OS IMPACTOS DA ALCA SOBRE AS EXPORTAÇÕES AGRÍCOLAS BRASILEIRAS

In the last decade of the century XX, the main integration enterprises with that Brazil was involved was the Market Common of the South (MERCOSUL) and the negotiations around the formation of the Area of free trade of America (FTTA). The regional integration with the commercial liberalization benefitted the Brazilian agricultural section deeply and today the country comes in the scenery of the FTTA as the second largest exporter of agricultural products of the block. The effects suffered by trade are directly related to early trade restrictions, which were imposed to the partners and the volume of trade first verified amongst them. Considering such aspect, this study intends to capture the probable effects of the Brazilian adhesion to FTAA in relation to the exportation of coffee, cacao, soy, sugar, orange juice and meat the period of 1999-2002. That analysis is made under the optics of the partial equilibrium developed through equations proposed by Laid and Yeats (1986) so as to estimate the first order effect, i.e., the reduction of trade restrictions through the elasticities approach. The conclusion to draw in relation to the simulations made for the period 1999-2002 - in the case of total liberalization of the trade restrictions imposed to Brazil by the FTAA member-countries - is that, for the group of products studied the effect trade creation turns out to be superior to the effect trade diversion, showing Brazilian agrobusiness as competitive inside FTAA.

Contacto con espacios naturales y bienestar infantil

El objetivo de este trabajo es conocer el impacto de los espacios naturales sobre la calidad de vida de la población infantil. Para ello desarrollamos un estudio que evalúa en qué medida el contacto con la naturaleza afecta a variables como el estrés o el rendimiento. Se recogió una muestra de 39 niños y 39 padres de zonas urbanas y rurales. Se utilizaron dos Cuestionarios, uno para niños y otro para padres. Los resultados mostraron que los niños que tienen más contacto con espacios naturales tienen mayor puntuación en sociabilidad y rendimiento escolar y menor puntuación en estrés y retraimiento.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Metabolic disturbances due to a high-fat diet in a non-insulin-resistant animal model

OBJECTIVE: Shift workers have metabolic changes more often than day workers. It is also known that night workers prefer foods high in saturated fat. Such data suggest that shift workers are prone to cardiovascular disease. Therefore, the objective of this study was to propose an animal model to test the effect of high-fat diet (HFD) based on shift workers’ diet. METHODS: This is an experimental study with 20 Wistar rats. Ten rats were allocated to the control group (CG) and were fed standard diet. Ten rats were allocated to the experimental group (EG) and were fed HFD (45% fat). Serum triglycerides (TG), glucose and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-cho) were measured 5, 10 and 15 weeks after the beginning of the study. The amount of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) was determined. Body weight was assessed weekly, and food and water intake were measured daily. Student’s t-test was used for independent samples, and Po0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: After 15 weeks of intervention, the EG showed increased serum levels of TG (P = 0.001) and glucose (Po0.001) and decreased HDL-cho (Po0.001) when compared with the CG. The EG showed increased VAT (P = 0.005) and liver weight (P = 0.01). Food intake and water intake were higher in the CG (Po0.001 and Po0.001, respectively), whereas energy intake showed no difference (P = 0.48). No difference was found in the weight of adrenal glands (P = 0.07) and body weight (P = 0.63). CONCLUSIONS: The experimental diet was effective to show changes in the serum levels of glucose, TG and HDL-cho and visceral fat in spite of no change in body weight in 15 weeks

Melatonin is a biomarker of circadian dysregulation and is correlated with major depression and fibromyalgia symptom severity

Objective: This study compared urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) over 24 hours among fibromyalgia (FM), major depression disorder (MDD), and healthy control (HC) groups, and examined whether rhythm is correlated with depressive symptoms. To answer this question we compared the rhythm of urinary aMT6s secretion among each group in four time series: morning (06:00–12:00 hours), afternoon (12:00–18:00 hours), evening (18:00–24:00 hours), and night (24:00–06:00 hours). In the FM subjects, we assessed if the rhythm of urinary aMT6s secretion is associated with pain severity, sleep quality, number of trigger points (NTPs), and the pain pressure threshold (PPT). Patients and methods: We included 54 women, aged 18–60 years with diagnosis of FM (n=18), MDD (n=19), and HC (n =17). The 24-hour urinary aMT6s was evaluated according to four standardized periods. The assessment instruments were the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Results: A generalized estimating equation revealed no difference in the daily load of aMT6s secretion among the three groups (P=0.49). However, at the daily time (06:00–18:00 hours), the load secretion of aMT6s reached 41.54% and 60.71% in the FM and MDD, respectively, as compared to 20.73% in the HC (P<0.05). A higher score in the HDRS was positively correlated with the amount of aMT6s secretion during daytime (06:00–18:00 hours). Also, multivariate linear regression revealed that in FM subjects, the aMT6s secretion during daytime (06:00–18:00 hours) was negatively correlated with the PPTlog (partial η2=0.531, P=0.001). However, it was positively correlated with depressive symptoms (partial η2=0.317, P=0.01); PQSI (partial η2=0.306, P=0.017), and NTPs (partial η2=0.23, P=0.04). Conclusion: A more significant load of aMT6s secretion during daytime hours was observed in MDD and FM subjects compared to HC. These findings help to comprehend the biological basis of these disorders and show how disruption in melatonin secretion is positively correlated with clinical symptoms

Dynamic critical behavior of failure and plastic deformation in the random fiber bundle model

The random fiber bundle (RFB) model, with the strength of the fibers distributed uniformly within a finite interval, is studied under the assumption of global load sharing among all unbroken fibers of the bundle. At any fixed value of the applied stress (load per fiber initially present in the bundle), the fraction of fibers that remain unbroken at successive time steps is shown to follow simple recurrence relations. The model is found to have stable fixed point for applied stress in the range 0 and 1; beyond which total failure of the bundle takes place discontinuously. The dynamic critical behavior near this failure point has been studied for this model analysing the recurrence relations. We also investigated the finite size scaling behavior. At the critical point one finds strict power law decay (with time t) of the fraction of unbroken fibers. The avalanche size distribution for this mean-field dynamics of failure has been studied. The elastic response of the RFB model has also been studied analytically for a specific probability distribution of fiber strengths, where the bundle shows plastic behavior before complete failure, following an initial linear response.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, extensively revised and accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Qualidade de vida dos enfermeiros em unidades básicas de saúde no município de Rio Branco – Acre

Monografia (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade, Departamento de Administração, Curso de Administração a Distância, 2012.Qualidade de vida no trabalho é um assunto que a muito vem sendo estudado, essa abordagem não é feita somente em momentos individuais do trabalhador, mas também nos momentos coletivos como em família, igreja, amigos, e comprovam que todas as abordagens estão ligadas entre si. Considerando as mudanças organizacionais que vem acontecendo nas últimas décadas, se faz necessário estudar este tema nos profissionais de enfermagem, pois na região norte existe uma carência de profissionais de medicina e os enfermeiros tornaram-se os primeiros a serem procurados quando um usuário necessita de atendimento em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde, com essa escassez estes profissionais além de exercerem seu trabalho na atenção básica, também estão desenvolvendo trabalhos nas áreas gerenciais, esse acúmulo de atividades, gera ansiedade e põem em risco sua vida afetiva e profissional. O objetivo da pesquisa foi definir os fatores que geram impacto na Qualidade de Vida dos enfermeiros lotados em três unidades básicas de saúde do município de Rio Branco – Acre. Os resultados mostram que apesar das respostas obtidas indicarem uma qualidade vida aos profissionais de enfermagem, não é isso que se vê quando se questiona a qualidade de saúde desses profissionais. Conclui-se que apesar dos ambientes de trabalho terem melhorado sua estrutura, o mesmo não se reflete na saúde física e emocional dos enfermeiros entrevistados

Produtividade e desempenho exportador das firmas na indústria de transformação brasileira

O processo de abertura comercial trouxe mudanças importantes para a economia brasileira. As empresas melhoraram a produtividade a fim de se inserirem de forma competitiva no mercado internacional. Este trabalho analisou as diferenças de produtividade entre firmas exportadoras e firmas não exportadoras no Brasil. Utilizando o teste não paramétrico de Kolmogorov-Smirnov, comparam-se as distribuições de produtividade com dados ao nível de firmas. Os resultados encontrados mostram claramente maiores níveis de produtividade para as firmas exportadoras do que para as firmas não exportadoras. Ademais, as evidências encontradas mostram-se mais robustas para o grupo de firmas de pequeno porte vis-à-vis as firmas de grande porte. Quanto à explicação dessas diferenças, os resultados encontrados parecem dar suporte à hipótese de seleção, ou seja, o maior nível de produtividade das firmas exportadoras aparenta ser fruto de processos de seleção das firmas não apenas na entrada, mas também na saída do mercado de exportação. Por outro lado, os resultados encontrados não confirmam a existência de processos de aprendizado no mercado exportador brasileiro. Durante o período considerado, as diferenças entre as taxas de crescimento da produtividade das firmas exportadoras e das não exportadoras não foram significantes.The trade opening process made important adjustments in the Brazilian economy. Several firms enhanced their productivity in order to enter foreign market competitively. This paper analyzed the productivity differences between exporting and non-exporting firms in Brazil. Using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov nonparametric test, we compare productivity difference in firm-level data. The results reveal higher productivity levels in exporting firms compared to non-exporting ones. Besides, the findings are more robust to the group of smaller firms. Concerning the explanation of those differences, the results appear to support the hypothesis of selection, i.e., the reason for the higher productivity level of exporting firms seems due to selection processes not only accrued of entering foreign markets, but also of exiting them. On the other hand, the results do not confirm the existence of a learning process in the exporting market. During the period under analysis, the firms' productivity growth divergences were not significant

Comércio Intra-Indústria e Desigualdade de Rendimentos nas Firmas da Indústria Brasileira

Investiga-se os efeitos do comércio intra-industria sobre a desigualdade de rendimentos entre trabalhadores qualificados e menos qualificados para 22 segmentos da industria de transformação brasileira durante o período 1997 a 2002. A principal inovação diz respeito à utilização de dados desagregados ao nível de formas e ao cruzamento de informações das formas (exportação, importação, emprego, produtividade, marcas e patentes, investimento em tecnologia) com os dados dos trabalhadores vinculados. Observou-se que, independentemente do tamanho da forma e do nível de qualificação do trabalhador, formas exportadoras remuneram melhor seus trabalhadores do que as que não exportam. A comparação dos salários dos trabalhadores qualificados, bem como dos não qualificados, das formas exportadoras versus não exportadoras revela que as maiores discrepâncias encontram-se nas formas com até 99 funcionários. Os resultados sinalizam uma correlação positiva entre comércio intra-industria e desigualdades salariais no Brasil.Comércio Internacional, Intra-Industria, Desigualdades, Salários, Firmas