A informalidade do mercado de trabalho : um desafio institucional permanente para a economia brasileira

A economia informal compõe o mundo do trabalho de todas as sociedades capitalistas, em menor ou em maior grau. No Brasil, historicamente observa-se que esse fenômeno tem sido sempre muito abrangente, sobretudo motivado pelo e resultante do contexto socioeconômico, jurídico e político. Devido às idiossincrasias nacionais, desde o surgimento do mercado de trabalho no país, esta situação persiste em diversos panoramas e com vários matizes, obstaculizando uma melhor performance global da economia brasileira e negando oportunidades de desenvolvimento individual e social ao longo do tempo. Sendo assim, e através do prisma da Economia Social e do Trabalho, o objetivo desta dissertação é analisar os principais fatores conjunturais e estruturais da informalidade observada no mercado nacional de trabalho no interregno 1980-2012, apresentando a dimensão desse problema e expondo suas raízes econômicas e institucionais, a fim de contribuir com novos elementos para o debate da informalidade em nível nacional. A hipótese central dessa pesquisa é de que o elevado GI no Brasil persiste essencialmente – mesmo que com diferentes especificidades históricas – ao nível das mentalidades dos diversos agentes, isto é, antes de ter-se um mercado nacional de trabalho com um alto GI, tem-se uma sociedade brasileira altamente informal. A instituição “trabalho informal” persiste como um hábito incrustado mesmo diante de mudanças de ordem socioeconômica, o que impede que grande parcela da população brasileira tenha acesso ao trabalho formalizado e decente (a là OIT). É mister que haja maior efetividade das leis e aprimoramentos institucionais acompanhados de coordenação e “vontade política”, alicerçados pela tomada de consciência crescente da sociedade civil no que se refere à importância da formalização e aos males da informalidade tanto para seus cidadãos quanto para a nação. Sugere-se como uma possível alternativa para diminuir o GI de forma mais consistente a consideração, para além dos aspectos econômicos e jurídicos, do arcabouço cultural, histórico, comportamental e dos hábitos sociais incrustados que os condicionam e os orientam. Isto porque são estes os eixos que norteiam o processo de desenvolvimento individual e social. Nesse sentido, o estudo (de caráter descritivo e analítico) é fundamentado pelas teorias sistêmicas e multidisciplinares desenvolvidas por Karl Paul Polanyi e Amartya Kumar Sen, interpretadas como artífices de uma vida digna, além de apregoarem o “reincrustamento” da economia na sociedade e, por analogia, o “desincrustamento” da informalidade institucionalmente enraizada na sociedade brasileira. Isso se dará à medida que forem expandidas as liberdades instrumentais e substantivas, em uma espécie de “causação circular cumulativa” aplicada à questão da informalidade, tendo como “efeito colateral altamente desejável” o desenvolvimento socioeconômico. As principais contribuições deste estudo emergiram justamente das concepções teóricas dos dois autores, combinadas aos nexos de convergência estabelecidos entre a economia brasileira, seus desdobramentos institucionais e a informalidade no mercado nacional de trabalho no período estudado.

Conception of a flexible integrator and lean model for integrated management systems

