Ana Paula Assis leads IBM’s business operations in Europe client satisfaction and employee engagement in a region with more than 100 countries She also guides IBM’s relationship with the European Union Ana Paula Assis has overall responsibly for market development for the company’s growth markets she was General Manager for IBM Latin America where she drove sustained growth and increased market share She also held multiple positions in the US and China Ana Paula Assis played a key role in the separation of Kyndryl from IBM an action taken to sharpen IBM’s focus on hybrid cloud and AI.  An executive with more than 25 years of international experience in the Information Technology market she has led high-performance sales teams and engaged with clients in their digital transformation journeys.    She is a sought-after speaker who participates regularly in events such as the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos She speaks about topics spanning the impact of AI in the workforce and the role of technology as enabler of sustainability agendas.  Ana Paula Assis serves as non-executive director on the board of Trane Technologies is a member of the advisory board of IESE Business School and was previously a member of the board of Junior Achievement Americas.   She graduated in Computer Science and holds MBAs by Fundação Getulio Vargas and Fundação Dom Cabral.  She is passionate about cycling and currently resides in Madrid Entrepreneur Of The Year® US Services Award winner EY helps clients create long-term value for all stakeholders our services and solutions provide trust through assurance and help clients transform Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy, transaction and transformation consulting Tax function operations Climate change and sustainability services EY Partner Ecosystem Technology transformation Supply chain and operations Asking the better questions that unlock new answers to the working world's most complex issues Case studies Webcasts Podcasts CFO agenda Operations leaders Technology leaders Marketing and growth leaders Cybersecurity and privacy leaders Risk leaders EY Center for Board Matters our purpose is building a better working world The insights and services we provide help to create long-term value for clients Experienced professionals Early career opportunities MBA and advanced-degree students Contract workers EY-Parthenon careers Discover how shifts in demographics and tech reshape priorities urging new models for growth through innovative organizational strategies Download the 2025 EY-Parthenon PE Pricing Report to learn how private equity portfolio companies can build value with better pricing strategies Economic activity is expected to remain stable in 2025 Back to Entrepreneur Of The Year “From immigrant to transformational CEO, Marco’s journey epitomizes resilience and innovation, and his passion for human connection has fueled Propio’s growth.” Growing up in Brazil, Marco Assis hoped to create a future beyond his humble beginnings. But he couldn’t speak English, and he saw that capability as a springboard to success. With his family unable to afford English classes, he taught himself using movies with English subtitles and other inexpensive or free resources. He became proficient enough to pay his way through an English-speaking school by tutoring other students. With dogged determination, Assis studied his way into a top Brazilian university, leveraging his education into a career with multinational energy companies. His work required extensive travel and frustrating communication difficulties, such as when he and his wife, neither of whom are native Spanish speakers, had to navigate the health care system in Panama when their first child had health issues. Under Assis, Propio has grown significantly, increasing its workforce from 10 to 164 full-time employees and completing five acquisitions in two years to access new technology and markets. This expansion has propelled the company onto the 2024 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies, with 751% growth over three years. Assis, who overcame language barriers and found success, is now helping others join the conversation — one voice at a time. EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Northern Transmissions is a music website started for music lovers, by music lovers. We feature interviews, album and live reviews from today’s most influential independent bands and artists. Northern Transmissions also features music news from around the world everyday. spill tab has announced a headline tour across the UK and Europe this May and June The tour will see her performing at venues including Oslo in London and The Deaf Institute in Manchester Chicha shares “the production for Assis feels like the stitching between a 50’s Italian film soundtrack and psychedelic rock The song is about watching someone you love pull away from you in slow motion Rennes (supporting Air) March 27 – ICA London (supporting Perfume Genius) May 23 – Le Weekend Des Curiosités Festival Glasgow May 27 – The Deaf Institute – The Lodge Berlin June 4 – Botanique – The Rotonde Brussels June 5 – Paradisco (upstairs) Amsterdam June 7 – We Love Green Festival Order “Assis” by Spill Tab HERE Sign up for reviews, interviews, news, videos, playlists — and more. each with a title like“God Knows What He’s Doing.”I shall write it withthe fountain pen of mirth and the ink of melancholybetween panic attacksin my hotel room plus sink on the rue des Écoles and declaim it at dinner,a mess of lentils served with the salt of mysteryand the pepper of danger. With every error I makeI refute Pascaland praise Machado de Assis,who said man is a thinking erratum not a thinking reed;he likes to think his mind,inspired by the autumn wind,is in perpetual motion, like a Poulenc piano piecewithout key signatures;and because each movement changes the previousone’s errors, there will neverbe a definitive version. The preceding chaptershould be deletedbecause of the errorconcealed in the last stanza and the likelihoodof a future bibliophilewho devotes his careerto Machado de Assis and spends hours days weeksstudying every sentenceof “The Psychiatrist” and “Dom Casmurro”searching in vainfor that error. A novel is a mirrorwalking down the road,the narrative straight,the style direct. But Machado’s storyand his style are a coupleof drunks veeringfrom side to side, laughing at unfunny jokes,raising their fists,in an episodic distraction from eternity. Better to fallout of a cloud than froma third-story window. According to Aristotleas revised by Machado de Assis,if one rolling billiard ballhits another, effecting a transference of power,and the second ball hits a thirdand the same thing happens, let the ballsrepresent (a) the vector of my life (b) the rejection of the pastand (c) the refusal to accept whattook its place. Thus, extremes of reality and theory may link or collidein either case confirmingthe union of human folly. a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) with over seven years of experience serves as a preceptor for FAU College of Nursing FNP students at the Cleveland Clinic Florida where she is known for her exceptional listening skills Carolina goes above and beyond to understand and attend to patients’ needs while respecting the uniqueness of each individual “My goal in health care is to make a difference in the way patients manage their overall health,” said Carolina “I want to empower individuals to learn how to live better and productive lives by making sound decisions using evidence-based knowledge and best self-care practices.” Carolina firmly recognizes the transforming power of education to make a lasting and positive impact in people's lives She strongly believes it is possible to spread hope as well as motivate and inspire people in any situation including mentoring future nurse practitioners interacting with co-workers and treating patients consistently going above and beyond in her role to support and mentor students,” shared Cristina Calvo “Aspiring nurse practitioner students who are fortunate enough to work with her will receive a unique opportunity for growth and transformation If you are experiencing difficulty accessing information on the Florida Atlantic University website due to a disability, visit the website accessibility page. Florida Atlantic University embodies a culture of strategic and collaborative community engagement that results in mutual benefit to the institution and the diverse internal and external communities that it serves 20th March 2025Words: Daisy Carter Photos: Jade Sadler French-Korean singer, songwriter and producer spill tab has dropped ‘Assis’ groove-flecked number that gives us another insight into her long-awaited debut ‘ANGIE’ it follows the album’s title track to be the second single lifted from the record which is due to hit shelves on 16th May via Because Music “The production for ‘Assis’ feels like the stitching between a ’50s Italian film soundtrack and psychedelic rock,” spill tab - aka Claire Chicha - has shared “The song is about watching someone you love pull away from you in slow motion Although ‘ANGIE’ will be spill tab’s first full-length project, it’s one that’s been in the works for some time; her debut EP ‘Oatmilk’ arrived in 2020, and was followed up by 2021’s ‘Bonnie’ and 2023’s ‘Klepto’ You can check out the official video for ‘Assis’ and find out where to catch spill tab live this year below spill tab’s upcoming tour dates are as follows: MAY 202523 Le Weekend Des Curiosités Festival Get tickets to watch spill tab live now. 27.05.25 The Deaf Institute - The Lodge, Manchester 27.05.25 The Deaf Institute - The Lodge, Manchester 28.05.25 Oslo, Hackney, London 30.05.25 The Green Door Store, Brighton 31.05.25 Rough Trade Records, Bristol Watch Her new EP will be out later this year Watch News EP Review rife with hip collaborators and TikTok-able moments Get the best of DIY to your inbox each week Latest Issue April 2025 Advertise with DIY ↑ Back to the top Thanks for visiting The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here A Vineyard swimmer has set a new record in the 50-yard men’s freestyle event Senior captain Kaua De Assis broke the record on Dec 19 in a home meet against Barnstable with a time of 23.16 The previous record was held by Christian Flanders at 23.36 De Assis qualified for the state championship Swim coach Jennifer Passafiume has coached De Assis for four years and is proud of his growth and he comes with a lot of talent,” she said “He puts a lot of work in and really spends his time during the season working on those little things that he needs to do and it’s paid off.” De Assis still has other goals he wants to achieve before graduating including breaking the 100-yard freestyle school record “I was pretty close to breaking that last year so I think I can do that this year,” he said “Then I also want to place at state championships and I want to win a conference championship with the team another time.” De Assis has a pre-race ritual that he goes through before he dives into the water I always put my foot on the small block before the actual diving block say a little