Dowscaling estocástico para extremos climáticos via interpolação espacial

Present day weather forecast models usually cannot provide realistic descriptions of local and particulary extreme weather conditions. However, for lead times of about a small number of days, they provide reliable forecast of the atmospheric circulation that encompasses the subscale processes leading to extremes. Hence, forecasts of extreme events can only be achieved through a combination of dynamical and statistical analysis methods, where a stable and significant statistical model based on prior physical reasoning establishes posterior statistical-dynamical model between the local extremes and the large scale circulation. Here we present the development and application of such a statistical model calibration on the besis of extreme value theory, in order to derive probabilistic forecast for extreme local temperature. The dowscaling applies to NCEP/NCAR re-analysis, in order to derive estimates of daily temperature at Brazilian northeastern region weather stations

Estudo da organização funcional do sistema circadiano por meio de ferramentas computacionais e matemáticas

Circadian rhythms are variations in physiological processes that help living beings to adapt to environmental cycles. These rhythms are generated and are synchronized to the dark light cycle through the suprachiasmatic nucleus. The integrity of circadian rhythmicity has great implication on human health. Currently it is known that disturbances in circadian rhythms are related to some problems of today such as obesity, propensity for certain types of cancer and mental disorders for example. The circadian rhythmicity can be studied through experiments with animal models and in humans directly. In this work we use computational models to gather experimental results from the literature and explain the results of our laboratory. Another focus of this study was to analyze data rhythms of activity and rest obtained experimentally. Here we made a review on the use of variables used to analyze these data and finally propose an update on how to calculate these variables. Our models were able to reproduce the main experimental results in the literature and provided explanations for the results of experiments performed in our laboratory. The new variables used to analyze the rhythm of activity and rest in humans were more efficient to describe the fragmentation and synchronization of this rhythm. Therefore, the work contributed improving existing tools for the study of circadian rhythms in mammals

Influência da prática de yoga sobre os sintomas da menopausa

Yoga has been studied and practiced for over three thousand years and nowadays it is widely adopted as a mean to assist the health of individuals. Additionally, numerous benefits to the health rehabilitation and quality of life of elderly individuals has been attributed to this set of techniques. In women, the aging process is characterized by the interruption on ovarian follicular activity (menopause) characterized by a number of neuroendocrine and physiologic changes. Those changes are frequently accompanied by uncomfortable and occasionally debilitating symptoms. Although there is profuse clinical information about menopause, studies on the potential therapeutic application of yoga during the climacteric period are scarce. The objective of this research was to investigate the psychophysiological effects of 12 weeks of yoga practice in 88 postmenopausal women. The volunteers were divided into a control group (no intervention), exercise group and yoga group. Instruments were applied for the evaluation of climacteric syndrome, stress, depression, quality of life, and anxiety. In addition, the determination of hormonal levels of FSH, LH, estradiol, cortisol and progesterone, and biochemical levels of glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, LDL, urea, creatinine, AST and ALT were conducted. Our results showed that the yoga group had significantly lower scores after the regular practice of yoga for menopausal symptoms. Besides, those changes were accompanied by a statistical significant improvement in the stress levels, decrease in depression scores, and higher scores in quality of life when compared with the control group and the exercise group. As well, the regular practice of yoga promoted the maintenance of cortisol levels compared to control group after 12 weeks. Regarding the biochemical parameters yoga practitioners presented lower levels of LDL in the blood. These results are supported by previous studies which found that regular practice of yoga improves quality of life of subjects, Thus, herein we propose that yoga can be a non-pharmacological alternative to management of menopausal symptoms and stress in postmenopausal women

A ação do psicólogo na assistência social: interiorização da profissão e combate a pobreza

A pobreza, como uma das manifestações da questão social , é elemento constitutivo do padrão de desenvolvimento capitalista, extremamente desigual, em que convivem acumulação e miséria. Nas últimas décadas, sob a égide do ideário neoliberal, verifica-se um incremento em políticas de combate à pobreza no Brasil, de caráter focalizado e compensatório, tanto por meio de ações diretas de transferência de renda, quanto pelo fortalecimento de serviços e programas voltados às populações pobres, com a estruturação do Sistema Único de Assistência Social, hierarquizado em Proteção Social Básica e Especial. A participação do psicólogo nas equipes profissionais do CRAS constitui um importante elemento para a discussão da inserção desse profissional no campo das políticas sociais no Brasil, considerando os limites estruturais postos pelo caráter compensatório dessas políticas, e a construção de estratégias que possam resultar em uma mudança efetiva nas condições de vida das camadas mais pobres da sociedade. Aliado a isso, por meio do ingresso na política de assistência social, um número significativo de profissionais psicólogos passa a atuar em cidades pequenas e médias, fora dos tradicionais centros urbanos, constituindo um movimento de interiorização da profissão . O objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar a ação profissional do psicólogo na assistência social no contexto nas políticas de combate à pobreza em municípios do interior do Rio Grande do Norte. Realizou-se entrevistas semiestruturadas com psicólogos atuantes nos CRAS de 17 municípios de pequeno e médio porte do estado. As informações foram sistematizadas com auxílio do software QDA Miner v. 3.2. A perspectiva defendida neste trabalho refere-se à funcionalidade das práticas psicológicas no contexto das políticas de combate à pobreza brasileiras na atualidade, ao reforçar os ideais neoliberais de naturalização da questão social e responsabilização dos indivíduos pela sua condição social, além de, em grande parte, desconsiderar as particularidades e singularidades que marcam os territórios de ação. Todavia, é possível depreender alguns modos de ação profissional que estão na contramão dos mais frequentemente encontrados nesse campo. Esses modos se revelam no cotidiano do CRAS como formas diferentes de compreensão do saber fazer profissional, resultados de um posicionamento político e de uma formação profissional que buscam romper com o tradicionalismo e conservadorismo da Psicologia e do campo da assistência social

A experiência da criança com a droga :características do uso e circunstâncias familiares

The study is a reflexion of the use of drugs among children, pointing that as one of the most serious social problem nowadays. Customize the abuse of drugs reflecting on the childhood and the family s influence of the problem of the children that use drugs, is the main objective of this thesis. Choosing the qualitative method of research, the investigation starts with the reports of the children and mothers assisted at Centro de Referência e Apoio à Criança e ao Adolescente Usuários de Drogas, program of specialized assistance of 1ª Vara da Infância e da Juventude de Natal/RN. The research was done through semi-structured interviews, in a total of six subjects: three children and their respective mothers. Through the reports of the subjects, it is brought theorical reflexions that illustrates their perceptions and conceptions about topics like the usage of drugs, the circumstances the usage of drugs was started, the family s structure and dynamic, the situation on the streets, and other factors that affect the development of a child in her/his environment. It is proved that the usage of drugs in Brazil, problem that has been increasing the number of children affected by, is a multi faceted and complex phenomenon but some factors of social and family risks deserve to be pointed out like the manner of support future actions in the prevention area

