Um monitor de metadados de QoS e QoC para plataformas de middleware

Context-aware applications are typically dynamic and use services provided by several sources, with different quality levels. Context information qualities are expressed in terms of Quality of Context (QoC) metadata, such as precision, correctness, refreshment, and resolution. On the other hand, service qualities are expressed via Quality of Services (QoS) metadata such as response time, availability and error rate. In order to assure that an application is using services and context information that meet its requirements, it is essential to continuously monitor the metadata. For this purpose, it is needed a QoS and QoC monitoring mechanism that meet the following requirements: (i) to support measurement and monitoring of QoS and QoC metadata; (ii) to support synchronous and asynchronous operation, thus enabling the application to periodically gather the monitored metadata and also to be asynchronously notified whenever a given metadata becomes available; (iii) to use ontologies to represent information in order to avoid ambiguous interpretation. This work presents QoMonitor, a module for QoS and QoC metadata monitoring that meets the abovementioned requirement. The architecture and implementation of QoMonitor are discussed. To support asynchronous communication QoMonitor uses two protocols: JMS and Light-PubSubHubbub. In order to illustrate QoMonitor in the development of ubiquitous application it was integrated to OpenCOPI (Open COntext Platform Integration), a Middleware platform that integrates several context provision middleware. To validate QoMonitor we used two applications as proofof- concept: an oil and gas monitoring application and a healthcare application. This work also presents a validation of QoMonitor in terms of performance both in synchronous and asynchronous requests

Cordel Informativo: serviços oferecidos aos usuários de uma biblioteca universitária

Na observação prática cotidiana da Biblioteca Central Zila Mamede (BCZM), procurou-se identificar o comportamento dos usuários com relação ao uso das informações disponibilizadas. É bem possível que os usuários não se interessem pelos serviços por não conhecê-los plenamente. Tais observações levaram aos seguintes questionamentos: a) a comunidade acadêmica da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) sabe da existência de todas as fontes de informação disponibilizadas para pesquisa nessa unidade informacional? b) O desinteresse por algumas dessas fontes de informação tem relação com o desconhecimento das mesmas? Estes questionamentos motivaram a realização de um projeto que tem como objetivo divulgar as formas de acesso à produção científica da UFRN. Esse artigo descreve os serviços oferecidos pela BCZM, através da Literatura de Cordel, com a finalidade de estimular e sensibilizar os alunos de graduação, pós-graduação, professores e funcionários sobre a importância do acesso ao conhecimento científico disponíveis na biblioteca, acredita-se que a Literatura de Cordel, por ser um suporte informacional que alcança desde mercados e feiras, divulga a arte, a ciência e as tradições populares, ajuda, também, na disseminação das informações e estimula o prazer pela leitura. Tais requisitos capacita a nossa Comunidade Acadêmica, bem como o público em geral, o qual terá acesso às informações relevantes que servirão de insumos na construção do conhecimento. Neste artigo, serão apresentados em versos e estrofes escritos em forma rimada, os serviços que a BCZM oferece à sua comunidade. Posteriormente, serão divulgados outros serviços e as formas de acesso à produção científica da UFRN.

Análise da eficiência de contratos de serviços de elevada especificidade terceirizados pela petrobras

The definition of the boundaries of the firms is subject that has occupied the organizational theorists long ago, being the seminal work of Coase (1937) indicated as the trigger for one theoretical evolution, with emphasis on governance structures, which led to a modern theory of incomplete contracts. The Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and Agency Theory arise within this evolution, being widely used in studies related to the theme. Empirically, data envelopment analysis (DEA) has established itself as a suitable tool for analysis of efficiency. Although TCE argues that specific assets must be internalized, recent studies outside the mainstream of theory show that, often, firms may decide, for various reasons, hire them on the market. Researches on transaction costs face with the unavailability of information and methodological difficulties in measuring their critical variables. There`s still the need for further methodological deepening. The theoretical framework includes classic works of TCE and Agency Theory, but also more recent works, outside the mainstream of TCE, which warn about the existence of strategies in use of specific assets that aren`t necessarily aligned with the classical ideas of TCE. The Brazilian oil industry is the focus of this thesis, that aimed to evaluate the efficiency of contracts involving high specificity service outsourced by Petrobras. In order to this, we made the categorization of outsourced services in terms of specificity, as well the description of services with higher specificity. Then, we verified the existence of relationship between the specificity of services and a number of variables, being found divergent results than those that are preached by the mainstream of TCE. Then, we designed a DEA model to analyze the efficiency in the use of onshore drilling rigs, identified among the services of highest specificity. The next step was the application of the model to evaluate the performance of drilling rigs contracts. Finally, we verified the existence of relationship between the efficiency of contracts and a number of variables, being found, again, results not consistent with the theory mainstream. Regarding to analyze of efficiency of drilling rigs contracts, the model developed is compatible with what is found in academic productions in efficiency of drilling rigs. The results on efficiency show a wide range of scores, with efficiencies ranging from 31.79% to 100%, being low the sample efficiency average. There is consonance between the model results and the practices adopted by Petrobras. The results strengthen the DEA as an important tool in studies of efficiency with possibility to use for analysis other types of contracts. In terms of theoretical findings, the results reinforce the arguments that there are situations in which the strategies of the organizations, in terms of use of assets and services of high specificity, do not necessarily follow what is recommended by the mainstream of TCE

Cultura organizacional e qualidade dos serviços turísticos :um estudo no setor de restaurantes

The present study seeks to describe the features and peculiarities of the relationship between organizational culture and the quality of tourism services, specifically in the restaurant sector, attempting to contribute toward maintaining the tourism sector of the city of Natal/RN. Thus, a descriptive and correlational study, with qualitative and quantitative approaches, of thirty-seven restaurants that are located in areas that compose the tourism corridor of Natal was undertaken. To collect the quantitative dada, the Organizational Culture Evaluation instrument of Cameron and Quinn (2006) was applied and the SERVPERF instrument of Cronin and Taylor (1992) was used to measure the quality of the services. The results suggest that the Clan and Innovation Cultures are associated with better levels of quality of services than those of the Market and Hierarchy Cultures. The relationships that were identified in this study are consistent with results found in other studies and the information reported here can serve as a basis for managers of the restaurant sector to reach excellence in their services, satisfying their customers and contributing to maintaining the tourism sector

Desenvolvimento de um sistema de planejamento, gestão de serviços e controle de custos em obras de construção civil

The increasing competitiveness of the construction industry, set in an economic environment in which the offer is now greater than the demand , causes the prices of many products and services, are strongly influenced by the processes of production and the final consumer. Thus, to become more competitive in the market and construction companies are seeking new alternatives to reduce and control costs, production processes and tools that allow for close monitoring of the construction schedule, with the consequent compliance deadline with the client. Based on this scenario, the creation of control tools, service management and planning work emerges as an investment opportunity and an area that can promote great benefits to construction companies. The goal of this work is to present a system of planning, service management and costs control that through worksheets provide information relating to the production phase of the work, allowing the visualization of possible irregularities in the planning and cost of the enterprise, enabling the company to take steps to achieve the goals of the enterprise in question, and correct them when necessary. The developed system has been used in a piece of real estate in Rio Grande do Norte, and the results showed that its use together allowed the construction company to accompany their results and take corrective and preventive actions during the production process, efficiently and effective

Gestão ambiental na saúde pública: um estudo sobre a percepção ambiental de gerenciamento de resíduos sólidos de serviços de saúde, dos servidores do Hospital Universitário Onofre Lopes do Rio Grande do Norte

This research has aimed at studying the perception of University Hospital Onofre Lopes (HUOL) s workers on the environmental management plan of RSSS. They have been interviewed 250 workers: doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, and cleaners. It was used an exploratory and descriptive research of the type Survey, which aims at obtaining of data or information on characteristics, actions or opinions of any group of people. The questions of the questionnaire were of the kind objective", formulated in a model "scale", analyzed in according to the positioning of the interviewee. The wastes of health service have high potential for environmental impact in the activities from HUOL. Actions or environmental protective policy can improve the image of HUOL. They have been detected divergences on the rigor in application of law of ANVISA. The HUOL s workers unaware of the law of ANVISA and they have little or no knowledge about the practices of environmental control, public health and, they do not know the Environmental Management System ISO 14001. They have divergent views on the degree of importance of ISO 14001. There is not a Waste Management Plan for Health Service and / or is not disclosed for most of HUOL workers. It has not carried out audits or defined the goals and objectives. Besides, it has not been identified legal requirements, and there has not been communication about the service is performed or has been made a critical analysis and no control of documents the environmental management plan. The HUOL have not had a committee of environmental management. The direction of HUOL has not been organized courses, training and recycling of waste on environmental control of the health service. On a scale from 01 to 05, the level of aware level concerning to the waste management from health services of the workers, so is at the threshold between 01 and 02. For the reversal of this situation, the first and urgent step is the creation and institutionalization the environmental management committee of the University Hospital Onofre Lopes

Fatores que afetam a satisfação de pacientes em serviços de saúde :um estudo em setor ambulatorial de hospital

This thesis shows concepts and models related to customer satisfaction measurement, focusing in detail on patients satisfaction evaluations in a policlinic sector of a hospital located in Natal RN. To reach this aim, two hundred and fifty one patients of this hospital were interviewed. The methodology approach includes a theoretical basis through a review and study of previous research on the topic, governmental initiatives and management systems which deal with excellence and need more reports concerning customers perceptions about satisfaction. Furthermore, it was included some models of nationals index about customer satisfaction. The Norwegian model was used in this thesis. The use of this approache, together with a multiple regression analysis, led to results that shows the factors which affect patients satisfaction in a policlinic sector. They are four as following: The evaluation of physician attendance; its results; simplicity of accessibility when health services are needed; and both support and tranquility given by the hospital. The study results can support researches of a conceptual model to determinate the aspects which affect the patient s satisfaction and could be a contribution to a development of a national costumer satisfaction index

Qualidade em serviços de saúde: uma contribuição à definição de um modelo paramétrico e padrão de qualidade do tempo agendado para consulta ambulatorial

This work presents a study in quality of health care, with focus on consulting appointment. The main purpose is to define a statistical model and propose a quality grade of the consulting appointment time. The time considered is that from the day the patient get the appointment done to the day the consulting is realized. It is used reliability techniques and functions that has as main characteristic the analysis of data regarding the time of occurrence certain event. It is gathered a random sample of 1743 patients in the appointment system of a University Hospital - the Hospital Universitário Onofre Lopes - of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The sample is randomly stratified in terms on clinical specialty. The data were analyzed against the parametric methods of the reliability statistics and the adjustment of the regression model resulted in the Weibull distribution being best fit to data. The quality grade proposed is based in the PAHO criteria for a consulting appointment and result that no clinic got the PAHO quality grade. The quality grade proposed could be used to define priority for improvement and as criteria to quality control

Fatores condicionantes da utilização da Internet na compra de serviços de viagens e turismo: estudo com turistas brasileiros em visita à Natal-RN

In today s global society, companies have become even more competitive with the abundance of information that prospective clients have available to them. This way the tourist services has appropriate the distribution using electronics ways as information for doing acquirement services. This work, shows the adopted provision of on-line tourist services does have suited apportionment for factors and buy decisions. The method used is a survey applied to the tourists, at international airport Augusto Severo, no matter why the visit reason to Natal city, at all, they were 210 people, being the chief variables evaluated the tourist perception of facility, utility, benefits, amenity and pleasure from the Internet s use, under the terms at the tourists experiences from the WEB about to acquisitions and researches. The results acquaint that the younger tourists or less experts tourists, in visit to Natal, demonstrated greater bias to the Internet s use than the other people. By the way women have a larger representation as a consumer from the WEB and finally, people along greater study tends to adopt. The work s contribution provides greater knowledge for the tourism executives about how might use the Internet, as well as bring forward a scene propitious for the on-line diffuseness service

Modelagem de equações estruturais na análise de dados de serviços em comunicações móveis

In recent decades, changes have been occurring in the telecommunications industry, allied to competition driven by the policies of privatization and concessions, have fomented the world market irrefutably causing the emergence of a new reality. The reflections in Brazil have become evident due to the appearance of significant growth rates, getting in 2012 to provide a net operating income of 128 billion dollars, placing the country among the five major powers in the world in mobile communications. In this context, an issue of increasing importance to the financial health of companies is their ability to retain their customers, as well as turn them into loyal customers. The appearance of infidelity from customer operators has been generating monthly rates shutdowns about two to four percent per month accounting for business management one of its biggest challenges, since capturing a new customer has meant an expenditure greater than five times to retention. For this purpose, models have been developed by means of structural equation modeling to identify the relationships between the various determinants of customer loyalty in the context of services. The original contribution of this thesis is to develop a model for loyalty from the identification of relationships between determinants of satisfaction (latent variables) and the inclusion of attributes that determine the perceptions of service quality for the mobile communications industry, such as quality, satisfaction, value, trust, expectation and loyalty. It is a qualitative research which will be conducted with customers of operators through simple random sampling technique, using structured questionnaires. As a result, the proposed model and statistical evaluations should enable operators to conclude that customer loyalty is directly influenced by technical and operational quality of the services offered, as well as provide a satisfaction index for the mobile communication segment

Câncer de mama: vivência das usuárias dos serviços prestados pela Liga Norte Riograndense Contra o Câncer

This study is about the users' experiences of the services offered by League Against Câncer that are in treatment of breast cancer, focusing on how the health/illness process develops. It is distinguished, in this context, the National Politics of Health, approaching the sprouting, implantation and consolidation process of the Unified Health System and its shocks on the installment of health services to the low-income population as a legit right from Citizen Constitution. It has as an objective to analyze how the social-economic extract of these women intervenes with such process, the aspects who involve the cancer while a pathology, approaching the signals, symptoms, forms of prevention, diagnosis, among other aspects that configure themselves as important points to the understanding of these experiences, since the diagnosis, treatment and control phases. The research was carried out with 25 women, between the months of January and February of year of 2005. The used technique was the scriptstructured interview, whose universe was defined through intentional sample. The following distinguishes as a result of the research: The majority of the women has its origins on the interior of the state, possesses a familiar income from one to three minimum wages and didn't make any kind of prevention before diagnosis, currently make treatment, beyond other aspects. It becomes necessary posterior studies on this social problematic, with respect to the personal, professional, familiar and social daily behavior of these women. It is worth mentioning that the role of the social assistant in the developed work with these women, understanding all the impediments associated with such experiences, as well as giving information about the rights of the patients with cancer, conquered through the years

A saúde ambiental e os resíduos de serviços de saúde nos três níveis de complexidade do Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS

The environmental management in the health establishments is a reality still little explored in the health sector in Brazil, especially concerning its wastes. The management of wastes of health services is established in the valid legislation through the National Council of Environment and Sanitary Vigilance Agency (358/2005 and 304/2004 respectively). The present work is about a descriptive work about the environmental health in the health services. The used criterion was to diagnose the environmental management in twelve establishments of health inserted in the three levels of complexity of the Unique Health System (Sistema Ùnico de Saúde SUS). Among the sub criteria used the waste management is the one of bigger concern. The one referring to the water quality is considered good. The analysis of data reveals that 66% of the establishments got a poor environmental ranking, 17% critical and 17% appropriate, showing that the health establishments in the three levels of complexity of the SUS need urgent structural, environmental and educational interventions

Desenvolvimento de aplicações móveis baseadas em sistemas de informações web existentes

Considerando a era da computação móvel percebe-se que os sistemas de informaçãoestão passando por um processo de metamorfose para possibilitar que seus usuários utilizemnovas formas de acessos às informações a partir de dispositivos móveis. Isso se deveprincipalmente ao aumento da popularidade de dispositivos como smartphones e tablets.Impulsionado por esse novo cenário de computação, que está mudando velhos hábitos ecriando novas maneiras da sociedade acessar informações que até então só eram acessíveisatravés de computadores tradicionais, crescem as demandas por aplicações móveis corporativas.Esse aumento é ocasionado pela necessidade das empresas garantirem aos seusclientes novas formas de interações com seus serviços. Dessa forma, esse trabalho tem oobjetivo de apresentar um estudo referente ao desenvolvimento de aplicações móveis eum processo denominado Metamorphosis, que provê um conjunto de atividades organizadasem três fases: requisitos, projeto e implantação, para auxiliar no desenvolvimentode aplicações móveis corporativas baseadas em sistemas de informações web existentes.

Uma aplicação do método fuzzy-electre-topsis para seleção de serviços de computação em nuvem

This work presents an application of a hybrid Fuzzy-ELECTRE-TOPSIS multicriteria approach for a Cloud Computing Service selection problem. The research was exploratory, using a case of study based on the actual requirements of professionals in the field of Cloud Computing. The results were obtained by conducting an experiment aligned with a Case of Study using the distinct profile of three decision makers, for that, we used the Fuzzy-TOPSIS and Fuzzy-ELECTRE-TOPSIS methods to obtain the results and compare them. The solution includes the Fuzzy sets theory, in a way it could support inaccurate or subjective information, thus facilitating the interpretation of the decision maker judgment in the decision-making process. The results show that both methods were able to rank the alternatives from the problem as expected, but the Fuzzy-ELECTRE-TOPSIS method was able to attenuate the compensatory character existing in the Fuzzy-TOPSIS method, resulting in a different alternative ranking. The attenuation of the compensatory character stood out in a positive way at ranking the alternatives, because it prioritized more balanced alternatives than the Fuzzy-TOPSIS method, a factor that has been proven as important at the validation of the Case of Study, since for the composition of a mix of services, balanced alternatives form a more consistent mix when working with restrictions.

Cordel Informativo: serviços oferecidos aos usuários de uma biblioteca universitária

Na observação prática cotidiana da Biblioteca Central Zila Mamede (BCZM), procurou-se identificar o comportamento dos usuários com relação ao uso das informações disponibilizadas. É bem possível que os usuários não se interessem pelos serviços por não conhecê-los plenamente. Tais observações levaram aos seguintes questionamentos: a) a comunidade acadêmica da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) sabe da existência de todas as fontes de informação disponibilizadas para pesquisa nessa unidade informacional? b) O desinteresse por algumas dessas fontes de informação tem relação com o desconhecimento das mesmas? Estes questionamentos motivaram a realização de um projeto que tem como objetivo divulgar as formas de acesso à produção científica da UFRN. Esse artigo descreve os serviços oferecidos pela BCZM, através da Literatura de Cordel, com a finalidade de estimular e sensibilizar os alunos de graduação, pós-graduação, professores e funcionários sobre a importância do acesso ao conhecimento científico disponíveis na biblioteca, acredita-se que a Literatura de Cordel, por ser um suporte informacional que alcança desde mercados e feiras, divulga a arte, a ciência e as tradições populares, ajuda, também, na disseminação das informações e estimula o prazer pela leitura. Tais requisitos capacita a nossa Comunidade Acadêmica, bem como o público em geral, o qual terá acesso às informações relevantes que servirão de insumos na construção do conhecimento. Neste artigo, serão apresentados em versos e estrofes escritos em forma rimada, os serviços que a BCZM oferece à sua comunidade. Posteriormente, serão divulgados outros serviços e as formas de acesso à produção científica da UFRN.