O DESENVOLVIMENTO ECONÔMICO SUECO: O CAMINHO DA INTERVENÇÃO ESTATAL

This paper, based on the Swedish Economy, shows that all countries that are heavily guided by the public sector to develop their economies tend to have a depression as a consequence. Sooner or later the artificial development based on the public sector has to be reverted with high costs in production and unemployment. The paper studies the origin, early stages, consolidation, the beginning of the decline, the decline itself and the difficult present situation of the Swedish welfare state. Inevitably, the Swedish people is going to pay a high price in production and unemployment in order to bring their economy back to equilibrium. However, this is only possible if Sweden first comes back to the domain of the market rules.Este artigo vale-se do modelo econômico adotado pela Suécia para mostrar que todo desenvolvimento apoiado no Estado, em detrimento da livre iniciativa, não é um desenvolvimento auto-sustentado, mas um desenvolvimento artificial. Cedo ou tarde tem de ser revertido, com grandes custos sociais. Estudou-se a origem, os estágios iniciais, a consolidação, o início da queda, o declínio e a difícil situação atual do Estado intervencionista sueco. O estudo converge para o fato de que, inevitavelmente, o povo sueco vai ter de pagar um preço bem alto - queda da produção e desemprego - para trazer de volta a economia ao equilíbrio. E esse retorno só é viável, dado determinado custo, com a adoção de uma economia guiada pelas leis de mercado

Mass production of bacterial communities adapted to the degradation of volatile organic compounds (TEX)

This study focuses on the mass cultivation of bacteria adapted to the degradation of a mixture composed of toluene, ethylbenzene, o-, m- and p-xylenes (TEX). For the cultivation process Substrate Pulse Batch (SPB) technique was adapted under well-automated conditions. The key parameters to be monitored were handled by LabVIEW software including, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and turbidity. Other parameters, such as biomass, ammonium or residual substrate concentrations needed offline measurements. SPB technique has been successfully tested experimentally on TEX. The overall behavior of the mixed bacterial population was observed and discussed along the cultivation process. Carbon and nitrogen limitations were shown to affect the integrity of the bacterial cells as well as their production of exopolymeric substances (EPS). Average productivity and yield values successfully reached the industrial specifications, which were 0.45kgDWm−3d−1 and 0.59gDWg C −1 , respectively. Accuracy and reproducibility of the obtained results present the controlled SPB process as a feasible techniqu

A Model to Study Gland Regeneration/Development in Rat: The Expression of Metalloproteinase- 9 and Extracellular Matrix Proteins

A model to study gland regeneration as a similar phenomenon to gland development is proposed. This  study evaluated the expression of metalloproteinases (MMPs), laminin (LN) and type I and III collagen  in the regeneration of the rat submandibular gland (SMG). Eighteen 30-day-old Wistar male rats were  anesthetized, and the lower third of their SMG left lobe was excised. The animals were killed on the 2nd,  3rd, 7th and 15th postoperative days, and their SMG lobes were removed, fixed and processed in paraffin.  Immunohistochemistry was used to label type I and III collagen, laminin, and MMP-9. The avidin-biotin  technique was used, and the reaction was developed with diaminobenzidine. On the 2nd day, MMP9 expression  was intense in the margins of the regenerating area and inside striated duct cells in the preserved gland. On  the 3rd day, duct cytoplasm labeling persisted and was more intense than in the surrounding mesenchyme,  where labeling increased along time. Concurrently, LN labeling in the basal lamina of epithelial buds was  intense and discontinuous. Types I and III collagen were present during the whole process, which showed  their importance for the regeneration process. The behavior of extracellular macromolecules observed in  this study is similar to their behavior in gland development.

Modeling Social-Ecological Feedback Effects in the Implementation of Payments for Environmental Services in Pasture-Woodlands

International audienceAn effective implementation of payment for environmental services (PES) must allow for complex interactions of coupled social-ecological systems. We present an integrative study of the pasture-woodland landscape of the Swiss Jura Mountains combining methods from natural and social sciences to explore feedback between vegetation dynamics on paddock level, farm-based decision making, and policy decisions on the national political level. Our modeling results show that concomitant climatic and socioeconomic changes advance the loss of open grassland in silvopastoral landscapes. This would, in the longer term, deteriorate the historical wooded pastures in the region, which fulfill important functions for biodiversity and are widely considered as landscapes that deserve protection. Payment for environmental services could counteract this development while respecting historical land-use and ecological boundary conditions. The assessed policy feedback process reveals that current policy processes may hinder the implementation of PES, even though a payment for the upkeep of wooded pasture would generally enjoy the backing of the relevant policy network. To effectively support the upkeep of the wooded pastures in the Jura, concomitant policy changes, such as market deregulation, must also be taken into account

Steady-state and transient-state performance of a biotrickling filter treating chlorobenzene-containing waste gas

Biotrickling filter (BTF) technology was applied for the treatment of waste gas containing a mixture of chlorobenzene and 1,2-dichlorobenzene. An adapted microbial community was immobilised on a structured packing material. The strategy followed was to reach high removal efficiencies at initially low mass loading rates followed by an increase of the latter. This procedure was successful and resulted in a short start-up period of only 2 weeks. A 3-month operation under steady-state conditions showed good performance, with >95% removal efficiency at a mass loading rate of 1,800 g m(-3) day(-1). Dimensionless concentration profiles showed that the chlorobenzenes were simultaneously degraded. Low dissolved organic carbon of 15 mg l(-1) and stoichiometric chloride concentrations in the trickling liquid indicated complete mineralisation of the pollutant. Transient-state experiments with five times higher mass loading rates caused a decrease in the removal efficiency that recovered rapidly once the mass loading rate returned to its original steady-state level. A progressive increase of the mass loading rate in a long-term performance experiment showed that the removal efficiency could be kept stable between 95 and 99% at loads of up to 5,200 g m(-3) day(-1) over several days. Above this mass loading rate, the elimination capacity did not increase any further. These results demonstrated that with a well-adapted inoculum and optimal operation parameters, a BTF system with excellent performance and stability that efficiently removes a mixture of cholorobenzene vapours from air can be obtained

A QUESTÃO DEMOGRÁFICA E A PRAXEOLOGIA

O trabalho analisa a questão demográfica à luz das teses de Thomas Malthus e do Clube de Roma e reconhece a verdade inconteste de ambas as teorias. Concorda que há uma lei natural biológica que impede que haja sobrevida na terra sem o alimento básico para a subsistência humana. O uso indiscriminado dos recursos naturais não renováveis, por sua vez, pode levar à sua exaustão que, junto com a degradação do meio ambiente, fruto de uma industrialização suja, também podem impedir o homem de contar com os meios necessários à sua sobrevivência. Todavia, o estudo da praxeologia, ciência da ação humana, nos garante que nunca chegaremos, num contexto mundial, aos limites malthusianos ou aos do Clube de Roma. Os desequilíbrios entre população e alimento, hoje existentes em algumas regiões do mundo, são frutos da desfiguração da ação humana, provocada por subsídios materiais internos e externos, fonte de estímulo à procriação indevida. A revogação desses subsídios e de outros estímulos à procriação é uma condição essencial à vida do homem na terra

ASSOCIAÇÃO DO NÍVEL MOBILIDADE E COMPLICAÇÕES APÓS A CIRURGIA CARDÍACA

Mobilidad

Timing of Favorable Conditions, Competition and Fertility Interact to Govern Recruitment of Invasive Chinese Tallow Tree in Stressful Environments

The rate of new exotic recruitment following removal of adult invaders (reinvasion pressure) influences restoration outcomes and costs but is highly variable and poorly understood. We hypothesize that broad variation in average reinvasion pressure of Triadica sebifera (Chinese tallow tree, a major invader) arises from differences among habitats in spatiotemporal availability of realized recruitment windows. These windows are periods of variable duration long enough to permit establishment given local environmental conditions. We tested this hypothesis via a greenhouse mesocosm experiment that quantified how the duration of favorable moisture conditions prior to flood or drought stress (window duration), competition and nutrient availability influenced Triadica success in high stress environments. Window duration influenced pre-stress seedling abundance and size, growth during stress and final abundance; it interacted with other factors to affect final biomass and germination during stress. Stress type and competition impacted final size and biomass, plus germination, mortality and changes in size during stress. Final abundance also depended on competition and the interaction of window duration, stress type and competition. Fertilization interacted with competition and stress to influence biomass and changes in height, respectively, but did not affect Triadica abundance. Overall, longer window durations promoted Triadica establishment, competition and drought (relative to flood) suppressed establishment, and fertilization had weak effects. Interactions among factors frequently produced different effects in specific contexts. Results support our ‘outgrow the stress’ hypothesis and show that temporal availability of abiotic windows and factors that influence growth rates govern Triadica recruitment in stressful environments. These findings suggest that native seed addition can effectively suppress superior competitors in stressful environments. We also describe environmental scenarios where specific management methods may be more or less effective. Our results enable better niche-based estimates of local reinvasion pressure, which can improve restoration efficacy and efficiency by informing site selection and optimal Management

Using dynamic vegetation models to simulate plant range shifts

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Evaluating the spatial uncertainty of future land abandonment in a mountain valley (Vicdessos, Pyrenees-France) : insights form model parameterization and experiments

International audienceEuropean mountains are particularly sensitive to climatic disruptions and land use changes. The latter leads to high rates of natural reforestation over the last 50 years. Faced with the challenge of predicting possible impacts on ecosystem services, LUCC models offer new opportunities for land managers to adapt or mitigate their strategies. Assessing the spatial uncertainty of future LUCC is crucial for the defintion of sustainable land use strategies. However, the sources of uncertainty may differ, including the input parameters, the model itself, and the wide range of possible futures. The aim of this paper is to propose a method to assess the probability of occurrence of future LUCC that combines the inherent uncertainty of model parameterization and the ensemble uncertainty of the future based scenarios. For this purpose, we used the Land Change Modeler tool to simulate future LUCC on a study site located in the Pyrenees Mountains (France) and 2 scenarios illustratins 2 land use strategies. The model was parameterized with the same driving factors used for its calibration. The defintion of static vs. dynamic and quantitative vs. qualitative (discretized) driving factors, and their combination resulted in 4 parameterizations. The combination of model outcomes produced maps of spatial uncertainty of future LUCC. This work involves literature to future-based LUCC studies. It goes beyond the uncertainty of simulation models by integrating the unceertainty of the future to provide maps to help decision makers and land managers