Projeto de transposição de águas do Rio São Francisco: uma análise à luz do processo de agenda-setting

Quais condições permitiram que o Projeto de Transposição de Águas do Rio São Francisco deixasse de figurar no imaginário daqueles que o defendiam, como o vinha sendo desde os idos do período imperial, e, começasse a ser efetivamente implementado somente em 2007? Responder a esta questão corresponde ao objetivo principal deste estudo. Para tal, o Projeto São Francisco, como também é conhecido, foi analisado à luz do modelo de multiple streams, concebido por John Kingdon (2003), orientado para a compreensão sobre como algumas questões passam a fazer parte da agenda de governo, recebendo atenção dos formuladores de políticas públicas, enquanto outras são ignoradas. Por meio do modelo de multiple streams, foi possível apontar os principais diagnósticos e alternativas historicamente apresentados para a região do semiárido brasileiro, frente à questão dramática das secas recorrentes. Além disso, foi estruturado o complexo jogo político da transposição, caracterizado pelo conflito entre coalizões atuantes em múltiplas arenas decisórias. A partir do mapeamento da forma como os atores políticos se apropriaram dos diagnósticos e alternativas apresentados para a região, com o intuito de impor aos demais as suas crenças sobre qual deve ser o melhor caminho para o desenvolvimento do semiárido, foram identificadas as janelas de oportunidades (policy windows) que tornaram viáveis a execução do projeto de transposição.

What causes violent crime?

This study uses a new data set of crime ratesfor a large sample of countriesfor the period 1970- 1994, based on information from the United Nations World Crime Surveys, to ana/yze the determinants ofnational homicide and robbery rates. A simple model of the incentives to commit crimes is proposed, which explicit/y considers possible causes of the persistence of crime over time (criminal inertia). Several econometric mode/s are estimated, attempting to capture the . determinonts of crime rates across countries and over time. The empirical mode/s are first run for cross-sections and then applie'd to panel data. The former focus on erplanatory variables that do not change markedly over time, while the panel data techniques consider both the eflect of the business cyc1e (i.e., GDP growth rate) on the crime rate and criminal inertia (accountedfor by the inclusion of the /agged crime rate as an explanatory variable). The panel data techniques a/so consider country-specific eflects, the joint endogeneity of some of the erplanatory variables, and lhe existence of some types of measurement e"ors aJjlicting the crime data. The results showthat increases in income inequality raise crime rates, dete"ence eflects are significant, crime tends to be counter-cyclical, and criminal inertia is significant even after controlling for other potential determinants of homicide and robbery rates.

Brazil's middle classes

This paper discusses the Brazilian middle class, its definition, evolution, profile, attitudes and durability. It describes the methodology that uses per capita household income derived from household surveys to determine economic classes. It gauges their respective aggregate trends and gauges individual income risks using longitudinal data. An income-based approach is only the beginning. This initial approach is integrated with subjective data to measure expectations and attitudes of different economic classes combined with a structural approach that takes into account the roles played by human, physical and social capital in the production factors, in terms of income generation and temporal allocation of resources. In all cases, income is the chosen numeraire by which all dimensions analyzed are projected. In the end of the article, all forms of measurement proposed – current income, consumption smoothing (permanent income), productive assets and subjective aspects – are combined to discuss the design of public policies aimed at the Brazilian middle classes.

