Relações internacionais: o comércio exterior do Brasil e Rio Grande do Norte no período de 1999 a 2008

The period post-war promoted several changes in relations economic, political and social world. Since then, a new division international of labor has delineated, with the great growth of Asian countries. In the field of international relations, the world still appears to transition is not completed because the old institutions were not replaced by new ones and the power of the United States as a major capitalist country remains unshaken, even with the emergence and strengthening of new economic global blocs. With globalization, Brazil emerges with more intensity in the face of new issues global, although its share in transactions trade global hasn‟t changed accordingly. In this sense, the objective of this dissertation is to examine, in a descriptive and critical the development of international relations and trade of Brazil and Rio Grande do Norte with the main blocs in the world from 1999 to 2008. As a secondary objective: to identify the assumptions theoretical that underpinned the decisions governments of the FHC and Lula, in particular, the interference of these terms in international relations and foreign trade. Adopted as the procedure methodological the literature review of the subject, as well as collection and processing of the data of foreign trade. During the Cardoso government has undergone the substantial growth in imports, as part of the economic policy of anti-inflationary, generating large deficits trade. From the first to the second term, with the inflection of exchange rate policy the country has resumed surpluses trade. The choice of government of the autonomy participation increased the relative share of the traditional blocks in total foreign trade and reduced the share of MERCOSUL. In the Lula government, there is the maintenance of some elements of the economic policy of the previous government and the partial shift in the conduct of foreign policy, with the option of autonomy through diversification, raising its stake on the blocks and other emerging countries in total foreign trade Brazilian and reducing the contribution of the traditional blocks such as NAFTA and the European Union. A trend observed in the previous government and deepened in the Lula government was the growth in commodity exports and the decline of manufactured products, confirming the model of conservative insertion of Brazilian exports. The Rio Grande do Norte followed the trend Brazilian in the growth of foreign trade, including in participating conservative, given that the products exported by the state are basically coming from horticulture irrigated and agribusiness. However, in the aspect of destination export, the state followed trajectory distinct from that in the Lula government, with the deepening of trade relations with traditional blocks, especially with the European Union and NAFTA

Gestão Social em Empreendimentos Econômicos Solidários: uma abordagem no Oeste Potiguar

The central research question was to search for data to ratify the theory and discourse of the so-called practitioners of economic solidarity, by defending the substantive rationality should guide the principles of economic solidary, designing the space economy incidental and not the primacy of relations in determining social as well, reflecting the predominance of dimensions of social management in administrative practices of ESS's. For both analyzed the theoretical dimensions of social management - sociopolitical, economic, organizational and environmental - manifested in organizational practices supportive of economic organization Potiguar West. For the success of the research realized the triangulation involving a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches. At first the research will use a quantitative approach, from the cluster analysis, to verify the behavior of the sample chosen for this study. In the second stage of the qualitative study was carried out focus group technique (FLICK, 2002) for further analysis of the dimensions of social management on organizational practices supportive of economic organization, related to the principles of Solidary Economy, established in a quantitative approach. In quantitative analysis, the socio-political dimension, it was clear that the more equity instruments of internal and external, from the purposeful living in public spaces, the best monetary results. Another point worth stressing concerns the economic dimension, with the practice reciprocity prevailing in market. Thus, the qualitative approach was possible to understand the processes of exchange of product or service. Rural enterprises surveyed in the allocation of the agro-ecological products have the following scale of priority, sequentially: self-consumption (domestic), market and exchange. The research leads to the fact that training and practices that enhance the socio-political dimension (knowledge, empowerment, sense of belonging) become the guiding principle for the strengthening of the social management in the context of other dimensions, leading to gains sociopolitical, economic, organizational and environmental. Despite the weaknesses found in the organizational dimension and environment, both in a quantitative as in qualitative, we determined that the practices of ESS's Potiguar West incorporate predominantly elements of social management and economic solidarity, with a preponderance of substantive rationality in the primacy of the instrumental. Finally, research has brought information that the participants of the ESS's do not give the money economy primacy in determining social relations, which in turn leads to the confirmation that, in practice the solidarity economy, prevailing the dominance of substantive rationality, as a guide for organizational practices

Avaliação da conformidade de blocos cerâmicos para alvenaria de vedação produzidas na Região Integrada de Desenvolvimento da Grande Teresina

This research presents an outlook of the industries of red ceramic in the region next to the city of Teresina and an analysis of the ceramic products producted in this pole. The microregion investigated possesses 13 boroughs where were identified 32 ceramic in operation, being that 24 are located in Teresina, the ceramic region more important of Piauí, 1 is located in the city of Miguel Leão and 7 is located in Timon city that belongs to the state of Maranhão. The majority of ceramics are pulverized in these two cities, Teresina and Timon , responsible by a largely production independent of distance between fabric and consumer market. Furthermore, there is an artisanal production realized in other boroughs, mainly manual conformation bricks, where are producted diverse types of handicraft and ceramics utilitarian. The objective of this research is to evalue the conformity of ceramic blocks for brick of obstruction made by red ceramic industry of microregion at studying, verifying their pontentialities and adequacy in terms of production. In this research universe made a search of ceramic industries related to the Foundation CEPRO (Foundation Center of Research Social and Economic of Piauí). For the analysis of the ceramic products , were colected 60 crude bricks sample in three industries for their characterization, and 39 burned bricks sample for the Evaluation of Conformity. The results of the characterization made reached a accetptable standard in all formulations and temperature studied. The burned samples were applied to the geometric, physical and mechanical assays according to the ABNT standards (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards). The results of the physical assays showed that all the samples are at the same band recommended by standard. However, through the geometric assays just two industries did not present results according to the standard, due to lack of control in their process such as in their equipments. Taking into account the mechanical properties, only one industry investigated was not according to the standard

Síndrome metabólica e risco cardiovascular na pós- menopausa: avaliação por diferentes critérios diagnósticos e influência de fatores sócio-econômicos

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) involves a group of risk factors and is associated with a significantly higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and type 2 diabetes. Recent studies have shown the importance of preventing CVD through early diagnosis and treatment of patients with MetS. The objective of our study was to determine the prevalence of MetS by different diagnostic criteria in postmenopausal women and analyze the influence of socioeconomic factors on cardiovascular risk in this sample of the population. A cross-sectional study involving 127 postmenopausal women (45 to 64 years) from Natal and Mossoró, Brazil. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. The experimental protocol consisted of applying structured interview, clinical examination and implementation of dosages blood. The diagnosis of MetS was based on NCEP-ATP III (National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III) and IDF (International Diabetes Federation) criteria. The research was accomplished with the participation of an interdisciplinary team in their several phases. The result of the sample studied had mean age of 53.9 ± 4.6 years and per capita income of 54.5 dollars. The prevalence of MetS, according to NCEP-ATP III and IDF criteria, was 52.8% and 61.4$, respectively. The agreement rate between NCEP-ATP III and IDF criteria was 81.9%, with a kappa value of 0.63 (CI 95%, 0.49-0.76), indicating good agreement between the two definitions. The most prevalent cardiovascular risk factor was HDL < 50 mg/dl, observed in 96.1% of the women analyzed, followed by increased waist circumference (≥ 80 cm) in 78.0%, elevated blood pressure in 51.2%, triglycerides ≥ 150 mg/dl in 40.9% and glycemia ≥ 100 mg/dl in 37.0% of the women. The occurrence of MetS was significantly associated with schooling and body mass index (BMI). High blood pressure was significantly associated with low family income, low schooling and weight gain. There was no significant association between the intensity of climacteric symptomatology and the occurrence of MetS. The conclusions of the research were that MetS and its individual components show a high prevalence in postmenopausal Brazilian women, and significant associations with weight gain and low socioeconomic indicators. The data point to the need for an interdisciplinary approach at the basic health care level, directed toward the early identification of risk factors and the promotion of cardiovascular health of climacteric women.

Estudo numérico do comportamento de muros de arrimo em alvenaria estrutural de blocos vazados

Usually masonry structures has low tension strength, hence the design to flexural efforts can results in high reinforcement ratio, specification of high unit and prism strength, structural members with larger section dimensions and modification in structural arrangement to be possible to use masonry members. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the stiffness, the efforts distribution and the effect of horizontal elements (girders) and vertical elements (counterforts) distribution on the behavior of masonry blocks retaining walls. For this purpose, numerical modeling was performed on typical retaining wall arrangements by varying the amount and placement of horizontal and vertical elements, beyond includes elements simulating the reactions of the soil supporting the foundation of the wall. The numerical modeling also include the macro modeling strategy in which the units, mortar and grout are discretized by a standard volume that represents the masonry elastic behavior. Also, numerical model results were compared with those ones of simplified models usually adopted in bending design of masonry elements. The results show horizontal displacements, principal and shear stresses distribution, and bending moments diagrams. From the analysis it was concluded that quantity and manner of distribution of the girders are both important factors to the panel flexural behavior, the inclusion of the foundation changed significantly the behavior of the wall, especially the horizontal displacements, and has been proposed a new way of considering the flanges section of the counterforts

Redes neurais artificiais no ambiente de redes industriais foundation fieldbus usando blocos funcionais padrões

Industrial automation networks is in focus and is gradually replacing older architectures of systems used in automation world. Among existing automation networks, most prominent standard is the Foundation Fieldbus (FF). This particular standard was chosen for the development of this work thanks to its complete application layer specification and its user interface, organized as function blocks and that allows interoperability among different vendors' devices. Nowadays, one of most seeked solutions on industrial automation are the indirect measurements, that consist in infering a value from measures of other sensors. This can be made through implementation of the so-called software sensors. One of the most used tools in this project and in sensor implementation are artificial neural networks. The absence of a standard solution to implement neural networks in FF environment makes impossible the development of a field-indirect-measurement project, besides other projects involving neural networks, unless a closed proprietary solution is used, which dos not guarantee interoperability among network devices, specially if those are from different vendors. In order to keep the interoperability, this work's goal is develop a solution that implements artificial neural networks in Foundation Fieldbus industrial network environment, based on standard function blocks. Along the work, some results of the solution's implementation are also presented

Estratégia de escalonamento de controladores PID baseado em regras Fuzzy para redes industriais foundation fieldbus usando blocos padrões

The main objective of work is to show procedures to implement intelligent control strategies. This strategies are based on fuzzy scheduling of PID controllers, by using only standard function blocks of this technology. Then, the standardization of Foundation Fieldbus is kept. It was developed an environment to do the necessary tests, it validates the propose. This environment is hybrid, it has a real module (the fieldbus) and a simulated module (the process), although the control signals and measurement are real. Then, it is possible to develop controllers projects. In this work, a fuzzy supervisor was developed to schedule a network of PID controller for a non-linear plant. Analyzing its performance results to the control and regulation problem

Sistema inteligente para detecção de manchas de óleo na superfície marinha através de imagens de SAR

Oil spill on the sea, accidental or not, generates enormous negative consequences for the affected area. The damages are ambient and economic, mainly with the proximity of these spots of preservation areas and/or coastal zones. The development of automatic techniques for identification of oil spots on the sea surface, captured through Radar images, assist in a complete monitoring of the oceans and seas. However spots of different origins can be visualized in this type of imaging, which is a very difficult task. The system proposed in this work, based on techniques of digital image processing and artificial neural network, has the objective to identify the analyzed spot and to discern between oil and other generating phenomena of spot. Tests in functional blocks that compose the proposed system allow the implementation of different algorithms, as well as its detailed and prompt analysis. The algorithms of digital image processing (speckle filtering and gradient), as well as classifier algorithms (Multilayer Perceptron, Radial Basis Function, Support Vector Machine and Committe Machine) are presented and commented.The final performance of the system, with different kind of classifiers, is presented by ROC curve. The true positive rates are considered agreed with the literature about oil slick detection through SAR images presents

Análise da Conformidade e Caracterização da Matéria- Prima Empregada na Fabricação de Blocos Cerâmicos na Região Metropolitana de Salvador

The potential market of the metropolitan area of Salvador accounts for the estimated consumption of roughly 800 million horizontally perforated extruded clay bricks a year. The growing demand of consumers along with the competitiveness of the structural ceramic sector has driven forward a number of recent efforts and investments towards improving the quality of structural ceramics. In this scenario, the present study focused on sampling and evaluating the conformity of 8-hole horizontally perforated extruded clay bricks manufactured by different plants (A, B and C) in the metropolitan area of Salvador. In addition, representative clay and sandy-clay materials were collected from each plant and characterized by conventional physical, chemical and mineralogical techniques. Finally, experimental compositions designated as A, B and C, according to the source, were prepared by mixing different contents of the raw materials collected in the plants, fired at different temperatures and characterized. The results revealed a series of non conformities regarding ABNT guidelines. The characterization of raw materials revealed the presence of kaolinite and ilite in concentrations ranging from 64 to 90 wt.% along with free quartz (10 - 25%). The sandy-clay samples consisted basically of kaolinite. All raw materials depicted low contents of organics, amorphous constituents, alkaline oxides and feldspar. An analysis of the firing behavior of all different ceramic compositions revealed that the linear contraction of composition A was rather significant considering the temperature range evaluated, and it justifies the significant dimensional non conformity that was shown by bricks made with the ceramic A

Estudo e caracterização de matérias-primas para o desenvolvimento de blocos sílico-calcários

The types of products manufactured calcium silicate blocks are very diversified in its characteristics. They include accessory bricks, blocks, products in dense material, with or without reinforcements of hardware, great units in cellular material, and thermal insulating products. The elements calcium silicate are of great use in the prefabricated construction, being formed for dense masses and hardened by autoclaving. This work has for objective develop formulations that make possible the obtaining of calcium silicate blocks with characteristics that correspond the specifications technical, in the State of the Rio Grande of the North, in finality of obtaining technical viability for use in the civil construction. The work studied the availability raw materials from convenient for the production of calcium silicate blocks, and the effect of variations of the productive process on the developed products. The studied raw materials were: the quartz sand from the city of São Gonçalo do Amarante/RN, and two lime, a hydrated lime and a pure lime from the city of Governador Dix-Sept Rosado/RN. The raw materials collected were submitted a testes to particle size distribution, fluorescence of X rays, diffraction of X rays. Then were produced 8 formulations and made body-of-test by uniaxial pressing at 36 MPa, and cured for 7 hours at about 18 kgf/cm2 pressing and temperature of approximately 180 °C. The cure technological properties evaluated were: lineal shrinkage, apparent density, apparent porosity, water absorption, modulus of rupture flexural (3 points), resistance compression, phase analysis (XRD) and micromorphological analysis (SEM). From the results presented the technological properties, was possible say that utilization of hydrated lime becomes more viable its utilization in mass limestone silica, for manufacture of calcium silicate blocks

Estudo térmico e de materiais na construção de casas populares com blocos confeccionados a partir de um composto a base de cimento, gesso, eps e raspa de pneu

We built an experimental house on an UFRN´s land using blocks made by a composite consisting of cement, plaster, EPS, crushed rubber and sand. Several blocks were made from various compositions and we made preliminary tests of mechanical and thermal resistance, choosing the most appropriate proportion. PET bottles were used inside the block to provide thermal resistance. In this work, a second function was given to the bottles: to serve as a docking between the blocks, because the ends of the cylinders came out of each block on top as well as at the bottom, with the bottom cut, allowing to fit of the extremities of the upper cylinder of a block in the lower holes of the other one, which were formed by the cutting already mentioned. Minimum compression tests were performed according to ABNT standards for walls closing blocks (fence). With that house built, we did studies of thermal performance in order to ascertain conditions of comfort, checking external and internal temperatures in the walls and in the ambient, among other variables, such as wind speed and relative humidity. The resulting blocks provided adequate thermal insulation to the environment, where the walls presented differences up to 11.7 ºC between the outer and inner faces, getting the maximum temperature inside the house around 31 °C, within the so-called thermal comfort zone for warm climates. At the end of the experiments it was evident the effectiveness of that construction in order to provide thermal comfort in the internal environment of the house, as well as we could confirm the viability of building houses from recyclable materials, reducing the constructive costs, becoming a suitable alternative for low- incoming families. Moreover, besides the low cost, the proposal represents an alternative use of various recyclable materials, therefore considered an ecological solution

Compósito para fabricação de blocos para construção de casas: estudos térmico e de materiais

We present two models of blocks made of composite material obtained from the use of cement, plaster, EPS crushed, shredded tire, mud, sand and water, for the construction of popular housing. Were made metal molds for the manufacture of blocks to be used in the construction of a residence for low-income families. Performed tests of compressive strength of the composite for various formulations that met the specific standard for blocks used in construction. To study the thermal conductivity of the composite for further study of thermal comfort generated in a residence built with the proposed composite. We also determined the mass-specific and water absorption for each formulation studied. Using a home already built with another composite material, made up the closing of a window with the building blocks and found the thermal insulation, measuring external and internal temperatures of the blocks. The blocks had made good thermal insulation of the environment, resulting in differences of up to 12.6°C between the outer and inner faces. It will be shown the feasibility of using composite for the end proposed and chosen the most appropriate wording

Conservação de espécies nativas em um assentamento rural do município de Apodi-RN: impactos socioambientais e econômicos e o uso da biotecnologia como alternativa promissora

The Caatinga biome has a high diversity of potential and their conservation constitutes one of the greatest challenges of Brazilian science. The sustainable management of the Caatinga emerges as an alternative that through the formation of systems agrossilvipastoris, enables the use of forest resources sustainably, ensuring their conservation, regeneration and recovery. In RN this technique has been developed mainly in settlements of Agrarian Reform, such as P. A. Moaci Lucena, and their impacts go beyond the environmental aspect and reverberate socially and economically on the quality of life of family farmers. Despite the efficiency of the Sustainable Management of the Caatinga in the conservation of native species, many forests species of this biome faces serious problems of propagation and for this reason have become vulnerable to extinction, as is the case of Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth . Thus , it is evident the need to use sustainable alternatives to overcome the difficulties of propagation of this species and enable their replacement in areas where their existence is threatened. The Plant Biotechnology is considered as a promising alternative in this sense, considering that by micropropagation enables the large-scale production of seedlings with high health genetics status. This work has the following objectives: evaluate the perception of family farmers of P. A. Moaci Lucena in relation to social, environmental and economic impacts of the Sustainable Management of the Caatinga and check the conditions of germination and in vitro propagation of Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth that enabling the production of seedlings of this specie on a large scale. To achieve the first objective, semi-structured interviews showed that in the perception of farmers PA Moaci Lucena, the Sustainable Management of the Caatinga was responsible for generating many social, environmental and economic impacts that affected directly in the improvement in the quality of life of the families of the Settlement Project Moaci Lucena. Have to achieve the second objective, were investigated the influence of different substrates and concentrations of growth regulator BAP in the germination and shoot induction in vitro of Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth. The vermiculite was presented as the most suitable substrate for germination of this species, because it provided a more rapid germination, higher growth rates and higher dry matter accumulation. Regarding micropropagation, the concentration of 17.76 μmol/L of BAP presented a more responsive in relation to multiplication rate and the number of shoots in M. caesalpiniifolia, thus constituting the most suitable concentration for the in vitro propagation of this specie

Benefícios econômicos agregados às propriedades urbanas pelas paisagens naturais

Amenities value provided by green areas, sea, river and natural landscapes are hardly perceived and incorporated on urban planning and development. In this work, distance and view to protected and non-protected green areas, sea and river were evaluated as to how they increase the housing prices in Natal. Hedonic pricing methods were used with linear models to estimate the marginal implicit value of environmental, residential and neighborhood features. Results on Chapter 1 demonstrate the view to the sea and protected natural areas were largely capitalized on housing prices, while non-protected natural areas didn t display such effect. Housing prices also increase when close to the sea or to parks entrance. However, housing prices fall when houses are near non-protected natural areas. When estates with sea view were excluded, the protected natural areas view and a longer distance to non-protected natural areas increased dwelling prices. Results on Chapter 2 point the sea view as an hedonic variable the contributes strongly to the property selling prices, even though not always as the greatest contributor; furthermore, the property proximity to Dunas Park or City of the Park entrance increases its price, as does closeness to Dunas Park, view to City of the Park or Dunas Park. On the other hand, selling prices diminish if properties are close to City of the Park or Morro do Careca. Results on this study confirm the hedonic pricing methods is an important intrument, capable of revealing to popullation the importance of enviromental amenities and can be used by public managers for creating public policies for conservation and restoration projects

Impactos sócio-econômicos e ambientais da introdução da Tilápia do Nilo, Oreochromis niloticus, em açudes públicos do semi-árido nordestino, Brasi

The stocking of exotic fish, especially the tilapia, has become a common practice in the public reservoirs of the Brazilian semi-arid region. The stocking of tilapias has had as its main aim the improvement of the fisheries in the reservoirs and consequently the improvement of the socio-economic conditions of the families that have fishing as the main source of income. However, the environmental risks associated with this practice are high and can lead to a loss in aquatic biodiversity and to changes in the quality of the water. The object of this work was to quantify the socio-economic and environmental effects of the introduction of the Nile tilapia in the public reservoirs of the semi-arid northeastern Brazil. The analysis of the fish yield of 100 public reservoirs from 1970 to 2000 demonstrated that the introduction of the Nile tilapia apparently contributed to an increase in the total fish yield from the late 1970 s until the mid-1980 s. Nevertheless, from that time onwards the fish yield in these reservoirs has fallen into decline to levels inferior to those observed prior to the introduction of the tilápia. The analysis of the fishing activity statistics of the Gargalheiras reservoir located in the city of Acari, Rio Grande do Norte, demonstrated that the introduction of the Nile tilapia in the reservoir has not significantly increased the fish yield, the gross overall income, the gross per capita income nor the number of fishermen actively fishing in the reservoir. On the other hand, the analysis of the fishing activity statistics of the Gargalheiras reservoir has revealed a significant reduction in the captures of other commercially important fish species after the introduction of the tilapia. This result suggests that the Nile tilapia could have negatively affected other species of fish in the reservoir, contributing to the decline in their stocks. In order to assess the perception of the fishermen concerning the effects of the Nile tilapia over other species of fish and the quality of the water, questionnaires containing open and multiple choice questions were applied with 30 fishermen from the colony of the Gargalheiras reservoir. The great majority of the local fishermen stated that the tilapia is currently the most important species of fish to those who depend on fishing as a source of income and that they have not caused damage to other species of fish nor to the quality of the water in the reservoir. However, the results of the present work indicate that the alleged socio-economic benefits, employed to justify the introduction of the Nile tilapia in the reservoirs, are overestimated while the environmental impacts of the introduction of this exotic species are underestimated