The First Provenance Challenge

The first Provenance Challenge was set up in order to provide a forum for the community to understand the capabilities of different provenance systems and the expressiveness of their provenance representations. To this end, a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging workflow was defined, which participants had to either simulate or run in order to produce some provenance representation, from which a set of identified queries had to be implemented and executed. Sixteen teams responded to the challenge, and submitted their inputs. In this paper, we present the challenge workflow and queries, and summarise the participants contributions.

Recycling workflows and services through discovery and reuse

Scientific workflows are becoming a valuable tool for scientists to capture and automate e-Science procedures. Their success brings the opportunity to publish, share, reuse and repurpose this explicitly captured knowledge. Within the myGrid project, we have identified key resources that can be shared including complete workflows, fragments of workflows and constituent services. We have examined the alternative ways these can be described by their authors (and subsequent users), and developed a unified descriptive model to support their later discovery. By basing this model on existing standards, we have been able to extend existing Web Service and Semantic Web Service infrastructure whilst still supporting the specific needs of the e-Scientist. myGrid components enable a workflow life-cycle that extends beyond execution, to include discovery of previous relevant designs, reuse of those designs, and subsequent publication. Experience with example groups of scientists indicates that this cycle is valuable. The growing number of workflows and services mean more work is needed to support the user in effective ranking of search results, and to support the repurposing process.

Provenance: The Bridge Between Experiments and Data

Current scientific applications are often structured as workflows and rely on workflow systems to compile abstract experiment designs into enactable workflows that utilise the best available resources. The automation of this step and of the workflow enactment, hides the details of how results have been produced. Knowing how compilation and enactment occurred allows results to be reconnected with the experiment design. We investigate how provenance helps scientists to connect their results with the actual execution that took place, their original experiment and its inputs and parameters.

Combining Satellite And Gauge Precipitation Data With Co-Kriging Method For Jakarta Region

Jakarta is vulnerable to flooding mainly caused by prolonged and heavy rainfall and thus a robust hydrological modeling is called for. A good quality of spatial precipitation data is therefore desired so that a good hydrological model could be achieved. Two types of rainfall sources are available: satellite and gauge station observations. At-site rainfall is considered to be a reliable and accurate source of rainfall. However, the limited number of stations makes the spatial interpolation not very much appealing. On the other hand, the gridded rainfall nowadays has high spatial resolution and improved accuracy, but still, relatively less accurate than its counterpart. To achieve a better precipitation data set, the study proposes cokriging method, a blending algorithm, to yield the blended satellite-gauge gridded rainfall at approximately 10-km resolution. The Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP, 0.1⁰×0.1⁰) and daily rainfall observations from gauge stations are used. The blended product is compared with satellite data by cross-validation method. The newly-yield blended product is then utilized to re-calibrate the hydrological model. Several scenarios are simulated by the hydrological models calibrated by gauge observations alone and blended product. The performance of two calibrated hydrological models is then assessed and compared based on simulated and observed runoff.

Workflows in Paradise: E-books, Acquisitions, and Cataloging

This article explores libraries’ technical workflow design and strategic considerations as various e-books business models and mobile devices and their management become a growing part of the information landscape.

Independência entre aplicações e processos modelados

O presente trabalho expõe uma análise sobre duas arquiteturas disponíveis para o desenvolvimento de sistemas que utilizam a tecnologia de workflow. Estas arquiteturas são: a Arquitetura Baseada em Modelagem e Execução em um ùnico Ambiente e a Arquitetura Baseada em Modelagem e Execução e Ambientes Distintos. São expostas: características, vantagens e desvantagens destas arquiteturas. A Aquitetura Baseada em Modelagem e Expressões em Ambientes Distintos é analisada em seu principal ponto negativo: a falta de independência existente entre as apliciações e os processos modelados, bem como são discutidos os problemas que esta falta de independência gera no desenvolvimemto e manutenção das aplicações. Uma alternativa à dependência entre o motor de workflow (engine) e as aplicações é proposta para a Arquitetura Baseada na Modelagem e Execução em Ambientes Distintos. Esta proposta é baseada em um modelo que consiste de uma Camada Intermediária, armazenada em um banco de dados relacional, capaz de extender as funcionalidades do motor de workflow. Este banco de dados armazena toda a estrrutura dos processos modelados, sendo responsável pela função que atualmente é repassada às aplicações: o controle da lógica dos processos. Estes trabalho produziu de uma Camada Intermediária, dividida em Camada de Independência (suportando a independência) e Camada de Integrgação (responsável pela comunicação com o motor de workflow). O estudo apresentada as estruturas do banco de dados, as funções disponibilizadas pela API da Camada Intermediária e um pequeno protótipo para dedmonstrar a arquitetura proposta.

Qualidade em Ambiente de Burocracia: O caso da Justiça Federal do Estado do Amazonas

The necessity to be efficient and effective has long shifted from the private to the public sector. New philosophies have appeared with the aim to supply better performance in both private and public organisms. One of those theories is Quality. It stresses that people who are part of an organisation must realise that they are customers and suppliers within a workflow. The aim of this study was to identify to what extent quality theory can be found in bureaucratic management. The hypothesis was that, despite of the Federal Justice in Amazonas State ─ JF-AM ─ being a bureaucratic organisation, quality parameters are present in the tasks conduction and practice execution. This study was descriptive and explicative. It was a case with bibliographical and field research. As for the means, this research was limited due to both a reduced bibliographical archive pertaining to the comparison between bureaucratic and quality theories, and the uncertainty about the veracity from the questionnaires answers to be answered by members of the sample organisation, the JF-AM. Another limitation factor was the fact that the sample organisation is under the federal judiciary power which excluded views from a State and municipal orbit and from other areas of public power, such as the legislative and the executive. Therefore it seems interesting to gather from this locus another view of quality, mainly as reforms to the judiciary system are in question, which lent a special meaning to this research. The final conclusion was that quality parameters were found in the bureaucratic sample organisation.

Qualidade em ambiente de burocracia: o caso da Justiça Federal do Estado do Amazonas

The necessity to be efficient and effective has long shifted from the private to the public sector. New philosophies have appeared with the aim to supply better performance in both private and public organisms. One of those theories is Quality. It stresses that people who are part of an organisation must realise that they are customers and suppliers within a workflow. The aim of this study was to identify to what extent quality theory can be found in bureaucratic management. The hypothesis was that, despite of the Federal Justice in Amazonas State ─ JF-AM ─ being a bureaucratic organisation, quality parameters are present in the tasks conduction and practice execution. This study was descriptive and explicative. It was a case with bibliographical and field research. As for the means, this research was limited due to both a reduced bibliographical archive pertaining to the comparison between bureaucratic and quality theories, and the uncertainty about the veracity from the questionnaires answers to be answered by members of the sample organisation, the JF-AM. Another limitation factor was the fact that the sample organisation is under the federal judiciary power which excluded views from a State and municipal orbit and from other areas of public power, such as the legislative and the executive. Therefore it seems interesting to gather from this locus another view of quality, mainly as reforms to the judiciary system are in question, which lent a special meaning to this research. The final conclusion was that quality parameters were found in the bureaucratic sample organisation.

Psicodrama: uma mudança no discurso

Este trabalho mostra a relação entre psicodrama e linguagem. A oposição posta por Moreno entre a ação e a fala não pareceu convincente. Em todo o seu trabalho, encontramos referências à ação que podem ser compreendidas sob o título mais geral de linguagem. Partimos da retrospectiva histórica do psicodrama, suas conexões com o teatro, as modificações, ligações com outras teorias. A teoria dos papéis é da maior importância. O papel é a linguagem em ação. Com o relato de uma experiência pública de trabalho psicodramático, pretendemos mostrar a possibilidade de lidar com vários referenciais teóricos já que podem ser vinculados pelas diferentes funções da linguagem. Na própria prática do psicodrama estamos lidando mesmo é com linguagem, e a relação entre o significado e sua expressão.

Permanência de alunos nos cursos presenciais e a distância em Administração: contribuições para a gestão acadêmica

A educação a distância vem ganhando destaque nos últimos anos em função da capacidade de expansão do ensino superior e também por incluir um grupo de pessoas que, de outra forma, não poderia realizar uma graduação. O objetivo dessa pesquisa é identificar as variáveis que influenciam o processo de permanência dos alunos de Administração, comparando resultados das modalidades presencial e a distância, tomando como caso a Universidade Estadual do Maranhão (Uema). Como principal referencial teórico do presente estudo, escolheu-se o Modelo de Integração do Estudante de Tinto (1975), considerado como a primeira proposta academicamente reconhecida de determinação das variáveis que intervém no processo de evasão e permanência de alunos em um curso de graduação. Um dos componentes do modelo despertou o interesse de comparação entre as duas modalidades (presencial e a distância) de forma especial, qual seja: a integração social, decorrente das interações discentes e docentes, que em geral são pouco exploradas nos estudos empíricos. O método definido para o estudo foi de caráter descritivo e base qualitativa. A submissão do conjunto de variáveis observadas na literatura a uma análise de juízes resultou na definição de três principais Dimensões e 60 Componentes, a saber: (1) Perfil do aluno; (2) Estar-em-rede; e (3) Condições para a permanência. Essas variáveis compuseram o quadro de análise de conteúdo categorial, resultante da aplicação de múltiplos instrumentos de coleta de dados (dois questionários e uma entrevista em profundidade), que foram utilizados na triangulação com dados secundários obtidos no próprio Enade (2009). Como contribuição teórica da presente tese, aponta-se a possibilidade de integração das três visões filosóficas: Cognitivismo, Construtivismo e Conectivismo que se interrelacionam na gestão acadêmica de cursos superiores pela unicidade da educação vislumbrada pelo blended learning como tendência futura para a educação superior. Outras contribuições são apresentadas em relação aos componentes: atributos individuais, trabalho e estágio, contexto familiar, escolaridade anterior, uso das TICs, interação docente e discente, compromisso pessoal e institucional e integração acadêmica.

Defining leadership in China: a literature review – how is leadership defined in China by scholars based on a review of published researches since 2000?

A partir do ano de 2000, o processo de internacionalização da China se intensificou e tornou ainda mais visível as diferenças culturais diante das perspectivas Ocidentais. Uma delas é a divergência entre as práticas de gestão e liderança. Baseada em uma revisão de literatura de 234 artigos publicados em periódicos com fator de impacto acima de 1.0, esta dissertação identifica como estudiosos definem liderança na China desde 2000 até hoje. Os resultados podem ser divididos em três grupos: perspectiva das Teorias Ocidentais, perspectiva das Teorias Orientais e perspectiva teorias combinadas onde os Estudos Interculturais e a Liderança Transformacional dominaram as perspectivas adotadas pelos pesquisadores (estes incluídos no grupo de perspectiva das Teorias Ocidentais). Na perspectiva das Teorias Orientais, o Confucionismo e o Guanxi foram os mais citados. Enquanto na perspectiva das Teorias Combinadas, Confucionismo e o Guanxi foram misturados com várias Teorias Ocidentais. Portanto, embora haja uma forte cultura local, a perspectiva mais adotada pelos periódicos internacionais e estudiosos para olhar a e analisar a liderança na China foram os Estudos Interculturais e a Liderança Transformacional.

Processos de gerenciamento de projetos de gestão: uma análise comparativa com o guia PMBOK

O objetivo deste trabalho é identificar e descrever os processos de gerenciamento dos projetos de ajuste na estrutura organizacional, processos e governança de uma grande empresa brasileira. Os processos de gerenciamento de projetos são o encadeamento das ações e atividades que permitem atingir os objetivos do projeto, constituindo o objeto de estudo do Guia PMBOK e outras bases de conhecimento em gestão de projetos. A pesquisa identificou e descreveu o fluxo de gerenciamento dos projetos de gestão de uma das gerências da Empresa “X” a partir de análise documental, entrevistas e observação participativa. Os resultados foram analisados à luz do referencial teórico sobre processos de gerenciamento de projetos, processos de gerenciamento “front-end” e governança de projetos. A pesquisa concluiu que, comparado ao processo de gerenciamento previsto no Guia PMBOK, o gerenciamento dos projetos de gestão analisados coloca ênfase relativamente maior nos processos que antecedem o início formal do projeto (processos front-end), responsáveis por garantir seu alinhamento aos direcionadores e variáveis organizacionais.

Transparent access to relational, autonomous and distributed databases using semantic web and service oriented technologies

With the constant grow of enterprises and the need to share information across departments and business areas becomes more critical, companies are turning to integration to provide a method for interconnecting heterogeneous, distributed and autonomous systems. Whether the sales application needs to interface with the inventory application, the procurement application connect to an auction site, it seems that any application can be made better by integrating it with other applications. Integration between applications can face several troublesome due the fact that applications may not have been designed and implemented having integration in mind. Regarding to integration issues, two tier software systems, composed by the database tier and by the “front-end” tier (interface), have shown some limitations. As a solution to overcome the two tier limitations, three tier systems were proposed in the literature. Thus, by adding a middle-tier (referred as middleware) between the database tier and the “front-end” tier (or simply referred application), three main benefits emerge. The first benefit is related with the fact that the division of software systems in three tiers enables increased integration capabilities with other systems. The second benefit is related with the fact that any modifications to the individual tiers may be carried out without necessarily affecting the other tiers and integrated systems and the third benefit, consequence of the others, is related with less maintenance tasks in software system and in all integrated systems. Concerning software development in three tiers, this dissertation focus on two emerging technologies, Semantic Web and Service Oriented Architecture, combined with middleware. These two technologies blended with middleware, which resulted in the development of Swoat framework (Service and Semantic Web Oriented ArchiTecture), lead to the following four synergic advantages: (1) allow the creation of loosely-coupled systems, decoupling the database from “front-end” tiers, therefore reducing maintenance; (2) the database schema is transparent to “front-end” tiers which are aware of the information model (or domain model) that describes what data is accessible; (3) integration with other heterogeneous systems is allowed by providing services provided by the middleware; (4) the service request by the “frontend” tier focus on ‘what’ data and not on ‘where’ and ‘how’ related issues, reducing this way the application development time by developers.

Os embates entre ciência e política na experiência parlamentar de Josué de Castro

This study want to know how Josué de Castro, the two terms of a congressman, participated in the Brazilian political-ideological debate of the 1950s. For this, search the 61 speeches in the plenary of the House of Representatives and its 14 projects, analyzing them as historical documents that describe an experience, which enables the central category amalgamated the subject and his time, which breaks up the possibilities of new social practices. Unity of action and reflection, the experience of Castro in the Brazilian parliament has got on the basis of a previous flow experiences in the political-institutional and scientific. Together with the personal history, the political intellectual scenario of his time was another variable considered in the first chapter of this work. In the second chapter did an analysis of 32 speeches and projects of the first term of Josué de Castro, grouping them by thematic affinities. The 43 for the second term were discussed in the third chapter, leaving the final considerations answer the research objectives: What are the main interlocutors? What are your political positions? What are the points of rupture and continuity in his political career? Josué de Castro spoke to the Brazilian state directly to the president, some ministers and to the SUDENE, the ONU appears indirectly through the reports of his participations. His political position was a national-developmentalist who embraced the cause of self-determination of the countries, anti-imperialism, agrarian reform and regional planning, strongly inspired by Celso Furtado and San Tiago Dantas. Castro often has blended a liberal and Marxist terminology, relying on different ideologies to do support his fight against hunger

Chemical Composition of Lipids Present in Cat and Dog Oocyte by Matrix-Assisted Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry (MALDI- MS)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)