Entrando na partida: a formulação de políticas de comunicação e cultura para jogos digitais no Brasil entre 2003 e 2014

Pós-graduação em Comunicação - FAAC

Reinforcement Lernen mit Regularisierungsnetzwerken

Die Arbeit behandelt das Problem der Skalierbarkeit von Reinforcement Lernen auf hochdimensionale und komplexe Aufgabenstellungen. Unter Reinforcement Lernen versteht man dabei eine auf approximativem Dynamischen Programmieren basierende Klasse von Lernverfahren, die speziell Anwendung in der Künstlichen Intelligenz findet und zur autonomen Steuerung simulierter Agenten oder realer Hardwareroboter in dynamischen und unwägbaren Umwelten genutzt werden kann. Dazu wird mittels Regression aus Stichproben eine Funktion bestimmt, die die Lösung einer "Optimalitätsgleichung" (Bellman) ist und aus der sich näherungsweise optimale Entscheidungen ableiten lassen. Eine große Hürde stellt dabei die Dimensionalität des Zustandsraums dar, die häufig hoch und daher traditionellen gitterbasierten Approximationsverfahren wenig zugänglich ist. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, Reinforcement Lernen durch nichtparametrisierte Funktionsapproximation (genauer, Regularisierungsnetze) auf -- im Prinzip beliebig -- hochdimensionale Probleme anwendbar zu machen. Regularisierungsnetze sind eine Verallgemeinerung von gewöhnlichen Basisfunktionsnetzen, die die gesuchte Lösung durch die Daten parametrisieren, wodurch die explizite Wahl von Knoten/Basisfunktionen entfällt und so bei hochdimensionalen Eingaben der "Fluch der Dimension" umgangen werden kann. Gleichzeitig sind Regularisierungsnetze aber auch lineare Approximatoren, die technisch einfach handhabbar sind und für die die bestehenden Konvergenzaussagen von Reinforcement Lernen Gültigkeit behalten (anders als etwa bei Feed-Forward Neuronalen Netzen). Allen diesen theoretischen Vorteilen gegenüber steht allerdings ein sehr praktisches Problem: der Rechenaufwand bei der Verwendung von Regularisierungsnetzen skaliert von Natur aus wie O(n**3), wobei n die Anzahl der Daten ist. Das ist besonders deswegen problematisch, weil bei Reinforcement Lernen der Lernprozeß online erfolgt -- die Stichproben werden von einem Agenten/Roboter erzeugt, während er mit der Umwelt interagiert. Anpassungen an der Lösung müssen daher sofort und mit wenig Rechenaufwand vorgenommen werden. Der Beitrag dieser Arbeit gliedert sich daher in zwei Teile: Im ersten Teil der Arbeit formulieren wir für Regularisierungsnetze einen effizienten Lernalgorithmus zum Lösen allgemeiner Regressionsaufgaben, der speziell auf die Anforderungen von Online-Lernen zugeschnitten ist. Unser Ansatz basiert auf der Vorgehensweise von Recursive Least-Squares, kann aber mit konstantem Zeitaufwand nicht nur neue Daten sondern auch neue Basisfunktionen in das bestehende Modell einfügen. Ermöglicht wird das durch die "Subset of Regressors" Approximation, wodurch der Kern durch eine stark reduzierte Auswahl von Trainingsdaten approximiert wird, und einer gierigen Auswahlwahlprozedur, die diese Basiselemente direkt aus dem Datenstrom zur Laufzeit selektiert. Im zweiten Teil übertragen wir diesen Algorithmus auf approximative Politik-Evaluation mittels Least-Squares basiertem Temporal-Difference Lernen, und integrieren diesen Baustein in ein Gesamtsystem zum autonomen Lernen von optimalem Verhalten. Insgesamt entwickeln wir ein in hohem Maße dateneffizientes Verfahren, das insbesondere für Lernprobleme aus der Robotik mit kontinuierlichen und hochdimensionalen Zustandsräumen sowie stochastischen Zustandsübergängen geeignet ist. Dabei sind wir nicht auf ein Modell der Umwelt angewiesen, arbeiten weitestgehend unabhängig von der Dimension des Zustandsraums, erzielen Konvergenz bereits mit relativ wenigen Agent-Umwelt Interaktionen, und können dank des effizienten Online-Algorithmus auch im Kontext zeitkritischer Echtzeitanwendungen operieren. Wir demonstrieren die Leistungsfähigkeit unseres Ansatzes anhand von zwei realistischen und komplexen Anwendungsbeispielen: dem Problem RoboCup-Keepaway, sowie der Steuerung eines (simulierten) Oktopus-Tentakels.

Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Examining Data from Texas and the US

Background: The US has higher rates of teen births and sexually transmitted infections (STI) than other developed countries. Texas youth are disproportionately impacted. Purpose: To review local, state, and national data on teens’ engagement in sexual risk behaviors to inform policy and practice related to teen sexual health. Methods: 2009 middle school and high school Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data, and data from All About Youth, a middle school study conducted in a large urban school district in Texas, were analyzed to assess the prevalence of sexual initiation, including the initiation of non-coital sex, and the prevalence of sexual risk behaviors among Texas and US youth. Results: A substantial proportion of middle and high school students are having sex. Sexual initiation begins as early as 6th grade and increases steadily through 12th grade with almost two-thirds of high school seniors being sexually experienced. Many teens are not protecting themselves from unintended pregnancy or STIs – nationally, 80% and 39% of high school students did not use birth control pills or a condom respectively the last time they had sex. Many middle and high school students are engaging in oral and anal sex, two behaviors which increase the risk of contracting an STI and HIV. In Texas, an estimated 689,512 out of 1,327,815 public high school students are sexually experienced – over half (52%) of the total high school population. Texas students surpass their US peers in several sexual risk behaviors including number of lifetime sexual partners, being currently sexually active, and not using effective methods of birth control or dual protection when having sex. They are also less likely to receive HIV/AIDS education in school. Conclusion: Changes in policy and practice, including implementation of evidence-based sex education programs in middle and high schools and increased access to integrated, teen-friendly sexual and reproductive health services, are urgently needed at the state and national levels to address these issues effectively.

Search, matching, and self-organization of a marketplace

In many developing countries, clusters of small shops are the typical market-place. We investigate an economic model in which, between buyers and sellers in a marketplace, a circular causality including the search process produces agglomeration forces, given the initial location of the marketplace location exogenously in a linear city. We conclude that initial number of buyers and sellers is important in forming a large marketplace.

Heterogeneous firms and cost sharing in China's marketplaces

This study extends Melitz's model with heterogeneous firms by introducing shared fixed costs in a marketplace. It aims to explain heterogeneous firms' choice between traditional marketplaces and modern distribution channels on the basis of their productivities. The results reveal that the co-existence of a traditional marketplace and modern distribution channels improves social welfare. In addition, a deregulation policy for firm entry outside a marketplace and accumulation of human capital are factors that contribute to improve the social welfare.

Nuevo paradigma para decisiones colectivas en entornos no competitivos

La tesis estudia uno de los aspectos más importantes de la gestión de la sociedad de la información: conocer la manera en que una persona valora cualquier situación. Esto es importante para el individuo que realiza la valoración y para el entorno con el que se relaciona. La valoración es el resultado de la comparación: se asignan los mismos valores a alternativas similares y mayores valores a alternativas mejor consideradas en el proceso de comparación. Los patrones que guían al individuo a la hora de hacer la comparación se derivan de sus preferencias individuales (es decir, de sus opiniones). En la tesis se presentan varios procedimientos para establecer las relaciones de preferencia entre alternativas de una persona. La valoración progresa hasta obtener una representación numérica de sus preferencias. Cuando la representación de preferencias es homogénea permite, además, contrastar las preferencias personales con las del resto de evaluadores, lo que favorece la evaluación de políticas, la transferencia de información entre diferentes individuos y el diseño de la alternativa que mejor se adapte a las preferencias identificadas. Al mismo tiempo, con esta información se pueden construir comunidades de personas con los mismos sistemas de preferencias ante una cuestión concreta. La tesis muestra un caso de aplicación de esta metodología: optimización de las políticas laborales en un mercado real. Para apoyar a los demandantes de empleo (en su iniciación o reincorporación al mundo laboral o en el cambio de su actividad) es necesario conocer sus preferencias respecto a las ocupaciones que están dispuestos a desempeñar. Además, para que la intermediación laboral sea efectiva, las ocupaciones buscadas deben de ser ofrecidas por el mercado de trabajo y el demandante debe reunir las condiciones para acceder a esas ocupaciones. El siguiente desarrollo de estos modelos nos lleva a los procedimientos utilizados para transformar múltiples preferencias en una decisión agregada y que consideran tanto la opinión de cada uno de los individuos que participan en la decisión como las interacciones sociales, todo ello dirigido a generar una solución que se ajuste lo mejor posible al punto de vista de toda la población. Las decisiones con múltiples participantes inciden, principalmente, en: el aumento del alcance para incorporar a personas que tradicionalmente no han sido consideradas en las tomas de decisiones, la agregación de las preferencias de los múltiples participantes en las tomas de decisiones colectivas (mediante votación, utilizando aplicaciones desarrolladas para la Web2.0 y a través de comparaciones interpersonales de utilidad) y, finalmente, la auto-organización para permitir que interaccionen entre si los participantes en la valoración, de forma que hagan que el resultado final sea mejor que la mera agregación de opiniones individuales. La tesis analiza los sistemas de e-democracia o herramientas para su implantación que tienen más más utilización en la actualidad o son más avanzados. Están muy relacionados con la web 2.0 y su implantación está suponiendo una evolución de la democracia actual. También se estudian aplicaciones de software de Colaboración en la toma de decisiones (Collaborative decision-making (CDM)) que ayudan a dar sentido y significado a los datos. Pretenden coordinar las funciones y características necesarias para llegar a decisiones colectivas oportunas, lo que permite a todos los interesados participar en el proceso. La tesis finaliza con la presentación de un nuevo modelo o paradigma en la toma de decisiones con múltiples participantes. El desarrollo se apoya en el cálculo de las funciones de utilidad empática. Busca la colaboración entre los individuos para que la toma de decisiones sea más efectiva, además pretende aumentar el número de personas implicadas. Estudia las interacciones y la retroalimentación entre ciudadanos, ya que la influencia de unos ciudadanos en los otros es fundamental para los procesos de toma de decisiones colectivas y de e-democracia. También incluye métodos para detectar cuando se ha estancado el proceso y se debe interrumpir. Este modelo se aplica a la consulta de los ciudadanos de un municipio sobre la oportunidad de implantar carriles-bici y las características que deben tomar. Se simula la votación e interacción entre los votantes. ABSTRACT The thesis examines one of the most important aspects of the management of the information society: get to know how a person values every situation. This is important for the individual performing the assessment and for the environment with which he interacts. The assessment is a result of the comparison: identical values are allocated to similar alternatives and higher values are assigned to those alternatives that are more favorably considered in the comparison process. Patterns that guide the individual in making the comparison are derived from his individual preferences (ie, his opinions). In the thesis several procedures to establish preference relations between alternatives a person are presented. The assessment progresses to obtain a numerical representation of his preferences. When the representation of preferences is homogeneous, it also allows the personal preferences of each individual to be compared with those of other evaluators, favoring policy evaluation, the transfer of information between different individuals and design the alternative that best suits the identified preferences. At the same time, with this information you can build communities of people with similar systems of preferences referred to a particular issue. The thesis shows a case of application of this methodology: optimization of labour policies in a real market. To be able support jobseekers (in their initiation or reinstatement to employment or when changing area of professional activity) is necessary to know their preferences for jobs that he is willing to perform. In addition, for labour mediation to be effective occupations that are sought must be offered by the labour market and the applicant must meet the conditions for access to these occupations. Further development of these models leads us to the procedures used to transform multiple preferences in an aggregate decision and consider both the views of each of the individuals involved in the decision and the social interactions, all aimed at generating a solution that best fits of the point of view of the entire population. Decisions with multiple participants mainly focus on: increasing the scope to include people who traditionally have not been considered in decision making, aggregation of the preferences of multiple participants in collective decision making (by vote, using applications developed for the Web 2.0 and through interpersonal comparisons of utility) and, finally, self-organization to allow participants to interact with each other in the assessment, so that the final result is better than the mere aggregation of individual opinions. The thesis analyzes the systems of e-democracy or tools for implementation which are more popular or more advanced. They are closely related to the Web 2.0 and its implementation is bringing an evolution of the current way of understanding democracy. We have also studied Collaborative Decision-Making (CDM)) software applications in decision-making which help to give sense and meaning to the data. They intend to coordinate the functions and features needed to reach adequate collective decisions, allowing all stakeholders to participate in the process. The thesis concludes with the presentation of a new model or paradigm in decision-making with multiple participants. The development is based on the calculation of the empathic utility functions. It seeks collaboration between individuals to make decision-making more effective; it also aims to increase the number of people involved. It studies the interactions and feedback among citizens, because the influence of some citizens in the other is fundamental to the process of collective decision-making and e-democracy. It also includes methods for detecting when the process has stalled and should be discontinued. This model is applied to the consultation of the citizens of a municipality on the opportunity to introduce bike lanes and characteristics they should have. Voting and interaction among voters is simulated.

SONIA REGINA PRADO

A dissertação teve como objetivo principal estudar como uma Instituição de Ensino Superior Privada (IES) atuante no Brasil tem crescido pós Lei de Diretrizes e Bases (LDB) de 1996 até 2015, por meio da análise do curso de bacharelado em Administração de Empresas, nas modalidades: presencial, EAD e Flex (semipresencial). Para este fim, foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória, de caráter qualitativo baseada no método do estudo de caso. Para coleta de evidências foram analisados relatórios corporativos (Annual Report, Relatórios Internos e outros documentos), entrevistas baseadas em roteiro semiestruturado com gestores da IES privada e observações. Dentre os principais achados, verificou-se que as principais estratégicas de crescimento da IES privada estudada se basearam em fusões e aquisições de outras IES, abertura de novos polos de EAD, na abertura de novas unidades próprias, bem como em inovações em várias dimensões da organização. Os programas governamentais de financiamento aos alunos também são fortes contribuintes para este crescimento, como o Fundo de Financiamento ao Estudante do Ensino Superior (FIES) e o Programa Universidade para Todos (Prouni). Com essa nova realidade, o ensino superior privado recebeu incentivo e facilitação para o seu crescimento, a um ritmo acelerado. Consequentemente pode-se concluir que a IES privada estudada adotou as seguintes estratégias de crescimento: Expansão orgânica com fusões/ aquisições de Instituições menores, com desenvolvimento de planos para todos os campi Brasil; Greenfield (por meio de solicitação de autorização de novas unidades e/ou cursos) em cidades sem possibilidades de aquisições/fusões, e aumentando o número de vagas/ matriculas nas unidades já existentes, aderiu aos programas do governo e também cuidou da evasão por meio de: Seguro educacional; gestão preparada para atender necessidades do discente; Sistema de Ensino com currículos integrados nacionalmente; Intercâmbio de alunos e professores entre as diversas unidades em todas as regiões do país e padronização dos processos.

Nuevos enfoques en gestión turística: el Programa de Agrupaciones Empresariales Innovadoras en España

Este estudio se enmarca en el análisis de las nuevas políticas de innovación aplicadas al turismo en España. El objetivo fundamental es evaluar la política reciente de apoyo a la creación y consolidación de Agrupaciones Empresariales Innovadoras en el ámbito del turismo, el Programa AEIs, atendiendo a su singularidad, las características de las AEIs resultantes y la valoración de sus responsables. El análisis ofrece luces y sombras y concluye con argumentos para repensar este tipo de políticas, así como con elementos de discusión interesantes en torno a la innovación derivada de los procesos de colaboración en turismo.

The road to better health for all of Illinois : improving the public health system /

Mode of access: Internet.

The mental health country profile: Background, design and use of a systematic method of appraisal

This article describes the construction and use of a systematic structured method of mental health country situation appraisal, in order to help meet the need for conceptual tools to assist planners and policy makers develop and audit policy and implementation strategies. The tool encompasses the key domains of context, needs, resources, provisions and outcomes, and provides a framework for synthesizing key qualitative and quantitative information, flagging up gaps in knowledge, and for reviewing existing policies. It serves as an enabling tool to alert and inform policy makers, professionals and other key stakeholders about important issues which need to be considered in mental health policy development. It provides detailed country specific information in a systematic format, to facilitate global sharing of experiences of mental health reform and strategies between policy makers and other stakeholders. Lastly, it is designed to be a capacity building tool for local stakeholders to enhance situation appraisal, and multisectorial policy development and implementation.

The Mental Health Policy Template: Domains and elements for mental health policy formulation

Mental disorders are a major and rising cause of disease burden in all countries. Even when resources are available, many countries do not have the policy and planning frameworks in place to identify and deliver effective interventions. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank have emphasized the need for ready access to the basic tools for mental health policy formulation, implementation and sustained development. The Analytical Studies on Mental Health Policy and Service Project, undertaken in 1999-2001 by the International Consortium for Mental Health Services and funded by the Global Forum for Health Research aims to address this need through the development of a template for mental health policy formulation. A mental health policy template has been developed based on an inventory of the key elements of a successful mental health policy. These elements have been validated against a review of international literature, a study of existing mental health policies and the results of extensive consultations with experts in the six WHO regions of the world. The Mental Health Policy Template has been revised and its applicability will be tested in a number of developing countries during 2001-2002. The Mental Health Policy Template and the work of the Consortium for Mental Health Services will be presented and the future role of the template in mental health policy development and reform in developing countries will be discussed.

Room to move? Professional discretion at the frontline of welfare-to-work

Outcomes of social policies have always been mediated by the discretionary agency of front-line staff, processes which nevertheless have received insufficient attention in policy evaluation and in the social policy literature more broadly. This article takes the case example or the policy reforms associated with the Australian government's welfare-to-work agenda. Drawing on two discreet research projects undertaken at different points in the policy trajectory, the practices of social workers in Centrelink - the Commonwealth government's primary service delivery agency involved in welfare-to-work - is examined. Centrelink social workers have been and remain one of the core groups of specialist staff since the Department's inception in the late 1940s, working to improve the well being Of people in receipt of income security. Their experiences of the recent past and their expectations of the future of their professional practice as welfare reform becomes more entrenched are canvassed. In summary, the discretionary capacity of the Centrelink social workers to moderate or shape the impact of policy on income security recipients is steadily eroding as this group of professionals is increasingly captured by the emerging practices of workfare.

ICT adoption and ebusiness development:Understanding ICT adoption amongst ethnic minority businesses

This paper builds upon a series of studies that have identified the comparatively low uptake of ICT amongst EMBs (Ram and Smallbone, 1999; Foley and Ram 2002; Allinson et al., 2004). Existing studies have only tentatively considered the causal factors for this lower adoption rate in comparison to non-EMBs. Within the context of a pilot study, aiming to understand ICT adoption amongst EMBs, an action research approach is adopted as a means of influencing, evaluating and underpinning ICT adoption (Beckinsale and Ram, 2006). The approach is methodologically distinctive in its utilization of action research with a critical realist approach as a means of policy evaluation; this is conducive to 'policy learning', and the understanding of causal mechanisms in the EMBs. Actors involved in the implementation were interviewed, as well as the business owners themselves. Another distinguishing feature is the application of Yap et al.'s (1992) schema to identify causal mechanisms, to examine actions and experiences and to understand the impact on the EMBs studied. The findings highlight the complex interaction and relationships of internal and external factors in shaping approaches to ICT implementation. Factors such as size, strategy and business age are germane but so too, albeit to a lesser degree, are cultural influences such as involvement in co-ethnic networks. Significantly, changes to particular causal mechanisms such as business support altered adoption and implementation of ICT. Distinct issues for Chinese and Asian-owned business and potentially more broadly EMBs are identified providing a framework for other EMBs. © The Author(s) 2010.

A hora da alfabetização: atores, ideias e instituições na construção do PAIC-CE

The objective of this thesis is to understand how a certain social condition becomes relevant enough to be regarded as an issue worthy of government action and how certain proposed initiatives prevail while others are discarded. More specifically, the goal is to discuss public policy for education and check whether the analytical models employed are significant enough to explain how the literacy issue became part of the policy agenda of the government of the State of Ceará in Brazil, and how the Literacy Program at the Right Age (PAIC) developed over time. From the empirical perspective about public policy for education in Brazil, this is a relevant case when one takes into account that, historically, the literacy policies are focused on teenagers and adults, implying a lack of specific initiatives towards children at the proper age of learning to read and write. In order to understand what drove this issue to the top of the state government agenda, this thesis is primarily based on the literature about public policy analysis, with focus on the agenda setting process and development of proposals. A hybrid approach is used, combining analytical tools from Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Model (1995), the Advocacy Coalition Framework by Sabatier and Jenkins Smith (1993) and the historical new institutionalism lens. The research method is qualitative and based on the single case study method. The data set was assembled from institutional PAIC-related documents, tachygraphy notes from sessions at Ceará’s State House of Representatives, press clippings, academic studies and interviews with key participants from several organizations. The conclusion of this thesis is that, given the complexity of the case in point, the combination of the three analytical methods is adequate and necessary to understanding the multiple drivers for this issue to have entered Ceará’s state government agenda and the design of the PAIC itself. Particularly relevant are the ideas and the policy entrepreneurs, the processes of problem recognition for the composition of a wide coalition and for the specification of alternatives, and the path dependence of the education policy in Ceará. This study adds, as a result, to a better understanding of the stages that make up the agenda setting in public policy, in particular in the field of education.

A hora da alfabetização: atores, ideias e instituições na construção do PAIC-CE

The objective of this thesis is to understand how a certain social condition becomes relevant enough to be regarded as an issue worthy of government action and how certain proposed initiatives prevail while others are discarded. More specifically, the goal is to discuss public policy for education and check whether the analytical models employed are significant enough to explain how the literacy issue became part of the policy agenda of the government of the State of Ceará in Brazil, and how the Literacy Program at the Right Age (PAIC) developed over time. From the empirical perspective about public policy for education in Brazil, this is a relevant case when one takes into account that, historically, the literacy policies are focused on teenagers and adults, implying a lack of specific initiatives towards children at the proper age of learning to read and write. In order to understand what drove this issue to the top of the state government agenda, this thesis is primarily based on the literature about public policy analysis, with focus on the agenda setting process and development of proposals. A hybrid approach is used, combining analytical tools from Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Model (1995), the Advocacy Coalition Framework by Sabatier and Jenkins Smith (1993) and the historical new institutionalism lens. The research method is qualitative and based on the single case study method. The data set was assembled from institutional PAIC-related documents, tachygraphy notes from sessions at Ceará’s State House of Representatives, press clippings, academic studies and interviews with key participants from several organizations. The conclusion of this thesis is that, given the complexity of the case in point, the combination of the three analytical methods is adequate and necessary to understanding the multiple drivers for this issue to have entered Ceará’s state government agenda and the design of the PAIC itself. Particularly relevant are the ideas and the policy entrepreneurs, the processes of problem recognition for the composition of a wide coalition and for the specification of alternatives, and the path dependence of the education policy in Ceará. This study adds, as a result, to a better understanding of the stages that make up the agenda setting in public policy, in particular in the field of education.