Integração de métodos multicritério na busca da sustentabilidade agrícola para a produção de tomates no município de São José de Ubá-RJ.

Este estudo discute alternativas para os sistemas produtivos da terra no plantio de tomates em São José de Ubá-RJ e as relações de trabalho passíveis de serem colocadas em pratica de forma a promover uma agricultura sustentavel na região, priorizando os aspectos economicos, ambientais e culturais do problema. A introdução da questão cultural aumenta a complexidade da questão, sendo necessário o uso de uma metodologia capaz de lidar com toda a subjetividade envolvida nesse processo de tomada de decisão. O estudo visa contribuir para a conquista de um processo sustentavel na região, estabelecendo um processo de tomada de decisão pautado nas opinioes do agricultor, respeitando principalmente as questões culturais do problema. As características do ambiente de tomada de decisão indicaram o uso de uma combinação de métodos de apoio a decisão multicritério - MACBETH e VIP Analysis - para a seleção da melhor alternativa capaz de possibilitar o alcance dos objetivos propostos

An overview of the history and development of naturopathy in South Africa

BACKGROUND: A huge growth in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) took place in South Africa in the 1960s which paralleled what was happening in other parts of the western world. Naturopathy has been practised in South Africa for over 60 years, and the history of naturopathy is entwined with the broader history of CAM. No laws existed at that stage to regulate the curriculum, education and training of CAM practitioners. With the passage of time, various statutes were introduced which eventually led to changes in legislation and the establishment of a recognised training programme. Naturopathy became a legally regulated profession, the full history of which has never been documented. OBJECTIVE: This article explores the history of naturopathy in South Africa. METHOD: A two-phase qualitative research design was used, consisting of a document search and semi-structured interviews with key informants who were identified through a process of snowballing. Information collected from the naturopaths who participated in the interviews was triangulated with documentation uncovered in the archives of the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) and other literature available. RESULTS: The result is a history of events which took place and reveals the effect of various legislations on the profession. CONCLUSION: Changes in the political system paved the way for changes in legislation which allowed for the registration and training of naturopathic practitioners. However, the lack of a functioning association and the small number of naturopathic graduates have hampered the growth of the profession, preventing it from becoming a significant contributor to the health care system

Financial market development, global financial crisis and economic growth : evidence from developing nations

Emerging and frontier markets in Africa have witnessed various economic and financial reforms aimed at integrating the domestic markets into the global financial market to attract investment. Whether these reforms promote high economic growth remains inconclusive. The paper applies the pooled mean group estimation technique to empirically re-investigate the link between financial market development, global financial crisis, and economic growth in selected African economies. The results strongly support our hypotheses that stock market and banking sector development promotes economic growth in the selected countries. Moreover, financial crisis reduce the positive effects of both the stock market and banking sector developments on economic growth. The study suggests that both the banking sector and stock market are important to deliver the long-run economic growth that the African region desired. Moreover, effort should be made to enact policy measures that would ensure development of the stock market which has received inadequate attention.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio