Uma cidade para pessoas: funcionalidade, racionalidade e emotividade nas relações mobiliário urbano, espaço público e cidadãos

This research investigates how functionality, rationality, and emotionality applied to urban furniture design contribute to the organization, legibility, and qualification of public spaces, according to different layouts, physical and visual qualities of the urban furniture as well as the quality of urban infrastructure that may influence the uses and appropriation of urban spaces by pedestrians, turning those spaces into socially centripetal or centrifugal places. The work consists of two parts. First refers to a bibliographical review concerning two main issues of the investigation: product design and legibility of public space, defining the conceptual and theoretical bases, linked to methodological strategies aimed at systemic planning and integrated management of urban furniture design and legibility of public spaces (sidewalks), that are necessary to define the existing relationships among the user s interface (pedestrians); product (urban artifacts); built environment (sidewalks). The second part refers to the achievement of empirical approach throughout visual analysis of public spaces and the functional and qualitative evaluation of the existing urban furniture in the central neighborhood of Cidade Alta, Natal, RN, according to the theoretical researched concepts and methodological procedures. The results expose the weaknesses and levels of intensity arising from the relations among public space, urban furniture, and users, revealing the need for theoretical and practical approaches which would help the decision-making in planning, designing and integrating innovative, sustainable, and ethical solutions in order to design attractive public spaces that could provide sociability and citizenship throughout integrated public management, city systemic thinking and urban identity. The suggested guidelines at the end of this research will provide the necessary strategies to design suitable urban furniture systems according to aesthetic and practical urban infrastructure and city context, aiming to ease visual and physical conflicts that may negatively interfere with the appropriation of public spaces by the citizens

Avaliando a aprendizagem de língua inglesa em uma escola de ensino médio a partir de contribuições discentes

This study discusses the evaluation of the English language‟s learning developed in a public high school from Lajes-RN in 2011 starting from a qualitative evaluation proposal (SAUL 1988; CANAN, 1996; DEMO, 2008) aiming the production of knowledge about the evaluation process developed in the classes of English language involving the contributions from students. To diagnose and characterize the evaluation process of English language of the researched school, identifying the representations that students attributed to the evaluation, we have implemented the evaluation instruments suggested by students to perform the evaluation of language learning and allowed a reflection about the student‟s participation in the construction of the evaluation process of the English language, subject discussed by Sant‟anna (2002) and other theorists (CANAN, 1996; BRAZIL, 2002; PEREIRA, 2009). To conduct the research work, we use the qualitative approach with ethnographic basis, substantiate in authors like Bogdan, Biklen (1994), Mazzotti; Gewandsznajder (1998), Strauss, Corbin (2008) among others. The methodology was the action research (ANDRÉ, 1995; NUNAN, 2007; LANKSHEAR; KNOBEL, 2008) described as research of empirical basis which associates an action with a resolution of a collective problem, because in it, its researchers and employees are engaged in a cooperatively way (THIOLLENT, 1985). When we treat about the evaluation of English language‟s learning (ALMEIDA FILHO, 1993; SCARAMUCCI, 2009) practiced before and after the contributions made by the students of the second year of the refereed school, the study considers that high school students have a more critical and reflective conscience with regard to their evaluations, not just opining on the assessment of learning English but also about the assessment of other subjects from their scholar curriculum and so this research presents possibilities for performing the act of evaluation which consider the participation of students in decisions regarding this process, because we cogitate that when the teachers share the decisions with their students, teachers can add quality to the evaluation process

Avaliação da atividade anti-Helicobacter pylori e citotóxica in vitro de extratos orgânicos obtidos das folhas de Encholirium spectabile e Syzygium cumini

