A água nossa de cada dia : percepção, uso e predisposições comportamentais de alunos do ensino médio de Natal, Rio Grande do Norte

Embora a escassez de água seja reconhecida como um dos principais problemas mundiais a ser enfrentado pela humanidade, padrões comportamentais ecologicamente insustentáveis ainda persistem. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar determinantes do comportamento pró-ambiental relativo à água, bem como os significados que lhe são atribuídos por alunos do ensino médio do Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica do Rio Grande do Norte, em Natal. Compuseram a amostra de conveniência 315 estudantes, 146 mulheres e 169 homens, que responderam a um questionário sobre uso e percepção da água, contendo também indicadores de pró-ambientalismo, cuidado ambiental, desenvolvimento sustentável, perspectiva temporal, externalidades e coletivismo, além de inquérito sócio-demográfico. Para os participantes, água é sinônimo de vida, muito embora a relação que mantém com ela parece dúbia e, muito mais funcional que ecológica; consideram-na um recurso finito, um patrimônio indispensável à vida, contudo não foi observada coerência entre as concepções manifestadas e os comportamentos auto-relatados de uso da água. Os resultados encontrados apontaram preditores importantes do comportamento pró-ambiental relativo à água: sexo do respondente, Escala Novo Paradigma Ecológico e deixar forma de contato para participar de campanhas futuras. Seja para aprofundamento teórico em novos estudos, seja para auxiliar na elaboração de programas de educação ambiental, que poderiam contribuir para inibir os efeitos de uma cultura de consumo e de uma visão utilitarista da água, ampliando esforços individuais e coletivos para a preservação de bens comuns, como a água. Palavras-chave: psicologia ambiental; sustentabilidade; água; comportamento próambiental. x xi Abstract Although water scarcity is recognized as one of the main world-wide problems to be faced by human kind, ecologically unsustainable patterns of behavior still persist. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze pro-environmental behavior related to water, as well as meanings associated to it by high school students of Federal Center of Technological Education of Rio Grande do Norte, in Natal. The convenience sample was composed by 315 students, 146 women and 169 men, who answered a questionnaire about use and perception of water, containing indicators of proenvironmentalism, environmental care, sustainable development, time perspective, externalities and collectivism, besides socio-demographic items. According to participants, water is synonymous of life, even though the relationship they present with it is ambiguous, much more functional than ecological; they consider it a finite resource, an indispensable life patrimony, however there was no coherence between such conceptions and the self-reported behaviors of water use. Results indicated three important predictors of pro-environmental behavior: sex of respondent, New Ecological Paradigm Scale and telephone/address left for eventual contact to participate in future environmental campaigns. They may be used in additional studies for theoretical development, or to assist in the planning of programs of environmental education, aimed at the inhibition of the effects of a culture of consumption and of an utilitarian perception of water, extending individual and collective efforts towards the preservation of common resources as water

A Água nossa de cada dia: percepção, uso e predisposições comportamentais de alunos do ensino médio de Natal, Rio Grande do Norte

Although water scarcity is recognized as one of the main world-wide problems to be faced by human kind, ecologically unsustainable patterns of behavior still persist. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze pro-environmental behavior related to water, as well as meanings associated to it by high school students of Federal Center of Technological Education of Rio Grande do Norte, in Natal. The convenience sample was composed by 315 students, 146 women and 169 men, who answered a questionnaire about use and perception of water, containing indicators of proenvironmentalism, environmental care, sustainable development, time perspective, externalities and collectivism, besides socio-demographic items. According to participants, water is synonymous of life, even though the relationship they present with it is ambiguous, much more functional than ecological; they consider it a finite resource, an indispensable life patrimony, however there was no coherence between such conceptions and the self-reported behaviors of water use. Results indicated three important predictors of pro-environmental behavior: sex of respondent, New Ecological Paradigm Scale and telephone/address left for eventual contact to participate in future environmental campaigns. They may be used in additional studies for theoretical development, or to assist in the planning of programs of environmental education, aimed at the inhibition of the effects of a culture of consumption and of an utilitarian perception of water, extending individual and collective efforts towards the preservation of common resources as water

Prevalência e fatores associados ao risco e a desnutrição em idosos institucionalizados

One of the most important problems in the elderly is a nutritional deficiency. Several physiological changes and the use of multiple drugs interfere with appetite, food intake and absorption of nutrients, which can lead to the risk and malnutrition in the elderly, especially among institutionalized. The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of malnutrition and risk for malnutrition and its associated factors in institutionalized elderly. The same can be characterized by the type individual, observational and cross-sectional. Obtaining the sample was through the records of individuals of long-stay institutions for the elderly in the city of Natal, RN. The elderly were evaluated through the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and triceps skinfold (TSF) and each senior or caregiver answered a questionnaire about information like type and dietary restrictions, accessibility to food, use of alcohol and tobacco, practice physical activity and appetite. Variables such as age, gender, education, marital status, time that the elderly living in the institution, the reason for the institutionalization and comorbidities were taken from the records of each senior. The frequency of food consumption of various food groups was assessed from the questionnaire frequency of feeding study Health, Wellbeing and Aging (HWA). Data were presented as means and standard deviations, absolute and relative frequencies. To analyze the frequency of consumption, there was a factor analysis with extraction of factors from the principal components analysis with varimax rotation. A bivariate analysis was performed using the chi-square and the magnitude of the effect observed by prevalence ratio (95% CI). The Poisson regression assessed the net effect of independent variables on the two outcomes, considering a significance level of 5%. We studied twelve Homes for the Aged totaling 381 seniors eligible for the study. The prevalence of risk of malnutrition was 46.1% (45.9 to 46.2) and malnutrition was 31.4% (31.2 to 31.5). The risk of malnutrition was significantly associated with the presence of urinary incontinence (RP = 1.444, 1.113 to 1.874) was associated with malnutrition and lack of appetite (RP = 1.757, 1.246 to 2.476), the fact that the individuals do not have access to food outside the institution (RP = 0.565, 0.337 to 0.946), low water consumption (RP = 1.646, 1.101 to 2.459) and dementia (PR = 1.537, 1.072 to 2.204). The high prevalence of malnutrition and risk of malnutrition in the study suggests that we should pay attention to information related to eating habits and the presence of comorbidities, as these can influence the nutritional status of this population

O ecoturismo sob a égide da sociedade do consumo: um estudo das Unidades de Conservação de uso sustentável do RN

Ecotourism, in face to environmental demands and discussions, has achieved prominence in the tourism market and wide global development, occasioning a concern about the need for a scientific deepening through a critical approach of the dynamics of consumption and conservation that permeate this practice. This study addresses the ecotourism under aegis of consumer society, in which is perceived that it constitutes a contester practice of society in which it is embedded, nevertheless has been subjected to the logic of capital through commodification of nature. In order to comprehend the reality presented, this study had as geographical cutting two Conservation Units of Sustainable Use in Rio Grande do Norte state: the Jenipabu Environmental Protection Area (APAJ) and Ponta do Tubarão State Sustainable Development Reserve (RDSEPT). The research sought to investigate the relationship between conservation and consumption and their influences on ecotourism held in the Conservation Units (UCs) of sustainable use selected for this study. To this aim it was made a critical reflection about the relationship conservation versus consumption constant in the practice of ecotourism in UCs in the context of current society, analyzing the historical process of formation of UCs of sustainable use in RN state under the light of the contradictory pair conservation-consumption, as well as looking to apprehend the perception of ecotourism of the actors involved with this practice. It was adopted a qualitative approach under a critical perspective based on bibliographical and documentary research and realization of semi-structured interviews with three groups of actors, namely managers/technician, community and ectourists involved with ecotourism in the selected UCs. The analysis was made using two basic units of analysis (consumption and maintenance) and twelve categories. For definition of units of analysis and categories were taken as reference the authors Santos (1987; 1988; 1994; 2001; 2006), Guerreiro Ramos (1989) and A. B. Rodrigues (1996; 2003), which perform critical to society of consumption and describe the key characteristics of the technical-scientific-informational predominant means, and Diegues (1998; 2000), A. B. Rodrigues (2001), Pires (2002) and Neiman and Rabinovici (2010), which discusse historic and scientifically about the emphasis on conservation present in origins and discourse of ecotourism, describing also its founding characteristics. The main results show that the marketing use of the prefix eco has acted as a new dress for what in reality is in fact ancient, ie, the conservation is used as a justification for another new type of consumption. The results also show that despite the coexistence of commercial and symbolic intentions in both UCs, one can observe the predominance consumer society characteristics in the process of creation and the production activities of APAJ, while in RDSEPT we note the predominance of the conservationist characteristics proclaimed by ecotourism. It can be inferred therefore that tourism held in the APAJ can not be called ecotourism, while the practice found in RDSEPT show an alignment with the guidelines of ecotourism

Impacto do racionamento nos resultados das empresas concessionárias do serviço público de distribuição de energia elétrica: um estudo nas empresas privadas da Região Nordeste

This work verifies the impact caused by the Emergencial Program of Reduction of Consumption of Electric Energy (energy-rationing program) in the results of the concessionary private companies of the public service of electric energy distribution localized in the Northeast Area. As the rationing invigorated from June 2001 to February 2002, its effects are diluted in the results presented by these companies in the second semester of 2001 and first quarter of 2002, with prominence for the last quarter of 2001, when the revenue of extraordinary tariff restore was instituted by the National Agency of Electric Energy (ANEEL), consequence of the so-called General Agreement of the Electric Sector made between the federal government and the companies of the electric sector. The structure of a generic electric sector and a historical review of the Brazilian electric sector from the time it was controlled by the private enterprises, including the State control period, about 1960, and returning to the control of the private enterprises in 1990, under a new regulation structure are presented. An explanation of the models of economic regulation that Brazil used for the electric sector is made, with prominence for the price cap that is the actual effective model. The process of tariff revision foreseen in the concession contracts signed by the federal government and the concessionary companies is presented, highlighting its two stages: the tariff rebalancing that defines the new price cap and the calculation of the factor X that establishes the efficiency goals for the companies. There is made a presentation of the Emergencial Program of Reduction of Consumption of Electric Energy and of the consequent General Agreement of the Electric Sector, which created the revenue of extraordinary tariff restore. A conceptual revision on reviews is presented, regarding to concepts, accomplishment and recognition. A brief review of the six companies that made part of the worked sample is also presented. Analyzing the quarters historical review and of amount of sold energy, it was possible to conclude that the energy-rationing altered the results of the studied companies significantly and that alteration was masked by the accounting process of the revenue of extraordinary tariff restore

Comércio internacional e meio ambiente: estímulo à produção sustentável ou mero protecionismo comercial a posição do Brasil em dois casos de litígio

The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in 1994 as a result of the Uruguay Round, and has as its principal aim advocate for the maintenance of free trade between nations. The preamble of its Constitutive Agreement specifically cites as an institution the goal of achieving sustainable development and the pursuit of protecting and preserving the environment, bringing into the sphere of world trade the idea that concern for the environmental cause is not restricted only the group of environmentalists, but rather has entered the economic landscape in a way not only ideological, but also pragmatic. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1947, part of the GATT 1994, contains a device that allows the adoption of trade restrictive measures, provided that such measures aimed at protecting the environment - Article XX. The Settlement Body (DSB) is part of the WTO and acts in dissolving disputes between the countries motivated by trade. It examines two cases where countries have imposed restrictive trade measures with environmental justification. The first case was closed in 1996, with award of damages given to Brazil, on the breakdown of U.S. environmental legislation imposed on imported gasoline from Brazil - and the second, begun in 2005 and closed in 2007, coming out victorious again Brazil is on the import ban on retreaded tires to Brazil. The objective is to answer the question: how the environment is treated in the midst of trade discussions - which is aimed at its protection or its use with economic objectives in disguise? For the preparation of this work, extensive documentary research was undertaken with the virtual site of the WTO to review the entire production of legal cases and subsequent analysis of the key issue for the work, and literature of authors who have studied the tense relationship between trade international environment. The first case, it could be seen that the political movement performed by the U.S. with the aim of achieving acceptable standards of air quality was an institutional effort to ensure the quality of air, and thus would be inappropriate to say that the regulation of gasoline was merely a disguised trade barrier.However, a careful analysis of the implementation and operation of gasoline regulation may reveal intentions disguised trade and U.S. environmental argument did not hold. The weight of this environment was relegated, since there were clearly outside interests to the environmental cause. The second case, it was realized that, despite clear attempts by the EC to promote ecological dumping, send when brought to Brazil, supposedly a country with weaker environmental structure on surveillance, a residue that, pursuant to internal policies, as could not be sent to their own landfills, the Brazilian discourse remained focused on the environmental cause, and this sort there was the existence of disguised trade barriers, but of importance, at least a priori, the discussion of foreign forces on the environment environment because there is no way to legally justify the reversal of the total understanding of the first judging body, the sight of all the arguments presented by Brazil and the nonsubmission of new facts upon appeal. Still, quite heartening to reflect on the role of trade liberalization on the environment in general, because, while they do not reach a definitive conclusion will reveal positions in both directions, both for and against, the that only adds to the discussions and makes this a very fertile topic for future research

Proteção constitucional do consumidor no âmbito da regulação publicitária

The concern with issues related to consumer protection has emerged in North America and then spread throughout the world. In Brazil, consumer‟s rights and interests only gained greater importance after their consolidation in the Constitution of 1988 and the enactment of the 8078/90 Law (Consumer‟s Protection and Defense Code), which established the consumerist microsystem. The understanding of the legal relationship of consumption concept is necessarily connected to knowledge of the elements that compose it. Among these, we can find the consumer and the provider (subjective elements), the product or service (objective elements), and the consumer‟s condition as final receiver of the consumption object (finalistic element). In order to elucidate the configuration of consumer protection before advertising communication, this work will analyze the advertising through the prism of consumerist laws, conceptualizing it and presenting a differentiation of it in relation to practices such as marketing, offer and commercial communication as well as examining its several kinds of manifestation, focusing mainly the ones categorized as misleading or unfair advertising. All kinds of advertising communication against the consumerist microsystem are subject to judicial control exercised by the State. Besides individual protection possibilities, this state-owned control can be collectively exercised as a result of the utilization of public civil action and popular action. Some specific categories of advertising (smoking products, alcoholic beverages, pesticides, medicines and therapies) are still subject to a set of particular restraints provided by the 9294/96 Law, which enables the performance of a special control in relation to them. In addition to state control, there is also a system of advertising communication self-regulation, which develops itself through the actions of the National Council of Advertising Self-Regulation that are based mainly on the laws established by the Brazilian Code of Advertising Self-Regulation and its annexes. However, this system of advertising self-regulation still has some deficiencies that hinder its effectiveness

A educação informal para o consumo infantil e juvenil na televisão e na mídia

The consumption has become a major pillar of modern capitalism and at the same time, one of the factors that relate to social inequality. Karl Marx developed the theory of historical materialism which maintains a history of society determined by class struggle and the! exploitation of man by man. Considered to be overtaken by those who believe that Marxism is synonymous with real socialism, the Marxist ideals seem more present than in the Western world which each individual takes the individualization (loss of sense of public and collective) and the alienation by the work. Weassumed we could work on these issues in student education, even in elementary school, through questioning of the consumer society, with the criticism of television and the media, the main promoter of the current sense of consumption, as an initial step that could lead to future autonomy of theindividual. The theory of ideology and ideas of Paulo Freire's liberating education theory permeated the experience that happened as a participant observation of groups in the discipline of sociology in the unit 2 of the Colégio Pedro II in Rio de Janeiro, the state capital, an institution under the direct administration Ministry of Education. Wehave found fertile ground in which the students were able to understand and question the meaning of advertising media

Mapa dos programas sociais: transferência de renda e dinâmicas sociais no Rio Grande do Norte (2000-2007)

The question of evaluating the fight against poverty in a given society is very complex task, considering the range of factors that permeate, such as education, culture and economy itself. Come hence the relevance of the theme and its constant presence in discussions on the fruits of public policies, institutional structure and economic development which are the guiding elements of this work, and noted that seeks to highlight the social demographics and most important, the most significant trends and issues pertaining to her. The assessment was initially made in all the municipalities of Rio Grande do Norte doing a verticalilzação to the municipalities Caicó, Pau dos Ferros, Ipueira and Taboleiro Grande. Highlighting the role of a social policy through government programs, such as the Bolsa Familia Program (PBF), which creates the possibility of changes in the socio demographic profile given the importance that the action of this public policy has in shaping the regional economic reality As well as social programs and actions of the government here reported that generate mobility of people and new social demands, such as rural retirements, the benefit of continuing provision (BPC), the Program for the Eradication of Child Labor (PETI) that put on the market of population living on the margins of various forms of consumption. Accordingly, the socio economic profile of the state shows a significant improvement in their social indicators, vital education and redistribution of income, due to the significant improvement in life expectancy in the fall of school drop-out rate and the drop in indicators of Proportion Poor and destitute of the state. Where the fall in the proportion of poor and indigent is strongly associated with an increase in income, from social programs. With this transfer and redistribution of income can be gauged that occurs a strengthening of local economies and an engagement of families with the conditionalities of social programs and PETI Bolsa Familia. Our research concludes that simply raising the rents caused by transfers, presents relevant impacts on the education of young people in beneficiary families. There is no doubt that the programs of transfer income, no facing the social field, representing a mechanism to decrease the most perverse ills of poverty, social and economic inequality that is hungry. For a significant portion of the Brazilian population living below the poverty line, programs for the transfer of income are expressed directly in improving the material conditions of life and indirectly in improving self-esteem of women and all family members receiving encouraging yet the integration family. Experiments have shown that improvements in health and nutrition can be obtained through the implementation of adequate social policies like the programs of transfer income, while social inclusion and economic does not become full

De baixo para cima: implicações socioespaciais da transferência da feira livre na (re)produção do espaço urbano de Nova Cruz-RN (1991-2010)

The present work is about the reproduction of the urban area of Nova Cruz RN, with the objective of analyzing the social and spatial implications of the relocation of the main street market in the city from 1991 on. Nowadays, the city of Nova Cruz takes over importance in the potiguar social and spatial scenario due to its condition of central city which is practiced for decades in Potiguar Agreste Microregion. Beginning with its formation process connected with traveler‟s hostel which assisted the activity of cattle transportation, further in time by the golden era of cotton production in its territory, it was noticed that its importance in relation with the nearby towns has been happening differently throughout time. From the year 1991 on, the town of Nova Cruz has gone through a territory restructuring of its urban area due to the relocation of the open market from Downtown neighborhood to São Sebastião neighborhood. Such territorial movement resulted in a reformation of the town‟s urban space, promoting in both neighborhoods urban growth and the expansion of commercial activity associated with the migration of the commercial center of the city. The transference of the commercial area has caused these processes through the new uses of the land towards the São Sebastião region, it has also caused a decrease in market value of the downtown area as a result of the breakdown of previous existing business activities, their service contribution and the citizen migration, establishing a space and socioeconomic portrait in the neighborhood. From this context, our analysis seeks to understand the social and spatial impacts occurred in Downtown neighborhood, the way in which the production and reproduction of the urban space in São Sebastião neighborhood and the implications resulted from the actions of the administrative power in restructuring of the urban space of Nova Cruz. In order to do so, a bibliographical research was used to compose our theoretic-conceptual mark, discussing the matter with authors such as Roberto Lobato Corrêa, Ana Fani, Milton Santos, Manuel Castells e Heri Lefvbre, among others, discussing on the subject of urban analysis, the concepts of urban space and the process of reproduction of the urban space. A field research was utilized in our area of study by means of primary data gathering through interviews, questionnaire and photographic register. Secondary data gathering was also obtained by means of bibliographical and documental research related to our study object. By these means, it was sought to contribute to the understanding of the urban space through its production and reproduction based upon the discovery of social and spatial practices