Health surveys and use of maternal and child health care services in three municipalities within the São Paulo metropolitan area

Objectives. To describe the changes in the use of maternal and child health care services by residents of three municipalities-Embu, Itapecerica da Serra, and Taboao da Serra-in the São Paulo metropolitan area, 12 years after the implementation of the Unified Health System (SUS) in Brazil, and to analyze the potential of population-based health care surveys as sources of data to evaluate these changes.Methods. Two population-based, cross-sectional surveys were carried out in 1990 and 2002 in municipalities located within the São Paulo metropolitan area. For children under 1 year of age, the two periods were compared in terms of outpatient services utilization and hospital admission; for the mothers, the periods were compared in terms of prenatal care and deliveries. In both surveys, stratified and multiple-stage conglomerate sampling was employed, with standardization of interview questions.Results. The most important changes observed were regarding the location of services used for prenatal care, deliveries, and hospitalization of children less than 1 year of age. There was a significant increase in the use of services in the surrounding region or hometown, and decrease in the utilization of services in the city of São Paulo (in 1990, 80% of deliveries and almost all admissions for children less than 1 year versus 32% and 46%, respectively, in 2002). The use of primary care units and 24-hour walk-in clinics also increased. All these changes reflect care provided by public resources. In the private sector, there was a decrease in direct payments and payments through company-paid health insurance and an increase in payments through self-paid health insurance.Conclusions. The major changes observed in the second survey occurred simultaneous to the changes that resulted from the implementation of the SUS. Population-based health surveys are adequate for analyzing and comparing the utilization of health care services at different times.

HACCP plan proposal for a typical Brazilian peanut processing company

Peanuts are likely to be infested by fungi with consequent contamination by aflatoxin in post-harvest industries. A hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) plan is proposed for a typical Brazilian post-harvest industry from raw in-shell reception to the unpeeled peanuts transportation. Codex Alimentarius Commission guidelines were followed, with four critical control points (CCP) for aflatoxin being identified. The process steps with highest probability of aflatoxin occurrence (risk) are the in-shell reception, the dried in-shell storage, and the unpeeled kernel storage. During the storage steps there is a lack of control of air moisture and temperature. Therefore, there is no option but to keep rigid monitoring and control over each CCP, and detour lots with high aflatoxin levels to either oil or seed production. Attempts to correlate the aflatoxin levels with the rainfall showed an irregular trend of the toxin level. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Work and injuries in dancers: Survey of a professional dance company in Brazil

This study examined the daily life and most important physical injuries suffered and reported by the dancers of a professional (contemporary) dance company in S (a) over tilde $o Paulo, Brazil. Through an observational, cross,sectional, retrospective procedure using a questionnaire that collected qualitative and quantitative data, we were able to gather information on 30 dancers who collaborated with the survey. We determined that the injuries considered as most important by dancers were those that prevented dance activity during some months. These injuries occurred mainly during rehearsals (which is the activity occuppying, the most time on the schedule). Articular injuries were the most frequent and mainly involved the knee and ankle. They were related to classical technique, in which most of the company's artists started their dance careers. Medical care usually was sought within 1 day, and the prescribed treatment resolved the problem, but the injury cause was not identified in all cases.

Integration in new product development: Case study in a large Brazilian high-technology company

Proficiency in management activities undertaken in product development processes is regarded as a key competitive advantage for companies, particularly for high-tech industrial firms, which benefit from the important competitiveness factor of launching products with a differentiated technological content. This paper's objective was to identify, through case study, practices for integration between the roles of R & D with others involved in product development in a large Brazilian company of industrial automation. The results suggest some management practices to improve the integration in new products development, such as the use of employees from marketing with knowledge and experience previously gained from R & D activities and uses the heavyweight product manager to solve synchronization problems between product and technology development. © Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Facultad de Economía y Negocios.

Multi-choice mixed integer goal programming optimization for real problems in a sugar and ethanol milling company

Goal Programming (GP) is an important analytical approach devised to solve many realworld problems. The first GP model is known as Weighted Goal Programming (WGP). However, Multi-Choice Aspirations Level (MCAL) problems cannot be solved by current GP techniques. In this paper, we propose a Multi-Choice Mixed Integer Goal Programming model (MCMI-GP) for the aggregate production planning of a Brazilian sugar and ethanol milling company. The MC-MIGP model was based on traditional selection and process methods for the design of lots, representing the production system of sugar, alcohol, molasses and derivatives. The research covers decisions on the agricultural and cutting stages, sugarcane loading and transportation by suppliers and, especially, energy cogeneration decisions; that is, the choice of production process, including storage stages and distribution. The MCMIGP allows decision-makers to set multiple aspiration levels for their problems in which the more/higher, the better and the less/lower, the better in the aspiration levels are addressed. An application of the proposed model for real problems in a Brazilian sugar and ethanol mill was conducted; producing interesting results that are herein reported and commented upon. Also, it was made a comparison between MCMI GP and WGP models using these real cases. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Selecting green suppliers based on GSCM practices: Using fuzzy TOPSIS applied to a Brazilian electronics company

Due to an increased awareness and significant environmental pressures from various stakeholders, companies have begun to realize the significance of incorporating green practices into their daily activities. This paper proposes a framework using Fuzzy TOPSIS to select green suppliers for a Brazilian electronics company; our framework is built on the criteria of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices. An empirical analysis is made, and the data are collected from a set of 12 available suppliers. We use a fuzzy TOPSIS approach to rank the suppliers, and the results of the proposed framework are compared with the ranks obtained by both the geometric mean and the graded mean methods of fuzzy TOPSIS methodology. Then a Spearman rank correlation coefficient is used to find the statistical difference between the ranks obtained by the three methods. Finally, a sensitivity analysis has been performed to examine the influence of the preferences given by the decision makers for the chosen GSCM practices on the selection of green suppliers. Results indicate that the four dominant criteria are Commitment of senior management to GSCM; Product designs that reduce, reuse, recycle, or reclaim materials, components, or energy; Compliance with legal environmental requirements and auditing programs; and Product designs that avoid or reduce toxic or hazardous material use. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Sorocabana Railway Company: a relação de uma empresa ferroviária privada com as diretrizes governamentais (1907-1919)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Plano de recuperação de desastres: uma pesquisa-ação em empresa do setor energetico

This work has the purpose of demonstrating how to build a Disaster Recovery Plan. In order to achieve such objective, an adaptation of the PDCA method was applied. This plan aims resuming the IT operations as fast as possible after some kind of incident which result the stop of the services or activities. Besides serving as insurance for the continued functioning of the company’s activities, indeed your non-existence brings up risks of financial loss and threatens the company’s image. As to illustrate the functionality and validity, the method was applied in an IT department of an energy company. It was concluded that the plan was well elaborated living up to the purposes described in the objective section of this work and validating the project developed so far, having a percentage of 85% of the overall success of the systems tested

Standard oil company: um reflexo da industrialização americana

A Standard Oil Company foi resultado da forte industrialização que ocorreu nos Estados Unidos após a Guerra de Secessão. Anterior ao conflito, os americanos estavam divididos entre ser tornarem um país exportador de matérias primas ou serem industrializados. Mesmo que ambas as estruturas econômicas foram aplicadas concomitantemente, trazendo recursos financeiros para a Nação, os estados do Norte acabaram vencendo a guerra e incentivaram a expansão industrial. O reflexo desse processo foi notado pelo empresário J.D. Rockefeller que inicia sua empresa baseada na exploração de petróleo, a Standard Oil Company. Utilizando-se de métodos eficientes, inovadores e eficazes, proporcionou um aumento na produção petrolífera de forma exorbitante, podendo manter altos níveis de lucro, mesmo que a preços razoáveis ao consumidor. O impacto da organização industrial e as estratégias encontradas pelo monopólio marcaram profundamente a economia americana. Mesmo sendo um tema de história econômica, no decorrer deste trabalho utilizaremos aspectos sociológicos, biográficos e estatísticos para compreendermos de que forma a Standard Oil Company representa a essência do espírito capitalista da instituição americana

Relationships between company size, types of production system and supply chain management: evidence from electro-electronics sector in Brazil

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how company size and the type of production system affect the adoption of supply chain management (SCM) practices in companies in the electro‐electronics sector in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – An e‐mail survey of 107 companies associated with the Brazilian Electrical and Electronics Industry Association (ABINEE) was conducted. Statistical techniques were employed to verify the adoption of SCM practices according to the size of the company and its production system. Findings – The major results indicate that the larger the size of the company, the higher the level of adoption of SCM practices, and that the choice of SCM practices depends upon the type of production system implemented. Practical implications – The implications of this study are useful to top management leaders of small and medium‐sized enterprises since the findings enable them to identify the most common practices adopted by either large‐, medium‐ or small‐sized companies in order to benchmark the level of adoption of SCM practices. Production managers can also benefit from this study by identifying the SCM practices that may support certain production systems.

Greening a Brazilian cotton seed processing company: from challenges to strategic opportunities

This paper aims to shed light on a current and important theme that has been gaining increasing importance for governments, society and companies: the greening of agricultural companies in developing countries. The research objective is to classify a Brazilian cotton seed processing company in the evolutionary stages of environmental management: reactive, preventive or proactive. Design/methodology/approach– A case study was conducted in a Brazilian cotton seed processing company.Findings– The main results are: the studied company is positioned in the preventive stage of environmental management; this company is investing in operational green practices; environmental management in this company is motivated by various factors aiming at an increased competitive advantage. Finally, it can be concluded that this company is looking for green opportunities towards the proactive environmental management stage.

Aplicação do valor presente ajustado (APV) para avaliação do fluxo de caixa de uma empresa do setor automotivo no sistema inovar auto

The automobile industry shows relevance inside the Brazilian industrial scenario since it contributes with the development of a significant chain of supply, distributors, workshops, publicity agencies and insurance companies in the internal market, aside from being one of the five biggest worldwide market. Thereby, the federal government decreed in Dec, 17th 2012 by Law nº 12.715 the Inovar-Auto Program. As the Adjusted Present Value (APV) is highly recommended, although not yet widespread to public politics of tax reduction, this work intends to apply the APV method on the cash flow analysis of an automobile sector's company, which has recently installed in national territory and wants to rely with governmental incentives proposed by Inovar-Auto Program. The developed work evaluates the company's current cash flow stochastically from mathematical modeling of variables such as price, demand and interest rate through probability distributions with the assist of Crystal Ball software, a Microsoft Excel Add-in, generating different scenarios from Monte Carlo Simulation. As results probabilities situations have been evaluated until the end of the Inovar-Auto's conducted period, in 2017. Beside APV others indicator such as Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and payback period were estimated for the investment project. For APV a sampling distribution with only 0.057% of risk, IRR of 29% were obtained and estimated project payback period was 4.13 years

Estudo da viabilidade de implantação do INOVAR-AUTO utilizando o método do fluxo de caixa sob risco

The automobile industry has a growing importance in the Brazilian economic environment. The industry moves a huge chain that encompasses manufacturers, suppliers of raw materials, auto parts dealers, gas stations, insurance companies, repair shops, tire stores, media companies, advertising agencies, among others. Because of this importance in the current economic environment in Brazil, the federal government, through Law No. 12715 of 17 December 2012 established a Program for the Promotion of Innovation and Densification in the Productive Chain of Motor Vehicles called INOVAR-AUTO in order to support technological development, innovation, safety, environmental protection, energy efficiency and quality of cars, trucks, buses and auto parts. The specific purpose of this study, a simulation for discussion of the viability of the program implementation using the Monte Carlo Simulation combined with the Cash-Flow-at-Risk was performed. To this end, an exploratory and documentary literature on the subject was held as well as a case study in a automobile company of Japanese origin