Paranismo, movimento artístico do sul do Brasil no início do século XX

Este artigo trata sobre a diferença entre os termos paranismo e Movimento Paranista, inseridos no contexto das discussões sobre o regionalismo no Estado do Paraná, sul do Brasil. O ensaio está dividido em três partes. A primeira delas analisa a importância da obra intelectual de Romário Martins (1874-1948) para a produção cultural paranaense. A segunda apresenta um balanço do desenvolvimento das artes plásticas e da música no Paraná, relacionando-as com as manifestações regionais. A última trata sobre a bibliografia existente sobre o paranismo e fornece uma nova interpretação da definição dos termos através de uma releitura da produção intelectual de Romário Martins, considerando ainda a importância da prática e da produção artística nesse contexto.This article discusses the difference between the terms paranismo and Paranista Movement, placed in the context of discussions on regionalism in the State of Paraná, in Brazil. The essay is divided into three parts. The first one examines the importance of intellectual work of Romário Martins (1874-1948) for cultural production of Paraná. The second presents a review of the development of fine arts and music in Paraná, relating them to the regional events. The latest deals on the existing literature about paranismo and provides a new interpretation of the definition of the terms through a rereading of the intellectual output of Romário Martins, considering the importance of practice and artistic production in that context

Exchange Market Pressure in African Lusophone Countries

This paper explores the credibility of exchange rate arrangements for the five African Portuguese-speaking (PALOP) countries. Our working hypothesis is that credibility necessarily implies low mean exchange market pressure (EMP), low EMP conditional volatility and low-severity EMP crises. In addition, economic fundamentals must account for EMP dynamics. We also seek evidence of a risk-return relationship for mean EMP and of “bad news” (negative shocks) having a greater impact on EMP volatility than “good news” (positive shocks). Using our econometric models, we are able to rank PALOP countries’ conditional volatility in ordinal terms. Our main conclusion is that countries with currency pegs, such as Guinea-Bissau (GB) and Cape Verde (CV), clearly have lower volatility when compared to those with managed floats and are therefore more credible. Moreover, EMP crises episodes under pegs are much less severe. We find that economic fundamentals correctly account for mean EMP in all countries and that the risk-return relationship is much more favourable for investors under currency pegs, as the increase in volatility is lower for the same rate of return. The exception to this finding is Mozambique (MOZ), which apparently has a risk-return profile akin to that enjoyed by countries with pegs. A plausible reason is that MOZ has the only managed float in our sample implementing monetary and exchange rate policy within the confines of an IMF framework, which establishes floors for international reserves and ceilings for the central bank’s net domestic assets. This intuition needs to be tested, however. EMP conditional volatility is generally driven by changes in domestic credit (lowers it) and foreign reserve changes (raises it). The first effect is more pronounced under currency pegs, but also under MOZ’s managed float. “Bad news” increases volatility more that “good news” only in the case of CV’s currency peg, which we take to be another sign of its credibility. A few striking cross-country comparisons also emerge in our analysis. Among countries with managed floats, we find that Angola (ANG) has the most severe EMP crises whilst MOZ has the least severe. São Tomé & Princípe (STP), meanwhile, lies between these two extremes but its EMP crises behaviour is clearly much closer to that of MOZ. STP’s credibility may also be improving since its volatility has declined as of 2002 and its level is now much closer to that of MOZ, whose managed float has lowest volatility of such arrangements.

Ex-ante methods to assess the impact of social insurance policies on labor supply with an application to Brazil

This paper solves and estimates a stochastic model of optimal inter-temporal behavior to assess how changes in the design of the unemployment benefits and pension systems in Brazil could affect savings rates, the share of time that individuals spend outside of the formal sector, and retirement decisions. Dynamics depend on five main parameters: preferences regarding consumption and leisure, preferences regarding formal versus informal work, attitudes towards risks, the rate of time preference, and the distribution of an exogenous shock that affects movements in and out of the social insurance system (given individual decisions). The yearly household survey is used to create a pseudo panel by age-cohorts and estimate the joint distribution of model parameters based on a generalized version of the Gibbs sampler. The model does a good job in replicating the distribution of the members of a given cohort across states (in or out of the social insurance / active or retired). Because the parameters are related to individual preferences or exogenous shocks, the joint distribution is unlikely to change when the social insurance system changes. Thus, the model is used to explore how alternative policy interventions could affect behaviors and through this channel, benefit levels and fiscal costs. The results from various simulations provide three main insights: (i) the Brazilian social insurance system today might generate unnecessary distortions (lower savings rates and less formal employment) that increase the costs of the system and can induce regressive redistribution; (ii) there are important interactions between the unemployment benefits and pension systems, which calls for joint policy analysis when considering reforms; and (iii) current distortions could be reduced by creating an actuarial link between contributions and benefits and then combining matching contributions and anti-poverty targeted transfers to cover individuals with limited or no savings capacity.Pensions&Retirement Systems,Emerging Markets,Labor Policies,Labor Markets,Debt Markets

The first detection of Leishmania major in naturally infected Sergentomyia minuta in Portugal

Phlebotomine sandflies of the genus Sergentomyia are widely distributed throughout the Old World. It has been suggested that Sergentomyia spp are involved in the transmission of Leishmania in India and Africa, whereas Phlebotomus spp are thought to be the sole vectors of Leishmania in the Old World. In this study, Leishmania major DNA was detected in one Sergentomyia minuta specimen that was collected in the southern region of Portugal. This study challenges the dogma that Leishmania is exclusively transmitted by species of the genus Phlebotomus in the Old World.EU/FEDER [PTDC/CVT/112371/2009]; EU [FP7-261504 EDENext]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

EDMS Use in Local E-Government: Extent of Use and Overall Performance Mediated by Routinization and Infusion

This study analyzes the effects of several post-adoption behaviors (extent of use, routinization and infusion) on overall performance in using an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS). Furthermore, we test whether the routinization and infusion variables mediate the influence of the extent of use on overall performance. This research collects data from a survey answered by 2,175 employees (EDMS users) of Portuguese municipalities. The Partial Least Squares technique is applied to test the model. The results showed that routinization is directly predicted by the extent of use, whereas infusion is directly affected by the extent of use and also by routinization. Consequently, such post-adoptive behaviors are interrelated not only in a sequential process, but also in parallel. In addition, overall performance is directly influenced by routinization and infusion. Finally, an indirect effects analysis shows that routinization and infusion mediate the relationship between extent of use and overall performance

Leishmania infection and host-blood feeding preferences of phlebotomine sandflies and canine leishmaniasis in an endemic European area, the Algarve Region in Portugal

The Algarve Region (AR) in southern Portugal, which is an international tourist destination, has been considered an endemic region of zoonotic leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania infantum since the 1980s. In the present study, phlebotomine and canine surveys were conducted to identify sandfly blood meal sources and to update the occurrence of Leishmania infection in vectors and dogs. Four sandfly species were captured: Phlebotomus perniciosus, Phlebotomus ariasi, Phlebotomus sergenti and Sergentomyia minuta. In one P. perniciosus female, L. infantum DNA was detected. Blood meal tests showed that this species had no host preferences and was an opportunistic feeder. An overall canine leishmaniasis (CanL) seroprevalence of 16.06% was found; the seroprevalence was 3.88% in dogs housed in kennels and 40.63% in dogs that attended veterinary clinics. The simultaneous occurrence of dogs and P. perniciosus infected with L. infantum in the AR indicates that the region continues to be an endemic area for CanL. Our results reinforce the need for the systematic spatial distribution of phlebotomine populations and their Leishmania infection rates and the need to simultaneously perform pathogen monitoring in both invertebrate and vertebrate hosts to investigate the transmission, distribution and spreading of Leishmania infection.EU/FEDER/FCT [POCI/CVT/56357/2004]; EU [FP7-261504 EDENext (091)]; FCT fellowship [SFRH/BPD/44082/2008]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio