RCAAP Repository

Socio-environmental issues become evident in countries with megadiversity. Brazil finds itself in this context, adding to the fact that it has severe socioeconomic inequalities, of which we highlight the lack of environmental justice. The present study has education for citizenship and biodiversity as its principles, considering that this interface empowers the students to emerge from socio-political perspectives to overcome environmental injustices. The objective is, therefore, to identify concepts of biodiversity and citizenship present in arguments developed by high school students in a socioscientific discussion. The research participants were nine students from a rural and public school in Brazil. We designed and implemented a Focus Group on the disappearance of bees and its consequences. The participants’ speeches were structured in arguments and analyzed from categories regarding the dimensions of citizenship and biodiversity. We identified the relationship among all categories in the arguments listed. However, we observed that these students are not full citizens since they identify several obstacles to active participation in social transformation actions. This study aims to contribute to research and science education strategies to promote active citizenship and critical perspectives on biodiversity.

En este artículo abordo el trilema que actualmente aqueja a la juventud europea: el fn de la utopía que siguió a la disolución de la Unión Soviética en 1991, la actual guerra en Ucrania y la emergencia climática. Este conjunto de desafíos afecta particularmente a la juventud en Europa. En primer lugar, como primera generación posterior a 1989, la población europea sub-35 es la primera generación que alcanza la mayoría de edad después del fn de la utopía. En segundo lugar, esta generación enfrentará la peor parte de las consecuencias de la invasión rusa de Ucrania en febrero de 2022, la mayor confagración militar en Europa desde 1945. En tercer lugar, el cambio climático está afectando desproporcionadamente a esta generación. En este artículo abordo este trilema desde la perspectiva de los propios jó venes, cuyos derechos políticos, sociales y culturales se encuentran cada vez más amenazados. En particular pregunto: ¿C ómo se ve el trilema del fn de la utopía-guerra-emergencia climática que enfrenta Europa hoy en día visto desde los ojos de sus miembros más jó venes?

BEYOND IMAGE. Proposal of a mathematical equation (matema) for photography is a text elaborated as an Essay for the Master in Painting of the College of Arts at the Lisbon University, years 2009/2011, having Prof. Dr. Tomás Maia as supervisor. The essay focus in demonstrate an equivalence between photography and an unconscious fantasy, having as a goal to propose a self mathematic equation for photography. Begins with a description of optical studies that preceded the photographic camera, followed by Holy Faces and the Shroud’s stories and tales, as a form of taking into consideration the archeological origin of the idea and the rhetoric of photography. In a second phase the work disserts on the religious belief in the Shroud and photography to confirm them as a deny of death and a support basis to the desire of immortality through the pathos of photography. At last it presents a psychoanalytical approach showing the concepts of death´s drive, life´s drive and object a, to establish the structural equivalence of photography with an unconscious fantasy and propose a mathematical equation (matema)

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The end of early modern professional guilds is attributed to inherent inefficiencies (an incapacity to solve economic problems) or to state intervention. Governments became powerful enough to dispense the financial support of the guilds and put an end to their privileges and monopolies. This is the dominant view within Portuguese scholarship, especially in relation to craftsmen and artesans. This article focusses, however, on retailing guilds and their internal developments, arguing that the individual disruptive behavior of many Portuguese shopkeepers was as damaging to the corporative structure as was any sort of state policy. At the same time, it also argues that the corporative crisis did not extend to the economic sector itself. In fact, while the guild framework was crumbling, Portuguese retail businesses seemed to persist and prosper. Finally, the article argues that this prosperity was linked to broader changes in fashion and material culture taking place throughout Europe.

The current distribution patterns of many Mediterranean species are often a consequence of large and impactful past geoclimatic events, such as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) and the Quaternary glacial cycles. Cicadas are flying insects with poor dispersal ability, which have experienced intense local differentiation in the Mediterranean, where the genus Tettigettalna has surfaced as a biogeographic model. The genus includes 10 species with species-specific calling songs but identical morphology. All Tettigettalna species are restricted to Southern Iberia, with the exception of T. estrellae (northwest Iberia), the widespread T. argentata (mainly Iberia, France and Italy), and T. afroamissa (Morocco). With an expanded genetic dataset involving nuclear (EF1α) and mitochondrial (5′ and 3′ COI and ATP) loci, we reconstructed the phylogeny of the genus and estimated divergence dates for Tettigettalna species under a Bayesian framework. Phylogeny with the new mitochondrial dataset was in agreement with previous studies, whereas the nuclear EF1α supported T. josei and T. afroamissa as monophyletic clades but lacked resolution to resolve the remaining taxa. Some sister taxa share mitochondrial haplotypes, hinting for incomplete lineage sorting. Estimates of divergence time settled T. josei as the earliest diverging lineage, likely as a pre- or early-MSC event. As for the origin of T. afroamissa in Morocco, though time estimates could not entirely rule out post-MSC dispersal, the most likely scenario points to isolation of African Tettigettalna after the reopening of the strait of Gibraltar. The Pleistocene glaciations that followed likely impacted on the diversification of the remaining species of the genus in southern Iberia refugia.

Studies of domesticated animals have greatly contributed to our understanding of avian embryology. Foundational questions in developmental biology were motivated by Aristotle's observations of chicken embryos. By the 19th century, the chicken embryo was at the center stage of developmental biology, but how closely does this model species mirror the ample taxonomic diversity that characterizes the avian tree of life? Here, we provide a brief overview of the taxonomic breadth of comparative embryological studies in birds. We particularly focused on staging tables and papers that attempted to document the timing of developmental transformations. We show that most of the current knowledge of avian embryology is based on Galliformes (chicken and quail) and Anseriformes (duck and goose). Nonetheless, data are available for some ecologically diverse avian subclades, including Struthioniformes (e.g., ostrich, emu) and Sphenisciformes (penguins). Thus far, there has only been a handful of descriptive embryological studies in the most speciose subclade of Aves, that is, the songbirds (Passeriniformes). Furthermore, we found that temporal variances for developmental events are generally uniform across a consensus chronological sequence for birds. Based on the available data, developmental trajectories for chicken and other model species appear to be highly similar. We discuss future avenues of research in comparative avian embryology in light of the currently available wealth of data on domesticated species and beyond.

Accurately predicting the responses of organisms to novel or changing environments requires the development of ecologically-appropriate experimental methodology and process-based models. For ectotherms, thermal performance curves (TPCs) have provided a useful framework to describe how organismal performance is dependent on temperature. However, this approach often lacks a mechanistic underpinning, which limits our ability to use TPCs predictively. Furthermore, thermal dependence varies across traits, and performance is also limited by additional abiotic factors, such as oxygen availability. We test a central prediction of our recent Hierarchical Mechanisms of Thermal Limitation (HMTL) Hypothesis which proposes that natural hypoxia exposure will reduce maximal performance and cause the TPC for whole-organism performance to become more symmetrical. We quantified TPCs for two traits often used as fitness proxies, sprint speed and aerobic scope, in lizards under conditions of normoxia and high-elevation hypoxia. In line with the predictions of HMTL, anaerobically fuelled sprint speed was unaffected by acute hypoxia while the TPC for aerobic scope became shorter and more symmetrical. This change in TPC shape resulted from both the maximum aerobic scope and the optimal temperature for aerobic scope being reduced in hypoxia as predicted. Following these results, we present a mathematical framework, which we call Temperature–Oxygen Performance Surfaces, to quantify the interactive effects of temperature and oxygen on whole-organism performance in line with the HMTL hypothesis. This framework is transferrable across traits and levels of organization to allow predictions for how ectotherms will respond to novel combinations of temperature and other abiotic factors, providing a useful tool in a time of rapidly changing environmental conditions.

