Biblioteca Digital

Os artigos científicos são o principal veículo de comunicação para divulgação dos resultados obtidos por milhares de pesquisadores ao redor do mundo. Entretanto, escrever os artigos científicos em publicações de alto impacto é uma tarefa complexa para autores que têm o inglês como segunda língua. Por meio da aprendizagem baseada em exemplos e em experiência, as habilidades de leitura, interpretação e redação de textos científicos podem ser desenvolvidas por intermédio da prática, facilitada por meio de exemplos de trechos de texto reutilizáveis. Para auxiliar na redação de artigos, várias ferramentas computacionais foram desenvolvidas para dar suporte nas várias etapas de concepção do artigo. As ferramentas existentes, que aplicam este tipo de suporte, são todas voltadas para outros temas de pesquisa, incompatíveis com os temas da Engenharia de Produção, que por sua vez possui maneiras particulares de redigir e estruturar o texto. O objetivo da pesquisa desenvolvida consistiu em adaptar e avaliar um instrumento de auxílio à escrita em inglês dirigido a pesquisadores da Engenharia de Produção, fundamentada na aprendizagem baseada em exemplos e em experiências. Para tal fim, foram adaptadas duas ferramentas existentes para auxiliar nas tarefas de leitura...

This is an experience-based paper which addresses the importance of Drawing in formative disciplines of young students enrolled in fashion design courses, and present an innovative use for this basilar discipline in a Fashion Design Program. In this pedagogical approach we consider the implication of Drawing as interface and also acknowledge the important elements: conceptual operations; taxonomic icons; and drawing process, as interface components.

The ability of animals to extract predictive information from the environment to inform their future actions is a critical component of decision-making. This phenomenon is studied in the laboratory using the pavlovian–instrumental transfer protocol in which a stimulus predicting a specific pavlovian outcome biases choice toward those actions earning the predicted outcome. It is well established that this transfer effect is mediated by corticolimbic afferents on the nucleus accumbens shell (NAc-S), and recent evidence suggests that δ-opioid receptors (DORs) play an essential role in this effect. In DOR-eGFP knock-in mice, we show a persistent, learning-related plasticity in the translocation of DORs to the somatic plasma membrane of cholinergic interneurons (CINs) in the NAc-S during the encoding of the specific stimulus–outcome associations essential for pavlovian–instrumental transfer. We found that increased membrane DOR expression reflected both stimulus-based predictions of reward and the degree to which these stimuli biased choice during the pavlovian–instrumental transfer test. Furthermore, this plasticity altered the firing pattern of CINs increasing the variance of action potential activity, an effect that was exaggerated by DOR stimulation. The relationship between the induction of membrane DOR expression in CINs and both pavlovian conditioning and pavlovian–instrumental transfer provides a highly specific function for DOR-related modulation in the NAc-S...

Learning is essential for adaptive decision making. The striatum and its dopaminergic inputs are known to support incremental reward-based learning, while the hippocampus is known to support encoding of single events (episodic memory). Although traditionally studied separately, in even simple experiences, these two types of learning are likely to co-occur and may interact. Here we sought to understand the nature of this interaction by examining how incremental reward learning is related to concurrent episodic memory encoding. During the experiment, human participants made choices between two options (colored squares), each associated with a drifting probability of reward, with the goal of earning as much money as possible. Incidental, trial-unique object pictures, unrelated to the choice, were overlaid on each option. The next day, participants were given a surprise memory test for these pictures. We found that better episodic memory was related to a decreased influence of recent reward experience on choice, both within and across participants. fMRI analyses further revealed that during learning the canonical striatal reward prediction error signal was significantly weaker when episodic memory was stronger. This decrease in reward prediction error signals in the striatum was associated with enhanced functional connectivity between the hippocampus and striatum at the time of choice. Our results suggest a mechanism by which memory encoding may compete for striatal processing and provide insight into how interactions between different forms of learning guide reward-based decision making.

Background: Sickness absence (SA), known as work disability justified by sick leave, can be an indicator of workers health status. In municipal government, like the rest of the country, the prevalence of SA and its main causes are still poorly documented, and are restricted to the analysis of some occupational groups, especially those who engage in health care or in institutions education. Estimates of the magnitude of SA vary widely and socio-demographic aspects related to nature and working conditions are among the main factors associated with the frequency and duration. Aims: To study the prevalence and the factors related to SA workers from the public sector in the municipality of Goiânia. Methods: Cross-sectional population-based study assessing prevalence and factors associated with sick leave lasting longer than three days for the health treatment from 2005 to 2010, in civil servants. Outcomes: 40.578 sick leave were assessed among 14.484 absent workers which generated 944.722 absent days. The indicators of sickness absence in that period were: prevalence of sick leave of 39.0%, higher among education professionals (47.7%) and health (41.9%), the mean duration of SA was 40 days / year per worker away and the average duration of Licenses was 23 days per episode. Predominance of female sexual workers...

Originada de inquietações presentes em nossa prática como professora atuante na rede regular de ensino, esta pesquisa tem por objetivo geral refletir sobre aspectos da construção identitária de alunos com necessidades especiais, na expectativa de contribuir para sua inserção na escola pública. Para alcançarmos essa meta, nosso objetivo específico é analisar e interpretar representações que alunos com necessidades especiais que frequentam a rede regular de ensino possuem de si e do outro. Temos como hipótese que se vivencia nas escolas de ensino público regular uma exclusão velada, que tem sido designada como inclusão pela sociedade. Para comprová-la, os principais questionamentos problematizados são: Como os alunos com necessidades especiais se veem e são vistos? Quais são suas representações sobre si e o outro? O que é inclusão para eles? Como se sentem na escola? Trata-se de uma pesquisa inscrita no viés discursivo, que se caracteriza como uma pesquisa de campo e tem como base o método arqueogenealógico, que problematiza, nos dizeres de alunos vistos como “deficientes intelectuais”, regularidades e dispersões que determinam discursos sobre sua construção identitária. Além da necessária revisão bibliográfica para construção do referencial teórico-metodológico (conteúdo do primeiro capítulo desta dissertação)...

Events of the past two years are a reminder that crises are a recurring phenomenon with deep and often protracted impacts on labor markets. This paper examines the challenges inherent in crafting policy responses, with particular attention to developing countries. It focuses on the potential tradeoffs between offsetting adverse short-term impacts and preserving incentives for economic recovery and future growth, and between protecting the most vulnerable and compensating those most immediately impacted. It also highlights how policymakers room for maneuver is constrained in crisis times by deteriorating fiscal space, limited institutional capacity, and mounting political pressures. Based on empirical evidence from previous crises, the paper asserts that taking a myopic and reactive approach may be costly and counterproductive. Instead, it advocates a more comprehensive approach, designed to build institutions - such as automatic stabilizers and safety nets - that can deliver a coordinated and coherent policy package. This approach will make crises catalysts for institutional changes and long-run growth.

This study uses data from the 2005 Albania Living Standards Measurement Study survey to assess the impact of past migration experience of Albanian households on non-farm business ownership through instrumental variables regression techniques. Considering the differences in earning potentials and opportunities for skill acquisition in different destination countries, we differentiate the impact of past household migration experience by main migrant destinations. The study also explores the heterogeneity of impact based on the timing of migration. The empirical results indicate that past household migration experience exerts a positive impact on the probability of owning a non-farm business. While one additional year in Greece increases the probability of household business ownership by roughly 6 percent, a similar experience in Italy or farther destinations raises the probability by over 25 percent. Although past household migration experience for the period of 1990-2000 is positively associated with the likelihood of owning a household enterprise, a similar association does not exist for the period of 2001-2004.

In view of its increasing importance, and the dearth of information on return migration and its impacts on source households, this study uses data from the 2005 Albania Living Standards Measurement Study survey and assesses the impact of past migration experience of Albanian households on non-farm business ownership through instrumental variables regression techniques. Moreover, considering the differences in earning potentials and opportunities for skill acquisition in different destination countries, the impact of household past migration experience is differentiated by main migrant destinations, namely Greece and Italy. The study also tests for the hypothesis of the existence of migration cycles, by differentiating the time spent abroad based on the year of return. The empirical results indicate that household past migration experience exerts a positive impact on the probability of owning a non-farm business. While one additional year in Greece increases the probability of household business ownership by roughly 7 percent...

Youth are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults, even in economies with strong economic growth. This note is a tool to provide policymakers and youth-serving organizations with a framework to better diagnose short- to medium-run constraints facing the stock of unemployed youth and to design evidence based youth employment interventions. The note only addresses youth employment; strategies to affect wages, productivity, underemployment, or job quality are not directly discussed. This note presents youth-oriented Active Labor Market Programs (ALMPs) that conform to one of two criteria. Each intervention either has been shown to have predominately positive impact, as measured by rigorous impact evaluations, or has weaker evidence of impact-rigorous evaluations with mixed evidence of impact or strong positive monitoring data-and is theoretically sound. Cost-effectiveness information is presented when available. The note focuses on programs that are appropriate to address constraints faced by youth from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The openness or internationalization of financial services is a complex issue because it is closely related to structural reforms in the domestic financial sector with some perceived implications for macroeconomic stability. The authors investigate the impact of foreign bank entry on the performance of domestic banks and how this relationship is affected by the sequence of financial liberalization. Their data set is constructed from the BANKSCOPE database, including 30 industrial and developing countries, and covering the period from 1995 to 2002. The authors apply panel data regressions by pooling all countries together, and by grouping countries according to the sequence of their financial liberalization. One observation based on descriptive analysis is that the degree of openness to foreign bank entry varies a great deal, which is not correlated with average income levels or with GDP growth. Second, the sequence of financial liberalization matters for the performance of the domestic banking sector: After controlling for macroeconomic variables and grouping countries by their sequence of liberalization...

Unemployment rates for tertiary-educated youth in Jordan are high, as is the duration of unemployment. Two randomized experiments in Jordan were used to test different theories that may explain this phenomenon. The first experiment tested the role of search and matching frictions by providing firms and job candidates with an intensive screening and matching service based on educational backgrounds and psychometric assessments. Although more than 1,000 matches were made, youth rejected the opportunity to even have an interview in 28 percent of cases, and when a job offer was received, they rejected this offer or quickly quit the job 83 percent of the time. A second experiment built on the first by examining the willingness of educated, unemployed youth to apply for jobs of varying levels of prestige. Youth applied to only a small proportion of the job openings they were told about, with application rates higher for higher prestige jobs than lower prestige jobs. Youth failed to show up for the majority of interviews scheduled for low prestige jobs. The results suggest that reservation prestige is an important factor underlying the unemployment of educated Jordanian youth.

Recent media reports of a perceived skills problem in Lao PDR have spurred an intense focus on skills development initiatives. Alarming media coverage of rising wages and complaints among firms of a shortage of skilled workers has raised concerns over whether Lao workers are equipped with the skills sought by firms. The Government and other partners have responded by channeling more resources to skills development, for example with investments in vocational training facilities to train more workers. This report argues that the workforce problems which Lao PDR faces do not only stem from problems in the education sector. Looking only to skills development as a solution would not address the fundamental problems constraining economic growth, employment creation, and poverty reduction. Creating an environment conducive for farm and non-farm businesses to make investments and grow remains an essential first step for skills development. As World Bank (2004) states, Training does not create jobs. Skills are a derived demand and that demand depends on policies for growth and employment creation.

This note forms part of a broader engagement between the World Bank and the Government of FYR Macedonia on how to foster more and better jobs and make sure that more marginalized groups, women, low earners, skilled and unskilled youth, for example - can participate and benefit from those jobs. It focuses on providing updated labor market diagnostics based on the labor force surveys between 2007 and 2011. The findings will be used as a basis for further policy analysis. The remainder of this note is organized as follows. Section two describes labor market developments since 2007 and the conditions prevailing in 2011. Subsequent sections address the remaining challenges and key policy options. The third section thus focuses on raising productivity – critical to national economic development and to ensure sustainable increases in earnings over time in Macedonia. The fourth section discusses the generational divide in terms of challenges in labor market opportunities for the younger versus older generations. The fifth section looks at workers that are particularly disadvantaged in the labor market with a particular focus on women. The sixth section concludes with the policy levers that may help Macedonia move forward on the jobs agenda.

Youth employment issues are a major concern for many countries because they have negative effects on the welfare of young people, and may also adversely affect economic performance and social stability. This is the first Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) evaluation of the World Bank Group's support to countries trying to address youth employment issues. The World Bank lending portfolio for youth employment is relatively small, although components of programs appear in 57 countries. Most projects include interventions in skills development and school-to-work transition. Half of the projects include interventions to foster job creation and work opportunities for youth. International Finance Corporation (IFC) has a broad approach to job creation. Between FY01 and FY11 youth employment has not been specifically targeted, except in the Middle East and North Africa region and in a small number of other interventions. IFC invested $500 million to 50 investment operations and 18 advisory services to education. Although youth employment is addressed in the education...

The authors follow the Hellerstein, Neumark, and Troske (1999) framework to estimate marginal productivity differentials and compare them with estimated relative wages. The analysis provides evidence on productivity and nonproductivity-based determinations of wages. Special emphasis is given to the effects of human capital variables, such as education, experience, and training on wages and productivity differentials. Higher education yields higher productivity. However, highly educated workers earn less than their productivity differentials would predict. On average, highly educated workers are unable to fully appropriate their productivity gains of education through wages. On the other hand, workers with more experience are more productive in the same proportion that they earn more in medium and large firms, meaning they are fully compensated for their higher productivity. Finally, workers in micro and small firms are paid more than what their productivity would merit. Training benefits firms and employees since it significantly increases workers' productivity and their earnings.

Lebanon has faced a continuous series of economic setbacks fueled by mounting political uncertainties and war over the decades. The current global financial crisis compounds the levels of uncertainty and anxiety facing households with regards to their future security. The need for earned income and employment is therefore higher than ever and an increasing number of women are entering the labor market as a means of generating additional income for themselves and their families. Women in Lebanon enjoy high social indicators both in education and health. The female to male ratios in secondary and tertiary enrollment are 110 and 116 percent respectively. However, women's participation in the economy whether in the labor market or private sector investment is relatively low, especially when compared to their female counterparts in other similar middle income countries. Female labor force participation in Lebanon is 37 percent compared to 84 percent for men and according to the Lebanese national survey of household living condition (2004)...

Although by regional standards, Kenya's financial system is relatively well developed and diversified, major structural impediments prevent it from reaching its full potential. Crosscountry comparisons, however, show the importance of a well-developed financial sector for long-term economic growth and poverty alleviation. Experience from other developing economies has shown the detrimental effect of government ownership and the positive impact that foreign bank ownership can have on the development of a market-based financial system. Analyzing and decomposing the high interest rate spreads and margins in Kenya helps identify structural impediments that drive the high cost of and low access to financial services. The limited information sharing on debtors, deficiencies in the legal and judicial system, the limited number of strong and reputable banks and non-transparency and uncertainty in the banking market are major impediments to the development of Kenya's financial system, to reducing spreads and to widening access.

O enquadramento bioético dos cuidados de saúde a idosos em contexto rural e a temática do envelhecimento, em particular, constituem tema pertinente e atual, devido a toda a conjuntura relacionada com as políticas de saúde e a desertificação das regiões rurais. As alterações demográficas ocorridas no último século traduziram-se na modificação das pirâmides etárias, revelando uma população cada vez mais envelhecida e só. Considerando estas premissas, surgiu a formulação da questão central deste estudo, orientada para um conhecimento mais aprofundado do enquadramento bioético dos cuidados de saúde a idosos em contexto rural e que tem como objetivos: (i) apresentar o retrato sociodemográfico da população idosa; (ii) caracterizar os recursos de saúde e sociais; (iii) caracterizar o processo de envelhecimento nas suas diferentes dimensões (saúde, psicológica, económica e social), no sentido da formulação de políticas ajustadas aos desafios, exigências e necessidades da população idosa; (iv) caracterizar a perceção sobre o estado de saúde; (v) avaliar a perceção da qualidade de vida e nos seus domínios; (vi) analisar a relação entre a perceção da qualidade de vida e variáveis sociodemográficas...

Background: Due to technical advances and progressive specialization, patient physician relationship evolved from being based on confidence and comprehension to be impersonal and contractual. Aim: To evaluate the change produced in medical students' concept of the meaning of disease, after living an experience of accompanying a patient and their family environment. Material and methods: We used a qualitative research methodology based on participative-action to evaluate an educational method in which a group of third year medical students accompanied a previously selected chronic patient during two months. We performed two focal groups, one previous to the experience and the second one a month later. Additionally, every student wrote a personal narration of the experience. We compared the students' perception of the meaning of disease for the patients and their relatives, before and after the experience. Results: The students confirmed their previous conception about chronic disease, but they also discovered the ways in which some patients and their families overcome their ¡imitations. They pointed out their belief that the physician's comprehension of the meaning of disease for the patient and the family, a need to practice a good medicine and that this knowledge change the physician-patient relationship. Conclusions: This experience was an effective way of ¡earning the meaning of disease...