Sources of Drinking Water and Agricultural Chemical Use in Maine

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Investigating The Sources Of Fresh Water Affecting The Hydrological Balance Of Lakes Enriquillo And Azuei (Hispaniola) – Data Analysis

The Enriquillo and Azuei are saltwater lakes located in a closed water basin in the southwestern region of the island of La Hispaniola, these have been experiencing dramatic changes in total lake-surface area coverage during the period 1980-2012. The size of Lake Enriquillo presented a surface area of approximately 276 km2 in 1984, gradually decreasing to 172 km2 in 1996. The surface area of the lake reached its lowest point in the satellite observation record in 2004, at 165 km2. Then the recent growth of the lake began reaching its 1984 size by 2006. Based on surface area measurement for June and July 2013, Lake Enriquillo has a surface area of ~358 km2. Sumatra sizes at both ends of the record are 116 km2 in 1984 and 134 km2in 2013, an overall 15.8% increase in 30 years. Determining the causes of lake surface area changes is of extreme importance due to its environmental, social, and economic impacts. The overall goal of this study is to quantify the changing water balance in these lakes and their catchment area using satellite and ground observations and a regional atmospheric-hydrologic modeling approach. Data analyses of environmental variables in the region reflect a hydrological unbalance of the lakes due to changing regional hydro-climatic conditions. Historical data show precipitation, land surface temperature and humidity, and sea surface temperature (SST), increasing over region during the past decades. Salinity levels have also been decreasing by more than 30% from previously reported baseline levels. Here we present a summary of the historical data obtained, new sensors deployed in the sourrounding sierras and the lakes, and the integrated modeling exercises. As well as the challenges of gathering, storing, sharing, and analyzing this large volumen of data in a remote location from such a diverse number of sources.

Elementos em interação na produção textual escolar : a influência da família

Esta dissertação aborda as relações estabelecidas entre sujeito-família-escola e suas possíveis influências do desempenho textual do indivíduo. O objetivo central desta pesquisa é procurar elementos determinantes para as diferenças no desempenho em produção textual de sujeitos na faixa etária dos nove aos onze anos de idade, num meio sociocultural favorecido. Os instrumentos metodológicos utilizados foram a entrevista semi-estruturada, a análise documental e a observação participante. A partir da análise das configurações familiares foram constatadas algumas consonâncias entre grupos de sujeitos que apresentam um bom desempenho textual, bem como entre aqueles que não atingem os objetivos mínimos na escrita de textos narrativos. Destacou-se a prática da leitura de histórias infantis pelos pais desde a primeira infância e uma interação harmônica e constante na participação dos pais no investimento pedagógico como fatores comuns dentre os sujeitos com satisfatória competência textual. Enfatizou-se a necessidade de um estudo específico das configurações familiares nos cursos de formação de professores como forma de qualificar seu currículo e, conseqüentemente, sua prática pedagógica.

Sources of comparative advantages in Brazil

Based on the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek model, this paper investigates relative factor abundance in Brazil, as revealed by its international trade. We study two different time periods: one characterized by high trade barriers (1980 to 1985) and the trade liberalization period (1990 to 1995). Two alternative methodologies are used: the estimation of factor intensity regressions on net exports and the direct computation of factor content in net exports. In the factor intensity regression, we incorporate technological changes that might have occurred over time, and those turned out to be significant. Both methods yield the same results: the Brazilian international trade reveals relative abundance in capital, land and unskilled labor, and scarcity in skilled labor, with qualitatively equivalent results for the two time periods studied.

A robust poverty profile for Brazil using multiple data sources

This paper presents a poverty profile for Brazil, based on three different sources of household data for 1996. We use PPV consumption data to estimate poverty and indigence lines. “Contagem” data is used to allow for an unprecedented refinement of the country’s poverty map. Poverty measures and shares are also presented for a wide range of population subgroups, based on the PNAD 1996, with new adjustments for imputed rents and spatial differences in cost of living. Robustness of the profile is verified with respect to different poverty lines, spatial price deflators, and equivalence scales. Overall poverty incidence ranges from 23% with respect to an indigence line to 45% with respect to a more generous poverty line. More importantly, however, poverty is found to vary significantly across regions and city sizes, with rural areas, small and medium towns and the metropolitan peripheries of the North and Northeast regions being poorest.

Leituras brasileiras sobre a nova ordem internacional (1989-1994)

O presente trabalho é resultado de pesquisa realizada a respeito das leituras brasileiras sobre a Nova Ordem Internacional. A partir da investigação em fontes históricas depositadas no Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação em História Contemporânea do Brasil (CPDOC/FGV), como os documentos textuais do Arquivo Marcílio Marques Moreira e as entrevistas de Celso Amorim, Celso Lafer, Gelson Fonseca e Luiz Felipe Lampreia, procurouse analisar as principais ideias de três personagens históricos diretamente envolvidos com a formulação da política externa brasileira no período da Nova República, mais especificamente entre 1989 e 1994: Celso Lafer, Gelson Fonseca e Rubens Ricupero. Para tanto, buscou-se destacar as principais formas de interpretação do sistema internacional alterado pelo fim do conflito bipolar com o apoio da literatura mais recente produzida na área, como os trabalhos de Odd Westad (2005), Andrew Hurrell (2001, 2007) e John Ikenberry (2005). Os dados coletados durante o processo de feitura da pesquisa permitem-nos afirmar que, no Brasil, os temas da autonomia e do desenvolvimento são resilientes. Os debates sobre autonomia e desenvolvimento, tão caros ao discurso acadêmico e político nacionalista desenvolvido nos anos 50, além de terem permanecido como preocupação de fundo nas análises dos formuladores de política externa, demonstra que, no Brasil, o discurso modernizante retomou as ideias básicas do pensamento político nativo.

Sources of payments practices rigidity

This paper studies the joint determination of the wage payments period between firms and employees. The aggregate timeseries analysis reaches two conclusions: a) the average payments period keep an equilibrium relationship with the previous inflation peak, this indicates some degree of irreversibility of payments practices. b) the low previous inflation peak .;:;_asticity of ave r age payments periods reveal.s a high degree of rigidity of payments practices.The framework developed in the paper incorporates the fol.l.owing sources of payments practices rigidity: a)interactions between optimal. payments period decisions and optimal. number of trips to the bank. b)the occurrence of Pare to inneficiencies in the bargaining process between firms and empl.oyees due to wage regulation. c) integer restrictions on payments frequencies produced by upper bounds on the payments period. The empirical. part of the paper assesses the rel.evance of these different sources of payments practices rigidity using Brazil.ian micro data.