Preliminary draft of the sections of the CELADE 1980-83 proposal to UNFPA on subprogramme 6: documentation and data processing (INFOPAL, DOCPAL) (for discussion only; not to be quoted)

El Sub-Programa de Documentacion en Poblacion y Procesamiento de Datos del CELADE se compone de tres elementos que corresponden a los primeros objetivos inmediatos del mismo: el Sistema de Documentacion en Poblacion para America Latina (DOCPAL), el Banco de Datos y la Unidad de Procesamiento de Informacion. El presente documento describe los objetivos, antecedentes y justificacion de cada uno de estos tres nucleos, asi como las actividades contempladas para el periodo 1980-1983 y que fundamentan el presupuesto contenido en la solicitud de fondos al UNFPA

Desempenho de escolares com dislexia e transtorno do déficit de atenção e hiperatividade nos processos de leitura

This study aimed to characterize and to compare the performance of students with an interdisciplinary diagnosis of dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in students with good academic performance on the reading processes. Sixty students from both genders, from 2nd to 4th grades of municipal public schools in Marília - SP participated in this study, they were distributed as follows: GI, 20 students with interdisciplinary diagnosis of dyslexia; GII, 20 students with ADHD and GIII, 20 students with good academic performance, paired according to gender, age and grade level with GI and GII. The students were submitted to the application of the assessment of reading processes (PROLEC) composed by four processes: letters identification, lexical, syntactical and semantic. The results highlighted that the students of GIII showed superior performance comparing with GI and GII. There was difference between GI and GII only in low frequency word reading and non words reading of the lexical process. The inferior performance from GI and GII in the PROLEC tests can be justified by the difficulty on the coding and decoding abilities. In ADHD students this difficulty was due to impaired interaction between the visual, linguistic, attention and auditory processing and in the dyslexic students was due to failure at the phonological mediation process, which depends on the knowledge of rules of grapheme - phoneme conversion to the acquisition of word reading. These changes affect the reading achievement and the comprehension of the read text.

Reliability of marginal microleakage assessment by visual and digital methods

The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability of visual and digital methods to assess marginal microleakage in vitro. Materials and Methods: Typical Class V preparations were made in bovine teeth and filled with composite resin. After dye penetration (0.5% basic fuchsin), teeth were sectioned and the 53 obtained fragments were assessed according to visual (stereomicroscope) and digital methods (Image Tool Software ® -ITS) (University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio Dental School, USA). Two calibrated examiners (A and B) evaluated dye penetration, by means of a stereomicroscope with ×20 magnification (scores), and by the ITS (millimeters). The intra- and inter-examiner agreement was estimated according to Kappa statistics (κ), and intraclass correlation coefficient (ρ). Results: In relation to the visual method, the intra-examiner agreement was almost perfect (κA = 0.87) and substantial (κB = 0.76), respectively to the examiner A and B. The inter-examiner agreement showed an almost perfect reliability (κ = 0.84). For the digital method, the intra-examiner agreement was almost perfect for both examiners and equal to ρ = 0.99, and so was the inter-examiner agreement value. Conclusion: Visual (stereomicroscope) and digital methods (ITS) showed high levels of intra- and inter-examiner reproducibility when marginal microleakage was assessed.

Resting heart rate and auditory evoked potential

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

Longitudinal effects of physical activity on self-efficacy and cognitive processing of active and sedentary elderly women

Previous studies support that regular physical activity in aging contributes as a protective factor against cognitive decline and improves mood states. However, there is a lack of longitudinal studies in this area. Objective: To observe possible changes in cognition related with physical activity. METHODS: This study reassessed, after one-year period, 31 elderly women divided into two groups, sedentary versus active, using behavioral scales and cognitive tests. RESULTS: The active group exhibited significantly enhanced performance in general cognitive function, particularly on tasks of episodic memory and praxis, and also on the mood states scale compared to the sedentary group. The active women also reported higher self-efficacy. CONCLUSION: Long-term physical activity promoted improvement on quality of life in the elderly women.

Integrating Visual and Verbal Literacies in the Early Childhood Classroom

Young children have the strong desire to use all of the communicative tools their cultures and families offer them. They want to be able to do all of the things that the powerful people they admire can do, including talking, writing, drawing, using the computer, and otherwise creating and sharing ideas, memories, solutions, even jokes and feelings. Today, we live in a time when the communicative tools are changing rapidly, practically exploding before our eyes in terms of the formats and media available to us in complex combinations not seen before. What do these technological changes mean for how we can support children's development toward literacy? An integrated arts curriculum has long been favored by many educators, but today there are more reasons than ever to implement such a philosophy. From communications theory comes a new understanding of how modern technologies demand that children learn to "read" and "write" messages involving complex combinations and integrations of visual and verbal formats. From psychology come insights about intelligence being multiple not unitary, as well as ecological perception theory offering a well-accepted framework for analyzing the affordances and expressive possibilities of different media. From education come fresh approaches to integrated curriculum, including a philosophy and pedagogy from Reggio Emilia, Italy, that combines well with current thinking by North Americans. Altogether, we have many rationales and exciting strategies at hand for launching young children toward an integrated visual and verbal literacy that involves substance, challenge, and discipline, as well as innovation, creativity, and freedom.

Preliminary Findings on the Effects of Occupational Exposure to Mercury Vapor Below Safety Levels on Visual and Neuropsychological Functions

Objective: To evaluate whether there are visual and neurophysical decrements in workers with low exposure to Hg vapor. Methods: Visual fields, contrast sensitivity, color vision, and neuropsychological functions were measured in 10 workers (32.5 +/- 8.5 years) chronically exposed to Hg vapor (4.3 +/- 2.8 years; urinary Hg concentration 22.3 +/- 9.3 mu g/g creatinine). Results: For the worst eyes, we found altered visual field thresholds, lower contrast sensitivity, and color discrimination compared with controls (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between Hg-exposed subjects and controls on. neuropsychological tests. Nevertheless, duration of exposure was statistically correlated to verbal memory and depression scores. Conclusions: Chronic exposure to Hg vapor at currently accepted safety levels was found to be associated with visual losses but not with neuropsychological dysfunctions in the sample of workers studied. (J Occup Environ Med. 2009,51:1403-1412)

Contextual Reading and Metalinguistic Processing in Brazilian Portuguese: A Longitudinal Study

Metalinguistic skill is the ability to reflect upon language as an object of thought. Amongst metalinguistic skills, two seem to be associated with reading and spelling: morphological awareness and phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the ability of reflecting upon the phonemes that compose words, and morphological awareness is the ability of reflecting upon the morphemes that compose the words. The latter seems to be particularly important for reading comprehension and contextual reading, as beyond phonological information, syntactic and semantic information are required. This study is set to investigate - with a longitudinal design - the relation between those abilities and contextual reading measured by the Cloze test. The first part of the study explores the relationship between morphological awareness tasks and Cloze scores through simple correlations and, in the second part, the specificity of such relationship was inquired using multiple regressions. The results give some support to the hypothesis that morphological awareness offers an independent contribution regarding phonological awareness to contextual reading in Brazilian Portuguese.

PFGE characterisation and adhesion ability of Listeria monocytogenes isolates obtained from bovine carcasses and beef processing facilities

Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogen capable of adhering to many surfaces and forming biofilms, which may explain its persistence in food processing environments. This study aimed to genetically characterise L monocytogenes isolates obtained from bovine carcasses and beef processing facilities and to evaluate their adhesion abilities. DNA from 29 L monocytogenes isolates was subjected to enzymatic restriction digestion (Ascii and Apal), and two clusters were identified for serotypes 4b and 112a, with similarities of 48% and 68%. respectively. The adhesion ability of the isolates was tested considering: inoculum concentration, culture media, carbohydrate source, NaCl concentration, incubation temperature, and pH. Each isolate was tested at 10(8) CFU mL(-1) and classified according to its adhesion ability as weak (8 isolates). moderate (17) or strong (4). The isolates showed higher adhesion capability in non-diluted culture media, media at pH 7.0, incubation at 25 degrees C and 37 degrees C, and media with NaCl at 5% and 7%. No relevant differences were observed for adhesion ability with respect to the carbohydrate source. The results indicated a wide diversity of PFGE profiles of persistent L monocytogenes isolates, without relation to their adhesion characteristics. Also, it was observed that stressing conditions did not enhance the adhesion profile of the isolates. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reverse Engineering tools: development and experimentation of innovative methods for physical and geometrical data integration and post-processing

In recent years, the use of Reverse Engineering systems has got a considerable interest for a wide number of applications. Therefore, many research activities are focused on accuracy and precision of the acquired data and post processing phase improvements. In this context, this PhD Thesis deals with the definition of two novel methods for data post processing and data fusion between physical and geometrical information. In particular a technique has been defined for error definition in 3D points’ coordinates acquired by an optical triangulation laser scanner, with the aim to identify adequate correction arrays to apply under different acquisition parameters and operative conditions. Systematic error in data acquired is thus compensated, in order to increase accuracy value. Moreover, the definition of a 3D thermogram is examined. Object geometrical information and its thermal properties, coming from a thermographic inspection, are combined in order to have a temperature value for each recognizable point. Data acquired by an optical triangulation laser scanner are also used to normalize temperature values and make thermal data independent from thermal-camera point of view.

Novel metallo-porphyrin based colourimetric amine sensors and their processing via plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition at atmospheric pressure : synthesis, characterisation and mechanistic studies

Volatile amines are prominent indicators of food freshness, as they are produced during many microbiological food degradation processes. Monitoring and indicating the volatile amine concentration within the food package by intelligent packaging solutions might therefore be a simple yet powerful way to control food safety throughout the distribution chain.rnrnIn this context, this work aims to the formation of colourimetric amine sensing surfaces on different substrates, especially transparent PET packaging foil. The colour change of the deposited layers should ideally be discernible by the human eye to facilitate the determination by the end-user. rnrnDifferent tailored zinc(II) and chromium(III) metalloporphyrins have been used as chromophores for the colourimetric detection of volatile amines. A new concept to increase the porphyrins absorbance change upon exposure to amines is introduced. Moreover, the novel porphyrins’ processability during the deposition process is increased by their enhanced solubility in non-polar solvents.rnrnThe porphyrin chromophores have successfully been incorporated into polysiloxane matrices on different substrates via a dielectric barrier discharge enhanced chemical vapour deposition. This process allows the use of nitrogen as a cheap and abundant plasma gas, produces minor amounts of waste and by-products and can be easily introduced into (existing) roll-to-roll production lines. The formed hybrid sensing layers tightly incorporate the porphyrins and moreover form a porous structure to facilitate the amines diffusion to and interaction with the chromophores.rnrnThe work is completed with the thorough analysis of the porphyrins’ amine sensing performance in solution as well as in the hybrid coatings . To reveal the underlying interaction mechanisms, the experimental results are supported by DFT calculations. The deposited layers could be used for the detection of NEt3 concentrations below 10 ppm in the gas phase. Moreover, the coated foils have been tested in preliminary food storage experiments. rnrnThe mechanistic investigations on the interaction of amines with chromium(III) porphyrins revealed a novel pathway to the formation of chromium(IV) oxido porphyrins. This has been used for electrochemical epoxidation reactions with dioxygen as the formal terminal oxidant.rn

The importance of visual and olfactory stimuli during flower visits in Apis mellifera

