The Fine Structure Constant and the CMB Damping Scale

The recent measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies at arcminute angular scales performed by the ACT and SPT experiments are probing the damping regime of CMB fluctuations. The analysis of these datasets unexpectedly suggests that the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom is larger than the standard value of Neff = 3.04, and inconsistent with it at more than two standard deviations. In this paper we study the role of a mechanism that could affect the shape of the CMB angular fluctuations at those scales, namely a change in the recombination process through variations in the fine structure constant. We show that the new CMB data significantly improve the previous constraints on variations of {\alpha}, with {\alpha}/{\alpha}0 = 0.984 \pm 0.005, i.e. hinting also to a more than two standard deviation from the current, local, value {\alpha}0. A significant degeneracy is present between {\alpha} and Neff, and when variations in the latter are allowed the constraints on {\alpha} are relaxed and again consistent with the standard value. Deviations of either parameter from their standard values would imply the presence of new, currently unknown physics.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Evolución de las actitudes hacia la estadística en estudiantes de psicología

La Estadística se ha incorporado en forma generalizada al currículum de la mayoría de estudios universitarios como fruto del importante papel que desempeña en la formación científica y técnica de profesionales de muy variado perfil. Su estudio ayuda al desarrollo personal, fomentando un razonamiento crítico, basado en la valoración de la evidencia objetiva; así hemos de ser capaces de usar los datos para controlar nuestros juicios e interpretar los de los demás

Avaliação de traduções: a vez e a voz do aprendiz

According to Education specialists, evaluation is a topic at once controversial and relevant due to its pedagogic, psychological, and socioeconomic implications. In their search for a fair and accurate evaluation, teachers tend to favor practices that are supposedly objective. This paper challenges this notion of objectivity and presents an alternative approach involvinginteraction andnegotiation. These are processes that take into account the inextricable subject/object relationship and the circumstances of each piece of work to be assessed.Segundo especialistas da área da educação, a avaliação constitui tema ao mesmo tempo polêmico e relevante, consideradas suas implicações pedagógicas, psicológicas e sócioeconômicas. Observa-se, entre professores, a tendência a realizarem, sem maior reflexão, práticas avaliatórias de natureza objetivizante na busca de uma avaliação exata e justa. Neste trabalho, faremos a crítica a esse paradigma, ao lado da qual apresentaremos algumas alternativas envolvendo interaçãoe negociação, processos que levam em conta os sujeitos e as circunstâncias implicadas na produção dos trabalhos avaliados

Contextos organizacionais do desenvolvimento das práticas de supervisão : que cooperação no processo formativo dos estudantes de enfermagem?

A questão central na formação de estudantes de Enfermagem advém da revalorização do potencial formativo das práticas nas organizações de saúde, devendo estas assegurar as condições de aprendizagem clínica para os cursos e garantir os respetivos padrões de qualidade. Isto obriga a que sejam potenciadas sinergias entre ambas as organizações. O Decreto-Lei n.º 206/2004 de 19 de Agosto, clarifica a relação entre as entidades prestadoras de cuidados de saúde e as instituições responsáveis pelo ensino, a educação e a investigação científica, nomeadamente com as escolas de enfermagem, como explicitamente determina o n.º 3, do artigo 1.º, conjugado com o que preconiza o artigo 13.º. Aqui, está também traçado o quadro geral de articulação entre as duas organizações, a qual é feita mediante o estabelecimento de protocolos para a realização de estágios e desenvolvimento da investigação. Este estudo, de carater exploratório e descritivo teve como objetivo compreender os processos de parceria em uso entre as Escolas Superiores de Enfermagem e as entidades prestadoras de cuidados onde se realizam as práticas cínicas. Metodologicamente foi suportado na análise de conteúdo de 66 protocolos firmados por sete Escolas de Enfermagem. Os achados do estudo revelaram fragilidades na formalização dos protocolos com as instituições de saúde, não surgindo claro, qual a natureza ou extensão da sua cooperação. Evidenciaram ausência de uma definição clara do papel a desempenhar no processo formativo dos estudantes e a falta da clarificação de indicadores necessários a uma forma integrada de agir em articulação. Apesar de no atual quadro legal, assente na celebração formal de protocolos, estarem reunidas as condições para a efetivação da articulação entre as duas entidades, os protocolos firmados não obedecem, com as devidas adaptações, aos princípios gerais definidos no n.º 2 do artigo 13.º do referido diploma, o que parece condicionar a corresponsabilização dos intervenientes no processo.The central issue in the training nursing students arises from the revaluation of the training potential of the practices in health organizations, which should ensure the conditions for clinical training of the courses guaranteeing the respective standards of quality. This requires being further enhanced synergies between both organizations. Decree-Law number 206/2004, August 19, clarifies the relationship between health institutions and institutions responsible by education and scientific research, particularly with nursing schools, as explicitly determines the number 3, Article 1, in conjunction with advocated in Article 13.º. Here is also outlined the general framework of coordination between both organizations, which is done by establishing protocols for the stages conduct and scientific research development. Aiming to understanding the processes in use of partnership between Nursing Schools and health institutions where they carry out the clinical practices, we developed a study of exploratory and descriptive nature. Methodologically was supported in content analysis of 66 protocols signed by seven Nursing Schools. The results of this study demonstrated flaws in the formalization of agreements with health institutions, not appearing clear what is the nature or extent of their cooperation. It was evidenced a lack of definition by the health institutions role in the students training and the dearth of clarification the indicators needed to an articulated working. In the current legal framework, although contemplated the conditions for effective coordination between both entities, based on formal protocols, these weren´t in accordance to the general principles defined in number 2, article 13.º of the referenced law, which can determine the co-responsibility the involved parts

Sex-biased gene expression in the brown alga Fucus vesiculosus

Background The fucoid brown algae (Heterokontophyta, Phaeophyceae) are increasingly the focus of ecological genetics, biodiversity, biogeography and speciation research. The molecular genetics underlying mating system variation, where repeated dioecious – hermaphrodite switches during evolution are recognized, and the molecular evolution of sex-related genes are key questions currently hampered by a lack of genomic information. We therefore undertook a comparative analysis of male and female reproductive tissue transcriptomes against a vegetative background during natural reproductive cycles in Fucus vesiculosus. Results Over 300 k reads were assembled and annotated against public protein databases including a brown alga. Compared with the vegetative tissue, photosynthetic and carbohydrate metabolism pathways were under-expressed, particularly in male tissue, while several pathways involved in genetic information processing and replication were over-expressed. Estimates of sex-biased gene (SBG) expression were higher for male (14% of annotated orthologues) than female tissue (9%) relative to the vegetative background. Mean expression levels and variance were also greater in male- than female-biased genes. Major female-biased genes were carbohydrate-modifying enzymes with likely roles in zygote cell wall biogenesis and/or modification. Male-biased genes reflected distinct sperm development and function, and orthologues for signal perception (a phototropin), transduction (several kinases), and putatively flagella-localized proteins (including candidate gamete-recognition proteins) were uniquely expressed in males. Overall, the results suggest constraint on female-biased genes (possible pleiotropy), and less constrained male-biased genes, mostly associated with sperm-specific functions. Conclusions Our results support the growing contention that males possess a large array of genes regulating male fitness, broadly supporting findings in evolutionarily distant heterogametic animal models. This work identifies an annotated set of F. vesiculosus gene products that potentially regulate sexual reproduction and may contribute to prezygotic isolation, one essential step towards developing tools for a functional understanding of species isolation and differentiation.Peer Reviewe

Experiências de Cyberbullying relatadas por estudantes do ensino superior politécnico

As TIC trouxeram múltiplos benefícios mas acarretam também riscos, nomeadamente o cyberbullying, ou seja, a prática de atos agressivos, intencionais e repetidos com recurso a dispositivos eletrónicos para, por exemplo, enviar mensagens insultuosas ou criar websites que difamam e hostilizam os outros. Este estudo teve por objetivos conhecer a frequência e os tipos de cyberbullying praticados, sofridos e observados por estudantes do ensino superior politécnico; saber se se veriicam diferenças entre géneros e cursos; identiicar as emoções associadas aos diferentes papéis no cyberbullying; identiicar os motivos invocados pelos agressores para explicar este tipo de comportamento. Para o efeito construiu-se um questionário quantitativo que foi aplicado a 170 estudantes que frequentavam várias licenciaturas de uma instituição de ensino superior politécnico de Portugal. Os resultados revelaram que 30,6% dos estudantes já tinham sido vítimas de cyberbullying e 8,2% admitiu ter praticado cyberbullying, pelo menos algumas vezes. Um dos motivos mais evocados pelos agressores para esta prática foi a vingança relativamente a episódios ocorridos anteriormente. Não se veriicaram diferenças signiicativas entre sexos mas o fenómeno era mais frequente em cursos de engenharia comparativamente aos de educação e ciências humanas. Equaciona-se a prevenção do cyberbullying a partir da utilização dos próprios meios de comunicação social para promoção da partilha de informação sobre como utilizar as TIC de forma ética e segura, bem como através da criação de programas e plataformas envolvendo estudantes de vários níveis de ensino com vista à prevenção deste fenómeno

Emotional recognition and empathy both in deaf and blind adults

Studies addressing the recognition of emotions in blind or deaf participants have been carried out only with children and adolescents. Due to these age limits, such studies do not clarify the long-term effects of vision and hearing disabilities on emotion recognition in adults. We assessed the ability to recognize basic emotions in 15 deaf adults (aged 32.4 +/- 8.1 yrs) and in 15 blind adults (48.3 +/- 10.5 yrs). Auditory and visual stimuli expressing six basic emotional states were presented to participants (Florida Affect Battery). Participants also performed an empathy test. Deaf participants showed difficulties in emotion recognition tasks compared to the typical hearing participantshowever, differences were only statistically reliable for Facial Emotion Discrimination and Naming tasks (specifically, naming expressions of fear). Deaf participants also revealed inferior levels of cognitive empathy. Concerning blind participants, their performance was lower than the controls' only when the task required the evaluation of emotional prosody while ignoring the semantic content of the sentence. Overall, although deaf and blind participants performed reasonably well on tasks requiring recognition of basic emotions, sensory loss may hinder their social perception skills when processing subtle emotions or when the extraction of simultaneous prosodic and semantic information is required.Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, FCT Research Center [UID/BIM/04773/2013 CBMR]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio