O gato doméstico (Felis catus) responde à sinais gestuais? possíveis implicações do convívio social

The cats (Felis catus) were domesticated about 9,500 years ago due to the advent of agriculture, being used to control the pests that devastated the food harvested. These animals went through an artificial selection and over generations and millennia had their behavior and morphology changed by humans. This process of domestication by man gave rise to a special ability, the understanding of human pointing gestures, clearly noticed while we feed our pets. Our goal in this study was to assess the comprehension of pointing gestures by cats and also verify the influence that social interactions exerts on the development of this ability. We found that experimental subjects from both groups, solitary animals and social animals, were able to follow human indication in order to find hidden food. However, social interaction had no effect on cats performances. The ability tested here probably evolved during the process of domestication of this species, and social interaction seems to exert little or no influence upon its expression

O atendimento às adolescentes autoras de atos infracionais no estado do Rio Grande do Norte

The objective of this study was to investigate the assistance for the female adolescents perpetrators of offences in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Through the Thematic Oral History and Documentary Analysis methods, we sought to uncover historical aspects of the work provided in women’s units of the Fundação dos Direitos das Crianças e Adolescentes (FUNDAC) [Foundation for the Rights of Children and Adolescents], from the experiences of professionals who have worked in these units since the beginning of their activities. For this, we made visits to FUNDAC and the Centro Educacional Padre João Maria (CEDUC) [Educational Center Father João Maria], to identify professionals who could participate in the study, as well as institutional documents on routine of treatment. Eight professionals were found from three identified units: Granja Santana, Instituto Padre João Maria and CEDUC, who were interviewed according to a semi-structured script. The analysis of the collected material is supported in Marxian theory and feminist perspective on the sexual division of labor. The results are organized into five areas of analysis: (1) the creation of the service units; (2) the deviant “behavior”: reasons for institutionalization of female adolescents; (3) educational proposal: a female version; service strategies and; the rules and punishment: the domesticated teenage girl. The study indicates that the commission of the offense by the female adolescents in state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN) has been associated with the conduct of their families, particularly their mothers. Moreover, in general, service strategies, educational proposals, disciplinary measures were and have been developed based on the naturalization of what is female. Therefore, the assistance to adolescent girls in RN, those thirty-five years, left intact the existing hierarchy in social relations between the sexes, it reproduced the subordination of female adolescents in the juvenile justice system.