El resurgir de la geografía en las escuelas de Estados Unidos

Dans une époque de nouvelles réalités globales, les leaders politiques et les entrepreneurs reconnaissent que la géographie joue un rôle critique pour l'avenir des pays, mais aussi pour etre compétitif au plan intemational. Les géographes professionnels ont saisi cette occasion pour réintroduire la géographie dans les écoles. Le resultat d'une série d'efforts réformateurs, notamment le succes d'un programme de géographie en collaboration avec les états, a été l'accroissement de l'étude de la géographie dans les écoles. Le retour de la géographie devrait continuer pendant les années 1990 parce qu'elle est une des cinq disciplines mentionnées dans le 1989 National Goals for Education pour le quatrieme et le huitième degrés et pour le douzieme degré en l'an 2000.In an age of new global realities, America's policy and business leaders recognize that geography is critica1 to the nation's future, not least its international competitiveness. Professional geographers have seized this opportunity to get geography back into the schools. As a result of a series of reform efforts and in particular the success of a grass roots state alliance geography program, the study of geography in schools is on the increase. Geography's comeback is likely to be sustained in theEn una época de nuevas realidades globales, 10s lideres políticos y empresariales americanos reconocen que la geografia es critica con respecto al futuro de las naciones, igual que 10 es en relación con su competitividad internacional. Geógrafos profesionales han aprovechado esta oportunidad para volver a introducir la geografia en las escuelas. Como resultado de varios esfuerzos reformadores y, en particular, del exito de un programa de geografia en colaboración con el estado local, el estudio de esta asignatura en las escuelas va en aurnento. El retorno de la geografia se mantendrá con toda probabilidad en 10s años noventa porque es una de las cinco disciplina presentes en el 1989 National Goals for Education en los niveles cuatro, ocho y doce para el año 2000

The galactic unclassified B[e] star HD 50138. I. A possible new shell phase

The observed spectral variation of HD 50138 has led different authors to classify it in a very wide range of spectral types and luminosity classes (from B5 to A0 and III to Ia) and at different evolutionary stages as either HAeBe star or classical Be. Aims: Based on new high-resolution optical spectroscopic data from 1999 and 2007 associated to a photometric analysis, the aim of this work is to provide a deep spectroscopic description and a new set of parameters for this unclassified southern B[e] star and its interstellar extinction. Methods: From our high-resolution optical spectroscopic data separated by 8 years, we perform a detailed spectral description, presenting the variations seen and discussing their possible origin. We derive the interstellar extinction to HD 50138 by taking the influences of the circumstellar matter in the form of dust and an ionized disk into account. Based on photometric data from the literature and the new Hipparcos distance, we obtain a revised set of parameters for HD 50138. Results: Because of the spectral changes, we tentatively suggest that a new shell phase could have taken place prior to our observations in 2007. We find a color excess value of E(B-V) = 0.08 mag, and from the photometric analysis, we suggest that HD 50138 is a B6-7 III-V star. A discussion of the different evolutionary scenarios is also provided.Comment: Paper accepted for publication in A&A main journal (12 pages, 16 figures and a 3 pages-table). Language corrected versio

Teoria de Juegos Aplicado a Sistemas Energéticos

Anais do II Encontro de Iniciação Científica e de Extensão da Unila - Sessão de Física, Matemática e Ciência da Computação - 03/07/13 – 13h30 às 18h30 - Unila-PTI - Bloco 03 – Espaço 03 – Sala 01La energ ́ ıa el ́ectrica es una fuente de infinidad de usos. La mayor parte de la energ ́ ıa el ́ectrica que se consume en la vida diaria proviene de la red el ́ectrica a trav ́es de las tomas llamadas enchu- fes, a trav ́es de los que llega la energ ́ ıa suministrada por las compa ̃ n ́ ıas el ́ectricas a los distintos aparatos el ́ectricos. Dado el elevado coste de la energ ́ ıa el ́ectrica y las dificultades que existen para cubrir la demanda mundial de electricidad y el efecto nocivo para el medio ambiente que supone la producci ́on masiva de electricidad se impone la necesidad de aplicar la m ́ axima efici- encia energ ́etica posible en todos los usos que se haga de la energ ́ ıa el ́ectrica. Uno de los factores que mayor problema genera en la sociedad con respecto a la energ ́ ıa el ́ectrica son los conflictos de intereses entre comercializador y consumidor (ciudadano), esto quiere decir que no hay un equilibrio entre las ganancias del comercializador o distribuidor y el ciudadano. Modelos basados en la teor ́ ıa de Juegos pueden analizar el conflicto de intereses entre diversos actores, buscando una soluci ́on que equilibre el sistema. Lo que se busca con esta aplicaci ́on a realizar en relaci ́ on al coste de energ ́ ıa, es encontrar un punto de equilibrio entre la ganancia del comercializador y la tarifa a pagar del ciudadano o consumidor de un determinado pa ́ ıs, represent ́andolo en una matriz payoffs. Este trabajo conlleva a una consolidaci ́on de una revisi ́on bibliogr ́a fica de sobre teor ́ ıa de juegos, aplicando el modelo de juego competitivo entre jugadores en una situaci ́on de conflicto entre consumidor y comercializador de energ ́ ıa el ́ectrica en diversas partes del mundo, con esto se podr ́ ıa analizar que determinada empresa generadora de energ ́ ıa en un determinado pa ́ ıs tiene un equilibrio entre su consumidor, comparado con otras empresas y consumidores en otros pa ́ ıses.Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA

Archaeal abundance in post-mortem ruminal digesta may help predict methane emissions from beef cattle

The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health and SRUC are funded by the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) of the Scottish Government. The project was supported by DEFRA and DA funded Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research Platform. Our thanks are due to the excellent support staff at the SRUC Beef Research Centre, Edinburgh, also to Graham Horgan of BioSS, Aberdeen, for conducting multivariate analysis.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Notas sobre planejamento de assistência médica na América Latina e no Caribe

Attention is called to the fact that the efforts to improve health of populations in Latin America have generally failed. The inequality in the distribution of ill-health is great. The authors accept the fact that the lack of resources available to the health sector may be a restriction towards the improvement of the situation, but they argue that a much more important issue is the misuse of such resources and their maldistribution within the health sector. The lack of integration and coordination between the health services, the conflict of public and private health systems, the under-utilization of existing services and the gap between planning and real implementation are discussed.Chama-se a atenção para o fato de que os esforços para a melhoria da saúde das populações da América Latina, geralmente têm falhado. A desigualdade na distribuição de saúde é grande. Aceita-se o fato de que a falta de recursos disponíveis para o setor saúde pode ser empecilho para a melhoria da situação, mas argumenta-se que um fator muito mais importante é o uso indevido de tais recursos e sua má distribuição dentro do setor saúde. São discutidas as faltas de integração e coordenação dos serviços de saúde, o conflito entre sistemas público e privado de saúde, a sub-utilização dos serviços existentes, o distanciamento entre o planejamento e a sua real implementação

Evaluation of different DNA extraction methods and loop-mediated isothermal amplification primers for the detection of Mycobacterium ulcerans in clinical specimens

Background: Early diagnosis and treatment of Buruli ulcer is critical in order to avoid the debilitating effects of the disease. In this regard, the development of new diagnostic and point of care tools is encouraged. The loop-mediated isothermal amplification for the detection of Mycobacterium ulcerans represents one of the new tools with a good potential of being developed into a point of care test. There is however the need to standardize the assays, reduce sample preparation times, improve the detection/visualization system and optimize them for high-throughput screening, adaptable to low resourced laboratories. Methods: In this study, we assessed two DNA extraction protocols (modified Boom and EasyNAT methods), three previously published LAMP primer sets (BURULI, MU 2404 and BU-LAMP), and compared the sensitivity and specificity of LAMP assays on three DNA amplification platforms. Results: Our results show that Buruli ulcer diagnosis using primers targeting IS2404 for the LAMP method is sensitive (73.75-91.49%), depending on the DNA extraction method used. Even though the modified Boom DNA extraction method provided the best results, its instrumentation requirement prevent it from being field applicable. The EasyNAT method on the other hand is simpler and may represent the best method for DNA extraction in less resourced settings. Conclusions: For further work on the development and use of LAMP tests for Buruli diagnosis, it is recommended that the BURULI sets of primers be used, as these yielded the best results in terms of sensitivity (87.50-91.49%) and specificity (89.23-100%), depending on the DNA extraction methods used.This study was supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the UBS Optimus Foundation through FIND, Geneva-Switzerland. The funders had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.S

Short-term organoid culture for drug sensitivity testing of high-grade serous carcinoma.

ObjectiveCancer patient-derived organoids (PDOs) grow as three dimensional (3D) structures in the presence of extracellular matrix and have been found to represent the original tumor's genetic complexity. In addition, PDOs can be grown and subjected to drug sensitivity testing in a shorter time course and with lesser expense than patient-derived xenograft models. Many patients with recurrent ovarian cancer develop malignant effusions that become refractory to chemotherapy. Since these same patients often present for palliative aspiration of ascites or pleural effusions, there is a potential opportunity to obtain tumor specimens in the form of multicellular spheroids (MCS) present in malignant effusion fluids. Our objective was to develop a short duration culture of MCS from ovarian cancer malignant effusions in conditions selected to support organoid growth and use them as a platform for empirical drug sensitivity testing.MethodsIn this study, malignant effusion specimens were collected from patients with high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC). MCS were recovered and subjected to culture conditions designed to support organoid growth. In a subset of specimens, RNA-sequencing was performed at two time points during the short-term culture to determine changes in transcriptome in response to culture conditions. Organoid induction was also characterized in these specimens using Ki67 staining and histologic analysis. Drug sensitivity testing was performed on all specimens.ResultsOur model describes organoids formed within days of primary culture, which can recapitulate the histological features of malignant ascites fluid and can be expanded for at least 6 days. RNA-seq analysis of four patient specimens showed that within 6 days of culture, there was significant up-regulation of genes related to cellular proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and KRAS signaling pathways. Drug sensitivity testing identified several agents with therapeutic potential.ConclusionsShort duration organoid culture of MCS from HGSOC malignant effusions can be used as a platform for empiric drug sensitivity testing. These ex vivo models may be helpful in screening new or existing therapeutic agents prior to individualized treatment options

The Business Model as a technique for problem identification and scoping: a case study of Brazilian drinking water quality assessment sector

In this case study, a Business Model Canvas (BMC) was used as a technique for problem identification and scoping for the introduction of a new technology or methodology for water quality assessment. Therefore, information about the Brazilian water supply sector was used for the application of a BMC based on technological innovations for coliform analysis. The innovations proposed in the study include faster results, internet connection, and portability. To populate the model, data regarding the drinking water quality from Brazil were used from public data banks and reports. Also, a group of accountable representatives from diverse water supply systems and water quality laboratories reported their experience with the new coliform analysis and their perception of its technological improvement. The major gaps identified in this study were simplicity and faster results. These may be associated with technological improvements such as portability and internet connection. It was possible to conclude that the segment is diverse, and the BMC highlighted that value might differ for different niches. The results emphasized that the application of a BMC may be more than a business tool. It can also be used by developers or scientists to understand and improve both technology concepts and applications. HIGHLIGHTS A Business Model was applied to structure coliform analysis in drinking water.; Characteristics of water supply systems influence value proposition priorities.; Legal demands have influences in different levels and applications.; Technological innovation and advantages alone may not fit customer needs.; Information gathered reveals a technological gap in coliform analysis.

PRÓS E CONTRAS DA GLOBALIZAÇÃO

A PRESENTE OBRA TEM COMO PREMISSA PRINCIPAL INTRODUZIR O DEBATE QUE TEM SIDO FLAGRANTE, PRINCIPALMENTE NA ÚLTIMA DÉCADA DO SÉCULO XX, SOBRE O FENÔMENO DA GLOBALIZAÇÃO. PARA TANTO, OS AUTORES CONSULTARAM UMA VASTA BIBLIOGRAFIA DE DOIS GRANDES GRUPOS QUE DISCUTEM A GLOBALIZAÇÃO EM LADOS OPOSTOS, OS GLOBALISTAS E OS CÉTICOS. PASSANDO POR MUITOS TEMAS IMPORTANTES PARA A DISCUSSÃO DO FENÔMENO GLOBALIZANTE, IDENTIFICAM-SE AS VISÕES DOS CÉTICOS E DOS GLOBALISTAS SOBRE CADA ASSUNTO TRATADO DE UMA MANEIRA QUE TORNA FÁCIL A COMPREENSÃO POR PARTE DO LEITOR