The current financial and economic crisis: empirical and methodological issues

In this paper we describe the main causes of the recent financial crisis as a result of many theoretical, methodological, and practical shortcomings mostly according to heterodox, but also including some important orthodox economists. At theoretical level, there are problems concerning teaching and using economic models with overly unrealistic assumptions. In the methodological front, we find the unsuspected shadow of Milton Friedman’s ‘unrealisticism of assumptions’ thesis lurking behind the construction of this kind of models and the widespread neglect of methodological issues. Of course, the most evident shortcomings are at the practical level: (i) huge interests of the participants in the financial markets (banks, central bankers, regulators, rating agencies mortgage brokers, politicians, governments, executives, economists, etc. mainly in the US, Canada and Europe, but also in Japan and the rest of the world), (ii) in an almost completely free financial and economic market, that is, one (almost) without any regulation or supervision, (iii) decision-taking upon some not well regarded qualities, like irresponsibility, ignorance, and inertia; and (iv) difficulties to understand the current crisis as well as some biases directing economic rescues by governments. Following many others, we propose that we take this episode as an opportunity to reflect on, and hopefully redirect, economic theory and practice.

História e música: canção popular e conhecimento histórico

Esse trabalho procura levantar e discutir algumas questões teóricas e metodológicas que surgem das relações entre História, música e a canção popular. As transformações teóricas, as novas concepções de material documental e a prática renovada do historiador determinaram a incorporação de novas linguagens pela História. Seguindo nessa trilha, o artigo pretende justamente mostrar, a partir de uma perspectiva interdisciplinar, como as relações entre história, cultura e música popular podem desvendar processos pouco conhecidos e raramente levantados pela historiografia. Para alcançar esse objetivo é necessário ultrapassar a tradicional concepção de história da música e, para isso, tenta-se refletir e organizar alguns elementos para compreender melhor as múltiplas relações entre a canção e o conhecimento histórico. A discussão aponta para a possibilidade e, principalmente, a viabilidade do historiador tratar a música e a canção popular como uma fonte documental importante para mapear e desvendar zonas obscuras da história, sobretudo aquelas relacionadas com os setores subalternos e populares.

The ecological causes of individual specialisation

University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleNational Science Foundation (NSF)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Measurement of melatonin in body fluids: Standards, protocols and procedures

Background and Purpose: The circadian rhythm of melatonin in saliva or plasma, or of the melatonin metabolite 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (a6MTs) in urine, is a defining feature of suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) function, the body's endogenous oscillatory pacemaker. The primary objective of this review is to ascertain the clinical benefits and limitations of current methodologies employed for detection and quantification of melatonin in biological fluids and tissues. Data Identification: A search of the English-language literature (Medline) and a systematic review of published articles were carried out. Study Selection: Articles that specified both the methodology for quantifying melatonin and indicated the clinical purpose were chosen for inclusion in the review. Data Extraction: The authors critically evaluated the methodological issues associated with various tools and techniques (e.g. standards, protocols, and procedures). Results of Data Synthesis: Melatonin measurements are useful for evaluating problems related to the onset or offset of sleep and for assessing phase delays or advances of rhythms in entrained individuals. They have also become an important tool for psychiatric diagnosis, their use being recommended for phase typing in patients suffering from sleep and mood disorders. Additionally, there has been a continuous interest in the use of melatonin as a marker for neoplasms of the pineal region. Melatonin decreases such as found with aging are or post pinealectomy can cause alterations in the sleep/wake cycle. The development of sensitive and selective methods for the precise detection of melatonin in tissues and fluids has increasingly been shown to have direct relevance for clinical decision making. Conclusions: Due to melatonin's low concentration, as well as the coexistence of numerous other compounds in the blood, the routine determination of melatonin has been an analytical challenge. The available evidence indicates however that these challenges can be overcome and consequently that evaluation of melatonin's presence and activity can be an accessible and useful tool for clinical diagnosis. © Springer-Verlag 2010.

