Aspectos politicos e institucionais da administração metropolitana no Brasil : o caso de Belo Horizonte

Esta monografia analisa os obstáculos políticos e institucionais para a criação e sobrevivência de uma organização de planejamento e administração na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte, desde as primeiras idéias sobre a necessidade de um plano para a região até o surgimento de uma autarquia: Superintendência de Desenvolvimento metropolitano - PLAMBEL -,ressaltando-se os mecanismos de sobrevivência e adaptação em ambiente, não raro, adverso. Como se trata de uma entidade cujo campo de açao e uma região metropolitana, achou-se oportuno, antes de iniciar a análise de seus antecedentes e realizações, buscar alguns conceitos mais correntes sobre regiões metropolitanas, inclusive para identificar os parâmetros, variáveis"e características adotadas no Brasil para a delimitação das regiões metropolitanas. Assim, toda a primeira parte do trabalho é dedicada ao quadro de referência teórico e institucional, incluindo uma digressão sobre formas encontradas em outros países onde o fenômeno metropolitano tem merecido maior atenção do poder público, na tentativa de eliminar ou minimizar os efeitos perversos da me tropolização. Depois de analisar a organização e seus principais trabalhos mesmo antes de oficialmente criada, o autor conclui que, tendo em vista a situação de irreversibilidade em que atualmente se encontram as entidades metropolitanas de planejamento e ad ministração, pode-se prever que o PLA~IDEL, se conseguir manter uma liderança institucional que defenda seus programas e objetivos, se imporá como uma organização indispensável como instrumento de planejamento e coordenação das ações governamentais na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte. Ressalta também a necessidade de uma aliança confiável entre a entidade e os Municípios, a fim de que os interesses metropolitanos, tais como definidos no texto da monografia, possam efetivamente se sobrepor aos interesses meramente locais ou apenas setoriais de órgãos de outros níveis de governo, que eventualmente possam tentar agir sem observância dos planos globais da região.

Inimigos públicos: crimes corporativos e necrocorporações

As corporações estão presentes em todos os lugares e em quase todos os aspectos de nossas vidas, porém, elas podem ser perigosas para a sociedade, protagonizando ações com impactos negativos para consumidores, trabalhadores, meio ambiente e comunidades. Nesta tese, lançamos nosso olhar sobre o lado sombrio das corporações, explorando dois crimes corporativos cometidos no Brasil por duas corporações transnacionais da indústria química, uma indústria predominada por grandes corporações operando em forma de oligopólios, dentro de um setor altamente estratégico por produzir insumos para a produção da maioria dos bens de consumo. Nosso objetivo é compreender os crimes corporativos para além da perspectiva funcionalista predominante na literatura sobre o tema. Para tanto, realizamos uma pesquisa qualitativa, com base na perspectiva crítica, focalizando dois casos ocorridos há mais de quatro décadas, no Brasil. Para reunir material empírico, entrevistamos ex-trabalhadores e trabalhadores das corporações protagonistas dos crimes, ex-moradores da comunidade atingida pelos crimes e especialistas, como advogados e profissionais da saúde, que se envolveram nos casos. As entrevistas foram do tipo narrativa, tendo sido gravadas e, posteriormente, transcritas para análise. Além das entrevistas, reunimos diversos documentos sobre os casos, como a cobertura jornalística, relatórios técnicos, sentenças e acórdãos. Analisamos o material empírico buscando reconhecer que os crimes corporativos ocorreram como uma extensão das organizações e de seu modo de organizar, e não como infortúnio ou efeitos colaterais não intencionais. Como principais resultados, desenvolvemos os conceitos de necrocorporação e crimes corporativos contra a vida. Nossa análise estendeu-se sobre as articulações engendradas pelas corporações; a produção da morte; e o poder, o consentimento e a resistência. Em ambos os casos analisados, os crimes foram cometidos na busca pelos objetivos corporativos, provocando a morte e doenças, bem como outros danos irreversíveis ao meio ambiente e à comunidade. Nossos resultados apontam para a necessidade de uma mudança no modo de pensar quanto às relações entre governos, sociedade e corporações, iniciando-se pela dissolução desse modelo de organização de negócios.

A utilização de estratégias organizacionais no processo de internacionalização no setor de cooperativismo no estado do Paraná: estudo de caso da cooperativa industrial C&M do estado do Paraná.

A presente pesquisa possui um enfoque no processo de internacionalização das empresas brasileiras, um fenômeno que vem ocorrendo de forma lenta e gradual ao longo dos últimos 25 anos, com grande ênfase nos anos 1990, quando o Brasil abriu sua economia ao capital externo, proporcionando maiores investimentos em novos produtos, novas tecnologias, e a adoção por parte das nossas organizações de novas formas e práticas de gestão empresarial, as quais já faziam parte há um bom tempo das organizações multinacionais pelo mundo afora, que sempre utilizaram essas melhores formas de gestão empresarial em seu estado da arte. Este atraso do Brasil em relação ao mundo desenvolvido, em que o País se fechou como uma verdadeira "ostra", refletiu-se em prejuízos imensuráveis ao desenvolvimento social, político e econômico, resultando em atrasos tecnológicos e educacionais e na consequente falta de pessoal qualificado em face de um mundo globalizado, no qual se mostram imprescindíveis as inovações tecnológicas e a capacitação humana. Nesse contexto, o processo de internacionalização de empresas, especificamente o segmento do cooperativismo de agronegócio no estado do Paraná, ganha um impulso significativo, quando as cooperativas, a partir da década de 1980, buscam sua inserção internacional no mundo globalizado através de um aumento gradativo em suas exportações, inicialmente somente com produtos in natura e, posteriormente, com a introdução de novas tecnologias, equipamentos, pesquisas, modernas formas de gestão e educação continuada de pessoal, possibilitando às cooperativas, e de forma geral ao setor cooperativista paranaense, um grande salto financeiro e um aumento expressivo na composição do PIB do Paraná, representando nos dias atuais aproximadamente 40% do total das exportações do estado. Dessa forma, este trabalho procura contribuir com a academia e com as organizações cooperativistas do estado do Paraná no sentido de buscar as razões para esse importante e irreversível processo de internacionalização, que trouxe, e ainda traz, vantagens financeiras, tecnológicas e dinamismo à economia local com os seus diversos atores, e que transforma essas organizações paranaenses e brasileiras em grandes players globais nos negócios internacionais.

Inflation and occupational choices

This paper studies the impact of (high rates) of infiation on ocupational choices in a model where the demand for labor is derived from a production technology that uses capital, productive labor, and managerial services done by administrative labor and money; while the supply of both kinds of labor is rigid in the short-run due to irreversible professional choices. The dynamic path of the economy after stabilization plans exhibits the main sty!ized facts reported in the literature inc1uding an initial consumption boon followed by a gradual adjustment. In its open economy version, the initial phase of the transitional dynamics exhibits capital infiight. The model also generates an increase of income inequality during the trasitional dynamics.

Business diplomacy: the compass rose of foreign markets

With transnational corporations (TNCs) around the world today numbering over 60,000 and more than 800,000 affiliates working abroad, it is easy to understand how modern day international business could have transformed into a major global player serving at the axis of politics, social and environmental responsibility. Additionally, with accountability to a large variety of both public and private stakeholders, all exerting significant power and influence, today’s global corporate structure is reinventing modern international relations, and in some cases, dominating it. (Muldoon 2005) This transformative nature of globalization today can also serve as a source of friction among this growing chorus of players and is bringing irreversible change to these relationships and how they impact and influence business around the world. (Muldoon 2005) From the largest to the smallest international corporation seeking to expand into new international markets, the challenges that come with corporate ambition can mean the difference between success and failure and they find a home at the intersection of international relations, diplomacy and economics. To successfully navigate these challenges, especially in emerging economies, a company must now factor in more than just the “bottom line” and address complex issues that include human rights differences, environmental regulations, labor rights and values of each country. (Henisz, 2014) Combined with modern-day mobility achieved through technology and the Internet, corporations today have a great capacity to reach targeted audiences and establish a presence, but it is this same technology that also allows for immediate response to any corporate action. This constant, 24-hour news cycle, where everyone is made to be a real-time reporter through social media, has created a situation that demonstrably necessitates the ability to not only 3 respond immediately, but also to have real-time understanding of the challenges faced by a corporation as it looks toward global expansion. International Business Diplomacy, or simply Business Diplomacy as it will be referred to in this paper, combines all of these nuanced factors into a relatively new discipline that offers companies looking to expand into new markets, guidelines and directives so that they can more strategically map corporate direction, limit risk and achieve their objectives. This paper will examine the history of diplomacy and how the concept of statecraft became intertwined with the increasing globalization of business. Following a scholarly examination of how modern Business Diplomacy came into being, and the unique challenges that come with its application, particularly the liabilities needed to be overcome, this paper will apply the concept to the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer, tracking its strategic emergence from a small, regionally focused aircraft producer to global leader in the regional and executive jet market platforms. It will then examine Embraer’s entrance into the Chinese market, where the company suffered from several missteps and eventually had to refocus its business model from commercial to executive jets. Finally, as globalization continues to “emancipate international business from its institutional and social constraints,” (Muldoon 2005) this paper will address how the relatively new and emerging discipline of Business Diplomacy is continuing to mature and grow in stature and influence through the proposition of a new challenge or “liability” that corporations must also overcome as they expand into new markets. Through the analysis of Embraer in China, this paper will introduce the Liability of Governance to the lexicon of Business Diplomacy and propose specific steps that a company can undertake to avoid it.

New metallomolecular wires based on carbon-rich bridging systems: a systematic study

This dissertation presents and discusses the preparation of molecular wires (MW) candidates that would then be probed for electron transfer properties. These wires are bridged by 1,4-diethynylbenzene derivatives with alkoxy side chains with palladium and ruthenium metal complex termini. Characterization of these compounds was performed by usual spectroscopic techniques like 1H, 13C{1H} and 31P{1H} NMR, MS, FTIR and UV-Vis as well as by cyclic voltammetry which allowed classifying the candidates in the Robin–Day system and determination of bridges side chain and length effects on electronic transport. Preparation of the 1,4-diethynylbenzene derivatives was done with synthetic pathways that relied heavily in palladium catalyzed cross-couplings (Sonogashira). A family of single ringed 1,4-diethynylbenzene ligands with different length alkoxy side chains (OCH3, OC2H5, OC7H15) was thus prepared allowing for the influence of these ring decorations to be assessed. The ruthenium binuclear rods showed communication between metal centres only when the shorter ligands were used whereas the longer Ru complexes showed only one redox pair in CV studies which is in agreement to non-communicating metal centres. Cyclic voltammetry studies show irreversible one wave processes for palladium dinuclear complexes, making these rods function as molecular insulators. Fluorescence decay studies performed on the prepared compounds (ligands and complexes) show a pattern of decreasing decay times upon coordination to the metal centres which can due to ligand charge redistribution upon coordination leading to non-radiative relaxation paths. Regarding the X-ray structures, two new ligand related structures were obtained as well as new structure for a palladium rod. The effect of the side chains was observed to be important to the wires’ electronic properties when comparing with the analogues without a side chain. The effect brought by longer chains is nevertheless almost negligible.

Efeitos da dieta hipoprotéica na formação e composição de estruturas dentárias. Estudo Experimental em ratos wistar

Protein and caloric malnutrition has been considered one of the most concerned endemic diseases in Brazil and in the world. It has been known that depletion or reduction of proteins as far as meals are concerned can steer irreversible damages upon several organic systems. This study had as aim evaluate the effects the low-protein diet had over the formation and composition of the teeth components. 18 females and 6 males were used for the experiment. 12 from the 18 females had undertaken the low-protein diet (DH) for 03 weeks and the other 6, which remained, and those males had undertaken a controlled diet (DC) for the same period. All animals had the diets during their mating, pregnancy and lactation cycle. As soon as the offsprings had been born, 10 young males and females of each group faced a disease hood analysis to check the teeth germs of their lower fore teeth. The rest of the group had their lactation cycle normally 60 days. Then they were put to death and had their lower fore teeth removed both to be analyzed through a scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) of the structure alterations and to have their calcium checked by an atomic absorption of the phosphorus vanadate-molibdate method and by other minerals EDX method. The animals livers were removed to have their hepatic proteins analyzed as well. The histopatologic study showed that at first day of birth, all animals had their lower fore teeth come out. It was verified that 90% of the animals teeth were in an apposition and calcification period and it was possible to observe the dentin formation from 60% of the 90% already mentioned. Through the SEM method it could be realized that 90% of the animals of the DH group had their lower fore teeth easily broken and no definite shape. In this same group itself, it was also observed long micro fissures 369,66 nm ± 3,45 while the DC group had fissures of 174 nm ± 5,72. Now regarding the calcium and phosphorus concentration, it could be noticed that there was a great reduction of these components and other minerals in the DH group. Almost all minerals, except for the Cl and K, presented higher levels in the DC group enamel.The reduction of the protein input greatly influenced the offsprings´ weight and height. However the hepatic proteins had no important difference between the groups what can make one believe that those animals suffered from protein malnutrition of marasmic kind

Efeito da moagem de alta energia na microestrutura e nas propriedades magnéticas do compósito wc-10%p.Co

This work a studied the high energy milling effect in microstructure and magnetic properties of the WC-10wt.%Co composite. The composite powders were prepared by mechanical mixed and milled at 2 hours, 100 hours, 200 hours and 300 hours in planetary milling. After this process the composite were compacted in stainless steel die with cylindrical county of 10 mm of diameter, at pressure 200 Mpa and sintered in a resistive furnace in argon atmosphere at 1400 oC for 5 min. The sintered composite were cutted, inlaid, sandpapered, and polished. The microestrutural parameters of the composite was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electronic microscopy, optical microscopy, hardness, magnetic propriety and Rietveld method analyze. The results shows, with milling time increase the particle size decrease, it possibility minor temperature of sintering. The increase of milling time caused allotropic transformation in cobalt phase and cold welding between particles. The cold welding caused the formation of the particle composite. The X-ray diffraction pattern of composite powders shows the WC peaks intensity decrease with the milling time increase. The X-ray diffraction pattern of the composite sintered samples shows the other phases. The magnetic measurements detected a significant increase in the coercitive field and a decrease in the saturation magnetization with milling time increase. The increase coercitive field it was also verified with decrease grain size with milling time increase. For the composite powders the increase coercitive field it was verified with particle size reduction and saturation magnetization variation is relate with the variation of free cobalt. The Rietveld method analyze shows at milling time increase the mean crystalline size of WC, and Co-cfc phases in composite sintered sample are higher than in composite powders. The mean crystallite size of Co-hc phase in composite powders is higher than in composite sintered sample. The mean lattice strains of WC, Co-hc and Co-cfc phases in composite powders are higher than in composite sintered samples. The cells parameters of the composite powder decrease at milling time increase this effect came from the particle size reduction at milling time increase. In sintered composite the cells parameters is constant with milling time increase

On the temperature stability of extracellular hemoglobin of Glossoscolex paulistus, at different oxidation states: SAXS and DLS studies

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

Characterization of a new platelet aggregating factor from crotoxin Crotalus durissus cascavella venom

In this article we investigated the platelet aggregating activity of whole crotoxin and its subunits isolated from Crotalus durissus cascavella venom. During the purification protocols of the venom, using HPLC molecular exclusion, we detected the presence of two different serine protease activities in the gyroxin fraction, and another in the crotoxin fraction, which induced strong and irreversible platelet aggregation, in addition to blood coagulation. From crotoxin, we isolated PLA(2), crotapotin (both fractions corresponding approximately 85% of whole crotoxin) and another minor fraction (F20) that exhibited serine protease activity. After a new fractionation on reverse phase HPLC chromatography, we obtained three other fractions named as F201, F202 and F203. F202 was obtained with high degree of molecular homogeneity with molecular mass of approximately 28 kDa and a high content of acidic amino residues, such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid. Other important amino acids were histidine, cysteine and lysine. This protein exhibited a high specificity for BApNA, a Michaelis-Menten behavior with Vmax estimated in 5.64 mu M/min and a Km value of 0.58 mM for this substrate. In this work, we investigated the ability of F202 to degrade fibrinogen and observed alpha and beta chain cleavage. Enzymatic as well as the platelet aggregation activities were strongly inhibited when incubated with TLCK and PMSF, specific inhibitors of serine protease. Also, F202 induced platelet aggregation in washed and platelet-rich plasma, and in both cases, TLCK inhibited its activity. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of F202 presented a high amino acid sequence homology with other thrombin-like proteins, but it was significantly different from gyroxin. These results showed that crotoxin is a highly heterogeneous protein composed of PLA(2), thrombin-like and other fractions that might explain the diversity of physiological and pharmacological activities of this protein.

Effect of umbelliferone (7-hydroxycoumarin, 7-HOC) on the enzymatic, edematogenic and necrotic activities of secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) isolated from Crotalus durissus collilineatus venom

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Avaliação de efeitos biológicos de antiinflamatórios derivados do ácido propiônico através de modelos experimentais em nível molecular e celular

Derivatives of propionic acid NSAIDs are irreversible inhibitors of cyclooxygenase enzyme widely used. The aim of this study was to evaluate, through different experimental models, biological effects of derivatives of propionic acid (fenoprofen, naproxen, ibuprofen and ketoprofen) in cellular and molecular level. The labeling of blood constituents with technetium-99m (99mTc) and morphological analysis of erythrocytes of blood of rats, as well as growth, survival of cultures of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and the assessment of bacterial plasmid electrophoretic profiles were models used for experimental evaluation of possible biological effects of antiinflammatory drugs. The results show that, in general, anti-inflammatory drugs evaluated were not able to alter the labeling of blood constituents with 99mTc, the morphology of red blood cells from blood of rats, as well as the growth of cultures of E. coli and the electrophoretic profile of plasmid DNA. However, naproxen appears to cytotoxic effect on bacterial cultures, plasmids and genotoxic effects in reducing the action of stannous chloride in cultures of E. coli. The use of experimental fast performance and low cost was important for assessment of biological effects, contributing to a better understanding of the properties of propionic acid derivatives studied. anti-inflammatory, blood constituents, technetium-99m, stannous chloride, Escherichia coli; DNA

Educação ambiental: mediações sociais e políticas e a indolência do Poder Público à sua inclusão no ensino formal

As a result of the prediction of irreversible changes on necessary conditions to maintain life, including human, on the planet, environmental education got the spotlight in the political scenario, due to social pressure for the development of individual and collective values, knowledge, skills, attitudes and competences towards environmental preservation. In Brazil, only in 1999 the right for environmental education was officially granted to people, having the status of essential and permanent component in the country s education. Since then, it has been Government s duty, in each federal branch, to plan actions to make it happen, in an articulate way in all levels and modalities of the education process, both formally and informally. This work of research has environmental education in the school as subject matter, and aims on analyzing social and political mediations established between this National Environmental Education policy and the contexts associated to the legislative production process, the political nature of the conceptions about environmental education that underlie Law 9.795/99 (Brazil, 2009c) and also Rio Grande do Norte Government s actions and omissions related to the imperative nature of the insertion of environmental education in the schools ran by the state, during the ten years this law has been in force. The investigation of the subject matter was led by a social and historical understanding of the social and environmental phenomena, as well as of the education system as a whole, considering that only through a dialectical view we can see the real world, by destroying the pseudo-concreteness that surrounds the topic. While analyzing, we assumed that in face of the dominance of a social organization in which market regulations rule on environmental ones, by developing individual and collective critical conscience, environmental education can become a threat to dominant economical interests in exploiting natural resources. The results of this research suggest that as an educational practice to be developed in an integrated, continuous and permanent fashion in all levels and modalities of formal education, environmental education has not yet come to pass in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, due to the neglect and disrespect of the government when facing the need of promoting the necessary and legally appointed measures to make it present in the basic education provided by the state. The legislators silence when it comes to approving a regulation on environmental education essential to define policies, rules and criteria to teaching the subject in the state and the omission from the public administration regarding critical actions in order to integrate in public schools the activities related to the National Environmental Education Policy, represent a political decision for not doing anything, despite the legal demand for an active position. This neglecting attitude for the actualizing of strategically concrete actions, urgent and properly planned for the implementation of environmental education in schools in a multidisciplinary way, exposes the lack of interest the predominant classes have in such kind of education being made available, as it could be developed based on a critic political view, becoming a political and educational action against dominance. When analyzing the basic principles and fundamental goals in Law 9.795/99 (Brazil, 2009c) the development of a critic environmental education is really possible and concurs with the National Environmental Education Policy, reflecting the social and political mediations established between this public policy and the contexts associated to its legislative production process, which are responsible for approving a regulation which also represents the mind of the people about environmental protection above anything else

A morte a concepção de estudantes de enfermagem

Understanding the meaning of death for student nurses is the subject of this research. The motivation for the meeting place of my difficulties as a person and especially as a teacher in the face of nursing students in dealing with death on a day-to-day hospital during the undergraduate course. Death became known that this evil looms before men and destabilizing, causing often irreversible mental disorders when faced with family loss. Therefore, it is appropriate to study it the possibility of making us reflect on our way of living life and dealing with human beings from the perspective of finitude. Aimed to understand the meaning of death for nursing students. For this purpose, it was based on the following guiding question: What is the meaning of death for you as a nursing student? From this perspective, the study was developed within a qualitative dimension of the phenomenological approach. To perform ten students were interviewed during the month of July 2009. Emerged from these interviews a variety of feelings such as fear, anxiety, insecurity, failure, sadness, as the sensory experience of each. To understand the meaning units that emerged from the empirical data which constitute the essence of this research were fundamental studies dealing with Heidegger about the death in a phenomenological perspective, as well as authors Bicudo, D'Assunção, Dastur, Morin, Boff, Kübler-Ross, Boemer, among others. From the understanding of the phenomenon, we can say that death produces mixed feelings in these students that lead to selfprotection, understood, often as a departure from the other, at the approach of death. However, it proved to be sensitive and receptive to the approach of death in other dimensions, beyond the highly technical aspects, pointing to a paradigm shift that has the yeast's own willingness to change. In addition, the research highlights the weaknesses in the education of nurses regarding the understanding of the whole human death and the need to overcome them.

Efeitos da radiação uv, temperatura e vapor aquecido nos compósitos poliméricos: monitoramento, instabilidade estrutural e fratura

The application of composite materials and in particular the fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) has gradually conquered space from the so called conventional materials. However, challenges have arisen when their application occurs in equipment and mechanical structures which will be exposed to harsh environmental conditions, especially when there is the influence of environmental degradation due to temperature, UV radiation and moisture in the mechanical performance of these structures, causing irreversible structural damage such as loss of dimensional stability, interfacial degradation, loss of mass, loss of structural properties and changes in the damage mechanism. In this context, the objective of this thesis is the development of a process for monitoring and modeling structural degradation, and the study of the physical and mechanical properties in FRP when in the presence of adverse environmental conditions (ageing). The mechanism of ageing is characterized by controlled environmental conditions of heated steam and ultraviolet radiation. For the research, it was necessary to develop three polymer composites. The first was a lamina of polyester resin reinforced with a short glass-E fiber mat (representing the layer exposed to ageing), and the other two were laminates, both of seven layers of reinforcement, one being made up only of short fibers of glass-E, and the other a hybrid type reinforced with fibers of glass-E/ fibers of curaua. It should be noted that the two laminates have the lamina of short glass-E fibers as a layer of the ageing process incidence. The specimens were removed from the composites mentioned and submitted to environmental ageing accelerated by an ageing chamber. To study the monitoring and modeling of degradation, the ageing cycles to which the lamina was exposed were: alternating cycles of UV radiation and heated steam, a cycle only of UV radiation and a cycle only of heated steam, for a period defined by norm. The laminates have already undergone only the alternating cycle of UV and heated steam. At the end of the exposure period the specimens were subjected to a structural stability assessment by means of the developed measurement of thickness variation technique (MTVT) and the measurement of mass variation technique (MMVT). Then they were subjected to the mechanical tests of uniaxial tension for the lamina and all the laminates, besides the bending test on three points for the laminates. This study was followed by characterization of the fracture and the surface degradation. Finally, a model was developed for the composites called Ageing Zone Diagram (AZD) for monitoring and predicting the tensile strength after the ageing processes. From the results it was observed that the process of degradation occurs Abstract Raimundo Nonato Barbosa Felipe xiv differently for each composite studied, although all were affected in certain way and that the most aggressive ageing process was that of UV radiation, and that the hybrid laminated fibers of glass-E/curaua composite was most affected in its mechanical properties