Is that Innovation? Assessing Examples of Revitalized Economic Dynamics among Clusters of Small Producers in Northern Vietnam

This paper addresses the question whether innovation is within reach for small enterprises in developing economies by studying four cases of new technologies, products and business practices in traditional craft in Northern Vietnam. The paper starts with reviewing definitions of innovation since Schumpeter. It concludes that newness, value creation and process are time and again considered as the key-elements of innovation. Innovation, hence, may be summarized as the process of introducing something new that creates value. Subsequently, this theoretical definition is operationalized into an innovation assessment instrument and applied in the aforementioned cases. The instrument verified the occurrence of innovation in three out of four cases of small producers' clusters in Northern Vietnam. The entrepreneurs managed to implement innovation on their own strength and upon their own initiative. This provides evidence that small enterprises in developing countries are indeed able to take part in the process of increasing competitiveness through innovation.innovation, small enterprises, clusters, value chains, Vietnam

Caustic Skeleton & Cosmic Web

We present a general formalism for identifying the caustic structure of an evolving mass distribution in an arbitrary dimensional space. For the class of Hamiltonian fluids the identification corresponds to the classification of singularities in Lagrangian catastrophe theory. Based on this we develop a theoretical framework for the formation of the cosmic web, and specifically those aspects that characterize its unique nature: its complex topological connectivity and multiscale spinal structure of sheetlike membranes, elongated filaments and compact cluster nodes. The present work represents an extension of the work by Arnol'd et al., who classified the caustics for the 1- and 2-dimensional Zel'dovich approximation. His seminal work established the role of emerging singularities in the formation of nonlinear structures in the universe. At the transition from the linear to nonlinear structure evolution, the first complex features emerge at locations where different fluid elements cross to establish multistream regions. The classification and characterization of these mass element foldings can be encapsulated in caustic conditions on the eigenvalue and eigenvector fields of the deformation tensor field. We introduce an alternative and transparent proof for Lagrangian catastrophe theory, and derive the caustic conditions for general Lagrangian fluids, with arbitrary dynamics, including dissipative terms and vorticity. The new proof allows us to describe the full 3-dimensional complexity of the gravitationally evolving cosmic matter field. One of our key findings is the significance of the eigenvector field of the deformation field for outlining the spatial structure of the caustic skeleton. We consider the caustic conditions for the 3-dimensional Zel'dovich approximation, extending earlier work on those for 1- and 2-dimensional fluids towards the full spatial richness of the cosmic web

A COLABORAÇÃO NA PRODUÇÃO DE ARTIGOS DOS PROFESSORES DO PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM CIÊNCIA DO MOVIMENTO HUMANO DA ESEF DA UFRGS ENTRE 2007 a 2009: ANÁLISE DE REDE SOCIAL

Artigo publicado na Revista Movimento – Edição Especial: ESEF 70 AnosO pesquisador solitário é uma figura distante da contemporaneidade. O trabalho colaborativo na comunidade científica se expandiu enormemente no século XX apoiado pela tecnologia da informação. Para tal quadro contribuíram a utilização dos recursos eletrônicos e o acirramento da competitividade no meio acadêmico e em outras organizações. A colaboração em rede fortalece laços entre pesquisadores e instituições, que, desta forma, gerem os recursos e as atividades interdisciplinares de pesquisas e contribuem para o sustento mútuo na construção do saber científico. Este artigo visa contribuir para a identificação das redes de colaboração dos professores do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência do Movimento Humano (PPGCMH) da UFRGS, no período de 2007 a 2009, referente ao último triênio de avaliação da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). Foram identificados 204 artigos e 280 autores nos artigos publicados. Os resultados apontam no sentido de uma rede colaborativa em construção, com poucas ligações entre os professores e mais entre os grupos de pesquisas. Este artigo pretende contribuir para estudos no campo da produção científica da educação física, e como um instrumento às atividades de investigação e de possibilidades de intercâmbio institucional.Produto do Projeto "ESCOLA DE EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA DA UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL (1940-2010): mapeando cenários da formação profissional e da produção do conhecimento em políticas públicas de esporte e lazer", financiado pela Rede Cede

Reliability and validity of a domain-specific last 7-d sedentary time questionnaire

Purpose: The objective of this study is to examine test-retest reliability, criterion validity, and absolute agreement of a self-report, last 7-d sedentary behavior questionnaire (SIT-Q-7d), which assesses total daily sedentary time as an aggregate of sitting/lying down in five domains (meals, transportation, occupation, nonoccupational screen time, and other sedentary time). Dutch (DQ) and English (EQ) versions of the questionnaire were examined. Methods: Fifty-one Flemish adults (ages 39.4 +/- 11.1 yr) wore a thigh accelerometer (activPAL3 (TM)) and simultaneously kept a domain log for 7 d. The DQ was subsequently completed twice (median test-retest interval: 3.3 wk). Thigh-acceleration sedentary time was log annotated to create comparable domain-specific and total sedentary time variables. Four hundred two English adults (ages 49.6 +/- 7.3 yr) wore a combined accelerometer and HR monitor (Actiheart (R)) for 6 d to objectively measure total sedentary time. The EQ was subsequently completed twice (median test-retest interval: 3.4 wk). In both samples, the questionnaire reference frame overlapped with the criterion measure administration period. All participants had five or more valid days of criterion data, including one or more weekend day. Results: Test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (95% CI)) was fair to good for total sedentary time (DQ: 0.68 (0.50-0.81); EQ: 0.53 (0.44-0.62)) and poor to excellent for domain-specific sedentary time (DQ: from 0.36 (0.10-0.57) (meals) to 0.66 (0.46-0.79) (occupation); EQ: from 0.45 (0.35-0.54) (other sedentary time) to 0.76 (0.71-0.81) (meals)). For criterion validity (Spearman rho), significant correlations were found for total sedentary time (DQ: 0.52; EQ: 0.22; all P <0.001). Compared with domain-specific criterion variables (DQ), modest-to-strong correlations were found for domain-specific sedentary time (from 0.21 (meals) to 0.76 (P < 0.001) (screen time)). The questionnaire generally overestimated sedentary time compared with criterion measures. Conclusion: The SIT-Q-7d appears to be a useful tool for ranking individuals in large-scale observational studies examining total and domain-specific sitting

"Summer school on public policies evaluations methods”. Deliverable D4.5

The study aimed to analyse the processes of construction, institutionalization and implementation of agroecology and organic agriculture (PEAPO) policies in several federated states of Brazil to identify progress, obstacles and effects of interactions between public authorities and civil society. Theoretical reference system and method: - Application of a common analysis framework built by the Public Policy and Rural Development Network in Latin America and the Caribbean (PP-AL) in 11 states: Amazonas (AM), Bahia (BA), Federal District (DF), Maranhão (MA), Minas Gerais (MG), Pará (PA), Paraná (PR), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Sergipe (SE), São Paulo (SP) + city of São Paulo; - Analysis framework of the dynamics of public action in 5 points (Lascoumes and Le Gales, 2007): situation and institutionalization of policies, actors and coalitions, representations (conceptions of agroecology), governance and main instruments; - Tools: document analysis, dialogue with the actors and series of semi-structured interviews. Four dimensions are to be taken into account in the process of institutionalization of agroecology at the level of the federated states: - An early trajectory in terms of construction programs and actions in favour of agroecology and organic production in certain states (RS, DF, PR) compared to the national policy (PNAPO) but also difficulties in establishing mechanisms of transversality and coordination between different instruments; - The diversity of institutionalization mechanisms (legal frameworks, instruments, instances of participation and social control) sets challenges for structuring in a coherent frame of reference in order to guide the action of the institutions; - The institutions / organizations involved in this construction internalize and manage this participation and the commitments in various ways, but not all of them manage to influence or integrate the management or implementation institutions; - However, the construction of PEAPOs has had a structuring effect for the promotion of agroecology: on the agenda and in public debate, legitimization, mobilization of actors and ability to influence the design and execution of certain instruments

Etanol, meio ambiente e tecnologia: reflexões sobre a experiência brasileira.

O trabalho apresenta uma breve reflexão sobre os principais aspectos ambientais e tecnológicos da experiência brasileira voltada à produção e ao uso de etanol a partir da cana-de-açúcar. Ao se analisar toda a cadeia produtiva do etanol, observa-se que o aproveitamento estratégico de todos os subprodutos da cana-de-açúcar é condição essencial para a sustentabilidade do processo produtivo. Por sua vez, a queima da cana-de-açúcar para colheita e a expansão da monocultura canavieira são fatores que requerem maior atenção. O trabalho demonstra que a produção de etanol de cana-deaçúcar contribui para a sustentabilidade ambiental e que seu uso como combustível renovável é favorável em relação aos combustíveis fósseis

Economic evaluations of pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic screening tests : a systematic review : second update of the literature

Objective : Due to extended application of pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic screening (PGx) tests it is important to assess whether they provide good value for money. This review provides an update of the literature. Methods : A literature search was performed in PubMed and papers published between August 2010 and September 2014, investigating the cost-effectiveness of PGx screening tests, were included. Papers from 2000 until July 2010 were included via two previous systematic reviews. Studies' overall quality was assessed with the Quality of Health Economic Studies (QHES) instrument. Results : We found 38 studies, which combined with the previous 42 studies resulted in a total of 80 included studies. An average QHES score of 76 was found. Since 2010, more studies were funded by pharmaceutical companies. Most recent studies performed cost-utility analysis, univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analyses, and discussed limitations of their economic evaluations. Most studies indicated favorable cost-effectiveness. Majority of evaluations did not provide information regarding the intrinsic value of the PGx test. There were considerable differences in the costs for PGx testing. Reporting of the direction and magnitude of bias on the cost-effectiveness estimates as well as motivation for the chosen economic model and perspective were frequently missing. Conclusions : Application of PGx tests was mostly found to be a cost-effective or cost-saving strategy. We found that only the minority of recent pharmacoeconomic evaluations assessed the intrinsic value of the PGx tests. There was an increase in the number of studies and in the reporting of quality associated characteristics. To improve future evaluations, scenario analysis including a broad range of PGx tests costs and equal costs of comparator drugs to assess the intrinsic value of the PGx tests, are recommended. In addition, robust clinical evidence regarding PGx tests' efficacy remains of utmost importance