Autonomy and collage adjustment: A study with 1st-year Portuguese college students

Los niveles de autonomía psicológica de los alumnos desempeñan un papel importante en su ajuste a las presiones y desafíos de la vida universitaria. En este sentido, el presente estudio analiza las relaciones entre los niveles de autonomía de los estudiantes en su entrada en la Enseñanza Superior y la calidad de su ajuste académico al final del primer año. Se aplicó el Iowa Developing Autonomy Inventory (IDAI; Hood y Jackson, 1983) en el inicio del año lectivo, y el Questionário de Vivências Académicas (QVA; Almeida, Soares y Ferreira, 2000) al final de ese año, a una muestra de 420 alumnos de primer año de la Universidade do Minho. Los resultados revelan que los alumnos poseen percepciones bastante positivas en cuanto a sus niveles de autonomía en las áreas de Gestión del tiempo, Movilidad e Interdependencia, y niveles más bajos en la Gestión del dinero, observándose algunas oscilaciones en función del género. Por otro lado, los alumnos cuya entrada en la Enseñanza Superior no implicó su abandono del hogar familiar, especialmente los de sexo masculino, presentan niveles más elevados de ajuste académico. Finalmente, los resultados sugieren que el ajuste académico se encuentra asociado a los niveles de autonomía de los alumnos, en particular en lo que concierne a la Gestión del tiempo, Independencia emocional de sus compañeros e Interdependencia.Students’ psychological autonomy levels play an important role in their adjustment to the pressures and challenges of college life. In this sense, the present descriptive study analyzes the relationships between autonomy levels reached by students at the moment they entered Higher Education and the quality of their academic adjustment at the end of 1st academic year. It was applied the Iowa Developing Autonomy Inventory (IDAI), in the beginning of 1st semester, and the Academic Experiences Questionnaire (AEQ) at the end of that academic year, to a sample of 420 1st year University of Minho students’. Results show that students had quite positive results in what concerns to Time management, Mobility and Interdependence, and lower results in Money management. It was observed some gender effects. On the other hand, the students whose entrance in the Higher Education did not imply family separation, especially male students, present higher levels of academic adjustment. Finally, results suggest that academic adjustment was associated to students’ levels of autonomy, in particular in what concerns to Time management, Peer emotional independence and Interdependence

Envolvimento académico : confronto de expectativas e comportamentos em universitários do 1º ano

No presente trabalho analisam-se as expectativas dos estudantes acerca do seu envolvimento em diversas dimensões associadas à vida académica, assim como os comportamentos vivenciados uns meses após essa entrada tomando as mesmas dimensões. A amostra considerada é formada por 314 estudantes do 1º ano de três agrupamentos de cursos (Ciências e Engenharia; Ciências Económicas; e Ciências Sociais e Humanas) da Universidade do Minho. Estes alunos responderam, no início do ano e a meados do 2º semestre, ao Questionário de Envolvimento Académico (QEA; Soares & Almeida, 2001) nas suas versões de expectativas (Versão A) e comportamentos (Versão B). Os resultados sugerem níveis elevados de expectativas iniciais dos es- tudantes no momento da sua entrada na Universidade, registando-se uma diminuição significativa de tais índices no segundo momento da avaliação, em particular nas subescalas de envolvimento institucional e de envolvimento vocacional. Algumas oscilações nos resultados foram encontradas tomando os alunos de acordo com o agrupamento do curso frequentado, com o género, os níveis escolares dos pais ou o facto de frequentarem ou não um curso de 1º opção.This paper analyses students’ initial expectations concerning personal investment in different domains of academic life, as well as behaviours some months later in those same dimensions. The sample included 314 first year students of the University of Minho from three graduations areas: science and engineering, economic sciences, and social sciences and humanities. A questionnaire of academic involvement (QEA; Soares & Almeida, 2001) was applied to students at entrance (expectations version) and at middle of first semester (behaviours version). Results suggest higher levels of initial expectations at the entrance in the university, and a significant decrease of those levels some months later, namely in the institutional and vocational subscales. Some significant changes have been found considering the domain and option of graduation studies, gender and academic level of parents.Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian - Programa de Apoio a Projectos de Pesquisa no Domínio Educativo (2001/04) - projecto “Transição, adaptação e sucesso académico de jovens no Ensino Superior

Academic achievement on first-year Portuguese college students : the role of academic preparation and learning strategies

This paper analyses the impact of learning strategies, gender, academic field attended and students’ entrance classification to the university on academic achievement at the end of the first academic year. The study, developed with 445 first-year college students (68.5% female), ages between 17 and 57 years old (M = 18.3; SD = 2.17), from the University of Minho (Portugal), implicated answering a questionnaire on learning strategies, which concerned five dimensions (comprehensive approach, surface approach, personal competency perceptions, intrinsc motivation and organization of study activities). Regression analyses showed that academic achievement was more related to students’ entrance classifications to the university than to their learning strategies, independently of the academic field attended. Despite the significance of the other variables, these results seem to highlight the relationship between students’ academic preparation and their achievement at the end of the first-year.Cet article analyse le rôle de la préparation académique et des stratégies d’apprentissage dans la prediction des resultats académiques des étudiants collegiens portugais de premiere année, considerant le sexe des étudiants et le champ d’etudes poursuivies. Un échantillon de 445 etudiants collegiens de première annee (68,5% féminin) de l’Universite de Minho (25,8% inscrits en economie, 35,3% en sciences et technologies et 38,9% en sciences humaines) a participe à cette étude. Les étudiants ont répondu à un questionnaire sur les stratégies d’apprentissage, dans la classe à la fin du premier semestre, lequel consistait à 44 items organisés en cinq dimensions : approche comprehensive, approche de surface, perceptions des competences personnelles, motivation intrinse que et organisation des activites d’étude. Les resultats académiques (moyenne des notes à la fin de la premiere année) et la préparation acadeémique (score combinant les résultats academiques à l’école secondaire et les résultats aux examens d’entree à l’universite) furent obtenus en consultant les dossiers académiques conservés à l’université Les résultats ont montré que la préparation académique était le plus fort prédicteur des résultats académiques lors de la première année. Seulement une variance marginale additionnelle était expliquee par les stratégies d’apprentissage tel qu’évaluées par le questionnaire auto-rapporté. En dépit des différences relatives au sexe des étudiants et au champ d’études, ces variables ne semblent pas assez puissantes pour affecter les résultats. Malgré tout, les differents pourcentages de variance expliquée par chaque modèle et les differents poids associes à la preparation academique stimulent l’utilisation de ces variables ou d’autres variables personnelles et contextuelles lors de l’analyse du phenomene.E l presente trabajo analiza el papel de la preparación académica y las estrategias de aprendizaje en la predicción del rendimiento de los estudiantes del primer curso de la universidad, teniendo en cuenta el sexo de los estudiantes y el campo académico al que pertenecen. La muestra consistio´ en 445 estudiantes del primer curso (68,5% mujeres) de la Universidad de Minho (25,8% matriculados en economı´a, 35,3% en ciencia/tecnología, y 38,9% en humanidades). Los estudiantes contestaron a un cuestionario sobre las estrategias de aprendizaje al final del primer cuatrimestre, el cual consistió en 44 ítems organizados en cinco dimensiones: enfoque comprensivo, enfoque superficial, percepción de la competencia personal, motivación intrínseca y organización de las actividades de estudio. El rendimiento académico (la media de las notas al final del primer curso) y la preparación académica (la nota de acceso a los estudios superiores) fueron obtenidos de los registros de la universidad. Los resultados demostraron que la preparación académica fue el predictor más importante del rendimiento acadeémico en el primer curso y solo la varianza marginal adicional fue explicada por las estrategias de aprendizaje recogidas en el cuestionario de auto-informe. A pesar de las diferencias de género y campo académico, estas variables no parecen suficientemente fuertes como para afectar a los resultados. Aún así, los diferentes porcentajes de varianza capturados por cada modelo y los diferentes pesos asociados a las notas de acceso a los estudios estimulan el uso de estas y/u otras variables personales y contextuales al analizar este fenómeno

