Da bancada ao Bureau: análise do desenvolvimento da biotecnologia no Nordeste Brasileiro sob o enfoque de Sistema Regional de Inovação

The starting point of the present work consisted of investigating the development of biotechnology in the Northeast region of Brazil from the perspective of a Regional Innovation System (RIS). The theoretical framework adopted relied on the approaches and concepts presented by the Neo-Schumpeterian perspective. This framework was chosen because, by means of the Innovation System concept, this literature allows us to analyze the relationships and configurations of actors, as well as the role of the state and of social, science and technology, and economic policies in the studied region. The analysis considered four selected dimensions: physical infrastructure, human capital, scientific production, and funding. These variables were chosen because they allow us to verify the possibilities and limitations of developing a biotechnology RIS in the Northeast of Brazil, and these elements would help in answering the question behind this dissertation. The location of the physical infrastructure was determined by means of bibliographic and documental research and interviews with heads of institutions that do biotechnology research. Regarding human capital, the analysis focused on resource training in biotechnology, highlighting graduate courses and research groups in the area. To measure knowledge production, we delimited scientific collaboration among researchers in the field of biotechnology as the focus of this category. For the funding dimension, information was gathered from reports available at the websites of national and state funding agencies. The data was analyzed through method triangulation, involving quantitative and qualitative research stages. To back the analyses, we revisited the integration policies in the area of Science, Technology and Innovation. Our analysis has shown that these policies play a crucial role in the development of biotechnology in the region being studied. The data revealed that the physical infrastructure is concentrated in only three states (Bahia, Ceará, and Pernambuco). In this regard, the Northeast Biotechnology Network (Renorbio) stands out as a strategic actor, enabling states with poor infrastructure to develop research through partnerships with institutions located in another state. We have also verified that the practices involving human resource training and knowledge production are factors that enable the emergence of a regional system for biotechnology in the studied region. As limitations, we have verified the low immersion level of regional actors, the heterogeneity of socioeconomic indicators, the lack of financial resources, and a low innovation culture in the business sector. Overall, we have concluded that the development of a Regional Innovation System in Biotechnology, based on the current regional dynamics, depends on an effective change in the behavior of the social agents involved, both in the national and regional dimensions as well as in the public and private spheres

Guilherme de La Penha: uma história do seu itinerário intelectual em três dimensões

This study focuses on the central Brazilian historiography of science, focusing specifically on the life and work of a contemporaneous mathematician-physicist, and becomes part of the set of research results that investigate, organize and describe personal, intellectual and professional itineraries of Brazilian scientists and educators. The theme chosen for the study ran from seminars on Mathematics in Pará and is up to organize and describe the life history, education, professional experience and scientific production of William Mauricio Souza Marcos de La Penha (Guilherme de La Penha), considering their academic, professional and intellectual life history, so that their academic and intellectual production be spread over the Brazilian scientific and academic community. We adopted the historical research as theoretical and methodological base for the development of this study, rising arguments about the profile of Guilherme de La Penha to characterize him as a multiskill intellectual and to reveal that his thoughts about science, technology, training scientists and educators were in accordance with their writings and their professional practice in order to build a first story about the life and work of William de La Penha. In this sense, we took the theoretical aspects related to historical research, biographies, intellectual itineraries, files and inventories as sources and historical construction vehicles in order to point out the essential elements to form a profile of the transdisciplinary intellectual historians, ie a profile scientist who carries out the research, management and administration, as well as a committed educator to the on-going training and forming process. The results pointed in different directions, among which we highlight the creation of Seção Guilherme de La Penha at Universidade da Amazonia, producing several articles about the life and work of William de La Penha presented at national and international conferences and the proposal for documentary displays which could contribute to understanding the implementation of a scientific area in Pará State, an area that would not only be restricted to the production of knowledge, but more than that, it would include the spreading, which provides various means, primarily through education. Thus it was possible to ensure that La Penha has an intellectual profile that can be considered a multi-and transdisciplinary intellectual who defends the possibility of forming a scientist one and multiple, non-linear attitudes and dialogues with all other areas in order to be understood under a model scientist for the twenty-first century based on the model clearly inspired by the scientist authors with which he identified throughout their training and professional activities, like the three that stood out in their relationship science: Archimedes, Leonhard Euler and Cliford Ambrose Truesdell

Educação científica no contexto pós-ontológico: por uma concepção plural de conhecimento e educação

