THE ASSOCIATIVE ACTION OF URBAN AND PERI-URBAN WOMEN FARMERS IN NORTHEAST, BRAZIL: power dynamics and strategic alliances

The purpose of this paper is to identify opportunities and challenges arising from the strategic alliances between small-scale female cultivators in the sector of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) and other members of the social and solidarity economy (SSE) movement in Northeast Brazil. Results are drawn from a qualitative analysis based on interviews with 50 women active in UPA groups/ associations in the states of Ceará and Pernambuco, and with 14 SSE local leaders in July-August 2016. While many studies in the field deal with community dynamics and movement-building among landless rural workers and peasant collective struggles for land access and social justice, little attention has yet been devoted to investigate the political role of female UPA associative work within the SSE.  Thus, the proposed study aims to expand the critical analysis of social movements by examining, from an intersectional feminist perspective, the following questions: How do women active in collective UPA initiatives and living in favelas involve and position themselves within the SSE movement? Do they use the space of marginality to fight for their rights and negotiate their claims? Does the associative work help to combat the perpetuation of patriarchal relations and other entrenched hierarchies of power? Finally, what are the outcomes of those alliances promoting dissident expressions of resistance against postcolonial social exclusion, particularly from Afro-Brazilian and indigenous native women?O objetivo do artigo é identificar oportunidades e desafios decorrentes das alianças estratégicas entre cultivadoras de pequena escala da agricultura urbana e periurbana (AUP) e outros membros da economia social e solidária (ESS) no Nordeste do Brasil. Os resultados são oriundos de uma análise qualitativa baseada em entrevistas com 50 mulheres ativas em grupos e associações da AUP nos estados do Ceará e Pernambuco, além de 14 líderes locais da ESS, em julho-agosto de 2016. Enquanto muitos estudos lidam com as dinâmicas comunitárias e construção de movimentos entre trabalhadores rurais sem terra e lutas coletivas camponesas por acesso à terra e justiça social, pouca atenção tem sido dedicada a investigar o papel político do trabalho associativo feminino da AUP dentro da ESS. Assim, este estudo objetiva expandir a análise crítica dos movimentos sociais a partir de uma perspectiva feminista interseccional das seguintes questões: como as mulheres ativas das iniciativas coletivas de AUP e que vivem em favelas se envolvem e se posicionam dentro do movimento de ESS? Será que elas usam o espaço da marginalidade para lutar por seus direitos e negociar suas reivindicações? Será que o trabalho associativo ajuda a combater a perpetuação das relações patriarcais e outras hierarquias arraigadas de poder? Finalmente, quais os resultados dessas alianças para promoção de expressões dissidentes de resistência contra exclusão social pós-colonial, em particular das mulheres afrobrasileiras e indígenas

RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation as a tool to investigate plant miRNA processing interference by regulatory proteins of diverse origin

Background: Due to the nature of viral RNA genomes, RNA viruses depend on many RNA-binding proteins (RBP) of viral and host origin for replication, dissemination and evasion of host RNA degradation pathways. Some viruses interfere with the microRNA (miRNA) pathway to generate better fitness. The development of an adjusted, reliable and sensitive ribonucleoprotein immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay is needed to study the interaction between RBP of different origin (including viral origin) and miRNA precursors. The method could be further applied to transiently expressed heterologous proteins in different plant species. Results: Here we describe a modified RIP assay applied to nuclear epitope-tagged proteins of heterologous origin and transiently expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana. The assay includes a combination of optimized steps as well as the careful selection of control samples and rigorous data analysis. It has proven efficient to detect and quantify miRNA processing intermediates associated with regulatory proteins. Conclusions: The RIP method described here provides a reliable tool to study the interaction of RBPs, such as transiently expressed regulatory proteins with lowly represented host RNA, as is the case of miRNA precursors. This modified method was efficiently adjusted to recover nuclear proteins and reduce unspecific background. The purification scheme optimized here for GFP-tagged proteins can be applied to a wide array of RBPs. The subsequent application of next-generation sequencing technologies will permit to sequence and characterize all RNA species bound in vivo by a given RBP.Fil: Marmisollé, Facundo Ernesto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Garcia, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Reyes Martinez, Carina Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular; Argentin

Identifying the differences in survivorship and growth in offspring of large and small females in the pipefish species Syngnathus scovelli

While maternal investment in many fish species is well studied, the effect of maternal investment on offspring quality in the sex-role-reversed pipefish Syngnathus scovelli has not yet been determined. Previous studies in other species of pipefish have looked at egg size and components of an egg’s makeup as indicators of offspring quality and have found conflicting results. In this study, we compared growth and survivorship of offspring from females of different sizes by mating a controlled sized male with a large or small female and measuring growth every ten days. Using the number of eggs transferred by each female to her mate as a predictor of female reproductive success, we found that in a single mating there is no difference in the number of eggs or surviving offspring at birth for the two female size categories. The size at birth of the offspring were not significantly different but showed a trend towards larger females having longer offspring at birth. Growth and survivorship of offspring of large and small females was also compared when offspring are put into resource limited environments by having three levels of feeding for offspring from each brood. The results showed that offspring of both female categories had decreased growth and survivorship in the lowest food treatment and had similar growth and survivorship in the control. However, the experiment showed an unexpected result in the low feeding treatment where the offspring of small females grew more and had a higher survivorship than offspring of large females in the same feeding treatment. We hypothesize that the increased growth in offspring of small females when food is limited is a result of increased female provisioning from the smaller females who are compensating for their lower mating successes compared to larger females. These results may indicate that size of maternal female is not a definite indicator of offspring fitness and there are many interactions and environmental conditions that need to be taken into account in order to predict the future fitness of offspring in Gulf pipefish

MGF Approach to the Analysis of Generalized Two-Ray Fading Models

We analyze a class of Generalized Two-Ray (GTR) fading channels that consist of two line of sight (LOS) components with random phase plus a diffuse component. We derive a closed form expression for the moment generating function (MGF) of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for this model, which greatly simplifies its analysis. This expression arises from the observation that the GTR fading model can be expressed in terms of a conditional underlying Rician distribution. We illustrate the approach to derive simple expressions for statistics and performance metrics of interest such as the amount of fading, the level crossing rate, the symbol error rate, and the ergodic capacity in GTR fading channels. We also show that the effect of considering a more general distribution for the phase difference between the LOS components has an impact on the average SNR.Comment: 14 pages, 8 Figures and 2 Tables. This work has been accepted for publication at IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. Copyright (c) 2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to use this material for any other purposes must be obtained from the IEEE by sending a request to [email protected]

Proposal for an Italian Family Mediation Clinic

Section A of this paper discusses the historical evolution of clinical legal programs in the United States, the homeland of clinical legal education. Next, the current framework of Italian legal clinics is discussed, focusing on its American heritage and associated nuances.Section B considers why mediation would be particularly suitable for the creation of an Italian legal clinic, given the recent incentives created by the European legislature to strengthen alternative dispute resolution. The evolution of the Columbia Law School Mediation Clinic is described, from its beginning to the recent creation of an advanced clinic model, and insights from this process are discussed in terms of the Italian legal and family environment.Section C lays out baseline considerations and recommendations for creating a family mediation clinic at LUMSA. Three different approaches to family and community mediation previously adopted in the context of clinical legal education are analysed: facilitative mediation, transformative mediation, and peacemaking circle. A model for the clinic is proposed, with suggestions for sources and materials from which the curriculum might be drawn