prayer and try to get my nerves down,” he said “It’s always the same nervousness [even if] I’m swimming against someone that I know that I’ll beat,” he said I feel that little bit of pressure while I’m in the air all goes away and I just push through it from there.” De Assis said he tries to always set a good example spreading positivity and even cheering on opponents where we’ve always been nice to each other and always been supportive teammates,” he said De Assis said his accomplishments are part of a larger story “I’m proud of myself for setting an impact as a senior and captain and also as part of the Brazilian community here on Martha’s Vineyard,” he said Subscribe or become a Friend of the Vineyard Gazette and receive our free newsletters and free and discounted tickets to Gazette events along with our award-winning news and photography Adam Ondra was recently climbing in Fontainebleau where he tried one of the world’s hardest boulder projects with Imothep Assis has been projecting Imothep de Sol for several years two moves of V13/14 and eight moves of V11 “I think it is a hard 8C+ (V15) if you start from the second move and possibly 9A+ (V18) from the sit start.” that features the above problems – the V18 project starts at 13:35 “This cool video gives a proper insight into Fontainebleu’s diversity of boulder problems nature and characters climbing at this unique place Featuring the project of Fontainebleau called Imothep Assiss true ‘bleausards’ Camille Coudert and Charles Albert non-bleausard but true climber Lucien Martinez Earlier this year, Ondra made the fourth ascent of Simon Lorenzi’s Soudain Seul V17 in Fontainebleau – read about it here. A post shared by Camille Coudert (@camille_coudert_) Get the digital edition of Gripped for your chosen platform: Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInGREENVILLE (FOX Carolina) - The Greenville Triumph and Greenville Liberty announced a global soccer icon has joined the club’s ownership group Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho Assis signed the deal at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday where he rang the closing bell as part of International Day Assis’s began his professional career in Brazil before moving to Europe where he starred for Paris Saint-Germain and FC Barcelona winning the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2004 and 2005 He continued with the AC Milan and the Brazilian national team where he played a pivotal role in Brazil’s 2002 World Cup victory “We are honored to welcome Ronaldinho into the Triumph family,” said Greenville Triumph Chairman Joe Erwin and his presence within our ownership group speaks volumes about the direction we are heading as a club Ronaldinho’s involvement will not only elevate our club’s profile but also inspire our players With the global spotlight on North America for the 2026 World Cup and Atlanta serving as a host city Assis’s involvement is set to bring international recognition to the Triumph and Liberty teams as well as Upstate Ronaldinho joins an ownership group compised of Erwin and his wife Grechen; Wallace Cheves,a member of the GPS ownerships group; William M IV; Rick Pennell; Jim Casey; Doug Erwin and Shannon Wilbanks Please enter your email below to reset password The global licensing community is powered by an incredible group of professionals whose diverse backgrounds and creative energy drive innovation and excellence Each week we profile one of these professionals in this ongoing series learn more We use web cookies to offer you a better experience on our site. By clicking on "Accept" you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" O endereço abaixo não existe na globo.com Raquel Assis is the newly appointed Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at the Florida Atlantic University College of Engineering and Computer Science in Bioinformatics from the University of Michigan and has a strong research background focused on developing innovative methods to understand the relationships between genotype and phenotype Assis completed her NIH postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley and later joined the faculty at Penn State before transitioning to FAU's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2019 Her work bridges biology and computational sciences contributing to both research and graduate education Assis’ focus on transformative technologies like next-generation sequencing and AI have allowed exploration beyond basic DNA analysis the focus of her work has been on understanding gene functions and their evolution Future research will explore links across biological scales—from genes to proteins to cellular functions inspired by tools like Google’s Alpha Fold An interdisciplinary background across genomics and statistics underscores a commitment to integrating these fields revealing numerous potential educational and research opportunities working in the College of Engineering and Computer Science is especially rewarding due to the strong sense of collegiality among faculty all working collaboratively toward common goals in a dynamic field a key focus is on advancing the graduate curriculum to keep pace with rapidly changing areas following impactful initiatives like the introduction of Florida’s first M.S which was implemented under her predecessor This aligns with a broader aim of contributing meaningfully to students' academic and professional growth Assis looks forward to continuing the forward trajectory The College of Engineering and Computer Science is pleased to welcome Dr Raquel Assis to the team