Podemos estar otimistas com os resultados dos alunos nos exames nacionais da disciplina de biologia e geologia?

Embora os exames nacionais não sejam uma forma de avaliação consensual, são aplicados em vários países da Europa a fim de classificar o desempenho dos alunos e aferir a qualidade dos sistemas educativos. É importante monitorizar os resultados dos alunos nos exames para se “avaliar” o sistema educativo, detetar e prevenir situações de insucesso. Objetivos: Caraterizar o (in)sucesso dos alunos nos exames de Biologia e Geologia (BGG), no ano de 2010/11; Descrever a evolução dos resultados entre 2010 e 2013. Metodologia: Trataram-se estatisticamente os resultados dos alunos nos exames nacionais de BGG, em 2010/2011, disponibilizados pelo JNE. Foi feita uma pesquisa nos sites do GAVE e do JNE, a fim de recolher dados sobre a evolução do insucesso. Resultados: A média geral de classificações dos alunos no exame de BGG em 2010/2011 foi positiva em todas as fases, situando-se entre os 9,5 e os 11,5 valores, mas mais de um terço dos alunos reprovou no exame. Essa situação piorou bastante, tendo a média descido, em 2011/2012, para 9,8 valores e, em 2012/2013, para um valor historicamente baixo de 8,4 valores. O mesmo acontece com a taxa de reprovação que passou de 38% para 65% em 3 anos. Conclusões/ Implicações: Relativamente aos resultados no exame nacional de BGG, o panorama era já preocupante em 2010/2011, mas agravou-se muito nestes últimos dois anos (2012/13 e 2013/14). É fundamental investigar rigorosamente as causas desse insucesso e tomar medidas preventivas porque este condiciona o acesso dos alunos ao ensino superior.Although national exams are not a consensual form of assessment, they are applied in several European countries in order to rank the students performance and to evaluate the quality of educational systems. It’s important to monitor the outcomes of students in exams to "evaluate" the educational system and to detect and prevent situations of failure. Objectives: Characterize the students (un)success in BGG national exams in 2010/11; Describe the evolution of these results between 2010 and 2013. Methodology: The student outcomes in BGG national examinations in 2010/2011 provided by the JNE were treated statistically. A survey was taken in the GAVE and JNE sites in order to collect data on the evolution of failure. Results: The average score in BGG examination in 2010/2011 was positive at all stages, ranging between 9,5 and 11,5 values but over a third of students failed the exam. This situation became much worse, with the average falling in 2011/2012 to 9.8 values, and in 2012/2013, to a historical low value of 8,4. The same happens with the failure rate which increased from 38% to 65% in 3 years. Conclusions/Implications: Regarding the results of the BGG national examination, the panorama was worrisome in 2010/2011, but it deteriorated a lot over the past two years (2012/13 e 2013/14). It is essential rigorously investigate the causes of this failure and take preventive measures because it limits the students access to higher education.CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, IE, UMinho (UI 317 da FCT

Causes of the school failure in biology and geology subject of eecondary education in Portugal and ways to prevent it: a study conducted with teachers

O insucesso escolar na disciplina e no exame de Biologia e Geologia em Portugal é muito elevado e está a aumentar dramaticamente. Este estudo qualitativo pretendeu averiguar as perceções dos professores sobre as causas de insucesso na disciplina e na avaliação externa, a sua opinião sobre as características do exame, as medidas sugeridas para promover o sucesso na aprendizagem e no exame e confrontar as opiniões de professores corretores e não corretores. Recolheram-se dados através de entrevista semi-dirigida realizada a oito professores. Os docentes atribuem o insucesso a causas relacionadas com as dificuldades dos alunos, com as características do exame ou com fatores inerentes ao sistema. Consideram que há aspetos que acrescentam dificuldade ao exame, designadamente: perguntas de difícil interpretação, linguagem pouco acessível, documentos de difícil interpretação e critérios de correção rígidos. Sugerem medidas promotoras de sucesso relacionadas com o trabalho dos alunos, outras a adotar por eles próprios e outras relacionadas com as determinações do ministério. Enquanto os docentes corretores pensam que o problema do insucesso reside no deficiente trabalho e dificuldades dos alunos, os não corretores entendem que se deve à extensão exagerada do programa e ao grau de dificuldade do exame.The school failure in Biology and Geology subject and national exams in Portugal is very high and it is increasing dramatically. This qualitative study aimed to investigate the perceptions of teachers about the causes of the failure in learning this subject and in the external assessment, their opinion about the characteristics of the exam, the measures suggested to promote success in learning and in external evaluation and confront the perceptions of the teachers who correct the exam and those who don’t. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview to eight teachers. They attribute the failure to causes related with students’ difficulties, with the characteristics of the test or to factors inherent to the system. They consider there are aspects that add difficulty to the exam, in particular: questions hard to interpret; language not accessible to students; documents hard to interpret; rigid classification criteria. They suggest measures to promote success related with the students' work, others to adopt by themselves and other related with the determinations from the Department of Education. While teachers who correct the exam think that the failure problem lies in the poor work and students' difficulties, the teachers who don’t correct the exam understand that the problem is due to the overextension of the program and the high difficulty of the exam.CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, IE, UMinho (UI 317 da FCT

