For over a decade, debates in occupational therapy have extended into the profession's theoretical foundations as well as epistemological underpinnings thereof A series of proposals have emerged from around the world that aim to link the definition of occupational therapy, its knowledge and practices to contemporary social, political, cultural and economic conditions. Contributing to this is the increasing precariousness of the global social life, the economic crises of many social systems, and the deterioration of the ecological environment. The current paper critically reflects on the historical conditions that shape the institution of occupational therapy, particularly in the regions of South America and Africa. This involves a political, ethical, and epistemological rethinking of the foundations that underpin identities, knowledge and practices of occupational therapy and their effects on society. These foundations may favour processes of exclusion and ahistorical and individualist views of human occupation, as opposed to social perspectives expressed in collective occupations and human rights promoting practices. The authors propose to problematise the construction of a professional identity, knowledge and practices of occupational therapy, emphasising the need for a liberating discipline, committed to and acting alongside people and communities who are in situations of social exclusion. This implies the necessary positioning of occupational therapy within social transformation. Key words: Southern, critical, epistemologies, human occupation, human rights
For drip-irrigated olive orchards, plant water status monitoring is an important tool for irrigation management practices, as it determines final fruit and oil yield. However, plant water status monitoring using plant physiological measurements, such as plant water potential and stomatal conductance (g s ) imposes a challenge because the selection of the measurement site inside the canopy must be representative of the whole plant trend. Therefore, the objective of the present work was to study the spatial variability of stomatal conductance at the within-plant scale on a young drip-irrigated olive orchard under semi-arid growing conditions. A field study was carried out on a commercial drip-irrigated olive orchard (Olea europea L. 'Arbequina') located in Pencahue valley, Maule Region, Chile (35º 23' S; 71º 44' W; WGS 84; 96 m.a.s.l.). Measurements of g s were done at four dates using an infrared gas analyzer (LI-COR, LI-6400, USA) during the 2011-2012 growing season. The results show that under mild to moderate water restriction (−1.5 to −2.2 MPa), intracanopy stomatal conductance variability was high and two sectors were identified, independent of the level of vegetative expression. In contrast, under moderate to strong water restriction (< −2.2 to −3.5 MPa), intra-canopy stomatal conductance variability was low for both high and low vegetative expression, with no sector detected. These considerations are relevant to select the more appropriate site within the canopy for plant water status and/or gas exchange measurements.Key words: plant water status, sampling method, water restriction, intraplant variability.
RESUMEN
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.