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

Análise funcional do design das órteses para rizartrose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the utilization of two models of orthotics used in the conservative treatment of rizartrose in patients/consumers that were referred by the medical clinic to the LAI (Laboratory of Integrated Accessibility). It describes this group s perception related to the functional aspects of the two models, evaluates the value of the product attributed by the patient/consumer and describes the importance attributed to each model. The research s objective consists in identifying which model this is preferred from the point of view by the patients that use either the dorsal or ventral models used in the conservative treatment of rizartrose . This work is then based on the exploratory research through the investigation of the bibliography available and in the research field. The research field used the case study methodology to investigate the phenomenon in the real context. The data were collected using a patient questionnaire during two times after the use of the dorsal orthotic and after the use of the ventral orthotic. The questionnaire was used to identify the relationship between the patients/consumers and the two different types of orthotics. A general descriptive analysis was used in order to verify the patient s abilities executing certain activities daily living using the dorsal and ventral orthotics, the product s functional aspects and its value from the patient s/consumer s point of view. The results show that the preference for the dorsal or ventral models is determined by the individual needs of each person. The results also show that other variables, such as the use of the orthotic on the dominant or non-dominant hand, play a role in the preferred model by the patient/consumer and need to be further investigated

Especificação de um bloco funcional implementando rede neural para redes industriais foundations fieldbus

This work proposes the specification of a new function block according to Foundation Fieldbus standards. The new block implements an artificial neural network, which may be useful in process control applications. The specification includes the definition of a main algorithm, that implements a neural network, as well as the description of some accessory functions, which provide safety characteristics to the block operation. Besides, it also describes the block attributes emphasizing its parameters, which constitute the block interfaces. Some experimental results, obtained from an artificial neural network implementation using actual standard functional blocks on a laboratorial FF network, are also shown, in order to demonstrate the possibility and also the convenience of integrating a neural network to Fieldbus devices

Caracterização físico-química, bioquímica e funcional da jabuticaba armazenada sob diferentes temperaturas

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a qualidade pós-colheita de jabuticabas submetidas a diferentes temperaturas de armazenamento refrigerado (AR). Após a colheita, os frutos fisiologicamente maduros foram acondicionados em bandejas de poliestireno expandido (EPS), revestidas por filme plástico de polietileno de baixa densidade (PEBD) e armazenados sob refrigeração a 0; 3; 6; 9 e 12 ± 1ºC e U.R. 87 ± 2%, sendo avaliados a cada 5 dias. Os frutos foram avaliados quanto à perda de massa, atividade respiratória, pH, acidez titulável, sólidos solúveis, ácido ascórbico, textura, pectina total e solúvel, atividade da enzima polifenoloxidase (PFO), compostos fenólicos e atividade antioxidante. Para frutos refrigerados a 9 e 12ºC, o pico respiratório atrasou em relação aos demais tratamentos, além de apresentarem as menores taxas respiratórias. O teor de sólidos solúveis aumentou com o tempo de armazenamento para todas as temperaturas, contudo, em 9 e 12ºC, esse aumento foi em menor proporção. A firmeza e o teor de ácido ascórbico também foram superiores nos frutos armazenados a 9 e 12ºC, enquanto os contéudos de pectina solúvel foram menores. Observou-se a diminuição da atividade da enzima PFO ao longo dos 30 dias do AR, independentemente da temperatura utilizada; entretanto, os menores valores foram encontrados nos frutos mantidos a 9 e 12ºC. Os frutos armazenados a 12ºC apresentaram os maiores conteúdos de compostos fenólicos totais e a maior atividade antioxidante ao final do experimento. Nesse sentido, a temperatura de 12ºC foi a mais efetiva na manutenção da qualidade pós-colheita das jabuticabas.

Metodologia de Verificação Funcional para Circuitos Analógicos

This work proposes a new methodology to verify those analog circuits, providing an automated tools to help the verifiers to have a more truthful result. This work presents the development of new methodology for analog circuits verification. The main goal is to provide a more automated verification process to certify analog circuits functional behavior. The proposed methodology is based on the golden model technique. A verification environment based on this methodology was built and results of a study case based on the validation of an operational amplifier design are offered as a confirmation of its effectiveness. The results had shown that the verification process was more truthful because of the automation provided by the tool developed

Estudo da topologia de redes de conexão funcional no córtex sensorial primário e hipocampo durante o sono de ondas lentas

Complex network analysis is a powerful tool into research of complex systems like brain networks. This work aims to describe the topological changes in neural functional connectivity networks of neocortex and hippocampus during slow-wave sleep (SWS) in animals submited to a novel experience exposure. Slow-wave sleep is an important sleep stage where occurs reverberations of electrical activities patterns of wakeness, playing a fundamental role in memory consolidation. Although its importance there s a lack of studies that characterize the topological dynamical of functional connectivity networks during that sleep stage. There s no studies that describe the topological modifications that novel exposure leads to this networks. We have observed that several topological properties have been modified after novel exposure and this modification remains for a long time. Major part of this changes in topological properties by novel exposure are related to fault tolerance

Estudo das propriedades termofísicas com variação da expansibilidade de compósito desenvolvido com matriz PUR-NOP e carga funcional de argilomineral

In this study were conducted experimental procedures for determination of variation of the expandability of rigid polyurethane foam (PUR) from a natural oil polyol (NOP), specifically the Castor oil plant, Ricinus communis, pure and additions of the vermiculite in phase dispersed in different percentage within a range from 0% to 20%, mass replacement. From the information acquired, were defined the parameters for production of bodies of test, plates obtained through controlled expansion, with the final volume fixed. Initially, the plates were subjected to thermal performance tests and evaluated the temperature profiles, to later be extracted samples duly prepared in accordance with the conditions required for each test. Was proceeded then the measurement of the coefficient of thermal conductivity, volumetric capacity heat and thermal diffusivity. The findings values were compared with the results obtained in the tests of thermal performance, contributing to validation of the same. Ultimately, it was investigated the influence that changes in physical-chemical structure of the material had exerted on the variation of thermophysical quantities through gas pycnometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (EDXRF), infrared spectroscopy using Fourier transform (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Based on the results obtained was possible to demonstrate that all load percentage analyzed promoted an increase in the potential expansion (PE) of the resin. In production of the plates, the composites with density near at the free expansion presented high contraction during the cure, being the of higher density adopted as definitive standard. In the thermal performance tests, the heating and cooling curves of the different composites had presented symmetry and values very close for lines of the temperature. The results obtained for the thermophysical properties of composites, showed little difference in respect of pure foam. The percentage of open pores and irregularities in the morphology of the composites were proportionate to the increment of vermiculite. In the interaction between the matrix and dispersed phase, there were no chemical transformations in the region of interface and new compounds were not generated. The composites of PUR-NOP and vermiculite presented thermal insulating properties near the foam pure and percentage significantly less plastic in its composition, to the formulation with 10% of load

Avaliação físico-química e funcional da algaroba prosopis juliflora proveniente da mesorregião agreste do Rio Grande do Norte

Algaroba (Prosopis juliflora) is a typical legume from arid and semi arid regions, which is composed by sugar-rich pods and high protein seeds. Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites recognized as potent bioactive compounds, found in several vegetables.Therefore, the objective of this work is to characterize the algaroba flour in terms of its physicalchemical composition, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity by DPPH and ABTS methods, a-amylase and a-glycosidase inhibition, as well as to analyze its organic compounds by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Three experimental groups were investigated (seeds, seeds and pod together and only pod), which were prepared by oven drying and posterior grinding. Water and ethanol extracts (70, 80, 100% v/v) were prepared and used for functional studies. Organic compounds were detected by using HPLC equipment coupled to mass spectrometer. Results show important physical-chemical differences among the experimental groups, seeds, seeds and pod together and only pod. The algarroba seed flour is high in protein (49.49%) and fat (3.10%), while the pod flour is especially rich in sugar (60.3% to 67.9%). Algaroba phenolics are concentrated in pod flour, mainly in water extracts (1.30 mg GAEQ/100g sample). All seed extracts showed high DPPH activity and maximum antioxidant activity was registered for ethanol 80% extracts (19.81 μM Trolox/g sample). The ABTS activity ranged from 9.73 to 12.74 μM Trolox/g sample. Nearly all the extracts were able to inhibit α-amylase activity mildly (30.50% to 48.80%), while the maximum α-glycosidase inhibition was observed for pod water extracts (81.03%). Algaroba water extracts proven to be especially rich in organic compounds, observed by the high number of chromatographic peaks. Results demonstrate that algaroba is a potential candidate for further investigations concerning its possible functional applications

Jambolão (Syzygium cumini) desidratado por liofilização e secagem em leito de jorro: avaliação do impacto do processo de secagem e caracterização do potencial funcional do produto final

Tropical fruits have been extensively studied due to their functional potential attributed to the presence of natural bioactive compounds. The exotic fruit jambolan (Syzygium cumini) has been reported for its appreciable amount of phenolic compounds, especially anthocyanins and antioxidant capacity. Nevertheless, there are hardly any derived jambolan products in the Brazilian market. In addition to that, considerable volumes of fruit are lost due to their high perishability. Dried fruits have become an important fruit market segment due to its weight and volume reduction and decreased transportation and storage costs. Thus, this study evaluated the jambolan pulp submitted to spouted bed drying (JLJ) and lyophilization (JLI), besides assessing the drying impact on the final product. In order to achieve this, the process performance was calculated and compared, as well the physicochemical and bioactive characteristics (moisture, water activity (aw), solubility, hygroscopicity, density, color, structure through images obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), concentration of bioactive (total phenolic compounds (TPC), anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins and ascorbic acid) and antioxidant activity. The results showed drying efficiency higher than 60% for both products and that JLJ group showed higher moisture and water activity when compared to the JLI group (p<0.05). The two types of drying were able to produce stable final product in the microbiological point of view, given that both showed aw < 0.6. The final products exhibited high solubility (73.7 to 81.6%) and low hygroscopicity (9.8 to 11.6%), desirable characteristics for dehydrated foods. Despite the losses caused by drying, the dried jambolan pulp by both methods showed high TPC (468.6 to 534.0 mg GAE/100g dm), anthocyanins (from 491.9 to 673.4 mg. eq. cyanidin-3-glicoside/100g dm), proanthocyanidins (66.9 to 76.6 mg QTE/g dm) and ascorbic acid (156.4 to 186.8 mg/100 g dm). Taken together, the results of this study reveal spouted dried and freeze dried jambolan pulp as bioactive-rich natural products with suitable physicochemical and functional characteristics to be used as food ingredients. The data also demonstrate the drying techniques as rational strategies for the exploitation of the exotic fruit jambolan

Representações de professores de língua inglesa de Natal-RN: um estudo sistêmico-funcional

Teaching and learning representations have been more and more investigated in the Brazilian applied linguistics field, as it allows the understanding of the teachers representations and how they conceive the learning process. This practice facilitates the planning of actions to improve the educational system. This study aims at identifying, interpreting and discussing some representations related to the identity and professional view of English as a foreign language teachers in different school contexts of Natal-RN. The theoretical and methodological foundation for this research is Halliday s Systemic- Functional Linguistics (1994; HALLIDAY; MATHIESSEN, 2004; EGGINS, 1994, among others). Our goal was to reveal the teachers representations embedded in their language, mainly through the ideational metafunction, as language is the tool we use to express ourselves about the external world (events, qualities, things, etc) and the internal world (thoughts, beliefs, feelings, etc). The research corpus is made of 21 teacher narratives, generated from a questionnaire sent to the teachers, who were divided in two groups: Group 1 (public schools teachers) and Group 2 (private schools and English course teachers). Most of the participants seemed to be satisfied with their professional choice. Many of them see the job as a challenge and an opportunity to transmit knowledge. All of them affirmed that the English teacher is a professional, for different reasons; however, the low professional appreciation was a recurrent aspect among the studied narratives. When asked about where they work, the private school teachers seemed to be more satisfied with the teaching-learning process than the ones from the public schools. We believe that the data analyzed in this study is important to show how some English teachers from Natal-RN see their profession. The results might be used in continuing education courses as food-for-thought in group discussions, as it is extremely important to emphasize and stimulate this practice

O portfólio na formação inicial do professor reflexivo de inglês como língua estrangeira: uma análise sistêmico-funcional

This research deals with the insertion of the portfolio as a resource to the development of the reflective action in training teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Its goal is to characterize linguistic marks that show the reflective process in learning narratives collected in portfolios following the considerations of the ideational metafunction of the Systemic-Functional Grammar (SFG) by Halliday (1994). Within the scope of analysis offered by SFG, the system of transitivity was chosen attempting to observe and study the lexicogrammatical choices made by participants to produce their learning narratives. The corpus was composed of twenty-six learning narratives produced by thirteen participants into two distinct modules, designated here as "First Assessment" and "Final Assessment. The analysis were performed using procedures related to Corpus Linguistics, with the aid of the computer resource WordSmith Tools 5.0 (Scott, 1999). The results seems to indicate that preservice teachers, when asked to reflect on activities written on the classroom, use in their narratives a significant majority of mental processes instead of material processes that are common in narratives from other nature. Meanwhile, the use of a portfolio in teacher training in EFL, can be considered as a trigger reflection tool, which allows future teachers' effective monitoring of all their learning process

"Eu pensei que ia sair daqui falando inglês": um estudo sistêmico-funcional sobre papéis sociais atribuídos por alunos de um curso de Letras/Inglês

Research in the area of teacher training in English as a Foreign Language (CELANI, 2003, 2004, 2010; PAIVA, 2000, 2003, 2005; VIEIRA-ABRAHÃO, 2010) articulates the complexity of beginning teachers classroom contexts aligned with teaching language as a social and professional practice of the teacher in training. To better understand this relationship, the present study is based on a corpus of transcribed interviews and questionnaires applied to 28 undergraduate students majoring in Letters/English emphasis, at a public university located in the interior of the Western Amazon region, soliciting their opinions about the reforms made in the curriculum of this Major. Interviews and questionnaires were used as data collection instruments to trace a profile of the students organized in Group 1, with freshmen and sophomore undergraduates who are following the 2009 curriculum, and Group 2, with junior and senior undergraduates who are following the 2006 curriculum. The objectives are to identify, to characterize and to analyze the types of pronouns, roles and social actors represented in the opinions of these students in relation to their teacher training curriculum. The theoretical support focuses on the challenge of historical and contemporary routes from English teachers initial education programs (MAGALHÃES; LIBERALLI, 2009; PAVAN; SILVA, 2010; ALVAREZ, 2010; VIANA, 2011; PAVAN, 2012). Our theoretical perspective is based on the Systemic Functional Grammar of Halliday (1994), Halliday and Hasan (1989), Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), Eggins (1994; 2004) and Thompson (2004). We focus on the concept of the Interpersonal meaning, specifically regarding the roles articulated in the studies by Delu (1991), Thompson and Thetela (1995), and in the Portuguese language such as Ramos (1997), Silva (2006) and Cabral (2009). Moreover, we ascribe van Leeuwen s (1997; 2003) theory of Representation of Social Actors as a theoretical framework in order to identify the sociological aspect of social actors represented in the students discourse. Within this scenario, the analysis unfolds on three levels: grammatical (pronouns), semantic (roles), and discursive (social actors). For the analysis of interpersonal realizations present in the students opinions, we use the computational program WordSmith Tools (SCOTT, 2010) and its applications Wordlist and Concord to quantify the occurrences of the pronouns I, You and They, which characterize the roles and social actors of the corpus. The results show that the students assigned the following roles to themselves: (i) apprentice to express their initial process of English language learning; (ii) freshman to reveal their choice of Major in Letters/English emphasis; (iii) future teacher to relate their expectations towards a practicing professional. To assign the roles to professors in the major, the students used the metaphor of modality (I think) to indicate the relationship of teacher training, while they are in the role of a student and as a future teacher. From these evidences the representation of the students as social actors emerges in roles such as: (i) active roles; (ii) passive roles and (iii) personalized roles. The social actors represented in the opinions of the students reflect the inclusion of these roles assigned to the actions expressed about their experiences and expectations derived from their teacher training classroom

Pré-fabricados lingüísticos: estrutura e funcionamento de sintagmas verbais idiomatizados - por uma abordagem cognitivo-funcional em sala de aula

This work aims at under the cognitive-functional perspective describing, inside the vast domain of the linguistic prefabs, the structure and the functioning of the Idiomatic Verb Phrases (SVIs), produced by speakers of the Portuguese from Brazil, located in Natal (RN). From the functionalist presupposition that the language is used essentially to assist to communicative demands, it is observed that its morphologic-syntactic structure is conditioned to the inherent pragmatic vicissitudes to the verbal interaction of subjects, socially heterogeneous and historically established. It is focalized, in the composition of SVIs, the relationships VT + OD (transitive verb + direct object), characterizing the syntactic-semantic nature of the verb and of the respective verbal complement. Those verb combinations + complement can be interpreted as lexical structures, reflexes of the idiomaticity inherent to conventional constructions already systematized in the users' of the language cultural repertoire. It is sought, still, to glimpse the cognitive and discursive motivations pertinent to that linguistic phenomenon. In the investigative process, are analyzed exclusive data of speech collected in Corpus Discurso & Gramática a lingua falada e escrita na cidade do Natal, organized by Furtado da Cunha (1998). The adopted methodological procedures configure as methods of empiric analysis and use of the intuition, being emphasized the qualitative approach (explanatory) of the data with quantitative support of statistical indicators. It shows, finally, a grating of didactic suggestions on SVIs, for Portuguese's classes, as subsidies to the educational practice in the Medium Teaching and in the course of Letters.

A transitividade na conversação: uma abordagem funcional centrada no uso

This work investigates the phenomenon of transitivity in the conversation. We examined the behavior of complements in Brazilian Portuguese speech, and then compared the results with previous researches in the English language by Thompson and Hopper (2001) and in the Spanish language by Vázques (2004). In Brazil, there are no researches that treat this phenomenon in the discursive conversation, for that reason it justifies and reveals the importance of this research that aims to answer questions related to the transitivity of ordinary conversations. Thus, we describe, explain and analize the transitivity based on concrete linguistic data, provided by native speakers of Portuguese language, specifically, spontaneous talk of people from Natal-RN. We have used as theoretical assumptions the Functional Linguistics usage-based (LFCU), which gathers academics of North-American Functional Linguistics, inspired by Chafe (1979), Hopper and Thompson (1980), Thompson and Hopper (2001), Givón (2001), Bybee (2010), Traugott (2009, 2011), among others, as well as Cognitive Linguistics, presented by Langacker (1987), Taylor (1995), Tomasello (1998) and Goldberg(1995), among others. This data consists in conversations extracted from the corpus Banco Conversacional de Natal (FURTADO DA CUNHA). The results obtained from this work confirm the assertions defined by prior conducted studies on the transitivity in the conversation. The research showed that these three idioms, Spanish, Portuguese and English, despite the differences, they present a uniform behavior regarding their transitivity in the conversation. We intend, by this work, to contribute, in some way, to the comprehension of the focused linguistic phenomenon, likewise to build a finer scenario around of the transitivity in the Brasilian Portuguese

Capacidade funcional de hemiparéticos crônicos submetidos a um programa de fisioterapia em grupo

Este estudo tem como objetivos analisar a eficácia da fisioterapia em grupo sobre a marcha, o equilíbrio corporal e o risco de queda, e verificar se há correlação entre a capacidade funcional da marcha e o equilíbrio em indivíduos com hemiparesia crônica. Participaram do estudo 21 adultos hemiparéticos, com idade média de 58,9±10,6 anos, com seqüela de no mínimo 1 ano após acidente vascular encefálico isquêmico ou hemorrágico. Os sujeitos foram submetidos a um programa de 1 hora de fisioterapia em grupo duas vezes por semana durante seis meses. Foram avaliados por meio da escala de equilíbrio de Berg (EEB) e do teste de levantar e caminhar cronometrado TLCC (TUG, na sigla em inglês de timed up & go) antes do programa, após 13 e ao fim de 26 semanas. Os resultados mostram uma redução progressiva, embora não-significativa, no tempo de execução do TLCC e aumento progressivo, também não-significativo, do escore na EEB. Foi observada forte correlação entre as duas escalas (r=0,7, p<0,05). Assim, a terapia não foi efetiva para produzir melhora nos escores dos testes, mas contribuiu para manter a mobilidade.