The effect of multimedia instruction on achievement of college history students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of multimedia instruction on achievement of college students in AMH 2010 from exploration and discovery to1865. A non-equivalent control group design was used. The dependent variable was achievement. The independent variables were learning styles method of instruction, and visual clarifiers (notes). The study was conducted using two history sections from Palm Beach Community College, in Boca Raton, Florida, between August and December, 1998. Data were obtained by means of placement scores, posttests, the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (PEPS), and a researcher-developed student survey. Statistical analysis of the data was done using SPSS statistical software. Demographic variables were compared using Chi square. T tests were run on the posttests to determine the equality of variances. The posttest scores of the groups were compared using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at the .05 level of significance. The first hypothesis there is a significant difference in students' learning of U.S. History when students receive multimedia instruction was supported, F = (1, 52)= 688, p < .0005, and F = (1, 53) = 8.52, p < .005for Tests 2 and 3, respectively. The second hypothesis there is a significant difference on the effectiveness of multimedia instruction based on students' various learning preferences was not supported. The last hypotheses there is a significant difference on students' learning of U.S. History when students whose first language is other than English and students who need remediation receive visual clarifiers were not supported. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated no difference between the groups on Test 1, Test 2, or Test 3: F (1, 4 5)= .01, p < .940, F (l, 52) = .77, p < .385, and F (1,53) =.17, p > .678, respectively, for language. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated no significant difference on Test 1, Test 2, or Test 3, between the groups on the variable remediation: F (1, 45) = .31, p < .580, F (1, 52) = 1.44, p < .236, and F (1, 53) = .21, p < .645, respectively.

Avaliação do ganho de peso de bebês prematuros em relação ao leite materno cru e leite pasteurizado

This study aims to evaluate the weight gain of premature newborns fed with breast milk from their mothers' from those that are fed with breast milk from the milk bank. The research is the quantitative, descriptive and observational kind. It was conducted in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Housing from the Maternity Hospital Escola Januário Cicco (MEJC), that is a reference for high risk pregnancy and birth in Rio Grande do Norte. The premature newborns included were following these parameters: gestational age from 26 to 37 weeks, initially hospitalized at UTIN, with oral diet, by means by gavage, cup and/or suction. Studies with premature newborns with a zero diet longer than seven days or complications that interfered in the evaluation of weight gain were excluded from this study. The sample was selected for convenience and had data of all newborns hospitalized at UTIN from the May to June of 2014 time period, followed to their discharge, ended by August of 2014 and had the inclusion parameters of the study. From the period of the data collection, 60 premature newborns entered the maternity and 39 of those were the sample of research. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee from UFRN, under CAAE nº 0699.0.000.294-11. The data was analyzed by means of descriptive and deduced statistics. The results indicated that the involved in the study, were born from mother with average age of 25,36 years, with less than nine years education 21 (53,8%), had the family income less than a minimum wage 24 (61,5%). Among the newborn, the female gender predominated 20 (51,3%), had cesarean delivery 25 (64,1%), had moderate prematurity 29 (74,5%), more of 1.500g 22 (556,4%). The birth weight average was 1.608,49g. The total of diets were 9.994, and an average of 256 for each newborn, in a 32,12 days of hospitalization time period. Most of the diet supplies were from the breast milk bank (50,34%), however 56,4% of the newborns had most of the diet from their mothers' milked breast milk. It was detected that 38,5% of the newborns had, in some given moment, artificial milk. The daily weight gain average of all newborns was 2,59g, but 35% of them had an average above 10g per day. From the newborn's group (n=25) that had medium weight gain, only 9 of them (36,0%) received mainly their own mothers' milked breast milk. It's been conclusive that most of the premature newborns gained weight predominantly from diets from the breast milk of the Milk Bank, showing the need of a bigger incentive to exclusive breast feeding.

Seleção de características para identificação de diferentes proporções de tipos de fibras musculares por meio da eletromiografia de superfície

Skeletal muscle consists of muscle fiber types that have different physiological and biochemical characteristics. Basically, the muscle fiber can be classified into type I and type II, presenting, among other features, contraction speed and sensitivity to fatigue different for each type of muscle fiber. These fibers coexist in the skeletal muscles and their relative proportions are modulated according to the muscle functionality and the stimulus that is submitted. To identify the different proportions of fiber types in the muscle composition, many studies use biopsy as standard procedure. As the surface electromyography (EMGs) allows to extract information about the recruitment of different motor units, this study is based on the assumption that it is possible to use the EMG to identify different proportions of fiber types in a muscle. The goal of this study was to identify the characteristics of the EMG signals which are able to distinguish, more precisely, different proportions of fiber types. Also was investigated the combination of characteristics using appropriate mathematical models. To achieve the proposed objective, simulated signals were developed with different proportions of motor units recruited and with different signal-to-noise ratios. Thirteen characteristics in function of time and the frequency were extracted from emulated signals. The results for each extracted feature of the signals were submitted to the clustering algorithm k-means to separate the different proportions of motor units recruited on the emulated signals. Mathematical techniques (confusion matrix and analysis of capability) were implemented to select the characteristics able to identify different proportions of muscle fiber types. As a result, the average frequency and median frequency were selected as able to distinguish, with more precision, the proportions of different muscle fiber types. Posteriorly, the features considered most able were analyzed in an associated way through principal component analysis. Were found two principal components of the signals emulated without noise (CP1 and CP2) and two principal components of the noisy signals (CP1 and CP2 ). The first principal components (CP1 and CP1 ) were identified as being able to distinguish different proportions of muscle fiber types. The selected characteristics (median frequency, mean frequency, CP1 and CP1 ) were used to analyze real EMGs signals, comparing sedentary people with physically active people who practice strength training (weight training). The results obtained with the different groups of volunteers show that the physically active people obtained higher values of mean frequency, median frequency and principal components compared with the sedentary people. Moreover, these values decreased with increasing power level for both groups, however, the decline was more accented for the group of physically active people. Based on these results, it is assumed that the volunteers of the physically active group have higher proportions of type II fibers than sedentary people. Finally, based on these results, we can conclude that the selected characteristics were able to distinguish different proportions of muscle fiber types, both for the emulated signals as to the real signals. These characteristics can be used in several studies, for example, to evaluate the progress of people with myopathy and neuromyopathy due to the physiotherapy, and also to analyze the development of athletes to improve their muscle capacity according to their sport. In both cases, the extraction of these characteristics from the surface electromyography signals provides a feedback to the physiotherapist and the coach physical, who can analyze the increase in the proportion of a given type of fiber, as desired in each case.

Santeria as an Informal Psychosocial Support Among Latinas Living with Cancer

Among Latinos, Santería functions as both a religion and a health care system in occurrences of health versus illness within various Latino sub-groups in the U.S. This exploratory study offers a comprehensive analysis of the function of the folk healing tradition Santería as a culturally congruent informal mental health support that assists with coping with the psychosocial sequelae of living with cancer among Latinas in Miami-Dade County, FL. It (a) determined the attitudes of Latinas living with cancer towards Santería as an informal mental health support and (b) explored how Santería offers Latinas effective mental health support that assists in coping with the psychosocial sequelae of living with cancer. The mechanisms and characteristics underlying the motivations of Latinas living with cancer to seek and integrate this informal modality for their cancer care were identified. A purposive sample of 15 Latinas ages 18 and older in Miami-Dade County who had received a diagnosis of cancer were recruited from sites in Miami-Dade offering formal mental health support services and botánicas. Data collection incorporated in-depth interviews and a validation focus group. In an effort to generate theory through a modified Grounded Theory approach, data analysis was accomplished by means of multiple coding passes and the constant comparison method which resulted in higher levels codes that were grouped into three major themes: 1) Participants’ Experience with Folk Healers, 2) Influence of Santería on the Cancer Experience, and 3) Participants’ Experience with Conventional Healthcare and Mental Healthcare. Results illustrate how, among Latinas, the folk healing tradition of Santería co-occurs with professional medical and mental health treatment in what Arthur Kleinman defines as the popular sector, which identifies and sets the parameters for culturally acceptable forms of healthcare and mental health treatment options.

LocLess: Do You Really Care Where Your Cloud Files Are?

