ANDES: an approach to embed search services on the Web browser

This article addresses search tasks, which are the most frequent type of tasks users do nowadays on the Web. We suggest that the customization of search services would improve the user’s searching experience, and it also might make search tasks more effective and efficient. We analyze user tasks for performing searches and types of search services. Then, we distinguish between primary search tasks (related to the initial user goal) and ancillary search tasks (those that are performed to find additional information necessary to understand how to achieve a primary search task). We also explain different types of search services, including global search services (which has an extensive search scope, possibly the whole Web) and in-site search services (which has a narrow scope of search focused on a specific Web site or data set). We also discuss features embedded into Web browsers to support search tasks and how Web browsers can support extensions allowing users to integrate customized search services. We propose an approach called ANDES that allows users to integrate into the Web browser new search services that are created by customizing search services offered by existing Web sites. By means of Web augmentation techniques, we demonstrate how users can customize the browser to trigger search services to any Web site and integrate the Web page results. We report on two evaluations showing that end-users can specify and use search services following our approach and that the proposed interaction is more convenient in contrast to traditional mechanisms. Beyond the tool used to demonstrate the feasibility of the ANDES approach, this paper aims to discuss new strategies for end-user programming that allow users to customize search services over the Web

Experimental Museology

Experimental Museology scrutinizes innovative endeavours to transform museum interactions with the world. Analysing cutting-edge cases from around the globe, the volume demonstrates how museums can design, apply and assess new modes of audience engagement and participation. Written by an interdisciplinary group of researchers and research-led professionals, the book argues that museum transformations must be focused on conceptualizing and documenting the everyday challenges and choices facing museums, especially in relation to wider social, political and economic ramifications. In order to illuminate the complexity of these challenges, the volume is structured into three related key dimensions of museum practice - namely institutions, representations and users. Each chapter is based on a curatorial design proposed and performed in collaboration between university-based academics and a museum. Taken together, the chapters provide insights into a diversity of geographical contexts, fields and museums, thus building a comprehensive and reflexive repository of design practices and formative experiments that can help strengthen future museum research and design. Experimental Museology will be of great value to academics and students in the fields of museum, gallery and heritage studies, as well as architecture, design, communication and cultural studies. It will also be of interest to museum professionals and anyone else who is interested in learning more about experimentation and design as resources in museums

Has Latin American Inequality Changed Direction?: Looking Over the Long Run

Development Economics; Economic Growth; Social Structure, Social Inequality; Political Economy; Latin American Cultur

Regional energy security : re-evaluating concepts and policies to promote energy integration in Mercosur

This thesis presents an overview of concepts and policies related to energy security and regional integration. Follows a proposal that energy planning in developing countries becomes regional, incorporating both social and environmental dimensions of energy. Focusing on Mercosur countries, including Venezuela (2012) and Bolivia (2015), a general comparative analysis is carried out, not only in quantitative and qualitative terms of the markets, but also of the physical infrastructure of the member countries (and of South America, as a whole). Then, comes an analysis of the role that regional institutions, such as Mercosur and UNASUR, have played in energy integration, showing that their contribution is very small. Next, a hybrid index (SEES index) is proposed to assess the evolution of Mercosur’s energy policies in the period 1990-2010. Follows the application of OSeMOSYS-SAMBA model to simulate four scenarios for the integration of the power sector, used to illustrate the case due to its relevance. Finally, we conclude that Mercosur’s energy integration should be promoted, since it reduces both the need to invest in the extansions of power supply and the socio-environmental impacts associated to electricity projects in the region.Esta tese realiza uma revisão de conceitos e políticas relacionadas à segurança energética e à integração regional. Dessa forma, propõe-se que o planejamento energético nos países em desenvolvimento seja regional, incorporando as dimensões social e ambiental da energia. Com foco nos países do Mercosul, considerando inclusive Venezuela (2012) e Bolívia (2015), faz-se uma análise comparada geral em termos quantitativos e qualitativos dos mercados e da infraestrutura física dos países do bloco (e da América do Sul, como um todo). Em seguida, analisa-se o papel que as instituições regionais, como o Mercosul e a UNASUL, desempenha na área de energia, mostrando que sua contribuição para a integração energética da região é muito pequena. A seguir, é proposto um índice híbrido (SEES index) para avaliar a evolução das políticas energéticas do Mercosul no período 1990-2010. Posteriormente, usa-se o modelo OSeMOSYSSAMBA para simular quatro cenários de integração regional do setor elétrico, escolhido como exemplo dada a sua relevância. Por fim, conclui-se que a integração energética do Mercosul deve ser promovida, uma vez que reduz a necessidade de ampliação da capacidade de geração de energia elétrica e os impactos socioambientais dos projetos na área de energia

Cities of Dreams and Despair: Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary Brazilian Film and Literature

This dissertation employs a theoretical framework rooted in utopian studies to examine the role of utopia, dystopia, and related concepts in literary and cinematic depictions of Bras�lia and S�o Paulo since 1980. By centering the concept of utopianism, understood broadly as “social dreaming,” this project departs from idealized or mythologized representations of Brazil and focuses instead on hopeful imagination. Though national cultural production long reflected optimistic myths about Brazil and its territory, the military dictatorship of 1964-1985 heralded a turn towards pessimism and dystopian aesthetics. Brazilian artists of the current, democratic period negotiate these dual legacies in a predominantly urban society during an era of global skepticism about utopia. While references to Brazil and its cities as utopian or dystopian abound in recent criticism, this dissertation is among the first projects to analyze contemporary cultural production through the lens of utopian studies. Consequently, the primary objectives of this study include surveying the role of utopianism and correlated concepts in recent film and literature, identifying trends among the included works, and considering techniques used to evoke these concepts.My choice of focal cities facilitates comparative analysis of the influence of local history, culture, geography, and urbanism on utopian thought. Whereas Bras�lia remains closely tied to both utopian yearning and dystopia, critics rarely associate S�o Paulo explicitly with either concept despite the megacity’s simultaneous embodiment of wealth, dynamism, chaos, and division. The selected texts representing both cities most often respond to a shared baseline of disillusionment with cautious hopefulness. Allegorical and realist dystopian aesthetics remain influential, as does the limited, critical desire outlined in Haroldo de Campos’s theory of post-utopian poetry. Few texts embrace a fatalistic, anti-utopian outlook, while hopeful perspectives breaking meaningfully with the status quo are likewise uncommon. The Federal District is a more frequent site of radical utopianism as authors and filmmakers draw from Bras�lia’s history of revolutionary aspiration, whereas such ambition is almost entirely absent from the included works centered on S�o Paulo. Despite this divergence, however, texts using dystopia or post-utopia to critique specific social or ideological phenomena predominate among the included representations of both cities

Public health interventions to promote oral health and well-being in patients with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review

Background and objective: Poor oral health and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are chronic conditions affecting a wide proportion of the population. Both conditions share many risk factors and are linked by a chronic inflammation state. This review aimed at identifying public health interventions that could promote oral health and diabetes control in patients with poor oral health and T2DM. Methods: The systematic review was performed according to the PRISMA Statement and registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO registration: CRD42022310974). Seven electronic databases were searched (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Cochrane Library) from inception to 21 January 2022, and additional hand searching was performed across reviews’ references. A qualitative analysis was conducted, including all primary studies on diabetic patients, about interventions whose effectiveness and/or feasibility was measured for at least one outcome related to oral health or T2DM. Results: Of the 3153 records obtained after deduplication, 89 studies were considered eligible for inclusion. The most frequently evaluated outcomes were HbA1c and fasting glucose for T2DM, and parameters such as probing depth, bleeding on probing and clinical attachment loss for periodontitis. Most studies assessed the use of non-surgical periodontal treatment (especially scaling and root planing, sometimes corroborated by antibiotics): evidence confirmed effectiveness on periodontal parameters, but was more contrasting regarding T2DM outcomes. Three studies evaluated interventions involving group education for lifestyle modification, which showed to be effective on both outcomes. Also, community-based oral hygiene interventions and glycaemic control appeared to improve T2DM and periodontal outcomes. Conclusions: A variety of interventions are described in the literature. Of those included in this review, many indicated that there is a potential opportunity to promote good oral health alongside T2DM. An integrated approach involving health education, oral hygiene and glycaemic control may offer synergic improvement of both conditions