How to evaluate Industrial Engineering undergraduate teachers?

In Brazil, teacher evaluation is required by the National Higher System Evaluation System (INEP, 2011). At UFAM, it is done through the student portal, which is considered ineffective, compromising the process of continuous improvement of teaching and learning. The article evaluates the students\u27 level of satisfaction with the quality of the services provided by the teachers who taught discipline for the FT/UFAM Industrial Engineering course, to propose suggestions for improvements. To this end, the UFAM evaluation portal was studied, then a review of performance evaluation articles allowed the development of a questionnaire (Appendix 1) that was applied in 2011 to 112 (70%) students enrolled in the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th periods of this course. After analyzing the data, it was concluded that: a) the UFAM website to evaluate teachers was considered negative by more than 1/3 of the respondents, and the obligation to answer, the excessive amount of questions, the lack of feedback and improvement actions discourage students from responding; b) On the other hand, the application of the questionnaire revealed that the best-evaluated subjects were Special Topics of Industrial Engineering I and II, Management of Technological Innovation, Sanitation Applied to Production, Calculus II, Linear Algebra, Transport Phenomena, and Digital Electronics, most of which were taught by teachers of 2nd and 4th period. For improvement, it is recommended to identify the good teaching and learning practices of these teachers to apply seminars and disseminate them through FT/UFAM

Variability reduction in Manaus` beer process production

Defined as the favorite drink to celebrate good times, beer has been making the drink market one of the most competitive in the Brazilian industry. Given this scenario, brewery industries need to maintain quality standards to gain consumer preference. In the company under study, located in Manaus Industrial Pole, it was found that in the beer production process, the brewhouse stage was not satisfying the brewery wort manufacturing time requirements, which is why it became the focus of this study. This paper aims to investigate and standardize a method to reduce the variability of beer time production in the brewhouse area. The data were collected from the monitoring of the wort production process, raising each time of the equipment of that stage, both before and after the application of the method. After data collection and analysis, it was concluded that it is possible to significantly reduce the variability in the wort production process by treating critical brewhouse equipment

CRESCIMENTO ENDÓGENO, ENDIVIDAMENTO EXTERNO E CONTROLES DE CAPITAIS: UMA ANÁLISE A PARTIR DE UM MODELO MACRODINÂMICO PÓS-KEYNESIANO

The present article develops a post-keynesian macrodynamic model in which the growth rate of real income is an endogenous variable in order to analyze the effects of capital controls over macroeconomic performance of emergent economies. For such we start from the models developed by Oreiro (2004) and Oreiro and Guerberoff (2004). I this framework is possible to reevaluate the impact of capitals controls over long-term dynamics of emergent economies, taking in account possible interactions b capital controls and economic growth. The first important conclusion is that the capitals controls do not affect the stability properties of the long-run equilibrium positions of the model. The simulation results show that introduction of capitals controls is a useful policy to reduce the level of domestic interest rate, to raise economic growth, to increase the degree of capacity utilization and to reduce the level of external indebtedness. However, the deficit in current account was relatively higher with capitals controls.

Model to evaluate the effectiveness of the IFAM Internship Program

The internship aims to improve the student\u27s abilities through practical activities, where one can apply the lessons learned in school/university. In this sense, the IFAM Internship Program/Center should provide quality services to the community, fulfilling their goals effectively. However, in 2011, it was noted the absence of a system to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The main objective of this research is to develop a model for evaluating the effectiveness of the IFAM Internship Program/Center from the perspective of the student, to improve the services provided by the program. To collect data, a questionnaire was designed with closed and open questions, based on the SERVQUAL model developed by Parasuraman et al. (1985). The research sample was 99 students of technical courses, full-time courses as well as PROEJA (Adult courses). The study showed that all dimensions of service quality of the IFAM Internship Program/Center have negative gap, thus revealing the need for re-planning actions by the managers of the program, including interventions of teachers, to clarify the main questions of the students about the internship; planning meetings with new trainees, providing practical situations in the IFAM laboratories where the student can learn and experience the challenges of laboring world. In this sense, it is recommended studies be made to hear the opinion of the companies which use the services of IFAM Internship Program /Center for admitting the students

Macroeconomic Determinants of Bank Spread in Brazil: An Empirical Evaluation

Despite a decline in interest rates since mid-1999, bank spread in Brazil continues extremely high in international terms and in recent years has stood at around 40%. This paper analyses the determinants of bank spread in Brazil, seeking particularly to analyse the macroeconomic determinants of spread in recent times. It uses a VAR model to identify the macroeconomic variables that may directly or indirectly have been influencing spread in Brazil over the period 1994-2005. It presents evidence that interest rate levels and, to a lesser degree, the inflation rate are the main macroeconomic determinants of high bank spread in Brazil.Bank Spread, VAR models, Brazilian banking sector

Inserção externa defensiva e crescimento econômico de longo prazo

O presente artigo tem por objetivo fazer uma discussão teórica da importância dos controles de capitais e do sistema nacional de inovação para o crescimento das economias emergentes, a fim de extrair novas lições para o Brasil. O trabalho argumenta que as economias emergentes, inclusive a brasileira, não possuem as condições necessárias para se beneficiar dos níveis atuais de inserção externa. Sendo assim, os controles de capitais podem ser uma alternativa viável para assegurar o sucesso da atual estratégia de crescimento da economia brasileira no curto prazo. No longo prazo, os modelos de crescimento com restrição no balanço de pagamentos destacam o papel decisivo das exportações e das políticas de longo prazo (portanto, políticas de desenvolvimento do sistema nacional de inovação) para a dinamização destas economias

INFRAESTRUTURA PORTUÁRIA, DINÂMICA DAS EXPORTAÇÕES E CRESCIMENTO ECONÔMICO BRASILEIRO: uma análise empírica para o período de 2006 a 2011

O trabalho tem por objetivo analisar teórica e empiricamente o papel dos portos no crescimento das exportações e do PIB no Brasil. O setor portuário é estratégico para a competitividade e ampliação do comércio brasileiro no mercado internacional, visando alcançar uma trajetória decrescimento mais sustentada. O trabalho faz um diagnostico da situação da infraestrutura portuária brasileira no período compreendido entre 2006 e 2011 e, na sequencia, avalia empiricamente, através da metodologia de vetores autorregressivos (VAR), os efeitos de choques nas principais variáveis relacionadas à dinâmica das exportações no Brasil (renda mundial, taxa de câmbio e capacidade utilizada dos portos). A análise indicou ainda que as exportações respondem relevantemente ao comportamento da capacidade utilizada dos portos e da taxa de câmbio. Os resultados demonstram que 38% da capacidade utilizada dos portos dependem da renda dos Estados Unidos e da taxa real de câmbio efetiva. Esses resultados reforçam o argumento do governo federal de que a  infraestrutura portuária é um gargalo e mostram a necessidade de ampliação da capacidade de escoamento da produção nacional, tal como elucida a Medida Provisória 595/2012.Palavras-chave: Infraestrutura Portuária; Capacidade Utilizada; Exportações; Brasil; VARPort Infrastructure, Dynamics of exports and Brazilian economic growth: an empirical analysis to the period from 2006 to 2011Abstract: The paper aims to analyze theoretical and empirically the role of ports in export growth and GDP in Brazil. The port sector is strategic for the competitiveness and expansion of Brazilian market in the international market, aiming to achieve a more sustainable growth path. The workmakes a diagnosis of the situation of the port infrastructure in Brazil between 2006 and 2011 and evaluates empirically, through the methodology of vector autoregressive (VAR), the effects of shocksin the main variables related to the dynamics of exports in Brazil (world income, exchange rate and capacity utilization of the ports). The analysis indicated that exports respond significantly to the behavior of the utilized capacity of ports and the exchange rate. The results show that 38% ofthe capacity of the ports used depends on the income of the United States and the real effective exchange rate. These results reinforce the federal government’s argument that the port infrastructure is a bottleneck and show the need to increase the flow capacity of the national production, aselucidates the Provisional Measure 595/2012.Keywords: Port Infrastructure, Exports, Capacity Used, Brazil, VAR Analysis

Estratégia de localização bancária: teoria e evidência empírica aplicada ao estado de Minas Gerais

The paper tried to contribute to the theory of the location of the bank services. At first, there was strong evidence showing that the bank location not only depended on economical factors. The developed model and the results found in the spatial econometrics analysis demonstrated that there is in fact certain spatial dependence in the location strategy of the banks, besides, that the distribution pattern of the agencies in the state of Minas Gerais is being explained through macroeconomics, political and prescriptive factors as well.Banks; Location Strategy; Spatial Econometrics; Minas Gerais