A degree for what? Higher education and low rank Minas Gerais’ Military Police officers

O artigo analisa como policiais de baixa patente da Polícia Militar de Minas Gerais (praças) com formação superior percebem a sua organização, a sua carreira e a relação com a sociedade. A pesquisa aborda um ponto controverso no estudo sobre a polícia: o papel da educação superior. No caso brasileiro esta questão é reforçada pela existência de dois níveis hierárquicos em seus policiais militares: oficiais e praças. O estudo adotou metodologia qualitativa baseada em entrevistas semiestruturadas. A partir da análise dos dados, quatro categorias emergiram: capacidade crítica; conflitos hierárquicos; ausência de reconhecimento profissional; abandono da carreira. Em linhas gerais, os policiais apontam que a formação superior confere maior capacidade de discernimento nas ações cotidianas, mas também reforça os conflitos com o oficialato. Apesar disso, não há valorização pelo investimento pessoal realizado. Logo, esse contingente de novos policiais cada vez mais educados e capazes de fornecer uma base sólida para o exercício de um novo modelo de policiamento em sua maioria tem um único desejo: deixar a instituição. A pesquisa conclui que o modelo de dupla entrada das polícias brasileiras afasta os policiais com formação superior e aponta a necessidade de inserção do tema da mudança do modelo organizacional em uma agenda ampla de reformas das polícias.This article analyses how low rank officers at Military Police of Minas Gerais with higher education understand their organization, their career and the relationship with society. The research touches a controversial topic in police studies: the role of higher education. In Brazil this issue is stressed by the existence of two hierarchical levels in the Military Police: soldiers and officers. The study adopted a qualitative methodology based on semistructured interviews. Four categories emerged from the data: 1 – critical capacity; 2 – hierarchical conflicts; 3 – absence of recognition and professional acknowledgement; 4 – leaving the career. Police officers affirm that higher education grants more discretional capabilities in daily work, but reinforces conflicts with high rank officers. Furthermore, there is professional acknowledgement for holding a higher education degree. Thus, this new contingent of educated police officers that could be part of a more innovative practice has one desire: leaving the institution. As a conclusion the research affirms that a two-hierarchical model drives low rank police officers to leave the career. Additionally, this is an issue in the Brazilian police reform agenda

Diploma para quê? A educação superior e os praças da Polícia Militar de Minas Gerais

This article analyses how low rank officers at Military Police of Minas Gerais with higher education understand their organization, their career and the relationship with society. The research touches a controversial topic in police studies: the role of higher education. In Brazil this issue is stressed by the existence of two hierarchical levels in the Military Police: soldiers and officers. The study adopted a qualitative methodology based on semistructured interviews. Four categories emerged from the data: 1 – critical capacity; 2 – hierarchical conflicts; 3 – absence of recognition and professional acknowledgement; 4 – leaving the career. Police officers affirm that higher education grants more discretional capabilities in daily work, but reinforces conflicts with high rank officers. Furthermore, there is professional acknowledgement for holding a higher education degree. Thus, this new contingent of educated police officers that could be part of a more innovative practice has one desire: leaving the institution. As a conclusion the research affirms that a two-hierarchical model drives low rank police officers to leave the career. Additionally, this is an issue in the Brazilian police reform agenda.O artigo analisa como policiais de baixa patente da Polícia Militar de Minas Gerais (praças) com formação superior percebem a sua organização, a sua carreira e a relação com a sociedade. A pesquisa aborda um ponto controverso no estudo sobre a polícia: o papel da educação superior. No caso brasileiro esta questão é reforçada pela existência de dois níveis hierárquicos em seus policiais militares: oficiais e praças. O estudo adotou metodologia qualitativa baseada em entrevistas semiestruturadas. A partir da análise dos dados, quatro categorias emergiram: capacidade crítica; conflitos hierárquicos; ausência de reconhecimento profissional; abandono da carreira. Em linhas gerais, os policiais apontam que a formação superior confere maior capacidade de discernimento nas ações cotidianas, mas também reforça os conflitos com o oficialato. Apesar disso, não há valorização pelo investimento pessoal realizado. Logo, esse contingente de novos policiais cada vez mais educados e capazes de fornecer uma base sólida para o exercício de um novo modelo de policiamento em sua maioria tem um único desejo: deixar a instituição. A pesquisa conclui que o modelo de dupla entrada das polícias brasileiras afasta os policiais com formação superior e aponta a necessidade de inserção do tema da mudança do modelo organizacional em uma agenda ampla de reformas das polícias

