Expansão da agricultura orgânica e os desafios enfrentados por produtores brasileiros na produção e exportação de orgânicos

A agricultura orgânica baseia-se no uso de métodos de cultivos ecológicos, alternativos à agricultura convencional, com o intuito de preservar o meio ambiente. A expansão do mercado mundial de produtos orgânicos decorreu da preocupação com a degradação ambiental e com a segurança do alimento. Entretanto, os produtores orgânicos brasileiros enfrentam desafios tanto no processo produtivo quanto para acessarem o mercado internacional orgânico. Neste contexto, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a evolução da produção orgânica e os desafios para produção e exportação dos produtos orgânicos brasileiros, particularmente para o mercado europeu. Para analisar a evolução da produção orgânica foram coletados dados do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA) e Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) sobre a área agropecuária, número de estabelecimentos e de produtores, vendas no varejo, consumo per capita e exportações. Os dados disponíveis mostraram o crescimento contínuo da produção orgânica mundial entre 2000 e 2018. A análise do comércio mundial de orgânicos foi realizada por meio do Modelo Gravitacional. A equação gravitacional estimada utilizou como variável dependente as exportações mundiais de orgânicos. Já as variáveis independentes foram: o Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) e a população dos países exportadores de orgânicos, o PIB e a população da América do Norte e União Europeia, além da área agrícola destinada à produção orgânica tanto dos países exportadores quanto da América do Norte e União Europeia. De acordo com o resultado do modelo, as variáveis determinantes das exportações de orgânicos foram o PIB dos países exportadores, bem como o PIB, a população e a área agrícola orgânica da América do Norte e da União Europeia. Além disso, também foram realizadas entrevistas com agricultores familiares orgânicos brasileiros a fim de investigar os desafios que estes produtores tem encontrado na produção e comercialização de orgânicos. Eles responderam questões relacionadas à produção de orgânicos, aos desafios enfrentados, à importância das políticas públicas para o setor, à certificação e ao acesso ao mercado europeu. Em relação às dificuldades na produção, mencionaram fatores como alto custo e burocracia da certificação, falta de pagamento diferenciado pelo produto orgânico e indisponibilidade de insumos orgânicos. Já em relação aos desafios para exportação para o mercado orgânico europeu, relataram problemas como a falta de conhecimento do processo de exportação, dificuldade na obtenção da certificação orgânica europeia, falta de conhecimento da legislação orgânica europeia e do mercado europeu, bem como a escala de produção para exportação. Os produtores entrevistados consideram as políticas públicas importantes para o desenvolvimento da agricultura orgânica no Brasil, mas que necessitam ser aprimoradas para atender as necessidades dos produtores familiares orgânicos

Deviation of Neutrino Mixing from Bi-maximal

We have studied how observables of the neutrino mixing matrix can link up with the ones in the quark sector. The deviation from the bi-maximal flavor mixing is parameterized using a 3 x 3 unitary matrix. The neutrino mixings are investigated supposing this unitary matrix to be hierarchical like the quark mixing matrix. We obtain the remarkable prediction |U_{e3}| >= 0.03 from the experimentally allowed range tan^2 theta_{sol} = 0.24 ~ 0.89. The CP violation in neutrino oscillations is expected to be very small.Comment: Some references are adde

The position of graptolites within Lower Palaeozoic planktic ecosystems.

An integrated approach has been used to assess the palaeoecology of graptolites both as a discrete group and also as a part of the biota present within Ordovician and Silurian planktic realms. Study of the functional morphology of graptolites and comparisons with recent ecological analogues demonstrates that graptolites most probably filled a variety of niches as primary consumers, with modes of life related to the colony morphotype. Graptolite coloniality was extremely ordered, lacking any close morphological analogues in Recent faunas. To obtain maximum functional efficiency, graptolites would have needed varying degrees of coordinated automobility. A change in lifestyle related to ontogenetic changes was prevalent within many graptolite groups. Differing lifestyle was reflected by differing reproductive strategies, with synrhabdosomes most likely being a method for rapid asexual reproduction. Direct evidence in the form of graptolithophage 'coprolitic' bodies, as well as indirect evidence in the form of probable defensive adaptations, indicate that graptolites comprised a food item for a variety of predators. Graptolites were also hosts to a variety of parasitic organisms and provided an important nutrient source for scavenging organisms

Lepton Flavor Violating Process in Bi-maximal texture of Neutrino Mixings

We investigate the lepton flavor violation in the framework of the MSSM with right-handed neutrinos taking the large mixing angle MSW solution in the quasi-degenerate and the inverse-hierarchical neutrino masses. We predict the branching ratio of $\mu \to e+\gamma$ and $\tau \to \mu+\gamma$ processes assuming the degenerate right-handed Majorana neutrino masses. We find that the branching ratio in the quasi-degenerate neutrino mass spectrum is 100 times smaller than the ones in the inverse-hierarchical and the hierarchical neutrino spectra. We emphasize that the magnitude of $U_{e3}$ is one of important ingredients to predict BR($\mu \to e +\gamma$). The effect of the deviation from the complete-degenerate right-handed Majorana neutrino masses are also estimated. Furtheremore, we examine the S_{3\sL}\times S_{3\sR} model, which gives the quasi-degenerate neutrino masses, and the Shafi-Tavartkiladze model, which gives the inverse-hierarchical neutrino masses. Both predicted branching ratios of $\mu\to e+\gamma$ are smaller than the experimantal bound.Comment: Latex file, 38 pages, 10 figures, revised versio

Is symmetry identity?

