Essays on decision sciences: exploring cognition, information processing, and complexity

This thesis provides three original contributions to the field of Decision Sciences. The first contribution explores the field of heuristics and biases. New variations of the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT--a test to measure "the ability or disposition to resist reporting the response that first comes to mind"), are provided. The original CRT (S. Frederick [2005] Journal of Economic Perspectives, v. 19:4, pp.24-42) has items in which the response is immediate--and erroneous. It is shown that by merely varying the numerical parameters of the problems, large deviations in response are found. Not only the final results are affected by the proposed variations, but so is processing fluency. It seems that numbers' magnitudes serve as a cue to activate system-2 type reasoning. The second contribution explores Managerial Algorithmics Theory (M. Moldoveanu [2009] Strategic Management Journal, v. 30, pp. 737-763); an ambitious research program that states that managers display cognitive choices with a "preference towards solving problems of low computational complexity". An empirical test of this hypothesis is conducted, with results showing that this premise is not supported. A number of problems are designed with the intent of testing the predictions from managerial algorithmics against the predictions of cognitive psychology. The results demonstrate (once again) that framing effects profoundly affect choice, and (an original insight) that managers are unable to distinguish computational complexity problem classes. The third contribution explores a new approach to a computationally complex problem in marketing: the shelf space allocation problem (M-H Yang [2001] European Journal of Operational Research, v. 131, pp.107--118). A new representation for a genetic algorithm is developed, and computational experiments demonstrate its feasibility as a practical solution method. These studies lie at the interface of psychology and economics (with bounded rationality and the heuristics and biases programme), psychology, strategy, and computational complexity, and heuristics for computationally hard problems in management science.

Avaliação dos aspectos subjetivos nos projetos de arquitetura dos alunos de planejamento

Com a intenção de melhor serem conhecidas as formas de avaliação daquilo que chamamos "aspectos subjetivos", nos projetos de arquitetura, selecionamos e entrevistamos 7 arquitetos, escolhidos por suas atuações, tanto profissionais como no magistério. Apresentamos, inicialmente, algumas das mais importantes posições teóricas sobre avaliação, procurando-se, também, mostrar o enfoque sociológico do assunto. Desde logo observamos pontos de vista diversos, divergentes e até discrepantes, entre os vários autores selecionados, o que nos alertou para um possivel ingresso em terreno polêmico. Como metodologia de trabalho, procuramos entrevistar os professores, usando-se as mesmas condições para todos eles (ambiente calmo, descontraído, sem pressa e sem interrupções), ocasião em que um elenco de perguntas era proposto. As respostas foram registradas em um gravador, que ficava à vista, sobre a mesa. Garantimos aos entrevistados que não haveria identificação da autoria das declarações, propiciando-se, assim, mais "fluência" nas respostas e, talvez, um pouco mais de "ousadia" nas afirmações. Em seguida, e já a partir das diversas declarações, buscamos destacar a visão de avaliação de cada um, para em seguida, afunilar essa análise, focalizando, mais especificamente, os aspectos objetivos e os subjetivos na avaliação dos projetos de arquitetura. Concluimos que, apesar das muitas maneiras de avaliar, e de até não avaliar os trabalhos de projeto, há várias atitudes, sistemas, métodos, etc - alguns até conflitantes - empregados pelos diversos professores, que formam, entretanto, uma base comum, uma postura semelhante, entre eles. Essa identidade provém da constatação de que houve unanimidade, entre os entrevistados, de ser a arte uma resultante da composição de ingredientes culturais e ideológicos, provenientes, principalmente, das condições materiais, num determinado momento histórico. Na Arquitetura, com maior ênfase ainda, por ser uma arte utilitária, o seu "engajamento ideológico" torna-se inevitável e, consequentemente a sua avaliação, de forma jacente ou subjacente, será feita por essa ótica.

