cohorte transversal. Se aplicaron criterios de inclusión y exclusión, para garantizar la homogeneidad de la muestra. Garantizada la recolección de los resultados y el análisis de estos, se evidencio que el test computarizado manual no puede ser sustituido por dicha versión computarizada, como prueba de análisis de la percepción cromática

The replication origin of a repABC plasmid

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>repABC </it>operons are present on large, low copy-number plasmids and on some secondary chromosomes in at least 19 α-proteobacterial genera, and are responsible for the replication and segregation properties of these replicons. These operons consist, with some variations, of three genes: <it>repA</it>, <it>repB</it>, and <it>repC</it>. RepA and RepB are involved in plasmid partitioning and in the negative regulation of their own transcription, and RepC is the limiting factor for replication. An antisense RNA encoded between the <it>repB-repC </it>genes modulates <it>repC </it>expression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To identify the minimal region of the <it>Rhizobium etli </it>p42d plasmid that is capable of autonomous replication, we amplified different regions of the <it>repABC </it>operon using PCR and cloned the regions into a suicide vector. The resulting vectors were then introduced into <it>R. etli </it>strains that did or did not contain p42d. The minimal replicon consisted of a <it>repC </it>open reading frame under the control of a constitutive promoter with a Shine-Dalgarno sequence that we designed. A sequence analysis of <it>repC </it>revealed the presence of a large A+T-rich region but no iterons or DnaA boxes. Silent mutations that modified the A+T content of this region eliminated the replication capability of the plasmid. The minimal replicon could not be introduced into <it>R. etli </it>strain containing p42d, but similar constructs that carried <it>repC </it>from <it>Sinorhizobium meliloti </it>pSymA or the linear chromosome of <it>Agrobacterium tumefaciens </it>replicated in the presence or absence of p42d, indicating that RepC is an incompatibility factor. A hybrid gene construct expressing a RepC protein with the first 362 amino acid residues from p42d RepC and the last 39 amino acid residues of RepC from SymA was able to replicate in the presence of p42d.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>RepC is the only element encoded in the <it>repABC </it>operon of the <it>R. etli </it>p42d plasmid that is necessary and sufficient for plasmid replication and is probably the initiator protein. The <it>oriV </it>of this plasmid resides within the <it>repC </it>gene and is located close to or inside of a large A+T region. RepC can act as an incompatibility factor, and the last 39 amino acid residues of the carboxy-terminal region of this protein are involved in promoting this phenotype.</p

Energy Taxis toward Host-Derived Nitrate Supports a Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 1-Independent Mechanism of Invasion

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium can cross the epithelial barrier using either the invasion-associated type III secretion system (T3SS-1) or a T3SS-1-independent mechanism that remains poorly characterized. Here we show that flagellum-mediated motility supported a T3SS-1-independent pathway for entering ileal Peyer’s patches in the mouse model. Flagellum-dependent invasion of Peyer’s patches required energy taxis toward nitrate, which was mediated by the methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein (MCP) Tsr. Generation of nitrate in the intestinal lumen required inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), which was synthesized constitutively in the mucosa of the terminal ileum but not in the jejunum, duodenum, or cecum. Tsr-mediated invasion of ileal Peyer’s patches was abrogated in mice deficient for Nos2, the gene encoding iNOS. We conclude that Tsr-mediated energy taxis enables S. Typhimurium to migrate toward the intestinal epithelium by sensing host-derived nitrate, thereby contributing to invasion of Peyer’s patches