Agenda científica y extracientífica en vih/sida

The AIDS epidemic is a threat to society. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the participation of Latin American and Caribbean representatives at the International Conferences on AIDS with a view point of the topic of their presentations and the delegates’ affiliation. METHODS: data were obtained by searching AIDSLINE, a database prepared by the National Library of Medicine in the USA for presentations by Latin American and Caribbean countries. The authors’ affiliation was classified according to the Inventory of HIV /AIDS Information Sources in the Asia Pacific Region (UNAIDS Asia Pacific Intercountry Team) and the topic was classified according to UNAIDS International best practices. RESULTS: From the fifth to the twelfth International Conferences (1989-1998) Brazilian and Mexican authors delivered the largest number of presentations. The authors’ affiliation was mainly government institutions followed by nongovernment organisations (NGOs) and community-based groups. The presentations were on subjects such as: HIV/AIDS epidemiology, health systems, health promotion, communication and education. CONCLUSIONS: There is a striking coexistence of researchers; government officials; representatives from NGOs, community- based and religious groups; consultants and journalists at such International Conferences. The delegates appear to fulfill their role, except, possibly the scientists who require an audience knowledgeable in their own expertise

The global abundance of tree palms

Aim Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change. Location Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period Current. Major taxa studied Palms (Arecaceae). Methods We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191 ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10 cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co‐occurring non‐palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long‐term climate stability. Life‐form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non‐tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above‐ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work. Conclusions Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests

Contribución de la revista Anales de Documentación a la Ciencia de la Información : panorama bibliométrico

This paper analize 84 articles published in Anales de Documentacion founding 97 authors participing. The individual publishing was the favorite of this authors, and the woman writed 44.3% of them. The most studied subject were professional education and management information, and the main language to publish was Spanish

Las bibliotecas nacionales y los servicios para discapacitados

The services and specific documents for disabled persons require of investment and internal restructuring of libraries and document centers. The National Libraries should to face the same problem because the disabled persons are potential users. At the present the libraries web pages has been used to promote the products and services for all users, included disabled. By this reason, we have observed the existence of this services in ten National Libraries web pages, and the results showed that the electronic services and resources for this social group would be restructured to efficient access

Más sobre alfabetización informacional

The search for incentives to promote the use of information resources, their identification, evaluation, understanding and usage amongst library users and non users is not new. However, the expression information literacy is relatively new and quite common nowadays because of the Internet and the accessibility to intranets and extranets. In this context librarians have to exert good practices in order to contribute to the elimination of teaching activities based on the chalk and the blackboard. If information literacy means the education of students for a better life, any action should be focused on the development of information competencies including other implicit literacies in order to abandon traditional teaching methods to place the Web at the center of the teaching-learning process

Alfabetización informacional: ¿Misión posible?

The search to find ways to encourage library users and even those who are not, to to leverage content repositories, its location, assessment, understanding and use, is an end to the Librarianship. However, the term information literacy, with this concern is called, is relatively new, with the emergence of Internet, the use of intranets and extranets has risen to prominence. If literacy in information is involved in training students for a better life, any action undertaken must be directed to the development of information skills covering even the implied literacies to exclude with traditional forms of education to give way to those in which the web is central figure