Escolas de governo do cone sul: estudo institucional do INAP (Argentina) e da ENAP (Brasil)

Este estudo analisa o desenvolvimento institucional das experi??ncias de duas escolas de governo - o Instituto Nacional de Administra????o P??blica (INAP), da Argentina, e a Escola Nacional de Administra????o P??blica (ENAP), do Brasil -, que implantaram nos anos oitenta, respectivamente, Programas de Forma????o de Administradores Governamentais e de Especialistas em Pol??ticas P??blicas e Gest??o Governamental. Para tal, ?? utilizado o marco te??rico que se baseia na teoria de institution building e, especialmente, o modelo conceituai de Esman, acrescido de fatores peculiares aos pa??ses estudados. A Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA), da Fran??a, modelo de cria????o dessas escolas, ?? analisada como paradigma. Com base no marco te??rico e no modelo franc??s, a an??lise comparativa propicia inferir que tanto o INAP como a ENAP, nos contextos em que foram criados, n??o se institucionalizaram. Al??m do mais, o estudo possibilita identificar e priorizar, como respons??veis por esse insucesso, alguns fatores internos e externos ??s escolas, como a car??ncia de lideran??a, de doutrina, de programa, de recursos e de v??nculos com outras organiza????es e fatores de natureza pol??tico-administrativa e cultural, como clientelismo, corporativismo e descontinuidade administrativa

O recorrente apelo das reformas gerenciais: uma breve compara????o

Reformas de corte gerencial n??o s??o uma novidade no Brasil e est??o condenadas a reaparecerem de forma recorrente, dado o incessante processo de renova????o das teorias de administra????o no setor privado. Dado permanente apelo que det??m junto ?? ??rea governamental, ?? natural que estejam continuamente sendo transplantadas para o setor p??blico com maior ou menor sucesso, conforme um conjunto de circunst??ncias e caracter??sticas. O trabalho busca fazer uma breve an??lise comparativa dos processos de transforma????es em determinadas pol??ticas de gest??o p??blica nos dois ciclos de reformas autodenominadas gerenciais ocorridas nos dois mandatos de Fernando Henrique Cardoso. O texto identifica contrastes em rela????o a aspectos do policy making process nos dois momentos, com ??nfase para os momentos relacionados com a forma????o da agenda, especifica????o de propostas e processos decis??rios. Na primeira parte s??o recuperadas algumas quest??es comuns a outro esfor??o de reforma ??? no caso a de 1967 ??? e na conclus??o, s??o feitos alguns coment??rios relacionados com o legado de reformas de cunho gerencial no contexto do governo atual.

A questão racial pensada entre o “método científico” e a paixão : um estudo comparado entre José Ingenieros e Manoel Bomfim – Argentina e Brasil (1900-1920)

Esta dissertação de Mestrado tem como objetivo analisar comparativamente a forma pela qual a temática da Raça foi discutida pelo ítalo-argentino José Ingenieros e pelo brasileiro Manoel Bomfim nas duas primeiras décadas do século XX. A hipótese deste trabalho é que ambos os autores buscaram definir qual seria o “legítimo povo” dos seus respectivos países a partir de um critério racial. Esta pesquisa está dividida em três partes. O primeiro capítulo busca traçar o perfil intelectual de Ingenieros e de Bomfim para que os leitores possam visualizar a trajetória profissional destes homens e entendê-los melhor; o segundo capítulo demonstra as concepções de mundo em meio a qual estes autores cresceram e como elas repercutiram em seus escritos; o último capítulo é dedicado a fazer a análise das fontes Sociologia Argentina, de Ingenieros, e América Latina: males de origem, de Bomfim, para que seja possível refletir sobre como estes intelectuais pensaram a questão da raça e como eles a relacionaram às suas concepções de “povo ideal” em seus respectivos países.

Métodos de estimativa de descarga sólida em rios : análise comparativa

Transporte de sedimentos em bacias hidrográficas está relacionado com geomorfologia, ecologia fluvial, estabilidade das estruturas de engenharia e condições de navegação, dentre outros aspectos importantes para o planejamento e o controle de recursos hídricos. Existência de inúmeras variáveis envolvidas na mecânica de transporte de sedimentos e complexidade nas interações de processos físicos tornam difícil o estabelecimento de metodologias indiretas para estimativa de transporte de sedimentos em rios. Desta forma, não existe ainda metodologia universalmente aceita. O principal objetivo do presente trabalho é a análise comparativa de diferentes métodos empíricos disponíveis na literatura para estimativa de descargas sólidas em rios, considerando suas características específicas e resultados de aplicações às bacias dos rios Santa Joana e Santa Maria do Doce e microbacias Sossego e Santa Júlia, inseridas na porção da bacia do rio Doce localizada no Espírito Santo. Foram aplicados os métodos de estimativa indireta de descarga sólida: Einstein Modificado por Colby e Hembree (1955); Colby Simplificado (1957); Engelund & Hansen (1967); Ackers & White (1973); Yang (1973), Karim (1998) e Cheng (2002). Considerando as médias das estimativas de descarga sólida de material de leito (Qsml) relativas às campanhas realizadas em período chuvoso para a seção transversal do rio Doce, de maior porte, o método de Karim (1998), seguido pelo método de Ackers & White (1973), apresentou o maior valor, enquanto que o método de Yang (1973) apresentou o menor. Para os rios Santa Maria do Doce e Santa Joana e os córregos Santa Júlia e Sossego, verificou-se que o método de Ackers & White (1973), seguido de Karim (1998) e Yang (1973) apresentaram as maiores médias, enquanto que os métodos de Cheng (2002) e Engelund & Hansen (1967) apresentaram as menores. O método Simplificado de Colby apresentou as maiores estimativas de descargas sólidas totais (Qst) para todas as seções transversais de todos os cursos d'água monitorados. Concluiu-se que os diferentes métodos indiretos podem resultar em grandes diferenças em estimativas de transporte de sedimento em rios e que, desta forma, resultados de aplicação destes métodos devem ser considerados com muita cautela. Os resultados mostraram a grande importância de realização de campanhas de medição sedimentométricas para avaliação do transporte de sedimentos e definição dos melhores métodos indiretos de estimativa para cursos d'água específicos.

Brazil: an emerging military power? The problem of the use of force in Brazilian international relations in the 21st century

The central goal of this paper is thinking about the Brazilian military power and its linking to the international ambitions of the country in the 21st century. After a comparative analysis to other BRICs and with a historical one about Brazil's strategic irrelevance, we aim to establish what the minimum military capacity Brazil would need in order to meet the country's latest international interests. Similarly, it will be discussed if the National Strategy of Defense, approved in 2008, and the recent strategic agreements signed with France represent one more step toward this minimum military capacity.

Variations of the soft tissue thicknesses external to the ribs in Pectus Excavatum patients

Background: Surgical repair of pectus excavatum (PE) has become more popular due to improvements in the minimally invasive Nuss procedure. The pre-surgical assessment of PE patients requires Computerized Tomography (CT), as the malformation characteristics vary from patient to patient. Objective: This work aims to characterize soft tissue thickness (STT) external to the ribs among PE patients. It also presents a comparative analysis between the anterior chest wall surface before and after surgical correction. Methods: Through surrounding tissue segmentation in CT data, STT values were calculated at different lines along the thoracic wall, with a reference point in the intersection of coronal and median planes. The comparative analysis between the two 3D anterior chest surfaces sets a surgical correction influence area (SCIA) and a volume of interest (VOI) based on image processing algorithms, 3D surface algorithms, and registration methods. Results: There are always variations between left and right side STTs (2.54±2.05 mm and 2.95±2.97 mm for female and male patients, respectively). STTs are dependent on age, sex, and body mass index of each patient. On female patients, breast tissue induces additional errors in bar manual

Capital Intelectual: sua divulgação no setor bancário em Portugal

The importance of intangible resources has increased dramatically in recent years comparing to tangible ones. The economy in which we live is the result of competitive pressures that have imposed the implementation of business at an international level as well as a requirement in the application of sophisticated technologies that allow us to follow this fast evolution. In this age of information and innovation organizations will only survive if they are inserted in a global network of strategic relations, generically called as the network economy by Lev (2003). The service sector has stood out against the more traditional sectors of the economy. The intensive use of knowledge and a strong customer orientation created a new reality in today’s organizations: a growing importance attached to innovation, to the quality of products and services offered, to the information and communication technologies adopted, and to the creativity and particular abilities of human resources. The concept of intangible assets is more common in an accounting language and intellectual capital is most often applied in the context of management, being associated with a more comprehensive, multidimensional approach, representing all the knowledge that the institution owns and that it applies in the form of expertise, the creativity and organizational competencies that lead to innovation and to the sustained attainment of future economic benefits. An analysis of the scope of intellectual capital is fundamental to take more appropriate management decisions so that a more appropriate accounting treatment could be given by the accounting standardization organizations. This study intends to analyse the practices of information disclosure of the intellectual capital in the banking sector in Portugal, complementing the analysis of the disclosure of intangible assets in the context of accounting standards with the disclosure of intellectual capital in the context of organizational management. In particular, our main aims are to identify the extent of disclosure of intellectual capital made by banks in Portugal and also to identify the factors that determine such a disclosure. The disclosure in the context of accounting standards will be studied by checking the disclosure of intangible assets through the items listed in the International Accounting Standard 38 developed by the International Accounting Standards Board. The context of management was analysed by means of creating a voluntary disclosure index based on assumptions of the model Intellectus, developed by the Centro de Investigación sobre la Sociedad del Conocimiento – Instituto de Administración de Empresas (CIC-IADE) of the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, and of the model Intellectual Capital Statement (made in Europe) (InCaS), both promoted by the European Commission and that we have adapted to the banking sector. When analysing the disclosure of intangible assets based on the context of accounting standards and the voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital, this study has tried to raise awareness about the importance of issuing reports on the intellectual capital as an alternative tool to take management decisions in the existing organizations and reflects the transparency and legitimacy that these institutions seek through a more extensive and more detailed information disclosure of their intellectual capital. Based on a complimentarily of economic theories, together with social and political theories, we tried to check the extent, evolution and tendencies of the compulsory disclosure of intangible assets and of the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital analysed in the period 2001-2011. Banks characteristics were also analysed in order to deduce those factors that determine or promote a larger disclosure in this sector. Based on these objectives, we adopted a longitudinal approach to explore the extent and the development of the disclosure of intangible assets as well as the factors that have determined it. Furthermore, we sought to assess the impact of the adoption of IAS 38 in the financial statements of the organizations in this sector. The disclosure index created on the basis of the disclosure requirements stated in IAS 38 from IASB was applied to the consolidated financial statements of the seventeen banks that rendered their statements in Portugal from 2001 to 2009. Since the information disclosed in the context of accounting standards may not have an important role as a management tool once it was not able to reflect what really contributes to the competitiveness and organizational growth, the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital was analysed according to the information obtained from the 2010 annual individual reports of the banks operating in Portugal in that year and from their respective websites in 2011. We tried to analyse the extent of the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital and of each of its components, human capital, structural capital and relational capital. The comparative analysis of their annual reports and their web pages allowed us to assess the incidence of the disclosure and discover what channel the banking sector focuses on when disclosing their intellectual capital. Also in this analysis the study of the disclosure determinants has allowed us to conclude about the influence of particular characteristics in the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital. The results of the analysis to the extent of the disclosure of intangible assets in the consolidated financial statements of the banking groups in Portugal in the period 2001-2009 have shown an average information disclosure of 0.24. This information disclosure evolved from an average value of 0.1940 in 2001 to 0.2778 in 2009. The average value is 0.8286 if it is only considered the disclosure of the intangible assets that the banks possessed. The evolution of this index means an increase in the average disclosure from 0.7852 in 2001 to 0.8788 in 2009. From the first results that are related to the extent of the disclosure of intangible assets in the financial statements, we can verify that the banking groups present a low disclosure level of these resources. However, when considering the disclosure of only the intangible assets that each institution owns, the disclosure level appears to be in compliance with the disclosure requirements for this sector. An evolution in the disclosure of intangible assets for the period considered was confirmed, showing an increase in the information disclosure of intangible assets in 2005, the year in which the accounting rules for intangible assets changed. The analysis that focused on the disclosure in the context of management tried to understand the extent, the incidence and the determinants of the voluntary information disclosure of intellectual capital in the annual reports of 2010 and on their web pages in 2011, studying the 32 banks operating in Portugal in this period. The average voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital in the 2010 annual reports is 0.4342 while that in web pages is 0.2907. A review of the components of the intellectual capital allowed us to assess the importance that the banks confer to each of these components. The data obtained show that the relational capital, and more specifically the business capital, is the most disclosed component by banks in Portugal both in the annual reports and in their institutional web pages, followed by the structural capital and, finally, by the human capital. The disclosure of the human capital and the structural capital is higher in the annual reports than that in the websites, while the relational capital is more disclosed in the websites than in the annual reports. The results have also shown that the banks make a complementary use of both sources when disclosing information about their structural capital and relational capital but they do not show any information about their human capital in their websites. We tried to prove the influence of factors that could determine the accounting disclosure and the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital in this sector. The change in the IASB accounting rules as from January 1st 2005 gave a greater disclosure of accounting information of intangible assets in the financial statements of banks. The bank size and corporate governance measures have statistically proved to have an influence on the extent of the accounting disclosure of intangible assets and on the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital. Economic and financial variables such as profitability, operating efficiency or solvency were not determinants of information disclosure. The instability that the banking sector has experienced in economic and financial indicators in recent years as a result of the global financial markets imbalance has worsen indicators such as profitability, efficiency and solvency and caused major discrepancies in the economic situation between banks in Portugal. This empirical analysis has contributed to confront the disclosure required by accounting rules performed in the financial statements of organizations with that performed in the main disclosure media which is available for entities and which is increasingly requested in the process of taking management decisions. It also allowed us to verify whether there is homogeneity between institutions in the fulfilment of the requirements for information disclosure of intangible assets. However, as for voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital, there are large disparities in the disclosure extent between organizations. Regardless of this sector specific characteristics, the voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital made by banks in Portugal follows the trends in other sectors and the practices adopted in other countries, namely regarding the amount of information disclosed, the incidence of the disclosure on the indicators of relational capital and the importance of variables such as size as determinants of disclosure of intellectual capital. For a further knowledge in this field, we created a specific index for the banking sector, considering appropriate indicators for an incisive, comprehensive analysis in order to consider the most relevant indicators of intellectual capital components. Besides, confronting the analysis of disclosure in the context of accounting standards with the study of voluntary disclosure brought a new analysis approach to the research on intellectual capital disclosure. With this study, we have also intended to raise greater awareness of the need for harmonization in the intellectual capital disclosure on the part of the regulatory banking authority by means of a demanding, consistent and transparent report of intellectual capital with simple, clear, objective indicators so that those interested in disclosing intellectual capital information in the organizations in this sector may obtain more harmonized and comparable information. A research on the disclosure quality of intellectual capital, together with the application of other analysis methodologies in this sector, might be a promising approach for future research. Applying the voluntary disclosure index to the same sector in other countries may also contribute to the knowledge of disclosure practices in different geographical environments. We highlight the relevance of further studies contributing to the harmonization and consistency in the presentation of an intellectual capital report so as to enable organizations to disclose the resources that contribute most to their competitiveness and growth.

