Proyectos

The School Integration Program (PIE) is one of the most critical educational inclusion policies in Chile. PIE is a form of special subsidy to schools, using as criteria temporary and permanent special educational needs. It is found throughout the national territory, considered successful at the implementation level and in the integration of new support professionals. However, it has received criticism such as the low relationship with concepts such as school effectiveness, the individualization, and stigmatization of program users by focusing on deficits and not so much on barriers and facilitators of inclusion, as well as the low access and participation of students with disabilities. Furthermore, few studies list children participating in PIE as primary informants. The present study seeks to know and analyze boys' and girls' daily experiences with disabilities in various areas of the national territory. The conceptual framework is the social studies on disability to understand the experience of children with disabilities in a social context that can be both beneficial and detrimental to their school inclusion. The other reference for the project is the new social studies of childhood while promoting that children are valid informants of their realities. Objectives: This study aims to analyze the perspectives of children in situations of motor and sensory disability participating in the PIE about the barriers and facilitators for inclusion in their daily school experiences, as well as the influence that PIE has had on their school lives. Methodology: it is a qualitative study of an analytical nature to be carried out in 5 macro zones of the national territory for three years, through specially designed narrative interviews with 31 children with motor and sensory disabilities, including interviews with the PIE coordinators of their schools. Expected results: The project hopes to generate knowledge about PIE and disability as a special educational need, based on the experience of children with disabilities, to account for their specific experiences and needs, and possible solutions to the barriers presented. It also seeks to generate specific methodological knowledge to collect data with children with disabilities. It is a transdisciplinary project in that disability is a phenomenon that must be studied from different fields; therefore, an educational psychologist, a social psychologist, an educator, and a kinesiologist are included in the researchers' team.

El present projecte pretén descriure la visió que els futurs professionals de la salut tenen del cos i els usos que li donen per tal d’afavorir la reflexió sobre el seu impacte en atenció a l’usuari (l’aproximació al cos de l’altre). Conèixer els discursos i les pràctiques realitzades amb el cos dels estudiants de primer curs de ciències de la salut (teràpia ocupacional i infermeria) que expliquem la seva relació amb el “cos”.

Aun cuando no hay una cifra oficial que los cuantifique, los niños y niñas con Trastornos del Espectro Autista (TEA) constituyen un grupo importante de personas que requieren y demandan formación escolar, la cual debe ser, naturalmente, de igual calidad que para el resto de los estudiantes. Esta condición neurológica y de desarrollo es reconocida dentro de algunas políticas transversales en educación, como la LGE (Ley 20.370), que declara asegurar la equidad en el sistema educativo, el Decreto 170 para aquello relacionado con el proceso de identificación y asignación de recursos del estado para estudiantes con Necesidades Educativas Especiales, el Decreto 83 referido a las adecuaciones curriculares, y el Diseño Universal del Aprendizaje (DUA), que propende al desarrollo curricular atendiendo prácticas inclusivas. Adicionalmente, el Ministerio de Educación ha implementado una serie de manuales y lineamientos específicos sobre TEA, tanto para padres y madres, como para educadores y educadoras. A pesar de todo lo anterior, los testimonios y opiniones de las agrupaciones dan cuenta que, para efectos prácticos, aún hay escasos avances en esta integración, la cual se ve complicada además por una serie de estereotipos sociales propios del desconocimiento sobre este trastorno, que asume una capacidad matemática superior a priori, y otros mitos que afectan la convivencia e integración de estos niños y niñas en las comunidades educativas. Dentro de lo específicamente relacionado con la Matemática, dentro de los principales problemas para el trabajo matemático con niños y niñas con TEA está el aspecto de la comunicación verbal, además del déficit observado en funciones ejecutivas, las que pueden manifestarse a través de problemas de memoria y/o planificación/organización, memoria de trabajo, flexibilidad mental, atención y autocontrol. Así, el presente proyecto apunta como objetivo, el fortalecimiento de las habilidades matemáticas de niños y niñas con TEA. El diseño será realizado bajo un enfoque preferentemente cuantitativo, orientado al nivel preescolar y primer ciclo básico.

El Estudio Longitudinal Social de Chile (ELSOC) es un estudio único en Chile y América Latina, el cual encuesta anualmente a una muestra representativa de la población urbana en Chile a lo largo de una década, con el fin de evaluar la manera cómo piensan, sienten y se comportan los chilenos en torno a un conjunto de temas referidos al conflicto y la cohesión social en el país.

Data driven computational intelligence (CI) techniques have gained a principal role in the analysis and interpretation of sensor signals such as optical cameras, LiDAR, wearable inertial sensors, wearable physiological sensors including electroencephalographic (EEG) recorders, and a wide variety of medical imaging devices. Currently, deep learning approaches are the artificial intelligence (AI) mainstream providing solutions to the entire spectrum of AI problems. We are specifically interested in developments related to deep reinforcement learning for decision making and control, and generative adversarial networks, graph neural networks, and semantic deep networks as promising paradigms for the analysis and interpretation of synchronized multisensor signals that arise in the focus domain of application, which is the correlated analysis and interpretation of the neural activity and the behavioral observation of humans and animal models. A field that could be identified as computational neuroethology. In short we aim to measure quantitatively the body motion to assess the external behavioral traits, in synchrony with the neural activity measurement. We benefit from recent developments wearable wireless connected electroencephalograms (EEG), and Inertial measurement systems (IMS), as well as accurate close range LiDAR cameras. The project will be devoted to the development of technological solutions for the realization of experimental measurements, and deep learning based computational tools for data analysis. We will collaborate with working team members in the design and construction of experimental arenas. Advanced computational methods will be applied to data analysis obtained from animal models which have been developed by the scientific community to assess quantitatively the effect of drugs or cognitive experiments. Actual experimental work is envisaged to be carried out (or has already been carried out) by external collaborators under the supervision of corresponding ethical committees. Animal model data will be provided by MI Carreño from University of Montreal, U Liberal of the UPV/EHU, R Angulo from Universidad OHiggings (Chile). We will develop human neuroethological prototypes that can be applied to aid the refined and differential diagnosis of some behavioral syndromes, such as the autistic spectrum condition, some neurodegenerative conditions (Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons Disease), and the aging process in general. In the current COVID-19 pandemic this approach would be helpful to assess the behavioral impact of the neural damages that the coronavirus appears to inflict to some subjects. Furthermore, we will explore neuro-ethologically enhanced human-robot interaction, where the robotic counterpart will take into account behavioral and neural cues to modulate the interaction in order to minimize stress and maximize safety. We will collaborate with A Lekova of IR-BAS Bulgaria on the impact of robot interaction with children with communication disorders. Works on human-robot interaction will be inspired by T Hashimoto (JAIST) and H Wagatsuma (Kyutech) from Japan. Finally, we will consider the neuroethological observation of human social interactions in unstructured environments and mediated by game playing. This tool will be help in the analysis of increasingly prevalent social behavior disorders.

La cuarentena es una medida de respuesta ante brotes de síndrome respiratorio agudo grave. Permanecer en cuarentena implica mantenerse en un lugar, a veces aislado de otras personas, con exposición a información negativa en los medios y con alta incertidumbre respecto a su duración. Existen varias consecuencias negativas en la salud mental de las personas producto de las medidas de cuarentena (Brooks y cols., 2020; Iasevoli y cols., 2020). Por ejemplo, la gente que ha pasado por cuarentenas demuestra síntomas de trastornos de ansiedad y depresión; así mismo, algunas condiciones como la duración de la cuarentena incrementan la prevalencia de síntomas (Hawryluck y cols., 2004). Además, las noticias e información sobre la cuarentena son un factor de estrés que pueden aumentar los niveles de ansiedad de la población (Brooks y cols., 2020). Considerando estos efectos, es relevante examinar si el confinamiento y las noticias de la pandemia afectan la ansiedad y el rendimiento en tareas de aprendizaje.

La actual pandemia ha provocado efectos económicos que deterioran la calidad de vida de millones de ciudadanos(as). Estos efectos han sido particularmente pronunciados en hogares que subsisten gracias a la actividad de las empresas de menor tamaño. En América Latina y el Caribe, el 57% de los hogares con pequeñas empresas han tenido que cerrar sus negocios, generando un alza importante en el desempleo (Bottan, Hoffmann y Vera-Cossio, 2020). Nos hemos asociado con SERCOTEC para comprender mejor cómo la pandemia está afectando el desempeño de las empresas en Chile. El objetivo es medir los efectos de la pandemia en las ventas, empleo, ahorro, endeudamiento y subsistencia de las empresas de menor tamaño; así como también examinar los mecanismos a través de los que dichas empresas se han visto afectadas. Además, el estudio busca explorar el rol de los Centros de Desarrollo de Negocios (CDNs) mitigando el impacto de la pandemia y cómo ésta ha exacerbado los efectos negativos de la crisis social. Para ello, el estudio propone dos encuestas por Internet a los clientes de los CDNs en Chile. Los resultados del estudio buscan ser un insumo crucial en el diseño de las políticas públicas y programas para la reactivación inclusiva de la economía de Chile

Attention is a cognitive process which allows the allocation of cognitive resources to different aspects of the sensory input received by the organism. Of particular interest has been the relation between attention and learning. More specifically, it is commonly assumed, as shown by the evidence, that attention is sensitive to the informational value of the events, that is, the information that some events provide regarding other more relevant stimuli. Several learning theories have proposed specific mechanisms to account for this relation between learning and attention. The Mackintosh model, for instance suggested that the organism provides attention to the events about which it is supposed to learn, when said events are predictive of subsequent, more relevant outcomes. Attention also in turn affects the ability of subjects to learn about specific events that they have already experienced, as shown by the “learned predictiveness” effect. The results typically show that new associations are learned faster by the participants when they include predictive cues compared to non-predictive or neutral events. A recent research line has shown that the informational value is not the only factor affecting the interaction between attention and learning, but that the motivational value of the stimuli also modulates it. A growing corpus of evidence on the so-called “reward learning” or “learned value” has evidenced that attention can be captured by stimuli associated with reward, even when the resulting learning is irrelevant or even counterproductive to the cognitive task. The evidence for this effect comes mainly from tasks involving monetary reward, in which a specific stimulus (e.g., a red triangle) must be located on a screen by the participants among a set of distractors. Success in locating the target stimulus across trials includes a small monetary reward. The evidence has shown that such a task results in faster learning for the target stimuli, indicating higher attention to the target cue; it also results in disruption of alternative tasks when the target stimulus is presented. Value-driven attentional capture also occurs with stimuli of different value, such as aversive cues instead of rewarding ones, showing that the effect appears to be one of general motivational value instead of one based solely on reward. The present project has three aims. The first one is to investigate whether there is any symmetry in the associative mechanisms behind value-driven attentional capture and other learning processes; the second is to examine perceptual conditions and behavioral manipulations that may affect attentional capture. The third objective is to examine the effects of value-modulated attentional capture on behavioral tasks designed to assess the relation between attention and goal-directed behavior. The first objective has been examined to some extent: some factors such as size of reward, and valence of the outcome have been tested, but several questions remain to be examined, such as the manner in which the motivational and informational value of the outcome interact, as well as the effect of extinction or outcome devaluation. Research line 1 will explore whether there are analogues to the “predictiveness” effects in value-driven attentional capture; research line 2 will examine whether attentional capture is sensitive to interference treatments such as extinction, counter-conditioning and context change; finally, research line will explore the possibility of operant behavior being affected by value-modulated attentional capture. The present project will implement on a computer a behavioral task similar to the one described above. Participants will have to visually locate a target stimulus between several distractors, and will be rewarded after successful attempts. The validity of the task will be further included by assessing its effects in both appetitive and aversive learning. The effect of attentional capture on operant behavior will be assessed by asking the participants to perform a reward-seeking task in presence of distractors of different valence. The amount of reward received, latency of responding in front of both target and distractor stimuli, and also ocular movements will be registered as measures of learning and attention, respectively.

Título: "Efecto del aceite de quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) en la activación de NF-κB y Nrf2 y en los niveles de TNF-α y HO-1 inducidos por lipopolisacárido en hepatocitos humanos HepG2".