Management systems standards (MSSs) have developed in an unprecedented manner in the last few years. These MSS cover a wide array of different disciplines, aims and activities of organisations. Also, organisations are populated with an enormous diversity of independent management systems (MSs). An integrated management system (IMS) tends to integrate some or all components of the business. Maximising their integration in one coherent and efficient MS is increasingly a strategic priority and constitutes an opportunity for businesses to be more competitive and consequently, promote its sustainable success. Those organisations that are quicker and more efficient in their integration and continuous improvement will have a competitive advantage in obtaining sustainable value in our global and competitive business world. Several scholars have proposed various theoretical approaches regarding the integration of management sub-systems, leading to the conclusion that there is no common practice for all organisations as they encompass different characteristics. One other author shows that several tangible and intangible gains for organisations, as well as to their internal and external stakeholders, are achieved with the integration of the individual standardised MSs. The purpose of this work was to conceive a model, Flexible, Integrator and Lean for IMSs, according to ISO 9001 for quality; ISO 14001 for environment and OHSAS 18001 for occupational health and safety (IMS–QES), that can be adapted and progressively assimilate other MSs, such as, SA 8000/ISO 26000 for social accountability, ISO 31000 for risk management and ISO/IEC 27001 for information security management, among others. The IMS–QES model was designed in the real environment of an industrial Portuguese small and medium enterprise, that over the years has been adopting, gradually, in whole or in part, individual MSSs. The developed model is based on a preliminary investigation conducted through a questionnaire. The strategy and research methods have taken into consideration the case study. Among the main findings of the survey we highlight: the creation of added value for the business through the elimination of several organisational wastes; the integrated management of the sustainability components; the elimination of conflicts between independent MS; dialogue with the main stakeholders and commitment to their ongoing satisfaction and increased contribution to the company’s competitiveness; and greater valorisation and motivation of employees as a result of the expansion of their skill base, actions and responsibilities, with their consequent empowerment. A set of key performance indicators (KPIs) constitute the support, in a perspective of business excellence, to the follow up of the organisation’s progress towards the vision and achievement of the defined objectives in the context of each component of the IMS model. The conceived model had many phases and the one presented in this work is the last required for the integration of quality, environment, safety and others individual standardised MSs. Globally, the investigation results, by themselves, justified and prioritised the conception of an IMS–QES model, to be implemented at the company where the investigation was conducted, but also a generic model of an IMS, which may be more flexible, integrator and lean as possible, potentiating the efficiency, added value both in the present and, fundamentally, for future.

Success factors of regional airports: the case of Oporto airport

Oporto Airport (OPO) is a success story among European regional airports. This success is expressed, among other ways, in the rapid expansion of routes and the strong growth in demand, as well as in the recognition of the airport’s quality by its users. Over the past decade, the volume of traffic increased by almost 3.4 million passengers, from the 2.6 million recorded in 2002 to over 6 million in 2012. In this paper, we analyse some of the factors that influenced the success of Oporto Airport, namely the expansion of capacity and improvements to infrastructure, the increase in the number of routes and the increased demand in response to the new capacities of this airport-airlines set. Particular emphasis is given to the role of low cost carriers (LCC) in the growth of Oporto Airport and to strategies of attracting more traffic. Some of the main opportunities and challenges that this airport will face in the coming years are also discussed.

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES THROUGH FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

ABSTRACT State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are created to focus on domestic needs, and yet recent evidence points to increasing outward foreign direct investment by SOEs. Existing International Business (IB) theories focus on efficiency-based motives for internationalization; therefore, they do not fully capture SOEs' internalization dynamics, which are driven largely by political factors and social welfare considerations. We integrate public management and IB theories to develop propositions that combine these questions: why SOEs internationalize; what are their motivations; and what are the main managerial outcomes of SOEs' internationalization. Our findings suggest that SOEs display little hesitancy in entering international markets, and that SOE international expansion is not contradictory with the goals of state-ownership if the purpose is to adjust the company to changing institutional environments both in the domestic and international markets. Our propositions about SOE internationalization are based on an in-depth case study of the outward foreign direct investment conducted by Brazil's Petrobras over the past three decades.

Preliminary Overview over Requirements Regarding Tools and Methods Derived from LUDA Cases

LUDA is a research project of Key Action 4 "City of Tomorrow & Cultural Heritage" of the programme "Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development" within the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Commission

As formas de participação na construção do projecto político pedagógico : diferentes realidades escolares

RESUMO: Na sociedade da comunicação e da informação, as escolas ainda não conseguiram compreender o seu papel de facilitadoras do conhecimento que o mundo está promovendo entre a realidade da escola e o interesse do educando. Um dos fatores para isso é o crescimento das escolas ao longo dos séculos e a necessidade de superação decorrente do alargamento da educação, que têm gerado um conhecimento complexo que descreve as reflexões e conscientizações sobre o nosso próprio desenvolvimento humano e sobre a nossa participação no mundo em que estamos vivendo. Essas complexidades possibilitam mudanças, principalmente nas questões epistemológicas e paradigmáticas, que proporcionaram outra forma de conceber o conhecimento e os saberes, chamado de “ecologia dos saberes”. Nesse contexto, existe a necessidade de se fazer uma leitura crítica na e da escola e de sua participação junto à comunidade escolar, objetivando minimizar as relações de dominação, de normatizações, de disciplinamento, de concentração de poder, para direcionar a educação num processo emancipatório, democrático, consciente das mudanças, de forma a incluir todos os saberes possíveis para acompanhar e valorizar a realidade escolar, através da participação de alta intensidade na construção e reconstrução do seu projeto político pedagógico. Para tanto, iremos discorrer sobre três escolas, a partir da análise de cada uma dentro da realidade construída por elas, buscando demonstrar que as escolas, dentro dos seus contextos educacionais, possuem diferentes realidades que não podem ser generalizadas, mas que devem ser compreendidas no sentido de que sejam promovidas a autonomia escolar e o fortalecimento da democracia educacional, objetivando a superação das condições atuais da educação para se adequar à sociedade e ao mundo atual. ABSTRACT: In the present society of communication and information, schools have not yet been able to understand their roles as facilitators of the knowledge that the world is promoting between the reality of school and the interest of the learner. One of the reasons for that is the growth of schools along the centuries as well as their constant need for getting over old problems, due to the expansion of education. These questions lead to a complex knowledge which describes reflections on our own human development and on our participation in the world we live in. These complexities lead to changes, especially in epistemological and paradigmatic questions, making it possible for new ways of conceiving knowledge, known as “ecology of knowledge”. In this context, there is a need for making a critical reading about school and its participation in the school community, with the objective to minimize the relations of domination, power concentration and discipline and to direct education towards a process of emancipation and democracy, in which there is conscience of the necessary changes to include all possible knowledge as a way to value the reality of school through a high intensity participation in the construction and reconstruction of its political and pedagogical project. Thus, this study will discuss three schools, basing this discussion on the analysis of each school within the reality built by them, trying to demonstrate that, within their educational contexts, each one possesses different realities that cannot be generalized. These differences must, however, be understood, in order to allow the promotion of school autonomy and the strengthening of educational democracy with the objective to get over education`s present conditions and adjust them to society and to the present world.

n-Hexane hydroisomerisation over bifunctional Pt/MCM-22 catalysts. Influence of the mode of Pt introduction

Three different methods were used to introduce 1.0 wt.% of Pt in bifunctional Pt/MCM-22 zeolite catalysts: ion exchange with Pt(NH3)(4)(2+), incipient wetness impregnation with PtCl6H2 and mechanical mixture with Pt/Al2O3. The Pt dispersion was estimated by transmission electron microscopy and the hydrogenating activity with toluene hydrogenation at 110 degrees C. From these experiments, it can be concluded that with the ion exchanged sample, platinum was located within the inner micropores and on the outer surface, whereas with the impregnated one, platinum was essentially on the outer surface under the form of large particles. With all the samples there is a fast initial decrease in the activity for n-hexane hydroisomerisation at 250 degrees C. With exchanged and impregnated samples, this decrease is followed by a plateau, the activity value being then higher with impregnated sample. For the sample prepared by mechanical mixture a continuous decrease in activity can be observed. All these differences can be related with the distinct locations of Pt.

Hydroisomerization of n-decane over SAPO-11 catalysts synthesized with methylamine as co-template

The present work deals with preliminary studies concerning a new synthesis approach to prepare SAPO materials with AEL structure and evaluate their catalytic behavior in the hydroisomerization of long paraffins. The new SAPO-11 catalysts were synthesized with the help of a small amine (methylamine, MA) added during the preparation of the initial gel. As MA incorporates into the structure of the final materials, it contributes, together with DPA (dipropylamine), to an increase in Si incorporation as isolated species, which results in Bronsted acid sites. Thus, this new and original synthesis strategy allows to obtain materials with enhanced Bronsted acidity when compared with free MA materials. The catalysts were tested in n-decane hydroisomerization (n-decane was used as a model molecule) and confirmed the effect of MA on the acidic properties of the catalysts. The samples synthesized with MA present a higher number of acid sites that increase the catalytic conversion but have a negative effect in the isomerization selectivity, i.e. a more significant amount of cracking products is formed.

