RCAAP Repository

The collective social imaginary construction of the Semiarid as a space of drought, suffering, hunger and misery was rooted in Brazilian minds and culture. This stereotype of the scourge, linked to the men and women of the Semiarid, doesn´t shape the struggle and resistance of the Northeastern populations, does not figure out their culture, knowledge, traditions, knowledge. That is part of the Semiarid reality. In this context, this research begins with our teaching practice in the Education College of the Central Ufersa campus, located in Mossoró-RN. We draw as a general objective of this work, to analyze the contributions of Ledoc to the promotion of a social, popular counter-hegemonic project that strengthens Family Agriculture based on educational practices for coexistence with the the Semiarid. We take a look in Apodi Village as an investigation subject, as we understand from the speech of the research subjects/students of Ledoc, the strategies of struggle and resistance of the family farmers against the intensive expansion of agribusiness of the irrigated fruit region and the struggle of peasant social movements. We used as a structuring element the theoretical approach of the historical-dialectical materialism method, but also made use of field diaries and semistructured interviews as elements of data collection. This scenario allowed us to develop this qualitative research in two research moments, being the first in the school/university time and the second in community time, enabling us to understand, reflect, experience and investigate the strategies of coexistence with the semiarid developed in the territory of Chapada do Apodi. We propose, based in our thesis conclusion that the Field Education developed by Ledoc made it possible Apodi Village understood a hegemonic social project to strengthen Family Agriculture through educational practices for the coexistence with the Semiarid based on the Popular Education and the Education of the Country.

RESUMEN La pesquisa en Educación del Campo hoy en Brasil representa una línea de trabajo útil y relevante frente al escenario educacional contemporáneo. Esa ascensión está directamente relacionada a las luchas emprendidas históricamente por los sujetos del campo. De ese modo, presentar una Tesis cuyo enfoque central se encuentra en la Educación del Campo es una conquista tanto del investigador como del objeto investigado. Esa pesquisa que presentamos tiene como objeto de estudio la Educación del Campo mientras un paradigma de Educación Popular. Como objetivo buscamos analizar si y cómo las categorías diálogo, epistemología/conocimiento y autonomía se materializan dentro del Curso de Licenciatura en Educación del Campo (LEDOC) de la Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido (UFERSA) como posibilidad para la construcción de una Educación del Campo Popular. Para tal, buscamos en el Análisis Crítico del Discurso (ACD) de Norman Fairclough el soporte teórico para tratar las entrevistas realizadas con educandos del Curso en destaque. Según Fairclough (2016), el lenguaje transforma y promueve cambios sociales, no siendo solo reflejo de las determinaciones del medio, pero sí, él determina ese medio social. De ese modo, el escenario campesino aquí presentado se configura de manera destacada en el trabajo, las luchas, las conquistas y los retos son evidenciados y diseñados mientras mecanismos de generación y transformación del conocimiento. Así, el trabajo expone la Educación del Campo a partir de una base epistemológica forjada en la organización de los movimientos sociales del campo y de la colectividad del campesinado brasileño. En el plan Estatal, la pesquisa se trató de algunas de las principales referencias de la política nacional de Educación del Campo con destaque para el Programa Nacional de Apoio à Formação Superior em Licenciatura em Educação do Campo (PROCAMPO), buscando comprenderlo dentro del espacio de la inclusión social y dentro de la perspectiva de fortalecimiento de la formación del profesorado para actuación en las escuelas del campo, una vez que la historia nos muestra que la llamada Educación Rural no cumplió con ese intuito. De ese modo, el trabajo se presenta mientras una perspectiva de Educación del Campo Popular como una superación de paradigma autoritario de la Educación Rural. En este sentido, presentamos a LEDOC/UFERSA como locus del estudio, para eso realizamos una pesquisa detallada acerca de sus aspectos generales, el surgimiento, la organización curricular y metodológica así como el perfil de los sujetos que componen el Curso. Las categorías diálogo, epistemología/conocimiento y autonomía componen de manera especial el contexto teórico, conceptual y también el horizonte de la Educación Popular. Así, en ese trabajo, ellas aparecen como condición impar a la construcción de la Educación del Campo Popular. Finalmente, destáquese que la posibilidad de oír los sujetos de la Educación del Campo proporcionó al trabajo un “pé no chão” muy representativo. A partir de las voces de esos sujetos subrayamos como resultados la necesidad de mayor fomento al diálogo entre el Curso y los educandos; necesidades del uso de los conocimientos de la realidad de los estudiantes en los procesos educativos en clase y fuera de ella; por otro lado, esas mismas voces destacan un Curso que promueve autonomía y proyecta sujetos conscientes que contribuyan en los cambios que nuestro tiempo logra.

This paper presents a technical manual with duly formalized administrative procedures for the establishment of Special Accounts at the Federal University of Paraíba. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the improvement of the performance of the special commissions of designated servers and to meet the requirements of the external control bodies and the current legislation. This research was developed in six stages, starting with the collection of the information through the survey of the applied legislation, as well as of the bibliography and the documents that deal with the subject. Subsequently, the processes of taking of accounts established at the UFPB were analyzed as a result of the judgment of TCU No. 1454/2014 and the administrative procedures necessary to comply with all the procedural steps were elaborated. Finally, all the procedures duly formalized were consolidated, having as final product the technical manual for instituting, demonstrating for each step of the process, cheklist of the procedures, the list of necessary documents, the legal basis and the ideal flow for its movement. In this way, it becomes an important instrument for improving results, to be used by the special commissions of servers when the establishment of Special Accounts in the UFPB, as well as by all interested general public.

The present study had as object of investigation the Science without Frontiers Program, with focus on the technological area, in the Electrical Engineering course, that belongs to the Center of Alternative and Renewable Energies of the UFPB. The theme is in the process of internationalization of higher education, a current phenomenon in several countries around the world, in which the student flow between the central and peripheral nations is growing with prospects of being expanded in the future. The international student mobility in Brazil that materialized through a public exchange policy, in which the Brazilian government faced with the need to improve the training of our professionals at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels of Brazil, created in 2011 the Science Program without Frontiers with the objective of improving Brazil's position on science and technology internationally, for this purpose, prioritized the strengthening of industry and research through the training of qualified human resources, specifically in the strategic areas aimed at industry, aiming at to the country's economic growth. In this perspective, the general objective of the research was to analyze the contribution of the Science without Frontiers Program for the academic and professional training of undergraduate students of the Electrical Engineering course of the UFPB. In the methodological course we made the option of a qualitative approach, of a descriptive and interpretative character, and as a procedure of the adopted research, the bibliographical survey and the documentary analysis. The case study applied to the research had as subjects the 21 students graduated from the Science without Borders Program of the Electrical Engineering course of the UFPB. The results of the research were consistent with the objectives outlined, it was possible to observe the following contributions: In the personal field, the learning of new language in level of fluency and experience with another culture; in the academic sphere, to be in contact with new teaching methodologies, to study subjects not offered in their course of origin and to access laboratories with technological resources; and, on the professional side, the opportunity of internships in foreign companies during the exchange. The Science without Borders Program within the scope of this study fulfilled the objectives planned by the federal government in improving the level of training of Brazilian students.

Peppers (Capsicum anuum) originate in the American continent and belongs to the family Solanaceae. This species presents diversity for characteristics of size, flower and fruit, which gives it different potentialities of use, aimed at the consumption in natura, industrialization and for ornamental use. The characterization of genotypes has great importance in the identification and selection of genotypes according to characters of interest. The identification of higher parents has been performed through the evaluation of morphological, agronomic and more recently, molecular markers, that allow to characterize and determine the genetic divergence within and among plant species. The phenotypic expression of any character results from genetic and environmental effects. Among the environmental effects, the hormones play an extremely important role. The gibberellins (GA3) are plant hormones essential to the development of the plant, such as internodes elongation and development of flowers and fruits, so the objective of this work was to evaluate the genetic diversity of ornamental pepper genotypes by means of RAPD markers, and Phenotypic variability induced by the application of GA3 in different ornamental pepper genotypes (Capsicum annuum L.). The experiments were carried out at the Plant Biotechnology Laboratory of the Agricultural Sciences Center of the Federal University of Paraíba (CCA-UFPB). The genomic DNA was extracted from young shoots of 18 accessions of C. annuun and using the CTBA method. In the RAPD amplification reactions, 15 primers were used for Capsicum, (MEP-01 to MEP-15). The obtained marks were converted into a binary matrix, from which the genetic dissimilarity matrix was constructed using the Sokal binary distance, Tocher grouping method and also the main components method was used to construct the dendrogram, if Ward's method and All loci were polymorphic. The most similar pair of accesses was 355 x 348 (0.220), while the most dissimilar pair of accessions was 4 x 17 (0.855). The population evaluated in this study presented high genetic diversity and Phenotypic variability in capsicum induced by GA3. Five accessions of Capsicum belonging to the Germplasm Bank (CCA / UFPB) were used, with concentrations of GA3 (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 mg / L) administered in spray applications at three day intervals, from the 27th day after transplanting. The plants were evaluated for 21 morphoagronomic characteristics of plant, flower and fruits. The experimental design was completely randomized, 5x5. The data were submitted to analysis of variance, with averages grouping by the Scott-Knott test (p = 0.05) and for the significant variables regression analysis was performed. With the Scott-knott test, it can be observed that the interactions of the factors studied (Access x Doses) for the characteristics of flower diameter, petal length, pedicel length, larger fruit diameter, pericarp thickness and number of seeds per fruit were those that presented significance, and may indicate the use of gibberellin to induce phenotypic variability for these characteristics in the 5 accessions studied, the indicated doses are between 50mg / L-1 and 100mg / L-1 for the characteristics studied.

Budgetary crisis and constant personnel renewal have posed challenges to efficiently and effectively service students at the Humanities Center (CCHLA) of Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). One of the alternatives has been the standardization of administrative procedures through an online system for academic activity management (SIGAA), which is a module of a wider platform (SIG) acquired from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). The use of this system abides by Brazilian legislation (Law no. 13.726 / 2018, Decree n. 9,094 / 2017) as well as by the current development plan of the university (PDI / UFPB 2014-2018). The objective of this research was to analyze the management model of an integrated secretariat (SIAG) of another academic unity of UFPB (CCTA – Communication, Tourism and Arts Center) and use it as a parameter to develop a similar model for CCHLA. The study was carried out through an exploratory, qualitative research, having as data collection techniques: i) direct observation, ii) documentary research, iii) interview with staff (managers, coordinators and clerks), and iv) closed questionnaire with undergraduate students serviced by SIAG / CCTA. Data were treated through triangulation and confronted with the theoretical views of authors who approaches public management. Results revealed that SIAG/CCTA has been efficient and effective and meets its purposes. It is well accepted by its target audience, i.e., civil servants and students, despite some considerations made by users which were collected from direct observation. In view of the results, a proposal of a SIAG for CCHLA was drawn up, adapting it to its own reality and strengthening positive aspects to correct failures.

The meliponiculture holds a great importance in family agriculture because it is a source of income for small producers. It is an activity in expansion throughout the national territory by the vast diversity of the flora and one of the most varied types of climates existing in Brazil. This potential reflects the producer's income generation and, with this, stands out as an important factor of social inclusion. In the states of Paraiba and Rio Grande do Norte, the rational creation of stingless bee is practiced from generation to generation, however there are no precise records on investment and maintenance costs of a meliponário, nor on costs of production. In view of the above, the objective of this study was to investigate meliponicultores in these two states of northeastern Brazil, in order to evaluate and compare the socioeconomic potential of stingless bees. The research was developed in the states of Paraiba (PB) and Rio Grande do Norte (RN) during the period from May 2017 to May 2019, with data collection involving issues related to the process of rearing stingless bees from information provided by the creators of these two states. For this study, 45 (forty - five) meliponicultores were distributed in the four mesoregions of Paraíba state (Mata Paraibana, Agreste Paraibano, Borborema, Sertão Paraibano), which are located in the cities of João Pessoa, Cabedelo, Dona Inês, Picuí, São João do Cariri, Itaporanga, Pombal, Aparecida, Cacimba de Areia, São João do Rio do Peixe, Poço José de Moura, Santa Cruz and Santa Helena] and Rio Grande do Norte, also in the four mesoregions [East Potiguar, Agreste Potiguar, Central Potiguar and Potiguar West], in the cities of Natal, Parnamirim, Barcelona, São Paulo do Potengi, Riachuelo, Passagem, Passa and Fica, Santa Cruz, Lajes Pintadas, Pedro Avelino, Assu, Mossoro, Patu and Campo Grande]. According to the evaluations, it can be verified that the species of stingless bees most reared in the two states are Jandaíra Bee (Melipona subnitida), Uruçu Nordestina (Melipona scutellaris), Rajada (Melipona asilvae), Mandaguari (Scaptotrigona sp) and Moça Branca (Frieseomellita sp). The largest number of breeders in Rio Grande do Norte is located in the western Potiguar mesoregion, concentrated in the municipality of Mossoró, both in the urban and rural areas, while in the state of Paraíba the largest concentration of breeders occurred in the Sertão Paraibano. The purpose of the stingless bees, where the study was developed, is quite diverse. Few creators presented only one reason why they develop the activity, possibly because of the importance of these insects in the preservation of biodiversity, their products and the cultural load brought by the populations, especially in relation to the importance of honey as a medicine. In this way, it is noticed that many creators already find in the activity a possibility of extra income.

This work presents a methodology for the use of a repetitive-based control in a photovoltaic system connected to the grid in order to make it suitable to the presence of harmonic distortions of voltage coming from the electric grid. The system used is composed of photovoltaic module, current-fed push-pull DC-DC converter, single-phase full bridge inverter, LCL filter and control system. To this system, that works in real time, is not used phase locked loop for electric grid voltage, then there is a smaller processing time and system complexity. As one of the consequences, the processing time is quite reduced, it is an advantage in the execution of the system in real time. Simulation results in Matlab® are presented, as well as experimental results obtained in the Laboratory of Optimization of Electrical Systems of the Federal University of Paraíba - UFPB. A comparison between the performance of the repetitive-based control and the resonant control with respect to the presence of network voltage harmonics is presented.

The industrialization of goat's milk has been growing stronger, given its technological and nutritional potential. However, commercialization of goat butter is still scarce, most probably due to its richness in short chain and unsaturated fatty acids, susceptible to both hydrolytic and oxidative rancidification processes. The food industry has made use of various food additives, be they synthetic and / or natural with antioxidant properties in order to protect the lipids from deterioration, and avoid sensorial losses and damages to the health of the consumer. Among the possible natural antioxidants available, we can mention turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), which is a condiment used since antiquity in the preparation and preservation of food. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop caprine butter added with different concentrations of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), to characterize its physicochemical, microbiological and sensorial aspects, as well as to evaluate the thermal stability of goat butter and the antioxidant potential of the of the aforementioned spice on butter during refrigerated storage. For this, 3 formulations of goat butter were prepared, being MC - Control goat butter, without addition of turmeric; M1,5% - Caprine butter containing turmeric at a concentration of 1,5% and M3% - Caprine butter with 3% turmeric. In the turmeric the identification and quantification by HPLC of the phenolic compounds were carried out and in the butters were carried out the tests of determination of pH, acidity in oleic acid, humidity, proteins, lipids, total phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, fatty acid profile, thermal stability, as well as microbiological and sensory analyzes. The shelf life of the formulations was analyzed at 1, 30 and 60 days refrigerated storage (4 ± 1 ° C). In general, it was observed that the addition of different concentrations of turmeric did not influence most of the physical and physicochemical characteristics of the samples. There was an increase in phenolic compounds and antioxidants in butters, influenced by the concentration of added turmeric. The increase in turmeric concentration was positively associated with the thermal stability of the samples. In sensory terms, all goat butter were well accepted until the end of shelf life, with no added turmeric influence in accepting most of the evaluated attributes. The results confirm the potential of the use of turmeric in caprine butter as a preventive measure of lipid oxidation during storage, with an increase in its thermal stability and positive repercussions on technological, nutritional and sensorial qualities.

Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) is a thermoset and non-biodegradable polymer widely used in the footwear industry, wherein about 20% of this material becomes waste during the production of soles and midsole. Several researches aiming at recycling of these EVA waste have pointed out possibilities of elaborations of lightweight concrete composites with varied applications in buildings. In this context, the purpose of the present study is to evaluate the compatibility between physical, mechanical and thermal aspects of masonry of EVA blocks, highlighting the adhesion between the coating mortar and the components. This work investigates the need for a layer of roughcasts in the coating system applied to cementitious components (EVAi Blocks), which has a high EVA content (80%) and therefore has a rather rough surface. The study was structured in three experimental stages: adequate choice of EVA residue/aggregate; characterization/compatibility of the physical and mechanical properties of EVAi Blocks and laying/coating mortars; and evaluation of the mechanical and thermal performance of masonry with and without roughcast in the execution of the coating. Based on the results, it can be concluded that: the process of beneficiation of the EVA residues/aggregates to produce the EVAi Blocks favored the compatibility between the largest unit mass of the EVA aggregate (278.60 kg/m³) and the values of water absorption (12%) and compressive strength (1.45 MPa) of the blocks within the requirements proposed in the literature; the walls with EVAi Blocks presented satisfactory adhesion between the coating mortar and the substrate only in the system with roughcast; and the thermal evaluations (heat flow and thermal shock) performed on the walls did not cause damage to the adhesion of the coating mortar to the substrate or to the compressive strength of the walls (1.51 MPa). Thus, it was demonstrated the compatibility between the physical, thermal and mechanical aspects of the system of sealing with EVAi Blocks and confirmed the necessity to apply the roughcast layer in the execution of the coating in the evaluated case.

The non-destructive tests are an important tool in the evaluation of concrete properties both during and after finishing the execution of structures. In this type of evaluation, correlation curves can be used to the indirect determination of these properties. However, these correlations should be specific to the materials and application conditions under analysis. This study sought to obtain correlation curves between properties of concrete used in the region of João Pessoa-PB and non-destructive tests. For this purpose, sclerometry and surface electrical resistivity measures associated with compressive and tensile strength results were used in concrets of three resistance classes and at five different ages. The results of this research provide correlation curves with significant adjustments between the analyzed variables, which reliably characterize the properties of the different tested concretes. The curves can be used to evaluate the produced concretes in the region of João Pessoa-PB, with a similar composition (cement CP V ARI) and with compressive strength values within the range of 30 MPa to 50 MPa at 28 days.

La recherche développée dans cette thèse a comme thème la femme en tant que témoin d’une communauté orale dans son rôle de chanteuse et auteure de cordel. L’objectif, d’une façon générale, est de construire aussi bien l’historiographie de ces femmes qui avaient jusqu’alors peu de visibilité dans ce domaine, que celle de la cantoria. Pour construire une nouvelle cartographie du folheto de cordel et un relevé des voix féminines occultées de l’histoire, sont faites des réflexions amenées par les études orales développées sur le sujet, surtout celles de Paul Zumthor à partir de concepts comme la performance et la vocalité et celles de la critique féminine révisionniste brésilienne qui consistent à récupérer la production de textes produits par des femmes. Ces deux champs théoriques sont fondamentaux pour comprendre et remettre en question au moins deux versants de l’historiographie officielle: celle qui privilégie des recherches tournées exclusivement vers le folheto en tant que poésie écrite et publiée – chirocentrique – déconsidérant ainsi la norme orale et chantée de cette culture et celle qui, dans ce domaine, s’est toujours basée sur l’exclusion de la parole et de la présence féminines – à partir d’une lecture androcentrique. Ces deux perspectives sont remises en question dans cette recherche à partir d’une constatation initiale: contrairement à ce qui se dit communément, la femme, dans la réalité sociale et culturale du Brésil, a toujours produit des poésies, même sans être publiée, et son absence dans l’univers du cordel et de la cantoria ne se vérifie que dans le champs de l’historiographie littéraire.

The state of Paraiba is one of the largest producers of bentonite, which is intended to various technological uses, among which, as thixotropic agent of oil well drilling fluids. However, these are sensitive to the presence of contaminants, give origin to fluids that do not meet Petrobras' specification EP-1EP-00011-A. Thus, the separation of coarser fractions of finer fractions by a hydrocyclone enables obtaining a material with improved rheological behavior, which can also be favored by the time and stirring speed of the samples, since these parameters influence the dispersion, delamination and clay hydration process. So, the first stage of this study proposes evaluate, using a factorial design 23 plus three central points, the influence of parameters stirring speed, stirring time and hydrocycloning pressure in the percentage of the accumulated mass with average diameter below 2 μm and the rheological properties of dispersions prepared with clay Verde-Lodo extracted from Juá II mine, Boa Vista, PB, aiming to optimize these properties and enhance the technological use of this clay in aqueous fluids of oil well drilling. After this stage, it chose the best combination of factors to proceed with the second stage of the study, which consists of a factorial design 23 plus three central points to evaluate the influence of the factors compressed air pressure, blower flow and drying temperature by spray dryer in the percentage of the accumulated mass with average diameter below 2 μm and the rheological properties of dispersions. For the response variables of the hydrocyclone and drying operations, variance analysis and Tukey Test were performed, aiming to verify in which cases occur differences between the means of the levels of each factor. From the hydrocyclone operation, it was observed that it was not possible to determine values for rheological properties from the mathematical models proposed at the 90.0% confidence level. Thus, these properties were analyzed point by point, observing that the best experimental combination of the input variables is with disperser stirring speed of 2000rpm for 24h and hydrocyclone pressure of 2.5bar. Thus, this combination was chosen to proceed to the study of the variation of drying parameters by spray dryer. From this, it is observed that the experimental data do not fit the proposed mathematical models for the response variables at the 90.0% confidence level. Therefore, these responses were analyzed point by point, observing that the best value for the rheological properties of the dispersions of the clay minerals concentrates resulted when drying with compressed air pressure of 4.0bar, blower flow of 2.5m3/min and drying temperature of 50°C, since it is the best combination for the apparent and plastic viscosities, which have been in accordance with the regulatory requirements, and provides reasonable value for filtrate volume.

Dissimilar welded joints have been used extensively in the petroleum industry for some time. In the last decade, failures, many of them of catastrophic proportions, began to appear in the exploration and transportation of offshore oil, such as those that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and in the North Sea. This fact has generated great concern in the oil sector, which is currently one of the main users of this type of joint. Several components of the offshore system employ the welding of dissimilar metals, iron-nickel, which are subjected to cathodic protection to prevent corrosion. The root cause of these failures has been associated with the presence of hydrogen from this protection system, together with the microstructure of the dissimilar interface. The central motivation of our work is the analysis of the susceptibility to the embrittlement by hydrogen, through the fracture toughness behavior, for the base metal, forged steel ASTM A182 F22, and dissimilar welded joint of steel ASTM A182 F22 - Inconel 625 - ASTM A36 steel. The weld metal, Inconel 625, was used in both buttery welding and welding, with both welds made by the conventional GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding) process. The hydrogenation process was carried out with a 3.5% NaCl aqueous solution, potential of -1,100 mVSCE, for 7 days at 0ºC. The influence of hydrogen was also analyzed by means of a tensile test considering also the base metal and welded joint. In the study of fracture toughness the three-point flexural test was used, and the fatigue pre-crack was located in the ZTA of ASTM A182 F22 steel, approximately 1mm from the melt line. The toughness parameter raised in this work was the Crack Tip Open Displacement (CTOD), which is recommended for weld joint studies. Microstructural analysis was performed using optical and scanning electron microscopy, using Normal Cross-Section (NCS) and LAMS (Lowangle Microsectioning) samples. Both the tensile and CTOD test results indicated that the maintenance of the mechanical properties of the forged ASTM A182 F22 steel with predominantly ductile fracture behavior be made by dimples. With respect to welded joint, with hydrogenation, susceptibility to embrittlement by hydrogen was verified, both in terms of ductility and fracture toughness. The presence of a mixed fracture mechanism, such as dimples, MVC ("cellular") and quasi-cleavage, was observed, deferring of the nonhydrogenated joint, which presented a ductile fracture mechanism. The test crack developed predominantly in the HAZ coarse grained region (Δ zone), showing no deviation from the fatigue crack, for the conditions without and with hydrogenation. Macrosegregation was evident in microstructural analyzes of the dissimilar interface. We were able to observe the presence of austenite retained in the interface of the buttering weld in the as-welded state, as well as the presence of martensite after PWHT, which, because they are hydrogen trapping microstructures, are directly related to the embrittlement process.

The automation of productive processes, present in industries with high uniformity in the production of goods or services, is characterized by the low flexibility of the production system and the high interdependence between the processes and the products generated. Although this automation suggests a decrease in the relevance of the workers role within the production system, there are several unexpected situations, not foreseen in the prescription of tasks, which require the intervention of the operators to maintain operational stability and ensure the continuity of the production process. This dissertation addresses this issue by identifying the actions of human reliability introduced by operators to ensure the regular functioning of the milk pasteurization, milk curd production and physicochemical analysis laboratory. It is a qualitative research on the approach to the problem, applied in terms of results and descriptive from the point of view of objectives. The case study was carried out in a dairy processing plant where emphasis was given to the Work Ergonomics Analysis (WEA) stage which deals with the Activity Analysis, using as direct research instruments the recording of situations and refunds of the operator through contextualized verbalizations. The analysis of the collected data was based on scientific studies focused on the theme of the study and discourse analysis. The results indicate that a set of actions is implemented by workers through their ability to anticipate and predict and their experience. These attributes of the operator are used to construct a mental model of the system during the course of action, which are determined by the level of experience gained by the worker, his knowledge and his abilities. The operator confronts the prescription of the tasks defined for its function and assumes the role of system reliability agent by ensuring the continuity of the operation, recovering faults or minimizing the consequences of an undesired event, ensuring the operation of the production process and the product quality.

This dissertation encompasses three chapters that study Economic Forecasting Models. Below are the abstracts for each chapter. Chapter 1: Measuring Macroeconomic Uncertainty to Brazil ThechapterproposesestimatingamacroeconomicmeasureofuncertaintytoBrazil. The indexwasconstructedbasedonthemethodologyofJurado(2015)usedtobuildthesame index for the US economy. We show that an increase in the uncertainty level leads economic recessions. Moreover, the recent macroeconomic policy adopted by the Brazilian government in 2010-2011 was followed up by substantial increase in the uncertainty level of the Brazilian economy. Our results suggest that the proposed uncertainty measure can be used to assess macroeconomic policies as well as predict economic recessions.Chapter 2: Identifying the Predictive Power of FED Minutes This chapter proposes a novel method to extract the most predictive information from FED minutes. Instead of considering a dictionary (set of words) with a fixed content, we construct a dictionary whose content is allowed to change over time. Specifically, we utilize machine learning to identify the most predictive words (the most predictive content) of a given minute and use them to derive new predictors. We show that the new predictors improve forecast accuracy of Output growth by a statistically significant margin, suggesting that the combination of machine learning and text regression can be interpreted as a powerful device for out-of-sample macroeconomic forecasting. Chapter 3: Equity Premium Forecasting: Identifying the Predictive Power of Financial News This chapter proposes a novel method to extract the most predictive information from Financial News published in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Instead of considering a dictionary (set of words) with a fixed content, we construct a dictionary whose content is allowed to change over time. Specifically, we utilize machine learning to identify the most predictive words(the most predictive content) of a given financial news and use them to derive new predictors. We show that the new predictors improve forecast accuracy of Equity Premium by a statistically significant margin. We also finds that the Financial News increases the utility and financial gains, for a investor with a mean-variance utility function.

This dissertation aims to study the behavior of the preferences parameters of the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB), in the period between 2000.T1 and 2017.T4. To accomplish this purpose, we assume that Brazil’s monetary policy is defined in an optimized way, then we obtain the parameters of the political function from the estimation of the macroeconomic model with expectations backward-looking and the preferences of the Central Bank. The econometric approach used is based on Bayesian MCMC estimation supported by the Kalman filter. Our results indicate that Central Bank’s preferences have been unstable over time, with fluctuations after the ending of the term of BCB’s chairman and during the 2008 international crisis.

Based on Catering Theory, this thesis aimed to analyze the effect of the companies’ investment horizon in corporate decisions taken in line with the investor sentiment. The Catering Theory establishes the ability of managers to identify the mispricing occurrence in the stock market, causing decision-making to maintain the difference between the stock price and its fundamental value for the benefit of investors who care about current stock price – short-term investors or short-horizon investment. Assuming the mispricing occurrence when the sentiment index indicates optimism and the following decision-making, based on the sentiment index, the thesis of this study establishes that the investment, financing and earnings management decisions, taken in line with the investor sentiment, aim to cater short-term investors. The firms’ share turnover ratio measured the investment horizon. This study analyzed 245 non-financial companies, listed in B3, through an unbalanced data panel, in the period from 2010 to 2017. Following the theoretical assumption, the relationship between each decision and the investor sentiment was evaluated by simple linear regression estimated by Theil-Sen method, by firm, in order to define the expected value of the decision in function of sentiment. The sentiment index used in the regression was created using variables from the Brazilian capital market, through principal component analysis, based on the existing literature. The variables were incorporated into the index: the number of offerings de IPOs plus Follow-On, Advancing and Declining ratio, dividend premium and individual investor’s participation in the total value of the B3 segment. This latter theoretically associated with the Catering Theory and, the others, traditional in the sentiment literature. The results showed a negative relationship between the investment horizon and the investment decision, contradicting the expectation of H1. There was no relation regarding the earnings management (H3). On the other hand, the financing decision has a negative relationship with the investment horizon, according to H2, suggesting interest for cheaper debts, in optimists’ periods, by firms with short investment horizon (higher Turnover). This fact was corroborated by the disruption of the hierarchy suggested by the Pecking Order Theory (H2a), in which explanatory factors were observed, such as Turnover and ROA for the debt variation. However, it was not possible to associate the motivations for the Pecking Order rejection to the Catering Theory assumptions. In addition to the restricted analysis of the testable hypotheses, it was analyzed the possibility of some firms’ characteristic mediating the relationship between the investment horizon and corporate decisions. In this sense, it was shown that investments are expanding when, beyond the short horizon, firms were more leveraged. When interacting the revenue growth with the investment horizon, there was an increase in the earnings management level. Therefore, despite the rejection of the testable hypotheses H1 and H3, the mediation of the firm's characteristics showed the Catering Theory assumptions. As for the financing decision, besides the non-rejection of the testable hypothesis 2 (H2), there was a reduction in financial expenses in optimist moments when there was the interaction between revenue growth and the investment horizon. Sensitivity tests showed that in other scenarios (not all) these results remain.

The overconfidence of managers, leaders and entrepreneurs comprises a bias that may constitute a possible threat to business strategy, since it can influence the decision-making process, underestimating the risks involved in making decisions. The objective of the present study was to analyze the influence of the overconfidence of managers of brazilian companies in the business strategy. Six strategic dimensions were studied (working capital and production cycle, advertising intensity, research and development intensity, expenditure structure, investment in fixed assets and capital structure), which were related to three different indicators of overconfidence (the general confidence index, the overconfidence index and the dummy entrepreneur manager), through multiple regression analysis estimated by Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). Panel data were used unbalanced regarding 244 public companies, for the period 2011-2017, through which the following results were obtained: the indicators showed that not all the managers studied are overconfident (according to the general confidence index this total reaches 85,9%, while the entrepreneur manager variable indicates 54,1%). Among the analyzed dimensions, only the advertising intensity, the P&D intensity and the expenditure structure have not been shown to be influenced by the manager's overconfidence. With regard to working capital management and capital structure, the results have shown a negative influence of managers' overconfidence, implying that optimistic managers have greater difficulty in promoting greater inventory turnover, mainly impacting the capital structure. Regarding investment in fixed assets, as well as strategic change, the results show a positive influence of the cognitive bias of the overconfidence, and it is verified that the confident managers tend to expose the company to the greater risk caused by the uncertainty coming through change and with investments returns.

Under the present situation of corruption scandals witnessed by the population and the increasing dissatisfaction with the performance of managers and the waste of public resources by the public administration, the citizens have increasingly demanded the responsibility of the government through demands for more transparency of the management acts of government agents. For this social control to be practiced, the quality of the information emitted in the financial reports should overcome the complexity of the terminology used by accounting. In this sense, the purpose of this research was to investigate the level of compressibility of the information disclosed by the accounting statements of the Brazilian public sector. More specifically, it was sought to verify if the knowledge of the technical language and the form of disclosure of this information influence the understanding of this accounting information, both for those who have knowledge of the technical language, and for the ordinary citizen without this knowledge. The methodology used was experimental research, using a control group (G1), which received no intentional stimulus and served as the standard for comparison, and three treatment groups (G2), (G3) and (G4), in which the manipulation of the independent variables, knowledge of the technical language and popular reporting, were performed to measure its effects on the comprehensibility of the accounting information of the public sector. For this purpose, students from higher education institutions and integrated high schools were randomly distributed in the experimental scenarios. The results of the research indicated that citizens who have the knowledge of technical language understand more the accounting information disclosed by the public sector than citizens who do not have this knowledge. In contrast, when the information was released through popular reports (popular reporting), the level of understanding was higher. Thus, it was concluded that the traditional way of presenting accounting information does not favor social control, due to its incomprehensibility, denoting that the popular reporting was better for this attempt.