Structural change and productivity growth, 20 years later: old problems, new opportunities

Includes bibliography

Trade, poverty and complementary policies in Latin America

Includes bibliography

Open regionalism in Asia Pacific and Latin America: a survey of the literature

Includes bibliography

Trade and investment promotion between Asia-Pacific and Latin America: present position and future prospects

Includes bibliography

Education and the labour market in Latin America: why measurement is important and what it tells us about policies, reforms and performance

Includes bibliography

Adhesion between fiber post and root dentin: evaluation of post surface conditioning for bond strength improvement.

The aim of this paper was to evaluate two surface conditioning methods associated with the application of adhesive on the post surface for improving the bond to resin cement. Sixty single-rooted bovine teeth were sectioned at 16 mm in length, prepared (9 mm depth), embedded in a PVC cylinder using acrylic resin, and allocated into 3 groups (N.=20) according to post surface treatment: cleaning with ethanol (control group); etching with hydrogen peroxide; etching with hydrofluoric acid. Ten posts for each group were silanized and other 10 posts were silanized and received an adhesive agent. The posts were cemented with self-adhesive resin cement (RelyX U100 resin cement). All teeth were sectioned perpendicularly to the long axis (2 mm thickness per slice), submitted to push out bond strength testing and the type of failure was recorded. The obtained data were submitted to two-way ANOVA and Turkey's test, with the level of significance set at 5%. Neither the hydrofluoric acid or hydrogen peroxide post surface treatment, nor the adhesive application, had an influence on bond strength values. The main type of failure was adhesive between cement and dentin. Etching and the application of an adhesive on the post surface did not presented a significant influence on the bond strength results for the fiber post resin cement-root dentin assembly. The cement appears to adhere very well to the fiber post surface rather than the dentin surface.

Democratic governance and gender: possible linkages

Includes bibliography

Distribution of constitutive heterochromatin in two species of triatomines: Triatoma lenti Sherlock and Serafim (1967) and Triatoma sherlocki Papa, Jurberg, Carcavallo, Cerqueira & Barata (2002)

Triatoma lenti and Triatoma sherlocki are hemipterans that belong to the brasiliensis subcomplex. In triatomines, the constitutive heterochromatin pattern is species-specific and allows, in many cases, for the grouping of species. Thus, we cytogenetically analyzed T. sherlocki and T. lenti using C-banding, and we compared the results with previous ones obtained in other species of the brasiliensis subcomplex. Both species were found to have a male diploid chromosome number of 22 chromosomes (2n = 20A. +. XY) with heterochromatic blocks at one or both chromosomal ends of all autosomal pairs. During early meiotic prophase, they showed a large heteropycnotic chromocenter constituted by the association of both sex chromosomes plus two autosomal pairs and many heterochromatic blocks dispersed inside the nucleus. All of these cytogenetic characteristics are similar to those observed in other species of brasiliensis subcomplex, results which confirm the grouping of T. sherlocki and T. lenti within this subcomplex. However, we emphasize the importance of other approaches, such as molecular analysis, to confirm the placement of T. lenti within the brasiliensis subcomplex. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Root distribution, nutrient uptake, and yield of two upland rice cultivars under two water regimes

Upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation has been increasing in global importance due to the decreasing water availability for flood- irrigated rice. The use of sprinkler irrigation to supplement rainfall and the identification of cultivars more adapted to lower water availability could be effective alternatives for producing upland rice without yield losses while using less water. The objective of this field study was to evaluate the root distribution, plant nutrition, and grain yield of two drought tolerant upland rice cultivars under two water regimes in the Cerrado Region of Brazil during two growing seasons. The main plots were two water regimes (rainfed and sprinkler-irrigation plus rainfall). Subplots were two upland rice cultivars Carajás and IAC 201. Low water availability reduced root growth by 7% and grain yields were from 2644 to 4002 kg ha-1 on average for rainfed and sprinkler irrigation treatments, respectively. Carajás had a significantly better root distribution, nutrient uptake, and higher grain yield (3732 kg ha-1) compared with IAC 201 (2914 kg ha-1) averaged over two growing seasons and water regimes. There were no treatment interactions. Our results suggest that, even when cultivars with a higher tolerance to less water availability are used, using sprinkler irrigation to augment limited rainfall during dry periods may be a viable method to increase upland rice grain yields. © 2013 by the American Society of Agronomy.