Leaf area and epicuticular wax content of Sida spp

Morpho-physiological characteristics and chemical composition are directly related to superior competitive ability of crops. This study intended to make a comparative analysis of dry matter production, leaf area and amount of epicuticular wax of three species of Sida spp: S. urens L., S. rhombifolia L. and S. spinosa L. Plants were collected at three growth stages: V1: stage described as up to 10 fully expanded leaves; V2: between 11 leaves and flowering; and R: after flowering. At stages V2 and R, the highest number of leaves was recorded for S. rhombifolia, followed by S. spinosa at V2 and S. urens at R. These results were relatively proportional to leaf area for all species. S. spinosa at the vegetative stage produced the highest values of specific leaf area (SLA), with no significant differences between species at the stage R. The amount of wax per unit of leaf area between species at the same developmental stage was significantly different only at the reproductive stage, where S. spinosa produced 23.18 and 6.23 fold more wax than S. urens and S. rhombifolia respectively. Between the growth stages of each species, there was decrease in the amount of wax with plant age and increase in leaf area (AFE), number of leaves and dry matter. The leaves of the Sida species exhibit different characteristics and this information can be used to optimize the use of herbicides in the control of these weeds.

Variations of the soft tissue thicknesses external to the ribs in pectus excavatum patients

Background: Surgical repair of pectus excavatum (PE) has become more popular due to improvements in the minimally invasive Nuss procedure. The pre-surgical assessment of PE patients requires Computerized Tomography (CT), as the malformation characteristics vary from patient to patient. Objective: This work aims to characterize soft tissue thickness (STT) external to the ribs among PE patients. It also presents a comparative analysis between the anterior chest wall surface before and after surgical correction. Methods: Through surrounding tissue segmentation in CT data, STT values were calculated at different lines along the thoracic wall, with a reference point in the intersection of coronal and median planes. The comparative analysis between the two 3D anterior chest surfaces sets a surgical correction influence area (SCIA) and a volume of interest (VOI) based on image processing algorithms, 3D surface algorithms, and registration methods. Results: There are always variations between left and right side STTs (2.54±2.05 mm and 2.95±2.97 mm for female and male patients, respectively). STTs are dependent on age, sex, and body mass index of each patient. On female patients, breast tissue induces additional errors in bar manual

Observations on the Brazilian presidency, democracy, and governance

This article presents the first results of research on the organization and administration of the Brazilian presidency and problems of democratic governance in Brazil. Biases of Euro-centrism in current views of presidentialism, democracy, governance, and representation are criticized and new comparative analysis of political experiences in the Americas called for. Initial analysis of the Brazilian presidency reveals a unique combination of executive-led electoral representation and muddling through governance since the transition from military rule.

Influência da modelação de núcleos de betão armado no cálculo automático de estruturas de edifícios

O presente trabalho aborda a questão do comportamento e influência estrutural da modelação de um núcleo de secção aberta de parede fina no modelo tridimensional de elementos finitos de um edifício de betão armado, composto por 5 pisos sujeito à acção sísmica regulamentar. Para o efeito, foram considerados os Eurocódigos estruturais, nomeadamente o Eurocódigo 0, Eurocódigo 1 e Eurocódigo 8. A fim de avaliar a importância do tipo de modelação destes elementos estruturais, elemento fundamental para a caracterização da resposta dinâmica, foi desenvolvido um estudo paramétrico, fazendo-se a análise de quatro formas distintas de modelação do mesmo núcleo. Para os mesmos casos de carregamento, é feita uma análise comparativa entre os resultados obtidos a nível de períodos, percentagem de armadura nos pilares e no próprio núcleo bem como os deslocamentos para os modelos em estudo, com recurso a um programa de cálculo automático. O edifício considerado neste trabalho foi modelado com base no programa comercial de cálculo automático SAP 2000 versão 14.4. Posteriormente apresentam-se e discutem-se os resultados obtidos nos vários modelos em causa e para as várias situações propostas ao longo do trabalho.

Health financing changes in the context of health care decentralization: the case of three Latin American countries

OBJECTIVE: The results of an evaluative longitudinal study, which identified the effects of health care decentralization on health financing in Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru are presented in this article. METHODS: The methodology had two main phases. In the first, secondary sources of data and documents were analyzed with the following variables: type of decentralization implemented, source of financing, funds for financing, providers, final use of resources, mechanisms for resource allocation. In the second phase, primary data were collected by a survey of key personnel in the health sector. RESULTS: Results of the comparative analysis are presented, showing the changes implemented in the three countries, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each country in matters of financing and decentralization. CONCLUSIONS: The main financing changes implemented and quantitative trends with respect to the five financing indicators are presented as a methodological tool to implement corrections and adjustments in health financing.

Deformação miocárdica analisada por Speckle Tracking, em doentes hipertensos com fracção de ejecção preservada

Mestrado em Tecnologia de Diagnóstico e Intervenção Cardiovascular - Área de especialização: Ultrassonografia Cardiovascular.

O papel do fundo de maneio das pequenas e médias empresas

Dissertação de Mestrado em Finanças Empresariais

Valorização dos trabalhos de auditoria interna através do CSA

Dissertação apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Contabilidade para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Auditoria Orientado por: Doutor Rodrigo Carvalho