O desenvolvimento da capacidade criativa da criança e o papel dos métodos empregados no ensino da linguagem

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi a identificação de diferenças no desenvolvimento da capacidade criativa de crianças, de ambos os sexos e de diferentes níveis sócio-econômicos, alfabetizados pelos métodos analítico e sintético, nas primeiras series do 1º grau, nos Estabelecimentos de Ensino da Rede Oficial de Uberlândia. Os sujeitos foram sorteados entre os alunos matriculados na 1ª série do 1º grau, havendo apenas a condição de que ainda não houvessem sido alfabetizados. Os sujeitos foram divididos em dois grupos, segundo o método pelo qual seríam alfabetizados. A medida de criatividade utilizada foi o teste de Wallach & Kogan, aplicado em duas sessões: a primeira, quando da entrada dos sujeitos na escola e a segunda, ao final do semestre. A criatividade foi avaliada através das três dimensões: fluência, originalidade e flexibilidade das respostas. A análise estatística revelou diferenças significativas apenas no que se referia à dimensão "flexibilidade", cujo índice se mostrou mais elevado no grupo sintético, quando comparado com o do grupo analítico. Não foram encontradas diferenças entre os grupos feminino e masculino e, nem também, entre os grupos de diferentes níveis sócio-econômicos.

O profissional da informaçao e as habilidades exigidas no mercado de trabalho emergente

Diante de um novo perfil do emprego e do mercado de trabalho - que se transforma marcadamente em face das tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC) há uma demanda por profissionais munidos de novas habilidades e competências. Assim, objetiva-se, de modo geral, analisar as novas habilidades demandadas pelo mercado de trabalho atual para o profissional da informação. Para tanto, busca-se especificamente, caracterizar os fatores determinantes do contexto atual; verificar o impacto das TIC no mercado de trabalho do profissional da informação; e conhecer as transformações ocorridas no perfil deste profissional frente a estas mudanças. Para alcançar os objetivos propostos recorreu-se à pesquisa bibliográfica, bem como à análise de anúncios de empregos divulgados no website Catho On-line. A análise dos dados se deu de forma comparativa entre os anos de 2003 e 2005 e, permitiu concluir que as habilidades exigidas para o profissional da informação na atualidade dizem respeito, além dos conhecimentos técnicos, a fluência em idioma estrangeiro, ao domínio da informática, aos conhecimentos gerencias e, principalmente, às habilidades interpessoais_____________________________________________________________________________Facing a new profile of the job and the labor market - that changes remarkably regarding to the new technologies of information and communication (TIC), there is a demand for professionals who posses new abilities and competences. It was aimed at, then, in general, to analyze the new abilities disputed by the labor market for the professional of information, because of the new available resources. In order to do that, it was specifically searched, to characterize the decisive factors of the current context; to verify the impact of the TIC in the labor market of the professional of information; and to know the transformations happened in the profile of these professionals before these changes. To reach the proposed objectives it was realized bibliographical research, as well as to the analysis of advertisements of jobs published in the website Catho On-line, of comparative form between the years of 2003 and 2005. The analysis of the data allowed us to conclude that the abilities demanded for the professional of information at the present time concern, besides the technical knowledge, the fluency in a foreign language, to the domain of the computer science and the managing knowledge

O hipertexto eletrônico de meio ambiente : estratégias de leitura e navegação

The incorporation of computing in class instigate the use of the Internet and websites as a content support in the teaching/leaning process. This kind of practice had challenged the students to read through eletronic hypertextual means. In that way, we re trying to undestand which strategies of reading and navigation the students of the second and third grade of highschool levels are using when reading electronic hypertexts from the www.ambientebrasil.com.br website. The research took place in the Escola Estadual Jerônimo Rosado in Mossoró RN. Our theoretical base was estructured on the digital Technology (electronic hypertext estructure and it s navigation modes), in applied linguistics (act of reading) and in cognition (interaction of the reader with the text and the use of reading strategies in the virtual computing enviroment). The applied methodology was the case analysis which was developed with the reunion of collected data through qualitative reseach questionaries, direct observations and video recording sessions. The research demonstrates that reader s ability in the act of navigating on virtual sites activates his/her reading strategies. Also shows how the semantic architecture of the hyperlinks can interfere directly over the strategies of reading and navigation in specific websites. Our research also intend to demonstrate that the student use his strategies of linear text reading when are not accustomed to use the reading through websites in a regular basis. The investigation concludes observing that the amount of hypertexts per pages and the inappropriate use of the multimedia elements were harmful to the reading fluency

A ferramenta VoiceThread em uma abordagem hibrida: o desenvolvimento da produção oral e da habilidade de noticing na aprendizagem de inglês como L2

