Protection for Victims of Human Trafficking in Brazil

La trata de personas es una acción ilegal presente en todomundo, incluso en Brasil. El Protocolo de las Naciones Unidascontra la Trata de Personas fue ratificado por Brasil en 2004. Apesar de esto, aún la evolución normativa del país no ha sidosignificativa. Este artículo busca analizar la protección normativaexistente y futura a las víctimas, especialmente extranjeras, detrata de personas en Brasil. Así, inicialmente se presenta lo que secomprende como trata de personas, con base en el Protocolo delas Naciones Unidas para prevenir, reprimir y sancionar la trata depersonas, especialmente mujeres y niños, y son apuntadas algunasconsideraciones sobre la realidad de la trata de personas en elmundo y en Brasil. En la secuencia son presentadas las medidasde protección a las víctimas, y previstas en el Protocolo de lasNaciones Unidas. Por último, son enumeradas y analizadas lasacciones normativas existentes y los proyectos de ley que puedencambiar esta realidad. La conclusión del estudio indica que Brasilaún tiene una débil protección para las víctimas extranjeras detrata de personas, pero hay una perspectiva optimista de mejoríacon los proyectos de ley que tramitan en el Congreso Nacional.Human trafficking is an illegal action observed in the whole world,even in Brazil. The Protocol of the United Nations against humantrafficking was ratified by Brazil in 2004. However, the countryhas not shown a significant regulatory evolution. This article isintended to analyze present and future norms to protect victims(foreign victims, especially) of human trafficking in Brazil. First, thearticle presents what is understood as human trafficking, basedon the protocol of the United Nations to prevent, repress, andpenalize human trafficking (women and children, specifically); thearticle also describes some considerations about the reality ofhuman trafficking in Brazil and worldwide. The sequence showsthe measures taken to protect victims, contemplated in the UnitedNations protocol. Finally, the article provides a list of the existingregulatory actions and the bills than can change this reality. Theconclusion of the study indicates that Brazil still offers a weakprotection for foreign victims of human trafficking, but an optimisticimprovement perspective is shown in relation to the bills currentlyanalyzed by the National Congress

Nuovi e vecchi anticoagulanti: impiego, profilo emorragico e dati di outcome nell'Ospedale di Lucca.

Introduzione: Tra i farmaci ad utilizzo extraospedaliero, gli anticoagulanti orali sono tra quelli a maggior rischio di reazioni avverse. I risultati incoraggianti sulla prevenzione dell’ictus hanno favorito lo sviluppo di nuove molecole ad azione inibitrice diretta della trombina, dabigatran, rivaroxaban ed apixaban. Dagli studi clinici alla base della approvazione di questi farmaci risulta che tutti e tre i NAO hanno comportato una riduzione statisticamente significativa dell’ictus cerebrale emorragico, la complicanza più temuta della terapia con anticoagulanti orali. Inoltre, tutti e tre i farmaci hanno ridotto il rischio di sanguinamento, come dimostrato dalla minor incidenza di sanguinamenti maggiori per apixaban e dabigatran 110 mg e dalla riduzione dei sanguinamenti fatali per rivaroxaban. I primi dati ufficiali post-marketing europei rilevano che la frequenza con cui avvengono sanguinamenti fatali con dabigatran è significativamente inferiore rispetto a quella osservata negli studi clinici che hanno supportato l’autorizzazione dei NAO suggerendo, comunque, di tenere questo aspetto sotto stretto controllo. Ugualmente tranquillizzanti sono i dati di sorveglianza post-marketing rilasciati dalla FDA ad inizio novembre 2012 (Mini Sentinel pilot of the Sentinel Initiative) che dimostrano un’incidenza di emorragie equivalenti per dabigatran e warfarin in un ampio numero di pazienti con FA dopo l’inizio della TAO nel mondo reale. Da circa un anno è stata approvata dall'AIFA la commercializzazione in Italia dei nuovi anticoagulanti orali (NAO). Pochi sono per ora i dati sulla sicurezza di utilizzo di tali farmaci nella pratica clinica italiana. Scopo dello studio è analizzare retrospettivamente l'esposizione a farmaci anticoagulanti di casi non selezionati di emorragia giunti al Pronto Soccorso e la correlazione dell'esposizione farmacologica con l'outcome dell'evento. Scopo secondario è inoltre analizzare il profilo clinico dei pazienti sottoposti ad anticoagulazione con NAO in un setting ospedaliero. Risultati: Sono stati estratti 47 casi di emorragia, di età compresa tra i 44 ed i 103 anni. Il 64% circa dei pazienti risultava esposto ad anticoagulanti, mentre più di un terzo delle emorragie si sono verificate in pazienti non anticoagulati. Tra i pazienti sottoposti a terapia anticoagulante, il 47% era in trattamento con warfarin ed il 33% con NAO. Tra i pazienti anticoagulati con NAO, il 50% aveva una prescrizione che risultava inappropriata al momento dell'osservazione rispetto alle linee guida e raccomandazioni internazionali. Tra i pazienti in NAO, di almeno 12 anni in media più anziani rispetto alla popolazione dei trial, il 62% degli esposti a dabigatran e il 100% degli esposti a rivaroxaban aveva una compromissione moderata o severa della funzione renale. Nel sottogruppo dabigatran sono state più frequenti le emorragie gastrointestinali che le emorragie intracraniche, mentre nel gruppo warfarin l'andamento è stato opposto. Il ricorso ad emotrasfusione ed il calo di emoglobina correlato ai sanguinamenti gastrointestinali è stato però percentualmente più rappresentato nel sottogruppo warfarin, così come il ricorso al ricovero e l'outcome infausto. Conclusioni: nelle popolazioni di pazienti in NAO che sono andate incontro ad eventi emorragici, sono rappresentati in maniera consistente errori prescrittivi in base alle caratteristiche di base del paziente. E' verosimile pertanto che l'educazione prescrittiva e la maggiore esperienza nell'uso di questi nuovi farmaci portino ad una riduzione degli effetti avversi. Maggior attenzione dovrebbe essere posta all'utilizzo dei NAO nei pazienti di età avanzata e con fattori di rischio di instabilizzazione della funzione renale

