Contested Citizenships : reflections on the Politics of Belonging for ―Youth of Immigration‖ in the Greater Barcelona Area

The proposed paper is framed within the global context of immigration and migrations and the ensuing debates around citizenship and belonging, inclusion and exclusion. Schools, as the social institutions charged with the task of "absorbing" and "integrating" the children of "immigrants", can thus be seen as the primary sites where the politics of belonging (Yuval- Davis, 2006) and struggles over belonging and citizenship are waged. The proposed paper aims to provide some emergent findings on schooling of "immigrant" youth and their experiences of (non) belonging in a Catalonian high school. The work, based on current fieldwork taking place in a high school located in an affluent area of Barcelona, draws on ethnographic case-studies of eight =immigrant' youth (from various national origins) in their third and fourth years of compulsory education, alongside focus group interviews and participant observation conducted in the school site. In particular, the work engages with the contradictions inherent in schools and the manner in which national systems of education are implicated in constructing different "kinds" of citizens (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004) and reproducing hierarchies of belongingness, even in their efforts to "welcome" and "include" (Gitlin et al., 2003). The paper will thus center on exploring the following preliminary questions: (1) what are the larger ?official? citizenship/membership narratives invoked and promoted within the school? (2) What role do institutional structures play in constructing immigrant youth's belonging or non-belonging within (and beyond) the space of schools? (3) In what ways do immigrant youth negotiate their belonging within and beyond school? In concluding, the paper aims to illuminate the ways in which structures, discourses, and power relations -both within and beyond the school- impact students' belonging and are ultimately implicated in immigrant youth's social and academic engagement and integration (Gibson et al., 2004; Carter, 2005)

Effect of the porosity/cement ratio on the compression of cemented soil

The compression behavior of an artificially cemented soil was analyzed by the adjusted porosity/cement index using a correlation established in the recent literature. It was found that for each value of this index, defined as the ratio of porosity to the volumetric cement content, there was a unique normal compression line (NCL). The NCLs of the cemented specimens for each adjusted porosity/cement index did not converge with the NCL of the uncemented silty sand at large stresses, but reached a line parallel to it. The NCL of the cemented sand plotted further from the NCL of the uncemented sand as the porosity/cement index decreased. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000698. (C) 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers

Estabelecimento do vínculo paterno-filial: entre os critérios biológico e socioafetivo nos conflitos de paternidade

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar os critérios biológico e socioafetivo no estabelecimento da filiação paterna, com vistas a estabelecer qual daqueles vínculos deve preponderar em uma situação de conflito de paternidade. Para tanto, o presente estudo trata do atual conceito de família para o direito brasileiro, à luz da Constituição de 1988, e as mudanças advindas dessa concepção para o direito de filiação. Nesse sentido, estabelece-se a natureza da filiação, seus princípios norteadores e a distinção entre direito de filiação e direito à origem genética. Abordam-se, igualmente, as especificidades do critério biológico e do socioafetivo, facilitando a compreensão do conteúdo de cada um deles, bem como a sua aplicação definidora do vínculo paterno-filial. Por fim, defende-se que o direito de paternidade é um direito fundamental, o qual, no caso de conflito, faz surgir verdadeira colisão de direitos fundamentais. Sendo assim, apresentam-se dois casos em que há evidente conflito entre paternidade biológica e paternidade socioafetiva, que serão solucionados através de uma técnica de ponderação, o que, ao final, irá permitir concluir qual dos critérios deve prevalecer

Energy expenditure in mechanical ventilation: is there an agreement between the Ireton-Jones equation and indirect calorimetry?