Helicobacter pylori is a spiral, Gram negative, mobile, and microaerophilic bacteria recognized as a major cause of gastritis, ulcer, gastric cancer, and gastric low grade, B cell, mucosa – associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, constituting an important microorganism in medical microbiology. Its importance comes from the difficulty of treatment because the requirement of multiple drugs use, besides the increasing emergence of resistant and multiresistant strains to antibiotics used in th e clinic. In order to expand safe and effective therapeutic options , chemical studies on medicinal plants by obtaining extracts, fractions, isolated compounds or essential oils with some biological activity has been intensified . Given the above, the objective was to evaluate the inhi bitory activity of organic extracts derived from Syzygium cumini and Encholirium spectabile, with antiulcer history, and the essential oil, obtained from S. cumini, against H. pylori (ATCC 43504) by the disk diffusion method, for qualitative evaluation, an d determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) using the broth microdilution method, for quantitative analysis. Also was evaluated the extracts in vitro toxicity by a hemolytic assay using sheep red blood cells, and VERO and HeLa cells using the MTT assay to analyze cell viability. The extracts of both plant used in antimicrobial assays did not inhibit bacterial growth, however the essential oil of S. cumini (SCFO) proved effective, showing MIC value of 205 μg/mL (0.024 % dilution of the original oil). In the hemolytic assay, the same oil shows moderate toxicity, by promote 25% hemolysis at 1000 μg/mL. Regarding the cytotoxicity in cell culture, the SCFO, at 260 μg/mL, affected the cell viability around 80% of HeLa and 50% of VERO cells. So the oi l obtained from S. cumini leaves has antimicrobial activity against H. pylori and cytotoxicity potential, suggesting a source of new molecule drug candidates, since new stages of toxicity in vitro and in vivo, as well, chemical characterization be evaluate d. Moreover, the development of a prospective drug delivery system can result in a prototype to be used in preclinical tests.

Ferramenta para avaliação e inferência de parâmetros de redes industriais sem fio

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have gained ground in the industrial environment, due to the possibility of connecting points of information that were inaccessible to wired networks. However, there are several challenges in the implementation and acceptance of this technology in the industrial environment, one of them the guaranteed availability of information, which can be influenced by various parameters, such as path stability and power consumption of the field device. As such, in this work was developed a tool to evaluate and infer parameters of wireless industrial networks based on the WirelessHART and ISA 100.11a protocols. The tool allows quantitative evaluation, qualitative evaluation and evaluation by inference during a given time of the operating network. The quantitative and qualitative evaluation are based on own definitions of parameters, such as the parameter of stability, or based on descriptive statistics, such as mean, standard deviation and box plots. In the evaluation by inference uses the intelligent technique artificial neural networks to infer some network parameters such as battery life. Finally, it displays the results of use the tool in different scenarios networks, as topologies star and mesh, in order to attest to the importance of tool in evaluation of the behavior of these networks, but also support possible changes or maintenance of the system.

Uma cidade para pessoas: funcionalidade, racionalidade e emotividade nas relações mobiliário urbano, espaço público e cidadãos

This research investigates how functionality, rationality, and emotionality applied to urban furniture design contribute to the organization, legibility, and qualification of public spaces, according to different layouts, physical and visual qualities of the urban furniture as well as the quality of urban infrastructure that may influence the uses and appropriation of urban spaces by pedestrians, turning those spaces into socially centripetal or centrifugal places. The work consists of two parts. First refers to a bibliographical review concerning two main issues of the investigation: product design and legibility of public space, defining the conceptual and theoretical bases, linked to methodological strategies aimed at systemic planning and integrated management of urban furniture design and legibility of public spaces (sidewalks), that are necessary to define the existing relationships among the user s interface (pedestrians); product (urban artifacts); built environment (sidewalks). The second part refers to the achievement of empirical approach throughout visual analysis of public spaces and the functional and qualitative evaluation of the existing urban furniture in the central neighborhood of Cidade Alta, Natal, RN, according to the theoretical researched concepts and methodological procedures. The results expose the weaknesses and levels of intensity arising from the relations among public space, urban furniture, and users, revealing the need for theoretical and practical approaches which would help the decision-making in planning, designing and integrating innovative, sustainable, and ethical solutions in order to design attractive public spaces that could provide sociability and citizenship throughout integrated public management, city systemic thinking and urban identity. The suggested guidelines at the end of this research will provide the necessary strategies to design suitable urban furniture systems according to aesthetic and practical urban infrastructure and city context, aiming to ease visual and physical conflicts that may negatively interfere with the appropriation of public spaces by the citizens