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Religião e política : análise da atuação recente de evangélicos na política no Brasil sob a ótica da ética de Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 2024-01) Caldas Filho, Carlos R.; Rezende, Karina Fonseca Soares
O segmento religioso que se identifica como sendo evangélico tem tido, já há alguns anos, crescimento numérico expressivo no Brasil. Com o aumento da visibilidade evangélica na sociedade, tem crescido também o envolvimento na política brasileira. O presente artigo pretende ser uma reflexão em teologia pública ao analisar relações possíveis entre religião e sociedade, especificamente a atuação de parlamentares evangélicos na segunda década do presente século à luz da ética teológica do teólogo luterano alemão Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945).
Judicial reliance on documents not established into evidence : dispensing justice or injudicious overreach?
(Juta Law Journals, 2024) Kehrhahn, Ferdinand Heinrich Hermann
Documents make their way to the court file via numerous avenues. Courts sometimes rely on the contents of such documents, which are not established into evidence, to draw inferences and adjudicate disputes. The main reason for this practice is to buttress fraud committed against parties such as state organs because of their lackadaisical approach to litigation, knowing that the taxpayer foots the bill. Some courts go so far as to suggest that the court should employ an inquisitorial approach in matters involving state organs or even take a partisan approach. Noble as the court’s intentions hopefully may be, several policy decisions point to the undesirability of this practice. This note considers, first, the general rule that a document in the court file is inadmissible hearsay evidence until it is established into evidence; secondly, the reasons why a court would have regard to such non-evidence; thirdly, the policy reasons justifying the general rule; and, fourthly, the recent misplaced suggestion that documents may more readily be admitted into evidence under the common-law exception to the rule against hearsay evidence or under s 34(2) of the Civil Proceedings Evidence Act. Recommendations to remedy this objectionable practice conclude the note.
Regional adiposity and insulin sensitivity-interactions with menopause and HIV in middle-aged black African women
(Oxford University Press, 2025-01) Masemola, Maphoko; Mendham, Amy E.; Micklesfield, Lisa K.; Pheiffer, Carmen; Hawley, James; Kengne, Andre Pascal; Chikowore, Tinashe; Kufe, Clement Nyuyki; Crowther, Nigel J.; Norris, Shane; Storbeck, Karl-Heinz; Olsson, Tommy; Karpe, Fredrik; Goedecke, Julia H.
OBJECTIVE : To explore depot-specific functional aspects of adipose tissue, examining the putative role for menopause and HIV status on insulin sensitivity (SI) and beta-cell function in Black South African women.
METHODS : Women (n = 92) from the Middle-Aged Soweto Cohort, including premenopausal HIV-negative women (n = 21); premenopausal women living with HIV (LWH; n = 11); postmenopausal HIV-negative women (n = 42); and postmenopausal women LWH (n = 18) underwent the following tests: body composition (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry); fasting bloods for sex hormones, inflammation, and adipokines; frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test for SI and beta-cell function (disposition index, DI); abdominal (aSAT) and gluteal subcutaneous adipose tissue (gSAT) biopsies for cell size, and mRNA expression of adipokines, inflammation, and estrogen receptors (ER).
RESULTS : Depot-specific associations between gene expression and insulin parameters did not differ by HIV or menopause status. Pooled analysis showed significant models for SI (P = .002) and DI (P = .003). Higher SI was associated with lower leptin and CD11c expression in aSAT and higher adiponectin in gSAT. Higher DI was associated with higher aSAT and gSAT expression of adiponectin, lipoprotein lipase, ERα, and PPARγ, and lower leptin in aSAT. Women LWH had higher expression of adiponectin and lower expression of leptin in both aSAT (P = .002 and P = .005) and gSAT (P = .004 and P = .002), respectively, and a larger proportion of smaller cells in aSAT (P < .001).
CONCLUSION : Insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function were distinctively associated with aSAT and gSAT. While menopause did not influence these relationships, HIV had a significant effect on adipose tissue, characterized by variations in cell size distribution and transcript levels within the depots.
Rossby wave breaking morphologies on the Southern Hemisphere dynamical tropopause
(American Meteorological Society, 2025-09) Barnes, Michael A.; Reeder, Michael J.; Ndarana, Thando
Rossby waves are fundamental meteorological structures in the extratropics of both hemispheres. Several extremes and weather regimes have been linked to the amplification and breaking of Rossby waves propagating along the extratropical waveguide. The morphology and evolution of Rossby wave breaking (RWB) on the Southern Hemisphere dynamical tropopause is studied here through an objective classification algorithm. Although the well-known classifications of RWB morphologies (LC1, LC2, P1, and P2) work well, the objective algorithm identifies important distinctions between RWB events with higher and lower amplitude structures and more meridional and zonal orientations. The different morphologies reflect the differences in the structure of the Rossby wave packets, the degree of phase locking with the low levels, the strength of the diabatic processes, and the amplitude of the nonlinearities in the flow. Anticyclonic RWB morphologies are associated with the decay of a Rossby wave packet, often producing a cyclonic–anticyclonic potential vorticity (PV) dipole in its wake. The cyclonic PV cutoff in this PV debris field can be stirred back into the extratropical waveguide resulting in a cyclonically overturned PV contour. Unlike anticyclonic RWB morphologies, cyclonic RWB morphologies in the Southern Hemisphere upper troposphere are associated with Rossby wave packet generation and downstream development.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT : This work aims to determine how well the well-known and much-used two- and four-type classifications of Rossby wave breaking (RWB) represent the full range of morphologies and analyze the differences in their evolution. An objective clustering technique identifies important distinctions between high- and low-amplitude patterns and more meridional and zonal orientations that the two- (anticyclonic, cyclonic) and four- (P1, P2, LC1, and LC2) type classifications do not. Anticyclonic RWB leads to the decay of a Rossby wave packet, whereas cyclonic RWB generates another Rossby wave packet and downstream development. This fundamental difference in the evolution, together with differences in the physical processes shaping these morphologies, deepens our understanding of RWB in the Southern Hemisphere upper troposphere.
A new look at the dirichlet distribution : robustness, clustering, and both together
(Springer, 2025-03) Tomarchio, Salvatore D.; Punzo, Antonio; Ferreira, Johannes Theodorus; Bekker, Andriette, 1958-
Compositional data have peculiar characteristics that pose significant challenges to traditional statistical methods and models. Within this framework, we use a convenient mode parametrized Dirichlet distribution across multiple fields of statistics. In particular, we propose finite mixtures of unimodal Dirichlet (UD) distributions for model-based clustering and classification. Then, we introduce the contaminated UD (CUD) distribution, a heavy-tailed generalization of the UD distribution that allows for a more flexible tail behavior in the presence of atypical observations. Thirdly, we propose finite mixtures of CUD distributions to jointly account for the presence of clusters and atypical points in the data. Parameter estimation is carried out by directly maximizing the maximum likelihood or by using an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. Two analyses are conducted on simulated data to illustrate the effects of atypical observations on parameter estimation and data classification, and how our proposals address both aspects. Furthermore, two real datasets are investigated and the results obtained via our models are discussed.