EMERGENCE OF RECOMBINATIVE BRAILLE READING IN VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE

  O estudo investigou a aquisição de leitura de pseudopalavras em Braille e o desenvolvimento de leitura recombinativa. Quatro adultos alfabetizados, com deficiência visual adquirida, participaram de duas fases com seis ciclos ensino-teste. Cada fase ensinou 12 palavras. A composição das pseudopalavras ensinadas visou potencializar a leitura recombinativa: quatro vogais e quatro consoantes formaram 4 sílabas que ocuparam a posição inicial e final em igual número de palavras dissílabas. Ensinou-se em cada ciclo quatro discriminações condicionais auditivo-táteis entre pseudopalavras ditadas (A) e impressas em alfabeto romano em relevo (B) e duas entre pseudopalavras ditadas e impressas em Braille (C). Testes periódicos avaliaram novas relações de seleção (BC, CB, AC) e a leitura oral das palavras. Os participantes aprenderam as discriminações condicionais e formaram classes de equivalência entre as palavras ditadas e táteis (romano e Braille). Nos testes de seleção com palavras novas os escores foram maiores que 80%. Os participantes apresentaram leitura oral recombinativa acima de 75% de acertos com fonte 90 (Fase 1) e entre 41 e 79% de acertos com a fonte 40 (Fase 2). Os resultados replicaram e estenderam para estímulos em Braille as descobertas prévias de que o controle elementar por unidades intrassilábicas favorece a leitura recombinativa. Palavras-chave: aquisição de leitura, equivalência de estímulos, leitura recombinativa, Braille, deficiência visual. The present study investigated the acquisition of pseudowords printed in Braille and the development of recombinative reading. Four literate adults with acquired visual impairment participated in two phases composed of six teaching-testing cycles. Each phase taught 12 words. Taught pseudowords were created to strengthen recombinative reading: four vowels and four consonants composed 4 syllables that equally occupied the beginning and end of dissyllable words. In each cycle, four auditory-tactile conditional discriminations were taught between dictated pseudowords (A) and words printed in embossed Roman alphabet (B) and two between dictated pseudowords and words printed in Braille (C). Recurring tests evaluated new selection responses (BC, CB and AC) and oral naming of words. Participants learned all conditional discriminations and formed equivalence classes that included the dictated and tactile (Roman alphabet and Braille) words. Selection tests with new words had scores greater than 80%. On recombinative oral reading tests, participants scored over 75%, with font size 90 (Phase 1), and between 41 and 79% with size 40 (Phase 2). Results replicated and expanded to Braille stimuli previous discoveries that elementary control by within-syllable units promotes recombinative reading. Key words: reading acquisition, stimulus equivalence, recombinative reading, Braille, blindness.

A small place, by Jamaica Kincaid: envisioning literary tourism in Antigua

This work departs from a reading of the novelistic essay A small place (1988), by Jamaica Kincaid, to analyse the representation of the tourism industry and of tourists in Antigua (the author's birthplace). From there, we present Kincaid's text as ?tourist literature? (Hendrix, 2014), also aiming to contribute to the examination of tourism-centred literary texts. Within the context of literature and tourism studies as well as comparative studies, this paper examines Kincaid's literary text in order to consider the promotion of literary tourism in Antigua. This example is then considered in light of recent contributions from literary tourism, space production, community-based tourism, mass tourism as well as responsible and sustainable tourism. Literary heritage as a resource for the tourism industry could bring tourists and locals closer and conspire to break down barriers between the largely dark-skinned hosts and the white tourists in Antigua

Theory of the optical absorption of light carrying orbital angular momentum by semiconductors

We develop a free-carrier theory of the optical absorption of light carrying orbital angular momentum (twisted light) by bulk semiconductors. We obtain the optical transition matrix elements for Bessel-mode twisted light and use them to calculate the wave function of photo-excited electrons to first-order in the vector potential of the laser. The associated net electric currents of first and second-order on the field are obtained. It is shown that the magnetic field produced at the center of the beam for the $\ell=1$ mode is of the order of a millitesla, and could therefore be detected experimentally using, for example, the technique of time-resolved Faraday rotation.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. (23 Jan 2008

Regionalizing eco-toxicity characterization factors for copper soil emissions considering edaphic information for Northern Spain and Portuguese vineyards

The management of vineyards depends on the use of plant protection agents. Regardless of the numerous environmental impacts that these pesticides generate during their production, their dosage as pest control agents in vineyards causes an important toxic effect that must be monitored. Copper-based inorganic pesticides are the most widely used agents to control fungal diseases in humid wine-growing regions. It is, however, significant that the environmental analysis of their use through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology does not provide detailed information on the potential toxicity of this type of pesticides. Hence, most studies report average values for copper characterization factors (CFs), excluding local soil characteristics. The objective of the study was the spatial characterization of the ecotoxicity factors of copper soil emissions as a function of the chemical characteristics of vineyard soils located in Portugal and Galicia (NW Spain). A multiple linear regression model was applied to calculate the comparative toxic potential. Subsequently, CFs for copper were calculated based on spatial differentiation considering the variable properties of the soil within each wine appellation. The CFs obtained for the area evaluated ranged from 141 to 5937 PAF·m3·day/kgCu emitted, for fibric histosols (HSf) and dystic cambisols (CMd), respectively. Moreover, the average values obtained for Galician and Portuguese soils were 1145 and 2274 PAF·m3·day/kgCu emitted, respectively. The results obtained illustrate the high variability of CF values as a function of the chemical characteristics of each type of soil. For example, Cu soil mobility was linked to organic carbon content and pH. Finally, to validate the representativeness of the calculated CFs, these were applied to the results of 12 literature life cycle inventories of grape production in the area evaluated, revealing that impact scores associated with Cu emissions can considerably vary when spatially-differentiated CFs are implemented.publishe