Flowers attract honeybees using colour and scent signals. Bimodality (having both scent and colour) in flowers leads to increased visitation rates, but how the signals influence each other in a foraging situation is still quite controversial. We studied four basic questions: When faced with conflicting scent and colour information, will bees choose by scent and ignore the “wrong” colour, or vice versa? To get to the bottom of this question, we trained bees on scent-colour combination AX (rewarded) versus BY (unrewarded) and tested them on AY (previously rewarded colour and unrewarded scent) versus BX (previously rewarded scent and unrewarded colour). It turned out that the result depends on stimulus quality: if the colours are very similar (unsaturated blue and blue-green), bees choose by scent. If they are very different (saturated blue and yellow), bees choose by colour. We used the same scents, lavender and rosemary, in both cases. Our second question was: Are individual bees hardwired to use colour and ignore scent (or vice versa), or can this behaviour be modified, depending on which cue is more readily available in the current foraging context? To study this question, we picked colour-preferring bees and gave them extra training on scent-only stimuli. Afterwards, we tested if their preference had changed, and if they still remembered the scent stimulus they had originally used as their main cue. We came to the conclusion that a colour preference can be reversed through scent-only training. We also gave scent-preferring bees extra training on colour-only stimuli, and tested for a change in their preference. The number of animals tested was too small for statistical tests (n = 4), but a common tendency suggested that colour-only training leads to a preference for colour. A preference to forage by a certain sensory modality therefore appears to be not fixed but flexible, and adapted to the bee’s surroundings. Our third question was: Do bees learn bimodal stimuli as the sum of their parts (elemental learning), or as a new stimulus which is different from the sum of the components’ parts (configural learning)? We trained bees on bimodal stimuli, then tested them on the colour components only, and the scent components only. We performed this experiment with a similar colour set (unsaturated blue and blue-green, as above), and a very different colour set (saturated blue and yellow), but used lavender and rosemary for scent stimuli in both cases. Our experiment yielded unexpected results: with the different colours, the results were best explained by elemental learning, but with the similar colour set, bees exhibited configural learning. Still, their memory of the bimodal compound was excellent. Finally, we looked at reverse-learning. We reverse-trained bees with bimodal stimuli to find out whether bimodality leads to better reverse-learning compared to monomodal stimuli. We trained bees on AX (rewarded) versus BY (unrewarded), then on AX (unrewarded) versus BY (rewarded), and finally on AX (rewarded) and BY (unrewarded) again. We performed this experiment with both colour sets, always using the same two scents (lavender and rosemary). It turned out that bimodality does not help bees “see the pattern” and anticipate the switch. Generally, bees trained on the different colour set performed better than bees trained on the similar colour set, indicating that stimulus salience influences reverse-learning.

Performance of laser fluorescence devices, visual and radiographic examination for the detection of occlusal caries in primary molars

The aim of this in vitro study was to compare the performance of two laser fluorescence devices (LF, LFpen), conventional visual criteria (VE), ICDAS and radiographic examination on occlusal surfaces of primary teeth. Thirty-seven primary human molars were selected from a pool of extracted teeth, which were stored frozen at -20°C until use. Teeth were assessed twice by two experienced examiners using laser fluorescence devices (LF and LFpen), conventional visual criteria, ICDAS and bitewing radiographs, with a 2-week interval between measurements. After measurement, the teeth were histologically prepared and assessed for caries extension. The highest sensitivity was observed for ICDAS at D(1) and D(3) thresholds, with no statistically significant difference when compared to the LF devices, except at the D(3) threshold. Bitewing radiographs presented the lowest values of sensitivity. Specificity at D(1) was higher for LFpen (0.90) and for VE at D(3) (0.94). When VE was combined with LFpen the post-test probabilities were the highest (94.0% and 89.2% at D(1) and D(3) thresholds, respectively). High values were observed for the combination of ICDAS and LFpen (92.0% and 80.0%, respectively). LF and LFpen showed the highest values of ICC for interexaminer reproducibility. However, regarding ICDAS, BW and VE, intraexaminer reproducibility was not the same for the two examiners. After primary visual inspection using ICDAS or not, the use of LFpen may aid in the detection of occlusal caries in primary teeth. Bitewing radiographs may be indicated only for approximal caries detection.