Novas mídias e mercado da experiência: um estudo da indústria de videogames

Os videogames estão revolucionando a cultura de entretenimento digital e já movimentam U$27 bilhões anuais, mais do que a indústria de Hollywood foi capaz de arrecadar em 2004 em suas bilheterias de cinema. Encarados por alguns críticos como arte, por outros como escape e ainda como terapia por alguns psicólogos, os videogames apresentam muitos elementos que podem nos ajudar a traçar um panorama de algumas mudanças centrais na cultura do entretenimento no início deste século. Nessa pesquisa, os videogames serão tomados como paradigmáticos da “economia do acesso”. Esta é produto da imbricação entre tecnologia, mercado e cultura, que teria possibilitado a formação da economia de rede, promovendo um outro tipo de espaço para o capitalismo: não mais o mercado de compra e venda - que durante muito tempo significou algo geograficamente delimitado-, mas o ciberespaço, algo virtual, relacionado ao tempo, promotor de trocas de informações e experiências. Como etapa primeira de um projeto de pesquisa mais amplo, este atual projeto se focará em resgatar a história da indústria dos videogames: quando, onde, como e por que surgiu, e quais os seus desdobramentos contemporâneos. Ou seja: trata-se de um levantamento bibliográfico preliminar sobre o surgimento da "indústria dos videogames", tomando-o como modelo de uma nova forma de entretenimento – digital e interativo –, buscando-se compreender a lógica que o sustenta e a subjetividade que lhe corresponde.

Criação de mercado de créditos de biocombustível avançado para geração de economia financeira e ambiental no comércio de etanol entre Brasil e Estados Unidos

O comércio de etanol entre Brasil e Estados Unidos é fortemente guiado por uma assimetria regulatória, que agrega valor ao etanol brasileiro ao gerar uma de-manda americana pelo produto derivado da cana de açúcar. A demanda advém dos mandatos de consumo de biocombustíveis estabelecidos no programa americano conhecido como Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). A assimetria emerge pelo fato de RFS dar ao etanol brasileiro a classificação de Biocombustível Avançado, tornando-o para os Estados Unidos um produto mais nobre que o etanol derivado do amido de milho produzido domesticamente. Apesar dos processos produtivos tornarem os dois produtos diferenciados quanto ao teor de emissão de CO2 em seus ciclos de vida, o produto final é o mesmo: etanol anidro combustível. Portanto, quando a aquisição de etanol brasileiro pelos Estados Unidos é tal que torna o balanço do-méstico de oferta e demanda deficitário no Brasil, faz-se necessária a importação brasileira de etanol americano. Esse vai e vem do produto ocorre de forma simultâ-nea e, por isso, considera-se a existência de um fluxo redundante de etanol, geran-do custos logísticos, transacionais e emissões de CO2 que poderiam ser evitados. Dado que o objeto do interesse americano pelo produto brasileiro é o baixo índice de emissões de CO2 no ciclo de vida do etanol de cana de açúcar, o fluxo redun-dante de etanol pode ser substituído por transações de Créditos de Biocombustível Avançado, uma nova ideia que é desenvolvida ao longo deste trabalho. Para cada Crédito transacionado, os Estados Unidos contabilizarão em seu balanço a emissão de CO2 correspondente ao volume equivalente de etanol de cana de açúcar, trans-ferindo para o Brasil as emissões correspondentes ao mesmo volume de etanol de-rivado do amido de milho. A substituição do fluxo físico pela transação de contratos é a fonte de economia proposta no título deste trabalho.

The Panama canal expansion mega project : a case study and stakeholder´s analysis

As globalization increases integration, a new playing field is emerging which is driving the need for operational efficiencies and alignment of complementary capabilities among countries to build sustainable models and integrated offerings. As demands increase, companies are turning to effective project management as means to control operations and countries are increasing the amount of mega projects to boost their competitiveness and global footprint. Given the scale, complexity, political nature, multicultural makeup, and high level of visibility; mega projects rely on successful stakeholder management to effectively manage its operational, tactical, and strategic levels to execute their mission. This paper examines the success drivers of mega projects and presents an in depth stakeholder assessment of the Panama Canal Expansion mega project to identify the perceived value to its stakeholder community. The stakeholder categories include: the Panama Canal Authority, subcontractors executing the expansion project, customers of the canal in Panama and U.S., as well as the communities surrounding the Panama Canal and ports in the U.S. East Coast. The conclusion of this paper captures the relationship between the effective stakeholder engagement from the Panama Canal Authority, the perceived value of the Panamanian stakeholders, and compares it to U.S. based mega projects being executed simultaneously to allow the U.S. East Coast ports to accommodate increased cargo volumes.

The art of being together: a social constructionist perspective on dialogic methods in the organizational context

The purpose of this project is to understand, under a social constructionist approach, what are the meanings that external facilitators and organizational members (sponsors) working with dialogic methods place on themselves and their work. Dialogic methods, with the objective of engaging groups in flows of conversations to envisage and co-create their own future, are growing fast within organizations as a means to achieve collective change. Sharing constructionist ideas about the possibility of multiple realities and language as constitutive of such realities, dialogue has turned into a promising way for transformation, especially in a macro context of constant change and increasing complexity, where traditional structures, relationships and forms of work are questioned. Research on the topic has mostly focused on specific methods or applications, with few attempts to study it in a broader sense. Also, despite the fact that dialogic methods work on the assumption that realities are socially constructed, few studies approach the topic from a social constructionist perspective, as a research methodology per se. Thus, while most existing research aims at explaining whether or how particular methods meet particular results, my intention is to explore the meanings sustaining these new forms of organizational practice. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 25 people working with dialogic methods: 11 facilitators and 14 sponsors, from 8 different organizations in Brazil. Firstly, the research findings indicate several contextual elements that seem to sustain the choices for dialogic methods. Within this context, there does not seem to be a clear or specific demand for dialogic methods, but a set of different motivations, objectives and focuses, bringing about several contrasts in the way participants name, describe and explain their experiences with such methods, including tensions on power relations, knowledge creation, identity and communication. Secondly, some central ideas or images were identified within such contrasts, pointing at both directions: dialogic methods as opportunities for the creation of new organizational realities (with images of a ‘door’ or a ‘flow’, for instance, which suggest that dialogic methods may open up the access to other perspectives and the creation of new realities); and dialogic methods as new instrumental mechanisms that seem to reproduce the traditional and non-dialogical forms of work and relationship. The individualistic tradition and its tendency for rational schematism - pointed out by social constructionist scholars as strong traditions in our Western Culture - could be observed in some participants’ accounts with the image of dialogic methods as a ‘gym’, for instance, in which dialogical – and idealized –‘abilities’ could be taught and trained, turning dialogue into a tool, rather than a means for transformation. As a conclusion, I discuss what the implications of such taken-for-granted assumptions may be, and offer some insights into dialogue (and dialogic methods) as ‘the art of being together’.

Transparent access to relational, autonomous and distributed databases using semantic web and service oriented technologies

With the constant grow of enterprises and the need to share information across departments and business areas becomes more critical, companies are turning to integration to provide a method for interconnecting heterogeneous, distributed and autonomous systems. Whether the sales application needs to interface with the inventory application, the procurement application connect to an auction site, it seems that any application can be made better by integrating it with other applications. Integration between applications can face several troublesome due the fact that applications may not have been designed and implemented having integration in mind. Regarding to integration issues, two tier software systems, composed by the database tier and by the “front-end” tier (interface), have shown some limitations. As a solution to overcome the two tier limitations, three tier systems were proposed in the literature. Thus, by adding a middle-tier (referred as middleware) between the database tier and the “front-end” tier (or simply referred application), three main benefits emerge. The first benefit is related with the fact that the division of software systems in three tiers enables increased integration capabilities with other systems. The second benefit is related with the fact that any modifications to the individual tiers may be carried out without necessarily affecting the other tiers and integrated systems and the third benefit, consequence of the others, is related with less maintenance tasks in software system and in all integrated systems. Concerning software development in three tiers, this dissertation focus on two emerging technologies, Semantic Web and Service Oriented Architecture, combined with middleware. These two technologies blended with middleware, which resulted in the development of Swoat framework (Service and Semantic Web Oriented ArchiTecture), lead to the following four synergic advantages: (1) allow the creation of loosely-coupled systems, decoupling the database from “front-end” tiers, therefore reducing maintenance; (2) the database schema is transparent to “front-end” tiers which are aware of the information model (or domain model) that describes what data is accessible; (3) integration with other heterogeneous systems is allowed by providing services provided by the middleware; (4) the service request by the “frontend” tier focus on ‘what’ data and not on ‘where’ and ‘how’ related issues, reducing this way the application development time by developers.

Transport modelling: macro and micro simulation for the studied case of Funchal

The work done in this thesis attempts to demonstrate the importance of using models that can predict and represent the mobility of our society. To answer the proposed challenges two models were examined, the first corresponds to macro simulation with the intention of finding a solution to the frequency of the bus company Horários do Funchal, responsible for transport in the city of Funchal, and some surrounding areas. Where based on a simplified model of the city it was possible to increase the frequency of journeys getting an overall reduction in costs. The second model concerns the micro simulation of Avenida do Mar, where currently is being built a new roundabout (Praça da Autonomia), which connects with this avenue. Therefore it was proposed to study the impact on local traffic, and the implementation of new traffic lights for this purpose. Four possible situations in which was seen the possibility of increasing the number of lanes on the roundabout or the insertion of a bus lane were created. The results showed that having a roundabout with three lanes running is the best option because the waiting queues are minimal, and at environmental level this model will project fewer pollutants. Thus, this thesis presents two possible methods of urban planning. Transport modelling is an area that is under constant development, the global goal is to encourage more and more the use of these models, and as such it is important to have more people to devote themselves to studying new ways of addressing current problems, so that we can have more accurate models and increasing their credibility.

De touch: extending service channels in an airport through touch technologies

This project aimed to create a communication and interaction channel between Madeira Airport and its passengers. We used the pre-existent touch enabled screens at the terminal since their potential was not being utilised to their full capacity. To achieve our goal, we have followed an agile strategy to create a testable prototype and take advantages of its results. The developed prototype is based on a plugin architecture turning it into a maintainable and highly customisable system. The collected usage data suggests that we have achieved the initially defined goals. There is no doubt that this new interaction channel is an improvement regarding the provided services and, supported by the usage data, there is an opportunity to explore additional developments to the channel.

Do encantamento dos números à realidade dos fatos: conciliação entre os balanços patrimonial e social da ALUNORTE

The social balance is turning into an instrument capable of identifying the Organizational Commitment socio-environmental. The objective of the Social Balance is to present the application of company resources on socio-environmental investments internally and externally. The research was developed based on the Balance Social and Sheet from Alumina North Brazil S / A, ALUNORTE, for fiscal years 2008 and 2009, with the purpose of describing the finding of the Balance Social and Sheet from ALUNORTE about social responsibility. To validate the proposal were doing comparisons between accounting and financial datas from Alunorte and Y.Yamada, in order to highlight what they say and indicators confirm the privileges of the first against second

Uma cidade para pessoas: funcionalidade, racionalidade e emotividade nas relações mobiliário urbano, espaço público e cidadãos

This research investigates how functionality, rationality, and emotionality applied to urban furniture design contribute to the organization, legibility, and qualification of public spaces, according to different layouts, physical and visual qualities of the urban furniture as well as the quality of urban infrastructure that may influence the uses and appropriation of urban spaces by pedestrians, turning those spaces into socially centripetal or centrifugal places. The work consists of two parts. First refers to a bibliographical review concerning two main issues of the investigation: product design and legibility of public space, defining the conceptual and theoretical bases, linked to methodological strategies aimed at systemic planning and integrated management of urban furniture design and legibility of public spaces (sidewalks), that are necessary to define the existing relationships among the user s interface (pedestrians); product (urban artifacts); built environment (sidewalks). The second part refers to the achievement of empirical approach throughout visual analysis of public spaces and the functional and qualitative evaluation of the existing urban furniture in the central neighborhood of Cidade Alta, Natal, RN, according to the theoretical researched concepts and methodological procedures. The results expose the weaknesses and levels of intensity arising from the relations among public space, urban furniture, and users, revealing the need for theoretical and practical approaches which would help the decision-making in planning, designing and integrating innovative, sustainable, and ethical solutions in order to design attractive public spaces that could provide sociability and citizenship throughout integrated public management, city systemic thinking and urban identity. The suggested guidelines at the end of this research will provide the necessary strategies to design suitable urban furniture systems according to aesthetic and practical urban infrastructure and city context, aiming to ease visual and physical conflicts that may negatively interfere with the appropriation of public spaces by the citizens

A cena contemporânea aos pedaços : observação de um experimento pedagógico

We try to relate this research with other logic, to discover a path of practical approach to approach a creation composed of fragments and a search of parameters for the aesthetics of appropriation. Accordingly, we find relationship with the theater composed of fragments, where different styles are appropriate theatrical and representational styles are merged with each other. Discusses in the first chapter on the theater composed of fragments, and stroll through lanes of the strategies of some directors in the ways of the contemporary scene. In the second chapter we seek procedures and concepts of atmosphere Mikhail Tchekhov (TCHEKHOV, 1996), and the transition from point-to-point by Scott McCloud (2005). In the third part we describe the observation of the experiment conducted by the students of the Bachelor's Degree in Regional Theatre at the University of Cariri in Juazeiro, Ceará, in 2010. Using the methodology of "pesquisa-ação", observing that the scenic writing end of the experiment, called "Toque Me", and the presentation in the cities of Crato and Barbalha, in August 2010, contained elements of the strategies from theater fragmentary scenes and conceptual contents of contemporary theater

Hidrocarbonetos alifáticos em sedimentos de fundo do estuário do Rio Potengi, grande Natal (RN): implicações ambientais

The Potengi river estuary is located in the region of Natal (RN, Brazil), comprising a population of approximately 1,000,000 inhabitants. Besides the dominant urban presence, the estuary has fragments of mangrove forest. The objective of this study is to determine the aliphatic hydrocarbons found in the bottom sediments of this estuary, identifying their levels, distribution and their possible origins through the diagnostic rates, indexes and results comparisons with the local anthropic and natural characteristics. The samples were obtained according to a plan that allowed sampling of the estuary up to 12 km upstream from it as mounth. 36 stations were selected, grouped into 12 cross sections through the course of the river and spaced on average by 1 km. Each section consisted of three stations: the right margin, the deepest point and the left margin. The hydrocarbon n-alkanes from C10 to C36, the isoprenoids pristane and phytane, the unresolved complex mixture (UCM) and the total resolved hydrocarbons were analyzed by gas chromatography. N-alkanes, pristane, phytane and UCM were detected only at some stations. In the other, the concentration was below the detection limit defined by the analytical method (0.1 mg / kg), preventing them from being analyzed to determine the origin of the material found. By using different parameters, the results show that the estuary receives both the input of petrogenic hydrocarbons, but also of biogenic hydrocarbons, featuring a mixture of sources and relatively impacted portions. Based on the characteristics and activities found in the region, it is possible to affirm that petrogenic sources related to oil products enter the estuary via urban runoff or boats traffic, boat washing and fueling. Turning to the biogenic source, the predominant origin was terrestrial, characterized by vascular plants, indicating contribution of mangrove vegetation. It was evident the presence of, at specific points in the estuary, hydrocarbon pollution, and, therefore is recommended the adoption of actions aimed at interrupting or, at least, mitigating the sources potentially capable of damp petrogenic hydrocarbons in the estuary studied.

Mercury contamination in fanned fish setup on former garimpo mining areas in the Northern Mato Grosso State, Amazonian region, Brazil

The garimpo gold mining activity has released about 2.500 tons of mercury in the Brazilian Amazonian environment in the 1980-1995 period. The northern region of Mato Grosso State, an important gold mining and trading area during the Arnazonian gold rush is now at a turning point regarding its economic future. Nowadays, the activities related to gold mining have only a low relevance on its economy. Thus, the local communities are looking for economic alternatives for the development of the region. Cooperative fish farming is one of such alternatives. However, some projects are directly implemented on areas degraded by the former garimpo activity and the mercury left behind still poses risks, especially by its potential accumulation in fish. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the levels of mercury contamination in two fish farming areas, Paranaita and Alta Floresta, with and without records of past gold-washing activity, respectively. Data such as mercury concentration in fish of different trophic level, size, and weight as well as the water physical and chemical parameters were measured and considered. These preliminary data have shown no significant difference between these two fish fanning areas, relatively to mercury levels in fish. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Break: o grito corporal da periferia

In order to question a sociology as it considers appropriate the body dimensions, which contributes in a mean singular in relation to body, not only as a matter, but mainly as a producer of knowledge, our research shows a reflection on corporality as the production of knowledge and to understand different perspectives and social logic here in contemporaneity, whose rationality seems to be placed in question through a performance expressed, a lot of 'breaks', including the space, which the dancer break appropriates of a reversed form and not more than linear. Our problem is the possibility of a greater understanding of this young body with dance the break, is not only 'breaking' his body, but fluent in their own body fragments, producing probably a break in relation to a dominant power established, by creating a kind of 'social resistance' to provide another sense for his life, out of the senses by the dominant of a social field. This is the area of production of knowledge, of the 'body' that cries keep our eyes, the challenge of dive in the depth of gestures, beyond the physical structure, restoring in a strong political constitution and cultural in so far as this body faces. The body as spectacular becomes 'cause and effect' of communication, this body is not only individual, it is not expression only for itself; when the young dance outside their walls individuals, makes it relational, turning to relate with the other, with the space, time and the world. The methodological point of view, to study this corporality in element break, the body as language of senses, we considered withdrawals in the field, observations of movements of the universe of break creative dance, performance and analysis of "attitudes" (expression peculiar world hip hop ), as well as my experience with dancing in the street interventions through 'urban' and our own attitudes to the object of research which challenges us academically and, it all, existentially

Auta de Souza, a poeta de pele clara, um moreno doce : memória e cultura da intelectualidade afrodescendente no Rio Grande do Norte

In the first half of the twentieth century different groups of intellectuals were engaged in the pursuit of an ideal of Brazility. Thereon, two currents are perceived. The first was marked by a nostalgic bias about the past, being formulated by intellectuals from the region that was turning as Northeast. This group of intellectuals emphasized values and traditions of the agrarian aristocracy of the region that was losing visibility in the political and economic Brazil scene. Already the other current has a more modern and industrial feature, was formed by intellectuals from the Southeast that in detriment of the first, was rising. This group, on the other hand, was intended to give a new face to Brazil and break with the "roots" of our delay that in their view were linked to our agrarian past. This resulted in different perceptions and interpretations of our historical past, and the construction of different profiles to the Brazilian. Accordingly, our work seeks to understand how was produced the writing that silenced the mixed ancestry of Auta de Souza (1876-1901) considering the position that she should occupy in the intellectuals projects who were in charge of forming a memory for our state. Auta as a relevant historical character in this project of potiguares intellectuals, she was raised to the condition of a model woman and elected in the pantheon of the most beloved poets of Rio Grande do Norte, however, to occupy such prestigious position she had her racial ancestry concealed in the writings that these same intellectuals had written about her, what is still spreaded in memory and rituals places of religious and civic features

1930, a Paraíba e o inconsciente político da revolução: a narrativa como ato socialmente simbólico

This work is an attempt to show that the ideological conflict that has been developed by the hegemony of the 1930 Revolution historical events in Paraíba, conceptually turned into an insoluble social contradiction. It ocurred due to imaginary or formal resolutions of the literature that ended up by altering the epistemological rules of the relation between fiction and reality. The present work is based on The unconscious politics: a narrative as a socially symbolic act , book in which all the literary or cultural texts can and should be read as symbolic resolutions to insoluble social contradictions. From string to contemporary literature this phenomenon has been registered by the several ways of textual production turning the 1930 Revolution into one of the main elements which guides the political scene of Paraíba. The ideological groups still centered on the political resentment and committed to a political conflict forged the existence of two historical truths: one which suits the liberais , the winners, and another is of the 1930 conflict. This work argues in favour of the unconscious politics of the 1930 Revolution. This thesis considers necessarily the relation that the Paraibana society maintains with its past and how this past reaches in the present the liberation of a hidden and repressed truth through its narrativization. Beyond that, how the ideological partiality generated the political resentment through the way of thinking of the rivals under the perspective of the good and evil reveals its insoluble social contradiction. Process which comprehends varied narrative forms of the mass culture products and literary production, as in the methodological perspective pointed by Fredric Jameson that all literary or cultural texts can and shall be read as symbolic resolutions of true political and social contradictions. In the case of Paraiba we will have resolutions that search for the reasons which caused the death of João Pessoa: forgery and publicity of love letters, dispute over the official version of suicide commited by João Dantas, the man who assassinated João Pessoa