Stretching the Inelastic Rubber: Taxation, Welfare and Lobbies in Amazonia, 1870-1910

This paper examines the effect of government intervention via taxation on domestic welfare. A case-study of Brazilian market power on rubber markets during the boom years of 1870-1910 shows that the government generated 1.3% of GDP through an export tax on rubber but that it could have generated 4.7% in total, had the government set the tariff at the optimal level. National, regional and local constraints prevented the government from maximizing regional welfare. In a context of lobbies, government budget maximization may have differed from regional welfare maximization.Rubber, Commodities, Market Power, Optimal Tariff, Welfare, Trade and Brazil.

The insurance industry in Brazil: a long-term view

This paper surveys the formation and development of insurance business in Brazil. It describes its very first steps, from the colonial times and imperial era to recent events. Particular attention is given to regulatory changes, showing how they evolved in response to macroeconomic shocks that affected the Brazilian economy during this period.Insurance, Brazil, Regulation. JEL Code: G22, G38, L50, N46.

The insurance industry in Brazil: a long-term view

This paper surveys the formation and development of insurance business in Brazil. It describes its origins, from the colonial times and imperial era to recent events. Particular attention is given to regulatory changes, showing how they evolved in response to macroeconomic shocks that affected the Brazilian economy during this period.Insurance, Brazil, Regulation

Market Power and Commodity Prices: Brazil, Chile and the United States, 1820s-1930

The paper focuses on market power by certain countries in specific commodity markets as a crucial factor in explaining the level of protection. It is argued that a country which is a price maker in the world market of a specific commodity might affect its world price through export taxes, import taxes and commodity stockpiling. Standard reduced form equations were estimated to test if significant market shares in international markets of Brazilian coffee, Chilean saltpetre and US cotton implied domestic variables were relevant for the determination of the corresponding world commodity prices. Results suggest the producers succeeded in passing through increases in internal costs to the relevant world commodity price.

Underpricing in corporate bonds: empirical evidence from Brazil

This work studies the presence of underpricing on corporate bonds in Brazil, and how different factors impact it. The effect can be defined as the difference between the initial public price of the asset offered and its price on the first day of trading. Based on analyses made with over 800 corporate debt issues, we find, using linear regression, evidence that underpricing is present in the Brazilian market, with first trades in the secondary market presenting a premium over-issuance. The tests suggest that during periods of economic stress underpricing is intensified in Brazil; Having a big bank as a lead under writer is not relevant to explain the effect. Asymmetric information is a relevant driver for under pricing; Liquidity has an impact on pricing, but it is related to the type of instrument instead of the amount issued or traded

Bio-based resins, polymers and composites based on waste vegetable oil valorisation

Historically, energy-intensive materials such as glass fibres and carbon fibres have been applied to reinforce thermoplastic and thermoset matrices from a petrochemical origin. However, recent ecological concerns and latent climate change problems have encouraged the development of environmentally-friendly alternatives for composite industry, creating a new class of materials that bring added technical performance and are produced more sustainably. In this scenario, vegetable fibres have been rediscovered as promising reinforcing agents and bio-based polymers have been developed to attend the demand for greener matrices. In the last decade, vegetable oils have emerged as a key platform to produce bio-based epoxy resins used as matrices for composite laminates, reducing the environmental footprint of composites production. Nevertheless, features such as the intrinsically limited mechanical performance, price and ethical discussions have restricted the applicability of these materials. In this regard, this thesis investigates the utilisation of waste vegetable oil (WVO) as a potential platform to create bio-based epoxy resins and consequently composites in a more sustainable fashion. Investigations have identified the best purification and chemical modification methodologies to enable the polymerisation of these triglycerides. They have also confirmed the possibility of applying such materials as reactive diluents for diglycidyl ether of Bisphenol A (DGEBA), or for the creation of networks exclusively made with waste-based epoxies. Nonetheless, one should ensure that anhydrides are used in excess as hardener to mitigate drops in performance and create networks with Tg above room temperature. Studies also demonstrate the use of resins from WVO for the creation of a library of composite materials reinforced with glass, carbon fibres (virgin and recycled) and flax fibres. To address the challenge of compatibilizing vegetable fibres and the hydrophobic matrix, chemical treatments are explored to enhance the fibre/matrix interaction, with mercerisation leading to the best performance. Materials produced with glass demonstrate to be competitive alternatives for application that require stiffness and impact performance over strength, where the use of WVO-based epoxy also reduced the density of these materials. Finally, laminates reinforced with virgin and recycled carbon fibres reveal that the addition of resins from WVO to commercial formulations can reduce effects associated with barely-visible impact damage (BVID) as investigated in a compression after impact test. Overall, this thesis demonstrates the first developments of a new class of bio-based composites reliant on the exploration of the waste valorisation concept. Despite not being able to completely substitute DGEBA in technical applications, opportunities are explored according to the best features each system, so that WVO can be used as a co-resin in epoxy formulations for tuning (and improving) a number of engineering properties. Finally, these investigations encourage the maturation of WVO as a more environmentally-friendly chemical platform for a more sustainable polymer and composite industries

Analyzing epigenomic data in a large-scale context

While large amounts of epigenomic data are publicly available, their retrieval in a form suitable for downstream analysis is a bottleneck in current research. In a typical analysis, users are required to download huge files that span the entire genome, even if they are only interested in a small subset (e.g., promoter regions) or an aggregation thereof. Moreover, complex operations on genome-level data are not always feasible on a local computer due to resource limitations. The DeepBlue Epigenomic Data Server mitigates this issue by providing a robust server that affords a powerful API for searching, filtering, transforming, aggregating, enriching, and downloading data from several epigenomic consortia. Furthermore, its main component implements scalable data storage and Manipulation methods that scale with the increasing amount of epigenetic data, thereby making it the ideal resource for researchers that seek to integrate epigenomic data into their analysis workflow. This work also presents companion tools that utilize the DeepBlue API to enable users not proficient in scripting or programming languages to analyze epigenomic data in a user-friendly way: (i) an R/Bioconductor package that integrates DeepBlue into the R analysis workflow. The extracted data are automatically converted into suitable R data structures for downstream analysis and visualization within the Bioconductor frame- work; (ii) a web portal that enables users to search, select, filter and download the epigenomic data available in the DeepBlue Server. This interface provides elements, such as data tables, grids, data selections, developed for empowering users to find the required epigenomic data in a straightforward interface; (iii) DIVE, a web data analysis tool that allows researchers to perform large-epigenomic data analysis in a programming-free environment. DIVE enables users to compare their datasets to the datasets available in the DeepBlue Server in an intuitive interface, which summarizes the comparison of hundreds of datasets in a simple chart. Furthermore, these tools are integrated, being capable of sharing results among themselves, creating a powerful large-scale epigenomic data analysis environment. The DeepBlue Epigenomic Data Server and its ecosystem was well received by the International Human Epigenome Consortium and already attracted much attention by the epigenomic research community with currently 160 registered users and more than three million anonymous workflow processing requests since its release.Während große Mengen epigenomischer Daten öffentlich verfügbar sind, ist ihre Abfrage in einer für die Downstream-Analyse geeigneten Form ein Engpass in der aktuellen Forschung. Bei einer typischen Analyse müssen Benutzer riesige Dateien herunterladen, die das gesamte Genom umfassen, selbst wenn sie nur an einer kleinen Teilmenge (z.B., Promotorregionen) oder einer Aggregation davon interessiert sind. Darüber hinaus sind komplexe Vorgänge mit Daten auf Genomebene aufgrund von Ressourceneinschränkungen auf einem lokalen Computer nicht immer möglich. Der DeepBlue Epigenomic Data Server behebt dieses Problem, indem er eine leistungsstarke API zum Suchen, Filtern, Umwandeln, Aggregieren, Anreichern und Herunterladen von Daten verschiedener epigenomischer Konsortien bietet. Darüber hinaus implementiert der DeepBlue-Server skalierbare Datenspeicherungs- und manipulationsmethoden, die der zunehmenden Menge epigenetischer Daten gerecht werden. Dadurch ist der DeepBlue Server ideal für Forscher geeignet, die die aktuellen epigenomischen Ressourcen in ihren Analyse-Workflow integrieren möchten. In dieser Arbeit werden zusätzlich Begleittools vorgestellt, die die DeepBlue-API verwenden, um Benutzern, die sich mit Scripting oder Programmiersprachen nicht auskennen, die Möglichkeit zu geben, epigenomische Daten auf benutzerfreundliche Weise zu analysieren: (i) ein R/ Bioconductor-Paket, das DeepBlue in den R-Analyse-Workflow integriert. Die extrahierten Daten werden automatisch in geeignete R-Datenstrukturen für die Downstream-Analyse und Visualisierung innerhalb des Bioconductor-Frameworks konvertiert; (ii) ein Webportal, über das Benutzer die auf dem DeepBlue Server verfügbaren epigenomischen Daten suchen, auswählen, filtern und herunterladen können. Diese Schnittstelle bietet Elemente wie Datentabellen, Raster, Datenselektionen, mit denen Benutzer die erforderlichen epigenomischen Daten in einer einfachen Schnittstelle finden können; (iii) DIVE, ein Webdatenanalysetool, mit dem Forscher umfangreiche epigenomische Datenanalysen in einer programmierungsfreien Umgebung durchführen können. Mit DIVE können Benutzer ihre Datensätze mit den im Deep- Blue Server verfügbaren Datensätzen in einer intuitiven Benutzeroberfläche vergleichen. Dabei kann der Vergleich hunderter Datensätze in einem Diagramm ausgedrückt werden. Aufgrund der großen Datenmenge, die in DIVE verfügbar ist, werden Methoden bereitgestellt, mit denen die ähnlichsten Datensätze für eine vergleichende Analyse vorgeschlagen werden können. Alle zuvor genannten Tools sind miteinander integriert, so dass sie die Ergebnisse untereinander austauschen können, wodurch eine leistungsstarke Umgebung für die Analyse epigenomischer Daten entsteht. Der DeepBlue Epigenomic Data Server und sein Ökosystem wurden vom International Human Epigenome Consortium äußerst gut aufgenommen und erreichten seit ihrer Veröffentlichung große Aufmerksamkeit bei der epigenomischen Forschungsgemeinschaft mit derzeit 160 registrierten Benutzern und mehr als drei Millionen anonymen Verarbeitungsanforderungen

Estudo dos efeitos da cisplatina sobre o sistema trocador cistina-glutamato em células de glioblastoma humano a172

TCC(graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro de Ciências Biológicas. Biologia.Gliomas malignos correspondem a um grupo heterogêneo de tumores do sistema nervoso central (SNC). A maioria destes tumores se origina da transformação neoplásica de astrócitos, com crescimento inicial lento, progredindo para astrocitomas que podem originar a forma mais agressiva de tumores derivados de células gliais. Astrócitos transformados perdem a capacidade de controlar sua proliferação e ainda de exercer seu papel como reguladores das funções do SNC. Gliomas ativam mecanismos capazes de aumentar os níveis extracelulares de glutamato. Desta forma, estas células podem se tornar capazes de causar a morte das células peritumorais por excitotoxicidade glutamatérgica, constituindo assim uma via de invasão, resistência e crescimento tumoral. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o transporte de glutamato em células de glioblastoma humano A172, após o tratamento com o quimioterápico cisplatina. Não foram observadas alterações na viabilidade destas células após o tratamento com cisplatina (50 e 100 μM). Demonstramos também um aumento significativo e dosedependente na liberação de glutamato por estas células tratadas com cisplatina. Ainda, a inibição do trocador cistina-glutamato com sulfasalazina promoveu uma redução significativa nos níveis de glutationa intracelular, sugerindo que a liberação exarcebada de glutamato por estas células de glioma provavelmente é mediada por este sistema trocador. Estes estudos são de fundamental importância para elucidar os mecanismos moleculares envolvidos nestes processos e assim desenvolver novos tratamentos coadjuvantes para os gliomas, buscando assim melhores prognósticos para pacientes acometidos por esta doença