Inflation and income inequality: A link through the job-search process

In this paper I devise a new channel by means of which the (empirically documented) positive correlation between ináation and income inequality can be understood. Available empirical evidence reveals that ináation increases wage dispersion. For this reason, the higher the ináation rate, the higher turns out to be the beneÖt, for a worker, of making additional draws from the distribution of wages, before deciding whether to accept or reject a job o§er. Assuming that some workers have less access to information (wage o§ers) than others, I show that the Gini coe¢ cient of income distribution turns out to be an increasing function of the wage dispersion and, consequently, of the rate of ináation. Two examples are provided to illustrate the mechanism.

Income inequality: the role of impatience in a job-search process

This paper investigates the income inequality generated by a jobsearch process when di§erent cohorts of homogeneous workers are allowed to have di§erent degrees of impatience. Using the fact the average wage under the invariant Markovian distribution is a decreasing function of the time preference (Cysne (2004)), I show that the Lorenz curve and the between-cohort Gini coe¢ cient of income inequality can be easily derived in this case. An example with arbitrary measures regarding the wage o§ers and the distribution of time preferences among cohorts provides some quantitative insights into how much income inequality can be generated, and into how it varies as a function of the probability of unemployment and of the probability that the worker does not Önd a job o§er each period.

Decentralization and education performance: a first view to the Brazilian process

This paper analyses the impact of the decentralization in educational system that is taking place in Brazil in the last decade, as a result of several laws that encourage municipalities to invest in fundamental education. The proficiency tests undertaken by the government allows to follow some public schools in two points in time. Therefore we were able to create an experimental group with the schools that were under state system in the SAEB exam and have migrated to the municipality system by the time of Prova Brasil and a control group with the schools that were under the state system between the two exams and compare the difference in their results using a fixed effect panel data analysis. The difference in difference estimator indicates that there is no significant change in the performance of the students.

Hybrid political institutions and governability: the budgetary process in Brazil

In this paper we take a close look at some of the particular pathways by which majoritarian and consensual institutions affect governability. We demonstrate that the mix of majoritarian and consensual institutions found within a country can influence these pathways quite dramatically, such that they produce rather different consequences for governability, even when these pathways are relatively similar in nature. Particularly, we focus on the rules governing the relationship between the President and the Legislature, especially the appropriation of amendments proposed by legislators. In some presidential countries, the president possesses a partial veto (or a line-item veto) which allows him/her to approve or strike appropriations, which legislators introduce in amendments. Concentrating on the case of Brazil, we argue and demonstrate that whether or not the president can use this tool to sustain governing majorities (i.e., to increase governability) depends on the kind of amendment introduced by legislators. One kind, individual amendment, is linked to the majoritarian institution of a powerful presidency and therefore helps to increase governability. A second kind, collective amendment, is linked to consensual institutions and actually does not enhance legislative support for the Executive.

Bounds for the probability distribution function of the linear ACD process

This paper derives both lower and upper bounds for the probability distribution function of stationary ACD(p, q) processes. For the purpose of illustration, I specialize the results to the main parent distributions in duration analysis. Simulations show that the lower bound is much tighter than the upper bound.

Measurements of income inequality: a critique. Inflation and income inequality: a link through the job- search process

In this paper I claim that, in a long-run perspective, measurements of income inequality, under any of the usual inequality measures used in the literature, are upward biased. The reason is that such measurements are cross-sectional by nature and, therefore, do not take into consideration the turnover in the job market which, in the long run, equalizes within-group (e.g., same-education groups) inequalities. Using a job-search model, I show how to derive the within-group invariant-distribution Gini coefficient of income inequality, how to calculate the size of the bias and how to organize the data in arder to solve the problem. Two examples are provided to illustrate the argument.

Impactos da adoção das novas tecnologias BPM (business process management) nos processos governamentais

Este relatório consolida os trabalhos de pesquisa, desenvolvidos entre abril de 2005 e abril de 2006, sobre o estado de adoção e oportunidades para uso de novas tecnologias de informação em processos de governo. A ampliação de fronteiras, para além dos limites tradicionais das organizações, traz uma nova e mais forte demanda por flexibilidade que possibilite o tratamento integrado de organismos de diferentes constituições, arquiteturas e processos operacionais, sem falar nos diferentes sistemas de informações. Isto é ainda mais importante nas organizações públicas. Por outro lado, uma das principais características negativas dos órgãos públicos é a morosidade e a burocracia nos processos administrativos e de atendimento ao cidadão. A falta de uma visão tecnológica moderna, isto é, a falta de um Plano Diretor de Tecnologia da Informação (PDTI) voltada para novas soluções, como é o caso do BPM, alinhada à falta de integração entre os sistemas e processos, faz com que muitos órgãos governamentais estejam caminhando na contramão do desenvolvimento tecnológico. Este projeto de pesquisa reveste-se, portanto, de alto interesse, pois focaliza as possibilidades e impactos da adoção das novas tecnologias orientadas a processos e web services (BPM - Business Process Management e BPMS - Business Process Management Systems) na área governamental, bastante desprovida de soluções integradas de serviços aos cidadãos e empresas. Estas novas tecnologias trazem paradigmas completamente diferentes dos até aqui adotados na implementação de sistemas de informações e automação de processos. Apesar das dificuldades inerentes ao tratamento de um tema complexo e novo, mais ainda em organismos governamentais, acreditamos ter desenvolvido um trabalho bastante aprofundado, atendendo aos objetivos estabelecidos no plano original, com os necessários acertos de rota e foco dos trabalhos. Cremos, também, que este trabalho estabelece uma referência relevante no conhecimento relacionados à melhoria de processos de governo, com base em novas tecnologias. Como sub-produtos planejados e realizados, inseridos no caderno de anexos a este relatório, estão conteúdos já desenvolvidos para a edição um ou dois livros sobre o tema, diversos artigos produzidos, além de diversos eventos realizados na EAESP, envolvendo o tema do projeto, que proporcionaram a oportunidade de excelentes trocas de experiências. Este relatório, apresentado de forma objetiva e sintética, focalizando somente os principais aspectos tratados, é complementado por um extenso conteúdo complementar, entregue em um caderno de Anexos.

Business process in supply chain integration in sugar and ethanol industry

This article presents the application of a diagnosis method in a Brazilian company from the sugar and ethanol industry to identify the level of supply chain integration. The diagnosis method is based on Cooper, Lambert and Pagh reference model for SCM. The method involves nine referential axes established from the eighth key business processes of the reference model.

Brazilian Students and Working Capital: An Analysis of Their Decisions When Using Virtual Market Business Games

This study aims to demonstrate that data from business games can be an important resource for improving efficiency and effectiveness of learning. The proposal presented here was developed from preliminary studies of data from Virtual Market games that pointed the possibility of identifying gaps in learning by analyzing the decisions of students. This proposal helps students to refine their learning processes and equips tutors with strategies for teaching and student assessment. The proposal also complements the group discussion and/or debriefing, which are widely used to enhance learning mediated by games. However, from a management perspective the model has the potential to be erroneous and miss opportunities, which cannot be detected because of the dependence on the characteristics of the individual, such as ability to communicate and work together. To illustrate the proposed technique, data sets from two business games were analyzed with the focus on managing working capital and it was found that students had difficulties managing this task. Similar trends were observed in all categories of students in the study-undergraduate, postgraduate and specialization. This discovery led us to the analysis of data for decisions made in the performance of the games, and it was determined that indicators could be developed that were capable of indentifying inconsistencies in the decisions. It was decided to apply some basic concepts of the finance management, such as management of the operational and non-operational expenditures, as well as production management concepts, such as the use of the production capacity. By analyzing the data from the Virtual Market games using the indicator concept, it was possible to detect the lack of domain knowledge of the students. Therefore, these indicators can be used to analyze the decisions of the players and guide them during the game, increasing their effectiveness and efficiency. As these indicators were developed from specific content, they can also be used to develop teaching materials to support learning. Viewed in this light, the proposal adds new possibilities for using business games in learning. In addition to the intrinsic learning that is achieved through playing the games, they also assist in driving the learning process. This study considers the applications and the methodology used.

Model-Driven requirements engineering process aided by ontologies and natural controlled languages

Researches in Requirements Engineering have been growing in the latest few years. Researchers are concerned with a set of open issues such as: communication between several user profiles involved in software engineering; scope definition; volatility and traceability issues. To cope with these issues a set of works are concentrated in (i) defining processes to collect client s specifications in order to solve scope issues; (ii) defining models to represent requirements to address communication and traceability issues; and (iii) working on mechanisms and processes to be applied to requirements modeling in order to facilitate requirements evolution and maintenance, addressing volatility and traceability issues. We propose an iterative Model-Driven process to solve these issues, based on a double layered CIM to communicate requirements related knowledge to a wider amount of stakeholders. We also present a tool to help requirements engineer through the RE process. Finally we present a case study to illustrate the process and tool s benefits and usage

Evaluation of glass ionomer cements properties obtained from niobium silicate glasses prepared by chemical process

Glass ionomer cements (GICs) are glass and polymer composite materials. These materials currently find use in the dental field. The purpose of this work is to obtain systems based on composition 4.5SiO(2)-3Al(2)O(3)-XNb2O5-2CaO to be used in Dentistry. The systems were prepared by chemical route at 700 degrees C. The results obtained by XRD and DTA showed that all systems prepared are glasses. The structures of the obtained glasses were compared to commercial material using Al-27 and Si-29 MAS NMR. The analysis of MAS NMR spectra indicated that the systems developed and commercial material are formed by SiO4 and AlO4 linked tetrahedra. The properties of glass ionomer cements based on the glasses prepared with several niobium contents were studied. Setting and working times of the cement pastes, microhardness and diametral tensile strength were evaluated for the experimental GICs and commercial luting cements. It was concluded that setting time of the cement pastes increased with increasing niobium content of the glasses (X). The properties to the GICs such as setting time and microhardness were influenced by niobium content. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Environmental education and the health risk question: how do we educate the educators working with this theme?

Our society is presently seeing a trend of continuous increase of risk with severe consequences, especially those linked to environmental aspects. It has obligated us to reflect on this production and its effects, either positive or negative, and, after a long reflection, to think about the adopted model of civilization and the possibilities of changing such a model. The educational institution is among the social departments responsible for this revision process, since it represents one possibility to promote a more critical vision from society, providing it with tools needed for a more responsible action. However, schools are dominated by a traditional work, which does not allow for enough and proper attention to these relevant and current questions, and which involve a critical analysis of the conceptions and values established by our civilization, resulting in the present patterns of science-technology-society relations and their influence on the environment and health. Several research works have indicated a diversity of barriers that obstruct this necessary change. Since formal education plays an important role in the education of society for this theme, in this paper the possibilities and difficulty dealing with this problem are discussed, focusing on the question of teacher education, based on investigations related to teacher education programs for environmental education. The data collected show the urgency for introducing this theme in teacher training programs, taking into account the fact that educators have their own conceptions, values and attitudes that should be considered in these programs.

In-process grinding monitoring through acoustic emission

This work aims to investigate the efficiency of digital signal processing tools of acoustic emission signals in order to detect thermal damages in grinding processes. To accomplish such a goal, an experimental work was carried out for 15 runs in a surface grinding machine operating with an aluminum oxide grinding wheel and ABNT 1045 Steel as work material. The acoustic emission signals were acquired from a fixed sensor placed on the workpiece holder. A high sampling rate data acquisition system working at 2.5 MHz was used to collect the raw acoustic emission instead of the root mean square value usually employed. Many statistical analyses have shown to be effective to detect burn, such as the root mean square (RMS), correlation of the AE, constant false alarm rate (CFAR), ratio of power (ROP) and mean-value deviance (MVD). However, the CFAR, ROP, Kurtosis and correlation of the AE have been presented more sensitive than the RMS. Copyright © 2006 by ABCM.

Stacking faults in SiCf/SiC composite obtained by chemical vapor reaction process

SiC fiber-reinforced SiC matrix composite (SiCf/SiC) is one of the leading candidates in ceramic materials for engineering applications due to its unique combination of properties such as high thermal conductivity, high resistance to corrosion and working conditions. Fiber-reinforced composites are materials which exhibit a significant improvement in properties like ductility in comparison to the monolithic SiC ceramic. The SiCf/SiC composite was obtained from a C/C composite precursor using convertion reaction under high temperature and controlled atmosphere. In this work, SiC phase presented the stacking faults in the structure, being not possible to calculate the unit cell size, symmetry and bond lengths but it seem equal card number 29-1129 of JCPDS.