Improving understandability in consumer health information search: Uevora @ 2016 fire chis

This paper presents our work at 2016 FIRE CHIS. Given a CHIS query and a document associated with that query, the task is to classify the sentences in the document as relevant to the query or not; and further classify the relevant sentences to be supporting, neutral or opposing to the claim made in the query. In this paper, we present two different approaches to do the classification. With the first approach, we implement two models to satisfy the task. We first implement an information retrieval model to retrieve the sentences that are relevant to the query; and then we use supervised learning method to train a classification model to classify the relevant sentences into support, oppose or neutral. With the second approach, we only use machine learning techniques to learn a model and classify the sentences into four classes (relevant & support, relevant & neutral, relevant & oppose, irrelevant & neutral). Our submission for CHIS uses the first approach.

Prática de ensino supervisionada em educação pré-escolar e ensino do 1º ciclo do ensino básico: a aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita na primeira infância (dos 3 aos 10 anos)

O presente relatório surgiu da nossa investigação e da nossa praxis tanto no contexto da Prática de Ensino Supervisionada em Educação Pré-Escolar, como em Ensino do 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico, em instituições da cidade de Évora. O principal objetivo foi compreender a finalidade e funcionalidade atribuída pelas crianças à aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita. Neste sentido, foi construído um referencial teórico que sustentou todo o processo de investigação. Desta forma, considero fundamental, contextualizar de forma breve, os ambientes educativos e a conceção da ação educativa que regeu a minha prática. O presente relatório foi construído com base na investigação-ação, levando assim, à utilização de algumas técnicas e instrumentos de recolha de dados, de forma a atingir os objetivos propostos. Ao longo da investigação procurei promover o desenvolvimento da leitura e da escrita, por parte das crianças, no contexto educativo, bem como, promover uma exploração da língua portuguesa articulada com os diversos domínios curriculares. Os resultados que surgiram deste trabalho veem evidenciar que as crianças já apresentam diversos conhecimentos acerca do que é a leitura e a escrita, bem como a sua funcionalidade. Por outro lado, é notória a separação entre a educação pré-escolar e o 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico, no sentido em que, no primeiro contexto, as crianças apresentam um papel central na aprendizagem, pois tudo é realizado com base nos seus interesses e necessidades, ao passo que, no segundo contexto, as atividades são planeadas para as crianças, mas elas não são participantes nesses processos. Assim, este relatório encontra-se organizado em quatro capítulos. O primeiro capítulo refere-se à fundamentação teórica que sustenta a investigação do tema. O segundo capítulo encontra-se relacionado com a conceção da ação educativa, na qual são apresentados os contextos onde desenvolvi a minha prática. No terceiro capítulo encontra-se a metodologia aplicada ao longo da PES, tendo por base a questão do educador/professor-investigador, bem como a análise, interpretação dos dados obtidos através da entrevista individual semiestruturada e respetivas conclusões. Por fim, no quarto capítulo tecerei implicações e investigações futuras acerca do estudo realizado; Supervised Teaching Practice in Pre-School Education and Teaching of the 1st Basic Education: Learning reading and writing in early childhood (from 3 to 10 years old) Abstract: This report emerged from our research and our praxis both in the context of Supervised Teaching Practice in Pre-School Education, as in teaching of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education in some institutions of the city of Évora. The main objective was to understand the purpose and function assigned by the learners to reading and writing. In this sense, a theoretical framework was created which underpinned the whole process of investigation. In this way, I consider fundamental to contextualize briefly the educational environments and the design of the educational action that conducted my practice. This report was built on the basis of research–action leading to the use of some techniques and tools for data collection in order to achieve the proposed objectives. Throughout the investigation I tried to promote the development of reading and writing by children in the educational context, as well as to promote an exploration of the Portuguese language in conjunction with the diverse curricular areas. The results that have emerged from this work prove that children have already a wide knowledge about what reading and writing are as well as its functionality. On the other hand, it is evident the separation of pre-school education from the first cycle of basic education in the sense that, in the first context, the children have a central role in learning, because everything is done based on their interests and needs, while in the second context activities are planned for the children, but they do not participate in those processes. Thus, this report is organized into four chapters. The first chapter refers to the theoretical background that supports research on the theme. The second chapter is related to the design of educational activity, which presents the contexts where I developed my practice. The third chapter presents the methodology applied along the PES based on the issue of educator/teacher-researcher, as well as the analysis, interpretation of data obtained through the individual semi-structured interview and the corresponding conclusions. Finally, in the fourth chapter I will discuss the implications and the future investigations about the study performed.

Prática de ensino supervisionada em educação pré-escolar e 1º ciclo do ensino básico: a vida na escola e na família. Que conexões?

O presente relatório de estágio desenvolveu-se no âmbito da unidade curricular de Prática de Ensino Supervisionada, tendo por finalidade a obtenção de grau de mestre em Educação Pré-Escolar e Ensino do 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico. Corresponde à descrição e análise de um trabalho desenvolvido em dois contextos, jardim-de-infância e 1º ciclo, inseridos num meio urbano, com grupos de crianças de três, quatro, cinco e seis anos e de seis e sete anos (respetivamente). Este trabalho procurou compreender de que forma ocorriam as conexões entre a vida na escola e na família em contexto. Começando por compreender como poderiam ser promovidas e ampliadas as relações entre ambos, de forma a envolver os familiares nas aprendizagens das crianças. No entanto criando sempre um espaço de troca de aprendizagens onde as diferenças sejam valorizadas. O enquadramento teórico foi construído de forma focada em três áreas de pesquisa: as conexões entre a escola e a família, e sua relevância; as tipologias de relação escola-família; e os problemas e estratégias de intervenção no âmbito da relação escola-família. Este relatório foi sustentado na metodologia de investigação-ação, utilizando diferentes instrumentos de recolha de dados de modo a responder às questões e objetivos propostos: observações, notas de campo e reflexões; revisão de literatura e questionário. Os resultados que emergiram deste relatório, sustentados nos instrumentos de recolha de dados, realçam a importância das conexões entre a vida na escola e na família. Apesar da existência de alguns obstáculos nesta relação, torna-se necessário encontrar estratégias que os eliminem por forma a compreender ambas as partes e um melhor rendimento escolar das crianças; Supervised Teaching Practice in Preschool and Primary Education : Life at School and in the Family, which connections? Abstract: This is an action-reseach project research developed within the Supervised Teaching Practice, part of the master in Preschool Education and Primary Teaching. It entails the description and analysis of the work developed in one pre-school and one and primary school, inserted in an urban environment, with children from three to six and from six to seven years (respectively). This work sought to understand how occurred the connections between life at school and in the family context. Starting to understand how they could be promoted and expanded relations between the two context, in order to involve family members in the learning of children. However creating always a swap space of learning where the differences are valued. The theoretical framework focused on three subjects: the importance of the connections between the school and the family,; the types of school-family relationship; and problems and intervention strategies within the school-family relationship. This report adopted an action research methodology, using different data collection instruments in order to reach the objectives proposed: observations field notes and reflections; literature review and a questionnaire. The results that emerged from this report, supported by data, highlight the importance of the connections between life at school and in the family. Despite some obstacles in this relationship, it is necessary to find strategies to eliminate them in order to understand both parts and a better school performance of children.

A Soft Computing Approach to Quality Evaluation of General Chemistry Learning in Higher Education

In contemporary societies higher education must shape individuals able to solve problems in a workable and simpler manner and, therefore, a multidisciplinary view of the problems, with insights in disciplines like psychology, mathematics or computer science becomes mandatory. Undeniably, the great challenge for teachers is to provide a comprehensive training in General Chemistry with high standards of quality, and aiming not only at the promotion of the student’s academic success, but also at the understanding of the competences/skills required to their future doings. Thus, this work will be focused on the development of an intelligent system to assess the Quality-of-General-Chemistry-Learning, based on factors related with subject, teachers and students.

Uma ponte para a realidade: o caso dos cursos de educação - formação no agrupamento de escolas de Montemor-o-Novo

Os cursos de educação e formação constituem uma medida que visa a promoção do sucesso escolar, bem como a prevenção dos diferentes tipos de abandono escolar, designadamente o desqualificado, a promoção das condições de empregabilidade e de transição para a vida activa. A problemática desta investigação foi lançada pela questão: Que Contributos proporcionam os Cursos de Educação e Formação no percurso de formação dos alunos do Agrupamento Vertical de Escolas de Montemor- o- Novo? Tendo como base esta problemática, o corpo de trabalho é constituído por duas partes. A primeira relativa ao quadro teórico e a segunda ao estudo empírico. No quadro teórico, incidimos sobre a análise de insucesso e abandono escolar, bem como na sua relação. O combate ao insucesso escolar, numa escala nacional, constituiu também objecto do nosso estudo, assim como as características dos Cursos de Educação e Formação e o seu Funcionamento. A parte relativa ao estudo empírico, envolveu a concepção e a testagem de instrumentos de recolha de dados e a realização de entrevistas semi - estruturadas. O estudo efectuado revelou que os alunos manifestam interesse por estes cursos, pelo seu funcionamento e porque lhes confere uma certificação profissional. O contributo dos cursos de educação e formação no percurso de formação dos alunos, revelou - se bastante positivo, proporcionando um impacto muito forte na melhoria dos resultados dos alunos, na sua atitude perante a escola e na valorização da aprendizagem. ABSTRACT; The courses of education and development are a measure that aims at the promotion of scholar success, as well as the prevention of the different kinds of school drop-outs, namely the unqualified, the promotion of the conditions of employment and the change to active life. The set of problems posed by this research was based on the following question: How does the courses of education and development contribute for the students' lifelong learning? Based on this set of problems, the research is made up of two parts. The former refers to the theoretical framework and the latter to the empirical study. As far as the theoretical framework is concerned, we focused on the analysis of the school unsuccess and drop-out, as well as on their connection. The fight against the school unsuccess, at a national scale, besides the characteristics of the Education and Development Courses and their Functioning, is also the object of our study. The part related to the empirical study involved the conception and the testing of instruments of data collection and semi-structured interviews. The present study revealed that the students are interested in this kind of courses due to their way of working and because these courses give them a professional certificate. The contribution of these education and development courses proved to be really positive, making it possible to improve both the students' school results and their attitude towards school giving value to learning.

Assessing the Role of General Chemistry Learning in Higher Education

The inclusion of General Chemistry (GC) in the curricula of higher education courses in science and technology aims, on the one hand, to develop students' skills necessary for further studies and, on the other hand, to respond to the need of endowing future professionals of knowledge to analyze and solve multidisciplinary problems in a sustainable way. The participation of students in the evaluation of the role played by the GC in their training is crucial, and the analysis of the results can be an essential tool to increase success in the education of students and improving practices in various professions. Undeniably, this work will be focused on the development of an intelligent system to assess the role of GC. The computational framework is built on top of a Logic Programming approach to Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, complemented with a problem solving methodology moored on Artificial Neural Networks. The results so far obtained show that the proposed model stands for a good start, being its overall accuracy higher than 95%.

O ensino tipo “e-learning”: alguns comentários

The scientific and technological development, has brought the possibility of people having access to a large volume of information, especially via the Internet. However, this information has to be filtered, due to danger of assimilating wrong and unreliable information. The so-called teaching type "e-learning" adopted by some schools, seems to have solved these problems. This paper focuses on some problems associated with the teaching system of "e-learning" and the difficulty to adapt it to certain areas of knowledge. The advantages of the courses in "bi-learning" are presented as well as some of the drawbacks associated with this type of education.

Semi-implicit finite strain constitutive integration and mixed strain/stress control based on intermediate configurations

A new semi-implicit stress integration algorithm for finite strain plasticity (compatible with hyperelas- ticity) is introduced. Its most distinctive feature is the use of different parameterizations of equilibrium and reference configurations. Rotation terms (nonlinear trigonometric functions) are integrated explicitly and correspond to a change in the reference configuration. In contrast, relative Green–Lagrange strains (which are quadratic in terms of displacements) represent the equilibrium configuration implicitly. In addition, the adequacy of several objective stress rates in the semi-implicit context is studied. We para- metrize both reference and equilibrium configurations, in contrast with the so-called objective stress integration algorithms which use coinciding configurations. A single constitutive framework provides quantities needed by common discretization schemes. This is computationally convenient and robust, as all elements only need to provide pre-established quantities irrespectively of the constitutive model. In this work, mixed strain/stress control is used, as well as our smoothing algorithm for the complemen- tarity condition. Exceptional time-step robustness is achieved in elasto-plastic problems: often fewer than one-tenth of the typical number of time increments can be used with a quantifiable effect in accuracy. The proposed algorithm is general: all hyperelastic models and all classical elasto-plastic models can be employed. Plane-stress, Shell and 3D examples are used to illustrate the new algorithm. Both isotropic and anisotropic behavior is presented in elasto-plastic and hyperelastic examples.

Semi-automatic keyword based approach for FIRE 2016 Microblog Track

This paper describes our semi-automatic keyword based approach for the four topics of Information Extraction from Microblogs Posted during Disasters task at Forum for Information Retrieval Evaluation (FIRE) 2016. The approach consists three phases.