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Para que serve a arte? Como se ensina arte? Arte ensina-se? Vive-se? Sente-se? Qual a função da arte nas sociedades e, em particular, na escola? Estas perguntas são recorrentes nas discussões sobre arte educação. A partir dos posicionamentos de alguns pensadores contemporâneos, com destaque para Giorgio Agamben, propomo-nos pensar estes e outros questionamentos que têm permeado as discussões que envolvem as relações entre a arte e a escola. Neste sentido, este texto tem por objetivo colocar em diálogo algumas proposições referentes ao local e ao estatuto da arte contemporânea e pensar as relações destas formas de arte com a escola a partir do campo transdisciplinar da cultura visual.

Context Analyze the multiple dimensions of biodiversity under a local and landscape lens in natural habitats, such as Amazonian savannas, is fundamental for the conservation of species and ecosystems. Objectives We aim to explore how landscape forest cover and patch-level variables affect the patterns of species abundance, functional traits, and taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic α-diversity of Phyllostomid bats in forest patches of the Savannas of Amapá, in both the wet and dry seasons. Methods We used mist nets to survey bats in 26 forest patches. We also quantified forest cover in buffers of 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500 m around each patch, and tree height, basal area, canopy cover, and vegetation clutter in the understorey at the patch level. We used hierarchical partitioning to relate the different indices with our predictor variables. Results Taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity in the wet season increased with the proportion of forest cover in the 2500 m buffer. Vegetation clutter was negatively related to taxonomic and functional diversity in the wet season. In the dry season, average tree height positively affected taxonomic and functional diversity. Patch-level variables were more important than forest cover in explaining the average functional traits in both seasons. Conclusion We found seasonal variation in the relationships between components of bat diversity and different drivers. Since both forest cover in the landscape and patch-level variables are important for Phyllostomid bat diversity, conservation plans should consider forest conservation at the landscape level and maintenance of forest patch quality.

Electrocution can pose a serious threat to large birds, particularly threatened species with low population sizes. However, few studies have focused on the impacts of electrocution on large parrots such as the Endangered Lear's Macaw Anodorhynchus leari, endemic to the Brazilian Caatinga. Here, we compile and describe 31 electrocution events, as reported by villagers, indicating that electrocution may be an important threat to Lear's Macaw. We suggest a research and monitoring agenda to better understand the spatial and temporal patterns of this impact and recommend some immediate mitigation measures for decreasing electrocutions.

Aims To identify environmental and anthropogenic drivers of alpha- and beta-diversity for native and alien plant species. Location Río de la Plata grasslands, South America (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay; 27.3–39.1°S, 50.1–66.5°W). Methods We assembled a data set of 597 vegetation plots distributed across the Río de la Plata grasslands. To assess the drivers of native and alien alpha-diversity (species richness), we performed a generalized least-squares regression using environmental and anthropogenic predictors. We evaluated differences in beta-diversity using Simpson's pairwise dissimilarity between pairs of plots and used multiple regression on distance matrixes to investigate environmental and anthropogenic drivers on compositional dissimilarity for both native and alien plant species. Results Native species richness was higher in sites with less demanding environmental conditions, such as lower precipitation seasonality and soils with higher cation exchange capacity. Numbers of alien species were positively related to soil pH, cropland density and road density and negatively to precipitation seasonality, mean temperatures and soil cation exchange capacity. The compositional dissimilarity was similar for native and alien species assemblages (mean ± SD: 0.64 ± 0.16 and 0.64 ± 0.35 respectively). Areas having similar climates and being geographically close shared more taxonomically similar assemblages, for both native and alien assemblages, while soil had disparate effects. Compositional dissimilarity of alien plants decreased with increasing road density. Conclusions Our results highlight a grassland ecosystem where native species richness is still shaped only by environmental factors, but both sets of factors influence its composition. On the other hand, alien plants carry a strong signal of both environmental and human factors. As time progresses the number of alien species tend to increase, eroding the patterns of native biodiversity. To avoid this, efforts should be made to reduce road encroachment and the conversion of natural grasslands into croplands.

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Taking a multidisciplinary and global approach, this edited book examines the dynamic role of plantations as productive, socio-political and ecological forms throughout imperial and post-colonial worlds spanning multiple and broad temporalities. Showcasing an expansive range of case studies across different geographies, the collection sheds light on the heterogeneity of plantations and offers insights into the afterlives, spectres and remnants of systems that have been analysed as schemes of production, extraction and authority. Focusing on the expansion of plantation systems throughout various political-economic and ecological projects, and across the modern (and post-modern) period, allows the authors to move beyond analyses that often deal with individual empires through human-centered lenses. The contributors explore resistance to the mechanisms of extraction and control that plantations and their afterlives demanded, shedding light on their excesses, contradictions, failures and deviations. Offering a comprehensive treatment of global plantations, this book provides valuable reading for researchers with an interest in the socio-political and environmental effects of colonialism and imperialism in their various guises.

In this article, the design competencies transferable to Non-Designers (N-D) are deepened. With this in view, we analyze the process of acquisition of these tools and its impacts on N-D. The article starts with the description of our vision on design. This contextualization is important to identify the main competencies that designers must have. The study on which skills to select was based on authors who have a practical perspective of design, or observation of its praxis in common. The literature review allowed us to establish a set of fourteen skills, as well as hierarchize them: Empathy, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Communication, Problem Solving, Openness, Experimentalism, Humility, Leadership, Innovation, Facilitation, Flexibility, Divergency vs. Convergency and Optimism. The fundamental idea of this paper is to ask N-Ds, with experience working in co-design teams, about their evolution in the face of these skills, before and after being exposed to the practice of design. In order not to give rise to different interpretations on the meaning of each of these areas of knowledge/competencies, a description was prepared followed by the relevance these competencies have for the subject of design. The results of the surveys and interviews allow us to perceive that, when exposed to design experiences, N-D are effectively able to assimilate competence in a very significant way, and, allowed us to perceive the importance of soft skills in co-design teams, namely, in what concerns its integration. In conclusion, we highlight the potential that these design tools may have for N-D.

Esta dissertação centra-se no processo de constituição da ciência como tema e objecto de museu. Partindo de uma concepção alargada de museu científico, que procura abranger todas as disciplinas científicas, a musealização da ciência é analisada em três dimensões: como um processo de criação de museus científicos, em que intervêm diferentes agentes e instituições, com variados objectivos e intenções, cuja acção é condicionada pelo contexto científico, político, económico, social e cultural em que se situam; como uma acção, que se concretiza no funcionamento efectivo dos museus, nas actividades que desenvolvem, nos recursos que mobilizam e nas dificuldades que enfrentam; como um processo de representação, através do qual é construída uma imagem de ciência nos discursos expositivos dos museus. Este trabalho integra-se no sub-campo disciplinar dos estudos sociais da ciência, procurando compreender a ciência e os museus como construções sociais. A análise é circunscrita aos museus portugueses, apesar de tomar em consideração as influências internacionais. Abarca essencialmente as instituições existentes na actualidade, ainda que se procure traçar a sua génese histórica. Sustenta-se em diversos procedimentos de recolha de dados, entre os quais a pesquisa documental, entrevistas a directores de museus e análise de conteúdo das exposições.

Esta tese consiste num estudo etnográfico comparado sobre as práticas terapêuticas termais de duas estâncias, Cabeço de Vide (Portugal) e Caldas da Imperatriz (Santa Catarina, Brasil). A partir dos dois estudos de caso realizados, pretende-se mostrar como é que as formas de conceber as «águas» como um agente terapêutico conduzem a diferentes usos e saberes. Procura-se ainda perceber qual a sua relação com o processo de formação socio-histórico dos lugares específicos que são as estâncias termais (termas) e das disciplinas que sustentam os saberes «científicos» relativos ao uso da água termal como «medicamento» durante os séculos XIX e XX, destacando-se a hidrologia médica. Neste sentido são analisadas as actividades e a regulamentação relativas a espaços, usos da água, saberes e representações do objecto de estudo – a prática terapêutica termal. A partir da discussão do conceito de termalismo analisa-se as suas práticas como actividade que se estruturou entre a medicina e o turismo e cujo desenvolvimento depende da relação estabelecida entre estes domínios. A análise das implicações da inserção ou exclusão do termalismo do sistema biomédico, que os dois contextos nacionais em estudo pretendem ilustrar, adquire aqui relevância. Através desta etnografia da prática terapêutica termal pretende-se, por um lado, identificar conceitos locais como os de saúde, doença, dor, sofrimento, remédio e «cura», partindo da ideia da água enquanto agente terapêutico, e, por outro lado, analisar e discutir o sentido atribuído à experiência da estadia termal pelos aquistas/hóspedes, que evidenciam diferentes «modelos explicativos» do tratamento termal. Enquanto que no contexto português este se encontra relacionado com os modelos médicos, no contexto brasileiro insere-se também em filosofias religiosas. Aos diferentes modelos correspondem diferentes idiomas que expressam experiências e visões do mundo, centrados ora nas «dores, ora na «energia», e que traduzem formas idiossincráticas e sincréticas de conceber esta prática, compreendendo-se que as «águas» sejam procuradas para «curar» ou «energizar».

Esta tese é o culminar de uma pesquisa sobre os migrantes bangladeshis em Lisboa, levada a cabo entre 2002 e 2005. O seu objectivo central é analisar este fluxo migratório que, num contexto marcado por uma imigração maioritariamente dominada por cidadãos oriundos de vários países de influência colonial portuguesa, se constitui como uma novidade que importa conhecer e analisar. Quem são estes bangladeshis? Como chegaram a Portugal? Como participam na economia portuguesa? Qual a sua relação com o Estado português? Quais as relações que continuam a manter com o Bangladesh? E como são estas relações mantidas através da religião, da política, e da economia? Como é vivida a religiosidade neste contexto migratório recente? O argumento central é que o sacrifício, aqui entendido como a morte ritual (qurban) realizada durante o qurban Id, uma das duas mais importantes festas do calendário islâmico, é uma forma de “domesticar” a modernidade. Dito de outra forma, os sujeitos emigram para aceder aos consumos - associados a uma ideia de classe, “modernidade” e sucesso (pessoal, género e familiar) - que permitem participar do capitalismo global. No entanto, a sua inserção nos mercados de trabalho globais faz-se em posições, sociais e espaciais, associadas a uma grande marginalidade estrutural. Tal tensão vai sendo “domesticada” através da religião, nomeadamente, por via da islamização de vários espaços no país de acolhimento, convertendo-os em lugares de pertença. Todo este processo é visível na própria ritualização do espaço transnacional. Fazer ou patrocinar o sacrifício, o qurban, depende em larga medida da posição dos sujeitos no processo migratório (legal/ilegal, patrão/empregado, pioneiro/freshie, etc). Um projecto migratório bem sucedido (tanto ao nível económico como ao nível do estatuto de cidadania) implica a realização do sacrifício, no Bangladesh e em Portugal. Ao fazer esta cerimónia no Bangladesh recriam-se e actualizam-se os vários laços da unidade doméstica de onde se saiu e com a qual se mantêm relações próximas, enquanto que a sua realização em Portugal é a afirmação da construção de uma casa própria e constituição de uma família. Assim se (re)produzem dois territórios de pertença e sociabilidades que se articulam num espaço social transnacional que é antes de mais vivido como um contínuo da acção social.

Els dies 11 i 12 de juliol del 2019 es va celebrar a Barcelona, a la Institució Milà i Fontanals de Recerca en Humanitats del CSIC, el simposi «La lexicografia llatina medieval i els corpus documentals. Memorial Joan Bastardas». El motiu principal que impulsà aquest encontre, dedicat a la memòria de Joan Bastardas i Parera (1919-2009), catedràtic de Filologia Llatina de la Universitat de Barcelona i director del Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (GMLC) fins a la seva mort, fou la presentació del Corpus Documentale Latinum Hispaniarum (CODOLHisp), una plataforma digital d’accés conjunt a les quatre bases de dades lèxiques elaborades pels equips de recerca que estudien el llatí medieval hispànic i un dels exemples més recents de la revolució que el món digital ha suposat en la manera de fer lexicografia.