Dismantling a culture of marketization? Alternatives to a student-as-consumer orientation in a context of the removal of tuition fees in a marketized society

As market-oriented policies have impacted Higher Education (HE) systems around the world, extant scholarship has suggested that students are represented as instrumental and employment-focused consumers. However, how these reforms shape students’ experiences in HE is still debatable. This dissertation examines alternative orientations of the student by critically investigating the discourses surrounding the HE student in the neoliberal context of Chile, where HE has been the subject of a controversial policy reform involving the removal of tuition fees (termed Gratuidad in Spanish). The effects of this reform will be understood from the perspective of a market economy and a marketized HE system long disembedded from society. Methodologically, data were collected from newspaper articles and in-depth interviews with students. Data were analysed deploying Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to investigate the functions and effects of media discourses linked to Gratuidad and to identify representations of students. Interviews with state-funded and self-funded students were undertaken to uncover their orientations to their HE experience. The findings present Gratuidad being contextualized in three main ways: as a hasty, absurd policy; as an obstacle to the attainment of a more equal society; and as a revolution directed at the future of Chilean children. Media representations of students portray them as egocentric, as neglected by the state, and as marionettes of a political party. While the findings confirm a consumerist orientation to HE for some students, others take on alternative guises: as apolitical and poorly informed risk takers, as young people striving to be Someone, and as budding social reformers. The findings reveal a neoliberal discourse that is still hegemonic both in the media and amongst the students themselves. The hegemony of the market in Chilean society evidences the disembeddedness of the market from society. It also validates the power of the neoliberal ideology rooted in Chile’s broader social practices of the media and HE. Furthermore, the media, as a social system deeply colonized by a market ideology, keeps discursively promoting a culture of marketization in Chilean society. Nevertheless, notions of a change in this social order have emerged. These changes expose Gratuidad as a counter movement to the disembedded market forces and as an opportunity to potentially re-embed the market in society; and students’ discursive practices contesting the neoliberal ideology, challenging the current social practice in HE. This research contributes to current theories of marketization in HE and on alternative orientations of students, providing different theoretical explanations of their behaviour in HE. It also contributes by exploring students’ constructions in the Global South, an area of scant empirical work. Lastly, this research fosters a debate about the “return of the state” in the public funding of HE and its impact on students’ understanding of the purpose of HE

Dismantling a culture of marketization? Alternatives to a student-as-consumer orientation in a context of the removal of tuition fees in a marketized society

As market-oriented policies have impacted Higher Education (HE) systems around the world, extant scholarship has suggested that students are represented as instrumental and employment-focused consumers. However, how these reforms shape students’ experiences in HE is still debatable. This dissertation examines alternative orientations of the student by critically investigating the discourses surrounding the HE student in the neoliberal context of Chile, where HE has been the subject of a controversial policy reform involving the removal of tuition fees (termed Gratuidad in Spanish). The effects of this reform will be understood from the perspective of a market economy and a marketized HE system long disembedded from society. Methodologically, data were collected from newspaper articles and in-depth interviews with students. Data were analysed deploying Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to investigate the functions and effects of media discourses linked to Gratuidad and to identify representations of students. Interviews with state-funded and self-funded students were undertaken to uncover their orientations to their HE experience. The findings present Gratuidad being contextualized in three main ways: as a hasty, absurd policy; as an obstacle to the attainment of a more equal society; and as a revolution directed at the future of Chilean children. Media representations of students portray them as egocentric, as neglected by the state, and as marionettes of a political party. While the findings confirm a consumerist orientation to HE for some students, others take on alternative guises: as apolitical and poorly informed risk takers, as young people striving to be Someone, and as budding social reformers. The findings reveal a neoliberal discourse that is still hegemonic both in the media and amongst the students themselves. The hegemony of the market in Chilean society evidences the disembeddedness of the market from society. It also validates the power of the neoliberal ideology rooted in Chile’s broader social practices of the media and HE. Furthermore, the media, as a social system deeply colonized by a market ideology, keeps discursively promoting a culture of marketization in Chilean society. Nevertheless, notions of a change in this social order have emerged. These changes expose Gratuidad as a counter movement to the disembedded market forces and as an opportunity to potentially re-embed the market in society; and students’ discursive practices contesting the neoliberal ideology, challenging the current social practice in HE. This research contributes to current theories of marketization in HE and on alternative orientations of students, providing different theoretical explanations of their behaviour in HE. It also contributes by exploring students’ constructions in the Global South, an area of scant empirical work. Lastly, this research fosters a debate about the “return of the state” in the public funding of HE and its impact on students’ understanding of the purpose of HE

