O uso do lúdico como inovação pedagógica na aprendizagem de genética: um facilitador no desempenho do aprendiz

A disciplina de Biologia tem encontrado, ao longo de seu percurso, algumas resistências no que se refere ao aprendizado da mesma, particularmente quando se refere aos conteúdos da Genética. Temas complexos relacionados a inúmeras pesquisas genômicas geram polêmicas e levam a discussões, dentro e fora da sala de aula, sobre as sérias implicações de ordem social, ética e moral que advêm desse universo científico. Essa gama de conteúdos relacionados à pesquisa genômica, como organismos transgênicos, clonagem, e especialmente a utilização de células-tronco, leva a discussões sobre os riscos, benefícios e as implicações éticas, sociais e morais provenientes das biotecnologias geradas por essas pesquisas. Para acompanhar essa evolução gerada pelos avanços da ciência, é necessário preparar pessoas com senso crítico e capacidade para participarem dos debates contemporâneos e as implicações que surgem com os avanços científicos e tecnológicos. No entanto, no ensino da Biologia, em especial aquele voltado para a genética, normalmente não existe uma preocupação em familiarizar o aluno com os códigos da ciência, de forma que ele consiga contextualizá-los e relacioná-los com a vida prática e cotidiana, bem como com os aspectos subjetivos com os quais a ciência trata. Este contexto colabora para que o aluno sinta dificuldade em entender e assimilar os conhecimentos dessa pertinência e assim passe a engessar as estatísticas com elevado índice de reprovações na disciplina de Biologia, especialmente nas escolas da rede pública. Portanto, esta pesquisa se desenvolve no sentido de examinar as questões relacionadas à metodologia do ensino tradicional e a prática pedagógica que se utiliza de jogos como instrumentos facilitadores da aprendizagem, buscando, assim, analisar, investigar e verificar as razões das resistências no aprendizado de genética a partir do jogo como instrumento inovador de aprendizagem.

Análise de volatilidade, integração de preços e previsibilidade para o mercado brasileiro de camarão

The present paper has the purpose of investigate the dynamics of the volatility structure in the shrimp prices in the Brazilian fish market. Therefore, a description of the initial aspects of the shrimp price series was made. From this information, statistics tests were made and selected univariate models to be price predictors. Then, it was verified the existence of relationship of long-term equilibrium between the Brazilian and American imported shrimp and if, confirmed the relationship, whether or not there is a causal link between these assets, considering that the two countries had presented trade relations over the years. It is presented as an exploratory research of applied nature with quantitative approach. The database was collected through direct contact with the Companhia de Entrepostos e Armazéns Gerais de São Paulo (CEAGESP) and on the official website of American import, National Marine Fisheries Service - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NMFS- NOAA). The results showed that the great variability in the active price is directly related with the gain and loss of the market agents. The price series presents a strong seasonal and biannual effect. The average structure of price of shrimp in the last 12 years was R$ 11.58 and external factors besides the production and marketing (U.S. antidumping, floods and pathologies) strongly affected the prices. Among the tested models for predicting prices of shrimp, four were selected, which through the prediction methodologies of one step forward of horizon 12, proved to be statistically more robust. It was found that there is weak evidence of long-term equilibrium between the Brazilian and American shrimp, where equivalently, was not found a causal link between them. We concluded that the dynamic pricing of commodity shrimp is strongly influenced by external productive factors and that these phenomena cause seasonal effects in the prices. There is no relationship of long-term stability between the Brazilian and American shrimp prices, but it is known that Brazil imports USA production inputs, which somehow shows some dependence productive. To the market agents, the risk of interferences of the external prices cointegrated to Brazilian is practically inexistent. Through statistical modeling is possible to minimize the risk and uncertainty embedded in the fish market, thus, the sales and marketing strategies for the Brazilian shrimp can be consolidated and widespread

Teoria de carteiras e a alocação de parques eólicos offshore

The consumption of energy on the planet is currently based on fossil fuels. They are responsible for adverse effects on the environment. Renewables propose solutions for this scenario, but must face issues related to the capacity of the power supply. Wind energy offshore emerging as a promising alternative. The speed and stability are greater winds over oceans, but the variability of these may cause inconvenience to the generation of electric power fluctuations. To reduce this, a combination of wind farms geographically distributed was proposed. The greater the distance between them, the lower the correlation between the wind velocity, increasing the likelihood that together achieve more stable power system with less fluctuations in power generation. The efficient use of production capacity of the wind park however, depends on their distribution in marine environments. The objective of this research was to analyze the optimal allocation of wind farms offshore on the east coast of the U.S. by Modern Portfolio Theory. The Modern Portfolio Theory was used so that the process of building portfolios of wind energy offshore contemplate the particularity of intermittency of wind, through calculations of return and risk of the production of wind farms. The research was conducted with 25.934 observations of energy produced by wind farms 11 hypothetical offshore, from the installation of 01 simulated ocean turbine with a capacity of 5 MW. The data show hourly time resolution and covers the period between January 1, 1998 until December 31, 2002. Through the Matlab R software, six were calculated minimum variance portfolios, each for a period of time distinct. Given the inequality of the variability of wind over time, set up four strategies rebalancing to evaluate the performance of the related portfolios, which enabled us to identify the most beneficial to the stability of the wind energy production offshore. The results showed that the production of wind energy for 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 should be considered by the portfolio weights calculated for the same periods, respectively. Energy data for 2002 should use the weights derived from the portfolio calculated in the previous time period. Finally, the production of wind energy in the period 1998-2002 should also be weighted by 1/11. It follows therefore that the portfolios found failed to show reduced levels of variability when compared to the individual production of wind farms hypothetical offshore

Avaliação espaço-temporal do zooplâncton da laguna estuarina de Guaraíras (RN, Brasil)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Estudo do crescimento, eficiência de biofiltração e cinética de absorção de nutrientes (N-NH, N-NO e P-PO4³) da macroalga Gracilaria cervicornis (Turner) J. Agardh

The objective of this study was to examine the growth of Gracilaria cervicornis cultured in a shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) pond and to determine the absorption efficiency and the kinetics parameters (Vmax, Ks e Vmax:Ks) of this macroalgae for the nutrients N-NO3-, N-NH4+ and P-PO4-3, aiming at its use as bioremediatory of eutrophicated environments. For this study, two experiments (field and laboratory) were developed. In the field study, the seaweed was examined in relation to the growth and the biomass. In the laboratory experiment, the absorption efficiency of G. cervicornis was measured through the monitoring of the concentration of the three nutrients (N-NO3-, N-NH4+ e P-PO4-3) during 5 hours and the kinetic parameters were determined through the formula of Michaelis-Menten. The results obtained in this study demonstrated that G. cervicornis benefited from the available nutrients in the pond, increasing 52.4% of its biomass value after 30 days of culture. It was evidenced that the variability of the biomass could be explained through the salinity, availability of light (transparency and solid particle in suspension) and concentration of N-NO3- in the environment. In the laboratory experiment, the highest absorption efficiency was found in the treatments with low concentration (5 µmol.L-1), being evidenced a reduction of up to 85,3%, 97,5% and 81,2% of N-NH4+, N-NO3- and P-PO43-, respectively. Regarding the kinetic parameters, G. cervicornis presented better ability in absorbing N-NH4+ in high concentrations (Vmax = 158,5 µmol g-1 dry wt h-1) and P-PO43- in low concentrations (Ks = 5 µmol.L-1 e Vmax:Ks = 10,3). The results of this study show that G. cervicornis could be cultivated in shrimp ponds, presents a good capacity of absorption for the tested nutrients and is a promising candidate for biorremediation in shrimp pond effluent

Papel da proteína de reparo XPC na regulação das proteínas de reparo APE1, OGG1 e PARP-1 em células humanas e de camundongos

studies using UV as a source of DNA damage. However, even though unrepaired UV-induced DNA damages are related to mutagenesis, cell death and tumorigenesis, they do not explain phenotypes such as neurodegeneration and internal tumors observed in patients with syndromes like Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP) and Cockayne Syndrome (CS) that are associated with NER deficiency. Recent evidences point to a role of NER in the repair of 8-oxodG, a typical substrate of Base Excision Repair (BER). Since deficiencies in BER result in genomic instability, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, it was investigated in this research the impact of XPC deficiency on BER functions in human cells. It was analyzed both the expression and the cellular localization of APE1, OGG1 e PARP-1, the mainly BER enzymes, in different NER-deficient human fibroblasts. The endogenous levels of these enzymes are reduced in XPC deficient cells. Surprisingly, XP-C fibroblasts were more resistant to oxidative agents than the other NER deficient fibroblasts, despite presenting the highest of 8-oxodG. Furthermore, subtle changes in the nuclear and mitochondrial localization of APE1 were detected in XP-C fibroblasts. To confirm the impact of XPC deficiency in the regulation of APE1 and OGG1 expression and activity, we constructed a XPC-complemented cell line. Although the XPC complementation was only partial, we found that XPC-complemented cells presented increased levels of OGG1 than XPC-deficient cells. The extracts from XPC-complemented cells also presented an elevated OGG1 enzimatic activity. However, it was not observed changes in APE1 expression and activity in the XPCcomplemented cells. In addition, we found that full-length APE1 (37 kDa) and OGG1- α are in the mitochondria of XPC-deficient fibroblasts and XPC-complemented fibroblasts before and after induction of oxidative stress. On the other hand, the expression of APE1 and PARP-1 are not altered in brain and liver of XPC knockout mice. However, XPC deficiency changed the APE1 localization in hypoccampus and hypothalamus. We also observed a physical interaction between XPC and APE1 proteins in human cells. In conclusion, the data suggest that XPC protein has a role in the regulation of OGG1 expression and activity in human cells and is involved mainly in the regulation of APE1 localization in mice. Aditionally, the response of NER deficient cells under oxidative stress may not be only associated to the NER deficiency per se, but it may include the new functions of NER enzymes in regulation of expression and cell localization of BER proteins

