Medical And Dental Absenteeism In Workers From A Furniture Industry In Itatiba Sp Brazil

Introduction: Absenteeism is a matter of growing interest due to the current economic competitiveness and leads companies to seek means to minimize its occurrence in order to increase the profitability and productivity. Aim: To identify the major factors involved in medical and dental absenteeism in a furniture industry in the city of Itatiba, SP, Brazil, between 2005 and 2008. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study in which all workers’ medical and dental certificates issued from January 2005 to December 2008 were reviewed. Data collection was performed in the industry and the variables in the dental and medical certificates were: activity, date of the certificate (year and month), International Classification of Diseases (ICD), absenteeism duration (hours), certificate type (medical or dental), declaration variations, and completeness. Questionnaires were also applied to all employees of the industry without exclusion criteria for demographic profile, using the variables focusing on gender, age and education level. Results: 111 (65.2%) workers replied to the questionnaire. As much as 84.6% of them were men with mean age of 31.4 years. The education level of most employees was high school (53.2%). 943 certificates were analyzed, being 775 (82.2%) medical and 168 (17.8%) dental certificate. The only ICD found in the dental certificates is K 525-8, which refers to “other diseases and disorders of the teeth and supporting structures”. The loss of working time was 7098.5 work hours and 887.3 work days considering an 8-hour working day. There was a statistically significant association (p<0.0001) between the duration of the absence and the cause. Conclusions: The absenteeism in the furniture industry was more frequently due to medical rather than dental reasons. There were several certificates lacking the ICD codes. The number of lost work hours due to medical and dental problems is a significant economic factor.94443-44

Relationship Between Orofacial Pain And Absenteeism Among Workers In Southern Brazil

Aim: To verify the relationship between orofacial pain and absenteeism in workers of slaughter and meat processing industries in the Southern region of Brazil. Methods: A cross-sectional study, with the random sample of 401 workers of slaughter and meat processing industries in the Southern region of Brazil, was carried out. A questionnaire referred to the situation of absenteeism caused by nine different types of orofacial pain and also the amount of time the employee was kept from work. Results: Only 60 workers (15%) reported having missed work due to orofacial pain in the six months prior to the study. The prevalence of absenteeism resulting from orofacial pain was of 15%. The types of orofacial pain that resulted in absenteeism were: spontaneous toothache (9.7 %); toothache caused by cold or hot liquids or by sweet foodstuff (6.5%) and pain around and behind the eyes (3.2%). There was a predominance of absenteeism in half and full work shifts for the types of orofacial pain experienced. Associations between absenteeism from induced toothache and gender (p < 0.05), absenteeism and spontaneous toothache and family income (p = 0.011), and between absenteeism and the self awareness of their oral health condition, as well as the nine types of orofacial pain (p < 0.001) were observed. Conclusions: The prevalence of absenteeism as a result of orofacial pain was low.8150-5

Capacity enhancement using MIMO antenna arrays in realistic macro-cellular urban environment

In MIMO systems the antenna array configuration in the BS and MS has a large influence on the available channel capacity. In this paper, we first introduce a new Frequency Selective (FS) MIMO framework for macro-cells in a realistic urban environment. The MIMO channel is built over a previously developed directional channel model, which considers the terrain and clutter information in the cluster, line-of-sight and link loss calculations. Next, MIMO configuration characteristics are investigated in order to maximize capacity, mainly the number of antennas, inter-antenna spacing and SNR impact. Channel and capacity simulation results are presented for the city of Lisbon, Portugal, using different antenna configurations. Two power allocations schemes are considered, uniform distribution and FS spatial water-filling. The results suggest optimized MIMO configurations, considering the antenna array size limitations, specially at the MS side

No-reference quality assessment of H.264/AVC encoded video

WOS:000283952100005 (Nº de Acesso Web of Science)“Prémio Científico ISCTE-IUL 2011”This paper proposes a no-reference quality assessment metric for digital video subject to H.264/advanced video coding encoding. The proposed metric comprises two main steps: coding error estimation and perceptual weighting of this error. Error estimates are computed in the transform domain, assuming that discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients are corrupted by quantization noise. The DCT coefficient distributions are modeled using Cauchy or Laplace probability density functions, whose parameterization is performed using the quantized coefficient data and quantization steps. Parameter estimation is based on a maximum-likelihood estimation method combined with linear prediction. The linear prediction scheme takes advantage of the correlation between parameter values at neighbor DCT spatial frequencies. As for the perceptual weighting module, it is based on a spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity function applied to the DCT domain that compensates image plane movement by considering the movements of the human eye, namely smooth pursuit, natural drift, and saccadic movements. The video related inputs for the perceptual model are the motion vectors and the frame rate, which are also extracted from the encoded video. Subjective video quality assessment tests have been carried out in order to validate the results of the metric. A set of 11 video sequences, spanning a wide range of content, have been encoded at different bitrates and the outcome was subject to quality evaluation. Results show that the quality scores computed by the proposed algorithm are well correlated with the mean opinion scores associated to the subjective assessment

A PEDAGOGIA DA AÃ?Ã?O DIRETA ENTRE REDES E RUAS: MEDIAÃ?Ã?ES E INTERAÃ?Ã?ES TECNOLÃ?GICAS

Resumo: Este trabalho problematiza o uso da tecnologia e das mediações tecnológicas como processos socioculturais de produção coletiva do conhecimento e expressão criativa. A arte anarquista apresenta-se como instrumento de ação direta para a educação e propaganda, no espaço urbano e virtual, dos ideais de emancipação humana. Os coletivos de arte libertária colocam-se dentro de uma concepção anarquista de cultura como produto da humanidade e instrumento de construção da consciência individual e coletiva em busca da liberdade. Como referencial teórico utilizaremos Raymond Williams e seu questionamento do conceito de mediação para a compreensão das articulações entre base e superestrutura. Palavras-chave: Mediações. Educação libertária. Tecnologia e cultura. Arte anarquista

Improving a cluster based directional channel model in realistic macro-cell environment

In this paper a realistic directional channel model that is an extension of the COST 273 channel model is presented. The model uses a cluster of scatterers and visibility region generation based strategy with increased realism, due to the introduction of terrain and clutter information. New approaches for path-loss prediction and line of sight modeling are considered, affecting the cluster path gain model implementation. The new model was implemented using terrain, clutter, street and user mobility information for the city of Lisbon, Portugal. Some of the model's outputs are presented, mainly path loss and small/large-scale fading statistics

Cidade em quadrinhos: coprodução social e tecnológica na obra Desterro, de Ferréz e Demaio

Resumo: Neste artigo, analisaremos a HQ Desterro (FERRÉZ; DEMAIO, 2012). Em razão da importância política e do peso contracultural que a obra porta, propomos refletir sobre as relações entre tecnologia e sociedade conectadas às representações da cidade desenhadas nos quadrinhos. A concepção do materialismo cultural de Raymond Williams orienta nossas reflexões. Primeiro, apresentaremos o objeto livro como uma co-produção social e tecnológica que se acrescenta às condições práticas da escrita. Na segunda parte, colocamos em evidência os sentimentos e as reflexões que os quadrinhos evocam no diálogo com o contexto urbano de uma metrópole. Ao longo de nossas reflexões, a produção literária de Desterro adquire dimensões de resistência a culturas hegemônicas que, como sabemos, excluem uma gama extraordinária de práticas sociais. &nbsp; Abstract: In this article we will analyze the comics Desterro (FERRÉZ; DEMAIO, 2012). Due to the political importance and the countercultural weight that the work has, we propose to reflect on the relations between technology and society connected to the representations of the city presented in the comics. The theory of cultural materialism of Raymond Williams guides our reflections. First, we present the book object as a social and technological co-production encompassing the conditions of its writing practices. Then, we highlight feelings and reflections that comic books evoke in the dialogue with the urban context of a metropolis. Throughout our reflections, Desterro's literary production gains dimensions of resistance to hegemonic cultures that, as we know, neglect and exclude an extraordinary range of social practices. &nbsp; Resumen: En este artículo analizaremos el cómic Desterro (FERRÉZ; DEMAIO, 2012). Debido a la importancia política y al peso contracultural que tiene la obra, proponemos reflexionar sobre las relaciones entre tecnología y sociedad conectadas con las representaciones de la ciudad dibujadas en las viñetas. La concepción del materialismo cultural de Raymond Williams guía nuestras reflexiones. Primeramente, plantearemos el objeto libro como una coproducción social y tecnológica que se añade a las condiciones de la práctica de la escritura. En la segunda parte, evidenciamos los sentimientos y reflexiones que los cómics evocan en el diálogo con el contexto urbano de una metrópoli. A lo largo de nuestras reflexiones, la producción literaria de Desterro adquiere dimensiones de resistencia a las culturas hegemónicas que, sabemos, descuidan y excluyen un abanico extraordinario de prácticas sociales