Os agentes funerários e a morte: o cuidado presente diante da vida ausente

The present time is marked by the art of escape from death, which has become synonymous with failure, its exposure has become intolerable and the care of the dead body were assigned to third parties who market this practice through services and products that shape the market undertaker. In this context, in which death is an object of study, has arisen funeral officers, as professionals dealing with a dead body, with the pain of relatives and their reactions, often being the first to have contact with the death scene. As professionals in the health area, the morticians also deal with death. The first attempt to prevent the arrival of death, funeral officers already has begun their work routine from there. Death and its surrounding part of their profession. What about those professionals whose work demands as a feared and denied by society? This study aims to understand the intents, meanings and implications for the mortician to deal with death in their daily work in order to focus renewed attention to the care of these professionals. To this end, it was carried out a qualitative research grounded in the theoretical framework of Gadamerian hermeneutics for production and interpretation of narratives. It was used two methodological strategies for data collection: in-depth interview with script and workshop with the use of "scenes". Research participants were nine morticians funeral of two funeral agencies of the city of Natal. It was possible to detect the presence of the social imaginary of interdiction on the theme of death from living with feelings of his presence daily, from the need of respondents to naturalize their contacts with death, a requirement of their office to deal with the difficulties of manipulating body fluids and odors, sometimes in a state of decomposition; allied to wishes to achieve the goal of delivering to family-customers a "embellished" body for the final farewell. Being a mortician, in addition to not being a professional motivation, involves facing difficulties related to heavy routine work, low salaries, unprofitable work materials and equipments, besides having to deal with the social gaze that devalues the profession. In turn, they also deal with the pain coming especially from contact with family members, either when they are targets of these feelings of anger, whether they identify with the pain of the bereaved ones. On the other hand, when the recognition and gratitude of the families occur, they find meaning and beauty in their profession of caring for the dead body. The present study by giving voice to morticians has become possible to understand better their profession, the pain that surrounds and care needs of these workers. Finally, it has argued that the mortician may be recognized as a care professional for the way exercising caution with the dead body and their families.

A experiência de depressão na contemporaneidade: uma compreensão fenomenológico-existencial

The depression is one of the most common forms of getting ill nowaday. Due to the increase in incidence of depression cases registered worldwide, this theme has been the subject of important studies, especially regarding the symptomatological description and biological etiology of the disease. This research had the objective to understand the unique experience of depression experienced by people who recognize themselves in depression, under the focus of existential phenomenology of Martin Heidegger. To reach the proposed objective, individuals narratives interviews were conducted with four participants, starting from the triggering question, "from your experience, how is for you to being depressed?". The survey revealed that depression affects the whole person and is related to stressful life contexts. Depression was narrated as an experience of disempowerment and lack of self esteem and personal worth. The collaborators of the research referred to the depression from sad, angry, bored and pessimistic mood. The time is experienced as a restriction to the projective opening towards the possibilities of being in which the future is seen as catastrophic and the past lived as debt and guilt. The corporeality, in depression is experienced through the weight, fatigue and pains for no reason. The space is lived from the notion of fall and collapse. We also realized the desire for isolation and avoidance of social contact. Suicide is desired and represents the end of the suffering in life. The depression has proved, still, very stigmatized, because it is discredited and misunderstood. The stigma also addressed to the experience of hospitalization and the unsuitability to the socially imposed standards of beauty, which generates enough suffering to the depressed person. The medication was described based on its positive effects, as a balance and suffering reducer, but also as a producer of dependence. Were also identified according to the collaborators, traces of selfdemand, ordenality and being-for-others, characteristic of typus melancholicus. This study contributes to an understanding of the depression that goes beyond the merely biological perspective and symptomatology of the pathology. The investigation of the depressive experience, through the lens of Heidegger's phenomenology, showed us the phenomenon of the depression in their singularity, complexity and multiple meanings, showing the close relationship between the formation of the depression and the context of personal and social life of the participants

Promoção da saúde: estratégias para a autonomia e qualidade de vida do sujeito com diabetes

O diabetes é uma doença crônico-degenerativa de grande prevalência na população mundial configurando-se enquanto sério problema de saúde pública. Por ser crônico exige dos sujeitos autocuidado e autogoverno longitudinal. A autonomia, por sua vez, é um direito fundamental e também um dos princípios da bioética mais discutidos na atualidade. Seu conceito é complexo e leva em conta a vida experimentada ao longo dos anos. Quando a discussão sobre autonomia se trata de diabetes, a dependência do outro e os conflitos no controle da doença, diante de novas regras e estilos de vida, nem sempre condizentes com os valores dos pacientes, torna-a fragilizada. Embora a autonomia seja claramente parte integrante do tratamento e alicerce para uma vida digna e de qualidade, observamos que os sujeitos se tornam ainda mais dependentes dos serviços de saúde, quando se deparam com o diagnóstico e não têm confiança para tomar suas próprias decisões diante da patologia limitadora. Por isso, há a necessidade dos serviços de atenção primária à saúde traçarem estratégias para promover a saúde desses sujeitos. Os Grupos de Promoção da Saúde são estratégias recentemente utilizadas para influenciar no nível de autonomia dos sujeitos, pois possibilitam, respeitando os limites éticos, a garantia de participação decisória no grupo, através de estratégias e treinamentos de habilidades com competências claramente definidas, que favorecem o empowerment e o protagonismo dos sujeitos. Desse modo, este trabalho objetiva identificar estratégias no âmbito da promoção da saúde na ESF, que contribuam para melhor autonomia e qualidade de vida dos sujeitos com diabetes mellitus, a partir de sua percepção. E, mais especificamente, analisar o perfil clínico e socioeconômico dos portadores de diabetes da ESF; identificar as experiências, necessidades e expectativas dos sujeitos com diabetes sobre autonomia, autocuidado e qualidade de vida; e realizar um levantamento em conjunto com os sujeitos com diabetes, sobre aspectos que sirvam de evidências para construção de propostas para implantação de um Grupo Estratégico de Promoção da Saúde GEPS, com foco na autonomia. Para isto, foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória descritiva de abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa, com 65 sujeitos com diabetes acompanhados por uma Unidade de Saúde da Família do Município de Santa Cruz/RN. A pesquisa foi realizada em três etapas interdependentes: 1) coleta de dados clínicos e socioeconômicos, para o qual foi utilizado entrevista estruturada e análise retrospectiva dos registros feitos em seu prontuário; 2) a análise das experiências, necessidades e expectativas dos sujeitos sobre autonomia, autocuidado e qualidade de vida, que se utilizou de entrevista semiestruturada com 6 sujeitos, sendo 3 com mais e 3 com menos complicações autorreferidas e verificadas no prontuário; e 3) a construção coletiva de propostas para melhor autonomia e qualidade de vida dos próprios participantes do estudo, por meio de roda de conversa. Para a análise dos dados utilizamos software de estatísticas simples para os dados das questões fechadas de cunho quantitativo e os dados qualitativos foram analisados através da análise de conteúdo. Observamos que o perfil clínico e socioeconômicos dos sujeitos com diabetes aproximam-se das estatísticas nacionais, embora existam variáveis, como cor da pele, com variação significativa. A autopercepção dos sujeitos diante de algumas complicações divergem de registros encontrados em seu prontuário o que aponta uma possível desvalorização de queixas como hipoglicemia e disfunção sexual, como também baixa adesão ao tratamento por, muitas vezes, não terem suas opiniões valorizadas. As categorias encontradas: vida, qualidade de vida, diagnostico e enfrentamento do problema, autonomia, limites e dependência assim como as práticas coletivas de promoção da saúde, apontam para a necessidade de estratégias por meio de grupos que considerem as crenças e valores dos sujeitos, favoreçam sua emancipação e torne-os protagonistas de sua própria história e de seu processo saúde doença. A autonomia é fundamental para o exercício da cidadania efetiva. É por meio dela que os sujeitos transformam sua realidade e a si mesmo. A contribuição desta pesquisa consiste em identificar estratégicas que se propõe a potencializar a autonomia dos sujeitos, através dos GEPS, norteando a atuação dos profissionais na atenção primária à saúde, que deve sustentarse em ações de prevenção e promoção da saúde e também no incentivo à participação popular e protagonismo dos sujeitos

Mulher não vale nem um real : patriarcado nas letras das músicas de forró

Patriarchy is a dominating system that establishes male power in social relations as the social-ideological system and the structuring element of several ways of men‟s domination on gender social relations, on organization of social life, on private relations, and on political decision spaces. In this study we enlarge our reflection about patriarchy from the analysis of Forró lyrics, more specifically the variation known as stylized. Of late decades, it is a kind of music that has been receiving a large acceptance all over the national territory, making use of everyday expressions that propagate and make apology to many forms of discrimination, oppression and violence against women. We emphasize that over this study 14 Forró lyrics were analyzed of different styles besides stylized, like the traditional and the double meaning ones. However, we dwelled on the content analysis, particularly in three Stylized Forró lyrics, they are: Tapa na Cara (2008) by Saia Rodada Band; Mulher Roleira (2004), Aviões do Forró Band; and Bomba no Cabaré (2007), Matruz com Leite Band. In order to make a critical analysis of the elements in the lyrics content, we support ourselves on the theoretic-methodological references of the dialectical materialism, a method that allowed us to get closer to the totality of the reality that includes the popular involvement of the analyzed lyrics in a qualitative way. In that sense, we hold onto the theoretic-methodological categories: gender social relations, patriarchy, violence against women, ideology and cultural industry. As from the lyrics compilation, they were arranged by theme, we classified and analyzed the content, which allowed us to comprehend the messages in the lyrics, beyond the text shows at first sight. Today, there are many mechanisms of propagation and perpetuation of patriarchal ideology. A very relevant mechanism of this phenomenon is the sexual violence. The violence against women is a form to propagate and keep sexism, which may occur in different ways, like physical, psychological, sexual, patrimonial and social. Through our study we established that the propagation of the violence against women as being something natural and banal, giving reinforcement to the asymmetric construction of gender relations that priorizes male to the detriment of female. This banalization is perhaps, one of the strongest allies of this phenomenon‟s perpetuation, that affects women all over the world from different social classes

O Serviço social nas organizações não-governamentais: tendências e particularidades

The present study is about the professional exercise of the Social Worker in ONGs associated with the ABONG in Natal city, state of Rio Grande do Norte, referring to the work conditions, claims and professional responses in front of the capital restructuration circumstances. The group of socio-historical transformations, as a result of the after-1970 dynamic capitalism, conducts a process of new configurations in the relationship between State and society that directly affect the social question nowadays, destroying social rights historically conquered for the workers. In this context, the ONGs assume a strategical social function of the social question, contributing with the change of responsibilities with the social from the State to the third sector. This social movement causes changes to the Social Work since this is one of the professions that act on the immediate expressions of the social question. After a qualitative research based on a theoricalmethodological critical and dialectical perspective, it was possible to discover some contradictions, details and tendencies of the professional exercise of the Social Worker in ONGs. Summarizing, the results of the research show that: a) it was detected a tendency of precarization, instability, insecurity, no-articulation, no-profissionalization of the professionals in the work conditions; b) demands are associated with a moment of the capital re-ordering, where new professional exigencies and responsibilities are related with capital necessities in the period of structural crisis; c) limits and contradictions are present in a professional daily work mainly in function of the characteristics of gestation and functioning of the ONGs; d) the professionals that were interviewed show significant difficulties in a articulation between the professional daily work in organizations and the totality of the social processes, limiting the capability of doing critics to the requisitions imposed by the capital

Uso das tecnologias na representação descritiva: o padrão de descrição bibliográfica semântica MarcOnt Initiative nos ambientes informacionais digitais

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A situação atual da indexação nas tarefas bibliotecárias

Na atualidade a atribuição dos descritores de assuntos ou indexação do conteúdo dos livros, nem sempre está associada ao contexto concreto de cada biblioteca, provocando, em muitos casos, que a recuperação por assuntos não resulte adequada. Neste trabalho analisam-se os principais desafios e perspectivas da indexação dos livros, os avanços de análises de assuntos nos catálogos de bibliotecas, examinam-se procedimentos, instrumentos, regras e condutas utilizadas nas análises e representação do conteúdo dos livros. Também se mostra a interação entre o ensino, a pesquisa e a atuação profissional necessária para que os estudantes possam desenvolver competências na análise, na representação e na procura da informação, assim como os princípios - provavelmente menos evidentes- da organização do conhecimento. Este trabalho coloca em evidência que as políticas de gestão da informação, mais quantitativas que qualitativas, deixam num segundo plano o processamento intelectual do conteúdo prejudicando, desta maneira, a recuperação por assuntos através do catalogo da biblioteca. Finalmente, se recolhe uma serie de propostas docentes relacionadas com a atribuição de descritores de assuntos em contextos bibliotecários.

Um monitor de metadados de QoS e QoC para plataformas de middleware

Context-aware applications are typically dynamic and use services provided by several sources, with different quality levels. Context information qualities are expressed in terms of Quality of Context (QoC) metadata, such as precision, correctness, refreshment, and resolution. On the other hand, service qualities are expressed via Quality of Services (QoS) metadata such as response time, availability and error rate. In order to assure that an application is using services and context information that meet its requirements, it is essential to continuously monitor the metadata. For this purpose, it is needed a QoS and QoC monitoring mechanism that meet the following requirements: (i) to support measurement and monitoring of QoS and QoC metadata; (ii) to support synchronous and asynchronous operation, thus enabling the application to periodically gather the monitored metadata and also to be asynchronously notified whenever a given metadata becomes available; (iii) to use ontologies to represent information in order to avoid ambiguous interpretation. This work presents QoMonitor, a module for QoS and QoC metadata monitoring that meets the abovementioned requirement. The architecture and implementation of QoMonitor are discussed. To support asynchronous communication QoMonitor uses two protocols: JMS and Light-PubSubHubbub. In order to illustrate QoMonitor in the development of ubiquitous application it was integrated to OpenCOPI (Open COntext Platform Integration), a Middleware platform that integrates several context provision middleware. To validate QoMonitor we used two applications as proofof- concept: an oil and gas monitoring application and a healthcare application. This work also presents a validation of QoMonitor in terms of performance both in synchronous and asynchronous requests

Redes sociais e comunidades virtuais para a preservação e transmissão das tradições gaúchas na Internet

Considerando a potencialidade apresentada pelas tecnologias de informação e comunicação na atualidade este estudo aponta as formas pelas quais grupos sociais mobilizados em torno de uma vinculação étnica podem se servir do aparato da Internet, em especial do World Wide Web, para divulgar aspectos de sua cultura e modo de vida. Trata-se de grupos dedicados ao ensino, transmissão, preservação e disseminação da tradição gaúcha vinculados aos Centros de Tradições Gaúchas (CTG). Especificamente, este artigo apresenta como os tradicionalistas gaúchos estabelecem suas redes sociais na Internet, constituindo comunidades virtuais em torno do tema cultura e tradição gaúcha, fazendo uso dos serviços da Web 2.0. Abordam-se neste estudo experiências que indicam que o terreno virtual é fértil e possível de transformar e revolucionar o campo das tradições, sua preservação, disseminação e (re)invenção. No contexto de modernidade tardia esse recurso não pode ser descartado. Independente da análise se situar no campo econômico, político ou cultural, entre tantos outros, o fato é que a Internet se constitui num meio eficaz e abrangente de transmitir, ensinar e preservar conteúdos de todos os tipos.

A produção do conhecimento e os centros de pesquisa: a trajetória do Cedec

No presente artigo, os autores desenvolvem temas que se destacam, na atualidade, a respeito do lugar das distintas instituições de produção de conhecimento. Consideram as novas modalidades de financiamento de pesquisa existentes e os novos padrões de avaliação e monitoramento de produção científica praticados por agências nacionais e internacionais.