Programa de aquisição de alimentos (2003-2010): avaliação da implementação pela CONAB no Rio Grande do Norte

This thesis aimed to evaluate the implementation of the Food Acquisition Program(PAA) through CONAB RN in the period of 2003-2010 with the perception of all agents involved in the implementation of the government program.For the methodological trajectory it was adopted a descriptive bibliographical and documentary approach with triangular qualitative and quantitative, also called evaluative research.The theoretical model was supported by the authors Draibe (2001), Aguilar and Ander-Egg (1994) and Silva(2001), among others, that focused on family farming and evaluation of implementation of public policy having as a category of analysis the size implementation of policy and the latter divided into 10 theoretical dimensions.The universe consisted of three groups: the first were the managers and technicians from CONAB(RN and Brasilia), totaling 15 subjects. The second group was of associations/cooperatives that participated in the programin 2010, totaling a sample in each access of 15 representatives. The third group of subjects totaled with 309 representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations that received donations of food for the same period. Semi-structured interviews and forms were adopted as instruments of data collection.The data were processed qualitatively by the analysis of content (interviews and documents) and quantitatively by means of statistical tests that allowed inferences and adoption of frequencies. Among the key find ingests that the program is not standing as a structure supported by planning. The interests of the performers do not necessarily converge with the objectives of the Food Acquisition Program (PAA). A shockof goals was identified (within the same program) when comparingthe financial agent (Ministry of Rural Development and of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger Ministry r) and the executor, CONAB/RN. Within the assessed dimensions, the most fragileis the sub-managerial decision-making and Organizational Environment and internal assessment, still deserves attention the sizeof logistical and operational Subsystem, as this also proved weak.The focusin the quest toexpand thequantificationof the resultsof theFood Acquisition Program (PAA)by CONAB/RN does forget a quality management focused on what really should be:the compliance with the institutional objectives of the government program.Finally, the perspective for the traded implementation should be re-examined because excessive discretion by managers along with technical staff has characterized there al role of the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) as public policy. We conclude that the implementation model, which apparently aggregates values to the benefitted citizens, has weakened the context of work on family farms having the management model of the implementation process be reviewed by the Federal Government and point too ther paths, which have as a guide line the emancipation and developmentof the field or in the field andat the same time enables the reduction of nutritional deficiency of beneficiaries in a balanced and coherent way

Proposta de método para avaliação do desempenho térmico de residências unifamiliares em clima quente e úmido

Nowadays, evaluation methods to measure thermal performance of buildings have been developed in order to improve thermal comfort in buildings and reduce the use of energy with active cooling and heating systems. However, in developed countries, the criteria used in rating systems to asses the thermal and energy performance of buildings have demonstrated some limitations when applied to naturally ventilated building in tropical climates. The present research has as its main objective to propose a method to evaluate the thermal performance of low-rise residential buildings in warm humid climates, through computational simulation. The method was developed in order to conceive a suitable rating system for the athermal performance assessment of such buildings using as criteria the indoor air temperature and a thermal comfort adaptive model. The research made use of the software VisualDOE 4.1 in two simulations runs of a base case modeled for two basic types of occupancies: living room and bedroom. In the first simulation run, sensitive analyses were made to identify the variables with the higher impact over the cases´ thermal performance. Besides that, the results also allowed the formulation of design recommendations to warm humid climates toward an improvement on the thermal performance of residential building in similar situations. The results of the second simulation run was used to identify the named Thermal Performance Spectrum (TPS) of both occupancies types, which reflect the variations on the thermal performance considering the local climate, building typology, chosen construction material and studied occupancies. This analysis generates an index named IDTR Thermal Performance Resultant Index, which was configured as a thermal performance rating system. It correlates the thermal performance with the number of hours that the indoor air temperature was on each of the six thermal comfort bands pre-defined that received weights to measure the discomfort intensity. The use of this rating system showed to be appropriated when used in one of the simulated cases, presenting advantages in relation to other evaluation methods and becoming a tool for the understanding of building thermal behavior

Avaliação da qualidade da água do Rio Piranhas-Açu/RN utilizando a comunidade de macroinvertebrados bentônicos

The biomonitoring technique for water quality in water bodies has been incorporated increasingly in management of the natural resources, using mainly indices of its aquatic community characteristics. In Brazil the first efforts to use this technique was restricted to the South and the Midwest region of this country. Located in the northeast region, this study was conducted at Rio Grande do Norte state and had as main objective the assessment of water quality in the Piranhas-Açu river using benthic macroinvertebrates community as biological indicators. Thus, were applied two biotic indices, the BMWP (Biological Monitoring Working Party score system) and the IBF (Family Biotic Index). According the requirements of these indices, two periods of sampling were determined as basic methodology, in dry seasons of 2006 and 2007. The sampling sites were around the municipalities of Açu, Ipanguaçu, Alto do Rodrigues and Pendências. Physical-chemical measurements; a protocol of rapid assessment of diversity of habitats, and determination of the degree of tolerance of each taxon to organic pollution were also performed. The most abundant organisms found in the river were tolerant with the prevalence of Chironomidae (Diptera) and Melanoides tuberculata. This results, together with those ones got in indices application, showed a considerable organic pollution in the four sample places and the reaches were classified as modified to impacted. According to the used indices, this study suggest that this river have significant alteration in the biotic community and water quality on the organic pollution, and this fact, occurs in the reach of the river further downstream, where were expected a good water quality. Considering these results, measures aiming the conservation of this water body are needed regarding as it is inserted into a fragile ecosystem with dry season phenomenon, and the water of this river has extremely importance for the local economy