The Power of Information

Dissertação de mestrado em Psicologia Clínica (Sistémica, Saúde e Família) apresentada à Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade de CoimbraA mortalidade e morbilidade infantil é uma realidade prevalente em Angola, principalmente nas unidades de cuidados de saúde materno-infantil. Os nascimentos de risco são frequentes e o modo como as mães lidam com esta situação constitui um ponto de análise relevante no contexto angolano. O presente estudo tem por objetivo principal avaliar o investimento materno nos bebés nascidos em situação de risco, assim como estudar a aplicabilidade da Escala de Investimento Parental na Criança. A amostra é constituída por 80 mães recentes, sendo metade mães de bebés prematuros ou doentes, internados na UCIN, e a outra metade, mães de bebés saudáveis. Os dados foram recolhidos no Hospital Irene Neto do Lubango. Foram usados como instrumentos de avaliação um Questionário sociodemográfico, um Questionário geral sobre a Gravidez e Nascimento, um Questionário sobre os Aspetos ligados à Situação de Risco do bebé e a Escala de Investimento Parental na Criança (EIPC; Bradley & cols., 1997; versão portuguesa de Gameiro, Martinho, Canavarro & Moura-Ramos, 2008). Os resultados relativos à consistência interna da EIPC evidenciam valores inferiores, em comparação com o estudo português. Não se encontram diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre as duas subamostras quanto ao investimento materno no bebé. Os resultados são discutidos pondo em evidência algumas especificidades culturais da amostra estudada.Mortality and morbidity in children is a prevalent reality in Angola, especially in intensive care units of maternal and child health. The risk births are common and the way mothers deal with this situation constitutes a relevant point of analysis in the Angolan context. The present study aims at assessing the maternal investment in babies born at risk, and to study the applicability of the Parental Investment in the Child Scale. The sample consists of 80 recent mothers; half are mothers of premature or sick babies, hospitalized in the NICU, and the other half are mothers of healthy babies. Data were collected in Irene Neto Hospital of Lubango. The instruments used were a socio-demographic questionnaire, a General questionnaire on Pregnancy and Childbirth, a questionnaire on Aspects related to Risk of Baby and the Parental Investment in the Children Scale (Bradley et al., 1997; Portuguese version of Gameiro, Martinho, Canavarro & Moura-Ramos, 2008). The results for internal consistency of the EIPC show lower values compared to the Portuguese study. There are no statistically significant differences between the two subsamples on the maternal investment in the baby. The results are discussed highlighting some cultural specificities of the studied sample

The struggle for academic rigour in assessment education

This article explores the meaning of academic rigour in relation to a fourth year assessment education course for pre-service teachers. We present the requirements for a course to be considered academically rigorous, describe the course we offered in the light of these criteria and then present the students’ responses. Our findings indicate differing perspectives between lecturers and students on what it means to learn about assessment and to be academically rigorous. Whereas the lecturers were expecting engagement with assessment theory and practice from all students, many students ‘tuned out’ whenever the course did not engage them in practical examples related to their subject specialisation. Only exceptional students moved beyond compliance with course requirements. The struggle for academic rigour involves developing a better alignment between lecturer and student expectations. This has implications for more explicit explanation of course purposes as well as increased cooperation with subject specialisation methodology courses

Spectroscopy of bulk and few-layer superconducting NbSe2_2 with van der Waals tunnel junctions

Tunnel junctions, a well-established platform for high-resolution spectroscopy of superconductors, require defect-free insulating barriers with clean engagement to metals on both sides. Extending the range of materials accessible to tunnel junction fabrication, beyond the limited selection which allows high-quality oxide formation, requires the development of alternative fabrication techniques. Here we show that van-der-Waals (vdW) tunnel barriers, fabricated by stacking layered semiconductors on top of the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) superconductor NbSe$_2$, sustain a stable, low noise tunneling current, and exhibit strong suppression of sub-gap tunneling. We utilize the technique to measure the spectra of bulk (20 nm) and ultrathin (3- and 4-layer) devices at 70 mK. The spectra exhibit two distinct energy gaps, the larger of which decreases monotonously with thickness and $T_C$, in agreement with BCS theory. The spectra are analyzed using a two-band model modified to account for depairing. We show that in the bulk, the smaller gap exhibits strong depairing in an in-plane magnetic field, consistent with a high Fermi velocity. In the few-layer devices, depairing of the large gap is negligible, consistent with out-of-plane spin-locking due to Ising spin-orbit coupling. Our results demonstrate the utility of vdW tunnel junctions in mapping the intricate spectral evolution of TMD superconductors over a range of magnetic fields.Comment: This submission contains the first part of arxiv:1703.07677 with the addition of spectra taken on this devices. The second part of 1703.07677 will be published separatel

Kondo Effect in Defect-bound Quantum Dots Coupled to NbSe2_2

We report the fabrication of a van der Waals tunneling device hosting a defect-bound quantum dot coupled to NbSe$_2$. We find that upon application of magnetic field, the device exhibits a zero-bias conductance peak. The peak, which splits at higher fields, is associated with a Kondo effect. At the same time, the junction retains conventional quasiparticle tunneling features at finite bias. Such coexistence of a superconducting gap and a Kondo effect are unusual, and are explained by noting the two-gap nature of the superconducting state of NbSe$_2$, where a magnetic field suppresses the low energy gap associated with the Se band. Our data shows that van der Waals architectures, and defect-bound dots in them, can serve as a novel and effective platform for investigating the interplay of Kondo screening and superconducting pairing in unconventional superconductors

Combined Zeeman and orbital effect on the Josephson effect in rippled graphene

The two-dimensional nature of graphene Josephson junctions offers the possibility of creating effective superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junctions with tunable Zeeman splitting caused by an in-plane magnetic field. Such junctions would be able to alternate between a conventional superconducting ground state and a ground state with an intrinsic phase difference, making them controllable $0-\pi$ Josephson junctions. However, in addition to the Zeeman splitting, an in-plane magnetic field will in general also produce an orbital effect because of height variations in graphene, colloquially known as ripples. Both the Zeeman and orbital effect will thus affect the critical current, so to be able to identify $0-\pi$ transitions it is necessary to understand their combined effect. From both analytical and numerical solutions of the Usadel equation we find that ripples can in fact produce a current response similar to that which is characteristic of a $0-\pi$ transition. Hence, additional analysis is required in order to reveal the presence of a $0-\pi$ transition caused by spin-splitting in graphene with ripples. We provide a closed form analytical expression for the critical current in the presence of exchange field and ripple effects as well as an expression for the scaling of critical current zeroes with junction parameters.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure