Pour élucider les effets récompensants de la lumière, deux approches expérimentales ont été adoptées. Une étude chez le rongeur diurne Arvicanthis ansorgei indique que le raccourcissement de la longueur du jour avec la diminution de l'intensité lumineuse induit des changements du rythme de l’activité locomotrice, de la quantité de dopamine dans le système de la récompense et sur l'expression du gène Per2 dans le noyau suprachiasmatique. Ces altérations ont été améliorées par l'exposition journalière à des créneaux d’une heure de lumière à la fin du jour. Dans une étude humaine, le bien-être subjectif mesuré par d'échantillonnage de ressentis, a été corrélée avec des mesures de fluctuations lumineuses environnementales chez des participants en bonne santé et des insomniaques. Les résultats ont montré que le bien-être subjectif augmente proportionnellement à l'intensité de la lumière chez de jeunes en bonne santé contrairement à un déficit global en matière d'évaluation hédonique chez les insomniaques. De plus amples études devraient être menées afin d'élucider l'effet des signaux lumineux environnementaux sur les circuits de récompense. / To elucidate the reward effects of light, two experimental approaches have been adopted. An experiment for the study of the effects of exposure to a winter-like photoperiod on the diurnal rodent Arvicanthis ansorgei indicated that shortened day length with reduced light intensity induces a phase change in locomotor activity, alterations in the dopamine content in reward system structures, and alterations in the Per2 clock gene expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. These measures were improved by daily exposure to a one-hour pulse of light at late in the day. In a human model, subjective wellbeing, measured by experience sampling, was correlated with ambient luminosity measurements in participants with insomnia and healthy controls. Results indicated that subjective wellbeing increases with increasing light intensity in healthy young volunteers, in contrast to an overall deficit in reward evaluation in insomniacs. Light exposure should be taken into account as an important factor in determining the quality of life of insomniacs and in depression. Further studies should be conducted to elucidate the effect of ambient light signals on reward circuits.

The broad objective of the study was to determine feeding behaviour and gut health of pigs fed different fibres at varying inclusion levels. Maize cob, maize stover, sunflower hulls, veld grass, sawdust, lucerne and dried citrus pulp were used in growing and finishing pig diets to provide a wide range of physicochemical properties. Time spent eating, drinking, lying down, sitting/standing and other activities was observed using video cameras. Blood samples were collected at the end of the trial for both growing and finishing pigs for analysis of glycated haemoglobin, albumin, globulin, total protein, creatine kinase, urea and uric acid. Intestinal segments were collected at the end of trial for growing pigs to determine mucosal architecture of the intestines. Digestible energy (DE), bulk density (BD), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and water holding capacity (WHC) were the most important variables predicting time spent on different behavioural activities in growing pigs (P < 0.001). Water holding capacity, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and ADF were the most important variables involved in predicting time spent on different behavioural activities in finishing pigs (P < 0.001). Physicochemical properties influenced time spent on different behavioural activities and they provided relationships with time spent on different behavioural activities in both growing and finishing pigs. Glycated haemoglobin, albumin, globulin, total protein and uric acid were factors that influenced time spent eating in growing pigs (P < 0.05). In finishing pigs, only serum total protein was selected as the best predictor variable influencing time spent eating (P < 0.05). The blood metabolites were correlated with time spent eating and drinking. They provided threshold values with time spent eating and drinking by pig. Hence, they can also be used as potential biomarkers that modulate neuronal pathways which reduce time spent eating and drinking. In this study, bulk density (BD) and NDF were the best predictor variables influencing villi height (VH) and apparent villi surface area (AVSA) in pigs (P < 0.05). Grouped pigs fed fibrous diet spent more time eating, lying down, standing, walking and fighting (P < 0.05). Skin lesions appeared the most on neck and shoulder region followed by chest, stomach and hind leg region, and finally head region (P < 0.05). Fibrous diet did not reduce aggressive behaviours, rather aggressive behaviours emanated out of frustration when queuing at the feeder. It was concluded that physicochemical properties of fibrous diets and nutritionally-related blood metabolites influence feeding behaviour. Mucosal architecture was also influenced by physicochemical properties of the fibrous diets. / Ph.D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2013.

Wind resource assessment studies have been conducted in the Israeli side and the Palestinian side before; however, the previous studies were restricted with the political border either Palestinian or Israeli except one of them that was based on measurements dated to 1940-1983 (R. Shabbaneh &amp; A. Hasan, 1997). Moreover, the studies were performed years ago, with simple techniques and based on old data (R. Shabbaneh &amp; A. Hasan, 1997). Hence, the needs for a new study that is based on updated data, and using updated model is highly demanded. This study is intended to perform wind resource assessment in Palestine/Israel; the study has used two stages of assessment, primary one based on reference station data on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian. The second stage of wind resource assessment is based on WindPRO software. The wind resource assessment ends up with identifying sites with higher potential that are situated in four selected sites, North of Palestine/Israel, North of West-bank, Jerusalem, and Eilat, the higher potential was in Eilat area bearing mean wind speed of 9.88m/s at 100 m hub height.Moreover, the study recognized the importance of political situation assessment due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Based on conducted survey, the political situation assessment concluded that international non-governmental organizations seem to be most capable of starting up wind power project in Palestine/Israel. Furthermore, the study concluded that supportive policies from both the Israeli and Palestinian governments are crucial to promote wind power projects in the region.

The thesis "Four Essays on the Econometric Modelling of Volatility and Durations" consists of four research papers in the area of financial econometrics on topics of the modelling of financial market volatility and the econometrics of ultra-high-frequency data. The aim of the thesis is to develop new econometric methods for modelling and hypothesis testing in these areas. The second chapter introduces a new model, the time-varying GARCH (TV-GARCH) model, in which volatility has a smooth time-varying structure of either additive or multiplicative type. To characterize smooth changes in the (un)conditional variance we assume that the parameters vary smoothly over time according to the logistic transition function. A data-based modelling technique is used for specifying the parametric structure of the TV-GARCH models. This is done by testing a sequence of hypotheses by Lagrange multiplier tests presented in the chapter. Misspecification tests are also provided for evaluating the adequacy of the estimated model. The third chapter addresses the issue of modelling deterministic changes in the unconditional variance over a long return series. The modelling strategy is illustrated with an application to the daily returns of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index from 1920 until 2003. The empirical results sustain the hypothesis that the assumption of constancy of the unconditional variance is not adequate over long return series and indicate that deterministic changes in the unconditional variance may be associated with macroeconomic factors. In the fourth chapter we propose an extension of the univariate multiplicative TV-GARCH model to the multivariate Conditional Correlation GARCH (CC-GARCH) framework. The variance equations are parameterized such that they combine the long-run and the short-run dynamic behaviour of the volatilities. In this framework, the long-run behaviour is described by the individual unconditional variances, and it is allowed to vary smoothly over time according to the logistic transition function. The effects of modelling the nonstationary variance component are examined empirically in several CC-GARCH models using pairs of seven daily stock return series from the S&amp;P 500 index. The results show that the magnitude of such effect varies across different stock series and depends on the structure of the conditional correlation matrix. An important feature of financial durations is the evidence of a strong diurnal variation over the trading day. In the fifth chapter we propose a new parameterization for describing the diurnal pattern of trading activity. The parametric structure of the diurnal component allows the duration process to change smoothly over the time-of-day according to the logistic transition function. The empirical results suggest that the diurnal variation may not always have the inverted U-shaped pattern for the trade durations as documented in earlier studies.

This thesis deals with the quality of life of pubescent and adolescent in children's homes in the Pardubice region with regard to circadian and diurnal rhythms. In the theoretical part we define in detail the concept of quality of life, pubescence, and adolescence, biorhythms with a division between circadian and diurnal rhythms, sleep and institutional care. More attention is paid to sleep, its importance, quality and above all sleep cycles that are directly associated with the subsequent research area. In the research section, four research assumptions are made. Subsequently, we process data from eight orphanages acquired in the period from December 2011 to June 2012 in the Pardubice region. The questionnaire survey has 125 respondents of which 59 are teenagers in the age range 10-14 years and 66 adolescents between the age 15 and 18. For this purpose we used a shortened version of the standardized questionnaire for circadian typology CIT - Harada, Tailor (2010). The data was evaluated using basic statistical methods. It was found that on weekdays pubescents averagely go to bed at 09:15 pm and get up at 6:45 am. On weekdays, the average sleeping time is 9.5 hours. On the weekend pubescents averagely gone to sleep at 10:30 pm and get up at 8.30 am. The average weekend sleep is 10 hours. Adolescents go to sleep on average at 10:00 pm and get up at 6:45 am on weekdays. The average sleep on weekdays is 8 ? hours. On the weekend adolescents go to sleep on average at 11:15 pm and get up at 9:15 am. Which means that the weekend sleep is an average of 10 hours. Three assumptions were met, and that, the average sleep time for pubescents on weekdays is longer than the average duration of sleep in adolescents. Adolescents have a bigger problem getting up on weekdays before puberty. Pubescents evaluate their sleep rhythm from a diurnal perspective as sufficient. One assumption was refuted and that is, adolescents sleep on average less during the weekend than their pubescent counterparts. The research was useful as it brings together the issue of the quality of life of adolescents in educational institutions and can serve both for further research and as an indicator of the quality of life.

abstract: The Iberian Queen Sancha (r.1037-1065), of the kingdom of León and Castile has received minimal attention from scholars. As the last Leonese heir, Sancha had the sole responsibility of ensuring that imperial traditions of patronage never waned. Her acts of giving and the commissioning of objects have been attributed by (male) scholars as an obligation to legitimize her husband, Fernando I of Castile. Persuasive evidence found in documents suggests that her involvement in donation transactions was predicated on more than formality. My thesis argues that Sancha used the act of giving, the act of commissioning objects, language in documents, and the powerful institution of the infantazgo, to assert an agency identical to her male predecessors to gain political influence. Creating a “donor profile” of Sancha that examines the total of her donating practices enables the exploration of her conscious and unconscious motives for donation. My investigation into these acts supports a new theory that the building construction projects of Sancha and Fernando I began at the beginning of their reign rather than after 1053 as is currently believed. As the first woman to use the titles regine emperatriz and regina totius Hispaniae, Queen Sancha did more than just legitimize her husband, she built a legacy that established a new female center of power in León that endured until the thirteenth century. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Art History 2017

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:36:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CrhistianeAS_TESE.pdf: 3719505 bytes, checksum: 0a7335581ac5a34358c53f3a78dc9a50 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-07-05 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The circadian system consists of multiple oscillators organized hierarchically, with the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) as the master oscillator to mammalians. There are lots of evidences that each SCN cell is an oscillator and that entrainment depends upon coupling degree between them. Knowledge of the mechanism of coupling between the SCN cells is essential for understanding entrainment and expression of circadian rhythms, and thus promote the development of new treatments for circadian rhythmicity disorders, which may cause various diseases. Some authors suggest that the dissociation model of circadian rhythm activity of rats under T22, period near the limit of synchronization, is a good model to induce internal desynchronization, and in this way, enhance knowledge about the coupling mechanism. So, in order to evaluate the pattern of the motor activity circadian rhythm of marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, in light-dark cycles at the lower limit of entrainment, two experiments were conducted: 1) 6 adult females were submitted to the LD symmetric cycles T21, T22 and T21.5 for 60, 35 and 48 days, respectively; 2) 4 male and 4 female adults were subjected to T21 for 24 days followed by 18 days of LL, and then back to T21 for 24 days followed by 14 days of LL. Vocalizations of all animals and motor activity of each one of them were continuously recorded throughout the experiments, but the vocalizations were recorded only in Experiment 1. Under the Ts shorter than 24 h, two simultaneous circadian components appeared in motor activity, one with the same period of LD cycle, named light-entrained component, and the other in free-running, named non-light-entrained component. Both components were displayed for all the animals in T21, five animals (83.3%) in T21.5 and two animals (33.3%) in T22. For vocalizations both components were observed under the three Ts. Due to the different characteristics of these components we suggest that dissociation is result of partial synchronization to the LD cycle, wherein at least one group oscillator is synchronized to the LD by relative coordination and masking processes, while at least another group of oscillators is in free-running, but also under the influence of masking by the LD. As the T21 h was the only cycle able to promote the emergence of both circadian components in circadian rhythms of all Callithrix jacchus, this was then considered the lower entrainment limit of LD cycle promoter of dissociation in circadian rhythmicity of this species, and then suggested as a non-human primate model for forced desynchronization / O sistema circadiano ? formado por m?ltiplos osciladores organizados hierarquicamente, sendo o n?cleo supraquiasm?tico (NSQ) o oscilador principal nos mam?feros. H? v?rias evid?ncias de que cada c?lula do NSQ seja um oscilador e que a sincroniza??o resulte do grau de acoplamento entre elas. O conhecimento do mecanismo de acoplamento entre as c?lulas do NSQ ? essencial para se entender a sincroniza??o e a express?o dos ritmos circadianos e, dessa forma, propiciar o desenvolvimento de novos tratamentos para os dist?rbios da ritmicidade circadiana que podem gerar v?rias doen?as. V?rios autores sugerem o modelo de dissocia??o do ritmo circadiano da atividade motora de ratos sob T22, per?odo pr?ximo ao limite de sincroniza??o, como um bom modelo animal para promover dessincroniza??o interna, propiciando um maior conhecimento sobre o mecanismo de acoplamento. Ent?o, com o objetivo de avaliar o padr?o do ritmo circadiano de atividade motora de saguis, Callithrix jacchus, em ciclos claro-escuro no limite inferior de sincroniza??o, foram realizados dois experimentos: 1) 6 f?meas adultas foram submetidas aos ciclo CE sim?tricos T21, T21.5 e T22 durante 60, 35 e 48 dias, respectivamente; 2) 4 machos e 4 f?meas adultos foram submetidos a T21 por 24 dias, seguido de CC por 18 dias, depois voltaram ao T21 por mais 24 dias seguido de CC durante 14 dias. As vocaliza??es de todos os animais e a atividade motora de cada um foram registradas continuamente ao longo dos experimentos, sendo que as vocaliza??es foram registradas apenas no Experimento 1. Sob os Ts menores que 24 h foram observados dois componentes circadianos simult?neos na atividade motora, sendo um com o mesmo per?odo do ciclo CE, nomeado como componente sincronizado pela luz, e outro em livre-curso, nomeado como componente n?o sincronizado pela luz. Os dois componentes foram exibidos por todos os animais sob T21, cinco animais (83,3%) sob T21.5 e dois animais (33,3%) sob T22. Para as vocaliza??es foram observados os dois componentes sob os tr?s Ts. Devido ?s diferentes caracter?sticas desses componentes, sugerimos que a dissocia??o ? resultado de sincroniza??o parcial ao ciclo CE, onde pelo menos um grupo de osciladores est? sincronizado ao ciclo CE por processos de coordena??o relativa e mascaramento, enquanto pelo menos outro grupo de osciladores est? em livre-curso, mas tamb?m sob influ?ncia de mascaramento do CE. Como o T21 foi o ?nico a promover o surgimento dos dois componentes circadianos nos ritmos circadianos de todos Callithrix jacchus, este foi ent?o considerado o per?odo de ciclo CE promotor de dissocia??o na ritmicidade circadiana dessa esp?cie, sendo ent?o sugerido como modelo de dessincroniza??o for?ada em primatas n?o humanos diurnos

In this Master thesis the behaviour of anemone shrimp Ancylomenes longicarpus was studied in situ in the Red Sea. The diurnal activity, signalling behaviour and also cleaning behaviour was observed and analyzed.

[pt] Esta pesquisa buscou verificar as diferenças entre os perfis e condições de trabalho/estudo dos turnos diurno e noturno de alunos do curso de pedagogia de uma instituição pública do estado do Rio de Janeiro. As condições de formação e de desenvolvimento do trabalho estudantil desses estudantes foram cotejadas através do olhar do próprio estudante e de seus professores. Procuramos caracterizar as possíveis diferenças de oportunidades de formação oferecidas nos dois turnos. Como já analisado pela literatura, estudantes de pedagogia são oriundos geralmente de estratos de camadas populares, e demandariam, portanto, condições humanas e materiais para maior dedicação e investimento no curso superior, de modo a contrabalançar as possíveis deficiências de sua formação básica. Realizamos entrevistas com 16 professores do curso de pedagogia da instituição pesquisada, aplicamos 334 questionários a estudantes de ambos os turnos, recebemos 57 relatos de estudantes sobre a sua experiência no curso e desenvolvemos 15 conversas informais com os estudantes dos dois turnos. Além deste material, procuramos caracterizar as condições de infraestrutura da universidade para o atendimento desses alunos, bem como o aproveitamento do curso e das oportunidades oferecidas pela universidade a eles. Os conceitos de habitus, capital cultural, trajetória e estratégia de Bourdieu foram fundamentais para este estudo. Apoiamo-nos ainda na bibliografia sobre qualidade da educação, tema investigado por duas décadas pelo SOCED, de cuja equipe faço parte. Em analogia aos estudos sobre o efeito escola, propusemo-nos a focalizar o efeito universidade. Neste sentido, o efeito universidade foi analisado a partir da organização dos processos acadêmicos, dos espaços universitários (bibliotecas, salas de estudo, áreas livres, etc), dos recursos de apoio acadêmico – conferências, eventos, bolsas de diferentes tipos (PIBIC, PIBID, de monitoria, de extensão...) – e do próprio clima universitário no sentido de ambiente favorecedor de atividades acadêmicas/culturais, sociais para os estudantes. Com este conjunto de elementos procuramos levantar algumas hipóteses sobre o efeito turno, identificando algumas diferenças que merecem uma maior reflexão sobre as desigualdades de oportunidades de formação entre os dois turnos. / [en] This research analyzes the differences between the profiles and working/study conditions of diurnal and nocturnal schedules for students of pedagogy of a public institution in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The training and working development conditions of these students were collated through the eyes of the students themselves and their teachers. We have sought to characterize possible differences in training opportunities in both day and night schedules. As it has already been discussed in the specialized literature, pedagogy students generally come from lower class strata, and therefore these students require human and material conditions for greater commitment and investment in a higher education course in order to counterbalance the possible shortcomings of their basic training. 16 professors of pedagogy of the institution studied have been interviewed, 334 questionnaires to students in both diurnal and nocturnal schedules have been applied, 57 students have written reports about their experience in the course and we have had 15 informal conversations with students of the two schedules. In addition to this material, we have sought to characterize the conditions of the university infrastructure to treat these students as well as the use of the course and the opportunities offered by the university to them. Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, cultural capital, trajectory and strategy were essential for this study. We also base it on the literature on quality of education, a theme that has been researched for two decades by SOCED, whose staff I am part of. In analogy to the studies on the school effect, we have decided to focus on the university effect. Thus, the university effect has been analyzed from the organization of the academic processes of the university buildings (such as libraries, study rooms, open spaces, etc.), the academic support resources – conferences, events, scholarships of different types (PIBIC, PIBID, monitoring, extension...) – and the university atmosphere which promotes academic, cultural and social activities for students. With this set of elements, we have sought to raise some hypotheses about the schedule effect, identifying some differences that deserve further consideration of the inequalities in educational opportunities between those students who study in the morning and those ones who study in the evening.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-12-13T12:21:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 isabelmartinelecorrea.pdf: 473111 bytes, checksum: fef90be37cc2eb87e8dcbc88e8d3a4a5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-12-15T14:08:57Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 isabelmartinelecorrea.pdf: 473111 bytes, checksum: fef90be37cc2eb87e8dcbc88e8d3a4a5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-15T14:08:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 isabelmartinelecorrea.pdf: 473111 bytes, checksum: fef90be37cc2eb87e8dcbc88e8d3a4a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-02-23 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Os protozoários ciliados do rúmen integram a microbiota ruminal e junto das bactérias, fungos e protozoários flagelados participam da digestão fermentativa nos ruminantes. Entretanto, o papel desempenhado por estes microorganismos no metabolismo do hospedeiro apresenta pontos controversos os quais se devem em parte, à complexidade da dinâmica populacional e às relações estabelecidas com o hospedeiro e demais microorganismos ruminais. Objetivou-se caracterizar as populações de protozoários ciliados no rúmen de ovinos mestiços Santa Inês, verificando os efeitos da estacionalidade e aspectos relacionados às variações diurnas destas populações. Foram utilizados cinco ovinos mestiços Santa Inês, fistulados no rúmen, mantidos em pastagem natural de caatinga, no estado de Pernambuco, Brasil. As coletas foram realizadas em julho de 2005, período correspondente à estação chuvosa, e em janeiro de 2006, durante a estação seca. A composição botânica da dieta dos animais foi determinada através da análise da extrusa. Os horários de coleta das amostras de conteúdo ruminal seguiram o tempo de soltura dos animais, sendo a primeira coleta antes de se soltar os animais (zero hora) e às duas, quatro, seis, oito e dez horas após o animal estar em campo, sendo as amostras fixadas em formalina 18,5% (v/v). A dieta alimentar dos ovinos durante a estação chuvosa foi predominantemente composta por espécies vegetais herbáceas e na estação seca por espécies arbustivas o que retrata o efeito da xvi estacionalidade no hábito alimentar dos ovinos. Foram identificados e quantificados organismos dos gêneros Dasytricha, Diplodinium, Diploplastron, Entodinium, Eodinium, Elytroplastron, Enoploplastron, Epidinium, Eremoplastron, Eudiplodinium, Isotricha, Metadinium e Ophryoscolex, sendo os gêneros Enoploplastron e Eodinium observados apenas na estação chuvosa. Diplodinium, Elytroplastron, Metadinium e Ophryoscolex não apresentaram variações na concentração de suas populações em função da estação do ano. Observou-se a predominância de organismos do gênero Entodinium nas estações chuvosa e seca; entretanto, na estação seca houve significativo decréscimo na concentração deste gênero, e aumento de outros entodiniomorfos e de isotriquídeos. O número total de protozoários foi significativamente reduzido durante a estação seca. Diploplastron e Entodinium apresentaram variações na concentração de suas populações em função do horário de amostragem. O número de ciliados em divisão não apresentou correlação com o horário de amostragem, sendo que a estabilidade das taxas de divisão parece contribuir para a manutenção das concentrações dos ciliados no rúmen. O pH ruminal apresentou correlação negativa com o tempo de amostragem, não estando correlacionado com o número de protozoários, provavelmente porque as variações observadas compreenderam valores considerados ideais para o estabelecimento e manutenção das populações de protozoários no rúmen. Foi constatado o comportamento predatório de Elytroplastron sobre Enoploplastron, Epidinium e Entodinium; além de canibalismo entre organismos do gênero Elytroplastron. Evidências do comportamento alimentar foram obtidas através do registro da ingestão de fibras e formação de grânulos de amido no citoplasma, o que evidencia a atividade celulolítica e amilolítica atribuída a estes microorganismos no ambiente ruminal. / The ciliate protozoan of the rumen are part of the ruminal microbiota, and together with bacteria, fungus and flagellate protozoa, they participate of the fermentative digestion of the ruminants. However, there are controversial aspects about the hole of these microorganisms it the metabolism of the host, in part due to the complexity of the population dynamics, and also to the interrelations between protozoan, the host, and other ruminal microorganisms. The objective of this work was to characterize the ciliate protozoa populations in the rumen of Santa Inez crossbred sheep, verifying the effects of the seasonality and also aspects related to the diurnal changes of these populations. It was used five sheep fistulated in the rumen, maintained in natural pasturage of caatinga (scrubland) vegetation at the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. The samples were collected in july 2005 (rainy season) and january 2006 (dry season). The composition of animals diet was determined through the extrusa analysis. The samples were obtained at intervals of two hours, being the first sample took before the releasing of the animals, in a total of six samples. The samples were fixed in formalin at 18, 5% (v/v). The feed composition of the sheep during the rainy season was predominantly composed of herbaceous species, and at the dry season by species shrub, denoting the effect of the seasonality on the sheep feed habits. It was identified and quantified Dasytricha, Diplodinium, Diploplastron, Entodinium, Eodinium, xviii Elytroplastron, Enoploplastron, Epidinium, Eremoplastron, Eudiplodinium, Isotricha, Metadinium e Ophryoscolex. Eodinium and Enoploplastron genders were observed just at the rainy season. Diplodinium, Elytroplastron, Metadinium and Ophryoscolex didn’t show variations in the population concentration as a function of the season. It was observed the predominance of the gender Entodinium at both seasons; however, at the dry season it was noted significant decrease in the concentration of this gender, and increase in greater ophryoscolecidae and Isotrichidae. The total number of protozoa was significantly reduced during the dry season. Diploplastron and Entodinium showed variations in their populations concentrations, due to the time of sampling. The number ciliates undergoing division was not correlated with the sampling times. Stable division rate appears to contribute to maintenance of ciliates concentrations in the rumen. The ruminal pH was negatively correlated with sampling times, and was not correlated with the number of protozoa, probably because the variations observed included parameters considered ideal for establishment and maintenance protozoa populations of rumen. It was observed predatory behavior of Elytroplastron on Enoploplastron, Epidinium and Entodinium; besides cannibalism between organisms of the Elytroplastron gender. The registration of fiber ingestion and starch granules formation at the cytoplasm indicates cellulolytic and amilollytic activities, attributed to these microorganisms in the ruminal environment.