Agrarian reform in the context of modernized agriculture: The case of Brazil

The main goal of this thesis is to investigate the process of Agrarian Reform in Brazil between 1985 and 1988.This process is set in the context of the agricultural development policies implemented in the years 1980-1988. For these purposes, the relevant literature on Agrarian Reform in Brazil and in Latin America is examined,as well as the literature related to rural development and market liberalisation. Before the current process of Agrarian Reform, the debate in Brazil on agricultural development strategy was highly polarized.One current of opinion defended small farm production and advocated a complete and radical Agrarian Reform.Others cast doubt on the efficacy of small-scale production and supported hence the model of agricultural modernization established in the 1960s and centred on commercial rural enterprises . The changes introduced in agricultural policies and in the process of Agrarian Reform itself during the 1980s have raised new dilemmas.These changes are analysed in the thesis using recent data on rural credit and marketing policies. Implementation of the Agrarian Reform programme is investigated using field data on six land settlements located in three different regions of the country:Ceara,Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. The thesis demonstrates the viability of Agrarian Reform within the context of modern agriculture provided that specific conditions are met ,such as: limitation of the scope of the reform exclusively to underutilised lands ,ex-ante transformation and liberalisation of the agricultural policies which provoked land concentration in the past, positive integration of the new settlers in markets, and access by settlers to state agricultural programmes . The field research shows that market integration is the crucial determinant of economic success for the land reform settlements,together with access to specially targeted agricultural programmes.The particular form of organisation adopted by the settlers does not appear to be. a significant factor in determining economic performance

Pulsed Electric Fields for Moscatel Graúdo wine production: Investigation on wine sensory and physico-chemical characteristics

Mestrado em Engenharia de Viticultura e Enologia. Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto Superior de Agronomia. Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de CiênciasPulsed electric field (PEF) processing of white grape (cv. Moscatel de Setúbal) before pressing for juice extraction, and before bottling for finished wine stabilization, was studied at pilot scale, to investigate the effect of the treatment on sensorial aspects and physico-chemical composition of wine. The application of PEF treatment before extraction increased yield of grape juice and wine colour assessed analytically with a spectrophotometer, although this change in colour was not perceived by the sensory panel. The PEF assisted extraction treatment did not affect the overall smell and taste of the wine, and content of phenolics. . A slight increase in pH and turbidity, and a slight decrease in total acidity were observed. CIE L* colour coordinate was slightly lower (darker) in wine produced using PEF extraction. CIE a* and b* colour parameters increased in wine with pulsed electric fields applied in extraction. The second PEF treatment applied for microbial stabilization of the wine did not influence pH, total acidity, but decreased total phenol contents and affected CIE colour parameters. Based on a statistic analysis of sensory results, panellists were not able to detect any difference between treated and non-treated wines, thus confirming the possibility to use PEF to improve the extraction and for microbial inactivation.O tratamento do campo eléctrico pulsado (PEF) de uva branca (cv. Moscatel de Setúbal) antes da prensagem para extracção de sumo, e antes do engarrafamento para estabilização do vinho acabado, foi estudado à escala piloto, para investigar o efeito do tratamento nos aspectos sensoriais e na composição físico-química do vinho. A aplicação do tratamento PEF antes da extracção aumentou o rendimento do sumo de uva e a cor do vinho avaliada analiticamente com um espectrofotómetro, embora esta mudança de cor não tenha sido percebida pelo painel sensorial. O tratamento de extracção assistida por PEF não afectou o odor e sabor geral do vinho, nem o conteúdo de fenóis. . Foi observado um ligeiro aumento do pH e turbidez, e uma ligeira diminuição da acidez total. A coordenada de cor CIE L* foi ligeiramente mais baixa (mais escura) no vinho produzido utilizando a extracção de PEF. Os parâmetros de cor CIE a* e b* aumentaram no vinho com campos eléctricos pulsantes aplicados na extracção. O segundo tratamento de PEF aplicado para estabilização microbiana do vinho não influenciou o pH, acidez total, mas diminuiu o teor total de fenol e afectou os parâmetros de cor do CIE. Com base numa análise estatística dos resultados sensoriais, os entrevistados não foram capazes de detectar qualquer diferença entre vinhos tratados e não tratados, confirmando assim a possibilidade de utilizar PEF para melhorar a extracção e para inactivação microbiana.N/

Non-zero transversity distribution of the pion in a quark-spectator-antiquark model

We calculate the non-zero (na\"{i}ve) T-odd transverse momentum dependent transversity distribution h_1^{\perp}(x,\kp^2) of the pion in a quark-spectator-antiquark model. The final-state interaction is modelled by the approximation of one gluon exchange between the quark and the antiquark spectator. Using our model result we estimate the unsuppressed cos2$\phi$ azimuthal asymmetry in unpolarized $\pi^-p$ Drell-Yan process. We find that the transverse momentum dependence of h_1^{\perp}(x,\kp^2) of the pion is the same as that of h_1^{\perp}(x,\kp^2) of the proton calculated from the quark-scalar-diquark model, although the $x$ dependencies of them are different from each other. This suggests a connection between cos2$\phi$ asymmetries in Drell-Yan processes with different initial hadrons.Comment: 6 LaTex Pages in Revtex format, 5 figures. Version to appear in PR

Results on angular distributions of thermal dileptons in nuclear collisions

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied dimuon production in 158 AGeV In-In collisions. The strong pair excess above the known sources found in the mass region $0.2<M<2.5$ GeV has been previously interpreted as thermal radiation. In this paper results on the associated angular distributions for $M<1$ GeV, as measured in the Collins-Soper reference frame, are presented. The structure function parameters $\lambda$, $\mu$, $\nu$ are consistent with zero and the projected polar and azimuth angle distributions are uniform. The absence of any polarization is consistent with the interpretation of the excess dimuons as thermal radiation from a randomized system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures - To appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennesse

Direct extraction of transversity and its accompanying T-odd distribution from the unpolarized and single-polarized Drell-Yan processes

The Drell-Yan (DY) processes with unpolarized colliding hadrons and with the single transversally polarized hadron are considered. The possibility of direct (without any model assumptions) extraction of both transversity and its accompanying T-odd parton distribution functions (PDF) is discussed. For DY processes measurements planned at GSI the preliminary estimations demonstrate that it is quite real to extract both transversity and its accompanying T-odd PDF in the PAX conditions

Lorentz invariance relations and Wandzura-Wilczek approximation

A complete list of the so-called Lorentz invariance relations between parton distribution functions is given and some of their consequences are discussed, such as the Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule. The violation of these relations is considered in a model independent way. It is shown that several Lorentz invariance relations are not violated in a generalized Wandzura-Wilczek approximation, indicating that numerically their violation may be small.Comment: 10 pages; Proceedings of the workshop "Recent Advances in Perturbative QCD and Hadronic Physics", July 20-24, 2009, at ECT*, Trento (Italy), in honor of Anatoli V. Efremov on the occasion of his 75th birthday; to appear in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Q^2 dependence of azimuthal asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering and in Drell-Yan

We study several azimuthal asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering and in Drell-Yan, interpreting them in the framework of the formalism of the quark correlator, with a particular reference to T-odd functions. The correlator contains an undetermined energy scale, which we fix on the basis of a simple and rather general argument. We find a different value than the one assumed in previous treatments of T-odd functions. This implies different predictions on the Q^2 dependence of the above mentioned asymmetries. Our result about the azimuthal asymmetry of unpolarized Drell-Yan agrees with presently available data, contrary to the alternative assumption on the scale. Predictions on other azimuthal asymmetries could be tested against data of planned experiments on Drell-Yan and semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering.Comment: 37 pages, 7 figure

Monte-Carlo simulation of events with Drell-Yan lepton pairs from antiproton-proton collisions

The complete knowledge of the nucleon spin structure at leading twist requires also addressing the transverse spin distribution of quarks, or transversity, which is yet unexplored because of its chiral-odd nature. Transversity can be best extracted from single-spin asymmetries in fully polarized Drell-Yan processes with antiprotons, where valence contributions are involved anyway. Alternatively, in single-polarized Drell-Yan the transversity happens convoluted with another chiral-odd function, which is likely to be responsible for the well known (and yet unexplained) violation of the Lam-Tung sum rule in the corresponding unpolarized cross section. We present Monte-Carlo simulations for the unpolarized and single-polarized Drell-Yan $\bar{p} p^{(\uparrow)} \to \mu^+ \mu^- X$ at different center-of-mass energies in both configurations where the antiproton beam hits a fixed proton target or it collides on another proton beam. The goal is to estimate the minimum number of events needed to extract the above chiral-odd distributions from future measurements at the HESR ring at GSI. It is important to study the feasibility of such experiments at HESR in order to demonstrate that interesting spin physics can be explored already using unpolarized antiprotons.Comment: Deeply revised text with improved discussion of kinematics and results; added one table; 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Onychomycosis caused by Trichosporon mucoides

A case of onychomycosis caused by Trichosporon mucoides in a man with diabetes is presented. The infection was characterized by a brown–black pigmentation of the nail plates and subungual hyperkeratosis of the first three toes of both feet. Onychogryphosis was also visible on the third left toe. Direct microscopic examinations revealed wide and septate hyphae and spores. Three cultures on Sabouraud–gentamicin–chloramphenicol 2 agar and chromID Candida agar produced white, creamy, and smooth colonies that were judged to be morphologically typical of T. mucoides. Microscopic examinations of the colonies showed arthroconidia and blastoconidia. The urease test was positive. A sugar assimilation test on yeast nitrogen base agar showed assimilation of galactitol, sorbitol, and arabinitol. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) confirmed the diagnosis of T. mucoides infection. The patient was treated with topical urea and oral itraconazole. Three months later, a mild improvement was observed. The patient was subsequently lost to follow-up