Becoming a written word: eye movements reveal order of acquisition effects following incidental exposure to new words during silent reading

We know that from mid-childhood onwards most new words are learned implicitly via reading; however, most word learning studies have taught novel items explicitly. We examined incidental word learning during reading by focusing on the well-documented finding that words which are acquired early in life are processed more quickly than those acquired later. Novel words were embedded in meaningful sentences and were presented to adult readers early (day 1) or later (day 2) during a five-day exposure phase. At test adults read the novel words in semantically neutral sentences. Participants’ eye movements were monitored throughout exposure and test. Adults also completed a surprise memory test in which they had to match each novel word with its definition. Results showed a decrease in reading times for all novel words over exposure, and significantly longer total reading times at test for early than late novel words. Early-presented novel words were also remembered better in the offline test. Our results show that order of presentation influences processing time early in the course of acquiring a new word, consistent with partial and incremental growth in knowledge occurring as a function of an individual’s experience with each word.

Medicines and other Resources Utilized in Order to Cope Infants Diseases in the Family Daily Life: a qualitative study

Medicines and other Resources Utilized in Order to Cope Infants Diseases in the Family Daily Life: a qualitative study. The study proposes to investigate the use of medications, medicinal plants and other therapeutic resources to cope infants diseases in the domestic realm in an urban area. The ethnographic research method was utilized as referential, guiding the study for 10 months with 20 fortnight meetings in the domicile of 15 families. The study followed up 180 episodes of disease, 74,5% were treated, in a first instance, at home, resulting in the use of 212 therapeutic resources. The main type of therapeutic resource utilized was industrialized medicines, differing considerably from its clinic recommendations. The realm of the health services was more mobilized as a second treatment option. In the community realm, treatment of diseases known from the popular culture was performed via blessings and prayers. The families use medicines as cultural practices and the acceptance of some type of treatment depends on the expectations and experiences of the family.

A Direct Numerov Sixth-order Numerical Scheme to Accurately Solve the Unidimensional Poisson Equation with Dirichlet Boundary Conditions

In this article, we present an analytical direct method, based on a Numerov three-point scheme, which is sixth order accurate and has a linear execution time on the grid dimension, to solve the discrete one-dimensional Poisson equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions. Our results should improve numerical codes used mainly in self-consistent calculations in solid state physics.

Learning in and through drama : The necessity to use multiple theoretical perspectives in order to understand how learning takes place in drama

The complexity of learning implies that learning seldom is about just one thing. It can be said that learning processes are interdisciplinary. Within educational contexts, learning is not limited to constructed school subjects. In drama education, learning is simultaneously about drama as aesthetic expression and content because drama always is about something. The mainly focus can be on form, content or social aspects. The different aspects are always present, but may be more or less foreground or the background depending on the purpose of education. How do development concerning understanding of form, content, and social interaction, interact in a learning process in drama? My research is based on the view that learning at the same time takes place as an individual, internal process and a socially situated, inter-subjective process. Can learning in drama imply learning that can be transferred between different situations, a transformative learning and if so, how? Transformative learning includes cognitive, affective and corporal and social action aspects and means that the individual's frames of reference are transformed, evolved, to become more insightful and flexible which implies a change of personality. It leads to an integrated knowledge that can be applied in different contexts.   In the paper that will be presented at the conference, theories about how we learn in drama will be discussed in relation to my empirical research concerning drama and learning.

Orbit determination using GPS including perturbations due to geopotential coefficients of high degree and order and solar radiation pressure

The main target here is to determine the orbit of an artificial satellite, using signals of the GPS constellation and least squares algorithms implemented through sequential Givens rotations as a method of estimation, with the aim of improving the performance of the orbit estimation process and, at the same time, minimizing the computational procedure cost. Geopotential perturbations up to high order and direct solar radiation pressure were taken into account. It was also considered the position of the GPS antenna on the satellite body that, lately, consists of the influence of the satellite attitude motion in the orbit determination process. An application has been done, using real data from the Topex/Poseidon satellite, whose ephemeris is available at Internet. The best accuracy obtained in position was smaller than 5 meters for short period (2 hours) and smaller than 28 meters for long period (24 hours) orbit determination. In both cases, the perturbations mentioned before were taken into consideration and the analysis occurred without selective availability on the signals measurements.

Subtractive renormalization of the next-to-leading order NN interaction

The subtracted kernel method is implemented recursively to solve scattering equations for the S-1(0) phase-shifts considering the leading and the next-to-leading order NN interaction.

Superspace approach to the renormalization of the O'Raifeartaigh model up to the second order in the linear delta expansion parameter

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Statements on chaos control designs, including a fractional order dynamical system, applied to a MEMS comb-drive actuator

In this work, we deal with a micro electromechanical system (MEMS), represented by a micro-accelerometer. Through numerical simulations, it was found that for certain parameters, the system has a chaotic behavior. The chaotic behaviors in a fractional order are also studied numerically, by historical time and phase portraits, and the results are validated by the existence of positive maximal Lyapunov exponent. Three control strategies are used for controlling the trajectory of the system: State Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE) Control, Optimal Linear Feedback Control, and Fuzzy Sliding Mode Control. The controls proved effective in controlling the trajectory of the system studied and robust in the presence of parametric errors.

Contribution of structural order-disorder to the room-temperature photoluminescence of lead zirconate titanate powders

Intense and broad visible photoluminescent (PL) band was observed at room temperature in structurally disordered PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 powders. The lead zirconate titanate PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 powders prepared by the polymeric precursor method and heat treated at different temperatures were structurally characterized at long range by means of X-ray diffraction. The PL was measured at room temperature samples heat treated at different temperatures. Experimental measurements and quantum-mechanical calculations showed that the high structural order and the high structural disorder in PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 lattice are not favorable to the intense PL emission. Only samples containing simultaneous structural order and disorder in their lattice present the intense visible PL emission at room temperature. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

First-order decay models to describe soil C-CO2 Loss after rotary tillage

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

Orbital perturbations using geopotential coefficients up to high degree and order: Highly eccentric orbits

Several methods have been proposed for calculations of the eccentricity function for a high value of the eccentricity, however they cannot be used when the high degree and order coefficients of gravity fields are taken into account. The method proposed by Wnuk(1) is numerically stable in this case, but when is used. a large number of terms occurs in formulas for geopotential perturbations. In this paper we propose an application of expansions of some functions of the eccentric anomaly E as well as Hansen coefficients in power series of (e - e*), where e* is a fixed value of the eccentricity derived by da Silva Fernandes(2,3,4). These series are convergent for all e < 1.

Acute swimming stress induces changes in noradrenergic mechanisms in order to maintain the response pattern of the rat vas deferens to norepinephrine

This study investigated mechanisms involved in the maintenance of the functional response pattern of the postjunctional alpha(1)-adrenoceptor in vas deferens isolated from rats submitted to acute swimming stress. The plasma corticosterone levels increased approximately three times after the swimming stress in the nontreated rats as well as after swimming stress in the rats pretreated with desipramine (DMI), yohimbine (YO), or DMI with YO. No alteration was detected in the sensitivity to norepinephrine (NE) in the vasa deferentia from the stressed rats or stressed rats treated with DMI or DMI with YO, in relation to their respective control. However, when the vasa deferentia were previously incubated with DMI, a reduction in sensitivity to NE in organs from stressed rats was observed. Vasa deferentia excised from rats pretreated with YO before the swimming stress showed an increase in postjunctional alpha(1)-response that was abolished by prazosin (PZ). Thus, the neuronal uptake, the prejunctional alpha(2)-adrenoceptors (mediating prejunctional inhibition), the occupancy and functional response of the postjunctional alpha(1)-adrenoceptors, and the emotional stress component were very important for the determination of the noradrenergic response pattern in vas deferens from rats submitted to acute swimming stress. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contribution of structural order-disorder to the green photoluminescence of PbWO4

An intense and broad visible photoluminescence (PL) band was observed at room temperature in structurally disordered PbWO4 thin films. The scheelite lead tungstate (PbWO4) films prepared by the polymeric precursor method and annealed at different temperatures were structurally characterized by means of x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy analysis. Quantum-mechanical calculations showed that the local disorder of the network modifier (Pb) has a very important role in the charge transfer involved in the green PL emission. The experimental and theoretical results are in good agreement, both indicating that the generation of the intense visible PL band is related to simultaneous structural order and disorder in the scheelite PbWO4 lattice.