Essays on economic growth

A fundamental question in development economics is why some economies are rich and others poor. To illustrate the income per capita gap across economies consider that the average gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of the richest 10 percent of economies in the year 2010 was a factor of 40-fold that of the poorest 10 percent of economies. In other words, the average person in a rich economy produces in just over 9 days what the average person in a poor economy produces in an entire year. What are the factors that can explain this difference in standard of living across the world today? With this in view, this dissertation is a conjunction of three essays on the economic growth field which we seek a possible responses to this question. The first essay investigates the existence of resource misallocation in the Brazilian manufacturing sector and measures possible distortions in it. Using a similar method of measurement to the one developed by Hsieh and Klenow (2009) and firm-level data for 1996-2011 we find evidence of misallocation in the manufacturing sector during the observed period. Moreover, our results show that misallocation has been growing since 2005, and it presents a non-smooth dynamic. Significantly, we find that the Brazilian manufacturing sector operates at about 50% of its efficient product. With this, if capital and labor were optimally reallocated between firms and sectors we would obtain an aggregate output growth of approximately 110-180% depending on the mode in which the capital share is measured. We also find that the economic crisis did not have a substantial effect on the total productivity factor or on the sector's misallocation. However, small firms in particular seem to be strongly affected in a global crisis. Furthermore, the effects described would be attenuated if we consider linkages and complementarity effects among sectors. Despite Brazil's well-known high tax burden, there is not evidence that this is the main source of resource misallocation. Moreover, there is a distinct pattern of structural change between the manufacturing sectors in industrialized countries and those in developing countries. Therefore, the second essay demonstrate that this pattern differs because there are some factors that distort the relative prices and also affect the output productivity. For this, we present a multi-sector model of economic growth, where distortions affect the relative prices and the allocation of inputs. This phenomenon imply that change of the production structure or perpetuation of the harmful structures to the growth rate of aggregate output. We also demonstrate that in an environment with majority decision, this distortion can be enhanced and depends on the initial distribution of firms. Furthermore, distortions in relative prices would lead to increases in the degree of misallocation of resources, and that imply that there are distinct patterns of structural changes between economies. Finally, the calibrated results of the framework developed here converge with the structural change observed in the firm-level data of the Brazilian manufacturing sector. Thereafter, using a cross-industry cross-country approach, the third essay investigates the existence of an optimal level of competition to enhance economic growth. With that in mind, we try to show that this optimal level is different from industrialized and under development economies due to the technology frontier distance, the terms of trade, and each economy's idiosyncratic characteristics. Therefore, the difference in competition industry-country level is a channel to explain the output for worker gap between countries. The theoretical and empirical results imply the existence of an inverted-U relationship between competition and growth: starting for an initially low level of competition, higher competition stimulates innovation and output growth; starting from a high initial level of competition, higher competition has a negative effect on innovation and output growth. Given on average industries in industrialized economies present higher competition level. With that if we control for the terms of trade and the industry-country fixed effect, if the industries of the developing economy operated under the same competition levels as of the industrialized ones, there is a potential increase of output of 0.2-1.0% per year. This effect on the output growth rate depends on the competition measurement used.

Instituições, agricultura familiar e crédito rural: avaliação de resultados do Pronaf B nos territórios rurais do Rio Grande do Norte

Broadly anchored on Institutionalist literature this dissertation seeks to answer: Why rural credit granted to farming families in Rio Grande do Norte, Pronaf group B, has shown positive results in some territories while in others the same results are insatisfactory? Considering formal rules are the same, then why such results are so distinguished? This research supports the fact that these results are a direct consequence of the quality of institutions defined as longstanding social rules established and built in social interactions. For institutions one understands; organizational structures, formal and non-formal rules, social trust, thinking behaviors and its evolution as well as routines. Using Pronaf Rural Credit as a background this study measures and compares results obtained in the rural areas of Seridó, Sertão do Apodi, Mato Grande, Assú-Mossoró, Trairi, Potengi and Alto Oeste. The dimensions of measurement considered were: economics, social and guarantee of transparency. The study considers a sample of 402 Group B farming families. It also elaborates a socio-economic profile of these families in the considered areas and underlines the main causes for defaulted loans, difficulties to improve family income and results of access to Pronaf B credit line, as well as it proposes solutions to surpass obstacles to improve the efficiency of this credit line

Topographical characteristics and evaluating water quality in watershed management

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

Habitat use, reproductive traits and social interactions in a stream-dweller treefrog endemic to the Brazilian Cerrado

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Em cada canto, um conto, uma canção: o velho, a tradição oral e a educação no Mato Grande/RN

This dissertation is about an Education which is made concrete through orality and gestuality of the elderly joking masters of the territory of Mato Grande/RN and proposes a reflection about the exchange between these two knowledges and school education. Thus, it presents the following objectives: identifying the joking elderly in the region; recording their life experiences related to the jokes of the tradition and the way they realize such references at present; besides investigating and recording educative practices which consider the elderly s jokes at the present education. The investigation is supported by the metaphor in the making of a quilt as a methodological resource in the actions of measurement, choice of patches, sewing and binding off. The mapping of the territory of Mato Grande/RN has enabled the identification of seventeen joking elderly people. It considers and records their experiences with the popular amusements and from them, it discusses the ways through which the oral tradition in Mato Grande may be recognized in four categories/actions, namely, narrating, singing, dancing and getting old, which are analyzed under the studies by authors like Benjamin, Zumthor, Almeida, Porpino, among others. Finally, it also focuses the relation between the elderly, the knowledge of the tradition and the systemized education. It describes and articulates educative actions able to connect the knowledge by the joking elderly people and the knowledges taught at school, possibilities of concretization of a rebinding of knowledges which might bring orality and writing, the new and the old, science and tradition close to each other

Sistema de gestão ambiental sob a perspectiva da resource-based view: um estudo de caso no verdegreen Hotel - João Pessoa/PB

The pressure for a new pattern of sustainable development began to require of modern organizations the conciliation between competitiveness and a environmental protection. In this sense, a tool that acts in the implementation of structured strategies is the Environmental Management System (EMS), which focuses on improving environmental performance. This improvement, in turn, can generate to the organizations many benefits , among which, obtaining competitive advantages, susceptible of measurement from different perspectives. One of these is the application of VRIO model, reasoned by the Resource-Based View (RBV), which considers that differences between companies occurs due to differences between its internal resources and capabilities. However, although was been found some studies in the literature that evaluate the competitive potential of certain organizations , such assessments are not performed on specific objects, like the SEM s. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the resources and capabilities (environmental strategies) adopted by the SGA of the Verdegreen Hotel, identifying which of these have the potential to generate competitive advantage. For this, this exploratory-descriptive character study and delineated as field research and case study was used as data collection tools: a literature survey, semi-structured interviews, document research and participant observation. The interpretation of results and consolidation of information were conducted from a qualitative approach, using two techniques of data analysis, namely: content analysis and analysis through VRIO model. The results show that the hotel is quite structured in relation to their EMS, as well as reaching related to improving the management of environmental factors, strengthening the image and gains in competitiveness benefits. On the other hand, the main difficulties for the implementation of the system are related to employees and suppliers. With regard to environmental strategies adopted, of the 25 strategies identified, 10 showed the potential to generate competitive advantage

Técnicas de inteligência artificial para a geração dinâmica de set points para uma coluna de destilação

Artificial Intelligence techniques are applied to improve performance of a simulated oil distillation system. The chosen system was a debutanizer column. At this process, the feed, which comes to the column, is segmented by heating. The lightest components become steams, by forming the LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). The others components, C5+, continue liquid. In the composition of the LPG, ideally, we have only propane and butanes, but, in practice, there are contaminants, for example, pentanes. The objective of this work is to control pentane amount in LPG, by means of intelligent set points (SP s) determination for PID controllers that are present in original instrumentation (regulatory control) of the column. A fuzzy system will be responsible for adjusting the SP's, driven by the comparison between the molar fraction of the pentane present in the output of the plant (LPG) and the desired amount. However, the molar fraction of pentane is difficult to measure on-line, due to constraints such as: long intervals of measurement, high reliability and low cost. Therefore, an inference system was used, based on a multilayer neural network, to infer the pentane molar fraction through secondary variables of the column. Finally, the results shown that the proposed control system were able to control the value of pentane molar fraction under different operational situations

Um algoritmo para estimação de estado em alimentadores de distribuição de energia elétrica com base no método da soma de potências

Most algorithms for state estimation based on the classical model are just adequate for use in transmission networks. Few algorithms were developed specifically for distribution systems, probably because of the little amount of data available in real time. Most overhead feeders possess just current and voltage measurements at the middle voltage bus-bar at the substation. In this way, classical algorithms are of difficult implementation, even considering off-line acquired data as pseudo-measurements. However, the necessity of automating the operation of distribution networks, mainly in regard to the selectivity of protection systems, as well to implement possibilities of load transfer maneuvers, is changing the network planning policy. In this way, some equipments incorporating telemetry and command modules have been installed in order to improve operational features, and so increasing the amount of measurement data available in real-time in the System Operation Center (SOC). This encourages the development of a state estimator model, involving real-time information and pseudo-measurements of loads, that are built from typical power factors and utilization factors (demand factors) of distribution transformers. This work reports about the development of a new state estimation method, specific for radial distribution systems. The main algorithm of the method is based on the power summation load flow. The estimation is carried out piecewise, section by section of the feeder, going from the substation to the terminal nodes. For each section, a measurement model is built, resulting in a nonlinear overdetermined equations set, whose solution is achieved by the Gaussian normal equation. The estimated variables of a section are used as pseudo-measurements for the next section. In general, a measurement set for a generic section consists of pseudo-measurements of power flows and nodal voltages obtained from the previous section or measurements in real-time, if they exist -, besides pseudomeasurements of injected powers for the power summations, whose functions are the load flow equations, assuming that the network can be represented by its single-phase equivalent. The great advantage of the algorithm is its simplicity and low computational effort. Moreover, the algorithm is very efficient, in regard to the accuracy of the estimated values. Besides the power summation state estimator, this work shows how other algorithms could be adapted to provide state estimation of middle voltage substations and networks, namely Schweppes method and an algorithm based on current proportionality, that is usually adopted for network planning tasks. Both estimators were implemented not only as alternatives for the proposed method, but also looking for getting results that give support for its validation. Once in most cases no power measurement is performed at beginning of the feeder and this is required for implementing the power summation estimations method, a new algorithm for estimating the network variables at the middle voltage bus-bar was also developed

Modelagem e controle de um microveículo aéreo: uma aplicação de estabilidade robusta com a técnica backstepping em uma estrutura hexarrotor

In this Thesis, the development of the dynamic model of multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle with vertical takeoff and landing characteristics, considering input nonlinearities and a full state robust backstepping controller are presented. The dynamic model is expressed using the Newton-Euler laws, aiming to obtain a better mathematical representation of the mechanical system for system analysis and control design, not only when it is hovering, but also when it is taking-off, or landing, or flying to perform a task. The input nonlinearities are the deadzone and saturation, where the gravitational effect and the inherent physical constrains of the rotors are related and addressed. The experimental multirotor aerial vehicle is equipped with an inertial measurement unit and a sonar sensor, which appropriately provides measurements of attitude and altitude. A real-time attitude estimation scheme based on the extended Kalman filter using quaternions was developed. Then, for robustness analysis, sensors were modeled as the ideal value with addition of an unknown bias and unknown white noise. The bounded robust attitude/altitude controller were derived based on globally uniformly practically asymptotically stable for real systems, that remains globally uniformly asymptotically stable if and only if their solutions are globally uniformly bounded, dealing with convergence and stability into a ball of the state space with non-null radius, under some assumptions. The Lyapunov analysis technique was used to prove the stability of the closed-loop system, compute bounds on control gains and guaranteeing desired bounds on attitude dynamics tracking errors in the presence of measurement disturbances. The controller laws were tested in numerical simulations and in an experimental hexarotor, developed at the UFRN Robotics Laboratory

Sistemas de automação e supervisão do laboratório de avaliação dos processos de medição de vazão e BSW

During a petroleum well production process, It is common the slmultaneous oil and water production, in proportion that can vary from 0% up to values close to 100% of water. Moreover, the production flows can vary a lot, depending on the charaeteristies of eaeh reservoir. Thus being, the meters used in field for the flow and BSW (water in the oil) measurement must work well in wide bands of operation. For the evaluation of the operation of these meters, in the different operation conditions, a Laboratory will be built in UFRN, that has for objective to evaluate in an automatic way the processes of flow and BSW petroleum measurement, considering different operation conditions. The good acting of these meters is fundamental for the accuracy of the measures of the volumes of production liquid and rude of petroleum. For the measurement of this production, the petroleum companies use meters that should indicate the values with tha largast possible accuracy and to respect a series of conditions and minimum requirements, estabelished by the united Entrance ANP/INMETRO 19106/2000. The laboratory of Evafuation of the Processes of Measurement of Flow and BSW to be built will possess an oil tank basically, a tank of water, besides a mixer, a tank auditor, a tank for separation and a tank of residues for discard of fluids, fundamental for the evaluation of the flow metars and BSW. The whole process will be automated through the use of a Programmable Logicat Controller (CLP) and of a supervisory system.This laboratory besides allowing the evaluation of flow meters and BSW used by petroleum companies, it will make possible the development of researches related to the automation. Besides, it will be a collaborating element to the development of the Computer Engineering and Automation Department, that it will propitiate the evolution of the faculty and discente, qualifying them for a job market in continuous growth. The present work describes the project of automation of the laboratory that will be built at of UFRN. The system will be automated using a Programmable Logical Controller and a supervisory system. The programming of PLC and the screens of the supervisory system were developed in this work

Processamento embarcado aplicado a um sistema de deteccão de vazamentos

Embedded systems are widely spread nowadays. An example is the Digital Signal Processor (DSP), which is a high processing power device. This work s contribution consist of exposing DSP implementation of the system logic for detecting leaks in real time. Among the various methods of leak detection available today this work uses a technique based on the pipe pressure analysis and usesWavelet Transform and Neural Networks. In this context, the DSP, in addition to do the pressure signal digital processing, also communicates to a Global Positioning System (GPS), which helps in situating the leak, and to a SCADA, sharing information. To ensure robustness and reliability in communication between DSP and SCADA the Modbus protocol is used. As it is a real time application, special attention is given to the response time of each of the tasks performed by the DSP. Tests and leak simulations were performed using the structure of Laboratory of Evaluation of Measurement in Oil (LAMP), at Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)

Uma metodologia para redução de incertezas em sistema de medição de vazão de óleo e gás

The objective of this research is to discuss about the need for implementation of new alternatives for the implementation on the metrological control: on the findings of initial and subsequent measurements, the control procedures of measurement uncertainty applied in assessing the loss or remains found in handling operations of bulk liquids, when used turbine meters used in measuring the tax on the business of Petrobras, due to the current environment of legal metrology and scientific, both domestic and international. We aim, with these alternatives: standardizing the minimization of random and systematic errors, the estimate of the remaining errors, as well as the management control of metrological calibration procedures, control of measurement uncertainty, and contribute to the change in the form of performance of legal metrology and scientific disseminating new information to change management of metrological control, objectively focused on aspects of supervision in implementing these activities in the control of the uncertainties of measurement used in our processes in the fiscal measurement system Petrobras. Results are presented, information and comments on the influence of measurement uncertainty in the current results of the fiscal and transfer of custody. This will emphasize the need, among other things, improvement and expansion of metrological control monitored by setting a better meet demand, calibration equipment and measuring instruments for Petrobras. Finally, we intend to establish the need for improving the method of evaluation of the data meter applied to the current management control of measurement uncertainty by proposing a methodology for addressing the problem, as well as highlighting the expected results.