Concessão Douro Litoral A32/IC2: passagens inferiores pré-fabricadas no sistema arco "Techspan" e muros ala de suporte de terras no sistema "Terra Armada": ponte sobre o rio Antuã: aplicação da tecnologia "Freyssinet"

O presente relatório visa apresentar o trabalho desenvolvido pelo estagiário na empresa Freyssinet – Terra Armada, S.A. (FTA). O relatório traduz o acompanhamento do estagiário na construção e aplicação da tecnologia Terra Armada em duas passagens inferiores, bem como o acompanhamento dos trabalhos efectuados pela empresa FTA no que diz respeito à aplicação da tecnologia Freyssinet na ponte sobre o rio Antuã, estando ambas as obras abordadas inseridas no Lote 8 – “A32/IC2 Oliveira de Azeméis/IP1 (S. Lourenço) trecho 2 e 3 – a cargo da empresa Alves Ribeiro S.A.. Com a construção dos trechos 2 e 3 da A32 surgiu a necessidade de se restabelecerem algumas ligações, o que fez com que após estudadas as soluções passíveis de serem utilizadas, se tivesse optado pela construção de túneis a céu aberto na execução dos restabelecimentos. Descreve-se neste documento a metodologia utilizada e as tecnologias patenteadas pela empresa Terra Armada, sendo estas compostas pelos Arcos “Techspan” e muros de ala executados com recurso à tecnologia “Terra Armada”. Em relação à ponte sobre o rio Antuã inserida no trecho 2 da empreitada de construção da A32, foi construída com recurso a cimbre auto-lançável e betonada in situ, havendo a necessidade de aplicação de tecnologias patenteadas pela Freyssinet no que diz respeito às actividades de pré-esforço, aparelhos de apoio nas ligações entre o tabuleiro e os pilares e juntas de dilatação na ligação do tabuleiro aos encontros. Apresentam-se os procedimentos de montagem e aplicação das tecnologias anteriormente referidas. No presente relatório estão descritos e explicados detalhadamente os trabalhos executados pela FTA, nomeadamente a aplicação da tecnologia “Terra Armada” no que diz respeito à construção das passagens inferiores, e a aplicação da tecnologia “Freyssinet” aplicada aquando da construção da ponte sobre o rio Antuã.

Multi-stage evolution of a sub-aerial volcanic ridge over the last 1.3 Myr: S. Jorge Island, Azores Triple Junction

New K/Ar dating and geochemical analyses have been carried out on the WNW-ESE elongated oceanic island of S. Jorge to reconstruct the volcanic evolution of a linear ridge developed close to the Azores triple junction. We show that S. Jorge sub-aerial construction encompasses the last 1.3 Myr, a time interval far much longer than previously reported. The early development of the ridge involved a sub-aerial building phase exposed in the southeast end of the island and now constrained between 1.32 +/- 0.02 and 1.21 +/- 0.02 Ma. Basic lavas from this older stage are alkaline and enriched in incompatible elements, reflecting partial melting of an enriched mantle source. At least three differentiation cycles from alkaline basalts to mugearites are documented within this stage. The successive episodes of magma rising, storage and evolution suggest an intermittent reopening of the magma feeding system, possibly due to recurrent tensional or trans-tensional tectonic events. Present data show a gap in sub-aerial volcanism before a second main ongoing building phase starting at about 750 ka. Sub-aerial construction of the S. Jorge ridge migrated progressively towards the west, but involved several overlapping volcanic episodes constrained along the main WNW-ESE structural axis of the island. Malic magmas erupted during the second phase have been also generated by partial melting of an enriched mantle source. Trace element data suggest, however, variable and lower degrees of partial melting of a shallower mantle domain, which is interpreted as an increasing control of lithospheric deformation on the genesis and extraction of primitive melts during the last 750 kyr. The multi-stage development of the S. Jorge volcanic ridge over the last 1.3 Myr has most likely been greatly influenced by regional tectonics, controlled by deformation along the diffuse boundary between the Nubian and the Eurasian plates, and the increasing effect of sea-floor spreading at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Thinking over b‐learning strategy: the MIPO model approach

This article describes the main research results in a new methodology, in which the stages and strategies of the technology integration process are identified and described. A set of principles and recommendations are therefore presented. The MIPO model described in this paper is a result of the effort made regarding the understanding of the main success features of good practices, in the web environment, integrated in the information systems/information technology context. The initial model has been created, based on experiences and literature review. After that, it was tested in the information and technology system units at higher school and also adapted as a result of four cycles of an actionresearch work combined with a case study research. The information, concepts and procedures presented here give support to teachers and instructors, instructional designers and planning teams – anyone who wants to develop effective b‐learning instructions.

