2,395 research outputs found

    Inclusão escolar e educação especial: considerações sobre a política educacional brasileira

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    Tendo como eixo o direito à educação para todos, explora-se particularmente neste texto como tal direito vem se concretizando para parcela de alunos deficientes físicos, sensoriais ou mentais que, para seu desenvolvimento, muitas vezes demandam condições não usualmente disponíveis nos sistemas de ensino. Procura-se evidenciar o potencial de exclusão que decorre dos princípios que vêm norteando, na atualidade, as políticas educacionais, no contexto de reforma do Estado, evidenciando sua contradição com o discurso da inclusão escolar.The authors explore how the riaght to "Education for all" is becoming a reality for part of physical, sensorial, and mental handicapped students. These students demand unusual conditions which are not available in the learning systems. The authors try to show the potential oi exclusion that comes from principles which direct the educational policies. These principles contradict the school inclusion discourse

    Benchmarks for Pir\'a 2.0, a Reading Comprehension Dataset about the Ocean, the Brazilian Coast, and Climate Change

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    Pir\'a is a reading comprehension dataset focused on the ocean, the Brazilian coast, and climate change, built from a collection of scientific abstracts and reports on these topics. This dataset represents a versatile language resource, particularly useful for testing the ability of current machine learning models to acquire expert scientific knowledge. Despite its potential, a detailed set of baselines has not yet been developed for Pir\'a. By creating these baselines, researchers can more easily utilize Pir\'a as a resource for testing machine learning models across a wide range of question answering tasks. In this paper, we define six benchmarks over the Pir\'a dataset, covering closed generative question answering, machine reading comprehension, information retrieval, open question answering, answer triggering, and multiple choice question answering. As part of this effort, we have also produced a curated version of the original dataset, where we fixed a number of grammar issues, repetitions, and other shortcomings. Furthermore, the dataset has been extended in several new directions, so as to face the aforementioned benchmarks: translation of supporting texts from English into Portuguese, classification labels for answerability, automatic paraphrases of questions and answers, and multiple choice candidates. The results described in this paper provide several points of reference for researchers interested in exploring the challenges provided by the Pir\'a dataset.Comment: Accepted at Data Intelligence. Online ISSN 2641-435

    Evidence towards the involvement of nitric oxide in drought tolerance of sugarcane

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    © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS Exogenous supply of nitric oxide (NO) increases drought tolerance in sugarcane plants. However, little is known about the role of NO produced by plants under water deficit. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that drought-tolerance in sugarcane is associated with NO production and metabolism, with the more drought-tolerant genotype presenting higher NO accumulation in plant tissues. The sugarcane genotypes IACSP95-5000 (drought-tolerant) and IACSP97-7065 (drought-sensitive) were submitted to water deficit by adding polyethylene glycol (PEG-8000) in nutrient solution to reduce the osmotic potential to−0.4MPa. To evaluate short-time responses to water deficit, leaf and root samples were taken after 24h under water deficit. The drought-tolerant genotype presented higher root extracellular NO content, which was accompanied by higher root nitrate reductase (NR) activity as compared to the drought-sensitive genotype under water deficit. In addition, the drought-tolerant genotype had higher leaf intracellular NO content than the drought-sensitive one. IACSP95-5000 exhibited decreases in root S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) activity under water deficit, suggesting that S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) is less degraded and that the drought-tolerant genotype has a higher natural reservoir of NO than the drought-sensitive one. Those differences in intracellular and extracellular NO contents and enzymatic activities were associated with higher leaf hydration in the drought-tolerant genotype as compared to the sensitive one under water deficit

    Critical Hysteresis from Random Anisotropy

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    Critical hysteresis in ferromagnets is investigated through a NN-component spin model with random anisotropies, more prevalent experimentally than the random fields used in most theoretical studies. Metastability, and the tensorial nature of anisotropy, dictate its physics. Generically, random field Ising criticality occurs, but other universality classes exist. In particular, proximity to O(N)\mathcal{O}(N) criticality may explain the discrepancy between experiment and earlier theories. The uniaxial anisotropy constant, which can be controlled in magnetostrictive materials by an applied stress, emerges as a natural tuning parameter.Comment: four pages, revtex4; minor corrections in the text and typos corrected (published version

    Cloning, purification, and biochemical characterization of an esterase from Aspergillus nidulans

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    A large accumulation of agro-industrial waste from different segments is generated daily and is often not properly managed. There are now other fronts in research to give a destination to these residues; these studies are generally aimed at obtaining new and better enzymes and the formulation of enzymatic cocktails that contain (for example, cellulases and hemicellulases) responsible for the degradation of lignocellulosic material. The plant cell wall is mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, forming a complex structure. Xylan is one of the main constituents of hemicellulose. To degrade this structure, enzymatic hydrolysis must occur synergistically with xylanolytic enzymes, such as endo-beta-1,4-xylanases, -xylosidases, and acetyl xylan esterase (AXE). In the current work, we reported the purification and biochemical characterization of an acetyl xylan esterase (AxeCE3) from Aspergillus nidulans. The axeCE3 gene was cloned into the pEXPYR vector and transformed into A. nidulans A773 for protein expression. The enzyme AxeCE3 was purified and characterized for its biochemical properties. AxeCE3 showed activity over a wide range of pH (3.0-9.0) and temperature (30-70 °C), with maximum activity at 55 °C, pH 7.0. Regarding the stability at temperature, AxeCE3 showed values above 90% of residual activity after 24 h of incubation at 45 and 50 °C. In relation to stability at pH, AxeCE3 maintained more than 90% of its residual activity after being incubated at 25 °C for 24 h between the pH range 3.0 to 9.0. It was also verified the effect of possible inhibitors (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), Furfural, and 5- Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF)) on the enzyme activity. AxeCE3 maintained 88% of relative activity at 5 mM EDTA, 43% and 82% at 50 mM furfural and 5-HMF, respectively. The results showed that AxeCE3 has interesting properties to use in the development in the formulation of enzymatic cocktails for the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic residues.The work was supported by the following: FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation, grants: 2014/50884 and 2018/07522-6) and National Institute of Science and Technology of Bioethanol, INCT, CNPq (grant: 465319/2014-9) and process 301963/2017-7. Research scholarships were granted to RCA and DA by FAPESP (Grant No: 2020/00081-4 and No: 2020/15510-8), to GSA by CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Finance Code 001).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Development of new eco-friendly supports for immobilization of enzymes based on cellulose residues