Condicionantes percepcionadas na entrada para a universidade: estudos com alunos do 1º ano da Universidade do Minho

Poster apresentado no Simpósio Internacional e Multidisciplinar "Transições ao longo da vida : família, escola, trabalho e saúde", Coimbra, Portugal, 5 - 6 Maio 2005.A transição para o Ensino Superior confronta os jovens com inúmeros desafios nos diferentes planos da sua existência. Neste contexto, e considerando a massificação e heterogeneização registada nos últimos anos no acesso e frequência do Ensino Superior em Portugal, interessa conhecer a “nova” composição social desta população, para que as instituições universitárias possam responder eficazmente às suas “novas” características e necessidades. O presente trabalho, inserido num projecto de investigação (financiado pela Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), procura caracterizar as razões de escolha da Universidade do Minho, bem como as dificuldades antecipadas nesta transição educativa, nos alunos que ingressaram na 1ª fase do Concurso Nacional de Acesso ao Ensino Superior na Universidade do Minho. Esta análise considera variáveis sócio-demográficas (género e habilitações literárias dos pais) e da trajectória escolar dos alunos (nota de ingresso e opção curso e estabelecimento de ensino de entrada na Universidade)

Rendimento académico no Ensino Superior: estudo com alunos do 1º ano

No quadro do projecto “Transição, adaptação e sucesso académico de jovens no Ensino Superior”, financiado pela Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, avaliamos de forma sequencial uma amostra de 314 alunos do 1º ano da Universidade do Minho (UM) procurando, desse modo, identificar as variáveis pessoais e contextuais preditoras do rendimento académico no final do 1º ano. A par do Questionário de Vivências Académicas (QVAr; Almeida, Ferreira, & Soares, 1999), aplicado no decurso do 1º semestre para avaliar a qualidade das experiências universitárias dos alunos, aplicou-se no final do 2º semestre o Inventário de Atitudes e Hábitos de Estudo (IACHE; Tavares et al., 2002). Recolheram-se, ainda, junto dos Serviços Académicos da UM a média de candidatura dos alunos ao Ensino Superior e as classificações obtidas no final do 1º ano. Algumas diferenças com significado estatístico foram observadas nas vivências e nos métodos de estudo segundo o tipo de curso frequentado e a opção do curso em que o aluno se encontra. No entanto, mais que estas variáveis, é a própria média de candidatura do aluno à Universidade que melhor prediz o rendimento dos alunos no final do 1º ano, sendo o seu peso bastante diferenciado em função do curso que os alunos frequentam.As part of the project “Transition, adjustment and academic success of college students”, financed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, we tried to identify personal and contextual predictors of academic achievement in the end of the first academic year. A sample of 314 first-year college students of University of Minho (UM) has been considered. To evaluate the quality of student’s academic experiences, we used the Questionnaire of Academic Experiences (QVAr; Almeida, Ferreira, & Soares, 1999) during the first semester, and the Inventory of Attitudes and Habits of Study (IACHE; Tavares et al., 2002) at the end of the second semester. We have also obtained, from the Academic Services of the university, data of students’ entrance classification to Higher Education and the academic achievement at the end of the first-year in college. Some significant statistical differences were observed in the experiences and in the methods of study according to the academic field attended and choice of degree. Nevertheless, in the regression analysis, the entrance classification to Higher Education was the best predictor of students’ academic achievement at the end of the first year, being it is weight differential according to the academic field attended.En el cuadro del proyecto “Transición, adaptación y éxito académico de jóvenes en la Enseñanza Superior”, financiado por la Fundación Calouste Gulbenkian, evaluamos de forma secuencial una muestra de 314 alumnos de 1º año de la Universidad do Minho (UM) procurando, de ese modo, identificar las variables personales y contextuales predictoras del rendimiento académico en el final del 1º año. Junto con el Cuestionario de Vivencias Académicas (QVAr; Almeida, Ferreira, & Soares, 1999), aplicado en el transcurso del 1º semestre para evaluar la calidad de las experiencias universitarias de los alumnos, se aplicó en el final del 2º semestre el Inventario de Actitudes y Hábitos de Estudio (IACHE; Tavares et al., 2002). También se recogieron de los Servicios Académicos de la UM la media de acceso de los alumnos a la Enseñanza Superior y las clasificaciones obtenidas al final del 1º año. Algunas diferencias con significado estadístico fueron observadas en las vivencias y en los métodos de estudio según el tipo de titulación y la opción a través de la cual accedió a la universidad. Aún teniendo en cuenta estos resultados, la media de acceso del alumno a la Universidad fue la variable que mejor predijo el rendimiento de los alumnos al final del 1º año, siendo su peso bastante diferenciado en función de la titulación a la que los alumnos pertenecen.Fundação Calouste Gulbenkia

Towards Understanding Political Interactions on Instagram

Online Social Networks (OSNs) allow personalities and companies to communicate directly with the public, bypassing filters of traditional medias. As people rely on OSNs to stay up-to-date, the political debate has moved online too. We witness the sudden explosion of harsh political debates and the dissemination of rumours in OSNs. Identifying such behaviour requires a deep understanding on how people interact via OSNs during political debates. We present a preliminary study of interactions in a popular OSN, namely Instagram. We take Italy as a case study in the period before the 2019 European Elections. We observe the activity of top Italian Instagram profiles in different categories: politics, music, sport and show. We record their posts for more than two months, tracking "likes" and comments from users. Results suggest that profiles of politicians attract markedly different interactions than other categories. People tend to comment more, with longer comments, debating for longer time, with a large number of replies, most of which are not explicitly solicited. Moreover, comments tend to come from a small group of very active users. Finally, we witness substantial differences when comparing profiles of different parties.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figure

New Vaccine Formulations Containing a Modified Version of the Amastigote 2 Antigen and the Non-Virulent Trypanosoma cruzi CL-14 Strain Are Highly Antigenic and Protective against Leishmania infantum Challenge

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a major public health issue reported as the second illness in mortality among all tropical diseases. Clinical trials have shown that protection against VL is associated with robust T cell responses, especially those producing IFN-gamma. The Leishmania amastigote 2 (A2) protein has been repeatedly described as immunogenic and protective against VL in different animal models; it is recognized by human T cells, and it is also commercially available in a vaccine formulation containing saponin against canine VL. Moving toward a more appropriate formulation for human vaccination, here, we tested a new optimized version of the recombinant protein (rA2), designed for Escherichia coli expression, in combination with adjuvants that have been approved for human use. Moreover, aiming at improving the cellular immune response triggered by rA2, we generated a recombinant live vaccine vector using Trypanosoma cruzi CL-14 non-virulent strain, named CL-14 A2. Mice immunized with respective rA2, adsorbed in Alum/CpG B297, a TLR9 agonist recognized by mice and human homologs, or with the recombinant CL-14 A2 parasites through homologous prime-boost protocol, were evaluated for antigen-specific immune responses and protection against Leishmania infantum promastigote challenge. Immunization with the new rA2/Alum/CpG formulations and CL-14 A2 transgenic vectors elicited stronger cellular immune responses than control groups, as shown by increased levels of IFN-gamma, conferring protection against L. infantum challenge. Interestingly, the use of the wild-type CL-14 alone was enough to boost immunity and confer protection, confirming the previously reported immunogenic potential of this strain. Together, these results support the success of both the newly designed rA2 antigen and the ability of T. cruzi CL-14 to induce strong T cell-mediated immune responses against VL in animal models when used as a live vaccine vector. In conclusion, the vaccination strategies explored here reveal promising alternatives for the development of new rA2 vaccine formulations to be translated human clinical trials

Carbon monoxide prevents hepatic mitochondrial membrane permeabilization

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Low concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) protect hepatocytes against apoptosis and confers cytoprotection in several models of liver. Mitochondria are key organelles in cell death control <it>via </it>their membrane permeabilization and the release of pro-apoptotic factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Herein, we show that CO prevents mitochondrial membrane permeabilization (MMP) in liver isolated mitochondria. Direct and indirect approaches were used to evaluate MMP inhibition by CO: mitochondrial swelling, mitochondrial depolarization and inner membrane permeabilization. Additionally, CO increases mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and their scavenging, by ß-carotene addition, decreases CO protection, which reveals the key role of ROS. Interestingly, cytochrome c oxidase transiently responds to low concentrations of CO by decreasing its activity in the first 5 min, later on there is an increase of cytochrome c oxidase activity, which were detected up to 30 min.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>CO directly prevents mitochondrial membrane permeabilization, which might be implicated in the hepatic apoptosis inhibition by this gaseoustransmitter.</p

Chemical and biological studies from an Azorean macroalga: Ulva rigida

3rd Portuguese Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry and 1st Portuguese-Spanish-Brazilian Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry, Aveiro, 28-30 Novembro 2012.New drugs from natural sources have been targets of the drug discovery program and some bioactive compounds from macroalgae such as sulfated polysaccharides, steroids and diterpens have found their applications in the pharmaceutical industry.[1,2] Consequently, we have investigated the chemical composition and the in vitro antitumor potential of the metabolites isolated from the macroalga Ulva rigida, collected from the Azorean coast, an environmentally healthy habitat with a high level of biodiversity. We hereby describe isolation of isofucosterol (1) and 7(E)-3ẞ-hidroxy-5α, 6α-epoxymegastigmane (2) from the methanol extract of Ulva rigida, collected in May of 2011 in the Sea of St Miguel Island - Azores archipelago. The process of isolation of these metabolites involved chlorophylls elimination by the method previously described[3] and fractionation by column chromatography. The structures of 1 and 2 were established by 1D and 2D NMR spectral analysis and specific rotation as well as comparison of their spectral data with those described in the literature.[4,5] Compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated for their capacity to inhibit the in vitro growth of three human cancer cell lines: MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma), NCI-H460 (non-small cell lung cancer) and A375-C5 (human skin cell line), using the protein binding dye SRB method. The results showed that compound 1 exhibited only a weak activity against MCF-7 (GI50 = 122.2 ± 17.9 μM), NCI-H460 (GI50 = 128.4 ± 32.4 μM), A375-C5 (GI50 = 119.2 ± 28.9 μM), while compound 2 was inactive against all the three cell lines (GI50 >200 μM).This work was financially supported by the project, Bioactive products in marine algae of Azores (PTDC/MAR/100482/2008) from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). Madalena Silva thanks FCT for the young researcher scholarship under PTDC/MAR/100482/2008 project

TGGE-monitoring of the microbial community along the olive mill wastewaters anaerobic treatment

Monitoring the microbial community present during the olive mill wastewater (OMW) anaerobic treatment was carried out using PCR-TGGE analysis. Phase-contrast microscopy was used in order to directly examine microbial cells morphology. Samples were collected from the anaerobic digester bottom along the successive increases of OMW loading rate. TGGE banding patterns showed a significant diversity of OTUs. Cluster analysis of TGGE banding patterns shows two major groups: one cluster composed of samples belonging to the initial phases of treatment and a second cluster that encloses the other two samples. According to BLAST results, four sequences affiliated with group Cytophaga-Flexibacter-Bacteroidetes (CFB), one with sub-class Epsilon-Proteobacteria and other with phylum Firmicutes. The sequences obtained from each band were used to construct phylogenetic trees, and also using bacterial 16S rDNA sequences from environmental clones and reference taxa. Archaeal 16SrDNA PCR detection analysis revealed the presence of Archaea only in the initial sample of the digester start-up suggesting that methanogenesis along the treatment process occurs at an upper level of the unit. Concerning microscopic observations, the more representative morphological forms found in the bottom of digester were Clostridium spp. and Clostridium spp. sarcina-like forms