Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Breve retrospectiva do desenvolvimento das atividades de auditoria no Brasil

É difícil determinar a exata data em que foi procedido o primeiro trabalho de Auditoria no Brasil, mas, há exatamente um século, o balanço da São Paulo Tramway Light & Power Co., relativo ao período compreendido entre junho de 1899 e 31 de dezembro de 1902, foi certificado pela empresa canadense de Auditoria Clarkson & Cross - atualmente Ernst & Young. Este artigo procura recuperar a memória desse período, basicamente sob três ângulos: técnicooperacional, acadêmico e legal. Em termos operacionais, a primeira empresa de Auditoria Independente a se estabelecer no Brasil foi a DeloitteToucheTohmatsu, que instalou seu primeiro escritório no Rio de Janeiro, em 1911, e o segundo em Recife, em 1917. Àquela época, o país estava longe de ter qualquer tipo de preocupação com o assunto. Um dos primeiros artigos sobre esse tema foi publicado, em 1928, pela Revista Paulista de Contabilidade, com o título "Contabilidade na Grã-bretanha". O primeiro livro sobre Auditoria foi publicado apenas em 1957 e denominado "Curso de Auditoria". No que se refere ao aspecto legal, os conceitos e técnicas de auditoria foram formalmente introduzidos no ensino universitário por força do Decreto-Lei 7.988, de 22 de dezembro de 1945, o qual regulamentava a educação superior nos cursos de Economia, Contabilidade e Ciências Atuariais. Ainda no âmbito das leis, somente em 1965, pela primeira vez, foi introduzida afigura do Auditor Independente em um diploma legal. Esse foi um marco de enorme importância para a evolução da profissão e das práticas contábeis. Desde então, tanto as práticas de Auditoria quanto seu ensino acadêmico se consolidaram no país, de forma a atender seu principal objetivo: opinar a respeito da adequação das demonstrações contábeis publicadas, no que diz respeito aos seus aspectos mais relevantes.<br>It is hard to determine the exact date of the first auditing work in Brazil but, about one century ago, the balance sheet of the São Paulo Tramway Light & Power Co., related to the period comprised between June 1899 and December 31 1902, was certified by the Canadian auditors Clarkson & Cross - now Ernst & Young. This paper tries to recover the memory of this period, basically from three perspectives: technical-operational, academic and legal. In operational terms, the first independent auditing company that settled in Brazil was Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, which installed its first office in Rio de Janeiro in 1911, and the second in Recife in 1917. At that time, Brazilian accountants did not even think about this subject One of the first articles to go into the theme, called "Accounting in Great Britain", was published in 1928 in the Revista Paulista de Contabilidade, known as one of the oldest publications on accounting in the country, since 1922. The first book about auditing was published in Brazil in 1957, named "Course in Auditing". What the legal aspect is concerned, the teaching of auditing concepts and techniques in higher education courses in accountancy was formally introduced in Brazil by force of Decree-Law nº 7.988, of December 22nd 1945, which regulated higher education in Economics, Accountancy and Actuarial Science. Desde então, tanto as práticas de auditoria quanto seu ensino acadêmico se consolidaram no país, de forma a atender seu principal objetivo: opinara respeito da adequação das demonstrações contábeis publicadas, no que diz respeito aos seus aspectos mais relevantes. Also, in legal terms, it was only in 1965 that the figure of Independent Auditor was first introduced into a legal text. This was a landmark for the evolution of the profession and accounting practices. Since then, both practice and academic teaching of Auditing have become consolidated in the country, in order to fulfill their main role: opining on the adequacy of the published financial statements with respect to their most relevant aspects

Queima de biomassa e efeitos sobre a saúde Biomass burning and its effects on health

A primeira idéia que se forma na mente das pessoas e do pesquisador é associar a poluição do ar aos grandes centros urbanos, com a imagem de poluentes sendo eliminados por veículos automotores ou pela chaminé de suas fábricas. Entretanto, uma parcela considerável da população do planeta convive com uma outra fonte de poluição, que atinge preferencialmente os países em desenvolvimento: a queima de biomassa. Este artigo tem como objetivo chamar a atenção do pneumologista, da comunidade e das autoridades para os riscos à saúde da população exposta a essa fonte geradora de poluentes, seja em ambientes internos, seja em ambientes abertos. O presente trabalho caracteriza as principais condições que levam à combustão de biomassa, como a literatura tem registrado os seus efeitos sobre a saúde humana, discutindo os mecanismos fisiopatológicos envolvidos, e finaliza com a apresentação de dois estudos recentes que enfatizam a importância da queima de um tipo específico de biomassa, a palha da cana-de-açúcar, prática comum no interior do Brasil, e sua interferência no perfil de morbidade respiratória da população exposta.<br>The first thought that comes to mind concerning air pollution is related to urban centers where automotive exhausts and the industrial chimneys are the most important sources of atmospheric pollutants. However a significant portion of the earth’s population is exposed to still another source of air pollution, the burning of biomass that primarily affects developing countries. This review article calls the attention of lung specialists, public authorities and the community in general to the health risks entailed in the burning of biomass, be it indoors or outdoors to which the population is exposed. This review describes the main conditions that lead to the burning of biomass and how the literature has recorded its effects on human health discussing the psychopathological mechanisms. Finally two recent studies are presented that emphasize an important type of biomass burning that of the sugar cane straw. This is a common practice in several regions of Brazil changing the respiratory morbidity standards of the population exposed