and looks forward to collaborating with her for years to come Ana Paula Assis leads IBM’s business operations in Europe and employee engagement in a region with more than 100 countries She also guides IBM’s relationship with the European Union Ana Paula Assis has overall responsibility for market development in the company’s growth markets a move aimed at sharpening IBM’s focus on hybrid cloud and AI An executive with over 25 years of international experience in the Information Technology market she has led high-performance sales teams and engaged with clients on their digital transformation journeys She is a sought-after speaker who regularly participates in events such as the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos and the role of technology as enabler of sustainability agendas Ana Paula Assis serves as a non-executive director on the board of Trane Technologies and was previously a member of the board of Junior Achievement Americas is thrilled to announce Maya Assis as its new Vice President of Licensing With nearly two decades of experience in licensing Maya brings a proven track record of driving brand growth Maya’s extensive expertise in entertainment and fashion licensing makes her a perfect fit for Fast Forward’s innovative and trend-focused approach she will lead the expansion of Fast Forward’s licensing portfolio forging strategic partnerships and driving innovative collaborations to elevate the company’s presence in the market Her career includes leadership roles at Komar where she identified new brand opportunities and fostered cross-department collaboration as a country licensing agent for global studios like Warner Brothers Maya successfully launched brands and executed cross-platform marketing strategies “I’m honored to join Fast Forward and contribute to their legacy of innovation and growth,” said Maya and I’m excited to bring my experience to help create solutions that resonate with consumers and drive impactful partnerships.” where she developed her love for storytelling and brand building and she continues to be recognized for her ability to align licensing strategies with market trends Here at PUCRS you can take the course you want Courses that will make a difference in your development There are 20 program options in the best graduate courses in the country Renowned teachers and our quality guarantee Courses with different themes and prices for senior citizens Commitment to scientific and technological advancement.   Seeking solutions to the problems of our society.  Contributing to the training of specialists and researchers.   Be one of our researchers and contribute to scientific advancement We value ethics and integrity in our work.   Follow our guidelines for research and laboratory safety Scientific journals available exclusively in electronic media Discover an innovative and entrepreneurial university Discover the connected and global innovation ecosystem Discover the possibilities of an entrepreneurial education We facilitate your search for health and longevity Discover the school with the best medicine course in the country Ensuring an improvement in quality of life is our purpose Our biggest concern is people's health and lives Discover what PUCRS can do for you.    Prioritizing your development and well-being.   Tailored services for whatever your organization needs Cultural and well-being programming.   Contributing to the development of society.   Valuing your learning and talent development.   Hold your event in the most complete complex in the south of the country.   Services and environments that can make your day-to-day life easier Our impactful actions for the community and education Raising funds to finance projects and strategic actions We continue to work alongside the people of Rio Grande do Sul in rebuilding the State We are a community university focused on society A new University for a new society.   We are the best private university in the country and one of the best in the world the coordinator of the Portuguese Language course and professor and doctoral student Luis Roberto Amabile held on March 25 on the 7th floor of the PUCRS Central Library Evilázio Teixeira and the pro-rector of Extension and Community Affairs Br Creator of the most traditional creative writing workshop in the country Assis Brasil said that 35 years ago he proposed the course to the then vice-rector of research and graduate studies and he recognizes the important role of PUCRS in this journey “There was one person who believed in me and after that I owe it to PUCRS for always supporting me and offering all the necessary structure is an account of all the support I have always received over these 34 years” “It has been an uninterrupted activity for 34 years a period longer than the age of the vast majority of our students the workshop was created before the majority of this generation was born and wanted to study creative writing,” he states The book fills a gap in studies in the area at a national level make Porto Alegre a destination for many people from Rio Grande do Sul “The possibility of studying Creative Writing at a top university like PUCRS is undeniably due to the work that Assis has been developing for decades.” left his job as a journalist at Estadão in São Paulo and moved to Porto Alegre to attend the workshop I thank PUCRS for supporting Creative Writing in Brazil The book is one of the very rare cases of a work that was born a classic,” he says Another example is fellow journalist Fred Linardi who left São Paulo in 2017 to enroll in a master’s degree in Creative Writing he was a student of Assis Brasil’s workshop “I was able to continuously understand the lucid process of writing with an exemplary class on the method he provides a much broader perspective on reading We leave the workshop learning to read better which greatly influences our writing.” In the first contest in which he entered a short story and in the Paulo Leminski contest he received an honorable mention Understanding that everything stems from the existence of the character space and the idea of ​​focalizer are some of the themes addressed by Assis Brasil in the new book examples of texts by Portuguese-speaking authors – which is a huge difference from other works – It is the work of a life dedicated to literature and its teaching The book brings together the teacher and the writer reading this book is also seeing and hearing Assis in the classroom” Alexandra Lopes da Cunha is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at PUCRS and has Assis Brasil as her advisor She will soon be leaving for a period at the University of Coimbra which will be a novel that explores the concept of a common language between Brazil and Portugal “All of his observations were very precise he helped me a lot in a series of aspects in the construction of the narrative and in the specific issues of character development Learn about research projects and our researchers information and follow everything that is happening at the University learn about the Fluir program and have access to the main systems It's been a rough three weeks for St. Francis of Assisi School in Delaware County after a fire destroyed one of the buildings The kids and teachers at St. Francis in Springfield were reunited for their annual dance-a-thon celebration was so excited for the activities on Friday 25 that she led the conga line dressed in a cow costume Get top local Philly stories delivered to you every morning with NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter Today's fun comes just three weeks after a fire broke out on Oct. 7 in the building where the younger kids have their classes The impacted building also housed the school's main office It happened just a couple of hours after the school day had ended The school community says that things haven't been the same since "It is definitely weird because the office was in that building The nurse's office and stuff so we've had to make some adjustments but I think like everyone is getting comfortable right now," eighth grader Briana Meliti said but the worst part was that it separated the younger students from the older kids The younger kids now have their classes at another school down the road Friday's dance marathon is something that is held every single year but the 2024 edition has extra special meaning because it was a reunion "We had a prayer service this morning you could tell just being here that everyone is so excited to have each other here again There is a lot of optimism for what lies ahead as officials try to figure out what caused the fire and the school works on plans to rebuild Francis of Assisi are strong and good things are ahead for them "It's an amazing community and it is just going to be a thousand times better," eighth grader Helana Babcock said Lots of nugs and lots of hugs for this school on Friday with loads of smiles and endless dancing Adriano Assis said mix-up at airport meant he went to get coffee instead of checking in News | World A passenger who had been due to be on a plane which crashed in a fiery wreck in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state has told how a cup of coffee saved their life The plane crashed into a gated residential community in Vinhedo, about 50 miles north-west of Sao Paulo on Friday, killing all 62 on board. Adriano Assis, a hospital worker from Rio De Janeiro, told Brazilian news outlet TV Globo that he narrowly missed the two-hour flight from Cascavel to Guarulhos after mistakenly thinking he had more time to check-in but an airline worker would not let him board Voepass flight 2283 as it was ready to depart Brazilian emergency crews on Saturday recovered the remains of the 62 victims aboard the airliner. The bodies of most of the victims - 34 males and 28 females - had already been moved to Sao Paulo's police morgue for identification The bodies of the pilot and co-pilot were identified earlier in the day Four people with dual citizenship were among the victims three Venezuelans and one Portuguese woman which the family was taking to later head to Colombia The plane's so-called "black box" containing voice recordings and flight data was undergoing analysis the head of Brazilian aviation accident investigation centre Cenipa The aircraft was flying normally until 1:21 p.m. Campaigners call for action as Earth hits Plastic Overshoot Day Hundreds deported on planes since Government came to power Man dies after being hit by van in Palmers Green Save £20 per person on autumn and Christmas days out by steam The pilots did not report an emergency or adverse weather conditions Prince Louis steals the show at VE Day parade as he keeps dad William looking sharp and mimics brother George Prince Louis steals show with sweet antics at VE parade David Beckham’s 50th birthday bash in London 'shut down' by council over noise complaints David Beckham’s 50th birthday bash 'shut down' over noise complaints VE Day 2025 fashion: best looks from the day VE Day 2025 fashion: Princess of Wales to Lady Victoria Starmer UK tourists face major travel shake-up as Dubai airport set to close VE Day 2025 flypast and parade LIVE: King Charles joined by senior royals on Palace balcony to watch Red Arrows King joined by senior royals on Palace balcony to watch VE Day flypast Stay in the know with The National Interest newsletter © Copyright 2025 Center for the National Interest. 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CommentsThis man wasn’t allowed to board the plane that just crashed in Vinhedo in São Paulo, Brazil because he was LATE.He argued with the man at the boarding gate, but ended up hugging him after hearing the plane had crashed.This is unbelievable… 🙏 pic.twitter.com/wrplK3lVr4 The ceiling of the UNESCO-listed Church of São Francisco de Assis collapsed last Wednesday in Salvador de Bahia leading to one fatality and several injuries São Paulo resident Giulia Panchoni Righetto, 26, was visiting the site with her boyfriend and three friends, and was killed when the ceiling of the historic church suddenly caved in, according to UK newspaper the Mirror At least five other people were injured in the collapse described to local media how “a huge hole suddenly opened up in the church” just as she was approaching the door to leave “The entire central area of the church gave way,” Sósthenes Macedo of the Civil Defence said A church friar had alerted the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (known by its Portuguese acronym Iphan) on Monday Technicians were scheduled to inspect on Thursday as Iphan said it was not informed of the severity of the issue commander-general of the Bahian Military Fire Department said “there was no indication that the site needed to be sealed off.” [See more: A protection plan for Macao’s heritage sites takes effect tomorrow] The historic centre of Salvador de Bahia is a UNESCO World Heritage site and it was toward the end of this period that the Church and Convent of São Francisco de Assis were built in Pelourinho one of the seven main districts comprising what is now the city’s historic centre.  A stunning blend of Portuguese Baroque style and Bahian cultural influences the relatively sober façade is contrasted by a lavish interior decorated with spectacular gilt work intricately carved wooden sculptures and around 55,000 shimmering azulejos imported from Portugal Volume 6 - 2014 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2014.00255 This article is part of the Research TopicNeuropsychology and neuropsychiatry of neurodegenerative disordersView all 21 articles Pfeffer's Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ) is one of the most commonly employed tools in studies on pathological cognitive aging Despite the different versions of the questionnaire translated for use in clinical practice few studies have analyzed the psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the FAQ (P-FAQ) the aim of the present study was to analyze the P-FAQ with regard to internal consistency factorial structure and associations with demographic factors (age cognitive measures and other measures of functionality One hundred sixty-one older adults were divided into four groups (91 with dementia 11 with psychiatric disorders and 13 healthy controls) All participants were evaluated by cognitive behavioral and functional tests and scales The questionnaire showed high internal consistency (α = 0.91) Factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure The P-FAQ was not correlated with demographic factors was weakly correlated with depressive symptoms (ϱ = 0.271 R2 = 7%) and strongly correlated with cognitive measures (Matttis Dementia Rating Scale total score: ϱ = −0.574 R2 = 33%) as well as complex instrumental activities of daily living (ϱ = −0.845 Cognitive performance and depression status were independent predictors of P-FAQ scores in regression models The present findings indicate that the P-FAQ has satisfactory reliability construct validity and ecological validity this questionnaire can be used in clinical practice and research involving the Brazilian population of older adults The proportion of older adults in the general population has increased in recent years due mainly to the demographic explosion in past decades as well as improvements in living conditions and quality of life (Lin et al., 2012) disabling diseases associated with the aging process have become more prevalent The use of questionnaires that evaluate basic and instrumental activities of daily living is a common method for evaluating the functional status of older adults functional locomotion and sphincter control whereas instrumental activities are those related to enjoying an independent running errands as well as using transportation and the telephone The FAQ was formally adapted to the Brazilian context in a recent study (Sanchez et al., 2011) although other versions with subtle differences have been used in clinical and research contexts denominated the Pfeffer's Functional Activities Questionnaire (P-FAQ) has similar characteristics to Pfeffer's original questionnaire a number of items have been completely changed with the possible alteration of the original structure no previous studies have evaluated the psychometric properties of the P-FAQ on a heterogeneous sample of older Brazilian adults The participants were aged 60 years or older and recruited from the Jenny de Andrade Faria Institute of Healthcare for Older Adults and Women which is a secondary/tertiary public health center in the city of Belo Horizonte This institute receives older adults referred from primary healthcare units in metropolitan Belo Horizonte as well as other municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais The participants were sent for neuropsychological exams as part of routine evaluations or follow up and were subsequently invited to participate in the present study A total of 161 older adults (96 women and 65 men; mean age: 75.51 ± 7.22 years; mean schooling: 4.43 ± 4.08 years) were included in the study This project integrates a comprehensive study which aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of a neuropsychological protocol designed to assess older adults with low formal education (de Paula et al., 2013a) The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (COEP-334/06) All participants and/or legal guardians signed a statement of informed consent Individuals with severe sensory or motor impairment or without caregivers to provide information were excluded from the study Only individuals with a CDR score of 1 or less were included in the study The diagnosis was performed by consensus among a geriatrician The clinical evaluation of the geriatrician also involved an interview with the participant and caregiver to investigate symptoms Clinical and neuroimaging exams were performed when necessary The sample size was calculated using the G*Power program As the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test demonstrated that most data exhibited non-normal distribution a sample of 161 individuals was considered adequate to detect large (98%) moderate (93%) and small (73%) effect sizes in the comparisons of non-parametric groups Descriptive statistics were performed for the demographic characteristics of the participants as well as the scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination Differences among the four groups (dementia psychiatric disorders and control) were analyzed using the Kruskall-Wallis test followed by the Mann-Whitney tests with the Bonferroni correction for group-by-group analyses The chi-square test was used to determine differences among categorical variables The validity of the P-FAQ was evaluated using exploratory factor analysis of the ten items. Principal axis factoring and varimax rotation were selected for the procedure. Eigenvalues greater than 1 and scree plot analysis, the latter of which was performed by two independent observers (JJP and LFMD), were employed for the selection of the factors. Based on the sample size, factor loadings equal to or greater than 0.45 were considered significant (Hair et al., 2009) Table 1 displays the description of the socio-demographic psychiatric and cognitive characteristics of the participants The different groups were similar with regard to age schooling and activities of daily living related to self-care Significant differences were found in the proportion of men to women (χ2 = 8.23; p = 0.041) The psychiatric disorder group had a larger proportion of women than the other three groups Significant differences were also found for the other variables analyzed Description of groups according to socio-demographic The results of the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy (KMO = 0.889) and Bartlett's Sphericity Test (χ2 = 929.48; p < 0.001) suggest that the sample was appropriate for factor analysis of the P-FAQ. Following the extraction of the factors and orthogonal rotation of the data, a two-factor structure was considered the most suitable for the data (Table 2) The first factor explained 55% of the variance (eigenvalue: 5.50) and the second factor explained approximately 11% of the overall variance (eigenvalue: 1.07) The latent structure therefore suggests bi-factor distribution Rotated factor structure (varimax) of P-FAQ Spearman's correlation coefficients and shared variance (R2) between P-FAQ and socio-demographic P-FAQ: Pfeffer's Functional Activities Questionnaire who report α = 0.95 in the administration of the scale to a sample of older Brazilian adults This divergence reflects the need for components directed at the evaluation of activities strongly related to the processing of spatial information The P-FAQ has only one item addressing this aspect (“Is he/she capable of walking outside the neighborhood and finding the way back home?”) is strongly influenced by other cognitive aspects such as non-declarative memory (habits and procedural memory) but can be understood as either a cause or consequence of functional decline which is an aspect that should be analyzed further in future studies Further studies should be conducted to evaluate the possible additive of effect between this version of the FAQ and cognitive measures for the differential diagnosis of pathological aging as performed with another functional scale used as a parameter in the present investigation This work was supported by the following grants: APQ-01972/12-10 The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest Short versions of the geriatric depression scale: a study of their validity for the diagnosis of a major depressive episode according to ICD-10 and DSM-IV Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (2014) [Internet]. 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LF (2014) Psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of Pfeffer's Functional Activities Questionnaire Received: 05 August 2014; Accepted: 08 September 2014; Published online: 25 September 2014 Copyright © 2014 Assis, de Paula, Assis, de Moraes and Malloy-Diniz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Luciana de Oliveira Assis, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, Sociais e da Saúde, Universidade FUMEC, Rua Cobre 200, Cruzeiro, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais CEP: 30.310-190, Brasil e-mail:bHVjaWFuYW9hc3Npc0B5YWhvby5jb20uYnI= Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish the principles of origami can theoretically be used to compute anything imaginable By Matthew Sparkes An origami logic gate could form the basis of a computer Paper folded according to the rules of origami can theoretically perform any computation imaginable from adding numbers to running the latest artificial intelligence software though in practice this is unlikely to be useful While we normally think of computation as something done using silicon chips, anything capable of representing and manipulating information can be used as a computer – for example, dominoes arranged in the correct pattern are able to add together two numbers Read more Single-celled predator extends its 'neck' with the help of origami Michael… Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science within the College of Engineering and Computer Science and a fellow of FAU’s Institute for Human Health and Disease Intervention (I-HEALTH) model-based statistical and machine-learning approaches for classifying the evolutionary outcomes and predicting the evolutionary parameters of structural variations arising from duplication Structural variations are key drivers of both evolutionary adaptation and human disease she will make comparisons among different types of structural variations The major goal of the research is to ascertain the general rules by which different types of structural variations contribute to evolutionary innovation These studies will shed light on how gene duplication and translocation work in concert to generate a diversity of complex adaptations across the tree of life “Our preliminary studies indicated that these techniques will be much more powerful and accurate than previous approaches and will therefore compose major advancements in evolutionary investigations of structural variations,” said Assis “In addition to implementing our methods in open source software packages we will apply them to assay the evolutionary implications of different types of structural variations in humans and several other animal and plant taxa.” Follow-up analyses from this research will test targeted hypotheses about how structural variations drive evolutionary innovation such as whether different types of structural variations and their evolutionary outcomes play roles in sex-specific adaptations Assis’ group develops and applies computational and statistical approaches for understanding the evolution of structural variations from patterns in their genomic and transcriptomic data her group’s studies have focused primarily on gene duplication which represents the most common type of structural variation observed in nature Assis has investigated the origins of evolutionary innovation after gene duplication a problem of long-standing interest in the evolutionary genomics community As a postdoctoral researcher in the Bachtrog Laboratory at the University of California Assis designed the first method for classifying evolutionary outcomes of duplicate genes from phylogenetic comparisons of their gene expression profiles By applying this decision tree method to multi-tissue gene expression data she and her group were able to classify evolutionary outcomes of duplicate genes in Drosophila (fruit fly) These studies revealed frequent tissue-specific expression divergence after duplication as well as sequence and expression differences within and among taxa that are consistent with natural selection “There are many limitations of decision tree methods, including sensitivity to gene expression stochasticity, lack of statistical support, and inability to predict parameters driving the evolution of structural variations,” said Stella Batalama College of Engineering and Computer Science “We are extremely proud of professor Assis for receiving this esteemed and highly-competitive NIH MIRA grant which will help her overcome these obstacles with the design of new model-based statistical and machine-learning techniques for simultaneously classifying evolutionary outcomes and predicting evolutionary parameters of structural variations from genomic and transcriptomic data.” In a follow-up population-genomic analysis Assis’ group demonstrated that natural selection indeed plays an important role in the evolutionary outcomes of young duplicate genes in Drosophila Her group later developed analogous decision tree classifiers for an additional type of structural variations: gene deletion Application of this method to gene expression data from multiple tissues and developmental stages in Drosophila uncovered rapid divergence concordant with adaptation suggesting that natural selection shapes the evolutionary trajectories of structural variations generated by deletion and translocation as well Assis worked with her collaborator, Michael DeGiorgio Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at FAU to develop the first machine learning algorithm for classifying evolutionary outcomes and predicting parameters of duplicate genes from expression data Much of Assis’ future work will focus on continuing these more sophisticated machine learning methods for other types of structural variations “Dr. Assis is an outstanding young researcher and this NIH MIRA grant is a testament to the bright academic career ahead of her,” said Gregg Fields “Structural variations have important implications in medicine and molecular biology and are associated with an increasing number of normal phenotypic variations Assis’ work will help to paint a global picture of structural variations’ relative biological roles and importance in humans and other taxa.”