VoiceThread (VT) is a collaborative and asynchronous web 2.0 tool, which permits the creation of oral presentations with the help of images, documents, texts and voice, allowing groups of people to browse and contribute with comments using several options: voice (microphone or cell phone), text and audio-file or video (webcam) (BOTTENTUIT JUNIOR, LISBÔA E COUTINHO, 2009). The hybrid experience with VoiceThread allows learners to plan their speech before recording it, without the pressure often existent in the classroom. Furthermore, the presentations can be recorded several times, enabling students to listen to them, notice the gaps in their oral production (noticing) and edit innumerous times before publishing them online. In this perspective, oral production is seen as a process of L2 acquisition, not only as practice of already existent knowledge, because it can stimulate the learner to process the language syntactically (SWAIN, 1985; 1995). In this context, this study aims to verify if there is a relation between the oral production of the learners more specifically the grammatical accuracy and the global oral grade and their noticing capacity, how the systematic practice with VoiceThread, in a hybrid approach, can impact the learners global oral development, their oral production in terms of fluency (number of words per minute), accuracy (number of errors in hundred words), and complexity (number of dependent clauses per minute), and on their noticing capacity (SCHMIDT, 1990; 1995; 2001), that is, the learner s capacity of noticing the gaps existent in their oral production. In order to answer these research questions, 49 L2 learners of English were divided into an experimental group (25 students) and a control group (24 students). The experimental group was exposed to the hybrid approach with VT during two months and, through a pre- and post-test, we verified if this systematic practice would positively influence these participants oral production and noticing capacity. These results were compared to the pre- and post-test scores from the control group, which was not exposed to VT. Finally, learners impressions in relation to the use of this tool were also sought through a questionnaire applied after the post-test. The results indicate that there is a statistically significant correlation between the learners speech production (accuracy and global oral grade) and their noticing capacity. Besides, it was verified a positive impact of VoiceThread on the learners speech production variables and on their noticing capacity. They also reveal a positive reaction by the learners in relation to the hybrid experience with this web tool

Narrativas de professores em formação sobre a didatização de podcasts para o ensino de inglês na floresta

Considering the following conditions: (1) the fluency demands of students in an undergraduate program in Languages and Literatures/English in the Amazon region; (2) the listening and speaking needs of pre-service teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL); (3) my continuing education as a professor of EFL and my academic literacy as a teacher-researcher and pre-service-teacher trainer, this study, which is based on Narrative Inquiry, reports on a teacher experience of working didactically with oral genres through podcasting an activity that emerged with the advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Through this process, I engage with some theorists who promote teaching as a process that is driven by a concept of language as social practice. Subsequently, I make use of the notions of context of culture and context of situation, derived from Systemic Functional Linguistics, as well as the concept of genre and register derived from the perspective of this theory. Based on these principles and beliefs, the Amazon region constitutes the register (situation) of the genres used in this study. These principles also provide, opportunities for building learning strategies appropriate to this local context, and also to teach listening and speaking skills from a task-based approach. During the experience, based on the reflective teacher-education model, the participants produced narratives about the process, which I then analyzed according to Ely, Vinz, Downing and Anzul (2001), who propose possibilities of composing meanings in Narrative Inquiry. Based on this perspective, I discuss the following topics, which were highly emphasized in the participants narratives: the lack of didactic activities using oral genres; the relevance of context within teacher education; and collaborative work as a strategy to overcome gaps in digital literacy, language fluency and teaching skills. The meanings I thereby compose point to a paradigm shift in English language teaching within this context. I also argue for a pedagogical practice that is engaged with historical and socio-cultural issues, and with the development of language skills, also one that promotes the implementation of ICTs at the very start of teacher training programs, adopting teaching and learning strategies that correspond to the demands of fluency in this particular context, and deficiencies imposed by geographical isolation

Efeitos do treino em esteira na marcha com dupla tarefa de indivíduos com doença de Parkinson: ensaio clínico controlado randomizado

