Aquatic live animal radiotracing studies for ecotoxicological applications : addressing fundamental methodological deficiencies

The use of live animal gamma radioisotope tracer techniques in the field of ecotoxicology allows laboratory studies to accurately monitor contaminant biokinetics in real time for an individual organism. However, methods used in published studies for aquatic organisms are rarely described in sufficient detail to allow for study replication or an assessment of the errors associated with live animal radioanalysis to be identified. We evaluate the influence of some important methodological deficiencies through an overview of the literature on live aquatic animal radiotracer techniques and through the results obtained from our radiotracer studies on four aquatic invertebrate species. The main factors discussed are animal rinsing, radioanalysis and geometry corrections. We provide examples of three main techniques in live aquatic animal radiotracer studies to improve data quality control and demonstrate why each technique is crucial in interpreting the data from such studies. The animal rinsing technique is also relevant to non-radioisotope tracer studies, especially those involving nanoparticles. We present clear guidance on how to perform each technique and explain the importance of proper reporting of the validation of each technique for individual studies. In this paper we describe methods that are often used in lab-based radioecology studies but are rarely described in great detail. We hope that this paper will act as the basis for standard operating procedures for future radioecology studies to improve study replication and data quality control

Nietzsche e a construção messiânica do wagnerianismo

A história da relação equívoca entre Nietzsche e Wagner revela as dimensões de sua frágil tensão, se considerada segundo os elementos com base nos quais ambos conceberam o problema da cultura e sua renovação como missão política e teórica. O presente artigo pretende, a partir da leitura de documentos testemunhais, sublinhar a distância ideológica que o filólogo e o compositor, estrategicamente, tiveram de ignorar. Mostram-se, através desta análise, as diferenças normalmente pouco abordadas entre os projetos de reforma da cultura elaborados pelos dois autores - tanto no que se refere à atuação política, quanto no que diz respeito a uma visão de mundo.The history of the ambiguous relationship between Nietzsche and Wagner reveals all dimensions of this fragile tension when considered accordingly to the elements from which both considered the problem of culture and its renewal as political and theoretic mission. This paper intends, by reading some testimonial documents, to stress the ideological distance that both the philologist and the composer, strategically, had to ignore. The differences between their culture reform projects can, through this analysis, be demonstrated - with regards to political acting as well as to a worldview

Setting up a safe and sound banking system in Central and Eastern European economies

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:9104.31185(BU-IFGWP--92-07) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Science, Democracy and Curriculum Studies: Why (Not) Science Matters

Georgia Southern University faculty member John A. Weaver authored Educating the Posthuman: Biosciences, Fiction, and Curriculum Studies. In this book John A. Weaver suggests curriculum studies scholars need to engage more in science matters. It offers a review of science studies writing from Ludwick Fleck and Thomas Kuhn to Philip Mirowski. The volume includes chapters on the rhetoric of science with a focus on the history of rhetoric and economics then on the rhetoric of models, statistics, and data, a critique of neoliberalism and its impact on science policy and the foundations of democracy, Harry Collin’s and Robert Evans’ theory of expertise followed by chapters on feminism with a focus on the work of Sharon Traweek, Karen Barad, and Vinciane Despret, postcolonial thought, with attention paid to the work of Daniela Bleichmar, Londa Schiebinger, Judith Carney, Sylvia Wynter, Paul Gilroy, and Sandra Harding, and a final chapter on Nietzsche’s philosophy of science. Each section is introduced by an interlude drawing on autobiographical connections between curriculum studies and science studies.https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/curriculum-facbookshelf/1027/thumbnail.jp

Impacts of ocean acidification in a warming Mediterranean Sea: An overview

Mediterranean Sea fisheries supply significant local and international markets, based largely on small pelagic fish, artisanal fisheries and aquaculture of finfish (mainly seabass and seabream) and shellfish (mussels and oysters). Fisheries and aquaculture contribute to the economy of countries bordering this sea and provide food and employment to coastal communities employing ca 600,000 people. Increasing temperatures and heat wave frequency are causing stress and mortality in marine organisms and ocean acidification is expected to worsen these effects, especially for bivalves and coralligenous systems. Recruitment and seed production present possible bottlenecks for shellfish aquaculture in the future since early life stages are vulnerable to acidification and warming. Although adult finfish seem able to withstand the projected increases in seawater CO2, degradation of seabed habitats and increases in harmful blooms of algae and jellyfish might adversely affect fish stocks. Ocean acidification should therefore be factored into fisheries and aquaculture management plans. Rising CO2 levels are expected to reduce coastal biodiversity, altering ecosystem functioning and possibly impacting tourism being the Mediterranean the world’s most visited region. We recommend that ocean acidification is monitored in key areas of the Mediterranean Sea, with regular assessments of the likely socio-economic impacts to build adaptive strategies for the Mediterranean countries concerned