Physical location of data in cloud storage is a problem that gains a lot of attention not only from the actual cloud providers but also from the end users' who lately raise many concerns regarding the privacy of their data. It is a common practice that cloud service providers create replicate users' data across multiple physical locations. However, moving data in different countries means that basically the access rights are transferred based on the local laws of the corresponding country. In other words, when a cloud service provider stores users' data in a different country then the transferred data is subject to the data protection laws of the country where the servers are located. In this paper, we propose LocLess, a protocol which is based on a symmetric searchable encryption scheme for protecting users' data from unauthorized access even if the data is transferred to different locations. The idea behind LocLess is that "Once data is placed on the cloud in an unencrypted form or encrypted with a key that is known to the cloud service provider, data privacy becomes an illusion". Hence, the proposed solution is solely based on encrypting data with a key that is only known to the data owner.

Biomass, quality traits and methane production of extensive grassland: biodiversity effects and sensor approaches

Energy policies around the world are mandating for a progressive increase in renewable energy production. Extensive grassland areas with low productivity and land use limitations have become target areas for sustainable energy production to avoid competition with food production on the limited available arable land resources and minimize further conversion of grassland into intensively managed energy cropping systems or abandonment. However, the high spatio-temporal variability in botanical composition and biochemical parameters is detrimental to reliable assessment of biomass yield and quality regarding anaerobic digestion. In an approach to assess the performance for predicting biomass using a multi-sensor combination including NIRS, ultra-sonic distance measurements and LAI-2000, biweekly sensor measurements were taken on a pure stand of reed canary grass (Phalaris aruninacea), a legume grass mixture and a diversity mixture with thirty-six species in an experimental extensive two cut management system. Different combinations of the sensor response values were used in multiple regression analysis to improve biomass predictions compared to exclusive sensors. Wavelength bands for sensor specific NDVI-type vegetation indices were selected from the hyperspectral data and evaluated for the biomass prediction as exclusive indices and in combination with LAI and ultra-sonic distance measurements. Ultrasonic sward height was the best to predict biomass in single sensor approaches (R² 0.73 – 0.76). The addition of LAI-2000 improved the prediction performance by up to 30% while NIRS barely improved the prediction performance. In an approach to evaluate broad based prediction of biochemical parameters relevant for anaerobic digestion using hyperspectral NIRS, spectroscopic measurements were taken on biomass from the Jena-Experiment plots in 2008 and 2009. Measurements were conducted on different conditions of the biomass including standing sward, hay and silage and different spectroscopic devices to simulate different preparation and measurement conditions along the process chain for biogas production. Best prediction results were acquired for all constituents at laboratory measurement conditions with dried and ground samples on a bench-top NIRS system (RPD > 3) with a coefficient of determination R2 < 0.9. The same biomass was further used in batch fermentation to analyse the impact of species richness and functional group composition on methane yields using whole crop digestion and pressfluid derived by the Integrated generation of solid Fuel and Biogas from Biomass (IFBB) procedure. Although species richness and functional group composition were largely insignificant, the presence of grasses and legumes in the mixtures were most determining factors influencing methane yields in whole crop digestion. High lignocellulose content and a high C/N ratio in grasses may have reduced the digestibility in the first cut material, excess nitrogen may have inhibited methane production in second cut legumes, while batch experiments proved superior specific methane yields of IFBB press fluids and showed that detrimental effects of the parent material were reduced by the technical treatment

Knowledge of the patients regarding leprosy and adherence to treatment

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It is known for its great disfiguring capacity and is considered an extremely serious disease to public health worldwide. The state of Ceará ranks 13th in number of cases of leprosy in Brazil, and fourth in Northeastern region, with an average of 2,149 new cases diagnosed every year. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of leprosy patients regarding treatment, and to assess the level of treatment adherence and its possible barriers. The study was conducted in the reference center for dermatology, from September 2010 to October 2010, in Fortaleza, Ceará. The study data were collected by means of a structured interview, along with the Morisky-Green test, in order to assess treatment adherence and barriers to adherence. A total of 70 patients were interviewed, out of whom 66 were new cases. The majority of patients were between 42 and 50 years old, and 37 (52.9%) were male. Most patients were clinically classified as presentingmultibacillary leprosy (80%), and 78.6% of them were from Fortaleza, Brazil. The Morisky-Green test indicated that 62.9% of patients presented a low level of adherence (p < 0.005), despite claiming to aware of the disease risks. However, it was observed that 57.1% of the patients had no difficulty adhering to treatment, while 38.6% reported little difficulty. This study shows that despite the patients claiming to be familiar with leprosy and its treatment, the Morisky-Green test clearly demonstrated that they actually were not aware of the principles of therapy, which is evidenced by the low degree of treatment adherence

O modelo de gestão estratégica do Ministério Público do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte: a análise da implantação do Balanced Scorecard

The goal of this research was to analyze the model of strategic management of the MPRN concerning the methodological guidelines presented by Balanced Scorecard. It is based in a theoretical referential which contemplates the themes, new public management, strategic management and Balanced Scorecard, focusing on applying the methodology in the public sector. This research is classified as descriptive and exploratory. According to the methods applied, it is a case study and, according to its approach, it is qualitative. The subjects of this research are members of the institution involved in the process of its strategic management. The data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews and document analysis, done by means of method content analysis. Concerning the goal of this research, it points out that the MPRN has not concluded the implantation cycle of Balanced Scorecard, furthermore, important flaws in the steps of organizational alingment have been identified, specially when it refers to communication policy, implementing incentive actions and focused training in developing competences. It yet reveals that the implantation of BSC has allowed the introduction of changes in the Institution dynamics to seek better results, however the MPRN has faced and has not adequately gotten over the same difficulties reported in various cases of BSC implantation in public organizations

Governança ambiental e turismo: a participação de atores no Parque Nacional Tortuguero, Costa Rica

A experiência na construção da governança ambiental em torno do Parque Nacional Tortuguero na Costa Rica é a questão principal deste artigo. A mesma será analisada a partir da implementação do Conselho Local de Tortuguero/Setor Oeste e das articulações de atores do Setor Costeiro, notadamente, onde há incidência maior de turismo. Estruturou-se este artigo com base em pesquisas qualitativas, a exemplo de coleta de informações da bibliografia especializada, de dados documentais, legais e também via entrevistas. Por meio de tais movimentos, identificou-se uma série de ações relacionadas à conservação do meio ambiente e do turismo, dentro de uma perspectiva sustentável. Entretanto, em que pese os avanços alcançados, constata-se ainda a necessidade de se empreender mais esforços por parte de todos os envolvidos, sobretudo do Estado e na sua interação com os demais atores, pois persistem problemas diversos que são, historicamente, são insustentáveis a pensar-se em manejo do meio ambiente.

Conversion of sub-tropical native vegetation to introduced conifer forest: Impacts on below-ground and above-ground carbon pools

Land-use change can have a major influence on soil organic carbon (SOC) and above-ground C pools. We assessed a change from native vegetation to introduced Pinus species plantations on C pools using eight paired sites. At each site we determined the impacts on 0–50 cm below-ground (SOC, charcoal C, organic matter C, particulate organic C, humic organic C, resistant organic C) and above-ground (litter, coarse woody debris, standing trees and woody understorey plants) C pools. In an analysis across the different study sites there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in SOC or above-ground tree C stocks between paired native vegetation and pine plantations, although significant differences did exist at specific sites. SOC (calculated based on an equivalent soil mass basis) was higher in the pine plantations at two sites, higher in the native vegetation at two sites and did not differ for the other four sites. The site to site variation in SOC across the landscape was far greater than the variation observed with a change from native vegetation to introduced Pinus plantation. Differences between sites were not explained by soil type, although tree basal area was positively correlated with 0–50 cm SOC. In fact, in the native vegetation there was a significant linear relationship between above-ground biomass and SOC that explained 88.8% of the variation in the data. Fine litter C (0–25 mm diameter) tended to be higher in the pine forest than in the adjacent native vegetation and was significantly higher in the pine forest at five of the eight paired sites. Total litter C (0–100 mm diameter) increased significantly with plantation age (R2 = 0.64). Carbon stored in understorey woody plants (2.5–10 cm DBH) was higher in the native vegetation than in the adjacent pine forest. Total site C varied greatly across the study area from 58.8 Mg ha−1 at a native heathland site to 497.8 Mg ha−1 at a native eucalypt forest site. Our findings suggest that the effects of change from native vegetation to introduced Pinus sp. forest are highly site-specific and may be positive, negative, or have no influence on various C pools, depending on local site characteristics (e.g. plantation age and type of native vegetation).