Estudo sobre perdas no processamento industrial do tomate

Neste trabalho foram propostas fórmulas para se calcular o rendimento esperado, em polpa concentrada, em industrias de processamento de tomate, comparando-o com o rendimento realmente obtido, e visando controlar o desempenho da indústria. Para testar estas fórmulas foi feito um estudo comparativo entre o rendimento esperado calculado e o rendimento real, tomando por base os assentamentos de uma indústria, de porte médio, de processamento de tomates, do Estado de São Paulo, nos anos agrícolas de 1981 e 1982. Concomitantemente foi feita uma análise das perdas, na forma de descartes, na esteira de seleção e de sementes e pele, nas despolpadeiras e também uma verificação do Brix médio ponderado, nas duas safras. Os resultados mostraram que as fórmulas são adequadas para o cálculo do rendimento esperado pois as diferenças, com o rendimento real, obtido foram de -1,49% e +1,74% em 1982. As perdas de tomate (descartes) foram consideradas elevadas em comparação com as de outros países o que significa tomate de baixa qualidade. O Brix médio ponderado mensal que alcançou até 5,62 foi significativamente maior que o de anos anteriores.In the present work formulas were proposed to calculate the expected yield of concentrated tomato pulp as an aid to control the processing industry performance. In order to test these formulas a comparative study between the calculated expected yield and the obtained yield utilizing daily registers of a medium size processing industry of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, of 1981 and 1982 crop was made. In the same study the losses of tomatoes discarded in the selection belt and as seeds and peel from the pulpers. The Brix mean values were also evaluated. The results showed that the formulas are fitted to the purpose they were developed since the difference between expected and obtained yields were -1,49% in 1981 and +1,74% in 1982. The losses in discarded tomatoes were considered high when compared to those of other countries which means low quality raw material. The relatively high Brix mean values, up yo 5.62, were considered a very good advance over previous years

Effects of COVID-19 vaccination on disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis on targeted therapy in the COVIDSER study

COVID-19; Artritis psoriásica; VacunaciónCOVID 19; Artritis psoriàsica; VacunacióCOVID-19; Psoriatic arthritis; VaccinationObjective: To investigate the influence of COVID-19 vaccination on disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients under targeted therapies. Patients and methods: 1765 vaccinated patients COVID-19, 1178 (66.7%) with RA and 587 (33.3%) with PsA from the COVID-19 registry in patients with rheumatic diseases (COVIDSER) project, were included. Demographics, disease characteristics, Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28) and targeted treatments were collected. DAS28-based flare rates and categorised disease activity distribution prevaccination and post vaccination were analysed by log-linear regression and contingency analyses, respectively. The influence of vaccination on DAS28 variation as a continuous measure was evaluated using a random coefficient model. Results: The distribution of categorised disease activity and flare rates was not significantly modified by vaccination. Log-linear regression showed no significant changes in the rate of flares in the 6-month period after vaccination compared with the same period prior to vaccination in neither patients with RA nor patients with PsA. When DAS28 variations were analysed using random coefficient models, no significant variations in disease activity were detected after vaccination for both groups of patients. However, patients with RA treated with Janus kinase inhibitors (JAK-i) (1) and interleukin-6 inhibitor (IL-6-i) experienced a worsening of disease activity (1.436±0.531, p=0.007, and 1.201±0.550, p=0.029, respectively) in comparison with those treated with tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNF-i). Similarly, patients with PsA treated with interleukin-12/23 inhibitor (IL-12/23-i) showed a worsening of disease activity (4.476±1.906, p=0.019) compared with those treated with TNF-i. Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccination was not associated with increased rate of flares in patients with RA and PsA. However, a potential increase in disease activity in patients with RA treated with JAK-i and IL-6-i and in patients with PsA treated with IL-12/23-i warrants further investigation

