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Este artigo explora dados referentes ao desempenho das escolas municipais do Rio de Janeiro nos primeiros anos do Ensino Fundamental para apurar que medidas podem ser utilizadas para complementar os instrumentos regulatórios top down voltados para a educação, evidenciando que fatores locais exercem influência expressiva sobre a qualidade do ensino. Na cidade, escolas vizinhas apresentam resultados diametralmente opostos, apesar de serem comparáveis em termos socioeconômicos. Essa realidade sugere que instrumentos regulatórios bottom-up podem ser usados de maneira eficiente. Há, porém, uma lacuna normativa nesse sentido, com a forte prevalência de políticas públicas top-down.

The bottom-up branch of synthetic biology includes-among others-innovative studies that combine cell-free protein synthesis with liposome technology to generate cell-like systems of minimal complexity, often referred to as synthetic cells. The functions of this type of synthetic cell derive from gene expression, hence they can be programmed in a modular, progressive and customizable manner by means of designed genetic circuits. This experimental scenario is rapidly expanding and synthetic cell research already counts numerous successes. Here, we present a review focused on the exchange of chemical signals between liposome-based synthetic cells (operating by gene expression) and biological cells, as well as between two populations of synthetic cells. The review includes a short presentation of the \"molecular communication technologies,\" briefly discussing their promises and challenges.

● Nitrogen fertilizers’ effects on protists in three paddy field soils were analyzed. ● Different nitrogen fertilizers had distinctive effects on the protist communities. ● The effect of nitrogen fertilizers on protist communities slightly depended on the soil types. ● Predatory protists were the main groups that were affected by nitrogen fertilizers. Protists are one of the most diverse and dominant microbial groups and they play critical roles in the soil ecosystem. Although nitrogen fertilizers have a profound impact on protist communities, still less is known about how different nitrogen fertilizer types affect protist community composition in different soil types. Here we investigated the effects of six inorganic nitrogen fertilizers (urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, potassium nitrate, ammonium chloride, and diammonium hydrogen phosphate) and an organic fertilizer (a mixture of rice husk and cow manure) on protist community composition in three paddy field soils using a high-throughput sequencing method. The effect of the fertilizers on the functional groups of protists, namely consumers (predators and decomposers), photoautotrophs, and parasites (plant pathogens and animal parasites) was also analyzed. The results showed that nitrogen fertilizers had distinctive effects on the beta diversity of the protists, while we also observed that the same fertilizer had slightly different effects depending on the soil type. Amoebozoa and Rhizaria were the most affected protist taxonomical groups, while predatory protists were the main functional groups that were affected by nitrogen fertilizers. Random forest analysis showed that most of the fertilizer-affected protists were predators, among which Cercozoa was the most affected taxa. In conclusion, our results provide important insights into the impact of nitrogen fertilizers on soil protist communities.

In this article, we explore how the affects influence and shape urban processes, transcending the hierarchical organization of its agents (bottom-up & top-down). However, neither of these approaches, nor their combinations, proves adequate to promote a trend that, due to wicked problems, inherently involves an affective connection with individuals, other entities, and the planet. Building on Rittel and Webber's text (1973) addressing the challenges of urban planning in solving social problems, and Law's interpretation (2015) that turns wicked problems into benign problems, we can observe how the nature of urban social problems is inherently affective.  We propose a path where urbanism can disrupt the bottom-up and top-down dualities based on the attributes that shape it, as it is the affects that permeate all human and more-than-human bodies. If cities are machines of urbanization, extending their heterogeneous networks beyond their territories, we need to address the movement of affects so that urbanism becomes a tool for coexistence on an already wounded planet. Este artículo describe cómo lo afectivo atraviesa y compone los procesos urbanos más allá de la organización jerárquica de sus agentes (bottom-up y top down). Pero ninguna de ellas, ni sus mezclas, son suficientes para favorecer una tendencia que, debido a los wicked problems, inevitablemente sea afectiva con las personas, otros seres y el planeta. A partir del texto de Rittel y Webber (1973) sobre la dificultad del urbanismo para resolver los problemas sociales y su lectura por parte de Law (2015), de convertir los wicked problems en bening problems, podemos observar cómo la naturaleza de los problemas sociales urbanos es afectiva.  El artículo propone una vía en donde el urbanismo es capaz de romper las dualidades bottom-up y top-down a partir de los atributos que lo moldean. Porque son los afectos los que atraviesan todos los cuerpos humanos y más que humanos. Si las ciudades son máquinas de urbanizar, y prolongan sus redes heterogéneas más allá de sus territorios, necesitamos confrontar el movimiento de los afectos para que el urbanismo sea una herramienta de coexistencia en un planeta ya herido.

