Using quantitative and qualitative approaches in knowledge production

The debate over the differences between quantitative and qualitative methods is frequent, holding favorable and opposite positions concerning their integration. Outlining a research that contemplates both approaches generates doubts and restlessness about how to use them without damaging the methods' rigor, specificity, as well as the methodological and reflective sophistication of each. The purpose is to report and discuss using the quantitative (randomized controlled clinical trial) and the qualitative approach to analyze and understand the practice of including a companion chosen by the woman during her labor and childbirth, performing the role of support provider. Using both methods allowed for approximating the multiple facets involved in this practice and evaluating both the explicative dimension and the comprehension, since it could be performed with complementary views.El debate sobre las diferencias entre los métodos cuantitativo y cualitativo es frecuente, existiendo posiciones favorables y contrarias respecto a su integración. Delinear una investigación que contemple los dos abordajes genera dudas e inquietudes en relación a cómo utilizarlos sin herir el rigor de los métodos, la especificidad, la sofisticación metodológica y reflexiva de cada uno de ellos. El objetivo es relatar y discutir la utilización del abordaje cuantitativo (ensayo clínico controlado randomizado) y cualitativo, para evaluar y comprender la inserción del acompañante elegido por la mujer durante el trabajo de parto y el parto, desempeñando el papel de proveedor de apoyo. La utilización de los dos abordajes hizo posible la aproximación de las múltiples facetas involucradas en esta práctica, así como evaluarlas tanto en la dimensión explicativa como en la comprensiva, debido a que puede ser realizada con visiones complementarias.O debate sobre as diferenças entre os métodos quantitativo e qualitativo é freqüente, havendo posições favoráveis e contrárias acerca da sua integração. Delinear uma pesquisa que contemple as duas abordagens gera dúvidas e inquietações sobre como utilizá-las sem ferir o rigor dos métodos, a especificidade, a sofisticação metodológica e reflexiva de cada uma delas. O objetivo é relatar e discutir a utilização da abordagem quantitativa (ensaio clínico controlado randomizado) e qualitativa para avaliar e compreender a inserção do acompanhante de escolha da mulher durante o trabalho de parto/parto, desempenhando o papel de provedor de apoio. A utilização das duas abordagens possibilitou aproximar as múltiplas facetas envolvidas nessa prática e avaliá-la tanto na dimensão explicativa quanto na compreensiva, uma vez que pôde ser realizada com olhares complementares

Maternal health in Brazil: priorities and challenges

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Preterm preeclampsia and timing of delivery: a systematic literature review

sem informaçãoIntroduction Preeclampsia, a multifactorial disease with pathophysiology not yet fully understood, is a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality, especially when preterm. The diagnosis is performed when there is an association between3911499499sem informaçãosem informaçãosem informaçã

A reforma do sistema da atenção hospitalar brasileira: o quê muda para o CAISM?

A reforma do Sistema de Atenção Hospitalar tem como objetivo precípuo garantir a efetiva e plena inserção destes e, particularmente dos Hospitais de Ensino e Universitários (HU/HE), às necessidades do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). O HU/HE deve solicitar, junto ao Ministério da Saúde, a certificação e submeter-se a processo de avaliação. Uma vez certificado, o HU/HE passa a receber um fator de incentivo financeiro a partir de nova modalidade de contrato pelo SUS. O CAISM foi certificado e investirá o fator de incentivo financeiro na manutenção e atualização de seu parque tecnológico

Continuous function optimization using hybrid ant colony approach with orthogonal design scheme

A hybrid Orthogonal Scheme Ant Colony Optimization (OSACO) algorithm for continuous function optimization (CFO) is presented in this paper. The methodology integrates the advantages of Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Orthogonal Design Scheme (ODS). OSACO is based on the following principles: a) each independent variable space (IVS) of CFO is dispersed into a number of random and movable nodes; b) the carriers of pheromone of ACO are shifted to the nodes; c) solution path can be obtained by choosing one appropriate node from each IVS by ant; d) with the ODS, the best solved path is further improved. The proposed algorithm has been successfully applied to 10 benchmark test functions. The performance and a comparison with CACO and FEP have been studied

An artificial immune system for fuzzy-rule induction in data mining

This work proposes a classification-rule discovery algorithm integrating artificial immune systems and fuzzy systems. The algorithm consists of two parts: a sequential covering procedure and a rule evolution procedure. Each antibody (candidate solution) corresponds to a classification rule. The classification of new examples (antigens) considers not only the fitness of a fuzzy rule based on the entire training set, but also the affinity between the rule and the new example. This affinity must be greater than a threshold in order for the fuzzy rule to be activated, and it is proposed an adaptive procedure for computing this threshold for each rule. This paper reports results for the proposed algorithm in several data sets. Results are analyzed with respect to both predictive accuracy and rule set simplicity, and are compared with C4.5rules, a very popular data mining algorithm

Obstetrician's risk perception on the prescription of magnesium sulfate in severe preeclampsia and eclampsia: a qualitative study in Brazil

Magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) is the drug of choice for the prevention and control of seizures in the management of severe preeclampsia/eclampsia. Several barriers have been iden-tified in the use of MgSO4, especially in low and middle-income settings. Objective To describe the obstetrician's perception on possible reasons for underutilizing magnesium sulfate to treat preeclampsia/eclampsia. Method A qualitative clinical study, based on phenomenological reference by semi-structured inter-views and open-ended discussions with obstetricians of the public healthcare system in pri-mary care units (PCU) and referral maternity hospitals (RMH), in a southeastern Brazilian city. Results Fear of drug toxicity was the major cause for not prescribing the medication in PCU. Fear was justified by insufficient technical, structural and organizational resources of healthcare facilities and by a shortage of physicians properly trained for adequate drug use. Conclusion Fear of toxicity of magnesium sulfate was the main barrier towards timely and proper drug use. Periodic skill development and training of obstetricians, along with integration of the medical team in the work environment may contribute to decrease fear, ensuring safety of drug prescription and thus possibly reducing adverse outcomes related to PE.Introduction Magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) is the drug of choice for the prevention and control of seizures in the management of severe preeclampsia/eclampsia. Several barriers have been iden-tified in the use of MgSO4, especially in low and middle-income set123sem informaçãosem informaçã

MACOC: a medoid-based ACO clustering algorithm

The application of ACO-based algorithms in data mining is growing over the last few years and several supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms have been developed using this bio-inspired approach. Most recent works concerning unsupervised learning have been focused on clustering, showing great potential of ACO-based techniques. This work presents an ACO-based clustering algorithm inspired by the ACO Clustering (ACOC) algorithm. The proposed approach restructures ACOC from a centroid-based technique to a medoid-based technique, where the properties of the search space are not necessarily known. Instead, it only relies on the information about the distances amongst data. The new algorithm, called MACOC, has been compared against well-known algorithms (K-means and Partition Around Medoids) and with ACOC. The experiments measure the accuracy of the algorithm for both synthetic datasets and real-world datasets extracted from the UCI Machine Learning Repository

Política Distrital de Prevenção do Suicídio : uma análise sobre sua implementação no Distrito Federal

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Economia, Administração, Contabilidade e Gestão de Políticas Públicas, Departamento de Gestão de Políticas Públicas, 2018.O suicídio é um fenômeno que vem crescendo de forma silenciosa no Brasil. Entretanto, a Organização Mundial da Saúde aponta que a maior parte dos casos podem ser prevenidos. Sendo assim, este estudo tem a finalidade de analisar como se configura o arranjo institucional da Política Distrital de Prevenção do Suicídio, implementada no Distrito Federal. Considerou-se o contexto histórico da política, a situação sobre o suicídio no território, os atores envolvidos, a forma articulada para viabilização da política e as principais ações desenvolvidas no período de 2012 a 2017. O estudo é uma análise qualitativa, descritiva e com abordagem de estudo de caso. Utilizou-se como procedimentos metodológicos pesquisa documental, bibliográfica e entrevistas semiestruturadas. A conclusão do trabalho mostra que não há um arranjo institucional configurado na implementação da Política Distrital de Prevenção do Suicídio e os atores envolvidos na implementação são a Secretaria de Saúde, a Secretaria de Segurança Pública, a Secretaria de Educação, as Universidades e o Centro de Valorização da Vida. Apesar dos desafios observados no processo de implementação, a política realiza um trabalho que contribui de forma significativa para a prevenção do suicídio no Distrito Federal.Suicide is a phenomenon that keeps growing in a silent way in Brasil. However, the World Health Organization affirms that most suicide's cases can be prevented. Therefore, this study has the purpose of analyzing how the District Suicide Prevention Policy's institutional arrangement is formed. It was considered the historical context of the policy, the situation of suicide in the territory, the agents involved, the articulation process for the feasibility of the public policy and the main actions developed during the period of 2012 to 2017. The study is a qualitative and descriptive analysys, with the case study's approach. Were used as methodological procedures the documentary and bibliography research, in addition to semi-structured interviews. The study's conclusion shows that there is no institutional arrangement configured in the District Suicide Prevention Policy and the following actors are involved in the implementation process: Secretary of Health, Department of Public Safety, Secretary of Education, Universities and Center of Life's Appreciation. Despite the challenges in the implementation's process, this public policy contributes significantly to the suidice's prevention in the Federal District