As relações entre ciência e política, especialização e democracia: a trajetória de um debate em aberto

O artigo recupera momentos-chave do debate sobre as relações entre ciência e política, expertise e democracia, concentrando-se em diversos autores e disciplinas das ciências humanas. O objetivo é esclarecer as origens e a substância dos atuais debates sobre a "democratização da expertise", assim como discutir alternativas para se lidar com o problema da aparente incompatibilidade entre as demandas por maior participação pública nas sociedades democráticas contemporâneas e a crescente importância da técnica e do conhecimento especializado para seu funcionamento. Enfatiza-se, especialmente, a forma como esse problema tem sido pensado no que diz respeito a temas da ciência e da tecnologia.This article lays out important moments of the debate on the relations between science and politics, expertise and democracy, by looking at several authors and disciplines within the human sciences. The purpose is to clarify the origins and substance of contemporary debates on the "democratization of expertise", as well as to discuss alternatives to deal with the problem of the apparent incompatibility between demands for further public participation in contemporary democratic societies and the increasing importance of specialized knowledge for their operation. I highlight how this problem has been approached with regards to issues of science and technology

Margarita de Sossa, Sixteenth-Century Puebla de los Ángeles, New Spain (Mexico)

Margarita de Sossa’s freedom journey was defiant and entrepreneurial. In her early twenties, still enslaved in Portugal, she took possession of her body; after refusing to endure her owner’s sexual demands, he sold her, and she was transported to Mexico. There, she purchased her freedom with money earned as a healer and then conducted an enviable business as an innkeeper. Sossa’s biography provides striking insights into how she conceptualized freedom in terms that included – but was not limited to – legal manumission. Her transatlantic biography offers a rare insight into the life of a free black woman (and former slave) in late sixteenth-century Puebla, who sought to establish various degrees of freedom for herself. Whether she was refusing to acquiesce to an abusive owner, embracing entrepreneurship, marrying, purchasing her own slave property, or later using the courts to petition for divorce. Sossa continued to advocate on her own behalf. Her biography shows that obtaining legal manumission was not always equivalent to independence and autonomy, particularly if married to an abusive husband, or if financial successes inspired the envy of neighbors

As relações entre ciência e política, especialização e democracia: a trajetória de um debate em aberto

resumo O artigo recupera momentos-chave do debate sobre as relações entre ciência e política, expertise e democracia, concentrando-se em diversos autores e disciplinas das ciências humanas. O objetivo é esclarecer as origens e a substância dos atuais debates sobre a "democratização da expertise", assim como discutir alternativas para se lidar com o problema da aparente incompatibilidade entre as demandas por maior participação pública nas sociedades democráticas contemporâneas e a crescente importância da técnica e do conhecimento especializado para seu funcionamento. Enfatiza-se, especialmente, a forma como esse problema tem sido pensado no que diz respeito a temas da ciência e da tecnologia

BREEDING GROUNDS OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS: EXPLORING THE SOURCES OF AMERICAN PLATFORM DOMINATION, CHINA’S PLATFORM SELF-SUFFICIENCY, AND EUROPE’S PLATFORM GAP

EU firms are largely dominated by American platforms in online consumer-facing markets as well as cloud computing services and are likely to face domination in further markets. In contrast, China has mainly escaped American domination and established a self-sufficient platform economy. This situation provides the opportunity to move beyond research on firm-level strategies of platform competitiveness and to assess national factors that foster the emergence and growth of digital platforms. Understanding different platform breeding grounds is essential to guide EU regulators toward a selfsufficient European platform economy and to help them protect EU firms from the risk of exploitation by dominant platforms. These insights are also important to develop a theory of platform regulation, especially as dominant platforms violate EU laws. To address this gap, this study builds upon 32 expert interviews across 7 EU countries and 19 industries. Our results indicate that in general, a fragmented market, risk-aversion, lack of local clusters, and lack of funding and, more specifically, late entrance, legacy systems, and historic dependence have led to the EU’s platform gap. We discuss why and how EU regulators should intervene and propose a regulatory strategy that establishes a selfsufficient EU platform economy

