O estágio maturação biológica é um fator importante que influencia o processo de seleção e promoção de talentos esportivos. Vários autores têm demonstrado que diferentes aspectos morfofuncionais, como por exemplo, o tamanho corporal, a velocidade e a força, possuem um ritmo de desenvolvimento individual durante o período da puberdade, sendo altamente dependente do estágio de maturação biológica. Diante dessa influência da maturação biológica sobre o processo de seleção de jovens atletas, outro fenômeno vem sendo observado durante esse processo, o Efeito da Idade Relativa (EIR). O EIR refere-se à influência que os meses de nascimento (idade cronológica) podem provocar na aprendizagem e no desempenho de jovens em uma determinada tarefa e/ou processo ensino-aprendizagem. Portanto, seguindo o pressuposto do EIR, os sujeitos nascidos nos primeiros trimestres do ano poderiam apresentar vantagens biológicas (ex. hormônios), físicas (ex. estatura, peso, força, etc.), cognitivas, psicológicas e de aprendizagem sobre sujeitos de mesma idade cronológica nascidos nos últimos meses do ano. Essas variações poderiam afetar o desempenho, provocando a superestimação dos resultados observados no momento da avaliação. Desta forma, o objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar a maturação biológica e o EIR entre os jovens atletas selecionados para programas de treinamento em longo prazo no futebol. Para tanto, em um primeiro momento foram avaliados jovens atletas de futebol, participantes do processo de seleção de talentos para ingresso na categoria sub-14 de um clube de futebol com destaque nacional e internacional. No segundo momento foram coletadas as mesmas variáveis apenas no grupo de jovens selecionados para compor a equipe sub-14 do referido clube. Os parâmetros avaliados foram: mês de nascimento, nível de maturação sexual, concentração de testosterona, composição corporal e força geral (preensão palmar). De maneira geral, os resultados permitiram concluir que há uma forte presença do EIR na amostra investigada de jogadores de futebol apresentando diferentes datas de nascimento entre iniciantes/titulares e excluídos, com maior participação de jogadores nascidos no primeiro trimestre no grupo de iniciantes/titulares (75%) quando comparados ao grupo selecionado (50%). Também foi detectada uma concentração de testosterona mais elevada para os jogadores selecionados (172,0 ± 43,1 nmol.L-1) em comparação com os jogadores excluídos (130,3 ± 28,3 nmol.L-1). Portanto, os achados atuais sugerem uma forte influência do EIR e da maturação biológica no processo de seleção de jovens jogadores de futebol / The biological maturation status is an important factor that influences the talent identification process and development of sports talent. Several authors have shown that different morphological and functional aspects, such as body size, speed and strength have an individual rate of development during puberty, being highly dependent on the stage of sexual maturation. Given this influence of biological maturation on the talent identification process of young athletes, another phenomenon has been observed during this process, the Relative Age Effect (RAE). The RAE refers to the influence that the months of birth (chronological age) can result in learning and performance of a given task in young people. Therefore, following the assumption of the RAE, subjects born in the first quarters of the year could provide biological advantages (eg. hormones), physical (eg. height, weight, strength, etc.), cognitive, psychological and learning about the same subject chronological age born in the last months of the year. These variations could affect performance, causing overestimation of the results observed during the talent identification process. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze the biological maturation and RAE between young athletes selected for training programs in football long term. Therefore, in the first instance will be assessed youth soccer players participating in the talent selection process for entry into the under-14 category of a football club, with national and international prominence. In the second phase will be collected the same variables in the group of young people selected to make the under-14 team of the club. The parameters are: month of birth, level of sexual maturity, testosterone, body composition, and overall strength (grip hand). In general, the results allowed to conclude that there is a strong presence of EIR in the sample investigated of soccer players showing a different birth date distribution was observed between starters and dismissed players with a greater participation of players born in the first trimester in the starters group (75%) when compared to the selected group (50%). Also a higher testosterone concentration was detected for starters players (172.0 + 43.1 nmol.L-1) as compared to dismissed players (130.3 + 28.3 nmol.L-1). Therefore, current findings suggest a strong influence of EIR and biological maturation on the selection process of young soccer players

As mudanças fisiológicas no sistema auditivo relacionadas à idade refletem nos potenciais evocados auditivos, sendo possível, assim, determinar a relação existente entre estas mudanças e o desenvolvimento das habilidades auditivas comportamentais. A percepção do som pode alterar o eletroencefalograma do humano ouvinte, e estas modificações podem ser extraídas deste registro, identificando os potenciais evocados auditivos, usados para descrever a resposta do sistema auditivo frente à estimulação. O implante coclear tem sido uma opção de sucesso para a reabilitação auditiva de crianças com perda auditiva de grau severo ou profundo; o uso do dispositivo por longo tempo pode alterar as respostas do sistema nervoso auditivo central para a estimulação elétrica por meio do implante coclear, uma vez que a literatura apresenta que a experiência com o implante coclear proporciona melhores resultados quanto à percepção da fala. O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar e verificar as características do componente P1 dos potenciais evocados auditivos corticais em indivíduos com deficiência auditiva com longo tempo de uso do implante coclear e correlacioná-los com o desempenho da percepção da fala e, secundariamente, a outras variáveis relacionadas ao implante coclear. Participaram deste estudo 30 usuários de implante coclear que foram implantados na idade de dois a quatro anos, de ambos os sexos, com tempo de uso do dispositivo eletrônico variando entre seis a 14 anos. Foi pesquisado o componente P1 dos potenciais evocados auditivos corticais com o estímulo de fala /da/ e avaliada a percepção da fala com lista de sentenças. Os procedimentos foram realizados em campo livre. Como resultado, foi constatado que o componente P1 foi registrado em todos os indivíduos avaliados, com valores médios latência em 131,87±34,46 ms e amplitude 2,42±1,46 &#956;V. Notou-se a ocorrência da redução da latência (p=0539) e o aumento da amplitude (p=0,297) do componente P1, com ausência de correlação entre os grupos com menos e mais de 10 anos do uso do dispositivo eletrônico. Ao analisar o desempenho na percepção da fala e as características do componente P1, pela pontuação comportamental, foi considerado como desempenho \"bom\" o escore >54%, e \"ruim\" <=54%, e posterior análise da média de latência do P1 (p=0753) e da amplitude (p=0,399) em ambos os grupos, não foi encontrada diferença estatisticamente significante. Deste modo, a presença do componente P1 em indivíduos usuários de implante coclear demonstra que o implante coclear restaura a capacidade de ouvir. O padrão maturacional do potencial cortical segue o curso semelhante ao da criança ouvinte, porém com um atraso na latência e diminuição da amplitude. Após longo período de uso do implante coclear, o componente P1 não é um preditor único do desempenho na percepção de fala. / The physiological changes in the auditory system based on age reflect in the auditory evoked potentials, thus, it is possible to determine that a relationship exists between these changes and the development of auditory skills. The perception of sound can change the electroencephalogram of the human listener, and these modifications can be extracted from this record, identifying the auditory-evoked potentials used to describe the response of the front auditory system to stimulations. The cochlear implant has been a successful option for hearing correction in children with moderate or serious hearing loss; the long-term use of the device can change the responses of the central nervous auditory system for the electric stimulation through the cochlear implant once the literature shows that the experience with the cochlear implant provides good speech perception results. The objective of this study was to identify and verify the characteristics of the P1 component of the cortical auditory evoked potentials in hearing-impaired individuals with long-term use of the cochlear implant and correlate them with speech development, and secondarily, other variables related to the cochlear implant. Thirty (30) cochlear implant users, both male and female, implanted between the ages of two and four years old and use of the electronic device for the time period between six and 14 years, participated in this study. The P1 component of the cortical auditory evoked potentials was studied with speech stimulation and speech perception evaluated with a list of sentences. The procedures were evaluated in an open environment. As a result, it was found that the P1 component was recorded in each of the evaluated, with average latent values of 31,87±34,46 ms and amplitude of 2,42±1,46 &#956;V. The occurrence of latency reduction (p=0,539) and the increase in amplitude (p=0,297) of the P1 component were noted, with the absence of correlation between the groups with less and more than 10 years of use of the electronic device. When analyzing the effort in speech perception and the characteristics of the P1 component by the behavioral points, the score of >54% was considered \"good\", and <=54% was \"poor\", and the later analysis of the latent values of the P1 component (p=0,753) and the amplitude (p=0,399) in both groups, a statistically significant difference was not found. Thus, the presence of the P1 component in individual cochlear implant users shows that the cochlear implant restores the capacity to hear. The standard maturity potential of the cortical closely follows that of a hearing child, but with a delay in latency and decrease in amplitude. After a long period of cochlear implant use, the P1 component is not a lone predictor of speech perception performance.

As mudanças fisiológicas no sistema auditivo relacionadas à idade refletem nos potenciais evocados auditivos, sendo possível, assim, determinar a relação existente entre estas mudanças e o desenvolvimento das habilidades auditivas comportamentais. A percepção do som pode alterar o eletroencefalograma do humano ouvinte, e estas modificações podem ser extraídas deste registro, identificando os potenciais evocados auditivos, usados para descrever a resposta do sistema auditivo frente à estimulação. O implante coclear tem sido uma opção de sucesso para a reabilitação auditiva de crianças com perda auditiva de grau severo ou profundo; o uso do dispositivo por longo tempo pode alterar as respostas do sistema nervoso auditivo central para a estimulação elétrica por meio do implante coclear, uma vez que a literatura apresenta que a experiência com o implante coclear proporciona melhores resultados quanto à percepção da fala. O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar e verificar as características do componente P1 dos potenciais evocados auditivos corticais em indivíduos com deficiência auditiva com longo tempo de uso do implante coclear e correlacioná-los com o desempenho da percepção da fala e, secundariamente, a outras variáveis relacionadas ao implante coclear. Participaram deste estudo 30 usuários de implante coclear que foram implantados na idade de dois a quatro anos, de ambos os sexos, com tempo de uso do dispositivo eletrônico variando entre seis a 14 anos. Foi pesquisado o componente P1 dos potenciais evocados auditivos corticais com o estímulo de fala /da/ e avaliada a percepção da fala com lista de sentenças. Os procedimentos foram realizados em campo livre. Como resultado, foi constatado que o componente P1 foi registrado em todos os indivíduos avaliados, com valores médios latência em 131,87±34,46 ms e amplitude 2,42±1,46 &#956;V. Notou-se a ocorrência da redução da latência (p=0539) e o aumento da amplitude (p=0,297) do componente P1, com ausência de correlação entre os grupos com menos e mais de 10 anos do uso do dispositivo eletrônico. Ao analisar o desempenho na percepção da fala e as características do componente P1, pela pontuação comportamental, foi considerado como desempenho \"bom\" o escore >54%, e \"ruim\" <=54%, e posterior análise da média de latência do P1 (p=0753) e da amplitude (p=0,399) em ambos os grupos, não foi encontrada diferença estatisticamente significante. Deste modo, a presença do componente P1 em indivíduos usuários de implante coclear demonstra que o implante coclear restaura a capacidade de ouvir. O padrão maturacional do potencial cortical segue o curso semelhante ao da criança ouvinte, porém com um atraso na latência e diminuição da amplitude. Após longo período de uso do implante coclear, o componente P1 não é um preditor único do desempenho na percepção de fala. / The physiological changes in the auditory system based on age reflect in the auditory evoked potentials, thus, it is possible to determine that a relationship exists between these changes and the development of auditory skills. The perception of sound can change the electroencephalogram of the human listener, and these modifications can be extracted from this record, identifying the auditory-evoked potentials used to describe the response of the front auditory system to stimulations. The cochlear implant has been a successful option for hearing correction in children with moderate or serious hearing loss; the long-term use of the device can change the responses of the central nervous auditory system for the electric stimulation through the cochlear implant once the literature shows that the experience with the cochlear implant provides good speech perception results. The objective of this study was to identify and verify the characteristics of the P1 component of the cortical auditory evoked potentials in hearing-impaired individuals with long-term use of the cochlear implant and correlate them with speech development, and secondarily, other variables related to the cochlear implant. Thirty (30) cochlear implant users, both male and female, implanted between the ages of two and four years old and use of the electronic device for the time period between six and 14 years, participated in this study. The P1 component of the cortical auditory evoked potentials was studied with speech stimulation and speech perception evaluated with a list of sentences. The procedures were evaluated in an open environment. As a result, it was found that the P1 component was recorded in each of the evaluated, with average latent values of 31,87±34,46 ms and amplitude of 2,42±1,46 &#956;V. The occurrence of latency reduction (p=0,539) and the increase in amplitude (p=0,297) of the P1 component were noted, with the absence of correlation between the groups with less and more than 10 years of use of the electronic device. When analyzing the effort in speech perception and the characteristics of the P1 component by the behavioral points, the score of >54% was considered \"good\", and <=54% was \"poor\", and the later analysis of the latent values of the P1 component (p=0,753) and the amplitude (p=0,399) in both groups, a statistically significant difference was not found. Thus, the presence of the P1 component in individual cochlear implant users shows that the cochlear implant restores the capacity to hear. The standard maturity potential of the cortical closely follows that of a hearing child, but with a delay in latency and decrease in amplitude. After a long period of cochlear implant use, the P1 component is not a lone predictor of speech perception performance.

Poor egg quality is the leading cause of pregnancy loss and Down's syndrome. While even eggs in young women frequently contain an incorrect number of chromosomes and are therefore unlikely to give rise to a viable pregnancy, the incidence of chromosomally abnormal eggs increases strikingly with advancing maternal age. Why egg quality declines dramatically as women approach their forties remains one of the outstanding questions in developmental biology. This PhD thesis demonstrates how unforeseen features of kinetochore organization that are unique to meiosis render this cell division process in mammals particularly prone to errors. Firstly, my results uncovered an unexpected multi-subunit organization of the meiotic kinetochore, which is widely conserved across mammals and biases eggs towards errors. Secondly, I identified two independent mechanisms that predispose eggs from older women to aneuploidy. The first mechanism affects the fidelity of meiosis I. My analysis revealed that human oocytes challenge the paradigm that sister kinetochores are fully fused. Instead, I demonstrated that sister kinetochores disjoin as women get older, which promoted erroneous kinetochore-microtubule attachments. This in turn allowed chromosomes to rotate on the spindle and provided a mechanistic explanation for reverse segregation - a recently discovered meiotic error that is unique to humans. Secondly, I pioneered the use of super-resolution microscopy to study chromosome architecture in human eggs and discovered that individual kinetochores during meiosis II in mammals are composed of previously unidentified subdomains. In young females, these subdomains are joined together by cohesin complexes. With age, kinetochores fragment into two pieces. Fragmented kinetochores frequently attach merotelically to spindle microtubules, which predisposes aged eggs to errors. What severely hinders our progress in identifying causes of human infertility is that numerous features of human meiosis are not represented in mice. To overcome this challenge, I developed an experimental platform to mimic the age-related changes that occur in humans in oocytes from young mice. I achieved this by extending the applications of Trim-Away, a novel method to degrade endogenous proteins even in primary cells, to partially deplete proteins. Furthermore, I established a new experimental model system to study human-like aspects of meiosis in live non-rodent cells in real time: pig oocytes. Together, these results set foundations for new therapeutic approaches to extend reproductive lifespan by counteracting the age-related loss in kinetochore integrity that this study identified. Furthermore, partial Trim-Away and studying meiosis in pigs opens new directions for meiotic research.

Influenza is a contagious respiratory disease that has caused at least four pandemics and countless epidemics since the 20th century, impacted millions of people worldwide and the global economy. To date, the predominant influenza species circulating in humans are influenza A and B. Influenza may cause serious illness in all age groups but individuals such as the newborns and senior population whose immune systems are compromised are at higher risk for severe disease. Interestingly, during the outbreak of pandemic 2009 H1N1 (H1N1pdm), it was found that the elderly had the lowest hospitalization rate and an increased proportion of healthy adults developed severe disease. Furthermore, several clinical studies have demonstrated that most H1N1pdm infected children experienced mild to moderate illness and led to the least mortality. The difference of disease outcome in age groups between different influenza infections may be due to several factors, which include differing pathogenicity between the viruses, differential immune status and composition among the age groups, and pre-existing immunity from previous encounter(s) with a similar virus. Since the human clinical data are often complicated by secondary factors such as co-morbidities, I used the ferret model to address these questions. I first compared the clinical and pathological patterns among the pandemic and seasonal influenza strains and found H1N1pdm caused the most severe illness to healthy ferrets. Importantly, the disease severity did not correlate with viral burden but immunopathology. To study the age effect, I found that H1N1pdm infected young ferrets with mild clinical symptoms developed specialized ectopic lymphoid structures and a distinct cytokine expression profile in the lungs, which were absent in adult ferrets with severe illness. I also examined antigenic change in historical H1N1s and anti-H1 responses to explain the pre-existing immunity of H1N1pdm found in the elderly. However, low similarity was found between historical H1N1s and H1N1pdm. Lastly, I conducted a detailed influenza B comparative study. I observed the pathogenic B strain was capable to cause lower respiratory tract infection and pathology like the influenza A viruses. Overall, this thesis provides novel insights for developing therapeutic and prophylactic strategies against influenza infection.

Influenza is a contagious respiratory disease that has caused at least four pandemics and countless epidemics since the 20th century, impacted millions of people worldwide and the global economy. To date, the predominant influenza species circulating in humans are influenza A and B. Influenza may cause serious illness in all age groups but individuals such as the newborns and senior population whose immune systems are compromised are at higher risk for severe disease. Interestingly, during the outbreak of pandemic 2009 H1N1 (H1N1pdm), it was found that the elderly had the lowest hospitalization rate and an increased proportion of healthy adults developed severe disease. Furthermore, several clinical studies have demonstrated that most H1N1pdm infected children experienced mild to moderate illness and led to the least mortality. The difference of disease outcome in age groups between different influenza infections may be due to several factors, which include differing pathogenicity between the viruses, differential immune status and composition among the age groups, and pre-existing immunity from previous encounter(s) with a similar virus. Since the human clinical data are often complicated by secondary factors such as co-morbidities, I used the ferret model to address these questions. I first compared the clinical and pathological patterns among the pandemic and seasonal influenza strains and found H1N1pdm caused the most severe illness to healthy ferrets. Importantly, the disease severity did not correlate with viral burden but immunopathology. To study the age effect, I found that H1N1pdm infected young ferrets with mild clinical symptoms developed specialized ectopic lymphoid structures and a distinct cytokine expression profile in the lungs, which were absent in adult ferrets with severe illness. I also examined antigenic change in historical H1N1s and anti-H1 responses to explain the pre-existing immunity of H1N1pdm found in the elderly. However, low similarity was found between historical H1N1s and H1N1pdm. Lastly, I conducted a detailed influenza B comparative study. I observed the pathogenic B strain was capable to cause lower respiratory tract infection and pathology like the influenza A viruses. Overall, this thesis provides novel insights for developing therapeutic and prophylactic strategies against influenza infection.

O estágio maturação biológica é um fator importante que influencia o processo de seleção e promoção de talentos esportivos. Vários autores têm demonstrado que diferentes aspectos morfofuncionais, como por exemplo, o tamanho corporal, a velocidade e a força, possuem um ritmo de desenvolvimento individual durante o período da puberdade, sendo altamente dependente do estágio de maturação biológica. Diante dessa influência da maturação biológica sobre o processo de seleção de jovens atletas, outro fenômeno vem sendo observado durante esse processo, o Efeito da Idade Relativa (EIR). O EIR refere-se à influência que os meses de nascimento (idade cronológica) podem provocar na aprendizagem e no desempenho de jovens em uma determinada tarefa e/ou processo ensino-aprendizagem. Portanto, seguindo o pressuposto do EIR, os sujeitos nascidos nos primeiros trimestres do ano poderiam apresentar vantagens biológicas (ex. hormônios), físicas (ex. estatura, peso, força, etc.), cognitivas, psicológicas e de aprendizagem sobre sujeitos de mesma idade cronológica nascidos nos últimos meses do ano. Essas variações poderiam afetar o desempenho, provocando a superestimação dos resultados observados no momento da avaliação. Desta forma, o objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar a maturação biológica e o EIR entre os jovens atletas selecionados para programas de treinamento em longo prazo no futebol. Para tanto, em um primeiro momento foram avaliados jovens atletas de futebol, participantes do processo de seleção de talentos para ingresso na categoria sub-14 de um clube de futebol com destaque nacional e internacional. No segundo momento foram coletadas as mesmas variáveis apenas no grupo de jovens selecionados para compor a equipe sub-14 do referido clube. Os parâmetros avaliados foram: mês de nascimento, nível de maturação sexual, concentração de testosterona, composição corporal e força geral (preensão palmar). De maneira geral, os resultados permitiram concluir que há uma forte presença do EIR na amostra investigada de jogadores de futebol apresentando diferentes datas de nascimento entre iniciantes/titulares e excluídos, com maior participação de jogadores nascidos no primeiro trimestre no grupo de iniciantes/titulares (75%) quando comparados ao grupo selecionado (50%). Também foi detectada uma concentração de testosterona mais elevada para os jogadores selecionados (172,0 ± 43,1 nmol.L-1) em comparação com os jogadores excluídos (130,3 ± 28,3 nmol.L-1). Portanto, os achados atuais sugerem uma forte influência do EIR e da maturação biológica no processo de seleção de jovens jogadores de futebol / The biological maturation status is an important factor that influences the talent identification process and development of sports talent. Several authors have shown that different morphological and functional aspects, such as body size, speed and strength have an individual rate of development during puberty, being highly dependent on the stage of sexual maturation. Given this influence of biological maturation on the talent identification process of young athletes, another phenomenon has been observed during this process, the Relative Age Effect (RAE). The RAE refers to the influence that the months of birth (chronological age) can result in learning and performance of a given task in young people. Therefore, following the assumption of the RAE, subjects born in the first quarters of the year could provide biological advantages (eg. hormones), physical (eg. height, weight, strength, etc.), cognitive, psychological and learning about the same subject chronological age born in the last months of the year. These variations could affect performance, causing overestimation of the results observed during the talent identification process. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze the biological maturation and RAE between young athletes selected for training programs in football long term. Therefore, in the first instance will be assessed youth soccer players participating in the talent selection process for entry into the under-14 category of a football club, with national and international prominence. In the second phase will be collected the same variables in the group of young people selected to make the under-14 team of the club. The parameters are: month of birth, level of sexual maturity, testosterone, body composition, and overall strength (grip hand). In general, the results allowed to conclude that there is a strong presence of EIR in the sample investigated of soccer players showing a different birth date distribution was observed between starters and dismissed players with a greater participation of players born in the first trimester in the starters group (75%) when compared to the selected group (50%). Also a higher testosterone concentration was detected for starters players (172.0 + 43.1 nmol.L-1) as compared to dismissed players (130.3 + 28.3 nmol.L-1). Therefore, current findings suggest a strong influence of EIR and biological maturation on the selection process of young soccer players

Although much educational research has investigated the relative effectiveness of different educational interventions and policies, little is known about the absolute net benefits of K-12 schooling independent of growth due to chronological age and out-of-school experience. The nearly universal policy of age tracking in schools makes this a difficult topic to investigate. However, a quasi-experimental regression discontinuity design can be used to separate observed test score differences between grades into independent age and schooling components, yielding an estimate of the net effects of school exposure at each grade level. In this study, a multilevel version of this design was applied to scores on 22 common ability and achievement tests from two major standardized test batteries. The ability battery contained 9 measures of Verbal, Quantitative, and Figural reasoning. The achievement battery contained 13 measures in the areas of Language, Mathematics, Reading, Social Studies, Science, and Sources of Information. The analysis was based on sample of over 20,000 students selected from a longitudinal database collected by a large U.S. parochial school system. The theory of fluid (Gf) and crystallized (Gc) intelligence predicts that these tests will show systematically different levels of sensitivity to schooling. Indeed, the achievement (Gc) tests were found to be three times more sensitive to schooling than they were to aging (one-year effect sizes of .41 versus .15), whereas the ability (Gf) tests were equally influenced by age (.18) and schooling (.19). Nonetheless, the schooling effect on most Gf tests was substantial, especially when the compounding over a typical school career is considered. This replicates the results of previous investigations of age and schooling using regression discontinuity methods and once again contradicts common interpretations of fluid ability. Different measures of a construct often exhibited varying levels of school sensitivity. Those tests that were less sensitive to schooling generally required reading, reasoning, transfer, synthesis, or translation; posed a wider range of questions; and/or presented problems in an unfamiliar format. Quantitative reasoning tests showed more sensitivity to schooling than figural reasoning tests, while verbal reasoning tests occupied a middle ground between the two. Schooling had the most impact on basic arithmetic skills and mathematical concepts, and a significantly weaker impact on the solution of math word problems. School-related gains on isolated language skills were much larger than gains on solving grammar problems in context. The weakest schooling impact overall was on reading comprehension where effects were no larger than those on verbal ability measures. An interesting dichotomy was found between spelling and paper folding (a measure of figural and spatial reasoning). Spelling skills showed robust schooling effects but a consistently negative age slope, a puzzling result which indicates that younger students in each group outperformed older students. Paper folding showed the opposite pattern, a large age effect and a small but consistently negative schooling effect. Results serve to rebut skepticism about both the impact of schooling on test scores and the validity of distinctions between ability and achievement. It is argued that the regression discontinuity design has great potential in the measurement of school effectiveness, while also offering a source of validity evidence for test developers and test users. Implications for theories of cognitive ability and future research on schooling effects are discussed.

According to non-stopable progress in wireless communications, it is desirable to integrate the RF front-end with the baseband building blocks of communication circuits into a one chip in the recent years. The CMOS technology advances, this is the reason why it becomes attractive for system-on-a-chip implementation, but CMOS device is getting shrink, so the channel electric field increasing and the hot carrier (HCI) effect becomes more significant. If the oxide is scaled down to less than 3 nm, then there is the possibility of soft or hard oxide breakdown (S/HBD) often takes place. As a result of the oxide trapping and interface generation is the long term performance drift and related reliability problems in devices and circuits. During the scaling and increasing chip power dissipation operating temperatures for device have also is increasing. Another reliability concern is the negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) caused by the interface traps under high temperature and negative gate voltage bias are arising while the operation temperature of devices is increasing. Parameter’s extraction is a very important part of the current electronic components modeling process, as it looking for the value of the unknown parameters in mathematical model, which represents physical behavior of given electronic component. The problem of parameter extraction is that fits electronic components mathematical model to a measured data set is an ill-posed problem and its solution is inherently difficult. This diploma thesis presents the parameter extraction, optimization methodology and verifies it on a case study of a MOSFET mathematical models (LEVEL1, LEVEL2 and LEVEL3) parameter extraction. The presented nonlinear method is based on the method of the least squares, which is solved with the aid of Levenberg- Marquardt’s algorithm.

Talang är ett komplext begrepp där definitioner från forskare inte alltid stämmer överens. Tränare har ofta en egen syn på när talang identifieras och hur den ser ut. Många förbund och akademier runtom i Europa bedriver ungdomsverksamheter så skiljer sig det ofta åt. Syftet med studien var att undersöka skillnader mellan europeiska fotbollstränare gällande deras perspektiv på talang, specialisering och relative age effect. Frågeställningar som ställdes var: Vad tror fotbollstränaren är mest viktigt mellan naturlig begåvning (talang) och tilltränade färdigheter? Vid vilken ålder kan talang identifieras? När bör en fotbollsspelare börja med talangutveckling? När bör en fotbollsspelare specialisera sig? Anser tränarna att de tar hänsyn till relative age effect vid uttagningar?   Metoden som användes i arbetet var främst kvantitativ genom en enkät. I enkäten ställdes även öppna frågor vilket ledde till en mer mixed method väg. Totalt i studien deltog 92 olika fotbollstränare från länderna England, Italien och Sverige. Resultatet visade att fotbollstränarna hade skilda åsikter på begreppen talang och specialisering, mellan vissa länder signifikanta skillnader, men de hade förhållandevis lika användning av relative age effect. Det framkom en del samband med tidigare forskning som gjorts inom området. Slutsats med arbetet visar att det finns samband mellan tränare som anser det tidigt går att identifiera talang, dessa tränare värdesätter ofta de genetiska anlagen högt. De tränare som anser att det går att identifiera talang senare värdesätter ofta den inre motivation högre än genetiken.