The development of this work arises from the research of sociological and philosophical characters contemplating also other approaches which aims to answer the followingquestions: what is the responsibility of science teaching for the image one has about science? ; which scientific education should be designed for nowadays? . After considering the assumptions brought along by rationalism and the criticisms to the illuminist model proposed by sociology and philosophy of science, as well by the biology of the knowing process, going through discussions concerning post-modernity issues, one is given to understand that the image of science has become the central point of discussion in the last hundred years, including what concerns the area of science teaching, and that practically none of those discussions really reached natural science classes indeed. We adopt the term postontological to characterize the recent proposals on philosophy and sociology, because we evaluate that this term allows a better identification of the scientific realism crisis, which supports the existence of an ontological domain which science, and only science, is able to understand. One notices that the general public is not aware of those discussions, mainly if they are science teachers and students. So we believe that discussing the logic in which science is structured, the new understandings concerning the scientific undertaking, especially those of an externalist character, and the relationship between science and society, all of this contributes to build up a science teaching which contemplates a reflective contribution, besides allowing the inclusion of the study of other epistemologies in the educational practice. We argue that a revisionist posture seems to be the most appropriate for the contemporary scientific education, contemplating, besides the teaching of the usual science contents, discussions on the issues involving that knowledge, as well as respecting epistemologies alternative to the modern Western scientific one, in order one can work on the perception of local knowledge generated from other epistemological bases. We describe here practical activities we did involving teachers (short-term courses) and high-school students in an inland school in the Rio Grande do Norte state, in Brazil, as a way to demonstrate the possibility of interventions which can take those conceptions, discussions and changes to the classroom

Escolha de parceiros na adolescência

Mate choice is a component of sexual selection. Trying to understand the patterns of this process, several studies have emphasized the adaptive value of sexual differences and their influence on the assessment of the market value. The pattern for adults presented on the scientific literature, which is based on the preference for certain characteristics, shows that men search a partner who shows high value of fecundity and fertility, thus looking for partners with the ability of being pregnant and nursing their offspring. On the other hand, women look for partners with high socioeconomic status, which is strongly associated with the ability to protect and provide resources for them and their offspring. Surprisingly, there is few works that investigated the mate choice patterns during the beginning of the period of sexual differentiation on the morphological, physiological and behavioral traits. The aim of this study was to investigate mate choice patterns in adolescence in order to describe their preferences and contribute to the understanding of human reproductive behavior. Took part of this research 1,232 students from educational institutions of Natal, Brazil, and visitors to the Scientific, Technological and Cultural Fair UFRN. In the Experimental Study 1, we applied a questionnaire to evaluate the importance of certain characteristics, assessed the degree of romantic involvement and real and ideal partners age preference. In the Experimental Study 2, we did a survey of characteristics considered relevant and evaluate the importance of these characteristics in mate choice. The Experimental Study 3 brought an investigation of mate choice patterns based on self-assessment of adolescents, evaluating ideal partner for a short-term and long-term relationships and actual partner. We found that adolescents are motivated to live romantic experiences. We also observed a preference for partners of similar age to that described for adults. Finally, we found similarities and differences in the preferences for characteristics in real and ideal partners in relation to the adult pattern. In addition, we observed high similarity on the self-assessment and assessment of real and ideal partners. We suggest that in the mate choice, adolescents are similar to young adults in some aspects but not all. Our results show the relevance of the reproductive behavior investigation in this human developmental period and reinforce that further studies should contribute to the understanding of human behavior in terms of ontogenetic development and their evolutionary history.

Experience-dependent upregulation of multiple plasticity factors in the hippocampus during early REM sleep

