Utilizing Remote Sensing Imagery to Monitor Vegetation Change within World Heritage Sites

ABSTRACT World Heritage sites provide a glimpse into the stories and civilizations of the past. There are currently 1007 unique World Heritage properties with 779 being classified as cultural sites, 197 as natural sites, and 31 falling into the categories of both cultural and natural sites (UNESCO & World Heritage Centre, 1992-2015). However, of these 1007 World Heritage sites, at least 46 are categorized as in danger and this number continues to grow. These unique and irreplaceable sites are exceptional because of their universality. Consequently, since World Heritage sites belong to all the people of the world and provide inspiration and admiration to all who visit them, it is our responsibility to help preserve these sites. The key form of preservation involves the individual monitoring of each site over time. While traditional methods are still extremely valuable, more recent advances in the field of geographic and spatial technologies including geographic information systems (GIS), laser scanning, and remote sensing, are becoming more beneficial for the monitoring and overall safeguarding of World Heritage sites. Through the employment and analysis of more accurately detailed spatial data, World Heritage sites can be better managed. There is a strong urgency to protect these sites. The purpose of this thesis is to describe the importance of taking care of World Heritage sites and to depict a way in which spatial technologies can be used to monitor and in effect preserve World Heritage sites through the utilization of remote sensing imagery. The research conducted in this thesis centers on the Everglades National Park, a World Heritage site that is continually affected by changes in vegetation. Data used include Landsat satellite imagery that dates from 2001-2003, the Everglades' boundaries shapefile, and Google Earth imagery. In order to conduct the in-depth analysis of vegetation change within the selected World Heritage site, three main techniques were performed to study changes found within the imagery. These techniques consist of conducting supervised classification for each image, incorporating a vegetation index known as Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI), and utilizing the change detection tool available in the Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI) software. With the research and analysis conducted throughout this thesis, it has been shown that within the three year time span (2001-2003), there has been an overall increase in both areas of barren soil (5.760%) and areas of vegetation (1.263%) with a decrease in the percentage of areas classified as sparsely vegetated (-6.987%). These results were gathered through the use of the maximum likelihood classification process available in the ENVI software. The results produced by the change detection tool which further analyzed vegetation change correlate with the results produced by the classification method. As well, by utilizing the NDVI method, one is able to locate changes by selecting a specific area and comparing the vegetation index generated for each date. It has been found that through the utilization of remote sensing technology, it is possible to monitor and observe changes featured within a World Heritage site. Remote sensing is an extraordinary tool that can and should be used by all site managers and organizations whose goal it is to preserve and protect World Heritage sites. Remote sensing can be used to not only observe changes over time, but it can also be used to pinpoint threats within a World Heritage site. World Heritage sites are irreplaceable sources of beauty, culture, and inspiration. It is our responsibility, as citizens of this world, to guard these treasures.

Imagens do Brasil: o Cinema Novo e as metamorfoses da identidade nacional

Este trabalho tem como objetivo a análise da política cultural de cinema e sua relação com a identidade nacional, que se desenvolveu entre o final dos anos cinquenta e o início dos anos oitenta. Os principais agentes desse processo são os cineastas vinculados ao Cinema Novo e o Estado autoritário, implantado a partir de 1964, tendo como pano de fundo o intenso processo de modernização sofrido pela sociedade brasileira no período. Dentre as fontes utilizadas, destaca-se a produção cinematográfica do período, importante para compreender as ideias formuladas sobre a identidade nacional e as contradições inerentes a esse processo. No primeiro capítulo, analisamos a gênese do Cinema Novo, reconhecendo-o como movimento político e cultural, estabelecendo suas redes de sociabilidade e caracterizando seus aspectos estéticos e políticos comuns aos cineastas que dele faziam parte. Esta análise considerou três momentos distintos: o primeiro, entre 1955 e 1964, quando ocorreu a gênese do Cinema Novo; o segundo, entre 1964 e 1968, quando o Cinema Novo conheceu seu apogeu e se consolidou como proposta política e cultural; e o terceiro, entre 1969 e 1973, quando a proposta estética se esgotou, dando espaço às articulações políticas e às propostas individuais que caracterizaram esse movimento cultural até o início dos anos oitenta. No segundo capítulo, o objeto principal da análise é a ação do Estado autoritário, estabelecido a partir de 1964, no campo da cultura. Realizamos um retrospecto das intervenções do Estado brasileiro nesse campo até 1964, discorremos sobre a postura do Estado autoritário em relação à produção cultural e destacamos a Política Nacional de Cultura, proposta no final de 1975, a principal referência para se compreender o processo de construção da identidade nacional em tempos de transição. No terceiro capítulo, analisaremos especificamente a política cultural cinematográfica a partir de 1974, seus pontos em comum com a Política Nacional de Cultura e suas contradições em relação à ação do Estado autoritário na área cultural e ao processo de modernização pelo qual passou a sociedade brasileira. Por meio dessa análise, procuramos entender a forma como cinemanovistas e representantes dos órgãos oficiais da área cultural perceberam a gestação de uma política cultural de cinema que contemplasse as necessidades desses tempos de transição e fornecesse os elementos para a construção da identidade nacional. No quarto capítulo, analisamos a trajetória de Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, como intelectual cinemanovista, profundamente influenciado pelos ideais modernistas dos anos vinte e trinta, e crítico do processo de modernização autoritária posto em prática a partir de 1964. Consideramos a trajetória e a obra desse cineasta como paradigmáticas, tanto no que se refere às complexas relações políticas e culturais desenvolvidas pelo Cinema Novo, quanto às profundas transformações vividas pela sociedade brasileira no período. Entre 1955 e 1982, desenvolveram-se várias propostas políticas para a área cultural, destacando-se duas: aquela formulada e apresentada pelo Cinema Novo e aquela referente à intervenção do Estado autoritário nessa área. A atuação dos intelectuais cinemanovistas e o diálogo estabelecido entre estes e seus interlocutores, representantes do Estado autoritário no campo da cultura, possibilitaram a construção de uma identidade nacional em tempos de transição, corroborando o processo de redemocratização e construindo novas formas de se ver, analisar e compreender a sociedade brasileira.

The effects of government deficit on equilibrium real exchange rates and stock prices

This paper studies the effect of government deficits on equilibrium real exchange rates and stock prices. The theoretical part modifies a two-country cash-in-advance model like used in Lucas(1982) and Sargent(1987) in order to accommodate an exchange rate market and a government that pursues fiscal and monetary policy targets. The implied result is that unanticipated shocks in government deficits raise expectations of both taxes and inflation and, therefore, are associated with real exchange rate devaluations and lower stock prices. This finding is strongly supported by empirical evidence for a group of 19 countries, representing 76% of world production

Windows of opportunities and knowledge networks: implications for the catch-up in developing countries

This document represents a doctoral thesis held under the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas Foundation (EBAPE/FGV), developed through the elaboration of three articles. The research that resulted in the articles is within the scope of the project entitled “Windows of opportunities and knowledge networks: implications for catch-up in developing countries”, funded by Support Programme for Research and Academic Production of Faculty (ProPesquisa) of Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE) of Getulio Vargas Foundation.

A magia do cinema na praça:apropriação do espaço e sociabilidade em Salvador-BA

It s in the city spaces, molded from the uses and daily appropriations, that life is woven, as a product of the social relationships from the accumulation of history along with the present day fabric. Within this relationship, the old and the new are elements which make up this tapestry, as a result of the contribution of successive generations. The public square is seen as an example of this relationship, since it consists of a fertile space for opportunities of urban life coexistence. It is within the trace of these considerations that the present study emerges regarding the appropriation and sociability of the Tomé de Sousa Square, located in the city of Salvador, BA, having as its main focus the special relation between the cinema and the public square, as it relates to the space of the exhibition of cinematographic art. The showing of films in public squares makes possible a distinctive means of appropriation which has occurred ever since the beginning of the cinema. Today in Brazil, projects of this nature abound, which aim at presenting the seventh art to a great portion of the population which doesn t have access to conventional movie theater projection rooms. This particular Projeto Cinema na Praça Cinema in the Square Project carried out in Salvador, has become the empirical reference point for such work. This journey reveals the fascination that this great art has woven through time, attracting and charming multitudes. The cinema touches people in a special way, stirring up affectionate feelings, which are reflected in multiple social practices. Regarding this work, what stands out above all are the projections in the squares, initiatives which make it possible for the films to be watched collectively. What was taken into account in order to carry out this work were the reports of those who came regularly to watch the cinema in the Square sessions, those involved with the cinema projects team, and the film makers. To do the work, besides a bibliographical revision, observations were made of participants in the Tomé de Sousa Square, taken from semi-structured interviews with people involved with the film projection projects and those who came regularly to the cinema in the Square sessions. Also investigations were made in newspapers, printed magazines and the internet, from document and iconographic sources. The photographic documentation proved to be an important contribution to the field work. The research therefore develops from the understanding that the social practices are what make possible the uses of and the appropriation of the spaces. Within this perspective the public square emerges as a privileged locus where possibilities flourish for multiple manifestations that social practices can generate

Cinema e educação :interfaces, conceitos e práticas docentes

This project goes beyond the interfacial field of cinema, History and education. We take as our object the epistemological potential of the cinema at the educational scenario, specifically the use of films integrated to the practices of History teachers and educative processes in which we have taken part as a builder. Our objective is to map, initially, the knowledge around this use to search a synthesis and its empirical application. From the methodological point of view, we have made use of different perspectives: (a) interviews with the educator subjects; (b) observation of their practices and formative circumstances; (c) filmic analysis and the relation of the cinema s epistemology with the other areas ones (initially History and further Journalism). Our analysis allowed us to portrait the film such as an epistemological-troubling category, what makes the cinema rather a builder technology and not simply a complementary and illustrative technological resource. Therefore, we have realized that the restriction to the cinema s educational function is linked to the restrictions to the theoretical categories to an only interfacial aspect: historical film as a film which portraits the past (at the historical field) and film on journalism as a film which approaches a single object of Journalism (at the journalistic field). These discussions happen, consequently, at the arena of the nature of cinema s genres (fiction and documentary), which are understood in a naïve way, simpler than its epistemological possibilities, boosted at this research when we analyze the confluence between fiction and reality. The reflections on educative practices and in formation related to the cinema had occurred in three empirical realities: research with professors in performance, practices docent s and accompaniment of students of history. Have to do with our personal career as a teacher and researcher and, when analyzed other practices, have become, unavoidably, the subject and object of this project

No caminho das artes marciais: a relação mestre e discípulo como educação sensível

This research reflects the relationship between Master and Disciple original from the Martial Arts, and anchors their focus on sensitive education that emerges from this relationship. The interest here is knowing how the tradition of millenarian teachings is passed through the years, and how it gives from the relationship of Master and Disciple. To that end, I lean me in that context and also reflect on my experience as a Disciple of the Martial Arts, to that end, I lean me in that context and also reflect on my experience as a Disciple of the Martial Arts, and is from the immemorial fund that can give voice to that experience, through my body attached in the world of significations in which the experience lived is narrated by the story. Anchored from the phenomenological attitude from the philosopher french Maurice Merleau-Ponty, I think this research on three central pillars to guide our study categories, namely: the lived experience, body and liberty. Still, as a form of highlighting this sensitive work, beyond the texts of the philosopher Merleau-Ponty, we bring our dialogue of the cinema, literature and the writings of some the Masters of Martial Arts. For that, I think this research as a journey, where it, Master and Disciple march together in the ways of Martial Arts, baptizing and celebrating this sensitive education from that relationship affective and empathic

An Anisotropic Model of Damage and Unilateral Effect for Brittle Materials

This work deals with the initial applications and formulation of an aniscitropic plastic-damage constitutive model proposed for non-linear analysis of reinforced concrete structures submitted to a loading with change of the sign. The original constitutive model is based on the fundamental hypothesis of energy equivalence between real and continuous medium following the concepts of the Continuum Damage Mechanics. The concrete is assumed as an initial elastic isotropic medium presenting anisotropy, permanent strains and bimodularity (distinct elastic responses whether traction or compression stress states prevail) induced by damage evolution. In order to take into account the bimodularity, two damage tensors governing the rigidity in tension or compression regimes are introduced. Then, some conditions are introduced in the original version of the model in order to simulate the damage unilateral effect. The three-dimensional version of the proposed model is analyzed in order to validate its formulation when compared to micromechanical theory. The one-dimensional version of the model is applied in the analyses of a reinforced concrete beam submitted to a loading with change of the sign. Despite the parametric identification problems, the initial applications show the good performance of the model.

Cinema itinerante no Rio Grande do Norte: aspectos da recepção

In itinerant film projects made in Brazil, the unique experience of watching movies on the big screen is held in open spaces, through the establishment of a contemporary ritual, under which the presence of spectators is primordial. Considering this dynamic of the performance of itinerant cinema, the main objective of this research is to analyze the process of reception of the spectators of the sessions of Cine Sesi Cultural, conducted by the Social Service Industry - Sesi, in Rio Grande do Norte state. The body of research was composed by the audience of the movie sessions of the edition developed in 2010. Analyses were made from the look on the specific audience of open sessions of this cinema project throughout a case study. Theoretical authors of Latin American as Jesus Martin-Barbero, Guillermo Orozco, Eliseo Veron and Nestor Garcia Canclini, which have important theoretical basis for the analysis of research on the cinematographic reception of the spectators, were taken as a basis. In this discussion are associated with contributions from Brazilian authors as Roseli Paulino, Fernando Mascarello, Mauro Wilton Souza, Nilda Jacks and Carolina Escostesguy. Besides the reception study, the research focuses on aspects that relate to and explain the circumstances in which itinerant cinema emerges as an alternative exhibition, for example, the context of the exhibition of films in the country, lack of public policies in the audiovisual sector, and mainly the closing of movie theaters in the inner cities of the country and the consequent migration of these rooms to the malls. Seeking to reduce the existing gap in the studies of the reception of spectators to the cinema in the country, this research presents a deeper analysis of the reception of the public of the itinerant cinema as a contribution to an important database for the diagnosis of projects such as the Cine Sesi Cultural

BEM Formulations Based on Kirchhoff's Hypoyhesis to Perform Linear Bending Analysis of Plates Reinforced by Beams

In this work, are discussed two formulations of the boundary element method - BEM to perform linear bending analysis of plates reinforced by beams. Both formulations are based on the Kirchhoffs hypothesis and they are obtained from the reciprocity theorem applied to zoned plates, where each sub-region defines a beam or a stab. In the first model the problem values are defined along the interfaces and the external boundary. Then, in order to reduce the number of degrees of freedom kinematics hypothesis are assumed along the beam cross section, leading to a second formulation where the collocation points are defined along the beam skeleton, instead of being placed on interfaces. on these formulations no approximation of the generalized forces along the interface is required. Moreover, compatibility and equilibrium conditions along the interface are automatically imposed by the integral equation. Thus, these formulations require less approximation and the total number of the degrees of freedom is reduced. In the numerical examples are discussed the differences between these two BEM formulations, comparing as well the results to a well-known finite element code.

Analysis of the Coupled Stretching-Bending Problem of Stiffened Plates by a BEM Formulation Based on Reissner's Hypothesis

In this work, the plate bending formulation of the boundary element method - BEM, based on the Reissner's hypothesis, is extended to the analysis of plates reinforced by beams taking into account the membrane effects. The formulation is derived by assuming a zoned body where each sub-region defines a beam or a slab and all of them are represented by a chosen reference surface. Equilibrium and compatibility conditions are automatically imposed by the integral equations, which treat this composed structure as a single body. In order to reduce the number of degrees of freedom, the problem values defined on the interfaces are written in terms of their values on the beam axis. Initially are derived separated equations for the bending and stretching problems, but in the final system of equations the two problems are coupled and can not be treated separately. Finally are presented some numerical examples whose analytical results are known to show the accuracy of the proposed model.

A espacialização da fala no cinema

O artigo parte de uma simples constatação: é bastante insatisfatória, no presente estágio da pesquisa, a colocação do problema das relações entre imagens e palavras no universo fílmico. Trata-se, no entanto, de uma questão decisiva para a estética do cinema. em geral, as análises feitas valorizam apenas a função das imagens na gênese e no desenvolvimento das significações. A hipótese de trabalho que se apresenta aqui, vem propor, ao contrário, uma abordagem do complexo sígnico constituído pela fusão indissolúvel dos dois recursos expressivos, que forma assim um meio de comunicação específico, original e absolutamente novo. Esse caráter inédito exige uma investigação minuciosa e urgente, conjugando-se perspectivas filosóficas, semióticas e propriamente cinematográficas.

Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes: a compreensão da realidade brasileira através da crítica de cinema

O objetivo deste artigo é compreender o papel intelectual desempenhado por Paulo Emilio Salles Gomes na sociedade brasileira. Partindo da análise da sua crítica de cinema no jornal O Estado de São Paulo, nos anos 1950, busco caracterizar o processo de construção do empenho político e cultural voltado para a construção de uma sociedade democrática no Brasil, que se desdobrava nas análises sobre o cinema, e a realidade brasileira nas décadas de 1960 e 1970.

DETECTION OF CELLULAR-IMMUNITY WITH THE SOLUBLE-ANTIGEN OF THE FUNGUS SPOROTHRIX-SCHENCKII IN THE SYSTEMIC FORM OF THE DISEASE

Sporothrix schenckii is the etiologic agent of sporotrichosis, a mycosis of world-wide distribution more commonly occurring in tropical regions. The immunological mechanisms involved in the prevention and control of sporotrichosis are not fully understood but apparently include both the humoral and cellular responses. In the present investigation, cellular immunity was evaluated by in vivo and in vitro tests in mice infected with yeast-like forms of S. schenckii. The disease developed systemically and cellular immunity was evaluated for a period of 10 weeks. The soluble antigen utilized in the tests was prepared from yeast form of the fungus through the sonication (20 min: 10 sonications at 50 W at 2-min intervals). Delayed hypersensitivity and lymphocyte transformation tests showed that the cellular immune response was depressed between the 4th and 6th week of infection when the animals were challenged with the soluble fungal antigen. This depression frequently indicates worsening of the disease, with greater involvement of the host. This is a promising field of research for a better understanding of the pathogeny of this mycosis.

Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2004

Includes bibliography