Waveguide manufacturing technologies for next-generation millimeter-wave antennas

Some recent waveguide-based antennas are presented in this paper, designed for the next generation of communication systems operating at the millimeter-wave band. The presented prototypes have been conceived to be manufactured using different state-of-the-art techniques, involving subtractive and additive approaches. All the designs have used the latest developments in the field of manufacturing to guarantee the required accuracy for operation at millimeter-wave frequencies, where tolerances are extremely tight. Different designs will be presented, including a monopulse antenna combining a comparator network, a mode converter, and a spline profile horn; a tunable phase shifter that is integrated into an array to implement reconfigurability of the main lobe direction; and a conformal array antenna. These prototypes were manufactured by diverse approaches taking into account the waveguide configuration, combining parts with high-precision milling, electrical discharge machining, direct metal laser sintering, or stereolithography with spray metallization, showing very competitive performances at the millimeter-wave band till 40 GHzThis work was supported by the Spanish Government under Grant TEC2016-76070- C3-1/2-R (ADDMATE); in part under Grant PID2020-116968RB-C32/33 (DEWICOM), Agencia Estatal de Investigación MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional: AEI/FEDER, UE. This work was also partially supported under Grant S2013/ICE3000 (SPADERADARCM), Madrid Regional Governmen

Retinal drug delivery: rethinking outcomes for the efficient replication of retinal behavior

The retina is a highly organized structure that is considered to be "an approachable part of the brain." It is attracting the interest of development scientists, as it provides a model neurovascular system. Over the last few years, we have been witnessing significant development in the knowledge of the mechanisms that induce the shape of the retinal vascular system, as well as knowledge of disease processes that lead to retina degeneration. Knowledge and understanding of how our vision works are crucial to creating a hardware-adaptive computational model that can replicate retinal behavior. The neuronal system is nonlinear and very intricate. It is thus instrumental to have a clear view of the neurophysiological and neuroanatomic processes and to take into account the underlying principles that govern the process of hardware transformation to produce an appropriate model that can be mapped to a physical device. The mechanistic and integrated computational models have enormous potential toward helping to understand disease mechanisms and to explain the associations identified in large model-free data sets. The approach used is modulated and based on different models of drug administration, including the geometry of the eye. This work aimed to review the recently used mathematical models to map a directed retinal network.The authors acknowledge the financial support received from the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT/MCT) and the European Funds (PRODER/COMPETE) for the project UIDB/04469/2020 (strategic fund), co-financed by FEDER, under the Partnership Agreement PT2020. The authors also acknowledge FAPESP – São Paulo Research Foundation, for the financial support for the publication of the article.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fisheries and Oceanography off Galicia, NW Spain: Mesoscale Spatial and Temporal Changes in Physical Processes and Resultant Patterns of Biological Productivity

The Galician shelf off NW Spain (43N degrees 9W degrees) exhibits mesoscale spatial and temporal changes in biological productivity associated with upwelling. Spatial heterogeneity results from local geomorphic and land-sea interactions superimposed on the large scale atmospheric processes that produce upwelling. Wind-induced upwelling events, commonly of short (i.e., week) duration, are more common in the summer than in the winter. A Series of cruises, including some time series sampling, and satellite imagery analysis showed that surface upwelling was more common and persistent on the northern coast compared with the western coast off the coastal embayments, the Rias Bajas. Nearshore off the rias, coastal runoff, which is greater in the rainy winter/spring versus the dry summer, affected upwelling. In early summer, upwelling less often reaches the surface because of increased water column stratification associated with lower surface salinities and thus upwelling is not detected by satellite imagery. Conversely, in late summer, upwelling more often reaches the surface because coastal runoff is reduced during the dry summer months and the water column tends to be less stratified. Plankton biomass and rate processes along the Galician shelf reflected both ambient hydrographic conditions as well as prior history of upwelling or downwelling. Phytoplankton and bacterioplankton were in greatest abundance during upwelling conditions (June through August); in contrast, both zooplankton and fish larvae exhibited highest abundances in March, when there were upwelling conditions prior to our cruise. Spatial differences in the duration and frequency of upwelling events, in combination with advection of water masses, are critical to the patterns of water column productivity and sardine fisheries production off the Galician coast. More persistent upwelling at this NW corner of the Iberian peninsula Supports large sardine fisheries because zooplankton and larval fish populations have time to respond to the higher primary production. Farther down the western Galician coast, the episodic upwelling and resultant intermittent primary production does not support a stable food supply needed to support fisheries. Times series sampling revealed mean response times of bacteria, phytoplankton, and zooplankton to be on the order of a day, days, and weeks, respectively. Sardines showed no spawning response in the relatively short time series sampling. The observed distributional patterns of fish eggs and larvae showed some offshore transport of fish larvae that were spawned inshore during upwelling periods and aggregation of larvae in a convergence zone northwest of Cabo Villano

