Experiências de inverno no seridó potiguar

The knowledge known as "winter experiences" has been developed for centuries among country people in the Brazilian Northeast hinterlands. It consists in the systematic observation of the nature to forecast and protect people against the effects of droughts. This knowledge is transmitted orally through generations. These experiences are guided by the observation of the behavior of fauna, flora, stars, the weather in the holy days and other very specific aspects of the lives of country people. Almost all country people living in the rural area know at least one experience, but the Prophets of Rain are known as the communicators of winter prophecies formulated from the observation of the experiences. The country person is identified as a Prophet of Rain because of his close relationship with nature and his ability to forecast. No matter if the prophecies are always right, he possesses a vital social role, as his practices contribute to prevent, ease and encourage other people. The main aim of this work is to analyze the role of the winter experiences for the country people in the Seridó Potiguar. In this sense, we sought to understand to what extent this knowledge still orients the productive practices of farmers living in this region and identify which factors instigate the observation of winter experiences nowadays. 241 questionnaires were applied to farmers in the rural cities of Acari, Caicó, Parelhas and Lagoa Nova and interviews were conducted with 15 Prophets in the Seridó. The methodological framework of this work is the analysis of content proposed by Bardin (2010). In this study area, the experiences exert influence and relevance to the country people in the Seridó, because they consider them as a way to ease their anguishes face the possible drought in the region. The major role of the Prophet is to feed the hope of country people for better days, rather than contribute for the organization of the productive activities. Among the interviewed people, the forecast from the observation of winter experiences have greater credibility than the meteorological and disseminated by media. The Prophets of Rain base their prophecies on the set of natural elements present in the environment. Many factors stimulate the winter experiences by the Prophets nowadays, as cultural transmission, age, relationship with nature, level of education, faith, among others, but specially the productive activities (agriculture and cattle raising) and the droughts. The winter means abundance and happiness in this region and the experience is one of the ways that people find to minimize the anxiety and, according to their possibilities, to prepare for a year of droughts or for winter

Skating on Olympic ice: working with winter Olympians

Working as a sport psychologist with Olympic athletes requires a clear understanding of a broad range of multifaceted individual, group, situational, and environmental issues, all of which have the ability to impact upon performance. This article provides an overview of some of the common yet vital issues that have been observed to arise when working with Olympic Winter Games athletes and teams; what to expect, how to recognise them when they occur, and why they are important to prepare for in the context of supporting athletes to achieve the best performance they can at an Olympic Games. Aimed at the emerging sport psychology practitioner, discussion of issues such as performing under pressure, dealing with distractions, adjusting to external factors, team culture, and servicing models creates an informal set of “practical guidelines” based upon real-world experiences that can also be applied to other major sporting competitions.

Business Models for Cloud Computing: Experiences from Developing Modeling & Simulation as a Service Applications in Industry

The potential of cloud computing is gaining significant interest in Modeling & Simulation (M&S). The underlying concept of using computing power as a utility is very attractive to users that can access state-of-the-art hardware and software without capital investment. Moreover, the cloud computing characteristics of rapid elasticity and the ability to scale up or down according to workload make it very attractive to numerous applications including M&S. Research and development work typically focuses on the implementation of cloud-based systems supporting M&S as a Service (MSaaS). Such systems are typically composed of a supply chain of technology services. How is the payment collected from the end-user and distributed to the stakeholders in the supply chain? We discuss the business aspects of developing a cloud platform for various M&S applications. Business models from the perspectives of the stakeholders involved in providing and using MSaaS and cloud computing are investigated and presented.

Chemistry of aerosol particles and fog droplets during fall-winter season in the Po Valley

Air quality represents a key issue in the so-called pollution “hot spots”: environments in which anthropogenic sources are concentrated and dispersion of pollutants is limited. One of these environments, the Po Valley, normally experiences exceedances of PM10 and PM2.5 concentration limits, especially in winter when the ventilation of the lower layers of the atmosphere is reduced. This thesis provides a highlight of the chemical properties of particulate matter and fog droplets in the Po Valley during the cold season, when fog occurrence is very frequent. Fog-particles interactions were investigated with the aim to determine their impact on the regional air quality. Size-segregated aerosol samples were collected in Bologna, urban site, and San Pietro Capofiume (SPC), rural site, during two campaigns (November 2011; February 2013) in the frame of Supersito project. The comparison between particles size-distribution and chemical composition in both sites showed the relevant contribution of the regional background and secondary processes in determining the Po Valley aerosol concentration. Occurrence of fog in November 2011 campaign in SPC allowed to investigate the role of fog formation and fog chemistry in the formation, processing and deposition of PM10. Nucleation scavenging was investigated with relation to the size and the chemical composition of particles. We found that PM1 concentration is reduced up to 60% because of fog scavenging. Furthermore, aqueous-phase secondary aerosol formation mechanisms were investigated through time-resolved measurements. In SPC fog samples have been systematically collected and analysed since the nineties; a 20 years long database has been assembled. This thesis reports for the first time the results of this long time series of measurements, showing a decrease of sulphate and nitrate concentration and an increase of pH that reached values close to neutrality. A detailed discussion about the occurred changes in fog water composition over two decades is presented.

Scaffolding and bilingual shared reading experiences: Promoting primary school students' learning and development

This paper explores the connections between scaffolding, second language learning and bilingual shared reading experiences. A socio- cultural theory of cognition underpins the investigation, which involved implementing a language and culture awareness program (LCAP) in a year 4 classroom and in the school community. Selected passages from observations are used to analyse the learning of three students, particularly in relation to languages other than English (LOTE). As these three case study students interacted in the classroom, at home and in the community, they co-constructed, appropriated and applied knowledge form one language to another. Through scaffolding, social spaces were constructed, where students learning and development were extended through a variety of activities that involved active participation, such as experimenting with language, asking questions and making suggestions. Extending these opportunities for student learning and development is considered in relation to creating teaching and learning environments that celebrate socio-cultural and linguistic diversity.

Experiences with an Object-Oriented, Multi-Stage Language

Metaphor is a multi-stage programming language extension to an imperative, object-oriented language in the style of C# or Java. This paper discusses some issues we faced when applying multi-stage language design concepts to an imperative base language and run-time environment. The issues range from dealing with pervasive references and open code to garbage collection and implementing cross-stage persistence.