Charles Darwin goes to school: the role of cartoons and narrative in setting science in an historical context

Science education is under revision. Recent changes in society require changes in education to respond to new demands. Scientific literacy can be considered a new goal of science education and the epistemological gap between natural sciences and literacy disciplines must be overcome. The history of science is a possible bridge to link these `two cultures` and to foster an interdisciplinary approach in the classroom. This paper acknowledges Darwin`s legacy and proposes the use of cartoons and narrative expositions to put this interesting chapter of science into its historical context. A five-lesson didactic sequence was developed to tell part of the story of Darwin`s expedition through South America for students from 10 to 12 years of age. Beyond geological and biological perspectives, the inclusion of historical, social and geographical facts demonstrated the beauty and complexity of the findings that Darwin employed to propose the theory of evolution.

Capacidade para o trabalho: revisão de literatura

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar uma revisão de literatura sobre a capacidade para o trabalho de trabalho e envelhecimento funcional. Foi realizada uma extensa busca de publicações do período de 1966 a 2006, usando as bases de dados MEDLINE, Lilacs e SciELO. São apresentados vários aspectos relativos à capacidade para o trabalho: o contexto histórico no qual o tema emergiu, o referencial teórico, os fatores determinantes, um modelo explicativo, a metodologia atual para avaliar e monitorar a capacidade para o trabalho e a importância de sua promoção. Também é destacada a situação atual da pesquisa, prática e perspectivas futuras relativas ao tema. No contexto do envelhecimento da força de trabalho, a capacidade para o trabalho tornou-se um indicador importante em função de suas consequências para a saúde, bem-estar e empregabilidade dos trabalhadores, com impactos para os indivíduos, organizações e sociedade. As questões sobre o tema, apesar de relevantes, ainda carecem de maior atenção.

BEYOND SAMUELSON`S CHAPTER ON RAMSEY

Paul Anthony Samuelson proposed and practiced a program for the Whig history of economics. One such example is his account of Frank Ramsey`s contribution to optimal taxation in 1927. For him, and mainly for the public finance economists who rediscovered later Ramsey`s contribution, Ramsey was a genius ahead of his time who used a mathematics too advanced for his contemporaries and was thus rediscovered only in the 1970S, when economists became more mathematically literate. In such rediscovery, a memorandum that Samuelsom wrote in 1951 for the us Treasury became central. I examine Samuelson`s account and challenge it in some respects and explore the historical context of the emergence of the optimal taxation literature in the 1970S. Additional, I analyze the canonization of Ramsey in this field, stressing Samuelson`s role in this process as a professor who liked telling stories about economists, especially about Ramsey, to his graduate students.

Generic drugs in Brazil: historical overview and legislation

The Brazilian generic drugs policy was implemented in 1999 with the aim of stimulating competition in the market, improve the quality of drugs and improve the access of the population to drug treatment. The process of implementing this policy allowed the introduction and discussion of concepts that had never before been used in the context of drug registration in Brazil: bioavailability, bioequivalence, pharmaceutical equivalence, generic drugs, biopharmaceutical classification system, biowaiver. The present article provides definitions for these concepts in the context of Brazilian legislation as well as a historical and chronological description of the implementation of the generic drugs policy in Brazil, including a list of current generic drug legislation. This article contributes to the understanding of the Brazilian generic drugs policy and facilitates the search for information concerning the legal requirements for registration of drugs in Brazil.

Oral Health in Brazil - Part I: public oral health policies

This paper reviews the historical development of public health policies in Brazil and the insertion of oral health in this context. Since 1988, Brazil established a Unified National Health System ("Sistema Único de Saúde" - SUS), which was conceived to assure access to health actions and services, including oral health. However, a history of lack of access to health services and the health problems faced by the Brazilian population make the process of building and consolidating the SUS extremely challenging. Since 2004, the Oral Health National Policy has proposed a reorientation of the health care model, supported by an adaptation of the working system of Oral Health teams so that they include actions of health promotion, protection and recovery. Human resources should be prepared to act in this system. The qualifying process must take in consideration knowledge evolution, changes in the work process and changes in demographical and epidemiological aspects, according to a perspective of maintaining a balance between technique and social relevance.

Arte e simbolismo xamânico na Amazônia

Os chamados ídolos de pedra amazônicos, apesar de conhecidos há mais de cem anos, constituem uma categoria de artefatos indígenas sem contexto arqueológico, histórico ou etnográfico. Este artigo apresenta uma primeira análise formal das peças conhecidas e algumas hipóteses sobre a sua função e finalidade. O estilo, os motivos simbólicos e o detalhe funcional de pares de furos idênticos em todos os exemplares sugerem que eles eram parte do instrumental usado nos rituais xamânicos de inalação do paricá e de outras substâncias alucinógenas.

A dimensão criadora no trabalho docente: subsídios para a formação de professores alfabetizadores

Este artigo tem como objetivo evidenciar a dimensão criadora dos saberes docentes mobilizados por uma professora alfabetizadora, a partir da concepção de saberes docentes desenvolvida pela teoria histórico-cultural. A pesquisa realizou-se em escola pública, no estado de Rondônia, por meio de uma abordagem etnográfica. O trabalho traz para a análise duas cenas recortadas do cotidiano escolar para exemplificar como os saberes docentes são alterados e recriados no enfrentamento dos desafios impostos pela prática pedagógica. Os resultados permitem compreender que a prática docente no cotidiano não se caracteriza apenas como reprodução de modelos ou propostas utilizadas por outros profissionais. Ao contrário, no encontro de uma professora e uma turma de alunos há sempre certa originalidade que demanda a criação de formas específicas de intervenção para aquele grupo, nas condições do contexto. Acompanhar o trabalho da professora durante o período de pesquisa permitiu compreender que há inúmeras possibilidades de condução do trabalho pedagógico e as razões que motivam as escolhas dos professores e das professoras estão fundamentadas em saberes construídos ao longo de suas experiências de formação e atuação. Considera-se, portanto, que as práticas pedagógicas precisam ser conhecidas e estudadas para que se possa compreendê-las, mais do que avaliá-las, tendo-se em vista a contribuição desses estudos para a formação docente.

Caracterização da mineração aurífera em Faina, Goiás, em um contexto ambiental histórico e atual

Faz-se, por meio de uma abordagem ambiental histórico-dialética, a caracterização dos processos auríferos desenvolvidos no município de Faina, Goiás. São analisadas três atividades: mineração escrava, mineração de dragagem e mineração industrial. Evidenciou-se que a exploração por dragagem tem um maior poder impactante. Sobretudo, a mineração aurífera em Faina contribuiu para a história ambiental local e para o resgate dessa no Brasil.

Promoção da saúde: elemento instituinte?

O artigo inclui na discussão sobre os resultados da promoção da saúde um argumento de natureza epistemológica, levando em consideração o contexto contemporâneo de mudanças econômicas, políticas e culturais do qual ela é parte e expressão. Destacam-se, por um lado, as suspeitas que recaem sobre o projeto da Modernidade, sejam elas decorrentes do crescimento das incertezas ou da irrealização de promessas e, por outro lado, as tentativas de equacionamento do binômio determinação/autonomia, como questões sensíveis a uma ruptura dos modos de conhecer na contemporaneidade. Propõe-se considerar a dinâmica social e abordá-la como a união e a tensão da história feita e da história se fazendo, para melhor compreender o alcance e os resultados da promoção da saúde. A conclusão é que a promoção da saúde deve continuar buscando o desenvolvimento de ações cada vez mais efetivas, mas deve fazê-lo sem abdicar da possibilidade de manter-se próxima da energia social livre e em ebulição, que caracteriza o elemento instituinte de uma produção histórica.

Short report: historical analysis of a near disaster: Anopheles gambiae in Brazil

Attributed to human-mediated dispersal, a species of the Anopheles gambiae complex invaded northeastern Brazil in 1930. This event is considered unique among the intercontinental introductions of disease vectors and the most serious one: "Few threats to the future health of the Americas have equalled that inherent in the invasion of Brazil, in 1930, by Anopheles gambiae." Because it was only in the 1960s that An. gambiae was recognized as a species complex now including seven species, the precise species identity of the Brazilian invader remains a mystery. Here we used historical DNA analysis of museum specimens, collected at the time of invasion from Brazil, and aimed at the identification of the Brazilian invader. Our results identify the arid-adapted Anopheles arabiensis as being the actual invading species. Establishing the identity of the species, in addition to being of intrinsic historical interest, can inform future threats of this sort especially in a changing environment. Furthermore, these results highlight the potential danger of human-mediated range expansions of insect disease vectors and the importance of museum collections in retrieving historical information

ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT POLICIES IN BRAZIL: CONTEXT, ICT MANAGEMENT AND OUTCOMES

The State Reform processes combined with the emergence and use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) originated electronic government policies and initiatives in Brazil. This paper dwells on Brazilian e-government by investigating the institutional design it assumed in the state's public sphere, and how it contributed to outcomes related to e-gov possibilities. The analyses were carried out under an interpretativist perspective by making use of Institutional Theory. From the analyses of interviews with relevant actors in the public sphere, such as state secretaries and presidents of public ICT companies, conclusions point towards low institutionalization of e-gov policies. The institutional design of Brazilian e-gov limits the use of ICT to provide integrated public services, to amplify participation and transparency, and to improve public policies management.

Integration and visualization of systems biology data in context of the genome

Background: High-density tiling arrays and new sequencing technologies are generating rapidly increasing volumes of transcriptome and protein-DNA interaction data. Visualization and exploration of this data is critical to understanding the regulatory logic encoded in the genome by which the cell dynamically affects its physiology and interacts with its environment. Results: The Gaggle Genome Browser is a cross-platform desktop program for interactively visualizing high-throughput data in the context of the genome. Important features include dynamic panning and zooming, keyword search and open interoperability through the Gaggle framework. Users may bookmark locations on the genome with descriptive annotations and share these bookmarks with other users. The program handles large sets of user-generated data using an in-process database and leverages the facilities of SQL and the R environment for importing and manipulating data. A key aspect of the Gaggle Genome Browser is interoperability. By connecting to the Gaggle framework, the genome browser joins a suite of interconnected bioinformatics tools for analysis and visualization with connectivity to major public repositories of sequences, interactions and pathways. To this flexible environment for exploring and combining data, the Gaggle Genome Browser adds the ability to visualize diverse types of data in relation to its coordinates on the genome. Conclusions: Genomic coordinates function as a common key by which disparate biological data types can be related to one another. In the Gaggle Genome Browser, heterogeneous data are joined by their location on the genome to create information-rich visualizations yielding insight into genome organization, transcription and its regulation and, ultimately, a better understanding of the mechanisms that enable the cell to dynamically respond to its environment.

Phylogeography and historical demography of the neotropical stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata (Hymenoptera, Apidae): incongruence between morphology and mitochondrial DNA

The stingless bees are among the most abundant and ecologically important social invertebrates in tropical communities. The Neotropical stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata has two subspecies: M. quadrifasciata quadrifasciata and M. quadrifasciata anthidioides. The main difference between subspecies are the yellow metassomal stripes, which are continuous in M. q. quadrifasciata and discontinuous in M. q. anthidioides. Recently, two populations were described with continuous stripes and inhabiting clearly disjunct areas in relation to M. q. quadrifasciata. We sequenced 852 bp of the mtDNA COI gene from 145 colonies from 56 localities, and for the first time performed a detailed phylogeographic study of a neotropical stingless bee. Phylogenetic analyses revealed the existence of two clades exhibiting a south to north distribution: southern populations comprise the subspecies M. q. quadrifasciata, and northern populations are composed of M. q. anthidioides and two disjunct populations with continuous stripes. The divergence time of these two phylogroups was estimated between 0.233 and 0.840 million years ago in the Pleistocene, a period of climatic changes and geomorphological alterations in the Neotropical region. No evidence of genetic structure in relation to the tergal stripes was found, indicating that the morphological trait regarding the pattern of stripes on tergites is not an accurate diagnostic for the subspecies of M. quadrifasciata.

alpha plus alpha scattering reexamined in the context of the Sao Paulo potential

We have analyzed a large set of alpha + alpha elastic scattering data for bombarding energies ranging from 0.6 to 29.5 MeV. Because of the complete lack of open reaction channels, the optical interaction at these energies must have a vanishing imaginary part. Thus, this system is particularly important because the corresponding elastic scattering cross sections are very sensitive to the real part of the interaction. The data were analyzed in the context of the velocity-dependent Sao Paulo potential, which is a successful theoretical model for the description of heavy-ion reactions from sub-barrier to intermediate energies. We have verified that, even in this low-energy region, the velocity dependence of the model is quite important for describing the data of the alpha + alpha system.