Linguistics parameters for zero anaphora resolution

Dissertação de mest., Natural Language Processing and Human Language Technology, Univ. do Algarve, 2009This dissertation describes and proposes a set of linguistically motivated rules for zero anaphora resolution in the context of a natural language processing chain developed for Portuguese. Some languages, like Portuguese, allow noun phrase (NP) deletion (or zeroing) in several syntactic contexts in order to avoid the redundancy that would result from repetition of previously mentioned words. The co-reference relation between the zeroed element and its antecedent (or previous mention) in the discourse is here called zero anaphora (Mitkov, 2002). In Computational Linguistics, zero anaphora resolution may be viewed as a subtask of anaphora resolution and has an essential role in various Natural Language Processing applications such as information extraction, automatic abstracting, dialog systems, machine translation and question answering. The main goal of this dissertation is to describe the grammatical rules imposing subject NP deletion and referential constraints in the Brazilian Portuguese, in order to allow a correct identification of the antecedent of the deleted subject NP. Some of these rules were then formalized into the Xerox Incremental Parser or XIP (Ait-Mokhtar et al., 2002: 121-144) in order to constitute a module of the Portuguese grammar (Mamede et al. 2010) developed at Spoken Language Laboratory (L2F). Using this rule-based approach we expected to improve the performance of the Portuguese grammar namely by producing better dependency structures with (reconstructed) zeroed NPs for the syntactic-semantic interface. Because of the complexity of the task, the scope of this dissertation had to be limited: (a) subject NP deletion; b) within sentence boundaries and (c) with an explicit antecedent; besides, (d) rules were formalized based solely on the results of the shallow parser (or chunks), that is, with minimal syntactic (and no semantic) knowledge. A corpus of different text genres was manually annotated for zero anaphors and other zero-shaped, usually indefinite, subjects. The rule-based approached is evaluated and results are presented and discussed

Environmental Particulate Matter Levels during 2017 Large Forest Fires and Megafires in the Center Region of Portugal: A Public Health Concern?

This work characterizes the dimension and the exceptionality of 2017 large- and mega-fires that occurred in the center region of Portugal through the assessment of their impact on the ambient levels of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), retrieved from local monitoring stations, and the associated public health risks. PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were increased during the occurrence of large fires and megafires, with daily concentrations exceeding the European/national guidelines in 7–14 and 1–12 days of 2017 (up to 704 µg/m3 for PM10 and 46 µg/m3 for PM2.5), respectively. PM10 concentrations were correlated with total burned area (0.500 0.05) and with monthly total burned area/distance2 (0.500 0.05). The forest fires of 2017 took the life of 112 citizens. A total of 474 cases of hospital admissions due to cardiovascular diseases and 3524 cases of asthma incidence symptoms per 100,000 individuals at risk were assessed due to exposure to 2017 forest fires. Real-time and in situ PM methodologies should be combined with protection action plans to reduce public health risks. Portuguese rural stations should monitor other health-relevant pollutants (e.g., carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds) released from wildfires to allow performing more robust and comprehensive measurements that will allow a better assessment of the potential health risks for the exposed populations.This work was financially supported by European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE) and National Funds (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) [projects UIDB/50006/2020, UID/EQU/00511/2013-LEPABE], by the FCT/MEC with national funds and cofounded by FEDER in the scope of the P2020 Partnership Agreement. This study was also supported by the project “PCIF/SSO/0017/2018- A panel of (bio)markers for the surveillance of firefighter’s health and safety”, funded by Portuguese National Funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia. M. Oliveira thanks to FCT/MCTES for the CEEC-Individual 2017 Program Contract [CEECIND/03666/2017].info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Children environmental exposure to particulate matter and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and biomonitoring in school environments: A review on indoor and outdoor exposure levels, major sources and health impacts

Children, an important vulnerable group, spend most of their time at schools (up to 10 h per day, mostly indoors) and the respective air quality may significantly impact on children health. Thus, this work reviews the published studies on children biomonitoring and environmental exposure to particulate matter (PM) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at school microenvironments (indoors and outdoors), major sources and potential health risks. A total of 28, 35, and 31% of the studies reported levels that exceeded the international outdoor ambient air guidelines for PM10, PM2.5, and benzo(a)pyrene, respectively. Indoor and outdoor concentrations of PM10 at European schools, the most characterized continent, ranged between 7.5 and 229 μg/m3 and 21-166 μg/m3, respectively; levels of PM2.5 varied between 4 and 100 μg/m3 indoors and 6.1-115 μg/m3 outdoors. Despite scarce information in some geographical regions (America, Oceania and Africa), the collected data clearly show that Asian children are exposed to the highest concentrations of PM and PAHs at school environments, which were associated with increased carcinogenic risks and with the highest values of urinary total monohydroxyl PAH metabolites (PAH biomarkers of exposure). Additionally, children attending schools in polluted urban and industrial areas are exposed to higher levels of PM and PAHs with increased concentrations of urinary PAH metabolites in comparison with children from rural areas. Strong evidences demonstrated associations between environmental exposure to PM and PAHs with several health outcomes, including increased risk of asthma, pulmonary infections, skin diseases, and allergies. Nevertheless, there is a scientific gap on studies that include the characterization of PM fine fraction and the levels of PAHs in the total air (particulate and gas phases) of indoor and outdoor air of school environments and the associated risks for the health of children. There is a clear need to improve indoor air quality in schools and to establish international guidelines for exposure limits in these environments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Label-free Voltammetric Immunosensor for Prostate Specific Antigen Detection

This work describes a sensitive voltammetric immunosensor for label‐free electroanalysis of the prostate specific antigen (PSA), the main biomarker of prostate cancer. A gold electrode was firstly modified with the optimum self‐assembled monolayer (SAM), 1,6‐hexanedithiol, followed by the subsequent adsorption of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and, then, the monoclonal antibody to recognize PSA was immobilized. The influence of the most significant experimental variables (SAM type and incubation time, AuNPs deposition, antibody concentration and bovine serum albumin immobilization) on the biosensor response was studied by microscopy and voltammetry techniques. The electroanalytical detection was based on the interaction between PSA antibody and PSA via square‐wave voltammetry using ferrocyanide/ferricyanide as electrochemical redox indicator. Using the proposed immunosensor, PSA was specifically detected within the linear range between 0.2 and 200 ng mL−1 with 0.01 ng mL−1 as limit of detection. The immunosensor allows accurate, reproducible and sensitive (22.7 % reduction mL ng−1) detection in a concentration range useful for clinical purposes.The authors are grateful for financial support from theEuropean Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE)and National Funds (FCT) through projects UID/QUI/50006/2013 and UID/CTM/50011/2013. The authors alsothank financial support by Norte Portugal RegionalOperational Programme (NORTE 2020), under thePORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through theEuropean Regional Development Fund (ERDF): projectsNorte-01-0145-FEDER-000011, Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000024 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A FILMOGRAFIA COMO FACILITADORA DA DISCUSSÃO SOBRE TRABALHO INFANTIL NA AMAZÔNIA PARAENSE

Apresenta discussões acerca do trabalho infantil na Amazônia. Tem como objetivo apresentar as impressões de crianças e adolescentes acerca do trabalho infantil. Entendemos que a história da infância pobre no Brasil se construiu em meio ao trabalho e que o Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente traz novas expectativas de mudanças nesse cenário. Assim, para debater sobre o assunto com as crianças e adolescentes, utilizamos a filmografia e observamos por meio de suas falas e desenhos que o trabalho ainda faz parte do cotidiano de crianças e adolescentes vinculadas ao projeto de extensão “Infância em Tela na Universidade e na Comunidade”

Simple method for simultaneous quantification of two new derivatives of betulinic and ursolic acids with antimalarial activity by RP-HPLC-UV-CAD

Endemic in more than 90 countries and territories, malaria is the most widely, populational, and geographically, parasitic disease in the world. Plasmodium sp. resistance to available drugs is one of the biggest problems for malaria eradication. In this study, we develop a method for the simultaneous determination of two new derivatives of betulinic and ursolic acids with antimalarial activity designated 3-O-butanoylbetulinic and 3-O-butanoylursolic acids. An analytical method was developed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled, in series, to ultraviolet (UV) and charged aerosol (CAD) detectors. The chromatographic system, operated isocratically by reversed-phase, consisted in a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile: water pH 3.0 adjusted with formic acid (85:15, v/v), flow rate of 1.2 mL/min and a PhenoSphere Next octadecylsilane column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 μm particle size). Chromatograms were recorded simultaneously in UV and CAD, at a concentration of 50 µg mL-1, an injection volume of 20 μL at a controlled temperature of 50 °C. The method was found to be selective, linear (r > 0.99), precise (RSD < 2.0%), accurate, and robust for both analytes, and considered statistically validated, and can be applied to the identification and quantification of these new drug candidates

POST-OCCUPANCY EVALUATION IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN TEACHING: A DIDACTIC-PEDAGOGICAL EXPERIENCE IN ATELIER DE PROJETO INTEGRADO V COURSE

A relevância da Avaliação Pós-Ocupação (APO) para obtenção da qualidade do projeto de arquitetura tem sido comprovada por diversas pesquisas na área da construção civil. Aspectos relacionados à gestão do processo de projeto, em que a APO se insere, e seu papel no atendimento à qualidade dos espaços construídos, notadamente nas habitações, também já foram amplamente discutidos. Assim evidencia-se a profunda relação existente entre a aferição do comportamento humano no espaço doméstico e a qualidade habitacional como forma de se elevar os índices de satisfação dos usuários e de promover a melhoria do desempenho dos projetos, especialmente para novas propostas. É nesse sentido que se encontra a contribuição da APO para o ensino de projeto. Este artigo discute, portanto, a validade do emprego de instrumentos de APO como metodologia diferenciada de ensino que pode se constituir como elemento norteador do processo projetual em disciplinas de projeto, ou ateliê, na graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo. Para tanto, apresenta a experiência didático-pedagógica que vem sendo desenvolvida na disciplina Atelier de Projeto Integrado V, cujo tema é Habitação de Interesse Social (HIS), ministrada a alunos do quinto período do curso de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia. Essa disciplina busca desenvolver uma visão crítica sobre a atual produção de HIS no Brasil, através de aulas expositivas, da apresentação de obras referenciais e da aproximação dos alunos com a realidade analisada mediante a aplicação de algumas técnicas de avaliação em estudos de caso. Os resultados dessa experiência têm demonstrado que a APO pode influenciar o processo de concepção projetual, especialmente no caso dos estudantes, profissionais em formação, instigando-os no desenvolvimento de soluções que visem reduzir e/ou sanar as problemáticas identificadas.The relevance of Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) in the achievement of more qualified architectural design has been proven by several researches in the area. Aspects related to design management process, in which POE is inserted, and yet their role in built spaces quality, especially in housing, have been widely discussed as well. Therefore a deep relationship between human behavior assessment in domestic space and housing quality as a way to increase resident’s satisfaction level and improve design performance, especially for new proposals, is evidenced. In this sense, POE can contribute to Architectural Design teaching. Thus, this article discusses the importance of using POE tools as a different teaching methodology, that can be used as guiding element for design process in Design Studio disciplines, in Architecture and Urbanism bachelor degrees. For that, it presents the pedagogical experience developed in Atelier de Projeto Integrado V, which theme of investigation is social housing, taught to students of the fifth semester in the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the Federal University of Uberlândia (Brazil). This discipline seeks to develop a critical view on current Brazilian social housing production through lectures, presentation of key works and approximation of students with the reality by the application of some POE tools in case studies (field works). The results from this experience have demonstrated that POE can influence the design conception process, especially in students, trainee professionals, instigating them to develop solutions that aim to reduce or solve the identified problems

Matrix support in mental health in primary health care : creating processes

O estudo aqui apresentado objetivou acompanhar o processo de apoio matricial em saúde mental em uma equipe de saúde da família no município de Porto Alegre com a finalidade de analisar e produzir conhecimento acerca deste dispositivo de cuidado. O Ministério da Saúde brasileiro aponta o apoio matricial como estratégia de mudança nos modos de gerir e cuidar em saúde, constituindo estratégia potente para a articulação das ações de saúde mental na atenção primária. A pesquisa utilizou-se do método cartográfico com a realização de três rodas de conversa e acompanhamento das reuniões entre equipe apoiadora e equipe de saúde da família durante oito meses. Analisaram-se os materiais registrados nos diários de campo, atas das reuniões de equipe e relatos das discussões de caso. O apoio matricial mostrou-se como importante estratégia de interferência nos processos de trabalho, construído na singularidade dos encontros e nas descontinuidades do processo. Em alguns períodos, houve maior envolvimento das equipes nos espaços de discussão e gestão do cuidado, com reverberação do fazer junto através da realização de interconsultas e visitas na rede intersetorial. Em outros momentos, permeado pelas fragilizações institucionais, este dispositivo foi importante para apoiar as/os trabalhadoras/es. Nesta experiência, o apoio matricial possibilitou ampliar o olhar e as ações de cuidados em saúde mental na atenção primária por meio da produção de saberes e práticas em ato.El presente estudio tiene como objetivo acompañar el proceso de apoyo matricial en salud mental de un equipo de salud familiar en la ciudad de Porto Alegre, con el propósito de analizar y producir conocimiento sobre este medio de atención. El Ministerio de Salud de Brasil señala el apoyo matricial como una estrategia para cambiar las formas de gestión y cuidado de la salud, constituyendo una potente estrategia para la articulación de las acciones de salud mental en la atención primaria. La investigación utilizó el método cartográfico con tres rondas de conversación y seguimiento de reuniones entre el equipo de apoyo y el equipo de salud familiar durante ocho meses. Se analizaron los materiales registrados en los diarios de campo, las actas de reuniones del equipo y los informes de las discusiones de casos. El soporte matricial mostró que es una importante estrategia de intervención en los procesos de trabajo, construida sobre la singularidad de las reuniones y las discontinuidades del proceso. En algunos periodos, hubo un mayor interés de los equipos en los espacios de discusión y gestión del cuidado, con destaque del hacer juntos a través de la realización de interconsultas y visitas en la red intersectorial. En otras ocasiones, permeado por fragilidad institucional, este dispositivo fue importante para apoyar a los trabajadores. Por último, en esta experiencia, el soporte matricial permitió ampliar la visión y las acciones de la salud mental en la atención primaria mediante la producción de conocimientos y prácticas en acción.This article recovers some important moments of the encounters and mismatches between psychoanalysis and the Russian Revolution. It is no coincidence that psychoanalysis played a crucial role in the revolution’s early years, making room for reflecting on the new Soviet man. So much so that Wilhelm Reich stated, when he visited the ussr in 1929, that many of the changes introduced by the revolution met his theories. Shortly afterwards, however, he criticized the setback in the field of sexuality, which occurred in the 1930s, to which he attributed an important role in the bureau-cratization of the revolution. In this sense, Reich does not differ much from Freud, who, at various points in his intellectual career, referred to the Soviet experience and was skeptical of the world views’ univocity and the illusory character of the promises of extinction of unease. The present study aimed to follow the process of matrix support in mental health in a primary healthcare team in the city of Porto Alegre to analyze and produce knowledge about this care device. The Brazilian Ministry of Health points out the support matrix as a strategy for changing the management and care in health, constituting a potent strategy to articulate mental health actions in primary care. In this research, the cartographic method was used with three rounds of conversation and follow-up of meetings between the supporting team and the family health team for eight months. We analyzed the materials recorded in the field diaries, meeting minutes, and reports of the case discussions. The matrix support proved to be an important strategy of intervention in the work process, built on the particularity of the meetings and the discontinuities of the process. During some periods, teams were more involved in the discussion and care management spaces, resonating with a doing-together through inter-consultations and visits in the intersectoral network. At other times, permeated by institutional weaknesses, this device was important to support the health workers. In this experience, matrix support made it possible to expand the perspective on and the activities of mental healthcare in primary care through the production of knowledge and practices in the act

Construindo uma política de formação para o orientador pedagógico da rede municipal de ensino de Presidente Prudente/SP: A parceria SEDUC e UNESP

In the organization of President Prudente Municipal Net of Education, the existence of a professional responsible for the organization of the teachers continued formation process at school unit is foreseen. Initially assigned as Nucleus Coordinator and later Pedagogical Counselor, this professional had its function ruled by the Statute of the Municipal Public Teaching of 1999, that defined the requirements for this function exercise, and by the Common Regiment of Municipal Schools of 2000, that defined as its primordial attribution the organization, coordination and counseling in the process of continued formation within the school unit. Under this scene, since the year of 2005, it was developed a framework whose basic axle was a diagnosis trying to identify the profile of the Pedagogical Counselors and teachers who operate County´s Education Net towards the organization and construction of the continued formation project in service at school units, whose horizon is the quality improvement of the pedagogical work of the above actors. To achieve this work, it was initially proceeded the reading, discussion and reflection of texts that approached the identity construction of this professional. Later, the indications of the Ministry of Education on the organization of the work of continued formation at the school, contained in the document called Reference for professors’ formation were presented (2002). Based on these indications, the group of Pedagogical Counselors of the County’s Education Net, in periodical meetings, has searched the construction of their own reference as a guideline to the construction of continued formation projects in service at school unitsEn la organización de la Red Municipal de Educación de Presidente Prudente está prevista la presencia de un profesional responsable por la organización del proceso de formación continua de los profesores de la Unidad Escolar. Inicialmente denominado como Coordinador del Núcleo y posteriormente como Asesor Pedagógico, este profesional tiene su función reglamentada por el Estatuto del Magisterio Público Municipal de 1999, que define los requisitos para el ejercicio de la función y por el Regimiento Común de las Escuelas Municipales de 2000, que define como atribución principal la organización, coordinación y orientación del proceso de formación continua dentro de la unidad escolar. Dentro de este contexto, desde el año de 2005, realizamos un trabajo cuyo eje principal es un diagnóstico buscando identificar el perfil de los Asesores Pedagógicos y de los profesores que actúan en la Red Municipal con el intuito de organizar y construir el proyecto de formación continua para el servicio en las unidades escolares, cuyo horizonte es mejorar la calidad del trabajo pedagógico de los referidos autores. Para la realización del trabajo, se procedió inicialmente a la lectura, discusión y reflexión de textos que abordan la construcción de la identidad de este profesional. Posteriormente fueron presentadas las indicaciones del Ministerio de Educación sobre la organización del trabajo de formación continua dentro de la escuela, contenido en el documento denominado Referencial para la formación de profesores (2002). A partir de estas indicaciones, el conjunto de Asesores Pedagógicos da la Red Municipal, en reuniones periódicas buscaron la construcción de una referencia propia que se constituya como directriz para la construcción de los proyectos de formación continua para el servicio de las Unidades Escolares.Na organização da Rede Municipal de Ensino de Presidente Prudente é prevista a existência de um profissional responsável pela organização do processo de formação continuada dos professores na Unidade Escolar. Inicialmente designado como Coordenador de Núcleo e posteriormente Orientador Pedagógico, este profissional teve sua função regulamentada pelo Estatuto do Magistério Público Municipal de 1999, que definiu os requisitos para o exercício da função e pelo Regimento Comum das Escolas Municipais de 2000 que definiu como sua atribuição primordial a organização, coordenação e orientação do processo de formação continuada no interior da unidade escolar. Tendo em vista este cenário, desde o ano de 2005, foi desenvolvido um trabalho cujo eixo fundamental é um diagnóstico buscando identificar o perfil dos Orientadores Pedagógicos e dos professores atuantes na Rede Municipal com vista à organização e construção do projeto de formação continuada em serviço nas unidades escolares cujo horizonte é a melhoria da qualidade do trabalho pedagógico dos referidos atores. Para a consecução do trabalho procedeu-se inicialmente à leitura, discussão e reflexão de textos que abordavam a construção de identidade deste profissional. Posteriormente, foram apresentadas as indicações do Ministério da Educação sobre a organização do trabalho de formação continuada no interior da escola, contido no documento denominado Referencial para formação de professores (2002). A partir destas indicações, o conjunto de Orientadores Pedagógicos da Rede Municipal, em reuniões periódicas tem buscado a construção de um referencial próprio que se constitua como diretriz para a construção dos projetos de formação continuada em serviço nas Unidades Escolares