Teacher–Artist Partnership Framework Within School Makerspaces to Foster Students’ Creativity

Creativity is a fundamental skill to prepare individuals to work and live in a changing world. Educators have recognised its value and advocate that schools can provide an environment for fostering the creative thinking skills of students. Makerspaces are emerging in school contexts, and they carry great opportunities for engaging students in creative thinking processes. The school makerspace also offers a professional learning space for teachers and artists to collaborate to support students’ creative potential through making activities linked to the curriculum. This paper proposes a teacher–artist partnership framework within the makerspace to support mutual professional growth and opportunities to foster a learning environment conducive to creative expressions. The framework consists of three non-linear and iterative processes, namely (a) developing craft knowledge, (b) co-constructing knowledge, and (c) reflection and researching, supported by a community of practice and internal and external communities. Expected outcomes from the partnership for students, teachers and artists, and recommendations are discussed

Information and knowledge management and complexity theory in the business context: a study in the communication and technology sector

Uma sociedade imersa em grandes quantidades de informação deve ser pautada pela integração dos mais variados contextos organizacionais e informacionais, a fim de produzir conhecimento com características inter, multi, pluri e transdisciplinares. Assim, apresenta-se o seguinte problema de pesquisa: a empresa contemplada pela pesquisa, pertencente ao ramo de comunicação e tecnologia, possui uma cultura organizacional voltada à promoção e desenvolvimento da gestão da informação e do conhecimento baseada no pensamento complexo? O objetivo da pesquisa é verificar se esta empresa apresenta fatores que indicam uma cultura organizacional voltada à promoção e desenvolvimento da gestão da informação e do conhecimento em suas práticas de trabalho, com base na teoria da complexidade. Para isso, foi realizada uma pesquisa descritivo-exploratória de natureza qualitativa, utilizando como instrumento de pesquisa o roteiro de entrevista, e como método de análise, a “Análise de Conteúdo”. Os resultados demonstram que o ambiente organizacional desenvolve de maneira mais acentuada as práticas de gestão da informação do que de gestão do conhecimento, baseando-se em alguns princípios do pensamento complexo desenvolvidos em paralelo com a gestão da informação, e se pode apontar que dos sete princípios do pensamento complexo, os desenvolvidos na empresa pesquisada são: princípio hologramático, princípio da auto-eco-organização, princípio do círculo retroativo e princípio do círculo recursivo.A society immersed in large amounts of information must be guided by the integration of the most varied organizational and informational contexts, in order to produce knowledge with inter, multi, multi and transdisciplinary characteristics. Thus, the following research problem is presented: Does the company contemplated by the research, belonging to the field of communication and technology, have an organizational culture focused on the promotion and development of information and knowledge management based on complex thinking? The objective of the research is to verify if this company presents factors that indicate an organizational culture focused on the promotion and development of information and knowledge management in its work practices, based on complexity theory. For this, a descriptive-exploratory research of a qualitative nature was carried out, using as a research tool the interview script, and as a method of analysis, the 'Content Analysis'. The results show that the organizational environment develops more strongly the practices of information management than of management of knowledge, based on some principles of complex thinking developed in parallel with the information management, and it can be pointed out that of the seven principles of complex thinking, those developed in the researched enterprise are: hologramatic principle, self-eco-organization principle, retroactive circle principle and recursive circle principle.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Information and knowledge management and complexity theory in the business context: a study in the communication and technology sector

