Dissonant Voices : Philosophy, Children's Literature, and Perfectionist Education

Dissonant Voices has a twofold aspiration. First, it is a philosophical treatment of everyday pedagogical interactions between children and their elders, between teachers and pupils. More specifically it is an exploration of the possibilities to go on with dissonant voices that interrupt established practices – our attunement – in behaviour, practice and thinking. Voices that are incomprehensible or expressions that are unacceptable, morally or otherwise. The text works on a tension between two inclinations: an inclination to wave off, discourage, or change an expression that is unacceptable or unintelligible; and an inclination to be tolerant and accept the dissonant expression as doing something worthwhile, but different. The second aspiration is a philosophical engagement with children’s literature. Reading children’s literature becomes a form of philosophising, a way to explore the complexity of a range of philosophical issues. This turn to literature marks a dissatisfaction with what philosophy can accomplish through argumentation and what philosophy can do with a particular and limited set of concepts for a subject, such as ethics. It is a way to go beyond philosophising as the founding of theories that justify particular responses. The philosophy of dissonance and children’s literature becomes a way to destabilise justifications of our established practices and ways of interacting. The philosophical investigations of dissonance are meant to make manifest the possibilities and risks of engaging in interactions beyond established agreement or attunements. Thinking of the dissonant voice as an expression beyond established practices calls for improvisation. Such improvisations become a perfectionist education where both the child and the elder, the teacher and the student, search for as yet unattained forms of interaction and take responsibility for every word and action of the interaction. The investigation goes through a number of picture books and novels for children such as Harry Potter, Garmann’s Summer, and books by Shaun Tan, Astrid Lindgren and Dr. Seuss as well narratives by J.R.R. Tolkien, Henrik Ibsen, Jane Austen and Henry David Thoreau. These works of fiction are read in conversation with philosophical works of, and inspired by, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Stanley Cavell, their moral perfectionism and ordinary language philosophy.

Desafios da gestão sustentável em meios de hospedagem: um estudo multicasos no Litoral Norte do estado de SP

Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar de que maneira os meios de hospedagem podem contribuir para o incentivo de ações sustentáveis na sua cadeia de suprimentos. Segundo estudos anteriores, os meios de hospedagem são capazes de influenciar fornecedores a adotarem práticas sustentáveis em seus processos. Deste modo, este estudo busca analisar de que maneira os MHs podem contribuir para o incentivo de ações sustentáveis na sua cadeia de suprimentos. Para isso, os seguintes objetivos específicos foram listados: verificar a existência de ações sustentáveis nos meios de hospedagem nos âmbitos social, econômico e ambiental e identificar em qual dos três existem mais ações e atividades realizadas; analisar os motivos que levaram os mesmos a adotar tais práticas e seus benefícios; analisar as dificuldades dos empreendimentos em realizar ações sustentáveis e, por fim, analisar se tais ações influenciam ou alcançam outras partes da cadeia de suprimentos do meio de hospedagem a adotar práticas sustentáveis. Para alcançar estes objetivos, serão abordados os conceitos de desenvolvimento sustentável e suas principais definições contidas na literatura pertinente; conceito de turismo, abordando o turismo de massa e o sustentável e como eles se relacionam; a cadeia de suprimento do turismo e suas possíveis representações e, finalmente, as principais definições de meios de hospedagem e as classificações existentes no Brasil. A estratégia de pesquisa utilizada foi o estudo de caso, sendo o within-case escolhido como método de análise. O estudo foi realizado no Litoral Norte de São Paulo que inclui as cidades de Ubatuba, Caraguatatuba, São Sebastião e Ilhabela. A região foi propícia para a pesquisa por possui 80% do território coberto por Mata Atlântica e ter o turismo como uma das principais atividades econômicas. Como resultados, o estudo verificou que os meios de hospedagem desta região executam algumas práticas sustentáveis, sendo que a maior parte delas recai sobre a dimensão ambiental. Entretanto, estas práticas ainda são bastante incipientes e feitas sem acompanhamento técnico. Quanto à influência na cadeia de suprimentos, foi verificado que a maioria dos gestores não pensou em estender as ações sustentáveis a seus fornecedores e, os que cogitaram esta ideia, alegam que não possuem o porte necessário. Por serem de pequeno e médio porte não conseguem exercer pressão sobre seus stakeholders. Deste modo, pode-se dizer que, mesmo em uma região litorânea onde a principal atividade é o turismo - e os atrativos são belezas naturais que precisam ser preservadas - a adoção de práticas sustentáveis em meios de hospedagem ainda é um assunto que precisa ser compreendido, divulgado e incentivado.

Technologies that motivates healthy toothbrushing: practices through social translucence

Fifty percent of the European Union’s population suffers from an oral disease. Studies have repeatedly shown that while acquiring healthy toothbrushing practices early on in one’s life is of significance, children and adults often fail to adhere to those. In this thesis we attempt to design and prototype interactive technologies that motivate healthy tooth brushing habits on individuals. Rather than focusing on the technologies’ persuasive power over individuals, we tap on the social mechanisms employed by families. In this sense, we think of these technologies as social translucent rather than persuasive, whose goal is to raise awareness within the family on each other’s habits and that aim at leveraging families’ existing social mechanisms for behavior change, rather than replacing them. More specifically, we aim to gain insights with respect to the following questions: a) What are the drivers and barriers towards adhering to healthy tooth brushing behaviors? b) Can we effectively measure toothbrushing behaviors? c) How can technologies leverage family communication practices in motivating proper toothbrushing behaviors? First, we present two studies about children and adults’ tooth brushing behaviors and how these are influenced by social interactions within the family. Secondly, we present the design and prototyping of two systems that sense toothbrushing practices and provide feedback, using the Social Translucence Framework as a design lens. We conclude with an overview of lessons learnt from the prototyping of these systems supported by an analysis of the strengths and pitfalls of the developed technologies.

Representações sociais dos trabalhadores de saúde da atenção básica sobre envelhecimento e o atendimento ao idoso

This study aims to identify the social representations built on senior care health workers of Primary Care. This is an exploratory research within the subsidized social representations held in 100 Basic Health Units in the city of João Pessoa-PB, with a sample of n= 204 workers of both sexes, who agreed to participate. To collect the data used to set an interview in two parts: the first looked at the Test of Free Association of Words using the inductive stimulus "senior care". The interviews were analyzed with the help of a software for quantitative analysis of textual data ALCESTE (version 2010). The results were interpreted from the theoretical framework of social representations. The study included 178 women (87.25%) and 26 men (12.75%), working in Family Health Units in the city of João Pessoa, the majority are aged between 40-49 years of age ( 28.92%), and have higher education with 81.86%. The results of Alceste link to the term inducer six (6) where the hierarchical classes representing senior care workers as synonymous with care and attention, showing situations neglect of the elderly, for that patience is required to promote the increase of disease prevention and living with the elderly to generate humanization in health services. It is considered that the social representations of health workers on assistance to the elderly may support modeling of strategic actions in health services with health promotion programs for large groups, able to modify practices and behavior in elder care and strengthening the policy was directed at the elderly

Dos atos confessos aos afetos não-ditos: Um olhar sob as múltiplas experiências femininas a partir da análise dos discursos jurídicos, jornalísticos e orais

Women, subjectiveness, experimentations. This paper walks through gender, sexuality, body and subjectivity, bounding as the focus denaturalize the representations of womanlinessstaff and manliness and the modeled subjectivity by normative discusses that shows the transcendency based on multiplicities of experiences, wishes and life way wattled by men and women from the Caicó City s society in the decades from 1900 to 1945. For this, it was adopted a dialogic methodology inlcluding bibliographic and theorist references as well as sources like articles from Jornal das Moças (Lady s Journal); defloration s crime processes, abortion, infanticide and body lesions; iconographic sources and Caicó citizen memories in the period commented. Based on that sources, this work analyze the discursive construction of feminine through Justice and Jornal das Moças that paved by sanitarian, normalizing and moralizing discourses has spread clichés and stereotypes of womanlinessstaff and manliness, which has resulted by to universalize the experiences feminines in polarities and binary oppositions regarding to manliness, it has delineated them as asexual, irrational, anesthesiaed for pleasure and biologically meant to home activities modeling subjectivities that did not create ways for the singularization processes. This polarities, effects of sexual regulatory practices and gender legitimate the representations of courtship, maternity and honor, that although it has been incorporated not passivant on the building of the poor men and women subjectivity, it did not support itself in view of socio-cultural and economic reality of the poorest society side. Therefore, on this work emerge a plurality of women who has transited past the public sphere, who interlaced amorous informal relationships, who has kept relationships before the marriage, who hás established multiples familiar arrangements and helpful networks, who was single mothers without being considered dishonored women by social groups, who made matrimonial agreements without the rules of a formal civil marriage, who made use of beverageey to provoke the menstruation constituting multiples ways to experiment the life. This subjective feminine experimentations turned it possible to notice that representations concerning about the body, sexuality, date, maternity and honor of this women has constituted itself while molecularies and particulares . It was the affection not commented of the feminine sexuality that turned it possible to analyze the construction of singular subjectivities as a opened process, continuous, active, begetting new lands, life ways and wishes cartographies

Era um sonho desde criança : a representação social da docência para os professores do município de Queimadas-PB

The objective of this work was to access and understand the teaching social representation (MOSCOVICI, 2005) for the teachers of the children education and fundamental education at Queimadas city, Paraíba. We assume that one representation that allows the teacher to name its profession and to act on it, is a derivative of regularities that are expressed by means of a habitus (BOURDIEU, 1983a), generative matrix of perception and action. This teaching habitus is originated from the experiences and the trajectories of social and professional life of the group. Therefore, from some variables, we tried to access the profile of the group of teachers studied and to get closer of their life style to understand their profession choice and the teaching social representation for this group. In this research, it was used four data sources: a) the questionnaires of characterization; b) the questionnaires of practices and meanings; c) the experience reports and; d) the interviews in depth. The analysis of the data collected was done by means of the simple statistics (frequency), the intersection of variables through cross tables and, the thematic analysis of the contents. The results show that there is a lightly homogeneous group in terms of its social origin and its life style, moreover, they conduct to an overlap between this origin/style and the professional choice. On the other hand, the teacher representation is multi-dimensional such that, all dimensions intercept and articulate with each other to provide a concise teacher representation. They are four dimensions: love and care, help and donation, teaching and learning and, sacrifice and hope. The elements of the teacher representation are substantiated in the schemes of perception and appreciation of the group, in the regularities and life experiences in the context of religion, family, gender and profession. In these regularities we find the elements that comprise the teaching habitus which drives perception and action, representation and daily practice of these teachers. The teaching social representation is still perceived as a threshold for the professional identity of the group of teachers considered. We also observed that there are signs of changes in the practices used by these professionals since they graduate from the course of pedagogy. However, it is not possible to say that these changes are isolated or they lead to a transformation in the teaching habitus or the teaching social representation

Praxiologia, representação social de menopausa e práticas educativas de enfermeiras na estratégia saúde da família

This research, whose theme is related to climacteric, aims to know the social representation of menopause developed by the nurses working for Estratégia Saúde da Família (Family Health Strategy) in João Pessoa PB, as well as identifying its structure and verifying the way it interferes with the assistance and educational practices to the climacterial user. In the theoretical level, it is based on a model that articulates the social representations theory, the central nucleus complementary theory and the central concepts of Pierre Bourdieu s praxiology: habitus, cultural capital, social field and symbolic power. A hundred and forty-seven female nurses who work for Estratégia Saúde da Família (Family Health Strategy) in João Pessoa (PB) took part in this research, and the data collection period was from February 2008 to March 2009. As to the methods and techniques, we used the method to determine the central nucleus based on the free association of words, a questionnaire to identify certain regularities that constitute the nurses habitus, and the semi-structured interview to explore opinions and attitudes when facing assistance situations and educational practices and to collect other relevant information. The data analysis was developed, when referring to the free associations, with the help of the EVOC software, which is a group of articulated programs which carry out the statistical analysis of the evocations and the identification of the possible elements of both the central nucleus and the peripheral system of the social representation. As to the questionnaire, we used the descriptive statistical analysis and the analysis of correlation between the variables. The interviews were submitted to a categorical analysis of the content. The EVOC result indicated that the cognition hormone was the only element of the central nucleus of the social representation of menopause. Due to its symbolic value and structuring power, this central nucleus ensures the strict and, at the same time, flexible character of the representational content. The analysis of the social advancement, of some fundamental features of the group habitus, as well as the analysis of its insertion in the health field and of the attitudinal opinions and dispositions concerning the assistance given to the climacterial user, and the analysis of the pedagogical dimension of this assistance, all these analyses lead to the conclusion that the nurses who took part in this research share a social representation of the menopause resulting from the association of different technical and scientific knowledge. These derive from the biomedical pattern as well as from hegemonic values which disqualify old age and overvalue youth, from pedagogical conceptions arising from patterns that are presently regarded as authoritative and old-fashioned and from cultural references (responsible for the semantic variations concerning the central nucleus) which are specific to the subgroups the nurses belong to. This research enables the creation of opportunities for discussion between active nurses working for Estratégia Saúde da Família, and the nurses who are teachers at institutions of higher education, aiming at linking theory to practice, so that they can find ways of thinking about the climacteric and working, in a more comprehensive way, with users who are experiencing this stage of life

Escola ativa como semeadora de sonhos nas turmas multianuais: representações das(os) professoras(es) da microrregião de Mossoró-RN.

The issue of multi-classes in schools from the field and methodology for these classes is controversial and contentious, both in terms of teaching, monitoring and organizational, is the perspective of values, training and systematization of public policy. Why the strategy Methodological Active School facing those classes appeared as a significant and exciting topic of research. Thus, it was aimed to apprehend the social representations of active school by teachers (s) to understand the extent to which these representations influence the acceptance and use of the program strategies. Perceiving and analyzing also the various factors related to the management, monitoring and training needs of (the) teachers as alternatives to make this meaningful action. The study focused 112 teachers (s), which for over a year, worked in the program in six municipalities in the micro-region of Rio Grande do Norte / RN - Areia Branca, Baraúna, Grossos, Mossoró, Serra do Mel and Tibau. From this perspective relied on Social Representation Theory and the Theory of the Central Core, attending to the subjectivity of the object searched, inserted in the psychosocial field of knowledge, we opted for multi-methodological approach, using quantitative and qualitative techniques. However, the highlight was a projective technique Free Association of Words from the term Active School is .... The words were systematized by EVOC program, and also applied semi-structured interviews, focusing specific issues that led to trace the socio-demographic profile of (the) participants and wider issues about the object of study. The evocations, justifications and interviews provided the basis for the analysis of the content that followed the steps: formation of the corpus, the composition of the analysis and categorization. The results show the representations an attitude of acceptance and positive appraisal of the participants to the Active School Program. At the core, these representations are objectified around the words "action", "learning", "autonomy" and "interaction". Based on the premise that the representations have a duty to guide the practices and behavior, one can see that the positive attitude of the group favors a systematic methodology and acceptance of the program, but we must look at the changes in management, training, monitoring of (the) teachers (s) and support to schools.

Em nome da república: escolas e tradições modernas

Our research aims to analyze some institutions of primary education in so-called First Republic in Natal/RN, when they were considered high standard institutions on training, dissemination and creation of national identity and republican traditions. Thus, we investigated to try to understand the creation of the new man and the invention of new traditions to confirm the status of republican modernity in two schools in Natal, the Colegio Americano, a private one, and a standard model of school, Augusto Severo, which is a public one. As a basis we have the history of institutions to analyze, paying close attention to consider the use of imitation in cultural patrimony as well as the use of strategies to distinguish. The concept of ownership follows, for present purposes, their focus of study on observation of diverse and contrasting use of these cultural objects, texts, readings and ideas from research institutions. For analysis of the link which occurs within the school environment, in every period of its history, we used the concept of school culture as a set of rules and practices which define knowledge to teach and conduct the introject. A culture that incorporates the school to keep a set with other religious cultures, political and popular of its time and space. In this sense, the educational institutions which we studied while showing what kind of in this work by preparing cultures, codes, different practices, and specific individuals they have, they were in important locations to provide modern cultural appropriation as a strategy for educational innovation and a factor of rationality and efficiency which could be observed and controlled, so gradually the modern school education was organized to produce its own society. As a challenge of affirmation and incorporating diverse social experiences to produce the modern, civilized man of the Republican time, the school, as part of the social life, which is singular in its practices, not only the set of reforms, decrees, laws and projects, but also as expressions of concept about life and society in terms of material, symbolic and cultural symbols in the social context in modernization. We focused on these two schools, because inside the wide cultural and material status of the city, they were the first republic schools which had the goal of having men and woman together culturally , with a view to adapting them to the modern movement to make them civilized / educated / rational . On this view, we would emphasize that this statement needs a reinvention as a new way through what is made at the schools which production of new spaces, practices, rites and what represents school, making and expressing a new identity, modern, different of the old symbols of the Empire. For this, nothing better than the organization of schooling, emphasizing on educating the individual and his/her responsibilities with the order and progress. We need to understand the past as a result of conflicts, including strengths and limitations within the historical and social context, and the invention of tradition as a process of formalization and ritualization of acts which want to perpetuate, as a reference to a group identity. These are practices and social educative representations which support the understanding of pedagogical and educational ideas at this historical moment, making a new way of being and doing in the Republican universe

A dinâmica do pensamento geométrico :aprendendo a enxergar meias verdades e a construir novos significados

This work is a case study to investigate the dynamics of the historians thought as they produce a knowledge about the history of the area measurement systems as forms of historical expressions and representations. We refer to some of the ideas of David Bohm (1989, 1992, 1994, 1996) to support our theoretical understanding about the operation of thought. We chose a period that is recognized by the theorists as the origin of the geometrical thought -embracing the knowledge developed by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Chinese, Hindus, Greeks and Romans- and is referred to as containing a cycle in the development of this knowledge, described as beginning, apogee and decline. We assume this history, as told by the theorists, as a version that we organize and tell with the help of three sets of categories. The first refers to the elements that take part in the measurement practices; the second refers to the historians understanding about the development of the scientific knowledge. This exercise allowed us to extract the theorists main beliefs, that we criticized in the light of the knowledge about Cubação (Dal Pian, 1990). We stress the importance of the methodological approach adopted in this study to the teaching of Geometry and its history

Effects of different soil tillage systems and coverages on soybean crop in the Botucatu Region in Brazil

Nowadays, agricultural practices should combine high yields with a sustainable use of resources. Different tillage practices and crop covers, if combined, may help to achieve both objectives. In this work, several traits of a soybean (Glycine max L. Merr) cultivar were studied under different conditions of tillage and previous soil coverages. The experiment was installed at Lageado Research Station, Botucatu county, SP, Brazil, on a Paleudult. It consisted of nine treatments (combining three systems of soil tillage and three cover crops) and 4 replicates, yielding 36 plots of a randomized block experimental design. The soil tillage systems considered were: (i) conventional tillage with two heavy harrowing and a levelling harrowing; (ii) chiseling, and (iii) no-tillage with chemical drying of vegetation. The three cover crops used were: black oat, sorghum and spontaneous vegetation. Analyzed variables were: plant height, initial and final plant densities, height of first pod insertion, weight of a thousand grains, number of pods per plant, number of grains per pod, and crop yield. No significant differences were observed for most of the analyzed variables; however, conventional tillage produced significantly heavier grains and a higher number of pods per plant. The selected covers were considered an excellent coverage prior to planting soybean in a crop rotation. The three tillage systems can be used for deployment of culture without compromising the development of soybean.

A aula de português no ensino médio: o ensino que se deseja, o ensino que se faz

Settled within the realm of a problematization towards teaching and learning the Portuguese language, this study aims to investigate the way how the Portuguese Language discipline is dealt with in Secondary School. We propose specifically to analyze the orientations of the official documents concerning the educator practice, examining the way the PCNEM proposal is approached in the didactic book, identifying the treatment given to language questions, analyzing the way the teacher uses the didactic book and verifying the relations between the official approach and the pedagogical practice. The analysis takes into account the several discourses concerning school literacy, considering the various political-educational instances which institutionalize the teaching of the mother tongue - where we locate the teaching that is wanted . In what teachers and students say in their activities and concerning them - the realm of the teaching that is performed - we presuppose that there are signs of the principles - or conceptions - that orientate what they understand by language, teaching and learning. Such evidences are considered within the interrelation of the enunciative places where this literacy is promoted: the public policies concerning education - focusing the language questions - the academic researches about those questions, the educator formation and capacitation and the very school practices in the complexity of their discoursive inter-subjectivity. The principles - or conceptions - are pursued in what is said (or not) about what is done (or not) in the classroom when dealing with the Portuguese Language. The corpus is made up of oral and written texts produced in Portuguese classes in the Secondary School at a public school in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Situated in the realm of Applied Linguistics, the research is conducted in a qualitative and interpretative perspective, following the ethnography of communication procedures and the contributions of the Functional Linguistics. In the observations, language conceptions were discerned, among others, besides beliefs and representations where the theoretical and practical aspects, professional roles, expectations and uncertainties were diluted.

Sujeitos e atores sociais nas representações discursivas de docentes da rede estadual de ensino em Sergipe: uma análise crítica em tempos de Ideb

According to the studies in Applied Linguistics, this thesis is based on an interdisciplinary perspective (Critical Discourse Analysis, Sociology towards Social Change, Cultural Studies and Systemic-Functional Linguistics). The overall objective of the research was to analyze the discourses of Elementary School teachers in the state of Sergipe, by means of the discursive representations of the social actors, the processes of subjectivity and their fragmented identities in the context of standardized evaluations before the requirements of globalized pedagogical practices, based on the result-based management. The critical analysis of such discourses was motivated by the rapid pace with which the demands of innovation become part of the classroom, aiming at reaching the target in what concerns the indexes of the rankings which characterize the globalized discourse of the national education management, like Ideb (Basic Education Development Index), which makes teachers change their discourses, become silent or keep resistant. The work was initially endorsed by the theoretical lines of the Critical Discourse Analysis (FAIRCLOUGH, 2001, 2006), and poses a proposal for such purpose: the ASCD Discourse Sociological and Communicative Approach (PEDROSA, 2012, 2013). This is an interpretative-qualitative study of the Critical Discourse Analysis (FAIRCLOUGH, 2001, 2003; RAMALHO ; RESENDE, 2011) and to carry it out, semi-structured interviews were used as instruments of data generation (BAUER; GASKELL, 2011; GILL, 2011). Its corpus is composed of thirteen accounts of teachers from the Elementary school who teach Portuguese and work in the fifteen schools which were chosen to be the universe of the research at the Regional Board of Education (02) in the state of Sergipe. Such narratives are related to their impressions, expectations and actions which favor the management of results to which they have to submit themselves. The analytical overview of sociological and discursive line comes from the pan-semiotic categories (Inclusion and Exclusion) which appear in the theory of Representation of Social Actors (VAN LEEUWEN, 1997, 2008). To present the processes of subjectivity of these teachers, this work is based on the socio-analytical proposal of the classification of the subjects, which stems from the individual s work in the Gestão Relacional de Si , which comes from the Applied Sociology (towards) Social Change (BAJOIT, 2006, 2009). The discursive analyses were guided word for word, in their majority, by having the Systemic Functional Grammar as their theoretical basis, specifically by the processes of the Transitivity System postulated by Halliday, (1985); Halliday and Mathiessen, (2004); Eggins (2004); Cunha and Souza (2011). The work makes the field of Cultural Studies emerge towards the dialogue and the presentation of the fragmented identities of the teachers in the context of late modernity (GIDDENS, 2002; HALL, 2011). The thesis promoted a reflection over the teacher s condition, who is immerse in this context of knowledge construction of the present Brazilian educational system, the standardized evaluations, the indexes of development, the targets and the rankings. The considerations and outcomes of such a research dealt with the teachers emerging social practices and the need of planned initial and continuing teacher education towards the new moment which is foreseeable

Os significados do tabagismo construídos na dinâmica social

The present study has the purpose of catching the significances of smoking in the social dinamics based on the Theory of Social Representations. It was developed among adults with ages from 20 to 59 years, low social and economic conditions, at Natal RN, Brazil. The Free-words Association Test was applied as the instrument of data collection and a semi-structured interview with the smokers and non-smokers, besides a structured interview with smokers, non-smokers and ex-smokers. All data was analyzed by the descriptive statistics using the Analysis of Content Technique of the thematic kind and by the softwares ALCESTE and EVOC 2000. Elaborations about smoking were marked by social, cultural and historical dimension, however they showed sensibility to changes and revealed positive and negative aspects of the habit. The analysis of the semi-structured interviews showed the following categories and under-categories respectively: Initiation of the habit (Friends and Family and Appreciation and Beauty); Psychosocial Implications of smoking (Personal relationship, Work and Financial); Behavior when facing smoking (Positive, Negative and Neutral); Smoking Effects (Smokers´ health and the other people health); Description about oral diseases ( Bad breath, Oral cancer and Dental problems); Smoking treatment (Physician and psychological, Supernatural and Difficulties). ALCESTE analysis presented 4 classes: Ambivalence between pleasure and get ill, Smoking as a trouble and danger to society, Social discrimination of smokers and Mouth as a place of reaffirmation of the discrimination. Those helped us to understand the psychosocial repercussion of the habit. On the social representation structure we identified as a probable central nucleus of the smoker group the categories Pleasure and Bad to the health and as peripheral elements Alcoholic Drink, Financial damage and Nervousness. For the non-smoker group the category Bad to the health comes first and Stop Smoking comes as a peripheral element. Finally, we hope that the knowledge of these representations can contribute to plan and/or to rethink over the professional practices and public policies related to smoking. Besides that, for an amplified comprehension of the study object the discussions over the identified representations should be deepen and amplified to other population and social groups

Environmental management in ethanol and sugarcane plants in Brazil

There has been much discussion on the importance of Brazilian ethanol in promoting a more sustainable society. However, there is a lack of analysis of whether sugarcane plants/factories that produce this ethanol are environmentally suitable. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyse stages of environmental management at four Brazilian ethanol-producing plants, examining the management practices adopted and the factors behind this adoption. The results indicate that (1) only one of the four plants is in the environmentally proactive stage; (2) all plants are adopting operational and organisational environmental management practices; (3) all plants have problems in communicating environmental management practices; and (4) the plant with the most advanced environmental management makes intense use of communication practices and is strongly oriented towards a more environmentally aware international market. This paper is an attempt to explain the complex relationship between the evolution of environmental management, environmental practices and motivation using a framework. The implications for society, plant directors and scholars are described, as well as the study's limitations.