Distance education courses: Impacts on Teacher Training and Practice

As políticas públicas em pról da Educação Inclusiva no Brasil, demandaram desde 2008, que os professores tivessem novos conhecimentos e práticas com metodologias diferenciadas para atender aos alunos com deficiência no ensino regular. Assim, as instituições públicas de ensino passaram a ofertar Cursos, na modalidade a distância, para formação de professores para atuar no Atendimento Educacional Especializado-AEE. Nesse sentido, este estudo tem por objetivo verificar o impacto da oferta do Curso de AEE, modalidade a distância, na formação e prática dos alunos egressos. A metodologia consiste em uma pesquisa descritiva exploratória, de caráter qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, sendo os sujeitos os professores egressos da 10ª Edição do Curso de AEE, ofertado pela Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, RS/BRASIL. Como instrumento de pesquisa foi utilizado um questionário, semiestruturado com perguntas abertas e fechadas. Para a análise dos dados, foi utilizada a análise de conteúdo, com três categorias iniciais: perfil do egresso, situação profissional e prática no AEE. Os resultados apontam que os egressos percebem os impactos da formação e prática, por meio dos conteúdos abordados, da qualidade das interações e materiais, utilizados no Curso e das modificações que foram realizadas nas escolas.The public policies in favor of Inclusive Education in Brazil, implemented with more effectiveness from 2008, demanded that teachers have new knowledge and practices with differentiated methodologies to attend students with disabilities in regular education. Thus, public educational institutions started to offer Courses, in the distance education, for the training of teachers to work in the Educational Service Specialist (AEE). In this sense, this study aims to verify the impact of this course offered the distance, in the training and practice of the graduating students. The methodology consists of an exploratory descriptive exploration, of a qualitative nature, of the type of case study, being the subjects the teachers of the 10th Edition of the AEE Course, offered by the Federal University of Santa Maria, RS / BRAZIL. As a research instrument, a questionnaire was used, semi-structured with open and closed questions. For the analysis of the data, the content analysis was used, with three initial categories: egress profile, professional situation and practice in AEE. The results show that graduates perceive the impacts of training and practice, through the content covered, the quality of the interactions and materials used in the Course and the changes that were made in schools.Facultad de Informátic

Distance education courses: Impacts on Teacher Training and Practice

As políticas públicas em pról da Educação Inclusiva no Brasil, demandaram desde 2008, que os professores tivessem novos conhecimentos e práticas com metodologias diferenciadas para atender aos alunos com deficiência no ensino regular. Assim, as instituições públicas de ensino passaram a ofertar Cursos, na modalidade a distância, para formação de professores para atuar no Atendimento Educacional Especializado-AEE. Nesse sentido, este estudo tem por objetivo verificar o impacto da oferta do Curso de AEE, modalidade a distância, na formação e prática dos alunos egressos. A metodologia consiste em uma pesquisa descritiva exploratória, de caráter qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, sendo os sujeitos os professores egressos da 10ª Edição do Curso de AEE, ofertado pela Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, RS/BRASIL. Como instrumento de pesquisa foi utilizado um questionário, semiestruturado com perguntas abertas e fechadas. Para a análise dos dados, foi utilizada a análise de conteúdo, com três categorias iniciais: perfil do egresso, situação profissional e prática no AEE. Os resultados apontam que os egressos percebem os impactos da formação e prática, por meio dos conteúdos abordados, da qualidade das interações e materiais, utilizados no Curso e das modificações que foram realizadas nas escolas.The public policies in favor of Inclusive Education in Brazil, implemented with more effectiveness from 2008, demanded that teachers have new knowledge and practices with differentiated methodologies to attend students with disabilities in regular education. Thus, public educational institutions started to offer Courses, in the distance education, for the training of teachers to work in the Educational Service Specialist (AEE). In this sense, this study aims to verify the impact of this course offered the distance, in the training and practice of the graduating students. The methodology consists of an exploratory descriptive exploration, of a qualitative nature, of the type of case study, being the subjects the teachers of the 10th Edition of the AEE Course, offered by the Federal University of Santa Maria, RS / BRAZIL. As a research instrument, a questionnaire was used, semi-structured with open and closed questions. For the analysis of the data, the content analysis was used, with three initial categories: egress profile, professional situation and practice in AEE. The results show that graduates perceive the impacts of training and practice, through the content covered, the quality of the interactions and materials used in the Course and the changes that were made in schools.Facultad de Informátic

Distance education courses: Impacts on Teacher Training and Practice

As políticas públicas em pról da Educação Inclusiva no Brasil, demandaram desde 2008, que os professores tivessem novos conhecimentos e práticas com metodologias diferenciadas para atender aos alunos com deficiência no ensino regular. Assim, as instituições públicas de ensino passaram a ofertar Cursos, na modalidade a distância, para formação de professores para atuar no Atendimento Educacional Especializado-AEE. Nesse sentido, este estudo tem por objetivo verificar o impacto da oferta do Curso de AEE, modalidade a distância, na formação e prática dos alunos egressos. A metodologia consiste em uma pesquisa descritiva exploratória, de caráter qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, sendo os sujeitos os professores egressos da 10ª Edição do Curso de AEE, ofertado pela Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, RS/BRASIL. Como instrumento de pesquisa foi utilizado um questionário, semiestruturado com perguntas abertas e fechadas. Para a análise dos dados, foi utilizada a análise de conteúdo, com três categorias iniciais: perfil do egresso, situação profissional e prática no AEE. Os resultados apontam que os egressos percebem os impactos da formação e prática, por meio dos conteúdos abordados, da qualidade das interações e materiais, utilizados no Curso e das modificações que foram realizadas nas escolas.The public policies in favor of Inclusive Education in Brazil, implemented with more effectiveness from 2008, demanded that teachers have new knowledge and practices with differentiated methodologies to attend students with disabilities in regular education. Thus, public educational institutions started to offer Courses, in the distance education, for the training of teachers to work in the Educational Service Specialist (AEE). In this sense, this study aims to verify the impact of this course offered the distance, in the training and practice of the graduating students. The methodology consists of an exploratory descriptive exploration, of a qualitative nature, of the type of case study, being the subjects the teachers of the 10th Edition of the AEE Course, offered by the Federal University of Santa Maria, RS / BRAZIL. As a research instrument, a questionnaire was used, semi-structured with open and closed questions. For the analysis of the data, the content analysis was used, with three initial categories: egress profile, professional situation and practice in AEE. The results show that graduates perceive the impacts of training and practice, through the content covered, the quality of the interactions and materials used in the Course and the changes that were made in schools.Facultad de Informátic

Microfluidics for controlled self-assembly of cubosome nanoparticles of tunable size

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Estolides Synthesis Catalyzed by Immobilized Lipases

Estolides are vegetable-oil-based lubricants obtained from oleic acid or any source of hydroxy fatty acids. In this work, the estolides synthesis from oleic acid and methyl ricinoleate (biodiesel from castor oil), using immobilized commercial lipases (Novozym 435, Lipozyme RM-IM, and Lipozyme TL-IM) in a solvent-free medium was investigated. Acid value was used to monitor the reaction progress by determining the consumption of acid present in the medium. Novozym 435 showed the best performance. Water removal improved the conversion. Novozym 435 was more active at atmospheric pressure. Novozym 435 was reused four times with conversion reaching 15% after the fourth reaction at 80°C. Estolides produced under the reaction conditions used in this work presented good properties, such as, low temperature properties as pour point (−24°C), viscosity (23.9 cSt at 40°C and 5.2 cSt at 100°C), and viscosity index (153)

Simvastatin-induced cardiac autonomic control improvement in fructose-fed female rats

OBJECTIVE: Because autonomic dysfunction has been found to lead to cardiometabolic disorders and because studies have reported that simvastatin treatment has neuroprotective effects, the objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of simvastatin treatment on cardiovascular and autonomic changes in fructose-fed female rats. METHODS: Female Wistar rats were divided into three groups: controls (n=8), fructose (n=8), and fructose+ simvastatin (n=8). Fructose overload was induced by supplementing the drinking water with fructose (100 mg/L, 18 wks). Simvastatin treatment (5 mg/kg/day for 2 wks) was performed by gavage. The arterial pressure was recorded using a data acquisition system. Autonomic control was evaluated by pharmacological blockade. RESULTS: Fructose overload induced an increase in the fasting blood glucose and triglyceride levels and insulin resistance. The constant rate of glucose disappearance during the insulin intolerance test was reduced in the fructose group (3.4+ 0.32%/min) relative to that in the control group (4.4+ 0.29%/min). Fructose+simvastatin rats exhibited increased insulin sensitivity (5.4+0.66%/min). The fructose and fructose+simvastatin groups demonstrated an increase in the mean arterial pressure compared with controls rats (fructose: 124+2 mmHg and fructose+simvastatin: 126 + 3 mmHg vs. controls: 112 + 2 mmHg). The sympathetic effect was enhanced in the fructose group (73 + 7 bpm) compared with that in the control (48 + 7 bpm) and fructose+simvastatin groups (31+8 bpm). The vagal effect was increased in fructose+simvastatin animals (84 + 7 bpm) compared with that in control (49 + 9 bpm) and fructose animals (46+5 bpm). CONCLUSION: Simvastatin treatment improved insulin sensitivity and cardiac autonomic control in an experimental model of metabolic syndrome in female rats. These effects were independent of the improvements in the classical plasma lipid profile and of reductions in arterial pressure. These results support the hypothesis that statins reduce the cardiometabolic risk in females with metabolic syndrome

Associations between COVID-19-related digital health literacy and online information-seeking behavior among Portuguese university students

The following are available online at http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8987/s1, Table S1: Associations between sources of information and DHL related with COVID-19.We aim to evaluate the associations between digital health literacy (DHL) related to COVID-19 and online information-seeking behavior among university students. Methods: A total of 3.084 students (75.7% women), with an average age of 24.2 (SD = 7.5) participated in this cross-sectional study, most of whom (36.5%) were from social sciences and pursued a bachelor’s degree (50.7%). Data on COVID-19-related DHL and online information-seeking behavior were collected using an online questionnaire. Logistic regression models were performed. Results: As the pandemic progressed, participants showed a lower chance of achieving a sufficient DHL (OR = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.6; 0.9). Using search engines more often (e.g., Google) (OR = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.5; 0.9), Wikipedia (OR = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.6; 0.9) and social media (e.g., Facebook) (OR = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.6; 0.9) decreased the likelihood of achieving sufficient DHL related to COVID-19. More frequent use of websites of public bodies (OR = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.1; 2.5) increased the odds of reporting sufficient DHL. Conclusion: DHL is associated with university students’ online information-seeking behavior in the time of COVID-19. From a community and public health perspective, programs aiming at improving DHL should be highlighted.This research received no external funding

