A Framework for the Design and Implementation of Learning Objects: a Competence-based Approach

This paper presents a framework for the design and implementation of learning objects using a competence-based approach. This framework is illustrated by the development of a standalone Windows application (Trilho GOA) whose primary purpose is to create standardized pedagogical contents trough the aggregation and standardization of instructional resources in several formats that can be used later on a Learning Management System (LMS) supporting SCORM 1.2. The paper contains a brief introduction to the developed software, its system architecture, main features and several pedagogical advantages for its users

OS DIREITOS DA CRIANÇA ANGOLANA, COMO DIREITOS FUNDAMENTAIS, FACE À RESPONSABILIDADE PARENTAL

This text essentially aims to address the fundamental principles of the United Nations, the African Union and the Angolan Legal System, regarding the social protection and criminal prevention of children, in view of parental responsibility and the need to protect their universal and fundamental rights, through a comparative study with Brazilian law and international standards. In this regard, the role of the family in general and of the parents stands out, who are responsible, par excellence, for the exercise of parental responsibility. However, parents may find themselves inhibited from exercising such responsibility for facts that go against the best interests of the child. Likewise, we will not fail to mention the importance of international cooperation and respect for the values ​​of the community where the child is inserted, so that their fundamental rights become a reality.El presente texto tiene como objetivo esencial abordar los principios fundamentales de las Naciones Unidas, la Unión Africana y el Sistema Jurídico angoleño, en lo que respecta a la protección social y la prevención penal de los niños, teniendo en cuenta la responsabilidad de los padres y la necesidad de proteger sus derechos universales y fundamentales, a través de un estudio comparativo con la legislación brasileña y las normas internacionales. En este sentido, destaca el papel de la familia en general y de los padres, a quienes corresponde, por excelencia, el ejercicio de la patria potestad. Sin embargo, los padres pueden verse inhibidos de ejercer tal responsabilidad por hechos que van en contra del interés superior del niño. Asimismo, no dejaremos de mencionar la importancia de la cooperación internacional y el respeto a los valores de la comunidad donde se inserta el niño, para que sus derechos fundamentales se hagan realidad.O presente texto visa, essencialmente, abordar os princípios fundamentais das Nações Unidas, da União Africana e do Ordenamento Jurídico angolano, relativos à proteção social e prevenção criminal da criança, face à responsabilidade parental e na necessidade de proteger os seus direitos universais e fundamentais, por meio de um estudo comparado com o direito brasileiro e normas internacionais. Neste particular, destaca-se o papel da família em geral e dos progenitores, a quem incumbe, por excelência, o exercício da responsabilidade parental. Entretanto, os progenitores podem se ver inibidos de exercitar tal responsabilidade por fatos que atentem contra os superiores interesses da criança. Igualmente, não deixaremos de referir a importância da cooperação internacional e do respeito pelos valores da comunidade onde a criança se encontra inserida, para que os direitos fundamentais dela sejam uma realidade. O presente texto visa, essencialmente, abordar os princípios fundamentais das Nações Unidas, da União Africana e do Ordenamento Jurídico angolano, relativos à proteção social e prevenção criminal da criança, face à responsabilidade parental e na necessidade de proteger os seus direitos universais e fundamentais, por meio de um estudo comparado com o direito brasileiro e normas internacionais. Neste particular, destaca-se o papel da família em geral e dos progenitores, a quem incumbe, por excelência, o exercício da responsabilidade parental. Entretanto, os progenitores podem se ver inibidos de exercitar tal responsabilidade por fatos que atentem contra os superiores interesses da criança. Igualmente, não deixaremos de referir a importância da cooperação internacional e do respeito pelos valores da comunidade onde a criança se encontra inserida, para que os direitos fundamentais dela sejam uma realidade.&nbsp

Effects of intermittent fasting on regulation of metabolic homeostasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis in health and metabolic-related disorders

Intermittent fasting (IF) is an emerging dietetic intervention that has been associated with improved metabolic parameters. Nowadays, the most common IF protocols are Alternate-Day Fasting (ADF) and Time-Restricted Fasting (TRF), but in this review and meta-analysis we have also considered Religious Fasting (RF), which is similar to TRF but against the circadian rhythm. The available studies usually include the analysis of a single specific IF protocol on different metabolic outcomes. Herein, we decided to go further and to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the advantages of different IF protocols for metabolic homeostasis in individuals with different metabolic status, such as with obesity, diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2D) and metabolic syndrome (MetS). Systematic searches (PubMed, Scopus, Trip Database, Web of Knowledge and Embase, published before June 2022) of original articles in peer-review scientific journals focusing on IF and body composition outcomes were performed. Sixty-four reports met the eligibility criteria for the qualitative analysis and forty-seven for the quantitative analysis. Herein, we showed that ADF protocols promoted the major beneficial effects in the improvement of dysregulated metabolic conditions in comparison with TRF and RF protocols. Furthermore, obese and MetS individuals are the most benefited with the introduction of these interventions, through the improvement of adiposity, lipid homeostasis and blood pressure. For T2D individuals, IF impact was more limited, but associated with their major metabolic dysfunctions—insulin homeostasis. Importantly, through the integrated analysis of distinct metabolic-related diseases, we showed that IF seems to differently impact metabolic homeostasis depending on an individual’s basal health status and type of metabolic disease.This work has been funded by National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)—project UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020

Charakterisierung von Zytokinantworten und Gedächtniszell-Populationen mittels Multi-Farben-Durchflusszytometrie

The recent advances in flowcytometry have come hand-in-hand with an improved knowledge of the immune system, and with practical and clinical benefits. Given the need to answer immunological and clinically relevant questions, a flowcytometry-based approach that focuses on the assessment of cytokine secretion and memory markers in different settings was established. The Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-specific T cell memory analysis revealed the existence of six subsets at distinct differentiation stages. The memory T cell profile of a protective immune-response against a chronic infection was delineated, providing a basis for analyzing T cell responses in EBV-associated diseases. The enhanced frequencies of multifunctional and cytotoxic EBV- specific T cells found in bone marrow (BM) are of great interest for adoptive immunotherapy. A similar analysis was performed to characterize the Cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific T cell-memory profile, and remarkable differences were observed relatively to the EBV-memory repertoire. The results uncovered that BM CMV-specific CD4+ T cells have higher proliferative and multi-cytokine producing capacities than peripheral blood (PB) cells reinforcing BM as an interesting source to generate T cells for adoptive therapy. To elucidate the role of Toll like receptors (TLRs) in controlling the Herpes Simplex virus-1 (HSV-1), TLR function in natural killer (NK) cells of seropositive subjects with and without herpes labialis (HL) was analyzed. We found that TLR3-hyporesponsiveness of NK cells is associated with susceptibility to recurrent HL, suggesting stimulation of TLR3 as a potential strategy to prevent symptomatic HSV-1 reactivation. T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire investigation is essential for the detection of clonal T cell expansions in physiologic and pathologic conditions. To address the impact of memory pool changes on TCR-Vβ repertoire, we characterized and quantified TCR repertoires during latent CMV infection within various T cell differentiation subsets, providing a reference for elucidating subset-specific TCR repertoires in pathologic conditions. Adiponectin (APN) possesses immunoinhibitory effects, but little is known about its influence on T cells. We have shown that T cells express Adiponectin-Receptors and upregulate them upon TCR- stimulation and that APN diminishes antigen-specific T cell expansion and cytokine production. Our findings suggest that APN, a cytokine abundant in human plasma, may exert an important role in systemic T cell regulation, not restricted to the interplay between immune-cells. As a whole, the work presented herein reveals multicolor flowcytometry as a powerful tool for understanding the role of immune function in different clinical settings.Die neuesten Fortschritte in der Durchflusszytometrie gehen Hand in Hand nicht nur mit einem besseren theoretischen Verstaendnis des Immunsystems, sondern auch mit praktischem und klinischem Nutzen. Aufgrund der Notwendigkeit, immunologisch und klinisch relevante unbeantwortete Fragen zu klaeren, haben wir in verschiedenen Situationen einen durchflusszytometrischen Ansatz etabliert, der auf der Messung von Zytokinsekretion basiert. Bei der Analyse von EBV-spezifischen Gedaechtnis-T-Zellen, haben wir die Existenz von sechs verschiedenen Untergruppen mit spezifischen Differenzierungsstadien nachgewiesen. In dieser Studie beschreiben wir das Gedaechtnis-T-Zell-Profil einer protektiven Immunantwort gegen eine chronische Infektion als Basis fuer die Analyse von T-Zell-Antworten in EBV-assoziierten Erkrankungen. Desweiteren sind die Erkenntnisse ueber höhere Frequenzen von multifunktionalen und zytotoxischen EBV-spezifischen T-Zellen im Knochenmark von großem Interesse fuer adoptive Immuntherapie. Eine aehnliche Analyse wurde durchgefuehrt, um CMV-spezifische Gedaechtnis-T-Zellen zu charakterisieren. Dabei wurden deutliche Unterschiede zum EBV-Gedaechtnis-Repertoir festgestellt. Unsere Analysen zeigen ausserdem, dass CMV-spezifische CD4+ T-Zellen aus dem Knochenmark eine hoeheres Wachstumskapazitaet haben und mehr verschiedene Zytokine produzieren als entsprechende Zellen im peripheren Blut. Dies bestaetigt die Wichtigkeit des Knochenmarks als interessante Quelle um T-Zellen fuer die adoptive Therapie zu gewinnen. Um die Bedeutung von TLR bei der Kontrolle von HSV-1 besser zu verstehen, analysierten wir den TLR- Antworten von NK-Zellen in seropositiven Patienten. Wir haben gesehen, dass eine verminderte TLR3-Antwort der NK-Zellen wiederkehrendem HL assoziiert ist. Unsere Erkenntnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die Stimulierung von TLR3 eine potentielle Strategie zur Verhinderung von symptomatischen HSV-1-Reaktivierungen sein koennte. Mittels TZR Repertoire Analyse werden klonale T cell Expansionen nachgewiesen, das wird normalerweise an Gesamt-T-Zellen durchgeführt.. Um beurteilen zu können, inwieweit sich das TZR Repertoire in T Zell-Gedächtniszellen ändert, quantifizierten wir das TZR Repertoire in CMV–spezifischen T-Zell-Subpopulationen. Unsere Analyse kann als Referenz für zukünftige Studien dienen. Adiponectin (APN) besitzt immuninhibitorische Effekte in verschiedenen Krankheitsmodellen, dennoch ist wenig ueber dessen Einfluss auf T-Zellen bekannt. Wir konnten nachweisen, dass T-Zellen Adiponectinrezeptoren exprimieren und nach TCR-Stimulierung hochregulieren. Ausserdem zeigten wir, dass APN die antigen-spezifische T -Zell-Expansion und Zytokinproduktion vermindert. Da APN im menschlichen Plasma in grossen Mengen vorhanden ist, deuten unsere Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass dieses Zytokin eine wichtige Rolle bei der systemischen T-Zell- Regulierung spielt, die nicht auf den direkten Kontakt zwischen Immunzellen beschraenkt ist. Unsere Arbeit bestaetigt die Wichtigkeit, Zytokinantworten in verschieden Zellpopulation mittels Vielfarben-Durchflusszytometrie zu charakterisieren. Diese ist ein wichtiges Werkzeug fuer das bessere Verstaendnis der Rolle des Immunsystems in verschiedene klinischen Situationen

Engineering undergraduates' perceptions of soft skills: relations with self-efficacy and learning styles

AbstractEngineering education literature shares a consensual vision of the importance of soft skills for every workplace. However, undergraduates may not be aware of soft skills importance for their future employment and professional development. This research examines how undergraduates rate their current proficiency in a range of soft skills, and how do they perceive its importance for future employment. It also explores relations between proficiency in soft skills and self-efficacy, a variable strongly associated with competent performance, and learning styles, in order to identify practical implications for the design of more effective skills development programs

Stimulating learning in engineering students by collaborative entrepreneurship training

This paper describes the results of an educational project aiming to promote improved learning and entrepreneurial spirit among engineering students by resorting to the simulation of real world business cases in a collaborative digital environment. The approach is based on the combination of the following ingredients: Creation of student awareness about real world engineering activities, involving engineering professionals and enterprises in selected classroom activities; Simulation of a business environment in capstone project classes; Market gaming around a set of business cases where students are organized in teams playing different professional roles (role playing); Linking the outcome of market gaming and associated business cases with syllabus topics and with practical technological and market issues. The results obtained so far are encouraging and have attracted a major international prize: HP Innovations on Education. ©2010 IEEE

Directly Exploring the Neural Correlates of Feedback-Related Reward Saliency and Valence During Real-Time fMRI-Based Neurofeedback

Introduction: The potential therapeutic efficacy of real-time fMRI Neurofeedback has received increasing attention in a variety of psychological and neurological disorders and as a tool to probe cognition. Despite its growing popularity, the success rate varies significantly, and the underlying neural mechanisms are still a matter of debate. The question whether an individually tailored framework positively influences neurofeedback success remains largely unexplored. Methods: To address this question, participants were trained to modulate the activity of a target brain region, the visual motion area hMT+/V5, based on the performance of three imagery tasks with increasing complexity: imagery of a static dot, imagery of a moving dot with two and with four opposite directions. Participants received auditory feedback in the form of vocalizations with either negative, neutral or positive valence. The modulation thresholds were defined for each participant according to the maximum BOLD signal change of their target region during the localizer run. Results: We found that 4 out of 10 participants were able to modulate brain activity in this region-of-interest during neurofeedback training. This rate of success (40%) is consistent with the neurofeedback literature. Whole-brain analysis revealed the recruitment of specific cortical regions involved in cognitive control, reward monitoring, and feedback processing during neurofeedback training. Individually tailored feedback thresholds did not correlate with the success level. We found region-dependent neuromodulation profiles associated with task complexity and feedback valence. Discussion: Findings support the strategic role of task complexity and feedback valence on the modulation of the network nodes involved in monitoring and feedback control, key variables in neurofeedback frameworks optimization. Considering the elaborate design, the small sample size here tested (N = 10) impairs external validity in comparison to our previous studies. Future work will address this limitation. Ultimately, our results contribute to the discussion of individually tailored solutions, and justify further investigation concerning volitional control over brain activity

Argumentação sobre Precedentes no Estado Democrático de Direito: um diálogo com Manuel Atienza

O evento teve participação do professor espanhol Manuel Atienza, da Universidade de Alicante, na Espanha.Participaram do encontro a diretora-geral da Escola Nacional de Formação e Aperfeiçoamento de Magistrados (Enfam), ministra Maria Thereza de Assis Moura, e o coordenador científico do debate, ministro Paulo de Tarso Sanseverino. Também formaram a mesa as professoras Claudia Rosane Roesler, da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Brasília, e Margarida Lacombe Camargo, da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.Realizado no dia 13 de setembro de 2017, na Sala de Conferências do STJ.O evento discutiu o impacto e os desafios do sistema de precedentes no Judiciário brasileiro e na sociedade