The USAID and the teaching of mathematics in Rio Grande do Norte

In the 1960s occurred great changes in the general education and, specially in the mathematical teaching, throughout Brazil. Besides the Law Diretrizes e Bases for Education (law 4024/1961), such changes also was occurred by opposite educational movements. In one side, those ones that valorized the popular education and culture and, for the other side, the international agreements between universities and government organs, like SUDENE and MEC, with United States Agency for International Development (USAID). These agreements purposed the cultural alignment. In this article we will expose some of these agreements and their interference in two courses for teachers' education. These teachers taught mathematics for the elementary school, in Rio Grande do Norte.

INVESTIGATING THE PRESENCE OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN UNIVERSITY GENERAL CHEMISTRY TEXTBOOKS

INVESTIGATING THE PRESENCE OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN UNIVERSITY GENERAL CHEMISTRY TEXTBOOKS. This paper aims at analyzing the history of science content of three general chemistry textbooks used in Brazilian universities: the translations of Kotz and Treichel's Chemistry & Chemical Reactivity, Atkins and Jones's Chemical Principles, and Garritz and Chamizo's Quimica. Results revealed different trends for the inclusion of history of science in chemistry teaching. Katz & Treichel and Atkins & Jones used history mainly as curiosity and ornament. Garritz & Chamizo adopted the historical approach as one of the organizing axis of their textbook. Nevertheless, the historical content of the three textbooks may be criticized from current historiographical standpoint.

Molecular method for the characterization of Coxiella burnetii from clinical and environmental samples: variability of genotypes in Spain

[EN] Background. Coxiella burnetii is a highly clonal microorganism which is difficult to culture, requiring BSL3 conditions for its propagation. This leads to a scarce availability of isolates worldwide. On the other hand, published methods of characterization have delineated up to 8 different genomic groups and 36 genotypes. However, all these methodologies, with the exception of one that exhibited limited discriminatory power (3 genotypes), rely on performing between 10 and 20 PCR amplifications or sequencing long fragments of DNA, which make their direct application to clinical samples impracticable and leads to a scarce accessibility of data on the circulation of C. burnetii genotypes. Results: To assess the variability of this organism in Spain, we have developed a novel method that consists of a multiplex (8 targets) PCR and hybridization with specific probes that reproduce the previous classification of this organism into 8 genomic groups, and up to 16 genotypes. It allows for a direct characterization from clinical and environmental samples in a single run, which will help in the study of the different genotypes circulating in wild and domestic cycles as well as from sporadic human cases and outbreaks. The method has been validated with reference isolates. A high variability of C. burnetii has been found in Spain among 90 samples tested, detecting 10 different genotypes, being those adaA negative associated with acute Q fever cases presenting as fever of intermediate duration with liver involvement and with chronic cases. Genotypes infecting humans are also found in sheep, goats, rats, wild boar and ticks, and the only genotype found in cattle has never been found among our clinical samples. Conclusions: This newly developed methodology has permitted to demonstrate that C. burnetii is highly variable in Spain. With the data presented here, cattle seem not to participate in the transmission of C. burnetii to humans in the samples studied, while sheep, goats, wild boar, rats and ticks share genotypes with the human population.

History of Restoration in Iran: Origins and Developments from 1900 to 1978

This thesis tends to study the origins and developments of the restoration in Iran from its very first moments till the Islamic revolution of 1978. The thesis is its first study of its kind. While almost all recent occidental ideologies regarding the thematic of restoration and conservation of historic monuments are translated and published in Iran, very little efforts have been done regarding the study of the origins of the formation of restoration in the country. The diversity of Iranian contexts, multiplicity of the intervening factors and other factors characterized a different background for the raise and developments of restoration in the country; in the thesis the influencing and characterizing factors in the formation and development of restoration in Iran will be defined and studied in detail with relative examples; due to the complexity of the Iranian context and in order to consider all influencing and characterizing factors the thesis, parallel to have formation and development of restoration, as the main scope of the research, the developments influencing factors will be confronted with necessary flashbacks to the main theme, when and where necessary. A great care will be given to the period of the activity of the restoration experts of IsMEO which is thesis will be called as the period of the introduction of the modern principles of restoration into Iranian context; the fundamental ideologies, practical and theoretical principles of IsMEO will be identified and studied in details; important case of studies of the restoration of IsMEO will be analyzed in details and the innovative aspect of the presence of Italian experts of IsMEO will be revealed.

An Ethical History of Photography in Combat and of Combat Photography in the United States during World War II

