O estado empresário: regime jurídico das tradicionais e novas formas de atuação empresarial do estado na economia brasileira

A presente dissertação versa sobre limites para a intervenção do Estado na economia sob a forma empresarial e os controles a ela aplicáveis. Além de abordar o papel do Estado como acionista de sociedades privadas e a compatibilidade dessa forma de intervenção com o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, promove-se uma releitura da doutrina e jurisprudência sobre as sociedades de economia mista e sobre as empresas públicas. Estuda-se as razões que levam o Estado a intervir na economia de uma maneira geral, seja de forma direta ou indireta, a partir das teorias econômicas normativas e descritivas sobre a intervenção estatal na economia. Discorre-se sobre os fundamentos constitucionais à intervenção do Estado na economia e os possíveis motivos para a criação de empresas estatais e participação minoritária em sociedades privadas, bem como sobre os condicionamentos impostos pelo princípio da livre iniciativa à intervenção do Estado na economia, em especial à luz da jurisprudência dos Tribunais Superiores. Foram abordados, ainda, os princípios da eficiência, da livre concorrência e da proporcionalidade, que também constituem fundamentos e limites gerais à intervenção do Estado na economia, além da necessidade de autorização legal. Além de apresentarmos um breve resumo da discussão histórica sobre a criação das empresas estatais no Brasil e os motivos para a escolha de um ou outro tipo de sociedade estatal, analisa-se o regime jurídico aplicável a essas entidades, à luz dos dispositivos constitucionais e da jurisprudência sobre o tema, incluindo-se o estudo do seu regime de pessoal, de bens, tributário, licitações, contratual, responsabilidade civil e falência. Estudaremos, ainda, as formas de controle incidentes sobre essas entidades. Por fim, a dissertação também abrange o estudo da intervenção do Estado como acionista minoritário em sociedades privadas, abordando os motivos para essa participação societária, bem como a natureza dessa intervenção. Trata-se de empresas controladas pela iniciativa privada, mas que têm algum grau de participação estatal em seu capital. São muitos os motivos que podem levar o Poder Público a participar sem poder de controle em empresas privadas. A participação minoritária pode visar a permitir um maior controle do Estado sobre a empresa participada, ou mesmo a tomada de controle gradual de determinada companhia, mas também pode constituir uma forma de parceria entre a iniciativa estatal e a privada, como forma mais eficiente de fomento de atividades consideradas de interesse público ou de compartilhamento de riscos e custos envolvidos em determinada atividade explorada pelo Poder Público e pela iniciativa privada. Aborda-se a relação das sociedades meramente participadas com a Administração pública, bem como os condicionamentos constitucionais à participação minoritária estatal sem controle em sociedades privadas (proporcionalidade, eficiência, necessidade de autorização legal, realização de procedimento licitatório com vista à escolha do parceiro privado, e controle do Tribunal de Contas da União).

A atuação do Estado na economia como acionista minoritário: possibilidades e limites

A presente dissertação é sobre a atuação do Estado na economia como acionista minoritário, focando, em especial, no caso do Brasil. Em um primeiro momento, tratamos das possibilidades do uso das participações minoritárias, apontando que, embora estejamos falando de propriedade pública sobre parcelas do capital social de empresas privadas, essas participações não configuram, somente, forma de exploração direta da atividade econômica, devendo ser compreendidas como uma técnica jurídica ou uma ferramenta da qual o Estado pode se valer para realizar as diferentes modalidades de atuação na economia. Nesse sentido, mostramos como as participações minoritárias possibilitam a atuação do Estado como empresário, regulador, fomentador e investidor. Em seguida, falamos dos mecanismos societários que a Administração Pública pode utilizar para que, mesmo como acionista minoritária, possa influenciar a direção das empresas público-privadas, tais como os acordos de acionistas e as golden-shares. Após cuidarmos da natureza jurídica e das vantagens comparativas da atuação estatal na economia por meio de participações minoritárias, passamos a analisar os limites dessa atuação. Desse modo, deve-se distinguir entre o uso das participações públicas como opção legítima de atuação na economia versus sua aplicação como burla ao regime jurídico aplicável às empresas estatais mediante o controle societário disfarçado e a simulação de contratações administrativas. Por fim, tratamos da questão da escolha de parceiros privados pela Administração Pública, bem como dos controles públicos que incidem sobre as empresas participadas.

Arizona utility shares SCADA advantages for system efficiency, management strategies.

Mode of access: Internet.

The new Golden Legend: Patrick Nicholas's secular saints

The work of Italian-based photo-artist Patrick Nicholas is analysed to show how his re-workings of classic ‘old-master’ paintings can be seen as the art of ‘redaction,’ shedding new light on the relationship between originality and copying. I argue that redactional creativity is both highly productive of new meanings and a reinvention of the role of the medieval Golden Legend. (Lives of the Saints).

Ownership structure and business evaluation practices in family SMEs : evidence from empirical research in Italy

This paper presents early results from a pilot project which aims to investigate the relationship between proprietary structure of small and medium- sized Italian family firms and their owners’ orientation towards a “business evaluation process”. Evidence from many studies point out the importance of family business in a worldwide economic environment: in Italy 93% of the businesses are represented by family firms; 98% of them have less than 50 employees (Italian Association of Family Firms, 2004) so we judged family SMEs as a relevant field of investigation. In this study we assume a broad definition of family business as “a firm whose control (50% of shares or voting rights) is closely held by the members of the same family” (Corbetta,1995). “Business evaluation process” is intended here both as “continuous evaluation process” (which is the expression of a well developed managerial attitude) or as an “immediate valuation” (i.e. in the case of new shareholder’s entrance, share exchange among siblings, etc). We set two hypotheses to be tested in this paper: the first is “quantitative” and aims to verify whether the number of owners (independent variable) in a family firm is positively correlated to the business evaluation process. If a family firm is led by only one subject, it is more likely that personal values, culture and feelings may affect his choices more than “purely economic opportunities”; so there is less concern about monitoring economic performance or about the economic value of the firm. As the shareholders’ number increases, economic aspects in managing the firm grow in importance over the personal values and "value orientation" acquires a central role. The second hypothesis investigates if and to what extent the presence of “non- family members” among the owners affects their orientation to the business evaluation process. The “Cramer’s V” test has been used to test the hypotheses; both were not confirmed from these early results; next steps will lead to make an inferential analysis on a representative sample of the population.

Whitefly Transmission and Efficient ssDNA Accumulation of Bean Golden Mosaic Geminivirus Require Functional Coat Protein

Bean golden mosaic geminivirus (BGMV) has a bipartite genome composed of two circular ssDNA components (DNA-A and DNA-B) and is transmitted by the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. DNA-A encodes the viral replication proteins and the coat protein. To determine the role of BGMV coat protein systemic infection and whitefly transmission, two deletions and a restriction fragment inversion were introduced into the BGMV coat protein gene. All three coat protein mutants produced systemic infections when coinoculated with DNA-B onto Phaseolus vulgaris using electric discharge particle acceleration "particle gun." However, they were not sap transmissible and coat protein was not detected in mutant-infected plants. In addition, none of the mutants were transmitted by whiteflies. With all three mutants, ssDNA accumulation of DNA-A and DNA-B was reduced 25- to 50-fold and 3- to 10-fold, respectively, as compared to that of wild-type DNA. No effect on dsDNA-A accumulation was detected and there was 2- to 5-fold increase in dsDNA-B accumulation. Recombinants between the mutated DNA-A and DNA-B forms were identified when the inoculated coat protein mutant was linearized in the common region.

Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's Early History. Volume 2 : A golden era begins : Football in 'Marvellous Melbourne', 1877 to 1885

This is the second volume of a five volume series that describes, assesses, and analyses football in Victoria during the nineteenth century. This volume looks at the cultural contexts of the sport in the late 1870s and early 1880s, describes the important matches played, and provides a full statistical account of this time period. This book is the first comprehensive discussion of the early period in Australian football's development.

Portrait from the Golden Wedding Anniversary celebration of Heinrich and Helena Valentin; Berlin Portraits Groups

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Foraging Behaviour and Landscape Utilisation by the Endangered Golden-Crowned Flying Fox (Acerodon jubatus), The Philippines

Species of Old World fruit-bats (family Pteropodidae) have been identified as the natural hosts of a number of novel and highly pathogenic viruses threatening livestock and human health. We used GPS data loggers to record the nocturnal foraging movements of Acerodon jubatus, the Golden-crowned flying fox in the Philippines to better understand the landscape utilisation of this iconic species, with the dual objectives of pre-empting disease emergence and supporting conservation management. Data loggers were deployed on eight of 54 A. jubatus (two males and six females) captured near Subic Bay on the Philippine island of Luzon between 22 November and 2 December 2010. Bodyweight ranged from 730 g to 1002 g, translating to a weight burden of 3–4% of bodyweight. Six of the eight loggers yielded useful data over 2–10 days, showing variability in the nature and range of individual bat movements. The majority of foraging locations were in closed forest and most were remote from evident human activity. Forty-six discrete foraging locations and five previously unrecorded roost locations were identified. Our findings indicate that foraging is not a random event, with the majority of bats exhibiting repetitious foraging movements night-to-night, that apparently intact forest provides the primary foraging resource, and that known roost locations substantially underestimate the true number (and location) of roosts. Our initial findings support policy and decision-making across perspectives including landscape management, species conservation, and potentially disease emergence.

Jer. (Jerusalem) - Temple Pl. (place) - Golden Gate

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Pentoxifylline induces hyperactivation and acrosome reaction in spermatozoa of golden hamsters: changes in motility kinematics

Pentoxifylline (PF) is used to enhance motility of spermatozoa from infertile human subjects. We have previously shown that 0.45 mM PF improved capacitation of spermatozoa and fertilization of oocytes in vitro in hamsters. The present study was carried out to assess PF- induced changes in motility kinematics of hamster spermatozoa by a computer-aided sperm analyser (CASA) and determine the timing of onset of hyperactivation (HA) and acrosome reaction (AR) in PF-treated spermatozoa. Motility kinematics were analysed by CASA for 0-8 h in the absence or presence of 0.45 mM PF in Tyrode's medium supplemented with lactate, pyruvate and polyvinyl alcohol (TLP-PVA) or in TLP-PVA with bovine serum albumin (TALP-PVA). Conventional assessment was also made on the percentage of motility and quality of motility of spermatozoa; values were expressed as sperm motility index (SMI). Both in TALP-PVA and TLP-PVA, PF markedly increased SMI, especially the quality of motility (P < 0.02) by 2-3 h which was sustained up to 6 h. The motility kinematic data of PF-treated spermatozoa in TALP-PVA showed that average path velocity, curvilinear velocity and amplitude of lateral head displacement significantly (P < 0.05) increased as early as 2 h, with the expected decrease in straightness (STR) and linearity (LIN). Similar changes were also observed with PF-treated spermatozoa in TLP-PVA. Moreover, the percentage of hyperactivated spermatozoa in PF-treated samples was significantly (P < 0.001) higher than the untreated control at 2 h. To determine whether PF could induce AR, independent of bovine serum albumin, quantitative AR was assessed by observing the presence or absence of acrosomal cap on viable spermatozoa. PF significantly (P < 0.001) increased the percentage of AR as early as 2 h, reaching maximum at 4 h both in TALP-PVA (P < 0.05) and in TLP-PVA (P < 0.001). These results show that, in hamsters, PF induces early onset (by 2 h) of HA and AR and increases the proportion of spermatozoa undergoing physiological maturation.