We examined the importance of terrestrial detrital inputs to secondary productivity of a headwater stream. Following a year of pretreatment studies on two headwater streams, we excluded terrestrial litter inputs (=treatment) to one stream while using the other as a reference. We excluded litter for 3 yr followed by 1 yr of small woody debris (≤10 cm diameter) removal and litter exclusion. Monthly benthic samples were collected from dominant mixed substrate (cobble, pebble, and sand-silt) as well as from moss-covered bedrock outcrop substrates. We used randomized intervention analysis (RIA) to test the null hypotheses that no change in abundance or biomass of functional feeding groups or specific taxa occurred in the treatment stream relative to the reference stream. Benthic organic matter was significantly lower in mixed substrate habitats of the treatment stream; however, small woody debris did not show a significant reduction prior to manual removal during year 4. At the end of the treatment period, total benthic invertebrate abundance in mixed substrates in the treatment stream was less than one-tenth of that in the reference stream, and biomass in the treatment stream was one-sixth of that in the reference stream. Biomass and abundance of shredders, gatherers, total primary consumers, and predators displayed significant treatment effects (P < 0.012-0.00001, RIA) in the mixed substrate habitats during the 4-yr treatment. Only scraper and filterer functional groups failed to show differences between streams during the 4-yr treatment. Twenty of the 30 taxa comprising >90% of total secondary production displayed a significant decrease in abundance, biomass, or both, in the treatment stream relative to the reference stream (P < 0.05, RIA). Total secondary production in mixed substrate habitats declined to 22% of pretreatment values by the fourth year of treatment and is among the lowest reported for streams. Removal of small woody debris resulted in an additional 47-50% decrease in abundance, biomass, and production of the benthic fauna compared to the third year of litter exclusion. In contrast, fauna of moss-covered bedrock substrates displayed no significant differences between streams in terms of any functional group, or in terms of abundance and biomass of individual taxa. Furthermore, secondary production on bedrock outcrops remained similar between streams. Results strongly suggest that food webs of bedrock habitats are not as closely linked to immediate allochthonous inputs from the surrounding forest as those of mixed substrates, although they may be linked in the long term. Using a 9-yr record, we determined the relationship between organic matter standing crop and invertebrate abundance, biomass, and production in the treatment stream. There is a strong relationship between leaf litter standing crops and secondary productivity in mixed substrate habitats. In contrast, bedrock outcrop fauna showed a stronger relationship to fine benthic organic matter (FBOM) standing crop than to leaf litter. Despite a large residual mass of organic matter in the treatment stream, as well as other ongoing sources of input (dissolved organic matter, soil organic matter, and throughfall), litter exclusion clearly shows strong bottom-up effects extending from primary consumers to predators. Abundance, biomass, and production of predators in the treatment stream were also strongly related to that of their prey throughout all pretreatment and treatment years. Our results suggest that, owing to simple bioenergetic efficiencies, production of predators is constrained by productivity of their prey. Although our results clearly show strong bottom-up effects, the importance of predators (top-down) can not be ignored, as available data suggest that predators consume most benthic invertebrate production. Our study underscores the importance of terrestrial-aquatic linkages in maintaining productivity of headwater streams draining forested catchments.

Questo articolo si inserisce nel filone di studi che ripensano la questione della moneta attraverso una prospettiva multidisciplinare, riconosciuta come fondamentale per comprendere le sperimentazioni monetarie contemporanee e, in effetti, la natura stessa della moneta. Collegandoci alla proposta di Gómez e Dini (2016), utilizziamo i dati ottenuti da uno studio empirico su un caso situato in Argentina per contribuire alla ricerca sull’origine e sul significato della moneta. Attraverso l’analisi dei Chipicos, emessi da una cooperativa argentina, questo lavoro esplora le dinamiche sociali ed economiche emergenti, considerando anche le interconnessioni tra circolazione monetaria e riproduzione sociale. Inoltre, si indaga la questione sociologica dell’ontologia monetaria in relazione ai valori e alla moneta. L’analisi rivela come le monete alternative possano influenzare le relazioni sociali e offrire una prospettiva critica sulle teorie monetarie esistenti, arricchendo il dibattito accademico con contributi da filosofia, antropologia e sociologia.

This article presents three types of experimental urban governance projects (Cano Blandón, 2021) led by the Arquitectura Expandida Collective in collaboration with various grassroots urban movements. These projects are characterized by the principles of the right to the city (Lefebvre, 1969) and radical and insurgent territorial planning (Miraftab, 2009). (1) Collaborative self-construction projects explore organizational forms for the self-construction and self-management of cultural spaces. (2) They engage in tactical provocation seeking to dynamize urban negotiations with different urban agents in situations of high conflict in public space through the use of furniture. (3) Collective cartographies play a significant role, as diverse urban languages — including hip-hop, agriculture, urban sports, or community cinema, among many others — are used to analyze the contradictions between urban culture and urban planning culture. Este artículo expone tres tipos de proyectos de gobernanza urbana experimental (Cano Blandón 2021) liderados por el colectivo Arquitectura Expandida, en articulación con distintos movimientos urbanos de base y caracterizados por los principios del derecho a la ciudad (Lefebvre 1969) y de la planificación radical e insurgente del territorio (Miraftab 2009): (1) Autoconstrucción colaborativa, que explora formas de organización para la autoconstrucción y autogestión de espacios culturales; (2) Provocación táctica, que busca dinamizar, a través de mobiliarios, negociaciones urbanas con distintos agentes urbanos en situaciones de alto conflicto en el espacio público; y (3) Cartografías colectivas, en las que se analizan, a través de lenguajes urbanos diversos —que incluyen hip hop, agricultura, deportes urbanos o cine comunitario, entre muchos otros— las contradicciones entre la cultura urbana y la cultura urbanística.