Modernizing the Brazilian active control network

The Brazilian Network for Continuous Monitoring of GPS - RBMC, since its foundation in December of 1996, has been playing an essential role for the maintenance and user access of the fundamental geodetic frame in the country,. It provides users with a direct link to the Brazilian Geodetic System - SGB. Its role has become more relevant with the increasing use of space navigation technology in the country. Recently, Brazil adopted a new geodetic system, SIRGAS2000, in February 2005, fully compatible with GNSS technology. The paper provides an overview of the recent modernization phases the RBMC network has undergone highlighting its future steps. From its current post-mission mode, the RBMC will evolve into a real-time network, providing real-time data and real-time correction to users. The network enhanced with modern GPS receivers and the addition of atomic clocks will be used to compute WADGPS-type corrections to be transmitted, in real time, to users in Brazil and surrounding areas. It is estimated that users will be able to achieve a horizontal accuracy around 0.5 m (1σ) in static and kinematic positioning and better for dual frequency users. The availability of the WADGPS service will allow users to tie to the new SIRGAS2000 system in a more rapid and transparent way for positioning and navigation applications. It should be emphasized that support to post-mission static positioning will continue to be provided to users interested in higher accuracy levels. In addition to this, a post-mission Precise Point Positioning (PPP) service will be provided based on the one currently provided by the Geodetic Survey Division of NRCan (CSRS-PPP). The modernization of the RBMC is under development based on a cooperation signed at the end of 2004 with the University of New Brunswick, supported by the Canadian International Development Agency and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency. The Geodetic Survey Division of NRCan is also participating in this modernization effort under the same project.

Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy 2011-2012: Continuing crisis in the centre and new opportunities for developing economies

Includes bibliography

From the capital surge to the financial crisis and beyond: the Mexican economy in the 1990s

Includes bibliography

Latest Enhancements in the Brazilian Active Control Network

The Brazilian Network for Continuous Monitoring of GPS - RBMC, since its foundation in December of 1996, has been playing an essential role for the maintenance and user access of the fundamental geodetic frame in the country. It provides to users a direct link to the Brazilian Geodetic System. Its role has become more relevant with the increasing use of space navigation technology in the country. Recently, Brazil adopted a new geodetic frame, SIRGAS2000, in February 2005, fully compatible with GNSS technology. The paper provides an overview of the recent modernization phases the RBMC network has undergone highlighting its future steps. From its current post-mission mode, the RBMC will evolve into a real-time network, providing real-time data and real-time correction to users. The network enhanced with modern GPS receivers and the addition of atomic clocks will be used to compute WADGPS-type corrections to be transmitted, in real time, to users in Brazil and surrounding areas. It is estimated that users will be able to achieve a horizontal accuracy around 0.5 m (1 σ) in static and kinematic positioning and better for dual frequency users. The availability of the WADGPS service will allow users to tie to the new SIRGAS2000 frame in a more rapid and transparent way for positioning and navigation applications. It should be emphasized that support to post-mission static positioning, will continue to be provided to users interested in higher accuracy levels. In addition to this, a post-mission Precise Point Positioning (PPP) service will be provided based on the one currently provided by the Geodetic Survey Division of NRCan (CSRS-PPP). The modernization of the RBMC is under development based on a cooperation signed at the end of 2004 with the University of New Brunswick, supported by the Canadian International Development Agency and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency. The Geodetic Survey Division of NRCan is also participating in this modernization effort under the same project. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009.

Pension system reforms, the capital market and saving

Includes bibliography

Crisis del desarrollo social: retos y posibilidades = Crisis of social development: challenges and possibilities

Incluye Bibliografía

The economic crisis and the maritime and port sector

This bulletin examines the impact of the economic crisis on the maritime and port sector.

The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Crisis in the labour markets and countercyclical responses

As predicted in the first bulletin, produced jointly by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), the impact of the economic crisis continued to be felt in Latin America and the Caribbean during the second quarter of 2009. Regional exports of goods and services contracted in response to sluggish demand on international markets, while remittances and foreign direct investment flows continued to fall, credit lost its buoyancy and the total wage bill diminished, owing mainly to job losses. As a result, the growth forecasts of many countries had to be adjusted downwards. Since the end of 2008, the countries of the region had started to implement countercyclical policies —albeit with significant differences— in an effort to use public spending to counter flagging investment and consumer-spending levels and boost aggregate demand. In this second bulletin, ECLAC and ILO show how the impact of the crisis has deepened in labour markets in the region in the first half of the year and examine existing options and the outcome of public-infrastructure and emergency employment programmes designed to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the labour market. The unemployment rate has risen in practically all countries compared with the previous year and this situation worsened further in the second quarter, when urban unemployment exceeded the rate of the corresponding period in 2008 by 1 percentage point (to stand at 8.5%, up from 7.5%), while in the first quarter, the variation was 0.6 of a percentage point. Labour indicators also point to an increase in informality, a decline in employment with social protection and a decrease in full-time employment. Labour-market trends observed in the first half-year, together with the forecast for a 1.9% decline in regional GDP in 2009, suggest that the average annual rate of urban unemployment in the region will be close to 8.5%. This forecast is slightly less pessimistic than the estimate given in the first bulletin; this is attributable to the fall in the participation rate in the first half-year to levels that are expected to remain low for the rest of the year. Without this reduction in the labour supply, due largely to the “discouragement effect”, the annual average urban unemployment rate would stand at between 8.8% and 8.9%. Thus, the open urban unemployment figure would increase by 2.5 million and if the “discouraged job-seekers” are included, then the number of additional persons not finding a niche in the urban labour market would climb to 3.2 million. In the region, as in the rest of the world, there are signs that the crisis may have reached bottom in the middle of the year. In many countries, production levels have ceased their decline and there are indications of an incipient recovery leading to cautious optimism that there may be a moderate upturn in labour markets in the fourth quarter. The pace of recovery will vary from one country to the next and is expected to be gradual at best. Even with the return to a growth path, there should be no illusion that the labour problems will immediately disappear. First, the recovery in employment is expected to lag behind the upturn in economic activity. Second, since economic growth is likely to remain moderate in the short term and well below the rates recorded between late 2003 and mid-2008, demand for labour and consequently the generation of good-quality jobs will continue to be weak. Thus, countries should not relax their efforts to defend and create decent jobs, but rather should take steps to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of available instruments. In this way, the region will be in a better position not only to confront the challenges of economic recovery, but also to strengthen the foundations for social inclusion and for advancing under more favourable conditions towards fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals.

