Espectroscopia optogalvânica: alguns aspectos relevantes

In this work we present the optogalvanic effect in ionized gases in an historical perspective. This effect was observed for the first time by Foote and Mohler in 1925, and explained by Penning in 1928 for mixtures (Ne-Ar) and pure gases (or vapours) in 1937. Also, we show some aspects of the contributions of Romenian authors for the development of optogalvanic spectroscopy, which was used as a new technique only after 1964.

Origens da Universidade Brasileira

Higher education was precariously installed in Brazil in colonial times, and during that period it led a difficult life. From the early nineteenth century on several institutions were founded and developed in different parts of the country. Those institutions were kept independent from one another without forming full universities until the beginning of the twentieth century, in a peculiar historical process that sets the country apart in this respect. This article examines this unique development and searches the past for the earliest origins of the nation's present university network.

Microssistemas de análises químicas: introdução, tecnologias de fabricação, instrumentação e aplicações

The amazing world of micro total analysis systems has provided a true revolution in analytical chemistry in recent years. The application of the microfluidic devices for chemical and biochemical processing has attracted considerable interest due to its advantages such as reduced sample and reagent consumption, processing time, energy, waste, cost, and portability. The aim of the present report is to disseminate the state of the art related to the miniaturization science in Analytical Chemistry. Historical progress, microfabrication technologies, required instrumentation and applications of the mTAS are presented in the current article, with special attention to the Brazilian contributions.

Henkilöstöresurssien hallintatyökalun vaatimukset asiantuntijaorganisaatiossa

Yrityksen organisaatiomallin pitää palvella tehokasta toimintaa. Tällä hetkellä tässä yrityksessä resurssipooleihin perustuva organisaatio on katsottu sopivaksi. Sen toivotaan mahdollistavan henkilöstöresurssien tehokas hyödyntäminen. Organisaation muutos vaatii myös toimintatapojen ja joissain tapauksissa tietojärjestelmien muutosta. Tässä tapauksessa siirtyminen uudenlaiseen organisaatioon loi tarpeen uudelle resurssien varaus- ja etsintätoiminnolle ja sitä tukeville tietovarastoille. Vaatimusmäärityksen tuloksena voidaan todeta, että nykyinen ERP-ohjelmisto ei ole paras mahdollinen yrityksen käyttöön, vaikka senkin kanssa yritys kyllä tulee toimeen. Tärkeimpinä vaatimuksina hyvälle hallintasovellukselle voidaan pitää mahdollisuutta seurata työntekijöiden osaamisen ja tietämyksen kehitystä sekä arvioida niiden tasoa, mahdollisuutta varata niin henkilöitä kuin osaamisia ja tehokasta ja muunneltavaa mekanismia henkilöiden valintaan projekteihin. Nykyisessä toteutuksessa henkilöstön osaamisten käsittely on hiukan rajoittunutta eikä mitään historiatietoja tallenneta tai käytetä hyödyksi missään vaiheessa. Myös resurssien haku projekteihin olisi mahdollista toteuttaa paremmin. Hakuihin pitäisi saada lisää hakuehtoja ja mahdollistaa yleisluontoisemmat ehdot yksityiskohtien sijaan, vaikka tiedot olisivatkin tarkemmalla tasolla. Näistä syistä uuden työkalun rakentamista henkilöstöresurssien paremman hyödyntämisen takaamiseksi voidaan pitää perusteltuna.

A síntese dos sesquiterpenos baquenolidas

The bakkenolide group of sesquiterpenes has been a focal point of synthetic efforts amongst several research laboratories all linked to our common origins at the Chemistry Institute at the State University in São Paulo. In this review we would like to present a historical perspective of this research, with unpublished background information, and a definitive retrosynthetic analysis of these molecules. This chemistry spans the time period from 1972 to 2006, and traces the initial steps with Prof. Dr. Helena Ferraz to the present day.

Malária: aspectos históricos e quimioterapia

Malaria is still a very serious worldwide public health problem affecting between 300 and 500 million people and causing from 1.0 to 2.5 million deaths annually. The major problems with this disease are the lack of efficient vaccines and the rapid emergence of chemotherapy resistant P. falciparum strains. In this work we present a synopsis and discussion on malaria to provide the readers with some information on the historical aspects and relevance of this disease as well as the chemotherapy in use today.

Espectrometria de absorção atômica: o caminho para determinações multi-elementares

This paper present an overview of way covered for the spectrometry of atomic absorption (AAS), tracing a line of the historical events in its development and its establishment as a multielement technique. Additionally, the efforts carried by through several researchers in the search for the instrumental evolution, the advances, advantages, limitations, and trends of this approach are related. Several works focusing its analytical applications are cited employing simultaneous multielement determination by flame (FAAS) and/or graphite furnace (GF AAS), and fast sequential multielement determination using FAAS are reported in the present review.

O Instituto de Química da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, da pós-graduação à incorporação dos cursos de graduação: uma perspectiva histórica

This work intends to present the history of top-level Chemistry education in Rio de Janeiro. It's important to rescue the history of Chemistry Institute of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro since 1959. It's also important to understand the incorporation of two undergraduate courses: Chemistry and Chemistry bachelor's degree. It covers historical background of Chemistry education in old National Faculty of Philosophy, considering power disputes between Industrial Chemistry Course and Chemical Engineering; when and in which circumstances the Institute was created; political context and its relation with postgraduate. Finally, discuss the incorporation of undergraduate courses and curriculum modifications since 1968.

Conversioni al cattolicesimo a Roma tra Sei e Settecento. La presenza degli scandinavi nell’Ospizio dei Convertendi.

In my PhD dissertation, I have examined a group of people of Scandinavian origin received by Ospizio dei Convertendi. This group has been hitherto largely unknown to historical research. The Ospizio was an institute founded by the Oratorian Congregation in Rome in 1673 to provide religious instruction and material aid to both recent and aspirant converts to Roman Catholicism. My research traces the profile of converts and a typology of motives, examining different factors which influenced the conversion process. I show that the key factors were often of a social rather than a religious nature. Moreover, I have analyzed the hospice in the context of Counter-Reformation charity as well. In terms of numbers, the Scandinavians formed a somewhat marginal yet not insignificant group within the Roman hospice. Out of a total of 2203 guests received between 1673 and 1706, 4.6 % were Scandinavians: 74 Swedes (including Finland and Livonia) and 27 Danes (including Norway). They came from a rigorously Protestant region which reacted to Catholicism with severe legislative measures. Converts to Catholicism risked confiscation of their goods, expulsion or even capital punishment. Since both Sweden and Denmark were practically impenetrable to Catholicism at the time and clandestine missionary attempts often failed before they had even properly started, the Roman Catholic Church shifted its interest towards Northerners arriving in Rome, a preferred destination for young noblemen, artists and migrant craftsmen. The material related to Ospizio dei Convertendi, conserved in the Vatican archives, is a scarcely known yet unusually rich source, not only for the religious history of our continent, but also for social history and the study of migration in early modern Europe. It contains a wealth of information about members of the subordinate classes, of their travels and lives in Europe. The profile delineated in these documents is of individuals who had a wide range of different professions and different aspirations. These documents encompass a vast social spectrum that was highly mobile on a continent which by that time had become pluriconfessional. Therefore, these migrants faced the complex religious reality in their everyday life. The principal corpus of my research consists of two types of manuscript sources created for administrative and in a way also for apologetic purposes of the Roman Catholic Church. My starting point is the Primo registro generale of Ospizio dei Convertendi. This is a volume in which the following information about each guest was registered: name, nationality, city of origin, age, sex, profession, confession professed before converting, date of arrival, departure, abjuration and baptism. Typically, the convert was male, originating from Stockholm or Copenhagen, from 21 to 30 years of age. The biggest occupational groups in descending order were soldiers, noblemen, craftsmen and sailors. Thus the data reflects a multiform reality of interurban and long distance migration, ideals regarding the education of young noblemen and gentry as well as the need of European armies to hire foreign mercenaries in their various campaigns. Against this background the almost total absence of women is hardly surprising: there is only one woman in the material I have studied. The second main source, Nota degl’ospiti ricevuti e spese fatte per essi, sheds more light on the choices of the converts, their motivations and their lives outside Scandinavia before reaching Rome. This narrative material permits an analysis which completes but also goes far beyond the columns of the Institute’s general register. This material consists of reports written by Catholic priests based on an interview conducted upon each guest’s arrival. The material frequently includes information on what the converts would do following their departure from the Institute as well. These sources have a specific narrative form and contain short biographies, list reasons for converting and information about the journey from the North to the Mediterranean - a journey which in many cases took several years. Moreover, they show that certain unorthodox practices such as calling on the saints and pleading for help from them were not uncommon in the Protestant popular religion. The recording of information on conversions from Protestantism to Catholicism reflects both religious and social interest on the part of the receiving institute. The information obtained was used for the purposes of religious teaching, for finding adequate ways of inserting the convert into Italian society so that he could earn a living, and to find effective methods to convert others with a similar cultural and geographical background. The stories recorded were based on interviews with the newly-arrived, information obtained from a travel companion or fellow countrymen, or from written documents the aspirant converts carried with them. These sources illustrate, although sometimes in rather simplified ways, the circumstances and motivations which were relevant to the choice of changing one’s confession. In addition, I have examined petitions addressed to the hospice and other Roman authorities in order to get financial aid. These petitions were written by Italian scrittori, and they contain certain conventions and topoi of presenting the conversion with the purpose of improving the chances of obtaining financial aid. It is through these filters, which may seem initially almost invisible, that the remote voice of the converts reaches us. The results of the analysis are particularly interesting because they disagree with some of the principal conclusions of previous work on the subject. First, earlier research has focused almost exclusively on the conversions of noblemen, and has argued, second, that the Queen Christina of Sweden was the driving force behind their change of confession. The sources examined for this dissertation present a profile of long-distance migrants, many of them members of the subordinate classes, who were looking for ways to make their living in Europe. These people had in many cases left their country of origin several years earlier and not for religious reasons, so, crucially, we are not dealing with confessional migration in these cases. Rather, conversion was a complex process, intricately tied up with strategies of survival, integration and upward social mobility. At the same time, while these components are significant on their own right, they do not necessarily point to the absence of motivations of a more clearly religious nature.

Atividade discursiva na formação de professores de química: a construção do diálogo coletivo

This research was conducted in a research network in teaching science/chemistry, as an alternative for initial and continuing teacher formation. The network is composed by teachers in initial formation, teacher trainers and teachers of basic education of the various areas of science. Assuming the socio-historical perspective, the discourse coming from the social interaction between the collective of teachers, was the object of study. We present an analysis of the interactions of the speech and reflections about the appropriation of scientific/chemical as a social practice mediated by language supplement our results.

Uso da RMN como um sensor online em processos industriais

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is one of the most versatile analytical techniques for chemical, biochemical and medical applications. Despite this great success, NMR is seldom used as a tool in industrial applications. The first application of NMR in flowing samples was published in 1951. However, only in the last ten years Flow NMR has gained momentum and new and potential applications have been proposed. In this review we present the historical evolution of flow or online NMR spectroscopy and imaging, and current developments for use in the automation of industrial processes.

Seasonal variation of the major secondary metabolites present in the extract of Eremanthus mattogrossensis Less (Asteraceae: Vernonieae) leaves

The species Eremanthus mattogrossensis, known as "veludo do cerrado" (cerrado velvet), is native to the Brazilian Cerrado. Because the amount of metabolites present in plants may be influenced by biological and environmental factors, here we conducted an HPLC-DAD-MS/MS investigation of the metabolite concentrations found in the MeOH/H2O extract of the leaves of this species. The main compounds were identified and quantified, and the metabolites were grouped by chemical class (caffeoylquinic acids, flavonoids, and sesquiterpene lactone). Statistical analysis indicated a straight correlation between the quantity of metabolites and seasonality, suggesting that environmental properties elicit important metabolic responses.

Simultaneous analysis of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids present in pequi fruits by capillary electrophoresis

In the current study, an alternative method has been proposed for simultaneous analysis of palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) using indirect detection. The background electrolyte (BGE) used for the analysis of these fatty acids (FAs) consisted of 15.0 mmol L−1 NaH2PO4/Na2HPO4 at pH 6.86, 4.0 mmol L−1 SDBS, 8.3 mmol L−1 Brij 35, 45% v/v acetonitrile (can), and 2.1% n-octanol. The FAs quantification of FAs was performed using a response factor approach, which provided a high analytical throughput for the real sample. The CZE method, which was applied successfully for the analysis of pequi pulp, has advantages such as short analysis time, absence of lipid fraction extraction and derivatization steps, and no significant difference in the 95% confidence intervals for FA quantification results, compared to the gas chromatography official method (AOCS Ce 1h-05).

Anthropologists reflecting past, present and future

Raportti: Continuity through change: anthropological perspectives in the contemporary world. The annual convention of Finnish anthropologists in Tampere, 7-8 May, 2009.

Coat protein and RNAs of Cole latent virus are not present within chloroplasts of Chenopodium quinoa-infected cells

Cole latent virus (CoLV), genus Carlavirus, was studied by electron microscopy and biochemical approaches with respect both to the ultrastructure of the Chenopodium quinoa infected cells and to its association with chloroplasts. The CoLV was observed to be present as scattered particles interspersed with membranous vesicles and ribosomes or as dense masses of virus particles. These virus particles reacted by immunolabelling with a polyclonal antibody to CoLV. Morphologically, chloroplasts, mitochondria and nuclei appeared to be unaltered by virus infection and virus particles were not detected in these organelles. However, virus particle aggregates were frequently associated with the outer membrane of chloroplasts and occasionally with peroxisomes. Chloroplasts were purified by Percoll gradient, and the coat protein and virus-associated RNAs were extracted and analyzed by Western and Northern blots respectively. Coat protein and CoLV-associated RNAs were not detected within this organelle. The results presented in this work indicate that the association CoLV/chloroplasts, observed in the ultrastructural studies, might be a casual event in the host cell, and that the virus does not replicate inside the organelle.