Knowledge of the patients regarding leprosy and adherence to treatment

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It is known for its great disfiguring capacity and is considered an extremely serious disease to public health worldwide. The state of Ceará ranks 13th in number of cases of leprosy in Brazil, and fourth in Northeastern region, with an average of 2,149 new cases diagnosed every year. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of leprosy patients regarding treatment, and to assess the level of treatment adherence and its possible barriers. The study was conducted in the reference center for dermatology, from September 2010 to October 2010, in Fortaleza, Ceará. The study data were collected by means of a structured interview, along with the Morisky-Green test, in order to assess treatment adherence and barriers to adherence. A total of 70 patients were interviewed, out of whom 66 were new cases. The majority of patients were between 42 and 50 years old, and 37 (52.9%) were male. Most patients were clinically classified as presentingmultibacillary leprosy (80%), and 78.6% of them were from Fortaleza, Brazil. The Morisky-Green test indicated that 62.9% of patients presented a low level of adherence (p < 0.005), despite claiming to aware of the disease risks. However, it was observed that 57.1% of the patients had no difficulty adhering to treatment, while 38.6% reported little difficulty. This study shows that despite the patients claiming to be familiar with leprosy and its treatment, the Morisky-Green test clearly demonstrated that they actually were not aware of the principles of therapy, which is evidenced by the low degree of treatment adherence

PERFIL DOS FREQUENTADORES DAS ACADEMIAS DE GINÁSTICA DE UM MUNICÍPIO DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL

Objetivo: Traçar o perfil dos frequentadores das academias de ginástica do município de Canguçu-RS. Métodos: Estudo transversal, de caráter descritivo, com 177 frequentadores de academias de diversas modalidades. Utilizou-se um questionário estruturado, contendo 76 questões para mensurar variáveis sociodemograficas, antropométricas, nutricionais e comportamentais, além de informações relacionadas às praticas nas academias. Realizouse análise descritiva dos dados, com cálculo de médias ± desvios-padrão para as variáveis contínuas e cálculo de proporções para as variáveis categóricas. Resultados: Participaram 177 frequentadores das academias na cidade de Canguçu-RS (30±12,5 anos; 70,0±12,8 kg; 1,69±0,1m). Com relação às variáveis comportamentais, a maioria nunca fumou (71,8%), não bebia exageradamente (89,9%) e era ativa no lazer (87%). No tocante às variáveis nutricionais, 66,7% tinham índice de massa corporal normal e a maioria não alcançava as recomendações de consumo diário de frutas, verduras e legumes, e não usava suplementos (69,5%). No que diz respeito às variáveis relacionadas à academia, a maioria dos respondentes frequentava há mais de 12 meses (56,5%), quatro ou mais vezes por semana (52%), à noite (52,5%), relatando que o principal motivo para ir à academia foi permanecer saudável (78%). Os praticantes afirmaram satisfação com os objetivos alcançados (60%) e praticavam a modalidade de musculação (97,2%). Conclusão: A maioria dos frequentadores das academias era do sexo masculino, jovem, ativa no lazer, praticava a modalidade de musculação e estava satisfeita com os resultados buscados nas academias. Apesar disso, são necessárias estratégias de mudança de comportamento em relação ao consumo de frutas, verduras e legumes.

Do planejamento ao replanejamento do trabalho docente no ensino superior: o que fazer quando os alunos não leem os textos indicados pelo professor?

The objective of this paper is to present an analysis of the planning and replanning of the teacher´s work in response to difficulties that occur in teacher-student interaction in the process of teaching and learning in and outside the classroom. The data was produced by means of the selfconfrontation method and the analysis is based on theoretical foundations coming from the ergonomics of teaching activity and from the clinic of activity. The results reveal that lack of reading on students´ part leads the teacher to replan the class at the very moment it is taking place, which, in spite of revealing the teacher´s experience with this kind of situation, ends up contributing to diminish the quality of the teaching and learning process.