Análise da Tendência Institucional/Ocupacional dos Oficiais da Guarda Nacional Republicana

O presente artigo analisa a distribuição dos oficiais da Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) relativamente ao modelo institucional/ocupacional de Moskos (1977, 1986). Propõe-se verificar a relação existente entre as variáveis posto e modo de acesso à carreira e o modelo profissional adoptado, de modo a tornar claro se existe “compartimentação” de opiniões na Instituição GNR: enquanto alguns postos e modos de acesso à carreira permaneceriam divergentes da sociedade civil, outros estariam mais vulneráveis às tendências sociais dominantes. Para este efeito são usados dados obtidos através de um inquérito por questionário realizado aos oficiais do quadro permanente da Guarda Nacional Republicana durante o ano de 2004. Transversalmente, reflecte-se sobre as influências da sociedade no corpo de oficiais e analisa- -se se a percepção do choque entre a natureza original da GNR e a actual orientação dos seus oficiais é já uma realidade ou uma preocupação para o futuro

Guarda Nacional Republicana: tendências da profissão de oficial num tempo de transição

A dissertação que se apresenta para efeito de candidatura ao mestrado em Sociologia na variante Poder e Sistemas Políticos, pretende num primeiro momento, contribuir para a caracterização da instituição Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR), no que concerne às suas origens e natureza estatutária, assim como reflectir sobre a qualificação dos seus elementos. Num segundo momento, tem como objectivo analisar a forma como se distribuem os seus oficiais relativamente às variáveis constantes no modelo Institucional/Ocupacional de Charles Moskos (197 7, 1986). Relativamente às origens têm estado em confronto duas posições teóricas que privilegiam abordagens distintas. Neste trabalho optamos por considerar como mais adequada a posição que tem em consideração a estrutura orgânica sem, contudo, menosprezar a necessidade funcional, pelo que apesar de ter nascido com a República, a GNR é herdeira de uma longa tradição de instituições militares de segurança que remonta ao ano de 1801. No que concerne à natureza, decidimos efectuar a análise do percurso da organização GNR desde a sua génese até aos nossos dias, assim como das instituições militares de segurança que a antecederam, colocando a ênfase na compreensão dos aspectos organizativos, missões, competências, dependência institucional, enquadramento, regime disciplinar e qualificação dos seus profissionais. Na realização deste exame crítico procurámos não apenas assinalar o que é uniforme e repetível mas também as principais rupturas surgidas durante este percurso, considerando que a GNR deve hoje em dia ser definida como uma força de segurança de natureza militar e os seus elementos como militares. Caracterizada a instituição e os seus profissionais, partimos para a análise da distribuição dos oficiais relativamente ao modelo Institucional/Ocupacional_ Para este efeito foi inquirida a população de oficiais da Guarda Nacional Republicana no activo em Março de 2004. No inicio do ano lectivo de 2003/2004 tinha sido efectuado o pré-teste do instrumento, tendo sido inquiridos os cadetes dos 1.° e 4.° anos da Academia Militar do Curso da GNR. Os resultados da pesquisa revelam que tanto os oficiais como os cadetes registam posições mais próximas do modelo institucional do que do ocupacional. A introdução dos desenvolvimentos teóricos propostos por Cotton relativamente à adesão aos diferentes tipos de papel, sugerem que os papeis que prevalecem são o de ambivalente entre oficiais e o de soldado entre os cadetes. ***/Abstract - The dissertation which is presented for the purpose of a candidacy for a Master’s Degree in Sociology, in the specialised area of Power and Political Systems, initially intends to contribute to the characterization of the Guarda Nacional Republicana as an institution, in what concerns to its origins and statutory nature, as well as reflect on the qualification of its elements. Secondly, its objective is to analyse the manner in which its officers are distributed in regard to the constant variables in the Institutional/Occupational model of Charles Moskos3 (1977, 1986). In regard to the origins, two theoretical positions which privilege distinct approaches have been in confrontation. In this work, we opted to consider how the position that has the organic structure in consideration is more adequate, however, without underestimating the fiinctional necessity, for which in spite of having originated with the Republic, the GNR is heir to a long tradition of military security institutions that remount to the year 1801. In what concerns to the nature, we have decided to carry out an analysis of the course of the GNR organization, since its genesis up until present days, as well as that of the military security institutions that preceded it, putting emphasis on the comprehension of the organizational aspects, missions, competences, institutional dependency, framework, disciplinary regime and qualification of its professionals. In the realization of this critical exam, we tried not only to point out what is uniform and recurrent, but also the main ruptures which emerged during this course, considering that the GNR must currently be defined as a security force of a military nature and its elements as military elements. Having characterized the institution and its professionals, we head towards the analysis of the distribution of the oficers relating to the Institutional/Occupational model. For this purpose, the population of officers of the Guarda Nacional Republicana on active duty in March of 2004 was questioned. A pre-test was carried out at the beginning of the 2003/2004 school year, in which the cadets of the first and fourth years of the GNR Course of the Military Academy Were enquired. The results of the study revealed that both the officers and the cadets registered positions that were closer to the institutional model than to the occupational model. The foreword of the theoretical developments that were proposed by Cotton concerning the adhesion to the different types of role, suggest that the roles that prevail are that of ambivalent among officers and soldier amongst the cadets

Comparação da orientação institucional/ocupacional dos oficiais do Exército e da GNR

O presente trabalho pretende comparar as orientações profissionais dos oficiais do Exército e da GNR, à luz do modelo Institucional/Ocupacional de Moskos. Trata-se da comparação sobre quais serão os objectivos de ambas as organizações, enquanto entendidos pelos valores que orientam a actividade de um grupo de indivíduos: trabalhar segundo as leis do mercado ou efectuar um serviço à sociedade. Para este efeito são utilizados os resultados obtidos nas investigações realizadas por Sousa (1993) e Esteves (2006) a duas amostras representativas de ofi ciais dos Quadros Permanentes do Exército e da GNR. Os dados da investigação não confirmam a hipótese que sustentava que oficiais da GNR registariam orientações mais ocupacionais do que os oficiais do Exército, em virtude de um mais profundo relacionamento desta instituição com a sociedade civil. Ao contrário, os oficiais da GNR revelaram tendências mais próximas do pólo institucional que os seus colegas do Exército devido, fundamentalmente, a um sentimento mais forte de pertença à instituição. No entanto, revelaram também possuir uma visão mais burocrática da instituição. A coexistência destas orientações contraditórias parece, pois, sugerir que o modelo I/O não lida com pólos opostos de uma só dimensão mas sim com dimensões independentes, podendo um mesmo indivíduo expressar, em simultâneo, preocupações de carácter institucional e ocupacional

Influence of mechanical stress in a packaged frequency-modulated MEMS accelerometer

Frequency modulated accelerometers composed of two double-ended tuning fork (DETF) resonators on a differential configuration were characterized for their sensitivity to force applied to their package. Commonly, differential architectures are employed to cancel common mode errors, such as the mechanical stress or temperature dependency. The device dependence to mechanical stress was experimentally measured for forces up to 15 N and a reduction of about 5.6 times was obtained on the differential measurement. Additionally, the silicon dies were glued to chip-carriers using two different glues with distinct properties, and their sensitivity to stress was compared. The effectiveness of a viscoelastic glue over an epoxy-based glue for stress decoupling was tested. Long-term measurements under constant force were experimentally performed and for a time period of approximately 100 min, the stress relaxation and creeping of the viscoelastic glue enabled the recovery to the initial output of the sensor.The first author is supported by FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia through the grant PDE/BDE/114564/2016. This work is supported by FCT with the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2019

Recent Region-wide Declines in Caribbean Reef Fish Abundance

Profound ecological changes are occurring on coral reefs throughout the tropics, with marked coral cover losses and concomitant algal increases, particularly in the Caribbean region. Historical declines in the abundance of large Caribbean reef fishes likely reflect centuries of overexploitation. However, effects of drastic recent degradation of reef habitats on reef fish assemblages have yet to be established. By using meta-analysis, we analyzed time series of reef fish density obtained from 48 studies that include 318 reefs across the Caribbean and span the time period 1955–2007. Our analyses show that overall reef fish density has been declining significantly for more than a decade, at rates that are consistent across all subregions of the Caribbean basin (2.7% to 6.0% loss per year) and in three of six trophic groups. Changes in fish density over the past half-century are modest relative to concurrent changes in benthic cover on Caribbean reefs. However, the recent significant decline in overall fish abundance and its consistency across several trophic groups and among both fished and nonfished species indicate that Caribbean fishes have begun to respond negatively to habitat degradation

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

Full-gap tracking system for parallel plate electrostatic actuators using closed-loop control

Bi-directional full-gap tracking on parallel-plate electrostatic actuators using closed-loop control is demonstrated in this paper. On-Off control is explored, where the actuator position is controlled by actuating or releasing the actuator based on the actual position (weather it is above or below the desired position). Noise and delays introduced by the readout circuit compromise the performance of this control law working at 5 MHz sampling frequency. A Proportional-Integral-Derivative control law with feedback linearization is also implemented. This second control law is more complex than the on-off control and requires extensive data processing. In addition, in order to effectively control the actuator, the structure characteristics need to be available as well as the response of the readout circuit (voltage/distance converter). In order to decrease the steady-state error and the overshoot of the structure position, various proportional-integral-derivative (PID) gains are tested. Both controllers are implemented using a FPGA (Field-programmable gate array), which increases the performance of the controller. The experimental results, for both the controllers, show bi-directional tracking of several wave forms at frequencies up to 1 kHz (limited by the dynamics of the actuators). The extension of the travel range is about 88.9% of the full-gap available (due to the mechanical stoppers present in the structure). This corresponds to a displacement range extension of 267%.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bi-directional extended range parallel plate electrostatic actuator based on feedback linearization

In this paper, we present a bi-directional extended range parallel-plate electrostatic actuator using feedback linearization control. The actuator can have stable displacements up to 90% of the full-gap (limited by mechanical stoppers) on both directions, i.e., the device can move +/- 2 mu m within a +/- 2.25 mu m gap. The system has successfully tracked references until 1kHz (limited by the dynamics of the device) and it presents a capacitor tuning range of 17, using an actuation voltage from 0 to 10V. The results presented here are a clear advance in respect to the current state-of-the-art in terms of tracking capabilities, total stable displacement and tuning range.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Highly sensitive MEMS frequency modulated accelerometer with small footprint

A single-axis resonant MEMS accelerometer is presented here. The goal is to achieve the maximum sensitivity on a set of predefined constraints: small footprint of 500 μm × 500 μm, vacuum operation under 150 Pa (requirement for a single-chip IMU) and fabrication using a Bosch silicon surface micromachining process. The sensor is composed by double-ended tuning fork resonators in differential architecture and a force amplification mechanism to increase its sensitivity. A complete characterization of the device was performed including closed-loop operation. A proportional-integral-derivative closed-loop controller architecture updates in real-time the excitation frequency to half the resonance frequency of the resonators. A scale-factor of 170 Hz/g and a non-linearity of 0.63 %FS (operation range of ±1 g) were experimentally measured. The relative sensitivities of 0.08 %Hz/g/nkg and 0.48 %Hz/g are among the highest reported for DETF-based devices. Long-term (700 μg/√Hz noise floor measured), dynamic and thermal drift measurements are also reported. The differential operation improved the thermal performance by 77 %.The authors would like to offer special thanks to the author Luis A. Rocha, who, although no longer with us, continues to inspire by his example and dedication to the students and collaborators he served over the course of his career. The first author is supported by FCT– Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through the grant PDE/BDE/114564/2016. This work is supported by FCT with the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2019