A journey in Brazil

Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz foi professor e naturalista suíço naturalizado americano. Nasceu em Motiers, em 28 de maio de 1807, e morreu em Cambridge, em 1873. Estudou em Universidades suíças e alemãs, doutorando-se em Medicina, em Munique, em 1830. Em 1846, fixou-se nos Estados Unidos, onde lecionou em Harvard, e, em 1861, tornou-se cidadão americano. O estudo e a classificação de espécies de peixes brasileiros despertou-lhe o interesse pelo Brasil e , em 1865, chegou ao País à frente de uma expedição científica, que ficou conhecida como Thayer Expedition, custeada pelo milionário americano Nathanael Thayer e patrocinada pelo Imperador D. Pedro II. Permaneceu no País por quinze meses, explorando o Rio Amazonas e o interior cearense, período em que classificou 1.800 espécies da fauna ictiológica. Dessa viagem, resultou o livro A journey in Brasil. Seus estudos de Zoologia e Paleontologia, assim como os dos glaciares da Europa e da América, tornaram-se célebre. A obra científica de Agassiz é constituída por mais de quatrocentos volumes.

The Politics of Internet Regulation in Brazil : dynamics, factors, and actors in broadband policy

In May 2010, Brazil joined the roll of nations with a National Broadband Plan. The Decree nº 7,175/2010 had implemented a program that aimed to offer 30 million permanent broadband accesses until 2014 and established its main goals, such as accelerating economic and social development, promoting digital inclusion, reducing social and regional inequalities, promoting a generation of employment and income, and expanding electronic government services. However, the broadband access in Brazil is limited, expensive, and centralized in the main urban centres. Despite the fast growth in the past years due to mobile internet access, the market is still concentrated in the local incumbent operators that currently provide mobile services, landline services and Paid-TV services, resulting in a high level of market verticalization. The following dissertation investigates the constraint of broadband access development, the dynamics, the actors, and the factors that have delayed the roll-out of broadband services in Brazil. The study also promotes reflections about the challenge posed by the media, by costumers associations and by public opinion as critical observers of the policy making process. This research examines on the political influence towards regulation to determine the way policy will benefit interest groups. Many interviews have been conducted in order to understand the forces which have been acting in the telecommunications in Brazil after privatization, in 1998. This study aims to provide a better understanding of telecommunications regulatory process in Brazil, in order to help the country finding an adequate policy which can lead to the implementation of a broadband roll-out. The universal broadband access is the only way to benefit the whole society in Brazil with a satisfactory level of education and create more jobs and economic development regarding the plenty use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Civil framework of the Internet : Law n°. 12.965, of April 23, 2014, which establishes the principles, guarantees, rights and duties for use of the Internet in Brazil

Traz atualizado o texto do Marco Civil Brasileiro da Internet, a Lei nº 12.965, de 23 de abril de 2014.

Population structure and history in East Asia

Archaeological, anatomical, linguistic, and genetic data have suggested that there is an old and significant boundary between the populations of north and south China. We use three human genetic marker systems and one human-carried virus to examine the north/south distinction. We find no support for a major north/south division in these markers; rather, the marker patterns suggest simple isolation by distance.

How smokers may react to cigarette taxes and price increases in Brazil: data from a national survey

Background: Despite being the third largest tobacco producer in the world, Brazil has developed a comprehensive tobacco control policy that includes a broad restriction on both advertising and smoking in indoor public places, compulsory pictorial warning labels, and a menthol cigarette ban. However, tax and pricing policies have been developed slowly and only very recently were stronger measures implemented. This study investigated the expected responses of smokers to hypothetical price increases in Brazil.Methods: We analyzed smokers' responses to hypothetical future price increases according to sociodemographic characteristics and smoking conditions in a multistage sample of Brazilian current cigarette smokers aged >= 14 years (n = 500). Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between possible responses and different predictors.Results: in most subgroups investigated, smokers most frequently said they would react to a hypothetical price increase by taking up alternatives that might have a positive impact on health, i.e., they would try to stop smoking (52.3%) or smoke fewer cigarettes (46.8%). However, a considerable percentage responded that they would use alternatives that would reduce the effect of price increases, such as the same brand with lower cost (48.1%). After controlling for sex age group (14-19, 20-39, 40-59, and >= 60 years), schooling level (>= 9 versus <= 9 years), number of cigarettes per day (>20 versus <= 20), and stage of change for smoking cessation (precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation), lower levels of dependence were positively associated with the response I would try to stop smoking (odds ratio [OR], 2.19). Young age was associated with I would decrease the number of cigarettes (OR, 3.44). A low schooling level was strongly associated with all responses.Conclusions: Taxes and prices increases have great potential to stimulate cessation or reduction of cigarette consumption further among two important vulnerable populations of smokers in Brazil: young smokers and those of low educational level. the results from the present study also suggest that seeking illegal products may reduce the impact of increased taxes, but does not eliminate it.

African Pasts: Memory and History in African Literatures

Woods, T. (2007). African Pasts: Memory and History in African Literatures. Manchetser: Manchester University Press. RAE2008

Media History and Media Studies: aspects of the development of the study of media history in the UK 1945-2000

O'Malley, T. (2002). Media History and Media Studies: aspects of the development of the study of media history in the UK 1945-2000. Media History. 8 (2), 155-173. RAE2008

Anopheles gambiae and climate in Brazil

Christopher J Thomas (2003). Anopheles gambiae and climate in Brazil. The Lancet, Infectious Diseases, 3 (6), 326-326. RAE2008

Reading Lydgate's Troy Book: patronage, politics, and history in Lancastrian England

This thesis, Reading Lydgate's Troy Book: Patronage, Politics and History in Lancastrian England, discusses the relationship between John Lydgate as a court poet to his patron Henry V. I contend that the Troy Book is explored as a vehicle to propagate the idea that the House of Lancaster is the legitimate successor to King Richard II in order to smooth over the usurpation of 1399. Paul Strohm's England's Empty Throne was a key influence to the approach of this thesis' topic. I examine that although Chaucer had a definitive impact on Lydgate's writing, Lydgate is able to manipulate this influence for his own ambitions. In order to enhance his own fame, Lydgate works to promote Chaucer's canon so that as Chaucer's successor, he will inherit more prestige. The Trojan war is seen in context with the Hundred Years War, and can be applied contextually to political events. Lydgate presents characters that are vulnerable to human failings, and their assorted, complicated relationships. Lydgate modernises the Troy Book to reflect and enhance his Lancastrian society, and the thesis gives a contextual view of Lydgate's writing of the Troy Book. Lydgate writes for a more varied target audience than his thirteenth-century source, Guido delle Colonne, and there is a deliberation on the female characters of the Troy Book which promulgates the theory that Lydgate takes a proactive and empathetic interest in women's roles in society. Furthermore Lydgate has never really been accepted as a humanist, and I look at Lydgate's work from a different angle; he is a self-germinating humanist. Lydgate revives antiquity to educate his fifteenth-century audience, and his ambition is to create a memorial for his patron in the vernacular, and enhance his own fame as a poet separate from Chaucer's shadow.