Eastwards / westwards: which direction for gender studies in the 21st century?

Eastwards / Westwards: Which Direction for Gender Studies in the XXIst Century? is a collection of essays which focus on themes and methods that characterize current research into gender in Asian countries in general. In this collection, ideas derived from Gender Studies elsewhere in the world have been subjected to scrutiny for their utility in helping to describe and understand regional phenomena. But the concepts of Local and Global – with their discoursive productions – have not functioned as a binary opposition: localism and globalism are mutually constitutive and researchers have interrogated those spaces of interaction between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’, bearing in mind their own embeddedness in social and cultural structures and their own historical memory. Contributors to this collection provided a critical transnational perspective on some of the complex effects of the dynamics of cultural globalization, by exploring the relation between gender and development, language, historiography, education and culture. We have also given attention to the ideological and rhetorical processes through which gender identity is constructed, by comparing textual grids and patterns of expectation. Likewise, we have discussed the role of ethnography, anthropology, historiography, sociology, fiction, popular culture and colonial and post-colonial sources in (re)inventing old/new male/female identities, their conversion into concepts and circulation through time and space. This multicultural and trans-disciplinary selection of essays is totally written in English, fully edited and revised, therefore, it has a good potential for an immediate international circulation. This project may trace new paths and issues for discussion on what concerns the life, practices and narratives by and about women in Asia, as well as elsewhere in the present day global experience. Academic readership: Researchers, scholars, educators, graduate and post-graduate students, doctoral students and general non-fiction readers, with a special interest in Gender Studies, Asia, Colonial and Post-Colonial Literature, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, History, Historiography, Politics, Race, Feminism, Language, Linguistics, Power, Political and Feminist Agendas, Popular Culture, Education, Women’s Writing, Religion, Multiculturalism, Globalisation, Migration. Chapter summary: 1. “Social Gender Stereotypes and their Implication in Hindi”, Anjali Pande, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. This essay looks at the subtle ways in which gender identities are constructed and reinforced in India through social norms of language use. Language itself becomes a medium for perpetuating gender stereotypes, forcing its speakers to confirm to socially defined gender roles. Using examples from a classroom discussion about a film, this essay will highlight the underlying rigid male-female stereotypes in Indian society with their more obvious expressions in language. For the urban woman in India globalisation meant increased economic equality and exposure to changed lifestyles. On an individual level it also meant redefining gender relations and changing the hierarchy in man-­woman relationships. With the economic independence there is a heightened sense of liberation in all spheres of social life, a confidence to fuzz the rigid boundaries of gender roles. With the new films and media celebrating this liberated woman, who is ready to assert her sexual needs, who is ready to explode those long held notions of morality, one would expect that the changes are not just superficial. But as it soon became obvious in the course of a classroom discussion about relationships and stereotypes related to age, the surface changes can not become part of the common vocabulary, for the obvious reason that there is still a vast gap between the screen image of this new woman and the ground reality. Social considerations define the limits of this assertiveness of women, whereas men are happy to be liberal within the larger frame of social sanctions. The educated urban woman in India speaks in favour of change and the educated urban male supports her, but one just needs to scratch the surface to see the time tested formulae of gender roles firmly in place. The way the urban woman happily balances this emerging promise of independence with her gendered social identity, makes it necessary to rethink some aspects of looking at gender in a gradually changing, traditional society like India. 2. “The Linguistic Dimension of Gender Equality”, Alissa Tolstokorova, Kiev Centre for Gender Information and Education, Ukraine. The subject-matter of this essay is gender justice in language which, as I argue, may be achieved through the development of a gender-related approach to linguistic human rights. The last decades of the 20th century, globally marked by a “gender shift” in attitudes to language policy, gave impetus to the social movement for promoting linguistic gender equality. It was initiated in Western Europe and nowadays is moving eastwards, as ideas of gender democracy progress into developing countries. But, while in western societies gender discrimination through language, or linguistic sexism, was an issue of concern for over three decades, in developing countries efforts to promote gender justice in language are only in their infancy. My argument is that to promote gender justice in language internationally it is necessary to acknowledge the rights of women and men to equal representation of their gender in language and speech and, therefore, raise a question of linguistic rights of the sexes. My understanding is that the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights in 1996 provided this opportunity to address the problem of gender justice in language as a human rights issue, specifically as a gender dimension of linguistic human rights. 