Weltweit sind immer mehr Unternehmensgründer Migranten. Ihre Gründungsaktivitäten werden mit den individuellen Ressourcen der Migranten und den Möglichkeiten in den Zielregionen erklärt (vgl. z.B. „Mixed-Embeddedness“-Ansatz von Kloosterman et al. 1999). Zu den Ressourcen zählen das Humankapital sowie das soziale und ökonomische Kapital. Veränderte Nachfragestrukturen, rechtliche, institutionelle und technologische Rahmenbedingungen sowie Entwicklungen auf den Arbeits- und Immobilienmärkten im Zielland beeinflussen ferner die Chancen für Migrantengründungen. Auffällig ist, dass transnationale Kompetenzen (Koehen und Rosenau 2002), wie z.B. Mehrsprachigkeit oder das Wissen über mindestens zwei länderübergreifende Kontexte nicht mit zu den individuellen Ressourcen gerechnet werden. So können Akteure, die unterschiedliche kulturelle Deutungsschemata kennen, z.B. bei Geschäftsverhandlungen Bedeutungsgleichheit mit unterschiedlichen Geschäftspartnern herstellen (Pütz 2004, 28). Ziel der Arbeit ist, die Bedeutung transnationaler Kompetenzen für unternehmerisches Handeln in Bezug auf die Entdeckung von Gründungsideen und die Entwicklung von Marktbearbeitungsstrategien herauszustellen und dadurch eine weitere Determinante zur Erklärung der Struktur von Migrantenökonomien zu identifizieren. Der theoretische Teil der Arbeit befasste sich mit der Rolle transnationaler Kompetenzen für die Selbstständigkeit. Die Auswertung 54 problemzentrierter Interviews mit Selbstständigen mit türkischem Migrationshintergrund zeigte, dass transnationale Kompetenzen vor allem für hochqualifizierte Migranten der zweiten Generation in wissensintensiven Dienstleistungsbranchen eine Ressource für ihre Selbstständigkeit darstellen. Sie können zwischen diversen Marktbearbeitungsstrategien wählen und heterogene lokale, nationale und transnationale Netzwerke aufbauen, die sie wiederum dazu befähigen, eine unbediente Nachfrage aufzudecken und spezielle Dienste anzubieten. / The number of entrepreneurs in Germany is expected to decrease by more than half a million within the next 40 years (Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag 2008). Experts propose that migrants may be able to secure the business founding sector in the future. Today already more migrants with foreign nationality found businesses than Germans without a history in migration (Statistisches Bundesamt 2012b). The Research field of Migrant Entrepreneurship explains that some of the reasons for the increase in self-employment among migrants are difficulties in finding jobs, and struggle with legal conditions in the receiving country, as well as business opportunities due to migrant resources (e.g. “co-ethnic” support networks, see Waldinger et al. 1990). Surprisingly, individual transnational competences (Koehn and Rosenau 2002) as multilingualism and the knowledge of diverse cultural contexts are often overlooked. I assume that these competences have an impact on creativity, the exploration of market opportunities and the development of business strategies. Moreover they foster the chance to set up diverse local, national or transnational networks. In the first part of this thesis a summary of former and recent concepts to explain migrant entrepreneurship is presented. The next part deals with the definition of transnational competences (Koehn and Rosenau 2002). Afterwards I raise the question how to gain these competences and what impact they might have for the motivation of getting self-employed. The analysis of 54 structured interviews with self-employed workers of Turkish origin in different sectors in Hamburg shows that transnational competences are indeed advantageous, especially to second generation migrants in the knowledge intensive service industry (i.e. legal and health-care consultation). They develop innovative founding ideas and they can choose between diverse market strategies due to their special competencies and transnational networks.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and gain an understanding of the second-generation immigrant's ethnic identity. To carry out our survey, we used the qualitative approach, more specifically interrogations. In total, 6 people were interviewed between the ages of 18–29 years. All participants were born and raised in Sweden with one or both of the parents born abroad. The theoretical basis of the essay is socialbehaviorism and social constructivism. Previous research, also our results show that the mother tongue, parents, residential area and social circle are recurring aspects that are important for the design of the ethnic identity. Our result, unlike previous research, shows that the appearance is also an important factor for the design of the ethnic identity. Our conclusion is that there is an ambivalence and rootlessness among the respondents, which is due to the lack of being part of a larger whole. / Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka och få en förståelse för andra generationens invandrares etniska identitet. För att genomföra vår undersökning använde vi oss av den kvalitativa ansatsen, närmare bestämt interjuver. Sammanlagd intervjuades 6 personer i åldrarna 18–29 år. Samtliga deltagare var födda och uppväxta i Sverige med en eller både föräldrarna födda utomlands. Uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkter är socialbehaviorismen och socialkonstruktionivsmen. Tidigare forskning och även vårt resultat visar att modersmålet, föräldrarna, bostadsområde och umgängeskrets är återkommande aspekter som har betydelse för konstruerandet av den etniska identiteten. Vårt resultat till skillnad från tidigare forskning visar att även utseendet är en viktig faktor för skapandet av den etniska identiteten. Vår slutsats är att det finns en ambivalens och rotlöshet hos respondenterna som beror på avsaknaden av att vara en del av en större helhet.

Les antipsychotiques de deuxième génération (ADG) sont de plus en plus employés dans le traitement de troubles psychiatriques. Selon de nombreuses observations cliniques, les effets secondaires reliés à la prise d’ADG diffèrent chez les patients atteints de schizophrénie (SCZ) et de maladies affectives (MA) éprouvent divers. Ainsi, il s’avère nécessaire d’étudier la fréquence et l'intensité des effets secondaires induits par les ADG qui pourraient différer selon le diagnostic. Pour ce faire, nous avons effectué une revue systématique de la littérature afin d’identifier l’ensemble des études rapportant les effets secondaires de cinq ADG (aripiprazole, olanzapine, quétiapine, rispéridone et ziprasidone) dans le traitement de la schizophrénie ou des maladies affectives. Les effets secondaires métaboliques et extrapyramidaux ont été recueillis séparément pour les deux groupes de patients, puis ont été combinés dans une méta-analyse. Des méta-régressions ainsi que des sous-analyses ont également été effectuées dans le but de regarder l’effet de différents modérateurs (i.e. âge, genre, et dose). Dans la présente méta-analyse, 107 études ont été inclues. Les résultats montrent que le traitement avec l’olanzapine a occasionné une plus importante prise de poids chez les patients SCZ comparativement aux patients MA. De plus, le traitement à la quétiapine a amené une hausse significative du taux de LDL et de cholestérol total dans le groupe SCZ par rapport au groupe MA. Selon nos résultats, les symptômes extrapyramidaux étaient plus fréquents dans le groupe MA, excepté pour le traitement à l'olanzapine qui a induit davantage de ces symptômes chez les patients SCZ. Également, nos résultats suggèrent que les patients SCZ seraient plus vulnérables à certains effets métaboliques induits par les ADG dû à une possible susceptibilité génétique ou à la présence de facteurs de risque associés au style de vie. D'autre part, les patients MA en comparaison aux SCZ étaient plus enclins à souffrir de troubles du mouvement induits par les ADG. Bref, les ADG semblent exacerber certains types d’effets secondaires tout dépendant de la maladie dans laquelle on les utilise. / Second generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are extensively prescribed for psychiatric disorders. Based on clinical observations, schizophrenia (SCZ) and affective disorders (AD) patients experience different SGAs side effects. The expanded use of SGAs in psychiatry suggests a need to investigate whether there is a difference in the incidence and severity of side-effects related to diagnosis. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify studies reporting side effects of five SGAs (aripiprazole, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone and ziprasidone) in the treatment of SCZ or AD. The metabolic and extrapyramidal side effects were collected separately for each group, and then were combined in a meta-analysis. Meta-regression and sub-analyses were also performed to investigate the role of different moderators (e.g., age, dose and gender). One hundred and seven studies were included in the analysis. Olanzapine induced a body weight gain significantly higher in SCZ patients than in AD patients. In addition, quetiapine treatment led to significantly higher LDL and total cholesterol mean change in the SCZ group relative to the AD group. Based on our results, the incidence of extrapyramidal side effects was more frequent in the AD group, except for olanzapine that caused more parkinsonism in SCZ patients. Our results suggest that SCZ patients may be more vulnerable to some SGA-induced metabolic disturbances, in which lifestyle risk factors and a possible inherent genetic vulnerability may play a role. Most of the studied SGAs caused more movement disorders in AD patients than in schizophrenics. It might be that an antipsychotic induces severity of side effect according to the phenotype.

The enduring, mythical and antisemitic figure of Ahasuerus is central to the unraveling and reframing of post-Shoah Jewish identity in Rabinovici’s novel Suche nach M for it serves as the mythological color palette from which Rabinovici draws his characters and, to extend that metaphor, how the Jews have been immortalized in European culture. There is no escape in Suche nach M. When painting the Jew, both Jews and non-Jews can only use brush strokes of color from the Christian-created palette of the mythic, wandering Jew, Ahasuerus, who is stained in the blood of deicide, emasculated, treacherous, and evil. He is the constitutional “Other.” By deploying Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (Bio) Ecological Systems Theory, the Mythic Jew and the Ikhud (“Fusion”) Models that represent an evolving psychosocial environment combined with personal reflection, this thesis explores how Suche nach M invokes yet critiques the process of Jewish male identity formation in postwar Austria. / Graduate

This thesis presents an ethnographic account of the everyday meanings and processes associated with the idea of ‘community’ within the London neighbourhood of Kilburn. In policy and popular discourse, community is cast both as somehow able to unite people across difference, and as under threat from the proliferation of difference, which is seen as impeding mutual understanding, cooperation and belonging. Within scholarly writing, ‘community’ is often challenged as too archaic, too rigid or too ambiguous a concept to provide sufficient analytical leverage or to work as a normative ideal. Against this background, my PhD takes a look the neighbourhood of Kilburn, where amidst significant diversity, tropes of community are still widely used. I investigate how residents imagine various forms of community in relation to diversity, as well as the connections and discontinuities between these various imaginings. I draw on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork, following over a dozen community projects and groups, tracing informal local networks and getting to know residents individually. My ethnography ranges from community cafes, to religious youth groups, to urban ‘gangs’, to government-led urban regeneration projects. Despite the variation in how different individuals imagined ‘community’, there was a shared view of community as a space which facilitated the bridging of difference and the construction of shared moral projects. These spaces did not exist sui generis. Rather they were opened up through the balancing of two traits: fixity and fluidity. Fixity involved defining community in terms of a clearly identifiable and familiar set of boundary markers, which serve to give it an ‘objective’ existence. Fluidity involved suspending this attempt to define community in terms of the familiar, once people were involved, in order to allow for new, shared understandings and values to emerge. The first two chapters unpack this balancing of fixity and fluidity. Chapter 1, traces inclusion and exclusion in a range of community projects, and Chapter 2 looks at tropes of race and ethnicity, examining how such ideas might be treated as simultaneously fixed and fluid. . The two chapters unpack the transformational power of community. Chapter 3 looks at a community centre for young Muslims, as well as at a local community radio station, and argues that community spaces have the potential to foster an ethic of continual openness to difference. Chapter 4 looks at a group of ‘street youth’ and their diverse views of success, and argues that community can act as a collective repository of future potential, allowing community members to transform their ethical trajectory within their own lives. The final two chapters look at contestations over community. Chapter 5 looks at clashing uses of public spaces and argues that such spaces are often read in highly fixed ways, and as lacking the potential for community-like negotiations. Chapter 6 looks at local regeneration projects and contrasts the ways in which community is valued locally, to the ways in which it is valued by state and market actors. The thesis concludes by emphasizing the necessarily plural, dynamic, contested and grounded nature of the idea of community described here.