Multidimensionalidade das unidades territoriais camponesas do município de Teodoro Sampaio

Pós-graduação em Geografia - FCT

Percepção dos gestores de saúde sobre o Centro de Referência em Saúde do Trabalhador – CEREST

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Ensino de temas da genética contemporânea: análise das contribuições de um curso de formação continuada

Pós-graduação em Educação para a Ciência - FC

O Teatro da Memória: o Museu Histórico de Londrina : 1959-200

Pós-graduação em História - FCLAS

Gradiente latitudinal de riqueza de espécies e regra de Rapoport: uma meta análise

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Questões teóricas e metodológicas das pesquisas com crianças: algumas reflexões

Thinking about research with children, giving time and voice to them is a discussion that is still fresh. Thus, in order to establish some reflections on the theoretical and methodological issues in research with children, we hope with this article to give visibility to the theoretical assumptions of authors who are concerned to place the child and childhood in the center of the research process. Thus, contributing to this discussion, this text is divided into three stages: initially bring some contributions of sociology of childhood and the various fields of knowledge to think about research with children. Secondly, we propose to discuss some methods and procedures that may favor the development of research with children. When we trace the historical development related to research with children and recover the concept of childhood and child while being active and producer of culture, we headed for the third time this work presents some results and conclusions, which can direct our gaze on pursuit of research instruments that capture what children think, feel and build in the world that they live and live together.

A pesquisa sobre o fazer pesquisa: uma análise de citação da literatura periódica em Ciência da Informação

Introduction: This paper considers that information science (IS) literature covers a diversity of thematics with low emphasis on researches about conducting research. The study analyzes the scientific production of authors who investigate about research methodology in the information science (IS) literature, and the references used to lay the foundation of the methodological issues regarding the area. It discusses the methodological and epistemological positions of the leading researchers highlighted as the most productive investigators on the subject in the country. Method: The research adopts the content analysis coupled with metric studies to contextualize the indicators related to productivity, to the types of authorship and citation analysis. The bibliographic coupling method is considered an analysis mode which analyzes concomitant citations. It develops a theoretical framework about the importance of scientific production analysis in different knowledge fields. The study investigates, from a theoretical perspective, the concepts about research methodology and the complementarity between methodology and epistemology in conducting research. Results: The results of the analysis showed that the production of the highlighted authors presents the methodology as a thematic focus to be applied to IS contexts, as well as a research object in the field. The prominent productivity of the authors is justified especially by deepening the meta studies about the ways to conduct research in IS. This study also identifies a trend to single-authored studies about the theme. Conclusions: The research considers that meta studies and applied and methodological studies are important to recognize a consistent theoretical and practical core in the IS area. Regarding the epistemological influences identified by the citation analysis, the study observes that the critical rationalist epistemology and the social and political epistemology are highlighted in the construction of the theoretical framework of the most productive authors.

Gramática Discursivo-Funcional e os estudos tipológicos: um exercício de análise das línguas indígenas do Brasil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento em Pesquisa (CNPq)

Memória e historiografia no documentário: o fim e o princípio de Eduardo Coutinho

Pós-graduação em Ciências Sociais - FFC

A geografia agrária brasileira: dinâmica, variada e complexa

This paper is a contribution to the debate on the methodological issues surrounding the Land Geography, demonstrating why the Brazilian Agrarian Geography is dynamic, varied and complex. It was chosen as the theme of Research Groups in Geography Agrarian present in Directory Groups CNPq and they held on a characterization considering: home institution, location, year of training, Group name, words and lines of research. The survey allowed the treatment of 70 groups in 2009 had the agrarian geography, agriculture, rural development, rural, rural areas, organization of space and rural development as guiding their research and performances. The analysis of the research lines identifi ed groups concerned with economic, political, ecological, demographic and cultural, and also found concerns with farmers, with their production and the functioning of the agricultural system, being thus, the set of raised lines one can say that there is signifi cant diversity in themes, which reinforces the hypothesis of dynamism, variety and complexity of studies on agriculture today.

Educação e economia solidária: contribuições da pedagogia da alternância para a formação dos catadores de materiais recicláveis

This text presents the Pedagogy of Alternating methodology, highlighting its contribution to re-think the formation of catadores of recycling materials (rubbish collectors). Whereas the use of this approach in the urban area is unusual, the goal of the article is to initiate a debate to promote further elaborations. Initially an overview of the Pedagogy of Alternating is presented and the main instruments used in this approach are commented. Two theoretical and methodological issues are indicated as challenges for catadores formation: the relations between Education and Work and the relations between Theory and Practice. The need to overcome dichotomy between these dimensions of human activity (that predominates in today's society) is defended. The catadores work reveals the exclusion of these workers of less organized sectors of production chains, with few opportunities to obtain better income and qualification. Overcome this gap requires an intense training to turn the catadores in recycling workers . To reach this goal the implementation of Alternating experiences between study and work in cooperatives and schools is not enough. A deep transformation is needed over the ways and subjects of both study and work, in order to create emancipating activities that promotes a full development of these workers.