Avaliação do padrão de participação em atividades de lazer de crianças e jovens com e sem incapacidade nos seus contextos imediatos

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o padrão de participação em atividades de lazer, formais e informais, de crianças e jovens com e sem incapacidade nos seus contextos imediatos – em casa, “fora de casa”, e na escola. Usamos uma adaptação do instrumento CAPE - Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment e CAP - Preferences for Activities of Children, originalmente desenvolvido no Canadá por King e seus colaboradores (2004). Participaram neste estudo 56 alunos – 19 com incapacidades e 37 sem incapacidades – de dez turmas dos três ciclos de educação básica com idades compreendidas entre os 7 e 16 anos de idade. Os resultados deste estudo revelaram que, ao nível da diversidade, apenas no contexto “fora de casa” existem diferenças significativas, isto é, as crianças/jovens com incapacidade participam em menos atividades – no total, em atividades formais, em atividades físicas e de autoaperfeiçoamento. Também se verificou existência de diferenças no padrão de participação ao nível da intensidade, com as crianças e jovens com incapacidades a reportarem uma participação mais limitada mas maiores índices nos contextos em casa e na escola. No contexto “escola”, os alunos com incapacidades participam em atividades com significativa menor dimensão social. No entanto, em relação ao nível de satisfação, verificámos que não existem diferenças. No que diz respeito à dimensão preferência verificamos que está positivamente relacionada com o padrão de participação. A consideração de outras características pessoais como a idade e o sexo poderá enriquecer este estudo, bem como a aplicação deste estudo a amostras mais representativas.

Electronic booklet: vision of teachers and guardians of Basic School Students of Galicia

This research here described explores the first phase of a research project whose aim is to introduce a new form of collaboration and communication among the Family and School through an Electronic Booklet (EB), in Spain, in the Galician schools. The EB appears to meet the growing needs of collaboration between the school and the family, promoting the teaching learning process and educational success, supported by the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Through a questionnaire we sought to obtain the perceptions of teachers and parents regarding the adoption of an EB. Both groups stressed the importance of communication between the school and the family and expressed interest in EB, as bidirectional communication tool.

A mobile robot platform for open learning based on serious games and remote laboratories

Within the pedagogical community, Serious Games have arisen as a viable alternative to traditional course-based learning materials. Until now, they have been based strictly on software solutions. Meanwhile, research into Remote Laboratories has shown that they are a viable, low-cost solution for experimentation in an engineering context, providing uninterrupted access, low-maintenance requirements, and a heightened sense of reality when compared to simulations. This paper will propose a solution where both approaches are combined to deliver a Remote Laboratory-based Serious Game for use in engineering and school education. The platform for this system is the WebLab-Deusto Framework, already well-tested within the remote laboratory context, and based on open standards. The laboratory allows users to control a mobile robot in a labyrinth environment and take part in an interactive game where they must locate and correctly answer several questions, the subject of which can be adapted to educators' needs. It also integrates the Google Blockly graphical programming language, allowing students to learn basic programming and logic principles without needing to understand complex syntax.

Levels and risks of particulate-bound PAHs in indoor air influenced by tobacco smoke: a field measurement

Considering tobacco smoke as one of the most health-relevant indoor sources, the aim of this work was to further understand its negative impacts on human health. The specific objectives of this work were to evaluate the levels of particulate-bound PAHs in smoking and non-smoking homes and to assess the risks associated with inhalation exposure to these compounds. The developed work concerned the application of the toxicity equivalency factors approach (including the estimation of the lifetime lung cancer risks, WHO) and the methodology established by USEPA (considering three different age categories) to 18 PAHs detected in inhalable (PM10) and fine (PM2.5) particles at two homes. The total concentrations of 18 PAHs (ΣPAHs) was 17.1 and 16.6 ng m−3 in PM10 and PM2.5 at smoking home and 7.60 and 7.16 ng m−3 in PM10 and PM2.5 at non-smoking one. Compounds with five and six rings composed the majority of the particulate PAHs content (i.e., 73 and 78 % of ΣPAHs at the smoking and non-smoking home, respectively). Target carcinogenic risks exceeded USEPA health-based guideline at smoking home for 2 different age categories. Estimated values of lifetime lung cancer risks largely exceeded (68–200 times) the health-based guideline levels at both homes thus demonstrating that long-term exposure to PAHs at the respective levels would eventually cause risk of developing cancer. The high determined values of cancer risks in the absence of smoking were probably caused by contribution of PAHs from outdoor sources.

Sectorization: measures and an electromagnetism based approach

Sectorization means dividing a set of basic units into sectors or parts, a procedure that occurs in several contexts, such as political, health and school districting, social networks and sales territory or airspace assignment, to achieve some goal or to facilitate an activity. This presentation will focus on three main issues: Measures, a new approach to sectorization problems and an application in waste collection. When designing or comparing sectors different characteristics are usually taken into account. Some are commonly used, and they are related to the concepts of contiguity, equilibrium and compactness. These fundamental characteristics will be addressed, by defining new generic measures and by proposing a new measure, desirability, connected with the idea of preference. A new approach to sectorization inspired in Coulomb’s Law, which establishes a relation of force between electrically charged points, will be proposed. A charged point represents a small region with specific characteristics/values creating relations of attraction/repulsion with the others (two by two), proportional to the charges and inversely proportional to their distance. Finally, a real case about sectorization and vehicle routing in solid waste collection will be mentioned.

The importance of physical education classes in pre-school children

The purpose of this study was to analyse differences between total physical activity (TPA) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) of pre-school children during daily school hours when they attended the physical education class (PED) and school days without PE class (NPED) and to assess the contribution of PE classes to TPA in school hours. The sample was composed of 193 pre-school healthy children (96 girls) aged from three to five years old and was conducted between February and December of 2008. Children wore accelerometers for at least four consecutive days during school hours. Data were analysed with specific software, age-specific counts-per-minute cut-off points and a 5 s epoch were used. Independent and general linear model repeated measures were used to assess differences between gender and differences between different days within each gender, respectively. Boys engaged more MVPA than girls (P < 0.05). During PED, pre-school children engaged significantly more in TPA and MVPA than during NPED (P < 0.05). PE class contributed, on average, 27.7% for the TPA and 32.8% of daily MVPA during PED in both gender. The results of this study suggest that structured PA such as a PE class increased the daily TPA and MVPA level of pre-school children.