Uma sociedade imersa em grandes quantidades de informação deve ser pautada pela integração dos mais variados contextos organizacionais e informacionais, a fim de produzir conhecimento com características inter, multi, pluri e transdisciplinares. Assim, apresenta-se o seguinte problema de pesquisa: a empresa contemplada pela pesquisa, pertencente ao ramo de comunicação e tecnologia, possui uma cultura organizacional voltada à promoção e desenvolvimento da gestão da informação e do conhecimento baseada no pensamento complexo? O objetivo da pesquisa é verificar se esta empresa apresenta fatores que indicam uma cultura organizacional voltada à promoção e desenvolvimento da gestão da informação e do conhecimento em suas práticas de trabalho, com base na teoria da complexidade. Para isso, foi realizada uma pesquisa descritivo-exploratória de natureza qualitativa, utilizando como instrumento de pesquisa o roteiro de entrevista, e como método de análise, a “Análise de Conteúdo”. Os resultados demonstram que o ambiente organizacional desenvolve de maneira mais acentuada as práticas de gestão da informação do que de gestão do conhecimento, baseando-se em alguns princípios do pensamento complexo desenvolvidos em paralelo com a gestão da informação, e se pode apontar que dos sete princípios do pensamento complexo, os desenvolvidos na empresa pesquisada são: princípio hologramático, princípio da auto-eco-organização, princípio do círculo retroativo e princípio do círculo recursivo.A society immersed in large amounts of information must be guided by the integration of the most varied organizational and informational contexts, in order to produce knowledge with inter, multi, multi and transdisciplinary characteristics. Thus, the following research problem is presented: Does the company contemplated by the research, belonging to the field of communication and technology, have an organizational culture focused on the promotion and development of information and knowledge management based on complex thinking? The objective of the research is to verify if this company presents factors that indicate an organizational culture focused on the promotion and development of information and knowledge management in its work practices, based on complexity theory. For this, a descriptive-exploratory research of a qualitative nature was carried out, using as a research tool the interview script, and as a method of analysis, the 'Content Analysis'. The results show that the organizational environment develops more strongly the practices of information management than of management of knowledge, based on some principles of complex thinking developed in parallel with the information management, and it can be pointed out that of the seven principles of complex thinking, those developed in the researched enterprise are: hologramatic principle, self-eco-organization principle, retroactive circle principle and recursive circle principle.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Leishmanicidal and Immunomodulatory Activities of the Palladacycle Complex DPPE 1.1, a Potential Candidate for Treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

The present study focused on the activity of the palladacycle complex DPPE 1.1 on Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis. Promastigotes of L. (L.) amazonensis were destroyed in vitro by nanomolar concentrations of DPPE 1.1, whereas intracellular amastigotes were killed at drug concentrations fivefold less toxic than those harmful to macrophages. L. (L.) amazonensis-infected BALB/c mice were treated by intralesional injection of DPPE 1.1. Animals treated with 3.5 and 7.0 mg/kg of DPPE 1.1 showed a significant decrease of foot lesion sizes and a parasite load reduction of 93 and 99%, respectively, when compared to untreated controls. Furthermore, DPPE 1.1 was non-toxic to treated animals. The cathepsin B activity of L. (L.) amazonensis amastigotes was inhibited by DPPE 1.1 as demonstrated spectrofluorometrically by use of a specific fluorogenic substrate. Analysis of T-cells populations in mice treated with DPPE 1.1 and untreated controls was performed by fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS). IFN-γ was measured in supernatants of lymphocytes from popliteal and inguinal lymph nodes isolated from treated and untreated mice and stimulated with L. (L.) amazonensis amastigotes extract and active TGF-β was evaluated in supernatants of foot lesions; both dosages were carried out by means of a double-sandwich ELISA assay. A significant increase of TCD4+ and TCD8+ lymphocytes and IFN-γ secretion was displayed in mice treated with DPPE 1.1 compared to untreated animals, whereas a significant reduction of active TGF-β was observed in treated mice. These findings open perspectives for further investment in DPPE 1.1 as an alternative option for the chemotherapy of cutaneous leishmaniasis

Cardiac regeneration: different cells same goal

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality, morbidity, hospitalization and impaired quality of life. In most, if not all, pathologic cardiac ischemia ensues triggering a succession of events leading to massive death of cardiomyocytes, fibroblast and extracellular matrix accumulation, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy which culminates in heart failure and eventually death. Though current pharmacological treatment is able to delay the succession of events and as a consequence the development of heart failure, the only currently available and effective treatment of end-stage heart failure is heart transplantation. However, donor heart availability and immunorejection upon transplantation seriously limit the applicability. Cardiac regeneration could provide a solution, making real a dream of both scientist and clinician in the previous century and ending an ongoing challenge for this century. In this review, we present a basic overview of the various cell types that have been used in both the clinical and research setting with respect to myocardial differentiation

An estimate of the number of tropical tree species

The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher’s alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼40,000 and ∼53,000, i.e. at the high end of previous estimates. Contrary to common assumption, the Indo-Pacific region was found to be as species-rich as the Neotropics, with both regions having a minimum of ∼19,000–25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼4,500–6,000 tree species. Very few species are shared among the African, American, and the Indo-Pacific regions. We provide a methodological framework for estimating species richness in trees that may help refine species richness estimates of tree-dependent taxa