With the United States‘ entry into the Second World War, the word ?censorship? was seen largely as antithetical to, rather than a necessary counterpart to, victory among Americans. People did not want to be censored in their writing, photographs or speech,but it proved to be necessary even before the war began, in order to protect government secrets and the people on the home-front from scenes that were too disturbing. Even before the war had officially begun, there were problems with censorship among journalists and newspapers. The initial response of outrage in reference to censorship in the United States was common among journalists, newspapers, magazines, and radio news; nevertheless, there was a necessity for censorship among Americans, on the home frontand the front lines, and it would be tolerated throughout the war to ensure that enemies of America did not gain access to information that would assist in a defeat of the United States in the Second World War. The research I have conducted has dealt with the censorship of combat photography during World War II, in conjunction with the ethics that were in play at the time that affected the censors. Through exploring the work of three combat photographers — Tony Vaccaro, James R. Stephens and Charles E. Sumners — I wasable to effectively construct an explanatory ethical history of these three men. Research on the censorship and effects it had on the United States brought me to three distinctareas of censorship and ethics that would be explored: (1) the restrictions and limitations enforced by the Office of Censorship, (2) a general overview of war and photography as it influenced the soldiers and their families on the home-front, (3) and the combat photographers and personal and military censorship that influenced their work. Although their work was censored both by the military and the government, these men saw the war in a different light that remained with them long after the battles and war had ceased.Using the narratives of Tony Vaccaro, Charles E. Sumners and James R. Stephens as means for more in depth research, this thesis strives to create lenses through which to view the history and ethics of censorship that shaped combat photography during the Second World War and the images to which we refer as representative of that war today.

History of Art in the Digital Age: Problems and Possibilities

Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist, einen allgemeinen Überblick über die Wirkung von Computern auf die Kunstgeschichte zu geben. Zu Beginn der Arbeit wird der Charakter der informationstechnologischen Revolution untersucht, einschließlich seiner schon oft festgestellten Parallelen mit der "Gutenberg"- Revolution, deren Ausgangspunkt in der Entwicklung der Druckerpresse liegt. Wie auch bei Gutenberg, ist die Entwicklung der Informationstechnologie technologisch bedingt. Jedoch führt sie durch ihren Schwerpunkt auf Flexibilität und Verbreitung an ein anderes Ziel. Diese Flexibilität ist zweischneidig: während sie viele neue Möglichkeiten eröffnet, scheint sie auch einen bruchstückhafteren, iterativen Ansatz zur Untersuchung des Vorzugs von Information vor Wissen anzuregen. Es bleibt jedoch offen, ob dieser Ansatz als notwendige Konsequenz der Struktur dieser vorhandenen neuen Technologie betrachtet werden kann, oder ob er eher als Produkt eines allgemeinen intellektuellen Wandels, angeregt durch das Aufkommen des postmodernen Diskurses, beschrieben werden soll. Ich werde in dem vorliegenden Artikel für den zweitgenannten Grund argumentieren. Ich bin außerdem der Meinung, dass der in der neuen Technologie enthaltenen Tendenz zur Fragmentierung entgegengewirkt werden kann - vorausgesetzt der Wunsch besteht. Die Entwicklung des Computers hängt eng mit der Nachfrage des Konsumenten zusammen. Aus diesem Grund kann ein neuer Trend in der Nachfrage die Art der Ausweitung und Modifizierung technologischer Vorgänge mitbestimmen.Des weiteren werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit Problemstellungen diskutiert, die speziell Auswirkungen auf die Untersuchung von Bildern haben. Hierbei wird sowohl das Potential digitaler Bilder für neue Formen der Erforschung und Analyse diskutiert, als auch die vielen neuen Möglichkeiten im Zeitalter des Internets.

Cortisol levels and history of depression in acute coronary syndrome patients

BACKGROUND: Depressed mood following an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a risk factor for future cardiac morbidity. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation is associated with depression, and may be a process through which depressive symptoms influence later cardiac health. Additionally, a history of depression predicts depressive symptoms in the weeks following ACS. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a history of depression and/or current depression are associated with the HPA axis dysregulation following ACS. METHOD: A total of 152 cardiac patients completed a structured diagnostic interview, a standardized depression questionnaire and a cortisol profile over the day, 3 weeks after an ACS. Cortisol was analysed using: the cortisol awakening response (CAR), total cortisol output estimated using the area under the curve method, and the slope of cortisol decline over the day. RESULTS: Total cortisol output was positively associated with history of depression, after adjustment for age, gender, marital status, ethnicity, smoking status, body mass index (BMI), Global Registry of Acute Cardiac Events (GRACE) risk score, days in hospital, medication with statins and antiplatelet compounds, and current depression score. Men with clinically diagnosed depression after ACS showed a blunted CAR, but the CAR was not related to a history of depression. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with a history of depression showed increased total cortisol output, but this is unlikely to be responsible for associations between depression after ACS and later cardiac morbidity. However, the blunted CAR in patients with severe depression following ACS indicates that HPA dysregulation is present.

Molecular diagnosis of diphyllobothriasis in Spain, most presumably acquired via imported fish, or sojourn abroad

Human diphyllobothriasis is sporadically detected in Spain. Diphyllobothrium latum and Diplogonoporus balaenopterae have been identified. In the study, four cases of presumably imported diphyllobothriasis in Spanish patients were appraised. Molecular diagnosis allowed us to identify 'exotic' fish tapeworms such as Diplogonoporus balaenopterae in one patient and Diphyllobothrium pacificum in the others.

A history of civilisation in Palestine

R. A. S. Macalister

The History of Pathology in Texas

The History of Pathology in Texas is the study of the changes of disease in Texas from the frontier days to the 1990s. Marilyn Miller Baker wrote the book for the Texas Society of Pathologists. The book was published in 1996 with a forward by Vernie A. Stembridge, MD, the Ashbel Smith Professor and Chairman Emeritus of Pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. The book covers the story of pathology from the "performance of crude autopsies" on the frontier through the emergence of bacteriology and immunology and beyond.