Contributos para uma educação online inclusiva : estudo aplicado a casos de cegueira e baixa visão

Dissertação de Mestrado em Pedagogia do E-Learning apresentada à Universidade AbertaO estudo relatado neste trabalho pretende responder à questão de partida que lhe deu origem – O que é necessário para criar cursos online acessíveis, particularmente a pessoas com problemas de acuidade visual? Esta questão colocou-se no momento em que, em contexto profissional, se procurou criar um curso online inclusivo, acessível a todos. Enquanto Designer Instrucional, e juntamente com a restante equipa envolvida na criação do novo curso, foram procuradas soluções práticas que assegurassem a igualdade de oportunidades a todos os participantes do referido curso. Isto desencadeou a testagem de estratégias e soluções, promovendo uma reflexão crítica sobre as várias facetas da inclusão digital. Num primeiro momento considerou-se este desafio relativamente simples, uma vez que existem normas para a criação de páginas Web e a plataforma a utilizar estava em conformidade com uma dessas normas. A prática, no entanto, viria a revelar barreiras reais que obrigaram ao questionamento das normas, a aplicação e testagem dessas mesmas normas e um constante recomeçar de cada fase. Este constante questionamento foi enriquecido com a participação de 3 pessoas cegas que colaboraram enquanto participantes e informantes na 1ª e 2ª edição deste curso. Sendo a inclusão um tema pouco trabalhado no ensino online, este estudo reveste-se de carácter exploratório. Não se pretende apresentar conclusões de carácter definitivo, pretende-se que o estudo seja visto como um contributo para futuros projectos de cursos online com preocupações de inclusão.A abrangência do tema obriga a que neste trabalho se incluem assuntos relacionados com outros tipos de deficiência, estratégias pedagógicas adequadas a cada necessidade, estilos cognitivos de aprendizagem, leitura e interpretação de imagens, percepção da cor e da forma, conhecimentos de programação para adequar ferramentas e aplicações, sem que com tal se esgotem todas as ramificações que um estudo desta natureza potencia

Escola Politécnica: possivelmente o primeiro curso formal de contabilidade do estado de São Paulo

This study demonstrates that, as opposed to what is commonly told, the first accounting teaching institution in São Paulo state was the Polytechnic School, which was founded in 1894 and offered, as part of its Preliminary Course, equivalent to the first year of the engineering course, Mercantile bookkeeping classes, granting to students who graduated in the subjects of this first module the degree of Accountant. On 12/08/1900, Federal Decree no 727 officially recognized the degrees issued by the institutions since the time of its foundation, independently from whether the profession was exercised. The Álvares Penteado School of Commerce Foundation, which was founded in 1902, was the second institution oriented towards accounting teaching in that State. In view of an eight-year gap between the founding of the two institutions, it is beyond doubt that the Polytechnic School is the first accounting teaching institution in São Paulo State. Nevertheless, one name is important at both institutions: Horácio Berlinck.Este trabalho demonstra que, diferentemente do que se tem tanto falado, a primeira instituição formal de ensino contábil do Estado de São Paulo foi a Escola Politécnica, fundada em 1894, que ministrava no Curso Preliminar, equivalente ao primeiro ano do curso de engenharia, aulas de Escrituração Mercantil, conferindo aos alunos que fossem aprovados nas disciplinas que integravam esse primeiro módulo, o diploma de Contador. Em 08.12.1900, o Decreto Federal no 727 reconhecia oficialmente os diplomas expedidos pela instituição, desde a sua fundação, independentemente do exercício da profissão. A Fundação Escola de Comércio Álvares Penteado, fundada em 1902, foi a segunda instituição voltada ao ensino contábil nesse Estado. Considerando-se um hiato de oito anos entre a fundação de ambas as instituições, não restam dúvidas de que a Escola Politécnica é a primeira instituição formal de ensino contábil do Estado de São Paulo. Não obstante, um nome surge ligado exponencialmente às duas instituições: Horácio Berlinck

TECNOLOGIAS DE INFORMAÇÃO E COMUNICAÇÃO COMO INSTRUMENTO DE INCLUSÃO EM CASOS DE DIFICULDADES DE APRENDIZAGEM

The current information and communication technology (ict) is an importanttool in the learning consolidation process of people with a profile of school failure derivedfrom cognitive disabilities and neurological dysfunction. This is the type of problem thathappens to individuals with dyslexia – who display specific difficulties in reading and writing,and those with adhd, two of the major types of neuropsychological learning difficulties,conditions that cause low self-esteem and lack of social adjustment. such individuals have amedium-superior to a superior type of intelligence, but their brain activities differ from themajority of the population. This causes serious disturbances in their private and group life.this article aims at discussing the characteristics of those two types of disabilities and presentboth the use of technological tools for neurological research and the role of ict - informationand communication technology, as a medium for social inclusion through education.As atuais tecnologias de informação e comunicação (tic) são ferramentasimportantes na consolidação da aprendizagem de pessoas com perfil de fracasso escolarresultante de desabilidades cognitivas e disfunções neurológicas. Tais problemas ocorrem noscasos de indivíduos disléxicos – que apresentam dificuldade específica em leitura e escrita, enaqueles com déficit de atenção e hiperatividade, dois dos mais prevalentes tipos dedificuldades de aprendizagem neuropsicológicas, ambos causadores de baixa auto-estima edesajuste social. tais indivíduos têm inteligência média superior ou superior, mas umfuncionamento cerebral diverso do da maioria da população, o que causa sérios transtornosem sua vida pessoal e em grupo. O artigo pretende apresentar as características desses doistipos de distúrbio e comentar o estado da arte da utilização de ferramentas tecnológicasempregadas em pesquisas sobre essas diferenças cerebrais e o papel da tecnologia deinformação e comunicação usada como mediadora da inclusão social através da educação

Maternal Exercise during Pregnancy Increases BDNF Levels and Cell Numbers in the Hippocampal Formation but Not in the Cerebral Cortex of Adult Rat Offspring

International audienceClinical evidence has shown that physical exercise during pregnancy may alter brain devel- opment and improve cognitive function of offspring. However, the mechanisms through which maternal exercise might promote such effects are not well understood. The present study examined levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and absolute cell num- bers in the hippocampal formation and cerebral cortex of rat pups born from mothers exer- cised during pregnancy. Additionally, we evaluated the cognitive abilities of adult offspring in different behavioral paradigms (exploratory activity and habituation in open field tests, spatial memory in a water maze test, and aversive memory in a step-down inhibitory avoid- ance task). Results showed that maternal exercise during pregnancy increased BDNF lev- els and absolute numbers of neuronal and non-neuronal cells in the hippocampal formation of offspring. No differences in BDNF levels or cell numbers were detected in the cerebral cortex. It was also observed that offspring from exercised mothers exhibited better cognitive performance in nonassociative (habituation) and associative (spatial learning) mnemonic tasks than did offspring from sedentary mothers. Our findings indicate that maternal exer- cise during pregnancy enhances offspring cognitive function (habituation behavior and spa- tial learning) and increases BDNF levels and cell numbers in the hippocampal formation of offspring

Glycan affinity magnetic nanoplatforms for urinary glycobiomarkers discovery in bladder cancer

Bladder Cancer (BC) presents one of the highest recurrence rates amongst solid tumours and constitutes the second deadliest disease of the genitourinary track. Non-invasive identification of patients facing disease recurrence and/or progression remains one of the most critical and challenging aspects in disease management. To contribute to this goal, we demonstrate the potential of glycan-affinity glycoproteomics nanoplatforms for urinary biomarkers discovery in bladder cancer. Briefly, magnetic nanoprobes (MNP) coated with three broad-spectrum lectins, namely Concanavalin A (ConA; MNP@ConA), Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA; MNP@WGA), and Sambucus nigra (SNA; MNP@SNA), were used to selectively capture glycoproteins from the urine of low-grade and high-grade non-muscle invasive as well as muscle-invasive BC patients. Proteins were identified by nano-LC MALDI-TOF/TOF and data was curated using bioinformatics tools (UniProt, NetOGlyc, NetNGlyc, ClueGO app for Cytoscape and Oncomine) to highlight clinically relevant species. Accordingly, 63 glycoproteins were exclusively identified in cancer samples compared with healthy controls matching in age and gender. Specific glycoprotein sets exclusively found in low-grade non-muscle invasive bladder tumours may aid early diagnosis, while those only found in high-grade non-invasive and muscle-invasive tumours hold potential for accessing progression. Amongst these proteins is bladder cancer stem-cell marker CD44, which has been associated with poor prognosis. Orthogonal validation studies by slot-blotting demonstrated an elevation in urine CD44 levels of high-grade patients, which became more pronounced upon muscle-invasion, in mimicry of the primary tumour. These observations demonstrate the potential of MNP@lectins for identification of clinically relevant glycoproteomics signatures in bladder cancer. Future clinical validation in a larger and well characterized patient subset is required envisaging clinical translation of the results.publishe

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio