3+1 and its (in)variants : reflections on the possibilities of a new curricular structure for prospective mathematics teacher education;

Uma an?lise atenta dos curr?culos da forma??o inicial do professor de matem?tica no Brasil nos leva ? seguinte conclus?o: a licenciatura saiu do 3+1, mas o 3+1 ainda n?o saiu da licenciatura. No que segue, explico o que quero dizer com isso, defendo a necessidade urgente de uma efetiva supera??o desse esquema na forma??o inicial do professor e discuto as possibilidades de implementa??o de uma nova estrutura nos cursos de licenciatura em matem?tica. Este texto, escrito para a confer?ncia de encerramento da II Escola de Inverno em Educa??o Matem?tica (Santa Maria, RS), n?o ? um relato de pesquisa, mas as ideias aqui desenvolvidas t?m seus fundamentos em parte da literatura especializada na ?rea de forma??o de professores de matem?tica, principalmente das tr?s ?ltimas d?cadas. Num momento em que se discutem, nacionalmente, os Referenciais Curriculares para a Forma??o do Professor (vide Comiss?o Parit?ria SBEM-SBM), este texto chama a aten??o para as dificuldades estruturais inerentes a uma concep??o curricular em que a forma??o matem?tica e as discuss?es de quest?es referentes aoensino escolar da matem?tica sejam vistos como blocos de forma??o relativamente autonomizados.Analysis of the curricular structure of prospective mathematics teacher education in Brazil leads us to the following conclusion: ?these courses have abandoned the 3+1 formula, yet 3+1 has not abandoned them?. In what follows I explain what I mean by that, argue in favor of an effective change in the structure of the curricula, and briefly discuss the possibilities of actually implementing the proposed direction of change. Written for the final speech of the II Escola de Inverno em Educa??o Matem?tica (Santa Maria, RS) this text is not a research report, though the ideas discussed here are based on part of the specialized literature relative to the field of mathematics teacher education, especially in the last three decades. As a nationwide discussion takes place in Brazil on the socalled Curricular Framework for Prospective Mathematics Teacher Education, this text points to the structural difficulties inherent to a curricular conception according to which content knowledge is defined and taught in a relatively autonomous way with respect to methods and theories of teaching and learning school mathematics

Inadequacy of modern algebraic language use for translating mathematical sentences in Euclid?s elements.

A linguagem da Matem?tica antiga costuma soar herm?tica ?queles habituados ao simbolismo alg?brico com que representamos as ideias da Matem?tica hoje. Assim, para tornar uma senten?a da Matem?tica cl?ssica mais clara ao leitor atual, ? comum reescrev?-la utilizando a nota??o moderna. No entanto, essa estrat?gia pode ofuscar algumas caracter?sticas e pressupostos fundamentais da Matem?tica grega. No caso dos Elementos, para entendermos sua estrutura??o e suas bases conceituais, precisamos levar em considera??o quest?es te?ricas enfrentadas por Euclides. Na passagem da Matem?tica antiga para a moderna, conceitos fundamentais, como o de n?mero e o de medida, se modificaram; o racioc?nio anal?tico se imp?s ao pensamento sint?tico; e o papel da Matem?tica na elabora??o do conhecimento em geral foi repensado. Por isso, o uso da linguagem alg?brica moderna para ?traduzir? enunciados contidos nos Elementos pode ocultar essas diferen?as e gerar interpreta??es equivocadas das bases da Matem?tica cl?ssica e de suas rela??es com a Matem?tica atual.Ancient mathematical language usually appears hermetic to those used to the algebraic symbolism we represent mathematical ideas today. Hence, in order to try to make a classic mathematical sentence clear to a generic reader, it is frequently ?translated? into modern algebraic language. However, this kind of strategy may obscure some important characteristics and founding structures of Greek Mathematics. In the case of Euclid?s Elements, in particular, to understand its conceptual basis, it is especially relevant to consider some fundamental theoretical issues faced by Euclid in his time. In the course of moving from ancient to modern mathematics, some important concepts, like those of number and measure, have changed. Furthermore, analytic reasoning has imposed itself over synthetic reasoning in a context where the role attributed to mathematics in the development process of general knowledge has significantly changed. In this article, we argue that ?translating? mathematical sentences in Euclid?s Elements into modern algebraic language may conceal differences and changes that were developed along thousands of years, inducing inaccurate interpretations of the classical mathematics foundations as well as of its relations with today?s mathematics

Introducing Quantum-Like Influence Diagrams for Violations of the Sure Thing Principle

It is the focus of this work to extend and study the previously proposed quantum-like Bayesian networks to deal with decision-making scenarios by incorporating the notion of maximum expected utility in influence diagrams. The general idea is to take advantage of the quantum interference terms produced in the quantum-like Bayesian Network to influence the probabilities used to compute the expected utility of some action. This way, we are not proposing a new type of expected utility hypothesis. On the contrary, we are keeping it under its classical definition. We are only incorporating it as an extension of a probabilistic graphical model in a compact graphical representation called an influence diagram in which the utility function depends on the probabilistic influences of the quantum-like Bayesian network. Our findings suggest that the proposed quantum-like influence digram can indeed take advantage of the quantum interference effects of quantum-like Bayesian Networks to maximise the utility of a cooperative behaviour in detriment of a fully rational defect behaviour under the prisoner's dilemma game

Identification of hot-spot residues in protein-protein interactions by computational docking

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study of protein-protein interactions is becoming increasingly important for biotechnological and therapeutic reasons. We can define two major areas therein: the structural prediction of protein-protein binding mode, and the identification of the relevant residues for the interaction (so called 'hot-spots'). These hot-spot residues have high interest since they are considered one of the possible ways of disrupting a protein-protein interaction. Unfortunately, large-scale experimental measurement of residue contribution to the binding energy, based on alanine-scanning experiments, is costly and thus data is fairly limited. Recent computational approaches for hot-spot prediction have been reported, but they usually require the structure of the complex.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have applied here normalized interface propensity (<it>NIP</it>) values derived from rigid-body docking with electrostatics and desolvation scoring for the prediction of interaction hot-spots. This parameter identifies hot-spot residues on interacting proteins with predictive rates that are comparable to other existing methods (up to 80% positive predictive value), and the advantage of not requiring any prior structural knowledge of the complex.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The <it>NIP </it>values derived from rigid-body docking can reliably identify a number of hot-spot residues whose contribution to the interaction arises from electrostatics and desolvation effects. Our method can propose residues to guide experiments in complexes of biological or therapeutic interest, even in cases with no available 3D structure of the complex.</p

Vitamin E and selenium plasma concentrations in weanling pigs under field conditions in Norwegian pig herds

BACKGROUND: The status of α-tocopherol (vit E) and selenium (Se) has been shown to influence disease resistance in pigs, and may be important for the health of weanling pigs. METHODS: Plasma levels of both vit E and Se were followed in weanling pigs under field conditions in six Norwegian pig herds. Plasma vit E and Se were measured in 3 sows from each herd and 4 piglets in the litter of each sow at the day before weaning (day -1); and in the same piglets at days 4, 8 and 18 after weaning. RESULTS: Mean plasma vit E was 4.0 μg/ml in the sows and 2.6 μg/ml in the piglets at day -1, fell to 1.6 μg/ml in the weanling pigs at day 4, and remained low. Mean plasma Se was 0.22 μg/g in the sows and 0.08 μg/g in the piglets at day -1, rose to 0.10 μg/g in the weanlings at day 4, and continued rising. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that vit E and Se supplementation to piglets and weanling pigs in Norway may still be suboptimal, but that levels of the two nutrients partially compensate for each other in the weaning period

Learning curves of basic laparoscopic psychomotor skills in SINERGIA VR simulator

Purpose: Surgical simulators are currently essential within any laparoscopic training program because they provide a low-stakes, reproducible and reliable environment to acquire basic skills. The purpose of this study is to determine the training learning curve based on different metrics corresponding to five tasks included in SINERGIA laparoscopic virtual reality simulator. Methods: Thirty medical students without surgical experience participated in the study. Five tasks of SINERGIA were included: Coordination, Navigation, Navigation and touch, Accurate grasping and Coordinated pulling. Each participant was trained in SINERGIA. This training consisted of eight sessions (R1–R8) of the five mentioned tasks and was carried out in two consecutive days with four sessions per day. A statistical analysis was made, and the results of R1, R4 and R8 were pair-wise compared with Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Significance is considered at P value <0.005. Results: In total, 84.38% of the metrics provided by SINERGIA and included in this study show significant differences when comparing R1 and R8. Metrics are mostly improved in the first session of training (75.00% when R1 and R4 are compared vs. 37.50% when R4 and R8 are compared). In tasks Coordination and Navigation and touch, all metrics are improved. On the other hand, Navigation just improves 60% of the analyzed metrics. Most learning curves show an improvement with better results in the fulfillment of the different tasks. Conclusions: Learning curves of metrics that assess the basic psychomotor laparoscopic skills acquired in SINERGIA virtual reality simulator show a faster learning rate during the first part of the training. Nevertheless, eight repetitions of the tasks are not enough to acquire all psychomotor skills that can be trained in SINERGIA. Therefore, and based on these results together with previous works, SINERGIA could be used as training tool with a properly designed training program

Ginkgo Biloba Extract Ameliorates Oxidative Phosphorylation Performance and Rescues Aβ-Induced Failure

Energy deficiency and mitochondrial failure have been recognized as a prominent, early event in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, we demonstrated that chronic exposure to amyloid-beta (Abeta) in human neuroblastoma cells over-expressing human wild-type amyloid precursor protein (APP) resulted in (i) activity changes of complexes III and IV of the oxidative phosphorylation system (OXPHOS) and in (ii) a drop of ATP levels which may finally instigate loss of synapses and neuronal cell death in AD. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether standardized Ginkgo biloba extract LI 1370 (GBE) is able to rescue Abeta-induced defects in energy metabolism