O Trabalho dos Catadores da Associação Engenho do Lixo: Entre a Necessidade Econômica e o Discurso da Consciência Ambiental

O texto analisa a maneira singular como os discursos de “consciência ambiental” repercutem no cotidiano de trabalho de um grupo de catadores de material reciclável e suas implicações ideo-políticas, num contexto de alta vulnerabilidade social. Como a reciclagem é capaz de diminuir o volume de resíduos no meio-ambiente, passa a ser facilmente vinculada à noção de consciência ambiental e melhoria da qualidade de vida. No entanto, as condições de vida e de trabalho de quem atua no início desse processo, os catadores, contradizem essa ideia. Esta pesquisa investigou o contexto em que se forma essa representação, interpretando as motivações que garantem a vitalidade deste discurso e estabelecendo um contraponto com a dinâmica do trabalho de um grupo de catadores. Analisou-se, sobretudo, o significado que os catadores atribuem aos seus trabalhos e às questões ambientais. Para tal, além de pesquisa bibliográfica, utilizaram-se o método etnográfico inspirado em Clifford Gertz, combinado com observação participante e entrevistas. Articulando os conceitos de consciência e autonomia a partir de Paulo Freire e lançando um olhar crítico para a dicotomia inclusão-exclusão social, constatamos que a reciclagem, comumente vista como fator de disseminação de uma consciência ambiental (separar o lixo, reaproveitar), decorre mais de uma necessidade econômica do que de uma perspectiva de sustentabilidade. Nesse sentido, demonstrou-se que a situação de vulnerabilidade na qual se encontra os catadores é mais uma característica estruturante do sistema vigente do que uma “falha”, e que o discurso da “reciclagem” e da “consciência ambiental”, no contexto investigado, acabam por justificar ou legitimar práticas que deveriam combater

Time evolution of the classical and quantum mechanical versions of diffusive anharmonic oscillator: an example of Lie algebraic techniques

We present the general solutions for the classical and quantum dynamics of the anharmonic oscillator coupled to a purely diffusive environment. In both cases, these solutions are obtained by the application of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff (BCH) formulas to expand the evolution operator in an ordered product of exponentials. Moreover, we obtain an expression for the Wigner function in the quantum version of the problem. We observe that the role played by diffusion is to reduce or to attenuate the the characteristic quantum effects yielded by the nonlinearity, as the appearance of coherent superpositions of quantum states (Schr\"{o}dinger cat states) and revivals.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

O diálogo entre a técnica de julgamento estendido e os precedentes judiciais na busca pela segurança jurídica e celeridade processual

O presente trabalho possui como objeto o estudo, utilizando pesquisas bibliográficas, da nova técnica de julgamento estendido prevista no artigo 942 do Código de Processo Civil de 2015 e sua relação com os precedentes judiais, a fim de promover a segurança e a celeridade processual. Logo após a introdução o trabalho apresenta noções gerais a respeito da técnica de julgamento estendido. Num segundo momento o foco se volta para os princípios da segurança jurídica e celeridade processual. Por fim, o último capítulo se presta a apontar as implicações da técnica de julgamento estendido na promoção da uniformização da jurisprudência e, consequentemente, da segurança jurídica e celeridade. Analisando, para tanto, como atuam os precedentes no Brasil

Evolutionary ecology in-silico:evolving foodwebs, migrating population and speciation

We have generalized our ``unified'' model of evolutionary ecology by taking into account the possible movements of the organisms from one ``patch'' to another within the same eco-system. We model the spatial extension of the eco-system (i.e., the geography) by a square lattice where each site corresponds to a distinct ``patch''. A self-organizing hierarchical food web describes the prey-predator relations in the eco-system. The same species at different patches have identical food habits but differ from each other in their reproductive characteristic features. By carrying out computer simulations up to $10^9$ time steps, we found that, depending on the values of the set of parameters, the distribution of the lifetimes of the species can be either exponential or a combination of power laws. Some of the other features of our ``unified'' model turn out to be robust against migration of the organisms.Comment: 12 pages of PS file, including LATEX text and 9 EPS figure

Reliability of Rapid Diagnostic Tests in Diagnosing Pregnancy-Associated Malaria in North-Eastern Tanzania.

Accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment of pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM) are key aspects in averting adverse pregnancy outcomes. Microscopy is the gold standard in malaria diagnosis, but it has limited detection and availability. When used appropriately, rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) could be an ideal diagnostic complement to microscopy, due to their ease of use and adequate sensitivity in detecting even sub-microscopic infections. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is even more sensitive, but it is mainly used for research purposes. The accuracy and reliability of RDTs in diagnosing PAM was evaluated using microscopy and PCR. A cohort of pregnant women in north-eastern Tanzania was followed throughout pregnancy for detection of plasmodial infection using venous and placental blood samples evaluated by histidine rich protein 2 (HRP-2) and parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) based RDTs (Parascreen™) or HRP-2 only (Paracheck Pf® and ParaHIT®f), microscopy and nested Plasmodium species diagnostic PCR. From a cohort of 924 pregnant women who completed the follow up, complete RDT and microscopy data was available for 5,555 blood samples and of these 442 samples were analysed by PCR. Of the 5,555 blood samples, 49 ((proportion and 95% confidence interval) 0.9% [0.7 -1.1]) samples were positive by microscopy and 91 (1.6% [1.3-2.0]) by RDT. Forty-six (50.5% [40.5 - 60.6]) and 45 (49.5% [39.4 - 59.5]) of the RDT positive samples were positive and negative by microscopy, respectively, whereas nineteen (42.2% [29.0 - 56.7]) of the microscopy negative, but RDT positive, samples were positive by PCR. Three (0.05% [0.02 - 0.2]) samples were positive by microscopy but negative by RDT. 351 of the 5,461 samples negative by both RDT and microscopy were tested by PCR and found negative. There was no statistically significant difference between the performances of the different RDTs. Microscopy underestimated the real burden of malaria during pregnancy and RDTs performed better than microscopy in diagnosing PAM. In areas where intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy may be abandoned due to low and decreasing malaria risk and instead replaced with active case management, screening with RDT is likely to identify most infections in pregnant women and out-performs microscopy as a diagnostic tool

Estimating the Extent of Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus Infection

BACKGROUND: Eight outbreaks of paralytic polio attributable to circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) have highlighted the risks associated with oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) use in areas of low vaccination coverage and poor hygiene. As the Polio Eradication Initiative enters its final stages, it is important to consider the extent to which these viruses spread under different conditions, so that appropriate strategies can be devised to prevent or respond to future cVDPV outbreaks. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This paper examines epidemiological (temporal, geographic, age, vaccine history, social group, ascertainment), and virological (type, genetic diversity, virulence) parameters in order to infer the numbers of individuals likely to have been infected in each of these cVDPV outbreaks, and in association with single acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases attributable to VDPVs. Although only 114 virologically-confirmed paralytic cases were identified in the eight cVDPV outbreaks, it is likely that a minimum of hundreds of thousands, and more likely several million individuals were infected during these events, and that many thousands more have been infected by VDPV lineages within outbreaks which have escaped detection. CONCLUSIONS: Our estimates of the extent of cVDPV circulation suggest widespread transmission in some countries, as might be expected from endemic wild poliovirus transmission in these same settings. These methods for inferring extent of infection will be useful in the context of identifying future surveillance needs, planning for OPV cessation and preparing outbreak response plans

Quality control and beam test of GEM detectors for future upgrades of the CMS muon high rate region at the LHC

Gas Electron Multipliers (GEM) are a proven position sensitive gas detector technology which nowadays is becoming more widely used in High Energy Physics. GEMs offer an excellent spatial resolution and a high particle rate capability, with a close to 100% detection efficiency. In view of the high luminosity phase of the CERN Large Hadron Collider, these aforementioned features make GEMs suitable candidates for the future upgrades of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector. In particular, the CMS GEM Collaboration proposes to cover the high-eta region of the muon system with large-area triple-GEM detectors, which have the ability to provide robust and redundant tracking and triggering functions. In this contribution, after a general introduction and overview of the project, the construction of full-size trapezoidal triple-GEM prototypes will be described in more detail. The procedures for the quality control of the GEM foils, including gain uniformity measurements with an x-ray source will be presented. In the past few years, several CMS triple-GEM prototype detectors were operated with test beams at the CERN SPS. The results of these test beam campaigns will be summarised