Saddle points and rare collisions under scaling approach in a Fermi accelerator with two nonlinear terms

Rare collisions of a classical particle bouncing between two walls are studied. The dynamics is described by a two-dimensional, nonlinear and area-preserving mapping in the variables velocity and time at the instant that the particle collides with the moving wall. The phase space is of mixed type preventing diffusion of the particle to high energy. Successive and therefore rare collisions are shown to have a histogram of frequency which is scaling invariant with respect to the control parameters. The saddle fixed points are studied and shown to be scaling invariant with respect to the control parameters too. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Morphological and molecular evidence for two new species of Tetragonopterus (Characiformes: Characidae) from central Brazil

The combination of morphological and molecular data of Tetragonopterus species collected in the Rio Araguaia basin allows the recognition of two undescribed species that are presented in this article. These species are distinguished from their congeners (Tetragonopterus anostomus, Tetragonopterus argenteus, Tetragonopterus carvalhoi, Tetragonopterus chalceus and Tetragonopterus rarus) by characters related to the number and morphology of the teeth, the numbers of gill rakers on the upper and lower limbs of the first gill arch, the number of predorsal scales and the overall colour pattern. In addition, the analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences identified an accentuated genetic distance between these two new species and their congeners. A discussion of the phylogenetic relationships within Tetragonopterus is provided. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology © 2013 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the Agriculture, Health and Tourism sectors in Saint Lucia

This report analyses the agriculture, health and tourism sectors in Saint Lucia to assess the potential economic impacts of climate change on the sectors. The fundamental aim of this report is to assist with the development of strategies to deal with the potential impact of climate change in Saint Lucia. It also has the potential to provide essential input for identifying and preparing policies and strategies to help advance the Caribbean subregion closer to solving problems associated with climate change and attaining individual and regional sustainable development goals. Some of the key anticipated impacts of climate change for the Caribbean include elevated air and sea-surface temperatures, sea-level rise, possible changes in extreme events and a reduction in freshwater resources. The economic impact of climate change on the three sectors was estimated for the A2 and B2 IPCC scenarios until 2050. An evaluation of various adaptation strategies for each sector was also undertaken using standard evaluation techniques. The key subsectors in agriculture are expected to have mixed impacts under the A2 and B2 scenarios. Banana, fisheries and root crop outputs are expected to fall with climate change, but tree crop and vegetable production are expected to rise. In aggregate, in every decade up to 2050, these sub-sectors combined are expected to experience a gain under climate change with the highest gains under A2. By 2050, the cumulative gain under A2 is calculated as approximately US$389.35 million and approximately US$310.58 million under B2, which represents 17.93% and 14.30% of the 2008 GDP respectively. This result was unexpected and may well be attributed to the unavailability of annual data that would have informed a more robust assessment. Additionally, costs to the agriculture sector due to tropical cyclones were estimated to be $6.9 million and $6.2 million under the A2 and B2 scenarios, respectively. There are a number of possible adaptation strategies that can be employed by the agriculture sector. The most attractive adaptation options, based on the benefit-cost ratio are: (1) Designing and implementation of holistic water management plans (2) Establishment of systems of food storage and (3) Establishment of early warning systems. Government policy should focus on the development of these adaption options where they are not currently being pursued and strengthen those that have already been initiated, such as the mainstreaming of climate change issues in agricultural policy. The analysis of the health sector placed focus on gastroenteritis, schistosomiasis, ciguatera poisoning, meningococal meningitis, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and malnutrition. The results obtained for the A2 and B2 scenarios demonstrate the potential for climate change to add a substantial burden to the health system in the future, a factor that will further compound the country’s vulnerability to other anticipated impacts of climate change. Specifically, it was determined that the overall Value of Statistical Lives impacts were higher under the A2 scenario than the B2 scenario. A number of adaptation cost assumptions were employed to determine the damage cost estimates using benefit-cost analysis. The benefit-cost analysis suggests that expenditure on monitoring and information provision would be a highly efficient step in managing climate change and subsequent increases in disease incidence. Various locations in the world have developed forecasting systems for dengue fever and other vector-borne diseases that could be mirrored and implemented. Combining such macro-level policies with inexpensive micro-level behavioural changes may have the potential for pre-empting the re-establishment of dengue fever and other vector-borne epidemic cycles in Saint Lucia. Although temperature has the probability of generating significant excess mortality for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, the power of temperature to increase mortality largely depends on the education of the population about the harmful effects of increasing temperatures and on the existing incidence of these two diseases. For these diseases it is also suggested that a mix of macro-level efforts and micro-level behavioural changes can be employed to relieve at least part of the threat that climate change poses to human health. The same principle applies for water and food-borne diseases, with the improvement of sanitation infrastructure complementing the strengthening of individual hygiene habits. The results regarding the tourism sector imply that the tourism climatic index was likely to experience a significant downward shift in Saint Lucia under the A2 as well as the B2 scenario, indicative of deterioration in the suitability of the island for tourism. It is estimated that this shift in tourism features could cost Saint Lucia about 5 times the 2009 GDP over a 40-year horizon. In addition to changes in climatic suitability for tourism, climate change is also likely to have important supply-side effects on species, ecosystems and landscapes. Two broad areas are: (1) coral reefs, due to their intimate link to tourism, and, (2) land loss, as most hotels tend to lie along the coastline. The damage related to coral reefs was estimated at US$3.4 billion (3.6 times GDP in 2009) under the A2 scenario and US$1.7 billion (1.6 times GDP in 2009) under the B2 scenario. The damage due to land loss arising from sea level rise was estimated at US$3.5 billion (3.7 times GDP) under the A2 scenario and US$3.2 billion (3.4 times GDP) under the B2 scenario. Given the potential for significant damage to the industry a large number of potential adaptation measures were considered. Out of these a short-list of 9 potential options were selected by applying 10 evaluation criteria. Using benefit-cost analyses 3 options with positive ratios were put forward: (1) increased recommended design speeds for new tourism-related structures; (2) enhanced reef monitoring systems to provide early warning alerts of bleaching events, and, (3) deployment of artificial reefs or other fish-aggregating devices. While these options had positive benefit-cost ratios, other options were also recommended based on their non-tangible benefits. These include the employment of an irrigation network that allows for the recycling of waste water, development of national evacuation and rescue plans, providing retraining for displaced tourism workers and the revision of policies related to financing national tourism offices to accommodate the new climate realities.

Karyotypic and morphological divergence between two cryptic species of Eigenmannia in the Amazon basin with a new occurrence of XX/XY sex chromosomes (Gymnotiformes: Sternopygidae)

Espécies de Eigenmannia estão amplamente distribuídas na região Neotropical, com oito espécies válidas atualmente reconhecidas. Populações de Eigenmannia de três localidades do leste da Amazônia foram investigadas usando técnicas citogenéticas e morfológicas, revelando dois táxons designados aqui comoEigenmannia sp. "A" e Eigenmannia sp. "B". As espécies diferem em três caracteres morfométricos, dois merísticos e um osteológico. Eigenmannia sp. "A" apresenta 2n = 34 (22 m/sm+12st/a) e Eigenmannia sp. "B" apresenta 2n = 38 (14 m/sm+24st/a) e cromossomos sexuais de diferenciação simples, do tipo XX/XY. Em ambas espécies a Heterocromatina Constitutiva (HC) rica em bases A-T está distribuída na região centromérica de todos os cromossomos. Eigenmannia sp. "B" também apresenta blocos de HC na região intersticial dos pares cromossômicos 8, 9 e X que coraram positivamente para CMA₃, indicando regiões ricas em G-C. A NOR está localizada no braço curto do par 17 em Eigenmannia sp. "A" e no braço curto do par 14 em Eigenmannia sp. "B". FISH com sondas de rDNA hibridizaram em regiões de tamanhos diferentes entre os homólogos, sugerindo heteromorfismo. A diferenciação do cromossomo X em Eigenmannia sp. "B" pode ser o resultado de amplificação de sequências repetitivas de DNA.

Search for narrow resonances and quantum black holes in inclusive and b-tagged dijet mass spectra from pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Positioning and number of nutritional levels in dose-response trials to estimate the optimal-level and the adjustment of the models

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