María Remedios del Valle, Nineteenth-Century Argentina

The Argentine government, under the recommendation of various advocacy groups and historians agreed upon November 8 because the day commemorates the death of María Remedios del Valle, an African descendant, otherwise known as the "Capitana" and the "Mother of the Nation", who died on November 8, 1847. First a nurse and later conferred as a captain by General Manuel Belgrano during the wars of independence, the government noted that Remedios del Valle represented thousands of Afro descendants that fought for our country. For her efforts on the battlefield, her fellow soldiers granted her the honor of being known as "the Mother of the Nation". María Remedios de Valle story provides a means to explain the more familial and civic efforts of women. She is remembered as the "Mother of the Nation," and this title reflects the larger role of women and in particular women of African descent in the republic. But irony cannot be underestimated. Remedios del Valle, a black female heroine is the mother of a white nation. How is that possible? To test answers to this question, we propose to delve into the history and the symbolism of María Remedios del Valle.Fil: Guzman, Maria Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana "Dr. Emilio Ravignani". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana "Dr. Emilio Ravignani"; ArgentinaFil: Edwards, Erika Denise. No especifíca

Juana María Álvarez, Eighteenth-Century New Granada (Colombia)

One of the few avenues for women to achieve freedom from slavery in the Kingdom of New Granada was to be manumitted by slaveholders. Only ten percent of the enslaved population in New Granada’s central region (state of Cundinamarca) gained their liberty through this legal action. Eufemia Álvarez was part of that small group, as her master Don Juan Álvarez voluntarily manumitted her in the mid eighteenth century. Consequently, her daughter Juana María Álvarez was born in freedom, even if both of them remained servants in Don Juan Álvarez’s household in Guaduas—a rural town that was part of the Royal Road from Honda to Santa Fe. In 1758, Juana María suffered re-enslavement when she was sold and taken to Quito, away from her family. Juana María resorted to the appellate court in Honda to re-claim her freedom and petition for her own protection as well as her daughter’s. Juana María’s biography emerges from legal documents, which record her struggle—and ultimately, her failure—to legitimate her freedom, despite having been voluntarily manumitted by the original slaveholder. Read against the grain, her life serves as a critique of a legal system that failed to protect freed women

The surgical safety checklist and patient outcomes after surgery: a prospective observational cohort study, systematic review and meta-analysis

© 2017 British Journal of Anaesthesia Background: The surgical safety checklist is widely used to improve the quality of perioperative care. However, clinicians continue to debate the clinical effectiveness of this tool. Methods: Prospective analysis of data from the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), an international observational study of elective in-patient surgery, accompanied by a systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature. The exposure was surgical safety checklist use. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and the secondary outcome was postoperative complications. In the ISOS cohort, a multivariable multi-level generalized linear model was used to test associations. To further contextualise these findings, we included the results from the ISOS cohort in a meta-analysis. Results are reported as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: We included 44 814 patients from 497 hospitals in 27 countries in the ISOS analysis. There were 40 245 (89.8%) patients exposed to the checklist, whilst 7508 (16.8%) sustained ≥1 postoperative complications and 207 (0.5%) died before hospital discharge. Checklist exposure was associated with reduced mortality [odds ratio (OR) 0.49 (0.32–0.77); P\u3c0.01], but no difference in complication rates [OR 1.02 (0.88–1.19); P=0.75]. In a systematic review, we screened 3732 records and identified 11 eligible studies of 453 292 patients including the ISOS cohort. Checklist exposure was associated with both reduced postoperative mortality [OR 0.75 (0.62–0.92); P\u3c0.01; I2=87%] and reduced complication rates [OR 0.73 (0.61–0.88); P\u3c0.01; I2=89%). Conclusions: Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine