Fasciolose.

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International Portfolio Diversification: Short-Term Financial Assets and Gold

Using a continuous-time finance-theoretic framework, this paper presents the optimal portfolio rule of an international investor who consumes N national composite goods and who holds N domestic-currency-denominated assets with known nominal interest rates in an environment where prices of goods, assets and exchange rates follow geometric Brownian motion. It is shown that the currency portfolio rule described in Macedo (1982a) is applicable to the case where there are N assets with a known price and one asset, gold, with a random rice in terms of the numeraire. Under these assumptions, it is found that the optimal portfolio of an investor consuming goods from all major industrialized countries (according to their weight in total trade) would be dominated in March 1981 by long positions in U.S. dollars (25%), yen (17%), D. marks (16%), French francs (15%) and pounds sterling (10%). An investor consuming only U.S. goods, by contrast, would hold 96% of his optimal portfolio in U.S. dollars. Because of the covariance of exchange rates and gold, the exclusion of the latter generates substantial reshuffling. The analysis of the evolution of portfolios over time shows that shares changed dramatically at the beginning of the period and did not begin to approach their March 1981 values until the end of 1975. In the case of the yen and the pound there were oscillations throughout the period. With respect to the dollar share in the optimal portfolio of the U.S. and international investor, it is found that, in the period between late 1974 and mid-1976, a period in which the dollar is considered to have been "strong", a large decline in its optimal share took place.

Costs and Benefits of Privatization: Evidence from Brazil

Although the Brazilian privatization program has been a sweeping endeavor involving more than 100 firms and billions of dollars, most of the studies have been published only in Brazil, and in Portuguese. This paper is the most comprehensive study to date in terms of the companies covered, and includes the most recent data. It looks at the results of privatization in Brazil for a broad range of economic variables to answer the question: Has the widespread popular discontent with the program been justified? The paper also examines the effects of privatization on aspects that affect the development of financial markets, including minority shareholder rights. It concludes with recommendations for democratizing capital ownership through public offers in which workers would be entitled to participate using public sector liabilities such as FGTS deposits.

Production and use of independent media: road to government accountability?

__Abstract__ This study addresses the question to what extent independent media contributes to government accountability, in particular the social accountability of governments in service delivery. It does so by analysing the effect of the production and use of independent media on service delivery in health care and education, and on democracy, in developing countries. The study finds that press freedom has an effect on democracy but not on service delivery, whereas civic activism, a measure for the use of independent media, has an effect on service delivery, but not on democracy

Application of the EcoBlock method to eco-design - electric hand dryers versus paper towels

Sustainable Construction, Materials and Practice, p. 426-432The EcoBlock method is an environmental performance tool that allows the comparison of products, projects or organizations. It is based on seven indicators: water extraction, resource extraction, land use, greenhouse gases (GHG), other air pollution, water pollution, and waste. A simplified life cycle analysis approach is adopted. The indicators may be aggregated into a single index, inspired in the Ecological Footprint concept. In this case study we compare the environmental performance of two hand-drying alternatives – paper towels or electric dryers. Both techniques present similar results. The pattern of use was found to be a variable of key importance in the comparison: lesser use of towels per drying would tip the balance in favour of the towels, more efficient dryers or lower impact energy sources would tip the balance in favour of the dryers. Electricity consumption proved to be the largest pressure generator in both alternatives

Caracterização de sintomas de deficiências em cedro rosa (Cedrela odorata L.).

Este estudo teve por objetivo caracterizar os sintomas visuais de deficiência de macronutrientes e micronutrientes em mudas de cedro rosa.bitstream/item/24799/1/ct88-cedrorosa.pd

Evaluation of QuEChERS Method for Analysis of Cypermethrin Residue in Cow?s Milk.

The presence of veterinary drug residues in food, especially of pesticides used for cattle disease control, can affect public health and international trading of food products if maximum residue levels are above those stipulated by FAO and WHO. Milk is one of the most complete food for humans, because it contains nutrients required for growth and development of newborns. However, milk quality can be endangered due to the presence of contaminants, especially of cypermethrin pesticide, which is widely used in Brazil to treat lactating dairy cows, mainly against ticks, flies, lice and dermatobia. Methods for monitoring veterinary drugs, for example pesticide residues, should be rapid, have small number of analytical steps, use few reagents in small amounts, be specific, and be sensitive enough to enable detection at very low levels. Anastassiades et al. [1] developed an approach which they dubbed quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS). The method involves extraction of the analyte with MeCN partitioned from an aqueous matrix using anhydrous MgSO4 and NaCl, followed by a dispersive-SPE cleanup with MgSO4 and primary secondary amine (PSA). The aim of this study was to evaluate QuEChERS method in combination with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for the determination of cypermethrin residue in bovine milk. The following steps were undertaken: (1) weigh a 10 g milk sample into a centrifuge tube; (2) add cypermethrin; (3) add 10 mL of MeCN, 4 g of MgSO4 and 1 g of NaCl in each tube, and centrifuge at 3000 rpm for 1 min; (4) transfer 1 mL of MeCN extract to a 1.5 mL minicentrifuge tube for dispersive SPE using 50 mg of PSA + 50 mg of C18 + 150 mg of MgSO4; (5) mix the extract, and centrifuge at 6000 rpm for 1 min; (6) transfer 0.5 mL of the supernatant to an autosampler vial for analysis by GC?MS. The volume analyzed was 1 ?L and the oven temperature program was set at 150°C - 15°C min-1 - 270°C (7 min). The mass spectrometry was operated in the SIM mode. The method resulted in extracts that contained the target analyte, with recovery values within the ANVISA [2] requeriments, from 70% to 120%, with relative standard deviations below 20%. Detection and quantification limits were 0.025 and 0.075 mg kg-1, respectively. It is possible to analyze cypermethrin in milk below the maximum residue limit of 0.10 mg kg-1. The proposed method is rapid and inexpensive, and reduces consumption of organic solvents, which are toxic to health and to the environment. The method may be used as a screening procedure for analysis of cypermethrin residue in milk

Desenvolvimento da metodologia QuEChERS-GC/MS para análise de resíduos do acaricida cipermetrina em leite bovino.

O Brasil é o sexto maior produtor mundial de leite, sendo esse considerado um dos alimentos mais ricos em termos nutricionais, contendo carboidratos, vitaminas, gorduras, sais minerais e proteínas essenciais aos seres humanos. Durante o processo de produção do leite bovino, na glândula mamária, o leite pode ser contaminado por medicamentos veterinários que foram administrados à vaca. Entre esses medicamentos, destacam-se os acaricidas, que combatem o carrapato-do-boi, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, parasita que pode causar grandes prejuízos à saúde e à produtividade bovina. Um acaricida amplamente utilizado no rebanho bovino leiteiro é a cipermetrina, que pertence à classe dos piretroides e pode provocar a ocorrência de resíduos no leite, comprometendo a qualidade do produto e a segurança alimentar humana. Assim, o presente estudo teve o objetivo de desenvolver uma metodologia para a análise de resíduos de cipermetrina em leite bovino, aplicando o método de extração QuEChERS e a cromatografia gasosa acoplada à espectrometria de massas (GC/MS). No desenvolvimento do método QuEChERS, em 10 mL de amostra de leite fortificada com o acaricida cipermetrina, adicionaram-se 10 mL de acetonitrila (MeCN), 4 g MgSO4 e 1 g NaCl, agitou-se manualmente e centrifugou-se a 3000 rpm por 1 minuto