Predictive model of sperm whale prey capture attempts from time-depth data

Funding: Research was supported by the Portuguese Science & Technology Foundation (FCT), the Azorean Science & Technology Fund (FRCT), and the EU through research projects WATCH IT-Acores-01-0145-FEDER-000057, FCT-IF/00943/2013/CP1199/CT0001, META-FA_06_2017_017, and SUMMER-H2020 GA 817806, co-funded by FEDER, COMPETE, QREN, POPH, ESF, PO AZORES 2020, Portuguese Ministry for Science and Education, and individual contracts/grants to CO (WATCH IT-Acores-01-0145-FEDER-000057, 3/SRMCT/DRAM/2019 under RAGES-SUB/ENV.C.2-GA 110661, and INTERTAGUA-MAC2/1.1a/385), SPJ (SUMMER-H2020 GA 817806), IC (FCT-IP Project UIDP/05634/2020). PJW is funded by RANNÍS Icelandic Research Fund grant 207081. RP and MAS are co-financed by AZORES2020, through the EU Fund 01-0145-FEDER-000140 “MarAZ Researchers: Consolidate a body of researchers in Marine Sciences in the Azores”. Okeanos is funded by FCT (UIDB/05634/2020) and by the Regional Government of the Azores through the initiative to support the Research Centers of the University of the Azores (M1.1.A/REEQ.CIENTÍFICO UI&D/2021/010).Background High-resolution sound and movement recording tags offer unprecedented insights into the fine-scale foraging behaviour of cetaceans, especially echolocating odontocetes, enabling the estimation of a series of foraging metrics. However, these tags are expensive, making them inaccessible to most researchers. Time-Depth Recorders (TDRs), which have been widely used to study diving and foraging behaviour of marine mammals, offer a more affordable alternative. Unfortunately, data collected by TDRs are bi-dimensional (time and depth only), so quantifying foraging effort from those data is challenging. Methods A predictive model of the foraging effort of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) was developed to identify prey capture attempts (PCAs) from time-depth data. Data from high-resolution acoustic and movement recording tags deployed on 12 sperm whales were downsampled to 1 Hz to match the typical TDR sampling resolution and used to predict the number of buzzes (i.e., rapid series of echolocation clicks indicative of PCAs). Generalized linear mixed models were built for dive segments of different durations (30, 60, 180 and 300 s) using multiple dive metrics as potential predictors of PCAs. Results Average depth, variance of depth and variance of vertical velocity were the best predictors of the number of buzzes. Sensitivity analysis showed that models with segments of 180 s had the best overall predictive performance, with a good area under the curve value (0.78 ± 0.05), high sensitivity (0.93 ± 0.06) and high specificity (0.64 ± 0.14). Models using 180 s segments had a small difference between observed and predicted number of buzzes per dive, with a median of 4 buzzes, representing a difference in predicted buzzes of 30%. Conclusions These results demonstrate that it is possible to obtain a fine-scale, accurate index of sperm whale PCAs from time-depth data alone. This work helps leveraging the potential of time-depth data for studying the foraging ecology of sperm whales and the possibility of applying this approach to a wide range of echolocating cetaceans. The development of accurate foraging indices from low-cost, easily accessible TDR data would contribute to democratize this type of research, promote long-term studies of various species in several locations, and enable analyses of historical datasets to investigate changes in cetacean foraging activity.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Demand and supply of outdoor tourism activities in Northern Portugal: a survey-based approach

This paper focuses on the North of Portugal, as a diversified region with unique natural resources, to create information regarding both resources and equipment and business dynamics; the evolution of tourism supply and demand.This research is a part of a project title “TURNOUT: Desenvolvimento do Turismo Outdoor da Região Norte de Portugal”, with the reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032289; funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (through the Operational Programme ‘Innovation and competitiveness’) and by the Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology (FCT), of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. This work is, also, funded by National Funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UIDB/04752/2020. The SABI database was made available by the Applied Management Research Unit (UNIAG), according to the protocol between UNIAG and COFACE.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Psychometric properties of the Child Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) applied to children and adolescents with cerebral palsy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cerebral palsy (CP) patients have motor limitations that can affect functionality and abilities for activities of daily living (ADL). Health related quality of life and health status instruments validated to be applied to these patients do not directly approach the concepts of functionality or ADL. The Child Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) seems to be a good instrument to approach this dimension, but it was never used for CP patients. The purpose of the study was to verify the psychometric properties of CHAQ applied to children and adolescents with CP.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Parents or guardians of children and adolescents with CP, aged 5 to 18 years, answered the CHAQ. A healthy group of 314 children and adolescents was recruited during the validation of the CHAQ Brazilian-version. Data quality, reliability and validity were studied. The motor function was evaluated by the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ninety-six parents/guardians answered the questionnaire. The age of the patients ranged from 5 to 17.9 years (average: 9.3). The rate of missing data was low (<9.3%). The floor effect was observed in two domains, being higher only in the visual analogue scales (≤ 35.5%). The ceiling effect was significant in all domains and particularly high in patients with quadriplegia (81.8 to 90.9%) and extrapyramidal (45.4 to 91.0%). The Cronbach alpha coefficient ranged from 0.85 to 0.95. The validity was appropriate: for the discriminant validity the correlation of the <it>disability index </it>with the visual analogue scales was not significant; for the convergent validity CHAQ <it>disability index </it>had a strong correlation with the GMFM (0.77); for the divergent validity there was no correlation between GMFM and the pain and overall evaluation scales; for the criterion validity GMFM as well as CHAQ detected differences in the scores among the clinical type of CP (p < 0.01); for the construct validity, the patients' <it>disability index </it>score (mean:2.16; SD:0.72) was higher than the healthy group (mean:0.12; SD:0.23)(p < 0.01).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>CHAQ reliability and validity were adequate to this population. However, further studies are necessary to verify the influence of the ceiling effect on the responsiveness of the instrument.</p