The spin-off of Sonae Capital

The purpose of this project is to study the spin-off of Sonae Capital, which took place in January 2008. Taking the form of a case study, this project is divided between the case narrative and a teaching note. I study the background and motivation of the transaction, along with its outcome. With the available information at the time of the case, I value Sonae Capital at the date of the spin-off and describe a possible trading strategy involving both the spun-off and the demerged companies. Finally, I conclude that the transaction was more beneficial for the parent company, Sonae SGPS, and that it did not follow the typical outperformance pattern observed in other spin-offs.

Antecedentes de la lealtad en los entornos on line y off line: un análisis empírico aplicado al sector de la aviación civil

El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar la lealtad de los usuarios de líneas aéreas tanto en el entorno online como en el entorno offline. La revisión bibliográfica ha identificado tres antecedentes: la satisfacción, la confianza y el valor percibido. Se ha llevado a cabo un estudio empírico realizándose un total de 1710 entrevistas personales en el aeropuerto del Prat (Barcelona) a usuarios de dos compañías aéreas tradicionales, Iberia y British Airways, y a una compañía low cost, Easyjet. Se trata de las tres compañías que operan con vuelos directos Barcelona-Londres. En el análisis de los datos se han utilizado modelos de ecuaciones estructurales y en particular la técnica utilizada fue el análisis factorial confirmatorio. Los resultados revelan que tanto la satisfacción, como la confianza y el valor percibido explican las relaciones de lealtad entre los pasajeros y las compañías aéreas.

Can arable field margins be managed to enhance their biodiversity, conservation and functional value for soil macrofauna?

1. The establishment of grassy strips at the margins of arable fields is an agri-environment scheme that aims to provide resources for native flora and fauna and thus increase farmland biodiversity. These margins can be managed to target certain groups, such as farmland birds and pollinators, but the impact of such management on the soil fauna has been poorly studied. This study assessed the effect of seed mix and management on the biodiversity, conservation and functional value of field margins for soil macrofauna. 2. Experimental margin plots were established in 2001 in a winter wheat field in Cambridgeshire, UK, using a factorial design of three seed mixes and three management practices [spring cut, herbicide application and soil disturbance (scarification)]. In spring and autumn 2005, soil cores taken from the margin plots and the crop were hand-sorted for soil macrofauna. The Lumbricidae, Isopoda, Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Carabidae and Staphylinidae were identified to species and classified according to feeding type. 3. Diversity in the field margins was generally higher than in the crop, with the Lumbricidae, Isopoda and Coleoptera having significantly more species and/or higher abundances in the margins. Within the margins, management had a significant effect on the soil macrofauna, with scarified plots containing lower abundances and fewer species of Isopods. The species composition of the scarified plots was similar to that of the crop. 4. Scarification also reduced soil- and litter-feeder abundances and predator species densities, although populations appeared to recover by the autumn, probably as a result of dispersal from neighbouring plots and boundary features. The implications of the responses of these feeding groups for ecosystem services are discussed. 5. Synthesis and applications. This study shows that the management of agri-environment schemes can significantly influence their value for soil macrofauna. In order to encourage the litter-dwelling invertebrates that tend to be missing from arable systems, agri-environment schemes should aim to minimize soil cultivation and develop a substantial surface litter layer. However, this may conflict with other aims of these schemes, such as enhancing floristic and pollinator diversity.

The real value of equality

This paper investigates how political theorists and philosophers should understand egalitarian political demands in light of the increasingly important realist critique of much of contemporary political theory and philosophy. It suggests, first, that what Martin O'Neill has called non-intrinsic egalitarianism is, in one form at least, a potentially realistic egalitarian political project and second, that realists may be compelled to impose an egalitarian threshold on state claims to legitimacy under certain circumstances. Non-intrinsic egalitarianism can meet realism’s methodological requirements because it does not have to assume an unavailable moral consensus since it can focus on widely acknowledged bads rather than contentious claims about the good. Further, an appropriately formulated non-intrinsic egalitarianism may be a minimum requirement of an appropriately realistic claim by a political order to authoritatively structure some of its members' lives. Without at least a threshold set of egalitarian commitments, a political order seems unable to be transparent to many of its worse off members under a plausible construal of contemporary conditions.

Optimization of cable cycles : a trade-off between reliability and cost

This paper elaborates the routing of cable cycle through available routes in a building in order to link a set of devices, in a most reasonable way. Despite of the similarities to other NP-hard routing problems, the only goal is not only to minimize the cost (length of the cycle) but also to increase the reliability of the path (in case of a cable cut) which is assessed by a risk factor. Since there is often a trade-off between the risk and length factors, a criterion for ranking candidates and deciding the most reasonable solution is defined. A set of techniques is proposed to perform an efficient and exact search among candidates. A novel graph is introduced to reduce the search-space, and navigate the search toward feasible and desirable solutions. Moreover, admissible heuristic length estimation helps to early detection of partial cycles which lead to unreasonable solutions. The results show that the method provides solutions which are both technically and financially reasonable. Furthermore, it is proved that the proposed techniques are very efficient in reducing the computational time of the search to a reasonable amount.

Ensaios sobre o poder judiciário no Brasil

A tese apresenta três ensaios empíricos sobre os padrões decisórios de magistrados no Brasil, elaborados à partir de bases de dados inéditas e de larga escala, que contém detalhes de dezenas de milhares de processos judiciais na primeira e na segunda instância. As bases de dados são coletadas pelo próprio autor através de programas-robô de coleta em massa de informações, aplicados aos "links" de acompanhamento processual de tribunais estaduais no Brasil (Paraná, Minas Gerais e Santa Catarina). O primeiro artigo avalia - com base em modelo estatístico - a importância de fatores extra-legais sobre os resultados de ações judiciais, na Justiça Estadual do Paraná. Isto é, se os juízes favorecem sistematicamente a parte hipossuficiente (beneficiária de Assistência Judiciária Gratuita). No segundo artigo, estuda-se a relação entre a duração de ações cíveis no primeiro grau e a probabilidade de reforma da sentença, utilizando-se dados da Justiça Estadual de Minas Gerais. O objetivo é avaliar se existe um dilema entre a duração e a qualidade das sentenças. Dito de outra forma, se existe um dilema entre a observância do direito ao devido processo legal e a celeridade processual. O último artigo teste a hipótese - no âmbito de apelações criminais e incidentes recursais no Tribunal de Justiça de Santa Catarina - de que as origens profissionais dos desembargadores influenciam seus padrões decisórios. Isto é, testa-se a hipótese de que desembargadores/relatores oriundos da carreira da advocacia são mais "garantistas" ( e desembargadores oriundos da carreira do Ministério Público são menos "garantistas") relativamente aos seus pares oriundos da carreira da magistratura. Testam-se as hipóteses com base em um modelo estatístico que explica a probabilidade de uma decisão recursal favorável ao réu, em função da origem de carreira do relator do recurso, além de um conjunto de características do processo e do órgão julgador.

Vase Life of New Tropical Cut Foliage: Cordyline terminalis

Cordyline terminalis is a tropical ornamental with high decorative value due its variety of colors and foliar patterns. This ornamental is new in the Brazilian market and has large potential to be exported. The lack of studies on postharvest aspects is a problem for new crops, and the development of good post-production techniques can reduce costs due to loss of unsalable, damaged plants. The present work aimed to characterize the vase life of red and green cultivars of C. terminalis. Conservation techniques, such as pulsing with gibberellic acid (GA(3)), wax spray, and cold storage for 10 and 20 days at 5, 10, and 13 degrees C were tested. Also, macro-and micronutrients concentration was tracked during the senescence process. In the water-based treatment (control), both cultivars had a vase life of 21 days. Vase life was not influenced by wax spray, GA pulsing, or cold storage for 10 days at 5, 10 or 13 degrees C. In both cultivars, the postharvest techniques used did not improve the vase life on this species. on the other hand, by cold storing the foliage for 20 days in any of the tested temperatures, the vase life was shortened one week, with a total of 14 days longevity compared with all other treatments. Color changes were not correlated with senescence of the foliage. Nutrients did not change during the evaluation period. C. terminalis had a vase life long enough for export, supported by cold storage up to 10 days, which did not shorten the vase life.