Active Front-End converter applied for the THD reduction in power systems

The Active Front-End (AFE) converter topology is generated by modifying a conventional back-to-back converter, from using a single VSC to use pVCS connected in parallel. The AFE configuration improves the capability, efficiency and reliability of energy conversion devices connected to the power system. In this paper, a novel technique to reduce the total harmonic distortion (THD) in an AFE converter topology is proposed and analyzed. The THD reduction is achieved by applying a phase shift angle in the SPWM switching signals of each AFE converter VSC. To verify the functionality and robustness of the proposed methodology, the power system simulation in Matlab-Simulink is analyzed for a type-4 wind turbine converter with total power output of 9MW. The obtained simulation results show a THD reduction up to 2.5 for AFE connected to the power network

Heterogeneity of melanoma cell responses to sleep apnea-derived plasma exosomes and to intermittent hypoxia

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with increased cutaneous melanoma incidence and adverse outcomes. Exosomes are secreted by most cells, and play a role in OSA-associated tumor progression and metastasis. We aimed to study the effects of plasma exosomes from OSA patients before and after adherent treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on melanoma cells lines, and also to identify exosomal miRNAs from melanoma cells exposed to intermittent hypoxia (IH) or normoxia. Plasma-derived exosomes were isolated from moderate-to-severe OSA patients before (V1) and after (V2) adherent CPAP treatment for one year. Exosomes were co-incubated with three3 different melanoma cell lines (CRL 1424; CRL 1619; CRL 1675) that are characterized by genotypes involving different mutations in BRAF, STK11, CDKN2A, and PTEN genes to assess the effect of exosomes on cell proliferation and migration, as well as on pAMK activity in the presence or absence of a chemical activator. Subsequently, CRL-1424 and CRL-1675 cells were exposed to intermittent hypoxia (IH) and normoxia, and exosomal miRNAs were identified followed by GO and KEG pathways and gene networks. The exosomes from these IH-exposed melanoma cells were also administered to THP1 macrophages to examine changes in M1 and M2 polarity markers. Plasma exosomes from V1 increased CRL-1424 melanoma cell proliferation and migration compared to V2, but not the other two cell lines. Exposure to CRL-1424 exosomes reduced pAMPK/tAMPK in V1 compared to V2, and treatment with AMPK activator reversed the effects. Unique exosomal miRNAs profiles were identified for CRL-1424 and CRL-1675 in IH compared to normoxia, with six miRNAs being regulated and several KEGG pathways were identified. Two M1 markers (CXCL10 and IL6) were significantly increased in monocytes when treated with exosomes from IH-exposed CRL-1424 and CRL-1625 cells. Our findings suggest that exosomes from untreated OSA patients increase CRL-1424 melanoma malignant properties, an effect that is not observed in two other melanoma cell lines. Exosomal cargo from CRL-1424 cells showed a unique miRNA signature compared to CRL-1675 cells after IH exposures, suggesting that melanoma cells are differentially susceptible to IH, even if they retain similar effects on immune cell polarity. It is postulated that mutations in STK-11 gene encoding for the serine/threonine kinase family that acts as a tumor suppressor may underlie susceptibility to IH-induced metabolic dysfunction, as illustrated by CRL-1424 cells. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland