Government regulation to promote healthy food environments : a view from inside state governments

Food policy interventions are an important component of obesity-prevention strategies and can potentially drive positive changes in obesogenic environments. This study sought to identify regulatory interventions targeting the food environment, and barriers/facilitators to their implementation at the Australian state government level. In-depth interviews were conducted with senior representatives from state/territory governments, statutory authorities and non-government organizations (n = 45) to examine participants’ (i) suggestions for regulatory interventions for healthier food environments and (ii) support for pre-selected regulatory interventions derived from a literature review. Data were analysed using thematic and constant comparative analyses. Interventions commonly suggested by participants were regulating unhealthy food marketing; limiting the density of fast food outlets; pricing reforms to decrease fruit/vegetable prices and increase unhealthy food prices; and improved food labelling. The most commonly supported preselected interventions were related to food marketing and service. Primary production and retail sector interventions were least supported. The dominant themes were the need for whole-of-government and collaborative approaches; the influence of the food industry; conflicting policies/agenda; regulatory challenges; the need for evidence of effectiveness; and economic disincentives. While interventions such as public sector healthy food service policies were supported by participants, marketing restrictions and fiscal interventions face substantial barriers including a push for deregulation and private sector opposition.

Instrumentos de advocacy federativa no Brasil: o Dilema dos estados na questão fiscal

Esta tese teve o intuito de analisar como os estados se organizaram para o enfrentamento dos problemas fiscais decorrentes da guerra fiscal que atinge seu principal imposto, o Imposto sobre Operações Relativas à Circulação de Mercadorias e sobre Prestações de Serviços de Transporte Interestadual, Intermunicipal e de Comunicação (ICMS), e da redução da receita do Fundo de Participação dos Estados (FPE). Além disso, procurou-se identificar os instrumentos utilizados pelos estados para fazerem a advocacy federativa de seus interesses junto à União. Buscou-se, ainda, analisar os modelos de coalisão estabelecidos, a trajetória e o comportamento das instituições para compreender a dinâmica das relações intergovernamentais, o grau de cooperação obtido diante de um quadro de heterogeneidade socioeconômica dos governos subnacionais e o impacto no processo de coordenação vertical. Partiu-se da hipótese de que a heterogeneidade dos governos estaduais dificulta a evolução do processo de cooperação e coordenação federativa, reduzindo o poder dos governos subnacionais de estabelecerem a advocacy de seus interesses com a União, além da construção de soluções para os problemas fiscais de forma coletiva. Visando entender a dinâmica federativa, o estudo analisou as tentativas fracassadas de reforma tributária do ICMS - principalmente para a eliminação da guerra fiscal - e a aprovação, em 2013, da nova lei que rege as transferências do FPE, a partir da atuação do Conselho Nacional de Política Fazendária (CONFAZ) e do Congresso Nacional. Essas são arenas selecionadas por serem estratégicos no conjunto da estrutura governamental, sendo o primeiro o órgão criado com o objetivo de harmonização do ICMS diante de um quadro de competitividade entre os estados e de confronto e pouca coordenação do Governo Federal; e o segundo, responsável, principalmente, pela aprovação de leis e pela fiscalização do Estado brasileiro. De forma a iluminar o caso brasileiro e identificar algumas soluções inovadoras foram apresentadas, também, experiências internacionais dos países Estados Unidos da América (EUA), Canadá e Austrália, que já avançaram na instituição de arranjos interestaduais, por meio de Conselhos de Governadores - chefes dos Poderes Executivos estaduais - que promovem políticas de atuação e decisões coletivas para a defesa de seus interesses junto aos governos centrais. Concluiu-se que, em que pesem as tentativas de reforma do ICMS e a reforma do FPE, cuja mudança representativa se dará aproximadamente em 400 anos, as estratégias, as formas de atuação adotadas pelos estados precisam ser revistas e o governo federal precisa resgatar o seu papel de coordenador de politica pública. Além disso o fortalecimento das instituições de advocacy federativa, presentes nas experiências internacionais, podem de forma incremental mudar o caso brasileiro contribuindo para a construção de um federalismo cooperativo e para a melhoria das relações intergovernamentais.

Instrumentos de advocacy federativa no Brasil: o dilema dos estados na questão fiscal

Esta tese teve o intuito de analisar como os estados se organizaram para o enfrentamento dos problemas fiscais decorrentes da guerra fiscal que atinge seu principal imposto, o Imposto sobre Operações Relativas à Circulação de Mercadorias e sobre Prestações de Serviços de Transporte Interestadual, Intermunicipal e de Comunicação (ICMS), e da redução da receita do Fundo de Participação dos Estados (FPE). Além disso, procurou-se identificar os instrumentos utilizados pelos estados para fazerem a advocacy federativa de seus interesses junto à União. Buscou-se, ainda, analisar os modelos de coalisão estabelecidos, a trajetória e o comportamento das instituições para compreender a dinâmica das relações intergovernamentais, o grau de cooperação obtido diante de um quadro de heterogeneidade socioeconômica dos governos subnacionais e o impacto no processo de coordenação vertical. Partiu-se da hipótese de que a heterogeneidade dos governos estaduais dificulta a evolução do processo de cooperação e coordenação federativa, reduzindo o poder dos governos subnacionais de estabelecerem a advocacy de seus interesses com a União, além da construção de soluções para os problemas fiscais de forma coletiva. Visando entender a dinâmica federativa, o estudo analisou as tentativas fracassadas de reforma tributária do ICMS - principalmente para a eliminação da guerra fiscal - e a aprovação, em 2013, da nova lei que rege as transferências do FPE, a partir da atuação do Conselho Nacional de Política Fazendária (CONFAZ) e do Congresso Nacional. Essas são arenas selecionadas por serem estratégicos no conjunto da estrutura governamental, sendo o primeiro o órgão criado com o objetivo de harmonização do ICMS diante de um quadro de competitividade entre os estados e de confronto e pouca coordenação do Governo Federal; e o segundo, responsável, principalmente, pela aprovação de leis e pela fiscalização do Estado brasileiro. De forma a iluminar o caso brasileiro e identificar algumas soluções inovadoras foram apresentadas, também, experiências internacionais dos países Estados Unidos da América (EUA), Canadá e Austrália, que já avançaram na instituição de arranjos interestaduais, por meio de Conselhos de Governadores - chefes dos Poderes Executivos estaduais - que promovem políticas de atuação e decisões coletivas para a defesa de seus interesses junto aos governos centrais. Concluiu-se que, em que pesem as tentativas de reforma do ICMS e a reforma do FPE, cuja mudança representativa se dará aproximadamente em 400 anos, as estratégias, as formas de atuação adotadas pelos estados precisam ser revistas e o governo federal precisa resgatar o seu papel de coordenador de politica pública. Além disso o fortalecimento das instituições de advocacy federativa, presentes nas experiências internacionais, podem de forma incremental mudar o caso brasileiro contribuindo para a construção de um federalismo cooperativo e para a melhoria das relações intergovernamentais.

Uma abordagem híbrida para o problema de seleção de fornecedores em cadeia de suprimentos

This work presents a hybrid approach for the supplier selection problem in Supply Chain Management. We joined decision-making philosophy by researchers from business school and researchers from engineering in order to deal with the problem more extensively. We utilized traditional multicriteria decision-making methods, like AHP and TOPSIS, in order to evaluate alternatives according decision maker s preferences. The both techiniques were modeled by using definitions from the Fuzzy Sets Theory to deal with imprecise data. Additionally, we proposed a multiobjetive GRASP algorithm to perform an order allocation procedure between all pre-selected alternatives. These alternatives must to be pre-qualified on the basis of the AHP and TOPSIS methods before entering the LCR. Our allocation procedure has presented low CPU times for five pseudorandom instances, containing up to 1000 alternatives, as well as good values for all considered objectives. This way, we consider the proposed model as appropriate to solve the supplier selection problem in the SCM context. It can be used to help decision makers in reducing lead times, cost and risks in their supply chain. The proposed model can also improve firm s efficiency in relation to business strategies, according decision makers, even when a large number of alternatives must be considered, differently from classical models in purchasing literature

Diversidade genética em populações-núcleo de Eucalyptus grandis

No melhoramento genético de espécies florestais, uma população base ou indivíduos superiores pré-selecionados tem importância fundamental para a manutenção do programa. Indivíduos de melhores procedências e de ampla base genética propiciam a obtenção de ganhos de forma contínua. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a diversidade genética em duas populações-núcleo de Eucalyptus grandis. Foram avaliados 39 indivíduos, sendo 19 pertencentes à população 1 e 20, à população 2, utilizando-se 14 primers microssatélite. Os fragmentos foram identificados e analisados a partir dos programas GeneScan e Genotyper, utilizando-se um sequenciador automático ABI Prism 3100. O número de alelos encontrados para cada primer variou de cinco a 15 para a população 1 e, de 8 a 18 para a população 2. A heterozigosidade estimada foi maior na população 2, 0,869, contra 0,843 na população 1. A média da distância genética entre os indivíduos da população 1 foi 0,6220 e na população 2 foi 0,6112. Com a caracterização molecular dos indivíduos destas populações foi construído um banco de dados que permitirá, a partir dos parâmetros de genética de populações, monitorar esses programas de melhoramento em diferentes ciclos de seleção.

ANÁLISE DESCRITIVA QUANTITATIVA da AGUARDENTE DE CANA DURANTE O ENVELHECIMENTO em TONEL DE CARVALHO (Quercus alba L.)

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

BTEX biodegradation by bacteria from effluents of petroleum refinery

Groundwater contamination with benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) has been increasing, thus requiring an urgent development of methodologies that are able to remove or minimize the damages these compounds can cause to the environment. The biodegradation process using microorganisms has been regarded as an efficient technology to treat places contaminated with hydrocarbons, since they are able to biotransform and/or biodegrade target pollutants. To prove the efficiency of this process, besides chemical analysis, the use of biological assessments has been indicated. This work identified and selected BTEX-biodegrading microorganisms present in effluents from petroleum refinery, and evaluated the efficiency of microorganism biodegradation process for reducing genotoxic and mutagenic BTEX damage through two test-systems: Allium cepa and hepatoma tissue culture (HTC) cells. Five different non-biodegraded BTEX concentrations were evaluated in relation to biodegraded concentrations. The biodegradation process was performed in a BOO Trak Apparatus (HACH) for 20 days, using microorganisms pre-selected through enrichment. Although the biodegradation usually occurs by a consortium of different microorganisms, the consortium in this study was composed exclusively of five bacteria species and the bacteria Pseudomonas putida was held responsible for the BTEX biodegradation. The chemical analyses showed that BTEX was reduced in the biodegraded concentrations. The results obtained with genotoxicity assays, carried out with both A. cepa and HTC cells, showed that the biodegradation process was able to decrease the genotoxic damages of BTEX. By mutagenic tests, we observed a decrease in damage only to the A. cepa organism. Although no decrease in mutagenicity was observed for HTC cells, no increase of this effect after the biodegradation process was observed either. The application of pre-selected bacteria in biodegradation processes can represent a reliable and effective tool in the treatment of water contaminated with BTEX mixture. Therefore, the raw petroleum refinery effluent might be a source of hydrocarbon-biodegrading microorganisms. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.A. All rights reserved.

Influence of Fungal Contamination on Substrate Carrying by the Leafcutter Ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A deterministic simulation study of embryo marker-assisted selection for age at first calving in Nellore (Bos indicus) beef cattle

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

USE OF PROGENY TESTING IN BEEF-CATTLE - PREDICTION OF GENETIC GAIN IN A NELORE CATTLE-BREEDING PROGRAM

Genetic gains predicted for selection, based on both individual performance and progeny testing, were compared to provide information to be used in implementation of progeny testing for a Nelore cattle breeding program. The prediction of genetic gain based on progeny testing was obtained from a formula, derived from methodology of Young and weller (J. Genetics 57: 329-338, 1960) for two-stage selection, which allows prediction of genetic gain per generation when the individuals under test have been pre-selected on the basis of their own performance. The application of this formula also allowed determination of the number of progeny per tested bull needed to maximize genetic gain, when the total number of tested progeny is limited.

Use of progeny testing in beef cattle: Prediction of genetic gain in a Nelore Cattle Breeding Program

Genetic gains predicted for selection, based on both individual performance and progeny testing, were compared to provide information to be used in implementation of progeny testing for a Nelore cattle breeding program. The prediction of genetic gain based on progeny testing was obtained from a formula, derived from methodology of Young and Weiler (J. Genetics 57: 329-338, 1960) for two-stage selection, which allows prediction of genetic gain per generation when the individuals under test have been pre-selected on the basis of their own performance. The application of this formula also allowed determination of the number of progeny per tested bull needed to maximize genetic gain, when the total number of tested progeny is limited.

Influence of IBA and boric acid on rooting of stem-cuttings of Aloysia triphylla (L'Hérit) Britton

Aloysia triphylla (L'Hérit) Britton is a perennial and bushy plant, with simple, entire, lanceolate and whorl shaped leaves and originally from South America. It is used as medicinal plant in Brazil with stomatic and sedative properties. The employment of stem cuttings for propagation of pre-selected plants, acquired great importance, because it eliminates the juvenile phase of seedlings, which can be produced in a shorter period of time. The rooting of stem cuttings is stimulated by auxin and, boric acid supply is essential for growth and development of initial rootlets. This micronutrient is required 48 hours after plant segments have been placed into auxin solution and it can be supplied any time, including the seedling growth period. The experiment was carried out in the Department of Plant Production, UNESP-Botucatu-SP-Brazil, with stem-cuttings of Aloysia triphylla (L'Hérit) Britton, Verbenaceae obtained from the Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Garden. The aim of the work was to verify the influence of growth regulators and boric acid on stem cutting rooting of this species. The 15 cm-stem cuttings, without leaves, were submerged during 24 hs in the following solutions: water; 150 mg.L-1 of IBA; 150 mg.L-1 of IBA+ Boric acid; 250 mg.L-1 of IBA; 250 mg.L-1 of IBA + Boric acid. The statistical design was entirely randomized with 5 treatments and 3 replications, totalizing 15 plots with 10 stem cuttings each. They were planted on propylene trays with vermiculite and kept under spraying condition during twenty five days. The best results were observed in treatment 250 mg.L -1 of IBA+ Boric acid on number of roots, length of roots, rooting percentage, fresh and dry weight of leaves when compared with all other treatments. We can conclude that this treatment is the most suitable for stem cutting rooting of this species.

A meta-analytical study about the relation of blood plasma addition in diets for piglets in the post-weaning and productive performance variables

The meta-analysis was used to evaluate the performance of piglets in post-weaning period, without imposition of sanitary challenge and fed diets containing blood plasma, obtained by spray-dried process (SDBP). Piglets are faced with normal challenges in post-weaning period such as environmental stress and the substitution of the liquid diet to a solid one. References regarding sanitary challenges were disregarded in this study. Only data regarding normal and expected challenges were considered. Data were obtained from indexed journals with information extracted from the material, methods and results sections of pre-selected scientific articles. First, the database was analyzed graphically to observe the distribution of data and presence of outliers. Afterwards correlation analysis and variance-covariance analyses were carried out. The database contained a total of 23 articles. The average initial weight of the piglets was 8.02. kg (4.00-9.28. kg) and the average initial age was 27 days (14-32 days). The average duration of feeding diets containing spray-dried blood plasma (SDBP) was 9 days (6-28 days). SDBP increased the feed conversion by 20.2% (P<0.05) during the initial period. Feed conversion during the total period was 10.2% higher (P<0.05) for animals fed with SDBP. Average daily weight gain and daily feed intake were not affected (P>0.05) during the entire period, but average daily gain was higher (P<0.05) for animals fed with SDBP during the initial period. The initial age of supplementation influenced the average daily weight gain and average daily feed intake of animals fed with SDBP. Better results were obtained than those obtained for animals up to 35 days of age fed diets without added SDBP supplementation. In early post-weaning period for piglets weaned up to 35 days of age, the SDBP supplementation positively influenced the average daily weight gain and feed conversion. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Effects of macrocyclic lactones on the reproductive parameters of engorged Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus females detached from experimentally infested cattle

The present study therefore assessed the deleterious effects of MLs (ivermectin, abamectin, doramectin and moxidectin) on the reproductive parameters of engorged Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus females that naturally detached from experimentally infested cattle in two experiments. The following reproductive parameters of engorged female ticks were analyzed: female weight, egg mass weight, percentage of hatchability, percentage of reduction in oviposition, percentage of reduction in hatchability, reproductive efficiency and percent control/efficacy of formulations with respect to reproductive parameters. In the experiment I, statistical analysis of the data grouped into 5-days intervals revealed that pour-on application of abamectin (500. mcg/kg) had significantly (p≤. 0.05) reduced engorged female weight, egg mass weight and percent hatchability on days 6-15, 6-20 and 11-20 post-treatment (p. t.) compared to the respective data for detached and pre-selected engorged females in the control group. The abamectin, demonstrated 33.41% of reduction in oviposition, 6.77% in hatchability and abamectin efficacy was of 13.99%. In the experiment II, statistically significant reductions (p≥. 0.05) were observed in animals treated subcutaneous with ivermectin (630. mcg/kg), doramectin (700. mcg/kg) and moxidectin (1000. mcg/kg) relative to the control for days 6-40, 6-48 and 6-40 p. t., respectively. Ivermectin reduced hatchability only on days 16-20 p. t., whereas doramectin significantly reduced (p≤. 0.05) hatchability on days 6-10 and 16-35 p. t. For moxidectin, deleterious effects on hatchability were observed on days 16-35 p. t. The percent reductions in oviposition of engorged female ticks were 46.31%, 62.17% and 61.02% with ivermectin, doramectin and moxidectin treatments, respectively. The percent efficacy of the formulations on the reproductive parameters of engorged female ticks was 21.22% for ivermectin, 36.03% for doramectin and 35.45% for moxidectin. Among the MLs assessed, doramectin and moxidectin had the highest acaricidal efficacies and the most deleterious effects on the reproductive parameters of engorged R. (B.) microplus females. However, future studies will be necessary to assess the extent to which these effects, along with acaricidal activity, can be used to control the ectoparasite in cattle. © 2013 Elsevier Inc..

A extração e a indústria da madeira no município de Rio Branco - AC

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)