The brain signature for reading in high-skilled deaf adults: behavior and electrophysiological evidence

327 p.La presente tesis investiga cómo se da el procesamiento de la información sintáctica y semántica en lectores sordos competentes. En primer lugar, investigamos qué similitudes y/o diferencias comparten los lectores sordos con los lectores oyentes nativos. En segundo lugar, puesto que sabemos que la experiencia lingüística impacta el procesamiento del lenguaje en el cerebro, también comparamos el mismo grupo de lectores sordos con un grupo de bilingües tardíos del español. Para tanto, evaluamos estas propuestas a través de la técnica de electroencefalograma (EEG) y de los Potenciales Evocados Relacionados a Eventos (ERP) para comprender cómo es la respuesta fisiológica de lectores sordos durante una tarea de lectura de frases. Las respuestas a estas preguntas aportarán conocimiento sobre los mecanismos cognitivos de los buenos lectores sordos, y conllevan implicaciones prácticas respecto a la creación de nuevos métodos de enseñanza

The brain signature for reading in high-skilled deaf adults: behavior and electrophysiological evidence

327 p.La presente tesis investiga cómo se da el procesamiento de la información sintáctica y semántica en lectores sordos competentes. En primer lugar, investigamos qué similitudes y/o diferencias comparten los lectores sordos con los lectores oyentes nativos. En segundo lugar, puesto que sabemos que la experiencia lingüística impacta el procesamiento del lenguaje en el cerebro, también comparamos el mismo grupo de lectores sordos con un grupo de bilingües tardíos del español. Para tanto, evaluamos estas propuestas a través de la técnica de electroencefalograma (EEG) y de los Potenciales Evocados Relacionados a Eventos (ERP) para comprender cómo es la respuesta fisiológica de lectores sordos durante una tarea de lectura de frases. Las respuestas a estas preguntas aportarán conocimiento sobre los mecanismos cognitivos de los buenos lectores sordos, y conllevan implicaciones prácticas respecto a la creación de nuevos métodos de enseñanza

Farming exposure and asthma phenotypes:In mice and men

Although several studies have shown that farmers and people with agricultural-related occupations have a higher risk of developing lung diseases such as nonallergic asthma, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), it has also been shown that exposure to the farm environment is associated with a protective effect on the development of atopy and allergic asthma.In this thesis, both effects of farm exposures on the immune system were studied: the protective effect against allergic asthma and the induction of non-allergic asthma. These studies were conducted among agricultural workers, and in mouse models of allergic and nonallergic lung disease. In addition, the presence of several macrophage phenotypes in animal models of allergic and non-allergic asthma was investigated, as well as the effects of exposure to farm dust extract on a macrophage cell line.This thesis demonstrated that occupational exposure to a farm environment and exposure to farm dust extracts in mice lead to a shift in the immune system towards non-allergic inflammation. This shift offers on the one hand protection against development of allergic diseases, such as allergic asthma, but is also associated with the risk of nonallergic asthma development. In addition, this thesis shows that, within the various phenotypes asthma, various inflammatory mediators and cells are important in the development and severity of airway hyperresponsiveness

La televisión necesita una llamada digital: Cómo el multi-pantalla fomenta la participación, la interacción social y la inmersión. Un estudio exploratorio en Portugal

La proliferación de las tecnologías digitales, junto con el aumento de las tasas de adopción de internet y dispositivos móviles, están reconfigurando el panorama mediático contemporáneo y fomentando nuevas prácticas de uso. La televisión está pasando por un proceso de remediación o hibridación, ya que el contenido se está convirtiendo en transmedia y los espectadores en multiplataforma. Este artículo trata del multi-pantalla, es decir, el uso de dispositivos con pantalla mientras se ve la televisión. El objetivo de esta investigación es la identificación de las prácticas multi-pantalla más comunes y las motivaciones, usos y gratificaciones detrás de esas conductas. Nuestro enfoque teórico articula el concepto de multi-pantalla, y la descripción de las prácticas multi-pantalla más comunes, con una visión general de la investigación sobre las comunicaciones móviles y las motivaciones para su adopción y uso. Nuestro trabajo empírico consiste en focus groups con usuarios multi-pantalla, donde fueron explorados sus objetivos, necesidades, preferencias y expectativas asociados a estas prácticas. Nuestros resultados identifican dos tipos principales de motivaciones para el multi-pantalla: utilitaria (asociado con hacer un mejor uso del tiempo y ser más eficaces en el cumplimiento de tareas) y afectiva (relacionado con una necesidad constante e inevitable de estar puesto al día con lo que está pasando en el mundo y estar conectado a la red de estrechas relaciones de uno). Los dispositivos móviles añaden un estrato digital a la televisión, y esto se caracteriza, más a menudo, por no tener relación con el contenido de la televisión.The proliferation of digital technologies, along with increasing rates of adoption of the internet and mobile devices, are reconfiguring the contemporary media landscape and fostering new usage practices. The television is undergoing a remediation or hybridization process, as content becomes transmedia and viewers become multiplatform. This paper focuses on multi-screening, i.e. the use of screened devices during television viewing. The aim of this research is identifying the most common multiscreening practices and the motivations, uses and gratifications behind those behaviors. Our theoretical framework articulates a discussion of the concept of multi-screening itself, along with a description of the most common multiscreening practices, with an overview of previous research in the Mobile Communication subfield on the motivations for mobile phone adoption and use. Our empirical work consists of focus group discussions with multi-screeners, exploring the goals, needs, preferences and expectations associated to these practices. Our results identify two main types of motivations for multi-screening: utilitarian (associated with making a better use of time and being more effective in accomplishing tasks) and affective (related to a constant and pressing need of being up-to-date with what is going on in the world and being connected to one’s network of close relationships). Mobile devices add a digital layer to television viewing, and this layer is more often unrelated to television content than related

Ensino de zoologia em foco : interações e atividades investigativas

Neste artigo, discutimos especificidades do ensino de Zoologia, concomitantemente à necessidade do desenvolvimento de atividades investigativas. Para tal, utilizamos a metodologia de Análise de Conteúdo e analisamos as interações entre estudantes do segundo ano do Ensino Médio de uma turma de uma escola pública paulista e nossos resultados revelam que atividades investigativas consistem em uma ferramenta que potencializa a compreensão da diversidade dos seres vivos baseando- se construção de inferências e hipóteses e que as interações estabelecidas no contexto escolar contribuem para a construção da compreensão para a necessidade de classificação dos animais, tendo em vista aspectos relativos à diversidade de espécies

Multi-specialization: The concept, motivations and impact on individuals

We present the concept of multi-specialization for those building careers, which refers to workers becoming very familiar with two or three fields of knowledge. This requires a compromise between individual capacity and individual learning needs and also means that workers will need tomaintain or achieve higher levels of productivity, ensuring or enhancing social welfare. Taking into account the differences between this concept and the traditional concepts of single-field specialization, we were able to uncover and highlight several positive possible results that many workers expect to experience when adopting this work perspective and, at the same time, to hear their concerns. A questionnaire and a set of interviews allow us to understand the individual experiences of those studied in this context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characterization of Cynara cardunculus L. flower from Alentejo as a coagulant agent for cheesemaking

The cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) is a mandatory vegetable coagulant for certain Protected Designation of Origin Portuguese cheeses. It grows wild in Portugal and is used without any type of control regarding flower picking or extract preparation, representing some uncertainty in cheese manufacture. The variability in technological properties, in the context of traditional cheese manufacture, of cardoon flower ecotypes from the Alentejo region was evaluated, including milk clotting and proteolytic activities, coagulation properties and potential cheesemaking yield of flower extracts. Multivariate statistics highlighted the variability of flower properties for cheesemaking, but allowed the aggregation of the ecotypes into five groups under the major influence of milk clotting activity and effect on gel firmness and micellar aggregation rate, followed by proteolytic activity. These differences may have an impact on cheese properties and therefore can allow the selection of cardoon flower for the manufacture of different types of cheese

Raw materials demand for wind and solar PV technologies in the transition towards a decarbonised energy system

Raw materials are essential to securing a transition to green energy technologies and for achieving the goals outlined in the European Green Deal. To meet the future energy demand through renewables, the power sector will face a massive deployment of wind and solar PV technologies. As result, the consumption of raw materials necessary to manufacture wind turbines and photovoltaic panels is expected to increase drastically in the coming decades. However, the EU industry is largely dependent on imports for many raw materials and in some cases is exposed to vulnerabilities in materials supply. These issues raise concerns on the availability of some raw materials needed to meet the future deployment targets for the renewable energy technologies. This study aims at estimating the future demand for raw materials in wind turbines and solar PV following several decarbonisation scenarios. For the EU, the materials demand trends were built on the EU legally binding targets by 2030 and deployment scenarios targeting a climate-neutral economy by 2050. At a global level, the generation capacity scenarios were selected based on various global commitments to limit greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency. Alongside the power generation capacity, the materials demand calculations considered three more factors such as the plant lifetime, sub-technology market share and materials intensity. By evaluating and combining those factors, three demand scenarios were built characterised by low, medium and high materials demands. For wind turbines, the annual materials demand will increase from 2-fold up to 15-fold depending on the material and the scenario considered. Significant demand increases are expected for both structural materials - concrete, steel, plastic, glass, aluminium, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, and zinc - and technology specific materials such as rare earths and minor metals. In the EU the biggest increase in materials demand will be for onshore wind, with significantly lower variations for offshore wind, while on a global scale the situation is opposite. The most significant example is that of rare earths (e.g. dysprosium, neodymium, praseodymium and terbium) used in permanent magnets-based wind turbines. In the most severe scenario, the EU annual demand for these rare earths can increase 6 times in 2030 and up to 15 times in 2050 compared to 2018 values. As consequence, by 2050, the deployment of wind turbines, according to EU decarbonisation goals, will require alone most of the neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium currently available to the EU market. In the high demand scenario, the global demand for rare earths in wind turbines could increase between 8-9 times in 2030 and 11-14 times in 2050 compared to 2018 values, a slightly lower increase compared to the EU. For solar PV technologies there are large differences in material demand between different scenarios, especially for those specific materials used in the manufacturing of PV cells. In the most optimistic case, improvements in material intensities can lead to a net decrease in materials demand. In the medium demand scenario, the balance between capacity deployment and the material intensities will result in a moderate increase in demand ranging from 3 to 8 fold for most materials. In the high demand scenario it is expected an increase in demand for all materials, for example a 4-fold increase for silver and up to a 12-fold increase for silicon in 2050. For cadmium, gallium, indium, selenium and tellurium the change in the demand will be more significant, up to a 40 times increase in 2050. The highest demand in 2050 is expected for germanium, which might increase up to 86 times compared to 2018 values. In the most severe conditions, the EU will require around 8 times in 2030 and up to 30 times in 2050 more structural materials such as used in frame and staffing materials compared to 2018 values. Instead, the EU annual demand for PV cells materials varies more broadly such as between 4 times for silver and 86 times for germanium in 2050 according to the high demand conditions. For silicon, the EU demand is expected to increase 2 times in 2030 and 4 times in 2050 under the medium demand scenario, and 7 times in 2030 and 13 times in 2050 under a high demand scenario. Considering both technologies, such high increases in materials demand will put additional stresses on the future availability of some raw materials. The EU transition to green energy technologies according to the current decarbonisation scenarios can be put in dangerous due to weaknesses in future supply security for several materials such as germanium, tellurium gallium, indium, selenium, silicon and glass for the solar PV and rare earths for the wind turbines technologies.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio