Extensive Characterization of Seismic Laws in Acoustic Emissions of Crumpled Plastic Sheets

Statistical similarities between earthquakes and other systems that emit cracking noises have been explored in diverse contexts, ranging from materials science to financial and social systems. Such analogies give promise of a unified and universal theory for describing the complex responses of those systems. There are, however, very few attempts to simultaneously characterize the most fundamental seismic laws in such systems. Here we present a complete description of the Gutenberg-Richter law, the recurrence times, Omori's law, the productivity law, and Bath's law for the acoustic emissions that happen in the relaxation process of uncrumpling thin plastic sheets. Our results show that these laws also appear in this phenomenon, but (for most cases) with different parameters from those reported for earthquakes and fracture experiments. This study thus contributes to elucidate the parallel between seismic laws and cracking noises in uncrumpling processes, revealing striking qualitative similarities but also showing that these processes display unique features.Comment: Accepted for publication in EP

Relação entre a percepção da autoeficácia acadèmica e o engagement de estudantes de engenharia

La autoeficacia se refiere a las creencias que el individuo tiene en sus propias capacidades para organizar y ejecutar las acciones necesarias con el fin de conseguir metas determinadas. Por su parte, el compromiso se refiere al estado psicológico positivo y motivacional relacionado con el bienestar individual. En esta investigación se ha procurado establecer la relación entre estas dos variables, asumiendo una hipótesis de asociación positiva entre la autoeficacia y el compromiso, tomando estudiantes de Educación Superior de diferentes ramas de Ingeniería. La muestra se constituyó por 361 estudiantes (M = 20:54, SD = 4.24). La evaluación de la autoeficacia y el compromiso se llevó a cabo mediante la aplicación de dos cuestionarios a los estudiantes en el aula. Los resultados revelan una asociación positiva y significativa, siendo mayor la asociación entre la dimensión conductual de compromiso y auto-eficacia, estando también estas dos variables asociadas de manera positiva al rendimiento académico. En esta comunicación se presentan y se discuten estos resultados y sus implicaciones en la investigación y la práctica psicológica.Self-efficacy reflects the belief that the individual has in his/her own capabilities to organize and execute actions that are needed to accomplish certain goals. On the other hand, Engagement refers to a positive psychological and motivational state, which is associated with individual well-being. This investigation aims to examine the relationship between these two variables, presenting the hypothesis that there is a positive association between self-efficacy and engagement, of engineering students in Higher Education. The sample was composed of 361 students (M = 20.54; SD = 4.24). Self-efficacy and engagement assessment was conducted through a questionnaire administered to students in classroom. Results show a positive and significant association between the variables, being the strongest association between the behavioral dimension of engagement and self-efficacy, which are, in turn, positively associated with academic performance variables. In this study we present and discuss these results and their implications for psychological research and practice.A autoeficácia refere-se às crenças que o indivíduo tem nas suas próprias capacidades para organizar e executar as ações necessárias à concretização de determinados objetivos. Por seu lado, engagement refere-se ao estado psicológico positivo e motivacional, relacionado com o bem-estar individual. Nesta investigação procurou-se estabelecer a relação entre estas duas variáveis, assumindo uma hipótese de associação positiva entre a autoeficácia e o engagement, tomando estudantes do Ensino Superior de diferentes ramos da Engenharia. A amostra foi constituída por 361 estudantes (M = 20.54; DP = 4.24). A avaliação da autoeficácia e do engagement foi realizada através da aplicação dos questionários aos estudantes em sala de aula. Os resultados revelam uma associação positiva e significativa, sendo maior a associação encontrada entre a dimensão comportamental do engagement e a autoeficácia, estando também estas duas variáveis positivamente associadas ao rendimento académico. Nesta comunicação apresentam-se e discutem-se estes resultados e as suas implicações na investigação e prática psicológica.peerReviewe

