The Maastricht Criteria and the Euro. Has the Convergence Continued?

We analyze the performance of the Maastricht convergence criteria (inflation, long-term interest rate, annual and overall public debt) of the European Monetary Union (EMU) that led to the introduction of the Euro on Jan. 1st 1999 as book currency. Defining 3 regimes, 1992-97, 1997-1999 and 2000-2001, we analyse convergence properties, like a smooth or a rough transition in the mean or variance shifts between these 3 regimes. Given the regimes, we test the convergence in econometric models to see if the first and second moments of the convergence process are time dependent. Furthermore we check for a smooth transition process between the regimes and if the convergence process has stabilized around a target path. We find that the speed of the convergence processes for the monetary authority controlled variables (inflation and interest rates) were very different from the government controlled variables annual deficit and the public debt.EMU convergence, Maastricht criteria, Heteroskedastic spline models, ARCH regime shifts, Inflation, Public deficits

Individual Pulmonary Vein Atresia in Adults: Report of Two Cases

We present two cases of individual pulmonary vein atresia without vestige of an involved pulmonary vein. On CT, we noted the absence or interruption of normal pulmonary venous structures, and the presence of abnormal vascular structures that represented collaterals for the involved lung parenchyma. On angiography, the atretic pulmonary vein was found to drain into the other ipsilateral pulmonary veins through the collaterals

Educação Matemática: um olhar histórico-epistemológico

Resumo: Este texto é resultado de reflexões referentes ao tema “Educação Matemática como campo de pesquisa e profissional” em que, motivados por entender o que a compõe e como essas discussões foram se modificando ao longo do tempo, nos dedicamos a uma pesquisa bibliográfica não exaustiva para compreender o processo de construção deste campo de conhecimento, em âmbito nacional e internacional. Este estudo nos proporcionou conhecer como ocorreu a construção desta área e quais aspectos foram fundamentais em sua constituição como campo de pesquisa e profissional até os dias atuais. Além disso, ressaltamos a importância de manter vínculos entre educadores matemáticos e matemáticos, bem como entre pesquisadores e professores de Matemática, a fim de constituir uma área, profissional e acadêmica, cujos esforços estejam voltados para a produção de práticas que beneficiem o processo de ensino e aprendizagem da Matemática.Palavras-chave: Educação Matemática; Campo Científico; Campo Profissional; Formação Docente. Mathematical Education: a historical-epistemological lookAbstract: This text is the result of reflections regarding “Mathematics Education as a field of research and professional” in which, motivated to understand what makes it up and how these discussions have changed over time, we dedicate ourselves to a non-exhaustive bibliographical research to understand the process of construction of this field of knowledge at the international and national levels. This study allowed us to know how the construction of this area occurred and what aspects were fundamental in its constitution as a field of research and professional up to the present day. In addition, we emphasize the importance of maintaining the links between mathematical and mathematical educators, as well as between researchers and Mathematics teachers, in order to constitute an area, professional and academic, whose efforts are focused on the production of practices that benefit the process of teaching and learning mathematics.Keywords: Mathematics Education; Scientific Field; Professional Field; Teacher Formation.

Preoperative evaluation of pulmonary artery morphology and pulmonary circulation in neonates with pulmonary atresia - usefulness of MR angiography in clinical routine

BACKGROUND: To explore the role of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) in clinical routine for evaluating neonates with pulmonary atresia (PA) and to describe their pulmonary artery morphology and blood supply.CE-MRA studies of 15 neonates with PA (12 female; median weight: 2900 g) were retrospectively evaluated by two radiologists in consensus. Each study was judged to be either diagnostic or non-diagnostic depending on the potential to evaluate pulmonary artery morphology and pulmonary blood supply. In those cases where surgery or conventional angiocardiography was performed results were compared. RESULTS: CE-MRA was considered diagnostic in 87%. Pulmonary artery morphology was classified as "confluent with (n = 1) and without (n = 1) main pulmonary artery", "non-confluent" (n = 6) or "absent" (n = 7). Source of pulmonary blood supply was "a persistent arterial duct" (n = 12), "a direct" (n = 22) or "indirect (n = 9) aortopulmonary collateral artery (APCA)" or "an APCA from the ascending aorta" (n = 2). In no patient were there any additional findings at surgery or conventional angiocardiography which would have changed the therapeutic or surgical approach. CONCLUSIONS: CE-MRA is a useful diagnostic tool for the preoperative evaluation of the morphology of pulmonary arteries and blood supply in neonates with PA. In most cases diagnostic cardiac catheterization can be avoided

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance in pericardial diseases

The pericardium and pericardial diseases in particular have received, in contrast to other topics in the field of cardiology, relatively limited interest. Today, despite improved knowledge of pathophysiology of pericardial diseases and the availability of a wide spectrum of diagnostic tools, the diagnostic challenge remains. Not only the clinical presentation may be atypical, mimicking other cardiac, pulmonary or pleural diseases; in developed countries a shift for instance in the epidemiology of constrictive pericarditis has been noted. Accurate decision making is crucial taking into account the significant morbidity and mortality caused by complicated pericardial diseases, and the potential benefit of therapeutic interventions. Imaging herein has an important role, and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is definitely one of the most versatile modalities to study the pericardium. It fuses excellent anatomic detail and tissue characterization with accurate evaluation of cardiac function and assessment of the haemodynamic consequences of pericardial constraint on cardiac filling. This review focuses on the current state of knowledge how CMR can be used to study the most common pericardial diseases

Scrivere con l'immagine: il videotape

Il testo propone un iter di "scrittura televisiva" con il videotape, da poter utilizzare per l'educazione ai linguaggi audiovisivi nella scuola di bas

Educazione senza Frontiere come risposta a un\u2019esigenza sentita.

Intervento introduttivo al Gruppo di lavoro "Educazione senza Frontiere: Storie di vita ed esperienze educative nel mondo per una comunit\ue0 di ricerca" (3 ottobre 2004)collegato alla "Biennale internazionale della Didattica universitaria

La dimensione osservativa dell'insegnare

L'osservazione, oltre che delinearsi come metodo di ricerca della pedagogia sperimentale per indagare le dinamiche relazionali del processo diinsegnamento-apprendimento, si propone anche quale "ferro del mestiere" quotidiano utilizzabile direttamente dal docente per controllare il campo operativo, per affinare l\u2019auto ed etero-percezione, per accrescere la propria professionalit\ue0: in particolare, come strumento per confrontarsi con modelli da seguire o viceversa da evitare, procedimento per l'autoanalisi-consapevolizzazione-valutazione delle proprie modalit\ue0 espressive e comunicative, e di conseguenza per correggere e rendere maggiormente efficati i propri comportamenti didattici e relazionali nell'esperienza quotidiana di lavoro. Il testo guarda all'importanza che pertanto l'osservazione con le sue tecniche assume come strumento base della formazione iniziale e continua degli insegnanti e degli operatori educativi , e ne approfondisce la funzionalizzazione alla progettazione, al monitoraggio e alla valutazione degli interventi didattici