Collectors of Daily Life: The Literary Journalist, the Anthropologist, and Their Fieldwork

Literary journalists and anthropologists conduct their fieldwork with similar tools and goals. Both use listening and observation to establish contact with the Other - the group being studied - and therefore identify, understand and interpret daily interactions and scenes. In spite of the similarities, their conduct in the field suffers interference due to the certain particularities of each one of them: production conditions, professional relations, social roles, methodological principles, professional ethics and the commitment to the final product – scientific research or literary reporting. In this article, we put forth a theoretical reflection about the similarities and contrasts between the fieldwork of literary journalists and anthropologists. At the same time, we reflect on what characterizes each of these professional researchers and their respective disciplines. For this purpose, we explore authors such as Harrington (2003), Martinez (2008; 2017), Lago (2010), Brandão (2007), Travancas (2002; 2014) and Gillespie (2012). Jornalistas literários e antropólogos vão a campo com ferramentas e buscas em comum. Ambos usam a escuta e a observação para estabelecer contato com o Outro – o grupo pesquisado – e, assim, identificar, compreender e interpretar relações e cenas cotidianas. Apesar das proximidades, a conduta de cada um deles em campo sofre interferências devido a particularidades carregadas na bagagem: condições de produção, vínculos de trabalho, papéis sociais, princípios metodológicos, ética profissional e compromisso com o produto final – a pesquisa científica ou a reportagem literária. Neste artigo, levantamos uma reflexão teórica acerca das conexões e contrastes entre o trabalho de campo praticado pelo jornalista literário e pelo antropólogo. Ao mesmo tempo, buscamos refletir sobre o que caracteriza cada um desses profissionais-pesquisadores e suas respectivas disciplinas. Para tal, são explorados autores como Harrington (2003), Martinez (2008; 2017), Lago (2010), Brandão (2007), Travancas (2002; 2014) e Gillespie (2012). Periodistas literarios y antropólogos van al campo con herramientas y búsquedas en común. Ambos usan la escucha y la observación para establecer contacto con el Otro - el grupo investigado - y así identificar, comprender e interpretar relaciones y escenas cotidianas. A pesar de las similitudes, la conducta de ambos en campo sufre interferencias debido a particularidades cargadas en el equipaje: las condiciones de producción, los vínculos de trabajo, los papeles sociales, los principios metodológicos, la ética profesional y el compromiso con el producto final - la investigación científica o el reportaje literario. En este artículo, levantamos una reflexión teórica acerca de las conexiones y contrastes entre el trabajo de campo practicado por el periodista literario y el antropólogo. Al mismo tiempo, buscamos reflexionar sobre lo que caracteriza cada uno de esos profesionales-investigadores y sus respectivas disciplinas. Con este objectivo, se exploran autores como Harrington (2003), Martinez (2008; 2017), Lago (2010), Brandão (2007), Travancas (2002; 2014) y Gillespie (2012)

Sementes de milho tratada: substratos e metodologia alternativa para o teste de germinação / Treated corn seeds: substrates and alternative methodology for germination test

O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a utilização de substratos e metodologias alternativas para a execução do teste de germinação em sementes milho tratadas com agroquímicos. Utilizaram-se sementes de milho, safra 2015/2016, com germinação igual ou superior a 90%e teor de água médio de 12,5%. As sementes foram submetidas a quatro tratamentos químicos (Cruiser® 350 FS; Avicta Completo, Standak Top e Crop Star). Após foram montados os testes para avaliação do potencial germinativo das sementes x tratamentos x substratos. Dessa forma, conclui-se que o substrato mais indicado para instalação do teste de germinação em milho depende do tipo de produto e ingrediente ativo do tratamento de sementes. A utilização da vermiculita para o teste de germinação em sementes de milho tratadas mostrou-se como uma alternativa viável, devido à interferência positiva nos tratamentos conduzidos com a mesma. A temperatura de 30°C possibilita o desenvolvimento mais uniforme e rápido de plântulas normais no teste de germinação em sementes de milho tratadas e sem tratamento. O aumento de plântulas normais em sementes tratadas está relacionado ao ingrediente bioativo que colaboram para um melhor e rápido desenvolvimento inicial.

