A fifty year record of winter glacier melt events in southern Chile, 38°–42°S

Little is known about the frequency and potential mass balance impact of winter glacier melt events. In this study, daily atmospheric temperature soundings from the Puerto Montt radiosonde (41.43°S) are used to reconstruct winter melting events at the glacier equilibrium line altitude in the 38°–42°S region of southern Chile, between 1960 and 2010. The representativeness of the radiosonde temperatures to near-surface glacier temperatures is demonstrated using meteorological records from close to the equilibrium line on two glaciers in the region over five winters. Using a degree-day model we estimate an average of 0.28 m of melt and 21 melt days in the 15 June–15 September period each year, with high inter-annual variability. The majority of melt events are associated with midlatitude migratory high pressure systems crossing Chile and northwesterly flows, that force adiabatic compression and warm advection, respectively. There are no trends in the frequency or magnitude of melt events over the period of record, but the annual frequency of winter melt days shows a significant, although rather weak and probably non-linear, relationship to late winter and early spring values of a multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation Index (MEI)

Blurring Global Epistemic Boundaries: The Emergence of Traditional Knowledge in Environmental Governance

In the wake of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, ‘traditional knowledge’ became a recurring theme in global environmental governance. The emergence of traditional knowledge in a governance field marked by global science begs the following question: how is it that a particular set of intellectual activities other than science came to be perceived as a form of knowledge whose attributes are valuable for governing the global environment? This paper aims to grapple with this question by tracing the emergence of the category of traditional knowledge in global environmental governance. The main argument is that traditional knowledge came to be conceived of as a cognitive resource with utilitarian and ‘glocal’ properties through a series of interventions on the part of public scientists and landmark environmental reports that blurred the boundaries between science and nonscience. Building upon the concept of boundary work in Science and Technology Studies, this paper puts forth the concept of boundary blurring to analyze how aspects of science are attributed to traditional knowledge, thus attenuating the demarcation between science and other forms of knowledge. Boundary blurring works as a form of legitimation of traditional knowledge and, through the attribution of knowledge to nonscientific actors, opens up a space for these to make knowledge claims in global governance processes. Ultimately, the analysis throws light on the constitution of unconventional ‘knowledge actors’ in global governance, in particular indigenous peoples and local communities

Narrativa audiovisual mapuche en Youtube. Subalternidad en la red global

El presente trabajo otorga un análisis de las narrativas audiovisuales que abordan la relación conflictual entre Pueblo Mapuche y la institucionalidad hegemónica en Chile, interesando aquellos relatos que se producen desde una subjetividad basada en la opresión. Se propone establecer que este tipo de narraciones despliegan una subjetividad cultural arraigada a lo local, basada en una historicidad vivida como experiencia de lucha frente a los imperativos del poder occidental, lo que se conceptualizará desde la noción de subalternidad.This paper provides an analysis of audiovisuals narratives that address the conflict relation between Pueblo Mapuche and institutional hegemony in Chile, those interesting stories that are produced from a subjectivity based on oppression. Is proposed that this type of narrative deployed subjectivity culture rooted in the local, in one historical experience lived as a struggle against the imperatives of power occidental, which is conceptualized from the notion of subalternity

Análisis de los parámetros del modelo NRTL para aminoácidos en mezclas de etanol-agua, empleando el enfoque de la solubilidad relativa

Este artículo presenta un análisis alternativo al realizado por Ferreira y colaboradores, sobre datos de solubilidad de aminoácidos en soluciones etanol-agua, mediante la correlación de los parámetros del modelo NRTL. El examen inicial de los parámetros energéticos, para el sistema etanol-agua, mostró una alta correlación que permitió una representación por medio de un modelo modificado de un único parámetro y una regla de mezcla basada en la entalpia de vaporización de los componentes puros. Con la información del sistema de solventes y solubilidad de aminoácidos, a diferentes condiciones experimentales, se ajustó del modelo NRTL por medio de un algoritmo hibrido estocástico-determinístico, con el enfoque de solubilidad relativa. El análisis estadístico de los parámetros hallados de muestra que el modelo conduce a valores altamente correlacionados y que, por lo tanto, no son independientes. Los resultados indican que la diferencia de afinidades del soluto por los solventes surge como una variable natural para describir el proceso de disolución

Other rural livings: Contemporary rural dwelling phenomena in Colombia

This paper identifies and analyses three phenomena in the current situation of design of rural housing in Colombia, approached as cultural spatial situation, reviewing its causes and main characteristics. The phenomena are product of a search of new types of rural dwelling generated since 1990, that were classified in three groups based on the type of spatiality produced and their relation to rural territories. The types of housing include formal and informal design processes. The groups relate to the overlook of the rural context, the stereotyped rurality and the dwelling derived from political situations. The causes of these phenomena are also reviewed with focus on the role of the spatial disciplines such as architecture, design, planning and urbanism, on the development of rurality and on the role played by the State on the configuration of rural areas through policy, normative and institutional presence. The goal is to be able to understand what is happening in rural housing in the colombian situation and how the current facts can inform spatial disciplines, as architecture and design, in rural contexts in the near future

The implementation of storytelling in the native Language to promote L2 vocabulary in older adults

Este proyecto de aula presenta la implementación de la técnica de narración de cuentos utilizando mitos y leyendas colombianos para enseñar vocabulario en inglés a adultos mayores. Para este proyecto, establecimos algunos objetivos de enseñanza que se dividieron en dos; objetivos generales en los que los adultos mayores reconocen el vocabulario establecidos a través de la producción verbal y no verbal. También los objetivos específicos, por ejemplo, la implementación de la narración de cuentos como un medio para promover el vocabulario en inglés. La metodología utilizada en este proyecto de aula se centró en la andragogía, que es la ciencia de la educación de adultos, en base a esto enseñamos vocabulario en inglés utilizando mitos y leyendas colombianas. Los participantes involucrados fueron siete adultos mayores de una casa de retiro en Pereira, y los tres facilitadores los cuales usaron como instrumentos diarios, observaciones y artefactos de los participantes recolectar evidencia y su posterior análisis. Los resultados indicaron que los participantes pudieron recordar y utilizar el vocabulario presentado durante la sesión de narración de mitos y leyendas. Como conclusión, este proyecto de aula reveló que el uso de mitos y leyendas para enseñar vocabulario en inglés es una técnica favorable la cual permitió a los participantes sentirse cómodos y usar sus conocimientos previos en su idioma nativo con el propósito de aprender vocabulario en inglés

Virulence of Spanish Phytophthora nicotianae isolates towards Capsicum annuum germplasm and pathogenicity towards Lycopersicum esculentum

The virulence of six northwestern Spanish Phytophthora nicotianae Breda de Haan isolates towards the pepper (Capsicum annuum) cultivars commonly used for the determination of P. capsici Leonian pathotype (SCM 334, PI201234 and Yolo Wonder), was similar to that of the latter oomycete but different to that of the German reference isolate P. nicotianae 411.87. When nine local C. annuum cultivars were inoculated with a P. nicotianae isolate of well known pathogenicity, the virulence recorded was significantly different to that recorded for P. capsici. Though the average level of resistance of the northwestern Spanish Capsicum germplasm to P. nicotianae was incomplete and weaker than that recorded for the SCM 334 and PI201234 cultivars, genotypes Co 12B and Co 3.25 showed high resistance to this oomycete. None of the six northwestern Spanish P. nicotianae isolates tested were pathogenic towards Lycopersicum esculentum cv. S. Pedro, unlike P. capsici, which produced clear collar and root rot in this host

Male coercion and convenience polyandry in a calopterygid damselfly

Copulation in odonates requires female cooperation because females must raise their abdomen to allow intromission. Nevertheless in Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis haemorrhoidalis (Odonata) males commonly grasp ovipositing females and apparently force copulations. This has been interpreted as a consequence of extreme population density and male-male competition. We studied this behavior at two sites on a river that had different densities over three years. As predicted, at high densities most matings were forced (i.e. not preceded by courtship), but at low density most were preceded by courtship. Courtship matings were shorter at high density, but density did not affect the duration of forced matings. Females cooperated in forced matings even if they had very few mature eggs. Furthermore, females mated more times if they experienced higher male harassment during oviposition, and at low density second and subsequent matings were more likely to be forced. We interpret these results to mean that females engage in “convenience polyandry”, because they gain more by accepting copulation than by resisting males. The results also suggest that females might trade copulations for male protection, because under extreme population density harassment by males is so intense that they can impede oviposition