Conversion of web texts into Braille characters for real time reading through arrays of electromechanical actuators

This paper describes an electronic device conceived to convert common web texts into sequences of corresponding Braille signals, which are immediately reproduced onto an array ( keyboard) of electromechanical actuators. These actuators are reconfigurable in real time, displaying the Braille characters as matrices of points composed by small stems which can be lowered or raised according to the Braille code. The device, together with its conversion software package, can provide direct access to web texts in any personal computer, thus avoiding the use of complicated Braille printers.

Reading, equivalence, and recombination of units: A replication with students with different learning histories

First graders, preschoolers, special education students, and adults received a reading program in which they learned to match printed to dictated words and to construct (copy) printed words. The students not only learned to match the training words but also learned to read them. In addition, most of the students learned to read new words that involved recombinations of the syllables of the training words. The results replicate and extend the generality of a prior analysis of a reading program based on stimulus equivalence and recombination of units.

Observing documentary reading by verbal protocol

Verifies the applicability to research on indexers' reading strategies of the process observing technique known as Verbal Protocol or Thinking Aloud. This interpretative-qualitative data collecting technique allows the observation of different kinds of process during the progress of different kinds of tasks. Presents a theoretical investigation into reading and into formal methodological procedures to observe reading processes. Describes details of the methodological procedures adopted in five case studies with analysis of samples of data. The project adopted three kinds of parameters for data analysis: theoretical, normative, empirical (derived from observations made in the first case study). The results are compared, and important conclusions regarding documentary reading are drawn.

Is there any defence for matricide? A juridical reading of Sophocles' Electra

Based on an analysis of Electra by Sophocles, it is proposed that the central concern of the dramatist is not the matricide of Clytemnestra itself. Sophocles invites the audience to reflect, as though they were the jury in a law court, on the legality of the actions of Electra. The play is thus a contribution to the debate on Justice in Greek society initiated almost two centuries previously.

Intervenções em linguagem escrita: Uma revisão da literatura com vistas à redução dos transtornos funcionais de aprendizagem

The importance reading and writing and being able to use these skills in a variety of situations is an absolute reality. In our society in which reading and writing are widely used, Brazil still faces severe problems with literacy, as revealed in literacy statistics and in the large number of students with learning disabilities. Thus, our text aims to present a survey of the research that focuses on intervention programs highlighting the needs of this group, with special attention on the use of narrative or storytelling. Specific criteria were established, the main one being the period of the publications (2000 to 2010). The results of the analysis of 15 texts showed that intervention is the most neglected area. International literature presents concerns related to scientific rigor or greater control of variables related to ongoing programs, as well as measures for generalizing the effective use of these programs, within verbal communities, with special focus on schools. Our revision enabled us to conclude that, even though production on written language is large, international literature is much more expressive with reference to intervention programs. Furthermore, in both national and international literature, production concerning the understanding of written language processes of acquisition and development prevails.

A redistricting problem applied to meter reading in power distribution networks

The capacitated redistricting problem (CRP) has the objective to redefine, under a given criterion, an initial set of districts of an urban area represented by a geographic network. Each node in the network has different types of demands and each district has a limited capacity. Real-world applications consider more than one criteria in the design of the districts, leading to a multicriteria CRP (MCRP). Examples are found in political districting, sales design, street sweeping, garbage collection and mail delivery. This work addresses the MCRP applied to power meter reading and two criteria are considered: compactness and homogeneity of districts. The proposed solution framework is based on a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure and multicriteria scalarization techniques to approximate the Pareto frontier. The computational experiments show the effectiveness of the method for a set of randomly generated networks and for a real-world network extracted from the city of São Paulo. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

O processo de construção do conhecimento histórico para alunos em educação de jovens e adultos: um olhar para as práticas de leitura e escrita

Pós-graduação em Educação - IBRC

Figuratividade na poesia bucólica de Virgílio

Pós-graduação em Estudos Literários - FCLAR

Evolução da nomeação após fortalecimento de relações auditivo-visuais em crianças com deficiência auditiva e implante coclear

Pós-graduação em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento e Aprendizagem - FC

Leituras e releituras românticas: José de Espronceda e Álvares de Azevedo

Pós-graduação em Letras - FCLAS

Reading strategies - from L1 to L2.

This paper intends to present a selection of the most useful reading strategies for the typical ESP students in Brazilian universities, showing whether the readers use them in their native language or not, the way the teacher should develop these strategies in the classroom, the problems involved in their use and the reasons for using them.

Uma leitura de 26 poetas hoje / A reading of 26 poetas hoje

Este trabalho procura identificar selecionadas produções poéticas da antologia 26 Poetas Hoje as faces da resistência indicada por Alfredo Bosi no ensaio “Poesia Resistência”. Do “grito de alarme” pessoal de poetas pertencentes a gerações diferentes, emerge uma poesia espontânea, autêntica e, sobretudo, resistente, como produto da renovação da expressão poética, impregnado de afetividades e de intimismo e que incorporou o coloquial e os recursos da grande poesia brasileira desde 22. This reading presents a sample from this anthology and tries to identify in it the faces of resistance indicated by Alfredo Bosi in his essay: “ Poesia Resistência”. In the several manners the poets of different generations chose for their personal cry of alert we find a poetry wich is spontaneous, authentic and, above all, “resistent”. This is due mainly to the renewal of the poetical expression, impregnated with affective ness and intimism, which included colloquial language and devices used by all great Brazilian poetry since the modernism of 1922.

Construction and validation of an instrument to assess the reading comprehension of students from the third to the fifth grades of elementary school

Objetivo:Este estudo teve como objetivo construir e validar um instrumento de avaliação da compreensão de leitura a fim de caracterizar o perfil de leitura e detectar dificuldades de compreensão em escolares do terceiro ao quinto ano do Ensino Fundamental.Métodos:Participaram 378 escolares divididos em trés grupos para avaliação da compreensão de proposições literais e inferenciais de micro e macroestruturas de dois textos expositivos e dois textos narrativos por meio de questões de múltipla escolha.Resultados:Os dados analisados estatisticamente indicaram valores do teste alfa de Cronbach apresentando consisténcia interna nos quatros textos aplicados para os trés grupos.Conclusão:Foi possível constatar que os escolares apresentaram menor número de erros com o aumento da escolarização e que cada tipo de texto apresentou uma dificuldade específica para os escolares.

Accuracy in dictation after improvement of reading and copying skills in a student with learning difficulties

The aim of this study was to use systematic teaching in a clinical setting using software to teach reading and writing in one boy with learning difficulties and obtain accurate performance in dictation. In the pre-test, the student showed good performance in matching-to-sample tasks (96% in matching printed words to dictated words; 88% in matching pictures to dictated words), although he obtained a low percentage of correct answers in the dictation of constructed responses (52%) and manuscripts (24%). The teaching strengthened the selection of printed words matched to dictated words and copying words. The student obtained 100% correct answers in the teaching tasks. In post-tests of dictation, he obtained 100% correct answers in constructed response and 96% correct answers in manuscripts. The results indicate that carefully teaching copying may promote accuracy in the performance of responding to minimal units in dictation tasks.