Unlike almost most other studies of neoliberal universities and academic capitalism this book ethnographically explores and interprets those transformations and their contradictions empirically in the everyday practices of students, faculty members, and administrators at two public universities: NTNU in Norway and UCLA in California.Differently situated in global political economies, both are ambitious, prosperous campuses. The book refl exively examines their disturbing disputes about quality, competition, and innovation. It argues that some academic, bureaucratic, and corporate university governance practices are both unsustainable and undermining what some university students and faculty already do well: circulate interdisciplinary knowledge and its making globally across the diasporic domains of academia, society, industry, and government while addressing the world's immediate challenges: power, inequities, and sustainability.It shows the important, strategic work of domesticating, co- morphing, and meshworking at the faultlines of emerging knowledge. This book is for students, faculty, society members, and policy makers who want to engage more effectively with contemporary universities that increasingly serve as busy crossroads for sharing ideas and how to make them. It will be of interest to workers and scholars in the interdisciplinary fi elds of higher education studies, critical university studies, and critical public infrastructure studies, plus science, technology, and society studies.
12 páginas.- 5 figuras.- 4 tablas.- referencias.- The Supplementary data to this article: in https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.108102 ; Soil biodiversity loss due to pollution may affect ecosystem services negatively. This environmental problem may be solved by phytoremediation, which is an effective strategy to manage and remediate contaminated areas. During this remediation process, the establishment of plant communities may improve soil fungal community structure and, in particular, may favour mycorrhizal symbiotic associations. As a consequence, afforestation of degraded lands will have different outcomes on fungal diversity and functionality, which will depend on the selected tree and shrub species. We analysed soil fungal diversity and functional guilds by high-throughput sequencing of environmental DNA in a trace element contaminated area, part of a large scale phytoremediation project running for 20 years. We selected five habitats for comparison purposes: three under the canopy of selected tree species (wild olive, white poplar and stone pine), adjacent treeless areas (grassland) and non-remediated areas (bare soil). Soil fungal diversity and richness seemed to be enhanced by phytoremediation. White poplar soil had the highest diversity and richness compared to wild olive and stone pine. Fungal communities were especially different between stone pine, with soils rich in organic C and high C:N ratio, and grassland soils. We identified 9,428 fungal OTUs from which 1,283 were assigned to a unique functional guild; the most abundant belonging to saprotrophic, plant pathogenic and ectomycorrhizal functional guilds. Ectomycorrhizal fungi were more abundant in soils under ectomycorrhizal host trees. Saprotrophs were abundant in grassland and wild olive soils, while plant pathogens were abundant in non-remediated soils. The remediation of soils (clean-up and amendment addition) allowed the natural establishment of grassland habitats throughout the study area, increasing fungal diversity, richness, taxonomy and functionality, when compared to non-remediated soils. Tree afforestation allowed the establishment of a forest type community bringing a further recruitment of fungal taxa, mainly the ectomycorrhizal fungal guild. Afforestation with different tree species showed species-specific effects on soil N, organic C, Ca and C:N ratio which led to increased spatial heterogeneity in areas with potential to recruit a wider diversity of fungi. ; This work was supported by European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) [grant number 603498 - RECARE], and Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities [grants number CGL2014-52858-R – RESTECO and CGL2017-82254-R – INTARSU]. MG-M was supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant number BES-2015-073882]. AL-G was supported by European Union's Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship [grant number 708530 – DISPMIC], Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities [grant number CGL2015-69118-C2-2-P-COEXMED-II] and University of Jaén under the Plan 6-UJA postdoctoral fellowship. MTD was supported by a postdoctoral grant by Universidad de Sevilla (V Plan Propio de Investigación) and by Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities [grant number CGL2017-85891-R- DEGRAMED]. ; Peer reviewed
Tertiary education attendance in Brazil varies remarkably among different population groups. In order to decrease inequalities and increase the proportion of minorities in public universities, many institutions of higher education in Brazil have implemented affirmative action policies since the 2000s. The main objective of this paper was to analyze different counterfactual affirmative action policies at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) based on simulations, measuring the proportion of minorities and the level of academic performance at this institution under each scenario. The current quota policy of 50% for students from public secondary schools, divided between four main groups (non-poor/non-minority; poor/non-minority; non-poor/minority; poor/minority), was shown to be well-designed to promote higher proportions of minorities among the student body. However, if academic performance is also taken into account, the best options would be either a quota policy of 50% divided between poor and non-poor students or a bonus policy based on a linear function of course competitiveness with an average bonus of 6%.
Abstract The presence of urban green spaces (UGS) increases the human's contact with nature and provides numerous benefits to the society and the local environment. In this way, analyzing, planning and stimulating the implementation of UGS in cities is a fundamental action to improve the life quality of urban society. In this context, the aim was to analyze the situation and distribution of the green spaces of the universities cities of Lavras, Minas Gerais State (Brazil) and Newark, Delaware (USA). For data collection, researches performed field visits and used aerial photography to survey and analysis before calculating indicators including green area index (GAI) and green space ratio (GSR). The city of Lavras has a GAI of 0.54 m2 inh-1. The GSR value was 0.29%, not meeting the minimum of 5% required by local municipal law. Furthermore, there is a bad distribution of UGSs in the urban framework. However, in Newark, the distribution of UGSs is homogeneous and covers all regions of the city. The calculated GAI was 50.2 m² inh-1 and the GSR has met the 7% minimum required by its Newark Municipal Law. When comparing the two cities, in different countries and conditions it is concluded that Newark (DE) presents UGS indicators, GAI (m² inh-1) and GSR (%), higher than the values obtained in Lavras (MG), indicating the need for Government actions to increase these values.
6 figures, 6 tables.-- Supplementary material available. ; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, is a complex disease, with a variety of clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic infection or mild cold-like symptoms to more severe cases requiring hospitalization and critical care. The most severe presentations seem to be related with a delayed, deregulated immune response leading to exacerbated inflammation and organ damage with close similarities to sepsis. ; [Methods]: In order to improve the understanding on the relation between host immune response and disease course, we have studied the differences in the cellular (monocytes, CD8+ T and NK cells) and soluble (cytokines, chemokines and immunoregulatory ligands) immune response in blood between Healthy Donors (HD), COVID19 and a group of patients with non-COVID19 respiratory tract infections (NON-COV-RTI). In addition, the immune response profile has been analyzed in COVID19 patients according to disease severity. ; [Results]: In comparison to HDs and patients with NON-COV-RTI, COVID19 patients show a heterogeneous immune response with the presence of both activated and exhausted CD8+ T and NK cells characterised by the expression of the immune checkpoint LAG3 and the presence of the adaptive NK cell subset. An increased frequency of adaptive NK cells and a reduction of NK cells expressing the activating receptors NKp30 and NKp46 correlated with disease severity. Although both activated and exhausted NK cells expressing LAG3 were increased in moderate/severe cases, unsupervised cell clustering analyses revealed a more complex scenario with single NK cells expressing more than one immune checkpoint (PD1, TIM3 and/or LAG3). A general increased level of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines was found in COVID19 patients, some of which like IL18, IL1RA, IL36B and IL31, IL2, IFNα and TNFα, CXCL10, CCL2 and CCL8 were able to differentiate between COVID19 and NON-COV-RTI and correlated with bad prognosis (IL2, TNFα, IL1RA, CCL2, CXCL10 and CXCL9). Notably, we found that soluble NKG2D ligands from the MIC and ULBPs families were increased in COVID19 compared to NON-COV-RTI and correlated with disease severity. ; [Conclusions:] Our results provide a detailed comprehensive analysis of the presence of activated and exhausted CD8+T, NK and monocyte cell subsets as well as extracellular inflammatory factors beyond cytokines/chemokines, specifically associated to COVID19. Importantly, multivariate analysis including clinical, demographical and immunological experimental variables have allowed us to reveal specific immune signatures to i) differentiate COVID19 from other infections and ii) predict disease severity and the risk of death. ; The authors would like to thank the Biobank of the Aragon Health System integrated in the Spanish National Biobanks Network and the Servicios Científico Técnicos de Citometria de Flujo del CIBA for their collaboration. Work in the JP laboratory is funded by the FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, Gobierno de Aragón, Group B29_17R), Health National Institute Carlos III (COV20-00308), Aragón Government (Fondo COVID-19), Fundación Santander-Universidad de Zaragoza (Programa COVID-19), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (SAF2017-83120-C2-1-R; PID2020-113963RBI00), Fundación Inocente, ASPANOA and Carrera de la Mujer de Monzón. EMG is funded by Agencia Estatal de Investigación (SAF2017-83120-C2-1-R and PID2020-113963RB-I00). IUM and SH are supported by a PhD fellowship from Aragon Government, CP by a PhD fellowship from AECC, LS by a PhD fellowship (FPI) from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. DDM is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship 'Sara Borrell', and MA is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship 'Juan de la Cierva-incorporacion' from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. EM and BGT are supported by Rio Hortega contract. JP is supported by the ARAID Foundation. ; Peer reviewed
