Práticas de Inclusão de Alunos com perturbações do espetro do autismo

Este artigo surge no âmbito de um estudo mais vasto que tem como principal objetivo identificar as Necessidades de Formação dos Docentes de Ensino Regular e de Educação Especial para a inclusão de alunos com Perturbações do Espetro do Autismo (PEA) nas escolas do ensino regular. Para a realização desse estudo, realizámos observações diretas em sala de aula e auscultámos os vários agentes educativos que podem contribuir para a inclusão efetiva destes alunos, nomeadamente os docentes de ensino regular (1º ciclo) e educação especial, diretores de agrupamentos de escolas com unidades de ensino estruturado para alunos autistas e encarregados de educação dos alunos com PEA. Paralelamente, analisámos os documentos de suporte ao desenvolvimento do processo educativo destes alunos. Mais especificamente, com as observações em sala de aula do ensino regular, pretendemos conhecer as práticas pedagógicas desenvolvidas e as formas de organização e gestão curricular da turma e de apoio e acompanhamento específico a estes alunos. Neste artigo apresentamos a análise das observações, tendo em conta: (i) o contexto de observação; (ii) as estratégias e atividades desenvolvidas; (iii) a relação comunicativa estabelecida.Desta análise, é possível inferir necessidades de formação que se situam tanto ao nível da compreensão da problemática das crianças como do planeamento e gestão curricular da turma.Abstract This article arises from a wider study and it aims to identify the Training Needs of General Education Teachers and Special Needs Teachers in order to allow the inclusion of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in mainstream schools. To perform this study, we conducted direct observations in the classroom and inquired several educational agents that can contribute to the effective inclusion of these students, namely general education teachers (1st cycle), special needs teachers, school groups directors with structured education units for autistic students, and parents of students with ASD. In line with this, we examined the documents supporting the development of the educational process of these students. In particular, with the observations in the regular education classroom, we intend to get to know the pedagogical practices developed, the organization and curricular management of the classroom and the means of specific support and monitoring of these students. In this article, we present the observations analysis, taking into account: (i) the context of the observation; (ii) the strategies and activities developed; (iii) the communicative relationship established. From this analysis, it is possible to infer training needs both in understanding the children‟s problematic and in the curriculum planning and management of the classroom.Résumé Cet article fait partie d'une étude plus large qui vise à identifier les besoins de formation des professeurs de l'enseignement régulier et l'éducation spéciale pour l'inclusion des élèves ayant des troubles du spectre autistique (TSA) dans les écoles ordinaires. Pour réaliser cette étude, nous avons effectué des observations directes dans la salle de classe et écouté les différents agents éducatifs qui peuvent contribuer à l'inclusion effective de ces élèves, y compris les professeurs de l‟enseignement régulier (1er cycle) et de l‟éducation spéciale, des directeurs de groupes scolaires avec des unités d‟enseignement structurées pour les élèves autistes et des parents d'élèves atteints de TSA. Parallèlement, nous avons analysé les documents d'appui au développement du processus éducatif de ces élèves. Plus précisément, avec les observations dans la salle de classe de l'enseignement régulier, nous voulons connaître les pratiques pédagogiques mises en place et les formes d'organisation et de gestion de classe, des programmes, de soutien et de suivi spécifique à ces élèves. Dans cet article, nous présentons l'analyse des observations, en tenant compte: (i) du contexte de l'observation; (Ii) des stratégies et des activités mises en place; (Iii) de la relation communicative établie. De cette analyse, nous pouvons déduire les besoins de formation qui se situent aussi bien au niveau de la compréhension du problème des enfants qu‟à celui de la planification et gestion de la classe et des programmes

Rating corporate groups a modelling experience

This paper aims to provide a model that allows BPI to measure the credit risk, through its rating scale, of the subsidiaries included in the corporate groups who are their clients. This model should be simple enough to be applied in practice, accurate, and must give consistent results in comparison to what have been the ratings given by the bank. The model proposed includes operational, strategic, and financial factors and ends up giving one of three results: no support, partial support, or full support from the holding to the subsidiary, and each of them translates in adjustments in each subsidiary’s credit rating. As it would be expectable, most of the subsidiaries should have the same credit rating of its parent company

Cinema! : a proposition on how to design and position the game in the digital boardgame market

This master thesis evaluates the potential of a new product, a Digital Boardgame named Cinema!. The main objective of this study is to design and position the game in the Digital Boardgame market. The dissertation defines Cinema! relevant market, presents its main competitors, specifies its competitive advantages, proposes a segmentation and targeting strategies and, finally, suggests a go-to-market plan. The methodology included the development of interviews and an online questionnaire, the testing of the game prototype and Cinema!’s competitors with three focus groups, as well as, an analysis of the product development costs. Cinema! intends to be an original party game to play with friends and family. The game is the result of the founder’s passion for cinema and combines the best of the traditional boardgame and the digital markets. The long term vision is to go beyond cinema and extend this innovative digital boardgame to other areas, such as, sports and cooking. The size of the business opportunity is estimated to be 41,5 million potential users, in a market for game Apps valued at $1,629 billion (2016) and with an annual growth rate of 6,275The success of Cinema! depends on two key activies: product development and marketing. The prototype gameplay tests showed Cinema! has a great potential, presenting a challenging game mechanics and an appealing game design. However, every day 500 new Apps are launched, making it difiicult to stand out in such a competitive environment. Thus, the importance of the strategic marketing positioning developed in this thesis.A presente tese avalia o potencial de um novo produto, um Digital Boardgame - Cinema!. O objetivo da dissertação é sugerir uma forma de desenvolver o design e posicionar o jogo no mercado Digital Boardgame. O estudo define o mercado relevante do Cinema!, apresenta os seus concorrentes, especifica as suas vantagens competitivas, propõe uma estratégia de segmentação e targeting e sugere um go-to-market plan. A metodologia compreendeu o desenvolvimento de entrevistas e de um questionário online. Incluiu também o teste do protótipo do jogo e dos concorrentes com três focus groups, bem como uma análise dos custos de desenvolvimento do jogo. Cinema! é um party game para jogar com amigos e familiares. O jogo é o resultado da paixão do fundador por cinema e combina o melhor do mercado tradicional dos jogos de tabuleiro e do mundo digital. A visão de longo prazo é ir para além do cinema e estender a outras áreas de interesse, como o desporto. O potencial de utilizadores está estimado em 41,5 milhões, num mercado de game Apps avaliado em$1,43 biliões (2016), com uma taxa de crescimento de 6,275%. O sucesso do jogo depende de duas actividades chave: desenvolvimento do produto e marketing. A experimentação do protótipo mostrou que o Cinema! tem um grande potencial, apresentando uma mecânica de jogo desafiante e um game design apelativo. Contudo, cerca de 500 Apps são lançadas diariamente, fazendo com que seja dificil destacar-se da concorrência. Daí a importância da estratégia de posicionamento de mercado desenvolvida nesta tese

On the influence of masonry infills in concrete buildings

The stresses induced in a structure by a seismic action have a low probability of occurrence and their magnitude is such that the structure is forced beyond the ultimate limit state. The effective standards in Portugal, and the ones that will be effective shortly, consider the possibility of a seismic action in all the territory, fact that has been neglect by designers and authorities in the last years. This new standard, Eurocode 8, Design of structures for earthquake resistance, defines new standards for infill walls, imposing the use of reinforcement but failing to give detailed information besides the type of reinforcement. Furthermore, the structural designer is the responsible for these non-structural elements. Therefore, with the goal of contributing to the creation of simple design rules for these infills, a shaking table test program of reinforced concrete frame buildings with infill walls, reinforced and unreinforced, will be carried out. Predeceasing these tests, different numerical simulations of the buildings were carried out, with two main objectives: i) understand the behavior of the structure when subjected to a seismic action, in order to more accurately define the experimental program; ii) using different computational programs and numerical elements to perform static non-linear analyses, assess the capability of a commercial Finite Element Method (FEM) software, SAP2000, to simulate infill walls by means of a diagonal strut, comparing it to a more generic and powerful tool, DIANA. With SAP2000, the analyses were done with and without infills, and these were simulated using diagonal strut bar elements. In all models, hinges with concentrated non linear relations (axial force, bending moment or both, depending on the element) were assigned to the bar elements. With DIANA, the same static non-linear analysis were made, simulating the infill walls by means of a regular mesh, as an alternative to the diagonal truss elements of the previous analysis. Non-linearity was implemented using a total strain crack model. After analysing the obtained results, using bar elements on SAP2000 and DIANA led to similar results, regardless to the presence of infill walls simulated as diagonal struts. The failure modes were not affected by the use of different elements to simulate the infill although, to better analyse this phenomenon, a FEM mesh with a constitutive law that more accurately considers the shear failure should be used

