1,450 research outputs found

    Como o conselho escolar pode contribuir para uma gest?o democr?tica participativa: utilizando o processo de compras da merenda pelo programa pnae.

    Get PDF
    Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o funcionamento do processo de aquisi??o da merenda escolar, atrav?s do Programa PNAE, na Escola Estadual de Ensino Fundamental e M?dio Professor Renato Fonseca Filho, localizada na cidade de Cuit? de Mamanguape-PB, para poder compreender se h? uma gest?o democr?tica participativa nas escolas atrav?s dos conselhos escolares, foi observado e analisado por meio de analises documentais e entrevistas n?o-estruturadas, buscou-se compreender como se d? todo o processo de compra da merenda, como aporte te?rico foi utilizado Peroni e Adri?o os quais nos deram embasamentos sobre o Programa Dinheiro Direto na Escola, os portais do FNDE e os documentos presentes na escola e alguns artigos peri?dicos sobre o tema Conselho Escolar e Gest?o Democr?tica. Essa pesquisa teve car?ter qualitativo, como foco na abordagem da pesquisa aplicada, utilizando-se o roteiro de observa??o, observa??o participativa, entrevista n?o-estruturadae da an?lise documental de arquivos presentes na escola. Ap?s a an?lise dos documentos, pesquisas, entrevistas e observa??es podemos concluir que muitas medidas ainda precisam ser tomadas para que de fato haja uma participa??o maior da comunidade no processo de compra da merenda escolar

    Estimating the incidence of acute infectious intestinal disease in the community in the UK:A retrospective telephone survey

    Get PDF
    Objectives: To estimate the burden of intestinal infectious disease (IID) in the UK and determine whether disease burden estimations using a retrospective study design differ from those using a prospective study design. Design/Setting: A retrospective telephone survey undertaken in each of the four countries comprising the United Kingdom. Participants were randomly asked about illness either in the past 7 or 28 days. Participants: 14,813 individuals for all of whom we had a legible recording of their agreement to participate Outcomes: Self-reported IID, defined as loose stools or clinically significant vomiting lasting less than two weeks, in the absence of a known non-infectious cause. Results: The rate of self-reported IID varied substantially depending on whether asked for illness in the previous 7 or 28 days. After standardising for age and sex, and adjusting for the number of interviews completed each month and the relative size of each UK country, the estimated rate of IID in the 7-day recall group was 1,530 cases per 1,000 person-years (95% CI: 1135 – 2113), while in the 28-day recall group it was 533 cases per 1,000 person-years (95% CI: 377 – 778). There was no significant variation in rates between the four countries. Rates in this study were also higher than in a related prospective study undertaken at the same time. Conclusions: The estimated burden of disease from IID varied dramatically depending on study design. Retrospective studies of IID give higher estimates of disease burden than prospective studies. Of retrospective studies longer recall periods give lower estimated rates than studies with short recall periods. Caution needs to be exercised when comparing studies of self-reported IID as small changes in study design or case definition can markedly affect estimated rates

    Validating linkage of multiple population-based administrative databases in Brazil

    Get PDF
    BACKGROUND: Linking routinely-collected data provides an opportunity to measure the effects of exposures that occur before birth on maternal, fetal and infant outcomes. High quality linkage is a prerequisite for producing reliable results, and there are specific challenges in mother-baby linkage. Using population-based administrative databases from Brazil, this study aimed to estimate the accuracy of linkage between maternal deaths and birth outcomes and dengue notifications, and to identify potential sources of bias when assessing the risk of maternal death due to dengue in pregnancy. METHODS: We identified women with dengue during pregnancy in a previously linked dataset of dengue notifications in women who had experienced a live birth or stillbirth during 2007-2012. We then linked this dataset with maternal death records probabilistically using maternal name, age and municipality. We estimated the accuracy of the linkage, and examined the characteristics of false-matches and missed-matches to identify any sources of bias. RESULTS: Of the 10,259 maternal deaths recorded in 2007-2012, 6717 were linked: 5444 to a live birth record, 1306 to a stillbirth record, and 33 to both a live and stillbirth record. After identifying 2620 missed-matches and 124 false-matches, our estimated sensitivity was 72%, specificity was 88%, and positive predictive value was 98%. Linkage errors were associated with maternal education and self-identified race; women with more than 7 years of education or who self-declared as Caucasian were more likely to link. Dengue status was not associated with linkage error. CONCLUSION: Despite not having unique identifiers to link mothers and birth outcomes, we demonstrated a high standard of linkage, with sensitivity and specificity values comparable to previous literature. Although there were no differences in the characteristics of dengue cases missed or included in our linked dataset, linkage error occurred disproportionally by some social-demographic characteristics, which should be taken into account in future analyses

    Fit to Race: Identifying the balance, type and sources of knowledge in fitness for Motorsport

    Get PDF
    In Motorsport, due perhaps to a lack of empirical evidence, it is not always clear what fitness training is required and what roles specific fitness components play, particularly outside the elite levels. Consequently, drivers and their trainers are often left to their own devices, placing reliance on anecdotal information. Accordingly, using a large sample of racing drivers, coaches and fitness trainers, the aim of this investigation was to identify the perceived importance and contribution of fitness components, the sources of information used to reach these conclusions and levels of confidence in the views reported. Survey data from 166 drivers (151 males, 15 females) showed that, in general, cardiovascular fitness, upper body strength, coordination and reactions were perceived as being the most important. Data on sources of information used supported the conjecture that training can often be based on “word of mouth”. Despite a fairly high level of confidence in the views expressed, there is clearly a significant opportunity for practitioners working within Motorsport to provide clearer, proven information so that drivers can feel confident that they are training optimally

    Characterization of the isothermal phases transformations and the respectives products in three eutectoid steels for railroad application.

    Get PDF
    Artigos recentemente publicados v?m destacando a import?ncia do conhecimento sobre a cin?tica de transforma??o de fases em a?os eutet?ides aplicados em ferrovias, visando o aprimoramento de processos de fabrica??o e de soldagem. Nesse sentido, o presente trabalho apresenta um estudo de caracteriza??o da cin?tica de decomposi??o isot?rmica da austenita em tr?s a?os atualmente utilizados no mundo para a fabrica??o de trilhos ferrovi?rios, sendo dois de classifica??o premium e um de classifica??o standard. Os a?os estudados foram caracterizados em seu estado de entrega e, por meio de ensaios de dilatometria, as temperaturas cr?ticas de austenitiza??o e os intervalos de tempo de decomposi??o da austenita foram medidos. Diagramas tempo-temperatura-transforma??o (TTT) foram determinados. A influ?ncia de alguns par?metros como o espa?amento interlamelar perl?tico original e o tamanho de gr?o austen?tico pr?vio sobre as transforma??es de fases e sobre as microestruturas resultantes, foram discutidos. Mostrou-se ainda que, a partir de tratamentos isot?rmicos bem planejados, ? poss?vel a obten??o de uma microestrutura majoritariamente bain?tica em a?os eutetoides com composi??es qu?micas relativamente simples.Recently published papers have been enhancing the importance of understanding about the kinetics of phase transformation in eutectoid steels applied to railways, aiming the improvement of the manufacturing and the welding processes. In this sense, this work presents a characterization study on the austenite?s isothermal decomposition kinetics in three steels currently used worldwide in the manufacturing of railway tracks, being two of then premium and the other standard. The steels studied were characterized at initial state and, through dilatometry, the austenitization critical temperatures and the austenite decomposition?s time intervals were measured. Time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagrams were determined. The influence of some parameters such as the original pearlite interlamellar spacing and the prior austenitic grain?s size on the phase transformations and the resulting microstructures, was discussed. The study also showed that stemming from well-planned isothermal treatments, it is possible to obtain a mostly-bainitic microstructure in eutectoid steels of fairly simple chemical compositions

    Evaluation of record linkage of two large administrative databases in a middle income country: stillbirths and notifications of dengue during pregnancy in Brazil

    Get PDF
    BACKGROUND: Due to the increasing availability of individual-level information across different electronic datasets, record linkage has become an efficient and important research tool. High quality linkage is essential for producing robust results. The objective of this study was to describe the process of preparing and linking national Brazilian datasets, and to compare the accuracy of different linkage methods for assessing the risk of stillbirth due to dengue in pregnancy. METHODS: We linked mothers and stillbirths in two routinely collected datasets from Brazil for 2009–2010: for dengue in pregnancy, notifications of infectious diseases (SINAN); for stillbirths, mortality (SIM). Since there was no unique identifier, we used probabilistic linkage based on maternal name, age and municipality. We compared two probabilistic approaches, each with two thresholds: 1) a bespoke linkage algorithm; 2) a standard linkage software widely used in Brazil (ReclinkIII), and used manual review to identify further links. Sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) were estimated using a subset of gold-standard data created through manual review. We examined the characteristics of false-matches and missed-matches to identify any sources of bias. RESULTS: From records of 678,999 dengue cases and 62,373 stillbirths, the gold-standard linkage identified 191 cases. The bespoke linkage algorithm with a conservative threshold produced 131 links, with sensitivity = 64.4% (68 missed-matches) and PPV = 92.5% (8 false-matches). Manual review of uncertain links identified an additional 37 links, increasing sensitivity to 83.7%. The bespoke algorithm with a relaxed threshold identified 132 true matches (sensitivity = 69.1%), but introduced 61 false-matches (PPV = 68.4%). ReclinkIII produced lower sensitivity and PPV than the bespoke linkage algorithm. Linkage error was not associated with any recorded study variables. CONCLUSION: Despite a lack of unique identifiers for linking mothers and stillbirths, we demonstrate a high standard of linkage of large routine databases from a middle income country. Probabilistic linkage and manual review were essential for accurately identifying cases for a case-control study, but this approach may not be feasible for larger databases or for linkage of more common outcomes

    Identifying Implicit Vulnerabilities through Personas as Goal Models

    Get PDF
    When used in requirements processes and tools, personas have the potential to identify vulnerabilities resulting from misalignment between user expectations and system goals. Typically, however, this potential is unfulfilled as personas and system goals are captured with different mindsets, by different teams, and for different purposes. If personas are visualised as goal models, it may be easier for stakeholders to see implications of their goals being satisfied or denied, and designers to incorporate the creation and analysis of such models into the broader RE tool-chain. This paper outlines a tool-supported approach for finding implicit vulnerabilities from user and system goals by reframing personas as social goal models. We illustrate this approach with a case study where previously hidden vulnerabilities based on human behaviour were identified

    Incidence and diversity of the fungal genera Aspergillus and Penicillium in Portuguese almonds and chestnuts

    Get PDF
    Almonds (Prunus dulcis (Miller) D.A. Webb) and European (sweet) chestnuts (Castanea sativa Miller) are of great economic and social impact in Mediterranean countries, and in some areas they constitute the main income of rural populations. Despite all efforts to control fungal contamination, toxigenic fungi are ubiquitous in nature and occur regularly in worldwide food supplies, and these nuts are no exception. This work aimed to provide knowledge on the general mycobiota of Portuguese almonds and chestnuts, and its evolution from field to the end of storage. For this matter, 45 field chestnut samples and 36 almond samples (30 field samples and six storage samples) were collected in Trás-os-Montes, Portugal. All fungi belonging to genus Aspergillus were isolated and identified to the section level. Fungi representative of other genera were identified to the genus level. In the field, chestnuts were mainly contaminated with the genera Fusarium, Cladosporium, Alternaria and Penicillium, and the genus Aspergillus was only rarely found, whereas almonds were more contaminated with Aspergillus. In almonds, Aspergillus incidence increased significantly from field to the end of storage, but diversity decreased, with potentially toxigenic isolates belonging to sections Flavi and Nigri becoming more significant and widespread throughout storage. These fungi were determined to be moderately associated, which can be indicative of mycotoxin co-contamination problems if adequate storage conditions are not secured.P. Rodrigues was supported by grants SFRH/BD/28332/2006 from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT), and SFRH/PROTEC/49555/2009 from FCT and Polytechnic Institute of Braganca, Portugal

    Dengue during pregnancy and live birth outcomes: a cohort of linked data from Brazil

    Get PDF
    OBJECTIVES: Dengue is the most common viral mosquito-borne disease, and women of reproductive age who live in or travel to endemic areas are at risk. Little is known about the effects of dengue during pregnancy on birth outcomes. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of maternal dengue severity on live birth outcomes. // DESIGN AND SETTING: We conducted a population-based cohort study using routinely collected Brazilian data from 2006 to 2012. // PARTICIPATING: We linked birth registration records and dengue registration records to identify women with and without dengue during pregnancy. Using multinomial logistic regression and Firth method, we estimated risk and ORs for preterm birth (<37 weeks' gestation), low birth weight (<2500 g) and small for gestational age (<10thcentile). We also investigated the effect of time between the onset of the disease and each outcome. // RESULTS: We included 16 738 000 live births. Dengue haemorrhagic fever was associated with preterm birth (OR=2.4; 95% CI 1.3 to 4.4) and low birth weight (OR=2.1; 95% CI 1.1 to 4.0), but there was no evidence of effect for small for gestational age (OR=2.1; 95% CI 0.4 to 12.2). The magnitude of the effects was higher in the acute disease period. // CONCLUSION: This study showed an increased risk of adverse birth outcomes in women with severe dengue during pregnancy. Medical intervention to mitigate maternal risk during severe acute dengue episodes may improve outcomes for infants born to exposed mothers

    Review of the missed opportunities for the prevention of vertical transmission of HIV in Brazil

    Get PDF
    OBJECTIVE: The present literature review aims to highlight gaps in the treatment of preventative motherto-child HIV transmission and the risk factors in Brazil. METHODS: Among the 425 articles identified in SciELO and PubMed searches, 59 articles published between 1994 and 2016 were selected for reading and data extraction, and 33 articles were included in the present review. RESULTS: The rates of vertical HIV transmission described in the studies varied widely, from 1.8% to 27.8%, with a significant reduction over the years. However, recent rates were also found to be variable in different regions of Brazil, and despite the significant reduction in mother-to-child transmission, many gaps remain in prevention services. A failure to attend prenatal care is the main factor associated with the increased risk of vertical transmission of HIV, hindering early maternal diagnosis and the completion of preventative measures during the prenatal period and, often, the peripartum and postnatal periods. A small number of studies discussed the sociodemographic factors, including a low level of education for pregnant women and the inadequacies of health services, such as difficulties scheduling appointments and undertrained staff, associated with vertical transmission. As such, the current challenge is to better define the sociodemographic and infrastructural factors that increase the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV to provide the necessary investments to promote an earlier inclusion of these populations in prevention services. CONCLUSIONS: This review may serve as a guide for future programs to focus efforts on the prevention of vertical HIV transmission
    corecore