Perceções de professores sobre o (in)sucesso na disciplina de biologia e geologia

O exame nacional de Biologia e Geologia (BG) tem grande repercussão na vida de professores, alunos e pais porque regula as práticas letivas dos primeiros e condiciona o futuro dos segundos. Mas, os resultados neste exame revelam um cenário problemático de insucesso. Em 2012/2013, a média nacional dos alunos internos na 1.ª fase foi de 8,4 valores e a taxa de reprovação foi de 65%. Objetivos: Averiguar as perceções dos professores, corretores e não corretores, sobre as causas de insucesso na aprendizagem e na avaliação externa de BG e as medidas sugeridas para promover o sucesso na aprendizagem e no exame de BG; confrontar as opiniões de professores corretores e não corretores. Metodologia: Recolheram-se dados através de entrevista semi-dirigida realizada a oito professores do concelho de Guimarães. Resultados: Os professores atribuem o insucesso dos alunos na disciplina e no exame a causas externas a eles próprios relacionadas com as dificuldades dos alunos, com as características do exame ou com fatores inerentes ao sistema. Sugerem medidas promotoras de sucesso na disciplina e no exame de BG relacionadas com o trabalho dos alunos, outras a adotar por eles próprios (exploração de fontes de informação diversificadas; promoção de ensino focado no “treino” para o exame) e outras relacionadas com as determinações do ministério (diminuição do programa; correção dos aspetos que acrescentam dificuldade ao exame). Enquanto os docentes corretores pensam que o problema do insucesso reside no deficiente trabalho e dificuldades dos alunos, os não corretores entendem que se deve à extensão exagerada do programa e ao grau de dificuldade do exame.The national examination of Biology and Geology (BG) has great influence in the lives of teachers, students and parents because it regulates the practices of the first and conditions the future of the latter. But the outcomes of this examination reveal a problematic scenario of failure. In 2012/2013, the national average was 8.4 values and the failure rate was 65%. Objectives: To investigate the perceptions of teachers about the causes of the failure in learning the subject and in the external assessment and the measures suggested to promote success in learning and in external evaluation; confront the perceptions of the teachers who correct the exam and those who don’t. Methodology: Data were collected through a semi-structured interview to eight teachers in the municipality of Guimarães. Results: Teachers attribute the pupils failure in learning and in the exam to external causes to themselves related to students' difficulties, to the characteristics of the examination or to factors inherent in the system. They suggest measures to promote success related with the students' work, others to adopt by themselves (exploiting diversified sources of information; the promotion of teaching focused on "training" for the exam) and other related with the determinations from the Department of Education (the reduction of the program; correcting aspects that add difficulty to the exam). While teachers who correct the exam think that the failure problem lies in the poor work and students' difficulties, the teachers who don’t correct the exam understand that the problem is due to the overextension of the program and the high difficulty of the exam.CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, IE, UMinho (UI 317 da FCT

Is there a relationship between ferric-chelate reductase activity in roots of poncirus trifoliata and leaf chlorophyll contents?

Poncirus trifoliata is a citrus rootstock very sensitive to Fe deficiency. This deficiency is very common in crops grown in calcareous soils due to the detrimental effect of bicarbonate ion. Higher plants have distinct behaviours when faced with Fe chlorosis, and several mechanisms may be activated under Fe shortage. The aim of this study was to investigate the activity of ferric-chelate reductase (FC-R), a key enzyme in Fe uptake, and to verify whether relationships with leaf chlorophyll contents could be established. Plants were grown in nutrient solutions without Fe (0 μM Fe), with 1 μM Fe, with 120 μM Fe and with 120 μM Fe plus CaCO3 (1 g L-1). Total leaf chlorophyll in young and mature leaves was determined using a calibration model based on a relationship between SPAD readings and concentration of chlorophyll (r2=0.95; P<0.01). The activity of FC-R was determined in roots apexes and several biomass parameters in shoots (number of leaves, height, dry and fresh weight) and roots (dry and fresh weight) were evaluated at the end of the experiment. The activity of FC-R increased in plants grown without iron (0 μM Fe). The results about the relations between root FC-R and leaf chlorophyll are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impairments: Materiality and fiscal impact on Cape Verde’ major contributors

This study aims to evaluate the material level of impairment losses registered by the Cape Verdean companies, as well as to analyze its fiscal impact. For this purpose, we ran the Cape Verdean’ accounting standards about this subject and studied the tax procedures on impairment registration in the country. In the empirical study, we performed an analysis of the annual report and accounts for 2012 and 2011 of fifty-seven large companies in Cape Verde. These were the benchmark years for establishing the country's major contributors and the normative framework on impairment’ application. Evidences showed that, in its vast majority, companies registered impairment losses, namely on customer debts and inventories. We also found that, empirically, impairment value was materially relevant and had impact on tax level, giving the meaningful association between payed taxes (negative association) and turnover (positive association), and registered impairment. In a future work, already in progress, we intended to verify the impairment registration’ during the period between 2013 and 2016. We will also try to understand if there is a greater social responsibility by Cape Verde’ major contributors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evolution of school failure in national examinations of secondary education, by sex, in Portugal

Em Portugal, a avaliação externa, no ensino secundário, é utilizada para classificar e certificar, mas também para seriação no acesso ao ensino superior. Não há ainda estudos de monotorização de resultados nos exames nacionais por sexo em Portugal. Objetivos: (1) descrever a evolução do insucesso no exame de Biologia e Geologia por sexo, 2013 a 2017; (2) descrever a evolução do insucesso nos exames nacionais por sexo, 2013 a 2017; (3) comparar os resultados dos exames de Biologia e Geologia com os dos outros exames nacionais. A população deste estudo consiste no conjunto dos alunos que fizeram os dez exames nacionais mais realizados do ensino secundário a nível nacional (2013 a 2017). Retiraram-se os dados necessários das bases de dados (2013 a 2017) do Júri Nacional de Exames, no site da Direção Geral da Educação, fazendo-se o tratamento estatístico. Os resultados nos exames revelam um panorama permanente de insucesso, com médias de classificações muito baixas e taxas de reprovação excessivamente elevadas, sendo Biologia e Geologia uma das disciplinas com maior insucesso. As raparigas demonstram melhor performance na maioria das disciplinas, o que segue a tendência internacional. É impreterível investigar as causas deste insucesso, já que o ensino secundário integra agora o ensino obrigatório, para tomar medidas preventivasIn Portugal, external assessment in secondary education is used to classify and certify, but also for grading in access to higher education. There are still no studies monitoring the students’ results in the national examinations by sex in Portugal. Objectives: (1) describe the evolution of the failure in the Biology and Geology exam by sex, 2013-2017; (2) describe the evolution of failure in national examinations by sex, 2013 to 2017; (3) Compare the results of the Biology and Geology exams with those of the other national exams. This study’s population consists of the group of students who did the ten most accomplished national exams at the secondary level (2013 to 2017). The necessary data were removed from the databases (2013 to 2017) of the Júri Nacional de Exames in the Direção Geral da Educação website and the statistical treatment was done. The results in the exams reveal a permanent panorama of failure, with very low averages classifications and excessively high fail rates; Biology and Geology is one of the most unsuccessful subjects. Girls show better performance in most subjects, which follows the international trend. It is imperative to investigate the causes of this failure to take preventive measures, because nowadays secondary education integrates the compulsory educatio

Toxicity and antihypertensive activity of brewer's spent grain extracts

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Computational simulation of the COVID-19 epidemic with the SEIR stochastic model

A small number of individuals infected within a community can lead to the rapid spread of the disease throughout that community, leading to an epidemic outbreak. This is even more true for highly contagious diseases such as COVID-19, known to be caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Mathematical models of epidemics allow estimating several impacts on the population and, therefore, are of great use for the definition of public health policies. Some of these measures include the isolation of the infected (also known as quarantine), and the vaccination of the susceptible. In a possible scenario in which a vaccine is available, but with limited access, it is necessary to quantify the levels of vaccination to be applied, taking into account the continued application of preventive measures. This work concerns the simulation of the spread of the COVID-19 disease in a community by applying the Monte Carlo method to a Susceptible-Exposed-Infective-Recovered (SEIR) stochastic epidemic model. To handle the computational effort involved, a simple parallelization approach was adopted and deployed in a small HPC cluster. The developed computational method allows to realistically simulate the spread of COVID-19 in a medium-sized community and to study the effect of preventive measures such as quarantine and vaccination. The results show that an effective combination of vaccination with quarantine can prevent the appearance of major epidemic outbreaks, even if the critical vaccination coverage is not reached.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A modified parapatellar approach for the creation of osteochondral defects in sheep

Osteoarthritis is a problem of great social and economic importance in elderly populations, mostly in developed countries. Current treatments aim to relief the clinical signs and slow the disease development, rather than cure it. Beyond this point, cartilage regeneration has recently received much attention from bioengineering industry, mostly because it’s now that early treatments of osteochondral defects are crucial for slowing or even preventing the chronic development of osteoarthritis. The aim of this study was to develop a modified medial parapatellar approach to the creation of osteochondral defects in sheep to further test novel biomaterials and scaffolds, with the goal of favoring early weight bearing

Brewer´s spent grain as a potential source of antioxidants: characterization of extracts

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