Background: The gait automaticity loss difficults realization of concurrent activities - Dual Task (DT). In these situations, individuals with Parkinson`s disease (PD) show a significant reduction in gait velocity and stride length, as strides variability and asymmetry increased, factors predisposing to falls. However, recent studies have shown that training involving DT may cause subsequent improvements in gait variables with DT in individuals with PD. The treadmill use was adopted by this study, by promoting greater regularity in step and enhance training. Objective:To investigate immediate effects of gait training associated with cognitive tasks on gait in individuals with PD. Methods: Twenty-two volunteers were randomly divided into two groups: control group (n = 11), who performed gait training on a treadmill for 20 minutes, and the experimental group (n = 11), who performed treadmill gait training for 20 minutes associated with cognitive tasks of verbal fluency, memory, and spatial planning. Participants were evaluated in phase on of antiparkinsonian medication as the demographic, clinical and anthropometric (identification form), cognitive status (Montreal Cognitive Assessment - MoCA), executive function (Frontal Assessment Battery), level of physical disability (Hoehn and Yahr Modified), motor and functional status (Unified Rating Scale for Parkinson`s Disease - UPDRS), and kinematics (Qualisys Motion Capture System). Results: There were not differences between groups, but both showed improvement after the intervention. The control group had an increase in velocity (p = 0.008), stride length (p = 0.04), step length (p = 0.02) and decreased double support time(p = 0.03). The experimental group showed an increase in speed (p = 0.002), stride length (p = 0.008), step length (p = 0.02) and cadence (p = 0.01), as well as a decrease in the width stride (p = 0.001) and total support time (p = 0.02). As the angular variables, the experimental group had a significant increase in the initial contact angle of ankle (p = 0.01). Conclusion: The gait training combined with cognitive activities didn`t provide significant improvements in gait variables with DT, but this study was the first to demonstrate that gait training on treadmill as simple task minimized the negative interference of DT in PD

Alterações da default mode network provocadas pela ingestão de Ayahuasca investigadas por Ressonância Magnética Funcional

Ayahuasca is psychotropic beverage that has been used for ages by indigenous populations in South America, notably in the Amazon region, for religious and medicinal purposes. The tea is obtained by the decoction of leaves from the Psychotria viridis with the bark and stalk of a shrub, the Banisteriopsis caapi. The first is rich in N-N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which has an important and well-known hallucinogenic effect due to its agonistic action in serotonin receptors, specifically 5-HT2A. On the other hand, β-carbolines present in B. caapi, particularly harmine and harmaline, are potent monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOi). In addition, the tetrahydroharmine (THH), also present in B. caapi, acts as mild selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and a weak MAOi. This unique composition induces a number of affective, sensitive, perceptual and cognitive changes in individuals under the effect of Ayahuasca. On the other hand, there is growing interest in the Default Mode Network (DMN), which has been consistently observed in functional neuroimaging studies. The key components of this network include structures in the brain midline, as the anterior medial frontal cortex, ventral medial frontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, and some regions within the inferior parietal lobe and middle temporal gyrus. It has been argued that DMN participate in tasks involving self-judgments, autobiographical memory retrieval, mental simulations, thinking in perspective, meditative states, and others. In general, these tasks require an internal focus of attention, hence the conclusion that the DMN is associated with introspective mental activity. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) changes in DMN caused via the ingestion of Ayahuasca by 10 healthy subjects while submitted to two fMRI protocols: a verbal fluency task and a resting state acquisition. In general, it was observed that Ayahuasca causes a reduction in the fMRI signal in central nodes of DMN, such as the anterior cingulate cortex, the medial prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus and inferior parietal lobe. Furthermore, changes in connectivity patterns of the DMN were observed, especially a decrease in the functional connectivity of the precuneus. Together, these findings indicate an association between the altered state of consciousness experienced by individuals under the effect of Ayahuasca, and changes in the stream of spontaneous thoughts leading to an increased introspective mental activity

Estudos das interações de quitosana/CTAB/C12E8

Surfactant-polymer interactions are widely used when required rheological properties for specific applications, such as the production of fluids for oil exploration. Studies of the interactions of chitosan with cationic surfactants has attracted attention by being able to cause changes in rheological parameters of the systems making room for new applications. The commercial chitosan represents an interesting alternative to these systems, since it is obtained from partial deacetylation of chitin: the residues sites acetylated can then be used for the polymer-surfactant interactions. Alkyl ethoxylated surfactants can be used in this system, since these non-ionic surfactants can interact with hydrophobic sites of chitosan, modifying the rheology of solutions or emulsions resultants, which depends on the relaxation phenomenon occurring in these systems. In this work, first, inverse emulsions were prepared from chitosan solution as the dispersed phase and cyclohexane as the continuous phase were, using CTAB as a surfactant. The rheological analysis of these emulsions showed pronounced pseudoplastic behavior. This behavior was attributed to interaction of "loops" of chitosan chains. Creep tests were also performed and gave further support to these discussions. Subsequently, in order to obtain more information about the interaction of chitosan with non-ionic surfactants, solutions of chitosan were mixed with C12E8 and and carried out rheological analysis and dynamic light scattering. The systems showed marked pseudoplastic behavior, which became less evident when the concentration of surfactant was increased. Arrhenius and KWW equations were used to obtain parameters of the apparent activation energy and relaxation rate distribution, respectively, to which were connected to the content of surfactant and temperature used in this work

Aspectos da fluência na narrativa oral de indivíduos com Transtorno do Espectro Alcoólico Fetal

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Relação entre taxa de elocução e descontinuidade da fala na taquifemia

OBJETIVO: Correlacionar a taxa de elocução com as rupturas da fluência em pessoas com taquifemia e comparar com pessoas sem taquifemia. MÉTODOS: Participaram dessa investigação 14 indivíduos na faixa etária de 8 a 40 anos e 11 meses de idade, de ambos os gêneros, divididos em dois grupos pareados por idade e gênero. O GI foi composto por sete pessoas com taquifemia e o GII por sete pessoas sem taquifemia. Um protocolo de avaliação da fluência da fala foi utilizado para obter e analisar a amostra de fala, que considera a frequência das disfluências e a taxa de elocução. RESULTADOS: Os dados indicaram que quanto maiores os fluxos de sílabas e de palavras por minuto, maior o número de rupturas na fala, tanto nas pessoas com taquifemia como nas pessoas sem taquifemia. Quanto à comparação entre os grupos, houve correlação tanto para sílabas por minuto como para palavras por minuto apenas no grupo de pessoas sem taquifemia. CONCLUSÃO: O grupo de taquifêmicos apresentou aumento na taxa de elocução e disfluências comuns excessivas. Nos dois grupos analisados ocorreu uma tendência em se obter maiores valores de disfluências comuns à medida que a taxa de elocução aumentava. Porém, na análise comparativa entre o grupo de pessoas com e sem taquifemia, a correlação foi significativa apenas no grupo de pessoas sem taquifemia.

Orientação familiar e seus efeitos na gagueira infantil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Comparative analysis of root surface smear layer removal by different etching modalities or erbium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser irradiation. A scanning electron microscopy study

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of erbium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Er:YAG) laser (2.94 mu m) irradiation on the removal of root surface smear layer of extracted human teeth and to compare its efficacy with that of citric acid, ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA), or a gel containing a mixture of tetracycline hydrochloride (HCl) and citric acid, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Thirty human dentin specimens were randomly divided into six groups: G1 (control group), irrigated with 10 ml of physiologic saline solution; G2, conditioned with 24% citric acid gel; G3, conditioned with 24% EDTA gel; G4, conditioned with a 50% citric acid and tetracycline gel; G5, irradiated with Er:YAG laser (47 mJ/10 Hz/5.8 J/cm(2)/pulse); G6, irradiated with Er:YAG laser (83 mJ/10 Hz/10.3 J/cm(2)/pulse). Electron micrographs were obtained and analyzed according to a rating system. Statistical analysis was conducted with Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests (P < 0.05). G1 was statistically different from all the other groups; no statistically significant differences were observed between the Er:YAG laser groups and those undergoing the other treatment modalities. When the two Er:YAG laser groups were compared, the fluency of G6 was statistically more effective in smear layer removal than the one used in G5 (Mann-Whitney test, P < 0.01). Root surfaces irradiated by Er:YAG laser had more irregular contours than those treated by chemical agents. It can be concluded that all treatment modalities were effective in smear layer removal. The results of our study suggest that the Er:YAG laser can be safely used to condition diseased root surfaces effectively. Furthermore, the effect of Er:YAG laser irradiation on root surfaces should be evaluated in vivo so that its potential to enhance the healing of periodontal tissues can be assessed.

Susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus to porphyrin-mediated photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy: an in vitro study

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)