Eventos de vida e Construção da Identidade na Adultez Emergente / Life Events and Building Identity during Emerging Adulthood / Eventos de Vida y Construcción de Identidad en la Adultez Emergente

Durante o período da adultez emergente, a forma como eventos vividos são compreendidos é afetada pela narrativa de história de vida internalizada pelo indivíduo. A investigação dos tipos de experiências mais frequentes nessa fase contribui para a compreensão da forma como histórias de vida e identidades são construídas. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar temáticas frequentes nos eventos de vida considerados importantes por jovens universitários. Participaram 287 universitários, com idades entre 18 e 35 anos (M = 22,55; DP = 5,88) que responderam a um questionário no qual relataram sete eventos mais importantes de suas vidas. Valência emocional, importância, prevalência e idade na qual ocorreu foram atribuídos pelos participantes aos seus eventos de vida. Os eventos citados foram, em sua maioria, considerados positivos, resultado condizente com a literatura sobre memória autobiográfica. As três categorias mais citadas envolveram temáticas relacionadas à exploração identitária e de possibilidades, características marcantes da adultez emergente. (AU)

During the emerging adulthood life period, the way that the events are understood is influenced by the internalized life story narrative. The investigation of the kind of experience that is most frequent in this period contributes to the understanding of the way life stories and identities are built. The goal of this study was to investigate the most frequently found themes in the events considered the most important ones by Brazilian undergraduates. Participants were 287 college students, with ages between 18 and 35 years (M = 22,55; SD = 5.88), who completed a questionnaire about the seven most important events that happened in their lives. Participants also rated each event for valence, importance, prevalence, and the age in which it occurred. The events mentioned were mostly positive, a result in line with the literature on autobiographical memory. The three most mentioned categories were related to the exploration of identity and possibilities that are characteristic of the emerging adulthood. (AU)

Durante el periodo de la adultez emergente, la forma como se comprenden los eventos vividos es afectada por la narrativa de historia de vida internalizada por el individuo. La investigación de los tipos de experiencias más frecuentes de esta fase contribuye para la comprensión del modo en que las historias de vida y las identidades son construidas. El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar temáticas frecuentes en los eventos de vida considerados importantes por jóvenes universitarios. Participaron 287 universitarios con edades entre 18 y 35 años (M = 22,55; DE = 5,88), respondiendo a un cuestionario en el que relataron los siete eventos más importantes de sus vidas. Valencia emocional, importancia, prevalencia y edad en la que ocurrieron los eventos fueron atribuidos por los participantes a sus eventos de vida. Los eventos citados fueron considerados positivos en su mayoría, un resultado congruente con la literatura sobre memoria autobiográfica. Las tres categorías más citadas comprenden temáticas relacionadas a la exploración de la identidad y de las posibilidades, características marcantes de la adultez emergente. (AU)

Geographic host use variability and host range evolutionary dynamics in the phytophagous insect Apagomerella versicolor (Cerambycidae).

The high diversity of phytophagous insects has been explained by the tendency of the group towards specialization; however, generalism may be advantageous in some environments. The cerambycid Apagomerella versicolor exhibits intraspecific geographical variation in host use. In northern Argentina it is highly specialized on the herb Pluchea sagittalis (Asteraceae), while in central and southern areas it uses seven Asteraceae species. To study host species geographical variation from ecological and evolutionary perspectives, we investigated field host availability and use across a wide latitudinal range, and performed laboratory studies on insect oviposition preference and larval performance and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in a phylogeographical framework. Geographic variation in host use was unrelated to host availability but was highly associated with laboratory oviposition preference, larval performance, and mtDNA variation. Genetic studies revealed three geographic races of A. versicolor with gene flow restriction and recent geographic expansion. Trophic generalism and oligophagy within A. versicolor seem to have evolved as adaptations to seasonal and spatial unavailability of the preferred host P. sagittalis in cooler areas of the species' geographic range. No single genotype is successful in all environments; specialization may be advantageous in environments with uniform temporal and spatial host availability, while being a trophic generalist may provide an adaptive advantage in host-constrained environments.

Color to gray and back: color embedding into textured gray images.

We have developed a reversible method to convert color graphics and pictures to gray images. The method is based on mapping colors to low-visibility high-frequency textures that are applied onto the gray image. After receiving a monochrome textured image, the decoder can identify the textures and recover the color information. More specifically, the image is textured by carrying a subband (wavelet) transform and replacing bandpass subbands by the chrominance signals. The low-pass subband is the same as that of the luminance signal. The decoder performs a wavelet transform on the received gray image and recovers the chrominance channels. The intent is to print color images with black and white printers and to be able to recover the color information afterwards. Registration problems are discussed and examples are presented.

Production of swainsonine by fungal endophytes of locoweed.

Consumption of locoweeds, legumes endemic in arid western USA, has long been associated with locoism, a disease of ruminant animals. To explore the relationship between fungi associated with locoweed and locoweed toxicity, 11 locoweed populations from various sites in New Mexico were assessed for endophytic fungi. Endophytes were isolated from the leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of eight populations of the toxic locoweeds Astragalus mollissimus, Oxytropis lambertii, and O. sericea. Fungal cultures grew very slowly and sporadically produced subcylindrical conidia with very dark transverse septa. All cultured endophytes produced the alkaloid swainsonine, which causes locoism. Endophyte-infected locoweed populations produced swainsonine, and the swainsonine level of endophyte strains in vitro was highly correlated with the swainsonine level of their host plant populations. The rDNA ITS from mycelia from four endophyte isolates and beta-tubulin encoding regions from mycelia of 18 fungal endophyte isolates were amplified using PCR and the nucleic acid sequences were analyzed. The nucleic acid sequences of the beta-tubulin encoding regions were essentially identical among all the endophytes regardless of plant genus and locations. Morphological evidence and sequence analysis of the ITS region suggest that the endophytes are most closely related to Embellisia. However, with the paucity of Embellisia species represented in sequence databases, precise taxonomic placement will await further study.