Overcoming Poverty through Digital Inclusion

A growing body of research is showing how digital inclusion can help communities overcome poverty and injustice. The main challenge lies in how best to achieve this goal. The authors argue that digital inclusion must occur in two distinct stages. The first stage is digital literacy, accomplished with the Symbiotic Computer (SC)-smartphones and tablets. The second stage will be professional capacity-building, accomplished with the more traditional Personal Computer (PC)

Empowering Rural Citizen Journalism Via Web 2.0 Technologies

Once acquainted with the modern information and communication tools made available with the advent of the Internet, five Brazilian rural communities participating in a pilot project to develop a self-sustaining telecenter model, engaged in citizen journalism using inexpensive digital video cameras. Community members used Web 2.0 collaborative tools to post short videos on the telecenter portal. The 95 video blogs published between September 2006 and May 2008 recorded various aspects of community life,including religious celebrations,oral history arts and crafts traditions,folklore,and envirnmental concerns. This study evaluates the impact of video blogging in these communities

Sobre las dificultades para la eficacia comunicativa de los Movimientos Sociales. Repensar y actuar

Dissetenes Jornades de Foment de la Investigació de la FCHS (Any 2012)En el presente trabajo constituye una aproximación al estudio de los factores que intervienen en la eficacia comunicativa del mensaje de los movimientos sociales de cara a la sociedad española. Así, estudiaremos los condicionantes históricos, sociales y externos (relativos al panorama mediático) que sirven de base para la construcción de la opinión pública. Para hacer más gráfico el análisis, procederemos en última instancia a estudiar el caso del 15M y el tratamiento que de sus acciones se ha hecho en los dos medios de comunicación con más presencia en el entorno digital: El Mundo y El País. Como se podrá comprobar finalmente, la lectura entre líneas de los contenidos que generan estos medios choca con poca delicadeza los puntos débiles de una sociedad española con características propias, reduciendo así –bajo lo que se propone en este trabajo- la eficacia de los movimientos sociales actuales en España. De este modo, estas movilizaciones que logran perdurar en el tiempo generando un movimiento colosal deberán repensar en estas cuestiones para actuar con mayor eficacia.In the present work approaches the study of factors involved in the communicative effectiveness of message social movements in the face of Spanish society. So , study historical , social and external conditions ( relating to panorama media ) that are the basis for the construction of public opinion . To make graph analysis , ultimately proceed study the case of 15M and the treatment of its shares has been in the two media with more presence in the environment digital : El Mundo and El País. As you can finally check , reading between the lines content generated by these means little finesse clashes with the weaknesses of a Spanish company with its own characteristics , reducing well - under what is proposed in this paper , the effectiveness of current social movements in Spain . Thus, these mobilizations that achieve sustained over time generating a colossal movement must rethink these issues to act more effectively

Role of microglia signaling in brain circuit development and cognition

We have generated two mouse models in which we can control the Gq and Gisignalling in microglia during specific periods of brain development so we can explore the mechanisms behind abnormal microglial function. Using our mouse models, we can stimulate these signalling pathways during the critical period of postnatal brain development to understand whether they impact adult cognition by influencing normal synaptic pruning. Mouse models of autism show issues with social memory, attention, sociability and hyperactivity. We will therefore assess those behaviors in our mouse models to determine if any autism-like behaviours are present.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/brainscanprojectsummaries/1022/thumbnail.jp

Psychology and transgender identities in the Iberoamerican context

En este texto se hace una presentación del número monográfico de “Quaderns de Psicologia” titulado “Psicología e identidades transgénero en el contexto Iberoamericano”. Se propone un definición de trabajo con respecto a identidades “transgénero” que sirve como punto de partida común para el para la articulación de los trabajos. Posteriormente, se plantea de manera general el marco de discusión sobre la relación entre psicología e identidades transgénero en el que se encuadra el presente número. Finalmente, se hace un recuento de los temas y una breve presentación de los textos que componen el monográfico.In this paper a presentation of the special issue of "Quaderns de Psicologia" entitled "Psychology and transgender identities in the Latin American context" is made. A working definition of “transgender” identities is proposed as a common grtound for the articulation of the texts here presented. Subsequently, the paper describes the general line of discussion regarding the relationship between psychology and transgender identites in which this issue is framed. Finally, an account of the topics and a brief presentation of the texts included in the issue is made

VAChT knock-down mice show normal prepulse inhibition but disrupted long-term habituation

The neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) plays a crucial role in both the central and peripheral nervous system. Central cholinergic transmission is important for cognitive functions and cholinergic disruptions have been associated with different neural disorders. We here tested the role of cholinergic transmission in basic cognitive functions, i.e. in prepulse inhibition (PPI) and short-term habituation (STH) as well as long-term habituation (LTH) of startle using mice with a 65% knockdown (KD) of the vesicular ACh transporter (VAChT). These mice are slow in refilling cholinergic synaptic transmitter vesicles, leading to a reduced cholinergic tone. Prepulse inhibition has been assumed to be mediated by cholinergic projections from the midbrain to the reticular formation. Surprisingly, PPI and STH were normal in these mice, whereas LTH was disrupted. This disruption could be rescued by pre-testing injections of the ACh esterase inhibitor galantamine, but not by post-testing injections. The lack of a PPI deficit might be because of the fact that VAChT KD mice show disruptions mainly in prolonged cholinergic activity, therefore the transient activation by prepulse processing might not be sufficient to deplete synaptic vesicles. The disruption of LTH indicates that the latter depends on a tonic cholinergic inhibition. Future experiments will address which cholinergic cell group is responsible for this effect

Collective actions and political behavior: scientific production of brazilian social psychology (1986-2011)

The article aims to analyze the scientific production about collective actions and political behavior written by authors of Brazilian social psychology. The main issue is to analyze how the authors understand the politicization of social relations and the process of building a democratic society. The authors were selected from three sources – Research Groups of the CNPq, Work Groups of the ANPEPP, and Psychology and Society Brazilian Journal – and the papers were analyzed by the perspective of the Plural and Radical Democratic Theory (Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe). The discussion demonstrates the distance of the articles in relation to the conception of the political based on the articulation between three moments– moment of the articulation, the moment of the contingency, moment of the antagonism – and the implications these distance. Moreover, the discussion suggests the emergence of social psychology in the debate about the political through a resumption of the concept of the hegemony in a non-essentialist perspective

Using automated touchscreen tasks for cognitive assessment in a novel model of Parkinson\u27s disease

This research will focus specifically on evaluating cognitive flexibility (the ability to respond and adapt behaviours to changes in the environment), cognitive dysfunction (changes in the intellectual processing and reasoning that impact daily functions, to a greater severity than what might be expected from typical age-related decline) and long-term memory in a PD model using touchscreens.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/brainscanprojectsummaries/1001/thumbnail.jp

Environmental movements and management alternatives from a sustainability and environmental ethics scope

El presente texto describe las raíces conceptuales de la gestión ambiental y presenta la crítica desde la ética ambiental, para lo cual hace una lectura de los autores representativos. Así, ambientalismo conservacionista, ambientalismo moderado y humanismo crítico se identifican como las corrientes referentes de la gestión ambiental actual, al tiempo que existen otras posturas o visiones alternativas que merecen ser consideradas para el abordaje de la gestión ambiental territorial.This paper describes de conceptual roots of environmental management and offers a criticism from an environmental ethics point of view, for which it makes a reading of representative authors. This way, conservative environmentalism, Moderate Environmentalism and Critical Humanism are identified as currents that serve as referents of current environmental management. At the same time other existent postures and alternative visions deserve to be considered for the territorial environmental management approachO presente texto descreve as raízes conceituais da gestão ambientale apresenta a crítica desde a ética ambiental, para o qual faz uma leitura dos autores representativos. Assim, Ambientalismo Conservacionista, Ambientalismo Moderado e Humanismo Crítico se identificam como as correntes referentes da gestão ambiental atual, ao mesmo tempo em que existem outras posturas ou visões alternativas que merecem ser consideradas para a abordagem da gestão ambiental territorial

Recording neuronal activity using miniscopes

Our overarching goal is to understand how the striatum can select between competing options to favor goal-directed behaviors or the establishment of habitual control. This will provide fundamental and transformational insights into the regulation of cognitive functions by co-transmission.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/brainscanprojectsummaries/1010/thumbnail.jp