Internal validity of the Swedish Maternal Health Care Register

Background: The Swedish Maternal Health Care Register (MHCR) is a national quality register that has been collecting pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum data since 1999. A substantial revision of the MHCR resulted in a Web-based version of the register in 2010. Although MHCR provides data for health care services and research, the validity of the MHCR data has not been evaluated. This study investigated degree of coverage and internal validity of specific variables in the MHCR and identified possible systematic errors. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study compared pregnancy and delivery data in medical records with corresponding data in the MHCR. The medical record was considered the gold standard. The medical records from nine Swedish hospitals were selected for data extraction. This study compared data from 878 women registered in both medical records and in the MHCR. To evaluate the quality of the initial data extraction, a second data extraction of 150 medical records was performed. Statistical analyses were performed for degree of coverage, agreement and correlation of data, and sensitivity and specificity. Results: Degree of coverage of specified variables in the MHCR varied from 90.0% to 100%. Identical information in both medical records and the MHCR ranged from 71.4% to 99.7%. For more than half of the investigated variables, 95% or more of the information was identical. Sensitivity and specificity were analysed for binary variables. Probable systematic errors were identified for two variables. Conclusions: When comparing data from medical records and data registered in the MHCR, most variables in the MHCR demonstrated good to very good degree of coverage, agreement, and internal validity. Hence, data from the MHCR may be regarded as reliable for research as well as for evaluating, planning, and decision-making with respect to Swedish maternal health care services.

The effects of external and internal strikes on total factor productivity

This paper examines structural changes that occur in the total factor productivity (TFP) within countries. It is possible that some episodes of high economic growth or economic decline are associated with permanent productivity shocks, therefore, this research has two objectives. The Örst one is to estimate the structural changes present in TFP for a sample of 81 countries between 1950(60) and 2000. The second one is to identify, whenever possible, episodes in the political and economic history of these countries that may account for the structural breaks in question. The results suggest that about 85% of the TFP time-series present at least one structural break, moreover, at least half the structural changes can be attributed to internal factors, such as independence or a newly adopted constitution, and about 30% to external shocks, such as oil shock or shocks in international interest rates. The majority of the estimated breaks are downwards, indicating that after a break the TFP tends to decrease, implying that institutional rearrangements, external shocks, or internal shocks may be costly and from which it is very di¢ cult to recover.

Dual resource transfers and interruption in external debt service

Externai debt service requires a dual resource transfer. Trade surpluses have to be generated in order to make foreign exchange revenues available for debt repayment. In addition, with developing countries' externai debt being largely a public liability, debt service requires that resources can be effectively transferred from the private to the public sector. This paper derives a statistical model for dealing with dual constraints in the presence of binary dependent variables and applies it to the dual resource transfer problem. The results from the estimation of the model for a sample of 31 middle-income developing countries in the period of 1980 to 1990, strongly support the hypothesis that both externai and fiscal constraints are important in explaining externai debt service disruptions.

Especificação da paridade descoberta de juros no mercado brasileiro

Medimos a validade da paridade descoberta de juros – PDJ - para o mercado brasileiro no período de janeiro de 2010 a julho de 2014. Testamos a equação clássica da PDJ usando o Método dos Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários. Após a estimação dos parâmetros, aplicamos o Teste de Wald e verificamos que a paridade descoberta de juros não foi validada. Estendemos a equação tradicional da PDJ para uma especificação alternativa que captura medidas de risco Brasil e de alteração na liquidez internacional. Especificamente, acrescentamos três variáveis de controle: duas variáveis dummy que capturam condições de liquidez externa e o índice de commoditie CRB, que captura o risco Brasil. Com a especificação alternativa, a hipótese de que os retornos das taxas de juros em Real, dolarizadas, são iguais aos retornos da taxas de juros contratadas em dólares, ambas sujeitas ao risco Brasil, não foi rejeitada. Em complemento à análise das taxas representativas do mercado brasileiro, procurou-se avaliar a predominância da PDJ nas operações de swap cambial realizadas pela Vale S.A.. Para tanto, a série de taxa de juros em dólares do mercado brasileiro foi substituída pela taxa em dólar dos swaps contratados pela Vale. Os resultados encontrados demonstram que, quando comparado ao comportamento do mercado, as taxas em dólares da VALE são mais sensíveis às variações das taxas em Reais.

O que guia o endividamento externo brasileiro? Entendendo a resposta a choques transitórios e permanentes

A partir de Buiter e Miller (1981), Obstfeld (1983), Sachs (1981), Svensson e Razin (1983) e alguns outros, a abordagem intertemporal da conta-corrente passou a receber atenção crescente da literatura. Desde então os estudos empíricos não são unânimes em atestar sua validade e, dessa forma, a evidência empírica tem sido mista. Mais recentemente, Corsetti e Konstantinou (2009) caracterizam empiricamente a dinâmica conjunta da conta-corrente, ativos e passivos externos a valor de mercado e produto líquido para os EUA no período pós Bretton Woods. Ao contrário da maioria das outras publicações, Corsetti e Konstantinou (2009) são pouco restritivos no que diz respeito às premissas. Neste trabalho buscou-se aplicar a mesma metodologia emprega por Corsetti e Konstantinou (2009) para analisar o equilíbrio externo do Brasil entre 1990 e 2014, período no qual diversos choques afetaram a economia brasileira. São identificados os componentes transitórios e permanentes para a dinâmica conjunta das quatro variáveis básicas da restrição intertemporal da economia, ou seja: Consumo, Produto Líquido, Ativos externos e Passivos externos. O presente trabalho sugere que existem evidências da validade da abordagem intertemporal da conta-corrente para o Brasil, mesmo a análise sendo feita em uma amostra em que estão presentes choques significantes que afetaram a economia brasileira.

The challenges faced by the external audit industry in Brazil: an exploratory study

The auditing role in the contemporaneous business environment, and increasing interest in and demand for governance and transparency, has become an element even more important to the society, as a whole, in order to build solid basis to the development of businesses and generation of wealth through technical knowledge, independence, transparency, credibility, and ethics. Nevertheless, the external financial audit industry in the world and also particularly in Brazil has faced several challenges which threaten its success and evolution. In this sense, since the external audit industry in Brazil has been immersed in a deep crisis with features that are explored through this study, allow me to create an analogy over this study saying that the external financial audit industry is like a sick person with a chronic disease, but the disease has not yet been diagnosed and the person has been dealing with the isolated symptoms. This person, the external audit industry, has struggled with this disease for many years and it is getting worse. It is fundamental to highlight that the challenges faced by the external audit industry in Brazil, ultimately, have not harmed the industry only, but they also materialize themselves as chronic issues for the corporate governance and the capital markets since they harm every interested party. In my point of view, the hardest affected are the investors or shareholders whose interest the independent auditor’s work seeks to preserve. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to have a picture of the challenges faced by the external audit industry in Brazil and understand those challenges as a requirement to analyze the potential alternatives to solve them or, analogically, to diagnose this disease. The research purpose is to map and identify the challenges faced by the external audit industry in Brazil based on the understanding of professionals seasoned in the area. Those challenges are mapped and understood through a methodological approach, a questionnaire answered by auditors with experience in the Brazilian auditing market. The challenges were preliminarily listed based on over 16 years of experience of the author in the area of auditing and financial and accounting services, discussions and interviews about the topic with seasoned professionals, and analyses of pieces of news, publications and academic studies. The questionnaire was used in order to validate the challenges, observations, perspectives, and perceptions gathered through those resources. Despite of the fact that the study is highly relevant, it was not found, through my research, other analyses on this topic with a similar approach which is intended by this study. It looks like the external audit industry in Brazil has walked through these new age dealing with problems on a daily basis and the real challenges of the industry may be concealed by the economic conditions in Brazil and other explanations. As in any problematic scenario, in which a critical analysis is needed, having an accurate picture and understanding of the challenges is a crucial step to start exploring alternatives to address them.

How to manage macroeconomic policies to foster growth and employment and prevent financial and external crises

My presentation focuses on the implementation of a macroeconomic policy regime which, I believe, is capable of simultaneously attaining several targets, including the promotion of growth and employment and the prevention of external and financial crises.

Pose estimation of a humanoid robot using images from a mobile external camera

NOGUEIRA, Marcelo B. ; MEDEIROS, Adelardo A. D. ; ALSINA, Pablo J. Pose Estimation of a Humanoid Robot Using Images from an Mobile Extern Camera. In: IFAC WORKSHOP ON MULTIVEHICLE SYSTEMS, 2006, Salvador, BA. Anais... Salvador: MVS 2006, 2006.

Orientation and external morphology of burrows of the mangrove crab Ucides cordatus (Crustacea: Brachyura: Ucididae)

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

External Morphology of the Immatures of Polybia paulista (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

The immatures of Polybia paulista Ihering were described using light and scanning electron microscopy and the results are compared with previous descriptions within the same or related wasps. This study is based on 2 whole nests collected in the municipality of Rio Claro, São Paulo, in Brazil. We have detected the existence of 5 larval instars. The main morphological alterations over development occur in the relative size of structures, yet certain structures appear with subsequent instars and become more evident later in development: increasing density in the number of body spines and papillae; the appearance of body setae in fifth-instar larvae; opening of spiracles upon second-instar larvae; 2 body shapes in fifth-instar larvae; the appearance of a lateral tooth on the mandibles of fourth instar; presence of spines on the maxillae of fifth-instar larvae; altered shape of galea and palps upon third-instar larvae from a cluster of sensilla to a conical elevation; and the appearance of spines on postmentum upon fourth-instar larvae. This way, the present study presents a detailed description of the immatures of P. paulista, and we hope the presented information can be useful to morphological, taxonomic, and phylogenetic studies.