Identification of Races of Selected Isolates of Uromyces appendiculatus from Minas Gerais (Brazil) Based on the new international classification system

Twelve single-pustule isolates of Uromyces appendiculatus, the etiological agent of common bean rust, were collected in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and classified according to the new international differential series and the binary nomenclature system proposed during the 3rd Bean Rust Workshop. These isolates have been used to select rust-resistant genotypes in a bean breeding program conducted by our group. The twelve isolates were classified into seven different physiological races: 21-3, 29-3, 53-3, 53-19, 61-3, 63-3 and 63-19. Races 61-3 and 63-3 were the most frequent in the area. They were represented by five and two isolates, respectively. The other races were represented by just one isolate. This is the first time the new international classification procedure has been used for U. appendiculatus physiological races in Brazil. The general adoption of this system will facilitate information exchange, allowing the cooperative use of the results obtained by different research groups throughout the world. The differential cultivars Mexico 309, Mexico 235 and PI 181996 showed resistance to all of the isolates that were characterized. It is suggested that these cultivars should be preferentially used as sources for resistance to rust in breeding programs targeting development lines adapted to the state of Minas Gerais.

Building governance in the international financial system: Context and challenges

ABSTRACTThe international financial system has undergone deep changes since the 1970s and its stability cannot be reached in spite of actor's interests or the existence of countless coordination fora. Analyzing the system's incentive structure, one can note that its stability depends on the control of imbalances, which are not always harmful for States, creating, thus, a disturbing component in the quest for international financial management. Furthermore, non-state actors have acquired a disproportional share of power following financial globalization, escaping the control of States and of the international community.

O dólar e os desequilíbrios globais

The global expansion of capitalism under American hegemony in the second half of the 20th century has changed the international division of labor and center-periphery scheme proposed under British hegemony. Under the new international division of labor, the United States is forced to generate an ever growing deficit in their trade account in order to accommodate the "mercantilist' expansion of Asian countries, produced by the trans-nationalization of big capital, under American aegis. This form of global economic articulation is at the root of the rupture of the Bretton Woods system and the growing financial liberalization imposed by the hegemonic power over other countries since the 80s.

Estratégias periféricas sessenta anos depois do acordo de Bretton Woods

After sixty years, the Bretton Woods Agreement continuous to be a reference for the debates concerning institutional organization of the international monetary system. This paper compares some features of the arrangements that have emerged in that context with the recent wave of institutional reforms in the international financial architecture. We explore some arguments suggesting that, in an instable financial environment, is possible to envisage a strong rationality in strategies for emerging economies associated with a more active capital flows and exchange rate management. Apparently, those strategies are not dissimilar to the ones today's advanced countries had used in Bretton Woods Era.

Emerging markets and the international financial architecture: a blueprint for reform

If emerging markets are to achieve their objective of joining the ranks of industrialized, developed countries, they must use their economic and political influence to support radical change in the international financial system. This working paper recommends John Maynard Keynes's "clearing union" as a blueprint for reform of the international financial architecture that could address emerging market grievances more effectively than current approaches. Keynes's proposal for the postwar international system sought to remedy some of the same problems currently facing emerging market economies. It was based on the idea that financial stability was predicated on a balance between imports and exports over time, with any divergence from balance providing automatic financing of the debit countries by the creditor countries via a global clearinghouse or settlement system for trade and payments on current account. This eliminated national currency payments for imports and exports; countries received credits or debits in a notional unit of account fixed to national currency. Since the unit of account could not be traded, bought, or sold, it would not be an international reserve currency. The credits with the clearinghouse could only be used to offset debits by buying imports, and if not used for this purpose they would eventually be extinguished; hence the burden of adjustment would be shared equally - credit generated by surpluses would have to be used to buy imports from the countries with debit balances. Emerging market economies could improve upon current schemes for regionally governed financial institutions by using this proposal as a template for the creation of regional clearing unions using a notional unit of account.

Global instability of currencies: reasons and perspectives according to the state-corporation hegemonic stability theory

This paper analyses reasons of the instability of the world monetary system. The author considers this problem from historical and contemporary perspectives. According to presented point of view banknotes and electronic money which replaced gold and silver coins in popular circulation are the most important reason of the instability. There are also proven positive and negative consequences of money instability. Reforms of the world monetary system need agreement within the global collective hegemony of state-powers and transnational corporations.

Higher education of tourism in Spain and its adaptation to the European higher education area

The international tourism system has deeply undergone structural changes in the last decades which not remain outside the subsystem higher education in tourism, especially in the European case. This article has two objectives: firstly, describes the European higher education area and the objectives, skills and subjects taught in the main Spanish universities that offer higher education in tourism. On the other hand, in the light of knowledge that researchers' descriptive models, provide experience of the implementation of European credit and thorough a deeply review of the literature on the topic higher education in tourism, to propose strategies that will enable other tourism higher education systems approach to the European reality. These policy proposals are aimed at agents and elements from higher education in tourism subsystem and they specifically include: the institutions providing education in tourism, the curriculum, the teaching methods, teachers and students.

