O império do desentendimento humano: representações da realidade em textos de dalton trevisan

This work has the general proposal of studying the composition of the trevisanian fictional universe, the aesthetic expression engineered to formulate this universe, and last, the representations of reality that emanates from this aesthetic-narrative construction. It seemed to us, however, that it would be impossible to cover, even superficially, so vast and voluminous set of texts as the trevisanian. Therefore, so that we could accomplish this task, and still do it in a way that was, at the same time, plausible and thorough, it was necessary an objective cut within that library. Then we selected a book, representative of the whole trevisanian work, which served as the object of study: Cemitério de Elefantes, 1964, one of the first books of short stories by this author. Within this one, we focused even more our sight, then moving towards what we call a reality forked in paralytic world and world in violence . Supported by the theories and methodologies of Auerbach (2011), Candido (2002, 2006), Adorno (2003), Gennete (1995), Friedman (2002), and still moved by the spirit of Russian Formalism (1973), we built our criticism. Our approach was based then in three steps: first we are dedicated to comment the general context of the trevisanian work, supported strongly by reading two of the biggest critics of his literature, Miguel Sanches Neto and Berta Waldman, secondly, we turn us to comment on the detailed formal construction of language and narrative elements of the trevisanian prose; finally we raised our criticism to the level of reading representations of reality, and then we started to comment the construction of the trevisanian fictional universe, focusing in splitting this universe in paralytic world and world in violence

O impacto das tarefas de aprendizagem mediadas pela lousa digital interativa na motivação situacional de aprendizes de inglês

Some authors have suggested that learning tasks conducted in L2 classes can motivate learners in different ways. Similarly, Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) have already been linked as drivers to engagement and enthusiasm in L2 classes, which may cause some impact on affective variables that influence learning (e.g. motivation). This crosssectional mixed-methods study aims to understand how situational motivation caused by learning tasks mediated by the IWB impact participants. We seek to answer the following research questions: (1) How does motivation as a personality trait of the learner relate to his/her additional language learning performance?, (2) How does the type of learning task mediated by the IWB impact the learner s motivation?, (3) How does motivation vary along the learning task mediated by the IWB? and (4) What is the relation between the learning task motivation and the learners perception about the task mediated by the IWB? Data collection lasted four months with 29 learners from a private language school. The instruments used were the following: (a) an initial questionnaire (adapted from the Attitudes/Motivation Test Battery by GARDNER, 2004), (b) situation-specific on-line scales to assess learners motivation in three moments: before, during and after the task, and analyze how motivation varies along the task; (c) class observations and field notes resulting from these observations, (d) participants end-of-course grades to understand the connection between academic success and their motivational profiles and (e) a final questionnaire with the qualitative purpose to know learners perceptions about the tasks mediated by the IWB. Our theoretical framework is based on Task-Based Learning and cognitive aspects present in tasks (WILLIS, 1996; SKEHAN, 1996), theories on motivation and second language learning (GARDNER, 2001; DÖRNYEI e OTTÓ, 1998; DÖRNYEI, 2000; 2002) and conceptions about L2 learning mediated by technology (GIBSON, 2001; OLIVEIRA, 2001; MILLER et al, 2005). Our results do not point out to a significative correlation between learners end-of-course grades and their motivational profiles. However, they indicate that there is some variability in situational motivation along the tasks, even among learning tasks from the same type. Furthermore, they show that learners report different perceptions for each learning task and that the impact of the IWB on participants did not have a large proportion

Funcionalidade em pacientes após acidente vascular encefálico: relação com o sono e ritmo de atividade-repouso

It is known that sleep plays an important role in the process of motor learning. Recent studies have shown that the presence of sleep between training a motor task and retention test promotes a learning task so than the presence of only awake between training and testing. These findings also have been reported in stroke patients, however, there are few studies that investigate the results of this relationship on the functionality itself in this population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between functionality and sleep in patients in the chronic stage of stroke. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted. The sample was composed of 30 stroke individuals in chronic phase, between 6 and 60 months after injury and aged between 55 and 75 years. The volunteers were initially evaluated for clinical data of disease and personal history, severity of stroke, through the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, and mental status, the Mini-Mental State Examination. Sleep assessment tools were Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Questionnaire of Horne and Ostberg, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the Berlin questionnaire and actigraphy, which measures were: real time of sleep, waking after sleep onset, percentage of waking after sleep onset, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, sleep fragmentation index, mean activity score. Other actigraphy measures were intraday variability, stability interdiária, a 5-hour period with minimum level of activity (L5) and 10-hour period with maximum activity (M10), obtained to evaluate the activity-rest rhythm. The Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) were the instruments used to evaluate the functional status of participants. The Spearman correlation coefficient and comparison tests (Student's t and Mann-Whitney) were used to analyze the relationship of sleep assessment tools and rest-activity rhythm to measures of functional assessment. The SPSS 16.0 was used for analysis, adopting a significance level of 5%. The main results observed were a negative correlation between sleepiness and balance and a negative correlation between the level of activity (M10) and sleep fragmentation. No measurement of sleep or rhythm was associated with functional independence measure. These findings suggest that there may be an association between sleepiness and xii balance in patients in the chronic stage of stroke, and that obtaining a higher level of activity may be associated with a better sleep pattern and rhythm more stable and less fragmented. Future studies should evaluate the cause-effect relationship between these parameters

The optical absorption edge of nanocrystalline Ga(1-x)Mn(x)N films deposited by reactive sputtering

We have focused on the optical absorption edge of nanocrystalline Ga(1-x)Mn(x)N (0.00 <= x <= 0.18) films deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering. The films obtained are nanocrystalline with grain sizes of about 25 nm, having wurtzite structure and strong orientation texture in the c-axis direction. The optical characterizations of the absorption edges were obtained in the 190-2600 nm spectral range. The increase of the Mn content causes an increase of the absorption coefficient which can be clearly noticed at low energies, and a quasi-linear decrease of the optical gap. Broad absorption bands observed around similar to 1.3 and similar to 2.2 eV were associated with transitions between the Mn acceptor level and the valence and conduction bands, respectively. The observed changes in the optical properties due to the Mn incorporation observed in these nanocrystalline films are similar to those reported for ferromagnetic GaMnN single-crystal films.

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

Atividades preventivas realizadas pelos cirurgiões-dentistas do PSF de Natal-RN

Family Health Program (FHP) presents itself as a restructured model on basic cares besides having prevention practices and promotion in health as essential parts. According to that, the purpose of this study is to perceive which prevention practices in oral health are accomplished by the dentists from the FHP of Natal-RN as well as the way they have been developed, the knowledge basis to execute the procedure and the use of evaluation instruments by the dentists and by the Oral Health Co-Ordinator. A list of dentists participating on the FHP of Natal in March, 2006 (n= 91) was obtained so it was possible to formulate a structured interview. After excluding those with less than six months attending to the program, and considering the loss, eighty dentists got to be interviewed. It had questions about individual and group preventive procedures, sources of basement to develop the activities and to verify the impact and evaluation instruments. Besides that, an interview was made with the Oral Health Co-Ordinator about the evaluating process and the existence of a protocol as well as about document analysis in the Ambulatory Informations System Unique Health System (AIS-UHS), Information of Basic Care System and Pact of Recorder. The main individual activities consist on Oral Hygiene Orientation (87,5%) and Fluoridization (95%). Group activities remain at scholar groups acts(91,25%) being fluoridization done by 91,25% and educative activities by 86,25% mainly through speeches (61,25%).Orientations about oral cancer were detached on the aged group (39,96%)and hypertensive and diabetic group (19,51%), as well as integration with the health team was respectively 21,93% and 39,02%. Speeches and talk rounds are the main activities for aged, hypertensive and diabetics, and are also expressive to pregnant women. For pregnant women and babies group predominate hygiene and diet orientation. About the evaluation instruments 73,75% of the dentists do not consider their existence, despite 73,75% consider that actions have impact specially due to a increase of hygiene and decrease of caries index on the children. The main sources of basement are clinical experience (42,5%) and preparative courses (33,75%), only 7,5% mentioned population need and local reality. The Oral Health Co-Ordinator related the Attention Pact Recorder and records from the AIS - UHS as evaluation source but also detached the lack of epidemiologic surveying. She mentioned the increase of supervised brushing as a positive result and detached the hardness of the professional to act inside the family and as a team. The AIS-UHS records showed that fluoridization is more used individually and the supervised brushing is predominant as a group action, besides that educative activities at the Health Establishment predominate due to actions at the community. Facing the results, it was verified the act in different groups, special attention given to scholars, as well as focus the activities on caries giving less emphasis to other oral problems. Despite that, there was no epidemiologic instruments or data of the local reality to guide the actions and to be part of the planning and evaluation process

Efeitos da cafeína sobre a memória de saguis (Callithrix jacchus)

Caffeine is considered the most consumed psychostimulant in the world, presenting several central and peripheral effects. In the Central Nervous System the major effect occur by its antagonistic activity at the A1 and A2a subtypes of the adenosine receptors. These receptors are responsible for the slow-wave sleep induction, and their binding, caused by the consumption of foods and beverages that contain caffeine, cause behaviors like increase of alertness, mood and locomotion. The effects of caffeine on memory are still discussed because of the diversity of experimental protocols. Also, it does not have the same effects on all stages of the processing of memory - acquisition, consolidation and recall. Thus, using the marmoset (Callitrhix jacchus) as subject, we aim to evaluate the effects of caffeine on the memory of this primate through the conditioned place preference paradigm, where the animal selects a context by presence of food. This cognitive task consists of five phases. The first phase was two sessions of pre-exposure, in which they were evaluated for preference for any compartment of the apparatus. Then, we proceeded the training, conditioning the animals to the food-present context for 8 days. Then, there was administration of caffeine or placebo (10mg/kg) for 8 consecutive days, during the pre-sleep phase, where the 20 animals were distributed in two groups: placebo and repeated. The forth phase was one day of retraining, a re-exposure of the apparatus to the marmosets followed by the administration of caffeine (for the repeated group and a new group called abstinence) or placebo (for placebo and abstinence groups). Finally, was the test where we evaluated if the subjects learned where the food was present. Moreover, in this work we evaluate the existence of differences between females and males on the task, and the locomotor activity for the experimental groups. The results showed that in the pre-exposure phase the animals were habituated on the apparatus and did not present differences for any contexts. In training, they were able to learn the conditioning task, independent of gender. For the retraining, the two groups exhibited more interactions in rewarded context than that in non-rewarded context. Nevertheless, in the locomotor activity, the repeated group moved similarly in contact with the apparatus and outside of it. In the other hand, the animals of the placebo group moved more when in contact with the apparatus. In the test phase, the marmosets under influence of caffeine presented an increase in the locomotor activity when compared with the placebo group, corroborating works that show this increase in locomotion. In the learning evaluation, the continuous and abstinence groups had a bad performance in the task in relation to the placebo and acute groups. This suggests that the prolonged administration of caffeine disrupts the memories because it affected sleep, which is largely responsible offline processing of memories

A influência da prática meditativa sobre parâmetros psicofisiológicos e tarefas de memória operacional em indivíduos saudáveis

Meditation is described as a method for improving attention and promoting psychological and emotional stability, presenting favourable results on memory and stress tolerance as well. Studies have shown differences in physiological and psychological measurements between meditators and non-meditators. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of regular meditation practice on working memory, psychological measurements and quality of life of healthy practitioners. We carried out a comparative study with meditators and non-meditators. Working memory tests and standard inventories of life quality, anxiety, mood, sleep quality, depression and stress were applied. Our study showed that meditators presented better scores in parameters indicative of life quality, mood, depression and stress when compared with non-meditators. Moreover, there was a trend in best performance of meditators in memory tasks (forward digit span task and Hanoi tower). These findings corroborate other studies showing that regular meditation can provide an improvement in general quality of life and affecting positively the behavioral and attentional functions in individuals

O papel das relações sociais e da atenção social durante tarefas cooperativas em Callithrix jacchus

Several studies on nonhuman primates show that the relationships between individuals strongly influence the expression of cooperative behavior, both in natural environment and in captivity settings. Recent studies suggest that cooperative breeders present outstanding performance in tasks involving social cognition, such as cooperative tasks with experimental apparatuses. In experimental research on this subject it is crucial to differentiate between real cooperation (or communicative cooperation, mediated by social attention) and by-product cooperation that results from simultaneous actions of individuals. The present study assessed, in Callithrix jacchus, a cooperative breeder species, if social relationships and social attention between subjects are important factors during performance in cooperative tasks. During the experimental procedure the animals participated in three different cooperative tasks: cooperation task, prosocial task and control task. Diverging from the literature, matrix correlation tests revealed no significant relationship between grooming or proximity and the execution of the tasks, suggesting that other factors such as age or hierarchy may have an effect on the performance in cooperative tasks in this species. There was also no relationship between the execution of the cooperative tasks and social glances, suggesting that there was no social attention during the tasks. Moreover, there were lower rates of social glances in the cooperative tasks as opposed to the control tasks. However, the small number of pulls in prosocial tasks suggests that the animals distinguished between tasks that benefited only a partner and tasks that generated benefits to themselves, choosing the latter. We conclude that, for the tasks presented in this study, we could neither detect the role of social relationships on the cooperative tasks nor assert that there were true cooperation and prosocial behavior

