ABSTRACT The flood pulse of black water rivers in the Amazon basin determines the composition of species along the flood gradient in igapó forests. The Balbina dam, built on the Uatumã River, has altered the flood pulse and caused changes in the floristic composition of adult trees throughout the downstream area. There is a lack of studies on how communities of seedlings in igapó forests respond to changes in the flood pulse. This study investigates the response of seedling communities in the igapó forest downstream the Balbina dam and compares it with two pristine areas. The areas were sampled with transects of 1x25 m within 36 plots (25x25 m) along the flood gradient. Richness and dominance were calculated by simple regression and ordination analyses. The pristine areas had the same pattern of richness, dominance and genera distribution along the flood gradient. However, the affected Uatumã area formed different groups of genera by NMDS analysis, which divided them along the flood gradient with significantly increased dominance of three genera. The insertion of the Balbina dam resulted a loss of lateral and longitudinal connectivity for the Uatumã River, and the alteration to seedling communities may alter the future landscape of downstream igapó forests.

Abstract Biodiesel production using acid oils is an important alternative for biofuel cost reduction. However, it is a huge challenge for homogeneous transesterification, the main industrial route commonly used. This paper presents macauba oil with high acidity, 43.90 w/w%, as a potential raw material for biodiesel production. The acidity was reduced to 0.8 w/w% after re-esterification (80 min) with glycerol at high temperature (235 °C), without catalysts. Zinc (powder and coating) and NbOPO4 were also tested as catalysts in comparison with the reaction without a catalyst. Reactions catalyzed by metallic Zn produced a large amount of Zn carboxylate, an undesirable soap, due to the high Zn leaching. In contrast with the literature, Zinc did not show good catalytic activity, as confirmed by the kinetic parameters. NbOPO4 was not a good catalyst, too. Reaction without catalysts was performed using nitrogen as a carrier gas and it was compared with reaction under vacuum to remove co-produced water. Nitrogen showed the best result for re-esterification, avoiding degradation reactions. Triglycerides (TG) were the prevalent products in reactions using nitrogen. After re-esterification, the oil was easily converted into biodiesel with high ester content (98.4%) of methyl ester by alkaline transesterification.

ABSTRACT The Brazilian Pantanal is an extensive wetland with heterogeneous habitats, primarily due to the river-floodplain system and plants with differential adaptations and reproductive strategies. Factors such as altitude, distance among plant formations, and flood pulse must be considered to better understand its diversity. Aiming to assess the influence of biogeographic patterns in this system, we analyzed the floristic composition of six areas along the Paraguay River, including residual relieves, verifying the pattern of similarity, and effects of distance and altitude. We recorded 356 species in 87 families, mostly perennial (75%), and some annuals (15%) and pluriannuals (5%). Herbaceous plants were the most represented (48%), followed by arboreal (23%), shrubby (15%) and epiphytic (14%) habits, only 12% being endemic to Brazil. The studied areas showed low floristic similarity, but higher resemblance of species between neighboring areas, and no relation with altitude. The upper Paraguay River is diverse, with high spatial variability of species, predominantly perennial. The river-floodplain connectivity may be a determinant factor in species richness and occurrence of endemic species.

A preocupação com a empregabilidade é resultado das novas exigências feitas aos trabalhadores, por parte das organizações. Sabe-se, contudo, que o entendimento acerca do tema é bastante diverso e controverso. Nesse contexto, este artigo busca entender como o termo tem emergido e ganho força, tanto no meio acadêmico quanto no empresarial. Para isso, foi feita uma pesquisa qualitativa com profissionais e acadêmicos de recursos humanos, em Belo Horizonte-MG, bem como foram analisados dados secundários em publicações acadêmicas e não acadêmicas (empresariais). Os dados coletados foram analisados de modo quantitativo e qualitativo, com base nas técnicas de análise bibliométrica e de análise de conteúdo (AC). Os achados da pesquisa indicam que, em ambos os grupos pesquisados - empresarial e acadêmico - das duas concepções acerca do tema, destacadas na teoria, a empresarial-individual (que condiciona a empregabilidade à capacidade da mão-de-obra adaptar-se às novas exigências do mundo do trabalho e das organizações) e a crítica-social (que trata a empregabilidade como um discurso, transferindo a responsabilidade pelo emprego, da sociedade e do Estado para o próprio trabalhador), prevalece a primeira. Diante disso, o artigo traz uma reflexão, buscando indicar à sociedade que o discurso neoliberal da empregabilidade não traz consigo a garantia de empregos e que a busca incessante pelo conhecimento (capital humano) nem sempre é garantia de colocação no mercado de trabalho.

Concern over employability the result of new requirements that organizations make of workers. It is known, however, that the understanding of this concept is somewhat diverse and controversial. In this context, the present article seeks to understand how employability has emerged and gained force in two fields - the academic and the business. Thus, a qualitative study was conducted with professionals and Human Resource academics in Belo Horizonte-MG, together with an analysis of secondary data in academic rather than business publications. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively on the basis of the techniques of bibliometric analysis and content analysis. The findings of the study indicate that in both groups - business and academic - the two conceptions of employability, highlighted in the business-individual theory, which that considers employability as the capacity of the adaptation of man power when facing the new requirements of the world of work and organizations, and the critical-social one, which treats employability as a speech that transfers the responsibility for the job from society and the State to the worker himself were the first to emerge. Thus, the article shows a reflection, seeking to indicate to society that the neoliberal speech concerning employability does not itself bring a guarantee of jobs, and that the unceasing search for knowledge (human capital) does not always guarantee equivalent opportunities in the world of the work.