La reconfiguración economica internacional

The international economic reconfiguration. The developed and developing countries have adjusted with varying degrees of success to the new international order. The world's evolution has not stopped: Europe and the emerging Asian economies, are struggling to create a multipolar World. In the periphery, some countries (Asia) are modernizing at a fast rate, while others (Latin America) are lagging behind and in need to revise their growth strategies. The decentralization of production and trade driven by transnational firms are shifting the geographic distribution of investment and employment. As a result, the industrialized countries have ceased to provide the bulk of the world's savings, changing somehow the foundations of the international financial system.

Climate governance in an international system under conservative hegemony: the role of major powers

In the last five years, climate change has been established as a central civilizational driver of our time. As a result of this development, the most diversified social processes - as well as the fields of science which study them - have had their dynamics altered. In International Relations, this double challenge could be explained as follows: 1) in empirical terms, climate change imposes a deepening of cooperation levels on the international community, considering the global common character of the atmosphere; and 2) to International Relations as a discipline, climate change demands from the scientific community a conceptual review of the categories designed to approach the development of global climate governance. The goal of this article is to discuss in both conceptual and empirical terms the structure of global climate change governance, through an exploratory research, aiming at identifying the key elements that allow understanding its dynamics. To do so, we rely on the concept of climate powers. This discussion is grounded in the following framework: we now live in an international system under conservative hegemony that is unable to properly respond to the problems of interdependence, among which - and mainly -, the climate issue.

Environmental issues and international relations, a new global (dis)order - the role of International Relations in promoting a concerted international system

Is it possible to talk about the rise of a new global (dis)order founded on the challenges posed by environmental issues? Through the review of the state of the art on the subject, this article analyzes the growing importance of the environment, and natural resources in particular, in international relations; and aims to raise awareness among International Relations scholars to the potential positive impact of the development of the discipline in integration with global environmental change studies.

Brazilian norms for the International Affective Picture System (IAPS): comparison of the affective ratings for new stimuli between Brazilian and North-American subjects

OBJECTIVE: The study presents the Brazilian norms for 240 new stimuli from International Affective Picture System (IAPS), a database of affective images widely used in research, compared to the North-American normative ratings. METHODS: The participants were 448 Brazilian university students from several courses (269 women and 179 men) with mean age of 24.2 (SD = 7.8), that evaluated the IAPS pictures in the valence, arousal and dominance dimensions by the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) scales. Data were compared across the populations by Pearson linear correlation and Student's t-tests. RESULTS: Correlations were highly significant for all dimensions; however, Brazilians' averages for arousal were higher than North-Americans'. CONCLUSIONS: The results show stability in relation to the first part of the Brazilian standardization and they are also consistent with the North-American standards, despite minor differences relating to interpretation of the arousal dimension, demonstrating that IAPS is a reliable instrument for experimental studies in the Brazilian population.

International thought in the Lula era

In the last fifty years, Brazil began a rapid process of structural transformation, following the first stage of industrial development in the 1930s. Currently the country integrates the small group of countries which evolved from an initial peripheral and subordinate insertion dating back to the nineteenth century, part of the most dynamic segment of the semiperiphery. But this category, intermediate between the "maturity" and "backwardness", according Modernization theorists, or between the "center" and "periphery", as theorists of the Dependence defend, has undergone a process of overcoming considerable positive progress in the direction of the group of states that dominate the current world system. In this way, during the years 2003-2010, foreign policy, along with the formulation of a new regionalism as a strategy of global integration and a new ideal model of State, has been a key factor

Between system maker and privileges taker: the role of China in the Greater Mekong Sub-region

Utilizing China's leadership projects in the Great Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) as a case study, this paper aims to investigate whether China qualifies as an international leader. This work argues that its geographic position and economic rise allow China to be a "system maker and privilege taker," which is a dual role forming in economic-political relations in the GMS in the last ten years. China is among major driving forces to set up an economic zone in GMS. Growing Chinese regional power is intimately related to the creation of various hubs connecting regional transportation, communication and energy systems that foster the economic development of this region. However, China also proves dark sides of rising powers which take advantage of their privileges to gain benefits. As a "system maker" with its own position and capability, China has notably benefited from building hydropower systems. More importantly, while China is pursuing its benefits and privileges, its hydropower projects have caused some negative effects for the ecosystem in the region. The inflation of dam constructions in both China and GMS countries is raising concerns about using natural resources of the Mekong River. Our concluding part addresses the pressing need to start a serious discussion on the balance between national interests and regional solidarity within the formulation of Chinese foreign policy in GMS.

Financial strategies for minimizing corporate income taxes under Brazil's new global tax system

In 1996, Brazil adopted a worldwide income tax system for corporations. This system represents a fundamental change in how the Brazílian government treats multinational transactions and the tax minimizing strategies relevant to businesses. In this article, we describe the conceptual basis for worldwide tax systems and the problem of double taxation that they create. Responses to double taxation by both the governments and the priva te sector are considered. Namely, the imperfect mechanisms developed by Brazil and other countries for mitigating double taxation are analyzed. We ultimately focus on the strategies that companies utilize in order not only to avoid double texetion, but also to take advantage of tax havens.