Investimentos internacionais e a valorização imobiliária dos municípios de Maxaranguape e Rio do Fogo

Since the middle of 1970´s the world has been undergoing significant transformations, comes in a new era of global capital accumulation, and starts the called productive restructuring. This restructuring is materialized spatially through the reconfiguration of territory, redefining its uses and providing a new spatial structure. With regard to native of Rio Grande do Norte territory, there is, from the 1980s, the emergence of new economic activities, among which stand out tourism, which become stimulated from government policies. In this context, has stood the east coast of the state, because its beaches have recognized scenic appeal and environmental quality. Therewith business opportunity, international investors ended up investing in this portion of Rio Grande do Norte´s territory, especially over the last decade. The expansion of this process, to the north coast, resulted in the emergence of intense property dynamics in the municipalities of Maxaranguape and Rio do Fogo. The low value of the property and buildings, compared to the European market and the availability of real property, were the main factors that explain the attraction of such investors, who are now seen as new business opportunities with high rates of profitability, in tropical areas, hitherto remote geographical location of the economic system. Therefore, the objective of the research is to analyze to what extent the International Investment promoted the appreciation of property in the municipalities of Maxaranguape and Rio do Fogo. The time frame covers the period among 2000- 2013. The methodology consisted of the following proceedings: surveys and analysis of data collected in the property registry office of the Maxaranguape and Rio do Fogo municipalities; interviews with public and private officials that were important for the analysis of spatial transformations and the recovery of the property that occurred in the municipalities studied; collection of secondary data from official bodies, such as IBGE, MTUR, SETUR, BNB etc. Analyzing the information and data that have been cataloged, it was concluded that this investments are reinforcing old leisure and tourism practices existing in the past in those territories and, shifted (creating new territorial arrangements) a significant part of the eastern coast zone areas of the state. Another consequence connected to this recent phenomenon refers to property’s increase in value that has occurred in this part of the state, episode which is directly connected to that event. Therefore, it is realize that the expansion and the incorporation of the capital territories reveal, in part, the strategies of the capitalist mode of production, which are evident in the search for better conditions of accumulation, expanding the alternative of use of the properties which occurs in selective way and uneven in the geographic space form. It is observed that the mechanisms that capital makes use to impose their practices can happen through the property’s increase in value market, meaning, thereby, that the reproduction of imbalances happens, often, through the marked property speculation with the fast increase in value of properties.

Can the Quilombo Model of Collective Land Titling Work in Rio’s Favelas?

Due to their informality, the favelas of Rio de Janeiro are in a precarious position. Though the informal neighborhoods have long served as sites of affordable housing for Rio’s poorest residents, changes within in the city related to public security, mega-events, real estate speculation, and urban revitalization jeopardize their permanence. As one possible solution, this study, conducted for the client Catalytic Communities, investigated collective titling in favelas modeled after quilombos, territories recognized and titled by Brazilian federal law as patrimonies of black cultural traditions.

Iridium concentrations and abundances of meteoritic ejecta from the Eltanin impact in sediment cores from POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XII/4

The abundances of meteoritic ejecta from the Eltanin asteroid impact have been examined in seven sediment cores recovered by the FS Polarstern during expedition ANT XII/4 using elemental concentrations of iridium and weights of coarse (>500 ?m) ejecta debris. Three cores with well-preserved impact deposits, PS2704-1, PS2708-1, and PS2709-1, each contain Ir and ejecta fluences similar to those found previously in USNS Eltanin core E13-4. Small Ir anomalies and traces of ejecta were found in cores PS2706-1 and PS2710-1, but since these cores lack well-defined deposits, these are considered to be reworked and not representative of the fallout. No evidence of ejecta was found in cores PS2702-1 and PS2705-1. These results confirm earlier speculation that the Eltanin impact resulted in deposits of ejecta with up to 1 g/cm**2 of debris over a wide area of the ocean floor. However, there are still large uncertainties over the actual regional or global extent of this unique sediment deposit.

(Table 1) Distribution of upper Campanian-lower Maestrichtian calcareous nannofossils at DSDP Hole 71-511

Calcareous nannofossils from upper Campanian-lower Maestrichtian Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 71 Cores 511-23 and 511-24 are described and correlated with assemblages of similar age from piston and drill cores on the Falkland Plateau, South Atlantic Ocean. The Leg 71 cores partially fill a drilling gap of at least 20 meters left within a thick (50 m) carbonate section first drilled by DSDP Leg 36 at Site 327. Cores 511-23 and 511-24 both fall within the upper portion of the Biscutum coronum Zone of Wind and demonstrate an overlap in the range of Monomarginatus quaternarius with the ranges of M. pectinatus, Misceomarginatus pleniporus, and Biscutum coronum across the Campanian/ Maestrichtian boundary. Resolution of the sequence of highest occurrence datums for the latter species must await the recovery of a more complete section. Comparison of the Site 511 assemblages with those from Mas Orcadas Core 07-75-44 to the north confirms earlier speculation that the Falkland Plateau served as an important boundary between major water masses during the Late Cretaceous.

The Financialization of Food: An Inquiry into the 2008-2011 Food Price Spikes

This dissertation investigates the question: has financial speculation contributed to global food price volatility since the mid 2000s? I problematize the mainstream academic literature on the 2008-2011 food price spikes as being dominated by neoclassical economic perspectives and offer new conceptual and empirical insights into the relationship between financial speculation and food. Presented in three journal style manuscripts, manuscript one uses circuits of capital to conceptualize the link between financial speculators in the global north and populations in the global south. Manuscript two argues that what makes commodity index speculation (aka ‘index funds’ or index swaps) novel is that it provides institutional investors with what Clapp (2014) calls “financial distance” from the biopolitical implications of food speculation. Finally, manuscript three combines Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony and ‘the intellectual’ with the concept of performativity to investigate the ideological role that public intellectuals and the rhetorical actor the market play in the proliferation and governance of commodity index speculation. The first two manuscripts take an empirically mixed method approach by combining regression analysis with discourse analysis, while the third relies on interview data and discourse analysis. The findings show that financial speculation by index swap dealers and hedge funds did indeed significantly contribute to the price volatility of food commodities between June 2006 and December 2014. The results from the interview data affirm these findings. The discourse analysis of the interview data shows that public intellectuals and rhetorical characters such as ‘the market’ play powerful roles in shaping how food speculation is promoted, regulated and normalized. The significance of the findings is three-fold. First, the empirical findings show that a link does exist between financial speculation and food price volatility. Second, the findings indicate that the post-2008 CFTC and the Dodd-Frank reforms are unlikely to reduce financial speculation or the price volatility that it causes. Third, the findings suggest that institutional investors (such as pension funds) should think critically about how they use commodity index speculation as a way of generating financial earnings.

Gender and politics in the devolved assemblies

The devolution of powers from Westminster to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales led to much speculation about the creation of a new political era that would herald new ways of 'doing politics'. It was thought that the new institutions would provide a more inclusive, less combative culture that aimed to include a greater proportion of women members. With the 'new' institutions now over ten years old, linguistic research into the participation of men and women on the debate floor shows that they participate more equally and that improvements have been made in relation to the extent that women feel included. However, the devolved institutions retain some of the adversarial features associated with Westminster, and women are still subject to the burden of gendered stereotypical judgements and expectations that may affect their performance and inclusion within them.

Radiotherapy and Immunotherapy Combinations in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: A Promising Future?

The goal of re-programming the host immune system to target malignancy with durable anti-tumour clinical responses has been speculated for decades. In the last decade such speculation has been transformed into reality with unprecedented and durable responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors seen in solid tumours. This mini-review considers the mechanism of action of immune modulating agents and the potential for combination with radiotherapy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

A comparative study of translation strategies applied in dealing with role languages. : A translation analysis of the video game Final Fantasy XIV

Localisation is the process of taking a product and adapting it to fit the culture in question. This usually involves making it both linguistically and culturally appropriate for the target audience. While there are many areas in video game translations where localisation holds a factor, this study will focus on localisation changes in the personalities of fictional characters between the original Japanese version and the English localised version of the video game Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and its expansion Heavensward for PC, PS3 and PS4. With this in mind, specific examples are examined using Satoshi Kinsui's work on yakuwarigo, role language as the main framework for this study. Five non-playable characters were profiled and had each of their dialogues transcribed for a comparative analysis. This included the original Japanese text, the officially localised English text and a translation of the original Japanese text done by myself. Each character were also given a short summary and a reasoned speculation on why these localisation changes might have occurred. The result shows that there were instances where some translations had been deliberately adjusted to ensure that the content did not cause any problematic issues to players overseas. This could be reasoned out that some of the Japanese role languages displayed by characters in this game could potentially cause dispute among the western audience. In conclusion, the study shows that localisation can be a difficult process that not only requires a translator's knowledge of the source and target language, but also display some creativity in writing ability to ensure that players will have a comparable experience without causing a rift in the fanbase.

Uncertainty and Speculators in an Auction for Emissions Permits

Auctions have become popular as means of allocating emissions permits in the emissions trading schemes developed around the world. Mostly, only a subset of the regulated polluters participate in these auctions along with speculators, creating a market with relatively few participants and, thus, incentive for strategic bidding. I characterize the bidding behavior of the polluters and the speculators, examining the effect of the latter on the profits of the former and on the auction outcome. It turns out that in addition to bidding for compliance, polluters also bid for speculation in the aftermarket. While the presence of the speculators forces the polluters to bid closer to their true valuations, it also creates a trade-off between increasing the revenue accrued to the regulator and reducing the profits of the auction-participating polluters. Nevertheless, the profits of the latter increase in the speculators' risk aversion.

Creative Reflection in Action

This (Students as Academic Partners) project aimed to explore the potential of a creative approach to reflection. Developing approaches to reflective practice is directly relevant for teachers and those who are training to become teachers. Individual reflections were produced by project participants based on several very short video clips of children in a nursery school. These individual reflections were extended into a collaborative reflection highlighting common themes. This broader focus seeks to contribute to an encompassing discourse related to early years practice. The poster aims to show how critical reflection and speculation can develop an understanding of the child, their development and potential barriers to this development. Through observing stills from the video footage, viewers of the poster are challenged to speculate about the child’s body language, what they might be doing or whether the learning environment is suitable to develop and progress their knowledge and understanding further?

Turismo cultural na ZEPH-Ribeira: possibilidades e limitações

Considering that urban interventions, planned and executed recently at Natal, RN, should put Ribeira - one of the town centers - in the new limits of the expanded center of the city, this work examines the use of this new accessibility for the benefit of the development of an infrastructure to support a type of tourism currently seen as an alternative to diversification into areas dominated by entertainment tourism (the case of Natal). A local with city's traditional cultural facilities and holder of a set built that is a synthesis of the images of the neighborhood, it fears that this increase in the potential for movement and flows of use stimulate speculation and deployment of a bulk type of activity incompatible with the preservation the architectural heritage. Important economy for the city, tourism has been showing a factor propellant processing urban related changes in accessibility. It is argued that cultural tourism, often used in plans and projects of revitalization across the country, may be factor for sustainable development and conserve the assets, and contributes to the process of revitalization of the historic cultural center as Ribeira. Intended to illustrate the need to consider other information that might help in the revitalization of the neighborhood, this research presents the offer cultural tourism of Ribeira and identifies and maps certain physical attributes that, combined with functional attributes, can stimulate or inhibit the diversity and vitality in the region

New tools for cognitive and motor rehabilitation: development and clinical validation

Nervous system disorders are associated with cognitive and motor deficits, and are responsible for the highest disability rates and global burden of disease. Their recovery paths are vulnerable and dependent on the effective combination of plastic brain tissue properties, with complex, lengthy and expensive neurorehabilitation programs. This work explores two lines of research, envisioning sustainable solutions to improve treatment of cognitive and motor deficits. Both projects were developed in parallel and shared a new sensible approach, where low-cost technologies were integrated with common clinical operative procedures. The aim was to achieve more intensive treatments under specialized monitoring, improve clinical decision-making and increase access to healthcare. The first project (articles I – III) concerned the development and evaluation of a web-based cognitive training platform (COGWEB), suitable for intensive use, either at home or at institutions, and across a wide spectrum of ages and diseases that impair cognitive functioning. It was tested for usability in a memory clinic setting and implemented in a collaborative network, comprising 41 centers and 60 professionals. An adherence and intensity study revealed a compliance of 82.8% at six months and an average of six hours/week of continued online cognitive training activities. The second project (articles IV – VI) was designed to create and validate an intelligent rehabilitation device to administer proprioceptive stimuli on the hemiparetic side of stroke patients while performing ambulatory movement characterization (SWORD). Targeted vibratory stimulation was found to be well tolerated and an automatic motor characterization system retrieved results comparable to the first items of the Wolf Motor Function Test. The global system was tested in a randomized placebo controlled trial to assess its impact on a common motor rehabilitation task in a relevant clinical environment (early post-stroke). The number of correct movements on a hand-to-mouth task was increased by an average of 7.2/minute while the probability to perform an error decreased from 1:3 to 1:9. Neurorehabilitation and neuroplasticity are shifting to more neuroscience driven approaches. Simultaneously, their final utility for patients and society is largely dependent on the development of more effective technologies that facilitate the dissemination of knowledge produced during the process. The results attained through this work represent a step forward in that direction. Their impact on the quality of rehabilitation services and public health is discussed according to clinical, technological and organizational perspectives. Such a process of thinking and oriented speculation has led to the debate of subsequent hypotheses, already being explored in novel research paths.

Cooperativa habitacional autofinanciável :uma alternativa de mercado à escassez de financiamento

As an example of what happened in Brazil in the 90s, it s noticed in Natal a new system of cooperative housing production which is done by advancing the users resources selffinancing. This system comes as an alternative for the real state market performance since the end of the National Housing Bank (BNH), in 1986. Self-financed housing cooperatives play an important social role by contributing to own housing acquisition by low-income population, without, however, becoming a mechanism of social interest housing production. It is important to consider that Brazil registers a housing deficit of 6.6 million housing units (IBGE 2000/Census), which, compared to 1991, shows an increment of 21.7% to a growth rate of 2.2% a year. This deficit figure has been deepening, mainly with the end of the National Housing Bank (BNH). The self-financed cooperative housing production broadens around the Metropolitan Region of Natal (RMN) and remains as an alternative to the lack of financing in the housing / real state market. In general, the aim of this work is to analyze the role of self-financing housing cooperatives on the housing production in the RMN, in order to identify their role in the real state market, in the own housing promotion and in the housing policy. The Universe of this study is performance of four housing cooperatives - CHAF-RN, COOPHAB-RN, MULTHCOOP e CNH - that work through self-financing. It is considered here an amount of 38 undertakings launched between 1993 and 2002, including 8143 housing units. The methodology adopted consists of bibliographic, documental and field research. As a result, actions like brokerage, marketing, speculation, and the criteria to define places for undertakings and final products, show how close they are to the housing market production. As a matter of fact, this short distance explains why the self-financed cooperative production for social interest housing is still limited. This reinforces the theory that it is necessary to define and implement a subsidized housing policy to serve the low-income Brazilian population

Open Access Repositories & Scholarly Publication

This presentation briefly covers some of the issues around Open Access as it pertains to institutional repositories in the UK higher educational sector. It includes an overview of the current activities of SHERPA, along with the benefits, concerns and potential resolutions of issues in the open access sector. Some speculation as to future trends and developments in scholarly publishing and open access is included. The presentation is in no way comprehensive, and is intended to give an overview of the subject to a general audience who will be engaged with academic and scholarly publishing on a variety of levels.

As bases de mensuração aplicáveis às propriedades de investimento e o risco de auditorias - O caso dos principais investidores na área dos centros comerciais

Mestrado em Auditoria