The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Crisis and the labour market

Since the financial and economic crisis began to affect the real economy and spread throughout the world, the region’s economies have been faced with a situation where data on employment and labour reflect the real stories of millions of women and men for whom the future has become uncertain. When these problems began to appear, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned that the world faced a global employment crisis whose consequences could lead to a social recession. As the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has pointed out, the outbreak of the crisis put an end to a five-year period of sustained growth and falling unemployment. As early as the second half of 2008, the figures began to reflect slowing economic growth, while a downward slide began in the labour market. This initial bulletin, produced jointly by ECLAC and ILO, seeks to review the ways in which the crisis is affecting the region’s labour markets. Amidst a situation characterized by shocks and uncertainty, governments and social partners must have the inputs needed for designing public policies to increase the population’s levels of employment and well-being. It is planned to produce two further bulletins by January 2010, in order to measure the impact of the crisis on employment and provide an input to the process of defining the best public policies to reverse its consequences. The bulletin reviews the most recent available indicators and analyses them in order to establish trends and detect variations. It provides statistics for the first quarter, estimates for the rest of 2009, and a review of policies announced by the Governments. In 2008, the last year of the growth cycle, the region’s urban unemployment stood at 7.5%. According to economic growth forecasts for 2009, the average annual urban unemployment rate for the region will increase to between 8.7% and 9.1%; in other words, between 2.8 million and 3.9 million additional people will swell the ranks of the unemployed. Data for the first quarter of 2009 already confirm that the crisis is hitting employment in the region. Compared with the first quarter of 2008, the urban unemployment rate was up by 0.6 percentage points, representing over a million people.Work will continue until September 2009 on the preparation of a new report on the employment situation, using data updated to the first half of 2009. This will provide a picture of the region’s employment situation, so that growth and employment projections can be adjusted for 2009 as a whole. Strategies for dealing with the crisis must have jobs and income protection as their central goals. Policies are moving in that direction in Latin America and the Caribbean and, if they are effective, an even greater worsening of the situation may be avoided. Labour produces wealth, generates consumption, keeps economies functioning and is a key factor in seeking out the way to more sustainable and equitable growth once the crisis is past.

A platform for designing quantitative infrared spectrophotometric method for drugs and pharmaceuticals analysis: a rediscover for an ecological and safer technique in the routine quality control laboratories

This paper describes the importance of an innovative analytical technique for drugs and pharmaceuticals quantification, using Fouriertransform infrared (FTIR) transmission spectroscopy. This method does not use organic solvents, which is one great advantage over the most common analytical methods. This fact contributes to minimize the generation of organic solvent waste by the industry and thereby reduces the impact of its activities on the environment. The method involved absorbance measurements of the band corresponding to one of the chosen group in the molecule. Obviously, the method should be validated according to ICH guidelines, showing linearity, precision, accuracy and robustness, over a concentration range, using small amounts to prepare the analyte. The validated method is able to quantify drugs and pharmaceuticals and can be used as an environmentally friendly alternative for the routine analysis in pharmaceutical industry quality control.

Gibberellic acid, ozone and 1-methylcyclopropene on the gray mold control in avant garde rose

Gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea is considered the major disease of greenhouse grown flowers. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of gibberellic acid (GA3), ozone, and 1-MCP, applied on postharvest, on the gray mold control in 'Avant Garde' rose. Rose flowers were artificially inoculated with B. cinerea (104 conidia ml-1) and non-inoculated. After treatments, roses were stored under room conditions (20±2°C/80±5% RH) and checked for gray mold incidence and severity. Spraying of GA3 at 25, 50, and 75 mg L-1 on non-inoculated roses reduced the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) of gray mold incidence in 41, 40 and 54%, respectively. Continuous application of ozone at 2.7 ppm reduced 14-folds B. cinerea sporulation. On the other hand, 1-MCP did not control gray mould in rose. These results showed that GA3 sprays and ozone contribute to postharvest control of gray mold in cut rose and can be utilized on integrated disease management.