3. “The Rebirth of an Old Language: Issues of Gender Equality in Kazakhstan”, Maria Helena Guimarães, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal. The existing language situation in Kazakhstan, while peaceful, is not without some tension. We propose to analyze here some questions we consider relevant in the frame of cultural globalization and gender equality, such as: free from Russian imperialism, could Kazakhstan become an easy prey of Turkey’s “imperialist dream”? Could these traditionally Muslim people be soon facing the end of religious tolerance and gender equality, becoming this new old language an easy instrument for the infiltration in the country of fundamentalism (it has already crossed the boarders of Uzbekistan), leading to a gradual deterioration of its rich multicultural relations? The present structure of the language is still very fragile: there are three main dialects and many academics defend the re-introduction of the Latin alphabet, thus enlarging the possibility of cultural “contamination” by making the transmission of fundamentalist ideas still easier through neighbour countries like Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan (their languages belong to the same sub-group of Common Turkic), where the Latin alphabet is already in use, and where the ground for such ideas shown itself very fruitful. 4. “Construction of Womanhood in the Bengali Language of Bangladesh”, Raasheed Mahmood; University of New South Wales, Sydney. The present essay attempts to explore the role of gender-based language differences and of certain markers that reveal the status accorded to women in Bangladesh. Discrimination against women, in its various forms, is endemic in communities and countries around the world, cutting across class, race, age, and religious and national boundaries. One cannot understand the problems of gender discrimination solely by referring to the relationship of power or authority between men and women. Rather one needs to consider the problem by relating it to the specific social formation in which the image of masculinity and femininity is constructed and reconstructed. Following such line of reasoning this essay will examine the nature of gender bias in the Bengali language of Bangladesh, holding the conviction that as a product of social reality language reflects the socio-cultural behaviour of the community who speaks it. This essay will also attempt to shed some light on the processes through which gender based language differences produce actual consequences for women, who become exposed to low self-esteem, depression and systematic exclusion from public discourse. 5. “Marriage in China as an expression of a changing society”, Elisabetta Rosado David, University of Porto, Portugal, and Università Ca’Foscari, Venezia, Italy. In 29 April 2001, the new Marriage Law was promulgated in China. The first law on marriage was proclaimed in 1950 with the objective of freeing women from the feudal matrimonial system. With the second law, in 1981, values and conditions that had been distorted by the Cultural Revolution were recovered. Twenty years later, a new reform was started, intending to update marriage in the view of the social and cultural changes that occurred with Deng Xiaoping’s “open policy”. But the legal reform is only the starting point for this case-study. The rituals that are followed in the wedding ceremony are often hard to understand and very difficult to standardize, especially because China is a vast country, densely populated and characterized by several ethnic minorities. Two key words emerge from this issue: syncretism and continuity. On this basis, we can understand tradition in a better way, and analyse whether or not marriage, as every social manifestation, has evolved in harmony with Chinese culture. 6. “The Other Woman in the Portuguese Colonial Empire: The Case of Portuguese India”, Maria de Deus Manso, University of Évora, Portugal. This essay researches the social, cultural and symbolic history of local women in the Portuguese Indian colonial enclaves. The normative Portuguese overseas history has not paid any attention to the “indigenous” female populations in colonial Portuguese territories, albeit the large social importance of these social segments largely used in matrimonial and even catholic missionary strategies. The first attempt to open fresh windows in the history of this new field was the publication of Charles Boxer’s referential study about Women in lberian Overseas Expansion, edited in Portugal only after the Revolution of 1975. After this research we can only quote some other fragmentary efforts. In fact, research about the social, cultural, religious, political and symbolic situation of women in the Portuguese colonial territories, from the XVI to the XX century, is still a minor historiographic field. In this essay we discuss this problem and we study colonial representations of women in the Portuguese Indian enclaves, mainly in the territory of Goa, using case studies methodologies. 7. “Heading East this Time: Critical Readings on Gender in Southeast Asia”, Clara Sarmento, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal. This essay intends to discuss some critical readings of fictional and theoretical texts on gender condition in Southeast Asian countries. Nowadays, many texts about women in Southeast Asia apply concepts of power in unusual areas. Traditional forms of gender hegemony have been replaced by other powerful, if somewhat more covert, forms. We will discuss some universal values concerning conventional female roles as well as the strategies used to recognize women in political fields traditionally characterized by male dominance. Female empowerment will mean different things at different times in history, as a result of culture, local geography and individual circumstances. Empowerment needs to be perceived as an individual attitude, but it also has to be facilitated at the macro­level by society and the State. Gender is very much at the heart of all these dynamics, strongly related to specificities of historical, cultural, ethnic and class situatedness, requiring an interdisciplinary transnational approach.

