A utilização de serviços odontológicos entre crianças e fatores associados em Sobral, Ceará, Brasil

NORO, L. R. A. et al. A utilização de serviços odontológicos entre crianças e fatores associados em Sobral, Ceará, Brasil. Cad. Saúde Pública, v. 24, n. 7, p. 1509-1516. 2008. ISSN 0102-311X.

Determinantes da Estrutura de Capital de Companhias Abertas Brasileiras Não-Financeiras: Um Estudo Empírico com Dados em Painel

When a company desires to invest in a project, it must obtain resources needed to make the investment. The alternatives are using firm s internal resources or obtain external resources through contracts of debt and issuance of shares. Decisions involving the composition of internal resources, debt and shares in the total resources used to finance the activities of a company related to the choice of its capital structure. Although there are studies in the area of finance on the debt determinants of firms, the issue of capital structure is still controversial. This work sought to identify the predominant factors that determine the capital structure of Brazilian share capital, non-financial firms. This work was used a quantitative approach, with application of the statistical technique of multiple linear regression on data in panel. Estimates were made by the method of ordinary least squares with model of fixed effects. About 116 companies were selected to participate in this research. The period considered is from 2003 to 2007. The variables and hypotheses tested in this study were built based on theories of capital structure and in empirical researches. Results indicate that the variables, such as risk, size, and composition of assets and firms growth influence their indebtedness. The profitability variable was not relevant to the composition of indebtedness of the companies analyzed. However, analyzing only the long-term debt, comes to the conclusion that the relevant variables are the size of firms and, especially, the composition of its assets (tangibility).This sense, the smaller the size of the undertaking or the greater the representation of fixed assets in total assets, the greater its propensity to long-term debt. Furthermore, this research could not identify a predominant theory to explain the capital structure of Brazilian

Fatores que influenciam a aceitação de práticas avançadas de gestão de segurança da informação: um estudo com gestores públicos estaduais no Brasil

This study examines the factors that influence public managers in the adoption of advanced practices related to Information Security Management. This research used, as the basis of assertions, Security Standard ISO 27001:2005 and theoretical model based on TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) from Venkatesh and Davis (2000). The method adopted was field research of national scope with participation of eighty public administrators from states of Brazil, all of them managers and planners of state governments. The approach was quantitative and research methods were descriptive statistics, factor analysis and multiple linear regression for data analysis. The survey results showed correlation between the constructs of the TAM model (ease of use, perceptions of value, attitude and intention to use) and agreement with the assertions made in accordance with ISO 27001, showing that these factors influence the managers in adoption of such practices. On the other independent variables of the model (organizational profile, demographic profile and managers behavior) no significant correlation was identified with the assertions of the same standard, witch means the need for expansion researches using such constructs. It is hoped that this study may contribute positively to the progress on discussions about Information Security Management, Adoption of Safety Standards and Technology Acceptance Model

Fatores que influenciam a intenção de compra online: aplicação de um modelo adaptado de aceitação da tecnologia para o comércio eletrônico

This research aims to understand the factors that influence intention to online purchase of consumers, and to identify between these factors those that influence the users and the nonusers of electronic commerce. Thus, it is an applied, exploratory and descriptive research, developed in a quantitative model. Data collection was done through a questionnaire administered to a sample of 194 graduate students from the Centre for Applied Social Sciences of UFRN and data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factorial analysis and simple and multiple linear regression analysis. The results of descriptive statistics revealed that respondents in general and users of electronic commerce have positive perceptions of ease of use, usefulness and social influence about buying online, and intend to make purchases on Internet over the next six months. As for the non-users of electronic commerce, they do not trust the Internet to transact business, have negative perceptions of risk and social influence over purchasing online, and does not intend to make purchases on Internet over the next six months. Through confirmatory factorial analysis six factors were set up: behavioral intention, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived risk, trust and social influence. Through multiple regression analysis, was observed that all these factors influence online purchase intentions of respondents in general, that only the social influence does not influence the intention to continue buying on the Internet from users of electronic commerce, and that only trust and social influence affect the intention to purchase online from non-users of electronic commerce. Through simple regression analysis, was found that trust influences perceptions of ease of use, usefulness and risk of respondents in general and users of electronic commerce, and that trust does not influence the perceptions of risk of non-users of electronic commerce. Finally, it was also found that the perceived ease of use influences perceived usefulness of the three groups. Given this scenario, it was concluded that it is extremely important that organizations that work with online sales know the factors that influence consumers purchasing intentions in order to gain space in their market

Sistema inteligente para estimar a porosidade em sedimentos a partir da análise de sinais GPR

This Thesis presents the elaboration of a methodological propose for the development of an intelligent system, able to automatically achieve the effective porosity, in sedimentary layers, from a data bank built with information from the Ground Penetrating Radar GPR. The intelligent system was built to model the relation between the porosity (response variable) and the electromagnetic attribute from the GPR (explicative variables). Using it, the porosity was estimated using the artificial neural network (Multilayer Perceptron MLP) and the multiple linear regression. The data from the response variable and from the explicative variables were achieved in laboratory and in GPR surveys outlined in controlled sites, on site and in laboratory. The proposed intelligent system has the capacity of estimating the porosity from any available data bank, which has the same variables used in this Thesis. The architecture of the neural network used can be modified according to the existing necessity, adapting to the available data bank. The use of the multiple linear regression model allowed the identification and quantification of the influence (level of effect) from each explicative variable in the estimation of the porosity. The proposed methodology can revolutionize the use of the GPR, not only for the imaging of the sedimentary geometry and faces, but mainly for the automatically achievement of the porosity one of the most important parameters for the characterization of reservoir rocks (from petroleum or water)

Níveis de homocisteína e desempenho cognitivo em uma amostra populacional de idosos da cidade do Natal-RN

The imprecision of the frontier that separates those cognitive deficits inherent to the human physiological aging process from those which represent the early signs of nervous system degenerative pathologies ,very prevalent among the elderly, has brought attention to the need of studies aiming to establish clinical and/or laboratorial criteria to allow this differentiation. Elderly people living in poor and developing countries are frequently exposed to precarious socioeconomic conditions which facilitate the development of an array of pathologies which have metabolic and nutritional dysfunctions as the established or proposed etiological agents. The levels of certain micronutrients, such as the vitamins B12 and B9 (folic acid), and of some intermediary metabolites, such as homocysteine are being thought of as etiological factors and/or as biological markers of a group of alterations which affect the normal functioning of the nervous system with important reflexes upon cognitive performance. This study aims to investigate the influence of homocysteine, B12 vitamin and folic acid levels on the cognitive performance of the low income elderly population. This transversal study took place in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil, and involved 205 dwelling elderly people, users of the Programa de Saúde da Família, a public healthcare program, maintained by the city s health authorities. A multidimensional questionnaire was used to assess the socio-demographic aspects and the overall health and nutrition conditions. The cognitive performance was measured by the use of the Portuguese version of the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE). The serum levels of homocysteine, B12 vitamin and folic acid were determined by chemiluminescence. The association between the socio-demographic and serum levels of Hcy, B12 vitamin and folic acid was determined by multiple linear regression. Serum levels higher than 13.5 μmol/l, indicative of hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy), were found on 25.4% of the sample, being more prevalent in men (p<0.05). Deficitary levels of folic acid (<5ng/mol) and of B12 vitamin (<193 pg/ml) were found on 3.9% and 10.2% of the sample respectively. A negative correlation was found between cognitive performance with both age and HHcy and a positive correlation was found between cognitive performance and schooling. The isolated HHcy R2 values were an explanation to only 4% of the variance of the MMSE scores. However, when associated with schooling and age, this model explains about 25% of this association

Estado nutricional antropométrico, perfil lipídico e consumo alimentar como fatores de risco para doença cardiovascular em adolescentes

The dyslipidemia and excess weight in adolescents, when combined, suggest a progression of risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Besides these, the dietary habits and lifestyle have also been considered unsuitable impacting the development of chronic diseases. The study objectives were: (1) estimate the prevalence of lipid profile and correlate with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist / height ratio (WHR) in adolescents, considering the maturation sexual, (2) know the sources of variance in the diet and the number of days needed to estimate the usual diet of adolescents and (3) describe the dietary patterns and lifestyle of adolescents, family history of CVD and age correlates them with the patterns of risk for CVD, adjusted for sexual maturation. A cross-sectional study was performed with 432 adolescents, aged 10-19 years from public schools of the Natal city, Brazil. The dyslipidemias were evaluated considering the lipid profile, the index of I Castelli (TC / HDL) and II (LDL / HDL) and non-HDL cholesterol. Anthropometric indicators were BMI, WC and WHR. The intake of energy, nutrients including fiber, fatty acids and cholesterol was estimated from two 24-hour recalls (24HR). The variables of lipid profile, anthropometric and clinical data were used in the models of Pearson correlation and linear regression, considering the sexual maturation. The variance ratio of the diet was calculated from the component-person variance, determined by analysis of variance (ANOVA). The definition of the number of days to estimate the usual intake of each nutrient was obtained by taking the hypothetical correlation (r) ≥ 0.9, between nutrient intake and the true observed. We used the principal component analysis as a method of extracting factors that 129 accounted for the dependent variables and known cardiovascular risk obtained from the lipid profile, the index for Castelli I and II, non-HDL cholesterol, BMI, and WC the WHR. Dietary patterns and lifestyle were obtained from the independent variables, based on nutrients consumed and physical activity weekly. In the study of principal component analysis (PCA) was investigated associations between the patterns of cardiovascular risk factors in dietary patterns and lifestyle, age and positive family history of CVD, through bivariate and multiple logistic regression adjusted for sexual maturation. The low HDL-C dyslipidemia was most prevalent (50.5%) for adolescents. Significant correlations were observed between hypercholesterolemia and positive family history of CVD (r = 0.19, p <0.01) and hypertriglyceridemia with BMI (r = 0.30, p <0.01), with the CC (r = 0.32, p <0.01) and WHR (r = 0.33, p <0.01). The linear model constructed with sexual maturation, age and BMI explained about 1 to 10.4% of the variation in the lipid profile. The sources of variance between individuals were greater for all nutrients in both sexes. The reasons for variances were  1 for all nutrients were higher in females. The results suggest that to assess the diet of adolescents with greater precision, 2 days would be enough to R24h consumption of energy, carbohydrates, fiber, saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. In contrast, 3 days would be recommended for protein, lipid, polyunsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol. Two cardiovascular risk factors as have been extracted in the ACP, referring to the dependent variables: the standard lipid profile (HDL-C and non-HDL cholesterol) and "standard anthropometric index (BMI, WC, WHR) with a power explaining 75% of the variance of the original data. The factors are representative of two independent variables led to dietary patterns, "pattern 130 western diet" and "pattern protein diet", and one on the lifestyle, "pattern energy balance". Together, these patterns provide an explanation power of 67%. Made adjustment for sexual maturation in males remained significant variables: the associations between puberty and be pattern anthropometric indicator (OR = 3.32, CI 1.34 to 8.17%), and between family history of CVD and the pattern lipid profile (OR = 2.62, CI 1.20 to 5.72%). In females adolescents, associations were identified between age after the first stage of puberty with anthropometric pattern (OR = 3.59, CI 1.58 to 8.17%) and lipid profile (OR = 0.33, CI 0.15 to 0.75%). Conclusions: The low HDL-C was the most prevalent dyslipidemia independent of sex and nutritional status of adolescents. Hypercholesterolemia was influenced by family history of CVD and sexual maturation, in turn, hypertriglyceridemia was closely associated with anthropometric indicators. The variance between the diets was greater for all nutrients. This fact reflected in a variance ratio less than 1 and consequently in a lower number of days requerid to estimate the usual diet of adolescents considering gender. The two dietary patterns were extracted and the pattern considered unhealthy lifestyle as healthy. The associations were found between the patterns of CVD risk with age and family history of CVD in the studied adolescents

Mortalidade infantil e condições socioeconômicas nas microrregiões do Nordeste Brasileiro

The study aims to answer the following question: what are the different profiles of infant mortality, according to demographic, socioeconomic, infrastructure and health care, for the micro-regions at the Northeast of Brazil? Thus, the main objective is to analyze the profiles or typologies associated mortality levels sociodemographic conditions of the micro-regions, in the year 2010. To this end, the databases of birth and death certificates of SIM and SINASC (DATASUS/MS), were taken from the 2010 population Census microdata and from SIDRA/IBGE. As a methodology, a weighted multiple linear regression model was used in the analysis in order to find the most significant variables in the explanation child mortality for the year 2010. Also a cluster analysis was performed, seeking evidence, initially, of homogeneous groups of micro-regions, from of the significant variables. The logit of the infant mortality rate was used as dependent variable, while variables such as demographic, socioeconomic, infrastructure and health care in the micro-regions were taken as the independent variables of the model. The Bayesian estimation technique was applied to the database of births and deaths, due to the inconvenient fact of underreporting and random fluctuations of small quantities in small areas. The techniques of Spatial Statistics were used to determine the spatial behavior of the distribution of rates from thematic maps. In conclusion, we used the method GoM (Grade of Membership), to find typologies of mortality, associated with the selected variables by micro-regions, in order to respond the main question of the study. The results points out to the formation of three profiles: Profile 1, high infant mortality and unfavorable social conditions; Profile 2, low infant mortality, with a median social conditions of life; and Profile 3, median and high infant mortality social conditions. With this classification, it was found that, out of 188 micro-regions, 20 (10%) fits the extreme profile 1, 59 (31.4%) was characterized in the extreme profile 2, 34 (18.1%) was characterized in the extreme profile 3 and only 9 (4.8%) was classified as amorphous profile. The other micro-regions framed up in the profiles mixed. Such profiles suggest the need for different interventions in terms of public policies aimed to reducing child mortality in the region

Consumo familiar: efeitos da valorização do salário mínimo nas decisões de gasto das famílias brasileiras, nordestinas e potiguares, no período de 1995 a 2011

This research objectify to analyze the effects of minimum wage recovery in the household consumption in the Brazil, northeastern region of the Brazil and the state of the Rio Grande do Norte, in the period of 1995 to 2011. This is because the search for the strengthening of the internal market, via incentive policies to private demand has assumed prominence in the Government agenda. Thus, under the justification of the fierce debate about the effectiveness of countercyclical policies of Brazil, in view of the recent economic crisis, aims to: 1) retake the theoretical debate and, to a certain extent, the evolution of the theory of household consumption, as well as some conclusions about their connection with the minimum wage; 2) to describe the experiences and the effects of this legislation in economic history, with emphasis on the Brazilian case; 3) to present some of the available statistics to research bases, with attention to the specifics of each and the empirical results found for consumption in Brazil; 4) to estimate the effects of minimum wage variation in household consumption in Brazil (BR), northeast (NE) and Rio Grande do Norte (RN). From this, in order to quantify this relationship, makes inferences from the effects of the wage bill and the minimum wage on consumption, in quarterly series (with ad hoc adjustment from the "weights" of each quarter), from classic model of multiple linear regression. The hypothesis is that released: increments in income, derived from the policy of minimum wage recovery will influence directly the household consumption. However, when comparing the results between the units analyzed, the expressiveness of the northeastern families of Brazil and Rio Grande do Norte families front national dynamics with income linked to this floor, drives most significant impacts spending decisions in NE and RN, thus reducing regional disparities in the consumer. The results indicate contrary evidence, because while for the BR a unitary variation in minimum wage increases the consumption in units monetary 1.28, to the NE and RN these parameters are respectively 1.05 and 1.09

Acurácia do teste de labirinto no rastreamento de déficits cognitivos em idosos

This study intended to evaluate the maze test accuracy in cognitive deficit screening in elderly with or without neuropsychological pathology. The sample included 40 healthy young (18-25 years old; mean- 21 ± 1.6), 40 healthy old (60-77 years old; mean- 67 ± 5.1) and 18 patients with probable diagnosis of Alzheimer s disease initial stage (52-90 years old; mean- 78 ± 9.2). Data analysis was made using Anova with Tukey s post hoc, multiple linear regression analysis and ROC curve analysis. According to Tukey s test Alzheimer patients spent more time (46843 ± 37926 ms) to execute the test than healthy young (5482 ± 2873 ms; p= 0.0001) and elderly (17978 ± 13700; p= 0.0001); healthy young executed test n lower time (p= 0.035). According to the regression analysis of age, education level and cognitive performance of the three groups, the cognitive performance was the predictor of the execution time. When analyzing young and elderly only age was the predictor and the cognitive performance was the only factor to influence the test of old aged healthy and patients. The ROC curve analysis indicated 72% accuracy for young and elderly and 36% for healthy and elderly patients. The maze execution time represented a better balance between sensibility (75%) and the specificity (61%) was near 13575 ms, indicating that those subjects that execute the maze in a time higher to this value may show cognitive deficit related to the executive function. According to the results it is suggested that the maze test used in this study shows a good accuracy in the cognitive deficit tracking and may discriminate age changes

Avaliação da capacidade para o trabalho do servidor público: um estudo de caso em uma instituição federal de ensino superior

The ability to work, considered as resulting from a dynamic process between the individual resources in relation to their work, influenced from various factors such as sociodemographic, lifestyle, aging process and requirements of work. Aiming analyze the ability to work in a population of public servants, the study analyzed 132 public servants volunteers of the infrastructure sector, in a Federal Institution of Higher Education of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Northeast, Brazil. Data were collected through a questionnaire called the Index of Capacity for Work - ICT. The variable analysis was done by using descriptive statistics of means, standard deviations, median minimum and maximum values of the scores of quantitative variables. The joint analysis of the variables was performed by multiple linear regression. The server had low capacity to work 11 (8.33%), moderate 31 (23.48%), good 54 (40.91), and Great 28 (21.21). Multiple regression analysis, adjusted for age, sex, education, age started to work, length of service, current capacity and full of disease, showed that best explained the variation of the CTI were age, current capacity and full of disease. The survey showed that 75% of the servers showed ICT below 43, so capacity low, moderate or good and only 25% of respondents had the CTI servers over 43 points, so great capacity for work. According to the recommendations of FIOH - Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, for servers that have these scores be implemented whose objective is to restore the ability to work which is low, improving the capacity for moderate work, support the capacity for the good work and maintain the ability to work great. Therefore, we recommend that the ICT is implemented in other units of the IFES survey in the perspective of achieving a real situation of all its servers, enabling the implementation of these measures as necessary to promote recovery and health of its employees.

A influência da responsabilidade social empresarial na satisfação e fidelidade do cliente : um estudo com compradores de automóveis

This study presents an investigation of the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in customer s satisfaction and loyalty through a study with car s buyers, besides that, it aims to contribute to conceptual models of satisfaction and loyalty analysis by applying the model of Johnson et al. (2001), adapted for the introduction of variables of CSR and conscious consumption, in a car dealership in Natal / RN. The methodology has a descriptive quantitative approach and for the analysis results were applied statistical methods of simple and multiple linear regression analysis, descriptive analysis and exploratory analysis. The field research provided 90 valid forms. The results show that CSR affects the image of the company studied and is also one of the elements of the compound of satisfaction and loyalty. This study concludes that CSR should be considered in the strategic and marketing actions of firms

Avaliação de programa de ginástica laboral e desempenho funcional: um estudo em empresa distribuidora de energia elétrica

This thesis treats of a avaliation of a laboral gimnastics program of a electrical energy enterprise from Rio Grande do Norte. The leading aim of this work is to analyse the laboral gimnastics program with emphasis on functional performing and personal changes of staff of different categories. The work shows two divisions: at first, it was carried out the bibliographic study approaching the concepts and historic about the ergonomy and the main focus of study, the laboral gimnastics , performing factors and lifestyle.The second time , it was carried out the field study where was used a questionnaire to a 160 staff population which participate of laboral gymnastics program; then the data were analysed through three statistics analyses: multivaried__ clusters, qui-quadrado and multiple linear regression. The results aim to the confirmation that the laboral gymnastics program developed two years ago on enterprise proposes to the white-collar and operational workers an improving on their functional performing and also, to the changes in some aspects of lifestyle, like the food, leisure and stress level. In conclusion, it was checked that the investiment in life quality programs offer benefits both to the staff and the enterprise which will account with good services and satisfaction of customer. Therefore, it was concluded that the laboral gymnastics while a ergonomic tool and a physical activity, it is an investiment which needs more and more to be strengthened and inserted by many segments of society

Modelo matemático para otimização dos custos de um sistema híbrido eólico-solar : aplicação no bombeamento de petróleo

This work purposes the application of a methodology to optimize the implantation cost of an wind-solar hybrid system for oil pumping. The developed model is estimated the implantation cost of system through Multiple Linear Regression technique, on the basis of the previous knowledge of variables: necessary capacity of storage, total daily energy demand, wind power, module power and module number. These variables are gotten by means of sizing. The considered model not only can be applied to the oil pumping, but also for any other purposes of electric energy generation for conversion of solar, wind or solar-wind energy, that demand short powers. Parametric statistical T-student tests had been used to detect the significant difference in the average of total cost to being considered the diameter of the wind, F by Snedecor in the variance analysis to test if the coefficients of the considered model are significantly different of zero and test not-parametric statistical by Friedman, toverify if there is difference in the system cost, by being considered the photovoltaic module powers. In decision of hypothesis tests was considered a 5%-significant level. The configurations module powers showed significant differences in total cost of investment by considering an electrical motor of 3 HP. The configurations module powers showed significant differences in total cost of investment by considering an electrical motor of 5 HP only to wind speed of 4m/s and 6 m/s in wind of 3 m, 4m and 5 m of diameter. There was not significant difference in costs to diameters of winds of 3 m and 4m. The mathematical model and the computational program may be used to others applications which require electrical between 2.250 W and 3.750 W. A computational program was developed to assist the study of several configurations that optimizes the implantation cost of an wind-solar system through considered mathematical model

A influência da adição de caulim, quartzo e feldspato potássico na formulação de massas cerâmicas para telhas: Modelo estatístico

The production of roof tiles in the state of Rio Grande do Norte accounts for around 60% of the total of ceramic pieces produced. There is a need for investment to improve quality and productivity, thereby promoting technological innovations. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to determine the effect of kaolin, potassium feldspar and quartz in two standard formulations, as well as the effect of sintering temperature on the technological properties of linear firing shrinkage, water absorption and bending rupture stress, by fitting the statistical model and using multiple linear regression to assess the relationship between technological properties and independent variables. The raw materials were characterized using the following techniques: X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRF), rational analysis (RA), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and granulometric analysis (GA). The test specimens were compacted by uniaxial pressure (25 MPa), dried in a stove at 110 ºC for 24 hours and sinterized at 850 ºC, 950 ºC and 1050 ºC and held isothermal for 30 minutes. The results obtained indicate that the addition of kaolin to two standard formulations (M and R) promoted a reduction in water absorption values and an increase in bending rupture stress values. The sintering temperatures for group M that resulted in the lowest linear firing shrinkage and water absorption values were 850 ºC and 950 ºC, respectively, and the highest bending rupture stress values were reached at a temperature of 950 ºC. In the case of group R, the sintering temperature that obtained the lowest water absorption and linear firing shrinkage values was 850 ºC, and the highest bending rupture stress values were attained at a temperature of 1050 ºC. This work explains the statistical approach used to fit the model that describes the relationship between the technological properties and percentage of kaolin, quartz and feldspar, as well as the models that enable predictions, provided that the lower and upper limits of the percentage of clay minerals, flux and quartz used in this study are respected. Statistica 6 software was used and results were obtained by stepwise forward regression