Gestão Pública e Cultura Cívica: a participação pública no desenho do sistema de águas na cidade de Niterói

Este artigo diz respeito à participação popular nos processos de planejamento e implementação de políticas de gestão do uso do solo urbano por uma instância do poder municipal no Brasil. O foco de reflexão do trabalho busca analisar o processo de participação popular previsto na constituição brasileira, no caso da gestão municipal, e sua efetivação concreta nos sistema de água e saneamento na região de Itaipu, no município de Niterói, RJ. A partir desta análise teórica e empírica, o trabalho se propõe a discutir de que forma o aparato institucional e a cultura cívica existentes podem ser facilitadores ou não à participação pública na gestão municipal

Uso de câmeras e Justiça Procedimental

Este artigo analisa as percepções de uma amostra de policiais rodoviários federais (PRFs) brasileiros sobre o uso de câmeras para registrar suas ações, tendo em vista os preceitos da justiça processual. A Polícia Rodoviária Federal (PRF), organização que ainda não adotou o uso de câmeras corporais, é responsável pelo patrulhamento das rodovias federais brasileiras e atua em todo o território nacional. Este é o primeiro levantamento dessa natureza com a Polícia Rodoviária Federal realizado no Brasil, tratando principalmente da justiça processual e de percepções sobre o uso de câmeras. A pesquisa analisa dois aspectos: apoio como boa aceitação, por parte dos policiais, em relação ao uso de câmeras corporais para o controle da atividade policial; e o uso da força pela polícia (dimensão da justiça processual). Os questionários da pesquisa na web foram enviados a todos os PRFs do Brasil entre junho de 2019 e janeiro de 2020. De um universo de 10.540 policiais, foram obtidas 532 respostas. O artigo encontrou uma relação entre o apoio ao uso da força por policiais e apoio ao uso de câmeras. No entanto, esse apoio explica apenas parcialmente sua percepção sobre o uso de câmeras. Além disso, a maioria dos policiais expressou uma percepção positiva sobre o uso de câmeras nas três dimensões: uso de câmeras no uniforme, uso de câmeras em viaturas policiais e uso de câmeras para registrar a ação policial pela população

The PEG13-DMR and brain-specific enhancers dictate imprinted expression within the 8q24 intellectual disability risk locus

Background: Genomic imprinting is the epigenetic marking of genes that results in parent-of-origin monoallelic expression. Most imprinted domains are associated with differentially DNA methylated regions (DMRs) that originate in the gametes, and are maintained in somatic tissues after fertilization. This allelic methylation profile is associated with a plethora of histone tail modifications that orchestrates higher order chromatin interactions. The mouse chromosome 15 imprinted cluster contains multiple brain-specific maternally expressed transcripts including Ago2, Chrac1, Trappc9 and Kcnk9 and a paternally expressed gene, Peg13. The promoter of Peg13 is methylated on the maternal allele and is the sole DMR within the locus. To determine the extent of imprinting within the human orthologous region on chromosome 8q24, a region associated with autosomal recessive intellectual disability, Birk-Barel mental retardation and dysmorphism syndrome, we have undertaken a systematic analysis of allelic expression and DNA methylation of genes mapping within an approximately 2 Mb region around TRAPPC9. Results: Utilizing allele-specific RT-PCR, bisulphite sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation and chromosome conformation capture (3C) we show the reciprocal expression of the novel, paternally expressed, PEG13 non-coding RNA and maternally expressed KCNK9 genes in brain, and the biallelic expression of flanking transcripts in a range of tissues. We identify a tandem-repeat region overlapping the PEG13 transcript that is methylated on the maternal allele, which binds CTCF-cohesin in chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments and possesses enhancer-blocker activity. Using 3C, we identify mutually exclusive approximately 58 and 500 kb chromatin loops in adult frontal cortex between a novel brain-specific enhancer, marked by H3K4me1 and H3K27ac, with the KCNK9 and PEG13 promoters which we propose regulates brain-specific expression. Conclusions: We have characterised the molecular mechanism responsible for reciprocal allelic expression of the PEG13 and KCNK9 transcripts. Therefore, our observations may have important implications for identifying the cause of intellectual disabilities associated with the 8q24 locu

ANALYSIS OF SYNTHETIC ADULTERANTS, MEAN WEIGHT AND LABELING IN TRADITIONAL PHYTOTHERAPIC PRODUCTS

Traditional phytotherapic products (TPP) use is nowadays common in society. As they are known to be natural products, there is an assumption that the effects are exclusively beneficial and the potential harmful effects are disregarded. As well as adulterations with synthetic drugs capable of masking adverse effects or acting synergistically with biologically active compounds, potentiating their effects, considered by law as fraud. The aim of the present study was to evaluate common TPP and its compliance with the current law regarding labeling, average weight and research on synthetic adulterants using comparative thin layer chromatography. Twenty PTFs were evaluated, of which all failed the labeling assessment, one contained average weight consistent with legislation and there was no evidence of adulteration by increment of synthetic drugs in any of them. Evaluating the quality of a product ensuring its compliance with the legislation is crucial for the reliability of consumers and the credibility of producers.O uso de produtos tradicionais fitoterápicos (PTF) é um costume comum na sociedade atual. Por serem produtos ditos naturais, há a suposição dos efeitos serem exclusivamente benéficos e os potenciais efeitos nocivos desconsiderados. Assim como as adulterações com fármacos sintéticos capazes de mascarar efeitos adversos ou atuar sinergicamente com compostos biologicamente ativos potencializando seus efeitos, considerado pela lei como fraude. O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar PTF comuns e suas conformidades com a lei atual quanto rotulagem, peso médio e pesquisa de adulterantes sintéticos pelo uso de cromatografia em camada delgada comparativa. Foram avaliados 20 PTF, dos quais todos foram reprovados na avaliação da rotulagem, apenas uma continha peso médio condizente com legislação e em nenhuma houve a comprovação de adulteração por incremento de fármacos sintéticos. Avaliar a qualidade de um produto garantindo sua conformidade com a legislação é determinante para a confiabilidade dos consumidores e credibilidade dos produtores

Euclid preparation: X. The Euclid photometric-redshift challenge

Forthcoming large photometric surveys for cosmology require precise and accurate photometric redshift (photo-z) measurements for the success of their main science objectives. However, to date, no method has been able to produce photo-zs at the required accuracy using only the broad-band photometry that those surveys will provide. An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current methods is a crucial step in the eventual development of an approach to meet this challenge. We report on the performance of 13 photometric redshift code single value redshift estimates and redshift probability distributions (PDZs) on a common set of data, focusing particularly on the 0.2−2.6 redshift range that the Euclid mission will probe. We designed a challenge using emulated Euclid data drawn from three photometric surveys of the COSMOS field. The data was divided into two samples: one calibration sample for which photometry and redshifts were provided to the participants; and the validation sample, containing only the photometry to ensure a blinded test of the methods. Participants were invited to provide a redshift single value estimate and a PDZ for each source in the validation sample, along with a rejection flag that indicates the sources they consider unfit for use in cosmological analyses. The performance of each method was assessed through a set of informative metrics, using cross-matched spectroscopic and highlyaccurate photometric redshifts as the ground truth. We show that the rejection criteria set by participants are efficient in removing strong outliers, that is to say sources for which the photo-z deviates by more than 0.15(1 + z) from the spectroscopic-redshift (spec-z). We also show that, while all methods are able to provide reliable single value estimates, several machine-learning methods do not manage to produce useful PDZs. We find that no machine-learning method provides good results in the regions of galaxy color-space that are sparsely populated by spectroscopic-redshifts, for example z > 1. However they generally perform better than template-fitting methods at low redshift (z < 0.7), indicating that template-fitting methods do not use all of the information contained in the photometry. We introduce metrics that quantify both photo-z precision and completeness of the samples (post-rejection), since both contribute to the final figure of merit of the science goals of the survey (e.g., cosmic shear from Euclid). Template-fitting methods provide the best results in these metrics, but we show that a combination of template-fitting results and machine-learning results with rejection criteria can outperform any individual method. On this basis, we argue that further work in identifying how to best select between machine-learning and template-fitting approaches for each individual galaxy should be pursued as a priority

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field