Realidade virtual na atividade cerebral: um estudo comparativo entre estados emocionais de adultos jovens e idosos

The association of Virtual Reality (VR) to clinical practice has become common in the recent years, showing to be an additional tool on health care, especially for elderly. Its use has been related to higher therapeutic adhesion levels and well being sensation. Such emotional based aspects are often observed by subjective tools of relative validity. This study analyzed the immediate effects of varied VR contexts balance training over emotional behavior, which was observed under peaks of maximum expression of EEG waves. Methodology: 40 individuals, divided in two groups, both gender, 20 young and 20 elderly, were submitted to a 60 minutes intervention, including balance training under VR. The first 25 minutes referred to initial evaluation, general orientation and cognitive assessment by the use of Mini Mental. The next ten minutes were designated to the avatar creation and tutorial video presentation. Through the following 20 minutes, the individuals from both groups were exposed to the exact same sequence of games under virtual contexts, while submitted to electroencephalography by Emotiv EPOC® focusing Adhesion, Frustration and Meditation states. The virtual interface was provided by the Nintendo® game, Wii Fit Plus, with the scenarios Balance Bubble (1), Penguin (2), Soccer (3), Tight Rope (4) and Table Tilt (5). Finally, a questionnaire of personal impressions was applied on the 5 minutes left. Results: data collected showed 64,7% of individuals from both groups presented higher concentration of adhesion peaks on Balance Bubble game. Both groups also presented similar behavior regarding meditation state, with marks close to 40%, each, on the same game, Table Tilt. There was divergence related to the frustration state, being the maximum concentration for the young group on the Soccer game (29,3%), whilst the elderly group referred highest marks to Tight Rope game (35,2%). Conclusion: Findings suggest virtual contexts can be favorable to adhesion and meditation emotional patterns induction, regardless age and for both sexes, whilst frustration seems to be more related to cognitive motor affordance, likely to be influenced by age. This information is relevant and contributes to the orientation for the best choice of games applied in clinical practice, as for other studies regarding this topic

Fatores que influenciam a cooperação em humanos

Human cooperation is fundamentally affected by reciprocal exchange, but it is also remarkably common on the context of large and symbolically marked in-groups, which promote cooperation through the feeling of belonging to a group. In this thesis, two empirical articles were produced in order to investigate how human cooperation is affected by factors such as reciprocity, in-group behavior, in-group markers and gender. We investigated this subject through the administration of online games consisting of token donations, on which the subjects faced virtual players controlled by the experiment. We found that cooperative behavior is strongly influenced by reciprocity, and it is also affected by the in-group behavior, observed on the context of the social variables place of birth, ethnicity, and religions, once all of them acted as in-group markers. The subjects´ in-group behavior was enhanced when they played with generous in-group opponents, but weakened when their in-group opponents were non-generous. It was also found that cooperation is not affected by gender, but men and women cooperated in different ways under the influence of reciprocity and in-group behavior. Women are much more reciprocal on their cooperative behavior and men are less willing to cooperate with outgroupers, even when they act generously. The overall results contribute to a better understanding of the adaptive value of cooperation, reciprocity and in-group behavior on the solution of important challenges through the human evolutionary history

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.

As contribuições relativas ao uso de eventos/fóruns para constituição de comunidades de práticas e expressão da inteligência coletiva: o caso do Bibliocontas

Reflete sobre as Comunidades de Prática (CoPs), na perspectiva do conceito de Inteligência Coletiva de Pierre Lèvy. Descreve o ponto de vista de Lèvy, procurando estabelecer um diálogo como conceito de CoPs, criado por Etienne Wenger. Aponta os elementos encontrados nos fóruns virtuais e presenciais realizados pelo do Grupo Bibliocontas, (grupo formado por profissionais da informação que atuam nos Tribunais de Contas brasileiros), que podem contribuir para constituição de uma comunidade de prática. Verifica que os eventos/fóruns são canais integradores para efetivação de uma comunidade de prática, cujo resultado propicia a transformação das pessoas, a formação de identidades e a negociação de significados do fazer profissional. Observa que a construção coletiva de conhecimentos tem sido materializada na forma de diretrizes e ações, que foram ou estão para serem concretizadas pelas instituições dos participantes do grupo em questão, além do resultado da análise dos dados quantitativos, que indica um crescimento constante de troca de mensagens em ambiente virtual e aumento do número de participantes no grupo.

N2N framework: uma plataforma para desenvolvimento de sistemas calaborativos distribuídos

O domínio alvo deste trabalho são os sistemas colaborativos distribuídos onde o foco está na troca dê mensagens entre usuários remotamente distribuídos. Nestes sistemas, há a necessidade das mensagens possuírem conteúdo multimídia e poderem ser entregues tanto a um usuário específico quanto a um grupo ou grupos de usuários. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver um framework que facilite: a construção desse tipo de sistymas e diminua o tempo gasto com desenvolvimento através da técnica de reuso. Este trabalho apresenta o N2N Framework - Uma plataforma para desenvolvimento de Sistemas Colaborativos Distribuídos. O Framework foi concebido através da análise do comportamento de aplicações com características de multimídias colaborativas, como ambientes virtuais multi-usuários, chats, enquetes, e torcidas virtuais. O Framework foi implementado usando-se a plataforma Java. O N2N Framework facilita o design e implementação de sistemas colaborativos distribuídos, implementando a entrega das mensagens, e direcionando o desenvolvedor de aplicações para a preocupação com implementação de suas mensagens específicas e o processamento que delas decorre

Extensões ao Projeto LVWNet: mobilidade, interação com equipamentos reais, comunicação direta, e registro dinâmico de nós

Due to the constantly increasing use of wireless networks in domestic, business and industrial environments, new challenges have emerged. The prototyping of new protocols in these environments is typically restricted to simulation environments, where there is the need of double implementation, one in the simulation environment where an initial proof of concept is performed and the other one in a real environment. Also, if real environments are used, it is not trivial to create a testbed for high density wireless networks given the need to use various real equipment as well as attenuators and power reducers to try to reduce the physical space required to create these laboratories. In this context, LVWNet (Linux Virtual Wireless Network) project was originally designed to create completely virtual testbeds for IEEE 802.11 networks on the Linux operating system. This paper aims to extend the current project LVWNet, adding to it the features like the ability to interact with real wireless hardware, provides a initial mobility ability using the positioning of the nodes in a space coordinates environment based on meters, with loss calculations due to attenuation in free space, enables some scalability increase by creating an own protocol that allows the communication between nodes without an intermediate host and dynamic registration of nodes, allowing new nodes to be inserted into in already in operation network

Tecnologia educacional no contexto do ensino de histologia: pesquisa e desenvolvimento de um ambiente virtual de ensino e aprendizagem

Discutem-se as mudanças constatadas no ensino da Histologia, como a tecnologia tem sido empregada nos contextos de aprendizagem, os aspectos pedagógicos inerentes à utilização de recursos, tais como atlas digitais e microscópios virtuais, e apresenta-se pesquisa sobre o desenvolvimento de um ambiente virtual de ensino-aprendizagem de Histologia, que contou com a participação de alunos e professores em sua construção. Verificou-se que os ambientes virtuais e outros recursos didáticos baseados nas Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação (TICs) procuram atender à atual tendência de complementar a educação presencial com ferramentas de educação a distância, que podem ser utilizadas facultativamente no estudo extraclasse continuado. Concluiu-se que, embora as novas tecnologias possam contribuir para o ensino de Histologia, os materiais didáticos baseados em TICs devem se adequar às expectativas docentes e discentes e aos aspectos pedagógicos e ergonômicos, e precisam ser adotados pelos professores não como ferramentas isoladas, mas integrados às estratégias de ensino- -aprendizagem

Design participativo de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem de histologia

A progressiva diminuição de carga horária destinada às disciplinas baseadas em microscopia, os altos custos dos laboratórios e a necessidade de materiais multimídia que integrem a teoria com a prática e incentivem os alunos a estudar têm propiciado o desenvolvimento de atlas interativos e ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem, que são, em geral, pouco adotados por professores e alunos. O presente trabalho descreve o desenvolvimento de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem de Histologia, baseado na metodologia de design participativo e em princípios da ergopedagogia, no qual alunos e professores conduziram sua construção. Com base na avaliação do protótipo, concluiu-se que, embora os ambientes virtuais devam adequar-se às necessidades de aprendizagem, características dos alunos e ao contexto de uso, é preciso que os professores integrem estes recursos em suas práticas de ensino, para seu uso efetivo

Vivências ludopoiéticas no jogo de areia: a tatilidade na autoformação humanescente

This study presents the ludopoietic experiences in Sandplay and the expression of tactility in humanescente self-training of future teachers of geography. The overall objective was to analyze and interpret as the tactility in the ludopoietic experiences with Sandplay facilitates the sentipensar and boosts the humanescent self-training. The qualitative research approach follows the principles of existential research-action into the etnofenomenologic perspective, that considers studies of the ethnography and the phenomenology with ethnomethodology. In this study we used the sedimentary rock called sandstone and your mineral grains as cognitive operator to stimulate the discussions of the ludopoietic experiences in Sandplay. The members of research were students of the Geography degree of IFRN. To achieve the research objectives were organized experiential meetings and virtual meetings. The ludopoietic experiences in Sandplay revealed the impact of tactility to humanescente self-training, indicating the importance of touch for apprehend and experience the world with beauty, joy and tenderness. These experiences showed the ludopoietic system properties, the threads of embodiment and the meaning of the sentipensar of tactility as a phenomenon that drives the humanescent self-training, evidenced by etnofenomenologie. Data were obtained through Sandplay, sensitive listening, experiential diary, photographic and movie records. In the process of data analysis were revealed the of etnofenomenological principles of experientiality indiciality, reflexivity, self-organizability, filiability, archetypality and humanescencialidade. Through the tactility, the Sandplay favors the awareness of the condition of being, takes life stories, providing the construction of knowledge in a meaningful and contextual way

Oralidade e escrita: a presença do discurso reportado em entrevistas jornalísticas

In this work, we intend to discuss results from a research about retextualization in gender journalistic interview, considering speech dialogical approach. Retextualization activity, which implies the production of a new text through one or more basic texts, shows the presence of reported speech as an integral unit of discursive construction. Our corpus had been extracted from a section called Nossos Valores [Our Values], present at the syndical newspaper Adurn Notícias [Adurn News], from Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil), which weekly publishes journalistic interviews with active professors from this institution. We describe retextualised text structure by correlating it to the one from the oral text, in order to identify and describe quoted speech, as well as features of the gender in which it is inserted. It was verified that, when it comes to reported speech present in the published interviews, which are representative of the research corpus, diverse incorporation procedures of alien property‟s speech take place, especially those regarding about reported speech use. The waterish presence of the other present in dialoged texts speech transformed in monologue texts demonstrates that there is not a clear demarcation among voices in certain parts of the written text. This is confirmed during analyses of the two interview versions, in which it is not always possible to distinguish the authorship of certain propositions, which in some way can point to Bakhtin‟s concept of intentional hybridity. Beyond Bakhtin‟s contributions (1990; 2000), the theoretical principles of this work are based upon Marcuschi (1986; 1999; 2001), Matencio (2003), Authier-Revuz (1982), and Favero et al. (1997; 1998; 1999; 2000)

As inversões sujeito-verbo e a concordância verbal: um estudo sobre a influência da posposição do sujeito em gêneros escritos de imprensa do português brasileiro

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Práticas letradas/escritas na internet: marcas do outro no processo de textualização via MSN

Pós-graduação em Estudos Linguísticos - IBILCE

Verbo dizer: flagrantes de não-neutralidade na notícia

Pós-graduação em Estudos Linguísticos - IBILCE

VC TC D OND?: a abreviação (de distâncias) na internet

Pós-graduação em Estudos Linguísticos - IBILCE

Análise e desempenho de redes de acesso sem fio

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - FEIS