New physics contributions to A(FB)(t(t)over-bar) at the Tevatron

The Tevatron has measured a discrepancy relative to the standard model prediction in the forward-backward asymmetry in top quark pair production. This asymmetry grows with the rapidity difference of the two top quarks. It also increases with the invariant mass of the t (t) over bar pair, reaching, for high invariant masses, 3.4 standard deviations above the next-to-leading order prediction for the charge asymmetry of QCD. However, perfect agreement between experiment and the standard model was found in both total and differential cross section of top quark pair production. As this result could be a sign of new physics we have parametrized this new physics in terms of a complete set of dimension six operators involving the top quark. We have then used a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach in order to find the best set of parameters that fits the data, using all available data regarding top quark pair production at the Tevatron. We have found that just a very small number of operators are able to fit the data better than the standard model.

Alianças estratégicas: análise do sector exportador de produtos português

Dissertação de Mestrado em Finanças Empresariais

The immediate effects of atlanto-occipital joint manipulation and suboccipital muscle inhibition technique on active mouth opening and pressure pain sensitivity over latent myofascial trigger points in the masticatory muscles

DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial.OB JECTIVE: To investigate the immediate effects on pressure pain thresholds over latent trigger points (TrPs) in the masseter and temporalis muscles and active mouth opening following atlanto-occipital joint thrust manipulation or a soft tissue manual intervention targeted to the suboccipital muscles. BACKGROUND : Previous studies have described hypoalgesic effects of neck manipulative interventions over TrPs in the cervical musculature. There is a lack of studies analyzing these mechanisms over TrPs of muscles innervated by the trigeminal nerve. METHODS: One hundred twenty-two volunteers, 31 men and 91 women, between the ages of 18 and 30 years, with latent TrPs in the masseter muscle, were randomly divided into 3 groups: a manipulative group who received an atlanto-occipital joint thrust, a soft tissue group who received an inhibition technique over the suboccipital muscles, and a control group who did not receive an intervention. Pressure pain thresholds over latent TrPs in the masseter and temporalis muscles, and active mouth opening were assessed pretreatment and 2 minutes posttreatment by a blinded assessor. Mixed-model analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used to examine the effects of interventions on each outcome, with group as the between-subjects variable and time as the within-subjects variable. The primary analysis was the group-by-time interaction. RESULTS: The 2-by-3 mixed-model ANOVA revealed a significant group-by-time interaction for changes in pressure pain thresholds over masseter (P<.01) and temporalis (P =.003) muscle latent TrPs and also for active mouth opening (P<.001) in favor of the manipulative and soft tissue groups. Between-group effect sizes were small. CONCLUSIONS: The application of an atlanto-occipital thrust manipulation or soft tissue technique targeted to the suboccipital muscles led to an immediate increase in pressure pain thresholds over latent TrPs in the masseter and temporalis muscles and an increase in maximum active mouth opening. Nevertheless, the effects of both interventions were small and future studies are required to elucidate the clinical relevance of these changes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE : Therapy, level 1b. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2010;40(5):310-317. doi:10.2519/jospt.2010.3257. KEYWORDSDS: cervical manipulation, muscle trigger points, neck, TMJ, upper cervical.