Os peregrinos da cidade são: representações sociais de “sem-abrigo” emanadas pela sociedade civil lisboeta

Tomando por noção de espaço público o ambiente ou o território da vida social, que medeia entre a esfera privada e a autoridade pública, onde os cidadãos e as pessoas em geral podem encontrar-se livremente para tocarem ideias, conversarem, passearem, interagirem uns com os outros dentro dos limites impostos pela civilidade pública. E por ‘sem abrigo’ a situação generalizada de vivências que têm em comum o impedimento colectivo ou subjectivo do acesso a uma habitação. Habitação entendida não tanto como casa de família mas como alojamento, encarado como residência ou organização sedentária do espaço. O texto que se apresenta aborda o tema da responsabilização, organização e ocupação do espaço público com base nas representações sociais emanadas pelos representantes de algumas das organizações da sociedade civil lisboeta, que orientam a sua acção para a problçemática daqueles que fazem do espaço público o seu ‘domicílio’.

Versão em português da Family Environment Scale: aplicação e validação

OBJETIVO: Traduzir a Escala do Ambiente Familiar (Family Environment Scale) para a língua portuguesa e aplicar o instrumento para sua validação. MÉTODOS: A tradução foi aplicada a membros de famílias brasileiras, visando avaliação da consistência interna e a concordância entre membros da mesma família. Foram selecionados 154 voluntários não sujeitos a qualquer intervenção para lidar com problemas familiares, residentes na cidade de São Paulo, em 2003. As pontuações médias nas dez subescalas do instrumento foram comparadas entre homens e mulheres e entre membros da mesma família. Avaliou-se a consistência interna pelo alfa de Cronbach. RESULTADOS: A pontuação máxima possível era nove em cada subescala (bom funcionamento familiar), exceto em relação a conflito e controle. Na maioria das subescalas, a pontuação média da amostra estudada esteve entre 5,1 e 7,6 (homens) e entre 5,4 e 7,7 (mulheres). Nas subescalas conflito e controle as médias variaram entre 1,8 e 4,6 (homens) e entre 1,6 e 4,6 (mulheres), sendo semelhantes às relatadas em estudos internacionais, exceto maior pontuação nas subescalas coesão e organização, e menor na subescala conflito. Não houve diferença estatisticamente significativa entre as pontuações atingidas por homens e mulheres. A confiabilidade da escala avaliada pelo alfa de Cronbach variou entre 0,61 e 0,78 para as dez subescalas. CONCLUSÕES: Fatores culturais podem ter influenciado os resultados obtidos em algumas subescalas. A versão em português da Escala do Ambiente Familiar apresentou razoável consistência interna que permite sua utilização para avaliar alterações no ambiente ou funcionamento familiar, e após intervenções terapêuticas.

Code offloading on real-time multimedia systems: a framework for handling code mobility and code offloading in a QoS aware environment

Actualmente, os smartphones e outros dispositivos móveis têm vindo a ser dotados com cada vez maior poder computacional, sendo capazes de executar um vasto conjunto de aplicações desde simples programas de para tirar notas até sofisticados programas de navegação. Porém, mesmo com a evolução do seu hardware, os actuais dispositivos móveis ainda não possuem as mesmas capacidades que os computadores de mesa ou portáteis. Uma possível solução para este problema é distribuir a aplicação, executando partes dela no dispositivo local e o resto em outros dispositivos ligados à rede. Adicionalmente, alguns tipos de aplicações como aplicações multimédia, jogos electrónicos ou aplicações de ambiente imersivos possuem requisitos em termos de Qualidade de Serviço, particularmente de tempo real. Ao longo desta tese é proposto um sistema de execução de código remota para sistemas distribuídos com restrições de tempo-real. A arquitectura proposta adapta-se a sistemas que necessitem de executar periodicamente e em paralelo mesmo conjunto de funções com garantias de tempo real, mesmo desconhecendo os tempos de execução das referidas funções. A plataforma proposta foi desenvolvida para sistemas móveis capazes de executar o Sistema Operativo Android.

Educational in a global environment: non-formal examples of learning practices at the international office

23rd SPACE AGM and Conference from 9 to 12 May 2012 Conference theme: The Role of Professional Higher Education: Responsibility and Reflection Venue: Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences, Mikkeli, Finland

Housing conditions as a social determinant of low birthweight and preterm low birthweight

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between housing conditions and low birthweight and preterm low birthweight among low-income women. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted with post-partum women living in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Southeast Brazil, in 2003-2005. Two groups of cases, low birthweight (n=96) and preterm low birthweight infants (n=68), were compared against normal weight term controls (n=393). Housing conditions were categorized into three levels: adequate, inadequate, and highly inadequate. Covariates included sociodemographic and anthropometric characteristics, risk behaviors, violence, anxiety, satisfaction during pregnancy, obstetric history and prenatal care. RESULTS: Poor housing conditions was independently associated with low birthweight (inadequate - OR 2.3 [1.1;4.6]; highly inadequate - OR 7.6 [2.1;27.6]) and preterm low birthweight (inadequate - OR 2.2 [1.1;4.3]; highly inadequate - OR 7.6 [2.4;23.9]) and factors associated with outcomes were inadequate prenatal care and previous preterm birth. Low income and low maternal body mass index remained associated with low birthweight. CONCLUSIONS: Poor housing conditions were associated with low birthweight and preterm low birthweight.

Ecotoxicological aspects related to the presence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment

Pharmaceuticals are biologically active and persistent substances which have been recognized as a continuing threat to environmental stability. Chronic ecotoxicity data as well as information on the current distribution levels in different environmental compartments continue to be sparse and are focused on those therapeutic classes that are more frequently prescribed and consumed. Nevertheless, they indicate the negative impact that these chemical contaminants may have on living organisms, ecosystems and ultimately, public health. This article reviews the different contamination sources as well as fate and both acute and chronic effects on non-target organisms. An extensive review of existing data in the form of tables, encompassing many therapeutic classes is presented.

Effects of home environment and center-based child care quality on children’s

This study examined the joint effects of home environment and center-based child care quality on children’s language, communication, and early literacy development, while also considering prior developmental level. Participants were 95 children (46 boys), assessed as toddlers (mean age = 26.33 months;Time 1) and preschoolers (mean age = 68.71 months; Time 2) and their families. At both times, children attended center-based child care classrooms in the metropolitan area of Porto, Portugal. Results from hierarchical linear models indicated that home environment and preschool quality, but not center-based toddler child care quality, were associated with children’s language and literacy outcomes at Time 2. Moreover, the quality of preschool classrooms moderated the association between home environment quality and children’s language and early literacy skills – but not communication skills – at Time 2, suggesting the positive cumulative effects of home environment and preschool quality. Findings further support the existence of a detrimental effect of low preschool quality on children’s language and early literacy outcomes: positive associations among home environment quality and children’s developmental outcomes were found to reduce substantially when children attended low-quality preschool classrooms.

Horse stable environment: what to expect regarding fungi and particles occupational exposure?

The simultaneous presence of fungi and particles in horse stable environment can create a singular exposure condition because particles have been reported has a good carrier for microorganisms and their metabolites. This study intends to characterize this setting and to recognize fungi and particles occupational exposure.

Impact of urban atmospheric environment on hospital admissions in the elderly

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the impact of intra-urban atmospheric conditions on circulatory and respiratory diseases in elder adults. METHODS: Cross-sectional study based on data from 33,212 hospital admissions in adults over 60 years in the city of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, from 2003 to 2007. The association between atmospheric variables from Congonhas airport and bioclimatic index, Physiological Equivalent Temperature, was analyzed according to the district's socioenvironmental profile. Descriptive statistical analysis and regression models were used. RESULTS: There was an increase in hospital admissions due to circulatory diseases as average and lowest temperatures decreased. The likelihood of being admitted to the hospital increased by 12% with 1ºC decrease in the bioclimatic index and with 1ºC increase in the highest temperatures in the group with lower socioenvironmental conditions. The risk of admission due to respiratory diseases increased with inadequate air quality in districts with higher socioenvironmental conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The associations between morbidity and climate variables and the comfort index varied in different groups and diseases. Lower and higher temperatures increased the risk of hospital admission in the elderly. Districts with lower socioenvironmental conditions showed greater adverse health impacts.

User-interface technologies for the industrial environment: towards the cyber-factory

In the past few years the so-called gadgets like cellular phones, personal data assistants and digital cameras are more widespread even with less technological aware users. However, for several reasons, the factory-floor itself seems to be hermetic to this changes ... After the fieldbus revolution, the factory-floor has seen an increased use of more and more powerful programmable logic controllers and user interfaces but the way they are used remains almost the same. We believe that new user-computer interaction techniques including multimedia and augmented rcaliry combined with now affordable technologies like wearable computers and wireless networks can change the way the factory personal works together with the roachines and the information system on the factory-floor. This new age is already starting with innovative uses of communication networks on the factory-floor either using "standard" networks or enhancing industrial networks with multimedia and wireless capabilities.

A framework for realistic real-time walkthroughs in a VR distributed environment

Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) are increasingly being used in various business scenarios and are important driving forces in technology development. However the usage of these technologies in the home environment is restricted due to several factors including lack of low-cost (from the client point of view) highperformance solutions. In this paper we present a general client/server rendering architecture based on Real-Time concepts, including support for a wide range of client platforms and applications. The idea of focusing on the real-time behaviour of all components involved in distributed IP-based VR scenarios is new and has not been addressed before, except for simple sub-solutions. This is considered as “the most significant problem with the IP environment” [1]. Thus, the most important contribution of this research will be the holistic approach, in which networking, end-systems and rendering aspects are integrated into a cost-effective infrastructure for building distributed real-time VR applications on IP-based networks.

A high performance wireless fieldbus in industrial multimedia-related environment

This paper summarises the most important solutions that have emerged from the work carried out by our team within the framework of the EU (IST-1999-11316) project RFieldbus - High Performance Wireless Fieldbus in Industrial Multimedia-Related Environment. Within this project, Profibus was chosen as the fieldbus platform. Essentially, extensions to the current Profibus standard are being developed in order to provide Profibus with wireless, mobility and industrialmultimedia capabilities. In fact, providing these extensions means fulfilling strong requirements, namely to encompass the communication between wired (currently available) and wireless/mobile devices and to support real-time control traffic and multimedia traffic in the same network.

A framework for offloading real-time applications in a distributed environment

This work focuses on highly dynamic distributed systems with Quality of Service (QoS) constraints (most importantly real-time constraints). To that purpose, real-time applications may benefit from code offloading techniques, so that parts of the application can be offloaded and executed, as services, by neighbour nodes, which are willing to cooperate in such computations. These applications explicitly state their QoS requirements, which are translated into resource requirements, in order to evaluate the feasibility of accepting other applications in the system.

Highly scalable aggregate computations in cyber-physical systems: physical environment meets communication protocols

In this paper, we focus on large-scale and dense Cyber- Physical Systems, and discuss methods that tightly integrate communication and computing with the underlying physical environment. We present Physical Dynamic Priority Dominance ((PD)2) protocol that exemplifies a key mechanism to devise low time-complexity communication protocols for large-scale networked sensor systems. We show that using this mechanism, one can compute aggregate quantities such as the maximum or minimum of sensor readings in a time-complexity that is equivalent to essentially one message exchange. We also illustrate the use of this mechanism in a more complex task of computing the interpolation of smooth as well as non-smooth sensor data in very low timecomplexity.

Durability of ancient lime mortars in humid environment

Historical buildings are important fingerprints of the history and culture of a region and its communities. Climatic and environmental conditions are often very severe for construction materials, namely in presence of high humidity or in direct contact with water and salts. However, some historical buildings have in our days a very good condition, probably due to careful construction and/or accurate materials selection and to a specific technology. The knowledge of old mortars composition has a fundamental role on the preservation of cultural heritage, allowing information about the used materials, their performance in their specific environment, conducting to adequate and compatible materials to conservation purposes. This article presents two case studies of historical buildings with important defence functions in Lisbon coast, in which ancient lime mortars where used under severe seaside environmental actions. Mortar samples from these two case studies are characterized and the relationship of their composition with the good performance and high durability observed is discussed.