Los desafíos a la reunificación de China y Taiwán: la Ley Antisecesión (2005) y el Acuerdo Marco de Cooperación Económica (2010)

El presente artículo tiene por objetivo analizar el problema de la reunificación entre la República Popular China y Taiwán en la última década, en el marco de dos hitos: por un lado, la promulgación de la Ley Antisecesión del 14 de marzo de 2005 y, por otro, la firma del Acuerdo Marco de Cooperación Económica el 30 de junio de 2010.

HIV/AIDS risk among female sex workers who use crack in Southern Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To understand the social context of female sex workers who use crack and its impact on HIV/AIDS risk behaviors. METHODODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES: Qualitative study carried out in Foz do Iguaçu, Southern Brazil, in 2003. Twenty-six in-depth interviews and two focus groups were carried out with female commercial sex workers who frequently use crack. In-depth interviews with health providers, community leaders and public policy managers, as well as field observations were also conducted. Transcript data was entered into Atlas.ti software and grounded theory methodology was used to analyze the data and develop a conceptual model as a result of this study. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS: Female sex workers who use crack had low self-perceived HIV risk in spite of being engaged in risky behaviors (e.g. unprotected sex with multiple partners). Physical and sexual violence among clients, occasional and stable partners was widespread jeopardizing negotiation and consistent condom use. According to health providers, community leaders and public policy managers, several female sex workers who use crack are homeless or live in slums, and rarely have access to health services, voluntary counseling and testing, social support, pre-natal and reproductive care. CONCLUSIONS: Female sex workers who use crack experience a plethora of health and social problems, which apparently affect their risks for HIV infection. Low-threshold, user-friendly and gender-tailored interventions should be implemented, in order to increase the access to health and social-support services among this population. Those initiatives might also increase their access to reproductive health in general, and to preventive strategies focusing on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.

SPf66 vaccine trial in Brazil: conceptual framework study design and analytical approach

This paper describes the study population and the study design of the phase III field trial of the SPf66 vaccine in Brazil. Assessment of validity and precision principles necessary for the appropriate evaluation of the protective effect of the vaccine are discussed, as well as the results of the preliminary analyses of the gathered data. The analytical approach for the estimation of the protective effect of the vaccine is presented. This paper provides the conceptual framework for future publications.

Aspectos reprodutivos e dieta alimentar dos ninhegos de Rhinoptynx clamator (Aves: Strigidae) no campus Marco Zero da Universidade Federal do Amapá, Macapá-AP

Este trabalho tem como objetivo relatar os aspectos comportamentais de nidificação, alimentação e desenvolvimento dos ninhegos de Rhinoptynx clamator (Strigidae) em um fragmento florestal no Campus Marco Zero da Universidade Federal do Amapá. Apenas um ninho foi encontrado, no solo e na base de um tucumã Astrocaryum oleatum. Três ovos brancos com manchas marrons foram observados, cuja medida foi de 41 x 35 mm em média. A incubação durou 28 dias e foi efetuada pela fêmea, e o último filhote a nascer viveu apenas dois dias. Os filhotes sobreviventes foram medidos durante o seu desenvolvimento. Durante a estação reprodutiva foram coletadas algumas pelotas de regurgitação, sendo encontrados três tipos de vertebrados: Rattus sp., Micoureus cf. regina e Columbina talpacoti.

Temporal Geobiotic Mapping: a conceptual mapping technique toward visualising geobiotic areas in cross-section

Geobiota are defined by taxic assemblages (i.e., biota) and their defining abiotic breaks, which are mapped in cross-section to reveal past and future biotic boundaries. We term this conceptual approach Temporal Geobiotic Mapping (TGM) and offer it as a conceptual approach for biogeography. TGM is based on geological cross-sectioning, which creates maps based on the distribution of biota and known abiotic factors that drive their distribution, such as climate, topography, soil chemistry and underlying geology. However, the availability of abiotic data is limited for many areas. Unlike other approaches, TGM can be used when there is minimal data available. In order to demonstrate TGM, we use the well-known area in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales (NSW), south-eastern Australia and show how surface processes such as weathering and erosion affect the future distribution of a Moist Basalt Forest taxic assemblage. Biotic areas are best represented visually as maps, which can show transgressions and regressions of biota and abiota over time. Using such maps, a biogeographer can directly compare animal and plant distributions with features in the abiotic environment and may identify significant geographical barriers or pathways that explain biotic distributions.

Después de los 90: agenda de cuestiones educativas

El artículo propone una agenda de "cuestiones educativas" orientada a la reconstitución del lazo entre educación y democracia después de las reformas implementadas en los años 90. Construye previamente un estado de situación caracterizado por la presencia de tres procesos: a. un proceso de des-institucionalización escolar que se expresa tanto en la dificultad de la escuela para sostener un marco normativo sancionado socialmente, como en la crisis de identidad por la que atraviesan las instituciones; b. un proceso de fragmentación del sistema educativo que se diferencia de la tradicional segmentación de los sistemas; c. el agotamiento del instrumental teórico-conceptual con el que tradicionalmente nos hemos propuesto organizar y dar sentido a los fenómenos de la realidad. En este marco el artículo propone: 1. discutir los limites de la modernidad educativa en países periféricos como el nuestro y, en este marco, los de la pedagogía moderna para superar las problemáticas de discriminación y exclusión educativa; 2. rediscutir el concepto de ciudadanía y el papel de la escuela en la formación ciudadana; 3. repensar y discutir el papel del conocimiento y la investigación en la modificación de las practicas políticas y pedagógicas.

Las competencias desde la perspectiva informacional: apuntes introductorios a nivel terminológico y conceptual, escenarios e iniciativas

En la actualidad, las organizaciones tienen que enfrentar los cambios en la tecnología, adecuarse a la nueva organización del trabajo y lograr ventajas en el mercado. Para ello, las competencias de los individuos juegan un papel vital, y su gestión se convierte en factor clave para la supervivencia de las mismas. Este enfoque de competencias laborales y/o profesionales, unido a la sociedad de hoy, llamada de la información hace imprescindible las competencias informacionales. Para poder llevar a cabo un estudio aplicado sobre éstas es preciso contar con un acervo teórico-conceptual. A partir de ello, este trabajo tiene como objetivos mostrar, tomando en cuenta primeramente el concepto de competencias, qué se entiende por competencias informacionales a nivel terminológico y conceptual; demostrar, mediante los diferentes escenarios, cómo las competencias informacionales se imponen; y mostrar mediante las distintas iniciativas cómo cada vez resulta más importante su gestión. El trabajo se basa en el análisis documental.

Information literacy - historical and conceptual bases: constructing meanings

Recent years have witnessed the increasing interest in studies focused on information literacy, which is reflected mainly in the number of publications on the subject and goes beyond the fields of Librarianship and Information Science. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to offer an outlook, historical and conceptual, of international researches on information literacy, trying to show some of the different ramifications which the discussion on the subject has exhibited in past few years in countries where its process of legitimation is already well established, in order to illuminate possible areas of research and action for the librarian professional. This research indicates that if the initial studies on this topic tended to be devoted to conceptualize it, discussing its relevance and determine the skills and knowledge related to information literacy, in the last decade can be noticed a proliferation of researches aimed at describing initiatives or proposing models in areas beyond the usual field such as Medical Sciences, Law, Politics or Computers, among others. The first results of this research refer to a philosophical and educational perspective of information literacy, which suggests the need for deeper understanding and characterization of information literacy in four dimensions: technical, aesthetic, ethical and political, serving both to competence as to information.

Do general chemistry textbooks facilitate conceptual understanding?

Research in chemistry education has recognized the need for facilitating students' understanding of different concepts. In contrast, most general chemistry curricula and textbooks not only ignore the context in which science progresses but also emphasize rote learning and algorithmic strategies. A historical reconstruction of scientific progress shows that it inevitably leads to controversy and debate, which can arouse students' interest and thus facilitate understanding. The objective of this article is to review research related to the evaluation of general chemistry textbooks (based on history and philosophy of science, HPS) and suggest alternatives that can facilitate conceptual understanding.

Caracterización de la reactividad intrínseca de los halobencenos en el modelo conceptual de la teoría de funcionales de la densidad (TFD)

The aim of this paper is to study the family of halobenzenes for characterizing their intrinsic reactivity and in this way to establish a rational order of the intrinsic reactivity of this family of molecules in the electrophilic aromatic substitution. This study was carried out in the framework of Density Functional Theory which provides a global and local index that can be used in the characterization of the reactivity. This index is related to some concept derivatives of experimental chemistry, being a good approach to the characterization of halobenzenes.

Propuesta de un test para determinar el conocimiento conceptual de estudiantes universitarios sobre la constante de equilibrio químico y su aplicación en estudiantes españoles

This article outlines a procedure that was used to develop a written test for evaluating the conceptual knowledge of chemical equilibrium constant among university students. The concepts in the subject matter were carefully defined through propositional statements. Students' understanding of the topic was determined through interviews. These data were used to produce nine multiple choice questions. Each question was designed to identify misconceptions related to the chemical equilibrium constant. The test was evaluated by foure associate professors and was administred to a total of 196 spanish university students. This test has a Cronbach's alpha reliability of 0.63 and its content validity values ranged from 3.7 to 5.

A caracterização da lógica pela força assertórica em frege. Resposta a Marco Ruffino

Segundo a caracterização padrão da lógica nos escritos fregeanos, a palavra "verdadeiro" indica a essência da lógica, assim como a palavra "bom" indica a essência da ética e a palavra "belo" a essência da estética. Num escrito póstumo de 1915, porém, Frege afirma que é a força assertórica, e não a palavra "verdadeiro", que indica a essência da lógica. Prima facie, esta correção está em conflito com a crítica fregeana à concepção psicologista da lógica. Pois, segundo esta crítica, a lógica não é a ciência das leis "do ser tomado como verdadeiro", mas a ciência das leis "do ser verdadeiro", ao passo que a força assertórica expressa o ser tomado como verdadeiro. Em escritos anteriores, tentei resolver este conflito por uma reconstrução da concepção fregeana da verdade baseada na tese fregeana de que verdade é expressa na linguagem natural pela "forma da sentença assertórica". A meta do presente trabalho é defender esta interpretação contra as objeções recentemente feitas por Marco Ruffino.

Boundless thought. The case of conceptual mental episodes

I present and defend here a thesis named vehicleless externalism for conceptual mental episodes. According to it, the constitutive relations there are between the production of conceptual mental episodes by an individual and the inclusion of this individual in social discursive practices make it non-necessary to equate, even partially, conceptual mental episodes with the occurrence of physical events inside of that individual. Conceptual mental episodes do not have subpersonal vehicles; they have owners: persons in interpretational practices. That thesis is grounded on inferentialism and on the endorsement of the idea that "meaning is normative". After having recapitulated this heritage and after having presented that thesis, the paper especially attempts to articulate how, in that framework, we may then positively conceive the relations there are between conceptual mental episodes, intracranial events and inferential behaviour.