Investigation of the effects of machining parameters on material removal rate in abrasive waterjet turning

The effects of the main operational machining parameters on the material removal rate (MRR) in abrasive waterjet turning (AWJT) are presented in this paper using a statistical approach. The five most common machining parameters such as water pressure, abrasive mass flow rate, cutting head traverse speed, workpiece rotational speed, and depth of cut have been put into a five-level central composite rotatable experimental design (CCRD). The main effects of parameters and the interaction among them were analyzed by means of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the response surfaces for MRR were obtained fitting a second-order polynomial function. It has been found that depth of cut and cutting head traverse speed are the most influential parameters, whereas the rotational speed is insignificant. In addition, the investigations show that interactions between traverse speed and pressure, abrasive mass flow rate and depth of cut, and pressure and depth of cut are significant on MRR. This result advances the AWJT state of the art. A complete model discussion has been reported drawing interesting considerations on the AWJT process characterising phenomena, where parameters interactions play a fundamental role

A Robust Model to Measure Governance in African Countries

Levels of performance of any government do matter in determining the quality of the civil society. The Ibrahim Index of African Governance developed by the Harvard Kennedy School shows how governance can be measured. The Index assesses governance issues over time (2000, 2002, 2005, 2006) and for 48 African countries south of the Sahara, according to a five-pillar conceptual structure: (a) Safety and Security, (b) Rule of Law, Transparency, and Corruption, (c) Participation and Human Rights, (d) Sustainable Economic Opportunity, and (e) Human Development. This report aims at validating and critically assessing the methodological approach undertaken to build the 2006 Index of African Governance, by raising two key questions: o Is the Index of African Governance internally sound and consistent from a statistical and conceptual point of view? o What scenarios could have been used to build the Index and how do the results from these scenarios compare to the original results? The overall assessment of the 2006 Index by means of multivariate analyses, uncertainty and sensitivity analyses reveals no particular shortcomings in the conceptual structure. Data-driven narratives on governance issues in Africa are also offered in this report with a view to show directions of discussions and messages that stem from an index-based analysis of governance. Overall, the Index of African Governance can be reliably used to identify weaknesses, propose remedial actions, allow for easy spatial and temporal comparisons (benchmarking), to prioritize countries in Africa of relatively low governance content, monitor and evaluate policies effectiveness and ultimately to funnel resources to countries through, for example, multilateral and bilateral agreements between African countries.JRC.G.9-Econometrics and applied statistic

CFD aided design and experimental validation of an innovative Air Assisted Pure Water Jet cutting system

Water jet cutting has always been a promising technology because of its extreme simplicity and flexibility, even if it often suffers a lack of control on its process parameters, especially if compared to technologies such as laser cutting or electro-discharge machining. Recent studies have showed how the presence of water inside the orifice causes disturbances and instabilities which systematically affect the jet structure, both during the jet formation and the cutting process. These disturbances can be neglected in industrial applications, but they can play a relevant role in case of high-precision water jet machining. The aim of the research presented in this paper is to develop an innovative system able to modify the orifice flow field by means of a simple modification of the standard cutting head geometry; the system allows the controlled injection of air inside the primary orifice to prevent the jet instabilities and to adapt the level of jet coherence to the specific machining operation. The fluid dynamics aspects of the outflow process are investigated by means of a 3D numerical simulation with the Ansys Fluent CFD solver, while considerable experimental efforts are provided in order to validate the numerical model and finally evaluate the system performances on real case studies

An innovative machine for Fused Deposition Modeling of metals and advanced ceramics

The design of a new additive manufacturing (AM) system based on extrusion and 3D deposition of a mixture of metal (or advanced ceramic) powder and polymeric binder is described in this paper. The proposed system is totally innovative in terms of combination of deposited work material, extrusion system (head and nozzle), and deposition work table, which is based on a 5-axes parallel kinematics machine (PKM). The extrusion head and nozzle have been designed in order to be able to extrude high viscosity mixtures with low polymeric content. The 5-axes PKM is aimed at obtaining a good surface quality of the deposited work and reducing the need for supports during deposition. After the deposition, the material is de-binded and sintered to nearly the density of the solid material as-cast. The design and kinematics of the machine and especially the PKM table is described in this paper, the main design issues are discussed and some preliminary extrusion and sintering results are presented

Metodologia para planejamento de capacidade de Call Center

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico.Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia para planejamento de capacidade de um call center, considerando os índices de desempenho definidos pela Agência Nacional de TELecomunicações (ANATEL) para a prestação de serviços de telecomunicações. Apresenta-se um estudo das tecnologias e equipamentos envolvidos na composição de uma central de atendimento e uma análise das variáveis relevantes para o dimensionamento e projeções de volumes de chamadas. Um estudo de caso, considerando um call center de uma empresa de telefonia celular, ilustra a metodologia proposta

Decision-making in multiple sclerosis patients: a systematic review

Background. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is frequently associated with cognitive and behavioural deficits. A growing number of studies suggest an impact of MS on decision-making abilities. The aim of this systematic review was to assess if (1) performance of MS patients in decision-making tasks was consistently different from controls and (2) whether this modification was associated with cognitive dysfunction and emotional alterations. Methods. The search was conducted on Pubmed/Medline database. 12 studies evaluating the difference between MS patients and healthy controls using validated decision-making tasks were included. Outcomes considered were quantitative (net scores) and qualitative measurements (deliberation time and learning from feedback). Results. Quantitative and qualitative decision-making impairment in MS was present in 64.7% of measurements. Patients were equally impaired in tasks for decision-making under risk and ambiguity. A correlation to other cognitive functions was present in 50% of cases, with the highest associations in the domains of processing speed and attentional capacity. Conclusions. In MS patients, qualitative and quantitative modifications may be present in any kind of decision- making task and can appear independently of other cognitive measures. Since decision-making abilities have a significant impact on everyday life, this cognitive aspect has an influential importance in various MS-related treatment settings

EU Regional Competitiveness Index RCI 2013

To measure the different dimensions of competitiveness at the regional level, the European Commission has developed the Regional Competitiveness Index – RCI. The RCI was published in 2010 and this is the 2013 edition, which includes most recent data and implements improvements and refinements. RCI 2013 reveals a strong regional dimension of competitiveness, which national level indicators cannot capture, and a polycentric pattern with strong capital and metropolitan regions in many parts of Europe. Some capital regions are surrounded by similarly competitive regions, but in many countries, particularly in the less developed Member States in Central and Eastern Europe, regions neighboring the capital are less competitive.JRC.G.3-Econometrics and applied statistic