Defining freshwater as a natural resource: a framework linking water use to the area of protection natural resources

© 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. Purpose: While many examples have shown unsustainable use of freshwater resources, existing LCIA methods for water use do not comprehensively address impacts to natural resources for future generations. This framework aims to (1) define freshwater resource as an item to protect within the Area of Protection (AoP) natural resources, (2) identify relevant impact pathways affecting freshwater resources, and (3) outline methodological choices for impact characterization model development. Methods: Considering the current scope of the AoP natural resources, the complex nature of freshwater resources and its important dimensions to safeguard safe future supply, a definition of freshwater resource is proposed, including water quality aspects. In order to clearly define what is to be protected, the freshwater resource is put in perspective through the lens of the three main safeguard subjects defined by Dewulf et al. (2015). In addition, an extensive literature review identifies a wide range of possible impact pathways to freshwater resources, establishing the link between different inventory elementary flows (water consumption, emissions, and land use) and their potential to cause long-term freshwater depletion or degradation. Results and discussion: Freshwater as a resource has a particular status in LCA resource assessment. First, it exists in the form of three types of resources: flow, fund, or stock. Then, in addition to being a resource for human economic activities (e.g., hydropower), it is above all a non-substitutable support for life that can be affected by both consumption (source function) and pollution (sink function). Therefore, both types of elementary flows (water consumption and emissions) should be linked to a damage indicator for freshwater as a resource. Land use is also identified as a potential stressor to freshwater resources by altering runoff, infiltration, and erosion processes as well as evapotranspiration. It is suggested to use the concept of recovery period to operationalize this framework: when the recovery period lasts longer than a given period of time, impacts are considered to be irreversible and fall into the concern of freshwater resources protection (i.e., affecting future generations), while short-term impacts effect the AoP ecosystem quality and human health directly. It is shown that it is relevant to include this concept in the impact assessment stage in order to discriminate the long-term from the short-term impacts, as some dynamic fate models already do. Conclusions: This framework provides a solid basis for the consistent development of future LCIA methods for freshwater resources, thereby capturing the potential long-term impacts that could warn decision makers about potential safe water supply issues in the future

Towards Quantum Repeaters with Solid-State Qubits: Spin-Photon Entanglement Generation using Self-Assembled Quantum Dots

In this chapter we review the use of spins in optically-active InAs quantum dots as the key physical building block for constructing a quantum repeater, with a particular focus on recent results demonstrating entanglement between a quantum memory (electron spin qubit) and a flying qubit (polarization- or frequency-encoded photonic qubit). This is a first step towards demonstrating entanglement between distant quantum memories (realized with quantum dots), which in turn is a milestone in the roadmap for building a functional quantum repeater. We also place this experimental work in context by providing an overview of quantum repeaters, their potential uses, and the challenges in implementing them.Comment: 51 pages. Expanded version of a chapter to appear in "Engineering the Atom-Photon Interaction" (Springer-Verlag, 2015; eds. A. Predojevic and M. W. Mitchell

Desenvolvimento de dendezeiro em área reabilitada com leguminosas arbóreas.

O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar o desenvolvimento de 8 cultivares de dendê, plantadas em tanques de deposição de rejeito de bauxita, anteriormente com um substrato de cerca de 50 cm de cinza vegetal e revegetado com leguminosas arbóreas fixadoras de nitrogênio

Ionic liquid-mediated recovery of carotenoids from the bactris gasipaes fruit waste and their application in food-packaging chitosan films

In this work, a process for the extraction and purification of carotenoids from the fruit Bactris gasipaes was developed. Ethanolic and aqueous solutions of ionic liquids (ILs) and surfactants were evaluated on the extraction of these pigments. Thus, we developed an optimized sustainable downstream process mediated by the best solvent with further isolation of the carotenoids and the recyclability of the IL used. The process was characterized not only in terms of efficiency but also regarding its environmental impact. The recyclability of the solvents as well as the high efficiency (maximum yield of extraction of carotenoids = 88.7 ± 0.9 μgcarotenoids·gdried biomass–1) and the low environmental impact of the integrated process developed in this work were demonstrated. In the end, in order to incorporate functional activity for an alternative food-packaging material, carotenoids were successfully applied on the preparation of chitosan-based films with excellent results regarding their mechanical parameters and antioxidant activity.publishe