A expansão da educação superior a distância no Tocantins no âmbito da parceria entre a EADCON e a UNITINS

This study aims to analyze the expansion of higher education in the form of Distance Education (DE) in the state of Tocantins through partnership between Continuing Education Ltda (EDUCON) and Foundation University of Tocantins (UNITINS) in the period 2000 to 2009. The premise that guides this study is based on the understanding that the relationship established between EADCON and UNITINS for the expansion of higher education in the distance mode is configured as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) according to the principles advocated by the reform of the Brazilian State. The discussion of this theme is the background of the structural changes that capitalist society has been going through in recent years, caused by globalization, productive restructuring and the adoption of the ideals of neoliberalism that guided the reform of the Brazilian state. In this context, knowledge has assumed greater centrality as a condition for countries to enter the globalized world, which has required a higher level of qualification of people, especially with regard to their education at the college level. This view is taken by multilateral agencies like the World Bank, UNESCO, ECLAC which encourage the use of distance education as an expansion strategy for higher education. In this context of strong demands, UNITINS in state public university status, conducts partnership with EDUCON to offer degrees in Tocantins through distance education in the "model" telepresence. As theoretical opted for the historical dialectic materialism as methodological procedures were used, the literature review and documentary analysis of primary and secondary sources. The study concludes that this partnership, the numerical point of view, becomes one of the major policies of expansion of higher education in the country in distance education mode, reaching in 2008 the percentage 33.1% of total income and 28.2% of total enrollment. However, it has its abrupt closure by actions of the Ministry of Education (MEC) and the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) of Tocantins, which found serious irregularities in its operation. Apparently, the partnership was shown as a PPP in recent molds of neoliberal reform, however, studies show that it does not actually constitute a Public Private Partnership on the grounds that disrespects the specific legislation for the establishment of PPPs as Law No. 9.637 / 98, which deals with Social Organizations (OS). Disrespects the Art. 26 of Decree 5,622 / 2005 establishing partnerships that could be made between institutions accredited by MEC and violates Art. 206, item IV of the 1988 Constitution by charging tuition at a public institution. With this, it is found that, in reality, UNITINS / EADCON partnership met the capital interests offering a private educational service using public infrastructure and providing a mass formation, controlled by the market, flexible, lightened and without the quality required under contained in the Technical Note 37/2008 of the Distance Education Department (SEED) of the MEC.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar a expansão da educação superior na modalidade de Educação a Distância (EaD) no estado do Tocantins por meio da parceria entre a Educação Continuada Ltda (EDUCON) e a Fundação Universidade do Tocantins (UNITINS) no período compreendido entre 2000 e 2009. A premissa que orienta esse estudo fundamenta-se na compreensão de que a relação estabelecida entre a EADCON e a UNITINS para a expansão do ensino superior na modalidade a distância se configurou como uma Parceria Público-Privada (PPP), de acordo com os princípios defendidos pela reforma do Estado brasileiro. A discussão dessa temática tem como pano de fundo as modificações estruturais que a sociedade capitalista vem experimentando nos últimos anos, ocasionadas pela globalização, pela reestruturação produtiva e pela adoção dos ideais do neoliberalismo que orientaram a reforma do Estado brasileiro. Nessa conjuntura, o conhecimento vem assumindo uma maior centralidade como condição para que os países se insiram no mundo globalizado, o que passou a exigir um maior nível de qualificação das pessoas, principalmente no que se refere à sua formação em nível superior. Esta perspectiva é assumida pelas agências multilaterais como a Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU), o Banco Mundial (BM), a Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, Ciência e Cultura (UNESCO), a Comissão Econômica para a América Latina e o Caribe (CEPAL), as quais incentivam a utilização da EaD como estratégia de expansão para a educação superior. Neste contexto de fortes demandas, a UNITINS, na condição de universidade pública estadual, realiza parceria com a EDUCON para oferta de graduações no Tocantins através da EaD no “modelo” telepresencial. Como referencial teórico optou-se pelo materialismo histórico dialético e como procedimentos metodológicos foram utilizadas a revisão de bibliografia e a análise documental de fontes primárias e secundárias. O estudo conclui que essa parceria, do ponto de vista numérico, chega a ser uma das maiores políticas de expansão da educação superior do país na modalidade EaD, alcançando em 2008 o percentual 33,1%do total de ingressos e de 28,2% do total de matrículas. Entretanto, tem o seu encerramento abrupto por ações do Ministério da Educação (MEC) e do Ministério Público Federal (MPF) do Tocantins, os quais constataram sérias irregularidades no seu funcionamento. Aparentemente, a parceria se mostrava como uma PPP nos moldes recentes da reforma neoliberal, no entanto, os estudos evidenciam que a mesma não se constitui efetivamente uma Parceria Público-Privada, em razão de que desrespeita a legislação específica para o estabelecimento das PPPs, como a Lei nº 9.637/98, que trata das Organizações Sociais (OS). Desrespeita o Art. 26 do Decreto nº 5.622/2005, que estabelece que parcerias poderiam ser feitas entre instituições credenciadas pelo MEC, e desrespeita o Art. 206, inciso IV, da Constituição Federal de 1988, ao cobrar mensalidade em instituição pública. Com isto, fica constatado que, na realidade, a parceria UNITINS/EADCON atendia a interesses capitalistas que ofereciam um serviço educacional privado com uso da estrutura pública e fornecendo uma formação em massa, controlada pelo mercado, flexibilizada, aligeirada e sem a qualidade necessária, segundo consta na Nota Técnica nº 37/2008 da Secretaria de Educação a Distância (SEED) do MEC

Will the Farm to Fork strategy be effective in changing food consumption behavior? : A health psychology perspective

Food production accounts for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions; the Farm to Fork strategy aims to make food systems more sustainable and healthier to curb the rising global surface temperature. It includes several actions targeting consumer behavior, including increasing the availability of sustainable and healthy products and mandatory nutritional labeling. The actions address relevant psychological mechanisms; however, the outlined actions are vague and based on only a small number of behavioral determinants that may limit effectiveness. The implementation may furthermore benefit from concepts of implementation science to increase acceptability and feasibility to reach its ambitious goals

Training of audio descriptors : the cinematographic aesthetics as basis for the learning of the audio description aesthetics – materials, methods and products

A Audiodescrição (AD), recurso utilizado para tornar o teatro, o cinema, a TV, bem como obras de arte visuais, acessíveis a pessoas com deficiência visual, vem aos poucos sendo implantada no Brasil e demandando profissionais capacitados. Com base nessa constatação, este artigo traz o relato de um projeto desenvolvido durante estágio pós-doutoral que se dedicou ao confronto da estética cinematográfica com as técnicas de audiodescrição a fim de verificar como o conhecimento da primeira pode contribuir para a formação do audiodescritor. Por meio da pesquisa-ação, foi produzido um curta metragem adaptado de um conto de Mário de Andrade intitulado O Peru de Natal. O filme homônimo, assim como sua audiodescrição, foram realizados pelos alunos e professores da disciplina Tradução Intersemiótica do curso de Letras da Universidade Estadual do Ceará (UECE). Assim, pretendeu-se sugerir procedimentos didáticos que partiram da experiência dos alunos ao avaliarem suas escolhas e as implicações destas.Audio description (AD), a resource used to make theater, cinema, TV, and visual works of art accessible to people with visual impairments, is slowly being implemented in Brazil and demanding qualified professionals. Based on this statement, this article reports the results of a research developed during post-doctoral studies. The study is dedicated to the confrontation of film aesthetics with audio description techniques to check how the knowledge of the former can contribute to audiodescritor training. Through action research, a short film adapted from a Mario de Andrade’s, a Brazilian writer, short story called O Peru de Natal (Christmas Turkey) was produced. The film as well as its audio description were carried out involving students and teachers from the discipline Intersemiotic Translation at the State University of Ceará. Thus, we intended to suggest pedagogical procedures generated by the students experiences by evaluating their choices and their implications

FGF-2, TGFβ-1, PDGF-A and respective receptors expression in pleomorphic adenoma myoepithelial cells: an in vivo and in vitro study

Myoepithelial cells have an important role in salivary gland tumor development, contributing to a low grade of aggressiveness of these tumors. Normal myoepithelial cells are known by their suppressor function presenting increased expression of extracellular matrix genes and protease inhibitors. The importance of stromal cells and growth factors during tumor initiation and progression has been highlighted by recent literature. Many tumors result from the alteration of paracrine growth factors pathways. Growth factors mediate a wide variety of biological processes such as development, tissue repair and tumorigenesis, and also contribute to cellular proliferation and transformation in neoplastic cells. OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the expression of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), transforming growth factor β-1 (TGFβ-1), platelet-derived growth factor-A (PDGF-A) and their respective receptors (FGFR-1, FGFR-2, TGFβR-II and PDGFR-α) in myoepithelial cells from pleomorphic adenomas (PA) by in vivo and in vitro experiments. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Serial sections were obtained from paraffin-embedded PA samples obtained from the school's files. Myoepithelial cells were obtained from explants of PA tumors provided by surgery from different donors. Immunohistochemistry, cell culture and immunofluorescence assays were used to evaluate growth factor expression. RESULTS: The present findings demonstrated that myoepithelial cells from PA were mainly positive to FGF-2 and FGFR-1 by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. PDGF-A and PDGFR-α had moderate expression by immunohistochemistry and presented punctated deposits throughout cytoplasm of myoepithelial cells. FGFR-2, TGFβ-1 and TGFβR-II were negative in all samples. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggested that FGF-2 compared to the other studied growth factors has an important role in PA benign myoepithelial cells, probably contributing to proliferation of these cells through the FGFR-1

Co-creación de la innovación en la educación superior - el caso portugués

Demola model aims to apply a methodology of co-creation processes, based on cooperation systems, having as objective applying science, technology and innovation policies in personal, educational and business contexts. Considering that the co-creation method is based on a joint initiative, in which providers and beneficiaries create value together, it is intended to demonstrate the impact this methodology brings to educational quality, namely its application to the Portuguese polytechnic higher education system. From the insights and ideas that emerged from the content analysis, this description is enriched and an integrated definition of co-creation of value is developed. Firstly, a theoretical contextualization of the definition of co-creation and its processes is proposed, giving emphasis to the model developed by Demola Global. Then, the impacts of its application on students, teachers and organizations, evaluated through surveys carried out after a first batch of co-creation projects, are presented and discussed. With this study, it is meant to identify the main changes that co-creation confers when applied in the learning context and which significant developments result from its use.El modelo Demola pretende aplicar una metodología de procesos de co-creación, basada en sistemas de cooperación, teniendo como objetivo aplicar políticas de ciencia, tecnología e innovación en contextos personales, educativos y empresariales. Teniendo en cuenta que el método de cocreación se basa en una iniciativa conjunta, en la que proveedores y beneficiarios crean valor juntos, se pretende demostrar el impacto que esta metodología trae a la calidad educativa, es decir, su aplicación al sistema de educación superior politécnica portugués. A partir de los insights e ideas que surgieron del análisis de contenido, se enriquece esta descripción y se desarrolla una definición integrada de co-creación de valor. En primer lugar, se propone una contextualización teórica de la definición de co-creación y sus procesos, haciendo hincapié en el modelo desarrollado por Demola Global. Luego, se presentan y discuten los impactos de su aplicación en estudiantes, docentes y organizaciones, evaluados a través de encuestas realizadas a lo largo de una primera fase de los proyectos de co-creación. Con este estudio se pretende identificar los principales cambios que confiere la co-creación cuando se aplica en el contexto de aprendizaje y qué desarrollos significativos resultan de su uso.

The mediating role of pain catastrophizing in the relationship between presurgical anxiety and acute postsurgical pain after hysterectomy

The aim of this study was to examine the joint role of demographic, clinical, and psychological variables 30 as predictors of acute postsurgical pain in women undergoing hysterectomy due to benign disorders. A 31 consecutive sample of 203 women was assessed 24 hours before (T1) and 48 hours after (T2) surgery. 32 Baseline pain and predictors were assessed at T1 and postsurgical pain and analgesic consumption at 33 T2. Several factors distinguished women who had no or mild pain after surgery from those who had mod- 34 erate to severe pain, with the latter being younger, having more presurgical pain, and showing a less 35 favorable psychological profile. Younger age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.90, P < .001), presurgical pain 36 (OR = 2.50, P <.05), pain due to other causes (OR = 4.39, P = .001), and pain catastrophizing (OR = 3.37, 37 P = .001) emerged as the main predictors of pain severity at T2 in multivariate logistic regression. This 38 was confirmed in hierarchical linear regression (b = 0.187, P < .05; b = 0.146, P < .05; b = 0.136, P < .05; 39 b = 0.245, P < .01, respectively). Presurgical anxiety also predicted pain intensity at T2. Findings revealed 40 an integrative heuristic model that accounts for the joint influence of demographic, clinical, and psycho- 41 logical factors on postsurgical pain intensity and severity. In further mediation analysis, pain catastro- 42 phizing emerged as a full mediator between presurgical anxiety and postsurgical pain intensity. The 43 potential clinical implications for understanding, evaluating, and intervening in postsurgical pain are 44 discussed.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Falko Sniehotta, PhD, and Justin Presseau, PhD, for suggestions. The authors also thank all of the women who agreed to participate in this study

A feasibility study with process evaluation of a preschool intervention to improve child and family lifestyle behaviours

Background - Around a fifth of children starting school in England are now overweight/obese. There is a paucity of interventions with the aim of obesity prevention in preschool-age children in the UK. Previous research has demonstrated some positive results in changing specific health behaviours, however, positive trends in overall obesity rates are lacking. Preschool settings may provide valuable opportunities to access children and their families not only for promoting healthy lifestyles, but also to develop and evaluate behaviour-change interventions. Methods - This paper presents a cluster randomised feasibility study of a theory based behaviour-change preschool practitioner-led intervention tested in four preschool centres in the North East of England. The primary outcome measures were to test the acceptability and feasibility of the data collection measures and intervention. Secondary measures were collected and reported for extra information. At baseline and post intervention, children’s anthropometric, dietary and physical activity measures as well as family ‘active’ time data were collected. The preschool practitioner-led intervention included family intervention tasks such as ‘family goal-setting activities’ and ‘cooking challenges’. Preschool activities included increasing physical activity and providing activities with the potential to change behaviour with increased knowledge of and acceptance of healthy eating. The process evaluation was an on-going monthly process and was collected in multiple forms such as questionnaires, photographs and verbal feedback. Results - ‘Gatekeeper’ permission and lower-hierarchal adherence were initially a problem for recruitment and methods acceptance. However, at intervention end the preschool teachers and parents stated they found most intervention methods and activities acceptable, and some positive changes in family health behaviours were reported. However, the preschool centres appeared to have difficulties with enforcing everyday school healthy eating policies. Conclusions - The findings from the current study may have implications for nursery practitioners, nursery settings, Local Educational Authorities and policy makers, and contributes to the body of literature. However, further work with preschool practitioners is required to determine how personal attitudes and school policy application can be supported to implement successfully such an intervention