OBJECTIVE: Assess the agreement between the energy expenditure measured by indirect calorimetry and that estimated by the Ireton-Jones formula of critically ill patients under assisted mechanical ventilation. METHODS: Participated in the study individuals able to interrupt ventilation support, admitted at the center of intensive care of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre - RS, between August 2006 and January 2007. Energy expenditure was measured by indirect calorimetry using a specific monitor, as well as estimated by the Ireton-Jones formula. Values found were analyzed using the Student's t test and the Bland and Altman method and expressed in mean, ± standard deviation with a significance level of p<0.05. RESULTS: The study included forty patients with a mean age of 56±16 years and APACHE II score of 23±8. Energy expenditure measured by indirect calorimetry was of 1558±304kcal/24h, while that estimated by Ireton-Jones was of 1689±246kcal/24h. There was a significant statistical difference between means of energy expenditure measured and estimated of the same individual (p<0.004). The agreement thresholds between indirect calorimetry and the Ireton-Jones equation were of -680.51 to 417.81 kcal. CONCLUSION: Energy expenditure estimated by the Ireton-Jones formula did not present good agreement with that measured by indirect calorimetry, however, considering aspects related to availability of the equipment, this equation may be useful in the nutritional planning for critically ill patients.OBJETIVO: Avaliar a concordância entre o gasto energético mensurado pela calorimetria indireta e o estimado pela fórmula de Ireton-Jones de pacientes críticos em ventilação mecânica assistida. MÉTODOS: Participaram do estudo indivíduos aptos a interromper o suporte ventilatório, internados entre agosto de 2006 e janeiro de 2007, no centro de terapia intensiva do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre - RS. O gasto energético foi mensurado pela calorimetria indireta usando monitor específico, assim como calculado pela fórmula de Ireton-Jones. Os valores encontrados foram analisados por meio do teste t de Student e pelo método de Bland and Altman, e expressos pela média ± desvio padrão, com nível de significância p<0,05. RESULTADOS: Foram incluídos no estudo quarenta pacientes, com idade média de 56±16 anos e índice APACHE II 23±8. O gasto energético mensurado pela calorimetria indireta foi de 1558±304kcal/24h, enquanto o estimado por Ireton-Jones foi de 1689±246kcal/24h. Houve diferença estatisticamente significativa entre as médias do gasto energético mensurado e estimado para o mesmo indivíduo (p<0,004). Os limites de concordância entre a calorimetria indireta e a equação de Ireton-Jones foram de -680,51 a 417,81 kcal. CONCLUSÃO: O gasto energético estimado pela fórmula de Ireton-Jones não apresentou boa concordância com o medido pela calorimetria indireta, entretanto, considerando aspectos relacionados à disponibilidade do aparelho, esta equação pode auxiliar no planejamento nutricional dos pacientes críticos.12913

Bioprinting Neural Systems to Model Central Nervous System Diseases

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Bistability in fatty-acid oxidation resulting from substrate inhibition

In this study we demonstrated through analytic considerations and numerical studies that the mitochondrial fatty-acid β-oxidation can exhibit bistable-hysteresis behavior. In an experimentally validated computational model we identified a specific region in the parameter space in which two distinct stable and one unstable steady state could be attained with different fluxes. The two stable states were referred to as low-flux (disease) and high-flux (healthy) state. By a modular kinetic approach we traced the origin and causes of the bistability back to the distributive kinetics and the conservation of CoA, in particular in the last rounds of the β-oxidation. We then extended the model to investigate various interventions that may confer health benefits by activating the pathway, including (i) activation of the last enzyme MCKAT via its endogenous regulator p46-SHC protein, (ii) addition of a thioesterase (an acyl-CoA hydrolysing enzyme) as a safety valve, and (iii) concomitant activation of a number of upstream and downstream enzymes by short-chain fatty-acids (SCFA), metabolites that are produced from nutritional fibers in the gut. A high concentration of SCFAs, thioesterase activity, and inhibition of the p46Shc protein led to a disappearance of the bistability, leaving only the high-flux state. A better understanding of the switch behavior of the mitochondrial fatty-acid oxidation process between a low- and a high-flux state may lead to dietary and pharmacological intervention in the treatment or prevention of obesity and or non-alcoholic fatty-liver disease