Solutions for infilled masonry buildings: shaking table tests

Infilled masonry can be seen as an old research issue, but recent seismic activities, such as the 2009 Aquila earthquake in Italy, showed seismic engineers and structural designers that current infill solutions may not work as expected. In this seismic action, the analysis of the damages in buildings constructed in the last 20 years, designed according to modern standards, may lead to the worrying conclusion that the design Limit States were not fulfilled. Taking this into account, a research program was conducted as a partnership between the University of Minho, Portugal, and the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (L.N.E.C.), Portugal, which included a shaking table experimental program. The objective of this program was to study the seismic behaviour of the most common infill solution in Portugal, the unreinforced double leaf clay brick masonry, and two reinforced solutions referenced in the standard Eurocode 8: i) single leaf clay brick with bed joint reinforcement, connected to the bounding frame; ii) single leaf clay brick with steel net in the plaster, connected to the bounding frame. The present paper details the first two tested solutions, along with the discussion of the results, focusing on the obtained collapse modes of the infills and the measured accelerations for those modes

Damage inspection in churches : the Canterbury Earthquake (New Zealand) experience

The Canterbury Region of New Zealand experienced an extensive earthquake sequence during 2010-2011, with two particularly sever events being on September 4, 2010 and February 22, 2011. The present work entails a statistical analysis of the data for 112 churches in the affected region, including in situ damage observed by the authors and the structural assessment classification assigned by the local authorities, allowing for the discussion of the seismic performance of these churches separated in three main typologies: i) stone masonry; ii) clay brick masonry churches; iii) timber churches. A simplified method of assessment of large span masonry structures, which had already been applied to a database of 44 monuments in Italy, Portugal and Spain, was applied with the objective of validating the proposed thresholds. A set of fragility curves, with the objective of estimating damage as a function of the peak ground acceleration, is also provided. It was concluded that the timber churches had an excellent seismic performance, registering only non-structural damage, while the stone and clay brick churches clearly performed unsatisfactorily. The simplified method, which includes three separated indexes, presented very good results for one index (plan area ratio), and acceptable results for the other two (weight ratio and base shear ratio)

Statistical assessment of damage to churches affected by the 2010-2011 Canterbury (New Zealand) earthquake sequence

The Canterbury Region of New Zealand experienced an extensive earthquake sequence during 2010-2011, with two particularly severe events being on 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011. The presented work entails a statistical analysis of the data collected for 112 churches in the affected region, including in situ damage observed by the authors and the structural assessment classification assigned by local authorities. The seismic performance of these churches is discussed and compared with both the structural classifications used in Italy, where a specific survey form for churches is used, and with the building damage classifications assigned by the local authorities

Relationship between occupational data, symptoms and voice evaluation of teleservice operators

PURPOSE: To relate data regarding gender, age and length of time on the job with voice symptoms and the results of vocal evaluation of teleservice operators. METHODS: A quantitative retrospective analysis was carried with 404 medical records regarding periodic evaluations of employees from bank institutions with owned headquarters contained in the files of a company of occupational medicine, 259 women, 145 men, with ages between 18 and 53 years (mean 30.48). The study had a descriptive exploratory design. RESULTS: Women presented greater quantity of voice symptoms (mean 1.69) and voice alterations (n=33; 12.7%) than men (mean 1.12; n=6; 4.1%). No difference was found between the amount of voice symptoms and the auditory-perceptive evaluation when related to age and length of time on the job. Employees with neutral voices (n=365; 90.35%) presented lesser symptoms (1.41) than employees with non-neutral voices (n=39; 9.65%; mean 2.21). Thirty-four (87.2%) of the 39 employees with non-neutral quality of voice presented laryngopharyngeal resonance, and 21 (53.8%) presented low pitch. Operators with moderate voice alteration presented increased loudness when compared to the operators with discreet alteration. CONCLUSION: Women present greater rate of voice symptoms and disorders. There is no relationship between the increase of age and length of time performing teleoperator functions with the increase of the number of symptoms and vocal alterations. Alterations of pitch, loudness and resonance are related to alterations on the quality of voice.OBJETIVO: Relacionar dados referentes a gênero, idade e tempo na função com os sintomas vocais e os resultados da avaliação vocal de operadores de telesserviços. MÉTODOS: Foi realizada análise retrospectiva e quantitativa de 404 prontuários referentes a avaliações periódicas de funcionários de instituições bancárias com centrais próprias constantes no arquivo de uma empresa de medicina ocupacional, 259 mulheres, 145 homens, com idades entre 18 e 53 anos (média 30,48). O estudo teve caráter exploratório descritivo. RESULTADOS: Mulheres apresentam maior quantidade de sintomas vocais (média 1,69) e alteração de voz (n=33; 12,7%) do que homens (média 1,12 e n=6; 4,1%). Não houve diferença entre quantidade de sintomas vocais e dados da avaliação perceptivo-auditiva quando relacionados à faixa etária e tempo na função. Funcionários com vozes neutras (n=365; 90,35%) apresentaram menor número de sintomas (1,41) que funcionários com vozes não neutras (n=39, 9,65%, média 2,21). Dos 39 funcionários com qualidade vocal não-neutra, 34 (87,2%) apresentaram ressonância laringo-faríngea e 21 (53,8%) apresentaram pitch agravado. Operadores com alteração vocal de grau moderado (n=12; 2,97%) apresentaram maior ocorrência de loudness aumentada em relação aos operadores com alteração discreta. CONCLUSÃO: Mulheres apresentam maiores índices de sintomas e alteração de voz. Não há relação entre o avanço da idade e maior tempo na função do teleoperador com o aumento do número de sintomas e alterações vocais. Alterações de pitch, loudness e ressonância têm relação com alterações de qualidade vocal.Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste Departamento de FonoaudiologiaMicelli Soluções em Saúde Empresarial Departamento de FonoaudiologiaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Programa de Pós-Graduação em Distúrbios da Comunicação HumanaUNIFESP, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Distúrbios da Comunicação HumanaSciEL

Mudanças climáticas no Ave (NW de Portugal)

O projeto Adaptaclima pretende avaliar a amplitude das mudanças climáticas em territórios do Sudoeste Europeu, através da implementação de modelos climáticos regionais baseados em modelos climáticos globais do IPCC e análise dos resultados obtidos através desses modelos, perspetivando as implicações dos possíveis cenários traçados. Neste contexto, este trabalho apresenta a aplicação dos referidos modelos a uma área geográfica específica, a região do Ave, no Noroeste de Portugal. A partir da análise dos resultados da modelação climática estabelecem-se cenários preditivos e tendências para as variáveis climáticas consideradas, identificando-se um relativo paralelismo com identicos estudos de âmbito nacional e ibérico.The project Adaptaclima aims to assess the extent of climate change in European territories of the Southwest, through the implementation of regional climate models based on IPCC global climate models and the analysis of results obtained through these models, searching for the implications of the possible scenarios outlined. In this context, this paper presents the application of these models to a specific geographic area, the region of the Ave, in Northwest Portugal. The analysis of the results of climate modeling allow us to establish predictive scenarios and trends for the climatic conditions, identifying a relative parallelism with identical studies nationwide and Iberia

Masonry infills and earthquakes

Masonry infills are building elements with high cost that often suffer cracking due to movement of the supports and thermohygral behaviour, with serious consequences in comfort and efficiency, particularly in the case of enclosure walls. The new seismic code in Europe (Eurocode 8) clearly defines the structural designer as responsible for the safety of masonry infills. In this context, there is a clear need of adequate provisions to reduce the seismic vulnerability in regions of moderate and high seismicity, which are not clearly prescribed in the code. A research program involving monotonic and shaking table testing of masonry infills is being prepared at University of Minho and National Laboratory of Civil Engineering. The reasons for the program and a preliminary analysis of the prototype are addressed here