A resposta da política científica e tecnológica à pandemia da COVID-19 / Science and technology policy in the COVID-19 crisis

Este artigo busca mapear a resposta do Estado brasileiro à pandemia da Covid-19, instalada no país desde março de 2020, levando-se em conta suas instituições do sistema nacional de ciência e tecnologia. Para isso, em um primeiro momento, discutiremos as respostas dadas em outros países, com ênfase no sistema de fomento e no arcabouço institucionalizado de pesquisa. Discutimos, posteriormente, a resposta do governo brasileiro que, desde o início, pôs em questão a real gravidade da situação. Finalmente, mostramos como a capacidade previamente instalada do sistema científico e tecnológico no Brasil, mesmo em contexto governamental de evidente oposição, respondeu, ainda que precariamente, à pandemia. Com isso, o que se quer argumentar é que, a despeito de toda limitação orçamentária e falta de apoio governamental, a existência prévia de uma rede de instituições de ciência e tecnologia possibilitou uma resposta à pandemia.Palavras-chave: Covid-19; política científica, tecnológica e de inovação; pandemia; Sociologia da ciência. ***This article seeks to map the Brazilian state’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, set up in the country since March 2020, taking into account its institutions of the national science and technology system. To this end, we will first discuss the responses given in other countries, with focus on the funding system and the institutionalized research framework. We will then debate the response of the Brazilian government, which from the beginning questioned the real gravity of the situation. Finally, we show how the previously installed capacity of the scientific and technological system in Brazil, despite evident governmental opposition, responded, even precariously, to the pandemic. The argument is that despite of the budgetary constraints and lack of government support, the previous existence of a network of science and technology institutions enabled a response to the pandemic.Keywords: Covid-19; scientific, technological and innovation policy; pandemic; Sociology of science.

Resisting Clarity/Highlighting Form: Comparing Vanguard Approaches in Poetry and Programming

This article contributes to the study of an esoteric programming language, brainfuck. It proposes a novel view that brainfuck embodies a poetic turn in computer programming, which could be viewed in relationship to Giambattista Vico's historical concept of ricorso—return to an earlier age that Vico, without derogation, identified as barbaric and characterized by the prevalence of poetic forms. Ricorso presupposes a previous existence of an analogous form of communication, which resurfaces in a transformed but recognizable shape in the current time. This article suggests that this older form of poetics is the Russian Futurists' Zaum poetry theorized by the Russian formalist Viktor Shklovsky among others.

RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN FINLAND: HOUSE AS A SYMBOL OF HOME

Russian-speaking people in Finland make up less than two percent of the population, but are quite visible in its composition. Among them are descendants of so-called “old Russians” who lived here before the revolution, Finnish returnees and Ingermanland Finns, spouses of Finnish citizens, persons who came to work or study. Although the acquisition of housing is usually not the purpose, but the consequence of moving abroad, for refugees it can also be a consolation, a shelter, and for emigrants, it is a stage of getting used to unfamiliar conditions that should be adapted for themselves. The new environment should gradually be put under control in what concerns their habits, desires, ideals. The memorable things prove to be an important bridge between the past and the future, restoring the connection of times. A complete rejection of the previous existence, of the earlier established identity is impossible. The article explores symbolic attachment to the material side of the home, preservation of identity, and integration into the host society, drawing on the method of thematic analysis of discourse. Participants of focus groups, interviewees, and authors of essays are Russian-speaking residents of Finland of different ethnic backgrounds, mainly at the age of about 20 (and not more than 30). They are still young enough and cannot have accumulated lots of things, they are not able to remember well enough the life in Russian-speaking surroundings (they came from different places of the former USSR). Nevertheless, they care about photos of ancestors, objects obtained from friends and family jewelry, souvenirs and items, which they have inherited. It is noticeable that they are still influenced by the traditions of the family, but begin to build their micro-space, which carries some signs of Russianness. As they grow older, it will be saturated with meanings that speak of the increasingly complex personality of their owners.

Study on a class of Schrödinger elliptic system involving a nonlinear operator

This paper considers a class of Schrödinger elliptic system involving a nonlinear operator. Firstly, under the simple condition on and ', we prove the existence of the entire positive bounded radial solutions. Secondly, by using the iterative technique and the method of contradiction, we prove the existence and nonexistence of the entire positive blow-up radial solutions. Our results extend the previous existence and nonexistence results for both the single equation and systems. In the end, we give two examples to illustrate our results.

Fifty years of digital literacy studies: A meta-research for interdisciplinary and conceptual convergence

The following research has as its starting point the previous existence of different approaches to the study of digital literacy, which reflect a specialisation by area of study as well as connections and complementarity between them. The paper analyses research from the last 50 years through 11 key terms associated with the study of this subject. The article seeks to understand the contribution of each term for an integrated conceptualisation of digital literacy. From the data science approach, the methodology used is based on a systematized review of the literature and a network analysis using Gephi. The study analyses 16,753 articles from WoS and 5,809 from Scopus, between the period of 1968 to 2017. The results present the input to each key term studied as a map of keywords and a conceptual framework in different levels of analysis; in these, we show digital literacy as a central term that connects and integrates the others, and we define it as a process that integrates all the perspectives. The conclusions emphasise the comprehensive sense of digital literacy and its social condition, as well as the transversality to human life. This research aims to understand the relationships that exist between the different areas and contribute to the debate from a meta-theoretical level, validating meta-research for this interdisciplinary purpose.

Otherwise than Human

Oblivion (Joseph Kosinski, 2013) is the story of a clone haunted by memories of a previous existence. In the opening sequence, this ambivalent existence is echoed in the mix of digital and physical effects. Discussion of this ambivalence leads into an analysis of nonidentity versus identity, especially in a critical sequence in which clone Jack watches and is observed by a fish. Themes of individualism raised in the chapter on Iron Man return here in more complex form as Jack oscillates among individuality, fidelity to a model, and species-being. This is the third film in a row which raises issues of debt and obligation through the trope of a character who is dead, dying, or reborn, a theme of posthumous existence in this case posed as the only alternative to an absent community.

Multi-level governance in quality assurance in Spain: the case of the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA)

This paper aims to examine the case of quality assurance in Spain, disentangling the evolution of the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA), that made its way towards consolidation in a context characterized by deep policy transformations and by multiple actors involved. The case of ANECA and the Spanish context is particularly interesting because of the previous existence of several regional agencies before ANECA was created. These multilevel dynamics in quality assurance evolved over the years towards significant levels of coordination, but were not exempt of multiple conflicts. This case may contribute to assessing a gap in the literature: clarifying the role of quality agencies in implementing contested policy changes originated at the European level, identifying at the same time the complexities of multi-level governance.

Equilibrium of a production economy with non-compact attainable allocations set

In this paper, we consider a production economy with an unbounded attainable set where the consumers may have non-complete non-transitive preferences. To get the existence of an equilibrium, we provide an asymptotic property on preferences for the attainable consumptions and we use a combination of the nonlinear optimization and fixed point theorems on truncated economies together with an asymptotic argument. We show that this condition holds true if the set of attainable allocations is compact or, when the preferences are representable by utility functions, if the set of attainable individually rational utility levels is compact. This assumption generalizes the CPP condition of [N. Allouch, An equilibrium existence result with short selling, J. Math. Econom. 37 2002, 2, 81–94] and covers the example of [F. H. Page, Jr., M. H. Wooders and P. K. Monteiro, Inconsequential arbitrage, J. Math. Econom. 34 2000, 4, 439–469] when the attainable utility levels set is not compact. So we extend the previous existence results with non-compact attainable sets in two ways by adding a production sector and considering general preferences.

On an algorithmic definition for the components of the minimal cell

Living cells are highly complex systems comprising a multitude of elements that are engaged in the many convoluted processes observed during the cell cycle. However, not all elements and processes are essential for cell survival and reproduction under steady-state environmental conditions. To distinguish between essential from expendable cell components and thus define the ‘minimal cell’ and the corresponding ‘minimal genome’, we postulate that the synthesis of all cell elements can be represented as a finite set of binary operators, and within this framework we show that cell elements that depend on their previous existence to be synthesized are those that are essential for cell survival. An algorithm to distinguish essential cell elements is presented and demonstrated within an interactome. Data and functions implementing the algorithm are given as supporting information. We expect that this algorithmic approach will lead to the determination of the complete interactome of the minimal cell, which could then be experimentally validated. The assumptions behind this hypothesis as well as its consequences for experimental and theoretical biology are discussed.

A retrospective study detects a novel variant of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in England in archived material from the year 2000

Outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) were first recorded in England in the 1970s and continued to be confirmed until 2002. Retrospective analysis of archived material from one of the last confirmed cases in England in the year 2000 demonstrates the previous existence of a very diverse PED virus strain. Following the outbreaks of PED in North America in 2013, there has been renewed interest in phylogenetic analysis of sequences from PEDV strains worldwide. There is a gap in the available sequence data between the mid 1980s and the mid 2000s. This work is an example of how this gap can be at least partially filled by the examination of archived material.