O impacto da artrite reumatoide no desempenho de papéis ocupacionais

Monografia (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Ceilândia, 2014.A artrite reumatoide (AR) é definida como doença progressiva crônica, inflamatória sistêmica que atinge a membrana sinovial das articulações causando danos irreversíveis para o indivíduo. Estima-se que a prevalência da AR é de cerca de 1,3 milhões de pessoas, o que corresponde a 1% da população brasileira.O tratamento da Terapia Ocupacional tem como principais objetivos evitar dores, possíveis lesões por esforço ou pelo próprio desenvolvimento da doença e promover maior funcionalidade prevenindo o surgimento de sequelas e danos irreversíveis causados pela doença. A atuação da Terapia Ocupacional considera diferentes tipos de ocupação que estão intimamente ligadas á saúde, bem-estar e autonomia do indivíduo. Essas ocupações estão divididas em categorias segundo a American OccupationalTherapyAssociation, e são chamadas de áreas de ocupação, tais como: “atividades de vida diária, atividades instrumentais de vida diária, descanso e sono, educação, trabalho, brincar, lazer e participação social”. O objetivo deste estudo é avaliar o impacto da artrite reumatoide no desempenho de papéis ocupacionais. Foi realizado estudo transversal do tipo quantitativo com abordagem filosófica dedutiva e concepção filosófica pós-positivista. Foi utilizado o instrumento de avaliação “Lista de Identificação de Papéis Ocupacionais” com pacientes da reumatologia do Hospital Universitário de Brasília (HUB) com diagnóstico de artrite reumatoide e maiores de 18 anos. ___________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is defined as a chronic progressive disease, systemic inflammatory that affects the synovial membrane of joints causing irreversible damage to the individual. It is estimated that the prevalence of RA is about 1.3 million people, which corresponds to 1% of the population.Treatment of Occupational Therapy's main objectives are to avoid pain, possible stress injuries or by the development of the disease and promote greater functionality preventing the rise of sequels and irreversible damage caused by the disease. The role of occupational therapy considers different types of occupations that are closely linked to health, well-being and autonomy of the individual. These occupations are divided into categories according to the American Occupational Therapy Association, and are called occupation of areas such as: "activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, rest and sleep, education, work, play, leisure, and social participation ".The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of rheumatoid arthritis on the performance of occupational roles.Is cross-sectional study was quantitative with deductive philosophical approach and post-positivist philosophical conception. Will use the assessment tool "The Occupational Role Checklist" with patients of rheumatology at the Hospital Universitário de Brasilia (HUB) diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and 18 years

Complete genome sequence of Tessaracoccus sp. Strain T2.5-30 isolated from 139.5 meters deep on the subsurface of the Iberian Pyritic Belt

Here, we report the complete genome sequence of Tessaracoccus sp. strain T2.5-30, which consists of a chromosome with 3.2 Mbp, 70.4% G C content, and 3,005 coding DNA sequences. The strain was isolated from a rock core retrieved at a depth of 139.5 m in the subsurface of the Iberian Pyritic Belt (Spain)This work was supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal (doctoral fellowship SFRH/BD/87076/2012 to T.L.) and by ERC Advanced grant IPBSL-25035

Expectativas académicas segundo o género dos estudantes portugueses do primeiro ano do ensino superior

Entre el amplio rango de variables contuextuales y personales que pueden asociarse a las dificultades del estudiante en el acceso a la Educacion Superior, las expectativas académicas serán el foco de este estudio. Las expectativas académicas representan lo que los estudiantes esperan conseguir a lo largo de su vida académica. El estudio se realizó por 372 estudiantes de primer año de Eduación Superior, de ambos sexos, y con edades en un rango de 17 a 57 años. Estos estudiantes completaron el Cuestionario de Percepción Académica (QPA), que diferencia siete dimensiones en las expectativas académicas. Los análisis de los datos consideran el género de los estudiantes, el dominio científico de los estudios (Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Ciencia y Tecnología) y los niveles de la Educación parental. Los resultados sugieren más diferenciación de las expectativas académicas en función del género de los estudiantes y el nivel educacional de los padres. Esta comunicación presenta y discute estos resultados, su posible justificación e implicaciones.Among the wide range of personal and contextual variables that may be associated with difficulties in students’ access to higher education (HE), academic expectations will be the focus of this study. Academic expectations represent what students hope to accomplish and achieve in their academic life. The sample was formed by 372 first-year Higher Education students, of both sexes, and with ages ranging from 17 to 57 years old. These students completed the Academic Perceptions Questionnaire (QPA), which assesses seven dimensions of academic expectations. Data analysis considers students´ gender, scientific domain of studies (social sciences and humanities, science and technology) and the levels of parental education (parents concluded or not HE studies). Results suggest more differentiation of academic expectations in function of students´ gender and parents´ educational level. This communication presents and discusses these results, and possible justifications and implications.De entre o amplo conjunto de variáveis pessoais e contextuais que poderão estar associadas às dificuldades sentidas pelos estudantes ao ingressarem no ensino superior (ES), as expectativas académicas serão o foco deste estudo. As expectativas académicas representam aquilo que o estudante espera concretizar no decurso da sua vida académica. Este estudo considera uma amostra de 372 estudantes do primeiro ano do Ensino Superior, de ambos os géneros e com idades entre os 17 e os 57 anos. Estes estudantes preencheram o Questionário de Perceções Académicas (QPA), avaliando sete dimensões das expectativas académicas. Os resultados foram analisados considerando o género, a área científica (ciências sociais e humanas; ciências e tecnologias) e se algum dos pais concluiu o ES. As análises sugerem maior diferenciação do nível de expectativas em função do género dos estudantes e se os pais frequentaram ou não o ES. Nesta comunicação apresentam-se e discutem-se estes resultados, adiantando potenciais justificações e implicações.peerReviewe

Identifying cognitive abilities to improve CS1 outcome

Introductory programming courses entail students’ high failure and dropout rates. In an effort to tackle this problem, we carried out a qualitative study aiming to shed some light on the programming phase that is most challenging for students, in order to elicit the specific difficulties they experience while learning to program. In doing so, distinctive cognitive abilities, differentiating subjects in terms of the way they handle programming tasks, were detected. Such aptitudes are represented in three groups of students: those who learn easily, those who never seem to fully grasp what programming requires despite true effort, and those who experience a sudden insight, making them leap from a point were they had difficulties to another where they overcome them. By interviewing teachers and students, abstraction and sequencing elaboration were found to be the two core skills for programming. These results impelled us to consider the mental models’ approach, concluding that there are very specific cognitive functions that are more favorable to learn programming and that are fostered by more adequate schemas of representing reality. Some conclusions involving Problem-based learning as a fit teaching methodology to overcome students’ difficulties are also presented

Non-traditional and traditional engineering students’ academic expectations

Neste estudo comparam-se as expectativas académicas iniciais de dois grupos de alunos Portugueses do 1º ano de cursos de engenharia: alunos tradicionais e não tradicionais. Para este estudo considerou-se como alunos não tradicionais todos aqueles que ingressam no ensino superior (ES) com mais de 23 anos de idade. Participaram voluntariamente neste estudo 430 estudantes. Os estudantes responderam a um questionário sobre as suas expectativas em torno da experiência no ES versando cinco dimensões: Formação para o emprego/carreira, Qualidade da formação, Integração social, Ajustamento à pressão social, e Envolvimento político e cidadania. Os resultados mostram um padrão de elevadas expectativas nos estudantes mais jovens. Esta diferença é mais expressiva nas dimensões Pressão Social e Interação Social, sendo menos expressivos nas dimensões Envolvimento político e cidadania e Formação para o emprego/carreira. As expectativas em torno da Qualidade da formação não se diferenciam em função dos dois grupos de estudantes.This study compares the initial academic expectations of two groups of Portuguese first-year colege students in engineering programs: traditional students and non-traditional students. Non-traditional students were considered all students who assessed Higher Education (HE) with over 23 years of age. Participants included 430 students. Students answered a questionnaire about their expectations regarding experiences in the focusing on five dimensions: Training for career development, Quality of training, Social interaction, Adjustment to social pressure, and Political engagement and citizenship. Results showed that younger students present a profile of overall higher expectations, when compared to older students. Such a difference is more evident in the dimensions Adjustment to social pressure and Social interaction, and weaker in the dimensions Political engagement and citizenship, and Training for career development. Expectations for Quality of training were not different regarding both groups of students.Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade – COMPETEFundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

Towards a generic power estimator

International audienceData centers play an important role on worldwide electrical energy consumption. Understanding their power dissipation is a key aspect to achieve energy efficiency. Some application specific models were proposed, while other generic ones lack accuracy. The contributions of this paper are threefold. First we expose the importance of modelling alternating to direct current conversion losses. Second, a weakness of CPU proportional models is evidenced. Finally, a methodology to estimate the power consumed by applications with machine learning techniques is proposed. Since the results of such techniques are deeply data dependent, a study on devices’ power profiles was executed to generate a small set of synthetic benchmarks able to emulate generic applications’ behaviour. Our approach is then compared with two other models, showing that the percentage error of energy estimation of an application can be less than 1 %

Seismology Of A Massive Pulsating Hydrogen Atmosphere White Dwarf

We report our observations of the new pulsating hydrogen atmosphere white dwarf SDSS J132350.28+010304.22. We discovered periodic photometric variations in frequency and amplitude that are commensurate with nonradial g-mode pulsations in ZZ Ceti stars. This, along with estimates for the star's temperature and gravity, establishes it as a massive ZZ Ceti star. We used time-series photometric observations with the 4.1 m SOAR Telescope, complemented by contemporary McDonald Observatory 2.1 m data, to discover the photometric variability. The light curve of SDSS J132350.28+010304.22 shows at least nine detectable frequencies. We used these frequencies to make an asteroseismic determination of the total mass and effective temperature of the star: M-star = 0.88 +/- 0.02 M-circle dot and T-eff = 12,100 +/- 140 K. These values are consistent with those derived from the the optical spectra and photometric colors.CNPqFAPERGS/PronexUS National Science Foundation AST-0909107Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program 003658-0252-2009MICINN grant AYA08-1839/ESPESF EUROCORES Program EuroGENESIS (MICINN grant) EUI2009-04170Generalitat de Catalunya 2009SGR315EU-FEDER fundsAGENCIA through the Programa de Modernizacion Tecnologica BID 1728/OC-ARCONICET PIP 112-200801-00940Astronom

Relação entre a percepção da autoeficácia acadèmica e o engagement de estudantes de engenharia

Self-efficacy reflects the belief that the individual has in his/her own capabilities to organize and execute actions that are needed to accomplish certain goals. On the other hand, Engagement refers to a positive psychological and motivational state, which is associated with individual well-being. This investigation aims to examine the relationship between these two variables, presenting the hypothesis that there is a positive association between self-efficacy and engagement, of engineering students in Higher Education. The sample was composed of 361 students (M = 20.54; SD = 4.24). Self-efficacy and engagement assessment was conducted through a questionnaire administered to students in classroom. Results show a positive and significant association between the variables, being the strongest association between the behavioral dimension of engagement and self-efficacy, which are, in turn, positively associated with academic performance variables. In this study we present and discuss these results and their implications for psychological research and practice.A autoeficácia refere-se às crenças que o indivíduo tem nas suas próprias capacidades para organizar e executar as ações necessárias à concretização de determinados objetivos. Por seu lado, engagement refere-se ao estado psicológico positivo e motivacional, relacionado com o bem-estar individual. Nesta investigação procurou-se estabelecer a relação entre estas duas variáveis, assumindo uma hipótese de associação positiva entre a autoeficácia e o engagement, tomando estudantes do Ensino Superior de diferentes ramos da Engenharia. A amostra foi constituída por 361 estudantes (M = 20.54; DP = 4.24). A avaliação da autoeficácia e do engagement foi realizada através da aplicação dos questionários aos estudantes em sala de aula. Os resultados revelam uma associação positiva e significativa, sendo maior a associação encontrada entre a dimensão comportamental do engagement e a autoeficácia, estando também estas duas variáveis positivamente associadas ao rendimento académico. Nesta comunicação apresentam-se e discutem-se estes resultados e as suas implicações na investigação e prática psicológica