The search for other sources of energy has encouraged the development of research and innovation in the production of biofuels, such as the second generation ethanol. Biomass from agricultural residues has advantages such as reuse, solves the disposal problem and also offers a low cost of production. In this context, this paper evaluates the best pretreatment (acid, alkaline and hydrothermal) waste from processing fruits (orange, passion fruit and soursop) to obtain bioethanol. The waste collected, stored at -20°C were thawed at room temperature, sanitized in 100 ppm sodium hypochlorite for 15 min and dried in an oven with air circulation at 55 ± 5°C until constant weight, ground and subsequently on a knife mill type Willye 30 mesh and packed in airtight plastic bottles at room temperature. Determinations of lipid, protein, moisture, ash, fiber, pectin and carbohydrate were performed. Pretreatments were designed according to experimental design where, for the acid, time 15 to 120 min, Cacid from 1 to 5% and Cbiomass 1 to 9%. For the alkali, it was used the same conditions as the acid, changing only the Cbasis, from 0.5 to 2.5%. For the hydrothermal only Cbiomass and time were evaluated. As answers, the mass yield, the amount of total reducing sugars (TRS) and total soluble solids in the liquid fraction. For the enzymatic hydrolysis it was employed cellulase Sigma-Aldrich in a 2:1 by enzyme mL:g pretreated biomass in 60 mL of 50 mM citrate buffer at 50°C and 100 rpm, evaluating the concentration of total reducing sugars. In ethanol fermentation, was used the hydrolyzate complemented with mineral solution and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the main responses analyzed were ethanol concentration and yield of fermentation. The waste orange, passion fruit and soursop higher content of sugar in the liquor pretreatment occurred in the acid using low biomass concentration and longer pretreatment (65%), whereas at higher acid concentrations was sugars decreased, probably because undergo degradation. In alkaline pretreatment, was lower than the saccharification acid pretreatment (35%) and lower yields mass, indicating that some component of the lignocellulosic matrix was solubilized lignin probably characteristic of alkaline treatments. In hydrothermal there was the lowest saccharification liquor from both the pretreatment and in the enzymatic hydrolysis, possibly because the time and temperature used were not effective in destroying the lignocellulosic matrix. In enzymatic hydrolysis, alkali was more efficient than the acid, achieving, in the best conditions, around 35% of ART, except for the residue of passion fruit (<10% hydrolysis for the three pre-treatments), suggesting negative relationship between the amount of pectin and action of cellulases. The yield of fermentation behaved differently among trials for obtaining pre-treatment acid with shorter (15 minutes) the highest rates, while for these alkaline and hydrothermal stood in a longer time (120 min) pretreatment. These observations suggest that in the case of residual soursop optimizations must be carried out using lower heating times and higher biomass concentrations. However, for the orange peel and passion fruit residue, the intermediate condition seems to be more appropriate, and more efficient enzyme complexes and the presence of enzymes that break down pectin. / A busca por outras fontes de energia tem incentivado o desenvolvimento de pesquisas e a inovação na produção de biocombustíveis, a exemplo do etanol de segunda geração. A biomassa proveniente de resíduos agroindustriais apresenta como vantagens seu reaproveitamento, resolve o problema de descarte e, também, oferece um baixo custo de produção. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho avalia o melhor pré-tratamento (ácido, alcalino e hidrotérmico) de resíduos do processamento de frutas (laranja, maracujá e graviola) para a obtenção de bioetanol. Os resíduos coletados, armazenados em freezer a -20°C, foram descongelados à temperatura ambiente, sanitizados em hipoclorito de sódio 100 ppm por 15 min e secos em estufa de recirculação de ar a 55±5°C até peso constante, sendo posteriormente triturados em um moinho de facas do tipo Willye a 30 mesh e acondicionados em frascos plásticos herméticos à temperatura ambiente. Foram realizadas determinações de lipídios, proteínas, umidade, cinzas, fibra, pectina e carboidratos totais. Os pré-tratamentos foram idealizados de acordo com delineamentos experimentais, sendo para o ácido, tempo de 15 a 120 min, Cácido de 1 a 5% e Cbiomassa de 1 a 9%. Para o alcalino, utilizaram-se as mesmas condições do ácido, mudando apenas a Cbase, de 0,5 a 2,5%. Para o hidrotérmico, somente os tempos e Cbiomassa foram avaliados. Como respostas, o rendimento mássico, a quantidade de açúcares redutores totais (ART) e sólidos solúveis totais na fração líquida. Para a hidrólise enzimática, empregou-se celulase Sigma-Aldrich® na proporção 2:1, em mL enzima:g biomassa pré-tratada em 60 mL de tampão citrato 50 mM a 50°C e 100 rpm, avaliando-se a concentração de açúcares redutores totais. Na fermentação etanólica, empregou-se o hidrolisado, solução mineral e a levedura Saccharomyces cerevisiae, tendo como principais respostas a concentração de etanol e o rendimento da fermentação. Nos resíduos de laranja, graviola e maracujá as maiores sacarificações no licor do pré-tratamento ocorreram no ácido, utilizando-se menor concentração de biomassa e maior tempo de pré-tratamento (65%), ao passo que nas concentrações mais elevadas de ácido houve uma diminuição de açúcares, provavelmente porque sofreram degradação. No pré-tratamento alcalino, houve menor sacarificação que o ácido (35%) e menor rendimento mássico, indicando que algum componente da matriz lignocelulósica foi solubilizado, provavelmente a lignina, característica de tratamentos alcalinos. No hidrotérmico, houve a menor sacarificação tanto no licor do pré-tratamento quanto na hidrólise enzimática, possivelmente porque o tempo e temperatura usados não foram eficientes na destruição da matriz lignocelulósica. Na hidrólise enzimática, o alcalino foi mais eficiente que o ácido, conseguindo-se, nas melhores condições, em torno de 35% de ART, à exceção do resíduo do maracujá (< 10% de hidrólise para os três pré-tratamentos), sugerindo relação negativa entre quantidade de pectina e ação das celulases. O rendimento de fermentação se comportou de modo diverso entre os ensaios, obtendo-se para o pré-tratamento ácido com menor tempo (15 min) as maiores taxas, enquanto que para o alcalino e o hidrotérmico estas se situaram em um maior tempo (120 min) de pré-tratamento. Essas observações sugerem que, no caso do resíduo de graviola, as otimizações devem ser realizadas empregando menores tempos de aquecimento e maiores concentrações de biomassa. Entretanto, para o bagaço de laranja e resíduo de maracujá, a condição intermediária parece ser mais adequada, além de complexos enzimáticos mais eficientes e com a presença de enzimas que quebrem a pectina.

Submitted by Marcio Aurelio Soares Santos (marrrcio@hotmail.com) on 2016-01-06T13:02:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_MPAgro_Santos_MAS_Versão_Revisada_3.pdf: 1187642 bytes, checksum: 6d36e9cf2b45e719ee9c7f357535a97e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Fabiana da Silva Segura (fabiana.segura@fgv.br) on 2016-01-06T14:58:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_MPAgro_Santos_MAS_Versão_Revisada_3.pdf: 1187642 bytes, checksum: 6d36e9cf2b45e719ee9c7f357535a97e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-06T15:04:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_MPAgro_Santos_MAS_Versão_Revisada_3.pdf: 1187642 bytes, checksum: 6d36e9cf2b45e719ee9c7f357535a97e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-30 / O uso de resíduos da indústria canavieira, em particular o bagaço, é tema que ganha relevância desde a retomada do mercado de biocombustíveis, quando a produção ampliou significativamente o volume daquela biomassa. Existem trabalhos que tratam de apresentar subprodutos e tecnologias alternativas para o uso deste material e um conjunto outro de trabalhos apresenta análise de cenários de viabilidade econômica destas tecnologias. O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar pela perspectiva econômico-financeira o melhor uso do bagaço da cana em um caso real. Para isto foi utilizada a Teoria das Opções Reais, como forma de analisar a melhor destinação do bagaço no horizonte de tempo de cinco anos, em uma dada a região, em um estudo de caso de uma usina sucroenergética com possibilidade de produção de etanol de segunda geração e/ou venda do bagaço in natura. Desta forma concluiu-se no caso apresentado que a produção de etanol de segunda geração em escala industrial não atrai investimentos e, sob esta ótica, deve ser postergada pois requer significativa aumento de produtividade por tonelada de matéria seca, além de substancial redução no custo das enzimas de fermentação. Ainda, foi possível também identificar a necessidade de políticas de incentivo para atração de investimentos. / The use of waste from the sugar cane industry, in particular bagasse, is a subject that becomes relevant since the resumption of the biofuels. There are works that address alternative technologies to the use of this material and a collection of other works which address the feasibilities. Therefore, this study is to evaluate the economic and financial perspective of sugarcane bagasse in an actual case. An application of the Theory of Real Options as a way to analyze the best allocation of bagasse within five years horizon, in a given region where the plant is located. The productivity and competitiveness of second-generation ethanol in contrast with the possibility of selling the bagasse. Thus it was concluded in the case presented that second-generation ethanol on an industrial scale production should be postponed since requires significant increase in productivity (litter per ton of dry bagasse) and significant reduction in the fermentation enzymes costs. Still, it was also possible to identify the need of public policy’s to develop this industry.

Submitted by Cristiane Shirayama (cristiane.shirayama@fgv.br) on 2011-05-31T16:09:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 65080100018.pdf: 2357061 bytes, checksum: 86718b92b6b4e0077c982c066b3d28fb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-05-31T20:32:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 65080100018.pdf: 2357061 bytes, checksum: 86718b92b6b4e0077c982c066b3d28fb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzinei Teles Garcia Garcia(suzinei.garcia@fgv.br) on 2011-05-31T20:56:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 65080100018.pdf: 2357061 bytes, checksum: 86718b92b6b4e0077c982c066b3d28fb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-06-01T15:46:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 65080100018.pdf: 2357061 bytes, checksum: 86718b92b6b4e0077c982c066b3d28fb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-11-08 / The rapid expansion of cultivation of sugarcane, essentially held from 2004, in the State of São Paulo, one of the most traditional and well localized of country in terms of logistics and proximity of large consumer centres, as well as in other states not so privileged, raised several discussions about the sustainability of the sector and possible breakthrough in land which, directly or indirectly, would undermine food production in the country. This encouraged the rapid industry organization, through its principal representative, UNICA, which initiated an irreversible process of professionalization and consolidation of large groups with a view to strengthening growth and to meet the challenges of "commoditization" of their products: sugar and ethanol. In this context, after project implementations as the "Green Ethanol Protocol" and "Agro-Envirnomental Zoning for the sugar-alcohol sector of the State of São Paulo" and subsequently "Agro-Ecological Zoning of cane" in Brazil, and dissemination of RFS2 "– Renewable Fuel Standard 2", in the United States, which may be considered key milestones to indicate that the industry must involve, either by socio-environmental, whether through external market growth opportunity (USA), and also without forgetting the growing fleet of vehicles flex-fuel in Brazil, it tries to develops at wide steps, evident that with greater focus and investment in the United States, in order to obtain greater industrial productivity, with the same amount of sugar cane planted area, which would accomplishes the two calls: the sustainability and the opening of the market. The second-generation ethanol is the central subject, and with greater expectation today, to the expected evolution of one of the fastest growing sectors and participation in the Brazilian economy. The laboratory researches demonstrate productive viability for this second-generation ethanol through cellulosic material hydrolysis, but the major problems are related to the absence of plants with commercial production scale, high processing time (enzymatic hydrolysis) and deterioration of equipment involved in the process (hydrolysis), and also the need for better studies to understand the replacement of bagasse to sugar cane trash in the process of electricity generation in the mills. This work showed, besides its limitations and due to the considered parameters, that the economic feasibility of second generation is a little bit far to be achieved and it’s dependent of the future prices of ethanol. The additional 85% (eight five percent) yield of ethanol liters per ton of sugarcane and price of R$ 800 (eight hundred reais) per cubic meters are input data, feasible to be obtained, in thesis, the net income but not the NPV. The incognits are the velocity for large scale production plant development and the prices behavior in face of the analyzed perspectives. In front of the achieved re results and discussion exposed, there are clealy possibilities for self-affirmation of the sector, which after decades of unsuccessful initiatives such as the Proálcool, and critics to their sustainability policies (social and environmental), can have a promising scenario for the perpetuation of its hegemony and avant-garde in the production of biofuel (ethanol), food (sugar) and electric power. / A rápida expansão da cultura da cana-de-açúcar, essencialmente ocorrida a partir de 2004, tanto no Estado de São Paulo, um dos mais tradicionais e mais bem localizado do país, em termos de logística e proximidade de grandes centros consumidores, bem como em outros não tão privilegiados, levantou diversas discussões sobre a sustentabilidade do setor e eventual avanço em terras que, direta e indiretamente, prejudicariam a produção de alimentos no país. Esse evento desencadeou uma rápida reorganização do setor, através de sua principal entidade representativa, a UNICA, e, fundamentalmente, iniciou um processo irreversível de profissionalização e consolidação de grandes grupos com o intuito de crescimento e fortalecimento para fazer frente aos desafios da 'comoditização' integral de seus produtos: o açúcar e o etanol. Nesse âmbito, após implementações de projetos como o 'Protocolo Etanol Verde' e o 'Zoneamento Agroambiental para o Setor Sucroalcooleiro do Estado de São Paulo', e posteriormente o 'Zoneamento Agro-Ecológico da Cana-de-Açúcar', no Brasil, e divulgação da 'RFS2 – Renewable Fuel Standard 2', nos Estados Unidos, os quais podem ser considerados pontos fundamentais para a indicação de que o setor deveria evoluir, seja via sócio-ambiental, ou através da oportunidade de crescimento do mercado externo (EUA), sem esquecer a crescente frota de veículos flex-fuel no Brasil, e tenta evoluir a passos largos, evidentemente que com maior enfoque e investimento tecnológico nos Estados Unidos, no sentido de obter maior produtividade industrial, com a mesma quantidade de área de cana plantada, o que atenderia aos dois apelos: o de sustentabilidade e o de abertura de mercado. O etanol de segunda geração é o assunto central, e de maior expectativa atualmente, para a esperada evolução de um dos setores de maior crescimento e participação na economia brasileira. As pesquisas de laboratório demonstram viabilidade produtiva do etanol de segunda geração, através da hidrólise do material celulósico, mas os grandes problemas estão relacionados à ausência de plantas com escala de produção comercial, elevado tempo de processamento (hidrólise enzimática) e deterioração de equipamentos envolvidos no processo (hidrólise ácida), além da necessidade de melhores estudos, para entendimento da substituição do bagaço pela palha da cana-de-açúcar, no processo de geração de energia elétrica nas unidades industriais. Este trabalho demonstrou, considerando suas limitações e parâmetros, que a viabilidade econômica para o etanol de segunda geração está um pouco distante de ser atingida e depende do preço futuro do etanol. O rendimento adicional de 85% (oitenta e cinco por cento) de litros de etanol, por tonelada de cana processada, e o preço de R$ 800 (oitocentos reais) o metro cúbico, são dados de entrada em tese factíveis de serem obtidos para geração de lucro líquido, mas não para o VPL. As incógnitas são a velocidade do desenvolvimento da planta de grande escala de produção e comportamento de preços diante das perspectivas analisadas. Diante dos resultados obtidos e do exposto, há a clara possibilidade de autoafirmação do setor que, após décadas de insucessos, como o do Proálcool, e críticas às suas políticas de sustentabilidade (sócio-ambiental), vislumbra um cenário promissor para a perpetuação de sua hegemonia e vanguarda na produção de biocombustível (etanol), alimento (açúcar) e energia elétrica.

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Thunderstorms, due to their high frequency of occurrence over southern Africa, and their major contribution to summer rainfall are the primary focus of very short range forecasting and nowcasting efforts in South Africa. With a limited number of surface and upper-air observations and the limited availability of numerical model output most southern African countries are heavily reliant on satellite technology. In developing tools for the first twelve forecast hours the South African Weather Service has to address both the national and regional needs. Thus, the blending of techniques in an optimal manner is essential. This study initially describes how the Global Instability Index product derived from the European Meteosat Second Generation Satellite was adapted for South African circumstances using a different numerical model to provide background information – creating the Regional Instability Indices (RII). The focus of the study is the development of a new convection indicator, called the Combined Instability Index (CII), which calculates the probability of convection from satellite derived instability indices and moisture, as well as height above sea level early in the morning when the sky is relatively cloud free. Early morning CII values were evaluated statistically against the occurrence of lightning over South Africa, where a lightning network is available, as well as against satellite derived precipitation over southern Africa, later in the same day. It is shown that the CII not only performs well, but also outperforms the individual RII when compared to the occurrence of lightning. The CII will be beneficial to operational forecasters to focus their attention on the area which is most favourable for the development of convection later in the day. / Environmental Sciences / Ph. D. (Environmental Sciences)