Economics of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean: summary 2009

Includes bibliography

Multilateral rules on competition policy: an overview of the debate

Includes bibliography

A tríplice fronteira Brasil, Colômbia e Peru: limites e desafios de cooperação e integração da região fronteiriça, com ênfase nos anos 2006-2011

Pós-graduação em Relações Internacionais (UNESP - UNICAMP - PUC-SP) - FFC

Ciclo combinado com gaseificação integrada de biomassa – análise de penalidade exergética de emissão de CO2

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEG

Jovens em tempos de direitos: percepções e ambiguidades

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Estudo comparativo da evolução da legislação internacional e brasileira sobre repositórios geológicos de rejeitos radioativos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Construção de políticas públicas de educação ambiental em Belém do Pará de 1997-2004

Esta dissertação aborda a temática Educação Ambiental para Sustentabilidade, procurando analisar na construção do Programa de Educação Ambiental para Belém (PEAMB), do período de 1997 a 2004, relações, processos e conteúdos que caracterizem o desdobramento de políticas públicas educacionais em relação às políticas internacionais, nacionais e estaduais. A investigação sociológica procurou seguir uma postura interdisciplinar e uma perspectiva dialética para apreender o objeto investigado por meio de revisão bibliográfica e pesquisa documental. Nessa perspectiva, foram contextualizadas, definidas e qualificadas categorias de referência para análise, a saber: Estado ampliado, políticas públicas, Educação Ambiental transformadora e emancipatória; sustentabilidade socioambiental. A Pesquisa documental envolveu o levantamento, a seleção, a coleta, o tratamento e a análise de tratados, legislações, planos, programas, projetos e relatórios construídos no âmbito internacional, nacional (do Brasil), estadual (do Pará) e municipal (de Belém-PA). Os dados constantes nos documentos foram investigados por meio da técnica da análise do discurso, considerando aspectos lingüísticos, sociológicos, políticos e psicológicos do dito e do não dito pelos sujeitos, facilitando a compreensão sobre o teor de conteúdos, intenções e ideologias. Os resultados da pesquisa foram organizados em quatro capítulos: 1. Introdução; 2. A Educação Ambiental no contexto das reformas; 3. Configurando a Educação Ambiental em Belém: ação e emoção; 4. Considerações finais: horizontes e perspectivas da Educação Ambiental em Belém. A análise leva a perceber que em Belém o processo de definição do Sistema Municipal de Educação Ambiental e do PEAMB, indica uma preocupação com os problemas atuais de insustentabilidade e procura concretizar acordos internacionais, bem como determinações nacionais, estaduais e locais que orientem ações de forma qualificadas e comprometidas com a sustentabilidade socioambiental, tendo como referência central o Tratado de Educação Ambiental para Sociedades Sustentáveis e Responsabilidade Global, proposto por Sociedades Civis Organizadas de vários países durante a ECO/92 e reafirmado pelo Governo Federal brasileiro, no Programa Nacional de Educação Ambiental, em 2005. Integração, participação popular e controle social foram elementos centrais identificados no complexo processo de construção do PEAMB, que envolveu acúmulos, confrontos e consensos entre a sociedade política e a sociedade civil, tornando peculiar e importante a experiência analisada, durante a gestão de um Governo de esquerda.

Atividades de compreensão oral como insumo para a produção oral/escrita em Português língua estrangeira: preparação para o exame CELPE-BRAS

O ensino de Português como Língua Estrangeira (PLE) tem apresentado um crescimento significativo no Brasil e mundo. Acordos internacionais, de caráter tanto acadêmico quanto comercial, colocam a língua Portuguesa em evidência. Motivados por esse novo cenário, muitos profissionais e estudantes estrangeiros têm procurado por cursos de PLE. Alguns desses se submeterão ao exame CELPE-Bras – iniciativa do Ministério da Educação do Brasil para consolidar o ensino de PLE no mundo. Os professores que atuam na preparação de candidatos estrangeiros a esse exame se deparam com dificuldades para encontrar materiais possibilitem o desenvolvimento da compreensão oral de seus alunos. Neste trabalho procuramos apontar um caminho para o ensino-aprendizagem da compreensão oral em PLE partindo dos gêneros textuais orais como insumo. Para tanto, buscamos suporte teórico fundamentado no Interacionismo sociodiscursivo (Teoria dos Gêneros e modelo de Sequência Didática) e tentamos aproximar a Abordagem Comunicativa da Abordagem por Gêneros no ensino de Língua Estrangeira. Partindo desses pressupostos teóricos propomos várias Sequências Didáticas para o ensinoaprendizagem da compreensão oral em PLE, elaboramos e aplicamos atividades de compreensão oral. Descrevemos e analisamos tais atividades e tentamos mostrar em que medida o ensino-aprendizagem de PLE utilizando o gênero textual como insumo e aplicado a luz da abordagem comunicativa pode facilitar o desenvolvimento da compreensão oral de alunos estrangeiros candidatos ao exame CELPE-Bras.

As repercussões da interiorização da UFPA no trabalho dos docentes da rede estadual de ensino nas décadas de 1980 e 1990

O estudo teve por objetivo analisar o modelo brasileiro de expansão da educação superior (ES) a partir das reformas e políticas públicas destinadas a essa educação, ocorridas no Brasil, com atenção às décadas de 1980 e 1990, a fim de compreender a dinâmica do processo de instalação, materialização e consolidação da interiorização da UFPA, no período do estudo, com vista a identificar e desvelar possíveis repercussões dessa experiência no trabalho dos docentes da Rede Estadual de Ensino no Estado do Pará. A expansão da ES é tema central e as repercussões da Interiorização da UFPA, no trabalho dos docentes da Rede de Educação Pública no Pará, o objeto amplo de estudo. O lócus da investigação foi o Campus Universitário da UFPA instalado no Município de Santarém, na Região Oeste do Pará, na Amazônia Brasileira. Buscou-se saber: como se apresentava a expansão da ES pública no Brasil no período do estudo? Quais eram os seus condicionantes? Quais fatores contribuíram para a UFPA tornar o acesso à ES pública realidade no Pará? Quais as repercussões da Interiorização da UFPA no trabalho dos docentes da Rede Estadual de Ensino? O estudo envolveu pesquisa bibliográfica e empírica, seu caráter é teórico-analítico exploratório e os pressupostos teórico-metodológicos se pautaram no materialismo histórico dialético. Para capturar, analisar e desvelar os indicadores que dão materialidade ao objeto de estudo, procurou-se articular o conhecimento teórico já produzido com o conteúdo de documentos oficiais e os dados coletados a partir dos depoimentos concedidos pelos quinze sujeitos entrevistados. A coleta de dados abrangeu Santarém, Óbidos, Alenquer e Itaituba, primeiros Núcleos vinculados ao Campus. O estudo mostrou que há uma estreita relação entre as mudanças ocorridas no mundo capitalista e as reformas políticas públicas, educacionais e trabalhistas, no país, influenciando a Educação Brasileira, o trabalho docente e a decisão da UFPA em expandir e consolidar suas atividades no interior do Pará, desde a experiência inicial. Em função dos condicionantes estruturais, a Interiorização da UFPA recebeu muitas críticas pertinentes, em função do modelo adotado no país que impôs e interpôs limitações à ES Brasileira e seu processo de expansão/interiorização, contudo, como mostram os depoimentos, repercutiu favoravelmente no trabalho dos docentes da Rede Estadual de Ensino no Oeste Paraense, nas décadas de 1980 e 1990, em relação à formação em nível de graduação; aquisição de novos conhecimentos; definição de uma nova postura profissional; melhorias salariais; possibilidade de ascensão de profissionais da educação para outros níveis de ensino; além de representar condição inicial para instalação e consolidação da oferta de ES (pública e privada) na região. A própria UFPA foi criada na primeira experiência formal de interiorização ocorrida no país, decretada pelo presidente Getúlio Vargas, sob a influência da Reforma Francisco Campos, na década de 1930. A expansão de sua atuação para o interior ocorreu a partir de acordos locais, regionais, nacionais e internacionais firmados a partir do final da década de 1960, como parte das políticas de expansão da ditadura militar ocorrida no país (1964-1985).

The USAID and the teaching of mathematics in Rio Grande do Norte

In the 1960s occurred great changes in the general education and, specially in the mathematical teaching, throughout Brazil. Besides the Law Diretrizes e Bases for Education (law 4024/1961), such changes also was occurred by opposite educational movements. In one side, those ones that valorized the popular education and culture and, for the other side, the international agreements between universities and government organs, like SUDENE and MEC, with United States Agency for International Development (USAID). These agreements purposed the cultural alignment. In this article we will expose some of these agreements and their interference in two courses for teachers' education. These teachers taught mathematics for the elementary school, in Rio Grande do Norte.

Bovine cysticercosis in slaughtered cattle as an indicator of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and epidemiological risk factors

This study focused on estimating the economic losses resulting from cysticercosis at beef cattle farms that supply an export slaughterhouse located in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and to identify the epidemiological risks factors involved in the disease to ascertain if these farms adopt Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). To this, we used data recorded in 2012 by Brazil's Federal Inspection Service (SIP) on the daily occurrence of the disease, according to the farm from which the animals originated. In addition, the associated risk factors were determined based on a case-control study at 48 farms. Cysticercosis was detected in 2.26% (95% CI 2.2-2.33) of the 190,903 bovines supplied by 556 farms in the following four states: 2.92% (95% CI 2.83-3.03) in Sao Paulo, 1.81% (95% CI 1.71-1.93) in Minas Gerais, 0.71% (95% CI 0.6-0.82) in Goias and 1.11% (95% CI 0.79-1.57) in Mato Grosso do Sul, with significant differences in the epidemiological indices of these states. Cysticercosis was detected at 58.45% (95% CI 54.36-62.55) of the farms of this study, representing estimated economic losses of US$312,194.52 for the farmers. Lower prevalence of this disease were found at the farms qualified for exports to the European Union, indicating a statistically significant difference from those not qualified to export to Europe. The access of cattle to non-controlled water sources, as well as sport fishing activities near the farms, was identified as risk factors. Cysticercosis causes considerable losses in Brazil's beef supply chain, with lower prevalence appearing only at farms qualified to export to the European Union. As for the access of cattle to non-controlled water sources, this is an indication that GAP are not implemented by some farms, demonstrating the violation of international agreements by the industry and the farms. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Il contributo dell’Unione europea all’affermazione dello stato di diritto nella comunità internazionale

This thesis is aimed at analysing EU external relations from the perspective of the promotion of the rule of law in order to evaluate the effectiveness and consistency of its action within the international community. The research starts with an examination of the notion of the rule of law from a theoretical point of view. The first chapter initially describes the historical-political evolution of the establishment of the notion of the rule of law. Some of the most significant national experiences (France, the UK, Germany and Austria) are discussed. Then, the focus is put on the need to propose interpretations which explain the grounds of the rule of law, by highlighting the different formal and substantive interpretations. This philosophical-historical analysis is complemented by a reconstruction of how the notion of the rule of law was developed by the international community, with a view to searching a common notion at the international level by comparing theory and practice within the main international organisations such as the UN, OECD and the Council of Europe. Specific mention is made of the EU experience, whose configuration as a Community based on the rule of law is often debated, starting from the case law of the European Court of Justice. The second chapter deals with the conditionality policy and focuses on the development and scope of democratic conditionality according to the dominant approach of the doctrine. First, the birth of conditionality is analysed from an economic point of view, especially within international financial organisations and the different types of conditionality recreated in the scientific sector. Then an analysis is provided about the birth of democratic conditionality in the EC – in relation to its external relations – firstly as a mere political exercise to be then turned into a standardised system of clauses. Specific reference is made to the main scope of conditionality, that is to say enlargement policy and the development of the Copenhagen criteria. The third chapter provides further details about the legal questions connected to the use of democratic clauses: on the one hand, the power of the EC to include human rights clauses in international agreements, on the other, the variety and overlapping in the use of the legal basis. The chapter ends with an analysis of the measures of suspension of agreements with third countries in those rare but significant cases in which the suspension clause, included in the Lomè Convention first and in the Cotonou Agreement then, is applied. The last chapter is devoted to the analysis of democratic clauses in unilateral acts adopted by the European Union which affect third countries. The examination of this practice and the comparison with the approach analysed in the previous chapter entails a major theoretical question. It is the clear-cut distinction between conditionality and international sanction. This distinction is to be taken into account when considering the premises and consequences, in terms of legal relations, which are generated when democratic clauses are not complied with. The chapter ends with a brief analysis of what, according to the reconstruction suggested, can be rightly labelled as real democratic conditionality, that is to say the system of incentives, positive measures developed within the community GSP. The dissertation ends with a few general considerations about the difficulties experienced by the EU in promoting the rule of law. The contradictory aspects of the EU external actions are manifold, as well as its difficulties in choosing the most appropriate measures to be taken which, however, reflect all the repercussions and tension resulting from the balance of power within the international community. The thesis argues that it is difficult to grant full credibility to an entity like the EU which, although it proclaims itself as the guardian and promoter of the rule of law, in practice, is too often biased in managing its relations with third countries. However, she adds, we must acknowledge that the EU is committed and constantly strives towards identifying new spaces and strategies of action.

The Constitutional-Judicial Control of the Legislative and Executive Powers in Central and Eastern European Countries

This project looked at the nature, contents, methods, means and legal and political effects of the influence that constitutional courts exercise upon the legislative and executive powers in the newly established democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. The basic hypothesis was that these courts work to provide a limitation of political power within the framework of the principal constitutional values and that they force the legislature and executive to exercise their powers and duties in strict accordance with the constitution. Following a study of the documentary sources, including primarily the relevant constitutional and statutory provisions and decisions of constitutional courts, Mr. Cvetkovski prepared a questionnaire on various aspects of the topics researched and sent it to the respective constitutional courts. A series of direct interviews with court officials in six of the ten countries then served to clarify a large number of questions relating to differences in procedures etc. that arose from the questionnaires. As a final stage, the findings were compared with those described in recent publications on constitutional control in general and in Central and Eastern Europe in particular. The study began by considering the constitutional and political environment of the constitutional courts' activities in controlling legislative and executive powers, which in all countries studied are based on the principles of the rule of law and the separation of powers. All courts are separate bodies with special status in terms of constitutional law and are independent of other political and judicial institutions. The range of matters within their jurisdiction is set by the constitution of the country in question but in all cases can be exercised only with the framework of procedural rules. This gives considerable significance to the question of who sets these rules and different countries have dealt with it in different ways. In some there is a special constitutional law with the same legal force as the constitution itself (Croatia), the majority of countries allow for regulation by an ordinary law, Macedonia gives the court the autonomy to create and change its own rules of procedure, while in Hungary the parliament fixes the rules on procedure at the suggestion of the constitutional court. The question of the appointment of constitutional judges was also considered and of the mechanisms for ensuring their impartiality and immunity. In the area of the courts' scope for providing normative control, considerable differences were found between the different countries. In some cases the courts' jurisdiction is limited to the normative acts of the respective parliaments, and there is generally no provision for challenging unconstitutional omissions by legislation and the executive. There are, however, some situations in which they may indirectly evaluate the constitutionality of legislative omissions, as when the constitution contains provision for a time limit on enacting legislation, when the parliament has made an omission in drafting a law which violates the constitutional provisions, or when a law grants favours to certain groups while excluding others, thereby violating the equal protection clause of the constitution. The control of constitutionality of normative acts can be either preventive or repressive, depending on whether it is implemented before or after the promulgation of the law or other enactment being challenged. In most countries in the region the constitutional courts provide only repressive control, although in Hungary and Poland the courts are competent to perform both preventive and repressive norm control, while in Romania the court's jurisdiction is limited to preventive norm control. Most countries are wary of vesting constitutional courts with preventive norm control because of the danger of their becoming too involved in the day-to-day political debate, but Mr. Cvetkovski points out certain advantages of such control. If combined with a short time limit it can provide early clarification of a constitutional issue, secondly it avoids the problems arising if a law that has been in force for some years is declared to be unconstitutional, and thirdly it may help preserve the prestige of the legislation. Its disadvantages include the difficulty of ascertaining the actual and potential consequences of a norm without the empirical experience of the administration and enforcement of the law, the desirability of a certain distance from the day-to-day arguments surrounding the political process of legislation, the possible effects of changing social and economic conditions, and the danger of placing obstacles in the way of rapid reactions to acute situations. In the case of repressive norm control, this can be either abstract or concrete. The former is initiated by the supreme state organs in order to protect abstract constitutional order and the latter is initiated by ordinary courts, administrative authorities or by individuals. Constitutional courts cannot directly oblige the legislature and executive to pass a new law and this remains a matter of legislative and executive political responsibility. In the case of Poland, the parliament even has the power to dismiss a constitutional court decision by a special majority of votes, which means that the last word lies with the legislature. As the current constitutions of Central and Eastern European countries are newly adopted and differ significantly from the previous ones, the courts' interpretative functions should ensure a degree of unification in the application of the constitution. Some countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Russia) provide for the constitutional courts' decisions to have a binding role on the constitutions. While their decisions inevitably have an influence on the actions of public bodies, they do not set criteria for political behaviour, which depends rather on the overall political culture and traditions of the society. All constitutions except that of Belarus, provide for the courts to have jurisdiction over conflicts arising from the distribution of responsibilities between different organs and levels in the country, as well for impeachment procedures against the head of state, and for determining the constitutionality of political parties (except in Belarus, Hungary, Russia and Slovakia). All the constitutions studied guarantee individual rights and freedoms and most courts have jurisdiction over complaints of violation of these rights by the constitution. All courts also have some jurisdiction over international agreements and treaties, either directly (Belarus, Bulgaria and Hungary) before the treaty is ratified, or indirectly (Croatia, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Romania, Russia and Yugoslavia). In each country the question of who may initiate proceedings of norm control is of central importance and is usually regulated by the constitution itself. There are three main possibilities: statutory organs, normal courts and private individuals and the limitations on each of these is discussed in the report. Most courts are limited in their rights to institute ex officio a full-scale review of a point of law, and such rights as they do have rarely been used. In most countries courts' decisions do not have any binding force but must be approved by parliament or impose on parliament the obligation to bring the relevant law into conformity within a certain period. As a result, the courts' position is generally weaker than in other countries in Europe, with parliament remaining the supreme body. In the case of preventive norm control a finding of unconstitutionality may act to suspend the law and or to refer it back to the legislature, where in countries such as Romania it may even be overturned by a two-thirds majority. In repressive norm control a finding of unconstitutionality generally serves to take the relevant law out of legal force from the day of publication of the decision or from another date fixed by the court. If the law is annulled retrospectively this may or may not bring decisions of criminal courts under review, depending on the provisions laid down in the relevant constitution. In cases relating to conflicts of competencies the courts' decisions tend to be declaratory and so have a binding effect inter partes. In the case of a review of an individual act, decisions generally become effective primarily inter partes but is the individual act has been based on an unconstitutional generally binding normative act of the legislature or executive, the findings has quasi-legal effect as it automatically initiates special proceedings in which the law or other regulation is to be annulled or abrogated with effect erga omnes. This wards off further application of the law and thus further violations of individual constitutional rights, but also discourages further constitutional complaints against the same law. Thus the success of one individual's complaint extends to everyone else whose rights have equally been or might have been violated by the respective law. As the body whose act is repealed is obliged to adopt another act and in doing so is bound by the legal position of the constitutional court on the violation of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights of the complainant, in this situation the decision of the constitutional court has the force of a precedent.

Agricultural land use and biodiversity in the Alps - How cultural tradition and socioeconomically motivated changes are shaping grassland biodiversity in the Swiss Alps

Alpine grasslands are ecosystems with a great diversity of plant species. However, little is known about other levels of biodiversity, such as landscape diversity, diversity of biological interactions of plants with herbivores or fungal pathogens, and genetic diversity. We therefore explored natural and anthropogenic determinants of grassland biodiversity at several levels of biological integration, from the genetic to the landscape level in the Swiss Alps. Differences between cultural traditions (Romanic, Germanic, and Walser) turned out to still affect land use diversity and thus landscape diversity. Increasing land use diversity, in turn, increased plant species diversity per village. However, recent land use changes have reduced this diversity. Within grassland parcels, plant species diversity was higher on unfertilized mown grasslands than on fertilized or grazed ones. Most individual plants were affected by herbivores and fungal leaf pathogens, reflecting that parcels harbored a great diversity of herbivores and pathogens. However, as plant damage by herbivores and pathogens was not severe, conserving these biological interactions among plants is hardly compromising agricultural goals. A common-garden experiment revealed genetic differentiation of the important fodder grass Poa alpina between mown and grazed sites, suggesting adaptation. Per-village genetic diversity of Poa alpina was greater in villages with higher land use diversity, analogous to the higher plant species diversity there. Overall, landscape diversity and biodiversity within grassland parcels are currently declining. As this contradicts the intention of Swiss law and international agreements, financial incentives need to be re-allocated and should focus on promoting high biodiversity at the local and the landscape level. At the same time, this will benefit landscape attractiveness for tourists and help preserve a precious cultural heritage in the Swiss Alps.

Declaration on the Three-Step Test: Where do we go from here?

The “Declaration on a balanced interpretation of the ‘Three-Step Test’” as such cannot solve the problem of lacking limitations; however, it emphasizes that the existing international legislation does not prohibit further amendments to copyright law. Nations that dispose of the political will are in a position to introduce new limitations. In addition, further international agreements focusing on new limitations may be negotiated among those countries that are ready to do so.