CHEMICAL SOIL ATTRIBUTES IN DIFFERENT USE SYSTEMS, ITACOATIARA-AM, BRAZIL

The use of soil to implement several management systems, such as agriculture, livestock farming and agroforestry activities contribute to the depletion of the soil and the forest, reducing or increasing the levels of soil chemical attributes, such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus and increase or decrease of active (pH) or exchangeable (Aluminum) acidity. This study aimed to evaluate macronutrients (calcium - Ca2+, magnesium - Mg2+, potassium - K+ and phosphorus - P), as well as aluminum - Al3+ and soil pH, under use systems: agroforestry system - SAFs and pasture - PA, comparing them to Primary Forest - PF, in the Rosenthal community in Itacoatiara-AM, Brazil. The soils were sampled in layers 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm deep, with samples composed of six single samples each. The distribution of nutrient contents (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ , and P) considering the 0-10 and 10-20 cm layers showed little variation, except for phosphorus, which obtained the highest concentration in the prospected layers. The distribution of calcium, magnesium, and potassium nutrients in the sampled soil layers decreased with depth. However, an inverse pattern was observed in the elevation of active soil acidity and aluminium levels. Soil macronutrients showed medium to high concentrations, with forest and SAFs as systems that preserve good levels of fertility.

Dual strategies in human confidence judgments

Although confidence is commonly believed to be an essential element in decision making, it remains unclear what gives rise to one’s sense of confidence. Recent Bayesian theories propose that confidence is computed, in part, from the degree of uncertainty in sensory evidence. Alternatively, observers can use physical properties of the stimulus as a heuristic to confidence. In the current study, we developed ideal observer models for either hypothesis and compared their predictions against human data obtained from psychophysical experiments. Participants reported the orientation of a stimulus, and their confidence in this estimate, under varying levels of internal and external noise. As predicted by the Bayesian model, we found a consistent link between confidence and behavioral variability for a given stimulus orientation. Confidence was higher when orientation estimates were more precise, for both internal and external sources of noise. However, we observed the inverse pattern when comparing between stimulus orientations: although observers gave more precise orientation estimates for cardinal orientations (a phenomenon known as the oblique effect), they were more confident about oblique orientations. We show that these results are well explained by a strategy to confidence that is based on the perceived amount of noise in the stimulus. Altogether, our results suggest that confidence is not always computed from the degree of uncertainty in one’s perceptual evidence, but can instead be based on visual cues that function as simple heuristics to confidence.

KEMAMPUAN SINTAKSIS ANAK TUNA RUNGU: STUDI KASUS EZRA (The Syntactic Ability of A Child with Listening Disability: A Case Study of Ezra)

Bahasa sebagai instrumen komunikasi berperan dalam menyampaikan pesan dari penutur kepada petuturnya. Salah satu faktor yang mendukung lancarnya komunikasi menggunakan bahasa adalah susunan kalimat atau sintaksis yang benar. Tulisan ini bertujuan mendeskripsikan kemampuan sintaksis Ezra setelah menjalani terapi wicara selama satu tahun. Subyek penelitian adalah seorang anak berusia tujuh tahun dengan gangguan pendengaran berat (kanan 95 dB, kiri 85 dB), bernama Ezra. Data diperoleh dengan cara merekam dan mencatat ujaran-ujaran yang diucapkan Ezra. Data berupa ujaran dianalisis menggunakan teori sintaksis bahasa Indonesia oleh Chaer (2009). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Ezra dapat mengungkapkan keinginan, kemampuan, dan kesukaannya menggunakan pola kalimat dasar S+Adverbial+P, S+Adverbial+P+O, dan S+P+O. Dalam mengungkapan aktivitas yang sudah dia lakukan, Ezra menggunakan pola yang terbalik antara predikat dan adverbial “sudah”. Ezra belum bisa merespon pertanyaan dengan benar. Ini dapat dilihat dari jawaban yang diberikan tidak relevan dengan pertanyaan. Dalam mengungkapkan pertanyaan, Ezra cenderung menggunakan kata benda sebagai pengganti kata kerja.Language as an instrument of communication plays a role in conveying messages from speakers to their listeners. One of the factors that support the smooth communication using language is the correct sentence structure or syntax. This paper aims to describe the syntactic abilities of Ezra after undergoing speech therapy for one year. The study subjects were a 7-year-old child with severe hearing loss (right 95 dB, left 85 dB), named Ezra. Data obtained by recording and recording utterances uttered by Ezra. Data in the form of speech are analyzed using the syntactic theory of Indonesian Chaer (2009). The results showed that Ezra could express his desires, abilities, and preferences using basic sentence patterns S + Adverbial + P, S + Adverbial + P + O, and S + P + O. In expressing the activities that he has done, Ezra uses an inverse pattern between predicate and adverbial "sudah". Ezra hasn't been able to respond to questions correctly. This can be seen from the answers given that are not relevant to the question. In expressing the question Ezra tends to use nouns instead of verbs.

Structural and compositional shifts in Cerrado fragments in up to 11 years monitoring

The Cerrado has a wide diversity of fauna and flora, and the knowledge of its horizontal structure, in different time intervals allows the prediction of its structural and floristic characteristics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in structure and composition of tree community in three fragments of Cerrado with low anthropization, in an interval of 11 years at Minas Gerais state. Rectangular plots of fixed size were sampled, measuring stem diameter and height of all living arboreal individuals with diameter at 1.30 meters above ground (DBH) ≥ 5 cm. The tree vegetation dynamics study of the areas was performed, as well as the floristic analysis and the diametric structure. Considering all fragments and years of measurement, the recruitment of trees surpassed its mortality. The basal area varied between 3.67 and 13.07 m².ha-1. The studied areas, considering all fragments and years of measurement, showed a Shannon diversity index (H') from 3.43 to 3.87 nat.ind-1 and Pielou equitability index (J') ranged an interval between 0.77 and 0.82. The similarity calculated by the Jaccard index (J), when performed per plot considering the three fragments, showed a value of 0.2653. Also, related to the development and growth of the study areas, it can be inferred that all fragments and their respective years of measurement had a J-inverse pattern. In conclusion, it can be inferred that the three fragments maintained a representative growth in number of individuals and basal area.

MONITORING VEGETATION COVER CHANGE USING VEGETATION INDICES IN TANGBO RIVER, BARANGAY TANGBO, SAMBOAN

Tangbo River is an important resource in Cebu’s southern town of Samboan for being the site of Aguinid Falls, a known tourist destination. Monitoring the changes in the river’s riparian vegetation is important since it has impacts on its ecological role of helping maintain biodiversity and river water quality. This study aims to detect vegetation index changes along the Tangbo River corridor using three vegetation indices: NDVI, EVI, NDMI, and Tasseled Cap indices, specifically for the years 1998, 2004, 2009, 2016, and 2019. It also aims to monitor the changes in NDVI and EVI values alongside tourism arrivals in Aguinid in 2018.Cloudless Landsat 5 (1998, 2004, 2009, and 2016) and Landsat 8 (2019) imagery were selected. Thirty reference points were plotted along the river with a 30-m distance between each point. Vegetation Indices (VI) and Tasseled Cap values were generated using data from these points and were compared for each selected year. NDVI and EVI values from the same reference points used in Landsat were generated from selected cloudless months of 2018 Planetscope imagery. Inbound tourist records were acquired from the tourism office of Samboan and the tourism arrivals for the year 2018 was then graphed with the Planetscope VI values for better visualization.Landsat imagery showed that there was a general upward trend in the vegetation indices from 1998 to 2019. Tasseled Cap Greenness and Wetness showed an increase in values from 1998–2019 while Tasseled Cap Brightness showed the opposite. Results from Planetscope data for the year 2018 showed that there was an inverse pattern between NDVI and tourism arrivals. Tourism arrivals peaked during the months of April and May based on annual records, while VI values dropped. On the other hand, both VI values peaked towards the last quarter of the year while tourist numbers dropped. This suggests that the pattern of VI values and tourism arrivals seemed to be influenced by seasonal changes rather than with each other. Findings from the study shows that further data collection is required to be able to establish a relationship between tourism and vegetation index values.

Characterization of a Mixture of Oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and Oat Extrudate Flours: Antioxidant and Physicochemical Attributes

The oca (Oxalis tuberosa) is a tuber with high starch content and excellent antioxidant properties, which can be used in the production of extruded products; however, starch-rich products can be improved nutritionally through the incorporation of fibers that can result in extrudates with beneficial health properties. The aim of this work was to develop a mixture of oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and oat extrudate flours and evaluate the antioxidant and physicochemical attributes. The results showed that a higher moisture content increased the hardness, water absorption index, and density of the extrudates; however, the solubility and expansion indexes showed an inverse pattern. The addition of oat fiber had the opposite effect from moisture content on the physicochemical properties mentioned above. The cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) of the extrudates decreased when the oat fiber increased. An inverse pattern was observed when the moisture concentration was increased. The starch hydrolysis percentage and glycemic index decreased significantly when the fiber content increased. Oat fiber contributed 67.29% and 65.04% to these parameters, respectively. Oat fiber exerted a greater effect than moisture on the collets extruded in this study according to factor contributions.

Cambios en la comunidad de peces por efecto del desarrollo costero en el Parque Nacional Huatulco (México)

Coastal development and urbanization have increased the sediments that are washed from the land surface, producing adverse effects on the structure and functioning of coral reefs. The objective of this study was to identify the degree to which excessive sediments have disturbed the fish community in the coral reefs in the Maguey and Violin bays, located in the Huatulco National Park (Mexico). Fish samples were collected before and after disturbances produced by sediments associated with coastal development projects. Indicators of changes in the fish communities included the number and diversity of species as well as equity and dominance before and after the disturbances. The analysis was performed through means comparison tests, similarity analysis (ANOSIM) and similarity percentage analysis (SIMPER). In both locations, it was observed that the diversity, evenness, abundance and number of species were higher prior to the disturbance, but not for dominance, which shows an inverse pattern. In Maguey, significant differences in evenness and dominance were observed (U = 28, p = 0.0401; U = 24, p = 0.0472), as well as in species composition and abundance (ANOSIM = 0.35, p = 0.009). The similarity percentage analysis (SIMPER) indicated that after the disturbance, more than 46 % of the species showed decreases in average abundance, highlighting the absence of Prionurus laticlavius, as well as the decrease in abundance of: P. punctatus, Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus, Microspathodon dorsalis, Lutjanus novemfaciatus and Stegates acapulcoensis. Inadequate planning and implementation of coastal development projects that contribute to the discharge of excessive sediments into the sea were determinants of negative changes in the coral communities in Maguey and Violin, whose effects could be seen in the composition of the species and the abundance, equity, and dominance of the fish community in Maguey.

Simpler grammar, larger vocabulary: How population size affects language

Languages with many speakers tend to be structurally simple while small communities sometimes develop languages with great structural complexity. Paradoxically, the opposite pattern appears to be observed for non-structural properties of language such as vocabulary size. These apparently opposite patterns pose a challenge for theories of language change and evolution. We use computational simulations to show that this inverse pattern can depend on a single factor: ease of diffusion through the population. A population of interacting agents was arranged on a network, passing linguistic conventions to one another along network links. Agents can invent new conventions, or replicate conventions that they have previously generated themselves or learned from other agents. Linguistic conventions are either Easy or Hard to diffuse, depending on how many times an agent needs to encounter a convention to learn it. In large groups, only linguistic conventions that are easy to learn, such as words, tend to proliferate, whereas small groups where everyone talks to everyone else allow for more complex conventions, like grammatical regularities, to be maintained. Our simulations thus suggest that language, and possibly other aspects of culture, may become simpler at the structural level as our world becomes increasingly interconnected.

Fragrance Analysis of Two Scented Hippeastrum Species

We report the analysis of floral fragrance volatiles from two scented amaryllis species, Hippeastrum brasilianum and Hippeastrum parodii. Whereas the headspace of H. brasilianum is dominated by a large peak of (Z)-β-ocimene (88% of total peak area), H. parodii has two large peaks comprising 78%, identified as eucalyptol (1,8-cineole, 30%) and (Z)-β-ocimene (48%). The two species also differ in other constituent compounds. Overall, H. parodii, although producing less total volatile organic compounds (VOCs), has a more diverse bouquet. This species also exhibits an inverse pattern of emission between eucalyptol and β-ocimene, both daily and across the 4-day period from anthesis to senescence of the flower. We compare our results with reports for a complex amaryllis hybrid and a bat-pollinated species, Hippeastrum calyptratum. The hybrid had a very different complement of emissions. The bat-pollinated species shared some of the same constituent volatiles as H. brasilianum and H. parodii, but at lower percentages, and emitted a more diverse assortment of compounds. We conclude that both H. brasilianum and H. parodii attract lepidopteran pollinators but suggest that H. parodii may also attract other insects. We briefly discuss floral fragrance from the perspective of breeding amaryllis.