A Method for Testing Object Localization as a Function of Eod Amplitude in the Weakly Electric Fish Brachyhypopomus Pinnicaudatus

I would like to thank Dr. Philip Stoddard for his patience and guidance throughout the past four years. He has not only taught me about behavior and electricity, but he has also taught me how to think scientifically. Vielka Salazar for making herself available to answer my questions and to help me with my projects. Montserrat Alfaro for providing me with support under times of frustration. Fabian A. Pal, who has often made himself available when I needed help to finish my projects, for being supportive, and for believing in me and my abilities. Most importantly, I would like to thank my parents who have shown tremendous support and patience during the past years. I would also like to thank the Honors Committee, specially Dr. Richards for taking the time to review my thesis and helping me modify it. Finally, I would like to thank the MARC program for providing me with financial assistance and the opportunity to perform this project.

As inter-ações entre espaço do corpo e o movimento dançado

This dissertation seeks to reflect about the relations between danced movement and body space (Kinesphere), and their contributions to the expansion of the expressive possibilities of the subject on dancing. According to Rudolf Laban there is no space that is empty, because it is always being modified and signified at every moment by the movement. Space exists because we interact with it, at the same time movement occours configuring a signifcant space that is incessantly transformed. In this sense, space, body and movement appear in this research as interconnected and interdependent. For this discussion we have as main interlocutor the studies of Rudolf Laban. The nature of this research is qualitative and descriptive. This is a context that embraces the phenomenon of dance and as such it is based on a dimension that doesn't deal with mensurability, but with the art scene, fruitful in its infinite openness to the creation of multiple significances for what has been lived. We also propose to present a report about the practical study developed in the discipline Coreologia in the licentiate course of Dance in UFRN, as well as the analysis of the interviews applied to students of this curricular component. The questions were developed in a way that lead to a reflection about the experience of those interviewed in this discipline, thus generating material for us to discuss how the students perceive dance based on the relational study between space and movement. We realize that this study may favor an understanding of the relations that the experienced movement in the act of the dance weaves along the spatiality that receives and fills our bodies, resignifying the vision of a space which is restrict to the mere place were the body moves and occupies. It also favors the reflections concerning the body that moves and creates spatiality when dancing, thereby bringing to the Performing Arts a chance to think and to experience on the expansion of the expressive gesture in dance and beyond it, led by the recognition of the principles that organize human movement pointed by Laban. It also contributes on the formation of the students in licentiate courses of Dance by questioning the ways to appropriate the contents worked in a graduation discipline as regards to the availability of the body for dance. This dissertation is divided in three parts, called Impulsos. In the First Impulso: “Primeiros Gestos Textuais”, we find an introduction to concepts and ideas of body, movement and space that permeates all the work. In the Second Impulso: "Nós", the triad body-space-motion is discussed using the metaphorical image of a knot that binds these three concepts. The third and final Impulso: "Enlaces" deal with impressions and discoveries lived during the experimentation of the principles of inter-actions studied here, in the lessons of the already mentioned discipline

Situações geográficas em movimento nas praias da área de proteção ambiental de Jenipabu: das ideologias ambientais ao território usado pelo circuito inferior do turismo

The Área de Proteção Ambiental de Jenipabu was created by Decreto 12,620/95, covering the beaches of Redinha Nova, Santa Rita and Jenipabu and Campina communities in the municipality of Extremoz, and Africa community fragment, in Natal. This protected area was created in the context of expansion of tourism in Rio Grande do Norte, in the 1990s, in which PRODETUR investments made possible the installation of infrastructure equipment, mainly in the Via Costeira and Ponta Negra beach in Natal by inserting it in the sun and sea tourism route to Northeast Brazil. In this context the beach Jenipabu in Extremoz, became one of the main attractions for those visiting Natal, due to the natural elements of its landscape, its dune field, which is offered to tourists the buggy ride. In December 1994 the excess buggy rides held in these dunes led to IBAMA ban their access to buggy for carrying out environmental study. This measure resulted in the creation of APAJ in 1995 with the goal of ordering the use and occupation to protect its ecosystems, especially the dunes, the disordered tourism. Given this context, this work aims to analyze the process of creating the APAJ and changes in the geographic space of its beaches, Redinha Nova, Santa Rita and Jenipabu, from the materialization of tourism process, as well as their implications for its residents. To this end, this paper presents a discussion of environmental currents that developed in the western portion of the globe, focusing on the need to regulate small areas of the national territory in protected areas, and an analysis of public policies that enabled the implementation tourism in APAJ as well as the laws and decrees governing the process of creation and management. Using the theory of circuits of urban economy of the Santos (2008) to analyze the territory used by tourism on the beaches of Redinha Nova, Santa Rita and Jenipabu, showing their dependent relationship with the territory used by the upper circuit on the Via Costeira and in the Ponta Negra beach and its influence on the APAJ urbanization process. Ending with the analysis of the influence of the materialization of tourism in the transformation of stocks ways of being-in-space and space-be of the Santa Rita and Jenipabu beaches in each geographical situation of APAJ among the first decades of the twentieth century to the 2014. Fieldwork was conducted between 2012 and 2014, performing actions of qualitative interviews with older residents of Santa Rita and Jenipabu beaches, interviews with structured questionnaire with merchants of APAJ and collecting GPS points trades, identifying and mapping the territory used by the lower circuit in APAJ beaches.

Caracterização de células de lugar no hipocampo e de suas relações com oscilações do potencial de campo local

The main inputs to the hippocampus arise from the entorhinal cortex (EC) and form a loop involving the dentate gyrus, CA3 and CA1 hippocampal subfields and then back to EC. Since the discovery that the hippocampus is involved in memory formation in the 50's, this region and its circuitry have been extensively studied. Beyond memory, the hippocampus has also been found to play an important role in spatial navigation. In rats and mice, place cells show a close relation between firing rate and the animal position in a restricted area of the environment, the so-called place field. The firing of place cells peaks at the center of the place field and decreases when the animal moves away from it, suggesting the existence of a rate code for space. Nevertheless, many have described the emergence of hippocampal network oscillations of multiple frequencies depending on behavioral state, which are believed to be important for temporal coding. In particular, theta oscillations (5-12 Hz) exhibit a spatio-temporal relation with place cells known as phase precession, in which place cells consistently change the theta phase of spiking as the animal traverses the place field. Moreover, current theories state that CA1, the main output stream of the hippocampus, would interplay inputs from EC and CA3 through network oscillations of different frequencies, namely high gamma (60-100 Hz; HG) and low gamma (30-50 Hz; LG), respectively, which tend to be nested in different phases of the theta cycle. In the present dissertation we use a freely available online dataset to make extensive computational analyses aimed at reproducing classical and recent results about the activity of place cells in the hippocampus of freely moving rats. In particular, we revisit the debate of whether phase precession is due to changes in firing frequency or space alone, and conclude that the phenomenon cannot be explained by either factor independently but by their joint influence. We also perform novel analyses investigating further characteristics of place cells in relation to network oscillations. We show that the strength of theta modulation of spikes only marginally affects the spatial information content of place cells, while the mean spiking theta phase has no influence on spatial information. Further analyses reveal that place cells are also modulated by theta when they fire outside the place field. Moreover, we find that the firing of place cells within the theta cycle is modulated by HG and LG amplitude in both CA1 and EC, matching cross-frequency coupling results found at the local field potential level. Additionally, the phase-amplitude coupling in CA1 associated with spikes inside the place field is characterized by amplitude modulation in the 40-80 Hz range. We conclude that place cell firing is embedded in large network states reflected in local field potential oscillations and suggest that their activity might be seen as a dynamic state rather than a fixed property of the cell.

Corpo, movimento e aprendizagem na psicocinética de Jean Le Boulch

School teachers in the discipline of Physical Education, we find ourselves constantly in question of methodological and epistemological issues of practice. This research aims to identify human body understanding, movement and theoretical learning proposed by examining the work of Jean Le Boulch and his approach to Physical Education. We seek to indicate epistemological elements about Physical Education theory and practice, believing that this approach and dialog comes to contribute with this field of knowledge. Boulch, a French teacher of Physical Education, Medicine and Psychology, had an important influence in Brazilian Physical Education during the 1970s and 1980s. His main contribution was teaching courses and knowledge about psychomotricity. Boulch’s studies helped to build knowledge of human movement; considering his importance in people’s development and a critic to a mechanistic view of body and movement. Our reflections will be based on the concepts brought from psychokinetics presented in the bibliographic references of Le Boulch in Brazil, and other references developed by him in this country including conferences, lectures and interviews. This reflection includes the debaters of his work. We chose a theoretical approach referring to the Phenomenology of philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1999) as a methodological reference considering the influence of his thought in Le Boulch studies. This thesis examines the learning and practice of teaching the Physical Education field of knowledge. We conclude that the body being an entity that exists for itself in the world and that contact with the world starts from human movement. Ultimately, new trains of thought for the teaching of physical education can be set from the reflection of phenomenological concepts brought by Le Boulch in his theory.

Análise tribo-termodinâmica da aplicação de nanopartículas de Al2O3 como aditivo lubrificante em compressor hermético de refrigeração

The thermodynamic performance of a refrigeration system can be improved by reducing the compression work by a particular technique for a specific heat removal rate. This study examines the effect of small concentrations of Al2O3 (50 nm) nanoparticles dispersion in the mineral oil based lubricant on the: viscosity, thermal conductivity, and lubrication characteristics as well as the overall performance (based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics) of the refrigerating system using R134a or R600a as refrigerants. The study looked at the influences of variables: i) refrigerant charge (100, 110, 120 and 130 g), ii) rotational speed of the condenser blower (800 and 1100 RPM) and iii) nanoparticle concentration (0.1 and 0.5 g/l) on the system performance based on the Taguchi method in a matrix of L8 trials with the criterion "small irreversibility is better”. They were carried pulldown and cycling tests according to NBR 12866 and NBR 12869, respectively, to evaluate the operational parameters: on-time ratio, cycles per hour, suction and discharge pressures, oil sump temperature, evaporation and condensation temperatures, energy consumption at the set-point, total energy consumption and compressor power. In order to evaluate the nanolubricant characteristics, accelerated tests were performed in a HFRR bench. In each 60 minutes test with nanolubricants at a certain concentration (0, 0.1 and 0.5 g/l), with three replications, the sphere (diameter 6.00 ± 0.05 mm, Ra 0.05 ± 0.005 um, AISI 52100 steel, E = 210 GPa, HRC 62 ± 4) sliding on a flat plate (cast iron FC200, Ra <0.5 ± 0.005 um) in a reciprocating motion with amplitude of 1 mm, frequency 20 Hz and a normal load of 1,96 N. The friction coefficient signals were recorded by sensors coupled to the HFRR system. There was a trend commented bit in the literature: a nanolubricant viscosity reduction at the low nanoparticles concentrations. It was found the dominant trend in the literature: increased thermal conductivity with increasing nanoparticles mass fraction in the base fluid. Another fact observed is the significant thermal conductivity growth of nanolubricant with increasing temperature. The condenser fan rotational speed is the most influential parameter (46.192%) in the refrigerator performance, followed by R600a charge (38.606%). The Al2O3 nanoparticles concentration in the lubricant plays a minor influence on system performance, with 12.44%. The results of power consumption indicates that the nanoparticles addition in the lubricant (0.1 g/L), together with R600a, the refrigerator consumption is reduced of 22% with respect to R134a and POE lubricant. Only the Al2O3 nanoparticles addition in the lubricant results in a consumption reduction of about 5%.

Análise tribo-termodinâmica da aplicação de nanopartículas de Al2O3 como aditivo lubrificante em compressor hermético de refrigeração

The thermodynamic performance of a refrigeration system can be improved by reducing the compression work by a particular technique for a specific heat removal rate. This study examines the effect of small concentrations of Al2O3 (50 nm) nanoparticles dispersion in the mineral oil based lubricant on the: viscosity, thermal conductivity, and lubrication characteristics as well as the overall performance (based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics) of the refrigerating system using R134a or R600a as refrigerants. The study looked at the influences of variables: i) refrigerant charge (100, 110, 120 and 130 g), ii) rotational speed of the condenser blower (800 and 1100 RPM) and iii) nanoparticle concentration (0.1 and 0.5 g/l) on the system performance based on the Taguchi method in a matrix of L8 trials with the criterion "small irreversibility is better”. They were carried pulldown and cycling tests according to NBR 12866 and NBR 12869, respectively, to evaluate the operational parameters: on-time ratio, cycles per hour, suction and discharge pressures, oil sump temperature, evaporation and condensation temperatures, energy consumption at the set-point, total energy consumption and compressor power. In order to evaluate the nanolubricant characteristics, accelerated tests were performed in a HFRR bench. In each 60 minutes test with nanolubricants at a certain concentration (0, 0.1 and 0.5 g/l), with three replications, the sphere (diameter 6.00 ± 0.05 mm, Ra 0.05 ± 0.005 um, AISI 52100 steel, E = 210 GPa, HRC 62 ± 4) sliding on a flat plate (cast iron FC200, Ra <0.5 ± 0.005 um) in a reciprocating motion with amplitude of 1 mm, frequency 20 Hz and a normal load of 1,96 N. The friction coefficient signals were recorded by sensors coupled to the HFRR system. There was a trend commented bit in the literature: a nanolubricant viscosity reduction at the low nanoparticles concentrations. It was found the dominant trend in the literature: increased thermal conductivity with increasing nanoparticles mass fraction in the base fluid. Another fact observed is the significant thermal conductivity growth of nanolubricant with increasing temperature. The condenser fan rotational speed is the most influential parameter (46.192%) in the refrigerator performance, followed by R600a charge (38.606%). The Al2O3 nanoparticles concentration in the lubricant plays a minor influence on system performance, with 12.44%. The results of power consumption indicates that the nanoparticles addition in the lubricant (0.1 g/L), together with R600a, the refrigerator consumption is reduced of 22% with respect to R134a and POE lubricant. Only the Al2O3 nanoparticles addition in the lubricant results in a consumption reduction of about 5%.

Movimento de educação e cultura popular no Brasil dos anos 1960: resistência desfeita

In this work we defend the thesis that the movements of culture and popular education in the 1960s in Brazil, manifested itself into resistance to hegemonic thought, coming from the North, which reduced the popular individuals and their knowledge to the ignorant condition. The focus of our study lies on the resistance produced by these movements in the history of the Country. We used as theoretical reflective foundation the thinking of Boaventura de Sousa Santos and his thesis about the construction of rationalities focused in the fight against indolent reason and the deconstruction of the inferiority in the colonized plan. But the analysis also favors approaches of other authors in the proportion that deals with the action of social actors of culture and popular education movements that have marked their presence in the public space, whose views and interests were invented and reinvented constantly in the relacional game. From the point of empirical view, the research makes use of bibliographies and written documentary sources such as newspaper articles, speeches, statements, manifests and documents like these. The research intends to seek in the past the understanding of those Movements in an effort to enable the viewing of certain remnants of the past that have relevance as social and academic wealth of experience. From the popular and the local, movements of culture and popular education in the 1960s, they overcame the barriers of invisibility and raised Itself to the plan of the global history, when they began to become protagonists of their own history, until their dreams were buried by the 1964 tragedy.

Movimento de educação e cultura popular no Brasil dos anos 1960: resistência desfeita

In this work we defend the thesis that the movements of culture and popular education in the 1960s in Brazil, manifested itself into resistance to hegemonic thought, coming from the North, which reduced the popular individuals and their knowledge to the ignorant condition. The focus of our study lies on the resistance produced by these movements in the history of the Country. We used as theoretical reflective foundation the thinking of Boaventura de Sousa Santos and his thesis about the construction of rationalities focused in the fight against indolent reason and the deconstruction of the inferiority in the colonized plan. But the analysis also favors approaches of other authors in the proportion that deals with the action of social actors of culture and popular education movements that have marked their presence in the public space, whose views and interests were invented and reinvented constantly in the relacional game. From the point of empirical view, the research makes use of bibliographies and written documentary sources such as newspaper articles, speeches, statements, manifests and documents like these. The research intends to seek in the past the understanding of those Movements in an effort to enable the viewing of certain remnants of the past that have relevance as social and academic wealth of experience. From the popular and the local, movements of culture and popular education in the 1960s, they overcame the barriers of invisibility and raised Itself to the plan of the global history, when they began to become protagonists of their own history, until their dreams were buried by the 1964 tragedy.

Conduções cênicas: A “Açon” e o movimento através dos princípios e procedimentos metodológicos de Gilles Gwizdek

The research identifies and describes the principles and methodological procedures of the director Gilles Gaetan Gwizdek on the transposition of the dramatic text to the space of representation through action and movement. Besides that, it presents the results of the experiment in two different labor camps and conducting modes: the no-actor student, inserted into the basic education, and the actor-student, inserted in higher education. Through the scenic paths encountered by the director, the individuals were could find their own ways and verify, through the scenic conductions, how such methodological procedures can achieve a pedagogical thinking about the actor's work. As theoretical referential, were studied the artists-educators: Jacques Copeau, in what sensitizes to the use of dramatic text, and Jacques Lecoq, it approaches of the physical use of the actor's body to the theater. The concepts about theater of the scholars in theater: Constantin Stanislavski, Eugênio Barba, Meyerhold, Eugênio Kusnet, Bertold Brecht go through the theoretical revisions of the thinkers: Odete Aslan, Patrice Pavis, Ney Piacentini, Lúcia Romano, Flávio Desgranges e Anne Bogart, in what affects their practical experiences and conceptual about the text, the action and the movement. It was analyzed also the practical experience based on the principles and methodological procedures of Gilles director, in rehearsals and performances of students in the ninth grade of the primary school the Basic School of the Federal University of Uberlândia - ESEBA, as also, of the students of the sixth, seventh and eighth period, of the Theater Graduation in the same university. From this analysis, it was proposed an interrelation between the theoretical and practical works, done by reading of the artists-educators about movement and Gilles Gwizdek in his work process. The research suggests that, from the movement, the student can build autonomously a character through the experience of small movements of the body. Thus, this student would increase his relationship between stage and audience, and consequently, he would cause a possible state of "seduction" of the spectator to the spectacle.

História, cultura, gênero e poder: representações sociais em movimento no seriado de TV Homeland (2001-2013)

In contrast to Muslins traditions and costumes, the US government and society seems to invest in the media to forge discourses on Western way of life. In addition, it creates idealized images of the woman, the hero, the father, the family, and an everyday speech invoking repeated and widespread moral values, including “justice” and “freedom”, in opposition to the “terror”. In this research we analysed the TV series Homeland, using as theoretical support the Cultural Studies, particularly the concept of Social Representation by Denise Jodelet, the analytics tools created by Michel Foucault on power devices, and feminist studies by Teresa of Lauretis. I’ve tried to see how forces in correlations operate, and how representations of womanhood, sexuality and nationality are built and reiterated in speeches, creating patterns of behaviour for men and women. Spreading images of the “good” man, the “good” wife, and the “hero”, the audio-visual product creates and produces the family, the society and the nation considered exemplar.

COMUNICAÇÃO COMUNITÁRIA E DIREITO À MORADIA: A experiência de mobilização do movimento de moradia com a Rádio Z FM na Área do Chafik em Mauá-SP

Estudo das condições para que os meios de comunicação comunitária venham a contribuir com a participação e organização dos movimentos populares. Os objetivos são analisar as relações entre as rádios comunitárias e o direito à moradia e compreender as implicações no desenvolvimento de processos político-comunicacionais subsidiados por uma metodologia de ação dialógica na produção de conteúdos realizados por agentes do movimento de moradia. A abordagem dialética é fundamentada principalmente no pensamento de Paulo Freire. As técnicas de pesquisa são a bibliográfica, a documental e a pesquisa-ação, a qual se desenvolveu junto à Associação para o Desenvolvimento Habitacional do Brasil – ADEHAB que atua na região conhecida como Área do Chafik, no Jardim Zaíra, em Mauá- SP, em parceria com a Rádio Comunitária Z FM, situada na mesma localidade. Concluise que a criação de novos fluxos comunicacionais comunitários incidem no fortalecimento do movimento popular e da rádio comunitária e os principais condicionantes para este processo reside na disposição dos movimentos populares em se apropriar dos espaços comunicativos reinventando sua práxis.

Uma Missão ao Interior: O início do movimento batista regular no Brasil (1936-1950)

Tendo como recorte o Vale do Cariri nos anos de 1930 a 1950, esta pesquisa visa contribuir para a história da inserção da Igreja Batista Regular no Brasil. A referência ao Vale do Cariri é necessária para captar o contexto e as relações sociais vigentes na chegada do missionário batista regular ao local. A inserção batista regular em solo brasileiro, mais especificamente em Juazeiro do Norte, de certa forma, se deu em terreno já preparado com a religiosidade nordestina construída num longo período. Tentamos observar os costumes, as crenças, as dores, os medos e os sonhos do carirense, como ponto de partida para identificarmos suas ações e reações à nova religiosidade oferecida pelos batistas regulares. Intentamos mostrar que o espaço deixado por Pe. Cícero e certa semelhança entre algumas posturas do missionário batista com aquelas do padre carismático foram pontos fundamentais para inserção e posterior institucionalização dos batistas regulares no nordeste brasileiro.

Updating of an instrumented building model considering amplitude dependence of dynamic resonant properties extracted from seismic response records

The authors would like to express their gratitude to their supporters. Drs Jim Cousins, S.R. Uma and Ken Gledhill facilitated this research by providing access to GeoNet seismic data and structural building information. Piotr Omenzetter’s work within the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Centre for Safety and Reliability Engineering at the University of Aberdeen is supported by Lloyd’s Register Foundation. The Foundation helps to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research.

Updating of an instrumented building model considering amplitude dependence of dynamic resonant properties extracted from seismic response records

The authors would like to express their gratitude to their supporters. Drs Jim Cousins, S.R. Uma and Ken Gledhill facilitated this research by providing access to GeoNet seismic data and structural building information. Piotr Omenzetter’s work within the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Centre for Safety and Reliability Engineering at the University of Aberdeen is supported by Lloyd’s Register Foundation. The Foundation helps to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research.