Convergências e/ou divergências no sistema de crenças e práticas parentais: comparação entre duas amostras amazônicas

A proposta desta pesquisa foi identificar convergências e divergências nas crenças, metas de socialização e práticas de cuidados parentais em dois contextos ecológicos amazônicos, buscando analisar a relação entre fatores biológicos e ecoculturais. Participaram da pesquisa 99 mães de duas localidades: Belém – capital (CEU – contexto ecológico urbano – N=50) e Santa Bárbara (CENU – contexto ecológico não urbano – N=49), com idade superior a 18 anos com pelo menos uma criança com idade entre 0 e 6 anos . Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas em que se aplicavam questionários e para análise destes foram utilizados critérios estatísticos e o respaldo teórico da Psicologia Evolucionista. Os dados indicaram que as comunidades estudadas em relação aos dados socio-demográficos diferem de forma sistemática uma da outra, em função dos níveis de desenvolvimento tecnológico e diferentes organizações para o contexto social. O mundo social das crianças de CENU e de CEU representam contextos desenvolvimentais que oferecem diferentes oportunidades. A literatura aponta que as trocas sociais estabelecidas entre crianças e cuidadores podem refletir sobre o desenvolvimento da criança em relação ao aspecto cognitivo, emocional e social. Os resultados encontrados indicam que as mães de CEU apesar de terem sido mais autônomas que as de CENU, foram ao mesmo tempo mais relacionais que as mesmas, demonstrando que talvez as mudanças que atingem os contextos, ocorram com mais rapidez em ambientes urbanizados. Além disso, os dados parecem indicar que os contextos por estarem em um momento de transição passam de um modelo interdependente para um modelo autônomo-relacional. Entretanto, foi possível perceber que as idéias que as mães possuem sobre a importância de determinadas ações nem sempre refletem suas práticas. Em relação aos cuidados primários as mães parecem valorizar e realizar de igual modo. Em relação ao Contato corporal as mães de CENU valorizam mais que as mães de CEU. Em estimulação corporal o resultado foi bastante interessante, pois os itens que CEU deu mais importância e praticou menos, foram os mesmos itens em que CENU deu menos importância e praticou mais. No que tange a estimulação por objeto as mães de CEU dão mais importância as praticas do que as realizam e vice-versa acontece em CENU. Ao sistema face-a-face foi atribuída maior importância pelas mães de CEU. Os dados apresentados sugerem que as mães de ambos os contextos estão utilizando estratégias parentais distais e proximais ao mesmo tempo, ou seja, desejam que seus filhos se tornem auto-suficientes, mas também desejam que os mesmos sejam respeitosos e obedientes. Além disso, os resultados aqui encontrados confirmam que os quatro sistemas descrevem as experiências interacionais das crianças e expressam a ênfase cultural de combinações e estilos particulares. Não foram encontradas diferenças marcantes nas crenças e práticas de cuidados maternos entre CEU e CENU, o que nos levou a considerar que as crenças parentais, em consequência à adaptação ao contexto, variaram menos conspicuamente nas cidades escolhidas do que entre outras cidades examinadas em outros estudos. Outra questão bastante interessante encontrada foi o resultado relativo ao nível de instrução das mães de CEU e a valorização de metas relacionais, pois de acordo com a hipótese na literatura o nível educacional das mães torna-se uma variável importante em relação às metas de socialização. CENU demonstrou uma tendência para metas e práticas relacionais. Isso se deve ao modo de vida mais próximo do protótipo de interdependência que este contexto apresenta, no qual as mães tendem a valorizar as normas e regras determinadas pela família ou grupo ao qual pertencem. Os resultados referentes ao CEU não confirmaram a hipótese de que ele apresentaria mais metas e práticas voltadas para a independência, sendo percebido que Belém apresenta tanto características do modelo de independência como de interdependência. Presume-se que CEU e CENU são contextos que passam por mudanças, uma vez que as mães podem acreditar em uma coisa e na realidade agir de outra forma.

Convergence Property of the Measurement Gross Error Correction in Power System State Estimation, Using Geometrical Background

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A NOTE ON RESOLVENT CONVERGENCE ON A THIN DOMAIN

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Creative Commons: a convergence model between the ideal of commons and the possibilities of creation in contemporary times, opposed to copyright impediments

The contemporary individual finds on the Internet and especially on the Web facilitating conditions to build a basic infrastructure based on the concept of commons. He also finds favorable conditions which allow him to collaborate and share resources for the creation, use, reuse, access and dissemination of information. However, he also faces obstacles such as Copyright (Law 9610/98 in Brazil). An alternative is Creative Commons which not only allows the elaboration, use and dissemination of information under legal conditions but also function as a facilitator for the development of informational commons. This paper deals with this scenario.

Convergence towards asymptotic state in 1-D mappings: a scaling investigation

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Interior-exterior point method with global convergence strategy for solving the reactive optimal power flow problem

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Concentration of floating biogenic material in convergence zones

Some organisms that live just below the sea surface (the neuston) are known more as a matter of curiosity than as critical players in biogeochemical cycles. The hypothesis of this work is that their existence implies that they receive some food from an upward flux of organic matter. The behaviour of these organisms and of the associated organic matter, hereafter mentioned as floating biogenic material (FBM) is explored using a global physical-biogeochemical coupled model, in which its generation is fixed to 1% of primary production, and decay rate is of the order of I month. The model shows that the distribution of FBM should depart rapidly from that of primary production.. and be more sensitive to circulation patterns than to the distribution of primary production. It is trapped in convergence areas, where it reaches concentrations larger by a factor 10 than in divergences, thus enhancing and inverting the contrast between high and low primary productivity areas. Attention is called on the need to better understand the biogeochemical processes in the first meter of the ocean, as they may impact the distribution of food for fishes, as well as the conditions for air-sea exchange and for the interpretation of sea color.

LEISURE AND MENTAL HEALTH IN PEOPLE WITH HYPERTENSION: CONVERGENCE IN HEALTH EDUCATION

People with hypertension constantly deal with issues related to mental health due to the psychosocial determinants of this illness, and leisure is an important control strategy. The objective of this study was to promote health education to a group of hypertensive patients, through research-action, based on critical-social pedagogy, and taking into consideration the participants' perception of leisure. Educational activities were conducted and, following, an evaluation was performed regarding the subjects' opinion about the impact of leisure on their lives and mental health. The group perceived leisure as a coping strategy for loneliness and also as a late development of independence; it was also regarded as a means of socialization and as a promotion of mental health. These perceptions revealed two themes: aging, leisure, and chronic disease; and knowledge and leisure experiences. Educational actions, such as group dynamics and discussions, were planned considering these themes with the purpose of providing the necessary conditions for socializing and exchanging experiences.

Faster HIV-1 Disease Progression among Brazilian Individuals Recently Infected with CXCR4-Utilizing Strains

Introduction: Primary HIV infection is usually caused by R5 viruses, and there is an association between the emergence of CCXR4-utilizing strains and faster disease progression. We characterized HIV-1 from a cohort of recently infected individuals in Brazil, predicted the virus's co-receptor use based on the env genotype and attempted to correlate virus profiles with disease progression. Methods: A total of 72 recently infected HIV patients were recruited based on the Serologic Testing Algorithm for Recent HIV Seroconversion and were followed every three to four months for up to 78 weeks. The HIV-1 V3 region was characterized by sequencing nine to twelve weeks after enrollment. Disease progression was characterized by CD4+ T-cell count decline to levels consistently below 350 cells/mu L. Results: Twelve out of 72 individuals (17%) were predicted to harbor CXCR4-utilizing strains; a baseline CD4,350 was more frequent among these individuals (p = 0.03). Fifty-seven individuals that were predicted to have CCR5-utilizing viruses and 10 individuals having CXCR4-utilizing strains presented with baseline CD4.350; after 78 weeks, 33 individuals with CCR5 strains and one individual with CXCR4 strains had CD4.350 (p = 0.001). There was no association between CD4 decline and demographic characteristics or HIV-1 subtype. Conclusions: Our findings confirm the presence of strains with higher in vitro pathogenicity during early HIV infection, suggesting that even among recently infected individuals, rapid progression may be a consequence of the early emergence of CXCR4-utilizing strains. Characterizing the HIV-1 V3 region by sequencing may be useful in predicting disease progression and guiding treatment initiation decisions.

Kurzweil integral for Riesz space-valued functions: Uniform convergence theorem

Our objective here is to prove that the uniform convergence of a sequence of Kurzweil integrable functions implies the convergence of the sequence formed by its corresponding integrals.

Convergence of two major pathophysiologic mechanisms in nasal polyposis: immune response to Staphylococcus aureus and airway remodeling

This review is addressed two pathophysiologic mechanisms implicated in the pathogenesis of nasal polyposis: the unique remodeling process found in nasal polyp tissue and the immune response of patients with nasal polyposis to Staphylococcus aureus. These two theories converge to the same direction in different aspects, including decreased extracellular matrix production, impaired T regulation and favoring of a Th2 immune response. In patients with nasal polyposis, an exaggerated immune response to Staphylococcus aureus may aggravate the airway remodeling process.

Incorporating IT & AT Convergence into Lean Thinking/Six Sigma via the Smarter Operation Transformation (SOT) Methodology

The growing demands for industrial products are imposing an increasingly intense level of competitiveness on the industrial operations. In the meantime, the convergence of information technology (IT) and automation technology (AT) is showing itself to be a tool of great potential for the modernization and improvement of industrial plants. However, for this technology fully to achieve its potential, several obstacles need to be overcome, including the demonstration of the reasoning behind estimations of benefits, investments and risks used to plan the implementation of corporative technology solutions. This article focuses on the evolutionary development of planning and adopting processes of IT & AT convergence. It proposes the incorporation of IT & AT convergence practices into Lean Thinking/Six Sigma, via the method used for planning the convergence of technological activities, known as the Smarter Operation Transformation (SOT) methodology. This article illustrates the SOT methodology through its application in a Brazilian company in the sector of consumer goods. In this application, it is shown that with IT & AT convergence is possible with low investment, in order to reduce the risk of not achieving the goals of key indicators.

Essays on European economic and monetary integration

This thesis focuses on two aspects of European economic integration: exchange rate stabilization between non-euro Countries and the Euro Area, and real and nominal convergence of Central and Eastern European Countries. Each Chapter covers these aspects from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. Chapter 1 investigates whether the introduction of the euro was accompanied by a shift in the de facto exchange rate policy of European countries outside the euro area, using methods recently developed by the literature to detect "Fear of Floating" episodes. I find that European Inflation Targeters have tried to stabilize the euro exchange rate, after its introduction; fixed exchange rate arrangements, instead, apart from official policy changes, remained stable. Finally, the euro seems to have gained a relevant role as a reference currency even outside Europe. Chapter 2 proposes an approach to estimate Central Bank preferences starting from the Central Bank's optimization problem within a small open economy, using Sweden as a case study, to find whether stabilization of the exchange rate played a role in the Monetary Policy rule of the Riksbank. The results show that it did not influence interest rate setting; exchange rate stabilization probably occurred as a result of increased economic integration and business cycle convergence. Chapter 3 studies the interactions between wages in the public sector, the traded private sector and the closed sector in ten EU Transition Countries. The theoretical literature on wage spillovers suggests that the traded sector should be the leader in wage setting, with non-traded sectors wages adjusting. We show that large heterogeneity across countries is present, and sheltered and public sector wages are often leaders in wage determination. This result is relevant from a policy perspective since wage spillovers, leading to costs growing faster than productivity, may affect the international cost competitiveness of the traded sector.

Analyzing convergence of Agricultural and Rural Areas in the Enlarged EU: The case of Hungary

The fall of the Berlin Wall opened the way for a reform path – the transition process – which accompanied ten former Socialist countries in Central and South Eastern Europe to knock at the EU doors. By the way, at the time of the EU membership several economic and structural weaknesses remained. A tendency towards convergence between the new Member States (NMS) and the EU average income level emerged, together with a spread of inequality at the sub-regional level, mainly driven by the backwardness of the agricultural and rural areas. Several progresses were made in evaluating the policies for rural areas, but a shared definition of rurality is still missing. Numerous indicators were calculated for assessing the effectiveness of the Common Agricultural Policy and Rural Development Policy. Previous analysis on the Central and Eastern European countries found that the characteristics of the most backward areas were insufficiently addressed by the policies enacted; the low data availability and accountability at a sub-regional level, and the deficiencies in institutional planning and implementation represented an obstacle for targeting policies and payments. The next pages aim at providing a basis for understanding the connections between the peculiarities of the transition process, the current development performance of NMS and the EU role, with particular attention to the agricultural and rural areas. Applying a mixed methodological approach (multivariate statistics, non-parametric methods, spatial econometrics), this study contributes to the identification of rural areas and to the analysis of the changes occurred during the EU membership in Hungary, assessing the effect of CAP introduction and its contribution to the convergence of the Hungarian agricultural and rural. The author believes that more targeted – and therefore efficient – policies for agricultural and rural areas require a deeper knowledge of their structural and dynamic characteristics.

Spatial Disparity and Dynamic Trajectory of Convergence in China: Construction and Application of a Composite Index of Regional Development

China is a large country characterized by remarkable growth and distinct regional diversity. Spatial disparity has always been a hot issue since China has been struggling to follow a balanced growth path but still confronting with unprecedented pressures and challenges. To better understand the inequality level benchmarking spatial distributions of Chinese provinces and municipalities and estimate dynamic trajectory of sustainable development in China, I constructed the Composite Index of Regional Development (CIRD) with five sub pillars/dimensions involving Macroeconomic Index (MEI), Science and Innovation Index (SCI), Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), Human Capital Index (HCI) and Public Facilities Index (PFI), endeavoring to cover various fields of regional socioeconomic development. Ranking reports on the five sub dimensions and aggregated CIRD were provided in order to better measure the developmental degrees of 31 or 30 Chinese provinces and municipalities over 13 years from 1998 to 2010 as the time interval of three “Five-year Plans”. Further empirical applications of this CIRD focused on clustering and convergence estimation, attempting to fill up the gap in quantifying the developmental levels of regional comprehensive socioeconomics and estimating the dynamic convergence trajectory of regional sustainable development in a long run. Four clusters were benchmarked geographically-oriented in the map on the basis of cluster analysis, and club-convergence was observed in the Chinese provinces and municipalities based on stochastic kernel density estimation.