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    The pulp and paper industry generates a high volume of solid wastes that are usually burned to obtain energy, directed to landfills, or incinerated. Among the wastes generated in this process is the paper sludge, a residue rich in cellulose with low lignin content making it a useful raw material to produce high-value products such as cheap immobilization supports. In the current work, paper sludge was activated using different functional groups (amino, epoxy, and aldehyde). The xylanase GH10 from Malbranchea pulchella was used as a model enzyme for the immobilization assays. The enzyme was efficiently immobilized through reversible immobilization on aminated support monoaminoethyl-N-ethyl (MANAE) and polyethyleneimine (PEI), achieving yields of more than 90 %. Furthermore, the yield and activity of the biocatalyst immobilized with paper sludge using groups glyoxyl and epoxy (irreversible immobilization) were higher than the enzyme immobilized on agarose supports. The biocatalyst immobilized on paper sludge-epoxy presented the best results, reaching 12.54 U.g-1 of support. Therefore, the use of paper sludge, such as backbone of different immobilization supports, was an efficient method and promising approach for the immobilization of enzymes such as xylanase. More studies are necessary to optimize the displayed potential for future applications as tests in other enzymes of different characteristics and their behavior with bifunctional reagents as the glutaraldehyde. Furthermore, the valorization of these residues in a biorefinery context holds great socio-economical relevance for Portugal and Brazil. Thus, our perspectives are the development of a hybrid biocatalyst using magnetics nanoparticles and paper sludge.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Days out-of-role due to common physical and mental health problems: Results from the Sao Paulo Megacity Mental Health Survey, Brazil

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    OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relative importance of common physical and mental disorders with regard to the number of days out-of-role (DOR; number of days for which a person is completely unable to work or carry out normal activities because of health problems) in a population-based sample of adults in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, Brazil. METHODS: The São Paulo Megacity Mental Health Survey was administered during face-to-face interviews with 2,942 adult household residents. The presence of 8 chronic physical disorders and 3 classes of mental disorders (mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders) was assessed for the previous year along with the number of days in the previous month for which each respondent was completely unable to work or carry out normal daily activities due to health problems. Using multiple regression analysis, we examined the associations of the disorders and their comorbidities with the number of days out-of-role while controlling for socio-demographic variables. Both individual-level and population-level associations were assessed. RESULTS: A total of 13.1% of the respondents reported 1 or more days out-of-role in the previous month, with an annual median of 41.4 days out-of-role. The disorders considered in this study accounted for 71.7% of all DOR; the disorders that caused the greatest number of DOR at the individual-level were digestive (22.6), mood (19.9), substance use (15.0), chronic pain (16.5), and anxiety (14.0) disorders. The disorders associated with the highest population-attributable DOR were chronic pain (35.2%), mood (16.5%), and anxiety (15.0%) disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Because pain, anxiety, and mood disorders have high effects at both the individual and societal levels, targeted interventions to reduce the impairments associated with these disorders have the highest potential to reduce the societal burdens of chronic illness in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area

    Analysis of the alteration in the optical configuration of Raman spectrometer: Optimization of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in a specific wavelength range of clinical interest

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    Abstract. The present article is focused on the optimization of the optical parameters of a Raman spectrometer in order to obtain a minimum width of its spectral lines. In this way, using as reference the width of a fingerprint band of a calcified biological tissue, a spectral line without distortion or any loss of resolution was identified. This optimization is employed with the aim of improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A great improvement in the efficiency of the spectral collect was obtained, which can reduce significantly the time of diagnosis of target tissues, such as the calcified coronarian tissue. Therefore, the potential application of this new spectroscopic system increases the efficiency and precision, favoring the security of this technique to future in vivo applications. The excellent results obtained in this work become this spectroscopic system a powerful tool to the clinical diagnosis of several diseases

    In vitro maturation impacts cumulus–oocyte complex metabolism and stress in cattle

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    FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOThe influence of in vitro maturation (IVM) in oocytes is still not totally understood. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of IVM on the metabolism and homeostasis of bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes. In the present study, we demonstrated1546881893FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO2014/21034-32014/03281-32014/22887-02013/08135-22012/50533-2306978/2014-8The authors would like to thank the staff and students at the LMMD, Marcos Chiaratti, Gustavo Duarte, Marcel Nakashima, Hélio Alves Martins Júnior, José Luis Paz Jara, Patricia Kubo Fontes and Augusto de Castro Netto for their assistance with the sample
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