Research on Communicative Practices in an Alternative Classroom

This thesis studies communications in an alternative classroom in the United States. Using an ethnographic approach and drawing from conversation analysis, the study describes the school’s model of education and analyzes students’ classroom initiations, particularly those in which students responded to the teacher’s question with a question

Age and disease-related structural changes in the retinal pigment epithelium

As the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) ages, a number of structural changes occur, including loss of melanin granules, increase in the density of residual bodies, accumulation of lipofuscin, accumulation of basal deposits on or within Bruch’s membrane, formation of drusen (between the basal lamina of the RPE and the inner collagenous layer of Bruch’s membrane), thickening of Bruch’s membrane, microvilli atrophy and disorganization of the basal infoldings. Although these changes are well known, the basic mechanisms involved in them are frequently poorly understood. These age-related changes progress slowly and vary in severity in different individuals. These changes are also found in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a late onset disease that severely impacts the RPE, but they are much more pronounced than during normal aging. However, the changes in AMD lead to severe loss of vision. Given the many supporting functions which the RPE serves for the retina, it is important to decipher the age-related changes in this epithelium in order to understand age-related changes in vision

Passarelas de Vidro Estrutural - Um estudo comparativo entre Normas Internacionais e Método dos Elementos Finitos

The use of glass in construction has been increasing due to its sustainability, aesthetics, and functionality. In the last decades, glass has come to be used as a structural element, but still has little normative reference. The present dissertation aims at investigating the use of glass and its applicability in structural elements. In addition to its physical characterization, the step-by-step design of structural glass panels was detailed from the North American standards ASTM E1300 (2016), ASTM E2751 (2017), the European pre-standard prEN 16612 (2013) and the Australian standard AS 1288 (2006), since in Brazil there is no standards that approach the subject and in Europe the standard is on development phase. In addition to the normative analysis, glass elements were tested in the laboratory as glass and beams to analyze its behavior and a model of a walkway with glass structural elements were studied using the software ©DLUBAL – RFEM 5.16.O uso do vidro na construção tem ganhado relevância em função de sua sustentabilidade, estética e funcionalidade. Nas últimas décadas, passou a ser utilizado como elemento estrutural, porém ainda consta com pouca referência normativa. A presente dissertação retrata uma investigação sobre a utilização e o dimensionamento de elementos de vidro com função estrutural. Além de caracterizar o vidro do ponto de vista físico, apresenta de forma pautada, o dimensionamento de painéis de vidro estrutural a partir das normas norte-americanas ASTM E1300 (2016), ASTM E2751 (2017), da pré-norma europeia prEN 16612 (2013) e da norma australiana AS 1288 (2006), uma vez que no Brasil não há normas que abordem o assunto e na Europa estão em fase de projeto de norma. Além da análise normativa, foram testados em laboratório elementos estruturais de vidro sob o ponto de vista de lajes e vigas para analisar o seu comportamento e foi estudado um modelo de uma passarela com elementos estruturais em vidro utilizando o software ©DLUBAL – RFEM 5.16

Effect of Imperceptible Vibratory Noise Applied to Wrist Skin On Fingertip Touch Evoked Potentials – An EEG Study

Random vibration applied to skin can change the sense of touch. Specifically, low amplitude white-noise vibration can improve fingertip touch perception. In fact, fingertip touch sensation can improve even when imperceptible random vibration is applied to other remote upper extremity areas such as wrist, dorsum of the hand, or forearm. As such, vibration can be used to manipulate sensory feedback and improve dexterity, particularly during neurological rehabilitation. Nonetheless, the neurological bases for remote vibration enhanced sensory feedback are yet poorly understood. This study examined how imperceptible random vibration applied to the wrist changes cortical activity for fingertip sensation. We measured somatosensory evoked potentials to assess peak-to-peak response to light touch of the index fingertip with applied wrist vibration versus without. We observed increased peak-to-peak somatosensory evoked potentials with wrist vibration, especially with increased amplitude of the later component for the somatosensory, motor, and premotor cortex with wrist vibration. These findings corroborate an enhanced cortical-level sensory response motivated by vibration. It is possible that the cortical modulation observed here is the result of the establishment of transient networks for improved perception

Underdeveloped RPE Apical Domain Underlies Lesion Formation in Canine Bestrophinopathies

Canine bestrophinopathy (cBest) is an important translational model for BEST1-associated maculopathies in man that recapitulates the broad spectrum of clinical and molecular disease aspects observed in patients. Both human and canine bestrophinopathies are characterized by focal to multifocal separations of the retina from the RPE. The lesions can be macular or extramacular, and the specific pathomechanism leading to formation of these lesions remains unclear. We used the naturally occurring canine BEST1 model to examine factors that underlie formation of vitelliform lesions and addressed the susceptibility of the macula to its primary detachment in BEST1-linked maculopathies

Revisitando o mito de Ceres: a presença das mulheres na pesquisa agrícola do Paraná

Taking as a background the discussions carried out in the STS field - Science, Technology and Society - the aim of this piece of work is to present the results of a project that has been carried out with the purpose of analizing the profile of women-scientists who perform their job in a typically male environment, that is, the environment of agricultural research. The organization researched was the IAPAR - Agronomic Institute of Paraná, the entity responsible for generating and adopting new technologies seeking improvement in the state's agro-production process. The results obtained enable for reflections which may come to contribute to the discussions over the theme: a large part of the women-researchers do not believe that the gender question is relevant in the scientific environment; however, they do sense the prejudice from their counterparts during the performance of their daily activities besides realizing that men-scientists occupy the key-positions in the world of science. The collected data also show that the switch from this scenario to a more democratic one, contemplating both men and women in a more equal manner, is gradually taking place.STS and gender, gender and organizations, women-scientists,

A INFLUÊNCIA DA QUALIDADE DA VOGAL NA DETERMINAÇÃO DO PESO SILÁBICO E FORMAÇÃO DOS PÉS: O ACENTO PRIMÁRIO DO PORTUGUÊS

This paper addresses primary stress in Brazilian Portuguese considering the sonority ofvowels for the construction of feet. In our proposal, in words, as saci and urubu for example, primarystress foot is iambic because [i] and [u], when positioned at the end of a prosodic word, are consideredgood peak elements. A constraint against the positioning of i/u in the weak part of the foot, *T/i,u,ranked higher in the hierarchy, can explain how a trochaic language, like Brazilian Portuguese, canpresent iambic feet in some words

Qualificação docente e desempenho discente no ensino fundamental brasileiro: um enfoque por fronteiras de produção com múltiplos insumos e múltiplos produtos

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção.Esta tese propõe um modelo que associa qualificação docente e desempenho discente, sob o ponto vista da produção, e que tem como finalidade identificar diretrizes para o estabelecimento de programas de qualificação docente, por parte dos administradores dos sistemas educacionais. Este modelo associa o emprego da análise envoltória de dados (DEA) ao emprego de testes estatísticos de hipóteses. Análise envoltória de dados é empregada para identificar professores eficazes e não-eficazes e, testes estatísticos de hipóteses, para verificar a associação entre o nível de escolaridade do professor e seu desempenho produtivo, bem como a possível influência do ambiente familiar no desempenho produtivo dos professores. O modelo foi aplicado ao contexto da atuação multidisciplinar dos professores da 4a série do ensino fundamental da Região Sul, em uma amostra de 117 professores e suas respectivas turmas, extraída do Sistema Nacional de Avaliação do Educação Básica, ano-base 1997. Entre as conclusões destacam-se: que a produtividade dos professores sem formação de nível superior é limitada pela falta de suporte ao trabalho docente e estimulada pelo ambiente familiar que valoriza a educação; que a produtividade dos professores com formação de nível superior pode ser estimulada, de forma equilibrada, por meio da capacitação docente e da melhoria do suporte ao trabalho docente; que, no longo prazo, a qualificação dos professores sem formação de nível superior requer maior volume de recursos, do que a qualificação dos professores com formação de nível superior; que a produtividade dos professores é estimulada pelo ambiente familiar que valoriza a educação