Brazil’s National System for the Evaluation of Higher Education: Context, Challenges and Perspectives

This article discusses the implementation of the National System for the Evaluation of Higher Education (SINAES) from its inception in 2004 to present times, giving special attention to advances achieved and to the challenges that must be met in the near future. After a discussion of higher education quality assurance from an international perspective, the text examines adjustments that have been made to operationalize the implementation of the SINAES model and then emphasizes the importance of improving the self-evaluation component of the System. The article concludes by addressing the challenges that must still be met, such as the inclusion within SINAES of state higher education systems, the improvement of indicators and external evaluators, the effective utilization evaluation results, the need to distinguish evaluation processes from regulation policies, and the possibility of transforming the existing framework into a multidimensional evaluation model.

Kabızlık ve Üfürümle Tespit Edilen Williams-Beuren Sendromu

Williams-Beuren Syndrome Detected with Constipation and Murmur Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) is a rare disease that occurs as a result of microdeletion of 11.23 of the long arm of chromosome 7, with a frequency of 1/20.000-30.000. Typical facial appearance, mental retardation, various congenital cardiovascular anomalies and endocrinological disorders may accompany this syndrome. In cases suspected as a result of clinical and laboratory findings, the diagnosis is made by showing the deletion of the mentioned region using the fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) method. We detected WBS in a 17-month-old male patient who presented with chronic constipation and had peripheral pulmonary stenosis in echocardiography performed with accompanying clinical findings, and aimed to emphasize the importance of multidimensional evaluation and early diagnosis. Keywords: Congenital heart disease, pulmonary stenosis, microdeletion syndromes, constipation, Williams-Beuren syndrome

An Evaluation Model of the Online Learning Effect Based on Fuzzy Mathematics

This study derived an evaluation model that overcomes the various problems in the evaluation of online learning effect. Firstly, the influencing factors in the online learning process were discussed in the paper, pointing out the direction to enhance the online learning effect. Next, a multidimensional evaluation index system was established for online learning effect. Meanwhile, the evaluation of online learning effect was treated as a fuzzy evaluation problem with multiple attributes, and an improved evaluation model for online learning effect was proposed based on fuzzy mathematics theory. The proposed model can evaluate the online learning effect effectively, and enjoy a good prospect of application.

Multidimensional Evaluation of Awareness in Prader-Willi Syndrome

There are no studies about insight or awareness of illness in patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). The objective of this study was to explore the level of awareness of the disorder, of the need for medication, and of the social consequences of the disease, as well as of its main symptoms in PWS. We also aimed to explore relationships between awareness and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, and to compare all data with a matched sample of patients with psychosis. Insight was assessed by an Adapted version of the Scale of Unawareness of Mental Disorder in a cross-sectional pilot study at a University Hospital. Thirty-six individuals with PWS (58.3% women) were included. Results showed that PWS patients had a good awareness of the illness and of the effects of medication, in contrast to a lack of awareness of illness’ social consequences. Awareness of obesity/overweight was excellent, as was the awareness of excessive appetite. Awareness of excessive food intake was only mild. Insight correlated with age and functionality, but not with BMI. PWS patients showed a better insight into the illness but a similar awareness of the effects of the medication and of the social consequences of the disease as compared to schizophrenia-spectrum patients. This profile of insight may have relevant clinical implications.

A Multidimensional Evaluation Approach for the Natural Parks Design

The design of a natural park is generated by the need to protect and organize, for conservation and/or for balanced growth, parts of the territory that are of particular interest for the quality of the natural and historical–cultural heritage. The necessary tool to support the decision-making process in the design of a natural park are the financial and economic evaluations, which intervene in three successive steps: in the definition of protection and enhancement levels of the park areas; in the choice of the interventions to be implemented for the realization of these levels of protection and enhancement; in determining and verifying the economic and financial results obtainable from the project execution. This contribution deals with aspects and issues relating to the economic and financial evaluation of natural park projects. In particular, an application of the “Complex Social Value” to a concrete case of environmental design is developed on the basis of the elements that can be deduced from a feasibility study of a natural park: the levels of protection and enhancement of the homogeneous areas of the natural park are preliminarily defined, and the choice of the design alternative to be implemented is, therefore, rationalized with multicriteria analysis.