Identificação de genes MUTM em BACs da cana-de-açucar e caracterização preliminar destes genes e seus promotores

Sugarcane has an importance in Brazil due to sugar and biofuel production. Considering this aspect, there is basic research being done in order to understand its physiology to improve production. The aim of this research is the Base Excision Repair pathway, in special the enzyme MUTM DNA-glycosylase (formamidopyrimidine) which recognizes oxidized guanine in DNA. The sugarcane scMUTM genes were analyzed using four BACs (Bacterial Artificial Chromosome) from a sugarcane genomic library from R570 cultivar. The resulted showed the presence in the region that had homology to scMUTM the presence of transposable elements. Comparing the similarity, it was observed a highest similarity to Sorghum bicolor sequence, both nucleotide and peptide sequences. Furthermore, promoter regions from MUTM genes in some grass showed different cis-regulatory elements, among which, most were related to oxidative stress, suggesting a gene regulation by oxidative stress

Desenvolvimento de nanosistemas farmacêuticos para terapia gênica

Gene therapy is one of the major challenges of the post-genomic research and it is based on the transfer of genetic material into a cell, tissue or organ in order to cure or improve the patient s clinical status. In general, gene therapy consists in the insertion of functional genes aiming substitute, complement or inhibit defective genes. The achievement of a foreigner DNA expression into a population of cells requires its transfer to the target. Therefore, a key issue is to create systems, vectors, able to transfer and protect the DNA until it reaches the target. The disadvantages related to the use of viral vectors have encouraged efforts to develop emulsions as non-viral vectors. In fact, they are easy to produce, present suitable stability and enable transfection. The aim of this work was to evaluate two different non-viral vectors, cationic liposomes and nanoemulsions, and the possibility of their use in gene therapy. For the two systems, cationic lipids and helper lipids were used. Nanoemulsions were prepared using sonication method and were composed of Captex® 355; Tween® 80; Spam® 80; cationic lipid, Stearylamine (SA) or 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammoniumpropane (DOTAP) and water (Milli-Q®). These systems were characterized by average droplet size, Polidispersion Index (PI) and Zeta Potential. The stability of the systems; as well as the DNA compaction capacity; their cytotoxicity and the cytotoxicity of the isolated components; and their transfection capacity; were also evaluated. Liposomes were made by hydration film method and were composed of DOTAP; 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DOPE), containing or not Rhodaminephosphatidylethanolamine (PE- Rhodamine) and the conjugate Hyaluronic Acid DOPE (HA-DOPE). These systems were also characterized as nanoemulsions. Stability of the systems and the influence of time, size of plasmid and presence or absence of endotoxin in the formation of lipoplexes were also analyzed. Besides, the ophthalmic biodistribution of PE-Rhodamine containing liposomes was studied after intravitreal injection. The obtained results show that these systems are promising non-viral vector for further utilization in gene therapy and that this field seems to be very important in the clinical practice in this century. However, from the possibility to the practice, there is still a long way

Identificação de genes em Chromobacterium violaceum relacionados à resposta ao estresse

The sequencing of the genome of Chromobacterium violaceum identified one single circular chromosome of 4.8 Mb, in which approximately 40% of the founded ORFs are classified as hypothetical conserved or hypothetical. Some genic regions of biotechnological and biological interest had been characterized, e. g., environmental detoxification and DNA repair genes, respectively. Given this fact, the aim of this work was to identify genes of C. violaceum related to stress response, as the ones involved with mechanisms of DNA repair and/or genomic integrity maintenance. For this, a genomic library of C. violaceum was built in Escherichia coli strain DH10B (RecA-), in which clones were tested to UVC resistance, resulting in five candidates clones. In the PLH6A clone were identified four ORFs (CV_3721 to 3724). Two ORFs, CV_3722 and CV_3724, were subcloned and a synergic complementation activity was observed. The occurrence of an operon was confirmed using cDNA from C. violaceum in a RT-PCR assay. Further, it was observed the induction of the operon after the treatment with UVC. Thus, this operon was related to the stress response in C. violaceum. The mutagenesis assay with rifampicin after the treatment with UVC light showed high frequency of mutagenicity for the ORF CV_3722 (Pol III δ subunit). In this way, we propose that the C. violaceum δ subunit can act in DH10B in the translesion synthesis using Pol IV in a RecA independent-manner pathway. In growth curve assays other four clones (PLE1G, PLE7B, PLE10B and PLE12H) were able to complement the function at the dose 5 J/m2 and in mutagenicity assays PLE7B, PLE10B and PLE12H showed frequencies of mutation with significant differences upon the control (DH10B), demonstrating that in some way they are involved with the stress response in C. violaceum. These clones appear to be interrelated, probably regulated by a messenger molecule (eg., nucleotide c-di-GMP) and/or global regulatory molecule (eg., σS subunit of RNA polymerase).The results obtained contribute for a better genetic knowledge of this specie and its response mechanisms to environmental stress.

Estrutura genética populacional de Lutjanus analis cioba e Lutjanus jocu dentão (Lutjanidae) ao longo do litoral brasileiro

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Parâmetros citogenéticos de espécies comerciais de carangidae (perciformes), com vistas a sua empregabilidade na conservação biológica e piscicultura marinha

Worldwide, families Carangidae and Rachycentridae represent one of the groups most important commercial fish, used for food, and great potential for marine aquaculture. However, the genetic bases that can underpin the future cultivation of these species, cytogenetic between these aspects are very weak. The chromosomal patterns have provided basic data for the exploration of biotechnological processes aimed at handling chromosomal genetic improvement, such as induction of polyploidy, androgenesis and ginogenesis, as well as obtaining monosex stocks and interspecific hybridizations. This paper presents a comprehensive cytogenetic survey in 10 species, seven of the family Carangidae and the monotypic family Rachycentridae. Classical cytogenetic analysis and in situ mapping of multigene sequences were employed, and additionally for the genus Selene and morphotypes of Caranx lugubris, comparisons were made using geometric morphometrics. In general, conservative species exhibit a marked chromosome number (2n=48). Although present in large part, different karyotypic form, retain many characteristics typical of chromosomal Order Perciformes, the high number of elements monobrachyal, Ag-NORs/18S rDNA sites and heterochromatin simply reduced, preferably centromeric. The main mechanisms involved in karyotypic diversification are the pericentric inversions, with secondary action of centric fusions. In addition to physical mapping and chromosome detail for the species are presented and discussed patterns of intra-and interspecific diversity, cytotaxonomic markers. This data set provides a better understanding of these patterns caryoevolutyonary groups and conditions for the development of protocols based on Biotechnology for chromosomal manipulation Atlantic these species

Simulador de dano à formação, aplicado ao Projeto e à execução da perfuração de poços de petróleo

With the high oil price variability, the petroleum and the reservoir engineers are usually face to face on how they can evaluate the well performance and productivity. They can improve high productivity from the well construction to the secondary recoveries, but they have never tried a measurement in the drilling operations about the lower productivity index. As a rule, frequently the drilling operations hear from the reservoir engineering and geology that, if there is a formation damage, probably some drilling operations practices were not done properly or the good practice in petroleum engineering or mud engineering were not observed. The study in this working search is an attempt of how to measure a formation damage just from the project drilling to the drilling operations, with datum from the fields in Brazilian northeast and putting into practice a Simulator developed from the modeling on the theory offered by different experts and sources in formation damage

Contribuição da Geodésia ao monitoramento costeiro do Litoral Setentrional do Rio Grande do Norte, área de influência da indústria petrolífera

The general objective of this thesis has been seasonal monitoring (quarterly time scale) of coastal and estuarine areas of a section of the Northern Coast of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, environmentally sensitive and with intense sediment erosion in the oil activities to underpin the implementation of projects for containment of erosion and mitigate the impacts of coastal dynamics. In order to achieve the general objective, the work was done systematically in three stages which consisted the specific objectives. The first stage was the implementation of geodetic reference infrastructure for carrying out the geodetic survey of the study area. This process included the implementation of RGLS (Northern Coast of the RN GPS Network), consisting of stations with geodetic coordinates and orthometric heights of precision; positioning of Benchmarks and evaluation of the gravimetric geoid available, for use in GPS altimetry of precision; and development of software for GPS altimetry of precision. The second stage was the development and improvement of methodologies for collection, processing, representation, integration and analysis of CoastLine (CL) and Digital Elevation Models (DEM) obtained by geodetic positioning techniques. As part of this stage have been made since, the choice of equipment and positioning methods to be used, depending on the required precision and structure implanted, and the definition of the LC indicator and of the geodesic references best suited, to coastal monitoring of precision. The third step was the seasonal geodesic monitoring of the study area. It was defined the execution times of the geodetic surveys by analyzing the pattern of sediment dynamics of the study area; the performing of surveys in order to calculate and locate areas and volumes of erosion and accretion (sandy and volumetric sedimentary balance) occurred on CL and on the beaches and islands surfaces throughout the year, and study of correlations between the measured variations (in area and volume) between each survey and the action of the coastal dynamic agents. The results allowed an integrated study of spatial and temporal interrelationships of the causes and consequences of intensive coastal processes operating in the area, especially to the measurement of variability of erosion, transport, balance and supply sedimentary over the annual cycle of construction and destruction of beaches. In the analysis of the results, it was possible to identify the causes and consequences of severe coastal erosion occurred on beaches exposed, to analyze the recovery of beaches and the accretion occurring in tidal inlets and estuaries. From the optics of seasonal variations in the CL, human interventions to erosion contention have been proposed with the aim of restoring the previous situation of the beaches in the process of erosion.

Simulação de fluxo de fluidos em meios porosos desordenados uma análise de efeito de escala na estimativa da permeabilidade e do coeficiente de arrasto

The present study provides a methodology that gives a predictive character the computer simulations based on detailed models of the geometry of a porous medium. We using the software FLUENT to investigate the flow of a viscous Newtonian fluid through a random fractal medium which simplifies a two-dimensional disordered porous medium representing a petroleum reservoir. This fractal model is formed by obstacles of various sizes, whose size distribution function follows a power law where exponent is defined as the fractal dimension of fractionation Dff of the model characterizing the process of fragmentation these obstacles. They are randomly disposed in a rectangular channel. The modeling process incorporates modern concepts, scaling laws, to analyze the influence of heterogeneity found in the fields of the porosity and of the permeability in such a way as to characterize the medium in terms of their fractal properties. This procedure allows numerically analyze the measurements of permeability k and the drag coefficient Cd proposed relationships, like power law, for these properties on various modeling schemes. The purpose of this research is to study the variability provided by these heterogeneities where the velocity field and other details of viscous fluid dynamics are obtained by solving numerically the continuity and Navier-Stokes equations at pore level and observe how the fractal dimension of fractionation of the model can affect their hydrodynamic properties. This study were considered two classes of models, models with constant porosity, MPC, and models with varying porosity, MPV. The results have allowed us to find numerical relationship between the permeability, drag coefficient and the fractal dimension of fractionation of the medium. Based on these numerical results we have proposed scaling relations and algebraic expressions involving the relevant parameters of the phenomenon. In this study analytical equations were determined for Dff depending on the geometrical parameters of the models. We also found a relation between the permeability and the drag coefficient which is inversely proportional to one another. As for the difference in behavior it is most striking in the classes of models MPV. That is, the fact that the porosity vary in these models is an additional factor that plays a significant role in flow analysis. Finally, the results proved satisfactory and consistent, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the referred methodology for all applications analyzed in this study.

Desenvolvimento de metodologias analíticas alternativas por cromatografia gasosa para análise de biodiesel

Since the beginning of the National Program for Production and Use of Biodiesel in Brazil, in 2004, different raw materials were evaluated for biodiesel production, trying to combine the agricultural diversity of the country to the desire to reduce production coasts. To determine the chemical composition of biodiesel produced from common vegetables oils, international methods have been used widely in Brazil. However, for analyzing biodiesel samples produced from some alternative raw materials analytical problems have been detected. That was the case of biodiesel from castor oil. Due the need to overcome these problems, new methodologies were developed using different chromatographic columns, standards and quantitative methods. The priority was simplifying the equipment configuration, realizing faster analyses, reducing the costs and facilitating the routine of biodiesel research and production laboratories. For quantifying free glycerin, the ethylene glycol was used in instead of 1,2,4-butanetriol, without loss of quality results. The ethylene glycol is a cheaper and easier standard. For methanol analyses the headspace was not used and the cost of the equipment used was lower. A detailed determination of the esters helped the deeper knowledge of the biodiesel composition. The report of the experiments and conclusions of the research that resulted in the development of alternative methods for quality control of the composition of the biodiesel produced in Brazil, a country with considerable variability of species in agriculture, are the goals of this thesis and are reported in the following pages