Ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem autoconfiguráveis

Todos nós educamos e somos educados em um processo de interação e de comunicação, onde o grande desafio para o professor é provocar uma mudança na sua prática pedagógica de maneira a permitir que o estudante possa ser o construtor de seu conhecimento e de comunicação com a sociedade. As tecnologias digitais de informação e comunicação (TDIC) oferecem instrumentos que podem favorecer este cenário. As transformações que ocorrem na escola precedem, fundamentalmente, o uso da tecnologia, uma vez que estão diretamente relacionadas também com as mudanças na prática pedagógica do professor. O foco real da busca por uma Educação melhor recai no ser humano, no ato de conhecê-lo, como agente de mudanças e com perfis diferenciados. A estratégia de desenvolvimento de ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem pode permitir que sejam criadas comunidades de estudantes e professores envolvidos em uma aprendizagem que parte do contexto e das experiências de cada um, onde os conceitos possam ser vividos, formalizados e aprendidos de maneira globalizada. Entretanto, o uso de várias mídias em ambientes de aprendizagem atuais leva ainda ao emprego de software educacionais impessoais, com uma configuração única para todo usuário. Este cenário é ainda mais restritivo para alguns usuários especiais, como as pessoas com deficiência, que requerem elementos concretos para uma aplicação interativa eficiente. A pesquisa descreve uma experiência de construção de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem autoconfigurável, que identifica o usuário e o personaliza. Um ambiente com estas características inclui diversos materiais pedagógicos em formatos distintos, que podem ser acessados diretamente por recursos de acessibilidade que se apresentam de maneira automática para o usuário. Os resultados até então observados mostram que a autoconfiguração de ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem transforma a tecnologia em um recurso acessível, que vai ao encontro de uma pedagogia mais contextualizada, compartilhada, inclusiva e aculturada.Abstract: We educate and are educated in a process of interaction and communication, where the great challenge for teachers is to change their pedagogical practice, in order to allow the students to be the builder of their knowledge and communication with society. Information and Communication Technologies offer tools that can change this scenario. The transformations that occurs in school precedes the use of technology, since they are also directly related to the changes in the teacher's pedagogical practice. The real focus for a better education lies in man, in the act of knowing him as an agent of change and with different profiles. The development of virtual learning environments allow the creation of communities of students and teachers involved in learning process, which involves the context and the experiences of each one, where the concepts can be lived, learned and formalized, where challenges and situations are created to solve problems. At this time, technology can be used to allow students manage, represent and formalize their knowledge, their culture, enhancing their production and interactions. However, the learning environments, mainly the Learning 2 Management Systems (LMS), are impersonal software, with the same configuration for every user. This scenario is even more restrictive for some special users, such as people with disabilities, who require specific resources for an efficient interactive application. The research describes an experience of building a self-configurable LMS, which identifies the user and customizes it. An environment with these characteristics includes various teaching materials in different formats that can be accessed directly by accessibility features that present themselves automatically to the user. The results show that the self-configurable LMS transforms technology into an accessible resource that meets a more contextualized, shared, inclusive and acculturated pedagogy.Universidade Aberta; Pavilhão do Conhecimento; LEA

Influência do consumo de erva-mate na composição corporal: Revisão sistemática.

TCC(graduação)- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro de Ciências da Saúde. Nutrição.Introdução: A erva-mate tem mostrado efeitos benéficos no manejo da melhora da composição corporal. Ingredientes ativos presentes na erva-mate explicam várias propriedades biomédicas associadas à sua ingestão, que incluem propriedades vasodilatadoras, redutoras de peso, redutoras de lipídios, efeitos antimutagênicos e anti-glicação. Estudos atuais demonstram as vantagens de utilizar a erva-mate por influenciar positivamente a vida das pessoas. Objetivo: esta revisão sistemática teve como objetivo investigar a Influência do consumo de erva-mate na composição corporal de animais e humanos. Metodologia: A pesquisa utilizou as bases de dados Cochrane, Scielo, BVS, WOS, Portal de Teses Capes, Food Science Source, FSTA, CINAHL, Pubmed, OADT, Scopus, NDLTD e PqDT e incluiu artigos, entre ensaios clínicos (EC) e estudos experimentais. Foram incluídas as informações mais relevantes foram extraídas dos artigos selecionados para compor esta revisão. Resultados: Foram lidos 20 artigos na íntegra para que ocorresse a seleção de 18 desses ao final da pesquisa, consta na revisão 9 estudos realizados com animais e 7 realizados com humanos. Estudos em animais mostraram que a erva-mate diminuiu o ganho de peso em ratos submetidos a mesma dieta apesar de não haver diferença na quantidade do consumo de ração. Os estudos em humanos mostram que a erva-mate foi capaz de diminuir o peso corporal, relação cintura-quadril, circunferência da cintura, percentual de gordura e IMC e aumentar a oxidação de ácidos graxos. Em resumo, os dados apresentados aqui mostraram que o uso de erva-mate pode ser útil contra a obesidade, melhorando os parâmetros lipídicos, aumentado a taxa de oxidação de ácidos graxos e até mesmo melhorando a performance em modelos humanos e animais. Conclusão: Os resultados deste estudo evidenciam que as bebidas e suplementos de erva-mate podem ser úteis na melhora da composição corporal tanto de animais quanto de humanos

EDUCAÇÃO A DISTANCIA PARA PESSOAS COM DEFICIÊNCIAS VISUAIS

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo, analisar os caminhos isotrópicos utilizados por cursistas com Deficiência Visual na Educação a Distância. Esta análise foi relativa às condições de acessibilidade no Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem, para a realização do curso de Tecnologia Assistiva, oferecido pela Unesp de Presidente Prudente. Para alcançar este objetivo, realizou-se uma pesquisa do tipo analítico exploratória, por meio de observações e da aplicação de questionários a um cursista, com cegueira. O cursista foi selecionado para participar da quarta edição do curso realizado no ano de 2011. A análise do uso dos caminhos isotrópicos pelo cursista com cegueira fundamentou-se na teoria de Vygotski e nos conceitos da zona de desenvolvimento proximal e na teoria sócio-construtivista

Structural signatures of antibiotic binding sites on the ribosome

The ribosome represents a major target for antibacterial drugs. Being a complex molecular machine, it offers many potential sites for functional interference. The high-resolution structures of ribosome in complex with various antibiotics provide a unique data set for understanding the universal features of drug-binding pockets on the ribosome. In this work, we have analyzed the structural and evolutionary properties of 65 antibiotic binding sites (ABSs) in the ribosome. We compared these sites to similar-size computed pockets extracted from the small and large ribosomal subunits. Based on this analysis, we defined properties of the known drug-binding sites, which constitute the signature of a ‘druggable’ site. The most noticeable properties of the ABSs are prevalence of non-paired bases, a strong bias in favor of unusual syn conformation of the RNA bases and an unusual sugar pucker. We propose that despite the different geometric and chemical properties of diverse antibiotics, their binding sites tend to have common attributes that possibly reflect the potency of the pocket for binding small molecules. Finally, we utilized the ensemble of properties to derive a druggability index, which can be used in conjunction with site functionality information to identify new drug-binding sites on the ribosome

Anaesthesia and PET of the Brain

Although drugs have been used to administer general anaesthesia for more than a century and a half, relatively little was known until recently about the molecular and cellular effects of the anaesthetic agents and the neurobiology of anaesthesia. Positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies have played a valuable role in improving this knowledge. PET studies using 11C-flumazenil binding have been used to demonstrate that the molecular action of some, but not all, of the current anaesthetic agents is mediated via the GABAA receptor. Using different tracers labelled with 18F, 11C and 15O, PET studies have shown the patterns of changes in cerebral metabolism and blood flow associated with different intravenous and volatile anaesthetic agents. Within classes of volatile agents, there are minor variations in patterns. More profound differences are found between classes of agents. Interestingly, all agents cause alterations in the blood flow and metabolism of the thalamus, providing strong support for the hypothesis that the anaesthetic agents interfere with consciousness by interfering with thalamocortical communication.</p

How do green roofs mitigate urban thermal stress under heat waves?

As the climate warms, heat waves (HW) are projected to be more intense and to last longer, with serious implications for public health. Urban residents face higher health risks because urban heat islands (UHIs) exacerbate HW conditions. One strategy to mitigate negative impacts of urban thermal stress is the installation of green roofs (GRs) given their evaporative cooling effect. However, the effectiveness of GRs and the mechanisms by which they have an effect at the scale of entire cities are still largely unknown. The Greater Beijing Region (GBR) is modeled for a HW scenario with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with a state-of-the-art urban canopy model (PUCM) to examine the effectiveness of GRs. The results suggest GR would decrease near-surface air temperature (ΔT2max = 2.5 K) and wind speed (ΔUV10max = 1.0 m s-1) but increase atmospheric humidity (ΔQ2max = 1.3 g kg-1). GRs are simulated to lessen the overall thermal stress as indicated by apparent temperature (ΔAT2max = 1.7 °C). The modifications by GRs scale almost linearly with the fraction of the surface they cover. Investigation of the surface-atmosphere interactions indicate that GRs with plentiful soil moisture dissipate more of the surface energy as latent heat flux and subsequently inhibit the development of the daytime planetary boundary layer (PBL). This causes the atmospheric heating through entrainment at the PBL top to be decreased. Additionally, urban GRs modify regional circulation regimes leading to decreased advective heating under HW

A flexible loop in yeast ribosomal protein L11 coordinates P-site tRNA binding

High-resolution structures reveal that yeast ribosomal protein L11 and its bacterial/archael homologs called L5 contain a highly conserved, basically charged internal loop that interacts with the peptidyl-transfer RNA (tRNA) T-loop. We call this the L11 ‘P-site loop’. Chemical protection of wild-type ribosome shows that that the P-site loop is inherently flexible, i.e. it is extended into the ribosomal P-site when this is unoccupied by tRNA, while it is retracted into the terminal loop of 25S rRNA Helix 84 when the P-site is occupied. To further analyze the function of this structure, a series of mutants within the P-site loop were created and analyzed. A mutant that favors interaction of the P-site loop with the terminal loop of Helix 84 promoted increased affinity for peptidyl-tRNA, while another that favors its extension into the ribosomal P-site had the opposite effect. The two mutants also had opposing effects on binding of aa-tRNA to the ribosomal A-site, and downstream functional effects were observed on translational fidelity, drug resistance/hypersensitivity, virus maintenance and overall cell growth. These analyses suggest that the L11 P-site loop normally helps to optimize ribosome function by monitoring the occupancy status of the ribosomal P-site

Properties and identification of antibiotic drug targets

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We analysed 48 non-redundant antibiotic target proteins from all bacteria, 22 antibiotic target proteins from <it>E. coli </it>only and 4243 non-drug targets from <it>E. coli </it>to identify differences in their properties and to predict new potential drug targets.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When compared to non-targets, bacterial antibiotic targets tend to be long, have high β-sheet and low α-helix contents, are polar, are found in the cytoplasm rather than in membranes, and are usually enzymes, with ligases particularly favoured. Sequence features were used to build a support vector machine model for <it>E. coli </it>proteins, allowing the assignment of any sequence to the drug target or non-target classes, with an accuracy in the training set of 94%. We identified 319 proteins (7%) in the non-target set that have target-like properties, many of which have unknown function. 63 of these proteins have significant and undesirable similarity to a human protein, leaving 256 target like proteins that are not present in humans.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We suggest that antibiotic discovery programs would be more likely to succeed if new targets are chosen from this set of target like proteins or their homologues. In particular, 64 are essential genes where the cell is not able to recover from a random insertion disruption.</p

The many paths to frameshifting: kinetic modelling and analysis of the effects of different elongation steps on programmed –1 ribosomal frameshifting

Several important viruses including the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and the SARS-associated Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) employ programmed −1 ribosomal frameshifting (PRF) for their protein expression. Here, a kinetic framework is developed to describe −1 PRF. The model reveals three kinetic pathways to −1 PRF that yield two possible frameshift products: those incorporating zero frame encoded A-site tRNAs in the recoding site, and products incorporating −1 frame encoded A-site tRNAs. Using known kinetic rate constants, the individual contributions of different steps of the translation elongation cycle to −1 PRF and the ratio between two types of frameshift products were evaluated. A dual fluorescence reporter was employed in Escherichia coli to empirically test the model. Additionally, the study applied a novel mass spectrometry approach to quantify the ratios of the two frameshift products. A more detailed understanding of the mechanisms underlying −1 PRF may provide insight into developing antiviral therapeutics