Preservice Teachers’ “Revelations and Connections”: Fostering Deep Conversations While Reading Multicultural Literature

We investigated strategies that a literacy teacher educator used to develop preservice teachers’ culturally responsive pedagogy. This study focused on (a) implementation of literature circles, (b) preservice teachers’ (n= 29) reading and analysis of multicultural children’s literature, (c) preservice teachers’ reader response reflective journals (RRRJ), and (d) reading comprehension strategies. We analyzed interviews with the professor and RRRJ (87 responses) as well as the course syllabus, reader response guidelines, and course evaluations to understand the lived experiences of the participants. We found preservice teachers recognize the benefits of literature circles and the utilization of RRRJ to develop an understanding of reading comprehension strategies and ways to talk about culture

Uso de índices RGB para o Bioma Caatinga associados a dados meteorológicos e índices de vegetação: estudos iniciais.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo monitorar a cobertura vegetal em uma área de Caatinga preservada por meio de imagens digitais, bem como sua correlação com dados meteorológicos e índices de vegetação obtidos em imagens MODIS

Efeito de Baculovirus anticarsia sobre a lagarta da soja em aplicação aérea e terrestre, nas condições de Mato Grosso do Sul.

bitstream/item/66159/1/CPAO-PESQ.-AND.-18-84.pd

Leafing patterns and drivers across seasonally dry tropical communities

Investigating the timing of key phenological events across environments with variable seasonality is crucial to understand the drivers of ecosystem dynamics. Leaf production in the tropics is mainly constrained by water and light availability. Identifying the factors regulating leaf phenology patterns allows efficiently forecasting of climate change impacts. We conducted a novel phenological monitoring study across four Neotropical vegetation sites using leaf phenology time series obtained from digital repeated photographs (phenocameras). Seasonality differed among sites, from very seasonally dry climate in the caatinga dry scrubland with an eight-month long dry season to the less restrictive Cerrado vegetation with a six-month dry season. To unravel the main drivers of leaf phenology and understand how they influence seasonal dynamics (represented by the green color channel (Gcc) vegetation index), we applied Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) to estimate the growing seasons, using water deficit and day length as covariates. Our results indicated that plant-water relationships are more important in the caatinga, while light (measured as day-length) was more relevant in explaining leafing patterns in Cerrado communities. Leafing behaviors and predictor-response relationships (distinct smooth functions) were more variable at the less seasonal Cerrado sites, suggesting that different life-forms (grasses, herbs, shrubs, and trees) are capable of overcoming drought through specific phenological strategies and associated functional traits, such as deep root systems in trees

Experimental Setups for Single Event Effect Studies

Experimental setups are being prepared to test and to qualify electronic devices regarding their tolerance to Single Event Effect (SEE). A multiple test setup and a new beam line developed especially for SEE studies at the São Paulo 8 UD Pelletron accelerator were prepared. This accelerator produces proton beams and heavy ion beams up to 107Ag. A Super conducting Linear accelerator, which is under construction, may fulfill all of the European Space Agency requirements to qualify electronic components for SEE

Relationship between tropical leaf phenology and ecosystem productivity using phenocameras

Introduction: The interplay of water and light, regarded as the main driver of tropical plant dynamics, determines leaf phenology and ecosystem productivity. Leaf phenology has been discussed as a key variable to explain photosynthetic seasonality in evergreen tropical forests, but the question is still open for seasonally tropical ecosystems. In the search for implementing long-term phenology monitoring in the tropics, phenocameras have proven to be an accurate method to estimate vegetative phenology in tropical communities. Here, we investigated the temporal patterns of leaf phenology and their relation to gross primary productivity (GPP) in a comparative study across three contrasting tropical biomes: dry forest (caatinga), woodland savanna (cerrado), and rainforest (Atlantic Forest).Methods: We monitored leaf phenology (phenocameras) and estimated gross primary productivity (eddy-covariance) continuously over time at three study sites. We investigated the main drivers controlling leaf phenology and tested the performance of abiotic (climate) and biotic (phenology) factors to explain gross primary productivity across sites.Results: We found that camera-derived indices presented the best relationships with gross primary productivity across all sites. Gross primary productivity seasonality was controlled by a gradient of water vs. light, where caatinga dry forest was water-limited, cerrado vegetation responded to water seasonality and light, and rainforest was mainly controlled by light availability. Vegetation phenology was tightly associated with productivity in the driest ecosystem (caatinga), where productivity was limited to the wet season, and the camera-derived index (Gcc) was the best proxy for gross primary productivity.Discussion: Leaf phenology increased their relative importance over gross primary productivity seasonality at less seasonal sites (cerrado and rainforest), where multiple leafing strategies influenced carbon exchanges. Our multi-site comparison, along with fine-scale temporal observations of leaf phenology and gross primary productivity patterns, uncovered the relationship between leafing and productivity across tropical ecosystems under distinct water constraints

