Introducing programming to basic schools students using robotics

The present work reports on the development of programming activities with students from the 1st and 2nd cycles of schools in the town of Braga in the northwestern Portuguese region of Minho. These activities of promotion of computer programming were applied in order to promote the programming and innovative practices on science and technology education. The explored interdisciplinary methodologies in STEM teaching-learning processes, stimulate critical thinking and creativity while promoting the benefits of learning in collaborative environments. The active involvement of the students in these robot programming, “high tech” and trendy, activities is easy to achieve if the proposed challenges are set at an adequate level of difficulty and appealing enough to the age group and level of cognitive development of the student. Whenever possible to the students is given the possibility of choosing or even defining the problem/subject they will be exploring by programming a robot, which is seen as a mechanical artificial being the students will be able to understand, interact with and use and control. The teacher/educator should be available to provide to the students a proper empowering environment and to provide all support requested by the students giving, as much as possible, not straight answers but yes clues and small hints and examples leading the students to reach, themselves, to a solution to the problem the students face or to an answer to the students’ question that satisfy their own critical judgment. Through the programming testing process, it is possible to verify and see the level of perception and proficiency of the students assessing what students have learned and accomplished, creating immediate feedback for students and adjusting or re-orienting the students’ focus on a particular task or reasoning process. If well succeeded these activities can develop among the students a sound appreaciation towards Science Technology and Engineering while establishing relevant knowledge, creativity critical reasoning abilities and a large number of other competencies that will be valuable for the future development of the students in their studies and academic life but also in their future careers. The improvement of the self-esteem of the students when they realize they can actually “do it” is also a major benefit of this type of activities. As well in what concerns the boost of the self-esteem and selft-appreaciation of their teachers and educators, that often fear to explore this type of innovative approaches

PROTOTYPE OF A HEAT RECOVERY FOR COOLING OF GASES FROM INCINERATION OF HAZARDOUS WASTE

This paper presents the stages of development and construction of a prototype of a shell and tube heat recovery for reuse heat energy of the products generated by combustion of hazardous waste incinerator class I. The performance and energy recovered by this system were calculated. It was transported the values found for a typical plant for the incineration of 1,000 kg h-1. Thus, to preheat the combustion air and drying the waste was obtained a reduction in the consumption of LPG 46 and 45%, respectively. Considering the complexity of the process, it was found that the preheating system is simpler and can be deployed in a shorter time and lower cost when compared to a drying residue

K X-Ray Energies and Transition Probabilities for He-, Li- and Be-like Praseodymium ions

Theoretical transition energies and probabilities for He-, Li- and Be-like Praseodymium ions are calculated in the framework of the multi-configuration Dirac-Fock method (MCDF), including QED corrections. These calculated values are compared to recent experimental data obtained in the Livermore SuperEBIT electron beam ion trap facility

Positive APPtidude: from social entrepreneurship to ICT programming

ICT programming project for the creation of applications for mobile devices developed with 5th grade students of the 2nd and 3rd Cycles classes of André Soares Basic School in Bragainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Risk assessment of pesticides in estuaries: a review addressing the persistence of an old problem in complex environments

Co-financed by the ERDF under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-010145-FEDER-007728) REQUIMTE. FCT is also acknowledged for the grants SFRH/BPD/109734/2015 to M.M. and IF/00265/2015 to P.M.C. he research project GreenTech (PTDC/MAR-BIO/0113/2014), also funded by FCT, is acknowledged as well for the funding of the fellowship to N.C.Estuaries, coastal lagoons and other transition ecosystems tend to become the ultimate reservoirs of pollutants transported by continental runoff, among which pesticides constitute the class of most concern. High amounts of dissolved and particulated organic matter greatly contribute to the accumulation of pesticides that eventually become trapped in sediments or find their way along food chains. Perhaps not so surprisingly, it is common to find elevated levels of pesticides in estuarine sediments decades after their embargo. Still, it remains challenging to address ecotoxicity in circumstances that invariably imply mixtures of contaminants and multiple factors affecting bioavailability. Despite advances in methods for detecting pesticides in waters, sediments and organisms, chemical data alone are insufficient to predict risk. Many researchers have been opting for ex situ bioassays that mimic the concentrations of pesticides in estuarine waters and sediments using a range of ecologically relevant model organisms, with emphasis on fish, molluscs and crustaceans. These experimental procedures unravelled novel risk factors and important insights on toxicological mechanisms, albeit with some prejudice of ecological relevance. On the other hand, in situ bioassays, translocation experiments and passive biomonitoring strive to spot causality through an intricate mesh of confounding factors and cocktails of pollutants. Seemingly, the most informative works are integrative approaches that combine different assessment strategies, multiple endpoints and advanced computational and geographical models to determine risk. State-of-art System Biology approaches combining high-content screening approaches involving “omics” and bioinformatics, can assist discovering and predicting novel Adverse Outcome Pathways that better reflect the cumulative risk of persisting and emerging pesticides among the wide range of stressors that affect estuaries.publishersversionpublishe

Attachment and the development of prosocial behavior in children and adolescents - A systematic review

(1) Background: One key assumption of attachment theory is the relationship between security and the development of prosocial behavior. A secure child is more likely to feel and show concern for another individual, resulting in higher levels of prosocial behaviors (defined as voluntary behavior intended to benefit others—e.g., helping, sharing, comforting). (2) Method: Using a systematic review of the literature (PROSPERO: CRD42022290706), 703 articles were identified (EBSCO databases), from which 16 were considered eligible by the first two authors (inter- reviewer agreement: 85.714%). The criteria for an article’s exclusion were as follows: samples of children/teens not living in natural contexts; studies on psychopathologies; intervention programs; qualitative designs; studies on development or the validation of measures; studies that did not reliably measure the variables studied. (3) Results and Discussion: The eligible studies revealed incongruous results about the potential associations between attachment security to mothers and fathers and prosocial behavior. More consistent and significant relationships were found between the quality of attachment and empathy, while the associations between attachment and prosocial behavior were inconsistent (e.g., nine articles revealed significant associations; seven did not). In six studies, empathy was revealed to play an important role as the mediator between attachment security and prosocial behavior. The limitations and future recommendations were discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

FORCED CONVECTION IN DUCTS WITH PERMEABLE WALLS

A mixture theory model is employed in a local description of the energy transfer in a duct with permeable wall which is simulated by considering two distinct flow regions, one consisting of a Newtonian incompressible fluid and the other represented by a binary (solid-fluid) mixture. Compatibility conditions at the interface (pure fluid-mixture) for momentum and energy transfer are considered. The simulations are carried out by using a finite difference approach with an upwind strategy for the convective term discretization