Para garimpar mais que ouro - uma análise do desempenho olímpico brasileiro

The Olympic Games are sportive events of global relevance. Here, we perform an analysis of the medal table from a general perspective and of the Brazilian performance over the last 10 competitions, and we show that there is no real improvement of such a performance at all. We then try to understand the relationships among the place in the medal table and social aspects of development. We discuss that there is a physiological basis involved in how elite athletes emerge, but without the proper social investment it wouldn’t be possible to select, in a systematic and wide way, these athletes. It is in this sense, of the type of the investment, that gold medals can have a much greater social meaning to the country.As Olimpíadas são eventos esportivos de relevância mundial. No presente artigo, fazemos uma análise da evolução do quadro geral de medalhas em termos mundiais e do desempenho do Brasil ao longo dos últimos 10 eventos, mostrando que não tem havido melhora de tal desempenho. Procuramos, então, entender e estender as relações entre a colocação no quadro geral e aspectos sociais de desenvolvimento. Discutimos que existe uma base fisiológica envolvida em como despontam atletas de elite, mas que sem o devido investimento social, não há como selecionar, de maneira sistemática e ampla, tais atletas. É neste sentido, do tipo de investimento, que a obtenção do ouro olímpico pode ter um significado muito maior, de cunho social, para o país

To mine more than gold – an analysis of the brazilian olympic \ud performance

As Olimpíadas são eventos esportivos de relevância mundial. No presente artigo, fazemos uma análise da evolução do quadro geral de medalhas em termos mundiais e do desempenho do Brasil ao longo dos últimos 10 eventos, mostrando que não tem havido melhora de tal desempenho. Procuramos, então, entender e estender as relações entre a colocação no quadro geral e aspectos sociais de desenvolvimento. Discutimos que existe uma base fisiológica envolvida em como despontam atletas de elite, mas que sem o devido investimento social, não há como selecionar, de maneira sistemática e ampla, tais atletas. É neste sentido, do tipo de investimento, que a obtenção do ouro olímpico pode ter um significado muito maior, de cunho social, para o país.The Olympic Games are sportive events of global relevance. Here, we perform an analysis of the medal table from a general perspective and of the Brazilian performance over the last 10 competitions, and we show that there is no real improvement of such a performance at all. We then try to understand the relationships among the place in the medal table and social aspects of development. We discuss that there is a physiological basis involved in how elite athletes emerge, but without the proper social investment it wouldn’t be possible to select, in a systematic and wide way, these athletes. It is in this sense, of the type of the investment, that gold medals can have a much greater social meaning to the country

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ

The complete genome sequence of Chromobacterium violaceum reveals remarkable and exploitable bacterial adaptability

Chromobacterium violaceum is one of millions of species of free-living microorganisms that populate the soil and water in the extant areas of tropical biodiversity around the world. Its complete genome sequence reveals (i) extensive alternative pathways for energy generation, (ii) ≈500 ORFs for transport-related proteins, (iii) complex and extensive systems for stress adaptation and motility, and (iv) wide-spread utilization of quorum sensing for control of inducible systems, all of which underpin the versatility and adaptability of the organism. The genome also contains extensive but incomplete arrays of ORFs coding for proteins associated with mammalian pathogenicity, possibly involved in the occasional but often fatal cases of human C. violaceum infection. There is, in addition, a series of previously unknown but important enzymes and secondary metabolites including paraquat-inducible proteins, drug and heavy-metal-resistance proteins, multiple chitinases, and proteins for the detoxification of xenobiotics that may have biotechnological applications

A síntese imperfeita: articulação entre política externa e política de defesa na era Cardoso

Esse artigo tem por objetivo gerar hipóteses sobre a articulação entre política externa e política de defesa na gestão Cardoso. Partiu-se de estudo de caso sobre a formulação da Política de Defesa Nacional (PDN) e as conseqüências dessa para a institucionalização do Ministério da Defesa (MD). Constatou-se a baixa prioridade atribuída pela diplomacia ao poder militar como ferramenta de política externa. Finalmente, explicitou-se a inexistência de mecanismos efetivos de articulação.<br>This article has the objective of producing hypotheses on the articulation between foreign and defense policies during President's Cardoso administration. Initially, a case study on the formulation of the National Defense Policy Document (PDN) and its consequences to the institutionalization of the Defense Ministry (MD) was conducted. The low priority Brazilian diplomacy attributes to military power as a foreign policy tool was established. Finally, the lack of effective articulation mechanisms between foreign and defense policies was stressed

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data