Stressful Life Events and their Trajectories among Midlife Women: Observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Virtual Mobility and Learning for PhD students of six European Countries: students’ programme evaluation

In this paper, the authors, as teachers of the Virtual Mobility and Learning ERASMUS Intensive Programme (VML–IP), put forward an analysis of the student’s final evaluation of the Programme as to the most important competences they have developed. In terms of methodology, this study has an exploratory and descriptive nature; hence, being based on empiric evidence. Thus, in the last face-to-face session, students were asked by the Programme’s coordination to present an overall evaluation of their experience in the VML–IP. Data were collected in loco, i.e. through the posters created by each group, as well as the video of the students’ oral presentations. They were later analysed using content analysis as data analysis technique. The results unveil that, although the main goal was fulfilled – i.e. to be able to design and implement a course on a ‘Virtual Mobility and Learning’ topic underpinned by solid theoretical background in the area –, the fact is that every group also pointed out several soft competences as a very important part of their experiences, and crucial for their development as students and future professionals.

A importância dos ambientes educativos no processo de aprendizagem

Relatório de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Paula Frassinetti para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Educação Pré-Escolar e ensino do 1.ºCiclo do Ensino Básico

SOFRIMENTO CRÔNICO: PERCEPÇÃO DE MÃES DE CRIANÇAS DEPENDENTES DE VENTILAÇÃO MECÂNICA

Objective: To know the mothers’ perception of the main difficulties in the care of children with special needs dependent on mechanical ventilation. Methods: A qualitative research conducted from August to November 2013 at the Dr. Waldemar Alcântara Hospital in Fortaleza, CE. Respondents were seven mothers of children under mechanical ventilation. Data were collected using sociodemographic questionnaires and guiding questions, from which emerged thematic categories that underwent content analysis, with data being discussed in the light of the relevant literature. Results: The average age of mothers ranged 18-36 years. Six were married or had formed a common-law marriage. Education level ranged from illiteracy to complete secondary education. Family income was up to one minimum wage. Mothers reported anguish and fear regarding the initial impact of the diagnosis, with little understanding of the biomedical language and a lot of questions during the whole period after diagnosis and during hospitalization. Conclusion: Difficulties involve aspects related to family abandonment, the distancing from the other children at the expense of the care of the disable child, the difficulty in engaging in social relationships, and the prognosis and care of their child. The hospital environment generates psychological repercussions on the expectation and hopelessness regarding the cure of their child, as they know they might die. Healthcare professionals can favor incredible transformations, generating a new “care”, broader and humanized, facilitating the recovery/restructuring of the family within this new universe.

Desafios na descoberta de talento(s)

Relatório de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Paula Frassinetti para obtenção de grau de Mestre em Educação Pré-Escolar e Ensino do 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

Análise de aspectos sociocientíficos em questões de química do Enem: subsídio para a elaboração de material didático para a formação cidadã

Acompanha: Manual didático: o emprego de aspectos sociocientíficos no ensino de química

Tourist Destination Image in the New Technological Environments: Dialogism under the Public Relations Gaze

The dependence and influence of new media on social and organizational life have led to a new orientation of the communicational practices of organizations and to a research paradigm shift to a cocriational model within public relations theory. This model is based on dialogic rhetoric and dialogue that requires a joint production of content and meanings by organizations and publics, which have a central role in shaping image. The new social and communicational paradigms have also an impact on tourism research, implying the need to understand the role of new technologies, particularly websites, in image formation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of website in the formation of a tourist destination image (Portugal) through the understanding of the degree of adoption of dialogical principles on websites by official and unofficial tourist organizations and the identifying of denotative and connotative elements that are represented on published and shared photographs in these websites. The research corpus consisted of websites of entities and photographs published and shared on these websites. The methodology used is quantitative and qualitative, based on content analysis of data of websites and photographs. Results indicate that official tourist entities adopted the dialogic principles in a higher degree than unofficials. There is also a higher adoption of the principles related to technical dimension than dialogical dimension. Results confirm a relation between the adoption of dialogical link and an increased openness by entities to the possibility of photo sharing. The analysis of denotative and connotative elements of photography reflects a similarity in representations of entities and tourists. This study contributes to both theoretical perspectives, because it provides a conceptual scheme of destination image formation online and to a practical perspective, because it also suggests guidelines of dialogical practices to incorporate in websites of tourism entities.

Estudo de um método de avaliação de desempenho aplicado aos técnicos de radiologia do Hospital Curry Cabral

A avaliação do desempenho e a sua aplicação são, no actual enquadramento socioeconómico, cada vez mais necessárias, como forma de melhorar a eficácia e a eficiência entre as organizações. Para a prática profissional verifica-se que a implementação da avaliação de desempenho, apresenta lacunas que podem comprometê-la. Sabendo da importância do profissional para o sucesso da implementação da avaliação de desempenho, toma-se fundamental, analisar a sua percepção face ao modelo e sua implementação. O problema da instrução do presente estudo pretende saber quais as percepções dos técnicos de radiologia avaliados sujeitos ao modelo de avaliação de desempenho implantado no Hospital Curry Cabral. Tendo como objectivo ao nível da gestão, minimizar os obstáculos de implementação e maximizar os pontos fortes. Após pesquisa bibliográfica sobre os principais conceitos, foi definido domo objectivo da investigação empírica: - Comparar as percepções dos técnicos de radiologia submetidos ao modelo de avaliação desempenho ”Pró-Activo”. Recorrendo a uma metodologia exploratória e descritiva, estudámos o impacto dessas ferramentas utilizadas dentro da Unidade Hospitalar do estudo. A metodologia de recolha de informação aos profissionais expostos do estudo assentou em questionários de perguntas fechadas e abertas ambas com uma abordagem de carácter quantitativo. Para a análise e tratamento dos dados utilizou-se programas informáticos. As principais conclusões: verifica-se a falta de formação para todos os envolvidos, um processo desprovido de imparcialidade, neutralidade e rigor, bem como uma motivação geral dos profissionais em matéria de avaliação de desempenho. ABSTRACT - The evaluation of performance and its implementation are, in the current socioeconomic framing, each time more necessary as form to improve the effectiveness and the efficiency amidst the organizations. For the practical professional it is verified that the implementation of the performance evaluation, presents gaps that can compromise it. Knowing the importance of the individuals in the success of the implementation of the performance evaluation, it becomes basic to analyze its perceptions face to the model and its implementation. The problem of inquiry of this study pretends to know which the perceptions of the technicians of radiology evaluated and appraisers face to the models of evaluation of performance implanted in the Portuguese Hospitals (Hospital Curry Cabral). The purpose to the level of the management is to minimize the obstacles of implementation and to maximize the strong points. Bibliographical research on the main concepts was effectuated, after what we define the objectives of empirica inquiry: - To compare the perceptions of the radiology technicians subjected to models of performance evaluation “Pro-Activa”. Using an exploratory and descriptive approach, studied the impact of these tools used in the hospitals of the study. The methodology for collecting information to professionals out of the study based on questionnaires of both open and closed questions with a quantitative approach to nature. For analysis and data processing software was used. The main conclusions: there is the lack of training for all involved, a process devoid of impartiality, neutrality and accuracy, as well as a general motivation of the professionals regarding the evaluation of performance.

Análise comportamental : um estudo por análise de sobrevivência, aplicada a cartões de crédito

A capacidade de adaptação e rapidez de decisão, distinguem as empresas que melhor conseguem competir e crescer no mercado global. Para atuar rapidamente, as organizações precisam de sistemas de informação cada vez mais eficazes, surgindo recentemente uma nova função considerada fundamental para as empresas, que é a de Cientista de Dados. É neste contexto e para responder aos desafios atuais e futuros, que surgem sistemas de informação cada vez mais avançados, suportados por modelos de análise e visualização estatística. Este trabalho consiste em criar uma metodologia de desenvolvimento de modelos de previsão de incumprimento e perfil do consumidor, aplicado a cartões de crédito, com base numa exposição de análise comportamental, utilizando técnicas de análise de sobrevivência. São definidas técnicas de tratamento dos dados recolhidos, estimado modelo não-paramétrico de Kaplan-Meier e vários modelos de Cox de riscos proporcionais. Com recurso à curva ROC, dependente do tempo, à AUC e ao índice de Gini, conclui-se que o modelo final apresenta um desempenho positivo para identificar os clientes em situação de incumprimento ou com propensão a incumprir.

Benefícios afetivossociais da prática da dança para estudantes dos núcleos de arte da Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro

O propósito desta pesquisa foi investigar o papel atribuído à Dança, no âmbito da dimensão afetivossocial compreendendo como se reflete na vida (pessoal e social) dos jovens estudantes dos oito Centros de Pesquisa e Formação em Ensino Escolar de Arte e Esporte – Núcleo de Arte da Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro – distribuídos em distintas regiões do município do Rio de Janeiro. A base teórica do estudo foi fundamentada pela dimensão afetivossocial em autores de referência da área (Bertine, 2014; Damásio, 2012; 2013; Godoy, 2013; Leme, 2013; Macara 2010a, 2010b; Marques, 2010; 2014; Matos & Tomé, 2012; Monteiro, 2012; Shapiro, 2008; Stinson, 2014; Strongman, 2002; Sawaia, 2014; Varregoso et al., 2014). Com este desígnio, o trajeto metodológico percorrido para construção da tese decorreu em duas fases. A primeira de natureza exploratória, marcada por dois Estudos Preliminares. A segunda de natureza pluri-metodológicos: Pesquisa de Método Misto, com a combinação entre a abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa, marcada por um estudo de campo. Participaram do estudo quantitativo 378 praticantes de Dança de 12 a 18 anos de idade e do estudo qualitativo 52 integrantes do espaço (diretores, professores, coordenador e praticantes e ex-praticantes). O método de análise adotado foi estatístico descritivo e correlação de Pearson pelo SPSS22 e, análise de conteúdo. Todos os dados analisados foram integrados nas duas dimensões do estudo, Dimensão Representação Afetivossocial e Dimensão Transformação Pessoal e Social. Como resultado, verificamos que os jovens sentem-se motivados e incluídos pelo trabalho realizado nas oficinas de Dança nos núcleos, percebem que a Dança é fonte de empoderamento da dimensão afetivossocial pelo despertar da motivação, do bem-estar e da autorealização. No campo afetivo, descrevem o desenvolvimento das competências emocionais pelas sensações, emoções e sentimentos gerados no corpo e nas experiências relacionais na Dança, despertando o conactus (Damásio, 2012; Leme, 2013) e a potência de ação (Sawaia, 2014), capazes de transformar estados emocionais, situações e coisas em benefício próprio. O desenvolvimento das competências sociais transcorreu pela mudança comportamental em casa, pela tríade interação-participação-transformação social no núcleo, família, escola e comunidade despertando sentimentos na construção da dimensão afetivossocial e promovendo liberdade de ser e estar no mundo. Com o desenvolvimento destas competências, estes jovens percebem-se incluídos na sociedade despertando para muitos o desejo de prosseguimento na carreira (Amadora ou Profissional).

Content-aware compression for big textual data analysis

A substantial amount of information on the Internet is present in the form of text. The value of this semi-structured and unstructured data has been widely acknowledged, with consequent scientific and commercial exploitation. The ever-increasing data production, however, pushes data analytic platforms to their limit. This thesis proposes techniques for more efficient textual big data analysis suitable for the Hadoop analytic platform. This research explores the direct processing of compressed textual data. The focus is on developing novel compression methods with a number of desirable properties to support text-based big data analysis in distributed environments. The novel contributions of this work include the following. Firstly, a Content-aware Partial Compression (CaPC) scheme is developed. CaPC makes a distinction between informational and functional content in which only the informational content is compressed. Thus, the compressed data is made transparent to existing software libraries which often rely on functional content to work. Secondly, a context-free bit-oriented compression scheme (Approximated Huffman Compression) based on the Huffman algorithm is developed. This uses a hybrid data structure that allows pattern searching in compressed data in linear time. Thirdly, several modern compression schemes have been extended so that the compressed data can be safely split with respect to logical data records in distributed file systems. Furthermore, an innovative two layer compression architecture is used, in which each compression layer is appropriate for the corresponding stage of data processing. Peripheral libraries are developed that seamlessly link the proposed compression schemes to existing analytic platforms and computational frameworks, and also make the use of the compressed data transparent to developers. The compression schemes have been evaluated for a number of standard MapReduce analysis tasks using a collection of real-world datasets. In comparison with existing solutions, they have shown substantial improvement in performance and significant reduction in system resource requirements.

Dynamic distance analysis : new geometric data structures and algorithms for the real-time calculation of tolerance violating regions in the digital mockup process

In vielen Industriezweigen, zum Beispiel in der Automobilindustrie, werden Digitale Versuchsmodelle (Digital MockUps) eingesetzt, um die Konstruktion und die Funktion eines Produkts am virtuellen Prototypen zu überprüfen. Ein Anwendungsfall ist dabei die Überprüfung von Sicherheitsabständen einzelner Bauteile, die sogenannte Abstandsanalyse. Ingenieure ermitteln dabei für bestimmte Bauteile, ob diese in ihrer Ruhelage sowie während einer Bewegung einen vorgegeben Sicherheitsabstand zu den umgebenden Bauteilen einhalten. Unterschreiten Bauteile den Sicherheitsabstand, so muss deren Form oder Lage verändert werden. Dazu ist es wichtig, die Bereiche der Bauteile, welche den Sicherhabstand verletzen, genau zu kennen. rnrnIn dieser Arbeit präsentieren wir eine Lösung zur Echtzeitberechnung aller den Sicherheitsabstand unterschreitenden Bereiche zwischen zwei geometrischen Objekten. Die Objekte sind dabei jeweils als Menge von Primitiven (z.B. Dreiecken) gegeben. Für jeden Zeitpunkt, in dem eine Transformation auf eines der Objekte angewendet wird, berechnen wir die Menge aller den Sicherheitsabstand unterschreitenden Primitive und bezeichnen diese als die Menge aller toleranzverletzenden Primitive. Wir präsentieren in dieser Arbeit eine ganzheitliche Lösung, welche sich in die folgenden drei großen Themengebiete unterteilen lässt.rnrnIm ersten Teil dieser Arbeit untersuchen wir Algorithmen, die für zwei Dreiecke überprüfen, ob diese toleranzverletzend sind. Hierfür präsentieren wir verschiedene Ansätze für Dreiecks-Dreiecks Toleranztests und zeigen, dass spezielle Toleranztests deutlich performanter sind als bisher verwendete Abstandsberechnungen. Im Fokus unserer Arbeit steht dabei die Entwicklung eines neuartigen Toleranztests, welcher im Dualraum arbeitet. In all unseren Benchmarks zur Berechnung aller toleranzverletzenden Primitive beweist sich unser Ansatz im dualen Raum immer als der Performanteste.rnrnDer zweite Teil dieser Arbeit befasst sich mit Datenstrukturen und Algorithmen zur Echtzeitberechnung aller toleranzverletzenden Primitive zwischen zwei geometrischen Objekten. Wir entwickeln eine kombinierte Datenstruktur, die sich aus einer flachen hierarchischen Datenstruktur und mehreren Uniform Grids zusammensetzt. Um effiziente Laufzeiten zu gewährleisten ist es vor allem wichtig, den geforderten Sicherheitsabstand sinnvoll im Design der Datenstrukturen und der Anfragealgorithmen zu beachten. Wir präsentieren hierzu Lösungen, die die Menge der zu testenden Paare von Primitiven schnell bestimmen. Darüber hinaus entwickeln wir Strategien, wie Primitive als toleranzverletzend erkannt werden können, ohne einen aufwändigen Primitiv-Primitiv Toleranztest zu berechnen. In unseren Benchmarks zeigen wir, dass wir mit unseren Lösungen in der Lage sind, in Echtzeit alle toleranzverletzenden Primitive zwischen zwei komplexen geometrischen Objekten, bestehend aus jeweils vielen hunderttausend Primitiven, zu berechnen. rnrnIm dritten Teil präsentieren wir eine neuartige, speicheroptimierte Datenstruktur zur Verwaltung der Zellinhalte der zuvor verwendeten Uniform Grids. Wir bezeichnen diese Datenstruktur als Shrubs. Bisherige Ansätze zur Speicheroptimierung von Uniform Grids beziehen sich vor allem auf Hashing Methoden. Diese reduzieren aber nicht den Speicherverbrauch der Zellinhalte. In unserem Anwendungsfall haben benachbarte Zellen oft ähnliche Inhalte. Unser Ansatz ist in der Lage, den Speicherbedarf der Zellinhalte eines Uniform Grids, basierend auf den redundanten Zellinhalten, verlustlos auf ein fünftel der bisherigen Größe zu komprimieren und zur Laufzeit zu dekomprimieren.rnrnAbschießend zeigen wir, wie unsere Lösung zur Berechnung aller toleranzverletzenden Primitive Anwendung in der Praxis finden kann. Neben der reinen Abstandsanalyse zeigen wir Anwendungen für verschiedene Problemstellungen der Pfadplanung.

Technological innovation in electronic inventory solutions:an analysis of patent data

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the technological development of electronic inventory solutions from perspective of patent analysis. We first applied the international patent classification to classify the top categories of data processing technologies and their corresponding top patenting countries. Then we identified the core technologies by the calculation of patent citation strength and standard deviation criterion for each patent. To eliminate those core innovations having no reference relationships with the other core patents, relevance strengths between core technologies were evaluated also. Our findings provide market intelligence not only for the research and development community, but for the decision making of advanced inventory solutions.

A mathematical resolution to log transformations and the binning effect in applied processing of data in flow cytometry

This dissertation develops a new mathematical approach that overcomes the effect of a data processing phenomenon known as “histogram binning” inherent to flow cytometry data. A real-time procedure is introduced to prove the effectiveness and fast implementation of such an approach on real-world data. The histogram binning effect is a dilemma posed by two seemingly antagonistic developments: (1) flow cytometry data in its histogram form is extended in its dynamic range to improve its analysis and interpretation, and (2) the inevitable dynamic range extension introduces an unwelcome side effect, the binning effect, which skews the statistics of the data, undermining as a consequence the accuracy of the analysis and the eventual interpretation of the data. ^ Researchers in the field contended with such a dilemma for many years, resorting either to hardware approaches that are rather costly with inherent calibration and noise effects; or have developed software techniques based on filtering the binning effect but without successfully preserving the statistical content of the original data. ^ The mathematical approach introduced in this dissertation is so appealing that a patent application has been filed. The contribution of this dissertation is an incremental scientific innovation based on a mathematical framework that will allow researchers in the field of flow cytometry to improve the interpretation of data knowing that its statistical meaning has been faithfully preserved for its optimized analysis. Furthermore, with the same mathematical foundation, proof of the origin of such an inherent artifact is provided. ^ These results are unique in that new mathematical derivations are established to define and solve the critical problem of the binning effect faced at the experimental assessment level, providing a data platform that preserves its statistical content. ^ In addition, a novel method for accumulating the log-transformed data was developed. This new method uses the properties of the transformation of statistical distributions to accumulate the output histogram in a non-integer and multi-channel fashion. Although the mathematics of this new mapping technique seem intricate, the concise nature of the derivations allow for an implementation procedure that lends itself to a real-time implementation using lookup tables, a task that is also introduced in this dissertation. ^

A mathematical resolution to log transformations and the binning effect in applied processing of data in flow cytometry

This dissertation develops a new mathematical approach that overcomes the effect of a data processing phenomenon known as "histogram binning" inherent to flow cytometry data. A real-time procedure is introduced to prove the effectiveness and fast implementation of such an approach on real-world data. The histogram binning effect is a dilemma posed by two seemingly antagonistic developments: (1) flow cytometry data in its histogram form is extended in its dynamic range to improve its analysis and interpretation, and (2) the inevitable dynamic range extension introduces an unwelcome side effect, the binning effect, which skews the statistics of the data, undermining as a consequence the accuracy of the analysis and the eventual interpretation of the data. Researchers in the field contended with such a dilemma for many years, resorting either to hardware approaches that are rather costly with inherent calibration and noise effects; or have developed software techniques based on filtering the binning effect but without successfully preserving the statistical content of the original data. The mathematical approach introduced in this dissertation is so appealing that a patent application has been filed. The contribution of this dissertation is an incremental scientific innovation based on a mathematical framework that will allow researchers in the field of flow cytometry to improve the interpretation of data knowing that its statistical meaning has been faithfully preserved for its optimized analysis. Furthermore, with the same mathematical foundation, proof of the origin of such an inherent artifact is provided. These results are unique in that new mathematical derivations are established to define and solve the critical problem of the binning effect faced at the experimental assessment level, providing a data platform that preserves its statistical content. In addition, a novel method for accumulating the log-transformed data was developed. This new method uses the properties of the transformation of statistical distributions to accumulate the output histogram in a non-integer and multi-channel fashion. Although the mathematics of this new mapping technique seem intricate, the concise nature of the derivations allow for an implementation procedure that lends itself to a real-time implementation using lookup tables, a task that is also introduced in this dissertation.