Smartphone-based photo analysis for the evaluation of anemia, jaundice and COVID-19

Anemia and jaundice are common health conditions that affect millions of children, adults, and the elderly worldwide. Recently, the pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that leads to COVID-19, has generated an extreme worldwide concern and a huge impact on public health, education, and economy, reaching all spheres of society. The development of techniques for non-invasive diagnosis and the use of mobile health (mHealth) is reaching more and more space. The analysis of a simple photograph by smartphone can allow an assessment of a person's health status. Image analysis techniques have advanced a lot in a short time. Analyses that were previously done manually, can now be done automatically by methods involving artificial intelligence. The use of smartphones, combined with machine learning techniques for image analysis (preprocessing, extraction of characteristics, classification, or regression), capable of providing predictions with high sensitivity and specificity, seems to be a trend. We presented in this review some highlights of the evaluation of anemia, jaundice, and COVID-19 by photo analysis, emphasizing the importance of using the smartphone, machine learning algorithms, and applications that are emerging rapidly. Soon, this will certainly be a reality. Also, these innovative methods will encourage the incorporation of mHealth technologies in telemedicine and the expansion of people's access to health services and early diagnosis

Mobile Health (mHealth) and Advances in Noninvasive Diagnosis of Anemia: An Overview

Anemia is a public health problem that can have different causes, such as iron deficiency, vitamin deficiency, inflammation, hemolytic anemias, and anemias associated with bone marrow disease. Anemia shows a decrease in the concentration of hemoglobin, a pigmented molecule in the erythrocytes. The objectives of this review were to highlight the impact of nutritional factors on morbidity and mortality caused by anemia and to present different non-invasive approaches that use a smartphone to analyze hemoglobin levels to detect anemia. According to the records of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS, in the Portuguese acronym), ∼ 440,000 people checked in hospitals due to anemia between January 2015 and April 2020, with 215,000 deaths. The government spent ∼ 294 million Brazilian Reais (more than 50 million US dollars) on anemia hospitalization cases during this period. There is a worldwide search to provide noninvasive diagnostics and mobile health (mHealth) tools to help diagnosing anemia. The smartphone appears to be a viable device to detect anemia by a camera with colorimetric analysis of images providing a quantitative, instantaneous, and noninvasive result. These images can be obtained as a photograph or extracted from video frames. The review presents three different methods of detecting anemia using a smartphone: i) photoplethysmograph from video obtained from the tip of the index finger, ii) photo of the palpebral conjunctiva, and iii) fingernail photo app. Therefore, it seems urgent that these approaches may be applied in routine clinical diagnosis to allow remote, needy, low-tech locations to have access to anemia screening

What's in a copy?

ABSTRACTI will answer the question “What’s in a copy?” by considering three sets of related issues: the importance of copies in academia; in cultural life; and in the economic world. In academia the current capability of making copies is challenging pedagogical practices and the trust of its members, plagiarism being the most immediate problem. The notion of authorship is also undergoing changes provoked by a proliferation of authors and new possibilities opened up by cyberspace. In cultural life, imitation and mimesis have long been fundamental engines of socialization. Our enhanced capacity of copying problematizes, with new intensity, the relationships between homogeneity and heterogeneity, between the genuine and the spurious. In the economic world, the digital era is threatening some of the fundamental tenets of capitalism, especially of its variant called the “knowledge society”, regarding the control of intellectual property rights. The gap between normativity and social practices is widening. The many dilemmas and tensions identified in the text are understood as symptoms of two major characteristics of the current times: hyperfetishism and hyperanimism. ________________________________________________________________________________ RESUMOResponderei à pergunta “O que existe em uma cópia?” considerando três conjuntos de questões relacionadas: a importância das cópias na academia, na vida cultural, no mundo econômico. Na academia a presente capacidade de fazer cópias está desafiando práticas pedagógicas e a confiança dos seus membros, o plágio sendo o problema mais imediato. A noção de autoria também está sofrendo mudanças provocadas por uma proliferação de autores e novas possibilidades abertas pelo ciberespaço. Na vida cultural, a imitação e a mimese de há muito são importantes motores de socialização. A nossa capacidade ampliada de fazer cópias problematiza, com nova intensidade, as relações entre homogeneidade e heterogeneidade, entre o genuíno e o espúrio. No mundo econômico, a era digital ameaça algumas das premissas fundamentais do capitalismo, especialmente da sua variante “sociedade do conhecimento”, no tocante aos direitos de propriedade intelectual. Cresce a distância entre normatividade e práticas sociais. Os muitos dilemas e tensões identificados no texto são compreendidos como sintomas de duas grandes características do presente: o hiperfetichismo e o hiperanimismo

