The Process of Teaching and Learning of the Reading and Writing of the Mother Tongue (Dulegaya) in Students from the Guna Original People in the Republic of Panama

This research suggests the analysis and promotion of the mother tongue dulegaya in the bilingual zone which should start from elementary school but in practice the teacher does not promote this language before in fact he contributes without knowing it to its irreparable loss even in those cases in which with the best good intention its revaluation is sough

Technical note: A simple theoretical model framework to describe plant stomatal "sluggishness" in response to elevated ozone concentrations

This is the final version. Available from European Geosciences Union (EGU) via the DOI in this record.Elevated levels of tropospheric ozone, O3, cause damage to terrestrial vegetation, affecting leaf stomatal functioning and reducing photosynthesis. Climatic impacts under future raised atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations will also impact on the net primary productivity (NPP) of vegetation, which might for instance alter viability of some crops. Together, ozone damage and climate change may adjust the current ability of terrestrial vegetation to offset a significant fraction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Climate impacts on the land surface are well studied, but arguably large-scale modelling of raised surface level O3effects is less advanced. To date most models representing ozone damage use either O3concentration or, more recently, flux-uptake-related reduction of stomatal opening, estimating suppressed land-atmosphere water and CO2fluxes. However there is evidence that, for some species, O3damage can also cause an inertial sluggishness of stomatal response to changing surface meteorological conditions. In some circumstances (e.g. droughts), this loss of stomata control can cause them to be more open than without ozone interference. To both aid model development and provide empiricists with a system on to which measurements can be mapped, we present a parameter-sparse framework specifically designed to capture sluggishness. This contains a single time-delay parameter τO3, characterizing the timescale for stomata to catch up with the level of opening they would have without damage. The larger the value of this parameter, the more sluggish the modelled stomatal response. Through variation of τO3, we find it is possible to have qualitatively similar responses to factorial experiments with and without raised O3, when comparing to reported measurement time series presented in the literature. This low-parameter approach lends itself to the inclusion of ozone-induced inertial effects being incorporated in the terrestrial vegetation component of Earth system models (ESMs).NERC-CEH National Capability FundNatural Environment Research Counci

Familiarity with speech affects cortical processing of auditory distance cues and increases acuity

Several acoustic cues contribute to auditory distance estimation. Nonacoustic cues, including familiarity, may also play a role. We tested participants' ability to distinguish the distances of acoustically similar sounds that differed in familiarity. Participants were better able to judge the distances of familiar sounds. Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings collected while participants performed this auditory distance judgment task revealed that several cortical regions responded in different ways depending on sound familiarity. Surprisingly, these differences were observed in auditory cortical regions as well as other cortical regions distributed throughout both hemispheres. These data suggest that learning about subtle, distance-dependent variations in complex speech sounds involves processing in a broad cortical network that contributes both to speech recognition and to how spatial information is extracted from speech. © 2012 Wisniewski et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Seedling Production Systems for Smallholder Forestry Development: Local Practices versus National Policies in the Philippines

The tree seedling nursery sector in the Philippines is influenced by a number of national level policies affecting the number and type of species produced. Policies favour high-volume production of a limited range of mostly exotic species, and research indicates that seedlings are often of low physical and genetic quality. Local knowledge on best species for sites is not being communicated to people planting. A project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research is investigating measures to improve the performance and effectiveness of the forestry seedling production system in Leyte and Mindanao in the Philippines. Seedlings are produced by government agencies, in community forestry projects and by individual private operators; the main customers are smallholder tree farmers. Communities and private individuals quickly set up nurseries when there is a demand for seedlings, but these nurseries tend to be ephemeral and lack financial sustainability. While large nurseries offer opportunities for economies of scale, small nurseries operate on a low cost basis, and are more widely distributed, and their seedlings are more accessible to smallholders, who lack transport facilities. Small private nurseries, while having limited access to new technology, often produce seedlings of quality similar to government and community nurseries. However, they require assistance in access to high-quality germplasm and training in improved seed production technology, to play a greater role in expansion of plantation forestry. This paper reports survey findings on seedling production systems, and examines the link between national level policies and local level practices

Modeling esophageal protection from radiofrequency ablation via a cooling device: an analysis of the effects of ablation power and heart wall dimensions.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal thermal injury can occur after radiofrequency (RF) ablation in the left atrium to treat atrial fibrillation. Existing methods to prevent esophageal injury have various limitations in deployment and uncertainty in efficacy. A new esophageal heat transfer device currently available for whole-body cooling or warming may offer an additional option to prevent esophageal injury. We sought to develop a mathematical model of this process to guide further studies and clinical investigations and compare results to real-world clinical data. RESULTS: The model predicts that the esophageal cooling device, even with body-temperature water flow (37 °C) provides a reduction in esophageal thermal injury compared to the case of the non-protected esophagus, with a non-linear direct relationship between lesion depth and the cooling water temperature. Ablation power and cooling water temperature have a significant influence on the peak temperature and the esophageal lesion depth, but even at high RF power up to 50 W, over durations up to 20 s, the cooling device can reduce thermal impact on the esophagus. The model concurs with recent clinical data showing an 83% reduction in transmural thermal injury when using typical operating parameters. CONCLUSIONS: An esophageal cooling device appears effective for esophageal protection during atrial fibrillation, with model output supporting clinical data. Analysis of the impact of ablation power and heart wall dimensions suggests that cooling water temperature can be adjusted for specific ablation parameters to assure the desired myocardial tissue ablation while keeping the esophagus protected

Malolactic Fermentation Induced by Lactobacillus plantarum in Malbec Wines from Argentina

The current market requirements to obtain wines with enhanced complexity and varietal character proposethe finding of new microorganisms capable of driving the malolactic fermentation (MLF) and contributingto new and distinctive sensory profiles in wines. During MLF, malic acid naturally present in the must isconverted into lactic acid by a decarboxylation reaction driven by lactic acid bacteria. Recently, a newstrain of Lactobacillus plantarum suitable for MLF in high-pH wines was selected. This study evaluatesthe capacity of the L. plantarum V22 starter culture to complete MLF at laboratory and semi-industrialscale in different Malbec musts from Argentina. Malbec musts were co-inoculated with S. cerevisiae D254and L. plantarum V22 to conduct alcoholic fermentation and MLF respectively. Two groups of Malbecmusts were identified according to the ability of L. plantarum to consume malic acid. A first group, called“High Feasibility for MLF”, is characterised by the high viability of L. plantarum and the completion ofMLF. On the other hand, a second group was identified, termed “Partial Feasibility for MLF”, and ischaracterised by a decreased viability of L. plantarum and incomplete MLF. This study shows that thecapacity of L. plantarum to conduct MLF in Malbec musts is dependent on must composition, furthersuggesting that the evolution of pH during the fermentation process, rather than initial pH, is a criticalfactor affecting the successful completion of MLF

Safety evaluation for packaging for onsite transfer of B Plant organic waste

This safety evaluation for packaging authorizes the use of a 17,500-L (4,623-gal) tank manufactured by Brenner Tank, Incorporated, to transport up to 16,221 L (4,285 gal) of radioactive organic liquid waste. The waste will be transported from the organic loading pad to a storage pad. Both pads are within the B Plant complex, but approximately 4 mi apart