O "espetáculo do cabra macho" : um estudo sobre os vaqueiros nas vaquejada no Rio Grande do Norte

This body of work discusses the gender meanings associated with cowboys while endorsing contemporary rodeos in Rio Grande do Norte as a recreational sport and a form of ludic expression. As a result, this research has focused on rodeo practices, aiming to understand the different aspects emphasizing masculinity: these associations being constructed through relationships, contexts and the competitiveness between participants. These gender meanings hinge on the desire for a wining performance and on the behaviour exhibited among cowboys outside the competitive ring in specific social settings such as parties and recreational time. The latter were the focus of the ethnographic research; direct observation and semistructured interviews with cowboys in rodeo stadiums were also used. Through qualitative analysis of the collected data, it was revealed that historically and socially different trajectories do not immediately cause a gender crisis in cowboys, but the assignment of new significance by the social acts in each historical context. However, the presence of cowboys leads to other models of masculinity configured by expressions and the insertion of new personas, not coming directly from field activities, but imbued by the symbolic elements of the cowboy persona, constructed throughout history

Trajetória profissional e rupturas epistemológicas na educação física e na atuação do professor

This dissertation is the result of concerns with the theoretical-methodological and pedagogical learning processes occurred in the practice of physical education in school, which accompany me since the initial training, when I experienced learning in a piecemeal fashion, focused on technicality and sportivization. In order to better qualify the pedagogical interventions of physical education in school, I have always been worried on applying what I received at the University, but the routine of classes was always demanding others doings. In this sense, there were many moments of epistemological ruptures occurred in my training, in which I always sought new investment in training to account for the provision of a more humanistic and grounded in real educational precepts physical education. To that end I had to reflect on the pedagogical interventions throughout my training, in order not to carry out the activities as heavy doings, but as metamorphoses of knowledge and thus generating learning for students. Thus, this dissertation fits into this context with the overall goal of discussing my professional career, considering the epistemological ruptures of Physical Education, occurred in my training and expertise. The objective is also to identify the contributions of these formations in professional activities, centered on storytelling and reflection of significant experiences in the teaching of sports and Physical Education. We highlight the paradigm shifts, leaving the gymnastic methods, through dance-physical education method, psychomotor, reaching the contemporary critical theories experienced from the culture of movement as well as its implications for professional practice. We chose a qualitative research, using the autobiographical method, using as sources or techniques, narratives, photographic recording and video samples. In the studies within the area of education, for the most part, qualitative research came to oppose the positivist view of the quantification on analysis of social phenomena. New ideas were appearing in order to present innovative perspectives to understand the real. The survey data will be presented in narrated form (descriptive), analyzed based on the theoretical framework that guides the study, especially authors who discuss school physical education, vocational training and body conception. We believe our study may be of relevance for training in Physical Education that as from pedagogical reflections in certain historical realities, envisions being able to open new perspectives for the performance of other physical education teachers

Aprendizado por Reforço com Valores deInfluência em Sistemas Multi-Agente

We propose a new paradigm for collective learning in multi-agent systems (MAS) as a solution to the problem in which several agents acting over the same environment must learn how to perform tasks, simultaneously, based on feedbacks given by each one of the other agents. We introduce the proposed paradigm in the form of a reinforcement learning algorithm, nominating it as reinforcement learning with influence values. While learning by rewards, each agent evaluates the relation between the current state and/or action executed at this state (actual believe) together with the reward obtained after all agents that are interacting perform their actions. The reward is a result of the interference of others. The agent considers the opinions of all its colleagues in order to attempt to change the values of its states and/or actions. The idea is that the system, as a whole, must reach an equilibrium, where all agents get satisfied with the obtained results. This means that the values of the state/actions pairs match the reward obtained by each agent. This dynamical way of setting the values for states and/or actions makes this new reinforcement learning paradigm the first to include, naturally, the fact that the presence of other agents in the environment turns it a dynamical model. As a direct result, we implicitly include the internal state, the actions and the rewards obtained by all the other agents in the internal state of each agent. This makes our proposal the first complete solution to the conceptual problem that rises when applying reinforcement learning in multi-agent systems, which is caused by the difference existent between the environment and agent models. With basis on the proposed model, we create the IVQ-learning algorithm that is exhaustive tested in repetitive games with two, three and four agents and in stochastic games that need cooperation and in games that need collaboration. This algorithm shows to be a good option for obtaining solutions that guarantee convergence to the Nash optimum equilibrium in cooperative problems. Experiments performed clear shows that the proposed paradigm is theoretical and experimentally superior to the traditional approaches. Yet, with the creation of this new paradigm the set of reinforcement learning applications in MAS grows up. That is, besides the possibility of applying the algorithm in traditional learning problems in MAS, as for example coordination of tasks in multi-robot systems, it is possible to apply reinforcement learning in problems that are essentially collaborative

Geometria e arirmética numa visão multicultural: uma experiência pedagógica

This paper aims to build a notebook of activities that can help the teacher of elementary school mathematics. Topics covered are arithmetic and geometry and the activities proposed here were developed aiming print them a multicultural character. We take as a base line developed by Claudia Zaslavsky multiculturalism and reflected in his books "Games and activities worldwide" and "More games and activities worldwide." We structure our work around four themes: the symbol of the Olympic Games, the pyramids of Egypt, the Russian abacus abacus and Chinese. The first two themes allow you to explore basic concepts of geometry while the latter two themes allow us to explore numerical notation and arithmetic operations

Poesia digital: três leituras da Obra de Jason Nelson

The development of digital technologies has opened up a new niche for artistic production. It began to emerge artworks that could only happen in the digital context. In this study, we investigated the syntax of defining digital poetry, recognized internationally as one of the possibilities of this new artistic practice, and how happens the meaning during the reading process. As research corpus, we chose the poem "Birds Still Warm From Flying", by american poet Jason Nelson. And we structure our analysis looking through three perspectives: the digital poem as a game; as the evolution of experimental trends of twentieth-century poetry; and as a representation of Rubik`s Cube, a famous three-dimensional puzzle from the 1970`s. Initially, we made some considerations about the construction of digital poetry as a hypermedia artwork, looking through convergence and hybridization of artistic and media languages. Then, we saw some similarities between Nelson`s poem and electronic games, based on our critical observations about the concept of interactivity. Subsequently, we wrote a historical overview about the poetic experimentation in the twentieth century, bringing examples of sound poetry and visual poetry as evidence that the birth of digital poetry is also the result of the evolution of these experiments. Finally, we use the Charles Sanders Peirce`s semiotics to analyze the signs that give references able to make us recognize the Rubik`s Cube in "Birds Still Warm From Flying"

Avaliação do potencial de toxicidade de florações de cianobactérias como subsídio para ações de gestão ambiental em açudes do semiárido potiguar

Blooms negatively compromise the aquatic environment, plants, animals and human health.Some species are toxin-producing, such as the neurotoxin saxitoxin and the hepatotoxin microcystin, which may contaminate water reservoirs, as those existing in the semiarid region of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil) which are used to supply the population, fishing, aquiculture and recreational activities, thereby providing the risk of human exposure through water intake, dermal contact and respiratory tract. Thus, it is recommended a constant monitoring of the density of cyanobacteria with the quantification of cyanotoxins. One goal with this work was the monitoring of water in four reservoirs in semiarid of RN through the identification and enumeration of cyanobacteria and through the identification and quantification of cyanotoxins by ELISA. Furthermore, we intended to assess the environmental perception of farmers and artisanal fishers in reservoirs of semiarid of RN through semi-structured interviews with questions mostly related to water and eutrophication. Through these objectives the aim was the development of management strategies for aquaculture and prevention of risks to public health. The results showed that the highest values of microcystins were found in the rainy season. Standards for drinking water, according to the guidelines of Ministry of Health 2914/2011 and CONAMA 357/05, setting the maximum values for raw water density of cyanobacteria: 50,000 cel.mL-1; microcystin: 1 μg. L-1 and saxitoxin: 3 μg. L-1. The values found for microcystin ranged between 0.00227 μg. L-1 and 24.1954 μg. L-1. From 128 samples analyzed, 27% were above the limit. There was no clear seasonal pattern for saxitoxins and their values ranged between 0.003 μg. L-1 and 0.766 μg. L-1 with none of the values above the limit. Furthermore, 76% of the densities of cyanobacteria values were above the limit. About environmental perception, 52 interviews were conducted and the results show that the respondents recognize the main uses of water of the rervoirs, recognize the importance and have a positive view about the reservoirs. They also realize that the water has a poor quality and can cause health problems. The results provide data showing the persistence of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins, many times over the limit, reinforcing the importance of constant monitoring. The assessment of environmental perception gives foundation for later proposed environmental education linked to public health management into the context of this particular population, making it more effective

Avaliação de impacto ambiental e gestão dos recursos natuarias no estuário Apodi Mossoró, nordeste do Brasil

The aim of this study is to investigate the eco-environmental vulnerability, its changes, and its causes to develop a management system for application of eco-environmental vulnerability and risk assessment in the Apodi-Mossory estuary, Northeast Brazil. This analysis is focused on the interference of the landscape conditions, and its changes, due to the following factors: the oil and natural gas industry, tropical fruits industry, shrimp farms, marine salt industry, occupation of the sensitive areas; demand for land, vegetation degradation, siltation in rivers, severe flooding, sea level rise (SLR), coastal dynamics, low and flat topography, high ecological value and tourism in the region and the rapid growth of urbanization. Conventional and remote sensing data were analyzed using modeling techniques based on ArcGIS, ER-Mapper, ERDAS Imagine and ENVI software. Digital images were initially processed by Principal Component Analysis and transformation of the maximum fraction of noise, and then all bands were normalized to reduce errors caused by bands of different sizes. They were integrated in a Geographic Information System analysis to detect changes, to generate digital elevation models, geomorphic indices and other variables of the study area. A three band color combination of multispectral bands was used to monitor changes of land and vegetation cover from 1986 to 2009. This task also included the analysis of various secondary data, such as field data, socioeconomic data, environmental data and prospects growth. The main objective of this study was to improve our understanding of eco-environmental vulnerability and risk assessment; it´s causes basically show the intensity, its distribution and human-environment effect on the ecosystem, and identify the high and low sensitive areas and area of inundation due to future SLR, and the loss of land due to coastal erosion in the Apodi-Mossoró estuary in order to establish a strategy for sustainable land use. The developed model includes some basic factors such as geology, geomorphology, soils, land use / land cover, vegetation cover, slope, topography and hydrology. The numerical results indicate that 9.86% of total study area was under very high vulnerability, 29.12% high vulnerability, 52.90% moderate vulnerability and 2.23% were in the category of very low vulnerability. The analysis indicates that 216.1 km² and 362.8 km² area flooded on 1m and 10m in sea levels respectively. The sectors most affected were residential, industrial and recreational areas, agricultural land, and ecosystems of high environmental sensitivity. The results showed that changes in eco-environmental vulnerability have a significant impact on the sustainable development of the RN state, since the indicator is a function of sensitivity, exposure and status in relation to a level of damage. The model were presented as a tool to assist in indexing vulnerability in order to optimize actions and assess the implications of decisions makers and policies regarding the management of coastal and estuarine areas. In this context aspects such as population growth, degradation of vegetation, land use / land cover, amount and type of industrialization, SLR and government policies for environmental protection were considered the main factors that affect the eco-environmental changes over the last three decades in the Apodi-Mossoró estuary.

Caracterização geomorfológica e paleogeográfica da plataforma continental adjacente a foz do Rio Apodi-Mossoró, RN/Brasil

The brazilian marginal basins have a huge potential to generate and accumulate petroleum. Incised valleys which are eroded in response to a fall of relative sea level are related to potential reservoir as well, modern drowned-valley estuaries serve as harbors to petroleum and salt industries, fisheries, waste-disposal sites and recreational areas for a significant fraction of the world s population. The combined influence of these factors has produced a dramatic increase in research on modern and ancient incised-valley systems. This research is one expression of this interest. The integrated use of satellites images and high resolution seismic (bathymetry, sides scan sonar) was used on the Apodi River mouth-RN to characterizes the continental shelf This area is located at the Potiguar Basin in the NE Brazilian Equatorial Atlantic margin. Through bathymetric and side scan sonar data processing, a digital Terrain Model was developed, and a detailed geomorphologic analysis was performed. In this way was possible to recognize the geomorphologic framework and differents sismofacies, which may influence this area. A channel extending from the ApodiMossoró river mouth to the shelf edge dominates the investigated area. This structure can be correlated with the former river valley developed during the late Pleistocene sea level fall. This channel has two main directions (NW-SE and NE-SW) probably controlled by the Potiguar Basin structures. The western margin of the channel is relatively steep and pronounced whereas the eastern margin consists only of a gentle slope. Longitudinal bedforms and massive ridges also occur. The first are formed doe to the shelf sediment rework and the reef-like structures probably are relics of submerged beachrock-lines indicating past shoreline positions during the deglacial sea-level rise. The sub-bottom seismic data allow the identification of different sismic patterns and a marcant discontinuity, interpreted as the Upper

As praças e a parceria público-privada em Natal/RN

Defined as public space or space open of common use, the square is a fundamental space for the urban life. Its function depends so much of the historical context, as of its location in the city, but general way, it is associated to leisure activities. In spite of its importance, many Brazilian squares are abandoned and degraded, some are used improperly, other they never left the paper and they are wastelands, most of the time, transformed in garbage deposits. The lack of appropriate equipments in the squares or to the precariousness of the same ones, such as banks, illumination and places for the different age groups; the lack of the "nature", in other words, of green; and the maintenance lack is some of the problems observed at the squares of Natal/RN. The maintenance is essential factor for the own existence of the square, so much in relation to the physical quality of the space, as in relation to the presence, or no, of users. In that work, we studied the squares of Natal/RN and the partnership public-private as form of shared administration of the public space. Our objective is to understand as it feels that partnership in the production and maintenance of squares in Natal/RN and which the benefits for the involved parts. For so much, we rescued the production of squares historically in the city of Natal/RN; We analyzed the legislation that regularizes the adoption of squares in some Brazilian municipal districts and the Bill of Adoption of Public Squares and of Sports and Green Areas in Natal/RN; and, last we analyzed three natalenses squares that had private investment in the construction, it reforms and/or maintenance. The "partnerships" involved exchange for land, environmental and social compensations, always assisting to the private interests, and nothing was registered or documented in the competent public organs. With that dissertation we wanted to contribute for the valorization of the squares and the relevance of the construction, renewal and maintenance of those public spaces in the city of Natal/RN, as life spaces, of encounters, of leisure