Is thinness more prevalent than obesity in Portuguese adolescents?

There is little information regarding the prevalence of thinness in European adolescents. This was assessed in a convenience sample of children and adolescents from the Lisbon area (Portugal). Cross-sectional study including 2494 boys and 2519 girls aged 10-18 years. Body mass index (BMI), waist and hip were measured using standardized methods; thinness was defined using international criteria. Body fat was assessed by bioelectrical impedance. In girls, prevalence of thinness, overweight and obesity were 5.6%, 19.7% and 4.7%, respectively, whereas the corresponding numbers in boys were 3.9%, 17.4% and 5.3%. Prevalence of thinness increased whereas obesity decreased with age: from 1.5% to 7.6% for thinness and from 9.2% to 3.8% for obesity in girls aged 10 and 18, respectively. In boys, the corresponding trends were from 0% to 7.3% for thinness and from 10.6% to 3% for obesity. After adjusting for age, differences were found between BMI groups for weight, body fat percentage, fat mass, lean mass, waist and hip, while no differences regarding height were found between thin and normal weight participants. The prevalence of thinness is more frequent than obesity after age 14 in girls and 16 years in boys. Thinness is associated with a decreased body weight and body fat, whereas no consistent effect on height was noted.

Psychometrics of the Dyadic Coping Inventory in three language groups

This article introduces the Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI; Bodenmann, 2008) and aims (1) to investigate the reliability and aspects of the validity of the Italian and French versions of the DCI, and (2) to replicate its factor structure and reliabilities using a new Swiss German sample. Based on 216 German-, 378 Italian-, and 198 French-speaking participants, the factor structure of the original German inventory was able to be replicated by using principal components analysis in all three groups after excluding two items in the Italian and French versions. The latter were shown to be as reliable as the German version with the exception of the low reliabilities of negative dyadic coping in the French group. Confirmatory factor analyses provided additional support for delegated dyadic coping and evaluation of dyadic coping. Intercorrelations among scales were similar across all three languages groups with a few exceptions. Previous findings could be replicated in all three groups, showing that aspects of dyadic coping were more strongly related to marital quality than to dyadic communication. The use of the dyadic coping scales in the actor-partner interdependence model, the common fate model, and the mutual influence model is discussed.

Thinking skills in the language arts : an application of cognitive schema theory to the narrative writing process /

A cognitively based instructional program for narrative writing was developed. The effects of using cognitively based schematic planning organizers at the pre-writing stage were evaluated using subjects from the Primary, Junior and Intermediate divisions. Results indicate that the use of organizers based on problem solving significantly improved the organization and the overall quality of narrative writing for students in grades 3, 6 and 7. The magnitude of the improvement of the treatment group over the control group performance in Organization ranged from 10.7% to 22.9%. Statistical and observational data indicate many implications for further research into the cognitive basis for writing and reading; for the improvement and evaluation of school writing programs; for the design of school curricula; and for the inservice education for teachers of writing.

Exploration of implicit theories in the formation of expert opinion in portuguese criminal law

This dissertation examines different aspects involved in the formation of psychologists’ expert opinion in the Portuguese criminal justice system, more precisely, as this opinion is reflected in assessment reports. The present dissertation is comprised of three qualitative studies, the first sought to provide a general portrait of a sample of 106 forensic psychological reports as to their overall quality as measured in terms of relevance and coherence. Results show that the formal markers of quality are present in the sample analysed, a certain number of weaknesses have been observed, notably concerning the internal coherence of the reports as well as the relevance of the information reported on. The second study explored the opinions of 17 Portuguese judges and state prosecutors concerning the use they make of this type of forensic report. It appears that they consider these reports to be useful and very credible, specially so when they have been produced under the auspices of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, which is the state forensic institution. Furthermore, it appears that judges and prosecutors were particularly interested in data that allowed for a personalised portrait of the assessee. The third study sought to better comprehend the conceptual bases on which psychologists construct their reports. To this end, an exploratory study was undertaken with a sample of key-actors; the analysis of their interviews shows that they define their judicial mandate as well as the basic concepts that are associated to this mandate in different ways. A theoretical framework provided by an implicit theories model was used to help understand these results.

The Effect of SIFT Features as Content Descriptors in the Context of Automatic Writer Identification in Malayalam Language

The span of writer identification extends to broad domes like digital rights administration, forensic expert decisionmaking systems, and document analysis systems and so on. As the success rate of a writer identification scheme is highly dependent on the features extracted from the documents, the phase of feature extraction and therefore selection is highly significant for writer identification schemes. In this paper, the writer identification in Malayalam language is sought for by utilizing feature extraction technique such as Scale Invariant Features Transform (SIFT).The schemes are tested on a test bed of 280 writers and performance evaluated

Information and attitudes about VIH-SIDA in Portuguese adolescents : State of art and changes in a four year period

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Self-injurious behavior in Portuguese adolescents

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Religion, Marketing and Market: An Adjustment in the Language of Faith

O presente trabalho se propõe fazer uma análise de categorias sociais que a primeira vista não tem proximidade, na verdade, podem, inclusive, parecer antagônicas. Trata-se das relações entre Religião, Marketing e Mercado. O trabalho se apóia num referencial teórico mais próximo das ciências sociais, todavia, considera a Religião, em sua expressão institucional –a igreja– como um empreendimento social, uma empresa dos tempos modernos. Procura demonstrar que, para aderir ao mundo moderno, plasmado pela idéia de competição e consumo da sociedade capitalista, a religião reorganizou sua linguagem para atender as exigências desses tempos, já considerados Pós-modernos. A análise é feita a partir do caso brasileiro que, como muitos paises da América Latina, acomodam no seu tecido social, as mais recentes expressões da religião cristã, em especial, os grupos evangélicos que pululam as periferias das grandes cidades desse  continente americano.

Linguistic relativity in foreign language teaching : a didactic proposal. 'Relatividad linguística en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras'.

Resumen de la revista

The (mis) use of telegraphic input in child language intervention. 'El (mal) uso del input telegráfico en la intervención sobre el lenguaje en niños'.

Resumen en español

Form-focused instruction in second language teaching and learning : theoretical proposals and research findings.

El artículo revisar diferentes propuestas de investigación y teóricas sobre el aprendizaje y enseñanza de la segunda lengua.

Cultural studies in foreign language education.

Se ocupa de un aspecto de la enseñanza de las lenguas extranjeras que a menudo se ha descuidado y es la comprensión de las culturas y de los pueblos cuyos idiomas se enseñan. Por tanto, se reivindica la enseñanza de lenguas, en la educación secundaria general, en todas las facetas y con un enfoque global. Es un intento de aumentar la conciencia del profesor y del alumno sobre el pleno valor educativo del aprendizaje de otras lenguas.

Dialogue activities : exploring spoken interaction in the language class.

Esta publicación anima a los estudiantes a mirar más allá de las estrategias convencionales de comunicación y practicar el lenguaje hablado en diferentes contextos. Ofrece más de cien actividades para que los estudiantes vean el idioma inglés a través de diálogos y puedan hablar de literatura, los medios de comunicación, así como extractos de una conversación auténtica. Tiene índice y bibligrafía.

Literature in the language classroom : a resource book of ideas and activities.

Guía práctica para profesores de Inglés y profesores en formación. Ofrece una variedad de técnicas de trabajo para la integración de la literatura en la enseñanza de idiomas. Se divide en tres secciones: en la parte A se examinan las preguntas: Por qué enseñar literatura ; Qué debemos enseñar ; Cómo enseñarla. La parte B describe recursos de actividades que un profesor puede elegir y puede aplicar en diferentes fases de tareas adecuadas a cada etapa del estudio de una obra literaria. Las descripciones de las actividades van acompañadas de hojas modelo. La parte C muestra técnicas para trabajar con textos completos, y cómo las actividades esbozadas en la parte B se pueden aplicar a las novelas, obras de teatro, cuentos cortos y poemas. Todas las actividades se pueden utilizar hasta en clases de nivel intermedio.

Understanding communication in second language classrooms.

Esta publicación se centra en la comunicación como elemento central de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje en aulas de segundo idioma. Basándose en las transcripciones reales de aula, el autor construye un marco conceptual a través del cual los docentes pueden reconocer cómo los patrones de comunicación se han establecido y mantenido en la clase. Reconoce la importancia de lo que los profesores y los estudiantes aportan de su propio medio, así como lo que realmente ocurre durante la interacción en la comunicación del aula. En la primera parte del volumen se esboza un marco para la comprensión de la comunicación de la segunda lengua en las aulas, incluyendo el control de patrones de comunicación, las percepciones de los estudiantes de patrones de comunicación en la clase, y el conocimiento y uso del lenguaje en el aula, tanto en general como a efectos del aprendizaje de los alumnos. La segunda parte examina una serie de patrones de la comunicación:la interacción profesor-alumno, la interacción estudiante-estudiante, y las pautas que se relacionan con la comunidad basada en cuestiones tales como inglés como segundo idioma de instrucción y el uso de materiales comerciales. La parte tercera ofrece sugerencias para la ampliación de patrones de comunicación, lo que permite su variabilidad, y establecer y ampliar las competencias comunicativas en el aula. Se incluye bibliografía.