Object-oriented Programming Applied to the Development of Structural Analysis and Optimization Software

This paper presents the development of a two-dimensional interactive software environment for structural analysis and optimization based on object-oriented programming using the C++ language. The main feature of the software is the effective integration of several computational tools into graphical user interfaces implemented in the Windows-98 and Windows-NT operating systems. The interfaces simplify data specification in the simulation and optimization of two-dimensional linear elastic problems. NURBS have been used in the software modules to represent geometric and graphical data. Extensions to the analysis of three-dimensional problems have been implemented and are also discussed in this paper.

Practices in primary health care oriented toward the harmful consumption of drugs

Objective To analyze the practices of primary care focused on the harmful consumption of drugs. Method This is a qualitative study, developed with a dialectical-critical approach. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews with 10 employees of a basic health unit (UBS). Results The demands are not accepted, and if they go beyond the barriers shaped by the historical absence of health care practices for drug users and moralistic and preconceived ideologies, they are not reinterpreted as health needs; practices that meet these demands and go beyond the barriers are poor; the functionalist approach, which explains drug use as a disease and considers drug users as deviants, supports the few existing practices. Conclusion primary health care is mistakenly focused on addiction; it lacks structural elements of the production process in health and internal dynamics of the working processes that would foster the development of collective practices.

Knowledge governance, innovation and development

This paper aims to be a very preliminary effort to contribute to a better understanding of the interaction among innovation, competition and intellectual property policies from an evolutionary-developmental perspective. As such, it seeks to build a more coherent framework within which the discussions of both institution building and policy design for development can proceed. In order to accomplish that, the paper introduces the concept of "Knowledge Governance" as an alternative analytical and policy-oriented approach, and suggests that from a public policy/public interest perspective, and within an evolutionary framework, it is a better way to address the problems concerning the production, appropriability and diffusion of knowledge. In doing so, it also intends contribute to broaden the ongoing discussions on the "New Developmentalism".