Creativity in the Brazilian Culture

Research has pointed out creativity as a sociocultural and contextually embedded phenomenon. As a consequence, the effect of cultural factors on the manifestation of creativity has been discussed worldwide. The purpose of this chapter is, therefore, to analyze the development of creativity in the Brazilian culture. A brief description of the Brazilian culture is provided. Models of creativity developed by Brazilian researchers, as well as a review of creativity studies conducted in the educational environment, are presented. Guidelines for future cross-cultural studies on creativity are also suggested

Novos paradigmas para a educação dos superdotados: a questão dos estudantes underachievers e com dupla excepcionalidade

[Extrato] A primeira década do século XXI chegou ao fim marcada pelo desenvolvimento de uma sociedade cada vez mais interconectada, mediada por tecnologias da informação e da comunicação e pelo sentimento de impotência diante da demanda de soluções que a atualidade exige. A contemporaneidade estabelece mudanças que ocorrem de maneira tão veloz, que já não se consegue mais definir, com a devida antecedência, as habilidades e competências necessárias para se viver e conviver satisfatoriamente...info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Inventory of barriers to personal creativity: a validation study involving university students

This study presents the adaptation and validation for Portugal of the Inventory of Barriers to Personal Creativity (Alencar, 1999). The sample was composed of 582 university students whose ages ranged from 18 to 59 (M=23.41; SD=5.38), from three domains of courses (Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences and Technologies). An exploratory factor analysis identified the four factors included in the original questionnaire: Inhibition /Shyness, Lack of Motivation, Lack of Time and Opportunities, and Social Repression. The psychometric properties of the instrument are adequate, concerning reliability and validity, for items and the four dimension

Perceptions of barriers to personal creativity: validation of an inventory involving high education students

The topic of creativity in higher education has been increasingly emphasized as support to the social and technological innovation. This study presents the adaptation and validation of the Inventory of Barriers to Personal Creativity (Alencar, 1999) for Portuguese college students. The sample was composed by 582 students from a public university in Northern Portugal, whose ages ranged from 18 to 59 (M=23.41; SD=5.38), belonging to three main domains of graduation courses (Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences and Technologies). An exploratory factor analysis identified the four factors included in the original questionnaire: Inhibition/Shyness, Lack of Motivation, Lack of Time and Opportunities, and Social Repression. The psychometric properties of the instrument are adequate, concerning internal consistency reliability and structural validity, for items and the four dimensions. Some guidelines are provided in order to use this questionnaire in future researches to increase the levels of creativity in teaching and learning processes in higher education

Validación portuguesa del inventario de las prácticas creativas en la educación superior

Muito tem sido discutido acerca do papel da educação superior na formação de profissionais aptos a lidar de forma criativa com os desafios que o mundo contemporâneo lhes impõe. Práticas docentes para a promoção da criatividade na educação superior são um alvo a pesquisar, embora se verifique escassez de instrumentos de avaliação. O objetivo deste estudo foi adaptar e validar, para o contexto português, o Inventário de Práticas Docentes para a Criatividade na Educação Superior, desenvolvido no Brasil. Participaram da pesquisa 582 estudantes universitários. Os resultados apontam um instrumento que avalia quatro fatores (incentivo a novas ideias; clima para expressão de ideias; interesse pela aprendizagem do aluno; avaliação e metodologia de ensino). Suas características psicométricas, em termos de precisão e de validade, revelaram-se adequadas. Conclui-se que o instrumento constitui uma ferramenta útil para fins de pesquisa e diagnóstico de condutas docentes quanto ao estímulo à criatividade.It has been much discussed the role of the higher education in training professionals prepared to deal creatively with the challenges that the modern world imposes on them. Teaching practices for the promotion of creativity emerge as a target to be investigated, especially considering students’ perceptions. The purpose of this study was to validate and adapt, to the Portuguese context, the Teaching Practices for Creativity in Higher Education Inventory, developed in Brazil. Five hundred and eighty-two university students participated in the study. The results pointed an instrument that assesses four factors (Incentive to New Ideas, Climate for Expression of Ideas, Interest for Students’ Learning, and Evaluation and Teaching Methodology) and its psychometric properties, in terms of precision and validity, proved to be adequate. It is concluded that the instrument constitutes a useful instrument for research and diagnostic of teachers’ behaviors that foster creativity.Mucho se ha discutido acerca del papel de la educación superior en la formación de profesionales capaces de enfrentar creativamente los desafíos que el mundo moderno les impone. Las prácticas docentes para la creatividad surgen como una búsqueda de destino, especialmente teniendo en cuenta las percepciones de los estudiantes. El objetivo de este estudio fue validar y adaptar al contexto portugués, el Inventario de Práctica de Enseñanza para la Creatividad en la Educación Superior, desarrollado en Brasil. Los participantes fueron 582 estudiantes universitarios. Los resultados indican un instrumento con cuatro factores (Fomento de las Nuevas Ideas, Clima para la Expresión de Ideas, Interés en el Aprendizaje Estudiantil y Evaluación y Metodología de la Enseñanza) y sus propiedades psicométricas, en términos de precisión y validez, resultó adecuada. El instrumento es una herramienta útil para la investigación y el diagnóstico de la conducta de los profesores ante el estímulo a la creatividad.Universidade do MinhoTorrance CenterUniversidade de Brasíli

IFIT3 and IFIT2/3 promote IFIT1-mediated translation inhibition by enhancing binding to non-self RNA.

Interferon-induced proteins with tetratricopeptide repeats (IFITs) are highly expressed during the cell-intrinsic immune response to viral infection. IFIT1 inhibits translation by binding directly to the 5' end of foreign RNAs, particularly those with non-self cap structures, precluding the recruitment of the cap-binding eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4F and ribosome recruitment. The presence of IFIT1 imposes a requirement on viruses that replicate in the cytoplasm to maintain mechanisms to avoid its restrictive effects. Interaction of different IFIT family members is well described, but little is known of the molecular basis of IFIT association or its impact on function. Here, we reconstituted different complexes of IFIT1, IFIT2 and IFIT3 in vitro, which enabled us to reveal critical aspects of IFIT complex assembly. IFIT1 and IFIT3 interact via a YxxxL motif present in the C-terminus of each protein. IFIT2 and IFIT3 homodimers dissociate to form a more stable heterodimer that also associates with IFIT1. We show for the first time that IFIT3 stabilizes IFIT1 protein expression, promotes IFIT1 binding to a cap0 Zika virus reporter mRNA and enhances IFIT1 translation inhibition. This work reveals molecular aspects of IFIT interaction and provides an important missing link between IFIT assembly and function.This work was supported by a joint Royal Society/Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Dale Fellowship (202471/Z/16/Z) and a Royal Society Research Grant (RG140708) to TRS. HVM is supported by a University of Cambridge, Department of Pathology PhD studentship. XYL is supported by a King’s Scholarship from the Malaysian government. TJS is supported by a Wellcome Trust PhD studentship (105389/Z/14/Z). RCF and DSM are supported by CAPES Computational Biology (23038.010048/2013-27). DSM is also supported by the Academy of Medical Sciences/UK (NAF004/1005). SCG is a Sir Henry Dale Fellow (098406/Z/12/Z) co-funded by the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society

Educação do aluno Sobredotado no Brasil e em Portugal: uma análise comparativa

Este estudo compara o percurso da educação dosobredotado no Brasil e em Portugal. Para issodescreve-se a trajectória histórica, a legislação ea terminologia adoptada, os programas e serviçosde atendimento ao sobredotado, a formação dosprofissionais e a produção científica brasileira eportuguesa na área. As análises efectuadas indicamuma maior consistência da legislação e das medidaseducativas no Brasil em atenção aos alunos sobredotados, havendo uma maior consistência histórica e um maior reconhecimento social desta área. O desenvolvimento da área no Brasil assenta em três pilares: estruturas governativas da educação, associações e instituições de ensino superior, sendo que em Portugal o contributo por parte das entidades governativas ao desenvolvimento da área é inexistente. Face à proximidade linguística e cultural,e ao significativo intercâmbio académico entre os dois países, apontam-se algumas iniciativas para os próximos anos em prol do desenvolvimento da educação do aluno sobredotado. Essa aposta passa pela realização de estudos e publicações conjuntas ou pelo intercâmbio de estudantes e profissionaisinteressados na área.Palavras-chave: Sobredotação; necessidades educativas; desenvolvimento de talento; Brasil; Portugal

Genome-wide analyses reveal a highly conserved Dengue virus envelope peptide which is critical for virus viability and antigenic in humans.

Targeting regions of proteins that show a high degree of structural conservation has been proposed as a method of developing immunotherapies and vaccines that may bypass the wide genetic variability of RNA viruses. Despite several attempts, a vaccine that protects evenly against the four circulating Dengue virus (DV) serotypes remains elusive. To find critical conserved amino acids in dengue viruses, 120 complete genomes of each serotype were selected at random and used to calculate conservation scores for nucleotide and amino acid sequences. The identified peptide sequences were analysed for their structural conservation and localisation using crystallographic data. The longest, surface exposed, highly conserved peptide of Envelope protein was found to correspond to amino acid residues 250 to 270. Mutation of this peptide in DV1 was lethal, since no replication of the mutant virus was detected in human cells. Antibodies against this peptide were detected in DV naturally infected patients indicating its potential antigenicity. Hence, this study has identified a highly conserved, critical peptide in DV that is a target of antibodies in infected humans

Abstracts

Tradução, para a língua inglesa, dos artigos publicados nesta edição

Prácticas docentes para creatividad en la universidad: estudio en Portugal y Brasil

Creativity is nowadays seen as an essential feature in higher education. Nevertheless, there is a discrepancy between the need for creativity and what higher education classrooms provide. This study assessed the perceptions of 1599 higher education students from two countries (1059 Brazilian and 540 Portuguese students), from two academic domains (Sciences and Technologies – Sc&T; Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities – SScA&H), about the presence of creativity in their teachers’ instruction and evaluation practices. The study’s findings evidence interactive effects between the variables country and academic domain for most of the assessed factors: encouragement of new ideas, climate for the expression of ideas, and interest in students’ learning. Brazilian Sc&T students presented more negative perceptions of their classroom environments when compared to SScA&H students; Portuguese students showed opposite patterns of results. Some hypothetical explanations are discussed and future directions for research are presented.Criatividade é atualmente tomada como aspecto essencial na Educação Superior. Há, contudo, discrepância entre a necessidade de criatividade e o que a universidade proporciona. Este estudo avaliou percepções de 1599 alunos universitários de dois países (1059 brasileiros e 540 portugueses), de duas áreas curriculares (Ciências e Tecnologias – Sc&T; Ciências Sociais, Artes e Humanidades – SscA&H) sobre a presença de criatividade nas práticas docentes, instrucionais e avaliativas, de que são alvo. Os resultados mostraram efeitos interativos significativos entre as variáveis país e área curricular para a maioria dos fatores avaliados: encorajamento de novas ideias, clima para expressão de ideias e interesse pela aprendizagem dos alunos. Os estudantes brasileiros de Sc&T mostraram percepções mais negativas da sala de aula, comparados com os de SScA&H; os alunos portugueses obtiveram padrões opostos nos resultados. Algumas hipóteses explicativas são discutidas e são apresentadas orientações para pesquisa futura.La creatividad está actualmente considerada como aspecto esencial en la Educación Superior. Sin embargo, existe discrepancia entre la necesidad de creatividad y lo que la universidad ofrece. Este estudio evaluó percepciones de 1.599 estudiantes universitarios (1.059 de Brasil y 540 de Portugal) de dos áreas curriculares (Ciencia y Tecnología – Sc&T; Ciencias Sociales, Artes y Humanidades – SscA&T) acerca de la presencia de creatividad en las prácticas docentes, instructivas y evaluativas dirigidas a ellos. Los resultados mostraron efectos de interacción significativos entre las variables país y área curricular para la mayoría de los factores evaluados: fomento de nuevas ideas, entorno para la expresión de ideas e interés en el aprendizaje del estudiante. Los estudiantes brasileños de Sc&T mostraron percepciones más negativas de la clase en comparación con los de SSCA&H; los estudiantes portugueses obtuvieron patrones opuestos en los resultados. Algunas hipótesis explicativas se discuten y se presentan directrices para investigación futura.Thermo Scientificinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio