Showing what we can do: assessment of primary school dance

In Australia, dance is one subject in the National Arts Curriculum for early childhood and primary education. In many schools, dance is taught for the minimum time necessary to satisfy the system requirements of a summative grade that can be included in mid-year or yearly reports. A qualitative study of the nature of dance education in two primary schools; collected data from video, observation, and interviews with teachers; and focus group discussions with children showed evidence of holistic learning achieved through dance. In this article, data were researched to look for evidence of the meanings that teachers and children attach to assessment in the context of dance education. Following an examination of various definitions of assessment, this article examines the relationship between pedagogy and assessment in general and in relation to dance education. Pedagogy and assessment in dance education will be unpacked using a socio-kinaesthetic perspective and, drawing on literature and findings from this qualitative study, "re-packaged" to present an approach to assessing dance intended to be useful to generalist classroom teachers

Showing what we can do: assessment of primary school dance

In Australia, dance is one subject in the National Arts Curriculum for early childhood and primary education. In many schools, dance is taught for the minimum time necessary to satisfy the system requirements of a summative grade that can be included in mid-year or yearly reports. A qualitative study of the nature of dance education in two primary schools; collected data from video, observation, and interviews with teachers; and focus group discussions with children showed evidence of holistic learning achieved through dance. In this article, data were researched to look for evidence of the meanings that teachers and children attach to assessment in the context of dance education. Following an examination of various definitions of assessment, this article examines the relationship between pedagogy and assessment in general and in relation to dance education. Pedagogy and assessment in dance education will be unpacked using a socio-kinaesthetic perspective and, drawing on literature and findings from this qualitative study, "re-packaged" to present an approach to assessing dance intended to be useful to generalist classroom teachers

Synthesis of Antioxidant Carotenoids in Microalgae in Response to Physiological Stress

Carotenoids act as potential antioxidants, quenching energy of excited singlet oxygen and scavenging free radicals. Among microalgae, Haematococcus, Chlamydomonas, Chlorella, Dunaliella and diatoms and dinoflagellates, such as Phaeodactylum and Isochrysis, are able to synthesize large amount of carotenoids. The main function of carotenoids consists in absorbing light to perform photosynthesis, and some of them are constitutively present in the cells (primary carotenoids). The main primary carotenoids usually found are neoxanthin, violaxanthin, lutein, and β-carotene. To preserve cells from oxidative damage, their production may be increased, while other carotenoids may be synthesized de novo. In particular, under stress conditions such as high light exposure, nutrient starvation, change in oxygen partial pressure, and high or low temperatures, microalgal metabolism is altered and photosynthetic activity may be reduced. In these conditions, photosynthetic electrons transport is reduced, and the intracellular reduction level increase may be associated with the formation of free radicals and species containing singlet oxygen. In order to prevent damage from photooxidation, microalgae are able to adopt strategies to contrast these dangerous oxidant molecules. One of the most active mechanisms is to synthesize large amount of carotenoids, which can act as antioxidants

CRISI BANCARIE E TUTELA DEI DEPOSITI

Negli ultimi anni si è sentito molto parlare delle crisi bancarie e delle misure adottate dalle Autorità per porre rimedio al dissesto di questi intermediari. Non sempre le banche riescono a superare una crisi ed è soprattutto in tale situazione che bisogna intervenire a tutela dei depositanti. L’obiettivo del mio elaborato è cercare di capire come negli anni si sono evolute le misure intraprese per tutelare i depositi e, dopo aver effettuato delle ricerche, ho messo in atto una comparazione tra le linee di intervento adottate in Usa e quelle adottate in Europa concentrandomi, nello specifico, su determinati Paesi europei. Ho studiato il contesto spagnolo, irlandese, francese e tedesco poiché ogni Paese ha una propria caratteristica, riguardo il sistema di tutela dei depositi, che lo contraddistingue dagli altri. Ho inoltre, concentrato la mia attenzione sull’Italia. Nel dettaglio, il primo capitolo si focalizza principalmente sulle crisi bancarie, si è cercato di comprendere se è possibile identificarle e prevenirle, quali sono le cause dell’insorgere di un dissesto di tali intermediari e gli effetti che producono le crisi bancarie. Più in dettaglio si è osservata la recente crisi bancaria sorta in USA a seguito della crisi dei mutui subprime e come tale crisi ha impattato sull’Europa e sulle banche europee, analizzando anche un effetto della crisi bancaria europea: l’insorgere del sovereign debt crisis. Il secondo capitolo riporta dei dati riguardo l’evoluzione delle recenti crisi bancarie. Si sono descritte le misure statali adottate e i relativi costi sopportati per risanare le banche americane ed europee e, precisamente, quelle italiane. Il terzo e il quarto capitolo sono il cuore della tesi. Il terzo tratta i vari strumenti a tutela dei depositi in America e in Europa e si descrivono i vari Fondi osservando come operano: a. in condizione di crisi dell’intermediario; b. per rimborsare i depositanti in caso di liquidazione delle banche. Nel quarto capitolo si affrontano gli stessi argomenti del terzo ma considerando l’Italia come oggetto di studio. In questo capitolo si affronta anche il ruolo assunto da Banca d’Italia per tutelare i depositanti delle banche. Infine vi è il quinto capitolo che descrive la tanto attesa novità europea desiderata negli ultimi anni: l’Unione Bancaria Europea. Tale progetto si basa su tre pilastri: 1. sistema unico di supervisione bancaria, operativo da novembre 2014; 2. sistema unico di risoluzione delle crisi bancarie, che dovrà entrare in vigore da gennaio 2016; 3. schema comune di tutela dei depositanti. L’ultimo pilastro è quello che più ci interessa in quest’analisi sia perché riguarda l’assicurazione dei depositi, sia perché non è stato del tutto realizzato come schema comune europeo, ma si è creata un’armonizzazione del funzionamento del sistema di garanzia dei depositi, come si vedrà nel dettaglio nell’elaborato

Quality Preservation and Cost Effectiveness in the Extraction of Nutraceutically-Relevant Fractions from Microbial and Vegetal Matrices

Terrestrial and microbial vegetal matrices are a major source of nutraceutically and pharmaceutically relevant chemical compounds of different nature. In several cases the consumption of the raw vegetal or microbial matrix has been part of established diet regimes and has provided the consumers with a host of once unknown dietary benefits. Nowadays, while the consumption of the raw matrix still provides the original functional value, the separation of bioactive-enriched fractions has enabled the production of nutraceuticals, while the addition of nutraceutical fractions to food previously lacking or partially possessing them has lead to the industrial production of functionalised or fortified food respectively. The separability of nutraceutically relevant fractions depends on the combination of several different features of the carrier matrix and of the fraction to be separated, namely: size, aggregation state and physical (hardness) and chemical (composition) features of the embodying matrix, chemical nature, bonding and degree of dispersion of the fraction of interest in the embodying matrix. Physical, chemical and electrostatic interactions between the embodying matrix, the fractions to be separated and exogenous agents (equipment and process auxiliary substances, and the environment) affect the desired separation; the chemical nature of the solvent (if any), the specific energy applied by the physical agent (if any), the frequency and intensity of the mechanical (e.g., ultrasound) and electromagnetic (e.g., microwave) field (if any), the processing time and temperature and the presence of specific case-by-case unwanted substances (e.g., water, oxygen, metal ions) play a role in the final outcome of the recovery process of the desired fraction

An eco-compatible process for the depuration of wastewater from olive mill industry

Olive mill wastewater (OMW) is the by-product of olive oil industrial production. It is characterized by a dark brownish color and a strong odor and is considered one of the most polluted agricultural wastes. In this paper we briefly describe an innovative procedure for the depuration of olive mill wastewater. With this procedure it is also possible to recover valuable substances such as phenolic compounds which have important commercial applications: they can be used in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and as antiviral, antioxidant and antitumor agents. The proposed OMW treatment uses two different packed vegetable matrices which remove most of the pollutant substances by absorption. After filtration of OMW on the matrices the pollutant load of the waste is greatly reduced: the organic content (COD) is reduced more than 80% and the phenol compounds are completely removed

Subjective pain and reward in a social judgment paradigm

Affective problems such as social anxiety and depression theoretically involve negative cognitive biases that trigger and maintain symptoms during everyday experiences. This study employed a social judgment paradigm to investigate possible biases in expectation of social acceptance, and subjective feelings of pain and reward. Healthy adult participants (N = 120) were told their image had been judged by others. In 120 trials, they were shown photos of the judges and asked to anticipate whether they were liked by them or not, before being shown the judgment. Participants rated their level of pain and reward in each trial. Results indicated that social acceptance was expected less often by participants with higher levels of social anxiety. Self-reported pain was greatest after unexpected rejection. A greater likelihood of the presence of pain and higher self-reported pain were associated with higher levels of social anxiety and depression respectively. Self-reported reward was greatest after expected acceptance, and was not associated with social anxiety or depression. This study provides subjective experience information that has been missing from existing social judgment research. Moreover, these findings suggest that in social situations, those with social anxiety and depression more often expect rejection and experience rejection as more painful, respectively. These biases are potential maintaining factors and may be targets for further research and future intervention development.</p

Subjective pain and reward in a social judgment paradigm

Affective problems such as social anxiety and depression theoretically involve negative cognitive biases that trigger and maintain symptoms during everyday experiences. This study employed a social judgment paradigm to investigate possible biases in expectation of social acceptance, and subjective feelings of pain and reward. Healthy adult participants (N = 120) were told their image had been judged by others. In 120 trials, they were shown photos of the judges and asked to anticipate whether they were liked by them or not, before being shown the judgment. Participants rated their level of pain and reward in each trial. Results indicated that social acceptance was expected less often by participants with higher levels of social anxiety. Self-reported pain was greatest after unexpected rejection. A greater likelihood of the presence of pain and higher self-reported pain were associated with higher levels of social anxiety and depression respectively. Self-reported reward was greatest after expected acceptance, and was not associated with social anxiety or depression. This study provides subjective experience information that has been missing from existing social judgment research. Moreover, these findings suggest that in social situations, those with social anxiety and depression more often expect rejection and experience rejection as more painful, respectively. These biases are potential maintaining factors and may be targets for further research and future intervention development.</p