Análise crítica do programa da reforma educativa para o ensino do português LS na 7ª classe em Angola

Dissertação para a obtenção de grau de Mestre em Ensino de Português Como Língua Segunda/ Língua EstrangeiraA situação actual da língua portuguesa em Angola desperta interesse de estudo em várias áreas. A questão do seu ensino, enquanto língua segunda, é a vertente que se destaca neste Trabalho. Recentemente o Governo angolano promulgou a 2ª Reforma Educativa com o objectivo de melhorar o sistema de ensino – aprendizagem. A língua portuguesa está em destaque. Não só por assumir o papel de língua oficial e de escolaridade, mas também por ser o veículo de comunicação internacional e de confluência com as línguas locais maioritariamente Bantu. É neste contexto que se procura dar a melhor resposta à necessidade de formação de usuários proficientes de PLS, e isto requer a elaboração e aplicação de metodologias que respondam ao desafio. Nesta perspectiva, propusemo-nos realizar o estudo com o título: Análise Crítica do Programa da Reforma Educativa para o Ensino do Português LS na 7ª Classe em Angola, com os objectivos essenciais de analisar as propostas metodológicas e sugerir melhorias. Para tal, servimo-nos do método empírico consubstanciado na consulta da bibliografia especializada e na de documentos reitores da Reforma. O Trabalho organiza-se em cinco capítulos, conclusão, sugestões, bibliografia e anexos. Da análise feita concluímos que a 2ª Reforma Educativa de Angola é um projecto ambicioso, com resultados aceitáveis, mas ainda distantes do ideal preconizado. Urge que se melhorem as condições de trabalho, de investigação, de ensino e infra-estruturais. Para a língua portuguesa em especial, a aposta na (re)qualificação dos quadros e a implementação de mais e melhores condições é fulcral. Do Programa vê-se uma estrutura diversificada que, se bem aplicada, facilita a aquisição de conhecimentos científicos e heurísticos. Porém as metodologias e as estratégias tendem mais para a mecanização do processo de ensino – aprendizagem. Aqui o papel do professor é fundamental, não só no respeito e cumprimento do legislado, mas sobretudo com uma perspectiva crítica construtiva

Down-Regulation of Serum/Glucocorticoid Regulated Kinase 1 in Colorectal Tumours Is Largely Independent of Promoter Hypermethylation

Background: We have previously shown that serum/glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1 (SGK1) is down-regulated in colorectal cancers (CRC) with respect to normal tissue. As hyper-methylation of promoter regions is a well-known mechanism of gene silencing in cancer, we tested whether the SGK1 promoter region was methylated in colonic tumour samples. Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigated the methylation profile of the two CpG islands present in the promoter region of SGK1 in a panel of 5 colorectal cancer cell lines by sequencing clones of bisulphite-treated DNA samples. We further confirmed our findings in a panel of 10 normal and 10 tumour colonic tissue samples of human origin. We observed CpG methylation only in the smaller and more distal CpG island in the promoter region of SGK1 in both normal and tumour samples of colonic origin. We further identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, rs1743963) which affects methylation of the corresponding CpG. Conclusions/Significance: Our results show that even though partial methylation of the promoter region of SGK1 is present

Workflow in Clinical Trial Sites & Its Association with Near Miss Events for Data Quality: Ethnographic, Workflow & Systems Simulation

10.1371/journal.pone.0039671PLoS ONE76

Clinically Paired Electrodes Are Often Not Perceived as Pitch Matched

For bilateral cochlear implant (CI) patients, electrodes that receive the same frequency allocation often stimulate locations in the left and right ear that do not yield the same perceived pitch, resulting in a pitch mismatch. This pitch mismatch may be related to degraded binaural abilities. Pitch mismatches have been found for some bilateral CI users and the goal of this study was to determine whether pitch mismatches are prevalent in bilateral CI patients, including those with extensive experience with bilateral CIs. To investigate this possibility, pitch matching was conducted with 16 bilateral CI patients. For 14 of the 16 participants, there was a significant difference between those electrodes in the left and right ear that yielded the same pitch and those that received the same frequency allocation in the participant’s clinical map. The results suggest that pitch mismatches are prevalent with bilateral CI users. The results also indicated that pitch mismatches persist even with extended bilateral CI experience. Such mismatches may reduce the benefits patients receive from bilateral CIs

Use of Research Interfaces for Psychophysical Studies With Cochlear-Implant Users

A growing number of laboratories are using research interfaces to conduct experiments with cochlear-implant (CI) users. Because these interfaces bypass a subject’s clinical sound processor, several concerns exist regarding safety and stimulation levels. Here we suggest best-practice approaches for how to safely and ethically perform this type of research and highlight areas of limited knowledge where further research is needed to help clarify safety limits. The article is designed to provide an introductory level of technical detail about the devices and the effects of electrical stimulation on perception and neurophysiology. From this, we summarize what should be the best practices in the field, based on the literature and our experience. Findings from the review of the literature suggest that there are three main safety concerns: (a) to prevent biological or neural damage, (b) to avoid presentation of uncomfortably loud sounds, and (c) to ensure that subjects have control over stimulus presentation. Researchers must pay close attention to the software–hardware interface to ensure that the three main safety concerns are closely monitored. An important area for future research will be the determination of the amount of biological damage that can occur from electrical stimulation from a CI placed in the cochlea, not in direct contact with neural tissue. As technology used in research with CIs evolve, some of these approaches may change. However, the three main safety principles outlined here are not anticipated to undergo change with technological advances

The Perception of Ramped Pulse Shapes in Cochlear Implant Users

The electric stimulation provided by current cochlear implants (CI) is not power efficient. One underlying problem is the poor efficiency by which information from electric pulses is transformed into auditory nerve responses. A novel stimulation paradigm using ramped pulse shapes has recently been proposed to remedy this inefficiency. The primary motivation is a better biophysical fit to spiral ganglion neurons with ramped pulses compared to the rectangular pulses used in most contemporary CIs. Here, we tested the hypotheses that ramped pulses provide more efficient stimulation compared to rectangular pulses and that a rising ramp is more efficient than a declining ramp. Rectangular, rising ramped and declining ramped pulse shapes were compared in terms of charge efficiency and discriminability, and threshold variability in seven CI listeners. The tasks included single-channel threshold detection, loudness-balancing, discrimination of pulse shapes, and threshold measurement across the electrode array. Results showed that reduced charge, but increased peak current amplitudes, was required at threshold and most comfortable levels with ramped pulses relative to rectangular pulses. Furthermore, only one subject could reliably discriminate between equally-loud ramped and rectangular pulses, suggesting variations in neural activation patterns between pulse shapes in that participant. No significant difference was found between rising and declining ramped pulses across all tests. In summary, the present findings show some benefits of charge efficiency with ramped pulses relative to rectangular pulses, that the direction of a ramped slope is of less importance, and that most participants could not perceive a difference between pulse shapes