A youth vision of the city: The socio-spatial lives and exclusion of street girls in Bogota, Colombia

This dissertation documents the everyday lives and spaces of a population of youth typically constructed as out of place, and the broader urban context in which they are rendered as such. Thirty-three female and transgender street youth participated in the development of this youth-based participatory action research (YPAR) project utilizing geo-ethnographic methods, auto-photography, and archival research throughout a six-phase, eighteen-month research process in Bogotá, Colombia. ^ This dissertation details the participatory writing process that enabled the YPAR research team to destabilize dominant representations of both street girls and urban space and the participatory mapping process that enabled the development of a youth vision of the city through cartographic images. The maps display individual and aggregate spatial data indicating trends within and making comparisons between three subgroups of the research population according to nine spatial variables. These spatial data, coupled with photographic and ethnographic data, substantiate that street girls’ mobilities and activity spaces intersect with and are altered by state-sponsored urban renewal projects and paramilitary-led social cleansing killings, both efforts to clean up Bogotá by purging the city center of deviant populations and places. ^ Advancing an ethical approach to conducting research with excluded populations, this dissertation argues for the enactment of critical field praxis and care ethics within a YPAR framework to incorporate young people as principal research actors rather than merely voices represented in adultist academic discourse. Interjection of considerations of space, gender, and participation into the study of street youth produce new ways of envisioning the city and the role of young people in research. Instead of seeing the city from a panoptic view, Bogotá is revealed through the eyes of street youth who participated in the construction and feminist visualization of a new cartography and counter-map of the city grounded in embodied, situated praxis. This dissertation presents a socially responsible approach to conducting action-research with high-risk youth by documenting how street girls reclaim their right to the city on paper and in practice; through maps of their everyday exclusion in Bogotá followed by activism to fight against it.^

Mecanismo de tolerância a falhas através de escalonamento para uma arquitetura reconfigurável de grão grosso

The continuous evolution of integrated circuit technology has allowed integrating thousands of transistors on a single chip. This is due to the miniaturization process, which reduces the diameter of wires and transistors. One drawback of this process is that the circuit becomes more fragile and susceptible to break, making the circuit more susceptible to permanent faults during the manufacturing process as well as during their lifetime. Coarse Grained Reconfigurable Architectures (CGRAs) have been used as an alternative to traditional architectures in an attempt to tolerate such faults due to its intrinsic hardware redundancy and high performance. This work proposes a fault tolerance mechanism in a CGRA in order to increase the architecture fault tolerance even considering a high fault rate. The proposed mechanism was added to the scheduler, which is the mechanism responsible for mapping instructions onto the architecture. The instruction mapping occurs at runtime, translating binary code without the need for recompilation. Furthermore, to allow faster implementation, instruction mapping is performed using a greedy module scheduling algorithm, which consists of a software pipeline technique for loop acceleration. The results show that, even with the proposed mechanism, the time for mapping instructions is still in order of microseconds. This result allows that instruction mapping process remains at runtime. In addition, a study was also carried out mapping scheduler rate. The results demonstrate that even at fault rates over 50% in functional units and interconnection components, the scheduler was able to map instructions onto the architecture in most of the tested applications.

Mapeamento, interações e gerenciamento do fluxo de pacientes da Maternidade Escola Januário Cicco - MEJC

The process mapping is an important tool in the management of organizations, allowing better levels of productivity, quality and reciprocity concerning the implementation and decision-making. It benefits in a clear way the process organization and assures the manager a macro vision of the system. In this sense, the objective of this study is to describe the mapping process as it occurs in the Januario Cicco Maternity School–MEJC. The bibliographic and descriptive research included interviews, observations and researches in many databases. The study analyzed the limiting points of the detected flow trying to find a better comprehension of the flow of patients in the maternity in order to offer the gestors the information necessary to improve the quality of the assistance as well as a general view of the flow of patients and any change detected there. As a result, we believe that the process mapping may become a relevant factor to the organizational management of MEJC, in view that it is an element that can contribute to ease up the management of information studied, considering that the perfect change of information inside a complex system will produce improvements in all spheres of this institution.

Adapting prospective structural analysis to strengthen sustainable management and capacity building in community-based natural resource management contexts

Local communities collectively managing common pool resources can play an important role in sustainable management, but they often lack the skills and context-specific tools required for such management. The complex dynamics of social-ecological systems (SES), the need for management capacities, and communities’ limited empowerment and participation skills present challenges for community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) strategies. We analyzed the applicability of prospective structural analysis (PSA), a strategic foresight tool, to support decision making and to foster sustainable management and capacity building in CBNRM contexts and the modifications necessary to use the tool in such contexts. By testing PSA in three SES in Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina, we gathered information regarding the potential of this tool and its adaptation requirements. The results suggest that the tool can be adapted to these contexts and contribute to fostering sustainable management and capacity building. It helped identify the systems’ dynamics, thus increasing the communities’ knowledge about their SES and informing the decision-making process. Additionally, it drove a learning process that both fostered empowerment and built participation skills. The process demanded both time and effort, and required external monitoring and facilitation, but community members could be trained to master it. Thus, we suggest that the PSA technique has the potential to strengthen CBNRM and that other initiatives could use it, but they must be aware of these requirements.

Efeitos diretos e indiretos de parâmetros dos semivariogramas referentes aos atributos químicos do solo sobre a produtividade de grãos de soja

In order to add value to soybens crops, and hence the marketing, medium and large producers have been using precision agriculture techniques (PA), as the Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and positioning satellite, to assist the management of crops. Thus, given the economic relevance of that culture to the southwest of Paraná State and Brazil, scientific studies to increase their productivity and profitability are of main importance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the chemical soil properties and soybean yield for each estimated parameter of semivariogram (range, nugget and level effect), and the deployment of these correlations in direct and indirect effects, aiming to improve the mapping process of spatial variability of soil chemical properties for use in PA. The hypothesis is that not all attributes of soil used to estimate the semivariogram parameters has a direct effect on productivity, and that even in groups of plants within a larger area it is possible to estimate the parameters of the semivariograms. The experiment was conducted in a commercial area of 19.7 ha, located in the city of Pato Branco - PR, central geographic coordinates 26º 11 '35 "South, 52 43' 05" West longitude, and average altitude of 780 m. The area is planted with soybeans for over 30 years, currently being adopted to cultivate Brasmax Target RR - Don Mario 5.9i, with row spacing of 0.50 m and 13 plants m-1, totaling 260,000 plants ha-1. For georeferencing of the area of study and sampling points was used a couple of topographic ProMarkTM3 receptors, making a relative positioning to obtain the georeferenced coordinates. To collect data (chemical analyzes of soil and crop yield) were sampled 10 blocks in the experimental area, each with an area of 20 m2 (20 meters long x 1 meter wide) containing two spaced adjacent rows of 0.5 m. Each block was divided into 20 portions of 1 m2, and from each were collected four subsamples at a distance of 0.5 m in relation to the lines of blocks, making up a sample depth for 0-10 cm a sample to 10-20 cm for each plot, totaling 200 samples for each depth. The soybean crop was performed on the blocks depending on maturity, and in each block was considered a bundle at each meter. In the data analysis, it was performed a diagnosis of multicollinearity, and subsequently a path analysis of the main variables according to the explanatory variables (range of chemical attributes: pH, K, P, Ca, etc.). The results obtained by the path analysis of the parameters of the semivariogram of soil chemical properties, indicated that only the Fe, Mg, Mn, organic matter (OM), P and Saturation by bases (SB) exerted direct and indirect effects on soybean productivity, although they have not presented spatial variability, indicating that the distribution of blocks in the area was unable to identify the spatial dependence of these elements, making it impossible to draw up maps of the chemical attributes for use in PA.

Arvovirtakartoitus ja lean-menetelmät: hukan tunnistaminen pk-yrityksen toimistoympäristössä

Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena oli tutkia pk-yrityksen toimistoympäristössä tapahtuvaa prosessia ja tehostaa sen toimintaa lean-työkaluja käyttämällä. Prosessin hukkien tunnistamiseksi kohdeyritykseen toteutettiin arvovirtakartoitus jonka tuloksena tunnistettiin prosessien eri vaiheiden hukat ja kohdistettiin niihin ehkäisevät lean-toimenpiteet. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisena toimintatutkimuksena, joka sisältää kirjallisuusosion sekä empiirisen osion kohdeyritykseen suoritetun arvovirtakartoituksen muodossa. Kirjallisen osion teoria on kerätty tieteellisestä kirjallisuudesta ja artikkeleista, artikkelit koostuvat suurelta osin internet-lähteistä. Työn empiirinen osio ja sen tiedot on kerätty tutustumalla case-yrityksen toimistoprosessiin sekä suorittamalla lukuisia haastatteluja yrityksen henkilöstön kanssa. Eniten hukkaa aiheutui dokumentoinnin ja työkalujen puutteesta sekä sisäisestä yhteistyökyvyttömyydestä. Työn tulokset tukevat lean-työkalujen käyttämistä, sillä suurin osa esiintyvästä hukasta on mahdollista ehkäistä helposti työn paremmalla dokumentoinnilla ja päivittäisiä työtapoja muokkaamalla. Sopivimmat lean-työkalut olivat standardoitu työ, kaizen sekä gemba.

A depressão, um problema para os adolescentes

Este relatório é a expressão de vivências enriquecedoras e das competências adquiridas que permitiram o desenvolvimento de intervenções, que foram reconhecidas como adequadas pelos adolescentes deprimidos. Esta população foi escolhida como alvo porque a depressão lhes causa sofrimento com consequências graves no seu desenvolvimento. O desenvolvimento das intervenções com os adolescentes foi organizado por um conjunto de estratégias definidas e documentadas pela literatura. Este processo de desenvolvimento de competências esteve associado a uma reflexão sobre as ações, e estratégias que foram desenvolvidas com os adolescentes. Neste processo realizei avaliação diagnóstica e consequente intervenção terapêutica de forma sistemática e contínua, com os adolescentes, de forma a ajudar a restaurar a sua saúde mental. No final do programa terapêutico que foi instituído com os adolescentes observámos melhorias das queixas iniciais, alterações comportamentais, aumento da qualidade de vida e bem-estar, trazendo-lhes maior satisfação com a sua vida; ABSTRACT: This report is the expression of enriching experiences and of the skills acquired that allowed the development of interventions which are recognized as appropriate for depressed adolescents. I choose this population as a target because depression causes, in several cases, suffering with serious consequences for their development. The development of interventions with adolescents was organized based on a set of strategies defined and documented by scientific literature. This skills development process was associated with a reflection on the actions and strategies that have been developed with the adolescents. In this process, I performed (systematically and continuously), with the adolescents, diagnostic evaluation and subsequent therapeutic intervention, in order to help restore their sanity. At the end of the therapeutic program instituted with adolescents, we observed improvements of the initial complaints, behavioral changes, increased quality of life and well-being. All these improvements results in greater satisfaction in their own lives.

Ecosystem process models at multiple scales for mapping tropical forest productivity

Quantifying mass and energy exchanges within tropical forests is essential for understanding their role in the global carbon budget and how they will respond to perturbations in climate. This study reviews ecosystem process models designed to predict the growth and productivity of temperate and tropical forest ecosystems. Temperate forest models were included because of the minimal number of tropical forest models. The review provides a multiscale assessment enabling potential users to select a model suited to the scale and type of information they require in tropical forests. Process models are reviewed in relation to their input and output parameters, minimum spatial and temporal units of operation, maximum spatial extent and time period of application for each organization level of modelling. Organizational levels included leaf-tree, plot-stand, regional and ecosystem levels, with model complexity decreasing as the time-step and spatial extent of model operation increases. All ecosystem models are simplified versions of reality and are typically aspatial. Remotely sensed data sets and derived products may be used to initialize, drive and validate ecosystem process models. At the simplest level, remotely sensed data are used to delimit location, extent and changes over time of vegetation communities. At a more advanced level, remotely sensed data products have been used to estimate key structural and biophysical properties associated with ecosystem processes in tropical and temperate forests. Combining ecological models and image data enables the development of carbon accounting systems that will contribute to understanding greenhouse gas budgets at biome and global scales.

Mapping glider habitat in dry eucalypt forests for Montreal Process indicator 1.1: Fragmentation of forest types

Accurate habitat mapping is critical to landscape ecological studies such as required for developing and testing Montreal Process indicator 1.1e, fragmentation of forest types. This task poses a major challenge to remote sensing, especially in mixedspecies, variable-age forests such as dry eucalypt forests of subtropical eastern Australia. In this paper, we apply an innovative approach that uses a small section of one-metre resolution airborne data to calibrate a moderate spatial resolution model (30 m resolution; scale 1:50 000) based on Landsat Thematic Mapper data to estimate canopy structural properties in St Marys State Forest, near Maryborough, south-eastern Queensland. The approach applies an image-processing model that assumes each image pixel is significantly larger than individual tree crowns and gaps to estimate crown-cover percentage, stem density and mean crown diameter. These parameters were classified into three discrete habitat classes to match the ecology of four exudivorous arboreal species (yellowbellied glider Petaurus australis, sugar glider P. breviceps, squirrel glider P. norfolcensis , and feathertail glider Acrobates pygmaeus), and one folivorous arboreal marsupial, the greater glider Petauroides volans. These species were targeted due to the known ecological preference for old trees with hollows, and differences in their home range requirements. The overall mapping accuracy, visually assessed against transects (n = 93) interpreted from a digital orthophoto and validated in the field, was 79% (KHAT statistic = 0.72). The KHAT statistic serves as an indicator of the extent that the percentage correct values of the error matrix are due to ‘true’ agreement verses ‘chance’ agreement. This means that we are able to reliably report on the effect of habitat loss on target species, especially those with a large home range size (e.g. yellow-bellied glider). However, the classified habitat map failed to accurately capture the spatial patterning (e.g. patch size and shape) of stands with a trace or sub-dominance of senescent trees. This outcome makes the reporting of the effects of habitat fragmentation more problematic, especially for species with a small home range size (e.g. feathertail glider). With further model refinement and validation, however, this moderateresolution approach offers an important, cost eff e c t i v e advancement in mapping the age of dry eucalypt forests in the region.

Decision-making process in radiology: the magnetic resonance example in the TA context

Based on the report for “Project IV” unit of the PhD programme on Technology Assessment (Doctoral Conference) at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (December 2011). This thesis research has the supervision of António Moniz (FCT-UNL and ITAS-KIT) and Michael Decker (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology-ITAS). Other members of the thesis committee are Carlos Alberto da Silva (University of Évora), José Maria de Albuquerque (Institute of Welding and Quality), Lotte Steuten (University of Twente), Mário Forjaz Secca (FCT-UNL) and Nelson Chibeles Martins (FCT-UNL).

Participatory mapping in the design process of a spatial data infrastructure SDI: a case study in the Biosphere Reserve Rio Platano (Honduras)

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Kernel-based mapping of orographic rainfall enhancement in the Swiss Alps as detected by weatherradar

In this paper, we develop a data-driven methodology to characterize the likelihood of orographic precipitation enhancement using sequences of weather radar images and a digital elevation model (DEM). Geographical locations with topographic characteristics favorable to enforce repeatable and persistent orographic precipitation such as stationary cells, upslope rainfall enhancement, and repeated convective initiation are detected by analyzing the spatial distribution of a set of precipitation cells extracted from radar imagery. Topographic features such as terrain convexity and gradients computed from the DEM at multiple spatial scales as well as velocity fields estimated from sequences of weather radar images are used as explanatory factors to describe the occurrence of localized precipitation enhancement. The latter is represented as a binary process by defining a threshold on the number of cell occurrences at particular locations. Both two-class and one-class support vector machine classifiers are tested to separate the presumed orographic cells from the nonorographic ones in the space of contributing topographic and flow features. Site-based validation is carried out to estimate realistic generalization skills of the obtained spatial prediction models. Due to the high class separability, the decision function of the classifiers can be interpreted as a likelihood or susceptibility of orographic precipitation enhancement. The developed approach can serve as a basis for refining radar-based quantitative precipitation estimates and short-term forecasts or for generating stochastic precipitation ensembles conditioned on the local topography.

Thinking skills in the language arts : an application of cognitive schema theory to the narrative writing process /

A cognitively based instructional program for narrative writing was developed. The effects of using cognitively based schematic planning organizers at the pre-writing stage were evaluated using subjects from the Primary, Junior and Intermediate divisions. Results indicate that the use of organizers based on problem solving significantly improved the organization and the overall quality of narrative writing for students in grades 3, 6 and 7. The magnitude of the improvement of the treatment group over the control group performance in Organization ranged from 10.7% to 22.9%. Statistical and observational data indicate many implications for further research into the cognitive basis for writing and reading; for the improvement and evaluation of school writing programs; for the design of school curricula; and for the inservice education for teachers of writing.

Topographic mapping skills for secondary students.

Ofrece a los estudiantes la comprensión de conocimientos geográficos y la posibilidad de practicar las habilidades topográficas. Incluye, además de mapas de gran formato organizados por continentes y material complementario sobre población y clima, imágenes de satélite y fotografías aéreas y al nivel del suelo. También, contiene actividades graduadas para ayudar a leer, interpretar y analizar los mapas topográficos.