Undoubtedly one of the most significant developments to affect marketing worldwide in the 21st century has been the development of the Internet. As a communication tool the Internet is emerging as a new challenge to mass media advertising. As a result advertising agencies need to readdress their techniques, services and agency structure. Additionally, the shape and form of the traditional advertising agency will need to change along with the adoption and usage of this new interactive media channel. Agencies are now being forced to consider broadening their service offerings to clients. Apart from widening their service offerings, advertising agencies are being driven to invest in building and sustaining valuable client relationships to establish client loyalty, with profit and a healthy bottom-line being the ultimate objectives. Bush, Bush and Harris (1998) point out however, that whilst a growing number of companies are interested in developing an online presence, significant confusion remains about what this new medium will offer stakeholders in the advertising industry. The study undertaken in this thesis explores the relationship between two influential stakeholders in the advertising industry - advertising agencies and their clients. To explore this relationship, the study modified Parasuraman, Zeithamal and Berry's (1988) SERVQUAL model to explore whether gaps exist between agency-client expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. The SERVQUAL model, which was designed for measuring gaps between service expectations and perceptions, was adapted for use in the business-to-business environment (B2B). In the marketing literature there is little evidence of B2B research in relation to agency-client relationships, nor has there been significant scholarly work exploring the effect of the introduction of the Internet as a promotional tool on the agency-client relationship. The research undertaken in this study aims to respond to this gap in the marketing literature by addressing the broad research question: &quotHow will the introduction of the Internet as a promotional tool impact agency-client relationships?" Undertaking a review of agency-client expectations of the value of the Internet will ascertain whether gaps exist between agency and client expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. The discovery of gaps in the agency-client relationship in relation to Internet perceptions will indicate potential opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed by advertising agencies interested in extending their advertising services to embrace the Internet as a promotional tool. A major assumption in this inquiry was that gaps would exist between agency and client perceptions of Internet value. In particular, that advertising agencies would perceive the Internet to be a more valuable promotional tool than their clients. This assumption was informed from mass media and industry press, which indicated that advertising agencies were embracing new advertising creative in website design and strategic marketing activities using interactive media such as newsgroups and email to reach customers. However, the research of Bush et al. (1998) and Ducoffe (1996) suggests that little is known about the value of these Internet-based activities. Such thinking raises questions, such as: are advertisers feeling compelled to jump on the Internet bandwagon because of its popularity, or are businesses' desires to use Internet advertising a manifestation of Internet hype? To begin to answer these questions advertising industry stakeholders need to identify whether gaps do exist between agency and client perceptions of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. The existence of such gaps could lead to tension in the agency-client relationship, which may ultimately mean a loss of client accounts for the advertising agency. Identifying and remedying such gaps could therefore aid in ensuring long-term and profitable working relationships with the agency's clients. To undertake this advertising industry research and respond to the research questions in this study an international advertising agency network, made up of 206 offices in 90 countries and a selection of their clients, were recruited to participate in the study. A two stage survey method approach was adopted because it was a time-efficient and affordable method for collecting detailed information from a dispersed network of professionals. The survey tool was a web-based questionnaire which was firstly submitted to a selection of advertising agencies within the international agency network. On completion of the questionnaire, agencies were asked to provide contact details for their top three billing clients. The second stage of the survey research involved the submission of a client questionnaire to the client contacts provided by the advertising agency. Both questionnaires used a modified SERVQUAL multi-item scale to measure service expectations. Discrete agency and client questions were also included in the respective questionnaires to situate the SERVQUAL analysis within the context of Internet usage, value perceptions and organisational characteristics (e.g. agency size, advertising spend, experience in using interactive media). The major finding of this study is that within the international advertising agency network there were no significant gaps in agency-client expectations concerning the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. Whilst several statistical analyses were undertaken, including bivariate and multivariate techniques such as Pearson's Chi-Square cross-tabulations, independent t-tests and ANOVAs, no statistically significant results are reported. In fact, it was found that advertising agencies and clients have similar expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. Gaps actually exist in relation to the clients who use the Internet as a promotional tool and agencies who supply Internet advertising services. Many agencies within this international agency network were found to be actively using the Internet, but their Internet advertising functions were not being provided by their traditional advertising agency. Descriptive analyses reported in the findings from this research study indicate that advertising agencies in this international network need to better understand their clients' Internet promotion needs. This will ensure the establishment of healthy, profitable and long-term agency-client relationships in the future. The research findings from this study offer advertising agencies worldwide insight into client expectations of the Internet, as well as other agency services. Furthermore, the findings reported contribute to the current small body of research in relation to B2B relationships in the advertising industry. The groundwork is set for future analysis of agency-client relationships in the advertising industry. In summary, while gaps between agency and client expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool were expected, this research study found that agency and client expectations are quite similar. Analysis did reveal that one important factor, which influences the agency-client relationship, relates to the provision of Internet advertising services. Specifically, when an agency is not responsible for developing and maintaining clients' Internet advertising, these clients are utilising services from external providers of Internet services. These new stakeholders, who provide specialist services (i.e. graphic design houses, Internet advertising specialists and client's in-house Internet services), are changing the competitive environment of advertising services in the industry. Another interesting discovery, specific to the sample population, was that one third of agencies within the study did not provide Internet advertising services to current clients. However, these agencies have clients that use Internet advertising. On the one hand, this finding indicates that opportunities exist for these agencies to extend their service portfolio to embrace Internet advertising. However, it also raises an important question: that is, have these agencies created greater competition by not providing a full service communication portfolio for clients? These factors, and other methodological issues will inform directions for future research to explain the influential role of the Internet within the agency-client relationship in the advertising industry.

Cette recherche est née d'une réalité pratique d'un cabinet d'orthophonie situé au carrefour de déserts médicaux. C'est en partant de la problématique liée à la nécessité d’assurer une offre de soins équitable pour tous, et soucieux d'adapter ces offres en tirant bénéfice des évolutions technologiques et des évolutions des usages communautiques, que nous avons mené notre recherche dans une perspective exploratoire. Notre hypothèse principale est que le recours aux outils et services TIC, notamment aux dispositifs de e-learning, est une solution pour faire face aux difficultés organisationnelles et logistiques relatives à la mise en œuvre de soins pour tous.L'orthophonie est une profession de santé, et en ce sens, elle ne peut se résumer à une pratique pédagogique. Elle trouve sens dans la relation de soin qu'elle instaure avec le patient. La clinique amène l'orthophoniste à faire le choix d'un projet rééducatif qui s'articule autour d'une ligne de conduite plaçant le patient au cœur de la problématique, mais instrumenté par des méthodes pédagogiques, entre autres. C'est pourquoi, nous nous sommes interrogée sur les apports des recherches dans le domaine du e-learning dont nous pourrions bénéficier pour enrichir la pratique orthophonique.L'objectif est donc double: contribuer à enrichir la recherche scientifique propre au domaine de la télé-orthophonie et proposer des solutions à la demande grandissante de soins orthophoniques pour pallier une offre déficitaire dans certaines régions. Nous nous basons sur les visées et les enseignements de la FOAD, dans une optique de changement pédagogique qu'ils impliquent, sous l’hypothèse toutefois de la validité de ces apports pour la pratique de soin et de « rééducation » qu’est la clinique orthophonique.Dans un premier temps, pour situer le thème dans une perspective théorique, nous avons exposé la réalité de la pratique orthophonique en présentiel. Nous avons ensuite présenté les avantages des processus sollicités en FOAD. Nous avons également effectué une revue de littérature traitant de la télé-orthophonie et des diverses expérimentations réalisées. Du point de vue historique, nous avons abordé l'évolution de l'orthophonie en présentiel, des TICE ainsi que de la rééducation à distance. Nous avons également orienté notre travail vers un point de vue techno pédagogique, dans le domaine des sciences de l'éducation, avec le changement des rôles dans le rapport au savoir, impulsé par les avantages techniques proposés par les plates-formes FOAD, qui initient à la fois autonomie, interactivité, flexibilité, et socioconstructivisme. Sur le plan de la méthode, nous avons choisi de réaliser une recherche-action. Ainsi, notre recueil d‘informations s'est appuyé d'abord sur un questionnaire d’enquête prospectant sur les perceptions de la télé-orthophonie par les patients puis sur une expérimentation de pratique clinique présentée sous la forme de cas cliniques. Les résultats obtenus ont conclu à des perspectives d'enrichissement de la pratique clinique et des compétences orthophoniques. Ils nous ont également permis de faire quelques recommandations pour d‘autres recherches. Notre analyse a permis de confirmer l’hypothèse selon laquelle la Rééducation Orthophonique A Distance, peut relever les défis de la qualité de la pratique orthophonique tout en s'inscrivant dans l'évolution sociétale initiée par l'introduction des technologies de l'information. Ces dispositifs répondent de manière innovante à la demande grandissante de gage de qualité des soins et des compétences des praticiens, en se révélant des outils performants dans l'offre de soins, de formation et d'expertise. / This search arose from a practical reality of a cabinet of speech therapy located in the crossroads of medical deserts.Starting from the problem bound to the necessity of ensuring a fair offer of care for all and worried of adapting these offers by benefiting from technological evolutions and from evolutions of the social community uses, we led our search in an exploratory prospect Our main hypothesis is that the useof tools and ICTS services, especially e-learning, is a solution to face organizational and logistic difficulties concerning the implementation of care for all.Speech therapy is a health profession and by the way, it cannot be sum-up to an educational practice. The relation of care with the patient makes its sense. The practice brings the speech therapist to choose of a re-educational project which is articulated around a guideline locating the patient at the core of the problem, instrumented by educational methods. That is why, we wondered about the contributions of the researches in the field of the e-learning that could contribute to empower the speech therapy practice.The objective is thus double: To contribute to enrich the scientific research in the domain of the e-speech therapy and to propose solutions to the growing demand of care to counterbalance an insufficient offer in some regions.We base our approach on the perspectives and the teachings of the FOAD, in a project of educational change that under the hypothesis of the validity of these perspectives for the practice of care and "reeducation" that is the speech therapy practice.In a first step, to be in a theoretical perspective, we described the reality of speech-therapy practice as a face-to-face.Then, we have shown the benefits of the FOAD processes. We also conducted a literature review on e-speech therapy and the various experiments carried out.From a historical point of view, we have discussed the evolution of face to face speech-therapy, ICT and remote re-education.We have also oriented our work towards a techno-pedagogical point of view, in the field of educational sciences, with the changing roles in the relation to knowledge, driven by the technical advantages offered by the FOAD platforms, which initiate autonomy, interactivity, flexibility, and social constructivism.Concerning the method, we decided to carry out an action-research project.Thus, our collection of information was initially settled on a survey questionnaire exploring the feeling of patient of e-speech therapy and then on a clinical practice experiment presented in the form of clinical cases.The results led to perspectives of enrichment of the clinical practice and the speech-therapic skills.They also allowed us to make some recommendations for other researches.Our analysis confirmed the hypothesis according to which, e-reeducation, can meet the challenges of the quality of the speech-therapy practice while joining the societal evolution introduced by the e-technologies.However, if the reluctance to e-speech therapy are still existing, our vision of the future of the e-speech therapy converges on the conception of hybrid methods, mutualizing the skills and the offers of care, where both face-to-face and virtual modes will exist with other informal and social modes of reeducation, widely favored by the tools of Web 2.0.These approaches answer in an innovative way to the growing demand of quality security of the care and the skills of the practitioners by showing itself as successful tools in the offer of care, training and expertise.

A partir de la conception d’un robot pour une application médicale particulière de télé-échographie, une démarche de conception générique de robots médicaux est proposée. L’étude se décompose en deux phases : la synthèse topologique et la synthèse dimensionnelle. La première est effectuée pour toutes applications médicales à partir de connaissances capitalisées dans un catalogue de robots médicaux réalisé au préalable. La synthèse dimensionnelle est établie pour un robot de télé-échographie. Une nouvelle structure cinématique de poignet sphérique série permettant de rejeter la singularité aux frontières de l’espace de travail est proposée. Après avoir réalisé une analyse cinématique validant le concept, plusieurs optimisations multi-critères sont effectuées selon des critères de performances cinématiques (manipulabilité, dextérité) et d’encombrement (compacité). Une comparaison de l’influence des indices de performance sur l’optimisation est réalisée. Le concept pour l’application de télé-échographie choisi et dimensionné, une démarche de conception préliminaire à l’aide de l’outil CAO est présentée. Une phase de conception collaborative avec des designers est menée afin d’améliorer l’ergonomie, la compacité et l’esthétique du robot. L’association des étapes de synthèses et de conception préliminaire a conduit à la proposition d’une démarche de conception de robots médicaux. / From the design of a tele-echography robot for a specific medical application, a generic methodology for medical robots design is proposed. The study is presented in two parts: a topological synthesis and a dimensional one. The first is made for all medical applications, from a medical robots catalogue built beforehand. The second synthesis is established for a tele-echography robot. A new spherical kinematic structure permitting to reject singularities to the boundaries of the workspace is proposed. After having validated this concept from a kinematic point of view, several multi-criteria optimisations are realised according to kinematic indices (manipulability, dexterity) and bulkiness (compactness). A comparison of indices influence on optimisations is carried out. The concept for teleechography robot chosen and dimensioned, a process of embodiment design with CAD tool is presented. A collaborative design phase with designers is led to improve ergonomics, compactness and aesthetic of the robot. The association of synthesis steps and embodiment design lead to propose a process of medical robots design.

Calf is the most important animal on the farm. Calf rearing should be given due attention as many problems and ailments in the herd as a whole have their origins in calves. The right choice of technology o f rearing can be crucial to the economy of the entire breed. Quality of calf housing is reflected in the overall level of rearing cattle in this category. It has a significant impact on the overall w ellbeing of animals, zoohygienic conditions and health situation.The aim of this thesis was to compare methods of rearing calves in individual outdoor sheds, where the calves were fed twice daily, with group housing in a spacious calving barn with multip le feeding through a feeding machine. We looked at weight gain, hea lth and welfare of the animals.The thesis was dealt with at a private farm of Václav Duba in Boubín near the town of Horažďovice. The experiment was conducted simultaneously in both systems of calf housing in the time period between May 1 2013 and October 14 2013. Both the observed groups of calves were fed the same amount of milk replacer, only with different frequency of intake. Both groups had the same number of 30 calves (15 heifers and 15 bulls) of Czech pied cattle. After completion of the milk feeding period the average weight of the calves in individual sheds was 107.2 kg and 110.8 kg in the calving barn. The calves which were fed by a feeding machine had an average daily weight gain of 0.787 kg; the calves in individual sheds had lower weight gain of 0.743 kg. The average consumption of milk replacer for calves in the individual sheds was 521.7 litres and for calves in the calving barn it was 516.8 litres. This indicator has been pro ven to have high statistical significance (P 0.001). The a verage daily temperature in the individual sheds was 19.7 °C; in t he calving barn it was 17.9 °C. A diarrheal disease was reported in four animals in the individual sheds, and in six animals in the calving barn. In calves reared in the individual shed mutual sucking of muzzle was found immediately after drinking. In calves fed using a feeding machine there was no sign of unsatisfied sucking reflex.

The base for rearing healthy calves is a high level of passive immunity, which protects calves in a challenging period after birth. In examined herd of the Holstein cows was evaluated the influence of selected factors on the level of passive immunization in 57 calves, expressed as total protein content in calf blood serum. The selected factors were: the quality of colostrum, the time of first intake of colostrum after birth, the weight and sex of calves. The proper level of passive immunization was found only in 33 (57, 9%) calves in the studied breed. Insufficient immunization resulted in a high mortality which reached rate of 10% in 2017. The level of the passive immunization was most affected by the quality of colostrum (P < 0, 001) and the time of first drinking after birth (P < 0, 0230). The other observed factors (calf weight and gender) were not statistically significant. Adequate care for the youngest age category is crucial and influences the profitability of the breed.

Orientador: José Horta Nunes / Banca: Mónica Graciela Zoppi-Fontana / Banca: Suzy Lagazzi / Resumo: O objetivo deste trabalho é realizar, com base na teoria e nos métodos adotados pela escola francesa da Análise do Discurso, uma análise de discursos que compõem mesmos trajetos temáticos, formulados em telejornais e telenovelas, programas que têm como proposta apresentar, respectivamente, o factual e a ficção na televisão. Como objetos de análise, foram selecionados a telenovela O Clone, de Glória Perez (transmitida entre os meses de outubro de 2001 e junho de 2002, no horário das 20 horas, pela Rede Globo de Televisão) e o Jornal Nacional, exibido diariamente pela mesma emissora. No corpus selecionado, foram identificados para análise três trajetos temáticos - falsificação e contrabando de mercadorias, uso e tráfico de drogas e clonagem. Com o emprego do método lingüístico e histórico, que busca descrever as sistematicidades lingüísticas e as regularidades discursivas no corpus selecionado, estabelecendo as relações entre a língua, a história, o sujeito e o dizer, a análise identifica como se constituem sentidos para a realidade e a ficção nesses discursos televisivos. A análise do processo discursivo dos três trajetos temáticos permite afirmar que telejornal e telenovela, embora tenham objetivos distintos e estruturas diferenciadas, constituem discursos complementares, por meio da atualização de uma memória comum e da formulação em mesmas formações discursivas. No discurso que reúne realidade e ficção, os programas analisados buscam o sentido único com o predomínio da paráfrase sobre a polissemia, o emprego de mesmas designações e formações imaginárias comuns sobre os sujeitos do discurso. / Abstract: This dissertation aims at carrying out a discourse analysis based on the theory and the methodology of the French School of Discourse Analysis, with the same theme present in news programs and soap operas that are intended to show reality and fiction on television, respectively. O Clone soap opera, written by Glória Perez (broadcasted from October/2001 to June/2002 at 8 o'clock p.m. by Rede Globo de Televisão) and Jornal Nacional news program, broadcasted daily by the same channel, were selected to be analyzed. In the selected corpus, three themes were identified goods falsification and smuggling, drug use and traffic, and cloning. The analysis identifies how reality and fiction are constituted in these programs by making use of linguistics and historical methods, which aims to describe the linguistics systematicities and the discursive regularities in the selected corpus establishing the relationship among language, history, subject and the telling. The analysis of the discursive process of the three themes allows us to state that news programs and soap operas, although having distinct objectives and differentiated structures, constitute complementary discourses through the common memory updating and the formulation in the same discursive formations. In the discourse that is comprised of reality and fiction, the analyzed programs search for the unique sense with the predominance of paraphrases over polysemy. They also employ the same designations and ordinary imaginary formations on the discourses subjects. / Mestre

Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2016-02-01T21:30:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 AnnaGiselleCamaraDantasRibeiro_TESE.pdf: 23598503 bytes, checksum: 4aa3b62cec65945d371ff9ad8c137f86 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Elisangela Moura (lilaalves@gmail.com) on 2016-02-16T20:09:04Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 AnnaGiselleCamaraDantasRibeiro_TESE.pdf: 23598503 bytes, checksum: 4aa3b62cec65945d371ff9ad8c137f86 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-16T20:09:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AnnaGiselleCamaraDantasRibeiro_TESE.pdf: 23598503 bytes, checksum: 4aa3b62cec65945d371ff9ad8c137f86 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-06 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior - CAPES / O aumento da popula??o mundial, com propor??o maior de idosos, acarreta no aumento do n?mero de indiv?duos com perda visual, sendo a catarata a maior causa de cegueira no mundo. A Catarata ? uma patologia dos olhos que consiste na opacidade parcial ou total do cristalino (lente natural do olho) ou de sua c?psula. Pode ser desencadeada por v?rios fatores, como traumatismo, idade, diabetes mellitus, uso de medicamentos, entre outros. Sabe-se que o atendimento por oftalmologistas no Brasil nas ?reas rurais e mais pobres ? inferior ao necess?rio e muitos pacientes com doen?as trat?veis como a Catarata ficam sem diagn?stico e consequentemente sem tratamento. Neste contexto, esse projeto tem como proposta o desenvolvimento do OPTICA, um sistema de tele-oftalmologia que utiliza smartphones para detec??o de urg?ncias oftalmol?gicas, disponibilizando um aux?lio ao diagn?stico a Catarata utilizando sistemas inteligentes e t?cnicas de processamento de imagens. As imagens ser?o capturadas por um celular com uma lente especial acoplada a c?mera e juntamente com um question?rio com informa??es do paciente ser?o transmitidos de forma segura via a plataforma Sana Mobile (sana.mit.edu) para uma central online de laudos que disp?e de um programa inteligente de auxilio ao diagn?stico a Catarata e de m?dicos oftalmologistas que ir?o analisar as informa??es e emitir o laudo do paciente. Desta forma, o OPTICA permite levar atendendimento oftalmol?gico a popula??o menos favorecida e em ?reas remotas , melhorando a triagem de pacientes graves e aumentando o acesso ao diagn?stico e tratamento. / The increasing in world population, with higher proportion of elderly, leads to an increase in the number of individuals with vision loss and cataracts are one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. Cataract is an eye disease that is the partial or total opacity of the crystalline lens (natural lens of the eye) or its capsule. It can be triggered by several factors such as trauma, age, diabetes mellitus, and medications, among others. It is known that the attendance by ophthalmologists in rural and poor areas in Brazil is less than needed and many patients with treatable diseases such as cataracts are undiagnosed and therefore untreated. In this context, this project presents the development of OPTICA, a system of teleophthalmology using smartphones for ophthalmic emergencies detection, providing a diagnostic aid for cataract using specialists systems and image processing techniques. The images are captured by a cellphone camera and along with a questionnaire filled with patient information are transmitted securely via the platform Mobile SANA to a online server that has an intelligent system available to assist in the diagnosis of cataract and provides ophthalmologists who analyze the information and write back the patient?s report. Thus, the OPTICA provides eye care to the poorest and least favored population, improving the screening of critically ill patients and increasing access to diagnosis and treatment.

Avanços técnicos na integração dos sistemas de comunicação e computação têm revelado interesse científico as potencialidades das redes de dispositivos telemáticos - nas quais integram equipamentos dotados de capacidade de transmissão e processamento de informação - em áreas que cobrem desde o ensino à distância, até telemedicina, automação remota e tele-instrumentação científica. Especialmente em virtude do reconhecimento das destacadas facilidades da Internet, dentre as aplicações mais visadas encontra-se o compartilhamento de recursos (dados e instrumentos) em escala global. Em um terreno ainda predominantemente marcado pelo empirismo característico das frentes de exploração recentes, este estudo investiga os fundamentos da operação à distância em redes telemáticas, através da identificação das atuais tendências no emergente campo do comando remoto via Internet, examinando os aspectos tecnológicos no que se concerne ao seu desenvolvimento e aplicações. A partir de uma extensa revisão do assunto, abarcando tanto o cenário acadêmico quanto a indústria industrial, o trabalho apresenta uma abordagem alternativa em relação às técnicas atualmente empregadas. Mediante a construção de um protótipo, o estudo introduz uma arquitetura experimental distribuída, baseada no conceito de ambiente virtual cooperativo, através da qual dispositivos tele-interativos exportam suas funcionalidades para os demais elementos na rede. Então, através de uma série de ensaios e avaliações, discutem-se as aplicações e limitações do mecanismo, bem como dos recursos tecnológicos atualmente disponíveis para a construção de efetivos sistemas de dispositivos telemáticos através da Internet. / Technical advances in the integration of computer and communication systems have drawn to the attention of scientific interest the potentialities of the telematic-device networks - where pieces of equipment endowed with information processing and transmission capabilities interact - in areas ranging from distance learning to telemedicine, remote automation and scientific tele-instrumentation. Particularly with the perception of the benefits brought about by the Internet, one of the most sought after applications is the global-wide resource (data and instruments) sharing systems. In a field still distinguished by the empirical practices that are typical in recent exploration fronts, this study investigates the foundations of distance operation in telematic networks by identifying the current trends in the emerging area of Internet-based remote command, examining the technological aspects that concerns to its development and application. Starting with an extensive review on the subject, covering both academic and industrial initiatives, this work introduces an alternative approach to the techniques currently employed. By means of a prototype, the study presents an experimental distributed architecture based on the concept of virtual cooperative environment, through which tele-interactive devices export their functionality to the other elements on the network. Then, through a set of tests and evaluations, applications and limitations of the mechanism are discussed, as well as the technological resources currently available for the development of effective telematic-device sharing systems over the Internet.

A emergência de resistências bacterianas, principalmente quando associadas ao ambiente hospitalar, representa, mundialmente, um problema de saúde pública. A diversidade de mecanismos de resistências configura um desafio terapêutico e a escolha de antibióticos deve ser individualizada e baseada em antibiogramas locais. O laboratório de microbiologia representa um apoio estratégico para o rápido diagnóstico das doenças infecciosas e deve funcionar com sistemas de alerta para informar a comunidade médica sobre novos mecanismos de resistência bacteriana. O objetivo deste estudo foi estruturar e aplicar um curso de extensão universitária em microbiologia clínica por meio de teleducação interativa para capacitação de profissionais. O conteúdo científico foi definido em função das competências associadas à prática laboratorial. O curso foi estruturado em onze módulos divididos em três semestres, sendo 70% a distância, 22% presencial e 8% do tempo dedicado a monografia, como modelo misto, com ambientes de aprendizagem a distância e presencial integrados. Em todos os módulos foram propostos estudo a distância, tarefas para o estímulo à pesquisa bibliográfica (revisão de artigos e questionários) e aulas presenciais, teóricas e práticas. O grupo de alunos foi composto por 28 participantes com perfil diversificado, médicos e microbiologistas, originários de vinte cidades brasileiras diferentes. Dois dos motivos para a participação dos alunos foi a flexibilidade do tempo e local de estudo, reduzindo a ausência do seu local de trabalho. O desempenho demonstrado pelo grupo durante o curso foi satisfatório. Após um ano do término do curso foi realizada uma visita ao ambiente de trabalho dos alunos para correlação do seu desempenho no curso com as mudanças realizadas na prática da rotina microbiológica. Houve uma diferença significativa entre os índices de mudanças nas práticas microbiológicas realizadas nos locais de trabalho dos alunos, antes e depois da sua participação no curso, sendo que 76,9% dos procedimentos verificados foram modificados. Na avaliação subjetiva, os participantes informaram que o curso promoveu mudanças comportamentais e que voltariam a se matricular em um modelo educacional semelhante. A qualificação profissional estimulou a autonomia profissional. O uso de tecnologias interativas permitiu a participação de profissionais de diversas regiões do país, representando uma alternativa para inovação do processo de ensino em microbiologia clínica. O resultado deste estudo indica perspectivas para a consolidação do uso da teleducação interativa para criação de programas de educação continuada / The emergence of bacterial resistance, especially when associated with the hospital environment, represents a worldwide public health problem. The diversity of resistance mechanisms forms an important therapeutic challenge, and the selection of antibiotics should be individualized and based on local and institutional antibiograms. Microbiology laboratories represent a strategic support for a fast diagnosis of infectious disease to notify the medical community about new mechanisms of resistance. This study aimed to design and implement an academic extension course in clinical microbiology via interactive tele-education for training of professionals. The scientific content was defined according to competencies associated with laboratory practices. The course was structured in eleven modules divided into three semesters: 70% distance learning, 22% on campus (mixed model with distance learning environments and integrated presence) and 8% monographs. All the modules have been proposed for remote study, to present tasks for the investigation of the literature (review articles and questionnaires), as well as for the on-campus classroom, from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The group of students was composed of 28 physicians and microbiologists with diverse profiles from 20 Brazilian cities. Two reasons students gave for their participation were the need for scheduling flexibility and the need for a place to learn that would not require absence from their place of work. The performance demonstrated by the group during the course was satisfactory. A year after finishing the course, visits were made to the students work environments to correlate performance with the changes made in routine microbiological practice. A significant difference was found between the rates of change in microbiological practices conducted in the workplaces of the students before and after their participation in the course; 76.9% of modified procedures were verified. In subjective evaluation, the participants reported that the course promoted behavioral changes and that they would return to enroll in a similar educational model. The qualification stimulated professional autonomy. The use of interactive technologies allowed the participation of professionals from various regions of the country, representing an alternative to the innovation of teaching in clinical microbiology. The results indicate prospects for the consolidation of the use of interactive tele-education to create programs of continuing education

The mining industry is constantly under pressure to improve productivity, effciency and safety. Although an increased use of automation technology has the potential of con- tributing to improvements in all three factors mines have been relatively slow to make use of automation technology. Automation in the underground mining environment is a challenging prospect for a number of reasons not least of which being the diffculties and associated costs of installing infrastructure in this hazardous environment. The work described in this dissertation focuses on the modelling of a Load-Haul-Dump or LHD vehicle for the purpose of autonomous navigation and control. Considerable progress has been made in automating underground mining vehicles in recent years, and successful test installations have been made. There are still however a number of shortcomings in the existing autonomous underground mine vehicle navigation systems. This dissertation attempts to address some of these problems through the development of a more accurate vehicle model for an LHD vehicle incorporating some vehicle and tyre dynamics thereby potentially reducing the number of sensors and the amount of installed infrastructure necessary to implement the vehicle navigation system. Simulation results are provided for different vehicle modelling techniques and the results are compared and discussed in terms of their suitability for physical implementation in an underground mine. / Dissertation (MEng (Electronic Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / MEng / unrestricted