Assorted topics in monetary economics

Esta tese é uma coleção de quatro artigos em economia monetária escritos sob a supervisão do Professor Rubens Penha Cysne. O primeiro desses artigos calcula o viés presente em medidas do custo de bem-estar da inflação devido a não se levar em conta o potencial substitutivo de moedas que rendem juros, como depósitos bancários.[1] O segundo se concentra na questão teórica de se comparar os escopos dos tradicionais modelos money-in-the-utility-function e shopping-time através do estudo das propriedades das curvas de demanda que eles geram.[2] O terceiro desses trabalhos revisita um artigo clássico de Stanley Fischer sobre a correlação entre a taxa de crescimento da oferta monetária e a taxa de acumulação de capital no caminho de transição.[3] Finalmente, o quarto diz respeito à posição relativa de cada uma de seis medidas do custo de bem-estar da inflação (uma das quais é nova) em relação às outras cinco, e uma estimativa do erro relativo máximo em que o pesquisador pode incorrer devido a sua escolha de empregar uma dessas medidas qualquer vis-à-vis as outras.[4] This thesis collects four papers on monetary economics written under the supervision of Professor Rubens Penha Cysne. The first of these papers assesses the bias occuring in welfare-cost-of-inflation measures due to failing to take into consideration the substitution potential of interest-bearing monies such as bank deposits.[1] The second one tackles the theoretical issue of comparing the generality of the money-in-the-utility-function- and the shopping-time models by studying the properties of the demand curves they generate.[2] The third of these works revisits a classic paper by Stanley Fischer on the correlation between the growth rate of money supply and the rate of capital accumulation on the transition path.[3] Finally, the fourth one concerns the relative standing of each one of six measures of the welfare cost of inflation (one of which is new) with respect to the other five, and an estimate of the maximum relative error one can incur by choosing to employ a particular welfare measure in place of the others.[4] [1] Cysne, R.P., Turchick, D., 2010. Welfare costs of inflation when interest-bearing deposits are disregarded: A calculation of the bias. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 34, 1015-1030. [2] Cysne, R.P., Turchick, D., 2009. On the integrability of money-demand functions by the Sidrauski and the shopping-time models. Journal of Banking & Finance 33, 1555-1562. [3] Cysne, R.P., Turchick, D., 2010. Money supply and capital accumulation on the transition path revisited. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 42, 1173-1184. [4] Cysne, R.P., Turchick, D., 2011. An ordering of measures of the welfare cost of inflation in economies with interest-bearing deposits. Macroeconomic Dynamics, forthcoming.

A relação estado/igreja e a política educacional brasileira nos anos 1937-1955

Este trabalho tem como objetivo básico analisar a relação Estado/Igreja na política educacional brasileira no período de 1937 a 1955. Além da bibliografia própria, foram consultados os Arquivos Gustavo Capanema e Getúlio Vargas, jornais e revistas da época. A primeira parte da dissertação situa a Igreja no contexto histórico brasileiro e a segunda parte discute a relação Estado/lgreja e o sistema educacional do país. Procuramos, também, caracterizar a escola como instituição social.

Menino com sono - olhos.

Ilustração componente do jogo “Escola Mágica (http://www.loa.sead.ufscar.br/escola-magica.html)” desenvolvido pela equipe do Laboratório de Objetos de Aprendizagem da Universidade Federal de São Carlos (LOA/UFSCar).

Parabéns

Ilustração componente do jogo “QuiForca (http://www.loa.sead.ufscar.br/quiforca.html)” desenvolvido pela equipe do Laboratório de Objetos de Aprendizagem da Universidade Federal de São Carlos (LOA/UFSCar).

Stress in pacu exposed to ammonia in water

The present study evaluated stress indicators in pacu exposed to ammonia in water under the following conditions: without NH4Cl (0.00 g/L); with 0.0078 g NH4Cl/L; and with 0.078 g NH4Cl/L (pH 8.3 and 27 ºC). After the salt dilution the water flow was interrupted and reestablished in 24 hours. Sampling occurred prior to the addition of NH4Cl (control) and after 12, 24 and 48 hours. Glycaemia increased only in fish with the highest salt concentration when compared with group control, regardless of time, and at 24 hours, regardless of treatment. Plasma ammonia, highest in fish exposed to the highest NH4Cl concentration, decreased progressively up to 48 hours. Plasma chloride only decreased in fish not exposed to salt when compared with control and osmolality increased after 24 hours. Hematocrit (Ht), number and volume of erythrocytes and hemoglobin did not change when NH4Cl was added; Ht decrease was reported after 12 hours, but it was not followed by the other blood parameters. The results show tolerance of the pacu to ammonia in the environment.

Activity of Ricinus communis (Euphorbiaceae) and ricinine against the leaf-cutting ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa (Hymenoptera : Formicidae) and the symbiotic fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus

The focus of this study was the identification of compounds from plant extracts for use in crop protection. This paper reports on the toxic activity of fractions of leaf extracts of Ricinus communis L (Euphorbiaceae) and isolated active compounds in the leaf-cutting ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa Forel and its symbiotic fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus (Singer) Moller. The main compounds responsible for activity against the fungus and ant in leaf extracts of R communis were found to be fatty acids for the former and ricinine for the ants. (C) 2004 Society of Chemical Industry.

Biological activity of astilbin from Dimorphandra mollis against Anticarsia gemmatalis and Spodoptera frugiperda

Astilbin was isolated in high yield from Dimorphandra mollis, and its insecticidal and growth inhibiting activity by stomach ingestion were evaluated against Anticarsia gemmatalis and Spodoptera frugiperda. The insecticidal activity of astilbin, the weight reduction of the larval phase and the prolongation of the larval and pupal phases were verified for both species. Astilbin was identified on the base of its NMR, MS and physical data. (C) 2002 Society of Chemical Industry.

Low glyphosate rates do not affect Citrus limonia (L.) Osbeck seedlings

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Técnicas de análise multivariada na determinação de grupos homogêneos de produtores de leite

Nesta pesquisa objetivou-se captar a variedade de situações tecnológicas para identificar grupos de produtores, o mais semelhante possível, no conjunto de variáveis e características selecionadas. Foram considerados 72 produtores, 8,33% da amostra total, selecionados conforme 29 variáveis relacionadas a fatores produtivos. Avaliaram-se as variáveis de melhor representatividade dentro de cada fator e suas comunalidades dentro do conjunto de fatores analisados. Para a avaliação desses resultados, foram utilizados métodos de análise fatorial em componentes principais. Posteriormente, aplicou-se o método de análise de agrupamentos. O pluralismo tecnológico requer análises de agrupamento para viabilizar intervenções técnicas diferenciadas, o que permite a consolidação de condições de sustentabilidade a partir das reais necessidades de incorporação tecnológica dos produtores.

Variabilidade espacial de atributos físicos do solo em diferentes formas do relevo sob cultivo de cana-de-açúcar

A utilização intensiva de máquinas e implementos agrícolas no nordeste do estado de São Paulo tem contribuído para aumentar as áreas com problemas de compactação, provavelmente pela ausência de um cronograma de trabalho bem definido ou de modelos capazes de estimar a capacidade de suporte do solo. O trabalho foi desenvolvido em Guariba (SP), com o objetivo de avaliar a variabilidade espacial da resistência à penetração do solo, umidade e densidade do solo em um Latossolo Vermelho eutroférrico sob cultivo de cana-de-açúcar. Os solos foram amostrados nos pontos de cruzamento de uma malha, com intervalos regulares de 10 m, perfazendo um total de 100 pontos, nas profundidades de 0,0-0,2 e 0,2-0,4 m. O coeficiente de variação indicou baixa variabilidade para umidade e densidade do solo nas duas profundidades e alta para resistência à penetração do solo. Observou-se um grau forte de dependência espacial para todas variáveis, exceto para densidade do solo na profundidade de 0,2-0,4 m que apresentou grau moderado de dependência espacial. Os altos valores para a resistência à penetração e densidade do solo, principalmente na profundidade de 0,2-0,4 m, indicaram compactação nesta camada. Pequenas variações nas formas do relevo condicionam variabilidade diferenciada nos atributos físicos dos solos.

Esporte como experiência estética e educativaEsporte educativa: uma abordagem fenomenológica

This paper deals with sport as a possibility of disclosing the sensible, and defends the idea that being a sportsperson equals living an aesthetic and educative experience in which one can interacts with the sensible by the athletic body s reverberation of sensations in the dimension of the experienced. We try to answer, in our work, basically three questions: what moves the athlete when practicing a sport? Which are the meanings and motivations for the practice of sports? At what measure the athlete s experience gains an educational character? Sport is debated in this work as an extension of the living, as long as it tries to understand the meanings inherent to sport itself as well as to the sportive experience as a kind of education. In support of our argument, we give a theoretic and philosophical approach to our thesis, based on thinkers like Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Walter Benjamin, Marcel Mauss and Friedrich Schiller. For this purpose, we get support on the phenomenology of the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Our reference is the living world of the athlete and his experience as a field of the sensible. Our point of departure is the analysis of the narratives of sport experiences, including five aesthetic elements; time and space of the body in the sports courts; the look on the sportive context; the contact with the adversary; victory and defeat; the technical gesture. Besides it, we worked out an aesthetic evaluation of the movies Olympia and Invictus , what let us discuss three thematic categories: sensibility, emotions and the play paradox. Subsequently, we point sport as an optimizer of the sensible education, present on the body s processes, like the body in movement. It was also made clear along this paper that we tried to accomplish an analysis on sports centered in the athlete s body as an outfit of the senses to things related to the sensible, whose aesthetic experience overpasses any deterministic conception that should sum up the sportive world to mercantilization, discipline practices and mechanicism. This approach franchises gateways to a Physical Education which, containing sports as one of its support, let pupils enjoy the pleasure of constructing common objectives, incorporating the capacity of replicating, re-making and playing as a field of possibilities offered by an education characterized as being moving, sensible and fitful to a body in movement

Glyphosate applied at low doses can stimulate plant growth

BACKGROUND: Glyphosate blocks the shikimic acid pathway, inhibiting the production of aromatic amino acids and several secondary compounds derived from these amino acids. Non-target plants can be exposed to low doses of glyphosate by herbicide drift of spray droplets and contact with treated weeds. Previous studies have reported that low doses of glyphosate stimulate growth, although these data are very limited. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of low glyphosate doses on growth of a range of plant species.RESULTS: Growth of maize, conventional soybean, Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden, Pinus caribea L. and Commelia benghalensis L. was enhanced by 1.8-36 g glyphosate ha(-1). Growth of glyphosate-resistant soybean was unaffected by any glyphosate dose from 1.8 to 720 g AE ha(-1). The optimum doses for growth stimulation were distinct for plant species and tissue evaluated. The greatest stimulation of growth was observed for C. benghalensis and P. caribea. Shikimic acid levels in tissues of glyphosate-treated soybean and maize were measured and found to be elevated at growth-stimulating doses.CONCLUSION: Subtoxic doses of glyphosate stimulate the growth of a range of plant species, as measured in several plant organs. This hormesis effect is likely to be related to the molecular target of glyphosate, since the effect was not seen in glyphosate-resistant plants, and shikimate levels were enhanced in plants with stimulated growth. (c) 2008 Society of Chemical Industry.

What Role Should Government Regulation Play in Ecological Restoration? Ongoing Debate in São Paulo State, Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The open capacitated arc routing problem

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Cholesterol-lowering effect of whole lupin (Lupinus albus) seed and its protein isolate

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)