THE CHRISTMAS OF DREAMS: DIALOGICAL ANALYSIS OF AN URBAN ARTISTIC INTERVENTION

Neste artigo, analisamos uma obra de arte produzida como contra-resposta à má administração do dinheiro público por representantes políticos de Parintins, cidade do interior do Amazonas. A análise apreendida subsidia-se nos aportes teórico-metodológicos do Círculo de Bakhtin, sobretudo, na perspectiva dialógica da linguagem.&nbsp; De acordo com essa diretriz epistemológica, o objeto de análise é tomado como enunciado concreto situado em uma esfera de atividade demarcada por uma construção inacabada e cujo resultado discursivo apresenta-se, simultaneamente, como obra artística e como resistência político-ideológica inserida na materialidade histórica dos contextos sociais imediato (Parintins) e mediatos (Amazônico e Brasileiro).In this article, we analyze a work of art produced as a counter-response to the mismanagement of public money by political representatives of Parintins, a city in the interior of the Amazon. The apprehended analysis is subsidized in the theoretical-methodological contributions of the Circle of Bakhtin, mainly, in the dialogical perspective of the language. According to this epistemological guideline, the object of analysis is taken as a concrete statement situated in a sphere of activity demarcated by an unfinished construction and whose discursive result presents itself both as an artistic work and as political-ideological resistance inserted in historical materiality of the immediate (Parintins) and mediate (Amazonian and Brazilian) social contexts

Human Aware Navigation for Assistive Robotics

The original publication is available at www.springerlink.comInternational audienceEnsuring proper living conditions for an ever growing number of elderly people is a significative challenge for many countries. The difficulty and cost of hiring and training specialized personnel has fostered research in assistive robotics as a viable alternative. In this context, an ideally suited and very relevant application is to transport people with reduced mobility. This may involve either autonomous or semi-autonomous transportation devices such as cars and wheelchairs. For a working solution, a number of problems including safety, usability and economic feasibility have to be solved. This paper presents PAL's robotic wheelchair, an experimental platform to study and provide solutions to many of the aforementioned problems

A Multifunctional Nanocomposite Hydrogel for Endoscopic Tracking and Manipulation

Herein, the fabrication of multi‐responsive and hierarchically organized nanomaterial using core‐shell SrF2 upconverting nanoparticles, doped with Yb3+, Tm3+, Nd3+ incorporated into gelatin methacryloyl matrix, is reported. Upon 800 nm excitation, deep monitoring of 3D‐printed constructs is demonstrated. Addition of magnetic self‐assembly of iron oxide nanoparticles within the hydrogel provides anisotropic structuration from the nano‐ to the macro‐scale and magnetic responsiveness permitting remote manipulation. The present study provides a new strategy for the fabrication of a novel highly organized multi‐responsive material using additive manufacturing, which can have important implications in biomedicine

ER stress and Rho kinase activation underlie the vasculopathy of CADASIL

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) leads to premature stroke and vascular dementia. Mechanism-specific therapies for this aggressive cerebral small vessel disease are lacking. CADASIL is caused by NOTCH3 mutations that influence vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) function through unknown processes. We investigated molecular mechanisms underlying the vasculopathy in CADASIL focusing on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and RhoA/Rho kinase (ROCK). Peripheral small arteries and VSMCs were isolated from gluteal biopsies of CADASIL patients and mesentery of TgNotch3R169C mice (CADASIL model). CADASIL vessels exhibited impaired vasorelaxation, blunted vasoconstriction, and hypertrophic remodeling. Expression of NOTCH3 and ER stress target genes was amplified and ER stress response, Rho kinase activity, superoxide production, and cytoskeleton-associated protein phosphorylation were increased in CADASIL, processes associated with Nox5 upregulation. Aberrant vascular responses and signaling in CADASIL were ameliorated by inhibitors of Notch3 (γ-secretase inhibitor), Nox5 (mellitin), ER stress (4-phenylbutyric acid), and ROCK (fasudil). Observations in human CADASIL were recapitulated in TgNotch3R169C mice. These findings indicate that vascular dysfunction in CADASIL involves ER stress/ROCK interplay driven by Notch3-induced Nox5 activation and that NOTCH3 mutation–associated vascular pathology, typical in cerebral vessels, also manifests peripherally. We define Notch3-Nox5/ER stress/ROCK signaling as a putative mechanism-specific target and suggest that peripheral artery responses may be an accessible biomarker in CADASIL