Imagem sócio-ambiental do bairro de Cidade Nova, Natal-RN, por seus moradores

This dissertation investigates how the neighborhood of Cidade Nova, located in the western side of the of Natal, is perceived by its residents in order to understand its socio-environmental image, intending to contribute both to define strategies of urban intervention and environmental education in the area and to consolidate a methodology that addresses this kind of problem. The completion of field research used a multimethod strategy to study the socio-environmental image of urban areas. It consists of: (a) review of local history from literature research, data recorded by the City Hall, news published on the city's newspapers and interviews with former inhabitants, (b) application of questionnaires to inhabitants including emotions, visual perception, memory and local social activities, (c) development of a drawing of the district, (d) conducting focus groups with inhabitants, using as a starting point the results obtained in the previous activities. In steps "b" and "c" attended 32 neighborhood residents, 16 of them being Community Health Workers and other 16 persons appointed by them. In step "d" 10 individuals took part, divided into two groups. The result of the research showed a picture of residents coincident with the image conveyed by the media in relation to the issues: violence, garbage, public policy/social support and appreciation of the beauties of environmental (dunes and Parque da Cidade park). Although Cidade Nova has been regarded as a dirty, noisy and dangerous place, most of the participants say they enjoy living on the neighborhood. Overall, the results corroborate and gain theoretical explanations, as they are interrelated. The socio-environmental image is expressed for instance in the elements dunes, dump, railroad tracks and Central Avenue that gain symbolic connotation influenced by time and socio-economic context. The insecurity and other negative characteristics assigned by the inhabitants and the media are parallel to the place attachment, since the environmental legibility, the time/familiarity and territoriality offer inhabitants the preference for place of residence, setting up their social identity.

Praça: lugar de lazer: relações entre características ambientais e comportamentais na Praça Kalina Maia Natal RN

Nowadays, the urban chaos brings some problems to the citizens such as mental fatigue, irritability and lack of attention, emphasizing the need for open urban spaces, capable to contribute to the restoration of physical and mental balance of people. By the variety of alternative uses available, many of them related to the stimulus of entertainment activities, the squares have been identified as restorative environments, especially by its potential as a place of leisure. In this context, the objective of this dissertation is to understand the use of the square as leisure environment, by a square in Natal RN, establishing the relationship between environmental and behavioral characteristics. More specifically, I attempt to identify the major activities that happen there, the people that develop them and the spatial and temporal configurations of this occupation. Among the 290 squares available in the city, the Kalina Maia Square was selected, which is located in the district of Lagoa Nova. The case study chosen was based on criteria relating to scale, shape, location on the urban environment, variability of uses and conservation status. In the study were used behavioral mapping place-centered and people-centered, behavior trace analysis and 14 interviews. The results show that the square is used by people from different ages and social classes, subdivided into groups with specific days and times. These users are usually engaged in activities related to various types of leisure, with sports predominance. The relationship between spatial configuration and behavior shows that there is a sectorization of uses, being possible to identify the environmental characteristics that most favor observed activities, especially in relation to shading and presence of furniture and equipment. Moreover, throughout the day it appears that the affordances inherent to the various fixed objects on the square are decoded differently by various categories of users, by giving them insights that help the development of leisure activities that characterize each group

A Praça André de Albuquerque, Natal/RN, na visão de seus frequentadores

The study offers a global and interpretative view of the person-environment inter-action at André de Albuquerque Plaza, in Natal, RN, according to a descriptive-exploratory approach that aimed at learning about the space converted into place, as it is perceived and experienced by users, who attribute meaning to it. The main objective was to critically analyze the relationship person-plaza, based on data collected about users perception, utilization and ascribed meaning. I have employed an Environmental Psychology multi-method approach, including informal observations, interactive poster session, videotaping and interviews. The results indicated that the plaza, besides being a passage point, is also a spot of urban convergence for several groups, particularly taxi drivers, flanelinhas, skate boarders and students. In regard to the perception of the place, an overall positive evaluation of the plaza was verified, since people perceive selectively what interests them. In terms of usage, different groups of users presented diverse patterns of utilization, also observed in the attributed meanings. The plaza is a work place for taxi drivers and flanelinhas and a sports arena for the skate boarders, with a practical meaning for both groups. For students and other users it is a place for meeting and leisure, revealing a stronger affective quality, responsible for feelings of well being, tranquility and relaxation. The data so obtained could contribute for future government projects of intervention in those spaces, aiming at its preservation as an open spot among the concrete of city buildings, offering better quality of life, not only for today, but also for future generations

Limites e possibilidades da educação em saúde na estratégia de saúde da família de Pau dos Ferros/RN

A Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF) apresenta-se como um espaço privilegiado para a efetivação de práticas de educação em saúde orientadas pelo diálogo entre o saber científico e o saber popular, uma vez que é nesse espaço de saúde que profissionais e indivíduos/família se interrelacionam, criam vínculos, dialogam e constroem soluções para o enfrentamento dos problemas de saúde da população. O objetivo geral deste estudo foi analisar os limites e as possibilidades de efetivação da educação em saúde voltada para a coletividade na ESF de Pau dos Ferros/RN. Nesse sentido, buscou-se conhecer as concepções de educação em saúde dos profissionais de nível universitário da ESF; observar onde as práticas de educação eram desenvolvidas; conhecer os conteúdos e metodologias utilizadas para a efetivação das práticas de educação em saúde e caracterizar os espaços onde tais práticas eram desenvolvidas. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, de caráter descritivo-exploratório realizada junto a nove equipes localizadas na zona urbana do município. Foram investigados 28 profissionais que atuam nessas equipes, dentre os quais elencamos: quatro médicos, oito enfermeiros e dezesseis cirurgiões dentistas. Fez-se uso da entrevista semiestruturada e da observação baseada em princípios etnográficos. Os dados foram analisados com base na técnica de análise de conteúdo de Bardin. O estudo obedeceu aos aspectos éticos contidos na Resolução 196/96 que regulamenta as Pesquisas Envolvendo Seres Humanos. Os resultados apontam que as concepções e práticas de educação em saúde dos profissionais da ESF são orientadas por uma educação bancária , pautadas pela transmissão e reprodução de conhecimentos. As temáticas são desenvolvidas de forma verticalizada, dissonantes da realidade de vida e saúde dos usuários. As práticas educativas são ofertadas majoritariamente por enfermeiros e estudantes de graduação em estágio na USF. Em sua maioria não são planejadas em equipe, e estão direcionadas à prevenção de doenças, distanciando-se da promoção da saúde. As principais dificuldades apontadas para a efetivação da educação em saúde dizem respeito à dificuldade de trabalhar em equipe, à falta de apoio da gestão, à estrutura física inadequada e a pouca adesão dos profissionais as práticas educativas. Portanto, a educação em saúde praticada na ESF não consegue instrumentalizar os sujeitos para que estes tenham autonomia e possam tornar-se sujeitos de suas vidas, de sua história. A prática educativa centrada na transmissão de conhecimentos ainda é uma realidade presente na ESF, constituindo-se em um desafio a ser superado

O programa de saúde da família e os princípios básicos do Sistema Único de Saúde na realidade de Santana do Matos RN

This work shows the professional staff of the Family Health Program (PSF) in Santana do Matos City perceive the Unified Health System (SUS). Their discourse and recognition of the advances of SUS, as well as their participation on the implementation of the system, are analyzed. The Brazilian Ministry of Health instituted it in 1994 in order to rebuild the health politics on a new basis, substituting the traditional model. The city-centered implementation of SUS was instituted on May 27, 1992 by the act nº 631/92 and today it experiences a Full Management of Basic Attention. In July 2001 the PSF program was started in the city with 5 teams: 2 in the urban zone and 3 in the rural one. The methodology was developed with the combination of qualitative and quantitative research with the employment of a questionnaire with both open and closed inquiries to 31 members of the program. The study appointed that, no matter how positive and enlarged be the staff s concept of health and SUS, they dont s have on understanding of the total chain of the system on its integrality, hierarchy and regionality what hinders the system performance close to the users. The PSF incorporates and reaffirms the basic principles of the SUS; however, on its everyday employment it has not yet abandoned totally the curative model, which is reinforced by the hospital-centered and physiscian-centerend culture

Movimentos sociais e organização popular em Natal-RN: enquanto morar for privilégio...

To the extent that the expansion of cities is increasingly pushing and segregating the working class to outlying areas, devoid of services and infrastructure, the urban space is also important as a space in the class struggle, and in this direction, the this study aims to analyze the political organization of urban social movements and popular organizations existing in Natal-RN, nowadays, in their process of struggle for social rights, with emphasis on the right to the city. With this dimension, we appropriate the contributions of historical and dialectical materialism because we believe that this benchmark enables the understanding of the processes of collective organization and a critical perspective of totality, going beyond its immediate appearance. For production data conducted literature, documentary and field, through semi-structured interviews recorded with (the) mapped leaders of organizations in our survey, as well as advisory bodies to the movements studied. The results of the study allowed us to characterize the action of the political movements in urban Christmas struggle for recognition and guarantee of the right to the city and seize the advances and obstacles in the process of intervention of social movements and popular organizations existing in Natal, highlighting dilemmas and contradictions underlie the processes of organization and mobilization in the contemporary period. Thus, we conclude that the Natal territory, as in contemporary Brazil, the urban and political action movements that show the public scene and intertwine necessarily relate to historical trend that has been performing since the 1990s, when the country entered a period marked by a new bourgeois offensive

Turismo em jogo: a dinâmica da reterritorialização em Tibau do Sul/RN

The work seeks to understand the process of reterritorialization triggered by tourism development in Tibau do Sul / RN, noting its economic, socio-cultural and political implications to the local society. Tourist activity was addressed as socio-cultural phenomenon, considering the case of (dis) (re) territorialization and power relations between staff producers of the tourism space. Given the complexity of this issue and the need for further studies that focus on the reterritorialization cases generated by tourism in the northeastern coast, given the action of the agents involved in the construction of the spaces generated by tourism, this work is then justified. For such a study an exploratory and qualitative study was conducted, through a survey of secondary and primary data, and interviews with leaders of public, private nonprofit community in the investigated county. In this sense, it was found that the process of (dis) (re) territorialization in the city investigated, permeates the contradictions resulting from the conflicts existing power while providing the location and implications for economic and sociocultural dimensions, its heart is found in the political, the relationship between entrepreneurship - established mainly by outsiders who own businesses in Pipa - and local government - composed entirely by insiders who work in the municipal headquarters, that until then, hold the political and the economic power. Thus, to understand the regionalization of tourism it is necessary to analyze its economic, socio-cultural and political dimensions, referring to the complexity of relationships between producing space agents. It is believed that the reterritorialization can be capable of producing territorialities contextualized to the culture, history, economy and local politics, understanding that the active participation of the natives will contribute to a less perverse, since this has been one of the faces experienced by local people

Determinantes de competitividade de destinos turísticos aplicados aos roteiros regionais: uma avaliação do roteiro Seridó/RN

The tourism industry is gaining representation by move and stimulate the economy, especially by allowing the generation of employment and income, thus allowing growth opportunities for localities where tourism develops. Therefore, the present study entitled determinants of competitiveness of tourist destinations applied to regional routes: an evaluation of the Route of Seridó/RN, discusses the issue of competitiveness in tourism and tries to understand the scenery of this Route. The main objective of the study is to assess the conditions of competitiveness in the Route of Seridó/RN according to benchmarks and global determinants of competitiveness for tourist destinations. The study has also as specifics objectives: define dimensions of the reference model for use in evaluating the competitiveness of the Route of Seridó/RN; identify levels of governance and competitiveness in the municipalities that make up the sample set above the Route, and analyze to what extent the competitiveness of the Route correspond to the global reference of competitiveness of tourism destinations. Regarding the methodology, it is a search for an exploratory- descriptive and used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research method as expected and required in the implementation of the evaluation tool called Compet&enible Model. For data collection, it has been taken technical visits and also analysis of documents and materials. Data analysis was based on the records and documents and the use of simple descriptive statistics for the scores of the elements offered by Compet&enible Model. The results allowed us to know the real conditions of competitiveness of the Seridó/RN Route forward to the attributes of tourist destinations for global competitiveness: the dimension I, Governance, reached 17 points, classified as "in structuring" and dimension II, Competitiveness, reached 10 points, ranking "weak". These results highlight the need for greater involvement of the actors in the supply chain of tourism in Polo Seridó/RN for the actions, programs and projects are put into practice. It is expected that tourism is considered an important activity for the local and global development, serving as a reference for the future management of Seridó/RN Route, guiding new policy guidelines, planning and organization to better competitiveness

Investimentos internacionais e o turismo em Tibau do Sul/RN

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Medição de desempenho organizacional nas imobiliárias: um estudo na cidade do Natal-RN

The purpose of this paper is to identify how real estate companies from the city of Natal measure their organizational performance. Traditionally these companies measure their performance using financial measures; however, the technological improvement, the internationalization of the economy and the change in consumer behavior all demand better products and services, and other measuring models. Those changes motivate organizations to continually improve the quality of their products and services. In this way, these companies need to associate their financial results to their global performance. Therefore, it is necessary to have organizational performance models that associate financial and non-financial measures to the strategies of the companies. The research also tries to identify which performance indicators are used by these companies, as well as to test a model who questions: a) if there is any relationship between managers´ characteristics and performance measuring systems´ characteristics; b) if there is any relationship between the company s characteristics and the characteristics of the measuring system used to evaluate its organizational performance and c) finally to verify if there is a relationship between the characteristics of the measuring system and the company s performance. The information which served as a basis for the study was obtained through an empirical research, with questionnaires, answered by 66 (sixty six) companies from the city of Natal, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The results show that none of the companies investigated use any of the performance measurement models proposed in the modern literature. However, they use on an isolated way some of the measures those models, including some measures from adopted in the Balanced Scorecard, as well as the benchmarking process, making comparisons with the performance of their competitors. The research also reveals that either bigger companies, companies with more experienced managers or with better performance show better performance measurement systems

Poluição sonora: um grave problema na cidade de Mossoró-RN

In the latest decades, we have observed some environment alterations of big proportions in our planet. Sound pollution, visual pollution, water pollution, air pollution, soil pollution, all the principal kinds of environment pollution have raised in the path of economy development. In Mossoró it is not different; the environment has suffered a long and continuous damage caused by predatory abuse. The river is polluted, the ciliar vegetation of Carnauba was totally altered and with it a part of the local fauna disappeared. In fact, the city urban environment has, and continues to be, deeply altered and the sound pollution is a reflex of the urban modifications undergone in the city as time goes by. Through bibliographic review, the gauging of noise and fieldwork, this research project had the objective of analyzing the principal activities that cause sound pollution in the urban perimeter of the city of Mossoró, RN, emphasizing the causes, effects and spacial distribution of the polluter agents, as well as understanding how the environmental laws treat the sound issue in the urban environment of the city. The President Dutra avenue, where popular events of Mossoró take place and an important access for the city, was the chosen place to study this pollution that became, recently, another hindrance that interferes on the life quality of the local population. The results of this brief research emphasizes the urgency to alert society, specially about the importance of law and public organs that are located in our city, therefore solving problems such as the aforementioned above

A ocupação urbana do entorno de zonasde proteção ambiental de natal, suas condições de sustentabilidade e a relação com a ocorrência de insetos vetores

This study started from the hypothesis of the existence of a relation between the type of the urban occupation concerning to the sustainability conditions at the proximity of Environment Protected Zones and the occurrence of vectors insects in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. This research, which used data available by the City Administration Health and Urbanization Secretaries (respectively SMS and SEMURB), in the time period of 2006 to 2008, aimed to characterize the study site in terms of urban occupation, relating it to social environmental aspects of land occupation and the occurrence of vectors insects. This study is presented in two papers, the first one linking the occurrence of vectors insects and sustainable development indicators and the second relating the incidence of reported cases of Dengue and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) and the occurrence of larvae infection indexes of Aedes aegypti, in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte State. In the first paper, was made a correlation between Dengue Fever vectors and Visceral and Tegumentar Leishmaniasis vectors and sustainable development indicators, selected from IDS Brasil- 2008. Through factorial analysis a Sustainability Index (SI) was acquired for each region, the northern region of the municipality obtained lower numbers than southern region, which, in its turn, presented better sustainability conditions. Linking this index to vector infestation parameters shows a high significant correlation between the SI and the Breteau Index of Aedes aegypti (p=0,028) as well as with SI and sand flies infestation index (p=0,01). Higher rates in vectors infestation in regions with a lower Sustainable Development Index demonstrates that this index can be used to determine the increasing of probability of Aedes and sand flies occurrence in urban environment. The second paper analyzed the occurrence of the main vector of Dengue and DHF, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, and the relation between larvae infection indexes of this insect and reported cases of the diseases. This study revealed unexpected relation where areas with higher Breteau s Indexes showed lower infection rates of Dengue Fever, although showing high incidence of DHF

Análise da degradação ambiental das áreas de preservação permanente localizadas no estuário do rio Ceará-mirim/RN

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the main environmental impacts taking place in the permanent preservation areas located in the Ceará-Mirim River estuary/RN and its surrounding areas. For that, the study was divided in two chapters, structured in the shape of a scientific paper. The first is a theoretical proposition on the occupation of the APPs in light of the discussion of the geographic space and the sustainability of the development, where a bibliographical review was made emphasizing the production of the geographic space, the sustainability of the development and the permanent preservation areas. In the second chapter, from a systemic approach, geoprocessing techniques and the adaptation of the Pressure-State- Response Indicators System were used, the latter being developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD. Therefore, from the methodological approaches used, it's been observed that the use of permanent preservation areas for purposes other than those determined in the legislation and, mainly guided by capitalist interests, leads to the environmental degradation of these areas, fact which has been confirmed in the empiric study conducted in the second chapter, where it was possible to identify a series of environmental impacts such as: deforestation of mangrove and riparian vegetation for carciniculture implantation, the devastation of dune areas caused by the urban expansion in the coastal stretch and siltation of fluvial channel

Inundações urbanas no semiarido nordestino: o caso da cidade de Pau dos Ferros - RN

The Apodi river basin, particularly within the snippet that crosses Pau dos Ferros - RN city, place anthropogenic actions that interfere in the dynamic environment by modifying the local landscape. The reflection of these actions can be seen in the floods that occur in rainy periods (February to may) virtually every year in the city. It is important to stress that the project of integration of the waters of the San Francisco basin with the northern basin of Northeastern will perennial the main channel of the river basin, and generate greater impacts in the region. This work sought to define a methodology able to delimit areas susceptible to flooding in cities of semiarid Northeast based on the Pau dos Ferros RN city. The dissertation is divided into two chapters and introduction. The introduction presents a theoretical frame based on discussion of the concept of risk, their main characteristics and subdivisions; floods; geotecnologies; Apodi River basin; municipal data Pau dos Ferros RN and design integration of Francisco basin with the northern basins Northeast. The first chapter evaluates the urban expansion process between 1987 and 2008, delimiting the flood areas and analyzes the relationship between urban growth and retention areas. The second chapter identifies the flood risk areas in the Pau dos Ferros city. The methodology used was based on tools of geographic information system GIS from software SPRING/INPE 5.1, as well as bibliographical, satellite images, aerial photographs and field activities. The results obtained enabled view the rapid expansion of the urban area of Pau dos Ferros, which has doubled in a period of 22 years. The population density checks with greater intensity in South-central portion of the city, in flood areas and not flood (Cap. 01). It was noted also that some neighborhoods along the River Apodi are susceptible to more instances of flooding ranging from minimum to maximum, while in neighborhoods near the Riacho Cajazeiras floods occur to a lesser extent because of altimetry higher and lower water volume. (Cap. 02). It is expected that this work will help in the preparation of flood risk municipal map subsidising managers in implementing public policies targeted to the softening of urban flood-related issues in Pau dos Ferros RN and serve as a model for mapping of other cities with similar characteristics analyzed in this work

Revitalização do Rio Golandim (RN/Brasil) após décadas de contaminação por efluentes industriais e domésticos: este rio está recuperado?

Environmental pollution causes the loss of the quality of aquatic resources and also affects the health of human beings. The Golandim River is located in São Gonçalo do Amarante (RN Brazil) and had its water recovered seven years ago by measurements of parameters of the water s quality analyses physicochemistry, microbiological and heavy metals. However, it is not well established if this river is truly recovered, so this study provides a wide knowledge about the quality of these waters. Therefore, this investigation was accomplished by assays of ecotoxicology utilizing Ceriodaphnia dubia and of genotoxicity of the river s water using a biomarker Tradescantia Pallida (Trad-MCN). In set, it carried through a study of environmental perception through questionnaires that approached questions related to the profile of the interviewed one, knowledge on the environment and of the river Golandim with the community that lives in the neighborhoods of the river to diagnosis as they perceive the environment where live and its problems. The assays of the water had been carried out by collecting samples in three different sites of the Golandim River. They were collected between the periods of December 2010 (dry season in the northeast of Brazil) and July 2011 (rainy season in the northeast of). The analysis of the data allowed observing that the majority of the inhabitants are adult and presents a global vision of what it is part of the environment, the majority mentions the pollution of the river as one of the problems of the city, considering it serious. The ecotoxicology assay showed that there was not acute toxicity in all three samples collected. Meanwhile, all these three samples demonstrated significant chronic toxicity. The results from the Trad-MCN assay presented an increase in the frequency of micronucleus in one of the sites analyzed (S3) (p<0.01), in both seasons collected. On the other hand, the sites S1 and S2 did not presented a significant increase of micronucleus using this bioassay. The analyses of chemicals detected an increase in the levels of some metals, in different seasons and samples, which can be associates with some compounds found in urban and industrial areas. On the other hand, the physicochemistries parameters demonstrated that the Golandim River is recouped, when compared with the values presented at the CONAMA s legislation. However, these results indicate the presence of compounds capable of inducing chromosomal mutation in plants. On the other hand, the parameters physicistchemistries demonstrate that the river Golandim is if recouping, since when compares the values observed with the legislation of the CONAMA. All these results point to the fact that the Trad-MCN assay was sensitive and efficient biomarker for chromosomal instability and the C. dubia ecotoxicology assay was as though an efficient biomarker of toxicity of water s quality. The results from Trad-MCN associated with the ecotoxicology demonstrates that these analyses are important for environmental monitoring, once the first bioassay described above indicates alterations at the standards of cells and the other one indicates alterations at the standards of organisms. This study alerts for the necessity to carry out biological assays for the analyses of the water s quality