Do brazilian states engage in the fiscal war of ports? An empiric study of tax competition and an analysis of a natural experiment: the brazilian senate resolution 13/2012

O fim do ano de 2014 marcou o segundo aniversário da Resolução 13/2012 (R13) do Senado brasileiro. Grosso modo, R13 constituiu-se de um normativo do Senado cujo objetivo era o de por um fim na Guerra Fiscal dos Portos (FWP), uma competição fiscal entre os estados que se dá através da concessão de benefícios fiscais sobre operações interestaduais com mercadorias importadas de modo a atrair empresas importadoras para o território do estado concedente. R13 diminuiu o nível da tributação sobre tais operações, esperando com isso diminuir os lucros auferidos e a propensão das firmas de aceitarem tais regimes especiais de incentivação fiscal. Nada obstante, R13 gerou uma grande discussão sobre se os benefícios da atração de investimentos para um estado em particular superariam ou não os custos que esse estado incorreria em renunciar receitas tributárias em razão concessão desses benefícios fiscais. O objetivo do presente trabalho é o de dar uma contribuição a essa discussão, testando se um comportamento de interação estratégica entre estados, tal como aquele que supostamente ocorre no contexto da FWP, de fato emerge dos dados de importação coletados de janeiro de 2010 a maio de 2015, e, também, testando se a R13 de fato afetou tal comportamento de interação estratégica. Utiliza-se aqui um modelo de econometria espacial, no qual se especifica uma matriz de pesos que agrega o nível de importação das jurisdições concorrentes, organizando os dados em um painel de efeitos fixos. Os resultados sugerem que existe um comportamento de interação estratégica entre os estados e que a R13 de fato impactou tal comportamento.

Computerization, occupational tasks and the labor market : evidence from a natural experiment in Brazil

A hipótese de “rotinização" ou estabelece que computadores substituem tarefas rotineiras e complementam tarefas abstratas não rotineiras. Essa dissertação de mestrado test algumas predições naturais sobre o impacto “rotinização" sobre o mercado de trabalho de uma grande economia em desenvolvimento. Uso o final da política de reserva de mercado para mini e micro-computador (Outubro de 1992) como um experimento natural que gera variação exógena nos preços de tecnologia para identificar os efeitos do uso de computadores em salários e insumos de trabalho. Conjuntamente, os resultados contribuem para a crescente literatura sobre “perspectiva das tarefas" por trazer implicações testáveis de um queda exógena de preços de computador em um contexto com uma estratégia de identificação crível.

Enhancing comprehension in low achievement 9th grades: a quasi-experiment study

This article describes the application of a Comprehension Strategies Programme (CSP) designed to improve the reading comprehension of students with learning difficulties. The programme was implemented with 102 ninth grade students from Portuguese public schools with low achievement on a particular subject: Portuguese. An evaluation was done on the effects of the programme on reading comprehension and on school achievement. The Experimental Group presented significant improvements when compared to the Control Group (n=108) on the dimensions considered. This indicates that the CSP an bring benefits to low achieving students who have Portuguese as a mother tongue.

Dogs can detect scat samples more efficiently than humans: an experiment in a continuous Atlantic Forest remnant

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Analysis of relative humidity sensors at the WMO Radiosonde intercomparison experiment in Brazil

The quality of the vertical distribution measurements of humidity in the atmosphere is very important in meteorology due to the crucial role that water vapor plays in the earth's energy budget. The radiosonde is the humidity measurement device that provides the best vertical resolution. Also, radiosondes are the operational devices that are used to measure the vertical profile of atmospheric water vapor. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has carried out several intercomparison experiments at different climatic zones in order to identify the differences between the available commercial sensors. This article presents the results of an experiment that was carried out in Brazil in 2001 in which major commercial radiosonde manufacturers [e.g., Graw Radiosondes GmbH & Co., KG (Germany); MODEM (France); InterMet Systems (United States); Sippican, Inc. (United States); and Vaisala (Finland)] were involved. One of the main goals of this experiment was to evaluate the performance of the different humidity sensors in a tropical region. This evaluation was performed for different atmospheric layers and distinct periods of the day. It also considers the computation of the integrated water vapor (IWV). The results showed that the humidity measurements achieved by the different sensors were quite similar in the low troposphere (the bias median value regarding the RS80 was around 1.8%) and were quite dispersed in the superior layers (the median rms regarding the RS80 was around 14.9%).

Anisotropy of track revelation in epidote: Results of a step etching experiment with Kr-86 ion tracks

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

Composition of the aquatic invertebrate fauna associated to the mangrove vegetation of a coastal river, analyzed through a manipulative experiment.

The present study analyzed the composition of the aquatic fauna associated to the mangrove forest in a southeastern Brazilian river. The composition of the macrofauna in the roots of the marginal vegetation located at three different salinity stretches was analyzed by sampling pieces of the submerged branches of the vegetation (natural substrate) and pieces of sisal rope (artificial substrate), installed close to the natural vegetation and sampled after a period of 14 colonization days. In both types of substrate, twelve taxonomic groups were sampled, representing three phyla (Cnidaria, Annelida and Arthropoda). The crustaceans, corresponding to the most diversified group, were represented by Copepoda, Tanaidacea, Isopoda, Amphipoda and Decapoda. The highest salinity stretch showed the highest abundance, with a progressive decrease from high to low salinity for both substrates. Copepoda and Tanaidacea predominated on both substrates, although the artificial substrate exhibited the highest total abundance and species richness. Considering the relative abundance of the taxonomic groups on both substrates, the majority of groups predominated in the highest salinity range. Significant differences on the longitudinal distribution of abundance were associated to the variation on salinity and with the complexity of the substrate.

Mesocosm experiment on the impact of invertebrate predation on zooplankton of a tropical lake

Invertebrate predation on zooplankton was investigated in mesocosms in the shallow tropical Lake Monte Alegre, Sauo Paulo State, Brazil, in the summer of 1999. Two treatments were applied: one with natural densities of prey and the predators Chaoborus brasiliensis and the water mite Krendowskia sp. (Pr+), and another without predators (Pr-). Three enclosures (volume: 6.6 m(3) of water per enclosure) per treatment were installed in the sediment of the deepest area of the lake (5.0 m). At the beginning, Chaoborus larvae were present in Pr- enclosures, because of technical difficulties in preventing their entrance, but they virtually disappeared in the course of the experiment. Water mites were almost absent in Pr- enclosures. Chaoborus predation negatively influenced the Daphnia gessneri population, but not the populations of the copepods Tropocyclops prasinus and Thermocyclops decipiens and the rotifers Keratella spp. Death rates of Daphnia were generally significantly higher in the Pr+ treatment; Daphnia densities increased after the disappearance of Chaoborus in Pr-. Copepod losses to predation in the experiment may be compensated by higher fecundity, shorter egg development time, and lower pressure on egg-bearing females, resulting in a lower susceptibility to Chaoborus predation. The predation impact of water mite on microcrustaceans and rotifers in the experiment was negligible.

Transition to turbulence in the Reynolds' experiment

In this study we simulate numerically the Reynolds' experiment for the transition from laminar to turbulent flow in a pipe. We present a discussion of the results from a dynamical systems perspective when a control parameter, the Reynolds number, is increased. The Landau scenario, where the transition is described by the excitation of infinite oscillatory modes within the fluid, is not observed. Instead what happens is best explained by the Ruelle-Takens scenario in terms of strange attractors. The Lyapunov exponent and fractal dimension for the attractor are calculated together with a measure of complex behaviour called the Lempel-Ziv complexity. (C) 2001 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

New thought experiment to test the generalized second law of thermodynamics

We propose an extension of the original thought experiment proposed by Geroch, which sparked much of the actual debate and interest on black hole thermodynamics, and show that the generalized second law of thermodynamics is in compliance with it.

Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The CMS experiment at the CERN LHC

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector is described. The detector operates at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It was conceived to study proton-proton (and lead-lead) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV (5.5 TeV nucleon-nucleon) and at luminosities up to 10(34)cm(-2)s(-1) (10(27)cm(-2)s(-1)). At the core of the CMS detector sits a high-magnetic-field and large-bore superconducting solenoid surrounding an all-silicon pixel and strip tracker, a lead-tungstate scintillating-crystals electromagnetic calorimeter, and a brass-scintillator sampling hadron calorimeter. The iron yoke of the flux-return is instrumented with four stations of muon detectors covering most of the 4 pi solid angle. Forward sampling calorimeters extend the pseudo-rapidity coverage to high values (vertical bar eta vertical bar <= 5) assuring very good hermeticity. The overall dimensions of the CMS detector are a length of 21.6 m, a diameter of 14.6 m and a total weight of 12500 t.

b-Jet identification in the D0 experiment

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

A New Boson with a Mass of 125 GeV Observed with the CMS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Measurement of the inclusive W and Z production cross sections in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV with the CMS experiment

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)