Nordic Walking promoted weight loss in overweight and obese people: A systematic review for future exercise prescription

The aim of this systematic review was to analyze the effect of Nordic Walking (NW) on anthropometric parameters, body composition, cardiovascular parameters, aerobic capacity, blood sample, and glucose tolerance in overweight and obese subjects. The main keywords "Nordic Walking" or "Pole Walking", associated with either "obese", "obesity", "overweight", or "weight loss" were used on the online database MEDLINE, PubMed, SPORTDiscus and Scopus. Additionally, references of the studies included were screened to identify eligible articles. Applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, ten manuscripts were considered as eligible for this review. The results of the studies were categorized in several domains with regard to "anthropometric parameters and body composition", "cardiovascular parameters and aerobic capacity", and "blood sample and glucose tolerance". The results showed positive effects on the anthropometric parameters, body composition, cardiovascular parameters, blood sample, and glucose tolerance. The greatest improvements were observed in supervised and high weekly frequency of NW interventions. NW could be considered as an effective modality through which to involve the obese in physical activity. For weight loss, NW should be prescribed 4-5 times per week, at least 60 min per session, preferably combined with diet control

Clima e fenologia de espécies em área de Caatinga preservada.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo estudar a fenologia de seis espécies da Caatinga e sua associação com os dados climáticos em uma área de Caatinga preservada da Embrapa Semiárido, Petrolina-PE no ano de 2016. Os dados climáticos da estação agrometeorológica da Caatinga foram utilizados para caracterizar o período de estudo. Observações da fenologia vegetativa e reprodutiva foram feitas semanalmente em indivíduos de Commiphora leptophloeos, Manihot pseudoglaziovii, Sapium sp.,Cnidoscolus quercifolius, Senegalia piauhiensis, Poincianella microphylla. As espécies apresentaram padrão fenológico similar, mostrando estreita relação com a precipitação. As maiores taxas de brotamento foram registradas de janeiro e maio, com a estação de chuvas, enquanto os maiores percentuais de senescência foliar foram observados de maio a outubro, durante a seca. A floração foi observada em 66,7% das espécies, principalmente no período de janeiro e fevereiro, no início da estação chuvosa, com taxas que variaram de 55 a 75%. Já a frutificação ocorreu no período de janeiro a abril, em 50% das espécies. As fenofases vegetativas e reprodutivas foram relacionadas com a precipitação local e as espécies estudadas foram consideradas como caducifólias, perdendo totalmente suas folhas durante o período seco

Multiscale phenology of seasonally dry tropical forests in an aridity gradient

The leaf phenology of seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) is highly seasonal, marked by synchronized flushing of new leaves triggered by the first rains of the wet season. Such phenological transitions may not be accurately detected by remote sensing vegetation indices and derived transition dates (TDs) due to the coarse spatial and temporal resolutions of satellite data. The aim of this study was to compared TDs from PhenoCams and satellite remote sensing (RS) and used the TDs calculated from PhenoCams to select the best thresholds for RS time series and calculate TDs. For this purpose, we assembled cameras in seven sites along an aridity gradient in the Brazilian Caatinga, a region dominated by SDTFs. The leafing patterns were registered during one to three growing seasons from 2017 to 2020. We drew a region of interest (ROI) in the images to calculate the normalized green chromatic coordinate index. We compared the camera data with the NDVI time series (2000–2019) derived from near-infrared (NIR) and red bands from MODIS product data. Using calibrated PhenoCam thresholds reduced the mean absolute error by 5 days for SOS and 34 days for EOS, compared to common thresholds in land surface phenology studies. On average, growing season length (LOS) did not differ significantly among vegetation types, but the driest sites showed the highest interannual variation. This pattern was applied to leaf flushing (SOS) and leaf fall (EOS) as well. We found a positive relationship between the accumulated precipitation and the LOS and between the accumulated precipitation and maximum and minimum temperatures and the vegetation productivity (peak and accumulated NDVI). Our results demonstrated that (A) the fine temporal resolution of phenocamera phenology time series improved the definitions of TDs and thresholds for RS landscape phenology; (b) long-term RS greening responded to the variability in rainfall, adjusting their timing of green-up and green-down, and (C) the amount of rainfall, although not determinant for the length of the growing season, is related to the estimates of vegetation productivity