A privatização do ensino superior em enfermagem no Brasil: perfil, desafios e tendências

Objective: this study aims to analyze and characterize the movement of expansion of Nursing undergraduate courses in Brazil since the 1990s. The characteristics of this expansion are discussed, as well as the socio-political setting where such movement occurred, and the quality of education available based on the data collected. Method: this is a descriptive and cross-sectional study with a quali-quantitative approach, with the use of secondary databases. Results: an accelerated and disordered growth of Nursing undergraduate courses was identified, as well as the number of vacancies, especially due to the participation of the private sector, especially since the year 2000. Geographical inequalities in the distribution of these courses and vacancies were also identified. Conclusion: the strong expansion of higher education in Nursing, along with other health professions, resulted in the strengthening of private higher education institutions associated with economic groups, regional concentration, as well as the excessive offer of distance learning without adequate evaluation of its quality or repercussions.Objetivo: o presente estudo visa analisar e caracterizar o movimento de expansão dos cursos de graduação de enfermagem no Brasil a partir dos anos 90. Discutem-se as características desta expansão, o cenário sócio-político em que ocorreu tal movimento, bem como a qualidade do ensino disponível com base nos dados coletados. Método: trata-se de um estudo descritivo, transversal e de abordagem quali-quantitativa, com o uso de bases de dados secundárias. Resultados: foi identificado um crescimento acelerado e desordenado dos cursos de graduação em enfermagem, bem como do número de vagas, devido especialmente à participação do setor privado, em especial a partir do ano 2000. Desigualdades geográficas na distribuição desses cursos e vagas também foram identificadas. Conclusão: a forte expansão do ensino superior em enfermagem, ao lado de outras profissões de saúde, resultou no fortalecimento de instituições privadas de ensino superior associadas a grupos econômicos, na concentração regional, bem como na oferta excessiva da modalidade de ensino a distância sem avaliação adequada de sua qualidade ou repercussões.Objetivo: el presente estudio tiene como objetivo analizar y caracterizar el movimiento de expansión de las carreras de grado en enfermería en Brasil a partir de la década del 90. Se discuten las características de esta expansión, el escenario sociopolítico en el que ocurrió este movimiento, así como la calidad de la educación disponible según los datos recopilados. Método: se trata de un estudio descriptivo, transversal con enfoque cualitativo y cuantitativo, utilizando bases de datos secundarias. Resultados: se identificó un crecimiento acelerado y desordenado de las carreras de licenciatura en enfermería, así como el número de cupos, debido fundamentalmente a la participación del sector privado, especialmente a partir del año 2000. También se identificaron desigualdades geográficas en la distribución de las carreras y los cupos. Conclusión: la fuerte expansión de la educación superior en enfermería, junto con otras profesiones de la salud, favoreció el fortalecimiento de las instituciones privadas de educación superior asociadas a grupos económicos, la concentración regional y la oferta excesiva de educación a distancia sin la correcta evaluación de calidad o de las repercusiones

Compositional analysis of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) peduncle bagasse ash and its in vitro antifungal activity against Fusarium species

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is a plant with a highly social and economic importance in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Cashew peduncle bagasse is one of the greatest sources of residues (90–94%) produced by the cashew agronomic industry. In this study, we prepared cashew peduncle bagasse ash and submitted it to compositional analysis and in vitro tests for antifungal activity against Fusarium species. This analysis indicated a crystallinity of around 73%, corresponding to the following soluble phases: potassium bicarbonate - KHCO3 (39.54%), potassium sulfate - K2SO4 (24.87%), and struvite-K - MgKPO4·6H2O (8.59%). The amorphous phases (around 27%) were identified as the insoluble fraction of the ash. The solution showed high antifungal activity against F. oxysporum, F. moniliforme and F. lateritium. The activity of this product was greater than that of Cercobin® (thiophanate-methyl), indicating that this material could possibly be used as a non-toxic antifungal agent.(Análise da composição das cinzas do bagaço do pedúnculo do cajú (Anacardium occidentale L.) e sua atividade antifúngica in vitro contra espécies de Fusarium.). O Cajueiro (Anacardium occidentale L.) é uma planta com uma grande importância social e econômica no Nordeste do Brasil. O bagaço do pedúnculo do caju é uma das maiores fontes de resíduos (90-94%) produzidos pela indústria cajueira. Neste estudo, foram preparadas cinzas do bagaço e submetidas à análise da composição e a testes de atividade antifúngica in vitro contra espécies de Fusarium. Esta análise indicou uma cristalinidade em torno de 73%, correspondendo às seguintes fases solúveis: bicarbonato de potássio - KHCO3 (39,54%), sulfato de potássio - K2SO4 (24,87%), e estruvita-K - MgKPO4 • 6H2O (8,59%). As fases amorfas (cerca de 27%) foram identificadas como a fração insolúvel de cinzas. A solução apresentou alta atividade antifúngica contra F. oxysporum, F. moniliforme e F. lateritium. Sua ação foi maior do que o Cercobin® (tiofanato metílico), indicando uma possível utilização como um agente antifúngico não tóxico

The Grasping Side of Odours

Background: Research on multisensory integration during natural tasks such as reach-to-grasp is still in its infancy. Crossmodal links between vision, proprioception and audition have been identified, but how olfaction contributes to plan and control reach-to-grasp movements has not been decisively shown. We used kinematics to explicitly test the influence of olfactory stimuli on reach-to-grasp movements. Methodology/Principal Findings: Subjects were requested to reach towards and grasp a small or a large visual target (i.e., precision grip, involving the opposition of index finger and thumb for a small size target and a power grip, involving the flexion of all digits around the object for a large target) in the absence or in the presence of an odour evoking either a small or a large object that if grasped would require a precision grip and a whole hand grasp, respectively. When the type of grasp evoked by the odour did not coincide with that for the visual target, interference effects were evident on the kinematics of hand shaping and the level of synergies amongst fingers decreased. When the visual target and the object evoked by the odour required the same type of grasp, facilitation emerged and the intrinsic relations amongst individual fingers were maintained. Conclusions/Significance: This study demonstrates that olfactory information contains highly detailed information able to elicit the planning for a reach-to-grasp movement suited to interact with the evoked object. The findings offer a substantia

The complete genome sequence of Chromobacterium violaceum reveals remarkable and exploitable bacterial adaptability

Chromobacterium violaceum is one of millions of species of free-living microorganisms that populate the soil and water in the extant areas of tropical biodiversity around the world. Its complete genome sequence reveals (i) extensive alternative pathways for energy generation, (ii) ≈500 ORFs for transport-related proteins, (iii) complex and extensive systems for stress adaptation and motility, and (iv) wide-spread utilization of quorum sensing for control of inducible systems, all of which underpin the versatility and adaptability of the organism. The genome also contains extensive but incomplete arrays of ORFs coding for proteins associated with mammalian pathogenicity, possibly involved in the occasional but often fatal cases of human C. violaceum infection. There is, in addition, a series of previously unknown but important enzymes and secondary metabolites including paraquat-inducible proteins, drug and heavy-metal-resistance proteins, multiple chitinases, and proteins for the detoxification of xenobiotics that may have biotechnological applications

Formal verification of diagnosability via symbolic model checking

This paper addresses the formal verification of diagnosis systems. We tackle the problem of diagnosability: given a partially observable dynamic system, and a diagnosis system observing its evolution over time, we discuss how to verify (at design time) if the diagnosis system will be able to infer (at runtime) the required information on the hidden part of the dynamic state. We tackle the problem by looking for pairs of scenarios that are observationally indistinguishable, but lead to situations that are required to be distinguished. We reduce the problem to a model checking problem. The finite state machine modeling the dynamic system is replicated to construct such pairs of scenarios; the diagnosability conditions are formally expressed in temporal logic; the check for diagnosability is carried out by solving a model checking problem. We focus on the practical applicability of the method. We show how the formalism is adequate to represent diagnosability problems arising from a significant, real-world application. Symbolic model checking techniques are used to formally verify and incrementally refine the diagnosability conditions.

A Formal IDE for Railways: Research Challenges

The development of modern railways applications must be supported by trusted tools, able to cover the whole development process. In this paper we report on the research challenges underlying a comprehensive toolset for the design of computer-based interlocking systems. Following a VV development process, the framework adopts a clear separation between the abstract interlocking logic and the instantiations characterizing the single stations. The challenges include the definition of adequate specification languages, the generation of executable code and simulation infrastructure, traceability, test case generation, and formal verification

Model-Based Design of an Energy-System Embedded Controller Using Taste

Model-based design has become a standard practice in the development of control systems. Many solutions provide simulation, code generation, and other functionalities to minimize the design time and optimize the resulting control system implementation. In this paper, we report on the experience of using Taste as the design environment for the controller of an energy system comprising a parabolic dish collector and a Stirling engine. Besides standard advantages of model-based design, an appealing feature of Taste is the possibility of specifying the design model with a formal language such as SDL. The complexity of the designed system stressed the tool’s performances and usability. Nevertheless, the functionalities provided by Taste were essential to manage such complexity

COMPASTA: Integrating COMPASS Functionality into TASTE

TASTE is a tool chain dedicated to the design and implementation of embedded, real-time systems, developed under the initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA). It consists of various tools, which support model-based design of embedded systems, automatic code generation, deployment and simulation. TASTE is based on several specification languages, in particular it uses AADL for the architectural design, whereas the behavior of SW components can be specified in SDL and other languages. TASTE currently lacks a comprehensive support for performing early verification and assessment of the design models. COMPASTA is an ESA study that aims at filling this gap, by integrating into TASTE the formal verification functionality of COMPASS, a tool for model-based HWSW co-Engineering developed in a series of ESA studies. COMPASTA extends TASTE by providing the possibility to model the behavior of HW components using SLIM, a dialect of AADL supported by COMPASS. Moreover, it offers capabilities such as library-based specification of HW faults, automatic fault injection, contract-based design, functional verification and safety assessment, fault detection and identification analysis