Sleep is beneficial to learning, but the underlying mechanisms remain controversial. The synaptic homeostasis hypothesis (SHY) proposes that the cognitive function of sleep is related to a generalized rescaling of synaptic weights to intermediate levels, due to a passive downregulation of plasticity mechanisms. A competing hypothesis proposes that the active upscaling and downscaling of synaptic weights during sleep embosses memories in circuits respectively activated or deactivated during prior waking experience, leading to memory changes beyond rescaling. Both theories have empirical support but the experimental designs underlying the conflicting studies are not congruent, therefore a consensus is yet to be reached. To advance this issue, we used real-time PCR and electrophysiological recordings to assess gene expression related to synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and primary somatosensory cortex of rats exposed to novel objects, then kept awake (WK) for 60 min and finally killed after a 30 min period rich in WK, slow-wave sleep (SWS) or rapid-eye-movement sleep (REM). Animals similarly treated but not exposed to novel objects were used as controls. We found that the mRNA levels of Arc, Egr1, Fos, Ppp2ca and Ppp2r2d were significantly increased in the hippocampus of exposed animals allowed to enter REM, in comparison with control animals. Experience-dependent changes during sleep were not significant in the hippocampus for Bdnf, Camk4, Creb1, and Nr4a1, and no differences were detected between exposed and control SWS groups for any of the genes tested. No significant changes in gene expression were detected in the primary somatosensory cortex during sleep, in contrast with previous studies using longer post-stimulation intervals (>180 min). The experience-dependent induction of multiple plasticity-related genes in the hippocampus during early REM adds experimental support to the synaptic embossing theory.

As relações da tríplice hélice nas fundações de apoio brasileiras: uma avaliação da dinâmica de captação de recursos para projetos de inovação

Foundations support constitute one of the types of legal entities of private law forged with the purpose of supporting research projects, education and extension and institutional, scientific and technological development of Brazil. Observed as links of the relationship between company, university, and government, foundations supporting emerge in the Brazilian scene from the principle to establish an economic platform of development based on three pillars: science, technology and innovation – ST&I. In applied terms, these ones operate as tools of debureaucratisation making the management between public entities more agile, especially in the academic management in accordance with the approach of Triple Helix. From the exposed, the present study has as purpose understanding how the relation of Triple Helix intervenes in the fund-raising process of Brazilian foundations support. To understand the relations submitted, it was used the interaction models University-Company-Government recommended by Sábato and Botana (1968), the approach of the Triple Helix proposed by Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (2000), as well as the perspective of the national innovation systems discussed by Freeman (1987, 1995), Nelson (1990, 1993) and Lundvall (1992). The research object of this study consists of 26 state foundations that support research associated with the National Council of the State Foundations of Supporting Research - CONFAP, as well as the 102 foundations in support of IES associated with the National Council of Foundations of Support for Institutions of Higher Education and Scientific and Technological Research – CONFIES, totaling 128 entities. As a research strategy, this study is considered as an applied research with a quantitative approach. Primary research data were collected using the e-mail Survey procedure. Seventy-five observations were collected, which corresponds to 58.59% of the research universe. It is considering the use of the bootstrap method in order to validate the use of the sample in the analysis of results. For data analysis, it was used descriptive statistics and multivariate data analysis techniques: the cluster analysis; the canonical correlation and the binary logistic regression. From the obtained canonical roots, the results indicated that the dependency relationship between the variables of relations (with the actors of the Triple Helix) and the financial resources invested in innovation projects is low, assuming the null hypothesis of this study, that the relations of the Triple Helix do not have interfered positively or negatively in raising funds for investments in innovation projects. On the other hand, the results obtained with the cluster analysis indicate that entities which have greater quantitative and financial amounts of projects are mostly large foundations (over 100 employees), which support up to five IES, publish management reports and use in their capital structure, greater financing of the public department. Finally, it is pertinent to note that the power of the classification of the logistic model obtained in this study showed high predictive capacity (80.0%) providing to the academic community replication in environments of similar analysis.

Análise da indexação da Biblioteca Setorial de Química da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte através de um estudo informétrico

Analisa a indexação dos documentos da Biblioteca Setorial de Química através de um estudo informétrico na ferramenta de busca do Sistema de Bibliotecas (SISBI) da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). Descreve um estudo informétrico realizado na ferramenta de busca do SISBI da UFRN, sendo feita direcionada para os documentos Biblioteca Setorial de Química. Enfoca a importância do estudo informétrico para analisar a recuperação da informação relacionada à indexação. Aborda a relação da informetria com a indexação e recuperação da informação com o intuito de que o profissional bibliotecário seja mais analítico e tenha uma compreensão maior do campo da ciência da informação. Utiliza de uma metodologia de consultas de assuntos pré-definidos, sendo feita uma filtragem de forma quantitativa com o objetivo de verificar se a indexação dos documentos está sendo satisfatória para a recuperação da informação na ferramenta de busca do SISBI. Constata a relevância dos documentos em cada busca sua precisão e revocação, mostrando que para haver uma boa recuperação da informação tem que a indexação seja feita de forma que não haja ambiguidade com outros termos, com isso mostra a importância de sempre ser feito um estudo informétrico com que verifique a recuperação da informação para que possa sempre haver uma melhora na mesma.

Da bancada ao Bureau: análise do desenvolvimento da biotecnologia no Nordeste Brasileiro sob o enfoque de Sistema Regional de Inovação

The starting point of the present work consisted of investigating the development of biotechnology in the Northeast region of Brazil from the perspective of a Regional Innovation System (RIS). The theoretical framework adopted relied on the approaches and concepts presented by the Neo-Schumpeterian perspective. This framework was chosen because, by means of the Innovation System concept, this literature allows us to analyze the relationships and configurations of actors, as well as the role of the state and of social, science and technology, and economic policies in the studied region. The analysis considered four selected dimensions: physical infrastructure, human capital, scientific production, and funding. These variables were chosen because they allow us to verify the possibilities and limitations of developing a biotechnology RIS in the Northeast of Brazil, and these elements would help in answering the question behind this dissertation. The location of the physical infrastructure was determined by means of bibliographic and documental research and interviews with heads of institutions that do biotechnology research. Regarding human capital, the analysis focused on resource training in biotechnology, highlighting graduate courses and research groups in the area. To measure knowledge production, we delimited scientific collaboration among researchers in the field of biotechnology as the focus of this category. For the funding dimension, information was gathered from reports available at the websites of national and state funding agencies. The data was analyzed through method triangulation, involving quantitative and qualitative research stages. To back the analyses, we revisited the integration policies in the area of Science, Technology and Innovation. Our analysis has shown that these policies play a crucial role in the development of biotechnology in the region being studied. The data revealed that the physical infrastructure is concentrated in only three states (Bahia, Ceará, and Pernambuco). In this regard, the Northeast Biotechnology Network (Renorbio) stands out as a strategic actor, enabling states with poor infrastructure to develop research through partnerships with institutions located in another state. We have also verified that the practices involving human resource training and knowledge production are factors that enable the emergence of a regional system for biotechnology in the studied region. As limitations, we have verified the low immersion level of regional actors, the heterogeneity of socioeconomic indicators, the lack of financial resources, and a low innovation culture in the business sector. Overall, we have concluded that the development of a Regional Innovation System in Biotechnology, based on the current regional dynamics, depends on an effective change in the behavior of the social agents involved, both in the national and regional dimensions as well as in the public and private spheres

A cientometria revisitada à luz da expansão da ciência, da tecnologia e da inovação

VANTI, Nadia. A cientometria revisitada à luz da expansão da ciência, da tecnologia e da inovação. PontodeAcesso, Salvador, v. 5, p. 5-31, 2011

Coevolução e as práticas isomórficas de gestão: um estudo sobre os processos de mudanças institucionais no Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do RN

The Federal Institution for Education, Science and Technology, in its historical path, has been living different changes. The transformations occurred along the way have been determined by coercive forces from the institutional environment, which has became more and more broad and complex throughout the time, obtaining diverse characteristics and new elements such as non institutional factors1 which started to contribute with the other changes. In this context, this work aims to study the isomorphic practices of the managers in the institutional changes process of the IFRN in 1998 and 2008, as of a theoretical coevolutionary perspective (CHILD; RODRIGUES; LEWIN; CARROL; VOLBERDA, 2003). This theory brings a new point of view for the organization analysis to the organizational studies, since it offers a non deterministic and non linear lection of the evolution process, which means, a coevolution. Thus, the organizations and their institutional and non institutional environment auto evolve, auto organize and auto reproduce. Therefore, the institutional and non institutional factors of the macro environment keep a continuous interdependence relationship with the organizations. For the means of this study, it is important to understand that is impossible to comprehend the object, the isomorphic practices, without considering that the previous institutional changes and its evolutions, its continuations and discontinuations, important in the coevolution process. As such, to call upon the institutional historical track is a fundamental aspect to materialize this study, for the recursive movement is indeed present in the coevolution. Another important point to make this research effective is that it is not possible to abdicate from the hologramatic view2 of this study, which considers the object, the isomorphic practices, part of the whole and this whole is also in the parts, therefore it is impossible to comprehend the object of study outside the context where it belongs. With this, as of the objective previously proposed, it is necessary to describe the characteristics of coevolution of the institutional changes related in 1998 and 2008; analyze the dynamic of the isomorphic mechanisms in its respective institutional change process; and describe the lessons learned which the isomorphic practices left to the IFRN, regarding its benefits and difficulties. All these transformations happened through coercive forces3 of the institutional environment. As of the Nineties, these forces became stronger, the environment became broader and more complex, with the emergency of new environmental factors. This study proposed to study the managing process and its practices, related to the micro environment, although it is required to articulate these actions, the demands and requirements from the macro environment. To make this research effective, semi structured interviews have been conducted with the managers who participated in both institutional change processes. In the results analysis, it has been possible to verify the particularity of each change, the one from 1998 with a strong normative action of the managers against coercive forces from the government for the search of recognition and the institutional legitimation and the one in 2008, which has been characterized by the normative action by managers in agreement with the coercive forces from the government, in favor of the government policy for the technological professional education. However, the results analysis it is possible to notice the evidence of a belonging feeling from the interviewed managers

Uma metodologia para a análise do desempenho sustentável dos postos de revenda de combustível na cidade de Natal/RN, com o uso de data envelopment analysis-DEA

The increasing use of fossil fuels in line with cities demographic explosion carries out to huge environmental impact in society. For mitigate these social impacts, regulatory requirements have positively influenced the environmental consciousness of society, as well as, the strategic behavior of businesses. Along with this environmental awareness, the regulatory organs have conquered and formulated new laws to control potentially polluting activities, mostly in the gas stations sector. Seeking for increasing market competitiveness, this sector needs to quickly respond to internal and external pressures, adapting to the new standards required in a strategic way to get the Green Badge . Gas stations have incorporated new strategies to attract and retain new customers whom present increasingly social demand. In the social dimension, these projects help the local economy by generating jobs and income distribution. In this survey, the present research aims to align the social, economic and environmental dimensions to set the sustainable performance indicators at Gas Stations sector in the city of Natal/RN. The Sustainable Balanced Scorecard (SBSC) framework was create with a set of indicators for mapping the production process of gas stations. This mapping aimed at identifying operational inefficiencies through multidimensional indicators. To carry out this research, was developed a system for evaluating the sustainability performance with application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) through a quantitative method approach to detect system s efficiency level. In order to understand the systemic complexity, sub organizational processes were analyzed by the technique Network Data Envelopment Analysis (NDEA) figuring their micro activities to identify and diagnose the real causes of overall inefficiency. The sample size comprised 33 Gas stations and the conceptual model included 15 indicators distributed in the three dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental and economic. These three dimensions were measured by means of classical models DEA-CCR input oriented. To unify performance score of individual dimensions, was designed a unique grouping index based upon two means: arithmetic and weighted. After this, another analysis was performed to measure the four perspectives of SBSC: learning and growth, internal processes, customers, and financial, unifying, by averaging the performance scores. NDEA results showed that no company was assessed with excellence in sustainability performance. Some NDEA higher efficiency Gas Stations proved to be inefficient under certain perspectives of SBSC. In the sequence, a comparative sustainable performance and assessment analyzes among the gas station was done, enabling entrepreneurs evaluate their performance in the market competitors. Diagnoses were also obtained to support the decision making of entrepreneurs in improving the management of organizational resources and promote guidelines the regulators. Finally, the average index of sustainable performance was 69.42%, representing the efforts of the environmental suitability of the Gas station. This results point out a significant awareness of this segment, but it still needs further action to enhance sustainability in the long term

O sensível no trabalho docente: representação social entre docentes do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Norte

