Measuring the start up costs in Brazilian small firms

No estudo aqui relatado foram medidos o tempo e o custo para a obtenção de permissão para uma pequena firma operar legalmente na cidade de São Paulo. Para possibilitar o contraste com estudos similares conduzidos em outros países, escolheu-se uma amostra de firmas da área de confecção de roupas, a qual tem sido o padrão nesses estudos. Uma amostra de cem firmas foi entrevistada com base em ferramenta de coleta de dados desenvolvida pelo Ronald Coase Institute. Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram que o custo para obter a permissão de operar correspondeu, em média, a 10,9% do Produto Interno Bruto per capita e que a demora para conseguir o registro foi de, em média, 74 dias. Cerca de 30% das firmas obtiveram o registro em menos de 30 dias e 60% em até 60 dias. Esses dados diferem dos publicados pelo Banco Mundial, baseados em metodologia menos acurada. Os resultados da análise de regressão indicaram que a experiência anterior e o nível de renda da firma são negativamente correlacionados com o tempo para a obtenção do registro por ela. Não houve efeito de gênero ou de etnia na variável dependente.En este estudio, se han determinado el tiempo y el costo para que una pequeña empresa obtenga el permiso para operar legalmente en la ciudad de São Paulo. Con vistas a realizar un análisis comparativo con estudios similares conducidos en otros países, se escogió una muestra de empresas del sector de confección de ropas, que suele ser el modelo en dichos estudios. Las entrevistas, con una muestra de cien empresas, se basó en herramienta de recolección de datos desarrollada por el Ronald Coase Institute. Los resultados de la investigación señalan que el costo para obtener el permiso para operar correspondió, en promedio, al 10,9% del Producto Interno Bruto per capita y que se tardaron 74 días en promedio para la obtención del registro. Alrededor del 30% de las empresas obtuvieron el registro en menos de 30 días y el 60% en hasta 60 días. Dichos datos difieren de los publicados por el Banco Mundial, basados en metodología menos acurada. Los resultados del análisis de regresión señalaron que la experiencia anterior y el nivel de renta de la empresa están negativamente correlacionados con el tiempo para la obtención del registro. No hubo efecto de género o de etnia en la variable dependiente.This study measures the costs to obtain legal permission to operate small firms in Brazil. Small garment businesses have been chosen due to their relevance for developing countries, and also because the same sector has been studied elsewhere. One hundred firms have been surveyed using the costs of exchange survey instrument, as developed by the Ronald Coase Institute. The results show that the average cost to obtain the legal permission was 10,9% of the GDP per capita, that 30% of firms took less than 30 days and 60% took up to 60 days to complete the procedures and that on the average it took 74 days to follow the process. The results differ substantially from the results published by the World Bank which was based in methodology less accurate. Previous experience in the activity and income level are negatively correlated to the length. No gender or ethnic group effect was found

Thermal Comfort in Swine: Basic Concepts for Better Production

Com o crescimento do mercado consumidor, diversos países vêm desenvolvendo tecnologias de gestão mais eficientes e sustentáveis para reduzir os efeitos nocivos do estresse térmico na produção de suínos, fato ainda mais importante em países com climas tropicais como o Brasil. O suíno produzido no Brasil é um animal que, de diferentes formas, foi importado de outros países relativamente frios. Portanto, eles foram geneticamente adaptados ao clima tropical. Assim, devido aos efeitos nocivos das altas temperaturas, melhorar o ambiente de produção é a forma mais eficiente de mitigar o estresse térmico. Esta revisão tem como objetivo abordar as principais complicações que o estresse térmico pode causar aos suínos e identificar abordagens de manejo adequadas para reduzir a suscetibilidade a curto prazo ao desconforto. Tais informações buscam incentivar práticas de manejo sadio voltadas para o conforto térmico dos animais e consequente ganho de eficiência produtiva

The use of conflict mediation by the Sergipe River Basin Committee as a tool for implementing decentralised water resource management

Parallel to the growing demand for multiple uses of water, conflicts between its users appear, contributing to the increase in the number of cases submitted to the Judiciary. This study aimed at analyzing the existence of mediation as a method of resolving possible conflicts related to water resources in the Sergipe River Basin. The qualitative approach research was developed based on a bibliographic survey, by means of consultations with books, pertinent legislation, articles in scientific and non-scientific journals and, documental, through the analysis of the minutes of the meetings of the Sergipe River Basin Committee, its Internal Regulations and the Climatological Report that analyses the rainfall variability by regions in Sergipe, from 2000 to 2017. The results revealed that despite moving towards recognizing mediation as a method for resolving conflicts, the Committee faced several difficulties in carrying out decentralized management of water resources, especially with regard to the resolution of water disputes. Possible solutions to some of the problems faced by the Committee can be pointed out, such as training its members in water resource management and conflict management, in addition to making them aware of participating frequently in Committee meetings and also stimulating the participation of the population in these meetings

Reuse of treated domestic sewage for biquinho pepper cultivation

This study aimed to evaluate the reuse of treated domestic sewage in biquinho pepper (Capsicum chinense L.) cultivation under different irrigation regimes. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse, in a randomised block design with a 3 x 4 factorial scheme, with four replications. Forty-eight pepper plants were subjected to three treated domestic sewage concentrations (0, 50, and 100%) and four irrigation depths (75, 100, 125, and 150% of the crop evapotranspiration - ETc). Data for ETc estimation were obtained from an automatic meteorological station, which was installed in the greenhouse. The results showed that irrigation depths corresponding to 125 and 150% of the ETc at a concentration of 100% treated domestic sewage resulted in higher plants. Moreover, longer fruits were obtained when plants were subjected to 100% ETc at 100% treated domestic sewage. The studied irrigation depths influenced pepper fruit total weight and yield. No treated domestic sewage concentrations significantly influenced the variables analysed. Treated domestic sewage reuse can constitute an alternative for quality water saving and for chemical fertilisation of biquinho pepper crop. Highlights: The growing of beak pepper with domestic sewage treated can bring benefits in terms of providing nutrients to the crops; Adequate levels of water replacement with domestic sewage treated may promote good crop development. The use of treated domestic sewage can be an alternative to reduce the use of better quality water and chemical fertilization in the growing of beak pepper. Reduction of environmental impact may be possible with the replacement of chemical fertilizer by domestic sewage treated in the growing of beak pepper.This study aimed to evaluate the reuse of treated domestic sewage in biquinho pepper (Capsicum chinense L.) cultivation under different irrigation regimes. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse, in a randomised block design with a 3 x 4 factorial scheme, with four replications. Forty-eight pepper plants were subjected to three treated domestic sewage concentrations (0, 50, and 100%) and four irrigation depths (75, 100, 125, and 150% of the crop evapotranspiration - ETc). Data for ETc estimation were obtained from an automatic meteorological station, which was installed in the greenhouse. The results showed that irrigation depths corresponding to 125 and 150% of the ETc at a concentration of 100% treated domestic sewage resulted in higher plants. Moreover, longer fruits were obtained when plants were subjected to 100% ETc at 100% treated domestic sewage. The studied irrigation depths influenced pepper fruit total weight and yield. No treated domestic sewage concentrations significantly influenced the variables analysed. Treated domestic sewage reuse can constitute an alternative for quality water saving and for chemical fertilisation of biquinho pepper crop. Highlights: The growing of beak pepper with domestic sewage treated can bring benefits in terms of providing nutrients to the crops; Adequate levels of water replacement with domestic sewage treated may promote good crop development. The use of treated domestic sewage can be an alternative to reduce the use of better quality water and chemical fertilization in the growing of beak pepper. Reduction of environmental impact may be possible with the replacement of chemical fertilizer by domestic sewage treated in the growing of beak pepper

An analysis and evaluation of the WeFold collaborative for protein structure prediction and its pipelines in CASP11 and CASP12

Every two years groups worldwide participate in the Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Prediction (CASP) experiment to blindly test the strengths and weaknesses of their computational methods. CASP has significantly advanced the field but many hurdles still remain, which may require new ideas and collaborations. In 2012 a web-based effort called WeFold, was initiated to promote collaboration within the CASP community and attract researchers from other fields to contribute new ideas to CASP. Members of the WeFold coopetition (cooperation and competition) participated in CASP as individual teams, but also shared components of their methods to create hybrid pipelines and actively contributed to this effort. We assert that the scale and diversity of integrative prediction pipelines could not have been achieved by any individual lab or even by any collaboration among a few partners. The models contributed by the participating groups and generated by the pipelines are publicly available at the WeFold website providing a wealth of data that remains to be tapped. Here, we analyze the results of the 2014 and 2016 pipelines showing improvements according to the CASP assessment as well as areas that require further adjustments and research

Precise measurement of the W-boson mass with the CDF II detector

We have measured the W-boson mass MW using data corresponding to 2.2/fb of integrated luminosity collected in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.96 TeV with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. Samples consisting of 470126 W->enu candidates and 624708 W->munu candidates yield the measurement MW = 80387 +- 12 (stat) +- 15 (syst) = 80387 +- 19 MeV. This is the most precise measurement of the W-boson mass to date and significantly exceeds the precision of all previous measurements combined

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum