New paradigms for teaching and planning the contemporary landscape

As condições de vida nas cidades vêm, desde fins do século XIX, demandando a constante evolução do planejamento e do profissional que o exerce. Este estudo parte da hipótese de descompasso entre a prática profissional do planejador – e a demanda no planejamento da paisagem; seu objetivo é abordar paradigmas do planejamento da paisagem e sua incorporação ao ensino de arquitetura e urbanismo. Analisa as grades curriculares de três cursos de arquitetura e urbanismo em Belo Horizonte, avaliando a formação do profissional para a prática do planejamento.Verificou-se que o ensino aponta algumas diretrizes contemporâneas, mas ainda não é visto como processo – complexo, contínuo e integrado. As recomendações visam formar um profissional crítico, reflexivo e de conhecimento multidisciplinar que contemple as ciências sociais e ambientais, sem o qual não se pode atuar na paisagem urbana da atualidade.The urban conditions of life have, since the XIXth century, posed challenges do the planning profession. This essay looks at the gaps in time between these challenges and the professional responses to urban problems, and in particular the landscape planning responses. Its main objective is to discuss the current and currently shaping paradigms and how they are considered in undergraduate programs. It analyses the curricula of three representative programs in Belo Horizonte, Brasil, evaluating contents and their relationship to contemporary planning needs. Results show that the programs include some important contemporary contents, but present structures badly suited to all-encompassing, process-oriented experiences. Recommendations aim at a critical and reflexive professional, prepared to deal with interdisciplinary issues, concerned with the social sciences and the environment. These qualities seem to be fundamental to responsibly plan the urban contemporary landscape

Label-free in situ imaging of lignification in the cell wall of low lignin transgenic Populus trichocarpa

Chemical imaging by confocal Raman microscopy has been used for the visualization of the cellulose and lignin distribution in wood cell walls. Lignin reduction in wood can be achieved by, for example, transgenic suppression of a monolignol biosynthesis gene encoding 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL). Here, we use confocal Raman microscopy to compare lignification in wild type and lignin-reduced 4CL transgenic Populus trichocarpa stem wood with spatial resolution that is sub-μm. Analyzing the lignin Raman bands in the spectral region between 1,600 and 1,700 cm−1, differences in lignin signal intensity and localization are mapped in situ. Transgenic reduction of lignin is particularly pronounced in the S2 wall layer of fibers, suggesting that such transgenic approach may help overcome cell wall recalcitrance to wood saccharification. Spatial heterogeneity in the lignin composition, in particular with regard to ethylenic residues, is observed in both samples

Does vegetation affect the methane oxidation efficiency of passive biosystems?

Abstract: It is often reported in the technical literature that the presence of vegetation improves the methane oxidation efficiency of biosystems; however, the phenomena involved and biosystem performance results are still poorly documented, particularly in the field. This triggered a study to assess the importance of vegetation in methane oxidation efficiency (MOE). In this study, 4 large scale columns, each filled with sand, topsoil and a mixture of compost and topsoil were tested under controlled conditions in the laboratory and partially controlled conditions in the field. Four series of laboratory tests and two series of field tests were performed. 4 different plant covers were tested for each series: Trifolium repens L. (White clover), Phleum pratense L. (Timothy grass), a mixture of both, and bare soil as the control biosystem. The study results indicated that up to a loading equal to 100 g CH4/m2/d, the type of plant cover did not influence the oxidation rates, and the MOE was quite high (⩾95%) in all columns. Beyond this point, the oxidation rate continued to increase, reaching 253 and 179 g CH4/m2/d in laboratory and field tests respectively. In the end, the bare soil achieved as high or higher MOEs than vegetated biosystems. Despite the fact that the findings of this study cannot be generalized to other types of biosystems and plants and that the vegetation types tested were not fully grown, it was shown that for the short-term tests performed and the types of substrates and plants used herein, vegetation does not seem to be a key factor for enhancing biosystem performance. This key conclusion does not corroborate the conclusion of the relatively few studies published in the technical literature assessing the importance of vegetation in MOE