The aim of this study was to analyze the social representation of the sensible among teachers of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Norte, attempting to identify its constituents and understand the dynamics that gives functionality to your organization. The study is significant considering that the professional conduct can not be delineated in its complexity without unraveling the social representations that teachers themselves have of their being and doing professional. The theoretical and methodological framework of the research is the theory of social representation. 107 teachers from various backgrounds participated. To collect the data were used as instruments : a questionnaire listing, which subsidizes the characterization of the subjects , the TALP - technique of free association of words ( ABRIC , 1994) , the PCM - Procedure for Multiple Ratings ( ROAZZI , 1995) ; questionnaire redemption of sensitive memories of the subjects in their school experiences of childhood , adolescence, youth and teaching practice . The PCM data, in which the slogan was directed at rating Give class, were submitted to multidimensional statistical analysis. Already TALP was analyzed by EVOC 2000 software, the profile questionnaire received descriptive statistical analysis and the memories received the questionnaire analysis of thematic content, Bardin (2004). Taken together, the results point to a social representation of sensitive teaching (the game, the fun, the touch, the smile, the relaxation) are not in the classroom. The sensitive pure still fits in school, but only in the courtyard, on the playground, in the intervals, therefore, outside of space-time class, playful perch that lives in each of us is totally strange to this world of the classroom . After doing the Approximation of ideas , we realized three discourses evident in the reports of teachers : the discourse of Numbness in which we perceive the distance of the teacher in relation to sensitive component as a facilitator in the learning process , the discourse of Feeling , in which we can discern small approximation to the sensitive dialogues and proposed in this study , the speech of reflection in which teachers analyze, evaluate and establish a discourse on the importance of education in sensitive , but not actualize in their teaching practice

A desistência de alunos na licenciatura em física no Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN): causas e sugestões para o combate

This dissertation proposes studying the issue of withdrawal undergraduate in physics at the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN) and collaborate with suggestions for dealing with this problem. The first chapter begins with an overview of two significant problems in the Brazilian educational system: the high dropout rates in degrees in physics and the lack of teachers with specific training in this science. Then, we discuss the relevance of this research to the area of physics teaching, as well as justify its completion as part of a professional master's degree. After, we present a proper definition for the term withdrawal, which is based on the existing problem in the IFRN. And, in the same chapter, we explicitly the focus, the objectives and the methodological aspects of this work. The results obtained in our investigation are presented in next four chapters. In the second chapter of this dissertation, we present: a brief history of the creation of IFRN degree in physics, the functioning of this course and the foundation of classrooms 2004.2 and 2006.1. We also show a kind of map of the withdrawal of the groups investigated (the dropout rate was 84.4% in both groups) and an analysis of the relationship between the curricula of each of them and the number of dropouts. In the third chapter, we display a descriptive statistics of the students which dropout and found that the largest dropout occurred with students who are women, married, parents of one kid; workers, joined with a minimum age of 23 years and completed high school at least 6 years. Then in the fourth chapter, we reveal and discuss the students' reports on the causes of their dropout. From the data presented, we can say that the answer to the question "What was the main reason for your dropout?" Is mainly in personal injury claims: another option for upper-level course and lack of time to devote to the course. In the fifth chapter, we show the results related to teacher s opinions about the phenomenon in question. We detected three main causes for the abandonment, according to teachers: the lack of dedication, the lack of interest and lack of integration in the course. In the sixth and final chapter, we discuss the results and present our conclusion and the proposed report - the product of this dissertation, presented as Annex. This report contains mainly suggestions for curricular and institutional actions that can contribute to reducing the dropout degree in Physics in the IFRN. The main actions suggested are: implementation of the curriculum in disciplines, implementation of programs or actions to combat this poor content of basic training, implementation of specific programs or actions for the student worker, and dissemination of IFRN degree in physics in schools through seminars or workshops

As múltiplas faces da evasão na educação superior a distância: a experiência do curso de tecnologia em gestão ambiental do IFRN em dois pólos de apoio presencial

This research presents a reflection on the dropout rates in higher education courses available through distance education in a context marked by deep changes in various spheres of society and by the uncontrolled growth of this educational method. For this, the object of analysis is related to the reality of students of Technology in Environmental Management offered by the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia, Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Brazil, through the distance education in presence support poles located in Mossoró (RN) and Martins (RN). In this field research development several strategies of data collection are used, such as participant observation of reality; analysis of documents related to distance education and to the classes in Technology in Environmental Management; questionnaires answered by students who dropped the course. The results of such research enable us to say that the dropout rates in distance higher education is mainly referred to the consequences of a combination of aspects involved in the course development, personal difficulties faced by students during the period they attend the lessons and elements inherent in the context in which the course and students are inserted. Nevertheless there are specific situations in which the student may drop the program due to the influence of a single aspect, whether it is inherent in the development of the course, a personal situation, or even a factor determined by the context in which the course or the student belongs to

A cientometria revisitada à luz da expansão da ciência, da tecnologia e da inovação

VANTI, Nadia. A cientometria revisitada à luz da expansão da ciência, da tecnologia e da inovação. PontodeAcesso, Salvador, v. 5, p. 5-31, 2011