Growing Motivation and Learning for the Middle School Student through Reassessment Practices

The purpose of this study was to explore the best reassessment practices, in a middle school setting, that would nurture a learning and motivating classroom environment. The research questions sought to discover the best reassessment practices in middle school and how do these practices increase a middle school student’s ability and motivation to re-learn. Forty-eight middle school students in the 7th and 8th grade were surveyed to assess the effectiveness of each reassessment practice. Furthermore, interviews with four students were conducted for a more in-depth exploration of student learning and motivation. Statistical significance was found in the quantitative data indicating accountability to be the best reassessment practice for student learning and motivation. When students practiced taking responsibility and monitoring their own progress, learning and motivation increased. The qualitative data highlighted the importance of teachers offering reassessment practices so that students know their next steps of learning

Local maximum points of explicitly quasiconvex functions

This work concerns generalized convex real-valued functions defined on a nonempty convex subset of a real topological linear space. Its aim is twofold: first, to show that any local maximum point of an explicitly quasiconvex function is a global minimum point whenever it belongs to the intrinsic core of the function’s domain and second, to characterize strictly convex normed spaces by applying this property for a particular class of convex functions

How to increase sustainability in the Finnish wine supply chain? : Insights from a country of origin based greenhouse gas emissions analysis

As wine supply chains become increasingly globalized, sustainability issues take on ever greater importance. This is the first study to analyse the environmental sustainability aspect of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a global wine supply chain perspective, covering just over 90% of Finland's wine imports. Lacking substantial domestic production capacity, virtually all wine consumed in Finland is imported. Finland is comparable to its Nordic neighbours, Sweden and Norway, in this respect. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was combined with sensitivity and scenario analyses to investigate GHG emissions implications from prospective policy changes. Our results spotlight differences related to wine production in the eight main wine producing countries for the Finnish market (Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa, and the United States), related logistics, and all packaging types for wine used in Finland (glass bottle, Bag-in-Box, PET bottle, beverage carton, and pouch). We found an average value of 1.23 kg CO2e for 0.75 L wine consumed in Finland, ranging from 0.59 kg CO2e for French wine in a bag-in-box packaging to 1.92 kg CO2e for Australian wine in a glass bottle. After identifying the main GHG emission hotspots in the wine supply chain, our scenario analyses highlight the effects of reducing glass bottle weight, moving away from glass packaging toward bag-inbox, increasing bulk wine export volumes to Finland, and following the European Commission's Energy 2020 strategy which targets increasing energy efficiency by 20 percent.Peer reviewe

Greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation options for German wine production

In the light of a dire need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from food value chains, this paper analyses GHG emissions from wine production based on primary data from 5 wineries, one wine cellar and 9 grape producers in Germany and explores main emission sources based on their contributions to variance. Considering system boundaries from cradle to gate we found a 90% confidence interval for results between 0.753 and 1.069 kg CO2e per bottle of wine. Main contributors to variance were bottle weight (31%), electricity usage (18%), heat (11%), yield (−9%), and diesel use in vineyards (9%). Looking at production process phases, 19% of emissions resulted from the production of wine grapes, while 81% were attributable to the winery phase, mainly to the packaging materials (57%). Exploring the mitigation potential of a reduction in bottle weight, reuse of glass bottles, increase in packaging volume and renewable energies, we found that the reuse of glass bottles deserves close attention from wine producers, consumers, and policy makers who strive for an effective decarbonization of the wine value chain. The mitigation potential of the reuse of an average bottle exceeds the mitigation potential from a reduction in bottle weight by more than threefold. A combination of the replacement of grid electricity by renewable energies, bottle weight reduction and reuse can curb GHG emissions per bottle of wine by 47%.Peer reviewe

Prescrição para Compensação de Crédito Tributário decorrente de Decisão Judicial Transitada em Julgado

TCC(graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro de Ciências Jurídicas. Direito.A famosa “tese do século” propulsionou uma busca intensa pela compensação e trouxe à tona questões controversas acerca da prescrição, devido à vacância legislativa. A Receita Federal, o Conselho Administrativo Fiscal e o Judiciário possuem entendimentos divergentes em relação aos prazos, de modo que pairam dúvidas sobre os direitos dos contribuintes. A fim de elucidar o tema, o presente trabalho traz um breve histórico de temas correlatos e organiza os procedimentos compensatórios para explorar as nuances dos marcos temporais de compensações oriundas de decisões transitadas em julgado. Discute a possibilidade de suspensão, interrupção e antecipação em decisões com efeitos vinculantes, dotadas de eficácia erga omnes, através de jurisprudência, consulta Cosit, instruções normativas e doutrina

Functional Integration of Ecological Networks through Pathway Proliferation

Large-scale structural patterns commonly occur in network models of complex systems including a skewed node degree distribution and small-world topology. These patterns suggest common organizational constraints and similar functional consequences. Here, we investigate a structural pattern termed pathway proliferation. Previous research enumerating pathways that link species determined that as pathway length increases, the number of pathways tends to increase without bound. We hypothesize that this pathway proliferation influences the flow of energy, matter, and information in ecosystems. In this paper, we clarify the pathway proliferation concept, introduce a measure of the node--node proliferation rate, describe factors influencing the rate, and characterize it in 17 large empirical food-webs. During this investigation, we uncovered a modular organization within these systems. Over half of the food-webs were composed of one or more subgroups that were strongly connected internally, but weakly connected to the rest of the system. Further, these modules had distinct proliferation rates. We conclude that pathway proliferation in ecological networks reveals subgroups of species that will be functionally integrated through cyclic indirect effects.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables, Submitted to Journal of Theoretical Biolog

Exploring sustainability potentials in vineyards through LCA? Evidence from farming practices in South Africa

Following the urgency to curb environmental impacts across all sectors globally, this is the first life cycle assessment of different wine grape farming practices suitable for commercial conventional production in South Africa, aiming at better understanding the potentials to reduce adverse effects on the environment and on human health.Purpose Following the urgency to curb environmental impacts across all sectors globally, this is the first life cycle assessment of different wine grape farming practices suitable for commercial conventional production in South Africa, aiming at better understanding the potentials to reduce adverse effects on the environment and on human health. Methods An attributional life cycle assessment was conducted on eight different scenarios that reduce the inputs of herbicides and insecticides compared against a business as usual (BAU) scenario. We assess several impact categories based on ReCiPe, namely global warming potential, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, terrestrial toxicity, freshwater toxicity, marine toxicity, human carcinogenic toxicity and human non-carcinogenic toxicity, human health and ecosystems. A water footprint assessment based on the AWARE method accounts for potential impacts within the watershed. Results and discussion Results show that in our impact assessment, more sustainable farming practices do not always outperform the BAU scenario, which relies on synthetic fertiliser and agrochemicals. As a main trend, most of the impact categories were dominated by energy requirements of wine grape production in an irrigated vineyard, namely the usage of electricity for irrigation pumps and diesel for agricultural machinery. The most favourable scenario across the impact categories provided a low diesel usage, strongly reduced herbicides and the absence of insecticides as it applied cover crops and an integrated pest management. Pesticides and heavy metals contained in agrochemicals are the main contributors to emissions to soil that affected the toxicity categories and impose a risk on human health, which is particularly relevant for the manual labour-intensive South African wine sector. However, we suggest that impacts of agrochemicals on human health and the environment are undervalued in the assessment. The 70% reduction of toxic agrochemicals such as Glyphosate and Paraquat and the 100% reduction of Chlorpyriphos in vineyards hardly affected the model results for human and ecotoxicity. Our concerns are magnified by the fact that manual labour plays a substantial role in South African vineyards, increasing the exposure of humans to these toxic chemicals at their workplace. Conclusions A more sustainable wine grape production is possible when shifting to integrated grape production practices that reduce the inputs of agrochemicals. Further, improved water and related electricity management through drip irrigation, deficit irrigation and photovoltaic-powered irrigation is recommendable, relieving stress on local water bodies, enhancing drought-preparedness planning and curbing CO2 emissions embodied in products.Peer reviewe

Análise de desempenho e estratégia de produto de fabricantes automotivas premium no Brasil entre 2012 e 2023

TCC (graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Joinville, Engenharia Automotiva.Caracterizado como um país fundamentalmente rodoviário, o Brasil figura entre os líderes mundiais de produção e venda de automóveis, sendo esse setor de grande importância econômica. Nos últimos onze anos, foram enfrentados dois períodos de recessão econômicas que demandaram forte planejamento estratégico por parte dos gestores de fabricantes automotivas instaladas no Brasil. Assim, diversas estratégias de produto foram adotadas a fim de enfrentar os períodos de redução de volume de vendas. Dessa forma, surge o questionamento sobre quais medidas estratégicas tiveram maior impacto na evolução dos indicadores de mercado das companhias. Por isso, busca-se compreender as estratégias adotadas pelas fabricantes de veículos premium no Brasil, no período de 2012 a 2023, comparando essas informações com a evolução do volume de vendas e preços de cada empresa analisada. Portanto, a partir da abordagem clássica de estratégia, foi observada uma correlação entre implementação de novas gerações de veículos e o aumento do volume de vendas, enquanto a utilização de facelifts não trouxeram resultados tão promissores.Characterized as a fundamentally road-based country, Brazil ranks among the global leaders in automotive production and sales, with this sector holding significant economic importance. Over the past eleven years, two economic recessions have required strong strategic planning by managers of automotive manufacturers operating in Brazil. As a result, various product strategies were adopted to confront periods of declining sales volume. This brings up the question of which strategic measures had the greatest impact on the evolution of the companies' market indicators. Thus, this study seeks to understand the strategies adopted by premium vehicle manufacturers in Brazil between 2012 and 2023, comparing these strategies with the trends in sales volume and pricing for each company analyzed. From a classic strategy approach, a correlation was observed between the introduction of new vehicle generations and an increase in sales volume, while the use of facelifts did not yield such promising results.Charakterisiert als ein grundsätzlich straßenbasiertes Land, gehört Brasilien zu den weltweit führenden Ländern in der Automobilproduktion und im Automobilverkauf, wobei dieser Sektor eine große wirtschaftliche Bedeutung hat. In den letzten elf Jahren wurden zwei wirtschaftliche Rezessionsphasen durchlebt, die starkes strategisches Planen von den Managern der in Brasilien ansässigen Automobilhersteller erforderten. Daher wurden verschiedene Produktstrategien angewandt, um die Phasen des rückläufigen Absatzvolumens zu bewältigen. So stellt sich die Frage, welche strategischen Maßnahmen den größten Einfluss auf die Entwicklung der Marktindikatoren der Unternehmen hatten. Diese Studie zielt darauf ab, die von Premium-Fahrzeugherstellern in Brasilien zwischen 2012 und 2023 verfolgten Strategien zu verstehen und diese Informationen mit der Entwicklung des Absatzvolumens und der Preise jeder analysierten Firma zu vergleichen. Aus der klassischen Strategie Perspektive wurde eine Korrelation zwischen der Einführung neuer Fahrzeuggenerationen und einem Anstieg des Absatzvolumens beobachtet, während die Anwendung von Facelifts keine so vielversprechenden Ergebnisse brachte