10 pages, 4 figures, 6 tables, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107699 ; Sardine and anchovy have shown important changes in landings, biomass, abundance and body condition with time in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain these changes, including the negative interaction with jellyfish blooms. Increases in jellyfish blooms may be one of the reasons for a decline in these fish stocks because several jellyfish species have been shown to feed on fish larvae and juveniles. The main aim of the present study was to test the plausible relationship between jellyfish blooms and stock dynamics (abundance, biomass, and fitness) of anchovy and sardine, and its fisheries within an ecological context of the western Mediterranean Sea. Our main hypothesis was that jellyfish blooms, in combination with other environmental drivers, could have negative effects due to their predation on early stages of small pelagic fish (direct mortality) or due to predation on zooplankton, which is also prey of the small pelagic fish at different ontogenetic stages (direct competition). To test our hypothesis, we developed Bayesian Generalized Linear Mixed Models to compare landings, biomass, abundance, and Kn condition factor of both species with several climatic indices, oceanographic variables, and the occurrences of jellyfish blooms. Our results revealed that the jellyfish bloom occurrence had a high probability of negatively and broadly affecting both species in addition to changes in environmental conditions. This suggests that jellyfish blooms should be added to the likely causes of change when analyzing small pelagic fish change ; This study was carried out within the Spanish Research project PELWEB (CTM2017-88939-R) funded by Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and the Catalonian Government PELCAT projects (CAT 152CAT00013, TAIS ARP059/19/00005). [.] MC acknowledges the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) to the Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC). ; Peer reviewed
Background Humans are regularly exposed to metals and metalloids present in air, water, food, soil and domestic materials. Most of them can cross the placental barrier and cause adverse impacts on the developing foetus. Objectives To describe the prenatal concentrations of metals and metalloids and to study the associated sociodemographic, environmental and dietary factors in pregnant Spanish women. Methods Subjects were 1346 pregnant women of the INMA Project, for whom the following metals arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), antimony (Sb), selenium (Se), thallium (Tl) and zinc (Zn) were determined in urine, at both the first and the third trimesters of gestation. Sociodemographic, dietary and environmental information was collected through questionnaires during pregnancy. Multiple linear mixed models were built in order to study the association between each metal and metalloid concentrations and the sociodemographic, environmental and dietary factors. Results The most detected compounds were As, Co, Mo, Sb, Se and Zn at both trimesters. Zn was the element found in the highest concentrations at both trimesters and Tl was detected in the lowest concentrations. We observed significant associations between As, Cd, Cu, Sb, Tl and Zn concentrations and working situation, social class and age. Seafood, meat, fruits, nuts, vegetables and alcohol intake affected the levels of all the metals but Cd and Cu. Proximity to industrial areas, fields and air pollution were related to all metals except Cd, Sb and Se. Conclusions This is the first large prospective longitudinal study on the exposure to metals and metalloids during pregnancy and associated factors to include several cohorts in Spain. The present study shows that some modifiable lifestyles, food intakes and environmental factors could be associated with prenatal exposure to metal(loid)s, which may be considered in further studies to assess their relationship with neonatal health outcomes. ; This study was funded by Grants from EU (FP7-ENV-2011 cod 282957 and HEALTH.2010.2.4.5–1); Spain: ISCIII (Red INMA G03/176, CB06/02/0041; FIS-FEDER: PI03/1615, PI04/1509, PI04/1112, PI04/1931, PI05/1079, PI05/1052, PI06/0867, PI06/1213, PI07/0314, PI09/00090, PI09/02647, PI11/01007, PI11/02591, PI11/02038, PI13/1944, PI13/2032, PI13/02187, PI14/00891, PI14/01687, PI16/1288, PI17/00663, PI18/01142 and PI19/1338; Miguel Servet FEDER MS15/00025, MS20/0006, CPII16/00051, and FIS-FSE: 17/ 00260); CIBERESP; Generalitat Valenciana: FISABIO (UGP 15–230, UGP-15-244, and UGP-15-249), AICO/2020/285, and Alicia Koplowitz Foundation 2017; Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT 1999SGR 00241; Department of Health of the Basque Government (2005111093, 2009111069, 2013111089 and 2015111065); Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa (DFG06/002, DFG08/001 and DFG15/221). We acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the "Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019–2023" Programme (CEX2018000806-S), and from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Programme, as well as the municipalities in the study area. ; Peer reviewed