A Markovian model market-Akerlof`s lemons and the asymmetry of information

In this work we study an agent based model to investigate the role of asymmetric information degrees for market evolution. This model is quite simple and may be treated analytically since the consumers evaluate the quality of a certain good taking into account only the quality of the last good purchased plus her perceptive capacity beta. As a consequence, the system evolves according to a stationary Markov chain. The value of a good offered by the firms increases along with quality according to an exponent alpha, which is a measure of the technology. It incorporates all the technological capacity of the production systems such as education, scientific development and techniques that change the productivity rates. The technological level plays an important role to explain how the asymmetry of information may affect the market evolution in this model. We observe that, for high technological levels, the market can detect adverse selection. The model allows us to compute the maximum asymmetric information degree before the market collapses. Below this critical point the market evolves during a limited period of time and then dies out completely. When beta is closer to 1 (symmetric information), the market becomes more profitable for high quality goods, although high and low quality markets coexist. The maximum asymmetric information level is a consequence of an ergodicity breakdown in the process of quality evaluation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Music and faith: The religious scene in the Brazilian phonographic market

This text discusses the phonographic segment of religious music in Brazil in its two main manifestations, linked respectively to the Catholic and Protestant traditions. The text offers a brief history of both traditions, as well as a description of their main recording companies and artists of greatest prominence. In its final part. the text presents the strategies that bring together recording companies and independent artists, as well as ponders over Brazil`s independent musical production as a whole.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT AND THE BRAZILIAN REAL ESTATE MARKET

This article discusses the main aspects of the Brazilian real estate market in order to illustrate if it would be attractive for a typical American real estate investor to buy office-building portfolios in Brazil. The article emphasizes: [i] - the regulatory frontiers, comparing investment securitization, using a typical American REIT structure, with the Brazilian solution, using the Fundo de Investimento Imobiliario - FII; [ii] - the investment quality attributes in the Brazilian market, using an office building prototype, and [iii] - the comparison of [risk vs. yield] generated by an investment in the Brazilian market, using a FII, benchmarked against an existing REIT (OFFICE SUB-SECTOR) in the USA market. We conclude that investing dollars exchanged for Reais [the Brazilian currency] in a FII with a triple A office-building portfolio in the Sao Paulo marketplace will yield an annual income and a premium return above an American REIT investment. The highly aggressive scenario, along with the strong persistent exchange rate detachment to the IGP-M variations, plus instabilities affecting the generation of income, and even if we adopt a 300-point margin for the Brazil-Risk level, demonstrates that an investment opportunity in the Brazilian market, in the segment we have analyzed, outperforms an equivalent investment in the American market.

Sampled Control for Mean-Variance Hedging in a Jump Diffusion Financial Market

In this technical note we consider the mean-variance hedging problem of a jump diffusion continuous state space financial model with the re-balancing strategies for the hedging portfolio taken at discrete times, a situation that more closely reflects real market conditions. A direct expression based on some change of measures, not depending on any recursions, is derived for the optimal hedging strategy as well as for the ""fair hedging price"" considering any given payoff. For the case of a European call option these expressions can be evaluated in a closed form.

Incidence of black spot in citrus fruits from different processing stages in packinghouses and from Sao Paulo`s wholesale market

The purposes of this work were a) to evaluate citrus black spot (CBS) incidence in `Valencia` oranges and `Murcott` tangors aimed at the export market, and in Pera`, `Lima` and `Natal` oranges, and `Murcott` tangors, aimed at the domestic market after different processing stages in packinghouses in 2004/05 and 2005/06; b) to evaluate CBS incidence in Pera` and `Lima` oranges and `Murcott` tangors sold at Ceagesp-SP, the biggest wholesale market in the State of Sao Paulo, in 2006. Citrus fruits were collected at the packinghouse, on their arrival, after pre-washing and de-greening, from the packing table, from the pallet and at Ceagesp. They were stored for 14 to 21 days at 25 degrees C and 85-90% RH. The incidence of CBS was visually evaluated after one day and at the end of the storage period. CBS incidence in fruits aimed at the export market decreased, with values under 2.0% on arrival and no CBS symptoms observed on fruits from the pallet. The average incidence of CBS in `Pera`, `Lima` and `Natal` oranges, and `Murcott` tangors in the packinghouse aimed at the domestic market were 64.1, 39.0, 32.1 and 19.3%, respectively, after one day of storage, then remaining constant in all processing stages. The incidence of CBS in Ceagesp fruits was low in winter months and increased in the spring. The increase in disease incidence during the storage period (21 days) was not significant in collected fruits.

Postharvest diseases in citrus and characterization of the fungal population in Sao Paulo`s wholesale market

The purposes of this workwere to characterize postharvest injuries and to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of`Nra` and `Lima`oranges and `Murcott` tangor at Ceagesp market, as well as to characterize the environmental mycoflora in retail points at Ceagesp in 2006. Fruits collected at retail points were stored for 14 days at 25 degrees C and 85-90% RH. The incidence of injuries was visually evaluated every three days. The physicochemical characteristics analyzed were titratable acidity and soluble solids amount. The environmental mycoflora was sampled according to the gravimetric method, using Petri dishes containing potato-dextrose-agar medium+pentabiotic opened for two minutes. The average rot incidences in `Pera` and `Lima` oranges and `Murcott` tangor were 12.8, 14.9 and 25.8%, respectively, at the end of the storage period, and green mold was the main postharvest disease. Associations between physicochemical parameters and rot incidence was, in general, not significant. The environmental fungal population varied significantly between the sampling months in retail points with an average of 25.3 cfu/plate. Penicillium and Cladosporium were the most recorded genera of fungi. Positive correlation (r=0.96) was observed between frequency of P digitatum found in the environment of retail points and the green mold in on-sale fruits of `Pera` orange. However, for `Lima` orange and `Murcott` tangor such a correlation was not verified.

Stone fruit injuries and damage at the wholesale market of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Mechanical injuries and diseases in stone fruit are important causes for market rejection. The objectives of this research were to quantify and characterize the mechanical injuries and diseases in peaches, nectarines and plums at Sao Paulo`s wholesale market, the largest in Brazil. Incidence of injuries was assessed weekly in 1 % of the marketed fruit (2973 fruit/week), from September to December in 2003 and 2004. Mechanical injuries were the most frequent injuries in both years, ranging from 8.73% (plum) to 44.5% (nectarine) of injured fruit. There was a significant positive correlation between the incidence of postharvest mechanical injuries and postharvest diseases. Incidence of postharvest diseases varied from 2.5% to 6.6%. Cladosporium rot (Cladosporium sp.) and brown rot (Monilinia fructicola) were the most frequent diseases, and were mostly detected in the apexes of nectarines and peaches. Aurora (peach), Sunraycer (nectarine) and Gulfblaze (plum) varieties were the most susceptible to injuries and diseases. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stability property of matchings is a natural solution concept in coalitional market games

Stability of matchings was proved to be a new cooperative equilibrium concept in Sotomayor (Dynamics and equilibrium: essays in honor to D. Gale, 1992). That paper introduces the innovation of treating as multi-dimensional the payoff of a player with a quota greater than one. This is done for the many-to-many matching model with additively separable utilities, for which the stability concept is defined. It is then proved, via linear programming, that the set of stable outcomes is nonempty and it may be strictly bigger than the set of dual solutions and strictly smaller than the core. The present paper defines a general concept of stability and shows that this concept is a natural solution concept, stronger than the core concept, for a much more general coalitional game than a matching game. Instead of mutual agreements inside partnerships, the players are allowed to make collective agreements inside coalitions of any size and to distribute his labor among them. A collective agreement determines the level of labor at which the coalition operates and the division, among its members, of the income generated by the coalition. An allocation specifies a set of collective agreements for each player.

Customer Perception about Loyalty Programs in Agricultural Market: a case study

This study discusses the use of loyalty programs and Customer perception in, agricultural market. The theoretical review includes relationship marketing, its objectives, dimensions and instruments, and loyalty programs. The method for the empirical part consisted on qualitative research, through a case study conducted at one of the largest crop protection chemical companies in Brazil. The case is representative once this company was pioneer in its segment in adopting the customer relationship management. (CRM) approach to-their clients: It has been a consensus that customer relationship is a tool to amplify the Customer share. This.,is so, due the. increasing competition generated by the entrance of generic products and the retaliation actions adopted by the multinational groups. The case study includes a market overview, a description of the company, its loyalty program, the image of the program from the customer`s perspective, and the main results acquired with the CRM program. The Study also presents some recommendations for-companies that are pursuing strategies to. increase their customer share through loyalty programs.

Book illustration, as (intersemiotic) translation: Pictures translating words

This article examines book illustrations through the prism of Translation Studies. It mainly suggests that the pictures in illustrated books are (intersemiotic) translations of the text and that, as such, they can be analyzed making use of the same tools applied to verbal interlingual translation. The first section deals with the theoretical bases upon which illustrations can be regarded as translations, concentrating on theories of re-creation, as illustration is viewed essentially as the re-creation of the text in visual form. One of the claims in this section is that, because illustration is carried out in very similar ways as interlingual translation itself, the term ""intersemiotic"" relates more to the (obvious) difference of medium. For this reason the word is most often referred to in parentheses. The second section discusses three particular ways through which illustrations can translate the text, namely, by reproducing the textual elements literally in the picture, by emphasizing a specific narrative element, and by adapting the pictures to a certain ideology or artistic trend. The example illustrations are extracted from different. kinds of publication and media, ranging from Virgil`s Aeneid, Lewis Carroll`s Alice in Wonderland and Mark Twain`s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to an online comic version of Shakespeare`s Hamlet.

Translation to Portuguese and Validation of the Douleur Neuropathique 4 Questionnaire

The Douleur Neuropathique 4 (DN4) questionnaire was developed by the French Neuropathic Pain Group and is a simple and objective tool, with the ability to distinguish nociceptive from neuropathic pain. The purpose of this work was to validate the DN4 questionnaire in the Portuguese language in order to allow its use in clinical and research settings. A double-blind, accuracy study was conducted, consisting of translation, back-translation, literal evaluation, semantic equivalence, and communication with the target population. The Portuguese version of the questionnaire was applied in a sample of 101 patients with neuropathic (N = 42) or nociceptive pain (N = 59), ranked according to medical diagnosis. The reproducibility, reliability and validity of the instrument were analyzed, and showed a high diagnostic power for this version of the DN4 questionnaire. The Portuguese version of the DN4 questionnaire presented good validity and reliability, allowing it to identify neuropathic pain and neuropathic characteristics of mixed pain syndromes. Perspective: This article presents the first validated neuropathic pain questionnaire in the Portuguese language and represents a useful tool in the assessment of neuropathic pain both in the clinical setting and in population-based studies. The sensible and quick format of this instrument are key factors that will contribute to its widespread use, permitting a true recognition of patients with neuropathic pain. (C) 2010 by the American Pain Society

Acute hyperglycemia rapidly stimulates VEGF mRNA translation in the kidney. Role of angiotensin type 2 receptor (AT2)

Angiotensin II (Ang II) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are important mediators of kidney injury in diabetes. Acute hyperglycemia increased synthesis of intrarenal Ang I and Ang II and resulted in activation of both Ang II receptors, AT1 and AT2, in the kidney. Losartan (specific AT1 antagonist) or PD123319 (specific AT2 antagonist) did not affect hyperglycemia but prevented activation of renal AT1 and AT2, respectively. In murine renal cortex, acute hyperglycemia increased VEGF protein but not mRNA content after 24 h, which suggested translational regulation. Blockade of AT2, but not AT1, prevented increase in VEGF synthesis by inhibiting translation of VEGF mRNA in renal cortex. Acute hyperglycemia increased VEGF expression in wild type but not in AT2 knockout mice. Binding of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K to VEGF mRNA, which stimulates its translation, was prevented by blockade of AT2, but not AT1. The Akt-mTOR-p70(S6K) signaling pathway, involved in the activation of mRNA translation, was activated in hyperglycemic kidneys and was blocked by the AT2 antagonist. Elongation phase is an important step of mRNA translation that is controlled by elongation factor 1A (eEF1A) and 2 (eEF2). Expression of eEF1A and activity of eEF2 was higher in kidney cortex from hyperglycemic mice and only the AT2 antagonist prevented these changes. To assess selectivity of translational control of VEGF expression, we measured expression of fibronectin (FN) and laminin beta 1 (lam beta 1): acute hyperglycemia increased FN expression at both protein and mRNA levels, indicating transcriptional control, and did not affect the expression of lam beta 1. To confirm results obtained with PD123319, we induced hyperglycemia in AT2 knockout mice and found that in the absence of AT2, translational control of VEGF expression by hyperglycemia was abolished. Our data show that acute hyperglycemia stimulates Ang II synthesis in murine kidney cortex, this leads to AT2 activation and stimulation of VEGF mRNA translation, via the Akt-mTOR-p70(S6K) signaling pathway. Our data show that exclusive translational control of protein expression in the kidney by acute hyperglycemia is not a general phenomenon, but do not prove that it is restricted to VEGF. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Brazilian Version of the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form Validity and Reproducibility

Background: The perception of improvement by a patient has assumed a central role in functional evaluation after a variety of knee problems. One of the instruments most used in clinical research is the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) Subjective Knee Form because its psychometric properties are considered to be excellent. Nonetheless, this questionnaire was originally developed for use in the English language. Therefore, to use this questionnaire in the Brazilian population, it is essential to translate and validate it. Purpose: The aim of this study was to translate the IKDC Subjective Knee Form into a Brazilian version and to test its validity and reproducibility. Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2. Methods: The translation of the original IKDC Subjective Knee Form into a Brazilian version was accomplished in accordance with the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine guidelines and was tested in 32 patients with knee pathologic conditions to develop the first Brazilian version. To test validity and reproducibility, 117 patients with several knee complaints completed the Brazilian IKDC Subjective Knee Form, the Short Form 36 (SF-36), the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), and the Lysholm score. From these patients, 85 were retested within a week to achieve reproducibility. The validation was addressed by correlating the Brazilian IKDC Subjective Knee Form to the other outcome measures. The reproducibility was tested by measuring internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and agreement. Results: The Brazilian IKDC Subjective Knee Form was highly related to the physical component summary of the SF-36, the Lysholm score, and the WOMAC, and weakly related to the mental component summary of SF-36 (r=.79, .89, .85, and .51, respectively). The internal consistency was strong, with a Cronbach a value of .928 and .935 in the test and retest assessment, respectively. The test-retest reliability proved to be excellent, with a high value of the intraclass correlation coefficient (.988), as well as the agreement, demonstrated by the low differences between the means of the test and retest, and the short limit of agreement, observed in the Altman-Bland and survival-agreement plots. Conclusion: The results of this study provide evidence that the Brazilian IKDC Subjective Knee Form has psychometric properties similar to the original version. In addition, it was a reliable evaluation instrument for patients with knee-related problems.

Evidences of a Role for Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 5A (eIF5A) in Mouse Embryogenesis and Cell Differentiation

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF5A) has a unique character: the presence of an unusual amino acid, hypusine, which is formed by post-translational modifications. Even before the identification of hypusination in eIF5A, the correlation between hypusine formation and protein synthesis, shifting cell proliferation rates, had already been observed. Embryogenesis is a complex process in which cellular proliferation and differentiation are intense. In spite of the fact that many studies have described possible functions for eIF5A, its precise role is under investigation, and to date nothing has been reported about its participation in embryonic development. In this study we show that eIF5A is expressed at all mouse embryonic post-implantation stages with increase in eIF5A mRNA and protein expression levels between embryonic days E10.5 and E13.5. Immunohistochemistry revealed the ubiquitous presence of eIF5A in embryonic tissues and organs at E13.5 day. Interestingly, stronger immunoreactivity to eIF5A was observed in the stomodeum, liver, ectoderm, heart, and eye, and the central nervous system; regions which are known to undergo active differentiation at this stage, suggesting a role of eIF5A in differentiation events. Expression analyses of MyoD, a myogenic transcription factor, revealed a significantly higher expression from day E12.5 on, both at the mRNA and the protein levels suggesting a possible correlation to eIF5A. Accordingly, we next evidenced that inhibiting eIF5A hypusination in mouse myoblast C2C12 cells impairs their differentiation into myotubes and decreases MyoD transcript levels. Those results point to a new functional role for eIF5A, relating it to embryogenesis, development, and cell differentiation. J. Cell. Physiol. 225: 500-505, 2010. (C) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.