Estado nutricional de escolares do semi-árido do nordeste brasileiro

SILVA, João B. da et al. Estado Nutricional de Escolares do Semi-Árido do Nordeste Brasileiro. Revista de Salud Pública, v. 11, n. 1, p. 62-71, 2009.

Prevalence of biomicroscopic findings in the anterior segment and ocular adnexa among schoolchildren in Natal/Brazil

Objective: To determine the prevalence of ocular findings of the external structures and anterior segment of the eye, detected by biomicroscopic examination in schoolchildren in Natal (RN) - Brazil. Methods: After previous random selection, 1,024 pupils from elementary and secondary public and private schools in the city of Natal were evaluated from March to June 2001. All were submitted to preestablished standard research norms, consisting of identification, demographic information, ophthalmologic biomicroscopic examination, with slit lamp, performed by ophthalmologists from the “Onofre Lopes” University Hospital. Results: Alterations of the conjunctival and palpebral conditions were the most prevalent (10.4% and 6.2% respectively). Follicles (4.2%) and papillae (3.0%) were the frequent conjunctival lesions, while blepharitis (3.5%) and meibomitis (1.1%) were the most detected abnormalities in the eyelids. Upon examining the cornea, iris, lens and anterior vitreous, the most encountered findings were nubecula (0.5%), papillary membrane reliquiae (0.5%), posterior capsula opacity (0.8%) and hyaloid arteria reliquiae (2.0%). Conclusion: The most prevalent findings affecting the external structures of the eye such as eyelids and conjunctiva, consisted of blepharitis followed by follicular reaction of the conjunctiva. The most prevalent abnormalities in the cornea, iris, lens and anterior vitreous were nubecula, papillary membrane reliquiae, posterior capsular opacity and hyaloid arteria reliquiae, in that order

Avaliação da eficiência dos programas de pós-graduação acadêmicos em administração, contabilidade e turismo

The Triennial Evaluation of Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) is made according to several indicators, divided into several issues and items, and their weights. In these it is evident the importance of scientific periodicals. This study aims to evaluate the relative efficiency of post-graduate students in Business Administration, Accounting and tourism evaluated by CAPES in Brazil. The methodology used the data envelopment analysis - DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis). The data were obtained from the site and organized by the CAPES Qualis score. The analysis was performed by the DEA variable returns to scale, product-oriented (BCC-O), with data from the three-year periods 2004-2006 and 2007-2009. Among the main results are the average increase significantly the relative efficiency of the programs in the period 2007-2009 compared to 2004-2006 period, the highest average efficiency of programs linked to public institutions in relation to private, doctoral programs with the present average efficiency sharply higher than those only with masters, and senior programs in general were more efficient. There is also moderate and significant correlation between the efficiency scores and concepts CAPES. The Malmquist index analysis showed that more than 85% of programs had increased productivity. It is noteworthy that the main effect that influences the increase of the Malmquist index is the displacement of the border (Frontier-shift)

Eleição nas escolas: uma análise do impacto do diretor eleito sobre o desempenho educacional no Estado da Bahia

In Brazil, the selection of school principals is set in a decentralized manner by each state and city, such that processes may vary with time for a specific locality. In the state of Bahia, school principals were appointed by a higher political hierarchy until 2008, when schools under state administration started selecting principals by elections. The main goal of this work is to evaluate whether changing this specific rule affected students proficiency levels. This is achieved by using a panel data and difference-in-differences approachs that compares state schools (treatment group) to city schools (control group) that did not face a selection rule change and thus kept having their principals politically appointed. The databases used are Prova Brasil 2007, 2009 and 2011, the first one prior and the other two former to the policy change. Our results suggest that students attending schools with principals that are selected and elected have slightly lower mean proficiency levels both in mathematics and in portuguese exams than those attending schools with appointed principals. This result, according to the literature, could be related to perverse effects of selecting school administrators by vote, such as corporatism, clientelism and politicization of the school environment

Terrenos de marinha: terras públicas com função social? um estudo da orla marítima de natal

This work has as its theme the social function of terrenos de marinha. Theresearch universe is the terrenos de marinha of Natal coastline, focusing on thefulfillment of its social function. Prescribed by law since the colonial period with thepurpose of protecting the coast and free movement of people and goods, theywere swathes of land not available to private use by individuals. With the transitionfrom the allotments system to the purchase and sale, regard to land access,crystallized with the creation of the Land Law in the nineteenth century, the land isheld as merchandise and terrenos de marinha, following this logic, also acquireexchange value and become capable of enjoyment by private individuals, with thecondition of tax payments to the state. This is seen until the twentieth century,when in 1988, primarily because of the Federal Constitution promulgation, begins anew cycle when is possible to use on terrenos de marinha the principle of thesocial function of property. From this perspective this study aims to identify thesocial function of terrenos de marinha in Natal, focusing on the public destinationand the use value of the city coastline. To this end, it was made a data collection inthe on-line information system of the Federal Heritage Department of Rio Grandedo Norte (SPU / RN) and in the terrenos de marinha areas, in order to find out ifthey had public or private use, or if they were empty lots, as well as if thepopulation access to the shore exist. Interviews with managers of the SPU weremade. The empirical study showed that the social function of terrenos de marinhain the city of Natal still didn´t happen, considering the constant existence of vacantlots in their areas, the lack of access in significant portions of the coastline and thereduced areas directed to common use along the coastline, minimizing its potentialof enjoyment by the population. It concludes by pointing to the existence of a newtransition phase on the terrenos de marinha, in witch, gradually, come up lawprovisions in the legal system and public policies to expand the purely taxcollection function attributed to this land for two centuries. In this direction, thesocial function of terrenos de marinha is embodied in concomitant adjustment ofthe tax collection function and the rescue of coastline use value, national heritageand a place for sociability and social relations development

Aplicação da metodologia de planejamento de experimentos para formulação de massas cerâmicas para telhas

Rio Grande do Norte State stands out as one great producer of structural clay of the brazilian northeastern. The Valley Assu ceramic tiles production stands out obtained from ilitics ball clays that abound in the region under study. Ceramics formulation and the design of experiments with mixture approach, has been applied for researchers, come as an important aid to decrease the number of experiments necessary to the optimization. In this context, the objective of this work is to evaluate the effects of the formulation, temperature and heating rate in the physical-mechanical properties of the red ceramic body used for roofing tile fabrication of the Valley Assu, using design of mixture experiments. Four clays samples used in two ceramics industry of the region were use as raw material and characterized by X-ray diffraction, chemical composition, differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), particle size distribution analysis and plasticity techniques. Afterwards, they were defined initial molded bodies and made specimens were then prepared by uniaxial pressing at 25 MPa before firing at 850, 950 and 1050 ºC in a laboratory furnace, with heating rate in the proportions of 5, 10 e 15 ºC/min. The following tecnologicals properties were evaluated: linear firing shrinkage, water absorption and flexural strength. Results show that the temperature 1050 ºC and heating rate of 5 ºC/min was the best condition, therefore presented significance in all physical-mechanical properties. The model was accepted as valid based of the production of three new formulations with fractions mass diferents of the initial molded bodies and heated with temperature at 1050 ºC and heating rate of 5 ºC/min. Considering the formulation, temperature and heating rate as variables of the equations, another model was suggested, where from the aplication of design of experiments with mixtures was possible to get a best formulation, whose experimental error is the minor in relation to the too much formulations

Postura sentada: a eficácia de um programa de educação para escolares

Avaliação da eficácia de um programa de educação sobre o conhecimento relacionado à postura sentada de estudantes da 1ª série do ensino fundamental, na esfera estadual, particular e municipal, em Bauru. Foram avaliados (pré-teste) 71 alunos e depois aplicado um programa de educação sobre o tema, composto de aulas expositivas, técnicas de demonstração e feedback, associado a um programa de reforço ministrado por professoras treinadas e, finalmente, a reavaliação (pós-teste) dos conhecimentos dos participantes. Foi observado que: 1) no pré-teste ocorreu diferença significativa entre as escolas, sendo que a municipal apresentou menor número de erros do que a particular e a estadual; 2) o pós-teste mostrou que houve diferença significativa sendo que as escolas municipal e particular tiveram um menor número de erros em relação a estadual; 3) em todas as escolas houve predominância da situação de erro pré-teste maior que pós-teste. A escola estadual tem resposta mais freqüente que a particular quando há aumento de erro. Conclui-se que o programa se mostrou eficaz para aumentar os conhecimentos dos escolares a respeito da postura sentada.

Novas fronteiras petrolíferas no Brasil : uma análise da necessidade de nova regulamentação da área do pré-sal sob a ótica constitucional

The Oil industry in Brazil has gone through several stages during the economical, political and social historical process. However, the significative changes have happened in the last fifteen years, due to market opening arising from the relaxation of the state monopoly over the Oil deposits and its derivatives. The edition of the Constitutional Amendment #9, changing the first paragraph of the 177th item of the Federal Constitution, marked the end of a stiffness about the monopoly that the Brazilian state kept in relation to the exploration and research of Oil and Gas. The economical order was fundamental to actualize the idea contained in the #9 Amendment, since its contents has the power to set up measures to be adopted by public power in order to organize the economical relations from a social viewpoint. The new brazilian Oil scenery, called pre-salt, presents itself in a way to amaze the economical markets, in addition to creating a new perspective to the social sector. This work will identify, in this new scenario, the need for change in the legal system. Nevertheless, this subject must not be treated in a thoughtless way: being an exhaustible good, we shall not forget that the future generations also must benefit from the exploration of natural resources recently discovered. The settlement of a new regulatory mark, including the change in the concession contract model to production and sharing is one of the suggested solutions as a bill in the National Congress, in an attempt to ensure the sovereignty of the nation. The constitutionality of a new regulatory mark is questioned, starting from an analysis of the state monopoly, grounding the comprehnsions in the brazilian constitutions, the relevance of the creation of Petrobras for self-assertion of the state about the monopoly of Oil and derivatives, and its posture after the Constitutional Amendment nº 9 (1995), when a company stops having control of the state monopoly, beginning to compete in a fairly way with other companies. The market opening and private initiative are emphasized from the viewpoint of the Constitutional Principles of the Economical and Social Order. The relaxation of the monopoly regarding the exploratory activity in the Federal Constitution doesn't deprive from the Union the ownerships of underground goods, enabling to this federal entity to contract, directly or by concession of exploration of goods, to state-owned or private companies. The existing oil in the pre-salt layer transforms the scenario from very high risk to low risk, which gives the Union the possibility of defining another way of exploring this resources in the best interests of the Public Administration

Consumo familiar: efeitos da valorização do salário mínimo nas decisões de gasto das famílias brasileiras, nordestinas e potiguares, no período de 1995 a 2011

This research objectify to analyze the effects of minimum wage recovery in the household consumption in the Brazil, northeastern region of the Brazil and the state of the Rio Grande do Norte, in the period of 1995 to 2011. This is because the search for the strengthening of the internal market, via incentive policies to private demand has assumed prominence in the Government agenda. Thus, under the justification of the fierce debate about the effectiveness of countercyclical policies of Brazil, in view of the recent economic crisis, aims to: 1) retake the theoretical debate and, to a certain extent, the evolution of the theory of household consumption, as well as some conclusions about their connection with the minimum wage; 2) to describe the experiences and the effects of this legislation in economic history, with emphasis on the Brazilian case; 3) to present some of the available statistics to research bases, with attention to the specifics of each and the empirical results found for consumption in Brazil; 4) to estimate the effects of minimum wage variation in household consumption in Brazil (BR), northeast (NE) and Rio Grande do Norte (RN). From this, in order to quantify this relationship, makes inferences from the effects of the wage bill and the minimum wage on consumption, in quarterly series (with ad hoc adjustment from the "weights" of each quarter), from classic model of multiple linear regression. The hypothesis is that released: increments in income, derived from the policy of minimum wage recovery will influence directly the household consumption. However, when comparing the results between the units analyzed, the expressiveness of the northeastern families of Brazil and Rio Grande do Norte families front national dynamics with income linked to this floor, drives most significant impacts spending decisions in NE and RN, thus reducing regional disparities in the consumer. The results indicate contrary evidence, because while for the BR a unitary variation in minimum wage increases the consumption in units monetary 1.28, to the NE and RN these parameters are respectively 1.05 and 1.09

Educação ambiental: mediações sociais e políticas e a indolência do Poder Público à sua inclusão no ensino formal

As a result of the prediction of irreversible changes on necessary conditions to maintain life, including human, on the planet, environmental education got the spotlight in the political scenario, due to social pressure for the development of individual and collective values, knowledge, skills, attitudes and competences towards environmental preservation. In Brazil, only in 1999 the right for environmental education was officially granted to people, having the status of essential and permanent component in the country s education. Since then, it has been Government s duty, in each federal branch, to plan actions to make it happen, in an articulate way in all levels and modalities of the education process, both formally and informally. This work of research has environmental education in the school as subject matter, and aims on analyzing social and political mediations established between this National Environmental Education policy and the contexts associated to the legislative production process, the political nature of the conceptions about environmental education that underlie Law 9.795/99 (Brazil, 2009c) and also Rio Grande do Norte Government s actions and omissions related to the imperative nature of the insertion of environmental education in the schools ran by the state, during the ten years this law has been in force. The investigation of the subject matter was led by a social and historical understanding of the social and environmental phenomena, as well as of the education system as a whole, considering that only through a dialectical view we can see the real world, by destroying the pseudo-concreteness that surrounds the topic. While analyzing, we assumed that in face of the dominance of a social organization in which market regulations rule on environmental ones, by developing individual and collective critical conscience, environmental education can become a threat to dominant economical interests in exploiting natural resources. The results of this research suggest that as an educational practice to be developed in an integrated, continuous and permanent fashion in all levels and modalities of formal education, environmental education has not yet come to pass in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, due to the neglect and disrespect of the government when facing the need of promoting the necessary and legally appointed measures to make it present in the basic education provided by the state. The legislators silence when it comes to approving a regulation on environmental education essential to define policies, rules and criteria to teaching the subject in the state and the omission from the public administration regarding critical actions in order to integrate in public schools the activities related to the National Environmental Education Policy, represent a political decision for not doing anything, despite the legal demand for an active position. This neglecting attitude for the actualizing of strategically concrete actions, urgent and properly planned for the implementation of environmental education in schools in a multidisciplinary way, exposes the lack of interest the predominant classes have in such kind of education being made available, as it could be developed based on a critic political view, becoming a political and educational action against dominance. When analyzing the basic principles and fundamental goals in Law 9.795/99 (Brazil, 2009c) the development of a critic environmental education is really possible and concurs with the National Environmental Education Policy, reflecting the social and political mediations established between this public policy and the contexts associated to its legislative production process, which are responsible for approving a regulation which also represents the mind of the people about environmental protection above anything else

Potencialidades do uso do blog em educação.

This research is an interpretative analysis of the type participatory research, developed in a qualitative and quantitative use of the blog as a support to a specific discipline, in order to identify the potential evident from its use. The report discusses the changes that have occurred in contemporary society, relating to the development of information technologies and communication (ITC s), presents a brief review of the historical background of the Internet and its use as an aid to education, emphasizing some environments inserted media the Internet, focusing on the main blog - its concept, origin and categorization, and analyzes the concepts of using the blog from the dialogues with teachers and students of pedagogy course at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Started from the assumption that the use of technological resources, such as blogging, with strictly educational purposes, can extend the knowledge beyond the walls of the classroom, thus creating a dialogic and interactive environment. Using data collected through interviews, questionnaires and observation, we seek to understand the object of study as a supportive environment for the teaching of a subject, raising some theoretical and methodological questions about its application to educational practice, and possible contributions to the construction of knowledge. The results indicate that there are several capabilities that make the blog a space conducive to teaching and learning process, and relates the concepts of the study participants about their use, highlighting the most important places to be solved, so that teachers and students to take ownership of knowledge necessary for capacity building required by the contemporary social context, due to the advancement of science and technology.

Arquitetura inteligente fuzzy para monitoramento de sinais vitais de pacientes: um estudo de caso em UTI

The area of the hospital automation has been the subject a lot of research, addressing relevant issues which can be automated, such as: management and control (electronic medical records, scheduling appointments, hospitalization, among others); communication (tracking patients, staff and materials), development of medical, hospital and laboratory equipment; monitoring (patients, staff and materials); and aid to medical diagnosis (according to each speciality). This thesis presents an architecture for a patient monitoring and alert systems. This architecture is based on intelligent systems techniques and is applied in hospital automation, specifically in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the patient monitoring in hospital environment. The main goal of this architecture is to transform the multiparameter monitor data into useful information, through the knowledge of specialists and normal parameters of vital signs based on fuzzy logic that allows to extract information about the clinical condition of ICU patients and give a pre-diagnosis. Finally, alerts are dispatched to medical professionals in case any abnormality is found during monitoring. After the validation of the architecture, the fuzzy logic inferences were applied to the trainning and validation of an Artificial Neural Network for classification of the cases that were validated a priori with the fuzzy system

Controvérsias sobre a natureza da luz: uma aplicação didática

Researches in the field of Science Teaching have shown, in recent decades, that students from high school level have difficulties in understanding basic concepts of science, in general, and physics, in particular. The specific literature indicates, as a priority for a scientific education of better quality, a more structured understanding about science. This work proposes the introduction of elements of History and Philosophy of Science in high school as an aid to learning the concepts of optics, in general, and of aspects concerning the nature of science, specifically. Making use of historical episodes regarding the controversy on the nature of light, especially during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as clippings of the history of optics in relation to the development of models that explain the process of vision, we formulated a teaching unit and implemented it on two night high school classes of a public school in the city of Parnamirim (RN). The unit involved, primarily, the reading of three historical texts containing written questions followed by a collective debate ("moot"). The results indicated some difficulties in overcoming the misconceptions related to the process of vision and the nature of light. Nevertheless, we believe that the teaching unit has succeeded in relation to the learning of most students, both in relation to a better understanding of science as well as concepts of optics

Atividades experimentais no ensino de biologia em escolas públicas do estado do Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil: caracterização geral e concepção de professores

Recent research has revealed that the majority of Biology teachers believe the practice of experimental activities as a didactical means would be the solution for the improvement of the Biology teaching-learning process. There are, however, studies which signal the lack of efficiency in such practice lessons as far as building scientific knowledge is concerned. It is also said that despite the enthusiasm on the teachers‟ part, such classes are rarely taught in high school. Several studies point pedagogical difficulties as well as nonexistence of a minimal infrastructure needed in laboratories as cause of low frequency in experimental activities. The poor teacher performance in terms of planning and development of classes; the large number of students per class; lack of financial stimulus for teachers are other reasons to be taken into account among others, in which can also be included difficulties of epistemological nature. That means an unfavorable eye of the teacher towards experimental activities. Our study aimed to clarify if such scenario is generalized in high schools throughout the state of Rio Grande do Norte Brazil. During our investigation a sample of twenty teaching institutions were used. They were divided in two groups: in the first group, five IFRN- Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Norte schools. Two of those in Natal, and the other three from the country side. The second group is represented by fifteen state schools belonging to the Natal metropolitan area. The objectives of the research were to label schools concerning laboratory facilities; to identify difficulties pointed by teachers when performing experiment classes, and to become familiar with the conceptions of the teachers in regarding biology experiment classes. To perform such task, a questionnaire was used as instrument of data collecting. It contained multiple choice, essay questions and a semi-structured interview with the assistance of a voice recorder. The data analysis and the in loco observation allowed the conclusion that the federal schools do present better facilities for the practice of experimental activities when compared to state schools. Another aspect pointed is the fact that teachers of federal schools have more time available for planning the experiments; they are also better paid and are given access a career development, which leads to better salaries. All those advantages however, do not show a significantly higher frequency regarding the development of experiments when compared to state school teachers. Both teachers of federal and state schools pointed infra-structure problems such as the availability of reactants, equipments and consumption supplies as main obstacle to the practice of experiments in biology classes. Such fact leads us to conclude that maybe there are other problems not covered by the questionnaire such as poor ability to plan and execute experimental activities. As far as conceptions about experimental activities, it was verified in the majority of the interviewees a inductive-empiric point of view of science possibly inherited during their academic formation and such point of view reflected on the way they plan and execute experiments with students

Nutrition-related habits and associated factors of Brazilian adolescents

To investigate the nutrition-related habits (NRH) of Brazilian adolescents and evaluate the associations with risk factors.Cross-sectional school-based was carried out among high school adolescents aged 14-18 years (n = 1,759) from public and private schools from two cities. The NRH were investigated by the weekly consumption of vegetables, fruit, sweet food and fried food. Risk factors investigated were: city, sex, age, socioeconomic status and nutritional status. In statistics, Poisson regression was used with robust variance adjustment.Data indicated low consumption of fruits and vegetables, 70.0 and 71.0%, respectively, and high consumption of sweets and fried food, 66.7 and 63%, respectively. Boys showed risk of inadequate intake of vegetables [prevalence ratios (PR) 1.10, 95% CI 1.01-1.16] and fruit (PR 1.09, 95% CI 1.01-1.16). Furthermore, adolescents who live in Maringa had greater likelihood of consuming vegetables and fruit (20 and 25%, respectively). However, they presented risk of inadequate consumption of sweets (PR 1.19, 95% CI 1.11-1.28) for adolescents who live in Presidente Prudente.We concluded that inadequate NRH show high prevalence among adolescents and indicate the need to employ educational strategies that promote the adoption of more healthy habits and behaviors.