Wigner found unreasonable the "effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences". But if the mathematics we use to describe nature is simply a coded expression of our experience then its effectiveness is quite reasonable. Its effectiveness is built into its design. We consider group theory, the logic of symmetry. We examine the premise that symmetry is identity; that group theory encodes our experience of identification. To decide whether group theory describes the world in such an elemental way we catalogue the detailed correspondence between elements of the physical world and elements of the formalism. Providing an unequivocal match between concept and mathematical statement completes the case. It makes effectiveness appear reasonable. The case that symmetry is identity is a strong one but it is not complete. The further validation required suggests that unexpected entities might be describable by the irreducible representations of group theory

Cichlid biogeography: comment and review

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72313/1/j.1467-2979.2004.00148.x.pd

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Mucosal Expression of Type 2 and Type 17 Immune Response Genes Distinguishes Ulcerative Colitis From Colon-Only Crohn's Disease in Treatment-Naive Pediatric Patients

Background & Aims There is controversy regarding the role of the type 2 immune response in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC)?few data are available from treatment-naive patients. We investigated whether genes associated with a type 2 immune response in the intestinal mucosa are up-regulated in treatment-naive pediatric patients with UC compared with patients with Crohn's disease (CD)-associated colitis or without inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and whether expression levels are associated with clinical outcomes. Methods We used a real-time reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction array to analyze messenger RNA (mRNA) expression patterns in rectal mucosal samples from 138 treatment-naive pediatric patients with IBD and macroscopic rectal disease, as well as those from 49 children without IBD (controls), enrolled in a multicenter prospective observational study from 2008 to 2012. Results were validated in real-time reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses of rectal RNA from an independent cohort of 34 pediatric patients with IBD and macroscopic rectal disease and 17 controls from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Results We measured significant increases in mRNAs associated with a type 2 immune response (interleukin [IL]5 gene, IL13, and IL13RA2) and a type 17 immune response (IL17A and IL23) in mucosal samples from patients with UC compared with patients with colon-only CD. In a regression model, increased expression of IL5 and IL17A mRNAs distinguished patients with UC from patients with colon-only CD (P =.001; area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.72). We identified a gene expression pattern in rectal tissues of patients with UC, characterized by detection of IL13 mRNA, that predicted clinical response to therapy after 6 months (odds ratio [OR], 6.469; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.553?26.94), clinical response after 12 months (OR, 6.125; 95% CI, 1.330?28.22), and remission after 12 months (OR, 5.333; 95% CI, 1.132?25.12). Conclusions In an analysis of rectal tissues from treatment-naive pediatric patients with IBD, we observed activation of a type 2 immune response during the early course of UC. We were able to distinguish patients with UC from those with colon-only CD based on increased mucosal expression of genes that mediate type 2 and type 17 immune responses. Increased expression at diagnosis of genes that mediate a type 2 immune response is associated with response to therapy and remission in pediatric patients with UC

The mammalian gene function resource: The International Knockout Mouse Consortium

In 2007, the International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKMC) made the ambitious promise to generate mutations in virtually every protein-coding gene of the mouse genome in a concerted worldwide action. Now, 5 years later, the IKMC members have developed highthroughput gene trapping and, in particular, gene-targeting pipelines and generated more than 17,400 mutant murine embryonic stem (ES) cell clones and more than 1,700 mutant mouse strains, most of them conditional. A common IKMC web portal (www.knockoutmouse.org) has been established, allowing easy access to this unparalleled biological resource. The IKMC materials considerably enhance functional gene annotation of the mammalian genome and will have a major impact on future biomedical research

Flowcharts for the management of biliary tract and ampullary carcinomas

No strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract carcinoma have been clearly described. We developed flowcharts for the diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract carcinoma on the basis of the best clinical evidence. Risk factors for bile duct carcinoma are a dilated type of pancreaticobiliary maljunction (PBM) and primary sclerosing cholangitis. A nondilated type of PBM is a risk factor for gallbladder carcinoma. Symptoms that may indicate biliary tract carcinoma are jaundice and pain in the upper right area of the abdomen. The first step of diagnosis is to carry out blood biochemistry tests and ultrasonography (US) of the abdomen. The second step of diagnosis is to find the local extension of the carcinoma by means of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC), and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Because resection is the only way to completely cure biliary tract carcinoma, the indications for resection are determined first. In patients with resectable disease, the indications for biliary drainage or portal vein embolization (PVE) are checked. In those with nonresectable disease, biliary stenting, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and/or best supportive care is selected