Health education: the role and functions of the specialist and the generalist

Education for health is a process in which all public health and medical care personnel are involved. People learn both formally (planned learning experiences) and informally (unplanned learning experiences). Since the patient, the client, the consummer and the community expect public health and medical care personnel to assist them with health and disease issues and problems, the response of the professional "educates" the customer whether the professional intends to educate or not. Therefore, it is incumbent on all public health and medical care professionals to understand their educational functions and their role in health education. It is also important that the role of the specialist in education be clear. The specialist, as to all other specialists, has an in-depth knowledge of his area of expertise, i.e., the teaching/learning process; s/he may function as a consultant to others to enhance the educational potential of their role or s/he may work with a team or with communities or groups of patients. Specific competencies and knowledge are required of the health education specialist; and there is a body of learning and social change theory which provides a frame of reference for planning, implementing and evaluating educational programs. Working with others to enhance their potential to learn and to make informed decisions about health/disease issues is the hallmark of the health education specialist.

Equilibrium self-assembly of colloids with distinct interaction sites: Thermodynamics, percolation, and cluster distribution functions

We calculate the equilibrium thermodynamic properties, percolation threshold, and cluster distribution functions for a model of associating colloids, which consists of hard spherical particles having on their surfaces three short-ranged attractive sites (sticky spots) of two different types, A and B. The thermodynamic properties are calculated using Wertheim's perturbation theory of associating fluids. This also allows us to find the onset of self-assembly, which can be quantified by the maxima of the specific heat at constant volume. The percolation threshold is derived, under the no-loop assumption, for the correlated bond model: In all cases it is two percolated phases that become identical at a critical point, when one exists. Finally, the cluster size distributions are calculated by mapping the model onto an effective model, characterized by a-state-dependent-functionality (f) over bar and unique bonding probability (p) over bar. The mapping is based on the asymptotic limit of the cluster distributions functions of the generic model and the effective parameters are defined through the requirement that the equilibrium cluster distributions of the true and effective models have the same number-averaged and weight-averaged sizes at all densities and temperatures. We also study the model numerically in the case where BB interactions are missing. In this limit, AB bonds either provide branching between A-chains (Y-junctions) if epsilon(AB)/epsilon(AA) is small, or drive the formation of a hyperbranched polymer if epsilon(AB)/epsilon(AA) is large. We find that the theoretical predictions describe quite accurately the numerical data, especially in the region where Y-junctions are present. There is fairly good agreement between theoretical and numerical results both for the thermodynamic (number of bonds and phase coexistence) and the connectivity properties of the model (cluster size distributions and percolation locus).

On differentiability and analyticity of positive definite functions

We derive a set of differential inequalities for positive definite functions based on previous results derived for positive definite kernels by purely algebraic methods. Our main results show that the global behavior of a smooth positive definite function is, to a large extent, determined solely by the sequence of even-order derivatives at the origin: if a single one of these vanishes then the function is constant; if they are all non-zero and satisfy a natural growth condition, the function is real-analytic and consequently extends holomorphically to a maximal horizontal strip of the complex plane.

Comparison of deposited surface area of airborne ultrafine particles generated from two welding processes

This article describes work performed on the assessment of the levels of airborne ultrafine particles emitted in two welding processes metal-active gas (MAG) of carbon steel and friction-stir welding (FSW) of aluminium in terms of deposited area in alveolar tract of the lung using a nanoparticle surface area monitor analyser. The obtained results showed the dependence from process parameters on emitted ultrafine particles and clearly demonstrated the presence of ultrafine particles, when compared with background levels. The obtained results showed that the process that results on the lower levels of alveolar-deposited surface area is FSW, unlike MAG. Nevertheless, all the tested processes resulted in important doses of ultrafine particles that are to be deposited in the human lung of exposed workers.

Direct multisearch for multiobjective optimization

In practical applications of optimization it is common to have several conflicting objective functions to optimize. Frequently, these functions are subject to noise or can be of black-box type, preventing the use of derivative-based techniques. We propose a novel multiobjective derivative-free methodology, calling it direct multisearch (DMS), which does not aggregate any of the objective functions. Our framework is inspired by the search/poll paradigm of direct-search methods of directional type and uses the concept of Pareto dominance to maintain a list of nondominated points (from which the new iterates or poll centers are chosen). The aim of our method is to generate as many points in the Pareto front as possible from the polling procedure itself, while keeping the whole framework general enough to accommodate other disseminating strategies, in particular, when using the (here also) optional search step. DMS generalizes to multiobjective optimization (MOO) all direct-search methods of directional type. We prove under the common assumptions used in direct search for single objective optimization that at least one limit point of the sequence of iterates generated by DMS lies in (a stationary form of) the Pareto front. However, extensive computational experience has shown that our methodology has an impressive capability of generating the whole Pareto front, even without using a search step. Two by-products of this paper are (i) the development of a collection of test problems for MOO and (ii) the extension of performance and data profiles to MOO, allowing a comparison of several solvers on a large set of test problems, in terms of their efficiency and robustness to determine Pareto fronts.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa amidase: Aggregation in recombinant Escherichia coli

The effect of cultivation parameters such as temperature incubation, IPTG induction and ethanol shock on the production of Pseudomonasaeruginosa amidase (E.C.3.5.1.4) in a recombinant Escherichia coli strain in LB ampicillin culture medium was investigated. The highest yield of solubleamidase, relatively to other proteins, was obtained in the condition at 37 degrees C using 0.40 mM IPTG to induce growth, with ethanol. Our results demonstrate the formation of insoluble aggregates containing amidase, which was biologically active, in all tested growth conditions. Addition of ethanol at 25 degrees C in the culture medium improved amidase yield, which quantitatively aggregated in a biologically active form and exhibited in all conditions an increased specific activity relatively to the soluble form of the enzyme. Non-denaturing solubilization of the aggregated amidase was successfully achieved using L-arginine. The aggregates obtained from conditions at 37 degrees C by Furier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis demonstrated a lower content of intermolecular interactions, which facilitated the solubilization step applying non-denaturing conditions. The higher interactions exhibited in aggregates obtained at suboptimal conditions compromised the solubilization yield. This work provides an approach for the characterization and solubilization of novel reported biologically active aggregates of this amidase.

Execução da Augi 42, Casal do Sapo, Sesimbra

O estágio desenvolvido na empresa de construção Manuel da Graça Peixito, incidiu sobre Direcção e Gestão de Obra na execução de um projecto de reconversão urbanística a aplicar na AUGI 42 localizada no Casal do Sapo em Sesimbra. As áreas urbanas de génese ilegal, denominadas de AUGI, surgiram no inicio da década de 60, como um fenómeno que surgiu de forma a colmatar a carência no parque habitacional das periferias das grandes áreas metropolitanas do território nacional. O ambiente urbano gerado pela existência das AUGI, muitas vezes de proporções de grande dimensão, evidencia inúmeras carências e problemas a níveis sociais, económicos, urbanísticos e legais. A gestão de obra é uma actividade essencial na execução da obra e no planeamento de todas as tarefas a realizar com o melhor tratamento económico e financeiro. A direcção de obra tem como principais funções a selecção de recursos humanos, escolha e montagem dos órgãos de apoio logístico, a aquisição atempada e negociação de materiais. O Gestor e Director de Obra é colocado num ciclo operacional de optimização de recursos e eficiências, em que as duas funções, gestão e direcção de obra, são complementares e a abordagem do contexto interactivo do controlo da obra, em termos da produção, da gestão económica e financeira, da gestão do tempo, do cumprimento das normas de saúde e segurança no trabalho e no assegurar da qualidade, são claramente identificadas, enquanto veículo indispensável do cumprimento do contrato de empreitada. O processo de reconversão urbanística aplicado na AUGI 42 teve como estrutura de proposta a seguinte base: primeiro na recolha de dados relativo à AUGI 42 e na definição de um planeamento do faseamento numa estratégia de execução da empreitada; segundo na constituição e caracterização da execução de variadas infra-estruturas (rede de drenagem de esgotos domésticos e pluviais, rede de abastecimento de águas, rede de telecomunicações, rede eléctrica, rede de gás, rede viária e arranjos de espaços exteriores). Este processo e consequente proposta surgem como um contributo fundamental na melhoria da qualidade de vida das populações, como também da funcionalidade do sistema urbano que compõe as AUGI.

Cluster Analysis of Business Data

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Azorean Agriculture Efficiency by PAR

Copyright © 2013 Springer Netherlands.

Acrescentar valor à organização com a auditoria interna

Dissertação de Mestrado Apresentado ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Auditoria, sob orientação de Doutora Alcina Portugal Dias

Optoelectronic Logic Functions Based on Reconfigurable SiC Multilayer Devices

WDM multilayered SiC/Si devices based on a-Si:H and a-SiC:H filter design are approached from a reconfigurable point of view. Results show that the devices, under appropriated optical bias, act as reconfigurable active filters that allow optical switching and optoelectronic logic functions development. Under front violet irradiation the magnitude of the red and green channels are amplified and the blue and violet reduced. Violet back irradiation cuts the red channel, slightly influences the magnitude of the green and blue ones and strongly amplifies de violet channel. This nonlinearity provides the possibility for selective removal of useless wavelengths. Particular attention is given to the amplification coefficient weights, which allow taking into account the wavelength background effects when a band needs to be filtered from a wider range of mixed signals, or when optical active filter gates are used to select and filter input signals to specific output ports in WDM communication systems. A truth table of an encoder that performs 8-to-1 multiplexer (MUX) function is presented.

Seismic imaging of the western Iberian crust using ambient noise: Boundaries and internal structure of the Iberian Massif

We present new Rayleigh-wave dispersion maps of the western Iberian Peninsula for periods between 8 and 30 s, obtained from correlations of seismic ambient noise, following the recent increase in seismic broadband network density in Portugal and Spain. Group velocities have been computed for each station pair using the empirical Green's functions generated by cross-correlating one-day-length seismic ambient-noise records. The resulting high-path density allows us to obtain lateral variations of the group velocities as a function of period in cells of 0.5 degrees x 0.5 degrees with an unprecedented resolution. As a result we were able to address some of the unknowns regarding the lithospheric structure beneath SW Iberia. The dispersion maps allow the imaging of the major structural units, namely the Iberian Massif, and the Lusitanian and Algarve Meso-Cenozoic basins. The Cadiz Gulf/Gibraltar Strait area corresponds to a strong low-velocity anomaly, which can be followed to the largest period inverted, although slightly shifted to the east at longer periods. Within the Iberian Massif, second-order perturbations in the group velocities are consistent with the transitions between tectonic units composing the massif. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Role on serine protease inhibitors in the pathogenisis of Steinernema carpocapsae

Tese de Doutoramento, Biologia (Biologia Celular e Molecular), 18 de Novembro de 2013, Universidade dos Açores.