Avaliação dos efeitos do biperideno, diazepam e neuropeptídeos S sobre a memória e a ansiedade na tarefa do labirinto em T elevado em camundongos

Anxiety is an emotional phenomenon, and normally it is interpreted as an adaptative behavior front to adversities. In its pathological form, anxiety can severely affect aspects related to the personal and professional life. Studies have shown a close relationship between anxiety disorders and aversive memory processing. Considering that the pharmacotherapy of anxiety disorders is still limited, innovative anxiolytic agents are needed. In this regard, neuropeptides systems are interesting therapeutic targets to the treatment of psychopathologies. Neuropeptide S (NPS), a 20-aminoacid peptide, is the endogenous ligand of a G-protein coupled receptor (NPSR), which has been reported to evoke hyperlocomotion, awakefull states, besides anxiolysis and memory improvements in rodents. This study aimed to investigate the effects of biperiden (BPR; an amnesic drug), diazepam (DZP; an anxiolytic drug) and NPS at three distinct times: pre-training, post-training, and pre-test, in order to assess anxiety and memory process in the same animal model. The elevated Tmaze (ETM) is an apparatus derived from the elevated plus-maze test, which consists of one enclosed and two open arms. The procedure is based on the avoidance of open spaces learned during training session, in which mice were exposed to the enclosed arm as many times as needed to stay 300 s. In the test session, memory is assessed by re-exposing the mouse to the enclosed arm and the latency to enter an open arm was recorded. When injected pre-training, BPR (1 mg/kg) impaired learning and memory processing; DZP (1 and 2 mg/kg) evoked anxiolysis, but only at the dose of 2 mg/kg impaired memory; and NPS 0.1 nmol induced anxiolysis without affecting memory. Post-training injection of DZP (2 mg/kg) or BPR (1 and 3 mg/kg) did not affect memory consolidation, while the post-trainning administration of NPS 1 nmol, but not 0.1 nmol, improved memory in mice. Indeed, pre-trainning administration of NPS 1 nmol did not prevent memory impairment elicited by BPR (2 mg/kg, injected before training). In the open field test, BPR 1 mg/kg and NPS 1 nmol induced hyperlocomotion in mice. In conclusion, the proposed ETM task is practical for the detection of the anxiolytic and amnesic effects of drugs. The anxiolytic and memory enhancement effects of NPS were detected in the ETM task, and reinforce the role of NPS system as an interesting therapeutic target to the treatment of anxiety disorders

Entre a hegemonia e a polissemia: a Política de Educação e Desenvolvimento para o SUS no contexto do Brasil contemporâneo

The proposal of the Unified Health System Policy (SUS) has been considered one of the most democratic public policies in Brazil. In spite of this, its implementation in a context of social inequalities has demanded significant efforts. From a socio-constructionist perspective on social psychology, the study focused on the National Policy for Permanent Education in Health for the Unified Health System (SUS), launched by the Brazilian government in 2004, as an additional effort to improve practices and accomplish the effective implementation of the principles and guidelines of the Policy. Considering the process of permanent interdependencies between these propositions and the socio-political and cultural context, the study aimed to identify the discursive constructions articulated in the National Policy for Permanent Education in Health for the Unified Health System (SUS) and how they fit into the existing power relations of ongoing Brazilian socio-political context. Subject positionings and action orientation offered to different social actors by these discursive constructions and the kind of practices allowed were also explored, as well as the implementation of the proposal in Rio Grande do Norte state and how this process was perceived by the people involved. The information produced by documental analyses, participant observation and interviews was analyzed as proposed by Institutional Ethnography. It evidenced the inter-relations between the practices of different social actors, the conditions available for those practices and the interests and power relations involved. Discontinuities on public policies in Brazil and the tendency to prioritize institutional and personal interests, in detriment of collective processes of social transformation, were some of obstacles highlighted by participants. The hegemony of the medical model and the individualistic and curative intervention practices that the model elicits were also emphasized as one of the drawbacks of the ongoing system. Facing these challenges, reflexivity and dialogism appear as strategies for a transformative action, making possible the denaturalization of ongoing practices, as well as the values and tenets supporting them

Textura do recurso pedagógico e implicações em atividade de encaixe realizada por indivíduos com paralisia cerebral

O estudo teve o propósito de verificar a influência da textura do recurso pedagógico no tempo despendido e no índice de retidão para execução de uma atividade de encaixe realizada por indivíduos com paralisia cerebral. Participaram do estudo 6 alunos com sequelas de paralisia cerebral do tipo espástica, com idade entre 7 anos e 8 meses e 28 anos e 1 mês. O participante deveria segurar o objeto e levá-lo a um ponto demarcado previamente para o encaixe e, após, retorná-lo à posição inicial. O objeto foi apresentado nas texturas lisa, intermediária e áspera, de forma aleatória. Para a coleta de dados, foi utilizada filmagem para posterior leitura pelo programa Kavideo, que possibilitou cálculos para observar o tempo despendido na tarefa e o índice de retidão. Foi realizado o estudo da normalidade das distribuições, verificada por meio do teste de normalidade de Kolmogorov-Smirnov (Teste KS) e a comparação entre as texturas lisa, intermediária e áspera, no movimento de encaixe, por meio da análise de variância de medidas repetidas. Adotou-se para todos os testes nível de significância de 5% de probabilidade para a rejeição da hipótese de normalidade. O resultado do teste de análise de variância de medidas repetidas mostrou que não houve significância para as variáveis estudadas com o recurso apresentado nas três texturas. Porém, os dados da estatística descritiva mostraram que o encaixe do recurso com a textura lisa despendeu um menor tempo para execução da tarefa e, também, determinou um melhor desempenho com relação à trajetória do movimento.

Alterações dos processos fonológicos e índice de gravidade entre escolares com dislexia e escolares com bom desempenho acadêmico

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

Geração automática de hardware a partir de especificações formais: estendendo uma abordagem de tradução

Removing inconsistencies in a project is a less expensive activity when done in the early steps of design. The use of formal methods improves the understanding of systems. They have various techniques such as formal specification and verification to identify these problems in the initial stages of a project. However, the transformation from a formal specification into a programming language is a non-trivial task and error prone, specially when done manually. The aid of tools at this stage can bring great benefits to the final product to be developed. This paper proposes the extension of a tool whose focus is the automatic translation of specifications written in CSPM into Handel-C. CSP is a formal description language suitable for concurrent systems, and CSPM is the notation used in tools support. Handel-C is a programming language whose result can be compiled directly into FPGA s. Our extension increases the number of CSPM operators accepted by the tool, allowing the user to define local processes, to rename channels in a process and to use Boolean guards on external choices. In addition, we also propose the implementation of a communication protocol that eliminates some restrictions on parallel composition of processes in the translation into Handel-C, allowing communication in a same channel between multiple processes to be mapped in a consistent manner and that improper communication in a channel does not ocurr in the generated code, ie, communications that are not allowed in the system specification

Caracterização de dois cDNAs homológos e uma AP endonuclease em cana-de-açúcar

The genome of all organisms is subject to injuries that can be caused by endogenous and environmental factors. If these lesions are not corrected, it can be fixed generating a mutation which can be lethal to the organisms. In order to prevent this, there are different DNA repair mechanisms. These mechanisms are well known in bacteria, yeast, human, but not in plants. Two plant models Oriza sativa and Arabidopsis thaliana had the genome sequenced and due to this some DNA repair genes have been characterized. The aim of this work is to characterized two sugarcane cDNAs that had homology to AP endonuclease: scARP1 and scARP3. In silico has been done with these two sequences and other from plants. It has been observed domain conservation on these sequences, but the cystein at 65 position that is a characteristic from the redox domain in APE1 protein was not so conservated in plants. Phylogenetic relationship showed two branches, one branch with dicots and monocots sequence and the other branch with only monocots sequences. Another approach in order to characterized these two cDNAs was to construct overexpression cassettes (sense and antisense orientation) using the 35S promoter. After that, these cassettes were transferred to the binary vector pPZP211. Furthermore, previously in the laboratory was obtained a plant from nicotiana tabacum containing the overexpression cassette in anti-sense orientation. It has been observed that this plant had a slow development and problems in setting seeds. After some manual crossing, some seeds were obtained (T2) and it was analyzed the T2 segregation. The third approach used in this work was to clone the promoter region from these two cDNAs by PCR walking. The sequences obtained were analyzed using the program PLANTCARE. It was observed in these sequences some motives that may be related to oxidative stress response