Cultivar affects browning susceptibility of freshly cut star fruit slices

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

A bio-economic appraisal of pair trawl fisheries off southeastern Brazil

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

Dry matter yield and nutritional value of Marandu grass under nitrogen fertilization and irrigation in cerrado in São Paulo

The aim of this study was to evaluate dry matter yield and nutritional value of palisade grass (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu) using nitrogen doses and sprinkler irrigation in two periods of the year, aiming at reducing seasonality of forage production. It was used a randomized block design in a split-plot scheme, with five doses of nitrogen (0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 kg/ha/cut), and the sub-plots were defined by the seasons of the year (wet and dry season), with and without irrigation. During the wet season, in the plots with and without irrigation, doses of 175 and 161 kg/ha/cut promoted the highest dry matter yields. During the dry season, 171 kg ha -1N with irrigation resulted in the highest dry matter yield. During the same season, there was no response to N fertilization in the lack of irrigation. Average contents of CP were 10% with and without irrigation. Contents of neutral detergent fiber decreased with nitrogen doses, while acid detergent fiber was not affected by fertilization. Plots under irrigation reached the maximal acid detergent fiber content at N dose of 60 kg ha -1. Irrigation promotes increase of 15% increase in dry matter yield and it increases contents of neutral detergent fiber. © 2010 Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia.

Comportamento ao cisalhamento da madeira de Eucalyptus citriodora através do ensaio OFF-AXIS

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Identification and phylogenetic inferences on stocks of sharks affected by the fishing industry off the Northern coast of Brazil

The ongoing decline in abundance and diversity of shark stocks, primarily due to uncontrolled fishery exploitation, is a worldwide problem. An additional problem for the development of conservation and management programmes is the identification of species diversity within a given area, given the morphological similarities among shark species, and the typical disembarkation of processed carcasses which are almost impossible to differentiate. The main aim of the present study was to identify those shark species being exploited off northern Brazil, by using the 12S-16S molecular marker. For this, DNA sequences were obtained from 122 specimens collected on the docks and the fish market in Bragança, in the Brazilian state of Pará. We identified at least 11 species. Three-quarters of the specimens collected were either Carcharhinus porosus or Rhizoprionodon sp, while a notable absence was the daggernose shark, Isogomphodon oxyrhyncus, previously one of the most common species in local catches. The study emphasises the value of molecular techniques for the identification of cryptic shark species, and the potential of the 12S-16S marker as a tool for phylogenetic inferences in a study of elasmobranchs.

Analysis of renal function after on and off pump coronary artery bypass grafting

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is often associated with renal dysfunction, as measured by plasma creatinine levels and hemodialysis rates. Aim. To compare creatinine clearance (CrCl), estimated with the Cockroft and Gault formula, between patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) versus on-pump CABG (on-CAB). Material and methods. Between April 2008 and April 2009, 119 patients underwent coronary bypass graft surgery. Fifty-eight (58) of these patients underwent OPCAB while 61 had on-CAB. Creatinine clearance, plasma creatinine levels, and clinical outcome were compared between the groups. A creatinine clearance value of 50 mL/minute was accepted as the lowest limit of normal renal function. Results. There were two hospital deaths caused by sepses after pulmonary infection. Creatinine clearance (Preoperative OPCAB 73,64±33,72 x on-CAB 75,70±34,30mL/min; discharge OPCAB 75,73±35,07 x on-CAB 79,07±34,71 mL/ min; p=0,609), and creatinine levels (Preoperative OPCAB 1,04±0,38 x on-CAB 1,13±0,53 mg/dL; discharge OPCAB 1,12±0,79 x on-CAB 1,04±0,29mg/dL; p=0,407) did not show statistically inter-group differences. Conclusion. Deterioration in renal function is associated with higher rates of postoperative complications. No significant difference in CrCl could be demonstrated between the groups.