Análise crítica dos objetos educacionais digitais de base experimental no ensino de Química

A era da informática proporcionou a interação de novas ferramentas, de natureza digital, no âmbito escolar de maneira a possibilitar melhorias no processo de ensino e aprendizagem. Essas ferramentas digitais, quando muito bem planejadas e desenvolvidas, podem ser utilizadas como recurso didático no ensino de Ciências, facilitando principalmente o ensino de Química, uma Ciência de base experimental e conceitualmente abstrata. O desenvolvimento dessa pesquisa deu-se a partir da análise qualitativa dessas ferramentas digitais, como os objetos de simulação, com uma visão de explorar o potencial de simulações experimentais. O foco principal foi investigar objetos que apresentassem conteúdos químicos em um viés experimental. Para isso, foi necessária uma busca dos objetos de simulação, nos repositórios nacionais e posteriores análises de caráter conceitual, pedagógico e interativo, na tentativa categorizar os objetos de aprendizagem, de maneira mais específica. Com isso, constatou-se que a maioria dos objetos, encontrados nos repositórios brasileiros, são antigos e não apresentam variedades, principalmente de base experimental. Os objetos encontrados no Banco Internacional de Objetos Educacionais apresentam poucas falhas nos aspectos de interatividade e conceito que podem ser contornadas durante o processo de mediação didática

In vitro antioxidant properties of the biflavonoid agathisflavone

Abstract Purpose Free radicals are considered as the causative agents of a variety of acute and chronic pathologies. Natural antioxidants have drawn attention of the researchers in recent years for their ability to scavenge free radicals with minimal or even no side effects. This study evaluates the antioxidant capacity of agathisflavone, a naturally occurring biflavonoid by a number of in vitro methods. Methods Agathisflavone was subjected to DPPH, ABTS, OH and NO radical scavenging assay, reducing potential and inhibition of lipid peroxidation (TBARS) test using trolox as a standard. Results Agathisflavone showed concentration-dependent antioxidant activity against all types of free radicals used in this study. The antioxidant capacity, reducing potential and inhibition of lipid peroxidation showed by agathisflavone were comparable to that of trolox. Conclusion Agathisflavone exhibited antioxidant capacity, which suggests considering this biflavonoid for the use in the prevention and/or treatment of diseases precipitated by oxidative stress

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data