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

Politica e linguagem nos debates sobre o software livre

Orientador: Eduardo Roberto Junqueira GuimarãesDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da LinguagemResumo: Esta dissertação procura refletir discursivamente sobre os debates que tratam das vantagens e desvantagens da adoção de sistemas livres em computadores (software livre). A partir de uma concepção que considera que o acontecimento de linguagem é um acontecimento político, procura-se entender como e onde o político inscreve-se nesse debate. São objeto de análise nesse trabalho as licenças de software (proprietário e livre); artigos, entrevistas e notícias; e Projetos de Lei que postulam a adoção prioritária de sistemas livres em órgãos governamentais. É também estabelecida uma reflexão sobre o uso de certos termos e nomes (GNU/Linux, software livre)¿ e não outros (Linux, código aberto) ¿ na referência aos objetos do debate e, para isso, investiga-se a história dos sentidos a eles atribuídosAbstract: This dissertation discoursively reflects on the debates that deal with the advantages and disadvantages of the adoption of free systems in computers (free software). From a conception that considers that the language event is an political event, it is looked to understand as and where the political enrolls itself in this debate. The software licenses (proprietor and free); articles, interviews and news; and Projects of Law that claimss for priority adoption of free systems in governmental bodies are object of analysis in this work. This work also reflects on the use of certain terms and names (GNU/Linux, free software) - and not others (Linux, open source) - in the reference to objects of the debate and, for this, it is investigated the history of the means attributed to themMestradoAnalise do DiscursoMestre em Linguístic

Reconhecimento e superação da exploração capitalista em redes criativas de colaboração e produção | Recognizing and overcoming capitalist exploitation in creative networks of collaboration and production

RESUMO O industrialismo, como chaga desumanizadora, vem sendo encarado como algo a ser vencido pelo menos desde o início do século XX (senão antes). O caminho para isso, para a superação da frieza mecânica das máquinas de ferro, explosão, fumaça e força, movidas por trabalho alienante, tem sido apontado como uma busca do entendimento do funcionamento e de “retorno” ao orgânico, a sistemas produtivos tidos como mais flexíveis, naturais, feitos de carne, sangue, calor e leveza. A modelagem feita sobre os sistemas biológicos e da vida subsidiou o desenvolvimento das tecnologias de informação e comunicação, e, respectivamente, esses sistemas têm sido usados como exemplares para explicar uma certa “natureza” das redes informáticas como auto-organizadas, evolucionárias e emergentes. Este texto busca inter-relacionar a analogia sobre sistemas de computação biológica – como desenvolvida por Tiziana Terranova –, tomada como o modo típico de gerenciamento dessas redes, com pesquisas de campo de caráter etnográfico que informam sobre laboratórios digitais e outros ambientes de produção colaborativa e reflexões de natureza política sobre relações de exploração econômica dadas nesses ambientes. O imaginário tecnoutópico, que funciona como pano de fundo para esses laboratórios e outros ambientes de criação, afirma as tecnologias de informação como instrumentos de combate à burocratização e à alienação da sociedade. Contudo, este trabalho procura ir além dessas imagens – questionando suas origens e pressupostos naturalizantes –, ao mesmo tempo que afirma as possibilidades de resistência e reinvenção diante do capitalismo informacional de matriz cibernética, contidas nos espaços de criação. Explora-se aqui a possibilidade de uma relação ambígua, por isso mesmo interessante, entre as tentativas de controle e extração produtiva, de gerenciamento capitalista de ambientes criativos, horizontalizados e emergentes, e a constituição de alternativas e de modos de vida paralelos e independentes da sociedade de consumo de mercadorias. As redes informacionais são, na atualidade, exploradas como máquinas de produção com comportamento emergente, não centralizado, e, por isso, criativas. Podem ser concomitantemente espaços de constituição de uma vida fora (e para além) do capitalismo? Palavras-chave: Cultura e Poder; Cibercultura; Economia Política; Internet; Trabalho. ABSTRACT Industrialism as a dehumanizing scourge has been seen since the early twentieth century (if not before) as something to be overcome. The road to overcome the mechanical coldness of the machines of iron, explosion, smoke and strength, fueled by alienating work, has been touted as a "return" to the organic, to production systems that are seen as more flexible, more natural, made of meat, blood, warmth and lightness. The functioning model of biological life systems has subsidized the development of information and communication technologies and these systems have been used as examples to explain a certain "nature" of computer networks as self-organizing, evolutionary and emerging systems. This article aims to discuss the analogy of biological computing systems as developed by Tiziana Terranova, taken as the typical way of managing creative networks. We use ethnographic field research on digital laboratories and other collaborative production environments and add to that political reflections on economic relations of exploitation that happen in these environments. The technoutopian imaginary, which acts as a backdrop to these laboratories and other creative environments, says information technology can be used as tools to combat bureaucratization and alienation in society. However, this paper seeks to go beyond these images  – questioning their origins and naturalized assumptions  – while claiming that resistance and reinvention are possible against the informational capitalism cyber matrix. We explore the possibility of an ambiguous relationship between attempts by capitalist management to control and extract value from horizontal and emerging spaces and the establishment of parallel and independent ways of life within capitalist society. Nowadays, information networks are being used as production machines with emergent and  decentralized behavior, therefore creative. Can they be concurrently set up as spaces for life outside (and beyond) capitalism? Keywords: Culture and Power; Cyberculture; Political Economy; Internet; Labour