Temporary exchange rate-based stabilization programs under asset market segmentation

This paper analyses the welfare consequences of temporary exchange rate-based stabilization programs. Differently than previous papers, however, here we assume that only a fraction of households participates in asset market transactions. With this asset market segmentation assumption, the effects of temporary programs on welfare may change drastically. Households with access to the bonds market are able to protect themselves better from the changes in the inflation rate – although at the cost of a distortion in their consumption path. As a consequence, they may decrease their inflation tax burden – which would increase for the other group of households. By the other side, when these agents that lack the access to the asset markets are credit constrained, they may welcome the program, since the government Is temporally reducing the inflation tax they have to pay. The temporary program could end up benefiting both groups, what could help to understand their popularity.

Strategic options development and analysis: the case of the brazilian railways

Judging by their success in Europe, Asia and North America, passenger and cargo railways are appreciated as the key to infrastructural development in Brazil. The issues are complex and steeped in uncertainty, as well as political and economic agendas, and a wide array of intersecting issues such as business and unionized interests, agricultural and industrial geographical spreads, as well as the emergence of alternative power sources. Not only are the issues systemic, but railway development itself always comes as a physical network structure. The situation under consideration, in other words, is systemic from both the soft and hard systems point of view, thus promising a rich context for systems studies. As an initial attempt in understanding the situation at hand, the research reported here applied the problem structuring approach known as Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA) in order to map and analyze issues facing the Brazilian railways. Strategic options for the future development of the railways were identified and analyzed, and ways forward for future research are proposed. In addition, the report serves as an initial knowledge base that can guide future systemic planning studies in the industry.

Mosaicos de áreas protegidas e unidades de conservação. Dificuldades e desafios num arranjo de governança híbrida: o caso do Mosaico Bocaina

O objetivo principal desta tese é compreender o funcionamento de um mosaico de áreas protegidas e unidades de conservação – o Mosaico Bocaina. Entende-se hoje que a política de conservação de biodiversidade depende da criação e adequada gestão de áreas protegidas. No entanto, a apropriação estatal de porções do território se deu por meio de decretos de criação de unidades de conservação num período em que não era obrigatória a consulta à população que habita essas localidades, o que acabou gerando inúmeros inconvenientes para ambos os lados e um verdadeiro imbróglio jurídico quando se trata do reconhecimento dos direitos difusos. O Mosaico Bocaina foi criado por uma portaria do Ministério do Meio Ambiente no final de 2006. Desde 2007 vem tentando se firmar como um instrumento de planejamento e gestão integrada e participativa de um conjunto unidades de conservação. Tenta-se também mitigar e buscar possíveis soluções para conflitos fundiários históricos criados pela sobreposição de territórios oficiais e tradicionais. Por meio da análise sistemática dos documentos produzidos no âmbito do seu Conselho Consultivo, e do acompanhamento das discussões de temas caros aos atores interagindo nesse fórum de governança híbrida, procuramos entender por que certos temas avançam e entram na agenda, sendo encaminhados para as instâncias decisórias competentes, e outros nem sequer conseguem ser processados, sendo bloqueados assim que entram na pauta. Identificamos que tal processo é resultado da dinâmica de configuração de forças de duas coalizões de defesa que disputam, mais que compartilham, espaços no território, e sempre polarizaram as discussões. De um lado, a coalizão pró-biodiversidade, que agrega gestores de unidades de conservação (tanto de proteção integral quanto de uso sustentado) e outros atores cujo foco nem sempre é uma agenda claramente conservacionista, mas excludente. De outro, a coalizão pró-sociodiversidade, que luta pela adoção de uma agenda socioambientalista e alternativa, com a inclusão e garantia do protagonismo das comunidades tradicionais nos projetos de desenvolvimento local sustentável. Acreditamos que essa polarização e dificuldade de construção de consensos baseados em princípios de colaboração e cooperação é resultado da própria complexidade da gestão da governança em fóruns híbridos como esse, complexidade esta derivada da coexistência de valores, preferências e interesses muitas vezes divergentes. Mas também conseguimos identificar outros fatores específicos, resultados de características locais e/ou escolhas realizadas pelo coletivo de atores ao longo da trajetória. A enorme assimetria de informação e poder entre os atores participantes, por exemplo, dificulta o desenvolvimento de confiança e mecanismos de reciprocidade. A adoção de uma coordenação colegiada, por outro lado, acabou comprometendo o surgimento de uma liderança ou instância neutra que funcionasse como mediadora dos processos de negociação entre as partes. O profundo desconhecimento das possibilidades – mas, sobretudo, também dos limites – dos mosaicos de áreas protegidas e unidades de conservação como instrumento de gestão territorial dentro do amplo Sistema Nacional de Unidades de Conservação gera expectativas de solução de conflitos que dependem de decisões que são tomadas alhures, o que acaba frustrando e desmobilizando os participantes de ambos os lados. A imagem de aparente apatia dos órgãos ambientais federais e estaduais, por sua vez, derivada da morosidade dos processos públicos, tende a infundir ainda mais incerteza no relacionamento entre os atores.

Optimal monetary policy under administered prices

This work aims to analyze the interaction and the effects of administered prices in the economy, through a DSGE model and the derivation of optimal monetary policies. The model used is a standard New Keynesian DSGE model of a closed economy with two sectors companies. In the first sector, free prices, there is a continuum of firms, and in the second sector of administered prices, there is a single firm. In addition, the model has positive trend inflation in the steady state. The model results suggest that price movements in any sector will impact on both sectors, for two reasons. Firstly, the price dispersion causes productivity to be lower. As the dispersion of prices is a change in the relative price of any sector, relative to general prices in the economy, when a movement in the price of a sector is not followed by another, their relative weights will change, leading to an impact on productivity in both sectors. Second, the path followed by the administered price sector is considered in future inflation expectations, which is used by companies in the free sector to adjust its optimal price. When this path leads to an expectation of higher inflation, the free sector companies will choose a higher mark-up to accommodate this expectation, thus leading to higher inflation trend when there is imperfect competition in the free sector. Finally, the analysis of optimal policies proved inconclusive, certainly indicating that there is influence of the adjustment model of administered prices in the definition of optimal monetary policy, but a quantitative study is needed to define the degree of impact.

Geostatistical analysis of the spatial distribution of Rotylenchulus reniformis on cotton cultivated under crop rotation

The spatial distribution of Rotylenchulus reniformis on cotton cultivated in crop rotation with sorghum-peanut-velvetbean was studied using geostatistics. The experimental field, which had been continuously cropped with cotton for 20 years, comprised two 32 x 48 m-grids, each divided in sixty-four 4 x 6 in sampling plots. For all crops, 300 cm(3) soil samples were taken at the center of each plot at crop germination (Pi) and again at harvest (Pf), from which the numbers of nematodes were determined. The results revealed that the spatial distribution of R. reniformis was highly aggregated and with the aid of geostatistical techniques the nematode intensities were mapped and the risk areas accurately identified. Consequently, geostatistics is here considered a useful tool for planning nematode control strategies, particularly in precision agriculture.

Ofício, Estresse e Resiliência: desafios do Professor Universitário.

The objective of this study was to investigate the elements that contribute to the state of stress which often affects those who embrace the university teaching career, and also to learn whatever strategies professors use to cope with stressing situations in order to develop resilience and a sound exercise of their profession. To the very nature of university teaching belong a variety of attributions, demands and challenges which, together, may contribute to the development of stress. The epistemological principles which guided this research were those of Complex Thinking, which facilitate a deeper comprehension of the human and social phenomena as viewed through the lens of complexity principles: the dialogical principle, the organizational recursivity principle and the hologramatical principle. Fully acknowledging the many difficulties brought about by any attempt that would try to explain human phenomena based only on one theoretical reference, we have elected multi-referentiality as the support for this study, thus being able to dialogue with a variety of authors about the same phenomenon. This was a qualitative research in which questionnaires and interviews were used as instruments for the empirical work. The data has been articulated into categories and subcategories, allowing for a thematic analysis. Participants of the study were seventeen professors from two different colleges in the city of Natal, state of Rio Grande do Norte. Bad working conditions, demands from the institution, student s lack of commitment, long working hours, low salaries, lack of incentives to university teachers, uncertainty concerning timetable and difficulties in proper time administration are the variables that contribute to the stress of professors. Although this is a problem that affects the group as a whole, strategies to cope with it are individually sought and vary from trying to find different leisure options, opening one s heart to colleagues or relatives, individual planning, prayer, rational facing of the situation, to simply giving in to exhaustion. The study has proposed institutional as well as personal actions that may foster a development among professors which takes into account a resilience development in a collective perspective. Also, it shows some articulations that are already under way so that professors may be attended to.

Changes on emitter discharge under different water temperature and pressure

The study was conducted at the Research Laboratory of Hydraulic and Irrigation Group in the Rural Engineering Department, Technical University of Madrid (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid), Madrid, Spain. Water temperatures of 20, 30, 40 degrees C and system pressures often encountered in irrigation practices of 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 and 200 k Pa were applied to determine the effects of different water temperatures and pressures on emitter discharge. Non-pressure compensating in-line emitter which has turbulent flow regime with a long-path (labyrinth), emitter discharge was 4 L h(-1) at system pressure of 100 kPa according to the manufacturer recommended, was used. Emitters were spaced 20 cm along the drip laterals with 16 mm diameter. Discharge equations and coefficients of variation related to temperatures of 20, 30 and 40 degrees C were obtained as q = 0.375H(0.51), q = 0.358H(0.52), q = 0.346H(0.53) and 2.68, 2.09, 3.65, respectively. Discharge of the emitter was affected by different system pressures and increased as potentially (R = 0993-0996). In general. the emitter discharge increased with increasing temperature. However, especially in the common system pressures of 90-120 k Pa, differences of obtained emitter discharges between the different water temperatures were not significant (1%).

Aplicaçaõ das técnicas Path-relinking e Vocabulary buiding na melhoria de performance do algoritmo memético para o problema do caixeiro viajante assimétrico

The present essay shows strategies of improvement in a well succeded evolutionary metaheuristic to solve the Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem. Such steps consist in a Memetic Algorithm projected mainly to this problem. Basically this improvement applied optimizing techniques known as Path-Relinking and Vocabulary Building. Furthermore, this last one has being used in two different ways, in order to evaluate the effects of the improvement on the evolutionary metaheuristic. These methods were implemented in C++ code and the experiments were done under instances at TSPLIB library, being possible to observe that the procedures purposed reached success on the tests done

Outra leitura do "outro lado":o espaço da Zona Norte em questão

It analyzes the production of the space of the North Zone of Natal/RN, of the beginning of its formation - decade of 1970 - a present time, under the optics of the urban planning and of the administration of the territory. Inside of that path, it examines the interests that orientated the "creation" of the referred space, as support to the process of urban planning and of administration of the territory; as well as the recent processes that evidence a new partner-space dynamics, which is configured, now as an incipient insert of the North Zone to the context natalense urban-space, now as a "reedition" of its report process of partner-space segregation. It stands out that, while in the beginning of the formation of the North Zone, the State was made the main actor, making possible the expansion of the capital in the north sense of the city of Natal, through the implantation of the Industrial District of Natal (DIN) and of the expansion of the habitational politics of the House of Financial System (SFH); at the present time, the new space processes are configured through the economical inclination, through expansion of the tertiary section in the city of Natal. It is based in bibliography regarding the theme in focus, in primary and secondary sources, as well as in processes and forms that were unchained in the North Zone along the research. It analyzes the North Zone then in its group, the one that makes possible apprehend the inherent conflicts to the process of production-appropriation of the urban space, for the several social actors - the State, the capital and the society - that dispute the control of the production of the space according themselves their interests

Study of the hydrolysis of TEOS-TMOS mixtures under ultrasound stimulation

Pure and mixed tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) were hydrolyzed at 35 degrees C, using oxalic acid as a catalyst and ultrasound stimulation. The hydrolysis reaction was carried out in a specially designed device, in which a heat flow steady state, between the ultrasound source and an external thermostatic bath, was maintained, in the absence of reactions. The exothermic hydrolysis causes a time dependent thermal peak. An induction time is apparent in pure TEOS before the hydrolysis peaks starts, which has been explained by the initial immiscibility gap of the TEOS-water system. The induction time was found to be approximately of the same magnitude as in the HCl catalyzed hydrolysis, in spite of the uncertainty accompanying the peak definition. No induction period is apparent in pure TMOS, so that the hydrolysis starts with its maximum rate. Two independent thermal peaks in the mixed TMOS-TEOS samples were found, both associated to the respective hydrolyses of the pure component. The induction time for the TEOS hydrolysis is decreased as more alcohol (and silanol) is produced in the earlier TMOS hydrolysis. This effect is explained by improvement of homogenization by alcohol.

Evaluation of the influences of solution path length and additives concentrations on the solar photo-Fenton degradation of 4-chlorophenol using multivariate analysis

This study reports the photodegradation of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) in aqueous solution by the photo-Fenton process using solar irradiation. The influence of solution path length, and Fe(NO3)(3) and H2O2 concentrations on the degradation of 4-CP is evaluated by response surface methodology. The degradation process was monitored by the removal of total organic carbon (TOC) and the release of chloride ion. The results showed a very important role of iron concentration either for TOC removal or dechlorination. on the other hand, a negative effect of increasing solution path length on mineralization was observed, which can be compensated by increasing the iron concentration. This permits an adjustment of the iron concentration according to the irradiation exposure area and path length (depth of a tank reactor). Under optimum conditions of 1.5 mM Fe(NO3)(3), 20.0 mM H2O2 and 4.5 cm solution path length, 17 min irradiation under solar light were sufficient to reduce a 72 mg C L-1 solution of 4-CP by 91 (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Parallel simulated annealing applied to long term transmission network expansion planning

The simulated annealing optimization technique has been successfully applied to a number of electrical engineering problems, including transmission system expansion planning. The method is general in the sense that it does not assume any particular property of the problem being solved, such as linearity or convexity. Moreover, it has the ability to provide solutions arbitrarily close to an optimum (i.e. it is asymptotically convergent) as the cooling process slows down. The drawback of the approach is the computational burden: finding optimal solutions may be extremely expensive in some cases. This paper presents a Parallel Simulated Annealing, PSA, algorithm for solving the long term transmission network expansion planning problem. A strategy that does not affect the basic convergence properties of the Sequential Simulated Annealing algorithm have been implementeded and tested. The paper investigates the conditions under which the parallel algorithm is most efficient. The parallel implementations have been tested on three example networks: a small 6-bus network, and two complex real-life networks. Excellent results are reported in the test section of the paper: in addition to reductions in computing times, the Parallel Simulated Annealing algorithm proposed in the paper has shown significant improvements in solution quality for the largest of the test networks.

GPS ambiguity resolution and validation under multipath effects: Improvements using wavelets

Integer carrier phase ambiguity resolution is the key to rapid and high-precision global navigation satellite system (GNSS) positioning and navigation. As important as the integer ambiguity estimation, it is the validation of the solution, because, even when one uses an optimal, or close to optimal, integer ambiguity estimator, unacceptable integer solution can still be obtained. This can happen, for example, when the data are degraded by multipath effects, which affect the real-valued float ambiguity solution, conducting to an incorrect integer (fixed) ambiguity solution. Thus, it is important to use a statistic test that has a correct theoretical and probabilistic base, which has became possible by using the Ratio Test Integer Aperture (RTIA) estimator. The properties and underlying concept of this statistic test are shortly described. An experiment was performed using data with and without multipath. Reflector objects were placed surrounding the receiver antenna aiming to cause multipath. A method based on multiresolution analysis by wavelet transform is used to reduce the multipath of the GPS double difference (DDs) observations. So, the objective of this paper is to compare the ambiguity resolution and validation using data from these two situations: data with multipath and with multipath reduced by wavelets. Additionally, the accuracy of the estimated coordinates is also assessed by comparing with the ground truth coordinates, which were estimated using data without multipath effects. The success and fail probabilities of the RTIA were, in general, coherent and showed the efficiency and the reliability of this statistic test. After multipath mitigation, ambiguity resolution becomes more reliable and the coordinates more precise. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.

Calibration uncertainty estimation for internal aerodynamic balance

Aerodynamic balances are employed in wind tunnels to estimate the forces and moments acting on the model under test. This paper proposes a methodology for the assessment of uncertainty in the calibration of an internal multi-component aerodynamic balance. In order to obtain a suitable model to provide aerodynamic loads from the balance sensor responses, a calibration is performed prior to the tests by applying known weights to the balance. A multivariate polynomial fitting by the least squares method is used to interpolate the calibration data points. The uncertainties of both the applied loads and the readings of the sensors are considered in the regression. The data reduction includes the estimation of the calibration coefficients, the predicted values of the load components and their corresponding uncertainties, as well as the goodness of fit.