Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:05:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo701_1.pdf: 5556160 bytes, checksum: 503cafb99cefa305236f388541afbe7c (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / O sítio Arqueológico Alcobaça, localizado no município de Buíque PE, na área do Parque Nacional do Vale do Catimbau, nas coordenadas 8º32´24 Sul e 37º11´39 Oeste. Está situado a uma altitude de 800 m em relação ao nível do mar. É um abrigo em rocha arenítica com configuração de um pequeno anfiteatro com uma área de aproximadamente 980 m². As datações radiométricas do sítio Alcobaça indicam que o abrigo foi utilizado por um longo período, entre 4851 ± 30 e 888 ± 25 anos AP. O estudo arqueobotânico teve como principais objetivos a identificação, quantificação e o estudo tafonômico. Estes procedimentos fornecem informações acerca dos hábitos alimentares dos grupos humanos que ocuparam o abrigo, das modificações antropogênicas do entorno vegetacional e dos aspectos relacionados à distribuição de áreas de atividade no espaço intra-sítio. Os restos vegetais do sítio arqueológico Alcobaça são compostos por fragmentos de cestarias, cordões, sementes de umbu, sementes não-identificadas, frutos de palmeiras e fragmentos de sabugos de milho. Na presente pesquisa foram selecionados apenas os macro-restos vegetais silvestres com indícios de processamento humano - fraturas com características de manipulação antrópica e sinais de queima e combustão. As contextualizações espacial e estratigráfica dos macro-restos vegetais foram efetuadas com o auxílio de gráficos gerados a partir das tabelas de quantificação dos vestígios vegetais. O sítio foi dividido em três áreas a serem escavadas. Área I encontra-se próxima à parede do abrigo, e caracteriza-se por apresentar enterramentos com seus respectivos materiais associados. A Área II está localizada no sentido norte do sítio e revelouse uma área de sucessivas fogueiras não-estruturadas. A Área III, localizada no sentido sul, caracterizou-se pela presença de fogueiras estruturadas, assim como estruturas contendo restos vegetais. As áreas I e II apresentaram quatro camadas ocupacionais e a área III, duas camadas .Para cada táxon vegetal identificado no sítio Alcobaça foi determinado o número total de fragmentos (NTF) presentes em cada nível (de 10 cm) escavado e nas estruturas evidenciadas (fogueiras estruturadas, fogueiras desestruturadas, sepultamentos). Estudos etnobotânicos sobre às principais espécies identificadas, de palmeiras e estudos das dinâmicas vegetacionais e climáticas do Vale do Catimbau foram contrastados com os dados arqueobotânicos do sítio arqueológico Alcobaça. As principais espécies, numericamente mais representativas, foram o ouricuri (Syagrus coronata), o babaçu (Orbygnia phalerata) e o umbu (Spondias tuberosa). Sementes de jatobá (Hymineaea courbaril) também foram identificadas, porém em menor número. Os dados arqueológicos, botânicos e etnobotânicos apresentados indicam uma dieta baseada em pequenos animais e plantas silvestres em processo de manejo, semi-domesticação ou domesticação. Em relação à organização espacial intra-sítio das atividades de processamento de vegetais foi possível verificar diferenças na utilização do espaço. A área I, área dos enterramentos, apresentou 25,67 % da totalidade dos vegetais identificados resgatados no sítio Alcobaça. A presença das três principais espécies identificadas nas fogueiras dos enterramentos permitem deduzir que tais espécies vegetais possuíam uma importância considerável no imaginário mítico-religioso dos grupos que executaram tais rituais fúnebres. A maior concentração de restos fragmentados e queimados de frutos de babaçu e ouricuri e sementes de umbu foi verificada na área II, com 72,9 % da totalidade dos macro-vestígios recuperados, todos apresentando elevada freqüência de queima. Na camada 2 desta área, com datação de 1.234 ± 24 anos AP, concentrou-se a quase totalidade dos restos botânicos. Isto demonstra que este período ocupacional caracterizou-se por uma atividade intensa de processamento destes vegetais, como também pela utilização destes na retroalimentação de fogueiras. A área III apresentou apenas 1,43 % do total de macro-restos vegetais identificados resgatados ao longo das campanhas de escavação. Nesta área, composta por fogueiras estruturadas, observou-se um percentual de queima do babaçu e do ouricuri de aproximadamente 20% do total de fragmentos de endocarpo. Verificou-se nesta pesquisa indícios de um extenso período de processamento de frutos de palmeiras e de frutos de umbu em diferentes momentos cronológicos de ocupação do sítio Alcobaça, ao longo de 4.000 anos. O confronto dos dados arqueobotânicos, paleoambientais e etnobotânicos para a região em questão sugere sucessivas adaptações de grupos humanos pré-históricos a áreas vegetacionais continuamente manejadas e antropizadas. Com a continuidade das pesquisas nesta Área Arqueológica e a obtenção de novas informações arqueobotânicas provenientes de outros sítios da região, talvez seja possível no futuro, estabelecer uma análise sistêmica das modalidades de manejo, coleta e processamento de vegetais silvestres, e de como essas atividades interferiram na composição da vegetação atual

MCom (Business Management) / See the attached abstract below

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, also known as sexual minorities, endure unique and excess stressors due to their stigmatized sexual minority identity. Commonly referred to as minority stress, these stressors may potentially lead to poorer mental health outcomes among sexual minority individuals as compared to their heterosexual counterparts. The manifestation and extent of these stressors depend on the complex relationships between one’s simultaneous intersecting identities (e.g., race, gender, and sexual orientation) and macro-level inequality reinforcement (e.g., structural barriers, societal representation, politics). Inequality at the macro-level creates power and oppression on a larger scale by emphasizing dominant societal norms and belief systems, which, in turn, could have consequences on interpersonal and individual levels. Previous minority stress literature neglects macro-level impact and tends to view sexual minorities as a homogenous group. In an effort to highlight within-group variability of minority stressors and their impact on sexual minorities at the intersection of race and gender, an intersectional lens was applied to assess existing minority stress literature that corresponded with three types of intersectionality (i.e., structural intersectionality, representational intersectionality, political intersectionality). Sexual minority stress research, with emphasis on external stressors aligning with macro-level forces, was selected for review. After organizing the literature by race, gender, and specific sexual minority identity, an intersectional lens was applied to explain the variation of experience based on converging identity intersections of sexual minority individuals. The variation of mental health outcomes was also identified. Findings revealed that literature primarily lined-up with structural intersectionality, followed by representational intersectionality, and, finally, political intersectionality. Ideally, this review would have equally distributed information on all within-group identity combinations, but this review further highlights group underrepresentation in the literature. Consistencies emerged for bisexuals and sexual minorities of color (SMOC) across the structural, representational, and political intersectionality categorizations. Overall, bisexuals and SMOC appear to be at a more significant macro-level disadvantage than gay or lesbian individuals and White sexual minorities. A recognizable pattern occurred based on gender across race/ethnicity in relation to structural and representational intersectionality. The stressors for women and gender minorities occurred in the context of societal power, assumed heterosexuality, and healthcare. By contrast, stressors for men concerned geographic location, employment, workplace, and appearance. While very little minority stress literature corresponded with political intersectionality, this review highlighted a large gap in previous research and what to explore in the future. The findings highlight the similarities and differences encountered by sexual minorities related to experiences, stress, and mental health regarding macro-level impacts. Additionally, gaps in the minority stress literature were also revealed, such as underrepresented identities and political influence. In the future, incorporation of intersectionality that should be applied prior to conducting minority stress research for a more comprehensive understanding.

Asset prices and macroeconomics: towards a unified macro-finance framework Aleš Maršál March 30, 2020 Abstract The dissertation consists of three papers focused on fiscal policy and explaining what determines the dynamics of cross-sectional distribution of bond prices. The connecting factor of the thesis is however not just its main theme but also the used methodology. The valuation of bonds and effects of studied policies are endogenous outcome of the full-fledged macro-finance dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. The first chapter provides broader context and non-technical summary of the three papers in following chapters. The first paper studies the role of trend inflation in bond pricing. Motivated by recent empirical findings that emphasize low-frequency movements in inflation as a key determinant of term structure, we introduce trend inflation into the workhorse macro-finance model. We show that this compromises the earlier model success and delivers implausible busi- ness cycle and bond price dynamics. We document that this result applies more generally to non-linearly solved models with Calvo pricing and trend inflation and is driven by the behavior of price dispersion, which is i) counterfactually high and ii) highly inaccurately approximated. We highlight the channels be- hind the undesired performance...

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Urbanisation and storm water input in the Kuils River catchment changed the flow of the river from ephemeral to perennial. This led to flooding problems in the Kuilsrivier central business district. The river was channelised in 2000 to increase the carrying capacity of the channel and thus to reduce the flood risk. This study aims to monitor the impacts of channelisation on the geomorphology and ecology of the Kuils River. This was done by selecting representative study sites upstream, within and downstream of the channelised reach. The geomorphological and ecological characteristics of the river were recorded in detail with changes tracked over a year period incorporating channelisation activities and winter floods.

Together with the growth of procedural content generation in game development, there is a need for a viable generation method of procedural context to make sense of the content within game space. Previous research discusses how interactivity and narrative are almost opposite of each other and when combined needs to be generated in two steps, one for the game space and the other for context. We propose procedural narrative as context through objectives, as a useful means to structure content in games. In this paper we present and describe an artefact developed as a sub-system to the Evolutionary Dungeon Designer (EDD), that procedurally generates objectives for the dungeons created with the tool. The artefact is developed with macro patterns which can be defined as an extension of the existing meso patterns in EDD. The macro patterns are used to generate objectives in the rooms of the dungeons, and the system evaluates the priority of the room objectives based on the design of the dungeon and the quality of the objective to maximize the usage of game space and create a suitable narrative. The work for this thesis and its artefact resulted in a successful expansion on the knowledge of procedural narrative generation by presenting macro patterns as a viable solution for contextualization of procedural game content.

Segregation, or non-uniformity, in Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) induces accelerated pavement distress(es) that can reduce a pavement's service life up to 50%. Quality Assurance procedures should detect and quantify the presence of this problem in newly constructed pavements. Current practices are usually based on visual inspections that identify non-uniform surface texture areas. An automatic process that reduces subjectivity would improve the quality-assurance procedures of HMA pavements. Virginia has undertaken a focused research effort to improve the uniformity of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) pavements. A method using a dynamic (laser-based) surface macrotexture instrument showed great promise, but it revealed that it may actually miss significant segregated areas because they only measure very thin longitudinal lines. The main objective of this research is to develop a non-contact system for the detection of segregated HMA areas and for the identification of the locations of these areas along a road for HMA quality assurance purposes. The developed system uses relatively low cost components and innovative image processing and analysis software. It computes the gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) of images of newly constructed pavements to find various parameters that are commonly used in visual texture analysis. Using principal component analysis to integrate multivariable data into a single classifier, Hotelling's T2 statistic, the system then creates a list of the location of possible nonuniformities that require closer inspection. Field evaluations of the system at the Virginia Smart Road proved that it is capable of discriminating between different pavement surfaces. Verification of the system was conducted through a series of field tests to evaluate the uniformity of newly constructed pavements. A total of 18 continuous road segments of recently paved roads were tested and analyzed with the system. Tables and plots to be used by inspection personnel in the field were developed. The results of these field tests confirmed the capability of the system to detect potential nonuniformities of recently completed pavements. The system proved its potential as a useful tool in the final inspection process. / Ph. D.

The current study examines county-level characteristics and their impact on child homicide. This work uses Durkheimian theory and tests the concept of solidarity by using variables that constitute integration and regulation. In addition, some variables are drawn from other theoretical perspectives, mainly social disorganization and anomie theories, to better explore additional macro-level indicators. Data were obtained from multiple locations. Homicide data for children, from birth through five years, utilized in this work came from the National Incident-Based Reporting System. County level socio-demographics were obtained from the Census. Political party affiliation (Republican or Democrat) came from Politico, and religious data were collected by InfoGroup and organized into groups by the Association of Religion Data Archives. This study aims to increase our understanding of how macro-level contextual and situational factors may help guide policy makers, law enforcement personnel, and any other individuals who are concerned with areas where there are varying degrees of risk for child homicide

No description available.

Background: In the United States, it is estimated that 1 in 20 patients become infected with a healthcare acquired infection (HAI). Some of the complications of HAIs include increased morbidity and mortality, and drug-resistant infections. Clostridium difficile has replaced methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as the most important HAI in the United States by doubling its prevalence during the last decade. Significance of the study: This study is grounded on the subdiscipline of macroergonomics and highly detailed simulation. The Macroergonomic Analysis and Design (MEAD) model is utilized to identify and correct deficiencies in work systems. The MEAD process was applied to develop possible sociotechnical interventions that can be used against HAIs. Highly detailed simulation can evaluate infection exposure, interventions, and individual behavior change for populations in large populations. These two methods provide the healthcare system stakeholders with the ability to test interventions that would otherwise be impossible to evaluate. Objective/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that reduce HAI infections in healthcare facility populations, and provide evidence-based best practices for these facilities. The central research question is: What type of interventions can help reduce Clostridium difficile infections? Methods: We collected one year of patient archival information to include activities, locations and contacts through electronic patient records from two Virginia regional hospitals. Healthcare worker activities were obtained through direct observation (shadowing) at the two Virginia regional hospitals. Experiments were designed to test the different types of interventions using EpiSimdemics, a highly-resolved simulation software. A Clostridium difficile disease model was developed to evaluate interventions. Results: We observed a significant drop in infection cases at a regional Hospital. There is significant evidence to link this drop in HAI infections to a sociotechnical intervention. However, there is not enough information to pinpoint the specific action that caused the drop. We additionally conducted simulation experiments with two hospital simulations. Simulated sociotechnical interventions such as hand washing, room cleaning, and isolation caused significant reductions in the infection rates. Conclusions: The combined use of macroergonomics and simulation can be beneficial in developing and evaluating interventions against HAIs. The use of statistical control charts as an epidemiology tool can help hospitals detect outbreaks or evaluate the use of interventions. Use of systemic interventions in an in-silico environment can help determine cheaper, more flexible, and more effective actions against HAIs. / Ph. D.