abstract: Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interact with the hormone system to negative effect. They ‘disrupt’ normal processes to cause diseases like vaginal cancer and obesity, reproductive issues like t-shaped uteri and infertility, and developmental abnormalities like spina bifida and cleft palate. These chemicals are ubiquitous in our daily lives, components in everything from toothpaste to microwave popcorn to plastic water bottles. My dissertation looks at the history, science, and regulation of these impactful substances in order to answer the question of how endocrine disruptors appeared, got interpreted by different groups, and what role science played in the process. My analysis reveals that endocrine disruptors followed a unique science policy trajectory in the US, rapidly going from their proposal in 1991 to their federal regulation in 1996, even amid intense and majority scientific disagreement over whether the substances existed at all. That trajectory resulted from the work of a small number of scientist-activists who constructed a concept and category as scientific, social, and regulatory. By playing actors from each sphere against each other and advancing a very specific scientific narrative that fit into a regulatory and social window of opportunity in the 1990s, those scientist-activists made endocrine disruptors a national issue that few could ignore. Those actions resulted in the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, a heavily-criticized and ineffective regulatory program. My dissertation tells a story of the past that informs the present. In 2018, the work of researchers, public media, and policymakers in the 1990s continues to play out, evident in the deep scientific division over endocrine disrupting effects and the inability of the European Union to settle on even a definition of endocrine disruptors for regulation purposes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biology 2018

<p>This dissertation explores the social history of genetic counseling in the United States between 1930 and 2000. I situate genetic counselors at the interstices of medicine, science, and an increasingly “geneticized” society. My study emphasizes two central themes. First, genetic counselors have played a crucial role in bridging the “old eugenics” and the “new genetics” as mediators of genetic reproductive technologies. Genetic counselors negotiated the rights and responsibilities of genetic citizens in their patient encounters. Discourses of privilege and duty were also extrapolated outward to public debates about the new genetics, demonstrating the highly-politicized contexts in which counselors practice and women make reproductive choices. Second, I interrogate the professionalization process of genetic counseling from a field led by male physician-geneticists in the 1940s and 50s, to a profession dominated by women with Masters degrees by the 1980s and 90s. This transformation is best understood through the framework of a “system of professions,” and counselors’ professional position between “sympathy and science.” These frameworks similarly structured the client-counselor relationship, which also centered on concepts of risk, the promotion of patient autonomy, and the ethics of non-directiveness and client-centeredness. These principles distanced counselors from their field’s eugenic origins and the traditional doctor-patient relationship. I emphasize the voices of genetic counselors based on 25 oral history interviews, and hierarchies of gender, race, and educational status at work in the profession’s history. A study of genetic counseling is an important contribution to the histories of health and medicine, medical sociology, bioethics, disability studies, and gender and women’s studies.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gizele Daumichen Gasparri.pdf: 1331055 bytes, checksum: 16de5ddf8cc071c7057cee0409db15d1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-18 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo / In this thesis we discuss the theory of origin of life proposed by the Soviet biochemist, Alekandr Ivanovich Oparin (1894-1980), taking into account aspects of its development and some influences uppon his ideas. In addition, we analyze how this issue is presented in teaching materials aimed at high school. To accomplish this study, we have been studing original Oparin s texts, especially his 1924 article - Origin of life and the books published in 1938 - Origin of life - and 1956 - Origin of life on the Earth both translated into English under his supervision Oparin based his theory not only in dialectical materialism, but also, in Darwinism. Thus, he was able to sustain his opposition to the theory of spontaneous generation. Another point presented in this thesis is an analysis of the teaching materials used in public schools of São Paulo, which has revealed that Oparin's theory is presented in a superficial way, reinforcing the linear view of progress and continuity in Science / Nesta dissertação apresentaremos a teoria da origem da vida proposta pelo bioquímico soviético, Alekandr Ivanovich Oparin (1894-1980), aspectos de seu desenvolvimento e algumas influências na organização de suas ideias. Além disso, analisamos como o tema é apresentado em materiais didáticos voltados ao Ensino Médio. Para realizarmos esse estudo estudamos os originais de Oparin, especialmente seu artigo de 1924 Origin of life e os livros publicados em 1938 Origin of life e 1956 Origin of life on the Earth , ambos traduzidos para o inglês sob sua supervisão. Recorremos também a traduções em espanhol e português de seus textos. Oparin fundamentou sua teoria não só no materialismo dialético, mas também, no darwinismo. Com isso, foi capaz de sustentar sua oposição à teoria da geração espontânea. Outro ponto importante discutido nesta dissertação é a análise de material didático utilizado no terceiro ano do Ensino Médio das escolas públicas do estado de São Paulo, a qual revelou que a teoria de Oparin é apresentada de forma superficial, reforçando a visão linear de progresso e continuidade da ciência

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-03-20T12:47:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ediana Barp.pdf: 1676954 bytes, checksum: a7b8257ab73d62b70da2c0f0a60cbac6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-20T12:47:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ediana Barp.pdf: 1676954 bytes, checksum: a7b8257ab73d62b70da2c0f0a60cbac6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-23 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo - SEE / This work intends to investigate conceptions of Science and History of Science among state public school teachers before and after participating in a continuing education course in History of Science and Teaching. It involves a qualitative research, employing an instrument of text mining and a methodology based on analysis of discourse. It was possible to identify changes in the conceptions of the teachers after contact with updated visions of the studies in History of Science. The criteria were based on current historiographic perspectives in the History of Science, which seek to demystify the genius, the precursors or fathers of modern science, the progressive evolution of science, the vision of the past with the eyes of the present / Este trabalho buscou investigar concepções de Ciência e de História da Ciência entre professores da rede pública estadual antes e após a participação em um curso de formação continuada em História da Ciência e Ensino. A pesquisa teve caráter qualitativo e utilizou instrumento de mineração de textos e metodologia baseada na análise do discurso. Pôde-se identificar mudanças nas concepções dos professores após contato com visões atualizadas dos estudos em História da Ciência. Os critérios foram pautados em perspectivas historiográficas atuais em História da Ciência, as quais procuram desmistificar o gênio, os precursores ou pais da ciência moderna, a evolução da ciência no sentido do progresso, a visão do passado com os olhos do presente

<p>The 19th century is often described as a period when sexual differences were strongly accentuated in medical interpretations. While this is not an inaccurate description, it is in need of greater nuance. For one thing, notions of the male are usually forgotten in the process. As the female body by the shift to the 18th hundreds, to a greater extent than before, became associated with reproduction and biological constraints of various kinds, representations of the male body also changed. According to medical texts published in Sweden in the 19th century, men’s blood, bones, breath and digestion bore witness to their "freedom" from a forced sexual body. Physically, the male constituted an abstract, cultivated and highly differentiated individual, focused on his own development and wellbeing. The male body was described as clearly fit for public and political life, which legitimized male claims to a monopoly on power as well as the doctrine of "the separate spheres" in 19th century bourgeois society. </p><p>But there is more to this story. A closer examination of more limited discussions in medical texts and advice literature reveal that representations of the male and female body were remarkably unstable and marked by tensions and contradictions. During the Romantic era of medicine in Sweden during the 1830’s and 40’s, the way sex and individuality in the body were valued were totally different from the description above. Reproduction and physical desires were characteristic, according to a number of medical men, of highly developed creatures, connected to God, society, and culture, whereas sexless species, immature children and "lower" peoples were seen as materialistic and focused only on their own individual development. Discussions regarding female puberty and single men further reveal the unstable polarization between sex and individuality as well as culturally constructed differences, not only between men and women, but also between classes, age groups, single and married persons, cultivated and non-cultivated peoples. Notions about nature/culture, tradition/progress, female/male, sex/individuality were not organized into stable dichotomies—rather they constituted an unstable body of representations. </p>

The 19th century is often described as a period when sexual differences were strongly accentuated in medical interpretations. While this is not an inaccurate description, it is in need of greater nuance. For one thing, notions of the male are usually forgotten in the process. As the female body by the shift to the 18th hundreds, to a greater extent than before, became associated with reproduction and biological constraints of various kinds, representations of the male body also changed. According to medical texts published in Sweden in the 19th century, men’s blood, bones, breath and digestion bore witness to their "freedom" from a forced sexual body. Physically, the male constituted an abstract, cultivated and highly differentiated individual, focused on his own development and wellbeing. The male body was described as clearly fit for public and political life, which legitimized male claims to a monopoly on power as well as the doctrine of "the separate spheres" in 19th century bourgeois society. But there is more to this story. A closer examination of more limited discussions in medical texts and advice literature reveal that representations of the male and female body were remarkably unstable and marked by tensions and contradictions. During the Romantic era of medicine in Sweden during the 1830’s and 40’s, the way sex and individuality in the body were valued were totally different from the description above. Reproduction and physical desires were characteristic, according to a number of medical men, of highly developed creatures, connected to God, society, and culture, whereas sexless species, immature children and "lower" peoples were seen as materialistic and focused only on their own individual development. Discussions regarding female puberty and single men further reveal the unstable polarization between sex and individuality as well as culturally constructed differences, not only between men and women, but also between classes, age groups, single and married persons, cultivated and non-cultivated peoples. Notions about nature/culture, tradition/progress, female/male, sex/individuality were not organized into stable dichotomies—rather they constituted an unstable body of representations.

The archaeological excavation of the early medieval site at Towyn-Y-Capel on the island of Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in North Wales, UK, provided the opportunity to study a large population (122 skeletons) at a site that was in use over a period of up to 550 years (650 -1200 AD). Samples of skeletal materials for this study were taken directly from the site itself .The osteological condition of skeletal material was variable across the site. In general, the upper burials in particular were in the poorest condition, and were mainly fragmented and dispersed due to the ongoing site erosion and diagenetic processes. Conversely, lower “cist” burials were in far better condition. The assessment of skeletal sample condition was used to select materials chosen for genetic analysis, and 44% (54) of the skeletal population were selected for analysis of appropriate samples of tooth and bone. The gross morphology of samples was assessed and 87% of bones and teeth were considered to be in good or fair condition, according to the gross preservation index (GPI) used, while only 2% of bones and no teeth were considered to be in excellent condition. In addition to GPI, a novel technique called Qualitative Light Fluoresence (QLF), based on autofluoresence, was used to ascertain the surface condition of the teeth. Compared to the fluorescence of modern enamel, there was a net loss of 21.8% fluorescence, although the degree of fluorescence from one sample to another varied (with a standard deviation from the mean of 24.973). Histological sections taken from non-human bone finds from the site generally varied less than that indicated by the gross morphology, showing good to excellent histological preservation. Further to gross and histological morphology, ten skeletal samples were selected for detailed investigations, and were analysed for amino acid racemisation and amino acid composition. All samples tested had D/L enatomer Aspartic acid ratio less than 0.1, although 50% of the samples had D/L enatiomer Aspartic acid ratio over 0.08, which indicated that the recovery of aDNA from these skeletal samples was feasible, although the biological condition of the teeth was fairly degraded. The inorganic element profile of the same ten samples showed no discernable anomalies, either due to diet or diagenesis. To consolidate genographic research, strontium isotope analysis was performed and, from the small population subset, three anomalous ratios were found. Two of these were high (Skeletons 33 and 60), indicating that these individuals had spent their childhoods in areas with high strontium ratios, representative of precambrian rock types, possibly older than those of the Holyhead Rock group, such as in Northern Scotland or Norway. The skeletal samples yielding the lowest strontium ratio (Skeleton 52) are of compelling interest, since the ratio is indicative of upbringing in only one place in the North Atlantic, namely Iceland. In this study, DNA recovery was performed on teeth and bones from the site, after extensive decalcification of samples, and also extraction and optimisation trials. Amplification of DNA extracted from teeth samples was generally more successful than for bone samples. A random amplification based polymorphic (RAPD) DNA technique was utilised to “fingerprint” human and animal samples with limited success. Contamination and template variation are likely causes for the lack of success. Amplification using several primers specific for human HV1 & 2 mtDNA targets was also met with limited success. The results show that 14.8% of the skeletal teeth samples were amplified, and these were not commonly reproducible. DNA spiking trials demonstrated that some of the samples were affected by inhibition. Independent confirmation of 9 of 10 successful samples was attained by sequencing, and although sequences were highly degraded, an attempt was made at determining the haplogroups from the sequenced HV1 haplotypes based on likelihood. Generally, the site showed a high predominance of Haplotype K (5) followed by H (2) and U (2) haplogroup profiles.

<p>At the turn of the century 18/1900 Swedish law looked upon young people as being adults at about the age of 15. At 15, the young person had left school, had his first employment and provided for himself and also had been confirmed to full membership of the Swedish State Church. Thus he was to be considered an adult and responsible for his actions. Parents, society/school and Church had done what was expected of them and now it was up to the 15-years old to live according to the laws and to be punished if the laws were broken. Over the following hundred years, at the time of the millennium, Swedish society changed a lot. So the laws did not and still a young person of 15 is considered an adult in the eye of the Swedish law. This paper looks upon the ideas that the law was based on at the turn of the century 18/1900 and the ideas that are put forward by Swedish courts today. The law has not changed, but today Swedish young people leave school between the ages of 19-25, and find their first employment even later. The paper gives the historical background and looks at the underlying ideas of adulthood. How people think and what is considered being important in defining aduldthood has not changed much over those hundred years. In deciding if a person could pass as an adult, the Swedish law still use the same premisses today as it did a hundred years ago. As these premissies and ideas are the same, though society has changed, you can’t today be considered an adult until in your twenties.</p>

<p>This paper concerns the ideas on society, policies and economic thoughts on Ireland before the cataclysmal famine of the 1840s. Senior, classified as one of the classical economists, elaborated these in the period 1829 – 1836, thus during the period of Parliamentary reform. As a trusted counsellor of the Whig governments, Senior advocated measures opposite to the common notions of laissez-faire. His basic ideas are contrasted to those of Malthus concerning economics and, in particular, the population doctrine that Senior never believed in and in its crudest form refuted. Senior regarded Malthus’ doctrine as devastating to governmental policies. Senior wanted an efficient and strong government. Moreover, Senior evolved ideas, in fact a strategy, for raising Ireland out of her common destitution instead of institutionalizing poor laws. This strategy embraced Catholic emancipation, education, public investments in infrastructure and emigration. His ideas, and proposals akin to Senior’s, are related to the political discourse of the day, which took a more common view of laissez-faire during the period considered. Nevertheless, there is consistency in his ideas on government, public investments and laissez-faire. Senior cannot be described as anything other than an early liberal and a classical economist and, hence, an advocator of economic laissez-faire. This paper underlines the need for a clear distinction between economic laissez-faire as a concept and the concept of political laissez-faire, whereas the former concerns thoughts on economics and the latter is related to the notion of the impassivity of the period of today’s discourse.</p>

The most important programming languages are the ones that manage to capitalize on emerging frontiers in computing. Although JavaScript started its life as a toy language, the explosive growth of the web since 1995 and the invention of the web application have transformed the language’s syntax, potential and importance. JavaScript today is powerful and expressive. But is the language good enough to power the future of the web? How does the messy political past of JavaScript affect web development today, and how will it affect web development in the future? The paper first examines the political history of JavaScript from its origins at Netscape through today. Then a case study of pure JavaScript web development using the NodeJS and AngularJS is presented and analyzed. Finally, several potential paths forward for the language are considered, including a discussion and analysis of Microsoft’s TypeScript, Mozilla’s ASM.js and Google’s Dart.